ok we are 10 minutes into kollok and i am straight up not having a good time but I am going to commit to this hour of watching. to keep myself from losing it i'm going to do some very irritating stream of consciousness on this post and post it at the end, nonrebloggably so as to not yuck any yums (though feel free to go wild in the replies). also I need to point out: I don't have misophonia. I have openly and repeatedly said I think the Sam Riegel ASMR ad is not just inoffensive, but actively very funny and enjoyable. The sounds on this show are setting my teeth on edge. I hate it. also for the intro the immersion is genuinely WORSE than say, CR or D20 because everyone's just reading prologues that they've written.
speaking of we're done with the prologues to the prologue and into the prologue, as demonstrated by the title screen and horrible noises.
I call this filter the "yeah I've got mild astigmatism and have taken mushrooms before, you're not special"
hmmm we're stuck in this fuckery for a while and i'm suffering so anyway folks i've made it so polygon will think CR is good:
the music is pretty good I will give them that. also this is literally not special though. like Zac just was like uhhhhhh math as any GM would say, he just was weirdly aiming for suaveness instead of like. normal.
All the profanity on this show sounds like a mormon or a ten year old who just learned the word "fuck" and is trying it out. as a woman who swears constantly i'm like what is HAPPENING. also this blonde woman who isn't on the show in the present day is rolling so hilariously badly. is this why she's not on. girl get out.
back to the present day; this actually is a really good industrial music video ruined by some actual play in the background
"zac, I'm going to command attention please"
"who's zac"
"sorry, driver" ah yes yes this is SOOOOOOO much more immersive i'm totally not making the jerk-off motion
i love u danielle radford you deserve better. although the actual RP now that we're in it is like, fine.
really i think a really significant problem is that this is the most 2014 YA-dystopia plot that ever plotted except as a core part of the premise, everyone is 30. I feel, honestly, that this is the other big issue in actual play that people at polygon obsess over that leaves me ice cold, (also? lots of fandom cold takes), but like...I was a HUGE sf nerd pretty much from childhood, and I think a lot of people came to actual play for a number of reasons not tied to the genres in which it typically exists (fantasy, science fiction, horror). This is fine but it means you get people who act like VERY standard genre conventions are either the most brilliant and original creation on earth, or utterly baffling. Anyway my point is that this is giving Divergent by Veronica Roth but it THINKS it's somewhere between Twin Peaks by David Lynch and the adaptation of the Handmaid's Tale and it's like no babe. you're Divergent by Veronica Roth. stop fronting like you're Twin Peaks. You're Divergent. By Veronica Roth. Which I read while stranded at LaGuardia over a decade ago.
lighting effects are fine honestly. reminds me of the Doja Cat 2020 MTV EMA version of Say So. Wish I were just rewatching that. rotating rock i love you. you are the best thing here other than danielle radford. I feel like I'm in a really fancy Spencer's Gifts. by the way I know i'm being pretty bitchy and incoherent here BUT I'm sober; let's hear it for Stupidly Bougie Soda and Nonalcoholic Spirits.
I'm also eating bean dip with a spoon. in my defense I made REALLY good bean dip and I don't have chips.
I just. other than the digital filter in the flashback I genuinely don't see how this is different than D20 except lacking in any charms and OH GOD THAT'S TIME.
but I want to add that like...the thing is Danielle (C-dubbs) was doing some wacky funny stuff and it felt like it was being shut down and to be fair I get wanting to stick WITHIN the genre but this whole thing feels joyless, and not like "oh, survival horror is so grimdark and sad", I am a tragedy enjoyer, but like. it feels...mandated.
Also this is weird and picky but for all of Those High Production Values (repeated direct quote from the Polygon article) they do a weirdly bad job of filming the die rolls? Like, they cut to the dice trays at the wrong time?
Finally, and this is just a pot shot at Polygon but they should stop making it so easy, but the article was like "I watched the 4-ish hour first episode and I didn't have a clue what was going on but it had Those High Production Values" and it's like...I was demonstrably fucking around on tumblr and in GIMP while watching and I have a pretty solid idea of what was going on. Maybe it goes nuts in the remaining 2.5 hours that I may chip away at to be able say I watched a full episode and decided it "wasn't for me" *smiles like I'm a waitress on Hell's Kitchen and Gordon Ramsey just asked me a question* but I think you might be dumb.
CONCLUSION: just watch the Doja Cat 2020 MTV EMA version of Say So, read Divergent (by Veronica Roth) (you don't have to be at LaGuardia) and like, check out Mentopolis or Misfits and Magic if you want to see Danielle Radford in a Kids on Bikes game that is good.
32 notes
·
View notes
Road To The Kingdom - My Planet Of The Apes Retrospective
With the hype for Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes on the rise, I decided to do a bit of a deep dive into the trilogy of reboot movies starring the incredible Andy Serkis and the various tie-in titles.
Why ramble on about a series that most people seem to overlook? Well, I think back to an interaction I had here on Tumblr in 2017, just one week before War For The Planet Of The Apes came out. While scrolling through the POTA tags, I found a post that wondered if anyone was actually excited for the new film or if the studio hadn't gotten the message and was making it for an audience that didn't exist. I responded that I was genuinely excited for the new film, that I loved the motion capture apes and the action scenes and the surprisingly engaging story, and would be seeing it opening weekend. The other person seemed surprised by my honest answer and apologized for their snarkiness (a truly shocking turn of events in the history of the Internet!).
I explained that I'd gone into these films thinking of them like Jurassic World series; I wasn't there for a great story and deep writing, I just wanted to see dinosaurs destroy things. So when I went into the POTA films, just expecting to see fun action movies with monkey chaos and apocalyptic results, I was surprised that I was swept up in the characters and their stories. I loved seeing the life of Caesar from tiny carefree baby to resilient revolutionary to fearsome leader, and the lives of all the humans and apes around him. The other poster said they hadn't actually seen the movies, just expected them to be shallow cash-grabs on reboot nostalgia, but they might have to reconsider giving them a shot after my enthusiastic response.
So if I can sway the minds of anyone who has written off these films, more movie tickets sold might mean more films and other media told in this ape apocalypse world!
And even if you already know and love the films, I also want to give some love to tie-in materials. Books, comics, YouTube shorts, video games; POTA has a surprisingly large catalog of bonus material for a series not considered mainstream like Marvel or Lord Of The Rings or Star Trek. I don't see them get many mentions in the fandom so hope a little spotlight on them can help them shine. They have delicious tidbits of world-building and character backstory, filling in gaps between the movies. I already have my fingers crossed there will be some tie-in material covering some of the huge time jump between War and Kingdom. With three hundred years passing between them, there is so much to learn about the ever growing and changing ape societies. I'm eager for any scrap of info they'll share!
But really, even if nothing I write changes anyone's mind about this franchise, it's still fun to gush about one of my favorite fictional universes.
My brief history with POTA was that I didn't know much about the original films before going into the new Andy Serkis trilogy. I'd heard enough about the original film to know the main beats of the first movie (quotes like 'damn dirty ape', the reveal of the planet being Earth with the Statue of Liberty). I saw the Tim Burton film which didn't leave any kind of impression other than the incredibly realistic costumes/make-up, so much so that I was apprehensive of the CG apes. Since getting into the new films, I've started watching the originals and may cover those just for fun.
So whether you're a long-time die hard fan or a fresh face to Caesar's legacy, I hope you'll enjoy my thoughts on the Planet of the Apes franchise!
Links to all my posts as they are released:
- Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes Film
- Prelude and Contagion Comics
- Motherboard YouTube Shorts
- Firestorm Tie-In Novel
- Fall Of Man Comics
- Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes Film
- Dawn Tie-In Comic
- Revelations Tie-In Novel
- Last Frontier Video Game
- Crisis Video Game
- When Worlds Collide Comics
- War For The Planet Of The Apes Film
- War Tie-In Comic
- Caesar's Story Novel
27 notes
·
View notes
Hiii!! it's me again :))
(smiles cutely and bats eyelashes)
(I SWEAR IT'S MY LAST REQUEST)
So I was wondering if uhm it would be possible to get more renders of thomas... Whenever I see him or his brother I get a serotonin boost (I have the most normal ttcc blog ever hahaha ha ha ha)
I've seen that you started to receive more request recently, so once again, if you don't want to do it, don't force yourself!
oh yeah absolutely here's A Bunch Of Him:
inspiration for the style of the first one was drawn from @/applekitty's renders, which look absolutely amazing and have a great vibe to them. there's more specific origins for each of these images, so there's that + rambling + a doodle below the cut
more specifically the first image is inspired by someone in the clash discord who was hypothesizing about boardbot hq boss fight just being a fight vs the chairmans whole family, which i think would be. A Time. (hence Crystalline being there, but i don't have a design for her, personally, so, y'know.)
the gif was requested by a friend because i find it really funny that he really is just an ottoman if you angle the camera away from his face???
third image i made as a desktop background, fourth image is thomas sleeping in his office. i think he ends up sleeping overnight frequently, he just has too much work to do to commute, honestly.
^ quick doodle, transcript of the text is in the alt text because i know its difficult to read. conversation takes place several years before events of the game.
OKAY SORRY FOR THE LONG POST AGAIN... THERES A LOT I WANT TO SAY ABOUT THIS ASK ASIDE FROM POSTING THOMAS!!! (BUT I LOVE POSTING THOMAS!!!!!!)
first of all the image you attached is absolutely amazing! secondly you are free to send requests any time!!! i do not actually get (that) many, after i respond to this one there'll only be another in the backlog to do, and i've only been putting off that one because it's got a cog that i don't have the model for yet (though it's not like that's a hassle, really)
rest assured sending me a request is not bothering me or forcing me. if i don't want to do a request i'll just ignore it or say nah. i am a very bored unemployed person who likes toontown and likes making stuff of other peoples blorbos!
i read all of the comics on the clash site the other day, so i've been meaning to do renders/draw thomas and robert anyhow... they're both such sillies. silly old men. this isn't related but roberts model is. super expressive! like, i can only really get him to look angry, but damn is it easy to make him look a bunch of different shades of angry. i think its mostly the excessive eyelid bones. that last sentence sucked actually, banning myself from posting about fictional eyelids
42 notes
·
View notes
Hi! I've been following you forever, since before your change from prompts to writing snippets and I'm a huuuge fan. You are actually my main motivation to continue writing!
I was wondering if you ever posted something more about your inspirations and "backstory", like how you got into writing and publishing your work here on tumblr and then on patreon, while working a job (seriously, how do you do that?!?) and also: do you have a goodreads account? I would love to get to see which books you are reading, since your writing style is so very original, or recommendations about writing blogs here on tumblr.
I totally get it if this isn't the kind of ask you want to answer on your blog, so no worries, just thought I should try..
Have a lovely day! :)
My goodreads is here.
I don't get as much time to read on tumblr as I would like, but some blogs off the top of my head that I like are: @recklessfiction @insomniac-dot-ink (their books are also on my to-read list!) @emungere (I also enjoyed their book, Love under Fire, and am meaning to get around to reading the others!)
@gingerly-writing @yourheartonfire @trappedgoose-in-a-writblr-room @nuttynutcycle @amethystpath-writes @thepenultimateword @creweemmaeec11 @save-the-villainous-cat @caffeinewitchcraft
There are many, many others!
I also generally reblog other people's writing/art/things I find cool on my other blog @the-modern-typewriter-aesthetic
In terms of backstory...I don't know. I've been posting my writing online in some format or other since I've been online as a teenager. I think I had a not-close friend who posted her fanfic online, which made me realise that was an option. So I started and didn't stop. This blog was just a natural progression I guess, when I got more into writing my original fiction over fanfic. It's what I do with my free time. I like writing! (mostly).
111 notes
·
View notes
Do you think you'd ever seriously leave the fandom? Give up Tumblr and just post on ao3?
I definitely don't want you to leave, but curious how you're really feeling with all the drama going on.
I think one day, I will leave the fandom, but I think that's more to do with life than anything else. A new hyperfixation will eventually come along and I'll feel the need to write for that instead of TGM.
A friend told me recently that they think I would be happier in a different fandom, one with more engagement and more fans to read what I have to offer, and honestly, they're right. However, I can't control the hyperfixation anymore than I can control what time the sun sets, so y'all are stuck with me for the time being.
Would I post on AO3 exclusively? I think that depends. If I leave Tumblr, then I'm probably going to give up writing fanfic and try to focus on my original fiction again, try to decide if I want to pick up the story I've been working on for almost 11 years now or start fresh with something new. If I find a new fandom that makes me want to continue writing fanfic, then I might just devote my time to that and do a blog rebrand. I've done it before on my old account. Might actually just shift back to that one if I ever decide to leave this fandom.
And that's not to say that I don't appreciate the people who DO read my work because I absolutely do! But, and I said this the other day, I remember when fandom was more of a community versus content creators against consumers, and I miss that. Of course you had your friend groups, but for the most part, people were just excited about the content! Like, idk how to put it, but things feel very...political (?) sometimes, and that's not what fandom is about at all. I don't want people to feel intimidated to talk to me because quite frankly, I'm not an intimidating person. Annoying, sure, but not intimidating.
But as for the drama? I won't lie and say that there wasn't drama back in the days of old either, but I don't remember it being quite this bad. Of course people disagreed, but people were allowed to and everyone knew that it wasn't that serious. Now, it feels like people are afraid to express an opinion without being screamed at by people using the anonymous feature. Like, why is that necessary? Why are there people on here determined to run others off? What do you get out of it?
I'm honestly so surprised I haven't gotten more hate anons in recent weeks, but I have opinions on that that don't need to be made public. However, I shouldn't have to choose between "falling in line" with the status quo and sitting here every time I post an opinion, waiting for someone to send me a nasty message about how I think I'm so great or how I'm the most annoying person in the TGM fandom or whatever other bullshit they come up with without even knowing me.
And of course I'm so grateful for the friends I've made on here, and I love chatting with them about their works or my works if they don't write themselves. I love coming up with new stories to tell, but I have found myself wondering if I should try poking into the Marvel fandom or write for the Boys. After all, this blog was originally supposed to include those two as well and then my hyperfixation stayed on TGM.
Anyway, TL;DR: I don't know, Nonny. There are several factors that go into that decision. Do I want to leave? No. Not yet, anyway. Will I post on AO3 exclusively if I do? Probably won't post at all at that point ngl, but it is what it is at this point, and we aren't at that bridge yet.
12 notes
·
View notes
Terry's Birthday: Fandom, the Internet, and Citations
Or, a too long, too in depth essay on a fictional character's birthday
If you aren't thinking I'm a total nerd by the time you're done reading this than you didn't really read this. But, let's start at the beginning. Recently I posted a timeline I made for "Batman Beyond" and in the time since I made that post there's been something I've seen pop up in tags which I'd never heard of before. A few people were saying that Terry's birthday is August 18th. I was really interested in the source of this claim because I had no recollection of ever seeing it anywhere before now. I looked it up on google (as you do) and found this date scattered around the internet. Case closed, right? But I quickly realized there was a consistent problem on every site I came across. None of them cited a source for Terry's alleged August 18th birthday.
Just look it up yourself and you'll find that the date is ubiquitous across the internet. Yet, as far as I can tell after all my research, it's also completely unconfirmed. I mean, I may have missed something, but if I have than someone else is going to have to point it out to me. I also made a post prior to this one asking people to cite a source for Terry's birthday and no one has so far. You can have a look at that post if you want to know what I consider a good source on this subject. In any case, if this date or any other had been confirmed in any piece of media or in an interview with any DC creator involved in Batman Beyond than I think I would have found a citation for that source somewhere by now.
Right now it kind of seems like August 18th is fanon that's been recycled into "canon". This seems to have happened through a process of source-less wikipedia edits being parroted across reddit threads, sites featuring profiles of comic heroes, other wikis, etc. The less popular June 27th birthday for Terry seems to have gone through the same process. Here are links to some of these sites: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
As my research continued I came across some possible witness testimony of the first mentions of these birthdates:
a.) In this archived thread from the DCAU wiki, in quotations below, I've copied an excerpt of an exchange between two users that I feel is most relevant to this post (emphasis mine):
"So, I've noticed lately that a lot of different sites have been stating Terry's birthday to be August 18th with various years attached to the date. The earliest mention of which I could find is an edit to his wikipedia page in 2008 (which prior to the change stated his birthday was June 27th). I don't remember a mention of when he was born on the show or tie-in comics, and the third volume of comics didn't come out until 2010, so would anyone here know where these dates originate from? -- ReachingForRevolution (talk) 17:48, September 26, 2013 (UTC)"
"I've done some extensive timeline research, and I never came across a good source for those dates. All I saw was a wikipedia edit war with those two dates, but neither is correct AFAIK. The most cited year of birth is 2023, which is speculation as well, but there's at least some foundation for that. --Tupka217 17:56, September 26, 2013 (UTC)"
b.) A similar claim was made in this thread. The relevant excerpt, written by the user "Yojimbo" on October 16, 2023, is in quotations below (emphasis mine):
"No official birth date was ever given.
There was a wikipedia edit war in the 2000s but no source was ever given for either disputed date, June 27, 2023 and August 18, 2023."
As I've travelled down this rabbit hole, I've begun to suspect I won't be able to find exactly where it began, but this is as close as I've gotten. Allegedly, sometime around 2008, there was an edit war on Terry McGinnis' wikipedia page between at least two users over the birthdates of June 27th and August 18th. Now, how or why that edit war even started, I don't know. Why those dates, I also don't know. What I do know is that August 18th is the birthdate that gained the most popularity in the end and spread across the internet.
I'm not trying to step on anyone's toes with this post or call anyone out, really. If anything, this post exists because the subject was interesting to me and I've found the journey enjoyable. If you want to say Terry's birthday is June 27th or August 18th, then please do. Fandom is about fun, not perfectly sourced and cited dissertations on fictional teenagers' birthdays...unless, of course, that sort of thing is fun for you. I know I've loved every minute researching for and writing this...because I'm a massive nerd...but I certainly don't adhere to a strict reading of the timeline myself which is something I plan on covering in an upcoming addendum to my timeline.
In summary, my own research has produced no officially confirmed birthday for Terry McGinnis. This leads me to believe that August 18th and June 27th are fanon birthdates. It may be that I've just not found the citation for one or the other of these dates so I'm open to anyone who can provide me a good source. But really, none of this matters in the grand scheme of things, although it's interesting to see the way user edited/moderated wikis can sometimes bring less clarity rather than more. I'm sure this isn't the only example of that. Assuming I'm right and these birthdates are fanon, I wouldn't consider this a cautionary tale or anything so dramatic. Instead, I'd say this was a case study in the interaction between fandom collated information about fictional works as it exists across the internet and why the adage, "cite your sources", will never die...or something like that...
17 notes
·
View notes
You know, usually, I keep my opinions to myself and the people I trust, but I'm annoyed and have been thinking about this since breakfast and all day so fuck it.
I've been writing for a long long time. For my entire living memory of you count the things I imagined without ever actually writing them down. And here's the problem I've encountered with writeblr. It's not one community, it's two, and they don't want anywhere near the same things.
I can't entirely speak for what the community I don't want to be a part of wants, but they're the people who just care about the numbers from the outside looking in. From my perspective, you see it with the people who talk a whole lot about supporting the community, it's not about the quality, it's about how many asks they send or how many people they've reblogged or whatever. And then whether they're actually well intentioned or if it's for attention, I don't know, they do things like see people complaining about not getting interaction and just go "well keep writing!" Or they send more asks.
And that's when they butt heads with the community I tend to vibe with. The community where it's not about how many of anything we get. It's about seeing a genuine interest in what we're doing. So when people say "man it's discouraging that no one seems to care what I post!" The other group at best goes "just keep writing!"
I'm gonna let you all in on a little secret. I used to write fanfic. Used to post it too. But I didn't stop writing it at the same time I stopped posting it. I stopped posting it when people stopped interacting with it. And then I kept writing it for myself. I just stopped putting in the effort to make it legible for other people when other people stopped interacting with it. I may as well not put in the effort of making others able to read something that's only for myself after all. I then shifted to oh my own original fiction because that's what made me happy.
And the obligatory asks section because I know someone will make this about asks somehow, I don't mind if someone has one WBW ask or STS ask that they want to send to multiple people if it's something that actually makes sense for my works or is broad enough you know? What gets my goat is when someone who's sent me asks before, who's been my mutual for months, sends me a copy paste ask introducing themselves to me. Like, yes, I know who you are. Because we've interacted before. I want to feel like a person, not another number in your follower count. Because here's the secret. I will always be writing. It's just about whether I share it or not. And if I were to decide fuck it, I would still share with the friends I've made here. Because I know they care. It's just a matter of whether I would put my heart and soul into making it available to a bigger audience or not. Because all the people who've screamed in my tags, come into my inbox to ask me things, and be social with me? I have them on Discord. There's no reason for me to bother putting it on Tumblr other than the fact that I love to share it. I'd like more people to enjoy what I write. I want to bring the emotions I write to more people. I want people who can connect to my stories to be able to. I don't want numbers. I want real connections. And if you don't connect with my stories? If they're not to your tastes? Then I don't mind you not sending me asks.
Long story short, I'm not a content creator. I don't care about the numbers. I'm a storyteller who wants to tell stories for the same reason ancient humans did. Connections.
25 notes
·
View notes
hey i don't know if you've ever answered a question like this before, and i don't want to offend you, but how do you handle writing smut that is maybe more abnormal than say vanilla smut scenes?
i wrote and posted something like this for the first time, and i feel like i've drank twenty shots of espresso i'm so shaky. i know reading and writing this stuff doesn't make me a bad person, but i'm terrified of anyone in my personal life reading what i've wrote.
i don't know if you can relate to this but some advice would be appreciated. love your work.
no offense taken!
i remember the first time i wrote something out of my smut comfort zone, which for me was veering into poorly or non-negotiated S&M. specifically it felt very spicy for me to write a sadistic narrator, and the only way i could even get the words down was by promising i'd post it to a sock account. but by the time i'd finished the fic, i was really proud of it, because it went beyond my initial aims and helped me break through a writing ceiling. i ended up posting it on main, and i probably lost like a dozen subscribers (i always lose a ton of subscribers when i post) but that fic opened a lot of doors for me aesthetically, and i've been following that road ever since.
that kept happening. i would write things that went to darker, more fucked up places, thinking i would either sock it or not post it at all, just so i would have the courage to write it in the first place, and by the time i finished, i'd always be really happy with it and post it to main. i saw merit in my work and i didn't want to shy away from that. and eventually, that initial anxiety i felt started to bleed away. and it sounds super bizarre, but now when i have an idea that feels too fucky to post on main, i turn it into original fiction and try to publish it in lit mags. under my real name. where anyone can find it.
part of my comfort with doing that is that i acknowledge the lineage of my work. in fanfiction, my work is speaking to other works in a given tag, not to mention the greater history of a genre i have a lot of respect and admiration for. in original fiction, my work is speaking to a long line of literary sex writers. you know, the decameron, arguably the first novel ever written, is full of weird sex stuff. sexuality is part of everyone's identity, even if that identity is "i'm not interested in sex." personally i don't see any shame in acknowledging that it's part of my identity too, and it frames a lot of the subject matter i choose to write about. even if i didn't understand that lineage, "i thought it was hot and i wanted to write it" is valid artistic justification. anything you are compelled to render on the page, however you're compelled to render it, is valid. you don't have to defend that.
there are two sentences i like to repeat in my head whenever i get worried or scared about what other people think of my weird sex writing: "let's talk about that" and "your reaction to what you read is your responsibility."
"let's talk about that" is just a good thing to have in your arsenal for most situations. i think it's something i picked up in group therapy. in all the groups i've been in, i'm so fascinated by the fact that nobody attempts to diffuse tense situations. as long as they don't get violent, you have to let them play out. should someone i know personally get upset or offended by something i've written, i know i can say, "let's talk about that." and in that conversation i'll have the opportunity to listen to their thoughts and respond to them. i can let their reaction play out. i know i never have to justify the existence of my work, but i can. i can say, here's what i was attempting to do, here's the experience i was interested in rendering and why i was interested in it. you can choose to understand that or not. you can choose to hate it, and me, and that is your right. which brings me to...
"your reaction to what you read is your responsibility" is more or less what i tell my family, who all seem somewhat uncomfortable about sex. the second story i published involved explicit S&M, and i remember telling my family that they were welcome to read it, but they'd learn things about me that might change their perception of me, and they would have to take accountability for that. as far as i know, my family, while interested in and supportive of my writing, has not read anything i've written.
as a writer, i am allowed to explore whatever i want however i want to explore it. if i choose to share that work, readers are allowed to react however they want to it and form opinions about it and me. these reactions may be colored by personal experience and knowledge (or lack thereof), and they may be negative. what other people think of me and my work is not really about me, and it's not my business. my only job is to continue exploring my aesthetic interests and write the work that has meaning to me, and encourage that in others.
this is a difficult mentality to cultivate, especially if there are people in your life who have power over you, whose opinions of you are definitely your business because they're holding your paycheck or the roof over your head. or maybe you just love them enough that you're terrified to lose them. hopefully these people in your life are reasonable enough to respond well to "let's talk about that." but i understand the fear of those who aren't. all i can say is that the weirder you write, the harder you have to work to find freedom, the more difficult and uncomfortable conversations become about your work, because good art always upsets people. i know there are many writers of fandom and pen writers who have to separate their real life identity from their work because of its explicitness. i imagine that's a careful balance and in some ways difficult to maintain, but even when i tried to do that, i was never very good at it. there are still brief moments of shock i get when i try to see my work from the perspective of readers who may not be primed to understand where i'm coming from, or who may be hurt or upset by it. the wider my audience becomes, the more terrifying it is to be known, but that's the path i'm on right now, cultivating a sense of self strong enough to endure ridicule, dismissal, misperception, and maybe even hate. it seems like a very long road, and i wonder if it's possible for someone like me to reach the end of it.
i hope you found some of this helpful, and continue writing the things you're interested in writing.
60 notes
·
View notes
I spaced on sending this when you initially made the post, but if you were ever so inclined to make that full list of recommendations on metafiction/the liminal space of tangential genres, I would be very interested to see it! (the original list was 100% some of my favorite books/media)
Oh man I've been uh. bad at reading as regularly/much as I'd like for the past few years, something I'm attempting to remedy, and I've never been the biggest of film buffs, and as such that covers a lot of the high points.
(obligatory reminiscing): Truly the the most "not actually a real problem" tragedies of my life is that I was a teenager before the Goodreads era and so I was shaped, indelibly, by whatever Collected Science Fiction Anthologies of the Latter 20th Century my local library had circa 2004. As a result there's like a thousand 70s and 80s sci fi stories the titles of which I cannot remember but which are etched deep within the recesses of my brain. Occasionally I have enough details to go to some thread on the internet and say "pretty please can you find it," but often I don't. There's definitely one I'm thinking of in which a group of scientists keep doing an experiment to change the time line and they keep believing that it fails, but as a reader you clearly see the list of names and various details is changing. This is not super helpful to anyone other than to say "go read short speculative fiction." ANYWAY here's a few more.
On the topic of short fiction, Sword Stone Table is a collection of short stories inspired by Arthurian legend which I read last year, and not all of them worked but there were enough to make it worth it (and it's a quick read). Hilariously, the coffee shop AU was one of the more metafictional examples.
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan. I don't remember this well but I own a copy and might re-read it; I distinctly recall purchasing it because she made a chapter in the form of a PowerPoint presentation and got interviewed by NPR about it since she could see how many people quit reading at that chapter thanks to eReader data, and I was like "sounds cool". I love when authors are hostile to their audience in a way that's good for them, and I remember enjoying that chapter very much.
I mean your bio quotes Calvino so I'm assuming you're good there but like...I have not read all their work, but I trust Calvino, Borges, Le Guin, and Susanna Clarke to always deliver.
Jules Feiffer's A Barrel of Laughs, A Vale of Tears; Diana Wynne Jones' Fire and Hemlock (among other Diana Wynne Jones books); The Phantom Tollbooth; and the various works of Ellen Raskin (best known for The Westing Game but I read so many of her books) are middle-grade or YA but they are in fact a big reason why I eventually became a college student who would read House of Leaves and Calvino for fun and why I became an adult who devoured Piranesi in one sitting.
The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson
It's also been a hot minute since I read Possession by A. S. Byatt but I do remember loving it at the time.
For...the best I can put it is "popcorn reads?" low postmodernism? mass-market metafiction? Fun shit? Jasper Fforde is your guy.
Technically The Princess Bride is metafiction. Fun fact: a good friend of mine in college did not realize it was not legit a translation when he read the book. His undergrad thesis was in part about translation. We made fun of him for this.
David Mitchell's literary universe, notably Cloud Atlas. David Mitchell is a very good writer who does tend to have a pretty dark interpretation of our world's future and so I sort of fell off following his works because they were particularly depressing but like, that's a me problem because he's immensely talented. (note: did not see the film adaptation, cannot speak to that.)
I am also going to plug the Teixcalaan books (two so far, starting with A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine which is a bit of a stretch but I'm doing it anyway because I think it’s underappreciated (it occupies the same space in my mind tbh as Ada Palmer’s Terra Ignota and to an extent Yoon Ha Lee's Machineries of Empire, both of which I’ve mentioned before, of an incredibly intelligent SF story with queer characters and relationships that was well received but just doesn't have the buzz of some other modern sf series). It’s not metafictional per se, but it does have an incredibly strong theme running through it of engaging with narrative and controlling it (honestly? Similar to Black Sails in that regard.) The Teixcalaan Empire is hyper-aware of language and legend, naming patterns are a number and a word, and the cool thing to do is write complex forms of poetry. The second book also has a character purchasing an indie comic and drawing all sorts of interesting comparisons to her ongoing situation... a little bit like Tales of the Black Freighter within Watchmen.
Run Lola Run/Lola Rennt (I watched it as a non-German speaker with subtitles and enjoyed it)
20 notes
·
View notes
So um, I've been vaguely informed (the details aren't really my business) there's been a situation so I just want to clarify something:
My vent posts are just that, vent posts. They're not me making an educated callout on an individual and they shouldn't be seen as THIS PERSON IS JUST A TERRIBLE PERSON AND HERE'S THE 100% LOGICAL REASONS WHY. I only put it in caps to clarify I think that's how I came off, my vents don't reflect how I actually see people, they reflect how I see people in that hurt state.
Does that justify not adding clarity to begin with? No, and I will definitely do so in the future, but I feel clarifying now is better than just leaving this confusion in the air. So here it is.
I will be more careful in the future that my vents don't breach containment, I tried to be clear the goal was not harassment and I do genuinely feel bad that apparently someone saw and took it as quite genuine. In this situation, it was less about the person and more a trend of people accidentally making a character's "evil side" into an alter like entity because they think it's cute, funny, or hot. People are often way more willing to accept that than actual system relationships.
It ended up hitting on a sour spot because for a long time I've had a deep and extremely important relationship with an alter of mine, but I'd constantly worried due to the nature of said alter, it would be heavily judged and not as accepted as if I just saw him as a fictional character. This is not a justification, but an explanation for the layers of hurt on top of it being a very bad stereotype. The fact I haven't been more open about the relationship is on me, and you know what? I should be, even if others will look down on me for it. That's their damage.
I can't speak for the original intent of the user I was venting about, and I should have been clear I was reacting to how it all came across rather than knowing their full intent. Which yes, it came across really bad but, people make mistakes. People get scared and do dumb things. It happens, so again, should have been clear their intent was unknown, it just came off bad in a way that made me feel like I had to block to protect myself.
I'm not going to tell you not to "tattle" on me. That's really 100% up to you, but I do ask you to keep in mind the point of my vent posts before you do. Cause yeah, me venting because I am upset or triggered or what the Hell ever is going to sound really bad, but if you asked me once the dust was settled I'd probably just say, "yeah that user made a mistake, and it was enough to deeply hurt me to the point I don't want to talk to them anymore. I don't think they're a bad person, I just don't want them in my space to avoid future issues". But, next time I will try to cool down and be more open about my process, as I realize how bad some of the things I said sound.
I shouldn't have painted them as a bad moot, I should have just explained I didn't think they were very conscious of the fact I was plural, so I wanted to be more careful about moots from now on to ensure that part is understood loud and clear in ALL its regards before I accidentally put myself in (unintentionally) triggering spaces.
So uh, if it wasn't clear please don't harrass this person. Also please don't judge my friends for just trying to be supportive. Most of them only vaguely knew about the situation and only two of us were involved. They were responding to what they knew at the time and were extremely protective due to the hurt I was feeling.
I'm gonna try to make this the last post I make about this, but I just genuinely never meant to hurt anyone so I wanted to say my peace.
7 notes
·
View notes
About Me
I figured I should do this. No idea why. Anyway, it'll get updated... whenever I feel like it should get updated.
What's your name?
Sir Lancelot of Camelot (and my quest is to seek the Holy Grail) It's Josh [surname redacted]. Pronouns are he/him.
You're on AO3?
I am! I'm currently writing a Wrong-Boy-Who-Lived fanfic (yes, yes, I know, WBWL stories have a... reputation...).
What fandoms do/will you write?
Predominantly Harry Potter if only because that series was my first love and still has a place in my heart. I'm also planning a few fanfics in the Mass Effect, DC, Star Trek, Game of Thrones, original fiction, and Fallout fandoms.
Why?
Well it all started when I was born...
Who are your fanfic idols/inspirations?
@artemisia-black, hands down. She is one of the finest writers I've ever seen, ever had the privilege of interacting with, and I genuinely adore her as a person.
But I'm also a big fan of Frickles, TheSinister_Man, Dorothea Greengrass, and TheEndless7.
What kind of fanfics do you write?
If it's Harry Potter, it's either a Wrong Boy-Who-Lived (WBWL) fic — either with Harry's brother as the believed to be Boy-Who-Lived or Neville as the believed to be Boy-Who-Lived. Or it'll be "action-adventure" where canon diverts this way instead of that way.
Ships?
I mean the USS Massachusetts is pretty neat, but that's also because I was able to visit it when I was a kid.
No, I mean, who do you ship?
Ohhhh!
I'm not a fan of Harry/Ginny, nor Ron/Hermione. Actually, the only canon pairings I like are James/Lily and Ted/Andromeda... that's pretty much it.
For Harry: Lavender (she'd be great for him ngl), Hermione (eh, sometimes), Pansy (enemies to lovers is top tier), Daphne (Haphne is a top tier ship and everyone should know it), Susan, Fleur (I just think she's neat), Tonks (post-war), Andromeda (post-war), Parvati, Padma, and Bellatrix (when it involves time travel).
Most out-there ship you've got?
Ron/Pansy, Hermione/Cormac or Anthony Goldstein/Hermione, Draco/Ginny. Also Kingsley/Bellatrix, Sirius/Aurora Sinistra, and Snape/getting his ass handed to him.
Most cursed ship you've seen?
[trauma intensifies] We don't go there. But I've seen some shit.
What character(s) do you hate the most?
Snape. I despise Severus Snape with every fiber of my being. The fact that Harry names his son after that child-abusing terror supporting racist wank-stain who simped hard for his mother after calling her a bigoted slur is a stain (and wanted her as a prize after he sold Lily, James, and baby Harry out to Voldemort) is the reason I throw the epilogue into the trash where it belongs.
Also Dumbledore, while I do think he's (for the most part) well-meaning, is very much the chess master who got far too up his own ass with how important he is. Also he facilitated child abuse, so I don't like him.
And Molly Weasley, who is an overbearing harpy of a mother who gleefully and maliciously went out of her way to bully a 15 year old girl because she read some bullshit in the Daily Prophet — when a few chapters before she had dismissed the author (Rita Skeeter) as a hack.
What do you do?
I work for a medical provider's office. Specifically, an ophthalmologist's office. Oh, go get your eyes checked!
Do you like it?
So then what do you want to do?
I'm actually getting myself out there to be an actor! And a writer of works that aren't fanfics.
Are you Zionist?
Yes.
What does that — ?
It means I believe Jews have the right to national self-determination in our ancestral homeland.
But what about — ?
That's literally the definition of Zionism. And yes, I do believe that anti-Zionism is antisemitism.
What if I'm an anti-Zionist?
Get off of my blog then. I don’t want you here.
12 notes
·
View notes
THIS WAS SO GOOD OH MY GOSH! (or my reaction to Wolf359's "Change of Mind")
Well dear readers, you've been hyping this up a lot, so I'm pleased to finally be able to bring you my reaction to "Change of Mind", because I, Bods B. Nobody, have finished my finals, so I get to relax now.
Hahahaha...just kidding. No, no, I have a TON of stuff that I've been putting off to study for finals and write essays that's almost as bad as the finals themselves. Almost. Man I hate logistics. Doug and I really are the same person. I think it's the ADHD, but of all the fictional characters I've seen, he is one of the most surprisingly relatable.
I'll be reacting to this while doing chores, but please enjoy! And I apologize in advance if I don't react again for several weeks, I'm visiting family and friends for the holidays and won't be able to sit down for a while. But I hope to listen to season 4 soon!
Tagging the mutuals who got me invested in this, and if you want to be tagged or untagged from these posts, lmk, or you can follow my blog or simply follow the tag "#bods wolf359 reactions". Anyone who has followed me for a while knows my updates are inconsistent, so I apologize in advance for that and for any spelling/grammar mistakes in my posts.
@sophieswundergarten @oflightningandstars @acollectionofcuriousreblogs @herawell @commsroom
Change of Mind:
Oh hi Lovelace. But which one are you? Alien robot clone Lovelace, or the original?
Or maybe someone or something else?
And do you know who you are?
Oh a lucid dream!
Flashback to the old crew! Interesting...Hello Hilbert. I'm not learning how to spell "sell burg". Selburg. is that it?
I see what we're doing. You're gonna make me like the old crew and make me listen to them die and all of Lovelace's trauma? Oldest trick in the book: utilizing flashback land at the right time. Why don't you just take us back to Doug's car crash well you're at it? Oh! Or maybe we can listen to Minkowski's husband hear that his wife died? Oh, no, wait, take us to when Hera tried to escape Pryce's facility, I actually want to see that.
Oh she and Lambert seem to have a bit of a rivalry going on. It's like Doug and Minkowski. They annoy each other, but if anyone else tries to hurt them, they'll go nuts (and probably feel real guilty no doubt).
"Everything alright?" When is it ever alright? This entire show, I don't think we've had one alright day.
Only a matter of time before Hilbert pulls some BS.
LOVELACE IS DOING THE INTRO I LOVE IT! I love when they change who does the intro (I say as I'm sure to eat my words when Cutter and/or Pryce does it).
I'm sorry I have a hard time keeping track of the names. At least Lambert has a distinct voice.
Oh do these two other characters have a bit of thing going on? I love the accents. It's a good way to help me distinguish them, even though I still can't tell who is who. oh yeah Hilbert I know. And geez man no need to be a buzz kill.
Lambert, the people who wrote the manual are sadistic lunatics who need to be imprisoned.
Ah Australian accent guy!
preach it Australian accent guy: "Zip it sir!"
"There's good stuff in these manuals, or they wouldn't be up here either."
Hm. Not sure about that one Australian guy. But we can't be right about everything.
Oh but he is right about Cutter. Cutter DOES get creepier every time. 🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩
"I AM NOT" ...wait. Is Lambert voiced by... (*quick and careful google search to avoid spoilers*) ...Zach Valenti, yeah I heard it that time. Well that explains the nasal voice.
I love how Doug and Sam are both communications officers, and yet so different from each other.
I love Rhea. But I do wonder. Why does she only communicates by beeps? At first I assumed it was because she was an earlier model, and Hera was an upgrade with a voice for easier communication. But then Pryce had that line of "There is a reason I give these things my voice...". But it seems you didn't always have to do that Pryce. I wonder what Rhea did that made her so nervous?
Message from Command? The empty man again? Oh..."your complaints will be processed upon Lovelace’s return to earth?" Cutter was probably giggling to himself when he wrote that.
BOX 953? BOX 953? FINALLY!!!!!
I swear. Cutter and Pryce intentionally send up the most organized, by the book, responsible person they can find up paired with the most ADHD, I don't care, I don't want to be here person they can find just for the purpose of making Hilbert miserable when he has to listen to them fight.
"Who will fight for what is right?" Yeah, I'm sure Lambert and Lovelace will, unlike you Hilbert.
Ah yes the big box. The mysterious big box. We're finally gonna open the great big box. 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🎊🎊🎊🎊🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
Is it an alien? Is it a death machine? OH THE SOUND IS BACK!
Right the bolts. But we can do it, please please do it, I've waited a long time just open the box. Shut up Hilbert, no one cares what you have to say, I just want the box open, and you are gonna betray everyone anyway because you're crazy and think Cutter is gonna use Decima for good stuff, but he's gonna use it for eugenics, calling it now, because, guess what? When I was studying for my final, I realized from my lecture notes that "Goddard" is the name of a eugenicist who later apologized for his work, but not before other eugenicists took it and ran with it. And I don't believe that's a coincidence.
🎶 Opening the box. Opening the box. We're finally opening the great big box! 🎶
And..........
.....it's a....machine thing. A weird mechanical machine thing.
...
Okay!
6 openings on the machine...PUT YOUR HANDS INSIDE?
No. Nope. Not doing that. Don't like that. Don't do that.
Oh that sounded painful. That sounded...
Gross. Cutter.
THE WAITING ROOM?
...
THE WAITING ROOM?
I SWEAR THAT I AM NOT LOOKING FOR TMBS PARALLELS IN EVERY MEDIA I CONSUME BUT COME ON. IT HAS THE SAME NAME. THE SAME NAME. And I suppose the first fandom you join tumblr for never truly leaves you, does it? I've only spent about a year on this site, still learning.
Mental blank space? Oh gosh this is gross.
"Of course it's inside your head. But why should that mean it's not real?" Dang it Cutter I was gonna use a similar line in my fic and now I can't. You just can't stop giving me reasons to hate you can you? It's like an Olympic sport to him. Props to the writers though.
Imprint of Cutter's personality? That's the worst personality you could have picked.
Oh I see. Lambert's complaints did this... oh dear... well he's gonna learn his lesson about complaining now...
Complaining = Cutter's torture box.
He's taking them on a "Field Trip?"
With Cutter? I doubt it. *camera cuts Doug moaning*
What happens if they don't solve the mystery before time? And is there even a real timer? And why do I get the feeling YOU KILLED THE CREW CUTTER?
"Talent show went wrong or some sort of incident" I love the irony. I also wonder whether or not some of these crews are clones or whether these trips have happened before. It's a possibility.
Oh great. Australian man has people he cares about on earth. You guys really want to rip my heart out on this one don't you?
Oh who is this? What captain? Who's surrender? Explosives? For who's plan? Who is paying for it? What?
Well. What a nice obliging fella. I love Australian man. He's one of my favorite characters. I'm sorry about name thing.
"From A to E, all my love" Interesting. I wonder that too. Not sure we have characters by those names. Well, Alana, but she's dead and that doesn't really fit her.
Oh a diary. Emily. Who is coming? Are these people supposed to be "fills ins" for them. Like to show them what might happen if they went crazy or rebelled against Cutter? This is messed up.
Someone would do that? ...oh. If this was a real event, Cutter is making Hilbert live through it all over again. Which means Hilbert has to act like he doesn't know what's going on but also does because they are being timed.
I hope they use that for comedy: Hilbert: "oh look! Clue! I mean um...I think, I was not here this did not happen I do not know."
Katherine who? Who destroyed the samples? ...four glass tanks.
What um...what happened to the fifth glass tank? The spiders? Something worse?
Oh my gosh. The heartbeat coming from the box when Doug found it. The fact that it was so large...no wait, this is a simulation, never mind. I thought I had something there.
Cutter you can't edit the simulation that's not fair. Back on the Hephaestus? Why do I doubt it. Oh Rhea. Good work Rhea! But um...I have my doubts...
"A shame not to know" it is, but it would be even more foolish to investigate.
"I have a weird feeling we're not at rock bottom yet...I don't want to crash into it..." oh you have no idea Lovelace.
"It could be important" not in the way you think Lambert. Not in the way you think Lambert.
"There's a thing following us" I knew it wasn't over yet.
The empty man cometh.
...Oh great. Lovelace that's not funny. Doing stuff like that triggers the dramatic irony.
Don't say I didn't warn you.
The Dramatic Irony Cometh.
Ah! Here it is. Who said "Tell me about it?" Was that Doug? How would that even be possible? Was that Cutter? This is weird. I can't tell whose voice it is exactly.
Oh Australian man is getting closer to the truth. Kinda makes you wonder, doesn't it Hilbert?
"Is anyone there?" Someone is always there.
Aw poor Rhea. She knows what's happening to Fischer. :( Or she's mocking Hilbert.
"How did I end up back here?" You're still in the simulation.
Who is there? The empty man. He escaped his box! Or you're still in the simulation. Or both.
Rhea is calling out your BS Hilbert.
Dmitri?
How does she know his name? And why do I think Rhea isn't the one doing this. I do like the idea of the ship's architecture changing.
No change in the star. Yet something is happening.
Empty men time!
Or...empty...dog? Time? What's with the growl?
Wings? Tentacles? A what? Monster YOU imagined?
Well then. We're still in the simulation.
"Oh come on, don't tell me you haven't figured it out." Who is that?
Is that Cutter? Why did he sound almost normal for a second. Oh no that is him.
A singing telegram would be nice.
"So we never made it out?" ...in more ways than one.
Yeah. Rhea can't be here. She's not connected.
Called it.
...um. Who is THIS?
57 COPIES? Aries. Don't like her. Is that how it's spelled? Aires? Eres? Erase?
If it's in your heads she very much CAN hurt you.
And the temporal stuff is interesting. A story out of order. So technically...oh my gosh there are so many theories I can make out of this. But I gotta keep cleaning so I'll just let the episode play out.
The next room? When does this end?
Ah Hilbert. I was wondering where he was.
A week of time? TIME DIALATION?
Okay...if anyone has seen black mirror and saw my entry for Pryce on my post about Christmas music that reminds me of Wolf359 characters, you'll know that I already know that Hui is about to come out of this a scarred and desperate man. (some of you might already understand what I'm talking about...)
This is terrifying. Hui has to be horrified. Lovelace...oh and they're making Victoria ask for the clues, this is cruel. The speed up sound effects make it so much worse. It really is like Black Mirror.
Also... is this aging him? And a week of time...is that an earth week? We're talking about earth weeks right?
Took something from the person who killed them. Okay. Another clue.
Are you sure Selberg? If this is an old memory that Cutter is showing him, then I think he would be...unless this is different than what Hilbert experienced before.
"Everyone would have gotten spaced" ...right. Is there gonna be a big twist where they all got blown out the window on talent show night in season 1 and everything we're seeing is a simulation of their consciousness.
Ah the alien clones are here! Which means Cutter has known about them for a while.
They could also both be fake. Or both real, if they make an AI copy of his consciousness.
Additional medical exams? oh really getting into the questions now.
"I'm not Fischer" ... okay, but you have to have them both do it though...
...or not.
Okay so Fischer is the Australian one. But he could be fake too you should test him.
Good, asking them both questions. Smart. Good work Lambert.
I hate dark rooms too.
Change of Mind?
Sudden Death?
"If both of you press don't, you get to go up to the bridge"
IT'S THE PRISONERS DILEMMA ARE YOU SERIOUS? ARE ALL MY FANDOMS CONNECTED?
Lovelace Do, Lambert Don't, delete all Lambert's memories of manual, brain rejects desire to read? Don't do it Lovelace. Don't do it.
Lovelace Don't, Lambert Do, all crew will think he's the commander.
Guys this should not be tempting.
Both press "Do" they get liquified.
Okay. So I was right about the dilemma. Eres shut up. Stop trying to liquify their brains! Now this is an AI I believe was created by Pryce and Cutter.
Oh she's making Lambert tell the truth. Lambert this is the part where you tell her it's okay to press do because you'll press don't. It's not worth it, throw in the towel. NOT TIMES UP!
Let's not be stupid.
Lambert: Don't. Good job Lambert. Thank you Lambert.
Lovelace: Don't. Good job Lovelace.
End of the game? Why do I not believe you?
End of the line? I don't like that. Why is Lovelace by herself? I don't like rooms that are just for one person. Those never go well.
Ah. The bridge. Is that Eres? She sounds young. Oh she's apologizing. Aw, she hoped they'd make it and was only programmed to hurt them. This is...so sad. Oh dear. A gun.
"You should fight this" "And what?" "This is what they made me for. This doesn't have to be sad."
"Just because someone made you something doesn't means that's all you're going to be" VERY true, both for the alien clones and the AI.
Oh great it's Cutter. Oh HE kills her. Why am I not surprised.
Another message? ✉️
"Training program might not be up to international law. By ripping up this paper, you are absolving us." I'd save that paper forever.
So the training program was wiped? Eres is gone.
Rhea: "It's just the way they programmed her, back off."
Oh poor Rhea 🥺
Aw Victoria is trying to cheer him up. I wonder what he does remember. A bad dream? Interesting.
That's nice, they're reading together. Not much time left in the episode. I wonder what's left.
So...wait. What was in the box when Doug went to open it? Was it the same machine? He said he heard a heartbeat.
At least Lambert and Lovelace seem to be getting along. Those kinds of experiences really do bring people together.
Ah more music. 🎶🎶🎶🎶
Cutter???
Why this day? Cutter you idiot. It's obvious. And she is going to mess you up someday Cutter. Dramatic irony cometh Cutter. Dramatic irony cometh.
Ah Doug is back! Kepler shut your mouth, I still need you to grab your redemption arc or drown in Whiskey. And you better make your choice quickly, because we only have one season left. Tik-tok errand boy, tik-tok.
Ready or not. Empty man cometh!
8 notes
·
View notes
20 Q's for Fic Writers
Thanks @redrocketpanda for tagging me ^_^
1. How many works do you have on Ao3?
11! 9 completed, 2 WIPs.
2. What's your total Ao3 word count?
:)))))))) 831,063 :)))))))))) I don't wanna talk about it.
3. What fandoms do you write for?
I am a fantasy videogames girlie, with a brief foray into Darklina sickness. I have written for BG3, Dragon Age, and Shadow and Bone.
4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?
Party Favours at 1,804
The Stars Don't Shine They Burn at 1,196
A Bleeding Heart at 1,133
Pieces Still Stuck in Your Teeth at 1,026
Eye of the Storm at 645
Before this year I had no fics over 1,000 kudos, so that was a cool development in 2023!
5. Do you respond to comments?
I try to reply to everything, unless I am crippled by depression (or crippled by illness)
6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?
That goes to!!! Sunblindness!!! The only time I've foregone 'I can fix him' for 'I can make him worse (and I deserve to, as a treat)'.
I was actually planning to end that fic with a major character death and then a close friend was like "jfc this is what people read for fun Emma, chill the fuck out"
7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?
The happiest ending is probably Party Favours? But I also think Stars Don't Shine They Burn with the 'I can't fix him I can make him fix himself, but at my end, I can also make us immortal soulmates' tied up pretty neatly, and I was very proud of it at the time.
(Also shout out to A Man's Word is His Bond for being the final chapter I'm happiest with.)
8. Do you get hate on fics?
Nope, not yet! I've had some entitled comments and a few mansplainers, and if anyone sends a WRITE MOAR comment when I have 9 completed fics and over 800k for people to read if they want to, I'll likely become pissed. But no hate!
9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?
Queen of the Fade to Black, the moment anyone touches anything racier than a waist when I'm the one behind the keyboard I start blushing :')))))))))
10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?
I have written one whole crossover, my darklina Shadow and Bone/Stardust AU, and tbh it sent me pretty feral at the time.
11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?
Yes :-) twice I think. it's fine.
12. There was no question 12 so I'll make one up myself: What's the longest you've ever spent working on one fic? And the shortest?
Screaming, crying, throwing up. I remember the Emma who used to only post fics once they were fully drafted. I remember writing a Zevran/Warden fic in a week in the height of living alone in lockdown. I also remember writing A Bleeding Heart in a worryingly brief 3-week period.
Then I got hit with the crippling depression. The longest I've spent working on a fic is 19 months for Sunblindness when I got the Big Sads.
13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?
Nope! Not a group projects girlie. I'm here to cater to me and me alone.
14. What's your all-time favourite ship?
Lol. Of the ones I've written for, it's a tie between Zevran/Surana and Astarion/Tav, as their dynamics were the funnest (seems rogue/mage is my jam). Of all time, it's Spike/Buffy - I have no need to write for them bc I am already well fed.
15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?
I have a Darklina Wintersmith AU that I have 2 out of 3 chapters down for and then BG3 full release happened. But the depressing answer to this question is 'original fiction projects' - I want to try and write something original but my confidence always fails me. I'm trying to transfer the things I enjoy about fic to original stuff to combat it but I'm not there yet!
16. What are your writing strengths?
Idk man, who could say? I think I'm good at dialogue/banter bc that's the compliment I receive most often in comments. I also think that if I've got a plot-twist in mind from the very beginning, I usually land it? The rest of the plot might be squiggly and messy as fuck, but if a scene was there when the fic was dreamt up (the ending of Sunblindness, the stag scene in my Stardust!AU, the agoraphobia reveal in A Bleeding Heart, the study scene in Pieces, etc.) then it usually ends up being received well and being exactly the way I pictured it in my head.
17. What are your writing weaknesses?
Can't write smut!!! It's the only thing holding me back!!!
(also if I have the choice between describing something in a sentence or in 3 paragraphs, I usually pick 3 paragraphs. Sometimes this is good, sometimes this is a fucking travesty. See answer to question 2!)
18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?
Amazing and encouraged but not something I can do, as I am bad at languages so it would just end up being a colonial hate crime facilitated by google translate.
19. First fandom you wrote for?
Dragon Age: Inquisition!
20. Favourite fic you've written?
Despite the way that Full Access recontextualises it, my favourite fic is absolutely A Bleeding Heart. It was so much fun to write, it was my first time doing unreliable narration, and I was really proud of the plot twist in the final chapter. Also for someone who doesn't write smut, the fact that I got a friend to walk out of their house with the hair-pulling scene made me very smug tbh.
Tagging anyone who wants to do this!! I have made a bunch of new friends and mutuals lately, so if you're a writer and you want to answer these qus please do this so I can see your answers.
7 notes
·
View notes
20 questions for fic writers
tagged by @evilwickedme, thank you!
How many works do you have on ao3?
uhh okay let's see!! *pulls up statistics page* I have 419 works on ao3!
what’s your total ao3 word count?
as of right now: 1,429,463. shut up.
What fandoms do you write for?
i'm usually a 1 fandom at a time gal but currently i'm writing for BTTF and Shazam and less frequently for the Witcher and Lord of the Rings!
What are your top 5 fics by kudos?
in descendign order:
New Monster Stories (6803 kudos)
the world won't wait until you're older (4700 kudos)
The Price of a Touch (4245 kudos)
Somebody to Love (3629 kudos)
Tender, like a soft new sapling (3277 kudos)
at this point i've accepted that i will never experience the highs of the 2020 witcher fandom ever again
Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?
SO i used to respond pretty frequently but then i spent a while writing in a very very tiny fandom where every single comment was cherished & i got out of the habit of replying bcos in my mind once i've replied to a comment it's 'finished' so living them unreplied to meant i could enjoy them for longer. and then i got out of the habit!! these days i tend to only reply if i have something to say but i am grateful for all of them <3
What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending
im not gonna link any of them but in my Merlin days i did write multiple fics about my OT3 killing each other. im fine thank you for asking.
What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?
huh i feel like this is harder to measure than the above?? hmmm. scrolling back through my recent-ish works, it isn't kind is pretty unabashedly fluffy.
Do you get hate on fics?
ehhh i've had some rude comments but i wouldn't say hate
Do you write smut? If so, what kind?
these days not so often!! have ended up in a string of found family type fandoms. but yeah i got uhh 65 fics rated E on the ao3. most of them are m/m occasional f/f or f/m.
Do you write crossovers?
im more into fusions which is a different thing! but have on occasion written crossovers.
Have you ever had a fic stolen?
yeah actually, had a fic taken once by someone who was habitually translating fics into a different language & posting them without acknowledging the original. i think they got reported but i don't really remember who it shook out!
Have you ever had a fic translated?
yeah quite a lot of times! u can see translations of my fics on ao3 here. disproportionately russian? i assume there's just a lot of russian fic translators out there!
Have you ever co-written a fic before?
NOT for 1 million years but yes i have
What’s your all-time favorite ship?
hmmm my go to answer for this is usually two/jamie so that's what im going with
What’s a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?
i'm actually still sitting on a second doctor wip that at this point i think is a lost cause. i sent the opening scene (fake out character death lol) to some people on discord a while ago just to torment them.
What are your writing strengths?
i'd like to think dialogue!!
What are your writing weaknesses?
basically all forms of description tbph
Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?
im monolingual so i don't think i'd do this without assistance from a native speaker. i've actually published (like, professionally) a piece of fiction w some dialogue in another language and to my eternal gratitude some of my tumblr followers assisted me with the translation <3
First fandom you wrote for?
lord of the rings, when i was about 12
Favorite fic you’ve written?
of all time??? GOD. okay. first thought best thought the world won't wait until you're older.
ok uhh i will tag @uighean @limerental @a-kind-of-merry-war @megamindsupremacy
✌️
16 notes
·
View notes
Weekly Update
09/10/2023
Announcements/Reminders
BIG ANNOUCEMENT
It's happening, I'm slowing down a bit. I know a lot of you have already probably noticed, but damn, it had to happen eventually. I'm really struggling right now to feel inspired to write certain fics, especially when I feel obligated to (TFM, AYNM, e.t.c.) So this upcoming week I'm chasing the winds of inspiration.
I've done it before, and with 2 new blorbos (Duke Leto and Basil Stitt) I need to work with them so I can get back to your regularly scheduled programming. I also have a fic coming out for the month of October that I'd like to get working on so I'm going to loosely table the other fics very temporarily. If I feel inspired to work on them I will, but just...bear with me while I work through and keep following what makes me happy.
I'm sorry for doing that it's just what I need to do right now, I've been so busy I don't get a lot of time for the things I enjoy so I need to prioritize.
ART ANNOUNCEMENTS
I'm taking art commissions! - Pricing - Follow my art blog: @melodymakesart
My first NSFW drawing was supposed to come out tomorrow but it's just not ready. I'm still working diligently to try and get it done, but it will have to wait until later in the week.
Fic Updates
So as I said above, I'm a little all over the place right now. I'd rather not set myself up for failure so I'm not even going to try and figure our when I'm updating certain fics. Please just check out my WIP list to see what I'm currently working on!
You can find my current WIP list here
I WILL be working on cleaning out my inbox this week so bear with me while I do that! I still have a couple of 2k asks and some other odds and ends.
AI Character Bot Updates
I currently have the following bots on my list that I’m working on. If you have any suggestions or additions you’d like, please feel free to ask! I won’t make every single one I get asked for but I’ll make some of them as I get time!
DBF Jake and Steven (I already did Marc...did I ever post him? I thought I did but maybe not)
Patient Steven and Marc
Moon Knight Rescue scenario
Am I missing any? Don't see one on the list that you want to add? Send me an inbox or private message! No promises, but if I like the idea I'll make an AI bot.
If you already sent one in, please don't send in the same one twice, I probably already saw it I just haven't gotten around to it yet!
I think that's all for now! Much love!
Don't forget to follow my other blogs:
@melodymakesart - My art blog
@lockandkeynovel - The blog for my original fiction novel, Lock & Key
@melodyreadsfanfiction - The blog where I reblog works I intend to read, a good place for fanfic readers to follow!
@melodygatesupdates - This is where I'll reblog any chapter updates for my fics and whatnot. This is what I use instead of a tag list!
9 notes
·
View notes
and it becomes your most hated book of all time - Sam plays the main male character of the adaptation of this book (Me Before You)> lol
I even liked the film, the chemistry between him and Emilia is wonderful, but the film is kind of pointless. That ending, I can't even watch again. What makes it even worse is knowing that there is a second book in which he has a daughter, like??????? How does he have a daughter??? Does not make any sense.
I thought he was going to give up because he was in love with a woman who loved him and believed they could be happy together. And they were happy together. What makes it worse for me is that in the film Untouchable, which is a true story, there is a similar story, about the person who helps him, and gives him meaning, in the end the character gets married and is happy.
Will ends up being selfish in the end. I hate how he wants Clarke there, and the fact that she's gone. Fuck it, no really. The end is he gave her money, fuck.
It wasn't about the money, and it shouldn't be. She has a shitty family and a shitty boyfriend, just like he had a shitty family and a shitty girlfriend.
It's worth it for Sam and Emilia's performances.
I've never actually watched the film, only read the book. For completion's sake, I suppose I will have to tackle it one day, but every time I imagine having to watch it, a sense of dread creeps on me. It's the worst piece of fiction I have ever engaged with (I've read the first 50 Shades book and this is worse!) and I'm worried I will throw something at my screen and break my TV. I don't believe in the "chemistry" argument, it means nothing to me and Emilia Clarke... I'm trying very hard but her voice and laugh grate on me so much, plus I don't see her as that great an actress.
Anyway, so here we are, I finally get to talk about it (can you believe this @jesstasticvoyage). Here it is, the reason why I don't interact with any other Sam Claflin fans, apart from Jess who is able to handle me. (I get notes from the same users on my original Sam posts, and I see you; it's not you, it's me! You'll see why.) Fucking Me Before You.
If you go through my Sam posts, you will see that I never mention this film, not even when I talk about his book adaptations. The only time I did name it was when I listed the female directors he worked with, bc the film has a female director. When I became a fully fledged Sam fan in 2020, I saw how beloved the film was and how everyone cried over it (why?) and how I could not escape it every time I read any article or interview, and I understood that I will have to be on my own. I couldn't believe how amazing Sam's filmography was, and yet nobody talked about it, it was all Finnick (who is at least cool, despite all my issues with THG that I've just posted about)--and this garbage.
Let me just make something clear, I don't hate MBY bc of its ending. I actually like the ending. I like that he chose death over being with Louisa, bc it contradicts this supposed great love story the author is trying to sell. Also I absolutely loathe Louisa Clark. She is my most hated character of all time and the worst protagonist I've ever read the POV of. She is stupid, the stupidest cow in the whole fucking galaxy. She even fails at being a manic pixie dream girl. I hate her so, so much. Every time I have the misfortune of coming across that scene where she sits on his lap in the wheelchair and they are on the dancefloor and she is laughing, I want to hit her in the face so hard that she fall backwards, cracks her skull and dies. I hate her.
The book is also very poorly written. I see Colleen Hoover get so much hate these days, but idk, I think Jojo Moyes is way worse. Maybe she's not on that many people's radar, to which I say: good! She's also allegedly plagiarised another author. The only reason I don't want to invent a time machine to go back in time and prevent her birth is my fear of creating the timeline where Sam will not break his second ankle and becomes a footballer instead of an actor, so you see that wouldn't have been any good.
Now, I've read pieces from people who are more knowledgeable about this than me that MBY is ableist, and I could make big posts about how ableist it is, but I don't bc it would only come off as insincere. (I didn't realise it was in fact ableist until I read those pieces.) I'm all about authenticity, I don't do virtue signalling/performative wokery. You can say I hate it for the wrong reasons. I hate the book bc it's such a fucking cheap tearjerker that only got published bc the publishers knew it would make people cry. But also I hate the fact that it uses disability as a device to tell a cheap tearjerker, so maybe in a roundabout way it is ableism that I hate it for. (I will post something about the ableism though, just for info.)
The protagonist is an idiot with no skills, woefully unqualified for the job she is hired for (she fails at every other previous job she tries!). All the characters are terribly shallow and one-dimensional. Will's mother is a bitch bc... reasons? Bc the author wants her to be? Overdone tropes of an inattentive bf and a bitch of an ex-gf. You see I don't think Alicia was shitty, it's that Louisa presents her that way and she is not a reliable narrator. Ofc she describes her as a bitch. Alicia explained to Louisa that she tried with Will after his accident, but he pushed her away (even though Alicia doesn't owe Louisa any explanation, and a cow like Louisa has no right to judge her, or anyone else for that matter).
From Tv Tropes MBY YMMV page:
Unintentionally Sympathetic: Will's ex and his friend. We're clearly supposed to hate them for hooking up, but it's not like she ditched him the minute he got hurt. She points out that he relentlessly pushed her away and rebuffed all her efforts to be there for him. Her moving on was inevitable and you can't really fault them for eventually turning to each other—obviously, their efforts to comfort each other turned into something more—she outright says that they've been friends for ages and that he was a great support to her after the accident.
Jojo is presenting MBY as this big love story. Except it isn't. Louisa has a Florence Nightingale complex, and Will. Doesn't love Louisa. "You're the only thing that makes me get up in the morning." Sure, that's why he kills himself. For which I don't blame him, if the other option is being with Louisa. But that means it's not love!
But you're right that it's pointless, bc it achieves nothing. If he decided to live and then died of natural causes, then yeah, that would have been a different matter, that would have meant that the protagonist succeeded at something.
Screenshot of a funny one-star review on Goodreads:
I do wonder if Jojo has a handfeeding fetish. I shudder when I think about watching Sam being hand-fed by Emilia Clarke. I really don't think I can take on this film.
Louisa inheriting money from Will, idk, I have no opinion of it and Louisa is not even the type of a woman that knows how to enjoy money. What's she gonna do with it, buy a million pairs of stripey tights?
As for the sequel, it looks like it's a trilogy and Will's kid is I think one of those most boring tropes where a guy didn't know he had a child for years bc the mother didn't tell him. Jojo once again showing her lack or ideas. Gilmore Girls did it, Peaky Blinders did it and worst of all, even fucking Star Trek Picard did it, and those are just shows that I've watched lately!
I have heard of the Untouchable film (I found it when I was looking up Omar Sy bc I liked him in Lupin). I planned to watch it but then forgot. I really need to check it out, it looks good.
This got long... thanks for reading.
3 notes
·
View notes