Rori Thornton (xe/xem/xyr)
@sbdrag.bsky.social
Aroace nonbinary author of queer fantasy romcoms. Peer-reviewed autistic.
In college for Animation Game Design. Draws sometimes.
Minors DNI, I engage with and repost NSFW.
In college for Animation Game Design. Draws sometimes.
Minors DNI, I engage with and repost NSFW.
Which is all just to highlight that understanding the medium you're working in is a *huge* part of effective storytelling, often in small ways you might not identify specifically at first, but still distracts you.
November 5, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Which is all just to highlight that understanding the medium you're working in is a *huge* part of effective storytelling, often in small ways you might not identify specifically at first, but still distracts you.
Bollywood films often have big shots of huge crowds dancing - which is also why they tend to have a lot of wide panning and shots and holds, so you can actually *see* the dancing and set up. So while the shots aren't the most dynamic, they still feel energetic because of what's happening on screen.
November 5, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Bollywood films often have big shots of huge crowds dancing - which is also why they tend to have a lot of wide panning and shots and holds, so you can actually *see* the dancing and set up. So while the shots aren't the most dynamic, they still feel energetic because of what's happening on screen.
It made the sets feel big and empty - and not in a purposeful way of highlighting isolation, just in a way that makes you ask "why is the scene of all the townsfolk singing Bonjour so spread out and empty compared to the animated version?" It feels cold, but not like a purposeful tonal shift.
November 5, 2025 at 12:52 AM
It made the sets feel big and empty - and not in a purposeful way of highlighting isolation, just in a way that makes you ask "why is the scene of all the townsfolk singing Bonjour so spread out and empty compared to the animated version?" It feels cold, but not like a purposeful tonal shift.
It happened with the live-action Cowboy Bebop as well - by doing a frame for frame remake of the animation, they weren't really taking advantage of being a live action film. The 2017 Beauty and the Beast sets were set up like a stage play - but we weren't viewing the film from a single angle.
November 5, 2025 at 12:52 AM
It happened with the live-action Cowboy Bebop as well - by doing a frame for frame remake of the animation, they weren't really taking advantage of being a live action film. The 2017 Beauty and the Beast sets were set up like a stage play - but we weren't viewing the film from a single angle.
That was why when DC started all their newest rounds of films, a lot of them looked stilted and stiff - because they hadn't adjusted the comic style developed for still images into something dynamic enough for moving images. It wasn't the worst, but it was a thing.
November 5, 2025 at 12:52 AM
That was why when DC started all their newest rounds of films, a lot of them looked stilted and stiff - because they hadn't adjusted the comic style developed for still images into something dynamic enough for moving images. It wasn't the worst, but it was a thing.
Literally. So many adaptations of one medium into another fail because the story isn't adapted for that medium. It's adapted too literally from the source, so doesn't follow the principles of the medium it's being adapted into.
November 5, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Literally. So many adaptations of one medium into another fail because the story isn't adapted for that medium. It's adapted too literally from the source, so doesn't follow the principles of the medium it's being adapted into.
As a writer of almost solely ensemble casts, I both agree with this wholeheartedly and immediately saw a challenge. 😅
November 5, 2025 at 12:27 AM
As a writer of almost solely ensemble casts, I both agree with this wholeheartedly and immediately saw a challenge. 😅
I've done art of a lot of the plants, too! And these of Petal ha ha - crushferns are based on the Rose of Jericho, but if it was big and deadly and moved like Theo Jansen's beach sculptures lol
October 18, 2025 at 2:30 AM
I've done art of a lot of the plants, too! And these of Petal ha ha - crushferns are based on the Rose of Jericho, but if it was big and deadly and moved like Theo Jansen's beach sculptures lol
Well, that's all I have really. Not sure how many other authors have had this experience, but I'm sure there are at least some afraid to write an original story a specific way because of people who will equate it to fanfic. I hope this helps you be weird and write the thing anyway.
October 11, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Well, that's all I have really. Not sure how many other authors have had this experience, but I'm sure there are at least some afraid to write an original story a specific way because of people who will equate it to fanfic. I hope this helps you be weird and write the thing anyway.
If a work you enjoyed reminds you of fanfic, but it doesn't lessen your enjoyment of the work, you have no other issues with the work, and you cannot pin point a specific aspect that makes the work feel low quality other than it reminding you of fanfiction... why is it bad?
October 11, 2025 at 7:21 PM
If a work you enjoyed reminds you of fanfic, but it doesn't lessen your enjoyment of the work, you have no other issues with the work, and you cannot pin point a specific aspect that makes the work feel low quality other than it reminding you of fanfiction... why is it bad?
Fanfic isn't the only target of this. Plenty of original fiction tropes and conventions are called inherently bad writing - first person POV is one that comes to mind. This isn't new, and it certainly isn't going to die out completely.
October 11, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Fanfic isn't the only target of this. Plenty of original fiction tropes and conventions are called inherently bad writing - first person POV is one that comes to mind. This isn't new, and it certainly isn't going to die out completely.
And no, this does not include AI. Fuck AI. AI doesn't know how tropes work, or what makes them work. It doesn't know why a convention is a convention or how to make purposeful choices to subvert or fulfill expectations around conventions and tropes. And when you use it, you aren't learning either.
October 11, 2025 at 7:21 PM
And no, this does not include AI. Fuck AI. AI doesn't know how tropes work, or what makes them work. It doesn't know why a convention is a convention or how to make purposeful choices to subvert or fulfill expectations around conventions and tropes. And when you use it, you aren't learning either.
Any writing tool - tropes, conventions, etc - can be used poorly. They often get used poorly in fanfic because, as stated, many writers are young and learning or just having fun and not worried about craft. But using tropes or conventions isn't inherently poor writing - it's about how you use them.
October 11, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Any writing tool - tropes, conventions, etc - can be used poorly. They often get used poorly in fanfic because, as stated, many writers are young and learning or just having fun and not worried about craft. But using tropes or conventions isn't inherently poor writing - it's about how you use them.
People like my writing and it reminds them of fanfic, and I think that's rad because it's a reflection of the work and process that made me the author I am today.
And I just really want people to stop conflating tools and conventions used in fanfic with poor writing.
And I just really want people to stop conflating tools and conventions used in fanfic with poor writing.
October 11, 2025 at 7:21 PM
People like my writing and it reminds them of fanfic, and I think that's rad because it's a reflection of the work and process that made me the author I am today.
And I just really want people to stop conflating tools and conventions used in fanfic with poor writing.
And I just really want people to stop conflating tools and conventions used in fanfic with poor writing.
But I do appear to be good at writing funny romances with a focus on character studies - which is what I wrote as fanfiction. The stuff I write now would not exist if I didn't write fanfiction because romance writers are devalued as writers and as an ace I find a lot of trad romance unrelatable
October 11, 2025 at 7:21 PM
But I do appear to be good at writing funny romances with a focus on character studies - which is what I wrote as fanfiction. The stuff I write now would not exist if I didn't write fanfiction because romance writers are devalued as writers and as an ace I find a lot of trad romance unrelatable
But the space where I felt more able to just DO stuff was fanfic. Because I wasn't trying to be good. I was just having fun. My original work then was trying to write a fantasy epic, because I primarily read and enjoyed fantasy epics. Spoilers: I am not very good at writing fantasy epics.
October 11, 2025 at 7:21 PM
But the space where I felt more able to just DO stuff was fanfic. Because I wasn't trying to be good. I was just having fun. My original work then was trying to write a fantasy epic, because I primarily read and enjoyed fantasy epics. Spoilers: I am not very good at writing fantasy epics.
My fanfic from when I was a teenager? Sucks. Cringe. Of course it is - my original fiction from the same time was equally sucky and cringe. I named a character Rooster. Guess what nickname everyone called him? (No, I didn't know then.)
October 11, 2025 at 7:21 PM
My fanfic from when I was a teenager? Sucks. Cringe. Of course it is - my original fiction from the same time was equally sucky and cringe. I named a character Rooster. Guess what nickname everyone called him? (No, I didn't know then.)
I was lucky that I had supportive writing mentors in real life growing up - but I've heard the horror stories of academic figures and programs that openly mock genre fiction and forbid the slightest hint of a dragon even if it's a complex metaphor wrapped in the purpliest prose imaginable.
October 11, 2025 at 7:21 PM
I was lucky that I had supportive writing mentors in real life growing up - but I've heard the horror stories of academic figures and programs that openly mock genre fiction and forbid the slightest hint of a dragon even if it's a complex metaphor wrapped in the purpliest prose imaginable.
The key to growing as an artist of any kind is experimentation and the only community space many writers can find that welcomes rampant experimentation is fanfic. Where you can just be weird and self-indulgent and find people who are like "yeah, you go, little rockstar".
October 11, 2025 at 7:21 PM
The key to growing as an artist of any kind is experimentation and the only community space many writers can find that welcomes rampant experimentation is fanfic. Where you can just be weird and self-indulgent and find people who are like "yeah, you go, little rockstar".