✍️ Writing
A community for writers, like poems, fiction, non-fiction, short stories, long books, all those sorts of things, to discuss writing approaches and what's new in the writing world, and to help each other with writing.
Rules for now:
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2. Mention own work for purpose and not mainly for promo: Feel free to post asking for feedback on excerpts or worldbuilding advice, but please don't make posts purely for self promo like a released book. If you offer professional services like editing, this is not the community to openly advertise them either. (Mentioning your occupation on the side is okay.) Don't link your excerpts via your website when asking for advice, but e.g. Google Docs or similar is okay. Don't post entire manuscripts, focus on more manageable excerpts for people to give feedback on.
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4. All writing approaches are valid. If someone prefers outlining over pantsing for example, it's okay to discuss up- and downsides but don't tell someone that their approach is somehow objectively worse. All approaches are on some level subjective anyway.
5. Solarpunk rules still apply. The general rules of solarpunk of course still apply.
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Great article, and a great point that I've long agreed with. This got me thinking about D&D and tabletop games in general. Its actually really funny to see how these games have changed over the years as the self-fulfilling idea that "every story follows the hero's journey" compounds over and over again in a medium that is inherently cooperative and team based.
The main inspiration for many TTRPGs are movies and video games now, so you get all these games heavily focused on violence as a solution and solitary heroes (acting as an Avengers-like team up) are the only means of enacting that solution.
Its a real shame because there are lots of games (and stories to tell with then) with many different focuses that don't get much attention anymore. What about Traveller and being a ragtag group that's just trying to survive on the fringes of space? What about big LARPs where political maneuvering and alliances matter more than stats and dice?
Nope, everything wants to be the easily packaged-and -sold core group battle dynamics of MMOs and service games. You need your DPS, your tank, and your support class. You need flashy superhero flaming punches to show off how cool your dude is.
I'm glad the indie RPG scene is stronger than ever and making weirder, queerer games than ever. Because we desperately need antidotes to mainstream culture (which has been completely taken over by private equity) that can offer novel visions of how we might live and dream.