Imagine a sheep dancing to trance music in front of Moai and Egyptian Pyramids.
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I mean, there was this one where a bunch of zombies raided a chocolate shop. No idea where that came from ;-;
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That sounds like a story you could write
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Gathering pets? Interesting 
I can’t remember: do you have pets?
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That sounds like a mood-ring jacket situation
I read about dreams related to love and marriage a few days ago!
idk how accurate this is, but, according to this one website, when you dream about getting married to someone, and you felt good in the dream, that means you’re satisfied with your life. But if you feel bleh in your dream, that means there’s something in your life you’re not satisfied with.
And if the person is someone you know, it has something to do with being in a good place with the current relationship, if you felt good about it in the dream. So, maybe you feel like the relationship with your best friend is a really good one and you feel good about it?
Again, not sure how accurate that is, but that website made more sense than others I’ve read 
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I’m going to try to word this in the best way possible. I’m having trouble because it’s about inclusivity, but more specifically about ableism. Be kind and nice in discussions. Have open minds. I will, too.
There’s someone on IG that has said: “if you still say you like Harry Potter, I don’t want to associate with you” or “if you don’t market using tropes, you are ablest and against people with ADHD because we can’t read through blurbs” or “don’t use words like ‘insane’ or ‘crazy’ in your book because that’s a negative word and using it means you’re ablest and discriminating against people with mental health disabilities” (real examples)
This person is a disabled, queer person with ADHD, and ever since they made clear their political stance (hard left), they have not stopped voicing their strong opinions which is fine, but I don’t know how to feel about what they say sometimes, so I don’t always react to their posts. They’re not a bad person and they mean well.
But then I started thinking: if a character says, “That’s crazy!” or “He’s insane!” in a book, what this person is saying is that therefore, the author is against the mental health community. Isn’t that going too far? And this IG person has thousands of followers.
I get that they want to teach people how to be inclusive, but I feel like maybe there’s a better way to do it? A better way to teach?
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If all else fails, remember that the block button is your friend.
In my eyes, “mentally ill” and “crazy” are two very different things. The best explanation that I can give is that Zuko is mentally ill, Vegeta is crazy.
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I doubt I’ve ever mentioned it but we have a dog, and recently two feral cats have adopted us so they live with us now too. I guess I’m subconsciously worried about them or something? (=^ｪ^=)
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Personally I use words like crazy and insane all the time, usually in reference to Trump, but I never mean it as a clinical diagnosis, and I doubt anyone else in the world does either. Your friend is forgetting that English is a living language and there’s this thing we have called slang. No offense to this person–honestly!–but that’s exactly the kind of person the Trump administration refers to as the looney left. Yup, there’s such a thing as going too far, and taking words like crazy and insane as anything but generalized insults is kinda, yanno, crazy. (>‿◠)
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The thing about English is that we exaggerate qualities-it’s more or less hyperbole.
There are a lot of people who, by all means available, lack mental illness can still make choices that defy reason.
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Yes, exactly! (*＾-‘) 乃
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Same tbh
That’s a semi-valid point. Yes, neurodivergent readers are ignored (I mean some publishers can’t do the bare minimum of using dyslexic-friendly fonts).
I don’t agree not using tropes is ableist… it’s poor marketing if you’re posting a block of text 
Well there are a lot more derogatory words than “insane” and “crazy”. I understand how it sometimes can be offensive (i.e. “crazy” or “hysterical” being a trait assigned to female characters (see female hysteria)). Also lumping different mental health issues under umbrella terms like “crazy” or “insane” is insensitive and in poor taste. There’s a whole thing about health, medicalisation and (mis)moralisation that I don’t wanna go into…
Anyway I think the colloquial use of “crazy” and “insane” is completely acceptable.
I do think there should be deeper discussion, but there isn’t a “right way” to advocate for these things.
It’s okay to feel uncomfortable or feel challenged or feel like we’re not informed enough. But now we know! We think about it, evaluate it, and hopefully create change for the better 
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so the cat distribution system has found you 
Could be? Or you could be thinking about what would happen with them if some environmental disaster happened. It’s understandable if it’s on your mind considering what’s going on in the states right now. I hope you’re safe where you are
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Had a nice talk about it in Dreamland, too, with people who can speak about the mental health community POV, and they all said similar things to what you said. “Crazy” or “insane” have been watered down so much as slang, they don’t have a problem with it and even use those words themselves.
Exactly. They’re forgetting it. The IG person also happens to be an editor specifically focused on neurodivergent clients, btw. So… idk what to think about them 
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I think that’s totally fine. It’s fine if you or that IG person don’t want to associate with HP fans.
The problem with them is that their platform is an editing platform for editors and clients mostly focusing on neurodivergent clients. I thought that some of their clients could actually be neurodivergent and like the HP fandom. Saying out right “if you still like HP, I don’t want to associate with you” doesn’t seem like it’s the right thing to say on a big platform like that, especially if they’re using it to get clients.
I think it’s fine to have strong opinions, but if you have a big platform, you need to be careful what you put out there especially if that platform is something you use to get work.
But, I mean, that’s their choice to potentially drive away clients who like HP I just feel…I guess that there’s a place to say those things and their IG platform might not be the place. Maybe a blog would have been better…idk
Oh yes definitely. Some people on IG post one giant block of text. I just scroll by I can’t. Please use paragraphs.
But what do you think about the trope marketing? Is that…helpful to people with ADHD? Would you rather know tropes than read blurbs? I personally don’t like trope marketing, but I’m fine with doing it if that’s what would make ads more inclusive.
Definitely. I totally get this.
The editor was referring to those and suggesting, instead, to use “wild” or “bizarre”. So, saying “that’s bizarre” instead of “that’s crazy”. I thought that was wild and bizarre
Definitely no “right way”. I also feel like it’s difficult to figure out if you or someone else is “fit” for the job, so to speak. Even if you might be part of a community of folks, you might not have all the knowledge to advocate and be their voice.
Especially when there’s always a spectrum. One voice isn’t equal to the voice of the entire community. There might be some similarities or things everyone in the community can agree on, but there’s definitely differences across the spectrum.
Yes This!
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Maybe you were really, really craving chocolate
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For me, all I ask for is an elevator pitch, like one sentence that explains the basic idea of what you are writing.
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It’s good! They’ve put it clearly they don’t want to work w people like that. It’s silly to downplay your values (on very valid issues like HP) for fear of upsetting other people or losing clients.
Tropes are only effective for certain genre books: YA, romance, mystery, sff. It’s cute tho & if they say it helps, then it probably does. You can’t really use tropes to promote something like A Visit from the Goon Squad lol it’d be a mess.
Poppy/ high-contrast colours with short & snappy text seems to be the way to go. Put long texts/blurbs in the description. For accessibility use simple, straightforward text and sans serif fonts! And add image descriptions if you can! Also having a consistent brand (vibe, voice, font, colour combo) helps.
I’m a sociologist, and my approach is to value subjective experience. There is no singular authority who determines what’s “correct” or “fit” within online communities. There is always a range of differing experiences & opinions. Plus health issues are centred around the individual. If someone says, “This is a problem that affects me”, then that’s valid.
Back to the use of “insane” and “crazy”… I think as writers we should think critically about the language we use.
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What is the polite way to describe someone like Lorne Armstrong?
Yeah, when it reaches the point of getting upset by something as small as, using your example, a character in a book saying “that’s crazy” being offensive, the person is just looking for something to be upset about tbh. It’s no longer about inclusivity, they just want to be offended.
It’s like saying someone is racist, sexist, ableist, etc. for watching Top Gear / The Grand Tour because the presenters made intentionally offensive jokes (which were actually pretty funny) or someone agrees with treating women / POC as subhuman because they’ve read something on par with The Handmaid’s Tale or they’re a communist because they’ve read 1984 or, more recently, that they’re a terrorist for holding cardboard saying “I oppose genocide”. There is a point where it just reaches stupidity and wanting to be offended
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