tfa_kink | DISCUSSION/OFF-TOPIC POST

I think it's sometimes nostalgia on the part of the fillers. I like being over thirty and being able to buy major appliances without terror, but I have to admit that I miss being in my very early twenties and being able to waste time and not worry about things like water bills.

...because that was before 2008. Sigh.

Then why not write someone in their early twenties, instead of write someone who is forty acting twenty for no logical reason?

Forty-year-old people can be fucking childish.

Childish for a forty-year-old isn't the same as being an actual child, though.

da

Yes? And acting like a child isn;t the same as being an actual child either, so...?

ayrt

I'm saying that a lot of the bad fic characterizations that people are complaining about here have the characters written like they are actual children, not an adult acting like a child, which as you agree are nuanced differently.

Are they being described as children physically? If not, they are adult characters acting like children. If that is out of character for them and not intended to be crack, that's bad writing.

Re: Interesting patterns you've noticed in fanfic

(Anonymous) - 2016-02-15 13:59 (UTC) - Expand

IDK I'm in my thirties and I still waste time.

Most of the fics seem to be written by high school and college kids, so I don't know if it's nostalgia so much as them preferring to see characters act like they and their friends do.

Why would anyone have terror over buying major appliances?

Because it costs money they don't have? Idk.

Most likely money. Though with certain major appliances they have to be installed by professionals. Alone. With you. In your house. ...Which is definitely something I have a small terror of ever since the heating repair man hit on me with ever-increasing aggression in my own home. For two consecutive visits. So that could be a thing for other people too, idk.

IDK but a lot of people have terror over acting like an adult and being responsible

I roll my eyes whenever I see someone posting on tumblr about how ~intimidating it is to call a doctor's office and make an appointment or how they deserve praise for doing the dishes and ~adulting.

God forbid anyone have a mental or physical illness that prevents them from consistently "adulting", then being proud of themselves for managing when they can.

Yeah man. My adult ass had to pay for 2000 dollars worth of therapy to be able to call the doctor with goddamn social anxiety. Damn right I'm gonna brag about it.

Thank you.

Yeah.

But I sincerely doubt that is the case for a random sample of those on tumblr posting about how hard ~adulting is.

Kinda funny that this comment comes after two pointing out the issue of money.

I have this terror over the mist inconsequential things that no one would ever guess. On the outside I look like the most adult of adults--I've moved to three different countries on two different continents on my own for work that requires quite a lot of ambition, I've lived on my own throughout this entire process, I like to do my own diy around the house, etc. But honestly I hate doing my taxes so much (I have to do double taxes! My home country's and where I am currently!) that I take two days off work: one day to do it, one day to recover. And I'd quite like to be congratulated for doing my laundry some days.

Maybe some of the tumblr people only whine because it's tumblr and no one irl, where they're otherwise adults, will see.

This! Definitely! I don't usually brag on myself but I'm pretty sure that most people I know irl would assume I've got my shit together. I've never been late to work in about 3 years with the same company (I'm just out of college), I'm great at budgeting and I've been able to help some friends figure out how to make living on their own work, I have a pretty decent social life? I also have a chronic illness - I've ended up answering work emails from a hospital bed more than a couple times and sometimes I'm in so much (physical) pain that I work from home so no one will see how slowly I need to go or the adaptive equipment I use or that I end up crying over very stupid things, like not being able to hold a cup or having too many typos. I know they're dumb things to cry about but sometimes it just feels so discouraging to not be able to do a little thing like that?

I'm pretty sure that no one I know casually irl knows about this? Which is good! I don't want them to! I don't want to go from being a casual friend or a coworker to "That Sick Person". But it's really really nice sometimes to go on tumblr and get to see people readily acknowledging how much "behind the scenes" work goes into being a person sometimes, idk.

I mean, I know no one really has it easy, even the people who you'd expect to? Everyone's got something going on. But it's really helped me more to hear "Hey, man, good on you! You felt shitty but you made that phone call/did your dishes/ate a decent meal, you're doing alright! Keep it up!" than to hear "Well, everyone's got some shit so if you plan on staying alive, deal." (But I guess I need to hear the second one, too, sometimes, haha.)

This is off topic, but why do you end so many declarative sentences with a question mark?

AYRT - I actually hadn't noticed quite how often I do it when writing casually (versus writing professionally or writing fiction) until you pointed it out, haha. I think I'm trying to compensate for how unclear inflection is when typing, maybe - as a matter of fact, I really want to end this sentence with a question mark, but I won't ;)

Have you talked to a therapist about your workaholic tendencies though? What you are describing is not a healthy working life long term.

DA. Not sure how a therapist will be able to help with a chronic illness, and they don't come across as especially workaholic to me, but nice condescension.