#since i think this is pre-beta editor

[dduane]

Ms. Duane:

I was wondering if you'd take the time to answer a question or two I had about your time writing for the Star Trek novel franchise.

I have often heard the novels referred to as Beta canon, though I think that's a fan term. I was wondering how much continuity they tried to get you all to maintain? Was there a series bible for the novelists? If so, did it mention that they all speak Esperanto in the Beta canon? Or is that something someone came up with and put in a novel?

Thanks, and best wishes!

Hi there!

Re "beta Canon": It's not a term I'd have heard before. My understanding has always been that Star Trek novels are straightforwardly noncanonical... which is fine.

Re continuity: In the 80s and early 90s, when I was doing my first Trek novels, the attitude was quite relaxed. If you'd pitched a story involving a certain episode or situation, your editor might say to you, "You know, we've got a book in the schedule where [A. Nother Writer] is dealing with that. So could you read that book and (if necessary) refer to that situation, or at least not contradict it?" And you would of course say "Sure, no problem", because that was (at the very least) courtesy to a colleague. (Not to mention a similar courtesy to your editor, who was kind enough to give you a heads-up and not let you just go off and write something that would have to be corrected "in notes" at the editing stage. Also, the fact that a book with that content was in the works meant that Paramount had already approved it... so it behooved you to take that into account.)

As for bibles: There were, at that time, no bibles. Whichever series you were working in was your bible. ...Your mission was not to directly contravene already-established canon without good reason, and (in the course of your plotting) to make sure you'd put things back the way you found them. Since I'd been doing this kind of thing for years while writing animation, I knew exactly how to do it, and it was never a problem. ...In later books, specifically the Rihannsu arc, Paramount essentially set aside that whole scenario as an established noncanonical AU of sorts, ringfencing it as a separate continuity of its own, so that restoring any exterior status quo wasn't a problem. It was a charming gesture and a tremendous sign of their trust in me (as well as an unspoken confirmation that the books were selling well. Which is always nice.) :)

Re the Esperanto thing: as far as I can tell, it's a pre-Universal Translator concept that goes back to one of the old Gold Key comics. (Cf. here and here.) It never came up as an issue at the novel end—for me, anyway—as our responsibility re: continuity was primarily to concepts established in the TV series.

...Thanks for the queries: HTH!

[mitchiegonewild]

bitchie mitchies aot cinematic universe pt. 2

since you guys seemed to like the other ones, i have PLENTY more in my notes app:

connies a gumball (awog) kinnie 

historia binged all of stranger things in 3 days and she hates the show

ymir listens to lil peep 😟

eren INSISTED on going as rainbow dash for halloween for ages 5-9

armin can TWERK OMG

mikasa makes her own soaps and their names are always something like “deaththroat orgasm” or “beta male sweat and tears”

armin has a shrimp allergy and everyone found out when they went to the beach and he ate shrimp scampi and almost fucking died in a pineapple willy’s 

on the same trip, levi and erwin fucked in a margaritaville bathroom while wasted on said margaritas

hitch gaslit everyone into thinking she went to their school only for annie to tell them “oh she doesn’t she just likes to mess with peoples heads”

armins their discord mod

jean posts marco to ALL of those couple-y tiktok audios 

gabi got in trouble for being a habitual grass eater in pre k

falco provided more grass when she was in time out. he is not an innocent man

zeke and levi brutally fist fought outside of a chili’s while eren, mikasa, armin, historia, and erwin stood to the side and watched

bertholdt had a “soft uwu boy” era in quarantine

reiner videos annie eating and then puts sad music over it

connie is unaware pirating movies and music is illegal and has been doing both since he was seven

one of those mall interviewers came up to sasha and mikasa and sasha bit his mic

armins name in erens phone is “malewife🥰💗”. jurys still out on whether or not its ironic

bertholdt was on witchtok for a month and they’re not even wiccan

ymir kills wasps with her bare hands 

hangë has access to levi’s twitter account but levi’s never on twitter so he doesn’t know. hangë posts truly the most heinous shit on there

moblit gets hangë a box of organ-shaped chocolates every year for valentine’s day

onyankopon had a hamilton phase

& bertholdt had a be more chill phase 🗿

erwin proposed to levi three times before levi accepted to “make sure he wanted to be married”

armin did a magic routine for the eighth grade talent show and killed that shit. they won 1st place

connie & ymir have neck yourself battles. ymir is currently winning

ymir also has the humor of a 12 boy addicted to fidget spinner 

annie is a manager at mcdonald’s and loudly proclaims her hatred for it

erwin carries a glock everywhere he goes. bro is strapped up fr

the first time bertholdt had a panic attack in front of reiner, reiner freaked out and gave his beats to them and played dubstep to try and get him to concentrate on something else

jean only says “balls” like cartman does (bawlz)

bertholdt does not know what MILF stands for

hitch has a monster can wall

sasha does this thing where if anyone yawns she shoves her fingers in their mouth and yells “CHICKEN FINGER”

erwin has a tiktok account to monitor what his kids post & he comments on them

levi calls mikasa brat number 1, historia brat number 2, and armin brat number 3

levi calls eren, sasha, & ymir his “forth, fifth, & sixth brat”

reiner has memorized all of the wenomechainasama spellings

bertholdt is a clairo enthusiast 

annie CANNOT STAND the smell of pork

zeke has a podcast

pieck is his editor and trolls the shit out of him with it

mikasa knows how to vogue & death drop

reiner does that thing where he plays tiktok audios and pretends he’s in an edit

mikasa is the biggest fucking internet troll but is supremely undercover about it

the only person who knows is jean because he’s her favorite victim but nobody believes him when he tells them

another one of sasha’s tiktoks blew up & it was a “baby got back” dance that she did with armin and connie and all of the comments were like “THE TWINK CARRIED THIS” or “GO CAILLOU GO”

zeke accidentally married a stripper in vegas one time. she was super chill about the divorce and they keep in touch

pieck collects shiny things

niccolo beat connie with a remote control because every time mario said “it’s-a me, mario!” connie would whisper “it’s-a me, niccolo!”

[maggot-monger]

what do you think lucifer was like pre fall

oh yes what a treat of a topic. the short answer is "popular & pretty & smart & knows it" but i'll say more lol

for me, one of the biggest things about pre-fall lucifer is that he was The Favorite. the most beautiful, the brightest, the one with the most promise, the best.

what does an excellent angel look like? well, most of what makes them great was probably their relationship to god, and to holiness as an abstract concept. godliness = goodness, for them, especially at the time, so how much they loved, revered, acted in accordance with, and even resembled god would matter a lot. so if lucifer was the best, then he would have been the one who loved god the most, who praised him most, who did things god approved most, and was most similar to him. there are a bunch of qualities that could also be tied up in similarity to god in the "god is gone" era of spn which is what i'm working with, but those are pretty vague and speculative so i'll mostly leave that alone. probably there's at least stuff like "powerful" and "righteous" in there. but!

the god-like quality i'm most interested in is the one i think it is the most solidly informative about lucifer's pre-fall character, which is "omniscient." has lucifer ever been omniscient? no. does he probably understand an incomprehensible-to-us amount? almost certainly yes. fate is fact for spn angels when we first meet them. it also seems to be based on cause-and-effect to at least some degree: the angels know more about what is happening and than humans do, so they know what things have to happen to make the "correct" outcomes become reality. fate seems to work kind of like the plot of a story: if it's a well-written story and you're picking up the clues the author is putting down, you can probably predict how things will turn out (and, if you know the ending already, you can see how each element along the way leads satisfyingly to that end).

god set up the pieces and wrote the story and ostensibly knows how it will turn out, so an entity that is like him should be a very good reader of the story — potentially good enough to be an editor who can help the story take place the way the author intended it to (angels, i think, are both characters in the story and editors, since so much of their job is to make sure fate turns out the way it supposed to with an awareness of where the plot is headed, unlike humans who do not have the same-meta knowledge or responsibility to the story).

so, i think lucifer was very smart in this way: very good at "reading" god's story, very curious about it, invested in and skilled at getting a lot out of it, and clever with understanding how to make things turn out the way they were supposed to. the lucifer of spn s5 demonstrates this with his commitment to rigidly following the steps set out for him to make sure fate plays out how it is supposed to, his ability to either predict or create the future by accurately claiming sam will say yes to him in detroit, his meta-awareness of his role in the story (e.g. "god wanted the devil") — that kind of thing.

the fact that lucifer is literally the light bringer is related to this but also is important because light helps others see. part of this makes him a good beta reader for god, so to speak, but it also potentially relates to his role with other angels as well. archangels are leaders of the angelic ranks, powerful in their own right but also tools to help the rest of the angels stayed on track. god spoke directly only to the four archangels, so all of them had access to more direct knowledge about the story's plot/themes/characters/motifs/etc than the rest of the angels did. it was up to them convey their knowledge faithfully and in ways that would be digestible and actionable to the other angels. so i think lucifer was not only very good at understanding god's plan, but also very good at communicating it. this plays into his insistence that he is honest: if a large part of his goodness was about passing information along so that jobs could get done well, being faithful to the source would be a big deal to him

(importantly "passing information along so the end result is faithful to the intention" is not the same as "being 100% concretely accurate to the original instructions"...lucifer tells the truths that he deems important to make sure the outcome is what it needs to be, but that truth is not always the complete truth. this would have been an asset pre-fall when his ideas were still in accordance with god's, as it might have helped him simplify things for broader understanding and action, but it makes him seem manipulative, conniving, self-serving, and creepy sometimes post-fall).

because of his ability to help other angels, heaven's/the pre-fall era angels' metric of impressiveness being identical to goodness, and the lack of possible goals other than "be as good as possible" for angels at that time, there would not necessarily be much reason for other angels to resent lucifer his status and confidence, so i doubt any of them did. they didn't have much awareness that it was possible for them to think for themselves back then or any reason to doubt, so if the general awareness is that lucifer is the best and helps them be better, then, well, great! good angel to admire, respect, and appreciate! so when i say lucifer was cool or popular or whatever, i don't mean that in a mean girls "she's a status symbol but she's a dick and we're all scared of her" way, i mean that i think pre-fall lucifer was legitimately popular in the sense of being both impressive and well-liked.

benevolence isn't the same as humility though lol and i don't think lucifer was ever humble. given how absolute opinions in heaven often are, there wouldn't have been a lot of room for lucifer to doubt his own excellence, pre-fall — which is not to say anything about lucifer being arrogant, necessarily; according to the standards he was being measured with, he probably was genuinely exceptional, so "confident" is a word i'd prefer over "arrogant," at least at first. but yeah, this is an angel who is really good at delivering a clear, rousing, actionable speech, not necessarily somebody you want helping you with your homework or comforting you when you're upset. charismatic, passionate, personable, and potentially sympathetic, but his place is high up and he acts accordingly. which, again, was fine at the time; he behaved appropriately for what he was and the job he was created to do. but still, if you wanted an archangel who would heal your hurts, you'd want raphael; if you wanted an archangel who would be approachable and friendly, you'd want gabriel — not lucifer.

(all of these characteristics lead into the kind of entity that would fall the way lucifer did, imo. he loved and admired god intensely, so he was distressed at the command to put humanity above him. he was impressive and had kind of an ego about it, so he was suspicious when directed to be subservient to them. he was motivated to understand the reasons behind the directions he was given, so he was curious about humanity and may have wanted to test them. he was committed to sharing information, so the test he came up with involved giving humanity knowledge they weren't supposed to have. he was charismatic and likable, so he was effective at making them give into temptation. and he had never had any reason to doubt his own judgment, his own abilities to understand things, so he felt confident in his opinion that the "humans above all" direction of god's plot was a mistake.)

...so yeah. popular, pretty, and smart, and knew it ':D

[sweetfrisk75]

Minecraft Survival Mode Preview

Here's a glimpse of Minecraft's Survival Mode that paid players will be able to test in a week's time (September 1st). Since our first blog post about the game it has seen a lot happen. For instance, there was a swimming cave pigs. Yes, they are swimming cave pigs. They have a hankering for flesh, but only when it's hot Pocket.

You can read more about the release here.

- jwill Great! I'm eagerly awaiting the game to start. But, is this a game? I think this is a toy.

- Quetz Oh boy oh boy oh boy.

It's amazing how this game is getting better and better each day. It's beautiful .

- sqrl YES

Behemoth Holy crap. This has made me realize how tiny my place on the earth is. It proves that Notch is a GOD. Minecraft He created Minecraft and on the seventh day apparently will rest somewhere in Indonesia?

- wiivn Yeah better, but I don't like the idea of bricks that are slower to destroy and the limitations on construction and healthbar... It's starting to appear like a standard MMO game.

- MasterShake What Survival Mode can it be? It isn't even Wiivn's Healthbar.

-- Scott Wiivn is pretty deranged

- wiivn Scott not as retarded as your mother.

- http://0xdeadc0de.org Eclipse calm down kids...

would be better to have a build mode , as well as an option for survival where you can dig only small amounts of stuff and you have to go through dungeons created by others and the game appears to be an editor with a game in the middle, or a game that runs in the fancy "debug mode "... it doesn't look nor a game nor is it a world builder

- ngajoe Man...I was ecstatic. I thought of Stranded 2 when it said "survival mode". That was a fantastic survival mode!

-- Nicholas Lee I don't know whether it's me or not but I don't "get" this game.

-- Eagle Guys, Notch is still leaving the sandbox mode. If you look at his website, you'll find that he's currently in survival mode as well as zombie Siege mode and other modes. Sandbox mode will be maintained. The game is in beta right now, only a few months old. It's not yet a game, but it's an toy. Notch is still working on the game's numerous modes. :P

- Malasdair I believe that Minecraft will be amazing in about a year. Is he using a pay-now-to-help-me-develop format?

Citricsquid @malasdair is basically. Pre-ordering has allowed him the possibility of switching to Minecraft 60% of time. The remaining 40 percent is for his IRL "outside his home" job. He'd get sloppy working alone 100% of time which is why we're paying him to work on it more.

- Gutter @ Nicholas Lee: It's not an actual game, but I don't think that it is. We're not crazy.

- FISH I wish the art was less blurred and blurred.

It would be fantastic with a sleeker style like the megaman legends.

Does the game support custom textures? That would be fantastic. I'd like to make one.

- Tim L. I have a patent for the words 'Mine' "Craft" and "Scott's Mother', so you're all getting accused of it.

I've never been a big fan of the super pixelated art style fad in games that are indie. If it's not serving a legitimate reason in the game then all it's doing is exhausting the eyes.

Okay, you don't appear like a popular game, I understand that; but now, you appear to be like every other poorly rendered indie game.

Sinoth I find the pixelized textures very delicious.

Sinoth. It's a good thing that Pixels are available!

- Schwerpunk I did not really think about the graphical style. It just seems to work.

And Notch has said he will release a DRM-free download version, so I imagine you could switch the texture files that are included in that.

I refer to the game itself as it is a good example of how important it is for players to do what they want is to Notch.

Anon Announces the Dungeons and Levers Expansion Pack

+ Dungeon Mode. Like Survival, you canaEUR(tm)t destroy walls or create items. + Programmable Tiles. Pressure plates, levers, doors. + More mobs. + More usable items. (Potions? Teleporter stones? Keys?) + File format that is official for public use + Play on either player generated levels or randomly generated levels 100% free for all who have purchased the game!

- contra Looks great. While I didn't have the time to create something in the beta sandbox but it was fascinating to see. I also hope that the music from this video is included in the game. It fits perfectly and I'm tired of chiptunes.

" Sparky I am convinced that there are a million amazing ideas that need to be investigated every time I play this game.

(P.S.- I'm a bit with Fish on the deliberately low resolution textures, but that's completely a personal choice.)

This build looks a lot more polished than the previous one I played. Keep up the good work!

FISH, what I'm saying is that the textures should be the same resolution, but just be cleaned up, and use less colors.

Low-resolution is fantastic, but it's not all about the resolution. Every pixel is crucial. every pixel has weight. They don't have weight right now.

-- Sparky Yeah, I get where you're coming from regarding the textures and I'm with you. Sorry if my words were not precise. Megaman Legends is an excellent example of a game which uses low resolution and low texture depth, but isn’t intentionally imprecise or cluttered. It has a lot of clear solid color regions and nice hand-pixelled details.

[mdhwrites]

“I Could Have Written This Better” And Why I Don’t Say That

It would be exceptionally reasonable for someone to expect me to say that ALL THE TIME. I mean, I am A: A white dude yelling on the internet, B: highly analytical and prone to hyperbole when I speak, C: an independently published author who has every reason to try to convince you that I am better than writers you already like because you have more reason to read my books then and D: a weird outlier amongst content creators in that I genuinely think I am good at my craft. I could always get better but I believe works are good and worth what I charge for them. BUT... No. I hate the phrase “I could written this better” and have only invoked it twice. Why? Because here’s the thing: It’s way easier to look at something and see its flaws than to see them when you have to create it from scratch. That’s why people have teams, prereaders, beta testers, etc. like that because what sounds reasonable and good to you may be utter horseshit, especially since you as the creator have the grand arc in mind and so may miss the minutia that is important in a specific chapter or episode. Content creation is a nightmare and it’s why I wish I didn’t struggle so much to even find pre-readers for my content, let alone sensitivity readers or editors. It’s... *sigh* I don’t want to lament about my craft though. Instead, I want to actually talk about why I’ve ever been willing to invoke this phrase if I’m willing to be kind to the fact that the creators will stumble and trip at times. Because there are moments where someone may be able to claim this. Moments where it’s fair. And that’s mostly when the concept is botched from go. When the writer shows literally no understanding of the potential that they have in front of them. A failure to understand the basic premise and what needs to be done in an episode that someone may have a better grip on it. It’d be like if someone fucked “A Christmas Carol” by making greed and isolation seem good. That is inherently not what the structure is good and you fucked up SOMEWHERE in the creation process if that’s what you have in the end. That is when someone could reasonably say they could write it better. So what are my two? I won’t go in deep but the first was back in my My Little Pony days. There was an episode that had the structure of the stages of grief because someone’s pet turtle was going to hibernate for Winter. A clever way to talk about death... In which they spend 80+% of the episode in anger and denial. The two stages that are the most infuriating and tedious from an audience perspective. They almost don’t touch on depression and have a very brief acceptance phase. So in other words, the character does some real heinous shit, doesn’t do the introspection needed to pull sympathy back to them, or to really explore their pain in a meaninful way, and the audience is robbed of the catharsis they should get out of the acceptance phase. If you just shift a bit of that time where we’re just waiting for the character to get over themselves already and to the really juicy stuff, you have a GREAT episode. Instead, most people hated it and for good reason because the writer didn’t understand what makes that sort of episode worth it for an audience. The other, unsurprisingly, is The Owl House. But it’s a beloved episode. I think Reaching Out is a trashfire though and the minutia is awful but the grand concept... Character A has a father who ignores her and discounts her potential and worth. This drives her to do something rash and dangerous when normally she is the one to pull others back and be reasonable. She is pushed to act out of character in a way that may get her in trouble or in mortal peril but for incredibly easy to follow reasons. Character B is being reminded of the death of their father and the potential of never seeing their mother again. They are normally the more brash and daring character and Character A normally has to pull them back or watch out for what could get them hurt. She is now given reasonable motivation to act out of character in a way that’s overly cautious and scared. And... None of this happens. Character A  still has to be convinced to do anything that would actually get their fathers attention by Character B. Character B shows a SHOCKING disregard for character A’s well being (they’re dating mind you) and complete disconcern for any amount of danger anyone may be in and it just wastes a setup that is a fucking gold mine. A new relationship being tested by sides of the other they’ve never seen before? Contrasting but complementary problems with their father figures? Conflict that causes both out of their comfort zone until they finally have to actually talk about their feelings? Nah. Why would we want any of that when we can retread ground literally walked less than a handful of episodes ago, in the same half a season, and not have any real character growth or development out of it? That would just be silly, wouldn’t it? Sorry. Reaching Out is so bad imo that it makes me want to break my normal rule against simply doing episode reviews. But yeah, that is how much it takes for me to say that I could have done something better. Otherwise, how the hell would I know? It’s not like any episode I praise I would have done just as well on so why couldn’t I do worse? It’s just an act of hubris, that so requires, if you say it sincerely, confidence in your abilities, that I just don’t believe when I hear it come out of someone’s mouth. I just can’t.

[beyerskriver]

Minecraft Survival Mode Preview

Here's a glimpse of Minecraft's Survival Mode, which paid customers will be able to play in a week's time (September 1st). Since the first time we wrote about the game it has seen a lot happen. For instance, there was a swimming cave pigs. Swimming cave pigs! They have a hankering for flesh but only if it comes in hot Pocket.

You can learn more about the release here.

Jwill is a great player! I'm excited for this game to begin. But is this a game? This is an toy.

- Quetz Oh boy oh boy oh boy.

It's amazing how this game keeps getting better every day. It's gorgeous :3

- sqrl YES

- Behemoth Holy crap. This just reminded me of how small I am on this planet as this is proof that Notch is a god. He created Minecraft and will rest in what on the seventh day. Indonesia?

Wiivn is a better choice I'm not a fan of the idea of bricks that are slower to destroy and restrictions on construction and health bars... It's beginning to look like a standard game in the mmo genre.

MasterShake - MasterShake How could it be a Survival Mode when it doesn't have a healthbar Wiivn?

-- Scott wiivn is pretty sluggish

I'm sure Scott not as sluggish as your mother.

- http://0xdeadc0de.org Eclipse calm down kids...

It is better to include a build mode as well as a survival mode where you only have the ability to dig a some things and you are required to crawl in dungeons made by other people so that the game appears to be an editor with an arcade game in the middle or one that runs in a fancy "debug mode "... it doesn't look nor a game or a world builder

" ngajoe Man...I was ecstatic. When it mentioned "survival mode," I was thinking in the vein of Stranded 2. Now that was a great survival mode!

-- Nicholas Lee I guess it's my fault I'm still unable to "get" this game.

Eagle Guys, Notch is still in Sandbox mode. If you look at his website, you will see that he is in survival mode and zombie Siege mode and others. and is keeping the sandbox game mode. The game is in beta in the moment, just three months old. It's not yet a game but it's a toy. Notch is still working on the game's various modes. :P

- Malasdair I believe that Minecraft will be amazing in about a year. Is he using a pay-now-to-help-me-develop format?

Citricsquid @malasdair is basically. Pre-ordering has given him the possibility of switching to Minecraft 60% of time. The remaining 40% is for his IRL "outside his home" job. He'd go crazy working on his own all the time which is why we're paying him to dev it more.

Gutter Nicholas Lee : Me neither however, it's not an actual game... at least not yet. We're not crazy, so we're not.

FISH I wish the art wasnt so muddy and heavily pixelated.

it would be wonderful that it had a cleaner design, like the megaman legends.

Can the game be able to allow custom texture sets? That would be awesome. I'd like to make one.

- Tim L. tlauncher I have a patent for the words 'Mine' "Craft" and "Scott's Mother', which means that you're all going to be sued.

- Nobody I have never enjoyed the super-pixelated art style in games that are indie. If it doesn't have a purpose in the game then it's just a way to make your eyes tired.

OK, you don't look like a popular game, I get it but you now appear like every other poorly rendered indie game out there.

Sinoth I find the pixelized textures very delicious.

Sinoth. Hurrah for teh Pixels!

-- Schwerpunk I have never considered the graphic style. It just seems to be fitting.

Notch has also stated that He will release an DRM free downloadable version. I'm guessing that you could simply swap out the texture files.

I refer to the game itself as it is a good example of how important for players to be able to do what they want to do is to Notch.

- anon Introducing the Dungeons and Levers Expansion Pack

+ Dungeon Mode. Like Survival, except you canaEUR(tm)t destroy walls or make items. + Programmable Tiles. Pressure plates, levers, doors. Plus more mobs. Plus, more useful items. (Potions? Teleporter stones? Keys?) + Official public level file format + Play on either randomly generated levels + 100% free for anyone who has purchased the game!

- contra Looks great. Although I didn't have the time to get into creating things in the beta sandbox it's still interesting to take a look. I also hope that the music from this video is included in the game. It fits perfectly and I'm getting tired of chiptunes.

- Sparky Every time I see this game, it convinces me that there are a million incredible ideas that are yet to be explored.

(P.S. - I agree with Fish about the deliberately low resolution textures. However, that's purely subjective.

This build is much more polished than the previous one I played. Keep up the great work!

FISH What I mean is that textures should be kept at the same resolution but cleaned up and used less colors.

Low-resolution is great, but it's not all about the resolution. Every pixel is important. Every pixel counts. They don't have weight at the moment.

- Sparky Yeah, I get the point you're making regarding the textures, and I'm with you. Sorry for not being precise. Megaman Legends is a good example of a game that employs low resolution low color depth textures, but isn't intentionally imprecise or sloppy appearance. It features a lot of clear solid color regions and some nice hand-pixelled details.

[thewriting-corner]

WIP(s) Updates

Hi there! As many of you know, IM PUBLISHING A BOOK!!!! It’s called The Sun Leads Back To You and it comes out early next year. Now, since I have been pretty much been talking about querying and traditional publishing my sci-fi novel The Wrath of Chaos for pretty much my entire time on writer-gram. So, today I will be sharing some updates on both in case anyone cares lol

How far along am I on TSLBTY?

As of today, writing this post, I am 25k into the first draft with 9 chapters remaining. I would love to finish in the next five days while I quarantine but I know myself well enough that it won’t happen lol SO, I’m aiming to finish the first draft in the next two weeks.

What is the timeline for TSLBTY?

My hopeful plan is to publish within the first two months of 2023! If all goes well in the next few weeks, I’ll be living in Germany by then so the publication date will really depend on how quickly I can get proofs and ARCs delivered. Aside from that, I hope to send out ARCs (Advanced Reader Copies) around November/December of this year.

What is happening with The Wrath of Chaos?

What happened with this WIP was a terrible case of lack of motivation. After much research and many edits, I came to the conclusion that there wouldn’t be much of an audience for a YA superhero book. The market right now is mostly focused on enemies to lovers fantasy and romantic comedies, while sci-fi has kinda taken a backseat. And my last round of beta readers (and please, none of you take offense to this) really gave me the impression that none of them were really into the story nor did they like it. I don’t know if this is true, but I felt that if I couldn’t even have betas actually enjoy the book, maybe it wasn’t worth it. Plus, I feel that being a Christian writer won’t do me many favors while publishing traditionally (though my stories don’t really deal with religion aside from the ocasional character here and there).

However, I came to the conclusion that the people who don’t like me can suck it, and after two months of working at a call center I think i can confidently say that I am able to handle being yelled without crying. SO, I will continue writing for myself and the three people who still like superheroes and sci-fi.

I believe I mentioned this at some point, but I am only four chapters away from finishing the final draft. So my current plan is that when I take a break after finishing TSLBTY I will finish those last four chapters. I will then take a one week break and dive into the final edits (basically, polishing it as much as possible) before querying. I do not have very high hopes, because as I said, I don’t think there’s really a market for superhero sci-fi, but I have two main goals: two agents I really like and a small publisher I LOVE. If that doesn’t work out, then I will cry for about a week before focusing on TSLBTY and then starting my next book.

Would I self publish TWoC if trad doesn’t work out?

No, and for a very simple reason: money. For The Sun Leads Back To You, the biggest thing I’ll spend money is the cover and MAYBE commission art for promotional stuff and pre-order gifts. However, if I were to self publish The Wrath of Chaos just a (good) editor would cost me over $500. A cover would be at LEAST $150. I am soon to be a college student living abroad and while I do plan on getting a job, it will not be in my first semester or maybe even my first year. Self publishing The Wrath of Chaos would mean spending almost $1000 to sell a maximum ten copies. While I really did consider the possibility, the plan went down the drain when I realized how much it would cost.

Why did I decide to self publish?

I don’t know lol. I started to rewrite the story when I was going through one of my worst period of anxiety I’ve had in years. I started writing until I realized I was doing one chapter per day. Soon enough, it was a story I couldn’t get out of my head. I considered querying this one instead of TWoC, but the more I thought of it the less it made sense. IF, hypothetically, I got an agent, would they represent me when I changed to sci-fi later on? Or would I have to keep writing contemporary and give up on sci-fi? And would I be stuck on YA forever or would there be a possibility to upgrade or NA or even Adult later on? It wasn’t a matter of control like it is for most who choose indie. I looked at what I wanted my career to look like, and my goals for sci-fi align much more with traditional publishing, whereas for contemporary it’s literally just about getting my story out there. Not to mention, I have this challenge with myself of wanting to publish before turning 20. With my birthday in June, even if TWoC or TSLBTY did really well, I wouldn’t get to see them on shelves until I’m 21/22. Now, I will get to hold my book at 19 :)

When will more information be released?

Weellll, today I got and paid for the cover! I hope to have the final draft done by late September/early October. As soon as I do, I will be doing a cover reveal! It’s likely I’ll be kinda quiet until then, but I fully plan on doing teasers (quotes, reels, character introductions) and might start commissioning art around September, depending on how moving goes. Though if anyone wants to donate money to the cause or let me know of (legal) ways to make money please let me know lol.

And if you have any more questions or have any ideas of what you’d like as pre-order gifts please let me know!!!

[the-starryknight]

Happy @hd-wireless 2022! To celebrate, I'm sharing a little "extra" from my Wireless 2021 fic, Two Zinnias and the Scent of Lemon.

One draft of the fic included what I called the "ephemera," little bits of transient things that Harry and Draco might have seen (or lost) while on the run, like newspaper articles, a wanted poster, ads, a coffee-stained napkin, a page of their flower code book, a museum label, a Ministry form, a Minister's speech, so on, one in-between each chapter. Though these were so much fun to compose, I cut them from the fic in final edits as I (and my incredible betas) found them distracting from the actual story. I think it was the right call, but I've still wanted to find a way to share them. Text from the image above is below the cut.

Plus, check out the gorgeous art & headers inspired by the fic, by Mari, Blue, Liv & Boo!

I. Excerpt from: Daily Prophet. Saturday Evening Edition, July 8, 2006

“SAFER TOGETHER” BILL PASSES Yesterday, the Ministry signed a bill into law requiring all Creatures and Non-Magical wix (Squibs, Muggle-affiliated wix, etc.) to register officially and give up any magical items in their possession. “It is for the safety of all wizardkind,” Minister Rookwood declared. Sources close to the Minister say that this bill has been in the making for some time and that it passed with nearly full support from the Wizengamot. Though there were some gathered protestors outside of the Ministry Buildings, Aurors were dispatched and the disturbance was quickly removed. One supporter who gathered in anti-protest remarked to our reporters that “it’s been eight years since He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named walked our streets. This bill will keep us safe from anything like him ever coming back.”

II. Wanted Poster { DMLE, Ministry of Magic - Auror Subdivision }

Harry James Potter For crimes of treason, sedition, inciting rebellion, consorting with Muggles, resisting arrest ALERT LEVEL: 3 Warrant Issued: August 7, 2003 Warrant Number: 003847-XQ34 Notes: Suspect frequently uses disguises. Use anti-glamour and polyjuice dissolving when interrogating. Suspect should be considered dangerous even when disarmed. Known accomplices: Draco L. Malfoy, Shayla Khan, Jill Martin-Riesling, Luna Lovegood

III. Excerpt from The Floating Hippogriff (A Radical Alternative Zine) March 2002 edition - creative entries section

On Bicycles and Daydreaming of Tomorrows The other day I was on my bike and I was thinking about the sun. I was riding from the north part of Cambridge and I was avoiding the cars and the smog and the Floos and it was beautiful outside. I stopped my bike down by the park. You’ll know the one. It’s got the big pond and every Saturday there’s a group of people there with bikes and books and potluck food and we take care of each other. I put down my kick stand (the rusted one that I learned to take off and clean properly last Spring at the Bike Share) and I just had to pause for a minute and remember to be grateful. Maybe you could park your bike right here next to mine. We’ll sit in the shade of the tree and remember that the sun keeps rising. When we’re done sitting back, toes on the ground and bikes waiting, then we’ll go down to the food pantry on Cliff St and we’ll help make the soup. And then we’ll be the sun. -- Noam Vane (co-editor of The Floating Hippogriff)

IV. Wand Advertisement: Pfieffer’s Wands - Ministry Approved and Pre-Registered - 50% off TODAY ONLY!*

Confused at all the new wand regulations? Tired of wading through the registration paperwork? Pfieffer’s is here to help! Pick up your Ministry-approved wand in Diagon Alley today and we’ll take care of all of the paperwork. Plus, your wand is pre-equipped to avoid any unlawful magic! ~*~ A Pfieffer’s wand will help keep us all safe. ~*~ * Pfieffer’s maintains the right to deny sale of wands to non-magical wix, creatures, and Muggle affiliates.

V. Museum Label: Varrick Brunhegelian Netherlandish, Wizarding (c. 1500-1643)

The Village in the Winter, 1550 Oil on panel

In a style typical of his work, Brunhegelian presents a dense allegory of human sharing: witches, wizards, and non-magical people alike work and play in the city center. A close look at some of the townspeople in the city center shows small vignettes: one woman stops to offer bread to a non-magical neighbor, another group of young men cast street-cleaning charms to remove leaves from the path, and far in the back, a Muggle priest delivers a sermon to gathered listeners. Brunhegelian uses a bright colour palette with saturated red and white shades that evoke a sense of harmony even amid the chaotic and busy scene. The sense of winter’s looming and dangerous approach is evident from the heavy clouds in the background, which none of the figures in the foreground seem to notice. Museum Purchase, Coalition of Muggle-Magical Development Fund, 1854. 1854.32.5

VI. Excerpt from The Quibbler - November 7, 2006

CAN THE WIZARDING WORLD GET MORE INSULAR? MINISTER SAYS YES. Though we will not reprint the entirety of the Minister's speech (as it is a load of utter drivel), the Quibbler’s editors (namely L.L.) believed it prudent to transcribe one small portion of it as we hope this will not be lost to future history. We wish this were satire. Sadly, it is from the Minister’s mouth to our inky pages… “Today, we made a bold choice, and we invite your support as we move forward. We have elected to prioritize Wizard-kind above all else. We have elected to uphold the sanctity of our people. Over the next two years, we will move forward with the Magical Makers Initiative, empowering our small businesses to prosper and support each other. With a new allocation of 1.2 million galleons, we will endow new businesses in Diagon Alley and expand Horizont Alley to accommodate as we close out the Muggle invaders. Preventing our wizarding communities from shopping in Muggle stores will help us all. This division is for our safekeeping and the safeguarding of our futures. Think of the children! Our children will grow up surrounded by wizards, safe and secure and away from Muggles and all the dangers they pose. In turn, our businesses will prosper. Our communities will provide any resources we might need. Not one more sickle will be exchanged for Muggle money…”

VII. A Fragmented Page from: A Gentleman's Guide to The Victorian Flower Code (1889) - Page 33

BLUEBELL Identification: These flowers are easily identified by their upturned bell shape and vibrant blue or violet color. They emerge and flower from April onwards. Meaning: Though this flower can have many meanings it is most known for constancy and everlasting love. Share this flower with your lover to remind them of your loyalty and gratefulness for the strength of your relationship. Mythic Association: It is said that the Bluebell is a flower of the fae and so should be treated with care and respect. Legend has it that if one can turn a bluebell flower inside out without tearing it, they will find their true love.

[brokentoys]

❝ 𝐧𝐨  𝐀𝐍𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐒, 𝐡𝐮𝐡  ?  𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭  𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒.  &&  𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧  𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞  𝐚𝐫𝐞  𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧  𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞  𝐟𝐞𝐝.  𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧  𝐢'𝐦  𝐢𝐧  𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑  𝐆𝐔𝐓.  𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍  𝐈'𝐌  𝐘𝐎𝐔  &&  𝐘𝐎𝐔'𝐑𝐄  𝐌𝐄. ❞

ᴀɴ  ᴏʀɪɢɪɴᴀʟ  ᴛᴀᴋᴇ ᴏɴ  ᴛʜᴇ  ʀɪᴅᴅʟᴇʀ. (click for about/bio!) ʜᴇᴀᴠɪʟʏ  ʜᴇᴀᴅᴄᴀɴᴏɴ  ʙᴀꜱᴇᴅ  ᴡɪᴛʜ  ɪɴꜱᴘɪʀᴀᴛɪᴏɴ  ꜰʀᴏᴍ  ᴍᴜʟᴛɪᴘʟᴇ  ᴍᴇᴅɪᴀꜱ. ɪɴᴅɪᴇ  &&  ʀɪᴅᴅʟᴇᴅ  ʙʏ  ᴡɪᴋɪᴀ.   ᴇꜱᴛ 09/11/20.  ᴘᴏᴛᴇɴᴛɪᴀʟʟʏ  ꜱᴛʀᴏɴɢ  ᴛʀɪɢɢᴇʀɪɴɢ  ᴛʜᴇᴍᴇꜱ  ᴘʀᴇꜱᴇɴᴛ.​

                                                      RULES  BELOW  THE  CUT.

MUTUALS  + FOLLOWING

I’ll only interact if we follow each other. However, non-mutuals can still like posts, reblog posts, & send me asks if they desire to. I just want to write threads with mutuals only because it’s less stressful.

As for DUPLICATES? I don’t mind following other Riddlers, and I’ll happily interact with them! I feel it’d be easy for us to thread; as we could write sibling AUs, or simply have them acknowledge they’re Riddlers from different universes.

This blog is also very accepting of OCs and crossovers.

As of now, I use Beta Editor + xKit Rewritten to trim posts by default. Yes, I can still use Legacy, especially if you do or you request it for our thread. But for now, I use Beta by default for all posts as most new blogs are stuck with it, and tumblr has confirmed they plan on removing Legacy from the site as a whole.

CANON DIVERGENT

This blog is VERY canon divergent. In fact, I’d call this an ORIGINAL PORTRAYAL. This means this blog does not follow ANY media – not any shows, movies, comics, or games. Although, I do take inspiration from various medias - I like to pluck together my own ideas, and other media ideas to create my favorite version of this character! I suggest reading the about page to get a better understanding!

Although Ed is considered a villain by many, he believes himself to be a vigilante. Because of this, he has his own morals and will only target those he thinks deserves death (such as politicians, Arkham staff, GCPD, and some vigilantes). If your muse isn’t a part of these groups (or is a CHILD), Eddie WON'T kidnap or harm them. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask!

NSFW + Triggering content

This blog will frequently contain triggering themes such as drug abuse, religious themes, violence/gore, physical, verbal, AND sexual abuse. Edward’s portrayal revolves HEAVILY around these themes. Edward’s a victim of physical and verbal abuse by his parents, but this portrayal also depicts him as a victim of CSA/grooming. Edward is addicted to drugs, and uses them to cope. If your blog romanticizes rape or p3dophilia, I will refuse to follow.

While I do try to tag strong triggers, please still be mindful that the above are very important to Ed’s characterization, and will be brought up often on this blog and in threads. Please use caution before following if those are triggering to you. I understand having one or two, but if your blog lists your triggers as almost all of the content stated above - I’ll likely not follow back. Trauma and life experience is what makes up of who Eddie is, therefore it’s a bit hard not to bring up at least some of it.

As for NSFW threads, this blog will contain them. Since if you tag posts as “NSFW,” they’re almost impossible to find again, I tag them as “spicy”. Be sure to block this tag if you don’t want to see it! I also portray Eddie as hypersexual. Because of this, there will be A LOT of suggestive content on this blog, and Eddie will also very likely flirt with your muse as long as they’re of age. This is never intended to be force-shipping.

THIS BLOG IS 18+ BECAUSE OF THE NATURE OF THESE THEMES.

GODMODDING + METAGAMING

Godmodding is a no and metagaming is also a no. However, it’s okay to know certain things about Edward - being the Riddler, having an abusive father, and his mental illnesses / basic info just because he’s infamous, and somewhat open about his life.

SHIPPING

This blog is multiship. However, while I love to ship with chemistry… I don’t mind pre-established relationships as long as we’ve plotted them out and we’ve reached an agreement. As for friendships? I’m okay with canon blogs (the rogues, prime example) acting like they’re friends with Edward before discussion since well… it makes sense for them to be!

REBLOGGING

Anything but threads are rebloggable! Because typically my partners don’t like threads to be reblogged. Whether you’re a mutual or not, feel free to reblog my ooc posts, my shitposts, memes, my art. (highly encouraged!) I don’t mind at all!!! 🥺🥺🥺 Also, if you sent in a meme or anything in the inbox, you’re very free to turn it into a thread.

MUN EQUAL DOES NOT MUSE

Ed’s a jerk, and has rather extreme views. Of course, I don’t agree with his actions.

GRAPHICS + ICONS

I made my icons, theme background, dash theme, & promos unless stated otherwise. Currently, I don’t have a live action FC for Eddie due to the fact that I just can’t find one that really fits him. If you use a live action FC, I’m likely going to keep using my cartoon one by default - or just reply iconless. This may change, though, if I find a fitting one.

MUN

Hi hi hi! I am the mun, you can call me by Wikia or anything, I am 25 years old. If you made it down here, I just wanna say that there’s no password to send and thank you for reading and respecting my rules! I hope to write with you soon. ❤︎

[sunfoxfic]

I have been seeing a lot of takes saying that Gabriel will be redeemed using sentiadrien, and even more takes saying that the writers don't realize that Gabriel is actually abusing Adrien and that to the writers, he's 'just a misunderstood father' and stuff. Which, tbh really seemed like a bad faith interpretation for most part, but then...there are also things like Winny saying that he related most to Gabriel because he was a father and he loved his wife on Twitter and I....GET why one would think that, even though canon hasn't really convinced me that they will redeeem gabriel (and it is also to be noted that said tweet was tweeted before season 2, the hawkmoth reveal. For all we know they could just have been trying to avoid spoilers).

And then there's where people are annoyed that Gabriel has his 'sympathetic' moments and think that the show isn't constant with his character. Which is really kind of bizarre to me since abusers ARE inconsistent in real life too, and I just don't really think that the narrative isn't aware that Gabriel is an Abuser?

Now, back to the sentiadrien redemption thing,what really bothers me with people talking about it is that they most certainly DON'T want it to happen, but then are like almost Certain It Will Because Sentiadrien Is Bad And Wrong? It's just super bad faith engagement and really saddens me:(

Honestly at this point I'm on a pretty short leash with people who don't like sentiAdrien so I see almost none of the positivity (though it does royally piss me off that most proponents of the theory have continued, at least up until the finale, to tag their posts, while people who dislike their posts seem to have forgotten about when the entire fandom agreed to divide it by "adrien agreste is a sentimonster" and "adrien agreste is not a sentimonster." You're telling me I can filter out most to all content about sentiAdrien, which increasingly just looks like canon, but I can't filter out the negativity about it, which is getting increasingly more and more bad faith as time goes on? okay then).

That said, things to keep in mind:

A TV show is a large, huge, big, gigantic, complicated thing. Anyone who boils it down to "there is a bad writer on the writing team, therefore the story is bad" is almost always, in my experience, equating the actual writing of the show to fanworks, and they're just not equitable. Fanfics have usually one, maybe two or three writers on them, and maybe 3-4 beta readers. Even a published novel will have a numerable amount of people working on it: Writer, publishers, editors, the agent, and possibly sensitivity readers, and while that's a lot more than fanfic, it's still not that many.

TV shows are huge. Every TV show that you've enjoyed or hated has had someone working on it that you hate. I guarantee it. And I don't just mean Bill the Lighting Guy, I mean one of the producers, writers, storyboarders, animators, directors, etc -- someone who makes impactful decisions about the show. There's no moral purity.

Did Winny say that he relates to Gabriel? I'm not gonna verify, but I don't doubt it. Whether or not that's unforgivable I'll get to in a sec, but you can't decide whether or not a show is Good and Moral based on a tweet one of the writers made, no matter how genuine and terrible that tweet is. If you decide that one tweet is enough to sour the entire show, then you're likely discrediting the many other writers that work on this show, who may or may not agree with Winny on that front. Don't let two guys be the face of everything on this show, because it's way bigger than two guys.

As for whether that tweet should be taken at face value.... I mean, you're right, if it was pre-Collector then take it with a grain of salt. But even if it was 100% genuine, the truth of the matter is that villains are human. Real life villains, anyway. You can't take their humanity away from them just because they do bad things. Writing them as humans will help you understand better what it takes to fall so low (and how to avoid that), and what it takes to make someone better. I haven't spoken on this but I personally sometimes see takes about Gabriel that just take punitive justice too far. I don't like him, I don't want him to be redeemed, but.... I don't think punishing him is going to do any good, and in a real world situation, I don't believe in anything except restorative justice. (Given, this isn't real world, so I'm not going to make the blanket statement that people should want Gabriel to be better... but it makes me feel weird when people explicitly don't want him to get better.)

It's not immoral to humanize villains. Not even child abusers and terrorists.

As for everything specifically sentiAdrien, just ignore (and block, if you must) people who will not look at the argument that sentiAdrien can do good. There's no proof that sentiAdrien will be used to redeem Gabriel beyond conjecture. And frankly, even if you don't think it will be used to redeem Gabriel, I'm not a fan of people who are sort of on the train of "sentiAdrien has the potential to make people feel invalidated and therefore it is unimportant that sentiAdrien has the potential to make people feel validated." It is true, some people see Adrien in a situation where he's forced to do something against his will, and they'll be reminded of less than comfortable facts about how they were raised. But this plotline has the potential to show Adrien breaking free of those constrictions on him, which could be so empowering for people who feel debilitated by what they've gone through.

But yeah, that's my take. I don't see any excuses, at this point, for anyone to be fully convinced that sentiAdrien is Bad and Can Only Be Bad. I'm not gonna give the time of day to those people, and I suggest you don't either.

[superhero--imagines]

Etsy Store Here l Ko-Fi l Commission Info I Instagram I Zine

A/N: Looking for a beta reader for a personal writing piece, let me know if you feel like you're a pretty good editor! Also this has been sitting in my drafts for like 2 months, and IDK maybe I'll do more of them since it's kinda fun.

* Omg this freak is so stupid into the fact that you literally create universes with those godly hands

* I’m not kidding, I think a good 80% of his initial attraction to you was because you’re writing will literally make you immortal

* “You’re going to live forever,” Satoru says slightly breathless as he holds one of your print publications in his hand

* You’re just like ‘wtf’ so he explains-

* “You die twice, once when your body can no longer sustain itself, and the second the last time someone says your name.”

* Ah, so he thinks you’ll live forever in the sense that someone will always reference your work

* “That’s not exactly true though, one day the sun will swallow the earth whole, turning everything we love to dust”

* Satoru thinks you sound just like a writer when you say stuff like that

* “Well, unless we find another planet and have a database there or something”

* Satoru googles ‘how to buy a planet’ and ‘how much would it cost to set up a database in space’

* He’s got no respect for your craft- and by that I mean if you’ve got a deadline you’re trying to meet for a submission period or for your editor whatever, he’s just got no respect for it

* Queue Gojo shenanigans where he’ll hide all the pens in the house, or hide your laptop or something just so he can see you all flustered and panicked

* “I DONT HAVE TIME FOR THIS I ONLY HAVE 12 HOURS TO GET THIS IN!!” You shriek running from one end of your home to the other looking desperately for your laptop charger

* It’s too late in the game to order another one, and you don’t trust leaving Gojo alone in this house

* More than once you’ve left the house to replace whatever Satoru stole only to return to see even more of your things were gone now

* One time he rearranged all the furniture

* “It’s up there,” Gojo says grinning, and you look up to the ceiling fan to see your laptop charger idly hanging off one of the panels

* “I’ll get it down for you if you give me a kiss,” he says cheekily

* There’s sort of a method to the madness

* Part of it is yeah, Gojo loves to laugh, and nothings funnier than you when you’re flustered

* But part of it is you’ve been hunched over your laptop for days now, and you’re starting to be mean to yourself because you’re frustrated

* You need a break

* One he’s more than happy to offer

* And a teeny tiny portion is because he’s lonely

* Whenever you get sucked into a project it’s like you forget about him completely

* So he just wants to remind you he’s here

* And that he loves you

* You sigh, giving him a quick peck, and with a wave of his hand he brings the charger down

* “I expect a better reward when you’re done with your story”

* I think Gojo is probably a pretty big fan of your work

* In fact he’s probably your #1 fan

* But he’s super low-key about it.

* Buys all your publications on pre-order (never in large amounts so you don’t notice)

* If you’ve got into a bigger journal/magazine, or have a book at a bookstore will buy a copy every time he passes by one and see’s it

* He keeps one copy of each work on his bookshelf in the living room

* And then stores the rest/extra copies in a velvet storage box in a temperature-controlled area

* He also has another set that he notoriously marks up with notes/annotations

* “This part sounds like the time I brought them food and took them on a spontaneous date” he’ll say, scribbling furiously into the margin

* Gojo see’s your writing as an extension of you- of your soul

* So he does his best to try and figure out where you get inspiration from

* He’s especially delighted if he notices something he did, inspired something you wrote -

* “Ah the villain hid the hero’s laptop charger so they couldn’t turn in their assignment on top,” he says with a sigh

* - Even if it’s not always positive

* Honestly he plays it so cool you think he doesn’t really think anything of your profession until you come over to his place for the first time and see all your works in a neat line on his shelf

* And even then you think he’s just supporting you because he loves you, after all, they’re all in great condition, he probably hasn’t even opened them.

* And then a little further into the relationship, probably when you move in together or something

* You find all those marked-up copies

* Gojo Satoru has never been redder

* You’re genuinely concerned he might combust

* He’s acting like you just found his porn stash or something

* You wait for a few minutes for him to stammer out an excuse or something

* But when he can’t seem to form any words after several minutes you sigh and close the box

* “I didn’t see anything”

* He just nods

* You start giving him copies of your work yourself now that you know he’s so interested

* “O-oh no it’s fine-“

* It’s actually one of the rare times you see Satoru flustered

* “It’s fine, I insist, I’ve got too many contributor copies anyway”

* He takes them in his hand blushing

* He would show up to all of your readings or signing events -

* Disguised Ofc

* “Hey you should be careful, that guy looks super sketchy-“

* You look to where your manager is pointing, to a tall lanky guy wearing a black hair wig, and these tacky thick-rimmed pink glasses and you sigh

* “No need to worry, that’s just my moronic boyfriend”

* “You don’t have to show up in disguise you know”

* “Well what was I supposed to do? You didn’t invite me” he’s doing that thing where he gets all shy, a blush on his face and his fingers tugging a strand of hair

* You sigh

* The dork is oddly lovable

* “Well, from now on you’ve got an open invitation to all my events”

* He smiles so bright you would think you just offered to blow him in the middle of the bookstore

* He’s got his shortcomings

* “SATORU DID YOU HIDE ALL MY REFERENCE BOOKS?!?!”

* But you couldn’t have asked for a more supportive boyfriend

* “Kiss me and maybe I’ll tell you where they’re at”

* Or a better muse

[rivaererizine]

⚔︎ FAQ ⚔︎

If you have a question for us, please check that it is not already answered here before contacting us.

⚔︎ What is a zine? A zine is a collection of creative works, in this instance fanfic and fanart, that often have a common theme. Some zines can be free, or for profit, but ours is a charity zine for the benefit of Ocean Conservancy.

⚔︎ What is the theme of the zine? In order to honor the subject of our charity, we have the theme of “the Ocean” for our zine. We are excited to see the different ways that our contributors will feature our theme in their works!

⚔︎ What language will the zine be in? The zine will be published in English.

⚔︎ Are fixed shippers welcome? Yes. There will be three separate editions of the zine; Ereri, Rivaere, and RivaEreri. Contributors will have a choice in which edition their creation appears in. The RivaEreri edition will include works from both Ereri and Rivaere. The RivaEreri edition will still notate the intended dynamic in the list of tags for each work. The combined edition is for people who are interested in having both Rivaere and Ereri content, mixed together, at a slightly lower price than it would be to purchase both fixed zines separately.

⚔︎ Why is the zine PDF? What if I want a physical copy? This decision was made for several reasons. Since the proceeds are going to an environmental charity, a digital zine is the best way for us to honour that and minimize our impact on the planet. A downloadable PDF means no plastic packaging, no paper usage, and zero emissions from shipping. It also allows us to offer the zine at a lower price and make it more affordable for everyone. Those who want a physical copy are welcome to print it off themselves after purchase (for personal use only).

⚔︎ Why is the main zine M rated? We want a diverse selection of content that explores the ship and characters we love. Since word counts will be restricted, we want to avoid a situation where most of the content is smut with little-to-no plot or storytelling. For this reason, we have decided not to include explicit sexual content in the main zine. We are planning to have a NSFW mini-zine, in Rivaere, Ereri, and RivaEreri editions. There will be limited contributor slots in that zine.

⚔︎ What’s the difference between M (Mature) and E (Explicit) content? Mature content can explore adult themes and contain sexual content, but not to the point where it becomes pornographic. For artists, M means that you could draw the characters lying in bed naked, obviously having or just finished having sex, but not their genitals, cum, or any actual sex acts. If you would refer to it as porn or censor it for public posting, it is most likely explicit. The line is harder to draw for authors. Your fic can include “fade to black” implied sex scenes, suggestive speech, talk of sex and even a sex scene itself, so long as it’s not explicitly described. Think of an adult book that you could find in a library or comfortably discuss in public, or movie scenes that show the characters “having sex”, but a blanket is positioned to cover their bodies. Everyone knows what's going on but it is not intended to be erotic. Examples:

Mature (permitted): 

“Their bodies were intertwined, moving together as they both sought pleasure from the other. The man below him was sweating, radiant in the throes of passion, and he soon spread his legs to invite more intimate touches.”

Explicit (not permitted): 

“Their bodies were intertwined, cocks grinding together as they both sought pleasure from the other. The man below him was sweating, pre-cum leaking from his dick, and he then spread his legs to let eager fingers sink into his hole.”

⚔︎ Can I be a mod? As of right now, our mod team is currently full. We will be holding applications for people to join as beta editors sometime in mid-April. This would be a wonderful way to help contribute and organize the zine. We’d love to have your help!

⚔︎ Are there specific requirements to apply to contribute? We ask that only creators with published content apply. We want people who have some experience and can be relied on to meet deadlines. If you have never created fanfic or fanart before, this is not the place to start.

⚔︎ How old do contributors need to be to apply? Our main zine, although not NSFW, will still explore mature themes. All contributors, editors, and moderators must be 18+.

⚔︎ Do contributors need to have zine experience to apply? Contributors do not need to have zine experience to apply. We are not looking for experience, but rather the qualities that you have as a creator. The mod team is here to help guide, support, and keep you on track.

⚔︎ Can I apply for multiple positions? If you would like to be both an artist and a writer in this zine, we will not limit what you would like to contribute. You will still be expected to complete the minimum requirements for both positions. Your second position will also not take a seat away from another applicant to the zine.

⚔︎ Will contributors get a copy? Yes; as compensation for the time and effort that our contributors will give, they will receive a free copy of their choice of zine edition. This will also be true for the beta editors that we accept later on in May, after applications.

⚔︎ Can I sell/post my piece after the zine is over? Contributors are welcome to post their creations after the zine is over. You still retain all ownership over your work. We kindly ask that you wait four months after sales have ended to post your content elsewhere.

⚔︎ How many contributors will be accepted? Since there hasn't been a zine for RivaEreri in recent history, we don't have an estimate for how many applicants we will receive. We assure you, however, that there will be an equal number of Rivaere and Ereri contributors.

⚔︎ When will the zine be coming out? According to our current schedule, sales will start on August 8th and go through to September 5th, 2022. Dates may be subject to change.

Follow us to keep updated.

[kiingocreative]

If you’re familiar with my self-publishing story, you’ll know that I made a lot of mistakes when publishing No Pain, No Game. One of these was not getting Beta readers and ARC readers. I’ve learnt since that skipping those steps can seriously hinder your book’s chances of success, whether you self-publish or go down the traditional route.

What’s What?

But what, I hear you ask, is a Beta reader and what is an ARC reader?

1. Beta readers are people who will read your manuscript early on in the process (and before your book is published) to give you feedback and help identify any areas that may need to be reworked. A Beta reader goes beyond saying whether or not they like the book. It’s all about providing constructive feedback on specific parts of the story the author wants to test.

2. Advance Reader Copies (ARCs) are free digital copies of the ready-to-publish manuscript you provide to people (ARC Readers) who commit to reading it within a certain timeframe and to posting a review of the book ahead of release day (on Amazon, Goodreads etc.). The review snippets you see on a book’s front or back cover are often extracted from ARC Reviews.

What Happens When?

Beta Readers and ARC Readers come into the process at different stages, and since I’m a sucker for a good visual, here’s some of my latest diagrams to look at the full process from end to end.

Let’s think of the journey to writing a book as having two main parts:

3. Part 1: getting your manuscript ready

4. Part 2: the road to publishing

Working with Beta readers

You can use Beta readers at any time whilst you’re working on your manuscript (when you’re writing, before or after the book has been checked by a professional editor, before or after different rounds of revision etc.). It’s entirely up to you, based on what you want to get out of the Beta reading.

There are a few things to consider when working with Beta readers:

How many Beta readers do you need?

This is all a matter of personal preference, though the general advice is to aim for between 5 and 10 Beta readers, bearing in mind some may drop out during the process.

How to find Beta readers?

5. You can hire paid Beta readers on platforms such as Fiverr.

6. You can also find Beta readers through Bookstagram, especially if you have started making connections and have come across people who read your genre and whose feedback you would trust.

7. You can leverage people around you (friends, family) if they are your target audience and you trust they can give you honest and unbiased feedback.

How to get organised?

1. You can give them the entire manuscript at once, or drip feed them a couple of chapters at a time. That’s purely a matter of preference (yours, and theirs)

2. Either way, make it constructive for YOU: note down questions or points you’d like the reader’s feedback on at each stage of the story (what should they focus on? Dialogue, pace, characters, plot, inconsistencies, typos etc.)

3. Make sure Beta readers understand the commitment they’re making when they sign up to Beta read for you, for instance:

4. When do you need them to provide their feedback by? Are you working to a specific deadline? What will their reading pace need to be?

5. Do they understand they’ll need to provide detailed feedback as they read?

6. Do you want them to also write a review of the book that they can post online when the book releases?

Working with ARC Readers

How many ARC Readers do you need?

As many as possible! The more reviews you have ahead of launching (and later on in general), the better.

Not having ARC readers can damage your book’s chances of success when you release it. Research shows that, when shopping online, 75% of consumers are looking for the products with the best ratings and reviews. According to Jungle Scout, `increasing reviews is also a leading indicator of increased Best Seller Rank(BSR), which helps your product appear in more Amazon search results and earn more clicks to your listing`.

How to find ARC readers?

8. Leverage your network: If you’ve started your social media channels and started building a network you might have already come across people who may be the right readers for your book. Your most active followers on Instagram are also a good place to start.

9. Spread the word: You can post an announcement on your channels and through your newsletter to let people know you’re looking for ARC readers.

10. Use relevant hashtags: use hashtags to identify readers of the genre and find fellow indie authors who write in the same genre and may be interested.

Are ARC readers free?

You shouldn’t need to pay for ARC readers, especially if you’ve built a network you can leverage. My own experience has shown that paying for reviews tends to be a waste of time and money and that the quality of those reviews is often sub-standard. I recommend investing time in finding the right ARC readers for your book rather than throwing money at the problem and only half-solving it.

What you can do, however, is offer people incentives such as swag (if you have it), a complimentary copy (or even a signed copy!) of the book when it releases ,or offer to do read-and-review swaps with other authors.

How to get organised?

11. As with Beta readers, make sure ARC readers understand what’s required of them and what the deadline to read the book is, as well as the date they’ll need to post their review.

12. If you like, you can have your ARC Readers fill out an agreement form, which cements the understanding you both have about their commitment to the task.

13. Ask whether readers have a preference in file format (generally sending an ePub or Mobi file they can load to their e-reader is fine, but some may want a PDF).

14. Set up a spreadsheet to keep track of all ARC readers, and set up reminders to reach out to them closer to the deadline to make sure they’re progressing with the reading.

15. Give ARC readers plenty of time to read and review the book (several months before release)

Using Beta and ARC readers: The Hidden Bonus!

An added bonus if you work with Beta and ARC readers, is that you have a great list of contacts to build your Street Team. What’s that, you ask? Your Street Team is a group of people who agree to actively assist you with promoting your book release, and therefore help you widen your reach.

What does the Street Team do?

They can help with posting/reposting cover reveals, release day posts, character art etc. and spread the word about your book release.

How to get organised?

16. You can provide the Street Team with a schedule of these posts ahead of time so they know when and what they should post about and share.

17. You can create a group on Instagram or on Facebook with your Street Team members to get them coordinated.

18. Just like with Beta and ARC readers, be clear on what you’re asking of them. Be clear on timelines and make sure you should provide all images, captions, hashtags etc. for them to use.

19. You can offer incentives: offer to swap so you assist them with their launch when the time comes, offer swag, or arrange special events for the Street Team only (pre-release party, book signings etc.)

Last But Not Least: Make sure to say thank you!

Beta readers, ARC readers and members of your Street team give their time to help you make your book and release the best it can be. A common gesture is to send them a complimentary copy of your book when it releases. Needless to say, at the very least send a personal message to thank them when they’re done.

Skipping Beta readers and ARC readers can seriously hinder your book’s chances of success, whether you self-publish or go down the traditional route. Let's look at how to take full advantage of this important part of the publishing process.

[stevieraebarnes]

Fiction affects reality

...but not in the way many people think. Seeing yourself in a work of fiction can be such an empowering, positive experience that transcends fiction for you. Additionally, I've made meals inspired by stories, like whole ass dinners inspired by a character's favorite food (do not recommend Mr. Woodhouse's dinners from Emma since too plain as a valetudinarian or Mrs. Dalloway's dinner since too hard to make, dear god). And maybe more importantly (idk food is pretty important), I've learned real-world life lessons by proxy—through picking up a book off the living room shelf. I think these are wonderful examples of fiction affecting reality, but mostly because they had a positive affect. But that's not what's shouted about from the fandom corners: it's all about how fiction negatively affects reality. And that's such a valid concern! Except within fandom it's almost exclusively directed at fanfic authors.

So let's be clear.

If a person writes fanfic where the main character goes on a murder spree, that author is not committing murder.

If a person writes fanfic depicting an incestuous relationship, that author is not committing incest.

But if a person writes about The Avengers, and the author describes Tony Stark as the guy with the goatee, Thor as the guy with the cape, and Nick Fury as THE BLACK GUY—then that author has committed an act of racism. Nick Fury, who could easily be described as the guy with the leather duster, or, as HAVING A FUCKING EYE PATCH, has been reduced to the color of his skin when the others were not.

This is fiction affecting reality. It is fiction affecting reality negatively.

Why? Because the example above habitualizes and reinforces the practice of harmful behavior. Now, I know, in fanfic we often write and post work based on a single idea, without the guidance of editors/betas/sensitivity readers. And because no one profits from fanfic, I can often spare some leeway. This is not one of those times. If you are capable enough to figure out how to post a work on AO3, you're capable enough to know about bias, racism, and other harmful behavior that needs to stop being perpetuated.

Okay, now what about the case of reading something that glorifies toxicity? Yeah, sure, that can be awful.

If you come across a fanfic that romanticizes toxic relationships (e.g. abusive, power imbalance, unhealthy dependency), it's good to recognize that in real-life relationships these are not things you want outside of pre-agreed on consensual acts or role playing. If the fic you find is just straight up toxic, do yourself a favor and assume that the author, who wrote for free and hopefully clearly tagged the work, wrote it for themselves as their own wish fulfillment and not to recruit others to worshipping horrible romantic relationships. I know I'm being vague as hell as what constitutes a "horrible romantic relationship" but that's because everyone has their own threshold of what they're willing to suspend their own ethics over for fic enjoyment and I don't want to trigger anyone. Be kind to yourself and be your own barometer.

On the flipside though, books like Twilight and Fifty Shades and too many books published by cishet white men to name should be held accountable for the hurt they've caused and the ideals they've perpetuated. Is this hypocrisy? No. Mainstream books—with their glossy packaging (okay but I do love a good book cover mmm), press tours, and sold for profit to as many consumers as possible—are in the position of making whatever salacious storyline as dramatic and palatable as possible to a wide enough audience. And the misrepresented and/or toxic behavior in books like those could be seen as normal simply due to the reach of mainstream publishing. Again, be your own barometer, but remember that mainstream books sell you stuff, fanfic shares stuff with you. You are interacting with a fandom community and with an author who wrote the fic you clicked on because an idea had lodged in their brain and they needed to exorcise it. Hold authors accountable when they actually practice something toxic, and hold traditional publishers—where three of the six big publishing houses have now entered a monopoly—accountable by simply not buying problematic works. DON'T CALL FOR BANS OF BOOKS OMG I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS NEEDS SAID JESUS.

So yes, fiction affects reality, but not in a complete one for one exchange. Which means you need to make sure your call out post or twitter tirade against some piece of fiction is the work of critical thinking and not some knee jerk reaction to discovering someone's fic you don't vibe with.

[savvyblunders]

Personal Post: Imposter Syndrome, Reading Traditional Books, and thoughts about my own writing

{Just rambles regarding books, fanfiction and some of my thoughts therein.}

It’s been a terribly long time since I read any published books--aside from those written by fellow fanfiction authors. It has reached the point that I find them entirely too cringey. The plots are tame, the characters stiff, the language rote. I especially have a hard time caring if there is a supposed ‘romance’ involved. Forget about het romances, they’re so formulaic that they leave me cold. It isn’t that I have no interest in the portrayal of a relationship between a woman and man, it’s that by and large they might as well have been churned off of a factory production line. 

Part of my objection is to the tired old tropes and gender roles which authors (and readers) don’t seem to realize they’re not only falling prey to, but encouraging with their work. The world doesn’t have to be turned on its head to be interesting, but you shouldn’t know from the first few scenes between characters how it will play out--and further more, not care.

I did read a rather good psychological mystery a few days ago, however. I think perhaps it was successful in part because it was so different from the usual run of stories that people publish, but also because there wasn’t a romance shoe-horned into the storyline. The narrator wasn’t particularly sympathetic, but nor were they entirely unredeemed. I don’t want to give too much away, but it explored the themes of bullying, memory, redemption and revenge, with an enjoyable twist that I didn’t see coming--I was successfully led astray by red herrings, which isn’t always the case when I’m reading mysteries. The book, should anyone be interested, was Girl Gone Mad by Avery Bishop.

{I keep on rambling after the break ;)}

I also read another which was such a stinker I deleted it from my Kindle history and couldn’t tell you the title or author. This beauty had a somewhat interesting premise of a woman who wakes from a six month coma with full amnesia and throughout the book has to struggle with not remembering anything and depending on her husband, children and neighbors for the details of her life. Frustratingly, she finds parts of her personality and tastes have changed--at least as far as they all tell her. She begins to doubt that she is who they say--an issue further compounded when certain facets of her life pre-coma are revealed. Then when the ending arrives, there is a twist and a reveal which could have been pretty neat, only it arrived at the end of such a rote story, with such clunky storytelling and unimaginative language that I kind of didn’t care. It was clear, I might add, that the female protagonist was written by a man. Although blessedly he didn’t go into raptures over her perky breasts, long hair, or other physical attributes [insert vomiting]

My reading resulted in a two-fold feeling. One, traditionally published books are by and large crap. A few months ago I tried reading a book from a famous author whom I used to be quite a fan of. It was part of a series with which I used to be enamored. I settled in, expecting a very enjoyable read. After slogging through three chapters I gave it up. The writing was generic, the characters shallow and the ‘bad guy’ was so sketchily written as to be bewildering, not mysterious. 

That book left me frustrated and annoyed. But it also revealed something to me which I had somewhat accepted and understood prior to that, but not entirely absorbed. Just because a book is traditionally published doesn’t mean it’s any good. Just because an author is well known--or even on the best seller list--doesn’t mean they can write. There are more places to find interesting, funny, heartbreaking, sexy, fun, amazingly written, daring and wonderful stories than at a bookstore or through Kindle. 

The second part of my two-fold feeling was that while, as a writer, I may have much room to grow, I still have valuable skills to offer. My four years of writing fanfiction have honed my talent, refined my style, and influenced my voice, perspective and ability. A good beta, or editor, is invaluable. While I used to write solo and not show it to anyone, simply edit and post, I’ve come to understand the inherent value of feedback. It can be a tricky road, as you might find yourself influenced too much by a reader into trying to suit their tastes rather than your own, but a good beta (eternal thanks to @paialovespie & @hoomhum)--that is to say, a great beta, will not only see the nuts and bolts which might need tightening, but will offer insights which blow your story from ordinary to inspired. The same goes for a ‘personal cheerleader’ (the highest of praise to @mottlemoth) or someone who reminds you at your dark times that you are capable of far more than you can conceive of in that moment. Forget nasty comments online, most of us are our own worst enemies--after all, we know our weakest spots and can zero in on them mercilessly.

Even without a beta, I believe in myself as a writer enough these days (most days) to hope that one day, with hard work, skill, great editing, and some luck, I too could be published. Not a NYT best seller, perhaps, but then, I’m not entirely certain I’d like that. I don’t say this out of any sort of pretentiousness, but because, in essence, these days, I want to write the kind of things that appeal to a more niche audience. I’d like to point with pride at my small book, nestled there on a bookshelf, or available with one click of a button, as something that helps give a voice to a community which has, and still continues to be, marginalized, ignored, fetishized and pandered to, in equal measure. Perhaps it would be for the best if what I wrote wasn’t palatable to the greater reading public.

Of course, those days when I’m full of zest and confidence don’t always last. Like any creator, I fall prey to Imposter Syndrome. Lord, I can’t believe that a time used to exist when I didn’t know what that was! I knew the feeling (oh, how I did), but had no clue that a term existed to encapsulate it. The concept that I wasn’t alone in having days (weeks, months, years) of being cast into doubt that I had anything worth saying--a voice worth listening to--isn’t a new one, but to find out that I’m not alone was unutterably comforting. 

Since, like so many people, I’ve been suffering from a lack of ambition and ability to focus during this global pandemic, I haven’t written much at all, that inner voice rang loud and clear. I’m a fraud, a fake. Any ability I had was used up, clearly as shallow as a mud puddle if a little adversity was enough to dry it out. The struggle to get myself past that was, and is, one that swings from good to bad almost day by day. I had to finally give myself permission to be sad, scared, worried, tired, uninspired. Eventually I decided it was enough that I could find comfort and solace in other’s writing. And oh, how I have! Even though days and days would pass when I couldn’t even muster the interest to read, other times I would consume fanfiction fervently, feverishly. 

And there was so much out there! Adventure, sex, romance, comedy, crack, fluff, hurt/comfort. It seems funny that I can rail against the ‘formulaic’ writing of published books and then turn to ‘tags’ and ‘tropes’ for comfort. But I think the difference lies in the heart that is written into those fanfiction stories. Most of us, while being somewhat influenced by friends, mutuals and fans into writing for a hungry public, are, by and large, writing for ourselves. The old tried and true ‘write what you know’ advice seemed empty and meaningless to me for years. If we only ever write what we know, then how do sci-fi, fantasy, adventure, etc., get written? My brain went to the obvious and ignored the heart of the matter--it isn’t so much what you ‘know’ as writing what you need. What makes you passionate. Even if you’ve never been on a space ship, or been part of a polyamorous, platonic communal family group, if you write it with that yearning and spirit in your heart, it will reach out to someone else.

Fanfiction, at it’s core, is self-comfort.

In my estimation, looking at traditionally published books, it seems that what most of them lack is that heart. The writers aren’t writing because they need the story, or because they are compelled to tell it. It isn’t that they had a hell of a good time writing it, or that they made themselves laugh while doing so. They had a publishing deal to fulfil, a publisher to make happy, a reading public who had certain expectations. There’s nothing wrong with that of course, but if it’s your only motivation...then the writing suffers the neglect and a percerptive reader will note the difference. 

By and large, the fandom, the ship, even the trope, aren’t what captivates me most. I’m a pretty eclectic reader. I enjoy a good story more than I do the fact that it is a particular pairing. The draw is how well it is written, any chances the author took, the indulgence into style, formatting, etc. that they allowed themselves. So why should published books be any different? I’ve heard (non-fandom) people dismiss fanfiction as niche. Perhaps it is. But it is also broad, vast, uncharted territory where we’re all having a lot of fun and enjoying the hell out of ourselves.

Maybe those published authors need to spend a little time with us. 

[starstruck-thirst]

Ask Cont. My Writing Process

Sorry I didn't get back to this part of that ask ( linked here ) for a while. I won't make excuses... I forgot. Like I kept meaning to write it all back out (this was one of the things that I typed on tumblr then accidentally refreshed and lost), but then I just plum forgot. I apologize.

Anyway here we go. A somewhat condensed down version of how I write:

First thing is it is important to know that I am one of those people that generally thinks in pictures and not in words. Now I can have thoughts in words but overall I'm a picture thinker. So with this in mind a must have for me personally is music.

Music with words is best for me. I have playlists I specifically make for characters, fandoms, moods, etc. So I put on the playlist I need to help fuel my mental images. I teased a playlist for "She Wants Revenge" (here is a Spotify link to it if you are interested) in a previous post. And sincerely I put that on and put it on repeat as I wrote. The feeling I get from music helps fuel my imagination and gets me into the mood I want to set.

If you can't do music with words then try music without if you can. It really can help set a scene in your head.

The next part is also hard for me to translate to everyone but I will try.

So since I am generally a picture thinker, when I am writing a scene I am literally seeing it in my head. What I write is what I am personally experiencing, or would like to. If you aren't a picture thinker this might require more pre-planning scenes and conversations so that you can write more smoothly. I myself make no real plans. I have a rough outline in my head of what I want to happen and then I release my imagination as I write.

But no matter how you think or write here is my personal most important Star Technique Requirement: Do Not Stop Writing.

I know everyone says this and it is easier said than done but sincerely I cannot recommend it enough. If to do this you have to have an outline written and open in another document or written out on physical paper, do it. Do whatever you have to to be able to write uninhibited for as long as you can. And please note those last words "as long as YOU can".

This stage will be different for everyone. I can sit down and slam out 2k in one sitting without a break. Maybe for you it is going to be 500 words. That is okay! But try to get at least 100 out in my opinion.

The second part of this stage is do not revise/ edit yet.

See the thing about writing is you have to make it exist before you can nit-pick it. If you allow yourself to get hung up on a word, or a specific part of a scene too long you will become derailed. Don't do that to yourself. Just keep going until you have a good portion of the piece done, or if you can wait until you complete a full rough draft.

In general I will not edit at all until I have finished the part/ chapter. The exception to this rule is if I write half of it now and half in two days. Because to get back into the flow I have to re-read what I wrote so it flows seamlessly. But even then the edits are restricted to "Oh this word is spelled wrong. I need to add a comma." Other than that I'll maybe highlight the sentence if it flows incorrectly, but otherwise I leave it for when I read it all after the rough draft is done.

FINALLY I edit the document. Now I personally keep music on for this. I don't want to lose my flow and the feeling I'm trying to create. Since I am an atmospheric focused writer (or at least I try to be) this is important to me. It helps me get a sense of "is what I'm reading having the effect I want it to?" And if that answer is no this is the time to tweak it.

A suggestion I adore for the editing process is to change the font each time you reread it for editing. You would be amazed by the things you catch in a different font. For me I type in a serif font so I edit with a sans serif font, that way it is drastically different.

Now here is the time that you get a beta reader. Someone who isn't a true 'editor' to read the thing and give you feedback. Not everyone is fortunate enough to have this person, but if you can find that person do it. They can give you insight into what is working and what doesn't work (and catch that last 'teh' that you kept missing.)

I myself will now read the thing one more time after this with the intention of not editing it. Just enjoying what I wrote. Trying to turn off the writer's brain and see if it is enjoyable.

Then finally I post it.

To be honest I am bad about posting at 'high' volume times and tend to post when I am done because I get EXCITED like a child. But I'm trying to use the queue more for that so I don't keep posting things at weird hours. (Although you can't queue responses to questions.)

But that is generally it. The only other thing I'll add is sometimes I have a picture of the character (or two) open on my computer as well. I'll either keep it minimized or I'll have it open literally side by side with my doc if I feel I need the extra inspiration. But generally I don't need to do this. I do tend to keep the character wikia open as well as a dictionary and thesaurus. If I need a word quickly I can use these without getting too distracted.