I really need to see DON'T PANIC in large friendly letters right now.

[puella_nerdii]

Am back on campus, and am looking over my course schedule and wondering what the everliving hell I was thinking. Especially since the university's new system makes it a lot harder to do the last-minute class-shuffle I'm so accustomed to.

...maybe I'm less screwed than I think I am? We'll see.

oh god I am still not ready to be a senior heeeeelp

Comments

[a_white_rain]

Perhaps it says something about me that one of the few canon het romances that works for me these days is the serial killer and the recovering-from-a-shitty-past single mom
haha for me it's like: DOES A SINGLE MOM GET A FAIR PORTRAYAL? I have never seen Dexter but it's very relevant to my interests that single mothers aren't demonized and their kids not a social problem cos they don't have a dad.

[puella_nerdii]

Rita definitely does, I think! She's been through a lot, and she's definitely been damaged by it, but her arc during the first season is a lot about how she recovers, gains confidence in herself, and builds stronger relationships with her kids and her boyfriend. It's really touching -- admittedly I'm a sucker for recovery arcs in general, but she's a strong female character without being a Strong Female Character, you know?

(Dexter is about a very charming serial killer, so it might well be relevant to your interests.)

[a_white_rain]

That's good. Cos lately I've been thinking my time with a single parent was the happiest and healthiest for me. And I know lots of people with single mothers bristle all the time about people calling single mothers the decay of society and how they don't need dads thankyouverymuch. Also interesting to me is recovery stories as well, mostly because it's not often I find them done well. It's an aspect I'm pickier about than most cos of my living situation.

LOL actually, in truth, being a serial killer in itself doesn't interest me. It interests me when they're obsessed with someone pretty I love. Though I suppose certain character traits a serial killer may have would interest me. I R A VERY COMPLEX PERSON.

[puella_nerdii]

Recovery stories when done well are some of my favorite kinds of stories, because at heart I really do want to believe that people can get better, even if the struggle's a difficult one and even if there are setbacks along the way. But the feeling I get when characters work for and really earn whatever kind of happiness they manage to obtain, despite everything standing in their way -- uh yeah I wibble. A lot.

Dex is...hmm. He doesn't really have that kind of single-minded focus on one person, most of the time, but obsessive, he certainly is that. Really, I think a good chunk of my Dexter-love springs from the absolutely friggin' brilliant things Michael C. Hall does, because holy shit that is such a good portrait of a sociopath and his voiceovers make me crack up on a regular basis.

icon relevant and don't make me rant about kt

[a_white_rain]

Earning is a difficult word to use. I get it in context of storytelling, but on the other hand, the word implies a lot of victim shaming imo when it comes to those who have suffered severe injustices. Not that I don't want people to not to take responsibility for their lives and recovery, it's just that line of thinking, in my experience tends to lack compassion. So what I'm not really interested in characters earning happiness as much as I'm interested in people getting exactly what various types of abuses do to people and portraying them honestly. And recovering is a life-long process because the scars always remain and define you.

I tend to only find it well done in non-fiction, sometimes fanfiction.

[puella_nerdii]

I meant earning in the context of storytelling, should've specified that -- I like it when people have to work to get better, and it's hard as all hell, and maybe you're never completely scar-free, but -- you're better, and there's hope that you'll continue down that road. So less about the Happy Ending, more about a hopeful one that leaves the character room to do what the character wants to do, even if it's not gonna be easy. (I have very little patience with stories that portray recovery as one-heartfelt-talk-and-then-everything's-better, because would it were that easy.)

I've seen it well done in published fiction before. Not often, which is why I am failing at coming up with examples, but it happens.

[a_white_rain]

I figured as much, just ah a bit of a trigger word for me, I guess.

Actually, I can think of some YA fiction I've read (not of the titles, it's been too long since I've been into YA) that have done it well and maybe some various TV shows, with some reservations. And, never, sexually abused women. It's gotten to the point where I want no one else to ever write about it again while I crave to see it done well. //lit angst