Sorry If This Seems Like A Weird Question, But Do You Have To Plan Character Goals And Motivations For

sorry if this seems like a weird question, but do you have to plan character goals and motivations for characters that are less than five years old?

Their age doesn’t matter, what matters is their role in the story.

Take ice age for example, even the kid has goals and motivations (to find his parents, to eat, to have his nappy changed.)

A child probably won’t have life changing goals like “find them man who murdered my parents” unless they’re a really cool five year old lol

But if the character is important to the story there should be a reason for them to be there.

I hope that makes sense. It’s hard to give advice without knowing the details.

Fanfic Reader Appreciation

I want to give a warm shout-out to all my readers.

Thank you. 

Thank you for being here. Thank you for giving my work a chance. Thank you for devoting your time to reading my words, anything from my most convoluted fanfic to my crackiest shitpost. Life is busy, complicated, messy, and unpredictable. There’s a cost-benefit analysis of how you spend your minutes, and I’m honored that you choose to gamble them on my writing. No matter who you are, no matter what the circumstances, I appreciate you from the depths of my heart. 

Whether you silently lurk, give kudos, comment, like, reblog, tag, rec, ask/chat, or engage in any other way – I am grateful. You are the coffee to my muse, the song in my soul, the cat in my meme. You give me the strength and the courage to post my ideas, in the hopes that someone – or more than just someone – will enjoy my creation(s).

Sometimes I feel I don’t belong. I feel like I’m intruding into something precious. Fandom is a special kind of special, and I want to honor what it means to so many people. As a writer, I don’t want to get it wrong. Sometimes I think I’m annoying. I think I’m not good enough. I hope my writing and my stories live up to my readers’ expectations, and more often than not I will never know – but I can hope and keep doing my best. I drive myself crazy trying to be perfect for my readers’ sake, and yet there are always problems hiding under problems. Sometimes I get lost in a toxic headspace, caught up in fixating on story statistics and notes, and it takes me several rounds of reflection to remember what’s truly important. I’m human, and it’s a process. But the conclusion I always arrive at is that these stories were posted online for readers to enjoy. At the end of the day, it’s about you. The audience.

And honestly, readers don’t get enough credit.

Sometimes I need to remind myself of that.

There’s a lot of fandom discourse about “comment culture” and validating the writers, but readers deserve their own validation. So readers, this is for you. No matter what steps you take – or don’t take! – to engage with writers and their fanfics/blogs/etc., you’re out there. You’re reading. And you’re appreciated. So, so appreciated.

Again, thank you. For reading, for participating in fandom in whatever way works best for you, and for sharing your fandom space with me. Thank you for sticking by me as I flail and flop. Thank you for putting up with my mistakes and (silently or not) cheering my successes. Thank you for inspiring me to share a piece of myself through a “what-if” AU idea or a witty banter punchline. I might never know who you are, but I know you’re out there. That’s enough. Please accept my eternal gratitude and cyber-hugs. I hope my works touch you, entertain you, mean something to you. I hope you get something out of what I write. 

Most of all, I hope I make you smile – like you make me smile.

Read on.

Golden Rules for Fanfiction Readers:

if the fic already has a thousand comments, comment still. Your comment will still matter and delight the author.

if a fic is a decade old and the author hasn’t been active in the last five years, comment still. There will come a time when the author will read and cherish your comment, or maybe it will motivate them enough to start writing again. You never know!

if the author never responds to comments, comment still. Interaction with the author is a very nice bonus, but you can be sure that even if the author doesn’t answer, they will read it and enjoy it at some point

there’s no such thing as a too long comment.

there’s no such thing as a too incoherent comment.

the author will give no flying fuck about any gramatical errors, typo or other misspellings. If you’re a non-native speaker struggling to express themselves, you can be sure the author will be all the more pleased that you surmounted the language barrier to let them know you appreciated their work. Don’t be afraid!

there’s no such thing as commenting too often.

you will never, ever come across as creepy by obsessing over a fic or an author to the point where you worry the author might think you’re a stalker. On the contrary, the author will be delighted by your investment in their work.

say thank you. It’s always appreciated to see readers acknowledge the work and commitment that is put into writing.

the floaty review box (ao3 add-on) is your friend

be positive and encouraging. Positive reviews make writers all warm and glowy from the inside, bashing plunge their soul into icy darkness. You want the first, not the second!

whoever you are, if you read their fic, YOU are IMPORTANT to the author. Let them know you’re there!

(if any author wants to contradict one of those rules, please let me know!)

(Submitted by @randomishnickname)

Shoelaces headcanons

“I want to write a fanfic for it, about dead kids… In a non morbid way.” ~Me to my college bud.

The concept for my fic is fairly simple. Centering around the question what happens to the children who are unborn? For one reason or another they never truly lived. So they were never good or bad. They are complete blank slates.

Season 1

One of the GP residents was formally a social worker on earth that helped raise millions of dollars for planned parenthood, foster care, and rescued thousands of children from unsafe enivroments.

With Michael and Janet's assistance they decide to continue they're work helping eager couples find their kids and perfect their afterlife families.

Not every couple wants kids so not everyone has a child placed with them.

Chidi seems like a guy who would have liked to have a child. Hence Analiese's placement.

Tahini and Jason don't have a kid. Because that would be torture for the child.

Lysie really throws a wrench in Eleanor's working to become a better person plan. Hard to study being a good when you have to also mascerade as part of the perfect parenting pair.

Lysie is such a blank slate having never lived. All of her personality traits and intrests have to develop.

Her obedient started personality drives Eleanor crazy.

The two aren’t really close.

Ana absolutely adores Chidi, she’s his little shadow for quite awhile.

She does however tire of his indecisiveness often making up his mind for him. In the way a living child would.

“No it’s Ah-na. Not a-nuh!”

This kid can’t tie her shoes.

Eleanor’s negative relationship and actions eventually leads to a glitch in the good place. Having an unwanted effect on Ana’s aging.

Everything corrects it’s self.

After the event. Eleanor’s despite her best efforts grows somewhat attached to Ana.

Ana really isn't a confident child at the start. Eleanor teaches her the value of rebelling a little bit.

This teaching actually leads to Eleanor spending a more time with Ana as she develops a broader personality.

Ana doesn’t understand why Chidi’s teaching Eleanor to be a good person.

Analiese makes so many jokes about the fact that she’s dead.

Ana does what neither Chidi or Eleanor thought to do.

“Janet, please get us the comfiest couch.”

Eleanor teaches Ana how to stuff her pockets with snacks, make a churro donut ice cream cake, and be an over all fun person.

Analiese has a low tolerance for Tahani’s superiority complex.

She thinks Michael is funny.

Eleanor, Chidi, and Ana are very dysfunctional family.

Movie nights with all three of them. Ana picks the movie.

“Why does everyone like Elsa? Anna’s the hero.”

“That’s what I’ve been saying!”

Getting a long, thought-through, lovely review on a piece of your writing you really love