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chemicallady · 7 months

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Heyyy, would you possibly be able to do a Noah Sebastian story that is like a brothers best friend dynamic? I live eat and breathe this stuff lol

I WANNA FEEL LOVE AGAIN

Couple: Noah Sebastian x Fem!Reader

Content Warning: slight mention of sexual intercorse. Nothing too deep, I'm saving it for next Chapters

Summary: you're a real mess, your life is turning into a living hell, so your brother Matt convinces you to move in with him in LA and start working for the band he's taking care of

A/N: I dont wanna spoil to much in here, because... Well, you' ll see. English is not my native language and no one peer review this ff. It's gonna be a world of fun, I already know it!

Important! I don't know Noah or Matt or any of the real people portrayed un this story. This is fictional!

Enjoy then 😏

Ouch, I've lost myself again

You've always been around, unseen. Having a brother like Matt could be a blessing and a nightmare in equal parts. You were feeded with stories about gigs and musicians while grow up with your older brother, who is dear to you in a way that actually you cant explain. Matt as always been your twin flame even if you are younger than him. You grew up looking at him with a lot of respect and it broke your heart when he left Texas, moving to California. At the time you werent ready for the big change and your brother's friend were still a bit mysterious to you.

You were used to spend as much time as possible in his company, but with this fresh start for him, you just fell into the ordinary. Nothing against your life, by the way; your parents always supporting, best friends ready to drive you to the closer pub and deliver the best night possible, a lovely boyfriend who adored you in any meaning.

You loved the shit out of Shawn. He was your person, the one always there when you were in need. Your high school sweetheart. Maybe he wasnt your first kiss or your first fuck but he was the one who made you feel like it was worthy, living for someone else. The one who pushed you to improve yourself for your own sake, that helped you in finding a job for the local tattoo shop as a piercer when the school was over.

You did everything in your power to be the best girlfriend possible. You decoreted your shared flat in the warmest way possible. You turned down a good scholarship for that college in Montana, pissing your parents and brother for this lost opportunity. You gave up to your dream to be a writer because he had to stay in Texas and take care of his mom. You helped him through the loss, when she die.

But it wasn't enough.

You loved the shit out of Shawn and he loved you in return, but it wasn't enough.

Your relationship suffered a slow, agonizing death with multiple attempt of reanimation. Vacations togheter, a bigger flat, a cat.

Nothing compensate the distance between the two of you and he was the one brave enough to call it for a quit. You knew was gonna happen but it didn't hurt you less. Moving back to your parents, while quitting your job just to avoid to meet him everyday, took you to the bottom. Then the shutdown decided to kick you while you were already down, spending days in bed just listen music or watching anime whitout any chance to go out with your friends or for just a walk.

Everyone was really worried about you. You lose weight and that energy that always marked you.

And you stayed there, drowing in your own misery until Matt decided that enough was enough.

《 Pack your shit, you're moving in with me to LA. You're done making mom and pops that upset.》

The end of fall 2021 signed your rebirth. Matt found a bigger apartment for the two of you and Lucifurr, your vicious black cat which has an obsession in chewing cables and destroy everything paper made. You have always want to leave nearby the ocean and Malibu had a ton of opportunities to offer you. You started a yoga class the same week you moved, in order to make some new friends. Accoding to Matt, there are a lot of things to do around the band he is working with, Bad Omens.

You offer yourself as a merchgirl, but since you're a good writer an even better in tolerate people bullshit (you have to be karmatic, all the teens who came to get a piercing to the shop have always made a scene in front of needles), you could be perfect as a PR/assistant for the band. You remember them barely because someway somehow, these are the guys who steal all the time Matt has. Time that you never get.

You remember this four guys with long hair, basic metalheads, except for the drummer. You remember when you gave him the nostril after a show in 2015, maybe 16, and he took it like a champ whitout complaining. You remember the singer, this slenderman type of guy with beautiful long hair that looks like silk. You've never felt more envy of someone else hair like that. And also the other three guys were nice, especially Vincent. The only one who you can connect to a familiar face because you two got a nice conversation on tattoos when you visited Matt, three years ago.

They are nice.

You've heard stories about them at every phone call.

But still, thieves of precious moments that you want have again in your life again between you and your brother.

All the missing birthday, all the call postponed due to technical issues. He wasn't there to pick up your pieces when Shawn get a rid of you.

And Matt wasn't supposed to, but being selfish, you wish he was there.

But he is now and this is enough to bring the light back to your life. The long talks after dinner, movie nights, everything is back to the normal between you two since you moved and it's restoring.

With this wave of good mood, even if you havent forgotten Shawn yet, you enroll to gym, so you can work out after yoga.

And is in this specific place that you meet Eric.

The first time you caught him lurking at you you were running on the thremill.

There is something familiar in him but still, you dont know anyone in LA. You were the one who actually landed the first conctact with this new alien subject, so introvert to avoid your eyes.

《 Today is hot as hell, right?》

Talking about the weather is the easiest card to play. He smiled a bit shily to you before answering. 《 Don't tell me, I hate how hot is in here. Are you new? I've never seen you around》

《 I just moved in with my brother, actually. 》

《 You're a southie for sure. I like your accent.》

You giggle at his words, while he gets some confidence, passing a hand through this short hair. 《 you got me. You don't sound californian as well》.

《 Maybe because I'm not》. There was a moment in which he seemed to be doubtful, like he changed his mind and he didn't want actually to talk with you. He looked at you with a weird expression, like he realised something was off. 《 What's your name?》, he asked then, almost suspicious.

And then you lied. You rarely give your real name to strangers. A self defence mechanism for girls. 《 Vanessa. You?》

He looked more relaxed, 《 Eric.》

《 Nice to meet you Eric... Do you know a nice bar around? 》

《 Maybe I know a place 》 he reflected, smiling a bit malicious. He was definitely flirting. 《 Can offer you a beer or something? Just to welcome you in town.》

You are not ready for a new story yet, but after almost a year after you broke up with Shawn, you needed at least some human conctact. Eric was nice with you since the beginning. He invited you to this dive bar after the gym a couple of times, not far from your place. He paid for you a couple of cocktails while having a real nice Conversation. A superficial one, about the tattoos that covered him. About living in LA. You mentioned your brother a couple of times and he talked about his roomates and all the crazy things they have done during the pandemic.

He told you he is a Producer and you told him you're still unemployed.

One way or another, he got closer to you in a matter of days. And when he kissed you, you obliged and kiss him back. One thing leaded to another and the two of you ended fucking in the back of his SUV. And oh boy... you needed it so much. It was a quickie, but he seemed to be promising. His long fingers stimulated you untill you cried out for pleasure. His mounth divoured you inch by inch. And his cock....

He knew how to use it, let's say that.

After, he gave you his number and the two of you planned to see each other by the end of the week, at the gym, after your yoga class and his class of jujitsu....

The morning after you're fresh and relaxed like you weren't in months. Matt tends to be overprotective so you didn't told him about Eric while you were having breakfast. You need to know this guys deeply before accept that you know have a situationship. And your brother doesn't need to know about you screacting you itchies.

He has a hot temper when someone looks at his dear little sis.

After breakfast you got ready to meet the band again after almost three years.

《 I can't believe Vincent quitted. He was the nicest.》

Matt sighs while driving to the guys' house, mentally focused on the traffic. 《 youll see him when we'll be in Virginia, don't worry. 》

Your eyes slip on streets and houses, wards and parks but you still feel like You're in a new country. You don't know how much it will take to get used to California.

《 here we are》 , Matt says, parking. 《 let's refresh the rules.》

《 Oh c'mon, I'm not twelve anymore》

《 y/n 》

《 alright! I don't have to embarrass you while you're free to be mean on me. I don't have to embarrass myself talking shit just because I'm nervous and if the music sucks, I can't tell your precious Noah.》

《 You can do better but, more or less, that's it. Lets go. I need another coffe and maybe something sweet before start to film the music video. 》

It's so weird filming inside a house and not in a proper set but all this low budget bullshit are quite the normal for small bands, you think.

You have to be their assistant and eventually a PR- so Matt can stop to bitching on twitter all the time- and you know nothing about bands.

According to Matt, you're going to learn quick.

According to Matt. You know that he picked you up for the job so he can force you to write what he wants.

And continuing to bitch around through you.

The guitar player greets you at the door and introduces himself again as Jolly. The rest of the guys minus Noah are in the garage. It's marvelous how Orie, one of the guys who lives here, a director, reorganize the space with tubes and flashlight.

《 What's the name of the song, again? 》 you ask to Nick Folio, whos already youre favorite.

《 Artifical Suicide》 it's the answer, while he takes his place back behind the drums.

《So emo》 it's your honest observation that makes him laught. Matt looks at you in a way that if he could, you would be incinerated where you're standing. You're already embarrassing him.

Nice.

You regret nothing.

It's a lil sister job to make her brother in troubles, that's what pops always says.

Mike brings you a coffe that you accept with a smile, than tells everyone the news about the singer that is still not here.

A diva, of course. That's your first thought. Every singer is a natural diva.

《 He is still looking for the glove.》

《 He would lost his head if it wasn't attacked to his neck》 , a solid comment arrives from Ruffilo, immediatly followed by an annoyed reply from behind you.

《 I can ear you motherfucker. You are- what the fuck?》

You turn in time to face the famous singer and almost choke with the coffe.

《 Yo Noah, do you remember my sister, y/n?》

You see Noah turning pale for a second while trying to say something in return.

You're also speechless for a second, before putting your shit togheter so Matt wont finds out in the first five minutes. 《 Howdy! You... you cut your hair. Nice. I didn't know》

You didn't.

That's why was so easy for Noah to be Eric for almost a week. For a hook up with you. His best friend sister.

....Splendid.

You're fucked.

#noah sebastian #bad omens #noah sebastian x reader #noah sebastian imagine #bad omens imagine

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blood-starved-beast · 4 months

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hey so i actually have a question regarding acxas childhood like what are your headcanons on it? i always got the feeling that she grew up with her non galra parent/species and was sort of treated as an outsider for being half galra (i mean naturally considering that they most likely invaded their planet but yeah of course it was a terrible experience that definitely contributed/was the main factor of acxas inner turmoil) and it would make sense as to why she would seek out lotor and his vision of the empire for acceptance there if she cant find it here(?) this is just my thoughts im curious abt what u think

In canon, we get very little of Acxa's backstory, and it's all localized to personal anecdotes by Acxa herself in the Grudge. She tells Veronica she's "born and bred in war" which is both very specific and also extraordinarily vague.

For one, we know what happens in war. I don't think Acxa was born from a loving relationship that's for sure. "Bred in" is more specific - she didn't grow up learning about war, she was in the thick of it. This is why I don't buy headcanons that put her in military school or that she was raised by her galran family. She mentions survival - which yeah in a particularly militaristic society such as the galra, death is probably very easy to come by but again it goes back to war - she's not in training for war she was in the war. This is why I suspect she grew up in a warzone. Specifically, one in immense chaos and disarray. I do think cause of her heritage - being half galra - it denied her any form of community connections that could have existed amongst her colonized people.

And that's another clue btw. Acxa identifies as galra. This is a repeated motif throughout the series. When Lotor rages about wiping out all the galra, she immediately sees that as a signal to go, cause in her mind that includes her. In contrast to Lotor, who while strongly identifying more with his Altean side, would posture himself sometimes as Galran. Acxa never is shown identifying with her non-Galran side. In the conversation with Veronica, she refers to the Galra as "her people" never one-half or anything like that.

Instead, what we get in the Grudge, is Acxa being discriminated for being Galran, not her other race. It's an interesting choice on the writers' part. That's what gets her upset. I don't think it's coincidental that in the next scene with her and Veronica, we learn of Acxa's backstory and her experience. I'd say it's deliberate. And ff that is her experience, if she grew up receiving those types of insults, well it makes sense that she takes it to heart so quickly.

Finally, we should talk about how she mentions how she "became worse than her enemies" to survive. Presumably her enemies in a warzone would be the Galra - imperialists, they also discriminate against her (Throk; the Galran obsession with racial purity). Alternatively, her enemies would be the non-galrans who discriminated against her, but I think she refers to the Galra here specifically cause she was a general she directed armies, she is complicit in the death of soldiers, of conquering nations. That is worse than what many of the Galran footsoldiers did, even if she actively avoids killing anyone directly if possible.

There is also Acxa in her discussion with Zethrid later in the episode, mentions her hate and rage and how that is fueled by how the Galra rejected her.

This, I think supports the idea that her enemies were the Galra in this case, that is, the Galra that wouldn't take her in. If she is Galra (which is something I imagine she grew up being told, told by the family she was born to through conquest), she was never apart of her non-galran people to begin with. So where she had to fight, whom she had to fight, to get a place in society is within the Galra - cause she had no chance in hell happening in her non-galran people. With that, "worse than her enemies" carries a distinct flavor of "okay so if I'm Galra, I'm going to be worse than them." Cause otherwise, she'll die. Cause she's not one of them. She'll never be one of them. So she'll be the worst of the Galra if means being at a place for change within them to accept people like her that wouldn't fit in in other places.*

And I agree anon, that Acxa sought out Lotor for acceptance in a way. Lotor was the perfect paragon of what she believed - Half-galra like her, but also distinctly Galran. It's obvious she has the bare minimum of a moral code - she draws the line at genocide (she's very nervous btw, when Lotor admits to killing Alteans, and cuts ties when he mentions doing the same or worse to the Galra)

But she didn't know about that originally.

So yeah that's a lot of buildup to say - I agree a lot with what you say anon. I do think she grew up in an environment that rejected her wholeheartedly - that would make sense, if it was her non-Galran side that under trauma, fully rejects children born from that occupation. So she identifies with the people who would "take her in" or she believes that could be changed - maybe her non-Galran side cannot be sway otherwise cause of the occupation, but the Galran can be changed. I wouldn't be surprised if thinking the Galra could be changed is a rationalization on her part even - maybe she argued with her non-galran parent, who insisted they cannot change, cause they are monsters. That Acxa herself is a monster. Which is exactly her insecurity in the Grudge. That kind of thinking can be fed only by growing up around her non-Galran heritage who were occupied by the Galra. If she can change the Galra, then she isn't a monster too, proving those people wrong.

So yes, I do agree a lot with what you say here anon, maybe some details off (I do think if she grew up with her non-Galran parent, it might be a short while or with very detached parenting, as she mentions surviving without mentioning her parents. I don't think she knew her Galran parent, which I imagine would be her father if only that a Galran female commander would get an abortion or Acxa'd been raised among the Galra, which wouldn't add up with her insecurities).

*This is so Baru Cormorant flavored. Man Acxa you should've been a protagonist in a Lesbian Space Atrocity novel.

#d asks #Anonymous #Acxa #vld #my analysis #my meta #my headcanons #I'm so mad that I never saved a copy of Acxa's whole speech to Zethrid #kicking myself for that oversight years later #also OP I love this question so much #I've spent so long thinking about this #made a thread about it on bird app

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skepticaloccultist · 4 years

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The Body as the Temple of Magic

In the modern world of revivalist magical practice much attempt is made to "simplify" the variables of ritual and folk magic practice. The substitution of herbs and other necessary ingredients for those more readily available to the reader, the replacement of complex ritual tools, whose consecration methods involve months of separate magical practice to achieve, with mundane kitchen drawer implements, the shortening of benedictions and prayers, the cheapening of offerings to spirits (buy the good rum, ffs), the list goes on endlessly.

While there is truth to the concept that an experienced practitioner may do what is needed with what variables are at hand, it is often those writers and bloggers who have very little understanding of the science underlying magical practice that so easily dismiss variables they find problematic as superfluous.

Long have writers of the "rationalist" era decried the seemingly barbaric ingredients of spells, cures, and charms as primitive and unnecessary. Yet in the 21st century we have a vast body of peer-reviewed evidence to support the fact that people of distant ages somehow held knowledge that would give even the most modern pharmacist pause for consideration.

In a 2015 University of Nottingham study scientists recreated a recipe from a 9th Century Anglo-Saxon volume, "Bald's Leechbook", held in the British Library, that was intended as a cure for eye infection. The eye salve contained garlic, onion, wine and cow bile. The microbiologists tasked with the study found that it wiped out the MRSA bacteria. Something that modern antibiotics are basically powerless against.

There are numerous examples of these ancient ways of healing providing some clue to a body of knowledge that comes from many centuries before we used the term "science" to describe the process of accumulating and verifying knowledge. Michael Scot, the 12th century scholar, alchemist and tutor to the Holy Roman Emperor, casually created a form of Richter Scale Graph with which to measure local earthquakes some 800+ years before Richter. Of course, his contemporaries believed he had created an "earthquake making device" but such are the views of small minded people throughout time.

Humans are a curious and inquisitive lot, we have been exploring and analyzing the world around us for many thousands of years. Cultures we have no memory of as a people have come and gone, building vast empires only to be erased by the sands of time, with little to no record of their existence. These empires used technologies - metallurgy, chemistry, mathematics, in order to do what they did. The traces of their acquired knowledge lingered on, long after their cities have withered to dust.

In the center of any magical practice is the body in which you exist. The body is, afterall, a temple in which we reside, defining "us" in physical form. In a very real way, it is just a leather bag full of chemical soup. Much of the history of magical practice, from shaman's hut to necromancer's circle, is characterized by the complex control of the variables of that chemical soup we inhabit. Incense full of henbane, myrrh, sage, free floating chemical activators to tickle that quantum finger that is your nose. Plants and animals we imbibe, and very specifically the avoidance of foods and other substances that might pollute the body during the actual act of magic.

Many cultures hold on to ancient dietary practices, from the halal of Islam and the kosher of Judaism, to the Ital vegetarianism of Rastafari, the withholding of particular foods is important. In the context of magic, it is one of the primary things that determines success.

Fasting is an incredibly important part of making the body ready for the exercise that is practical magic. It resets the gut biome, that 30ish% of your body weight that is just a colony of bacteria living in your intestines. The symbiotic relationship we have with our gut flora can not be underestimated when it comes to the perceptual paradigm we consider "the real." We rely on our senses too heavily as indicators of reality, when we know scientifically that our senses often lie to us. The gut is the measure of that lie, feeding our brain tailored hormones that we use to structure information, and create memories.

As well, dietary avoidance of liver, sausages, yogurt, aged cheese, and other food that contains high levels of the chemical tyramine is essential to opening various channels of transmission involved in magic. Not to mention that it interferes with a wide range of MAOI like particulars one may imbibe during the ritual itself.

Before any large operation I generally fast a minimum of 30 days without the above foods, 7 days with no meat and the last day before the operation with a tiny simple diet, usually rice and nuts. Specific rituals and magical practices may have even more stringent requirements, but these are my baseline.

Beyond fasting is of course the practice of entheogenic drug use, a subject for a much broader article than this. Possibly in a future issue of Folkwitch. Needless to say once one has emptied the body of potentially contradictory chemicals one may proceed to ingest those spirit plants and fungi whom we may seek understanding through, and use as a communicative bridge to realms beyond our mundane experience.

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risingphoenix761 · 4 years

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Those numbers up there? The notes on Hell And Apathy, which seems to be the most popular thing on my masterlist. It's a little over a year old and I'm small fry in the fic writing side of Tumblr, so I'm not bitching about the amount of notes. Not the amount of notes...

People are just really fucking allergic to the reblog button, aren't they?

Like, I really don't fucking understand. Are you just liking it so you can find it later? And then just...never coming back to it? Does it not fit your aesthetic? Why do you have a problem with sharing someone's work? Ffs, people don't even comment anymore.

I'm losing count of how many writers I've seen who stopped sharing the things they created because they felt like they were posting into a void. Hell, I've abandoned stories because I felt the same way. We write because we want to, and we feel compelled to tell these stories, but what is the goddamn point of sharing them with anyone if no one fucking bothers to interact with them? Acknowledge them? "I see this cool thing you made and I really like it! Thank you for letting me see it!" IT'S NOT FUCKING HARD. IT'S REALLY REALLY FUCKING EASY TO TELL SOMEONE WHEN YOU LIKE SOMETHING.

"oH, bUT thAt'S whAt tHe LikE buTToN iS FoR!! LoOk at Me, I hiT liKe, I'm SuPpoRtInG yoU!!"

Look, I'm sleep deprived, my joints are killing me, I'm already in a bad mood, and I probably shouldn't be making this post under those circumstances, but you know what? Fuck it. And while we're at it, fuck you. The like button is just a visit to the local business. Do you "support" local businesses by just dropping by and taking a look around? No. That's fucking stupid. You support local businesses by buying from them and telling people about them. SAME FUCKING CONCEPT. You support artists and writers by telling them you enjoy their work, and sharing it so other people can see it. What happens if you don't support local businesses? They close up shop. By not supporting artists and writers, you're telling them the effort they put into sharing their creations with the world is a fucking waste of time, and since nobody likes wasting their time, guess what. Less people are sharing their content. Congratulations. Another local business just shut down, and you could have helped keep the doors open.

I've only got a handful of people on here I share for, so I'm not bitching on my behalf. But as a writer, it hurts to watch other writers get so discouraged, they quit. When you spend so much of your time and pour so much of yourself into something, then work up the courage to let it out into the world, it feels like someone just spit in your face when you think it was for nothing because nobody seems to care.

"WEll, i'D cOmmEnt, BuT I nEveR KnOw whAT to SaY!!"

Ask any writer, and they'll tell you they really don't give a flying fuck what you say, as long as you say SOMETHING. Just say you liked it! A smiling emoji! A keysmash! I make it a point to thank the person for sharing their work! IT DOESN'T MATTER! ANYTHING IS BETTER THAN NOTHING! AND IT'S REALLY FUCKING EASY! WATCH THIS!

😂

This was great! Thanks for sharing!

Asdfghjkl 🤗💔✨😭🎊🤘😂🙌❤

SEE? AND IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SAY ANYTHING, THERE IS A HANDY DANDY FANCY PANTS LITTLE REBLOG BUTTON THAT'S LITERALLY RIGHT. FUCKING. NEXT. TO. THE. MOTHER. FUCKING. LIKE. BUTTON. IT'S ALWAYS BEEN THERE. ALWAYS. A REBLOG IS WORTH MORE THAN ANY COMMENT, BECAUSE IT MEANS MORE PEOPLE WILL SEE THE POST.

TL;DR: use the motherfucking reblog button if you want to keep enjoying fic and art. Leave the like button the fuck alone for five fucking minutes.

#likes vs reblogs #fanfiction #fanart #i really don't know what the fuck is wrong with people #it's not that goddamn difficult #my dash STAYS active because it's the very opposite of difficult to reblog instead of like #JFC #people with the like button are like the stereotypical dude who doesn't know how to please his partner #and the writers are the partners who are sick of faking it

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sevdrag · 4 years

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dreamwidth update: sev writes a novel

because i am That Guy:

I took a lump out of my retirement savings to support myself while I try to write an actual book! then, a week later, i got hired! this is my life. I've been hired to work as a technical writer with a great local company that does all sorts of technical writing and instructional design work (something im VERY interested in), which is awesome, but the first contract they were going to give me unfortunately fell through. they are frantically looking for projects for me because the VP of Ops apparently wants me as an employee very badly (a great feeling after months of unemployment lbr) so i'm willing to wait it out, esp cause i have the lump now.

and because i'm a giant waste of an idiot, i've decided i'm still going to try to write the novel. for NaNoWriMo. while working and doing work words. and 2 Good Omens zines. and Patreon. and commissions. and my regular WIPs. and cleaning my house. and so on.

giant waste of an idiot.

ANYWAY. most of you have probably already seen this on my other social media but just in case you haven't, i have two polls out about my novel. mainly because i have too many fucking ideas and styles, so i'm letting the general populace help me narrow down for my first novel attempt.

i realize my FF writing is slim these days, MCU and GO being my main fandoms at the moment, but i'm still interested in Ye Olde Canons -- it's a matter of time, these days. so for those of you who know me from FF and such, your input is DEFINITELY appreciated, because you've seen sides of my work that my current fandoms haven't. :) <3

the first poll about the content of the novel is here

the second poll about the format of the novel is here

and since im still technically unemployed lemme toss the reminder that you can always find me, my sites, and my KoFi and Patreon here: https://sevdrag.carrd.co/

<3 <3 send me all the luck you can. as soon as i set up my NaNo page i'll post it here <3

comments Comment? https://ift.tt/3cWjXmo

#crossposted #dreamwidth

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mrschimpf · 5 years

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So...I got this review on ff-net for "Longing" this morning. Usually I love reviews because they give me encouragement...this ain't one of them, though.

If you don't want to read through it, in summary...

"Great story, but it seems like you hate men and the direction of society. Why isn't Dean just the bland fella presented in the show? Why is he violent and a cheating asshole who's rich; that's Logan y'know? Love the story as I said and Madeline and Louise are great, but I'm done with it."

Yeah, a lot to unpack here if you're not in the GG fandom like I've been since near the beginning, along with the basic concept of fanfiction.

"It's a well-written story with good characterisation of Rory and Paris but...there's a lot of anger in it."

When I started the story in 2003, the sky was the limit, and Paris and Rory were on their way to great lives bereft of any issues with men and so much potential for women in the world. Fast-forward to 2019...where we have a lying cheat of an asshole in the White House, merely disagreeing with a man is enough to bury your Twitter mentions in hate, and LGBTQ+ rights are being attacked at every turn.

Then we have the aftermath of AYITL, which dynamited Rory's future into being completely dependent on men (aka Logan), took away her entire drive and reason for being, and left her as a homewrecker having a kid she probably never wanted. And Paris is in a loveless marriage with a completely underwritten Doyle whose character traits went from 'being a loving and supporting boyfriend to a neurotic Jewish girl with the entire world upon her shoulders' to 'wink-wink Danny Strong writes Empire and Oscar-winners; Doyle can't raise kids let's just write that Doyle's that now since we threw out the Doyle notebook in our post-S6 burning of all our character notes'.

Yeah, over sixteen years, you tend to write for your reality, and the reality right now? Totally sucks.

"Some of it seems to be directed at society, some of it at the show, with a disproportionate amount of it being taken out on mostly male characters who bear only a passing resemblance to their on screen portrayal..."

Once again...AYITL hasn't aged well. Society hates journalists. It hates driven women (see my last post taking down that asshole who hates Brie Larson). Males are pretty damned well responsible for most of it. And I haven't had the best male figures of my life and have been mostly around women. I'm probably not going to write a positive view of some men; it's bias, and I own up to it here.

And yeah, my men don't match up to how they are on screen. Because, fanfiction is...

'Fiction written by a fan of, and featuring characters from, a particular TV series, movie, etc.'

Speaking of which...

"...Which seems to have got worse as I suspect you liked the show less and less."

You're reading my story. A Gilmore Girls fanfiction. My Twitter bio declares that I've loved it a decade and a half before the Gilmore Guys started their podcast. A show where I literally follow nearly main actor on the series into every future project they've had and watched loyally, for the most part. I buy every movie the girls have been in. Fanfiction isn't defined as 'a random person writing hate screeds against a particular TV series, movie, etc.'. You're not going to ever see me write even a drabble about how much Kevin Can Wait should be called Kevin Can Burn In Hell Because He's a Ghoulish Sexist Fuckface Who Celebrated His Wife's Death To Move On With His Former Hot Wife From Another Show.

Still love Gilmore Girls in full. But being a fan doesn't mean I have to like every single decision the writers and ASP ever made.

That is the fun of fanfiction. If I disagree with canon...I can disregard it, in part, or in full. I have never been able to find a fellow fan that agreed with every plot point the show has ever made. I hope I never will, because that's definitely not why anyone should ever be a fan of the show.

And excuse my language here...but I've written over a MILLION WORDS for this story. 27 chapters have been posted. I have an eventual endgame planned for the story that has been in my mind since the day I posted chapter one. Why the fuck would I write a million words about something I hate?!

"Dean has gone from a good first boyfriend who just wasn't right for Rory long-term to a violent thief who cheated on Rory throughout their relationship and never loved her anyway. And now, incredibly, seems to be just another entitled rich kid? It feels like you really want to bash on Logan but can't find a way to have him in the story, so you've turned Dean into him."

Oh reviewer...dear reviewer...oh, you don't know what you've gotten yourself into.

I have ALWAYS hated Dean. Always. Since January 2001 when I caught up on the backlog of episodes I missed because I only started watching during the two back-to-back night Christmas episodes, the only positive thought I've been able to spare for him was that Jared Padalecki (no attacks on him here, just the character) got a good living playing a completely underwritten bore who has nothing redeeming going on and a backstory that I would call 'existent'.

The show claims he's from the south side of Chicago in a neighborhood near the Dan Ryan that has 5% white people going by the zip code of his mail from there (the show's basic research department blew it there). Most white people from Chicago are in the Gold Coast, the northwest suburbs, or the North Shore. I have been adjacent to the Chicago market my whole life. He's from the North Shore, no question, judging from how his parents seem to have good enough wealth and how every white guy Chicago teenager story is drawn from a kid from the North Shore.

He literally punched Jess out three times!

He made Rory fear violence for merely losing a bracelet he gave her and for being near Tristan for a school function (LOL, Dristan...that burn still causes me to laugh at inappropriate times about how dumb it was, and I'm sure Tristan has it as one of his constant bon mots).

He called her home phone nearly a hundred times a day and drove her to the edge of madness with a 'must watch every day' love of Lord of the Rings that compares unfavorably to my four year-old nephew only loving Frozen, PJ Masks and Daniel Tiger. That isn't anyone any person has to tolerate in a relationship.

Dean’s only reaction to Rory trying to prove a point with her Donna Reed night was just she looked hot and he learned nothing about how women hate being confined to being solely homemakers and sexual receptacles.

He dumped her because she didn’t say “I Love You” like it was the goddamned bonus round in Wheel of Fortune and she didn’t get the solution out before the buzzer.

Dean’s shambles of a gift, that piece of shit car? It almost killed Rory and Jess. It looked like it didn’t have seatbelts. I’m surprised we didn’t get an episode where Dean ended up homeless because Richard sued his cheap ass into the fucking ground.

He decided to make her go back to him in front of the entrance of Chilton, where Rory would have looked like the biggest b***h in history if she didn’t return an ‘I love you’, and goddamned well knew it. Any good person would have done this in fucking private, like a considerate person.

He never respected the Chilton side of her life. At all. If it was up to him, he would’ve made up a bomb threat and had his friend imitate Rory’s voice to get her kicked out of the school she spent her young life trying to get into. If it was up to him, Harvard would have never even been a possibility, and if not for Jess coming in, he would have intimidated her into pushing off her dream entirely to stay in the kitchen.

His origin story was never mentioned outside 'he moved from Chicago and had a girlfriend in the past, Beth'. Fanfiction allows you to examine the holes in stories and go from there, and I just worked with them because the thing with moves to new locales? You can have a brand new image with people, and they will never know what you did in your old place. Judging by his violent/stalkerish tendencies, he has a pretty good case for having Imposter Syndrome that eventually reset itself in the Hollow.

Over time he went from a guy who seemed to like good literature to hyperfocusing on the 'it' media property of the time. Likely he started out liking fine literature, but once he fell in with the imbeciles of his friend group in the Hollow, that proved to be a lie.

He had a thing about being close to Lorelai. So much that around that time, there were so many more people shipping Lorelai/Dean than Rory/Dean as a romantic couple. If not for his later flanderization, that fangroup would still be strong.

HE CHEATED ON HIS WIFE!

**HE. CHEATED. ON. HIS. WIFE!

***HE! CHEATED! ON! HIS! WIFE!

****And outside losing his home and some stuff being damaged (rightfully fucking so) by Lindsay, both her and Rory took all the brunt of the damage his wandering dick did between all of them. Lindsay was guilted by her parents for checking out on her marriage and was never heard from again (I assume she's in a convent now because ASP's writing outside of Lorelai and Rory [or Paris, Sookie and Lane on a day she wasn't angry at the world for not pressing her hat right] for women was 'they are the enemy'). Rory had to find her way back to her old self (and she never did going by ending up with Logan). Dean? Welp, good thing "Supernatural" started at that time to save ASP the bother of having to explain what a dumbass Dean was.

*****Justice for Lindsay Lister! I hope she didn't go to a convent, but flipped off her parents, squealed out of town and is killing it in a career where she's respected, with a partner who loves her deeply.

The scene where he cornered Rory into sex in her house and said he didn’t love Lindsay was sexual assault and gaslighting. ASP intended it to be romantic, but instead created a nightmare scene that would be completely passe in a Lifetime movie. Rory’s first time was her being forced to give up her sexual agency for the pleasure of only Dean. And it’s exactly why the Paris/Rory scene I wrote on the yoga mats was intended to be the exact reverse of that trash.

He hoped to get ahead in life on a hockey scholarship. That's...not a life plan. And he paid for it by being stuck doing construction.

He hated Paris. He hated that Rory had her as a friend. He wanted a life with Rory that never involved Paris.

Paris is a strong-ass lady for daring to step to him and lie through her teeth about wanting Jess to stop the Great Stars Hollow Homicide of 2002 By The Coward Dean Forrester from ever being a thing.

LOL Logan is Tristan Lite and always will be.

About ten chapters back I mentioned how the girls consider Logan terrible already from a distance based on the New York media scene. Trust me, he's in this story (he may be a little more in this story later).

"There is a lot to recommend in this, like the slow burn set-up (although you've made up for it since!)..."

#backhandedcompliment (Also, what's to recommend? Love to know what you did like, but you spent all that time saying 'I'm mean to men', so I guess you ran out of time on that)

"...and turning Madeleine and Louise into three-dimensional characters..."

You sent me a flame, but didn't expand on what you loved about this? Thanks for the lack of feedback (and for misspelling Madeline’s name).

"But there are several reasons why it's not been an easy read so I won't be hanging out for an update, I'm afraid."

You basically said that you consider me a man-hater and that because I choose to have the ladies present their views in the story, you don't like that I'm drawing real life into their motives, mores and decisions. And you said I hated the show when most of my friend circle was formed through bonding through it, and we still love it, even if we think Rory needed to do better in life and ASP's writing weakened as each season went on.

I don't need readers like you, seriously. There are many other Rory/Paris stories you can read out there. As I have said in many other flame responses;

I am not the be-all end-all of Paris/Rory fic. PLEASE, read other writers. Enjoy their stuff. But don't whine at me or them because we choose to show that even in fictional worlds, people are against LGBTQ+ issues and people. We're not going to get equality by sugar-coating or whitewashing our way past those issues, and if you can't handle what I consider light attacks against entitled men, you should probably find something else to read.

#longing #paris x rory #review #review rant #fanfiction rant #gilmore girls #longing with a cherry tomato on top

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notsimplysusurrus · 5 years

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youtube

So...I’m back on my bullshit, y’know, watching more documentaries about “father-daughter purity balls” and writing my feelings about them.

But this time, they interviewed frat boys, which tbh was much better than I imagined it would be. They were surprisingly sex-positive? One guy straight up was like “too many people put sex up on a pedestal, but it shouldn’t be”. I agree random, frat boy.

They have a chat with the despicable institutions known as “[crisis] pregnancy centres”. You don’t have to be a doctor/nurse to work there--only a “Bible-believing Xtian”. We love manipulating pregnant people into doing things they don’t want to do /s/. Moreover they, of course, offer abstinence-only sex education.

Wowza, people seriously talking about religious guilt in regards to sex (and in general). And he’s still an Xtian yet not shitty! That’s not to say I dislike all xtians but rather to say ive had enough bad experiences with them to be cautious. Good for you, mate. He said that Xtianity dampens a person’s ability to express themselves sexually--even if they are married (as in his, personal experience but I believe it). Xtian man strikes again, saying that saving yourself for marriage doesn’t make you better than anyone else. Again: good for you, mate.

An American Idol contestant is being interviewed on a radio show? She’s so pure uwu /s/. SHE SANG A SONG ABOUT PURITY. I fucking can’t. It’s called “Count Me Out” if you were wondering. This concept of “spiritual purity” after you’ve chosen to lose your virginity (and done so consensually) is so silly to me.

Damn one (1) queen points out that “saving yourself for someone special” is shit when you get married to someone you later find out isn’t all that special. Then they provide a quote that says “Evangelical Christians have the highest divorce rate out of any social group in the United States” (source provided: The Barna Research Group).

1996 - “The Silver Ring Thing” was founded

*TSRT is apparently a stupidass abstinence-only education program

*“gOd cReAtEd SeX aND MarRiaGE”

*“PRO VIRGINITY MUSIC AND SKITS” WHAT IS THIS? Every time I watch one of these videos, I feel more powerful as a non-married, non-virgin

*They claim “safe sex isn’t”....okay Karen AND the US Gov fucking aids in its funding im going to kms

*“Are you both virgins?”

“My religion is Catholic” --> this carries so much “I thought you were aMeRiCan” energy

*“a “women” [who they define as “women”] is supposed to bleed the first time they have sex” NOnoOnonononononnoNOoo. You might, but that’s not a given if you’re properly aroused STOP TEACHING YOUNG PEOPLE LIES

*This mans also claims, basically, that you’ll never bleed again after losing your virginity when you’re “supposed to” but that is NOT true--people with vaginas can bleed any time that penetration occurs. Again, it depends on how lubricated and/or aroused you are--not virginity (lube is your friend, trust me.)

*I’m going to punch him “spIriTUal HeALiNG maDe heR BLeEd on Her WedDinG niGhT”. NO, IT DIDN’T! She just wasn’t properly aroused and or lubricated (probably because your virgin so-called friend is ignorant asf). He also considers this “healing” IM GOING TO LOSE MY MIND

*...the story wasn’t really about his “friend”...it was about him...so he’s the dumbass here--USE FUCKING LUBE. ANd he shares this story with people???

2005 - ACLU sues TSRT bc it uses tax dollars to promote Xtianity

2006 - TSRT refuses to change and loses federal funding

Good for the ACLU. The US Gov is supposed to be secular (though it’s often not, and I recognise that).

Dr. Douglas Kirby “The Grandfather of Sex Education” appeareth and local fucker compares safe sex to drunk driving while wearing a seatbelt and smoking filtered ciggies. More at six. Dr. DK throws down about the merits of comprehensive sexual education.

Aforementioned fucker claims that his “research” on condoms revealed that they’re “not effective” (when used properly, they most definitely are btw--in regards both to pregnancy prevention and preventing STDs).

“When you’re using a condom you’re having unsafe sex. When you’re [practising] abstinence, you’re having safe sex.” -aforementioned fucker

Journal of Religion and Society (2005): “Higher rates of a belief in a Creator correlate with higher rates of STDs, teen pregnancy, and abortion.

A woman who had an abortion (unknowingly) makes the case that religious guilt often makes people feel bad about having an abortion. Also, her ex-boyfriend was a real wanker, so I wish Penny the best.

Annnd some of the frat boys end up being expectedly shitty later on -.- “no woman with my baby is getting an abortion”. Go fuck yourself.

Aforementioned fucker doesn’t believe there ought to be exceptions for abortions in the case of rape or incest. I’m...disappointed but not surprised.

Abortions used to be covered by Medicaid?? Why is the US so good at going back on decent decisions and being an asshole, instead? And the feminist writer who points this out is a whole ass comrade, talking about how the poor are being especially fucked over by anti-abortion legislation.

Dr. Claire Brindis points out that the “pro-life” movement is really hypocritical because it doesn’t support government programs that would aid poor, single mothers they so desperately want to keep from having abortions.

Ffs Teddy is complaining about being sleepy and ready to go to bed, so idk if we can finish this tonight. There’s less than 30 minutes left though! Maybe I can bribe him.

Dr. CB - some women tell me “the only way I could get out of a gang was by getting pregnant” oh deer, oh my. But also...that’s probably not the best environment for a child. DR. CB also says that CSA can cause [afab people] to engage in/want relationships with older men...so that explains a lot about me.

The United States has the highest rape rate among countries that repost such statistics - 4 times higher than Germany, 13 times higher than England, and 20 times higher than Japan.

Yikes, yikes, yikes. Feminist writer woman is back with straight facts: “age-appropriate sex education starting in kindergarten can protect children from sexual abuse bc if you’re not talking to [them] about what parts are private, [they aren’t able to tell an adult that they’re being abused because they don’t always realise what’s happening is abuse].”

Random aside: there is a stripper talking about how she was raised Catholic and now teaches pole dancing, and she’s...very talented. 10/10 do support. you go, gurl.

95% of young people have sex before marriage acc. to Dr. Douglas Kirby

Okay, the woman who teaches pole dancing is a straight queen, talking about how she wants her daughter to have safe sex if she’s going to with a guy or a girl, and I love this woman. Aforementioned fucker, on the other hand, says that he wouldn’t tell his daughter to use a condom bc it “wouldn’t protect her”. Again...incredibly disappointed but still not surprised.

My ex-stripper QUEEN SAID “MY FATHER DOES NOT HAVE CONTROL OVER MY PUSSY” What a goddamn queen?! Gods and she says that this whole purity ball bullshit is about male power. Be my friend. Realise how powerful you are! I love her.

Awww in the post-credit scenes, it says that the girl who I talked about having had an abortion feels much better about her decision now. Good for her!

Anyway, @ntis this is why not educating children and teens about sex is super no bueno.

#mod Fiver #original #antis and religious fundamentalisn #christianity tw #purity culture #rape mention #incest mention #csa mention #also just gotta say that Teddy has been a very good boy by staying awake for me this long #I'd say that M will be proud of us...but we were supposed to be asleep seven minutes ago oops #abortion dialogue

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niafrazier · 5 years

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Making the Case for Beto O’Rourke

Full disclaimer: Beto is one of my top picks amongst the 2020 democratic field as of now. I’m a supporter but am in no way affiliated with his official campaign.

At a certain point, Beto O’Rourke was hailed by the media as basically the second coming of Obama, RFK, JFK, [insert any popular democratic figure from this past century… oh and Abe Lincoln]. After he unsuccessfully attempted to unseat Ted Cruz in the senate race, many people across the country were calling him to run for the presidency. He even surged in polling being just behind Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, both who virtually have 100% name recognition. His senate race garnered national attention and even caught Oprah’s attention (she practically begged him to run on her show FFS). Many (including me) grew to admire his authentic, organic, and down-to-earth approach to politics, which is especially refreshing to see given the fact that everything seems so contrived nowadays. So, he wrestled with his decision thoughtfully and eventually came around to the idea, officially tossing his hat into the ring on March 14th, 2019. But now? Right out the gate, the narrative has shifted, and to the mainstream media pundits and Twittersphere, he is seen as an empty-suited, entitled, misogynistic, arrogant dude dripping with white male privilege. What changed? How is it that the media, the very one that contributed to the rise of “Betomania,” subsequently went into a frenzy and poo-pooed all over his rollout? The faux outrage, double standards, and cynicism directed at Beto by opinion writers, pundits, etc. have basically motivated me to give my own takes on the most common criticisms I’ve seen thus far. So, here we go:

“ ‘Man, I’m just born to be in it?’ ”

I’m not gonna lie, taking a look at the Vanity Fair cover and seeing that quote was a facepalm moment. As predicted, this quote sparked outrage fairly quickly… given the optics of a privileged straight white man joining a race of several qualified women and POC… Understandably so. However, upon reading through the whole article, I was able to grasp the essence of Beto’s words. Here’s what he says leading up to his declaration, expressing urgency:

“This is the fight of our lives…not the fight-of-my-political-life kind of crap. But, like, this is the fight of our lives as Americans, and as humans, I’d argue.”

And now here’s the full quote: “Man, I’m just born to be in it, and want to do everything I humanly can for this country at this moment.”

He’s not so much saying that he was born to be in a position of power, rather, he’s expressing that during such dire times, especially in U.S. democracy, he could not in good conscience be complacent and not take action. Just as he was drawn to serve his district in El Paso as a 6 year city council member and a 3-term congressman, he believes that at this moment, he has a purpose to serve the whole nation by being as actively involved in the national discussion as possible—to stand up to bigotry and divisiveness displayed by the current administration of the White House. Beto basically confirmed what I had thought after further inspection when he clarified his statement later (Google it. I’m having trouble with my hyperlinks right now). Could he have worded it better? Sure. I just reject the notion that this one gaffe is supposed to sum him up as an egotistical maniac… please.

“He adds absolutely no value to the race”

This is arbitrary depending on what your key issues are, but I’m gonna give my take on why I think he’s an excellent addition to the race. So, I’ve been intrigued about the possibility of an O’Rourke presidential run since he’s hinted at it back in November. I really didn’t know much about him until toward the end of Midterm season, but the more I learned, the more impressed I became. (Side note: it was this clip that first caught my full attention.) What really fueled my interest in Beto though, was his stance on immigration. As a first generation Nigerian American, this topic is pretty personal to me. My parents were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to immigrate to America and raise me and my three other siblings. However, I’ve also seen firsthand the difficulty of not only getting through with the ridiculous process but also assimilating into this country. For so long, the Democrats haven’t really made immigration a central issue, until the Trump administration hijacked it and pushed the Overton window all the way to the right. With heightened xenophobia running rampant in this country as a result of this abhorrent presidency, it is pertinent that the Democrats not merely pay lip service to this issue any longer and take serious action. Beto has an advantage here: He’s grown up in and served as a U.S House Rep. in the border district of El Paso, also home to the largest binational community in the Northern hemisphere. He can add a lot to the national discussion and debate on the matter. When Trump came to El Paso, the local community organized a counter rally where Beto gave an impassioned speech about the border wall and immigration. It’s pretty long, but I highly recommend the watch. Furthermore, Beto has outlined a 10 point proposal on how best to approach the immigration issue, along with some facts about the border’s history, which you can read here. Immigration hasn’t really been a winning issue, and I honestly don’t see it being one in 2020. With that being said, I respect the fact that despite this, Beto has shown that this is an issue that he deeply cares about. If I’m being honest, even though comprehensive immigration reform is universally called for amongst Democrats, I doubt that anyone in the field will truly make immigration a main priority in their prospective presidencies. To me, Beto has shown that he will. Even if he doesn’t clinch the nomination, it still means a ton to me that we can have the potential to change the narrative of immigration in this country with serious discussion. With the way Beto is able to convey his message, I am hopeful for what’s to come.

So, let’s talk about Texas. With the way Beto was able to energize the Democratic base in Texas, Democrats have the opportunity to put the Republican bastion state into play. With 38 electoral votes at stake, Texas is extremely crucial for the GOP. To put things in perspective, if Texas turned blue in 2016, President Hillary Clinton would have been a thing.

*Bonus: “He Lost to Ted Cruz lol… already a nonstarter”

Yes. But you know who else lost to Ted in Texas? Donald Trump. Cruz obliterated him in the Texas Republican primaries. I’m not saying Texas is guaranteed to turn blue with Beto on the ballot, but if we learned anything in 2016, it’s not to underestimate the possibility of seemingly blue or red states to flip at any given moment. The GOP has taken note of this. We’ve seen that Beto has a ton of appeal in Texas amongst not only Democrats but Never-Trump-Republicans and independents as well! If Beto is on that ballot, the GOP will most likely exhaust a ton of resources and money into Texas to keep it from going blue. This will only make other states that Trump won with the slimmest of margins vulnerable. Also… I find it disingenuous to make comparisons between Beto and other senators that hail from deeply blue states regarding electability. If Beto lost to Ted in California, then yeah… we could have a conversation about that.

“A woman running mate is his preference? Who does he think he is?”

The backlash on this surprised me, to be honest… Even Whoopi Goldberg blasted his ass for the statement on The View. If I had to go on a whim here, I feel like it was the Vanity Fair article that sort of set the mood for Beto’s campaign thus far… because otherwise, I believe that this really wouldn’t have been a story. In fact, Beto is not the only male candidate to call for a woman VP. Cory Booker and Bernie Sanders have strongly hinted at choosing a woman running mate. Interestingly enough, I didn’t recall there being any backlash. Here are Beto’s full remarks on choosing a woman as his running mate:

"It would be very difficult not to select a woman with so many extraordinary women who are running right now, but first I would have to win and there's-- you know, this is as open as it has ever been."

This is very much the response I expected from Beto. Time and time again, he has openly acknowledged his privilege, even before getting hammered about it on social media. In the Vanity Fair article, he states his stance on lack of representation in Washington:

“The government at all levels is overly represented by white men,” he says. “That’s part of the problem, and I’m a white man. So if I were to run, I think it’s just so important that those who would comprise my team looked like this country. If I were to run, if I were to win, that my administration looks like this country. It’s the only way I know to meet that challenge.”

Furthermore, he is understanding and considerate of the fact that people are craving for diversity. Here’s what he says:

“But I totally understand people who will make a decision [cast a vote in the primaries] based on the fact that almost every single one of our presidents has been a white man, and they want something different for this country. And I think that’s a very legitimate basis upon which to make a decision. Especially in the fact that there are some really great candidates out there right now.”

I know I don’t speak for all POC or women, but as a WOC myself, I took no issue to his statements. In fact, I appreciate his sensitivity to the issue and the fact that he doesn’t shy away from addressing uncomfortable topics in politics, such as race and representation.

Let’s just be glad he didn’t pull a Hickenlooper…. Jesus.

“Light on policy… but he stands on counters amirite?”

To discuss this point, it’s important to understand Beto’s campaign style. Beto is more like a blank canvass. What he does is first listen to people and their concerns, and then from there, he shapes his policies around that. He feels that this is the best way to serve the people. The point of his road trips and tours was not to lecture people on full fleshed policy proposals. There is debate on whether or not this is an effective strategy, and I do understand that people do like to know exactly what they’re signing up for before casting a vote. That’s why some people will more likely gravitate toward candidates like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren who have been consistent in their messaging. However, I also think people underestimate the power of simply listening. Take these comments that a potential voter made concerning Beto’s ability to listen during his stop in South Carolina for example:

"I think if he keeps talking to the people and being able to listen, and not talk at the African-American voters. Talk to us. Listen to what we have to say… As long as you listen and then actually put forward ideas that are legitimate ideas to do things, then he will be fine.”

While policy specifics are important, this is still the early stages of Beto’s campaign. Specifics, of course, will have to come at some point, especially when debates come around. Another critique I hear is Beto not having any policy proposals on his website yet. He’s not alone though. Several candidates who have been running longer than he has don’t either. It’s also important to note that while people in the race most likely have been mulling a presidential run for several months or years, this has been something that came around to Beto as recent as November 2018. Stuff like this takes time. I think he has potential, however, in this area. For instance, as I mentioned earlier, he has put out a 10-point proposal on immigration. He also has a brief 5-point plan regarding criminal justice reform and legalization of marijuana. (Fun fact, he even coauthored a book concerning the legalization of weed.) And it’s not like he hasn’t taken stances on issues ever either… I mean, he has a whole congressional record, and his townhalls give you an idea of where he stands on key issues.

Oh... and about the countertops. Ugh. The fact that this really sparked outrage is comical. I’ve seen all sorts of takes on this from asserting his male dominance to throwing his youth in Bernie and Biden’s faces (lmao). At a campaign stop, the owner of the coffee shop that he was at asked him to stand on the countertop because people complained that they weren’t able to see Beto amongst the crowds and camera equipment (despite him being 6’4’’, ha). So then it just became a thing since. And he’s respectful about it in case anyone was wondering, lol. But there’s one thing I think both the Beto detractors and I can agree on: why tf is this getting media coverage? I do agree that there should be more coverage for other candidates concerning the real issues. However, the response shouldn’t be to go after Beto or chastise him for doing harmless acts during his campaign stops… Talk that up with the media. The ironic thing about this is that some of the media pundits complain about giving Beto so much coverage… all while giving Beto more coverage about the coverage he’s receiving… 🙄

So if you made it to the end of this extremely long effortpost, thank you. I actually had tons more to discuss but I’m not trying to make this into a novel. Anyways, I’ll say one last thing:

Before going along with groupthink or engaging in the toxic political echo chamber that is Twitter, I implore you all to take a step back and actually get to know these candidates. Seek after local news outlets when candidates visit to get a feel of the vibes from locals. Go to Beto’s Facebook page and watch a town hall or two. You may come home with a different impression than what is portrayed in mainstream media. I can tell you that when I did this, the difference was night and day. We have such an amazing field of contenders to choose from, and I’d hate for misinformation or bad-faith arguments to warp perceptions.

#beto o'rourke #2020 #democratic primary #2020 election #politics

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badsithnocookie · 6 years

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honestly the whole " all your gods are fake lolololol " thing wouldn't be quite as grating if they didn't exempt Andrastianism from it. Nothing is quite as irritating as watching your local Christianity expy get a free pass for their atrocities. One of these days I'm going to write that wish-fulfillment fic about an elf-blooded mage Trevelyan and her pet project to burn the Chantry to the ground and drink the tears of the Grand Clerics

ikr? bioware’s bias is so obvious. andrastianism is an incredibly thin christianity (generally by way of strawman-middle-ages-catholicism) analogy, and it’s the only faith in the DA world that doesn’t get awful reveals such as ‘the elven gods were actually powerful slave-owning mages LOLZ’ and indeed gets at least partially reinforced (with corypheus confirming the black city exists/the origin of the Blight, even if he then goes on to claim the Throne was empty)

and the narrative in the games develops to actually support the colonialist, speciesist shit that the chantry pulls with its ‘civilising’ of the dales and its ‘need’ to control the mages and i’m just here like ??

which is bizarre because Origins at least was partially critical of the Chantry - Leliana’s whole Thing is that she’s got this whole pseudo-gnostic thing going on with her rejection of standard Chantry doctrine but then by DAI she’s been retconned into the not!Pope’s hitwoman and i’m okay.jpg

but anyway i’ve meandered away from my point which is: yeah, they not only refuse to pull back the Maker’s curtain but they actually go out of their way to reinforce there really isn’t a tiny man behind it at all (unlike all those other faiths, which are just Wrong and frequently Evil - case and point the native Tevinter faith, which worshipped high dragons/the ‘Old Gods’, which are literally redubbed Archdemons from the word go and if that’s not case-and-point colonialism i don’t know what is)

i mean yes i realise from an intext-pov the archdemons are blighted which makes them Always Chaotic Evil rather than that evil being necessarily inherent but there was still a narrative decision made by the writers to say ‘hm, okay well we have a polytheistic faith which worshipped dragons that turned out to be Evil, another polytheistic faith which worships gods that turn out just to be super powerful mages who are also douchebags, and a monotheistic faith which we’ll loosely model after christianity and spend our entire time apologising for’

and it’s so fucking cowardly, on top of being spectacularly hypocritical

but like, you see it in their other series too. like, in mass effect, the asari and their faith are rather ham-handedly wiccan-coded (literal use of the maiden-mother-crone, naming the goddess athame ffs), and wow, what a surprise, it turns out that their goddess was actually a prothean and probably a man, to boot, haha those silly girls with their silly girl-faith, amirite.

the whole thing just makes me SO MAD

(but i am absolutely here for burning the chantry to the ground and drinking the tears of the grand clerics)

#dragon age #mass effect #bioware critical #religion tag #i need an off topic tag #possessedsandwich

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baby-come-bach · 4 years

Note

All writing asks!

Oh daaaamn! Thanks, bro!! @brynhildr13 !!!!

In response to this post!

1. What is your preferred place to write (notebook, laptop, cellphone, etc.)?

~Normally I try to do everything on my laptop in Zoho’s Notebook app. I seriously love the app, and there’s a desktop and mobile version that will sync so if you’re on the go you can still edit your notes! If I’m ever stuck I’ll hand write in a paper notebook and that usually works really well for me.

2. When did you start writing?

~I started writing back in the third grade, when I wrote and illustrated a comic series called The Evil Substitute Teacher from Mars! Obviously it was of a third grade quality and I had no intentions of being a writer at that point, but it was the first time I seriously flexed my skills even though it was just for fun!

I started writing fanfiction in my freshman year of high school.

3. What is your favorite thing to write?

~I love to write stories that take characters through intense emotional journeys. I absolutely love quality character development when you can track it from beginning to end.

4. Fluff or angst?

~Angst. I have little to no interest in writing a love story or love encounters as the primary plot. It’s hard to emulate the kinds of emotions people feel during those encounters when I’ve had minimal experience.

5. How would you describe your style?

~Hmmm . . . I would say . . . healthily balanced between pragmatics and prose. I try to make things as literal as I can when there’s action happening, but when I describe character’s emotions I literally love to pour on the cheese.

6. Where do you usually find inspiration?

~In general, for overall fanfic concepts I’ll find it in the source material, in a detail that wasn’t well-expanded. For specific ideas within a story, and for specific language to describe something I’ll borrow from both the source material and other writers in canon-based fics.

7. Do you listen to music to help you write?

~Hell yes.

8. What’s the biggest “challenge” for you as a writer?

~I love to write and I mainly write for myself - meaning I write the stories that I would want to read. But it’s extremely easy to fall into the “Nobody else will want to read this/Nobody is reading this = it must be bad and I’m a terrible writer” mindset. Surprisingly, that hits me harder than comparing myself to other writers. I understand and embrace that my style is different and the way I tell stories is unique. I actually really love how I write in comparison. I also struggle with pacing.

9. Where do you usually go to write (bedroom, living room, etc.)?

~When I’m at home, my bedroom. However, occasional changes in scenery do wonders for my inspiration, so I also love public libraries. When it’s very late at night (and it usually is because I’m a night owl to begin with and I work two jobs), I love to go to Denny’s. The people at my local Denny’s know me by name and I have the same server almost every time. They let me sit there for hours and hours (and if I do stay, I always leave a gigantic tip).

10. Can you give us a sneak peek of your current WIP?

~We’re mid-fight scene and this is unedited (I’m just really self-conscious lmao). It’s from my Dissidia fanfic, A Petal Among Thorns:

“’Cosmos's assassins!’ the Emperor sneered. He laughed, calling his staff from its resting place next to the throne. "I'm glad you could make it!" Removing Cloud first would be the most important thing. That, and deflecting Terra's magic. Cloud lifted his sword behind his head and slashed it down, and an arc of power careened off the blade towards him. The Emperor slammed the end of his staff into the ground and called a cluster of purple mines in its path. The Blade Beam collided with the mines and they detonated on contact in a cloud of smoke, the sound booming through Pandaemonium.”

11. How many stories have you written so far?

~18, though not all are complete.

12. What’s your favorite thing you ever wrote?

~In the first version of A Petal Among Thorns, I wrote a giant fight scene between a goddess and her warriors. It was intense and epic, and really maximized my skills at the time, and I loved every second of it.

13. How many chapters does your longest series have?

~Well, the new and improved version of A Petal Among Thorns has 45 posted chapters at 171k words, and I’m working on 46. The original Petal, which I finished, ended with 64 and had 108k words. Both are my longest so far. the most words, though, is Horrible Bosses with just under 200k.

14. What’s my favorite character/person to write for?

~This is so tough. But I think the Emperor for A Petal Among Thorns. He’s a classic kind of “Muahahaha” villain and I absolutely love getting into that evil headspace.

15. “OCs” or “Reader” inserts?

~If it’s an either/or question, then I say OCs. But nothing against Reader inserts. I love those, too. If it’s a do I read or write them question, then not really. I did one back when I was in high school. But I do read them and I support writers who do. There’s no such thing as cringe culture anymore so don’t let any elitists make you feel shitty for writing them.

16. Can you tell us anything about your current WIP?

~Sure. I’ve got four major ones:

1. A Petal Among Thorns (Dissidia Final Fantasy) - Cosmos just sent a group to take care of the Emperor since he’s been plaguing her and her warriors, but they’re caught unprepared when they realize he’s been secretly amassing power.

2. The Krypt (Mortal Kombat) - The group just found Master Hasashi and Kenshi, two out of the whole group they’ve been looking for. Their next order of business is to escape the spider caves, but it won’t be so easy.

3. Legends Yet (Final Fantasy XII) - Balthier and Fran are preparing to infiltrate the Archadian Palace to go after a special item. Little do they know the palace is more prepared than they thought.

4. This is My Punishment (Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus) - The Turks go looking for Vincent after he fails to report in. They confront Dr. Hojo about it, but he’s smug and disinterested.

17. How long was the longest fic you ever wrote?

~The longest COMPLETE story I ever wrote was the original A Petal Among Thorns with 64 chapters at 108k words. The longest INCOMPLETE story I have right now is the rewrite of A Petal Among Thorns with 46 chapters at 171k words. The most words I ever wrote was Horrible Bosses at just under 200k but with only 15 chapters.

18. What fandoms do you write for?

~Final Fantasy and Mortal Kombat and Hetalia are pretty much it right now, but a variety of FFs! I have written for Assassin’s Creed too, and Voltron, and I did one very self-indulgent Black Butler self-insert.

19. What is/are your favorite fandom author/authors?

~Poisonous Panda on AO3 (she used to have a tumblr but she deactivated for some reason), and Jaydee Grey on ff.net

20. Have you ever written an AU?

~No. All my stories take place in the actual world and parameters of canon. Although, I guess Petal could be considered one, since Rosa was never called to the cycles in any Dissidia game except Opera Omnia . . . ?

21. What’s your favorite AU trope?

~I don’t know if I have one. I read them but they’re not my go-to. I usually stick to canon stuff first.

22. A fanfiction cliché you can’t help but love?

~Hmmmm . . . I think descriptions of eyes. Not like, the word ‘orbs’ or anything, but the use of gemstones to describe color. I love the aesthetics associated with gemstones and their luster and how they shine, so if someone has “emerald green” eyes, or “amber” eyes, “crystalline blue”, etc. It makes me understand that their characters’ eyes are aglow with something, that they have character or passions or an ideas.

23. For how long have you been a fandom writer?

~I started my freshman year of high school, so . . . 10 years?

24. Have you ever had an idea for a story and forgot about it?

~No, I usually write stuff down right away. But as I develop my stories they rarely stay along the path enough to end up using the idea. Either the plot point is too out in left field now, or the characters are too far along in their journeys to make it work in-character.

25. What do you do to motivate yourself to write?

~Motivation? I don’t know her.

In all seriousness, I have ZERO self-control, so I can’t bribe myself. I mostly use my own desire to see my stories finished, plus nice comments and reviews from users on AO3 and ff.net. They’re so few and far between that a single one can make my entire day.

26. How did you find out you like to write?

~I’ve always enjoyed telling stories, from the third grade up! Making my own comics, and novelizing games I used to play, like Pac-Man World 2! I sort of never stopped, but WHAT I wrote matured as I grew older and joined fandom.

27. Are there any writers (fanfiction writers or not) that have inspired you to start writing?

~No, I was writing in general before I knew what fanfiction even was. But what inspired me to start writing fanfiction in particular was reading a Dissidia fic on ff.net by the name of Slash and Burn, that hasn’t updated since 2011. Reading that fic made me realize that the stories and scenarios I was coming up with surrounding these characters I loved could be transcribed and posted, and that other people were doing it too! I simply started writing down what I already was imagining for these characters outside of the events that happened in their games.

28. What’s your favorite fandom to write for?

~Final Fantasy, hands down!

29. Describe your style in three words.

1. Balanced

2. Introspective

3. Natural

30. What would you say is the most ‘famous’ fic you’ve ever written?

~Definitely The Krypt for Mortal Kombat on AO3. Writing for an active fandom is vastly, vastly different than writing for an older, stale one. The Krypt has the most comments and shares. On ff.net, it’s Horrible Bosses.

31. Blurbs or drabbles?

~Drabbles. Flesh it out more! I wanna be more immersed in whatever this is!

32. Have you ever written smut?

~I have written ONE SINGLE SHEEPISH scene in chapter 13 of Horrible Bosses. It was my very first attempt at smut and it is god-awful. Go check it out on AO3 if you want (and can withstand the second-hand embarrassment!)

33. How long does it usually take for you to write?

~LMAO that depends entirely on if I can get started for the day. If I can start and I can stay focused, I’ll easily write 3,000 words in one sitting. If I can start but I’m not focused I can usually still grind out anywhere between 100 - 500 or so words. But I’ll go days without touching Notebook if I can’t even get started.

34. What’s your favorite font to use when writing?

~I don’t put much stock in fonts but the one I’m using now on Notebook is Montserrat. I will change it every so often if I want something new though. Changes in scenery help my focus most times.

35. Which do you prefer to write: longer or shorter fics?

~Longer definitely. Shorter fics are easier but I love the challenges associated with aligning plot points with character development, as well as pacing.

36. how do you keep yourself inspired?

~My love for the fandoms I’m writing for usually does it. I love these universes and characters so much that I want to spend more time with them and watch them grow and change in ways that are or aren’t necessarily spelled out in canon. That, and the idea that since I’m writing stories I would want to read, then I’m the only one who can tell this story in my own way, so it has to be me.

37. Have you ever written something you didn’t like but posted anyway?

~Hell yeah. It be like that sometimes. Sometimes you stare and stare at a chapter and you absolutely hate it but you can’t figure out why and eventually you get pissed and say, “Fuck it, i have to post this to move on,” and you do. Specific examples for me are a few chapters in the new Petal.

38. What is your “strong suit” as a writer?

~I pride myself on my characterizations, to be honest. I feel like I have a good sense of who these characters are based on canon, and I can translate their reactions well to situations that test them.

39. What’s your favorite trope?

~I actually really, really love when characters are injured or slipping physically or emotionally, but they keep it to themselves for the sake of others. It can be for any reason - they don’t want to be a bother, they think they should be strong enough to handle it, etc.

40. How many likes do your fics usually get?

~Depends. The most I’ve gotten on anything was ~70 follows/favorites for Horrible Bosses on ff.net, and 128 kudos on The Krypt on AO3. Those are outliers, for the most part. My more popular fandom fics float around 20 - 40 kudos, my smaller fandom fics float around 5-10. The mean average for AO3 kudos across all my fics is 32, and the mean average for ff.net favorites is 14.

41. Have you ever used a prompt?

~No. it’s very, very hard for me to imagine characters into scenarios that I didn’t myself come up with?? I’m not sure why.

42. What is your weakness as a writer?

~Pacing.

43. Have you ever cried or felt any emotion while reading something you wrote?

~Yes, I cried when I wrote the aftermath of the large battle I talked about earlier, between Cosmos and her warriors in the first version of A Petal Among Thorns.

44. Have you ever done a collab with another writer?

~No, I’m too self-conscious.

45. One thing you love about fanfiction.

~I love how it allows fans to expand upon these worlds and universes that were created for us. I love how it allows us to demonstrate our love by interpreting things that were either not touched or not expanded upon in canon. It also allows me to express myself in a healthy and creative way.

46. What’s your favorite emotion to cause on your readers?

~Nothing makes a person sexier than physical pain. But I also love anger and regret.

47. What’s your favorite thing about writing?

~See above. Writing fanfiction is another way that I express my love for something that matters so much to me, which are these pieces of media I write for. It also gives my daydreams purpose and doesn’t make me feel like I have to bottle them up!

48. Do you post your writing in any other platforms?

~Yep! AO3, ff.net! I’m Keyblader41996 on both.

49. What app/apps do you use to write (word, notepad, etc.)?

~I’ve got notes all over! I’ve got some in Notepad on my Mac, and I have some in Notebook by Zoho on their site and app, I have some in my paper notebooks, I have some in my college textbook margins and notebooks, etc. My favorite to use is Zoho’s Notebook.

50. One thing you don’t like about fanfiction.

~Thinly veiled, arbitrary and unnecessary bullshit that is masqueraded as “constructive criticism” when I didn’t ask for it, and when it’s easier for the commenter to just, idk, LEAVE THE FUCKING FIC?!?!?!!??!?!?! Rather than spend ALL that time just to be shitty???????????? get away from me.

51. Least favorite trope?

~I dislike time travel.

52. Favorite words to use when writing?

~I love facial descriptions and body language: He crossed his arms. Her eyebrows furrowed. She winked coyly. His fists balled at his sides, trembling. She jumped, clapping her hands enthusiastically. etc.

53. Least favorite words?

~I hate describing clothes and bodies/figures. Hate it.

54. Do you usually like what you write?

~It depends. I cycle through different phases. (1) This is great. (2) Oh god, what the fuck??? is this??? (3) I can’t even look at this, it’s so bad. *Stops writing for days* (4) Wait, why did I hate this so much? It’s a great starting point! (5) Edit (6) YESSS YESSSSSS YASSSSS!!!!!!!! (7) Post

I can start at any one of those numbers and go from there but it’s always in that order no matter where I start.

Thanks so much for asking me these!! I love them!!!

#brynhildr13 #my post #baby-come-bach #writer asks #thanks man #writing

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theattainer · 4 years

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Online Marketing Through Trial & Error

https://chuckbartok.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Carmen2-e1574695310247.jpg

http://theattainer.com/online-marketing-through-trial-error/

Online Marketing Through Trial & Error

The following is a guest post from the very talented author, Carmen Baca. Although her focus is on the marketing of books, the principles are relevant to all venues

Online Marketing through Trial & Error

In the three years, I’ve been an author, I’ve figured out a few marketing strategies that work for me, not for all, mind you. While I queried publishers, I wrote to twelve famous authors for advice about marketing due to my being a New Mexico Hispanic and because our culture is underrepresented in literature. The consensus of the five who graciously replied was that exposure is what I needed for acquiring readers and generating sales. So that’s what I did.

Carmen Baca, brilliant author from New Mexico

PRE-PROMOTING PRIOR TO BOOK RELEASE

I created a website, a blog site, got on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram and started experimenting without knowing what I was doing. All those failed to lure readers, by the way, all except FB. This is where my readers were engaging with me and follower numbers rising, so I concentrated on it. And because of my ignorance, I started promoting fifteen months before my book published because I didn’t know my first publisher would take so long. However, that act of ignorance worked (and still works) to my benefit. I told everyone about my book for so long and used so many short excerpts and photos that the week the book released, it sold out on Amazon and in my local bookstore four times. I still promote my works months in advance.

FACEBOOK

A couple of reasons why Facebook works for me has to do with the genre and reader demographics. That’s probably why it doesn’t work for all authors. I don’t write a genre that’s common: I write regionalistic literature. This means I appeal to a certain region and to people who want to know more about the region. The subject matter I include is due to my culture being a large contributor to my novels and short stories.

The reader demographics are women my age or older. The majority of the reader population have only FB, no other social media accounts, so there’s no way else to reach them. However, because so many of them won’t do online shopping, they can’t leave reviews on websites. They do leave reviews on my page though. They also prefer buying the books from me, signed and with custom-made bookmarks. I sell hundreds of books from my page, but it does nothing for Amazon ranking based on sales and reviews. So my books will never reach a high rank (the first one about the Brotherhood got to #32 once; I about fainted). That one has the best sales record and the most reviews. So anyway, that’s why FB works for me but doesn’t work for all authors.

Best day to post on FB—Wednesday at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Worst day—Sunday

ONLINE VISIBILITY

As for my other platforms, every once in a while I update my website and post on LinkedIn, which I don’t understand how to use at all. I tweeted till I was even more confused about Twitter, and I post once in a while on my Flipboard Magazines and in my Pinterest author collections about my books. This is what I discovered about other means to gain online visibility.

Bookseller sites—that’s the first step in getting online visibility. Once you publish, your books are going to be on a few websites, maybe more, so that is where the exposure begins. Google yourself to see how many you’re on and fill in your author information on such sites like Amazon and Goodreads. See how you can use those to your advantage. Some authors create ads. I haven’t done that.

Short Publications—publish short pieces in online literary magazines. I’ve gotten works published in over twenty different magazines, blogs, and anthologies over the past two years. When new readers appreciate my short works, they sometimes follow the links to buy my books, so online publishing does acquire new readers and generates sales. (Again, maybe it’s my genre—no guarantee this will work for others). So, say twelve bookseller sites plus the twenty-four more, that gives me thirty-six websites I’ve gotten in a little over two years. With my website, blog site, all those social media platforms, that gives me another five at least. Forty-one, more or less, websites—that’s how many I’m on right now.

Media connections—this started for me because of my first book, traditionally published. My publisher arranged for a small book tour, so I was contacted by the influencers first—members of the media, newspaper and magazine editors and reviewers. Through Facebook, supporters of the arts, gallery owners, other authors, and book clubs found me and now promote on my behalf. Again, this is most likely due to my genre. However, because of those online magazines I publish in, I made some wonderful and far-reaching influencer connections on my own, and not only in my state. One editor promotes my books in issues of his magazine based in California, and a few others do similar promoting in other locations.

Author Websites—there are websites where we can list ourselves and our works: Goodreads, Hometown Reads, Penstra, Robin Reads, and many more. When you post to any social media platform, tag them with their handles, and they’ll sometimes retweet or share your works. Two neighboring states’ magazine editors, radio talk show hosts, and even a newspaper follow and share my posts to their readers, just because they found me on social media.

Above all, find social media platforms where you can connect with your fans and communicate with them daily. They love that they can talk to a “real author.”

TWITTER

I’d probably still be avoiding Twitter and stagnating at 190 followers but for a kind author who took me under his wing and tutored me in Twitter and tweeting.

Following the tutorial below, some of which I learned from my friend and some of which I discovered through more experimentation, I followed these steps to go from 190 to over 4,600 in four months. If you keep reading, I’ll explain how important the number of followers is on Twitter.

A visitor to your profile who is interested will take the time to click on your tweet and see what you’ve included in the accompanying imagery. Check out other authors’ and writers’ profiles to get an idea of how yours should look. I replace mine once in a while with NM scenery or with my books. When acquiring followers, be sure to check their profiles for “writer” of some sort. (I got three messages from men seeking friends. I changed my profile bio to married and grandmother to decrease the chances of someone looking for something I didn’t want to give.)

Go to the search bar and type in #writingcommunity. Start there. You’ll find plenty of tweets. Respond to those tweets—as many as you can. Tweet something like this—“new to Twitter and seeking followers. #Amwriting #mystery #novel (or whatever, but use the hashtags which attract more writers/readers).”

Participate in #FF (Follow Fridays) #WriterLifts, and #TwitterTrains when you can, especially as you’re building your following. When you see those hashtags, join in the train of followers by following them, liking, RT (retweeting), and commenting a thank you for the opportunity to get more readers. Engage. Don’t tweet with a comment though (something about algorithms).

Try to keep up with new followers and say thank you for the follow when you can. Use #writingcommunity in your tweets. Use your own hashtags as applicable to you. Use your hashtags in your tweet; for example, “I #amwriting #regionalistim & #magicrealism.

My #shortstory went live today.”

You get the idea.

Remember to keep an important tweet pinned for easy retweets and change it after it gets a few tweets, maybe 7-10. I like to keep my tweets rather than delete them after they no longer apply because I’ve noticed when a follower takes an interest in me, he/she will go back and see my tweets and like them, so I figure the engagement by leaving them there serves a purpose too. Some writers delete the tweets after they served their purpose.

Before you know it, you’ll have hundreds of other authors following you. Doing those three steps, I noticed an immediate increase in followers, and every time I tweet or respond to a tweet, I get more followers every day.

I like to tag specific influencers like magazine editors or radio talk show hosts who promote for me. They retweet my tweets to their followers, and word gets out for sales. I use @KRTN or whatever to get the attention of influencers; find your influencer handles and use those you want to attract. (Natalie Morales of NBC-Today, liked one of my tweets once). Just keep your @handles to a bare minimum and alternate with different tweets. You don’t want to become a pest.

One writer who took me under his wing is now promoting my books to his 79K followers. Think about it—those you follow have hundreds of thousands of followers combined, and those get retweeted and seen by that guy’s followers and so on. The reach is incredible—doesn’t measure up with Facebook at all. On FB I can reach up to 30K in nine countries, but on Twitter, I can reach well over that. Let me share an experience—I participated in Twitter pitch mad on Thursday, September 5, 2019. My pitch to agents was retweeted by 108 followers (can you imagine how many people that reached?). Because of the exposure, my pitch attracted 1 agent and 2 publishers. Don’t discount Twitter; learn to make it work for you.

The following is a guide to creating tweets others will want to engage in and possibly retweet, which is what you want to generate all those thousands of eyes who will read or scroll past.

Use your pronouns—each tweet should be written with the following in mind:

The first few lines are a headline. If it isn’t catchy, people will scroll past it.

Each tweet should be written to be viewed singularly and not collectively.

However, a tweet should be written to be viewed singularly as it will appear in other people’s timelines and in future search results.

All of my tweets clearly indicate “My story…” and while we may view this as egotistical, remember these tweets are viewed singularly. You’re telling them you achieved some goal, you’re not lauding someone else. Like the query or the book pitch, a tweet has to hook a reader’s attention or he’ll keep scrolling. My friend also cautioned me that when posting images (like I do when promoting a book or short story), don’t bother with text on the photo; it doesn’t get seen. (I do this anyway).

Best day to post on Twitter—Monday-Thursday 1:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m.

Worst day—Friday-Sunday

Carmen

My writing skills in both English and Spanish enable me to write with true storytelling talent (I’ve been told). My experiences growing up amongst los Hermanos Penitentes, traditions, and folklore permit me to tell the story of my father’s entrance into the secret society of the Penitente Brotherhood. Living on the land left to us by my father, my husband and I enjoy a peaceful county life in northern New Mexico with our furry friends. Visit me on Facebook and Twitter

What do you think?

#All #Money

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richardlowejr · 6 years

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SEO for Blogs for Authors: Optimize Your Blog for Google and People

As an author, you should create a blog to promote your brand, portray your image and deliver your message. Creating a blog, writing articles, and promoting them produces it’s own unique set of challenges for most authors. Few writers are trained, at least initially, in building a web site. Even more difficult is the concept of SEO for blogs for authors. SEO is Search Engine Optimization. That simply means designing your blog and writing your articles so that Search Engines such as Google and Bing (and hundreds of others) send traffic your way. Primarily, you want to optimize your blog for Google, and ensure your content is excellent so people want to read and share it.

Why should you create an author blog?

You own the blog, and can write whatever you want without fear of tripping some social network censorship trigger. You can safely write about anything as long as you don’t violate the usually loose terms of your blog hosting company and the law.

A blog gives you a “home” on the internet, a place where you can be found, your message can be delivered, and all your other works center around.

Your blog serves as the center of your branding strategy. All posting to social media should be in the form of excepts from and link to materials on your blog.

Your blog is the primary component of your author platform, which is the method you choose to reach your audience. By combining your blog with your email list, videos (possibly a podcast) and other elements, you create a powerful branding, marketing and even selling engine.

All roads to your brand should lead to your blog which is under your control and promotes you.

A blog is a type of website that contains articles, photos, links to videos, and other information about one or more subjects. An author blog specially promotes the ideas, concepts, stories, and materials of an author.

You’ll face several challenges faced when you create and maintain your blog and the associated articles and other materials:

Learning how to use WordPress, a theme, and plugins.

Making the blog friendly to search engines.

Using keyword and phrases to rank first in search engine results for them.

The remainder of this article explains the concepts of SEO for blogs and how they pertain to an author blog in particular.

So get your cup of coffee or tea, sit back, relax and read this article. There is a lot to go over, so allow yourself some time. Be sure to take notes and don’t be afraid to try some of these techniques on your blog.

What Does SEO Cost?

There is a huge number of applications, web sites, books, blogs, seminars, courses, and everything else under the sun to help you with SEO. Some of these products and services are extremely well done, some are okay and serve the purpose, and others are just a flat waste of money and time. I’ve spent the better part of six months looking at many different products, and in this article I’ll present some of the better ones for your evaluation.

Since authors, especially when they are just starting out, don’t generally have a lot of money to spend, I’m focusing on free or very inexpensive products, services and resources.

There are some SEO tools that cost thousands of dollars a month and others that are completely free to use. For the purposes of an author blog, the free tools will work just fine, although a few more manual steps may be required.

What are the minimum costs?

About $50 for paid blog web hosting. Always use paid web hosting. This gives you access to support from the hosting company, which you will need when things go wrong. Also, paid hosting tends to be faster, does not include advertisements, and is generally a better experience for you and your visitors. Finally, and this is vital, free hosting services do not allow you to install plugins, and those are essential for SEO.

Around $10 for a domain name. Note that web hosts include the first year of a domain name for free with their hosting package.

Optionally, you might want to get a premium theme for your blog, since these include support and tend to be faster and look better than the free versions.

That’s it. That’s all you have to pay for to get your blog set up and working. You can find just about everything else you need for free. So, as you can see, you can set up your blog on a budget.

What is a Brand?

Your brand is the way you present yourself to the world. You can either define, cultivate and promote your image or brand, or others will, de facto, define it for you.

It’s very possible to create a blog that portrays more than one brand. My blog, for example, discusses all of my books, which are about a wide variety of subjects as well as the writing and related services that I provide.

For example, ff you write western novels, like Louis L’Amour, then your brand is an author of western fiction. You could narrow this down even further to western fiction focusing on the Arizona area in the mid-1800’s if you’d like.

In general, you should focus your brand as narrowly as you can, because that makes it easier to identify your audience and define your message. This doesn’t mean you must limit your books or the theme of your blog to a single topic. It’s just the overarching image that you portray to the rest of the world.

Once you’ve determined your brand, you can work on what it should look like.

Colors

Fonts

Styles

Shapes

Types of images

For example, an author focused on World War II in the Pacific could include images of ships, Marines, airplanes and so forth from that era.

It’s a good idea to spend a little bit of money at this stage and hire a graphics designer for a couple of hours to get some advice. I like to use local business because then I can sit down in front of them, spread out pieces of paper, and we can brainstorm together.

You can also take a look at your competition to see how they show their brand.

Who is Your Audience?

Once you’ve defined your brand, ask yourself, “who is my audience?” Since this article is aimed at writers, your audience is presumably readers of your works,

The more precise you can be at defining your target audience, the better you will be able to write articles, create promotions, and so forth that communicate with them. This will make your promotions and sales efforts more effective.

Trying to target “everyone” or “all businesses” makes it difficult or impossible to reach your readers. On the other hand, if your audience is “people who watch Star Trek”, you’ll be able to focus your blog and articles, and, more importantly, create promotions that actually reach those people.

Find a Good WordPress Host

One of the most important factors for SEO is the speed of your blog. Google, and other search engines, dislike web sites and blogs that are slow.

If you want the pages and posts on your blog to be featured high in the rankings, preferably on the first page for several search terms, you have to ensure that your pages load in under 5 seconds. The faster they load, the better. We’ll talk more about speed shortly.

If your blog is frequently down or getting errors, then Google won’t be able to index your pages, which means they may not appear in the search results at all.

Advertising, which is normal for free or cheap hosting, encourages people to leave your blog. Google keeps track of how long visitors remain on each page, so if they leave quickly, Google takes that to mean the experience for the reader was poor. As a result, your ranking could suffer.

Finally, all web hosts occasionally have problems, and sometimes you might do something on your blog that causes it to crash, perform poorly or not work at all. In those instances you want a web host with good customer support. Free hosts do not provide support.

If you only purchase one thing, pay for your web hosting. I’ve had excellent luck with Siteground, but there are others out there that also do a good job.

How to Set Up Your Blog for SEO

Use WordPress for your blog. Why?

It is specifically designed to handle many of the concerns of SEO.

There are tens of thousands of themes and plugins available to support anything you need.

WordPress is easy to learn.

There are many courses available. If you want to find a few good ones, go to Udemy and search for “WordPress”,

Most web hosts, including Siteground, have a simple, automated way to install WordPress on the host. Use that method to get it done without hassle.

We’re not going to talk about how to set up WordPress itself as that’s beyond the scope of this article. I’ll write a future article to talk about that.

Google Analytics

Optionally, you can set up Google Analytics in order to find out about your visitors and what they do on your site. If you’d rather not confront this now, go ahead and skip this section.

To set it up, head over to Google Analytics. Create an account if needed. Note there is a lot to Google Analytics, and it can be quite confusing. All you need to do is create an account and link your website to it. Once you install the Yoast SEO plugin, it will take care of the rest for you.

Go to https://ift.tt/J2AkKr and click on Access Google Analytics at the top on the right.

After logging in, click on Admin at the top.

In the Property column, click on the drop down and choose Create a new property.

Fill in your website details.

If you want the tracking code, it’s under Property. Click Tracking Info -> Tracking code

You’re done for now. Later, you’ll connect to Google Analytics from the Yoast SEO plugin. This plugin will ensure that the Google Analytics codes are on every page of your blog so your statistics are accurate.

The full procedure is described in this Google help file.

Permalinks are a Vital Component for SEO for Blogs

Go into the Settings -> Permalinks option and set the “Post name” option. This is the best for SEO purposes.

Plugins You Will Need

Plugins are modules (applications) that you install into WordPress to add functionality. Over time, you’ll probably add a dozen or more of them to change the look of your blog, add features (such as book pages), improve SEO or adjust performance.

What is an SEO Plugin? These are plugins specifically designed to help your site be more attractive to Google and other search engines.

These are my recommendations for free WordPress plugins to help you with SEO, plus a few that work well for authors.

Slimstat Analytics – Get the statistics you need to get information about who is accessing your blog and what they are looking at. This does not require or use Google Analytics.

WordPress SEO by Yoast – Install the free version of this plugin, go through the configuration screen, and your blog will be well optimized on a site level for SEO.

WP Smush It – Optimizes the size of your images, making them as small as possible, to speed up your blog.

Remove Query Strings From Static Resources – Get rid of some extraneous junk (query strings) that are not needed. This will speed up your site.

Is Yoast Premium worth it? You’ll have to decide if the price for the premium version of Yoast SEO is worth the cost. I bought it for the redirection feature, which helps prevent 404 errors when the URL for a page has been changed.

Some other plugins that you’ll find useful include:

Comments – wpDiscuz – An extension to the WordPress commenting system that works well.

Contact Form 7 – A simple contact form plugin.

Fancy Author Box – Replaces the author box on posts with a nicer one.

MooBerry Book Manager – This is a great plugin for authors that lets your define a page of information about each of your books. It takes care of formatting that nicely and even defines the schema (a way to organize and define data) to make your books known to Google.

TinyMCE Advanced – Expands the editing capabilities of posts and pages.

WP Revisions Control – Lets you purge old revisions. Otherwise, they tend to remain and build up to unmanageable amounts.

WP-SpamShield – A lot of people use Akismet, which comes with JetPack (a toolbox of several dozen plugins). I prefer WP-SpamShield as I’ve found it is more effective and has less overhead.

I recommend against the following plugins:

Akismet – WP-SpamShield is better.

Jetpack – A toolbox with lots of different uses, but the overhead is high.

Google Analytics for WordPress by MonsterInsights – Connects directly to your Google Analytics account to give your great statistics of your blog traffic. Free version doesn’t have the statistics needed.

WP-Statistics – This plugin has a lot of functionality, but it caused my WordPress to crash. I tried it a year before, when I was on a different web host, and they recommended against using this plugin as it caused problems among their users.

Make sure the following is true for any plugins you install:

Positive reviews. There are always bad reviews, but the majority should be positive. Look over the reviews as sometimes an older version of a plugin received negative reviews due to a problem which has been fixed.

Still supported – Do not install anything which has not been verified as working for your current version of WordPress.

Create Great Content

Now we come to the “secret” for successful blogs.

If you want your blog to succeed, create good content.

Assuming your hosting is fast and your blog has been set up properly, the most important thing you can do is create good content. In fact, not just good content, but fantastic content that people want to read and share with their friends.

This is true with your blog as well as your books and anything else you write. All of your content must be incredible.

Think of these questions before and while you are writing:

Does this reinforce my brand?

Is it appropriate for my audience?

Does it solve a problem (or problems) for your audience? Does it teach them something? Does it provide good entertainment?

Is it something that will be shared by your audience?

When you are finished, have you done the best job possible?

Is the grammar and spelling perfect?

By creating great content, people will want to read it, share it and come back to see what else you’ve done. Search engines take note of traffic patterns, including clicks coming from social media such as Facebook, and assume that if people remain on your site they like your articles.

Conversely, if your content is bad, people will not stay as long, and Google will downgrade your pages and posts.

Stop Selling

While you can (and should) sell your books, services and products from your blog, your articles should give high-quality information that helps your audience solve their problems, entertains them, or provides some other service for them.

Don’t sell in your articles. Instead, freely give information.

Don’t mistake this to mean you shouldn’t sell your books, products and services on your blog. Your blogs should be written to freely give excellent value at no cost. Other pages in your blog can be used to sell if you like. For example, the pages about your books and products will obviously be sales oriented. However, an article about your characters or topics shouldn’t sell.

Keywords

In the good old days, all you needed to do was stuff your page with all of the keywords that you wanted to be listed for in the search engines. There were many sites where each page consisted of a short article followed by invisible (hidden with shading and coloring) lists of hundreds upon hundreds of keywords.

That technique no longer works. In fact, that will get your site booted from the index.

Today, search engines are much smarter, and they are getting more intelligent all of the time.

Your safest course is to use 100% white hat SEO. This means create good content with key words and phrases used naturally (organically) within the text, image tags and so on. Don’t try to fool the search engines using any spammy techniques. Period. The safest strategy is to assume you will be caught if you attempt to use subversive, black hat SEO techniques,

So what are the SEO keyword best practices you need to follow?

When you write an article, determine the main phrases and words that apply. For example, the keyword for this article is “SEO for Blogs” and “Optimize your Blog for Google”. Those keywords appear in the title and within the text a few times (no more than four or so). That’s what’s great about the Yoast SEO plugin – it will tell you the optimum number of times to include your keyword.

Now figure out a few dozen other keywords and phrases related to your topic. You can use LSI Graph for help.

These tools will suggest a list of phrases that you can use in your text. By doing this, you tell your readers and the search engines more about the topic of your article.

Additionally, these are what are called Long Tail keywords, meaning they are short phrases occasionally used for searching. The idea is that it’s virtually impossible to rank highly for a single- or two-word phrase. There’s just too much competition. However, you can rank highly for longer phrases, and you can include a lot of those phrases within your article. That’s one reason why longer is better – you can include more long tail keywords.

As of this writing,

“SEO” gets 110,000 searches per month

“SEO for blogs” gets 210 searches each month.

“how to optimize your blog for SEO” has 27 searches per month.

This article will never rank on the first page (or even the 100th) for SEO. There are thousands of sites trying to rank for that keyword. However, it can rank for “SEO for blogs” and “how to optimize your blog for SEO”, and for those, the article will probably appear on the first search page.

The idea is to get on the first page for as many long tail keywords as you can without making the article read awkwardly. For a 2,000 word article, get 50 or 60 keywords that get 30 or so searches each month.

if you need more ideas for keywords, you can search the following places to see what people are talking about in relation to your subject.

Facebook groups

LinkedIn groups

Quora

Answers

Ask

Forums and blogs related to your subject

Keep Your Blog Constantly Up-To-Date

It is vital that you put out excellent quality content on a regular basis.

I write one major article of 2,000 to 4,000 words every week, and a smaller, 300 to 600 word article every day.

In addition to adding new content, you need to be updating and modifying older articles. Information changes and your site needs to reflect that as well.

One thing you can do that will have a great effect is to cross-link your articles. Older articles can be modified to reference newer articles with similar information and vice versa. This gives your visitors even more value because they can find additional information if they want.

SEO On Page Optimization

What is on page SEO? This is everything that you do that is contain on the page of the article (post) on your blog.

The topic of on-page SEO is huge, and could take up a dozen books all on it’s own. Because of that, we’re only going to hit the highlights here.

We’ve already discussed the need for great content, but it bears repeating because that is the most important factor.

if you have great content, you’ve done much of the work needed for good results in the search engines.

For your text, keep the following in mind.

Put your main keyword or phrase in the first and last 100 words of your article.

Include that keyword a couple of times in the rest of the article (depending on the length).

Research long tail keywords that make sense for your article and use them liberally throughout.

Include the keyword in your page URL.

Include the keyword in your meta description.

Your page should include one (and only one) H1 tag (you’ll see this as “heading 1” in the style menu of the WordPress editor.) Include your keyword in that header. Generally, in most themes, the title of the article is used as the H1 tag so you don’t have to worry about it.

Use H2 through H6 tags (“heading 2” through “heading 6”) to break your article into subtopics. Ensure these are in the correct sequence. For example, H1 is followed by H2 is followed by H3, and not H1 followed by H3.

Never skip headings.

Links Internal and External

Include links to external sites as needed. Authors should always cite their sources, so follow the same rules when you write articles for your blog. Of course, you don’t bother with the style guidelines from APA, MLA or CMS. Just link to the web page you used as a source.

Internal links are just as important. You should reference your other blog posts and pages as needed to support the topic of your article.

Ensure your links work and don’t lead to dead air. Google will drop your site in ranking if it detects too many broken links, internal or external.

You don’t have to check manually. You can use the free utility at Broken Link Check.

Image SEO

Include images that help your readers understand your content. Infographics are excellent, and videos also work well.

Rename the filenames of your images before you upload them to something that makes sense. For example, I took a picture with my camera and the image was called DCS2456.jpg. I renamed that to “closeup image of my flower garden with honey bees.jpg”. This gives the search engines more context about the image.

Include ALT and TITLE tags that describe the image when you upload it into WordPress using the media center.

By naming the image and including the ALT and TITLE tags, you give Google and other search engines the information they need to understand what the image means and how it relates to your article.

Before uploading, compress your image so it is as small as possible. For jpg files, for example, you can set the compression or optimization level when you save it.

Video SEO

By including video in your blog, you can increase the amount of time your visitors stay on your page. People like videos, especially if they are well made or funny.

How to effectively use video for SEO purposes is a subject for a future article.

However, by including video you make your blog more attractive and more favorable to Google.

Off Page SEO

What is off page optimization? This is links from other web sites and blogs to articles and the home page of your own blog. The act of getting those links is called link building.

Links to your site tell Google that other people believe your content has value. In other words, links give you credibility.

Google and other search engines absolutely love links; after all, that’s the whole purpose behind the web – to link information together. Get as many high-quality links as you can, but be careful not to do it all at once. Take your time, a few links a day at the most. More than that might cause Google to get the idea you are using spam techniques to get those links.

What is a high quality link? These are links from sites that:

Do not engage in spam techniques.

Do not contain malware.

Have high quality standards for their content.

Have high traffic.

Links to information sources for the most part.

Has a good presence on social media.

The best links are from authorities in your niche. For example, an authority link for a writing blog would be a link from Writers Digest or from the blog of a well-known author or speaker.