the prayer one should read before sleep
This a manifesto not only for writers, but also for artists. musicians and creators out there who want to hear this. This review is from somebody who had a bad burnout in the last few years of college and forgotten to have fun. I just went back to writing and I felt alighted to put down my thoughts. ideas and "pervert" stuff down. I would come back and reread the whole manifesto again as a mantra.
I'd normally never review something like this on a public account, but not doing so would completely ignore how I interpreted the message of this manifesto. So often I've stopped creating something because it's too "self-indulgent", and then hated that I did so. Fuck being too self-indulgent -- to create things is to be self-indulgent, and if you're going to create things, you might as well go all the way. Good writers are perverts, good designers are perverts, and good musicians are perverts, all chasing their self-indulgent artistic fantasies.
What reason is there to not be self-indulgent? What does anyone have to lose by being genuine? Be normal, be standard -- I'll be over here enjoying the fuck out of my art.
Edit (April 16th, 2025): The first part of this review was typed up around the time that this manifesto was submitted to Queer Games Bundle 2023. I'm too lazy to search up exactly how long ago that was, so I'll just say it was ~2 years ago.
In the time since, I've changed quite a fair bit. Back when I first reviewed this, I was a different fucking gender, and potentially literally a different person (shoutout to my plural girlies, love you).
That being said, I've definitely still struggled with overcoming the internalized shame of being an unabashed sicknasty pervert on main. That shame (mixed with a nice helping of moral OCD) has led to some of my lowest lows over the past few years. It's also led to some of my highest highs, and I can confidently say that being a pervert about stuff absolutely improves your art.
Being ashamed of what you create only serves to discourage you from continuing it.
I come back to this manifesto a lot. And truly think it is one I will have on my brain for a while. Others should hold this to their hearts as creatives as well.