#I WROTE NO BETA AND DANNY WAS THE FIRST RESULT

[phantom-angst-obsession]

Guys I made a fic about my earlier post if anyone's interested, the first chapter is short because I like where it ends but I'll try to get more words and longer chapters

[kuwdora]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by @deerna and @jawanaka !

How many works do you have on A03? 110 - but this would probably be +200 if I had been crossposting my fanvids there. I still remember when video embeds did not work on AO3 pages. But that was ages ago. And I’m terrible at crossposting. Especially when I have so many to crosspost at this point.

What's your total A03 word count? 280,783

What fandoms do you write for? In the past it was Stargate SG-1/Atlantis, Heroes and Sanctuary and a lovely romp with Being Human UK. Star Trek. These days I’m still on The Witcher, with the occasional fleeting non-witcher stuff I manage to finish.

What are your top five fics by kudos? I can see through you, The Witcher Netflix. My Geralt and Jaskier role reversal thing. More like a role inversion.

Surface Tension, The Witcher Netflix. soft very established relationship Geralt/Yen/Jaskier smut.

Papa’s Got a Brand New Suit, Star Trek: Deep Space 9. Julian/Garak PWP. From ye olde porn battle days. Learning Curve, The Witcher Netflix. Yen/Jaskier, post-season 2 soft feelings and sex with an emphasis on all of Yennefer's pain.

Heart Tap, The Witcher Netflix. Leshen Eskel(/Geralt). My first story about what it could be like for Eskel to live with his transformation into a monster. I'm actually surprised this is in my top 5 kudos considering how niche it is but man I love my tree boyfriend and have so many more thoughts about him that I haven't gotten out yet...

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Yes! I try to respond to comments when I can. Sometimes it takes forever and sometimes I do forget to respond to comments but man I love rolling around in them.

What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? My angstiest endings are for fic that I haven’t finished or posted on AO3 yet for more of my witcher fixations. But for posted things?? Hmm. I do have an old Heroes fic called Code of Hammurabi that is Peter/Sylar time travel AU that’s particularly angsty and gave me the chance to rummage around in the way Peter would endure in a very very messy situation.

Oh, my Doctor Sleep ficlet is also pretty angsty. Danny reflecting on his time with Billy when Billy's ghost shows up. I'm smiling upside down is the name of that ficlet.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Oh that’s probably my smutty fluffy thing for Being Human. PWP. Moon Mambo, Hal/Tom.

Do you get hate on fics? No, but I sense that’s only a matter of time before someone directs their hate at me.

Do you write smut? Yup.

Do you write crossovers? Yes, but not for a very long time. I have a “Ciri collects all the young girl protagonists from sci-fi/fantasy books for a group project” crossover idea but my focus is too scattered to get that going. I did start it with a Nona-meets-Ciri Locked Tomb/witcher crossover here: Call to Adventure.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I’m aware of. I think my stuff is far too niche and self-indulgent for that kind of thing but who knows. The internet is a smaller place these days but people seem to find new ways to steal. Alternatively: I did learn that someone submitted one of my Stargate SG-1 vids to a Creation Con fanvid contest that had prize money in it. That was very upsetting to learn well after the fact.

Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? No, not co-written. But I do love rolling around with my beta and workshopping my fic into better shape and a lot of my stuff ends up way better as a result of my betas. And I also love doing the same with folks who ask me for beta. It’s a fun kind of collaboration.

What's your all-time favourite ship? Agh this one is so hard. Don’t make me pick just one. Aeryn/John from Farscape. Fraser/Ray(s) from due South. I don’t write a lot of book Yennefer/Geralt but they also are It for me.

What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Oh my god, definitely my TWN Leshkel canonical divergence AU thing. I have something like a whole season 2 (not a fix-it) outlined, with lots of stuff focusing on Ciri and Leshy Eskel, and Leshy Eskel with Triss. With more stuff about witcher-and-leshen biology and Wolf School disappearing, Kaer Morhen becoming a magical greenhouse where a mythical Swallow is rumored to visit every 6 years.

What are your writing strengths? Description, maybe characterizations. Theme and tone.

What are your writing weaknesses? Too much description, comma splices. Slow pacing.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I think it’s fun to do but it can be a lot to read and I definitely will overthink the writing and both the reading. If it suits the characterization and context clues within the text, I think that’s cool. But I think it’s fine to go without con-lang or other languages in fic. It’s just a matter of texture and color that adds to the scene, you know?

First fandom you wrote for? Stargate SG-1.

Favourite fic you've ever written? Ever??? It’s so hard to pick just one. Hang on, I got several of those ‘rec 5 of your favorite fics’ asks in my inbox. Lemme see if I can pick 5 for that.

[the-cookie-of-doom]

“B-b-b-but Derek Hale’s a failure and a shitty leader whose only purpose in the show was to be surpassed by Trash Wolf Scoot and make the audience realize what a great, competent, superior leader and better character Trash Wolf Scoot McCall is compared to him! Derek Hale got exactly what he deserved for refusing to obey Trash Wolf Scoot, really!!!!” https://princeescaluswords.tumblr.com/post/185664990955/stans-will-excuse-dereks-actions-by-portraying

russianspacegeckosexparty *whines and screeches and froths and drowns in his own bile because Teen Wolf fans and viewers have the nerve to prefer actually compelling fictional characters over his shitty idol Scott and because his shitty idol Scott is not EVERYONE’s fav*

Shitty, entitled middle aged white man & actual harasser PEW:

There are two competing impulses here in relation to the narrative. When these impulse are combined combined they form the toxic woobification also known as “Derek Deserves Nice Things.” This is the belief that Jeff Davis tortured Derek for no other reason than his and the audience’s sadistic amusement. They miss the writers’ goal: to show that in Derek’s role as a foil for Scott, he got exactly what he deserved for allowing his painful history to control him. Derek’s failures came from his inability to manage his trauma, to separate the people who hurt him from the people who didn’t.

In Season 1 and Season 2, Derek let his fear of the Argents and his shame about his actions with Kate (and Paige) influence his actions. He didn’t trust Scott; he didn’t share information freely with Scott; he relied on anger and its attendant violence to keep him safe. It didn’t work.

(It’s noticeable that when Derek let go of the past – when he started to trust Scott, when he started sharing information with Scott, when he did things like hand out Halloween candy to children – he got nice things! Derek ended Season 4 – a season which showed him being open, friendly, trusting, and complimenting and encouraging Scott – with a sexy, protective girlfriend; revenge on his tormentor, and the inheritance of his mother’s legacy!)

The first impulse was the need to make Derek more important than Scott McCall. The thought that Derek Hale was only there for Scott to learn what not to do never even occurred to them, even though the name of the show was Teen Wolf. Derek’s aggression, violence, and lies weren’t seen by them as obstacles for Scott McCall to overcome – which they were definitely intended to be by the writers. When the narrative had Scott overcoming and surpassing Derek, they were flabbergasted. Derek was a hot white man with an incredible body and a sad backstory. To viewers weaned on television culture, he should have been the lead – or if not the lead, the controlling narrative of the show. It should be Derek’s story that took precedence. But it wasn’t!

The second impulse was, of course, Sterek. There’s nothing wrong with the ship itself, as long as the viewers realized that – no matter what the MTV PR department said – it never had a chance of happening. Regardless of subjective chemistry, Derek wasn’t going to have a romantic relationship with Stiles because it would have taken too much focus off of the actual leader and star of his own show Scott McCall/Tyler Posey. It could have happened, if the show was about Stiles or Derek, but it’s not, and having a relationship between the lead’s two foils, including one closely echoing Derek’s backstory and being illegal, would have required too much focus.

Given these two impulses, the audience had to sell themselves the story that Derek Deserved Nice Things, that he was Not a Failwolf, in order to satisfy them. So that’s why they ignored the terrible things Derek did to others, especially to his own betas – seducing Erica, hurting Isaac, withholding information from all three of them – that sent two of them running for the hills and one of them running for Scott.

Cookie: Oh my god. Oh my god this is so horrible, what the fuck. 

PEW: This is the belief that Jeff Davis tortured Derek for no other reason than his and the audience’s sadistic amusement. 

!!! That is exactly what happened. Tyler has remarked on how he had to work any scraps of backstory for Derek aside from Tall Dark and Brooding like he was trying to pull teeth. Dylan said in an interview that “Have you seen him? We have to torture him, otherwise everything is too sexy for him.” Derek was only there to be abused. And that’s fine! God knows I love a good whump, and it is a popular dynamic that one of the main characters always has to be. Think Jace Wayland from The Mortal Instruments, with his tragic backstory. Or Harry Potter, spending his childhood abused at worst and neglected at best. The only difference is, those characters got a break from the abuse, they had sanctuaries to go to and people who protected them, but Derek never did*. 

*Except, of course, for Stiles, who protected Derek even when he hated him, even when he was afraid of him. I’m not even saying in a shippy way, but the only person who consistently was there to defend Derek was Stiles. Not Scott. Scott would never do anything for Derek unless he somehow got something out of it first; how about, trying to make Derek promise not to hurt Allison before being willing to free him from Kate’s torture dungeon? This even after Derek has done nothing to hurt Allison or imply he ever would, and going so far as to take her home when Scott decided going to a party was more important than learning how to werewolf, thus putting everyone, and Allison, in danger. This even after Derek has every right to hate Allison’s family, and not go out of his way to protect her. Which he absolutely did here. 

I had to scroll back up for this, but: “the toxic woobification also known as “Derek Deserves Nice Things.”

How lacking in empathy do you have to be to think that one of the main characters deserving nice things is toxic? Derek Hale DOES deserve nice things, for fucks sake he’s EARNED them after everything he’s been through. (And, not to compare trauma because that is equally toxic, but since they seem intent on doing it anyway: Derek has been through much more and much more than Scott. He, more than anyone on the show, deserves to have a goddamn break and a little sympathy.) 

I just. I can’t even touch on that last part about Derek deserving everything he got. That is so tone deaf and blind, how did PEW even manage to watch this show? Clearly he can’t see what’s right in front of him. Derek did not deserve what he got at all. Hell, NO ONE deserve the level of unending abuse Derek was put through for the sake of whump. 

“Derek let his fear of the Argents and his shame about his actions with Kate (and Paige) influence his actions. He didn’t trust Scott; he didn’t share information freely with Scott.”

Yikes. First off, as I already said, Derek had every reason to fear the Argents. They murdered his family. Derek has no way of knowing how many of them were involved; the only one who couldn’t have been was Allison, since she was a child. But Chris? Victoria? Yeah, Derek was right to fear them. And even if you take away the death of his family, the Argents are HUNTERS. They KILL WEREWOLVES, something Scott never did manage to figure out because he was too concerned with getting his dick wet. Even going so far as to side with them in the worst moment of cinematic history, before he even knew them or had reason to defend them. Allison was a pretty girl, and Derek was telling him what her family did to his, and Scott decided the Pretty Girl won over the death of Derek’s family, children included. 

As for trusting Scott? When did Scott every prove himself trustworthy? I’m sorry, but if someone looked me in the eyes and told me that maybe my family deserved to burn alive, I wouldn’t ever trust them. There is nothing they could do to earn my trust after that. But eventually Derek comes around, showing that he is in fact a better person that I am. Because I would have thrown Scott right at the Argent’s feet for that comment, and let them see just how merciful they really are. And that isn’t even touching on how Scott lied to Allison about her mother’s pack, directly resulting in her hunting down Derek and his pack, and attempting to kill two of her classmates. Conveniently, the two people Scott had claimed to care about when it was convenient for him as a way to keep Derek from building a pack. 

“The thought that Derek Hale was only there for Scott to learn what not to do never even occurred to them.” No character’s sole purpose is to be a foil. A character may be designed as a foil, but first and foremost, they are their own character. A thought that apparently never occurred to PEW. As much as he wishes it did, the show did not revolve around Scott, and neither did the characters. Because while he was the main character, he was not it’s only character. 

“Sterek. There’s nothing wrong with the ship itself, as long as the viewers realized that  – no matter what the MTV PR department said – it never had a chance of happening.”

Once again, PEW entirely misses the point. I don’t think anyone ever genuinely believed Sterek was going to be canon. We all knew better than that, we were not yet in an age where queer relationships happen on screen for anything other than comic relief like a sideshow freak; there only briefly. They weren’t going to do that with their main characters, because then they would have to get rid of them! Like when they wrote off Danny and Ethan, and kept Mason and Corey mostly out of the picture when they were together, or when they brought back Ethan and Jackson for the very end-for no reason other than exploiting Colton coming out and getting those diversity points! (Which were very much not earned, in my opinion. It was pandering at best.) 

It wasn’t the fact that Sterek was never going to be canon that made people so angry; it was the fact that Jeff kept dangling it in front of the fandom for years, once he saw how popular it was becoming. He would talk in interviews about how much he loved the Sterek dynamic, tweet about how much he supported it, and then write barely any scenes were Stiles and Derek interacted. We knew it wasn’t going to happen, and we didn’t appreciate being mocked. 

“[...] and having a relationship between the lead’s two foils, including one closely echoing Derek’s backstory and being illegal, would have required too much focus..” 

But it wasn’t too much focus when any other characters got together? No, of course not, because other relationships didn’t challenge Scott with their popularity. It’s okay not to like a ship, but don’t be so sanctimonious about it. 

Also, illegal? Cute that he brings this up as a ‘concern’ when it comes to Sterek, but where was the outrage when they started pushing for Lydia and Parish? You know, that 24 year old cop fantasizing about showering/amking out with a 17 year old girl? I think the power dynamics with that are inherently far more problematic than little old Sterek. 

“So that’s why they ignored the terrible things Derek did to others, especially to his own betas – seducing Erica, hurting Isaac, withholding information from all three of them – that sent two of them running for the hills and one of them running for Scott.”

The tag Derek Hale Is A Failwolf currently has 569 works in it. That’s a pretty good amount, considering many people don’t get into specific tags like that. I’ve never seen anyone ignore what Derek did; and on a broad level, no one is ignoring that Derek seducing Erica was kind of gross, or that hurting Isaac was wrong. Keeping information from them wasn’t the best idea either, but Derek did it from a place of trying to protect them. They were kids, and he was their alpha; he was trying to deal with the dangers like the alpha pack on his own because he didn’t want to put them in harms way. Unlike Scott who withholds information that directly puts them in harms way (see: lying to Allison about her mother). 

Derek also hurts Isaac during training. Rough? Yes. Unnecessary? Well, I would say that depends. Derek was showing Isaac what his body was capable of doing; he could heal, something he never had before. You can’t deny that gave Isaac some new perspective and a hell of a lot of confidence, no longer afraid to be hurt. 

And then you have Scott, who disgusting abuses Isaac to assert control over him. He was not trying to teach Isaac anything, he was just angry and jealous that Isaac wanted to kiss Allison, who had broken up with Scott, and made it clear that she didn’t want him waiting for her. They. Were. Not. Together. Scott had no claim to her, he wasn’t ‘defending her honor’, he was being an asshole ex. And Isaac paid the price, getting abused by his so called alpha. And what could he do in that situation? Scott was housing him; by challenging him, Isaac would be risking getting kicked out with nowhere else to go. A great situation to put an abuse survivor in. Scott had all the power and authority in their relationship, so do not try to paint Scott as the savior that welcomed him after he was banished by the big bad Derek. 

As usual, PEW is watching a very different show than the rest of us. But it does not revolve around Scott, and it never did. The characters all had their own lives and motivations. 

And, Derek Hale does in fact deserve nice things. Especially if those nice things involve a long vacation to somewhere that has no wifi, no cell reception, and no way to  be reached by a certain self-righteous teenager, with a certain human at his side. 

[lindyhunt]

What You Missed Last Month in Google

They say that April showers bring May flowers. And while April has only just arrived, we can say one thing for the previous month: At Google, when it rains, it pours.

March was quite a busy month for Google. From new payment capabilities to rumors flying about the search engine results page (SERP), news from this particular Tech Giant was quietly plentiful.

We’ve put together another list of the major highlights from Google -- this time, for the month of March. Read on for the full recap.

March News About Google

1. Is This the End of Search Results as We Know Them?

On March 14th, my colleague Victor Pan (HubSpot's head of search) shared a SERP screenshot that suggested Google might be experimenting with the idea of no search results -- just one answer to a query.

That day, in response to the query, "What time is it?", many users reported seeing a SERP with just the answer to the question displayed -- and no ranked pages below it, with only a single button to click for more results displayed instead.

Apparently, one of those users was Dr. Peter J. Meyers, who the next day wrote a post for Moz describing the "zero-result SERP ... future we should've known was coming."

In it, he pointed out that results similar these aren't exactly new. For months now, we've been writing about the growing importance of the featured snippet, and last month reported that Google would be testing double featured snippets to help answer questions with different connotations or intentions.

And while the absence of additional displayed results below the Knowledge Card (the information box where quick answers or featured snippets are displayed) is new, it was a temporary experiment, said Google Public Search Liaison Danny Sullivan -- one that was limited to queries like time, calculations, and measurement unit conversions.

Update! We have enough data and feedback -- which is appreciated -- to conclude that the condensed view experiment should stop for now. The team will look at improving when and how it appears.

— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) March 20, 2018

But not long after this experiment took place, Dictionary.com, a site beloved by word nerds everywhere, announced that it was up for sale: perhaps, suggested Pan, as part of the road toward the zero-result SERP.Ever typed a word you didn't completely understand into the Google search bar? If so, you likely received a Knowledge Box result containing the definition.

The sale made us all wonder if sites that were designed to provide information increasingly provided in Knowledge Cards -- time and date, travel reservations, or measurement unit conversions -- are going to face a similar fate in the not-so-distant future.

And while Sullivan said that the experiment has ended, we wouldn't be surprised to see more zero-result SERPS in the future -- and when we do, we'll report on it.

2. The Google News Initiative

Google also announced a new initiative last month to partner with and help news publishers grow, aptly named the Google News Initiative.

It includes several parts, like Subscribe with Google, which is expected to help users subscribe to digital news content from different outlets more easily.

And in addition to making the subscription process more seamless for readers, one goal of the new subscription program is to help publishers grow their audiences, partly with a new feature the search engine giant is testing to measure a user's "Propensity to Subscribe" through machine learning.

Source: Google

The initiative also includes new analytics available to publishers by way of the News Consumer Insights dashboard within Google Analytics. The additional data will display subscription-oriented metrics, like audiences size and segmentation, as well as the best ways to reach and engage those audiences in a way that can help convert them to subscribers.

Another major goal of the Google News Initiative is to combat the spread of false news or misinformation, again, with the help of machine learning that Google says is able to recognize the most authoritative content during breaking news events. That should result in the promotion of content from Google's verified news sources displayed in a “Top News” shelf.

These efforts include several partnerships with journalism-focused organizations and certain publications, like First Draft, with whom Google formed the Disinfo Lab to help detect and limit the amount of misinformation users are exposed to, especially during major events like elections.

Google has also partnered with the Poynter Institute, Stanford University, and the Local Media Association to form MediaWise: an initiative to help younger news consumers understand the veracity (or lack thereof) of different news items.

3. Send and Request Money Through Google Assistant

If you're anything like I am, chances are, you rarely carry cash. Split the bill without a credit card? Pay someone back for a soda or a beer right away without my phone and an app like Venmo? Sadly, I can barely remember such a time.

And now, Google has entered that arena, announcing last month that users could now use Google Assistant to send and request money.

The feature, which is currently only available in the U.S., requires the person starting the transaction to have a Google Pay account, which she'll be prompted to create (if she doesn't have one already) upon asking the assistant to send or request a payment to one of her contacts.

Once that process is complete, the recipient of the request or payment will receive either a text message or email -- or a Google Assitant notification if they use it -- with a prompt to complete the transaction.

Being able to send and receive payment to and from phone or email contacts isn't new -- platforms ranging from PayPal, to Messenger, to the aforementioned Venmo app have facilitated this type of transaction for quite some time now.

But by entering this space, Google is working toward eliminating the need for yet another sector of third-party apps and tools to complete payment transaction -- especially among the user base already largely entrenched in the Google ecosystem. That will become especially true when the service becomes available through the Google Home smart speaker, which the company expects to take place within "the coming months."

I should note that not all payment methods seem to work properly with this function -- when I tried to use the credit card I have on file with Google Pay, for example, the Assistant let me know that I couldn't use it for this transaction, though I couldn't find an explanation or more information as to why.

4. The Tenor Acquisition

Around here, we absolutely love GIF images. We use them to express every emotion, from despair to elation, and frequently find that there's no situation for which a good facepalm GIF isn't an appropriate reaction.

Source: Reaction GIFs

Over the years, Google has made a few efforts to make it easier for users to find GIFs -- one of the most memorable being the introduction of a quick, top-of-the-screen "gif" button to filter image results on its mobile platform.

Now, it seems that Google is trying to make it even easier for users to find GIF images, in part by way of a vertical integration with GIF image database Tenor.

Tenor is a GIF-image finder currently available through a number of messaging platforms, including Messenger and iMessage, where users can seamlessly search for and send these animated images to contacts within conversations and threads.

Google's plans for the database are to help users "do this more effectively in Google Images as well as other products that use GIFs, like Gboard," according to the official announcement.

If it sounds like a familiar move for Google, that's because it is -- if you review the other news items included above, it could be deduced that Google is making a number of changes to eliminate the need for third-party apps, from information sources for unit conversion, to payment platforms, to image search tools. The Tenor acquisition is just one example -- and we anticipate seeing more.

5. Other Google News You May Have Missed

Wheelchair Accessible Routes Have Been Added to Google Maps

Google Maps has evolved quite a bit over the years, with different layers, route options, and transportation methods being added in ways that make it easy for everyone to travel. And ow, wheelchair accessible routes have been added, too. The new feature will show users which public transportation stations are the most accessible, for example, due to elevator availability or step-free entrances. Read full announcement >>

New Job-Searching and Recruiting Capabilities

Last year, Google announced that it would be launching Google for Jobs: a new type of Knowledge Card that would list job openings right in the SERP, depending on the search criteria (e.g., "marketing jobs in Boston"). Now, Google has unveiled a beta version of Hire by Google: a candidate discovery system that will help recruiters create a short list of previous applicants who would be strong candidates for new roles. The biggest benefit? Saving recruiters time, according to the statement, and helping them "easily identify and re-engage known candidates instead of spending time trying to find new ones." Read full announcement >>

Where's Waldo?

We'll let you discover and enjoy this one for yourselves, folks. Read full announcement >>

Until Next Month

As always, we’re watching all things Google. We’ll continue to pick out top news items, algorithm updates, and trends that can aid your marketing.

And until those May flowers finally appear, have a great April.