#So it’s disheartening that these are the only things in my inbox most of the time

[jahayla-parker]

So will we be getting any Freddy fics before the series comes out? ❤️

Ignore my comments/venting in the tags unless actually interested

It’s hard to say, probably not. I’m working on some, but I have literally dozens of other requests I’m working on simultaneously. So with some Freddy fics clearly already coming and scheduled, I don’t think it would be fair to add more of his prior to other ones that have been waiting.

That being said, I just finished my un-proofread/unedited draft of a Kaz x Reader angst fic I plan on sharing soon.

🤗

[ariaste]

I made a post a few days ago about how dire the hits-to-comments ratio is in this fandom and since then I have tried an experiment, got great results, and I am back to explain how we solve this problem as a community.

Several people made disheartened comments on the previous post about how consumer culture has finally made it to fandom (that is, people don't comment on fics as much any more because they're passive consumers of content rather than equal participants in fandom) but... I kind of think that part of this might be our responsibility as fic authors as well, and something that we as can do something about and take agency over. Because yeah, it's correct that commenting has gone down, but you know what I also don't see very much anymore??? People adding a note at the end of the fic saying "Comments give me life!" or "If you liked this fic, please let me know, a nice comment makes me smile all day" or "Comments keep me energized to write more, please let me know if you enjoyed this!" or "I would love to hear what you thought of this! :)"

The culture of a community is not something that people just know instinctively. It's something that has to be taught, just like manners and etiquette in any other context (you don't know the fish fork from the entree fork from the dessert fork until someone shows you, for example). The venn diagram of "the good old days of fandom when lots of people were in the habit of leaving comments" and "the bad old days when we had to humbly ask people to please comment if they liked it at the end of fics" is probably almost a circle. Yes, it's true that we are living in a society where we are being encouraged to be passive consumers of content and that this is probably leaking into fandom spaces. But the way that we start course-correct is to simply communicate clearly in public about what your needs and preferences are. Not in posts like this, because not everyone is going to see it and it will eventually disappear into the ether, and because one big essay isn't going to affect much change. Just... in small spaces where people will see it immediately when it's relevant, like in the end notes of your fic, or in the caption/description under your fanart post. It is not a bad thing to tell people that you like comments. You are not vain or arrogant for wanting engagement and appreciation for something you made out of love and enthusiasm, you are HUMAN. It is not a bad thing to communicate your needs. And oftentimes it is way more effective than you realize until you have actual data to back it up, like the data I'm looking at right now for this fic.

I made one change on the most recent chapter, and that was to put this at the end:

LISTEN TO ME REAL QUICK HERE, WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT SOMETHING. This fandom has the worst comments-to-hits ratios on fics that I've ever seen. That sucks. Comments are part of a healthy fandom ecosystem, and I can't tell you how many unexpected friends I've made just by telling them I liked their fic. If you don't feel like leaving a comment on this fic, that's okay with me. But you have to PROMISE that you'll leave one on the next three IWTV fics you read, ok? Give our authors some love so they'll keep writing. It'd be a really, really long hiatus until s3 without them.

Since posting this, I can only describe the state of my inbox as, "Oh, THAT'S more like it, there we go, much better!" So... try it out? Tell people that their thoughts and comments are welcome? Remind them that this is a good thing to be doing? It's not going to make everyone comment, but I bet it'll make at least a little bit of a positive difference, and the more people start doing it, the faster we'll inch ourselves back to a thriving and healthy fandom ecology. :)

Rome wasn't built in a day, and culture has to be taught, and the best and happiest kinds of communities grow when the participants are aware and intentional about it.

[writingquestionsanswered]

Overwhelmed by Publishing Goal

Anonymous asked: Writing no longer feels free or easy anymore now that I have dreams of publishing. I’m trying to hone a technique to learn to finish a book a year to be ready for the industry but also like writing at the same time (and with the way I’ve devoured so much writing advice and gotten overwhelmed it feels fun less and less). Like I’m not even sure if I’m meant to be a writer. I don’t even know how to tell. Yes I can come up with an idea but I’m not sure that’s enough to determine that someone is meant to do something. Writing feels like something you have to be “spiritually” or emotionally connected to and I have found that I don’t always feel connected to the entire process. I’m rambling now but I’m just kind of disheartened. Any thoughts?

How to tell if you're a writer:

Do you write? x Yes No Congratulations! You're a writer!!!

Can you imagine if people who spent time knitting weren't allowed to call themselves knitters unless they finished, wore, or sold the things they knit? Or if people who loved to bake weren't allowed to call themselves bakers if they kept what they baked for themselves? Or if loved running and ran two miles every day, but couldn't call yourself a runner unless you'd participated in a marathon?

It's weird that we put all these constraints on being a writer that we don't put on other things.

Now, being an author, on the other hand, does require publication. Whether you self-publish, traditionally publish, or publish on a fiction sharing site, having your work out there for the world to see is what makes you an author.

Do you still get to call yourself a writer if you're overwhelmed and frustrated by the work it takes and the publication process? Um... YES, friend! I think most authors would agree that feeling overwhelmed and frustrated by the publication process is just part of the natural gauntlet one must go through on their journey to becoming an author.

As far as your situation goes, while it's admirable that you're trying to get yourself up to industry speed before you've even hit the publish button or gotten a book deal, you're putting the cart before the horse a little bit. Right now your only focus should be putting together a manuscript that is ready for querying or ready for an editor and publication. That's it. The writing you do in order to get to that point is going to do a lot of the heavy lifting as far as getting you to a place where you can plot and write faster. And you can tweak that process with each book you write.

And the reality is that while traditional publishing does "expect" a book a year, many traditionally published authors who are actually hitting that goal are doing so with a ton of help from others. And they're more likely to be able to dedicate more of their time toward writing. So it's a bit unrealistic to hold yourself up to that goal if you're not even published yet.

Finally, I honestly don't think I know a single author who feels spiritually or emotionally connected to the entire process of writing and publishing. I mean, yeah, ideally we should all feel some level of connection to whatever it is we're working on, but by no stretch of the imagination does that connection extend to every single day or every aspect of the writing and publishing process. So, please don't feel like you're falling short just because you're not having some sort of sacred kinship with every stop of the process.

If you haven't already, you might spend some time reading through the relevant-sounding posts on my Motivation master list. It's got a lot of posts that deal with the different reasons behind burnout and frustration, plus solutions, and some things you can do to make writing fun again.

I hope that helps! ♥

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

LEARN MORE about WQA

SEE MY ask policies

VISIT MY Master List of Top Posts

COFFEE & FEEDBACK COMMISSIONS ko-fi.com/wqa

[parachutingkitten]

Forgive me for like yapping at you for a while this is gonna be a long one, and I totally get if you don't respond to this at all and just delete it from your inbox it's just something that has been bothering me sooo much

And before I start I want to clarify this is not hate! I'm just intending to like. Discuss yk?

So in your video analysis of female characters in ninjago I was quite excited to get to the bit about Harumi because she's a really interesting character and absolutely one of my favorites. But when I did it was like you missed every major aspect of her character and motivations and it was especially disappointing because like. The video was worded to accomodate new/non-fans who don't know about these characters! And it's disheartening when a character is completely misunderstood especially in a video where the point is to explain these characters and how they are often misunderstood or poorly represented by the writers

I think you were really hung up on the idea that Harumi had any good motivations for what she was doing which is just. Not true. Harumi never wanted to help people who had similar situations to her. The whole point of her character is that she's held onto her anger and hatred to the point it's all that drives her, which is what makes her death so impactful- It's the moment she sees the error of her ways and the fact that she's only perpetrated the same cycle that hurt her.

You brought up the fact that it didn't make sense for her feeding the poor to be an act. But it does if you think about the rest of the context of the scene. I know it's easy to miss things when you're trying to get all the information together for a video like that so I totally don't blame you for this one, but Lloyd brings up the fact that her room seemed ransacked and her window was blown open. The intent there on Harumi's part was to get him to follow her so he'd see her doing something "good" that'd throw him off her trail. This is something she does OFTEN. Like when the ninja are discussing who the quiet one could be or when Lloyd is shocked by her ability to throw the machete.

Harumi, in the oni trilogy at least is consistent with her motives. They screwed her up real bad in crystalized, but in the Oni trilogy the point of her character was that her worldview was fucked up and she didn't care who she hurt until she realized that she was being no better than the people who hurt her.

I think since there is such a drastic tonal shift when we get to the Oni trilogy, you were probably unintentionally looking at it through the same lense as the rest of the series where the themes and such are very surface-level and spelled out easily so again I don't like hate you for not understanding her motives or hell even falling for the manipulation tactics she employed that the viewer was supposed to look a little more into but I needed to like ramble about it SORRY this ended up much longer than I intended ^^; don't feel pressured to respond or anything

OoOOOooo! I usually answer my asks in order, but this one is real tempting right now, so I absolutely will respond. And before we get into everything, I want to extend you the same exact courtesy you did me. I'm just here to discuss. Absolutely zero hard feelings or hate.

First off, I think that is a great, and perfectly valid interpretation. Have fun with it. It's certainly a little more cohesive than what I got out of the season. I do, however, think you underestimate how much thought went into my video. As a bit of behind the scenes, Harumi was absolutely the piece of the script I was most paranoid about missing something for, because I don't have the same love for the character as most of the fandom, so I was thinking about her characterization a lot. Unfortunately, I have in fact considered all the pieces you have presented here. I just don't think those pieces actually fit together so neatly as presented in the show.

Specifically, I think it's very clear that we are supposed to have some amount of agreement with/sympathy for Harumi. Her backstory in flashback is supposed to be very heart wrenching. We see her child self go numb at the end, not angry, it's not trying to show us the start to a hardening progression, it's showing us harumi, currently angry at what happened to the little girl she used to be. If she were supposed to be a pure evil villain like Aspheera who's just evil because she is, whose justifications don't really line up, they would not have tried so hard to make us cry about her past. The backstory is structured so that it seems to give her a proper motive. She outright states her motive in her villain reveal monologue. If the point was to highlight how far from those original motivations she has strayed, it should have, I don't know, been highlighted in narrative? Have people bring it up? Have people try and appeal to her supposed motivation, have it not work, and then realize how far she's gone?

Harumi going to feed the poor was a move to throw Lloyd off the scent? What kind of 4d chess is she playing? She's got to assume lloyd will come look for her after happening to see a trashed room in a very narrow timeframe, follow her, and then talk with her while feeding children, all so that he... trusts her? After he already very clearly trusts her? All the other examples you bring up are harumi misdirecting attention after they start to catch on to her with minimal logistical effort. This is not that. Feeding the poor would be an insane preventative measure to take with a ton of extra complicated steps, that ultimately doesn't even gain her any new advantages. At that point, it's just bad writing. And if this was supposed to be an example of how she's betraying the motives she claims to be fighting for, again, it should have been highlighted in the narrative. As we have it, it's only brought up as an example of how manipulable the ninja are, not how far she's strayed from her purpose.

Now, is what your trying to say here what they intended to portray? Very likely. That's what the best written version of this character looks like. It's the only way her arc in the oni trilogy makes sense. Which, I do praise once I get to my season 9 bit. I talk about the cycle of hurt, and how good her death is, on multiple levels, and I end with an overall positive outlook on the character as flawed but ultimately impactful until we get to crystalized. But again, that is not what actually got portrayed to us in season 8. Do not give the writers credit for dots that you were able to shuffle around into making sense. I think I make it pretty clear that I understand Harumi isn't supposed to have a reasonable motive in the review. My confusion is at the narrative dissonance this reveal has when we get to it, because of the hints that tell the audience to relate to Harumi as a villain. The backstory, the attempt at a logical motive, and the girl boss feminism twist all point us in the direction of there being something she's actually fighting for. I think they did a bad job at portraying the ideas they wanted to get across, and my goal in the review is to highlight where those dissonances are, because the writing on her character to portray these ideas wasn't done correctly.

That, on top of the basic factual timeline errors in her backstory and logistics around her plan just push my perspective over the edge for me. I wasn't blind to the points your making here, I was intentionally de-emphasizing them to bring attention to the poor writing that tried to show us those elements. My thesis is that harumi was underthought, and I stand by that thesis. I have yet to come across an argument that has convinced me otherwise, though I don't discount that there may yet be one out there.

But even if you do read my analysis as a shallow first time viewer's perspective on things(which again, I assure you it isn't), if the point the writers were trying to get across doesn't translate to a first time viewer, isn't that a problem?

If it makes you feel any better though, one of the top comments under the video is a thread of people trying to explain their interpretations of how harumi's character makes sense, so there is discussion being had about this stuff.

[monstersinthecosmos]

As a fellow Marius lover, I always find it kind of disheartening how most of the content/fandom talk about him (meta, fic, fanart, etc.) revolves around m/m ships (Marius/Armand in particular but I’d even go as far to include Marius/Daniel here) when, in my opinion, Marius is like the one male character in the VC universe whose relationships with women are far more interesting than his relationships with other men (the only other character might be Lestat but even then it’s pretty 50/50). They’re so monumental and so full of complexities and pain and so much love and they define him and inform his character in ways that I think, his relationships with men simply do not. Interesting/hot under the right circumstances? Sure but like ARE YOU GUYS SEEING THIS MAN??? AND HOW HE RELATES TO WOMEN??? It’s one of the best things Anne ever wrote and I can never get enough of it and it makes me sad how little content there is of it and I feel I can never say this out loud because I would never want to make people feel bad about what they ship (truly not my intention here) but ugh SO MUCH potential there for life changing discourse and meta about Marius and the women he’s loved and lost and have shaped who he is and there’s like… nothing.

Tl;dr the reason I’m sending this ask is because I’m a firm believer that you must be the change you want to see in this world and because YOU get it! And every time you post or write about Marius/Pandora (or Marius/Akasha! Or talk about Marius/Bianca) an angel gets its (black) wings. You are seen, you are loved and appreciated tysm <3

OKAY FIRST OF ALL THIS WAS SUCH A DELIGHT TO GET IN MY INBOX, SECOND IM GOING TO BE COMPLETELY HONEST AND ADMIT I FEEL TOO INCOHERENT TO TACKLE THIS TOPIC HAHA. I don’t feel articulate enough to do it justice. And I don’t say that to be obnoxious and self deprecating but like in all honesty idk how to synthesize it neatly but I think you’re sharing some GREAT IDEAS. 

I have to say this in bullet points because I don’t feel equipped to string this into a cohesive post:

Marius was based on Anne’s husband, and Marius/Pandora was based on their marriage!!!!! And I think it explains a lot about why their relationship feels so fuckin POTENT to me, like it’s so genuine!!!!!!! And like knowing that I think it makes sense why she wrote him so HOT lol. Like she’s just writing thirsty stuff about her husband right? LOL

Also like insofar as there’s a lot of genderfluidity in VC there’s also something vaguely misogynist about it at times. And Anne Rice was a mega feminist and her work had so much womens lib in it!!!!! So I don’t think it’s intended as misogyny at all vs. Anne having conversations about gender and maybe her own relationship to gender. I think enough characters have said vaguely misogynist stuff that it makes me think it’s an Anne Problem vs being Watsonian. (This is also a historical/time period issue and we can discuss another time if and when vampires are supposed to break out of that when they transcend humanity and social constructs even when they’re still saying weird sexist shit at their big ages.) But I say that to say all VC characters are a tad sexist, even if perhaps she was writing with the intention of her own male power fantasy/male superiority/penis envy. AND THAT MAKES MARIUS VERY INTERESTING. 

Cause like really the three main ladies in his life (Akasha, Pandora, Bianca) DO define him so much! And we don’t see him pine for Armand the way he did for any of them! Why!!!

Like there’s that aspect of sexism where women can be infantilized by men who don’t think they’re being unkind and it makes me wonder, especially when the author is a boomer, like where is that line between condescension and respect? I don’t have an answer here, this is too big-brained for me LOL but like he is SO devoted to the women in his life and I just wonder like if he sees them as creatures unlike himself, you know? 

This is headcanon territory but I bet he’s such a fucking sub to Pandora lol and it just thrills me that he spent 2000 years begging Akasha for affection and she ignored him the whole damn time wow. And he continued to simp!

AND ALSO LIKE, I think people DO NOT DISCUSS THIS OFTEN ENOUGH, but did we forget that he chose Armand because he needed a Bianca rebound? He was absolutely TORTURED by his love for Bianca and picked Armand because he didn’t want to kill her oh my god. Oh my god!!! HE KEPT HER LETTER IN HIS POCKET OVER HIS HEART OKAY??? HE DIDN’T WANT TO DRAG HER INTO HIS COLD AND FATAL DOMAIN????? Fuck lol

It’s so fucked up that he didn’t go after Armand but spent like actual fucking millennia trying to find Pandora. HE KNEW EXACTLY WHERE ARMAND WAS AND LEFT HIM THERE LOL BUT PANDORA HAUNTED HIM EVERY NIGHT OF HIS LIFE FOR CENTURIES.

After everything he wound up spending like 200 years with Bianca or something and ?????? CORRECT because Bianca was the fledgling he actually wanted!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But it’s odd, I know I’ve said this 337589235 times, but Marius like. Has an idea of the person he wants to be and he tries SO HARD to live by logic & reason and he just can’t reconcile with the fact that he has EMOTIONS. And so like part of the person he wants to be like, open/empathetic/wise and he begs his lovers/students/fledglings to CHALLENGE HIM when he’s not actually healed enough to be challenged? And to me there’s something kinda like, extra spicy about it when you’re in Rice World and you’re a lil sexist; how much that burns EXTRA when it’s Pandora or Bianca sticking up to you or AKASHA FUCKIN IGNORING YOU. 

Just really incredible that this person who is like the epitome of a patriarch has such fucked up relationships with all the women in his life. And like he underestimates these women, like the way he tries to manipulate Bianca and she leaves him! PANDORA AND AKASHA ARE UNAVAILABLE TO HIM AND BIANCA FUCKIN LEAVES.

akasSHA JUST IGNROING HIM!! JUST STRAIGHT UP FUCKIN IGNORING HIM FOR 2,000 YEARS!!!! HE'S OBSESSED WITH HER!

Anyway Enkil is ignoring him too but he doesn’t give a shit about that guy tbh lol 

Also the amount of space he gives Eudoxia and Zenobia in his book like there’s more here too but tbh it’s midnight and I can’t start unpacking. I just think like, in 2000 years it’s interesting how Eudoxia wound up having such a lasting impact on his life. 

I did just peek at the Eudoxia part and I’m dying, he goes “Her face was small, oval, and as close to perfection as anything I've ever beheld, even though she bore no resemblance to Pandora who was for me perfection itself.” CERTIFIED WIFE GUY.

What kinda mommy issues are we dealing with here? HIS MOTHER WAS A SLAVE THAT DIED IN CHILDBIRTH AND HE INHERITED HER GENES AND LOOKED LIKE HER AND DIDN’T LOOK LIKE HIS FATHER & BROTHERS? AND HE’S SORT OF AN OUTCAST AS A HUMAN LIKE ? THE STIGMA HERE? AND THEN HE SPENDS 2000 YEARS WORSHIPPING HIS NEW MOTHER??? PERHAPS YOU COULD SAY ENSLAVED TO HER? IDK MAN. 

IS THIS ALSO WHY HE WAS SO OBSESSED WITH LOSING PANDORA?

The irony too, and something I think a lot of people miss, is that he DIDN’T WANT TO MARRY PANDORA LOL. He wanted to be betrothed to a child so that he could FUCK OFF and NOT get married because she wasn’t old enough to get married! He fucked off! He went exploring! He said this is not for me! 

AND TO GO OUT INTO THE WORLD AND BE MURDERED BY HIS MOTHERS PEOPLE???? IDK. 

I’m not sure how these last two points tie into anything but I just wanted to mention his complicated relationship with Pandora and his own heritage lol. And then Akasha like DELIVERS Pandora to him because she’s like “wow this guy needs somebody lol and I am not emotionally available” — Akasha who was famously a violent genocidal radfem and who would not approve of his relationship with Armand but explicitly allowed him to have Pandora and Bianca. IDK WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN! 

Did Akasha approve of these women because she knew Marius was completely pussywhipped and would worship them and she wanted to see someone mommydom the fuck out of him and she knew that Armand would never be that person? 🫢

And again I want to say like, taking the author into consideration!! Anne Rice had a HORRIFIC relationship with her mom so you see these themes pop up occasionally in her work. DESPITE ALL OF THAT SHE IS STILL A FEMINIST AND WRITES ABOUT MATRILINEAR FAMILIES like The Great Family or the Mayfairs. But thinking about Mothers in Anne Rice Works makes me think a lot about this like, the damage they can do and the voids they can leave even when you’re a feminist and love women! You see a TON of this with Gabrielle and I always think that Lestat & Marius are such similar characters that you can do a lot of extrapolating or backwards engineering to ask questions about them and how they work, since we get SO MUCH Lestat POV in this series to work with and how we can zoom out sometimes and ask like, what is common across her entire body of work and what is more specifically common between Lestat & Marius and WHAT EVEN MORE INTERESTINGLY is a result that they were both based on her husband in their inceptions. 

Like how much of this has to do with Marius’s actual feelings towards men vs women on purpose, or how much was subconscious author bias, how much was simply that Anne Rice based him on her husband and she was THIRSTY, idk. It’s always hard to say in VC because Anne was such an intuitive and self-indulgent author and the stories are so weird!!! So your mileage may vary!

But I agree with you that these are FASCINATING relationships!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I like Marius/Armand too (I recently made a post about how I didn’t “””””ship”””” them but then I spent 2 months working on a M/A fic every day and now I think I’ve corrupted and converted myself LMAO) but yeah like. There’s such a lack of substance between them in the end. He treats Armand like he’s temporary, fucks up and moves on, and it’s such a departure from how DEVOTED he was with all his other partners. 

Wow I didn’t think I had a lot to say, sorry about that. !!! EVERY TIME I BROUGHT A POINT UP I THOUGHT OF 5 MORE POINTS GOSH I COULD TALK ABOUT MARIUS ALL DAY.

[darkfictionjude]

Personally, I'm always happy to see poly options in IFs. There's not a lot of representation for us out there (though in the IF Community, it's kind of becoming an option more often? At least from what I've seen). Most of the time poly relationships are met with hostility and ignorance and seeing Anons feel entitled over characters and trying to force their way is disheartening to see. It's something that happens so often, especially when a character is "outed" (for lack of better word) as trans, non-binary, poc, poly.

I understand feeling left out when it comes to certain things like a character being genderlocked or when they're only romanceable for certain genders. I'm a pansexual/-romantic guy, and seeing some IFs be genderlocked female often makes me sad and feel disappointed. And don't even get me started on romance focused fanfics. But I'll still reblog the main post in a show of support and then I'll move on.

And with this? Anons, there are more ROs in this IF. Choose the ones you vibe with and give them love instead of hating on the poly ROs and forcing your hatred into the inbox.

Anyways, sorry for the long rant, have a wonderful week:)

Yeah I think everything is fine now, I do think that anons who try to pressure writers over and over to change sexuality or gender do not want to “give up” any characters. All the IF I’ve played always have an option for a regular monogamous cis relationship, authors should be allowed to think about other groups of people, tell their stories without people feeling they are entitled to certain characters. The majority of asks I’ve gotten here about Carmen are fine, respectful and just curious about how the situation will play out. I was lucky that I only got one person who didn’t like it, it tells me that my readers are a respectful and understanding bunch.

But heavy on the reblog, thank you for that it really really does help like I love the likes but reblogs do so much to help get our work out there especially since many of us don’t have the backing of the big IF publishers

And you have a good week too ☺️

[blood-teeth]

TMITAWH is 2 years old????!!!!

i cant believe i missed it that sounds so ridiculous to me! in my defense, i was driving for two weeks straight

i don't have anything planned for celebration; i'm so sorry! but i do have some updates!

for those that missed it, tmitawh is now a novel and will no longer be told in an interactive fiction format. this has upset a lot of people. i've lost a lot of followers over this announcement. and i can understand this to some extent, but largely i have to continue to be unapologetic about my choices.

this story is one that has, in every meaning of the phrase, saved my life. writing in this little world has gotten me through some of the darkest times and carried me through to the next day. at some point, IF stopped being a media that was capable of telling the story i wanted to tell.

i'm disheartened by a lot of the anons i've received. some are hateful and unkind. others are upset that they no longer will have the opportunity to pursue Cain or Ezio, and a few mention that they're not interested in reading a lesbian story and will not be reading the book if it ever makes it to publication. i've disregarded the first, but the second cuts the deepest i think.

i have never, ever been shy on this app that i'm a lesbian. i feel as though i've talked endlessly about it. being a lesbian is a huge facet of my identity and being told that, in so many words, a story written for myself, with other queer people in mind, is not for them seems like such a stupid thing to say. like, i didnt write it for you. i wrote it for me. i wrote it for the lesbians who love so violently that they have to hide it away under their clothes, in between their teeth. i wrote it for the lesbians who have been told their love is disgusting, or wrong, or sexy and for a male's pleasure only. i wrote it for the lesbians who are told their love is okay as long as they never show it- as long as they only hold hands at most but never kiss in public. i wrote it for the lesbian who sits in pews and breathes over their hands and wonders if God loves them still.

i'm not sorry to not have written a story catered for you when the whole world is for you. leave me out of your self-absorbed, hateful little orbit.

please know, this blog does not tolerate hatred, bigotry, or harassment in any shape or form. and if you're going to fuck around with me, you sure as hell are going to find out with me.

on a more positive note!

i want to thank you all who have been overwhelmingly positive and supportive of my endeavors!! it means the absolute world to me!! i sometimes hold myself at night and think of all the kind words y'all have sent over these past two years and just sob. never in my life before this could i have imagined sharing my work with people who give a shit and care. it warms me in ways i cannot begin to describe. i love you and i hope you are well as always. my inbox/dms are open ANYTIME if you just want to chat, catch up, rant to me, or tell me about your pet. actually, please tell me about your pet.

Some quick publishing updates:

I'm 20k words out of 90k into draft 2. and i think this is going to be the last draft before i query (?????) i'm really very happy with the muscles and bones of the manuscript. now it's just some meticulous line editing i have to work through.

after this, i'm off to the query trenches. (im scared) if anybody has gone through this process before and has any tips, i'd love to hear them!

here's a little excerpt:

"She grabs hard enough to make sure of her presence, not enough to bruise. Some sick part of the Traveler’s brain says, Yes. Please. More. Press deeper. Press harder. Bruise me. Hurt me. She delights in the heat that blossoms from where the Reverie digs her fingers into skin. Eyes earnest, stubborn disposition to her jaw as the thick muscle there flickers in an implication of anger. “I will find you,” she’s shaping her tongue into a dagger at the Traveler’s throat. “I will find you again, and that is a promise.” The Traveler gasps, tilting her head higher. She blinks and— The Reverie’s mouth is on hers, hot and aching, and the Traveler blinks— Want flavors the Traveler’s tongue, the Reverie’s hands pressed tightly against her collarbone, teeth at her jaw. She blinks and— Is this Before or After?"

i also, stupidly, have officially started a twitter that i want to start working with. i know twitter is dead, but it remains to be very useful for publishing. if you'd like to follow me, im there on @ morganhollow25. i dont know how to use it. im scared to use it. but if you have a twitter maybe follow me there too! i absolutely plan to be on tumblr primarily. i love it here and have grown a tiny home in these webs.

i'll have more updates coming soon regarding FTMTB and other works. thank you all again <3

[tls123]

Sorry if I bother you, but I really love your gif sets! Do you know some tutorials or, app, or anything, to learn how to make good gif? I am learning and I feel very stupid because all my gifs are shit. (if my ask is inappropriate or anything, please ignore me)

you're not bothering and none of this is inappropriate, you're more than welcome in my inbox! as for your questions, let's see what i can do.

1) tutorials — i've been doing this for long enough that i don't really have much to recommend here, the only tutorials i use nowadays are all about specific things and not how to make gifs as a whole. that being said i've linked this one before, i personally do some things differently but it's a very good tutorial, well-received by gifmakers who are just starting and well written, from what i've skimmed through.

another good post to look through is this one, not a gifmaking tutorial per se but it goes into sizes, sharpening, and how to get neat & clear gifs. two of the main points are A) while you can get away with making gifs out of a 720p quality video, 1080p is what is usually recommended. you could use 4k as well, but a 1080p video is usually easier to find, will take less space in your storage, and will give you really good results already. no need for overkill <3 as for B) size matters here on tumblr dot com, mostly width. the op of the post linked in this paragraph has included a nice graphic for the size limits for gifs, you can refer to it as you make your gifs so that whatever you make won't turn out pixelated once you upload it to tumblr.

if you're curious, i've been asked about my sharpening settings here and i spoke before on tumblr sizing here

2) software — you mentioned app, if by app you mean mobile stuff then i'm sorry, i can't help you! i've never made gifs through mobile and i wouldn't even know which direction to point towards for you to find more information. as for computers, if you mean programs then these are what i use to make my gifs: potplayer (for taking screencaps) and photoshop cc 2020 (for making the actual gifs, this is the post i used but here's one with more links)

now i'd like to mention something my grandma always used to say: no one is born learned. you're not stupid just because it's taking you a while to do something, learning is a process and everyone has their own pace. i've been making gifs for a decade now and i know there are things i could do better! i'm also still learning, i make plenty of "shit" gifs before stumbling my way to something i am okay with posting, and sometimes i'm really proud of what i've made and other times i think it's just "good enough". i understand feeling disheartened but please do not feel stupid about any of this!

no use in putting yourself down, now hold my hand and let's add the finishing touches on this long ass reply <3

3) tips — we've mentioned video quality, sharpening, and sizing. what else, what else. personally i would start simple (and i did, way back when, and still do!! most of my gifs are quite simple). so: cropping/resizing + coloring + sharpening. it'll help get the basics down and then you'll have a good foundation for everything else you might want to learn. i mentioned in another ask, almost two years ago now lmao, that i used to download other people's free psds (that is, pre-made settings and layers to color your gifs) and instead of using them i would open them up and pick them apart to see how people were coloring things, which layers they used, in which order, stuff like that.

remember: there is no right or wrong to do this! you could ask ten different people how they make their gifs, and their preferences for any specific part of the process, and you'd get ten different answers. if you find a tutorial and don't vibe with it, throw that aside and look for another. pick and choose, find what works for you and what doesn't! and that means do not be afraid to experiment and try things out.

also, don't like photoshop? no problem! i started with gimp, now personally i wouldn't recommend it over ps but it's a good program, it taught me a lot, and there's really nothing to hate about it. it might have less functions than ps though, and already a decade ago there weren't that many tutorials/resources for it.

don't like photoshop AND don't want to download a program? try photopea, i haven't used it but it works directly from your browser and it should do everything photoshop does!

let me know if there's anything else i can help with <3

[aevortex]

okay i have some things i wanna say still too! i get my reaction was “aggressive” but i respond the way someone comes at me. my apologies for that but also, i’m extremely disheartened at the fact that this was never once brought to my attention. not a dm, a message, anything. if this has been a problem for such a long time and we’ve been in spaces together, you let me be friendly with you and interact with you freely without expressing: “hey, i have a problem with you!” why wasn’t your initial response to send me a message? you have my discord, we’ve been in chats tg, my asks are on, and my inbox for all my blogs are open. so why immediately just start speaking of me like that on the blogs. i had to find out that there was an issue with me through some of my mutuals blocking me and reading your posts by chance. frankly, i wasn’t even given a chance to show the storyline in its fullest before everyone jumped the gun and automatically made what the arc was going to be before i did. also, about “graphic being stolen” every graphic i’ve ever made was inspired by a bunch of pinterest trends put together and it’s only so many ways you can edit posts in this community. not to throw shade at myself, but my graphics are also extremely basic for the most part. i’ve never been a graphic heavy girl, so what graphics could i possibly be copying?

returning to the storyline, the motives behind yana and jiali and hyunjae situation are entirely different to those of anything i’ve read personally in this community. their relationship is complicated. the circumstances in their situations are very different. i’m assuming this inference was made based on an ask game response…which gave little to no backstory to what was actually going on in the arc…

you can’t expect to come at someone with aggression and not expect aggression back. that’s literally just life, i fear!

[sorcerous-caress]

Yo I’m currently making the place Sean Shanahan is from (the idea is that it’s a collection of kingdoms/city-states full of characters based on folklore/fairy tales/mythology/legends/public domain stories and the kingdoms being based on the places they originate from) and after I’m done making the places and characters I plan on writing stories in that setting focusing on Sean Shanahan (the stories taking place before or after BG3 is still up in the air but I’m leaning towards after) and I wanted to know if you would be fine with me sharing my work here when I start writing?

This is something I've been wanting to talk about for a while, it's also for Githzerai anon if you happen to read this and for anyone who wants to to also share their OC in the future.

I don't mind it really, i actually like it and I love hearing about all the different OCs and the creative ways people weave their original characters into bg3 and put their own spin on things.

What I mind, is when it's the only thing someone would talk about. At the end of the day I am a writing blog, not an OC appreciation one, it's just something I do on the side.

So you can imagine my feelings when I keep posting stories and posts about why I want my readers to engage more, only for my two most active people in asks to end just talking about their own OC and writing all the time?

It's especially disheartening when I see any of you interacting with other stories or sending compliment messages for them to my asks, but never my own stories or writing, it almost feels insulting at this point.

It's like going to an open buffet someone invited you to, and bring your own food and eating it, and only talking about your own food. I love trying other's foods but not all the time.

But I also understand that it is a huge compliment for someone to trust and like me enough to share their writing and things about their OCs. I am honoured, really. But I am also human and I want to talk about my own writing and stuff.

A lot of times, I dread replying to the OC asks because of how much there is in comparison to asks that are about me or my writing. Your OCs are interesting, they are well written and dynamic, but this is my blog dedicated to my own writing.

I don't want to feel like you're only here to share your own writing and never interact with mine, it feels being taken for granted or used. It's nice every now and then but it's becoming all you and Githzerai anon talk about.

It was better at the start when the two of you'd be verstile, balance it out. But it's become too much now.

So I don't think I'll be taking or answering anymore OC asks. I answered all the ones I had in my inbox today and I'm putting a stop to it because this is really diverging from the original purpose of the blog.

I'm sorry, It won't be okay for you to share your Sean writing with me. Not after ignoring all my of my own writings and just talking about your own, it's really unfair. I wish you the best, tho! I'm sure you'll find readers who enjoy and appreciate your stuff on your own blog.

Also, I'm not mad or anything, I'm not taking this personally, I promise. I'm just establishing my boundaries. The two of you are still welcome here and in my asks as readers only. Like any other person here who shares their general idea or requests stuff.

If you happen to send any reply concerning this post, just know I'll read it, but I'm not going to reply to it publicly. This isn't a discussion, and I don't want to stretch this topic out.

[mariajmajesty]

JK and Jimin are inevitably going to interact again. We will most definitely get evidence at some point in the future that they were as close as ever even during these times when people are swearing up and down that they “don’t hang out that much anymore”

It always happens this way and I don’t know why people keep playing themselves like this when they know that every time people get so adamant that jikook is “distant”, something happens that proves otherwise. Its been happening like this for years and people still won’t learn to stop speaking on jikook when they don’t know shit. And then when it comes out that jk and jm were hanging out and are just as close as they always were, they get mad and pile hate on jimin for god knows what reason, it is a vicious fucking cycle at this point.

I literally don’t even know what they are basing their conclusions on right now, I don’t know why people always reserve this kind of negative energy for jikook. When was the last time we saw jimin and yoongi or jimin and tae hang out outside of work? Yet you never hear anyone jumping to the conclusion that either of these pairings are not close anymore or dont hang out at all. And it’s not even just tkkers now, it’s popular blogs claiming to not be concerned about shipping yet boldly declaring that they are sure jikook don’t hang out anymore. Give me a fucking break.

Why does jikook bother people in this fandom so much? Why do people seem to be so smug and self satisfied when it appears that they are not hanging out as much? It is becoming more and more obvious each and every day how differently jikook is treated by ARMY and fans need to take a good hard look at themselves and figure out why the thought of these two members in particular being close seems to rub them the wrong way. Because I have a lot of reasons why and all of them start with homo and end in phobia.

Sorry for ranting and cussing in your inbox I am just so tired of the way jikook and jikookers are looked upon in this fandom and the amount of reaching and jumping to conclusions that started after jimin’s live kicked my annoyance into high gear. I had to unfollow a jm centered blog I really liked before because they started going off about how they’re sure jikook aren’t close as they were anymore and haven’t hung out in awhile. It is just so disheartening especially when Im over here trying to enjoy jimin month in peace

Jimin telling fans to watch Tae's show after watching it himself, JK telling Jimin to come over for chicken and beer at night, Tae laughing and liking Jimin's post talking about his birthday, Jungkook telling his coach that Jimin will come over when he can, Jimin saying to Tommy that he misses him, JK spending time with Tae's group, JK's coach telling Jimin to come over..Do these people really seem like they are caught in some weird 3 way pit fight stressed and miserable?!

You asked what haters basing their conclusion on? Nothing because they don't know anything and it's the same thing they say all the time only with a different fake narrative. Last year it was "Jikook don't interact on social media like all of them do so it means they aren't close"...until they did and showed them all wrong. The year before that it was "Jikook hang out too much so it means they are fan service and being payed" ...untill they both started to shy away from it while still giving us enough content to see that they are doing damn great and proved them wrong. This time it will be "Jikook only interact on vlives and social media but not in private haha it means they are not close and always were fan service". See how that works? See how the argument is changing according to what suits weirdos at the moment?

No matter what jikook does, public or private, on social media or not, whether they’re a couple or not, their relationship and closeness would always be considered as fan service or be viewd as non authentic or on the verge of a fall out

Some people want them to hate each other so bad and project things they saw in one dynamic to another dynamic just because they think if they say it out loud (and they are loud) it will happen in real life but life doesn't work that way and they are all friends who were always friends and always hung out together when we don't even know about, and about to enlist very soon. And yes, they have their own schedules and responsibilities to juggle with now and people who ignore that need to grow up. If Jimin wants to see Hobi a lot maybe because he's enlisting and Jimin is a sweetheart like that, he can because nobody knows what he does the rest of the time, not to mention they are already at the company at similar times. Nobody knows where JK is right at this moment or what Tae did yesterday. The arguments that starts with 'X are never together' about any relationships in the group are straight up troll tallk because non of us are living in their pockets and these people aren't worth talking to because they forget how daily life looks like and ommitting other parts that happen on purpose. If Tae doesn't mention Jin as much as he used to it means they were fake? If Suga doesn't talk about JK it means they aren't friends? Of course not that's why you don't see anons go around in circles fearing a fall out. If Tae and JK can hang out nowdays even after them talking about having an awkward phase at one point it has to mean that they are in love and will forever be best friends who are the closest of all.

But jikook . .... jikook being cute on February doing late night invites for chicken and boxing practice must mean that on March they fell out and didn't saw each other for months or refuse to hang out in public..sure..make sense lol

Enjoy your Jimin month in peace because these people are not going to go away. They have no sense of shame when they are slapped with reality and won't have any when jikook will interact again. Non of us have a way to determine who is closer to who unless it comes from the guys own mouths, they'll just do what they always do and fold only to come back with a changed narrative or twist their words into something they never said with wrong translations and no critical thinking skills like they did yesterday with Jimin not wanting to share when he saw Jungkook. These people live in constant feeling of dread. Take breaks to avoid the nastiness, come back when you'll feel like it, keep streaming and focus on the good that is all Jimin ❤

[miupow]

hi lia! i'm thinking about that ask you sent me abt me being a sfw blog, and i read some of your old posts to try to get to know you better and i saw some things about you wanting to write sfw more + you not being sure if people want it from you :( i hope you don't mind that i share my thoughts as a sfw writer?

first of all there's no shame in being a nsfw blog at all! personally it's not my cup of tea but from the things i saw while scrolling through your blog, a lot of people clearly admire your writing which is really cool! writing good smut is also a skill!

second: i hate to admit it but yeah it's true that sfw seems to have a smaller audience here, it did take me a long time to grow my sfw blog. that said, i personally believe in "if you build it, they will come" - there are people out there who read and enjoy sfw and will gravitate towards sfw work, you just have to put it out there for them to discover! and it's definitely a quality over quantity thing. even if there are fewer readers, some of them will enjoy your writing enough to interact and gush about it. i've definitely been surprised by people in my inbox or replies who talk about loving my writing style esp if they were lurkers 🥺

so yeah! no pressure to write sfw if you don't feel like it ofc, but i hope you find the people who will love what you write <3 --bhj 🖤

hiii bhj!! 💗💗 thank you for stopping by and scrolling thru my blog even though ur not big on the content i write, i really appreciate it!! pls don’t ever be hesitant to interact or share your thoughts as a sfw only blog, i love hearing different opinions from different perspectives <3

one of the main reasons i’m mostly a nsfw blog is because i just find nsfw content easier to write, it comes more naturally to me i suppose? i also maintain better motivation to finish nsfw works over sfw ones

yeah, one of my insecurities about my blog is over how much nsfw content i write— i love sfw content and i’d love to write more of it, but between not being the best sfw writer and how most of my followers are here for my smut exclusively… a lot of my mutuals have told me smut writing is a skill, but i just wish i was a better writer overall. im starting to focus on writing whatever i want though, so im focusing on putting out more sfw works in the future (actually working on a beomgyu fluff rn!)

one thing i have noticed about sfw blogs is that they retain followers more than nsfw blogs. they get more asks that aren’t just requests and more interactions about their work and their lives as a whole. a lot of nsfw readers seem to hold some kind of secrecy or shame about it, so they either won’t interact off of anon or won’t interact at all. it’s disheartening, i feel like my followers are embarrassed to be following me. plus we get so much more hate than sfw blogs.. i’ve been told to kms or deactivate MULTIPLE times

i would be lying if i said i write for myself though. i write for the people who show me endless love and support and who keep me on this hellsite regardless of all of the shit it’s put me through lol. but i’m trying to focus on myself more, work more on what makes me happy.

thank you for stopping by 💗

[todayinmagicalgirlhistory]

I appreciate how grounded and patient you are at responding. I've not the fondest of memories when it comes to practitioners who i initially idolized for their skill level only to be let down because their maturity left much to be desired. I enjoy what you have to say and the unexpected plot twist of the mundane in the astral turning out to be great was a fun read too! Bonus points for that caveat on going to troubled worlds just to be a "hero." From personal experience, finding out those whom you owe your life to only seeing the danger you were in as a game isn't something I recommend unless you want long lasting emotional/trust issues. Some people let the power go to their head and it shows, unfortunately. I wish there was more people like you who see the magick in even the smallest of things and can appreciate it. it's a lovely trait. It doesn't always have to be about seeking some grand adventure to fill a void. You also know there's much more to learn and grow. Your blog has made me (and likely others) very welcomed and hopeful on my journey. I think you're on the right track so keep at it! Blessings.

TmT this was so sweet to see in my inbox, thanks so much for your kind words!

I understand what you mean about seeing other practitioners that you looked up to and getting hit with a big dose of reality that they're not the person you hyped them up to be. I try my best to be honest about what I do and don't know, what I can and can't do, and ultimately want to avoid becoming someone people put on a pedestal and that they see as another person they can talk to on the internet

I also want to be honest and introspective about the experiences I do have because I don't want to glorify the astral or the craft because it's a mixed bag of positive and negative experiences, successes and disappointments and the most important thing is how you grow as a person

And I feel like a lot of people can forget that at one point they were inexperienced too, so it's disheartening to see when someone snaps on somebody else for asking questions. So I'm glad to hear I'm not turning into one of those individuals and I definitely welcome anyone calling me out if they see me turning into that kind of person

This blog might be my little corner of the witchy side of tumblr but I still want anyone who comes across this blog feeling comfortable enough to talk to me and hopefully finding something they can take away from my experiences even if it wasn't what they were expecting or hoping

Wishing you all the best with many blessings and good times in your journey!

[onlyjaeyun]

I sent you an ask about the Jay smau, idk if you got it, since tumblr just hasn't been sending some of my ask, I know you said you were gonna not answer one since it gave you ideas, which I know the one I sent started with something about us all sharing braincells and talked about the bff could sabotage y/n, and how Jay might respond and all once him and y/n are together. If you didn't get it, you could let me know and I'll try to resend it.

Also to reply to the other ask I sent you, I feel like NCTzens are either amazing to writers or so toxic. Like I once did an MTL that was an ask and it was who would like a thicc s/o and I put Taeyong like in the middle, and I got so much hate, someone spammed my inbox with like 40 messages saying Taeyong would never want a fatty, and they made like 10 fake accounts to comment on all of my NCT mtls to share their opinion, and I just had to delete most of my NCT MTLs and block like 20 accounts. They were so mad that I said Taeyong would probably want a an s/o that eats well, they felt the need to attack me so badly, I quit writing MTLS for NCT after that. Then I would have people in my asks complaining about me not doing them anymore, and it's just like I wonder why; you ask my opinion and then when I say Johnny would love a girl with a fat ass you attack me since it's not want you wanted me to say. I've been in a lot of fandoms, and I'm lucky most I've been don't go out of their way to attack you for a varying opinion or disliking something, but NCTzens it's just like where do you get the audacity.

I feel like they would probably think I'm some weird and be all ew p*d0 or something, but I'm just such a mom friend it's just like if you are younger than I and we are interacting, I now view you as my child nothing else; but it's just easier to avoid talking to them, since people always immediately assume the worst, which I don't blame them since there are so many weirdos on here. tbh it is, like I see no age anywhere or like even an age range, like just put 18+ or 21+, just let me know you are legal, otherwise I run the other way and hit that block button with such speed, it could rival Usain Bolt; since I just immediately assume minor that doesn't want you to know they are a minor. The same is for people who write smut about minors, when they themselves are not, even if they didn't know the age of the idol. Like I saw someone the other day that wrote Niki smut and someone messaged them saying 'he's a minor', they full on said "omg I had no idea, he looks like he's 20" and like this is why we can't have nice things, at least they deleted their stuff, but still immediate block.

the czennie fandom part: YES. i feel like czennies on here just overdo everything like calm tf down and if you dont like certain type of content just..dont read it? its honestly so sad bc they used to be my ults but i also had such bad experiences in that fandom it's heartbreaking. ive been so much more cautious and careful with what i post ever since and i feel like a lot of fellow former nct writers feel that way. its just so difficult to deal with it all bc you do it as a hobby and to kinda escape the real world and boom, hate and negativity everwhere. i'd never go back to writing for nct for that sole reason only. im so sorry you had to go through that baby, i know exactly how disheartening and demotivating that can be 💔

about the whole age thing: FULLHEARTEADLY AGREED. i think with a fandom this young its super difficult to find a good balance but im honestly glad most of us older engenes think that way and so far most younger ones have been super respectful (tho i did have to block a few minors bc they interacted with my nsfw content) i still feel a lot more comfortable than i did in other fandoms. the thing is, atp if a 05/06 liner happens to write smut about an idol the same age i just close both eyes and block them bc who am i to tell them what to do yk? yet not knowing an idols age you write for is kinda ???? nah, dont fw but deffo get your other points. also i lit felt the mom friend part so hard bc same (more like older sister friend) but im genuinely afraid creeping out younger engenes bc i dont wanna seem like im being a weirdo 😭

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Hi, I don't usually do this because I don't like to cause problems or make people feel uncomfortable, but I truly felt like I needed to say something on the matter. I understand where your coming from on the whole Noah situation. While as a black man, I also did feel a bit uncomfortable seeing him handcuffed, I however, didn't find it racist at all. Honestly, your statement that Alfonso shouldn't have been casted due to the direction of the storyline was a bit disheartening.

Hey Nonnie

I've had a few other asks about this in my inbox, I won't reply to all of them as I'll just be rehashing the same thing over and over - I'd rather explain myself in one answer - so to the other Nonnie's who sent me asks around this same topic - I hope you see this.

Firstly Thank you for feeling you could come to my inbox and say what you've said in such a respectful tone - it means a lot to me that you have messaged me in the way you have - courteously - rather than being rude and disrespectful towards me for something I've said - all of you who have messaged me have shown the same respect and I hope that this response is taken in the same way.

I'm grateful that you have done so because my second point is to apologise - to anyone who felt what I said was insensitive or disheartening in any way - it was not my intention to offend anyone. I'm not making excuses, but it was 3/4 am in the morning and I was definitely not at my most coherent or articulate and so I think perhaps what I was trying to say didn't come across well at all.

I'd like to explain in a bit more detail what I meant by what I said in the hope that you will see that I truly didn't mean it in the way it appears to have come across.

I in no way meant to imply that Alfonso shouldn't have been cast as Noah - he appears to be a talented young actor who hopefully has a bright future ahead of him. My feelings towards the Noah storyline stem more from the way it was written and directed - to me the storyline was poorly written - it would have benefited from having more time given to it so it could be better fleshed out and allowed to breathe, rather than what we were given, for example - we know the show is able to make us care about characters and their plight - and we got that to a certain extent here - I felt for Noah and the position he'd been put into - through no fault of his own - but that was far more down to Alfonso's acting than it was to the script which was clunky.

The other thing about it was the way this plot line was written played out in the same way that other aspects of the 911 writing has done before - I've complained about the misogynistic use of Lucy as a character who was simply there to further the storyline of a white male character - this felt similar to me in that it felt like they used a black character to further the story arc of a white woman and as a white woman myself, that doesn't sit comfortably with me - but a better script in particular (it becomes increasingly evident that Nadia, while good at writing for dispatch when they're on the phones etc, is lacking in the skills as a writer to bring nuance and depth to other scenes) and better directing would have eliminated this as a problem.

The fact that we only got to see Noah being handcuffed, and lead out of his place of work, but not the two white male perpetrators - who were far more dangerous as they had guns and had previously shot a man - I would have felt more comfortable if we had been shown either them being handcuffed or them in cuffs being put into the back of a police car - as it was to the viewer it reads that white men with guns are far less dangerous than a black kid who was put into an untenable situation - something which doesn't sit comfortably with me.

I hope this makes sense to you - and you can see what I so poorly was trying to say last night. I want to reiterate that I truly didn't mean to imply that I don't think Alfonso should have been cast - the opposite - I would have liked for him to be given more of an opportunity to show his talent and to have been given better material to work with over a longer period of time (I can only hope that his story arc gets picked back up again because it doesn't feel finished).

Also please don't worry about making me feel uncomfortable - it is only by being made to feel uncomfortable that we can learn and grow - and I value the opportunity to do so. Please feel free to comeback to me if you want to - my inbox is always open and I'd love to hear more about your feelings and opinions on this.

Kym 💜💜💜

[valkyrieandstrangeridingaragorn]

Thanks for you answer about shipping!

Amatonormativity my beloathed </3 Thinking about it a bit more, I realize that the few shipping fics I remember enjoying (when I wasn't looking for straight up smut lol) were focused on the characters helping each other through their personal issues... or behaving as close friends in funny situations, except with more teasing xD

(Oh, I try so hard to block every tag that doesn't spark joy. Unfortunately, those posts often find their way to me anyway </3)

Venting is fine? Thanks! I'll try not to be too negative anyway ':) I usually just hold my tongue because God forbid I disagree on things or metaphorically rain on other people's parades. I don't want to bring negativity but I also would like not to feel like it's just me, or that I'm not allowed to express my dislike of shipping. It would've been much easier if I didn't dislike it, but here I am

There's a reason why I'm here under the Anon hood lol

I understand the reluctance but frankly if anyone gets mad at you because you don't ship the problem is theirs, not yours. You're not telling them what to do nor judging them, you're expressing your own opinions. But I get why you do it, some people on here get a little vicious when it comes to certain topics, I've seen the death threats.

I have never shipped, not with Marvel not with any other piece of media. I simply don't find the joy or entertainment value in it so I have a lot of ship tags blocked (only a few allowed because they don't bother me at all), it really is that simple. It is a shame though when the tags for certain characters is 98% shipping posts and nothing else. Most people say "then write posts yourself!" and sure, they're right but damn... it's a bit disheartening.

There's also the fact that I think you and I agree on (correct me if I'm wrong tho!) that if we have to choose between romance or platonic, we go for the latter. I sure do, I find it a lot more interesting and relatable, so shipping kind of goes a path I'm not a fan of.

Anyhow. Inbox is always open and the house rules are Christian Kane's 😜🍻