#- and that content creators are free to do their own thing and don’t ‘owe’ fandom storyline’s/character beat’s/interpretation’s

[bunnwich]

It's Supposed to Be Fun

(a letter to my friends in the twst fandom)

I've been wanting to make this post for a while and these thoughts may seem scattered but I’m gonna try to express them. 

Lately, I have seen many friends and moots that either are leaving the fandom or feel guilty over not having posted in a while or losing interest in twst. On the other side, I also have friends being harassed.

This a reminder to remember why you joined this community to begin with. I know that keeping up with the fast-moving pace of fandom and comparing ourselves to others, can skew our perspective on these things.

It’s supposed to be fun. 

Why do we post art or write? Sure, partly for recognition, there's no denying that. But, why do we create, I mean really? For enjoyment. Not for others, not to be “popular” FOR JOY.

So, whether you’re dealing with people critiquing you or feeling guilty about not creating. My question is this: Why waste so much of your time on something that makes you miserable?

Did it stop being fun? Why? Haters? Loss of interest?

To my friends who feel guilty for not creating and not sure if they lost interest in twst: 

Don’t feel guilty. At one time, the creation of your twst content was natural. It's what you did for fun with friends or for yourself. Revisit that mindset and think - if creating twst content now will bring that same joy it did before.

If the answer is no, then maybe it’s time to pivot. It’s okay for interests to fade. It doesn’t mean that time, memories, or the friends you made are lost. Connect with your friends, we will understand! We still love you! It's not a race there's no time limit, just pick up were you want to. Draw fanart of old events or OCs.

To my friends who have been harassed: 

I say this with sincerity…. People who harass others over fictional characters are fucking losers.

Like… There’s no other eloquent way to encapsulate it. I’m starting to not care for the reason anymore - If you harass or be shady to others over a ship or fictional character. CONGRATS! YOU ARE A LOSER.

We all join fandoms as a hobby, for fun. We’re all just kids in the sandbox playing pretend again… and if you are the type of person to go up just to “kick the doll out of someone’s hand" or make commentary on how “their way of playing is wrong." You’re a loser. I have a life outside of twst, we all do. Someone saying my ship is wrong or cringe is just so laughable to me. We have to make fun of these people more for being so goddamn lame.

Imagine being so unhappy that when you see someone having fun you HAVE to comment on it. By all means, if it gets you through the day...talk shit to close friends or even post about it on your own blog. (THAT WAS ALWAYS ALLOWED.) Don't bother creators directly. Don't be a loser. I sure see tolerance leave people’s bodies when they see a fandom opinion they don't like. (And this is coming from someone who has lots of opinions on these things! But that's why I always put the disclaimers that, hey this is just MY opinion.)

Discussion is one thing, unhelpful comments are another. We shouldn’t give these people the time of day. Curate your online space. Yes, when you post things online you are subjecting yourself to scrutiny. But, we as creators need to stop letting these people have power over us. Period. We do this for free!! FOR FUN. The best thing you can do is create shamelessly.

Delete weird replies, block whoever you need to do to rid yourself of these people who have nothing better to do. Keep your peace. It’s supposed to be for fun. You don’t owe anyone a response.

The twst fandom is like a little family to me and I guess I feel protective over the people in it?  I have made many friends and memories because I joined it. And even dispite a handful of the negative experiences (AKA: A couple of “losers" that I’ve had to deal with.) I’ll always look fondly back on this time.

The key for me has always been to just…create for myself. I originally made bunnwich for me and one friend to make fun little arts about our Yuu’s and now I get to have lots of friends to share it with! I’ve transitioned from an OC blog to probably more of an Oc x Canon blog…but I don’t care tbh. I just…draw what I feel like. I know there are people who probably dislike me for that or feel strange about my content and that’s fine. I’m still gonna keep drawing it, loser.  

And I just want you guys to do the same, twst or not.

I can’t forget that all my followers and friends are a bonus, if I had never joined tumblr I’d still be drawing the silly shit I draw in peace. And while yes, I do want to grow as an artist and sell more merch and keep growing... I can’t forget my initial excitement for this silly little game. I like to talk about it. I like to write about it. It inspires me.

It’s supposed to be fun. Please remember that. I know it can be discouraging to have others being shitty to you. Or going through a creative drought. But, try not to let this stop you from creating what you love.

[crispylilworm]

last i’m posting about this xoxo sorry about the watcher spam recently but i feel the need to put my 2 cents in since my opinion on this doesn’t align with the vocal majority on this site

gotta admit my first youtuber drama experience was a 0/10 not because of what the creators did but solely because of the insanity of the fandom. because…wow. i have never seen a group of people throw around demands and accusations of betrayal in such a dramatic way lol. maybe i’m in the minority here but i felt the majority of responses and criticism just were any lacking basis at all.

my first thoughts with the announcement were literally “oh good for them new streaming service, i won’t be going for it, but maybe after a few months i’ll consider paying for a 1-time sub to catch up on everything”. sure some disappointment i wouldn’t get regular updates but overall excited for the new content this pay structure would give them the flexibility to create.

maybe because i didn’t get into youtubers until the pandemic when watcher was already it’s own independent thing i don’t have that same (*cough cough* parasocial) level of connection, just really enjoy the videos they put out. maybe because i go through subscription-of-the-month stints of paying for a patreon or twitch or other creator channel and rotate what i watch, this didn’t feel outrageous to me. i hate the subscription world we live in so i go out of my way to never pay more than a strict budget limit per month because that’s my ability and that’s my mentality on this. i thought at best maybe i’d consider rotating this in when they put out more.

don’t like the idea of it? you don’t have to pay for it. can’t afford it? i understand the disappointment from this aspect but creators don’t actually owe you anything for free - even if it was free in the past. overall and for whatever reasoning you have: it wasn’t that deep.

if anything i am in a way thankful that they rescinded on their decision because that means me & others will continue to enjoy videos for free. but overall i’m disappointed that this means they’re sacrificing their own creative wants and financial needs of whatever they had planned. we won’t actually know the extent of what, if anything, this prevents them from creating because y’all wouldn’t even let them attempt to try this next phase out.

fans saying “well we don’t want high-budget content” well maybe they want to explore more than what they’re currently able to do? maybe they want to create more beyond their buzzfeed-format videos they know will rack in views from the nostalgia-obsessed side of the fans? i, too, personally love their humor and would just enjoy them chatting and being silly, but i do also think this holds them back. remember those hilarious self-made commercials from their most recent videos? that's probably just a glimpse of what new flavors of content they’re able to think up.

this whole fan response was just disappointing (and pretty scary ngl) to me, and i know saying that is like kicking a hornets nest but i really think if they continued with the plans from their original announcement it would have been ok. i actually think it would have been more than ok! but the response imploded so hard i’m sure we’ll never see them try something new again lol.

my personal thoughts are that if your opinion in any way revolved around something they “owe” to fans, feelings of “betrayal”, thinking they’re “sell outs” for wanting to transition to paid content - i think you really need to take a step back and reflect, and i mean that with zero malice. watcher is a business, not your friends, not “the boys”, not your guaranteed source of a specific type of content either. ultimately they made a business decision that they thought would help them grow that would have either succeeded or failed, that's it. for better or worse, we wont get to watch that play out.

i will continue my quiet enjoyment of their videos, and happily move on past what i frankly think was the most unnecessary internet drama i’ve seen in a minute lol. the takes overall were dumb but tame, i only blocked a handful of accounts for posting things i thought were totally out of line that i won't get into but i'm sure you've either seen or heard people discussing.

i didn't even get in to my hot takes lol like how this plays into the dangerous trend of the expectation of art to be free....and the overall devaluing of creatives and why AI is thriving in these areas...but ill defend that thesis another day lol. y'all aren't ready for that.

[rebelrebelwrites]

Piggybacking off of some great, poignant posts from @marimosalad and @starlady66 — wanted to share my support for the writers and creators currently seeing a surge of comments and other messages ranging from unsolicited and inappropriate critique or feedback all the way to vicious and vile personal attacks against creators for their choice in story subject matter.

A few suggested calls-to-action…

To the people attacking creators:

Stop. What you’ve done and are doing is harassment. It’s wrong. With multiple ways for you to curate your own fandom experience, particularly on platforms like AO3, which are designed for just that, there’s absolutely no excuse or reason why you shouldn’t just use those tools provided to you to avoid content you don’t care to engage with. On top of that, fiction is not reality. It’s entire point is for the exploration of ideas and different perspectives, and censorship has no place in it.

To the people leaving unsolicited and inappropriate critical feedback:

Stop. Your “feedback” is not welcome or wanted, and it goes against a widespread rule of engagement in fandom spaces. The only scenario when critical feedback is appropriate for creators of fanworks is when it’s asked for, and that’s it. Otherwise, keep it to yourself and/or write your own fic or create your own fanwork. Writers and creators do what they do for the fandom for free; they owe you and us nothing. Least of all listening to or entertaining your entitled opinions.

To the other Saurondriel/Haladriel shippers and RoP fans against this despicable nonsense:

Closing on a positive note to urge you to keep flooding our favorite fics and art and other fanworks and all who make them (for free, on their own time) with support, love, comments, and positive feedback. Let’s keep lifting each other up and enjoy what makes fandom fun: the community. After all, the point of community is to cultivate a safe, inclusive, welcoming space for us to enjoy the thing we’re all enamored with. ❤️

[fandombead]

I hate the word filler. Are we not still getting an interesting stand alone story with characters we enjoy? Not all of a story is progressing the main plot. It can become excessive in some cases, but it still can bring joy in its own right. It’s leagues better than getting nothing. And I don’t like seeing that complained about to small creators just trying to give us fun content to hold us over until they can get back to the main story.

Seeing that in their comments and tagging them in it has to be so discouraging. It definitely won’t make it come out any faster. It’s just not a productive part of fandom. You’re allowed to criticize and critique works, I just hope that isn’t all you’re replying with when they try to provide something fun and lighthearted. Yes even if it’s been awhile. I dunno, I’ve just seen creators stop creating all together from the pressure because they’re human too and fandom spaces just really have a way of ruining good things by posting entitled replies. And then even once the “main” story gets updated, there will still be people going “okay next” and “fuckin’ finally, took you long enough.” And like. Would you really talk like that to someone’s face. Do you have nothing encouraging or positive to add about what is here?

I know what it’s like to be so invested in something and it being disappointing to not get it in some time, but posts like these are sometimes the very reason creators struggle and it’s painful to watch happen and everyone just goes with it.

This is NOT a post saying you cannot have con-crit. You can say whatever you want about a work. Just realize you may be having the opposite effect that you are hoping throwing that at the actual creator you’re a fan of. As someone who got utterly creatively crippled for years from a few bad experiences, it sucks to see that happening to people who actually got their idea off the ground and still intend to keep going. Like the creative rut guilt has to me ten times worse already with a massive audience having a very vocal part being disappointed no matter what you do. But I guess the positivity gets easily buried and negativity is spread more?

I dunno it’s like. They don’t owe you anything. They shared something for free with you, their animation or skit or show or story. I see people leave fandoms they loved because of it taking amazing world of love with them and I don’t want that pressure to run down yet another great story. You’re allowed to feel disappointed. People have different levels of patience and that’s not the problem. It’s projecting those feelings at others that don’t deserve that. We need to learn some etiquette and boundaries, or at least think “what if that was me/a friend of mine?” before posting.

Can’t believe I took all that just to reiterate “Golden Rule” please~ aaaaaa

[sailoryooons]

Yo im so tired of people on here coming into writers inboxes and complaining about shit. THIS IS FUCKING FREE!!!! Were fucking lucky that they are responding to ANY messages about their work let alone fucking unconstructive and rude complaints. Because they literally don’t have to do any of this at all. NOTHING! They can post one chapter of a series and hype it up and then never post anything else about it again. They can write for one fandom for years, then switch on a dime and never write anything else for it again. They can say again and again that a fic is almost done then never release it. They don’t owe us shit. It’s a privilege to be able to read the drabbles, scenarios, and fucking novel and series-length stories with the themes, characters, and world-building that we love so much. And then to be complaining about some editing???? I’ve begun stories that I’ve been excited about the premise, and the grammar has been to the point that it’s completely pulled me out and I couldn’t finish it even though I loved where the story was going. I’ve only been reading works on this blog for like a month now, so I don’t know about old stuff. The last one i read I read (the jin gamer/roommate fic i think?) there were like maybe 2 or 3 times where i had to go back and reread and piece together what the intention was or where there seemed to be a missing word, but that’s so rare and like, didn’t pull me out of the story that much. And it’s fucking free! If i paid for a book, then i might be disappointed, but if i paid for a book, there probably would have had a whole publishing team that would have edited that out in the first place!!! Go read things you know are edited if you dont like it and don’t bother people who are providing free things that don’t hurt anyone because of dumb ass reasons.

I 100% get if you don’t post this if you don’t want all this yelling and negativity, but I hope you know that you are appreciated for what you give so freely. This is just one of many comments ive seen lately come to writers on here and while some of them have seemed to come from well-intentioned people, there’s like a sense if entitlement that’s completely unearned behind it that makes me fume! I try to stay out of other people’s business but this made me so mad!!!

Hi wow okay first of all - thank you for overall just getting it. Writing is a really hard thing to do and there are a lot of content creators on this website who are churning out content and trying to do their best to make it good enough for those who engage with them.

I agree with a lot of points on this - when we start to consider reader/writer relationships, a lot of people don't realize that there really isn't an obligation on the writer to do things the way that they're expected, whether it's updating at a certain frequency or editing a certain way or just... anything. While most of the CCs I know (including myself) rely really heavy on audience feedback for the way that we do things, there are certain perceptions, comments or expectations that are just super tiring.

While I totally understand how my minimal editing can seem lazy or like I don't care - that's certainly not it. It's just really the lesser of two evils for me - either I can use editing programs if I don't have someone to beta immediately, or I can delay posting for a few days while I get my bearings and edit.

Most of my writer friends will tell you that editing your own stuff is hard for some people. For some writers it's super easy to pump out a huge fic and turn around and edit. For others, it's not. It's really about what works best for each person, and this is currently what works best for me (I get really nervous delaying fics over and over again because I don't give myself enough grace and time to finish).

But overall - yes, agreed with a ton of things you said in this and I'm responding publically because I think there are a lot of really great points about the writer/reader relationship and expectations.

Editing more is something I definitely want to work on and I'll be better at asking for betas (I always feel very intimidated to do this) but yeah. Thank you!!

[hamletteprinceofdenmark]

Even though I will be making fun of Wilbur for saying “psycho competitive” for the rest of time, I do want to emphasise that what he actually said was that c!tntduo were in a “psycho competitive relationship that can be construed to be romantic but it's not explicit.”

That’s not actually shutting down a romantic interpretation of their relationship. In fact that is acknowledging the romantic undertones. What I would interpret that as - and I agree with cc!Wilbur if this is the case - is that you can certainly read c!tntduo as romantic but that that is hardly the most interesting or rich angle to analyse them from.

Personally, what makes c!tntduo so engaging to me is how they have this incredibly complicated history with each other, hate each other, love each other, and still choose over and over again, to connect. They are irrevocably entwined as self made foils for each other. They have chosen again and again to deliberately mirror each other, in action, in dialogue, in theme, despite everything they both do and don’t agree on.

For me, c!tntduo is about them being all levels of fucked up together. Persuing a serious romantic relationship would be super bad for both of them actually. They’re not healthy together. But they do need each other. They can’t escape each other now.

That’s where the appeal of the duo lies. Which, at least to me, is a far more interesting character study and exploration of what people can mean to each other than whether they kiss or not.

[author-morgan]

i sent in an Eivor request and was wondering when it might be completed. it’s been a few weeks now. if you don’t want to write it that’s fine! i’ll check with another author who wrote for him.

I was just going to turn a blind eye to this ask, but you know what? no. I am one of many fanfic writers on this site that is tired of being treated like crap. I put in hours of work, hours of my own time, writing what I want and fulfilling requests for friends and strangers all for FREE. only to never be reblogged by the person who requested it, to never even get a reply to the post or a DM to say 'hey, thanks for writing my request, I liked the story.' I'm tired of it. and now you want to put time restraints on how long it takes me to fulfill a request that you sent me? lmao.

to get things started off, my requests are currently closed. they have been since the summer of 2021. had you looked at my pinned post (which I'm assuming you did to even see that I took requests), then you would've seen this:

all the stories I've recently posted as responses to asks are me trying to catch up on requests, hence why I am not currently taking new requests. I still have over 10 requests in my inbox and numerous requests through DMs to write before I even think of opening my requests again. but if this is the new attitude? then I might just keep them closed forever now.

secondly, believe it or not. I have a life. I am an adult with responsibilities and a Ph.D. student. which means (even in the summer) I have to work sometimes 50 hours a week writing papers, being in the lab, and helping external users with analyses, even though I'm only paid for 20 of those hours (and for the cherry on top, the pay is shit to begin with).

forgive me for not having an endless amount of time to fulfill your request in less than two weeks when it's a big deal to just be able to cook a meal at night or have an hour to watch TV or play a game. and may I remind you, WHAT I DO WRITE IS ALWAYS FREE. but it's not really free is it? it costs time to write, edit, format, and fight Tumblr's shitty post editor to make sure I don't forget people on my taglist. I am not being paid, this is not a hobby for me, not a ko-fi side hustle.

and lastly? my motivation to write has been shit as of late because I know what the response is going to be like. my friends and mutuals will reblog (and I love them for it) and then it'll be ratioed to hell by likes. when the notes on a post look like this, that's an issue. and it's why content creators are leaving this site or not posting as much as we used to.

I'm not writing for clout but when there is a reblog to like ratios like this on every single fic? and when the person who requests said fic isn't even among the reblogs? it's a slap in the face. it's mindless consumption which isn't what fandom should be about.

if you want more content on Tumblr, it is a two-way street. you have to interact with us by reblogging posts. you should reply with a simple comment, even if it's just 'hey I enjoyed this story' or 'this was cool.' otherwise? don't be surprised when your favorite writers, artists, editors, gif makers, etc stop creating and leave. if you can hit a like button (which does absolutely nothing) you can take one more second and reblog too.

and idk, if you want a story written with a super quick turnaround time maybe you should consider starting to write yourself. quality over quantity in this house and in the words of Alton Brown "your patience will be rewarded." just ask @mrsragnarlodbrok who has waited sometimes 6 months to have a story written and posted. so yeah, rant over. get off your high horse anon. I don't owe you shit if this is your attitude toward fanfic writers.

[olderthannetfic]

Hey uh, a topic of conversastion has recently crossed my dash that I really, really need a trusted opinion on. Being that you know a LOT about fandoms and fan history and everything like that, I have to ask... is Archive of Our Own actually and legitimately racist?

--

Christ. This again.

The basic issues are two broad points, one fair and one disingenuous garbage:

1.

AO3 is an archive set up specifically to protect art people find offensive. It is therefore a very US-flavor free speech above all type of place, at least in terms of the work content. (Racist harassment in comments is a different story.)

All of the Left is currently struggling with the question of whether full, unrestrained free speech is actually the highest good. How much does prioritizing this lead to a hostile environment? "When you invite wolves and sheep to the table..." etc. etc. This is not just an AO3 issue but a broader cultural question.

I don't think AO3 is racist per se, but there is room for improvement and prioritizing things that were previously not a focus. Some people have made cogent arguments about why AO3 is failing to protect fans of color by not having better blocking features. AO3 does have exclude filters, but there isn't a way to go "You know, author X always produces offensive shit. Let me just not see them anymore."

AO3 is reportedly working on blocking features, but it's an all-volunteer org with very limited resources, so it's not a surprise that it sometimes can't fully meet its goals, or at least not quickly.

The well-intentioned criticism gets this. @lierdumoa has written about this several times if you want to go look.

2.

Some people are Big Mad that AO3 allows offensive porn and won't let them harass its creators.

These chucklefucks often talk as though only white people would write kinky fic about characters of color, ignoring that POC can be kinky too. As a kinky white person, it is my duty to defend the right of all people to have kinky fantasies. Acting like someone is betraying their people (a thing I have literally seen said multiple times) by having the sexuality they naturally do is grotesque. That shit is super racist and super damaging, and I would be no kind of ally if I let it pass unchallenged.

There's often a huge focus on the wrong ships having more fics, which should tell you right there it's not about any real anti-racist activism.

There's a huge, huge, huge focus on the experience of the reader, but not like "I want to block people" but instead "I am owed content X instead of content Y". This is a bad faith or at least misguided argument because AO3 exists to protect authors. The only barrier to entry is putting your email in a queue for a couple of days. Anybody can post their alternate take any time they want. Treating it like a TV audience situation is bullshit: if you don't like that one DIY punk zine, make your own, dude!

Half of this shit is radical feminist hatred of kinky porn, and half of it is clout-chasing garbage.

--

Now, if you want to know if AO3 has racist content, yes. It does. It's designed to. As the terms of service say:

Unless it violates some other policy, we will not remove Content for offensiveness, no matter how awful, repugnant, or badly spelled we may personally find that Content to be.

So I guess the question is, do you find intensely FREEZE PEACH libraries to be inherently racist or not?

[imjustwritingg]

I hope you take no shit from that person harassing you about writing fics! as both a writer and reader myself I know what and how much goes into it and you can’t just force inspiration. some people are so ungrateful and selfish. 🙄

Thank you Anon! Grateful for fellow writers and friends who always understand. 💕

I’ve gotten asks like that in the past that I have just laughed at and deleted without another thought, but it’s been happening a lot more in the OC fandom especially, and I know I’m not the only one it’s been happening to. The entitlement and audacity that some people have thinking that any one of us who create anything owes them something is truly astounding. But I’m the one with an ego because I call people out on their shit and stand up for myself? Help me make it make sense.

These are the types of messages that make people leave fandoms. Because while some people see it as “just fanfiction,” and yeah, it is, writing in itself is also a creative outlet and a way to escape for a lot of people who do it. It’s also what people have a career in or try to make a career out of. But people who write fic or make anything for a fandom don’t owe anyone a goddamn thing. We are using own own time and resources, and energy to create something for free with such minuscule appreciation 75% of the time, and it’s tiring sometimes. It is absolutely tiring.

So to the people that don’t get it or choose not to, when that favorite fic writer or video creator of yours suddenly disappears from a fandom you’re in, think about this post and this situation, and maybe start treating content creators with a little bit more gratitude.

And also, if you’re still here and you’ve read this entire post, maybe go reward yourself with a cookie or something because this was a lot and I appreciate you taking the time to read. Ok bye. ✌🏼

[piteouspeculiarity]

Defining Home: Extended Author's Note

Warning: This might contain spoilers for the series

(For clarity, when I say 'Tommy' etc in this post, I'm talking about the characters from my fics, not the content creators themselves.)

So it's done, huh? This note will include the sappy shit, the fun facts, then some of the more serious stuff, because I just didn't want to add an essay to the end of that chapter.

First of all, thank you all for the support along the way. Defining Home is easily my most popular series of fics I’ve ever written and I’ve been writing fanfic for years now. The comments and the kudos and the bookmarks were so very validating when I was new to the fandom, and still are. Hell, people have gifted me fics and written related fics to Defining Home, which blows my tiny mind. I haven’t gotten the chance to read a lot of them yet (procrastination I know thy name), but when I do, I’ll be leaving my best comments in thanks <3

I'll be honest, when I posted the first chapter of Enough, I never expected it to turn into what it did.

That first chapter was written in my phone notes at 3am, hours before an exam. I hadn't interacted with the fandom at all at that point, didn't even have a Tumblr for it, but boy oh boy did I get a warm welcome.

The point is, that first chapter was a very spur in the moment thing, mainly consisting of one scene I couldn't get out of my head (Tommy on a train to Wilbur's). I've gotten a few people telling me since then that they wished that they could write as well as I can, which is a huge compliment, but every person can write a fic like Enough. There are things that we all struggle with when it comes to writing: dialogue, prose, starting scenes - I have my own things I struggle with, things you might have noticed, things you might have not. You don't have to be a perfect writer to tell a story, especially in fandoms, where betas are easy to come across.

Write your story, even if its just for yourself. Posting that chapter gave me the chance to make new friends and I'll never stop being grateful for that.

One of those friends is Kat, who I've mentioned a couple times in the author's notes, but who honestly, I owe a lot to. Kat has encouraged me and been one of the main motivators to write this fic when I felt like it would never be finished, or that I'd never live up to other people's expectations. Sometimes, that meant motivating in some weird ass ways, but hey, it worked.

People who know me in discord servers might know that I'm a simp for Kat and it's damn true. Kat, I love you, you've improved my life more than you know in the last couple months and you deserve so, so much happiness.

In fear of love reciprocation from Kat, we'll move swiftly on to the more fun side of things.

Anyone feel like fun facts? You might already know some of these because I tend to overshare in author's notes, but I'm pretty sure some of them are new to all of you.

Barney the dog? Named after my own late labrador, who I love very much and loved to jump in lakes and need rescuing, time and time again.

I had no plans in moving Tommy in with Techno, hell, I had no plans in Techno moving to England at all. It was as much of a surprise to me as it was to everyone else when he told Tommy the news, but I latched onto the idea and ran with it. I think it worked out okay, in the end.

Techno has a draw in his bedroom full of parenting books, most of which were stolen from Phil.

After Tommy asked for help about what to do with Dream, Wilbur sent Dream a dm telling him he better not fuck anything up and if he did, Wilbur would not hesitate to humiliate him in front of millions of people. It was unnecessary, of course, but Dream was definitely a bit more cautious about what he said when he listened to Tommy’s explanation.

Some of my favourite things about writing Defining Home:

The Tesco v Asda discourse. Look, some of you just need to accept that Asda is the superior shop and get off your Tesco stanning bullshit. /j

The offers I would get for new chapters, some honourable mentions being newborns, siblings, diamonds and kidneys.

Now, I know that as much as I tried to, I won't have managed to include everything that everyone wanted from Defining Home, whether that's certain confrontations or scenes, I am sorry if I haven't included.

I don't imagine myself writing any more in the series, not because I think there isn't more I could write about, but because as a whole it feels complete to me, and any added oneshots I write would disturb that.

Right now Defining Home feels well rounded in a way that I'm proud of. The minute I realised that Enough was going to turn into a series I planned out how I wanted it to work. Maybe its just the maths part of my brain, but I like how there's three fics, with three chapters in each and how Tommy heals as you progress throughout the series.

My aim for the series was for the tone to get lighter as you went through, because yes, things kept happening (confrontation with dad, beach incident etc) but the point was that Tommy dealt with those things in different ways that he would have earlier on in the series. I have lots of thoughts and lots of emotions about how he felt safe enough with his family to experience nightmares and such. I made an effort in The Truth Behind Family to include more fluff, especially in the last two chapters, because I think it’s important to show that yeah, his parents’ abuse effected him, but it didn’t dictate how he lived his life. 

Like yes, I could write about their first Christmas together, for example, and add it onto the series, but I don’t think that I’d be able to do the rest of the series justice in that. Defining Home is largely about what the title implies, Tommy discovering what words like ‘home’ and ‘family’ mean beyond what he’s been told he’s stuck with and I believe that by the end of the series, he’s been successful in that. 

I'm so proud of the characters I wrote, Tommy in particular, for how far they've come in Defining Home, but I think that in a way, it’s time for me to let them go.

That’s not to say I’m done with writing for sbi! Hell no! 

I have a couple long fics in the works and a one shot I’m working on. The main fic I’m excited to focus on now Defining Home is finished is heavy heart, heavy head, heavy hero which, to put it simply, is an sbi royalty au, where unfortunate circumstances mean Tommy is forced to become King. It’s going to be a little more plot focused than Defining Home was and I am so very pumped to give it my full attention instead of leaving that lonely one chapter on AO3 like I have been doing.

I was 🤏close to making a Discord server, but ultimately decided I’m much more suited to causing chaos on other people’s servers than running my own. I think at this point the karma would be too great to even consider making my own server, so if you’d like to talk to me on Discord, keep an eye for me on other people’s servers - I mainly lurk, but I’m pretty active on one or two :D

On a more serious note, Defining Home deals with some heavy topics and I’ve had comments tell me that they relate to Tommy’s situation and wish that they had their own found family to run to. 

This Tumblr post has a list of phone numbers and places you can contact if you need help or want someone to talk to. Saying that, I recognise that a list as long as that can be daunting, so feel free to shoot me a message and I can either help you find the right one for you, or keep you company for a bit if you need it. 

Not all of us are lucky enough to have our own found family, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t forever, or that you’re alone. My dms and ask box are always open if you want someone to talk to.

Keep yourselves safe <3

- Lee 

[zkfanworkweek]

ZFAW Fan Content Creator Interviews: HayleyNFoster

Hey everyone! We hope you’re all excited for ZFAW, and to honor (ha!) ZFAW’s commitment to supporting and celebrating fan content creators in the Zutara fandom, we’re going to be rolling out a series of interviews with well-known and widely-beloved content creators over the next few weeks. We’ve got artists and fanfiction authors, some names you recognize as well as a few phenomenal up-and-coming talents, and we can’t wait for you to meet them all!

For the second interview in this cycle, we have our best propaganda creator and this fandom’s hottest new artist/undisputed queen of the animatic, @hayleynfoster!

1. Tell us about how you came to ship Zutara. What does this ship mean to you?

When I was around 14 or 15 and caught Avatar: The Last Airbender on television, I was drawn in by the art style, the humor, and the wonderful characters. I caught the episodes out of order, and the first one I saw and wasn’t prepared to be sucked in by was The Waterbending Scroll. It intrigued me at that age, and the line “I’ll save you from the pirates” combined with the tension between Katara and Zuko in that whole scene was electrifying. I remember my teenage self thinking these two have so much chemistry! And when I saw a commercial on Nickelodeon that featured fanart submitted by fellow Avatar fans, I realized that I could do that to! So I set about making Zutara fanart for myself. I stumbled onto Youtube, practically in its infancy, and discovered that people set clips of Zuko and Katara set to music (And this was still in season 1 days… so people who made these amvs were the real mvps because they were able to make compelling narratives in their amvs with like practically nothing to work with!). The AMVs really spurred my interest in this couple, I remember distinctly one Zutara AMV using the Dido song White Flag utterly capturing my imagination. I found fandom shortly after, getting into deviantart and forums. But the ship really began to mean something to me when, as I was working on my drawings in the computer lab at school, a buoyant presence hovered over my shoulder noticing my Zutara art on the computer screen. The girl was someone I had never really talked to and had only seen from afar but she immediately started excitedly saying she shipped Zuko and Katara too! In this simple shared obsession, I made one of the best friends I’ve ever had and we’re still friends to this day. We would theorize and fangirl over Avatar like it was nobody’s business; we poured over bootleg San Diego Comic Con footage that showed spoilers for season 2 before it aired; we lost our freaking minds when we finally saw The Crossroads of Destiny. We had watch parties every week as Season 3 of A:TLA aired, and comforted each other when the show ended as it did (much ranting was shared). Those are some of my happiest memories from high school… all because this one pairing from this wonderful show. Even though Zutara didn’t happen, we still chat every now and then about it. Zutara will probably be a lifelong obsession, always bubbling under the surface. And without it, I would have never realized that animation was a viable career path. It really did inspire everything including the work I’m doing to this day in the animation industry. I owe a lot to this ship and to Avatar: the Last Airbender.

2. What inspires you to create zutara fanworks?

The resurgence of Avatar: The Last Airbender this year really helped sort of spark that dormant love I had for Zutara. The show’s ending still disappointed me on the rewatch, but Zuko and Katara’s relationship arc was as captivating as ever, so I turned to some fanfiction and looking at people’s pretty Zutara art and AMVs to just revel in fanon instead of getting to hung up on the actual ending of the show. But then I realized, with quarantine and my work load being pretty light, I had time to actually make all new Zutara art for myself, art I was never fully capable of making as a kid, but now could do with my 7 years of industry experience and just… life experience. And I was inspired to do some corrective animatics to satisfy my own desire for a different ending. I just really like exploring these two characters, doing different and interesting things with them, and frankly I’m inspired to make cute, fluffy, romantic art simply by virtue of living in a really sad and depressing world. Things are so crazy right now, creating art about two characters I love being in love, is comforting. And it helps to have inspiring music and amazing Zutara amvs to just sort of stir up my emotions and imagery in my head to make into animatics and art.

3. Be selfish - if you could request one fanwork based on your own art/fanfic, what would it be? What would you absolutely love to see someone create?

Ohhhh… Well, It’s always nice to have people write fanfiction that puts words to my animatics. I am not that great at coming up with dialog myself, so I’ve just chosen to indulge in visuals and emotions for my boards. But when I read things like RideBoldlyRide’s take on my Reunion Animatic, it makes me pretty giddy. (They finally have voices!) :) And this is the MOST selfish thing I could request, but I’m not shy about saying how much I love well done amvs, so I will literally kill for someone to make Zutara AMVs to songs I like… Like, most of AURORA’s songs but especially Exist for Love, Sunseeker by The Naked and Famous, Promises or Take Me by Aly & AJ, Adore You by Harry Styles, Human Enough by ONR, Never Let Me Go by Florence + The Machine, and/or Almost (Sweet Music) by Hozier just… I can see the AMVs so clearly to any of these songs in my head, but I don’t have the tools or skill set at my disposal to make a compelling fan video. When I was in high school, I originally thought I wanted to go into video editing simply because I loved making very crappy AMVs (they were so bad you guys), but I figured out being a storyboard artist was more in my wheelhouse. haha

4. Any words for people who are new to the fandom and/or nervous about sharing their work for the first time?

If you’re new to the Zutara fandom, just have a good time! Don’t waste too much time arguing with people over your shipping preferences. I wasted so much of my teen years having pointless shipping wars with people on DeviantArt, and I’m just so much happier nowadays because I’m just making Zutara art in my little corner of the internet, and honestly, in the politest of ways, I don’t give a shit if people don’t like my art or Zutara. haha I think that’s sort of a key thing for people thinking of posting creative works here in the fandom, just make art for yourself, satisfy your own desires for the pairing, get your creative sparks flying, and create just for the joy of creating. It’s always nice to get comments and such, but simply making the art should be what spurs you on, not the external validation. And have a good time, don’t worry too much - I say as someone who worries about EVERYTHING. But honestly, making art for A:TLA is some of the most relaxed I’ve been because I make it just for me. I’m lucky others seem to like it too!

5. What’s an idea for a fanwork that you have but haven't gotten around to making?

I have an idea for a second generation storyline with my Zutara kids that involves Kya (the eldest firebending daughter) falling in love with an airbender boy (tentatively named Gora in my headcanon who’s a bit of a rabble rouser and one of Aang’s kids he had with a Kyoshi Warrior), and then they start a socialist revolution in the Fire Nation in order to dismantle all of the hierarchical societies across the Avatar world… Together Kya and Gora Fan the Flames of revolution… ehhhhh... Get it?? Oh! Oh, and then Katara, who had put in legit liberal reforms in her time as Fire Lady listens to her daughter after resisting in the first part of the story, but then realizes she can actually play a part in the dissolution of the royalty and is also active in the revolution realizing that moderate liberal reforms are no substitute for a society free of serving royalty (which she had always been uncomfortable with but had rationalized with herself that she was doing good in her capacity as Fire Lady.) I just feel like there’s a lot of cool potential for discussing these ideas and also having some aspirational change in the Avatar world. lol For aesthetics and just happy fluffy times, I can indulge in Fire Lady and Fire Lord Zuko stuff, but really at the end of the day, I take issue with the structures in a society that have to exist for monarchies to exist. Soooo, I kind of want to do my own corrective story for that… if I ever have the time or guts. On a less ambitious note, I would love to do a Zutara sparring animatic to practice doing action, but I need a good story; I am not good at doing fights just for fighting’s sake. Those are just some things I have rattling around in my head.  

6. Are you participating in ZFAW? If so want to give us a hint as to your plans?

Yes! The most I can say is I have one animatic almost finished and one that’s still being thumbnailed. The rest are probably going to be comics or emotive single pieces based on the fanfics I really like right now. :)

[doodledrawsthings]

Srry if u wanted to forget about the discourse thing (u can delete this ask if u want) but people really need to stop acting like big artists are these evil people who run the fandom and don't get any criticism and such. Ppl cant help their hyperfixations and ppl who shit on others for that frankly make fandom a worse place to be on. If u hate a character that much, keep ur rants out of the tags. Noone needs to see that, its annoying and just makes ppl not want to draw other characters even more

I’ve been thinking about this too, but I did wanna wait til things cooled down before speaking further on it as it has been bothering me, as of late. And I have experienced it in other fandoms, before, as well. Though not quite to this level, up until now.

This goes out to any fandom, too, not just the ones I’ve been in over the years, but “big name fan artists/ content creators” don’t owe you anything. They don’t owe you art, they don’t owe you their attention, and YOU don’t owe them either of those, as well. Most of them are doing fan content pretty much for free and on their own personal time, just like you,l. unless you’re commissioning them, that is.

They aren’t celebrities with PR and social media teams, they’re regular human people posting personal work online. They have lives and jobs outside of the internat and are most likely just here to post and relax and indulge in the things they like before having to go back to their irl stuff. Acting like they have some big obligation to a fandom or something just because they happen to have gained a following (something that they probably gained over years of building and cultivating) is incredibly... disrespectful, to put it lightly. We’re here to enjoy fan content just as much as any other fan, and we’re allowed to curate our personal tumblr blogs and spaces the way we want to. While it would be nice to encourage works of smaller artists, and we WILL do that, when we can, it is NOT our responsibility.

[crushpdf]

Tumblr Etiquette Masterpost

Hi! Because I have (1) anxiety (2) been on tumblr for more than a decade, I have assumed the incredibly narcissistic position of making a post about how to interact with people on tumblr, since I think I’ve mastered the basic rules.

UPDATE: I started drafting this post a while ago. I'm not calling anyone out. I mostly made this because I realized I had a shocking number of followers who are new to tumblr.

In this post I’m covering Asks + Anons, Reblogging + Liking, Following, Tags, and ~Making Friends~.

TL;DR: tumblr etiquette is about social norms. These are the norms I have observed in my time here. You’re free to blog as you choose, but tumblr is a happier place when everybody is following the same guidelines.

Yes I use the words like “have to” or “rule” in this post. No, none of these are actual rules. Do what you want, but be prepared to face disgruntled users.

Let’s get started!

All About Following 

Rule #1: You do not have to follow anybody you don’t want to. You do not need to let someone follow you if you don’t want to.

Tumblr is technically a social media site. If you want to grow your social circle, follow your mutuals’ mutuals. The internet is like real life. You do a Group Hang, and then eventually you get to the one-on-one friendship. (Please refer back to Rule #1)

Some of your mutual-in-laws might feel slighted if you follow everyone except them. That’s okay. (Please refer back to Rule #1) You might feel slighted if you’re the one not being followed. That’s okay. (Please refer back to Rule #1)

Tumblr is technically a social media site, but it’s also a place to see the content you like, not just the people you like. You can be friendly with people you don’t follow, or who don’t follow you. Some users are amazing people who just post the wrong content. That’s okay.

If someone posts content you don’t like, unfollow them. If you don’t like someone’s personality, unfollow them. Don’t be an asshole, don’t hate-follow, and don’t stress yourself out.

Asks, Anons, Messages

I tried to organize my thoughts into paragraphs. I really did. But talking to people on tumblr is messy if you do it wrong, and I’m just going to bullet-point some etiquette guidelines.

Rule #1: You do not have to answer any messages you don’t want to.

Your 500 word message should not be the first time a user sees your name

.....Before you get Venting Privileges, a user should recognize you from the tags you leave on their posts, or the comments you leave on their fic, or the other shorter messages you’ve sent them, or from being mutual-in-laws, literally whatever. But it’s Not Cool to dump things on people who don’t even know you.

The anon button should be used in two scenarios only:

.....1, to send a positive message. Not neutral! Positive message, the kind of message you send with heart emojis.

.....2, if you don’t want to admit personal information about yourself. The Venting Privileges Rule still applies even if you’re on anon (ie: you can’t vent! Because they don’t recognize your username!) and “personal information” does not include unpopular opinions. I’m talking messages like “Saw your post about living in Houston, and I agree!”

.....(Okay, three scenarios: if someone specifically asks for anons for an ask game or something!)

If you don’t want it posted publicly, don’t send it over an ask. Send it as a DM. You can always kindly request that the recipient doesn’t publish it, but typical tumblr etiquette is that asks get published by default.

Personally, if I follow someone back I like to introduce myself! Many of these conversations end after the “hi” stage, and I never force friendship upon someone. But many of these conversations also work as ice breakers, and make it easier to send the second message, and the third. Don’t worry that you’re being rude if you don’t do this—it’s also totally normal to just keep blogging as usual!—but it’s helpful in making friends.

If you reblog an ask game from someone, it’s just common courtesy to send them an ask of your own.

Tags, Blacklists

Rule #1: You do not need to use any tags you don’t want to.

(Are you sensing a theme? But this one gets a...)

But, be prepared to face disgruntled followers over this.

Tags are useful in so many ways. They’re a great place to organize posts so you can find them more easily later on! They’re a great place to show off your personality! They’re a great (and quiet! More on this later) place to show appreciation for content creators.

They’re also so incredibly helpful for your followers to avoid content they don’t want to see. If you’re delving into a new fandom and are about to reblog twenty posts in a row, tag it. If you’re liveblogging a movie, tag it. If your post (especially your photo posts) contains any common phobias or unpleasant things (gore, spiders, etc) tag it. And if one of your followers asks you to tag certain content, even if you don’t really understand why? Tag it, or else expect to lose that follower.*

*This isn’t about your follower count, btw. This is about being a decent person.

On the other hand, use blacklists and filtering liberally! If a user does tag their content, you have no right to complain about their posting it. Just filter it.

Reblogs, Likes, Comments

Tumblr is a blogging site. It functions on reblogged posts. That’s just how it works. This is not one of those sites where you scroll for hours clicking the like button.

Here are what likes are for:

Showing support for someone’s personal posts

Showing appreciation for someone’s tags

Admiring content that doesn’t exactly align with your blog (different fandom, inappropriate, whatever.)

Saving a post to find later

Showing double the love!

Here is where likes are most disappointing:

The original fic, artwork, or edits of your fellow tumblr users, especially in your fandom

(If you’re someone who regularly reblogs things, I’m not talking to you. You’re allowed to simply “like” posts. I’m talking to those users in my notifications that, day after day, like 35 of my posts and reblog exactly 1 of them.

Just reblog shit.)

Also, remember how I said you can quietly show appreciation in the tags? Only comment directly on a post if you are sure you’re adding something worthy to the post. If you’re just saying “haha me too!” or “I remember this!” just leave it in the tags. (Reminder! You can do what you want! It’s your blog and I’m not the police! I’m just teaching you etiquette! And the polite thing to do is to leave personal commentary in the tags!)

Let’s recap:

Aaaaand: Making Friends

Start small. Introduce yourself after you have mutually followed each other.

Leave nice things in people’s tags. They notice.

Send ask game messages.

Show off more of your personality. This isn’t a one way street!

.....You can do this by, well, reblogging things. Also by tagging things. Also by just making original posts.

Do not go zero to one hundred. You wouldn’t sit next to someone in class and start talking about your trauma (even if you heard that they share your own!). So don’t do it online.

Like people’s vent posts, and their asks, and their tag games. Reply to them, too.

Honestly? Do more tag games! If someone says “anyone can do this and say I tagged you” take them up on the offer! Tag other people you want to get to know more.

Last but not least, you do not owe anyone anything on tumblr, and no one owes you anything. Ignore the rude message. Block the annoying tag. Follow the users you like even if they don’t follow you back. Do not tell people to post more of X. Do not tell them to post less of Y. Do not ask them why they don’t follow you.

It’s so much easier to press the unfollow button than to be a dick.

[childotkw]

The relationship between the creator and their fans is always an odd one. In a perfect world, fans would be happy with whatever the creator puts out but sadly we don't. I've consumed quite a bit of media (novels, manga, fanfic, TV shows, etc) and I noticed that sometimes whatever the author envisioned is not what the fans want. So it boils down to, does the creator live to serve their fans or does the creator ignore their fans. Once again this is a hard question because (1/2)

The creator is successful because of their fans and without their fans the creator wouldn't be recognised. So Jordan what's your take on this conundrum? (2/2)

--- -- --- -- --- -- ---

Okay, so this is actually a really interesting question. To be honest, I'm not sure how to really answer it, but I'll give it my best.

First thing to address is that while I am both a consumer and a creator of content, being a creator has had more of a significant impact on my life. Emotionally, mentally, maturity-wise, being a creator has influenced me far more than fandom would if I was just a consumer. So, naturally, I am more likely to support the creator side of this discussion than the consumer one. I just wanted to highlight my own bias before I start laying out my thoughts.

You're right in that the relationship between creators and their consumers is a strange one. The power dynamic is interesting to pick apart, but it also a messy, murky and grey area. Popularity and likes / kudos and comments can be a heavy motivator to a lot of creators, particularly if they use their creativity as a source of income, and I admit fully that I am often driven by my enjoyment of people's reaction to and support of my works.

Creators rely on their fans to be 'successful' in the fandom space (and sometimes out of it, if they make the move to producing original content), and I know I personally owe a lot to the fans for the attention and support they've given over the years. Consumers rely on creators to produce the works they enjoy, they need creators to build up their fandoms, or favourite ships, or draw artwork and write stories. Creators provide the food that helps feed the fan-community.

In an ideal world, this relationship would be a mutualistic one. Creators create to feed the consumers, and consumers consume the content and provide food in the form of shares/likes/attention/etc., which means that creators can create bigger and better things. Everything would be fine and dandy, and everyone would have fun. The problem emerges when one side of this relationship breaks down or demands more.

I have seen many examples of entitlement in fandoms over the years - on both sides of the relationship. Reader entitlement is something I have dealt with many times since I first entered the arena. I've had people demand things of me (updates, snippets, opinions, explanations, justifications, etc.). I've had them question decisions I've made or outright criticise the direction I've taken my stories because they don't personally like it. And I won't lie and say it doesn't get to me. I feel sometimes like I have to provide these things because I feel a sense of duty or responsibility to the people who follow and support me. I feel like I have to constantly provide things or I'll lose the validation and feel-goods that come from being a relatively popular writer in my fandom. It's frustrating and draining - and I'm only human. Which is another aspect I think often slips peoples' minds. Creators very much have lives outside of the work they produce. We have jobs, families, relationships and responsibilities that mean we can't always been pumping out content. The worst comments I get are always the ones that demand an update literally on the same day I just uploaded a +7000 word chapter. It sucks.

But to answer your question: I don't live to serve my fans.

No creator does - or at least they shouldn't. The support we get from consumers is a nice benefit, but most of us are just out here having fun and doing things we like. We put up this content that we have poured hours of attention and love into, in large parts for free. We just want to have a good time. We want to make friends and share a bit of our creativity with the fandom.

In terms of the example you provided, where fans don't agree with what a creator does with their works - my response essentially boils down to this:

If someone doesn't like a decision I make in my works, they don't have to continue to support me. I don't expect things like that from my fans. I don't care if someone doesn't leave a comment, or if they've never liked a post or left a kudos.

All I expect is some trust. Some respect. And I think that's a pretty reasonable thing to ask for. Fans who have been with me for a while trust my abilities as a writer, and trust that despite my long breaks between updates or times where I drop off the face of the planet, that I'll inevitably pop back up and unleash some updates with no warning. They respect the decision I make in my stories, because when it comes down to things, it's my story. It's my plot. I'm just taking you guys along for the ride.

I trust that my fans will continue to support me, even if I make a story decision they don't necessarily agree with. I trust that they'd at the very least give me the benefit of the doubt and want to see how I develop things going forward. Or if not, they'd have the respect not to send me disappointed or disrespectful messages about it.

I'm not sure if this completely answers your question. This is kind of my stream of consciousness, but this is what I feel in regards to the creator--consumer relationship.

I'm not here to serve fans, but I am grateful for any support they feel like giving.

[lovee-infected]

I'm about to start my own (twst) writing blog and I'm going around writers that I follow for some advice q*q could you give me any wisdom on what I should do when starting a writing blog? thank you!! I love your works and you're one of the writers that inspire me

Aa thank you baby I'm so happy to hear that I inspire you!! First off, good luck with the new writing blog! I'm glad that more authors are joining the fandom and wish you all the best with your works! 💞💖💞 Other than trying to keep your blog organized by creating a proper masterlist, choosing a suitable aesthetic, having a set of rules and making sure to tag all of the warnings and necessary mentions (gender of reader, n/sfw or trigger warning), I tried to come up with some useful advises that might help!

1) Keep up the great confidence!

First and the most important thing about a writing blog, is to be confident and strong. Look, you shouldn't be afraid of posting your works and sharing with the redt of the fandom, even as they're not as perfect as you want them to be. The more you write, the more you learn! And you'd grow to be better and better as you continue to share your works! Not even the greatest authors had been any perfect on their first days!

2) If you're accepting requests, try to set a limit

Being overwhelmed with asks is never pleasant, if you just open your inbox to face 500 requests you'd be to be terrified and confused and even lose your passion to work on any of them because of the stress and not knowing where to begin from. Try to set a limit based on your personal limits, how many requests do you think you can have at the time without stressing out because of how much they are? 10? 20? 50? 100? 200? Doesn't matter! If you feel like you're fine with huge numbers like 200 and 150, it's totally fine! If not, remember that setting a character limit would not only reduce the possible chance of stressing out and overwhelming anxiety but it'll also help you manage your inbox better and easier! You can start taking requests again just as soon as your inbox in cleared!

3) Try to treat yourself every once in a while!

Working on requests can be tiring and sometimes, boring. It's great if you enjoy working on requests no matter what they are but remember to write for your own pleasure every once in a while too!

Even if you have like 100 requests laying in your inbox, feel free to write self indulgent fics or something that you'd like to write even if it's super odd an irrelevant to your normal writings! Remember that you deserve to read something you enjoy just as much as the others do, so don't forget to bless yourself with that beautiful writing of yours ;) Remember that it's your blog, you are free to do everything that makes you happy or anything that you simply enjoy doing ^^

4) Remember that no matter what, toxicity always exists and it's not your fault

Look toxicity is very common to be found social medias, especially platforms like tumblr in which anonymous function exists. Even celebrities and world-famous artists might get attacked over pretty silly stuff every once in a while so it's something usual to happen! I wish you never receive any potentially harmful or rude asks or messages but if you ever do, best would be to block or simply ignore them! People in this platform can be ridiculous sometimes lol, there are people who DM creators just to spam hate and block the creator whom they spammed after wards lol, so don't even bother t waste your time with such people!

If anyone comes to your inbox/DMs/comments to say something harsh or leave a sharp critique, best would be to ignore them. Even if you like to answer or respond to reply to them tey to be chill and not take them seriously. Remember, even if they didn't like your content they could've just scrolled down without bothering to read your work, so if they had the guts to come and spam you with nonsense just because they didn't like your work, it's their fault! They didn't have to read, and it doesn't even matter if they liked your work or not! It's their problem and all, so remember not to let these kind of people get to you at all!

5) Take it easy with writing

Don't push yourself too hard, remember that not everything you write is supposed to be *perfect. This is even more serious when it comes to requests, thousands of unexpected ideas might pop up in your inbox and it makes it quite confusing to choose what to write or do!

First off, don't be any shy or anxious about rejecting the requests which don't follow your rules or come when you aren't accepting requests. Those who violate your rules aren't worthy of your time and work!

Secondly, keep this is mind that you aren't expected to be able to write everything! Sometimes the requests are hard to write, the idea seems odd or hard to understand, or sometimes you just don't feel comfortable or don't want to write it all, which is okay!

You always have the right to take/drop whichever of your requests and you don't owe anyone anything for this, it's your own blog, your work, and your content. Don't ever force yourself to write something which you don't like to write!

6) Your health is always the top priority

Remember that no matter how popular you are, how many followers you have, how many requests are left in your inbox or how much people are wishing to get more of your content, you're free to stop writing and put this wrong at a temporarily (or even permanent) hiatus.

Sometimes you just don't feel like writing, then don't write. If you feel like you're being too busy with work/family/school and anything please don't force yourself to write! Remember that your real life matters always come first!

Also, you might even need a break from writing without necessarily being really busy or sad, sometimes you just need to take a break from everything, and it's totally fine to do! Take as much time as you need and stay healthy during your breaks. It'd be even better if you don't even think of any new ideas/Aus while you're taking a break from writing so you can fully set your mind off stuff! Doesn't even matter if followers/readers are going to appreciate this or not, it's not about them, it's about you. Remember that your good readers/follwers who understand that authors are normal humans and not writing machines would surely understand if you need to take a break too!

7)Keep yourself motivated!

There might be days when you can and have the time to write, but something's holding you back. You feel like procrastinating over and over at some point lose the motivation to write. First off, that's a really normal matter to see as many of us have to struggle with laziness sometimes lol, but there are some useful tips to keep yourself Motamedi and hyped while you're planning to write! A bit of challenge would not only make it a lot more fun, but is also a good way to keep yourself motivated and inspired!

First, try prompt lists! They've always got plenty of useful ideas and inspirational quotes to use and are absolutely amazing to give you new ideas for a writing!

Second, try to challenge yourself by simple stuff like setting yourself word limits, trying to see how much you can write in an hour, use some suggested words in your stories (ex: Banana, train, knife, turkey) as a small challenge! You can also try small events (like milestone or holiday events) to celebrate on your blog with stuff like: Prompt list requests, CYOAs, character interaction and other new stuff that gives you a better motivation tp write instead of just having to work on the same, usual writing requests over and over.

Also, I suggest putting an specific hour for writing/ checking on your blog in your daily schedule as this is also a way of avoiding procrastination, instead of writing 10 requests a day and not writing anything for two weeks, try to set an schedule like writing 1-2 writings everyday! Remember to put your real life activities in the schedule too so you won't have to go through any trouble to find a balance between your real life and running a writing blog!

8) Remember the crediting/copyrights

I'm just adding this here because I can see quite a few of writers using uncredited art for their stories and it's been much and less of an issue lately ^^;

First off, the arts/headers used in your writing. Make sure not to use any uncredited card or anyone else's edit without their permission, otherwise it's nothing different from stealing the work from the original artst!

If you're going to leave a link to the artist, make sure to check on them and check if they allow reposts with credit or not. If they don't, don't use their art. If they do, make sure to give them a proper credit with a link to them! (:

Editors too on the other hand spend a very long time making their edits and and aesthetics, so not copying their work is just as important as not stealing art from the artsits!

Pinterest is filled with uncredited art and if there's a pinterest art who is not linked to the original artist, putting the empty pinterest pin link would be useless and steal counted as stealing art.

9) Stick with your own writing style!

Writing style is like signature, everyone's got their very own and unique writing style. From the way you portray characters to what elements you use as the story develops, you're totally different from each and every of other authors in this fandom!

You may sometimes wonder if your writing style is any good at all while you look at other creators writings and feel the difference, and I gotta say: It doesn't even matter what others are doing! All that is important, is you.

Don't try to change your style to become close another writer's style, your own style is great as it already is! Even if you aren't yet that experienced with writing and feel like your writing could be better, remember that your writing skills will indeed improve as you continue to write and read newer and newer stuff, so don't worry about it!

Each and every writing style has got its own beauty, not everyone may totally enjoy your style at first but and as you continue to write, you'd get to learn what makes people enjoy your writing even more or how you can attract new readers with your writings, your style will change for the better as you write!

Though it's totally fine if you feel like there are writers who inspire and motivate you, remember that you won't have to be them in order to improve! You don't need to be just like them to be great! Even if you do have some issues like being a non-native speaker which can make it quite hard for you to write, you'd automatically learn and have most of your errors fixed as the time passes. I made LOTS of mistakes in my first writings but I hardly ever make any mistakes now because I'm used to it! Though it was a bit late I finally recognized my mistakes and corrected them! And I'd continue to correct more of my mistakes as I continue to write!

10) It's very good to have different writer mutuals

This one is rather optional, just a small recommendation! Though there are many writers who might recommend this as a rather important factor for running a writing blog, I'd say that this isn't necessary as there are still well-known tumblr authors and even twst authors who gained attention to themselves on their own and not with the help and support of any mutuals or writer friends, so it isn't impossible to be successful even without having any mutuals!

The thing with having mutuals is that it makes everything easier. A totally new twst blog can gain around 100 followers on its first without even posting anything more than a writing and a list of rules only because of being supported and boosted by well-known blogs while a for normal blog without any support or boosting, it may take up to 2-3 weeks or even an entire month to gain that 100!

Also, getting to talk with different authors (especially those who are more experienced than you) is motivational and heartwarming, you can feel like you have a team to belong to. You can discuss different writing ideas/issues/blog chores with them and see what they may think. You can even have their support with new ideas if you feel stuck/unmotivated while writing a piece!

I didn't have any mutuals on my first days either and I admit that this made things a bit hard, but it didn't hold me back from continuing to write! Yet I admit that it's surely very useful to have a couple of writer friends around you whom you can share your ideas with! Mutuals support each other, reblog each other's works and give each other a better chance of having their works read by more users, which is quite amazing and helpful!

11) Go for it and don't give up!

Remember that no one, not even the greatest writing blogs have been perfect on their first days. They weren't well-known back then either! And they wouldn't have been any successful today without being hard-working and strong. Leaving up to the previous 10 rules is the hardest part of having a blog, and it's all about not giving up!

Do not try to judge your writing and talents based on the amount of notes your posts get or how many followers you have, because these aren't ever going to show your true worth and talents! But I assure you, if you continue to write even through your hard days, your unmotivated days and your sad days no matter how hard it's supposed to be, everything will change. The more you write, the higher the chance of having new people find and read your works would be! Keeping up the hard work and believing in yourself is the key to achieving anything you may wish for, even having a successful writing blog!

As you continue to write, you'll get more readers, more notes on your posts, more followers and more people who enjoy your content!

Hope that these are helpful, wish you all the greatest and good luck with your writing blog!!💞💕💞💕💞💕💞💕💞💕💞💕💞💕💞💕💞💕💞💕💞

[mtraki]

Canon and Fanworks

Canon is important to me.  This is especially true when I undertake a fanfic.  I need to know what the rules of the world are.  I need to understand the needs and motivations of the characters.  Their relationships, their understanding of themselves and their place in their world-- even if that understanding is (like so often) lacking. It’s important for me to know these things for two reasons: 1) my ultimate goal, when writing a fic, is for a reader to read it and say to themselves “hot damn, I can see this happening in the game/show/book!” That’s my ideal reaction. 2) it helps organize information in my brain between what “is” and what is possible, so I know where I need to start tweaking or building (or subtracting, tbh) This was important to me when I started writing fic for Final Fantasy XV (and also ultimately why I stopped writing fic for Final Fantasy XV).  It was important to me when I started writing fic for Red Dead Redemption II (and still is!).  It is also important to me now, while I struggle to fill this Hitman hole I am in with enough words to maybe get out of so I can write more RDR2.

I consumed all the Hitman content I could find in less than a month.  All the games, the comics, and back when I thought the books were canon, I got through one (ugh... kill me with a garrotte) and started the second one (which I abandoned after learning books weren’t canon).  I wanted and needed to know everything.  I’ve tracked down deleted content, I’ve tracked down hidden dialogue... anything and everything that might help me understand these characters better.  I fell hard into this hole. But now I feel like I have enough knowledge and access to enough references to work with the world of Hitman and its principle characters.  I have a modicum of confidence enough to build and share my fanfic ‘Monstrous’.  No, it is not 100% canon.  No fanfic is 100% canon.  If it were, it wouldn’t be fanfic.  It’d be in the canon source material already.

I do not usually read fanfic in the same fandom as I write, as I find it either affects my own writing ‘voice’, or it shakes my confidence (I’m not as good as THAT PERSON).  That being said, I’ve read some fanfic in the Hitman fandom, and 99% of it has been really excellent.  Some of it reads just like I want my fic to read: I sit back and think “hot damn, you can’t convince me that didn’t happen in a game!” and some of it was just an excellent story by itself that ventured far and wide out of canon.

Canon is important to me, but it’s not as important to me as respecting other content creators.  If I don’t like something, I stop reading it.  I scroll on.  If something is VERY DIVERGENT FROM CANON, I look at it for what it is, and if I like it... great!  If I don’t... same rules as before.

What I don’t do is tell that content creator that their work diverges from canon, or that they should stop doing whatever they’re doing.

The only time I feel the need to speak up is if the other content creator is stating that something is confirmed canon when I don’t have that in my notes-- or I have different information.  This is always meant as a “hey, yo, let’s compare notes!” Because canon is important to me, so if I’m wrong, I want to stop being wrong about that thing.  I understand that this might not be true of the other person, and that’s okay.

What’s not okay is telling other people that what they do with their own time in their own defined internet spaces should be catered to you or your tastes.  Unless you are paying them for content, you don’t get to dictate their content.  Full stop.

So all you lovely content creators: create whatever you want.  Do not apologize.  It’d be swell if you tagged (especially for sensitive topics), but ultimately you do you.  If it’s canon-esque, great.  If it’s so AU it’s barely recognizable, great.  If it’s somewhere in between, great.  It’s all great. All you content consumers: consume whatever you want.  Do not apologize.  Just remember that you’re getting this content for free and nobody owes you anything.  Show your appreciation through likes and comments.  If you don’t appreciate it, don’t waste your energy telling the content creator.  Just move on and pick up something you do like.