#fanfic has a lot more leeway here

[arts-butthound]

Dragon Age: The Veilguard | Official Reveal Trailer

It actually dropped. Huh, miracles do happen

[writingquestionsanswered]

Hi!

I’m writing a fanfic in which the characters go to various mythical places. I want to have them go to Alomkik, a place in Abernaki mythology. However, information online seems to be scarce about it, and I’m well aware that Native and First Nation mythology has historically been butchered for entertainment. Not asking you to do research for me (obviously not! That’s my job!) but do you have any advice? I really want to do this respectfully or not at all.

Characters Visits Place from First Nations Myth

Here's the bottom line: unless you are yourself First Nations, I would not even attempt this. Not only do you risk cultural appropriation, but the fact that there is so little information available about this location... and the fact that it's associated with a legendary bird spirit, concerns me that Alomkik may have spiritual and/or deep cultural significance and firmly off the table for use by people who are not First Nations. Additionally, the lack of information available would force you to have to fill in the gaps, and I'm sure you can see the issue with someone who is not First Nations, and who is not rooted in Abenaki culture, filling in the gaps of Abenaki spiritual mythology.

Other things to consider: since you mention this is fan-fiction, if the source material has used or commonly uses places from Indigenous cultures, it's possible there are people from those cultures on the writing staff. It's also possible they just don't care and are blatantly appropriating from those cultures, but that doesn't mean you should or that it's okay for you to do it, too. Instead, if you need a mythical location in that same general area (what is now Central Maine), you could make up a fictional colonial settlement that disappeared (like the Roanoke Colony in what is now North Carolina) and give it some interesting mythical legend. Alternatively, you could create a myth around a fictional Viking settlement... Vikings are known to have settled an area 700 miles away (L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland and Labrador) and some scholars believe it's possible the Vikings could have explored what is now inland Quebec via the St. Lawrence River, and as far south as Manhattan Island. That gives you plenty of realistic leeway to have a Viking settlement in inland Maine... though, you may need to look at the viability of available rivers for conveying boats far enough inland for your needs. Or, you could maybe create a legend where a particular member of a Viking exploratory group splinters with the main group and takes a small number of people as far up river as they can go, then further inland on foot until they arrive at the necessary destination. Another option would be the... dare I say it... Knights Templar... who are popularly believed to have traveled to North America to hide treasures taken from the Holy Land. My point is, there are lots of opportunities to crate an interesting mythological location using European folktales, myths, and legends rather than appropriating from Indigenous culture.

Happy writing!

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I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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[olderthannetfic]

I always get ticked off from people who keep trying to push for the monetization of AO3 because that's my favorite thing about the site, honestly. 1) No one here, i don't believe, said fanfic/fanart isn't real art. 2) Fan-made products are taken off of etsy all the time. Every single day this exact thing happens. Etsy shop owners get their shops taken off the site for this! exact! thing! 3) Japan has different copyright laws than in the USA, where AO3 is based. Doujinshi does get some creators in copyright trouble in Japan if they try to create new characters based on the pre-existing work. It happens fairly often. 4) Writers always improve the same way: they write often, read often, edit, repeat, over and over again. We expect writers to break into commercialization the same way the people before them have: you write a novel or a short story anthology, edit, rewrite (rinse repeat), send queries to agents, wait for agents to come back with good news from publishers, then market the hell out of your book along with the publisher (if the publisher has the money to do it). And if none of that is your thing, self-publish. You don't get to monetize your fellow fans' labor just because you're too lazy to figure out how to market your work to let people know it exists. It's easier than ever with the internet. And I wish entitled crybaby fans would get this through their heads: no👏🏽one👏🏽 has the right, or should have the right, to make money off of someone else's story, hard work, or imaginative work. If you're a writer, create something new and do the market research to figure out how to best market it. No one has the responsibility to fund your creative dreams but yourself. Why should anyone care to follow a writer of original works who's most known for writing derivatives of others' IP? Now that we're in the age of IP and copyright ownership of art, why does this need to constantly be repeated? AO3 is free and open for everyone to use. If you want to market yourself and your work, you'll have to do it somewhere else. The internet is vast. Stop being lazy and put in the work like other writers do. 🤷🏽‍♀️

--

Yeah. Fandom is where I honed my craft.

That's the great thing about fandom! People read so much kind of half-baked stuff and genuinely enjoy it. They wouldn't give that same leeway to commercial products. There's also more space for niche interests. That allows a writer to figure out what they actually like instead of just chasing the thing that someone else says sells best.

Lots of people who go pro, including me, write very fandomy stuff. You pick up almost any m/m self- or indie-pub book, and you know in five minutes this is a fic writer. But if we're any good, we can build enough scaffolding for our own worlds and characters. Change the names. Beef up your own setting. Write a complete plot that doesn't rely on being a missing scene from something else. It's not that complicated.

Frankly, if someone "needs" to sell fic, that makes me think they aren't confident in their writing being attractive to others without a major crutch.

[dlthedescent]

With the Beast dlc coming up and with the hints so far, I could see myself take a different writing in Descent from here on out (thankfully the large time gap between DL1 and DL2 gives that leeway). That said, I have gotten some comments and yeah it's a whole different take than my Freakazoid take.

And to be frank, I'm not too concerned about potential changes. Fanfics/fanarts are meant to be fluid and adaptive, and surprisingly, Dying Light is one of several that has a lot of potential for creativity freedom and character exploration. So I'm open to whatever Techland gives for this DLC and I don't mind at all adapting to the new content for Descent because who knows, it might open more ideas! Moreover, I'm happy with what I have so far is good enough that there doesn't need to be any severe changes to past chapters. Concept art, most likely (something I need to go back).

With that said, it's a good thing this happened. Because 1. the art for Freakazoid was still concept drafts so I don't mind refining the design based on new info (which means I CAN DRAW CLOTHES ON A HUMAN-ISH BODY AND NOT A FULL-MONSTER-ISH BODY YIPPEE!). And 2. it made me remember my damn timeline in Descent was that it has been four months since the Following in Descent.

I'm pretty sure NOW thinking of it, four months of infection and mutation is not gonna be as drastic as a full-fledged volatile or hunter....

[touchingmadness]

Camp Nanowrimo April 2024 Announcement!!!

I'm committing to writing 30k words in April for Camp Nanowrimo. While my primary project will be my in-progress Dragon Quest XI fanfiction, "Let the Light In," I'm giving myself leeway to count any words added to any creative project in the month of April. This will likely include continuing work on my eternal WIP "Touched," as well as a number of short stories, fanfics, and essays. I've been a lot more lenient with myself in jumping between projects the last few months, and my creative energy and enjoyment have benefited a lot from that approach.

I'm also setting some Writeblr engagement goals for the month, just because I haven't been very active on here and would like to be again. These goals include:

Find more active Writeblrs to follow

Join more active taglists

Leaves asks at least 5 times per week

Reblog at least 1 ask game per week

Actually leave writing updates

Maybe update my intro and desktop theme

Also, if anyone else is doing Camp this month, please let me know here or if you're comfortable, drop me a DM! I'll be suffering from lack of forums this year - Nano has always worked for me because it's highly directed and highly social - so I'd love to have chat buddies. I'm also willing to hand out my Discord handle if that's preferred! 😉

[muffinlance]

how would you approach writing nb!zuko?

Gonna make this a more general "how to write someone you're not" reply.

So whenever you're writing a character from a background you don't share, step one is to do your research. This applies to fantasy worlds just as much as it does to real world based stories, because while fantasy characters don't share the same history as our world, your readers do.

Never discount the baggage a reader is gonna bring, and never use it as an excuse to get lazy on the research. Especially look for no-goes like stereotypes that you'd be way better off avoiding. Where ever possible, try and find first-hand accounts.

Next you need to decide how the world you're working in will interact with this part of your character.

Is it like our world, where terms like non-binary are known but there's still a lot of antagonism from certain quarters?

Are you writing in a world where these terms aren't common yet, and the character might not have adequate ways of expressing their identity? (Not to be confused with the people themselves being uncommon--LGBT+ peeps have always been around.)

You can also have a world where such things are commonly known and accepted and treated as no big deal, which can be really relaxing to read, for real, we do not always need to be persecuted even in fake worlds. Do what's best for your story, but realize that making the world a better one than ours is completely legit, because you are the one choosing.

Culture-wise, I personally think Avatar feels like a world where different genders and orientations haven't yet been vilified. There's fairly compelling evidence that a lot of cultures in our world acknowledged other genders/orientations and were cool with them, but started repressing their own people/traditional ways of life once other cultures got all up in their business. So I'd probably write one or more of the Nations as being totally fine with such things, and try to figure out what roles (if any) those characters would commonly fill.

Like maybe non-cis people are considered super spiritually in tune in the Fire Nation, and a lot of them get recruited as Fire Sages. Or in some areas of the Earth Kingdom, having your gay brother and his husband live with you to help raise your kids and be a big supportive family is totally normal. You ask a kid in Omashu who their mom and dad are, and they can rattle off a whole list. It's really confusing to them when that new refugee from the colonies only has one mom and one dad, did the rest of them die in the war?

(Honey you can't ask that, we're so sorry--)

So that's research and culture. From there, it's just character. There is one very very important rule when writing a character from a group you're not a part of:

Write them as a person.

Specifically, that means rounding them out: hobbies and interests and quirks and pet peeves that have nothing to do with their gender/orientation. You know. Like a person.

You'll only really run into troubles if you try to make the bulk of their character be their "otherness" from you. Do not treat them as an exotic race. That's how you get things like male authors writing about females character's breasts bobbing boobily as they bounce up the stairs. Your character is a complex human being who is not much different from you; treat them like it.

Also a general rule is "if you're not from the group, don't write a story centered in the group's problems, because it's not your story to tell and you're probably gonna mess it up".

AKA: If you aren't non-binary yourself, it's totally awesome and fine to write a story about a non-binary Zuko, as long as you've researched and thought things through. It is not so great to write a story about the issues non-binary people face, featuring Zuko.

It's about the emphasis: is Zuko's plot the important one and oh hey he's non-binary as one part of his character, or is Zuko being non-binary a primary plot driver?

Former is all green, go go go. Latter is yellow, caution, question your life choices and why you think you're qualified to write this story in an authentic manner.

Note that's not a red-means-stop. It just means you should really check your motivations, double down on your research, and probably see if you can round up some non-binary beta readers.

tl;dr: Google the "How to write straight characters" panels from various conventions, I know at least the NerdCon one is easy to find the audio for. Learn via straight-faced satire. Enjoy.

[wackus-bonkus-maximus]

how wackus writes things (warning: super long post)

if you're interested in seeing more about how my writing process goes, this is what i've been doing!

(SPOILERS FOR ODNLB CH 1-18)

first up, odnlb is following the 3 act 9 block 27 chapter method because that thing needed to be structured somehow. HOWEVER recently i've been thinking it's going to expand into 5 acts because omg. that thing's getting so long. so this post will probably get an update 😂

this is also what i use in my non-fanfic writing. i'm an aspiring ya fantasy author and fanfic has helped SO MUCH for unblocking myself. 10/10 recommend.

ok so, while i do have a set structure and plotline i follow, i get a lot of leeway while writing my chapters. as i'm pounding gibberish into my keyboard, it will look something like this:

lol so clearly it's nonsensical and while those exact events didn't happen in the final draft, the beats are kinda the same. retroactively, i go back and fit the story beats into my 3-act structure doc like this:

it's kinda like my own sign to myself that i'm doing it right if i can match the story beats to the blocks to the acts, etc etc.

yes i do put little check marks every time i finish writing that beat to remind myself i'm done 😂 as you can see i'm a bullet person (the 1 wing to my 9)

i had to block out the major spoilers obvs, but i do include those in my notes too. you know, just in case i forget ;)

build up is going to be the longest part of the story i think. kat o'keefe, author of the article linked, says "What it really boils down to is: growing pains. The protagonist is changing, and this is supposed to be a pivotal moment in that transformation." it's a logical jump from "juxtaposition/old contrast" because the protag's worldview is changing. they're becoming who we know they're going to be by the end of the story!

what are lb's growing pains? hmm i'm guessing it has something to do with her thirst for revenge and homicidal tendencies.

o-ho here we go. can you feel what it's building up to? (like a mini climax, but in the middle. THE MIDPOINT'S COMING)

things are ✨changing✨ and it hurts 🔪but that's what makes the story strong don't u think?

anyways i hope this helps any of my writer friends, or just satiates your curiosity about how writers do things. we're funny people and our brains have this all in there, but we end up surprising ourselves when it turns actually structured! me personally, i like to see the way a story is constructed. it's one of the most beautiful things in the world to me, which is why i won't shut up about writing.

[espressokiri]

Hi there. Another Muslimah here.

Hope you don't mind me sending you an ask. I read your fic about the BNHA boys with a muslim s/o. It was really good. I loved it so much. (There aren't many fics like this, which is a shame cause we like fanfics too. So this was very refreshing. Thank you.💚😉)

Could you do one for the Haikyuu boys, specifically Tsukishima, Kuroo, Sugawara, and Bokuto. But only if you want to, of course.

Hope you have a great and productive day.

Tsukishima Kei, Kuroo Tetsurou, Sugawara Koushi, and Bokuto Koutarou x Hijabi!reader

In which reader is a hijabi Muslim.

Warnings: None

Genre: Fluff

Notes: You're welcome to send asks anytime <3 I may be slow at getting through them but I will make sure to get them out! Thank you for being so sweet anon <3 I hope you enjoy this one! ^^ I’m sorry if it seems bland as I was slowly losing ideas.

Tsukishima Kei

His eyes would constantly drift to you during class hours, lips twitching into a smile as he would watch you struggle with the assignment sheet given during history class.

Would take that as a leeway to make conversation and help you out.

"Tsk, can't even do a simple history assignment?"

Just sits down next to you and points out what you did wrong while helping you out.

Flinches his hand away and mutters a sorry if your hands accidentally graze each others.

He knows how strict the dating rules were and he admired it, thinking it was a safe way to keep them away from harm and heartbreak.

Becomes your unofficial tutor just to spend more time with you.

Has the urge to flick your forehead most times when you purposely tease him.

Is worried when he sees you zoning out in the middle of class during Ramadan, you have to convince him you're fine and that you're getting your studying done despite the odd sleep schedule you've created.

He'll give you a small box of his favourite treat, strawberry short cake, randomly throughout Ramadan because he knows you crave more sweets during the days you fast than regular days.

He calls you a masochist when he finds you watching cooking/baking videos while fasting.

Will stop by your house to drop off pastries during Eid for you and your family because he wants to peak at you all dressed up as he's only seen you in your school uniform or in casual but modest fashion.

He feels a sense of security, enjoying the aspect of getting to know someone with no sense of rush.

Kuroo Tetsurou

He's such an awkward nerd please.

Wants to approach you but fears he might accidentally offend you due to his provocative nature, hence resorts to staring at you from across the room.

Would research more about your religion and would use that as a way to start small talk;

“Hey, uh, I was wondering how do you manage to pray Zuhr when you’re in school? Isn’t it bad that you have to miss it?”

“Oh uh, I usually run home as soon as I can or pray in my club room if there are meetings, my club members are very understanding.”

“Oh... I see.”

“That’s pretty cool of you to be concerned, Kuroo-san.”

Cue him asking you random but wholesome questions with genuine curiosity.

“Did you know men who oppress women are considered to not follow Islam? I find that really nice that women are equal to men in your religion!”

You smile at him and his interest in your religion.

Study sessions in the library because you both wanted to spend time with each other but he knows it is wrong for a male to be alone in the same room as the opposite gender so you both opted for the library where there are lots of people.

Gasps and immediately looks away when you unravel the scarf around your head to fix;

“Y/n! You can’t do that!!”

“I’m wearing an underscarf calm down.”

You rolled your eyes at the dramatic male but smiled at his respectful nature.

Ramadan? Catch him ruining his sleep schedule just to have movie nights with you through the phone and Netflix Party.

Kenma teases him about it because Kuroo used to yell at him about his own staying up late gaming obsession.

Likes it when you wear a cap on top of your hijab, he thinks it looks cool on you.

He’ll convince you to skip school during Eid if it falls on a school day, telling you that it’s important that you spend at least the first day of it with your family. 

Overall, he’s the type to keep up with the Islamic calendar and learn new facts daily as he asks you to explain each and everything about your religion and lifestyle.

Sugawara Koushi

See’s you for the first time with Kiyoko when he went to excuse her from class for managerial duties.

Smitten from first sight.

Begs Kiyoko to let you be her assistant manager.

He keeps a distance from you during your first introduction and conversation because he didn’t know what you were comfortable with.

He was in awe to find out there were sports hijab when he saw you sporting one to play a short game with an over-enthusiastic Hinata.

“Here, stay hydrated.”

Hands you a bottle of water along with a towel, a newfound respect for playing in hot weather conditions fully covered. 

Due to the chaotic nature of the first and second years, Sugawara would run to cover your eyes with his jacket or hover his hands in front of your face whenever Tanaka would rip off his shirt to swing around whenever he spiked.

Sugawara had to stop himself multiple times from clapping his hand onto your shoulder, resulting in him just smacking either Asahi or Daichi when they mention him almost touching you.

Outings between you two is always monitored by the third years, Asahi smiling proudly at his friend Suga while Daichi and Kiyoko would sneakily take candid pictures of you both.

“What’s one verse you hold dear to your heart?”

You look at him from the warm mug of drink you are holding, tilting your head as you look at him in confusion. Sugawara felt the tips of his ears go red at the cute expression you held, and explains his question.

“Ah,” you thought long and hard before giving him an answer, “ ‘Allah does not burden a soul beyond that it can bear...’ I find that part of the verse very reassuring in times when I feel like I’m overwhelmed.”

Sugawara held onto every word, finding the beauty behind those words, he felt at peace. “I’ll keep that in mind.” He smiles.

It felt like he was more excited than you for Ramadan.

He would read out loud the Japanese translation of the Quran after you read out the Arabic words in a beautiful and soothing voice. He wanted to understand and learn.

He was hooked onto the peaceful energy the month brought despite life going on normally.

This man would wear a formal Kimono when your family invites his over for Eid, he wanted to make the best impression despite already meeting them in passing.

Suga had a sense of security and comfort around him and you felt lucky to have met someone such as him.

Bokuto Koutarou 

Oh God.

Akaashi had a field day trying to stop him from initiating any and every kind of physical affection when he first introduced you to him.

Bokuto is a man who expresses himself with affection, so he was lucky for Akaashi to explain to him why he shouldn’t initiate any physical affection without asking for what you considered crossing a boundary.

He knows he can’t drag you to the gym to watch him play volleyball by hand, so he asks you to hold onto the end of a pen, which you took, confused as to what the male exactly wants before realizing he was holding the other end and using that to drag you to where the gym was.

It was oddly endearing.

“Did you see my spike, Y/n?! Didya see?!”

“Yes, Bokuto. It was really cool!”

Cue a chest puffed up Bokuto who grinned with pride.

Invites you to eat lunch with him and Akaashi on the roof.

Having to refuse his food because you weren’t sure if there was pork in it or not.

This made Bokuto stop bringing in food that contained pork, not knowing even aside from that, he had to have the halal form of chicken or beef.

Akaashi had to explain everything to him when he asked him once.

Tried to go vegetarian one day, failed the minute he took a bite out of his food.

Feels bad when he eats on days you are fasting, so he tries finishing the meal before you come up to their usual meeting spot, resulting in him giving himself a stomach ache.

Brings you tuna filled onigiri to take home so you can eat it as a snack during the night after breaking your fast.

Sends you spam messages minutes before having to break your fast;

‘Are you excited to eat?!?!?!’

‘What are you having today?!?’

‘If you want to get any snacks later let me know! :D’

‘ONE MINUTE LEFT!!’

He’s so wholesome please.

Wants to skip school with you for Eid, but pouts when you tell him you’ll be spending it with family.

Asks you to send an OOTD pic so he could be your hype-man.

Bokuto is always willing to understand more about you and your religion, making sure to note things in his head for future references.

[padfootastic]

Do you think fandom can be sexist towards female characters?

I see the Jegulus fandom wanting to write Lily completely out of the picture and wolfstar people generally hate Tonks.

oof. i have…a very rambly, very long answer to this bc i don’t think it’s a simple yes/no so i’ll put this under a cut for people to skip if they wanna, yeah?

so, straight off the bat, im not a fan of using pejorative labels for writers in general but particularly for fanfic authors. for one, we don’t know who’s writing behind the screen + what their motivations/inspirations/intentions are. two, everyone writes for a different reason. perhaps someone is venting, or projecting, or using it as a therapeutic release; often it’s lifted straight out of their own life. so i try not to judge the text in front of me based on stuff like that. (this leeway could also be because i used to read a lot of bashing fics where the majority of them are women, i think, and often with the flimsiest, most irrelevant reasons that are straight out of the Sexism Handbook of Traditional Patriarchy too so maybe i just started rationalising it for myself? idk)

second, i think it’s pretty well known that the majority of fandom is some combination of women/queer/neurodivergent/POC etc etc. so applying the lens of ‘critiquing mainstream media produced by cishet men’ doesn’t…really work here, i don’t think. the way we would analyse sexism in say, marvel or disney won’t (shouldn’t?) be the same as how we do it for fandom imo.

that being said, it’s still entirely possible for certain ‘problematic’ tropes/ideas to be prolific, right? this is where the sexism u mentioned comes in. i prefer to use symptomatic language here so saying ‘xyz has sexist/x-phobic elements’ instead of an absolute ‘the work/author is sexist/x-phobic’ because i don’t think the latter is either useful or accurate. when it comes to this, there’s one really important thing i look for here. is the author aware of what they’re writing? (which is a whole other issue tbh, complete w why i feel more comfortable around darkfic authors but let’s not go there rn lol) because a lot of the authors who write out lily or tonks in these ships do so knowingly bc it’s the only way for their plot to exist/evolve. sure, you can have an amicable resolution but will it provide the conflict u need? will it make for good entertainment? will it lead to 3D characters?

stories often need an antagonist and is it unfortunate that women often end up filling the role? sure. absolutely. i’d argue that one of the reasons we have so many mlm ships compared to wlw is because of mainstream media giving us better written men more often than not. and i think it’s totally fine to feel angry/frustrated/upset about that, especially when it carries over into fandom which is supposed to be a fun, inclusive, safe space. i get really frustrated at a lot of wolfstar discourse that entirely ignores the possibility of bisexuality. the vehement insistence that that a certain character can’t be with a woman bc they’re queer, for example, rubs me the wrong way and i think what you’re mentioning is something similar too. but, i always stop myself from assuming malicious intent on the author/fic’s part bc just because they write/believe something in fiction doesn’t make it true, ykno? and i can always step back and go look for something else that’s more to my liking.

and i think every creator would have something like this in their works tbh. i certainly do. i know for a fact that the way i’ve written lily in shovel talk and the patronus fic isn’t exactly favourable to her—even though i’ve tried to be neutral, she has definitely come out looking worse than the others and i admit that that’s on me. i wanted a certain dynamic & characterisation for james & sirius and this was the way to achieve it. people are allowed to dislike that. but they must also acknowledge that i’m allowed to write her that way.

i think, more often than not, we end up looking at this in simplistic binaries. ‘i like this -> good -> allowed to exist’ or ‘i don’t like this -> bad -> shouldn’t exist.’ i’m…not a fan of that. my opinion is we should advocate for more mindfulness within our writing but allowing writers to craft their stories the way they want (bc ultimately fic is supposed to simple and fun and not something you agonise over). and this is all interlinked, right? because the moment we say ‘ok. this might be portraying women in an icky manner, i don’t like it but the author can do that bc it’s a piece of fiction’ then u open the gates for more responsible reading & writing. authors would feel comfortable tagging their works with this, they can discuss it openly w/o being worried about reproach or ‘being cancelled’ and readers can make a more informed decision. but if you go in guns blazing with ‘ugh this fandom is so sexist, look at how it’s treating its women’ then you’ve pretty much killed all possibility for dialogue and improvement and that’s not helping anyone.

this kind of also ties in with my previous point about having differing standards for mainstream vs niche mediums of art. fanfiction authors are often, ironically enough, held to higher standards than published/paid creators which is interesting bc u can argue that their work doesn’t even have the kind of social impact that mainstream media does.

anyway. i’ve gone off on enough tangents here lol but i think i’ll end it with this: yes, women definitely come off worse in certain spaces, especially when they have to compete with mlm ships but i think that’s a conscious decision that authors take within the bounds of the material they have. as long as they are conscious of the fact/acknowledge it, i think likening it to sexism isn’t fair because u can’t have a story without plot devices, uncomfortable as they might be. if you see a pattern in someone’s stories of women being constantly shunted aside negatively, then i think u can take note of it and avoid it. maybe have a conversation with the author if they’re willing to talk about their creative choices. i feel like that’s the most u can do when it comes to online writing where u have no idea who’s on the other side of the screen.

[colubrina]

How do you know when your book is ready for publication?

It depends what you mean by 'publication.'

Fanfic? Have you proofread? Maybe run it through grammarly or had a beta look at it? You are good to go.

Self-publishing? You need a cover. You need a plan on how you're going to market. You might want to hire an outside editor in addition to proofreading and working with a beta reader. But at what point is done? That is in many ways a judgment call, and I don't know enough about self-publishing to have a good sense of when a thing is good enough to go. Maybe someone who sees this who is a self-published writer can answer for you.

Traditional publishing? Well, so far for me the answer has been, "It's not yet" but since I do know a bit about this process...

Generally, if you want to publish traditionally (like the books you see in bookstores), you need an agent. Very few publishing houses accept submissions directly from an author. To get an agent you send out a specialized form of cover letter called a query letter along with some sample pages of your book. And if the question is... when is your book ready for this? How do you know...

Almost everyone queries too early because you DON'T know with your first book. If you are connected to publishing (internships, family in the business, a degree) you will have a better sense of what publishing is looking for. Most of us are guessing.

Your prose needs to be at a certain level, you need to be on-trend, you need to hit industry guidelines for word count. A LOT of people (*cough* me *cough*) start out with books that have rocky prose or are off-trend or are 1,000,000 words long.

What does 'on trend' mean with regard to books, you ask, and how do you find out? Get a subscription to Publisher's Marketplace. Make a note of what books in your genre sell AS DEBUTS at the sort of press you want to publish with (people who've built an audience have more leeway in what they can sell than a debut author, who has no sales track record yet.) then read them when they come out. This will help you get a feel for what is selling. (I am never on-trend.)

(and here is a terrible truth - there are lots of good books that don't sell. there are lots of books good enough for a literary agent to think it is a good bet that don't sell. your book may be fabulous and that may not matter. luck is a fickle bitch and if she's not on your side, you're hosed.)

So... back to how do you know. You make it as good as you can prose-wise. You have critique partners and beta readers who are writers striving for the same goal you are and not friends and you listen to what they say when you edit. You make sure you are hitting basic industry standards with length and query format.

And then you throw your book in the sharkpit and hope.

[olderthannetfic]

In romania we don’t really have subtitles. I watched a movie on Netflix (the joys and sorrows of young yougo iirc?) that has dialogue in english, Chinese and romanian. When I put on the English subtitles, it subtitled everything. When I put on romanian subtitles, it only gave translation for the english and Chinese parts, leaving romanian dialogue up to the listener

Actually the only time we have subtitles on romanian made movies is on Netflix and it pisses me off so much as someone who needs subtitles

The thing about romanian is that we shorten words a lot, and it ends up creating a massive gap between written text and spoken language. Like, take the sentence “I went to the store. Should I have gotten you anything?” . Writing it would be “M-am dus la magazin. Tebuia să-ți iau ceva?” Simple, right? Well no, because most of our movie scripts are written the way people speak, so it ends up sounding like “-an dus la magazin. Tre-ia s-ți iau ceva?” . Try reading that in five seconds. Think of it like “went to th-store. Shud I’ve gotten you ‘nithin’?”

And I get that that phenomenon happens in English too, but english has more movies, and more leeway for a “fictional speech”. You know it’s fiction and they don’t have to sound like real people. But nooo, here “fictional speech” is only reserved for old movies and plays. Which modern people don’t like!

Another thing that bugs me is, we have polite pronouns like “dumneavoastră” “dumneaei” “dumnealui”, which official, grammatically correct, get shortened to “Dv. / D-voastră” “Dn-ei” and “Dn-lui”. “Doamna” (miss/ma’am) gets shortened to “dna.” “Domnul” (sir) gets shortened to “dn.” In. Every. Single. Subtitle. translation or not. Because they’re long as hell.

On one hand, I don’t blame people for not wanting to subtitle this mess. It’s a pain to follow along and even more of a pain to do. But add in any other accent that’s not in my home and I understand about 70% of dialogue if I’m lucky. Even worse for cinema movies because you can’t go back and listen again!

Give me a movie in English and I’ll understand 90% of it without subtitles. That’s probably the biggest reason I prefer watching foreign media, and I suspect it’s a factor for others too

--

Oh yeah. More broadly, fiction conventions always need to be developed and don't just naturally exist. We've had that conversation many times about how English has a lot of conventions (in fandom and outside of it) for how to write porn, but many languages have very formal written forms and no conventions that would make horny fanfic easy.

I suspect this Romanian subtitle issue exists in a lot of countries/languages.

[violetlunette]

So idk if your aizawa critical on top of being shinsou critical but here we go, aizawa fights quirkless basically so I wish there was more canon of him being critical of only relying on quirks and it always struck me as kinda odd he chose shinsou who really does rely heavily on his. Also there's such a missed oprotunity to show quirkles fighting in bnha. Anywho also who's some other characters you feel the fandom should be more critical of?

Anti-LoV and Tago Himiko, and Twice critical below. You've been warned.

And I don’t mind Aizawa critical. I love him but I’m not blind to his faults. I don’t point them out to be mean, I point them out to a) call out bad writing, b)to explore them and see why he does them. And C) fanfic fuel.

But moving on--

I think it makes sense why Aizawa never blinks an eye at people over-relying on their quirks. One is obviously the world they live in. Everyone—if they have permission—uses their quirks whenever they can. Why? Because a quirk to them is like an arm or a leg. It’s a part of them. Why wouldn’t they use it?

Two; Aizawa does it as well. He uses his quirk in every fight he’s in, to calm/scare his students, or just to mute Mic. The only reason he uses a support item and quirkless fighting is that his quirk isn’t enough. And even with his knowledge of combat, he’s usually outmatched. That being said, it has given him a higher rate of survival so it would be nice if—as you said—there was a little more focus on quirkless fighting for the students who don’t have strong combat quirks. (Just a little mind. Part of the fun of BNHA are the quirks and how they’re used in combat.) It would have been in character for the rational Aizawa to insist that certain students take extra combat classes to make up for their weaknesses and it would have been interesting to see them use these in combination with their quirks.

As for who I feel the fandom should be more critical of, you’ve probably guessed, is the League of Villains, hands down. With the exception of two, all of them were thugs and killers before they joined the league. Tago was a serial killer of teenage boys. Yes, I understand she snapped under the pressure of hiding her quirk and that she never received the quirk therapy she desperately needed, but that doesn’t excuse MURDERING young boys who never hurt her. And yes, I am aware that her mental issues have given her a slight blue and orange mentality, but that doesn’t mean she’s innocent.

Everyone remembers Twice as an innocent soul, but even before his mental breakdown, he used his quirk to cause all sorts of havoc, which included beating people—possibly killing them. Again, I know his backstory and feel bad for him, but people tend to treat him as if never did anything wrong. BUT HE DID.

And Dabi, oh boy. Okay, Endeavor fucked with his head and Endeavor should pay for that. BUT Dabi is still responsible for his own actions. He stated he killed over 30 innocent people and recorded them. Why? To get at Endeavor. (And if I remember correctly he killed plenty before that.)

And the list goes on. All of these people may have a sad backstory, but each and every one of them are murderers who don’t give a damn about their actions, only how it affects them. (They tried to kill a bunch of innocent children, yet not one batted an eye at that.)

The only one I’m willing to give a LOT of leeway to is Shigaraki because he was seven when AFO found him and it’s clear he’s been brainwashed since then (not to mention having AFO in his head leaves it up for debate how much control he has over his actions). Because of this, he may not be fully aware of the depths of his actions.

But once you get past all that, I just find the LoV kinda boring? When you get down to it they’re a bunch of thugs who just want chaos so they can do whatever they want, which may be fun if Hori actually had fun with his villains instead of constantly pushing the “oh they’re just tragic souls that need to be saved” angle. Don’t get me wrong, I like tragic villains but I can be turned off them really easily depending on how the story frames them or how fans react.

In this case, Hori glosses over the terrible things the league has done and just wants to push the “easily forgiven” card. And the fandom wants to just forget all the bad things they’ve done, or wave it off by saying that “they have mental issues” or that the heroes are just as bad or worse. Look, the heroes have done a lot of bad and questionable things, but they still have the higher ground.

But I do not have the emotional energy or proper backing at this time to debate this, nor the desire. Of course, people can think what they like and love the league all they want, I just don’t and don't think I will anytime soon.

[forever-rogue]

Hello! Congrats on your follower milestone! 🥳🥳Can I request the prompt "Are you hitting on her for me?" with Pero Tovar? (I love the grumpy Spaniard) I'm a sucker for some hurt/comfort, but you decide where you want to take this. Thank you so much! 🥰🥰🥰🤗

Here we have just some soft, fluff! Enjoy!

Pero Tovar x Fem!Reader ; warnings: none

Pedro Characters Masterlist

»»————-　♡　————-««

Working at the small, aging tavern wasn't an ideal situation but it was enough to pay the bills and then some. Plus free drinks every now and then. And getting to meet some interesting characters. Maybe it wasn't bad at all.

You had a lot of leeway and flexibility and if anything or anyone or anything ever got out of place, you were quick to put an end to it. Your fiery and no nonsense attitude had quickly earned you a reputation that you didn't mind.

So it was interesting when one particular man caused you to experience a bout of nerves. And hells, it wasn't even a stranger...this man had come around many times before whenever he was in the area which seemed to be an awful lot lately. Perhaps the mercenary had laid down his weapons and decided to take on a more and quiet life.

You'd catch his eye almost as soon as he'd walked in, offering up a nervous smile while he gave you a nod of acknowledgment. Was that a smile gracing his own features? 

Pushing away any thoughts - innocent or more lusty - you went back to preparing drinks for the Spaniard and his companion. It was just his usual, nothing fancy, and you quickly padded over to give it to them. Both men thanked you politely and you quickly scuttled away, ready to hide behind the counter. Your cheeks and whole body felt like they were on fire. And from what? A five second interaction in which you couldn't even meet his eyes? Pathetic, you chided yourself. 

Grabbing your previously discarded rag, you went back to scrubbing at the grimy counters.

The little looks and glances that were stolen between the two of you weren’t lost on either one of you. 

»»————-　♡　————-««

And so, it appeared anyway, the two of you continued your little cat and mouse game for some time. And what a wickedly fun little game it was - Pero, you’d learned his name some time ago but found it too intimate to use it, even think it to yourself, would come in and spend his evenings having a drink and reading by himself or in the company of another. He’s started to make it a point to greet you eagerly, and try to hold small conversations with you, coaxing out bits and pieces of yourself. In turn you did the same to him, trying to get to know as much as possible about the former mercenary. But it had never led anywhere more than friendly conversations or lingering looks and salutations. The idea of proposing anything more seemed to knock the wind right out of your sails. Instead you continued to dance the same dance, going round and round again. 

Maybe one day you’d get over him. Him - Pero Tovar - the one that had managed to make you feel small and weak. Yet somehow...you thoroughly enjoyed how he made you feel.

»»————-　♡　————-««

It was several months later when his companion, a man who’d also seen quite often, couldn’t take it anymore. But then again, there was only so much that could happen before it all gave way and snapped.

After a quiet round of drinks, the man had seemed to be having a lively discussion with Pero before shaking his head in amusement at the dark haired man. He stood up and shamelessly pointed at you, something you instantly noticed before making his way over. The look on Pero’s face was of shock and awe as he wished his friend would sit back down. 

“Wait,” he hissed through gritted teeth, “are you hitting on her for me?”

“You’re seemingly never going to do it,” he insisted with a coy little shrug, “might as well be me. I’m just pushing you both in the right direction!”

“I implore you to stop,” Pero groaned as his friend just gave him a wicked smirk but continued to walk towards you. He sighed heavily, wanting to slam his head on the table, “fuck.”

“Hello,” the pleasant voice caught your ear by surprise as you jumped from behind the counter where you had been organizing some supplies. Almost stumbling over your own feet, you caught yourself before offering him a small, but nervous smile.

“Hi,” you sounded as nervous as you felt, despite your best efforts, “h-how can I help you?”

“What was your name?” he asked as you gave it to him, trying your best not to glance back over at Pero, who was very pointedly looking away, “my friend over there, Pero, he’s quite smitten with you. He’d never admit it of course, but I figured if he wasn’t going to make a move I would for him.”

“I-I-I...umm. What?” seriously you couldn’t have heard him correctly. Pero...smitten with you? Impossible, “surely you have me mistaken for someone else. I’m just...I’m just…”

“The apple of his eye?” he challenged as you felt your whole face warm up, “he has not stopped talking about you for months. I told him that if he doesn’t gather up his courage and actually speak to you, I would do it for him. So here we are.”

“Oh,” you couldn’t but grin at his words, feeling Pero’s dark eyes on you, as he tried to read your reaction from the distance, “I...I’m quite fond of him too. He’s very kind...and handsome. He’s not like the others around here…”

“He’s a Spaniard!” he joked as you both laughed, “but if it should please you, I’m sure he’d be over the moon to enjoy your company.”

“Ay, that may be true,” you grinned from ear to ear, “but however, I still have duties to attend to.”

“How about we swap?”

“What?”

“Yes,” he held out his hand for the rag you were clutching onto, “how hard can it be? You speak to him, and I’ll handle the counter. Not like it’s terribly busy here, right?”

“I...okay,” you handed over the rag and shuffled around the counter, pulling your apron off and making quick work of discarding it as well, “thank you!”

Slowly making your way over to Pero, you watched as his face shifted through a series of emotions as he tried to remain calm. But before you fully approached him, he jumped out of his seat and pulled the chair opposite him out for you. Stopping short of him, you extended your hand to him, and he easily wrapped it up in his own, giving yours a firm squeeze, “Pero.”

“Querida,” he whispered softly before pointing at the chair. You sat down, wondering what the nickname - not that you minded. It sounded lovely coming from him either way, “I’m sorry about all that. He doesn’t know when to shut up.”

“It’s no matter,” you promised softly, “he’s right...I’ve been...wanting to spend time with you too. I just didn’t think it would be something that you wanted as well.”

“Of course it is,” he admitted, almost shy as a flush of red crept into his cheeks, “I’d really like that, I just needed a push in the right direction apparently.”

“Well,” you grabbed the old mug of ale on the table and knocked it against his, “cheers to that.”

»»————-　♡　————-««

Six Months Later

“Pero,” you grinned at the tickle of mustache as he kissed along your jaw and neck, your name spilling reverently off of his lips. You couldn’t help but as his hands found purchase on your waist as you tried to give him a gentle push back, “anyone can see, silly man!”

“Let them see,” he insisted in a low, teasing voice, “what are they going to do?”

“Brand us as the sinners we are,” you reminded him as you pulled his face up to meet yours, “they’re all the same - just like us - but you know how people get.”

“Then we’ll run away,” he suggested softly, and you weren’t sure if he was joking or quite serious. He traced a hand over your features, gently resting his hand on your cheek before pressing a chaste kiss to your forehead, “we’ll go and live in sin by the sea - just the two of us.”

“What if I wanted more than living in sin?” you asked softly, biting on your lip as you tried not to seem too forward, “I want it all, with you my love.”

“I will marry you in a heartbeat if you want it,” he promised as you nodded before beaming at him, “and make the most honest woman out of you for the world to see, while remaining sinful behind closed doors.”

“Such lofty promises,” you stole a quick kiss, “but will you make good on it? Truly?”

“Of course,” he insisted with a soft nod, “you are everything, querida, and I will give you everything you want.”

“A cottage by the sea, marriage, and perhaps a babe or two?”

“Consider it done,” Pero grinned from ear to ear as he picked you up and spun you in his arms, “I love you.”

“I love you too, Pero Tovar,” you whispered softly, “more than you will ever know.”

»»————-　♡　————-««

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[lily-orchard-gossip-blog]

Lilly made a chart about TSL character's sexuality and relationships, and for some reason added Mara Jade (as Gay/Aro/Trans), a character who hasn't been in the story outside of a meta joke alluding to how her and Luke's EU relationship being stupid and cringe (the prompt being Rey and Alaina are so much better than the hypothetical relationship). Seems like more of her overcompensation where she pays lip service to famous fandom elements while having no knowledge about said element.

You mean this chart?

Honestly, Mara Jade being retconned to no longer be Luke's age, or a cool assassin that use to work for Palpatine, isn't a big issue in of itself. I tend to give fanfics a bit more leeway on character alienation, especially if the fanfic is focused more on the new movies, where Mara just... doesn't exist. (Unfortunately.)

But I actually have a lot of issues with this chart that stem outside of the original Star Wars fandom (though, I can see why this would annoy people who kept up with the original timeline.)

First of all, like you said, Mara doesn't show up in the fic at all, yet according to this chart, not only is she in a Friends with Benefit relationship with Rey and Aliana, (and that's her only relationship with the cast, being f*ck buddies with two married woman, according to this chart.) but she also gets the privilege of being a gay Transwoman whose also Aromantic, so she won't threaten their marriage, she's just there for the two of them to have fun.

Yes, I know I'm being uncharitable here.

But because Mara doesn't exist in the original work, I have to look at her inclusion on this chart through a meta lens. I have to ask why she's the only Aromantic character, who's also in a sexual relationship with the two most important characters in the fanfic. It's also clear just by looking at it that Mara being trans is just added to diverse the cast, because outside of her, there is only one other non cisgender person.

Aliana and Ray are both pure lesbians who are cis, which is...fine. But then look at Finn and Poe, with Finn being Bi and Poe is Pan. Why isn't one of them purely gay? To be honest, when you look at the chart, you quickly realize that EVERYONE is ether Pan or Bi, except for the people who are banging Aliana.

And I'm also giving this the side eye because not a single character is ace. Now, some people might want to argue that Mara is ace, but no. She isn't. She's Aromantic.

Acesexuality is about sexual attraction, not romantic attraction. Mara is a lesbian, who doesn't feel romantic attraction.

And that's totally fine and valid, but then, Mara's character exists solely to be the token rep person. If we already have one, why can't we have two? Where is the ace? We have a sea of Bi and Pan's, even a handful of lesbians, but there isn't room for one ace character?

You know who I feel did this kind of thing right?

Rain.

Rain has a big cast of trans characters, Cis characters, an Ace demiromantic who's dating a lesbian, a bisexual aunt, a token straight cis guy and the main character even starts dating a pansexual girl. (Their very wholesome.)

You know what else?

Rain would definitely need a relationship chart, because it has an incredibly large cast of characters, all with intricate relationships to one another, to the point that a chart would be welcomed.

Looking at Lily's chart, she has nine characters, only two of which are important, and she leaves out the other characters, like Leai, Luke, Chewy, Han's, Kylo and Hux out, when their inclusion could have bulked the chart out a little more, and make it look less sad.

Again, from what I remember, Rose barely factors, I don't think Jannah does ether, Finn is shoved out of the story as soon possible, Poe gets the same treatment, Tahraya I have no idea, Mara is just mentioned and never seen and who on earth is Darth Talon? What chapter does she show up?

This chart feels like a way to have rep, without having rep, as well as to showcase all of the relationships that never get to actually exist in the story proper.

[dragon-ball-meta]

Let me ask you a legit question to start off the day. Based on what I know, you start off as a K18 author making K18 exclusive contents. What made you decide to branch off into other Dragonball topics and analyze the show in detail? And has expanding your focus improve your portrayal of K18?

Well... reading other fanfics and writing my own. I loved finding that community and that outlet, it was like a dream for me, but I kinda couldn't help noticing how I felt so many of the characters could be... just a bit off. lol And while I do believe that we get some leeway with AUs and the like, I also wanted to try to make these characters feel as authentic as possible, I wanted to do them justice. So I started watching again. Reading again. Noticing issues even with my own perceptions of these characters, and how common so many really big issues seemed to be in the fandom. So I studied more. Learned more. Found every interview I could from Toriyama to try to answers some of these questions, learn how the man thought and wrote. Read some of his other works to find consistent themes. Learned to tell when a comment was more than likely sarcasm, learned to put interviews in context of how long after the series had ended, had his memory faded by that point? (I know that sounds terrible, but Toriyama deliberately forgot a lot about DB over the years in trying to move on from it. Once people started reminding him though, memories came flooding back, but from the mid-2000s to about 2014, he did make some sketchy contradictory comments) But I could really only sort of lampshade via my work so much, y'know? Not without hurting it anyways. And then I found YouTube. And around the time there was gonna be a live-action movie, I started doing videos on that. Talking about that. Then talking about the series in general. But then I got some bogus copyright strikes back in the day when you had more limited options to dispute those claims, or to see if the people filing said claim was legit... lost my first few YouTube channels to hate flag campaigns. lol Then time passed, tried to be active on FB to no avail, little bit on Twitter with SLIGHTLY more success, but then I found this place. Was fandom-friendly. Knew a couple peeps who were on here. Decided to hang out, noticed my DB stuff seemed a bit more niche for my general posts and followers so started a dedicated side blog to talk about these sorts of things and correct bad info, and here we are!

[erithel]

Is it okay to change some featured from the vld characters? Like i want lance to have freckles on his body and i want pidge to have a height on 5'3 or 5'4 not to mention her being the same age as hunk and lance

Honestly that depends on you and how you want to portray them.

I have come across so many fanfictions and fanarts that have changed aspects of the characters exactly how you described. I mean, Lance with freckles has been done so much that I think no one would have a problem with that lol!

Essentially, people write the characters however they want in fanfiction. Or they draw them however suits them in fanart.

Everyone has their own style, and their own way of doing things. And for me, as long as the characters are still "in character" in terms of their personalities subtle changes like what you listed here are not a problem at all!

It only gets into dangerous territory if someone starts making bigger, more startling changes – like if someone decided to make Lance white, or to make Pidge tall and voluptuous, you know?

I think a lot of fanfic writers and fan artists for this particular fandom take liberties with the characters where they can, because so much of it was either just not stated, or was vague enough that there's some understandable leeway there. Like, honestly? Their ages is possibly the most confusing for me from canon, and I usually write them in their early 20's anyway.

To sum it all up, though, there's no problem in making changes like you mentioned here, because these won't effect their overall personalities. :)