#there are literally no named characters in either of the other stories i've drafted for decomposing gods and i only just realized that

[catchingbigfish]

oc name meaning tag game

ooooooh this is an interesting game, thanks for the tag @dotr-rose-love! (sorry @ everyone whose tag games i missed pretty much the entire month of march btw, i know i'll never get to catch up on them but might work through a few that look immediately doable at some point) i'm tagging @nanashi23, @inkspellangel, @linaket, @pga-books, and @ls-daydreams!

rules: list OCs and explain the meaning of their names

i tend to pick names based on the vibe i have for the character -- i have strooooong associations with various vowel combinations, or arrangement of letters, or pairings, etc., so most of this is just "idk it sounded cool". but because i love the idea of this game so much, i'm going to do it for every WIP i have rn:

so it goes

Marisa: i wanted a name that ended with an A because names like that make me think of someone sincere and serious

Isaiah: i wanted a biblical name; i associate those with families with deep lineages and a strong matriarch for some reason, which was a quality i wanted Isaiah to have

Ali: i wanted a name that complemented marisa's because they were sisters in the original draft, and i feel like L's and S's complement each other nicely. her full name is Alison, but i wanted her to be someone fun and outgoing, and Ali feels like that more than Alison

Paige: i got stuck on her name and picked a name from a random generator -- for some reason, when i see the name Paige, i instantly think of a girl who is aesthetically similar to the character (whose description is inspired by Gillian Jacobs)

Henry: another random generator produced this one -- i wanted it to be a very common man's name that wouldn't provoke much interest

Sophia: she's not a main character but i fucking love the name sophia/sofia so much. it's probably my favorite ever girl's name. it means wisdom and in some schools of gnosticism it was the emanation of god that was paired with Christ and unintentionally caused the world to exist

the space between pomegranate seeds

Meredith: i wanted a name that felt like the weird religious girl everyone knew growing up, but wasn't super cliche like Chastity lol

(most of the other characters are purposefully unnamed)

decomposing gods - priestess of bones

Claire: when i originally came up with this story idea i was deep into my Early Cronenberg Period (end of 2021) and had just rewatched Dead Ringers. i knew there would be a trio of women, so i gave them the names from the movie as placeholders: Claire, Bev, and Elly. i chose Claire for the documentarian because i felt the name fit her personality/vibe best, a diminutive brunette intent to prove herself

Bev: as above. i originally wanted to go Bev/Elly for the documentarian and camera person's roles, but realized they didn't fit right. also frankly i always categorized this as a lesbian name in my head for some reason, which worked out best since the character is queer

Sofia: even though i felt like Claire and Bev fit well with the characters i also never intended to actually use the trio's name. Sofia as a filmmaker is actually most inspired by Julia Ducournau, but i do love Sofia Coppola, lol.

bilocation

Emily: the real person she is based on is Émilie Sagée, and i didn't want to trick myself into not writing this by deciding to do research on the historical period she's from (1800s latvia), so i americanized her name and placed it in a 1980s boarding school in oregon but retained the formal speaking voice i'd imagined for her

Ms. Frond: i honestly went with the first word that popped into my brain on this -- i have so many characters named after the most bizarre shit because i'll use anything for a last name that pops into my head. i love it, though, because Emily becomes obsessed with her and has an established fascination with plants

Roland: i wanted a name that felt like a surprise on the groundskeeper character -- he looks like a dude who would be named something like Biff or Johnson or something, but he becomes a much more tender and gentle character than you anticipate from the description

[goodluckclove]

Are You a Writer That Isn't Writing? Join Me Inside My Blanket Fort!

Hi! Welcome! It's so good to see you. i've just been hanging out here, kind of listening to my favorite podcast and drinking some green tea. I have another bottle here - do you want to try? It has lemon in it. It's sweet, but not too sweet. Just like I like it.

Yeah, so I might need to introduce myself. My name is Clover, but you can call me Clove. I've been a write for fifteen years and I've finished fourteen novels. I published one and I'm working on the sequel. I've written and produced plays, published short stories, and even worked as a copywriter and ghostwriter. That wasn't very fun. Actually, the writing was fun, but they brough in AI right at the end - it's a long story. Anyways, what I mean to say is that you could consider me a working writer. If you go through my blog I post a lot of snippets from what I'm working on. You can even Google my old pen name "Miranda Seaver" and find some columns and stories and I think a short play I had some strangers do over Facebook.

I'm not saying this to brag. I'm saying this because I've been doing this for a long time and I want you to have context to the work I've done as we keep talking to each other. If you read what I write and you don't like it, maybe you can decide that I have no idea what I'm talking about. That's fine. We can still be friends!

Okay, so you're probably here because you're having trouble writing. Either that or you just can't resist the allure of a blanket fort - that makes sense too. But assuming you're unable to write for some reason, I just wanted to speak to you in private. Because I know it's hard. I know it's disillusioning. And though there's this weird perception online that writers are supposed to hate writing, I personally believe the situation is a lot more nuanced than that.

Maybe you're scared. Or you're tired. Or the whole act of sitting down and writing feels so big and clumsy and unwieldy as it bounces around your head that you don't know what to do with it. The weight of it doesn't feel right. It happens - it happens to me too sometimes, and it never feels good. But it's a natural part of the creative process and it's more of a slight mishandling rather than massive sin or flaw of character.

It might not help that there's so much advice online, isn't there? It seems all these people have a set guide to how to do literally everything. There's some sort of odd binary to the creative process that some make it seem as if writers innately fall under. You're either a pantser that never outlines, or a plotter that only structures. Every draft has have a specific focus, and you must follow an arc to achieve any specific goal in your character or plot.

That's a lot! Isn't that a lot? I've been talking to a lot of new writers on here who find all of that information - especially the information that conflicts (A lot of them) to be deeply intimidating. If not intimidating, then just slightly...off. Potentially enough to make the act of opening a word processor and slamming out a few hundred words to not really seem like that much fun anymore.

See, there are useful writing resources on tumblr. People with unique experiences sharing their specific information in a public space where writers can benefit from it. How would a certain mobility aid impact a person's life? What are the physical ramifications of training on a sword? Look at this picture of some sickass gems of different colors! These are all super cool things that I find incredibly useful for both current and future reference.

On the other hand, the guides that speak structurally to writing? That try and tell you the exact steps to follow in order to achieve a certain result? A lot of them end their posts by plugging their ko-fi but don't actually show any of their own personal writing? They don't necessarily have the answers.

If you read some prompt list and it inspires you, that's cool and great! Our brains think of a lot of really innovative things based on the smallest spark of input and that's a truly incredible thing. But if you read someone who makes a list of ways to show a certain emotion and you're left confused and discouraged - consider that they're wrong. Or not wrong, not really. They just don't have the right story.

For other forms of writing advice, maybe they're right - only not in a genre you want to write in. That's the weird thing about all these writing blogs that don't actually say what they write or read. If I was looking for writing advice, I wouldn't go to someone who specializes in reading and writing political thrillers or mysteries. They're valid genres, just not what I specifically do.

You just can't make grand blanket statements about this kind of thing, and that's an unpleasant truth I think we all need to hear.

Every writing rule has been broken successfully. The Dharma Bums, and frankly anything else Jack Kerouac has ever written, has truly no plot. American Psycho chains you to a truly reprehensible protagonist. Naked Lunch was written in one long chunk that was then cut up and rearranged, and then that nonsense was published. If On a Winter's Night a Traveler takes YOU (literally you - half the narrative is written in second person) and sends you on a wild goose chase where every other chapter is a different book. Kurt Vonnegut has a literal self insert of himself that shows up as a side character in Breakfast of Champions and then takes role in the lead cast in Timequake. Read a Chuck Palahinuik book and he will lie to you three time at least. Read House of Leaves and you'll feel like you're wandering a contemporary art gallery. I can't fucking get past the first 60 pages of Ulysses but I've been TRYING for YEARS because the prose is BEAUTIFUL.

I'm rambling. What I mean to say is that - you know Monet? Manet? Degas and Renoir, and all the other painters of the Impressionist era? They make the kind of paintings you probably think of if I ask you to imagine a painting you'd find in an art museum. They're respected - idolized, even. People will dedicate their lives to painting in honor to the legacy of Impressionism.

This would be a great surprise to early Impressionists, who were mocked mercilessly for their work. The name itself - Impressionism - was a reclaimed dig at how their art style was an impression of actual art. The road for it to even be CONSIDERED art, much less respected AS art, was a long one.

I'm rambling again, aren't I? I had a lot of this green tea. I just hate to hear so many people refuse to develop the ideas in their heads for one reason or the other. Or, even worse, they circle the brainstorming stage over and over again, far past the point of usefulness. I agree that some people function better with some form of an outline. I outline in my own way, through short form bullet points or taking space to storyboard in my head to music. It can help! But even if you work better with structure, there's a good chance that you don't need that much structure.

You can't fail here. You truly can't, I promise you. If you finish listening to me and you crawl out of the blanket fort and write two paragraphs, nothing bad will happen. If it's not the strongest thing you've ever written, that's okay. We're writers, aren't we? If you write something that you don't like, you aren't a fraud. You aren't weak. You aren't a hack. You haven't failed. You don't lack creativity or imagination or motivation.

Here's the truth: If you write something you don't like, you're a writer who wrote something you don't like. It doesn't mean you're bad. It doesn't even mean the writing is objectively bad. That's it.

Writers tend to be dramatic. I know I am. I laid on the couch for an hour trying to wrestle with act three of my newest book, and as my wife tried to talk me through it I slowly sank off the couch and onto the floor. Much as a slug would. If you ever get into that mindset, that's just a thing that happens when you're an artist. I think in the Hemmingway days writers would drink or smoke until they had the strength to try again.

We've seen how that turns out though. So welcome to the new era of writers who - though occasionally neurotic - try again at some point. And everyone is welcome. As I said already, there are no real rules or guides to the structure of writing, only ideas. And if you don't like the idea, you can look or think of another one.

And you can think of another one. Assuming you don't just have a drastically unrealistic perception of how much societal clout you can achieve by saying you're a writer (Answer: nearly none), you clearly want to tell a story. I haven't met a single person with that dream that has it based on nothing. The situation is so much more vast and complicated than the internet will try to make it out to be. Did you see some variation of the Apple Test and decide that your Aphantasia means you can never be a writer? Consider reading up on the Aphantasia Network to get a better look at the condition and learn more about what it means for you. Imagination is nuanced and it is absolutely not limited to Overall Apple Clarity!

Okay, that's all I have to say. I just want to see more people here putting their ideas to paper because a lot of them are really good and interesting, and they deserve to be seen. The feeling of writing your story is so much more complex and rich than just thinking about it, I promise. I know you can do it.

Okay okay. I have to pee. This was a long talk! I'm going to scoot past you in the fort now, but I think before you go on with your day you should maybe check out a video I think you'd like.

Have a nice day, Friend!

oh and this too.

yeah nice

[practically-an-x-man]

What was Nikoletta like before she was the Nikoletta we know and love?

Oooh thank you!!

So I actually answered this pretty well here, at least in regards to her powers and all, but that's still the abridged version. For the full changelog, let's see... (fair warning, LONG ramble ahead)

What Stayed the Same:

Her name being Nikoletta Bordeaux

Her living in New Orleans

Her gaining her powers from STAR Labs

Her time in STAR Labs overlapping Abner's

Her powers isolating her, traumatizing her, and leaving her uncomfortable with both other people and herself

Her being known as the Queen of Belle Reve, holding a self-built position of power over the other prisoners

Her uneasy alliance with Waller, where she tolerates Nik operating outside the rules in exchange for getting rid of prisoners Waller doesn't want around

Her finding a connection with Abner, and that connection being built over the Corto Maltese mission

Her saving Abner from Starro (this was literally the first thing I decided, his death pissed me the fuck off, I hate when characters get nerfed right after finding happiness/closure)

What Changed:

Her name... sort of: While real name has always been Nikoletta Bordeaux, originally her hero name as Nyx Bastion was a lot more prominent as the name she goes by in Belle Reve and while out on missions (now, it's in her OC bio but I've never actually used it). In the end, I kinda tossed away "Nyx", and it turned into her nickname being Nik instead. I'm probably going to go remove Nyx Bastion from her OC bio too, now that I think about it, since I've literally never used it and don't really plan to at this point.

Her backstory: Originally, her family was French in origin - actual from-France French, not Louisiana French. She also was not a Woman of Color, mainly because at that point I was still a new writer and worried about accidentally offending someone by writing outside my own demographic. I honestly didn't decide much more of her backstory than that, which led to her feeling very flat and not having much dimension outside her persona in Belle Reve. I'm much, much prouder of her final backstory, and I think it gives her a lot of necessary background for how she was able to make her Queen of Belle Reve persona so successful

Her powers: Originally, her powers weren't shadow-based as much as they were nightmare-based. Any skin-to-skin contact or direct eye contact with someone would send them into a waking nightmare that eventually led them to a brain aneurysm. Some people were mysteriously immune to her abilities, with no apparent pattern at first, until it's discovered that all the survivors had experienced significant mental trauma in their lives and were able to encode Nikoletta's nightmare-illusions without growing overwhelmed. This included war vets, domestic abuse victims, and metahumans with significantly traumatic backstories.

How her powers interact with others: In the current version of her story, Nikoletta is hesitant to reach out to people because she knows her touch will leave a mark. The mark is technically harmless, but inevitable. Originally, her powers made it so the options were either near-certain death or complete immunity, so it was either to gamble or to shut herself down for safety. Once she learns the nature of the immunity and how it stems from surviving past traumas (which honestly makes most of the Squad immune to her bc damn they've been through some shit), she's able to make more of an educated guess and risk reaching out more, but I think think the inevitability of Nikoletta's final shadow-touch is what really drives her. I mean, if it's a gamble, eventually she'd get so touch-starved that she takes that risk, but if it's inevitable then there's no gaps to wriggle through.

Her appearance: And not just talking about the fact that first-draft Nikoletta was white. Originally, her nightmare-powers also caused an illusion over her appearance, where she appeared physically nightmarish or demonic to anyone who wasn't immune to her abilities. This isolated her even further, since direct eye contact was outright dangerous and even indirect glances were frightening.

Her reputation: Okay, her reputation itself didn't actually change much, I just couldn't think of a better way to work this. She still was the Queen of Belle Reve, but since her abilities were a lot more genuinely deadly, the fear she generated was completely real, and very hard to raise dissent against. Nikoletta's final shadow-powers aren't technically dangerous in any legitimate way, and it's all her skill at manipulating social situations that gives her the mystique and power to control Belle Reve. She built a lot more of it herself, when originally a lot more was handed to her thanks to her powers.

Her time in STAR Labs: Originally, she and Abner were in much closer proximity while in STAR Labs, and would talk through the vents to console each other through the experimentation. They had a close connection, though they never met face-to-face. They also escaped at the same time, rather than Nikoletta slipping away years before and not even realizing Abner's time lined up with hers until years later.

Her time in Corto Maltese: Not a whole lot changes her overall, though she doesn't go into La Gatita Amable like she does in the final story. Aside from that, she and Abner would have a heart-to-heart in the jungle where they talk about STAR Labs, and Nikoletta would pull down her sleeve to reveal a perfectly-circular burn scar, left by one of Abner's dots in the escape from STAR Labs. This leads to the two of them realizing they'd met years before, and "Nyx" (since she doesn't reveal her real name in Belle Reve, in the original version) is in fact Nikoletta, Abner's only real friend who talked to him through the vents. I do still like this backstory in theory, but I thought it made things a lot deeper and more impactful for her and Abner not to have any prior history.

Baron and Barbie: Yeah, she didn't have cats in the original version. They were a spur-of-the-moment add after I started writing for her, you had mentioned something about her getting a cat and I just thought it fit so well that I had to include it.

Thanks for the ask!! Out of all my OCs, I think Nikoletta's changed the most, and I actually remember all the changes she went through (unlike most of the others)

[vyuntspakhkite-l-darling]

So far I think my draft is pretty strong so far but I'm noticing some big flaws and I'm gonna ramble about it

I mentioned in a post yesterday(?) kind of that when I shift perspective, I like to shape the narration style to really help the reader understand how each character thinks. But as I'm going into chapter four and the first actual chapter from Arsioly's perspective, I'm realizing that his style is far more distinct from everyone else's than the other three are from each other.

Because my guy is like a fuckin psycho and he's all like 'will death hold me like water' and reminiscing about killing a guy and barkbarkbark

As of right now the way I'm planning to make Virava's voice more distinct is by making her see things more artistically because she really wants to be an artist even though she doesn't have the materials

For Sibatol I'm not quite sure but I think I'm just going to give him more internal monologue? Because this bitch doesn't say anything he means. He's just a traumatized kid inside but his survival has depended on being appealing to others for so long that he just can't turn the persona off

But I'm concerned about Visralion kind of? I dunno I guess part of me wants to make one of his characteristics be that he thinks far more of other people than he does himself and then part of his arc can be when Ari confesses to him and he's like wait.. i don't really want to be with him right now Will it be too late if I do that? Will people already have written him off as like just a boring love interest for Arsioly to obsess over or will they realize once that scene happens that I did that intentionally?

Spoilers under the cut and also me trying to ffigure out if i have some internal bias I don't see or if I'm just overanalyzing

I'm also worried about Virava and Visralion's agency in the story. Arsioly has the most agency because he's hugely ambitious and just wants more. Among other things he plans the attack on Nyazhchau which literally tips the scale of the war and cements both his fame/legacy and the future of the Rahaithian Army (I finally found a permanent name for the rebels). I genuinely think that if he did not exist then the RA wouldn't win and Kristalya would remain whole for longer.

Sibatol also has a fair bit of agency, he's the one that saves Arsioly from Nyazhchau, and he's also the one that recovers the negotions when Arsioly starts fucking up

Now something I've noticed is that the two characters that have the most agency are the two white characters out of the four MCs. I didn't do this on purpose obviously but I'm wondering if it's an internal bias thing.

I do have my reasons for most of their designs. Arsioly and Visralion are quite different in color for character design reasons and I do really like that character design trope where it's like opposites and they're gay for eahc other idk. I could theoretically switch them and give Arsioly the darker color scheme and Visralion the lighter one but idk then that makes the two POCs the two more violently inclined characters in the group and I don't like that either.

Virava is black as a reference to the black trans women that were part of the stonewall riots, and if I make Sibatol black as well, that makes the three MCs that came from poverty all black and the one character that came from a rich family white. I could switch Virava's and Sibatol's role but I have weird feelings about making the only trans character the one that's very promiscuous.

Idk that's not the point I just need more agency for Visralion and Virava. I can make it so Visralion has a more subtle sort of agency where he supports his friends and is kind of the 'glue' of the team, plus he's the only one of them that's good at comfort. He also has his moment where he makes the call that they're keeping Estera and his moment where he rejects Arsioly because he sees that man is not ready for a relationship.

For Virava though I'm really not sure? I'm pretty sure that when the Nyazhchau situation happens she's going to be the one that goes, "no, we're going to try again, Arsioly could still be alive and we could rescue him and even if he's no he wouldn't just want us to give up." I think she's also gonna have some nice moments with Estera but I just feel like there needs to be more.... I'm going to look for opportunities while I'm writing to give her some more agency I just needed to talk about this and get the words out there

[thethistlegirlwrites]

WIP Questionnaire

Thanks for the open tag, @verba-writing !

I'll do these for Thief of Hearts since it's my Camp Nano April WIP!

What was the first part of your wip that you created?

So, fun story, I actually came up with the base premise of this idea almost 10 years ago. My freshman year of college (2014-15, *gasp*) my roommate and I binge watched Criminal Minds, and we got through episode 3.02 and my brain apparently decided to take 'what if stealing hearts was a little more metaphorical than this but more literal than the usual meaning', wrote down a title and tagline, then forgot it for the next nine years until I found it while spring cleaning my Google drive.

If your story was a TV show, what would the theme song/intro be?

I want to say "Jar of Hearts" by Christina Perri just because it's too good to pass up how specifically it works, but I also think "Things that Stop You Dreaming" by Passenger really fits the whole world of the story really well, so either of those two.

Who are your favourite characters you've made? Why?

For this story? Definitely Emmett and Rory. Making me choose between them would be like making me choose a favorite child. They're both delightfully flawed, morally grey, and just trying to make it in a city that kind of wants to kill them. Emmett has a knack for making the worst possible decisions without realizing that's what he's doing, Rory is ruthless and probably would have been described as heartless BEFORE Emmett actually stole her heart, and they've just generally been very fun to throw together, force to work on the same side, and watch the sparks (and occasional knife) fly.

What other pieces of media do you think would share a fan base for your story?

I think oddly enough this one is going to appeal to dystopia lovers as much or more than pure fantasy readers. I just read a Korean YA novel in translation, Snowglobe, that basically was an inverted version of the perpetual winter city in TOH, and really felt like that was a fairly close comparative story. Aside from that, I'm not really sure. I like a plethora of weird things that shouldn't go together so I'm not sure at all of what a shared fan base looks like. I'm always cobbling together my projects out of bizarre combinations of inspiration sources and I have zero idea where they will land or what will be a hit with anyone besides me and the few people who get to listen to me bemoan the writing process and read the chaotic early drafts.

What has been your biggest struggle with your wip?

Timing of the plotline. I've been constantly changing when things happen because all the action is crammed into a 48 hour window but ironically that's turned out to be MORE time than I know what to do with given the pace the plot needs to have, so I'm finding ways to flesh things out and frustrate some of the characters' plans so that it's not all over TOO fast.

Are there any animals in your story? Talk about them!

Rory has a pet magical pigeon named Blizzard. He's been affected by the magic that floods the city of Rime, and while he's adapted to endure the extreme cold and see in the perpetual dark, he's nearly flightless because of one wing that is more or less just a warped stub. He's going to be fun to flesh out as a part of the story, and he's sort of Rory's answering service when she's out making a messenger delivery, since people can leave messages they want sent in a little pouch he wears on his back while he's on duty. It would be nearly impossible to have more than one generation of animal in the city without them mutating because of the magic, so most people don't even bother. Small animals that pose minimal risk if their descendants develop magical powers or strange features like foot-long fangs are the only regularly kept animals in Rime, and since most people can't afford to feed themselves and a pet, there's very few domesticated creatures at all.

How do your characters get around? (ex: trains, horses, cars, dragons, etc.)

Mostly on foot, or by ship if they're leaving the city by the port. Keeping large animals in Rime would be costly and that's prohibitive for most people, and the large animals that can manage the winters are mostly the local caribou population, which have been affected by the magic much like Rory's pigeon. Someone might be able to ride them, but it also might end very badly.

What part of your wip are you working on rn?

Drafting. I've gotten the main plot points knocked out, but I'm filling in the gaps and trying to plot a daring rescue right along with my characters, so that's fun. Mostly I'm just following them around with a clipboard and pencil trying to take notes and keep up and getting whiplash from watching them argue about any and everything.

What aspects (tropes, maybe?) of your wip do you think will draw people in?

I'm hoping the worldbuilding is a big draw because that's always the part of a project I go crazy with. I hope people find the idea of a magic-warded permanently winter city where daylight is basically a version of the northern lights appealing enough to be curious. My other big draw is the characters, because I personally love them very much and I hope other people do too. I do have a few fun tropes but a lot of them are skewed slightly to the side, like the kind of chaotic enemies-to-coparents arc and sharing body warmth but also half convinced the other person will kill you when you fall asleep.

What are your hopes for your wip?

Honestly, just that people get to enjoy it and fall in love with the characters the way I did. I would genuinely love to log onto Tumblr and see that someone had made fan art of them, or a moodboard, or to realize a fic category had appeared on AO3 (one of my draft beta readers @nade2308 already wrote a soft cute slice-of-life future fic after bingereading what there was of the draft to see, and I'm genuinely just floored and gleeful about that fact). I'm also sort of lurking like a gremlin ready to watch people lose it over my 'strong female character' choosing to parent a child as the culmination of her arc. Yes, Rory can kill you about ten ways but one of those is to mom you to death. And like the menace I am (and having seen the discourse on Tumblr) I am doing the evil hand rubbing waiting for the response to that one...

No pressure tagging @catwings-writes-things , @nade2308writes, @telltaleclerk, @the-one-and-only-valkyrie, @imbrisvastatio and anyone else who wants to hop on the train for this one!

Questions are:

1. What was the first part of your wip that you created?

2. If your story was a TV show, what would the theme song/intro be?

3. Who are your favourite characters you've made? Why?

4. What other pieces of media do you think would share a fan base for your story?

5. What has been your biggest struggle with your wip?

6. Are there any animals in your story? Talk about them!

7. How do your characters get around? (ex: trains, horses, cars, dragons, etc.)

8. What part of your wip are you working on rn?

9. What aspects (tropes, maybe?) of your wip do you think will draw people in?

10. What are your hopes for your wip?

[shu-of-the-wind]

you know what i've just realized that i came back to tumblr after like three or four years of radio silence and haven't updated folks on my fandoms, so, in case people were wondering:

fandoms i write for:

rogue one (always and forever, my one true love, eternal companion, i literally have two r1 tats right now and i'm planning a third and fourth)

mo dao zu shi (grandmaster of demonic cultivation) and to some extent ren zha fanpai zijiu xitong (scum villain's self-saving system) but i still haven't finished tian guan ci fu (heaven official's blessing) don't @ me

moon knight, which is like....the only fucking marvel property i am okay with right now (i'm kind of an active thor and loki hater for personal reasons ;;;;)

the hobbit and some parts of the silmarillion (i am not nearly as educated on this as i wanna be)

THE MUPPETS THE MUPPETS THE MUPPETS THE MUPPETS (no i'm probably not writing fanfiction for it but if you ask me about the muppets i will talk to you for ten hours)

i'm writing a fic for the series that shall not be named which is purely me being trans and processing my grief around jkr being a terf so i don't talk about it publicly! but i do write it and post semi-regularly

fullmetal alchemist even if i haven't updated sotb in literally years shhhhhHHHHHH

fandoms i don't write for (ever or anymore) but love to talk about + interests i have that are outside of fandom:

umineko when they cry/umineko no naku koro ni

anything by agatha christie though i will guarantee more awareness of poirot and marple than any of her other characters

ghost hunt

the twelve kingdoms

kuroshitsuji

history of any stripe but PARTICULARLY anything to do with imperialism/fascism

pharaonic egypt and, hand in hand with that, the history of egyptology

anything by rf kuang

the unbroken by c.l. clark

the history of mining rights in west virginia (i don't know how i got into this one either but)

treaty rights and the history of us govt abuses of indigenous peoples (currently work as a tribal law attorney)

witchcraft and asatro (antiracist and antifa only please if you aren't antifa and antiracist and you pretend to be a nordic polytheist i'm literally going to smash you with a hammer)

this is a very incomplete list but if i keep going it's going to be excessive

other projects i'm working on right now:

i also write original fiction and am currently drafting a historical fantasy novel, planning a historical mystery novel in the tradition of poirot and marple, and writing short stories/novellas for submission to publishers (fuck harper collins lmao)

video essays; i'm drafting scripts and starting voiceover work this month (1/2023) so i'm hoping to have something up by the end of february

planning a podcast series with a dear friend of mine that should also hopefully start posting this year, we've both had big work things in our way of late

if anyone wants to talk to me about any of these things please do!

[lilliths-httyd-blog]

Hi I have an odd question I’ve recently decided to get back into my old personal Viggo lives comic: “Beyond the Horizon” after seeing/reading other’s rtte art, theories, fics, and head canons on it (tbh your VLAU fic was definitely the kicker that made me want to get back into my comic) but I don’t want to seem like I’m copying or stealing ideas so I was wondering if you had any alternate names for Viggo’s Skrill (also some writing tips would be very helpful since I’m very rusty ;-;)

i mean

this is how i named viggo's skrill to begin with. just a random fucking chapter of a fic i started in early 2022 and abandoned until recently. i justified my choice of name because this bitch from black butler is also called beast and i think she's hot

in VLAU that story viggo referenced liking as a child about the boy with the magic eye was a reference to black butler i shit you not. i don't even like black butler anymore i haven't watched it in years and don't plan on watching it again any time soon.

i find using the Wings of Fire format of names really helps when naming dragons. lets look at the character names in WoF: Clay, Sunny, Starflight, Tsunami, Glory, Moonwatcher, Kinkajou, Deathbringer, Winter, Peril, Quibli and Turtle are some of the significant ones. go for something weather/sky/space themed for a skrill. just like that. combine weirder shit for the viking feel like hookfang or stormfly. but then you've also got like skullcrusher and cloudjumper so it's good. and then just words like barf, belch, toothless and grump so that works. steal the name Thunder from NR out of spite.

you can also search for old norse words that we're aware of and just find one that sounds like a name with a nice meaning if you want to be fancy and preppy.

another way i like to do it is steal species names from the httyd books like i'll just open up my copy of the incomplete book of dragons until i find something nice like... stickyworm? no... vorpent? no... toxic nightshade... NIGHTSHADE that would be a good name for a skrill you can use that if you want. doomfang seems like more of a dagur name than a viggo name but thats still a bangin skrill name.

and uhhh writing tips uhhhhh. i mean i don't got nothing tbh. be as self indulgent as you want. not everything has to live up to the standards of Scholars Mate and Choosing to Forget not everything has to be that good. my VLAU is genuinely just 17+(?) chapters of fluff and angst and vigcup being adorable and its just me projecting a bunch of my stupid little OOC headcanons onto my stupid little adhd blorbos. my other fics were either me being angsty, me listening a little too much to the httyd soundtrack, me just fucking daydreaming about random shit, or me going HAHAHAHAHAHA LETS MAKE VIGGO'S LIFE A LIVING HEL. i find inspiration from the most random shit. i took a bath once and when i hopped in my cold little toes burned like fire in the hot water and then i tried this coconut shampoo and now i have an entire WIP based on that one experience. there's no fancy thought or writing process behind it there's no "first drafts" (probably cuz i edit as i go lmao) there's no immaculate planning every little detail of the fic. it's just little magpie me going "oh shiny oh shiny oh shiny oh shiny" and then making a mosaic out of all the shitty pieces of glass i've found and somehow a couple people find the mosaic pretty so i am proud because i worked hard on it. and lemme tell you, writing self indulgent fanfiction where im not trying to please anyone except myself is so much fun like i've literally written about viggo being the twin's cousin and i literally made viggo a soft poetry boi and its just fun. i know some people aren't into that or aren't interested and thats fine they don t have to read it. write for yourself you don't even have to be good at it just do it who cares. thats the best advice i can give. just do whatever the fuck you fucking want

[cryptidfuckery]

Do you plan/write a story in chronological order or just put it down as it comes to you? Trying to figure out how far afield the latter puts me, even if there’s not a “right” way to do it.

hi heres some completely unrequested writing tips sorry for the long post :) i misread the ask before i started writing so. yeah. in short i don't write chronologically, except when I'm writing the beginning?

the first scene i wrote for this is literally the rising climax of the story. i had no idea what I wanted to do with it from there but it just kept evolving until now I'm writing a whole year spanned over 20 chapter fic.

When I started this one (mind you i havent written in like 7 years) I just wrote what came to me, what ideas made me excited. Basically whatever was bringing me joy to write, whatever was fun to expand it into. Purely self indulgent for myself to reread over and over and over, no real plan to post it.

Then I got the brainworm about it and couldn't stop thinking about it and I knocked out over 20k in a month which was. Also due to me being massively depressed and distracting myself.

But in this time I got a sketch book and started planning out a bigger story, something to compliment the original idea and inspiration while also giving a satisfying story between the characters (also figuring out overarching plot, drew out a plot mountain at one point to see where I was lacking, jotting down ideas just to get them down so I could let them simmer in the back of my mind, jotting down phrases or ideas for dialouge, etc) basically just. playing in the space and seeing what ended up feeling most satisfying as a whole story

WOOF OKAY THERES MORE im so sorry you caught me at 1am and im high

Once I got the overall idea of what I wanted to do, I started mapping out chapters, but mostly getting a rough idea of where i wanted things to go in the story. I am being VERY diligent to remember that this is all mutable and nothing is set in stone and its MORE FUN that way

At this point I'm still just writing whats enjoyable and coming to me naturally. Once I started solidifying more of the plot and ideas I started working on some of the parts that just needed to be done re: the very beginning. And i fucking hate the very very beginning right now i cant wait to rewrite it but i am NOT LETTING MYSELF DO THAT.

DO NOT GO BACK AND EDIT SIGNIFIGANTLY. If you catch yourself rereading it and adjusting a few things, fine. But if you find any major inconsistencies either make a mental note or leave a comment or something and then just leave it. It'll be there to fix later. It doesn't matter. Leave a fuckin [insert name of kitchen utensil here] if you don't remember. Who cares. It's your first draft.

OKAY now onto how I've been writing the scenes that don't come as naturally to me

I let the scene simmer for a while in my brain. I entertain different ideas and approaches and jot down anything that feels right. Usually for me I'll get a clear line of dialogue or interaction that feels like a good creative starting point

2. I listen to music when I write bc I have adhd, but im curious to know if this would work for other people too! I have a playlist I curated for the fic that I have listened to. A lot. A lot. Like a Lot. Like most mornings on my way to work. this 1) helps me play in my head with the blorbos and 2) gives me a good emotional basis to bounce ideas off of if I'm stumped on a scene.

I literally just gave my friend @docninj this advice. Pick a song that represents the emotion you're trying to convey in the scene youre trying to write. Could be overall emotion, emotion of the narrator, main character's emotions, whatever. Then play that song on repeat until you don't really hear it anymore. Then try writing. I'll also switch songs if the mood of the scene changes. For me it helps me bounce the emotions I'm trying to write off of something that represents it? god dude idk.

god that was a lot idk why i wrote all of it but hey if it helps someone what the hell.

[oncforallxbroccoli]

Unprompted Mun Ask (always accepting) || Anonymous asked:

((hey, just to be clear, You are ok to play in Crossovers, meaning established worlds and stories from other anime/shows/books, but would rather avoid AU's, meaning original build worlds and lore, right? I would hate to put you in an uncomfortable position by liking for a starter that you don't want to be in, if I understood that correctly. Just trying to respect your flow.))

((I'm taking a guess that this is in response to this ask.

I'm sorry if that's how that was worded... I was kinda distracted playing OW2 when I was working on that, and only managed to type it between games before posting.

But no.. I do love AUs -- it's just sometimes it is hard working and create the lore for said AUs. Especially creating them by yourself. Since in some AUs you have to change something about a character to make the AU work better.

In fact, I do have a few AUs written up with threads for others in my drafts for both Izuku and my Katsuki muse.

But like for example; take Katsuki and putting him into an AU where Quirks don't exist or one where he was born Quirkless. How would not having a Quirk impact his character?

Cause to me... Katsuki not having a Quirk would leave a pretty huge gap on his character. Like he'd still be confident -- but he wouldn't be OVERLY CONFIDENT. There would be no reason for others to praise him as a LITERAL CHILD for being a walking explosive. They could still do that because of his intelligence -- but a lot of praise he received as a child was about "how strong and flashy his Quirk was". Not to mention, his relationship with Izuku wouldn't have been bad (meaning no bullying) because there would be no reason for him to want to "push Izuku out of his life".

Or if you take Izuku and put him into an AU where Quirks don't exist.. meaning a world with NO PRO HEROES!!! How would that impact his character? Because .. a good part of Izuku's character is him having knowledge about heroes and their Quirks. Like in canon... he was the first, and only one, who immediately realized that Aizawa was the "Erasure Hero: Eraser Head".

The rest of 1A were more or less like "who?" or "I think I've heard his name before". While Izuku the moment that that Aizawa said that he had "erased" his Quirk -- and seeing the goggles -- put two and two together. Meaning that his knowledge of heroes went beyond those heroes in public eye. That he knows about / had knowledge (even if it wasn't as vast) about those who tended to "avoid making media appearances".

Like in this scene... Izuku's reaction -- had he only known "rumors" about Eraser Head would've been written more akin to him only hearing rumors. Like it was written for his classmates when they were talking about Eraser. Which means that despite them "hearing things" about the pro hero: Eraser Head. None of them but Izuku ACTUALLY looked into and confirmed for themselves if those rumors were actually true.

The rest of 1A only seemed to know that there was a "angler-type pro hero" on the scene. But didn't know what said hero's quirk was / did.. or only vaguely knew his name.

Whereas.. in straight up crossover threads -- and I mean threads where it's literally taking Character A and throwing them and all of their powers / abilities / etc into Character B's universe. Either by a power / machine / etc ... is usually easier to do threads.

But also ... I come from the early times of tumblr rp (the earlier to mid 2010s) when two characters from two different fandoms could interact and most people didn't really bat an eye about it. And hell, sometimes AUs / muse relationships are created FROM what was supposed to be a simple little thread that was a silly, goofy one-off interaction.

Like for example; back when I rped Toph Beifong -- I interacted with muses that were wrestlers. But .. I didn't have proper information for Toph in a modern setting. So I literally just threw Toph -- as she was (a blind earthbender) -- at people who rped wrestlers. And those were some of my favorite interactions that I had with Toph.

[jeswii]

SWTOR Alliance Commander Ask Game

Tagged by @grandninjamasterren and @sithwarblade

Commander Seked Ridil

(Someone I literally never talk about, but he is the Commander of the Alliance in Sinnam's story. I literally didn't have a picture of him anymore and had to make this guy from memory.)

1) Who’s your Alliance Commander? What class are they? Alignment? Random other facts you wanna share?

Seked Ridil is a light side Jedi Knight (Guardian). If you haven't read A Different Type of War, he's not the actual main character because I didn't want to focus on the Commander.

2) What’s a reason or two you like that this character is your Commander?

I invented Seked to take the role of Commander away from Sinnam because I felt that she just didn't fit the role in the story. I like him being in charge and calling the shots instead because it lets me explore the story outside of just what the Commander is doing.

3) What’s a reason or two you don’t like about them being Commander?

Holocalls and Datapads! Trying to figure out how a Miraluka character in star wars does either of these things was a road block in my stories for so long. The amount of time I wanted to say "Seked looked-" and had to rearrange the whole scene because he doesn't see traditionally was a challenge.

4) Why did this character of all your OCs become Commander?

Leadership, responsibility and combat training. I think every republic class has shown up in this story and 2 out of 4 Imperial ones have and Seked is the only one who has all three and no other complications.

Sinnam (Trooper) - has all three but also a ghost in her head and presumed dead after the destruction of Darth Marr's ship

Lim (Smuggler) - no responsibility

Iza'min (Consular) - little military training

Cipher Nine - no desire to be in the spotlight, hasn't been seen since Zakuul invaded. Assumed dead.

Darth Occlus - lacks responsibility, slightly sadistic, enjoys pushing limits of the Force too much to be in charge of so many people

(This is also only for this story, I have other stories I haven't published where there's a whole different set of characters and different Commanders.)

5) Who did they side with? Did they stay loyal or go saboteur? Or maybe you headcanon they defect properly?

Loyal to the Republic

6) Are there any NPC’s from the class stories you’d like to see/HC join the Alliance? Ex: Master Timmns, Ardun Kothe, Watcher One, etc.

For this story, I don't think so.

7) How’s your OC feeling about the current Malgus situation?

I haven't actually gotten to writing this far yet, I've only drafted up to the Traitor arc, but he's never met Malgus before so for him it's just another day.

8) Are any of your other OC’s part of the Alliance? If yes what do they do for the Alliance? Do they get along with your Commander?

Sinnam (Trooper) - A military advisor and good friend.

Iza'min (Consular) - An expert called in to help handle the Valkorion situation, they've known each other most of their lives and get along well.

Darth Occlus - Also an expert called in to help with Valkorion, they and Seked tolerate each other but aren't friends.

9) How does your OC feel about Odessen? (Bonus: how do you feel about it)

He loves it. It feels like Tython in so many ways to him with the vast woods. Eventually, after the war with Zakuul is over he begins development for Odessen's first town for the Alliance army and their families: Rosecliff (name to change but it's what I have for now)

10) How does your Commander feel about being the Commander?

He likes it. He accepted the responsibilities well. On occasion he still doubts himself but he has people to support him when he needs it.

11) Favorite place in the Alliance base?

The Force Enclave, he loves seeing different force users being able to overcome their differences

12) Favorite mission in KotFE?

Profit and Plunder is one of the few definitive wins, so he likes that one

13) Favorite mission in KotET?

(I don't follow much of Kotet's story format so half the chapters don't happen the normal way anyways in this story. So none I guess for Seked?)

14) Least favorite mission in either? Why?

Either Battle for Asylum because Sinnam dies (temporarily) or Iokath and the events leading up to it. Things go very wrong very fast for everyone both times and he blames himself.

15) Is your Commander successful because they’re skilled? Or are they perhaps just really lucky?

Skilled with a great team behind them.

16) From our OC’s point of view, SoR -> KotET wasn’t a fun experience, did they develop any fears as a result?

After remembering what happened in the Emperor's clutches during the Rishi mission, he developed a temporary fear of kolto tanks because that's what Vitiate would keep him in to keep him docile.

17) AU time! If your Commander wasn’t Commander, which of your other OCs would have likely taken their place?

Sinnam seems like the obvious choice, probably Iza'min after her.

18) Who’s someone your Commander hopes they never have to deal with again?

Saresh!

19) Does your Commander hold on to/still use any titles they earned before KotET?

He still uses the tittle of Jedi Master and he'll never introduce himself as Battlemaster but he'll let people call him that

20) Share something, anything at all, you want about your Commander that you’ve not really gotten the chance to share before but really want to.

Seked was born in the Jedi Order so being without them after waking up from Carbonite is harder than he's admit to anyone. He's not used to not being able to go to a Master older than him when he truly needs help because there's no one around anymore. Most Jedi who join the Alliance are younger than him. So on occasion he's attempted to reach out to Master Orgus for guidance and hasn't managed to receive a response.

Not going to tag anyone because I've seen this go around and don't know who has done it yet. But do it if you want and tag me if you do it after seeing this!

[mandareeboo]

11, 21, 31, 41 :)

11. How do you come up with your fic titles?

It's mostly VERY off the cuff!!! Usually song lyrics or memes or a mix of both! Most of my draft names are either A.) the exact same, or B.) somehow even worse???

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

Those dry spells you get between writing bouts for a story you like and know you're gonna finish but until the drive comes back it sits like a limp fish. No lie I've had the same Ducktales oneshot in my docs for almost a year now and only recently have I doubled that bitch, and it's not even at emotional peaks yet. So. Yeah.

31. Of the characters you write for, which is your favorite? Has that choice been swayed at all by your followers/readers’ reactions to certain ones?

I have a couple I really enjoy writing- Amethyst and Entrapta come off the top of my head- but I've gotten wonderful comments on others saying I do the voices really well! Webby Vanderquack, Amphibia (I guess I have the tone of the show down pretty well??? Lol), Violet Sabrewing (I've written her maybe twice and each time I've gotten the "I literally read this in her voice you wizard" response), and so on.

41. What’s your most popular fic (with the most notes on tumblr, most hits/kudos on ao3)?

By hits it's still Restless, and by kudos it's Simple! Ironic that both of them are, like, two years old. Guess I've peaked. =)

[thewolfmanslayer]

Honestly the amount of people who say artists and writers should do stuff for free, or try to rip them off on comissions still royally piss me off.

I think the worst part of it is the entitlement, I dont want to make this too much about generations but a lot of commissioners are millenial/Gen z's who grew up on the "steal and pirate everything" mentality, take everything that you can because no one else is going to hand it to you. which I can get behind, when you are screwing over MULTI BILLION DOLLAR COMPANIES. NOT THE STRUGGLING ARTISTS AND WRITERS who are trying to keep food on the table as desperately as you probably are!

It's simple, you wouldn't walk into a restaurant, order food and tell the server "sorry I don't have any money, but I've got like a few thousand followers on social media, I can get your name out there, get the restaurant some exposure" NO! They don't need "exposure" they need you to pay the damn bill!

On top of that, most of these artists and writers ALREADY HAVE FOLLOWINGS. They already have thousands of people following them, waiting for the chance to get a commission, who are willing to pay for said commission, they don't need "exposure" when they're already out there! He'll even the artists and writers with a few hundred don't need it, they'll get more followers as time goes by, their skill alone will see to it.

And what is with people trying to get free art and writing? It's not going to work! You can't harass someone until they cave, trust me, you'll be long since blocked before you even have the opportunity. I don't do comissions, online anyways, but my own friends and family, people who actually know me STILL PAY ME whenever they ask for me to do art for them because they KNOW it takes TIME AND EFFORT.

How many times do we need to have this discussion???? Like when is it going to finally click that people who need to pay their bills just as much as you do AREN'T going to do this shit for free!?

Here's the thing about art and writing, that you've heard a billion times but still aren't getting; IT. TAKES. TIME. AND. EFFORT. TO. GET. DONE. the art isn't going to magically appear and the writing isn't going to suddenly write itself, if either were so convenient YOU WOULDNT BE ASKING AN ARTIST OR WRITER IN THE FIRST PLACE!

Look at that, you see that? The first picture I did back in 2012-13, the picture beside it? I did that TWO YEARS AGO. I didn't suddenly know exactly what to do, or had anything close to a god given talent for drawing (I'm not that talented). The first picture WAS THE ABSOLUTE BEST I COULD DO AT THE TIME THAT I MADE IT. In the time between these two drawings I admittedly took a break from art, but then I got back into it four years ago. EVEN STILL that was four YEARS of starting over from the basics, relearning everything, learning new things, wanting to actually improve my art.

Which, guess what, DID NOT HAPPEN OVER NIGHT. It was HOURS UPON HOURS of my limited free time as an adult drawing over and over and over and over again, every single goddamn day to get to the point that I was able to make that redraw look as good as it does in comparison. He'll, my art now puts them both to shame! Because I spent the time improving my quality!!

Now look at these artists doing comissions, they've probably put EVEN MORE of their time to get that good! They've put in LITERAL YEARS of sweat, blood, tears, frustrations and dedicated hardwork. Some did the same as me, self teaching and lots of practice, others probably had to go to school, which definitely wasn't cheap. But all of us put in that time and effort TO REACH THESE POINTS. Of being better artists, developing our styles, getting faster at drawing.

And maybe you think that this is super easy, right? That I or every other artist can just fire some art off and boom its good and done in like an hour?

FUCK. NO.

Even now it takes me several hours a day OVER MANY DAYS to make something exceptionally good! It doesn't matter how good an artist is, it still. Takes. Time.

Maybe the issue is that you don't understand how much actually goes into art, let me break it down for you, the steps that most people follow to finish ONE drawing.

-Rough draft: general character outline, get a feel for what I want to draw.

-Rough sketch: I start doing a bit of pencil to start filling in details like mouth, nose, eyes, hair, clothes. Ect.

-Penciling: I go over the rough sketch and clean everything up, maybe do some editing, this is when you can start making out all the details.

-Ink: I trace over the finished pencil with a pen tool and actually have the line art, everything looks clean, presentable, it actually looks like a character now. I'll spend time editing this and possibly redoing the inking many times over to get to a point where I like it.

-Flat color: I decide on which colors to use for skin tone, clothes accessories. Ect.

-Shading/highlights: I figure out where my light source is and how strong it is, I then apply the correct amount of lighting and shadows to the color to give it depth, I also have determine the texture of skin, clothes and accessories to make everything look real and natural.

-Blending: I smooth out the shading and highlights so that it looks more natural and isn't too hard (noticeable difference between color) so that it looks as natural as possible.

-Finish: I go over last minute details, finish any editing or corrections that need to be done. Once it's good I call it a day.

Each process is longer in length then the previous, with the exception of the final editing (as long as everything looks good) and even the rough draft can take some time. Over all this is SEVERAL HOURS of work for a SINGLE DRAWING.

So is it sinking in yet? How much is put into doing even a single character drawing? God forbid if its done with background. This isn't a "scratch a pen around and be done with it in ten minutes" kinda deal, no, this is SEVERAL HOURS OF SOMEONES LIFE BEING PUT INTO THIS

And if you still have the AUDACITY to try and wrangle free art from an artist then there's no helping you, you're just a selfish piece of shit, no question and I want nothing to do with you.

Someone might say "But I got free art/writing from.-" look I don't give a shit if someone did something for you THAT ONE TIME, these other artists and writers? Totally seperate and different people. You're one freebie experience does not, and should not apply to other artists and writers.

"But what if I really want this commission but don't have the money right now?" Well, that's tough shit. Save up and properly commission them when you can, it's not their problem.

"But what if I'm in a really bad financial situation and really want it?" That sucks, and I'm sorry, but again, not their problem. Chances are this is their only source of income and they need to make money so that they don't end up in a similar situation.

"They have a gift! They should share it!" What kind of cheap ass- LOOK, just because someone is talented or really good at something does not automatically obligate them to do anything for total strangers in anyway shape or form. These are living, breathing people, the same as you. They need to eat, they need to pay rent/mortgages, they need to pay vet bills, send their kids to college, do their taxes and everything else that YOU YOURSELF need to do. Asking anyone to spend their time doing something for free, when that something is how THEY ARE SURVIVING is beyond asinine. Not only that, this obviously isn't a hobby to them, it is very clearly THEIR JOB. Would you want to do a job where you didn't get paid at all? Doing a shit ton of work for absolutely nothing? No? Didn't think so.

"It shouldn't be about the money!" Well unfortunately, as with almost every other job, it is. We live in a world where we desperately need to make money in order to survive. That's the painful fact of the matter. If money never had to be an issue ever again then this would be a very different story. But it's not, plain and simple as can be.

Look, these people are just like you, artists and writers who are just trying to get by in a shitty ass world, using the one thing they have that let's them have an income. Leave them be, don't try and trick them, guilt them, or cuss them out when you don't get your way. Either properly comission or leave them the hell alone, plain and simple.

[stolligaseptember]

Sorry if I'm bothering you, but I just want to ask: how accurate do you think Matpat's theory on Article 13 is? A lot of people have been panicking about it (including me), but now that I've seen your posts on the subject, I'm really starting to doubt if there is anything to be afraid of. It's just hard to focus on looking for facts when the entire website is panicking, so I hope you can kind of clear this up for me (and a lot of others). Again, I hope I'm not bothering you! Have a nice day!

It’s no bother at all! I said I was here to answer all of your questions, so that’s what I’m going to do!!

But. Oh god. This whole mess started with a YouTube video, so I guess it was only inevitable that it would finally circle back to another one.

Okay so. I’ll be honest, it took me about 3 hours to get through this video. 18, if you count the fact that I started it before I went to bed last night. And like. He’s not wrong about a lot of things. But he’s not a lawyer, or a law-maker. And he’s definitely not a European one. Which you kind of need to be to understand what the hell is going on here.

He’s just misinterpreting a lot of things. And he’s misunderstanding how the entire EU-law system, and Europe's law tradition in general, works. Which, like, he’s an American, and not even an American lawyer, so no one can really blame him for that. But what frustrates me, and what actually makes me really fucking angry, is that he’s somehow claiming that he does understand this and that he somehow holds the authority to explain it to others. Which he clearly doesn’t.

So okay. What is going on in MatPat’s video. A lot of shit.

What first struck me is that he misses the bots. Like, his entire fear mongering tactic is based in this idea that all media platform would have to develop content ID bots. And that would indeed be a bad thing. But what he forgets to mention is that the bots have been removed from the new draft text. The draft that he, by the way, quotes himself. So I don’t know if he forgot to read the entire article, of if he just forgot to mention it. That’s very unclear.

But what really struck my nerves, and what made me so upset that I actually couldn’t fall asleep last night, was that he claims that the term “good faith” is somehow too vague and is because of that bad legal writing. And I’m not going to lie, that got my goat.

“Good faith” is like the least undefined term within all of European law doctrine. It’s about the most important principle we have. Bona fide, anyone? YEAH. That’s good faith. Trust me when I say that all lawyers, and everyone that has even gotten close to working with rights, know what “good faith” means. God, we have over 400 000 books and articles on “good faith” just in my uni library. “Good faith” is so far from an undefined term.

And no, “good faith” doesn’t somehow mean that copyright holders will have the final say in what will and won’t constitute as a copyright infringement. What “good faith” means, very simply put, is that you have to have trust in each others good faith while dealing with each other. You must be able to trust that the copyright holder is indeed the copyright holder, and that the media platform is indeed able to fulfill the obligations that’s put on them. When the directive says that they should cooperate in good faith, it means that they must cooperate in a way that the legal barrier for good faith is reached. I get that this is all sounding very weird, but that is kind of what you have lawyers for. We’re supposed to have read those 400 000 and more books to be able to conclude if something has been conducted in good faith or not. But no, this writing does not in any way open up for an arbitrary interpretation of copyright law. It does make things a lot more legal-technical, but that’s the way copyright law is looking right now.

And then. I don’t know what happens next honestly. He somehow manages to connect the “good faith” requirement and the conclusion that content ID bots will somehow stop content from being uploaded??? That’s a mental jump that I really can’t follow, but okay. 

First of all, because the bots are no longer on the table. Second of all, because dealing in good faith has nothing to do with the bots. But if we forget all about the bots altogether, good faith will still never give copyright holders the right to file unfounded copyright infringement claims. Either something is copyright infringement, or it isn’t, and the copyright holders and media platforms should cooperate in good faith to make sure that copyright infringement doesn’t happen, and you always have the legal framework in the back to make sure that unfounded claims of copyright infringement doesn’t happen, and that the requirement of good faith is met.

And this is complicated, I get that, but that’s what I’ve been trying to say all along. Copyright law is weird and complicated as fuck.

He also can’t make up his mind if content ID recognition is a good or bad thing. Like first he says that if they had kept the bots in the text (and that’s where he says that the bots have been removed from the text, but he doesn’t clarify that further) then everything would have been a-okay, but then like 5 minutes later he says that the content ID (which!! Isn’t even in question anymore!!!!!!!) is the work of the devil. And I’m sorry, but I’m on a bit of a personal vendetta against YouTube right now, and this is exactly the stance that YouTube themselves have taken. They’re going “oh, article 13 is literally hell brought to life!!!!” but then in the next breath they go “BUT BOTS ARE A GOOD IDEA”, and I’m getting whiplash just trying to keep up with them. It’s contradictory as hell, and I can’t even figure out what people are really worried about or not these days.

I think a lot of people are just screaming because they want to scream, but that’s another story.

He also says that the directive will be “implemented by the end of this year” which is just an outright lie. Even if you’re generous and stretch that to the end of 2019, it’s still an outright lie. The next round of votes happens in early 2019, and EU bureaucracy is a literal hellscape, so that’s just not happening.

He also compares this to GDPR, but I’ve already explained why can’t do that. Regulations and directives are completely different legal documents, and unlike regulations, directives have to be actually implemented into each member state’s national law system. And you always have an implementing period of at least 2 years for this. But like, that’s the lower bar. You can push the high bar pretty goddamn far. It’s not unusual to see member states take up to 5-6 years to implement directives, and the commission can’t really do anything about it, as long as the member state can prove that they’re working on it.

Like, I don’t remember just what it was we were supposed to regulate, but I remember we studied this one directive that Sweden took like 7, if not 8 years to implement. And we where honest to god just stalling, because we didn’t really want to regulate what the directive said that we should regulate, and we needed the time to find a way to work our way around it. So when the commission came knocking to check if we had implemented the goddamn directive yet, our government was all like “oh no, you see, this is very foreign to our law system, and we have a very hard time seeing where it could fit in, but look at all these reports we’re writing and at all these experts we’ve hired to try and work it out”, and as soon as the commission had left again, seeing how we were at least giving the impression of trying to solve it, they were all like “OKAY BACK TO STALLING”. So depending on your member state’s outlook on this directive, there’s really no telling on how long it will take before it’s implemented.

The claim that the European copyright has a narrower definition of “fair use” is also just an outright lie. This is the exceptions and limitations to copyright that the InfoSec directive allows;

(a) use for the sole purpose of illustration for teaching or scientific research, as long as the source, including the author’s name, is indicated, unless this turns out to be impossible and to the extent justified by the non-commercial purpose to be achieved;

(b) uses, for the benefit of people with a disability, which are directly related to the disability and of a non-commercial nature, to the extent required by the specific disability;

© reproduction by the press, communication to the public or making available of published articles on current economic, political or religious topics or of broadcast works or other subject-matter of the same character, in cases where such use is not expressly reserved, and as long as the source, including the author’s name, is indicated, or use of works or other subject-matter in connection with the reporting of current events, to the extent justified by the informatory purpose and as long as the source, including the author’s name, is indicated, unless this turns out to be impossible;

(d) quotations for purposes such as criticism or review, provided that they relate to a work or other subject-matter which has already been lawfully made available to the public, that, unless this turns out to be impossible, the source, including the author’s name, is indicated, and that their use is in accordance with fair practice, and to the extent required by the specific purpose;

(e) use for the purposes of public security or to ensure the proper performance or reporting of administrative, parliamentary or judicial proceedings;

(f) use of political speeches as well as extracts of public lectures or similar works or subject-matter to the extent justified by the informatory purpose and provided that the source, including the author’s name, is indicated, except where this turns out to be impossible;

(g) use during religious celebrations or official celebrations organised by a public authority;

(h) use of works, such as works of architecture or sculpture, made to be located permanently in public places;

(i) incidental inclusion of a work or other subject-matter in other material;

(j) use for the purpose of advertising the public exhibition or sale of artistic works, to the extent necessary to promote the event, excluding any other commercial use;

(k) use for the purpose of caricature, parody or pastiche;

(l) use in connection with the demonstration or repair of equipment;

(m) use of an artistic work in the form of a building or a drawing or plan of a building for the purposes of reconstructing the building;

(n) use by communication or making available, for the purpose of research or private study, to individual members of the public by dedicated terminals on the premises of establishments referred to in paragraph 2© of works and other subject-matter not subject to purchase or licensing terms which are contained in their collections;

(o) use in certain other cases of minor importance where exceptions or limitations already exist under national law, provided that they only concern analogue uses and do not affect the free circulation of goods and services within the Community, without prejudice to the other exceptions and limitations contained in this Article.

That’s way more than the few exceptions that MatPat lists. And he’s also completely incorrect in European copyright law not somehow being flexible? Like, we’re not idiots, c’mon.

EU law isn’t stagnant; they’re living instruments, and we always interpret them in the light of the contemporary time. This is a skill all European lawyers are mercilessly trained in. EU law documents are worded “vaguely” and openly because we need the space to be able to make different interpretations depending on the situation. Like, the claim that point k, that lists caricatures, parodies and pastiches is somehow narrow? No?? This is where memes, and all other forms of parodies and caricatures and pastiches falls in. But just because you call something a meme doesn’t mean that it can’t be copyright infringement. You still have to make an evaluation of the actual situation. And that’s where lawyers and judges in every single member state come in; lawyers and judges who have been trained in both copyright law and EU law, and who knows how to interpret both the national law and the directive.

Because, once again, this isn’t aiming at making Europe into one coherent law system. It’s aiming at harmonizing the European law systems, but at the end of the day, it’s still always up to each and every member state of how they want to implement the directive.

Then there was the safe harbor issue. In this he actually is correct. The very aim of article 13 is to remove the safe harbor and to put a share of the responsibility of the copyright infringement on the media platform. Like, that’s the entire idea behind the article. So, once again, if you think that this is a bad idea, then yeah, go ahead and keep fighting article 13. And I’m not here to get political, but just why is the idea of removing the safe harbor such an egregiously bad idea? You as an individual is not going to be affected by it. It’s these big, multi-billion companies that will have to pay content creators their fair share of illegal copyright infringement. And why is that bad for you? Just food for thought.

And as usual, I have no idea how understandable this whole mess is, so don’t be afraid to ask me follow up questions, or anything else that you’re wondering over, and I’ll try to answer as best as I can!

[tc-doherty]

Is there anything in the world(s) you created that you wish you could change but because it's been the way it has so long, it either can't change or it feels weird to change it? @emilyoracle

@emilyoracle

Happy WBW!

Not that I can think of. Because I always completely rewrite drafts instead of editing them, I've never had any problem making even drastic changes.

I'm also not very sentimental. I can cut anything if I've decided I don't like it.

For example, Ithea and Mahesha both had different names for literally years (almost a decade!) but I changed them both on a whim. Both Silverwood and Second Chances had drastic changes to the setting, the plot, and the characters' personalities. Many other stories of mine have gone through similar changes.

I wrote 5 whole drafts of Laero before settling on a plot that I liked, before that each one had faced massive changes (and now I'm fixing to do it again). To me, it's just part of writing!

[xx-obliviousfantasy-xx]

Roasting Myself

Quick note:

Okay so bc I'm writing this on my phone, I can't take a photo of the document history to show you the stupidness. I apologise for that, but just try to imagine the fricken like... Stupidness.

Edit: The original version is on Wattpad still so nvm I'll be adding both Wattpad and Google Doc screenshots, but I did not have as many dates on Wattpad so only for some sections will I use Wattpad.

Edit: My photos keep going to the bottom. Idfk what to do whatever I hate Tumblr with a burning passion.

~~~~

So, I gotta vent about my stupidity.

Okay so the time frame I set back in 7th grade for this book idea I have is completely stupid. What I wrote didn't make any actual sense because I contradicted it. Which makes sense, because I was stupid. But doesn't, because now that I'm older, I should've caught it.

The story is called 3044(Destined Stars). I definitely stole that last part from something. I thought it was the game Mystic Messenger but it's not. The more I think about it, the more it seem like it though.

The problem is that with how far away 3044 is, it doesn't even make sense for humans to be how they are then, or even be alive tbh. I'm pretty sure they'll be extinct by then. I don't even know big we'll last 200 more years tbh. Or even 50.

Another problem, is I still do that thing where I fucking forget there's a bunch of numbers in between and skip up. So basically, with how I write the dates, I made the years really far apart with the dates and shit. Like REAAALLLLY. Like from being 10-ish years apart to skipping ahead nearly 1,000. Because I am a dumbass and didn't think "Wow this doesn't make any effing sense. This makes some of your events very insignificant because of evolution, and your characters old as dinosaurs."

(But I'm just now remembering I did day Humans live longer, which, could be taken to interpretation but besides the point.)

To better understand:

I literally had the dates like 2070, 2080, 2090, to then, 3000, 3010, 3015, 3025.

Like... That jump was so fucking huge but I didn't realise.

But because I was attached to the makeshift title I gave it, because it came from my friend's favorite number (but because I have issues with flipping numbers I found out was wrong later in after naming the story. I have still kept it that number though even years after),

Instead of doing the easy thing, I wrote in the stupidest, most confusing, complicated thing ever.

And then, after reading through my dates again and actually doing the math, it was like "Wait a second, this doesn't make any sense because this event started before this character (Hyacinth) was born, but after this one (Aleya) was two years old" or something like that. Idk. Like... It's wonky because my characters are certain ages in the story, but, by the date I set things, they happen waaaay too before they were born which would mean they'd stop mattering so much.

But thankfully, I thought recently, why don't I just f-ing make the dates that date? What's the reason for all of the complicated stuff?

(Also, I think I was gonna change the date again which is why it still makes no sense.)

( But then something happened. Idk. I honestly might bring the ages down again bc it makes sense. Because... The time still doesn't make sense because I'd have to age Hyacinth up.)

Generally, I just placed some events out of sequence. Like, I said space cities finished construction before they even started building them. Idk, it was a fucking mess and one of the first things I wrote confused me a lot because I was like "Did I delete something?"

It also made Aleya reaaaally older than Hyacinth because I set a significant date in her birth 15 years before the date of the story so it either

Aleya is 24 and Hyacinth is 20. It was 18 and 21 before,

I just- Oh my God. So, I'm deleting that, and going to make it better. Also I accidentally made the Earth 3044 years old, when, that's absurd. I said the Earth aged faster in that Universe, but that's too fast. Like- I just- wtf?

But the year is also 3044.7b2? Is that for the universe? See it just doesn't make sense. Idk how it made sense in my head. The Earth is 3044 years old but the Earth is not the age of the universe right now so why would the Earth be the age of the universe unless the Universe reset itself entirely and made everything come back at the same time?

And then I said that after that war, the first alien race I talked about plus some other planets, created a treated together.

I think I remember that at first a lot of planets were sucked into a black hole but spit out and made again but faster? Idk. It's so confusing.

(That's when I wrote it on Wattpad and how it was before the rewrite below)

Then there is this dumb contradictory mistake I made again because I said a certain race of aliens with a very awful name was first to contact the Earth at a certain time and helped them and create a treaty,

It's just so messed up and it's because I:

1) Didn't check some of my SEVENTH GRADE WRITING EVEN THOUGH IM IN NINTH NOW,

However I then wrote a different one with a less awful name did before that and went to war with them. As seen above and below.

2) Didn't check my Math, and-

Also apparently the whole story is being told but a space child who created Earth by accident and has grown find if her creation. Also one of the things I changed that made it complicated was saying that 3044 was the number of times Earth restarted. But I forgot that part because I constantly skim over that part.

3) Am still writing it in a bad Tumblr/Wattpad fanfic manner instead of a genuinely good writer pov.

Like... It's genuinely so bad that idk how it didn't click in until now. Maybe it's because after watching a nearly 2hr video about how bad Yandere Simulator and Yandere Dev is, and then two reviews of Onision's books I've already seen, I began to be very afraid of being on the same level as them in terrible production of anything.

I'm going to to fix this and re-plot it and then re-writes it because this is horrible, even for a first draft.

My incompetence a m a z e s me.

My understanding of math scares me.