CharCharChar

For AroWriMo 2021. The theme is "choosing to be yourself".  Also published with the 2021 ASAW edition of AAA Literary Journal here . Content Notes: a ghost, pressure.   Word Count: 1885 Lights, Camera, Aro! "Stop," says the man holding the threads of my future in my hands. "Look darling, come here for a second would you?" I approach the dimly lit desk, his co-chairs in too dim of lighting to make out after being in the stage lights. "We all know you can act, you wouldn't have made it this far if you couldn't act. What I'm asking for from you, is to emote, to bare your soul through improv. Can you do that?" I stand frozen, fighting back tears that don't belong. This is where good little girls say "Yes, I can do that." But it's too much of a lie. I don't know what's there to emote, and if I'm willing to look at it, let alone let others see. "We picked this scene specially for you darling," he adds...

 For Aro Jam 2021 and AroWriMo 2021. You can play the game here:  https://charcharchara.itch.io/superhero-inc As of 2/28/2021 it is only a demo.  How did I work in aromanticism? The main character is aromantic.  No matter your early choices, you will come to the choice "keep quiet" or "set her straight" in response to a coworker "heavily implying aros don't count as LGBT+".  If you choose "keep quiet," your decision is validated as you are not required to be an educator. If you choose "set her straight" you give a spiel about aromanticism.  I use clickable text so that readers who already know the meaning or don't want more information can just keep reading, or the reader can click to read more. The intent is to not bog down those who are familiar with aro concepts, to let those who do not wish to be exposed to aro-negativity skip the specifics, and to keep the story accessible to those who are not familiar with aro concepts.  I...

For AroWriMo 2021. A novella with the theme fantasy & ancient world.  I am looking for sensitivity readers to help me with my portrayal of inter-LGBT+ invalidation and conflict in later chapters. Comment or email me at CharCharCharAce@gmail.com if you are interested. The Syrinxian Diamond Summary: After a heist gone wrong, our hero is caught up in an interdimensional prophecy that just may bring them answers to the questions they don't know how to put into words, a feeling of difference, of not feeling right acting how they're supposed to act - but what other way is there to be? Follow our hero through desert ruins, the Wild West, a royal ball, and of course, a midnight trip to the library.  Word Count: 2539 Content Note: Unsupportive sibling, chapter one features the absence of knowledge of aromanticism, and doesn't feature aromanticism directly.  Chapter One: A Heist "I'm going to poke around a bit once I'm down there." Sand dances around my sh...

For AroWriMo 2021. The theme for script/play was humanity.  Content Notes: Depression, manipulation, unhealthy romantic relationship, processing self-blame Title: Leaving A fractured personal narrative on entering and leaving an unhealthy relationship and the pain of being aromantic without that knowledge. Cast of Characters BUG :                              Teen. Female. Two braids. Dressed to go out and be active. LILY :                              Early-mid 20's. Female. Long messy hair, unstyled. Loose clothes. No shoes. NARRATOR :              Late 20's. Female. Dressed in layers. Short hair (or hidden under a hat).  HIM :                               Male. Early-mid 20's. ...

For AroWriMo 2021. The theme was humanity.  Human = ( X - Y ) / Z What is human? to have homo sapien DNA a bipedal primate to pass the turing test to seek purpose and meaning in our lives the ability to communicate new and unique thoughts through language the desire to create and express to care, to strive to love -                    romantically. What am I then,              if for a time                         I am silenced?                        I am hollowed out, coccooned, waiting to breathe again?              if                    forever and always                         I do not love in the way ...

For AroWriMo2021. The zine theme was "choosing to be yourself" which didn't fully make it into the final version, but it was the inspiration.  Page by Page [My Aro Heart: by CharCharChar] ["Have you seen by heart?" A grey character with a heart shape missing in it's chest stands under a tree. "I could have sworn it was just here?" The character looks the other direction.] ["Ah! There it is!" The character points to the next page. "My love for the Aro Community is so big I saved some on these pages for you." The character stands in front of the green shape so it's heart is now green.] ["I love you all. Happy Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week 2021"] ["The End"] Unfolded The unfolded zine shows that the green shapes from each page come together to form a giant green heart. 

Carnival of Aces: February 2021 When I saw the prompt “comparing ace spaces,” I winced. There’s an issue I’ve been wanting to discuss (and this is the perfect prompt for it), but I'm worried saying anything will invite drama. I’m not a fan of drama. So, I will refrain from giving specifics about incidents and spaces, and I ask you, dear reader, to not comment your guesses. The issue is – I feel some ace spaces are toxic. And I don't mean toxic for everyone. Some spaces can be unhealthy, unwelcoming, or uncomfortable for certain people or certain identities to be in.  I’m not here to call out specific spaces. I shared with friends why I was anxious to write this blog post. The recurring response was that this was an important topic that needs to be written about. (This did not reduce my anxiety 😑 ) As a self-compromise, I thought I would broadly list issues that I have experienced or that others have told me about. minimized or ignored discrimination/bias: racism, ableis...

 The February 2021 Carnival of Aros topic is Relationship Anarchy. My understanding of Relationship Anarchy is limited to the basic concept of rejecting societal frameworks for what a certain kind of relationship is supposed to be, and instead communicating with the other person how you each want the relationship to function. So let's apply that to family and hugs! Hugs At the beginning of the month, I made a stray remark about trying for a hug a day in February. My mom loved the idea. Can you already see where this is going? I have a hit or miss relationship with hugs. On the one hand, hugs improve mental wellness and I often enjoy human contact. Especially in this time of quarantine, intentionally setting up human contact with people in your bubble is a way to fight against the burnout. I don't always like hugs. Some days they are prickly. When I'm seated and the other person leans down to hug the back of my shoulders. When it's the socially obligated greeting...

I am thrilled with how many people participated in the January Carnival of Aros: Stories. Everyone took a different angle too! In  Alloaro reviews Loveless + my extremely messy thoughts on labels in fiction , Scoop dives into why she prefers “word of god” over “on the page” aro representation. Ace of Arrows' blog post  The Greatest Aro* Stories Never Told  is a wishlist of aro (and non-amatonormative) stories. From  Aria's Hollow  we have the stories August wants to see, the stories she wants to write, and optimism for the direction representation is going.  In  Being the Villain , Cinnamon writes about the harmful and dehumanizing story of the “good” aro. In  Losing the Map , Briar tells a personal story about realizing aromanticism, writing, and considering relationships in the format of “once upon a time.” In Family x Hunter , Meta_Mish writes about the platonic and familial relationships in Hunter x Hunter, and why such stories are so impor...