#hopefully I didn't make any typos while copying that

[ranchstoryblog]

Update regarding the Guardians of Azuma Earth Dancer Edition goodies

The letter posted below was shared by official Marvelous USA social media accounts:

For those with any issue with reading the text in the image, the text has been transcribed below:

I'd like to share an update with our fans in the Americas. Like othre companies that deal with an international supply chain, the uncertainy of the tariffs situation is creating havoc on our production schedules and there is a chance that the premium "Earth Dancer Edition" of our upcoming Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma release may not be ready in time for the game's worldwide June 5th release.

Specifically, the 'sensu' folding fan is done but has been stuck at our supplier's factory in China for a couple weeks. Trying to bring it over now with the effective tariff rate will cost unanticipated fees totaling over 20% of the suggested selling price, largely due to this item being the most expensive component we have ever produced (with the exception of a figure going into a collector's edition). We cannot pay those fees, and trying to pass the cost on to fans who already pre-ordered at a set price is also unacceptable to us.

In case anyone is wondering why a fan steeped in Japanese tradition is made in China: This is because that was the only option available to us when we started this process almost a year ago, when we were told there was not a sensu manufacturer in Japan that could create our custom fan at the quantities that we needed. Instead, we imported authentic Japanese 'washi' paper to a facility in China where they would be assembled using a labor-intensive process.

There is still a chance that the goods could make it in time for a launch and this message worries everyone for no reason, but I prefer to be open and transparent with our community. Even if the tariffs are reduced or elminated tomorrow, there could be a huge backlog of product in similar situation as ours. What that means is that what would usually haven taken only a day to clear US customs could take weeks - that is how uncertain things are right now with our already delayed schedule.

We will continue to closely monitor the situation and be prepared to provide the product as quickly as possible (such as bringing the sensu fans by air rather than the much more economical ocean freight). We thank you for your support and understanding if even our best efforts still result in a delay.

Ken Berry President, Marvelous USA.

[hiperboreanpirates]

So, this is the start, from here on now I am going to write bit by bit a story I came up with. Don't expect any consistency in upload schedule, I'm doing it only here though I might inform you if I start posting this somewhere else. This being said if you want to repost this for some reason just remember giving me credit. I'm aware of the existence of ao3, but I refuse to share the sorrowful fate of its authors so you'll have to suffer me this way. Or don't, your choice really. Will you be able to find pieces of this through consistent tags? No, I barely know how to use them. Will this be properly edited, checked for typos and stuff like that? Also no, I'm writing this on my phone there are probably typos in there already. I suppose I should add that english is not my first language if it makes any difference to anyone. Oh and all posts containing the story will have it indicated in a specific way, anyways enjoy.

{Hiperborean pirates #1}

Why would you need inside people in a flat earther group? Yes, they were the largest one on earth, yes they kept screaming on how the government spreads lies and yes they organised meetings that felt like going to a church for crazies. Despite these Martin still didn't believe that "The Global Flat Earth Association" could pose any kind of threat, definitely not the level that his superiors seemed to think about.

He snorted, tugging in deeper inyo his coat. Rain always gave him a runny nose. Just a few alleys and he'll leave his bloody envelope in that rusted mailbox and then he'll be able to go home and make himself a nice mug of hot cocoa. The water from the puddle splashed as he quickened his steps at that thought.

It was quite funny that the first time he fpund himself hating spywork was when he finally got to do what little Martin always thought it would be. Infiltrating a shady organisation, listening in on private conversations, sneaking around in search of evidence or weapons.

Really it wasn't what he was doing, it was among whom. The process of getting from the level of a regular theorist among the group and a higher up, officially accepted among them required him to lose too many braincells. Maybe the job after this will be better? He kept telling himself that it was just his first time in the field and that he'd be put to a more serious thing next time. 'Hopefully not the desk work again' he thought, he spent two years after getting hired behind the desk, sorting through evidence and copies of documents that others found in the field, all coming in the same white envelopes as the one he was now carrying.

He soon reached the place and left his report in, the unassuming box was connected to a shute, which would get what he needed straight to the agency. As usual he had to resist the urge to look around while using the box, it has been pounded into his head that he makes himself suspicious every time he does that.

Now all that was left was to get home. He could take a bus to avoid the rain but it was a short enough walk to make it feel like a waste. Still, walking home would take longer and he could catch a cold from how wet he'd get. One option left then, the shady alley shortcut it is.

On his way home there was a not too long narrow unlit alley that saved him a few minutes of walking if he took it, he usually avoided it but this time he didn't think much. He got lost in thoughts, already smelling the cocoa and feeling the warmth of his bed, so much so that he didn't notice the steps from behind him. And then a bag was thrown over his head.

[valeriefauxnom]

Hello! This is the anon who'd sent you a post about how you formatted your dialogue incorrectly. Only saw your reply now.

Sorry if I came off as overbearing or fussy. I'd read some of your author's notes about pointing out typos/grammatical errors, and thought mistakes with dialogue punctuation fell under that category. I do think dialogue punctuation is important and not just some niche rule, though, but maybe that's just me.

My bad! You clearly know what you're doing, I shouldn't have assumed things. Good luck with the rest of the fic!

(You don't have to reply to this ask)

Hey, it's no problem, and I don't mind at all! In turn, I hope I wasn't sounding petulant or the like. That one was just unfortunately a case of what I felt was disproportionate effort for the benefit though! I do continually edit little bits here and there, like just yesterday I fixed a random incomplete sentence that I dunno if it didn't copy+paste over right or what. But my more involved editing is more content-based, like how I went back to some of the earlier chapters and added/subtracted/changed a few things here and there in an attempt to make the story overall work better, since Scaling truly is just a wild ride of a passion project spiraled far beyond what I'd anticipated. Having to closely scan that many words to just change a uppercase to lowercase or vice-versa occasionally was just too daunting a task.

I'm a bit of a weird case in that I am indeed fussy and picky about the basics in writing, like knowing your 'its vs it's' and all that, as well as the general rules for writing things, but when it comes to more nitty-gritty stuff, I'm not as invested in looking for them or correcting, since I do rarely find value in breaking other rules + am probably breaking umpteen kajillion advanced grammar rules unknowingly to begin with.

While I don't think formatting dialogue as a general category is niche, the specifics of whether or not to capitalize, etc, after, as you described seemed to be, solely based on the rarity of which any of that was mentioned in my own frantic searching to see if my whole education was a lie. Granted, it might be a case of people who need to look up basic writing concepts needing the absolute basics taught to them, like 'wow! punctuation goes on the inside of the quotation marks!' or 'wow! each speaker needs their new paragraph!', but in a way that just reinforces the idea that the rules of split dialogue are more niche within the broad category.

Again, not trying to say what you're saying was incorrect, but just that that particular advice might be a bit more niche than you'd assumed! If I'd had that pointed out earlier, there would have been a good chance that I might have actually corrected that one, but it again really was just a case of '200k words later' compared to the point where I'd fix that.

That being said, thank you again for the advice and for reading Scaling! (Hopefully you don't dislike me replying, as I take the ' don't have to reply' as a reassurance, not a request!)

[olderthannetfic]

I've read up about sensitivity readers as a service but something about it still feels off pouring to me? I get the concept and I guess on paper it's a noble cause, but idk if stories should be striving for "sensitivity" on the basis of a single reader/editor. Do you have any particular feelings or insight on the practice?

--

Sensitivity readers have been around for a while. When operating as intended, the practice is both good and not a big deal. They're just a cultural knowledge beta with a more inflammatory title.

The version that exists within a thousand miles of YA twitter and its ilk is a hot mess.

--

See, in the ideal circumstance, what these people should be is a paid editor who does a read for specific cultural gaffes.

They'd be working alongside the main editor who'd hopefully have time for developmental notes (okay, they never do this now, but ideally), copy editors, etc. A bunch of people are taking a look at this book before it goes out into the world. The sensitivity reader is merely more familiar with some particular area, probably their own cultural background, so they can spot things the rest of the editors and the author might miss.

It's just the more professional version of some dude writer being like "Hey, female friend, would you mind reading my manuscript and telling me what you think of the female characters?"

--

Now, near the cesspit of groupthink and intellectual incuriousity that is YA twitter and in other places like that, people have come to behave as though one sensitivity reader can read for everything, not just their own personal background. They talk as though there is one objective standard for whether something is offensive and as though causing offense is the worst crime in the world.

This attitude is poison, and it's how you get assholes passing themselves off as authorities on all ethnic strife ever, then writing cartoonish villains the minute they include a setting outside of the US.

(As a sidebar, it is deeply unsurprising to find that this jackass complained about women profiting off of m/m. Beware the people who think they personally are the unique arbiter of everything. It always devolves somehow into "Buy my book, not theirs".)

A lot of loudmouths desperately wish to do this work, always talking about it as though it's a beautiful opportunity to browbeat others for a lack of wokeness. It's always the biggest clowns too. (Mardoll, for example, while whining about the attack helicopter story.)

--

And yet, sensitivity readers exist outside of the toxic waste dump that is book twitter. I can see why the idea puts your back up, but it's time to unclench.

Yeah, one member of a minority is not the ultimate arbiter of what is Objectively Offensive Forever, but that's not actually a sensitivity reader's job. They're one set of feedback among various. There's no guarantee a copy editor will catch absolutely every typo either. If you had time for 5 sensitivity readers, maybe that would be useful, but it's probably more useful to pick someone you trust. Evaluating and paring down all the feedback you get is one of the major jobs of an author after all.

It's really no different than having a cop read over your crime procedural for silly Hollywood nonsense you didn't realize was false and a cliche.

We do this kind of double-checking over less fraught topics all the time without a problem. Writers just get very tense when they hear the term 'sensitivity reader' because it makes them think of mobs of wokescolds and of their book being secretly irredeemably racist. In reality, a good quality sensitivity reader might tell you that a joke doesn't land because of some cultural detail you missed. They're not there to harass you. They're a professional you hired to help with your book.

Sensitivity readers are fine as long as we treat them as what they are—cultural betas—and not as an official guarantee of Not Problematic And Can Never Offend Anyone.

[itsclydebitches]

Here's a quandary I've suddenly found myself in: where do you stand on writers deleting their own works, fanfiction or otherwise? I've had this happen to me on more than one occasion - I go to look for an old favorite and find it's since been deleted from whatever site I read it on.

On the one hand, I'm inclined to think that, "Sure. The author wrote it, it's their call. I don't own the work - I certainly didn't pay for it. It's their decision, even if it's disappointing."

But at the same time I can't help but consider the alternative - if I believe in death of the author (and I do), that an author's work fundamentally isn't solely theirs once it's been published, posted, etc., then it also seems wrong to have a work deleted. Stories aren't the sole property of their creator, after all.

But then I circle back. D'you think there are different obligations between authors and readers and the works being made in fandom space? I know if I had bought a book and the author decided they wanted it back, I would feel pretty comfortable telling them no, given I'd paid for it and whatnot. But that's a different world from fanfic and fandom space generally.

So. You're insightful Clyde, I'm curious as to what you'll have to say here (and to all y'all thinking about it, don't flame me. I haven't decided where I stand here yet - haven't heard a good nail-in-the-coffin argument for or against yet).

Val are you a mind reader now? I’ve been thinking about this exact conundrum the last few days!

(And yeah, as a general disclaimer: no flaming. Not allowed. Any asks of the sort will be deleted on sight and with great satisfaction.)

Honestly, I’m not sure there is a “nail-in-the-coffin argument” for this, just because—as you lay out—there are really good points for keeping works around and really good points for allowing authors to have control over their work, especially when fanworks have no payment/legal obligations attached. In mainstream entertainment, your stories reflect a collaborative effort (publisher, editor, cover artists, etc.) so even if it were possible to delete the physical books out of everyone’s home and library (and we're ignoring the censorship angle for the moment), that’s no longer solely the author’s call, even if they have done the lion’s share of the creative work. Though fanworks can also, obviously, be collaborative, they’re usually not collaborative in the same way (more “This fic idea came about from discord conversations, a couple tumblr posts, and that one headcanon on reddit”) and they certainly don’t have the same monetary, legal, and professional strings attached. I wrote this fic as a hobby in my free time. Don’t I have the right to delete it like I also have the right to tear apart the blankets I knit?

Well yes… but also no? I personally view fanworks as akin to gifts—the academic term for our communities is literally “gift economy”—so if we view it like that, suddenly that discomfort with getting rid of works is more pronounced. If I not only knit a blanket, but then gift it to a friend, it would indeed feel outside of my rights to randomly knock on their door one day and go, “I actually decided I hate that? Please give it back so I can tear it to shreds, thanks :)” That’s so rude! And any real friend would try to talk me out of it, explaining both why they love the blanket and, even if it’s not technically the best in terms of craftsmanship, it holds significant emotional value to them. Save it for that reason alone, at least. Fanworks carry that same meaning—“I don’t care if it’s full of typos, super cliché, and using some outdated, uncomfortable tropes. This story meant so much to me as a teenager and I’ll always love it”—but the difference in medium and relationships means it’s easier to ignore all that. I’m not going up to someone’s house and asking face-to-face to destroy something I gave them (which is awkward as hell. That alone deters us), I’m just pressing a button on my computer. I’m not asking this of a personal friend that is involved in my IRL experiences, I’m (mostly) doing this to online peers I know little, if anything, about. It’s easy to distance ourselves from both the impact of our creative work and the act of getting rid of it while online. On the flip-side though, it’s also easier to demean that work and forget that the author is a real person who put a lot of effort into this creation. If someone didn’t like my knitted blanket I gave them as a gift, they’re unlikely to tell me that. They recognize that it’s impolite and that the act of creating something for them is more important than the construction’s craftsmanship. For fanworks though, with everyone spread around the world and using made up identities, people have fewer filters, happily tearing authors to shreds in the comments, sending anon hate, and the like. The fact that we’re both prefacing this conversation with, “Please don’t flame” emphasizes that. So if I wrote a fic with some iffy tropes, “cringy” dialogue, numerous typos, whatever and enough people decided to drag me for it… I don’t know whether I’d resist the urge to just delete the fic, hopefully ending those interactions. There’s a reason why we’re constantly reminding others to express when they enjoy someone else’s work: the ratio of praise to criticism in fandom (or simply praise to seeming indifference because there was no public reaction at all), is horribly skewed.

So I personally can’t blame anyone for deleting. I’d like to hope that more people realize the importance of keeping fanworks around, that everything you put out there is loved by someone… but I’m well aware that the reality is far more complicated. It’s hard to keep that in mind. It’s hard to keep something around that you personally no longer like. Harder still to keep up a work you might be harassed over, that someone IRL discovered, that you’re disgusted with because you didn’t know better back then… there are lots of reasons why people delete and I ultimately can’t fault them for that. I think the reasons why people delete stem more from problems in fandom culture at large—trolling, legal issues, lack of positive feedback, cancel culture, etc.—than anything the author has or has not personally done, and since such work is meant to be a part of an enjoyable hobby… I can’t rightly tell anyone to shoulder those problems, problems they can’t solve themselves, just for the sake of mine or others’ enjoyment. The reason I’ve been thinking about this lately is because I was discussing Attack on Titan and how much I dislike the source material now, resulting in a very uncomfortable relationship with the fics I wrote a few years back. I’ve personally decided to keep them up and that’s largely because some have received fantastic feedback and I’m aware of how it will hurt those still in the fandom if I take them down. So if a positive experience is the cornerstone of me keeping fics up, I can only assume that negative experiences would likewise been the cornerstone of taking them down. And if getting rid of that fic helps your mental health, or solves a bullying problem, or just makes you happier… that, to me, is always more important than the fic itself.

But, of course, it’s still devastating for everyone who loses the work, which is why my compromise-y answer is to embrace options like AO3’s phenomenal orphaning policy. That’s a fantastic middle ground between saving fanworks and allowing authors to distances themselves from them. I’ve also gotten a lot more proactive about saving the works I want to have around in the future. Regardless of whether we agree with deleting works or not, the reality is we do live in a world where it happens, so best to take action on our own to save what we want to keep around. Though I respect an author’s right to delete, I also respect the reader’s right to maintain access to the work, once published, in whatever way they can. That's probably my real answer here: authors have their rights, but readers have their rights too, so if you decide to publish in the first place, be aware that these rights might, at some point, clash. I download all my favorite fics to Calibre and, when I’m earning more money (lol) I hope to print and bind many for my personal library. I’m also willing to re-share fic if others are looking for them, in order to celebrate the author’s work even if they no longer want anything to do with it. Not fanfiction in this case, but one of my fondest memories was being really into Phantom of the Opera as a kid and wanting, oh so desperately, to read Susan Kay’s Phantom. Problem was, it was out of print at the time, not available at my library, and this was before the age of popping online and finding a used copy. For all intents and purposes, based on my personal situation, this was a case of a book just disappearing from the world. So when an old fandom mom on the message boards I frequented offered to type her copy up chapter by chapter and share it with me, you can only imagine how overjoyed I was. Idk what her own situation was that something like scanning wouldn’t work, but the point is she spent months helping a fandom kid she barely knew simply because a story had resonated with her and she wanted to share it. That shit is powerful!

So if someone wants to delete—if that’s something they need right now—I believe that is, ultimately, their decision… but please try your hardest to remember that the art you put out into the world is having an impact and people will absolutely miss it when it’s gone. Often to the point of doing everything they can to put it back out into the world even if you decide to take it out. Hold onto that feeling. The love you have for your favorite fic, fanart, meta, whatever it is? Someone else has that for your work too. I guarantee it.

So take things down as needed, but for the love of everything keep copies for yourself. You may very well want to give it back to the world someday.