you know what actually pisses me off? when I finally start to feel a smidge of confidence in my writing ability and then some JERK POSTS A SINGLE LINE FROM A TERRY PRATCHETT NOVEL AND IT’S BETTER THAN ANYTHING I WILL EVER WRITE NO MATTER HOW MANY MILLENNIA I SPEND TRYING!
Terry was a professional writer from the age of 17. He worked as a journalist which meant that he had to learn to research, write and edit his own work very quickly or else he’d lose his job.
He was 23 when his first novel was published. After six years of writing professionally every single day. The Carpet People was a lovely novel, from a lovely writer, but almost all of Terry’s iconic truth bomb lines come from Discworld.
The Colour of Magic, the first ever Discworld novel was published in 1983. Terry was 35 years old. He had been writing professionally for 18 years. His career was old enough to vote, get married and drink. We now know that at 35 he was, tragically, over half way through his life. And do you know what us devoted, adoring Discworld fans say about The Colour of Magic? “Don’t start with Colour of Magic.”
It is the only reading order rule we ever give people. Because it’s not that great. Don’t get me wrong, very good book, although I’ll be honest I’ve never been able to finish it, but it’s nowhere near his later stuff. Compare it to Guards Guards, The Fifth Elephant, the utterly iconic Nightwatch and it pales in comparison because even after nearly 20 years of writing, half a lifetime of loving books and storytelling Terry was still learning.
He was a man with a wonderful natural talent, yes. But more importantly he worked and worked and worked to be a better writer. He was writing up until days before he died. He spent 49 years learning and growing as a writer, taking so much joy in storytelling that not even Alzheimer’s could steal it from him. He wouldn’t want that joy stolen from you too.
Terry was a wonderful, kind, compassionate, genius of a writer. And all of this was in spite of many many people telling him he wasn’t good enough. At the age of five his headmaster told him that he would never amount to anything. He died a knight of the realm and one of the most beloved writers ever to have lived in a country with a vast and rich literary tradition. He wouldn’t let anyone tell him that he wasn’t good enough. And he wouldn’t want you to think you aren’t good enough. He especially wouldn’t want to be the reason why you think you aren’t good enough.
You’re not Terry Pratchett.
You are you.
And Terry would love that.
I only ever had a chance to talk to Terry Pratchett once, and that was in an autograph line. I’d bought a copy of The Carpet People, which was his very first book, and he looked at it with a faint air of concern. “You realise that I wrote that when I was very young,” he said, in warning.
“Yes,” I said. “But I like seeing how authors grow.”
He brightened and reached for his pen. “That’s all right then,” he said, and signed.
Shore line studies. Now i understand why so many artists paint the ocean because not only is it very easy to do, it’s satisfying and looks pretty as soon as you add the white foam. These took me about 20 minutes each to paint.
the least realistic thing about star trek is that starfleet uniforms don’t have pockets and nobody complains about it
My instinct is to agree with this, but like, when I really think about it…
No money, no credit cards, identification is all vocal/fingerprints/retinal, so no wallet.
Again, doors are voice activated, or just unlocked by entering a code. No keys.
Communication devices are tiny and stick onto clothing starting in Next Gen. TOS had bulkier communication that they carried around or kept in, like, packs and stuff, so the arguments for pockets is a little more valid, and if I remember correctly, those costumes did have pockets, tho I could be wrong about that. But anything post TNG, the point is moot anyway.
Tricorders and phasers are really the only thing anyone’s carrying around, and that’s usually on away missions where they’d be bring their packs/holsters or just have them out. I mean, who wants to stick a phaser in their pocket?
So, yeah. There’s not much little stuff people need to carry around everywhere. And if they are preparing for a longer journey or want to bring bulkier things, well…just bring a bag. It fits more anyway.
what if i find a cool rock and want to take it home with me
Every time a member of the USS Enterprise has found a cool rock and taken it home, it has resulted in eleven deaths, six temporal displacements, the holodecks breaking again, and somebody getting turned into a lizard. Pockets are a privilege, not a right.
I’ve gotten more notes on this comment than anything else I’ve ever posted, but this is the best addition to it I’ve ever seen. Thank you.
my finished quilt for my undergraduate thesis show! my art practice lately has been spending time with small things the average person doesn’t notice or know about. this quilt is entirely hand printed and hand stitched. show label below:
Little Glass Houses, 2023
Hand-dyed and unbleached muslin, cotton batting, mercerized cotton thread and block printing ink
Diatoms are a prolific single-celled microorganism, found in water and soil across the planet. This quilt “magnifies” them for the human eye in a composition that mirrors the view of a slide under the microscope. The cell walls of diatoms are likened to glass, as they are made up of a thin layer of transparent silica. Replaced by soft cotton and thread, this quilt gives them a dimensional quality that is lost under a microscope.
Y'all need to start reblogging stuff like this if you don’t already. This is gorgeous work.
100 is kind of a lot for “quantity of Koroks who tried to go camping but coincidentally all got too tired to move”, so here’s my personal headcanon:
There is one (1) Korok who actually tried to join his friends in camping and see post-Upheaval Hyrule, but got too tired to move and needed to be rescued by Mr. Hero.
And as soon as you rescued him, he told everyone in Korok Forest about how the cool, brave, awesome Mr. Hero personally hand-carried him to his friend.
So now every time a set of camping Koroks spots Mr. Hero in the distance, they get really excited and rock-paper-scissors over who gets to race ahead and flop in front of the hero like a puppy who doesn’t want to leave the dog park, claiming they can’t move and need to be carried.
I want more villains who care about their henchmen. I wanna see the bad guy fly into a rage because the hero hurt their very favorite bungling goon and it was nearly his birthday.
“how dare you fail me you miserable oafs!!” should be retired. “How DARE they bully my adorable oafs!!!” should be industry standard.
Underlings having to hold back their dark lord like an overprotective parent because they don’t really want a famous hero to get outright murdered just on their behalf.
I had to draw something
I don’t want to go ‘realism in fiction’ bc we all know how much of a dogwhistle that can be. But it really always bothers me that this isn’t the norm. Like, how the fuck do all these dark lords and evil empresses and what not keep any minions or lieutenants or what not around?
Literally, what is stopping them from just walking to Hero and going ‘I surrender, get me the hell away from this asshole!’ when most Heros will immediately turn them in a redemption story and all.
Like, how they hell do the villains keep anyone working for them without a solid health plan, 401K, and recreational facilities? Isn’t that the minimum. Has no one actually read Machiavelli?
Indeed; one of my least favorite tropes is the whole “I don’t need you anymore” bit, where a villain backstabs a fellow villain working beneath them, which inevitably ends up with the betrayed villain aiding the heroes in order to spite the big bad.
Luckily, I can just draw something that cuts that bullshit out!
Reblogs a lot about artistic, fannish, and feminist things. Looks at any given canon and is pretty sure we can fit some more seats at that table. she/her pronouns
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