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writer-and-thrasher · 5 months

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Fic in Review 2023

Thanks to @trentcrimminallybeautiful for the tag! I'm (fucking hopefully) starting to get over being so deeply ill after two whole weeks, so I decided it was the time to do this! Yay!

tagging: Literally anyone who wants to, plus I'll tag @providing-leverage, @jamietarttdoodoodoodoo, and @trentcrimmisgay (sorry if you've already been tagged or if it's too late, my brain is rebooting)

Total Number of Completed Stories:

I completed 8 fics this year (1 for Dimension 20 and 7 for Ted Lasso)!!! It's way more than I planned to write in a year, especially given that four of them are over 10k words and I genuinely didn't think I was gonna write any fanfic this year. All in all, I'm really really proud of how much I've written!

Total Word Count: AO3's word count put me at 63,919, which... woah. The one D20 fic I wrote this year wasn't even 2k words, which means that I wrote over 60k words of Ted Lasso fanfic in 6 months. I didn't start writing for TL until June, which honestly makes me even prouder and more excited for tackling stuff next year!

Fandoms Written In: Ted Lasso, almost exclusively. I've also written for Dimension 20, and I figure I will more when Fantasy High: Junior Year releases, but for now I'm on a pretty big TL kick.

Looking back did you expect to write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d expect: I expected to write way less than this! I'd hoped I'd write some, but nothing was really grabbing ahold of me until Ted Lasso crashed into my brain.

What’s your own favorite story of the year, personally?:

Ooh, that's really tough. I'll split it into two because I can't choose:

In my Dichotomy series (I'm just really proud of it tbh), my favorite of the fics was The Dichotomy of a Captain, aka Roy's perspective. It felt the truest to any of them, though I continue to try to stay true to all of them. It's also the first of the fics in this series that made me realize I really could finish the series.

My favorite one-shot of the year is probably Out of Practice, if only because sometimes I get WIP ideas and rarely follow through, but I worked hard to finish this one. And also, I really like watching through Isaac's eyes as he learns stuff about his best friend.

Did you take any writing risks this year?: Honestly, I think the fact that I came back and started writing again was my biggest risk of the year. I wasn't really sure of my voice or style, and it was intimidating to come back and keep writing, but the community made a world of difference.

Do you have any fanfic goals for the New Year?: I've got different WIPs I want to write, like finishing the Dichotomy series and a few series I have in the bank. I think more tangible goals are to get more comfortable with writing new scenes and being more comfortable with past tense. I've always been drawn to canon-explicit stuff, and for some reason, present tense has me in a headlock lmao

Best story of the year: I don't know that I can say anything is "objectively" the best, since fanfic is subjective as hell anyway, but I feel like The Dichotomy of a Captain is the one I feel is the best written. But that one is also my favorite, so I may just be biased.

Most popular story of the year: I'm stealing @trentcrimminallybeautiful's way of doing this because I think it's good, so shoutout

By kudos: "The Dichotomy of a Couch" with 268

By subscriptions: "The Dichotomy of a Couch" with 52 (This was originally going to be one work I wrote the series on, but someone suggested I turn it into multiple works in one series, and this one was first, so it has the highest)

By comment threads: "The Dichotomy of a Captain" with 14

By bookmarks: "The Dichotomy of a Couch" with 65

By hits: "The Dichotomy of a Couch" with 2604

Overall, definitely "The Dichotomy of a Couch", though I did admittedly post it first. But also, wow, these numbers are super humbling, and I'm honored that anyone has read and reacted to what I've written. It means the world for this fic (and my others) to be so kindly received.

Most personal story of the year: Most definitely Who Tells Your Story. No contest.

Funniest story of the year: Ooh, I genuinely made myself laugh while writing The Dichotomy of a Prick, so I'd have to say that one. It's the least serious, and writing Jamie's thoughts brought a smile to my face.

Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion: Mmm, I guess Who Tells Your Story.

Most fun story to write: I gotta go with The Dichotomy of a Prick again, it was a breath of fresh air between two very serious parts of this series and amidst other more serious one-shots.

Story with the sexiest moment: I genuinely don't write sexy fics, so the answer is going to be very silly. The best I've got is an illusion to a sexy moment in the past during The Dichotomy of a Prick, but Definitely nothing actually sexy lol

Sweetest story of the year: I gotta go with Who Tells Your Story again, considering that I wrote it for the sweet moment.

“Holy crap that’s wrong even for you!” story: I'm also gonna take this to mean angsty instead of scandalous and say The Dichotomy of a Captain

Hardest story to write: The Dichotomy of a Prick was hard to write on a more technical level as far as Jamie's POV went; I was really conscious about not fucking up his character or writing him too OOC. But considering how personal it was for me, Who Tells Your Story gave me some gut punches as I wrote it that made it hard emotionally.

Biggest disappointment: I think that some fics I liked didn't do as well as others that I didn't like as much, but I also know that my writing got better over time, so I'm really not dwelling on it.

Biggest surprise: Writing again in general, definitely, but also how much love I've gotten for things I've been really excited about. I fully didn't expect so much kindness (far more a me thing than anyone in this community, y'all are wonderful) and it's definitely inspired me to keep going. Y'all are amazing and I'm so grateful for all of you.

#ted lasso #fanfic #dimension 20 #wrath fic #fanfiction #wrath #fic in review #ask box is always open #thank you all so much #happy new year

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fantastic-nonsense · 1 year

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I feel old for asking, but what's "the queue" you always mention? Am I missing something obvious?

No don't feel bad! It's one of those things that you sort of forget new/irregular tumblr users might not know. Tumblr has a schedule function called the "queue," where you can stick a post you don't want to post/reblog right this second into a scheduled line-up that posts at set hours of the day. If there's any posts in your queue, they'll automatically post at some point within those scheduled hours (mine, for ex, is set to post 5 posts a day between 9am and midnight). You can also manually schedule a post's publishing date, just like on Twitter. This is often how you get Tumblr's fun recurring posts like a lot of the annual Ides of March and Halloween posts.

People use the queue for various reasons: some of us don't want to spam our followers with our latest hyperfixation, so we stick stuff in the queue to spread posts about it out over a series of hours/days. Those of us who create content (gifsets, meta, fic, etc) might finish something at 2am but want to post it at a time where we can ensure maximum visibility, so we stick it into the queue and schedule it to go out at 4pm in the afternoon. Sometimes a user is going to be gone for awhile but wants to keep a steady stream of content being published on their blog. There's infinite reasons. The point is that the queue exists for the purpose of scheduling posts/reblogs in advance.

A lot of people tag posts that go into the queue to let their followers know that they're not actually Currently Online and blogging, that the post they're seeing was scheduled in advance and put into the queue. There's actually a fun subculture around coming up with cute, quirky queue tags (usually including some kind of pun or fandom reference), but a lot of us–like me–just put "queue" in the tags to alert people about it. I have an auto tagging function set up through the Xkit extension to tag anything that's put into the queue as such.

tl;dr "if you see the 'queue' tag on one of my posts, it's because I'm not actually here on my computer/phone physically hitting 'reblog' or 'post'; the post was in my blog's tumblr queue."

#tumblr #tumblr how tos #tumblr culture

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killemwithkawaii · 2 years

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Announcement: Changes to inbox protocol 💌

Due to an increase in followers, the growth of the SF fandom in general, and recent personal reflection, I'm officially changing how I'll be handling asks and submissions from now on.

[TL;DR in bold under the cut]

Those who have been here for a while might remember that, when I first started out, I really prided myself in answering every single ask that came into my inbox, because I really do appreciate (almost) all of them. Getting asks always makes me happy- It means so much to me that you want to talk with me and take the time to feed me all your delicious prompts, hcs and f/o gushes! I seriously can't get enough of them! I've done my best to keep up with the inbox over the years, but I have a lot more interactions than I used to, and a lot less free time to respond to them than I did in the thick of 2020. Things keep piling up, and I need to accept that it's no longer realistic or healthy to hold myself to my previous standards. Trying to do so has made me put a lot of pressure on myself, resulted in a fair amount of guilt and shame over feeling like I'm letting people down, and feeling like I 'have to' answer asks frankly takes a lot of fun out of answering them. At the same time, trying to restrict what can be sent in in order to limit the number of asks I get is ineffective and frustrating for everyone, and it's unfair to the new members of the fandom who never got a chance to make any requests in the first place.

So, this is the official announcement that I will be:

-Fully embracing the dopamine chase when answering asks/requests from now on (without the guilt). Ask from 5 minutes ago? A month ago? Two years ago? I'm no longer going to let it matter. If it Hits, I will answer, and if not, I will carefully tuck it away for when (and if) it does.

-Testing out closing the inbox Friday-Sunday for a breather

-Deleting asks that don't vibe with me for whatever reason

-Utilizing the 'Unused Prompt List' (previously the 'Nuked Inbox' list) for requests I don't feel like squirreling away or fulfilling myself atm. These prompts are up for grabs for any writers/artists that get inspired by them, so feel free to look through the list (and tag me so I can see your work! :D)

Again, please know that sending something in will never fail to brighten my day, even if I don't end up answering! It still means a lot that you thought of me and took the time to share something with me. 💌💕

Thank you for understanding, thank you for reading, and thank you all for being my dear, darling kouhai 🤗💖💖💖

#k.e.w.k. speaks #thanks for reading!#the inbox is now open again c: 💕✅#[and i am kissing each one of you on the forehead platonically *mwah*]

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lunarblazes · 3 years

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OKAY.

this post is for appreciation of fan creators in the last life/third life community. you all are the BACKBONE of our community for REAL.

ever made art? written an analysis or fic? edited something together? drawn up an animation or animatic? taken a survey (shoutout to kel sprucewoodmpreg specifically, creator of the now-infamous Whoreslut Survey)? come up with just A Concept, an au, a headcanon, and let it sit in your brain for months?

CONGRATS, YOU’RE A FAN CREATOR!

all fan creators in this community are so adored and so beloved. i am kissing you metaphorically and platonically. you are all so talented, creative, and wonderful. the containment breaches recently may have been a big joke on my blog and a little scary, but the fact is that the content creators who make this series wouldn’t be purposefully digging through a random dead website like tumblr if they didn’t absolutely love what we create. we’ve trended last life so many times, it even got to the week in review trending last week! on web stuff, it was just below crit role and dsmp.

and i love the stuff we create too! so i have made the (possibly stupid) decision to try and encourage lesser-known creators to share their ideas with a little weekly event on my blog. other blogs can and are encouraged to participate in this, too, but only if they choose! somehow i’ve managed to become a decently sized blog in the trafficblr fandom, so, i thought there’d be no better place to host this than right here on my blog.

what is this weekly event, you may be asking. what do i have to do?

the event will be called…

THE TRAFFICBLR CREATOR GAMES

(unless that conflicts with something else, it’s a work in progress lmao).

detailed rules under the cut! it got a little long lol

all that you must do is tag any piece of fan work for the last life/third life fandom with the tag “trafficblr creator games!” what i’ll do is, every friday, i’ll go through the tag and reblog every new post that i see. i’ll go on tag rambles, i’ll have a specific tag for it on my blog in case anyone wants to peruse my commentary. i’ll always reblog it (given that it doesn’t violate my blog boundaries, which is to say that it’s not sexual or shipping content. just a personal preference. you guys are still cool and valid i just don’t want that on my blog)!

my hopes are that this little event will coax lesser-known or intimidated blogs into the fanwork circle, and let me see WONDERFUL pieces from them as well as the more well-known blogs in trafficblr! again, all of you guys can feel free to participate in this event as either a creator or a platform, but there is absolutely no pressure for either. it’d be really cute if this became a Real Fandom Thing, but i’ve made it just so i can be really excited over something when the end of the week recording fear hits hehe!

as a fan creator myself, i always get super happy when people reblog my stuff with excited tags! i know an event like this would make me so much more confident in posting my stuff, and i just want everyone to feel welcome in our content creating community. we’re all so talented, so skilled, and even if you don’t create anything, this is absolutely a way you could contribute. artists have struggled with getting enough encouragement and engagement on tumblr because likes do not help visibility at all, and so encouraging with an event that is explicitly meant to give them reblogs seems like a great way to keep creators motivated and excited about starting new projects.

i do want to make it clear really quickly that you should NOT be pushing yourself to get content out “in time” for this event! if you do that, i will give you a little bonk on the head. there’s no rush, no hurry, and no worries! do not put pressure on yourself for something fun like this. there’s no deadline. it continues as long as i want it to and as long as others decide to do it.

TL;DR (because this got way longer than i thought it was going to):

i’m hosting a third life/last life fan content displaying event on my blog every friday starting this week!

to enter, simply use the tag trafficblr creator games

i’ll reblog everything in the tag with rambly tags and encouragement (barring sexual or shipping content, which you’re still welcome to post there! i’m just not going to be rbing it because it’s not something i personally want on my blog)

ALL types of fan content are welcome! fics, analysis, art, music, poetry, headcanons, edits— anything!

do NOT put pressure on yourself to deliver content every week. if you do this i’ll bonk you with the self-care stick

any blog is welcome to participate in the event as either a creator or platform! go wild with it :^D

please don’t use the tags for unrelated things! i love all the fanwork but unless it’s for last life or third life don’t post it in the tag, and if it’s just a normal post please don’t put it in the tag. we don’t want it to get overshadowed with unrelated posts please!

if you need clarification on anything or have any suggestions before the reblogging starts, shoot me an ask! i’m always happy to help!

posting in the tag can occur any day of the week, it’s just that the reblogs for the event will take place exclusively on fridays. just so i don’t have too much to spread out over the week!

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE, HAPPY CREATING, AND WELCOME TO THE GAMES! I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING EVERYONE IN THE TAG.

MUAHAHAHA (sounds of my evil little positivity post)

#trafficblr creator games #last life #last life smp #3rd life #3rd life smp #crossing my fingers that this works #i REALLY want people to participate in this i just wanna look upon the Wonderful Content #seeing a bunch of posts about how important engagement is and my own experience made me go Hmmmmm. I Could. Do This #i know it’s last life day rn but i had this idea and just went apeshit with it AHAKDJS

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merry-pitchmas · 3 years

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Pitchmas 2021

For a record sixth year in a row, it’s time to roll out the red carpet for Pitchmas!!

So, grab your metaphorical glue sticks and pencils, haul out the wrapping paper and let’s get ready to make the season jolly af.

Welcome to the sixth annual Merry Pitchmas Gift Exchange!!

Okay, so... how does this work?

If you would like to take part in the gift exchange, please REPLY to this post. Reblog all you want, but you won’t be included in the draw unless you reply. That’s just the easiest way for me to keep track of people. I’ll let this post circulate until December 1st. After that, I’ll throw all the names into a hat and randomly assign Secret Santas. Once you have your person, feel free to contact them (anonymously - this is supposed to be a secret) and ask any questions about what they might like in a gift. Pairings, favourite tropes, etc. And that brings me to another biggie:

To anyone who wants to take part in this, please change your ask settings to allow anonymous questions!!!

Otherwise, this won’t work. Every year I have quite a few people come to me telling me they can’t ask their giftee questions because of this. That means I have to try to get a hold of them, which slows the process down for everyone and drives me to drink.

So please, even if you’re sure anon asks are allowed, double check that for me, okay?

Posting Date.

You can post your finished pieces starting December 24th. Please don’t post before this. Once the 24th rolls around, you can reveal yourself as your person’s Secret Santa by posting/scheduling your creation on your blog and @/tagging the person. Also, please tag your entry with #merry pitchmas 2021 so that I can find them all and combine them into a master post once everyone has posted.

But I don’t have any money!

You don’t need money for this! No, dear friends, all you need is some time and your imagination. You see, this exchange is all about getting creative. Your gifts can be fanfiction, fanart, gifsets, manips, and anything else that falls under the header of fanworks.

What pairings are accepted?

All pairings are welcome. However, please make a point of contacting your giftee if you aren’t sure which pairings they enjoy.

Also!

If you change your blog name between now and December 24th PLEASE let me know. It’s really, really difficult trying to hunt people down when this happens.

And so, in closing!

This is all about having fun. You know what isn’t fun? Putting time and effort into giving someone a gift, only to not receive one yourself. Every time I’ve done this previously, there have been people who have said yes to taking part who have gotten their gift and then not followed through in giving theirs. Refused to reply to messages and left someone without anything. Luckily, there are some lovely, wonderful people who offer to help out and dedicate even more of their time to coming up with something for those people.

PLEASE DO NOT SAY YES IF YOU AREN’T PLANNING ON HOLDING UP YOUR END OF THIS.

It’s not fair.

If you aren’t going to be able to finish your gift in time, or at all, please let me know. That way I can contact the person you have and let them know it’ll be late or arrange for something else to be done for them.

Which reminds me…

Once again, I’ll be looking for volunteers I can hit up in the event that some people get missed and need replacement gifts. If you’re interested, shoot me a message on this blog. I’ll love you forever.

Remember!

This is all about having fun!! I started this so that everyone could have a good time in the fandom around the holiday season. So that people who may be headed towards a rough holiday season or who might not get gifts elsewhere will have something to look forward to and something to work on during what can either be a really great or really tough time of the year.

TL;DR:

Reply to this post to take part. Reblogs will not be included.

December 1st is the cut off date.

Posting date is December 24th - not a day before!

You don’t need money to take part - just a dash of creativity and the drive to want to do something.

Manips, videos, fanfic, and comics are just a few examples of the things you can do!

All pairings are welcome, but I strongly encourage all participants to ANONYMOUSLY message the person they have to ask questions about which they prefer.

If you change your name between now and the posting date, please send me a message to let me know. It takes a lot of time to track people down otherwise.

Please don’t leave someone hanging. If you have no intention of doing anything and just want someone to do something for you, don’t reply. It’s not fair.

HAVE FUN.

See you all soon!

~Red

#merry pitchmas 2021 #bechloe #steca #jeca #Jessley #chaubrey #bemily #mitchsen #and any and all other pairings I might have missed #Pitch Perfect

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faemytho · 3 years

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Yes, I have seen (Jakei’s post), referencing (my analysis of Ink’s ableist portrayal in Underverse). Yes, I have seen your asks, reblogs, and every unkind word you guys have thrown my way. I am willing to discuss my analysis of Underverse Ink with you, provided you are civil and not calling me vulgar things or throwing petty insults my way. If not, then I rescind my offer.

Critical analysis of a piece of work is not “an excuse to cancel Jakei”. I’m shocked and upset and I’m extremely disappointed at the way she’s responded to my posts. She didn’t give context as to what she was responding to, and already I’ve seen several people claim that my analysis of the way Ink is written (without even seeing the original posts I’ve made about it) is “just an excuse to cancel Jakei”, or that “I’m just jealous of her talent”.

I have an immense admiration for Jakei’s work and talent, and I’ve been following Underverse since the very first gifs she posted of 0.0 on her blog (yes, 0.0 was originally just a gif-set. I was so proud and excited when she turned Underverse into a full-blown animation).

I did not critically analyze Ink just because I wanted to cause a disruption in her life, or in any of your lives. I did it because I am a person who has autism, and the way she’s written Ink personally affects me and makes me feel bad about something I cannot control about myself.

I am an autistic person. I see myself in Ink. I see Ink in myself. I am a person who has this mental illness, and I am directly affected by the way it’s being written. There are a lot of autistic people I have personally talked to about how Ink is kind of our representation in this fandom, and I’ve seen other autistic people I haven’t personally spoken to speak out about the very same thing. To those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, I suggest you formally (read up) (on autism) and talk to some autistic people (hint: I’m one! I’d love to talk about my experiences being autistic and my symptoms and behaviors with you).

If you accidentally hit someone, you still apologize. You didn’t hit them on purpose, it was an accident, you didn’t mean to do it, but you still apologize. Though Jakei didn’t do it intentionally, she still did it. She apologized, but not to me, not to us, not to the autistic folk I’ve spoken to that are too afraid to speak up because of all the hatred and abuse I am receiving from the fandom right now, all this hatred and abuse that ended up putting an autistic friend of mine in the hospital due to stress and heart palpitations because they spoke up about this very topic.

Jakei didn’t apologize that she made a mistake in her portrayal of Ink, even if she didn’t do it intentionally. Jakei apologized that we “felt affected” by her writing. That’s... not an apology.

I’m very upset and disappointed that I’ve received so many unkind messages about this. You guys are really going to go after the autistic person who pointed out that writing ink as the antagonist solely because of his inability to process emotions is an ableist portrayal?

@jakei95 Since you decided to vaguely acknowledge my posts concerning the matter, I felt it prudent to just tag you this time. I love your work, and I’ve been following Underverse since day 1, but none of us are perfect, and we all make mistakes. I just want you to acknowledge this one, especially since it’s hurt me and a lot of other autistic folk in this fandom.

TL;DR, read the post.

#i never could have imagined this fandom to be so shockingly ableist #its honestly quite sad and disappointing that i have to speak up about this and that im receiving such horrible backlash for it #underverse #ink sans #fae rambles #ableism cw

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silver-spider-art · 2 years

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/rant

*big sigh* I really wish people who hate Shen Jiu would tag their fics as such on AO3 so i don’t have to enter every fic where SJ isn’t the main character or pairing like its a minefield. Its so off putting to suddenly get hit with an unsympathetic take on him. Especially when the author might in the same breath forgive Bing-ge for all his (much worse) crimes. Though that’s also the same way I don’t get how some ppl write Shen Yuan as if he could actually accept or tolerate Bing-ge’s behavior IRL. Most people who love villains and murderers will still be disgusted with them in real life, and SY’s fear of Bing-ge in canon surely was more than just from SQQ canon death. So its just... ugh.

I don’t have any friends that are into this fandom, so ranting to the void. It’s mostly just that I know if I met any of the peek lords IRL I’d be nervous, cautious, and judgmental. If I met Bing-ge IRL I’d run for the hills screaming.

I just get so sad that its so easy to find SJ hate but so hard to find stories actually critical of Binghe/Bing-ge, as if he didn’t have the same choices SJ had to just walk away and start a new life. As if revenge was the only option he had.

I may also just be very salty that a fic I was reading jumped me 5 chapters in by still having SJ be brutally tortured and no one in the story seemed to care and the POV being “its a bit much but he deserved it” like that isn’t the grossest take in the world. And don’t give me “for that time period” when one of the main POV characters is a modern man. Or the fact that any point in human history were torture was practiced (as it still is today) there are many voices decrying it as wrong even if the government approves of it. So there is no reason at least a few characters wouldn’t look at his actions in disgust. To not have any character or the narration look at it judgmentally gives the impression that the author approves of the outcome for that character. Especially when the character doing said torture ISN’T the story’s villain. Which was the WHOLE reason canon PIDW readers thought SJ deserved his fate, that Airplane didn’t give them a reason to question it. BUT WE WERE! SVSSS gave us so many reasons to understand SJ wasn’t the monster PIDW painted him out to be, but he still gets inhumanely treated and its just written off??? SY a modern man with modern morals can be “I know you tortured a human being brutally and killed a bunch of people but you were once my comfort character so it’s okay”. Like no bitch, that’s a serial killer. SJ was a toxic teacher with a shitty past. Bing-ge said “hold my beer” and went off the rails. TBH even Binghe with SY makes me uncomfortable sometimes just with how often SY was lagit scared out his mind about him. That’s not a healthy relationship when it started cuz you thought said person might torture you if you pissed them off. Not to say that I don’t think it can’t work, more that I hate canon’s “and now they are happily married” shit. Binghe needed to fucking earn back the trust for all the shit he broke. Cursed sword or not, he hurt a lot of people.

So yeah, I’m still just so salty and I want more healthy stories about SJ healing and growing and finding love and or family.

And for people to TAG if they mean to turn him into a fucking STICK!!

TL;DR: tag your shit! I don’t care if it’s “spoilers”, TAG IT

#svsss

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amispnrewatch · 3 years

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SPN 1x06 “Skin”

Okay, I’m gonna try to type while I watch this time instead of forgetting this blog exists until the episode is almost over.

You can tell the footage for the previously on segment was saved on a VHS copy instead of the original film that the show was shot with because even in the HD iTunes version I have it looks low quality as fuck. And jumpy in the way that brings me back to my teens watching the WB all the damn time.

I love this song. WTF is this song. Shazam says “Good Deal” by Mommy and Daddy. I… have no comment, except that it sounds like everything I was listening to in college at the time this shit was airing.

Aaaaand not!Dean turns around to face the SWAT team after obviously torturing some woman. THAT is a cold open.

I wanna know what that car is in the background. It’s pretty. Maybe a convertible Impala? They have similar grills. This is not at all important.

Also, I love that with these higher definition versions of the episodes you can see that Sam’s email is lawboy and whatever dot com and that people in the fandom have started calling him Law Boy. It’s hilarious.

DEAN: Well, what exactly do you tell ‘em? You know, about where you’ve been, what you’ve been doin’?

SAM: I tell ‘em I’m on a road trip with my big brother. I tell ‘em I needed some time off after Jess.

DEAN: Oh, so you lie to ‘em.

SAM: No. I just don’t tell ‘em….everything.

DEAN: Yeah, that’s called lying. I mean, hey, man, I get it, tellin’ the truth is far worse.

SAM: So, what am I supposed to do, just cut everybody out of my life? (DEAN shrugs.) You’re serious?

DEAN: Look, it sucks, but in a job like this, you can’t get close to people, period.

Aaaaand now I have Dean and Cassie feelings again and we haven’t even gotten to her episode yet.

SAM: No, man, I know Zack. He’s no killer.

DEAN: Well, maybe you know Zack as well as he knows you.

Aaaaaand now I have Dean and Lee feelings and we’re nowhere near Lee’s episode in season 15.

YOU JUST BLEW THROUGH A STOP SIGN DEAN WTF.

Little Becky. Oi with the reusing of names.

Of course Sam made friends with a bunch of rich kids while he was at college in a desperate attempt to try to be normal.

SAM: You know, maybe we could see the crime scene. Zack’s house.

DEAN: We could.

REBECCA: Why? I mean, what could you do?

SAM: Well, me, not much. But Dean’s a cop. (DEAN laughs.)

DEAN: Detective, actually.

I love that Dean was like “how dare you call me that.”

Okay, after a bit of research, I totally want to take a day trip to Bisbee, Arizona, but it’s already in the 90s here in the desert and it’s not even May so that trip is going to have to wait until… winter or something. There is no way in hell I’m going deeper into the desert when the weather gets hotter.

It’s a historic mining town tourist trap looking place now which is exactly the kind of shit I love.

SAM: Bec, look, I know Zack didn’t do this. Now, we have to find a way to prove that he’s innocent.

I mean, not technically, technically you would 1) NOT FUCK WITH A MURDER INVESTIGATION YOU’RE NOT LEGALLY INVOLVED IN BECAUSE ANYTHING YOU FIND WOULD BE INADMISSABLE IN COURT 2) find evidence to provide a reasonable doubt for the jury that he did commit the crime. You know, like a lawyer would need to do, Law Boy.

DEAN: I just don’t think this is our kind of problem.

When I made my husband watch this show with me (he’s seen it all at least once now over the years) this is the recurring thing that drove him crazy.

You guys can’t even go in through the back door? Or shut the front door behind you? Really?

REBECCA: (tearfully) Well, there’s no sign of a break-in. They say that Emily let her attacker in.

Yeah, that doesn��t even really mean that she knew her attacker. Just that it was someone she let her guard down around or got in some other way. See: The Son of Sam and Nightstalker, etc.

Love the pinup magnet on the fridge. I’d throw shade at that, but I have a pinup magnet on my fridge too so… pot kettle and all that.

Okay, both people in the next couple are gorgeous.

And oh wow those special effects changing eyes… wow.

This poor couple. I feel so bad for them in this episode.

How… how are the police gonna explain the way he was able to beat himself over the head with a bat??? I…

I love that 5:30 in the morning on TV is clearly like… 10 AM.

Okay, this is a really unrelated point, but the graffiti on the dumpster here reminds me of the Teen Wolf fandoms use of the name Void!Stiles when Stiles Stilinski was possessed by a Nogitsune… I just spent way too long digging through YouTube and my Tumblr tags from back when those episodes were airing looking for a few specific videos and couldn’t find them. The TL;DR reason I bring it up here is goofball, bi-coded main character guy getting possessed by an entity set on destroying the people he loves. SOUNDS LIKE THIS EPISODE AND A WHOLE LOT OF SPN RIGHT. I love that all these monster hunting shows call out to each other.

This scene haunts me years later and I don’t even WATCH Teen Wolf. I just watched the fandom on Tumblr collectively lose it’s shit then tripped down a Hale Pack fanfiction rabbit hole.

ANYWAY

Back to Supernatural, a show that also treated its fan base, cast, and characters like garbage! Huzzah!

DEAN: Well, there’s another way to go—down. (They look down and notice a manhole.)

I’m gonna be mature and ignore the double entendre there…

But I love that Dean thinks of the world in 3D. Which sounds like a dumb statement to make, but this is honestly a good example of that in action.

SAM: I bet this runs right by Zack’s house, too.

Really Sam, sewers run by houses? SO WEIRD. I WOULD HAVE NEVER GUESSED.

DEAN: You know, I just had a sick thought. When the shapeshifter changes shape—maybe it sheds.

SAM: That is sick. (DEAN puts the bloody pile back on the ground.)

Guys, there is a WHOLE ASS EAR in that pile of yuck you’re looking at. I think it’s pretty safe to assume the shapeshifter indeed sheds its skin like a snake. A much… gooier snake.

Sam’s friend is rightfully pissed at him for fucking with the crime scene.

This is before the pearl gripped guns?! Wow. I never noticed that before.

Also, this whole episode gives me feelings.

++++

Cool. Tumblr mobile ate a whole section of my notes on this when it crashed for NO APPARENT REASON. Love that.

It always boggles my mind that actors can trust the people they’re working with enough to let people “tie” ropes around their neck or put them in actually dangerous positions in a scene.

SHAPESHIFTER: He’s sure got issues with you. You got to go to college. He had to stay home. I mean, I had to stay home. With Dad. You don’t think I had dreams of my own? But Dad needed me. Where the hell were you?

SAM: Where is my brother? (The shapeshifter leans in close to SAM.)

SHAPESHIFTER: I am your brother. See, deep down, I’m just jealous. You got friends. You could have a life. Me? I know I’m a freak. And sooner or later, everybody’s gonna leave me. (He backs away.)

SAM: What are you talkin’ about?

SHAPESHIFTER: You left. Hell, I did everything Dad asked me to, and he ditched me, too. No explanation, nothin’, just poof. Left me with your sorry ass. But, still, this life? It’s not without its perks. (He laughs.) I meet the nicest people. Like little Becky. You know, Dean would bang her if he had the chance. Let’s see what happens. (He smiles and covers SAM with a sheet.)

This exchange is just… so much. So many feelings. And I will forever (unless we magically get a fix-it fic mini season someday…) be SO MAD that none of this got resolved in that pointless, trash heap of a finale.

REBECCA: Okay, so, this thing—it can make itself look like anybody?

SHAPESHIFTER: That’s right. (She chuckles.)

REBECCA: Well, what is it, like a genetic freak? (The shapeshifter laughs.)

SHAPESHIFTER: Maybe. Evolution is about mutation, right? So, maybe this thing was born human but was different. Hideous and hated. Until he learned to become someone else. (REBECCA looks around, uncomfortable. The shapeshifter’s eyes glint silver, and he smiles.)

It always amazes me how much of this show is a pile of accidental queer allegories parading around in an ill-fitting toxic masculinity suit.

Vulcan mind meld! I love nerd!Dean. Also, I’m rewatching Star Trek: TOS with my husband, because that is what my life amounts to these days, rewatching comfort TV and flailing over the bits I love.

This post does a better job than I can do of pairing up screen caps with the dialogue of this next scene. SIX EPISODES IN. They’re dumping all of this character depth SIX EPISODES IN. FUCK THIS SHOW FOR NOT EMBRACING ITSELF.

Okay, I love that he screams back in her face after he threw the phone. It’s not something to laugh at because the situation is horrifying, but I can’t help laughing at it every time.

AND THE WAY THEY CUT THESE SCENES. Going from him winding his hand back to backslap her directly to him dropping the chains on the table to show how hard he must have hit her without actually making the actors hit each other. Good job editing department!

I… don’t understand the shifter’s motivation for killing people. If he can take over people’s identities without killing them, why kill them? Is it just because he’s a homicidal, rapist piece of shit? Cause that’s all it seems like.

How did the SWAT team even know she was being attacked? Why can the snipers aim no better than Storm Troopers?

Ugh, these kind of transformation body horror scenes are exactly why werewolf stories have never really appealed to me much. Like, I could do without watching your ribs move and teeth fall out, dude.

BUT.

THIS FUCKING SCENE.

I looked up the song that’s playing over shapeshifter!Dean being caught by the SWAT team and then going through the grotesque transformation. (And as far as I know, the iTunes version has the original music from the episodes.)

It’s a song called “Mary” by The Death Riders

Who's your mother, who's your mother here boy // Who's your mother, whos your mommy dear // Who's your father, who's your father here boy // Who's your father, who's your daddy dear

Silently screaming // Where everyone knows // Daddy's always watchin' // Where everywhere - everywhere I go

I don't wanna be a freak show pretty boy anymore // I don't wanna be a full time slave // I don't wanna be your midnight cowboy anymore // I just want to be Mary

This is… a fascinating choice. Here are the rest of the lyrics. The song as a whole has a weird incesty kinda vibe to it? Kinda like when SPN tries to straight-wash itself and misses the mark wildly. (Like Dean’s male siren episode.)

The midnight cowboy line reminded me of 12x11 and the bull riding scene with “Broomstick Cowboy” by Bobby Goldsboro playing over it

Dream on, little Broomstick Cowboy, // Dream while you can; // Of big green frogs, // And puppy dogs, // And castles in the sand.

For, all too soon you'll awaken; // Your toys will all be gone. // Your broomstick horse will ride away, // To find another home. // And you'll have grown into a man, // With cowboys of your own. // And then you'll have to go to war, // To try and save your home.

And then you'll have to learn to hate; // You'll have to learn to kill. // It's always been that way, my son; // I guess it always will.

Because, you know, why not add tons of feelings into the lyrics, right?

Props to the people who can embrace their rewatches and reclamations of the show with ease. Because every episode seems to remind me of how hollow and tragic Dean’s ending was and I just… struggle all over again.

Anyway, back to the episode so I can move on with my day.

REPORTER: An anonymous tip led police to a home in the Central West End, where a S.W.A.T team discovered a local woman bound and gagged. Her attacker, a white male, approximately twenty-four to thirty years of age, was discovered hiding in her home. (A sketch of DEAN appears on the screen.)

DEAN: Man! That’s not even a good picture. (SAM looks around cautiously.)

SAM: It’s good enough. (He walks away.)

DEAN: Man! (He follows SAM.)

(CUT TO: Alley. DEAN and SAM are walking. DEAN steps into a puddle.)

DEAN: Ugh, come on.

I love that we get two tiny little back-to-back vanity moments for Dean here. One commenting on the sketch artist rendition of him being broadcasted on the news and the other tripping in the puddle. There is literally someone running around the city trying to kill people while wearing Dean’s face, but Dean is still concerned with how he looks appears to others. He’s still concerned with keeping up his own performance. The shifter left him with just a t-shirt, so he doesn’t even have his usual comfort layers on and at any moment someone could spot him and call the police or try to kill him for assaulting Sam’s friend. His life is wildly out of control in that moment and the only thing he can try to focus on is his appearance (something semi-controllable) and finding the shifter before any of that other shit can happen.

One day I want to put together a like top 10 episodes focusing on / explaining each TFW character from the series. Like the kind of list you could show someone who’s never seen the show, but has OPINIONS about the characters (or who hasn’t seen the whole show and seen the growth they went through… you know, like the people responsible for the travesty of 15x20). This episode would be on that list. I’m not sure how I could manage to make a list of only 10 episodes to understand Dean Winchester by, but eh.

SAM: What are you gonna do to me?

SHAPESHIFTER: Oh, I’m not gonna do anything. Dean will, though.

SAM: They’ll never catch him.

SHAPESHIFTER: Oh, doesn’t matter. Murder in the first of his own brother? He’ll be hunted the rest of his life. (He picks up a sharp knife and examines it.)

Speaking of season 15 in general, this right here. This was Chuck’s villain story arc thesis statement. AND THEY DROPPED THE GODDAMN BALL WITH IT. I think that’s the thing that honestly pisses me off the most these days (about 5 1/2 months from when the finale aired) is that they tried making the whole thing a tragedy but did such an awful job with it that it just ended up like a deflating condom balloon at a dive bar concert. Disappointing and gross. The finale for season 14 set them up SO FUCKING WELL and it just… didn’t get there.

Becky’s parents are gonna be pissed at how torn up their house is after all this shit…

And you’re not shooting him when you first see him strangling Sam because…?????

I like that he took the necklace back. Also, is this kinda Dean death number .5 of the show? Like it wasn’t him but it was also kinda him. Eh.

At least they left the windshield on Baby this time. Reflections are better than tearing her apart.

#SPN 1x06 #amispnrewatch #reclaiming spn #performing!dean #lawboy #bi!dean #dean x cassie #dean x lee #stiles stilinski #void!stiles #teen wolf #dean deserved better

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banchieplaysminecraft · 3 years

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How Aaron could’ve been a good character and why he wasn’t

I’ve been annoyed at this for a good long while and i’ve finally gotten around to talk about it so here we gooo

please note that, though i watched all of mcd s2 while it was coming out, i haven’t rewatched it all the way through (i’m a little less than halfway through s2) so bear with me

now, we can all agree that we didn’t really have a lot of beef with aaron in s1. was it annoying that aph was keeping secrets? yes. did we actively enjoy the fact that this random edgelord showed up with all of this convenient information? sure. but did we actively dislike him? i don’t think so

im sure that some people did, but it was a far cry from the universal grudge that we as a fandom hold. the only question is, what changed?

the answer is pretty simple: he got annoying

there is no greater sin that a content creator can commit than to make a character tedious--especially a character that the fans are meant to root for. i once heard someone say that there is no such thing as a good character and a bad character, there are only interesting characters or boring characters

now, before the s1 finale, aaron wasn’t annoying because he made sense. we didn’t know a lot about his backstory, but we knew just enough to not have a lot of questions while also understanding why he as a character worked. he spied on zane, he got information, and he got away with it because, according to every government in existence, he was dead. he was doing it to avenge his village, which seemed to be his reason for doing most things.

that was basically it, because that was all that we needed. he didn’t answer personal questions because that could reveal his identity, and he didn’t hang around phoenix drop proper because he knew that there was a spy in the village who might figure him out. all in all, he was a very logical character

what changed? his motivation

after the gang sealed zane in the irene dimension, may i ask WHAt the fuck was his reason for staying??? nothing! what was his reason for keeping his identity a secret? pretty much nothing! it made no sense!!

according to all of his characterization as a *~lone wolf~*, it would make the most sense for him to strike out on his own and do whatever the fuck, maybe occasionally popping back in to warn the main characters of some impending doom, maybe hold a giant fuckass sword to someone’s throat again, maybe find some other tyrant to destroy.

but he didn’t, and it made no sense

this was made exponentially worse because he was an ~edgy dark angsty boy with a sad past and a dead wife~ and because he seemed to be able to do no wrong. he rarely, if ever, communicated with the rest of the group, and he often just went out on his own--and yet, most people seemed to trust him unconditionally?? he always seems to show up at the right place and the right time with little to no explanation as to how, and no one ever questions it. sure, laurance and dante had some doubts and even spoke up once or twice, but laurance’s grievances are mostly due to being in love with aph, and literally no one else ever asked anything, despite not even knowing his fucking name

and, of course, everyone thinks that he’s super hot and aphmau falls in love with him and then he dies a tragic death in a moment of self-sacrifice that really wasn’t all that heroic because he left his wife and child behind

i mean, come on

THAT BEING SAID he had soooo muuch potentiaalllllll

LET ME EXPLAIN

during s1, his role in the story was the spy--and he was very good at it, because everyone thought that he was dead!! how are you gonna blame a dead man for anything without sounding crazy! no one knew his name or his face or anything--and they should’ve kept it that way because, surprise!! theyre still at war in s2. sure, it’s a different war, but it’s still! a fucking! war! and like 70% of war is ESPIONAGE and INFORMATION and STRATEGY, havent you ever heard the phrase KNOWING IS HALF THE BATTLE??? they literally had possibly the best spy that they knew of and instead of actually putting his skills to work he just dramatically leans on trees and sits in the shadows??? WHAT

he clearly had ways to get into high places, since he had somehow gotten his hands on the amulet in s1, and he used to be a lord so he would’ve known things about POLITICS and KINGDOM STUFF--i mean, we all know that aphmau knows jack shit about this world and how it works.

what SHOULDVE HAPPENED IS:

after they all get back to the overworld, he leaves the party. idc if it’s immediately after or if he waits a few days, but he leaves regardless. every once in awhile, we hear of him popping up in various places, and we run into him a few times. he informs the gang of what he’s heard, maybe tags along on some missions. he still shows up in random places the way that he does in canon, but since he’s not based it phoenix drop i think that it makes a bit more sense, and he occasionally pops back into phoenix drop whenever he’s in the area or needs time to rest and recharge, and stays an informant for aphmau & her crew. as things pick up, he slowly becomes a more commonly-seen member of aphmau’s inner circle.

throughout this whole period, he finally starts to come to terms with the death of his wife & their village, and he slowly starts to share more with the group--nothing big, just details here and there--and he actually starts to develop *gasp* a personality. i’d like to imagine that he gets closer with laurance, dante, and katelyn instead of only ever talking to aphmau. i don’t think that he’s ever super talkative, but he starts to be a little less quiet & closed off.

at this point, he’s either told them his name or (preferred) they all have a list of nicknames that they cycle through to address him. sooner or later he starts to help with the building of phoenix drop and the alliance, taking on duties that are more akin to his old role as lord. he either phases the espionage out of his schedule or ghostwrites all of the legislation, and falls more easily into his new roles

i don’t really care if he ever ends up with aphmau or not, but if he does then that also happens at some point or another, but i, at least, would no longer be angry at that outcome

However, this whole plot would require everyone in the story to take literally all of their roles in this literal government that they’re building seriously, and we all know that that’s never going to happen, but i can dream /s

Tl;dr, if aaron actually used his strengths and skills to be a useful member of this alliance instead of randomly showin up and dramatically hitting things with his giant fuckoff sword, he’d be so much more tolerable

#please tell me if the bolded phrases make it hard to read i'm trying some stuff #this whole thing was very stream-of-concousness #so please tell me if there are any typos or anything #concousness #i can spell #anyways #aphmau please give your characters actual personalities im begging out #you******** fuck #Aphmau #Minecraft Diaries #aaron aph #aaron aphmau #aarmau #mcd #mcd s2 #mcd s1

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banjjakbanjjak · 3 years

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To other small creators:

I am a small creator for my fandom. I write and I do art.

People often say to not care about things like notes, kudos, comments etc.

I tell people this as well and do my best to practice what I preach, because, by and large, I do believe in it and I don’t “care”.

I appreciate these are just Internet Points.

That being said, I do care, in that online validation kind of way. And to that degree I make posting schedules for myself:

Its primary function is to track my word count per chapter/per POV, posting dates, and notably, hits. I like having lists of to-do’s, and a visual representation of “now” and “the goal”). But it I added in the hits column so I could find out how many hits I’m pulling every chapter update.

This second screengrab is my posting schedule for one of my lowest performing fic.

Why hits and not kudos? Because the hit (usually) counter is the one that grows the fastest when you post a new fic. There’s no science to my methodology.

Now, why bother telling anyone any of this?

For the bigger names in your respective fandoms, hearing them say “Internet Points don’t matter” may seem hollow. After all, their worse performing pieces dwarf some our best performing ones.

And this is a post saying it’s okay to care about performance. I put a lot of effort into my work and I want the recognition, validation and attention. These things are normal to feel, at least to me.

That said, I do not let it consume my motivations for creating work.

I will draw what I want, write what I want. The Internet Points that come after are a later concern. For example, using the second fic above:

I was not at all surprised that my fic featuring a side-ship between two cardboard cutouts characters, based on a sci-fi movie AU, with the tag Everyone Dies barely got 25 hits during its initial ~24 hour posting period (that has since grown, and will continue to grow so long it stays online). But it was a fun fic to write, it set up the next fic in that AU and built a world (ish).

I had an idea, ran with it and enjoyed the process of creating it. I uploaded it into the void and...some other people enjoyed it.

My end product, it’s performance? Rather than thinking it “only pulled in over X-hits”. I like to think it entertained however many people did click onto it, and can only hope they stayed until the end. I’d never know, but I like to imagine they did.

TL;DR

It’s okay to care about your work’s performance online. It’s natural to want that validation and hit of joy of getting a notification, a note, a comment, a kudos, and seeing the hit count rise.

Just don’t let it ruin the inherent fun that comes with creating. We’re all doing this for free in our spare time...enjoy it!

#my thoughts #writer things

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silverduckie · 2 years

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Time for a new Masterpost!

Hello! My name is Katie, and this is my personal blog / certified trash heap! Pretty much this blog is a collection of things that make me happy, or I deem important, fandom stuff, whatever I’m thinking about at the moment, etc etc. TL;DR the theme is that there’s no consistent theme here! I try to tag things to the best of my ability, but if you ever need something tagged please never hesitate to reach out! I’m more than happy to tag things upon request, and I will never judge you for needing something tagged!

If you ever wanna tag me in something, please feel free to use the tag #userduckie! As long as images are above 100x100px (so I can see them), anything not on my blacklist is welcome! I think of it as a way for people to show me neat things they think I might like, and I love it when I open my tag and see content. If I ever don’t reblog something in it, it’s because Tumblr isn’t showing it on my end. Feel free to dm me links to things you’d like me to reblog / check out as well! I love it when people send me links to stuff so it’s never a bother.

Please note I do occasionally reblog long posts - long posts will be tagged with “#long post” - sometimes with an additional “#extremely long post” depending on the length. I rec blacklisting the “#extremely long post” tag if you do not have the ability to hit j to skip posts or if you do not have the tumblr extend posts option enabled.

If you’re here from the tumblr rpc: be polite and kind. I’m not a part of your community, I reblog packs from my friends because I love gifs and I make gif packs because I like making gifs. Sometimes I’ll share PSAs if I deem them important because I am aware I have a huge rpc follower base. However, if you are incapable of behaving like a mature adult, don’t interact. I have zero tolerance for petty drama, and honestly? I don’t care what is going on in the community unless it impacts my friends or it’s actually important. I’m sorry if this is harsh, but people keep crossing this boundary so I need it to be firm. If you are polite and kind, you’re welcome to stay here as long as you’d wish! Tell me about your characters, reblog my content, as long as you’re kind, make yourself at home!

Links that I deemed important enough to put first:

My Gifs Tag

My Blacklist

Interactive Fiction Game Tag Masterpost

Matters that Are Important to Me:

StopAAPIHate’s LinkTree

A Card that Goes into Ways to help Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine

Decolonize Palestine

Brands to Boycott to Support Palestine (BDS Movement)

70+ organizations working in a positive way in indigenous communities that you should consider donating to. (Thank you to @/olivaraofrph for the list!)

Palestine Children’s Relief Fund

RPC Stuff (please note I am not a part of the community. I only boost l boost my friend’s content and stuff I am tagged in):

My Gif Packs’ Directory

Gif Rules (Only for RPers and people who want access to my private gif pack pages)

My Friends’ Gif Packs (bc I love them and I wanna highlight my friends, if you rp consider checking out their pages!)

#pinned post #long post #apologies it's long but like you know me with my pinned posts #at least this time it's actually done

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merry-pitchmas · 3 years

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Merry Pitchmas 2020!!

For the fifth year in a row... Pitchmas is here!!! And you know what that means. It’s time to put your creativity hat on and pull out the wrapping paper. It’s time for the...

MERRY PITCHMAS GIFT EXCHANGE!!!!

How does this work?

Well, if you wish to take part in the gift exchange, please REPLY to this post. Reblog all you want, but you won’t be included unless you reply. That’s just the easiest way to keep track of people. I’ll let this post circulate until December 1st. After that, I’ll throw all the names into a hat and randomly assign Secret Santas. Once you have your person, feel free to contact them (anonymously - this is supposed to be a secret) and ask any questions about what they might like in a gift. Which brings me to another biggie:

To anyone who wants to take part in this, please change your ask settings to allow anonymous questions!!!

Otherwise, this won’t work. Every year I have quite a few people come to me telling me they can’t ask their giftee questions because of this. That means I have to try to a hold of them, which slows the process down for everyone and drives me to drink.

Due date??

You can post your finished pieces on December 25th. Please don’t post before this. Once the 25th rolls around, you can reveal yourself as your person’s Secret Santa by posting/scheduling your creation on your blog and @/tagging the person. Also, please tag your entry with #merry pitchmas 2020 so that I can find them all and combine them into a master post once everyone has posted.

But I don’t have any money!

What pairings are accepted?

I’m not about to ostracise anyone. All pairings are welcome. However, please make a point of contacting your giftee if you aren’t sure which pairings they enjoy.

In closing!

If you change your blog name between now and December 25th PLEASE let me know. It’s really, really difficult hunting people down when this happens.

This is all about having fun. You know what isn’t fun? Putting time and effort into giving someone a gift, only to not receive one yourself. Every time I’ve done this previously, people who have said yes to doing this have gotten their gift and then not followed through giving theirs. Refused to reply to messages and left someone without anything. Luckily, there are some lovely people who offer to help out and dedicate even more of their time to coming up with something for those people.

PLEASE DO NOT SAY YES IF YOU AREN’T PLANNING ON HOLDING UP YOUR END OF THIS.

It’s not fair.

Which reminds me…

Remember!

TL;DR:

Reply to this post to take part. Reblogs will not be included.

December 1st is the cut off date.

Posting date is December 25th - not a day before!

You don’t need money to take part - just a dash of creativity and the drive to want to do something.

Manips, videos, fanfic, and comics are just a few examples of the things you can do!

All pairings are welcome, but I strongly encourage all participants to ANONYMOUSLY message the person they have to ask questions about which they prefer.

If you change your name between now and December 25th, please just shoot me a message to let me know. It takes a lot of time trying to track people down otherwise.

Please don’t leave someone hanging. If you have no intention of doing anything and just want someone to do something for you, don’t reply. It’s not fair.

HAVE FUN.

This year has sucked, hard. Let’s spread some cheer around, okay? Now, I’ll be off. Red out!

#merry pitchmas 2020 #bechloe #staubrey #jessley #chaubrey #triple treble #jeca #steca #bemily #etc #pitch perfect #pitchmas

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velociraptors-in-hats · 2 years

Note

https://velociraptors-in-hats (.) tumblr (.) com/post/677273704712093696

are you a proshipper?

(This answer is so long because my opinion is nuanced. This is about all the thought I care to put into it, and isn’t an invitation for more anons, I’d really rather not. TL;DR: kinda. Block me if u need, pls don’t harass me)

I largely stay out of it, I think the harassment campaigns on both sides are bonkers and everyone involved should take a chill pill-this is FAN FICTION we’re talking about, I thought we left the shipping wars back in livejournal. Pls don’t take anything I’m about to say as me saying “Bad Things Are Good, Actually.” Bad things are bad. Fiction about bad things is complicated.

That out of the way, yes, I’ve shipped some stuff that I absolutely wouldn’t be ok with IRL. I’ve happily existed in fandoms with popular ships that I think are gross as hell, and freak me tf out. I exclude them on searches and continue on my merry way. Fiction can be a safe place to explore things that can’t and shouldn’t happen in real life. Fanfiction is largely about relationships, so some of it is about relationships that really, really shouldn’t exist in real life.

Now, bad people CAN create and consume “bad” fiction. The creation and consumption of “bad” fiction CAN be a canary in the coal mine, so to speak-but good people can create and consume it, too. An antifascist reading the Turner Diaries to study propaganda is different from a Nazi reading it as an instruction manual. To hit a little closer to the point, a literature student reading Lolita to analyze themes and symbolism is different from a pedophile reading Lolita for the girl. Just because it CAN be an indicator doesn’t mean that it SHOULD. It’s not a very effective one (we’d have a lot more serial killers if everyone who read about em became one lol) and we’d end up throwing out a hell of a lot of babies with not a lot of bathwater. I honestly can’t think of anything that should be absolutely 100% forbidden to write and read fiction about-fanfic or otherwise. As the ancient proverb says: “Don’t like, don’t read. No flames!”

The post in question is about harassment campaigns so, once more, with feeling: writing or consuming fanfiction about bad things does not NECESSARILY make a bad person. If you’re gonna make serious accusations against a person, you’re gonna need to have evidence from REALITY. And if you have evidence from REALITY of csa and the like, the avenue to take those is decidedly NOT a tumblr callout post. Christ. And to be fair, people who think that all fiction should be squeaky-clean shouldn’t be harassed, either. Everyone involved in this needs to get a lot better at using the “block” button.

A lot of this argument (or at least, the portions of it that I’ve seen) is about Ao3 policies. So, while I’m here, for the record: I’m a fan of ao3’s pretty radically-inclusive guidelines, in no small part BECAUSE of their extensive warning and tagging system. It allows for content I would never want to consume (and even content I would rather not exist at all), as a trade-in for the draconian policies of old, y’all remember how fic was in the Wild West. I’d rather set my own limits and boundaries, and trust others to set theirs.

#csa tw #long post #fuckin knew that post was gonna summon anons

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verecunda · 3 years

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Fic writer tag game

Tagged by @nocompromise-noregrets. Thanks! :D

Sticking it under a cut, as it’s rather long.

How many works do you have on AO3?

Currently 102!

What’s your total AO3 word count?

300,745. Which isn’t bad, actually!

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

Oof. I’ve written for so many random wee fandoms, this could get a bit long! But here goes. Excluding generic tags like “All Media Types” or “Author’s Name - Works”, and counting books and their screen adaptations as one fandom, we have:

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke Horrible Histories (BBC) Dickensian (BBC) The Hobbit (movies) Frontier Wolf - Rosemary Sutcliff Night at the Museum Historical RPF Julius Caesar - Shakespeare The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien The Eagle of the Ninth/The Eagle - Rosemary Sutcliff Endeavour (ITV) ’Salem’s Lot - Stephen King Final Fantasy IX Great Expectations - Charles Dickens Arthurian Mythology Final Fantasy X The Chronicles of Prydain - Lloyd Alexander Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson Original Fiction The Silmarillion - J.R.R. Tolkien The Haunting of Hill House - Shirley Jackson The Girl in Lovers Lane (1960) Brave (2012) The Uninvited (1944) Antony and Cleopatra - Shakespeare Eagles of the Empire series - Simon Scarrow Exile | Avernum The Pirates! In an Adventure With Scientists! (2012) Rome (HBO) The Fugitives - Rosemary Sutcliff Monty Python’s Flying Circus (BBC) King Arthur (2004) Ghosts (BBC)

That’s thirty-three altogether! What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

My four old NATM fics: Amo, Amas, Amat, Slightly Scandalous, Reality Bites, Poetry Slam, as well as Kindred Spirits, my Thomas/Captain Ghosts fic.

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Yes, all the time. I went through a patchy bit a few years ago, when my brain just wasn’t up to it, but I really appreciate any feedback I get, and I like to let people know that.

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

Probably Against Hope. I wrote that to fill in the details of Estella’s adoption by Miss Havisham in the Dickensian universe, so the ending was pretty bleak, with the understanding that it was only going to get worse.

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

Nah. I’ve had the odd idea for a crossover, but never got round to actually writing any of them.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Only once, and it was such a bloody odd one. Someone left this tl;dr comment on a fic - uh - ~critiquing~ the actions of the POV character in canon, even though it had absolutely no bearing on anything that was actually in the fic. It was so detached from the fic, in fact, I kind of suspect it was part of some longer screed c+p’d from somewhere else. Weird.

Do you write smut? if so what kind?

Yeah, when the mood hits. What kind really depends on the pairing. I’m quite happy to write anything from sweet vanilla first time cuddle-sex, to filthy rough shameless hate-sex.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge, though I should probably check those mirror sites that pinch folks’ fics en masse. I keep losing the links, though.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! My NATM fics have been translated by a few people.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No. I think if I ever tried, I would drive my poor co-author to distraction!

What’s your all time favorite ship?

What a question! It really does depend on what I’m hyperfixating on at that moment, but there are definitely some I find myself coming back to time and again: Squall/Seifer, Zidane/Garnet, Sam/Frodo, Brutus/Cassius, Marcus/Esca... those are the ones that spring immediately to mind. <3

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

Oh... too many to even think about.

What are your writing strengths?

Gosh, that’s a hard one. I think I do characterisation pretty well. And on a good day, I think my description and scene-setting is strong.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Well, on a bad day, I think my description and scene-setting is florid and pedantic.

But above all, PLOTS. What the hell are they all about?!! (Hence why I write one-shots. XD)

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

Like most things, I think moderation is key. A word or phrase used judiciously is fine, especially if it’s one that your readers will be familiar with from canon, or one whose meaning can be easily worked out from context. Translation notes at the end or mouseover text can also be good aids in these cases. But I wouldn’t go writing whole chunks of conversation in another language, even if it was a real language I knew well. When a writer does that, they’re not serving the story, they’re just showing off how clever they think they are. Above all, writing is about communication, and if you start put up barriers like that, you’re cutting off communication with the reader.

Actually, that reminds me, I was going to go back and add a translation note for some Elvish phrases in a recent fic.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Heh. I think if we’re going right the way back, my first fandom was technically historical RPF (Bonnie Prince Charlie/Flora MacDonald DON’T JUDGE ME). I think the first fandom I ever posted fic online for was actually Final Fantasy VII.

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

As far as actual fanfiction goes, to this day I still think The Pirates! In an Adventure With Origin Stories is one of the most absolute fun things I’ve ever written. :D I’m also still very proud of my original fic from last year, The Revelation of Brother Eadwine (tropey monk porn and dirty marginalia, if that’s of any interest!).

I tag: @di-daydreamer, @themalhambird, @bryndeavour, @pudentilla, @chiropteracupola.

#meme #fanfiction #my fic

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ptw30 · 4 years

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Getting objective about your data - or SEO in the VLD fandom

So I’ve been tagged on a few things recently, though I thought I’d address it.

If you’re looking to understand what your followers like or brought in terms of merch or just trying to get a sense of control in the world - go ahead and do a fan survey. More power to you!

The problem is - you’re not getting any clean data. You’re getting information from those who follow you, and these people are biased. You’re not getting an overview of any meaningful data, and trust me. My sister works for a large, global conglomerate in marketing and sales, and I was a content marketer at a large global company that literally made its business in data.

So either big companies have this info or they employ major corporations - Kelton, Deloitte etc. - who get them this data. And this on top of focus groups and other market research that companies as big as say, DreamWorks, does (or should do).

So no worries! Major companies know this data already.

If you want meaningful data - you need to get an objective view. But depending upon your end result, there are other ways to measure how popular certain characters and/or the demand for certain answers.

Like SEO keywords.

I’m a content marketer/strategist, so it’s my job to research keywords to find popular words and then incorporate those words into content, like blogs and web pages. I use SEMrush as my favorite SEO keyword platform, which is one of the most robust with more than 16 billion keywords.

So I sought organic research to see what you get when you type in Voltron. Read on to find out what I found.

Okay, this is daunting spreadsheet, so I’ll break it down for you.

Circled below are the keywords that people type into Google that are associated with “voltron.”

Next, we have the average searches per month (this is one set of numbers you want to focus on).

Then we have the number of web pages where these words are located.

Finally, SEMrush focuses on the cluster of words that are associated from Voltron. Look below at Shiro. Yes, fans actually type “shire” many times, not Shiro. *snort* Nice job, auto-correct.

Okay, so what does all this mean, Dev?

Simply put - Shiro gets 12,100 searches per month (on average). Keith gets 22,200 and Lance gets 18,100. Now, there are a few important item to note here before you declare your favorite the winner of search results (or you throw the computer because your favorite just isn’t a “fan” favorite).

“Voltron” doesn’t just refer to VLD. It refers to all Voltron searches, so that means - Keith, Lance, Allura, Pidge, and Hunk are all getting hits from searches on DotU and VLD. Shiro? Only VLD (unless people are looking for Sven’s name and think it’s Shiro).

That also accounts to why Lance, Keith, and other characters have so many more web pages with “[paladin name] voltron” inside - because they have more than 30 years of content. But don’t worry. When we click on that side “Shire” button -

Boom. You find lots more web pages dedicated to my favorite paladin.

(In content marketing, all those little numbers I didn’t circle mean stuff - like how hard it is to rank, the cost per click on paid ads, and the competition on a word. The job of the content strategist is to help find the keywords that have the highest search volume with a good number of search results - without drowning in a lot of competition.)

Now, I did a quick search on DreamWorks.com to see what they rank, and that’s a whole ‘nother round of information. But it’s not really worth going into at the moment because a) the keywords they rank on are mostly their movies and b) fans generally create communities. Thus, you’re more likely to listen to other fans about marketing messages than you are the official web page of a channel/producer.

(But in relation to DWTV - TrollHunters is actually the highest draw of DW’s TV shows, for obvious reasons, followed closely by She-Ra.)

TL;DR: Shiro, a new character in VLD, was able to get more than 12,100 searches in a month, compared to characters who have been around for literally three decades. Plus - his action figure was seemingly very in demand, since it’s literally one of the biggest searches for that character.

And before anyone asks, here’s Lotor’s numbers -

#voltron #it's a marketing thing #vld #numbers #seo #shiro #lotor #keith #lance #voltron legendary defender

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