#there are so many gifset in my draft that maybe i will never post

[jung-koook]

jin and jungkook’s copying members game 😆

[lock-my-feelings-in-a-jar]

me: wakes up and uses my entire photo upload limit immediately

[inkedroplets]

20 Questions More

A deeper and more detailed version of the 20 questions for AO3 fanfic writers. Thanks @eqt-95 for the tag

1) How do you keep getting ideas for your ship/fandom?

I always have too many ideas and not enough time to actually write.

2) Which authors inspire you in your fandom, and why are they so freakishly good?

There are way too many authors to list that I feel like would deserve a mention. I would love to give a huge thank you to all the gifmakers still in the fandom-sphere. I can probably thank gifsets for a lot of my ideas (even if I still haven't actually written them down).

3) Aside from the characters of your main ship, who are the characters you love to write?

Within the Supercorp-sphere, I love writing for Sam. I think because I would have loved to see her stick around longer in the show itself.

4) Are there pairings or tropes you know for sure you'd never write about? Which ones?

I don't want to say any trope is technically off the table but I don't think I'd ever write a true enemies to lovers fic. I slow burn enough as it is, if I tried to write that, I'd never finish it.

5) What is your writing process and why is it cursed?

My editing process is akin to pulling weeds. I like to reduce my word count by maybe 10% on the first edit. Add back maybe 5% more and repeat the process until I'm finally happy with it. Spoiler alert: I'm never happy

6) What is your favorite part of your writing process?

I'm much more a gardener when it comes to writing so I never know where the story will go exactly. So just writing the first draft is always the most fun for me. I sometimes think the characters will act a certain way and they kind of take a life of their own and I'm just along for the ride.

7) What’s the weirdest thing you’ve had to research for a fic?

I remember having to research art forgery for essentially a throwaway line but it really was interesting. E

8) Is there a particular writing rule you struggle with (grammar, spelling, tense, reality in general)?

None in particular, but that's not to say I don't make many many mistakes. I do tend to make tiny changes as I go which means that I've doubled up on some sentences in the past and I am always mortified when I find them after I've already posted the chapter.

9) What was your hardest scene to write so far and why?

Scenes with urgency give me trouble. You want the scene to breathe but you need to be aware that time is short so what the characters can say, what they want to say and what they actually get to say are so different. There was a scene like that in A Rich Girl With Issues that I kind of agonized over. How much should I let Kara and Lena speak to one another, what's important, what should be left unsaid?

10) Have your characters ever done something you didn’t expect, changing your plot completely?

All. The. Time. I never have a plan. I sometimes have scenes I want to write and hope the story veers in that direction so I can write it but it always turns out so different.

11) If you could converse with any of the characters, who would it be and why?

Probably Lena because she's the loml (Apologies to the actual loml)

12) What are some of the tropes or themes that you find yourself returning to in your writing?

I am addicted to pining. Not just pining, angsty pining. I love writing something that's so obvious to everyone else when the characters are so in love or so full of self-loathing that they can't let themselves even begin to imagine their feelings being returned.

13) What's your most important resource as a writer?

Reading. I read voraciously. I'm normally surrounded by books. Some that I pick up to just read anywhere. It's helped me find my voice and it's helped me grow as a writer (at least I think it has)

14) Can you share some of your strategies for editing and revising your work?

I do small edits as I go but nothing major. If a line sticks out that I really don't like then I usually tinker with it before I move on. I think that's not good advice in general but it bothers me too much to ignore. But if you do edit as you go, there's a lot less to polish in the final editing stages.

15) Which is worse: making the summary, picking the tags, or the anxiety when you post your fic?

I hate making the summary. I don't even know what the fic is about, how the hell am I supposed to tell other people?

16) How do you define success for your fanfic - hits? Kudos? Comments? Bookmarks? Or just if you like it?

I feel like my writing is very selfish in a way. They are stories that I want to read and I get enjoyment out of writing them. So every kind comment I get, there's always a sense of wonder because it's so strange that someone else is interested. I truly do cherish every comment and there are many I like to revisit when I'm not feeling so confident in my writing.

17) Do you have a playlist for your favorite character/ship?

I usually make a playlist for each multi-chapter fic. Some fic ideas get their start as a playlist. Please someone ask me about them, I have so many.

18) If fan art was going to be made from your work, which fic would you pick and which fan artist would you like to create it?

I have been very blessed that people have made fan art of my work and I'm still in awe. I could never even begin to describe how touched and honored I am that anybody did that. One of the pieces has been my computer background for ages. It's not an exaggeration that I cherish every single piece. I honestly don't think I could ever adequately describe how much it means to me.

19) How many WIPs do you currently have?

For Supercorp I have 15+ I do plan on actually posting them in the new year.

20) What's your advice to new fanfic writers?

I would say to write for yourself first and foremost. Sharing your art or your writing or even your head canons or ideas takes a lot of courage. It's scary to put something out there that means so much to you. I'd also advise not to get too hung up on hits/kudos/comments etc. I can't say don't look at them because I'd be a hypocrite but I would say to focus on the journey rather than the destination.

- - - - -

tagging (respectfully and without pressure) @fazedlight @autisticlenaluthor @rustingcat

[jodifosters]

8, 15 and 26 for the ask game ♡

8- What gif trend do you hate heck...I just had this answer but pale themed gifsets...idk it is like you're sucking the life out of the movies/show you are giffing so it leaves me like....I don't feel emotion toward a pale gifset if that make sense, so hating is a strong word but you will never see me rebloging a pale gifset

15- Have you ever had gifs stolen and reposted N.E.V.E.R you will never catch me stealing gifsets from somebody else, this is a crime that tumblr does not even care about since we cannot do ANYTHING effective if somebody ever steal our gifsets, I would never do it to someone else plus I can do them myself so why stealing others LIKE NAAAAAH those who do it deserve jail time and and to have their blog terminated!

26- How many un posted sets are in your drafts right now 1 because if I have too many it stresses me out like the number just makes me wanna throw up my anxiety could never qsdfgfds (it is one of the crow i'll post them maybe later tomorrow?)

ask me about gifmaking 💜

[brawn-gp]

going through my drafts is wild lmao

here are some highlights:

- i wrote SO many posts about mick potentially coming to f1 and what it would mean to me...... man

- also many redacted posts about jenson.

- i made a photoset for daniel + brendon hartley, which dates back to the time where i used to do driver pairings, hoping that someone would ask for this pairing particularly...... and ofc nobody asked for them so i never posted it

- "you know what? maybe charles IS my favorite driver because i too, cannot blink properly" why is this sitting in my drafts jdfhv

- a green ferrari tagged as sebchal

- you know me to well (nbt) edit with pierresteban?¿?¿¿?¿ never finished it but. damn. so true bestie

- "as a closeted ferrari fan i hate mclaren so much and i hate daniel for going to that rancid team" KSDJN NO

- ANOTHER nbt edit but with lewis...........

- an unfinished maxg/antonio forbidden gifset for me and only for me

- "why is every lesbian obsessed with jenson and catie"

[miingyu]

Every Month of 2021!

I was tagged by @xuseokgyu. Ahh thank you, Belle! 😊 Post your favorite or most popular post from each month this year. (it’s okay to skip months and/or choose more than one set) ↓ Let’s go! ↓

January: Mingyu in GOSE magazine ep2! This nearly stayed in my drafts bc I didn’t like the coloring. I still don’t and I cringe about said coloring when I see this back in my notifs 😬 Coloring aside though I loved these shots! Here’s another Mingyu set from this month as well, a palate cleanser if you will heh. 

February: I didn’t really make content/post anything in Feb. bc of certain things that were going on….. so I only have this lovely Handong set to share from this month.

March: Dami! Judging from the tags we were ALL here for this Dami look heh. Honorable mention to this forgotten favorite of mine also from this month: Wolf! Lee Know.

April: Lee Know Kingdom ending fairy. Me looking at it now: why tf did I make it so big and oof I really don’t care for this coloring now ehhhh!

May: Two months in a row for Lee Know! (This was my top post of the year as well) Honorable mentions to this Mingyu and this Woozi!

June: Woozi being excited and completely adorable on GOSE. When he laughs I lose all self control and must gif. Also this Seungkwan bc it was the first time I'd giffed him! 

July: Jiu! I made this set at the same time as the Dami one from March, but it stayed in my drafts until four months later bc I’m weird I guess? Also honorable mention to this Mingyu!

August: Siyeon! I don’t love my coloring here… but the wig was a look! Honorable mention to Dami, also serving a look!

September: Lee Know vlog! What can I say about this one? He’s so expressive and it’s one of my favorite things about him. Also this Woozi bc what is he so cute for!?!?!

October: Sunmi! I really liked her styling here. And my absolute FAVORITE thing to gif is magazine shoots so this was perfect for me. 

November: This was close between Mingyu and Lee Know. I adore them both so it’s a tie according to me!

December: I’ve only posted one!!! sad uninspired gifset in December ya’ll…☹️ and it’s this one of Mingyu made on a whim bc the man’s arms are ART.

Going back and looking at these did give me a bit of motivation to idk, maybe post some of the many gifs collecting dust in my drafts before the end of the year. I’m always making content and never posting it bc I'm super late. This month is no exception. I’ve still made stuff that’s just hanging out in draft purgatory.  Like hello nearly 40+ draft pileup 🙈

Anyway! As always I’m late and have no clue who’s done this and don’t want to be a bother. So for that reason I’m not tagging anyone specifically this time! 

But! Please feel free to do this if you want to! Consider yourself tagged! 😊

[captainrexs]

waves

Hello again! I keep forgetting to just say hi, and apologize for that, heh! I hope you are doing alright and well, and having a good week!

If you feel like sharing, what are your thoughts on the Bad Batch show in general? Which episodes were your favorite and who are your favorite characters in the show, and of the Batch themselves?

For me, I'm very conflicted on the show.... I love the Batch and the dynamic they had from their TCW episodes, but I feel like that was stripped away and forgotten... I loved Aftermath, and enjoy that episode so much, but the rest? I don't know... it's conflicting, especially when Aftermath and the finale ended with the same dynamic and no real improvement in characters or development.

I have been lazy and haven't gone through many of the episodes for my favorite nerd yet, but I do have at least four (?) from the first episode of their TCW appearance, "The Bad Batch" that I was wondering if you would be open to giffing?

If so, I have time stamps and descriptions for them, and always love the time and patience you have with my silliness. It always makes my day seeing your response to my ask, and the gifs, and I enjoy seeing your thoughts on stuff :)

Scenes from TCW S7, Ep. 1. You don't have to do the subtitles if you don't want, as I don't mind the gifs without, just as I don't mind when they are there! Whatever you feel like <3 :

13:05-13:12 and 13:16-13:20 (the campfire scene where Tech talks about Hunter's enhancements and boasts about his older brother. I really like that scene and the lighting, and I am not certain if you've giffed that?)

15:39-15:40 (I don't remember what this scene is and, considering how short it is, don't bother if you don't feel like this giffing this one! I think this is possibly where Tech talks to Rex over the comms, I don't remember, sorry T.T)

19:56-20:05 (definitely don't remember what scene this is but I *think* it's sometime before they access Echo's file or before... I forgot to write the descriptions when I logged this timestamps into my drafts, and I apologize for that T.T)

22:52-23:03 (This scene is where Tech asks Rex what the numbers meant from Echo's message, as Tech's expression is actually fairly interesting to watch as he listens/watches Rex responding to his question).

As always, I deeply appreciate the time you put into every gifset I ask from, and I always smile and have an immediately better day when I see your response and beautiful gifs of my silly nerd <3

Thank you so, so much, and - as always - I apologize if I ever bother you <3

hi!! I have been having a busy week again and my next one will probably also be quite busy but the one after that should be very chill so I'm very much looking forward to that right now 😅. I hope you're doing good!! I think my favourite episode was probably Battle Scars because I love Rex and also because they finally took care of their chips and Wreckers chip was a concern that had been building up for long enough for me at that point 😅, I also loved both ryloth episodes because Hera is one of my favourite star wars characters and getting to see her mom was great and Howzer was a nice addition as well imo. War-Mantle was another episode I really liked and aside from the kanan comics retcon I liked Aftermath as well. my favourite batcher is probably Echo, but probably because of tcw since he didn't get a lot of moments in tbb but I did love the ones he had. but I like the other ones as well, Omega is an interesting addition that I didn't expect, Wrecker is hard to explain but he just seems like a very genuine and good person (not that the others don't, but like if I needed someone to help me move I'd probably ask him, does that make sense? I really don't know how to explain it), I also loved his dynamic with Tech because I think they had the most sibling like dynamic out of all of them, speaking of Tech, I think he's the most interesting when he has to think outside the box, I like it when booksmart characters have to use their knowledge in different ways then they'd expect and watching Hunter bond with Omega was very heartwarming and I think he did a good job at being a leader and trying to figure out how to move forward and balance the teams different opinions. I'm not a big fan of the setup of the first and last episode being nearly identical (but the bad batch have AZI now, I do love that), so lets hope things develop in season 2, maybe we'll get lucky and Crosshair won't tell the empire they've survived which would give the batch some room to figure out what they actually wanna do now. your request has been posted here, I actually haven't gifed the first eight episodes of season 7 much in general since I was still pretty new to giffing when they were released and I haven't gone back to those as much as I have to the Siege of Mandalore and the gifs I did make at the time were on my old account, so they're kinda difficult to find now and they weren't very good anyways 😅. as always, I appreciate your sweet message and the time stamps and you are never a bother ❤

[petekaos]

Okay I gotta be honest I know next to nothing about Mek and Victor so sweetest MekVic moments, go!

hiii nonnie! well... as dawnie @pangwave said when i told them about this ask, you have awoken the beast. this is just going to be a huge infodump about mek and victor, i apologise deeply in advance. 

so mek and victor have known each other and been friends for ten years, as evidenced by this tweet here! they’ve been in a fair amount of series together, usually at each other’s throats in some way or another lmao, like in room alone, ugly duckling, u-prince (they weren’t together in their eps but they did promos etc together), a gift for whom you hate, of course the gifted & the gifted graduation. 

but really, they’re just very sweet best friends in real life? mek teases victor about his relationship with piglet and loves both of them a lot, and you can see that in this tweet, where he says they’re well suited to one another - both cute and annoying :’) victor and mek are also part of the same big friend circle together that features mook (mek’s sister) and piglet and a couple of other gmmtv actors! so there’s a lot of convos happening between all of them on twitter and whatnot. also they’re just so incredibly supportive of one another, too! one of my favourite instances is the 10fightseason2 boxing match where victor took part and won - mek (and piglet, of course) was on his feet in the first row cheering loudly the entire time. here is a fun gifset of that, just because! also, victor goes to a lot of mek’s events and takes pictures with him which is adorable. they always take pictures together too!

here’s victor at #1stdatewith2m which was a mekmook sibling event, he tagged along and it was very sweet! they also had a couple of goofy moments i giffed and are in my drafts, i’ll add the link when i post it!

here’s victor at mek’s event holding some flowers! they are so sweet :( i have a couple of other pictures from this event that i’ll also get around to posting but this one was the fondest, they look so happy :’)

i still don’t know why they took these pictures for gmmtv2021 together... unless gmmtv is trying to tell us something and we get a mekvictor series in 2021 lmao yes i am clowning!

also, they are just such goofballs and sweeties to each other. i remember ugly duckling bts when mek and mild’s characters were having a romantic moment and when victor was teasing them with a little self-made loudspeaker. or their shenanigans here in fiat’s vlog! also any kind of live they do together to promote shows is a whooooole mess, they just... radiate such chaotic energy it’s wild. let’s not forget this picture they taunted us with after a heartbreaking episode in regards to chanonpom in the gifted graduation.

they didn’t have to be like this... and Yet.

furthermore! we have them either embarrassing each other or being sweet to one another on twitter. like this tweet:

maybe it’s simply also because they’ve been in a lot of dramas together, but it’s super sweet of him!

or this tweet, where mek talks about his most beloved friends of whom he’s also in their top 10, i believe (am relying on online translations here lmao) but victor’s one of them! 

and we have victor’s response here, which translates to: “we’re telling each other we love each other through tweets already?”

or how about the “strike first, strike hard, no mercy” saga? in which mek and victor say that to each other on twitter to the point where mek has internalised that enough to get a t-shirt with that slogan on it lmao. how about that time when someone talked about chanonpom and mek quote-retweeted a fan talking about chanonpom during the first season of the gifted telling victor they’ll meet at y afterwards? (y series = “bl” series lmao) also fond instances of mek @-ing victor in everything chinese-related. 

they are just very sweet best friends! i love watching their antics, together or not, and everything they do is filled with chaos. 

i leave you now with some pictures of my favourite boys!

the best boys featuring the best girl! i love mek’s blond hair, it’s no surprise, and while i have literally no clue why he also has his hand on the mic here, it’s a lovely picture with my three faves.

SORRY FOR BRINGING THIS BACK mek and also the gifted gays gc who have to suffer through my mekvictor infodumps... i just.... i will never get over this picture. so many questions. what is this event for? what is the dress code? was victor invited in the first place or did mek just bring him along? why is mek dressed like snape? why is victor dressed like a normie he is LITERALLY in SWEATPANTS??

it’s no surprise to anyone that i love this picture... i’ll spare you my thoughts on it but just know that it’s up there as one of my all time favourite mekvic pictures.

and i’ll leave you this one. love this one so much! mek’s ponytail and glasses and his victor-like flannel ft. victor not being whitewashed :’) 

anyway i love these two with my whole heart! if you read until the end of this then ily fhsnfh and i hope you’re well nonnie!!

[yossariandawn]

Tagged by @astarkey and @alwaysupatnight , thank you! I do love interesting questions! I’m combining these because it would take me days to think up 22 questions. Here are the rules:

Rule 1: post the rules Rule 2: answer the questions the person who tagged you asked and write 11 new ones Rule 3: tag 11 people and link them to the post Rule 4: actually tell them you tagged them

Edit: I didn’t realize how long this got, so I’m fixing it so I can put some of it behind a cut. My questions first so people can decide if they want to play along!

My Questions:

1. Set two fictional couples you love on a double date, and tell me how would that play out? One word answers are acceptable if you prefer.

2. Do you like candles? If so, what’s your favorite candle scent?

3. What’s the perfect fic you’ve been craving that wish someone else would write already?

4. If you could have an 15 minute conversation with any fictional character, who would you choose?

5. Above question continued, what would you talk about?

6. What’s one weird thing you loved as a child?

7. Any songs that make you always think of a character?

8. How well can you swim, and do you enjoy swimming?

9. Recommend me a new show, movie, or song!

10. What’s your favorite food that you make?

11. Draft the perfect Zombie Apocalypse Survival Team, 5 characters from any show or movie.

and now I’m tagging @sandalaris, @fortysevenswrites, @starkidmack, @captain-k-jones, and if you follow me and want to be tagged in this kind of thing in the future, just tag yourself and I’ll know to send them your way! I never know who wants to play, and there’s never any pressure to do any I send, I promise! 💖

EDIT: adding @alwaysupatnight​ YOU ARE NOW OFFICIALLY TAGGED

and now for my answers behind the cut:

@astarkey’s questions:

1. Favorite fall activity? Anything outside, to be honest. It’s my favorite time of year! I do love reading in my hammock with a blanket before it gets too cold, though I’m not sure that counts as an activity.

2. Favorite song at the moment? Well, the one I’m most obsessing on is one I’m vidding right now, so I’m keeping that a secret. BUT, I’ve been listening to Setting Sun by Lord Huron a lot recently ever since @alwaysupatnight mentioned it in an ask about Culebra Seth. I hadn’t heard it before and I fell right in love with it. 

3. Last movie you saw in theaters? Oh, it has been awhile since I actually went to a theater. I wanna say it was the first IT movie, cause I remember taking my brothers to see that. If I went after that I guess it didn’t leave an impression on me.

4. Favorite emoji/smiley? I really like 🥳 cause look how excited it is! Close second is 😎 because it makes me think of the Geckos when I use it.

5. Cold weather or hot weather? Cold weather, as stated above!

6. Are you a past, present, or future person? Hmm, I’m going to say present. I am a bit of a worrier by nature, so I intentionally try and keep myself grounded by staying in the moment as much as possible, so I’m not obsessing over what I did or about what could happen next. I’m reasonably successful with it. 

7. From where you’re sitting, what’s the closest object on your right? Water bottle.

8. What’s something you’re weirdly afraid of? (For example, a hair dryer, airplanes, a microwave, etc.) Ok, so this going to sound very weird, but it’s grasshoppers.  don’t mind spiders, hornets, bees, any of the normal creepy crawlies, they don’t bother me at all, but I have such an intense irrational reaction to grasshoppers, like a real fight or flight thing kicks in for me. I understand they can’t hurt me, but I don’t trust those little sideways hoppers AT ALL. Also, I used to spend a lot time catching (and releasing) bugs when I was a small child, and one day one BIT ME, which I didn’t know they can do, and the betrayal was so great that I have never forgiven them. And then if you want to see something that’s even more untrustworthy, google the spider cricket sometime. I don’t see as many of those, but my friend had some living underneath her porch one year, and they are terrible. (also harmless)

9. Favorite snack food? Soft pretzels with cheese are always a good time. And now I want one, dang it.

10. Favorite color to wear? Blue! I love blue so much.

11. Stargazing in an open field, watching the ocean tides on a lonely beach, or late night drives on the highway while listening to good music?  I’m going to pick stargazing in an open field, because that sounds the most relaxing to me at the moment! But the other two also sound lovely.

@alwaysupatnight‘s asks:

1. Have you started any new hobbies this year? Vidding. if I’m allowed to stretch the definition of a year about 1 month past haha.  I’ve also done a ton more “creative" writing since joining tumblr, all these asks and tag games are the most I’ve ever organized my thoughts and put them out there for others to actually see (excluding non voluntary things like schoolwork and work) It’s been a lot of fun to do both, and really allowed me to push myself out of my comfort zone.

2. Read any good books lately? Not recently, I have several checked out I need to get to soon before I have to return them.

3. Favorite color of nail polish to wear? Or if you don’t wear nail polish, the color of the laces on your fave pair of sneakers? I don’t wear nail polish most of the time, though I will let children paint my nails when they want, since they seem to love doing that. And my favorite sneaker laces are just the standard white they came with. I’m pretty causal and laid back fashion wise.

4. Faerie, mermaid, angel, or vampire? This is so broad! Am I reading/watching something they’re in, fighting them, auditioning them as room mates?! I’m going to go with Vampire (Mermaid as a second choice)

5. What is your MBTI type?  INFJ

6. What does your phone case look like? (Describe or post a pic) It’s black, no design. I’m so boring an practical!!!! I picked it out based on reviews, I drop my phone way to much.

7. What is your dream vacation? Camping, with people I like. Maybe a road trip out west.

8. Would you tell us a little about your current WIP? (writing, art, gifset, whatever the project!!) Working on a new vid, I’d let myself get stuck finishing one up, and realized maybe I needed a break from that one. It’s a SethKate one I’ve wanted to do ever since I heard the song, and I’m just going to do it. It’s not AU? That’s all the spoilers for now.

9. What is the best movie you’ve seen this year? I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE, BUT YES. Prospect was amazing, and does when that title! Runners up would be Priest, Crawl (I love disaster movies so much) and Knives Out.

10. What are your opinions on the child from The Mandalorian series? Really cute! I have only seen like 3 episodes, but I have seen all the gifs, (especially today 🤣) and look at the tiny adorable space baby with powers 🥰

11. What is your zodiac sign, and do you think it fits your personality? I am an Aquarius, I have no idea honestly. Maybe? Is there an official description I can read somewhere?

[angel-deux-writes]

Hi Angel! I've been a big fan of yours since HCM, and so I wanted to express my concern for your wellbeing. There was that big break when you took a month or so to finish HCM before posting it in quick succession, in order to not have to deal with the comments. Now, from what you've been writing in the notes to Dorne Rights, it looks like you are experiencing something similar. The selfish fan in me wants you to keep writing and keep posting, but the basic human in me is more worried that (1/2)

you are unhappy. Nothing is worth making yourself unhappy over, particularly not something that’s meant to give you pleasure. A favourite author of mine back in the days of my Spike/Angel obsession had a disclaimer on her stories telling readers to please not leave feedback of any kind, not even constructive criticism, on her fics because she finds them unhelpful. Her comment section was full of chats about various topics in that fandom, rather than her own fiction. Might help. (2/2)

Hello! I really appreciate this message, because you’re right: fanfic writing isn’t good for me.

(lol putting this beneath the cut because it’s way too long)

It’s actually my experience in this fandom that has made me realize that writing in general probably isn’t good for me, but unfortunately I feel a drive to it and can’t seem to stop myself from thinking I’ll one day get published, so that’s a bit of a downer. The truth is that I’m naturally disposed toward thinking that I’m shit, my words are shit, and every thought I’ve ever had is unoriginal and poorly written. It’s always been like that, from the time I wrote my first attempt at fiction at 7 years old to now at 31. It takes a lot for me to share my writing with people. I started writing fic at 14, basically as soon as I discovered that I wasn’t the only person composing stories about Han and Leia in their free time. I’m sure that my fics were horrendous. I give myself a hard time now, but 14 year old me probably deserved it even more. But there were sweet people on the internet who encouraged me (and lied to me) and told me that my stories were good, and that made a huge difference. 

(that and my freshman year english teacher, who was very very cute and earnest and young and made me feel like I could actually be a writer.)

I’ve never been a part of a fandom before. Discourse and meta and long discussions about canon events have never interested me. I’ve said that before, and it remains true! I consume what canon there is, and sometimes I like it, and sometimes I hate it. Sometimes I’m so dissatisfied with it that I need to write something, and so I do. I don’t think I’ve ever written fic for something that I found entirely satisfactory. The extension of my being part of an actual fandom in the past was probably reblogging a few gifsets and recommending it to friends. I’ve just never had that sort of communal experience. This, the J/B fandom, was my first time really getting into it. It’s the first time I’ve ever made friends online that weren’t just frequent commenters on long multichapter fics! It has been exciting and I’m grateful for it! It’s just also probably not good for me. 

It’s just, like, every time I post something, I’m fighting a very loud and very desperate voice in my head that’s saying “you’re shit and you shouldn’t bother”. It’s why I’m so good at writing first drafts of novels but so, so bad at getting past the second. It’s why I usually post fics only until I’ve worked out my frustrations: one or two fics per fandom and then ghosting away forever. It’s very hard to defy that voice and post something anyway, and this fandom experience has taught me that no matter HOW many stories I post, I’m ALWAYS going to have to fight that voice. And it’s gotten actively stronger. “You’re not what this fandom wants” “You’re not good at this” “Everyone’s just being nice” “You’ve overstayed your welcome”. Paying attention, often by accident, to the discourse and the metas only makes it worse, because my brain automatically turns to “well YOU don’t write them like that. That means you’re wrong”. I can tell myself as many times as I want that I myself like many different interpretations of J/B! My brain goes “yeah, but you’re just an idiot who doesn’t know any better. There’s a right way, and you’re not doing it”. 

THIS IS ALL SO DRAMATIC! But it’s just the truth! Every time I post something, it’s against my nature. NO ONE outside of fandom reads my writing! I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve allowed my close friends and family to read things. So while it may seem like, idk, like I should just be able to get over it, negative comments, or even SLIGHTLY critical comments, really hit me hard. For all the positive feedback I get (and I really AM super grateful for it, and it means the world to me), those few critical voices seem louder because they’re agreeing with what I have already known about myself. And so it feels almost like a victory, but a shitty one. “Ha! I was right this whole time! I AM a shit writer, and I’ve for some reason tricked those other people into thinking I’m good!” 

For a long time (much longer than I’ve ever written for any other fandom, obviously), I was able to shove it to the side. The J/B fandom HAS been super good to me, and they HAVE been wonderful about giving me feedback and making me feel welcome and included. But those negative voices are just SO LOUD to me, even though I know logically that they shouldn’t be. 

It would be easy to point to a specific problem and say that my issues will be fixed if only I can address that. I do it CONSTANTLY. Maybe if I stopped tagging other relationships. Maybe if I stopped tagging other characters. Maybe if I tagged my works super specifically. Maybe if I made author’s notes about how I’m a shit writer and people shouldn’t expect things from me. Maybe if I just wrote “THIS STORY IS WRITTEN ALREADY AND IM JUST EDITING AS I GO! PLEASE DONT SUGGEST THINGS!” I just feel like, increasingly, I want fewer and fewer eyes on my fics. It’s the opposite of the problem I thought I would have. But my confidence took a huge hit with HCM, and then I was finally feeling good enough to post Dorne Rights. It was probably a mistake! 

idk, maybe it’s just all the shit that’s going on in the world + in my personal life. Maybe it’s just time. Maybe I’m just running out of inspiration. But the positive voices aren’t loud enough to drown out my own negative self-voice this time, and so I’ve been trying to figure out how to handle it. Part of me wants to delete Dorne Rights with the intention of reworking it and maybe posting it again down the line with fewer tags and a lot more reminders that people can write their own stories if they don’t like mine. Part of me wants to just do a HCM and post it all at once so that I can leave the finished product up (even if I now think the entire thing is garbage). Part of me wants to stop writing fic entirely, at least until the next time I watch something with an ending so bad it fucks me up. I think my solution will probably be a massive step back from fandom for a little while. I’ve been feeling a drive to work on my original stuff, and I should probably lean into that. I would like to still write and post J/B, once I find the inspiration, but I’m tired of feeling like this is a job. I think I got so deeply sunk into this attitude of “I NEED to write and post constantly because these people want me to, and they actually like what I write!!” that I stopped writing things because I wanted to write them and started writing them because I wanted to write things for other people, to make other people happy, and so that they could tell me that I’m not a shit writer at all.

I should make it clear that I do intend to write my JB fic swap thing FOR SURE. I will drag that story out of myself no matter what. But in general it’s probably just healthier for me to not spend so much time On Here especially, and on fic in general.

[tjkiahgb]

On August 13th, 2018, at 8:20 PM, TJ Kippen performed a basketball-themed apology rap for Buffy Driscoll and completed his redemption arc. In doing so, he became a full and complete hashtag good boi and fulfilled this blog’s ridiculous destiny.

This post is scheduled to go up on August 13th, 2019, at 8:20 PM. It only feels right that I retire this blog on the one year anniversary of that moment.

Okay. It’s not that dramatic. I’m not deleting my account or logging out forever or anything. I’ll be around. I’ll check in and like some posts and hang out like the kid who graduated high school but won’t leave. He keeps coming back and acting chummy with the teachers and it’s like, doesn’t he have better stuff to do?

The point is, my queue is depleted, my drafts are empty. I don’t have a shift in fandoms planned. I don’t have anything planned. It’s time for me to turn my attention to other things and stop thinking about this show and writing about it and working on this blog.

So that’s basically the tl;dr of this whole deal. I’m going to write some rambling personal stuff so if you don’t care, which most people probably won’t, then thanks for reading and thanks for all the memories. It’s been fun.

Okay, lemme ramble. And if you’ve read this blog for a while, you’ve probably heard some of this already, but whatever, this is my goodbye post.

Way back in October of 2017, I came across a post on a website for TV news that said “Disney Channel to Feature Its First Gay Main Character in Andi Mack Season 2″. I didn’t know what Andi Mack was, and I hadn’t watched Disney Channel in well over a decade. I remembered reading about the two moms on Good Luck Charlie when it happened, but I also remembered that it was, you know, mostly nothing. A lot of controversy for what was just a quick little thing. But this headline noted that it was a Main Character. And I’m reading the article and it’s talking about how he’s going to have this journey in season two and the producers had talked to GLAAD and other groups to get it right, and I’m like, wow, this is pretty cool, this really seems like they’re putting some respect into this. (I’m also thinking about how much young, closeted me would’ve killed for something like this.)

So I set my DVR to record it not knowing what to expect. Mostly thinking it was just going to be your standard Disney Channel show: cheesy and corny and bad jokes, but I’ll catch the coming out scene and it’ll be cool to see how they handle it and that’ll probably be that.

And then I’m watching the episode and I’m like, this is... not bad? In fact, more than not bad, this is way better than it has any right to be. And then I got to the coming out scene, which was so well done, and I’m just... shocked. This is like Pixar. Like, it’s for kids, but I can watch it as an adult and pick up on themes and subtleties. This is not like the shows from my childhood. Where was this show when I was growing up?

Next thing I know I’m watching the next episode. And the next one. And I’m starting to care for these characters. I can forgive a lot of issues with plot if I care about the characters and what this show did, maybe as well as any show on television, is made you care for the characters, from top to bottom.

So now I’m watching the show regularly. At some point, I went back and binged through season one on DisneyNow. I’m in, as a casual viewer at this point at least.

And then I get to 2.11, and the swing scene happens, and I watch it wordlessly, and it ends, and I feel like I’m losing my mind. I could not believe what I just saw. I thought for sure this show was just going to have a couple of coming out scenes and that would be the end of it. Had I really just watched a scene that was hinting at a gay romance?

I wanted so badly to talk about it with someone else to see if they were seeing what I was seeing, but, as you may not be surprised to learn, none of my adult friends were watching Andi Mack. So I started looking around online. And I eventually found my way here, to this site, to the tag. And people were seeing what I was seeing. And people were excited about it, and I was like, okay, cool, I might’ve found my community.

So I started lurking around here. And I would check in after 2.12 and 2.13, and I was really starting to enjoy it. Most of the stuff I watch that I care about I’ll watch with friends or family and talk about it with them, so I never really thought being a part of a fandom would be worthwhile. Plus, I’d hear about shipping wars and other nonsense like that, and I’m like, I’m not going to make an account to argue with people over fictional characters’ relationships.

But what I was finding about this community was that it was more positive than that. There were arguments, sure. You’re going to get them in any group of people. But for the most part, people just seemed happy. They were posting theories and memes and gifs and jokes and fanfics. And they were celebrating the characters and developments. I don’t know if that’s special to the Andi Mack fandom or not, but it seemed special to me.

That’s around when I started thinking about making an account, during that hiatus between 2A and 2B. But I was like, do I want to commit to this? What’s the point of my account? What do I want to say? And at some point in the hiatus, I was checking the tag, and I saw a gifset. It was by an account, since deleted and gone, but who, at the time, was very prominent in the fandom. And the gifset was all about attacking Tyrus. It was trying to take everything nice about what had happened between TJ and Cyrus and stomp on it. Tyrus was like a little baby ship at this point. People were just starting to get into it, the numbers weren’t that big. There wasn’t even really a name for the ship back then. The Tyrus tag was mostly that professional wrestler and the CJ tag was even worse. And this account had decided they were going to use their platform to try and make this small group of people in the fandom feel bad about liking their ship. I just remember thinking, why? Why be like that? It just seemed so unnecessary. And for the briefest of moments, I thought, okay, maybe I’ll make an account to be a troll and argue this stuff. And then I was like, nah, that’s just going to make the tag worse. When you see someone trying to ruin things for other people, you can give them attention and power, or you can just do your own thing.

So what I decided to do instead was to make an account that would add to the positivity I had been seeing. To just be one of the many voices doing fun stuff to drown out the bad. I could put out dumb posts to hopefully make people laugh, or eventually start writing recaps to give people something to do after watching the episode. There wasn’t really any bigger goal than that. Kill some time while celebrating the show and making the tag a more fun place, if only incrementally.

I’d like to think I did that. That I haven’t written or made too many things that have bummed people out and that most of my posts have hopefully made things better for people who wanted to hang out on here and talk about the show.

That’s all. At the end of everything, that was all. Just try to leave a net-positive wherever you go.

So that’s why I joined tumblr. Here’s why I stayed.

I am an unemployed writer. I’m an employed something else, but I would like to be an employed writer and I am currently not. And what that really means is I’m an unread writer. It means I write stuff and I try to convince people to read it and buy it, but most of the time they don’t. Most of the time, my stuff sits around waiting and hoping to be read. And when that’s the case, you can start to feel doubt.

What I didn’t realize when I started this account was that I would also be getting positivity back. I mean, I probably should have. It was the whole reason I started this, because I liked the positivity here. I guess I just didn’t expect it to be returned to me.

But it has. It has tremendously. Just writing this silly stuff that I do and putting it out there and getting feedback on it has meant so much to me. People saying something I’ve written is funny or interesting or just saying that they enjoyed it is such a confidence boost. You feel like, okay, people like my jokes or the way I think or whatever. There’s an audience for me somewhere. People who will get me. I just need to stick with it.

That’s what you all have been for me this last year and a half. More than just making this a fun place to share our love of this show, you’ve made this a place for me to feel seen.

I try not to tie too much of my self-esteem to the amount of interaction my posts get. (Seriously, don’t do that, it can be really unhealthy. I’m like, if a post flops, it flops. No biggie. Move on to the next one.) But every note I do get on something I’ve written lets me know I’ve done something right. The reblogs, the likes, the follows, the nice messages in my inbox, the comments on the posts. Any of it. All of it. It lets me know I’ve been read. It makes me feel like I’ve made a connection. And that means the world to me.

So thank you, to any and all of you who participated in this thing with me. Thank you for reading. Thank you for being a part of my experience on here. Thank you for being so cool that I wanted to join your group in the first place and thank you for being so great afterwards that I’m eternally happy I did.

It’s meant more to me than you could possibly know.

Keep the positivity.

- Jay

[expelliarmus]

I saw that ask meme with questions for gif makers going around, but I felt like answering them all on my own lmao

1. What are your top 3 favorite sets you’ve made

This one, this one (if the timing works lmao), and this one (I’m so proud of my AU gifsets... where did all that creativity go??)

2. What is your least favorite set you’ve made

I honestly don’t know... I don’t think I hate anything I’ve posted though. If I don’t like how it’s turning out, I just won’t post it lol

3. Which of your sets has the most notes

The most notes ever is this one I think

4. A set that flopped but deserved better

I don’t know... there’s a bunch, but I’m fine if a gifset flops

5. What is your favorite movie/TV show to gif

DOCTOR WHO

6. What is your least favorite movie/TV show to gif

I really don’t gif anything else lmao...

7. Who are your top 3 gif makers

I’ll just pick 3 people off the top of my head :) @shatner​, @melodyspond​, @stupidape​

8. What gif trend do you hate

The pale/black and white gifs that are so hard to see.......

9. What/who inspired you to start making gifs

I wanted to gif my favourite parts of DW that I didn’t see anyone else doing, so I was like alrighty, time to learn how to do this!! I think the people that inspired me are long gone from tumblr, or I’m no longer following them because they’ve moved blogs (Natasha aka lumos-maxima... wherever you are, I MISS YOU... also Courtney aka needlebug I MISS YOU TOO)

10. What was the first gif you ever posted

THIS ONE! I remember being so happy about posting it, haha. Also, I still love that Confidential episode so much. I miss my space hipsters...

11. What is that one set you made that just won’t die

The Zoboomafoo one

12. What is the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever giffed

Everything I’ve ever posted

13. Where or from whom did you learn how to gif

Various tutorials on here and just by experimenting. I don’t even think I used Photoshop to begin with, since back in my Neopets days I used Paint Shop Pro to make graphics so I think that’s what I used first to try making gifs of videos.

14. How long does it usually take you to make a set

45 minutes to an hour or so?? It’s been taking longer and longer because the screencaps are so huge though and my poor laptop can’t handle it.

15. Have you ever had gifs stolen and reposted

Yes, and don’t think that I can’t tell when those are my gifs, even without a watermark!!

16. How long have you been making gifs

Since 2011...... my god

17. 10 sets, 8 sets, 6 sets? How many gifs to you prefer in a set

As many as it takes!!!!! But usually between 6-8

18. For the aesthetic, for the laughs, or for the feels what your preference

For FUN!

19. What is your gifting process like

Open video, find scene, screencap, load screencaps in Photoshop, resize to gif dimensions, add colouring, curse myself for picking a hard-to-colour scene, continue adjusting colouring and become increasingly frustrated because it’s not turning out the way I want it to, give up, add text, save gif, POST!

20. Mac or PC

PC

21. PSDs or original coloring for each gif

Original colouring. PSD who???

22. What fandom/movie/show/person etc do you gif the most

DOCTOR WHO and more specifically, David Tennant... I think his tag has the most :’)

23. What is the thing you gif when you don’t have anything else you want to gif

Any episode with Ten and Donna, or The Eleventh Hour, or the Day of the Doctor, or Blink

24. 480p 720p 1080p? What is the minimum quality you’ll gif from

I used to be all good with giffing 480p back in the day, but I guess now it’s 720p since the gif limits have gone way up.

25. Old dimensions or new dimensions and why

New dimensions because they look nicer on the dashboard.

26. How many un posted sets are in your drafts right now

ZERO.

27. Have you ever made a set, decided you hated it and deleted it? What was it

Probably at least one or twice, but I don’t remember.

28. Have you ever posted a set, regretted it and immediately deleted it

No, I don’t think so. I’m leaving my mistakes there for all to see!

29. Have you ever posted a set, realized you made a mistake later but it was already too late

Yes, I did this just the other day with that Missy, Bill and Nardole set. I got the dialogue slightly wrong lmao..... shh

30. How frequently do you like to post

I try to do at least one gifset a day if I can!

31. Do you schedule/queue posts or do you post right after you’re done

Right away. These gifsets are fresh off the grill.

32. What is your favorite tool/adjustment layer in Photoshop

Selective Color or Color Balance

33. Do you like to/can you make edits and graphics too or only gifs

Yes, I can do both but gifs are way more fun imo

34. A set that took you a long time/was really hard but you’re really proud of how it came out

I’m gonna say this one again because I was so proud of it when I made it, and I can’t believe I used to put that much effort into my gifs.

35. Do you change your giffing style a lot or do you have a set routine

I have a routine, as described above. My gifs are pretty much all made the same way as I describe in my colouring tutorial too.

36. Do you gif with something specific in mind or do you just wing it

Usually a mixture of both. I like to try to gif a different Doctor each day, so I’ll know who I have in mind but I’m not planning on a specific episode. I’ll just open up one of their series and go from there!

37. What sets if any do you have planned to make in the future

Idk, I was thinking of doing yet another gifset with Donna in it since I just finished her Big Finish series... but maybe I’ll do one with Eleven and the Ponds??? We’ll see.

38. What are you really excited to gif that isn’t out yet

The next Doctor Who holiday special?? :D

39. How often, if ever, do you delete old sets that you don’t like anymore

Never!! I love seeing how my gifs have slowly changed and improved over time.

40. Why do you make gifs

Because it’s fun, and it’s a way for me to relax after a long and busy day at work.

41. What is your least favorite part about your gif making process

When it takes forever for my screencaps to load, and when it takes forever for my gifs to save sometimes

42. How is your gif folder organized? Is it organized at all?

Lol nope.

43. Do you keep videos forever or delete them once you’re done giffing

I keep the episodes forever, but honestly I think I keep everything forever because I forget about getting rid of the other stuff like trailers and interviews... I should go through my downloads folder.

44. Ever had a gif become a meme? Would you like that if you haven't

I’ve had people use my gifs as reaction gifs and it is a weird feeling, especially seeing the gifs being used on websites other than tumblr. I remember seeing one of my gifs used in someone’s book review on Goodreads and I was like “WAIT THAT LOOKS FAMILIAR!!”

45. Ever gotten hate over a set

Not really hate, but I do get a lot people that are like “WHERE IS ______?” in their tags. And sometimes I just want to be like “Make your own gifs if you think they should be there!!!”

46. Ever gotten a really sweet compliment over a set

Yes :’)

47. Any advice for novice gif makers/people who want to start making gifs

Don’t give up!! Make gifs of whatever makes you happy, don’t worry about the notes too much, and use your tags! KEEP PRACTICING!

48. How would you describe your giffing style

I don’t know??? If someone else has a way to describe my style, then please let me know haha

49. How much would you say you’ve improved since you first started giffing

It’s been almost 9 years since I’ve started, so I hope I’ve improved quite a bit! :P

Well, that was fun. Congrats on making it to the end of this post!!! Now I will go make a gifset.

[aenslem]

7, 8, 10 and 17 for "Ask something to an editor" :)

7. what's the edit you're most proud of? - from recent ones i think my color gifsets, especially the ones with Lilith, because it’s caos and we all know what a nightmare to color is that show :D also this gold missy gifset. while i noticed the mistake on one of them only later, and i know i could actually fix it, it was too late tho... i still love that set a lot. i enjoy making those gifsets lately. i love playing with colors ^^ 

8. how many edits did you make and didn't end up posting? - a lot :D there’s around 50 in my drafts that i have not posted at the moment... because i don’t like something in them and maybe i will fix it or remake them, and some i just need to finish :D and a lot from my drafts i removed recently because i don’t think i could make anything better and i did not like the result. 

10. is your material for editing organized? - i clean and organize everything like once in every few months and then create a mess until i do that again in a few months :D

17. how have you learnt to edit? - i think i wanted to put kristen bell and allison mack on one picture to put as my desktop background :D so i got ps, cut out them and put on bg i liked, it was total crap, i was so proud lmao and then i learned to make icons and banners for smallville forum, and eventually i learned to make manips, then i wanted animated signature for forum and that’s how i started making gifs :D my first animation was horrible lex gif, but it was not a moving gif from a scene or something, it was just lex and some animated lighting on the background on lexcorp lol i did it by tutorial i found on the said sv forum. but all of those tutorials were sooooo hard to understand, i gave up eventually and just started doing whatever the hell i wanted myself, mostly also because i could never find a tutorial for what i wanted to do... well, back then i did not know what is called something :D i would just go and click on everything until i figure out what it does and how to use it, but tutorials are good now, because i understand them and sometimes i watch or read them on tumblr when they catch my attention.

ASK SOMETHING TO AN EDITOR!

[initiala]

CLEAR OUT YOUR LIKES AND DRAFTS CHALLENGE

Are your “likes” a nightmare? Do you have 17,233 drafts and you don’t even know where it started?

CLEAR IT OUT BABEEEYYYYYY

I challenge every single one of you marshmallows to clear out your likes and drafts. KonMari your Tumblr account. Reblog that thing you really like, heck anyone who thinks it’s “crongey” or whatever you kids are saying these days about whatever it is YOU REALLY LIKE AND MAYBE SOMEONE ELSE DOESN’T. WHO CARES, IT”S YOUR BLOG!!!!

Reblog or post those things you’ve been meaning to get back to. Read those fics you thought were lost to time. And once you reblog or shove it into your newly established queue, get it out of there. Unlike it and let it go into the abyss. Watch that number sink.

Watch that number not go down nearly as much as you reach the end of your “likes” and realize so many posts have just been lost to the annals of time as blogs were deleted and you never realized. (I have 140 likes and 126 of those are missing because the blogs I liked them from are gone. It drives me bonkers) If there’s something you REALLY WANT TO KEEP, you can keep it! I have pretty much every and any art/gifset/picset people have made specifically for me saved in my likes and I can see them any time I want just because that’s all I use my likes for. And sometimes reblog again for the seventeenth time.

ANYWAY GO DO THE THING! What, are you trying to be outside right now? It’s heckin’ hot, sit on your computer and clean up your crap.

[coquelicoq]

person who has never seen the untamed explains the untamed

this is for @jessenigma, who said in response to this post:

well now I definitely want you to describe what you think it’s about based on gifsets and screaming, even though I don’t know the drama                            

ask and ye shall receive, my friend!

first, my credentials for explaining the untamed to you:

i have never watched a single episode,

i have never read the source material,

i have never consumed any other adaptations of the source material,

i’m not very familiar with this genre, so i’m missing a lot of knowledge of genre conventions, and

i don’t know chinese, which hampers my comprehension of some of the posts i see about it, BUT

i DO have a lot of mutuals who make content about the untamed and i have been injecting angsty gifsets of it directly into my veins for the last 2+ weeks*, which as it turns out is all the qualification you need to make an uninformed tumblr post about a show!!

i’ve never gone looking for any information about this show or its source material, so all i know about it comes from tumblr posts that have come across my dash or from the few fics i’ve read, which obviously don’t have to adhere to canon so who knows if the things i’m taking away from them are things i should be taking away from them.

i’m gonna number my guesses so that folks watching the drama can score me if they want to. come tell me how many i got wrong!!

*[OKAY sorry i just found this post in my drafts...i started it like a month ago but it started getting really long and i never finished it. i think i am actually gonna start watching the untamed soon, at which point i will no longer be a person who has never seen the untamed, so i’m posting this before it’s too late!]

source & production. the untamed is a chinese tv drama based on a novel. idk what the name of the show is in chinese, but i think people abbreviate it to...cql? unless i’m thinking of the database programming language sql. which i guess is possible.

the novel is called...something with the initials mdzs, which i think translates to “grandmaster of demonic cultivation.” (i wanna say mdzs stands for mo dao zu shi, but don’t score me on that because everybody just calls it mdzs so i’ve only seen it written out a couple of times on ao3. maybe just give me extra credit if by some miracle i got it right?)

there have been a bunch of other adaptations of the source material, including a manga, a radio drama, and an animated series which is currently in season 2!

the novel has canon gay characters, including the two mains who are in loooove and get married, but the untamed isn’t allowed to show gay relationships. it’s hella queercoded though.

the two lead actors are xiao zhan and wang yibo. that is literally the extent of my knowledge about the cast. they’re both extremely pretty.

one thing that i didn’t realize right away, and this could definitely just be my genre and/or cultural ignorance, is that the entire show (i think) is dubbed by different actors? so each character has a voice actor and a...body actor (idk the term lol) and they’re two different people, like james earl jones/the bald white guy who played darth vader in return of the jedi. idk why, though. nobody is commenting on it, which is why i feel like it might be a genre thing.

worldbuilding. the show (and probably the novel too but idk anything about the novel) is set in a fantasy universe full of long hair and flowy robes and that whole aesthetic. also, magic!

cultivation is, as far as i can tell, the study and practice of magic, specifically with the aim of becoming immortal? like i guess if you get good enough at it, you can’t die? but i haven’t seen anything that goes into the implications of this. does that mean there are a bunch of really powerful old people in this universe? how common is it that people achieve immortality? maybe no one has ever actually done it before and this is all theoretical, we (meaning i) just don’t know.

there are different cultivation sects that i guess practice different forms of immortality magic, though maybe they are organized around some other principle. people in the same family seem to be in the same sect. idk how you go about joining a sect if your family isn’t already in that sect, but it seems to happen somehow. sometimes you just get adopted, but it seems like there must be other ways.

idk anything about magic systems in this universe, but it seems like you can make magic happen via the playing of musical instruments. you don’t have to, though; you can also do magic through hand gestures. idk if you have to say any special words to make it happen but i don’t think so.

people seem to do different kinds of magic even within the same sect; one lady can shoot purple lightning at people, but her kids can’t (or maybe they just don’t feel like it).

there’s something called a “golden core” which = your soul i guess? or some kind of reserve of spiritual energy inside you, maybe? and if you don’t have one for some reason, there are certain kinds of magic you can’t do anymore?

ANOTHER thing i don’t know is whether anybody can be trained to do magic or if you have to have some sort of magic gene as a prerequisite, but my guess is that it’s the former.

places. the cloud recesses is some sort of cultivation academy...or maybe it’s a monastery, or a spiritual retreat of some kind? i think it’s more like a boarding school, though.

the show covers two time periods, 16 years apart. the earlier period takes place in the cloud recesses.

i think yiling is a city? but i’m not sure.

the burial mounds is also a place and some shit goes down there. some angsty shit. i may not know what it is exactly, but i know it’s angsty af. i mean, it’s called “the burial mounds.” it would be kinda strange if it were a super happy place.

characters. the two main characters are lan wangji and wei wuxian. for reasons that are not clear to me, they are also called lan zhan and wei ying. are these nicknames? are wangji and wuxian special names they were given upon joining a sect? no idea.

lan wangji is also called hanguang jun, which i think is a title rather than a name, and it may or may not be the same thing as calling him one of the twin jades, which he also is, whatever that means.

(the other twin jade is his older brother, lan xichen. i don’t get the impression that they are actual literal twins, but what do i know.)

wei wuxian is, later on, also referred to as the yiling patriarch, i think when he starts his own cultivation sect?

it took me an embarrassingly long time to figure this out, but wangxian is their ship name, not some other separate character.

lan wangji has an uncle named lan qiren who teaches at the cloud recesses.

wei wuxian is an orphan of humble origins who was adopted by the jiang family.

dad jiang (whose name i don’t know) rescued wwx from being mauled by a dog when he was but a wee bairn. he’s now understandably terrified of dogs.

idk mom jiang’s name either but i don’t think she likes wei wuxian very much? i think maybe she also teaches at the cloud recesses.

his adopted siblings are jiang cheng and jiang yanli (who he and everybody in the fandom calls shijie, older sister). jiang cheng also has another name but idk what it is.

pretty sure there’s a lady named ah qing but idk anything about her so i’m not sure that counts.

wen ning is a guy who wwx brought back to life. now he’s a very sweet, adorable zombie and everyone’s afraid of him :(((

the only other character whose name i know is ah yuan, who wwx and lwj were taking care of when he was really little. he got adopted by the lan sect after wwx died (more on that later) and now he’s called...lan sizhui? or similar? the main thing you need to know is that he’s an angel and i would die for him.

okay, how did i do??

[purpleswift]

Hey! 7, 8 and 16. Also love your edits💗

Thank you Arshia ily!!!!

7. what's the edit you're most proud of?

There are so many edits I’m proud of but I think I’m most proud of two edits in particular: this one because it’s maybe the most creative I’ve ever done and the one that took me more time to finish and I’ve always wanted to try something like that and it came out pretty well!!! And this one because I love this layout idea that I had and I’m quite proud of it!!!

8. how many edits did you make and didn't end up posting?

A very few, there are a couple of gifsets that are still in my drafts because I couldn’t make up my mind about the coloring and the position of the gifs and so on and I gave up lmao!! They were not so good anyway

16. have you ever thought quitting editing?

Even though there is so much disrespect for editors I’ve never thought about quitting editing, not once!! I enjoy it too much!

Ask me something from this list!!!