#my target audience is i me and myself tbh

[annqer]

nooooo pleaseeee dont kill meeee mr sunday I wanna be in da sequeeeel >_<

[tiktowafel]

do you ever think about how all you used to draw when you were 10 was ponies and that you should still know how to do that, then get an idea and proceed to draw something like these in nearly one sitting and it turns out better than any drawing you've done in the entire past month

sooo anyway does anyone have cutie mark or pony name ideas for them?? lol

[ineffable-kelpie]

Hello! For the fanfic writer ask game, questions 9 and 23?

Thanks for asking! (original ask game here)

9. What's a scene you wrote this year that you're particularly proud of?

I'm very pleased with the scene in chapter 6 of Light the Corners of my Mind where Aziraphale finally regains his memories of what happened in the last 15 minutes of season 2. I love writing jumbled stream-of-consciousness scenes, and weaving in canon quotes, and I'm just overall really happy with how intense and emotional it came out.

Also, while I don't remember if I technically wrote the final version this year or just posted it this year, I have to mention chapter 7 of Reality Check, which I first started trying to draft last January (as in, 2022) and refused to commit to writing any of Fact and Fantasy until I could come up with a version of that scene that I could believe. I rewrote it at least three times before the fic was done, and tbh the final version has made me cry multiple times. Plus, it gave me a reason to write 120K words for Fact and Fantasy, so I'm very happy I eventually made that scene work.

23. What fic did you enjoy writing the most?

Probably Stray Cat Strut, which I enjoyed so much that it took over my life for at least a week and ended up twice as long as I expected. Picking a Sandman fic on my Good Omens sideblog feels like cheating, though, so for Good Omens I enjoyed writing Exit Interview the most, because I love to write Gabriel being terrible.

[roomba-mangga]

going back and forth on the notion of writing this thing as if it were actually aimed at a younger audience versus writing for an older audience who might resonate with experiences of liminality... so far leaning towards the latter... which means i can probably lean further into the heavier elements if i wanted to... much to consider

[the-modern-typewriter]

helloo just wanted to know your thoughts on the recent tik tok commentary on “booktok” about how literature is being “ruined because of spicy books” and authors who cater to tropes I definitely see both sides!

Caveat: I don't have tiktok. I don't spend a lot of time on bookstagram either. So while I'm vaguely aware of the discourse, assume I spend most of my time blissfully unaware of everything, under my rock, writing my own little things.

Spicy books:

As with everything, there is nuance to be had. I don't think there is anything wrong with spicy books. There is clearly an audience for them and it's great to have books that recognise this desire! Western society can be weirdly puritan about sex and anything that challenges that get points from me. I've enjoyed the spicy scenes myself when they happen to miraculously meet the very specific vibes I personally like.

However, I also don't think every book needs to or should be pressured to be spicy and I personally get annoyed when I feel like spice replaces adequate plot or character development (which is something I've come across a few times in the last few years). I don't say this in a 'every sex scene must only be there to develop plot/character' way! I say this in a, oh my god, why has the plot stopped for sex in every chapter instead way. In a 'you guys used to have interesting conversations! why are you doing this to me!?' way.

But, you know. I'm not typically the target audience for sex scenes. So I'd just not read another book by an author who did that and let other people enjoy it, if that's what they're looking for. I still feel that there are still plenty of other books in the world I can read.

Tropes:

Tropes have and always will be a tool in writing. It's not new that writers are using them, but I think it's just a trend at the moment to be particularly upfront about them (especially in the romance genre tbh). Specifically, I think this is a marketing trend not a writing trend.

(Does trad publishing like books that are easy to market? Obviously. It's a business.)

I don't inherently mind this, because book marketing is really hard and realistically a lot of people don't stop to engage with original content or long descriptions about original content. Especially not on social media. Tropes are an excellent shorthand for conveying information/vibes, and then people can get more information and decide for themselves if they want to engage with the story.

(In a way, to me this is like when people add 'it's queer!' when they make me a recommendation. Does it make me more likely to go and look at the thing? Yes. Is it the deciding factor on if I actually read/watch/like it. Nope. It's just a quick flag for me to consider it and make my own decision.)

Maybe there are people who are specifically just writing tropes without much more to it...but I haven't really seen it in the books I personally read. At least not any more than the usual.

Some great books I've read this year so far:

The Luminous Dead By Caitlin Starling

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield

Rolling in the Deep by Mira Grant

(They are all horror to some degree...I've been on a kick.)

[being-of-rain]

In the days before The Legend of Ruby Sunday, I thought to myself 'RTD did a lot of big bombastic series finales in his day, and always with Classic Who villains. But that was fifteen years ago. Maybe he's mellowed.' Dear readers, he had not.

Here's my thoughts on the episode! But fair warning, they're mostly that it was just okay. I mean it was fine. It was a fun, mindless bit of build-up and spectacle. Of course it was very much a Part One, so a lot of my thoughts are just 'I wonder where this will go next episode.'

Firstly, I don't think I'm a massive fan of RTD's method of story arcs, which is to sprinkle references to something throughout a season that'll be part of the final story without much elaboration. It feels less like a story, and more like a drawn-out teaser for the finale. And continuing a trend that started in RTD's last full season that I'm not crazy about, there was so many arcs and plot hooks too. Before the episode my brother and I listed as many we could think of, and it actually addressed almost all of them, plus one or two we forgot about or thought wouldn't come back. It started to feel like the characters were ticking off a shopping list of questions. And I know that these things basically just exist for fans to speculate about. And I can't pretend I didn't have fun joking and memeing about all the arc elements with other fans. But as someone who both isn't really that interested in genuinely theorising about how a series is going to end (odd for a Dr Who fan, I know) and who really likes story/character arcs that develop over time, I guess I'm just not the target audience. This season the arcs have pricked my curiosity, but not much more than that - except make me wish they did more with the supernatural elements than a few badly-conceived gods and the cool fairy circle episode.

Anyway, Sutekh! In the last few years the TV show has done the Morbius Doctors, Beep the Meep, the Toymaker, the Shalka Doctor... I really shouldn't be surprised by anything anymore, but I still sit in bemused shock when a finale revolves around Susan and Sutekh. And that is pretty fun. We had basically nothing of Sutekh this episode, so I'm very interested what the next episode will do with him.

I'm especially curious how much it'll dip into the Egyptian mythology aspect. Because on one hand, Pyramids of Mars is sorta built on the problematic and awkward trope that aliens at least inspired Egyptian culture. On the other hand, I think the Egypt link & aesthetic is a big part of Sutekh's identity as a villain/monster. I remember being bored when Big Finish tried to divorce him from it in their latest audio with him (but tbh I trust RTD to at least do a more entertaining story than that, even if he's boiling Sutekh down into simply a God of Death). Similarly, I think a really big part of why Sutekh made a big impact on the original Dr Who fandom is how he was a genuine overwhelming threat to the Doctor, something that probably won't be as big of a shock today. But the final part of Sutekh's identity is Gabriel Woolf, and he's absolutely as entertaining as ever.

As for Susan, after all that drama it'd almost be stranger if she didn't appear in some form in the finale. I'm wondering if Mrs Flood is Susan, something that's really weird to say seriously after thinking people were wrong about her being an important character for 6 months. At the very least I really hope they give Carole Ann Ford some kind of cameo, because it'd be such a missed opportunity if the very first companion actress was still alive and they didn't do anything with her.

What else? Mel continues to be lovely, and I continue to wonder if there's any reason it was her in particular who was brought back or if it was just to have a classic Who companion hanging around. Rose continues to be precious, and her instant bonding with Ruby is just adorable. I missed Ruth Madeley's Shirley, I assume it was filming conflicts that led to her being replaced by a preteen? When Harriet was introduced I distinctly remember thinking 'oh she's cute, I hope she sticks around.' And the Vlinx continues to have 1-2 lines and no explanation.

The VHS-powered time window was an extremely cool concept, but I feel like it didn't look as good and distinct as it could have. I'm not totally certain what I'd have done different but I still felt underwhelmed. And I'll say something I've said a lot, but I wish there was at least some vague rules to things like the time window. I don't care about scientific accuracy or real life logic, only narrative logic; if anything can happen with only a bit of poetry to justify it, the stakes and losses and victories aren't nearly as satisfying.

And this might make me sound like someone who looks for anything to complain about, but I feel there's something off about how UNIT is depicted recently. Like it's being glorified and simplified as 'the good guys' maybe more than it has any time before in the TV show's history. And it feels especially awkward when some of the UNIT characters are armed and armoured soldiers. I'm just very not in the mood to heroise someone who I might see committing war crimes on the news, you know. So I'm not really a fan of this version of UNIT and how it's consuming so many past companions.

Anyway!

Mystery Woman 1 (Susan): Sutekh. Mystery Woman 2 (Mrs Flood): Susan? Mystery Woman 3 (Ruby's mum): At this point I have to assume it's the Rani or Iris Wildthyme or Gillian Who or something.

[unicornkei]

Hot (not really) takes / advice for the Plural community ^_^

- Being a system isn’t only about how many introjects or partner systems you have. It is complex, complicating, and everyday hard thing to deal with. People so obsessed with fictives and making sure everyone knows who your alter FORMED from…. You are making an unhealthy habit. I think, AS AN OPINION, everyone personally should strive to slowly separate from their sources. I’m not a professional don’t quote me. I know I’m a bit hypocritical because I myself struggle with this, but I’m working on it. Rome wasn’t built in a day. TLDR; just personally think introjects shouldn’t be so heavily infatuated with their source and pseudomemories. I don’t actually care if you take this to heart or not, this is for my personal opinion and only being reinforced in my system.

- Stop treating alters like they are genuinely fully different beings. At the end of the day, you all are one being. This is why system accountability is so important. In reality, alters are NOT disconnected people who can function without each other, they are broken parts of a whole. Stop trying to separate yourself from alters, especially in moments you want to victimize yourself and avoid taking full accountability. That is when it really matters.

- Dissociadid is at fault for the amount of misinformation and lies spread about systems. They have lied to such a big audience, and have made so many systems fall to their beliefs. No, not every alter is extremely distinct. Not every alter will have a different accent or typing quirk. Not every alter will have their own unique interests that don’t align with any others (mainly the host.) Dissociadid is a bad place to find your information, and in general Youtube should be the LAST place you find any information about DID or OSDD. Youtubers tend to over exaggerate for more engagement. If they don’t do so with their symptoms, they don’t reach as many people …because WHO wants to sit and listen to a system yap (sorry for using the word, it fits) about medically based evidence and guidance? None theoretically. Therefore, they tend to skew things to sound way more drastic than it really is. Take everything they say with a grain of salt, or actually… TOSS IT.

Also a hot take: 12-14 year olds should not be making osddid discord servers tbh. Just because its horrible for their health, theyre too immature, easy to manipulate (people joining with that intent to do so, making a target for their safety)

Hot take #2: discord servers and twt for systems is negative, anti-recov, and difficult to come by systems that actually want the best for you and don’t make it a competition

Hot take #3: DID/OSDD affects you. If it doesn’t affect you or occasionally affects you, its truly not disordered and medically wouldnt be considered DID/OSDD (like you wouldnt be recognized with it) bcuz you DONT fit the criteria. You DON’T actively struggle because of it.

That’s all.

Correct me if you want.

I won’t respond to bait or MOST hate unless it’s funny. 💜

[player1064]

kate for someone reason thinking jamie is homophobic not sure why or how but she does (sara has me obsessed with the idea that they can’t stand each other now lol) and then him introducing her to gary and she’s like 🤯 ft. micah in the corner like you didn’t know he never shuts up about him???

god Kate and Jamie literally CANNOT STAND EACH OTHER!!! I'm OBSESSED with that dynamic tbh!!!!!!! As always. this one is much longer than intended...

Also, don't need to have read it but this is technically intended to tie in to my fic Happy wife, happy life (but tldr Jamie regularly calls Gary his wife partly to keep their relationship under wraps but mostly bc. he finds it funny to call Gary his wife.)

---

“Obviously we’re done for the season right before pride month kicks off,” one of the CBS producers is saying, eyes darting over something on an iPad. “And since you four have been pretty popular we were thinking of including you in some of those ad campaigns, so if I could just get some dates off of all of you –”

“No,” Jamie says immediately.

All three of his colleagues snap their heads up to him, but only Kate looks at him coolly and says “no?”

Micah, because he’s Micah, chuckles and slaps Jamie in the shoulder, trying to diffuse some of the new tension in the air. “Not like you to turn down extra cash, Carra.”

Jamie rolls his eyes, pretends not to notice the way Kate’s eyes are burning into him. “Check my contract. Wish I could, honest,” he says to the producer, feeling very very glad that he had a clause added to his contract specifically so that he doesn’t have to take part in things like this, “But it just wouldn’t be do-able. You lot ‘ave fun, though, with yer rainbows and yer glitter.”

Kate just looks at him incredulously. “This is one thing you decide to take a stand on, mister ‘I don’t care about politics’?”

Rainbows just don’t really suit Jamie, is the thing. Nor does the extra scrutiny that comes from wearing rainbows.

Doesn’t really matter to him what Kate thinks of him, though, so he just shrugs and continues packing up his stuff for the day.

*

“Jamie – Jamie, I finally got onto Raya, can you have a look at my profile?”

Jamie looks up at Micah with a frown. “What the fuck is a Raya?”

“It’s a dating app,” Kate says from her end of the desk, in that unimpressed tone of hers that makes Jamie wonder why she’s bothering to insert herself into the conversation at all.

“An exclusive dating app,” Micah corrects, wiggling his phone in front of Jamie.

“Weren’t you already seeing someone?” asks Jamie, but he accepts the phone with a sigh and puts his glasses on. “I don’t – I’ve never used one of these things, what am I meant to be lookin’ at?”

Micah shrugs. “Didn’t work out,” he says breezily. “How have you never used a dating app, you’ve not been married that long. And look at yourself, you can’t tell me you weren’t a player before Mrs Carra came along.”

Jamie had got around a bit, in his playing days. Not much, mind, because he’d had to be careful, but he’d done alright. Unfortunately – and this is not something he’ll ever admit to anyone, even under duress – any thoughts of that had gone out the window the moment he’d walked onto the Sky campus after retiring.

“You’re right,” he says with a wink, “look at me. As if I’d need an app to find myself a bird. Why’d you want me to look at this, I’m not exactly your target audience. ‘less there’s somethin’ you’re not tellin’ us,” he adds, elbowing Micah and waggling his eyebrows.

Kate looks on unimpressed as the two of them double over in laughter. “Not that any of us would have a problem if you were, right Jamie?” she says haughtily.

Jamie catches Micah’s eye and has to fight back another bout of laughter. “Dunno,” he says, “I can think of one or two problems I’d ‘ave if Big Meeks here suddenly tried hittin’ on me.”

Micah bursts out laughing again, his hand clapping to Jamie’s forearm, and Jamie can’t help but join in – it’s infectious, okay?

“God,” Micah says, wiping a tear from his eye, “can you imagine how your missus would react. I’d never be able to work in television again.”

“Nah, she’d prob’ly send you a fruit basket, thank you for taking me off ‘er hands.”

Kate clears her throat and the two of them sober immediately at the sight of her raised eyebrow. “Maybe cool it with the outdated banter,” she says, “or do I need to remind you boys that you’re not in a dressing room anymore?”

She storms off, he heels click-clicking away as Jamie and Micah look at each other and try (and fail) not to start laughing again.  

*

“You didn’t want to bring your wife to the end of season party, then?” Kate asks politely, looking slowly around the room.

“Huh?” Jamie says eloquently, because he’s had a couple of glasses of prosecco and he’s not thinking as quickly as he usually might. “Oh, the missus. Yeah, she’s here but  – I dunno, she’s a bit shy, like. You didn’t invite Malik?”

Kate rolls her eyes, the way she always does when Jamie mentions her boyfriend. “Well, he lives in America. So.”

“Carra,” an annoying voice calls from just behind him, “Carra, come over ‘n meet Schmeichel? I’ve not seen ‘im in years, d’you know, I think I’d forgot how tall he was.”

Jamie puts a hand on the small of Gary’s back to keep him from bouncing around too much (the man is such a lightweight, it’s embarrassing), and says “I’ve already met Peter, you dolt. I work with ‘im, remember?”

Gary squints at him for a second. “You drag me all the way down to London, and then y’can’t even be bothered to –” he finally seems to realise that Jamie had been talking to someone, because he quickly shakes his head around a bit and holds a hand out to Kate with a smile. “You’re Kate, right? I love what you do on the show, honest, I’m always sayin’ people need to be meaner to James here.”

Jamie thinks he sees Kate blush a bit, like she hadn’t realised anyone else had noticed her dislike of Jamie, but she takes Gary’s offered hand anyway. “And of course you’re the famous Gary Neville, I’ve heard a lot about you,” she greets. “But aren't you still with Sky? What brings you to our little operation here?”

“Scopin’ out the competition,” he says with a wink, then turns back to Jamie. “Carra – Peter?”

“I said no! I’ll talk to him later, stop badgerin’ me.”

“Did you two travel down from Manchester together?” asks Kate, “You know, Jamie seems so invested in my relationship but none of us have ever met his wife, do you know where she’s got to?”

“Ah, his fuckin’ wife,” Gary mutters, smirking up at Jamie. Jamie winks in reply and slips his hand down a bit to pinch him on the arse.

Micah comes over, his tuxedo strained against his biceps, and he pulls Gary away from Jamie to throw an arm around his shoulder in a half-hug.

(Gary squirms a bit at the unexpected contact, but he still gives Micah a friendly pat on the chest.)

“Big Nev! It’s been ages, man – Jamie told us you were coming, but he’s promised that before and not delivered.”

“Been pretty busy, up in Manchester,” Gary says with a shrug, carefully extracting himself from under Micah’s arm and returning to Jamie’s side. “But I’m obliged to do the plus one thing at least two –” (“Three,” Jamie corrects,) “—fine, three times a year, and I figure there’re worse places to be.”

“Aw, you love it really,” Micah says. “I’ve always kind of wondered what it’s like to be a WAG.”

Gary rolls his eyes. “It’s a thankless job, to be fair.” He pokes Jamie in the bicep and adds “I’m going back to talk t' Peter, you miserable old twat. Honest, I’m always talkin' to Scousers fer you.”

“I already know –” Jamie starts to protest, but Gary’s already wandered off. “Ugh. Sorry about ‘im. You can’t take Mancs anywhere, can ya?”

The two Mancs he’s talking to look at him, unimpressed.

“He seemed nice,” Kate says carefully.

“He’s not,” Jamie replies.

*

“Good summer?” Micah asks, their first show back after the break.

“Brilliant,” Jamie replies with a grin. “It were my turn to choose the destination, so –”

“Ibiza?”

He nods. “Ibiza. The house was done just in time, too.”

“You know, I can’t really imagine Gary in Ibiza.”

“Oh, he hates it. Complained the whole time, but he does that wherever we go.”

He becomes aware that Kate is watching them from across the desk, not trying to hide that she’s listening to their conversation with curiosity. Jamie nods to her, all polite like. “Hows about you, Kate, good summer?”

“It was fine, I –” she shakes her head. “Sorry, you’re saying you go on holiday with Gary Neville?”

Micah scoffs. “Who else would he go with?” he asks, and Jamie points to him in agreement.

“I dunno, his wife?”

Jamie blinks.

He thought he’d got all this out the way, dragging Gary along to the party a couple of months ago. Apparently not.

“Gary is my wife,” he says, then suddenly feels very stupid saying that to someone who’s not already in on the joke, so he corrects to “my husband, I mean. Obviously he’s not – he’s a man. Obviously.”

Kate’s eyes are wide, unblinking. She looks between Jamie and Micah, lips pressed together while her brain seems to be buffering.

“You’re married to a man?” she says eventually. “But you’re not gay, I mean – you’re –”

Jamie, who last time he checked definitely was gay, raises an eyebrow, amused. “I’m what?”

“You’re a footballer,” she attempts, and oh, this is far too easy.

“Bit ‘omophobic, that, sayin’ footballers can’t be gay,” he replies, holding back a smirk.

“Oh shut up, you know what I – you’re a lad! You’re always with the banter, and the…”

Thierry wanders over, freshly brewed cup of tea in hand. “What have you two done this time?” he asks, looking pointedly at Jamie and Micah.

Jamie raises his hands to protest his innocence.

“Thierry,” Kate asks, reaching a hand out towards him, “did you know Jamie’s married to a man?”

Thierry rolls his eyes. “Ugh, fucking Neville,” he replies, and goes to sit down.

[authoralexharvey]

INTERVIEW WITH A WRITEBLR — @daisywords

Who You Are:

Daisy || She/her

I'm a fantasy enjoyer about to graduate from university with a degree in editing. In addition to writing, I like to draw/paint and play the piano. Also interested in linguistics and bookbinding

What You Write:

What genres do you write in? What age ranges do you write for?

Fantasy and Sci-Fi. Young and New Adult, Adult.

What genre would you write in for the rest of your life, if you could? What about that genre appeals to you?

I love specfic in general, fantasy in particular (but the line between fantasy and scifi is blurrier than one might think). I particularly like the potential of alternate worlds to set up situations and character dynamics that simply couldn't exist in a historical or contemporary novel

What genre/s will you not write unless you HAVE to? What about that genre turns you off?

I don't read or write smut/erotica but other than that everything else is potentially on the table. I couldn't see myself doing straight historical fiction, either, honestly, just because I probably wouldn't be able to resist adding some specfic elements and/or unanchoring it from time (Fantasy is freedom to me, whereas historical accuracy is something extra to adhere to.)

Who is your target audience? Do you think anyone outside of that would get anything out of your works?

You mean other than myself?? Ok but actually it's pretty broadly just people who like fantasy. I have one wip that's technically YA just based on the age of the characters, but it could definitely be enjoyed by adults. My other wip is adult/NA but could also definitely be enjoyed by teenagers.

What kind of themes do you tend to focus on? What kinds of tropes? What about them appeals to you?

hmmm….something about the juxtaposition of violence and tenderness? Guilt/responsibility and free will/predestination a la the Chosen One trope. Memory loss trope (so juicy)

What themes or tropes can you not stand? What about them turn you off?

I personally am not a fan of immortal love interests. sorry everyone.

What are you currently working on? How long have you been working on it?

My current main wip is called Deep and Dark, Beautiful and Bright. I started it in November 2020. I also have a back burner project called Fear Me, which has been ship-of-Theseus-ing since I was like 10 lol. And I'm working on two short stories that are being more trouble than they're worth

How long have you been writing? What do you think first drew you to it?

I've been making up stories since I knew what stories were. Mostly started out playing elaborate pretend games with my sister. In second grade my best friend suggested we "write a book" together since our teacher would give out blank spiral-bound paper packets. (I think she was mostly interested in my illustration abilities tbh) Anyway we created a series centered around a character named Natalie (who was basically a ripoff of Ramona/Junie B. Jones.) But anyway I think around then is when I actually became interested in writing books as an outlet for making up stories. I didn't actually do a ton of writing as a kid, but I always collected story ideas and had a ton of ocs that I would draw in my secret sketchbook.

Where do you get your inspiration from? Is that how you got your inspiration for your current project? If not, where did the inspiration come from?

Honestly I get inspiration from everywhere. My brain is a very productive idea factory (but not a productive draft finisher, sadly). Other media (for example taking one specific concept or plot point form a move and running in the opposite direction with it), dreams, songs, historical events, offhand comments from friends, etc. Sometimes justt out of nowhere I swear.

Have you published anything? Do you want to?

Not yet and yes eventually

What part of the publishing process most appeals to you? What part least appeals to you?

I want my projects to have a final form and I want other people to read them. I don't want anyone I know irl (or anyone else for that matter) to psychoanalyze me about them. I'm not looking forward to anything to do with marketing, writing to market, tight deadlines, adhering to standardized formats/lengths, etc. but so it goes…

What part of the writing process most appeals to you? What part is least appealing?

I love coming up with ideas and characters and scenes. I love rambling in my notes doc. I love drafting in the rare moments when I actually do it. I really struggle with getting all the pieces of my plot to fit together. I like editing (I'm literally an editor). I cannot do project management to save my life.

Do you have a writing process? Do you have an ideal setup? Do you write in pure chaos? Talk about your process a bit.

Right now what's working fro me is to have three distinct documents. One goes strictly in order. Another is to put all of the scenes I want to write that don't fit into that order yet. The third one is for me to yell about it all (notes). When I'm lucky, scenes form the chaos doc (scene bank) eventually find their way into the order doc.

Your Thoughts on Writeblr:

How long have you been a writeblr? What inspired you to join the community?

I joined tumblr predominantly for the writeblr community in 2018 (don't remember the specifics but I remember seeing writing posts on pinterest and was like hm well might as well go directly to the source)

Shout out some of your favorite writeblrs. How did you find them and what made you want to follow them?

in no particular order and not an exclusive list: @aohendo @mecharose @scarvenartist @woodhousejay @baroquesse @tracle0 @klywrites @garthcelyn @incandescent-creativity @zmwrites @ashen-crest @ambiguouspuzuma @ettawritesnstudies @megarywrites @magic-is-something-we-create @pinespittinink @isherwoodj just a few of the many excellent people here

What is your favorite part about writeblr?

I just love the community aspect of interacting with other writers, or even just seeing what everyone's working on and how it's going. Even if someone's wip isn't my exact cup of tea I still like seeing posts about their work and people encouraging each other.

What do you think writeblr could improve on? How do you think we can go about doing so?

A lot of people say that interaction is dead etc. but I don't really think that's true. I think focusing less on reblogs and more on comments/asks as a form of interaction would strengthen the feeling of community. Not everyone is obligated to reblog everything and comments and asks can be more personal anyway. I like knowing other people are seeing what I put out there, and I especially love getting comments on my work, but that doesn't mean I need everyone to share it. I'd rather have 5 followers that interact with me than 1000 who don't. Quality over quantity, you know?

How do you contribute to the writeblr community? Do you think you could be doing more?

Of course everyone could always be doing more. I like to read other's snippets when I'm in the headspace for it, but sometimes I'm just here to mindlessly scroll and that's okay too. If I read something and I think it's cool or interesting or well-written or anything I try to either leave a reply or reblog with something in the tags. If I can't think of anything to say just quoting a line that I liked will suffice (I like when people do that to me). I do want to try sending more asks to people—I try to always send one when I see someone's reblogged an ask game, but I think everyone would appreciate some out-of-the-blue asks as well :)

What kinds of posts do you most like to interact with?

All kinds but I am most likely to interact with shorter posts about peoples' process or something about their characters. @klywrites will post about tiny interactions between her characters and I literally love them just from seeing tiny scenes on my dash every so often. I really like to read longer snippets and short stories too (there's some amazing writers here y'all) but I'm more likely to scroll past those if I can't spare the focus. Also I love seeing art! even from people who don't consider themselves artists like aww you drew your little guy and I love them now

What kind of posts do you most like to make?

idk I end up just vagueposting about my process most of the time. I love to infodump about my characters/worldbuilding but I don't do it too often. I also like to post about writing things in general, but I don't consider myself an expert or anything so I'm not putting out a ton of advice—just what works for me

[empressofmankind]

Things I enjoyed about writing my Crocodile/female!OC smut, in no particular order:

If you had to imagine the walking, talking embodiment of all Buggy's insecurities (imo), I feel like you'd get Sir Crocodile, and that's pretty much how I went into writing him. I set out to absolutely maximize Buggy's: "Oh no, her ex is (insert self-deprecating qualifier) than me". You know, tall(er), confident, masculine, accomplished, infamous, intimidating, actually scary, redundantly rich, pretty conventionally attractive and the scar just adds to the sex appeal. He has a voice like that, and no doubt a way with women? He's even near perfected his control over his devil fruit powers! Absolutely aces the whole Bounty Hunting business thing. Rolls in and out the Grand Line like it's his backyard. He's even better at being Disney-levels of evil! Complete with a better villain laugh. How dare. How dare he absolutely nail most of everything Bugs covets? Poor Buggy. The fact that his girlfriend is technically still married to the jackass is just an extra kick in the gut while he's down, tbh. Basically, if Bugs were a piniata, this is currently my stick of choice to go at him with. I just keep finding new aspects for Bugs to be insecure about and it doesn't matter how often Shivs tells him not to worry about it.

As you know, I wrote the whole thing first in three sits, ignoring most of the limb logistics. And then I went in and revoked hand privileges. That sucked? But it was also kind of fun to then try and either make it work with one hand and/or integrate his hook. Some of the instances actually got far better with it: neck pulling, ahoy! is a big one, hitching up clothing for a close second, but also being casually threatening for no apparent reason (and then for a really apparent reason, omg). Croc seems to lean towards preferring to use his hand, and sometimes he misses having two of them for this and I tried to show that. I mean, I get it - hands have tactile sensation. Plus, we wouldn't want to kill her. Not at this point in the timeline.

God tier banter, if I may say so myself. I specifically enjoy writing (sexual) banter, but I feel like I've outdone myself here. Their beats are also pretty even-handed and so well attuned to eachother, like this isn't their first verbal rodeo, this is the end stage mega evolution of years of practise.

The way Shivs walked into her ex's office with the intention of manipulating him with sex, but did so while explicitly and recognisably wearing her current boyfriend's clothes. Balls of steel, this girl. But, she knew who she was confronting. If he turned out at all amenable to her scheme, he'd want her out of these rags stat. And that was five free steps in the direction she was meaning to go. In addition, I am a firm believer of him being a high-key closeted bisexual and we all know what they say when boys excessively pick on you. All it takes is squinting just right and imagining her with a different hair colour, and that just made me chortle. I am probably the whole target audience for this, but yolo.

The way his pet name use corresponds to his emotional headspace, apparently. I wasn't doing this intentionally, but I noticed during editing. He says 'doll' a lot (a grand total of 14 times, jfc), uses it the way guys tend to use 'babe'. I felt doll suited him, perhaps because I strongly associate it with Noir films, older Bond & Mafia movies, and crime bosses in general. Showing my age there, maybe. Then he also uses 'sweetheart' quite a few times (9 iirc), and I am pretty sure he does so in an endearing manner. Lowering those emotional walls a teeny tiny bit as fondness seeps through. And then, like, once or twice, he uses 'honey'. And, again, I feel like he uses it in an older manner, the way stereotypically a husband fondly refers to his wife. It feels intimate. Like he briefly forgets all of this is dust? I think about that a lot.

Did you notice how she doesn't use any terms of endearment? I did wonder if she had any, but I felt like she wouldn't use them. Not at this point. Not any more. She loves Bugs. She did slip up once though, did you notice? She is the queen of mildly awkward nicknames.

It may not seem so at first pass, and it's certainly not super obvious, but it seems to me like he's trying pretty hard to put Shivs' relationship goals bar somewhere on the roof. He wants nothing and no one to be able to even remotely compare to him, especially not the clown. So he throws everything at this that he can? Which, arguably, is mostly material because that's in his nature and fundamentally how he interacts with and relates to the world and people around him. But you saw how fast he was to gtfo that couch the minute she alluded to any part of this being cheap (Mediocre? Sub-standard? Blasé?). Does he genuinely not want to cheapen the whole thing? Or can he just not stand the idea of her thinking this whole thing is cheap? Or both? I suppose these aren't mutually exclusive.

I like that she can make him laugh, and vice versa. They've got really solid chemistry, dammit.

Two people that just really enjoy smoking. Like, they are Smokers with a capital S. That's a whole relationship dynamic unto itself. I am really pleased with how I managed to actively integrate it into their shenanigans. It was a lot of fun and something unique to them.

The way he just repeatedly fails at trying to engage her in a little girl dynamic. Was that a thing in the past? They had (and have) a fairly notable age difference (7-8 years, give or take). And he takes it so well when she just, doesn't play along or only does so for like five entire seconds, or blatantly wields it against him. Poor guy. Just spank her already, I know you want to.

The way Shivs goes from being mildly nervous and quite determined to: 'Oh fuck, I'd forgotten how good this actually used to be'. Like, been there, done that, didn't end well. But man, it's a mood.

Press F in the chat for the fact that she only had one orgasm in this whole thing, and it barely took the edge off. Jerk knew what he was doing. It's a power play, of course.

Sneaking in background information and then doing absolutely nothing with it. Like the comment he makes regarding both their facial scars. But also every time either of them alludes to their past relationship but doesn't actually tell us anything.

Mihawk is a wine aunt. Even Crocodile seems to think so. I am sorry, I don't make the rules.

The part where he just happens to have things on hand that she either likes (i.e. that specific brand of cigarillo's his company makes) or that fit her way too precisely (i.e. that outrageously swaggy negligee). This dude is not OK. My man, if you still know your ex' dress sizes this well after several years, you need to do some introspection. And maybe see a therapist.

The infamous fancy panties were originally a gift from him, and she evidently kept them these past years? I am not sure what makes me frown deeper: the fact that she still has them, or the fact that he immediately recognised them. I don't think she was necessarily wearing them on purpose? She does really like them and wears them often. RIP those undies. I think she's way more upset about losing them than she lets on. I wonder if she'll accept new one(s)? I suspect she may, something about gift horses. Maybe he figures? Maybe that's the point. A renewal of something. A visual reminder of the casual control he can exert over her when he wants to. It may seem insignificant (she will definitely not overthink it), but underwear is very private and intimate. He's staking a claim even without particularly saying so. But I am sure every other man in the room will figure that one out. (Counting on Mihawk to say it out loud in that bored drawl of his. The Bisexuals Straights Are At It Again.) Doubly so if they're particularly prone to feeling insecure. Poor Bugs. Just take this one lying down, you silly clown. She wants them because she thinks you'll like them and she knows neither of you can gdamn afford anything remotely like it.

Did you notice she isn't truly naked at any point? Partially undressed, yes. A little exposed, also. But not naked. Meanwhile, he's stomping around in his bare ass half the fic. I like how he gave her something nice to wear and then didn't take it off.

At this point, I feel like he gets pants problems the minute she calls him 'sir', no matter the context. Some things just get sexy tainted forever, and there's no going back, lmao.

The unnecessarily expensive details. I had so much fun with those? The layout and details of his office and bedroom, for one. Both their smokes are implied to be well out of Shivs paygrade. Any brands come to mind? Or take the wine, for example. Can you guess which one I am referencing? And the lace - I am from a traditional lace-making area. Handmade lace was and is hella expensive. Don't even start about lace featuring custom tailored designs. There was absolutely no need to throw this much Beli at the nearest wall. But he did it anyway, because he does it all the time.

The way he keeps verbally reminding her of how different things used to be. For the better, in his opinion, of course. Like, are we casually trading favours here, or are you trying something?

On that count, did you notice how often Shivs is actually thinking about Buggy in this? At no point is he far from her thoughts, it seems.

I didn't set out with this mindset, but based on how the whole thing came out - I think Crocodile might miss her (or the idea of her) ? At any rate, I don't think he's OK. You stupid dick. You self-marooned on this island of misery and now it's too late. No changies, no takebacksies.

I came up with the title post-fact. Maybe it's his thoughts, not hers?

[bcofl0ve]

non spoiler bottoms review! spoilery one coming later today- as it’s gonna take me a little longer to put together and also *be* longer probably. 

rapid fire thought that i can take out if y’all think it’s spoiler: not as nearly as vulgar as some people- both fans and puritanesque folks, were making it seem. the vulgarity is pretty much solely in the language/jokes. which tbh make sense when this is at the end of the day a movie about highschoolers!

overall- i loved it and will be rewatching 100 times when it hits prime, but i will also be very honest that i am the pinnacle of the target audience, a young queer girl who would follow rachel sennott to the ends of the earth and loves her style of humor. i don’t know how much people outside of the target audience are going to really jive with it, but i was surprised at all the demographics in my (sold out) showing, which without revealing too much about where i live was in the midwest. middle aged and up! gen z! men! women! and it was a really fun theater audience too, lots of laughing and cheering and just having a good time. the woman next to me who i think was maybe late 30s or early 40s laughed so hard she cried.

i found myself wishing i hadn’t watched all the clips that have been coming out on twitter bc it would’ve been fun to hear those jokes for the first time on the big screen like it seemed most of my audience was. but it was still VERY funny, there’s an ayo monologue in the first act that started right after i took a big swig of my milkshake and i started choking.

kaia thoughts without being too spoilery. am i making sense if i say that she’s very much a gretchen to isabel/havana’s reginia george? and this is very much part of the joke, there’s a little quip about that exact thing but. the moments she does have i think she did really well and like i said yesterday, found her “thing” with dry comedy. i think if ppl who want to “harp on her” over something say *anything* it’ll be screen time jokes- but there is *so* much going on in the movie (there are some plot twists i was not expecting!) and i think her character was given just enough to be funny and serve her purpose. also on a fangirl note there’s a brittany outfit that isn’t in any of the trailers and it was my fav brittany outfit bc she looked HOT. 

josie and isabel are the main ‘b plot’ outside of the whole fight club thing and without saying too much they are *precious* and i loved that b plot more than i thought i would. ayo edebiri for president of the world. josie is my little baby pookie and i want to rock her in my arms. pj pissed me off- even though she was funny- but i’ll leave that at that and save the ‘why’ for my spoilery interview. 

[tamelee]

Hello Tamelee, I wanted to ask you if you agree with some popular claims in the Naruto (-Shippuden) fandom about Kishimoto and his writing. If you could give your opinion on the claims I would be very happy ☺️ Sorry for my English by the way, it is not my mother tongue.

1) Claim: Kishimoto does not know how to write woman.

2) Claim: Kishimoto does not know how to write romance.

3) Claim: Kishimoto wrote NaruSasuNaru on an accident. He did not meant to write them as gays.

4) Claim: Kishimoto forgets characters (Neji, Hinata and Sakura etc.). The story focuses to much on the relationship Naruto and Sasuke.

5) Claim: Kishimoto sucks writing Sakura like Sakura character is bad writing.

6) Claim: Kishimoto is an homophobe.

I think I did not forgot other claims. So far that is everything. Thank you for being so nice and talented. I love your Art. 💕

Warning; unpopular opinions ahead/me not agreeing:

Hello Nonee 💕 Okay let’s see! 

“1) Claim: Kishimoto does not know how to write woman. 5) Claim: Kishimoto sucks writing Sakura like Sakura character is bad writing.”

Ah yes. With these often there’s also “Kishimoto is a misogynist” and the “missed potential of the female characters”. 

It’s a broad and complicated topic tbh (or you could make it as complicated as you want..) because people bring in a lot of real life/political baggage into the conversation about this (unnecessarily imo)- largely surrounding Sakura and Hinata.

I only partly agree because most of Kishimoto’s female characters aren’t great compared to their male counterparts. But, from little snippets of his interviews it is very obvious that he always enjoyed writing through male-characters as were all his stories incl the rejected ones and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that especially when we look at the targeted audience. That’s all. That is enough reason.. and it hasn’t so much to do with him not being able to, because there are female characters that are fine. 

Kishimoto could’ve developed some of them better.. but didn’t. I don't believe that is because of a lack of skill.

Sakura’s (and even Hinata’s) lack of development (= development which the fans wanted to see) had purpose and they were largely cast aside and underdeveloped (with purpose!!!) in order to show (contrast/)something else as well; the bond/love between Naruto and Sasuke. 

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with Saori (Mario), Tsunade, Ino, Temari, Konan or Kushina even. What do you expect more from Shonen? I would’ve loved to see more background about some of them, but story-wise it wouldn’t have been necessary. If he was going to flesh out any of the other characters (like many wanted from Tenten) it should’ve been with purpose, it would’ve had meaning.. Otherwise you’d just be thinking to yourself “why did I just read/watch this? Why exactly did Kishimoto want to show this thing about this character and why does it matter to the story? Is there a parallel, or could this be foreshadowing?”

So.. he didn’t and to me that makes sense. This story is about Naruto and despite him being the mc- it is also about Sasuke and their journeys about becoming great Ninja. Not “pinkyflinky and her selfish love for her cool-looking classmate.” 

It is great to want to find good female representation in media, as a female myself I find that to be quite the struggle.. especially nowadays -.- (all protagonists are wannabe annoying-ass girl-bosses whom are shown to be assholes for the sake of... feminism?? lately.. Idk but ugh!!) however I don’t expect to find great representation or empowerment for myself in a story like ‘Naruto’... never have. Criticizing ‘Naruto’ about something for which it had no intentions of in the first place makes no sense to me. Instead, the characters from Naruto whom are fleshed out and developed well (and there are many) inspired me too regardless of gender and I don’t see the point in looking through a gender-lens within my entertainment if it's not necessary. (I don't know why it would be tbh.) It is not like I can only see myself or get absorbed in a story through a girl/female-character. Kishimoto even made Sasuke the Heroin of the story much like Saori (the female-lead) was from his earlier story ‘Mario’ whom Sasuke resembled a lot. But make Sasuke into an actual female character in ‘Naruto’ and then the story, in the way it was written, would’ve made no sense. Or rather their actions. (The story would’ve been different then.) People wouldn’t have accepted it because then it’s suddenly obvious to the general audience who the love interest for Naruto is... -.- Insert; confusion. Then, if we accept ‘Naruto’ as a piece of gay-media... then why look for female-representation here and aren’t the characters fine as they are when you take that into consideration?

Besides, why can’t female characters have flaws and why is it always “bad writing” if someone doesn’t agree with the behavior of said character? Why can’t they just accept that some female characters are just not that great or that some of the characters don't have positive arcs for the sake of something else? 

Anyway, I don’t agree with the reasons people give for them being “so bad”. If we take Sakura for example, I see many people say she “deserved better” simply because she’s “the female lead” but this story was never about Sakura who’s character goal had been shallow from the start. Could a large portion of that have been fixed if Kishimoto gave her something else to fight for? Sure. But I rarely see them talk about her character-foundation and more so about getting “what she deserves” even though she practically did 2% in order to “deserve” (sorry I don’t like that word)- anything. So it mostly stems from her being female? And that only would’ve given her the privilege of actually surpassing Tsunade? (As Naruto and Sasuke also surpassed their masters when she didn't.) Or become Hokage even as some of her fans want her to be? But can you really (and be honest now) even compare Naruto and Sasuke’s journeys, efforts and development to.. Sakura's? Absolutely not. For which they agree because otherwise they wouldn't complain about a lack of development, so we have a contradiction here. What does Sakura know about running an entire village? Or the village in general? Nothing. What has she done in regard to Sasuke that wasn’t excruciatingly selfish? (Or Hinata in regard to Naruto also) Again, nothing. She didn’t even bother to find out anything about the thing she supposedly cares about; Sasuke who literally stood in front of her shouting out his pain about his clan, his brother and the village. Why would Sakura care about anyone other than herself or her version of Sasuke when she was willing to abandon her family and friends regardless of her teammates pain surrounding solitude to then say “she’d just be as lonely as Sasuke” who’s entire clan/family was murdered? She, who in the end pretty much stayed the same but gained physical strength which her fans can only acknowledge through the validation of male characters? I mean 👀.. (and yes she did have some good moments, but not even her own fans acknowledge these and instead try to hype up the bad ones. Even then they need validation from Sasuke, much like Sakura does, its weird to me.) 

Jun Esaka tried to “fix” Sakura in ‘Sasuke Retsuden’ as her number one fan... but did so horribly. (Yes, I read it) In order to lift Sakura up she wrote “handsome-looking-like-a-cat-Sasuke” (her words not mine) to be a wet fry on the side of a pool living life miserably and racked with guilt for the sake of his oh-so-amazing-sexy-and-good-with-anything-“wife” whom everyone in her story loves/desires, which makes Sasuke into this super jealous “husband” who suddenly couldn’t do anything anymore without her help and made OOC mistakes every page of that dumb novel... 👀 I’ll take Kishimoto’s Sakura over that bs any day. And yet her fans love to see Sakura “shine” like “she deserves” and criticize Kishimoto for not having made her similar to their headcanons in his Manga.. 

That’s all it is. Headcanon. 

Idc, I could go on and on about it, but I’ll leave it here. 

“2) Claim: Kishimoto does not know how to write romance.”

He can and did so several times. Just because some people aren’t happy with their underdeveloped “canon-couples" doesn’t mean that Kishimoto can’t write it as he has shown already that he can with others. Couples which are accepted by everyone as them having a romantic bond (now why would they only complain for Sakura/Hinata's sake I wonder?). Besides, ‘Naruto’ is one great lovestory if you’re willing to accept it. The Minato-Manga was a big “fuck-you” to those claims, Dan and Tsunade were great and he only needed a single page/a few panels to establish the romantic purpose between Yahiko and Konan. Even before ‘Naruto’ he wrote ‘Mario’ also. Etc-

So, false. 

“3) Claim: Kishimoto wrote NaruSasuNaru on an accident. He did not meant to write them as gays.” 

This is some bs. This man did not sit down for 15+ years, hunched over a desk with his mind swimming about this story, Naruto and Sasuke only for anything to be “accidental”. Come on now. Whether someone else accepts their love as being gay is something else- but nothing is accidental. There is way too much time, effort and thought that went into it for anyone to make such a disrespectful claim. Besides, it is not for nothing that Kishimoto had to fight his own editorial team in order to make some things happen. He literally had to fight for years to be able to draw some of the gayest panels. So? What does that tell ya? 

Well.. that nothing is accidental. With this also comes the bs-claim that Kishimoto apparently wouldn't even know what gays are which is laughable- don't let me start.

“4) Claim: Kishimoto forgets characters (Neji, Hinata and Sakura etc.). The story focuses to much on the relationship Naruto and Sasuke.”

The story is literally about Naruto, Sasuke and their bond. Their external goals (plot) by itself isn’t nearly as relevant as their internal needs and struggles which Kishimoto was perfectly able to steer the story (plot) with. That's the number 1 reason why it is a good story. It has nothing to do with “forgetting”. (Also why are Neji, Hinata and Sakura in the same sentence in regard to this?)

“6) Claim: Kishimoto is an homophobe.”

Sorry, I have no idea what this is about or where this comes from. 

__ Ah I know you didn't make those claims, in case it sounds like that 😅! I'm just talking in general about the claims- Anyway, thankyou so much for liking my art!! 💕 Hope you have a nice day 🌷

[kanonavi]

hello new mutual navi <3 what are your thoughts on tgcf <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Hiiii new mutual Star <3 It's nice to hear from you, even though Hua is a menace and is terrorizing us <3 <3 I'll have you know I was at orchestra rehearsal and was unable to defend myself from their vicious attack, this was all very rude of them lol

But yeah tgcf omg.... I have so many thoughts about it tbh. For reference, I'm currently 6 volumes in (7 is in my possession, just waiting on my roommate to finish it first. If I read past him he'll get sad) and have watched all of the donghua so far and it's like. There are few things that I have felt more like the Target Audience for. My roommate clocked me for this, so this entire thing is his fault and now I've read 6 entire not-insubstantial novels in half a year.

To get the obvious part out of the way, I adore hualian, and out of all of my ships I think they're the closest I've ever gotten to loving both characters in it equally. Like in xiaoven I have a bias for Venti and in xingyun I have a bias for Chongyun, but with hualian I really and truly struggle to pick a favorite. If I had to choose, Xie Lian would probably win out just barely over Hua Cheng, but probably only because we're in his head for the books and thus get to experience his silly thoughts and awful trauma firsthand. However, they are rightfully a set, do not separate in my mind.

I do have a favorite character outside of the main pairing though and that character is Shi Qingxuan and I love her so so so so much it's not even funny. My roommate didn't predict this even though Qingxuan and Venti are so incredibly same guy, it's like. Of course I, renowned Venti enjoyer amongst my compatriots, was going to love the character who's the master of the wind, is a bit silly goofy, enjoys their drink, and also has a cool Gender going on. I have, however, been cursed (blessed) by my roommate's takes about her that don't seem very fandom mainstream, so I am just going to be content rotating her in my brain endlessly. She is in the microwave. Also, it's been an absolute treat watching her in s2 of the donghua, she is everything to me.

The last thing I'll add for my bare minimum thoughts about this series is that I do actually like it for very similar reasons that I like Genshin Impact. In Genshin, I've always been very fond of the immortal characters because I love the way that the writers at mhy explore the humanity of inhuman characters. The Gods and Dragons and Adepti and God-made Puppets and otherwise in Genshin aren't human, but the struggles that they face are incredibly human, whether living like and alongside humanity is one of their goals or not.

Tgcf, with its humans (exceptional humans, but still humans) that ascend to godhood, is much the same to me. Most of the Upper Court officials are completely detached from humanity much of the time, but their struggles and their vices are completely and totally human. Xie Lian is the most interesting of them all to me, since he's used his godhood to live the human life that he was never allowed when he was actually human, and I could go on an entire rant about that but I'll spare you the details. Every character in the series is so interesting in the way that their human problems have been left to grow and fester over the course of the centuries, and it's both awful and enthralling to watch.

oops that was so long my head is very full of thoughts. Thank you for the ask, even though it was kind of an arranged playdate lol I appreciate the chance to ramble <3

[cuteniarose]

also this anon came here from ur art blog!

can you tell us more abt ur ocs?? infodump plz

Hey, it’s fine, don’t sweat it! That was all on me, tbh, I have a habit of not putting too much info about my OCs into posts because they have a target audience of two, me and my partner in crime, and obviously we both already know pretty much everything there is to know about these guys. It’s very rare that anyone stumbles upon my art blog, let alone likes it enough to come here and send multiple asks about my characters, so thank you for that!! Maybe I should start putting small bios in the descriptions of my art posts, at least ages and sexualities and who they are in relation to whom 😅

Anyway, I did make a long infodump post about my main OCs, Suiren and Midori, here, and 99% of that information is still accurate, so I’m not going to repeat myself. And the rest depends on who you wanna know more about, Kat and I have over 20 between us, if I were to talk about everyone we’d be here until next year. But for now.. how about a rundown of the ones I currently speak of most often?

(Under the cut because this got LONG)

Haya – Born in 120 AG, she/her, cis, thinks she’s straight but definitely some flavour of queer, will most likely never figure it out :/. She’s Ghazan’s older sister who raised him after their parents fell victim to a plague when she and Ghazan were 14 and 5 respectively. Obviously, life wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for the two of the after that. Haya had to quit school so she could work to provide for her brother, and she worked herself to the bone at any job that would take her because what else could she do? Let her brother starve? Not pay the bills so they’ll eventually end up homeless? And with how tired she was, of course she had little capacity remaining for kindness. She became hardened, mean and immensely overprotective, always yelling at Ghazan whenever he didn’t do as she told him, particularly he ran off to play in the Swamp despite it being where the sickness that took away their parents had come from, even more so when he made friends with Ming-Hua, and eventually she started hounding him endlessly about how much money he’s costing her. And it all boiled down to Ghazan running away as a teenager and joining the Red Lotus, later reuniting and falling in love with Ming-Hua, and having Suiren and Midori. When the time came for the plan to kidnap Korra, the girls were left with Haya, and that’s where things take a sharp turn for the worse. Haya saw her brother in Midori and the swamp rat who stole him away from her in Suiren, they were living proof that her brother abandoned her and she couldn’t stand it. And so she became physically, verbally and emotionally abusive, and the effect that childhood had on the girls will stay with them long after they’re out from under her roof. Haya is easily the most emotionally conflicting character that I have. You want to hate her, you SHOULD hate her, she’s an absolutely awful person with 0 redeeming qualities, but then you remember that once upon a time she was very much like Suiren, a young girl who loved her mother very much and just wanted the best for her little sibling, and now she’s older and alone and miserable. It’s.. a sad fate, and a part of me can’t help but sympathise with her. Not that it excuses her actions, but it adds a layer to her for sure.

Summiya – Born in 124 AG, she/her, cis, aromantic allosexual, no exact sexuality label beyond that since for her, sleeping with people isn’t about the partner, but rather what they can give her. Zaheer’s older sister, the stereotypically perfect eldest child who sets impossible standards for her siblings. What sets her apart from the rest is that her face is perfectly symmetrical, as if someone put a mirror to one half of it, and while she’s undeniably beautiful, the symmetry tends to freak people out a little. She doesn’t look human, more like a perfect porcelain doll, and that’s exactly what she was raised to be. She was born into a noble family and given the patriarchal structure in place her only role in life is to uphold her father’s reputation and political status by being married off to the highest bidder and becoming the perfect wife and mother. When she was 16, Zaheer ran away from home and she denounced him as a brother with no hesitation. When her sister Aiza did the same thing three years later, Summiya struggled a lot more to do the same, but she was already married and pregnant at that point so pushed the event deep, deep down and focused on her own family. Following her siblings’ betrayal, she was placed under a lot more pressure to not end up like them and not let her kids do the same, which resulted in her becoming an overbearing control freak who hates that both her children (a girl and a boy, just like her own siblings were) were born with birthmarks on their faces, making them imperfect, and her carefully concealed but still obvious hatred of those marks drove her daughter to attempting to bleach her skin. And all her efforts were for nothing, because they still end up rebelling against her as teenagers, not too long before she discovers her husband is cheating on her and only a few months before Zaheer is imprisoned. Tough year, what can I say? And she just.. cracks, completely loses it, and Kat said she’d write a proper fic about it so I’ll leave the details to her, especially considering tumblr won’t like me talking about them, but she begins cheating on her husband too and is a complete masochist, to the point she deeply scares her partners and they end up breaking it off. Essentially, Haya on steroids 😅

Aiza/Emran – Born in 126 AG, she/he/they, genderfluid, pansexual, polyamorous. Zaheer’s other sister, the middle child in the family. The three siblings were never close with each other, they were never allowed to be, but Aiza and Zaheer still managed to share a few moments where he told her about Air Nomad culture and philosophy, thus causing her to gain an interest in it too. After he ran away she started reading a lot more and aching for the freedom described in the texts. At age 17, a few days before her arranged marriage, she gets into an argument with Summiya about duty, sacrifice and wanting more from life, much more than being married to a guy she never even had a proper conversation with and birthing his children, and upon finding no support in her sister she decides to run away too. She cuts her hair, disguises herself as a boy under the name Emran and becomes an air acolyte at one of the temples. She struggles at first since she never had to work for anything before, but eventually begins to love this way of life and gains a lot more confidence in herself. She makes friends and grows so close with them she sees them as family, and at some point reveals her deceit, but no one is too mad at her because ultimately, she’s still her. But after that revelation, she realises that she didn’t dislike being a boy, and she doesn’t hate being a girl as long as she’s not under the intense pressure her parents placed on her, and becomes genderfluid, using different pronouns and both Aiza and Emran as names depending on what they feel more like that day. They also start experimenting with their sexuality and fall in love with a bunch of people of all genders, forming a polycule though never settling down officially. After Harmonic Convergence they will gain airbending, and eventually, several years later, they’ll reunite with Zaheer and the two will get to need out about Air Nomads together like they were always meant to 🥹🥹

Ehuang – No exact birthdate yet, but most likely >180 AG. She’s still a bit too young for us to really decide on gender and sexuality and whatever else, but for now, cis, she/her. She’s the daughter of Midori and Opal Beifong, conceived with the help of Bataar Jr (Midori was the one pregnant). Midori and Opal adopt several kids together, but at some point Midori decides that she wants to know what it’d feel like to carry a child herself, to be there when they’re born, to see traits of her family reflected in them. So she and Opal talk, ask Bataar for help, one thing leads to another and nine months later, precious baby Ehuang is born. She’s the love of my life and light of my world, genuinely the most good and pure thing to ever exist, the representation of everything finally being okay with the world, and I adore her beyond what words can convey. She’s named after a character from the same legend her great grandmother’s (Ming-Hua’s mom, Nuying) name comes from, and will eventually reveal herself an earthbender, though not a metalbender like Opal’s family, but a lavabender like her grandfather. Truly the perfect mix of her entire family <3 This section is a bit shorter than the rest, but that’s simply because she doesn’t have too much going on with her yet. Hopefully one day we’ll find the time to add to it (and finally design her siblings, maybe???)

Ila and Alasie – Grouping these two together because they tend to go hand in hand with each other. Going off how old I imagine them to be compared to Suiren, Alasie was born in 152/153 AG and Ila in 150 AG. Cis and she/her for both, but Ila is a lesbian and Alasie is aroace (and a waterbender, though she’s rather bad at it). They’re not related to each other or, surprisingly, anyone else either on my OC list or out of canon characters. They both work as handmaidens in the Northern Water Tribe palace under Malina, Unalaq’s wife. Now, there’s quite a bit of lore surrounding Malina, but the basics are that her and Unalaq’s marriage was arranged, he has no interest in her because he’s a spiritfucker and only into Vaatu, she hates him, dislikes her kids, and was generally unsatisfied with life right up until one of her handmaidens showed interest in her, and in the nearly two decades since then she’s formed a proper harem out of both maids and guards who are all utterly enamoured with her. It’s not a permanent arrangement, a lot of them end up leaving their positions to get married or whatever else, and Malina chooses not to mourn and simply move on. Ila is a girl very much like the rest, in love with Malina and becoming absolutely obsessed after the one night she had with her. The difference is that her affection is completely unidirectional, she looks at no one else but her lady, completely and utterly devoted to her alone. Alasie, however, is aroace, and after being propositioned by Malina one evening tearfully confesses that she never wants to be touched by anyone, and Malina smiles and calms her and allows her to sleep in her bed, no obligations or anything, just so she can feel the warmth because she comes from a poor family and her clothes aren’t nearly as good at keeping her warm. What she ends up having with Malina is most similar to a queerplatonic relationship, and through that she becomes friends with Ila too, as they’re the two that Malina is most fond of at the moment. I will admit that Alasie is basically just a projection of myself that was created when I first figured out I was aroace and having a whole crisis over it, and Ila shares quite a few traits with Kat, so… yay for self inserts? They’re just fun characters to play around with when we need a break from the general doom and gloom of our main universes, that’s all :)

Oof, this took a looong time to write, and again, these are only about a sixth of all the OCs we have, so if you have any more questions about them, or wanna know about anyone else specifically, feel free to ask!!

[punkitt-is-here]

As someone who grew up with g4 from the beginning (and was 17 when it ended), I like what you said about FiM slowly appealing to the adult fanbase more and more. The result is that the show kinda...grew up with me instead of letting me grow out of it.

The show evolved from simple episodic narratives to a grand one meant to answer adult fans' worldbuilding questions as my developing brain slowly wanted more to chew on. Meta episodes about fandom would come out when I myself would be getting more involved in fandom. The main characters themselves would go from acting like children in adult roles to acting more like fully-realized adults with issues that older me would better empathize with.

Idk, I think what people call 'jumping the shark' is more often just a show evolving and responding to feedback. Indulging fans isn't necessarily a bad thing either, and it's always infinitely better than the shows that live only to tease and spite their audience. (*cough*Supernatural*cough*)

yeah I really like this take; the show was already on for long enough that the initial target audience would have grown up regardless, so it makes plenty of sense for them to shift with their audience as well. nothing wrong with that, tbh. that's probably why i like seasons 4-5 more because at that point the show was pivoting older. Seasons 1-2 will always be out there for folks, thats for sure!

[theintrovertbean]

About Dorian and where I stand

I think it's time I voiced my actual opinion of Dorian. Partly because I need to write this down for myself to better understand my own feelings, and because of some of my posts, it might be hard to understand where I stand. Nowadays, I know it matters. Yeah, I gave it a chance. No, it didn't make me a Dorian enjoyer, but even though it makes me cringe sometimes, I don't think it's the worst thing to ever exist.

Disclaimer: This is my opinion to which everyone is free and more than welcome to add their own. I will address both good and bad things about Dorian, and I am going to criticize it. I also have to add that while I've been playing The Arcana for five years, I was gone for a while and missed out on a lot, especially the part when Dorian bought the game, so I'm not your all-knowing narrator. This is not a personal attack against anyone, whether they have a positive or negative opinion about Dorian. No drama here, just opinions and even some advice. Now let's begin.

I think the concept of Dorian is good, but it could be much better executed. The company makes some questionable choices, like now with the 3D figurines or when they posted those tales of the M6. I think the vast majority can agree that those tales felt like a living nightmare. That's certainly what they felt like to me, and I would prefer to ignore their existence. With the figurines, their quality is the issue. We do want the figurines, and we'd love them, but they don't look right, and I hate to say this because someone put effort into creating them (because, apparently, they're not AI-generated). Plus, I think it would be nicer if we could choose to get them painted. I'm aware that painted versions will be available too, but it would have made more sense to release both versions at the same time.

There are nice people on Dorian, I've met a few, so I don't think that liking Dorian automatically makes someone a bad person. It's simply not everyone's cup of tea. In many cases, for very understandable reasons. However, the people I actually communicated with were (and still are) very friendly and supportive. And tbh, there's no harm in enjoying the content that gets posted there. Unless it's something that promotes problematic ideas.

When I wanted to post a story there, I got loads of help, which I'm very thankful for, but some things make me wonder if I want my content to be put on Dorian. Ultimately, I've decided to do it, and I'm about to release the first episode. I know there are people on Dorian too, who would like to read some good Nadia content (not sure if I'm the right person for that, but there's no harm in trying). However, this is not a decision that I made lightly. I spent a lot of time wondering if I should do it. It's a personal moral compass thing, plus I know that there are people in my following who don't like Dorian. No, I am not going to abandon my blog. Everything I post on Dorian I plan on sharing here as well, one way or another. Right now, this is more of a test than anything else. And if somehow I end up becoming rich from the Dorian money, I can spend it on Arcana merch (/jk).

Dear Dorian, Arcana main 6 boobie mousepads when?

Seriously, my main goal is to spread the gospel about our goddess Nadia, wherever it may be, and I've had a few people encourage me to bring some content about her to the Dorian platform to show the Countess some love. But, know that when it happens, it's not because I'm such a big fan of Dorian. On the contrary, I'm quite critical of it, and anyone who has ever spoken to me knows that too. Anything I post on the Dorian platform will be purely out of my love for Nadia, my fellow simps, and the joy of creating.

Now, let's talk about Dorian's target audience. It's definitely not me nor the vast majority of The Arcana fandom. From what I've noticed, most of us are young adults, but Dorian is more attractive to people who are around their thirties. The adult adults. No hate to those people, hurting you is not my intention, and you did nothing wrong. It simply feels like Dorian is less focused on us younger people, partly because we are not very likely to pay them any money. However, an adult with a stable income is more likely to afford digital currencies. I understand that Dorian needs money too, or else they wouldn't be able to pay their creators, but it would be nice if they could do something in favor of the young adults as well.

Connected to the target audience, I have some things to say about the heart system too. If someone isn't familiar with it, Dorian uses hearts to unlock paid scenes. They use it for spicy content as well, but it's not exactly the best way to keep minors from accessing them. Yes, there are minors on the Dorian app too, I've seen a few. As soon as someone downloads the app, they get free hearts and they don't even need an account. Dorian is a social media platform with streaming features and by joining/starting a live stream, users are able to access all paid content, spice included. Having spicy content is not the issue, but making it so available is. I know, I know, places like Play Store and App Store allow this, it doesn't go against their rules. But, look into your heart, and ask yourself if it really is okay. If it's possible, I'd like to encourage Dorian to at least make their users (whether they are registered or not) confirm that they are over the age of 18 or let them add their date of birth when they use the app for the first time. This way, they could add a feature that automatically hides adult content from underage users. It's not much, but I know some people who would feel better.

There are things on Dorian that I genuinely enjoy, like the current event, The Arcana Love Quest. I've seen people say that it divides the fandom and makes it seem like one person is a much better fan than the others, but as someone who actually participates, I don't feel that way. However, I get where these come from because it does seem off from the outside. (Rip Nadia guild, we didn't make it to the next round, but it was fun.)

Now the "negativity". There have been countless people who voiced their opinions about Dorian, and they often didn't speak too highly of the company. I didn't see it myself, but from what I know, there was even something about comments getting deleted by Dorian and people getting blocked. Of course, there are people who simply hate. In those cases, I understand they want to shield themselves and pretty much everyone else from witnessing those vulgar remarks. However, civilized, constructive criticism isn't something they should censor or ignore. It's impossible to satisfy everyone, but they have to try and listen because even though criticism doesn't always feel nice, it's for everyone's benefit. By listening to what people say, Dorian could improve.

The Dorian app itself tries to be too many things at once. Instead of adding new features, I think it would be better to make it more stable and easier to control because it can get glitchy and confusing at times. However, I have to give their support team credit because I had issues with the app myself. I filled out a ticket, and they solved it for me. They were civil, kind, and responsive, so I really can't complain about that.

And about what they're doing to the official The Arcana app. It's upsetting, I know, but since Dorian owns it, we can't blame them for advertising themselves on it. Some people make a living by working for Dorian and/or posting content there and that is something I respect because this is literally how they pay their bills and put food on their tables. However, it's starting to get out of hand and anything more would be too much. Like the Dorian app, it wants to be too many things at once. To make the "Tales" button smaller than the Dorian stuff next to it is something that doesn't sit right with me. Also, half of the "Dailies" page is now about Dorian. There's also an entire page for streams, which is kinda unnecessary because if I want to watch a stream, I'll use the actual Dorian app for it anyway. Also, as soon as I open The Arcana app, I get like, three pop-ups about Dorian, which honestly reminds me of using illegal websites for watching movies.

There is also something else I wish to say. We can't blame Nix Hydra's mistakes on Dorian, and we can't expect Dorian to post content like Nix Hydra did. As I mentioned before, Dorian is a social media platform. Yes, we got Arcana tales once, but that's not what Dorian is for.

In conclusion, The Arcana is cursed like Lucio's wing. Do I regret giving Dorian a chance, tho? Honestly, no, not really. At least I have seen both sides of the coin. Dorian is not the worst, but there is a lot of room for improvement. My advice is to listen to not only the praise but the constructive criticism too. There is potential in Dorian and if they did a better job, then maybe they could turn other people's and my head too. For now, I remain somewhere in the middle.