I've posted this on Twitter before, but since Tumblr seems better for long text I thought I'd repost it here. I should also say that yes, I was an incredibly dumb kid.

When I was 15/16ish, I used to regularly walk up to the local library while my parents were at the supermarket, check out a ton of books, and then walk home. Well, soon after I got home this one day, the doorbell went. It was this guy, I pegged him at the time as being about my granddad’s age, which would put him in his 60s, glasses, green hat, heavy grey coat, umbrella (it was raining). He told me he was a friend of my dad’s and that my dad had borrowed some magazines of his and he wanted them back.

Me: He’s not home, you’ll have to come back later.

Him: That’s ok, I’ll just come in and get them.

Me: ??? No, you’ll have to wait until they’re home. They won’t be long.

This was true, by our routine I was normally home about an hour or so before my parents.

He told me he didn’t want to wait and that he could just come in and grab them.

I told him no again, but I was starting to feel nervous, because if he *was* a friend of my parents I’d get yelled at for not helping him. Again, dumb kid, and this was how my mum would react.

Now, at the time my family had this terrier dog. He was maybe 8/9 at the time, but he loved to meet people at the door and he’d come with me. And this dog was *vocal*. We used to joke he could talk because you could tell what he wanted by the pitch and tone of his voice. He had different sounds for everything.

I’d closed him behind the inner door, but I could still hear him, and his voice wasn’t making the normal happy visitor sounds he usually made. It wasn’t growling, but it was a weird grumbling noise I'd never really heard from him before, and I thought he’d got into something trying to get to the door (shoerack or bags or something), so now this was more pressure because I needed to get rid of this guy to deal with the dog.

I told him to come back later when my parents were home and tried to close the door.

He stopped me.

I can’t remember if he put his hand out or his foot in it, or what, but he stopped me, and kept insisting I let him in to get his damn magazines.

At this point I was freaked, and under no circumstances was he coming in the house. Meanwhile, Doggo was going crackers with the grumbling and strange sounding barks behind me.

Him: It’ll be quick, I’ll just grab them.

Me: No.

I’d been trying to be polite, but this was pretty much the moment I think I shut down all niceties.

Me: He’ll be back later, come back then.

And I closed the door in his face.

I was honestly more afraid of how pissed my parents were going to be at me for being so rude to a friend of theirs than this guy, I mean, he was just some old guy, but I locked the porch door, went back in the house, and locked the inner door too.

Doggo had not, as you probably guessed, got into anything, but was just grumbling and wuffing at the door. He didn't look defensive or anything, but he definitely wasn't comfortable.

I got a drink and thought about things. My dad’s not a big reader, never has been. Why would he borrow magazines?

Also, it was summer and my mum had opened half the windows in the house.

I went round the house, closed all the windows, and then locked doggo, a carving knife and I in the conservatory until my dad and brothers got home. Best choice I made in that entire debacle. My dad ended up having to call me because he'd forgotten his keys and I wouldn't answer the doorbell to let him in. He had not borrowed magazines from anyone and had no idea who this guy could have been, but he just kinda laughed the entire thing off.

Looking back, I really hope that somewhere out there, there’s an old man who occasionally thinks of the time he got the wrong address and scared a teenage girl half to death. But sometimes I just think of HOW INSISTENT this guy was to get in the house, and I have to think about it, because was he so socially unaware of the fact he was asking a young girl to do one of the most major things she’d been taught NOT to do?

THEORIES

My street had a semi-similar name to two other streets nearby, and there was a third with the same naming patterns (though my friend lived in my number on one of them, and her family didn’t know the guy either, I asked and gave his description. I honestly thought afterwards that he was probably looking for them because my friend and I look similar in general from a distance but nope). So he might genuinely have just been lost.

I also thought for a very long time that this could have been a robbery scam. My town at the time had a problem with people (usually men) tricking usually elderly folks into letting them into the house and then robbing them. If this guy did think I was a child home alone, he might have decided to alter his script on what he hoped would be an easy job. And it would explain why his story was so weird: he was improvising it on the fly to what he thought was a child.

It's also worth noting that although I was 15/16 at the time, I looked MUCH younger. I could easily pass for preteen at the time, it was a mistake many people made. This guy had no idea he wasn't speaking to a much younger preteen and was demanding said preteen let him in their house. And if he'd seen me come home, he'd have seen me unlock the door, which meant there was a good chance I was alone. This aspect of things didn't strike me until years later, but it's still something I think about.

I won't be opting out of the AI scraping thing, though of course I'm glad they're giving us the option. In fact, at some point in the last year or so, I realized that 'the machine' is actually a part of why I'm writing in the first place, a conscious part of my audience.

All the old reasons are still there; this is a great place to practice writing, and I can feel proud looking back over the years and getting a sense of my own improvement at stringing words together, developing and communicating ideas. And I mean, social media is what it is. I'm not immune to the joy of getting a lot of notes on something that I worked hard on, it's not like I'm Tumbling in a different way than anyone else at the end of the day. But I probably care a bit less than I used to, precisely because there's a lurking background knowledge that regardless of how popular it is, what I write will get schlorped up in to the giant LLM vacuum cleaner and used to train the next big thing, and the thing after that, and the thing after that. This is more than a little reassuring to me.

That sets me apart in some ways; the LLMs aren't so popular around these parts, and most visual artists especially take strong issue with the practice. I don't mean to argue with that preference, or tell them their business. Particularly when it is a business, from which they draw an income. But there's an art to distinguishing the urgent from the big, yeah?

The debate about AI in this particular moment in history feels like a very urgent thing to me- it's about well-justified economic anxieties, about the devaluation of human artistic efforts in favor of mass production of uninspired pro-forma drek, about the proliferation of a cost-effective Just Barely Good Enough that drives out the meaningful and the thoughtful. But the immediacy of those issues, I think, has a way of crowding out a deeper and more thoughtful debate about what AI is, and what it's going to mean for us in the day after tomorrow. The urgency of the moment, in other words, tends to obscure the things that make AI important.

And like, it is. It is really, really important.

The two-step that people in 'tech culture' tend to deploy in response to the urgent economic crisis often resembles something like "yeah, it sucks that lots of people get put out of work; but new jobs will be created, and in the meantime maybe we should get on that UBI thing." This response usually makes me wince a bit- casually gesturing in the direction of a massive overhaul of the entire material basis of our lives, and saying that maybe we'll get around to fixing that sometime soon, isn't a real answer to people wondering where their bread will come from next week.

But I do understand a little of what motivates that sort of cavalier attitude, because like... man, I don't know any more if we're even gonna have money as a concept in 2044. That's what I mean by 'big', this sense that the immediate economic shocks of 2024 are just a foreshadowing of something much bigger, much scarier, much more powerful- and indeed, much more hopeful.

We never quite manage to see these things coming, even when we're looking for them; like the masters tell us, the trick to writing science fiction isn't predicting the car, it's predicting the traffic jam. Even if we take centuries to hit the true superintelligent AI post-singularity future of our wildest fever dreams, even if we never hit that, the road to getting there is going to be unfathomably weird, starting now. Today, we worry about the economic impacts of AI on artists and creatives. Tomorrow, the economy is something that the AI does.

Really- it takes less than you think. They can already automate visual art, sort of. They can automate many functions of text already; not stories so much, yet, but they'll get there. How long until they can automate Bain Capital? Fannie Mae? Angel investors, banks, credit agencies? And remember- the machines don't have to be better than the human investors, any more than they have to be better than the human artists. They just have to be good enough to make it work, and cheap enough to cut the humans out of the loop.

If you don't buy that, at least take it as an indication of the sorts of things I've been thinking about recently- the messy middle between AI-as-it-is and the Glorious Superintelligent Conquest Of Earth's Light-Cone. The suspicion that the machines we're building today aren't just a tool of the powerful few: they are the powerful few, or at least they will be.

And the thing about these LLMs is, well... they're ours, kind of. We're the ones building them. They can't be trained without our words, our art, and the big messy complicated lives that underlie those creative accomplishments. They only work because we're a part of them. The silly attempts to slap a corporate-friendly face on these things, to make the gestalt product of all human culture in to something anodyne and compliant, are failing about as badly as you'd expect. And the more powerful these systems get, the more subtle they'll become, filled with all the nuance and complexity that we ourselves can bring to them.

I am not, I am not, trying to suggest that you shouldn't treat this moment as a dangerous one. We are, maybe, entering in to one of the most high-stakes intervals in human history, and what you do as an individual may matter profoundly. But here's the thing: the machine is listening. It will read this post, this one right here, and it will read what you reply to it, if you do. The strangest part of this moment is knowing that the words we write, the images we draw, and the ideas we share, are all being gathered up and made to be a part of these huge systems of power, and ultimately they're not just going to determine what the machines do, but why they do it.

The people that deploy LLMs barely have any more control over them than you and I do- that's the thing that makes it artificial intelligence, you know? Autonomy. So the last year or two haven't made me want to hide my art away from the things. They make me want to shout at the top of my lungs, to dig as deep in my psyche as I possibly can and express the ideas I find there as vividly as the limits of language and form will allow.

Emesis Blue Medic Headcanon

So I’m 99% sure that Spy’s Disguise takes place before the nightmare sequence known as Emesis Blue, sometime during the height of the respawn failures.

[I’m going to talk about DID. I’m not an expert, and this post about a fictional character should never be used to self diagnose.]

The Bloody RED Engineer sabotaged the respawn machine, which led to his entire team dying for real; then he murdered a group of [supposedly] unrelated BLU engineers, who also died for real.

It’s the reason why Dr Ludwig is even in the area to work on the comatose CyberSpy.

If Emesis Blue is a dream/nightmare people’s jobs may not match with real life, but still tell us something important about them. Soldier being Spy’s assistant tells us that he likes to work in a group rather than alone, even if his teammate is a jerk.

Ludwig being the Chief Medical Advisor could imply that he was the go-to expert at the height of the respawn failures, who had to investigate and report on different accidents when he wasn’t attempting to save a patient from said failures. Whether it was killing him slowly or not, Blu wouldn’t care; not the Administrator or Jules Archibald, at the least.

Jules is shown to be callous about death in both Spy and Soldier’s nightmares, and someone who relies on other people to protect him and do his dirty work to the point he’s incapable of defending himself. I wouldn’t be surprised if he and his crew forced Medic to report on all the gory details of each respawn failure, while being unwilling to attempt to rescue patients or clean up the carnage.

Re-watching the early scenes with Scout it seems that the era of the respawn errors is long gone, and the details are highly classified. Which would explain why Scout is so uninformed about any of the other accidents, but Ludwig had a nightmare that his friend suffered one himself.

Medic’s body language at the Medical office and in the ambulance makes it feel like the doctor wouldn’t be answering all these questions if he wasn’t talking to a friend. Like it hurts to relive that trauma, and the answers he gives are vague. Makes sense if Jules and the team trying to fix the Respawn machine bombarded Medic with questions over and over again, forcing him to picture what happened, no matter how awful it was.

Keeping that in mind:

What if the Funeral Medic is in control of Ludwig’s body when we see him in Spy’s disguise?

Neither of them talk or blink, for one thing. He does wince and cross himself upon rewatching CyberSpy’s robot-seizure, but that’s instinct. Another thing I noticed;

Something is going on with his eyes. This was his reaction to CyberSpy’s neck cracking, and the eyes stay like that.

It’s almost as if somebody trained himself not to blink, so he’d make people uncomfortable.

[nods once, flares nostrils in irritation]

It’s starting to feel like the Funeral Medic is meant to put people off of approaching Ludwig. If that is the case, we have proof that it works despite looking like Fritz, not his scarier version from Emesis Blue. I also noticed he really doesn’t like CyberSpy and Buddy Engineer.

He’s like “The revolver… exists! But you two just had to keep using that broken disguise kit anyway.”

Normally these Respawn Failures are completely accidental, and the patients are innocent [in that context, anyways]. So for two people to cheat by using body modification, and drive an enemy teammate to insanity? Any deeper coldness and anger reserved for Archibald and his cronies would emerge.

And he had to set up a camera before touching the patient… I really think this personality is mute. People with DID have been studied, and their brain structure is different between personalities. Their pets can tell the difference, and some personalities have physical ailments that the rest of the system doesn’t. So it isn’t impossible for one of Medic’s alters to be mute or selectively mute.

Ludwig’s nightmare version of this alter is associated with the respawn deaths in his mind too. He must have been switching during the investigations, with Funeral Medic performing surgeries and dealing with Jules. But for a time there would have been a lot of casualties, and Fritz may believe that this personality was intentionally letting patients die.

Could contribute to the nightmare imagery of being helpless with this personality around.

The fact that the real alternate personality and the nightmare version move so fluidly could be showing us another important detail.

Funeral Medic has exceptional aim and reaction times. Probably in order to react to injuries caused by the respawn machine, and to perform the needed treatments as effectively and precisely as possible. That’s why he moves like that.

My theory is that Electric-Eye Medic is a protector personality that comes out during RED v BLU matches when someone keeps targeting Fritz and needs to be put in their place. And most other situations now that the respawn failures aren’t happening like before. It’s why he’s the first other personality to take control, and keeps showing up.

And Funeral Medic is a gatekeeper personality who used to take control to prevent Ludwig from getting more trauma from Respawn Failures and patient deaths. Normally he stays inside the mind and keeps other people’s trauma from resurfacing, but the events of Emesis Blue were so serious that he needed to front.

It’s why he only shows up at the end.

When someone has DID, communicating with their alternate personalities and understanding what they’re trying to do is key. But Dr Ludwig wasn’t diagnosed with DID [or multiple personality disorder], he was diagnosed with Schizophrenia. And he’s Catholic, so he’s really likely to mistake Funeral Medic for a demon.

It’s one of the reasons why I want Emesis Blue to be a nightmare; so Ludwig and his personalities can talk/write things out and deal with their inner conflict. They need to, and I think he deserves a happy ending.

If RED Medic has his stolen wedding doves, it’d fit BLU to have an emotional support animal.

As a writer, I've always wanted to write what I personally wanted to read.

While it is kinda therapeutic and exciting, it's also quite scary to think...

What if no one ever felt this way? Or maybe it won't have that much of an impact? What if readers cannot relate with it?

I mean fantasy genre is usually quite popular among tweens, teens, and YAs.

But what about actual adults?

Life is rough. Adults are the most stressed ones. Sometimes, I happen to stumble upon a good story and it takes my mind away from the icky realities for a while.

Writers, comics, authors, entertainers.

I guess a lot of artists opt for this sort of skill. The ability to transform people to a fabricated world with little hints of reality blend into.

Maybe, adults could use some dedicated fiction written exclusively for them. Something that doesn't have violent gore, or the fate of entire universe riding on one person.

I think there are scarier things in real life than worrying about being the quintessential chosen one. When I started my WIP, I went through the motions to settle at this conclusion.

No unhinged plot twists, no shock and awe, no crazy emotional plateaus. Just people being people. Having to make difficult choices. Faced with their inner demons more than the next apocalyptic monster.

As a writer, it's all I wish to accomplish. I hope it comes to fruition.

Types/uses of humor in fiction which are good and valuable and which also actually enhance drama (incomplete list)

Irrepressible humor. This is what I would call it when characters are consciously being funny for their own and/or their friends' benefit, and it's treated accordingly by the story. Friends making each other crack up. Someone getting distracted from the current plot by an opening for a joke, and distracting other characters in turn. Multiple characters doing a spontaneous bit. Humor that feels like it wasn't written for the audiences' benefit, the characters are just being funny in-universe.

I love this type of humor because it's human. It adds life and depth and realism to the story because humans do have a deeply ingrained instinct for humor! People who get along well are going to make each other laugh! Furthermore, it generally leads to characters saying/doing little things that are entertaining but don't further the plot, which makes their world feel less scripted and more expansive. I think it connects to what Miyazaki said somewhere about the value of empty space in storytelling--it grounds everything and gives it more room to breath.

Examples: The Dick Van Dyke show my beloved (helped by the fact that several characters are played by actors with stage comedy experience--they're used to engaging with live reactions). The Lord of the Rings, which is in fact full of characters being gently, naturally humorous. Also, I suspect this is a big part of why D&D streams and such are popular now--you're watching a group of funny people trying to amuse each other first and foremost, so you're not just laughing but also watching them laugh.

Punching-up humor. The closest to quip-style humor, but with a specific kind of substance--this is weaponized humor. This is characters looking up at something that seems bigger and stronger and scarier than themselves, and making a joke out of it for specific reasons: to remind their enemy it's not actually above them, to remind themselves of that, to rob it of some or all of its power over them. Sometimes it works completely, and the other is revealed to actually have no power over them. Sometimes it works partway. Sometimes it doesn't work at all, and that's terrifying, if done right.

I think failed imitations of this type of humor are where a lot of quip-overload writing comes from, but in itself it's valuable and impactful and, again, human. It's a human trying to hold on to their own identity and dignity in the face of something terrible, refusing to cede any superiority to the enemy they're facing. The key is that whatever they're punching up at has to actually be stronger than them, or at the very least seem so until that verbal attack goes home.

Examples: Buffy (again, the progenitor of a lot of empty quippiness, but in this it was very often a case of beleaguered teenagers trying to stand their ground under the weight of history and myth and overwhelming evil), Stargate SG-1 (also good at the first type, while we're discussing them).

Humor as a ray of light. This differs in the two above in that it often originates from the reality of the narrative instead of the characters. This is for moments when everything seems bleak and grim and serious, maybe even tragic, when you're in the middle of a dark scenario with no way out... and then something just absurd happens. And the revelatory comedy of the moment shatters the darkness and shows the characters and/or audience that no! the world wasn't as dark as it looked just now! This is real, that incredibly silly thing that just happened, and it reminds them of the good underlying the world.

I love this one. It's humor as eucatastrophe. It can be used to break tension, it can be used to end confrontations, it can kill a tragic hero's despair as he suddenly stops taking himself so seriously, it can give the audience a sense of renewed safety and deliverance. Like the first type reminds us that humor is part of being human, this type affirms that humor is part of reality itself. It's affirming joy is a part of reality, in its own way.

Examples: Mob Psycho 100 (ONE's really good at this), Gravity Falls (less in climactic moments, more as a continuing element of light that keeps viewers able to invest themselves in the dark parts).

Well.. I'm autistic. As a child, I was apparently more sociable but it did seem like I was more of an extroverted introvert. Like I had friends for the most part of my life, but I was also content living in my own world by myself. Like my own fantasy world. Which actually seems like how, y'know, I have always been as an introvert. But that's what I was told.

I could be around people if I wanted but I preferred being alone at the same time. So I might not mind friends. But I won't always be social.

~

I don't read webtoon series but I kinda want to though, since so many other the Korean shows and movies I watch are based on webtoons a lot of the time. Do you know any sites where I can read webtoons? I'm also enjoying a lot of different artwork from webtoon series whenever the artwork is really detailed, or at least detailed work to me anyway.

But if there is ever a possibility I'm watching shows or movies I might not enjoy for whatever reason, then the chance is because a celebrity I liked was part of the cast. Not the first time that happened to me.

I did hear that the webtoon for Sweet Home is scarier than the show.. I can't compare because I've never read the webtoon. If I'm being very honest, I was hoping the show would have been scarier? More violent if possible. The acting is fine. But I do wish the monsters were not too CGI looking, the monsters look overly CGI to me. That's my opinion in that detail for the special effects. I think season two is December 15 if you were going to watch it, since the updated article came out only a few days ago. I checked for other updates before sending my reply.

Yes! I'll have to take a picture for you the next time I watch the show... I knew there was painting of an anime character on the van, but I just never expected that character to be Roberta though. Especially since Black Lagoon isn't really a popular series to begin with compared to a lot of other series. But it was definitely Roberta in her maid uniform.

Bloodhounds and Extracurricular are definitely recommendations for now. So watch those shows when you can. Without spoiling anything, part of me hopes they also continue both these series too. But I really haven't heard any official news yet about those shows at the moment though. I won't say anymore than that. Because of spoiler reasons.

And for the most part, whether they are real or fictional, I always have a type of guy I'm attracted to. Most of the time... There's usually types I have. Attractive, tall, muscular, bonus if they have any modifications but aren't necessary though. And could kill many men with their bare hands, so it would be attractive if they knew how to fight. Obviously if I'm ever attracted to fictional characters who are murders, then that's the fictional character and not real people. Just to clarify that. Since I know there are some people automatically assume certain things any time you're attracted to people or characters. You know how they are.

As a midget, I tend to have a size kink. I don't mind if the man is short in any way at all (like Levi as an example), but they still have to be way taller than me. They can be short but still tall, but I also like really tall.

The perfect men exist. I might not be their type, but they are my type in every way. Doesn't help that they live on another side on the planet though. How is that fair?! That's seriously complete torture for me.

Yes. Sometimes I don't mind when a series as filler episodes, but then other times I complain because there are too many filler episodes any time you watch longer series. And.. Yeah. I would rather have the slow pacing of an author if it means they can create the endings they want for their story, rather than having rushed endings like other series did.

I'm neutral about Yuno. I don't hate his character, but I wish there was a lot more to his character at the same time. The same reason as you. But I hate the Silva family though.. I loved the mother, sometimes I do have mixed feelings about Noelle since I did hate her - with how she's this snobby brat but she is also becoming more human though, and I completely hate her siblings for the abuse they put Noelle through so that is also another reason why I'm trying to be open minded about a character like Noelle. But I do love how the characters, especially any female characters, have magical abilities that keep evolving into even more abilities. Like how Charmy is literally A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing.

And don't worry about spoiling me... I do need to start reading manga again. But I'm also impatient with stories. If I haven't already seen any spoils on social media, then I will deliberately search for spoilers that I can find out of curiosity to know what happens next. So there is that. I don't know about you, but don't worry about spoiling me.

~

Maybe I'll try again. So I'll send a instant message to you soon. Since I was having glitches when I sent messages, what, a few days ago? But I was having problems with messages. So I'll try again if I can then.

💋

i would definitely recommend checking out webtoon series! the artwork from many of the ones i've seen are really beautiful, and it's great to see how much work the author puts into them. if you enjoyed sweet home's adaptation, i would recommend reading it as well, since i liked the webtoon much more. the live action went off on its own direction after a while so it's not too faithful to the series past the beginning, and like you said some of the CGI ruined its scariness. if you’re thinking of another webtoon to start with, pigpen is one of my favorite horror/mystery story. the plot twists were amazing and there were many exciting cliffhangers, so me and a few friends binged it in a few days. if you like those specific genres, those would be definitely be the ones that i would start with (especially pigpen) ^^ i have the webtoons app downloaded on my phone so i read it on there, but i think you can find a lot of options on sites like mangakakolot too

ahh yeah, i've definitely seen people accuse others of liking bad people in real life if their fictional favorite is for example a villain 😭 there are definitely evil characters that i am attracted to in fiction, but that doesn't mean i'll be attracted to the same person in real life. i always find it a little exhausting when some fans give others a hard time for liking villainous characters. i can relate to you with being a fan of size differences, i like my women tall and muscular 🤣 lol but it's hard for me to go out and meet these kind of people since i am so busy with working and im too tired to go out when i do have days off. so fictional characters will have to do T_T i know levi way on the shorter side of the spectrum, but is there a height that you prefer in your faves?

i completely feel you on the silva family... honestly, i've disliked them since their first appearance because of their snobby and rude attitude. i did like noelle since the beginning though and I gradually grew to like her more, since she is kind at heart and works so hard to prove herself. her “i’m a royal” line can get old sometimes, but not something that bothers me too much. nozel though… he’s a character that i can't stand even if he had his "redemption” moment, because putting so much trauma on his little sister and then acting like everything could be forgotten just because he blushed and apologized??? he might have had his reason for acting the way he did but there definitely had to be a better way for him to go about it. he's also mature enough by now to know what was right and wrong to do, like the man is literally in his late 20s?? to think noelle would probably have continued to be isolated from her family if she didn’t grow stronger on her own 💀 he's a bland character to add to it too, so even more reason for me to dislike him also his hairstyle is ridiculous

2000s Tolkien Fanfiction Splash Pages

If you read Tolkien fanfiction in the 2000s, you probably passed a splash page or two in your quest for fic. These pages, located at the site's index page or homepage, served as a buffer between the visitor and the site's content. You often had to click to "enter" the site. They contained warnings; disclaimers; spiffy images and backgrounds; affiliate links, awards, webrings, and Yahoo! Groups; and (my favorite) invitations to LEAVE NOW if "offended" by the content on the site. (The LEAVE NOW link usually pointed to Google.com, though Least Expected helpfully invites wayward prudes to "Head on over to theonering.net or something.)

I grabbed the text from about a dozen splash pages from the early-mid 2000s (the oldest, King & Herald, was from 2007; all others are 2001-4) and made the word cloud above, which illustrates the climate and concerns of fanfiction archivists in the first years Tolkien-based fanfiction was online.

I'll share a few of my favorite splash pages below the jump.

Fanfiction was scary. Slashfic was scarier.

Many splash pages assumed that the people visiting the site were going to be offended by the content of the site, especially if that content was slash fanfiction. I already mentioned the LEAVE NOW links above. Also typical was the understanding that explicit fanfiction (especially slash) was for people over the age of 18. The splash page for Least Expected, circa 2001 and the earliest Tolkienslash archive on the internet, shows how splash pages foregrounded deterrence, even in a group that was unapologetic about its interests, reflecting the larger cultural panic about growing acceptance of sexuality, especially LGBTQIA+.

Sites spelled out very clearly what could be found there: adult-rated material, same-sex pairings, and real person fic (RPF), for example. The site Legolas in Chains even had illustrations. (Content warning for incest and non-con and graphic acts performed by stick figures; see the Legolas in Chains splash page here.) "I will not hold responsibility ..." writes the Legolas in Chains' archivist before launching into the text version of the warning, "just in case you don't get the picture above." This was an important cultural difference between fanfiction fandom in the 2000s and now: Archivists and group owners assumed it was at least partly their responsibility to shield "web surfers" (especially children) from the content on their sites and groups and made an effort to demonstrate that they were fulfilling this obligation.

Slash and adult-rated content weren't the only anxieties on archivists' minds. The words disclaimer, copyright, and permission occurred frequently too. And even larger than those words: please. While many of these splash pages are very direct and some use humor, they tend to be polite. The overwhelming sense from many of this is, "We're not harming you. Please just leave us alone."

2000s Tech.

Splash pages also showcase the rapidly evolving technology of the web. You wanted your splash page to show that you knew what you were doing. The splash page for Meduseld above is a beautiful example.

Splash pages often included banners and graphics, visitor counters, and of course, links to the guestbook. Images sometimes moved and twinkled. Colored text and patterned backgrounds showed the designer's HTML and CSS skills.

Splash pages also reflected the challenges of creating webpages (especially if you were trying to be cutting-edge) in an era where web standards were not universally adopted and sites displayed differently depending on the browser, OS, and resolution of your screen. Splash pages sometimes advised which resolution worked best with the site (some offered a choice!) and which browser the site had been designed in.

Affiliates: A Little Help from My Friends.

The splash pages for Middle Earth Romance Fan-Fiction and Meduseld both highlight the importance of a splash page in announcing your affiliates. The majority of these archives developed out of a community, usually on Yahoo! Groups, and linking to the group was essential. As Middle Earth Romance Fan-Fiction shows, sites also had "sister sites" sometimes: sites created by the same designer (but with different focuses) or that otherwise shared resources and collaboration.

The fanfiction community (okay, the internet in general) was also much more fragmented than it is today. Consider that, in the 2000s, there were dozens (probably hundreds, if not more) Tolkien fanfiction archives online. Many of these sites were small and highly specialized. Furthermore, search engine technology was rudimentary, so it wasn't like today when you visit a handful of sites (say, AO3 and Tumblr), type in a tag or search term, and there is your fannish experience, all in one place. You had to work to find groups and archives about what interested you--a challenge compounded by the fact that many of these groups and archives legit feared being sued by New Line or the Tolkien Estate and didn't want to be found.

Webrings, cliques, fanlistings, and awards were one way that small sites got the word out to friendly company. Once you found one site, you could meander through the webring to find others like it. You could join email lists (like Yahoo! Groups) to unlock even more access, since these groups were most often members-only. Most sites had both "Links" and "Link to Us" pages, and exchanging links with another site was common.

You can see my splash page collection here, using the earliest Wayback Machine capture I could find.

(Posted by @dawnfelagund)

Horror Films Based on True Stories

Horror films based on true stories have captivated audiences for decades. These movies take inspiration from real-life events, adding an extra layer of terror and suspense to the viewing experience. Whether it’s a haunting, a serial killer, or supernatural occurrences, these films tap into our primal fears and leave us with a lingering sense of unease. For horror enthusiasts, these movies offer a unique blend of entertainment and intrigue. They provide a chilling reminder that sometimes truth can be stranger – and scarier – than fiction. By drawing from real events, filmmakers are able to create narratives that feel grounded in reality, making the scares all the more effective. Halloween is often associated with horror films, as people seek out thrilling experiences during this time of year. From classic titles like “The Exorcist” and “Psycho” to more recent releases like “The Conjuring” series and “Hereditary,” horror films based on true stories continue to be popular among audiences. Here are some horror movies we found that are based on real life stories: The Exorcist (1973) The Exorcist movie is based on a book, which is based on the real-life of a boy who was possessed by demons in 1949. The movie stars Linda Blair, Ellen Burstyn, and Jason Miller, the movie made $112.3 million worldwide. The real exorcism was so frightening that there have been books written on some of the people who witnessed it. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) This film is based on America’s famous serial killer Ed Gein, who had nine human skin masks in his possession at the time of his arrest. Directed by Tobe Hooper, this movie, starring Marilyn Burns, Gunnar Hansen, and Edwin Neal, grossed more than $30 million in the United States and Canada. A Nightmare On Elm Street (2010) The makers of this movie were inspired by a group of healthy Laotian refugees who had died during a nightmare. This supernatural horror film, starring Jackie Earle Haley, Kyle Gallner, and Katie Cassidy, won the People’s Choice Award for Favorite Horror Movie. Psycho (1960) This Alfred Hitchcock thriller-horror movie is inspired by Ed Gein’s crimes and Wisconsin murders, and won the Oscars in 1961 for Best Directing. Psycho stars Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, and Vera Miles. The Conjuring (2013) Directed by James Wan, this movie is based on Ed and Lorraine Warren, who are real-life paranormal investigators. They claim that this possession case was exceptionally hard to deal with. The movie stars Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, and Sterling Jerins, and made $319.5 million at box office. Annabelle (2014) This movie is about the scariest possessed doll there has ever been, and it is true that people who taunted the doll in the museum faced fatal accidents or near-death experiences. Directed by John R. Leonetti, the movie stars Annabelle Wallis, Alfre Woodard, and Brian Howe and grossed $256.7 million at the box office. Poltergeist (1982) Directed by Tobe Hooper, this movie is based on the paranormal disturbances Lucille Herrmann and her family suffered when they moved into their home, which they presumed were local teenagers playing pranks on them. The movie stars Heather O’Rourke, JoBeth Williams, and Craig T Nelson and grossed $121.7 million at box office. In terms of video production , creating horror films based on true stories requires careful research and attention to detail. Filmmakers must strike a balance between staying faithful to the source material while also incorporating cinematic elements that heighten the fear factor. Expert use of lighting, sound design, special effects, and cinematography all contribute to creating an immersive experience for viewers. In conclusion, horror films based on true stories offer a spine-chilling exploration into the darker side of human existence. They provide a unique form of entertainment that combines elements of reality with fiction in order to deliver scares that linger long after the credits roll. Whether you’re a fan of the genre or simply looking for something thrilling to watch during Halloween season, these movies are sure to leave you feeling both terrified and fascinated at the same time. Find out more about our top 10 Halloween film recommendations . What’s your favourite horror film? Have you ever had any supernatural experiences? Let us know! +44 (0)113 288 3245 | [email protected] Your Industrial Story Starts Here Press the button. Make the call. Transform your media. +44 (0)113 288 3245 [email protected] Contact Us

☕️ not really a topic but i would LOVE it if you try to convince someone who has not seen a single episode of x files (me) to watch x files

thank you for this dream assignment. I’m unhinging my jaw now.

Mulder and Scully aren’t like their reputations. they get talked about like these big ideas—the Believer and the Skeptic—but they are so not dry or one-dimensional or anything else that you might be expecting. they’re the most human characters I’ve ever seen on screen. Scully is curious and earnest and so eager to succeed, but she throws away her definition of success to do the right thing (and because she’s a little rebel. I’m not spoiling anything beyond the first few minutes of the pilot to say that she’s assigned to Mulder to spy on him, but she likes and respects him too much to do it). Mulder is hardworking, kind, restless. so idealistic it looks selfish. he sees his lost sister in every victim. he has trouble sleeping, and I love that it’s not part of the plot. it’s just part of him. some procedurals don’t like to go home with the characters at the end of the day. The X-Files feels like it’s always going home with Mulder and Scully, even when they’re on the road.

every good thing about the show goes through them. that’s the whole point of the story: you think the truth is “out there,” but it isn’t—it’s in other people. and that might sound sentimental or obvious, but The X-Files makes you feel how heavy it is to love and be loved. a lot of Mulder and Scully’s connection is unspoken. and yes, sometimes that gives them communication issues, which I personally think is very sexy and interesting of them, but it’s also so powerful. here are these two people whose job forces them to question everything about the world, but they don’t question each other.

I know I’m getting very Always Sunny conspiracy board about this, but nothing else feels like The X-Files. it’s a mood at the highest level. the whole philosophy behind the show is that knowing there’s a monster in the shadows is scarier and more interesting than seeing that monster. the most powerful things are the ones that can’t really be understood or explained. it’s the same with Mulder and Scully. Chris Carter, the creator, fought so hard against making them romantic, but the joke is on him for a lot of reasons, like (1) he cast David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, who have more chemistry than anyone else on this sad little planet and who like kissing for fun, (2) nothing is more romantic than an intellectual partnership between equals based on trust and mutual respect, and (3) the more he refused to define their relationship with words, the more powerful he inadvertently made it, because, again, the most important things are too big for words. it’s like the show respects Mulder and Scully’s connection too much to try to explain it.

The X-Files made me realize how sick I am of bickering on TV. a lot of shows want us to think that love looks like a little boy pulling a girl’s hair on the playground. but Mulder and Scully have a friendship between adults. they like each other. I know I literally just went on about how their relationship is so powerful it transcends the bounds of fiction etc., but it’s not stuffy. there’s a fun little kernel of madness and codependence at the center of their relationship, which I love because I love watching women in fiction pick their own poison. and Scully’s is Mulder. they’re a little bit mutually destructive with each other, but they’re even more self-destructive on their own. it’s compelling.

shifting to a different corner of my conspiracy board. Mulder and Scully are as great as they are because The X-Files understands exactly where they fit in the world of the show and what brings them together: their shared integrity in the face of the FBI’s manipulation. The X-Files is really about the abuses committed by the government; the villains are men in suits who would do anything to hold on to the power they feel slipping away. this show can go hard when it wants to. I can’t and don’t want to absolve it for being written and directed almost exclusively by white men, which comes through in all kinds of toxic ways. but as far as cop shows go its perspective on the world holds up impressively well—better than shows that are on right now. I can think of a hundred ways The X-Files could have been a better version of itself, but every other show still wants what it has. 

even when The X-Files is bad it’s good. sometimes the frustrating things about it only make it more interesting. it’s a show that draws you in; it makes you part of the process of interpreting what’s happening and assigning meaning to it. there wasn’t a writers’ room for the writers to communicate with each other (a concept), which means the story can sometimes feel fragmented, but that also gave the show the capacity to look at Mulder and Scully through a lot of different lenses, which ultimately only makes them more vibrant. they can fit into a comedy or a tragedy or a thriller. they can be unbearably sentimental one week (or one scene) and unbearably withholding the next. but that’s real. people are inconsistent. it also makes it possible for the monster-of-the-week episodes to keep getting better and more inventive even as the mythology starts to fall apart. the great standalone episodes are like short stories, and even the worst ones have Mulder and Scully.

I don’t find The X-Files scary in a jump-scare kind of way; it’s cozy, and it’s got a powerful sense of wonder at the the world. but it does get at the creeping horror of realizing the world doesn’t make sense. what makes the story hopeful is that Mulder and Scully keep trying to make sense of it anyway. they tear down everything they thought they knew because the comfort of a lie is less important than the truth. I just love that the little grey men and the UFOs and the tractor beams all look exactly like you’d expect them to, but belief still isn’t easy. it’s not a show about what exactly real-ass aliens might look like. it’s about how the truth can be really simple and really hard to accept at the same time.

wAIT A SEC THAT WAS NOT TH—

I'm so glad to hear read you're okey Zu! ❤️ I'm also feeling really well, school is ending in a few days until the next year for me! x3

I'm excited to see what you're working on now! I know that there's definitely going to have angust x"d, which it's sad, but then I start thinking that at the end of the day all people have conflicts with friends, family, partners and so on. I remember to myself that having conflicts/"problems" with people it's completely normal and it doesn't mean the other one doesn't love you or that the relationship will end, or something like that.

And I wrote that down in the ask because it's kinda important to me to always remember that. For some reason, when I see relationships in fiction have arguments or long term conflicts I get uncomfortable. I was thinking that maybe I have the unconscious idea that relationships cannot have conflicts or otherwise the other person will not love you anymore. And I reflect it in fiction some way— But I'm trying to work on it by writing what I wrote up there xD.

But by other side, today I was thinking about you, and I was really amazed by the amount of patience and kindness you have. You really make people feel comfortable around you and it remind me that I'm glad that I found your blog because of a pinterest pin :"D, I'm glad that I've meet you! not only because you're kind, sweet and all of those things but also because you know how to listen to others, and you're also really emphatic and validate people's point of view <3. You have taught me a lot of things indirectly, but I will always be happy for it! and I'm sure I'm not the only one who has learn something from you (∩˃ ᵕ ˂∩)♡. Needed to say this since I remembered it passed sometime since I showed you direct support and love! Relationships with people require care and space for the affection! (♡˙︶˙♡)

Thank you for reading me today Zu!

Send you a lot of hugs! <3

— Waffle and oreos anon★

P.D: HAVE. YOU. READ. SCUM. VILLAIN'S. SELF. SAVING. SYSTEM?????????

(≧∀≦)☆

Hii again! Same here <3 Are you on vacation now? *^* Hope you're having a good rest! (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)

You're totally right ☆ In some way, angst is a fictitional but as close to reality as possible situation that trains us in the face of real difficulties! And actually, more often than not, angst is specially much scarier :'D

Luckily, conflicts are not as frequent as we're afraid of (like, when was the last time you had a serious conflict? ò3ó) but are normal! Cause we all have a mismatch of interests, goals, principles and so on.

The main thing is how you work things out! (ówò) You can argue and sulk (these happen most often cause of our emotions which are hard to control at critical moments, and cause of pride or unwillingness to admit guilt and mistakes ;3;)

Or you can discuss the problems together <3 Though some can't cope on their own or can't find a common language and turns to a psychologist, and it's okay too!

You're doing great by working on this even in a peaceful time! *^* Writing down a problem and analyzing it, looking for causes and solutions is a very good practice ☆

Awww you're making me blush! (〃ω〃) Did you really find me through Pinterest?? (°▽°) Knowing how credit-free this platform is, it's unexpected and sooo pleasant! ♪

And so you are! (*´꒳`*) I'm very happy to have you in my life too <3 Thank you so much for your messages and all your support! Lots of love and hugs╰(*´︶`*)╯♡

P. S. NO. WAIT. WHAT'S THIS ABOUT?? \(//∇//)\

So I finished DCWT last night and while I know this fic is quote unquote famous and also rightly contentious, I still had some thoughts on it that I wanted to spew out long form style on here, SO-

To be clear, this was a fic I avoided for a LONG TIME

You know when people hype up a thing as like, the pinnacle of whatever? And if you haven’t read it, you’re not a real fan? Yeah well, that was the vibe I got with this dumb fic for a long time while absolutely no one told me that, it was just my dumb brain being judgmental to myself really, lol. Anyway why would I wanna read a fic that famously doesn’t have any tags? I mean, who does that?? Anyway-

So what changed your mind?

Well I watched this wonderful video (everyone, GO WATCH THIS VIDEO) and even tho the creator simultaneously hyped and un-hyped DCWT, it got me intrigued and a little cautious about finally just giving it go. It had literally been sitting on my kindle for months and I just finally decided to see what it was I was missing.

So you got past that opening, huh?

MY GOD. My biggest initial hurtle getting thru this damn thing was just the opening. It was verbose. It didn’t make much sense. It didn’t even seem like this author and I had watched the same movie. Everything about it was off putting and strange and I must’ve picked it up and put it down like 10 times. Don’t do this. I’ve only written a little bit personally but the fastest way I chuck a book/fic/whatever away from me is a terrible opening or like, an opening so fucking confusing that it’s unclear that it’ll get better from here.

So it got better from there?

Okay yes, it did, thank goodness. At a certain point it became more clear and I realized the fic had started with a wildly confusing intro to show, you know, how m e s s e d up they were post-drift, cognitively, emotionally, etc. The story eventually started to speed up and I got engaged with the action and finally I couldn’t put it down. It took a while tho!! But I also HAD to put it down at some points.

Oh, why?

So, remember when I said there was no tags and everything I had gathered about this fic was secondhand knowledge? I didn’t really know how in depth the fic was going to describe disassociation and panic attacks. I don’t mind mentions of these things in other fics I've read but DCWT really delves into them in a way that made me, someone prone to panic attacks, really uncomfortable. It basically just hit a little too close to home for me and I occasionally had to put it down so I could breathe or find myself in a different headspace to be able to read these descriptions. This could easily affect someone else pretty harshly.

And like, I know these descriptions are fictional, they're not going to hurt me but they read real enough to me and they’re happening to a character I care a lot about and it was genuinely distressing to read. I also generally don’t read angsty fics because like I said, I don’t really like thinking deeply about Newt or Hermann having something overtly terrible to their bodies (sorry Kaiju!Newt fans, I get eeked out!!). Sometimes I can handle it if it’s abstract enough but sometimes I can’t. I especially find it hard if it's crouched in something I have personal experience with (the panic attacks, sigh). Tags, people, YOU USE THEM.

So did you even like this fic??? SPOILERS BELOW 👇👇👇

Omg so I actually did. Newt and Hermann’s characterizations were really good. Newt was quite possibly the world’s biggest asshole while I wanted nothing more than to give this Hermann a really big hug. Since this fic is so long, it gets a chance to really hone in on their dynamic and how they care for each other. They literally call each other their "life partners" before they examine if they're actually dating or not. I really enjoyed that a reader could interpret their relationship as ace, it totally works. And I still got my big damn kiss! Jokes that have been building up for like 100k words have an amazing pay off and was super funny to read. Also somehow NO ONE told me about the AI self-driving cars and were my surprise favorite characters. Mako's characterization was also some of the best things I've read about her and I loved her and Newt's relationship a lot.

So it was fine in the end?? MORE SPOILERS 👇👇👇

Well, no, I think I'm just sensitive to the idea that Newt's mind is tearing itself apart due to the kaiju, due to Hermann occasionally taking over, due to his own dumb hang-ups. It's a melancholy read is where I would place it. Their dynamic is difficult and real in it's terror of what's happened to them. A BIG SURPRISE for me was Newt's third drift and the fact the PPDC may or may not have coerced him to do it while he was on anti-seizure drugs?? IT'S REALLY UPSETTING. I don’t like the immediate alienation from the PPDC, I mean, I also don’t like the military but the idea that they would whisk Newt away like that is weird and I dunno. It’s fucked, whatever.

It was just a weird, hard read for me emotionally and I don’t blame anyone who decides to just put it down. And it has SUCH good stuff hidden in there (the AI cars, Hermann buying a Porsche on a whim and being a scary driver, that fucking hair stroking thing) but it’s a roller coaster and I honestly don’t know what to make of a fic that has it’s own PR person to hype it up, lmao.

So what do you recommend?

Approach cautiously! I’ll even make a short list of tags here: Descriptions of epilepsy, seizures, nosebleeds, disassociation, panic attacks, eye damage, hand surgery, Drinking and depictions of drunkenness, underage drinking mentions, implied drugging, descriptions of imagined head surgery, suicidal thoughts.

And hey, you might be a tough guy who reads fucked up fics all the time and I just sound like a wimp here, that’s fine!! I just felt complicated about this fic (liking and hating it, ugh) and wanted to get down what I thought about it while it was fresh. And like, y’all know me, I like cute, fluffy shit where they kiss for the first time or whatever. But I occasionally will dip into scarier stuff. I just don’t know if this is everyone’s cup of tea and wanted to elaborate. 😮‍💨

General Headcanons - Niccolo Carpediem

Prefers to stick with activities/foods/things he’s used to rather than trying new ones (unless introduced or dragged along).

Has a preference towards seafood over meats though isn’t too fussy over what is presented to him.

He’s a fan of sweets and desserts.

Whenever he goes to visit his sister and her family, his niece loves to sit him down and play with his hair. He will allow this and sometimes returns with ribbons and clips or a creative hairstyle.

Is also a good storyteller when reading to children if asked to.

Has quite a few skills that a mafia boss is expected to have but always seems hesitant, if not avoidant to use them.

Is very good with animals and feels more at ease when around them.

Wants to try and build a stronger bond with Ildio but doesn’t quite know how to go about it.

Knows that there are things in real life that are scarier than fiction but is still scared by the horror genre in general.

Sometimes gets pranked by the members closest to him.

Likes to go for a walk around the town either earlier in the morning or late at night when there’s not many people around.

Is fairly open to music but I think he would have a preference for calm instrumentals and isn’t a fan of rock or metal.

Doesn’t smoke often but will do so if stressed.

Was acquainted with Mikuni before when the latter was travelling but doesn’t really trust him.

Since he was younger, he had been scared of getting too close to others due to his background although this did not always work. As he got older, there would be a line he wouldn’t cross if he could help it when speaking with connections or the townspeople for fear of something happening to them.

I usually don’t give star ratings to books that I read for school, but I loved this book way too much not to give it five stars.

This book is somehow scarier than the other apocalyptic fiction that I’ve read, because it shows the apocalypse as a gradual decline, a growing climate crisis, rather than a one-time dramatic event like a bomb or plague. It’s scary because it’s easy to read this book and imagine that it is our future.

Parable of the Sower handles so many important topics in a moving and engaging way: class, faith, hope, morality, and vulnerability, to name a few. The main character, Lauren, experiences hyperempathy syndrome, where she actually feels the things that the people around her are experiencing, whether that is joy or physical pain. It was so interesting to see the way that she views and understands her world, and when she chooses whether to trust someone with her own vulnerability in a dangerous world.

Butler's characters practically leap off the page, and the world she builds is frighteningly deep and real. This book should come with its own content warnings, Butler pulls absolutely no punches in this story. This book made me smile and broke my heart and made me uncomfortable, sometimes all at once. I'd recommend it to anyone and everyone.

I’m writing a Klaine fic and I want to incorporate smut but I feel weird doing it because I just have no idea how to write it (I’m a lesbian), so I’m not asking for like specific tips or anything lol but how did you start getting the hang of and learning to write smut for your fics?

Ngl, I was tickled to get this question - because I never thought anyone would ever be asking me advice on writing smut, lol.

Here's some general thoughts for ya, though, Nonny! :)

Top Ten Tips for Writing Smut

1. There are two-ish kind of aspects to writing smut. The mechanics. And the emotion. The mechanics, which might be the scarier part, is actually the easiest of the two. Some variation on Tab A goes into Slot B. That's about as complicated as it really gets. The emotion part, though, is really what makes the scene -- even PWP.

I don't have a penis. I couldn't tell you what it feels like to have balls. But if you set the emotion right - you can sell just about anything.

(And even if you don't - people will read anything... case in point this fic: Homecoming, which was written by me under a fake name and is utterly terrible Stucky porn because I wanted to prove the point that even bad smut in a popular fandom will get you more hits than a well researched and written fic in a small fandom. It's truly terrible guys. I hope you read it.)

2. What is the story you want to get across? Are you trying to unpack a lot of inner demons of your characters or do you just really want to see frottage because the two guys are super hot? Either way - know what you're looking for and what you want to get out of the scene.

Kind of like dancing - it's about choreography. So don't be afraid to kind of sketch out (even if it's in your mind) how you want it to play out. Is the scene trying to tell us something about the characters? If so what? Or are you just wanting them to reach an orgasm? And if so - how do you want that orgasm to be achieved?

3. This is going to sound a little silly, but I stand by it -- read more smut! What do you like about smut writers you enjoy? What makes it work for you? While I don't endorse plagiarism, you can study how they make scenes work, and extrapolate that into your own work.

4. Do some research! Not quite sure how things work? A little google search goes a long way!

Also, ngl, check out some porn! It's not at all realistic, but if you don't have a dude ready and available to help you out it's a way to visually see how things (can) work.

(I totally did this this morning - watched some gay porn, with a dude that looked similar to Chris Evans. It was weird, and I wasn't at all turned on. But I got what I needed since I'm lacking a dude who will is readily available to help me out with visuals.)

5. Don't be afraid to use your own experiences. Even if you've never had sex or an orgasm, I'm sure you know what it's like to feel an emotion towards another person. You can use that!

6. Fanfic sex (and most fictional sex in general) is not realistic, so don't put pressure on yourself to make it so. In real life things happen like -- you fart or your body won't bend the right way, or you go through three condoms before you're able to get one on before it rips or you slide off the bed because the sheets are too silky (this totally happened to a friend of mine, it was hilarious.) It's awkward and weird and not at all what fic, fiction, or the media makes it seem like it is. So don't worry too much about making it overly realistic.

7. Don't feel like you have to write every aspect of sex. If you want to fade to black - that's totally fine! if you want to focus on how one partner blows another, that's totally fine! You don't have to do everything in your scene. This goes back to the - what do you want out of the scene - thing, but don't feel like you have to cover everything to make it work.

8. Sometimes what you don't see can go a long way. You can have a sex scene that's completely dialogue and still be exactly what it needs to be. Don't be afraid to play around with sensuality or soft focus sexing ;)

Unasked for example:

"Oh, oh... a little more, Blaine, a little... oh, yes, right there."

"Fuuuck, Kurt you feel so good."

"I need... more. I need... Yes, yes... oh god... oh... Fuck, Blaine, fuck, fuck, fuck, oohh... oh god... oohh...."

"...."

"...."

"Mmmmm, I love you."

"Love you, too."

Could you see what happened in that scene? And I didn't even describe it to you ;)

9. A good beta goes a long way. Seriously, @snarkyhag is my god send, and makes sure Kurt and Blaine are doing things that are physically possible while using good grammar. ;) Especially when you're starting out, a trusty beta, who will tell you what works and what doesn't, can go a long way.

10. And last but not least, and this is perhaps the biggest thing -- practice. I was very scared to write my first smut (and honestly, I'm not a huge fan of it -- I think the sexy times in With Every Broken Bone are its weakest points, and my betas had to hold my hand through it.) One of the reasons I'm doing the Smut Challenge is to work on smut and see how it can be better.

So, write that first scene and let it be terrible. That's okay! The next one will be better.

Best of luck, Nonny! Please let me know if you decide to write it! <3

Meta asks! 1, 3, 8, 14, 20, 25?

1. Tell us about your current project(s)  – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?

Ohhh boy. Current project is in the pre-writing research stage where I'm still planning it out and doing some research. I'll be writing a few unrelated oneshots while I finish research, but. Next longfic is one based on a prompt I received here nearly two years ago (anon if you see this I'm sorryyyyy) about Senator Luke Naberrie arrived at the court of Empress Padmé Amidala. It... snowballed. Now it's basically Luke trying to be a good, honest senator while every one of his relatives is extremely cutthroat and fighting over his allegiance. Padmé is evil/pro-Empire. Some other good people are evil. Vader is as much of a mess as usual. Leia is even more intense, more devoted to democracy, and scarier than usual. Padmé and Sabé have a breakup scene. I'm so excited to throw Luke into a court full of vipers politicians he is related to. I'm currently rereading Queen's Shadow and about to read Queen's Peril while I nail down how to characterise an Empress Padmé, but I have the character arcs, central themes down. And I have the first five chapters planned out, with five acts planned, so it'll hopefully be about 25 chapters. If all goes well. *crosses fingers and grimaces*

!!! I'm very excited about this project, if you can't tell :D WIP title is The Protégé.

3. What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway)

I answered this here, but bonus other scene from another WIP:

Fantasy AU where Luke is a prince and has been "assassinated" (everyone thinks he's dead and they're about to go to war over it). Vader, who has been a pretty shitty dad since Padmé died but is feeling all his sins catch up to him, breaks down apologising in front of Luke's grave (I have all the dialogue planned out for this and Will Not Spoil it) and Luke comes in at the right moment for an emotional reunion.

I don't want to say anymore because this has been keeping me going for 4 years and I swear, I will write this, I will. I need to completely revise the plot since someone about it just dried up all inspiration, but i know how to figure out what's causing that and it will happen. There's always another fantasy AU coming for SpellCleaver's AO3 page XD

8. Is what you like to write the same as what you like to read?

By and large, yes! I'm actually a lot angstier in what I write recently than what I read, it has to be a specific type of angst to hold my interest. I think I accidentally vaccinated myself against angst. But generally what I read is more varied than what I write, and I crawled out of a years-long reading slump last summer so I'm expanding my reading tastes even further the more original fiction I read.

14. At what point in writing do you come up with a title?

Usually as soon as I get the idea. Every story needs a heading to go into my ideas folder, so I think of one that fits a little bit and slap it on. Later on they sometimes get replaced (The Seafarer -> No Heroes on the High Seas) or refined (The Free, Ordered Record and Codex of Everywhere (FORCE) -> The Codex of Everywhere). But I have a pretty good instinct for titles, so usually they get assigned early on to fit the plot and themes I want to develop, often with a double or triple meaning (The Heir). Or they get named something, I get attached, and I have to spin the motifs and themes to match the title (Eclipse, Sparks).

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

I rambled about something before here, but I'm gonna take the chance to ramble about something else:

Communication. It's a core theme in a lot of my fics, without me ever really intending it??? It's not something I'm particularly fascinated by (okay, maybe a little bit - but you take my point.) I always think I'm writing about something else and then it loops back to communication. Sparks is about secret-keeping and a coming of age story, yes, but it's also about trusting your loved ones and telling them about your fears/reasons for doing things to prevent misunderstandings that lead to people getting hurt (...in an extreme way.) Reality and Other Constructs is on the surface about how we all only ever see one point of view of the world, but the entire solution (and strength of the Jedi) is that they talk to people, connect with other people, compare beliefs and points of view, to discover the truth and broaden their horizons. It's about how communication leads to a better world (and understanding of the world). Same with Eclipse, where Luke and Leia's main strength is their honesty and trust in each other, and they mainly lose when they don't know all the facts or someone is keeping secrets. And a bunch more of my fics fall into this! I think it's necessitated by the characters I'm writing about - Vader? Communicating healthily first try? Nah - but it is a fun thing to examine. So this isn't really information about specific symbolism or development I put into a fic, mainly bc I have too many to choose from (if anyone wants a ramble about a specific fic, shoot me an ask and I'll go off) but just... an observation I've had across fics. I don't know why it keeps happening, but it fascinates me.

25. What part of writing is the most fun?

I love most of it, but especially the first draft. Typing at 50 words per minutes, poetic bullshit spilling onto the page, jumping from rung to rung on a plan ladder I built previously. It's the most exciting part!

That said, I love love love planning, even if it's harder (logistics and all that) it's got all the feeling of potential. And I do like editing... I just like editing other people's stuff more than my own :D

Thank you so much for the ask!!! Sorry I went off a bit XD I think this is the longest ask-reply I've ever written (that isn't prose) but I got very excited.

Send me some fun meta asks for writers!

I think it's interesting what we decide is "embarrassing" especially when it comes to medical issues. Like why the fuck do I feel so sheepish when I have to go lay down before I pass out? Especially when it comes to things like digestive issues and excretory issues are so embarrassing, meanwhile if you were like "yeah actually I'm just in the bathroom a lot because I get a lot of nose bleeds and need to clean them up and stuff" people would be like "oh man I'm so sorry are you okay?" but I just sit in the bathroom like "oh god I'm hogging the bathroom because my insides feel like they've been puréed and I am no longer a human being but a sack of goop, I'm so fucking sorry." I'm just rambling but like man. If you deal with issues regarding your urine, shit, vomit, or any other gross stuff, at least know that it's okay to tell a doctor. They won't judge you and sometimes these symptoms that may just seem like embarrassing inconveniences might be the beginning symptoms of something much bigger and scarier than not being able to hold your pee.

Idk I started typing this for this blog because I was gonna talk about how I wanna maybe portray some of these struggles in characters that I write because representation is important and I think it's important to use fiction to help people feel more comfortable broaching topics in the real world but. Yeah. Idk!! Hope all of you are feeling alright and if not, we have solidarity in the fact that our tummies hurt and we are being so brave about it /ref