#take a look at fanartists/writers for examples:

[lilbirdblu]

I think my biggest gripe with twitter is that the best thing about it is also simultaneously the worst thing about it:

the ease of access to information and how quickly it can spread

On one hand, it's great for spreading news/bringing awareness to issues, allowing creatives to be discovered, befriending people from anywhere in the world, innocuous memes and photos going viral, etc. Things can quickly take off within the blink of an eye which is awesome... when the information is accurate and/or it's not causing any undue harm to anyone

But that's the thing: misinformation can and is often easily spread just as quickly, which is dangerous

And, Im not sure if I'll be able to explain this as eloquently as Id like, but a more personal view/gripe I have is that, because of how quickly anything can spread, people have become so accustomed to a constant feed that updates at a high rate, that if something takes time or is a slow process, then they begin to demand updates, constant communication and get unruly [at best] if their wants are not met. People have learned that if they're "loud" enough, they will get what they want. Can being loud be beneficial? Absolutely. But I think it can also be harmful.

If that want is not met, it often leads to more aggressive thoughts/ideas/etc being spread at that same rapid speed which creates a very hostile environment to be in. This isn't to say that communities--namely fandoms--should never be informed of anything, but rather, that there is a severe lack of patience, empathy, and willingness to understand that I think is concerning.

That's not to mention the black-and-white thinking and lack of nuance but that's a conversation for another day.

[ariddletobesolved]

of preferences and headcanons.

Hi! I know I haven't posted real content in over a year, but since I've been on Tumblr the past week, I can't help but notice a discourse happening on Helsa tag.

I believe as a community, we should all respect other people's takes and opinions, especially in a fandom, where everyone may perceive things differently. Everyone has their own preferences that not everyone could get or understand, and that is okay. For example, and also to address the elephant in the room, if you prefer a ship (in this case, Helsa) to not be canon, it's totally fine. And if you would love for it to be canon, then that is fine too. It's not okay when you try to tell people how they must feel towards a certain media (in this case, Frozen) and tell fellow shippers they're not a true shipper just because they don't share the same preferences as you do. Stating an opinion of your preference is not the same as telling others to change that preference to suit the one that you like.

"I would prefer to not have them to be canon."

"If you're a true fan, you would have done THIS instead!"

See how different those two sentences are? The first one is neutral, while the other one is more demanding.

Honestly, I want to respect both, but I believe respect is earned and not given, and if the person is being disrespectful then I will return the disrespect back to their faces. Treat people the way you want be treated, remember?

I've been in between fandoms for over a decade, so I've come across discourses over headcanons and preferences plenty of time. Here's a reminder: Be respectful! It's not hard if you recognise that everyone perceive things differently and that the world doesn't revolve around you and your opinions only. You can always agree to disagree.

Being respectful also means being respectful to fanartists and fanwriters. Have some decency and refrain from using someone else's works without their permission (it's not hard to ask!). Just because you found it on Google does not mean it's public domain. As for appreciating fanwriters, you can start by reading what you want to read. You can start by filtering keywords and tropes or genres that you don't like. AO3 has a tagging system for a reason. If you don't pay attention to the tags, don't blame the writer for writing what they want to write and not how you want it. They create contents for free and you are not the boss of them. If you want something that specifically suits your taste buds, you can commission them.

Learn how to differentiate between what's canon and what's your own headcanon and interpretations, what's canon and what's a mere concept. Maybe you're reading too much into it, maybe it's in your head. Headcanons are fun, being delulu is literally my middle name, but not everything that you perceive is canon. You can disregard canon (like I do, most of the time) but you have to be clear about it, and draw a hard line to separate them, label them with 'canon divergence' or 'canon compliance' (you can look up each definition). A concept that did not make into the final product can hardly be considered canon.

This fandom community is supposed to be a safe space for everyone regardless their reason in shipping Helsa (be it because of their appealing aesthetics or others) as long as they're being respectful to each other. I didn't think I would be here writing all these to address the bad apples. Sure, the bad apples are always there in every community, but when these bad apples are the loud majority, I feel like I have to say something to clear up some misconceptions about this fandom. Helsa fandom isn't exactly popular, even back in the day, and it's mostly because shippers of other ships and fandom purists have already assumed the worst when they interacted with the ship before they did the shipper, which once again is out of the shippers' control.

From my experience, name-calling fellow shippers over these niche stuff will drive people away and discourage some creators from creating content (I already am on this stage). So, in my opinion, let's just agree to disagree. It's probably just me, but it's not like we have the power to make the writers write what we want anyway (Frozen 2 is already a proof that they would write what they want to write).

[hamiathesgiftexchange]

Hamiathes’s Gift Exchange sign ups are open!

If you've done a Yuletide-style exchange on AO3 before, the process should be similar. If you haven't, have a look at the explanation and examples below, check out the FAQ and rules on AO3 and let me know if you have questions!

Also, please spread the word—the more, the merrier. Both fanfic writers and fanartists are welcome to participate!

The signup link is here!

Quick points:

The tagset is big! Consider taking some time to go through it. @jhawkgirl made a great spreadsheet to make it easier to parse.

Signups are open until Friday, August 9 @ 8pm ET. See what time that is for you!

You'll need an AO3 account to sign up. You can request one here if you don't already have one. We have some extra codes if the wait list is too long so please ping me if that’s the case! 

Please read the rules before signing up so you know what you're agreeing to do

You can see what other people have requested/offered within the exchange itself, as well as on the AO3 Automagic App — group by "character" instead of "fandom" for best results. Note that you may have to re-scrape in order to see the most up to date signups.

Check below the “read more” for more info on how signups work, the “optional details” field, and how to submit your Do Not Wants. And as always, please reach out here or in the QT discord if you have questions! 

How signups work:

Each of us will use a form on AO3 to make requests and offers.

You must make at least two requests, each of which specifies a character or from the tag set and indicates that you’re requesting fanfiction, fanart, or both. You may make up to eight requests. Each request can also include optional details about your preferences, ideas for prompts, etc. More about that below. Your assigned writer or artist is responsible for creating a fanwork featuring the character or relationship in any one of your requests.

Offers are simple—you’ll just list the characters, relationships, or worldbuilding elements from the tag set about whom you’re willing to write or illustrate, specifying whether you’re offering fanart, fanfiction, or both

An important note on relationships--if characters are connected by &, this refers to a platonic relationship. If they are connected by an /, this refers to a romantic or sexual relationship. For example, if you want a story or artwork featuring Irene, request Attolia | Irene. If you want a story or artwork featuring Irene and Relius as friends, request Relationship: Attolia | Irene & Relius. If you want a story or artwork featuring Irene and Relius in a non-platonic, request Relationship: Attolia | Irene/Relius.

Optional details:

When you're making requests, it can be helpful to give your author/artist a little more detail than just the characters you're requesting. Remember that your author or artist is only required to create a work featuring your specified characters. If you ask for a specific story prompt or for art in a particular style, they may not be able to meet that request, and they aren't required to. Try not to be too proscriptive here—think of it as a way to explain why you like these characters and why you're interested in getting fanwork about them, and a way to kickstart your author/artist's creativity if they need it.

You can include either a link to a letter hosted on your journal or type directly in the optional details box in the signup form. If you're linking to your journal, please make sure it isn't friends-locked, or your creator won't be able to see it!

Do Not Want list:

If there's anything you specifically don't want to receive in your gift, you can include a Do Not Want (DNW) list in the optional details section. Examples might be things that squick or trigger you or 'ships you aren't interested in. This isn't about making value judgments, just about indicating your comfort level and making this a good experience for everyone.

Authors and artists must respect this list. When you're specifying Do Not Wants, please include them in the optional details text box in your signup, not in the letter, so I as the mod can be aware of them. If they are not in the optional details box, I cannot enforce them.

Examples of DNWs: sexual content, kidfic, violence, character death. 

Treats

tl;dr: if you're open to receiving gifts, make sure your AO3 is set to receive gifts and consider indicating in your letter/optional details that you're open to receiving treats! 

In February 2022, AO3 released a new setting that allows users to choose whether or not they can receive extra gifts. If a person has the setting "Allow anyone to gift me works" selected in their preferences, then AO3 users can give extra gifts to that person, including Hamiathes's Gift Exchange treats. If this setting is not checked, only a user who has an exchange assignment for that person, or who has claimed their prompts in a prompt meme, can give them gifts.

Because of this setting, we have encouraged people to state in their sign-up or profile page if they're open to treats. Mods can also check who's able to receive treats (especially because users could choose to change this setting during the event). If you're not sure if someone would like treats, you are very welcome to ask the mods.

Please also double-check your own settings if you would like to receive gifts! If you created your account after February 2022, you may need to change your settings from the default.

Comments

Two notes about commenting, one about giving and one about receiving: 

It's encouraged to comment on your gift(s) to show appreciation to your author and/or artist for creating it. Best practice during exchanges is to comment before author reveals (September 28). If you do not think you will be able to comment in the first few days after gifts are revealed, you may want to leave a placeholder comment to let your creator know that you will be back to read/comment later.

AO3 has recently changed it’s default commenting setting on new works to “logged in users only.” If you’d like to be able to receive comments from people who aren’t logged in (“guest” comments), you’ll need to change that setting when you’re posting your work 

Happy prompting! 

[nevermoreconfessions]

Hello OP!

It's me, the fanartist with a hot take and news I wanna share!

The hot take I wanna share is that I so glad that this series is more on the slow burn side of storytelling. And to be honest, I don't really care about the pacing as long as the story is entertaining and enjoyable. Also Idm when the creators are taking breaks during the season; they're people too y'know.

As for the I-Cant-Draw Ada problem, I drew her! And she looks like Ada!

I bequeath upon you a second name: AdAnon. Look at you go! Look at that development!

I wish you could send me that fanart, somehow!

Anyways, as for the slow burn: I also like it! There's going to be quite a few seasons of Nevermore, and I'll be along for the ride the whole time.

Actually, I think the slow burn hits harder for the most intense parts of the story. For example: Duke.

When Duke was out into the wall, it was so much more gut-wrenching because we've been with him for so long. He became a character that we all loved. Frankly, we'd care a lot less if it had happened sooner.

I don't mind the creators taking breaks, either. Artists and writers are people, and they deserve a good break every now and then.

[marveybang]

Marvey Bang 2024 - Update & Call for Artists

The sign-up for writers to join the 2024 Marvey Bang has now been closed - thank you so much to everyone who decided to join!!

You should find an email in your inbox (of the email address you provided when you signed up) within the next few days. We will let you know how and when to send in your summaries and we'll provide you with an example or two as well.

Remember: The due date for all writers' summaries is March 11, 2024!

If you haven't heard from us by Saturday, please contact us either here, on discord or at our personal blogs: Aqua or Ems!

The sign-up for artists is still open, though! Quite a few more writers than artists have signed up so we're still looking for artists to join the fun! Closed!

If you're a fanartist and are interested in taking part in the Marvey Bang 2024 you can sign up HERE!

If you have any questions please feel free to contact either Aqua or Ems on our personal blogs or here - or on discord if you'd rather!

Again, thank you so much to everyone who has already joined the Bang or has expressed interest! You are all absolutely MARVEYLOUS!!!

[your-fave-jewish-magical-girl]

LONG RANT: You can't fix Yandere Simulator. Let it die

Yeah there's no beating around the bush here. Everyone know what happened. Alex is a groomer. If this is your first time hearing about this, look Yandere Dev up for two minutes and you'll be up to date.

And yaddada I am feeling a lot of emotions, mostly anger and a shred of disappointment watching the thinnest sliver of hope I had for this game die. I'm guessing about 20k of you feel something similar, that or you're enjoying watching the shitshow unravel.

I guess if you've been on this subreddit, or twitter, or tumblr, you probably know what my title is referring to. For almost ten years now, Yandere Dev would get into a controversy and the fucked up aspects of his game are exposed and fanartists and writers and devs take it as an opportunity to 'fix' Yandere simulator. The most notable example I can think of is Love Letter from 2020 I think. It's a good idea in theory, literally separating the art from the artist by recreating his concept without the problematic stuff. There was a time when I agreed with this idea and even wanted to do something similar on my own.

But now with Alex's practically confirmed abuse, this concept I guess is leaving a bitter taste in my mouth, It has for a long time, but now I think It's time to address the concept of 'fixing' Yandere Simulator.

For starters, I believe it has gotten to the point where you can't separate the art from the artist with Yandere Simulator. Not after this. And I don't wanna get into an hour long discussion about how that works, but Yandere Simulator is different because the source material was never good in the first place. It was something people were *following in hopes of getting good*. So when fixing the game, the question isn't really what you should repair, (assuming you are up to date on Yandere Dev's controversies) but what you should even bother keeping. It's like trying to redesign a building accidentally built to make sure tall people can't get in. Yeah you can redesign the doors and the rooms, but when does it get to the point where you have to throw out the building and start from scratch. That's the problem with Yandere Simulator. It's not one or two flaws. It's basically the entire concept. It's this murder borderline porn game centered around Yandere Dev's barely disguised fetishes about an inaccurately portrayed underaged person with some mental illness killing other schoolchildren (and pedos, accidentally based Ayano???) for a mediocre audience self-insert where you have to take panty shots to get information and all the people your killing are offbrand anime characters and everyone's name is bad Japanese and, well you're in this subreddit, you know all the problems with Yandere Simulator. Putting heart clips in Ayano's hair or making Taro hot or Amai chubby or give Osana freckles and make the teachers minors or making any of the character different races blah blah blah, that doesn't actually change anything systemically wrong with the game, story, and concept. It's putting frosting on a moldy boot

(btw, I'm not actually against the Yandere Archetype. You can write problematic stuff so long as you give it respect. But this is part of a bigger issue.)

So You could remove all of that, but at what point are you just, making other piece of Yandere Simulator that has loose inspirational ties. Not that there is anything wrong with that--It's actually a good idea--but you can't reasonably say that you've 'fixed' Yandere Simulator after throwing out 70% of it. Yes, it may be true, but It's not good writing criticism when you're erasing the core of what make Yandere Simulator Yandere Simulator. Yandere Simulator is an anime fetish amalgamation made up of what Alex likes taking place in a pseudo-dating sim world gone wrong where sexy murder stuff happens. Once you start to remove that, you're removing its (admittedly cringe) soul. Not to mention, comparing some of the content in the game to his abuse, it gives the game itself a bitter taste. Is this something that you really want to reform? Is this something that *should* be reformed?

It's always "When will someone finally recreate Yandere Simulator" and not "Why should anyone recreate Yandere Simulator."

Additionally, whether you like it or not, when you keep posting fanart and rewrites and advertising your fangame as 'inspired' by Yandere Dev. You are giving him attention and free advertising. Even if you put 'Yandere Dev fans DNI' in your bio. I promise that all this time you are trying to spend 'fixing' this horrible game made by an abuser, you could be spending so much of that time making fanart for actual indie projects who deserve your attention who could use that exposure to grow or maintain a community.

And getting to the elephant in the room when it comes to people 'fixing' Yandere Simulator. It's no secret that Yandere simulator fangames fail. Paper Will made a good video on this but oh boy do they fail hard. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRLCsWhiNTc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRLCsWhiNTc). But I don't think It's a curse problem--even though that theory is funny. Talking about why they fail outside a game perspective (young inexperience devs, reliant on volunteers, biting off more than they can chew, unrealistic expectations, drama etc.) Devoting years of your life to something you hate isn't sustainable. And most of these games DON'T last years, they last months. Because spite is a spice, it's awesome, hot, everyone loves it. But you can't serve a meal with spice alone. Making as something as difficult as a game out of spite is an absolute loaded task that requires the stamina of a God to achieve. And if you're thinking about doing this as an after school hobby. You're gonna get burned out fast. I don't have any data on this, but even though I don't do coding. Creating a project out of hate is so exhausting, because It just doesn't work as that good of a motivator down the line. Just investing all this time, resources and energy into constant hate, and to prove what? That you're better than possibly one of the worst indie game devs of the century? Who do you need to prove it to?

The heart of all art is love, love for something. Even satire and art made to criticize has love for something, even if it's just itself and the joke It's trying to tell or for the message It's trying to send. And spite isn't the worst motivator as long as it's not the *only* motivator. And that's really what these "Fan" (word used incredibly loosely) games fail at their most basic mechanics. It's not actually made for love for the source material, but to one up it and make a point, and the entire concept collapses in on itself.

And to finally addess why I made this post. Responding to Alex's grooming by posting about how you can 'fix' the story of his game and redesigning/claiming characters and stuff is downright insulting and inappropriate. Not every Yandere Simulator fixer does this so I'm not trying to lump everyone together. There was a time when Yandere Dev would do something embarrassing or whatever and posting about how his ideas could be fixed was insightful, but as a response to this situation, It's just bad. People are hurt, and making this about you and how you can redeisgn or rework the game is clout chasey and tone death. Please don't use grooming to one-up Yandere Dev for whatever reason. Nobody wants that. Not the victims, not the former staff and volunteers. Nobody. Just keep it to yourself.

I honestly am just tired. I hope anything I just said is even somewhat comprehensible. But if you as someone who thinks they can fix yandere simulator takes away anything from this, It's to just make your own original stuff. Enough with the fangames and redesigns towards a person who does not deserve even a spec of your effort. Stop giving this guy more publicity and trying to revive this dead horse that is Yandere Simulator. If you still like aspects of the game I beg you to just make your own yandere themed piece of media, webcomic, book, game whatever separate from yandere simulator. Post your ORIGINAL characters that are yours and not reskinned versions of whatever Alex made. And let's just let this goddamn game from by a groomer die. Don't try to fix it, don't touch it. Just give it the sad death it deserves.

Please.

Fuck.

[wondrouswendy]

Fanfiction & Communities

So I'm copy-pasting my comments from a twitter thread over here because I am so respectfully ticked off by this "debate" about the role writing has in fan communities. For context, a "thank you" video produced by Respawn (the game company that created Apex Legends, Titanfall, etc) and two zine hosts sparked this conversation. The video shows off fanzine productions (predominantly fanart, a few "snippets" of fanfiction). The ratio of fanart to fanfiction representation in the video is drastically favoring the former rather than the latter. These zines received submissions from fanartists, fanfic authors, and SFM creators.

As someone who participated in the Halloween Apex Legends Zine, I think it's a shame how the writing community is underrepresented in not only this video, but by Respawn at large. The writing community on Ao3 for Apex has been flourishing (and arguably giving Respawn free advertising, similar in many ways to Overwatch's Ao3 community). Writing is art. We use fiction to escape from reality just as much as we use fanart to warm our circuits. Writers paint scenes through descriptive imagery, clever dialogue, and through gripping plots. The fanart community has received far more spotlight from Respawn's community outreach. I suspect the fanartists who have their works represented through cosmetics in game are even being paid to have their fanart in game (whether through real money or through "exposure."

I almost wish we could go back to "ye olde days" of having a barrier between developers/franchise creators and the creative community. If only to keep fan communities fan oriented and to prevent division. Between fanart & fanfic, one of those outputs has created lawsuits. It's not fanart. It's writers being punished for creating.

I think fanfiction is STILL overlooked and underappreciated by "official" companies at large because of continued stigmas. Fanfiction has always been looked down on by the public at large (rooted in homophobia, sexism especially). Fanfiction may overwhelmingly be represented through shipping, but it's still a representation of the community. Fanartists produce shipping related content and other people have said it better than me regarding this issue. It just frustrates me a ton, especially when shipping (especially LGBT oriented shipping) is often used to queerbait fans (Overwatch, for example).

To say that developers are "afraid" of copying/taking ideas from fanfiction is ridiculous when this already happens:

With World of Warcraft, for example, the FairShaw ship was created by authors* who took two characters interacting in game and decided they should kiss. We can only speculate on whether or not FairShaw as a concept was ever on the radar of the WoW writing team if not for the passionate FairShaw fans producing both FANFICTION and FANART.

Fanskins often become "real" cosmetic skins in these games.

*I say authors, but I know some of the original "founders" of the FairShaw pairing are also artists.

All of this to say, in conclusion, I'm disappointed. I think the disparities are real. I know fanartists have problems. I'm not denying that. I think we are more similar as creatives than we are different.

[mellarked-katnisseverdeen]

If THG's characters are a fanfic writers/readers, what do you feel would be their AO3/ffn account name and icon?

Also, what would be their preferred read (example : rating = K, T, G, M, E; type = canon, canon-divergent, modern AU etc.) and what kind of comments would they leave on a fic?

You can include as many characters as you can or want.

Thank you so much 😊

@curiousnonny

OOHH this is not easy. I won't be doing many, but a few!

Katniss initally is a reader, and prefers anything under M rating with interesting tags, things she wants to read about. But as time goes on she tries her hand at writing, taking on the name MockingjaysArrows. Mostly writes either hardcore, cathartic angst or hurt/comfort with any and all characters she sees herself in. It takes a while but she gets pretty decent at it. She also graduates to reading M and E stuff occasonally but is VERY embarassed and hush hush about it.

Peeta is a fanartist mostly, as most responses to this askhave said! He loves to draw/paint scenes in whatever fandom he is in, and everyone drools over it. He is shy about it, not really admiting the hours that it takes but he loves to spend time on it. He doesn't read much fanfic, but he DOES read a quite a bit from spesifc authors that he enjoys (Katniss is def one of them lol). I imagine he'd be down for any rateing as long as it's not over the top and well written, and has a soft spot for fluffy stuff. But he also likes hurt/comfort and fix it stuff too. Another big trope if fic he likes if fix it or missing scenes! His curious mind enjoys seeing what other fands come up with. He comments under the name BakersBoy003.

Gale is a fanfiction reader and writer because there are times whatever book/show/movie he is currently enjoying just does not have something he was itching to see and that irritates him enough to just HAVE to have it. Or to redo something he doesn't like. He is that one fan driven to reading/writing fics based purely with the goal of packing canon in a box and burying it. Lot of very long, slow burn fix its/ character exploration. He doesn't shy away from any rating or genre but it just has to be whatever he was looking for that canon didn't deliver. Comments/writes under the name ShhI'mReading

[tsuunytsuun]

I was thinking about this earlier and I wanted to post about it.

Some people in fandoms gotta understand that 99% of people who ship don't always ship two characters together with the goal of it becoming canon.

If two characters I ship do happen to become canon? Cool, epic, I love to see it, happy happy victory dance yada yada yada.

But for other ships, both I and others know perfectly well that they'll never be canon, whether it be because it being canon would completely ruin the story, the characters have never/will never meet, their actual relationship and other circumstances would never allow it to be canon- WHATEVER the reason is.

For me, shipping characters is literally just for my own satisfaction. I enjoy forming my own headcanons and exploring the possible dynamics characters COULD have if they were in a relationship, or if the circumstances allowed them to be in a relationship.

I can only speak for the fandoms I'm personally in, and obviously I'm not talking about problematic ships- but for an example let's use a ship that's pretty popular in the KNY fandom, Rengoku + Akaza.

Now, I'm PRETTY SURE I speak for almost every KNY fan when I say that.. it's literally the most obvious thing in the history of anything ever to ever exist ever that Kyojuro and Akaza could NEVER be canon. The fact that Kyo is a Hashira and Akaza is an Upper Moon is the only evidence you need for that.

BUT, a lot of people can also agree that if it were possible, perhaps in an alternate universe where things played out differently, the two of them COULD have been friends- and possibly, in a relationship.

THAT'S what it's about, the possibility. Exploring possible scenarios and dynamics, what COULD be, not necessarily what SHOULD be.

Don't get me wrong, there's a ton of people out there who DO nitpick and look for the smallest little details that could POSSIBLY prove that their ship IS AND SHOULD BE canon, (even when really there is no proof and they're just reaching-) but that's not all of the people who participate in shipping.

My main reason for writing this is mostly because I'm unbelievably tired of people saying "tHis ShIp cOuLD nEvEr bE cAnOn And It'S sO dUmB To ShIp iT jUsT gIve It Up" or going into a fanartist's/fanfic writer's comment sections and saying a variation of this. Like that's NOT the point of shipping at all??

It's about imagination and speculation, y'all. Not EVERY ship has to be backed up by solid evidence presented in the media you're getting it from, whether it be a book series, an anime, or a tv show.

Even if a ship has literally NOTHING to back it up, no small details, no in-between-the-lines deeper meanings, no evidence found by looking closer at scenes, it can still be shipped. You know why? Because that's what shipping is: Taking our made-up scenarios we created at 2 AM or while taking an hour-long shower and running with it.

Some folks just take it a bit too seriously. By a bit, I mean a lot. A LOT too seriously.

[moonlit-tulip]

The Virtue of Execution

Within local sectors of culturespace, it's traditional for people pursuing creative projects—writers, programmers, musicians, and so forth—to heavily prioritize originality, uniqueness, and other such things, when pursuing their craft. To try to stick out from the crowd on the basis of, in some fashion, making a different sort of content from the rest of the crowd.

This is, as far as it goes, a good and valuable thing for people to do. More exploration of contentspace leads to more chances that a particular person's idiosyncratic tastes will happen to be perfectly hit upon. But it's just that: exploration. It's a way of finding new and interesting sectors of contentspace; it's not a way of producing maximally good content within those sectors.

So, yes, originality is something to celebrate. But equally valuable, and far less celebrated, is execution. The creation of works, not necessarily original, which stick out from the crowd by being good rather than just by being new. Which polish all the pieces already floating around the memespace, and present them in a prettified and optimized form rather than in minimum-viable-product form.

Consider, by way of example:

Fallout 3 was the game which defined the broad shape of How 3D Fallout Works. But it was Fallout: New Vegas, not Fallout 3, which ended up as the widely-regarded best of the 3D Fallout games and the most enduring classic among them, having imported most of Fallout 3's mechanics but combined it with substantially better writing and more interesting world-design. (This now-common opinion, I'll note, stands in contrast with reviewer consensus upon release, under which New Vegas's mechanical similarity to Fallout 3 was treated as reason to give it lower scores than Fallout 3 got.)

Also on the video game front, see the various games which sit solidly within their genres, which aren't known for being particularly mechanically or narratively innovative, but which execute their mechanics well, have pretty visuals and pretty music, are well-written, and in general are exceptionally good implementations of their genres. Celeste, among precision platformers; Hollow Knight, among metroidvanias; Divinity: Original Sin 2, among talky isometric RPGs; et cetera.

Gwern has written previously about the surprisingly-large increase in how many positive comments his website got, once he'd put sufficient effort into improving its design above and beyond the design standards of most of the internet. I myself have noticed that, since his various design upgrades, I've become far more prone to reading his website than I used to be.

DM of the Rings created the campaign comic genre, but it's Darths & Droids which seems to have come out as the enduring classic of that genre, the shining example whose standard of quality other comics try to live up to.

There are lots and lots of artists on the internet who are clearly pursuing very similar styles in their art (e.g. the crop of Standard-Issue Concept Artists, the crop of Standard-Issue Anime Character Fanartists, et cetera), but who have substantial gaps between one another in terms of how good they are at that art, in terms of quality of lineart and shading and lighting and so forth. These people don't tend to be particularly original; but many of them are very good.

...et cetera.

The virtue I'm gesturing at here is a very different virtue from the virtue of originality. It's a virtue seen, not in discrete flashes of brilliance, but in the slow iterative process of taking a good-enough product and polishing it until it shines.

(And, if one does that enough, then eventually one will become practiced enough with it that even one's first passes will look pretty shiny. A skilled artist's ten-minute sketches are likely to look better than the best art I know how to make even given hours of time-investment. But nonetheless that artist's ten-minute sketches are likely to be substantially inferior to what the same artist can do over the course of many hours of their own.)

I call this virtue execution, for lack of a better name. It's not a virtue I see celebrated nearly as often as originality; but it's an important one nonetheless, one worth celebrating.

[yostresswritinggirl]

it seems boredom has taken over me due to the fact i have nothing to do but make up hcs of your universe reversal au, so here you go:

(im sorry if this is bothersome)

• if [y/n]'s va tries making a song cover of a romantic/love song with the character's voice, albedo would go overdrive and make an animatic centered around either: [y/n] x traveler or [y/n] x viewer (the other simps would also go crazy over both the cover and godly animatic ngl)

• childe would be the type to show and brag to his younger siblings about his genshin waifu/husbando/lover. teucer is usually his main listener, and he would feel prideful if teucer ever asks something about you out of curiosity or interest. definitely would go on a rant and word-vomit about how awesome and perfect you are.

• xiao's a famous and anonymous [y/n] x reader fanfic writer on tumblr/ao3/wattpad whose stories get very popular with the simps desperate for content

• zhongli bought a keychain displaying your chibi self from the official merch store. he keeps it dangling from his wallet's keychain holder (?) and is the prime reason why he remembers to actually bring his wallet sometimes. like, he's about to go outside to eat with a friend at mcdonald's or something; but he catches sight of your chibi self at the corner of his peripheral vision before he could so — and he's like: "oh hey it's my [y/n] keychain— oops, i also forgot my wallet again"

• venti would listen to [y/n] x listener videos on youtube. he might even go and commission someone for it (he might sometimes commission nsfw) (inspiration was taken from a past ask you received. thank you to the anon who gave me this idea).

• kaeya's a little shit in co-op and absolutely refuses to adjust/change his character (aka you). he's devoted to you and only you, even if your attacks aren't very effective on a particular boss/enemy (and even if said boss is immune to your attacks).

• though diluc isn't very involved with the fandom, he does occasionally look and scroll fanart of you (albedo's art usually). he may or may not have read and got hooked onto a [y/n] x reader fic (xiao's). he checks for updates once a week

• i hc that ganyu kind of has a hard time sleeping (she's overworked :(( ) since she usually pulls all-nighters, working on reports for her job. her body soon got used and adjusted to her terrible sleep schedule, so oftentimes during her day-offs; she has a hard time taking a well-deserved rest. sooooo, i think she listens to your theme song/voicelines (more specifically, the ones where you're all doting on the traveler or where you tell them to have a good night/rest). even better if your va has a relaxing song cover she could listen to and slowly fall asleep to. overall, GIVE THIS GIRL A BREAK.

-🐞

Okay, okay, ladybug anon I love you so much aldbaoakkw I love Universe Reversal brainrot so much and you're all so clever over it sksksksk

The VA thingy reminds me of either the ones Mihoyo made where Barbara or Amber interacts with the audience awww, or or they did a similar thing with Let The Wind Tell You collab with fanartists sodbksnso

I just imagined Childe bragging his imaginary waifu/husbando to a fuckin kid like a lonely degenerate omayghad

It's funny how if in this verse he is the top writer, it's divergent to the fact that @xiaowhore is the current top writer

THE ZHONGLI ONE IS THE ABSOLUTE CUTEST AND MOST ENDEARING TOO HFNBNF HE'S A GROWN MAN WITH AAN ANIME KEYCHAIN BUT THE PEOPLE AROUND HIM LOVE HIM TOO MUCH TO SHAME HIM

Venti VENTI would definitely be the type of person to buy Patreon subscription for those VA thingies and gives so much for their kofi account because they love it so much

I can definitely see Kaeya do this but but physical damage can do its work, and Kaeya can miraculously build (y/n) like 17k base attack, food buff, and then Bennett damage multiplier- he's a metaslave for his waifu/husbando

Diluc defo has an ao3 account that he keeps an absolute secret, but if you see his subscriptions, he has double digits of series and authors following

Ganyu bb :(( (Y/N)'s trailer music is much calmer than the demo so tnbee for example made a remix of it which has some of the nice dialogue mixed in, or someone made a 1 hour loop of the official stellar moment release. It's so effective that sometimes Ganyu really can't rest unless she's listening to it full blast.

Ah I love this, I love this all, this must be placed in both masterlists for everyone to see

[hamiathesgiftexchange]

Hamiathes’s Gift Exchange sign ups are open!

If you've done a Yuletide-style exchange on AO3 before, the process should be similar. If you haven't, have a look at the explanation and examples below, check out the FAQ and rules on AO3 and let me know if you have questions!

Also, please spread the word—the more, the merrier. Both fanfic writers and fanartists are welcome to participate!

The signup link is here!

Quick points:

The tagset is big! Consider taking some time to go through it if you want. @jhawkgirl made a wonderful spreadsheet with all the available tags.

Signups are open until Friday, August 11 @ 8pm ET. See what time that is for you!

You'll need an AO3 account to sign up. You can request one here if you don't already have one. We have some extra codes if the wait list is too long so please ping me if that’s the case! 

Please read the rules before signing up so you know what you're agreeing to do

You can see what other people have requested/offered within the exchange itself, as well as on the AO3 Automagic App — group by "character" instead of "fandom" for best results. Note that you may have to re-scrape in order to see the most up to date signups.

Check below the “read more” for more info on how signups work, the “optional details” field, and how to submit your Do Not Wants. And as always, please reach out here or in the QT discord if you have questions! 

How signups work:

Each of us will use a form on AO3 to make requests and offers.

You must make at least two requests, each of which specifies a character or from the tag set and indicates that you’re requesting fanfiction, fanart, or both. You may make up to eight requests. Each request can also include optional details about your preferences, ideas for prompts, etc. More about that below. Your assigned writer or artist is responsible for creating a fanwork featuring the character or relationship in any one of your requests.

Offers are simple—you’ll just list the characters, relationships, or worldbuilding elements from the tag set about whom you’re willing to write or illustrate, specifying whether you’re offering fanart, fanfiction, or both

An important note on relationships--if characters are connected by &, this refers to a platonic relationship. If they are connected by an /, this refers to a romantic or sexual relationship. For example, if you want a story or artwork featuring Irene, request Attolia | Irene. If you want a story or artwork featuring Irene and Relius as friends, request Relationship: Attolia | Irene & Relius. If you want a story or artwork featuring Irene and Relius in a non-platonic, request Relationship: Attolia | Irene/Relius.

Optional details:

When you're making requests, it can be helpful to give your author/artist a little more detail than just the characters you're requesting. Remember that your author or artist is only required to create a work featuring your specified characters. If you ask for a specific story prompt or for art in a particular style, they may not be able to meet that request, and they aren't required to. Try not to be too proscriptive here—think of it as a way to explain why you like these characters and why you're interested in getting fanwork about them, and a way to kickstart your author/artist's creativity if they need it.

You can include either a link to a letter hosted on your journal or type directly in the optional details box in the signup form. If you're linking to your journal, please make sure it isn't friends-locked, or your creator won't be able to see it!

Do Not Want list:

If there's anything you specifically don't want to receive in your gift, you can include a Do Not Want (DNW) list in the optional details section. Examples might be things that squick or trigger you or 'ships you aren't interested in. This isn't about making value judgments, just about indicating your comfort level and making this a good experience for everyone.

Authors and artists must respect this list. When you're specifying Do Not Wants, please include them in the optional details text box in your signup, not in the letter, so I as the mod can be aware of them. If they are not in the optional details box, I cannot enforce them.

Examples of DNWs: sexual content, kidfic, violence, character death. Treats

tl;dr: if you're open to receiving gifts, make sure your AO3 is set to receive gifts and consider indicating in your letter/optional details that you're open to receiving treats! In February 2022, AO3 released a new setting that allows users to choose whether or not they can receive extra gifts. If a person has the setting "Allow anyone to gift me works" selected in their preferences, then AO3 users can give extra gifts to that person, including Hamiathes's Gift Exchange treats. If this setting is not checked, only a user who has an exchange assignment for that person, or who has claimed their prompts in a prompt meme, can give them gifts.

Because of this setting, we have encouraged people to state in their sign-up or profile page if they're open to treats. Mods can also check who's able to receive treats (especially because users could choose to change this setting during the event). If you're not sure if someone would like treats, you are very welcome to ask the mods.

Please also double-check your own settings if you would like to receive gifts! If you created your account after February 2022, you may need to change your settings from the default.

Happy prompting! 

[gatheringfiki]

Hello, hello!

As promised, we will try to run a Durin’s Day Gift Exchange again this year, provided we get a minimum of 10 people signed up :) If we can’t get enough people, we’ll try to run a different event or have a break.

You know how everybody is always going: ‘I’d die if someone drew something based on what I write!’ and ‘I wish someone wrote me something based on what I draw!’? We’re going to make this happen for you!

Now, according to this source, the Durin’s Day this year falls on the 6th of October. What a perfect opportunity to make someone’s day, we thought!

The Plan:

We’re looking to pair up fanartists (including graphics/edits makers) with fanfic authors

If you sign up, you will be expected to create a gift for your partner: either as a part of a joint collab or based on their existing works (art or fic)

If you decide to do a collab, it has to be a brand new idea (not an existing verse), which the two of you will work on together, one writing, the other doing the art for it.

If you decide to base your gift on your partner’s existing work, you can pick anything they published so far. You will have a month to familiarise yourself with their works and create your gift. As a bonus, your own work gets some extra exposure too :)

Guideline effort required: we suggest minimum around 3.5k words and ah, equivalent in artwork. (How do you quantify artwork?!) Like, decent stuff, folks.

Whatever you create is kept a secret until the 6th of Oct (i.e. Durin’s Day), when everyone posts their gifts.

Tag your creations #Durin’s Day 2021 (with spaces) and we will reblog it

Please Note:

You agree that someone else creates something based on your work. Could be a spin-off, fanart, little story, graphic etc. But basically it’s somebody else’s interpretation of your universe.

We accept all the usual pairings (i.e. Fili/Kili or any fictional pairings based on Dean’s and Aidan’s characters). We’ll do our best to accommodate pairing preferences, butif we can’t, we’ll contact you.

The worst thing that could happen with this event is if multiple people drop off throughout. Whilst we understand that RL > fandom, please keep in mind that someone else is creating something based on your work and will be looking forward to it just as much as you are. Please keep your partner and us updated with your progress.

Dates:

28 Aug - 03 Sept (ish)  - Both Artist and Writer signups open

4th Sept - Pairs are assigned at random and published in a post

6th Oct - You post your gifts for each other, we reblog them

We will go ahead if we get a minimum of 5 artists and 5 writers signed up.

Sign ups:

To sign up, please populate this form.

We are no longer accepting sign-ups via a message to GatheringFiki, as in the previous years we have seen this go wrong numerous times.

Yes, both artist sign ups and writer sign ups are open immediately, as of right now, simultaneously. Go forth.

We will also consider some gen (non-shippy) pairs, if we happen to get both artists and writers who don't ship the characters (e.g. Fili & Kili)

This event is on a first come, first served basis, so please sign up as soon as you are committed to taking part

Regardless of how many sign ups we receive in total, we will only go with as many pairs as is possible to create based on artist/writer ratio and your pairing preferences, for example: 7 fanartists = we can sign up to 7 writers

We will likely have some backup writers, who will be expected to fill in, in case of any emergency drop-outs.

It is entirely possible that some overeager organisers might go canvassing during the signup times…

As always, please let us know and give us a shout if you have any questions!

Please reblog, to see if we can find more folks to join us!

~gatheringfiki

[b00ket]

Just ate some shitty chocolate and mulling over my growing dislike of the arcana

Like the characters in the game, fandom (ie. like 5 people), fanartist are cool and sexy

But I feel like I would’ve enjoyed the game more if Nix Hydra actually wanted to portray POC and weren’t such vague and lazy writers

Disclaimer: I talk about Asra but I haven’t finished their route so take this grain of salt

Taking a step back and looking at this game... i don’t like it. Here’s the main reasons why:

They claim to have a diverse story and world but honestly you could change all the characters to look white and nothing would change.

They are so fucking ambiguous it drives me insane. The world in this game is never built up at ALL and neither is the magic system. They have left hints and details of a bigger complex world but never elaborate on it even when it could be relevant to the story.

Magic

Details from some stories aren’t even in others. When explaining magic to my boyfriend I was making a-lot of assumptions about how magic works because everything is so vague.

For example, magic limits are brought up maybe twice. Herbal magic exists (Mazelinka practices it I believe), runes and charms are a thing, glyphs are a thing. All these things are great details for magic that could have been explored as other forms of magic other characters have. Julian using glyph magic was never explored further, Muriel using charms and herbal magic would have been great.

The fact that these are never revisited or expanded upon digs at me. It feels like lost potential.

The minor arcana is a world detail that is only prevalent in the weekly card reading when the concept of another set of arcana is super fucking cool? Even mentioning any form of the minor arcana in the major arcana realms would be a nice tie in. But no its never even mentioned.

The world

Reading the arcana, Vesuvia feels more like a symbol than a place. It lacks a sense of life ehich is strange considering how much time we spend there. Nadia, Portia, Julian and Asra are all people who have a knowledge and understanding of Vesuvia but exploring with them is so focused on romance they lose the chance of building this world.

The outside world follows suit. Aside from names you can’t really tell me anything from outside kingdoms. Anything said about Prakra and Nevivon is vague and broad, even when Julian and Nadia are speaking about it.

The assumptions I’ve made about this world and how it functions are doing a lot of heavy lifting in giving the world life. I’ll make a post about each place in the arcana world about these assumptions just because of how important they are to my interpretations of the characters race. Ill touch on them here.

Race and Culture

This is my biggest gripe with Nix claiming to be diverse. Sure the characters have different skin tones but you could make them white and it wouldn’t affect the plot.

Everyone in this cast is some form of racially ambiguous or their culture is not in anyway important to the plot if mentioned at all.

I cannot speak on Asra’s portion but they’re not from Vesuvia. Their mom wears a headscarf but its never shown whether this is a fashion piece or religious outfit. (The fact that no other person wears a headscarf and it looks like a hijab implies muslim faith exists but its never explained) Asra themself is a magical person in tune with themself. Having them show us some of their culture would have been nice.

Nadia, despite her arc being that of family, never shows any sign of the cultural aspects of Prakra. A nice character touch would be her growing distant from her culture while with Lucio in the palace (spurred on my Lucio’s lack of care and her apathy) and later in the story doing something significant and unique to her culture. Whether it be dressing in a way that’s distinct from Vesuvian citizens to praying or making a Prakran dish with their family.

Muriel’s cultural exploration is the best out of all of the characters as it’s a main plot point. Unfortunately not enough focus is placed on it. A great touch would have been language differences, perhaps even reclaiming the fading language of his tribe after its destruction.

Both Julian and Portia being from Nevivon and having lived on a pirate ship, I expected a deeper look into pirate culture and the life of Nevivon. None are elaborated on so Julian becoming a pirate in his upright ending feels empty as I’m not invested in pirate life at all.

Not doing the bare minimum to flesh out these characters culture means the world feels flat and the characters don’t feel like true representation. A hollow attempt at giving us diverse characters in what should be a living breathing world.

Race and Design

Again, everything is ambiguous.

The smallest gripe I have is that clearly the artists are not people of color. Granted I did get this impression from the fact that the palms of the hands arent lighter than the skin tone. Its a subtle thing but doing it shows a care for detail and it makes my melanin self very happy when it’s shown.

Another smaller gripe is how ambiguous Muriel and Asra look. I had assumed Muriel was just a white guy until the name of his tribe and seeing cultural wear gave a different impression. But I can’t fault anyone fir thinking he was white. Just like I can’t really fault people for thinking Asra is also white.

Why do the lighter skin characters have natural hair colors but as soon as Nadia and Asra are shown they have fantasy hair. While having colorful hair isn’t a crime, its a tactic often used to separate people of color from truly looking like people of color. It was a wall I had from connecting with these characters.

There’s not a single black person in this game. The more I think on it the more it bugs me. So many side characters and yet none of them are black. If the devs hadn’t said the baker is black you could make a strong argument that black or Afro-centric features don’t exist in this world. There is no kinky or very curly hair. Not a wide nose to be seen. Seeing an Asra design that was inspired by African culture and saw it fit the aesthetic so well made me even more confused why there wasn’t any.

It makes me sad truly. You can’t call your game diverse when it isn’t. The Arcana is not a diverse game. It’s a lazy game with a hollow attempt at representation.

I am open to discussion on this as it’s something I’m passionate about. So if you have any insights or want to voice your own opinion I’d be happy to hear it!

[the-dragongirl]

Hello tumblr. I have returned from a long period of inactivity, because I must bring the good word to the corner of the Star Wars fandom that used to be my main fannish home: there is a new era of Star Wars canon that was made just for our taste. It is called the High Republic.

WHAT IS THE HIGH REPUBLIC?

The High Republic is an giant multi-media project being carried out by the Lucasfilm story group to create a brand new era of Star Wars canon. It is set a few hundred years before the prequel era (so, a long time after the Old Republic era), in a period of peace and stability within the Republic. It currently includes several English language adult novels, a YA novel, two serialized comics, a manga, some short stories, and some short video blurbs published on facebook and youtube. A TV show for Disney+ has also been announced, but is a few years off. This project is unique in Star Wars, in that all of the different parts are being written together by one writing team, and are coordinated to tell a cohesive story. Also, what has been announced is just the beginning – they have stated that there will be three different sections of the High Republic, and everything we have had announced so far is just part one. As a note: this is an era for which there was NO pre-existing canon in Legends, so it is totally new territory.

OKAY, THAT’S NICE, BUT WHY SHOULD I BOTHER TO CHECK IT OUT?

There are SO many reasons why the High Republic is worth your time to explore. I will try to outline some of them here below the cut (without any significant spoilers).

IT IS A LOVE LETTER TO THE JEDI

This is the era for everyone who loves the Jedi and wants to understand how they got to the point they did in the prequel era. It shows Jedi at their best: saving people, working together, being completely in tune with the Force (in so many beautiful and original ways), demonstrating creativity and flexibility and being rewarded for it, actually thinking through the ethics of things like the mind trick, and DEALING with their emotions rather than repressing them. It shows us how the rigid Jedi culture was saw in the prequels was a corruption of something that was originally healthy and uplifting. Jedi in this era are allowed to be flawed, and to grow, and have a community that supports them in doing so. This is the Jedi culture so many of us created as fix it fic for the prequel era, but made canon.

IT IS AN ERA OF HOPE

There are some serious problems in the High Republic Era. Without spoilers, the era opens with a terrible humanitarian crisis, laid over the Republic equivalent of the New Deal from US history.  We see a lot of examples of people doing their best to be good to each other, and working for a more just and kind galaxy. They acknowledge that things are not perfect, but people from many different backgrounds (Jedi, politicians, farmers, pilots, business people) work together to try and make things better. I don’t know about you all, but with the darkness we see in the world today, I NEED some of that optimism in my escapist media. The High Republic provides that.

IT WILL GIVE YOU FEELINGS

The existing material so far is structured to really let you emotionally invest in the characters and their struggles. Unlike with many eras of Star Wars canon, characterization is not sacrificed for the sake of plot (though never fear, there is PLENTY of plot). That means there is huge scope for empathy. I’m not going to lie; I cried within the first three chapters of Light of the Jedi, as did several other people I know. It is POIGNANT in a way that feels truly genuine.

IT IS FUN

The writing team understands that, in the end, Star Wars is space fantasy. If your space fantasy is nothing but serious, gritty grimdark, it becomes pretentious and unbearable. So, for all that there is some heavy content in the High Republic (VERY heavy content – the Nihil should really have their own content warning), it has many moments of levity that keep it from taking itself too seriously. For example, the High Republic made Jedi bodice rippers canon. Also, characters like Geode exist (yes, that rock there is a CHARACTER). The result is something which honors the spirit of Star Wars, and keeps you engaged without being tedious or ridiculously depressing.

THE WRITING TEAM HAS DIVERSE PERSPECTIVES

The main writing team consists of five people: Justina Ireland, Claudia Gray, Charles Soule, Daniel José Older, and Cavan Scott. You will note that includes two people of color, two women, and one out Queer person (in fact, one of the writers is all three of those things). This is a far cry from the white-cis-straight-man-dominated writing teams we have seen in the past. And when they bring in other people to the project, they make a point of looking for perspectives that aren’t represented on their team – for example, the manga is being co-written between Justina Ireland and Japanese writer Shima Shinya, and Ireland has stated in interviews that Shinya is taking the lead on the writing.

IT VALUES MEANINGFUL REPRESENTATION

That diverse writing team means a cast that looks WAY more like the real world than any other era of Star Wars we’ve seen, in terms of representation. There are multiple characters of color, who are both heroes and central to the story. There are at least five canonical queer characters to date (a MLM couple, an Ace character, and two NB character).  [EDIT: Thank you @legok9​ for letting me know about the NB characters]. Among binary gendered characters, there is a very even balance of men and women. The writing team has also stated that they will be incorporating more representation of disability in the works to come. And the story is so much better for it – representation is included here BECAUSE it makes for more creative, believable, and original storytelling.

IT IS ACCESSIBLE

Because of the multiple formats, and the fact that it doesn’t rely on you knowing any prior lore, the High Republic offers many avenues to engage for people with all kinds of needs. Know nothing about Star Wars canon and feel intimidated about catching up? The canon is all new in this era anyway, so you’re fine. Can’t handle flashing lights? No problem – the little bit of video content that exists is totally free from the strobing effects that caused seizure and sensory issues. Need purely audio content? You can still have a full experience of the High Republic with the gorgeously sound-scaped audiobooks. Don’t have the attention span for books or long movies? Then the comics are your friend.

THERE IS SOMETHING FOR ALL

Between the books aimed towards adults and teens (and their respective audiobooks), the kids books, the comics, the manga, the short stories, AND the eventual TV show on Disney+, there is going to be content in the High Republic that suits most audiences. And that is just what has been announced so far – there is still more to come for phases II and III. This isn’t Star Wars written towards one group or demographic – it is Star Wars for everyone.

DID I MENTION THE FANCY JEDI UNIFORMS?

Because cosplayers and fanartists? This is the era for you. We are getting Jedi in silks with elaborate gold embroidery. Jedi with jewelry other decorative elements. Even the practical field uniforms have tooled and embossed leather. If you want to draw or make Jedi that have some of that that sweet LoTR-esque high fantasy aesthetic, the High Republic has your back. (Not going to lie – I am ALREADY imagining the time travel AUs. Put Obi-Wan in fancy clothes!)

OKAY, YOU’VE SOLD ME. WHERE SHOULD I START?

I strongly recommend everyone looking to get into the High Republic (who is old enough to be on Tumblr) start with Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule. I alternated between the physical book and the audio book, and found it delightful in both formats. After that, you have a lot of options. You can read or listen to the audio book of the YA novel A Test of Courage by Justina Ireland. You can check out the currently running Star Wars: The High Republic comic from Marvel, or the Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures comic from IDW. Or you can skip straight to Into the Dark by Claudia Gray. Honestly, there is no wrong order to try out most of the High Republic.

IN CONLUSION

The High Republic is Star Wars written for people who DON’T want Star Wars to be a good ‘ol boys club for salty white dudes who don’t want to see anything but more of Luke Skywalker. It offers broad representation, and optimistic narrative, and whole bunch of awesome Jedi content. If you are someone who fell in love with Jedi in the prequel era, the High Republic will give you more of what you loved. And if you are totally new to Star Wars? The High Republic is here for you too.

So, go check it. And then go write fic for it (please, there are only, like, 14 fics on AO3, I am dying).

[oknowkiss]

16, 21, 32 ♡

ohhh thank you!!

16. Do you research for your fics? If so, how deep of a rabbit hole have you gone down by accident when researching?

yes, i do! as an example, here are the tabs i have open for one (1) fic

i don't tend to do big deep dives (mostly because i haven't yet had to write a fic where intensive research on a subject would have been needed), more just a desperate need to get every detail as accurate as possible, so i google a lot of things (as evidenced)... but i do have a couple things planned where i'll probably need to read, like, entire books on the subject beforehand? is it NECESSARY for me to read several scientific papers on cheese before writing a cheesemonger draco fic? NO. will i do it anyway? so that draco can say three sentences with Cheese Words and sound smart??? probably!!

21. What’s your least favorite part about the fanfiction writing process?

translating the visuals i've created in my head into words.

so, i guess, the act of writing. lol.

sometimes i just have SUCH a clear scene in my head and i know EXACTLY how it looks, but taking the visual and transcribing it to a written format--without making it desperately purple--is so difficult. my kingdom for any artistic ability, honestly. i'm a fanartist in a fic writer's body i think.

32. Copy and paste your top three favorite lines/jokes/sentences you’ve ever written. What fics do they come from?

oooh fun!! in no order:

Harry thought the sound of his zipper was the loudest thing that had ever happened. He imagined even his parents had to have heard it, rolling in their graves. -- from my "exhibitionist gay disaster harry WIP," the first time harry whips it out in public

He aches, all over. Inside, between his legs. Inside, beneath his ribs. -- from any day now (sad draco is sad & also fucked)

“And what, exactly, would you do about it?” Draco had asked once, crossing his arms as he watched Potter bustle about his disastrous kitchen, hands in two separate biscuit boxes as he scrambled together a tea tray. 

“Well,” Potter had stopped, taken a bite from a Jaffa Cake and then set it down on the tray, Draco realised with horror fully intending to serve it to him with the bite missing. 

“I suppose I’d have to go down there and give Robards a piece of my mind.”

-- from the very much not abandoned (just stuck!!) 2nd part to a licence to kill. this isn't even about the writing, but more that i just love the version of harry in this fic, who is an effusively gay, absent-minded stoner, and i think that's captured in this little detail

thanks for the asks my love!!

ask me things??