#that should be our goals as fanfic writers

[itsahotminuteinbetween]

you guys ever think about the fact that Dante Alighieri basically self-inserted himself into bible fanfiction and then everyone read it and forced it into their own headcannons

[webs4ribs]

Chillin’ with the Lads™ at Camp Magnus

(Heads up that the TMA discord that I mod for is hosting a “Camp Week” packed full of super cool daily events hosted from July 1st to July 7th and if you’re interested, you should definitely join! The link and more information can be found below the cut.)

Welcome to The Magnus Institute!

We’re a 15+ TMA community and daily live-listen discord server with over 350 members that’s here for you to make friends, chill out, and prepare you for The Magnus Protocol!

Our goal is to foster a community that can involve anyone and everyone: from hardcore TMA veterans to those who have never listened to the podcast before. We've got some epic channels that create fun spaces for artists, writers, gamers, and theorists, along with those who’re just into chilling out.

The start of Camp Week means lots of events! Feel free to join the server to check out the full schedule, but here’s a short list of some events we’ll be hosting from Saturday July 1st to Friday July 7th;

An art contest, a writing contest, quiplash games, trivia nights, presentation nights, daily campfire stories, Gartic Phone games, bracelet making, DJ sets, karaoke, a Bob Ross painting sesh, daily YouTube movie nights, among us, green screen edits, a frantic fanfic sesh, tarot readings, and more!

We’ve also set up cabins to create a little bit of camp spirit and competition! By participating in events, you’ll be able to win points for your cabin which will be tallied at the end of the week to determine who reigns supreme! You’ll be able to choose to join 1 of 4 cabins; Gertrude’s Goobers, Leitner’s Losers, Mikaele’s Malewives, and Smirke’s Seniors.

We also have a Minecraft Server dropping on the 1st along with the start of camp week! So if you’re into mining or crafting, make sure to check out the server.

I should also note that a big part of our server’s draw is the daily live listens. We’ve been listening to an episode of TMA every day since March, and as of today (the 26th), we’re on MAG 92 - Nothing Beside Remains. So, if you’d like to join us (or catch up) and listen to the last half of the podcast alongside a live chat every day at 6pm BST and 6pm PT, then we’d love to have you!

That’s about as much condensed information as I can give you without making this wall of text even thicker. If for any reason the discord link doesn’t work for you, or you’re having trouble accessing the server, just send me a DM and I’ll be happy to help you out!

Can’t wait to meet you guys! Have fun!

[emrowene]

Webserials and Why You Should Read Them

Welcome to a short primer on webserials! The concept behind them is pretty simple: webserials, also called webnovels or webfiction, are serialized online novels. If you read long fanfics OR webcomics, you're probably already familiar with the concept. Authors release new chapters on a fixed basis, usually one chapter a week (but sometimes more, sometimes less).

You can find webserials in several places: on big platforms like tapas and royalroad, on individual authors' websites or patreons, or on newsletter platforms like substack.

So now we know what webserials are, but why should we support them?

Because webserials are fun. Because webserial authors are sharing amazing works online for free! Because the publishing industry is disproportionately hard to get into for queer and marginalized folks, and those are the people writing webserials.

To climb a little higher onto my soapbox, I believe webserials are the future of accessible and diverse publishing. There's been more and more discussion about the problems with traditional publishing: how publishers are turning it into a "fast fashion" industry, spitting out books while overall book quality decreases. Regardless of whether you believe that, it's true that the industry prioritizes "marketability" over anything else. Experimental books, passion projects, books that have a lot of heart but no pithy "tropes" -- they stand little chance in the world of traditional publishing, and self-publishing is incredibly inaccessible for most of us. It's expensive, but more than that, it takes an incredible amount of time and effort. It's a business, and at the end of the day, some of just want to share the stories we love with people we hope will love them too. And that's the beauty of webserials!

One complaint I've seen about webserials is that "you never know what the quality will be like" - and I've seen this from people who regularly read fanfiction! Like fanfiction writers, we have our beta readers, we have our editors, we pour our hearts into developing our stories. So give us a try!!

Some recs and places to get started under the cut:

My webserials:

Fractured Magic - A queer epic fantasy series about a broken hero’s hunt for redemption and an elven prince’s quest to rescue his kidnapped king. The two estranged friends are racing against time - and dead gods - to achieve their goals. Will they make up and work together before it’s too late? (This story is currently ongoing)

The Case Files of Sheridan Bell - An old-school detective mystery set in Tamarley, a fantastical city with magical murders and doors to other worlds. Basically (queer, autistic) Sherlock Holmes but with more faeries. The first mystery is complete; the second will be published soon!

Some other webserials I follow/followed from start to finish:

What Manner of Man by @stjohnstarling - a queer gothic romance novel about a priest and a vampire.

The Warthog Report by @warthogreporter- this substack contains a selection of nonfiction writing, misc. fiction writings, and Battles Beneath The Stars, a serialized story about a tournament in a fantasy world, styled like a fighting game script/walkthrough.

Kiss it Better by DogshitJay - A (definitely 18+) queer adult romance about the messy endings and messier beginnings of love.

Warrior of Hearts by Beau Van Dalen - a queer slice of life romance following an online friendship that blossoms into something more. (Beau has lots of other great webserials as well!)

More places to look:

Tapas (Community novels page)

Royalroad (mostly known for its litrpg scene, but you can find other novels and genres here as well!)

The ao3 "Original Works" tag!

[54625]

I'm not sure if this is the end for the QSMP, but I wouldn't be surprised if it were shut down soon after this.

The eggs have been the lifeblood of the server since they were introduced, and having some of them permanently gone from the server is devastating for so many reasons, and bodes terribly for the future of this project. My optimism has run out. I will still wait for updates but I have no hope.

However, I wanted to write a piece for the community here on Tumblr. I know we're all very emotional right now, because while we have no confirmation that the QSMP will permanently close, we now have good reason to assume there might just be no other clear path out of this.

To the community:

Do not feel like you have to stop loving the server and everything it created. Do not stop creating art. Do not stop sharing why you loved the characters and the story and the world.

To completely boycott everything QSMP, you are discrediting the incredible work that the admins put into the server purely out of passion and the kindness of their hearts. Do not waste their sacrifices. Talk about the server and everything they did for it, give them recognition, let them know we love and appreciate all the time and care they poured into this project. Thank them by caring about their work that they put so much of themselves into.

To completely boycott everything QSMP, you are ignoring the beautiful friendships it created between content creators who otherwise would never have met, and the way it ignited such a fierce determination to learn about others' cultures in them. You are forgetting how much these streamers strived to tell engaging, relatable, fun stories, by themselves or with each other, and to have their fans talk about how much they liked their newest lore. You are refusing to acknowledge the effort put in by everyone on the project to tell amazing stories through the language barrier.

And to completely boycott the QSMP, you are denying yourself the fact that you loved this server; the eggs, the streamers, the stories, the cultural events, the laughter, the sadness, the friendships, the ship ships, the builds, the mods, the languages. You are part of this server for enjoying it's wonderful vitality and beauty and hilarity. As a community, we all are.

I have had my gripes with the QSMP fanbase, as anyone has gripes with the dysfunctional mad household they live in, but at the end of the day, I love it so much. This has been my first time actually being part of a fandom; interacting with people and sharing my art and my ideas, getting into silly debates and arguments, running my mouth off more than I should. I love this bizarre toxic fandom for all of it's worth; I love the fanfic writers (even if I think their characterisation is terrible), I love the fanartists (even if they give Pac those yellow scleras that always make me think of jaundice), I love the live bloggers (even if they clog up the main tag), I love the people who write analysis, the people who make animations and animatics, the people who webweave, and all the other things people in this fandom do to interact with the media we all collectively love and bond over.

We do not need to let this be the end of our community, as we can still share our admiration for the hard work put into this project, lift each other up, express praise where it is warranted.

And we can talk to each other, we can vent about how this has negatively effected us (provided we tag it appropriately 👁️👁️) and respond in kind to those seeking someone to speak to who relates.

The QSMP taught us the value of communication. While behind the scenes, it itself did not abide by it's own rules, we can. The QSMP itself is not the figurehead of communication; the content creators and the fans it sent this message to are. We can be an example of what the QSMP should have stood for.

I do not love the deeply flawed execution of the QSMP, but with my whole heart I love the idea; the ambition, the goal. It was noble. It, to some extent, worked.

It united communities.

Let it unite ours.

[bg3ficreviews]

Send us your BG3 fanfics to review!

(FIC SUBMISSIONS CLOSED)*

BUT APPLICATIONS FOR REVIEWERS OPEN!**

Hi everyone, and welcome to BG3FicReviews! We're a group of writers and fanfic authors who have decided to come together to write reviews of Baldur's Gate 3 fan fiction. We aim to support fanfic authors in our community by sharing the works we love (and what we love most about them) with the BG3 community. **We have recently published draft fic review guidelines and we're ready to start taking on more reviewers! Please send us an ask & tell us more about yourself! Please also send us your email address and/or Discord details so that we can reach out to you! We're very excited for the future! 🙌 If you would like us to review your fanfic, please send us an ask with a link to your work and a short description, and we will add your work to our review queue. Works that are in our current queue to review will be placed in the BG3FicReviews queue collection on AO3. Works we have already reviewed can be found in this AO3 collection here.

*We've temporarily closed submissions to catch up with all our current fics in the queue to review! Thank you to everyone who submitted their work to us. We're honoured that you would allow us to read and review your work! (Current queue: +-68 works 👀)

Thank you for your support and please keep creating and sharing your incredible work!

If you want to meet the team of BG3FicReviews, check out our post here!

Below the fold are our fic submission guidelines, our FAQs, and a master list of all our reviews we have posted!

Last updated: 14 July 2024.

FIC SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

When you submit your fic, please be sure to include the following:

A link to your work & the pseud/handle you publish under (regardless of platform)

The title of your work

Any tags we should be aware of

A brief summary

Any social media you would like to be tagged in the review when we publish it (please include a link to your profile)

If you have commissioned artwork for your fic, please feel free to let us know! We would be happy to post it with the review of your work

You can submit your fic to us through our asks here. Please note that we won't respond to your ask (unless we need further information) and we will just add it to our queue and will get to reviewing it as soon as we can. Please don't worry when you don't get a response to your ask from us! You'll know all is well as soon as you spot your work in the review collection, which you can check here.

FAQs

We are currently compiling an FAQs master post based on questions from the community! This will be updated as we go, so if you have any questions that don't appear in the FAQs post, please send us an ask! We've gone into some detail about our goals for BG3FicReviews in this post.

REVIEW MASTER LIST

Please find our AO3 collection of works we have already reviewed here. The Wilted Dreams of Baldur's Gate series (Review published 3 April 2024)

A seven-part collection examining Astarion and Tav’s relationship across the game and post-canon. There’s something for everyone in this series with some fluffy slice of life here, a little angst there, and a generous portion of smut.

Thunder Reforged: Rolan x Dammon works (Review published 27 March 2024)

What's hotter than a tiefling wizard with a knack for a well-timed thunderwave? Said tiefling wizard having a rendezvous with his tiefling blacksmith paramour, of course.

The Loving Master series (Review published 18 March 2024)

A series based on the worst possible version of Ascended Astarion as he masters the art of creating his own vampire spawn cohort and inflicts pain and anguish on them in what he has deluded himself into believing is 'kindness'. Tags include: NSFW; dead dove; sexual trauma.

Too Many Burdens to Bear (Review re-published 15 March 2024)

A story based on the once Archdruid of the Emerald Grove Halsin Silverbough and his lover and partner Kiaran, the author's durge OC. Tags include: NSFW; sexual trauma.

[shaunashipman]

I don’t mean this as a diss, but I feel like if certain buddie shippers get buddie they still won’t be satisfied? I hope that makes sense. It’s just as a lurker in this fandom there’s a clear difference in both sides. One keeps moving goal posts (as others said) and quite literally conspiring every little thing in interviews, actors social media, and even plotting against people, and I know the others aren’t innocent all the way but they’re handling their ship with a more open minded attitude. I guess what I’m trying to say is if their day does come of a canon buddie, don’t they think they should calm down a little? Maybe it’s just me but carrying all these negative emotions and unleashing them so big before what they’re calling the “path to Buddie” but I don’t think I’d be completely satisfied celebrating. And then I worry their expectations are too big for what the actors and writers can deliver, especially if it’s hard to break from their habit as shippers.

oh they most definitely won't be satisfied, they've built it up too big. they'd cheer in the moment, however it would happen, but by the next episode, when it doesn't become the Buddie Show and their relationship isn't shown exactly as they pictured, they'll riot. because they want a fanfic played out by the actors, not the actual show

and I think the bucktommy side has taken notice and we've consciously tried to do the opposite. yeah, some of us were probably disappointed we didn't get more of them in the last two eps (🙋‍♀️) but the majority of us had been sure to temper our expectations in all our theorizing, so we were more than happy with what we did get; even with all my thoughts on how s8 will go, I still remind myself that Lou isn't confirmed yet, there could still be a between seasons break up, whether for creative or practical reasons. I'd be extremely disappointed, and think it would make very little sense from a creative pov giving where they left off, but it's still something I keep in mind (if at the very back lmao) and I think a lot of others do too

it kind of sucks that we do have to basically add these disclaimers, when before fandom would just understand that, even with canon ships, 99% of what we speculated was never going to happen, but with the wall between the cast/crew and the fans being so eroded, it's important to keep it in mind

[writingquestionsanswered]

Interested in Writing But Can't Seem to Write

Anonymous asked: I've been interested in writing since I was a child. Used to be a bookworm. Whole chapter books in one night, completely addicted as a form of escapism. My first real dream job was to be an author - I decided this at around 11 maybe. No matter how many phases I've had, I always return to wanting to be an author. I am 22 now. I have not written a single thing. I vaguely remember writing like, maybe 3 things at most. Incomplete works that I just had fun with. And this was before I even turned 14. But in all those years of "loving writing and books" and "wanting to be an author" I did straight up nothing. Didn't even contribute to fanfics for the fandoms I was deeply obsessed with (I do remember trying once but wasn't into it). At some point reading was out of my life too.

I'm going to start here, because of these conflicting statements:

-- "I have not written a single thing." -- "I vaguely remember writing like, maybe 3 things at most."

See the issue? ;) If you've written "maybe 3 things" you have written something. They may have been incomplete, and you may not even remember what you were, but that doesn't mean you should discount them. You have written. That experience is still in there somewhere.

One of my biggest pet peeves as a longtime writer is hearing newer writers refer to themselves as "aspiring writers." If you write, you're a writer. Period. It doesn't matter if you journal, write poetry, write fan-fiction, or wrote a middle-school round robin with friends where you all married your favorite K-Pop stars. You write. You're a writer. And, honestly, even if you're not actively writing right now, if you want to write--if you think about writing, are constantly jotting down story ideas and character names, and are eagerly gathering inspiration from all around you... guess what? You're still a writer.

Now I'm trying to take my interest in writing more seriously, but I just can't sit down and write. I'm good at storing notes and ideas and daydreaming what my stories are about, but nothing is ever produced. If I think about it I immediately lose interest - even if I am in fact still interested in writing and publishing? I'm very confused by my behaviour and I wonder if it's normal.

What you're experiencing isn't unusual. In fact, most writers experience it from time to time, though usually it happens at points further into the writing journey and not right at the start. But I still wouldn't call that "abnormal." It happens.

There are a hundred-million reasons why it happens, and the only way to figure out why it's happening for you right now is to do some soul-searching. At your age, I think a prime suspect would be that you're in the jumping off point for your adult life. This can be a tumultuous time for a variety of reasons, and your focus and energy may be naturally geared toward the things that help you explore and settle into this new phase of life. Even beyond that, if you have have a demanding job (including being a parent or caregiver), are going to school or studying for job-related tests/classes, or have a lot going on right now (multiple projects, lots of travel, lots of appointments and social commitments, etc.)--your focus and energy is probably running thin as it is, so finding a way to funnel what's left into writing is going to take some finesse. And that's if this is even the right time for it, which I'll get to later on.

Writing Stress = Writing Avoidance

One of the most mind-blowing things I've learned about writing is that writing avoidance often comes down to writing feeling stressful for whatever reason. If you're putting a lot of pressure on yourself to write, write a certain amount, meet goals or deadlines, that translates to stress. It makes writing stressful, and the problem with that is evolution has wired our brains to avoid things that are stressful. At its most basic level, stress is a response to danger--you hear a lion roar in the distance, it causes you stress, you turn and run in the opposite direction. Stress triggers the "fight or flight response," a defense mechanism that protects us from the impending danger. With writing, "fight" shows up as self-criticism. "Flight" shows up as avoidance.

So, if you find that you want to write but are avoiding it, it's worth considering if you're avoiding it because it feels stressful to you. If so, there are things you can do to de-stress writing. For one thing, let go of the notion that you have to write any particular thing or amount in order to be a writer. Set yourself a bare minimum writing goal to reach every day... like writing for 10 minutes. That can be any writing--journaling, writing prompts, working on a story, fleshing out story ideas, fluffy fan-fiction, poetry, writing down a favorite memory, doing a book or movie review, anything. Try to do it every day, but don't beat yourself up if you sit down and aren't able to write anything, don't write a lot, or never sit down at all. Just try, every day, do your best. Also, try setting up a writing routine that you do every day when you sit down for that little writing session. Try to pick the same or similar time each day, do a little meditation or stretch beforehand, put on some soft music or light a candle, get your favorite drink or small snack. If you do this almost every day, what you'll start to find is that the writing happens more and more easily. Eventually you'll be spend more and more time doing it.

Why can I say I'm interested in writing when I don't write at all?

I'm interested in traveling to England but I haven't yet and have no current plans to. Does that mean I'm not allowed to say I'm interested in traveling to England?

Being interested in something doesn't mean you have to do that thing right now or you can't say you're interested in it.

And even if you can't write right now for whatever reason, there are still plenty of writerly things you CAN do. Following writing blogs and vlogs is a good start. You can listen to writing podcasts and read writing craft books. You can keep a notebook full of plot and character ideas, setting inspiration, favorite quotes, interesting words, and overheard bits of dialogue. You can watch TV shows and movies (and read books, which includes listening to audiiobooks!) You don't even have to do these things all the time or everyday. Just periodically, when you can. It all goes into your creative well and will be there to draw from when you are able to write.

One final word...

You do not have to be in a hurry to be a writer or to be a published writer. The average age of first-time publication is mid-30s. I was mid-40s. Jane Austen was 35. Toni Morrison was 40. J.R.R. Tolkien was 45. Richard Adams was 52. Annie Proulx was 57. Laura Ingalls Wilder was 65. National Book Award winner Harriet Doerr was 74. Poet Sarah Yerkes started writing poetry at 97 and was published at 101.

So, be interested in writing. Own that interest. Figure out if and how writing fits into your life right now. If it doesn't, do the other things. Fill your creative well so it will be ready when writing does fit into your life. ♥

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

Learn more about WQA

Visit my Master List of Top Posts

Go to ko-fi.com/wqa to buy me coffee or see my commissions

[spnfanficpond]

SPN Rewatch: FanFic Edition

Our goal is to rewatch the show with fanfic writing in mind. We want to look for all the places in canon where we could add a scene, show a scene from a certain character’s point of view, or change something to make things turn out differently. (We may also critique what the show writers did; that seems inevitable.)

Episodes we're discussing: 3.01 The Magnificent Seven and 3.02 The Kids Are Alright

What time will it be for you:

UTC - Saturday 16:00

Los Angeles - Saturday 9am

New York - Saturday noon

London - Saturday 5pm

New Delhi - Saturday 9:30pm

Melbourne - Sunday 2am

Who’s invited? All Pond members, including Turtles! You don’t have to be a writer to have an opinion on the episodes that could inspire a writer! Everyone has valuable opinions about the show and could spark conversation and inspiration.

Where will we meet? In the discord server.  (You must be a member to be in the Discord server. Not a member? Fill out this form here.) There is a special channel for us to chat in so we don’t disturb other chats happening at the same time.

How does it work? On our own, whenever we have time, we all watch two episodes of SPN. At the appointed time, we all get together and chat about them. Although we have several questions to consider and creative ideas for you to do if you want, there is no pressure to actually have answers to these questions or have created anything prior to the chat. Didn’t get to watch them? No biggie! We’ve all watched these episodes enough that we can probably talk about them without rewatching them!

More info under the cut!

What questions should we consider while we watch? We have a few questions you can keep in mind while you’re watching the episodes:

Are there any “fanfiction gaps” in this episode? Any places between scenes where a juicy story could happen? (For example, one scene ends at night, but the next scene begins during the day, and what did they do with all of that time?)

How would the episode be different if you changed one thing? What is changed is up to you. It could be as complex as a character making a different choice, or as simple or silly as someone wearing a funny hat throughout part or all of the episode.

What about this episode would you like to see happen differently? How would making that change affect future episodes?

List any parts of each episode that you think could be jumping-off points for a fic. Like, in the pilot, how did Sam meet their friend who was in the bar with them?

How would the episode be different if there were another character involved like a reader insert character?

Do any of the themes we've already discussed in The Archive (See the bottom of the doc under the heading "Thematic docs") show up in this episode? Does this episode bring up any new themes we should be watching out for in the future?

What else can we do before the chat? You can add any notes you have about the episodes we'll be discussing to The Archives! In addition, besides just discussing the fanfiction possibilities in every episode, we also want to encourage you to create things centered around the episodes we’re discussing and share them with the rest of us. Things like:

Write some meta about some part of the episode. What does this episode show us about one or more of the characters?

Write a fic based on the episode. Share a link to your fic in the discussion and we can talk about it!

Make a playlist that you feel reflects the mood of the episode.

Make some art or a photo collage or edits to go along with the episode.

We look forward to seeing everything you create! Be sure to tag us so we can reblog your work!

Have questions about this or anything else? Send us an ASK or send a private message to one of the admins below!

Admins:

Michelle - @mrswhozeewhatsis

Marie - @mariekoukie6661

MJ - @thoughtslikeaminefield

Mana - @manawhaat (Founder and Admin Emeritus)

[dreadfutures]

2024 DA Fanfic Server OC SWAP Fics!

Every year in April, the DAFF server does a semi-secret round-robin gift exchange where the goal is to write a gift fic using your assigned person's OC. The gifts are always phenomenal, heartfelt, and give a glimpse of how your character is loved through someone else's eyes. Click the link above to read the 18 gift fics!

This year, I wrote for two different lovely writers, and both fics were OC & OC crossovers. I was so inspired by their characters I couldn't resist.

I wrote two of our Mahariels meeting as they quest for a cure for the Blight. And I gave a Trevelyan and my Lavellan the dragon fight we've all been rooting for!

The Dragon Age Fanfic Writers Discord Server anniversary (Aug 2021) generated a bunch of crossover-type gift fis and introduced the idea of a multiverse connected by eluvians. Thus, the Mirrorverse was born. This is an OPEN collection for ANYONE'S FICS that feature Dragon Age OCs who meet via the eluvians-to-the-multiverse plot gimmick. (I hope to see your own soon ;) )

Death is an Open Door

for Ghila Mahariel ( @ammoniteflesh )

Rating: T Words: 8100 (Crossover Mahariel & Mahariel).

Old Wardens told tales of long-gone companions and how they knew it was time to go. When hair thinned and nails grew sharp; when bone spurs sprouted or muscles began to hunch; when the eyes grew milky and the veins grew dark, and the light of the sun burned like the Maker’s wrath… that was when a Warden was a Warden no longer.

Mahariel had never known old Wardens.

Mahariel traveled at night.

Faust's Ghila Mahariel and my Halevune Mahariel are both worn out ten years after the Blight: shem politicians have not made good on the promises made to Ferelden's elves, and both Mahariels struggle with a lot of guilt, regret, and frustration. They both set out in search of something: a cure for the Blight, or at least its source. But their eluvian journey leads them from their own worlds, where each is the singular Hero of Ferelden, to somewhere in-between. Together.

It felt like the perfect mirror/foil set up for the two Mahariels and gave me the chance to write some horror and some ancient elven legends to boot!

and a second fic:

Unbreakable, Unbowed, Unyielding

for Theresa Tervelyan ( @warpedlegacy )

Rating: T Words: 2600 (Crossover Female Trevelyan & Female Lavellan, Female Trevelyan/Cullen Rutherford)

Tess, if it's this important we can march the blasted halla in with some troops to guard it. — Cullen

“For once,” said Inquisitor Theresa Trevelyan, a wry smile aimed at her advisers, “that might actually be a good idea, Commander.”

I love Theresa with all my heart, and her writer Duchess. I was able to write a little Cullen-centric mysterious mini adventure for her for the winter holiday exchange, but we've always talked about "Ixchel and Theresa should slay a dragon together!"

Now they have!

Featuring battle couples, mid-combat banter, a dash of humor, and a bit of a cliff hanger, I hope it inspires more Mirrorverse crossovers.

[beneathashadytree]

i sorry for saying this but i have to be honest, i dont understand why the LnDs MC having a gender is a problem, i mean, i understand you making a gn OC for some kind of support or representation but not why the MC, who already have a female body (and with that i mean biologically, the old fashion way everyone would visualise in their minds at first when they hear "female body", after all even if we young ones think this patter is wrong it still a pattern old ppl and from different cultures, and almost everyone understand and learned at first at a very young age) and if im not wrong also refered as "she" im the game, cant be described with anything that isnt gender neutral, i also have no idea why someone would be offended or feel not included reading about a MC with a gender, we all are different and is impossible to include everyone, ppl can feel not included for things you cant even imagine would be a problem, and not being able to see yourself on a story once isnt a big problem, you can ignore or jump to the next one, or just see the character like a character or another person that isnt youself.

I hope you dont get mad at this (and was able to understand my point, i usually have problems communicating with others and since english isnt my native language it gets worst), its that i just dont see the point in all this, i understand having a preference or incentivating one but not feeling somenthing bad and being against the other...

I understand what you’re trying to say, nonnie, but I have to point out a few things first. First off, I shouldn’t have to explain my own boundaries because at the end of the day, they are boundaries and should not be discussed. When something makes me uncomfortable, I shouldn’t be negotiating why people should respect that and stick to it without questioning my motives.

However, I understand you have no ill intentions, so I will be answering you—not because I’m obligated to, but because I want to point out where your line of thinking comes to harm marginalized communities.

The very simple answer is this: Because I’m a fanfic writer.

I’m not creating the MC in a game where she physically has a body and an appearance. Otome games were initially made as fantasies for their players to picture themselves in romantic situations. But since most Otome games have female MCs with very stereotypical appearances, most people who do NOT look like that end up having to imagine an OC/someone else in their place. It’s a shitty feeling; to feel left out because game producers can’t be assed to create more diverse options.

Second of all, the “old fashioned way” was already fucked up from the start, because even female bodied people are much less likely to look like Otome game MCs—who are almost dauntingly pretty, have virtually no physical blemishes, have straight hair, big eyes, and are incredibly thin. Now think of all the people who do NOT fit that physical description and are almost always excluded. When I visualize a female body like you say, I don’t instantly picture a perfect-looking skinny fair-skinned girl who looks not a day past 18. Because female bodies aren’t just one thing or the other. It’s a beautiful spectrum.

Third of all, leaving “old fashioned thinking” as it is is already a harmful concept. Should we ignore white people’s racism because it’s how they were brought up in the old-fashioned way? Should we allow sexism & misogyny in our communities because it’s how they were brought up back in the day? Should we encourage fatphobia by not silencing people because being thin and encouraging EDs was acceptable? Should we let homophobic hate crimes keep occurring because that’s what used to happen?

The number one goal of our new generations should be to reconstruct society and dismantle all the harmful practices that were done by our predecessors. Ending the cycle is our responsibility and no one else’s, and to do that, we have to take active measures to undo what they’ve done and erase what is “the norm.” Just thinking it’s wrong isn’t enough; we must take action to cut that shit out.

And because these were the “old-fashioned ways” it’s still the default for almost every writer to create for a female audience. Imagine a fandom has 200 writers. 190 would write for female MCs, and only 10 writers would write for more diverse MCs. Should everyone else that is not female (and, by the way, gender-queer people represent a massive percentage of fandoms online, and males do exist within our fandom spaces) just keep living their lives having to picture other people instead of themselves, because not enough people care enough to include them in their writing?

Here’s a realistic representation of what you’re saying: let’s say there are 2 million LNDS players around the world. 1 million are female. 1 million are not. The second 1 million will never get to see themselves as the MC. Now they can’t even picture themselves in fiction? Should the second 1 million be forced to feel left out in their own fandom space?

The same also happens with race representation in fandoms. Less than 50% of the world population is white. Yet we don’t see except very few people in fandoms writing for Black people, Latinos, Arabs, South-Asians, South-East Asians, Inuits, Native Americans, etc. Why is that? It’s because fandoms are catered towards white people. So should we just let the entire half of the globe never feel included in the art/writing fandom creators make? Do they not deserve representation and comfort too?

So when I write, I write for everyone. And when I say everyone, I mean EVERYONE. Because I think everyone deserves to see themselves loved and cared for by their favorite characters. Because everyone needs that sort of comfort. Because I myself have spent my entire life looking for that comfort in fandom spaces and never finding it. Even if the game doesn’t allow them to do that, I’m giving everyone a chance to enjoy the game through their own eyes, without having to be a stereotypical skinny girl with sleek straight hair and a dainty face. Because we want representation, and if the canon content can’t give us that (even though they claim it’s supposed to be “us”), then at the very least our fandom spaces should provide this. I hope you understand why my rules are there now. They’re a protection for both myself and everyone else in this fandom.

Fanfiction was created by the people, for the people—not just for a certain demographic that fits beauty standards and “old fashioned thinking”—and it should always be for ALL the people.

Being as inclusive as is humanly possible is never a bad thing. Refusing to see why consistently excluding others is wrong IS a bad thing, though.

[castleficpromoter]

CastleFicPromoter’s Castle Ficathon 2024

Greetings!

This “contest” isn’t a competition against others, merely a fun way for the Castle fandom and its talented fanfiction writers to generation some awesome stories over the summer season.

Participating stories should be posted on Fanfiction.net (or Archive of Our Own). Stories posted on FFnet will be included in the “favorites” list on the CFPromoter FFnet account. Links will also be tweeted through CFPromoter’s twitter account and blogged/reblogged on tumblr.

Word Count Goals:

Mini-Ficathon – 25,000 words

Ficathon – 50,000 words

Maxi-Ficathon – 75,000 words

Ultra-Ficathon – 100,000 words

Submissions will be accepted starting Monday, May 6, 2024 and ending at midnight on Friday, September 6, 2024. You can start writing at any time, but only fanfics posted within the timeframe will be accepted as part of the Summer Ficathon challenge.

Anyone can join, experienced and new fanfiction writers alike. Everyone is welcomed. The main point is to have fun!

Stories are to be posted on your own FFnet account, but should have “Castle Ficathon 2024” somewhere in the summary, so that readers know the story is a participant. Stories posted on AO3 are also acceptable this year and, just as with stories posted on FFnet, should have “Castle Ficathon 2024” somewhere in the summary. (sidenote: If you are posting your ficathon story only on AO3, let me know, otherwise I might miss it - Thanks!)

If you post a link to the story on Twitter, feel free to tag @CFPromoter in your tweet, so I’m aware your story is posted. I’ll be using the hashtag “CastleFicathon2024” and “CF2024” on Twitter (and tumblr) when I do tweet promotions.

Every participant will receive an individualized digital badge of participation at the end of the challenge. Participants will receive an additional badge for the word count level achieved at the end of Ficathon. Those who break 75k will also receive a personalized wallpaper based off the Castle Ficathon 2024 key art.

Need help coming up with ideas? Feel free to check out the prompt list on our tumblr page, or the many prompts to be found on the Castle Fanfic Prompts tumblr.

Don’t stress if you have trouble with updating regularly, the main point is to have fun, so… no pressure.

Questions? Concerns? Contact me!

Message me on tumblr, PM us on FFN, or tweet me.

Have fun everyone, and happy writing!

- Travis (aka @lordofkavaka​)

[thestraggletag]

this is @rumbelle-scream! i've been in love with rumbelle since sept. 2023, and i missed getting The Thing when i first started!!!

as a rumbeller 🫡 may i please ask for The Thing? 🥹

One The Thing coming right up!

WELCOME TO RUMBELLE, YOU SWEET SUMMER CHILD. I SEE YOU THERE, SO YOUNG, SO FRESH, SO WOOBIE. LET ME SLOWLY CLASP YOU TO MY BOSOM IN A MOTHERLY WAY.

NOW YOU STUMBLE AROUND, A LITTLE LOST RUMBELLE CHICK NEEDING LOVE AND GUIDANCE, TREMBLING WITH THE FORCE OF A THOUSAND BOTTLED-UP FEELS. NEVER FEAR, FOR WE’LL TAKE YOU IN, SINCE YOU HAVE BECOME

ONE OF US.

WE HAVE TEA, FOR YOUR SHATTERED FEELS. WE KNOW IT HURTS, WE’VE ALL BEEN THERE. MOST OF USE JUST DUMP A LOT OF VODKA INTO THAT TEA. IT’D BE EASIER TO JUST DUMP A TEA BAG INTO A BOTTLE OF SMIRNOFF, TO BE HONEST.

HERE, DEARIE, ARE SOME GIFS I BRING FORTH TO YOU SO YOU CAN BLOG ABOUT YOUR FEELS, AND HOW RUMBELLE RUINED YOUR LIFE AND YOU LOVE IT. TAKE THEM, DON’T BE SHY. YOU WILL NEED THEM, YOUNG PADAWAN. THEY WILL BECOME YOUR NEW LANGUAGE. BE WARNED, LITTLE ONE, FOR THEY ARE OF A SPOILERY NATURE THAT MIGHT HURT YOUR WEE EYES. THEY’RE ALSO AWESOME, SO YOU SHOULDN’T STARE AT THEM DIRECTLY.

LIKE AN ECLIPSE.

OR RUMPLE’S LEATHER PANTS.

AND SINCE THIS IS A PRETTY COMPLEX FANDOM I DIRECT YOU TO A WELCOME PAGE SO YOU CAN GATHER YOUR BEARINGS AND EXPLORE MORE OF THIS MAGICAL LAND OF CHIPPED CUPS AND SEXY SCALY MEN. IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS THERE YOU’LL FIND ANSWERS. IF NOT YOU CAN ALWAYS SEEK THERUMBELLE TAG, AND POST QUESTIONS THERE. RUMBELLERS ARE ALWAYS THERE TO ANSWER.

ALWAYS. RUMBELLERS DON’T SLEEP.

IF YOU FEEL THE NEED FOR SOME LOVELY VISUAL REPRESENTATIONS OF THE UTTER PERFECTION THAT IS THIS SHIP I DIRECT YOU TO THE RUMBELLE ARTTAG, WHERE MANY TALENTED PEOPLE POST TALENTED THINGS THAT PRODUCE BOTH AWE AND ENVY.

AND LAST, AND THIS IS WHAT I’M KNOWN FOR…

WE.

HAVE.

PORN.

NO, NOT LIKE OTHER FANDOMS. NOT SOME PORN. NOT ANY PORN. WE HAVEALL THE PORN.

ALL OF IT.

EVERY KINK.

EVERY FANTASY.

EVERY POSITION.

FOOD SEX, PEGGING, BONDAGE, S&M (BUT THE REAL TYPE, NO INNER GODDESSES, ALL KINKY FUCKERY), CANE PORN, PRIEST PORN, CANNIBAL PORN, SHADOW!SEX, DADDY!DOM, DOM/SUB, BLOODPLAY, MIRROR-SEX, PREGNANCY KINKS, POWER-SEX, INTERSPECIES SEX, LACTATION PORN, DAGGER!PORN, RAPTOR!PORN, MAGICAL SEX AND MANY MORE.

WE GOT THE SORT OF STORIES WHERE THE DARING SWORD FIGHTS, MAGIC SPELLS AND PRINCES IN DISGUISE ARE EASIER TO BELIEVE IN THAN WHATEVER TANTRIC, MARATHONIC SEX-A-TON RUMPLE AND BELLE ENGAGE IN DAILY IN FIC, WHICH DEFIES THE ENDURANCE OF THE HUMAN BODY AND THE LAWS OF PHYSICS.

I DIRECT YOU NOW TO MY FANFIC REC LIST, WHERE YOU SHALL FIND MANY TREASURES. I ALSO GIVE YOU A REC LIST OF REC LISTS (A LIST-CEPTION, SO TO SPEAK). YOU CAN ALWAYS GO TO THE RUMBELLE FICTAG IF YOU FEEL YOU NEED MORE RUMBELLE PORN FICS IN YOUR LIFE. AND YOU WILL. AND IF YOU WANNA HIT THE MOTHERLOAD OF RUMBELLE FANFICTION CHECK OUT THE RUMBELLE LIBRARY, RIPE WITH DECADENT FICS FOR YOUR PERUSAL.

IN THIS FANDOM WE LIKE TO CELEBRATE WITH FIC, COPE WITH FIC AND START MASSIVE FIC WARS SO THERE ARE SEVERAL YEAR-ROUND EVENTS DESTINED TO BRING FORTH MORE RUMBELLE SEXYTIMES  MOMENTS: THE RUMBELLE SECRET SANTA (ORGANIZED THREE YEARS IN A ROW AND TOTALLING AROUND 350 FICS), FLOOFAPALOOZA (FOR WHEN YOU NEED TO GO ‘AWWW’ DESPERATELY), 50 FIRST HAMBURGER DATES (YES, WE GOT IT BAD), THERUMBELLE CHRISTMAS IN JULY (FOR THOSE LONG HIATUS MONTHS), THEMANTIS DAY MENAGERIE(BECAUSE OUR SMUT NEEDS MORE CREATURES IN IT), THE GREAT RUMBELLE BLOWOFF AND THE RUMBELLE SHOWDOWN. IT ALL CULMINATES WITH THE T.E.A. AWARDS, WHERE WE MOSTLY CONGRATULATE THE WRITERS ON ALL THE SEX, FLUFF AND TEARS (GREAT PLACE FOR NEWBIES TO ALSO SEEK FIC RECS!).

MIND THE SPOILERS, DEARIE.

BUT IF YOU’RE ALL CAUGHT UP YOU SHOULD TOTALLY CHECK THIS TUMBLR WHICH WILL HOLD PRECIOUS TREASURES SO YOU CAN SURVIVE THE SUMMER HIATUS WITH MOST OF YOUR SANITY INTACT.

WE AIM FOR REALISTIC GOALS HERE.

IF YOU HAVEN’T YET DELETED YOUR TUMBLR ACCOUNT AND MOVED TO A COUNTRY WITHOUT INTERNET CONNECTION THEN CONGRATULATIONS, YOU INDEED HAVE THE MAKINGS OF A GREAT RUMBELLER. AND YOU’RE GONNA LOVE IT HERE.

NOW LET ME HOLD YOU GENTLY, SOFTLY, LOVINGLY.

Welcome to the fandom, dearie

[queers-gambit]

I wanted to start writing fics and I have an idea of one I’d want to write but I’m unsure of even where to start. Could you please tell me how your process helps you? Any advice would be greatly appreciate!

Thank you!

hey, cutie pie! what a special message you've sent me. i'm feeling incredibly honored - whether you sent this message or not as a compliment, i don't wanna know, this could-be delusion is very flattering. you think i'm a well enough writer to ask advice from? 10 points to Slytherin.

it was Ernest Hemingway who said, “there is nothing to writing. all you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”

unfortunately, i'm one of those people that says, "just start writing". i know this is like throwing you in the ocean without a life vest, but i hope i can teach you how to swim (or at the least, tread water) by breaking this down enough for yah.

please note i am NOT a professional - so everything below is to be taken with a grain of salt

first - welcome to the author community! where we all think we have to publish Pulitzer prize winning stories - every. single. time! and where we think our work is TRASH - every. single. time!

storytelling is a skill that you don't have to be "born with", but you do have to practice and experiment with. even seasoned writers need palette refreshers and to "return to the story drawing board." to me, writing is universally one of the greatest artistic mediums this world will ever know. stories transcend time; think folklore and mythology that date way way way back Before Christ (BC). stories can (mostly) only be built upon and altered - just look at the Bible! written text, yes, but it's diluted by X number of "translations" through the years, scholars, people, factions, economies.

anyways. i think it's REALLY cool you want to write and i honestly love that for you. i hope it's as beneficial to you as it is me.

best piece of advice i can give? be proud of yourself. confidence really shows through writing; it's not being arrogant or cocky, it's knowing you have a story to tell and being determined to tell it. trust me, that energy translates. when you're happy to write, audiences are happy to read; nobody is ever expecting you (or any fanfic writer) to be Chaucer or Shakespeare or Brontë or Poe or Fitzgerald or Tolstoy or Tolkien or Dickens or Eliot or Morrison, they want YOU to be YOU and to read YOUR story.

so have faith in yourself. have pride. find motivation and inspiration.

🍒 general rules of thumb

🍒 write everything down!

it doesn't matter where - just write! every! thing! down! write in a: -> Word document -> Tumblr draft -> good ol' fashioned pen and paper -> Sharpie and cafe napkin and for my Apple people: -> the notes app or Pages document

🍒 always write out the plot - doesn't matter if it's complete, just write it down! it's a tool, and trust me, when writing, think of it as your ankle being shattered and this written plot document is the crutch. it's extremely important to have a general idea of what your story's plot looks like so you can decide what details should be used to beef up the story's authenticity. this will help visualize the web you need to weave. it's a visual end goal. it's the reminder where your story is going. give yourself enough space to add to this idea, to expand it.

i prefer bullet points. experiment to find what works for you!

so, in a structure similar to educational notes, establish the general premise / main idea / main details. this is where you're going to answer (no, not literally), "why write this story? what's the point? what even IS the story? like, what's the plot?" -> if you ponder why you're writing a story and at any point, the answer is along the lines of being self indulgent, please understand, that is valid! write that shit!

🍒 notes are a safe space to write out ideas you might be interested in revisiting. so label everything because you'll revisit often - whether for the next story idea or not.

🍒 Google ― -> what you know to strengthen literary frame. allow this to include refreshment of writing devices. -> any and all words; keep a list of running adjectives, nouns, dramatic diction to give your story personality. -> definitions - even the words you already know! -> what you don't know! -> synonyms!

🍒 don't pay attention to word counts! 5k word fics are just as valid as 1.3k, even 896 word fics! fuck word counts, just tell the story.

🍒 write and rewrite. this is where writing becomes daunting, it's so fucking scary. but all you're doing is trying to find your voice, so write your drafts, then rewrite - rewrite - rewrite - and for good measure, rewrite, rewrite, aaaaand probably rewrite twice more. just allow yourself room to stretch and grow as an author when new and altered ideas come to mind - and when these new and altered ideas come to mind, write! them! down!

🍒 writing is supposed to be fun! 🍒 writing supports your emotional vulnerability! 🍒 be open to inspiration everywhere! 🍒 give yourself time and be kind! 🍒 encourage changes of thought and new directions! 🍒 don't minimize yourself to conform with what is "thought" to fit certain criteria - take authentic risks!

🍒 nonlinear and chaotic writing process

🍒 so... kinda first thing is done internally:

what's the plot? what was the idea formed in my head, inspiring me to write this story? what's the climax? is this idea able to turn into a story? -> i write it down.

which fandom? does my story idea fit into "canon timelines" or the fandom's setting? more or less, i determine if this is an AU or not. -> i write it down.

declare a muse i think BEST suits my story idea. -> i write it down (call that commitment).

now, i like to beef up the plot / climax details, either after the initial idea or establishment of muses. these are the nonnegotiable "dramatic factors" i think the story needs. -> i write it down.

🍒 then i just start writing the actual draft / structured story. i know, i know, i know! this is the worst advice and lots of authors say it. but it just means to start! it means you can start anywhere. it's your story, you're telling it - so you can literally just start because a story can grow in all directions.

🍒 personally, i use the fuck out of skeleton drafts (see below) because i like to revisit and build, restructure, and let seemingly random ideas take natural form almost every single time i sit down to write (which, for the sake of my mental health, is almost everyday).

🍒 i endeavor for mysterious, captivating, intriguing opening sentences or paragraphs and titles. so i'm constantly editing and Googling words, definitions, synonyms, phrases.

🍒 i draw inspiration from everywhere; sometimes from personal conversation and experiences, other books, quotes from movies and songs.

🍒 i strive for authenticity - i personally think it's what hooks an audience, when they can see even the SMALLEST fraction of themself in the story. so i challenge myself to get criminally vulnerable and open - so a lot of my trauma is processed through writing, too.

🍒 i like to employ common literary devices, such as metaphors, proverbs, iteration, personification. but that's a personal choice.

🍒 i often draft the story and then leave it for a bit to "marinate" because at the most random and often, inopportune, times, i'll have new ideas i want to add. so i leave myself time to revisit which can get frustrating, but it's necessary for my security to publish.

🍒 dialogue is "just conversation with a purpose". when writing dialogue, i often say the words in my head OR (as embarrassing as it might sound) out loud with the chracter's accents and TRY to convey that in my writing. so i use a lot of slang or incomplete sentences or predicates or accents - in the form of dropping the "g" from a lot of "-ing" ending words.

🍒 I DO NOT CONDONE THIS NOR ENCOURAGE THIS! but i'm a fiend and smoke a LOT. and i drink an unhealthy amount of coffee - so that def influences my writing whether i like it or not. this is 1000000% a personal choice and in no way, shape, or form am i encouraging anyone to smoke and / or give themselves kidney stones for the sake of writing.

🍒 i'm decently selective about my stories, in the sense of if i truly cannot connect or find influence to write, i won't. i can't. so i've been doing better about if a plot doesn't flow the way i want, i try not to force it and embrace the new direction. 🍒 HOWEVER - i still like to challenge myself, so, if i find writing has become like pulling teeth, i'll walk away and revisit at another time. i'll try to tackle from a different angle BEFORE giving up completely. yikes.

🍒 being said, walk away when writing feels frustrating and exasperated.

🍒 real life experience is your friend - "write what you know".

🍒 i'm criminally insecure and don't use beta readers nor editors so i rawdog every story and audience reaction. but i hear they're wildly helpful!!! do what feels right!!! it's your art!!!

🍒 skeleton drafts

when in school, teachers, professors, educators might have students structure essays as a "draft". maybe they asked for paragraphs to be organized in a certain way - intro., x3 body paragraphs, conclusion, bibliography - and more specifically, the paragraph structure: opening sentence stating summarized opinion / reason for thesis support, supporting specifics that explain the thesis, and then conclude on a summary of why the listed support supports the thesis.

whatever it is, i don't adhere to some parameters. i've always pissed off my educators because my "working drafts" never made sense, but whatever "final draft" turned in for a grade, did! make it make sense!

so i use "skeleton drafts".

it's where i try to outline the main ideas of my plot to ensure i tell the story i originally thought of. think of these as "plot points", almost like the ribcage of a skeleton. then i add certain supporting details between these ribs; the meat of the story.

i like getting the majority of the story outlined. i use bullet points, i try to use "dividers" or "headers" if i need a time jump, but i want the general idea down so that it's easier to add onto later if i so choose.

so, yeah, i don't "draft" as some American educators might approve of. the actual process is too tedious and i hate it. but that's just me. other authors MIGHT recommend traditional drafting, but i won't. i say do what feels natural to you, but still find a way to rewrite the story you want until it BECOMES the story you want.

"skeleton drafts" establish the plot and pose as major pillars to help propel the story's flow. "skeleton drafts" are like a check list: being the plot points framing the story's structure, as well as details (no matter how small) the story needs.

being said - using skeleton drafts results in a few different draft / note pages in different places so tread carefully. it can get very confusing and annoying, so, it's not for everyone. i'm just chaotic and all my writings are like a tornado.

i hope this helps in even the slightest of ways. thank you for sending your message - again, i'm deeply flattered. i apologize it took so long to respond but i was doubting myself and what to write.

listen, poppet. keep writing. try, try again. challenge yourself. and the VERY best of luck! i hope you fall in love with writing, and in turn, it falls in love with you!

come back anytime! if you so desire, please, send me whatever you write - i'd love to read it!

endless forehead kisses and all my love 🖤

[ellesliterarycorner]

Tips for Underwriters

Last week we talked about overwriters, but now let’s talk about tips for all the underwriters out there. I didn’t mention this in my overwriting post, but whether you’re an overwriter or an underwriter, I definitely would not worry about it until later drafts! As I say all the time, the first draft is a messy, word-vomit baby, so don’t worry about a lot of the problems associated with overwriting or underwriting until your second or even third draft! It’s completely normal to underwrite a first draft, and a lot of times, underwriting your first draft will make it way easier for you in the long run! Laying down the skeleton of the story without a ton of description or other things is a completely legitimate way to go about it! But, once you get onto those later drafts, here are a few tips if you feel like you’re underwriting or your story is lacking! 

First off, I really recommend going through and asking yourself these ten questions for all of your scenes! If you answer all of these questions thoroughly, chances are you won’t be underwriting!

Where is this scene taking place? 

What does this place look and feel like? 

How much time has passed since the last scene? 

What is your character feeling right now?

What is your character’s reaction?

What is the natural, believable way your character should be reacting? 

What is the point of this scene?

What is your protagonist’s goal for the scene?

Where’s the conflict? 

Where’s your opening hook and strong ending sentence? 

These questions are a great place to get started making sure you provide depth for your readers!

But Does The Reader Know??? 

This is one of my biggest problems with a lot of books I have been reading lately. The writer will namedrop something that is clearly important in world, but does not explain it at all. They feel extremely underwritten because the writer assumes the reader has all of this background knowledge that they simply don’t have. I think a lot of it has to do with so many books being written like fanfiction. I’m not saying that in the sense that fanfic is poorly written, but in fanfiction there’s an understanding that the reader already has a decent understanding of the backstory they’re getting into. Anyways I digress into a completely different topic, but not explaining things properly is a problem that a lot of underwriters have. As writers, we sometimes forget that even though we have all of this information inside of our heads, the reader only knows what we tell them, so we have to make sure to give them a solid understanding the world and the characters. I also think that so many writers are scared of info-dumping that they just don’t explain things at all, but if you feel like you’re underwriting, go back and look through your story to make sure anything that needs explaining is explained!

Don’t Forget Internal Conflict!

Despite being my favorite conflict, I feel like internal conflict often gets left behind in a lot of stories. Most characters have one big external problem that they spend the whole story trying to solve, and while that big problem is absolutely necessary to the story, but if there’s only one problem in your story, you might find yourself more prone to having an underwritten story. How does this big problem affect your character internally? Are they super stressed out about it? Does solving the problem compromise their moral code? Do they have to forsake a core value in order to ensure their survival and the survival of their family? There are so many ways for your character to struggle with the main problem that ups the stakes of your story, adds conflict and character development, and can help up the word count as well! If you’re struggling and want a book with well-written internal conflict, see my favorite example the Hunger Games. It doesn’t get better than that!

All Go and No Show

Despite being a chronic overwriter, this is actually a problem that I struggle with as well. I think it’s because I write scenes out of order, and I tend to write all of the exciting scenes first because as a reader and a writer, I really like to jump right in and keep it moving to the last page. I used to get kind of annoyed when I stubble across what I consider a “filler” chapter where it feels like the characters are just sitting around and doing absolutely nothing. However, those less exciting bits are just as important often because they feature the internal conflict and character development mentioned above. If you’re only featuring the exciting parts of your story, it can definitely contribute to underwriting. It can also lead to another side-effect of underwriting: not having as well-rounded and fleshed out characters. Every time some big action thing happens in your story, you probably should include your MC’s reaction to it. How your characters react to things is important to them as a character and to your story overall. Now, am I saying that you need to write a 4,000 word chapter on every single detail of your characters’ feelings? No I am not, but if your MC gets hurt or betrayed or has a friend died, and then the next scene time has passed and they’re absolutely fine, it’s bad underwriting and unrealistic!

[zelskzerker]

Selen

What is a PR statement, in terms of connotation? It is a companies statement in attempt to continue to build the relationship between it and the public. A good PR statement should be informative and answer the public's questions, but it should also protect the company and essentially control the narrative. It would not make sense for a company to chronicle into history something worse than rumors can generate....

If "Notification of Contract Termination with Selen Tatsuki" was written with the goal of being informative, it is a success. If it was written with the goal of painting Selen as bad however it is a failure. And if was written with the goal of protecting Nijisanji, it is a major failure. The issues with this PR statement are numerous and catastrophic on multiple levels which make it shocking that whoever wrote it is not fired. And yet, every single mistake here must be analyzed.

Firstly, the assumption of truth. For the sake of sanity, everything stated in this PR statement will be assumed to be true. The reason for this is because nothing in this paints Nijisanji in a good light. It would not make any sense for Nijisanji to lie in order to make itself look worse. Furthermore, theory crafting about lies in attempt to make Nijisanji look better that backfire into making it look bad would make this post longer than your average super smash fanfic.

The first paragraph is simple and important. It states the 2 reasons that Selen is being terminated.

1) Multiple breaches of contract

2) Misleading statement on social media

It is stated that goal of this PR statement is to “provide a detailed explanation of the circumstances and reasons” leading up to this. Assuming that this is the only goal, then this letter makes sense but it is important to keep in mind the author. Nijisanji themselves surely would not want to paint themselves as in the wrong, correct? Especially if they did nothing wrong and see no reason to apologize. In order to properly communicate with the public in this situation Nijisanji must pick it’s words and tone very carefully to provide an explanation while also understanding the audience. If a writer does not understand their audience then every attempt at communication will always fail.

The audience of any graduation letters are fans of the member graduating, in this case Selen. Selen fans obviously support Selen and do not wish to see her bad mouthed or harmed. For this reason, any statement that is meant to describe a negative action of Selen must be phrased so that a fan of Selen does not lash back against the speaker and instead understands that Selen did something wrong. With that, the next section describes “Activity Rules for Affiliated Livers”.

It is a bunch of meaningless bullshit. Literally just says “our company has rules people have to follow and here is our stupid jargon term for it called "ACTIVITY RULES”. Ok thanks, I thought Nijisanji didn’t have any rules, glad that was explained.

Next section “Violations by Selen Tatsuki of the Activity Rules”. Stating that Selen has been breaking the ACTIVITY RULES ever since joining in July 2021 and finally giving an actual rule that Selen broke. That rule is “non-compliance with rights confirmation and authorization flows”. This rule is a huge cultural friction issue. What Nijisanji means by the rule is that the laws of copyright in Japan work in such a way that Vtubers have to get explicit permission from original creators(such as those of videogames or songs) before the Vtuber can actually play or sing them. This flies in the face of the entire system of creating Youtube videos in the West. No one does this because the laws in the West do not work in this archaic method. Video game publishers have realized that people playing their game and showing off their game to other people will nearly always result in a positve result for all parties involved as long as the game is good. Thus no one wants to deal with menial paperwork just to get these “permissions”. Everyone in the West things these rules that apply to English-speaking Vtubers that are part of Japanese companies are stupid and detestable because they just hurt everyone for nothing. For this reason, Nijisanji should known that while they have to follow the law, the fans of this English-speaking Vtuber hate this law and will react very negatively to any attempt to use it to paint Selen as bad. Any attempt to paint Selen in a negative light with these will fail. However this section does just that. It states that Selen has broken these rules many times in order to provide the explanation that Selen is a rule breaker. This is important setup because it is ascribing character to Selen in order to justify the breakup.

Nijisanji ultimately performs a bunch of glancing blows in this section without providing many details, so I will follow suit and not describe details. It is just important to know that the PR statement has not done anything wrong yet and would have been fine if it simply followed the direction of saying that Selen had not gotten perms one too many times and had to be fired over it. Alas, it is not so under the next section.

“Events Leading to Suspension of Selen Tatsuki’s Activities” is where details begin. The infamous “Cup of Coffee” video created by Selen Tatsuki is described as the last straw that forced Selen to be terminated. Management saw the music video’s components on December 24th (JST). On the 25th Nijisanji stated that “some elements still lacked authorization” and “permission needed to be obtained from relevant parties”. On the 26th Selen posted the video, regardless of what Nijisanji wanted. At face value this series of events follows with the PR statement’s description of Selen’s character and looks bad for her.

Or does it?

Nijisanji takes issue with the “Cup of Coffee” video due to permissions. Which ones? The song itself was created by lilypichu and stated in a tweet that it is free for anyone to do whatever they want to it. The vocal of the song are by Selen herself. The art was all commissioned by Selen herself. The only way permissions could not be confirmed is if Nijisanji wanted to manually contact and get permission from every single affiliated party themselves or if appearances of other Nijisanji EN members themselves require permissions from those members. If the latter is true, then it is absolutely insane that the company somehow treats itself like an outside party, requiring permissions for every single mention of a different member. If it is the primer then Nijisanji once again is showing the limits of the archaic permissions based system. Either answer is unsatisfying to the reader, but the truly infuriating part is the lack of this crucial detail.

Ultimately, this is only half a story. It describes rule and Selens actions to break those rules. It does not describe the mens rea. Why does Selen break the rules? The simplest reason is that she is just like the fans, a hater of the perms system. Unfortunately this does make her incompatible with Nijisanji and rationalizes a termination HOWEVER it is important to note that it does not mean that Selen is a bad person. Breaking the rules does NOT make someone bad when those rules are seen as poor rules in the eyes of the court of public opinion. It is VITALLY important that nothing has been stated to make Selen look bad to a Selen fan.

Following the video’s removal Selen stated on Twitter that “management has taken down the video” without the context of “because of permissions”. Nijisanji sees this as a misleading statement due to that exclusion, however they have no reason to suffer consequences. They have no reason to let Selen’s statements to reupload the video, regardless of what Nijisanji says, to fester and cause conflict. Nijisanji is the company that manages Selen and thus can post on their own account with an addendum to Selen’s statement or just have Selen make the addendum herself. Nijisanji states these two options themselves.

However Nijisanji decided to do nothing instead. After failed reconcilliation with Selen over the take down of the video, Nijisanji did NOT make their own public statement about it. This is a truly baffling occurance. Nijisanji has their own platform, as a matter of fact this very PR statement was posted on it! Why could they not post themselves? Why did Selen have to do it? It is important to note that the statement begins to use the language “being mindful of Selen’s mental and physical health” and that they were in talks with her “emergency contact” because at this point Selen had been hospitalized due to attempts to take her own life.

Nijisanji wanted her to provide comment on this while she was in the hospital. Nijisanji has full access to Selen’s twitter and youtube, demonstrated by the fact that they blocked her out from them. Why could they not post the text they wanted her to then? No one would be able to tell the difference. Unless they could.

The statement does not include a date for which they blocked Selen from her account. This is clever of them because the Selen Tatsuki account on twitter has had posts in the timeframe of Nijisanji conversing with Selen’s emergency contact. Because of this, the only logical conclusion to be made is that any post on Selen’s account after the 26th may not have been written by her. This brings again the question of why Nijisanji did not just write whatever they want on her twitter and put whatever words they want in her mouth?

The simple answer is they wanted her voice. They wanted Selen to verbally say their words. Through such a trying time in her life, Nijisanji wanted her to read words she obviously did not agree with in order to protect Nijisanji’s image.

This PR statement is starting to look bad for Nijisanji.

“Termination of Affiliation Contract” is the final, terrifying, awful, and truly cataclysmic section. It introduces Selen’s legal counsel to the story and Nijisanji’s demands. 1) Selen informs the public about about the why the video was taken down (a stupid demand that would be truly painful as described previously) and 2) a request for Selen to pretty please follow the ACTIVITY RULES.

The next paragraph is dire and can only be read in its entirety, verbatim.

Thus the reason for this PR statement’s long explanation of recent events becomes clear with one extra detail. This PR statement is the first public and official disclosure of almost all of these details. It was posted on February 5th, 2024 at 7:57 pm (JST). The most recent public statement from Selen about any of it occurred on February 5th, 2024 at 8:00 pm (JST).

This means that all of Selen’s claims were first posted by Nijisanji. Nijisanji pre-empted her response and thusly has initial control of the narrative. They were free to not state any of Selen’s claims. Considering that Selen’s threat was to post the claims in the first place WHY WOULD NIJISANJI POST THEM FIRST?

Because they think they can overcome them. Nijisanji wanted to post the claims in their own language and refute them before Selen could make the company look however bad she wanted. Nijisanji wanted to remove the power of the claims. After all, claims are just that: assertions to fact and not fact itself. They can only become fact if Nijisanji confirmed that they were true. Being “harassed by affiliated Livers” is truly a harsh claim. It can ruin a Nijisanji member’s reputation to the public. Even if not stated who in particular, it paints a nasty seed of doubt in the viewers mind. Anyone they watch could have been a part of the harassment that led to a suicide attempt. Thankfully for Nijisanji, Selen’s response did not mention that the harassment came from other livers, just “from within.” Management from a company is usually formed out of leaders and it is any leader’s duty to watch out for those below them and truly excellent leaders will even take the brunt of the blow for one of their subordinate’s mishaps. So all Nijisanji needs to do is refute this claim. To say that she was not harassed.

OH NO WHY WOULD THEY SAY THIS THIS IS A CRITICAL FAIL IN EVERY CHECK WHY WOULD THEY DO THIS.

“have not engaged in unjust practices”. So Nijisanji and its front-facing VTubers have engaged in the “practices”? The practices of causing harassment so intense that someone attempted to harm themselves? And those practices were just?

Nijisanji has performed an irrecoverable mistake. Words can barely describe the damage the eternal damage done to the entire branch by this one statement and yet here those words are, attempting to grasp at the barely fathomable.

1) Nijisanji did not need to say this. Selen did not say she was harassed by Nijisanji EN Vtubers. Nijisanji EN said that. They shot themselves in the face.

2) Nijisanji just threw it’s Vtubers under the bus. Management just confirmed that harassment occurred by it’s own Vtubers. There is a negative percent chance that anything any company can possibly ever say could somehow rationalize harassment to the point of self harm.

2.5) They did not give specific Vtuber names. Now every single Nijisanji EN Vtuber could have potentially done it. This is a witch hunt. A witch hunt has been incited against Nijisanji EN Vtubers by Nijisanji EN management.

3) Selen attempted to damage Nijisanji EN’s image? SELEN ATTEMPTED DO DAMAGE NIJISANJI EN’S IMAGE?!?!?!?!?! THIS ENTIRE PARAGRAPH DID MORE DAMAGE TO THE ENTIRE BRANCH THAN ANYTHING SELEN EVER COULD HAVE SAID AND IT WAS ENTIRELY SIDESTEPPABLE BY THE COMPANY. SILENCE WAS OPTION. THEY DID NOT TAKE IT

This puts Nijisanji EN Vtubers in an unwinnable situation of the following options

1) Stay silent and just let this evil act come to light with no response and possibly be harassed by fans yourself for POTENTIALLY having harassed Selen.

2) Come to the defense of your truly evil boss. Bootlick so hard in hopes that your wont get run over by the next bus management drives over the entire branch.

3) Come out against your vile company. Essentially destroy your job and get terminated.

All the while there is an actual witch in existence that management themselves confirmed.

Nijisanji has failed the fans for posting this.

Nijisanji has failed it’s own EN Vtubers by substantiating rumors that did not need to be confirmed.

And most importantly, Nijisanji has failed Selen, by attempting to slander her and justify her harassment.

It is reprehensible that two years after making a joint statement with Hololive about standing up against the kind of harassment that led to one of their own members attempting to take their own life and ultimately graduating from Hololive would now turn around and perform that very own harassment against their own.

Unforgiveable. For shame.

[bg3ficreviews]

BG3 Fic Review Guidelines - let us know what you think!

Hi everyone, We've finally settled on some fic review guidelines we'd like to implement here, but we would like to share them with the community and get your feedback. It's important to us that we support our fellow writers in a collaborative space. The best way to do that is to hear your thoughts and incorporate them into our plans and strategies. Once we have finalised our review guidelines, we plan to open up our doors to bring more reviewers on board and really get going properly. We may do this either by creating a Discord server for the team or simply allowing reviewers to submit their work to the blog directly. Regardless, our fanfic community is important to us and we want to do our best to help build a supportive, inspiring and creative environment. But! without further ado, here are the BG3 Fic Review Guidelines as they currently are, listed below the fold. Please feel free to reply on this post, send us an ask, or email me (Aivu) directly should you have any comments or questions. My email address is aivuthedragon[at]gmail[dot]com.

Happy writing!

Aivu 🐉💜 BG3 Fic Reviews, Editor

The BG3FicReviews review guidelines (WIP)

Please note these guidelines are a work in progress, and we may update them as we go depending on questions that arise in the community and among our team members. That said, the goals behind the BG3FicReviews blog will remain largely unchanged, and represent our underlying philosophy as a team. We’ll start there.

What are the goals of the BG3FicReviews blog and its team?

At the moment, we have four main overarching goals: 

Help foster a kind and supportive community for fanfic writers in the BG3 fandom that helps to uplift them/us and their/our work; 

Provide a useful resource for fanfic writers (in the BG3 fandom and more generally);  

Provide a helpful guide for fanfic readers on some of the best, most interesting and most innovative BG3 fanfic currently being published; and

Create a safe space for writers to explore topics of various kinds while also supporting proactive and inclusive tagging.

With these four goals in mind, our objective is not and will never be to unduly criticise an author or write negative reviews. Fanfic authors write for free and because they love to write and share their words with the world. We don’t believe in stifling that passion with negativity. We want to uplift writers and support them to continue doing what they love. 

Review submission guidelines

Here we have some broad questions to help guide a reviewer when reading a given work, as well as what could be included in a review. These are the kinds of questions I (Aivu) ask myself when I write my reviews. 

What are some of the dominant themes of this work?

What is unique about this work? Has a trope been approached in a fresh, innovative way? Or perhaps it’s a very good example of a well-used trope?

Feel free to be creative in your review - just as authors develop their own voice in their writing, you are free to build and develop yours. (Just please keep in mind the four goals of the BG3FicReviews blog when you do.)

Did you have any ‘aha!’ or ‘wow!’ moments when reading this fic? (Note: please be mindful of spoilers, and try to explain such moments in a way that doesn’t spoil the work for potential readers.)

How did you feel while and after reading this work? Did it evoke any particular feelings for you?

Please include a brief list of the most important tags when submitting your review - it will help our readers skip over a review of a fic that might not be to their particular tastes (which is absolutely fine).

Please be aware that we do reserve the right to edit reviews to be in line with our standards and the formatting we use for the blog, but we will provide feedback as much as we can and discuss any revisions with the author of a given review.

What are our future plans for the BG3FicReview blog?

In order to provide more hands-on support to writers, we are currently considering starting a strictly opt-in beta reading programme for fanfic authors. We don’t have a big enough team for this at the moment, but the idea would be that authors submit their work to be beta-read and can ask for help in particular areas of their writing (or their writing generally) to help them feel more confident in their work and with sharing it. Our team is too small at the moment to manage something like this, but as a long-term goal it’s something really important to us.

We are also considering opening a writing and fic review focused Discord, but that really depends on how much interest there is in such a space as there are many excellent BG3-focused writing Discords out there already. We are always open to suggestions from the fanfiction writer (and reader) community about what kind of support and tools could be helpful and useful. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to send us an ask or an email and let us know!