deepforest01

[deepforest01]

[deepforest01]

I have a thing to get to but had to get this out real quick

[deepforest01]

[deepforest01]

There's a genre of post that I see pretty frequently, which can overall be summed up as, "Modern fandom has a culture problem where fanfic authors are treated as content producers instead of community members and their fanfic is treated as a commodity to be consumed instead of a high-effort labor of love that deserves attention and compliments given directly to the author". I agree with 3/4ths of that. I find the part I disagree with very interesting, the same way I find a lot of writeblr interesting, because it's a perspective that I had to work very hard to actually understand.

Because the posts have such a warped view of what writing is and why we post our writing! They say that fanfic fights against the commodified internet we live in, but all they're doing is changing the currency of payment in this attention economy. Another way you can summarize about 70% of these posts is, "My payment for writing and posting my fanfiction is compliments, and if you do not give me those compliments you are not paying. If you give those compliments behind my back, or talk about them privately without giving them to me as well, then you are stealing from me." I don't want to put it like that, but a lot of these posts use words like 'deprive', as if the reader who enjoys the fic without commenting is withholding something from them that they deserve. They use the word engagement, and they do talk about how part of that engagement is just the joy of talking about AUs and ships with other people, but when people say that comments are their motivation to keep writing, what they mean is that validation is their motivation to keep writing. Which is compliments.

I understand that, because I understand that fanfic writers are not immune to the attention economy. But I don't understand how almost every one of these posts talk about how this lack of attention makes them stop writing - that this act of theft is killing their desire to write. I could understand this if they meant 'desire to POST fic' (I don't post fic I think zero people would read.), but they talk about how lack of payment stops them from writing at all.

IMHO, that is what creates a commodity from fic. People want to treat fic as art, but an artist makes art for themself. Art is made because we want to hold parts of skills and ourselves in our hands. If you won't make art if you get no payment, then you have devalued the art completely.

We think of AO3 as this unique site that's born entirely from passion and is filled with fics written for love of the game. But guilt-tripping posts that shame people for not commenting on a fic they enjoy, and that describe how there's no point in writing fic if it's not getting attention, are directly contributing towards the culture of treating fic like a commodity.

I also really want a fandom culture where the relationship between artist and reader is reciprocal, where it feels like a community, and where I get to talk about my fanfic with people. My favorite part of posting fanfic is rambling about it on my blog, because I can talk about my art all day and I love it when people stop and listen. But I love that because I love my own art. If you love your own art, then it'll always have value.

Also Google your username, just trust me, that's how you find The Secret Discussions. Someone made a TikTok fansong of me once. WHAT?

[deepforest01]

[deepforest01]

imagine being the guy trying to rob a pharmacy or something on Halloween in Metropolis and you shove a gun in the pharmacist's face, demand cash, and scare the shit out of everyone standing in line. except for one man dressed in a Superman costume, who's been patiently waiting between two other Supermen and whose costume, upon closer examination, is really detailed.

"Nice costume," the robber sneers when the Superman tries to convince him to put down the gun and leave. "Get the fuck out of my face. You think putting on some tights makes you some kinda superhero?"

"Thanks," the Superman says, with a sunny, genuine smile. "But it's not a costume."

A hand reaches out, two fingers gently tipping the barrel of the gun toward the floor. Up close, the fabric of his uniform sleeve ripples under the lights, made up of a thousand tiny scales.

"Hey Bill?" Superman asks, voice pitched low. "Do me a favor, yeah? Put the gun down before someone gets hurt."

[deepforest01]

[deepforest01]

Plot armor but it’s Bruce Wayne’s wealth.

Bruce is one of the richest men in the world. Bruce does not want to be one of the richest men in world.

He starts by implementing high starting salaries and full health care coverages for all levels at Wayne Enterprises. This in vastly improves retention and worker productivity, and WE profits soar. He increases PTO, grants generous parental and family leave, funds diversity initiatives, boosts salaries again. WE is ranked “#1 worker-friendly corporation”, and productively and profits soar again.

Ok, so clearly investing his workers isn’t the profit-destroying doomed strategy his peers claim it is. Bruce is going to keep doing it obviously (his next initiative is to ensure all part-time and contractors get the same benefits and pay as full time employees), but he is going to have to find a different way to dump his money.

But you know what else is supposed to be prohibitively expensive? Green and ethical initiatives. Yes, Bruce can do that. He creates and fund a 10 year plan to covert all Wayne facilities to renewable energy. He overhauls all factories to employ the best environmentally friendly practices and technologies. He cuts contracts with all suppliers that engage in unethical employment practices and pays for other to upgrade their equipment and facilities to meet WE’s new environmental and safety requirements. He spares no expense.

Yeah, Wayne Enterprises is so successful that they spin off an entire new business arm focused on helping other companies convert to environmentally friendly and safe practices like they did in an efficient, cost effective, successful way.

Admittedly, investing in his own company was probably never going to be the best way to get rid of his wealth. He slashes his own salary to a pittance (god knows he has more money than he could possibly know what to do with already) and keeps investing the profits back into the workers, and WE keeps responding with nearly terrifying success.

So WE is a no-go, and Bruce now has numerous angry billionaires on his back because they’ve been claiming all these measures he’s implementing are too expensive to justify for decades and they’re finding it a little hard to keep the wool over everyone’s eyes when Idiot Softheart Bruice Wayne has money spilling out his ears. BUT Bruce can invest in Gotham. That’ll go well, right?

Gotham’s infrastructure is the OSHA anti-Christ and even what little is up to code is constantly getting destroyed by Rogue attacks. Surely THAT will be a money sink.

Except the only non-corrupt employer in Gotham city is….Wayne Enterprises. Or contractors or companies or businesses that somehow, in some way or other, feed back to WE. Paying wholesale for improvement to Gotham’s infrastructure somehow increases WE’s profits.

Bruce funds a full system overhaul of Gotham hospital (it’s not his fault the best administrative system software is WE—he looked), he sets up foundations and trusts for shelters, free clinics, schools, meal plans, day care, literally anything he can think of.

Gotham continues to be a shithole. Bruce Wayne continues to be richer than god against his Batman-ingrained will.

Oh, and Bruice Wayne is no longer viewed as solely a spoiled idiot nepo baby. The public responds by investing in WE and anything else he owns, and stop doing this, please.

Bruce sets up a foundation to pay the college tuition of every Gotham citizen who applies. It’s so successful that within 10 years, donations from previous recipients more than cover incoming need, and Bruce can’t even donate to his own charity.

But by this time, Bruce has children. If he can’t get rid of his wealth, he can at least distribute it, right?

Except Dick Grayson absolutely refuses to receive any of his money, won’t touch his trust fund, and in fact has never been so successful and creative with his hacking skills as he is in dumping the money BACK on Bruce. Jason died and won’t legally resurrect to take his trust fund. Tim has his own inherited wealth, refuses to inherit more, and in fact happily joins forces with Dick to hack accounts and return whatever money he tries to give them. Cass has no concept of monetary wealth and gives him panicked, overwhelmed eyes whenever he so much as implies offering more than $100 at once. Damian is showing worrying signs of following in his precious Richard’s footsteps, and Babs barely allows him to fund tech for the Clocktower. At least Steph lets him pay for her tuition and uses his credit card to buy unholy amounts of Batburger. But that is hardly a drop in the ocean of Bruce’s wealth. And she won’t even accept a trust fund of only one million.

Jason wins for best-worst child though because he currently runs a very lucrative crime empire. And although he pours the vast, vast majority of his profits back into Crime Alley, whenever he gets a little too rich for his tastes, he dumps the money on Bruce. At this point, Bruce almost wishes he was being used for money laundering because then he’s at least not have the money.

So children—generous, kindhearted, stubborn till the day they die the little shits, children—are also out.

Bruce was funding the Justice League. But then finances were leaked, and the public had an outcry over one man holding so much sway over the world’s superheroes (nevermind Bruce is one of those superheroes—but the public can’t know that). So Bruce had to do some fancy PR trickery, concede to a policy of not receiving a majority of funds from one individual, and significantly decrease his contributions because no one could match his donations.

At his wits end, Bruce hires a team of accounts to search through every crinkle and crevice of tax law to find what loopholes or shortcuts can be avoided in order to pay his damn taxes to the MAX.

The results are horrifying. According to the strictest definition of the law, the government owes him money.

Bruce burns the report, buries any evidence as deeply as he can, and organizes a foundation to lobby for FAR higher taxation of the upper class.

All this, and Wayne Enterprises is happily chugging along, churning profit, expanding into new markets, growing in the stock market, and trying to force the credit and proportionate compensation on their increasingly horrified CEO.

Bruce Wayne is one of the richest men in the world. Bruce Wayne will never not be one of the richest men in the world.

But by GOD is he trying.

[deepforest01]

Bruce doesn’t get enough credit for not caring about what others think AND being quick on his feet in every situation.

Imagine a gala where Lex Luthor has somehow tracked down who he thinks is Superman’s secret identity to one of the attendees, who he’s going to unearth by playing some high level frequency that only Kryptonians can hear (and hurts to be near).

Bruce clocks the device somehow during the initial schmoozing, turns on his (drunken) heel to (not so drunkenly) look for Clark, and drags Clark out by the lapels into the service hallway just in time to pin said Kryptonian to a wall and growl sorry under his breath.

Lex activates the device and the noise immobilizes Clark in pain. He’s crying real tears, eyes clenched shut, hands coming up to try and block out the frequency.

Bruce pushes his hands down, presses him back into the wall and kisses him. Hard. Almost hard enough to distract him. Salacious enough that anyone walking by would immediately avert their eyes.

Bruce’s hands cup Clark’s face, hiding the tears. He pins Clark’s hands between their chests so he can’t reach for his ears. To anyone who looks closely, Clark’s screwed up expression is from being kissed breathless by no other than Brucie Wayne himself.

Lex Luthor slips by, eyes sharp and looking for Superman. He passes them with a curled up lip and a distracted nod. The noise shuts off after a few minutes, unable to be sustained for long periods of time.

Bruce pulls back. Clark collapses forward into him, foreheads knocking together as the pain in his head begins to dull and the tears on his face start to dry. Weak and shivery, leaning on Bruce more than he ever has before.

“Okay?” Bruce asks quietly, instead of saying you’re welcome or that was closer than I’d like or even I’m sorry again.

Clark stares back at him, keenly aware of just how close that had been. And just how red Bruce’s lips are, suddenly.

[deepforest01]

Ooh!

My thoughts on old man hermit Ganondorf: Maybe he cut off his Triforce hand when it started activating after Link was born and he could FEEL it infecting his mind with thoughts of seeking power.

Also who is the bearer of wisdom then? Is it Zelda's mother?

Hey how was everyone's day, good? Good. I would never come up with a basic story/vibe for a nonexistent zelda game on a whim instead of studying. Nope. Definitely not like I'm writing this post instead of studying or anything.

Hey unrelated what if there was a zelda game where Link and Dark Link had a sort of Link & Midna style relationship and the major themes of the game were about, like, the corrupt side of those in positions of power and how darkness does not equal evil bad bad.

Continued below the cut cause I've written myself into a corner with this pitch-

Dark Link

Dark Link is Midna adjacent, serving a supportive role as a sort of secondary protagonist. Kinda similar to Spirit Tracks zelda in a way, though they could interact with the world a bit more.

This could manifest in a couple of ways, though the first ones that come to mind are possession of armors and stuff (again, spirit tracks as inspo) and a shadow form that's similar to, like, the painting bracelet from Link Between Worlds.

Part of what's happening in my head is that i just want to see Link playfully arguing with his shadow (Dink).

There are also thoughts in my brain about a plot twist so hard it gives the audience whiplash but we'll see (will elaborate later).

Becomes more than just Link's bitter goth clone, developing a personality and both distancing themselves from but becoming closer to link.

In a fruity way?

Link

Off the top of my head I want this Link to feel similar to Legend (or at least similar to legend's vibe in all too many of the fics I have been reading).

Definitely a magic user. Fire and Ice magic could have fun game mechanics built around them (light and reflections respectively).

Classic green outfit? Maybe with a more naturey vibe.

Darker color scheme, more suited to sneaking

Both Link and Dink have matching flower crowns as part of their outfits (Link has purple and Dink has Yellow).

Zelda(?)

For some reason I REALLY want a prince in one way or another (transfem or transmasc preferably. Y'know.)

Very pressured by abusive+corrupt nobles/dad

Unable to access triforce but hides it and learned magic in secret to keep appearances.

Still Not Enough, keeps pushing themselves over the healthy limit. Perhaps ends up hurting themself in one way or another.

Maybe the Queen could still be alive but just sleeping beauty'd by the King cause he wanted power.

King as a boss battle??

Major plot twist mentioned in Dink's section is maybe they don't have the triforce of Wisdom at all.

Option A is they actually have the triforce of Power.

Option B is they don't even have a triforce, making every bit of their magical prowess even more impressive.

Ganondorf

Definitely not the antagonist

I feel like we're all pretty tired of the whole 'ooh ominous big villain here to kill everyone surely it's a mystery- NOPE ITS GANONDORF AGAIN BABY HAHA.'

I think he should be included somehow though, perhaps even as a triforce holder.

Antihero, possibly? I think I like the vibe of him being a goofy old hermit on the edge of the gerudo highlands with a cute little orchard more though. Of course, these aren't exclusive of each other, but still.

He has no want of power or lust to rule Hyrule, at most he wants to run a little farm.

Possible plot point is him having cut off his triforce bearing hand because he has no want of power and the triforce being a part of him would only bring unwanted attention upon him.

Avid knitting circle member.

Big Nasty

A major servant of Hylia, possibly?

Alternatively, three servants of the golden trio.

They've blocked off Hylia/The Golden Trio's greater connection(s) to the people and land of hyrule, seeking to replace her/them as a god.

Final final battle with puppeted sleeping Hylia?

I sense power creep

General stuff i guess

Could take place during a time of peace

Biggest demise sided villains would also be sided with the Big Nasty, but for their own reasons

Puzzles,,

Lore/sequel stuff??

Sequel adventure could be to re-seal/kill the Ganon/Demise/Whatever and keep the peace

Maybe something gets twisted with that

Killing TWO gods? (Hylia and Demise to halt the cycle, at least for a long while)

Perhaps halting the cycle allows the hero's spirit to move on from this endless war (echoing in an era of fresher villains)

Of course this is all just me rambling on- I would love to hear some feedback on these ideas!

I also desperately want to draw art for these characters my head has rotating violently but I always get too in my own head about drawing so-

[deepforest01]

[deepforest01]

ok but legitimately i think the reason why kids aren’t taking internet safety seriously is because the people who are telling us not to put our personal information out seem so out of touch. no one acknowledges the possibility of meeting very real teenaged friends online, they always say that everyone you meet is a 40 year old white man in disguise. because they aren’t acknowledging things we know are true, it becomes a lot easier to dismiss the rest of what they’re saying as well. internet safety lessons absolutely must keep up with the times and acknowledge the internet’s capacity for good if you want kids to take to heart warnings about its capacity for bad.

[deepforest01]

the default way for things to taste is good. we know this because "tasty" means something tastes good. conversely, from the words "smelly" and "noisy" we can conclude that the default way for things to smell and sound is bad. interestingly there are no corresponding adjectives for the senses of sight and touch. the inescapable conclusion is that the most ordinary object possible is invisible and intangible, produces a hideous cacophony, smells terrible, but tastes delicious. and yet this description matches no object or phenomenon known to science or human experience. so what the fuck

[deepforest01]

"In recent years, there has been a rush on the internet to supply image descriptions and to call out those who don’t. This may be an example of community accountability at work, but it’s striking to observe that those doing the most fierce calling out or correcting are sighted people. Such efforts are largely self-defeating. I cannot count the times I’ve stopped reading a video transcript because it started with a dense word picture. Even if a description is short and well done, I often wish there were no description at all. Get to the point, already! How ironic that striving after access can actually create a barrier. When I pointed this out during one of my seminars, a participant made us all laugh by doing a parody: “Mary is wearing a green, blue, and red striped shirt; every fourth stripe also has a purple dot the size of a pea in it, and there are forty-seven stripes—”

“You’re killing me,” I said. “I can’t take any more of that!”

Now serious, she said it was clear to her that none of that stuff about Mary’s clothes mattered, at least if her clothes weren’t the point. What mattered most about the image was that Mary was holding her diploma and smiling. “But,” she wondered, “do I say, Mary has a huge smile on her face as she shows her diploma or Mary has an exuberant smile or showing her teeth in a smile and her eyes are crinkled at the edges?”

It’s simple. Mary has a huge smile on her face is the best one. It’s the don’t-second-guess-yourself option."

--Against Access, by John Lee Clark, a DeafBlind educator

[deepforest01]

Lord, grant me the strength to throw away this box that i'll never use, the courage to throw away this box that i'll never use, and the wisdom to throw away this box that i'll never use