#Feel free to use these tags to help your Tumblr post reach a wider audience and promote awareness of American Indian Day and Native America

[finishwhatyoustarted-event]

Finish What You Started 2024 - Event Rules

[ID copied from alt: Event Rules on a blue background. ⬒ No new projects ◨ Any medium and any fandom welcome ⬓ NSFW inclusive, warnings must be tagged ◧ Tag #FinishWhatYouStarted2024; boosting/retweeting starts September 13th ◼ Event ends October 31st, 2024]

The goal of this event is to get things done that you’ve already started. We all have unfinished projects whose incomplete status haunts us. Those are what we want to tackle!

The structure is loose, as this is a multimedia event. While primarily aimed at writers, this event is open to any kind of creative fanwork. Fics, translations, podfics, fanart, animations, cosplay - if you started it and never got it done, it qualifies. There is no sign-up required. I will not assign beta readers for writers, but I can boost requests for those who want them! And I can boost messages of those who would like to beta read.

The mod is a danmei fan mainly, but your work can be any fandom. Maybe something you started before your current fandom excitement took over, or one you keep putting off in favor of compelling new ideas.

Feel free to pass this event info along! The more the merrier!

Further rules and clarifications:

Alt text is very encouraged, especially for boost posts or artwork!

If your work is NSFW, I will only boost it if it has appropriate content warnings. Spoilering images is recommended but not required as long as it’s tagged. Do not letter-swap or abbreviate content warnings. These are so people can mute them as needed. Example: "gore" not "g0re"

Remember Tumblr can mute phrases, but each warning should be its own tag as well as in the body.

Please use genderbend or genderswap for characters depicted not as canon genders. Example: "#NSFW #genderbend #gore”

Please use Omegaverse or A/O/B for that content. The original letter order is a slur against Aboriginal peoples and will not be tolerated here, even with the slashes. It, like other racial or identity-based slurs, fall under hate speech and are thus not permitted.

This account will post weekly morale-boosting messages and helpful resources. Every Friday, starting September 13th, will be Finished It Friday. All the completed works posted that week will be boosted together in a big thread, so we can celebrate your accomplishment!

Halfway-point check-in is October 1st. Final event deadline is October 31st. The last Finished It Friday is November 1st.

FAQ:

Q: Are original works acceptable?

A: This is primarily a fanwork-focused event. If original work is the only WIP you have to work on, it's certainly fine to work on it during the time frame of the event. If it is posted publicly when finished, you may tag it for boosting.

Q: Are there any restrictions on topics?

A: No, so long as your event # post is properly & fully tagged for content (see rules about tagging above). "Dead Dove" topics are allowed. Some submissions will be 18+. For me, this is less about the content and more about finishing it. 

The usual restrictions based on laws and Community Guidelines of course apply, so you may need to tailor how you post to which event space your interacting with. Twitter, Tumblr, and Discord all have their own rules. There are also some topics that are in poor taste to make fanworks around. The event organizer and mods reserve the right to not boost your work if they decide it is rage-baiting or trolling. They are not responsible for negative reactions to your works. Please be respectful of those you share a digital space with. 

Keep in mind that when I link to your finished work during a Finished It Friday, it may reach a wider audience than you may be used to.

Q: Are there any restrictions on media that can be submitted?

A: Machine Generated or "AI" images and writing are not permitted. If you are found in violation of this rule, you will be removed from the event. All images, writing, or other works must be your own.

This is a positive, shared space. Do not belittle other creators' medium of choice. Please no fandom/character/ship/creator bashing, and don't berate artists or authors for not being done with something, even if they don't finish by the end of the event. Also, please don't passive-aggressively send this event to the author of an unfinished fic you want to see done faster. 😥 Be cool, respect each other, and keep any interpersonal disagreements to your own tumblrsphere.

All posts and boosts will be crossposted to the event Twitter (finishwatustart) and Discord. Expanded rules, explanations, and Dead Dove guidelines can also be found on the Discord. (invite link in pinned post) 

Fics can be posted to the AO3 collection (archiveofourown(dot)org /collections /FinishWhatYouStarted2024_Fall)

Work-in-progress posts should be tagged #FinishWhatYouStarted2024 . If you complete a wip within the event, tag it #IFinishedWhatIStarted2024 for boosting so we can all celebrate!

Find more information and community on the Discord, if you want! Joining the Discord is not required for the event. As always, if you have questions, don't hesitate to reach out!

[squarebracket-trickster]

Hey I’m new to tumblr and want to start posting some of my writing for people to read and comment one. Do you have any tips on WIPs, drafts and how to get attention on it? Very new to this space so I don’t really know how things are done.

Hi! First of all, welcome to Tumblr (and Writeblr)!!

The first thing I recommend you do is make a Writeblr intro post and tag it #writeblr intro. Introduce yourself, what genres you like to write, who some of your inspirations are, what your WIP(s) is/are about. You can scroll through the tag to see what others have posted if you need ideas.

You can also make WIP specific intro posts and tag them #WIP intro. These tend to include images that match the vibe of your WIP and will also contain a blurb of what your story is about and a snippet or two of your writing.

For any writing you post - snippets, full chapters, WIP intros, OC intros, single sentences from your WIP - you can also make use of tags like #writing, #writeblr, #writers on tumblr, #fiction writing, #creative writing, #original writing, and genre specific tags like #fantasy writing. Put the five highest trending tags first to guarantee your post shows up in them.

Another great way to grow your blog (and help your writing find an audience) is to interact with other writeblrs. Follow the people who reblog your intro post, send them asks (and ask games like Story-Telling Saturday (STS) or Worldbuilding Wednesday (WBW)), reblog their WIPs, jump in on open tag games. My post for how tag games work can be found here. The more people get to know you the more people will send you asks back, tag you in games, and most importantly reblog your WIP posts so they can reach a wider audience.

You can also specify in your bio if you are ask/tag game friendly. You are more likely to get tags/asks if other writeblrs are certain they won't be annoying you haha.

In general, posts containing links to original writing hosted on other platforms (google docs, wordpress etc.) tend not to do as well as posts that contain the writing itself. I've also heard that posts with images and interesting titles tend to do better. Same with formatted paragraphs and dialogue as opposed to a single, huge text block.

Another thing you can do to help readers find your work is make a master-post for all your WIPs and pin it to the top of your blog. List each WIP, then add hyperlinks below (in reading order) to each post containing snippets/excepts from it. [To make a hyperlink: click on the three dots on the top of the post you want to link to, select "copy link", then go to the post you want to link from, select the text you want to link, then ctrl+v. This will be your end result.]

In settings, you can also feature up to 10 tags that you use for all content on your blog related to specific WIPs. This will help make it easier for readers to search for and find your content too.

My last bit of advice is to talk about writing on your blog (and use the tags). Make little jokes and memes, those "oof relatable" kind of posts, and make and reblog writing advice from time to time. It is the hard truth of WriteBlr that these posts get a lot more interaction than original writing does but they do serve to get your blog seen by more people because they are short, relatable, have wide appeal, and/or low-effort to read. Strangely, they seem to prompt people to check out your blog. I tend to get a small wave of new followers every time one of my posts reaches 100 notes or more. I can only speculate as to why this is.

I hope something in here helps and good luck!

If anyone else has any tips feel free to add on!

[auxiliarydetective]

Hi hun polite reminder people make OCs for fun and don't necessarily want to stick to canon. Your One Piece poet is useful for people who want to research and adhere to canon fandom lore but don't make it a prerequisite please as if we have to run everything by you for permission. Your tone is dictatorial in the nicest way and it's not on to tag people in your post either as it comes off as a critical rebuke that they're not doing it 'right'

Alright, I'm gonna try to respond to this as best as I can. Since you took time out of your day to write this, it's only fair I do the same.

First and most importantly of all, I'm not trying to police anyone's OCs. You're right, making OCs is about having fun. None of the tips in my post are mandatory. I was just trying to give a guideline for people who might struggle with the world of manga One Piece (which is ultimately what the live action is based off and will turn into in huge parts if it keeps running). I, personally, think immersion is very important for my OCs. It makes me happy when they fit into canon as if they belong there and whenever something about my OC gets contradicted through later installments in canon, I get pretty upset. So, in case anybody also feels like that, I made the post. That's who that post is for. If you're not one of those people, you're free to ignore it. It's not a lecture, nobody is forcing you to listen and apply it. Hell, even lectures aren't mandatory.

You said it yourself. You recognized who the post is for, that means you read it closely. With that in mind, I don’t understand why you think I'm making my points a prerequisite. I never said that and I never said you have to run things by me for permission. I said you can message me if you have questions or need help, not "message me before you post your OC or else it's illegal". It's about people who want their OCs to be canon-accurate not having to navigate 1000+ episodes/chapters worth of One Piece lore if they can ask a single question and get an answer instead. Nothing else.

My tone, I'm guessing where you get the prerequisite part from. I'm sorry, but it's not dictatorial at all. Dictatorial is a term you should be very careful with using. It is pointed, yes, but that's the tone in a lot of Tumblr posts, so I just tried to match that. If I wrote that post like a handbook or something, that would sound like making things mandatory, and it would make it dull to read, and I didn’t want that. If you want, you can give me suggestions to improve my tone and I'll see what I can do.

Now, the last point, you actually completely misunderstood what I was trying to say. Almost all of the people I tagged are people I know who I consider my friends. I know that they have One Piece OCs and we talked about those OCs, with me throwing in my two cents of canon knowledge to try and help make them fit in because I thought they might appreciate it or they asked me to. That's what I'm offering in that post, in a condensed form, the same things I told and offered them, because I felt like other people could maybe use them too. I tagged them to ask them to help spread that post to other people so they can maybe have some security being thrown into the chaotic fandom that is One Piece through an adaptation that offers only a very limited view on it at the current point in time. I wasn't trying to say that they were doing anything wrong at all and I'm pretty sure that they know that because of our previous interactions. The other people are people I tagged who I have only rarely interacted with, admittedly, but who I know to either have ties to people with OPLA OCs because I follow them or who I know to be very friendly and willing to help people. Again, no accusations here. I just wanted to help people and reach a wider audience because my blog is fairly small and unpopular. Finally, I intentionally didn’t tag them in the post itself but in a comment so that it was even easier for them to ignore it. Generally, I'm not very versed in Tumblr tagging etiquette, so if it's really not okay to tag people like that, those people can tell me themselves and I won't do it again.

Which brings me to my main point of this little response letter: You’re on the internet, you have the liberty to ignore things. So, the post wasn't for you. That's fine, you can ignore it. Even if you're one of the people I tagged, you're not obligated to follow my request and reblog the post. You can still ignore it and move on. But instead, you took the time to write your message, so I took the time to respond. If this didn't clear things up, feel free to send another message, I'm willing to talk

[blueprint-han]

[Image ID: A black picture with the title “HOW TO SUPPORT FANFICTION AUTHORS” written in bold caps lock, colored with a winter forest picture. End ID.]

Well, this post has been made countless times, but I’m making one too because I’ve seen a lot of people say they’re new to tumblr and don’t know the whole “reblogging is better than liking” rule and other stuff. So without any further ado, here are ways YOU can support the fanfiction authors. Now keep in mind this applies to almost every author out there, not just the stayblr fandom, so if you’re a silent reader (or even if you aren’t), I advise you go through this post. Warning, this is a fairly long post going into detail, so yeah. I still expect you, the readers to read this, and if you’re a writer, feel free to lmk if i’ve written smth wrong or if you want me to add something! ^^

In this post I’ll go into thorough analysis of the pros and cons of each of the methods listed here and how YOU as a reader can show the authors whose fics you read more love and motivate them to produce content.

WARNING; LONG POST! GOES INTO A DECENT AMOUNT OF DETAIL. NOT EDITED, EXCUSE ANY TYPOS.

#1 : LIKING !

I think this is basic common knowledge, and a lot of people tend to do this. When you like the post, the author sees it, you see it, and if the author has their liked posts accessible (which majority of the time they don’t), and if someone deliberately goes to check it, then they see it. See why so many authors say just liking does nothing? Only liking says “Hey, I’m gonna tell you your story is not that good by simply liking it and not sharing it with other people. :D”

♯ PROS:

You’re telling the author that you've read their fic, and either you’ve enjoyed it to a certain extent, or you’re just saving it to read for later.

Likes are seen by you, the author and anyone who has access to your likes (which, most people don’t).

♯ CONS:

If you ONLY like, you’re not really helping the author’s work reach a wide audience because this site isn’t Instagram. Reblogging is the only way people can SEE our works. I’ll cover more on that in the next section.

In a nutshell, liking is good! But you should most likely use it in a combination with the other stuff I’ve listed below, because just the like itself doesn’t really do much in giving the author any feedback or interaction on their fics.

To clear shit up; I’m not talking about those people who don’t read the story or appreciate it in the first place. I’m talking about those who appreciate the fic, like it, but don’t leave any sort of feedback to show that.

#2 : REBLOGGING !

This is SO, SO important. I cannot stress on this enough. Let me explain WHY so many writers stress on reblogging content: 

Tumblr’s tag system is inherently fucked up, and has grown more so over the year. I’m not kidding, at first, the fic either used to show up in the tags or it didn’t, but now, sometimes your fic can be REMOVED from the tags because of,,, idk tumblr tag shit. Anyways, as you can see, it’s very demotivating for authors at that point, because the major way for people to find their content and expand their blogs has been blocked.  

Due to this reason, tumblr authors need to RELY on you, their followers to help spread their works to a wider audience. Now again, before you get me wrong, I’m not saying you ae forced to rb our works regardless of whether you like them or not. BUT, that being said, if you DO infact like the story, there’s no harm in reblogging, right? By doing this you’re indirectly telling the author — “hey! :D I liked your fic! Which is why I am gonna share it to my followers so they can read it too :D” Trust me, you’re doing nothing but helping the people who produce content for you to read. Seems like a worthy cause to hit the reblog button, right? It’s only a one, or maximum two step procedure.

Leave tags in your reblogs! Trust me, as an author myself and as much as I know from all my author friends, we oft check the tags of your reblogs to see if you found any part amazing or even if you have anything to say about the writing we put so much hard work into. Even a key smash or a “This was so [insert adjective] 🥺” is enough to leave a smile on your authors face. 

♯ PROS :

You’re !! Sharing !! Your authors !! Works !! This leads to them getting more recognition, so for the content they’re so graciously providing for free, you’re promoting their blog and helping them expand it.

If the tags are being a shit, which majority of the time they are, then you’re literally making an author’s day by reblogging! You’re showing them that you, a follower and appreciator of their works are willingly sharing their content because it deserves to be seen by more people. Again before any dumb people decide to attack me, i am talking about people who like the fic but don't bother reblogging and are silent/ghost readers. I am not forcing anyone to read anybody’s work.

YOU’RE MAKING YOUR AUTHOR SO HAPPY WHAT MORE REASONS COULD YOU POSSIBLY WANT !! 🥺

♯ CONS :

Literally none, because as far as I remember no author is against reblogging of their works. It’s quite literally the way this platform functions. Reblogging is IMPORTANT.

#3 : COMMENTING/SENDING FEEDBACK !

This kind of overlaps with the previous section, but THIS IS SUCH AN IMPORTANT STEP !! When you leave feedback, you are directly giving the author something so much more valuable to them than high follower/note counts or money. Your feedback is literally our serotonin. I kid you not the number of times I’ve received a positive comment and smiled and it has made my day. There’s a reason youtubers (though not the best example, bear with me here because it was the only one I could think of) ask people to subscribe, like and COMMENT. The subscription is like a follow, the like is ofc like a heart, and the comment is equivalent to an rb with comments in the tags. 

You might argue and tell me that a comment is basically like an ask so the reblogging step isn’t necessary, but I’m sure 99% of you use YouTube and you know that more comments leads to people’s videos boosted in the stream/trending charts. This is what reblogging does. Reblogging shares the piece with other people like minded, which leads to a boost in reads. You are literally helping your author grow.

It’s quite literally the same thing as youtubers. Youtubers NEED validation to keep their content creation going, so do writers, so do other ccs on this site. This post is however, focused on WRITERS, so keep that in mind.

♯ PROS :

By doing this, you’re giving author valuable feedback! It’s similar to what you do in rbing with tags. Interactivity with their fics boosts their note counts and helps expand their audience, so srsly, now think of it: your one comment is playing such a massive role to help ccs create more content.

Imagine how much of a difference the note counts will be in when every person who simply likes after reading the fic, reblogs, leaves a comment and sends an ask. the note counts would be high on each and every fic, which is validation in itself, but your comments would inspire the writer so much more! Please, don’t skip the commenting part. Even a simple one like: “this is so cute!” is wonderful. 

♯ CONS :

Remember, if you’re gonna give constructive criticism (which I’m sure you all are smart enough to know if different from hate), make sure the author is okay with it. Authors need to be in a specific mindset and must be ready to accept criticism, so if you’re gonna give constructive criticism to them when they’re at a low point, it may demotivate them.

Just commenting, instead of reblogging and commenting in the tags/ reblogging and then leaving an ask in their inbox, while it gives validation in plenty, will not lead to the author’s work being spread. Therefore I suggest either reblogging and commenting in the tags or reblog and then leave an ask, or comment under the fic!

!! reminder; I am not saying that if you don’t rb and just leave feedback, your feedback has no value. We authors truly appreciate every bit of feedback, but this post is aimed to help you learn how to interact with and support authors, and make them feel more motivated, because the current scenario of liking and scrolling is taking a toll on their creative abilities. Take it from a person who’s been writing for a year.

#4 : COMMSIONING VIA THEIR KO-FI/OTHER APPS !

Before any of you attack me, let me tell you that this is not a step that is 100% necessary to do. ONLY donate if you can and if you genuinely want to, and if anyone is forcing you to pay for something against your will, you need to get yourself out of there.

Regardless, if an author has a kofi and you’re able to and you want to donate, you definitely should! It’s also a valid form of support.

#5 : ADDING THEM ON REC LISTS/ RECOMMENDING THEM TO REC BLOGS

This is such an underrated option, to be honest. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve seen my fic was recommended onto some rec list and it’s made me smile so hard. If you like some fics, create a rec list! They’re oft very popular amongst the fans too. Making rec posts is such a great way to share your favorite stories with others. 

Rec blogs! I’ve seen a couple going around, and needless to say they are a great way to get someone else to read your favorite author’s work whilst also giving them your own feedback. These blogs oft accept recs via a form or ask box, and they leave your feedback along with their own, or else they’ll oft tag the author in the feedback post, so look! You’re basically helping your author share their fic to many more people, because you’ve given them feedback and a reblog.

♯ PROS :

Validation! Feedback! Reblogs! More exposure! Helping a blog grow! Spreading love! basically a run down of the stuff I’ve said before!

♯ CONS :

Literally no con of this. Unless, a one in a million case, this author says they don’t like receiving feedback/being tagged, and I’m sure NO person has said this before, at least none that I’ve heard of.

#6 : FINAL COMMENTS; MISC !

When an author points out about how the interactivity is drastically reducing, don’t just give them blind apologies. Yes, you feel sorry for not interacting as much, we understand, but rather show that you’ll become a better content consumer through your actions. We need to see that we’re not just throwing words into a void and that people are actually trying to be better content consumers. 

Understand the fact that authors don’t get paid for this, and 99% of the time, these authors don’t take commissions either. They’re giving you novel worthy writings for free. Take Percy Jackson: You think the author would have felt motivated to write the subsequent parts, let alone two whole series based off of it if literally no one showed that they were interested? Rick Riordan has sales, he is being paid, there are millions of people and big agencies who provide him feedback. Now take that huge amount and simmer it down to an audience of maybe 10000 people This is what fanfic authors want. They don’t want your money, nor are they telling you to risk your lives for them. All they want is, a reblog, some tags, some feedback, some INTERACTIVITY.  A sign that they aren’t throwing fics into the void and that people actually like them, some motivation to continue. Seems fairly easy to throw an rb with some tags, right?

Don’t bother to tell me that we do this for ourselves and we shouldn’t ask for likes and reblogs and feedback, because 1) you are consuming the content that we “write for ourselves” and 2) writers post their content here for interactivity and feedback. We could just not post and write and save our fics in our dungeon drafts for years. But we choose to post to entertain the readers, the consumers. And we aren’t even asking that much in return.

Don’t give me the whole “I’m scared that authors feel that comments are annoying” excuse either because seriously this has been DEBUNKED SO MANY TIMES. Istg, in the nicest way possible, if you still think writers are annoyed by interaction and feedback, after so many posts, long rants have been posted as to how we’re not, then you must truly be living under a rock. There, I said it. Please stop thinking this way, I’ll say it again, AUTHORS ARE NOT ANNOYED OF FEEDBACK, COMMENTS, TAGS, REBLOGS. WE LOVE IT. Saying this is like saying that the audience in a theatre play shouldn’t clap when the play ends because the actors would find it noisy. 🤡

I’ve seen some people saying they have anxiety issues and such, so pls note that I’m not invalidating your condition. If you’re trying to be more interactive, I really appreciate it! If you can’t, that’s fine too. You’re trying.

But for the people who have no reason other than feeling lazy to rb and comment, your lack of interactiveness is not excused. Please. Tumblr is a reblogging site. If you’re gonna consume content like authors are some sort of machines, I encourage you to go get some more perspective.

This site is not Instagram or the satan bird app. Your likes are appreciated but frankly speaking, they do nothing to the author except tell them “Hey i read ur fic but i'm not gonna support u :D” and honestly, that is detrimental to their creative capabilities and mental health. 

DON’T FOLLOW AN ACC JUST TO MINDLESS RB THEIR SIGNAL BOOST POSTS AND THEIR REBLOGS OF GIFS AND NOT INTERACT WITH THEIR WRITING AT ALL ! Trust me, authors prefer a lower amount of interactive followers than a high count that doesn’t even give them any feedback. Again your follows are appreciated, but when you’re following, you know the type of content the author creates, so the author expects that the more followers, the more interactivity. These days, this is just becoming the opposite. So don’t do it! If you’re gonna follow to read, interact with their works. I promise, this will make both you and the author happy. A win-win situation.

In conclusion: SUPPORT YOUR FUCKING AUTHORS! THEY ARE NOT MACHINES THAT HAVE NO FEELINGS TO PRODUCE CONTENT FOR YOU! FICS TAKE DAYS AND DAYS OF PLANNING, PLOTTING, OUTLINING, WRITING, EDITING, MAKING TEASERS. SO JUST SHOW THEM YOU APPRECIATE THEM WITH AN RB. IT’S THE L E A S T YOU CAN DO.

I will be liking this post here written by the lovely @chaninfused​ and @scriptura-delirus​ . Please take time to read it because if you weren’t convinced by my arguments, you will see how much frustration we as writers face on a daily basis. Please, just show support. Here is the post by @stayndays​ about how to get more people to read your work, because it also has a note on reblogging. Please educate yourself, and put an end to this mindless consuming culutre and bring up some interactivity.

If you’ve read this far, I want you to go to two of your favorite authors and leave some feedback in their inbox, and tag me in it (either tag me yourself or ask the author to do so, they won’t mind). Show your writers that our words are taking effect and you are becoming better consumers. I mean it. I’m serious. I want every single one who reads this post to do this. besides valid reasons, if you’re lazy to do this, you’re a part of the problem. PLEASE get more perspective.

Also, feel free to add to this post! I’d love to read your thoughts too, remember to be kind though. And, if I think your rb is somehow contradicting my points and is bringing down the reason I made this post, I will politely ask you to delete your comment, because this post is about being truthful about the harsh reality of tumblr consumers and how we can change it. I’m sure none of you will let it get to that point, though. <3 love you guys. 💓

And, just a reminder, don’t just blindly like this too. Do what I said before, and while I am not forcing you, I’d appreciate your reblog, because seriously, it took me 3 whole days to write this, plus, I’m sure this will help more of your followers understand the fault in consumer culture. haha, that’s it! This post was way too long uff.

also, this is ur cue to not be stupid in my inbox. You have something to say? Think I worded smth wrongly? I’m sure it wasn’t my intention to do so, point it out with manners. 

[todaytomorrowgiraff]

hello! i was scrolling thru the frenrey tag and i saw ur post abt frenrey fics and read thru some comments and i just wanted to try to clear this up bc like it could be bad? someone replied w a threat abt if ppl wrote frenrey as predatory they'd kill them, and while yeah joke threatening is rlly fucking awful especially towards ppl u don't kno, i just wanted to ask why like instead of going a bit more into it u just left the possibility that writing mlm relationships as predatory wasn't an actual issue and was just something "uncomfortable?" it's definitely uncomfortable, it's been a real issue w ppl who rn't mlm writing or making that a common trope. it's been damaging to their community. of course addressing that you don't want threats on your posts is a good thing and boundaries are good to set, i don't blame you for telling them to leave you alone about that, i just got a generally bad vibe from the rest of the reply. sorry, this was a long thing to read and i hope it doesn't mess up your day too horribly.

Ok, so I didn’t answer the person because I make a point of only debating with people who actually tries to debate with me. Why would I answer a person who only wanted their opinion heard and threatened people in the process? I’m too old for that shit. You on the other hand pose a valid question and I feel like this can be a good learning opportunity for you younger people on tumblr. 

I want to start out with that I’m saying this as a queer person who has read fanfics and been in fandoms for 20 years. And as a person who’s job it is to teach about literature and story telling structures. I’ve studied this shit.

So lets talk tropes. Most of you already know why certain tropes are harmful for certain groups. In the case of the predatory gay it’s harmful when used in main stream media because it helps paint the picture of gay and queer people as dangerous and predatory. 

So why is it different when the same tropes are used in fan fiction? Shouldn’t that also be bad? Not necessarily. Now the big difference here is context. This is something I feel lot of people who only learn about these kinds of things in online settings fail to see. When it comes to tropes in storytelling context is everything. Lets look at the context of HLVRAI fan fiction. It is written by singular people for free, not giant companies making money of stereotypes. It’s written in a community that is largely made up of queer people (honestly I’ve yet to find a cis het person in any of the servers I’m in XD). Lastly frenrey is a queer relationship which means all the fanfics written with this ship has queer representation. 

Now as you see, the context here (independent writer who writes for free in a community largely made up of queer people with only queer representation) is very different from when the same trope is featured in main stream media (Big companies making money and reaching a diverse audience and often featuring very little queer representation). The trope in the fanfic setting will not harm in the same way it would in the main stream setting. It won't teach people that queer people are predatory because the people reading it are either queer themselves or have seen enough different representations on other fanfics to know this is not the case. Therefor the trope in this context is at worse upsetting or uncomfortable for someone reading it. Which is why tags exists. 

You also have to take into consideration that fan fic writers don’t create these character, they interpret them from the source material. Benrey in the show is acting kinda predatory at times. He flirts kind of aggressively with Gordon who clearly shows it makes him uncomfortable. Now does this make HLVRAI bad because they use this trope? No, again we have to see to the context. This is a friend group (which contains several queer people) who improvises a story on the fly. The way they act is how they usually act and joke with each other. 

So if people chooses to use this aspect of Benrey’s character in their writing they’re also not just making up a predatory gay character from scratch, they’re interpreting the source material. 

I hope this little rant might help to widen the perspective for some folks of tropes in media. Just because a trope is bad in one context, doesn’t mean it is in another. You have to see the wider picture in this, it’s not a black or white issue. 

TLDR: When we consume any type of media we always have to be aware of in what context it has been made and how we consume it. Trope that are harmful in main stream media does not necessarily have to have the same harmful impact when written in fan fiction. 

[gwentoryfics]

so you wanna start a writeblr...

i’m no pro, but here are some tips i have for anyone who’s interested in posting written content on tumblr! this is primarily relevant to kpop fanfic blogs, but some of the more general tips could certainly apply to other writers.

Pick Your URL

if you don’t have an account yet, making one is the first step! think hard about what you want your url to be. as you can see, mine includes the word ‘fics’ to make it clear that this is a fanfic blog, but that’s not a very common tactic. if you’re writing about a particular fandom, i’d recommend tailoring your url to that fandom. and i also recommend sticking with your url once you’ve picked it - i personally always forget who people are when they change their urls. it’s confusing for your followers so unless you have a really good reason to change it, just don’t.

Find a Theme

honestly, this is one thing i still struggle with lol. i think a lot of people probably access tumblr on their phones instead of computers, in which case this step isn’t really that important, but it’s always good to have a desktop layout that looks nice! you can poke around through the free themes that tumblr offers, or search for your own. personally, i just check out the blogs of people i follow from time to time. if they have a theme that i like, there’s usually a link somewhere on the page back to the theme creator’s blog, and then i’ll scroll through that blog looking for something that might work for me. probably the most important thing is to make sure your theme is text post friendly. you want your text posts to take up a lot of space on your screen so that they’re more easily readable - that means any theme that has more than one column is a no-go.

Build Your Bio

your bio should share some very basic info about you, such as your name (or a penname/persona), pronouns (if you’re comfortable sharing that info), and a link to your masterlist. if you don’t know how to add links in your bio, check out these steps. you might also want to include a “most recent” link so that your followers can easily locate the most recent thing you’ve written. and of course, feel free to include anything else that you want to be easily findable for your readers.

Post When Tumblr is Active

this might vary a little bit for everyone, and you’ll get more of a sense for this the more active you are on tumblr, but i’ve found that tumblr is usually most active around 7pm/8pm in my time zone (CST). that could totally be different for you. but try to get a feel for when people seem to be most active on tumblr, and take advantage of that by posting during the high times.

Format Your Posts

there are a few things you can do to make your posts look nice. one thing i highly recommend is creating a custom header image for your fic. canva is an easy and free resource that i like to use - just make a free account and then use their free templates and stock images to throw something together. if you choose to use something created by someone else, like a gif of an idol, make sure that you credit that person.

after your header image, definitely include info about what the reader should expect from this fic. this info helps readers decide if they’re actually going to read your work, so it’s very important that you’re clear. definitely feel free to steal my formatting - i always include genre, character pairing, word count, summary, warnings, links to other parts of the fic, an author’s note, and tags. although my summary is usually a full-fic summary, my warnings are specific to the part they’re posted in. you can indent this info to keep it separate from the body of the fic.

please, for the love of god, use a Keep reading break if your fic is more than a few hundred words. if you don’t use a Keep reading break, then everyone will have to scroll through the thousands of words you’ve written, and that’s SUPER annoying to people who aren’t actually interested in reading it (even if they plan on returning to it later). i’ve very intentionally decided to avoid someone’s writing because they didn’t use a Keep reading break, and having to scroll through it was such an inconvenience to me that i deemed their fics not worth reading. be considerate and use the break - bonus points if you keep all smutty content after the break!

last thing: figure out how you want to break between scenes. tumblr used to have a really simple line that you could insert between scenes to create a visual break between scenes, but it didn’t hide content the way the Keep reading break does. unfortunately, they took it away, so now we have to get creative. i’ve seen some writers just use a single asterisk (*) between scenes. i ended up creating my own scene break image in canva and i just insert it after every scene. this is what mine looks like:

whatever you end up using, just make sure it’s simple so it doesn’t draw too much attention.

Be Smart About Tags

figure out what tags are used for your fandom, and be sure to use them every time you post! i think the first five tags are the most important - i’m pretty sure those are the ones that your post can appear in when someone searches that tag. 

for example, my main fic is a smutty fic that features a few members of the kpop group pentagon. so depending on what happens in the part i’m posting, i’ll usually include tags such as: hongseok smut, wooseok smut, kino angst, hyunggu angst, hongseok scenario, hongseok fic, wooseok scenario, wooseok fic, kino scenario, kino fic, hyunggu scenario, hyunggu fic. 

Join a Network

this tip is a bit more kpop fanfic specific - i’m not sure what kinds of networks are out there for other writers.

networks are a great way to share your works with a wider audience, and they’re also a great way to meet other writers that are interested in the same things you are!

one of the best networks that i’ve joined is @ksmutclub. they have a big following, and they do a really good job of staying on top of reblogs. keep an eye on their blog to see when applications are open. i should also mention that, because it’s a smut network, they’ll only reblog smutty content. this network is also open to all kpop fandoms!

there are also other networks, like @uni-network​, which don’t actually require an application. if you create content for pentagon, tag it with #uninet and it’ll get reblogged. the only caveat is that they don’t reblog smutty content because they want the blog to be open to all ages. you are still welcome to use the tag, though - just keep your smut under the cut!

i’m also a member of @universenet​, but i don’t think they’re active anymore...

Follow Other Writers

this one might be hard to do depending on the size of your fandom, but if you can find other content creators, give them a follow! and if you enjoy their work, reblog it! your blog will benefit from you sharing content that’s not your own (as long as you’re reblogging, not reposting. you always want to give credit to the original creator). plus, you want people to interact with your blog, so do your part and interact with others, too!

that’s all i’ve got for right now, but i’ll add to this post again if i think of anything else! and of course, please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions about starting a writeblr! i’m happy to help.

[prettywordsyouleft]

Hi there Chelle! I have a sort of rant. I really value your insightful thoughts so! Okay, I am a writer, and I haven’t been posting much (due to real life reasons), I’ve never gotten a lot of engagement in my blog, but I still got something and it always excited me. But now when I do try to interact with my readers, I get no engagement at all, and it’s just discouraging me even further. I feel like I’ve been forgotten... Do you have any advice for me? Ps love your writing!

I’m grateful you find me insightful, anon, and I’m sorry this is happening to you, but I don’t know how helpful I’m going to be >_>

A lot of writers I know are struggling with interaction over the last few months, so first off, I hope this gives you some hope to know it’s not something you’re doing wrong. It’s so easy to think it’s because you’re not doing x y and z, but the reality is, you’re not alone in this. Tumblr has been making “improvements” to their system and because of that, there was a huge debacle around stories even showing up in tags, if at all. I know for a fact, that I’ve missed several stories even with having these writers as mutuals, as they’re not showing up on my dash. 

However, this doesn’t help cure your discouragement a whole deal. Whilst I’m in no position to complain much about the changes with interaction this year as I’m grateful for the support I receive, I have been affected and I shouldn’t have to diminish that because at the end of the day, we’re all working hard here. And so what I did much earlier in the year to get through some of my discouragement when it first started was to sit down and clearly write out my goals for this blog. 

I started off with just writing out whatever came to mind. Things like “have a consistent schedule for the rest of the year”, “write x amount of series”, “produce at least 4 stories a week”, “have more variety in idols” etc. But I found as I was doing this, I had some glaringly obvious problems in this list. I was writing down about success and numbers and reaching milestones as well. The writing goals - those I had mostly full control over. So life through a spanner in my works, and right now I’m unable to write consistently and follow through with preplanned schedules, which sucks, but if that hadn’t happened, those goals were fully in my control, right? 

But milestones and basing success on notes and numbers and interaction are not something I can fully control because it involves other participants to reach those. Whilst we all would love to see the notes of our stories at a desired number, or more importantly, get those comments and reblogs we might have once been used to, we can’t control that. So we’re essentially getting upset with something that we can’t just fix by ourselves. And that’s where the disappointment and uncertainty lies. 

There is no fix all cure for this, aside from mindset, which is something that fluctuates for everyone. I’m an advocate for writing for yourself first and foremost, but I’m not ignorant, I know I’m motivated by commentary on my stories. Just one really nice comment can truly give me a buzz, and seeing something I worked hard on getting nothing is a bit of a let down. If I didn’t want an audience of some kind, I would write and not post online. But I do, so it’s appreciated whenever someone takes the time to read a story of mine. 

I think the most straight-forward advice I can give you is give yourself some grace. You’re doing great despite Tumblr making it impossible at times. As for readers, some are fantastic, and others only consume and don’t stop to comment/reblog. Which as heartbreaking as it can be when you’re searching for engagement, is how it is. I suggest you try perhaps finding at least a little bit of time to write a few stories and then stick to a consistent schedule with your posting if you want to keep a consistent flow of activity on your blog. Most readers like to have the knowledge there will be something to come in the near future. Let your readers know when you plan to post something so they can come back then to find it if they don’t have notifications on. If your blog is not active, it’s easy to slip into the land of unknown. If you can’t write anything at the moment but have content you can reblog, systematically set scheduled reblogs so there is something happening to gain attention. Join networks if you haven’t already, as they will reblog your work to get it out to a wider audience during this less than wonderful tagging dilemma some blogs are having. Check that you don’t have your blog marked with anything inappropriate and are being shadow-banned as I know this was a problem in the past for some people with exposure. Involve your followers in what they can expect from you or ask for tips on what they might like to see next. You don’t have to cater to everything said, but its nice to have feedback. If someone reblogs content with tags, don’t feel put off to send them a comment on the post to thank them for their efforts. It’s a lot of work at times, if you really want to have that exposure and sometimes it is hard to navigate. There will still be times where you find yourself asking why you’re bothering with the effort. Some things might not work. But if you want to make it work then it’s worth trying! 

And if you feel comfortable with letting me know who you are, feel free to privately message me. I’ll happily reblog some of your work with my followers <3

I’m sorry I’m not much help... but I really want to try and support fellow writers because if there’s anyone out there who knows what affects our motivation on this website the most, it’s fellow writers!

[reesewestonarchive]

about

(can ignore, just making a mobile-friendly post I can link to)

hi there, I’m reese, a 27 year old bisexual disaster.

reese

I work for a tech company where I am, while wearing approximately twelve other hats, a project manager for a technology company (this isn’t a typo; I work at a company where I am a project manager for another company). this is not the day job that I ever wanted, but it’s fine more or less. I try not to bitch about it too much because it is the entire reason that I can like, afford anything lol. it also allows me to work from home more often than not, so my hours are a little weird when I’m online.

also, it’s why I am frequently online at three in the morning on a weekday. it is what it is, for now. in the meantime, please know that if I am short or curt with you it is more likely than not to be because of my Being An Asshole hat that I wear for work. sometimes it’s hard to take off.

oftentimes the depression and the insomnia beat the shit out of me. I try not to make this like a #thing, because it’s a heavy little fucker, but my activity goes in bursts as a result. sometimes I will be here every day for two weeks, sometimes you will see one text post for an entire two-week period.

I’m nonbinary. I’m out in real life in a non-professional sense, but I let my coworkers draw whatever conclusions they desire to because in general I consider other people being unable to place my gender into the binary something that isn’t my problem. as a result of this you might hear me sometimes talk about how they refer to me as my legal name, but I have no real desire to make that name public. in general I consider myself seesawing between male and female on any given day. my pronouns are they/them. also, I don’t consider myself transgender, so please don’t refer to me as such

I don’t write a lot about being nonbinary, but trans and nb folk do feature in my work. I also use my work to forget about the bullshit of real life, so this sometimes means that I might gloss over problems. this doesn’t mean that I don’t consider them important or a real thing in real life, I’m just disillusioned and tired

here’s a link to a playlist of my favorite songs

if you have any questions, feel free to give me a shout. sometimes I come across as short or irritated, and I have been told I’m intimidating both online and in real life, but unless I have you blocked (which I don’t currently have people in writeblr blocked), then I am absolutely down to chat, any time! the other shit is just... me I guess

writing and writeblr

my favorite writeblrs, active or not, are and will remain @/forlornraven, @/infinitelyblankpage, @/reininginthefirewriting, @/writingmyassoff, @/indecentpause, @/klywrites, @/stetcomma, and @/riftversus . there are others, and I’ll update here as I remember them

I have been on this website since 2011, but in writeblr since… march of 2018. shadowed is my oldest project, but from the roof of my mouth is my oldest project on tumblr, and quite possibly my favorite one to date. I jump between projects fairly regularly, but unless stated otherwise I have intentions of finishing everything I write.

in general, everything I write will include at least some heavy aspect: addiction, abuse, homophobia, gender dysphoria, drug abuse, alcoholism–I work in some pretty dark aspects of humanity. before this becomes a thing, what I write does not indicate what I believe.

you can tag me in tag games, and I try to reblog everything that I read or that I am tagged in. recently I decided that I don’t necessarily have to comment on something to reblog it/to indicate that I enjoyed it, so I have been queueing things that I see. in the attempt to help writers reach a wider audience, I’m just reblogging any work I see.

here is a link to my projects page

aside from writeblrs, I can’t tell you my exact favorite books, but I really enjoyed ‘If I Was Your Girl’ and ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ and 'The Song of Achilles’. I like queer lit, YA or not, so if you have any recommendations, please send 'em my way

[jackieboyandmarkimoo]

UPDATES!

hello my dear JSE community!

so, i’ve sort of never really addressed the fact that i’ve just... stopped posting confessions, or even if i did it was pretty vague and whatnot. thus, i’ve decided to revamp things a bit! so what’s changing?

well, for starters, i’m going to actually be asking for your confessions again and i’ll be posting them! who would’ve thought a confessions blog would actually do that huh...

secondly, i’ll just be posting the confessions directly through the submissions. this means that i won’t be making and editing them as pictures anymore, but just posting them as text posts. this will make the process much faster and easier, which means i’ll be able to post your confessions as soon as i receive them!

and lastly (i think) - a very minor update - while before i only tagged the confessions with “confession” and “jacksepticeye”, i will from now on also be using the “therealjacksepticeye” and “jse” tags as well! so that the confessions can reach an even wider audience, and maybe even jack himself!

with all this being said, PLEASE check out the updated guidelines

All confessions are completely anonymous. If you want to include and share your name/username, please point it out in the confession. (If you submit a confession without manually making yourself anonymous, I will still post it anonymously, so you don’t have to worry about that!) 

If I see the need for it, I will edit the grammar/syntax/spelling in the confessions. This is simply so it’s easier for everyone to read and understand what’s being said!

If you wish to add a picture/drawing to go along with your confession, feel free to do so! But PLEASE only submit drawings that you have made or that you have permission to share. I do not condone art-theft by any means. (This actually also includes professional photos that fans take and edits as well - don’t use someone else’s without permission!)

i must say i’ve really missed the whole confessions aspect of my tumblr experience, and i feel like i’m almost betraying or even disappointing you guys by giving up on the original purpose of this blog. so i hope that you are still willing to submit your confessions and interact with this blog and help me contribute more to this community! 

and with all of THIS being said, go on and submit some confessions, won’t ya c: 

[finishwhatyoustarted-event]

Finish What You Started 2024 - Event Rules

[ID copied from alt: Event Rules on a blue background. ⬒ No new projects ◨ Any medium and any fandom welcome ⬓ NSFW inclusive, warnings must be tagged ◧ Tag #FinishWhatYouStarted2024; boosting/retweeting starts March 15th ◼ Event ends April 30, 2024]

The goal of this event is to get things done that you’ve already started. We all have unfinished projects whose incomplete status haunts us. Those are what we want to tackle!

The structure is loose, as this is a multimedia event. While primarily aimed at writers, this event is open to any kind of creative fanwork. Fics, translations, podfics, fanart, animations, cosplay - if you started it and never got it done, it qualifies. There is no sign-up required. I will not assign beta readers for writers, but I can boost requests for those who want them! And I can boost messages of those who would like to beta read.

The mod is a danmei fan mainly, but your work can be any fandom. Maybe something you started before your current fandom excitement took over, or one you keep putting off in favor of compelling new ideas.

Feel free to pass this event info along! The more the merrier!

Further rules and clarifications:

Alt text is very encouraged, especially for boost posts or artwork!

If your work is NSFW, I will only boost it if it has appropriate content warnings. Spoilering images is recommended but not required as long as it’s tagged. Do not letter-swap or abbreviate content warnings. These are so people can mute them as needed. Example: "gore" not "g0re"

Remember Tumblr can mute phrases, but each warning should be its own tag as well as in the body.

Please use genderbend or genderswap for characters depicted not as canon genders. Example: "#NSFW #genderbend #gore”

Please use Omegaverse or A/O/B for that content. The original letter order is a slur against Aboriginal peoples and will not be tolerated here, even with the slashes. It, like other racial or identity-based slurs, fall under hate speech and are thus not permitted.

This account will post weekly morale-boosting messages and helpful resources. Every Friday, starting March 15th, will be Finished It Friday. All the completed works posted that week will be boosted together in a big thread, so we can celebrate your accomplishment!

Halfway-point check-in is April 1st. Final event deadline is April 30th. The last Finished It Friday is May 3rd.

FAQ:

Q: Are original works acceptable?

A: This is primarily a fanwork-focused event. If original work is the only WIP you have to work on, it's certainly fine to work on it during the time frame of the event. If it is posted publicly when finished, you may tag it for boosting.

Q: Are there any restrictions on topics?

A: No, so long as your event # post is properly & fully tagged for content (see rules about tagging above). "Dead Dove" topics are allowed. Some submissions will be 18+. For me, this is less about the content and more about finishing it. 

The usual restrictions based on laws and Community Guidelines of course apply, so you may need to tailor how you post to which event space your interacting with. Twitter, Tumblr, and Discord all have their own rules. There are also some topics that are in poor taste to make fanworks around. The event organizer and mods reserve the right to not boost your work if they decide it is rage-baiting or trolling. They are not responsible for negative reactions to your works. Please be respectful of those you share a digital space with. 

Keep in mind that when I link to your finished work during a Finished It Friday, it may reach a wider audience than you may be used to.

Q: Are there any restrictions on media that can be submitted?

A: Machine Generated or "AI" images and writing are not permitted. If you are found in violation of this rule, you will be removed from the event. All images, writing, or other works must be your own.

This is a positive, shared space. Do not belittle other creators' medium of choice. Please no fandom/character/ship/creator bashing, and don't berate artists or authors for not being done with something, even if they don't finish by the end of the event. Also, please don't passive-aggressively send this event to the author of an unfinished fic you want to see done faster. 😥 Be cool, respect each other, and keep any interpersonal disagreements to your own tumblrsphere.

All posts and boosts will be crossposted to the event Twitter (finishwatustart) and Discord. Expanded rules, explanations, and Dead Dove guidelines can also be found on the Discord. (invite link in pinned post) 

Fics can be posted to the AO3 collection (archiveofourown(dot)org /collections /FinishWhatYouStarted2024_Spring)

Work-in-progress posts should be tagged #FinishWhatYouStarted2024If you complete a wip within the event, tag it #IFinishedWhatIStarted2024 for boosting so we can all celebrate!

Find more information and community on the Discord, if you want! Joining the Discord is not required for the event. As always, if you have questions, don't hesitate to reach out!

[vickypritchard]

Website Hosting/Social Media

Website:  To make my website, I will be using Tumblr. I have decided to use Tumblr because it is free and easy to access and I have started to understand how the platform works through making my blog. Tumblr is known for having a lot of creative accounts and active viewers which makes it a good place for people such as myself to get noticed. 

http://vickypritchard.co.uk 

This is the first layout design for my website, this layout is the automatic one that Tumblr has installed onto each blog/website that begins. I had to change this layout because it is dull and doesn’t reflect my brand well. I liked the use of a large banner in the top of the page to show off my logo or work, but felt the rest of the website lacked in design and wasn’t visually pleasing. 

This was my second layout design for my website, I quite liked the layout of the website, but not so much the colours. Once I had gained feedback from my presentation, stating that the website didn’t look professional and looked more like a blog. I decided to research different websites to help me create a website that reflected my brand well and was easy to access.     Research website 1: https://fitsmallbusiness.com/what-makes-a-good-website/ 

According to this list on what makes a good website, I think the most important things I will need to consider are;   - Add social media accounts to show off your work, link everything - social media accounts to website and website to social media accounts.  - Make my website mobile friendly.  - Showcase who you are by using a bio, this is a good way for companies to know about you without having to do a lot of searching   If I use these three rules when making my website I think my website will come across professional, provided it has a good design layout. 

Research website 2:  https://www.nowness.com/ 

I think this is a good example of a professional design layout I have found, the company is called Nowness, what I like about this website is the organised, separate boxes that easily show what each project is and what work belongs in each section. I am going to try and apply this format to my website as I feel this is professional, especially if I can title each piece of work and write about it. 

Social Media:  All social media I currently have is for my personal use only and is private, I have SnapChat (used for communicating), FaceBook (which I have not posted anything on for over a year), Messenger (used for communicating) and Instagram (where I post on average every six months). I have no professional public accounts where I can show my work or experiences to others I do not know. This needs to change as social media in all of the creative industries is extremely useful as it is a way to meet others in the same industry you are interested in. and to show off your work to others - such as possible employers and if they like your work, they are able to contact you. Depending on the industry you want to work in will depend on what sort of social media you should use, for example, if you are an aspiring illustrator, Instagram would be best as it is used to post images giving illustrators a chance to show off their drawings with descriptions and tags. As there are so many different types of social media, I need to research each one and decide which would be best to use for the industry I am interested in - ‘Sound in the Film industry’, when I know which ones I want to use I can then make my accounts. It is important to not make too many social media accounts as I would not be able to keep all of them up to date, therefore I will only make one or two if they are suitable.  

For the industry I want to work in, I think the best three social media options for me to use would be Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram.  Twitter would be useful to me as it is a platform that can reach a wider audience, such as possible clients or employers who can look at my work. Twitter is also a good way to gain feedback on work as it is public. Disadvantages of Twitter however, is that negative comments/feedback can be posted, and maintaining a good, active Twitter account is very time consuming.  LinkedIn is a very beneficial business/client based social media as you can connect with others in the same field of interest as you, you can research businesses and you can find extensive job listings in your area. The only disadvantage of LinkedIn is that you have to pay if you want LinkedIn Premium, however this is not a requirement.  Instagram is one of the best social medias to share photographs or images of your own work, it can easily be noticed with hashtags/account tags to the photograph, which when people type, allows your work to come up - providing your account is public. However, a disadvantage I would find with this social media in the industry I want to work in, is that the type of work I create is part of films/videos, and although videos can be added to Instagram, they have a 60 second time frame unless you use an IGTV app, which doesn't have as many users. 

Based off of the research I have done for the three social media platforms I could have used, I have decided I will use Twitter to show my work, experiences I am pursuing and projects I am working on as this would be the best way to get noticed and get the most accurate, honest feedback to my work. I will also be making a LinkedIn account to connect with people in the industry I want to work in, I plan to make my LinkedIn account full of information about me, the more information shown, the more likely you are to get connections.  When making these accounts, it is important to use the same name as my domain name ‘Vicky Pritchard’ so that my branding is consistent and my work can be linked to one specific name belonging to me. 

Social Media Research - Sound Twitter accounts https://twitter.com/Studiocitysound 

This is an example Twitter case study account I have researched for a company called ‘Studio City Sound’. I wanted to look up example of sound based Twitter accounts to see what sort of content they post, who they are following and what sort of image they send across. When I look at this Twitter account, it is clear to me they post about once a week - on average. They are following a lot of other sound based company - perhaps supporting each other. The content they usually post is of upcoming projects or work they have released and is usually followed by a lot of hashtags, which helps promote their work and posts. 

Social Media Research - Sound Twitter accounts https://twitter.com/AbbeyRoad 

This is another example Twitter account case study I have researched for a company called ‘Abbey Road Studios’. I wanted to research two different Twitter accounts and compare them to see if they are similar or different in promotion, followers and what they post. When I look at this Twitter account it is clear to me they are very professional and successful, they have over 100,000 followers and are only following 55 people, meaning that they don’t need to try and persuade people with followings. The people they do follow seem to be people that work for the company or other big sound based studios. Their posts are also behind the scenes work of what they are currently creating or of work they have released, they don’t seem to use hashtags either which could help them promote their company further. 

Social Media Research - Sound LinkedIn accounts https://www.linkedin.com/company/pro-sound-effects/ 

Besides Twitter accounts, I also wanted to research LinkedIn accounts to see how they compare to my account and what they include on their page. The first LinkedIn account I am looking at is ‘Pro Sound Effects’ a company that creates sound effects for software and artists. This page has over 6,000 followers and they seem to post about once or twice a week, when they do post they seem to promote a lot of their work or ‘how to’ posts to do with sound or sound effects. Their website is also linked at the very top of their page - which I also have in my ‘contact info’ at the top of my LinkedIn page. 

Social Media Research - Sound LinkedIn accounts  https://www.linkedin.com/company/abbey-road-studios/ 

This is the second LinkedIn account I decided to research, this account I am looking at is ‘Abbey Road Studios’, the same company I researched for my Twitter page. This page does not have as many followings as it does on Twitter, but this could be because Twitter is a bigger platform with more people using it. Their LinkedIn page has a post added to it once a week on average and it seems to be of work they have done or achievements. Their website is also linked at the top of their LinkedIn page which is best for promotion. 

Twitter: Twitter is a good way for people to expand their audience and grow as a brand or a person through posts and tags that people are interested in. On Twitter, you can add photographs and videos with a short caption and tags to communicate and show off your work. Twitter is a good way to also receive feedback on your work, due to such a large audience. 

This is the basic set up of my new Twitter account, as you can see it is a work in progress with one tweet, a profile picture and background image added. My background image is my logo and my profile picture is a portrait of me, that has been used in my website and LinkedIn account. I need to add a lot of ‘about me’ information, (my birthday, website, bio and location). Once my account is set up I need to start adding my work to it, the more I post on this account, the more chance I have of connecting to others and increasing my following. I will also need to follow people in the industry I am interested in. I plan to post on this account once or twice a week with previews/clips of my work and text based posts, and once or twice a month with new completed projects. Sound projects are very time consuming so I will have to try and post when I can. 

Twitter: This is the link to the final set up for my Twitter account. The account shows my logo, information about me, my bio and contains a link to my website I am currently making. I think that Twitter will be a good way to get honest feedback in my work and connect with others that are interested in the same area of work as me. I plan to follow even more people than I currently am at the moment and keep it updated with new upcoming plans and projects I am working on. By doing this I hope to increase my following and increase the quality of my work. 

@VickyPritchard_ 

LinkedIn: LinkedIn is a good way for people to expand their links in the field they are interested in through ‘connections’ you can find of people with similar interests to you. On LinkedIn, you can add a lot of information about you such as your CV, education, location, occupation, photograph, an about you section and work experience. Which is a good way for employers to find out information about you and are then able to contact you if your profile fits their brief. 

This is the basic set up of my new LinkedIn account, it is a work in progress and as you can see it shows my new email address that I have made for professional use, my name, what University I go to along with my degree and where I live. I need to add my logo, a profile picture and a lot more information about me. 

LinkedIn: This is a link to the final set up for my LinkedIn account. It shows my logo, information about me, my interests and desired area of work. I think that LinkedIn will be a good way to connect with people in the area of work I am interested in, I plan to keep it updated with new information and experiences I am learning, hopefully by doing this I will be able to show off my work to others through links, such as my website and Twitter and gain connections with others. 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/vicky-pritchard-b5babb190 

[1dffupdates]

Getting the most out of tumblr

With 1DFF being down and out of business (whether that’s forever or not is still unclear), tumblr seems to be the prime place for all our favourite fanfictions to be posted. There’s nothing wrong with tumblr at all, I very much like tumblr myself, but sometimes we, as authors, want to get the very best we can out of it – and so, yes, that includes how to reach a wider audience to help boost our stories. Of course we write for ourselves and all that jazz, but there’s just something nice about having someone appreciate all the hard work you put into something, am I right?

So, with all this in mind, I’ve put together a little list of things I’ve learnt over the years when it comes to tumblr and posting my own fics on tumblr.

First and foremost, make your post pretty. Whether it’s a banner, a gif, a gorgeous edit, or whatever else, a graphic of some sort on a post is gonna grab more attention than a post without something eye catching. As bad as it may sound, many of us are visual people and still tend to judge a book by its cover. Or, in this case, judge a fic by its visuals.

After some eye catching imagery, I personally think presentation and composition is key when it comes to titles and excerpts and links and whatnot. Make it neat and straight to the point. Not everyone likes long excerpts either, so be mindful of that (same goes for summaries because, really, we can be quite lazy people sometimes). Bold the heading, italicise the excerpt – do whatever you need to do. Text can be pretty too.

When it comes to excerpts, you really do have to put your best foot forward. Some people choose to post a teaser that makes people want to read and find out what happens, some people choose to post some pretty prose and show off their incredible writing skills, but whatever you choose, make sure you truly showcase what your story can offer.

I’m not sure how relevant this is on tumblr now simply because we can reblog at any time of the day, but knowing when the best window to post was always helpful on 1DFF. When most people are online and able to sit down and read, or at least reblog, is the best time of the day. But like I said, the reblog button also makes this a lot easier to reach everyone.

Use tags wisely. This is a very important step in posting on tumblr and is something I think people don’t realise how to go about it in the most efficient way possible. Tagging things like “1dff,” “one direction fanfiction,” and “harry styles fanfiction” will definitely help increase your chances of your post being found by new readers. Be sure to learn about the most relevant tags for your story (eg. “dark harry” or “soulmate au”)

However, that being said, it’s not just about what you tag – it’s about how you tag. As far as I’m aware, tumblr only tracks the first four or five tags on a post, so they’re really all the tags the post is going into on this site. So, with that in mind, it’s important you order your tags to what you think is going to be most beneficial. Personally, I will always tag “1dff” first. Also, if you’re going to write any thoughts or whatever else in the tags, be sure to keep them at the end because you don’t want to waste those first few tags on something that’s not going to help you. This also includes personal tags on your blog (eg. title/initials of fic or “fic: x”)

One last thing for tagging: Always make sure your tags are correct before you post. You can edit in tags afterwards, sure, but they will only show up in the tag if they’re on the initial post and not an edited version of the post. Same goes for reblogs. Unless they're your own personal tags on your blog, there's no point because it's not going to get you anywhere.

Wait, I lied. Final thing for tagging: For this blog, I do already track a couple of things, but if you wanted to make sure I find your post (fic update, new story, drabble) to reblog into the appropriate tag, then please tag it as “1dffupdates” because I am now tracking that. I know that sometimes, regardless of how we tag, tumblr has issues and doesn’t always show posts.

When you have updated, sometimes it’s often easier to stay clear from your blog for a bit or reblog/post as minimal as possible. If someone visits your blog, you want them to see that you’ve just posted something, but if it’s three pages back, there’s a good chance that person isn’t going to scroll through pages of your blog just to see if you’ve updated.

I can’t really think of anything else right now, but feel free to send in any other tips or tricks you may have and I’ll add them to this list – and credit you, of course! I hope you find this helpful, and if there’s anything else you’d like me to expand on in here or write up another list of tricks and tips for, please let me know!

Thanks!

[eugenedominiqueqa]

Does your Dental Practice Engage in Effective Social Media Marketing?

Social media is a powerful solution in opening the line of communication. Using social media connects you to all potential patients. Each platform can serve a different purpose and target a variety of demographics. In the dental profession, you have no need for Snapchat or Tumblr… utilize the more informational formats such as Facebook and LinkedIn.

While planning on how to effectively use social media marketing, it is important to follow these guidelines:

Establish your target audience and use relevant marketing in terms of content, imagery, and information. In order to find your target audience, you want to think about who your biggest customers are and what age range they fall under. Once you’ve established this, you want to utilize social media with content, imagery, and information that will appeal to your target audience. This can be done by announcing giveaways and sharing information that your audience will care about or that will impact them.

Ask intriguing questions in your posts. One of the best ways to improve engagement with your audience is to ask questions. Not every question you ask needs to be about your company. Getting people to talk about various types of things may result in your audience tagging their friends, which in the end will give your company more exposure.

Take advantage of updated functionality within various social media platforms. Social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram are constantly updating their websites, putting new features into their applications. For example, Facebook and Instagram now have a live feature for their users. This is a great tool to utilize for your company. Offering a giveaway on the live feature or talking about a recent product or service launch will help your company get more recognition and activity.

Make sure that your social media pages have complete information regarding your dental practice (web address, logo, phone number, etc). It is important to keep updated information on your social media profile so anyone who is looking at your company has the correct information. Keeping an updated profile will help with the consistency of your company and the reputation it holds.

Add share buttons to your website. You want to take advantage of every tool you have to help your company keep growing. By adding share buttons, you will encourage readers to share it with their friends, especially if there is important information or information that will benefit them. The more customer-related information you put out there, the more inclined they will feel to share it. People only start to care about your company if you have something to offer or benefit them. Keep that in mind when you add blog posts and other information to your website.

Monitor available analytics or statistics for your social pages. Facebook has a free analytics tool that is available to any admin of a company page after they receive 30 followers. This tool can show you how engaged your followers are with your posts and which posts are more engaging. This can show you what kind of content your audience likes to read about. This tool will also provide you with an audience analysis including the demographic and location of your audience. This is a very useful tool to help you understand your audience and make more content that will encourage more engagement.

Boost important posts to reach a wider audience. The audience you have now is important, but you also want to strive to reach a wider audience. Facebook has a robust advertising platform that allows you to pay money to boost your post to a wider audience. This shows your post to profiles you target based on a variety of different criteria that you can choose from, helping your company boost brand awareness by reaching your target audience and increasing conversion.

By the way, don’t forget to check out this helpful article from Forbes magazine that contains a variety of social media marketing tools!

https://ift.tt/2FfKoB9

[simmonssheilaas]

Does your Dental Practice Engage in Effective Social Media Marketing?

Social media is a powerful solution in opening the line of communication. Using social media connects you to all potential patients. Each platform can serve a different purpose and target a variety of demographics. In the dental profession, you have no need for Snapchat or Tumblr… utilize the more informational formats such as Facebook and LinkedIn.

While planning on how to effectively use social media marketing, it is important to follow these guidelines:

Establish your target audience and use relevant marketing in terms of content, imagery, and information. In order to find your target audience, you want to think about who your biggest customers are and what age range they fall under. Once you’ve established this, you want to utilize social media with content, imagery, and information that will appeal to your target audience. This can be done by announcing giveaways and sharing information that your audience will care about or that will impact them.

Ask intriguing questions in your posts. One of the best ways to improve engagement with your audience is to ask questions. Not every question you ask needs to be about your company. Getting people to talk about various types of things may result in your audience tagging their friends, which in the end will give your company more exposure.

Take advantage of updated functionality within various social media platforms. Social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram are constantly updating their websites, putting new features into their applications. For example, Facebook and Instagram now have a live feature for their users. This is a great tool to utilize for your company. Offering a giveaway on the live feature or talking about a recent product or service launch will help your company get more recognition and activity.

Make sure that your social media pages have complete information regarding your dental practice (web address, logo, phone number, etc). It is important to keep updated information on your social media profile so anyone who is looking at your company has the correct information. Keeping an updated profile will help with the consistency of your company and the reputation it holds.

Add share buttons to your website. You want to take advantage of every tool you have to help your company keep growing. By adding share buttons, you will encourage readers to share it with their friends, especially if there is important information or information that will benefit them. The more customer-related information you put out there, the more inclined they will feel to share it. People only start to care about your company if you have something to offer or benefit them. Keep that in mind when you add blog posts and other information to your website.

Monitor available analytics or statistics for your social pages. Facebook has a free analytics tool that is available to any admin of a company page after they receive 30 followers. This tool can show you how engaged your followers are with your posts and which posts are more engaging. This can show you what kind of content your audience likes to read about. This tool will also provide you with an audience analysis including the demographic and location of your audience. This is a very useful tool to help you understand your audience and make more content that will encourage more engagement.

Boost important posts to reach a wider audience. The audience you have now is important, but you also want to strive to reach a wider audience. Facebook has a robust advertising platform that allows you to pay money to boost your post to a wider audience. This shows your post to profiles you target based on a variety of different criteria that you can choose from, helping your company boost brand awareness by reaching your target audience and increasing conversion.

By the way, don’t forget to check out this helpful article from Forbes magazine that contains a variety of social media marketing tools!

[emmavernnw]

Does your Dental Practice Engage in Effective Social Media Marketing?

Social media is a powerful solution in opening the line of communication. Using social media connects you to all potential patients. Each platform can serve a different purpose and target a variety of demographics. In the dental profession, you have no need for Snapchat or Tumblr… utilize the more informational formats such as Facebook and LinkedIn.

While planning on how to effectively use social media marketing, it is important to follow these guidelines:

Establish your target audience and use relevant marketing in terms of content, imagery, and information. In order to find your target audience, you want to think about who your biggest customers are and what age range they fall under. Once you’ve established this, you want to utilize social media with content, imagery, and information that will appeal to your target audience. This can be done by announcing giveaways and sharing information that your audience will care about or that will impact them.

Ask intriguing questions in your posts. One of the best ways to improve engagement with your audience is to ask questions. Not every question you ask needs to be about your company. Getting people to talk about various types of things may result in your audience tagging their friends, which in the end will give your company more exposure.

Take advantage of updated functionality within various social media platforms. Social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram are constantly updating their websites, putting new features into their applications. For example, Facebook and Instagram now have a live feature for their users. This is a great tool to utilize for your company. Offering a giveaway on the live feature or talking about a recent product or service launch will help your company get more recognition and activity.

Make sure that your social media pages have complete information regarding your dental practice (web address, logo, phone number, etc). It is important to keep updated information on your social media profile so anyone who is looking at your company has the correct information. Keeping an updated profile will help with the consistency of your company and the reputation it holds.

Add share buttons to your website. You want to take advantage of every tool you have to help your company keep growing. By adding share buttons, you will encourage readers to share it with their friends, especially if there is important information or information that will benefit them. The more customer-related information you put out there, the more inclined they will feel to share it. People only start to care about your company if you have something to offer or benefit them. Keep that in mind when you add blog posts and other information to your website.

Monitor available analytics or statistics for your social pages. Facebook has a free analytics tool that is available to any admin of a company page after they receive 30 followers. This tool can show you how engaged your followers are with your posts and which posts are more engaging. This can show you what kind of content your audience likes to read about. This tool will also provide you with an audience analysis including the demographic and location of your audience. This is a very useful tool to help you understand your audience and make more content that will encourage more engagement.

Boost important posts to reach a wider audience. The audience you have now is important, but you also want to strive to reach a wider audience. Facebook has a robust advertising platform that allows you to pay money to boost your post to a wider audience. This shows your post to profiles you target based on a variety of different criteria that you can choose from, helping your company boost brand awareness by reaching your target audience and increasing conversion.

By the way, don’t forget to check out this helpful article from Forbes magazine that contains a variety of social media marketing tools!

https://ift.tt/2FfKoB9

[turce1985]

Does your Dental Practice Engage in Effective Social Media Marketing?

Social media is a powerful solution in opening the line of communication. Using social media connects you to all potential patients. Each platform can serve a different purpose and target a variety of demographics. In the dental profession, you have no need for Snapchat or Tumblr… utilize the more informational formats such as Facebook and LinkedIn.

While planning on how to effectively use social media marketing, it is important to follow these guidelines:

Establish your target audience and use relevant marketing in terms of content, imagery, and information. In order to find your target audience, you want to think about who your biggest customers are and what age range they fall under. Once you’ve established this, you want to utilize social media with content, imagery, and information that will appeal to your target audience. This can be done by announcing giveaways and sharing information that your audience will care about or that will impact them.

Ask intriguing questions in your posts. One of the best ways to improve engagement with your audience is to ask questions. Not every question you ask needs to be about your company. Getting people to talk about various types of things may result in your audience tagging their friends, which in the end will give your company more exposure.

Take advantage of updated functionality within various social media platforms. Social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram are constantly updating their websites, putting new features into their applications. For example, Facebook and Instagram now have a live feature for their users. This is a great tool to utilize for your company. Offering a giveaway on the live feature or talking about a recent product or service launch will help your company get more recognition and activity.

Make sure that your social media pages have complete information regarding your dental practice (web address, logo, phone number, etc). It is important to keep updated information on your social media profile so anyone who is looking at your company has the correct information. Keeping an updated profile will help with the consistency of your company and the reputation it holds.

Add share buttons to your website. You want to take advantage of every tool you have to help your company keep growing. By adding share buttons, you will encourage readers to share it with their friends, especially if there is important information or information that will benefit them. The more customer-related information you put out there, the more inclined they will feel to share it. People only start to care about your company if you have something to offer or benefit them. Keep that in mind when you add blog posts and other information to your website.

Monitor available analytics or statistics for your social pages. Facebook has a free analytics tool that is available to any admin of a company page after they receive 30 followers. This tool can show you how engaged your followers are with your posts and which posts are more engaging. This can show you what kind of content your audience likes to read about. This tool will also provide you with an audience analysis including the demographic and location of your audience. This is a very useful tool to help you understand your audience and make more content that will encourage more engagement.

Boost important posts to reach a wider audience. The audience you have now is important, but you also want to strive to reach a wider audience. Facebook has a robust advertising platform that allows you to pay money to boost your post to a wider audience. This shows your post to profiles you target based on a variety of different criteria that you can choose from, helping your company boost brand awareness by reaching your target audience and increasing conversion.

By the way, don’t forget to check out this helpful article from Forbes magazine that contains a variety of social media marketing tools!

https://ift.tt/2FfKoB9