#books-are-my-life-stuff

[crystalelemental]

So, there's been a lot of AI-generated fanfics lately, and it's entered AO3 as well. Haven't seen one of those in the fandom I'm in, but some big fandom already had these. This is a question for your wife as well. As a writer, what do you think about AI-generated fanfics?

@avividtale if you’d like to weigh in.

My stance on the concept is that, just like the whole AI art situation, this should be really interesting. Humans mimic each other’s styles to develop their own all the time, and there’s something fascinating about the idea of AI training to see how much data is needed before it can produce something considered novel. It opens questions about the nature of art and creativity and could be used as an interesting parallel to how people learn and develop in fields as well. I like the idea in theory.

But functionally, it’s all just stolen art thrown into a program so some talentless tech bro can try to make a quick fortune or claim a minute of fame. It’s the most vapid and pathetic use of this kind of technology and it’s the least surprising outcome. You develop the early stages of a mind and try to teach it to think creatively, and instead of doing anything interesting, you reinvented crime and just automated the process. At least with art that’s sold I can understand the desire for the money, but fanfics on the free site? The best I can think of is advertising, which somehow feels even worse.

That said, if someone’s pooling information with permission and credit given, and is legitimately just making fanfic on the site to see what it comes up with and like…actually study the nature of AI, that’s a different story. Then it’s cool. But it’s probably not. So my stance is “it should be neat but I hate how it’s working.”

[mayoigotokurousagi]

For the character ask thing: Akane (OnK) and Noè (VnC), my most favorites from each of the series!

Akane (OnK)

★ First Impression: Cute :>

★ Impression Now: Amazing character, one of the most well written one in the series.

★ Favorite Moment: That time she did extensive research on Ai and emulate her almost perfectly........ That's as far it goes from what the anime covers but [MANGA SPOILERS] my most favorite moment of her is actually the "duel" with Kana during Tokyo Blade arc. [END MANGA SPOILERS]

★ Idea for A Story: Please explore her character outside of her relationship with Aqua. 😃 I'd love to know more about her experience in Lalalai.

★ Unpopular Opinion: [VAGUE MANGA SPOILERS] People mischaracterize her a lot and spins words to fit the narrative that she is toxic and manipulative when she's literally one of the most selfless characters in the whole series. It pisses me off even more that a lot of people do this in order to elevate Kana. Kana is a perfectly good character by herself, you guys don't need to slander her "rival" to make her look good in comparison. 😃

★ Favorite Relationship: If I'm more biased, I'd say Akane/Kana but even I can't fool myself out of thinking how uderdeveloped their relationship is. As far as canon goes, her relationship with Aqua is the most interesting but for now I can't bring myself to ship them as anything beyond platonic.

★ Favorite Headcanon: She collects Kana merches and have a dedicated shelf for them. 😋 Some of those merches she had ever since Kana's child actor era and they're still in good condition.

Noé (VnC)

★ First Impression: Aww silly guy :3

★ Impression Now: Still a silly guy :3 (honestly, I don't think my view of him changed much compared to the beginning)

★ Favorite Moment: The fight with Vanitas at the theme park. 😃

★ Idea for A Story: Noé and Jeanne's Bizzare Adventure.

★ Unpopular Opinion: I don't think I dabble in the fandom enough to know which opinions are popular or not lol sorry about that 😔

★ Favorite Relationship: Vanitas&Noé and the hellish Louis&Noé&Domi triangle.

★ Favorite Headcanon: Nothing really comes to mind....

There you go! Sorry for the lackluster answers for Noé. It's been too long since the last time I re-read VnC. 😔

[1863-project]

Hello! Hope you don't mind if I share some fun facts about Emmet's Pokemon Masters EX seiyuu! Since this is rather long, I'll put it in read more below!

Emmet's Pokemas EX seiyuu, Yuuma Uchida, is a voice actor and an active singer! He is also the younger brother of Maaya Uchida (who voices Lillie in Pokemon Masters EX)! One of his earliest leading roles is Sakuraba Kaoru from The Idolm@ster SideM (which is a very wholesome idol series that can be enjoyed by non-idol anime fans! I highly recommend it). Afterward, he starts taking on a lot of leading roles.

He becomes more well-known after his role as Ash Lynx from Banana Fish, and got quite a number of seiyuu rewards because of that. As of now, he has been playing main roles in well-known anime series such as Jujutsu Kaisen (as Megumi Fushiguro), Fruit Basket remake (as Souma Kyou), and many more!

He uploads his songs on his YouTube channel, which you can find here: https://www.youtube.com/c/uchidayuma/featured

I personally love his singing voice! I think he's a very talented seiyuu and singer. My personal favorite Yuuma Uchida songs are Speechless and Good Mood! You can find the songs on his channel!

He also sang quite a number of character songs! Here's one example of Sakuraba Kaoru's character song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CG5lulkO4j8

Lastly, here's a bonus clip of how Yuuma thought of the characters that he played a role, whenever he sang his songs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgAtwzlUmJY

Sorry for the very lengthy ask, but I hope you enjoy the fun facts that I shared because I like talking about my favorite seiyuu! I was blown away when I found out that Emmet was voiced by my favorite seiyuu, and at the same time, I am happy because I think Yuumataso (his nickname) did an amazing job as Emmet!

Hi! Don't apologize, I LOVE when people infodump about things they're passionate about! This is so wonderful, thank you!

In general I prefer the Japanese voice acting for...pretty much everyone in Masters (although I think the person who voiced Maxie in English nailed it), but I keep the language settings to Japanese specifically for Emmet. He just sounds perfect to me, with his voice in the exact range I pictured it in for all those years.

And oh my GOD, the laugh kills me. I am utterly destroyed every damn time. It gives me butterflies.

[somnimagus]

My page for @sheikahzine; about Impaz's duty to her village, empty of people and full of memories.

[id in alt text]

[byoldervine]

How To (Realistically) Make A Habit Of Writing

To clarify: Works with my autism. WORKS WITH MY AUTISM!!! I’ve been meeting my goals since I made them my New Year’s resolution! Anyway I’m so sick of all those ‘how to’ guides that don’t actually tell you what the process is they’re just like ‘just do it, but don’t burn yourself out, do what’s best for you!’ because you’re not telling me what I’m not supposed to be burning myself out over but okay, so I made my own. Hope this helps

1. Choose your fighter metric. What works better for you as a measurement of your progress; time spent writing or your word count? Personally I get very motivated and encouraged by seeing my word count go up and making a note of where it should be when I’m done, so I measure by that. At the same time, a lot of people are also very discouraged by their word count and it can negatively impact their motivation to write, and in that case you may be better off working from how much time you spend writing rather than where the word count is

2. Choose your starter Pokémon time frame. How often can you write before it starts to feel like a chore or a burden rather than something fun you look forward to? Many people believe that they have to write daily, but for some people this can do more harm than good. Maybe every two or three days? Weekly? Figure out what fits your schedule and go with it

3. Choose your funny third joke goal. Now that you’ve got your chosen time frame to complete your goal in, what’s a reasonable goal to aim to complete within that time frame based on the metric you chose? If your metric is your word count, how much can you reasonably and consistently write within your chosen time frame? If your metric is time spent writing, how much time can you reasonably and consistently spend writing within that time? Maybe 1000 words per week works, or maybe 10 minutes per day? The goal here is to find something that works for you and your own schedule without burning you out

4. Trial and error. Experiment with your new target and adapt it accordingly. Most people can’t consistently write 1667 words per day like you do in NaNoWriMo, so we want to avoid that and aim somewhere more reasonable. If you feel like it’s too much to do in such a short time frame, either give yourself less to do or more time to do it in. If you find yourself begrudgingly writing so often that it constantly feels more like a chore than something fun, maybe consider adapting things. And if you think that you gave yourself too much wiggle room and you could do more than this consistently, give yourself more of a challenge. Everything needs to suit you and your pace and needs

5. Run your own race. Don’t feel like you’re not accomplishing enough in comparison to others or not working fast enough to satisfy some arbitrary feeling of doubt. Everybody works at their own pace and slower work doesn’t mean worse work. You could be on one word per day and you’ll still see consistent results, which is still one word per day more than you could originally count on. All progress is progress, regardless of its speed

[stargirl230]

Take a break!

This is for anyone who's been working hard (me, because once exam season starts it never ends...)

(no reposts; reblogs appreciated)

[tiffanyachings]

it would have been very beautiful. camilla would have had to cook (horrible bone soup)

[louisapennyfeather2021]

POV: Ao3 is down for maintenance and suddenly I'm a British Romantic author trying to rediscover nature and emotion in post French Revolution Europe.

[historicity-was-already-taken]

wisdom i've accumulated in my almost-35 years on this planet: success = hard work + privilege + luck

never let this late capitalist hustle culture bullshit convince you that your lack of "success" is your fault.

[letraspal]

Happy New Year 2024!

Thank you for your support and for having fun with me in this year, hopefully we’ll have a new one ahead. ❤️

[crystalelemental]

"books-are-my-life-stuff: You know, when you posted about your recent Platinum playthrough and mentioned Houndoom, I was reminded that I always used Rapidash in my Platinum playthrough, and I should use Houndoom sometime. Well, now this post of yours also reminded me why I always used Rapidash in every single Platinum playthrough."

It really is incredible how many Pokemon there are that I've never used, think about using, and then try to use only to find out oh right, their learned movesets are shit garbage and the TMs they need to become relevant are super late game so what's the point? I get that Pokemon does not need to be perfectly balanced to be fun, but holy shit some of these problems are just wild for like no reason.

[mishidefresa]

Warm up doodles from last week

[1863-project]

Just wanna let you know that I enjoy reading your train posts a lot!

I live in a different country, so a lot of information that you have written regarding NYC subway is pretty new to me. My country's trains are probably different than yours as well.

I like trains too! My family also like them. Trains are my preferred way of traveling to faraway places than planes. For some reason, the atmosphere makes me relax, and I feel safe and comfortable riding trains compared to planes. I enjoy gazing at the scenery from the window too, it makes me relaxed.

There is a train museum in my city too, and I ever visited there. It was a fascinating place where I got to see old train models. My family and I traveled with trains a lot ever since I was little.

Maybe this is why when I played Pokemon BW for the first time when I was around 12, I immediately like the vibe of Gear Station? It's obviously referencing to NYC Subway, but it still fels like going to my city's local train station, and I like it! When I get tired from battling in Battle Subway, I usually go to Anville Town to listen at the beautiful BGM (I think it's titled Lullaby of the Trains?) and talk to the Depot Agent who explain about different trains that's operating in Gear Station everyday, and get missing items. Anville Town is one of my favorite places in Unova too!

Sorry, it's hard for me to articulate my thoughts together. But what I mean to say is, your train posts are wonderful and I enjoy reading all of them! Even though my country's trains are probably different from yours, I still like reading them! And I like trains too! So, thank you for your hard work in explaining the trains and for seeing me ramble in your askbox (again), and I hope you have a great day!

Hi again!

These sorts of asks always warm my heart, because it's so nice to know that sharing what I love with others is meaningful to them too!

There's something about trains that's just verrrry comforting. The travel is relaxing, you can get virtually anywhere if your country has a robust rail system, and you get to see the world as it goes by, something that's much harder to do from an airplane.

For me especially, trains always feel like coming home because they were such an important part of my childhood (and now adulthood), and because they're something I share with my dad, who's been my lifelong steam locomotive companion. We've traveled together to see various historic locomotives quite a few times!

I'd be happy to learn about the trains you're familiar with and the ones that mean a lot to you sometime, too! It's all wonderful to me!

Thank you, too, and I hope you have a phenomenal weekend!

[magnus-rhymes-with-swagness]

OKAY who wants to hear about why i think nimona challenges amatonormativity? you do! 🫵

one of the main ways this is accomplished is through ballister and ambrosius’s relationship. it’s arguable that it doesn’t necessarily fit the traditional model of romance - not only are they a queer interracial couple, and not only is their relationship ambiguous in the book, but there are certain instances, especially in the movie, that subvert traditional ideas of romance and friendship.

one instance that really stands out to me is when the director asks ambrosius what’s on his mind and he goes on his imagined rant about how arm-chopping isn’t a love language - you know the one. when he mentions ballister, he refers to him as “the man i love, my best friend.” and not just one or the other, but both! the man i love, and my best friend. he places equal emphasis on both the romantic and platonic aspects of the relationship, valuing ballister in both a romantic context and a platonic context without treating either one as more important than the other.

and even moments such as the first “i love you” and the kiss manage to subvert tradition. both of these things are generally seen as a pretty big deal, especially in fiction - if the characters are kissing or saying “i love you,” it’s usually a moment in which everything changes. a line is drawn, dividing the story into after and now. sometimes it’s dramatic and climactic, with fireworks and a swell of music, but even when it isn’t it’s still seen as a turning point of sorts. now it’s official, now it’s real. but this isn’t the case in nimona. both moments are certainly significant - they do a good job of showcasing the character development and where ballister and ambrosius are on their respective journeys, and are certainly important in terms of representation - but neither one follows the path that most fictional romance does.

another way in which nimona challenges amatonormativity would be the emphasis on friendship! in the tavern scene (in the movie) when ambrosius suggests killing nimona, ballister disagrees and says “she’s my friend.” ambrosius replies with “aren’t i more than that?”, implying he’s more important than a friend - thus upholding amatonormative ideas. ballister becomes angry at that and leaves - challenging this idea and prioritizing his platonic relationship with nimona over his romantic one with ambrosius, as nimona is the one he wants to defend.

additionally, a big part of this scene is the way ballister deliberately rejects institute values while ambrosius unintentionally upholds them. and because the story challenges homophobia and transphobia (and other forms of bigotry) through the lens of the institute, it would make sense for it to challenge amatonormativity too! it’s something that’s become incredibly normalized, to the point that lots of people don’t even know it exists, and this is reminiscent of the institute brainwashing, especially when it comes to ambrosius - he’s been manipulated his whole life and probably genuinely doesn’t understand the level to which he’s internalized institute beliefs.

ballister prioritizes nimona many times, actually. when he tells ambrosius she’s “smart, kind, and quite sophisticated,” when he’s overjoyed to see her again at the end, when he refuses to kill her and saves her instead. over and over, he proves how much he cares about her, even when this involves directly going against what ambrosius wants - which, of course, is really what the institute wants. a core tenant of amatonormativity is the false notion that romantic relationships are more important or valuable than other types of relationships, but ballister actively goes against this!

to conclude, as a story that at its core is about identity and challenging societal beliefs, nimona defies expectations and traditional ideas of what it should or shouldn’t be. it’s possible that amatonormativity wasn’t what the creators had in mind, but the story still manages to challenge it with grace and elegance. just like its main character, nimona refuses to conform to what others want it to be.

[byoldervine]

Writing Tips - Beating Perfectionism

1. Recognising writing perfectionism. It’s not usually as literal as “This isn’t 100% perfect and so it is the worst thing ever”, in my experience it usually sneaks up more subtly. Things like where you should probably be continuing on but if you don’t figure out how to word this paragraph better it’s just going to bug you the whole time, or where you’re growing demotivated because you don’t know how to describe the scene 100% exactly as you can imagine it in your head, or things along those lines where your desire to be exact can get in the way of progression. In isolated scenarios this is natural, but if it’s regularly and notably impacting your progress then there’s a more pressing issue

2. Write now, edit later. Easier said than done, which always infuriated me until I worked out how it translates into practice; you need to recognise what the purpose of this stage of the writing process is and when editing will hinder you more than help you. Anything up to and including your first draft is purely done for structural and creative purposes, and trying to impose perfection on a creative process will naturally stifle said creativity. Creativity demands the freedom of imperfection

3. Perfection is stagnant. We all know that we have to give our characters flaws and challenges to overcome since, otherwise, there’s no room for growth or conflict or plot, and it ends up being boring and predictable at best - and it’s just the same as your writing. Say you wrote the absolute perfect book; the perfect plot, the perfect characters, the perfect arcs, the perfect ending, etc etc. It’s an overnight bestseller and you’re discussed as a literary great for all time. Everyone, even those outside of your target demographic, call it the perfect book. Not only would that first require you to turn the perfect book into something objective, which is impossible, but it would also mean that you would either never write again, because you can never do better than your perfect book, or you’ll always write the exact same thing in the exact same way to ensure constant perfection. It’s repetitive, it’s boring, and all in all it’s just fearful behaviour meant to protect you from criticism that you aren’t used to, rather than allowing yourself to get acclimated to less than purely positive feedback

4. Faulty comparisons. Comparing your writing to that of a published author’s is great from an analytical perspective, but it can easily just become a case of “Their work is so much better, mine sucks, I’ll never be as good as them or as good as any ‘real’ writer”. You need to remember that you’re comparing a completely finished draft, which likely underwent at least three major edits and could have even had upwards of ten, to wherever it is you’re at. A surprising number of people compare their *first* draft to a finished product, which is insanity when you think of it that way; it seems so obvious from this perspective why your first attempt isn’t as good as their tenth. You also end up comparing your ability to describe the images in your head to their ability to craft a new image in your head; I guarantee you that the image the author came up with isn’t the one their readers have, and they’re kicking themselves for not being able to get it exactly as they themselves imagine it. Only the author knows what image they’re working off of; the readers don’t, and they can imagine their own variation which is just as amazing

5. Up close and too personal. Expanding on the last point, just in general it’s harder to describe something in coherent words than it is to process it when someone else prompts you to do so. You end up frustrated and going over it a gazillion times, even to the point where words don’t even look like words anymore. You’ve got this perfect vision of how the whole story is supposed to go, and when you very understandably can’t flawlessly translate every single minute detail to your satisfaction, it’s demotivating. You’re emotionally attached to this perfect version that can’t ever be fully articulated through any other medium. But on the other hand, when consuming other media that you didn’t have a hand in creating, you’re viewing it with perfectly fresh eyes; you have no ‘perfect ideal’ of how everything is supposed to look and feel and be, so the images the final product conjures up become that idealised version - its no wonder why it always feels like every writer except you can pull off their visions when your writing is the only one you have such rigorous preconceived notions of

6. That’s entertainment. Of course writing can be stressful and draining and frustrating and all other sorts of nasty things, but if overall you can’t say that you ultimately enjoy it, you’re not writing for the right reasons. You’ll never take true pride in your work if it only brings you misery. Take a step back, figure out what you can do to make things more fun for you - or at least less like a chore - and work from there

7. Write for yourself. One of the things that most gets to me when writing is “If this was found and read by someone I know, how would that feel?”, which has lead me on multiple occasions to backtrack and try to be less cringe or less weird or less preachy or whatever else. It’s harder to share your work with people you know whose opinions you care about and whose impressions of you have the potential of shifting based on this - sharing it to strangers whose opinions ultimately don’t matter and who you’ll never have to interact with again is somehow a lot less scary because their judgements won’t stick. But allowing the imaginary opinions of others to dictate not even your finished project, but your unmoderated creative process in general? Nobody is going to see this without your say so; this is not the time to be fussing over how others may perceive your writing. The only opinion that matters at this stage is your own

8. Redirection. Instead of focusing on quality, focusing on quantity has helped me to improve my perfectionism issues; it doesn’t matter if I write twenty paragraphs of complete BS so long as I’ve written twenty paragraphs or something that may or may not be useful later. I can still let myself feel accomplished regardless of quality, and if I later have to throw out whole chapters, so be it

9. That’s a problem for future me. A lot of people have no idea how to edit, or what to look for when they do so, so having a clear idea of what you want to edit by the time the editing session comes around is gonna be a game-changer once you’re supposed to be editing. Save the clear work for when you’re allocating time for it and you’ll have a much easier and more focused start to the editing process. It’ll be more motivating than staring blankly at the intimidating word count, at least

10. The application of applications. If all else fails and you’re still going back to edit what you’ve just wrote in some struggle for the perfect writing, there are apps and websites that you can use that physically prevent you from editing your work until you’re done with it. If nothing else, maybe it can help train you away from major edits as you go

[mercurybomber]

excerpt from "The Ozmapolitan" (Issue 5, Reilly & Lee, 1928) featuring Ozma's thoughts on becoming a girl