#awanderingballoon

[laylainalaska]

What's LiveJournal like?

The long-story-short answer is that DW and LJ are pretty similar, at least in terms of the actual user experience; the interface is very much alike. Which was on purpose, because DW was created as an alternative to LJ that used essentially the same code, or similar enough to make no difference (back when most of fandom was on LJ, before Tumblr and Twitter really took off, so blog-style sites with threaded comments were the basic model that fandom was used to). It was supposed to look like LJ because it was supposed to be a place where LJ people could go and have a similar fandom experience to the site they left behind.

The big difference is that DW is run by a small US-based indy company, and LJ is run by a large Russia-based social media company that mainly caters to their Russian users and is also somewhat overrun with spambots these days. (It wasn’t always that way, but the site got bought out years ago.)

Fandom mostly left LJ for DW because of a series of similar issues to what’s currently going on with Tumblr - blog deletions and the like. DW was created in direct response to the early rounds of blog deletions, and seemed to pick up a new wave of users every time something new happened at LJ, to the point where most people who were in LJ fandom and hadn’t left for places like Twitter or Tumblr eventually ended up on DW. These days, LJ is kind of a ghost town, and even most of the people who stuck around are also on DW or elsewhere.

If you were going to pick one or the other, I’d recommend DW since it’s the place where a more active fandom community can be found (and LJ at this point has been basically abandoned by its corporate overlords; it’s likely that it’ll eventually be shut down by its parent company). You can do automatic crossposting between DW and LJ, so I do that to keep a toe in LJ and stay in touch with the handful of people I know who haven’t abandoned it, but I don’t spend much time on LJ anymore.

I hope that answers your question?

[fishfingersandjellybabies]

If you could, 46 with Tim and Jason (gen).

46. Family

~~

“I don’t get it!” Tim shouted over the sound of gunfire. He kept his hands over his ears, glancing up at Jason in annoyance. “You hate me!”

“To a point, yeah.” Jason hummed back easily, keeping himself firmly planted in front of Tim’s hunched, bleeding body. He stopped shooting for a moment, listened, then shot four more rounds in a blink.

“Then why are you trying to save my life?!”

“Family, kid.” Jason sniffed, calming reloading, ignoring the shout of pain from the criminals he’d hit. “You know the saying. Can’t live with ‘em, would kinda rather not live without ‘em, no matter how big a pain in your ass they are.”

Tim gaped, for just a second, before leaning his weight against Jasons calf. “Yeah, I know the saying.” A grin, as he glanced down at his own blood. “Hate you too, Jay.”

[mizmahlia]

Do you have any fic suggestions?

Woo hoo! I certainly do!

I’m sorry this took a little while;I wanted to put together a solid list. I’ve gone back to both AO3 and FF.net toperuse my bookmarks and favs, and I’ll link to some writers I know here onTumblr, too. These are listed by fandom so it’ll be easier to get tosomething that interests you. And the summaries are taken from the ficsthemselves; anything I added is in parenthesis.

Tumblr writers I read: an-all-write-life, inanotherlifetimeiknowyou,crazyfreckledginger, pythiaaa, oh-mother-of-darkness, alittlewing, zombiesbecrazy, unavenged-robin, redhoodshood. (I know there aremore, but I can’t find them all at the moment!)

DC

The Enigmatic Death of Jason Todd - Origamidragons                

“This week on Buzzfeed Unsolved we’re discussing one of the most publicized mysteries of the last decade, and that is the death of Jason Todd.”

A Robin’sGotta Eat – RomanianDollar

When Jason gets injured in a gang fight he heads to the one person who willreceive him: Tim Drake. While there he finds his kid brother doesn’t have thebest diet habits, and decides to take matters in his own hands. (I love ficswith these two bonding.)

If He Had Come– bronwe-iris

Jason Todd has been a prisoner of the Joker for nine months. Then, against allodds and all hope, Batman rescues Jason and brings him back to Wayne Manor torecover. But has Batman come too late to save what is left of Jason? AU of theArkham Knight video game (There’s a sequel, too.)

feels like the world isresting on your shoulders - VioletSauce

Jason gives a startled laugh, then quietens immediately because hehasn’t laughed since before Bruce died, since before he took up the mantle. AsRobin, it was Jason’s personal mission to make Batman laugh, and as Red Hood,it was to make him angry. Now he’s Batman and he’s not laughing and he’s notfull of rage either. (So much angst, but it’s beautiful and an unexpectedtwist.)

The End of the Line - LemonadeGarden

Selina Kyle is asurvivor. It’s what she’s good at, and she knows that sometimes to survive,other people have to get left behind. And then one day, Bruce Wayne comes alongand proves her wrong. (Written from Selina’s POV and it’s one of the only ficsI’ve read where that’s the case.)

a trick of the mind, atraitorous heart - KatastrophicTodd

It was the result of a prompt from Tumblr: “Jason Todd trying to hidefrom his siblings in the days leading up to his birthday because he doesn’twant to celebrate. Angsty or fluff, write whatever you want!“ (I laughedand cried on this one. :)

The Thimble Ninja– Tiger Queen

Wally bets he can out-ninja Artemis. We shall see… (If you likeSpitfire, you’ll love this.)

Stargazer– LemonadeGarden

Jason Todd is seriously injured during patrol one night, and is forcedto stay at the manor to recuperate until his injuries are healed. To pass thetime, he makes a list of things he never got to do before he died.

Except there’s one small problem: most of them involve Bruce, and Jason doesn’treally think Bruce cares all that much about him anymore. (I’ve read thismultiple times and love it more every time.)

theyve broken me - Princex_N

Retraumatization isa conscious or unconscious reminder of past trauma that results in are-experiencing of the initial trauma event. It can be triggered by asituation, an attitude or expression, or by certain environments that replicatethe dynamics (loss of power/control/safety) of the original trauma. Beingforced to talk about your trauma before you’re mentally ready to do so can alsobe a trigger.

Jason agrees to talkto Bruce about the circumstances of his death and resurrection in Batman andRed Hood #20, at serious detriment to himself. (I needed tissues for this one..)

He is Risen - BloodFromTheThorn

Tim wakes up in a cell with an annoyingly cheerful Nightwing and really everythingjust goes downhill from there. Post Arkham Knight. (Angst like whoa. Tim &Dick are dealt a brutal beating, so take care.)

Thanksgiving at the Kents - cylobaby27

Clark convinces Diana to come to the farm for Thanksgiving, and Diana finallygets the chance to meet Bruce’s kids. There are far more of them than she hadexpected. (It’s told from Diana’s POV and is beautiful.)

Marvel

A Morbid Taste for Ice – sitehound

Darcy Lewis never imagined she’d be living in a house trailer in the New Mexicodesert with the God of Thunder and his sociopath brother, but she’s making thebest of the situation. Until a frozen corpse shows up on the front porch.Casting herself as amateur sleuth, she embarks on a journey that will challengeher definitions of good, evil, love and what it is to be human. (I’m a suckerfor Darcy/Loki.)

Wounded - PurpleArrowzandLeather

You and Loki are prisoners of war. You despise him. (There’s a sequel tothis, too.)

so collect your scars and wear ‘em well - fragileanimals

In which Loki stumbles upon a grieving Peter, and reluctantly offers tohelp the only way he knows how: with magic.

Un/Hurt - PoorYorick

5+1 - In which Loki got injured in the battle against Hela and tries tohide his moment of weakness from different people for different reasons. Andthe one person he tells the truth.

Supernatural

Thank You – clair beaubien

Ch1: The Apocalypse is almost upon them and Sam leaves his journal where pryingeyes can see. Ch 2 - what Dean wrote in his journal after Sam was gone. (Someangsty fluff and a wonderful plot idea.)

Three Words on an Index Card – staceycj

Christmas story set in S5 (This makes me cry every time.)

Pearl Harbor 1941 – Cheryl W

Total AU. The brothers are soldiers at Pearl Harbor during the sneak attack inWWII.

The Bizarre Winchester Murder Spree  - Origamidragons                

“This week on Buzzfeed Unsolved we are discussing two of the most prolific and strangest serial killers in recent history: Sam and Dean Winchester.”

[hazeywrites]

ink, pen and paper, diary, journal, pulitzer, genre, narrator, backstory, time-lapse, carnegie, dickinson, playlist, notepad, input, and critique.

writer asks 📃

!!!!! my goodness that’s a lot lol. Thanks for all these! 

ink: what do you do to “set the mood” when writing?I literally don’t lmao. I just sit down and do it. I think that’s one of my strengths with writing, honestly. I can arrive at a cafe and get on with it, sit down at my desk at home, be in a social group and ignore them for a bit, write on a train and so on. I don’t really need to be in any sort of mood.

pen and paper: do you prefer writing by hand or on a device? why?Ohhh on a device for sure. I used to write by hand many years ago but it got old fast. Nothing can replace a keyboard for me now. When I’m out and want to write I take a small tablet with me and a Bluetooth keyboard. 

diary: how many pieces have you written that are just for you or will never see the light of day?Way too many to count. I only started showing my work this time last year, when I found a little more confidence in my writing ability, but I can see so many flaws in even my most recent pieces that it’s hard to look past it.

journal: do you ever write just so you can enjoy something to read?Hmm usually not, I write with a purpose, even if it’s just to remember something or to practice. 

pulitzer: tell about/link a piece where you felt your writing was the best.I’ve answered this one before :’) it was with an experimental one shot I wrote this time last year. It wasn’t necessarily my best piece but I was very passionate about it.

genre: what genre do you prefer to write in?Fantasyyy :’)

narrator: what pov do you like writing in best?It’s always been a mix of first and third, but now I’m definitely leaning towards first. I guess it depends on what I’m writing, but I love first person for the intimacy it can build between a character and reader.

backstory: how did you come to love writing?I have literally always loved writing, but I think I only really realised how much this time last year, when I started getting shorter pieces out there. I think that was when I decided I wanted to move out of science / engineering.

time-lapse: how long have you been writing (as a hobby or for work)?Too long to remember, ever since I was a child!

carnegie: what authors and/or books/stories have inspired you to write or influenced your work?Ngl “Circe” has been a huge influence on me this year, for the pacing and writing quality. I’ve mentioned His Dark Materials before in the past but yeah, the concept of daemons from that trilogy has been an influence on the story. Interstellar (the film) also inspired me, as well as Phantom of the Opera.

dickinson: what insecurities do you have about your own writing? what do you think you should improve on?Oh I have like a million insecurities. I worry about my pacing, the quality of my writing, awkward tense shifts, bad dialogue, boring scenes, bland / terrible characters and so on. Trying to characterise angels can be very challenging, especially when readers may approach a piece with predefined thoughts about how angels should speak and behave, so I often keep that in mind. I also tend to lean towards purple prose and I really want to make sure I’m not overdoing it. I personally think I should improve on literally everything lmao.

playlist: what kind of music/songs help you write? do you have a writing playlist?Nope, I usually write in silence. That said, I often think of scenes whilst walking around and listening to music.

notepad: can you write anywhere or do you have to be in a specific place and mood to write?I can usually write anywhere, but libraries and cafes are my favourite places to work. That was something I found out whilst writing my doctoral thesis with my friends. I was lucky enough to live in a city where cafe culture was pretty big back in the UK, and my friends and I would write together in cafes for hours. Sigh.

critic: what’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received about writing?Don’t get too strung up on advice ;) I know there are a lot of writers out there who will take advice posts to heart and stress about them because they aren’t following guidelines / suggestions precisely. I’d say not to worry about it too much!

[ophiaihel]

[ for @awanderingballoon. ]

“i do know that for the sympathy of one living being, i would make peace with all. i have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. if i cannot satisfy the one, i will indulge the other.” ― mary shelley, frankenstein.

[arabian-batboy]

When you responded to that ask about Damian Wayne fighting everyone, where'd you get the panel with him and Cass?

It was from Batman: Gates of Gotham, although I’m not sure what issue (I think around 5ish maybe?)

[kakiross]

9 and 10 on positivity asks.

I am so sorry for not seeing this sooner!! The positivity ask is here 

9. Honestly, this is so hard. Nothing jumps to mind... so I’m just going to pick from something I’ve written recently! 

From my Day 1 of Inktobler this year— Poisonous:  The line of glass-colored bottles stretched before her, and she imagined each one giggling, whispering, begging for her to choose.

I just thought it was a really good bit of imagery that really gives the audience a peek into Elizabeta’s mindset, the tone of the piece, and possibly a bit of foreshadowing? That whole piece was pretty good in general! At least, I thought it was haha

10. I write fic (though I haven’t for the last couple of months) and I constantly get so much nice feedback! People who bother commenting at all are one of the main reasons I feel encouraged to keep writing, but the best ones are the paragraph long messages I can get. 

BUT two of the ones that made me the happiest (again, in recent memory) is when I got a message from someone who wanted to translate my work and when one of my works were added to a collection of the “best” for the fandom. I was that kind of happy where I have to throw myself onto my bed and roll around a little because I’m so giddy. 

Thanks so much for the ask @awanderingballoon

[dontfeedthebabytigers]

Hi! How'd you get into fanfic?

Hello! I got into fanfiction a lot later than a lot of other writers I know, I was in 7th grade. My mom and brother both got new laptops so the family laptop became mine and I soon made a Wattpad account witht he intention of posting original work there, but started writing fanfiction instead. Honestly, I didn’t even know that this was something people did at the time. I just wanted to do it. I actually started off writing Criminal Minds fanfiction (that was actually my most popular fanfic to date with 62k viewers). I can’t even imagine how bad that must be considering that I was a child writing what I thought was pretty edgy. 

I always found fanfiction just a safe place to let out my emotions. I’m a fairly closed off person irl and online, and when I started writing fanfiction when my parents divorced. I never had a good relationship with my father, and it only got worse after that and a lot of my fanfictions deal with the concept of family and, more recently, fatherhood. 

My grandma told me recently that I’ve been writing since I could hold a pencil, and I always have a story to tell. Now that I think about it, I can also honestly say that the things I write about have not changed at all really. I started off writing found family h/c, and I still write it to this day. Hopefully they are a bit better quality in my college days than they were when I was a little middle schooler. 

Hopefully that answered your question!

[insearchofnewdreams]

The most recent ask: 5, 7, 62, and 76.

5: are you self-conscious of your smile?

Uhm no not really; I have vampire fangs (genetically ohp i gotta get them removed-) so I try not to smile too hard

7: do you name your plants?

Sometimes

62: do you drink juice in the morning? Which kind?

Nope,but if I had a choice I'd have apple juice

76: is there anything you should be doing that you aren't right now?

Uh...finishing requests

[thoseofgreatambition]

[Never have I ever...] eaten a pint (or more) of ice cream in one sitting.

Let’s play never have I ever!

I have, and I have paid the price DEARLY

[thebooktrooper]

Hi! For the autumnal asks: harvest, amber, cobweb, and ghost.

Hi!

harvest - what fictional character do you most identify with? Why?

Hmmm, Cath from Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. My friend and I always joked that we were twins because we both are antisocial book nerds who write fanfic way too much and struggled to get into original writing because of that. 

amber - share an unpopular opinion that you may have.

Idk...the first thing that pops into my head is that I like milk in my tea??? I forget who was arguing about that a few weeks ago but yeah...I’ve always drunk it that way and I found out recently that like no one else does lol

cobweb - (if you’ve graduated) do you miss high school?

Haha, I haven’t graduated so I wouldn’t know. I don’t miss middle school though, that’s for sure. 

ghost - is there someone that you miss having in your life?

I just recently moved away from one of my closest friends, and while we still text and keep up a bit, it isn’t the same as seeing her every day at school and being around each other practically 6 hours a day. So yeah, I miss her a lot, though she’s still in my life kind of, just in a different way. 

Thank you for the ask!

[ophiaihel]

So I'm writing this short story about an owl-person. He doesn't have a name yet but his eyes are molten gold and he has charcoal lips. He's super nice, but people are scared of him because of his appearance (Kinda like Frankenstein's monster), but he loves watching people and mirroring them. (I can see that I'm rambling now) He's an assassin and has this black suit with gold accents and gold goggles. If you have time and stuff could you make a moodboard for that?

this is such a rad concept! here you are, lovely. xx

[whatatime30]

Para el record, I changed my username to @whambamthanksbatfam, so no more @awanderingballoon, capiche?

[dontfeedthebabytigers]

awanderingballoon replied to your post “writer ask game: wips✨”

@dontfeedthebabytigers​, they won't let me ask anymore things. I hate this site.

this website is truly cursed I wonder why my ask function isn’t working though?

[insearchofnewdreams]

1, 2, and 14 on the ask. Your blog is awesome!

Fanwork ask memes

Thank you!!

1: what type of things do you create?

Art mostly,and edits on occasion

I used to write full on fics when I was younger about creepypasta haha. But now,not so much.. Although I am co-writer for Dark Hearts now!

2: is there a different type of thing you'd like to learn to create?

I'd love to learn more about 3d modelling and 2d animation,as well as doll making((sounds weird I know but I rlly find it interesting))

14: do you take prompts?

Yes!! I'll sometimes reblog some,but I'm completely open to people sending me prompts!

[thebooktrooper]

3, 8, 18, 20, 28, 52, 54-57, 60, 61, 67, 69, 77, 78, 81, 88, and 89.

3. What is your birthday? 

June 1st!

8. Where are you from?

Basically all around the U.S. lol I moved a lot as a kid so I never really am from any specific place

18. Do you want children?

Maybe? Idk it depends on who I end up with, if anyone. I’m not sure if I’d be the greatest mom either so idk it won’t happen anytime soon so I have a while to decide

20. Are you religious?

Yep

28. What type of music do you like?

Ugh I don’t really have a specific genre. Emo/indie pop/alternative rap/broadway musicals? Idk man its something new every day pretty much

52. Favorite food?

Mmm I don’t know. Ice cream? Bread? Pasta? Again, changes like every day lol

54. Are you a clean or messy person?

Oof I’m more on the messy side tbh but my stuff is organized, just I don’t have the motivation to keep it like that one hundred percent of the time

55. Most used phrased?

“Not good but good enough”

56. Most used word?

Umm either “Legit” “Literally” or “like” lol

57. How long does it take for you to get ready?

mmm depends on how motivated I am to look nice lol some days it takes five minutes others like 45 maybe?

60. Do you talk to yourself?

Yep lol

61. Do you sing to yourself?

Ugh, all the time. I annoy so many people by doing it too. 

67. Can you name all 50 states of America?

Haha nope

69. Extrovert or Introvert?

Introvert most def

77. Have you ever drank underage?

lol no

78. Have you ever done drugs?

haha nope

81. Can you roll your Rs?

Ugh I wish but no

88. What do your parents do?

My mom is a teacher and dad’s an accountant!

89. Do you like your age?

Mmmm not really. Most ppl my age are super immature and idk its just not a fun time

Thanks for the ask!