#writing is indimidating

[leos-cult]

i've been thinking a lot. and here. If I re-made Lab Rats, but put my own spin on it, these are some of the things I would include:

The Rats would just have their original abilities- Adam with laser eyes and strength, Bree with speed, and Chase with smarts. There wouldn't be any 'hidden abilities'. This, imo, provides simplicity, and requires them to be more creative with what they've got

The Rats would be Much More Weird. They've been raised in a basement, by one man, and have NEVER SEEN DAYLIGHT their entire lives?? They're gonna be fucking weird man.

Adam was actually really smart when he was young. He had a shaky grasp on his superstrength, but that was perfect in the eyes of his creator. So he was pushed further. Gaining heat vision was where things went off the rails. His ability's strength was set too high, and with his first test, the bionic components overheated and damaged certain parts of his brain. It was adjusted and worked ok afterwards, but Adam would forever be mentally stunted. That was just fine in his creator's eyes- the muscle didn't need smarts.

Chase has more mechanical components than his siblings. He may call himself the "smartest man on the planet", but that's not really the case. He's definitely very knowledgeable. Anything stored within a computer or digital textbook can be uploaded to his chip (which act like a secondary brain) and be learned within milliseconds. But he doesn't really "learn"- he just automatically knows it once it's uploaded. If his chip were ever disabled, it would be disastrous. He would be reduced to just his weak, flimsy human brain; He would feel empty, not even know how to perform addition, and lose all sense of identity.

Bree gets a consistent personality. She'd be hyperactive (not my original idea, but I love it and I'm using it), always itching to run, move, do something. She's always interrupting people in conversation because her mind moves as fast as she can run. The lab was always cramped and confining to her, but what could she do about it? Also she wouldn't feel different due to being a girl. Gender roles were never taught to the Rats, so she's treated the same as if she were a guy.

Man there's so much more I could go on about. I haven't even gotten to Leo cause he'd need a whole post for himself.

Part 2, if anyone's interested?

[llycaons]

something I’ve always really loved about tumblr is how low the possibility of even interacting with a celebrity is on here. not just people I dislike, but anyone whose professional work I love. I don’t want to get to know them as a person or hear their thoughts on things unrelated to their work in an informal setting or be directly exposed to them. if what they have to say is filtered through several layers of other users reposting it, that’s different, but being in direct contact with a writer or artist or actor or whatever feels like touching a live wire

[littledesertfox]

intro, I guess?

hii! I figured I should make a post like this even though I have a feeling it will be like super messy xD

I've had an interest in history, specifically World War II basically since I was a kid. It was only recently though that I found out that there's a community for it! I've always had a thing with expressing my interests in ways that may seem slightly odd to other people, so it feels nice to see that there are others who seem to experience this in similar ways :3

I want to make it very clear that I am NOT a nazi or rightwing in any way, and I don't want actual (neo-)nazis to interact with my blog, get the fuck out! Similarly, I don't want racists, lgbtq-phobes, ableists, religious extremists, pedos & zoos or people of similarly disgusting kind to interact! I'm literally queer and neurodivergent (undiagnosed/suspected bc getting a therapy place is hard :/), this is not a place for you!

+++

I've been a fan of the Downfall parodies on youtube when I was younger and recently relapsed into this fixation😭 I don't know if this fandom even really exists at this point since it seems that many creators have left in the meantime, but I'd love to talk about it, maybe I'll even get to write fanfics at some point. Also a short disclaimer that when I talk about historical figures that play a major role in the Downfall parody universe (such as Fegelein, Krebs, Burgdorf etc), it will usually be about their parody selves, not the real people! I'll try to clarify that individually if needed though.

I've also started lurking a little in the reichblr tag with a feeling that I'd describe as "indimidated fascination". Currently I'm mostly interested in some members of the Wehrmacht, but other historical figures that I had or have an interest in might come up as well. Overall any stuff that I post will probably go more into the lighthearted and humorous direction, but I'd love to bring in some more educational stuff as well.

My inbox is always open if you want to gush or ramble about your favourite historical figures or Downfall characters (both from the parodies and the movie itself) and such! Please talk to me about our shared faves😭🫶

+++

I get crushes on fictional characters and sometimes historical figures too, but that doesn't mean I support, condone or defend their worldviews or actions in any way (this applies especially to real people of course)! These "crushes" usually stem from a place of fascination with who they were behind their public appearance, I want to know more about them as a private person, like their hobbies, favourite food and other mundane things like that. Often it's also simply that I feel physically attracted to their appearance because I think they're handsome, either that or they give me massive gender envy (or both lmao). I don't really control on who I fixate like that, it just happens, but I hope that this will be a place for me to express those feelings in some way and find like-minded people. Though I also want to point out that not all my fixations are automatically also crushes! Usually I will mention whether they are or not, or you'll probably notice based on what kind of posts I make about them lol.

Current main historical fixations:

Erwin Rommel (I can't help it I just think he's cute ._.)

Fritz Bayerlein (he's the dude in my pfp lol, there's barely info about him but idk I just think he's kinda interesting😭 also yes he was actually bi)

Current main Downfall fixations:

Hans Krebs & Wilhelm Burgdorf (the otp ever)

Wilhelm Mohnke (ngl Downfall!Mohnke is kinda fine❤️‍🔥 ... idk maybe I'm just finding the actor hot though😭)

+++

If I encounter things that make me uncomfortable I follow common fandom courtesy and block tags or blogs accordingly. This is nothing personal, I'm just curating my own online space. I don't want to see any harassment here, neither towards myself nor to others!

Anyway I guess that's it for now? Idk if this is any good as an intro post but for now it'll have to do I guess😂 I'm generally not really sure yet in which direction to go with this blog (should it be more Downfall or reichblr focused? is there a lot of overlap between the fandoms? do they even get along? help😭). I also don't know how active I'll be in general, I'm also constantly jumping between thoughts like "yee this is gonna be fun" and "dafuq am I doing here I should feel ashamed about myself" but I hope to meet people who share my interests :3

[asongofstarkandtargaryen]

JON SNOW DAY 8: FEAR AND TRAUMA 😔

The relationship between Catelyn and Jon is one of the most divisive topics within the asoiaf fandom. No matter where you stand on this debate, we can all agree that the influence each character has on the other’s life is a negative one.

Every time I write about this topic I feel the need to say that no, I don’t expect Catelyn to act like a mother to a child that isn’t her own just because the kid is related to her husband. Jon fans often get accused that we want Catelyn to “mother” Jon but frankly there is not a single Jon fan (at least as far as I’m aware of) that believes she’s obligated to do so. 

With that being said, there is a difference between acting like a mother and treating a kid with basic decency.  Catelyn is failing on the second aspect and fans rightfully call her out on that (same as they do with any character that is horrible other children).

We learn from Jon’s pov that she never calls him by his name. Minutes ago, on the same chapter she calls him “bastard”. Which means that mostly she avoids him, not even acknowledging his presence and that when she has to she’s calling him degrading names like “bastard”.

Her eyes found him. They were full of poison. "I need none of your absolution, bastard." Jon lowered his eyes. She was cradling one of Bran's hands. He took the other, squeezed it. Fingers like the bones of birds. "Good-bye," he said. He was at the door when she called out to him. "Jon," she said. He should have kept going, but she had never called him by his name before. He turned to find her looking at his face, as if she were seeing it for the first time.

AGOT, JON II

Do you know how dehumanizing is for a child never to be called by their own name by an adult that lives in their home? And worst, have the same adult calling them degrading names? Catelyn, by the way she treats him, makes sure that Jon feels unwelcome on the only home he’s ever known.

I often see fans dismissing Catelyn’s mistreatment of Jon as simply avoiding him. Which can be harmful on its own but the thing is that Catelyn’s ill treatment goes beyond of that. Jon is terrified of her to the point he kept postponing saying goodbye to a brother he loved (Bran) simply because he knew she would be on the same room. This kind of reaction isn’t born by a kid who simply doesn’t interact with an adult in a position of power. This kind of fear means that  some negative interactions between them existed in the past. 

The text also supports this, because when Catelyn is irritated by Jon’s presence in Bran’s room she doesn’t simply ignore it. She threatens him that she’ll call the guards aka using her power as the lady of the house to indimidate this  powerless teen:

Once that would have sent him running. Once that might even have made him cry. Now it only made him angry. He would be a Sworn Brother of the Night's Watch soon, and face worse dangers than Catelyn Tully Stark. "He's my brother," he said. "Shall I call the guards?"

AGOT, JON II

Lady Stark has casted a large shadow in Jon’s life. During the years he lived in Winterfeel, he always tried to be quiet, in the shadows. He never wanted to be in the spotlight (despite the fact that we constanly see post- Winterfell Jon wanting to be acknowledged) because that would also draw Catelyn’s attention. He also never felt fully belonging on his own home which was partly due to his stepmother’s mistreatment. Even long after he left Winterfell, he keeps having nightmares where she personfies his fears and insecurites.

Finally, I want to write about Jon’s relationships with his siblings and how Catelyn influences them. I’ve seen fans claiming that Jon had a good relationship with his siblings because Catelyn allowed it to happen but I honestly disagree. In my opinion, Jon has a good relationship with most of his siblings despite Lady Catelyn’s efforts to sabotage them. Canon also supports that with Catelyn speaking to a very young Robb about what makes his half brother different to him, to the point of Robb being agressive about it (something that older Robb who isn’t so easily influenced by his mother would never do):

Only this time, this time, Robb had answered, "You can't be Lord of Winterfell, you're bastard-born. My lady mother says you can't ever be the Lord of Winterfell.”

ASOS, JON XII

Another example of Catelyn ill speaking about Jon to her kids comes when she tries to convince Robb not to name Jon his heir. During that conversation she even compares Jon to Theon  (who as far as she knows is responsible for her two other sons’ death) implying that Robb’s half brother is capable of also harming their family:

"Jon would never harm a son of mine." "No more than Theon Greyjoy would harm Bran or Rickon?" Grey Wind leapt up atop King Tristifer's crypt, his teeth bared. Robb's own face was cold. "That is as cruel as it is unfair. Jon is no Theon."

ASOS, CATELYN V

Also, I don’t think it’s a coicidence that the child who is closer to Catelyn (Sansa) is also the one who has the most distant relationship with Jon. As Jon once again informs us in his pov, his sister always called him “half brother” instead of simply “brother”:

He missed the girls too, even Sansa, who never called him anything but "my half brother" since she was old enough to understand what bastard meant.

AGOT, JON III

To conclude, Catelyn hating the fact that her husband has cheated on her and has a child born out of his infidelity doesn’t make her an awful person, just a human one. The fact that instead of blaming Ned she has put all the blame to a powerless child is one of her negative traits and fans are justified to call her out on this.

[bi-hans]

Which idea are you most intimidated by, and which idea are you most excited for?

I think I'm most excited for the sequel of ciye. And then I feel like I'm most indimidated by: for the lack of a better title right now "macbeth au". This au (which Spoiler! is NOT actually a macbeth au, macbeth just sort of inspired it /it's confusing I know/) anyway there's a lot of ideas and I'm having trouble deciding what to write and what to leave out. Plus potential plot holes are that I'm trying to figure out how to fix.

[silentmagi]

Delinquent Vigilante!Izumi Midoriya & Eri, Izumi vs Overhaul in "Damn Yakuza Moron"

Izumi Midoriya had been having a bad day, first she was kidnapped to UA, and forced to sign up for classes. Then the store had been out of pork cutlet when her mom wanted to celebrate her dream high school accepting her, so she didn't get her katsudon. The rat bastard still wouldn't let her have her favorite metal bat back.

Now there was this freak in a bird mask trying to indimidate her after she tried to help calm down the kid that had ran into her? Listen, she was a delinquent, but she wasn't going to mess with a kid. Not one that was far more scared of the guy in front of her.

Then the moron tried to get handsy with her.

She, an icon of the delicate, flower of femininity? What ever could she do?

So it turns out that lead pipes worked very much the same as aluminum bats, in that they tended to break bones when applied with sufficient force. Seeing the asshole with two limp noodles for arms trying to curl around himself to make the pain in his crotch stop would have been satisfying, but for now, she had to take a walk to UA.

The kid didn't look good, and it was the only place she could think of to keep the cute girl safe. While they walked, she may or may not have agreed to teach her how to swing a bat.

No, she wasn't soft for the cute little girl named Eri. Shut up.

If she saw Overhaul again, she would go for the other head.

The chaos compels.

If you want to write one of these, please just link me

[bourbon-ontherocks]

12 16 28 for writing asks!! ❤️

Thank you!! ❤️

12. If you write in more than one language, what's the difference?

Oooof, that's such an interesting question!!

I want to say that there are, in fact, many similarities in the act of writing, whatever the language, because the mental process one gets through in order to create a story tends to remain the same, and also writing in different languages is equally frustrating (that counts as a similarity, no?) but for different reasons lol!

Back then when I wrote exclusively in English, I sorta dreamed of how awesome it had to feel to be writing in your first language and I tended to envy the native English speakers for that. I though that if I were writing in my first language, I’d have a better grasp on words, nuances, connotations, I’d be able to play this gamut with much more subtlety, I’d have more vocabulary at my disposal and so much fun with it...

And all of the above is absolutely true. I do have all those things now that I’m writing in French, so did I get this promised bliss? Lol no, instead I got c r i n g e. See, being more aware of all the nuances of a language automatically makes you also more aware of the clunkiness and general mediocrity of your own writing. While English had this beautiful veil of mystery draping every sentence, French sounds so bland and cliché that I end up much more unsatisfied.

Also perhaps that’s the not-so-aware-of-clunkiness goblin in me speaking, but I definitely feel that English has more creative potential than French when it comes to writing. One can easily use a noun as a verb, slightly alter a preposition, and generally speaking the language feels more malleable, and that’s an incredibly enticing playground. On the other hand, French is more rigid, and I definitely feel this loss in terms of grammar liberty, but also perhaps I’m just more imbibed with French grammar rules than I am in English, which makes it harder for me to consider breaking them (that’s borderline Stockholm syndrom lol).

Oh and remember when I talked about widening my vocabulary when writing in French? Well, oddly enough, I feel like I tend to repeat myself WAY MORE in French than in English!

Tl;dr

English: lesser grasp of nuances, less vocabulary, harder for these reasons, richer creative possibilities, disminished sensitivity to cringe

French: better understanding of nuances, more playing-with-words and subtext potential, extended vocabulary, rigid grammar, cringe, cringe, cringe

16. Are one-shots really underrated?

As someone who's currently suffering throught the final chapters to a 70+k words story, YES!!! A thousand times yes!!! One-shots are life, one-shots are love.

28. Any writing advice that works for you and you feel like sharing?

Well, wiriting advices that work for me tend to come and go as I evolve in my writing habits, so for me, one advice that tends to work a lot for me now would be to just... write. Like, even when there’s no inspiration, no motivation, no momentum, just write down ideas, dialogue lines, snippets, settings, notes, anything, the bare bones of my story. It’ll always be time to flesh everything out later, but that’ll be at least a basis to start from because sometimes the blank page is too indimidating. I used to write pretty much out of instinct a few years back so this advice felt quite irrelevant for me, but this kind of writing mindset is getting harder for me to reach these days, and sometimes I just have to accept that the mojo isn’t here, but still I want to make progress in my WIP because the story is right here, I know what I want on the page, I just don’t have the spark. So I’ll just write the skeleton of it, for instance if it’s a dialogue I’ll just write down the character’s lines. Later I’ll add the muscles (speech indications, tones, gestures, etc...) nerves (character’s inner thoughts) and skin (prose embellishment). It doesn’t matter if I don’t get it all written down on the first draft, each step is still a step. And sometimes, doing so will trigger a much more satisfying stream of inspiration.

 Writing ask that I don’t remember reblogging lol

[anthonysstupiddailyblog]

Anthony’s Stupid Daily Blog (817): Tue 11th Jun 2024

Up early to head over town for my latest tattoo. Iron Maiden have been a constant source of comfort to me since I was at school and I've pretty much wanted a tattoo of Eddie from the moment I saw his fucked up face on the album cover of Piece of Mind all those years ago but I have never been able to settle on a design until now. As you may know whenever I get tattoos I try to combine two or more ideas to form one epic creation so a while back I experimenting with AI bots to see what Eddie would look like in different costumes. At first I had an Elephant Man-style Eddie that looked good and later a Jack the Ripper-influenced Eddie that I liked even more but then I decided to see what Eddie would look like dressed as my favourite wrestlers. Bret Hart Eddie looked Decent as did Shawn Michaels Eddie but then I got the AI bot to create an image of Eddie dressed up as The Undertaker and it was love at first site. I decide then and there my next tattoo would be: The Eddietaker...that's right folks I've just set mself back £500 all for the sake of a pun that barely works. I got to the tattoo place at 10 and Sophie the artist who has now tattooed me four times came over with the design I sent her and I got the shock of my life because it was fucking enormous. I was worried that this drawing of Eddie's face, which was larger than my face, was the smallest size she could do and thus it would have to go somewhere other than my forearm which is where I wanted it. Thankfully this was just the first of a dozen pieces of paper with the desing done in different sizes and there was one which was small enough to fit on my forearm without stretching over the fold of the arm. Before we started I realised this is now the second character named Eddie that Sophie has tattoed on me after she gave me my awesome Richie and Eddie from Bottom earlier in the year. I tried to think if there were any other fictional characters named Eddie I could get tattooed on me before I realised there would be plenty to write about in today's blog and I didn't need to fill up the page with this absolutely pointless exercise. I always make the same mistake whenever I get a tattoo in that I assume that the initial pain you get when the artist is just doing the outline is going to be that same level throughout and think that I'm tough because this level of pain barely phases me. However once the shading comes into play it's a whole different story and I'm holding my breath and strunching up my face praying that there's not long left to go. After about an hour and a half of torture Sophie told me she was going to break for lunch as soon as she got a phonecall from her landlord and after another hour I was death staring her phone which she'd left on her desk almost trying to indimidate the fucking thing into ringing so I could have a reprieve from the pain. After three uninterupted hours we finally broke for lunch and I headed over to Wetherspoons to tuck into a veggie curry and appreciate how lovely it is not to have a needle scraping against your sin. On my way back to the studio some yob in a tracksuit and bottoms saw my longcoat and my sunglasses and shouted "Back To The Future" at me. I wanted to turn around and say "Yeah I've been to the future mate and you're in prison for rape" but in the end I just walked away content with the fact that one day he's going to end up in prison for rape. Another hour and tenty minutes of pain in the studio later and I was finally done and my God it was so worth it. Sophie took a few pictures of the finished work including one in the light proof booth so she could put it on the website as she was really proud of the work she'd done on this one and she really should be as it looks fucking amazing. Frankly it looks so good that I think I should be allowed to attend Iron Maiden gigs free of charge from this point on and just present this to the security instead of a ticket (although if word of this got around it would only be a matter of time before a ticket tout cut off my arm and sold it for four times what I paid for the tattoo). 

[ixoren]

Happy Birthday @tvfanatic97-2 💖🎊🎊✨

I hope you have a lovely day of birth and lovelier year!!

inspired thoroughly by

[platonicau]

whenever dainsleif appears on the screen my heart leaps . i love that man so much

[huffle-dork]

*GASP*

PATIENt???!?

...omg hi!!! ....I’m totally not freaking out about you following me nope nope!!

[yandere-daze]

thats a really good idea! yuzuru working behind the scenes for fine. he also always exchange such colourful words (LOL) with ibara, it is interesting to see his facade change when encountering ibara. he has fought in a war before so he definitely has way more to him than it seems. this should be a very fun idea to explore! i feel like for trickstar or sora, all i can think of is mao sharing reader with ritsu, or perhaps it is just because idk much about them. but an unexpected yandere! that is my absolute favourite. i think people try to stay away from writing himeru too, since he is described as a ghost character and we don't know much about him. regardless, he is still one of my favourites. i love reading all your long replies please continue to ramble on.

Glad to hear that my long rambles are appreciated! I always approach asks with a certain idea of what I want to talk about but somehow as I´m typing things I just get new ideas that I absolutely want to include so somehow the longer it goes on, the more detailed I tend to get ksnfskyf Just compare what I wrote for trickstar and then for fine, lmao

Maaan every time I hear or see some of these interesting facts about characters like Yuzuru acting so different around Ibara I just realize that I still have so many stories to read to get to know other characters. I guess that´s what it´s like when you try to catch up with years of character development jflabfbla

But just imagine: Naturally in a situation like this, the most indimidating person would naturally be Eichi because of course he is, but then Yuzuru is actually the one doing all the heavy lifting behind the scenes, making sure you are properly cared for and making sure threaths are "properly cared for"

I could imagine Mao sharing with Ritsu, you´re right! I feel like Ritsu would be the initiator of that though. He´s the first one to get obsessed with darling and he also loves Mao and then he notices that Mao also loves darling and so he thinks of the perfect plan! He´s going to tell Mao about the fact that they both adore you and he then proposes the idea of the two of them sharing you.

I feel Mao might be a bit opposed to it at first, probably recognizing how crazy and wrong all of this is. But the more Ritsu speaks, the more he gets enamored with the idea of being with his two favorite people in the world. Help, Ritsu is corrupting Mao

For the others in Trickstar and Sora, I´ll have to take a closer look at them first and read more of their stories. they don´t seem capable of being yanderes and that´s probably also the reason that there´s no yandere content for them anywhere. I guess it could be interesting to think about later and be the first one to actually write it? Because there´s no like "accepted" interpretation out there that everyone kind of agreed on to an extent so you could probably go pretty wild with it if you wanted . Maybe one day I´ll get a sudden inspiration and start writing for it

I´ve only written for HiMERU once because he is such a mysterious character and I swear I was doubting my characterization of him the entire time jnflfb I think he also hides a lot about himself on purpose which makes it hard to try and read betweent he lines and get a proper grasp on him. I´ve read some crazy b stories ( hot limit, honey bee, night club) so I´d like to think I know some basics but man. why are you so difficult?? T.T

Especially that now apparently he´s like a completely different person or something? I think I heard something like that was revealed in a recent story but I really don´t know knefkabef

Much to think about! But it´s really fun for me to just ramble on like this for a bit ^^

[bchanslvr]

rate how intimidating ur moots are

i did this before but idc, and these are kinda first impressions

— — —

@hey-there-angels 2/10; you were my first friend on here and i wasn't really looking for any so when you popped up in my inbox i got scared but now you're a zero

@ronsonlywhore 1/10; my love! when i first followed/talked to you i was super intimidating because you were friends with everyone and you were pretty popular but now you are a negative i love u <3

@thotbutpurple 7/10; okay you are POPULAR. so i was super scared when we first talked and i still am because i'm scared what you will say but you're super cool and i love calling you a moot now

@ronsbadidea 3/10; nicole! again, when i first followed you you were super popular and cool and when we became friends i was so happy but also nervous to talk to you because you were so popular

@acosmis-t 9/10; i still have no idea how we are friends. you are one of the most famous blog in this community and i was awe-struck when we started talking. but other than that reason you are super mature and again you take everything kinda calmy? so i'm kinda scared of you tbh-

@angeloniaa 5/10; another popular blog that i followed that followed me. i love you and you're super cool but KINDA scary, just a little bit

@ladyvesuvia -1/10;

@chokemepansy 10/10; asteria!! omg okay you are the blueprint and the backbone of this community i'm sure. you were the first blog i ever followed and i'm so grateful to call you a mutual but you are a little indimidating, i love you though!! <3

@bellatrixscurls 2/10; not that much because i saw how nice you were and i wanted to interact with you and i did and now we have really nice conversations together but i mean you are also another popular blog i was scared to talk to you <3

@toms-diary 3/10; i was intimidated by your writing. PLEASE i fell in love with your story when i read and i was just like "omg this person is so talented and cool i could never" but then we started talking and we're super cool together now

@ilygw 4/10; idk you kinda seemed scary when we started interacting but now it's a 1 for reason you probably know, love you shawty

@prsphnevity 5/10; you seem like the popular girl that everyone would envy in school and one look from you would made me cry but uh you're cool so!!!

[mcyt-sh1t]

I DONT THINK SO-??

ITS PROBABLY BECAUSE WHEN I BECAME MUTUALS WITH YOU I HAD ONLY BEEN WRITING FOR LIKE TWO MONTHS-??

I DIDNT KNOW HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS AT FIRST SO MAYBE THATS WHY??

I DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS TOO BUT I ALWAYS WAS INDIMIDATED BY BIG BLOGS-

talking about big blogs. how the fuck are we mutuals? /nm /gen your a 600+ blog and i'm a 370+ blog--

HOW IS MY PFP OF NIKI AND HEADER OF JACK INTIMIDATING?? /NM /GEN

OR HOW IS THIS INDITIMIDATING??

:O face reveal again omg-

this is me smiling. i have a resting bitch face so i understand irl. but online???

[chamomileteainabuttercup]

Thanks for tagging me in, @demisexuallupin

How many works do you have on AO3?

Currently 24, but there are many more orphans, whether from fandoms I no longer enjoy or because I really didn't like how they were written any more. I orphaned rather than deleting them because I knew from comments there were people who'd enjoyed them, so I might as well leave them available in some form.

What’s your total AO3 word count?

782,484 (probably a lot closer to a million if we could count the orphans, I know at least two of them were over 100,000 words each)

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Currently I've got fics for Star Wars, various Star Treks, The Witcher, Tintin, Jeeves and Wooster and Sailor Moon. Past fandoms included A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones and Steven Universe (see above about "fandoms I no longer enjoy") - I'm not sure how many in total.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Curse of Chamomile (Geraskier)

Fairy Tales in Deep Space (Garashir)

Locked Inside (also Garashir and have you ever noticed how "Geraskier" and "Garashir" look like the same word written in different bad handwriting also both involve a pretty-eyed slut called Julian)

Boba's Back (Bobadin)

No Peeking (Dincobb)

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Oh yes! If only to say thank you and I'm happy they enjoyed it. As for why, it's a combination of "it's just polite," "it's a gentle form of self-promotion" and "the response and interaction is a huge part of why I actually publish stories online instead of just thinking about them to myself." The best comments are the ones that turn into a real back-and-forth conversation, and those often generate more ideas for the story.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I think it's To the Island, a Garashir fic which ended with the two of them concluding they couldn't be openly together because Garak has a lot of enemies and it would be too dangerous. (But I wrote a sequel where they reunite some years later when circumstances have changed.)

Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I'm trying to think if I have, but I think the closest I got was crossing over characters from Star Trek: the Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, and it was an AU - not very crazy at all, I just adjusted time so that two characters who would have attended Starfleet Academy several years apart were there at the same time and fell in love. That's Cadets and it's Datashir if you're interested.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not outright hate, but a very ungracious comment of the "I don't like this ship but your writing is good" variety.

If it had been "I didn't use to like this ship but I enjoyed your story so much I'm starting to feel differently!" I would have been very pleased (and I have had some comments like that), but no. If you don't even like the ship, please don't read my story, it is not for you.

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

hahahaha I write little else! A big part of why I write fanfic at all is that I want sexy material with the characters I like from media that doesn't get that (onscreen/page) sexy. I do have some G-rated fics, but they're in the minority. My smut tends to be romantic and fluffy and tender, though at the same time it can be relatively hardcore/kinky, I just think it's possible to have romantic, tender rimjobs and canings, you know? The characters are always in love or on the way there. It is virtually always queer. I've written more m/m than f/f, mostly because the SF/fantasy/adventure-type stories I like have disproportionately male casts with more screentime and interesting development given to male characters, and that is an industry problem not a me problem. (I love Sailor Moon the best and that has an overwhelmingly female cast which is great, but the characters are mostly in their early teens and I don't find them sexy at my time of life.)

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not to my knowledge.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, and I don't think I could. I've written fic based on discussions I've had, so I consider that co-created by my discussion partner (eg Just Business, Nothing Personal with @djarining) but actual writing feels very personal and idiosyncratic to me and I'm not sure I could mesh with someone else's writing effectively, even if we did it in a relatively discrete way like alternating chapters.

What’s your all time favourite ship?

Probably Garashir, but I don't have a strong degree of favouritism.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

oh uhhhh are we counting incomplete fics that I abandoned a long time ago? Because that's most of 'em, I'm very poor at finishing stories. I tend to want to go on until I've run out of ideas completely and have nothing left for a conclusion.

What are your writing strengths?

Lively dialogue with distinctive character voices seems to be the biggie. Also generating a vibe of comfort and healing. I think I write fairly vivid descriptions.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Not finishing things, struggling to create a plot, getting bogged down because I suddenly hit this weird mental state where I can't figure out how to describe kissing without making it sound gross or boring, and doing the writing-a-sex-scene equivalent of falling asleep right after coming - the chapter tends to end a bit abruptly after a climax because I've spent a long time writing through all this emotional and sexual intensity for the characters and I want to finally push the chapter out and get some response to it.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I don't care for it myself but I don't object to other people doing it! The fandom I'm currently most involved with is The Mandalorian and there's this current of people using lots of Mando'a dialogue, especially to express deep personal feelings, with characters who we've never canonically heard use the language, eg Boba Fett referring to Jango as his buir when in Attack of the Clones he called him Dad. I'm not saying it's incorrect, people are free to imagine whatever they enjoy, but it throws me off/alienates me slightly while reading - like it doesn't feel natural to me that Boba and Din would speak Mando'a to each other, especially because given Boba's life story I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't speak it well or feel comfortable with it. It's entirely a matter of personal taste rather than something I disapprove of, I want to make that quite clear.

I mildly disapprove of people scattering in words of a real-world language that they clearly don't speak (eg gratuitous "hai" instead of "yes" in an anime-based fic) and are just getting from a phrasebook or Google Translate, just because it's kind of clunky and not really the flavour enhancement I think they intend it to be.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

I think The Vision of Escaflowne. A very, very long time ago.

What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

Whichever one I'm currently enjoying writing! I feel very fond of Curse of Chamomile because it was the first Witcher thing I wrote based on having only watched the Netflix series, and I felt quite indimidated to begin with but the comments I got were welcoming and lovely and some people even said the characterisation I arrived at worked like a blend of the Netflix series and the books, which was a lucky trick given that I have never read them. That was a really encouraging and up-cheering experience. A lot of the early comments coincided with the time I was on a very enjoyable winter holiday to Taupō so when I had downtime I could refresh AO3 on my phone and there was often something new, and it all just reinforced my Good Time so I remember it fondly.

Tagging, ummm, I always feel awkward doing this because what if someone else tagged them already and I didn't notice? Anyway, we'll say @djarining and @beboots and honestly, anyone else reading this who would like to have a go, consider this your free tag.

[theoriginalladya]

Was there a particular scene that popped into your head that inspired your ShepShep verse, or at the very least just the first fic for it?

thank you for asking!!!!

I kind of answered this over here but let me delve into it just a little bit more since you asked about the first fic specifically.

So, I’d been playing ME (all of it, mind, I came to the game late! lol) for about a year and a half at that point.  I feel so HARD for the games, I couldn’t belive it! (totally different story! :D)  I’d been writing a number of my fshenko pairs by then and oh, I loved it!  I was talking with friends one day, and my brain has this nasty little habit of going, hmm, WHAT IF...?  

Well, I had a WHAT IF? moment! lol  What if... you had a married Shepard couple on the Normandy?  What would happen to them if the events of the story as we know it played out?  Who would be the Spectre?  Who would be the one to die?  What would the other one do? etc.  You know, all the kinds of things we ask ourselves when we get ideas for new characters.

At that time, I was also married, and the idea of a married Shepard couple appealed.  I was excited!!!  So many idea!  So many ways it could go!  And my brain being what it is, I just started writing.

Well, about the same time I started publishing Destiny’s Road - within the same month - my personal life took a hard hit.  I ended up filing for divorce and suddenly, my bright and happy Shepard couple (and all my fshenkos, tbh) ended up being a lifeline for me as I went through my own personal hell over Alchera, so to speak.  I had about fifteen of the forty chapters of that fic drafted at the time and suddenly I had to find a way to keep writing them - happy, together, in love, saving the galaxy together, etc. - when I was not in a mindset to do so.  It was rough, not gonna lie.  Some weeks, I just couldn’t do it.  

But somewhere around the middle of the story, I realized something:  I had the perfect opportunity in front of me.  The Destiny series could be my way of working out my issues/feelings/baggage of my own failed marriage through characters I love, a game I love.  The connections aren’t always perfect - c’mon, real life rarely matches what we find in game, right? - but there were plenty of parts that were close, so I changed how I thought about it and suddenly, I was hyped up about writing it again.  The more I wrote them, the more I loved them.

So.  Backing up to your original question, I shared that in the linked post, but I’m going to share with you the scene that helped me make that connection - between the stories and me finding my way through the worst time of my life.  Because it’s an important one - to me, and to the story.  This comes right after the mission on Noveria, and the reference to Wrex is because he tried to indimidate the hell out of Jane after she let the rachni queen go.

Jane exited her cabin to the half-lit crew deck that was common to the ‘night’ shift.  Presumably, it was to make it easier for the crew resting in sleeper pods, though there were controls on each individual unit to regulate that, too.  It gave the impression that night had fallen, and illusion was half the battle to falling asleep and resting well, so it was said.  As far as Jane was concerned, it meant moving more carefully to keep from tripping over anything.  Careful equated to slower in this case, and it left Jane feeling antsy.  Still, she managed to duck into the galley and retrieve a cup of tea before heading upstairs to the CIC and the bridge to check in.  

“Feeling better?”

Jane paused in her steps, turning to sidle up beside John at the side of the galaxy map.  Though his back was currently to her as he messed with one of the computer consoles, she knew he was quite aware of his surroundings and of her presence.  Taking a sip of her tea, she replied, “Anytime I can escape complete annihilation on a mission I always feel better.”  His head turned, his eyes darting up to hers with some concern in them, but she smirked softly.  Her sense of humor could be dark at times, especially when stress levels increased.  She knew from experience that this worried him, but this time she could see that concern fade quickly as he recognized that she was, more or less, okay.  

“True,” he countered as he straightened and faced her.  “Then again, facing down an angry krogan is nearly as dangerous.”

Jane’s eyes closed for a moment and she sighed.  “Yeah.  I need to see about fixing that,” she admitted.

“Maybe you should give Wrex some time to cool off?” he cautioned almost immediately.  “If you approach him too soon, you might just set him off again.”

Jane rolled her shoulders and listened to the soft pops emitted from loosening joints.  “I’ll be careful,” she promised, “and he knows better than to punch a hole in my ship.”

Thank you so much for asking!