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jasmine-tea-latte · 3 years

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I’m going to be completely self-indulgent and promote myself a little during Self-Love Saturday for @zkfanworkweek (Zutara Fanworks Appreciation Week).

(Click here to see my earlier post about my favorite Zutara fics as well)

As I’ve said before elsewhere, I discovered ATLA shortly after it premiered in 2005, back when I was in high school. I enjoyed the show on occasion, but it wasn’t until Fall 2006 that I rediscovered it and got bit by the Zutara bug hard.

I still remember spending hours browsing and saving my favorite fanarts on DeviantArt and chatting with fellow fans and shippers on the Distant Horizon forums (side note - rereading some of my old posts on there is a total cringefest. Ugh.)

I stepped away a year or so after the show ended and dived into other OTPs and fandoms. Then earlier this year, I decided to return to the Avatar fandom once more and created this side blog so I could post all the Zutara/ATLA stuff to my heart’s content.

Anyways, I’ve enjoyed reading so many wonderful fics over the years, and I’m being serious when I say that I still have certain lines and scenes from some of them memorized.

Yet until this year, I had never sat down to write any fanfiction of my own but then, everything changed when the pandemic attacked.

Since I live in a big city and was under self-imposed quarantine (my husband is a non-medical essential worker, I get to work from home), I suddenly found myself with a LOT of free time, all alone save for Zoom calls and Facetimes with family and friends. So, after hyper-fixating and rewatching one of my favorite shows, I decided there was no better time to try my hand at something I’ve always wanted to do.

And so, my series The Phoenix and the Dragon was born, based on the Zutara Week 2020 prompts. It all started when I thought up an idea for the prompt “Celestial” and sat down to write a one-shot where the Gaang teaches Zuko how to dance in the days leading up to the comet, and he ends up dancing with Katara under the starlight and moonlight.

Once I finished that (and split it into chapters for my own sanity), I realized I needed to know what happened next. So I plotted out the remainder of the series, one fic that corresponded with each prompt, and the rest is history.

Want lots of fluff, a dose of the occasional angst, and tons of symbolism and callbacks/foreshadowing/all those other literary tropes? That’s what you get with The Phoenix and the Dragon.

(Side note - if anyone were to animate or draw either of the sun shower scenes from this series, you would make my YEAR, and I would tearbend over you forever.)

Since Zutara Week ended a few months ago, I’ve added several extra entries to the series, including a fic that explores things from Mai’s POV and her own personal journey to find happiness.

~*~*~

I’ve also written a handful of one-shots and am finishing up on a 3-part series as well.

My one-shots (all are rated M, so minors beware):

Snuffed Out

This is what happens when I decide to dive into angst. I’ve actually been called a monster for this one, and frankly, I’m quite proud of that. The opening and ending scenes were inspired by Metallica’s “One” and the rest by Slipknot’s “Snuff” - hence the title. Fair warning that it gets dark.

Just For One Day

A return to fluff and happiness - an AU of sorts inspired by David Bowie’s “Heroes.”

Because these lines now forever make me think of the Last Agni Kai, and I get all in my feelings listening to this song now:

“I, I will be king / And you, you will be queen / Though nothing will keep us together / We could steal time, just for one day / We could be heroes, just for one day...”

Sweeter Than Honey, Stronger Than Whiskey

A self-indulgent modern AU Blutara fic entirely inspired by a dream I had while sleeping off the crud, under the influence of decongestant medicine.

AKA, the Blue Spirit actually saves the Painted Lady from the pirates.

~*~*~

It sounds crazy, but diving into writing this series, as well as my other fanfics, has truly helped keep me sane during this difficult year. It’s become my own personal little slice of happiness, and I’m so thankful to each and every one of you who has left a comment or Kudos or expressed their love for my work.

Seriously, you guys mean the world. Love you all, fellow Zutarians.

#@zkfanworkweek #zkfanworkweek #Zutara Fanworks Appreciation Week #zutara #zuko x katara #zuko #katara #the phoenix and the dragon #my fanfic #my stuff

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serasvictoria · 3 years

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5 Fanworks Meme

Rules: it’s time to love yourselves! choose your 5 (ish) favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and post or link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2020. tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

Got tagged by @plavapticica (ages ago, I do apologise)

I tag @schreiberpablo (gifs!), @basilone (fic and gifs!) and @itstheheebiejeebies (wallpapers!). I’m not expecting anyone to do this by the way, not in the least because today is the last day of the year. It took me that long to decide to actually post this.

This is kinda difficult for me since the only writing I do nowadays is strictly for myself and I never share it, but I’ll bite. So the only thing I have to share are excerpts really. Or just the one in this case since I’m not particularly comfortable in sharing most of the crap that I write which is why it took me so long to post this.

I don’t think I’m a particularly good writer (trust me, I am well aware of my limitations) and the only writing that I even shared with others was for BBC’s Robin Hood (Allan, baby, those damn writers did you so wrong) and the last time that I wrote for an RP site was in 2012 so... long time ago. I also have a very hard time finishing things. During this batshit crazy year I finished a fic that I started writing almost 10 years ago. I shit you not.

So here, have an excerpt. And it would probably make sense if I posted something from earlier on the story, but I didn’t. Nothing I do makes sense basically. It’s just what I’m like.

Ronald Speirs (Band of Brothers)

Catherine headed outside, eyes immediately drawn towards the sky which was streaked pink, purple and blue as the sun set. When it was quiet and peaceful like this, she had to keep reminding herself that the only reason that she was even here to begin with was because there was a war on.

When she heard a lighter being lit to her left, she was momentarily startled. Looking to the side, she saw her CO sitting on the ground, leaning against the building.

“Admiring the sunset, sir?”

“Something like it.”

“Want some company?”

She took his silence as consent and sat down next to him, taking care not to invade his personal space too much. He produced a packet of cigarettes and held it out to her. She was well aware of the fact that he offered them to everyone just to see the terrified looks on their faces, but he never got one of those from her. She’d been accepting his smokes before the rumours surrounding him had even started so she could hardly stop taking them now, even if he would think nothing of it if she suddenly started refusing them. Besides, he hadn’t pulled a gun on her yet.

Looking ahead of her at the brilliant display that Mother Nature was putting on, she said, “It looks like a painting.”

“Does it?”

“Like Turner himself might have painted it.” She took a drag and added, “Sun Setting over a Lake.”

“No lake here, Taylor.”

“We’re not in Switzerland either.” When she looked at him, she found him staring at her questioningly. How he looked in the fading light took her breath away for a few seconds and made her think that some painters would have jumped on the chance to be able to paint him. “He liked to paint there.”

“How do you even know those things?”

“My father’s an art teacher. So I’ve been spoon-fed that kind of stuff ever since I was a kid.” She tapped on her temple before continuing, “My mind’s full of all kinds of useless information like that. Like Raphael being only 37 when he died. Or how Botticelli had initially trained as a goldsmith.”

“Who?”

“Sandro Botticelli. Italian Renaissance painter. The Birth of Venus?” The look on his face told her that he had no idea what she was talking about. “Naked blonde girl on top of a big shell?” Still nothing. “Bet if I showed you one of those pinup drawings from Esquire that you’d recognise those.”

“That’s different. I like those.”

“Philistine.”

He didn’t reply, merely offering a little half smile before turning his head to look at the sky again so she did the same. She smoked the rest of her cigarette in silence and kept sitting there until the brilliant display of colours was over and nothing but a small strip of red could be seen on the horizon as the sky above it gradually kept going darker.

She’d look at him out of the corner of her eye at times, but he hardly even seemed to notice her presence. He wasn’t really the talkative sort and she had to admit to herself that she quite liked that. If she wanted to talk complete and utter bullshit, she’d seek out one of the other guys. If she wanted silence, Speirs was her best bet. Though he did sometimes seem ever so slightly bewildered that she actively sought out his company at times, but she also expected that if he didn’t want her to sit with him that he’d tell her to fuck off and as long as he didn’t explicitly tell her that, she would continue sitting with him in silence like this.

#band of brothers #ronald speirs #fic

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casual-romantic · 5 years

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Samurai Love Ballad Party is Pretty Great

For someone with not one but two sideblogs devoted to Samurai Love Ballad Party, I sure do rag on Voltage a lot. So, in the spirit of the holiday (and definitely not because I’m procrastinating real work), a list of reasons why I’m still playing this game eight months in.

Realistic characters No, they’re not realistic in terms of power levels or historical fact, but nearly all of the characters in SLBP feel like real, actual people. Both virtues and faults can be found in abundance. Furthermore, whether a given trait is a virtue or fault can switch depending on the context. This is key to making a character seem real instead of just a list of traits on a spreadsheet.

For example, Mitsuhide is meant to be a perfect samurai. That’s great - until his devotion to duty and people means he might be separated from MC forever. Yukimura’s innocence and faith in people leads to both good things (hooking up with MC, being friends with Saizo) and bad (leaving himself wide open to being taken advantage of).

Distinct characters Despite a sprawling cast, each character is very different from each other and easy to tell apart at a glance.* That's pretty hard to do! SLBP also adheres to a philosophy espoused by OKCupid** back when they did interesting dating math about how some people thinking a person isn't hot only makes that person more attractive to other people.

*Except for their chins. I swear every male character in this game has the exact same jawline.

**Seriously, if you have any interest in otome games and why controversial characters make the most money read that post. OKC used to have the most amazing blog back when it was run by two statisticians.

Historical setting SLBP massages history a lot, but there’s quite a lot that’s actually pretty accurate (or close enough that you can at least recognize the key events when you read a wikipedia article). I like that. I also like that it gives a very interesting canvas for the writers to play with.

If you’ve ever seen Project Runway or a similar competition, you've probably noticed people do their best work when they’ve got a limitation or two stymieing them because it makes them think more creatively. In the case of SLBP, how will they handle Shingen’s well-known end? Nobunaga is the first unifier - what was it like for the people working for and against him at that time? There were more guns in Japan than Europe in the late 1500s - how did that play out on the battlefield? Restaurant workers from Kyoto weren’t likely to meet multiple samurai lords - how do you get around that believably? There’s a lot of neat stuff to delve into.

Complementary relationships If you like one member of the Date clan, you'll probably like the others. Same goes for Kai. Nobunaga's followers are a more mixed bunch, but that's only fitting because he's got the "big tent" strategy going on as the lord with the most territory. This further contributes to the believability of the stories and makes reading them more engaging. Maybe you like Inuchiyo the best, so you normally wouldn't care so much about a ninja event, but Sakuya's good friends with him so you've got a story to look forward to after all.

Many events There's almost always something to do in SLBP. You're not just limited to five free chapters of the main story per day, even if you're free-to-play. Right now we've got ninja event stories and a samurai fair, we just wrapped up Lord of the Draw with extra side stories and items to get, and there's sure to be another battle on the horizon soon. On the very rare occasions when there’s no event, I realize how much I’ve come to rely on that steady flow of extra content.

Engaged marketing team Voltage is very active on multiple social media platforms and, whether or not they can respond, they do see and pay attention to what fans are saying. They're very encouraging of fanworks and are supportive of their player base. Should be par for the course, but shockingly not as common as you would think.

Pretty good writing I am very critical when it comes to writing. I don't like to see typos, I don't want to have to pause and figure out what's going on because the description was confusing, I do want to each character to have their own individual voice, and I want good pacing and storytelling in general. For the most part, SLBP does a good job and I can largely turn off the editor in my brain and enjoy the stories.

(That's why I get so upset when certain stories don't live up to SLBP's usual standard. I go back into editing mode and can't just enjoy Genya flirting with MC.)

Cute side games I like dressing up my avatar and decorating my castle. I like accumulating a bunch of onigiri to get rewards in the tea garden. I like playing the lotteries to see what I get (need those pearls!). They're all nice little distractions that complement the main game but don't need to be played if you don't want to.

Limited player interaction I can do everything I want in the game without interacting with anyone if I want, or I can make a bunch of allies, compete for a fancy dress, and chat up a storm with someone after complimenting their castle. Block options are available for the rare occasion you need to use them. For me, it's just the right amount of interaction with other players.

Unapologetic fanservice Voltage knows what the fans want and is happy to give it to us (...in exchange for pearls). No need to feel embarrassed for wanting to see Shingen with his shirt off. The stories have also gotten noticeably sexier as I've played, which is nice. Well, sex is an important part of most romantic relationships. It's good to know MC is having her needs met, and it's good to know I can re-read certain epilogues whenever I want in my album.

Autism representation This is pretty niche and may not have even been intended, but Mitsunari is almost certainly on the spectrum. But! He's not portrayed as an asshole who thinks he's always right and justifies being a jerk with a (at the time, non-existent) diagnosis. No, he, like most autistic people, is struggling to do better and learn more about how to interact with others. (Also he thinks he’s almost always right.) And his special interests and ability to retain information come in handy a lot, and he has people who understand him and treasure him for who he is, not in spite of it. That's really great.

Anyway, that's my non-exhaustive list of reasons why I actually really love this game. My complaints are only because I want it to be as good as I know it can be. If I really hated it, I'd stop playing and I'd definitely stop buying pearls. XD

#slbp #samurai love ballad party

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ocean-in-my-rebel-soul · 6 years

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Building Audience Engagement

I was thinking of other ways to build engagement and hopefully an audience for my fellow fic writers and artists. I’ll share some things that are working for me under the cut because it’s a long post.

And a plus: I’m not even talking about updating your fics regularly! (But please do that, if you still are into those projects!)

Caveat: This is just stuff that works for me. It may not work as well for you, but it doesn’t hurt to try.

tl;dr: promote your own work, consider sharing and promoting others’ content, be consistent in how and when you publish/post, have fun. Use tags judiciously, have an easy way we can search for your content, and again, promote your work! This is just as applicable to original content as fanworks!

1) Promote your own work

This, I think, is one of the more awkward things about being a creator: self promotion. We have to celebrate and advocate for ourselves and our work! Once you post a drabble or an art piece, schedule a reblog for a day or two away, then again in another few days or a week. Maybe you decide you’ll reblog certain things on certain days: maybe you’ll promote your AO3 page on the weekend and call it Fanfic Friday, or you’ll find your older art pieces from four million years ago and reblog them one day a week. Whatever it is, prop up your own work! If you don’t care, no one else will, either. You spent so much time and energy creating whatever that was, make sure it gets its turn in the spotlight!

2) Weekly writing events.

I participate in the DA Drunk Writing Circle hosted by @dadrunkwriting. You don’t have to drink to participate, and it’s really simple to get involved. Every Friday, we get together and send each other prompts, and we post our little drabbles. I personally aim for 3-5 a night. I don’t always make it, but I like to have a goal. When we post our drabbles, the DA DWC blog (tagged above) reblogs the posts to their audience, too. It’s really nice.

3) Tag your posts like a mo-fo.

I got a tip from @jawsandbones about an XKIT extension, Quick Tags. I make some bundles, or a pre-set list of tags, and I can tag my posts with the click of a button. Go check out some of her prompt fills and other writing, and you’ll see what I mean - Lisa has a MILLION TAGS on everything, but it’s organized. It’s not random. You’ll see probably every iteration of a single ship possibility, and that’s amazing. Make sure you tag your stuff, so that anyone who follows the tag or searches for specific content can find it.

Related: I tag certain things within the first five tags, as the first five tags is used by Tumblr in searches. I try to use the following for the first five: NSFW (if applicable), ship name, alternate ship names or character names, specific game (if applicable), and fanfic, all within the first five. I also then include my writing tag for easy organization, and any series/timeline name as applicable. If I have an OC in there, I tag them. My general rule: tag often, tag as much as possible, and tag any NFSW and triggers so people can make the choice to see or not see your content.

4) MAKE AN ART/WRITING TAG

Make a tag specifically for your fanwork, whether it’s visual art, writing, Tibetan throat singing inspired by a character, whatever, and then PUT THAT LINK ON YOUR BLOG. Very important. Make it easy for people to navigate your blog and your tags. Help us find your content!

5) Follow other fandom blogs

As other people have said, fandom doesn’t exist in a vacuum. If you’re building an audience, whether it’s for your own original work or fanworks, one of the easiest ways to do this is to follow other similar blogs. I have made some great friends and met wonderful content creators by checking out the folks my friends follow, or who interacts with the posts I share or create. It’s great! I love reading everyone’s fics and seeing lots of different art styles. Broaden your horizons and make friends at the same time!

6) Interact (when appropriate, if you want)!

Reblog art! Comment on fics! Send in asks! All great ways to be involved with other creators. Did someone reblog an ask prompt from you? Go send them one! Did you see a friend share a prompt list? Send them one! Did a buddy of yours publish a drabble or a link to a bigger piece? Consider reblogging it! How about some art? Definitely reblog! It’s simple, and broadens everybody’s spheres of influence. Let’s help each other be seen! If you consume someone’s media and enjoyed it, consider commenting and sharing it when/if you can.

7) If you have the time, energy, and motivation, join a writer’s group.

I’m part of a couple different Discord servers specifically for writers; for example, Writers of Thedas, which I administrate for, is one of the ones I’m most active in at the moment. There’s a bunch of people online at any given moment to chat with, whether about headcanons, the craft of writing, or whatever catches your fancy in the moment. I have loved being a part of that server, and if you’re interested, send me a message to get involved.

8) Do your friends have some cool OCs? Ask if you can write about them.

Trade characters with a friend! Sharpen up your skills and practice accurate characterization and voice for OCs you didn’t develop. It’s hard, and a really great skill! A few friends of mine have a big cuddle puddle of OCs in various timelines that they co-write various plots for, and it’s so fun. (Also, if your friends already do this, share their stuff!)

9) Talk about your OCs and your stories

You might find a meme or a writing game floating around. Participate, even if you’re not tagged! Talk about your muses whenever the urge strikes! Tell us about your characters, about your art, about your writing. Like I said up top, if you don’t care about your work, no one else will, either. Plus, I find that simply talking about my OCs (what’s their favorite breakfast food? What would their story look like as a Historical AU mashed up with a runaway circus?) makes me inspired enough to continue working on my writing!

10) Be consistent

Maybe you only produce one piece of fanwork a month. That’s okay! Make sure you treat it and yourself just as important as if you had created 100 pieces of work. Reblog them consistently. Set up a posting schedule. Pre-load drafts and set them to automatically publish on a certain day or time, then try to stick to your schedule as much as you can! This is a great tactic, no matter how much content you produce.

These things have worked well for me. You may not enjoy these ideas, or you might not find them particularly helpful for what resources you’ve got available to personally dedicate to fandom, but I’m sure you can find similar ideas or ways to engage in meaningful ways.

Most importantly: Have fun!

#reference #fanwork #fanfic #fanart #audience engagement #tips #advice #writing #art

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