#in case the cut doesn't work bc tumblr bad

[s-ccaam-era-crepe]

ooo can I hear about the bap crew?

OF COURSE <333 i loveeee talking about the bap crew thank youuuu

okay so first off general warnings for the podcasts and all my posts about it for the most part <3 there are mentions of cults, death/murder, religion (and the like) and i think thats it mostly? (as a general) but sometimes it can be a lot, take care of yourself yall <33 and the rest is under the cut there is a lot <3

with that out of the way i guess if you didn't know already lol !! they are my podcast ocs !!! i'm in the works of creating a horror <3 podcast that takes place in an amusement park with 5 main characters and a god <3

so this post here explains a lot about the main characters personalities and stuff and the tags #brickwoods and #bap on my tumblr have some other posts related to the crew <3 recently i've been doing some extra stuff for fleshing out their families who will eventually be showing up in podcast and i can do a quick over view of them here tho <3

oh and not necessarily crew related but the length of podcast <333 imma ramble about that for a sec <3 so season 1 is going to be all amusement park stuff and the last episode of that season will be a major plot point/death (sorta setting the darker/more dramatic scene for s2) s2 is also amusement park shenanigans however now that the stakes have been raised the rest of the cast is pretty scared now yk. but they have still their motivations for wanting to get out and so <3

s3 is going to be after our final girl rebecca escapes the park and tries to a) sorta solve why that happened in the first place (why them. who is the god etc etc) and b) try to give closure to the others families so yeah. plus some other plots things yk <3

and then s4 will most likely be rebecca trying to stop/take down the cult because she doesn't want something like this to happen again and the ending is in workshop <33 (aka i can't decide between like. a couple possible endings i have planned but main plot won't change despite which one i eventually choose :))

okay so back to the crew lol <33 since that other post explains a lot of basic stuff about them feel free to ask specific questions about them now that you have info about them <3 but for now family time !!!

(specific warnings for this area some bad parents mentioned)

so david <3 ae is an only child with 2 moms, they are very sweet and amazing and extremely Extremely heartbroken when david never comes home after the park and stuff. they definitely had like plans for college visits and they had a car ready for when david was going to get aer license. the two of them are going to be pretty sad to write for in s3 i think but also i love them as characters (i was posting about them like last week lol they are very cute and fun when they arent sad </3)

hmm sophia's family <3 so her dad was born into the cult when it was a bit less strict (he was 'home-schooled' by the cult but also was allowed out bc his family is a main influential family) and her mom married in. they aren't the nicest parents by a long shot, and they only respect sophia because she became the leader. sophia does have a sibling however she doesn't know about them bc their parents kept them separate in order not to 'taint' sophia's godly touch

rebecca's family doesn't have too much going on, it is also an only child and her parents have been active in her life, not as great/caring as davids parents yet not uncaring either. rebecca really just lived with them her whole life and doesn't totally feel like it connected with its parents in any important way tbh

sunni ! so sunni grew up with only his mom and his sister and after the incident with carter (wait did i tell yall that was her name yet. thats the mutual best friends name in case i Didnt say that already <3) sunni's sister Mary ended up moving out with a friend and not keeping in touch with sunni or their mom again. she also changed her last name as soon as she legally could. but yeah so sunni doesn't have a very close relationship with his mom either and he has no relationship with his sister anymore which upests him a lot but he also keeps this close to him

and blair <3 so blair has 2 brothers (twins age 10 (i think)) named ben and bruno (named by My twin siblings so) and their parents are pretty bad. blair is very protective of their younger brothers and has been trying for a while to save up enough to move all of them out but hasn't quite yet. they fight really hard in the park to try and get out because they do not want to leave their brothers with out someone else to help and be there with them.

and i think thats it for a basic run over of all their families and the characters in general a bit <3 :)) feel free to ask any questions based on this post, the last post or like. literally anything <33 they are my passion project and i love BAP sooo very much <3

[fraywol]

some stuff i wanted to get off my chest bc its starting to annoy me lmao. dt stuff under the cut just in case ppl are really sensitive abt spoilers

i don't have any strong opinions re: "dawntrail good or bad" (i liked some parts and didn't like others. i don't really play this game for the story, at least not right now) but i do want to say it's really frustrating to, when people say they disliked the pacing etc of the story, reply with "well it's intended to be that way, this is meant to be a new story, think of it like arr again" because that's, essentially, just telling people who didn't like a story "well its meant to be that way"

like that doesn't do anything to change the fact that people felt underwhelmed by aspects of it or express a desire for it to be different. which is normal and okay. not every story works for everyone and in a game a lot of people play for a lot of reasons (with an episodically told story by multiple writers) i think people enjoy the story for different reasons.

i get trying to defend something you enjoyed from someone who didn't but very genuinely it's a really aggravating counterpoint to have to see over and over and over again when there's like genuine criticisms of the story (and storytelling) that are being ignored. it's okay to not engage with criticism if you're thin-skinned enough that seeing it makes you upset, you can ask people to tag their crit stuff that's like, a normal thing to do, especially on tumblr.

[thegeminisage]

Identity Porn for the Never Have I Ever ask game, please?

HIII thank you so much <333

IN FACT I HAVE WRITTEN IDENTITY PORN! i think How Arthur Got His Groove Back 100% qualifies for this trope. merlin himself essentially has all the same beats that a classic comic book superhero does - secret powers that would endanger him and those around him if discovered, secret identity (emrys) that he wants to tell people about and can't which ruins his love life (in the fic, arthur is his semi-love interest; it's preslash, but it centers around their relationship), the object of his affections talking about his secret identity right in front of him (they have MULTIPLE conversations about emyrs even though merlin IS EMRYS), tragic backstory/dead parents that has something to do with his powers (rip balinor), exhausted from leading a double life, a big secret identity reveal, even an old guy mentor! actually if you count the dragon merlin has two old guy mentors, it's just that they both suck so fucking bad. and lots of that isn't even really specific to my fic. favorite identity porn excerpt:

euhehehe i love to have fun and be evil. i think this is probably objectively the best-written thing on my ao3, aside from of course @cambionverse

i'm not sure how i'd go about writing another - don't really like AUs, so unless that sort of thing is baked into canon the way it is in merlin i don't think i no wait stop the presses i just had an idea. well it's not my idea specifically i've seen it tossed around a lot on tumblr but whatever. essentially common trope/fanon that eliot leverage is still killing people in season 1 of leverage before he decides being good guys is serious business. this is the oldest trope in the world but eliot getting assigned to keep an eye on nate's team bc moreau feels threatened by them (i actually have a hard time buying he would do this, even though it's a very popular fanon, but just roll with it) and he's like getting closer to them but he always has to sabotage them on jobs where their success would hurt moreau in some way (I KNOW literally nothing they do would effect moreau but we're gonna pretend) but they KEEP SUCCEEDING ANYWAY. and eliot is like what the hell. is being good bad guys legit? hey (he's asking moreau this while they're fucking or something) is it legit to be good bad guys? have i made real friends while pretending to make fake friends? and moreau is like if you be real friends with them i will have chapman cut their fucking brake lines. and eliot is like got it and he continues to go to these meetings and wonder aloud who keep sabotaging these random ass cases and then nate figures out the cases are all connected with moreau and eliot is like Oops and then he and hardison do the pool thing and it all comes out and he decides to switch sides because he's in love w hardison and parker and he's tired of doing evil shit for moreau. so like canon essentially except eliot's conscience doesn't start working until season 3 and they spend the first two and a half seasons not knowing the Ultimate bad guy they are tracking has been making them fancy ass dinners and being their bodyguard and being their little pet hitman. and hes just kinda batting his eyelashes like who me? and then going home to stare at his blank apartment walls in all-consuming existential dread. yeah.

[ASK MEME]

[yourubersawcrit]

The full context was worse, actually, because the commenter doubled down. Rita is very much alive and able to make new tumblr accounts and speak with her mutuals who have been spreading her story. She is alive to pursue legal action. Just bc the commenter used some faux-apologetic tone doesn't mean they added anything of value that got cut off and regardless of all else there was no need to be condescending to a stranger who (correctly) judged that the "context" was not actually contextualising in a way that made it any "less bad"

The purpose of posting the complete message was in case someone wondered what the rest of the comment was. Still, it didn't work out and I feel sorry for how the OP and others interpreted it by my wording.

[daz4i]

PLEASE elaborate i love hearing about people on tumblr being unhinged

ajskfkg ok ok take this with a small grain of salt bc there's always a real chance i made a mistake and the blog i think is theirs is actually someone else (tho, i found it through old dms, and unless I'm really misremembering stuff it's probably the same person. but yeah the chance is still there so keep that in mind, and that's also why I'm gonna make this post unrebloggable oof. don't want it to spread and accidentally hurt someone unrelated)

soooo we met on tumblr in 2018 through a common fandom and had a long-distance relationship that, as you can tell, didn't work out. i was still figuring out my aromanticism but really the main factor of why we also didn't stay friends after the whole thing, is they had a p big and sudden personality switch tbh. nothing bad but like it was weird to me and ig set off some alarms in my head to cut things off there

back then i was 19 and iirc they were 21 and in college

they presented themselves as a russian who moved to the us to escape their abusive father

they did post in russian sometimes (mostly in the tags of vent posts), very rarely, but they did. yet still some things didn't entirely add up

when we did voice chats they had an average american accent, which is definitely possible for someone who moved there from russia ofc, but considering how they moved to the us alone, that implied they did so as an adult, i'm p sure?? i can't remember if they mentioned having help with that but. yeah it was a bit odd, esp looking back

(also while i don't wanna doubt someone's tale of their abuse, esp in case I'm wrong, what they said abt how their dad abused them doesn't really work with "learned how to speak in perfect english with a perfect american accent". not gonna elaborate more than that)

another thing that didn't stand out back then was a conversation where they mentioned their grandma being jewish, to which i said that makes them at least partially jewish as well, and they really ran with it and put it on their blog and started mentioning it often, esp in relation to me and our relationship (bc yknow, I'm jewish). again, nothing too bad

but yeah we ended up cutting things off. fast forward 5 years i found old dms on one of my sideblogs and went "oh hey i wonder what they're up to"

and their bio says they're a native american + palestinian + 20 years old. which. um. as you can tell very much doesn't align with what i knew about them. no mentions of judaism no mentions of russia and a way younger age from what i knew. they only sent me one pic of them before and they looked very much white in it

so the real question is. did they lie to me about their age and backstory? are they lying now? both?? who knows!

(also i do gotta say. if i did indeed get the blogs wrong. there's only one other person i can remember who could be behind the blog i found now. and they claimed to be 16 when we met in 2016ish so things still don't add up lol)

and yeah that's it 🫡 I'm sorry if it's not a thrilling story but i hope you enjoyed it 🫡

[capriciouscaprine]

okay, ex roommate post tiem to get it out of my system

(feel free to be nosey that's why I'm posting about it on tumblr)

first of all, why not just TALK to someone about this? bc I don't like social interaction and I'm too busy to see anyone, but also bc my ex roommate is a self-employed traditional artist, so if social opinion about them tanks, that could genuinely jeopardize their income, and they didn't actually do anything worse than be a kinda crappy friend on the whole and a shitty roommate in their last few months of living with me

me obsessing over them and using them as my secret competition is bc I'm mentally ill, not bc they 'deserve it' or 'need to be taken down a notch' or should be 'cancelled' or anything

so, my ex roommate had a shit life growing up, right up there with being any given social worker's average case of a low income child who's dealt with physical abuse, neglect, and bouts of homelessness; then, they graduated high school and used student loans to go to university to get a degree in fine art, and finally experiencing reliable housing while they had that student loan money; they pick up food service jobs while in college, start building their social media presence, and take home every classroom art supply that isn't nailed down, just like any professional artist does at the start of their career

fast forward approximately five years after graduation

they're still only just building up their online presence and they've never held down a job for more than about 10 months at a time; all of their previous living situations have imploded and they're living with a family member who doesn't help them do anything and expects them to magically get a good job and move out any day now, even though they don't have a car and they live in the suburbs

enter me, the person who owns a crappy little house that (eventually) has a bedroom open up so they can move in and a job to recommend them to

(I'm cutting out a bit here to maintain plausible anonymity)

they start out strong, decorating the room, cooking and sharing meals (not a routine in our house, just something nice they do), and building up their art income while they make money from the job I helped them get; they even manage to get a car!

but then, as a year at the job approaches, they have a harder and harder time getting along with their boss, and it's unclear if the job really sucks that bad or if my roommate isn't communicating well; they also seem to be failing to balance art, their other job, and general life, doing things like going on art binges only to crash and get an hour of sleep and be late to work the next day; eventually, they experience a significant health event, and they get fired for being absent from their job for a month

they focus on their art business, talking about how they're gonna explore more types of social media promotion and showing off how much their income has grown since they were at their relative's house; I've started my masters degree at this point, and then the pandemy hits, so we spend more time hanging out, especially since my other roommate had moved out by this point so it was just the two of us in the house

over time, the cracks start to show; they're so positive and cute and bubbly when they have the energy, and they talk a bunch about effective communication and boundaries and all that, but when they talk about their other friends, it's like a constant stream of criticism about their life choices

oh, one friend has openly wept about being fat and not fitting into the cute clothes they both want to wear? well, sure, body positivity and all that, but then my roommate gets annoyed that their friend is annoyed by the regular attempts to invite them out for hikes or to a gym my roommate goes to, and is further annoyed when this friend won't 'just' tell them they don't want to go and that the friend simultaneously still talks about her dissatisfaction with her body; my roommate is flat out making 'pick a struggle!'-type comments about this 'friend'

another friend struggles with money; they were low-income, and now they make relatively decent money, and my roommate is FULL of judgement about how they spend their money and how they socialize at work and try to turn all their coworkers into their friends even tho that just isn't appropriate

any time they go to someone's house that is messy, there are several comments made about why they don't 'just' clean up as they cook or do stuff around the house, and if they see a roach that person is absolutely getting judged hard core bc my roommate 'has ptsd (jokingly)' about all the trashy places they've lived (we live in the southern US, btw, we have lots of thriving insects and small mammals all over the place)

they complain about how someone keeps talking about wanting a better, higher-paying job, but won't put in the time to get required certifications to get that better job

they constantly talk about the importance of 'open' conversation, harping on how they're happy to have a frank conversation about anything without blowing up over it

and yet

they do

ALL OF THESE SAME THINGS

they talk about wanting to lose w while binging on snacks with friends and eventually a new partner, complaining about wanting to go to the gym but also how sad they are no one will go with them and that's why they go less; their savings starts running out at the pandemy impacts their art sales so they go get a job after talking about it endlessly (another complaint about a different 'friend') and tries to make friends with all their coworkers and starts a room overhaul even though they admit they have no budget for it; they don't wash up after using a TON of bowls and pans to cook a single meal and even leave out tidbits 'for the cats' on the FLOOR that they never go back and pick up; they don't actually do any training on their own time to get promoted or improve their art business; and trying to give them advice and feedback or talk about something that makes you uncomfortable with them results in a near-immediate grumpy cold shoulder, let alone that they dominate nearly every conversation with their own personal interests and check their phone when you talk about yours

(I have to go to work rippp I don't want tumblr to delete this in drafts so I'm posting it now and will continue later)

[serkonans]

i would legit love to know ur answer to all of those dnd questions tbh

so many gfsljgf thank you antonia i love ask memesputting #13 up here for the anon who requested it and the rest below the cut!13. Introduce your current party.I currently DM a few games! School is hectic and I don’t get to play very often but all the characters are GoodI have one group campaign titled “When the River Bleeds Red” (which is probably news to you, Antonia, and everyone else who plays, idt I ever mentioned that slkfjglfskj) that has a blacksmith (half-elven cleric, @the-idiot-who-stood-still​) named Brigitte Faestrum, a pumpkin farmer (halfling druid, @beesgnees​) named Cathal Headrig, a former stage performer (fire genasi sorcerer, @merrigold​) named Emelia Sparks, and a former mercenary (gnome fighter, @jacqmutiny​) named Nyx!I also DM one-on-one campaigns for @merrigold​ (who plays an aasimar druid named senua tasked with undertaking journeys on behalf of the gods in “The Glacial Erratic”) and @fictitiousbees​ (who plays a kenku wizard named scribbles called to the service of a high dragon in “Luck of the Draw”)Everything else below the cut!

1. A favorite character you have played.

I’ve only played two characters! One was Carran Warset, who is my Son and like the bulk of the reason I know I’m trans, and one was Chim from your one-on-one campaign. I rly like both of them tbh but Carran is my child gkjlsfgjs

2. Your favorite character that someone else has played.

Excluding anything I’ve DMed, Sivarna by @pluviance!

3. Your favorite side quest.

In the group campaign we played in together, there was one session that idr if you were able to be there for but we like,,, went into a forest and bought a really ugly belt from a stoner for zero plot reasons and I count it as a side quest in my heart

4. Your current campaign.

Well, you know everything about all my current campaigns that you’re allowed to know rn, but for anyone who might be reading who isn’t in them:

The group campaign is being used as scapegoats in the brutal murder of an ambassador’s daughter and is fleeing a city through secret tunnels -- we last left off at Cathal becoming a giant badger and burrowing upward

In the solo campaign with Senua, she’s attempting to deliver a large, magical object from the goddess of earth deep inside a mountain, and she’s facing down a basilisk with three NPCs

And in the solo campaign with Scribbles, he’s just played a card game that was really more of an interrogation, where he found out a high dragon has taken interest in him, and he is, in unrelated news, taking a package to the local apothecary

5. Favorite NPC.

Of someone else’s, I love Lucy from the Chim campaign!

Of mine, I will never stop loving Mr. Kretever Tatell. Kret is a goddamn idiot but he’s my goddamn idiot

6. Favorite death (monster, player character, NPC, etc).

Carran once killed an evil poison merchant by seducing her in an enemy king’s bedroom and stabbing her when he went in for the kiss gkfsljgfsj. Then he and Sivarna wound up hiding with her corpse under a bed discussing the concept of threesomes in whispers while the king wandered around his room. Not as like, a possibility. Just because the topic came up

7. Your favorite downtime activity.

S,,,hop,,,,,,, money tiem $

8. Your favorite fight/encounter.

I liked the fight where I balanced the combat correctly lkgsflkjskljg, the one with guards in the tunnels

9. Your favorite thing about D&D.

Storytelling!

10. Your favorite enemy and the enemy you hate the most.

Homebrew enemies are coolest imo but hard to balance; the giant gemstone ant I had you fight would’ve been my favorite if it’d been able to get more than like two attacks in gskjgksj

And insect swarms are very annoying to fight

11. How often do you play and how often would you ideally like to play?

How often I play is whenever every single one of the stars align and ideally I would play like every other day fksjglskfjg

12. Your in game inside jokes/memes/catchphrases and where they came from.

God the current ones haven’t gone long enough for those yet really and I’m blanking on most from the group player campaign

I do remember Carran was 1000% convinced basil was poison at one point and his pet rat killed an evil, powerful sorcerer by chewing his ear

14. Introduce any other parties you have played in or DM-ed.

Just the group player campaign with Carran, which didn’t get to the heavy plot stuff before it ended tbh, and then the solo one you ran with Chim in what was rly a Very cool world concept of like hellish Las Vegas that I’d like to steal at some point

And then you ofc know this but for anyone reading who doesn’t, I’m going DM a maybe-oneshot, maybe-a few more than oneshot post-apocalyptic campaign for you and @fictitiousbees​, set in a world that’s been destroyed by fast growing invasive fungi which is like. only The sexiest apocalypse scenario

15. Do you have snacks during game times?

Yes, religiously. Game time snack time

16. Do you play online or in person? Which do you prefer?

I’ve never played in person other than a single test game for new players! I prefer online tho; you can look things up and type if you’re shy

17. What are some house rules that your group has?

I have a rule about only two players being able to try the same sort of check, but that’s it for us so far that I can think of

18. Does your party keep any pets?

Not yet! Cathal has a way with animals though

19. Do you or your party have any dice superstitions?

I Do

20. How did you get into D&D? How long have you been playing?

I got into it bc Critical Role made it look super super fun, and I’ve been playing off and on for two years now

21. Have you ever regretted something your character has done?

I’ve regretted everything any character I’ve controlled has done I think that’s just dnd

Realistically tho, big yes for a lot of what Carran did, most notably snooping on another player character who had cast Alarm on her room

22. What color was your first dragon?

Haven’t had one yet!

23. Do you use premade modules or original campaigns?

100% original babey

24. How much planning/preparation do you do for a game?

3% planning 97% “oh fuck I need to have an idea Now” babey

For DMs

25. What have your players done that you never could have planned for?

Everything, it’s why I never know what I’m doing

I never expected Cathal to become a large badger and dig out of the underground, how do you prepare for someone to, in all seriousness, tell you they’re going to become a badger and scrabble to the surface

26. What was your favorite scene to write and show your characters.

I really tend to enjoy the one-on-one scenes; I think my favorite was having you roll that insane wild magic surge and detailing What Happened At The Theatre

27. Do you allow homebrew content?

Yes if it can go in DND Beyond

28. How often do you use NPCs in a party?

In group campaigns, not often, although we have two with us right now. In solo campaigns, if you want combat you’re getting an NPC party, at least for a bit

29. Do you prefer RP heavy sessions or combat sessions?

Personally I love RP heavy sessions; combat is fun but I crave Story

30. Are your players diplomatic or murder hobos?

I think mostly diplomatic with a dash of murder hobo

For Players

31. What is your favorite class? Favorite race?

I’m so so so boring but I love humans gksfjgsk

Humans, elves, and half-elves are my favorite

And then I Would Die For Every Rogue, it’s hands down my favorite class

32. What role do you like to play the most? (Tank/healer/etc?)

Rogue role

Lemme stealth and steal and stab

33. How do you write your backstory, or do you even write a backstory?

For Carran it was,, A Whole Process

I came up with a basic idea, then journaled as him several times and wrote and rewrote until I had what felt Right, and then I kept toying with it and adding more details throughout the campaign -- I love playing and would really like to again but the obsession with expanding upon his story made me realize I need the freedom of worldbuilding that goes along with DMing; I don’t think I could be a player without DMing a separate campaign bc I just try to take over

34. Do you tend pick weapons/spells for being useful or for flavor?

Both!

35. How much roleplay do you like to do?

So much, I usually use old acting techniques and get fully into character

thank you again antonia!!! these were fun

[mymarifae]

i've been reading your fic and i really adore your writing!! im trying to get better at it myself right now do you have any tips?

oh thank you !!!! that makes me happy i'm glad people like it so much despite the absolute silliness and seeming ooc-ness of it... (bc yeah i Know what happens in the first chapter seems bizarre for toya to do. only thing i can tell you irt That is chapter four is titled "in which An decides she wants to run over Toya with a bicycle") BUT UM anyway. advice...

hm. a big part of learning to become a better writer finding your inner voice. and i can't exactly help you with that aspect. but i suppose i have some suggestions for what to keep in mind when writing...?

- first and foremost: read (and write!) things other than fanfiction. there's nothing wrong with fanfic. it's fun and it's a unique form of literature and i think it does deserve love and respect or whatever. but when it comes to fanfic, you're going into these stories already familiar with the characters and the settings, even in the case of a huge AU riddled with OCs. it doesn't require you to stretch your imagination very far. it's important to expose yourself to other kinds of literature, too, so you can learn from them and improve your imagination and critical thinking skills

- show, don't tell - but don't be overly descriptive either. when you write, you must trust your reader to work with you and use their own knowledge to make your story come to life - writing is a team effort between You and anyone who may read your words! people know grass is green, the sky is blue, trees are... trees, etc. unless you're describing a world where these things aren't true, you. don't need to spend time establishing them. you can write the word "forest" and your readers will know what to imagine. and as tempting as it may be to, for example, flex your prose skills to describe the gorgeous gradient of a romantic sunset for 3 paragraphs, unless it serves to move the story forward or reflect your characters' emotions and thoughts, you don't need to. and i strongly recommend just cutting anything like that out because i guarantee people will just skim or skip over it all together.

overly detailed descriptions will come off as patronizing and alienate your reader. draw their attention to the things that matter - they'll fill in the rest. trust me.

- simple language is not a bad thing. don't pull out a thesaurus. don't fucking do it. put it back. you don't need to replace every instance of "said", "big", or...whatever simple word that some tumblr user told you is #bad to use too frequently in your writing. now if you've said the word Big like 28 times within two paragraphs and it wasn't on purpose, you probably need to revise .

but like. seriously. use the words already in your vocabulary. your readers will notice when you've used a thesaurus for a "fancier" synonym. and if you want to expand your vocabulary because you genuinely feel like your word choice is stale, go read some books (not fanfiction)

- in the instance of said especially. don't fret too much over how often you use it. it's like a filler word. it helps break up strings of dialogue so your reader can keep track of who is saying what. if you're constantly trying to find words to use instead of 'said' when said literally works perfectly fine, you're not going to get anything done AND your dialogue is going to come out as clunky and awkward because of unnecessary words being shoved where they don't belong

it's a fine line between letting your readers read a conversation between characters peacefully and actually overusing the word said. but you'll get the hang of it

- the first thing you write down will suck. you will not be happy with it. read this and accept it right now. too many people get hung up over first drafts riddled with mistakes. just write and get the basics of the story down before you lose it - you can go back and edit and revise any time and as many times as you need.

- learn grammar rules, and then learn that grammar is arbitrary and you can break these rules whenever you want for the impact. you'll notice in and what's a little kiss between bros? i've done this a few times. idr all of them anymore but like

But Toya really really really really does not need to know about that.

obviously commas are Supposed to go in between each of those really's. but i didn't put them because a comma denotes a slight pause and i didn't want a slight pause and smushing them all together like "reallyreallyreallyreally" would have been too fast. don't go overboard (but there are exceptions even to this so...?) but remember you're allowed flexibility with words and punctuation and sentence and paragraph structure

- writing is hard. don't be discouraged when the words don't come out. you're manipulating language to conjure consistent images in different people's heads. this is an incredibly difficult thing to do. be patient with yourself. if you have to write something insanely bare bones to establish a point before moving onto the next one, then like... do it.

i'm serious. and what's a little kiss between bros? was like. not even joking, the part i call chapter 2 now started off as "Mizuki gets to school and after talking to Toya, they figure out Akito is on the roof. They go there and confront him."

and then i moved onto their conversation, which came out pretty okay the first time. the beginning of chapter two, up until akito and mizuki begin talking, is like... 2.4k words. it started off as a mere 23. this is what i mean when i say just... write the first draft without worrying about how it looks. put down what needs to happen, and you can pretty it up later. you can pretty it up 15 times if you need to

- have fun. or else.

[by-kilian]

(if this ask makes u uncomfortable in any way, feel free to ignore it, delete it, whatever u need to do. ur happiness matters more to me than anything else. however, i am specifically sending this not on anon, despite my incessant urge to do so as i barely ever send off anon, to give u the chance to reply to this privately if u want to. but that is if u want to! i don’t need, or want, anything from u. ur comfort outweighs any sort of recognition or interaction. i am also extremely unsure if this is gonna send properly bc i am on the tumblr app n the character limit seems to be nonexistent now? when did this happen HAHA…)

i went looking for u (scrolled thru the keyword of ur old user on tumblr, found an older ask that includes it) bc That App is talking abt That Story again. it always troubled me how things went down - i’ve experienced writers taking down their works before but never like that. orphaning works, sure. deleting ao3s, yep. but NEVER thru what u went thru. i don’t even generally go here (here being x readers), but That Story got pushed my way when the whole situation was in its hayday n i never properly paid attention to things until i caught wind of what u had to do. i had no idea it was that bad until maybe a week after the situation had been over n done with by ur actions. n i don’t blame u in the slighest. fandom culture is both extremely fun n extremely damaging - the fact u got the shortest end of the stick that i’ve ever seen is truly smth awful.

all of that aside, i am so extremely overjoyed to see ur still writing. truth be told, i hadn’t known of u before That Story, since again, my aversion to x readers. but ur writing is clearly smth special - n maybe this is extremely crude to say, i’m extremely sorry if it is - considering the way ppl acted over it. above it all, i am just happy to see that ur ok. everything is fine, as much as it can be. that fact alone leaves me content. i am SO glad u were able to push past it.

tldr, since i know this is a lot. i am so happy to see ur still kicking it, despite it all. content creation in any form is deeply personal if u put ur heart into it, n it seems like u do. i am so sorry for the way ppl treated u over That Story. i am doubly sorry if this made u feel upset in any way, shape, or form. that was not my intent, feel free to do whatever it is u need to do with this silly ask if this is the case. n maybe this is corny, but i hope more things fall in ur favor, instead of otherwise. have a nice day!

This is actually a really kind and considerate ask. I'll answer it under a cut since my response is pretty long though!

Firstly, I just want to say thank you for being thoughtful enough to consider my feelings in all of this. It's really kind of you and I'm not saying that just to say it. ❤️

Secondly, yeah. It all was a bit of a hell fire. While I wish it never happened, it obviously did but I'm happier now than I was then. Even before ThatStory blew up, my old writing blog was getting out of control and people were feeling super entitled to me, my works, what I did, and who/what I wrote about so in a way, I'm not surprised it headed that way although I never expected it to go THAT way lol. And yes, it was pretty bad but luckily it is done and over with. Fandom culture can be super fun and that's initially what it was for me--just fun before it unfortunately tipped over to the other extreme side of fandom which is toxic. It is what it is.

But to touch on your main point, thank you and it's not crude at all. I don't see your comment that way. In a way, I've come to think of it as much as well (that it must have resonated with people in some weird way) but not just with that particular story but other stories, too so it is really sweet that someone who doesn't read these kinds of stories thinks that of them as well. It also means a lot to me that someone cared enough to think about how I was doing after all this because that really hasn't been the case apart from loyal readers. Most ppl never think about me in this situation 😂 which is probably why what happened, happened. So thank you for the kind words. I'm fine. Like I said, happier now than I was in my previous blog. I've come to think that it's all meant to be. I get a lot more freedom here, I have the sweetest, most loyal readers, and no one feels entitled to my works, my time, or what I do.

Also you didn't upset me at all. While it's admittedly irritating to see people still talking about that shit a literal year and three months or so later, that has nothing to do with you so no worries. I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to check up on me, and thank you for being so kind. Content creation is super personal and I do put my heart into it, so it means a lot to me that you see that 🥺! Truly.

I'm touched that there are still kind, good, decent people out there because for you to take the time to look for me and send me something lovely truly means a lot, especially considering you weren't necessarily a reader of mine--just clearly a kind, thoughtful human being. I can't express how much I appreciate it. Honestly. Thank you so so much for the lovely sentiments, and I hope all is well for you in the future as well. ❤️❤️❤️

[showf4lls]

Okay, so I don’t usually say anything on tumblr, but that last anon is kind of making me irritated

They weren’t slick about who they were talking about bc they had a direct quote from the post they were talking about. While I’m happy they didn’t say any names, they still left out info. The blog they were talking about DOES use ‘read more’ cuts on NSFW posts after they put a warning about content. The blog also doesn’t break any boundaries and was very respectful about responding to the anon’s ask. It wasn’t even a direct quote bc the anon made the blog’s response sound ruder than it was. In summary, the blog that the anon was talking about literally does nothing wrong. It’s easy for people to scroll past even short ones bc the blog pretty much always puts a ‘read more’ cut on nsfw fics. I understand being upset at those without ‘read more’ cuts, warnings, or those that are breaking boundaries. However, the specific blog anon was talking about didn’t break anything and is overall very respectable.

I don’t usually interact at all on tumblr but this was just kind of irritating lol. You have a great day though!! Your response was valid but the anon’s actual, and unknown to you, context was annoying.

hi! thank you for being so kind in my inbox, i really appreciate it! /gen

i have to say, i do agree that the blog this is all about does a really good job of respecting cc's boundaries from what i can tell and they were pretty respectful in their response! i do have context for the interaction so i'm not entirely upset with how it went because i have a more well-rounded understanding now.

but i think i do have a point in saying that nsfw blogs should keep their content out of mainstream tags - for example, "[cc name] x reader" - especially if they have an mdni policy in effect [which they should]. by putting nsfw content in mainstream tags, creators on here are practically handing smut to 13 year olds, which is not responsible content creation. like i've said before, i 100% understand wanting to give your work as much exposure as possible. and why wouldn't you [/gen, npa]? you're putting all this work and effort into this thing you wrote, of course you'd want as many people as possible to see it! that's not bad at all. but there is a way to responsibly tag [or not tag, in this case] your nsfw content. also, not putting your work into mainstream tags would make policing those who interact with your content so much easier, right? by tagging responsibly, not only will it be easier to control who does and doesn't interact with your posts, but you'll also be able to build a loyal audience. idk i personally don't see a reason to not be responsible with tagging your work /npa. and obviously no ill will towards this creator, they're doing their best and might not understand where we're coming from and that's okay! that's why i make these posts, to help people understand why it's important to be concerned about who you're exposing your content to.

i really genuinely appreciate you coming into my inbox to help me better understand the situation though!! you can never have too much context so thank you for that! i hope you have a wonderful day :> /gen