#con crit is absolutely welcome

[duskisnigh]

Or Just Some Human Sleep (Snow White AU)

AO3 Link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/9914666

Rating: Teen

Word count: 2328

Relationships: Katsuki Yuuri and Victor Nikiforov, Eventual Victuuri

Warnings: minor descriptions of violence, temporary character death (magical slumber), fic mocks and discusses the problematic elements of the original tale, which includes issues concerning consent and indebtedness

Summary: 

“No, thank you,” Yuuri insisted, holding the broom in front of him like a weapon. “I may be fourteen, and I may have lived a relatively sheltered life, but I am not stupid, and I’m pretty sure you’ve drugged that apple.” 

The aftermath of the first image in this comic

“No, thank you,” Yuuri insisted, holding the broom in front of him like a weapon. “I’m think I’m good.” 

The friendly demeanor of the apple vendor had gone, replaced with something more sinister. She now stood in the way of the cabin’s only exit, face hidden under indoor shadows, an eerie figure silhouetted against the soft afternoon light.

Tension filled the tiny cabin, so palpable Yuuri imagined he felt it crackling on his sweaty skin like sparks of malevolent magic, taunting with the promise of harm. Perhaps that was what it was. Yuuri glanced over the dark-cloaked figure, her crooked nose and skeletal fingers, the folds around their eyes and the stretch of skin around her toothless grin, and he thought of a childhood’s worth of warnings against witches.

The witch lifted the apple higher, shook it in Yuuri’s direction. “But this is a magic wishing –”

“I may be fourteen,” Yuuri interrupted, every effort devoted to keeping his voice steady, “and I may have lived a relatively sheltered life, but I am not stupid, and I’m pretty sure you’ve drugged that apple.” 

Even as he tightened his grip, only slightly aware of the bark of the crude broom digging unsympathetically into his palms, Yuuri felt resignation sink heavy in his stomach. He had been petrified by the demonstration of strength when the door was forced open, torn off its hinges completely and flung across the floor.

He thought now it might have been magic, but regardless of which, he knew he had no chance of emerging victorious should a struggle arise. He continued to cling to his broom solely for some comfort in the illusion of control.

In the end, it took barely a minute.

Leo will have a hard time fixing the door, was his thought when an invisible force ripped the broom violently from his hands. Guang Hong won’t be pleased with the mess, was what came to mind when he was lifted off his feet, fingers still burning, and slammed against the wall above the fireplace. Jars and decorative mirrors atop the mantelshelf tumbled to the ground, shattering.

Phichit- Phichit’s pie will burn in the oven.

The hand around his neck was raw-boned and mercilessly cold, but most of all it was unabashedly eager. Amidst the haze of pain and breathlessness he saw the gleeful glint in the witch’s eye, but before he could wonder how he could have possibly wronged her to warrant such hatred, the red, wet heat behind his eyes reached across his field of vision in an overwhelming, suffocating black. 

Surely, he thought, as what he imagined must be a piece of apple was being shoved down his throat, there must be an easier way to kill a person.

He woke up to six teary dwarf faces surrounding him, and the smell of roses too strong under his nose.

“Phichit’s resting in bed because of a bad stomach,” Guang-Hong said, when he caught Yuuri ‘s gaze searching. His tired smile was laced with a familiar sort of exasperation. “He ate your pie anyway,” he continued, by way of explanation.

“Oh, Phichit.”

Sitting up, muscles objecting from disuse, Yuuri did not take long to realize what had happened. He observed the meticulous arrangement of white roses around him, shivering from a sense of displacement that raced cold down his spine. He tried not to think too hard about magic (more specifically, its apparent ineffectiveness), but allowed the dwarves to fuss over him, taking time instead to appreciate what had been done for him: someone had taken out the splinters in his palms, rubbed his hands in ointment and bandaged them.

More effort than necessary for a dead person, Yuuri thought, feeling tears beginning to gather.

Only after he had properly thanked each of the dwarves for their care and ushered them inside the cabin did he direct his attention to the lonely figure shifting uneasily under the big oak, a little distance away from the burial ground.

His upbringing would demand it be done, but Yuuri was not keen on conversing with the stranger. The stranger, whom the dwarves referred to as Prince Victor, had seen him at his most defenseless. Yuuri’s body was only placed uncovered in the clearing because these parts of the woods were meant to be hidden away from the rest of the world. Victor had unwittingly stumbled into what was supposed to be a space for private mourning.

“Your Highness,” Yuuri greeted, hoping he had kept the anxiety out of his voice. The knowledge that he had been laid completely vulnerable in front of this unfamiliar person twisted and rolled uncomfortably in Yuuri’s gut, like he imagined charcoal pastry would.

But manners were manners. “Seung Gil said I would have remained quite dead if it weren’t for you, so I understand I owe you at the very least my gratitude.”

Yuuri grimaced. The words tasted as metallic in his mouth as the wedge of poisoned apple.

“Um,” Prince Victor said, intelligently, and there was a curious pink to his cheeks. “There’s no need, really.”

“They also insisted they would rather I heard the story from you,” said Yuuri, slowly, not entirely sure he wanted to. There had been a very suspicious hint of a barely repressed grin on JJ’s face. 

“There’s honestly very little to it,” Victor mumbled. Yuuri noticed that Victor’s shoulders were visibly tense. He attempted not to derive too much satisfaction from the fact that Victor felt apparently just as unsettled by the circumstances, despite his physical and social advantage over Yuuri. 

Faced with Yuuri’s expectant silence, Victor sighed. “I was returning from my morning hunt. I took a wrong corner, got lost, and the next thing I knew I was showing up uninvited at someone’s funeral.” He had the grace to look extremely sheepish.

“I was going to leave immediately, but I recognized the royal crest on your mantle, and I’m aware Queen Mari has been sending out search parties for her missing brother – ”

“Wait, Mari is queen?” 

“She ascended to the throne a week ago,” Victor replied.

“What about my step-” Yuuri said, but something prudent within him stopped him mid-question. The sharp, icy leer of the witch pierced into the forefront of his mind, and there was an uncanny sense of familiarity there that Yuuri did not want to delve too deep into, afraid it might cut a little too close to the heart, that the chill might stay a little too permanently. “Never mind. What happened after?”

“I confirmed your identity with the dwarves, and I thought, oh well, this is really unfortunate,” Victor said, and the manner of which he phrased it might have been slightly unpolished – considered flippant, even rude, perhaps, if Yuuri were his parents – but Yuuri thought he could empathize with the need for some degree of dissociation. Discovering the dead body of a neighbouring monarch’s little sibling in your woods was a delicate, even terrifying, position to find yourself in.

“I wasn’t sure what the right course of action would be,” Victor continued, dragging a hand down his face. He looked rather drained. “So when the dwarves mentioned their suspicions of magic being involved, my mind wandered to those ancient tales of princes and princesses that discuss chivalry in a magical context, so I thought, I don’t know, should I just kiss you or something?"

“You WHAT?”

“Which, I quickly realized, was a horrible idea,” Victor hurried on, hands raised in front of him, looking more like a gesture of surrender than one of mollification, “because the old literary greats had little concept of consent, and it would be unwise to blindly adopt the then-romanticized practices formulated upon an antiquated understanding of the knightly code.”

Yuuri looked only very slightly chastened. Victor shifted from foot to foot.

He cleared his throat. “I eventually told the dwarves I wanted to take your body back to my castle -" 

“Excuse me?”

“- where your sister is, because that is also where the diplomatic meeting with my father is currently taking place!” Victor added, quickly. He appeared as though he wanted nothing but for the story to end immediately, and rather regretful that he had gone into any detail at all.

“As we were moving your coffin, I may have accidentally dropped you.” The pink in Victor’s cheeks, having mostly faded over the course of the relation, was back in full force. "The piece of fruit lodged in your throat fell out of your mouth and you woke up by yourself. You –” 

He cut himself off. Then he made a gesture with his hand, to show that he had concluded.

“When I woke up, “ Yuuri said, watching Victor’s face carefully, “I scared you, didn’t I?”

Victor bristled. “I think it’s fair to say you scared everyone.” He threaded a hand through his bangs, pushing his hair back, perhaps to disguise the real purpose of hiding part of his blushing face with his arm.

Receding hairline, Yuuri thought, rather unkindly, but then again, Victor had dropped him.

“Well, thank you, regardless,” Yuuri said finally, and the stretch of silence that preceded wasn’t as long or as uncomfortable as it could have been. The dwarves were right; it was still the direct result of Victor’s actions that he could be standing and talking right now. Had Phichit been there instead of Victor, Yuuri doubted he would have let any of his brothers send him tumbling to the ground.

Then Victor made an aborted movement, like he had wanted to reach out to Yuuri, and all of a sudden Yuuri was remembering too clearly his lessons about royal indebtedness and obligation, an overlapping of voices of teachers, instructors, advisors, all grim with warning, warning against being a prince and beholden.

“What are you going to do now?” Yuuri asked uncertainly, throat dry.

What do I owe you now?

It was surely just the cause of his anxiety, the demon that too often took his thoughts on a voyage through rough uncharted waters and stranded him with no means of return, the demon he had tried all his life to exorcise. But he could hear his father’s voice, ringing, admonishing.

Death before dishonor, it said.

“Yes, what are you going to do now?” a voice cut in, loudly, before Victor could open his mouth. It was Chris, the oldest of the dwarf brothers, making his way over and situating himself between the two of them lazily, like he had always belonged within the conversation. “Yuuri’s quite beautiful, isn’t he?”

Flushed with embarrassment, Yuuri was about to protest, to ask what his appearance had to do with anything, when he felt the small but firm tug at the back of his trousers, behind his knee right above his boot, where he found Chris’s hand gripping him.  

Chris’s eyes, like always, were smiling, and as usual, the edges of his mouth were curled upwards in a non-committal way, but Yuuri stared in wonder at the newfound tightness of Chris’s jaw, a kind of rigidity alarmingly incongruous to the rest of his body, character and way of life as Yuuri knew.

It registered, then, that Chris’s strange way of holding himself in front of Yuuri was not unlike how he had held Yurio behind him when Yuuri first arrived at the cabin, giant and foreign and begging for shelter. Chris gripped him now as he had gripped Yurio, with all the caution and preparedness born from an older sibling’s protective instinct. Chris, who may have lived longer than Yuuri and Victor combined, who must have witnessed things and heard things and whose wariness surely must mean –

“Uh”, Victor said, looking completely lost. He had the panicked air of a person knowing he was being tested, but hadn’t the slightest idea what on. 

“Uh,” he said again, circumspect, eyes darting from Chris to Yuuri, as if they would somehow spare him and surrender the answer.

“Well?” said Chris, unrelenting, lifting an impatient eyebrow.

“I suppose? He’s…cute,” Victor eventually decided. He hastily turned to address Yuuri directly, so as to avoid further discourtesy. “You’re cute?” he said, bemusement still evident, all ungainly limbs and fidgeting, and Yuuri understood that when Victor looked at him, he saw someone with eyes still too big, a face still too round, and a heart too willing to open itself to the world.

He sees me as a child, Yuuri thought.

The feeling in his chest, Yuuri realized, was relief. 

“I’d like to give you a ride back to my place, where you can reunite with Queen Mari.” Victor paused. He was still eying Chris nervously. For all that he was three times the height of a dwarf, he appeared to be extremely intimidated. “If that’s what you want.” 

“It is,” Yuuri said. Chris’s grip on him had loosened. “Thank you.” 

 And for the first time since he had awoken, Yuuri smiled at Victor, a gesture Victor hesitantly returned. The warmth that blossomed beneath Yuuri’s ribs was gratitude, and it was genuine.

Fifteen years later, Victor Nikiforov would look back to that time he accidentally brought Katsuki Yuuri back to life as one of the most stressful experiences in his life, and he would laugh.

And then he would tell anyone who would listen that their falling in love had nothing to do how he saved Yuuri from his enchanted sleep, for the two of them would not find love in each other until years later, when Yuuri’s kind and open heart became less of something to nostalgically envy and more of something to wonder at and admire.

No, their marriage – when it eventually happened – had little to do with duty or obligation (and here, Victor would make a face) or even gratefulness, but instead everything to do with how Victor won the heart of his beautiful, headstrong prince over bit by bit, one diplomatic meeting at a time, one romantic gesture after another, until seduction lost its purpose.

End

[ltleflrt]

Hey Carrie! You talked a little the other day about writers' tendency to start a fic too early in the story, and how you see a lot of first scenes that could have been scrapped to improve the story. My question is if you have some tips to recognize while writing that first scene that you are starting too early in the story?

Hello friend!

That's a really good question, and I'll see if I can give an answer that makes sense. I am not a professional, and I'm not educated or trained in this stuff, it's just something that I recognize from years and years and years of voracious reading. And as with all writing advice, I encourage you to take what I'm going to say with a grain of salt and remember that no writing rule is a hard rule, only a guideline.

Also, my advice is going to be pertaining fanfiction, and specifically to AUs. Obviously a published book has an editor with a razor blade going through a manuscript for you, and the problems that bother me in fanfiction crop up in AUs more than Canonverse.

Oh, and every instance of "you" is general, not specific 😜

So I think the main problem that I see is that people are starting with an Info Dump. An Info Dump is not always a bad thing, sometimes it's completely necessary, but it is NOT where you want to start your story. If it absolutely has to be done, it's better to be somewhere in the middle or near the end. When it's something that your characters need to know.

That's an important bit: Do your characters need to know this?

And related to that: Does your audience need to know this for the story to make sense?

And very important follow up: If the answers to the above questions are yes, does the character/audience need to know this RIGHT NOW?

There's a lot of information about your story that YOU need to know. Heck, my notes files are full of sooooooo much stuff that I know about the characters and plot that never reaches the final product.

So when you're reading your first chapter (I say reading, not writing, because sometimes info dumping for your own benefit is good, and then you fix it before you share the story lol), ask yourself those two questions.

So for example:

In an AU where Dean is a tattoo artist, and it's his POV. The story starts with Dean driving to work, and when he gets there he's going to find out that the empty shop next door has been purchased and is going to be a yoga studio. He meets Castiel out front, up on a ladder trying to hang a hand painted sign, and some teens go running buy and knock into the ladder and Dean has to catch Castiel from falling. (Anyone who wants to adopt this idea is welcome to it btw, I would love to read this lol)

The mistake I often see in a first chapter like this is that as Dean is walking to work, there's a whole Info Dump about why he's a tattoo artist instead of a hunter. He'll be ambling along, thinking about his nice little business, and there's info about how his mom died in a fire, and his dad was a jerk, and Dean didn't go to college because he saved his money for Sammy's college fund, and Dean's only passion was art, and Bobby Singer introduced him to a tattoo shop owner who took Dean under his wing, etc.

Question 1, does your character need to know this?: Why is Dean reflecting on his past? Does Castiel need to know this information in order to build a romance with Dean?

Question 2, does your audience need to know this?: Why does this information matter? If Dean's only reflecting on this because you want to make sure your audience knows where the timeline changed and this became an AU, then you're starting too early in your story. Dean doesn't need to know this, and honestly in a lot of cases the reader doesn't need to know this. This is information that should have been left in your notes file.

Question 3, does the character/audience need to know this NOW?: If this information is pertinent to the plot, like maybe there's some trauma there that Castiel might need to know about to develop their relationship, then you don't want to put it HERE, you want to put it in a conversation with Castiel LATER.

If I was writing this AU, I would just start with Dean sipping his coffee, he's kinda tired because reasons, he looks up to see an unusual commotion, and has to drop his coffee and sprint forward to catch Cas. If he's reflecting on anything in this scene, it's going to be whatever made him tired, or how good/bad the coffee is this morning. Since Cas is a new business owner, they can talk about the origins of Dean's business on their first date, because it'll be a relevant response to Castiel talking about the origins of his yoga studio.

And just in general, if Dean's origin story includes a lot of canon elements, like mom dying in a fire, dad being a deadbeat, Sammy being the adorable overachieving Stanford student.... try to hide that info for as long as you can so that the audience is actually curious about it by the time the info might pop up. It's the wild divergences that are more interesting earlier on.

Okay, and then I want to talk about my giant pet peeve for a starting chapter. It's a specific kind of info dump, that often includes the stuff from above, but then goes a step further.

My nemesis, The Daily Grind.

I haven't asked the authors, so I could be wrong about this, but I feel like most of the time when this type of chapter is included in a story it is because the author wants to show the reader that the character's life is boring and meaningless before the plot's inciting incident. I can absolutely see why that might be considered an important detail about the character, but keep in mind if it's boring and meaningless to the character, it's boring and meaningless to your audience.

You know how I said earlier that writing tips should never be hard and fast rules? Well this is in regards to that Show Don't Tell rule, and it's an example of TOO MUCH showing lol

It is possible to do a daily grind in an interesting way, but only if you include a Shake Up right away. And you have to look at the 3 questions a little bit differently.

So for example:

Castiel POV, and he works in an office. His daily routine is to always get up at the same time every day, he goes for his run, he grooms himself, he has his breakfast, he goes to work and talks to Kelly about how Jack's doing in kindergarten for a few minutes before going into his office. Adler comes in to be a prick, Castiel hates him for it, and then he does his reports, has lunch hiding in a corner of the lunch room so that his co-workers will leave him alone, he does more reporting, leaves an hour after his shift technically ends, goes home to a lonely apartment that maybe includes a pet who is the only being that shows him affection, has an unsatisfying dinner of leftover takeout while watching a mindless reality tv show, then he goes to bed.

Ugh.

BORING.

Which, yeah I get it, the point is that his life is boring. But now the story is too, and I've clicked the back button before I can see how exciting it's capable of getting.

Question 1, does your character need to know this?: No. He knows. Poor thing definitely already knows.

Question 2, does your audience need to know this?: Yes, but...

Question 3, does the character/audience need to know this NOW?: Yes, but new question for ya:

Optional Question 4, why does this need to be separate from your plot's inciting incident? The answer to this 4th question is usually that it doesn't.

Chapter 2 of this type of beginning usually shows the shake up of Castiel's day. My advice is to start with the shakeup, and sprinkle in the details of what you would have put into chapter 1 to show the contrast. It's far more interesting to learn how boring Castiel's day is by starting with the shake up.

So, same scenario:

Castiel's alarm doesn't go off for some reason, OH NO HIS ROUTINE IS SHAKEN UP! You're explaining his routine while also stressing him the fuck out because he has to rush, or skip something that he normally needs to do. Action! Interesting! He gets to work late, and has to miss his conversation with Kelly about Jack because she's telling him that Adler's already in his office being a prick because Castiel isn't there waiting for him like he always is. Oh shit, he's pissing off his asshole boss! Conflict! He's so flustered by the shakeups that he misses something on his report, and he gets a call from that new marketing guy Dean Winchester who asks if they can have a meeting about it when Castiel normally takes his lunch. BAM! MEET CUTE OPPORTUNITY! While Castiel is getting all flustered by how pretty Dean is while they talk about TPS reports, he can reflect on how this is both better and worse than hiding from his co-workers in the corner of the lunch room. The rest of the day after that meeting he's thinking about how weird this day is, he still goes home an hour late, he talks to his pet about his weird day when he gets home, and maybe he still eats leftover takeout, but he's not paying attention to the reality tv show because holy shit he wants to count Dean's freckles.

In this example, you're Telling the audience about Castiel's normal routine instead of Showing them. But since it's during a plot heavy chapter, it works!

Lemme see if I can TL:DR this...

As you're reading, ask yourself who needs to know this information, why do they need to know this information, and why is it important for this information to be included early instead of later?

If the answer to any of those questions boils down to "this is backstory" instead of "this kicks off the plot", then you've started too early.

I hope this helps? I'm always nervous about giving writing advice because so much of the time I have no idea what I'm doing, and I'm just feeling around in the dark. And I definitely do not ever want to hurt an author's feelings, because this hobby is so fucking hard, and we're all fragile. Even authors who welcome con-crit with open arms will have a weak point that they're unaware of that might get poked wrong and cause a crack, ya know?

I hope anyone who gets this far who might see their own works reflected in my examples understands that I have a lot of respect for their ability to put their work out into the world, and I want them to keep doing it. We're here to have fun, okay? Okay. I love y'all 💜

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #16: Arash

Welcome back to Fate and Phantasms, where we’re bringing every servant in FGO to life in D&D 5e! Today we’re building Arash the Archer, a.k.a. that guy that you use for exactly one turn while farming hands. For this build, we have two goals in mind.

High burst damage.

You need to be tough. You wouldn’t know it thanks to his NP killing him most of the time, but Arash is a pretty beefy guy. He easily has the highest HP of all the 1 star archers.

We would  include the whole “killing yourself” thing in this build, but it turns out D&D doesn’t appreciate the fine art of disposeability like FGO does. The only options for self damage I could find were Berserkers, which don’t mesh with ranged builds, and Blood Hunters, which don’t do enough damage to be all that applicable.

As usual, a quick rundown of the build can be found here, and a more detailed explanation will be below the cut.

Background and Race

You are a Variant Human, because we need that feat, giving you +1 Dexterity and +1 Strength, as well as proficiency in Persuasion. For your feat, grab Sharpshooter, letting you attack without disadvantage at long range with your bow, ignore half and 3/4 cover, and especially important for this build, take a -5 on ranged attack rolls for a +10 to damage.

You are a Soldier, fighting for  King Manuchehr (or whoever your DM decides is lore-appropriate). This gives you proficiency in Athletics and Intimidation, the latter of which doesn’t really fit you as a person, but we’ll just have to live with that. I mean, you won’t, but w/e.

Stats

As always, we use the standard array here, but feel free to roll if you want to. I’d say make sure you keep multiclassing in mind, but if you mess this up that would mean you didn’t roll a single stat over 13, so you’d probably just want to start over at that point. Put your highest stat in Dexterity. You’re more buff than nimble, but D&D doesn’t play like that with bowmen. Next is Constitution, you’re tough and resistant to poison. Not mechanically resistant, but... anyway then get Strength, because I mean look at those biceps. Follow that with Charisma, because you managed to convince multiple people that Arash Airlines was a good idea. Put Intelligence next, you’re not dumb, but not smart either. Finally, dump Wisdom, because you also thought Arash Airlines was a good idea.

Piety

With the new Theros book, WotC introduced a more in-depth Piety system. just pick a god and pray! Obviously you’ll have to hash out details with your DM about how this will work, but if you can talk them into it base your god of choice on Pharika. At 3+ piety you gain the option to use Ray of Sickness a number of times equal to your wisdom modifier (minimum 1) per long rest, using your Wisdom as the spellcasting ability. At 10+ piety, we get to the real reason we’re here, an advantage against being poisoned, and immunity to disease. At 25+ piety you can pick one of two options as a touch action, either healing someone for 1d8 + wis modifier and curing them of one disease or poison, or inflicting a dc 15 constitution save, causing their weapon attacks to deal half damage for one minute on a failure. The target can repeat their save at the end of each turn. You can use these touch abilities a number of times equal to your wisdom modifier (minimum 1) per long rest. Finally, at 50+ piety, you can add 2 to either your dexterity or wisdom, and increase your maximum by 2 as well for the chosen stat.

Since this is a new feature, and requires a bit of worldbuilding to work in a game, we won’t include this in the final writeup of the build, but it’s something to talk to your DM about, and tying your character into the world is never a bad thing.

Class Levels

1. Fighter 1: As a fighter, you gain proficiencies in Perception, Survival, and Strength and Constitution saves. You also gain a fighting style, pick Archery for a +2 to ranged attack rolls, and Second Wind, letting you heal yourself as a bonus action for 1d10 + your fighter level once per short rest.

2. Fighter 2: You get an Action Surge, giving you another action in a turn once per short rest. It’s almost an extra turn, but not quite.

3. Fighter 3: You become a Champion of the people, giving you an Improved Critical that doubles your odds of getting a critical hit.

4. Fighter 4: Use your first Ability Score Improvement to grab the Medium Armor Master feat. Technically you could use heavy armor, but medium armor fits your spirit origin better, and now you don’t have disadvantage on sneak rolls because of it, and you can add 3 instead of 2 to your AC if your dexterity is high enough (spoilers: it is).

5. Fighter 5: You get an Extra Attack, giving you two attacks with an attack action, and meaning your chance at critting each turn has been quadrupled.

6. Rogue 1: Rogue doesn’t really fit your character that much, but that sneak attack damage is just too good to pass up on. First level rogues get Expertise, doubling the proficiency bonus of two skills (Athletics and Survival), Sneak Attack, adding extra damage to attacks made with advantage or with other party members standing next to the target, Thieve’s Cant a secret language between thieves, and proficiency with one skill from the rogue’s gallery (Insight) and Thieves’ Tools. 

7. Rogue 2: At second level you get a Cunning Action, letting you dash, disengage, or hide as a bonus action. A growing amount of your damage is tied to sneak attacks, so being able to hide is useful if you’re trying to snipe someone all on your lonesome.

8. Rogue 3: Third level rogues pick a specialty, your’s is as an Assassin. This gives you proficiency with the Disguise and Poisoner’s Kits. (Again, there’s no mechanical use for the latter, so maybe you could use it to make antidotes?) You also get the power to Assassinate. You have advantage on attacks against creatures that haven’t acted in combat yet, and if you hit a surprised creature it’s an automatic critical hit. Assassinations are not really your thing, but dealing a ton of damage turn 1 and then being way less useful afterwards absolutely is.

9. Rogue 4: Use your Ability Score Improvement to empower your Dexterity for better bow attacks.

10. Rogue 5: You gain an Uncanny Dodge, letting you react to halve damage from attacks you see coming.

11. Fighter 6: Use your next Ability Score Improvement to grab the Tough feat, adding 2 hp per level and adding an additional 2 hp each time you level up. Your body isn’t weak, your bow arm is just that strong.

12. Fighter 7: As a champion, you become a Remarkable Athlete, letting you add half your proficiency (rounded up) to any physical check you aren’t already proficient in. Also, your long jump distance in increased by your strength modifier. Remember: Initiative is a dexterity check!

13. Fighter 8: Use your next Ability Score Improvement to max out your Dexterity. This means your bow is almost as deadly as it’s ever going to get, for both you and your enemies.

14. Fighter 9: You get one use of Indomitable per long rest, meaning you can reroll a failed saving throw.

15. Fighter 10: You get another fighting style. Grab Defense for one extra AC point.

16. Fighter 11: You now have a third attack attached to each action, thanks to another Extra Attack. I’m not a mathematician, but more arrows = more crits = more dead. It’s just science.

17. Fighter 12: Use your Ability Score Improvement to beef up your Constitution for some sweet, sweet, retroactive HP boost.

18. Fighter 13: Grab a second use of Indomitable per long rest.

19. Fighter 14: Use your last Ability Score Improvement for some more Constitution.

20. Fighter 15: 15th level champions get a Superior Critical, meaning every attack roll crits on a 18, 19, or 20 for a lot of crits and a lot of damage.

Pros: You have very high physical saves, high AC, and a lot of health, so you’ll probably be able to stick around in a fight for quite a while, especially as a ranged fighter. You have a +8 to initiative, so you’ll usually be high on the list, and when you go first you’ll be able to do quite a bit of damage. Unfortunately sneak attacks are only once per turn, but 3-6 crits in the opening round of combat is nothing to sneeze at. Assuming you use sharpshooter and your action surge you’ll be doing an average of over 150 damage in a single round of combat. That feels pretty Stella-ish to me.

Cons: Your soft skills could use some work, especially your int and wisdom. It’s a good thing you have indomitable, because you’re probably going to need that a lot. You also don’t have any innate magical damage, so higher level enemies will give you a lot of trouble, unless your DM gives you a break.

In short: Wreck shop the first turn, then mop up the stragglers in the second. Try to avoid any evil bards and you should be fine.

[strawberryybird]

a handy basic compliment builder

IDK about y’all but i’ve been reading 20x the fic I was a month ago, mostly at 2am when i can’t sleep and i’m holding my phone on a 45° angle to keep the screen from turning. and because i’m reading ungodly amounts of fic after the sun sets, I forget to comment, and I like being able to comment coherent compliments. So! I made a comment builder. 

I struggle for 85 reasons in a trench coat to comment on fics - it’s something i find really hard! genuinely really hard! One of the pertinent reasons being I’m dyslexic, and I can read a fic, love it, and then read other comments and realise I’ve accidentally read a very different version of the fic than they all did. So I keep my comments short, vague in my love and specific in what i love, and overtly positive! This isn’t a rigid structure to be followed at all times! This is my own personal style, that I thought I would share! by all means, adapt it to your own style! :)

Welcome to my ‘Victoria Sponge Compliment’ method! It, like a victoria sponge cake, has 4 main parts: ‘Adjective of Positivity’, ‘Favourite Thing’, ‘Why I Liked That Thing’, and ‘Thank you’. 

(I write this to be fic-commenting specific, but replace the some of the language like ‘dialogue’ to ‘colour choice’ and you’ve got yourself a handy-dandy art compliment method too!)

1. The Cake: Adjective of Positivity: what adjective will I use to encapsulate the likely emotional roller-coaster the fic sent me on? With longfic, angst and assorted serious topics, I tend to stick to more formal adjectives, but with comedy, I end up leaning more towards informal words. but that’s a me problem. here’s a handy list:

great, amazing, brilliant, fantastic, ‘so so good’, awesome, ‘my heart can’t take it!’ excellent, ‘every second was enjoyable’, delightful, enchanting, ‘OH the Emotions! I loved it!’

The point of this isn’t to reduce the amount of love you feel, it’s really just to start off the comment in a really positive way. I’ve read some old exchanged between reader and author where the reader doesn’t actually say they Liked the fic until halfway down a comment chain! so i like to be upfront with my love! 

2. The Jam: A Favourite Thing: character/quote/scene/emotion provoked

You liked all of it? absolutely say so in as many iterations as you please! You liked a couple of things really strongly? Pick them out and say so! the author probably loved writing them!

Maybe it’s a poignant quote that made you stand up and walk around the house before opening back up the fic? the way Ferdinand’s speech was phrased just so perfectly? the way the mutual pining unraveled like string? the part where you laughed harder than you have all day? The hilarious 2 lines of dialogue you’ve been repeating to yourself for the last week?

i like to just pick the one thing at first, quantify it, and compliment it. that leads the way to add More Awesome Things i liked in the fic!!

3. The Cream: say WHY you liked it!!

now this is the part I struggle with most! because there’s so much to say! So I go as specific as I can:  Rather than comment on Everything in the fic, I say why I liked The Jam^ above. Pick the one thing, and go from there.

Maybe it fell completely in line with how you see Ferdinand’s character, and you loved seeing your interpretation corroborated in the author’s work? Maybe the mutual pining made it really entertaining? Maybe it shone new light on characters for you, and now you love them dearly? Maybe the humour was top notch and you laughed the most you have in a week, or maybe the angst was exactly what you needed to read that day?

Maybe the descriptions of the settings were so visceral? Maybe you loved the detail, it made it feel so real? Maybe you discovered a new format, or structure, and you loved how unique it was? Maybe you liked the references to classical works? Maybe you loved the humourous narrative voice? 

Was the yearning tangible? Did your heart skip a metaphorical beat? Did you shed a tear? Was it cathartic? Did it bring you joy? Did it brighten your day? Did you accidentally spend your evening reading the whole thing, and now suddenly it’s 3am and you didn’t mean to cry about fictional people, but here you are?? (a mood), those emotions it made you feel – that’s worth saying!

My approach to this part tends to end up being about ‘This made me Feel Emotions and i Loved that.’ and that’s fine! 

4. Cake Again: say thank you!! :)

‘Thank you for sharing your work’, ‘i’m so glad i got to read this today’, ‘this was so much fun to read, thank you!’, ‘thank you so so much op!!’, ‘brilliant way to spend my afternoon!’ ‘your work brightened my day!’ ‘this made me so happy to read! thank you!’

you can indeed add a note about future work! I tend to favour things like: ‘thank you for all the work so far, looking forward to seeing what happens next!’, “i’m so invested in this fic lmao, see you in the next chapter!’ or something else if the author doesn’t explicitly say ‘don’t ask me for updates’. I want to be extra-polite about it, and emphasis how much I liked the work that exists already!

But this doesn’t include con-crit, or have any space to give negative or constructive feedback! why? Now that’s a whole separate post. In brief, I don’t like to give con-crit when it isn’t explicitly asked for. there’s many posts out there debating this exact thing, and this isn’t a post about that. this is for building simple, basic compliments. You’ll also notice that it’s all positive feedback. That’s because I don’t comment on fic I don’t like.. that’s not exactly the energy I want to have in the world. use this victoria sponge metaphor for good, ya know?

You’ll notice this is incredibly basic, and something more akin to the essay paragraph structure my teachers spent 3 years battling to get me to write with. That’s both correct and intentional. This is the best balance I’ve been able to strike between coming off heartfelt and genuine, and short enough that I can write and send it in less than 120 seconds before my fear and lack of energy get the better of me. There’s nothing wrong with ‘I loved this, thank you!’, but sometimes I want to brave the fear of commenting and, overall, say thank you. That’s what it all comes down to because, as a writer, someone telling me how many emotions my work gave them is an indescribably wonderful feeling. and I want to share that joy! and also I really wanted to use a cake metaphor.

Finally, if you’re unfamiliar, the Long Live Feedback project on tumblr is an Excellent resource, and I encourage everyone to poke around and have a look at the wonderful work they do! also the blog ao3commentoftheday is an excellent blog who discusses comments, commenting convention, and all round fic writing!

Happy Commenting, enjoy the cake, and thanks for reading!

[pig-feathers]

"Absolute Savagery"

Second digital work, finished! A little con badge for my nesting partner, should this dreadful plague ever pass and cons are a thing again 🥺🤞🏻

I'm really pleased with how this turned out and surprised how much digital painting can mimic the "real" thing once you've got a good grasp of how the program works. Crits and tips are welcome! Thanks for looking!

[kimikotsuki]

Fandom discourse and culture has changed a lot over the years and I always try to err on the side of caution whenever possible.

The reasons writers create and share their work are varied and diverse: maybe they're trying to improve their writing and welcome advice, sometimes it's all about the ~ S Q U E E ~ because you loved the show/character and wants them in more situations, sometimes the reason is the ~ R A G E ~ about the direction canon took and you plan to murder it and use it's blood to re-write the story; this is more an illustrative than exhaustive list and sometimes there'll even be multiple reasons at once of course.

And sometimes, those reasons do not match or go well with any type of criticism, even well intentioned, constructive ones.

I saw an post on Tumblr that ilustrated very well another reason why one shouldn't simply assume that con-crit is welcome: if you go watch an amateur performance (in the most literal sense of the word of non-remunarated, regardless of quality of performance), one won't immediately presume afterwards to go to the artist and start critiquing it.

At the same time, I wholeheartedly think that one of the most wonderful, unique possibilities of fandom is the capacity for collaborative work between the authors of a story that is being posted as it's written and it's readers, culminating in an end product with quality that ends up being more refined than otherwise it would've been.

That type of interaction is even sometimes one of the main reasons people write fics, to not only create something, but also to share the act of that creation.

That works almost like making all the readers of a fic into beta-readers and can be a wonderful thing, but the post argued that the work done by betas is analogous to editing in published works, and that such a relationship is based on built trust, so while yeah, that dynamic between writer and all their readers could work, assuming and simply barging in is generally more harmful than productive.

When I adopted that new reasoning, I debated whether or not I should then mark all my bookmarks on AO3 as Private and make them inaccessible to anyone else, but in the end opted not to, mainly because even though I mainly write them for my future self, I also feel other readers can benefit a lot from knowing how the experience of someone who liked a work enough to rec it went, specially if while reading that fic they stumbled upon things they didn't like.

If there's one thing I learned from over 15 years of reading fics is that my tastes change over the years, and sometimes it's not even about the quality of the writing itself or even the progression of how polemic subjects are treated at any given time, but rather the moment that I am in changes how I receive the same work, such that tagging a certain work as one worth reading again later with no contextual information on the vibe I was riding when I did that will inevitably lead to a disappointment that is frankly an overreaction on my part.

That happened somewhat recently with a Frostiron fic I read a long time ago, in a moment where I was squeeing like crazy over the pairing (and it was a work of squee, so we matched really well) and it got on my list, but years later, when I was feeling nostalgic over the pairing and went to read my list of besties, the expectation I had was so great that the dichotomy between my experience back then and the one in the re-read were terribly big, even though it was a well written fic, squee and all, and the only real difference was that *I* wasn't squeeing over the pairing anymore.

And at the same time, I found that, in a way, this managing of expectations I do primarily for myself when I create a rec with the bad points of a fic that I loved can also be helpful for others, because even if it doesn't fit 100% since we're different people, I always thought the best recs I've always found were the ones that stated what were the cons of any given story, because those cons might not be something that bothered me like it bothered them or it even might end up being somewhat bothersome to me, but the pros outweigh them and, because I went in expecting to find those things, there's no disappointment in it, so they end up bothering me a lot less then it could've.

The other reason I eventually settled on not making my bookmarks private was actually because of those authors that seek improvement and welcome constructive criticism from all the readers who are invested in their story and value their thoughts and experiences while reading their work, because while yes, better to err on the side of caution and not go offering advice and opinions were those are not wanted, if we let that completely rule everything we do in fandom there will be a lot of loss in regards of this constructive, dynamic and interactive aspect so characteristic and wonderful to this type of media.

I know authors can have access to the bookmarks made of their fics, but unlike comments, it's not quite a space exclusively dedicated to them or even for interactions between reader/author.

In a lot of aspects, I'd even go as far as saying it's a space primarily for readers: it's not something that will culminate in a email sent to the author's mailbox, it serves mostly for filtering and ordering purposes (like when you're looking for fics to read and apply a filter to show only fics with a certain number of bookmarks or to order the fics shown from the greater to the least number of bookmarks) and also so readers can, reading these bookmarks, have a better idea on what's to expect from a work from different readers with different personalities and world views and ways to pereceive what was written.

And since it's a space the author *can* have access to *if* they want, it's possible for them to look at that place to see that con-crit while, at the same time, not being a place where that con-crit will get shoved in their faces if they *don't want it* and as such it seemed to me to be an overall respectfull and good compromise between those two points that seemed very important to me, and one of the only way I've found of making it known if that type of interaction is welcome, I'd be happy to head over to their comments and talk there.

If I'm marking it as a rec and commenting, I'm doing it because I think that fic absolutely is one of the best stories that I had the pleasure to read; however, the number of characters allowed in a bookmark rec are limited, so if I end up putting into it anything besides an incoherent keyboard smash, those things are going to be whatever points I feel are very important to keep in mind whenever starting to read it so that reading experience is the most enjoyable possible both for my future self who's going to look at that besties list and decide on what to read again as well as first time readers who might have seen the rec and will go in knowing somethings that, by their nature, don't tend to be things we tag for; they will have mostly what amounts to con-crit, so if you welcome this type of interaction or if the rec I made is bothering you in anyway, I urge you to get in contact with me through the fic mail I linked in my AO3 profile.

This post is getting linked there because the profile section doesn't allow enough characters for everything that I had to say about the subject.

As soon as I see the email, I'll either be happy to either tag the bookmark as Private so it won't be visible to anyone but myself if it bothered you or head over to your comments section so we can talk better about the points I raised if this type of interaction is something you welcome.

[redshoesnblueskies]

from my 2020 Faves & Saves update page:  Fanfic culture, AO3 origins going right back to strikethrough, fandom history.....

SO. MANY. LINKS.

so many goodies under the cut!

these are all links to my tumblr - i did not write very many of them, but i know my links will remain the same and not be lost :)

The master post of upholding and celebrating fanfic, by @inkandcayenne :

‘I think fanfiction is literature and literature, for the most part, is fanfiction, and that anyone that dismisses it simply on the grounds that it’s derivative knows fuck-all about literature and needs to get the hell off my lawn.’

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/621654927974055936/inkandcayenne-tywinning-asked-you-2012-08-09

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HISTORY OF FANDOM CULTURE FROM LJ TO AO3

'What you are doing when you say “If you don’t want crit, don’t post your story” is gatekeeping, and in a REALLY harmful way. Without fans creating work (fanfiction or art or meta), there is no fandom. You’re not only saying “you can’t be in fandom if you don’t want to be hurt” you’re actively calling for fandom to be cut down. That’s a bad thing. Fandom needs creator content in order to exist and grow.’

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/186058432379/so-if-youve-watched-my-general-meltdown-about

Foz: straight dudes of the world…read fanfic:

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179230785234/fozmeadows-totallyevillisa

foz: on depression and hurt/comfort

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179230730609/on-depression-and-hurtcomfort

fantastic Foz posts from a while ago, addressing the ‘well just censor content and then you’re not godless heathens’ fallacy…

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179230530849/fantastic-foz-posts-from-a-while-ago-addressing

Fanfiction & Capitalism, and Why I Think They Are Related [TW for homophobia, mentions of sexual violence, capitalism]

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179230748619/fanfiction-capitalism-and-why-i-think-they-are

Fair use is authorized by law

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179230721574/fyeahcopyright-heidi8-fair-use-is-wholly

fantastic breakdown of the sociology that led from LJ community culture to tumblr anonymous disconnected culture:

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/611096897406615552/kanna-ophelia-taraljc-kanna-ophelia

'The Places Fandom Dwells: A cautionary Tale’ - EXCELLENT, LOTS OF LINKS

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179355549419/the-places-fandom-dwells-a-cautionary-tale

'It just kills me when writers create franchises where like 95% of the speaking roles are male, then get morally offended that all of the popular ships are gay. It’s like, what did they expect?’

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/173587593934/bonehandledknife-feynites-theskaldspeaks

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BIG AO3 POSTS - HISTORY OF FANDOM

great breakdown of stats on how HUGE AO3 actually is…

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179230519234/why-are-people-still-up-in-arms-about-ao3-needing

another breakdown of how huge AO3 is & intricate skills required to run it

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179336300829/hey-ao3-can-you-like-give-the-extra-38k-you-made

AO3 is in the top 300 biggest websites in the WORLD/how a huge site like this works

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179230400619/hey-ao3-can-you-like-give-the-extra-38k-you-made

origin story of AO3 - very sweet  (10th anniversary of AO3)

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179230398054/on-the-ao3-all-these-years-later

this blogger remembers when we didn’t have AO3

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179391607249/this-blog-is-unrepentantly-pro-ao3

adults built fandom - who runs cons? who runs AO3 & the legal team at OTW? codes the servers?

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179430883009/naryaflame-vanimore-askragtatter-rsasai

“AO3 IS OUR SITE.  It is by fans, for fans. Fans do all the coding. All the legal paperwork. All the abuse/tos violation complaints. Fans make all the choices about policies. Fans decide how to run the fundraisers. Fans write the blog posts. All the volunteer staff are fans; all the people who train them are fans. Fans wrangle all the tags.”

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/188239677029/purge-of-2002-of-2012-what-are-those

'Certain people are screaming that AO3 is bad because it’s not a “safe space.” The real problem they have, though, is that AO3 was created to be a safe space - for writers.’

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/165199049719/rapacityinblue-kaciart-rocket-sith

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FANDOM HISTORY & CULTURE

copperbadge - fandom dad explains concrit & why it’s not welcome without specific request

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/186983936704/question-as-an-oldster-and-fandom-lurker-since

fanfic/fanart is a gift - respect it in the way you respect something freely given

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/187512037844/trickztr-friendly-reminder-that-fan-made

'Toxic Fandom: Chen Criticism and Entitlement Go Too Far’

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179392060549/toxic-fandom-when-criticism-and-entitlement-go

an explanation of the anti’s as very damaged authoritarianism

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179230513414/freedom-of-fanfic-freedom-of-fanfic

why do fangirls always make them gay?

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/162428018414/why-do-fangirls-always-make-them-gay

fandom history through the ages and across continents

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/129594965539/teashoesandhair-ogress-jhameia

one of several versions of a HUGE history post educating people on why we need a non-censored AO3 & why this is vital (and how misinformed many fans are)

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179230393414/theothersarshi-redshoesnblueskies

another version: https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/173741270214/grison-in-space-veronica-rich

conversation on AO3 tagging (plus being screwed by censorship

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179391926284/except-that-no-one-uses-tags-like-fetishized

how AO3 is run by volunteer & how to volunteer yourself

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179230390519/in-kind

Ao3 fund drive post that goes into why they don’t censor

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179230054009/anarfea-anarfea-people-keep-asking-how-can

what 'Archive of Our Own’ refers to

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179136825394/what-archive-of-our-own-refers-to

AO3’s transparent financial reporting & a good rant

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179136341494/ao3-donation-drive

a short explanation of LJ strikethrough

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179124456874/telarna-meeedeee-bomberqueen17-i-just

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LIGHTER FARE

origin of the ! - the “bang path’ in fandom pairings :D

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/118991314994/hey-whats-up-with-the-in-fandoms-ie-fat

can we PLEASE have an AO3 rating system for books & media?? pleeeeease???  here’s some thoughts on how:

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/119377580254/crowd-sourced-content-warnings-at-book-stores

LJ was my initial experience of examining how fic fits into these huge gaps left by conventional writing, media and daily IRL conversation/education - the kind of healing that fic can bring to both individuals and a collective body of both knowledge and healthy questioning of assumptions about sexuality as a whole.  I mean, the kind of absolutely common place knowledge about consent, power dynamics, experimentation to determine what one’s own sexuality looks like, and the the options available is extraordinary.  To have that breadth and depth of knowledge presented in an often beautifully creative format; where you could discuss with the author and other readers anything included in the fic and what it meant to both literature and real life, as well as all things fannish that one’s wild imagination could come up with…. good god what I would have given for that information as a teen.  

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/122835116349/bonehandledknife-redshoesnblueskies

Fandom Is…. (poem)

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/124514359704/fandom-is-focus-fandom-is-obsession-fandom-is

Can fandom bring back the concept of a squick? Pleeeease?

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/126342903959/can-fandom-bring-back-the-concept-of-a-squick

'so don’t pretend it can’t be done, author dudes, because there’s a million fangirls who can write lyric filthy devastating character-revealing plot-advancing poetic tender wall-slamming trope-inverting panting sweaty trope-embracing aching crying sex…..and can do it far far better than you.’

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/124171180589/sex-is-hard-to-write-about-because-you-lose-the

'It’s just fanfic…’

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/126188502159/its-just-fan-fic

“Ship means something you want to see happen.” Bitch, no it don’t.

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179234734799/pyrebomb-ship-means-something-you-want-to-see

why can you sell fanart, but not fanfic??

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/128782763684/legal-side-of-tumblr-can-you-answer-me-a

humor: different types of fanfic - in graphics:

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/129402064267/justanotherfmablog-yougothenigo

THE SUFFERING ARTIST CONCEPT IS BULLSHIT AND SHOULD BE BLOWTORCHED:

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/186461152949/zendarkwalkerx-magicianmew-katiecrenshaw

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/166161827744/if-one-more-person-says-what-if-theyd-medicated

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IF YOU’VE MADE IT THIS FAR, YOU DESERVE STARSHIPS (SCROLL DOWN):

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/138038043884/samati-saathi1013-tygermama-zillah975

[ranger-kellyn]

11 Favorite Excerpts

In honor if it being the 11 year anniversary of the first fic I ever posted, Platinum Bound, I thought I’d list out 10 of my favorite excerpts from everything I’ve posted so far, 1 from something I haven’t posted yet, and then kind of just. Talk about it~

As always, feel free to talk to me about any of my fics, no matter how old or new~ I’m very vain~<3

--

1 - Come With Me - Prologue - 03/02/2015 - Completed

A day that was supposed to be filled with sorrow and mourning had turned out to be very lovely. The cold that had long persisted since November had decided to lighten its icy grip on this one day in particular. It was almost a tragedy in itself that the weather failed to match the mood by pouring a relentless downpour. Rain was fit for a funeral. Not sunshine.

The opening to Come With Me has always had a special place in my heart, and while I know my writing has gotten better since then, I always hold up this opening as like...my premium brand, I suppose.  I love the mood the prologue sets up for Siebold’s side of the story.  Mismatched weather.  His parents having the same death date.  A sense of odd relationship dynamics with them.  Clear indication that there’s going to be a lot of conflict with Jean as shown by Diantha, Siebold’d childhood friend, who has a clear disdain towards him.  CWM may not be my BEST WORK, but it’s probably one of my favorites.  ALSO....come on...the restaurant’s name is Apple of The Earth, which is a direct translation of pomme de terre, which is French for potato.  And like???? i just get a little kick out of it every time

--

2 - It Takes Two - 12/16/2014 - Oneshot

Siebold chuckled.  “A water dark type?  My, my.  You’ve already put yourself at a disadvantage. Cress shook his head.  “Don’t give away your secret ingredient just yet, Siebold.  Leave something to the imagination, please,” he teased.

If there is ONE THING I LOVE it’s writing flirty banter for these two, and this fic if full of it.  My first fic for Cress/Siebold, staking my claim on the pool noodle that is this ship.  I AM the captain of this pool noodle

--

3 - Second Chances - Chapter 7 - 06/14/2017 - Ongoing

“It was supposed to be me!” . . . Shaking, she stopped herself in the front hallway.  Looking over the large, glass-famed map, she felt as though she was leaving her own body as she slammed herself against it in a last ditch effort to feel something other than emotional pain.  In an effort to put a physical wound to her emotional one. 

There’s plenty of happier lines from this fic I could choose.  Ch 10 had a section I was considering instead, but I think this emotionally charged section has always stood out for me. I like to generally characterize Cynthia as someone who is in control of her emotions, or at the very least, is very good at compartmentalizing things, but here, she absolutely loses it.  No rationality.  No seeking help.  Just raw pain.  It was supposed to be me. Because it was!  It absolutely was!  In the previous chapter you learn that Diantha had fully intended to propose to her!  But was instead manipulated by her mother and manager into leaving Cynthia.  While Cynthia didn’t know that, we do, and that makes that line so much more painful to me.  I swear.  ONE DAY.  I’ll actually finish this fic.

--

4 - Fortune and Fame - Chapter 1 - 03/23/2016 - Completed

“The best part of that outfit would be taking it off.” Her mouth turns into a smile. “I should think so,” she tells you.

Second person POV is a HUGE pain in the ass, but I still love this silly little fic, and I love this silly little moment EVEN MORE.  What can I say.  I love flirty banter. This whole fic was an absolute experiment, and while it certainly could be better, considering 2POV is not something I regularly work with, I’ve never been too upset with it.

--

5 - Stockholm - Chapter 4 - 06/20/2016 - Ongoing

“You’re my mission and my mission alone.  I don’t need outside help,” he tells me. I catch myself about to laugh.  “Figured you would welcome it seeing as whatever you think you’re doing to me clearly isn’t working.” He moves closer, enough for me to feel the warmth of his body, but it’s only when I think he’s looking at my lips do I come to my senses, pulling my legs up to my person, and pushing back up against the wall. “I would say it’s working just fine.”

i like to think of this fic as me playing in a sandbox.  i don’t REALLY know what i’m doing, but i’m having fun, and that’s all that matters. This is a fic I had been thinking about for the longest time.  I abandoned it back in 2016.  I don’t really remember why, but I posted the first update early this year, and I just.  I’ve been loving it since.  I haven’t played in first person in SUCH a long time, it’s just nice to play in the space, and explore a darker emotion I guess.  Game verse Commander Saturn/Dawn is always a weakness of mine

--

6 - Shadows of My Heart - Chapter 4 - 02/22/2011 - Completed

Looking at Kellyn, I notice that he has taken his jacket off and is now offering it to me. Shaking my head, I tell him that I can't take it, even though I would love nothing more than to take him up on his offer. He walks closer, smiling as he places his jacket over me. Now, the only thing I hear is the sound of the rain bouncing off of Kellyn's jacket, and the sound my own heartbeat. I'd have to be crazy or dead to not be blushing right now, and obviously my pulse is still going…

if you’ve followed me for a few years, you might think this is a weird pick for me.  i complain about it a lot.  i experience a lot of visceral cringe whenever i reread it (Like i did just now searching for a section i liked) But that’s why I like it.  I love having this visible benchmark of where I’ve come from, and where my ideals have shifted to.  I’ve always written Kellyn as my Ideal Man™© and in this fic he is suCH A “NICE GUY” AND IT’S JUST. SO BAD. I’M SO GLAD I’M NOT WITH THE KIND OF PERSON I USED TO WISH I WAS WITH. This fic is, at best, clumsy.  Younger me was venting a LOT of stuff. Everything I put Rhythmi through in the fic, I was dealing with irl, and NOT handling them well.  I never recommend this for reading, but I list it here because it’s like looking in a time capsule.  

--

7 - Washington Blues - Chapter 2 - 04/30/2012 - Abandoned Work

Looking back up at me, the afternoon sun shines on her face.  As if I needed to be reminded that she is very pretty.  “I believe that it is too soon to be giving a definite answer, but,” she pauses to brush some hair behind her ear, “I do believe I am going to like it here.” I nod, liking the answer she has provided.  I put my pink bag over my shoulder, and step down the stairs.  “That’s good to hear.  I do hope you come to love our little band,” I say, putting a little emphasis on “our”.  Hopefully she will start using that term as well.

This fic has been abandoned since 2012, but as I was rereading it just now, I...felt a weird urge to give it a second chance?  Marching band was my EVERYTHING in high school.  It was basically my personality.  It and Homestuck.  If nothing else, I think I might give this fic a redo, because it’s something my younger self would have loved.  I had so many ideas I wanted to explore and I think it would be a fun space to explore. Just reading it I got the most tactile memories of band camp, from the sounds, all the way down to the god awful smells.  One day I’ll give this fic another go, but probably in 3rd person lmao.  Also, it’s kind of funny.  I remember holding this fic up as like.  My Magnum Opus.  I considered chapter 1 to be the BEST thing I had written up to that point. Now? It’s so fucking D RY......and no real person talks like they all do l m a o I love being able to see how far I’ve come. 

--

8 - Hindsight - Sometime Feb 2014?  - Oneshot for an old RP group

This question led him to placing both of his hands in his lap.  “I would never describe her as winter.  It’s the season she hates the most.  From what I’ve gathered during our travels together, understandably so,” he answered, not meeting her eyes. 

While this fic is OLD it holds a very special place in my heart.  I had stopped writing for a while.  For about 2 years nothing I wrote ever really panned out, and joining that RP group was literally the best thing I could have done for my creativity.  It was so much fun, and I met some truly incredible people thanks to it.  Literally, everything I’ve written since I attribute to that group.  <3 I may not talk to most of them anymore, but I have some of the best memories of that time, and I just.  Genuinely don’t think I would have HALF of what I have written now if it hadn’t been for their support.  <3

--

9 - Ours For The Taking - Chapter 2 - 01/28/2012 - Abandoned Work

Killing is in the nature of almost every Pokémon, but we humans have inhibited that out for the most part. It doesn't take much to trigger the instinct though. A couple kills and then they thirst for blood.

Now i know this looks like a WACK ASS PICK.  It’s been abandoned since 2012.  It’s bad.  It’s gore.  It’s bad.  But that’s exactly why I picked it.  That, and I know it would chap Farla’s ass bc she told me years ago how awful this fic was. The whole reason my writing confidence took a blow.  I can look back and know that this fic wasn’t great, but I hate for my younger self that they were knocked down like that.  You can’t learn the boundaries of your writing until you try to push them.  Maybe I could have turned into a great gore/horror writer if I hadn’t been knocked down?  Who knows?  But because of that negative experience, I now approach all comments I leave on fics with “unconditional positive regard”.  I firmly believe if someone wants con-crit they’ll ask for it, and even then, I’m not someone who is going to offer up that criticism.  That’s not my jam.  I’m just here for a good time.  This fic may be bad, but that’s why I love it.  I love how over the top, 2Edgy4me the two chapters are. 

--

10 - Getaway Car - Chapter 5 - 01/01/2019 - Ongoing

Pulling away just enough to make them look at one another, Cynthia looked her over.  She was getting more drunk admissions than she ever thought she would, and she was in no frame of mind to worry about pushing her luck.  “How did that make you feel?” she asked. She let her hand trail down her arm as she spoke.  “Grounded.  Like nothing else in the world mattered except us in that moment.  I wasn’t worried about filming, deadlines, what people might say or think, or– anything, really.  All that mattered was the calm you brought me, and how without meaning to you’ve made me feel like the most important person in the room.”

It’s no secret that Getaway Car is like.  MY BABY.  This is MY FIC.  MY BABY.  I CHERISH THIS FIC FOR SO MANY REASONS. I like venting through characters, and this fic is no exception.  But I loved writing this moment specifically, because it just...I think it encapsulates everything Diantha has been looking for.  She lives a charmed, chaotic life.  Up to that point in the fic, she’s with a man who can’t really be bothered to give her the time of day, but also can’t handle the idea of letting her go.  Without meaning to, without necessarily trying to, Cynthia makes her feel like the most important person in the room.  She grounds her, and someone who lives a star-studded life needs that.  This fic is my baby.  My everything.  It’s probably what I’m known for at this point, and I’m A-OK with that because these two are my everything.  (ALSO, I specifically posted this fic when I did to get Farla to leave me a review, and had a good laugh about it when she did.  My “bat shit crazy” plot device has ended up being my most popular fic~)

--

--

11 - Namtaflu - Chapter _ - Draft from NaNoWriMo 2019

The sound of something rising to the surface of the water attracted everyone’s attention.  Turning their eyes towards the water, one by one, countless Starmie and Staryu began to surface, floating atop the water, their bright gem center’s shining in the moonlight.  “Oh, wow,” Bianca said, holding the Audino closer to herself.  "What are they doing?” Hilbert asked, turning himself so he wasn’t having to strain to look at them.  Cheren shrugged.  “They’ve always done this.” "They’re looking at the stars,” Hilda added.  “It’s what Nona would always tell me.  She said she read it in a book somewhere.  They surface at night to look at the stars, and they’ll even start blinking here soon.”  As she said it, from out in the distance, quick flashes of red began to move along the waves, reminding both her and Cheren of fireflies from further south.  Soon enough, the entire shoreline was filled with the water pokémon blinking away at the stars, almost as if they were communicating with each other, or even something else.  A few Audino continued to sit with them, everyone moved to silence by the display, afraid to make a single noise, not wanting to scare them at all and make them stop.  The display moved in waves, like a heartbeat, ebbing and flowing.  At times they were bright enough to cast a glow onto the shore, and at others it seemed like they had collectively stopped for the night. Once Broadway and Manhattan had decided to retire for the night, the group came to an agreement that it was time they retired for the night as well.  They had stayed up long past sundown, but it had been worth every second.   

I won’t be posting this fic WELL until my three current ongoing fics are completed, but this fic is pretty much everything to me.  I first got the idea for this fic back in 2013, my senior year of high school.  I wrote the first draft my first NaNoWriMo in 2014, and did a second draft of it last year.  This fic has evolved SO MUCH, but this last draft is where I’m REALLY happy with it.  I firmly believe there’s never a “right time” to write a fic, but I also believe this fic absolutely benefited from me not posting it after that first draft.  They’re almost two entirely different stories.  The original had a lot of unhealthy relationship dynamics, and this time, i decided, FUCK THAT, and now it’s a hilda/hilbert/cheren/bianca poly fic ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ I can’t wait for the day when I actually get to share this fic with the world. 

[azebraslife]

A Zebra Plays: FE8 Great Sage Run, Finale + Highlights

To sum up the Great Sage Run: Crits. Crits everywhere. It’d be nice if they would crit the first round, though, and not the second.

Unit Evaluation:

Artur: Artur was almost on par with magical powerhouse Lute, I was really impressed. He and Lute both became abnormally bulky in Defense, which was a welcome surprise. (Artur needed it more than Lute, though.)

Lute: xX_L00t_Xx did not disappoint. At all. I was a bit nervous when she failed to cap Mag unpromoted (re: JP Lute has a 70% growth there), but those worries went away after her promotion. Her biggest liability was her absolutely horrible Constitution. She’s weighed down by anything that isn’t a Fire tome. And that’s why she got the only statbooster I used, outside of the Metis’ Tome.

Ewan: Okay, I don’t remember who I gave the Metis’ Tome to, but I think it was Ewan because at the time I used it, I was (and still am) really mad at Moulder’s terrible stats. He ended up roughly the same as Artur, except exchanging some points in HP, Skill, Speed, and Defense for way more Luck. He and Saleh together were crit machines.

Saleh: Saleh did surprisingly well. Way better than I thought he would fare. Though that may be the result of a bad Moulder more than anything (will have to check averages). Saleh, by virtue of being the only prepromote, has far more balanced stats than the others but doesn’t particularly excel anywhere. I ended up grinding up his S rank in Light magic so he could use Ivaldi, but he only used it once in the Final Chapter anyways.

Moulder: I’ve used Moulder in probably around 3 or 4 runs now, first time using him as a Sage, and I don’t know why people like him as a unit. There’s nothing he’s particularly good in aside from his HP and his Con. Even with stronger tomes, he still can’t two-shot any enemies without critting, and he also isn’t a reliable critter like Saleh was. Didn’t help that he was the only one with a high Stave rank, which made him the sole user of staves like Warp when he didn’t have the range to make much use of it.

Highlights

Beautiful, beautiful damage.

OW. But still not as bad as that 4% hit for 28 damage. Ewan isn’t at L’Arachel-tier yet.

Hi. Die. (Spoiler alert: he didn’t, but he would shortly.)

Also. Okay. When I started the chapter, my intention was to have Moulder warp Lute behind enemy lines and snipe Riev (and hope she dodged all the enemies on EP if she couldn’t one-round him). Only problem was, he didn’t have the Mag to warp her behind enemy lines. It took until around turn 6 or so for them to get into range so Moulder could warp her to Riev.

So yeah. Having low Magic sucks because just about every magic user’s viability depends on their Mag stat. They’re not like Thieves or Dancers who have abilities outside of pure combat stats. (While Thieves do need good Speed to steal, they can also use lockpicks, which aren’t dependent on any stat.)

Realizing he was no match for xX_L00t_Xx, Riev went after Artur. He quickly realized that was also a mistake.

Mortified by his loss to two teenage kids who joined a ragtag army that has traveled around Magvel, kicking ass, Riev asked the Demon King for a shitton of statboosters.

It may have helped him a bit...

But not that much.

Meanwhile, Moulder couldn’t even land a scratch on Riev. (Too be fair, neither could Saleh; my biggest worry about the Great Sage run was high-Res enemies, but we managed it with raw power.) He probably could have with a stronger tome than Shine, but I also wasn’t about to risk that crit rate. (By this point, he was almost completely staffbot, so I didn’t put the Hoplon Guard on him in favor of carrying more staves.)

That is some meaty damage from Morva. He could straight-up kill Lute, which is why I didn’t have her fight him.

Because Myrrh’s not here, I have Saleh kill Morva.

Either god-slaying is super profitable, or Morva gave this as a last gift to Saleh. Take your pick.

For the hell of it, I decide to Berserk this guy. I love having droppable status staves.

PURGE CRIT PURGE CRIT

Hey uh Lyon, if Artur can double you with a Purge tome, that’s really not a good thing. (To clarify: Artur with Purge gets weighed down to 10 Spd. Lyon, with Naglfar, gets weighed down to 5. Which is right within Artur’s doubling threshold.)

I decide to attack him melee, though. Might need that Purge shot to chip down Fomortiis. (I didn’t. Actually, Artur missed his 75% chance.)

Moulder makes himself useful, for once, and finishes off Lyon.

And as seen in the main photoset, my first turn was basically trying to get Artur to chip the Demon King with Purge (which failed) then warping Lute up with Excalibur equipped. I figured she could deal some healthy damage, but it ended up being super healthy and she just killed him in one round.

Bye bye, Demon King!

[redshoesnblueskies]

Fanfic culture, AO3 origins going right back to strikethrough, fandom history.....

SO. MANY. LINKS.

for those who don’t want to click through:

these are all links to my tumblr - i did not write very many of them, but i know my links will remain the same and not be lost :)

The master post of upholding and celebrating fanfic, by @inkandcayenne :

‘I think fanfiction is literature and literature, for the most part, is fanfiction, and that anyone that dismisses it simply on the grounds that it’s derivative knows fuck-all about literature and needs to get the hell off my lawn.’

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/621654927974055936/inkandcayenne-tywinning-asked-you-2012-08-09

HISTORY OF FANDOM CULTURE FROM LJ TO AO3

'What you are doing when you say “If you don’t want crit, don’t post your story” is gatekeeping, and in a REALLY harmful way. Without fans creating work (fanfiction or art or meta), there is no fandom. You’re not only saying “you can’t be in fandom if you don’t want to be hurt” you’re actively calling for fandom to be cut down. That’s a bad thing. Fandom needs creator content in order to exist and grow.’

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/186058432379/so-if-youve-watched-my-general-meltdown-about

Foz: straight dudes of the world…read fanfic: 

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179230785234/fozmeadows-totallyevillisa

foz: on depression and hurt/comfort

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179230730609/on-depression-and-hurtcomfort

fantastic Foz posts from a while ago, addressing the ‘well just censor content and then you’re not godless heathens’ fallacy…

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179230530849/fantastic-foz-posts-from-a-while-ago-addressing

Fanfiction & Capitalism, and Why I Think They Are Related [TW for homophobia, mentions of sexual violence, capitalism]

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179230748619/fanfiction-capitalism-and-why-i-think-they-are

Fair use is authorized by law

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179230721574/fyeahcopyright-heidi8-fair-use-is-wholly

fantastic breakdown of the sociology that led from LJ community culture to tumblr anonymous disconnected culture:

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/611096897406615552/kanna-ophelia-taraljc-kanna-ophelia

'The Places Fandom Dwells: A cautionary Tale’ - EXCELLENT, LOTS OF LINKS

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179355549419/the-places-fandom-dwells-a-cautionary-tale 

'It just kills me when writers create franchises where like 95% of the speaking roles are male, then get morally offended that all of the popular ships are gay. It’s like, what did they expect?’

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/173587593934/bonehandledknife-feynites-theskaldspeaks

BIG AO3 POSTS - HISTORY OF FANDOM

great breakdown of stats on how HUGE AO3 actually is…

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179230519234/why-are-people-still-up-in-arms-about-ao3-needing

another breakdown of how huge AO3 is & intricate skills required to run it

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179336300829/hey-ao3-can-you-like-give-the-extra-38k-you-made

AO3 is in the top 300 biggest websites in the WORLD/how a huge site like this works

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179230400619/hey-ao3-can-you-like-give-the-extra-38k-you-made

origin story of AO3 - very sweet  (10th anniversary of AO3)

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179230398054/on-the-ao3-all-these-years-later

this blogger remembers when we didn’t have AO3

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179391607249/this-blog-is-unrepentantly-pro-ao3

adults built fandom - who runs cons? who runs AO3 & the legal team at OTW? codes the servers?

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179430883009/naryaflame-vanimore-askragtatter-rsasai

“AO3 IS OUR SITE.  It is by fans, for fans. Fans do all the coding. All the legal paperwork. All the abuse/tos violation complaints. Fans make all the choices about policies. Fans decide how to run the fundraisers. Fans write the blog posts. All the volunteer staff are fans; all the people who train them are fans. Fans wrangle all the tags.”

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/188239677029/purge-of-2002-of-2012-what-are-those

'Certain people are screaming that AO3 is bad because it’s not a “safe space.” The real problem they have, though, is that AO3 was created to be a safe space - for writers.’

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/165199049719/rapacityinblue-kaciart-rocket-sith

FANDOM HISTORY & CULTURE

copperbadge - fandom dad explains concrit & why it’s not welcome without specific request

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/186983936704/question-as-an-oldster-and-fandom-lurker-since

fanfic/fanart is a gift - respect it in the way you respect something freely given

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/187512037844/trickztr-friendly-reminder-that-fan-made

'Toxic Fandom: Chen Criticism and Entitlement Go Too Far’

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179392060549/toxic-fandom-when-criticism-and-entitlement-go

an explanation of the anti’s as very damaged authoritarianism 

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179230513414/freedom-of-fanfic-freedom-of-fanfic

why do fangirls always make them gay?

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/162428018414/why-do-fangirls-always-make-them-gay

fandom history through the ages and across continents

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/129594965539/teashoesandhair-ogress-jhameia

one of several versions of a HUGE history post educating people on why we need a non-censored AO3 & why this is vital (and how misinformed many fans are)

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179230393414/theothersarshi-redshoesnblueskies

another version:  https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/173741270214/grison-in-space-veronica-rich

conversation on AO3 tagging (plus being screwed by censorship

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179391926284/except-that-no-one-uses-tags-like-fetishized

how AO3 is run by volunteer & how to volunteer yourself

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179230390519/in-kind

Ao3 fund drive post that goes into why they don’t censor

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179230054009/anarfea-anarfea-people-keep-asking-how-can

what 'Archive of Our Own’ refers to

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179136825394/what-archive-of-our-own-refers-to

AO3’s transparent financial reporting & a good rant

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179136341494/ao3-donation-drive

a short explanation of LJ strikethrough

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179124456874/telarna-meeedeee-bomberqueen17-i-just

LIGHTER FARE

origin of the ! - the “bang path’ in fandom pairings :D

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/118991314994/hey-whats-up-with-the-in-fandoms-ie-fat

can we PLEASE have an AO3 rating system for books & media?? pleeeeease???  here’s some thoughts on how:

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/119377580254/crowd-sourced-content-warnings-at-book-stores

LJ was my initial experience of examining how fic fits into these huge gaps left by conventional writing, media and daily IRL conversation/education - the kind of healing that fic can bring to both individuals and a collective body of both knowledge and healthy questioning of assumptions about sexuality as a whole.  I mean, the kind of absolutely common place knowledge about consent, power dynamics, experimentation to determine what one’s own sexuality looks like, and the the options available is extraordinary.  To have that breadth and depth of knowledge presented in an often beautifully creative format; where you could discuss with the author and other readers anything included in the fic and what it meant to both literature and real life, as well as all things fannish that one’s wild imagination could come up with…. good god what I would have given for that information as a teen.  

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/122835116349/bonehandledknife-redshoesnblueskies

Fandom Is…. (poem)

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/124514359704/fandom-is-focus-fandom-is-obsession-fandom-is

Can fandom bring back the concept of a squick? Pleeeease?

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/126342903959/can-fandom-bring-back-the-concept-of-a-squick

'so don’t pretend it can’t be done, author dudes, because there’s a million fangirls who can write lyric filthy devastating character-revealing plot-advancing poetic tender wall-slamming trope-inverting panting sweaty trope-embracing aching crying sex…..and can do it far far better than you.’

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/124171180589/sex-is-hard-to-write-about-because-you-lose-the

'It’s just fanfic…’

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/126188502159/its-just-fan-fic

“Ship means something you want to see happen.” Bitch, no it don’t. 

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/179234734799/pyrebomb-ship-means-something-you-want-to-see

why can you sell fanart, but not fanfic??

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/128782763684/legal-side-of-tumblr-can-you-answer-me-a

humor: different types of fanfic - in graphics:

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/129402064267/justanotherfmablog-yougothenigo

THE SUFFERING ARTIST CONCEPT IS BULLSHIT AND SHOULD BE BLOWTORCHED:

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/186461152949/zendarkwalkerx-magicianmew-katiecrenshaw

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/166161827744/if-one-more-person-says-what-if-theyd-medicated

IF YOU’VE MADE IT THIS FAR, YOU DESERVE STARSHIPS (SCROLL DOWN):

https://redshoesnblueskies.tumblr.com/post/138038043884/samati-saathi1013-tygermama-zillah975