#i have zero motivation to finish it tbh

[gamerwoo]

ANYWAY i had originally opened the post maker to talk about smth but got distracted

but like........what if i switched star crossed to be for skz............

#i have zero motivation to finish it tbh #and honestly......it would totally go w the story i have planned for one of the members #it's nothing against exo and i'm obv gonna keep them in the universe still #((i still have to edit tftp and take kr*s out of all the parts tho which will take forever)) #but i'm just not motivated to finish the series bc i don't really write for exo anymore #i just have no idea which member i would want to make it for hhhhhh #idk i think i'll ask sadie that's what i always do lmao

[lesbienneanarchiste]

Oooough having a bad brain day all around and the worst part is that I can't seem to find anything sufficiently distracting that won't make the rot worse

#if i was conventionally attractive my problems wouldnt be solved but many of them would be significantly improved #and knowing that makes me so angry and depressed #also have less than zero motivation to write #which is triggering my anxiety abt failure again bc i am so so so deeply exhausted by my inability to finish anything #but it also feels like. i have no plans to do anything with this. im not going to publish or whatever. #literally what is the point tbh #disgruntled octopus

[jonnywaistcoat]

Hey, Horrormaster Sims. I have a wildly different question that barely relates to TMA (Sorry about that) but its about your own process. Please, if you could, can you tell me how your first drafts made you feel? I'm on the fence about writing my own thing (not a podcast, and again, not Magnus related, though I have a million little aus for that delightful tragedy you wrote, thank you for that!) But I'm discouraged by the collective notion that first drafts are always terrible, because there's no ... examples I can solidly use to help the dumb anxiety beast in my brain that tells me everyone who is in any way popular popped out a golden turd and not, well, you know. One of my friends said 'Oh I bet Jonathan Sims's first draft was nothing like what he wanted' and I got the bright idea to just. Send you an ask, since you're trapped on this hellsite like I am. Anyway, thanks for reading this (if you do) and if you'd rather ask it privately, I am cool with that. Alternatively, you're a hella busy man with Protocol (you and Alex are making me rabid, i hope you know) and you can just ignore this! Cheers, man, and good words.

To my mind all writing advice, especially stuff that's dispensed as truisms (like "first drafts are always garbage") are only useful inasmuch as such advice prompts you to pay attention to how you write best: what helps your workflow, what inspires you, what keeps you going through the rough bits. There are as many different ways to write (and write well) as there are people who write and so always consider this sort of thing a jumping off point to try out or keep in mind as you gradually figure out your own ways of writing.

On first drafts specifically, I think the wisdom "all first drafts are bad" is a bit of unhelpful oversimplification of the fact that, deadlines notwithstanding, no piece of writing goes out until you decide its ready, so don't get too hung up on your first draft of a thing, because a lot of writers find it much easier to edit a complete work than to try and redraft as they go. It's also important to not let perfectionism or the fact your initial draft isn't coming out exactly how you want stop you from actually finishing the thing, as it's always better to have something decent and done than to have something perfect and abandoned.

But the idea of a "first draft" is also kind of a fluid one. The "first draft" you submit to someone who's commissioned you will probably be one you've already done a bunch of tweaks and edits to, as opposed to the "first draft" you pump out in a frenzy in an over-caffeinated weekend. For my part, my first drafts tend to end up a bit more polished than most, because I'm in the habit of reading my sentences out loud as I write them (a habit picked up from years of audio writing) so I'll often write and re-write a particular sentence or paragraph a few times to get the rhythm right before moving to the next one. This means my first drafts tend to take longer, but are a bit less messy. I'm also a big-time planner and pretty good at sticking to the structures I lay out so, again, tend to front load a lot of stuff so I get a better but slower first draft.

At the end of the day, though, the important thing is to get in your head about it in a good way (How do I write best? what helps me make writing I enjoy and value? What keeps me motivated?) and not in a bad way (What if it's not good enough? What if everyone hates it? What if it doesn't make sense?) so that you actually get it done.

As for how my first drafts made me feel? Terrible, every one of 'em No idea if that's reflective of their quality, though, tbh - I hate reading my own writing until I've had a chance to forget it's mine (I can only ever see the flaws). I suppose there's theoretically a none-zero chance they were pure fragments of True Art and creative perfection, but Alex's editing notes make that seem unlikely.

#writing advice #rambling #first drafts #gotta say not mad on being called a horrormaster #feel like ive a ways to go yet #horror journeyman maybe

[eve-was-framed]

recently finished Shiny Happy People and tbh the religious fundamentalist view on men is 1000x more offensive than anything any feminist has ever said. they see men as wild animals motivated solely by sex and they think men can’t be held accountable for literally anything ever (even sexually abusing babies) because they’re just mindless dummies who have zero control over their emotions and sexuality. women and even little girls are burdened with the task of being caretakers for grown men. if I were male I would be mortified by these teachings

#the men in their religion are basically raised to be fucking parasites #also I hope Josh Duggar kills himself

[lemonadedino]

ok all the hype around anyone but you has infected my brain and now all i can think about is the potential for a shakespeare much ado about nothing au with landoscar and lestappen

beatrice and benedick as landoscar because i feel like lando encapsulates the “shameless flirt” really well, the banter between them would be perf, oscar is so much wittier than people give him credit for, and the slow burn feeling realization

hero and claudio as lestappen because you get that insta-connection moment, then one of them gets misinformation, doesn’t think something through and makes a rash decision that doesn’t end well, but they end up together anyway after it all gets sorted out

but then I could also see it being the other way around too? any second opinions would be appreciated!!

also i have zero idea of who to use to fill the roll of don john and his whole posse of servants trying to mess up the romance because i have a hard time characterizing any of the drivers as “evil” because then i feel bad 😭 might just make up some random people tbh

posting this to motivate myself to write/actually finish the fic lol

#landoscar #lestappen

[arcplaysgames]

so i was gonna reach the next major story beat, which i ASSUMED was Okamura dropping fucking dead but APPARENTLY NAH WE GOT MORE DRAMA FIRST

I have been POWERGRINDING through some SLinks so let's hit 'em

oh but first, Haru has the best persona since Yosuke's Susano-o level 3

Amazing.

Also Morgana saved literally everyone and Ryuji still hasn't apologized, but we knew that's how it would go. ANYWAY LETS JUST HIT THE IMPORTANT SHIT.

As everyone would have suspected, the Okamura Job was a false flag. Oh he was a fucking scoundrel and Haru needed help like ASAP but there is zero way Okamura organically rose to such infamy to garner the Thieves' attention. It's a set-up, Okamura is gonna die, and I assume the Thieves will be blamed and the whole thing will start unraveling.

If they had just not set up that fucking Phansite, none of this would have happened. So I'm blaming Mishima, personally.

Morgana has the same vision/dream about a shadow self in Mementos? Which I took initially as something that was Actively Happening, but it seems to be his origin actually. So Morgana is... some kind of product of the shared cognition of the world?

This is treading very close to Teddie's origin. Instead of a shadow that wanted to be liked, maybe a shadow that wants to Do Crimes?

I mean, I have cats so I think a cat-shaped crime shadow makes perfect sense tbh.

ALSO I GOT A LAPTOP AND TANAKA IS IN THERE??????

WHERE THE FUCK IS THE TANAKA THEME SONG, I'M SO ANGRY. Do you know how long i've had Anata no, terebi ni, Jika-netto Tanakaaaaa stuck in my head?

SULKS

okay lets get into some meat here, I am nearly done with Maruki's SLink and Yo. Yo. Okay.

Maruki is working on his nebulous research paper and laments that even at his best, he can only help a few dozens, maybe hundreds of people. Gosh, wouldn't it be so much easier to help everyone is there was some way to connect to all hearts hmmm but hahah that's impossible right? lmao. what a wild dream, a fanciful dalliance.

ha ha haaaaaaaa

Maruki is talking about applying cognitive psience to the collective unconsciousness.

Later, he just happens to ask Reverie about the Phantom Thieves' methods of affecting changes in people, and the physical representation of desire in the form of a "heart" and Maruki is off to the fucking races.

THIS ALL SEEMS VERY BAD HONESTLY. Like even if the most well-meaning motherfucker in the world got ahold of some means to affecting the collective unconsciousness on that scale, P5R is turning into a practical lesson on why doing that just really isn't the play. It's the recurring question of the whole game and with Okamura, signs are pointing to "yeah don't fucking mess with people's internal cognition, fuckface"

and frankly Maruki is well-meaning but is a shitty therapist anyway.

Next rank up, Maruki is excited about being nearly finished with his paper so he takes Reverie out to that one fancy buffet. Midway through, one of Maruki's college friends joins in to congratulate him on the paper and to shoot the shit, and:

me, IRL muttering "oh shit" under my breath. I'm kind of impressed how the reuse of a portrait I have see three dozen times now can hit me like a bolt of fear.

Oh there is something going on under that mousy hair. I was wondering who exactly was the big bad of the game here but I am pretty sure it's Maruki.

Next link, I get to know who the fuck Rumi is. Rumi was apparently the love of Maruki's life. They were going to get married and life was peaches and cream until there was a burglary. Rumi was hurt in the process, but worse, the attack caused her to have a mental breakdown. The aftershocks of it ended their relationship, and Maruki is transparently still deeply affected by it.

This is the cusp of his motivation, to learn a way to not only heal people of their emotional pains but to prevent that pain if he can.

With cognitive psience and the collective unconsciousness.

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. You're the bad guy. As soon as you flip from asking for forgiveness instead of permission, you are the bad guy of the video game, buddy.

I hope this doesn't manifest as like.... inducing apathy syndrome in everyone, like P3P. I don't think that's the play because Maruki does seem.... interested in actual happiness. So....

I'm just literally thinking really hard. What is his play...

Using the collective unconsciousness to steal all the distorted hearts? IDK that seems too 'neat'.

Let's skip ahead to the next important part actually. 10/3.

Fast summary of events: Kasumi is trying to improve her gymnastics but her performance is still not up to the standards of Shujin, and her honor student status is threatened. If she doesn't bring home a gold medal, she's going to lose her special privileges, and everyone is super disappointed in her.

The school faculty tells her this apparently to motivate her, but Maruki just happens to be included in the meetings (is he her therapist since the loss of her sister?) and he sternly tells everyone yo, this much pressure on her might make her crack more, not help her.

Reverie and Morgana find one of her lucky charms on the floor and go to meet up with her at the new stadium to return it.

OH GODDAMMIT I DIDN'T CAP EVERY LINE BC I DIDN'T REALIZE WHAT WAS ABOUT TO POP OFF.

Okay. That makes it harder to remember.

BASiCALLY: KASUMI HAS THE META NAV AND THERE IS A PALACE HERE.

She mentioned her own name, Kasumi Yoshizawa. But she also mentioned Dr. Maruki's name. And she corrected some passerbys that this place was a "stadium, not a research lab."

So the keywords here are either "Kasumi, Stadium, Lab" or "Maruki, Stadium, Lab." I am leaning towards the latter because inside the beautiful Frank Gehry Designs A Hospital building, there are pages from what I assume is Maruki's research paper.

Happiness cognitive psience, oh boy. Oh no. Maruki has a palace dedicated to his distorted desire to fix everyone's trauma with cog-psi. Oh no. Oh wow.

THERE IS SOME SHIT GOING ON WITH KASUMI. Some cognitive copy of her sister is trying to reach her. Why is she in Maruki's-- oh so. Oh, he was definitely her therapist and so he knows about her and her dead sister, so he has cognitive copies of them inside.

JFC this is so much. Maruki's cognitive copy of Kasumi's sister gets stabbed by a monster.

THERE IS NOTHING ABOUT THIS THAT I LIKE

OUR LORD? ACCEPT YOURSELF? FOOLISHNESS? OH I DISLIKE ALL THESE THINGS.

hey why does Kasumi get a full magical girl sequence when she pops her persona??????? no one else got this???? I wanna see everyone sparkly sailor moon transformation nekkid as they get into their gear. This is bullshit.

Anyway, Kasumi pops her persona, Reverie and Morgana help her fight and escape the palace.

HER PHONE MYSTERIOUSLY RUNS OUT OF BATTERY AGAIN BEFORE THEY CAN FIGURE OUT WHO THE PALACE BELONGS TIME cuz its Maruki, natch.

AAAAAND she actually turns down joining the Thieves, lmao. That's hilarious. Good for her, though! Go do your gymnastics, gurl.

Anyway so. Yeah, October Third is fucking wild.

I think the big bad of the game is still to come and is concerned with the whole cognitive shutdowns thing. Maruki, I think, is someone completely different since so far there is zero indication he's involved in all that. (I think?)

So, what happens when you take a well-meaning but unaccountably shitty therapist and give him every patient in the world and a power to materialize their hearts?

Pretty sure nothing fucking good!

But it should be interesting at least!

though how would he get into the metaverse unless Notigor helps him or someone else lets hi--

oh shit kasumi has the metaverse app now

/LOOK OF SUPREME FEAR

#p5 #persona liveblog

[saintchaser]

following on from your marauders fandom post (which was so good btw), another egotistical thing about the marauders fandom that I’ve noticed is how they really only talk about completed fics and stuff like that, like I think the marauders fandom takes mwpp content for granted and really only hypes up the best of the best. It feels like unless you write the literal marauders equivalent of the religious bible, the fandom pays no attention to it. Or unless you have god-like art skills you’re not gonna get much interaction. With unfinished fics, you basically get very little hype until they’ve been completed and overall, the fandom just feels pretty… cold?

I can’t explain it exactly, but it just feels like the marauders fandom has such high standards for everything and if those standards aren’t met, there’s not much hype or appreciation. I have a marauders fic which is fairly popular, but the last two chapters have received zero comments. I’ve come across a lot of marauders fanfictions in a similar situation of very little interaction and it honestly just causes so many creators to lose interest and motivation.

Not to mention the fact that the fics that do meet standards are treated as the holy gospel of the fandom. I know I can never compare to mskingbean, but it feels like if I don’t compare to atyd then there’s no point even trying to write because the marauders fandom just will not care. I think there’s a major problem in this fandom with latching onto one or two works and completely ignoring other creators.

oh, absolutely. this is the way i feel too. i understand, to a certain extent, why some people may choose to read only ginished fics (being scared that their favorite fic will be abandoned etc.) but, to me, there's something just so different about waiting for fic updates. i'm a sucker for wips, tbh, and i only read finished fics if i randomly stumble upon them. the thing is, most fics are wips at this time! all of the finished fics that you have read have been wips too, at some point!

and the same thing goes for fanart; of course, each to their own taste, but it's really disheartening to see the way some fanart get hundreds of thousands of notes (rightfully so, i don't blame them, their fanart is gorgeous) but these people have started somewhere, too.

people are driven away from this fandom because the lack of engagement with their content makes them think that what they do is not good enough and therfore they should stop producing content altogether.

and you mentioning that the fandom is cold... it's exactly what it feels like, if i'm being honest. there's so little interaction with maybe 90% percent of the fandom and a part of them is driven away because of lack of interaction, and the other part is driven away from too much interaction, which becomes uncomfortable, at some point, of people don't know how to not overstep boundaries.

and with the lack of comments, i also understand that. my most popular fic has a bit over 2k hits, yet it has... maybe twenty comments, aside my answers to them? which is upsetting, to be honest.

also, your last point is absolutely right. "latching onto one or two works and completely ignoring other creators" is exactly what is happening in this fandom, and it's, like o said, both disheartening to some, and uncomfortable for others.

#like i said we really have to work on ourselves #also great points! thank you for adding #fandom discussion #fandom discourse #fandom rant #asks #anon asks

[saviorsbookcafe]

wow! was that an update ?!?! you bet!!

but actually i cant believe it. i actually finished the book. hell yeah im so sorry it took thirty six million years to do but i actually finished the first book like i said i would !!!

tbh im a little unsure of where to continue from here lol.. there is a bonus scene at the end of the book that i think ill do, but for one obviously every chapter is a Project so i think ill just be sticking to like the primary light novel content... despite the fact that a whole nother book is.. a Lot... we’ll see!

tentative plans (with zero scheduling) is i’d like to do the 2nd and 3rd light novels if possible as well.. but with how long it took me to get thru this first novel i think itll be a While bc i only have the beginning of like. the prologue done. and like nothing else lol

(that said i also havent even finished the 3rd novel and if i get back into reading it we might get hit with a big motivation spike so! here’s hoping maybe ?! dont hold your breath)

anyways! im alive! i cant believe i finished the novel.. hope it wasnt too painful of a wait and thank you very much for everyone who sent me nice messages during the breaks and who stuck around despite the fact it seemed like i would never finish lol

#update

[darkangel0410]

WRITING QUESTIONS TAG GAME

what is your absolute all-time favorite idea you’ve ever had? I pretty much love all my ideas, tbh, but probably the godlings verse and necromancer au

what is your favorite part of being a writer? which parts could you take or leave? One of my favorites is worldbuilding, hands down - making up new ways to have werewolves or soulmates or magic or vampires, how would they work? How would their world work??? I love answering that. I also love taking my faves and putting them in different places and saying, 'ok now how are you different? who are you now? are you still you??'

Least favorite is editing which is a crime against me personally, no matter how necessary it is

what is your greatest motivation to write/create? I have mostly two motivations which is 1. whatever I want to read isn't there so I have to write it myself, and 2. I want to know what happens when I put Brendan Brisson in the middle of an urban fantasy verse and make him a witch - what happens when I put Trevor Zegras and Alex Turcotte in Fall Out Boy and make Jamie Drysdale Mikeyway? What happens? I want to find out so I write

wait, actually there's a third reason: spite - that speaks for itself I'm sure lmao

what is your favorite story you’ve written to completion? link it if you’d like and can! every fic I finish is my favorite on some level, and there's definitely some recency bias at work, but probably trouble at my door (necromancer au)

what is your favorite out-of-the-box quote? of my fics? hmmmm well, I do have one that I wrote recently that I'm really happy with,, because it's amusing to me and pretty much sums up Trevor in this verse, it's from my cali ot3 FOB au WIP, so I guess have a sneak peek:

Alex's voice is low and mean; it would have sent anyone who knew him running, except Trevor who didn't have the self-preservation instincts nature gave a lemming.

which of your characters would you say has the most controversial mindset? why do you say so and how do you personally feel about their ideals? Probably any of the werewolves from my bleed out for you verse because they're basically horror movie werewolves who consider people animals, and they're a blast to write but you know, I'm pretty glad I don't live there lol

if you, when you first started writing, met you now, what would younger you think? I started telling stories when I was like six, so I imagine past-me would have a lot to say about everything, lmaooo, and also want to know why I was writing that fraggle rock/he-man crossover I used to act out with my toys???

Tagging: @007waffles007 @adamsgirl42 @coricomile @candy-belle @cokehead-zeroed @frostbeees @hard4softthings and anyone else who wants to do it!!

#meme #fic stuff...kinda #that's hockey baby

[traumasurvivorshelpingsurvivors]

Hi, idk how to call that question so I try to explain it with an example: I want to learn something so I tell myself "For every page read, you may have a cookie". Then my (usually pretty small and inactive) part of me that does the self-care kicks in and says."Why? You never got anything good in your life without working for it. Why starving yourself of good things too?". Which is a valid point for me. So I will eat the cookies and then learn, but not as long and concentrated as I (imagine) I'd do if I still had a motivation to do so.

And if I force myself to do, I will very quickly get issues eating cookies without learning beforehand. That link "Treat X only after work Y" will be bound fast and strong. This doesn't only apply to food. And also long term rewards like "If you learn 10 times you may buy Y" don't work bc A I need my reward immediately or B I don't have the money.

Maybe worth mentioning that I had anorexia and back then did the same "You are only allowed to eat X after Y", as firm rules.

But most motivation tips work like this and tbh I have zero intrinsic motivation. Also stuff like "My bf tells me how proud he is afterwards" doesn't work.

I also don't want to make this a bigger issue than it is by "training my brain to stop making the link". You know, forcing myself to eat cookies after learning and when I eat cookies in my freetime saying to myself over and over "You may still have those without learning!" it might still work (after some weeks or months) but those will feel like full of punishment and the issue isn't big enough for that.

I hope you have some ideas how I can motivate myself in another way or how to overcome that issues without making it a long term project.

Have a nice day

Hey there nonny!

Motivation can be a really tricky thing, especially for people who are smart. Let's be real, why would I want to wait for something I could have now? Things that you can move up on your own to have before doing the task almost never work for those who reason like we do. If you're set on that method, though, I suggest giving the reward to someone else for safekeeping, so you can't give it to yourself early, or, eating half of it now, and half of it later if you have the self control for that, satisfying that "reward now" part of you, but still leaving some motivation.

If you're looking for other motivation mechanisms, try activities or things that come in steps. For instance, I enjoy art a lot. If I have something I need to get done like an essay, I'll sketch out some ideas for a new piece of art, and either a certain amount of paragraphs into the essay or after 45 minutes, whichever comes first, I'll do the next step of my artwork. That serves as both motivation for me, and a resting period from work.

A lot of times, a big part of not finishing tasks is because our brain can't stay engaged for that long. A good idea is to set some breaks. Ie: once I've finished this much of my project/once I've worked for this amount of time, I'll be able to take a 20 minute break. Then set a timer, and take your break. When on that break, it's important to stay off of things that will get you "hooked," or things that aren't easily stopped for you. Things like scrolling tiktok, watching shows, etc, tend not to be the best for you because you either "haven't finished the episode," or "it's only another 30 second video," etc. Things that make you get up and really take a mental break or physical break (depending on your task) are great. If I've been sitting for a while focusing, it's nice to go outside for a bit and put on some music or something. If I've been working outside, it's nice to come in and get some water and rest for a bit.

#trauma talks #an old one but we are posting for the info! #eating disorder #motivation #habits

[sugareey-makes-stuff]

78, 83, and 91 for the personal asks!!! 💛💛💛

Hiya, friend! Oh gosh, you picked some fun ones to delve into! Okie dokie, let's get right to it: 78: Can insanity bring on more creativity? I'm going to say yes since I'm pretty sure all of us creative have a little bit of insanity in us. It could be some big idea, something that hasn't been done before, or whatever. Maybe it's that hyperfocus to make something exist that actually motivates us to finish. Maybe something bizarre or weird happened in our lives, and we want to share that with the world. Whatever that driver is, there's always some type of intention to pushes us to do a thing. I know last year, I had almost zero chill about stuff (so I ended up making 52+ works for various challenges and fests). A lot of these things were things I never thought I'd be able to make if there wasn't some hype and excitement around each one idea. Which is cool. But there's also a limit because it's super easy to get burnt out. And we're human, not robots. I definitely learned that the hard way, so I've been taking on things I'm passionate about but I know I have enough time for because quality vs. quantity is a thing. And if I want to take hours to go code a thing it should be because I want to and not because I have to (because technically we don't have to do anything). I'll leave that spiel at that since I could ramble about this topic for hours.

83: Give me the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word; heart. OKAY. There are a lot of things that came up, but if I had to choose...it comes down to feeling/being seen. That is the core of a person and if they can feel or be seen, then chances are, they're able to feel comfort and safety but also learn to trust. And everything else comes right after.

91: You accidentally eat some radioactive vegetables. They were good, and what’s even cooler is that they endow you with the super-power of your choice! What is that power? I'm thinking either invisibility or shapeshifting, tbh. Invisibility would be nice to go and come as one pleases to wherever and whenever. But I can see the benefits of changing into a lot of forms (people and animals) to do a lot of cool things. And heyyy, who doesn't want to become a bird and fly, have darkvision or some crazy firebreathing abilities?

Thanks for the asks! __ Previously asked: 3, 9 and 42 Want to know more about me? Send more q's my way from the Let's Get Personal ask meme!

#asked and answered #ask meme #let's get personal #about me

[igarbagecannoteven]

2022 Writing Evaluation

thanks so much @clumsyclifford , @allsassnoclass , & @jbhmalumm for tagging me in this! i'm gonna talk about my fics in all fandoms even tho this is my music blog bc i don't have anything separated into pseuds (i strive for chaos on my ao3 account) putting it under the cut bc i'm sure it's gonna be long lol

number of stories posted on ao3: 25! 18 in 5sos, 4 in hp, and 3 miscellaneous fandoms

word count posted for this year: 40,705

fandoms i wrote for: 5sos, hp, discworld, doctor who, & dungeons and daddies

pairings: lashton (4), cashton (3), muke (2.5) (bc they're background in one), malum (2), cake (2), mashton (1), penelope/percy (1)

story with the most kudos/bookmarks/comments: burnt eggs & broken promises has the most kudos, do you wanna touch (yeah) and permanent jet lag are tied for most bookmarks, and fear the fever has the most comments

work i’m most proud of and why: i'm proud of almost all of the work i put out this year, and there are a couple ones that immediately spring to mind, but i'm going to really come out of left field here and say Being Hannah Abbott! "but megs," you might say, "why on earth would you pick the only fic that has zero kudos? it's definitely not your best written work of the year." to which i say, true! however, i have been trying to get this fic right since 10th grade! i'm now a senior in college! "but megs it's significantly less than 1k how did it take you that long" listen! listen. sometimes. you have to wait until you're good enough to finish a fic. this has more than 5 docs of different drafts saved to my laptop. also you're forgetting the fact that i'm insane

work i’m least proud of and why: okay listen. i know it's my most kudos'd work. i know that. however i am not happy with burnt eggs and broken promises. bella left me a lovely long comment on it recently that made me rethink my feelings towards it but i still think it isn't as good as it could have been so sorry folks

share or describe a favorite review you’ve received: i love it when people tell me i made them cry it's my favorite thing in the whole world best compliment to receive imo

a time when writing was really, really hard: you're assuming i remember what i was experiencing earlier in 2022 which is where you've made your mistake slkdjflskdjf ummmm i remember have a really hard time this fall semester, especially in september/october, i just couldn't get any motivation whatsoever (which tends to be my biggest problem tbh)

a scene or character you wrote who surprised you: goood question,,, you know, i really wasn't expecting to ever write a mcu au and yet pining is a strange sort of mcu au. i originally was going to write it so one half of the pairing got lost at sea and their bf was waiting on shore not sure if they were dead or alive, but the characters did not want to be like that at all which is how i ended up with poor post-snap calum (who may be getting a happy sequel someday shhh)

a favorite excerpt of your writing: i love the transformation scene in fear the fever. i just love writing body horror for some reason and i've always had strong opinions about what i think vampires & their transformations are like physically and it was a blast to get to explore that in this fic :))

how did you grow as a writer this year? i think a lot of my growth happens slowly over time and therefore is hard to pinpoint, but i took a creative writing class in the spring on opening a novel and that helped me rethink the way i start fics now. also i learned to think more about what i want out of my fic! thinking about why i write and why i post fic really helped me realize what fic writing advice to take and what to ignore (if you're like me and the goal of a fic is to write the concept the best you can, than posts talking about how it's okay to post random, unedited snippets are not actually helpful and can actually be counter-intuitive)

how do you hope to grow next year? i really want to write more often and be more disciplined about writing. as always i want to learn how to be better in the craft aspect in general (which is a goal i expect to always have, since i'll never be perfect at it) and i'd also like to be better with subtext & symbolism & ~themes~ bc i always forget to those last two and my subtext is, in my opinion, rather lacking at the moment

who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc etc)? bella is the best live-in cheerleader/rubber duck a writer could ask for, and i would be royally screwed without her 💙 hazel is always an incredible virtual cheerleader/ideas bouncer and i am dearly in her debt, and meghna is wonderful for fueling my wacky ideas-mobile; i am incredibly lucky that they're just a discord dm away 🥰 also she's 100% not going to see this but my mom finished her mfa program this year and has been working on finishing her novel, and writing with her and talking shop together has been very helpful in keeping me at the keyboard and with more thematically technical details (little does she know it's for my rfp fanfic lol)

anything from real life show up in your writing this year? yep! lots! keep you safe (safe as i can), an hp fic, reflects some of my worries about my little bro growing up; Questions Involving Vampires & Skirts, while not reflective of my own gender, does reflect some of my weird gender-y fuckery; just dance (gonna be okay)'s michael shares my feelings regarding dancing in empty elevators; do you wanna touch (yeah) is inspired by me visiting a craft store with my fam and touching basically everything in the store; permanent jet lag is based off of flying international with my baby bro who is Very Tall; & glasses is based off of my truly awful eyesight and how i still feel like if i have my glasses off people can't perceive me lol (yes you heard it here first folks, megs has the object permanence of a toddler)

any new wisdom you can share with other writers? write! have fun with it! go to irl critique groups if possible! don't expect things to be perfect on the first draft, because most people's first drafts are shit and that's okay! challenge yourself! don't be afraid to embrace the cringe! it's okay to settle unless it's gonna make you miserable! eat your writing frogs! don't be afraid to ask for help! get a rubber duck!

any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year? i really want to finish tis the damn fic. i'd love for it to be ready to post by december. i'm kneeling at my prefrontal cortex begging it to get its shit together enough to finish it. i'd also love to finally finish my another place songfic bc that will mean my writing's reached the level where i can actually figure out how to write the dang thing which is the dream

tag some writers whose answers you’d like to read: idk who all's done it/been tagged so if you've already done it just ignore me! and if you don't want to do it you can also ignore me lol but i'll tag @werewolfashton , @reveriesofawriter , @userbadomens , @calumthoodshands , @pixiegrl , @valiantnerdtm , & anyone else who wants to! (if you've been mainly writing for another fandom you can talk about that one as well/instead, all up to you!)

#tagged #the trash talks #tag game #hope this is both interesting and humorous 😌 #or not! hope you hate it. i hope we both hate it hand in unlovable hand ksjdflksjdfkjsdlfjsdlkj

[tanadrin]

still in season 6, but here’s an unordered list of my favorite Voyager episodes:

Live Fast and Prosper - one of those latter-season, slightly more off-format episodes you can only do once a setting is thoroughly established, and also very funny.

Equinox - as I think I mentioned in an earlier post, a great exploration of the idea of what might have happened to a Voyager that abandoned its principles in order to survive.

Before and After - a much better take on time-travel plots, with some fun easter eggs anticipating later episodes.

Night - I mostly like this one for the opening scenes of the crew just getting really weird bc of the monotony of space.

Year of Hell & Course: Oblivion - two episodes that seem to exist just to torture the crew, but they’re great exploration of the characters involved I think.

Living Witness - a fun Alternate Character Interpretation episode combined with a good SF plot.

Distant Origin - just a really fun high-concept episode.

Counterpoint - extremely tightly constructed, excellent Janeway character study.

Bride of Chaotica! - extremely silly, but on purpose.

Muse - i’m a sucker for the Alternate Genre Interpretation episode, and this episode captures better than most the theme of yearning for home

Body and Soul - body-switching episodes are a ton of fun in general in sf&f, because they let actors show off their acting skills, and they’re akin to alternate character interpretation episodes. And Jeri Ryan’s Robert Picardo impression is fantastic.

oddly I think Equinox and Year of Hell are exceptions in that most of the two parters are rather weak episodes. “Basics,” “Future’s End,” and “Unimatrix Zero” feel especially non-consequential and slapdash, given their length. The series opener and closer, “Caretaker” and “Endgame” are both decidedly mid IMO. “Caretaker” spent too much time on the TOS-style ultra-powerful alien with mysterious motives bit, and also had to spend a lot of time just setting up the basic premise of the show. But it also set up a bunch of plotlines that I think didn’t turn out to be that interesting--the Ocampa, the Kazon, the Nacene, all of whom proved less interesting than the aliens encountered in later seasons.

Wrapping up the series with time travel shenanigans felt like a disappointment to me. I think time travel plots are often very weak anyway, and other than involving the Borg again (who tbh are kind of a snooze by this point), the end of the show didn’t feel like it really built on anything from previous seasons. You could summarize it as “a bunch of futuristic tech gets handed to the crew, and this week’s Big Crazy Plan to get home finally works.” I dunno. There’s a big part of me that thinks another few medium-distance jumps earlier in the season, and finishing it off by having Voyager actually fly itself back to the Federation, would have felt more meaningful, and less like the writers were just waiting to press the giant red button marked DEUS EX MACHINA once they ran out of ideas. I wonder if I’ll feel differently when I get to it at the end of this re-watch.

#in general i think later voyager is significantly better than earlier #scorpion is a strong dividing line #voyager

[reasonandfaithinharmony]

Hiiii love!! (Know I am resisting the urge to just send you every question on that list)

4. What do you enjoy about making graphics / gifs?

8. Your favourite graphic and or gif created by yourself

27. Advice you’d give yourself when you were starting out?

Hello, my dear! Please feel free to ask away. Lol. I'm honestly only afraid that I'll ramble on for too long.

4. What do you enjoy about making graphics / gifs?

Oh gosh. Having an idea come together, being able to share it, and seeing if people respond to it.

It tends to be ideas that are a little less straightforward that actually get me motivated to make gifs. (Energy, time, and motivation are not always in alignment. Oof.) So, it’s often something like a parallel, or making use of an external quote, or wanting to tell a story that pushes me forward. 

Then, I get to play. It's really fun to put different scenes together and figure out if they fit, if they tell the story I want. @lizzie-bennetdarcy, I know that you, in particular, are all too often witness to me agonizing over these choices (you have the patience of a saint, istg), but I promise this is the fun part for me. Hahaha.

And if I actually manage to finish the set and post it, then I get to see if my intent comes across, to see if people have feelings about it. Or maybe I'll find out that it speaks to me and 5 other people, max. Lol. But in general? Having it out in the world and not stuck in my head is always a great thing.

8. Your favourite graphic and or gif created by yourself

Answered this one here: personal favorites

27. Advice you’d give yourself when you were starting out?

Hmmm. I suppose there are two main things here. The first is: just go for it. I have zero experience in graphic design or digital art of any kind. So I was extremely embarrassed to post my attempts, figuring everyone would immediately notice that I didn't know what I was doing. Which, isn't a productive line of thought for learning anything new. (And feels a little silly, given that my own reaction to anyone's new gif set is, "Yay! More gifs!") Do I still have anxiety about posting? 100%. But it's absolutely worth it to push through that.

The other bit of advice is actually from a friend: "Nobody will know that you had other versions of this." I have a horrible time making decisions—which scenes to use, where to cut them, how to crop them, how to color them. Most of the time, that leads me to having to choose between nearly identical versions of a gif, and being absolutely torn. Afraid that I'll make the wrong choice and ruin the set. So, tbh, I still need to be much better about following this advice. Lol.

Thank you so much for the ask, @lizzie-bennetdarcy!

So, I first posted this ask game in September… and then mostly fell off the face of tumblr. Gah. But I'm excited to finally get to these asks, now that I'm more active again. :)

Ask a graphic / gif maker

#ask game #lizzie-bennetdarcy #creator asks #creative process #mythings

[p0gue420]

When I started “live a little” I was in 8th or ninth grade I believe …..I’m now in 11th. And have zero motivation to finish it tbh I apologize to everyone who has waited for the parts. I will leave those parts up but my requests are now open. For imagines. I probably won’t start any more series just because of how much I’ll pressure myself and lose the fun of it but I really want to write again. SO MY REQUESTS FOR OUTERBANKS AND THE 100 ARE OPEN TO IMAGINES. I do not do SMUT anymore as it makes me uncomfortable.now that I’ve actually experienced sex I’m not the horny little preteen I was at the time I was writing smut lollll. Anyway please please please send request I will be clearing my inbox so if there is a request in the past you’ve made or want to make do it now!!! I will start writing next week I want to get a good print together and start strong.

* please be descriptive in detail of what you would like to happen in the story, setting, trope. And so on. Just don’t want to mess up your visions !!! Requests starts now!!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️

#jj maybank x reader #john b x reader #kie x reader #outerbanks #pope x reader #obx fic #jj maybank imagine #jj maybank #sarah cameron #sarah cameron x reader #sarah cameron x reader x john b #bellamy x octavia #bellamy x reader #the 100 bellamy #the 100 #octavia #Bellamy imagines

[tipsygeek]

So I just finished running Pathfinder 2e's The Slithering with my group, and I have thoughts. If you're a player, maybe don't read this?

It's a long read, so I dunno, get your coffee first or something.

The Slithering spoilers ahead.

You've been warned.

My players bought this book for me because we all thought the premise was really cool, and I still think it is! What's cool about it?

Takes place in Kibwe in the Mwangi Expanse

No humans allowed (go crazy my furry friends)

The stakes are really high (the city is afflicted by a curse that transforms people into ooze!)

Starts at level 5!

I read through the whole thing and thought "Welp, this'll need some serious TLC." Because this adventure starts at level 5 rather than level 1, the characters should either 1) have some downtime to get to know one another, 2) already know one another. The adventure gives zero opportunity for this.

So I added an introductory chapter and background elements:

All characters had been part, when they were going, of a sort of school/orphanage situation

While they did not necessarily know one another (they could) or have strong ties, they all had a reason to be in Kibwe: their former headmistress was getting married

The adventure started weeks before the first case of Slithering

They had friendly NPCs they could go to.

I could introduce Tomil and his sliminess (intended) ahead of time.

The intro, that enabled them to test out their characters, get acquainted with other characters, and start working as a group was "find the lady's future husband, mister got lost in the jungle."

After that intro, they got to the marketplace where the adventure actually starts.

And here's why it's so important: the first fight, against black puddings, is motherfucking hard!

Actually most fights are. This adventure is pretty brutal tbh. This was a recurring theme until the end.

A problem I've encountered, mostly running this game on Fantasy Grounds, is that several encounters did not have maps, including the first one. At a table I can "guesstimate" a decent map for a market or a temple, but I can't really improvise on Fantasy Grounds. Other adventures (i.e. Quest for the Frozen Flame) are much better at giving maps even for tiny, seemingly innocuous fights.

Once the adventure started, we had a lot of fun with encounters that were not combat (helping the medics, the debate with the fearmongerer, etc.) Along the end of Chapter 1, after a long dungeon crawl, I also added a bit of a sidequest with the Boggards to change the pace a little.

Every single part of this book is met with a very glaring problem (super obvious in part 2):

The party is on a very limited time frame (they're racing against a curse)

It's impossible to complete the dungeons in a single run so they need to rest (and feel guilty doing so by YMMV)

There is no mechanism for what happens when they go in and out of the dungeons, how the denizens react

So I had to improvise A LOT. I've got nothing against improvising but it was just... a lot of raking my brains lol

Finally, after all this, I basically cut the last chapter by 80%. I had issues with it and didn't think it brought enough to the story, it was just like one of their excessively long final dungeons in JRPGs. My issues with last chapters were:

Definitely against the clock (now they're racing a statue THAT DOESN'T STOP)

Same map as the last "dungeon in chapter 1" but different denizens

The motivations of the denizens make no sense because the bad guy actually died before the adventure began

Final note on my apparently lengthy list of complains: a lot of enemies are fought over and over and over again. Oozes (I guess that makes sense), cultist, Athovians... it becomes tedious and difficult to make fights interesting after the third or fourth fight. There could have been more balance.

THAT BEING SAID! We had a lot of fun, I have an amazing group who built the story and each other up. It's doable, but as a GM I found this adventure to be the not-fun kind of challenge. If you ever are interested in running and want to know more about my setbacks or experience, hit me up!

#pathfinder2e #pathfinder #pathfinderrpg #the slithering #game master #ttrpg #adventure review