#to the niche audience that it might reach

[eternal-moss]

If I had a nickel for every time I was in a fandom where Christianity did not exist but somehow characters had functional Christian guilt, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice..

This is referring to Genshin where for some reason worship of Barbatos follows Christian conventions (nuns wearing habits, Christian style worship, cross iconography, ‘sins’ like alcoholism being punished- ironic with how Venti behaves, and other things I’ve probably forgot).

Barbara and Jean are so interesting to me, they both are religious (the only characters having crucifixes in their clothes and Barbara being the literal deaconess, both daughters of the Seneschal), and there is clear conflict between the restrictive practices of the Church compared to how Barbatos actually wants his people to have freedom (a nice nod to actual Christian doctrine vs practice). Also the implications of Jean actually meeting Barbatos are so interesting, I wish they were explored more fully.

The second (or first, I was in this fandom before) was the dream SMP, where Church Prime & the Holy Lands were a repeated part of the storyline, with worship and even exorcisms being included. This lead to a lot of C!Tommy designs with crucifixes or rosaries, because the Church prime also had Christian iconography (the cross, pews etc.).

Anyway I love franchises having faux Christian influences (even if they’re like some animes like evangelion and death note which literally only have them for aesthetic purposes which I find hilarious) especially if characters are portrayed with pseudo-Christian guilt, I will eat that sort of portrayal up every time.

[madmaxified]

i apologize for the woman i am going to become the more i start posting head over heels content

[pseudophan]

sometimes I think that Dan and Phil have “settled down” for lack of a better word into their own sphere of having control and doing whatever content they feel like specifically for the audience that has stuck around all these years which is true to a certain extent for niche little things on the gaming channel but if dnpcrafts and all the other recent ventures have proved they still have the sauce creatively and they’re still pretty relevant in terms of pop culture (seem to be recognized/beloved by both people from the old YouTube and new online platforms) and I genuinely believe that this year they’ll do something to launch them back into the spotlight spotlight and will gain widespread recognition/praise even if it’s something they contribute to behind the scenes idk I’m just so proud of them they could continue to play silly games and address the lore forever and it would keep us veteran phannies happy I just feel like they totally have the ability to still be something more whatever that means yk

i think they might accidentally catapult themselves back into relevancy at this rate. every time they do something now there's more people perking up like oh? those two are back? and so now if they do come out with a bigger project or just anything New And Exciting i think it has the potential for reaching more people than they're necessarily planning on, if that makes sense

[thecurioustale]

My New Book Is Out! | Tokens of Zeal

My new book is out!

Buy it! Buy it now!

That's right: In secret, on January 2 of this year I began writing a book of essays. Some of you may know that I have an online journal, which I created in the summer of 2003 when I was just 21 years old and have kept up with ever since. For my new book I went back to the journal and read through it, entry by entry, drawing out excerpts of interest that became conversation pieces for 81 various and sundry essays reflecting on my past life and past thoughts.

The essays are short, often very short. They are less challenging than my usual writing, I would say. My purpose was not to advance my personal frontier of philosophy and intellectual thought in 2024, or to reach a niche audience of deep thinkers, but instead to reflect sincerely on some things I've seen along the way and muse upon how my thoughts have changed and stayed the same over twenty years.

I mention this to you because I am a bit worried that anyone who reads this book might think there's not much to me as an author, and might be dissuaded from reading my works of fiction when those books eventually come out, so I'll lampshade that by adding that I wrote this book in two-and-a-half months. Make of that what you will. I told myself I wouldn't self-sabotage the book by needlessly saying negative things about it, and I am proud of it, not only the fact that I finished it at all, let alone so quickly, but of the actual contents too.

This book is "Volume 1" in a hypothetical series, as it doesn't cover the entire twenty years of the journal but only the first four months, from August to November of 2003—at which point the essays had reached "book length" (lol). So really this book is a snapshot of my life in the latter half of 2003. At that time, I was fading out of college due to financial hardship and other issues, and did not realize that I would never (as yet) return.

I have been wanting for years to go back and reread my journal, and writing a book out of it was the perfect impetus to finally do it. I think a few things stand out about the Josh of 2023:

First, my principles have remained remarkably consistent, but my awareness and understanding of the world has grown drastically, and so those same principles have led me over time to some different policy views and worldviews on some things.

Second, I was a 21-year-old arrogant block of cheese, full of hormones and self-conviction, and that definitely shows up at times in ways that I simultaneously am not proud of and yet which I admire for their sheer gall. There is something very magnetic about the old me which doesn't exist anymore.

Third, following up on that point, it was pretty inspiring and encouraging to revisit the old me, with all that native optimism and drive. I don't express those qualities anymore because life has worn me down and also because I have come to recognize that humanity's problems are a lot more stubborn and irremediable than I thought. By glimpsing into the past, I couldn't help but be cheered on by the old Josh's proud, utopian sense of human inevitability. It lifted my own spirits in the here and now!

I made the mistake of announcing the book on Patreon right after I finished writing it, i.e. back in mid-March. Then I had to wring my hands every week about how post-production was taking longer than expected. Between the irritating realities of formatting a book in software not properly equipped to format a book (never write a book in Google Docs), the complexities of my detail-oriented manner and strong vision regarding the cover design (and engaging for the first time ever with modern generative AI, and having to learn those ropes), and sustaining illnesses and other life priorities and so on, it would take me another two months in all to finally reach today, where I can now publicly declare:

The book is done! It is for sale right now. It is called:

Tokens of Zeal: Words from a Vanished Age

(Caption: Book front cover of Tokens of Zeal: Words from a Vanished Age, by Joshua Calars.)

You can buy it through Amazon in either paperback or e-book format. (I recommend the paperback version for aesthetics as it is much truer to my design vision for the book's layout and appearance, but my profit margin is actually a dollar bigger with the e-book version, so really just go with whichever version you prefer.) It is available in the US as well as in basically all the other countries that Amazon has expanded its publishing service into. If you need help finding a link to a particular version, give me a ping and I will point you there (if there is a "there" to be pointed to). This is my second published book, following Prelude to After The Hero in 2015, and the first book to be published in print.

If you do read it, first of all thank you! It's an honor that you would take the time. Second of all, I would love any feedback you care to offer. That's not a platitude either; feedback is hard to come by and I really would be interested in anything you have to say, good or bad. You can e-mail me, DM, reblog this, drop an ask, or tag me in an independent post. Whatever you like! Feedback will help me greatly when I eventually get around to writing Volume 2. And feel free to leave a review on Amazon, whether good or bad (though hopefully you enjoy the book); I am told it pleases The Algorithm. But most of all, if you enjoy the book, tell someone about it! Your word-of-mouth is currently 100 percent of my advertising budget, lol.

That's all. I wrote a book; it took four-and-a-half-months; it's done now; and it's the first time I've ever gotten to hold a book that I wrote in my hands as a physical thing, and that's pretty neat.

[pedrostories]

Dear Fanfic Lovers,

We're fully aware that tumblr's searching system is far from ideal, even though we try our best to create an extensive fanfiction library for you where you can always find anything you fancy, however niche it may be, but we're continuously looking for ways to make your experience as smooth as possible. 🖤

Here are a few tricks to help you navigate through the blog (you can also find this in our Navigation post, under 𝗠𝗜𝗦𝗖𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗘𝗡𝗢𝗨𝗦) and a few miscellaneous tips for writers as well.

If you have any needs these functions don't offer a solution to, or you know another useful hack that could enhance the experience on this blog, let us know!

FOR WRITERS

✦ some tricks and tips on how to reach your audience

If you feel like you can't quite reach readers with your story, please don't blame yourself! Tumblr is sometimes the creators' enemy, you just need to know a few things you can use to your advantage! Apart from the tips there's also a heartfelt message from the lovely @undercoverpena as well! 🖤 Pedrostories is here for you!

✦ how to add a gif to your work crediting the gifmaker

If you're a fanfic writer and you would like to insert a gif in your work while properly crediting the gifmaker, here's an easy to follow guide to use tumblr's image insert feature. Important: If you reupload a gif, even though you credit them in your post, someone else might find that gif later, using the image insert feature and it might credit you as the gifmaker instead of the original creator.

This is how it looks like in the notifications when someone uses a gif you uploaded:

And this is how it gives credit to the person who uploaded the gif:

FOR READERS

And now here are a few tips about how to find any work that caters to your needs on our blog:

✦ tags: here you can find our most used tags based on the length, rating, main characters of the stories, and some other important tags, like tropes as well

✦ writers' masterlist: here you can find all the writers in the pedro fandom. The list is continuously updated, please let us know if someone is missing!

✦ blacklisting tags: curate your own experience! We tag every story based on the author's notes and warnings, and if we have the capacity to read the piece, with our own tags. If there’s a character/trope/dynamic/etc. you would like to avoid, you can easily blacklist tags on tumblr.

✦ tag finder: this is the best way to search tumblr’s tag system - it actually accurately looks through the tags without omitting results. (source)

✦ blog searching tricks and tips: if you’re on desktop/browser and you're looking for an exact word, here are some easy ways to find the post you're looking for!

✦ all the tags we've ever used: This is a super simple and incredibly useful script by Benjamin Horn which you can use to find Every. Single. Tag. we've ever used on the blog, and if you click on the results it will take you back to the blog, listing all the posts with that tag! Here's how to use it:

Open the link (duh), type in the blog's name on the top left corner, and click on Load tags.

2. It might take a few minutes for the results to load, so be patient 🧘‍♀️

3. Voilá! You can click on any of the tags and it will take you back to the blog, listing all the posts with that tag!

That's it for now! Again, if you have any needs these functions don't offer a solution to, or you know another useful hack that could enhance the experience on this blog, let us know!

Happy reading! 🖤

[tfwyouloveher2]

/r9k/Elsa Ten Years Later: A Retrospective

Ten years ago today, on July 22, 2014, r9kElsa is Suffering was completed.

If you're reading this, you probably already know the gravity of that event. Let's talk about it anyway :)

r9kElsa is Suffering was one of the earliest fan fiction works written for Frozen, its first chapter published only a few weeks after the movie's release, and was decidedly the most influential.

It was the first widely-read modern-alternate-universe take on Elsa's and Anna's characters, and the way it painted their relationship into a reluctant and tragic romance almost singlehandedly inspired the wider Elsanna ship.

Despite its legacy, it's not the most practiced prose, nor is the plot meticulously planned.

So why did it leave such a mark on its audience? And how was it conceived?

Come with me back to 2013 and we'll find out.

A History

Frozen was released on November 27, 2013, to unexpected critical acclaim and unprecedented box office success.

The internet was quickly buzzing with thoughts about it. A hundred communities in the far-flung reaches of a simpler Web gathered in their respective forums to articulate what the movie meant to them.

Within a few days, a few thoughts began to coalesce in many different places at once: these characters are important to us. They're relatable. They're inspiring.

And, in some strange new way, the scattered diaspora found that the message had spoken to their hearts: love is stronger than fear. There is hope.

The first Frozen fan fiction to gain any traction was "Songs of Ice and Snow", published on November 23 by a lucky author with the privilege of seeing a pre-screening of the movie. It would go on to reach almost 140,000 words over the next several months, and explored the characters in their canon environment, written to take place immediately after the events of the movie.

Soon though, another fic was written with a bold twist: For the First Time was published on December 3, and suggested something previously unexplored: a romantic angle to the sisters' relationship. Niche artists and shitposters had already asserted the notion, but this very early work fleshed out the idea into something surprisingly charming. If love is an open door, then For the First Time opened it just a crack, and readers everywhere were tempted by the glow from beyond.

One specific forum that was quick to latch on to the hard-to-swallow concept was /frz/, a thread on 4chan's /co/ dedicated to Frozen. The trolling effortlessly began to morph into ironic, then tongue-in-cheek, and finally occasionally genuine consideration of what this romance would mean. The trolling never stopped, of course; but in the margins, there was a growing understanding and even affection for this relationship. Why?

Like so much well-loved fiction, it was because people saw themselves in it.

In Elsa, some saw a shut-in who just didn't want to be ostracized anymore. Some saw a dutiful figure who couldn't allow herself to be happy.

In Anna, some saw a socially awkward romantic, starving for affection and acceptance. Others saw an endlessly forgiving empath.

And in both, they saw someone who might understand them.

And in that moment, they fell victim to the fantasy: that two people could be so different and yet could love each other so unreservedly. That two people could understand each other's failings and doubts and grief, that they could be so wounded by each other, and at the end of it all, still sacrifice everything for the other.

In a world of cynicism and transactional relationships, it turns out that these sisters bound by blood scratch an itch: a need to be accepted despite all our flaws. And in some corners of the internet, there grew an quiet desire to be loved like that.

It was in this context that an anonymous /co/ reader, usually only browsing the board for DC comics, began to engage with /frz/. She hadn't ever written fiction before, but at the moment unemployed, was sucked in by the concepts being set forth. She wrote a first chapter that was an exceptional attention grabber, starting with the line "She heard the crossbow bolt thud into her shoulder before she felt it." Many readers will recognize that opening line immediately from Frozen Fractals. The first chapter was initially published in a pastebin for /frz/ to read, on December 6, with promises of violence, cuteness, and sex. Despite very little initial response, the anon is fully engrossed in her work, and posts the next few chapters in the following two days.

Over the next couple weeks, Frozen Fractals becomes the foremost image of the romantic portrayal of the sisters. The writing style is unpracticed, the character choices sometimes stretch disbelief, and the story is occasionally brutal; and yet, the work is outstanding.

The critical response is enormously positive, even reaching the point of other fiction authors in /frz/ asking the author -- having at this point earned the nickname "Fractals" or "Frac" -- for writing tips and constructive criticism. Additionally though, there are some constructive criticisms offered back, which undoubtedly aided Frac's later work.

During this same period, the image of Elsa being a broken, self-doubting recluse, while Anna waits determinedly for her to open her door to the world, begins to take a more distinct shape in the /frz/ threads.

Anons start to see Elsa as one of them.

And so it began, slowly at first. But over the next couple weeks, this idea started taking center stage in threads.

And then, the first greentext from the character of /r9k/Elsa:

There grew a consensus, a common understanding of who this persona was.

It was initially tongue-in-cheek. But later, like Elsa's monster, it was often the person that we most fear to be.

And the storm raged on.

Then, the next day, a turning point is reached: a greentext that realizes the core of the character. These 12 lines precipitated years of community fixation and the story that would come of her.

And the rest is history.

Over the next few days, an onslaught of r9kElsa greentexts are posted. For a short while, threads are overwhelmed with discussion of the character. People can't stop talking about it.

Some suggest temporarily banning it from threads so as to stop derailing every discussion.

Despite the proposed ban, some discussion continues behind spoiler tags. Frac is wrapping up Frozen Fractals and becoming increasingly engrossed in the character.

Then, finally, on the Winter Solstice 2013, Elsa's first birthday, tfw She Loves You is posted on Fictionpress.

Frac posts it under an alias in an ultimately-doomed effort to fly under the radar.

Over the next few days, up to and through Christmas 2013, Frac cannot stop writing. She writes ELEVEN CHAPTERS in four days. The rest of /frz/ is caught up in the r9k storm right along with her.

And then, there's a pause. A couple days go by without update. Finally, a few days later, chapter 12 Drawfriend is posted, and Frac seems a little burned out. Anons ask her what's up.

She realizes that her story is beginning to diverge from the greentexts that /frz/ has written. What started as a collection of one-shots based on scattershot 4chan replies is beginning to feel more important than that. None of the offered greentexts are hitting the spot like they used to. Somehow, the characters need more.

From this moment onward, Frac takes a new direction. Only a couple chapters after this point (16 and 21) are based on greentexts, and even those are loosely adapted. Instead, the fic ceases to be a collection of one-shots and starts forming into a true story, the story that everyone now knows and loves.

She posts the next chapter the same night. Chapter 13 Past is in the Past is a unique installment in the series, going back in time to detail the moment Elsa believes that she fell for Anna. It briefly scales back the angst and drama, and gives a cute slice-of-life of a simpler time for the characters. Some consider it the most human chapter in the story.

From this point on, the story progresses in a remarkable way. In case you haven't read it, I'll avoid too many major spoilers here. But as you can imagine, certain chapters (like 20: Implode-Explode) prompted clamorous reactions from the /frz/ threads.

After a few more weeks, other sites start taking notice of what's happening here. Tumblr picks up on the fic and begins rallying behind it. Artists begin painting r9kElsa portraits. It's when r9k starts wrapping up that r/Elsanna is founded and starts gaining traffic.

Other well-known stories also start being published once r9k hits its stride. During a very short period between mid-January and early February 2014, you see Extra! Extra!, A Formal Arrangement, Feel, Don't Conceal, Drum Major, You Are, A Snowflake in Spring, Winter Girl, the Cake Fic, and others published for the first time. Almost every modern-AU fic can trace its characterizations at least partially back to r9k. In some cases, e.g. Tessellate, much more than partially!

A Reason

If you read any post or thread from any Elsanna community in 2014, you'll find one thing repeated over and over: r9kElsa is Suffering brought me here. The story is the most common elevator pitch for the ship, because especially at that time, it meant something more to people than just sexy cartoon girls (though it undoubtedly meant that too).

In a world of isolation, where many traditional sources of community have been whittled away, people are desperate for hope.

This is the core of why Frozen succeeded so tremendously.

It came at exactly the right cultural moment, when both adults and teenagers the world over were feeling more alone than any prior point in history; and it showed that there's a reason to open your door. Even when you're feeling like there's no way out, like no one could ever see past your faults and doubts, you can remember that there IS hope. It's not in Prince Charming or a genie in a bottle. You can have hope in knowing that there are other people, broken in their own ways, who WILL love you for you. Unreservedly.

Frozen has been criticized for its resolution being too easy. "Love," they say, "what a shallow fix for everything!"

They are wrong. Love is an anomaly of nature. It breaks every rule. It is supernatural and spiritual and it is real life magic. And realizing that you can always choose to love the fixer-upper beside you is the surest way to thaw your own frozen heart.

r9kElsa is Suffering has likewise been criticized for its ending. Readers wanted to see something sexy, thrilling, or at least certain. Instead, they got something ambiguous and thoughtful.

Personally, the last two chapters are my favorites of the whole story.

We see a broken family trying to piece itself together. We see a father reckoning with his abject failure, and seeking a new way of living with his family. Any parent would feel overwhelmed, angry, afraid in that situation. He doesn't want to be consumed by fear and frustration. He just wants to love his daughters. And he does. Even after everything, he does.

And critically, he trusts Elsa to make the right decisions, even when he himself doesn't know what they are anymore.

And then, ultimately, in the final chapter, we read a beautiful mirror of the first. Elsa is in her room, but the curtains aren't shut anymore. Sunlight streams in through the window. Anna enters freely, their tension long released by their figurative walls having been dismantled.

In an often-overlooked moment of clarity, Elsa ceases to be consumed by her preferred method of isolation, her computer. Whereas in the first chapter, she can't look Anna in the eye, and only stares at her ever-illuminated computer screen; now, she does something new. She turns off her monitor and momentarily contemplates her reflection in the black mirror. Who is the woman she sees staring back at her?

She would be unrecognizable from the girl who sat in that chair six months before.

Finally, in the last moment, Elsa is faced with making the "right decision".

Unburdened by fear or requirement, she is prompted for the first time to determine honestly what the right thing is, for herself, for Anna, for their family.

She hesitates. What is right? Is it right to push Anna away?

She decides. She loves Anna, and she's never going to erect a wall between them again.

Her father asked her to remember what's important. Anna is what's important to her. All of the rules, all of the shame, all of the worries -- they don't matter.

You love her, and she loves you. That's all that matters.

Dear reader: today, now ten years older, remember what matters to you. Love the people in your life. Love boldly and selflessly and unreservedly, and frozen hearts will begin to thaw.

- tfwyouloveher

---

A/N: many thanks to the people and resources that made this retrospective achievable

frac, also known as @kate---kane and anonelsa, who so many of us have to thank (or curse?) for our years spent in this community

desuarchive.org and archived.moe make this digital archaeology possible

/frz/ will hate me for posting their activity across the web but I don't mind :)

there is a wealth of fascinating and entertaining material in the /frz/ threads of these archives. I spent weeks reading through old threads long considered lost for this post

neiromaru and @spooths are among the top connoiseurs of frozen fanfiction, and their ancient lists made this research much easier

the various archivists on r/elsanna and elsewhere who saved so many important pieces of fic history before they were deleted

the dropbox and mega archives were instrumental

enormous thanks to my editor, who ended up rewriting most of this post, but who wished to remain anonymous. seems unexpectedly appropriate :)

[painted-bees]

Thinking about how Raf decides to run Hi-Note, turning it from a recording studio to a proper label* with a bit of a catch.

Specifically, Raf mandates Hi-Note to find musicians who've fallen through the industry's cracks or play to extremely niche audiences--and provide them the space and financial security to produce music in whatever capacity they're capable of. Hi-Note is able to market and distribute records/recordings, and it accepts that it'll lose money on the majority of the artists that sign onto it. It's run as a business on paper, but its goal isn't to raise capital. Raf's... from a wealthy family who runs a wealthy corporate machine. He gets paid a fuckoff amount of money every year just for existing, and he only inherits more as time goes on. He doesn't need Hi-Note to be financially viable. Rather, Hi-Note kinda becomes the seive through which he's able to pay steady patronage to musical talent that might otherwise have never been able to get a foothold via the more standard industry avenues, granting money/resources to them so they can comfortabley produce the music they love producing and reach a wider audience for that music than they might have been able to on their own. If an artist manages to make decent profit, the cut Hi-Note receives circles right back around again to help support the label's artists who don't generate profit. So, in that way, one artist's success is everyone's success.

Hi-Note cherry picks the artists they sign, of course...and the circle of talent they scoop up stays rather small, with priority given to those who come via the recommendation of established Hi-Note employees. There's a certain...type of artist personality that it favours, and certain types of personalities it staunchly avoids. Artists who'd get along fine via traditional avenues or who have little to no trouble marketing themselves are passed over. As is anyone who seems to have lacked certain challenges in their lives and failed to develop certain perspectives on...how people should be treated and discussed. And this area of high subjectivity/personal bias is probably where Hi-Note finds most of the critisism levelled against it. But there is an equalibrium/"vibe" that Raf aspires to maintain within Hi-Note, and he is pretty uncompromising about it, since a lot of it ties in with his own personal feelings of ease and comfort. Perhaps for this reason alone, Hi-Note can never grow beyond a very humble size.

But, so long as the people working with and within Hi-Note are happy and feel well supported in an industry that otherwise would have ground them into jadesd burnt-out husks, Raf is content with its trajectory. Hi-Note is probably the closest thing he and Margie get to having kids lmao. They're not family, and he's most comfortable keeping them at that amiciable, professional arm's length. But at the same time, he's very proud of his retinue and is ride or die for Hi-Note's artists and employees. And, for the most part, they are for him, too.

[nalyra-dreaming]

In regards to popularity, IWTV is one of AMC's more popular shows on their streaming platform. Despite some pretty bad marketing. The first real ad was actually aired during the Super Bowl, so irs clearly a show they care about. AMC seems to be playing the long game rather than aiming for instant success, and it’s clearly a passion project with big ambitions. Like I can at least see them get to s4-5 before any fear of cancellation happens.

Also while the marketing is outdated, they’re also targeting a niche audience because a gay gothic horror and romance show on a very unknown streaming platform, limits its reach. Still, the core fanbase is super strong, like who else are even buying $5,000 coffins 💀 ⚰️ also compared to a lot of other shows from my experience a big part of the fanbase includes regular folks who might like the books or regular people aren’t very active online. it’s clear at least to me that most of the people interacting with the show aren’t deep into fandom culture and a little older than fans of similar shows

I’m so happy that the show is reaching a lot more people especially from word of mouth by critics and passionate fans because it’s such a good show with such great acting and a lot of love being put into it, and being on Netflix has helped it reach more people. But I don’t think it’s the end all be all

This show has a way to go yet and I do think it will go that way, too.

And I think AMC has made some very clear statements re IWTV with Rolin's contract and the renewal in secrecy :)

What you say is true, the fanbase for this is 50 years old. And widespread, not the least maybe because of Anne's... endeavors -.-

But I do also think it is very strong, and yes, god, the coffins. LOL. I would love to know who bought them^^.

I do think IWTV is slowly gaining momentum. Not as fast as anticipated on Netflix, but by now I think that is a good thing. There's a lot to discover in and about this show after all, and so much has happened in two years. A slower growth lets people catch up.

And then season 3 with the rockstar arc will blow all our minds *g*

[todaysbird]

This is a little bit of a silly place to post this, but I know that some people in my audience do work in this industry, so might as well?

Anyway, I’m looking for freelance writing work with animal related publications :) I’m not going to dump a bunch of information here on tumblr, but if you reach out to me through DMs I will provide you with my email (and resume); I’ve written in this niche for a very long time on everything from exotic animals to common dog ailments. I’ve also worked as a contract writer for pet industry related sites.

- and any animal related zines, paid or unpaid - id love to contribute, just tag me!

[nightshadehoney]

I never watched James Somerton's shitty Killing Stalking video because I was trying to be good to myself and avoid something that I knew would make me very angry. In fact, I never watched any of his stuff because the fact that he made a video like that was enough to discount any thing he ever had to say (also I heard about the Celluloid Closet plagiarism).

But man, is the James Somerton discourse bringing a lot of Killing Stalking-related feelings back up for me. Because I'm mad; I'm still so mad. There are a suprising amount of people on social media who are saying they never watched any of his stuff except for the Killing Stalking video. I'm annoyed not just to find out that the vid had that sort of reach and influence, but also because Somerton's unmasking hasn't seemed to make people reasses the validity of the kind of thing he was saying. People are just now being like "hmm I think this guy might have Issues With Women" but that doesn't warrant any reflection on what exactly the motivation is of people who complain about women enjoying a niche webcomic? Because I don't actually believe you're concerned about the influence of some obscure piece of media when you advertise its existence to your large audience many of whom had not heard of it and would never have heard of it but for your transparent outrage porn video. It's rage bait and the target was women that are perceived as straight. A big channel has publicized the fact that they excised a section that endorsed the opinions in this video from their own because they became aware of Somerton's plagiarism and dishonesty (presumably; if it was actually because they recognized his views were coming from a sexist place I would welcome a clarification). And you know, I don't think that's a good look actually. That you needed to be told he was a bad person and couldn't idependently put together that the misogynist man was saying misogynist things.

The comic ended years ago and the fandom has gone mostly quiet, but to this day people are still the peddling the"fujoshi/stupid teenage girls who don't know what's good for them are shipping these characters because they are too braindead to realize it's not a romance; it's a horror, two things I believe are mutually exclusive. I am smarter than all of these cringe degenerates" bullshit. It's in the comments of the hbomberguy video even; one comment was such a gross misrepresentation of the series that my friend needed to talk me down from getting into a pointless youtube comments argument (bless him) because these people are officially making me lose my marbles.

This narrative is full of shit, it's demonstrably not fucking true. You can go on the artist's twitter right now and its full of her retweeting shippy fanart of that pairing readers were apparently never intended to ship.

(I don't think Koogi knows or cares about James Somerton; she just reblogs the works of fans who tag her. This made me laugh though).

Now this is all speculation because he died decades before social media existed, but I think if Nabokov was alive today his twitter would not be full of Humbert Humbert x Dolores Haze fanart. And yet, I have unironically seen people compare shipping Sangwoo and Bum in Killing Stalking with the misreading of Lolita as a precocious sexual temptress more than once.

And this isn't me saying that Killing Stalking is the disgusting"pro-sexualized abuse" comic that tumblr purity police used to characterize it as either. One of these days I'm going to go truly bonkers and end up banging pots and pans on the street corner, yelling at random innocent passerbys about how stories about romantic and sexual relationships are not required to be Hallmark movies. You can make art about the negative, dark, and troubling parts of these feelings and relationships without creating a pat morality tale. You don't need to approach media analysis like your 7th grade teacher has assigned you an essay on explaining what a novel's "message" is.

Nobody, not the author and not the fans, genuinely thinks that Sangwoo and Bum have a healthy or aspirational relationship. This hypothetical person that does not understand the relationship is toxic doesn't exist. Because girls and women, even the ones having cringey fandom fun on tiktok or whatever, are not so stupid and naive that they are unware that breaking someone's legs and locking them in a muder basement is bad. The type of concern troll rhetoric Somerton employed in his video is directed near exclusively at women interested in men and there's a reason for this. Women are not responsible for abuse that men do to them; nobody is responsible for their partner abusing them. If I never saw people spit this bullshit again it would be too soon.

[physalian]

Writing with Executive Dysfunction (or how to lower the barrier of entry)

So you want to write a book, but all you have is a cool one-liner, a niche super power you want to explore, and the blurry image of a love interest with a two-syllable kind of name. You don’t know where to start, what to tackle first, how to jump in the deep end.

Can you write the ending first? What if you want this really cool gimmick in a fight scene but can’t write action to save your life? Do you start in media res or with a prologue, or with the character starting their daily routine? Do you write the villain’s POV first?

Or do you start with an outline, character sheets, a title, summary, your themes and motifs? How many pages and pages of worldbuilding notes should you have built up before you’re good to tackle the first page? You’ve heard time and again the critical importance of the first three sentences. The first chapter if your audience is generous.

The pressure mounts to be unique, but not try-hard, descriptive but not flowery, intriguing, but not confusing, all in the first hundred or so words. You sit there staring at the little blinking black line on your blank page… and the idea gets shelved for another day. It collects virtual dust in the backlogs of your computer, forgotten until you have to clear out space on your hard drive and stumble across unspent potential.

Everyone and their dog has their own bits of writing advice and I’m sure I’m about to echo tips that have been around the block once or twice, but there are a few I don’t see talked about enough.

Whether you suffer from severe procrastination, fear of failure before you even begin, the overwhelming limitlessness of choice, or just can’t sit down and dedicate any time to see what happens, this list might be for you.

1. Write Every Day

This is nothing new, but I’m going to tackle the implementation of such a habit over why it’s important. You already know why it’s important. Writing every day doesn’t demand a full page of a Word doc, or 200 words before you can get up and do something else. Sometime a witty dialogue exchange comes to mind while you’re doing dishes – write that down.

Or you saw a cool name for a character in a commercial – write that down.

Or you had a dream about your characters in a high-octane street chase – write down the synopsis.

Personally, I use Apple Notes. It’s free, I can log-in to iCloud through a browser and keep writing, and my phone is always with me. I have dedicated folders to sort which notes belong to which concepts.

Disclaimer: Apple Notes is meant for exactly that: Note taking. I take it to the extremes, but it’s not a word processer. It’s not meant for anything more strenuous than putting virtual pen to virtual paper.

I build up so many variations of scene ideas and concepts for character arcs that my ‘notes’ for any given book can be as long as a full-length novel. Most of the time, admittedly, those ideas get outdated fast as I move on to bigger and better things, but the point is this: I never would move on to better things if I didn’t have somewhere to start.

I have a personal grudge against OneDrive for a sync failure losing 20k words of a WIP, so most of my writing is done through Google Docs and saved to Google Drive. It’s not the most powerful word processor, but you don’t have to worry about formatting until the very end and can export later. It’s free, like Apple Notes (assuming you have an iPhone), and the smart phone app for Google programs works phenomenally better than the MS Word app – so once again, the barrier for being within reach of places to jot down ideas is lowered. My phone is always with me.

It doesn’t have to be digital – carry around a journal or a notebook or a legal pad if you want. Whatever gets your creative juices flowing. The point is to have somewhere to take all the ideas you have in your head and get them onto paper the moment inspiration strikes.

2. Writing is Supposed to be Fun

The dreaded writer’s block, scourge of authors everywhere. You’ve reached the point in your manuscript where you’ve caught up to the epic adventure you’ve written in your head. The little writer in your brain has gone on strike and you’re left in the doldrums of how to transition from one chapter to the next. One idea to the next. One scene, one line of dialogue.

Answer: Skip it.

Unless you have a hard deadline to make, writing is supposed to be fun. Your best work comes when you’re passionate about doing it, not when you’re holding your fingers hostage to put something on the page or else.

When you start getting frustrated, walk away. When you get stressed, walk away. The manuscript will still be there once you’ve slept on it for a day or two and you’ll be glad for it. Or, write a different scene. Write a hypothetical scene (more on this point later). Write anything you want and come back to the hard parts later. The gaps will fill eventually, and if they don’t—consider what about that transition or scene is so hard and consider axing it entirely. If it’s frustrating for you, it’s probably boring or unimportant to the reader.

3. Script it

My favorite writer’s crutch is to make a skeleton of the scene I want to have, fill it with dialogue, and move on. The pretty thematic narrative can come later. It’s halfway between an outline and a first draft and, for me, someone to whom dialogue comes easier than narrative, this is another barrier removed to letting creativity flow.

I don’t have to think about dialogue tags or movement of a scene or how exactly I want to structure a sentence or describe the setting. Scripting lets me sus out the pacing of a given scene, test run a conversation I have in my head to see if it might really work before investing all the time and effort of a fully fleshed out first draft, only to erase it all later.

You can do this mid-narrative, too. If you just want to skip over a couple lines that aren’t coming naturally to you, script a vague sense of stage directions until you get to easier narrative and come back later.

When I say scripting, mine look something like this:

Character A (ChA): [position within the setting, tone of voice, any notable gesture or action that enhances the dialogue] “Dialogue.” [specific dialogue tag, if necessary] … (often a paragraph break) … “Dialogue.” Character B (ChB): “Dialogue.” [emotion, reaction, details about the setting that are now important, new revelations by the narrating POV] … “Dialogue,” [action. Tonal shift. Movement] ChA: “Dialogue.” [action] … (scene continues)

In practice:

… ChA: [kicks back against the wall of the room, arms crossed. Annoyed, waiting for ChB to speak first, but they don’t] “Why didn’t you tell me you wanted to leave?” [head tilts, still waiting on an answer ChB isn’t giving] “All you had to do was ask.” ChB: “You were having fun,” [quiet, wringing their hands in their lap on the edge of the bed] “You wanted me there. So I was there.” [huffs, flips their hair back. Not sure how many times they’ve had this conversation. Will always hate parties, not going to suddenly like them just because ChA is there] “You can either have me there, or make sure I’m comfortable. You can’t have both.” ChA: “So now I’m the bad guy.” [foot thumps on the floor like a judge’s gavel] …

Scripting also lets you fill a scene with multiple new characters before you figure out their names or descriptions, tagging their lines with the bare minimum. I often test out entire action scenes (which I loathe writing) in script form, so I know I’m satisfied with the pacing, blocking, and amount of movement before I lock it in and write the first draft of actual narrative. It also forces you to make sure your characters are taking actions and not just sitting at a table like talking mannequins.

Transitioning from script to narrative can be mighty tedious sometimes if you try to fit in chunks of narrative in the exact places you left on your initial pass. Fictional prose is organic, so let it breathe.

Maybe you let a character monologue for too long, or they have too much movement in a scene that becomes unnatural and clunky. Or the entire scene ran away from you because the conversation was just that good. Whatever the case, a script, bare minimum, gets your foot in the door.

4. Write Fanfic

I like sci-fi and fantasy. I also like taking my sci-fi and fantasy characters and throwing them into ‘fanfics’ to test out relationships and start to get a feel for what makes them unique from the rest of the cast.

Sometimes the setting changes to something mundane, sometimes it’s a hypothetical scene that the current pacing of the narrative just doesn’t have room for, or it’s a flashback you’ll never include but want to have written so it’s concrete when you reference it in the present.

It also helps you fall in love with your characters when you can write them without consequence, doing whatever, doing whoever, saying whatever, going wherever. In fanfic, their personalities can start to write themselves and you discover them as you write them. And, hey, sometimes you come up with a concept so good, you change the entire real narrative around to fit it.

All your attention doesn’t have to be on the story you’re actually writing.

5. Keep All of Your Deleted Scenes

I keep so many of mine, the ‘deleted scenes’ doc of one book is 40k words longer than the actual manuscript, filled with numerous variations of the same scene written over and over again in vain trying to keep something that no longer works.

Keep them for several reasons:

It reminds you of how far you’ve come.

You can pick through the bones for bits of dialogue and setting descriptors even if the majority is trashed.

You remind yourself of what didn’t work before, so you don’t fall in that same trap again.

If you change your mind, all you have to do is copy-paste it back in.

6. Remember First Drafts are First Drafts

Let the word spew flow forth from your fingers and don’t look back and start questioning every decision and all its flaws until your creativity tank starts sputtering on empty. It’s supposed to be messy, it’s supposed to have plot holes and typos and inconsistencies and things to fact-check. If you start hyper-fixating on making sure your manuscript has absolutely no errors before moving on to the next chapter, it will never get written, and you’ll convince yourself you’re a terrible writer.

Writing is easy. Revisions are hard. Just as storytelling doesn’t have to be linear, neither does the writing process. If that critical first line just won’t come to you, stuff a mediocre one in its place and move on. Write the ending first. Write all the romantic entanglements first. Write the big climactic argument first and figure out how the rest falls into place around your beautiful centerpiece.

But remember: You do, at some point, have to write the hard stuff. Hopefully, when the time comes, you look at all the rest you’ve written and are proud enough of your progress that those daunting scenes that looked impossible before become much more approachable now. Do it for your future readers who want to know how it ends. Do it for your characters. Do it for you.

[bennizone]

How do you deal with starting out posting art and it going kinda rough? I work really hard and it only gets two likes and then just sinks to the bottom of tags within a few days. It kinda kills my drive to make anything.

(I've been away for the holidays, havent had time to answer these!! might be from the same person? either way,)

I didn't get much traction in the beginning either - I remember getting 1-2 likes, too. It definitely feels really disheartening. I'm trying to remember what helped...Here's my thoughts:

1: whenever you see art that you like, COMMENT! especially on art from artists that are the same place as you, yanno, just starting out and/or their art journey is at a similar point. It helps sooo much to not only see BIG POPULAR NAMES on your dash all the time, so try to mingle with people that are gonna resonate with you on an even level.. It's more healthy to feel invested in online art because you share growth and exploration with others alongside you, rather than racing against people who already are super established following-wise or expertise-wise.

2: Why are you posting? I want to spark passion, joy, and inspiration in others!!! when I stay true to those words, my art seems to reach more people, because my soul is in it, which resonates better = more people like it and share it! It sounds like you're already putting a lot of effort in, so that's awesome, try your best not to lose the spark of joy. Take a break if it gets too rough, and try to clear ur head and return to the mindset of WHY you're posting in the first place. And pls don't be afraid to change your purpose if you ever want to, let urself evolve, it's normal! 3: I used to get 1-5 likes, and now I get an average of 100-300 on twitter and tumblr (sometimes i get more if my post suddenly gains traction but yanno)... and, on Insta (which I only started using recently, but ofc some ppl followed from other platforms) it's more like 15-60 on average. Some people would consider these numbers miniscule... I don't consider any of my posts "flops", I just have a smaller audience than some other artists. Also, I almost only draw OC-art, so it's more niche...... All that to say, give it time, especially if you havent figured out your Goal yet and you're still trying to figure out why you're posting/what kinda posts you wanna share, or if your art is kinda niche. There's a lot of reasons why you might still not have a lot of reach.

recap: If you manage to find some sorta goal and you interact with peers, and try to remind yourself you're still growing, I think you'll get to a place where u feel more satisfied! i wish you lotsa luck, this stuff is hard. the internet can feel pretty hostile tbh, please never blame/shame yourself from feeling sad sometimes, cus it's rly unfair. We just have to do what we can and try to stay true to ourselves!!!

this got rly long, i hope it's helpful to anybody who read it!! love u all!!!! xoxo benni

[smgoetter]

I know you and Natalie probably get the question that if there will be a sequel to dungeon critters, and I also know that in the current situation (or at least I think) you two aren’t planning on writing one. But, that left me wondering; did you guys ever think about writing a sequel, or even the plot of a sequel? Did you write the Dungeon Critters thinking it would be a series? Or- maybe what I’m trying to say is: Do YOU think there will be a sequel to Dungeon Critters in the future?

(Natalie helped with writing this, but we both talked about it a lot)

Thanks for writing in! Dungeon Critters is really, really special to us, and we’re both really happy that it continues to find its audience. In a perfect world, we’d be diligently working away on volume 4, and designing the Baron’s minivan that he would use in the climactic fight (I’m serious).

I don’t know how much inside baseball I’m allowed to give about the inner workings of publishing, but basically: we signed a contract to do the one Dungeon Critters book, with the hope that it would sell well and we would get to continue making more Dungeon Critters books. Once we wrapped up the first book we immediately wrote and pitched a sequel that we were really excited about, with lots of ideas for more. However, while our publisher did support Dungeon Critters, they weren’t interested in any sequels. But they did still want to work with us, at least!

Which is where The Bawk-Ness Monster comes in! While we were understandably crushed we couldn’t work on Dungeon Critters, a lot of heart and hard work went into pivoting to a new series. And I’m proud of the work we’ve done on it.

Working full-time, we don’t have the time or resources to draw and self-publish a graphic novel by ourselves, and even if we did, having a publisher gives it better reach, especially ones for kids and young adults. We think there’s hope that eventually :01 might be interested in a sequel for Dungeon Critters, which is why we haven’t posted the old summary and concept art online yet. We’re currently reworking it a bit as well, along with some other ideas…we just have to wait and hope for the best.

All that being said, selfishly, hearing from people who read and liked Dungeon Critters helps us keep that hope. It’s niche and weird and doesn’t explain itself and the most purely self-indulgent and fun thing we could have made. Even if we never get to make another one, knowing someone found it and it spoke to them is really precious to us. Thank you again for asking.

Please know that no one are bigger fans of Dungeon Critters than we are, and we are keeping these characters close to our hearts. 

(Also, (in response to the other message) thank you for the game recommendation! We enjoyed Hades very much when it came out a few years ago hehe. Our current gaming update is that Sara is a normal amount of hours into Balatro and Natalie is looking forward to the new Stardew update.)

[iinryer]

Hey! I’ve recently been trying to transition into doing more freelance work. I was wondering if you had any advice or suggestions on how to get noticed and build more of a network. I feel like I’ve built a decent portfolio and I definitely feel qualified but networking ur work can be really difficult. Like I know nothing lol.

man yeah marketing and networking is a slog, but it’s an important endeavor 😭😭

unfortunately, a lot of it is individual and is going to be trial and error, but social media is where you’re going to get your best reach. post often, reblog/retweet/repost even more, use an absurd number of hashtags and keywords, BE ANNOYING!! because the truth is? you’re not annoying anyone, and if you don’t feel like you’re being annoying you’re not doing enough to push your stuff. no one is ever going to be online at the same time as you so YOU might feel like you’re doing too much, but most people probably won’t even see your work until the third time you’ve reposted it.

do some cursory research into best practices on different platforms, whether they favor comments or reposts etc etc and do your best to feed the machine. your goal is to get eyes on the things you make! a lot of freelancing for me personally is Being The Product. im in a weird spot where my work is also being a person on camera and being social and making myself available to an audience, so i have to sell myself, but that’s honestly pretty useful across the board for freelancing from scratch. social media can be kind of soul sucking but it really is the key to spreading your work to those who are going to want to work with you.

do a trend, make a gimmick for your commissions on occasion, post imperfect stuff, post unfinished stuff, post stuff you’ve posted before, post teasers and sneak peeks and close ups and things you like and redraws of things you didn’t. you just have to get up off the ground, and then it gets easier, but starting is the hardest part and the only way to start is to just do it. you’ll find your niche! but you have to go digging until it finds you too. people who get you work will be the ones to get you more work, either by hiring you again or by recommending you to others they know. keep good relationships, be kind, engage (to your comfort level) with people when they engage with your work, and value yourself.

i don’t know how helpful any of this will be for you, but maybe you’ll be able to pull something useful from it!! put yourself out there! you just have to get started!

[mintshiiarts]

Here we go for self-promo, which I never am fond of doing but know I have to do it in this case! My self-published, indie comic, Robust Heat is now in pre-launch on Kickstarter! You can find it here.

It is going to be printed into a full volume, graphic novel, with 150+ pages. Full colour, American standard comic book size (6.625" x 10.25"). The printed version is going to be more polished, have rewritten, relettered, redrawn parts that the webcomic version does not have. If you like slight Baccano! vibes mixed with Netflix's Hollywood (2020), then please consider checking it out :D. The actual launch date is going to be on April 2nd, and if you'd like an email notification when the campaign goes live, the notify me button will do the job for you. And if you have anyone in mind that you think might enjoy these series, please pass this along to them! I know I don't have a wide reach/big audience, and what my comic is--I consider kind of niche-so I'm hoping to get this word of mouth get rolling. Thanks in advance \O/ PS, I will be in PCF (Prairie Comics Festival), and hopefully DCAF (Dartmouth, not Dublin, Comics arts Festival) later this year. If any of you are from those spaces, do let me know if you'd be interested in local pick-ups.

[laf-outloud]

So con count vs con count:

Jensen - 15 Jared - 10.

12 out of 15 of Jensen's cons are CE and all 3 non-CE cons are outside of the US (2 of which Jared is also attending - JIB and AHBL - and Purgatory 8). All of his cons are SPN-specific, no general cons.

Jared on the other had is scheduled for 4 CE cons, 4 international cons (JIB, AHBL, Infinity Con, and Darklight Con) and 2 US based non-CE cons (ATL CC and Albuquerque CC).

And Jared still has July, Sept, and Oct free to add more if he wants to try and do one a month like it's appearing he might be doing.

Personally it seems smarter to me to diversify like Jared is doing. Not only because SPN and its specific cons are slowly dying, but also for the fan reach. There is a reason why J2 sell out so fast overseas - its been exponentially more rare for them to attend cons there. Jared is increasing his audience reach but going to more overseas cons. And also he reaches a different audience with the more broad US based cons like ATL or when he did FanX etc. Lots of people don't look at CE when thinking of attending a con because it is so niche for SPN fans pretty exclusively. I know they've tried to diversify a bit with some Smallville or TW ppl but those aren't enough of a draw to really get people to attend who weren't already interested in a SPN con (especially at those prices).

Jared's looking to build his career, not just promote a single role (Sam), especially if he's done with that role (excepting a possible reboot). There's no guarantee how much longer Walker will go, but Jared's appearances at non-SPN cons, particularly in the US, can help promote the show and build his reputation and solidify his fanbase for future projects. He's making long-term moves instead of looking at just the yearly return.