#epigraphs.txt

[goodthingscomeinthrees]

i want to stress, so much, that there's a difference between good media, and media that's well-suited to transformative fandom.

sometimes, the canon is so good on its own that you don't feel the need to add anything to it. you could, and people do (and should!) but the writers/creators really knew what they were doing and the experience of consuming said piece of media is entirely satisfying on its own.

then, there's the objectively mediocre stuff that has just enough hints at depth/character backstory potential/little plot idiosyncrasies to make it a perfect sandbox. i'm talking big movie franchises and long-running, middling procedurals that won't win any awards. there's so much potential there, and the writers either lack the skill or time to explore it all fully, and that's where fandom jumps in.

sometimes, that's the best kind of show to be in fandom for, because what else are we all going to do but be creative and fix what canon can't get right?

[goodthingscomeinthrees]

technically, he can! provided he maintains his illinois address (to vote in the us from abroad, you vote in the state you last resided in). according to this article, he voted by mail in 2024 (if the pope, then a cardinal, can vote from the vatican, you have no excuses, folks).

he also has citizenship in peru, where wikipedia tells me voting is compulsory, even if you live abroad. vatican citizenship is conferred to the pope for life, so at this point, it's a question of whether or not he renounces his us citizenship by the midterms!

Can the pope continue to vote in American elections. Can popes vote. I assume you cannot vote in the US if you’re the head of another state but I’m just asking funny questions here

[tsulean]

WIP Folder Meme

Rules: Post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous.

Tagged by: stole it from @mazurah Tagging: if you want it, come and claim it

This is my general fanfic WIP folder. It's about 80% TES and the oldest things go back to... 2005? 16-year-old Varanu. Earlier fic was mostly stored on 90mm floppy diskettes that are probably now unreadable even if I knew where they were and could locate a computer with an A: drive. god i’m old. 

I'm not describing anything because I want you to really have the full experience of Varanu Gazing Into The Disaster. 

36 lessons cantillated.txt

36 mysteries of the buoyant armigers.txt

36 stratagems.txt

accm commentary 2.txt

actual lady nerevar.txt

articuno moon notes.txt

articuno moon.txt

beloved old draft.txt

beloved outline new.txt

beloved outline.txt

beloved snippets.txt

beloved.txt

brightness names.txt

brightness notes.txt

brightness of the sun.txt

country of artists.txt

epigraphs.txt

heart of the world.txt

heartbeat.txt

henri and varanu.txt

incarnate.txt

jubal lun sul mpreg.txt

kagrebach.txt

lantur.txt

little bird.txt

lunar sway chatlog.txt

lunar sway.txt

megillah.txt

morrowind libretto 1.txt

morrowind libretto current.txt

morrowind libretto quarrel duet.txt

morrowind libretto.txt

nerevar dumac 1.txt

nerevar dumac fwb.txt

nerevar dumac maps.txt

nerevar dumac.txt

nirnstrand.txt

oblivion notfic notes.txt

oblivion notfic.txt

paul vehk slashfic.txt

poem rainy day aziraphale.txt

ruffian brainstorming.txt

ruffian brainstorming 2.txt

salve regina.txt

singing dunes notes.txt

singing dunes.txt

sotha sil simulacrum crack theory.txt

tes fugal structure.txt

the drowned lamp.txt

the eyes of vivec.txt

the sword not held.txt

throwing a gourd upon the water.txt

vehk dumac convo.txt

what happened under red mountain.txt

what was destined.txt

writing paraia.txt

zag.txt

zini's elf humans are weird thing.txt

[goodthingscomeinthrees]

i think what gets me about this is two things. peter didn't want out (if he did, this is the only way he could've exited, nothing else would have made sense, and it would have been sad, but we would've understood why), only tim minear decided this was a "necessary" creative decision. necessary how? this is the show that unleashed 2 million bees on los angeles, this is the show that ripped the santa monica pier in half during a tsunami and magically rebuilt it. this is the show that had athena land a freaking plane on the 110 like it was a video game. this is not a show we watch for any semblance of realism, and deciding this was how you were going to prove there are "real stakes" feels... cheap, and not like an inspired creative choice. this is a deeply silly show, and that's why a lot of us are here in the first place, because the real world is terrible enough and maybe what we need for an hour every week is a guarantee that everyone lives.

and for it to be "the natural end" to bobby's character arc? that feels like a punch to the gut. you want us to think the thing that makes him a hero -- the thing that makes his arc whole -- is bobby sacrificing himself, but only after having relearned to value himself and his own life? after having found a family and a partner and a purpose on this earth that he was so determined to leave because he was so guilt-ridden? you want us to think that l.a. never stopped being his penance? that's bleak. that goes against everything this show stands for, it invalidates all the work bobby (and everyone around him) has done to find meaning and purpose after tragedy. his hero's journey should be the embrace of his life and his own worth despite his past, proof that you can prevail after your worst moments. the whole point was that he threw away the goddamn black book and learned to live again.

[goodthingscomeinthrees]

one day, this will be a sweater. currently, it looks exceptionally silly.

[goodthingscomeinthrees]

friendly reminder that writing fic can be the endpoint.

to everyone who writes fic as practice because they want to be a published novelist one day, writing original work, i salute you, i want that for you, i'm cheering you on. but it doesn't have to be the goal. you can just write fic for the love of the genre (yes, it's its own genre, it's character-forward and bound by rules that don't exist outside of it), as a hobby, or because you have thoughts about existing characters that won't leave your brain.

all i do for my day job is write (not fiction, but i went to school for it and i get edits and feedback and all that jazz in spades). writing fic is something i love, it's a creative challenge and an escape and a way to flex a muscle i don't get to use otherwise. and i have absolutely zero aspirations to traditionally publish any fiction. ever. and that's okay!

you can do something for the simple love of the game. it doesn't have to be a stepping stone to something bigger.

[goodthingscomeinthrees]

not to sound all "old man yells at cloud" but this nymag article is genuinely frightening. it's like no one wants to think anymore!! if you can't do anything without consulting some kind of ai, you're going to atrophy your critical thinking and problem-solving skills entirely.

i'm so incredibly glad i finished uni in 2020, before *waves hands* any of this. i've never used an ai bot, ever, and i don't plan on changing that anytime soon.

[goodthingscomeinthrees]

LIBERAL GOV'T HERE WE GOOOO 🇨🇦

[goodthingscomeinthrees]

these are my last two discoursey cents about the 911 of it all and then i'll go shut up and write a fic and be done with it. tim minear just provided a masterclass on how to break an unspoken (though, honestly, pretty clearly spoken) contract with your viewing audience.

you cannot set up a show to be wildly unrealistic in terms of plot storylines (shark on the highway; tsunami; beenado; cruise ship sinks due to a hurricane; civilian lands a passenger plane on the 110) and spend eight years guaranteeing that no matter what, your core cast of characters will live and then renege on it for the sake of "realism" that never existed in the first place. not to mention, the way he killed off bobby (airborne cchf) is deeply unrealistic because the virus isn't airborne.

the reason your audience will forgive all of the unrealistic plotlines is because everyone lives. that's the agreement. lightning strike? survivable. rebar through the head? gonna be recovering for a few months, but sure. throat slashed? it's fine, we spent a scene in the previous episode telling you how long someone can stay alive when that happens, so you know help is going to get there.

if you break that rule, you break your audience's trust right with it. and now you've bound yourself to your new standard of realism -- both in terms of characters potentially dying, but also your audience no longer being willing to go along with the crazy plotlines they accepted in the first place. they'll be mad (rightfully so) and you just wrote yourself into five different corners. let's see how nitpicky everyone gets with the next trademark 911 disaster episode.

good luck with that one, my guy!

[goodthingscomeinthrees]

i fear i've hit the point in the five stages of grief where my coping mechanism is thinking through (and eventually writing) fix-it fic.

[goodthingscomeinthrees]

bobby nash died on a thursday, jesus died on a friday, he was resurrected on easter sunday, and pope francis died on easter monday... what a holy week it's been

[goodthingscomeinthrees]

fulfilling my contractual obligation as ao3 user epigraphs to deliver at least one outsider pov fic per fandom i write for 🫡

[goodthingscomeinthrees]

bobby is to buck what leo is to josh, down to the alcoholism, "a man falls in the hole" of it all and untimely demise. in this essay i will...

[goodthingscomeinthrees]

no one would be more excited about pope leo from chicago than jed bartlet

[goodthingscomeinthrees]

what do you mean, i actually have to map out this fic if i want the progression to work out, what do you mean this thing is going to be like twice as long as anticipated 😭

[goodthingscomeinthrees]

my great-grandma, who got a history phd in vienna in 1938 (!!!) spent two decades post-wwii publishing (and writing, and commissioning) penny dreadfuls in austria. she had her own little publishing house, which put out a range of genres (westerns, romances, mysteries, etc.) and had the appropriate (and often cheesy) pseudonym for each author. we never had any copies, because when she stopped publishing them, she just shut down the whole operation, but i struck gold on a comics resale site recently and as of today, have twelve (!!) of them in my possession.

now, three generations later, her great-granddaughter (me), also has a writing job. the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. 💖