#echo asks

[echoingvoids]

Botw VS Totk FINAL BATTLE

Previous Battle: Revali VS Urbosa

Winner: Urbosa (see poll results)

It's here. All the weeks of people deciding and reasoning have led to this.

Please reblog. I have had so much fun running this little bracket and interacting with the community through it. Thank you!

[echo-has-queries]

How do you deal with the disappointment if your art doesn't get the recognition you feel it deserves?

The wip i haven't published yet, hasn't gotten any comment at all 😥

I knooow! It's haaarrrddd :'/ I have this REALLY good fic that's gotten zero comments and I'm pretty sure that's JUST because I haven't written it yet!?! Rude.

BUT--

There are some easy steps you can follow.

Step 0: Obtain Enlightenment

The enlightened writer knows that popularity does NOT equal quality. Your work may not be recognised for any number of reasons, TONS of which have nothing to do with how good your story is. Your story may never reach the right audience and that is sad but unavoidable. Therefore you must always make sure that YOU are in your audience - write for yourself first and foremost and you will always have at least one fan.

On that note: enlightenment also means kicking that inner critic at least a little bit to make room for said inner fan. They deserve some elbow space too! If your inner fan isn't very developed, outer special fan (close friend or online fandom friend) works too, but unfortunately that is not always available so yeah. Work on emboldening that inner fan and become an enlightened writer. I believe in you.

Step 1: Post

Yeah, I know. But you gotta. And I hate to have to tell you this but sometimes you might have to gotta when you don't quite feel like it's "ready" yet. If the editing is just going in circles or not moving at all and you're just not quite satisfied yet -- I don't care. You gotta post that thang.

Posting isn't necessarily about getting something to the public -- it's simply to have posted it. To be done. To release what you have created to the world and free it from your synapses. Otherwise it'll be sad -- it's so cramped in there. You have to let it out. It bites if you keep it in for too long.

Recognise that even getting so far as posting makes you so brave and awesome. You did it! You posted your thang! You WROTE a thang! Most people never do and you did. That is awesome.

Step 2: Patience

You are at this point of course an enlightened writer, so you know chances are your fic just isn't being found, isn't reaching the people it might matter to. Give it time. Other things besides time that may help:

Posting and participating in memes and events that are relevant to your story.

Posting about your story on other platforms.

Finding communities in relevant fandoms and sharing your story with other people there.

More probably, I don't actually have that much experience here, sorry.

Now remember I said might help. Unfortunately, there is never a guarantee.

Step 3: Profit

Look, I can't promise you'll get kudos. I can't promise you'll get comments. You might. And when you do, you get to celebrate that shit! It's a great feeling and easy to get addicted to, easy to miss and want to chase. Creating is hard. Putting yourself out there is hard. That's why Step 0 is so important. You gotta do it for the love of the game.

You gotta be doing it for the love of the game.

You deal with the disappointment by seeing your own work, your own worth and knowing it is good, no matter what other people might think. Being recognised feels good and not getting recognised can be disheartening, but I hope that's not why you're writing. I hope you write because you want to. Because you need to. And once you're doing that, once you keep doing that, recognition will come -- be it from someone seeing you, or simply you seeing yourself.

Anyway, hope that helps :)

[sparklykat-hideoutenthusiast]

Do y'all have any drawing ideas? Kinda bored :(

[psycho-chair]

if Cross ate an oreo, does it qualify as cannibalism?

i think it qualifies as a metaphor of pain and agony

[nightecho50]

What is your story for making this blog? 😁🤗

I just like drawing pregnant bellies, especially for queer folks! Idk it was on a whim. So glad I did tho

[slightecho]

🎶✨when u get this, list 5 songs u like to listen to, publish. then, send this ask to 10 of your favourite followers (positivity is cool)🎶✨

Uhhhhhhhh I’m so bad at these! 😂 you ask me any open ended question and i will INSTANTLY forget all the things I’ve ever known. So here! Have my top five On Repeat songs from Spotify rn ✌️😘

Some are upcoming Ashes songs. Some are Caleb Files songs. Some are just songs i REALLY REALLY LIKE. Have fun guessing 🤪

[secretaryblossom]

Can Renee come out to play?

Hello Echo,

As long as "play" does not mean any writing then yes. But only for a little bit. I fear they are running behind on tasks...

Sincerely

A concerned secretary

Blossom

[unfilteredrealities]

Hope your day is even a fraction as lovely as you are 🌻❤️

Thank you! ❤️🥺

You are lovely too!

[echoxshxrx]

EDGE

THAT WAS SO FAST OH MY GOD

BLESS YOU

[echosong971]

P must stand for PRETTY because this boy is GORGEOUS in your style

hehe thank you <3

[echoingvoids]

Botw VS Totk Battle 14

Previous Battle: Link (TOTK) VS Ganondorf

Winner: Link (see poll results)

The final battle looms a mere three days away. Spread the awareness (pls reblog!)

I personally think this one is gonna be a hard choice.

[echo-has-queries]

Do you think Adrian looks a little too sexy in the trailer for the live action movie?

There's a trailer for a live action movie??

[sparklykat-hideoutenthusiast]

i-

Wait what- what did I post with that in the tags!? 😭

[misstoodles-doodles]

Patching Up & Post-Mission Debrief (AU)

AKA a 3 character sketch that got way WAY out of hand.

Close ups:

[nightecho50]

How do I give you money, I am confused

I take payments through PayPal! After discussing the details of the commission I'll send you my personalized hyperlink to send me the payment!

[slightecho]

I can ask, what's the best way to stay focused on a chapter story and not give up on it? I want to finish mine and make it good and have people rave to me about it, but it's just so hard when admittedly I'm having trouble with where I should take the story and plus I don't really have any beta readers or friends to give their opinions or possibly even help me.

This is a really good question! One that I struggle with too a lot of the time, and a big struggle I’m having right now with the current chapter!

Like you, I actually don’t have any beta readers! I don’t even show my girlfriend much ahead of time 😅 So it’s just me and myself trying to figure it out when I’m stuck.

My first piece of advice is to walk away. Not forever! But sometimes you reach a point where you’ve hit a wall and no amount of pushing that wall is gonna topple it over. But if you walk away for a few hours, do something else like play a game or eat a snack or do other work, you’ll come back from a different angle with refreshed eyes, and you might find there’s a doorway you couldn’t see before bc you were too busy trying to push the wall down! Focus isn’t something you can force! And if you’re not vibing with something and can’t stay focused on it, then it’s okay to walk away and take a break! Sometimes it’s better off if you do!

My next suggestion is to ask yourself questions about what you’re writing. Basic ones. Like the kind of silly things your English teacher would have asked you about assigned books in class. “Why include this part? Why is it important? What purpose does showing this serve the story I’m trying to tell?” The answers don’t have to be deep or analytical. Sometimes my answer is just “because it shows this character is this trait” or “it moves the plot forward” I personally tend to prioritize Character over Plot bc i know as a reader, I come back to things for the characters I love. (And at the end of the day, as cheesy at it is, I think this classic advice is best interpreted literally: “write for yourself” as if you were the reader) A really good example of this is the current chapter I’m working on! (Skip the next paragraph if you don’t wanna read about my specific example/don’t want minor spoilers for the next chapter of Ashes)

I lost the plot BIG TIME on this chapter and realized after about 6k(!!! 😩) that the vibes were off and I wasn’t showing anything I wanted to show without rushing it and i had to stop, walk away, listen to the music that was the correct “vibe” I was trying to capture, and come back the next day and ask myself where I went wrong. Without spoiling anything, it turns out I went wrong by focusing too much on the wrong characters: This chapter I’m writing is about the Blights and about Hunter. So why had I spent 6k in Raine and Vee’s point of view?! Because i thought it made the plot clearer to the reader?? I don’t write with plot as my Number 1 Priority, i write for Character! That’s what I like! So my solution was to go back to Character first: ditch Raine and Vee’s POV. Sure, it meant getting rid of a scene I really liked, but again… did that one scene really serve the plot or any major characters arc? No. So it sadly had to go. What served the purpose of the chapter better was a new opening scene with the Blights, to show the family dynamic i wanted to show with them, and then rearranging and editing the Hunter pieces from his POV, instead of Raines (bc why tf did I write it in Raine’s?! The reader already knows what Raine’s probably thinking in this scene! It was literally in the last chapter!)

Sometimes bringing it back to the basics is the best way to give yourself the answer you’re looking for. Focus can’t always be forced and it’s infinitely healthier to walk away. I promise, your writing will still be there after you’ve had a lil snack, hydrated and gotten your mind on something else for a bit 🥰 And if that still doesn’t help, you know the story you want to tell best! Write for yourself as if you were the reader. Maybe all the plot isn’t there yet, but that’s okay: you still know your characters and what you want to show the reader about them!

Hope this helps, and feel free to reach out if you have anymore questions! I love talking about the process with others 🖤