#and also to the readers who support the writing by offering kudos or bookmarks or comments

[not-poignant]

Fae Tales - Underline the Gold 01/? (Anton/Flitmouse)

Title: Underline the Gold - 01 - In the Beginning

Pairing: Anton Valenosk (the Brave)/Alois Flitmouse

Notes: This is an extra 2,200 word story in the Underline the Black universe!

Summary: Alpha Anton is assigned a new omega, Alois Flitmouse, who is Hillview Rehabilitation Facility's very first voluntary admission and an older, independent omega who is escaping unfortunate circumstances and seeking protection, and is too jaded and tired to consider bonding with anyone.

Its rating is Mature with some disturbing themes (mention of suicidal ideation and historic domestic violence).

Underline the Gold - 01 - In the Beginning (Anton/Flitmouse) on AO3!

In which Flitmouse decides to check if Hillview might be a safe place to hide from a violent husband, and coaxes Anton into lying to Gary and the facility on his behalf.

-Thanks to all the Patreon supporters for making this story possible!

[bluepulsebluepulse]

To the DDoS Attackers of AO3

I’m going to try and force my thoughts into some semblance of order regarding the recent DDoS attack against AO3; which is extremely hard to do considering I am so angry that I can barely think straight.

I may not know exactly who was behind this… I may not even know the true motivations or goals of the individuals behind this attack… But the one thing I do know is this…

Whoever you are... You deserve to experience suffering on a level that equates to all the grief you’ve caused others through your selfish actions.

Now, I know that wishing pain upon others isn’t taking the high road, but I’m simply incapable of it with everything currently going on in the world. These people are denying access to a service that many people, quite frankly, need.

AO3 is not defined just by it’s content.

It’s a place to escape reality; a coping mechanism. It’s something that improves quality of life. This is especially important for those who experience mental health issues and struggle with conditions like depression, anxiety, and more. For some, it’s the only way to find comfort after a long, hard day at work. For others, it’s literally an aid to help them fall asleep.

It’s a creative outlet. Suffice to say, exercising your brain is vital to good mental well-being. In addition, writing can also allow people to express their emotions, process grief or trauma, and gain clarity on issues going on in their own life. It’s cathartic. It’s happiness. It’s art.

It’s a place to make friends and embrace communal positivity and support. Whilst it may not be one of the most common places to make friends, it does happen. And for those who met elsewhere, it’s still a place to bond and share gifts. More than that, it’s the place associated with that rewarding feeling that you get when you either give or receive kudos’, comments and bookmarks on works. All that stands between smiling all day is one flattering comment.

And that’s me just getting started… AO3 is so many things, but because I’m trying not to write an autobiography right now, I’m trying to keep this rant to a minimum. Besides, I want to save my energy for the next work I end up writing.

I don’t care if AO3 contains content that could be considered heinous, repulsive or downright twisted to the point that some may need therapy after reading it. The point is, if it’s not hurting anybody, or impeding upon anybody’s rights as a human being, then it should be allowed. This of course comes with the caveat that a tagging system must be enforced to correctly identify potential triggers to readers (which AO3 offers). The only way this system fails is if writers accidentally or intentionally mislead readers by incorrectly tagging their work (which is rare - and there are also ways to rectify this including communication with the content owner or submitting a report to AO3).

Above all else, adults are more than capable of navigating the site and consuming whatever content interests them. They’re also capable of evaluating the risks involved with specific works that may be an issue for them. For any readers under the age of eighteen, parents or caregivers should be held responsible for deciding whether to manage content consumption or to disallow access altogether. It’s the same concept as choosing whether or not to see a film based on its rating or locking the adult channels on a television.

I understand that the issue here isn’t the tagging system; it’s the content itself. But the attackers’ efforts to stop freedom of speech are futile and pointless. If the AO3 fanbase aren’t reading or sharing content on AO3, we’ll do it elsewhere.

So again… Turning my attention to those who are responsible for this attack… I know I’m probably wasting my breath here but… 

Get a life and go do something that’s actually meaningful with it.

[beatrixacs]

Writing tag game

Tagged by @indestinatus! That is really nice idea to share this forward and I thank you for this.

Also, it was really sweet to read your answers. I love to see how other writers around me think and what they experience.

So here it goes:

Fanfiction.net name: Beatrix.acs

AO3 name: Beatrix_acs                  

Fandoms: NCIS, Star Wars

Tropes: Enemies-to-lovers is my most favourite trope ever, period. Paradoxically, I have written more for co-workers-to-lovers, lol.  So yeah, that’s my favourite trope, as well. Generally, I like to explore the multiple ways two characters that aren’t together but are drawn together can get together. I’m not much of a ‘committed relationship’ type of writer and so I usually cut my fics at the point when they make a finally couple.  

Number of fics: Thirteen published. Two more in works, so fifteen in total.

Fic I spent the most time on: Well, well... Christmas Meeting (NCIS, TIVA) It’s almost FIVE years since I have started to write it. FIVE YEARS. I have changed my job twice since then, lol. But it required a lot of research and all because it’s basically my baby. :D

Fic I spent the least time on: Ben Solo Lives (Star Wars, Reylo) When you return from cinema and you are absolutely heartbroken, what do you do as a writer? Sit down and write a better ending although it’s not the peak of what you are capable of. Needed like an hour for that.

Longest Fic: Christmas Meeting. If you write story for freaking five years, then it’s gonna show, right? 368,073 words. 41 chapters.

Shortest Fic: I somehow managed to write a drabble (I mean how?), Another Chance for Balance (Star Wars, Reylo) has 1,789 words.

Most hits/kudos/comment threads/bookmarks: Since I am relatively recently (like not even a month) on AO3 and I’m just reposting old fics there, gotta go with views and reviews on Fanfiction.net. As of 21st April, 2020, it’s 256,444 views on Kissing Deal (NCIS, TIVA) and 609 reviews on Christmas Meeting.

Total word count: I am a couple of words from a million – 958,418 words. You can bet those remaining 52,000 words or so are in my works I haven’t published yet (last three chapters of Christmas Meeting, Sleeping Buddies and Waterfall Bath)

Favorite fic I wrote: Christmas Meeting, of course. It takes places in my hometown and the city I live in so there is a huge part of myself in it. I don’t know if the readers realize that or not but for me, it has a strong personal significance. I have also projected a lot of my own experiences into the story.

Fic you want to rewrite/expand on: Definitely not rewrite. I am a supporter of writer’s development and only looking back to what I wrote helps me to realize how much I evolved as a writer and then can happen only if the story I wrote a couple of years ago stays the way it is. Expand? Maybe... My one shot There’s Still Time To Change Your Mind (NCIS, TIVA). Like I said before, I purposefully end the stories at certain point so I don’t wish to expand them in any other way because I know I am not good at writing family life and all that.

Share a bit of a WIP or a story idea you’re planning on: I would share a WIP from Christmas Meeting but I don’t think it can surprise anyone and what I have in plan for the next chapter for publishing, I want to keep a secret.

So, here’s a WIP of my upcoming rewrite of The Rise of Skywalker, Reylo edition, called ‘Waterfall Bath’ which is working title at the moment. It started off as a one-shot idea but soon evolved in my head into a full fix-Episode IX-it fic and so I am taking the opportunity to do just that. Reylos might find a familiar sentence in this WIP – I took the liberty of taking things from the movie I actually liked and decided to use them in my story, sometimes in completely reversed fashion. Guess you have to wait until I make progress enough in writing to start publishing it.

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

“Let go of me.” She asked him out of instinct, her plea hollow and false as her body pressed to him when he ran his hand down her back.

It was either ignorance or inattention but he didn’t react to her words as if he didn’t hear them. Instead, he looked down on his chest and slowly reached for her hand over his heart. Pensively, he took it into his, measuring them and marvelling at the coincidence that his large hand could fully envelope hers and she watched him doing it, mesmerized by his actions.

“I offered you my hand once. You wanted to take it.” He said distantly as she turned her palm in his hand and they touched, lacing their fingers firmly in an intimate gesture. Then he looked at her and his voice broke. “Why didn’t you?”

“Wha-...” She let out in surprise, her eyes widening with shock as her chest tightened with burning anxiety.

She couldn’t believe that after all those months full of Force bond connections during which they had talked, yelled, fought with each other and alongside each other, stared at one another endlessly and provided so much comfort, he would choose this particular moment to touch upon the topic they had avoided for so long. What had happened in the throne room was a taboo neither of them had wanted to revisit.

“Are you kidding me? Why are you pulling this out right now?” She questioned him apprehensively, suddenly squirming in his embrace as she wished to flee away from this conversation and his pressing, urgent gaze.

His bottom lip trembled with a silent, desperate plea on his tongue. “Just tell me. I offered you everything I could think of... a new, peaceful order for the galaxy and you, becoming something meaningful no matter what your past is, no matter what my past is.” He said as he released her hand and buried his fingers into her hair, untangling the wet strands from each other.

“I...” She failed to find the right words because what she wanted to communicate was too complicated for verbal expressions. She could easily get lost on the way and if he really did want to know the answer, it was better to convey those feeling to him in a different way.

Opening the Force bond would definitely help because he would have the chance to sense her thoughts and read through them if she let him. Her eyes closed once again as she focused on the pervasive power everywhere around her, trying to tear down the walls he had constructed. She felt him to join her in the effort but despite the fact that it was a connection between the two of them, neither seemed to inflict a single crack.

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

Now, my problem is that most of the writers I follow aren’t active at the moment due to other commitments but I may try tag @outforawalkbitkah (who I think is a writer), @dazzlingstarlight and @thewayshelooksatme and anyone else who see this is welcomed to do so, as well. :)

Thank you so much - for the questions and your attention!

[huntypastellance]

Yeah, We’re talking about this now.

If you’ve been in the she1thdom for a while now & have followed popular she1th accounts, you’ll have noticed them occasionally posting something.....weird.

Posts vaguely complaining about a certain unnamed person who seems to despise the she1th fandom, use it for profit & doing all sorts of unsavory things behind the scenes in private DMs & discord servers.....

That person is Lee CA (Glossolalia on ao3), writer of those 2 fics that have invaded every she1th fan’s dash at some point in time (”Alien Sex Fiend” & “Picosecond”).

He’s the Cassandra Clare of the VLD fandom if CC had been caught being a creep & not just being a manipulative egotistical plagiarist obsessed with marketing.

Lee CA is about as much of a she1th fan as the infamous anti klanced is -- they ONLY care about it as a tool to boost their own popularity & will spend endless amounts of time bashing she1thers.

There’s a lot of posts about his whole sexual exploitation of naive minors & the whole thing blew up late February of 2019, but We’re here to talk about Lee’s entire history. (Notes: there will be some sources, but a lot of this is really old stuff or stuff only mentioned in private servers, so they’ve been lost to the sands of time or are just things heard through the grapevine.)

To preface all of this: NOBODY saw any of this coming. At worst, Lee was a narcissistic plagiarist high off the fumes of his own success, but his attitude at no point gave off any signs that he would exploit minors in that way. (Exploiting them for profit, though - that’s basically his whole shtick).

Lee was/is a very popular writer in the she1thdom (with fandom picking up the fanon “Shiro calls Keith ‘cherrybomb’” from his fics) & would charge professional rates for his works on his patreon, raking in around $1300 to $1600 PER MONTH for almost 2 YEARS on she1th fics alone (that isn’t counting his commissions either: he charges $125 for a 5000 word fic, $150 for a fic with porn). If he doesn’t hit his goal of $1600 a month, well, that’s clearly YOUR problem for not sponsoring him enough, not his.

Yeah, sure you could save $25 for the porn-free version, but reading a Lee work without any smut is like trying to eat a bowl of nails without any milk in it.

And then he would bitch & moan in DMs to other she1th creators about how “disgustingly underpaid he was”, “how ungrateful [she1th fans] are” or whine in she1th discords until his sympathizers ponied up enough money to pay him for another commission. Hell, he even admitted to MANY she1thers that he didn’t care about she1th, he didn’t like she1th & he was FURIOUS that how DARE not all his she1th fans were eager to throw their money at his original works (which forced him to go back to writing for she1th, even though he literally quit his dayjob to write fanfics full-time).

“Gruelingly underpaid” is apparently “professional rates for writing” so maybe Lee’s making a statement about the writing industry. Or maybe he’s just a dick.

As an ex-supporter of his patreon, We can tell you just how horrible his tiers are. And how tiring his whole gimmick of “I’m that edgy she1th writer! Sex workers! Drugs! Alcoholism! Cheating! Keith & Shiro hating each other but having sex! Christianity is evil & homophobic! -obligatory mention of Gucci because I’m trying to insert subliminal messages in my works to get my readers to buy me stuff!-” quickly got.

Essentially you’d have to pay $10 per month to see anything that wasn’t basically stuff you’d see on his twitter feed or tumblr. (”Pay me $5 a month & I’ll post my notes & let you know what I’m up to!”).

You also had to pay for updates to his she1th fic “Picosecond” if you wanted him to update at a speed faster than “1 chapter every 2-3 months” -- which is already stupid since it’s his fic, but if you’re unlucky & you “didn’t pay him enough”, he’d mention it on the post update that it’s YOUR fault that this chapter wasn’t longer*!

But it’s totally fine, because he said it in a joking tone & so that makes it okay to throw shade at his commissioner like that~!

*minor issue but he artificially inflates his own word count by waxing on about the scenery or filling the chapter with long monologues, so he was ripping people off even more while shilling how “deep” he was

Lee later threw a fit again about how ungrateful, uncaring & cruel the she1thdom was. Why? Because his newest fic about witch!Keith, paladin!Shiro & the cursed tree with crying baby heads for fruit didn’t get over 100 kudos within the span of three days.

And if you were a new fan to she1th & wanted fic recs? He’ll literally just rec his own fics & only his own fics! (Despite having connections to basically every she1th fic writer in the fandom).

Calling Lee a narcissist is a bit of an understatement.

He was also caught plagiarizing another she1ther’s band fic. And, key point here:

The original fic was posted for free on ao3.

Lee’s version was patreon-only until he posted it to ao3 (after ignoring his patreon subscribers who were like “hey what the fuck, i’ve read this before”).

You had to PAY to read Lee’s version (& this is just a personal opinion, but do you think you’d want to pay for a passionless uncaring version of the same fic? His whole disdain towards VLD & She1th leaks out all over his writing, but he’s so good at marketing his stuff that people don’t really notice it - they just think he’s being “dark & edgy”).

He then claimed to have no prior knowledge of the fic only for people to dig up his ao3 account & find out that not only had he bookmarked the original fic, but he had also kudosed it. (Yes, he’s deleted that bookmark by now. Can’t delete the kudos though!)

Lee tried to spin the whole thing as “fighting for the freedom to write whatever you want” just like how he tried to spin his condescending tweets about the Hanakotoba zine’s selection process as “rewarding those who worked hard at their writing” like it wasn’t just a blatant “im only picking me, my friends & popular folks & calling them the best the fandom has to offer” cash grab.

He eventually took down the fic but not before loudly insisting that he was in the right. The other author just wanted the drama to be over with so the entire incident was settled & forgotten without much fanfare.

And then someone spoke up & mentioned that Lee had begged for nudes from underaged fans. And a whole storm of threads poured forth, many of Lee’s whiteknights vanished into the wind & the she1th blogs who had been vaguing about him for years finally gave up on him (you can only avoid someone so much if they’re that popular & basically in every single she1th event promo & whatnot).

Essentially, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Or is it?

In the grand scheme of things, this hasn’t really changed much for Lee. People did write to his publisher, Oni Press, (as Lee was working on Dream Daddy with them) & while there was a response, there hasn’t been much information as to how it concluded.

His patreon follower count did drop quite a bit, but Lee still has many fans who will willingly throw tons of money at him. (Besides, he was already losing followers after VLD ended - tons of people lost interest in both the canon & in fan content).

So yeah, things haven’t really changed that much for Lee other than some people now refusing to support him financially or make art based on his works.

Twitter threads & posts about the whole incident:

http://archive.fo/HxI0H

http://archive.fo/N1thM

http://archive.fo/caVOs

http://archive.fo/YjBA5

http://archive.fo/2GgnG

http://archive.fo/454Ww

http://archive.fo/50f9A

http://archive.fo/EhBIQ

Fail-fandom threads about Lee CA’s attitude towards his own fans & his semi-illegal patreon (illegal in the sense that he never discloses on his account that he’s writing VLD fanfics for money):

https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/265625.html?thread=1492373401#cmt1492373401

http://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/264405.html?thread=1485573845#cmt1485

https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/321513.html?thread=1844915433#cmt1844915433

Lee CA’s plagiarism of another author:

http://archive.fo/TM25C

http://archive.fo/ioMRF

http://archive.fo/3kymS

http://archive.fo/yw6io

[like-a-bucky]

Fanfiction tag

I was tagged a while ago by my sister @niniel-kirkland to answer these few questions, let’s go!

Why/How did you get in fanfiction?

I found my first fanfictions by complete chance, wandering through forums and blogs, until I ended up on fanfiction.net. I kept reading and reading because it was absolutely wonderful to see my favourite characters keep evolving and existing beyond the limits of the original work.

Why did you get into writing?

I can’t exactly remember, it was a need, an itch I needed to scratch. I still do, I just have so many thoughts and ideas in my head that I need to let them out somehow. Also, so many fanfictions made me dream/cry/sob/laugh I just feel like it would be nice to offer the same emotions to a fellow fan.

How long have you been writing?

Around nine years, I think?

Do you think you’re a good writer?

I only base myself on my readers’ comments to say that apparently, I am. I think that a good writer is an author who manages to bring their readers on a journey, to convey the emotions of their characters and, for a little while, to make the readers’ and characters’ hearts beat together. From the comments and feedback I’ve received from my readers, I have apparently managed to do that, which is amazing.

Do you think you’ve improved?

Oh yes. Rereading my old (non-published, apparently I have some survival instinct) fanfictions makes me cringe, haha. Too cliché, too basic, not plotty enough... I also improve from story to story, especially when I start writing in a new fandom: I feel like my two or three first stories (mostly oneshots) are only first tries where I get around the characters’ personality and features, I need to explore them a little in simple stories before I can take them on a bigger journey.

Name one thing that helps you write.

Music is pretty helpful, I like to have the right atmosphere to what I’m writing.

Have you ever gotten hate related to fic?

No, thankfully. Authors write what they write for themselves and for the people who like the same tags/AU/kinks/whatever. If you hate a story, don’t hate the author. If you really can’t hold your tongue, try to explain calmly what you didn’t like, with better arguments than I don’t like it because it sucks. I’m all for pointing out real problems (really bad and impending grammar, disrespectful words/ways of describing characters and so on) but some people hate on writers just because they wrote A/B/O and they, as readers, didn’t like it. Dude. Don’t do that, just don’t read the fic.

Fanfictions or books?

Both. Some books suck, some fanfictions are amazing and vice-versa. It’s not because you hold a published book in your hands that it’s better than fanfiction (and it’s not because a fanfic has been published that it’s a good fanfiction.) Fanfictions tend to include a wider-range of characters/sexuality/gender than books do, which is important, and books are sometimes limited with that but write it better. So really, I read both, depending on the topic and the mood.

Do you want to professionally write? If not, what would you like to do/what do you do?

I would love to be a published writer but I have a hard time writing something original that I would deem good enough for publishing. I know some people publish their fanfictions by changing the characters’ names and so on but I would be totally unable to do that: if I write something about Steve and Bucky, then it is and shall remain Steve and Bucky. Not John and Thomas. I just can’t.

Have you ever been published professionally?

No.

What is the favourite story(ies) you have have written?

Warm kisses from your cold lips (Captain America, Stucky)

Take it off (Shadowhunters, Malec)

A man’s best friend (Fantastic Beasts, Gradence)

In Death’s palm (Captain America, Stucky)

Why is it/are they your favourite(s)?

Mostly, it’s because they mean a lot to me. The ideas for these stories struck me like lightning and I was completely frantic/obsessed with them. I just really, really needed to write them and I, for once, really liked the result.

What is the least favourite story(ies) you have ever written?

Maybe Carry my heart gently (Supernatural, Destiel).

Why is it/are they your least favourite(s)?

Maybe because I loved the idea so much and I feel like I can’t do it justice? It’s not finished though, so maybe I’ll get it right eventually?

What is something you expect from a fanfiction?

The pleasure of reading a nice story in which I’m thrown into, with the characters I love and their personality from the original works, even in AU, although I’m flexible when it comes to their personalities with AU (if you’re writing about abuse, you can’t expect the characters to react in the exact same way as in the original work where he/she’s not abused.) Slow plots/too much crack/too OOC stories tend to bore me.

How do you feel about troll fics?

No.

What is your favourite writing style?

I like something natural, something that flows. I’m all for metaphors, except those that make you feel like the writer had to burst a nut and break their brain to find them.

Do you write for the sake of popularity?

No, I write for myself and the fans. Most of them enjoy it (again, from the comments/kudos I receive) and that’s great, I’m not doing this to gain followers/be worshipped.

Do you think fanfiction is a good way to get into writing?

I think so, yes. It may be easier (which doesn’t mean lazzy, like I’ve seen some people say) to start with fanfiction and characters you already know and love. You can focus on creating your AU world, your plot, your depictions of the characters while having a focus point. Then you can start twisting the personalities/characters if you want to, you can literally do whatever you want (with a bit of constency along the story.) It’s also great to have the feedback from fellow fans who will honeslty tell you what they think of what you did with their favourite characters and in my experience, most of those readers will actually encourage you and help you along the way if you feel like maybe the story/plot/descriptions aren’t good enough. People tend to give constructive criticism when they do criticise or draw your attention to a plot hole/fact that you hadn’t noticed, too caught up in your story.

What is something you like about the fanfiction world?

The easy way to publish and have feedback. It’s so hard to actually get published IRL... While it is really easy to leave a comment on a fanfiction you read online. So comment! I see too many people reading and liking/subscribing/bookmarking but leaving comments is actually the best way to show your support to a story and/or an auhtor.

What is something you dislike in the fanfiction world?

The fandom wars and endless discussions about who tops/bottoms in a male/male relationship. Some people can’t see past that which is disrespectful (for starters.) Also, as I said before, people who will read something they know they don’t like and then feel like commenting with I hated this story. Seriously?!

What is a pairing you’re currently shipping?

Magnus/Alec (Shadowhunters)

What is something canon you will never ship?

I don’t actually have any ideas right now... Or maybe Pocahontas and her second boyfriend whose name I have forgotten? I actually pretend I never saw Pocahontas II, hush.

What is something fanon you will never ship?

I can’t think of anything at the moment...

In conclusion: any writing advice?

Good God no. Do what you want, do what you have to do to enjoy yourself and your writing. Don’t tell yourself I have to write like this other, super popular writer. Write however and whatever you want to write. But then again, don’t take my advice if you don’t want to. You’re free.