Clichés

[Mermaid of Orbegon Lake]

Hi Mool! I'm really sorry I'm so late on this, but I agree with everything that everyone already said, especially having many different and diverse mermaids and mermen. Merfolk body image is something I've been thinking a lot about lately, because in most media, mermaids are slender and have tiny waistlines, and mermen are ripped with giant pecs and abs. To me, this repeated imagery could create some negative feelings in people who want to be mermaids or mermen, feeling like they have to starve themselves or work out until they pass out to look the part. (I know I've been dealing with this lately.) So having many different people who all look different would help to show that everyone can be a mermaid or merman, and it doesn't matter what you look like.

Most of the cast are smaller, since that is their natural body, small tummies and waists, their also very short lol. Their my smols.
One of the boys playing the merman has a problem with his voice box making his voice higher pitched and a bit cracky
I am not very small, I have a bit of a stomach from my chronic illness infecting my stomach, so I understand the body image thing a ton to where sometimes I feel bad about swimming in my tail, but then I see other mers out there who are curvy or a bit on the chubby side and it does indeed help quite a bit.

On another note I love creativity, but the creative process.... help!! omg. I've scrapped so many ideas, now I hope I have one. What do any of you mers think about mermaids being a curse? Instead of like a cool ability or magical genes, its a curse for doing a horrible deed?

[Ransom]

There are great principles for breaking cliché in Orson Scott Card's How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy. Maybe check it out? Then we can go over how this or that setup can work