Creative Corner

ixris, I'm not...super in love with the accent because it covers up too much of his beautiful face, but it was the only one with flowers that I kind of liked on him. xD;; And he needed flowers. Probably not SO MANY, but.

I guess with your lore that I'm just really happy to see various mental health issues and disabilities represented, not to mention a wide spectrum of gender/sexuality. I can understand the worry about not wanting to sensationalize them, but I don't think of your writing as sensationalist (except when you KILL EVERYONE, lol). It's just nice to see characters out there who have problems yet are dealing with them and coping with them in a constructive manner - and those that aren't have room to grow in their lore.

@/Sal 'Brock'.... You say this, and... [img]https://media.giphy.com/media/6Au1BIYc1i4Ni/giphy.gif[/img] (XD I'm sorry, that's LITERALLY what he makes me think of.) EDIT: AND HE'S FRIENDS WITH WALLACE AND WALLY, IT'S PERFECT. XD [s](Pokemon trash. <3)[/s]

...I have no idea who that is. o_o;; /fails references forever

@/Sal
POKEMON, SAL, POKEMON.

(He's the Rock Gym leader, which is why it's so funny. XD)

Ah, okay. xD I have never actually played/watched Pokemon, though I have checked in and out a TON of books and DVDs that various library patrons have read and watched.

Sara - Yeah, I didn't mean to imply anything about your own writing, so sorry if it came off that way. I figure everyone does their own level of comfort, and I'm super glad you're coming at it from a place of study and not just like 'mental illness du jour' or something. *THUMBS UP*

I did do some understated lore for dragons before, specifically Brightwork is written to be autistic as heck, but I kind of felt like it was a disservice to do this, because it felt like I was trying to put a blanket over any problems he may have had? Like, if I don't say outright there's a problem, some allistic human, bless them, is going to pick up this kid that I meant to be autistic and just be like 'lolololol what a quirky dragon i bought' which is well within their rights, but also NOT THE POINT.

I tried being much more explicit with later additions to my lair, and I was way happier being able to say like 'oh Javor is nonverbal almost all the time, but he's also freaking autistic and likes hanging out with Brightwork, who gets him' (because Brightwork is also autistic as heck). It seemed to fit better, though tbh neurodivergent dragons always feels a little silly to me, because like, I mean, they're ~dragons~. This last bit is probably just my own insecurities trying to manifest, lol.

I mean, part of writing is borrowing little things from people you know and building them in a way that's believable. It's just that I struggle with doing it in a way that says to most people that it's done sensitively? I'm having a very large Do No Harm kick lately, I think.

I really appreciate your taking the time to talk about this with me. Please don't take anything I've said as an attack or anything, because I'm super unfamiliar with your lore, and I literally have not read enough of it to be making any attacks. Anything that I've said that may apply to your writing is coincidence, because I'm mostly just thinking of my own and the writing of others I've seen on the site that have made me kind of cringe.

This goes for pretty much anyone who wants to chime in. I super respect all of you and you all (should?) know that, but if I accidentally winged a rock at you, it wasn't meant as a personal thing, and I'm sorry ahead of time.

Sal - I hear you. I think I get what you're saying. And I am appreciative of it. <3

Also - HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW POKEMON OH MY WORD. (i know the answer to this because you're roughly my age, and I generally assume most people my age do not know pokemon)

I forget if Brock was his hatchling name or not, but if it was, Sara, I did that on purpose, lol.

ixris - I know I haven't expanded on the lore for most of your kids that I've gotten from Oakrest lately, but when I do, I hope you'll poke me if I've portrayed anything incorrectly!

I think all of us have our own various mental health issues/insecurities, and these come through in our writing. (I also think a lot of us try to understand ourselves through writing fiction.) That said, just saying "well most of us in this thread have anxiety so we all could write it" doesn't quite cover it because we all deal with anxiety in different ways, and it manifests differently for each of us and is brought on by different things in our lives (and sometimes by nothing at all), and I think it's the same for fictional dragons as it is with people. If I wrote an anxious dragon, maybe someone else wouldn't see it as anxiety, if that makes sense. Same thing with depression, etc. I should probably just delete this paragraph because it probably doesn't read well or make sense, but I'll leave it in just in a sad, sad attempt to convey my point that I think that writing and/or reading about these things can be therapeutic even if it is hard to handle them sensitively and in a manner that everyone can relate to. (I think we all try to relate to each other, but empathy can only take us so far, and nobody has the exact same life experiences as another.)

Also if I recall correctly, Brock's hatchling name was Henrick, which was the name of another dragon I got from Oakrest, so I changed it (partly to match his brother Bram). xD

I know OF Pokemon, I just don't...know Pokemon, if that makes sense. I can recognize a lot of them? xD;;

(I'm really sorry this is so long, I just have a hard time explaining my thoughts in a more simplistic manner, so... >.>)

@/Sal
You NEVER watched Pokemon before? O.o You're missing out on one of the greatest franchises created. XD I suggest you watch/play it, even my mom still loves to play any Pokemon games I complete. ;3 (I suggest you watch the first season! Start from the beginning, because it's SO GOOD <3)

@/ixris
Oh, no worries! I didn't think that's what you were trying to do at all, I just thought to give some advice if you want to write disabilities and such like this but still felt uncomfortable about doing it, or I'm just being silly and caused you to stress over something that's worth nothing, sorry about that. ^^;;

*sigh* Yeah, honestly I kind of find it a bit tiring when I hint that a Dragon has a really hard time it's going through but the person who buys it completely ignores that and just takes it that the Dragon's just overthinking things or whatever (when in reality it has some major bi-polar problems!) and yeah, it's completely NOT the point of it and -well, I'll leave it at that before I go into a rant about Dragon's mental/health problems, which is kind of silly. :P

Haha, that's true, but honestly after having a million of invisible friends from when I was little include almost all of my stuffed toys, I have to admit the Dragons at this point has taken a LOT of human characteristics for me, almost like they're actually people? (I mean, they are, but... more real, I guess?) So I kind of figured they must all experience similar if not the same problems as people. (And I feel a bit guilty treating them anything less, but that might be my own paranoia. ^^;;)

Don't worry, EVERYONE has a hard time writing/doing things that aren't insensitive, and I long since noted that no matter what you do, people will agree and disagree, and all you can do is make it so that more people lean towards the former, and from what I've seen you're doing completely fine thus far. ^^ (But this just from what I've seen, so I hope I don't come off like I'm badgering or something, and I apologize if I am!)

And please, no, honestly I should be the one to say sorry! I kind of started this discussion, and I admit it's fun talking to you, and I can see you're a sincere person who doesn't mean any harm. ^^

Besides, I agree with Sal, everyone has their own problems, and it just makes them all the more stronger to work around them and walk through life with their heads up high, right? :3

And no Sal, I understand your point, at least I hope so? Everyone views things like 'disabilities' and 'problems' differently even if there's an overall scope of what it is, and it's hard for those who are not experiencing them/ doesn't recognize they have them to see them in someone else, especially if it comes to characters such as Dragons.

(...Sorry if I sound bossy or pushy, I honestly don't mean to come off like that...)