#this is not a dig at any authors!

[sexynetra]

As a contrarian to how so many people perceive (or write) Marcia as a pillow princess that doesn't have a bone in her body that could top, power top Marcia is the only Marcia that lives in my heart. Okay, maybe submissive top Marcia can also be there. As a treat.

I had this chat early on with my beta and she opened my eyes to the vast and beautiful world of the potential of top Marcia. I’d already established the rawnsyf dynamic, but I have many universes planned in my mind, and Marcia deserves to be dominant sometimes!!! Like just cause she’s blonde and hyperfeminine doesn’t mean she can’t fuck yknow? Let hyperfeminine girls top intimidating girls. As a treat.

#there’s a whole world of topping styles and fanfic Marcia deserves to explore all of them #also this goes for every ship ever but I feel like it gets so boring and reductive if the bedroom dynamic is the same in every story #this is not a dig at any authors! #I’m literally thinking about being in like. the supernatural and one direction fandoms. #I think it’s more fun when there’s all sorts of dynamics explored across the breadth of fic out there #there is absolutely a place for pillow princess Marcia. I love her. hell #I’ve written her #but I also think there is space for feral top Marcia yknow #and topping from the bottom Marcia #and kinky top Marcia #she could absolutely be a power top I bet her strap game is insane. she’s so stubborn and when she sets her mind to accomplish something #by god she’ll achieve it #if she wants to be a strap god she WILL become a strap god #anyways I see your vision anon I understand you #asks #anon #Marcia #Marcia x3 #Marcia Marcia Marcia #also as a treat if you read this far in the tags: Marcia will probably be a very seductive top in the newest fic I’m working on :)

[featherymainffins]

Me when the narrator is an external entity with its own motivations and agendas and the script it makes you follow is not the one you are confined to but be well aware that all folly has its limits and all relationships might sour

#the stanley parable #slay the princess #theres one more i can think of but i feel like itd look really comical next to these widely acknowledge bangers #like ah yes widely acclaimed game; widely praised beautifully drawn visual novel; and...a parody made by a guy on a whim #nonetheless funnily enough thats actually the one that i always think of in this context #like if you ask me for games where you have beef with the narrator youll get that and only after like 2 minutes will i remember tsp #oh if anyone knows more games like this or any other media like this feel free to drop names because i DIG this every time #nobody does it like this uuuh micro-trope #idk why i love it so much but i do. absolute banger. a hit every time. #what i also count as this is when there isnt a narrator per se but it turns out that the story is run by an actual script #like that there is a script the story is supposed to abide by but its literally just that. a script. its an external thing with no power. #because that implies the existence of some kind of author and a narrative and thats also a banger

[tangledinink]

i've actually decided that anyone who's made any disaster twin fanwork that includes dialogue along the lines of, "i can't survive without my other half," or "i'm not a whole person without you," or "life isn't worth living without my twin," owes me $50.

#im right here man cmon-- #im only half joking #this is a very specific gripe but it gets me so fucking bad man #i know what y'all are trying to say and trying to do but like #can we not actually.... #like #they actually can live without their twin okay #like i prommy #vent #personal #tw sibling death #cw sibling death #sibling death #tw family death #cw family death #family death #and i know that you cant always take the things characters say at face value like #just because X character says “i cant live without you” doesnt mean they ACTUALLY cant or that the author thinks they cant #but it so often it is delivered. with. like. no... nuance? or any feeling of #like... critique or whatever from the author/artist. and like. idk. just. seeing that shit sucks sometimes you dig? neway

[greenerteacups]

Is Harry a horocrux/ parselmouth ?

What, in canon?

#in lionheart? i mean... uh #his scar has been hurting? i uh... not to spoil anything but like #do you remember the canonical reason harry's scar hurts? #like there's a LOT going on with harry's bond with voldemort and it's a lot of layered pieces #between lily's blood sacrifice and the horcruxes and the horcrux shard and the resurrection potion and the twin cores and the prophecy #there are like 14 operative enchantments affecting harry and tom's connection at any given point. it gets kind of nuts. #but as far as i recall. there isn't an alternative explanation for that. #TLDR: lionheart is a canon rewrite that diverges from a very specific point. i'm not hacking around in the guts of the thing #you just haven't seen lionheart!harry around snakes! #i get a lot of these types of 'what's going to happen in lionheart' questions and candidly speaking i don't get it at all #like surely you'd rather read about it in the story than just dig it up in some random lore post on the author's blog? #i usually just leave them be but this one got to me because of how it has 0 context #'is harry a horcrux?' man who are you? hermione granger's google search circa 1998? #lionheart spoilers

[asexualbookbird]

i feel like people see "three stars" and think thats a Bad Rating but for me it's more like. I had fun! Won't be revisting this, but enjoyed it while it was there! I know my ratings are more vibes than anything else but generally three stars are just that. Its the two stars that make it more There Were Problems Here That I Will Grumble About, four stars are like I May Think About Rereading This One Day. One star is shit. Yall know that Thats easy. Five stars altered my brain chemistry. It's mot about technical skills. Its about my enjoyment and three stars i enjoyed SOMETHING!

all this to say i dont think Scalzi is a Bad Author, hes just a very specific kind of author. He's like. A Midlist romance author that doesnt write romance and none of that is an insult. His books are easily digestible, theyre funny, theyre silly, they fall apart if you sit and pick them apart, bht they're not meant to be picked apart! They're just there to be enjoyed as is and thats okay!!!!!

His books are also the perfect thing to read when you have post covid brain, which is funny about Start Villain because he wrote it with post covid brain. So. High five mr scalzi.

#bookbird babbles #this. sure is a babble #i dont know if im coherent #but like. okay. continuing in tags i guess #people say their romance books and newish romantaay genre is like popcorn to them #or candy #its just there to have fun not to be of any nutritional value #and i feel like romance is the only genre we really get that? #there are plenty of mediocre thrillers out there but they all take themselves too seriously #scalzi is having fun! like romance authors! and its outside of the romance genre! #and i think thats neat! #(to be 100% clear i am NOT taking digs at romance genre i just do not generally enjoy that genre) #(so its refreshing to still get these tasty snacks that are tailored to me :) )

[peglarpapers]

sometimes i get too heated defending the terror (2007) hit novel by dan simmons and i’m like ‘no there is something to be said about how simmons uses male characters’ attitudes towards sex and women both as representative of the colonial landscape and from a purely technical perspective the combination of prejudice, fascination and disgust with which sex and sexual encounters are treated (by crozier and franklin especially) is often fascinatingly evocative character-wise’ and then i remember that there is not a single speaking female character whose pubic hair is not described in painstaking detail and rapidly realize that it is not that serious

#like it is SO hard to talk about the sex scenes and sexuality in this book #bc they are SO relevant to what simmons is trying to do vis a vis Horror of the Body and Colonialism #but he just drops the ball SO SPECTACULARLY SO MANY TIMES #and it’s like. ugh. i can see exactly how effective this could have been if the author did not have So Much Stuff Goin On #i need to go and dig up all the very good posts people have made about peglar/bridgens in the books #but like. the Book Silna Situation is just So Bad it’s hard to justify like. any positives when That is sitting right there #the terror #<- tag for blacklisting purposes shit. my beloved mutuals i apologise for party rocking

[cervideity]

i guess now i am considering analysis part of the art i am putting out.. this is just a thought. and i havent written my essay yet. anyway. i am thinking about fucking ed carter again. get me out of here.

tearing through flesh day after day after day battle after battle succeeding over and over where you could not before. constantly reliving the moment you could have changed things for the better.but. but. but heres the crucial part. the very event that made you a killing machine is the one where you could not have possibly have been that. the event where you needed to be that. forming this response endlessly too late. fated to lose your friends no matter what you fucking did. molded by your enviornment in the cruelest of ways and not even able to use it when it mattered most. you were never enough. you will never be enough. FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#i love ed . he is. i have no idea if the author meant to make him like this but he is so dissociative and his character makes me feel seen #more than any other character i have ever seen #hes such a nice kid. .... he is such a nice kid. tears in my fucking eyes. #no one has read the enemy. trust me when i say im being truthful and based HAHAHA #imgonnafuvkjn throw up man.. #the enemy #the enemy charlie higson #the enemy book series #ed carter #AND IM GONE by femtanyl is HIS song. btw. #i know this kinda thing is . idk. a trope? i just think it hits diffferent when its a kid. who is Still very . emotional and sweet. #it feels like im reading the pov of an open wound #edit: eds battle/trauma/whatevr response is not depicted perfect or. even fully nonableist . i am not claiming that it would be GOOD rep #(if it was even intended to be dissociative) just that I Personally relate to how its written #and also this series is well written in general. so.. god. i need to analyze it more there is so much meat to dig into

[deathsmallcaps]

So a couple weeks ago, I saw a post saying that the second part of ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ meant ‘free from Jews’, in a genocidal way. But I recently read an article that said differently.

The slogan has been used differently in different times by different people, and the second part of the slogan has often been changed. Hamas has adopted the slogan, but only relatively recently. When Hamas was first formed, they reportedly avoided using it, due to its secular connotations.

In any case, according to the article, the word that means free in the original Arabic version (latinized as ‘hurra’) specifically means liberation from oppression. NOT a call for genocide.

Many Palestinians are still trying to figure out what exactly they want in a peaceful outcome. So it is true that some people may say it in a completely exclusionary way, but others are merely wishing for oppression to end. And keeping a genocide from completing, which is the RIGHT thing in ANY situation, means saving everyone - nobody should have the authority to decide who lives and who dies. People can be and are often good - don’t let your heart be poisoned against what is right.

#just in case y’all saw that post too #I’m no expert I just did a small amount of digging #I rarely do this but I’m making this post unrebloggable because I am NOT an authority on this subject in any way

[inklingofadream]

periodic reminder that 4thewords is great :) never timed well bc it never occurs to me to say this in november when they offer a month of free subscription time, but! it is making the process of catching up on polychives more satisfying. finishing this chapter is like fighting a literal beast, rather than a metaphorical one, because for $4 a month (or slightly less, I buy the end of year bundle) 4thewords will provide Beasts

#writing #polychives au #ink post #it's possible they offer trial periods other times of year but i dont remember #not digging up my referral code but if you do want to try them using it will award us both perks in game #it's like. 80-90% great. the not great is slight jank on mobile/during site updates you get with any smallish enterprise #and also a definitely non-zero amount of orientalism. not equipped to estimate how much? #bc i've been stalled on the main quest for a while lol. and have been in the Orientalism Zone of the map for a while #basically any white author fantasy doorstopper with a 'desert' culture/country/etc if you need a ballpark #yknow the scarves/veils genre of Sexy Woman in visual media? she's here as a monster which isn't NOT stigmatizing #but i'm not equipped to make the call on like. how bad it is. bc my knowledge ends at spotting a Likely Yikes scene dressing #you fight 'good' or friendly characters as monsters but theyre usually specifically 'infected' when humanoid #whereas this may or may not be the case. i think theyre directly affiliated with the big bad/its army iirc #and it mostly seems p bad bc like. they're quite good with most other representation boxes. #pride month events textually queer characters visibly disabled characters as cool mentor types etc #so the weak areas feel more grating

[incompleteninny]

The ninety-fourth free, unedited chapter of my upcoming book, “The Heist at Cordia Aquarium” is now available on its website (or click https://www.kitfisto.gay/chapters/thea to read from the beginning).

Sophia kneels near her desk. A massive, wooden monster weighed down by a computer tower and four mechanical arms. Each one holds a monitor. A two-by-two grid of black bezels and screens, all blank.

Arms deep inside a drawer, Sophia glances at Avery. "Come in, yeah? Don't just hover there."

Avery takes a few tentative steps toward Sophia's bed. "Do I— do I just— sit?"

Sophia unearths a black-white speckled tome — journal, rather — and chucks it onto her desk. "Yeah. It's not going to eat you."

She slaps journal after journal down atop the first. One, two, three; a hushed "No" or "Nope" accompanies each. At ten tall, she goes for eleven, but falters. Something about the cover. She stumbles over with it and plops onto the bed, her eyes never straying. Avery can see it now; the writing across the cover in big, black marker: January 2335; nearly four years ago.

[...]

#happy 4th #and my mother-in-law gave me permission to be late with this chapter post #so take any concerns or complaints to her #book tags #queer lit #queer author #queer novel #wlws #women digging women #women talking to women #women holding other women's hands #just a lot of that stuff

[welcometogrouchland]

Oh also before I post art I just wanna say that KEEPING UP A-FEAR-ANCES SLAYS AND EVERYONE SLEEPS ON IT!!!!

#ramblings of a lunatic #the owl house #toh #IT'S SO GOOD??? #personally i think a lot of ppl who complain abt Liliths redemption arc skip this episode on rewatch bc this ep does a lot to contextualize #it basically gives us the big ''WHY?'' of why did she curse eda #she has no foundation for her own self esteem and desperately needs some higher authority to tell her what she's worth #bc her mom didn't do that for her #ergo as a kid she makes a selfish decision that ruins edas life and she digs her heels in trying to find comfort and security #in the form of social status and power in the emperor's coven (which also gave her the false comfort that she was Doing Something Good) #she either needs the approval of God or his mouthpiece bc without it she doesn't know who she is #she has to be better than someone at something at any given time bc she's scared she'll fade into the bg otherwise #(also i think this ep subtly implies she was closer with her dad than her mom?? not super notable i just thought it was nice <3) #ALSO EDA AND GWEN. RAAGRHEUFHTK BITE BITE KILL #as much as i love eda and camilla as moms gwen is. much closer to my own experiences and i can appreciate that #gwen is a great 1 ep redemption arc imo they did a very nice job giving her a tight storyline #ALSO. ''I HAVE A RIGHT TO BE UPSET'' IS ON THE SAME LEVEL AS ''THEN WHY WERE YOU SO EASY TO CURSE'' IMO #IT'S REALLY GOOD. GO OFF EDA!!!!!! #also clawthorne lore i love you clawthorne lore #AND FIRST APPEARANCE OF VEE!!! THE ANIMATION AND LIGHTING POPPED OFF #anyway. this has been my plea to watch this ep again and remember how hard it slaps

[kingdomoftyto]

Been reading a bunch of good NaruMitsu fic but this one I just finished and I'm 🥺🥺🥺 This is what I look for in this ship. This is the ideal balance of stupidly fluffy domesticity and agonizing slow burn pining and stubborn self-loathing angst, sprinkled generously with outside POV from all their long-suffering friends and family

Basically it's a fic where a witness asks Miles if he's ever been in love, and Apollo and Athena both realize how badly the question affects him. Cue 80k words of meddling and disgustingly sappy pining and the most awkward waltz in the history of time

#fic rec #Ace Attorney #this fic also digs leagues deeper into the intricacies of the legal system than I've seen in any other fic thus far #leading me to believe the author has maybe studied law or at the very least did crazy research for the fic #either way it really adds something to their discussions about their goals for the future and whatnot #anyway excuse me while I dig through the rest of this author's works list

[deanmarywinchester]

good morning everyone I feel insane. this is your sign to read some good fanned fiction this weekend

#im reading terror fic that’s way outside my usual wheelhouse and I go back and forth on whether I even think it’s good As fanfic but it Is #really good As fiction especially bc the author has written just SO many notes about the story process in a way that forces me to consider #pov in a way that’s new for me #my posts #the terror lb #like the way the author digs into why characters wouldn’t even be able to Think some things but the author still manages to gesture at #important background details that the character couldn’t put into thoughts #mwah. #anyway if you’ve read any amount of terror fic yes this is exactly what you think it is lol

[chalk-homunculus]

I've started to feel really uncomfortable around anyone who talks about Rhinedottir positively because I've started to accept that in my pseudomemories, that aren't very happy to begin with, she is a (rather obvious) stand-in for the abusers that hurt us when we were a child. I think us having joined a trauma/c-ptsd stabilization group therapy thing has helped me process that as well. It also has made me wonder if maybe us starting to remember some of the more horrific things a while ago wasn't coincidence- because our brain had already started to process some of it in the form of my "memories" of Rhinedottir.

#this isn't a blog where I traumadump so I'm keeping it vague as much as possible #but I will say #I have rather clear pseudomemories of serving as a test subject for things most will consider inhumane. #that- and the absolute authority and level of strictness from Rhinedottir in my memories mirrors our childhood #in many ways. #I think she's not meant to represent any one specific abuser because I see traits from many different abusive people #in my memories of her #but I guess my 'memories' of her were one of the first steps towards us starting to understand/realize #the true extent of the abuse we went through at the hands of a certain group of people. #I used to feel so confused over certain pseudomemories because ''where did this even come from?'' #but now... I understand. because those memories have started to trickle back in. #at least I've finally learned to not purposefully dig for more because of how bad our situation got when I did #my curiosity is at times an issue when it comes to our mental wellbeing. #anyway #chalk thoughts

[themirokai]

I got this comment on a story from my Other AO3 Account this morning.

(Info redacted because I prefer keeping these accounts separate but no one follows me on the side blog I have for that account.)

The story was posted almost a year ago and is relatively “popular” by my average statistics even though it has tropes and themes that are big turnoffs for a lot of people (hence separate accounts). This popularity is undoubtedly because it’s a Marvel Loki story and that fandom is massive.

So there is obviously an algorithm or a bot scrubbing ao3 statistics and leaving this comment on fics that meet a certain metric with the main character of the fic inserted into the comment.

I had a little time to kill this morning so I decided to investigate further. And y’all this is so predatory. Come on this journey with me. It made me mad. It may make you mad.

First, if you go to Webnovel’s website, you HAVE to choose between male lead or female lead stories before you can go any further. WTF?

And that’s weird, but this gets so much worse. This is basically a pay-to-read site that has different subscription models. Which… okay BUT! The authors don’t get paid! Look at that comment again. They’re promising a supportive and nurturing community, but zero monetary compensation. It’s basically, “post your stuff here so we can get paid and you can get… nice vibes?” I mean look at this Orwellian writing:

Using the phrase “pay-to-read model” in the same sentence as “qualitative changes in lifestyles for authors” deliberately makes you think that you can get paid and maybe even make a living on this website. But that’s not actually what it says and authors will not receive one red cent.

Oh but wait, the worst is still to come. In case this breaks containment (which I kind of hope it does) this is where I mention that I’m a lawyer in the US.

I don’t do intellectual property or copyright law but I do read and write contracts for a living. So I went to look at their terms of service. It was fun!

Highlights the first, in which Webnovel gets a license to do basically whatever they want with content you post on their site. This is how they get to be paid for people reading authors’ writing without paying them anything.

Highlights the second, in which Webnovel takes no responsibility for illegally profiting off of fan fic. This all says that the writer is 100% responsible for everything the writer posts (even though only Webnovel is making money from it).

Highlights the third which say that by posting, the author is representing that they have the legal right to use and to let Webnovel use the content according to these terms. So if a writer posts fan fiction and Webnovel makes money from people reading the fan fiction, and the House of the Mouse catches wise, these sections say that that’s ALL on the writer.

So that’s a little skeevy to start off with but the thing that is seriously shitty and made me make this post was that these assholes are coming to ao3. They are actively recruiting people in comments on their fan fiction. And they are saying they are big fans of the character you’re writing about and that they share your interests.

They are recruiting fan fiction writers and giving every impression that you can make money from posting fan fiction on their site and hiding the fact that you absolutely cannot but they can make money off of you while you try, deep in their terms of service which no one but a lawyer who writes fan fic and has some time to kill will read.

I see posts on here regularly from people who don’t understand how this stuff works, don’t understand that they (and others) can not legally make a financial profit from fan fiction. And there are tons of people who will not take the time to dig into the details.

Don’t deal with these bastards. Fuck Webnovel.

#went down a rabbit hole #got mad #webnovel #this is a scam #how to ao3 #fan fiction #please spread the word #long post

[jvhnmitchell]

Blocking the saltburn tag for my sanity

#sometimes a movie is not as deep as yall think i promise #death of the author and all that but stop saying the author Intended for you to find whatever symbolism yall are finding #and when you Have to dig that deep to find something to talk abt... maybe the movie is just. written bad. #if you cant discuss the Actual Text maybe the Actual Text is. not good. its that simple #like. yeah theres some ~weird~ scenes in it but... it didnt Do anything with any of them. they were just. there #and the best one was improvised so. props to him for trying to do something w the film. and getting his dick out i guess. #idk the more i think abt it the less i like it except for those few scenes