#but also hardly at all at the same time

[waffles-and-flapjacks]

man i'm just the eepiest guy ever...

#so sleepy #i sleep so much omg #but also hardly at all at the same time #wait no yea that makes sense #of course i'm exhausted my sleep is all over the place LOL #nothing sounds better than a nice nap rn though......... #*wistful sigh* #alas... i must be Awake and Conscious though

[industrations]

do you ever think about how you, the Dutch™️, said, “not the joe biden meme!” and i, the American™️, replied, “haha yes, the joe biden meme!” … about the bernie sanders meme?🧍🏼‍♀️

Why would you bring up our joined trauma

#and yes #every day #i think #i think about that one time #but also #why do anchient white men all look the same huh #its hardly our fault #relish block tag:

[lekopoofball]

👁️

I thought the original sketch was kinda cool so I digitized and coloured it and it was a horrible decision. I did not plan to spend 15 more hours on it. I sincerely apologize to @lekopoofball, who has crushing amounts of work to get done as soon as possible.

#this is one of the reasons i hardly draw anymore. once i start i just keep working on the same picture all day #also i spent too much time experimenting with brushes. too much of a hassle #just gonna go back to using default hard round pressure size for everything haha #qsmp #my art #qsmp purgatory #qsmp federation workers #i know the design isn't totally accurate it was from memory #remorse

[scalpelsister]

also this isnt really proper shade at larian or anything and the writing of this game is SAURE good so dont take it this way but.

i sure do wish. Minthara was not villain batted as hard as she was. Her being locked to "evil" runs and being mutually exclusive with several party members. Her being nothing more than a miniboss for your average player- who does not even know shes a potential party member! Her being so chronically unloved by the community because... shes the "evil" companion. Hell, even the amount of people saying frankly really edgy shit about killing her or hurting her completely unprompted lmao. Like I genuinely think shes been pretty unfairly demonized both by the community and by the meta of just like... the game itself because she's really actually..... kind of, dare I say, sweet? if you get to know her. ugh.

#also if i had two nickles. shes sylvanas all over again lads i fear #idk obviously larian handles her character much better than wow ever handled sylvanas but its genuinely like #kind of eerie how similar they are and how hard they where both villain batted considering how evil they actually are #ESP compared to their male counterparts #like i would argue that neither of them are any more evil- and likely are even less evil- than a lot of the men in the same game that #are not villain batted at all. #like every character in warcraft is a war criminal so sylvanas is hardly uniquely evil on that front #and i have a hard time buying that minthara is anymore inherently evil than astarion lol #idk again larian handles trauma much better and it feels... inauthentic to accuse them of not treating minthara well because shes #traumatized. thats def not the argument im making here but it IS really sad to relate to / find catharsis in another traumatized elf #only for her to be. villain batted just like the last one :/ #idk. its just a bummer. #like again thankfully its not a thesis of larians like. karlach and shadowheart and laezel are all beautiful and wonderful examples of like #traumatized women allowed to be angry and validated for being angry #BUT im selfish haha i want my bestie minthara to be able to have a happy ending w the rest of us and i dont want to see her demonized for #idk being a traumatized angry woman like!! it seems outta place for that to be the message but #whatever im rambling ive lost the plot #my post

[icewindandboringhorror]

sometimes looking at like Self Help Strategies lists for the symptoms I'm having is always just like:

thing that I already do

thing I have tried 10 times

thing I already do

thing that I don't have the money to do

thing I already do

thing I've been doing since I was 10yrs old to no avail

thing that is impossible given my situation

thing that doesn't apply to me

thing that I already do

thing I have already tried

hrmm, oh wait, maybe finally- OH, yeah.. okay. thing that I already do but it was just phrased slightly differently

thing I have already done

#I think maybe productivity tips help less if the reason you're unproductive is partially like.. physcial health and other extenral things #out of your control. rather than just like having trouble paying attention or spending too much time on tiktok or whatever #all the strategic to do lists in the world are not going to somehow prevent me from waking up with a debilitating migraine or whatever #or having external stressors or lacking resources and connections or other Productivity Essentials etc. #especially many tips involve stuff like 'cut off from social media' since thats the modern day time waster for so many poeple #and it's like.. lol.. i can hardly even maintain a blog even thuogh i actively WANT TO DO SO. 'shut off your smart phone!' already #done babey i fucking hate smart phones i shall never use an app unless i am forced to. 'delete tiktok' yep. already covered. tiktok and #all of those thinsg are my enemies. 'save money by cancelling some of your services' cool. already ahead of you. #who the fuck is out here paying for like 10 different subscription services. pirated videos uploaded to google drive and youtube to mp3 #my beloved. etc. etc. and so on. 'socialize less' .........LOL.. if only you knew.. mr.writer of the article. i can barely muster #talking to friends more than once a month and even less if I'm actively sick (often occurence) etc. etc. ... hewoo #I think maybe instead of generic productivity tips I need more like.. how to refocus and be productive anyway even if you have a headache #or are nauseous or etc. Not that those are always things to ignore. and of course you should let your body rest and etc. But plenty of peop #e have mild physical symptoms and just work through them. Ithink something about the way my body/mind is SOO hyper attuned to all #sensory information just makes it like... constantly 'GRR well I cant focus on WRITING right now because my lef #t ear feels weird and my socks are too itchy and my back has a strange pressure and I'm vaguely warm and my eye feels some ssort of #way it doesnt normally feel and I'm hyperaware of my breathing and also nauseous for no reason' and like half of those things I #think '''normal''' people wouldnt even notice or at least would be able to just live through. but for me it's like.. nealry impossible to i #gnore and soooo distracting always. like 'wahh.. nooo we can't draw or get anything done.. my legs feel slightly heavy or something!!' #like............. ok......... who cares. thats not even a PAIN sensation it's just something weird. but it's just like.. NO. constant #mental alerts about the 'heaviness' of your legs be upon ye. Though Imean like.. yes.. 70% of the time I am in genuine pain #or having some sort of actual ailment with trackable physical symptoms. but sometimes it's just like... we could totally be working right #now and ignoring this silly thing but my brain is fixated on it for no reason uncontrollably. etc. etc. I guess it's the same way that like #most people can go to a grocery store without the whole experience being so overwhelming and so much stuff going on at once #that they have to rest afterwards but like.. in my own HOME doing NOTHING i feel like I should be able to not get overwhelmed lol. ANYWAY #Rolling my bastard little rock up a dumbass hill and so on and so forth

[theothermaidoftarth]

Baela and the Myth of the Child Fighting Pits

Not sure why I keep seeing from green-leaning accounts that in Fire and Blood, Baela visited the child fighting pits. But this is what F&B says about Baela post-Dance:

Nothing about child fighting pits. In fact this is what shows up when I search ‘pits’ in Fire and Blood:

The definition of a rat pit according to awoiaf:

Not the best of places, I’m not going to defend it but there’s nothing about children there (also lower down it’s stated Mushroom said these are the places Aegon II would frequent, which the show turned into child fighting pits).

Also saw it said on here that Baela celebrated Jaehaerys’ murder… Her reaction was not recorded.

Baela is many things and she is not perfect but what I’m seeing is just not accurate. And that’s not even getting into what I’ve seen on Reddit where they say she wasn’t faithful to Jace before his death and was kissing squires while he was in Winterfell. (Narrator: she wasn’t.)

#Fire and Blood #baela targaryen #forget media literacy #actual literacy seems to be dead #though I lean green in some ways this is why I’m not really into the whole ‘team’ thing #except ‘team chaos’ tbh #hotd #kinda #since one account which espoused what’s said above also said Baela’s a bully in the show #Were we watching the same show #Guess they’re talking about the fight with Aemond and I like Aemond but all the kids were in the wrong there #the girls less than the boys since they were grieving #dealing with a deadbeat dad who barely acknowledged their existence the whole time they were there #and they also hardly knew anything about the bullying and taunts Aemond had faced growing up #all the kids were in the wrong but I could see why they all did what they did and how it escalated #the blame should be on the adults above anyone #the fight between the children was a microcosm and consequence of the animosity between their parents #I also think it’s interesting the amount of parallels between Viserra and Baela #Not just the pits but the drunken rides through King’s Landing and betrothals arranged btwn them and men old enough to be their grandfather #I don’t think we’re supposed to take Baela’s actions post dance wholly as a leisure jaunt #They’re also rooted in trauma from most of her family being dead in a bloody and brutal civil war

[maaaahri]

Oh no I’m thinking about VtM npcs again

#text #screaming into the void #vtm #I started doing prep :) #they’re all such horrid beasts #god hates some of them more than the average cainite #Davis just wants order she just wants things to be civil #she’s so human in her push to maintain and so ventrue in her enforcement of edifice despite being an anarch #what decent bulwark is so prone to cracking #I think she thinks about that a lot #the sins of her clan eat her alive and she can’t escape from them no matter how hard much she fortifies her defence #Saoirse is so similar but refuses to lock people out in the same way #she WANTS To see her clan used for good! she does! but she’s self-loathing in the extreme #and it’s easier to turn that hatred outward and pretend all of your loneliness isn’t the fault of a century of trauma #but could easily be fixed if your kin weren’t essentially an MLM cult supreme in a world filled with MLM cults #Mavka who is just. a freak. and knows it. knows that god hates them and hates god for it #perpetually confused in their own ostrasization until they have no choice but to revel in it #it’s funny to me at least that every time Mavka sees Sybil it’s just :> yay Sybil my friend Sybil #Very clearly they could try to be more normal but it’s also absolutely out of the question for them to do anything but wage slow war #against a god that they hardly know outside of resentment #I cannot talk about major villain themes bc that would be telling :)

[girlcrushau]

#me? about to use tumblr as a diary again? in 2024? unfortunately:/ #but here have a waterfall i saw on a hike last week as payment #i am sO tired and exhausted emotionally after dating #there's this guy that i fr thought was going to last and be around for a long time. we spent like every moment together that we could for 2 #months straight and if we werent physicaly together we were texting or calling or on ft . just every part of our day had the other in it #not once did i ever feel unwanted undesired or uncared for. not once did i feel that i wasnt sure of his intentions. i felt safer with him #in those 2 months than i ever did with any one else i could think to compare to. #until one day he just didnt think it important to communicate any more. after 3 days of nearly nothing .. hardly any talking . i asked if #he was ok if we were ok. what was going on in his head. he said some ive just been with my buddies and family and havent been on my phone #and just. immediately thats heartbreak yanno. thats :// thats what they say when theres a new girl. but there'd never been a reason to think #there was another girl so i was like ok we're gonna trust bc this dude has been So good in every way. so i said imy but i understand. enjoy #your time with your buddies and with your fam -- i cant wait to hear about it (and hold you) #and i havent heard from him in the 3 weeks since. just randomly #so last night #i send the dreaded 'i miss you' text. #i dont expect to hear back and i accept the hurt that will come with that and the confusion that i've felt settles deeper into my heart #until this afternoon i hop on ig and see a hard launch that was posted an hour after my text was sent #that shit kinda hurt different. but also sent me into a bit of a delirious state where all i could do is laugh bc are you for fucking real #did she see my message? i know it. bc i know him and i know that he wouldnt hide anything from the person he's giving his heart #and his softness to. i can almost imagine how he showed her and promised her theres nothing to worry about #and there really isnt anything to worry about because he genuinely is the type to give his all to the relationship he's in #which feels silly to say after what happened w us. like no there wasnt a title ever #it sucks to call it a situationship because a month ago we were laughing in bed together about how we could never bc we were all in. #just the timing of the hard launch makes me giggle. did my text push them to have a conversation about what they are. was she really the #reason that he went away on me. #im trying not to blame myself . trying not to think about the phone calls i didnt answer. about what i could have done differently. trying #not to think about where we would be if i didnt let my anxieties hold me back. if i wasnt scared about what he'd think of the parts of me #that i keep hidden just a little bit longer than the rest. #and at the same time im trying not to put him on a pedestal. but that pedestal is just where i wholeheartedly believe he belongs #he set the bar for me. he set the standard. i was never too much. i was never too little. he made me feel perfect just as i am

[galacticlamps]

'to thine own self be true (and thou canst not then be false to any man)' Polonius tells his son Laertes in Act 1 - and it's so trite a saying that we quote it on everything from greeting cards to jewelry and almost laugh to stumble upon it in its original context

and then Laertes goes and spends the rest of the play - and let's face it, what little of it came before that as well - playing the foil to its tragic hero until it kills them both in Act 5 (and through the means of his own deception too)

#i am soooo normal about laertes (i'm lying) #one day i'll write a book about how normal i am about him but for now have this textpost #anyways nobody asked but i think that's probably the shakespeare quote i have the biggest love/hate relationship with #because we talk about it so much but hardly ever actually talk about IT #and even when we do it's mainly to be like 'oh polonius you with your empty maxims you!' (& we do need to remember that part too) #but it's also: #'oh polonius you are in conjunction with that & in more ways than one the very thing that dooms your son and therefore all of them' #it's the quintessential hashtag-its-not-that-deep quote #while at the same time being bitterly ironic and rarely do you get to discuss how both of those things can be true at once #so i Love it but i also Hate that i could undoubtedly find it on a t-shirt without much effort yk? #(and before anyone points out that there are multiple shakespeare quotes for which the same can be said re: the whole #itssodeep-noitsnot-actuallymaybeitisforadifferentreasontho dance #trust me i know but i refer you back to the first tag & how extremely normal i am about the character of laertes in general)

[faineant-girl]

i wish all addicts, in recovery or not, a life free of sorrow forever

#.vent #kinda. im not gonna delete this one though #i just. i sure am thinking about this a lot. #i listen to like. trip report videos or whatever and like. the comments section on every single one. just nasty #theres no sympathy for an addict to be seen. unless they're also an addict or are recovering #my dad is a recovered addict. hes been clean for 6 years. i love my dad and hes a wonderful person. #i obviously still have trauma from when he was actively in his mess. to deny that addicts have caused others trauma is to be reductive. #addicts can cause trauma because theyre people. and people can cause trauma all the same #but the lack of understand or care or basic respect to anyone dealing with addiction is just. appalling. #im sick and tired of hearing the same old fucking phrase that its the addicts fault cuz they decided to take the first hit. like #man how fucking cruel can you be. how heartless ya know. #like its obvious hardly anyone commenting abiut this knows anything about what being an addict is like. like. #i know i dont. ive been sober my whole life right. i do not have the same experience. #but. i have a compulsive disorder that makes me perform a task that is 1 harmful 2 almost entirely out of my control #and i cannot describe to you how difficult it is to ignore that urge. for your mind to know what youre doing is harmful. but #your body physically is not listening to you. #like. its a different thing when its addiction. but being compelled to do something you know is hurting you isnt unfamiliar to me #plus with addiction the added factor that your body becomes physically dependent on a drug and it hurts you for a long ass time to try and #stop and withdrawl can sometimes literally be lethal. its so fucking sad to see people hold not even. like an ounce of sympathy ya know #if an addict has abused you im not saying you need to forgive them. you dont. but not every addict is youre abuser #and while you do not need to be involved. every addict deserves a good life. everyone deserves a chance. #just. god. makes me mad. makes me upset. #if you are an addict especially if youre not in recovery. i hope your days go well. i hope the world gets kinder to you.

[autoneurotic]

guy outside gas station just sold me his bike for $4?

#i thot he was just asking for money and was sure got you #and he was like no im selling it! #i think it’s stolen LOL! looks brand new #haven’t biked nor had a bike in YEARS #wow! i wish campus wasn’t full of BMW drivers who want to run cyclists over #me n my partner are thinking of quitting our jobs and scooting over the the Lowe’s that’s hardly five minutes from my place #could bike there! CAREFULLY #get this. i make. ugh. ew. $11/hr part time cashier at Michaels #same job also part time at Lowes? 15/hr. fuck off. are you kidding #cashiers are always open too like. no one likes doing it or it just has a high turn over #i don’t obviously love being a cashier but i’m very good at it #which i thought was silly to say until i encountered. bad cashiers #like babe all you do is smile bag stuff take they money tell them to have a good day. how is this hard

[sysig]

Special Counseling (Patreon)

#Doodles #SCII #Helix #ZEX #DAX #These are especially funny to me because I remember when I first looked through the gallery and was Deeply Distressed at ZEX like this #I didn't know the context yet so the betrayal was uncomfortable! As intended but unexpected haha ♪ #I love ZEX! Why would he do such a thing! Now I know <3 <3 And now I'm doing the same thing! Lol #The thought of ZEX never getting his own body again even for just a night even on the Institute's side ah it hurts #At least he'd finally have visual proof that it's Possible he never even saw Tanaka so for all he knows it was just another ''vision'' #But of DAX <3 Of him getting his body back but turning on ZEX about it ough ♥ And the fallout!! Agh!!! #The setups the payoffs <3 <3 <3 #I wrote a bit more for both scenarios actually - of DAX actually pointing a laser pistol at ZEX and threatening to kill him #Thus why ZEX is questioning him the next day - was that brainwashing or would you really do that?? #ZEX of course wouldn't have flinched at the time - and DAX's motivation either way that this is a fate unbefitting of his Admiral #''He lowered his head feelers in a sympathetic way. 'I can hardly stand to watch you waste away in that form. If you would ask it of me...'' #Weh ;; #Can you tell it's a bit inspired by We Do What is Necessary hehe <3 #Which btw you've read right it's so good everyone needs to read it <3 #Remind me to make a separate post about that one actually I had the oddest reread experience :3c Fascinating ✨ #Anyhow lol #I actually like how I've written their next-day meetup after DAX returns to his senses more than I've drawn it hm :P #I think it's a specific line that sticks out to me - VUX communication through human bodies my beloved ;;♥ #''He ran a hand down DAX's arm - a poor approximation of the gesture he was trying to emulate but he was sure DAX would understand. #They'd exchanged it enough times before.'' Hhhhhh ❤️💕💖💞💗 ;;/♥ I love them <3 <3 #Also forehead touches and holding face and hands and jfdsalkfd the tenderness and loyalty aghhahgah <3 #I really like the idea of VUX lacing fingers with each other as a kind of twining/head tendrils holding replacement ♥ #The most intense one-eyed eye contact hehe <3

[lesbian4lqg]

one thing i really appreciate about svsss is that with anyone else in shen yuans role?

the system's lbh mood ring points (satisfaction, heartbreak, etc) would be considered an invasion of privacy more than the whole transmigration thing already is or at least a source of valuable insight but instead

its shen yuan. if anything the mood ring reveals make him more confused

#(wiping away tears) hes so stupid #no but really the ways in which mxtx crafts her narration to share info with/withhold info from her audience is SO fascinating #*are #and to do it w/out breaking suspension of disbelief! shes so talented! #like theres so many examples! #the systems mood ring points making many of lbhs feelings/motivations obvious #(or at least comprehensive enough to be follow-able) #to the audience while still portraying sy's obliviousness as genuine and understandable #all of the hints as to hua chengs identity that make you think youve figured it out long before xie lian only to discover that #1. hes known for ages and just didnt mention it even tho HES LITERALLY THE NARRATOR? #2. we as the audience arent even told when he figured it out. we find out that he knows at the same time hua cheng does #(<- this also happens a bit w nan feng and fu yao. we Know but does xie lian know? yes he just doesnt care.) #its like the jkr 'it wasnt mentioned bc it wasnt relevant to harrys story' thing but CLEVER AND TRUE AND ON PURPOSE #i havent read mdzs yet but based on what ive seen & on cql a similar thing is done w wwx&lwj solving a murder mystery #theyre revealing what happened while wwx was dead to the cultivation world and the audience but also much of what happened when he was alive #(tho most of what happened when he was alive the first time is only revealed to the audience) #like i know mxtx is hardly the first author to do this but like. i just enjoy it so much? #anyway thats all i love her #shen yuan #shen qingqiu #svsss #tgcf #cql #mdzs #mxtx #✌️

[eebie]

we are deconstructing gender on Google docs tonight boys

#this is stupid LMAO im annotating stuff from a guy from liek the 1400s who prolly didnt even give a shit #when he wrote that In the spirit realm the concept of gender is nebulous at BEST #if not just totally absent #he was like.. ya spirit beings change their genders all the time They switch tey can be combinations they can be nothing #reading that like Hemm…. well 1 big belief Thats held in christianity is that people are spirit beings underneath all the flesh #so what does that mean for the people who are dead set on Sex Organs determining peoples personalities ? idk. makes you think #gender means jack shit basically. #a lot of people raised male tend to behave in certain ways Not because of their sex but because of expectations And norms #and same with people raised female #and that shit goes alll the way back 2 the stone age #obligatory Nothing wrong w falling into gender stereotypes if its stuff u genuinely like!!^_^ #anyways i rambled #i would have rambled more if tumblr wasnt trying to kill itself as i was typing #my rambles #my little peewee brain is sometimes capable of coherent thought But calling this coherent migjt be a stretch #bc im hardly in any mind 2 decide if im making sense . its like a fuckin echo chamber up in my brain N every echo becomes more n more warpd #until it eventually sounds normal 2 me ^_^ but when i voice it. the. suddenly i realize Wow thats fucked! #which is why. i usually keep my mouth shut !!! #but thats also bad .real bad If ur opinions always go unchallenged you may as well not even have them #should alwayd know Why you think what u do

[icewindandboringhorror]

I love all of these goofy product photos where the water bottle is extremely obviously just photoshopped onto a stock image of someone pretending to hold something or whatever.. very convincing..

#the last one where the water bottle is like nearly the size of the woman's entire leg ghbjbjhh #ALSO I know.. gross.. nasty.. amazon.. I was only looking there because I was trying to find an exact replica of an old water bottle #I bought like 6 years ago in a store and I just wanted another one of those and it seemed like the only place the old manufacturer #still sold was through amazon but.. alas.. I think they just don't make them anymore. so I have abandoned my hunt #I didn't actually buy anything. but I did get distracted clicking through product images for a few of them #it's bizarre how like............... idk.. WHY is this done??? Isn't this offputting to basically ANY potential customer?? or do people #not look at every photo/read the entire page/all product information before buying?? #all of these are from like front page ''top sellers'' or whatever like........... how does this not hurt the brand???? #If the company can't even bother to take a single photo of a real life person using their real life product then... that to me #is kind of red flaggy..?? even if you're an indie start up small business with hardly any funds.. still #A real photo of the product you are selling in a real actual non-photo shopped environment does not seem that inacessible #Maybe it's because everyone does everything on phones now?? So it's harder to see the pictures when they're smaller? #Kind of the same thing with ai art and also hair color photoshops lol.. On my full comptuer screen it is SOOO easy to spot ai art #like IMMEDIATELy from the little tells and ways certain details morph into each other etc. I dont even mean obvious dalle mini stuff but #like the Fancy High Quality Photorealistic AI art is still pretty blatant 98% of the time if you know what to look for. But I still catch #people sharing it a lot like 'omg where can I buy this pair of shoes!! :O <3' .. erm you cannot.. that is the most balatantly fake looking #pair of shoes I have seen in my life hhjbj.. the heels are both different heights. there's a different number of straps on each one. etc. #AND that phase back before colored hair was Mainstream and people would post photos like 'omg going to bring this to the salon!! dream hair #and it's like.. you can LITERALLY see the parts where it's 'colored outside of the lines' and is so clearly just a person with blond hair #that someone drew over with a tint brush or something not even very neatly. etc. etc. ANYWAY.. Maybe with phones it's harder to tell these #things?? To me so much of it is instantly recognizable and it's suprising to me that people either don't notice or don't care and will #interact with it anyway by buying the product or acting like some ai art fake furniture is real or etc. etc. ..hewwoo #Aslo sidenote - I think I've become soo cynical and tired of constantly being advertised to that I literally cannot shop without getting #exhausted. I do not see how marketing is anything but obnoxious and transparent. Every item description having stuff like ''Our company is #commited to bringing you the highest quality water products! we set out with a mission to bring high quality products to people all over #the world and we believe in spreading health and happiness and'' just like SHUT THE HELL UP!! youre a fucking company #you don't ''beleive'' in anything you are here to sell a product. stop trying to talk like you're my bff who cares deeply about my health #or something just tell me the materials and product specifications of your stupid fucking water bottle and move on. Idont need to hear your #whole bullshit spiel about what ~your company stands for~ that is SO much MORE offputting. you make me want to buy the item LESS.. #longing for the type of ads from my 1800s magazines that are just like 'this product is good. please buy it. okay thank you much. bye'

[dykefever]

interested to hear your perspective on this. what do YOU think makes a fic become popular in the r/s fandom. because there are many many fics and most of them go unnoticed. what do you think makes for a popular fic in general & in the r/s fandom in particular?

hi hello this got a bit long so all under the cut xxx

i’ve been thinking on this question a bit and i feel like this is kind of a tricky question to ask because it IS mainly down to chance !! but i want to make a distinction between viral fics and just generally popular ones because the first is very much down to random chance and a few other factors — these fics tend to be plot heavy + long + high drama and angst. they read more like novels i think? but most fanfiction isn’t like that (i mean i don’t personally write anything like that!!). for me meaningful engagement with my fic didn’t necessarily mean i had accrued heaps of hits but occurred rather when i had a tumblr where i was making friends + posting about my fic and posting snippets etc. and interacting with people in the comments of my fic and on tumblr. i’ve pretty slowly just gained a reader base from that and over time the fics have been read and ppl come back to read my other ones ?? i guess!!

i think it also helps to have someone read over your work just to check for grammar and spelling + plot holes etc. because those things can have people clicking off a fic for sure. also tagging thoroughly and accurately on ao3 is really helpful so people can actually find your fic. in my experience the best thing you can do is write a story you really love + enjoy writing and have fun with because that’s when you write your best and people will see that in the story and writing…. and there’s like hundreds of very similar fics (i’m thinking lie low at lupin’s etc etc) so just… write whatever don’t worry about being original or whatever.

idk i’m curious what other people have to say about this because there’s a trend that i haven’t seen as much in other fandoms for fics to become ‘viral’ through twitter and tik tok (i mean atyd is like the most read fic on ao3 right?? or one of them??) and i think it’s really skewed people’s perception of what is typical engagement with fic (which tends to be small and perhaps builds over time) and what the purpose of posting is all about. writing should be about your own enjoyment and hopefully people get some out of it too. obviously it’s hard Not to want people to read and like and comment on your work but posting with that as the main hope in mind is just gonna be pretty miserable i think!!!!

#sorry this is a bit all over i think in terms of things that are written about people love angst in this fandom and hurt/comfort #popular character headcanons change over time just vibe with what u want i think #also plenty of fics go unnoticed because there are just. a fuckload of fics these days. and there’s no algorithm and people are just #getting their recs from other people on social media rather than having a scroll #through the ship on ao3 or whatever #i think don’t underestimate having like three people ur friends with read and comment something lovely about ur fic #compared to hundreds of thousands of reads like that’s really cool to have lots of ppl read it #but when i have my mutuals comment on a fic that’s like The Best thing #or just like one message where someone goes wow that story really moved me or whatever #obviously i appreciate every way people engage but yeah!!!! #also going back to the viral thing i think readers now want fics to be like books/novels with the same beats to whatevr degree as those #stories and like hardly anyone is writing that kind of story !! so when something like that is written i think it gets very popular #but i think ppl should actually just enjoy all aspects of fic or whatever like those 10k one shots r the back bone of this society fr.. we #simply cannot forget that…… #answered