Obsolete: [OLD] The Writers' Workshop Rulebook & Information Hub

[AceTrainer14]

Right now, I'm of the mindset that using slurs colloquially does not take away the offensiveness or the stigma surrounding them. It is still a slur.

Yes, but it is not being used as a slur, so I don't really how you can call it offensive if it's not used that way. Admittedly, I don't have any examples off the top of my head of 'Teen' fics that have these words, but regardless of offensive or not, if a story is entirely 'Teen' or 'Everyone' but one word pushes it over the line, I just find it a bit odd (and yes, as unlikely as it may seem, under the current rating guidelines I could envision a story that fits in with Everyone that could also utilise these words). I admit cultural differences play a part in this - I am well aware that Americans are more frigid around swearing than most other countries are - but even with that in mind, this particular rule feels a little extreme.

On the last notion, a list of 'Mature slurs' based on past discussions would be helpful.

 

[Ghostsoul]

Slurs are easier to judge in the context they are used in. What is a slur often depends on the person, sub-culture or culture you are referring to. The idea of 'mature slurs' can also be hard to complete because of this, aside from the words that are universally offensive to everyone - It'll be difficult to maintain for other words since we each have our own perception of which words are more offensive and discriminatory than others. 'Slurs, when used in a discriminatory manner', would be an easier rule to understand and keep to. Or possibly 'strong themes of real-world discrimination' which will almost always include words as slurs being used in that discriminatory context. Context will also make it easier to tell how offensive the individual user finds the word in question and how they expect the audience to react to said word in the fic.

 

[kintsugi]

hey, edit from the future—I was very wrong in this post! There’s a core of an argument but ultimately slurs should absolutely be rated M; my 2018 self had a lot of growing up to do. My original post is in the spoiler for sake of a consistent record, but I absolutely do it stand by the conclusion I drew here.

Spoiler

Weighing in per mod request because I somehow became the kind of person who has a horse in the putting-slurs-in-fanfiction race. Also chiming in because my thought process/rationale behind why hateful language might actually have a valid place in the world is different from what's been posted so far.

A few years back, a lot of parents in my neighborhood (I grew up in America's South, y'all) got together and decided it would be a good thing to ban books from my middle school library that contained the n-word, because, well, it's the n-word and kids shouldn't be reading that and it's being banned from the radio and it's hate speech. Easy as pie, right. And they're definitely not wrong in any of those statements; hate speech is hate speech, and hate speech is bad. The books they wanted to ban on these grounds were To Kill a Mockingbird, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Tom Sawyer.

And, if we're going to be completely blunt, they wanted to keep these books from conflicting with our history classes, which were telling us that the Civil War started over states' rights, not the systematic oppression of an entire continent and widespread hatred that was once/continues to be farmed in our own backyard. That the books had racial slurs in them was a convenient excuse, but they likely would've been removed from the curriculum regardless, because ignoring bad things is fun.

Obligatory mention that a fanfic author who uses a slur is not on the same literary tier as Harper Lee, and that mods who want to provide a safe reading space for their patrons are nowhere near trying to silence centuries of historical shame and abuse. I think everyone in our instance here has the best intentions and I don't think any course of action will be anywhere near as wrong as the attempt to ban TKAM was.

I think the intent behind the T rating is "kids who are under 17 shouldn't be expected to be familiar with or understand these themes". If we live in an ideal world, no one should be expected to be familiar with being marginalized, or having special words that exist just to say how much you and everyone who looks like you sucks. But we don't live in an ideal world, and tons of kids growing up already deal with this reality. This isn't to say that we shouldn't strive to create a community that's less awful than the real world, and that creating a safe space from racial discrimination is a bad thing -- I think in this case, though, we'll be erasing the acknowledgement that these environments existed and very much still exist. And with that erasure goes the feeling/empathy/comfort of being able to help pause a familiar environment to parse through a deeply disturbing, widespread concept that, yes, a bunch of readers are still going to have to face, no matter how cheerful their fanfiction is.

To borrow a phrase/idea from Athena: words aren't racist. Sentences, paragraphs, ideas, and people are. And I understand the inherent difficulty in writing a rule around that sentiment, and how in a lot of cases it'll be far more subjective to walk it all the way back and ban the words, but I think that what actually stands to be erased is far more meaningful than what theoretically is being erased.

If your intent is to create a community where people are safe from these words, as DP mentioned on the previous page, I think explicitly calling out the use of slurs on the first post/the applicable chapters is the easiest and most surefire way to do this anyway.



edit: wanted to throw in here that calling other users racial slurs should 100% be viewed as bad

 

[diamondpearl876]

Thanks for the feedback, guys. I understand this is a strange and tricky thing. I’m reading the posts and am waiting to see if others have more input... In the meantime, a couple questions:

Yes, but it is not being used as a slur, so I don't really how you can call it offensive if it's not used that way. Admittedly, I don't have any examples off the top of my head of 'Teen' fics that have these words, but regardless of offensive or not, if a story is entirely 'Teen' or 'Everyone' but one word pushes it over the line, I just find it a bit odd (and yes, as unlikely as it may seem, under the current rating guidelines I could envision a story that fits in with Everyone that could also utilise these words). I admit cultural differences play a part in this - I am well aware that Americans are more frigid around swearing than most other countries are - but even with that in mind, this particular rule feels a little extreme.

On the last notion, a list of 'Mature slurs' based on past discussions would be helpful.

I’m not sure what your point in parenthesis means, sorry. :C Also, what, to you, is the difference between...

>requiring a bumped rating upon one usage of a slur from T to M, context notwithstanding

and

>requiring a bumped rating upon one usage of a slur from E to T/M based on a non-colloquial use
>requiring a bumped rating upon one usage of mental illness/abuse/strong language/substance use/whatever from E to T/M

I’ll note that E asks for references, which means little to no detail that is likely to go over a kid’s head but be understood by teens and adults, as is commonly found in mainstream media. The exception is strong language, which is allowed anywhere on the forum according to the global rules anyway. Whereas T/M allow depictions, which means more detail suitable for teens and adults but not kids. This is also assuming you’d find slurs in E not okay, offensive or not, if the other criteria shouldn’t be allowed in your view.

In short, I’m not understanding the specific changes to the criteria you’re suggesting. To me it seems you’re suggesting stricter in the lowest ratings but more lenient in the highest rating.

Slurs are easier to judge in the context they are used in. What is a slur often depends on the person, sub-culture or culture you are referring to. The idea of 'mature slurs' can also be hard to complete because of this, aside from the words that are universally offensive to everyone - It'll be difficult to maintain for other words since we each have our own perception of which words are more offensive and discriminatory than others. 'Slurs, when used in a discriminatory manner', would be an easier rule to understand and keep to. Or possibly 'strong themes of real-world discrimination' which will almost always include words as slurs being used in that discriminatory context. Context will also make it easier to tell how offensive the individual user finds the word in question and how they expect the audience to react to said word in the fic.

I agree that multiple cultures would make it difficult to say anything for certain, and I agree context can matter. How would you suggest dealing with the following: two female characters refer to each other as the C-word for fun. What happens if a stranger comes along and uses it offensively? Maybe the two female characters wouldn’t be offended because they use it for fun, but the intent to offend would be there. That one use would still have to bump you up to M, if I understood your view right. Is that something you anticipate the users would be fine with? Given the increasing amount of minority representation in media and the increasing amount of portrayals with people overcoming adversity, I can see this situation happening easily.

If we went the general discrimination route, I’d clarify it’d be discrimination against minorities and groups of people, since I disagree you have to use a slur to discriminate. Example: rejecting someone for a job simply because of their race. Technically, rejecting someone for not being qualified for a job is also discrimination, and it just isn’t comparable.

 

[Beth Pavell]

I'm going to weigh in here as well:

• The primary purpose of the Ratings Guide is to be an aid to the reader - in other words, to help the reader choose what they want to read. That is why, along with the rating tag itself, we also require content tags.
• We recognise that, this being the internet, all we can do is clearly mark stories that are appropriate for certain ages. We can't in any practical way prevent young teens from reading a MATURE-rated story.

A problem we have to deal with, as moderators, is how to make a Ratings Guide that takes into account context (Because this is art), but also allows for the rules to be easily interpreted and consistently applied. We don't want a situation where authors feel they have to ask moderators for clarification before Rating anything. Fairness is a key consideration when writing rules. So with that in mind, in order to allow slurs to be used in TEEN fics, there would have to be clear and consistent criteria for their use.

 

[AceTrainer14]

@diamondpearl876 My argument was essentially that I don't see why a fic that could be 'Everyone' or 'Teen' in every other aspect of the story would have to then be classified 'Mature' or have to specify 'maturity' because one word gets used.

Basically, I don't see why slurs are treated as separate to any other 'swear word'. If you had a story that was dropping c-bombs left right and centre, I would expect that to be mature, but I think one-off uses should have more leniency. Really, it is just laughable to me that the chapter that I was called up on featured vague descriptions of nudity, oral sex and genitalia, but one flippant, off the cuff use of the C-word to refer to a long dead male character notable for being a mass murder is what requires the extra rating. While I appreciate the point of the ratings guide, having been involved in writing and formating it in the past, this rule just feels unnecessarily strict and I don't see what purpose it holds or who it is protecting.

If this rule is to exist, I personally feel 'infrequent uses of slurs' should be allowed under Teen.

 

[Persephone]

Content Warning: barely or not at all redacted slurs

I want to talk expand upon the statement of mine Kintsugi paraphrased above, as well as a general sentiment she noted:

There is a general sentiment among well-meaning people on the left (which, being an American in 2018, I interpret as "not a fascist") that banning slurs is a very good thing. And from a psycholinguistic perspective, I get it. If you don't give people words to explain something then they can't express the sentiment. You can't be racist online without spouting off the n-word or the myriad of slurs against different racial and ethnic groups that are held, for whatever reason, as lesser.

The problem is that ideas have a way of evolving beyond their words. The N-word is banned in polite discourse so the racists start referring to protesting black people as "thugs," even when their protest is simple inaction. Is thug a slur? Should it be considered one? I'd argue there's not much point to be honest. They'd find a different one. After overt racism became taboo in the United States (and until it stopped being taboo again), racists and their enablers (is there a difference, tho?) came up with several: welfare queens, moochers, thugs, illegals, anchor babies. Perhaps this is more visible when talking about disabled persons as seemingly half the insults in the English language are former or current slurs: idiot, moron, dumb, lame, tone-deaf, crippled, stupid, insane, etc. Recently one former member of that category got deemed a slur and was banned. But the others still exist as casual insults.

None of that is my own background, exactly. For context, I'm a white trans woman who grew up in the Midwest and went to college in the Southeast. What's interesting from that perspective is that the people who really, really hate trans women often spend equal amounts of time defending their right to post tr*nny, sh*male and their ilk on the internet and claiming that you can't call someone a TERF, cisgender or a Nazi because those are slurs. For context on the latter three: there is a group of self-professed feminists on the internet, particularly in the UK, who seem to spend more time attacking trans women than promoting the rights of any women at all. Curiously enough, they often wind up linked to far right groups when you follow the shared members. They are called, generously, Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists. I'd argue that half of those words don't apply, but it was originally their term. And now that many people on the left have recognized what a TERF is and come to view their ideology as bad, they want to ban the term because it's a slur against a group that's almost entirely female. Thus, it's pretty much the equivalent of wh*ore or c*nt.

They've actually enjoyed some success in dogpiling ignorant moderates and convincing them that the evil transes are calling them mean names and that's bad and the f*cking tr*nnies shouldn't do that.

They've tried to do the same thing with cisgender (literally just means "not transgender") because it's calling a broad group of people names. I could see calling someone a Nazi as controversial, but there are a lot of open white supremacists and neo-Nazis running for Congress in America right now (some incumbents) and I think it's fair to say that the voters who support neo-Nazis are, in fact, Nazis. That's a descriptor but some people will try and abuse good faith to make it into a slur.

Queerness in general has a lot where f*ggot is still really toxic in most of the U.S. queer spaces I've been in and older queer people can get really, really upset when it's thrown around. I, personally, have never been oppressed by people shouting it (although I was almost run over once by a car that swerved into a crosswalk to hit me while the driver shouted that I shouldn't be wearing a dress), but I understand. Some words were used to justify inaction as the AIDS epidemic killed off a sizable portion of the queer community in the U.S. Some words justified slavery. Maybe those can never be reclaimed. But, frankly, I don't think it's the place of this particular board to decide that.

One final note on anti-white slurs in particular:

Most white voters in the U.S. elected a man who is currently torturing Latinx children in camps and routinely defending the right of white police to shoot and kill black men for no good reason. Most white people still support this man. If they want to call me a gringo or a cracker, fine. Do it. Words are literally the only thing they have to voice an existential frustration with a group committing real and psychological harm upon them. Most slurs are meant to show your contempt for the life of a group, but sometimes that contempt might be justified.

tl;dr banning slurs is a noble sentiment but it's one often hijacked by bigots who insist that the frustrations of marginalized groups are every bit as damaging as the battle cry of child-torturers, you can definitely be racist without using banned words, and I'd prefer if you banned works with a clearly bigoted intent against a marginalized group (since those are the only groups upon which systemic violence can be committed) rather than forcing everyone to use civil words to talk about an uncivil world.

 

[Ghostsoul]

@diamondpearl876
When I mean themes of discrimanation I mean 'this story is largely about real world discrimantion and the characters and situations will reflect that'. Especially if the story itself is being told from the perspective of a bigoted character. If the story has major themes of this kind of descrimation, the likelyhood of slurs coming up in the context of harming, demeaning or opressing the characters (whichever place they take in the story.) is much higher. I mean, some fics which have a more 'gritty' atmostphere might fire one or two words which might be gross to some but in context, we can understand that. The point there was not to produce a reaction of discomfort in the reader, but rather for us to be mad at the antagonist or suprised about how dark this constructed world is. Plus, once these words have been used to set up a character or a scene in an ultra-gritty action fic, we might not see them again, making only a chapter or so of the fic 'M' rated and even then they could mention the usage of these words before the chapter starts.

These works become M rated when they come across as shocking or disgusting when they are there explicitly to offened the audience.

@Persephone
I wouldn't say that we are banning slurs so much as placing them in a different ratings category, which is based off age. I would say this is different from outright banning. R and NC - 17 movies are still shown in cinemas and what is in those movies still aren't considered banned by anyone. Although I agree that fics that have the sole intent of being as bigoted as possible should be banned.

 

[diamondpearl876]

@diamondpearl876 My argument was essentially that I don't see why a fic that could be 'Everyone' or 'Teen' in every other aspect of the story would have to then be classified 'Mature' or have to specify 'maturity' because one word gets used.

That's not what the current guide asks for. A whole fic does not have to be specified as M under these circumstances. A whole fic only has to be specified as M if 30%+ of the total amount of chapters meet M criteria. However, a specific chapter slurs are used in needs to be marked as M, yes.

Basically, I don't see why slurs are treated as separate to any other 'swear word'. If you had a story that was dropping c-bombs left right and centre, I would expect that to be mature, but I think one-off uses should have more leniency. Really, it is just laughable to me that the chapter that I was called up on featured vague descriptions of nudity, oral sex and genitalia, but one flippant, off the cuff use of the C-word to refer to a long dead male character notable for being a mass murder is what requires the extra rating. While I appreciate the point of the ratings guide, having been involved in writing and formating it in the past, this rule just feels unnecessarily strict and I don't see what purpose it holds or who it is protecting.

You argue context in the story itself. I argue context from a real world setting. Again, sexual references are found in media for all ages, just with varying detail. Slurs are restricted to high ratings in most areas of the world. And, as others have said, I can't control for all existing cultures and their views, but I can help readers discern and be comfortable about what they're going to be reading. As a past mod, I'm sure you understand having to try to account for a wide variety of people and the obstacles when trying to do so.

Words are powerful - I think any writer can attest to that - and these are going to be words that are packed with a history of hatred and bigotry. Fiction does not equate reality, but it is always heavily inspired by reality, and you can't completely separate the two regardless of story context. Regular curse words can be damaging, too, but the context of their existence and the history of their usage does not stack up to full on slurs. It's not unreasonable to me that people who randomly run into slurs in the middle of a story would feel confused, uncomfortable, and potentially offended. Thus, I want them marked, whether it's in M or T. Also, a one off occurrence actually seems prone to breaking the flow of a story even worse than if it were dropped all over the place. It'd seem completely out of left field and likely get a bigger reaction out of a reader, whatever that reaction may be, especially if the fic indeed has a heavy E or T feel.

If this rule is to exist, I personally feel 'infrequent uses of slurs' should be allowed under Teen.

Then you'll get people confused as to how many times "infrequent" means, and the uncertainty will remain anyway. This was an issue with strong language in the last rating guide. As @Beth Pavell says, one of the goals of this rating guide is to clear up those vague criteria. I'm not completely averse to opening it up more, because yes, I see where people are coming from, but it needs to be clear.

tl;dr banning slurs is a noble sentiment but it's one often hijacked by bigots who insist that the frustrations of marginalized groups are every bit as damaging as the battle cry of child-torturers, you can definitely be racist without using banned words, and I'd prefer if you banned works with a clearly bigoted intent against a marginalized group (since those are the only groups upon which systemic violence can be committed) rather than forcing everyone to use civil words to talk about an uncivil world.

As @Ghostsoul said, we're not banning slurs. We're asking that their existence in a story be marked as a warning to the reader, just as any of the other criteria, including other curse words. The question is whether to open it to T and, if so, to what extent (colloquial in T vs. non-colloquial in M? something else?). I assume from your post you'd advocate for slurs being in T, but otherwise, what do you suggest? Similarly, how would you divide the criteria for a discrimination content tag?

I don't believe the mods are forcing anyone to write anything specific. If a writer chooses to change their story because they don't want to mark it as M, that's their choice.

Finally, works designed to be intentionally hurtful and bigoted are indeed specified in the guide to be banned already.

@diamondpearl876
When I mean themes of discrimanation I mean 'this story is largely about real world discrimantion and the characters and situations will reflect that'. Especially if the story itself is being told from the perspective of a bigoted character. If the story has major themes of this kind of descrimation, the likelyhood of slurs coming up in the context of harming, demeaning or opressing the characters (whichever place they take in the story.) is much higher. I mean, some fics which have a more 'gritty' atmostphere might fire one or two words which might be gross to some but in context, we can understand that. The point there was not to produce a reaction of discomfort in the reader, but rather for us to be mad at the antagonist or suprised about how dark this constructed world is. Plus, once these words have been used to set up a character or a scene in an ultra-gritty action fic, we might not see them again, making only a chapter or so of the fic 'M' rated and even then they could mention the usage of these words before the chapter starts.

My response to this is about the same as I said to @AceTrainer14 above about real world context and fiction separation.

These works become M rated when they come across as shocking or disgusting when they are there explicitly to offened the audience.

As I said to @Persephone, fics explicitly designed to be bigoted and attack others are already banned.

 

[Misfit Angel]

Another week, another newsletter!

Announcements
The Writers Workshop Summer 2018 Awards is in the final stretch! Judging is coming in and deliberations will soon be made on which stories will take their respective categories! In the meantime, there's still time to cast your votes for the Best Newcomer, Best Reviewer and Best Contributor prizes! Additionally, if you want to recognize another member of the community, a story or a character for your own honorable mention, feel free to do so! The new deadline for these votes and mentions is Friday, August 10th, 11:59 PM PST!

New Releases
Quite busy for new releases!

@Jared DiCarlo has started two stories this past week, Alola Apocalypse and The Life of a Mastermind!
@RockJackal has started up Lucarious!
And lastly, @cascata25 brings us the search for nido

New Chapters
It's been a quiet week, but let's look at what we have.

• @Patrick Haines continues The Legend of Ampharos with a new chapter!
• @Ambyssin has released chapter 25 of PMD: Guiding Light!
• @Gengarzilla returns to PMD: Azure Rescuers with chapter 14!
• @LightningTopaz continues her retelling of the D/P anime with chapters 39 and 40 of Pokemon Shine Diamond!
• @LightningTopaz also brings us another installment (Week369h) of Live from the Fireside!
• @canisaries brings us chapter 5 of Seiren!

Completed stories!
@Jared DiCarlo completed Giovanni's Master Plan! A round of applause, if you'd please!

Word of the Week
As is tradition, @Beth Pavell brings us yet another word of the week: fernweh! I'm sure we all experience it at some point in our lives, myself more than most.

fernweh (n.): wanderlust (desire to travel, a longing for far-off places) [Wiktionary]

Literally “Far-sickness”. If fernweh sounds romantic and little exciting, it shouldn’t. Fernweh isn’t the drive to see the world in all its glorious strangeness. Fernweh is the desire to be anywhere but here. Fernweh has a bleak, depressive edge to it, an assumption that this life is never going to be any good, so anywhere else will be better by default.

That's it for this week!
I'd just like to thank everyone for their continued interaction with the community. Activity is through the roof and we're still going strong! Let's keep it up!

 

[LightningTopaz]

Good morning (or evening), writers of Bulbagarden! Here's what's happening around the Workshop!

We are very very close to finishing judging for the awards--we should have the results up for you soon.

New Releases
Pokémon x Kingdom Hearts: Fateful Crossing by @Cresselia92
Alola Apocalypse, by @Jared DiCarlo

New Chapters
A bonus chapter of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Guiding Light, by @Ambyssin
Episode 42 of Pokémon Shine Diamond, by @LightningTopaz
Week 370 of Live from the Fireside, by LightningTopaz
Chapter Six of Seiren, by @canisaries
Chapter Three of guidance, by @Persephone
Chapter Nine of Walking with Gods, by @Twilight-Kun
A new entry for The Alola Pokédex, by Persephone
A new chapter from The Legend of Ampharos, by @Patrick Haines
Chapter Two of Lucarious, by @RockJackal
Chapter Four and Chapter Five of The Life of a Mastermind, by Jared DiCarlo
Chapter Fourteen of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Azure Rescuers, by @Gengarzilla

Word of the Week
With the Awards coming to close, we come to a familiar sort of concept this week:

literati (n.): well-educated people who are interested in literature. [Oxford English Dictionary]

Literati has always possessed elitist connotations – the word itself comes from the Latin literatus, “acquainted with letters”, a traditional prerequisite for elite status. But with the ever-increasing influence of the internet, and the sheer impossibility of gatekeeping opinions, who are the literati? Opinions of professional critics carry less and less currency in age. Are we all literati? Or is no-one?

That's all for this week! Happy writing!

 

[canisaries]

Chapter Five of Seiren, by @canisaries

Chapter Six was the new one, actually, the fifth chapter came out two weeks ago.

 

[LightningTopaz]

@canisaries

Okay, let me update the newsletter accordingly.

 

[Ereshkigal]

I did not think I would ever have to ask this, but...

Does inventing a slur purely for the story in relation to Pokemon type focus by trainer count as explicit use of slurs?

 

[Beth Pavell]

Does inventing a slur purely for the story in relation to Pokemon type focus by trainer count as explicit use of slurs?

No, it doesn't

 

[Misfit Angel]

Another week, another newsletter!

Announcements
No major announcements this time, but I do have a question for those who read these weekly newsletters: do you find the tagging we do for authors annoying at all? Some authors appear in these newsletters on a weekly basis, which means lots of tagging which could be potentially annoying. Though on the flip side, it may help to motivate authors who'd like to make an impact with frequent releases? You can respond here, by PMing me or reaching out to me on Discord, whichever works for you!

New Releases
A busy week for new projects!
@Felly has brought us a one shot, System Error!
@namohysip has started PMD: Hands of Creation!
@Greninjaman has started Ash and the SH Project!
@Ruffimutt has given us a look at some of her poetry in The Written Works of Ruffi!

New Chapters
Quite a bit this week! Let's look at what we have.

• @Ambyssin continues PMD: Guiding Light with Chapter 26!
• @LightningTopaz continues her retelling of the D/P anime with episodes 43 and 44 of Pokemon Shine Diamond
• @LightningTopaz also brings us another installment (Week371h) of Live from the Fireside!
• @Persephone returns with another installment of The Alola Pokedex (Zorua/Zoroark)!
• @canisaries brings us another one shot, Jacket and Ribbon (Misc TPP Stories)!
• @Extroth has released chapter 3 of Pokemon: This Wide World!
• @Arkadelphiak has released chapter 7 of The Deprogramming!
• @Jared DiCarlo has released chapter 4 of Alola Apocalypse

Completed stories!
@Patrick Haines has completed The Legend of Ampharos!
@Felly has brought us a one shot, System Error!

A round of applause, if you'd please!

Word of the Week
As is tradition, @Beth Pavell brings us yet another word of the week: eucatastrophe! What is the opposite of a catastrophe?

eucatastrophe (n.): a sudden and favourable resolution of events in a story: a happy ending. [Oxford English Dictionary]

The eucatastrophe is not the same as a deus ex machina. Eucatastrophe is apparently certain doom averted. The eucatastrophe isn’t a terribly fashionable concept, being an inherently optimistic trope. Despite sounding like an ancient Greek coinage, it’s actually been brought into the language by no less an author than J.R.R. Tolkien. Still, it is Greek: eû (“Well, good”) and catastrophe (The dramatic event that initiates the resolution of the plot).

That's it for this week!
I'd just like to thank everyone for their continued interaction with the community. Activity is through the roof and we're still going strong! Let's keep it up!

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

I would like a eucatastrophe, please.

Also, I approve of the tagging. It's not an annoyance by any means, instead it gives me a little endorphin kick, like "hey, I'm doing things and people notice!" By all means, continue with that policy.

 

[Beth Pavell]

Just a brief deviation from Misfit's survey - we've made a small change to the Ratings guide. It is now acceptable for EVERYONE-rated stories to have no content warnings, if there are none that apply.

 

[diamondpearl876]

great balls of fire it's been freakin' hot out​

A N N O U N C E M E N T S

The 2018 Summer Awards have wrapped up! Expect the results either tonight or tomorrow! I'll be excited to see all the judging reviews flood in for all you wonderful authors. That sweet, sweet feedback, yo.

What comes after the awards? Good question. There'll be the post-awards feedback conversation for those who judged this time around, and then, there'll be some downtime as we figure out the next event. The mods will also finish up some stuff like the slurs issue, and we'll be returning September 1 with an Author of the Month feature!

N E W R E L E A S E S
An Unwanted Journey by @BackSet! Welcome back!

C O M P L E T E D S T O R I E S
Alola Apocalypse by @Jared DiCarlo, the prequel to Giovanni's Master Plan! Congrats!

N E W C H A P T E R S
Chapter 45 and 46 of Pokémon Shine Diamond by @LightningTopaz
Chapter 27 of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Guiding Light by @Ambyssin
Furfrou from The Alola Pokédex by @Persephone
Chapter Two and Chapter Three of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Hands of Creation by @namohysip
Week 372 of Live from the Fireside by @LightningTopaz
Vermilion City, Pt. 3 of Kanto: There and Back Again by @Beth Pavell
Chapter Two and Chapter Three of Ash and the SH Project by @Greninjaman
Another chapter of The Legend of Ampharos by @Patrick Haines
Chapter Three, Part 2 of guidance by @Persephone
Chapter Seven of Seiren by @canisaries

W O R D O F T H E W E E K
@Beth Pavell brings us a word this week rather briefly, if you know what I mean.

laconic (adj.): (of a person, speech, or style of writing) using very few words. [Oxford English Dictionary]

From the Greek Lacōnikos: from Laconia, Sparta, the Spartans being known for their terse speech.

 

[Beth Pavell]

Serious business this week, obviously.

Announcements and Teasers
The banners are now out for the Awards, including the many Honourable Mentions! Head on over to the Winners thread to check them out.

Following on from the discussion about slurs in fanfiction, we've made a decision about what to do. We've had a range of feedback over the issue, and long story short, slurs will continue to be rated MATURE. We decided they're too touchy a subject to treat the same way as violence, for example. Note that this does not mean slurs are banned language, nor does it mean that one slur turns any fic into a MATURE one. See the updated rules post for full details.

New Releases
Fusion, by @Jared DiCarlo
The Missing Puzzle Piece, by @Felly

New Chapters
Chapter 28 of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Guiding Light, by @Ambyssin
Chapter 6, Chapter 7, and Chapter 8 of An Unwanted Journey, by @BackSet
Chapter Eight of Seiren, by @canisaries
Memory from Land of the Roses, by @Misfit Angel
Chapter Seven of Star Performer, by @Fulcrum
Three newchapters from Legend of Ampharos, by @Patrick Haines
A new entry from The Alola Pokédex, by @Persephone
Week 373 of Live from the Fireside, by @LightningTopaz
Episode 47a of Pokémon Shine Diamond, by LightningTopaz

Word of the Week
Let’s have another adjective shall we?

plangent (adj.): 1. (of a loud sound) loud and resonant, with a mournful tone. [Oxford English Dictionary]
2. Beating, dashing, as waves. [Wiktionary]

Plangent has a nice, deep, booming kind of sound to it, like banging on a thick sheet of steel. It is the sort of adjective that you didn’t know you needed in your vocabulary, but, once you know of it, you’ll always want to use it. Curiously, plangent comes from the Latin plangēns – to lament or mourn.