Did you know that most 8 year olds are in grades 2-3? They’re, on average, 3 ¾-4 feet tall. They weigh 50-60 pounds, about the same as a bulldog.
This is just a random set of facts, and is in no way connected to the fact that a lot of people think Dick started fighting crime at 8.
Okay, but now I’m picturing Bruce dealing with a very tiny child who insists on accompanying him in this bright costume and Bruce is like, okay. You can “fight crime” with me.
Cue Bruce running along rooftops, with lil’ Dickie on his heals keeping carefully curated coms with Alfred.
The streets are clear. Because Bruce made sure of it like, two hours ago. But Bruce has this “patrol” parkour route all figured out to give him a workout and Dick an outlet for all that energy.
Agent A occasionally spices things up by identifying cats “stuck” in trees (Thank you, Selina). And letting them know when there’s someone very elderly or otherwise vulnerable who could use a late-night escort from Leslie’s clinic.
Dick doesn’t catch on for years, because Bruce isn’t really lying. It is genuinely important to him that Dick learn that walking a lone drunk girl home or helping that old homeless guy stand and giving him a Wayne Enterprises reference card so he can apply for a job is every bit an act of fighting crime as punching a thug in the face.
If you could pick an academic field to study out of sheer interest and not the bludgeoning despair of trying to survive capitalism, what would it be? I’d definitely definitely!! do astrophysics.
Concept: A gender reveal party but AFTER the kid is born.
Like when the kid is 6 or 12 or 18 or 24. When the kid has decided what their gender is or isn’t.
[Image is from a newpaper. Shows grainy image of a teenager with the text, “A Retraction – Bogert – In 1995 we announced the arrival of our sprogget, Elizabeth Anne, as a daughter. He informs us that we were mistaken. Oops! Our bad. We would now like to present, our wonderful son – Kai Bogert. Loving you is the easiest thing in the world. Tidy your room.”
[Image shows Damian and Jon touching hands in a pose from Dragon Ball (Z?). The pose is part of a dance that causes characters to fuse into one being.
End ID.]
My seven year old adores Steven Universe and wandering around youtube. One day he was watching fusion videos and ending up in Dragon Ball Z. He was incredibly excited and I ended up watching a lot of out of context Dragon Ball Z with him.
This image makes me think of my son trying to walk his 4 year old brother through the fusion dance a week or so ago. 4 year olds aren’t very good at synchronized movements, but he tried!
I have to say one thing right off the top if you do not tag major character death, you are putting your ‘plot twist’ ahead of your readers’ comfort
I get it. You don’t want to lessen the impact. Totally. I skip tags too sometimes. Like in my fake dating fic where the characters turn the fake dating around on other people and create fake-dating-ception. I didn’t add in the other plot twists after that one either, for the same reason.
But those things are not liable to cause someone to break into tears, mourn the loss of a character, and quite possibly shun either your fic or all fic for a good long while after they read it because they’re so upset.
Tagging is an art. It really is. And it takes a lot of practice to be good at it – god knows I’m not. But there’s something you really should keep in mind when you’re tagging a fic:
your readers
tags help readers find the fic they want to find
tags help readers avoid the fic they don’t want to read (yes, even if it’s yours)
archive warnings exist for a reason – and no, saying “author chose not to use archive warnings” doesn’t cover your butt on that one.
Put yourself in your readers’ place. Would you want to go into a story thinking it was a romance and end with one of your ship dying? That’s a good way to get labelled as an anti-shipper in a fandom and have word of mouth say “don’t read that author if you like this ship” Sure it happens all the time in original fiction, but this isn’t original fiction and we need to keep that in mind.
One of the golden rules of fanfic is Don’t like? Don’t read. but people can only follow that rule if they know what they’re walking into.
Be kind to your readers. Tags aren’t there for you. Tags are there for them.
Maybe I’ve gotten into that mindset because I have only ever written for fandoms where violence was a mainstay and had several canonical character deaths so like, anyone who would be reading this is already accustomed to it, ya know? I do warn for graphic depictions of violence and rape though, bc sometimes I go darker than canon ever does.
So, I guess how an author warns/tags depend on the fandom and the types of things people familiar with said fandom would be used to by now? I imagine the game of thrones fandom and the skylanders fandom have diferent expectation of what their fan fiction should be/have.
Also, I feel the need to clarify that in the fic where I use “author chose not to use archive warnings” where someone will die, I tag for canon-typical violence (because I don’t plan on going into loving detail about what the sword looks like sticking out of him) and tradgedy, so I make it clear that this is going to end badly for someone. I feel like I hit a good middle ground, warning that it won’t end pretty for the sake of my readers, while not specifying HOW it will end badly for the sake of the story itself.
[previous reblogs trimmed]
Excellent point about differences in fandoms. Thanks for your other thoughts on this as well.
I am never going to see ‘author chose not to use archive warnings’ the same way. I’ve always considered it the same as ‘I’m not going to bother tagging, there probably isn’t much needing tags.’
Authours often mean ‘there definitely should be a tag, but it’s a SECRET’?? Wow. That is good to know.
I still think that authours could write their spoilers into their end notes and indicate that people could check them if they have triggers.
My main take away is that I can’t read stories where they use that tag. This isn’t a complaint! Not all stories are for me, and that is a clear way to say ‘if you’re sensitive don’t read’ which I now understand.
Something is stealing Tim’s comforter. It’s a realisation that comes to him through the sliding fog of not-quite-asleep-but-not-quite-awake. He rolls onto his other side, following the covers creeping off him – are they running away? – and trapping them under his weight. He keeps rolling until he can pull some of the comforter back over him. Snuggling into the thick goose down material as he shifts further over.
Right off the edge of the bed.
“Oof,” he mutters, cheek squashed against the hardwood floor. Pain radiates out from the impact point behind his left ear. He’s lucky the tangle of sheets and blankets and the escaping comforter he brought down with him mostly broke his fall.
Something pokes him in the side. Once. Twice. An exasperated sigh. More poking.
“Drake, stop being pathetic. Get up.”
Tim grunts his displeasure with that idea and curls into his nest of bed covers. The floor is far from as comfortable as the mattress on his bed, but he’s tired so it will do. If Damian, that annoying little gremlin, would just stop poking him.
“You have been asleep for almost twelve hours,” the imperious voice of his rude awakening continues. “Get. Up.”
Tim would flip him the bird but that would require letting go of the death grip he now has on his comforter. He doesn’t want to do that; it might get tugged away again. And it’s cold. Why is it so damn cold? He’d been warm when he finally fell into bed… longer ago than he’d thought, if Damian isn’t lying about it having been twelve hours.
Damian crouches down to grab a fistful of Tim’s precious comforter and Tim hisses at him. This comforter is the only source of warmth left in the world and he will. not. relinquish. it.
Damian clicks his tongue. “You are truly a disgrace, Drake,” he says, “Why Father ever thought you’d be a decent Robin when you’re this lazy, I will never understand.”
But he retreats from the room and leaves Tim alone, so Tim lets the insult wash over him. He’s too tired to care what the demon child thinks of him at the moment anyway. Tired and sore from his collision with the floor. He closes his eyes and pulls the comforter over his face. More sleep sounds like an excellent solution to both those problems.
kiragecko 