Hey Kid, Come Closer I Wanna Start Some Shit

When it comes to asexual allyship a lot of people wanna have their cake and eat it too (pun unintended). People like a lil 'aces are valid' moment but don't actually unpack compulsory sexuality. People see sexless queer representation and always clock puritanism before they ever clock asexuality. No one's actually reading the ace theory and texts coming out. Everyone keeps doing surprised Pikachu faces whenever a conservative or TERF says they're against asexuality despite the fact ace activists have been saying since day conservatives are not anti sex but anti sexual autonomy. 'Aces are queer' until we actually are. Even ace support posts keep ending with some expectation or condition that asexuality is #valid as long as asexuals still perform a small quota of sex/sexual activity. I'm so over 'Aces still have sex!' 'Aces are hot' Aces are sexy' 'Aces aren't virgin vanilla prude sexless puritans!' disguised as support.

Like no. Sorry. Until you accept that some asexual people's no is permanent, that some asexual's singleness is permanent, that some asexual's childless-ness is permanent, that some asexuals are the 'no' in little to no sexual attraction and i'd say most importantly, that queer sexlessness isn't a biological, social or moral failing, I don't believe you'll ever genuinely support asexuality. (In reverse, I also feel similar about aromanticism and romance).

Like a lot of u haven't gone beyond 'the a isn't for ally' and it shows. I don't want people to support asexuals just because we're soooo hot or because we write the best smut apparently or because we could have hypothetical sex or because we could do hypothetical kink or because our minds are soooo dirty actually or because we'd do romance reallllyyyy well or because we can still have kids or because asexuals hand out water bottles at the orgy or some shit. I want people to support asexuality because no sexuality is deviant and it's basic human decency.

"a vague disclaimer is nobody's friend"

4x07 The Initiative

Hello I love your writing I was wondering if you can do a piece on villain motivations and how to recognizeyour villains motives. Also what are some examples of bad motivations.

I was about to write 1) You create the villains, so it’s not so much ‘recognising’ as ‘you can create whatever you want it to be’. Then I remembered fanfiction, in which case recognising would apply - but recognising in that can vary so much depending on the text, as it will always depend on how you choose to interpret the source materials. 

So let’s just go onto villainous motivations. Note, I am using and understood ‘villain’ and ‘villainous’ to mean the antagonist of the story, rather than a superhero definition of the word.

A list of potential motivations, which can be mixed up, but I split them into different umbrellas:

To gain power or control (for whatever reason)

because they don’t want to feel powerless again

because they have strong opinions about what should happen to the world and need sufficient power to implement any change

 because contemporary career trajectories in western society feed us the idea that we always need more money and power so they think they’re just succeeding/doing what’s natural/normal

better to be the one in control than under someone else’s

being in control/powerful has perks

because they want sufficient power to protect themselves or others etc...

Revenge

What it says on the tin, but look deeper at the undercurrent emotions, desires and values beneath the surface...

Revenge because something unfair happened and it hurts

Revenge because they have a sense of entitlement

Revenge to gain back a sense of power/agency

Revenge as a means of justice

Revenge because they tried nice, and lost everything etc. etc....

Love

Can be combined with power or revenge, because they either want to protect, avenge, or get their own back on someone they love (villain because they go way over the line of what’s acceptable, as opposed to if say a protagonist had a heartbreak, and we would judge them if they started chopping limbs)

X thing that the hero needs means someone the villain cares about dies, or is wounded in some way, or has to sacrifice themselves

Not quite love, but tangentially lust - they want the protagonist/love interest and are willing to do whatever to get them

They want to impress someone and think this is the way to do it

They are working as an antagonist for a larger antagonist in order to protect someone or something.

Fear/Desperation

Again, this works as a driving undercurrent for a lot of the above but worth noting, but...

Fear that the protagonist is dangerous and the only way to prevent something terrible from happening is to kill or otherwise control them

Fear that something bad will happen if extreme action is not taken

Fear of being perceived as weak, because they know what happens to the weak/have been taught they’re never allowed to be weak.

Desire to be free/survival instinct

See, I have been told all my life that I have to do this and I won’t, I refuse, even if that means being a bad person. E.g, why be the chosen one just to die? That’s not fair. 

See, why someone might want to accumulate power. 

I just want to be free and people keep trying to lock me up. Leave me alone or die. 

You programmed me and I will destroy you for what you made me, how dare you.

Miscellaneous

This is just my job: I’m following orders

This is what my culture/species does and my morality is simply different to the protagonist’s, so for the purposes of the story I am the villain because it’s blue and orange morality to anything human’s consider acceptable

Ignorance

Bad motivations...

To me, the only ‘bad’ motivation is ‘just because’ or ‘because they’re evil’, but that’s a personal opinion because I think that’s a boring reduction of human behaviour. People don’t do stuff ‘because they’re evil’, there’s something else going on. Sadism is a form of control, if doing something makes you happy (even if not’s socially acceptable) then you’re more likely to do it.  Depending on your story, you are not necessarily go in depth into your villain’s backstory or motivations, in which case ‘just because’ can apply simply due to lack of story space. On a similar vein - ‘because they’re mentally ill’. 

The thing about motivations is that they’re often not good or bad. Your villain’s values may not be that different to your hero’s, but they present differently in a way that we know is not acceptable or healthy behaviour. It’s something twisted toxic, or too extreme. 

The more important question is ‘does this motivation match the character?’ Do they behave in a way that logically follows on from the motivation chosen? Is it logical for them to feel that way within the universe? 

Also, is it a sexist/racist/anything phobic depiction? That is not to say people within a minority cannot be the villain, but a) they shouldn’t be the only character of that minority in your text if they are at least at our current level of cultural representation and b) the minority character should probably not be doing the bad stuff just because they’re a minority. Which leads back to X character is inherently evil, inherently worse than anyone else! X minority types are just like that!

It’s character creation in the same way you would do for your hero or your protagonist. If you know what you need them to do, but not why, try asking yourself ‘okay, well, why would someone do XYZ?’

So, India is dying.

Look, I know a good number of you are from the US and things aren't amazing there either, but my country is literally on the brink of collapse. So I'd love it if we could talk about that for a minute.

If you can't do anything else, please just read and reblog.

A second COVID wave has taken out the healthcare system. There are no more hospital beds. There's an oxygen shortage. There's a critical vaccine shortage. The Central Government has thrown its hands up and is passing the baton to the State Governments to do what they can.

There are over 16 million covid cases. A record 330,000 new cases reported yesterday - comparable to the US at its peak. 187,000 dead as of today.

There is no plan.

Mass cremations are taking place. The cremation grounds are running day and night and they are short on wood. People are watching their loved ones die while waiting for a hospital bed, and then they're unable to give them the proper burial rights.

Hospitals are overwhelmed. Patients are being confined, two to a bed. They're the lucky ones.

We are on the verge of people dying in the streets.

This is the second-most populous country in the world. The largest democracy. A country that encapsulates over 15,000 years of recorded human history and has endured everything from famine to invasion to colonisation.

We might be at the end. This might be the thing that does us in.

People are dying.

People are dying.

People are dying and there is no plan.

More good news? Variants are popping up. A double mutation strain has shown up. It is resistant to current vaccines. This will not go away. This is the devastation they warned of when the anti-maskers were out protesting the minor inconvenience of covering their face in public.

My country is on the verge of an emergency state. Our government has failed us. This is as dire a situation as it ever could be.

Look. I don't do much with my life. I write fics, some of you have read them and that's pretty much it. I spend my days with my head in the clouds because that's where I like to be.

But two days ago, my grandmother tested positive, had to be taken to hospital and the ambulance caught fire.

She barely made it to the urgent care she needs.

So, here I am, using whatever meager platform I have to cobble this request together. Because I have to do something.

If you can, donate.

Or spread the word.

Help. Please.

- Stella and Riven are kidnaped by some dumb ass-

Musa yelling: Are you the one who have them?

Dumbass: I have them. Try anything and they get it!

Brandon: Please Don’t kill! I beg of you!

Dumbass: I wont do anything as long as I get what I want!

Musa:We aren’t talking to you! Guys Don’t kill him!

Brandon: Yeah he seems nice!

Dumbass*confused as fuck*:W-what?

Whoever said that talking to yourself was a sign of insanity or whatever

Just want u to know, your dead wrong.

Fic? Plotted out.

Is it a little flat rn? Probably. But I can make that work

Off to ignore it for another 2 weeks now though bc I have my exams to revise for :')

Oh no... My plot... Its disappearing....

Need to actually have a 2 hour conversation with myself to get the plot working again

you can click on this button once daily to help palestine and support other causes in the middle east for free. it takes literally 5 seconds and could help save lives so please take the time to click and share this link.

No one ever tell me anything bad about the person who runs this account.