#not sure whether to put this in fandom tags but i guess I'm doing it

[experimentalknacksideblog]

Submission and notifications test

Hello all, this is DiscoKnack sending a submission from my main account to a group sideblog (of which I am currently the only admin/member). To note: you can only send submissions with your main, but you can receive them on sides and main. That's how tumblr do.

The goal here is to see how notifications from replies and reblogs are delivered to involved parties, as well as how they can be moderated.

The ultimate goal is to find a vehicle that shy persons can use to share fan stuff without backlash [D:)

Also feel free to tell me if something I do makes you uncomfortable.

[autismasgore]

i'm leaving the fandom

so i already posted about this on twitter with a shorter explanation but after a long while of being in the undertale fandom, i've decided to distance myself from it. i'm not sure if i'll ever make a public return on any of these accounts, but for now i've decided that i feel this is what's best for me mentally.

i'm kind of surprised i haven't already, to be honest, but i guess for a good while i was able to focus on the passion and love i had for the game. nowadays, i've been finding it harder and harder to interact with the fandom as a whole - for a multitude of reasons really.

many of you are already aware i went through a stalking incident over asgore discourse, which lasted from late 2019 to 2023. it was the most traumatizing years of my life, and i don't even remember a time where i actually felt at peace with myself during those years. the only time i remember being happy was pouring all of my focus onto undertale even harder, just to try and cope with what was going on. it didn't help that at the time, my abusive family was blaming me for being stalked and telling me i was just doing this all for attention and that i loved the "drama" of it.

i really didn't want to do this, because it feels like such a huge betrayal of everything i've loved for so long (hi, i'm autistic and undertale was my special interest, in case you haven't noticed yet LOL) but at this point i associate too many traumatic memories with undertale, specifically the fandom.

since getting more into steven universe and browsing the fandom casually it made me realise just how toxic the undertale fandom is as a community right now. i mean, let's be real, it's always been this way, but i feel like it's gotten a whole lot more worse lately - more insane.

it honestly felt like such a huge breath of fresh air to go into a fandom tag that Didn't have any toxic sludge or people discoursing about liking certain characters (cough Asgore cough) and whether or not that makes you a bad person. it felt like total whiplash, seeing people discussing a show they liked and sharing fanart instead of seeing constant discourse about it.

i've also been seeing a lot of my friends go through absolute fucking bullshit lately, and it's honestly really stressful because it felt like my stalker incident was becoming a more popularized and public sentiment in the fandom. which... honestly is scary to me. people are becoming more openly hostile, more openly insane with their accusations. i've been trying to remain hopeful and optimistic about the fandom, but the more things that have happened, the less hopeful i feel.

i don't want to be in this sort of community. i don't want to be in a community where people feel glee in hurting others, tearing other people down and slinging around serious accusations because it makes them feel powerful.

i want to be in a community/fandom that makes me feel actual joy, and not a constant source of stress.

there's also another reason why i decided to distance myself online rn as well, and it's not really related, but it was enough that i feel incredibly uncomfortable going by the name "pixie" rn.

last year, a youtuber i knew decided to put me on blast and straight up called me an abuse apologist and that i should be avoided at all costs, all bc i quietly distanced myself from posting publicly about the situation and decided to avoid jumping to conclusions.

i don't entirely blame them, since there's definitely things i feel i could have done better, but a lot of what they said was already privately resolved between us, and they left a lot of that out in order to paint a false narrative about me. i mean they literally had saved hundreds of deleted posts from my deleted old social media accounts. i know this because they've done this before with other people. i also know that this comes from a place of hurt and anger, they're lashing out at a community they felt hurt by, but their way of coping with it isn't healthy.

because they had thousands of followers, i started getting a ton of harassment, from people saying i wasn't trustworthy and calling me an abuse apologist, and even private nasty dms i don't really want to get into.

i didn't say anything at the time bc i was worried i'd come across as attention seeking/manipulative but. i became straight up actively suicidal after this. i was convinced nothing was going to ever get better for me and that i was an active danger to everyone. my mum ended up dragging me all the way to the city literally just to buy me the macbook i wanted in order to try and cheer me up, and even then i felt so depressed that i felt like i didn't have anything to look forward to. honestly the only thing that really kept me going was my friends privately supporting me.

to put it short, it felt like a repeat of my stalker situation and i don't feel comfortable going by pixie anymore because i associate so much trauma with that name right now. i feel like so many people who don't have good faith intentions know me as that name, more than people i'm friends with.

i don't even know if i'll ever post on social media ever again, or at least not in the way i used to. if i do end up making a new social media with a new rebrand, you won't hear from me about it. i want to be more private now.

tl;dr if you're still reading this, thank you for sticking by me for so long. this ended up being a lot longer than i anticipated, but i think i'm done with the name "pixie", and i think i'm done with the undertale fandom for now.

i know i'll be able to move on into a better place once i move forward to this chapter.

thanks for the memories.

[birdofprey1234]

Hello all. In case you've been unaware, recently tumblr has begun rolling out a partnership with Midjourney to scrape the entire website and its users' posts for their AI training. This includes peoples art, and probably also writing and photography. Anything you've posted the company may use for training, and you are opted IN by default.

Obviously this blog has been inactive for quite a while now, and no new art has been or will be posted here, but this puts me in a difficult position. I'm not sure exactly what I'm gonna do with this blog from here on. Some people have recommended editing posts to put a glaze filter over old art so that it's unusable, but I have many hundreds of posts, not all of which are tagged, and I'm unsure whether the AI training has already gotten a hold of them or not, making the potential filter useless. Not to mention the reblogs that already exist of the old un-glazed artwork.

I considered deleting everything, maybe even the blog itself, but that idea...sucks. I like the idea and the feeling that though I'm not active, my art is still out in the fandom tags somewhere, and that I have had an effect on the fandoms I was in and shared my art with. And again, the reblogs still exist, so I'm not sure what that would mean in terms of AI scraping. My worry is that deleting my blog would only relinquish any control I do have of what is done with my art.

As it is I'm kind of at a standstill. I was recently thinking over sharing my art again on other blogs, since I do miss being a part of that creative space. But now this change has kind of crushed that idea entirely. All this, plus the extreme transmisogyny apocalypse happening on here in the last month, and the seeming silencing of important movement tags like palestine, it really makes me want to ditch tumblr altogether. I've seen many people considering switching platforms. There's been a lot of markiplier mutuals specifically who have encouraged me to join cohost, I also have seen pillowfort as an option for others. But those platforms are new, kind of janky and will be hard to get used to for me. Plus, idk if I'm using them wrong but there's like...11 posts in each tag that I've seen so far, which kind of kills the feeling of being a part of a big open fan community I really love. Cohost seems like a nice platform, but if only 30-35 people move over, then it's really going to be a moot point. I wanna be where everyone else in the fandom is. I worry that this mass migration will only splinter communities, as we're all going to different places. I don't want to make 500 accounts on different platforms just to stay active and feel aware in the community.

My entire online social life up to this point has basically been on tumblr, I have a lot of blogs with a LOT of memories attached to them, and it would hurt to just drop them and move away.

Overall I'm at a loss. I enjoy sharing my work, my ideas and thoughts, I like being a part of these creative communities. But it seems like everyday the online space becomes more and more hostile toward creatives and fans, and much more advertiser friendly. One thing i never ever wanted to happen was for my art to be used for AI, and I naively thought that tumblr would be safe in that way. Guess not. I sometimes wonder if eventually all large social media will crash down and The People will dedicate to going back to personal websites and forums. I would enjoy a space where I could share my art on my own terms, and not have other peoples interaction with it overshadow everything else.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet. For now I will be staying on tumblr until I figure it out, but definitely no more posting creatively. I want to try to keep my work up if I can. I would recommend on all your blogs going to settings and toggling ON "prevent third-party sharing for this blog", as that will let tumblr know you wish your work, including reblogs of it to be excluded from the scraping. I'm unsure how actually useful this will be, or how much the company will respect these wishes but. It's there. I would also love for you to come talk with me @boobookiss and, hey, maybe make a cohost account. I'm on there as boobookiss as well. I hope to keep touch with you all and see this little community stay together.

[indigoraysoflight]

Let's Talk About The Big F Word.

The word is "friend", and this is a rant. You've been warned.

If you genuinely love Caryl as a friendship or a ship, know that this rant is not meant to invalidate you. I'm merely trying to shed light on the marketing side of things and how some terms are being used to market the show.

I notice there is confusion festering about why AMC's official accounts continue to promote the "friends" narrative. Here's my theory from a marketing perspective.

If companies are worried about ROI (return on investment), they can either change the content to guarantee ROI or grow the audience to improve the chances of getting an ROI. The second part is easier this late in the game when a show is teetering at the end of post-production.

Every time the "friend" narrative is evoked or Carol is deliberately excluded or female characters are pitted against each other – engagement skyrockets. It festers toxicity in the fandom and encourages infighting. Hear me out.

Carylers usually defend themselves, and people who hate Caryl with a burning passion use the narrative to harass and bully Carylers.

That leads the Carylers to double down on their undying devotion to Caryl because they want the world to know why this ship and these characters are important to them (which is understandable considering how difficult the last few years have been).

The official accounts then mine posts and track engagement for market research, which probably leads to the conclusion, "See? Carylers are still engaging and on board with the friend narrative."

And the cycle continues.

"But Caryl are friends! Why is that bad?"

It's not bad; their friendship is what makes this ship unique. Every Caryler cherishes their friendship because it is the foundation of their relationship. Whether you love Caryl as friends or you ship them, the word "friend" is used to encourage people to invalidate Carylers and the ship itself. And it's done in the name of "engagement".

If you don't believe me, go to these posts and see the ratio of comments, QRTs, and responses. "All publicity is good publicity", I'm sure you've probably heard that before. That's the essence of the strategy that is being utilized.

There is a section of the fandom that loves it when Carylers are "put in their place," if you will. They flood to every post that

Invalidates Caryl as a ship

Erases Carol or encourages fans to "erase her" in some way

Pits Carol against another female character

Calls Caryl "friends"

Includes ambiguous pictures/footage to invalidate Caryl/Carol

Because every one of these posts gets a ton of engagement from all sides. Even if a lot of it is negative, it's still talked about. The end goal is word of mouth so more people flock to see what's happening. More eyes mean they can promote their show to a bigger pool of audience, which increases the chances of getting a higher ROI.

"Why would they do that when they started the #TWDCaryl tag?"

My best guess is that the people in charge of running the official accounts are either recycling an old marketing strategy or trying to position Caryl as "friends" to try and attract the audience that is so thrilled by the idea of it on SM. Because Caryl are best friends, Carylers can't refute that or be mad about it, right? Only they're either unaware of the fandom dynamics or don't care as long as the posts get engagement.

Unfortunately, because TBOC hasn't been marketed heavily through official channels yet and relies mainly on pictures, videos, and content shared by cast, crew, or fans, Carylers are eager for any form of promo that gives them information about the show. And any posts shared by official accounts get a lot of attention.

But most of these posts don't hold space for comments about Caryl as a ship. People who see the post as a way of suppressing Carylers or "confirmation" that the ship is invalid harass these commenters.

I don't think the SM managers realize that most people who cheered for excluding Carol from posts are the same ones engaging with the "Caryl are friends" posts.

And anyone who hates Carol with a burning passion – enough to encourage toxicity against her and her fans – will never pay them a dime to watch a show called "The Book of CAROL."

They're stepping on the back of a huge chunk of their audience to get engagement from people who want TBOC to fail. Let them realize on their own that "all engagement is good engagement" until they get a big surprise of declining followers and ROI.

Melissa returned to Carol, and to us, she deserves A LOT better than a few posts that validate people who hate Carol, and recycled footage from the flagship show.

If you choose to take it, my advice is to stop engaging with the official accounts, stop validating them if you're feeling invalidated and disrespected, and use your block button generously. Continue talking about why Carol and Caryl are important to you. Finally, protect your energy and please take care of your mental health.

Thank you for taking the time to read my rant.

Stay safe, and be well. ❤️❤️

[roxtron]

Pinned post/About me thing

-----------------------------------------------------------

you can call me whatever, i usually go by some variation of my username but i don't mind nicknames and stuff

he/they

i'm autistic so my posts will probably vary by whatever/whenever certain special interests/hyperfixations are stronger at the time

-----------------------------------------------------------

A bit of info about what I post/reblog

i make original art sometimes but art block has been really tough so unfortunately i don't have a lot to post lately :(

besides that I'll usually make either rambling or analysis posts on whatever subject I'm posting about, usually fandom related. occasionally theories but that depends on if what I'm posting about really leaves room for theorizing.

I reblog pretty casually on here so it can range from stuff i find funny to stuff i think could use awareness, fandom-wise this blog somehow became pretty fnaf centered lol, not quite sure how that happened but i still consider it my main.

if i reblog other people's art or analysis I usually try to leave my thoughts in the tags, but sometimes I have a hard time thinking of what to say so sorry if I reblog your work and don't say anything/don't seem enthusiastic about it, if I reblog something it's because I adore it lol, I just don't always know how to put thoughts into words. <3

and as a side note, while I do try to check blogs of people I reblog in case it's a terf or whatever, sometimes you never know, so if I do reblog something from someone who's done something shitty don't hesitate to let me know with an ask or something because chances are I probably don't know lol.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Boundaries stuff I guess.

I know DNI lists are annoying and pointless but whatever, if there's a chance it'll get people to leave me alone it's worth it. I shouldn't need to list obvious ones like terfs, transphobes, homophobes, all those assholes. But also, if you don't like one of my posts, I'd rather you block me and move on than hate reblog it. It's immature and annoying, and I won't hesitate to block people that do it.

Obviously I don't just mean "if you criticize something I post you're bad," I'm alright with criticism as long as it's respectful, but if you're gonna reblog just to say "look at this idiot" then fuck off.

Sorry about how aggressive that may have been but I don't wanna deal with stuff like that. I've dealt with it in the past and it sucks, if you don't like me, that's perfectly fine, but just block me and move on. Onto a more positive topic.. If you wanna use my art for pfps or anything that's really cool actually!! Ofc I'd ask for credit but if anyone did want a pfp of something I've drawn you can always send me an ask and I'll post a zoomed in version or something or make whatever edit you wanted so you don't need to worry about it lol Besides all that you don't have to worry about interacting with me, if you've got any questions whether that's related to me or my blog you don't have to hesitate to send an ask if you want :)

-----------------------------------------------------------

Sideblogs

I've recently made sideblogs for other fandoms people don't follow me for here. I figured it'd be easier to separate them but mostly for spoilers' sake. Sure I try to spoiler tag but people aren't gonna block spoiler tags for fandoms they're not in if they see it and I'd hate to spoil someone for a series they could've had the chance to go into blind. That being said, please don't follow my other blogs unless you already know the spoilers for whatever fandom the blog's centered around. As much as I appreciate support I'd hate for you to get spoiled and I'd much rather wait for you to play the game yourself <3 (since as of now they're both video game fandoms..) @roxtron-kh (Kingdom Hearts)

@roxtron-gt (Ghost Trick)

----------------------------------------------------------- Woo I think that's everything! Finally I can get to the tags section of this long-ass post.. I wanna try to tag things more properly in the future, even if I'm not really big enough to warrant it, I still wanna be able to find my own stuff easier at least through the sea of reblogs, so if you're curious about any of my posts, here's a list of tags you can look through! I'm currently trying to update some of my old posts with tags so they can be added to the list.

[icedbatik]

get to know me game (I was tagged by @rimouskis and @sportsthoughts ... thank you both!)

do you make your bed?

Yep! In part because I like having a nicely made bed, in part because I use my bed as my design board/work space when I'm quilting. And, in part, because it's an easy way to have some small bit of tidy space in a house that has too much stuff. (My core being is "neat freak" but my reality is "please pull a truck up so I can toss stuff out the window".)

what's your job?

I am a newspaper copy editor/writer.

if you could go back to school, would you?

It depends. Would I need to keep working? Would it put me in debt? I like learning, but I already don't have enough time in my day to do everything I want to do. If I had to write term papers and study for tests while working a full-time job and still taking care of my household (groceries, laundry, meals, yardwork, running errands, all the other odds and ends involved), I think I might crack.

can you parallel park?

Yes, though I rarely have the need. (If you follow the instructions carefully, it's amazing how well it works.)

do you think aliens are real?

IDK. I accept the reasoning that it's unlikely we're alone in the vastness of the universe, and that it's a bit arrogant to think we're the only ones. But I also think it's unrealistic to assume others take a form we'd immediately recognize. And, if there is intelligent life out there, why, exactly, would it mess with us?! Have you seen us lately?!

can you drive a manual car?

Yes. My brother loaned me his pickup truck to drive after I graduated from college. (He didn't need it at the time because of his job.) The idea of not having to make a car payment was great incentive to learn.

guilty pleasure?

I'm not sure I feel guilty about any of my pleasures. But they include Tumblr/fandom, writing fic, Pens hockey, quilting and a daily mug of good-quality hot chocolate.

tattoos?

I have a permanent spot on my skin from when I accidentally stabbed myself with a pencil as a kid. I'm pretty sure that's as close as I'm going to get. (Mine is big enough and dark enough that doctors routinely panic when they see it, thinking it's skin cancer, until I remind them we've had that conversation before.)

favorite color?

black with all the bright colors, particularly the off colors (fuchsia, turquoise, teal); and all the blues that make up the ocean (There's a reason why batik is my favorite type of fabric. Solid colors aren't nearly as interesting as lots of colors playing together.)

favorite type of music?

The most straight-forward answer is rock, particularly classic rock, though I like a lot of different types of music on a song-by-song (or artist) basis. Most country music doesn't do much for me. My last two musical purchases were Disturbed's cover of "The Sound of Silence" and Sufjan Stevens' "Illinois" album, which is the basis of "Illinoise" the Broadway musical.

do you like puzzles?

I guess you could say that, since I quilt and "Tetris" is my favorite video game.

any phobias?

I'm not into snakes. I'm trying to do better about not panicking over them, but I still have absolutely no desire to see them, whether in my yard or in a photograph.

favorite childhood sport?

Riding my bike.

do you talk to yourself?

Of course. (At least, that way, I know someone is listening to me!)

tea or coffee?

Nope. I prefer drinking clean water to dirty water. (The idea of having a cup of tea is appealing, but the reality has never done anything for me.)

first thing you wanted to be be when growing up?

A photographer.

what movies do you adore?

"Dave" and "The American President" are both older movies but they have lead characters (Kevin Kline and Martin Sheen Michael Douglas, respectively) who are kind of my fantasy president. Can't find funding for this program that helps children? No worries. We'll just stop paying $500 for a screwdriver we can get at the hardware store for $5 and use the leftover $495 (per screwdriver) on food programs and after-school programs and utility-assistance programs. It's not that hard.

I'll tag @pr-scatterbrain and @maljic and @ehghtyseven and anyone else who wants to play. (Maybe I want to know you and just don't realize it yet! )))

[yuseirra]

It's been years since I check the tags for fandoms I'm in because I get a bit nervous...I get influenced very easily, and the way how other people feel about things affect me in a massive way, whether it be both positive or negative, so I keep to myself and I tend to read and think about things alone. I got invites to discussion, but I couldn't talk so much, I'm really sorry about that. I really appreciate it!/// I was happy... It's just that I function a bit differently regarding what I enjoy. As much as I love putting my ideas out there, I just enjoy introspecting about things by myself rather than having debates.

I'm really grateful for all the kindness I've been receiving, I love all the sweet tags too. It keeps me fueled!

So today I braced myself a lil and checked out the hikaai tag here right!

AM I CARRYING THAT TAG???? I shouldn't say "carry", maybe...that's being too full of myself, sorry. but.. Wow.. I think I literally took over it... OH MY GOSH...

I really wish I could be a better artist!! Or could lay out some things that are worth reading... I really am trying my best though!! I have the love. I've been doing this to every single thing I get passionate about, I'm sure! There is a period where I get new ideas every single day. That's something you can't obtain even if you want to. It's been really fun lately as well as it having been tense. Really tense. It's scary because I hate to be unsure and wrong... But I still talk a lot.. And that's pretty new of me to do so. I usually just stick to drawing..maybe it's because it's that intriguing. This series is pain but I guess that's what's stimulates me to try and get a grasp and figure just what exactly things are going for.

With episode Aigis coming out today, (yay!) I'd love to hop back to drawing more persona 3 art(that's a great game) and feel an immersion towards it, draw more fanarts of that lovely fanfic I found once again(the writer deserves so much from me;;) but I also really wish...that I'd come to love this ship till the end. I genuinely see the potential it can have. I mean what I draw, I don't spend time and effort on things I don't feel about. Feelings are my everything~ To those of you who enjoy it, I'm thankful to have you with me. It's been helping me a lot!! I feel you'd all like p3 too? That game deals with loss and I personally think shuyuka does have this similar vibe w this ship to a degree, you wish someone back no matter the cost. There is that desperation and longing and I always fall for ships where someone cares so much for another.

[p-redux]

Update on Emily White, the fan who Tweeted yesterday that she'd had drinks in Key West "with a certain Scottish actor." Sadly, in researching her, I've come to the conclusion that she is a FAKE, and is simply a fan looking for attention. I'm posting the evidence I discovered for info purposes and truth purposes. I don't want to bash her. Read on for what I discovered.

So, yesterday, I was alerted in Anon Ask about this Tweet from Emily. And in doing a quick perusal of her account, it did seem like she had worked with Sam on Bloodshot, and could have met up with him for drinks, since they both seemed to be in Key West, Florida.👇

And then today she Tweeted this. 👇 But Sam asking an extra from Bloodshot to travel around with him on his Sassenach tour seemed VERY farfetched. So, I decided to dig deeper into Emily's background.

In my reblog of my original post yesterday, I posted I already had my suspicions Emily was a fake. And what led me to start thinking that was the case, was this account. This Twitter account "alerted" her that Sam was in Key West, and they tagged both Emily AND Sam. 👇

If you look at this Jamie Frances account, it was created to ship Emily and Sam!. Read Jamie Frances' Twitter bio. And LOOK at when it was created-- April 2022, the same time Emily created her Twitter account! Folks, this is what is called a person creating a fake account to promote themselves or promote what they want out there. NO ONE knows who Emily White is, let alone that she was an extra in Bloodshot with Sam. Why would some random woman then create an account that is ONLY for fans of Sam AND Emily specifically? And then put out there #findeachother S&E? Come on now. Obvious is as obvious does. 👇

But still, I could chalk it up to being a coincidence. So, I kept looking. Emily Tweeted that she's originally from Scotland and then moved to America 10 years ago. Okay, I guess that could be true. Her Backstage acting bio says she lives in Detroit, Michigan. 👇 Not exactly the acting capital of the US, but okay.

She now has an Instagram account with the same username as her Twitter account, but she also has an old Instagram account with her initials. 👇

And from looking at the old Instagram account, she had a man she was in a relationship with in 2021. Not sure if that's her husband or boyfriend, and of course, they could have broken up. But, she definitely has two kids, a girl, and a boy, and she no longer posts them on her new accounts. But she definitely did a couple of years ago. I whited out their faces since they're minors. 👇

I guess she used to be a brunette and she's definitely a fan girl. Here she is with her daughter going to a convention to meet actor, Stephen Amell. 👇

If you look at her accounts, she posts a lot about Sam and Outlander. Sooooo, it's looking like she met Sam as an extra on the movie Bloodshot and that's IT. 👇

Here are some fandom people calling her out as a FAKE 👇

So, unless I get some CONCRETE proof to the contrary, the evidence shows Emily White is another woman caught up in Samshiness, and is projecting wishful thinking out into the universe. Trying to manifest her Sam fantasies, but nothing more.

As for her recent Tweet about traveling with Sam on his Sassenach tour, I'm thinking she means following him from city to city, and standing in line with other fans to have a bottle signed.

I do feel slightly badly calling her out, but the truth is important. I hope she finds things in her real life to fulfill her.

This is also means that the jury is still out as to whether Sam was traveling alone in Miami and Key West, or with a date, since the "Emily had drinks with Sam in Key West" NEVER HAPPENED.

PS. Obviously I had a free weekend with plenty of time be blog, but tomorrow, I'm back to work, and won't be on much until after work. But for today, I'm here.

I need to go lie down.

[writergirl2011]

I got tagged by @musing-and-music!! Thanks!! 😊 So here goes...

Story I'm proudest of...

Argh. That would be so unfair to the other stories I've written. But if I had to choose, it would be the baseball story, Diamond in the Rough simply because I always wanted to write about baseball and finally found the perfect pairing for it! Not to mention how much research went into the story.

Your story that's gotten the most love online...

Funny that this came up because this just overtook the baseball story for most hits--though to be honest, I probably would've put this anyway given that it actually got several mentions on Twitter during the 2022 J/B fic exchange: you who know what love is (lol, musing-and-music, you tagged me in this and our regency stories are the most popular!!)

Tease a current WIP or idea that you're currently working on...

Speaking of fic exchanges, I just started working on my very short story for the 2024 J/B fic exchange. So sorry, can't...oh, what the heck. Heeeeeere's...a little bit from the next story in the "A Girl for All Seasons" series!!

JAIME: I don’t know whether I’m going to kiss you or kill you next time I see you

TYRION: ahhh I see you talked to ros

JAIME: you didn’t think she’d keep that to herself did you

TYRION: guess not

TYRION: it was for your own good

TYRION: not to mention mine because if I had to listen to you moaning about your blue balls one more minute I was going to smother you in your sleep

TYRION: though now that I think about it that would’ve cured yoru problem too

Your top 3 fandoms...

I only have two. A Song of Ice and Fire and Bridgerton at the moment.

Your top three ships...

Jaime x Brienne, Eloise x Cressida (shut up) and I guess that's really it. If I had to have a third, it would probably be Sansa x Margaery since I've paired them off in some of my fics, but they're not the main focus of my stories and I don't write for them specifically.

Rec someone else's fic...

Yikes, there are far too many I want to rec, but I'm going with the story I received in this year's smut swap because I just love it to death: BT, Phone Home by @angelowl-fics. Brienne as an alien!!!! Jaime as her wannabe boy toy!!!! If you haven't read this already--go read it!!!!

Pick one!

Fluff or Angst: I don't think I write things that are especially fluffy. At the same time, I don't think my fics are super angsty for the most part. Dramatic at times? Sure, but angst--the part that really, really hurts--not so much. But I'll put angst because I do drift in that direction more often than fluff. Where's the "snark" option? That's definitely my speed.

Oneshots or longfics: 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Was this even a question???????

Canon compliance or canon divergence: I think it depends on the canon. For example, I'm not great at writing canon fic for J/B, so I stick with mod AUs. I was better at writing canon fic in other fandoms, though. So I'd say that for now, canon divergence. But I'll read both.

AO3 or ff.net: I somehow completely missed the ff.net experience. AO3 all the way.

[crackinthecup]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

@gardensofthemoon thank you so much for the tag! It was super interesting reading your responses :D <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 51

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 465,678

3. What fandoms do you write for? Bold to assume I write at all I've always mainly just written for the Silm BUT I have recently become obsessed with The Locked Tomb series so miiiiiiight do some writing in that universe. At some point. Maybe.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Yield to the Moment takes the cake here, which is not surprising given that it's a 300k Angbang modern AU slowburn beast of a fic.

Then we've got Strange New World, set in my Swords 'verse, which takes a look at Melkor and Mairon post-Dagor Dagorath through a mental health-y and relationship/character study lens.

Third up is A bond once called fealty, also in the Swords 'verse.

Then there's The Metal Cage, which is shameless Angbang PWP focused on chastity play.

And finally A quiet sort of introspection, also part of the Swords 'verse, a bit experimental in the sense of taking Melkor's POV in second person.

5. Do you respond to comments? Always! I feel it's only fair if someone's taken the time to share their thoughts with me. Plus it's often such a fun, creative space where you get to bounce around ideas with the commenter.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Not entirely sure, actually. Don't think I tend to write particularly angsty endings. No Other Choice, maybe? It's about the Fëanorian attack on the Havens and the choice Elwing makes when she jumps into the sea.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Probably YTTM. I'm pretty pleased with the ending actually; feels like it pulls together a bunch of narrative threads and highlights all the amazing growth the characters have done. Also, it's a wedding at the end of a very long, very bumpy slowburn.

8. Do you get hate on fics? I have, yeah, years and years ago, around an abusive take on Angbang; but generally I find that the Silm fandom is very lovely and very welcoming.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I do! Quite a lot of it haha. I think, for me, the appeal isn't so much the physical act in and of itself, but what's going on for the characters behind the scenes as it were, emotionally/psychologically. Especially with a ship like Angbang where they spectacularly fail at talking to each other so a lot of juicy unspoken stuff gets acted out through physical intimacy.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? Nope, never written a crossover, nor do they hold much appeal for me personally.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? I have. Sadly those fics had been written around 2015-16 and I deleted them a few years back at a time when my mental health was... spicy. I couldn't say whether the translations are still out there somewhere.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yep! YTTM started out as a co-write.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? Angbang. There's just a lot of layers to their dynamic that scratch an itch in my brain. Power imbalance. Fucked-up-ness. Possessiveness/protectiveness. Worship. Loyalty.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I've got a WIP from almost ten years ago about Celebrimbor in Gondolin and I'm not sure if the interest/time/motivation is still there for me to ever pick it up again :')

16. What are your writing strengths? Hmm I tend to put a fair amount of thought into characters' emotional experiences and I also enjoy playing around with fun ways to describe things.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? I guess there's a flipside to focusing on emotional experiences in that sometimes I might humanise characters like the Ainur too much and lose some of their eldritchness. I also tend to be quite disorganised with my plotting, and by disorganised I mean that I just sit down and start writing without a plan or outline and sometimes I can end up scrambling to tie everything together and make it make sense and I'm not sure how effective that is. Also also, I don't find endings very easy to come up with.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? Sure, if done purposefully in a way that furthers the plot or tells me something about the characters.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Harry Potter, I think! Those fics are not on the internet anymore and that is probably for the best haha.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written? Ohhh see, I don't actually like my own writing very much (cheers, perfectionism) and I very very rarely re-read it. But I do think some bits in YTTM are fun, and my latest ficcy that I've written (Reason to Try) which is a ficcy of @tarmairons' ficcy kinda shifted something in my brain for the better and I revisit it sometimes on bad mental health days.

Let's see which lovely people to tag: @markedasinfernal, @elevenelvenswords, @undercat-overdog, @lvsifer, @foxindarkness and anyone else who sees this and would like to have a go (if you want to! zero pressure)

[scoops404]

Taking a break from my Powerpoint Presentation (it's google slides but whatever) preparation to circle back to the thing @jestbee tagged me in - my fic graveyard

Before even looking, I don't think I have many. I can think of one big one, but we'll see if there are more when I open it up.

I organize mine by year, so here is 2022:

"5 times Dream called George baby accidentally + 1 time it was on purpose"

HAHAH i forgot about this. 2,500 words. I think I stopped writing it because it didn't feel like it was going anywhere and I got distracted by something else. I think this was right before I got sucked into writing Curse and Cure so my brain went entirely into that and forgot this one... oops

"Trans GNF fic" 11K - I really liked this one actually but I let a few trans friends read it to do a sensitivity beta and um it didn't really pass? they gave valid criticism and to fix it I would have had to kind of scrap most of it and I didn't really want to do that because my brain thought of another idea so I went and did that instead. This was going to be FWB cunnilingus fic very heavily pwp - so maybe it's for the best. I'd rather scrap it than write anything hurtful or offensive, so maybe in another universe ((also, this is the one I was thinking of that I never finished))

"Secret Santa 2022 Fic" 400 words. It never got off the ground because my giftee left the fandom and I wasn't really feeling it anyway (wrote Deep in Dream instead and won't apologize for that) but it was going to be very we-didn't-know-we-were-dating and closely canon compliant (but then i kinda did that with Just One Touch).

"2022 Halloween Exchange" (35 words lol) this also got canceled because it was around the time of the drituation, BUT -- my giftee was @extrasteps who I didn't know at the time when we were assigned, but is now very dear to me. But this was going to be soulmates, george as a witch/seer vibes gnf flying to orlando. george has visions and can see other people's soulmates but doesn't know he can't see his own so when he doesn't see Dream as his soulmate, he thinks they aren't soulmates until they meet and.... I wasn't quite sure where i was going with it but it would have kicked ass

Okay, I guess I have more than I remember...

"The Whether" 2,500 words - this one was going to be about dream's exploration of his sexuality and using George (with permission) as a safe space to explore that by flirting with him off-stream, etc. But like an explicit conversation is had about it where dream makes sure George is okay with that and then he just fake flirts his way into falling in love with George. Delves into physical -- George is like you keep questioning all this stuff, so just suck my dick if you want to try it. You know, because he's such a good friend. This one is absolutely Scoops bonkers crazy because Dream does a drodcast and like talks it out loud and realizes on the drodcast that he's actively in love with George. Peak comedy. I don't remember why I decided not to finish this one, might have been because someone I'm friends with was writing something similar and I didn't want to inadvertently copy so I put it on the back burner and then just forgot about it. in this era of Scoops, I can see that if I talked about this one, then people would have hyped me up and I would have ended up writing it fully probably.

2023:

"George's Pretty Privilege" 660 words. This was like one of those small things I had to write after finishing a big project i'd been working on for months (in this case, deep in dream) for something to be completely different. The idea was all the times George used and then realized his pretty privilege. I didn't finish this one because it was kinda boring and then something else caught my interest. Oh! We did a Spin The Wheel challenge and that made me write Shine Here To Us and that took all my attention away

That's it for 2023, besides a Merthur fic I've been working on forever so I don't consider that one "dead"

I don't even have 2021 on this laptop, but I know of at least one - Dream surprises George in line at a con while he's still faceless and pretends to be a fan. I almost uploaded that one.

Anyway, those are my dead and gone and not being resurrected fics. I hope you enjoyed. I got pretty good in 2023 of picking projects that I actually wanted to invest my time into and work to finish them. Taking that energy into 2024.

If you're a writer, feel free to do this as well!! And feel free to ask any questions you want about any of these ideas :D

[p-receh]

There's an au prompt that I am heavily interested in. And this is also the base of what I want to write in my story. I personally love this au. Not many people dwell deeper in this au (I knew some but not know much for outdonesian people. Whereas in Indonesian fandom, this thing is quite rare... I guess. But that rarity is like find a needle in a hay stack, or find a golden in the mud.... ^^')

"These two anonymous made me overthink late at night. It made me speculate how are the elementals gonna do if Oboi is gone someday? they are immortals yet their master is a human.

But this is my favorite kind of troupe. Immortal and mortal, hahahaha. Normally the ones who couldn't move on are the immortals."

[Pict no.1]

'If we think deeper, The elementals are older than Oboi himself, right? They were born in the various Power Spheres and then founded by the kings, The Chiefs, and even mere citizens. All this time, it turns out halitaugem(Halilintar, Taufan, and Gempa) and others are already 100+ years old.'

[Pict no. 2]

'The Elementals are older than Oboi, aren't they. Imagine the 7 elementals saying their gratitude to Oboi for their safety as if he protected their lives and did not misuse them, and they will vow to guard Oboi, the purest elemental wielder of them all.'

Different tweet but still indirect to the op.

"Halilintar: "He's only a kid who just got his power, he probably will get hurt because of us."

Taufan: "What if he abuses it when he's older like a certain guy?"

Gempa: "I know, however, I want to put my trust in someone one more time."

.

Gempa: "You guys want to join me?"

Halilintar & Taufan: *smiling* "Definitely."

Whether if the immortals unable to move on or not. These kind of concept where the elementals passing their duty after their last master is really tempting. Imagine this could be Oboi's himself dies of old age and he left his energy to let all elementals become the real humans; or in the last battle, before he gone, Oboi use his final move to let him split into seven. And after that, all elementals lived in the future.

In my mind, the settings are a bit different.

Thousand years in the future. All planets are destroyed and Quabac is the last remaining planet. All survivors from the destroyed planet moved to Quabac and created nations based on fallen planets. The planet's names are the names of nations same with their background settings(Still in draft and a bit generic.) :

Gugura is a dumpster city.

Windara, a steampunk nation above the clouds.

Rimbara a forest wonderland for villagers.

Baraju, two military nations that became the planet's first defense system, and-

Gur'latan, a high-tech cyberpunk city and the central nation of the planet.

The people lived under control and their fate was already decided by the mighty emperor who never showed it's face. All elementals lived separately with no past memories.

Until a certain worker who lived inside the rusty house, found an unordinary watch that triggered a nightmare. The sound of pain and shout that he felt he experienced even though he was sure he never remembered any of those throughout his life. Suspicious theories occur when he sees the legendary TAPOPS logo, who supposed to be a myth in children's tales.

More mysteries arise after he sees the mirror of himself at the barter station in some city of Gugura, or so he thought. A man in all white cloth was just sent by Gur'latan authorities to collect data. Coincidentally.

That's when they meet and their nightmares have become more clear and the fact that they are not alone already tells there's something wrong with their past to this day.

...

That's all for now I guess. I got this idea during my discussion with @nerizys (Apologies for tagging your name🙏). Still trying to make it more of a proper prompt since I'm suck in english.

... Really want it to make into a full story though... :*

[5and3nevermind]

I was looking at your pinned post and from the descriptions I didn't see it, but I didn't go into each one, so sorry if you have already talked a bunch about this, but I wanted to ramble on about and see if you had any thoughts/feelings/etc about Yoongi's surgery and the way Jimin acted pretty much throughout.

Like, of course all the members missed him, but I don't think anyone was as vocal as Jimin was about how much he felt Yoongi's absence during group events, and even lives where he talked about it and seemed worried or sad, we know he was pretty sad in general around that time but it really felt like Yoongi's absence affected Jimin a lot. And then, we heard from Yoongi himself how Jimin called him before and after the surgery to make sure he was ok, and that Jimin watched him do physical therapy. I guess that could mean a few things, but I think the general consensus among Yoonminers (honestly, I don't think I've ever seen a non-Yoonminer even acknowledge the physical therapy thing) is that Jimin was there for some of Yoongi's appointments and was maybe taught how to help (going by that one Run episode where he lifts Yoongi to stand and holds his arm in the correct way to keep from hurting him, which signified to a lot of us that he was at least made aware of how to do that).

And then, I haven't actually seen these two things connected, but I have had the thought of how I can't remember who told us, but Jimin or Yoongi telling us that they have been working out together, I have sort of wondered if, other than enjoying spending time together, Jimin having at least some knowledge of what Yoongi may need assistance in regarding working out makes him a good workout buddy for Yoongi, because he was there in the early days too.

That whole time, and the connecting instances feel so important in regards to their relationship, whether you see it at romantic or platonic, I just don't understand the people who say that Yoongi and Jimin aren't that close, or wave them off as nothing special when we have moments like these that I just don't believe can mean anything less than an extremely important and close relationship.

If nothing else, I'm just very happy these two have each other in their lives.

Hi anon! I’ve talked a little bit about surgery era. You can see the posts with that tag here. You also might find this post interesting since it relates to yoonmin and health issues. (I’m still trying to figure out what to put in my pinned post so that it’s actually helpful. 😅)

You’ve brought up a lot of great points here! I agree that all of the members missed Yoongi, but Jimin definitely seemed the most vocal. And I think it’s important to note that Yoongi was very vocal in return about Jimin’s support. That shows us it wasn’t simply an issue of Jimin being sad or emotional in general because we see the connection through Yoongi’s words too, not just Jimin’s. Which means that while Jimin seemed particularly affected by Yoongi’s absence, Yoongi also seemed to focus specifically on Jimin’s support.

Your point about working out together is excellent! I hadn’t thought of those two issues being connected, but they certainly could be! I think the first time they discussed it was festa 2021, which would have been post-surgery, so the timing makes sense.

Another thing noteworthy about surgery era was that Jimin seems to have been put in charge of “Yoongi updates and phone calls.” That role could have gone to Joon as leader, but instead it was Jimin who called him during the award show, during the BE-era group live, etc. Jimin served as our source for updates, besides those from Yoongi himself. Like so many yoonmin moments, we can’t say that’s proof of romantic feelings, but it certainly sets Jimin apart as being uniquely familiar with how Yoongi was doing.

I agree that whatever they are—romantic or platonic—their bond is very special. It’s too bad that some people don’t see it, but I think certain parts of the fandom avoid information that doesn’t correspond to what they already believe. I could go on, but this is probably a topic for another post! Anyway, there’s really no way to deny these two are close. The evidence is scattered everywhere across 10+ years!

Thanks for the ask and happy new year!

[8cfc00]

I think that- oh sorry HI 👋 I hope you don't mind the ask haha I didn't feel like rambling in tags- I've also noticed the downtrend in dndads posting, and while it *could* be some mini migration of people to other fandoms, I'm not so sure that that's the case? Not that people aren't getting into new things (I myself have been, for that matter,) but... How to put it. I feel like the show itself, despite approaching the finale, has kind of been at a quiet point where there simply isn't too much to talk about rn? Like I think the noise will pick back up in the fandom when it picks back up in the show if that makes sense?? Also just a busy time of year for a lot of people I think tbh! And since the fandom is so small to begin with (as you know), it's more noticeable when a bunch of people are preoccupied!

That's what I'm feeling anyways! But yeah I've been thinking about it too, and I empathize with the whole "feeling sad when people leave fandoms" thing, so I felt inclined to share my two cents in case it's any consolation haha. Regarding what you said about whether or not the show is "bad"- yeah, I agree! There's some places it really shines and some places that just aren't its forte, but me personally as long as I'm having fun I'm staying put right here! 😤❤️

!! HELLO!!! and yeah you bring up some good points... like there really isnt too much going on in the story character/emotion wise that people can latch on to (in contrast to the more angst ass eps that seem to be a bigger hit among fandom types) PLUS with only one jan ep the pace at which dndads has been releasing is. a bit slow (ep 50 was basically just 49 part 2 too so...)

as for the parts the show is good at vs the parts it isnt. i think it also comes down to the individuals/groups judging it, and the differences in their expectations... like with s2 ep31 the cast was talking about how the ep sucked in the teen talk, but on tumblr the tag had trended with SO much art... there have also been times when i had really enjoyed an episode only to find not much talk about it. so its really different for different people i guess

i try to not feel TOO dejected about stuff i have no control over (especially online stuff) but yknow life has been stressful and ig some of that stress had carried over to my posting. i didn't mean to start discussion about how good the podcast is (i've seen enough of that on reddit LOL) i dont wanna harsh the vibes, esp cuz i know i dont feel very good when i see critical posts about a show i DO enjoy a lot! (i am similarly " having fun")

THANKS FOR RESPONDING THO it was kinda nice to see im not the only one seeing and thinking about things! yaaaaaa

[damnfandomproblems]

759664228852432896

I appreciate this comment chain because I was there myself once. I do want to play devil's advocate and mention that even if everyone in fandom stops poo-pooing on reader inserts, there will still be tons of character bashing and other things. Oftentimes, that kind of stuff is the first thing you see when you open a general fandom tag. There's got to be some point where someone goes "this isn't good for me" and stops looking at that kind of stuff, especially if they're fragile (I'm sure there's a better word but I have AM-without-coffee brain) enough that reading some comments they should know are general, and not specific to every writer, will put them off from making new content. I guess the question is where do we draw the line? People saying certain ships suck can also discourage people from making fics and art of them, whether they're new to a fandom or not, but even though saying "this ship in particular sucks" is frowned upon, people know to block and move on and curate their space.

Posting as a response to a previous ask.

[inknopewetrust]

Trigger Warning for DV and toxic relationships. With regards to your post just now about abusive relationships in smut. There is no nice way to say this so I'm just going to come out and say it. I'm what I guess we call an elder in fandom spaces. Been on tumblr since it's conception and was on other sites for 10 years before that. I have noticed a trend the last few years of the phenomenon you're talking about but I have also noticed a pattern in that so much of it is written by young people. I'm talking just shy of being a minor at 18 to around 22-23. Also I have found that (and there is nothing wrong with this at all!) that about 50% of the time it's written by someone openly stating that they're a virgin. While I have seen some amazing, healthy and physically accurate smut from people in those age ranges and inexperienced sexually, I think that the social media, porn and the internet as a whole has made it so easy for people that don't have lived experiences to write and share fiction that they don't actually realize is an issue because they have accidentally romanticized these kinds of relationships and this kind of sex. Without a knowledge base that comes from hands on learning IRL it's easy for people to develop an idea of what this kind of thing looks and feels like and put a rose tinted lens on it like "he's rough because he loves me so much, he just can't help himself and that's hot AF" sort of thing and because they're constantly surrounded by it in corn and especially in other smut fics that it becomes normal. Which I think is why we are seeing it more and more the last 10 years because before tumblr, you had to go searching for that kind of content (also just fanfic in general) and you had to wade through all the appropriate tags for that kind of thing (toxic relationships, DV etc). The people that were writing it knew it was that and were forced to tag it so that it got posted. Now it's kind of normal to just post your fics on your timeline regardless of your age and knowledge base. Which means things either aren't tagged appropriately because tumblr doesn't make you do it or the people writing it don't even realize it should be tagged as that because they've read so many fics along the same vein on their timeline that they think it's just normal. I'm not really sure where I am going with this. But the gist of my message is 1. Agreeance and support of what you said 2. My theory on why we are seeing it more and more and 3. My old person fears that social media is corrupting the youth in such subtle ways like this that they will allow themselves to be hurt IRL by thinking it is normal. 😭

This a an absolute perfect way of putting it anon! I see a lot of people scoff at the idea of warnings (which are across the board used on tumblr) in books and media which is crazy to me.

There is certainly a romanticization of abuse and whether or not an action qualifies as it. And I think some writers immediately think “oh! Reader or character enjoys it so it’s 100% ok” but it’s not written like that… I guess what I’m trying to say is the writing isn’t truly intentional. When I write smut, I am so intentional in making it heartwarming and sexy and romantic and if there are elements after that are scornful or filled with disappointment or anger, I let it build the best way I can.

Thank you for your insight and anon, I agree with you too!! Thanks! 🤗♥️