that writing advice is extremely validating because i am absolutely that asshole who sits around thinking about what she is Saying (tm) with her dinky little fanfiction
@wigglytuffitout meanwhile I'm over here like "the point is... uh..... fictional boys..... suffering..... are pretty....?"
@InspectorCaracal i mean
that's also a good point to have for a lot of things honestly
@wigglytuffitout but I am like a classic case of character-driven stories lol
@wigglytuffitout (in fairness I actually write very little fiction about people suffering, I'm more High Adventure and Mysteries)
@InspectorCaracal tbh i feel like a lot of the 'morals' of my stories only really coalesce when i'm at least a couple of chapters in
it's like the characters mill about and in that direction it all goes in, it gets clearer and clearer, and suddenly it snaps into focus and i realize the undercurrent that's been driving it all, if that makes any sense
@wigglytuffitout yeah it totally makes sense! I mean, I have literally never had anything remotely like that happen, but it makes perfect sense
not that every single piece of writing needs to be didactic, but... i still feel like having a core moral or statement there makes my fanfiction stronger, or at least more interesting for me to write