#Inspired by a discord conversation I am having at 5 am

[zaacoy]

worm on a string mace

[vigilxnte-shit]

join the tuna team!

ever wanted to join a discord server full of people who share your love for one specific, depressed, hot martial artist with a lot of catholic guilt? do you have other interests such as baldur's gate 3 and musical theatre? if so, the tuna team is the place for you!

the tuna team began with the intention of a server where daredevil writers could unite to share our writing, beta read for each other, and just talk about our favorite blind lawyer/vigilante. since then, it has morphed into a place where we all talk to each other about our lives, share pictures of pets, and scream into the void about everything we love.

the tuna team welcomes anyone of any age (well, any age 18 and over), religion, gender, etc. etc. and we would love to have you! if you want to join, message me your discord username and i'll send you a friend request!

be advised that the server is 18+ and although we love charlie and his characters, we do NOT allow speculation on his personal life. we ask that anyone who joins be respectful of others' pronouns, identity, and boundaries- specifics on this are available upon request!

members of the tuna team:

here is a brief introduction to each current member of the tuna team! i am relatively new to interacting with the DD fandom (i've been a fan since 2022, but only just recently started talking with other fans online) and am frankly stunned that so many cool, talented, amazing writers who i look up to are in this server. everyone in here is inspiring and supportive, and contributes to the great vibe we have going in the server!

~~moderators~~

vienna @vigilxnte-shit: hi, as you may have noticed, this is me. i'm the owner of the server, i'm mostly here to write, talk about husband!matt, and send pictures of my cat, coconut.

brooklyn @jazerno: brooke is my irl best friend and roommate, as well as coconut's technical legal mother. brooke originally joined to be a moderator, but has since fallen for frank castle, as one tends to do.

mar @mar-thewriter: mar is a very good friend of mine who i met via another server of people i love. mar doesn't talk much here, but is a great moderator who i love dearly.

mads @madschiavelique: mads is the one who made our gorgeous get roles channel and is our coding genius. they are the ones to thank for

~~tunas~~

leg @a-leg-without-fear: leg is hysterical and our resident emoji artist. she has created all of our emoji in the server and also the lovely art featured above, as well as countless other fun works!

yuna @yarrystyleeza: yuna is the sweetest person you will ever meet and fun fact: tuna team comes from her name! yuna always has the best headcanons and her oc, madilyn, is DARLING.

sapph aka sunshine @sunflowersandsapphires: sapph is the mama of our server, she is sunshine incarnate and always has the best writing prompts + blesses our eyes with her pets!

hira aka robin @amphitrite-5: hira is a very soft and kind soul who regularly makes everyone's day with her kind words. she's also one of our best gamers and doesn't like to sleep (though really, none of us do)

via @zomtart: via is the #1 frank castle character defender and i have no choice but to respect that. they're hilarious and we love having them in the server!

i cant find mariam's tumblr: i was scrolling through mariam's messages and literally fighting the urge to laugh in the office. mariam is hysterical and our representative elektra fan.

eclipse @ecxlipse: eclipse is the baby of our server (i think) but has sent us plenty of gorgeous art and wonderful matt headcanons, and they always have the best contributions to our conversations!

crys @what-i-call-men: crys is responsible for several of the best, spiciest headcanons that have come about on the server. they also have sent the best photo of themselves wearing a DD mask.

zena @coxology101: zena is a busy bee and running her own server, but when we do hear from them, we get some of the best thoughts and BTS dardevil pictures.

ivy @catholicguiltboi: ivy is hysterical and has blessed is with photos of their son, yoshi (who i think is a lizard but i am not very smart).

pasta @pastafossa: my jaw dropped when i saw pasta wanted to join. they contribute so much laughter, many great ideas, and the best advice to the server and we are thrilled they're here.

sybil @gracethyomen: brooke and i have spent several nights since the server started laughing in our apartment over something sybil has said. they are genuinely one of the funniest people ever.

shiori @shiorimakibawrites: shiori has blessed us with some of the best matt thoughts time and time again. like pasta, their name is so recognizable to me that i was genuinely shocked when they asked to join, but i'm so grateful they did!

bella @bellaxgiornata: you'll be sick of hearing this but i genuinely could not believe bella wanted to join the server. in my eyes, she is like the taylor swift of the daredevil fandom (and for clarity's sake, that is the highest compliment i can give). in the server she constantly has the best ideas and is always so supportive of everything we all write.

lindsay @shouldbestudying41: much like bella, this is someone who i very much look up to and respect in the daredevil community. having her in the server is a blessing and they are insanely good at time management- i'm incredibly amazed by their ability to juggle so much at one time!

we also have a couple without blogs; aspen and paris. they are good irl friends of mine who don't say much, but are a joy to have in the server anyway :)

divider on top by @sister-lucifer

tuna team art by @a-leg-without-fear

[jasper-the-menace]

Jasper's Barely-Hinged Discord Scorpion Rant

Alright, context, I started this rant because I was mad about how the tlincallis (of Dungeons and Dragons second and fifth edition) were designed and handled. I put my foot down at the point where they were reported to have eggs. No, I refuse to accept this.

PLEASE NOTE! While I will not be showing any actual images of real-life scorpions, there will be drawings of them and drawings of fantasy and sci-fi characters inspired by scorpions. Some of them are even weirder-looking than actual scorpions. Fellow arachnophobes, continue at your own risk.

We are also going to be talking about scorpion sex in the context of how they mate and launch babies out. This is my second Tumblr post on the subject and I'm afraid that this might become a repeating pattern. Everyone on Tumblr thinks I'm the scorpion person now.

With that said, have this barely-edited compilation of my feral Discord messages on the subject.

You can tell someone who doesn’t know a lot about scorpions wrote the lore for the tlincallis because there’s a heavy emphasis on egg-laying for their reproduction. Meanwhile, scorpions are one of the only arachnids that give live birth.

I’m not expecting WOTC writers to watch videos of scorpions molting or launching baby missiles over and over again, but I am expecting them to at least skim the Wikipedia article, ya know? I understand that I’m Scorpion Research Georg, but still.

Scorpions fuck weird. Both “sexes” have the same thing - an orfice known as the genital operculum (plural: genital opercula). In order to reproduce, the male will drop a sperm packet on the ground and “dance” with the female to lead her over it. If she’s game, she’ll squat and just kind of vacuum it up into her genital operculum. This is followed by what is called a “mating plug” to keep the sperm inside. The two scorpions will then split away from each other, because scorpions don’t believe in cuddles and aftercare.

Then we get to the actual birth. Or as I like to call it, the Fedex packages.

A scorpion will give birth to between 3 and 100 young, depending on the species - though notably, the size of the scorpion does not impact the number of babies they can have.

The babies are folded up very nicely inside of the mother, and when she gives birth to them, they launch out like little missiles into her waiting pedipalps and front legs, unfold, and then climb onto or are placed onto her back while their next sibling is launched. A mother scorpion is actually a super good parent, and the entire brood will attach to her with little suckers on their tarsi, because they can’t eat or sting yet.

Depending on the species, it will take between 5 and 25 days for them to undergo their first molt - in unison as a brood, taking between 6 and 8 hours - and reach the juvenile stage. Juveniles resemble small versions of the adults and can eat and sting, though they’re still soft and unpigmented. They’ll leave the mother’s back to explore in safety, but then scurry back to her if there’s danger around. Once their carapace hardens and gains color, they can start hunting on their own and will often leave their mother.

A scorpion will undergo an average of 6 molts to reach full adulthood, which, depending on the species, can take between 6 months and nearly 7 years. The average lifespan depends on the species, with some living up to 25 years.

Re: the biological terms I used, here’s a picture and explanation from the Wikipedia article:

1 = Cephalothorax or Prosoma; 2 = Preabdomen or Mesosoma; 3 = Tail or Metasoma; 4 = Claws or Pedipalps; 5 = Legs; 6 = Mouth parts or Chelicerae; 7 = Pincers or Chelae; 8 = Moveable claw or Tarsus; 9 = Fixed claw or Manus; 10 = Stinger or Aculeus; 11 = Telson (anus in previous joint); 12 = Opening of book lungs

Post-coitus cannibalism has never been reliably reported in scorpions.

Scorpions are also kinky fuckers but no one’s ready for that conversation.

So, I will give this much to WOTC writers regarding the tlincallis - most species of scorpions do actively hunt their prey. (Though there are several species that are just sit-and-wait predators.) They are also opportunistic hunters, eating primarily invertebrates but occasionally also going for things like lizards, snakes, and small mammals, though scorpions with larger claws will also go after earthworms and mollusks.

What I will not give them credit for is the method of hunting. A scorpion’s primary hunting tool is its claws. Only large and aggressive prey is given a sting - the method of death is still typically via claw, even in that case.

They also don’t chew. They rip off pieces of their prey and put those pieces in a pre-oral cavity, which uses digestive juices from the gut to start the digestion process. Once it’s liquid enough, it gets sucked right into the gut. Any indigestible matter is ejected at this stage.

They do have an anus separate from the genital operculum, and it runs up into the tail. Scorpions will eat a large amount of food in one meal, and when this is combined with their low metabolic rate and relatively inactive lifestyle, it means that they can survive for 6 to 12 months without starvation.

So no, Wizards Of The Coast, a band of scorpion people would NOT be migratory by compulsion, even if they were aggressive.

And yeah, scorpions are mainly found in deserts, but that’s so limiting. They’ve adapted to nearly every sort of biome and appear all across the world, except in Antartica. So you can literally put them anywhere.

The scorpion is found in Greek mythology (Artemis or Gaia sending it to kill Orion) along with in a page of the Anglo-Saxon Herbal.

Despite the scorpion’s usage in myths, stories, and weapons of war, very few of them are actually capable of killing a human (barring allergy). 25 species out of more than 2,500 have venom deadly to humans. Most of, if not all of these, belong to the family Buthidae, which is the largest family.

Now it’s time for “Jasper analyzes scorpions from different media”! I’ve already dragged the tlincalli for filth, so we’ll pivot to look at another WOTC media: Magic The Gathering.

Scorpions don’t get a lot of rep. At best, they appear as one-off cards. However. Thanks to vising two primarily-desert planes (Amonkhet and the Vorthos-panned Thunder Junction), we have some Guys.

We’ll start with the Scorpion God of Amonkhet. This guy did not used to look like this, but once Nicol Bolas got all up in everybody’s business, he twisted the Scorpion God, Locust God, and Scarab God into giant monstrosities and erased knowledge of their names, even from themselves, and then used them to “harvest” the mortals he had been cultivating to create an undead army. The Scorpion God killed the gods Rhonas, Oketra, and Kefnet, before finally being killed by Hazoret and a group of rebelling mortals.

He is notably the only one of the “twisted” gods to have been killed – the Locust and Scarab Gods both survived, as did Hazoret, and all three defended Amonkhet later from New Phyrexia getting all up in everyone’s business.

(Re: that third artwork, why is he kinda...)

Meanwhile, on Thunder Junction...

Oh, Thunder Junction. If not for the fact that no one in the design and writing department could agree on and work together to determine the right approach to Western tropes, you could have been interesting.

Having said that, the scorpion dragons? Not native to there. Instead, they’re from Gastal, a plane that was mentioned one (1) time back in the day. I’m willing to overlook some questions about these blokes for the sake of blaming the dragon half on everything I don’t think are scorpion-enough when it comes to these guys.

Now, for my third example... I’m going to preface this with the fact that LEGO’s Legends of Chima theme was a problematic mess in hindsight. I still love it with my entire soul, but it was a fucking nightmare.

But within that is the Scorpion Tribe, what is possibly my favorite current example of what you can do with scorpions in a (science-)fantasy setting.

The Scorpions were accidentally evolved with the magic MacGuffin of the series (Chi) thanks to some foolishness going on, and they were the antagonists of season two (or rather, wave two, as they were technically the latter half of season one and the beginning of season two). They’re led by a king, Scorm, and a general, Scolder. And yes, they all stick to the Sc- naming theme, with one exception from the online game.

So, how do you create an anthro Scorpion Lego figure? Like this, of course!

Now, something interesting to note is that because the Chi was not safely introduced to these guys, some of them didn’t “evolve” all the way and still have a scorpion lower body, like a weird centaur. Meet Scutter, posterchild for this, even though his brother Scrug speed-“evolved” to humanoid form.

Something interesting to note is just how flexible and catlike the tails of these Scorpions are. They can flick around and even hold things when curled up.

Another fun thing about Chima is that they don’t put my boys in the desert. Instead, they live in caves in a very hostile jungle. I’m so proud of them.

Analyzing the venom of these guys, though...

Scorpion God = full of god-killing venom

Akul = a "dark curse" that's basically fantasy tuberculosis

Scorpions from Chima = hypnosis mind-control agent that wears off fairly quickly

(Preface for this section: These were random additions that I sent a while later, with little connection to each other.)

Scorpion dads do tend to be deadbeats, but a scorpion mom figure? I would chew that right up.

Re: molting, it is a long, long process, even for something as small as a scorpion. So the bigger they are, the longer it's probably gonna take. It requires a lot of calorie-loading beforehand and can be predicted based on “air pockets” that appear at the sides of the exoskeleton, to give them wiggle room. Scorpions are soft for several days after molting and avoid eating anything until they harden back up.

And did I mention that scorpions glow under ultraviolet light?

So...yeah! Scorpions are so fucking cool, and this is just an overview! This isn't even getting into any particular species! There's just so much to explore in terms of scorpions in fantasy settings, so seeing them reduced to Desert Bad Guy over and over again annoys me.

Put these animals into some situations.

[mariequitecontrary]

2024 TF Reverse Mini Bang Memories Part 1

With the @tf-bigbang discord server closing today, I thought I'd share just a few of my favorite memories during my first community fandom event :)

Not to be dramatic, but this event changed the trajectory of my part in the transformers community for the better. It felt like I was at a 4 month long summer camp! I had so much fun talking to everyone and making so many precious, precious friends that I truly hope to stay in touch with.

So buckle in and grab some boba or your preferred drink of choice, because this is going to be long and sentimental.

A Welcoming Start

I joined at the beginning of April, due to someone reposting the Big Bang's twitter post about how writers were still welcome to join. I thought, "Only 5k word requirement over the course of a few months? Yeah sure. I can do that." Little did I know I'd actually committed to writing a fic almost 5 times that length

The vibes in the discord server started out with a bang (heh). Everyone was immediately kind and welcoming to one another. It was an immediate safe space to be excited, let loose and show our freak XD I loved how ferally affectionate we were with bringing new friends into the fold.

A sketch by @nepetacataria-art perfectly shows this I think XD

The Support and Love Shared

The sheer amount of love, comradery, and support shared with one another was astounding. Almost 200 writers and artists shared tips and tricks and offered advice and encouragement to each other! It was unreal and I learned so much. It truly encouraged me to improve in my craft and even inspired me to want to learn how to draw again!

Oh, and the RECS everyone shared!!! Everyone shared so many fics and art pieces that I am now obsessed with! I have been blessed with a LOT of quality, amazing content that I never would have seen otherwise! My tbr list grew from large to neverending haha <3

Teasing the Artists Before Match Ups

I'm ngl, I had WAY too much fun once the sketches were released to the writers and the secret-authors-corner channel was made. We all OBSESSED over all of the art and fangirled over each one! But we also talked, and talked, and talked. And dropping out of context messages into the public channels for the artists to see was too much fun!

Talking Transformers

IT WAS THE BEST THING EVEERRRRRR!!!!! WOWOWOWOWOW! I loved raving about characters and lore, both canon and fanon! Even when I wasn't a part of the conversation, just lurking and reading what people talked about whether it was AUs, comics, shows, character breakdowns, brainstorming ideas...it was all so cool and so fun. Everyone is so creative and thinking about the sheer amount of fun we all had makes me tear up.

Like, SO MANY plot bunnies were made with everyone! Myself included! Sometimes people would just say a random ass thing and then five others would hop on, riffing against each other and developing that little idea into something concrete and so so JUICY.

Two out of many MANY conversations that I personally loved were the video games x transformers ideas and talking tentacles and transformers in the nsfw channel XD

Writers Panicking, As We Do

It was all in fun, but it was very entertaining and validating to be in a space where we can all stress about our writing, our fics, and approaching deadlines.

The mods clearly enjoyed adding endless fuel to the fire and (lovingly) watched us all scream and run around in a fiery chaotic panic over every little thing.

Streaming

I didn't get to join many, but it was always so cool watching artists draw! I also had a lot of fun streaming Hades 2 with a few friends with it was first released :)

Team 0 - A King Julien Starscream Fic

It all started when Writer's Choice Period began...and the example inspired many of us writers to obsess over this...I'll let the screenshots tell you XD

A King Julien Starscream fic just WORKS and you can't tell me otherwise! @mendely's sketch REALLY sold it to me as a thing that's GOTTA happen.

Madagascar AU FTW

AND THEN THE MODS MADE IT A THING THING

@useless19's king julienscream puppet owns my soul and their little vid is possibly the finest piece of silent cinema I've ever watched in my entire life. I was ENRAPTURED.

@sxpaiscia's art KILLS ME. PUTS MY HEART IN A CHOKEHOLD. Julienscream lives in my head rent free and 50% of it is imagined with their art in mind.

The sad end to the story is...the Team 0's fic wasn't completed within the time requirements to be posted with the rest of the Mini Bang's fics :( Do we still plan on continuing and finishing it? HELL YEAH WE ARE!

To Be Continued...

Did you know that there is a limit to the amount of images you can share in one post? SMH.

Link to Part 2!

[rmd-writes]

5, 14, and 17, please, Rae!

Thanks Courtney!

5. first sentence of the fifth paragraph of an unpublished WIP

There’s silence while she waits for her dad to speak and it feels heavy, like the air is pushing on her.

14. where do you get your inspiration?

Anywhere really, sometimes it's something I've seen on social media, other times someone has mentioned a prompt that I couldn't stop thinking about, or seen fan art that's inspired me. Often I'll be mid-conversation with fandom friends and something they've said makes me start thinking about a potential fic. Sometimes it's spite 😉

17. talk about your writing and editing process

tbh they're kind of the same thing! I edit as I write which is sometimes an issue because I get stuck editing instead of writing. To force myself out of doing this, sometimes I use the gdocs headings so that I don't scroll through the entire doc and can just click on the outline instead to get to where I was up to.

The process itself is something like:

1. come up with idea 2. flesh it out in someone's DMs (usually @welcometololaland) which may or may not involve messages or voice notes that say things like "ignore this I just had to get it out of my head" 3. copy notes from DMs to my private writing discord and/or google doc 4. outline (may have already occured at step 3 if I'm not doing a detailed outline) 5. write (almost always chronologically unless a scene or dialogue comes to mind fully formed) 6. edit 7. complain about writing/having no time to write/words not working etc etc 8. edit 9. write more 10. edit 11. send snippets to friends and/or add them to gdoc for validation (this one is ESSENTIAL. I am not a writer who can write on their own without constant feedback) 12. repeat steps 5-11 until fic is done. 13. full edit as if I'm beta reading someone else's fic + coding if necessary (there's a whole separate process for that, it involves threatening to throw whatever device I'm working on out of a window) 14. send to beta (sometimes I do this before 13 if I need to stop looking at the doc) 15. final edit 16. post to ao3 and inevitably find typos that I somehow missed 17. edit 18. go to sleep and hopefully wake up to nice comments

[more fic writer asks]

[queenofalpaca]

Oh both Go to Sleep, Scrapper and Bode's Force Background have me super curious for the WIP ask!

Coming right up! thanks for the ask, Anon 🩵

Go to Sleep, Scrapper

This one is obviously inspired by Cal’s chronic inability to take care of himself. It’s planned as a 4+1 though I guess I could make it a 5+1 by just adding Cordova or something, we’ll see. It starts with instances of Greez, Cere, Merrin, and BD trying to convince Cal to go to sleep, and failing. Cal just has too many issues. Stubbornness, nightmares, insomnia, you name it, the guy’s probably struggling with it. The common theme here is that they all use some variation of “Go to sleep, [nickname]” btw, hence the title.

Cue the +1 in which Bode shows up, pulls “Go to sleep, Scrapper” and Cal promptly drops dead. Here’s a little snippet I do not remember writing 😅

It was probably stupid, but Bode needed Cal alive and well if he wanted to have any chance of getting to Tanalorr. He stepped into Cal’s path.

“Go to sleep, Scrapper.” It wasn’t hard to extend his presence just enough to shield the soft brush against Cal’s wobbling shields. He wouldn’t remember this tomorrow. Probably wouldn’t remember it even without the soft suggestion to forget along with sleep.

Cal, predictably, dropped like a rock, right into Bode’s waiting arms. He had to take a step back to brace himself; Cal was heavier than he’d expected. Cal wasn’t bothered though, already snoring away into his chest. Bode huffed and pulled him into a more secure grip.

It took him a few moments to realise that the others had fallen silent, their quiet conversations stopped. He looked up to see all of them staring at him and Cal in various states of utter disbelief.

And that’s it. Just some cute little fluff about Bode finally getting Cal to take a dang nap. And possibly cheating a little bit to do so, lol

Bode’s Force Background

So you know the stony/rocky background going on in the meditation circle menu? This started as an effort to figure out what that might look like for Bode. That somehow split into both Haunting and the fic that’s still in this file, but I’ll tell you about this one (it’s the better one anyway, lol)

The idea is a 5+1. Yes again. I have a thing for 5+1s. They’re just easy to write, what can I say. This one’s angsty as hell tho (good job balancing things out, anon). The thing is, if I post it, this one will probably be called Haunting actually 😂

Now here’s the problem: this one features a big old plot twist. Trying to sell you this fic without spoiling it will make this description rather short. Bode is being haunted by Cal. He keeps catching glimpses of him, but he remains always just out of reach. That’s about as much as I can say.

What I will ramble a bit more about is what I came up with for Bode’s Force/Meditation background, and maybe you’ll even get an idea on what the big twist is. So. Bode’s a spy and he’s very good at hiding the fact that he’s Force-sensitive at all. Here’s my pitch: Bode’s meditation background changes to align to his current surroundings. Whatever place he’s in/planet he’s on, his background will change accordingly to a slightly surreal, dream-like version of the same place. The only common element is water (because the SpyScrapper discord is obssessed with the water/fire thing and I am not immune). In any case, the water. It seems natural at first glance. Rain on Coruscant, the river/waterfall on Koboh, a dripping sink on Nova Garon, stuff like that. But if you look a little closer, it might seem strange that it’s raining on the lower levels of Coruscant. Bode’s ‘true’ meditation background, when he’s not lying to himself and others and trying to make himself fit into his surroundings is a big old lake/ocean. Something something hidden depths, you get it.

And that’s as much as I’ll say (there’s more ideas on themes/metaphors but again, plot twist). One last thing though, because there isn’t yet enough angst: this fic will also feature the post-game Force Echoes. Make of that what you will, heh 🩵

Now for the next ask, I’m gonna need you guys to choose something I can drop actual snippets for 😂 unless you want to have the fics that are still mostly just concepts 😅

[baratrongirl]

for the fandom positivity ask: 1, 24, and 25! :D

list 3 positive things about your current fandom(s)

Ace Attorney

Incredibly queer-friendly.

There are important ships for lovers of M/M, M/F and F/F.

So much merchandise, both official and fan-made!

Elder Scrolls Online

Large age range of players - I am genuine friends with people from their early 20s to their late 60s, and it doesn't feel weird.

Incredibly welcoming, at least on PC. (I can't answer for the console versions.) Of course, this requires having a good guild, but I have several! (You can be in up to 5 guilds per account per server.)

Probably one of the most queer- and disabled-positive MMOs out there.

24. how has fandom positively impacted your life?

The vast majority of the friends I have now, outside of old friends from university, are people I met through one fandom or another.

I go on holiday to hang out in person with fandom friends. I take my mum to meet my fandom friends! I met a partner through Elder Scrolls Online.

I've written fanfiction and helped others write fic, through beta-reading or random inspiration. I used to help run a weekly podcast which was a ton of fun. I've run a gaming guild with around 500 members for the past ten years (this October). I've interviewed Bethesda and Zenimax staff and been interviewed by Bethesda for an Elder Scrolls Online ten year anniversary special.

I discovered my favourite band when they played at an ESO event!

I honestly don't think I can put a limit on the positive impact that I've had from fandom. But it's involved getting out there - COMMENTING on people's fanworks, REBLOGGING fanworks on Tumblr, GOING to conventions, TALKING on Discord. I have a massive advantage as an extrovert, but I still have social phobia and faceblindness. Now I just tell people that I'm faceblind in advance and tell them to come speak to me! It works so much better! And I ask them to please remind me of their name if I look like I don't remember, because I WILL remember as soon as we get into conversation.

It helps that I'm old enough not to care if some people dislike me. There's always more fish in the sea.

25. a piece of advice for taking care of yourself in fandom spaces

DON'T FIGHT.

There will always be people who have terrible takes on things. People whose headcanons clash with yours, people whose headcanons clash with canon, people who are just plain Wrong On The Internet.

It doesn't matter. Let them do their thing. Block them if they're taking up too much space on your preferred social media.

Fandom is supposed to be FUN and if you're not having FUN, you need to change something. Whether it's blocking/ignoring people who annoy you, getting away from negativity, leaving that Discord server and finding a new one...

[thedreamcrosser]

The Art of Automatic Heritage

Made by friends and fans (like you!)

Commentary by Dream Crosser

When I heard that the game Stray was finally out I was only vaguely keeping an eye on it at the time. To me, it was that cat game that had been in development for a while, so when it came out I was not expecting to jump into it right away.

Boy, did I wish I should have played it sooner. When I finished playing it I had something of a raging itch to have more of the game. The lore of the world had me hook line and sinker, and I had to have some kind of outlet to let it out.

I could not draw, but I had an idea for a character that I was begging my twin sister to draw for me, just like we were in grade school again. She was in art collage at the time so she did not have much time for my raving, but a rough sketch was born and my itch was sated.

For a while at least… Beryl became my baby and soon I found myself writing about her to calm myself down in between the times I could sit down at work. All I wanted to do was to dive into this world so badly, so getting back into an old hobby seemed to be my saving grace.

Jumping on to Twitter I found that other people online were making their own OCs. I found one particularly friendly person and I just had to play along with their character. I made a cute role-play comment and out popped this cute picture by @Lenny_lazyDraw of their character Cleo with Beryl.

As my fanfiction began to take form I began to chat more and more online with others of the fandom. To be honest, you guys have been the ones to keep me company for a long time, and I want to reassure you all that while I am not on the internet that much anymore I am still alive and well and still thinking about you all on the physical side of life. But as for my time on fanfiction, I also took some time on Discord. Discord for me was a place where I could have real conversations with people. If it was not face-to-face it was through text, and there was no pressure to have likes and to post pictures. You could truly be anonymous and somebody at the same time.

I was invited to a roleplay server called TheStraycord by none other than ThemSoundwaves. It started on the unofficial Stray server with us talking each other's ears off and finding we had some things in common. A love for writing, dubstep, and the silly. When she invited me over to TheStraycord I immediately made myself comfortable and dove into a role play. I was on that server every day, and soon I caught the eye of none other than a “Dumbfoundbot.”

Also known as ViralPenny on Twitter, Dumbfoundbot surprisingly loved the characters that I created, not knowing that I have made fanfiction of my beloveds. On Twitter, they asked for OCs that they could draw for people. My twin sister and I both volunteered and found later our characters had their portrait done.

I would not be surprised if he heard me scream in delight from my home in Florida all the way in the Philippines, because he for sure did not stop. Before I knew it a picture of Whitney was made as well.

Folks, to say I died would not be enough to express how happy I was. I could tell the feeling was mutual for the artist because when we were finished with the roleplay these art pieces popped in chat.

And they are adorable!

What a week that had been! I am glad that happened as well because for some reason this series of events kicked off my twin sisters’ inspiration like none other. Not only did she get into her Stray Oc character more over time, but she finally did a full-color character sheet of Beryl.

Just in time to show it off on her graduation day as well. And while I hope she draws more I hope even more that she draws for herself. Even her sketches I adore. Here is one she did on chapter 5.

While things have slowed down a bit, that being the Stray fandom on A03 and currently my time on this fandom, life in the real world has sped up. Having my first child and recovering from major surgery had taken a number out of me. But I am glad that everyone else is still moving forward. Heck, I am especially happy that ThemSoundWaves is finding time to draw as well. She gave me a phenomenal take on Dr.Mike and I look forward to adding his description more to future chapters.

Artists, I love all of your art. Please continue to love what you do and don’t let what is going on in the world stop you from doing what you love, especially with this AI nonsense going around. As for my readers, please go check out and support these artists. They deserve all of their hard work to be rewarded.

Automatic Heritage will continue. The next chapter is about to be completed, it just needs some time. I do know that this project will continue as long as I can see that there is interest, that being kudos and comments. Not that I am holding this story over my reader's head, but that I am going to use this as a way to see that there are people interested and to stay faithful to the few that are. No point in forcing myself to write when there is no activity.

Thank you again my friends, and may the sun shine warm upon your face.

*closes document* “ah… that should be it…” *gets notification from Discord* *opens Discord*

*screams in cute robot*

Art done by @Jesterdysphoria on X (aka twitter)

[al-hekima-madara-blog]

Happy birthday to my blog !

Exactly ONE YEAR of Madara ultrafixation, and I'm still not tired of him. So let’s recap what we achieve this year and what is coming for in future?

thank you @elenaditgoia for your lovely illustration🥰

377 of you are following me. I'm so grateful and I have no idea why there is so many of you since I have no talent in drawing, I don’t talk about any top 5 main character from Naruto, I love an old 90 years grumpy guy with unkempt hair and eyes bags, I have ZERO interest in ship, fandom drama makes me sleep... but here you are, thank you so much ! A lot of amazing people from literally the 5 continents with so many talents, I enjoy every conversations in public, in private or anon. Let’s carry on for an other year. We can double that number, let’s reach 800 people for december 2023 !

321 posts I’ve written in a year. Mostly analysis. Solely focus on Madara’s canon, the Warring state Era period, the cultural background, Kishimoto’s possible source of inspirations. You know the most funny part, last year when I started this blog from scratches, I thought that considering the small amount of informations about the founders, I won’t make more that two or three posts, 5 MAXIMUM. How delusional I was...

31K words. 6 chapters. That’s where I am now with my fanfic Madara golden age. It’s a personal pride to have gone so far considering english is not my mother tongue. It still asks me tremendous efforts to be able to convey ideas in my head into a grammatically readable plot. But I’m passionate about it, I love what I did so far, and I want to do even better next year.

43 members in our discords Madara Protection Squad that we've created just a month ago. I didn’t expected people to be so dynamic, fun and creative. If you’re not a member yet, you should come here !

What's coming next?

More fanfictions! I've realised this year that writing story is what I love the most. Madara Golden age is my top priority in 2023. You know by now that it takes me a month or two to write a chapter. It's a slow machine but don't worry I'm hell-bent determinate to finish it. And also I can already announce that I have in mind a trilogy. MGA is the seinen, the second book will be a shojo/romance, the third one a shonen. So I'll be busy writing for some years ahead !

More fanart. I know I talk about it often, but I really want to draw. that's a new challenge because I have no idea where to start but I'm seeing so much beautiful fanart of Madara I'm curious if I'm able to do something. Wish me luck !

Fictional astrology birth chart. You remember I did it first to Madara? I would like to do it for the founders Hashirama and Tobirama and some important Uchiha members like Sasuke, Obito and Itachi.

Less analysis of the canon. I think so far I've analysed in details most of Madara's life and plot holes. I might add some stuff about tiny details now and there but most of what I needed to say are here in my Madarapedia page. So 2023 is less blabla on tumblr, more silent creative content!

More discord events. If you want to chit chat with me in daily basis, you gotta come in the Madara protection squad. It's like entering a pub with other drunk Madara addicts talking about the same stuff over and over again and never being bored. We also have a writing club, where everyone is invited if you need a place to share your fanfic, having some feedback and some advices. And also we will do more stream live in future, btw the next one is for the eve of Madara's birthday the 23rd, don't miss it !

Thank you again for following me and let's thrive an other year together 😘💖

[bookgeekgrrl]

My media this week (2-8 Jun 2024)

📚 STUFF I READ 📚

🥰 The Shabti (Megaera C. Lorenz, author; Matt Haynes, narrator) - wonderfully fun supernatural adventure romance set in the '30s. Just delightful. feat Horatio, a heckin' chonker of a cat. ilu horatio, even if you don't have a neck.

🥰 The Secret Lives of Color (Kassia St. Clair, author & narrator) - {nonfiction} This was rec'd in one of my discord servers as 'If you are ever in the need for a pleasant-sounding British woman telling you Interesting Facts About Colors then may I recommend The Secret Lives of Color by Kassia St. Clair, which is exactly that for 8 hours' and it was precisely that and it was wonderful and soothing and so interesting.

🥰 MateHub: Legend (MateHub #1) (Marie Reynard) - erotic romance about a wolf shifter porn star who finds a Mate™ in his new human co-star. Tropetastic & hot af, exactly what I wanted from a book with this set up. But my fave thing was the absolutely hilarious porn star names: Richard Knotz, our main MC wolf shifter. Hunter Savage, Max Hardwood, Trick Wilde (coyote shifter, natch). I snorted with laughter every time one came up. [really love a book that just knows what it's trying to do and executes beautifully on that premise]

💖💖 +166K of shorter fic so shout out to these I really loved 💖💖

Transcript: Steven Rogers and James ‘Bucky’ Barnes' appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, February 4, 2017 (deliciousblizzardshark) - MCU: stucky, 2.7K - cute & funny

fighting vainly the old ennui (Fahye) - MFMM: phryne/jack, 13K - AU where Phryne's a jewel thief but Jack's just as fascinated [reread]

Love Runs Wild (DevilDoll) - Teen Wolf: sterek, 9.4K - inspired by the shifter porn romance above, had to reread this fantastic story where they're both porn models & Stiles accidentally shows up to work with a hickey. True forever fave.

📺 STUFF I WATCHED 📺

Magpie Murders - s1, e1

Murdoch Mysteries - s16, e22

The Brokenwood Mysteries - s10, e6

TJ Alexander in conversation with Rachel Reid [Under the Umbrella Bookstore event]

Game Changer - s6, e8

Um, Actually - s9, e8

Smartypants - s1, e4

Doctor Who - s1 (series 14), e6

🎧 PODCASTS 🎧

Short Wave - Psychedelic treatment for PTSD faces misconduct hurdle

WikiHole - Song of the Summer (with Kristen Bell, Kirby Howell-Baptiste and Jackie Tohn)

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Blue Spring State Park

The Sporkful - Book Tour 1: Do You Really Need That Many Recipe Tests?

Consider This - 'They're somebody's history.' Returning ancient artifacts to their rightful home

NPR's Book of the Day - Kathleen Hanna remembers her path to becoming the OG 'Rebel Girl'

Re: Dracula - June 5: Simple Seriousness

⭐ Vibe Check - Trust The Aunties

Short Wave - Why The Science Of Tides Was Crucial For D-Day

Ologies - Culicidology (MOSQUITOES) Part 1 with Fhallon Ware-Gilmore

99% Invisible #584 - Fact Checking the Supreme Court

⭐ Decoder Ring - Captain Planet to the Rescue

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Welcome To Wall Drug

⭐ Pop Culture Happy Hour - Doctor Who is enlivened by its new Black, openly queer star

Wild Card with Rachel Martin - Bowen Yang thinks being present is overrated

Off Menu - Ep 252: Jason Mantzoukas

Today, Explained - A win for democracy in India

Short Wave - 'Math In Drag' Explores The Creativity And Beauty In Numbers

Pop Culture Happy Hour - Hit Man And What's Making Us Happy

Dear Prudence - I Bailed on a Family Trip Because My Plane Seat Didn’t Have Enough Legroom—Am I a Monster? Help!

Endless Thread - Scamming the Scammers

Today, Explained - The last good day on the internet

🎶 MUSIC 🎶

Rock Radio • 1980s

"I Melt With You" [Modern English] radio

Shaboozey

Energy Supermix

[merlwybs-wife]

Hello!

I help lead a regency-inspired group called Echelons of Eorzea. We are having our Starlight event on the 21st of December at 5pm PST/8pm EST. It is inspired by the Christmas markets in Europe, and will be hosted in Ishgard, Jeweled Crozier, Mateus. In addition to the bards we have hired, we are looking for a few people to play NPC vendors.

- This is a paid position, 500k/hour for a minimum of 3 hours, maximum of 5.

- You’d basically be paid to stand at a booth & make passing conversation with our members as they “buy” things from you.

- I can supply dialogue & inspiration for your NPC. I will also supply the vendor goods to be handing out.

I am looking to hire 3 or 4 people!

PLEASE DM ME IF YOU’RE INTERESTED!!

I wish I could offer to pay more, but I’m already spending 4 mil on bards. 3 NPCs at 3 hours is also 4 mil & then some, and I can’t afford much more atm.

Here’s our group carrd (link to discord inside)

Signal boosts appreciated!

[hiddenwashington]

yearly disclaimer that this is going to be LONG but i promise it’s GOOD!!!

hello my beloved hidden, it is my favorite day of the entire year, the year that i get to celebrate all of YOU. that i get to express my almost overwhelming gratitude to all of you incredible members, to my dear best friends on the admin team, to all the past members who still resonate within the heart of hidden. somehow, someway, hiddenwashington turns FIVE YEARS OLD today, and i am already in tears writing that sentence and we’ve just gotten started. when i started hidden, in some sleep deprived delirium at 2am five years ago (and then hitting the tags at 5am that same morning), i never once imagined i would still be here even a year, let alone 5 years later, still loving and cherishing every single moment i get to spend here. it has been the most rewarding, challenging, downright hysterical and overwhelmingly beautiful experience of my life to your head admin, to be the one that gave you all this special place to be unapologetically you. and you all have done that, whatever that means for you, you have been the reason that hidden is still here five years later. this place would never be the same without your influence. to whatever member is reading this, please know that i mean that, hidden would be so incredibly different without you as a piece of our history. i know that i sound a little cliché when i say that hidden is my home and yours, that you will always have a home in washington, but i mean it. i have never not meant that. this place is so special, it is a home to those who need it, a place to explore yourselves, to explore your characters, to create these incredible moments in writing, in the chats-- seriously, i cannot imagine a better place with a better group of people. i know i’m sappy, but like, members, i genuinely mean it, that you make this place as good as it is. we are so beyond lucky to have such talent on our dashes, to have such dedicated people writing. the replies that i read every day just blow me away. and that goes for any member-- to those who have been here for ten minutes, or ten months, who have been here since the very beginning, or those who left us, you are all some of the sweetest, most talented writers i have ever met. hidden is the warm and welcoming place because of all of you, because you all look out for each other. it doesn’t matter if you have spoken to someone for two minutes or two years, if you have no canon connections or whatever, you are all so warm and caring about each other. the community you guys create, it’s home. i have never laughed so hard in my life, than with some of the conversation we have had in the discord, i am constantly inspired by your writing on the dash, the development you all can create for your characters, it’s something that should be published for the entire world to see. if i could scream my love for you all from the mountain tops, just for a chance for the world to know how wonderful you are, i would. it’s my yearly duty to swap between tired mom, to proud mom. so please, give me a few moments to absolutely gush about the admin team that helps me stay even remotely sane every day. i’m so deadass when i say that they are some of the best admins in the entire world, the amount of work they put into the group, into all of the decisions that are made-- you only see a fraction of the work that i have the joy of watching in real time, but they really are as good as it gets and i need them to know how thankful i am for them. and friends, you only have to deal with me being this sappy like once a year so, deal, while i highlight all of you xoxo !!! gotta start with a shoutout to the other half of my brain, my right hand man, probably the only reason hidden is still going bc without them i’d have gone insane by now, sunny-- just thank you? like genuinely, sincerely, thank you. for everything. for allowing me to be unapologetically myself, for allowing your dms to be my space to vent, to joke, to dump a million messages, for helping solve every single issue that has come up, for sticking by my side for five full years now, for being such a genuine friend, for being the best dm out there-- like damn you put up with so much bullshit from us how have you not TPK’d us earlier. thank you for being the voice of reason, for being the nice admin, for calming everything when i want to just give up and throw my hands up in the air. i love you, like more than you know, more than i need to say. you’re p cool. ollie, my beloved, please, i’m begging you to use this anniversary to TAKE A BREAK. the fact that you have joined the team, having never been an admin before, and have become one of the best we’ve ever had is so impressive, i forget that you haven’t even been on the team an entire year. you put in so much work, you are the force we lean on (maybe sometimes too much, pls i promise ill make sure you get a break), you dedication to the main is awe inspiring and i cannot express how thankful i am to you for being here. for putting in as much work as you do. for being an admin for less than a year and being our top tag ???? insanity. but really, we would not keep going most days without you ollie, i hope you know it never goes unappreciated. i love you a lot, thank you. seriously. i don’t know if i can say it enough to express how much i mean that. aria, a powerhouse, an icon, the real owner of the brain cell, i seriously don’t think the main would be half as functioning or well researched without you. you somehow, always, end up finding the answers that we need, your knowledge of faceclaims is unmatched and i wanna be you when i grow up. minus the minion love but it’s forgivable today and today alone. your ability to solve so many issues that arise is incredible, and i hope you know how thankful i am for every minute you spend working on the main, answering fc suggestions and everything. also your icons are always the highlight of my day, i hope you know how loved you are, by me. specifically. idc about everyone else, i love you, thank you so much my friend ♥ cherry !! yet another majority shareholder of the team dumbass brain cell. i know i can always count on you to write the best messages to send out to people, to always know how to word things and almost decipher what we’re all trying to say when we’re just yelling. i am always so impressed by you, cherry, you are sincerely one of the most genuine, kindest people i have ever met, and you also know when to put your foot down, how to not take shit, like i really know we can always count on you to be there when we need the support. thank you, for everything, i love you. jodie, the absolute heart of the team, seriously, you are just everyone’s biggest supporter (even when its for the dumbest ideas) and i know you are always ready to throw down if someone is struggling. you are simply the most loving people i have ever gotten the pleasure to know, and i hope, similar to ollie, you take this anniversary to catch a break, and by that i MEAN GO TO BED AT A HUMAN TIME. but seriously, you are the heart of team dumbass and we would not be as close of a team without you and your laughing fits bc you did something you know is gonna get both of us yelled at. i love you so much, thank you. and finally, kasey, who does not wish to be perceived but they don’t get that choice today. the fire in our hearts, and it’s not just a pyro joke. you are the first to spot problems, but always know the solution, to be able to fix an issue before it even becomes one. i am genuinely so proud of you, and everything that you do, you have been so important in helping hidden become what it is today, even if half of it is from us yelling at each other, only to end with everyone yelling at us for being The Worst. i wouldn’t want anyone else to be my partner for our patrol. thank you for always being so incredibly genuine and loving the moment you know someone needs that. i love you so much friend, you know that. now back to bullying all of you because this was too long, too much, but seriously. hidden, you don’t know how lucky you are. i barely even realize how lucky i am sometimes. nothing has been as rewarding as being your head admin. and i love each and every one of you. thank you for allowing me this space, for being the best group of people i have ever met. here to hidden’s 5th year, and every year after that! i love all of you. 

much much love always, admin maig ♥

[bookqueen101]

20 Questions For Fic Writers

Tagged by @probablynottola

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

5 - 3 of which are ones I brought over from ff.net when I started writing on AO3 last year.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

~ 16,700. That's... more than I thought.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Ted Lasso is my current fandom and the one that's re-ignited my desire to write fic. The last time I wrote fic was for Glee a literal decade ago

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Given that I only have 5 total, I'll just share the one with the most kudos which is When One Door Closes because I posted that one while series 3 was still airing.

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes, absolutely.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I can't remember if they had angst-y endings specifically but some of the drabbles in the Jay Brannan-inspired Klaine collection are the closest I've got to writing angst.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Both of my Ted Lasso fics are happy rom-coms, I can't choose between them!

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Nope, not experienced that, thank goodness

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Not yet, and I'm not sure if I will. I am working on a more NSFW fic currently (affectionally referred to as the 'dick pic penpals' fic so far) so I'll see where that goes!

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Nope

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Nope

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, that's an interesting idea though!

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

At the moment, for writing, my default is TedTrent. In general, I tend to be a multi-shipper in fandoms so I do wonder if I'll end up writing anything else.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

There was a conversation in the discord a few months ago that sparked the idea of a mythological pirate story where Trent was convinced of the existence of mythological creatures but no-one believed him until he met Captain Lasso and his pirate crew and runs away with them.

I dont think I'm good enough yet at writing plot stuff to get very far with that one but it's a good idea.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I like writing dialogue - if I know the character well enough I can almost hear some of the lines in their voice which helps. Stream of consciousness/train of thought bits as well.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Writing actual plot events. What do you mean stuff has to actually happen and I have to describe how it looks?

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I've not had to do it yet. I've read a lot of Check Please fic though which often has bits of Quebecois in where you can google translate it or get the gist from context as you read through.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

My first fic was a Doctor Who one with a companion who was basically my self-insert. I was like 17 when I wrote it and I did put it on ff.net a few years later because it wasn't totally awful.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

I really like my last one, Something's Brewing, because I wrote it mostly to indulge myself. I also really enjoyed writing a 5+1 fic for the first time.

Tagging: I think I've seen all the people I can think of already tagged in this game so if you want to do this and haven't been tagged, consider this your sign

[twwpress]

Creator Spotlight #11: hufflepuffhermione

Welcome back to the TWW Author Spotlight! For every spotlight, we’ll ask each featured author the same ten questions (as well as questions you submitted on Twitter!). This week, we’re so please to be chatting with @joshlymoss on twitter / hufflepuffhermione on AO3!

1) What are your top 5 desert island fics by other authors?

love was made for me and you  by mikaylawrites is truly the peak of softness. Whenever I want to read something that will make me feel better, this is my go-to. https://archiveofourown.org/works/36462874/chapters/90921601

stuck with nowhere to go by perfect_little_fool is what we all deserved from 20 Hours in America. One of my favorite examples of a canon divergence that takes an episode and beautifully expands on its potential while exploring character. https://archiveofourown.org/works/24365860

we’ve been living on a fault line by sam_writes_fics is maybe cheating a bit because it was written for me, but I love it so much. The found family really shines in this fic, and it’s everything we deserved from the Gaza arc. https://archiveofourown.org/works/34035193/chapters/84657958

piece by piece, rubble to rubble by orphan_account (aeoleus before it was accidentally orphaned). This also might be cheating because it is technically a series, but it’s kind of an eventually slightly canon-divergent series-spanning collection that hits on a lot of concepts that are really interesting to me, and is so beautifully done. The last part (a post-series interview style fic) is something I’ve returned to so many times. https://archiveofourown.org/series/1644367

aftershock by greatestheights is THE Noel fic. This is one of the first fics I read in the fandom, and after all this time, still one of the best. Just such a beautiful exploration of Noel and the way it affects everyone in the administration. https://archiveofourown.org/works/4786607/chapters/10952567

2) Do you have a favorite character to write? Favorite ship(s) to write? Are there characters or ships you'd like to write more of? 

I don’t think it would shock anyone if I said that Josh was my favorite character to write, and Josh/Donna is of course my favorite ship. That said, I have a real fondness for writing found family and the interactions between the senior staff especially, and I wouldn’t be opposed to writing some Sam/Josh in the future.

3) Tell us about your writing process (setup/location? Night or day? Snacks/beverages? Computer/phone/notebook? Music or silence? Anything else you want to share is welcome!) 

I used to have a job where I could write at work, but now that I have an actual adult job (boo), my writing opportunities are significantly more limited. I mostly write either at my desk or in my armchair. I can’t focus unless it’s silent, although once in a while I may put on some white noise. I pretty much only use my laptop to write (although once in a while I may outline on the fly on my phone). One of the most useful tools for my writing process has been using a sprint bot on Discord, where you start a sprint for a set amount of time (usually about 20 minutes) and share your word count before and after. Once I get focused, I am usually a really fast writer, so that is a good tool for keeping me focused and accountable.

 4) What writing advice do you have for others who may be reading this? 

The great thing about writing is that there is no such thing as right or wrong. It is a completely open endeavor and there are no requirements. Sure, there is plenty of advice out there for how to make your writing better, but the words you put down on the page can be whatever you want them to be. Sometimes that can be frightening, but it is also freeing to know that, no matter what you do, it will never be wrong.

 5) From where do you usually draw your inspiration? (Other forms of media, music, tropes, etc?) 

I tend to be inspired by talking to or brainstorming with others. I’ve written entire fics based off of conversations in my twitter (and as a throwback, tumblr) DMs. I try not to juggle more than a few fics at a time, and I have a long list of ideas that I have not yet been able to do anything with yet, so honestly I don’t usually have to look very far for inspiration. (Please don’t ask me whether or not I will actually remember said ideas in the future)

 6) What is the fic you've written that you're most proud of and why? 

I’m going to cheat and share a couple because I’m proud of them for very different reasons. I’m the most proud of my long fics (Healthcare Reform and Immolatio) because they were both huge undertakings and I managed to finish both of them. I personally think Immolatio is the better fic from a writing standpoint, but I have so much affection for Healthcare Reform that I simply cannot make the choice between them. In a different vein, I think show me the places where the others gave you scars (my soulmate au) is my best fic overall, and while I’m proud of it in a different way than I am of my long fics, I couldn’t not mention it.

 7) What's the fic trope/concept/AU you'd read 1000 of? What's the fic trope/concept/AU you'd write 1000 of? (Shout out to @chaostwin for a similar question!)

Look–if there’s anything I’m a sucker for, it’s hurt/comfort. I will take any hurt/comfort fic I can get my hands on, and I can’t seem to stop writing it either. (Please don’t count how many sickfics I’ve written). I specifically love the post-Rosslyn recovery period. But really, any hurt/comfort is a plus for me.

 8) Is there anything you'd like to try writing-wise that you haven't yet? 

I definitely would like to try some more conceptual pieces; I love the idea of fic as an art form and something where you can push the boundaries of narrative. To me, that seems like a really fun challenge. I also have a Parks and Recreation crossover idea that I hope to someday write.

 9) What's your go-to Starbucks/coffee shop/other drink order? 

I don’t know that I have a go-to because I love trying new things and tend to order whatever sounds the most interesting/new to me, but if there is a lavender latte on the menu, 90% of the time, I’ll be ordering it.

 10) Do you have any current projects you'd like to promote or anything upcoming you'd like to tell us about?

I haven’t written much lately, but I am planning on participating in NaNoWriMo this November and will be working on what I’ve dubbed ‘Rosslyn Baby AU’ so… I’m sorry and make of that what you will. I’m very excited for it.

Submitted questions:

From @S4MWILSON: fave ep and season? fave character? character you relate to most? easiest character to write? fave rarepair? craziest au idea youve ever had? plot point you wish got more attention? fic snippet that never became anything? fave cast member? ideal tww s8?

My favorite season is season two, favorite episode is Noel. Josh is my favorite character, but I feel like I relate most to CJ or Charlie. Jed is actually one of the easiest to write for me, surprisingly; I love coming up with quips for him. I don’t tend to have strong opinions on ships other than Josh and Donna but I lowkey love CJ and Kate. While maybe not out of the bounds of canon possibility, fake marriage for the purposes of health insurance was a pretty wild AU idea, imo. I do think we as a society need to talk more about first half of season 5. I have a lot of fic snippets that never became anything, including Josh and Sam trying to build IKEA furniture and an emotional Josh and Toby bonding over baseball fic. I cannot possibly choose between Brad and Janel for my favorite cast member (although Allison, Richard, and Martin are all up there too). My ideal TWW season 8 would be about Josh and Donna being powerful chiefs of staff, which is pretty much canon.

 From @mlea7675: What’s one AU you haven’t tried yet but want to?

I generally do canon divergence more than I do AUs, and this is kind of on the edge between that, but someday I’d love to write a season 5 secret relationship AU, because I think the potential in season 5 is so underappreciated, even if the execution wasn’t there.

 From @sinistercherubs: you get to talk to (1) tww character irl for  5 minutes, who is the character and what would you say to them?

I don’t want to talk to a character, I want to talk to Aaron Sorkin and make him EXPLAIN many many things to me. But I’d probably talk to Donna and hype her up for how amazing she is. You know, if I could manage to not be awkward.

 From @sinistercherubs: if a genie came to gift you a completed dream fic of your choosing, what would it be?

This answer definitely might change, but right now? A long post-season fic about Josh and Donna in the Santos administration with a good mix of fluff and hurt/comfort. Either that, or an extensive post-Rosslyn fic because I can never get enough of those.

 From @donnamossburner: I’m forever impressed that you wrote such a wonderful multi chapter fic. When writing that did you have the chapters out lined or was it more of just going into the word doc and writing what came naturally ?

I will outline my fics but my outlines are never very detailed. Usually, I write a couple of bullet points for each chapter in my notes app. That way, I have a plot framework to use, but a lot of flexibility when I’m actually writing.

 From @chaostwin: You are so prolific! How do you make time to write such rich and detailed fic/get so many ideas? 

When I was in college, I had a campus job that was basically just sitting at a desk; I used a lot of that time at work to write fic. After graduating, though, I definitely don’t have that kind of time. I can still manage to write a lot because I tend to write a lot of words really fast (if I’m focused, I can usually average about 1500-2000 words an hour). My productivity has slowed down so at this point, I’m not worried about finding new ideas; I’m trying to work through the long list of ideas I already have.

Thanks again, Alli!! And thank you to everyone who asked questions! If you’d like to be featured in a future Creator Spotlight, you can DM us here or on Twitter, or email us at weeklypressbriefing@gmail.com.

xx, What’s next?

[findroleplay]

WANTED: Long Term Attack on Titan RP Partner 

Hi friends (: I am 25+ and seeking someone who would like to be a ride-and-die partner in crime for some Attack on Titan RP.

**I ONLY write Canon x Canon, if you're looking for Canon x OC I'm willing to double for the right person**

TIMEZONE: PST (mine), it doesn't matter to me where you are located

ACTIVITY: I would love someone who can commit to a reply daily or every couple of days. I am very invested when it comes to RP. If something comes up hindering my ability to write I will communicate and expect the same!

LITERACY: On average I write 300-500 word replies (3-5 paragraphs). I can do shorter and longer depending on the scene. I promise to match my partner at all times.

TENSE: 3rd person past tense, I don't do first person, sorry!

PAIRINGS: (I am comfortable with all these characters, so you have first dibs) 

Jean x Armin

Eren x Jean

Eren x Levi

Levi x Hange

Eren x Armin

Armin x Annie

TROPES: Slow Burn, Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Enemies/Rivals to Lovers, Fake Dating/Relationship, Opposites Attract, Possessive Love, Childhood Friends to Lovers, I also love taboo themes and anything on the darker side

GENRES: I am good with side stories in canon-verse, I adore AUs (fantasy or modern) and slice of life ❤️

OOC: I really need my partner to enjoy talking ooc together. I love discussing headcanons, sharing Pinterest boards, art, music, and befriending whom I RP with. If you don't like talking or forming a friendship, then RP with me will go nowhere. 

NSFW: Yes! I will not do fade to black. If we plan intimate scenes, I like to write them out. For RP I mostly do 50/50 plot and NSFW.

BOUNDARIES: Please discuss these with me. I am respectful of all limits and will not cross.

LGBTQ+: Yes! Want to write your character as trans? Go for it! I'm comfortable with m x m, f x f, m x f, and m/f x nonbinary.

OTHER: Please help be a driving force of the RP! I'm really burned out on being the one who usually writes character actions and dialogue to advance the RP. If you struggle with this I'm happy to encourage and help along but you need to try. 

I also like to plan out scenes, not word for word but at least plan the tone and where we want the scene to end up! Once we have planned something I really do not like things to stray from the original idea, otherwise it kills my inspiration. I have had this happen a lot lately and it's not fun. I put a lot of emotion and intent in my replies based on what was planned and I do not like to be subverted.

PLATFORM: Discord, I don't write anywhere else. I like to create a server to house all of our writing and conversations. This also makes it easy to have more than one RP going at a time!

CONNECT: Add me on Discord, my name there is Zodiaque

-

[roleplay-today]

WANTED: Long Term Attack on Titan RP Partner 

Hi friends (: I am 25+ and seeking someone who would like to be a ride-and-die partner in crime for some Attack on Titan RP.

**I ONLY write Canon x Canon, if you're looking for Canon x OC I'm willing to double for the right person**

TIMEZONE: PST (mine), it doesn't matter to me where you are located

ACTIVITY: I would love someone who can commit to a reply daily or every couple of days. I am very invested when it comes to RP. If something comes up hindering my ability to write I will communicate and expect the same!

LITERACY: On average I write 300-500 word replies (3-5 paragraphs). I can do shorter and longer depending on the scene. I promise to match my partner at all times.

TENSE: 3rd person past tense, I don't do first person, sorry!

PAIRINGS: (I am comfortable with all these characters, so you have first dibs) 

Jean x Armin

Eren x Jean

Eren x Levi

Levi x Hange

Eren x Armin

Armin x Annie

TROPES: Slow Burn, Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Enemies/Rivals to Lovers, Fake Dating/Relationship, Opposites Attract, Possessive Love, Childhood Friends to Lovers, I also love taboo themes and anything on the darker side

GENRES: I am good with side stories in canon-verse, I adore AUs (fantasy or modern) and slice of life ❤️

OOC: I really need my partner to enjoy talking ooc together. I love discussing headcanons, sharing Pinterest boards, art, music, and befriending whom I RP with. If you don't like talking or forming a friendship, then RP with me will go nowhere. 

NSFW: Yes! I will not do fade to black. If we plan intimate scenes, I like to write them out. For RP I mostly do 50/50 plot and NSFW.

BOUNDARIES: Please discuss these with me. I am respectful of all limits and will not cross.

LGBTQ+: Yes! Want to write your character as trans? Go for it! I'm comfortable with m x m, f x f, m x f, and m/f x nonbinary.

OTHER: Please help be a driving force of the RP! I'm really burned out on being the one who usually writes character actions and dialogue to advance the RP. If you struggle with this I'm happy to encourage and help along but you need to try. 

I also like to plan out scenes, not word for word but at least plan the tone and where we want the scene to end up! Once we have planned something I really do not like things to stray from the original idea, otherwise it kills my inspiration. I have had this happen a lot lately and it's not fun. I put a lot of emotion and intent in my replies based on what was planned and I do not like to be subverted.

PLATFORM: Discord, I don't write anywhere else. I like to create a server to house all of our writing and conversations. This also makes it easy to have more than one RP going at a time!

CONNECT: Add me on Discord, my name there is Zodiaque