#and honestly (you can reblog this post but don't copy next tags) i have been having a Rough Health Year while writing it

[anistarrose]

This isn't something I would describe as a prominent or even intentional theme, but there's something fascinating to me about how TAZ Balance characters associated with composing and performing music are almost entirely correlated with either being forgotten, or having an incredibly warranted fear of being forgotten.

Johann is obviously the latter. I have an ongoing fic about his parallels with Barry — who plays piano, and who is the character we see spend the most time knowing he has been forgotten by people dear to him, and grappling with it. And I've seen the Johann and Lup dynamic get well-deserved attention in AUs where she lives, and they get to relate to each other as violinists — yet the parallels are at their strongest in canon, where Lup is the "most" dead of all the undead characters, the "most" forgotten, the most reduced to a near-invisible specter haunting the narrative, and the most like Johann's worst nightmare.

There's even a parallel with Davenport, who is a beautiful singer, and whose life story and dreams and achievements are all completely erased. So that's three different characters whose forgotten stories — which Johann obviously does not know — still serve to silently justify Johann's fear of the same fate, emphasizing just how likely it is that it could come to pass. How yes, it would be that horrifying.

And as a non-musician, but an artist of a kind myself... it all resonates. The fear of one's legacy being forgotten is a common fear in general, but it has a particular type of teeth to it for us creatives, who shudder in terror at the thought of a masterwork — that feels like a piece of one's soul — being forgotten, let alone cut short by untimely tragedy.

But that's why I treasure, so dearly, that all of these musically inclined characters — Barry, Lup, Davenport, Johann — are not forgotten permanently, but instead immortalized by the Story and Song, no matter the varying degrees of alive and dead that they wind up in the end. I treasure the parallels between these characters that say being forgotten is a grounded, reasonable thing to fear; that it is scary — but that no matter what, memory will still find a way.

[celestie0]

Hello!! I wanted to ask some advice 😞 I have a fic idea but I've never posted any writing before and its like a very very specific band au and I'm scared no one will care to read it because of how much music context it requires 😭 I really admire your writing so like...what do you suggest...

(Also super excited for next kickoff ! I've never been this invested in a fic)

hii my love!! omg a band au sounds like so much funnn are you kiddinggg i would eat that UPPP. my advice would be to just go ahead n write it!!! it's super nervewracking to share work, especially if you've never shared before, so for the time being you can just write w the idea that no one else will read it except for yourself! that'll help you establish a healthy relationship w your writing & your hobby in general even before you post should you choose to post

as for the specificity n music context, i personally think thats SO FUCKIN RAD!!! i love a story where i can enjoy a romance but also have aspects outside of it that i can learn something new from or take something away from. i have read some pretty incredible fics & books, but the ones that have always had a lasting impact on me are the ones i went into knowing nothign ab a specific something, but then i leave it feeling like i've learned something i wouldn't have ever known before!!

it's a totally valid feeling though, esp in fanfiction where you might think readers want to read ab only their fave characters or specifically romance. i felt this way a lot with including the film major & photography aspect to kickoff, i feared readers would find it boring and would just want to read ab gojo x reader. i think in ch9, gojo only had like 40% of the chapter screentime and didn't even make his first appearance until like 5k words into the chapter, but i'm still really happy w the chapter and the response i got was great too. i see some of my writer mutuals break the norms n experiments w their stories all the time too, and honestly, i think that makes for some of the BEST and most MEMORABLE stories :)

as for fears that people may not see your story, i totally get that. keep in mind, i think the jjk fandom specifically doesn't really have too many long fics, at least compared to what i've seen in other fandoms, n tends to steer towards oneshot content (i could be wrong ab this but it's just what i've noticed! at least on tumblr. long fics always get lots of love on ao3 tho) so don't worry too much if you're not getting as many notes or reblogs etc as some other authors, bc if you choose to post series content, then you'll technically be in a niche category for this specific fandom. BUT i have noticed that the quality of interactions w longer stories is very amazing and totally worth being a part of this writing community for that reason!!

when i first started posting, i really didn't know what to expect since the last time i had a fanfic blog was for like two months when i was 12 on deviantart LOL. and now i'm just extremely blown away n humbled by the support. but that's the thing- you'll never ever know unless you try! again, just write and picture it that you're the only one that's going to read it, so put all that juicy music context in there n really write w that passion in mind!! (i'm assuming you're into music or bands n that's your inspiration? don't be afraid to let that interest show!!) and that's really the only thing you need to get started, after that it's just simply copy pasting n then posting :)

if you do get around to posting or sharing it then feel free to tag me bb!! i'd love to read it n support you. good luck to u n much love!! <33 i hope this helps in anyway

and thank you for looking forward to kickoff :)

ps. in case you want any specific writing advice i have some on my page here (sorry bb i just realized i wasn't sure if you were asking for actual concrete writing advice haha my bad if i misinterpreted)

[burning-academia-if]

Hello! I love the premise of your IF, and your writing is spectacular (Rook's backstory has me in SHAMBLES you don't understand) and I'm super excited for the next update, whenever that will be! On that note, I've got a question about making and promoting your own IF. I have my an idea that I've been working on, and I want to one day release my own IF with it, but I'm not sure how I would go about promoting it - I don't have a lot of time for writing, so I'm worried that I won't really be able to get it out there because I just don't post very often. How did you promote Burning Academia when you first got started? Do you have any tips for beginners like myself?

Thanks in advance!

Firstly, thanks for playing! Secondly, I'm not sure I'm the best person to ask about marketing since tumblr/the IF community ultimately did 99% of the work lol. With that being said though, here's some general advice!

Take time on your intro post. This is everyone's first introduction to your IF, and it's what net me most of my followers in the beginning. While there's a general layout to IF intros, I personally still went back and looked through all the IFs I follow to see what bits and bobs I wanted to add and what I didn't.

Be honest. If making an IF is a hobby or you don't have time, you can add a disclaimer if you want. Honestly, I think it's less about frequency and more about consistency. Pick a day where you have some time and answer asks, and don't feel pressured to answer every ask, especially if you're busy.

Also, be clear about the kinds of asks you will and won't answer. This is less a marketing thing and more for your own sake kind of thing lol. If you don't have a lot time to write the IF, then you certainly don't have the time to write prompts/scenarios.

Anyway, if you are worried about frequency of posting, set up a queue! Fill it with art/quotes/photos and tag them as inspo/aesthetic/characters/etc. This way the blog is still 'active' without you needing to be present all the time.

Circling back to the intro post: tag it properly. I jam packed mine with every tag I could think of, and I think that's part of why it got around so quickly (as well as the major IF blogs reblogging it as well).

While I'm not sure what you're thinking of using (Twine/Choicescript/Ink/etc), you'll have different options on how to market. For example, choicescript has their own forums where you can post a thread for your WIP or Itch.io has devlogs. Use them. While I don't update frequently on my itch, I do like to cross post certain things (the 1k follower short stories, for example, I put on itch. Updates are an obvious one). I pretty much copy and paste from tumblr to itch, just so people who don't follow my tumblr are informed to what's going on. I personally only use tumblr for BA, so if you wanted to try other social media then obviously do some research. I personally wouldn't use more then 2 socials max though, because it can get pretty overwhelming.

Finally, be part of the community! I know I'm personally not the best at this due to my own online anxieties lol, but just reblogging things your interested in and supporting others is always appreciated! I know this sounds obvious but after lurking in the IF community for years and being in the VN world, you'd be surprised by how many people just...don't?? Anyway, I personally love when other writers show excitement for other IFs, so I like to express that, too. It's also just giving back to the community you're a part of.

[lilblog-asatreat]

Tagged by @taniushka12 to list books I want to read next! Thank you for the tag!!

Honestly; I want to get back into reading; but I have very little motivation to lol :/ But! I'm hoping to try soon by reading The Starless Sea (<- I couldn't remember the name of it for the life of me and I thought I saved it but then I couldn't FIND it and fhslfhafjsldjalfj crisis averted lol)

Then also rereading The Looking Glass Wars trilogy because those were some of my favorite books, and I figured if I read those again, it'll kick start my interest again lol

Then idk really. I have some books on my bookshelf that I haven't read yet that I've had for YEARS, but I kind of want to read some of the books I was supposed to read in English class in my Junior and Senior year of high school that I didn't bother reading because I was so burnt out of everything? Like, I'll probably ask my sister if I could borrow my copy of The Great Gatsby back whenever I decide to do that and they're not reading it for school. I did read half of The Scarlet Letter, and I remember being sort of interested in that. I don't really remember what else I was supposed to read rn, but I kind of want to actually sit down and read and analyze them because it's been so long since I've actually done that, and I feel like I could learn a lot from that that I honestly should have learned years ago lol

But I also have a post saved in my drafts that lists a bunch of books from a diverse variety of authors that actually tell you a little bit about what the book's about that I can try to dig up and reblog again. I haven't actually bookmarked any I was particularly interested in yet, but I'm just glad I have that as a resource for when I'm looking for books and have no idea where to start because the last time I actually read something and was in the habit of reading, the books I was reading were YA, and I feel like I've grown out of that a while ago

Okay! Tagging: @iwilltranscend @tim-burton-bitch @starry--skies @strawbebby-boy and anyone else who wants to do it!

[wooahaes]

Hi Daisy! (I'm so sorry, I don't know if it's weird for me to call you that, I can stop!) How are you? I'm new to Tumblr, so I don't actually know if I've done this right. Sorry if I haven't! In your questionnaire, I said that I was too scared to message you, but I've finally done it! I wanted to say I love your work, it's so comforting and I find it immersive. Sorry if this is a stupid question, should I be reblogging fics that I like? I feel bad for not doing it, but I don't know what it is.

omg its 100% fine to call me daisy?? its not my real name but i think a lot of ppl would guess that skdfhsdf pls know that if u see this (literally anyone who follows me) its 100% ok to call me daisy!! i wouldnt have it on my blog if it wasn't <3

i'm good! tummy hurtin a lil and im feeling the lack of sleep (rewatching shinee world iv was worth it tho), but it's all good <3 welcome to tumblr u will never leave /j

also omg hi!! ur message was super sweet and im proud of u for stepping out of ur comfort zone!! pls know i don't bite (unless ppl bite first) and i'm always happy to talk to anons <3 also i'm glad i can provide comfort to you!! ur super sweet aw

absolutely not a stupid question at all tho!! a lot of writers and other cc's will say a resounding "yes" and while i do think that people should reblog fics they like, if its initially like... super daunting to do so, i think its okay to like? getting used to tumblr can be kinda hard in the beginning, but i do highly recommend reblogging fics--even if you don't have any followers btw, the engagement still means a lot to ppl!! even if ppl don't put tags or anything, it says "i like this and i want other people to see it" since likes aren't public the way they are on other websites (or at all, if you turn them off)

please don't feel bad for not doing it since you're new!! literally i think most people don't understand how tumblr functions but that's pretty normal for joining a website haha

i'll explain things under the readmore and you can let me know in another ask if you have any questions!!

so full disclosure: i'm working on desktop and things are usually pretty similar on mobile, but there's a few differences that i can try to explain if you're on mobile!! but for reblogging:

at the bottom of a post, you'll see a couple things. they're in the same place pretty much for both desktop and mobile. if a post has been interacted with (through a reply (the little bubble icon), a reblog (the arrows), or liked (heart)), it'll have notes! you can nowadays see what other people write in their replies/reblogs by clicking on the notes key and looking through the different tabs there, but some people limit their replies (the bubble will be grayed out as a result) or turn off reblogs (reblog arrows will be grayed out).

excuse the extra buttons on mine: im on desktop and i have an extension called xkit active <3 (it allows me to block posts + do quick tags when i post fics)

as you can see: this post i made (which is dk uts skdfhds its the first thing i have thats not my pinned post) 48 notes, followed by a series of buttons. ignore the first two (they're from xkit), the rest are what you'll typically see on a post.

in order:

the single arrow can be used to share the post. either you an send it to other tumblrs (not all people have DMs open, and i'd honestly say ask before you DM someone if you don't know them well), or you can copy the link, share it on twitter/facebook, or do other things w the "more" button like send stuff via text n whatnot. its very possible to send things from a sideblog, if you ever have one and want to do it that way

on mobile your main blog will be at the top of the page with a little down arrow next to it: all you gotta do is click it and decide what blog you wanna send it from. on desktop:

you can see the bubble next to "your message here" isn't my icon since the message would be coming from my main. all you gotta do is click that little bubble (of your own icon) and you can send things from different blogs <3

anyway!!

the little speech bubble is the button for replies. tapping/clicking it will just open up the replies tab.

reblog on both desktop and mobile will open up the tab to reblog something. if you're on mobile, though, and wanna reblog something quickly, you can press and hold. i have sideblogs so i can't confirm if only having one blog will just auto-reblog it, but with sideblogs it'll pop up 2-3 of your recently used blogs (if you have more than 3).

on desktop:

this is what reblogs will look like! it's similar to posts, but the difference is just the blue "reblog" button compared to a blue "post" button. important distinction: the #tags is for tagging stuff (or, yknow, posting thoughts if you want lmao the tagging system on tumblr is kinda broken). if a post asks for something "in the tags" then you type in the tags as opposed to the main body <3

anyway, that lil heart outline is the like button <3 it just says that you like a post :) they don't get broadcast onto other people's feeds the way they do on other websites, but you can have them public or private through messing w settings

i hope this was helpful!! pls feel free to let me know if you have any questions <3

[spideyykid]

I posted 737 times in 2021

54 posts created (7%)

683 posts reblogged (93%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 12.6 posts.

I added 317 tags in 2021

#peter parker - 64 posts

#tony stark - 52 posts

#spideyykid - 40 posts

#irondad and spiderson - 38 posts

#what if spoilers - 31 posts

#fanfic - 20 posts

#spider man - 19 posts

#marvel fic - 18 posts

#iron dad - 18 posts

#marvel - 17 posts

Longest Tag: 111 characters

#i mean knowing marvel if he was in this episode he’d probably would have slipped on some spilt alcohol and died

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

I’m sorry but Captain America wouldn’t have been a better mentor for Peter in the MCU. Sure- I agree that Peter would have been more torn about the Accords if he had all the information, but Peter’s whole thing is “responsibility over personal self”.

Spider-Man has always been a character riddled with the guilt of a death he could have prevented, and spends his entire life trying to rectify that choice- feeling responsible for the well-being of others. This is reflected in almost every version of Spider-Man, and is shown in his first ever appearance in the MCU:

“When you can do the things that I can, but you don't, and then the bad things happen? They happen because of you.”

Tony’s entire motivation with the accords is responsibility, and Peter’s guilt is directly mirrored with Tony’s- something we see at the start of civil war with that women blaming him for her child’s death. Tony needs to fix- needs to protect, and to him- as flawed as it may be, the accords are a way to do that.

So here we have Peter Parker- a tech genius who creates web shooters out of scraps and was given insane powers at 14 and used them for good instead of becoming popular. He’s a snarky kid whose impulsive and wants to do good so god damn bad but keeps messing up, keeps hurting the ones he loves and becomes too obsessed with a suit that makes him feel invincible.

You’re telling me the best mentor for this kid is Captain America- just because they both are New Yorkers who were given powers? Their motivations are entirely different- and the way they go about doing things don’t match up.

Tony and Peter come from completely different backgrounds, and on the surface level- are different people. When you look at the core of who they are, how they act- why they do the things they do- Tony is the person who can understand Peter in a way the Steve would never be able to.

People like to criticize MCU Peter for being “Iron Man Jr.”- but he isn’t, not at all. He’s not a sidekick, not dependent- the whole point of Homecoming is that Peter doesn’t need Tony’s tech to succeed, nor his permission to be a super hero. Far From Home worked to show us that Peter would never be the next Iron Man- because Iron Man is his own thing, and Peter is Spider-Man- a hero in his own right. Peter is the Legacy- not a copy, and not Iron Man’s legacy, but Tony Stark himself. The most telling and raw way to show that as a concept, and it was sitting right in front of us.

114 notes • Posted 2021-08-21 17:37:52 GMT

#4

I enjoy how collectively, as a fandom, we’ve decided that Tony Stark definitely calls Peter Parker “Bambi”- someone said it and we all went “absolutely right sir” and now it’s in every fanfic

124 notes • Posted 2021-07-10 05:42:32 GMT

#3

Bro I JUST want the MCU to acknowledge that Bruce Banner and Wanda Maximoff also had a part in creating Ultron, not just Tony Stark

AND out of that trio, the only one with bad intentions was Wanda- she may have redeemed herself in the end, but she was the villain in this situation- and she bears almost no consequences for her actions.

Honestly if it was the other way around, and Tony took advantage of a traumatized Wanda and got in her head that she needed to protect the ones she loved and lead her to an infinity stone that he knew would cause death and destruction- NONE of you would be debating who the bad guy was.

Tony was a victim, did he fuck up? Yes- and I’m not saying he was completely blameless- but Jesus Christ is him being labeled a “monster” and “Ultron’s only creator” SUCH a bad take.

145 notes • Posted 2021-09-29 14:20:57 GMT

#2

I have a headcannon for the marvel zombie episode, that the only reason Happy willingly was a part of the “zombie survival guide” video is because Peter was initially devastated over losing Aunt May and Mr. Stark- and Happy knew it would cheer him up

250 notes • Posted 2021-09-08 16:03:40 GMT

#1

In an alternate (better) timeline the Avengers take one look at Peter- a short brunette with brown eyes that’s super snarky, rambles on and on, is a literal genius who tinkers with tech in his spare time and invented both web shooters out of scraps he found in dumpsters and a new chemical compound in his classroom without the teacher noticing. Who has the biggest guilt complex imaginable and throws himself into danger without thinking and is incredibly impulsive, a bit of a loner who doesn’t always work well on a team but tries so hard-

It’s just a constant battle of “I don’t know if Peter is Tony’s kid and at this point I’m too afraid to ask.”

521 notes • Posted 2021-08-28 01:10:56 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hey Lovely! I was wondering how you first became a part of the fandom? When did you start watching the show, at what point did you feel John and Sherlock might be(come) a thing, what made you start a blog on these two? I just want to know it all ^^ Hope you don't mind sharing a bit :) Thank you for everything you do for this fandom, love you lots!

Hi Lovely!

Oh gosh, what a nice question! I think I’ve talked about this in snippets in various posts, this post being the one talking the most about it, but never as a whole! Apologies if this turns into a long ramble, hah hah!

So I remember exactly when I got into the show SO CLEARLY. It was July of 2013, just a few months before S3 was to air in January 2014. I was over at my friends’ place, and they suggested the show to watch, since we always watch movies together whenever I visit. I remember asking, “Is that the show with Martin Freeman and that Khan actor from Star Trek 2?”. We finished Season one all in one go, and immediately fell in love with Ben and Martin’s portrayals and their chemistry. And then I had to head back home. I was ANGRY because OMG WHAT HAPPENS NEXT and my friends just laughed.

So as soon as I got home, I downloaded S1 and S2 and watched them ALL the way through. I needed more. So, because I already had a Tumblr and knew it was for fandoms, I decided to see what it had to offer. 

Oh boy what did I get into???

So I lurked for a bit, and then I discovered something called “meta”, back when the TRF theories were the prominent meta in the fandom. So while I was getting deep into meta, I started switching my fanart from Ninja Turtles to Sherlock, because I was warming up to Ben’s ethereal face and I wanted to draw it. And I wanted to be a Sherlock fanartist. I briefly shipped Sher1011ie for a week or so, until I rewatched the series again and it just didn’t jive like it did the first few watch-throughs. I was too invested in John and Sherlock’s friendship – I saw them as bestest friends ever, too devoted to each other.

Now, at this point, y’all need to remember this: I was naïve, have never been exposed at length nor ever heard of subtext, was and am not part of the LGBT community (I grew up in a different time and in a conservative city, so being “gay” just wasn’t a thing), had a very heteronormative view on my life, and I just had always just insisted that in all of my fandoms, when I liked two male characters together, it was because “bestest friends ever!!”. I didn’t know I was ace and I’d never read smut up until 3 years ago (yes hi hello I’m so old and so innocent LOL).

Okay, so I was just lurking for a bit, learning my way around fandom, reading meta and just generally dipping my toes quietly into the fandom.

Then came Season 3. 

As many of my followers know, a lot of my fondness for season 3 stems from this being the season that LITERALLY opened my eyes to EVERYTHING: subtext, Johnlock, my own sexuality, and my meta-writing career. 

So, season 3 aired and I decided to dip my toes into “reviewing” the episodes as my first “meta”. They were posted onto my multi-fandom blog here, here and here. I was so proud of them, because it reinvigorated my love for writing (I used to be a pretty prominent Sonic fan-fic author back in the 90′s… I never finished my stories because my interest in the fandom died before I finished them), despite how laughably bad they were, haha. I got a couple compliments on them, but nothing beyond that, especially since I sat down and wrote them for HOURS after each episode aired.

Sometime between TSo3 and HLV, I discovered loudest-subtext-in-television (aka LSiT) and deducingbbcsherlock completely by accident and I was FASCINATED. I ate up everything they wrote. The first time I watched TSo3, something was niggling at my brain but I couldn’t quite place it. It was one of LSiT’s meta that twigged at it. That’s when I learned about subtext, heteronormativity and the queer community. And suddenly, just like that, something in my brain clicked.

Oh. My god. This show is gay, and I actually SHIP these idiots like I did in the Mother Ship (ie. The X-Files Mulder / Scully). That’s why I was SO ANNOYED with Irene. Why Molly was slowly grating on me. Why Mary’s introduction kind of annoyed me but okay I guess I can deal with it. Why everything seemed really romantic but it just couldn’t be, could it? 

I rewatched the series. And it was gay. Y’all, those rainbow-coloured glasses were suddenly GLUED to my head, and I saw gay EVERYWHERE.

So, after HLV, I discovered The Johnlock Conspiracy and I was eating up all the meta about Johnlock I could. Around this time, I also was learning a lot about the LGBT community, its history and sexual fluidity from wsswatson. It was also around this time I discovered asexuality, and I started reading a lot about it. 

In February of 2014, I started this blog because I wanted a place to reblog Johnlock meta. This was the first post I made on this blog, and looking back at it now, I am DYING because wow I never imagined I was going to be this deep into the fandom the day I wrote that. I don’t even remember writing it, to be very honest. I just shake my head, HAH. I think I really started understanding Johnlock because of this post here. It’s still one of my favourites and is one of the ones I credit for helping me understand what I was watching was actually a romance, not a “crime show”. 

Anyway, after learning how to read subtext from mostly LSiT (they wrote a meta about how to read subtext and it was super informative) and other Johnlock bloggers, I wanted to try my hand at my own little Johnlock meta. It was more of an observational post, as my way of trying to interact with the fandom. I am a terribly nervous and shy person, so I never tagged anyone in anything. It was an overwhelming fandom, and it was terrifying to interact. A few bigger bloggers noticed me and were nice enough to comment on a couple of my posts, but I mostly stayed in my little corner, and interacted with my small little group of other smaller fans. I dabbled in both fanart and writing, just plopping my thoughts and art into the aether, hoping something would interest someone enough to start a discussion. 

I started getting braver, and I was “moderating” some of my favourite posts that weren’t mine, but had my additions to it. Mostly, the Phones and Hearts post. I didn’t want to impede, but it was one of my favourite posts, so I went and copied all of the comments in the notes and put them onto one post. I don’t honestly remember HOW I ended up moderating it, but I just did because I was FASCINATED with symbolism, and I was excited because I could finally read subtext and understand it. I still had a small following, and a few people I regularly interacted with on my blog.

So, during the hiatus between S3 and TAB, somewhere along the way I suddenly had a sexuality crisis, when I suddenly realized I wasn’t broken and there was absolutely nothing wrong with me, and damn it, there’s such thing as split attraction model and asexuality?? Mind was BLOWN. I was also slowly becoming obsessed with Mary’s character, and at the time I couldn’t understand why (inevitably, it was because of events happening in my own life and me trying to understand them), but I really enjoyed just psychoanalyzing her. It’s something I’ve ALWAYS loved doing – character studies; I’ve done it in EVERY fandom I’ve been in – and I was doing it for her, Sherlock and John’s characters. 

So yeah, nothing much really happened to me during the S3 hiatus, except my entire world view flipped on its head and I was completely Johnlocked beyond repair. I became known for some painful posts and some lovely revelations and writing a lot of character study posts on both John and Sherlock. I’m very proud of some of my earlier meta, just sad they never really got seen (some of my earliest meta can be seen on my Ao3).

Then came the announcement for TAB in 2015, and the start of my “Tumblr Career”. I put a lot of my energy into my fandom life. I was OBSESSED with TAB, and became known for it. I put my moderation skills to use and created the TAB Starter Pack, which started gaining me some followers because OMG some loser is taking the time out of their day to compile all the news about this new series! AWESOME. I remember, it was around this time I was excited because I got to 1895 followers and it was one of those milestones all Johnlockers like having, hahah. 

In October of 2015, I lost my job and was unemployed. Conveniently, this is also the time when the promo season for TAB started, because we now had a name and airdate. I devoted a LOT of my time, when I wasn’t job hunting, to working on this blog. I was just writing a lot, and obsessing about the upcoming episode.

Then the trailer aired.

And immediately after that trailer dropped on October 24, 2015, I made this post here, which, some would probably say, was the beginning of everything for me. As I was writing that post, with a cracking headache, something clicked in my head, and several hours later, I had written and posted the original Mind Palace Theories of TAB at 2AM-ish, and went to bed.

When I woke up, my post had suddenly gone viral and I couldn’t figure out why. Then it just kept expanding from there, and I made sure to include everything I could onto it, because WOW something I wrote was gaining traction, and interaction, and I just wanted us all to have a good time with it. And as the time for TAB drew closer, suddenly I was gaining followers, and more people interested in what I had to write. I welcomed everyone to continue to predict the outcome with me.

January 1st. Was a complete and total mind fuck. I was liveblogging the episode, and inadvertently created another viral post with my Mycroft’s Death post because FUCK ARE THEY KILLING MYCROFT OFF?? kind of freaked people out (sorry loves!), which gained me some more followers, and at the time, my top post was my December 31st reblog of my Mind Palace Theories post, so anyone who came to my blog, it would have been on the first page of it.

After the episode aired, suddenly, EVERYONE had questions for me, about EVERYTHING, but mostly to scream at me that I was a mind reader, LOL. No, I’m not, I was just a sad, unemployed twat with too much time on my hands and was avoiding job hunting. But good god, all DAY on Jan 1, I was replying to asks, gaining followers like crazy, and pretty much just stating my opinion on anything that someone wanted to know. 

I became known as the unofficial TAB blog, and the one to come to with questions about my interpretation of the episode. I was SO obsessed with TAB, studied every nuance and narrative structure I could. 2016 was “my heyday”, and it was fun. I found my niche, and meta-writing is what I became known for. And until I got a job in April of that year, I was a pretty solid presence in the fandom, if I understand some of what I’ve been told correctly. I still ran my blog as full-time as I could having a full-time job, and still do in some ways, but yeah, 2016 is when I produced a LOT of meta, mostly Mary meta because, as I said above, I was and am obsessed with her character arc. I was learning about myself a lot more by writing meta, and my “original” meta turned into “asks” meta, which was fine by me, because I do like a good prompt to get me going.

Somewhere in there I also somehow became the blog new bloggers came to, which I didn’t and don’t mind at all, because being new in a fandom is scary and I wanted to be a friendly face because I like meeting new people. 

Then we got an announcement for S4, and like TAB I also kept track of anything and everything S4-related, so once again I was sort of the “go-to” place for everything S4 because I compiled all the stuff from setlock bloggers and listed them all for easy-access. I kept track of everything promotional, and I reblogged some of my favourite pre-S4 meta here.

Essentially, I LOVE organizing things, and people liked that I LOVED doing it, so that’s sort of how I kept my following when I wasn’t posting as much new meta. I did make a few original meta before S4, and I made a 68 day video countdown to the series which is cringy AF and I’m not linking it (lol you can find it if you look hard enough). 

We all know what happened in S4. I took a bit of heat after S4 aired, because I got people’s hopes up. I was discouraged for a bit, but then I started receiving asks that weren’t really asks, but “I need advice” and “I need support”. 

And I started answering life questions, and realized people LIKED my responses, liked my little personal anecdotes in each of my replies, and felt comforted by it. So, after S4 aired, I became an eclectic mix of life advice, meta, fics, music and TJLC / tinhatting blog. I have a “no judgement” approach to my blogging, and I think that’s why I’m still gaining a steady dozen or so followers every couple weeks, rather than losing. The only time I took a big hit was the Tumblr Feedpocalypse, where they fucked up the algorithm and I’m not getting nearly as many hits on my posts as I used to, but that could also be because we lost so many people to S4, especially after Jan 1, 2018 when people were hoping for another episode.

I personally don’t think I’m popular, but I suppose I am by Tumblr standards. I dunno, I think we all have that “starry eyed” view of popular bloggers, and I just can’t picture myself as someone anyone would fawn over. I’m just me, and you can take it or leave it.

I think where I’m at now and what I’m known for is a good place to be, to be honest, despite how S4 turned out. I’m not certain, but I FEEL like I have a positive reputation here, but don’t quote me. I know I have people in this fandom who hate me, and quite frankly it saddens me that they feel they need to expel energy on me that way when they deserve to just be happy and forget about me. 

ANYWAY, sorry that got long and rambly, but it’s something I’ve wanted to talk about for awhile, but I was waiting for the prompt to come because *shrugs* I dunno, self esteem thing, makes me think no one REALLY cares until someone actually asks, hah.

And if you made it all the way to the end here, Love ya Nonny, and thank you for asking and thank you for being a follower of my blog

[njmphadora]

I know this is a dumb question but like how do you get so many followers? I've been here for a few years and I don't have that many (and a lot of them are inactive now) and it makes me sad because I have like 400 and no one even talks to me :( And I know someone else asked and you said we should put up an about page but honestly no one really talks to me after these years and yeah like I'm just wondering if maybe my blog is worse than I thought? What do u think?

hello lovely little thing !! honestly i completely understand where you’re at with this. it look me a very very long time to gain any real followers on here. i remember that for months before i started really gaining any followers, i was trying to do ask games and trying to interact with people and just no one cared. it almost completely broke my spirit and i just had no idea what i was doing wrong. now, i can’t promise that i can give you any advice that will 100% work, i’ll just tell you what i did to get from there to here.

first of all, i started to follow people. i used to spend hours on my recommended blogs list just following people. a lot of bloggers do check their new followers and will sometimes follow you back. but anyway, it’s just good to fill up your dash with as much content and as many people as possible.

then i spent some time working on my blog. i spent a good week on my desktop and mobile themes, on my pages, setting up a queue. i mimicked some of the blogs i looked up to in all the things i saw them doing that i liked. i didn’t copy them. but for instance, i saw that people tagged their posts and their queues and everything and were then able to set up really cool navigation pages, and i loved that, so i started tagging my posts and i made a very basic starting out nav page for myself. it’s things like that. work on your blog, make it flawless, and don’t be afraid to be inspired by other blogs you see around. if you see someone using a nice theme that you wanna use, it’s completely cool to go and find that theme to use it yourself. people will just be flattered that you looked up to them if they found out. and anyway, these are public use themes, tons of blogs have them up.

then i started getting a bit involved with the tumblr community. i’m not a very outgoing person, but i was able to involve myself at first just with blog rate type things. i would enter every single blog rate thing i saw on my dash, and blog of the months and tumblr awards etc. at first, the blog rates i was getting were awful. people did not think my blog was overly great. but all those things i was marked low on, i worked on. and over time, my blog started getting better, and then suddenly one day out of the blue i won my first tumblr award and it felt incredible.

then i tried to make my blog more personal. i started to post more personal posts so people could get to know me, and even though basically no one saw them, and they got no likes or replies, it meant that anyone who followed me would know who i was, and that was important to me. i posted quite a bit about my social anxiety, and started to get the occasional response from kind people who were sympathetic or wanted to try and help. not many, but the occasional one.

then i started making things. i wasn’t very experienced in any editing software, and i wasn’t a fic writer, but i started with some simple headcanons and a few basic moodboards, and i kept practising and trying. my creations didn’t get many reblogs at the time at all, but that didn’t stop me from trying. i hoped that the practice would make me better so that soon i would make something that might actually get reblogged yaknow ?

the next thing i did was to reach out to my followers. my first few attempts were pitiful ngl. i just found my first ever attempt at blog rates and it got 4 notes :) i still tried doing ask games, and sometimes i got like 1 ask but most of the time i got nothing. then i did something a bit different. aesthetics were really popular and it was winter time, so i got people to help me pick a new url and i wrote them winter aesthetics. this got like 36 notes and i was so proud, it was the most popular i’d ever been :)) and by telling people to reblog the post, i’d started gaining followers. the thing is, i started to realise then, that what you offer matters. doing plain old blogrates is fine if you already have interested followers. but if you don’t, then offer something unique to catch their attention. it was when i did my christmas thing that i really got attention. i offered archive moodboards and christmas themed aesthetics and suddenly bam.

after that, it all just kinda happened. starting up is the difficult part, but once you’ve got active followers and friends on here, then it all just gets kinda easy to keep up. the thing is, trying to get there can really hurt and upset you, i know it did me. it’s so heart breaking to not get any attention on here, i get that. but hopefully you will soon, because honestly everyone deserves to be loved on here. dfndsjfdn idk i’m rambling now but i hope this helped