Charles Olson

Christian. Husband. Father. Construction worker. Sheepfarmer. Sometime writer. Lover of sci-fi, fantasy, and really awesome things.

[Charles Olson @Sheepfarmer373]

People have been debating the sectum sempra scene heavily, and I believe there needs to be a defense of just what it can accomplish when handled right. https://t.co/h66EntuRKo

[Charles Olson @Sheepfarmer373]

@A_Young_Lamont @bennyjohnson Oh please. Oh please please please pretty please. I really wanna see my tax dollars used for taking down more mustache-twirling communist clowns!

[Charles Olson @Sheepfarmer373]

@serpensprincess @NavisNobelite Is that the “no no I wasn’t sleeping in class” look or the “no no I wasn’t daydreaming about YOU Harry” look?

[Charles Olson @Sheepfarmer373]

@tradaesthetic1 The only sinless hero was Jesus. Everyone else needs some flaws and mistakes if we’re going to believe they’re real.

[Charles Olson @Sheepfarmer373]

People have been debating the sectum sempra scene heavily, and I believe there needs to be a defense of just what it can accomplish when handled right. https://t.co/h66EntuRKo

[Charles Olson @Sheepfarmer373]

@Nick_TopG Wow. Just wow. I’m amazed at how well the voices track emotion. Also, the tracking of internal vs external speech is excellent. Thanks!

[Charles Olson @Sheepfarmer373]

Here is my attempt at the Sectum Sempra scene with Malfoid. It incorporates the themes I've been discussing around this topic. Hopefully, telling it from her perspective helps people understand how she can possibly forgive Harry at some point. https://t.co/9QMoSxmozX

[Charles Olson @Sheepfarmer373]

Nick made a very good AI narrated audio drama out of my Sectum Sempra scene. I’m rather stunned. Also, it sounds great! Thanks, Nick!
I’ll just say this here, first. The scenes I’m writing for the Malfoid AU are fan works made for the community, so feel free to have fun with them. Just give me some credit if you do. I fully intend to post my own original IP material aligned with yearning at some point and it helps if people know I’m here.

[Nick G. @Nick_TopG]

@Sheepfarmer373 I used the new ElevenLabs v4 to narrate it. Turned out better than I expected. Enjoy!

[Charles Olson @Sheepfarmer373]

@lilmovieperp Man, you took some bad drugs and I am here for it. Better than 90% of Hollywood these days.

[Charles Olson @Sheepfarmer373]

Yes to this. We already have the algorithms to match people into stable relationships. The dating apps PURPOSEFULLY don’t use them. This is legally established fact. There were lawsuits.
Second, being a mother with a large family needs to be made into a symbol of high social status. If married mothers with four kids are treated like heroes by society, you will see a lot more four-kid families.

[Charles Olson @Sheepfarmer373]

@who_is_nefthius Yep. Pretty much.

[Charles Olson @Sheepfarmer373]

I like it. Excellent characterization. Definitely one of the more formal and proper Malfoids. I especially like the description of her dancing. Unfortunately, my mental story calculator does the math in the back of my head and says with a sigh, “But if they’re this walled off and uninterested at this point, how do they make it to two-hearts-one-wand by the end?”

[Charles Olson @Sheepfarmer373]

It think one of the things that will be important is that creators keep posting shorts, chapters, interacting and collaborating with each other, and so on. Before, the writers on X were just saying: “Look at me! Here’s my book! Buy it!”
To which, the general response is: Why? You’re basically an ad.
Malfoid is making a marketplace for yearning where people know they can come find beautiful creations that speak to their hearts. But it needs to keep being the kind of place that people walk through for fun, even when they aren’t ready to spend any money on anything. Like a bazaar, or a public market. Sure there’s stuff to buy, but there’s also people to talk to, books to pick up and thumb through, entertainers putting on corner shows, and all kinds of other reasons to spend time there.

[Charles Olson @Sheepfarmer373]

@kasmosd1 A lovely short scene. A moment Somewhere early in book 4, perhaps?

[Charles Olson @Sheepfarmer373]

I truly hope that we are seeing the formation of a new creator marketplace on X centered around yearning where people know they can come to find vibrant stories inspired by this movement.

[Sensurround @ShamashAran]

I love the whole "Malfoid" thing, I really do. And i'm not even the target audience. I've enjoyed writing it, and its totally unleashed my muse.

I've been thinking about why the whole Malfoid fanfiction phenomenon is doing so ridiculously well, and I think I've figured something out.

Men are absolutely STARVING for good romance. Plenty of women, too, I guess.

Not pornography. Not harems. Not some elaborate sexual power fantasy. Romance.

Two people who who are confused by their feelings, who make mistakes, who struggle to understand one another, and who slowly, awkwardly, sometimes painfully fall in love.

You know. That thing human beings have been doing to each other for thousands of years. In story form.

Somewhere along the way, the publishing industry decided that men don't like romance. (https://t.co/8Y5aPunizT) The alternatives everyone's been offered for the past couple of decades have been, to put it delicately, a radioactive dumpster fire.

On one side, you've got male-oriented harem fantasies where every woman within a fifty-mile radius is aching for a sexual encounter, in graphicly written detail.

On the other, you've got the darker corners of romantasy, where the height of romantic fulfillment involves being kidnapped, abused (physically, mentally, or both) or literally raped by a seven-foot-tall monster with the emotional maturity of a malfunctioning garbage disposal.

I'm sitting here thinking: CAN TWO PEOPLE JUST FALL IN LOVE WITHOUT SOMEBODY GETTING RAPED OR DEVELOPING A HAREM?

Apparently that's too much to ask.

This brings me back to Malfoid. Here's a huge set of stories written by many different folks, about two fundamentally decent people, raised in very different worlds, struggling with their feelings, their prejudices, their loyalties, and their expectations. Neither is perfect. Neither always knows what they're doing. Sometimes they're absolute idiots.

They have something, and we get to watch it develop in story form.

The romance isn't about sexual conquest or domination. It's about vulnerability, trust, affection, and the terrifying realization that another human being has become extraordinarily important to you.

And people are eating it up. Which brings me to my theory.

Malfoid has caused a false vacuum decay in the quantum field of romantic literature.

For decades, we've been trapped in a metastable state where the publishing industry insists that men don't want romance, and male readers have been conditioned to believe there isn't any romance worth reading. Now, comes along comes a wholesome little love story about two emotionally constipated school-age British wizards, and suddenly the entire field collapses into a new, lower-energy vacuum state.

The resulting energy release is absolutely catastrophic. Instead of gamma radiation annihilating the universe, we're getting seventeen metric gigatons of YEARNING.
Turns out men didn't hate romance.

They just wanted something worth falling in love with.

[Charles Olson @Sheepfarmer373]

I believe, I hope, I pray, that we are seeing a new mainstream marketplace for wholesome male-tilted but still general romance form in real time. Malfoid will simmer down to the most potent long term fan projects at some point, but I believe that YEARNING has a long way to go and now people know they can come to X to find creators who can supply it. And X is the world’s public square, not a lovely little silo like Royal Road.

[Charles Olson @Sheepfarmer373]

Does quoting instead of just retweeting help? I know Malfoid will eventually condense into her most serious fans and some long term fan projects, but I believe that the whole yearning thing can become a thread on X where people can find new projects inspired by this for years to come.

[Charles Olson @Sheepfarmer373]

It only takes a moment longer to quote instead retweet. Let’s convince X to step off while we build a permanently engaged community centered around yearning.

[TheHeretic @EthosHeretica]

A reminder to all the Yearners in the Malfoid tag....

While the algorithm does plot against things trending for long times... what you can do to help combat that is remember to interact with the posts you like. I know that it's easy to fall into the habit of just clicking likes and reshares, but this actually doesn't promote the spreading of content beyond a certain reach... and certainly not after they've started throttling the tag.

Leave a comment on art you like or reshare, even if its just simply to say why you like it. Engage in discussions of story snippets and rewrites. Not only does this help with getting content seen more broadly (The algorithm favors engagement), it also bolsters and encourages those creators to keep making content (Yes, egos must be fed).

So, if you like a particular artist or piece of art, remember to engage with it!

#MalfoidMonday
#HarryPotter
#Malfoid

[Charles Olson @Sheepfarmer373]

@Drifler7 @NWBroJaneway @GKMasterson @Koookiiing I’m pondering a full 7 book sequel dealing with the next generation, under the oversight of harry, Dracaena, and others. There’s definitely room for it. Doubt I’m the only one.

[Charles Olson @Sheepfarmer373]

Sectum Sempra is basically a supercharged Diffindo, which is why he can just toss it out there without really needing any particular emotions. At it’s heart it’s a mechanical effect spell. “For enemies” does not mean “target has to be an enemy”. Crucio requires hatred and Avada Kadavra requires killing intent.

[Charles Olson @Sheepfarmer373]

@shadmbrooks Straight hair, classy and fashionable style, crown braid elements when she really fancies up (princess vibes). Question: Did you type in “button nose” to get your particular version?

[Charles Olson @Sheepfarmer373]

@AncientGearSImp Soli Deo Gloria. Thank you for the encouragement. That’s exactly what I was trying to show. This is arguably the worst moment of his life, at least that he can clearly remember.

[Charles Olson @Sheepfarmer373]

@Ihaventthoughta Most people who constantly win by behaving a certain way don’t change their behavior until that behavior leads to a failure. This is the one time where his impulsive boldness really fails.

[Charles Olson @Sheepfarmer373]

This is a really good point that many people seem to be forgetting. It’s not just about Malfoid. Harry has a full character arc in book 6 and Sectum sempra is a critical part of it. He needs to crash so he can grow up!

[Rick Fox @rickhfox]

The thing that appeals to me the most about the Sectum Sempra scene is that it is fully within Harry’s character. Harry is someone who looks before he leaps. He is thoughtless and bold.

Most of the time this is a good thing for him. He rushes in where angels fear to tread. He is heroic even when it will cost him.

But a good hero’s best trait is often his biggest downfall. This would be one of the best possible ways to address that because it is so extreme.

So much of the content surrounding Malfoid has lost sight of Harry’s character. Some of this has been improvement to me in making him a more confident version of himself. A lot of it has made him blander, I think in typical romance fiction’s tendency to make the protagonist easy for the reader/watcher to imagine as themselves.

But Sectum Sempra strips that blander version away completely. It demands Harry be himself and it denies those who want a blank version of him to self insert into.

Sectum Sempra forces Harry to confront himself and do what Malfoid usually should do with him. He needs to ask for forgiveness. Whether or not she believable does so is up to how good the writer is.