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sunnydayroleplay · 1 year

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Hi! How are you feeling?I know you're taking a break, but I couldn't get this off my mind. And I would kill to have it written. You can ignore this if you need, but I'm gonna put it down regardless. What is your take on Joseph's childhood? Did he runaway? Why did he? How did his parents treat him if he did indeed have parents? Why is he the way he is now? How much of Jack is truly in Joseph? Or better yet, how much of Joseph is left in Jack?

Hi! I'm okay, I'm doing much better! Thank you for asking. I've thought about this idea before, and I was reminded of a few posts I've seen. So this post might be slightly influenced ehe. I'll edit links when I find them!! Until then, let's write it! Contents Inside: Child Neglect, Marital Problems, Abuse, Alcoholism, Drug Use, Murder.

This is all pure speculation and theory! Don't mistake it for true lore :3 ______________________________________________________________

Before we go into what Joseph's childhood was like before he ran away, let's begin to what is was before. Now when it comes to this, I have two ideas. Before it all went downhill, Joseph was a normal child. His parents still madly in love since the day they met and wedded; treating him well, and wonderful. His school-life normal, good grades, a decent amount of peers. He had hobbies, likes and dislikes. It was alright, and "just alright" was perfect for him. Unfortunately, in the worst case scenarios, perfect doesn't last forever. Now, with this, we could go a series of ways. The parents begin to struggle financially. Possibly someone got laid off from work, possible infidelity. There's so much we could go on about. But I'll leave your opinions to you. For now, we'll say that the marriage started getting rocky, jobs gotten and lost. His parents couldn't afford to have a kid anymore. So they started neglecting him. Putting him up for adoption was a no-go. What would their parents think. Or all their peers the next time they got a job and suddenly everything went alright? They'd be right back to where they once were. They began to neglect Joseph once he was at the age where he could talk decently somewhat, express his needs, and know basic life necessities. We're talking 10-12 years old here. Joseph began struggling both mentally and physically, due to the constant fighting going around between his parents. Berating from his own mother every time he walked into the door. His dad reaching for and grabbing anything within his reach to beat Joseph black and blue when he didn't do something in record breaking time. Whenever he walked out of his room, he's walking on thin ice because he doesn't know if it'll be a literal slap on the wrist, or being locked out for days. With the constant shitty home life, his school life was affected enormously. His grades went down, and he just got around with the wrong people. He was like any "out of place" child. All he truly wanted was attention and some sort of leverage to lean against. Someone to just listen because he's used to being ignored. By the time he was in high-school, he got into some worse shit. We can only assume that he got into drugs, underage drinking, and a smoking addiction that followed him into adulthood. Hence the line: “You’ve changed. You’re clean now. You can be whatever you wanna be.” Coming from Jack in the ‘Bad Yogurt’ Ending. I mean, someone doesn’t change their entire identity without a reason. Now, as it was mentioned in the tapes (In the official game itself), in an “interview” with the the *other* Joseph asks “Mr.Haberdae” about his tattoos. He mentions how Haberdae most likely went through a troublesome childhood, wanted to lash out, stand out from everyone else, and Haberdae more or less agrees.

But before we get into his adulthood-death part, lets go back to ‘running away’. I believe he ran away around 15-16. The reason I don’t think he ran way any younger was because of pure fear. Being 10-12, you don’t know any better really. You’re scared to leave because you know you have no where else to go. Because of the environment you grew up in, who would want to take a “dumb, useless child”? No one. He didn’t run away that young, because he was scared that he was going to go through so much worse. But now? Hes a teenager, he knows sure of a lot more, he has more opinions and more knowledge of the outside world. “No one cares, not even your parents.”

The sun is getting ready to set, the sky is just a beautiful orange sunsetty color. The clouds wispy, and the air freshly crisp. In the middle of it all, the sun hiding behind him, Joseph walking down his neighborhood sidewalk thinking to himself. His hands in his pockets, looking around side to side as if he’s just waiting for his parents to rush out the door and chase him down, knowing full well they won’t. His school backpack now filled with clothes instead of stationary. Two water bottles stuck at the sides, with about 5.78 in change. He didn’t have much, but it was enough to catch a bus, maybe hitchhike a ride. Didn’t matter where, but he just had to go. His mind raced with an array of thoughts and emotion, but he had to do it. He wanted to get as far away as possible from this wretched town.

He knows can’t live on 5 dollars for the rest of his (unknowingly short lived) life. He’s gotta do something. And he’s got a few options. Go door to door where asking if someone needs help with anything for some pocket change, try and get a job that’ll take him, pickpocket. And he has tried. Door to door didn’t work well unless it was a widowed old lady, Joseph gave up trying to find a job real quick, but pick pocketing was a surprising success. As soon as Joseph turned 18, finding leverage and begging for forgiveness if he was caught wouldn't be so easy. Joseph would need to find out how to get off of the streets and into his own sheets. Without a way to get a job, at least a good paying one, he had to do something. It's possible he could've traded sexual favors for either some food in his mouth, a bed to sleep in for the rest of the night, and/or once again some quick cash. Anything he could do to get by, right? We don't know when he auditioned for the role of Sunny Day Jack, or how old he was when he was accepted. Let alone when the show was even created. So who knows how long he was passing his body for a couple dollars. I mean, depending on how long, he most likely desensitized to the idea of sex somewhat, mainly because he's the one initiating it for some cash once again. (That's not to say he's not desensitized to being the one asked about having sex. ) But it's still a sensible topic considering he only did it because he needed to get by, not because he wanted to have fun. In the interview, live on air! He's asked an array of questions depicting of his body, and why he chose to be a host of a kids show. He was generally asked question that were probably very uncomfortable because they not only dug through those sensible topics, but because he's supposed to be in character for a kids show! Kids all around the world tuning in to hear their favorite character. But we're getting off track here. The moral of the story is that Joseph was a "bad" person, who just wanted to change for the better. For his own sake. When it comes to the question, "How much of Joseph is in Jack?" I think that it's about 50/50. Or Joseph is still Jack. Jack is a character. He's this wholesome, perfect person in which everyone looks up too. He's the leader of the Sunny Time Crew. Never makes a mistake. He's a helper, he's just perfect in any way. In the game, you think that someone like Jack would think about murdering anyone in his way? Let alone murder? Have sex with you? Of course not! He works with kids for crying out loud! All this NSFW content is not even a thing in the Sunny Time Universe. Joseph is the man who plays the character. He's any normal person, he makes mistakes, he's not the person who you'd think that would never even make it through the door of the studio that produces this show. Joseph could kill if he wanted too, he has had sex, NSFW experiences were definitely a thing for him. The Jack we know is a basic fusion in a way. All the good traits of Jack, his wholesomeness, his ability to never make mistakes, to be perfect. That's all Jack. But the other side, the killing, the ability to hurt, to be physically passionate. That's all Joseph. The Jack we know wouldn't be the same without Joseph. That love we get from him wouldn't be the same. It would be empty in a way. Jack love everybody! But Joseph loves you. Joseph loves specifically you. He chose to give and fill you with all the love he ever could. Without Joseph “ in “ Jack personality wise, the Jack in the game we all love wouldn’t be the same. That love wouldn’t be as personalized.

In the end they’re the same person, but without the other, differences will be made.

#jacktor #sdj jack #sdj jacktor #sdj joseph #sunny day jack #somethings wrong with sunny day jack #sunny day jack roleplay #swwsdj #sunny day jack joseph #sdj jean #sunny day jack fanfic #sdj ian #sdj nick #sdj shaun #sunny day jack jean #swwsdj jean #rory rainberry #sunny day jack fanart #sunny day jack oc

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lollipopstheclown · 5 months

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As a new clown on the block I’m in the need of some advice. Where can I get some good (preferably cheap) clown makeup, accessories, costumes/ thrifted clothes, and the all important nose. I’d prefer to find this items at stores I can actually go to, but if that’s not possible fine. Thank you for helping with some advice to further my clown awakening!

Oh boy long post incoming lol

I will preface these answers with the fact that I'm not a professional at all, I've only clowned in the privacy of my own home before. No training whatsoever, I've just been Online for a long time.

Makeup: I've pretty much exclusively used Mehron products. If you're going to be painting your whole face, using their white base and then setting powder is pretty good imo. I'm not sure if their clown stuff is sold in stores though, I've only ever gotten it from online. Otherwise I've used random lipstick/eyeliner I've gotten at a store. Getting basic face paint and practicing with it isn't a bad idea at all; it's what I remember doing at first.

Watching various tutorials has definitely helped me understand more how to approach my makeup in a way that feels right to me. It'll absolutely take practice so don't be discouraged if you spend time putting on something silly and find yourself a bit dissatisfied. Because once you do find it it's liberating.

Also make sure to do some skin-case stuff, wash your face well and all that. And get actual makeup remover, not just water/soap.

Costume: Costumes are so expensive. It's hell. Thrifting would probably be a great idea to find random stuff; sometimes you come across a thing somewhere and you go "oh dang, this could be a great part of a costume." Like, my red polka-dot dress? I didn't originally get that for clown related stuff IIRC, I was just looking online for a dress to try wearing. But now it's for to Lolly's design!

Online, you can try ebay for stuff, but you've gotta get a bit lucky. I've gotten two professional costumes from there that were much cheaper than elsewhere, but of course you'll wanna make sure your sizing fits what's there.

Accessories: Pretty much same thing as costumes. One recc I do have is maybe getting a couple accessories (i.e. suspenders, bowtie) and mixing with whatever else you normally wear that closely borders on clowny and seeing how that feels.

Shoes are going to be hella costly unless you go with basic ones on amazon or something unfortunately.

Nose: Noses come in so many different shapes and sizes it's good to figure out which you like best early on.

Foam-basic, pretty meh IMO.

String-as long as it's tight, it'll stay on, but then you've got that going across your face and no matter how thin the string is, it still bothers me personally. I know some others love it though.

Adhesive-probably the most common I assume? I've used adhesive but it does have drawbacks: spend more money on both the glue and the remover, and you have to make sure the nose you get fits you or it can start to fall off. Measuring and checking charts for what you buy will save you some grief.

Red Nose Factory-I'm just gonna link this post. These are expensive but if you get one that fits you, it works so well in my experience. Very easy to remove/clean too.

I wrote this mainly at 6 am so it's a bit rambly, sorry! Gonna end with saying again that looking at a host of answers to stuff like this is a good idea, clowns both casual and professional can have different ideas that might appeal to you more.

Hope I was able to help at all! *honk* :o)

#clown #clown girl #clownblr #clowncore #clown thoughts #clown posting #clown advice

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foxgloveinspace · 3 months

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Please always ramble in the tags 😭🫶🏼✨ reading tags are some of my favorite things, esp yours tbh

I hope your weekend was good dude! And I hope your migraine fucks off quicklyyy!

I’m trying to get some studying done today, it’s not working yet, but I’m trying!

PS link for your 14K FIC?!?! FUCKIN DUDE THATS AWESOME IM SO PROUD AND SO HAPPY FOR YOUUU!!!

@a-little-lynx

Good Luck Studying!! I hope you find your groove, and it goes really well!! This is my favorite rain noise video on youtube if you like those, I put it on when I need to drown out the rest of the world for reading, haha.

My migraine is already going away a bit, I turned off my headphones, even tho I was listening to The Summoning as a little, 'its been one year since i heard you' celebration, but I can do that later too.

I would link it, but its not posted yet🙇, I'm waiting till it's done before I post it, cause I have discovered through trial and error that that is best for me (*looks sadly at my now mostly abandoned Dune fic that I will finish one of these days but I don't know when it'll be.*)

I don't even know if I'm half way done with it even, I don't even know if I'm gonna post it as chapters? or post it as a really long one shot (but from what I hear, it's best to do it as chapters cause if you get passed 50k you can't edit it after posting, oof. I always forget tags). I think if i do, do chapters, I just finished the first one, haha. It's like, a dream come true though? cause SamTron/SamRinzler is one of my longest running ships (I'd go as far to call it my rare pair otp, haha) and Tron: Legacy is my favorite movie of all time, and I've wanted to write a long as fuck fic for them for years and years and years, so now that I'm finally doing it!!! Ugh. I'm just. so giddy about it, and I hope I am getting their characters right (even tho I've watched the movie about 50 times at this point and have the freaking.... script memorized at this point.) And!!! Yeah.... I'm so happy about it... I'm also being so so self indulgent with it (for me this means adding in little details that don't really matter, like the fact that Sam keeps body armor drinks in his fridge instead of like Gatorade, or that Quorra is a picky eater now that she can, ya know, actually taste things besides Energy on the Grid...... I am uhh, assuming you've watched Tron/Tron: Legacy Cass, if not its a-ok, I just realized some of this makes no since haha.) I am just.... really getting into it?

I'm also trying to keep the main plot under covers until I post it, cause I feel like the anticipation of keeping it sceret will motivate me to beign able to finish it!

#hihi!!!#a-little-lynx #i mean.... if you want I can send you a link to my most popular fic?? it's about 36k long. I just don't know if you'd like the ship haha.#theres a an age gap (but everyone involved is of age in my fic!! I don't write about anything but adults!)#and the ship is controversial in the main part of the fandom. but its 1158 kudos and 318 bookmarks and its my little baby I'm so proud of <#It's even on page one now when you sort by kudos!!! that's such a big deal in fandom haha.#I want to go back and write the little one shots I have planned in that universe but I don't have the motivation for it sadly... maybe in #the spring I'll have the motivation #oh...its uhhh its a Luke x Percy fic. Idk if you ever read PJO #A lot of people hate Luke and any Luke ship. Idk....... the fic kinda possessed me when I was writing it haha. much like this tron one is.#anywayyyyyyyy.#it's a super soft fluffy falling in love with your enemy when he's no longer your enemy fic. 'hes seen the worst parts of me and decided I #am still worthy of love' ect ect. It also takes place mostly in a coffee shop! and it's just.... cozy fluffy winter christmas vibes haha.#uhhhhh.... yeah... idk.#lots of rambles about lots of things this time haha

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memento-morri-writes · 2 years

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hi morri!

you talked about doing a page for your WIP, and I'd like to ask how do you do them?? I've tried to make pages for my WIP before but coding is not a language i understand sadly T-T

do you have mayhaps some tips? or general advice? or something because I've tried for ours and i never end up doing anything and I'm so tired T-T

thanks, love

(@/ink-fireplace-coffee)

Hi Carmen!

NOTE: This is kinda gonna assume that you have never touched a custom code in your life and have no idea how html works. I tried my best to make it simple, but also cover as much as possible. Be warned, it's a REALLY long post. But hopefully it's helpful!

Ah, okay, well, there's a lot to get into here. But I will try my best to explain it all!! First off, if you've never made a custom page before, you need to ask staff to add JavaScript support to your blog. You can do that really easily, and it should only take them about 24 hours to get back to you.

Once you have JS enabled on your blog, you need to actually make the new page, like you would any other page. (Open your blogs theme editor on desktop, scroll down on the sidebar until you see "pages" and hit the plus/new page button.)

Once you've done that, click where it says "default layout" (or something similar) and change it to "custom layout". Choose a url for your page (for example, my page for ATQH is just "memento-morri-writes.tumblr.com/atqh".) You only need to put anything that would come after the /. (So in my case, I'd just put "atqh" in that box.

Okay, now you need a theme. There's not a lot of them out there when it comes to ones built specifically for written WIPs. @bebewrites has some amazing ones on her blog! (05 and 02 are my personal favorites.) Also, this page by @/seyche is gorgeous!

Once you've chose a theme, open the link to the code hosting site (github, pastebin, etc.) and copy all of the raw code. (You can highlight and copy it manually, or sometimes there's a button that says "raw" that makes it easier.)

Paste all of that nonsense into where it says "html here" on your blog. Hit "update appearance". You should see a little, sort of squished preview of the page.

Now comes the hard part. Editing the html. I'm gonna go into detail about this under the cut, since it'll get long.

Firstly, a lot of codes have some degree of instructions written in them. Any text that looks slightly greyed out is "comments" or code that doesn't do anything, but is there to give you guidance. Keep an eye out of those as you go through the code!! They'll often tell you where new sections begin or end, so you know what you're editing!

Firstly, start at the very top of your code. Nearly the very first thing on there it's going to say <title> [some kind of text] </title>. This controls what shows up on the browser tab! So make it descriptive, but short and to the point. (I usually just do the story name or it's abbreviation.)

Next there's gonna be a very long section called <style>. Most of this you don't need to worry about, unless you really know what you're doing, but there are some important bits.

Directly under where it says <style> is where you should look for this next bit. It should look something like this, but it might look different depending on the code. There are hundreds of "right" ways to code a page, it's all up to preference.

Alternatively, if there's not a nice, neat section for all the colors and fonts, you can hit "ctrl + f" and type in "color", and you can arrow through the results until you find one that mentions background/text/heading color.

The important thing here is the numbers and letters in red. Those are Hex Codes!! (hex cause there's 6 digits.) They're just a way for the computer to know what color you're talking about.

You can use a website like htmlcolorcodes to find any color you want. When you have one you like, click in the top box on the website and copy the 6-digit hex code. Paste it in place of the one in the code. NOTE: You need to keep the #. Otherwise the code won't recognize it as a hex code.

Some Quick Hex Codes: - Pure white is #fff - Pure black is #000 - #eee is a very lovely off-white that is much easier on the eyes than pure white.

Keep acessibility and legibility in mind when choosing colors!! Don't put white or off-white text on a pastel pink background! Conversely, some people have a hard time reading super high-contrast stuff, especially bright text on dark backgrounds. So try and avoid something like pure white text on a pure black background. (Light and dark is generally fine, but go for "softer", less saturated colors.) If people are getting a headache reading about your OCs, they're gonna decide it's not worth the trouble.

Okay, back on track. You can also change the font size for the headings, subheadings and body text. If it's not neatly given to you, you can do a "ctrl + f" and search for "size". That should help you find it.

Sizes are shown in pixels (px). This is the default measurement for font sizes, and really the only one. Sometimes referred to as "points". So if you hear someone say "12 point font", they mean a font that's 12 pixels tall. Pixels and points mean the same thing, so don't worry too much about it. But for html, you need to use the "px" after the number. This functions a bit like the "#" before the hex codes. It tells the computer what you want done and why. (Kind of.)

NOTE: I'm not going to talk about changing the fonts in this, since it's already getting really long. However, I will gladly answer an ask about it!

Now, onto the fun part!! Adding your information! Scroll down, or do a search for where it says "<body>". This should also be pretty clear cause the text will go from lots of colors to largely white with some green. This is where the actual content of the page starts. Or at least the content you care about.

From here on out, things could be arranged in any one of thousands of ways. So, I'm just going to walk you through the basics of html content.

First things first: basics. In html, every "type" of element or content has a symbol. That's what the stuff between the <> is. And for every one of those symbols, you need an end piece. A set of <> without a slash starts an item, while a set with a slash ends it. So a complete set would look something like this:

<[symbol]> [content] </[symbol]>

Exactly what those symbols are varies, and that's what I'll get to in a minute. Keep in mind that when you make a set of starting <> (ie no slash), tumblr will automatically add a closing set. However, it's not always the smartest, and you can end up with double ending sets. So double check that you only have one starting set and one ending set.

Now, no to the specifics.

Links:

Links are kinda wonky when it comes to html. The symbol for a link is "a", but you can't just go "<a>" and be done with it. A complete link looks like this:

Yes, you have to put the space, and the equal sign, and the quotation marks. So what does all that stuff mean?

Well, the space between the quotation marks is where you put the url. If you're linking outside of your own tumblr blog, you need the full url, copied and pasted from your browser bar, including the http nonsense. (It's not nonsense, but-) If you're linking something within your own tumblr blog, you only need to include what would come after the / in the url. For example if you wanted to link someone to your wip tag, which is "wip: cos", then you would put "/wip: cos" inside the green quotation marks.

NOTE: When you're linking outside of your own blog, get rid of that slash!! It's left there as a courtesy/spacer by most coders since they assume most people will only be linking within their own blogs. If you leave it with outside urls, things will not work.

Okay, but you don't just want a giant URL showing up in your pretty text. And html knows that. That's where the space between > and < comes in. What you put between the starting set and the ending set is what will actually show up on your blog. Just like when you highlight and link something via text on tumblr.

Here's an example of a "complete" link in html:

What this will actually do is when someone clicks on the words "wip tag" in your blog, it will take them to the tag "political fantasy wip" on your blog.

Text Changes:

So, earlier I mentioned being able to bold, underline, italicize text. Yep, you can do that!! In order to do that, you just put starting and ending sets around the text you want to be changed, like this:

The symbols are different for every type of text change, but here's a quick list:

Bold -

Italics -

Underlined -

Emphasis (looks different depending on the code) -

Strikethrough -

Images:

Images are also kind of weird. You can't just upload them from your computer. If they're images from unsplash, etc., you can just right click and click "copy image address". If they're ones you made, or that are on your computer, you'll have to upload them to a hosting site like imgur, and then right click and copy image address.

NOTE: Pay attention to image ratios and dimensions when using codes!!! If you put in an image of the wrong ratio (say, 5:7 rather than 4:5), the code will force it to fit and you'll end up with a very ugly picture! So just pay attention. If it's not obvious (1:1 (square)) or specified in the code, trial and error is fine!

So what do I need those image addresses for anyways? Well, here's a complete image code.

That bit in the green quotations is that image address you copied earlier.

PHEW!

That was a really long post! But I hope it answers some questions people on writeblr might have about editing page themes!!

If you have any questions, feel free to send me an ask or DM!

#Morrigan replies #important #tutorial #html tutorial #coding #coding tutorial

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audiorkive · 1 year

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hi, this question is just about uploading mp3s since i’ve been having some trouble with that. what methods do you use to upload the audio files? whenever i try, even if the mp3 file is way under 10mb, tumblr won’t allow me to upload it :< have you encountered a problem like this before?

I usually download them using a Y0utube to MP3 website, and if necessary I'll use Aud4city to put a ten second blank at the front of the song so that Tumblr doesn't recognize the song as copyrighted and puts a Sp0tify link in its stead (common method used by blogs like @/lovestereo and @/digitalmp3).

I think your problem might just be that? So try using some free audio editing software to put 10 empty seconds in front of the audio, that's usually a foolproof method.

If you want a visual of my process:

Find a Y0utube to mp3 converter, and copy in the link of the song you want to downl0ad. (Here's the one you see pictured).

2. Open audio editing software. I use Aud4city (without the 4, I'm just censoring it), which is free and p easy to figure out. So the rest of this post is assuming you're using Aud4city.

3. Open your downl0aded audio file

This is what it looks like after you've opened it

4. Go to the little bar at the left of the track and click select

Which makes it look like this

See how the bar with the numbers is blue now?

5. Then you'll want to move the file to the right so there are 10 seconds in front of it. The bar with the numbers indicates the number of seconds.

You can zoom in so the numbers are more precise

Now you wanna move the track until the beginning of it lines up with the 10 second mark. I usually do this on my laptop so when I move it, it looks like this

I just click the top part of the track where the file name is written (the part that's a little darker than the box where the soundwaves are) and then I drag right. My cursor turns into that little hand when I hover it over that area.

Though in other versions, before you can start dragging the soundwaves box you have to click on this button

The little arrows, which is the time shift tool. You click on that and then you can drag the track around at your leisure.

Just make sure the audio is completely stopped and isn't just paused, or else you won't be able to use the time shift tool and/or move the track.

This is what a track looks like paused after you've been playing it.

You'll see the green marker sitting there over the track. And this is what it looks like stopped.

No green marker, and the stop button is greyed out.

6. Now after you've put the ten silent seconds, you're gonna want to export the file.

And you need to export it, not save it. Do not click Save Project, that will create and Aud4city file, not and audio file. After you click export mp3

Save the file somewhere you can reach it easily. If you're saving it in the same place the original audio file is (the one without the 10 second spaced in), either rename it or replace it. It doesn't really matter, so long as the final file you have is the edited audio file.

Then after you save, it'll show you this

Which is unimportant, you don't need to fill it in unless you want to. Click ok, and then you're done!

When you close out of Aud4city it'll ask you if you want to save the file into an Aud4city file. You can click yes or no, whatever you want, it won't affect the audio file you've just exported.

7. Go onto Tumblr, make an audio post, insert the new edited file in, and now it should work!

and then fill in the necessary fields (song name, artist name, album art, etc). Click yes on the "I am authorized to publish this" thing. Yes you're lying, no it doesn't matter.

And there you go! Hope this helps! Making this post unrebloggable so I don't risk getting this blog in trouble if it spreads.

#asks

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darks-ink · 3 years

Text

Reversal

Sometimes Valerie wished she could show Phantom what it was like to be her. She doubted that he would care--the ghost only thought about himself--but the roleswap would at least annoy him, surely.

Prompt: Valerie, as the Red Huntress, is chasing Phantom and they end up both accidentally flying through the Fenton Ghost Catcher together. This causes Danny to end up with the hunter suit and Valerie to end up with ghost powers. (Optional: When Val goes ghost she still looks exactly like Phantom.) Prompt by: @echoghost1 (who I can’t seem to tag?) Word count: 3,846

[AO3] [FFN] [more Phic Phight fics]

---

“Phantom!” she snarled, tugging on the mental connection between her and her hoverboard, trying to push just a little more speed out of it.

Ahead of her, Phantom’s tail inched further and further from her grasp. No matter how hard she pushed, he managed to be just a tad faster than her.

Infuriating is what it was. Sometimes she wished she could show him what it was like.

Not that he would care, of course. Despite his little hero act, Valerie knew that Phantom didn’t care about anyone but himself. The only thing a roleswap would do was annoy him. And that was if she followed the common assumption that ghosts could feel emotion at all, which she honestly kind of doubted.

The ghost dove, suddenly, and Valerie growled to herself. Trusting her suit to keep her locked onto the hoverboard, she leaned back, angling herself into a rolling movement to follow Phantom down the alley he’d disappeared into. This was her chance. In a straight flight she couldn’t catch Phantom, but in tight maneuvers she stood a chance.

Well, until he remembered he could go intangible, anyway.

Their chase continued through several more alleys, Phantom managing to keep frustratingly far ahead of her—they were too close in speed and maneuverability—until he seemingly disappeared. Or, that had clearly been his plan. At the far end of the alley Valerie entered, she could see him pressed flat against the wall, practically radiating ectoplasmic contamination.

Ha, and he thought his invisibility would save him here. Well, Valerie would let him believe that, if just for a moment longer. She kept flying towards him, not drawing back her speed; Phantom would assume that she was still chasing him down.

And, in a way, she was.

She kept herself turned forward, kept up the pretense that she couldn’t see him, until she was within a bodylength of him. And then…

Valerie lunged.

Her board retracted into the soles of her shoes, its engines giving her just that little boost she needed, and she collided with Phantom at full speed. Her arms, covered in the hard plating of her upgraded suit, wrapped around him, fingers digging into his soft ectoplasmic flesh.

Too often he’d gotten away from her, but now, now she knew how to catch him. No injury ever stopped him, but her armor? Her armor was phase-proof. As long as she held onto him, he couldn’t get away from her.

With one arm wrapped around Phantom’s neck, the other digging for purchase on his upper arm, Valerie went ahead and wrapped her legs around his waist too, making sure he couldn’t buck her off. For a moment, she was glad for the fact that it was the middle of the night, if only so no one could see the Red Huntress clinging onto Phantom’s back like a monkey.

And then they were falling.

“Val!” Phantom hissed, white-gloved fingers scrabbling over the arm around his throat even as he turned intangible. “Let go!”

“Fat chance, spook!” she snarled back, tightening her hold on him even further as they careened towards the ground. “I’ve finally got you!”

“Yeah?” he asked, his voice strained, as they closed the last of the distance to the ground— and then kept going.

Shit. Intangibility carried over.

“What was—” was all Phantom managed before they broke through the soil again, and Valerie caught a short glimpse of an underground room clad in shiny metal, before they hit their next obstacle.

Which, in hindsight, was probably the first clue that something was massively wrong. They hit an obstacle. While intangible.

This time, they hit the ground hard, Phantom wheezing out a grunt when she landed on top of him. She deliberated her hold on him for a moment, then rolled off, keeping just one hand wrapped around his upper arm.

Instead, she took a longer moment to look around the room Phantom had dragged them into. And, more importantly, the object they had flown through before they had hit the ground.

Her first impression of the room proved true, as it was, indeed, clad in shiny metal plates. As was the ceiling, and the solid floor they had hit. Most of the floorspace seemed to be taken up by equally metal tables, and it took only a moment for her to place them. Lab tables. They were in an underground lab.

Jerking her eyes back to the object they had phased through, Valerie grimaced. Yep, that looked like Fentonworks tech alright. A huge metal standard, topped off with a ring large enough for her and Phantom to fit through—as they obviously had—which was webbed with ecto-green netting. It must’ve shut down Phantom’s powers when he flew through it.

Great. Just great. Now she was down in the Fentons’ lab, forced to either attempt to stealthily break out without anyone noticing her, or let them claim Phantom—because they absolutely wouldn’t let her leave with him, and like hell she was giving up her catch to them.

Dammit, her best option was probably to get Phantom to phase them out of the lab again. He probably wanted to be here even less than her. Maybe the shorting out of his powers was just a brief thing.

Mind made up, she turned to confront him. And found herself staring straight into her own helmet.

“Uh,” she managed, blinking at the shiny visor she was faced with.

“Yeah,” Phantom agreed, his voice oddly distorted by the helmet. And… lacking the usual echo?

Valerie tore her eyes away from the helmet, instead moving them over his chest, down to where she was still holding his upper arm. She hadn’t noticed at first—black was black—but he seemed to be wearing her suit, now, instead of his usual jumpsuit.

“What the hell,” she managed, and then caught sight of the white gloved hand wrapped around Phantom’s upper arm. “What the hell.”

“Yeah,” Phantom agreed, the helmet tilting like he was cocking his head at her. “I, uh. Didn’t think this was something the Ghost Catcher could do.”

“The what?” she asked, despite herself, then immediately shook her head. “No, never mind, I don’t want to know. What the hell happened, Phantom?”

“You’re asking me?” He sounded incredulous, pressing his free hand against his chest. “I’m hurt, Val.”

He paused, looking around them in a way that almost seemed meaningful, before turning the visor back to her. “And we should probably leave first, before we talk any of this through.”

“What, afraid of getting caught by the Fentons?” she scoffed, even if that had been her plan as well.

The helmet facing her turned down, slowly but meaningfully casting over her body before stopping back on her face. “Sure,” Phantom allowed, finally, drawing the word out. “And so should you.”

Before she could say anything to that, he pushed himself up, forcing her to get up as well. “Come on, before they realize we’re here.”

Instead of answering that—how would they know?—she hummed, willing to follow his lead for the moment. She wasn’t sure how accurate the rumors were that Phantom regularly broke into the Fentonworks lab, but he did carry their equipment, and it wasn’t like she knew any better.

They made their way to the staircase, dodging around the half-finished (or half-broken?) equipment scattered around the lab. There, at the bottom of the stairs, Phantom paused again, turning to look at the hand clamped around his upper arm.

It was so weird to see him dressed in her armored suit. Because it clearly was him, wearing it, the suit shaped to fit him much like his jumpsuit usually would.

She really, really hoped that he was wearing clothes underneath it.

Scratch that. She really hoped she was still wearing underwear underneath the jumpsuit she’d received in trade for her armor.

“Are you going to let go of me?” Phantom asked her, in a low hiss.

She quirked an eyebrow at him. “And let you run away with my suit? No way.”

He answered with an odd rolling motion of his helmet, and she got the distinct feeling he’d just rolled his eyes at her. “Fine,” he grunted, twisting his arm and sticking out his hand at her. “Let’s at least hold hands? That’s slightly more convenient while moving around.”

Valerie narrowed her eyes at him, but, well. He kind of had a point there. Begrudgingly she slid her hand down his arm, ignoring the way her stomach fluttered at the sight of Phantom’s white gloves trailing down her black-and-red armor. He caught her hand when it reached his, twining his fingers with hers. Now neither of them could get away.

Was this some kind of weird power play? Phantom was just odd enough to try it, she thought, then immediately shoved the thought away as not useful.

Phantom kept his helmeted head turned towards her for a moment longer before turning back to the stairs, finally climbing them. Valerie turned her own gaze towards their tangled fingers, then shook her head and followed him up. Something here was wrong, but it could wait until they were away from this place.

The staircase ended in a door, which Phantom opened without hesitation, and which led into… a kitchen?

What the hell, Fentons? Did they really have an unlocked door to their ghost lab in their kitchen?

Phantom’s helmeted head turned to the right, and Valerie followed his gaze to a door. The windows next to it had their blinds shut, but it probably led out to the backyard. She stepped towards it, but made it no more than two steps before realizing that Phantom hadn’t moved.

He shook his head, then hissed, low, “It’ll be locked, this time of night.”

Ugh, yeah, probably. She paused to take him in instead, for a brief moment, and realized something she hadn’t before: Phantom stood as if he was grounded.

Sure, there had been moments before when Phantom had landed, had walked with his boots on the ground, but he always moved like gravity didn’t quite affect him. Like he was just one moment away from floating off.

Not now. This whole time, he’d been moving like gravity pressed down on him, like it would on anyone else.

So that was a no on ghost powers, then. She moved closer to him, dropping her voice in a whisper as well, “And how do you plan on getting out, then? Breaking a window?”

He paused, like he was mulling over his words. “Well…” he finally whispered back, “Danny never locks his window?”

“Danny should also be in his bed,” she snarled back, as quiet as she could, “asleep.”

“So you’d prefer to break a window and set off the defense systems?” Phantom cocked his head at her, something distinctly challenging about the motion, “Because it’ll be your grave, not mine.”

“That’s because you’re already dead, spook.” Damn that ghost. How would he even know whether Danny Fenton locked his window or not? “Besides, how do you plan on getting to Danny’s room without running into anyone else?”

Phantom visibly stilled at that, like he hadn’t considered that.

“Not so easy without ghost powers, huh?”

“I…” He sighed, his shoulders visibly heaving. “No.”

Unfortunately, that left them with few options. They could try a window, but that would absolutely cause a stir, and with Phantom wearing her armor, that left her identity completely unprotected. Not to mention whatever security system the Fentons might have, which very well could target her just for wearing Phantom’s jumpsuit. The thing was probably seeping with ectoplasmic contamination.

Ugh. She shoved the thought away as something she didn’t want to think about, now or ever.

So that left two options. They could try searching the house for some keys, risk getting caught as burglars, and hope that the security system didn’t require separate deactivation.

Or they could try Danny’s room, upstairs, and hope they could somehow sneak past him—and everyone else asleep in the house—to escape through that window. Curse her for even considering it, but…

“So what are the chances we could get to Danny’s room unnoticed?”

Phantom hummed, quietly, then tilted his head like he was listening. “I don’t hear footsteps, so the Fentons are probably asleep. Either we didn’t set off their alarm, or they forgot to activate it.”

“That seems… oddly lucky.” She strained her hearing, but couldn’t hear anything either. Not that you needed to strain to hear Jack Fenton’s footsteps, but Maddie would probably be far quieter—and far more problematic. “How do you plan on getting past Danny?”

“He’s probably not even here,” Phantom said, something… odd about his voice. Something Valerie couldn’t place. “He sneaks out a lot. Why do you think I know about his window?”

“I honestly didn’t want to think about it,” she admitted dryly, before shaking her head. “Fuck, fine, we’ll go for Danny’s room. If he’s there…” She paused, weighing that. “I know him. We’re… We’ve dated. He’s a good kid. I think we can play it off.”

Phantom’s gaze on her was heavy, but after a long moment he nodded. “If you say so.”

“I do say so,” she bit back, but it lacked venom. “I assume you know the way, for some godforsaken reason?”

He snorted but nodded, leading her towards the doorway to the left, pulling on the hand he still held. “You don’t have to assume the worst of everyone, Val.”

“I don’t assume the worst of everyone,” she snapped back, quietly. “Only of ghosts.”

“Oh, yeah, that makes it much better,” he agreed airily, before freezing suddenly. Valerie froze as well, straining her ears… still nothing.

It seemed that Phantom agreed, because not a moment later, he started moving again. They were heading towards another set of stairs, these ones—not very surprisingly—much cozier than the ones down in the lab.

For now, she was content to follow Phantom’s path, watching him carefully sneak through the Fenton’s living room and then up the stairs. It was… odd. She never saw Phantom really walk, like a human, yet he seemed to have no trouble adjusting to it now. Hell, he even stepped carefully, moving around parts of the stairs that threatened to be creaky.

How would a ghost like him know what bits of the stairs tended to be the loudest? What point could that knowledge possibly have, for a ghost that could just float over them entirely?

Once they reached the top of the stairs, Phantom pressed a finger to the front of his helmet—like Valerie needed the clue to be quiet—and then pointed towards one of the doors in the hallway. Danny’s room, presumably.

At her sharp nod, Phantom sneaked closer, Valerie right on his heel. They paused in front of the door but, failing to hear any signs of Danny being awake behind it, quickly opened it.

Phantom pulled her inside before she could hesitate, closing the door behind her while she took in the room.

Empty.

Well, not empty. There was plenty of stuff in the room itself, most of it space-related. Not entirely surprising, considering what she knew of Danny, but still.

No, it was empty of life. Danny Fenton wasn’t there at all.

“See, no problem,” Phantom hissed at her, tugging her over to the window. “He’s not even here.”

Valerie stopped, forcing Phantom to stop as well, just before he could reach the window. “Are you for fucking real, Phantom?”

“What?” the ghost snapped back, helmet jerking in her direction. He immediately dropped back into a quieter voice. “What did I do now?”

“Danny Fenton is not in his room, and none of the lights in any of the other rooms were on, so he’s not in the bathroom either.”

“Yeah?” Phantom tilted his helmet. “So?”

“So?” she hissed back, angrily. “So? Where the fuck is he?”

Phantom shrugged, but the motion looked awkward. “How am I supposed to know? He must’ve snuck out, like he usually does!”

“With his window still closed?” she asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow. “There’s something suspicious going on here, Phantom, and I want to know what.”

“You’re really gonna do this here?” He gestured wildly with his free hand at the room they were in. “Really, Val?”

She grimaced, then shook her head. “Fine. I’m adding it to the list of things we’re discussing the moment we’re out of this, got it?”

“Yeah, I figured as much.” He sighed, then turned to the window, and she let him guide them to it. “We can get out via this window and then fly to some nearby rooftop to talk, if that’s alright with you?”

“How do you plan on flying out? I figured your ghost powers were out of the question.”

He hummed, grabbing onto the window’s handle with his free hand and cautiously opening it, probably wary of it creaking. “Your suit has a hoverboard, doesn’t it?”

“You think you can use that?” She scoffed. “Good luck with that.”

“Well, worst come to worst you can probably steer it while I try not to overbalance it.” He shrugged, leaning out of the now-open window. “Looks like the coast is clear.”

Valerie closed the remaining distance to the window, peering outside it while Phantom sat down on its edge, swinging his legs outside. He seemed… oddly cautious not to crush her hand against the windowsill.

“So, uh…” Phantom swung his armored feet meaningfully. “How, exactly, do you summon the hoverboard?”

“You just— Urgh. I don’t know, I just do it.” She gestured vaguely, biting down the frustration. “I just tell it what to do via my mind, I guess.”

Phantom stared straight into her eyes then nodded, suddenly, jerkily. “Alright, I think I can do that.”

She made to snap a reply at him, but was cut short by the sound of metal shifting, her hoverboard bursting free from the boots on Phantom’s feet. He held it vertical, parallel to the wall, and shifted to the side slightly.

Valerie took the motion for what it was and sat down next to him, letting her own legs dangle outside the window as well—and ignoring the black jumpsuit and white boots she saw from her peripherals. She really was not gonna think about any of this shit until they were away from here.

“So now we just gotta…” Phantom fell quiet, trying to maneuver the hoverboard underneath the window. It took him a few moments before he had pulled it off, parallel to the ground without hitting the wall. “Uh.”

Ignoring any protests he might put up, she hooked her shoulder behind Phantom’s and shoved him out of the window. The hoverboard caught him—as she had expected it to—and he barely dropped at all. She was even willing to ignore the yelp and the way he’d crushed her hand in the split-second he’d spent falling.

“You good?” she asked, quirking an eyebrow at him.

Phantom grunted, and she jumped out of the window as well, landing neatly on the hoverboard, distinctly missing the clicking sound of her boots connecting to the board.

“Now, I assume— Woah!” Phantom flinched as the hoverboard jerked underneath them, and Valerie found her free hand clutching onto Phantom’s upper arm quite against her will. “Okay, no, I think I got it. Val?”

“Just go,” she hissed, shifting her feet slightly as she stood behind him.

“Going,” he said, voice tight. And, true to his word, the hoverboard lifted, starting to glide forward surprisingly smoothly.

Within moments they were above the roofs of Amity Park, and Phantom relaxed slightly, tension leaking from him. “Okay, I think I got it. It’s not so different from ghost flight after all.”

She snorted despite herself. “Well, good for you. Put us down somewhere so we can talk this shit through already.”

“Bossy,” Phantom snarked back, but the hoverboard started dropping before he’d finished the word.

They came to a stop just above an otherwise-unreachable rooftop, the hoverboard almost grazing its surface. “Here’s your stop, my lady,” Phantom said, waving their still-linked hand.

Valerie rolled her eyes, releasing her grip on his upper arm and stepping off of the hoverboard. A moment later the thing retreated back into the soles of Phantom’s boots and he, too, touched down on the ground.

“So, uh… About what happened,” Phantom started, shifting his hand and then flinching when he realized it was the one he had linked with Valerie’s. “So the Fentons have this thing they call the Fenton Ghost Catcher…”

“The dreamcatcher-looking thing, right.” She nodded at him to continue.

“Now, I think they designed it to decontaminate stuff?” He shrugged, awkwardly, and then moved his free hand to rub his neck. “Like, it’s supposed to purge ghostly contamination from stuff. I’ve used it before to pull overshadowing ghosts from their hosts without harming either.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “So what the hell was supposed to happen if just a ghost went through it?”

“I honestly couldn’t tell you. But…” Phantom paused for a moment, like he was weighing his words, then marched on. “That’s not what happened. We went through it together, and it must’ve tried to purge the contamination from both of us at once, and somehow stuff got mixed up in the process.”

“You’re saying my suit was ecto-contamination?” she snarled, ignoring the implication that Phantom had contamination to purge—that he wasn’t just 100% pure ghost.

“You did get it from Technus, didn’t you?” he pointed out, almost casually. The hand in his neck stilled, fingers hooking into the edge of the helmet. “And, uh. Well…”

And, in one swift motion, Phantom took the helmet off.

“Hi, Valerie,” Danny Fenton said, his hair undeniably black and his eyes dull blue in the little light they had on their rooftop.

Valerie felt something in her stop, stutter and skip a beat. Her first thought was that it was her heart, but the feeling was wrong, it was—

She didn’t know what it was.

Light flashed, blinding her, and she automatically let go of Phantom’s—Danny’s—hand to rub in her eyes.

She could hear Danny groan in front of her, could almost imagine the echo that separated his voice from Phantom’s. “Why is that so much worse when it’s not me!”

Hands still pressed against her eyes, she bit at him, “What the hell, Danny!”

“What?” he snapped back. “What are you blaming me for now?”

Dropping her hands, she glared at him. “What the fuck was that flash of light?!”

He grinned at her, somehow looking both pleased and awkward. “Uh. My equivalent to taking off the suit?”

She blinked at him. Once. Twice. Then dropped her gaze to her hands. No longer dressed in Phantom’s suit.

Only now did she realize that her hands had been shaped wrong under the gloves.

Valerie jerked her eyes back to Danny, who once more raised a hand to rub the back of his neck.

“Uh,” he muttered. “Surprise?”

#phic phight #phic phight 2021 #phic phight 21 #danny phantom #danny fenton #valerie gray #dp fanfic #phanfic #dark writes #just gonna put my links on this post and assume it'll work out #because i really don't want to fight with this website over whatever it's trying now

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lokilickedme · 6 years

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Hello My Lady! Just because you asked, here are my faves of yours: #1 King (no surprise here), #2 Jack (too crazy not to love, and the stream crossing of pretty much all your stories is genius) #3 Chem/BD/TTW/TKH/TWK/can't remember them all. They're all special in their own way! Can't believe it'll be 3yrs soon since I started squatting your page!!! God time goes by fast! I'd like to add a special mention for the Muse Meetings, sooo funny, and a Golden Snowflake to Aleks. Cute little bumkin.

Thank you @fudgemuffinanon! Dear god, has it been that long? Seems like I joined up last year…*sits here blinking at my posts from 2015, wondering how that happened*

**LONG TEXT POST COMING UP**

You drew the lucky straw today my darling, I’m feeling wordy and in the mood to share. A lot of people have asked me over the last couple of years how some of my stuff came about, and you mentioned one that gets a lot of asks.

Lemme tell you something about the Muse Meetings. Way back in 1998 when I got my first computer, one of the very first things I ran across by way of internet fanfiction was a little something called The Very Secret Diaries penned by a writer named Cassandra Claire (who is now professionally published under the name Cassandra Clare). The Very Secret Diaries (which are hilarious, btw) woke something up in me - mainly because, as a lifelong writer who had never allowed anyone to read 95% of my work, I finally realized that yeah, there were other people out there whose brains deviated from the standard in the same way mine did. Her writing style back then (in the Diaries specifically, I’ve never actually read anything else she’s written) was very similar to the way I wrote, and those Diaries were exactly the sort of silly, ridiculous, irreverent thing I’d scribbled in my notebooks for most of my life. And people liked it, she had a huge following based on just those out-of-context glimpses of her characters’ personal thoughts. She was writing behind the scenes thoughts of characters, things that would never make it into books, and it was brilliant. That was the kind of stuff I loved to write but had never given myself permission to show anyone. She was showing hers to people, and they were loving it.

Which gave me the inspiration to not only put my work out there in the public eye for the first time ever, but to stick with my personal writing style (which I’d always assumed wasn’t what other people wanted to read, based on the books I’d been exposed to most of my life). Not change anything. Just do me. And doing me meant writing silly nonsense if I wanted to.

So - The Very Secret Diaries are more or less the inspiration for the Muse Meetings, or at least the official written version of them. I’d always imagined dialogues with my characters outside the confines of whatever story I was working on, but never thought anyone else would be interested in seeing me write it out.

The Diaries made me realize different. Not only were her characters yammering and complaining and snarking at each other (both out of character and in), they were doing it in exactly the way I’d imagined my own characters interacting in the real world. I loved it. Seeing someone else do what I’d always done in my head - and do it in an official, out-there-in-the-public-eye capacity, was a revelation. Finally I was able to give myself permission to write the way I wanted to, without restricting myself to the styles and methods in the books in the family library. It had always been in my head, but now it didn’t have to stay there. I could write proper stories, but I could also write what was going on in the other room, where the reader seldom gets to peek. And other people besides myself might like it because hey, there’s precedent.

That was freeing, and I am grateful to Ms Claire for that.

So, a little history that leads up to how and why I finally started writing out the Muse Meetings:

My first fandoms that I wrote for online were Harry Potter and Star Wars (Kenobi specifically). And yes, way back then (late 90′s - early 2000′s) there were already muse meetings among my characters. I’ve been doing these for a long time, and I wish the out-of-character stuff I’d written back then still existed (my HP stuff bit the dust when The Restricted Section shut down, and my SW stuff was on FF.net for a little while but honestly I don’t remember my user ID there or the titles of the fics, though I have searched…so they’re most likely lost as well). It’s sort of a shame because there were some old Anakin/Obi-Wan muse meetings that you guys would have loved…and the stuff between Remus and Sirius while we were hashing out what was going to be in their next chapter? It still pains me that it’s all lost, but maybe it’s for the best. That was nearly two decades ago, we move on to bigger and (hopefully) better things.

After my urge to write HP fic fizzled out I stopped writing for a while, but there were always muse meetings going on in my head for stories I scribbled mentally. To me they’ve always been more fun than the actual stories, which explains my love for gag reels and behind-the-scenes featurettes for movies (I watch those first, always).

And then I found AO3 - funnily enough, I discovered it while searching the internet for one of my lost HP fics - and I decided to start writing in earnest again. With all those thousands and thousands of fics and endless fandoms, it seemed like the perfect place to indulge my need to share what went on in my head. And as I settled into the MCU and my stories started to grow to include multitudes of characters, those impromptu staff meetings with my muses kept being called to order. Stuff that my characters would never say in the context of their stories got said. Scenarios that were too ridiculous to waste time writing were played out. Arguments and fights and bantering between characters who, in the restrictive confines of their own tales, would never in a million years interact…now they were throwing poptarts at each other (and occasionally knives) while the side characters wandered out of the room to watch TV or raid the fridge or sat in horror as someone’s until-now unassuming wife brandished a melon baller as a weapon.

It was messy and fun and was by far my favorite part of the writing process.

That’s what eventually became the Muse Meetings. You want to know how they escaped my head and became an official thing?

Well I’m gonna tell ya lol

One of my very first friends in here, the fantastic @elvenfair1, was one of my first readers at AO3 and she told me I should post links to my fics at this site called tumblr to bring in a bigger audience. So I opened an account here, followed her, posted some links as suggested, and she and I began messaging back and forth pretty much every night as we wrote our respective fics, bouncing ideas off each other and discussing plot points and brainstorming for character names. And as my characters sassed me and refused to cooperate with what I wanted them to do, I would tell elvenfair what was going on in my head with my dumbass OCs and OFCs and we’d laugh and gripe about trying unsuccessfully to reel in our unruly muses.

And then one night back in 2015 she said “You should post this muse stuff, it’s hilarious.”

You know what the first thing I thought was? Cassandra Claire did it 14 years ago and people loved it. So yeah, I can sure as hell do it if I want. If nobody is interested in it, at least it’ll amuse me and elvenfair and that’s cool enough.

And so I did. I started posting them in here first, then as people started requesting them more I eventually moved them to AO3 in a more structured format. And now you guys have multiple Lokis hurling curses at a bartender and viciously baiting a hapless movie star while teenage versions of two other attendees flirt with unsuspecting OFCs, with an occasional appearance by Thor dropping hints about future chapters and looking for fruit roll-ups. It’s messy, but it’s fun and I’ve always enjoyed writing it as a way to let my brain decompress, especially when one of my “real” stories has hit a roadbump.

Since then I’ve seen countless other professional writers doing the exact same thing - J.R. Ward even posts her own version of muse meetings on her official website AND has a published book (her Insiders Guide) that is almost entirely nothing BUT muse meetings. It’s surprising how many writers actually do this and I sometimes wonder if authors like Poe, Steinbeck, Vonnegut, Tolkien, Gaiman, McMurtry didn’t do it themselves (I’d bet money on McMurtry). Just goes to show there’s not an original idea anywhere in the universe…no matter how much you might believe you came up with it first, someone out there has been doing it for a long damn time before you - and a million more will do it after you :)

Anyway, I haven’t written any muse meetings in a while but they still go on constantly in my head. I get asked about once a week to go back to doing them, and one day I will, when I have time for it. My actual fics are struggling for writing time as it is and I made a conscious decision to weed out the unnecessary stuff in favor of “real work” (yeah right lol)…but yeah, the Meetings are still one of my favorite things and I won’t stop doing them permanently - they’ll be back.

So thank you Cassandra Claire for inspiring me to let them fly…if it weren’t for those whacked-out Diaries, the Muse Meetings would all still be in my head with only one person (me) laughing at them.

#fudgemuffinanon #long post #it's been a while since I got to talk to an adult IRL due to the kids being sick #so here have all the words at once lol

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