#as well as advice on what needs to be done to set up the server

[ninjago-oc-appreciation]

Ok so. Hypothetically if I were to create an Oc discord, would anyone be interested?

[medicinemane]

I don't know, I get tired of a lot of positivity

Like yes yes, the world's wonderful and I'm so strong or whatever generic thing is being said (because it's always so generalized to the point of meaningless), but you know shit is what it is, and the only way forward is with changes I manage to make... which you're not helping with at all

And as for like... my internal mood, I'm deeply isolated, sorry if hollow platitudes don't sooth the gaping maw inside me

It is what it is, and I probably get my shit together enough to do stuff like teach out of my basement like I'd like, it's just I believe that I'll be alone in a crowd like I've always been

But positivity... I just... I kinda get sick of it. There's this guy on youtube I watch who talks about economics stuff, he's recently started doing positivity and... I just fucking know his personality enough where it's like sorry mate but I'm not interested in hearing you spout Secret light kinds off drivel

...I don't know, I suppose it boils down to this

One, I can barely fucking take in positive things said directly to me, about me. Generalizations don't help even a little... I'm a mess, I'd really like someone to toss me a life preserver instead of always tossing confetti at me while I struggle to stay afloat... doesn't help

Two, the world is a terribly imperfect place, and rather than taking a mentality of "everything will work out", I think it's important to acknowledge that sometimes good people live alone, die alone, and they never got the break they needed and slowly bled out

I think it's worth knowing that if you can't step in and help yourself, then maybe no help'll come at all

...I don't know, I suppose in the end the core of what I'm saying is a lot of positivity seems like self help tier stuff and... I get tired of that, and I see so many good people struggling and... eh... either I can at least come in and say something positive custom fit to them, or I can keep my mouth shut

Just fucking let me rot. Help or let me fester on my own, you know?

I got rid of the trailer, I maybe did something like cleaning though I can't tell... at what point will my pace on trying to make things better be good enough for people, and I'll be able to stop having people tell me to fix my life... as if I hadn't thought of that already

...everyone means well, it's just tiring

[shepherds-of-haven]

Unsolicited Writing Advice

Completely random reminder to back up your work, especially if you're a writer, IF or game developer, coder, or creator of any kind. People sometimes ask me what my advice for other writers is, and I always forget to include this one, but it's one of the most important things, especially if your career, livelihood, or long-form projects hinge on writing in any way! Take it from someone who just had two backup methods fail unexpectedly and only the third backup prevented me from losing a solid month of work, you need to back up your work in as many ways as you possibly can. It may seem like a pain in the ass at the time, but I've seen a lot of games or stories stall or fail completely due to a catastrophic loss of data that utterly kills any drive to keep going with the project because of the need to start over. I'M BEGGING YOU, BACK UP YOUR DATA.

I recommend having at least 2, ideally 3 methods of backup:

Automatic cloud storage. I personally prefer working with Dropbox, where every change I save is automatically synced and backed up to a cloud server as well as natively saved on my own device. It also has robust version history, so if you figure out you've done something horrific and unknowingly saved over something important or rewritten a section you weren't supposed to, you can rewind everything in a folder down to a specific minute (over the last 30 days): a feature that has saved my hide just a few too many times for comfort. A free Dropbox account gives you 2 GB of storage to work with. Working within Google Drive works just as well, and the free version gives you 15 GB of storage (though that's shared between your email account and other Google apps, as well)! However, I don't believe it provides automatic syncing and backup the same way Dropbox does: you either have to work directly within a Google doc for your work to be automatically saved to the server, or you have to manually upload the files to your Google Drive to back them up each time.

Physical storage. Every few weeks or months, I also take the time to back up my important files to an external hard drive or thumb drive. Again, it's kind of a hassle, but if the day ever comes that you lose your passwords or find that they've been changed, a company's servers go down or they go bankrupt, they decide to start charging you to access your data, or whatever crazy circumstance you can think of, it's always good to have a physical backup somewhere. A basic 1 TB thumb drive is somewhere around 20$ USD (though it can be slower at that price point if you're transferring a large amount of data each time), and it's even less if you don't need that much storage. A 1 TB external hard drive (which has a much quicker transfer rate) is around 40-50$.

If all else fails, email. If you can't get access to physical storage devices and cloud storage services don't work for you, consider setting up a free Gmail or what-have-you account specifically for backup purposes, then email a copy of your most important files to it every time you make a significant change to them. This may seem sort of primitive and simplistic, but it works, and you can even use it as a little journal or diary of your progress!

Again, you may think this is overkill, but I am convinced that writers are especially prone to proving Murphy's Law and have seen way too many projects, friends, and colleagues fall prey to this oft-overlooked issue. I can count at least half a dozen times where -> my primary device like my laptop broke, failed, became corrupted, had water spilled on it, etc. -> I then turned to my secondary device (hard drive or thumb drive) only to find something was wrong with THAT (broken, outdated, incompatible with currently-owned tech, corrupted, not up-to-date backups) OR I turned to my cloud storage and found something wrong with THAT (unknowingly saved over data and didn't realize it until 3 months later, meaning not even version history could save me) -> and it was only the THIRD method of backing up that saved my ass.

Anyway, this is just your friendly neighborhood writer reminding you to back your work up! It's a necessary part of the job! Thanks for coming to my TEDtalk!

[weirdly-specific-but-ok]

just an update?

Hello my maggots, Asmi here. I'm really sorry that I haven't replied to a lot of the stuff I've been tagged in/reblogs/DMs, it has been a... chaotic two days. I promise I'll get to them soon, as soon as my mind calms down a bit (to its ordinary level of chaos, I mean).

In an update on the 10khaos, for those who haven't heard, my hair is indeed now Crowley red, the Discord server is made (and currently broiling in utter madness, the Youtube channel has also been made and I have an idea for the first video, and I will soon set forth and adopt the Crowley, Aziraphale and Adam plants.

So as for the irl mind stuff, it's basically that the red hair brought up the question of whether or not I'd be able to go through with college, design school starts in May-ish.

(um mild tw for bullying and a mention of transphobia, skip the next two paragraphs if that is a trigger for you)

I've been in college before, that was design too, for three months. And I had to drop out because I was being isolated and bullied by everyone there including the dean, as well as a lot of transphobia and discrimination on the basis of mental health issues.

Soooo... yeah. There's also the fact that the new college will be far more conservative and I live in India and it's all really a shit of a mess. So my mum asked me to think about whether I wanted to do distance learning instead, since I already am a designer and have done projects.

It's a lot to think about. And my head is being all messy, ya know how it is. If any of you have advice or experience with distance learning, that would be amazing, actually.

(Also my family were kind of really mean about my Crowley hair)

(Oh well)

(I love it and I have you amazing maggots so)

Anyway yes I just wanted to say what was going on so that you know why if I don't respond immediately to things going on :") And if you want to interact with the other maggots, the Discord server is always there, links get messed up on posts but I'm sure @arkytiorlecter or @howmanyholesinswisscheese will send you the invite link if you need it. It's in one of my posts, but things do tend to get lost on my blog, don't they?

No matter what I want you all to know that you are so, so loved, you are more than enough just by existing and being your beautiful selves, and you have made my life immeasurably better. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

I love you I love you I love you maggots. I promise I'll go through the notes soon and cause chaos :") So beware. It just might take a day or two for me to get back to my usual frequency of chronical onlineness (which is my happy place muehuehue).

Have a wonderful day, and remember to eat and sleep and hydrate and take meds if you need to.

All my maggoty princely love for you, Asmi

[alchemicaladarna]

Well...Happy 1 year of QSMP I guess...

There's just no easy way to say anything about everything that's been happening the past few weeks and everything that's happened since yesterday because it's a fucking dumpster fire and I'm just so tired of it all to be honest...

But this post isn't about that.

I still want to celebrate this server's first year anniversary because of how much it means to me personally. I made a post talking about how I initially started watching the qsmp (two days early 💀) but I'll reiterate what I've always said:

That despite all the problems of the server, despite all the damage that has been done, never forget what it has managed to achieve and hopefully continues to achieve in the future, under better conditions.

The QSMP's mission was to unite people from all over the world to play together and be friends despite speaking different languages and having different cultures. It united communities and formed friendships across the globe. Personally, achieving that takes more than just sticking random people in the same room together because it's about making genuine connections that could last a lifetime. And the qsmp achieved that. I'll never stop saying this because despite all its glaring problems, the qsmp is revolutionary for all the good it has managed to do.

Ok, like think about the translations alone. I'm using Bad as an example because he's the only one so far that I've seen do this but, BBH has set up live translations of multiple languages on his screen so non-english speakers can still understand his streams and his vods even if he's not playing on the qsmp. That wouldn't have happened without the QSMP's influence. That's fucking incredible!

Think about all the CC's and admins that became friends after meeting on the server. Former admins like Lumi (Pomme) and Shade (Dapper) still talking to Bad on his chat and watching his stream. That's still really awesome! Not to mention all the amazing collaboration projects with many qsmp members outside minecraft like Ordem Paranormal and Liar Liar, to name a few.

Look, the last three weeks have been extremely difficult on everyone. I myself am tired of the situation and scrolling through the tag, especially after yesterday, just makes me sad tbh. For the first time since these weeks, I felt so despondent and shocked about everything. It got to the point where, after Shade and Lumi announced their departure, I called my mom and broke down sobbing and vented about the whole admin situation. And bless her heart, my mom actually listened and I'm going to share the advice she gave me:

"Let them fix the problem. Let the company do the restructuring they need to do because right now, it sounds like they have a lot of problems to fix. It's going to take a long time before things can go back to any sense of normalcy, so while they do that, focus on yourself for now. If you're so invested in all the problems of this online world, maybe it's time to step back for now. Maybe it's time to focus on the real world."

And well, she's right. I've been so upset about the situation that my mental health wasn't faring well because of it. Yesterday was kind of a wake up call for me I guess?

I've been in this fandom for 10 months now. It's the longest time I've been invested in a community and qsmp has and will always have a special place in my heart. But I think it's time to let go and move on for now. I'll keep my hopes up and hope that the future is bright, and the qsmp will continue because it has so much potential to achieve more greatness, but I'll leave the project to rest and focus on other endeavors for now.

I'll be posting art and checking in on stuff from time to time, and of course, I'll be watching BBH, but it might be time to depart and say, "Thanks for everything, and I'll see you later."

Most people will be ashamed to mention the fandoms they've been a part of when they were younger, but 10 years from now, if anyone ever asks if I was a part of the qsmp fandom, I'll gladly say yes and tell all the good stories I have about it.

I love the community we made here on qsmpblr, and if I trust the QSMP's mission of uniting people, then I trust that, no matter what happens, this community will be here when I return.

Because...Despite everything, it's all about love, right? And no matter what happens, the love is still there, and will always be.

Thank you for the journey <33

[myfandomrealitea]

I was in a Black Butler themed proship Discord server. I've been trying to write dark romance novels with very dark taboo themes (proship aligned), and wanted to share my content for it on the server, but I was told not to do it.

This made me think about creating a space for proship novel writers and authors but I haven't done it yet because I don't know if anyone is interested...

Do you think it'd be a good idea? And if so, would you promote it?

Its not uncommon for servers that are based in fandom to disallow original content, so I wouldn't take that too personally. I'm in a few servers where you can talk about the ship or the fandom all you like, but other fandoms and original works are barred.

For my opinion on the proposal; I think it would be a good idea, yes. Unfortunately, you'll need to be quite vigilant about monitoring it and keeping an eye on the people within. "Dark romance" is yet another subject rotten to the core by TikTok. Manipulation and gaslighting and abuse are sexy, apparently, but incest is where a lot of them draw the line. Its likely that even in a "proship aligned" space, you'll get a lot of people who are victim to the mindset of only certain things being acceptable.

My advice would be to not rush into it. Spend a good while setting the server up, deciding on the rules, what scope you want it to have, what size is manageable for you (e.g; do you want a large public server? A smaller, invite-only server? What can you realistically handle moderating?) and so forth.

As for promoting it, give me a tour once its all set up and if I think its at the point where its sustainable and well equipped to survive, I'll definitely help to promote it and give it some reach.

[suckishima]

hi guess what i'm still not done yelling about chp 298 and the serve and block, so let's talk about the actual volleyball of it and how it contributes to the impact of the moment and solidifying it as a thing that they earned together

yamaguchi goes up for his second serve in the match, after having just gotten an ace, and this time kai bumps it relatively easily

and yamaguchi is already thinking about the serve and block, bc for him that's his next goal if he can't get another service ace. he sees it as his job to disrupt the first pass so that the setter can't make as good of a set—and that's what those little flashbacks depict, botched digs from tough serves leading to the setter having trouble getting under the ball/to it in time so the hitter is limited and then gets stuffed

so yamaguchi is disappointed, he think because kai got the ball up and to kenma in a perfect arc, that he didn't do his job well enough

and while it's true that kenma does get to set off of a good pass, there's more to it than that, and tsukki knew it before the ball even left kai's hands

tsukki sees it as more than just disrupting the ball's path to the setter, it's also about taking away options of hitters to make tsukki's job easier as a blocker. and we can see in the first panel i posted what tsukki has already seen, that yes kai got the ball up, but also he took a knee, he had to get low so he likely won't be back up in time for an approach, and yamaguchi aimed it between kai and yamamoto so yamamoto also is hunched and kind of stuck behind kai and in a bad position to get going for a run up

something which, furudate takes a moment to show us again here—kai and yamamoto are nowhere near in position to spike the ball, the rotation has yaku on the court so he's not an offensive option, meaning that it's only kuroo and fukunaga that the blockers need to worry about tracking

and we get to see tsukki think about all of that on the next page too. i like how kind of quick and staccato these panels come across, you can almost read tsukki's inner dialogue even though we don't see it: "yamamoto and kai are down, not contenders. fukunaga coming for an approach on the right, kuroo coming for a quick right down the middle, kenma already in the air, which of them will he choose?"

furudate is really trying to emphasize to us that yamaguchi's worth as a server isn't just in getting aces, or making the ball wobble perfectly to botch the opposing team's receives—yamaguchi is also getting better at aiming and disrupting the court in other ways. and that in turn compliments the ways we've seen tsukki's skills improve over the series too, this type of reading the court and the players (one aspect of "total defense" as the series calls it) that he's gotten better and better at as the matches go on

and the ukai reiterates it for us too so we can read it in addition to having just seen it. "a level-headed, disciplined shield," is exactly what you'd call tsukki's style of blocking, it's why he's so consistently effective and scary as a blocker on his own, "and its bes possible partner, one that makes its decisions easy," perfectly sums up yamaguchi here too, his serves have come far enough that he can disrupt the court in multiple different ways and narrow the path for tsukki so his job can be easy.

but what i also think is important here is that neither of them started here, it took a lot of time and practice to reach this point and they both had to work hard in order to be someone that could be of use to the other and pull it off. if yamaguchi hadn't gotten better at serving he wouldn't be helpful to tsukki's blocking decisions, and if tsukki hadn't had both the aptitude for calmly reading the court and following kuroo's advice about having less wussy block form, then he wouldn't be any help to yamaguchi's serves when the other team does get a hand on them.

and because furudate makes sure to let us know that they both earned their way here with their hardwork and dedication, it makes the emotional impact of the moment hit even harder because we know and feel that it didn't just come from nothing

it takes a strong shield and a sharp spear

[threeclans]

Hi! I hope all is well. Ive been in the wcrp community for a few years now and Im currently in the process of rebooting my own rp server. Ive tried several times and have been struggling with keeping them running/staying motivated because activity seems to die completely about a month or two after opening… I was wondering if you had any advice for running a long-term rp like this? Anything is appreciated.

Hi! Advice as far as group management goes is always something that will vary from group to group — what works for us might not be exactly what another group wants to follow for their own guidelines, depending on preferences and standards for how certain things like time and server setup are handled — but I'd be happy to go into some things that I think have led to ThreeClans seeing a lot of success through the 8 years we've been active!

We've had to do a lot of adapting and learning during this time, which is the first thing I'll make note of. When our group started, we were roleplaying on Skype, and our organization looked quite a bit different than it does now today! Still, we've kept a lot of things from our past too, like our commitment to keeping up with the pace that we've chosen for our group (which follows a real life time system, so that the flow of time progression proceeds naturally in tandem with the flow of time in real life — each day that goes by in real life is the equivalent of one roleplay day, so that you don't have to worry about doing any math to track how your characters should be aging or progressing) and our longstanding lore and rules for the sake of member comfort.

One thing to keep a group going that I've found beneficial in ThreeClans on the modding front is making management something you feel capable of handling! As a Mod, you're dedicating quite a bit of your free time to something that's a hobby, and if you aren't able to invest your time or passion into a group, it's easy for members to feel uninvested too. To make this smooth for everyone, set yourself up for success! One way we do this in ThreeClans is by making things comfortable for us. We like to keep our channel numbers low, for example, so that we're not constantly darting back and forth between hundreds of text chats trying to keep up with what's being said. We've also been told this helps members feel less overwhelmed in what would otherwise come off as a "large server" with many channels to drown in. As an example, I've attached a screenshot below to display what our setup looks like for three of our main categories for NettleClan, CreekClan, and JaggedClan and the amount of channels we have accessible for each one.

When these are kept open, I can see them all at once on my screen without scrolling. Any notifications, therefore, are visible, and I can keep a close eye on all activity! Some of these channels are also temporary, and therefore we're usually even a bit lower in number. One other thing to note here is organization in the way you name things. Being able to search your channels for relevant information using Discord's search feature makes modding tasks easy. Say you need to reference a roleplay done by a member: by knowing exactly what format of naming you use for the channels you have available, you'll know where to look when searching!

When it comes to motivation on both the behalf of Mods and members, it's definitely a delicate balance. Sometimes you just can't be sure who will "click" in a group or with a particular opening. In ThreeClans, we always try to prepare for our openings with the awareness that we may have members who join and then drop off in the early weeks of being in the server for one reason or another. They may not mesh with the server atmosphere, they may feel overwhelmed with the amount of history or the amount of people present, they may simply get too busy to be prepared to take on roleplaying at the time and may not have anticipated such a thing when applying! For whatever reason, sometimes things just don't work out. We'd advise, then, leaving some "extra room" when you open a roleplay for these occurrences. Accept enough applications so that even if a couple of members do decide to depart, you won't be out of your entire member base.

Of course, you don't want to resign yourself entirely to the idea of people leaving! Like I mentioned, feelings of being overwhelmed can sometimes crop up, or sometimes people may just be a bit shy. In this case, the best thing you can do is be prepared to include them. Go out of your way to say hello specifically to them as they join the server! Offer a compliment when you DM them to give them their invite. When setting up the server for new members, be sure to make sure that every person is included in conversations about character development and relationships. It's your job as a Mod to take note of who clusters together and who might be a little more quiet, and while you can't make anyone talk, you can reach out and let them know you'd love to roleplay with them when you have a chance! This is something you should also encourage members of your roleplay to do if you have a pre-existing server. In ThreeClans, I think part of the reason we see success in new openings is because our current member base is so actively welcoming and completely excited to say hello to any new participants when they do hop in to the server that it's easy to feel like you've made a friend from the start.

When people feel like they fit in, they're more likely to maintain engagement in a group. Let them feel like they can come to your Mod team with ideas, and you'll be able to bounce your own thoughts off of them and help generate further plotlines that fuel you past that initial thread of the 1-2 month period of excitement. Of course, sometimes it has to be up to you and your Mod team to take note of the unique traits of people and their characters and come up with pitches to present to them on your own. This can be exciting for members as they feel included in something that makes them want to keep moving along — in addition, I'd always suggest that when you start a group, you should have an idea of how your opening plot is going to slot in new additions.

All too often I think people tend to have a basis for lore / setting / staff characters and neglect to imagine the plot threads that will need filling in by new additions. This can mean creating a draft and reworking it a few times as you figure out who the characters that'll come to populate your roleplay server are, of course, but even having a loose idea of a plot such as "This opening will be based around the idea of a clan that has been stable for seasons upon seasons, but now with the introduction of a branch group claiming to be descendants of former clanmates who went missing years ago, they're forced to reckon with what they really know about their history and how it might impact the reality of their cozy lifestyle and current leadership," gives you something to work with. Member characters can fit into the role of characters comfortable with their normal lives (soon to be disturbed) or in the position of those about to shake things up, depending on where you choose to go with things.

Another thing to mention as far as activity goes is maintaining OOC connections! It might take some time with a fresh group, but part of what keeps ThreeClans together, in my opinion, is the bonds formed by our members and the fact that we all often get together to have fun outside of roleplay settings. Things like movie nights hosted on stream or casual gaming sessions / nights hosted by Mods or staff can really bring a community together and foster a sense of belonging which translates to an overall feeling of happiness in a server. You can choose to host OOC events that have an impact on the IC world too, like contests to make up parts of the lore of your server or to create things like clan icons or server specific resources with special rewards like character art given out to anyone who participates!

This is getting long, though I could go on for ages about all the things that can compliment a server and its continued activity. At the end of the day, sometimes you just have to keep trying! Your first attempt or your first few attempts might fall through, but if you show continued passion and find the right group of people to work with, you'll manage to make something that continues steadily along, I'm sure!

Mod Maya

[katnisspeetaprim]

Who's Your Favourite pt.6

Jung Hoseok/actress!Reader

Summary: You and Hoseok decide it's time to take the next step.

Warnings: Flluff, angst, swearing

Word Count: 1971 M.list Series M.list

January 2020

It had been around 3 months since you had officially moved to Korea. It’s been a busy few months for the both of you. You had also been able to spend your first real Christmas together, since the first time had to be done long distance.

December 2019

Hobi had asked you travel back home with him to meet his parents and his sister for the first time. You were a nervous wreck when you arrived at their home but he assured you that his parents were eager to meet you, having heard so much about you through him. You had nothing to worry about in the end. His parents seemed to like you and approve of their sons choices. Ji-woo and you seemed to get on like a house on fire much to Hobi’s relief. He’d been anxious about you meeting Ji-woo ever since he went to her for advice about your relationship, but now he couldn’t be happier that you were getting along with his family.

‘You should model for my brand at some point Y/N, you’d be perfect!’ She suddenly proposed whilst you were nursing a glass of wine outside on the patio, snuggled up in blankets together.

‘Oh I don’t know about that. I’ve never modelled before.’ You laughed and blushed lightly.

‘Don’t worry about that! I can help direct you. Don’t you think it would be a good idea Hobi?’

‘What would be a good idea?’ He questioned, coming to sit next to you. You opened your blanket so he could stay warm with you.

‘Your sister thinks I should model for her.’ You explained, cringing slightly at the thought.

‘That is a good idea! You’ve never modelled before right? It would be good experience for you.’ He grinned at you, excited by the idea of you being a model. You groaned and buried your face in his shoulder.

‘Why does everybody think this is such a good idea!’

‘Come on Y/N. You’ll do great!’  Ji-woo pleaded with you. ‘Plus it will give us an excuse to hang out and get to know each other more.’ You looked up to see her face, desperate for you to agree.

‘Ok fine!’ You gave in with a dramatic sigh. ‘But you better not make me look like an idiot!’

January 2020

You had yet to actually set up a date for the modelling, but Ji-woo assured you that she would be in touch when she had a more solid ground work for her new line. It made you think though... Would people be suspicious about you modelling for her brand? Even though Ji-woo’s brand has nothing to do with BTS, because she is his sister people would wonder about why you were randomly working with her. Rumours would start and speculation would spread around the internet.

‘Hey Hobi? How do you feel about going public?’ You were nervous to ask, but it was a conversation that needed to be had. You had decided to ask him whilst you were out to dinner one night. It’s been 3 months since you finalised your move, but since then, and with Christmas, this was the first opportunity you had to actually go out and celebrate the move.

He’d taken you to one of his favourite places and got the two of you a private table in the back of the restaurant. You were waiting for your food when you bought up the topic.

‘You mean us right?’ He clarified. ‘What’s bought this on?’

‘Well we’ve been together for well over a year now, plus I just moved here for you.’ You swirled the dark liquid round your glass before taking a nervous sip.

‘And when Ji-woo talked to me about modelling, it made me think... I guess I’m just tired of being kept a secret.’ You confessed and slumped down in your chair.

‘I don’t like it either, but I have to go through a lot of people at the company to get the go ahead for that.’ He sighed, also taking a long swig from his glass. It was at that moment that the servers bought in your food. Why do they always choose the most awkward moments to appear? You gave a tight smile and thanked them as they scurried out of the room, leaving you both in silence, save for the distant classical music playing.

‘Sorry. It looks like I’ve ruined the mood.’ You mumbled as you pushed around your food, suddenly loosing your appetite.

‘Don’t say that... You didn’t ruin anything.’ Hoseok smiled at you when you looked up at him with sad eyes.

‘Tell you what. I’ll call Sejin tomorrow and ask about our options.’

Getting the green light from BigHit was easier than expected. Hoseok had kept his word and called the manager the next day, bright and early.

‘Hoseok, if you and Y/N want to go public then you can. You know we don’t have a problem with you guys dating.’ He sighed to himself before continuing. ‘Just give us some time and we’ll come up with a statement.’ Sejin seemed almost offended that Hoseok had even asked if it was something that could happen. BigHit had given the boys a lot more freedom in more recent years, certainly a lot more than other groups in the industry. So when Hoseok called him, he was more than happy to get everything sorted for you.

‘Is it weird that I’m kinda nervous about the announcement?’ You asked as you looked over the clothing on the rack. Hobi and you had decided to go out for the day. A shopping spree where you looked at clothing with price tags that made your eyes water. Even though the store you were in was high end and you had to be buzzed in, Hoseok still kept his face covered with a mask and a hat, just to be safe.

‘Definitely not. You can never judge how people will react online.’ He watched as you eyed up the tag on another dress, nose scrunching up.

‘You know I can just buy you anything you want right?’ He said like it was no big deal.

‘Yeah no. I have my own money you know.’ You scoffed. You hated when he did that. Offering to pay for things. You had more than enough money, you just didn’t feel the need to buy things just for the sake of it. He shrugged, knowing not to push the issue, and went over to look at the small jewellery case near the counter.

Just as you picked up a purse that you both liked, and was a reasonable price your phone buzzed in your pocket. It was a notification from the official BigHit twitter account. Attached to the tweet was their official statement about you and Hoseok.

‘Hobi! It’s out.’ You hurried over to him, purse now forgotten as you shoved your phone in his face. He span around and squinted at you, before glancing around self consciously.

‘Let’s go to the cafe across the street. It’s quiet over there.’ You agreed and both quickly left, ignoring the death glare from the attendant when you didn’t buy anything.

When you were settled in a secluded booth at the back, Hobi felt comfortable enough to remove his mask and hat, as you once again pulled up Twitter. You let out a nervous breath and grabbed Hoseok’s hand, squeezing nervously.

There were already 1000’s of comments under the post.

‘Maybe you shouldn’t look at the comments...’  Hoseok reached out to cover your phone when you started scrolling.

‘Hobi. I’ve been in the public eye since I was a kid. I know how to handle hate.’ You gave a soft smile, trying to convince him that it would be fine. He nodded hesitantly, before moving his hand away.

At first glance, all the comments were positive, most people either congratulating you or saying that they knew it. Of course there would always be negative comments, but damned if you were going to let some jealous teenager bring you down. One specific reply caught your eye, laughing out loud as you read it.

‘Hobi look!’ You pointed out the tweet to him and he also laughed, wide smile appearing.

‘I guess it’s true isn’t it?’ Hoseok huddled up next to you as you continued to scroll through the replies, almost overwhelmed at the amount of positive comments you were getting. Why had you put this off again?

That night, you noticed that your social media pages had exploded with new followers, obviously they were all ARMY coming from the announcement.

‘Wow. I’m popular now!’ You joked, looking away from your laptop to check your buzzing phone.

‘You were already popular jagi.’ Hobi had not long exited your home gym, and was now relaxing on the sofa.

Sis-woo

So does this mean that we can bring the photo shoot forward then? ;)

You chucled softly and quickly sent a reply to Ji-woo, when you got a call from an unknown number. You thought nothing of it, used to getting calls for potential roles.

‘Hello, Y/N L/N speaking.’ You put on your professional voice. ‘Hello?’ You pushed when nobody spoke.

‘Y/N?’ Your blood ran cold, hearing the voice you hadn’t heard in years.

‘I’m so glad I managed to find your number.’

‘How did you find my number?’ You spoke in disbelief. You glanced over to hoseok. He hadn’t heard you, still focused on the TV.

‘That doesn’t matter. I want to see you-‘

‘Doesn’t matter!?’ You exploded, unable to control yourself any longer.

‘Yes it matters! Loose my number and never contact me again!’ You slammed your phone down, not allowing him to respond. Throwing your phone away, you hid your face in your hands.

‘Hey, what was that about?’ Hobi had rushed over to you when you raised your voice, having been startled from his relaxed state. Hands were placed on your shoulders, rubbing gently in a comforting manner when you felt yourself starting to cry.

‘It was my dad. He somehow got my number.’ You turned round in your chair and buried your face in Hobi’s chest. He raised his eyebrows in surprise, slowly circling his arms round you.

‘You’ve never spoke about your dad.’ He spoke slowly, not wanting to push you to speak if you weren’t ready.

‘There’s not much to say.’ You pulled back and wiped your eyes and stood to grab some water.

‘He’s a pathetic excuse for a man who left my mom before I was born.’ You spat out, distain clear. Hoseok stayed quiet, letting you get out what you needed to.

‘He came back a few times, claiming he wanted to be a family, but all he was after was money, and when it ran out he would always book it.’ You shook your head, taking a shaky sip of water.

‘It only got worse when I started acting and was bringing in a lot of money. I finally convinced my mom to cut him off for good, but now he’s back apparently.’ You leaned forwards on the counter, suddenly feeling light headed.

‘How did he get your number?’ Hobi asked, coming up beside you, stroking up ad down your back.

‘Fuck. I don’t know.’ You sighed, now stressed. ‘I’m uh... Gonna call my mom. Shit, what’s even the time in the UK...’ You were mumbling to yourself as you walked off down the hall.

Hoseok thought it best to give you some space whilst you spoke to your mom.

He was honestly confused by the whole situation. You had never mentioned your dad and he never asked. What worried him though, was that he’d gotten your private number. If he had access to that, then what else did he know?

[beauzos]

Potentially odd question but seeing as you're back in your SOBR era and I've enjoyed what I've read of your works in the past, figured I'd ask;

How do you plan out a longer story? When I do get past executive disfunction and find the energy to write, I often find myself intimidated by the sheer scale that something like a novel would require, so I mostly stick to short stories and the like. What did your first steps look like when you started working on SOBR (or any other projects of similar length)?

Not an odd question at all! I appreciate being asked and I'm going to try really hard to be helpful.

I was, for a very long time, deeply intimidated by writing long-form fiction as well. I just genuinely believed I was not capable of committing to writing anything longer than a 10-15,000 word one-shot or short story. Up until 2022, the longest complete piece of fiction I ever wrote was about 20,000 words. I also hated it, but that's beside the point. The longest unfinished work I left behind was 42,000 words, and I'd never come close to repeating that length again since I wrote it back when I was 14.

I think part of working on longer form fiction is accepting it might not get finished, and then doing it anyway. Basically, hope for the best, expect the worst, because if you never try, it'll never get done in the first place. I didn't really set out to write a novel when I came up with Beau's story. Like, I wasn't thinking about length or what it'd be, I just tried to conceive of what story I could do with him and how it might take shape. I don't know if I even planned on writing it, I just wanted to know his story.

With SOBR, I consider myself incredibly lucky, because I simply had a start-to-finish storyline within a couple days of working on it. Sure, a lot of details weren't set and many things could change, but I had an idea for the beginning, middle, and end to some extent. But you don't need to immediately have all your ideas for it to work, to be clear. I do think that having some idea of the full story is pretty essential to success. A lot of details can change, but if you have the overarching ideas, I think that helps a lot. I know there's a lot of jokes and memes about writers having no idea what to do in the middle or being stuck on the ending, but those really can be story-killers to be honest.

I'm speaking very broadly, I'll try to get into what I think my process was in a second, but a couple last minute things: you don't need to have a start to finish idea immediately, like I said. Something I think is important about the process of developing story ideas aside from like. Just thinking about it a lot is talking about it with other people. I don't know if you're the same way, but I feel like talking to friends / others about ideas makes it easier for me to clarify these ideas and develop them. Whether that's because people can give you ideas, or ask questions, or think about things in a different way than you or just being able to sharpen your idea by having to explain it to somebody, I find this super helpful.

It's also helpful because, like, okay. I've said many times you really do have to write for yourself first because that's true. All of my writing is written with myself as the audience, weird or specific or whatever it may end up being. But that doesn't mean that positive feedback isn't valuable or important to me. It's a motivator to know there could be a few people out there who enjoy what I've done. It makes it easier for me to think about my work and to work on it. So part of it is having to get over the fear of sharing, or feeling awkward talking about new characters with people, because my experience overwhelmingly is that people want to hear about this stuff.

When it comes to working on developing the ideas and outlining, I will say the very obvious advice: WRITE EVERY SINGLE IDEA DOWN. Even if it's obvious, or you're 100% certain you'll remember. Still write it down. I have a private server on Discord where I save links and pictures and snippets of writing, and I throw every idea that comes my way in the SOBR channel for me to either implement into the chapter I'm writing or into the outline. I think making these ideas concrete by writing them down-- not necessarily as a commitment but as keeping it filed away to return to.

The ideas become much fuller when you take every idea you have seriously to some extent. I struggled to make an outline for SOBR 2 but because I was taking note of every idea, I was able to piece together at least a semi-presentable idea for the story flow? It makes things easier and gives you a jumping off point. The outline is the other important part, of course. I used to never outline things, but for long-form works, you have to. You just do. Because you'll forget, or you won't see the full picture, or whatever. Figure out how all these pieces will fit together, how that scene you pictured way down the line can be reached in a natural manner. I had to connect a bunch of scenes from late game SOBR to the beginning, and although the details of how, exactly, I got there changed, I knew generally what path to take.

Insofar as beginning a project of any kind, I think just doing it without feeling compelled to finish but wanting to helps. I wrote the first chapter of SOBR to test out the characters and get a feel for the world and how I wanted to approach the story and its conflict. But although I wanted to see the story through to its natural end, I just wanted to get something done first. A little step leads to a big step. It doesn't have to perfect, it just has to be done. And once you get started, I find it easy to keep going.

But you also have to accept the possibility you may fall out of interest or the rhythm for a while. I wrote the first 4 chapters, or 30,000 words, of SOBR over the course of February to May last year. And then I didn't touch the fucking thing for four months. I felt awful. I was so discouraged that I would leave my first solid original idea behind and not work on it, even though the next chapter I had to write was supposed to be "easy" to write. I just never did it because I didn't feel the vibe anymore. But I still liked Beau and the characters.

Circling back to what I said before, what motivated me to try again was talking to others about the idea. Namely, when I started talking to some of my new friends, like Clark / @/twothpaste for example, who became interested after I started discussing some of the late game details of the story, I felt motivated because I knew there were people who wanted to read the story or wanted to see how things could get so far. It's motivating when you hear other people care. It's why I've been so motivated to work on reader feedback and publishing this year; because my coworkers cared about reading it!

Similarly, I had friends reading along as I worked on it. Clark, my friend Maggie are the main two, but I had other friends test out the early chapters. It was nice seeing how people responded and if my writing was working as intended.

In conjunction with this, although I very rarely ever write out of order, I decided to approach SOBR from a new perspective; I still skipped writing the "easy" chapter when I got back to it in September. Instead, I started from act 3 with some chapters I knew I could write and explore. Although eventually I had to change many small details, I knew what I expected from this part of the story, and got back into the world from an interesting part. I kept going for a few chapters, and once I knew it was going to get too complicated, I moved back to finishing the story in chronological order.

You have to approach your work from outside the box sometimes to maintain momentum. It's easy to get discouraged when you get stuck, but you have to find another way to make it work. Take months long breaks. Try from another scene, another act. I hate to do it, but it got me to actually start writing the fucking thing again, so I know it works.

I know I'm going beyond the scope of your question, but I do feel like the process of the middle parts is also kind of important.

To get back towards what I was actually fucking asked, I guess I can boil down the process as thus:

Discuss the ideas with others / brainstorm / write everything down

Try to arrange ideas into outline / overarching plot

Test out writing initial chapters; potentially spirals into fully writing the piece

Accept you may fall in and out of motivation; accept you may not finish it at all, but do it anyways

Keep sharing with people!!!! Don't be embarrassed or afraid, people want to hear about it!!!

I don't know if this helps much. I fear a lot of what I said is obvious advice, but unfortunately, it's tried and true. It's just putting yourself out there, being willing to try even if you might fail to finish it. And just keep thinking. Not every idea will make it in, but every idea can make the story stronger.

Also, like, I'm not going to lie. Having autism actually really helped because I became so obsessed with SOBR in September I could do nothing but finish it, but I tried to give advice that people can actually follow, y'know KRKFN I'm motivated by whatever my special interest is, but it's possible to write without that! SOBR started well before it became my special interest. It just takes more energy and devotion. Anyone can do it, with or without obsession.

After all, it's such a fleeting thing too. My interests can change rapidly, which is also why I was scared of starting projects. What if I got bored halfway through and dropped the project? In fact, here's an example: when I got really into Ace Attorney this year, I plotted out a long-form fic that I began work on. I did my outline, wrote a few chapters, got around 12,000 words in, and then I got out of Ace Attorney and back into SOBR and that was that. I dropped the project, and yes, I think that's a shame, but I also accept that that's a possibility for any project.

But it won't stop me from working on the stories I want to write. I can't worry about if it'll get done. It doesn't get done if I don't try at all. I try to remind myself of that quite often. I won't always succeed, but I never will if I don't give it a shot. And hey, maybe some day I'll come back to it. But for now, no, I won't, and that's that. I have other things to work on anyway.

So... I hope this helps! Thank you for asking me, I appreciate you want my perspective on it!

[pantspissedinreverse]

hey i love seeing ur posts about comp tf2, do you have any advice for a wannabe sixes medic? ive been watching a lot of recorded games and demo reviews and stuff and it looks like a lot of fun but actually playing a match myself sounds so daunting and scary

hello anon! thanks for asking and im glad that youve thought about playing comp :)

this ended up really long so under the cut it goes

to start with some outside stuff youll need:

a discord account

a mic (or any other audio input device)

mumble (optional)

from what ive seen, the biggest leagues all have discord servers where players can find scrims or teams and teammates (in the case of rgl) but also teams use discord because its a quick, easy and cheep way to keep in touch

now, a league, there are 5 leagues but ive only played in 2 of them as they are region specific, there are:

rgl (NA/north american league)

etf2l (EU/european league)

ozfortress (oceania/australia league)

asiafortress (asian league, site is down rn?)

ugc (international, the old league where it all started)

now the best way to get into comp is probably through a newbie cup, a shorter season for new players with dedicated coaches provided, but the only one that regularly runs is by an NA pug group, speaking of, another good way to start is through pugs! (or mixes if youre in eu) pugs or pick up games or mixes are run either by the league or an independent person, in NA the biggest non-league pug group i know is tf2 coaching central or tf2cc for short, they also run the newbie cup and are based entirely on discord! in EU, mixes are run usually through sites and require mumble, the biggest being tf2center which id say is much more beginner friendly and hosts more formats than the other site, tf2pickup.eu where you can only play 6s and will usually find players that have been playing since season 2 (etf2l is on season 47)

also! every friday (if there are enough people) there are newbie mixes! basically a mix/pug with a coach, i havent personally played but ive heard its good

now if you find a league that works for you, heres some settings that youll need:

enable developer console

this will allow you to open the developer console, this is a nifty little thing because it allows you to do all kinds of crap, for example, connecting to a specific server if you have the connect info, which is very important in comp, you can change the button that opens the console at the very bottom of the settings

thats how the dev console looks like, heres how to find it:

change your fov to 90

this can be either done in the settings or by putting fov_desired 90 into the console, 90 is the max you can set it to in the settings but if you want more fov then feel free to change this to something else like 130 for example. this is done because the default tf2 fov doesnt let you see as much as 90 and having that information is crucial, especially for medic

now for the actually medic specific stuff

in the advanced settings there are two key things you need to turn on, 1) keep healing even when not pressing the fire key and 2) autocall for medic if below 99% health

the first one is a no brainer, youre gonna be healing constantly for 2 hours or more if you play a season as medic and your fingers will cramp up if you just keep holding down mouse1 so this ones for that

the second one is a bit odd, why autocall? well it might help you find spies or find your way back to your team if you get lost without having to comm it out, it also shows you if a teammate got damaged very recently because of the small cross above their head, this is important because then it will take more time to heal them up

uber masking

when you are about to hit 100% ubercharge, press E, and the "medic!" voiceline is gonna override the very loud and very obvious "I AM FULLY CHARGED" voiceline, tldr: you dont want the other team to know that you have uber

uber counting

the average stock uber can be built in 40-50 seconds, at the start of the round your ubers are the same but they will get offset as the game goes on, when the enemy medic spawns count in your head to 40 or watch the clock for 40 seconds and at the end of that 40 seconds they will have uber

uber related callouts:

"we have ad" (=we have more uber than them)

"we have disad" (=we have less uber than them)

"they have" (=they have uber, be cautious)

"we have" (=we have uber, yay!)

"its even/equal" (=the ubers are the same)

"med dropped!" (=the other medic dropped uber, you now have a lot of ad, you will hear this from your teammates)

"he got a saw on me" (=their medic is running ubersaw and just hit me, they have 25 more uber)

"use" (=pop it)

"use on me/use on [class]" (=use uber on a specific person or class, usually scout or demo)

"big ad/disad" (=the difference between our ubers is big, around 50% difference)

"small ad/disad" (=the difference between our ubers is small, anywhere from 20% to 5% difference)

thats a lot of callouts but dont fear, youll get a hang of it soon :)

the ideal loadout

crusaders crossbow

stock medigun

solemn vow

i did mention the ubersaw but its use is much more niche and works the best when the enemy team is shit, the solemn vow also lets you see the enemy medics uber if you see him but dont use this as a crutch and also call out enemy health ("demo is 50!" and then your flank scout game ends him), ill go over the weapons now

crusaders crossbow

the weapon with most skill, it allows you to heal your team at large distances, your teammates will usually say "arrow me" or "arrow me [location]" and then you shoot them and heal em up, the crusaders crossbow is also used in rollouts a lot, process and gullywash for example both require you to arrow someone mid rollout, i have a few aim training maps linked in my other medic tips post which also, funny enough, have a clip of how comms usually sound so thats cool

stock medigun

other than the kritzkrieg, the stock is the only medigun allowed in standard 6s, its the most consistent medigun and also makes you invincible for 8 seconds, you mentioned watching demos of other players and usually when they do a push into a point they uber the demo so that he can jump in unharmed, then the scout to go fast and the back on demo because hes the 2nd most important class here (the 1st is you!! so dont die!!)

honorary kritz mention

in lower divs, kritz isnt usually played, its an element of surprise weapon and it takes 32 seconds to get uber but 32 is an awkward number so we usually just count to 30 and use the 2 seconds to run :)

the kritz is much more widely used in highlander but ive seen some great playes with it in 6s too

some medigun strats before we move onto melee:

building uber with a boston basher scout

your scout is your escort now, random encounters lied to you, medics do, in fact, heal scouts

give your players a buff (overheal) when youre in spawn and waiting to move, its needed for rollouts in most cases, heal order is usually demo -> roamer -> demo again -> psolly

you need to heal as much as you can, this is a race to get uber

players will come up to you and ask for buffs, its usually soldiers and they will usually jump away shortly after

the ubersaw and the head

the solemn vow is a much better choice of melee then the ubersaw simply due to the fact that you can see enemy health and uber, but i cant deny that the ubersaw saved my ass a few times, still, use the head

now thats the weapons, lets get onto the more interpersonal relationships between teammates

the general playerbase of comp is sweaty gamer cishet guys but ive found that many of them are cool (despite the reputation of sweaty gamer cishet guys) and they are cool especially in rgl

heres some tips,

keep your tumblr private from your team

they dont know the lore of tf2 and 9 times out of 10 dont really care for it

just keep the discussion to comp

many of them are down to play casual or even valve comp if you ask

feel free to ask for tips! they love giving tips!

you will be judged for being a medic player but in a joking matter (they dont usually like playing medic so theyre glad that someone else is lol)

they will show you cool shit (usually clips of airshots)

tf2 comp players are a bit edgy at times, sometimes people just say slurs but not the n word with a hard R or anything (ps. you can report people if they say a slur mid game in chat)

a lot of the time they are gonna tell it to you straight, if youre bad then they will tell you youre bad at xy and z and if you dont improve then they will just call you open (<- lowest division in etf2l/derogatory term for anyone who isnt in open)

in a team you have the team leader who schedules everything and runs this team and talks to the admins, maybe a co-tl who helps with team leader stuff, the main roster which is just the players who play most often, the subs who substitute the main roster when someone cant make it but you still want to play and lastly the ringers(NA term)/mercs(EU term) who are outsiders you call in if your pscout just called in sick and the pscout sub is on vacation and you really need a player

classes

its at the bottom because i forgot about it lol?

6s has 2 soldiers, 2 scouts, a demo and a medic

they are split into the flank and the combo, the combo is with the medic and the flank is not

demo:

you will need to heal this guy a lot, he takes a lot of damage and gives out a lot of damage, he can trap down an area or spam down a choke, will be with you in most of your ubers, make sure this guy is buffed

pocket scout:

the scout in the combo, your escort and personal bodyguard (kinda), hes gonna build with you, pick you up from spawn when you die and is most likely gonna be the maincaller (=person who calls the shots in a comp match like when to retreat and what not)

pocket soldier:

in all honesty idfk what this guy does, he wants heals and watches chokes, spams rockets down chokes too, sacs for med (=jumps on the medic and kills them hopefully)

flank scout:

watches flanks, wants heals, can replace your pscout if he dies, will offclass if need be (offclassing is the act of switching your class to a different one that isnt standard in 6s like sniper or heavy)

roamer (flank soldier):

i also dont know what the fuck the roamer does, its basically the same as psolly but he watches flanks and offlcasses and has a different rollout

post game

so after you play your first game of comp, write ".ss" into the chat, this will open a window with your logs for that match and you can see how you did that game! if you want you can also download the demo from demos.tf if you look up your steam name it should show up, there are other sites where you can see how you did like more.tf which is a nicer looking site and also you can compare specific players and see more stuff so thats cool! theres also trends.tf where you can see how you did over time and basically every stat you can think of even down to the time youve spent playing a class in comp, heres my overview on trends.tf if you wanna see all that it shows (ps. most of my recent games are 4v4 because of a cup lol)

last thing before the end, i did make a post about medic tips a while ago and those apply here as well

tf2 competitive wiki if you want to learn callouts and other stuff

so! thats the basics of 6s med :) gl hf and feel free to dm me if you have any more questions

edit: i forgot to mention b4nny, the lord and savior of competitive tf2 and while he doesnt play med much he has a lot of experience and knows a lot about comp and just has a lot of resources for comp

[aelaer]

I love writing; I want to write I'm not able to. Whenever I open a document, ready to write, it's like my fingers get stuck, hovering over the keyboard. It is frustrating and upsetting and doesn't help my non-existing confidence and self-worth.

I know people say it helps when you talk with friends about your writing but I only have one friend and I've annoyed them enough with my writing problems (since we longer share the same fandoms). And I'm scared of people and self-isolate myself from them because my past fandom experiences weren't the best.

Aww love *big hugs* 🫂 Thank you for your trust in sharing this personal information with me. I presume that you shared it with me on the hope that I would give some thoughts and ideas on these troubles. I will do my best to give you an answer that will hopefully be of some use to you. If you just needed to let it off your chest and do not wish for thoughts and non-professional advice, please don't read beyond this paragraph. And if that's the case I just wish the best for you and hope things get better!

But if you're still reading this second paragraph, here's some of my own musings on what you've divulged. (Note - I'm not a professional health person, this stuff is from memory of things I've read and my memory may be spotty.)

The funny thing about hobbies is that they're meant to enrich your life, but oftentimes you can only easily partake in them if you're already in a good place. If you're stressed about work, school, family or friends, it gets hard to focus on things you enjoy. If your health is in the toilet, it's sometimes hard to do hobbies as well. This includes mental health.

It's a bit of a terrible cycle. You want to create, but you are too down to create, which makes you feel even more down than you were before. This is terribly common and it's such a difficult cycle to break.

How exactly do you solve it? I don't think there's an easy solution, or a solution that fits everyone. But I have the following on "things" to try split into different parts, if you want to give any of these a shot. They touch on each of the items you mentioned in your post:

Getting In The Mood To Write

Set up a sprint. Don't know what sprinting is? Here's an article about sprints. Don't have a Discord writing server where sprints are set up? Here's a free sprint site.

Is the story you *want* to write not easily coming to mind? Why not start on some writing prompts. This link has prompts that would be about 1-3 paragraphs to complete per prompt. Need more flexibility? These prompts could be answered in a couple sentences, a paragraph, or a page. None of these may be the story you've been trying to write, but they're a good way to get your muscle memory in your fingers and word-forming in your head to get started again. You can do as little or as many as you like. They can be fiction or non-fiction. You can even answer the prompts as your favorite fictional character if you'd like to for the personal writing ones.

How calm are your surroundings and your mind? This article goes into some tips about setting the mood and getting your mind prepared for the space. It also goes into the importance of the mind being in the right space for it, which goes into my next section.

Caring For Yourself

I really like the article I linked in point three because it emphasizes, in very large text, "Be kind to yourself and let it flow". This is one of the most difficult things to learn because if you've spent a long time beating yourself up for not doing the thing, not being good enough, and other self-negative terminology, that'll be deep within your psyche. Unlearning all of these negative feelings about yourself is not done in a day, or a week, or possibly not even a month or year.

One method of combating these negative feelings is by saying (out loud or on paper) positive things about yourself: that you *are* enough, that you are talented/worth it/hardworking, whatever it is to combat whatever you've been telling yourself that has lowered your self-esteem. This has to become a habit, by the way--something you schedule in your day and that you stick to like clockwork. This self-affirming self-care language is supposed to eventually sink in, because if it is so often in the upper conscious, it eventually sinks to the subconscious. Or at least, that's what the science of it says.

Depending on how long this feeling continues and how many aspects of your life it affects, you may want to consider speaking with a professional about it. If that is not a viable solution, doing some research on what you can do to help yourself could help. Just stick with reputable sites--the .edu's and the like.

One blog I really like following is @insanitysilver because of their constant positivity around writing both original and fan fiction. There's a lot of reaffirming content about being kind to yourself on bad writing days, to your WIPs, and just being a writer (and reader!) in general. This may help give you a pick-me-up in your browsing of tumblr.

Getting Into The Fandom Community

I 100% get not wanting to get into fandom again because you've had bad experiences in the past. Oh my *goodness*, I can't count all the terrible experiences I've had in online fandom spaces and online RP spaces in the 20 years I've been active online and all the hurt that came with it. Heck, I'm friends with a mutual who is also interacting with the person who told me they were disgusted that I had given kudos on their fic and said some absolutely *nasty* things to me, and we're both still active in the same fandom.

Unfortunately it comes with human interaction. If you hide from it forever, you may miss out on some absolutely amazing experiences and beautiful friendships.

Toxic people are everywhere, unfortunately, but you learn to recognize them and, in the online space, block them. And those toxic people (like the one I mentioned above) have to live with their nastiness and you start to feel sorry for them, because how sad must that person be to go out of their way to put others down in such a horrid manner?

If it's a matter of miscommunications and misunderstanding, that gets easier to deal with with experience and time. Experience is a big part of it. Have I committed some big social mistakes and major faux pas in my past? Yes, absolutely, including in the fandom I'm still active in. I have major foot-in-mouth disease, and I feel pretty bad about those! When I can, I try to repair relationships. When I can't, I've learned to apologize where I can when I'm at fault and move on. You don't need to be friends with everyone in the fandom to have a good time.

To start getting involved: joining a fandom Discord would be my recommendation. You can usually find one via Google. Some are super large, so you may want to try and find smaller shipping ones, or character-based ones as opposed to a huge community. The cool thing about this is that you can lurk for a time to see how the community interacts before stepping in, which is a nice part about Discord.

Another way to connect with folks is via tumblr. Look up the fandom tags here and start following folks who post a lot about your favorite things! First you can start with reblogs, then reblogs with tags, and then comments and asks. Baby steps at your own pace.

I definitely recommend connecting with several people if at all possible because you'll have several people to talk about fandom stuff with, and writing with, and if you have a falling out with one of them, it won't feel like you're completely out of the loop. I'd also recommend that you connect with folks who aren't all mutuals -- spread it out. In one of my largest fandom schisms several years ago, a whole RP group kicked me out because the leader was an ableist asshole. But I had several other RP partners to fall back on and to help me through the tough time. It's similar in the fandom space--you want to be friendly with several folks. That's one reason Discord is so great-- you can be in several Discord groups with a variety of people and be acquaintances, friends, and good friends with several folks. If for some reason one of the Discord groups is actually a poisonous hellhole and they're awful to you, you can back out and fall back to the other group without feeling like you've completely disconnected from everyone in fandom. There's a space for everyone.

If your fandom is my corner of the MCU, I'd recommend both the Stephen Strange Discord and IronStrange Discord. They're wholesome groups and you can comfortably lurk there until you're ready to talk about the fun stuff. If you don't have those links, just send me a follow-up ask for which one you'd like and I'll post a 7-day link.

This was pretty darn long, but I hope I could be of some assistance, if assistance was what you were looking for. Best wishes, anon--things do get better.

[icharchivist]

hii! if someone is interested in getting into the original granblue fantasy (mostly because I'm curious about the characters, specially belial he's so pretty omg) are there any tips/things you'd recommend keeping in mind?

I hope you have a great day/evening/night/what other times of the day exist!

oh hi!!! another victim to how pretty Belial is...... welcome abord!

I have a lot of various level of tips depending on what angle of the game you want to explore, but it might be a little overwhelming. I'll start just by "making the game work well for you" and "how to advance in the Visual Novel (especially to get to Belial)" as the starter guideline.

My inbox is also always opened for any type of clarification: no question is too dumb, i'm here to help, whatever level you're at (.... except if you're on super High Level but i don't think that's going to be the case for a while)

I usually use the tag ichablogging gbftips if you need to look through some things

First of all, how the game works:

Granblue Fantasy is a browser game. It means you don't need an app to play it. however it is chromium based so you will need a google chrome tab or the likes (if like me you're on firefox, i genuinely run chrome only for Granblue at this point)

it is accessible on this address:

the page will be Japanese upon arrival, but just scroll a little and you'll find the "set language" settings

There all you need to do is press new game and start on your journey.

Note that the English and Japanese server are the same. Unlike most gacha we play, it means there is no delay between the stories-- both language get games and stories update at the same time.

Word of advice: when the game asks you to link your account, like here:

select Mobage. the page is in Japanese but it will be the most efficient way to save your progress. this page should help if it's not instinctive to you.

Once your mobage account done, tadaa, you can log in onto the game on whatever browser you would have, and you can be logged on multiple place at once! i'm currently playing on my phone while also taking screenshots on my computer! hell yeah!

On there the game will mostly hold your hand through the gameplay and the beginning of the main story, as well as your first gacha.

Slight information about the gacha:

-On your homepage, when the "Draw" button is blue, it means the rate up for SSR is really low. when the "Draw" button is golden, it means the rate up is at least doubled, and some rarer, limited units, are also in the pool. It is highly recommended that if you want to pull, you should pull when the Draw button is Golden (it's called "Gala" in general)

-there is a pity system called a Spark. After 300 pulls (or 30x10 pulls), you are allowed to choose one of any of the characters featured on this specific banner. Most people tend to wait until they have 300 pulls saved for when their fav is in the banner too pull as a result (or, as we say, we "save a spark"). This website can help you taking track of your spark.

-There ARE free pulls seasons: if you intend to be a seasonal (ie, not play for a time) it's good to come back in December, in March (it's the anniversary month, and next year is the tenth anni, so it might be even more of a celebration), and sometimes in Summer, in order to take advantage of the Free Pulls. Usually, in December and March, we get one free ten pulls a day at least, and then further into the month, we get "a roulette" that can double or triple that number. It's really worth keeping an eye on Free pulls seasons.

Others information:

-You will want to follow or keep an eye on the Granblue_en twitter account. It's a fan account that is always updating any information needed. It's a life savior gem.

-if you have any doubt gameplay wise, rely heavily on the gbf.wiki. It is EXTREMELY throughout gameplay wise. Genuinely a must-be-aware-of to play the game.

Important gameplay thing:

-If A Story Event is ongoing (it's not the case right now), and you don't want to read it for whatever reasons, do yourself a favor and actually go to the event page and manually skip every episodes of the event. It will save the event in your Journal, meaning it can be accessed later on when the event is no longer live.

(the current ongoing event, Dread Barrage, is a fighting event, i think you can kinda ignore it for now because it is when things start to be complicated, so don't mind it as of now)

Storywise:

There are three sorts of stories in Granblue:

-The Main Story Quest, which you will have to progress into in order to unlock the rest of the stories. It's the core of the Main Character's journey with Lyria and Vyrn as they travel the skies to reach their destination.

-Events and Side Stories, which are basically stories that happen when they dilly dally on their journey and go to new islands. Events and Side Stories often have their own casts that will not appear in the Main Story, but are still equally important to the game.

This type of story starts out as limited events: they run for ten days in Granblue. Then, they disappear for a while. Usually in the years that follow, this story gets a "rerun". It means the event goes back live, still limited for 10 days. And then, after a while, the event is ultimately added to the Side Stories tab, where it will always be accessible in game.

The Side Stories tab unlock after you finish Chapter 6 or 8 of the Main Story i'm not really sure. Some Side Stories will have requirements to be unlocked (like reading up to x chapter of the main story, or reading x over events before unlocking it) (it will be featured in the Gameplay Extras tab on the homescreen)

Some Side Stories are linked together. I personally call those "sagas". For example the Dragon Knights Saga (one of my favorite stories my icon and header are from) has about 10 events stories that have to be read in their publication order to be understood. It means you can expect the same cast, and a continuation to a previous story. Some Side Stories can also have casts from multiple sagas all together, so, have fun, explore the tab!

-Fate Episodes are the last type of stories you will have. They are linked to the characters units you will play with during the game, that you get by gacha or by completing events. Those are short stories that will be character driven. The characters can be Main Story Characters or Event Characters. Therefore they might further stories from their respective origins here and there. There is usually one starter episode unlockable as soon as you get the character, then one episode when you reach a certain level. SR and SSR characters who have a 5th star instead of only 4 also have another episode when you reach level 80, and then when you reach level 100. (the Fate episodes are available in the Quest tab and a shortcut to your list is also in the envelop menu on your homescreen)

SO THAT'S For the basic run down of some of the beginner things you want to keep an eye out storywise.

(Note that about every events are also available on youtube, so while missing an event sucks and all, if you wish to read an event which isn't in the side stories, or a fate episode of a character you can't get, youtube is here for you. also the transcript of every single stories are available on the wikipedia, though it's not as ideal.)

Gameplay wise, for the beginning, you'll get your hand held by the game. when it starts to get tricky, you're free to come and ask more precisions on here.

Now one last thing: how to get to Belial.

Belial is part of the side story saga known as "What Makes The Sky Blue".

The main story is a trilogy, respectively, "what makes the sky blue", "what makes the sky blue part 2: paradise lost" and "what makes the sky blue part 3: 000" After the trilogy, the summer event "The Maydays" is a sort of light hearted event following the events of 000 that involves the same cast. it is in the side stories. Last year, they also released another event including wmtsb characters, called The Mole Troupe. It has not been added to the side stories as of now.

To unlock the first part of wmtsb: you need to: -Reach Chapter 54 of the Main Story -Complete the side stories "Festival of Falling Flame", "The Cowardly Hero and the Captive Princess", and "Blade of the Young Champion" -(no one will blame you if you skip the side stories to read later, as it's mostly recommended because characters who appear in those events appear in wmtsb p1. But do read the Main Story though because the events rely a lot on the lore developed by the Main Story at this point.)

(and if you ever want to try out the Dragon Knights saga, it unlocks after Chapter 16 of the Main Story, and the first event is called Defender's Oath. Just to meet The Boyz.)

Also as a fair warning: early Granblue events tended to be shorter and perhaps a little less complex. After 2017 (wmtsb pt2), events started to grow longer and more complex. It might be jarring if you ever end up reading an early event and a more recent event back to back.

This would be my beginner outline at least.

One last warning: the gameplay will look intimidating at some point. don't let it intimidate you and just yolo. My ultimate beginner tip is that you should focus on stories and characters you like first. Discover the story, discover the characters. Don't let "trying to be good at the game" cloud you from just having fun with those characters. You can go far into the game without being hardcore into the gameplay, so take it easy and don't let it stresses you out.

Most importantly: have fun! take your time and enjoy yourself!

And if you have anything to ask - any tips, any recommandation, anything - my inbox is always opened ;D

Take care!

[jjm-blogspot]

Writing Tips: Advice on getting into your writing flow

Since it’s Monday, I decided to outline a few strategies that might help start everyone’s writing week off strong. The advice I have listed is what I use for not only writing, but studying as well. During my study sessions I focus on getting 6 solid hours in (split up into 2 hour blocks), but a lot of preparation goes into getting my mind ready for those blocks.

Staying focused for long periods of time is not an easy task. Our brains like to be stimulated. When they’re not, we start losing focus and end up producing low quality work. So before you get into your flow, make sure your body is equipped for whatever “workout” you have in store for it. To assist in this aspect, I’ve compiled some tips.

Here’s what I’ve got:

1. Write when your mind is most alert

This may vary depending on everyone’s lifestyle, but usually our minds are most alert 1-2 hours after waking up. This window allows for optimal productivity because you’ll be refreshed. Sure, those plot holes are likely to still be glaring at you, but now that you’re well rested you may be able to see things from a new angle.

2. Write without interruptions

Keep distractions minimal so you can give yourself the opportunity to put everything into your writing session. If you can’t get the house to yourself, then find public spaces where noise is kept to a minimum like public libraries, books stores, or coffee shops. If those places are packed, then maybe look into moving things to a quiet park bench. Whatever works best for you.

And in cases where you don’t have a means for transportation, or the library is out of reach for you, set boundaries with the people in your living space. Put a sign up on your door so your family members or roommates know not to interrupt. Or better yet, sit them down and give them a time frame of when you’ll be writing so they know not to bother you.

Set boundaries for your writing.

3. Set a routine

Being consistent is a great key to success in any area in life. Routines can help train your brain into associating certain time periods or locations with writing. A good example of this would be my work desk I have in the corner of my room. Whenever I sit at that desk it flips a switch that cues my brain into thinking, “Okay, she needs me to be focused for these next 2 hours.”

Another technique I use is positive reinforcement; I add something I like to the end of a daunting task. So if I have to get through a particularly rough chapter, I make myself sit through at least a couple hundred words. Then I pop a piece of candy in my mouth. This opens those dopamine pleasure-reward pathways in my brain to associate that good things will happen whenever I start writing.

4. Find an accountability buddy

If you find it hard to motivate yourself, then find someone who can help you out along the way. Writing buddies are great because they hold us accountable to meeting our goals, offer us other insight on things we’re stuck on, and keep us motivated when we lose sight of the original objective. And while I don’t have a writing buddy myself, I am in a writing discord server where people are allowed to share snippets of their works, or just talk about their stories in brainstorming sessions. But the part I like most about it is the progress section they have set aside. Basically you just write what you achieved that day writing wise. It could be something small (”I wrote 200 words today!”) or something on a larger scale that took more time to achieve (”I hit 150k today!”).

I like the progress section because it’s kind of my own way of being accountable for the strides I’m making with my story without feeling too stressed out if I don’t get much done that day. It’s a good section to have because it celebrates every milestone as a huge success, even if it doesn’t feel like much. But writing is a difficult task, so anytime you manage to take time out of your day to write something, you should celebrate.

5. Take breaks

If you woke up early to write about 1-2k words and you suddenly hear your stomach growling, then step away from your writing and get something to eat. And maybe take a walk while you’re at it. Jump back into your writing block when you’re feeling refreshed. Burnout is the number one thing we want to avoid. When you’re overworked your productivity falls. But, even worse, burnout can lead to physical and emotional issues down the line.

So take time out of writing to focus on mental health and self care. It’s not a race. Go at whatever pace you need to.

Be selfish in this aspect.

***

Cheers to a productive week 🥂

[kieuecaprie]

So, I've tried out Froniter Station on SS14 after a while of hemming and hawing about it. Decided it would be funny to take the fail-girl lizard out onto the new frontier and see what happens.

First shift went poorly, ended up doing quite poorly because I was mining and couldn't find a place to process ores nor did I have the machine to do so so I was stuck selling scraps on the trade outpost (This is why you should, you know, actually engage with the player market lmao) So, I decided to do a hard reset (I wasn't sure if there was anything against it but I was a newbie and was desperate to keep learning) and went out salvaging. Actually came out on top that time with selling loots. Third time, I also salvaged by myself but a bit of emergent gameplay happened (read: thruster placement skill issue) that made me interact with the folks on the server.

A priestly lizard who was FUCKING HUGE managed to save Adalite and bring her back to Frontier, as well as offer her wine and some advice, it was actually rather sweet.

I did sell my shittle off, bought another Construct, and went back to salvaging, making back what I lost and actually planning my ship design this time. Remember, folks, always bring cable, more than you need!

The shift after that, though, oh boy, it's a bit of a doozy.

Anyway: >Be me, Adalite Tosimizu, currently striking it out on the Frontier.

So that round, I had decided that I'd try and get hired by a ship so I can, you know, actually RP on an MRP server (shock and horror, right?) and had Adalite ask if people needed a blue lizard who can do the things.

A lizard by the name Bites-The-Cables responded by saying that they always need a blue lizard. This lizard had been saying at the start of the round that they wanted to make an Unforgettable Luncheon and were looking for crew members to assist!

I wasn't too sure, first, but after confirming, I hopped aboard the McCargo (yes, really) and met the rest of the crew. A human, a harpy, some small vulpkanins with matching attire, a lizard wearing a bio suit, a TALL HULKING LIZARD wearing a lizard plushie on his head (We had a brief LOOC convo about the lizard plushie thing. It's honestly surprising people don't know about it but it's amusing when they realize.) So, what was the plan? To have a restaurant! BUT there's one catch: there will be a live anomaly! As someone who practically mains Science in SS14, I'm both appalled and intrigued, and I'm sure y'all see where this is going.

So we do the prep-work, converse among ourselves and just generally have a chill time (which is something I've never got the chance to do in SS14 before, mainly because, well, Frontier has a much more relaxed shift length and no real antagonists.) while we set up the whole she-bang.

We've commandeered a science lab, a group of three cleared out the xenos inside, and we got our stuff together, now we have to wait.

Enter: Joe Czanek, a smarmy looking human, and his compatriot, Amera, a moff, turns out they were from the, ahem, secret Health and Safety department... Yeah, okay, seemed everyone was suspicious of him, Walks-With-Shadows especially, apparently Joe built up a reputation for scamming folks which is something that I (and consequently, Adalite) didn't know about up to this point.

So, shenanigans ensue as the crew try their best to keep the place "up-to-code", hiding armaments and general other stuff. I just kind of stayed in the main area, partly to keep an eye out, partly due to stage fright at this point, but I did eventually start wandering and ended up interacting with them directly.

Then the luncheon finally began. A vulpkanin brought out the foods, the "inspectors" would say how terrible the place and the food is and the man would write stuff down. At one point, he even asked Adalite to sit down for a few questions which, to her, was the most nerve-wracking thing she's done.

Fortunately, it was merely uneventful after that up until Joe asked to see the anomaly (LOOC, they said that they were expecting it to be an Aurora Borealis moment lmao). Pressured, we decide to spawn an anomaly and get... slime. Okay, cool, we got slime anomaly. That's good.

What's not good was that it was in a corner on top of an anomaly vessel, which made keeping it stable hard. But it was fortunately safe, ironically, even if it did spit out liquids and fumes into the dining area.

Eventually, Walks-With-Shadows began to keep catching fire which prompted me to drag him to the lab's medbay for treatment, unwittingly being the first domino cast in a line of dominos that'd end up being disasterous.

As we were treating Shadows in the medbay, I heard over comms that the anomaly was about to go critical, so I rushed over to try and help before it suddenly exploded (and the vessel too) into reagent slimes.

Chaos ensued. The laser pistol was not enough and I ended up getting crit and actually died. Everyone else died too. Medical comms lit up with medical tracker implants (a roundstart item, actually useful if the meds on the shift are on the ball). I had ran into the McCargo and ended up sliding towards one of the airlock doors while I was bleeding out, thus making me the first to get revived. Adalite Tosimizu really is built different, isn't she?

A tearful reunion with the co-workers and an examination of the place, we decide that it's best to skedaddle back to the Frontier Outpost but not before Walks-With-Shadows generated ANOTHER anomaly. (It was ice, less threatening that others but still painful if you aren't wearing proper clothing)

Walks-With-Shadows talks with Adalite for a bit about family, it was a general agreement. While blood may be thicker than water, your true family comes from the people you trust the most, which does mesh well with Adalite's backstory I had in mind (I haven't been able to elaborate on it very much as of yet since I never get many chances to do so.)

We chatter for a bit on the ride over, hop out, and hear Bites getting her review (Bites ended up with a 200k spesos "fine", which was then haggled down to 100k and helping with wedding dining from what I recall), I lamented that I didn't get money but decided to see the bright side because, well, I got to meet some wonderful people.

Walks-With-Shadows, who is practically Adalite's big brother at this point, drags me over to the ATM, withdraws some money, then prompted me to deposit it.

It was 90k. Ninety-fucking-thousand spesos, and he was just offering it. I eventually took it after a brief back-and-forth making Adalite my first character to hit 100k on Frontier. Cargonia would've been so proud.

Eventually, we start winding down (it was VERY late for me) and just generally talk about things and headed to cryo. Walks-With-Shadows said that if Adalite ever needed anything, she can feel free to call on him.

After saying goodnight, it was time to cryo and end the shift. Probably THE most memorable RP moment I've ever had in SS14, by far.

Anyway, screenshots below, first of all, the shittle I made in my third-ever shift on Frontier Station:

And secondly, sparse screenshots of what happened during the very long RP session:

[leithlovesyou]

Writers truth or dare! 🐇📚🌿

🐇 ⇢ do you prefer writing original characters, reader inserts, or a mix of both? 

OCs. My OCs are my babies

📚 ⇢ what's the last thing you wrote down in your notes app? 

...so I actually write in Book’s Discord DMs but here’s that:

He was wet. Of all the things for Kon-El to notice, that was the first. Cold air seeped through the thin suit he wore, sending a shiver down his spine. A ring of seven scientists stood in a ring around his...

...his tube. His *first* tube.

"Experiment Thirteen is a success," one of the scientists breathed. It was the same scene as when he was decanted the first time, the first words he ever heard marking him as an object and not a person. That was a lesson it had taken him most of his life to unlearn. Kon remembered dying after sending Superboy Prime back where he belonged. He remembered staring up intk Cassie's eyes after he saved the world.

Yet here he was, back at the beginning.

He needed out. He needed *Kal*.

It wasn't hard to knock the Cadmus scientists out, followed by the guards. Though his Kryptonian powers were out of reach, his TTK could still get the job done. He fled the underground facility, the setting sun warming his face. He needed to find Kal. Quickly.

Kon couldn't hear as well as he used to, but Superman still could. "Superman," he started, cringing. He didnt know where to begin explaining this. "Kal-El. *Clark*." Kon swallowed. That would certainly get his attention, at least. "I need your help. Meet me behind the Cavandish building. Please. It's urgent."

He was banking on the memory that Kal wasn't dead when he was first decanted. That he was planned far before the death of Superman. He would give it an hour. If Kal didn't show, then he would find Tim. He would know what to do.

Turns out, he didn't have to wait. Kal was there when he landed, hovering menacingly. "Who are you?" He demanded. Didn't it just break Kon's heart to know his father-brother-cousin didn't recognize him.

"Kon-El. Connor Kent." He replied earnestly. "I need help, Kal. I think I time traveled."

So that’s... have fun with that

🌿 ⇢ give some advice on writer's block and low creativity 

Honestly? The best advice I’ve ever been given was “Take it easy, but take it.” Any progress is progress and sometimes you just have a bad day. Even if you get nothing done, typing a few words is better than none. Also sprints are a godsend. Join a writing server. Talk to people. It’ll help