#no 300k ones yet but my point stands

[very-feral-lesbian]

talking to my coworkers is so funny. they want to talk about their kids or their spouses and internally im like i cant wait to get home and read my 250k slowburn fic

#lindz speaks #fanfiction #fanfic #ao3 #steddie #fic rn of course #no 300k ones yet but my point stands #fandom #ronance #buddie #shoni #leatin #destiel #hannigram #the list goes on truly #stranger things #supernatural

[booksandchainmail]

re: recent posts, would you recommend starting Guide now or try and catch up to Pale Lights?

That depends, how much do you like reading a serialized work as it publishes?

I really enjoy getting weekly chapters, and the way a serialized release schedule builds investment. But I also have friends who really dislike having to wait for more every week, and won't read a serial until it's complete.

Pale Lights is currently in a place where there's enough of a backlog that there's an initial binge to get you deep into the characters and world, but IMO not so much that it's too intimidating to catch up. Book 1 wrapped up a few months ago with ~300k words, and book 2 is only around 10 chapters in. Despite the lengths, I find web serials really manageable to read as they come out: keeping up with ~6000 words a week isn't a huge timesink.

On the other hand, PGTE is around 3 million words, which is a hefty chunk of time to commit. Those words are absolutely worth it, but it does take a while.

From a story perspective:

PGTE is rougher at the beginning, since it's the author's first work. It's also more accessible to get into, since it's built on top of a standard fantasy world template, so there's less immediate worldbuilding to wrap your head around. It has a single protagonist, plus frequent interludes from outside perspectives. Pale Lights throws you into the deep end a bit in terms of setting, but also more meaty worldbuilding in a way it takes PGTE a bit to work up to. It has multiple POV protagonists, but no regular outside interludes (aside from an epilogue).

Practical Guide takes place in a world built on deliberately-generic high fantasy tropes, and then plays around with them and builds on top of them. It features a lot of battles and army movements and fights between people with vast amounts of personal powers. Pale Lights is a much weirder setting, has less outright fights, and features more small-scale conflicts (so far) between characters closer to baseline human with one specific power each.

tldr:

My personal advice would be to read Pale Lights first, if only because it's the one where when you start reading matters now. PGTE isn't getting any more or less finished, so if you read it a year from now you'll get the same experience. I think PGTE is an amazing piece of work, but Pale Lights has the potential to be even better, and is currently a smaller commitment to start with. Practical Guide is one of my favorite works of all time, and I've probably spent more time thinking about it than any other work. I can't say Pale Lights has reached that level yet, but I think it will given more time.

That said, they are very different in setting and premise, so I'd recommend reading the little summary blurbs for each, and seeing if one really grabs you (since I think those convey genre well).

blurbs and a few extra notes under the cut:

the one caveat to "PGTE is complete" is that it's currently being rewritten on an app called Yonder, which is unfortunately paywalled and on a weird subscription model. Hopefully we'll get the complete rewrites of individual books available for purchase at some point, but who knows. It will also theoretically get a webtoons adaptation as the rewrite goes, but no details have come out yet. When this was announced it was also said that the PGTE website would be taken down, but that decision was postponed, there's no new deadline, and if it does go down there are... ways to acquire a copy.

PGTE blurb:

The Empire stands triumphant. For twenty years the Dread Empress has ruled over the lands that were once the Kingdom of Callow, but behind the scenes of this dawning golden age threats to the crown are rising. The nobles of the Wasteland, denied the power they crave, weave their plots behind pleasant smiles. In the north the Forever King eyes the ever-expanding borders of the Empire and ponders war. The greatest danger lies to the west, where the First Prince of Procer has finally claimed her throne: her people sundered, she wonders if a crusade might not be the way to secure her reign. Yet none of this matters, for in the heart of the conquered lands the most dangerous man alive sat across an orphan girl and offered her a knife. Her name is Catherine Foundling, and she has a plan.

PGTE prologue epigraph:

In the beginning, there were only the Gods. Aeons untold passed as they drifted aimlessly through the Void, until they grew bored with this state of affairs. In their infinite wisdom they brought into existence Creation, but with Creation came discord. The Gods disagreed on the nature of things: some believed their children should be guided to greater things, while others believed that they must rule over the creatures they had made. So, we are told, were born Good and Evil. Ages passed in fruitless argument between them until finally a wager was agreed on: it would be the mortals that settled the matter, for strife between the gods would only result in the destruction of all. We know this wager as Fate, and thus Creation came to know war. Through the passing of the years grooves appeared in the workings of Fate, patterns repeated until they came into existence easier than not, and those grooves came to be called Roles. The Gods gifted these Roles with Names, and with those came power. We are all born free, but for every man and woman comes a time where a Choice must be made. It is, we are told, the only choice that ever really matters.” – First page of the Book of All Things

Pale Lights series blurb:

Vesper is a world built on the ruins of older ones: in the dark of that colossal cavern no one has ever known the edges of, empires rise and fall like flickering candles. Civilization huddles around pits of the light that falls through the cracks in firmament, known by men as the Glare. It is the unblinking stare of the never-setting sun that destroyed the Old World, the cruel mortar that allows survival far below. Few venture beyond its cast, for in the monstrous and primordial darkness of the Gloam old gods and devils prowl as men made into darklings worship hateful powers. So it has been for millennia, from the fabled reign of the Antediluvians to these modern nights of blackpowder and sail. And now the times are changing again. The fragile peace that emerged after the last of the Succession Wars is falling apart, the great powers squabbling over trade and colonies. Conspiracies bloom behind every throne, gods of the Old Night offer wicked pacts to those who would tear down the order things and of all Vesper only the Watch has seen the signs of the madness to come. God-killers whose duty is to enforce the peace between men and monsters, the Watch would hunt the shadows. Yet its captain-generals know the strength of their companies has waned, and to meet the coming doom measures will have to be taken. It will begin with Scholomance, the ancient school of the order opened again for the first time in over a century, and the students who will walk its halls.

Pale Lights book 1 blurb:

Tristan Abrascal is a thief, one of many making their living under the perpetual twilight of the greatest city in all of Vesper: Sacromonte. Quick wit and a contract with a capricious goddess have always kept him one step ahead, until one night he crosses a line by accident that burns all the bridges he had left. But not all is lost, for his mentor offers a way out of peril that turns out to be more than a simple escape. It is also an opportunity to get even with the infanzones, the nobles he’s lived under all his life, and it so happens that Tristan has a full ledger’s worth of scores to settle with them. Lady Angharad Tredegar has fled halfway across the world, leaving behind a ruin of a life: her family butchered by a ruthless enemy, their estate torched and their nobility revoked. Yet no matter how far she flees the blades of assassins follow, and she finds herself growing desperate for any protection. She has one relative left to call on, her estranged uncle in Sacromonte, but she finds that the safety he offers comes at a cost. Angharad has sworn revenge, however, and her honour will allow for no compromise. She will do what she must to survive so that one day bloody vengeance can be visited upon her enemies. The paths of the two take them to the doorstep of the Watch, but for desperate souls like them enrolment is a lost cause. They will have to do it the hard way instead, by surviving the trials on the isle known as the Dominion of Lost Things. Where every year many go, and few return.

#pgte #pale lights #practical guide to evil #erraticerrata

[kangaracha]

i tried to goad people into asking me the ao3 questions like five times this month so i'm just gonna treat myself and answer em

How many words have you written this year? 247, 190

How many works did you publish this year? four

What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)? nevermore! and not just for wordcount either, though maybe a little bit because i've spent so much time with it. i'm just extremely pleased with the world building i've done and the complexity and depth of the plot and how i've gotten so far into it and i don't feel like i've become wayward yet, which is what usually happens even before i reach this point. i'm so pleased. i'm so excited to reach 200k and see where i'm up to and what's ahead.

What work of yours has the most hits? linger, which is funny because just like the ghosts it was about it haunts me

What work of yours got more feedback than you expected? to go beyond your borders, considering it's hard to get readers to come to something that's nearly completely original and it's just my silly little mental health fic, the audience that it gathered in the short time i was actually updating it regularly was really surprising and i love them

Favorite title you used oh lyre lyre for sure, i went to great lengths to ensure that title made a modicum of sense for that fic

If you use song lyrics, which artist’s songs did you pull from the most? hahahahaha stray kids all day. nevermore is skz cinematic universe so of course every chapter title is a lyric

Pairing you wrote the most for this year? so much gen fic, so little time. original fiction pairings.

Favorite pairing you wrote for this year? HMMMMMMMMMMMM from my original fic, leo/nes. they're funny.

What work was the quickest to write? queenmaker is the quickest to write, takes like an hour per chapter if that. in terms of strictly ao3 fics, lyre lyre was the fever dream of a few days.

What work took you the longest to write? well i started nevermore on the 4th of march and as of the 29th it is disgustingly far from being finished at 140k so i just don't know if i can say anything else. nevermore doesn't actually take long to write though really, it's just that it's a 300k kind of project. relevant to word count though, the unpublished pirate fic is actually probably the thing that's taking the longest, and my original all that is good/holy.

How many WIP’s do you have in your docs for next year? not counting every single novel i have sitting around, it's around 15, but a very casual 15 because i just go with the vibe to the extreme and with no intention to really finish any of them except like two of em

What’s your longest work of the year? hehe nevermore at 139, 583

What’s your shortest work of the year? apart from the cheeky 3 sentence fic the other day, overwinter at 1278

What WIP are you taking into next year with you? nevermore

What’s your most common “Additional Tags” tag? oh. Angst.

Your favorite character to write this year? hehehehe lee minho

The character that gave you the most trouble writing this year? Y/N for queenmaker

What’s one pairing you want to explore next year? more gen fic please, tired of romance. if i had to pick one, angie/raihan from to go beyond your borders

Which work of yours have you reread the most? to go beyond your borders, although i am about to start a full edit of nevermore which is uh no mean feat.

How many kudos in total did you get this year? 202

Which work has the most comments? nevermore by a mile

Did you do any collaborative works this year? you know what they all ditched me to collaborate on their own, and they didn't even post the fic. can you believe it.

Did you write any gifts this year? uhhhh yes, it isn't gifted on ao3 but lyre lyre was for rain and i believe overwinter was for zom mom? keeps? one of those two

Did you receive any gifts this year? yesssss i received neverwas from keeps for my birthday and it was really cool and if you read anything on this list honestly make it that one, it stands alone and it's really weird and vibey

What’s your most common category? Gen

What do you listen to while writing? liked songs or a specific fic playlist on spotify on repeat. usually kpop only these days but it depends what i'm working on.

Favorite work you wrote this year? nevermore

Favorite line/passage you wrote this year? oh my god. out of 240k? yeah no worries i'll just pull it up. um. uhhhh. uhhhhhhh.

Biggest surprise while writing this year? oh that i finished nanowrimo and that if i didn't work such a physically demanding job it would have been easy. if i had all my time spare in that month i would have done 80-100k, when before this year i couldn't get past 25k a month. realising i had that capability just sitting there was crazy.

#eeeeee #i was correct this was fun #i thought i would get bored and cut questions out but i liked all of them #just enough thought provoking without becoming boring #anyway if you have MORE questions about this stuff please leave them in my ask box #i love talking about my fics i really do #roo writes

[rookthorne]

Today marks my ONE YEAR anniversary of writing! 🥳🥰

God, it feels like just yesterday that I decided to sit down in my lounge room, with my ancient laptop in my lap, absolutely terrified for what I was about to do. That day I started what would be The Outlaw’s Heart - the very first chapter. I had Red Dead Redemption ambience playing in my pink noise cancelling headphones, I had my water bottle next to me, and I had this gut feeling that what I was about to do was big.

I never, ever, imagined just how much that single decision - to put my fingers to the keyboard and just type - would change my entire life. In the biggest, and best way.

I remember writing about 900 words, and I remember feeling on top of the fucking world. The first chapter was done. I went screaming to my best friend, @d-desrosiers, and lost my mind. I remember just crying.

I was crying because I was happy, and I felt proud, for what I had just accomplished. For someone with my limited capabilities, fuck, it was a lot. And I did it.

When I first got into this fandom I never would have imagined ending up where I am. I was well aware of what fanfiction was - having read many video game and band fics in my past - but actually creating them? I never would have thought that would be me, but here I am. Sitting on an approx 300k word count, and counting; I have 3 collections published, but several sitting in my WIPs that you guys are yet to see; I have 2 fully written fics ranging between 14 to 25 chapters sitting in my drive that you guys are yet to see; I have handfuls of oneshots that are yet to see the light of day.

It is insane.

And the friends I have made? Fucking hell, I have never in my life been amongst such amazing, kind, and thoughtful people. These people are my friends for life, and they all know every time I talk to them how much I love and adore and cherish them.

It is gonna get sappy as FUCK under the cut. So buckle in.

@buckyismybicycle, my very first idol - the woman that I looked up to well before I started writing, because she is beyond fucking talented. Not only that, she is the kindest, sweetest (when she’s not laughing at my misery) person there is. HR, you have been through thick and thin with me, and it still stands for disbelief that I get to call you a close friend. My idol, my friend - that is INSANE. Here’s to many, many, many years more of friendship, of laughs, of brainstorming, of love. I love you. 💗

@writing-for-marvel… wow. It’s at this point I get speechless. I found you thanks to my most favourite Ari fic, and it’s just been heaven since. We bonded first over the fact that we were Aussies (a rare breed in this fandom)! I don’t know how, but we just evolved and I have never had such ease, such comfort, with someone as I do you - and I am so fucking grateful for that. We are one another’s cheerleader, and we are one another’s shoulder to cry on. We are so much more but frankly I would be sitting here typing for hours and I would become very nonsensical because I’m emotional (sue me). You will always be my baby, and I wish I could just hug the shit outta you. I love you. 💗

@duckybarnes1917. Haylie, Haylie, Haylie. Girl, where have you been all my life? You are chaos in a cauldron overflowing with thots and thoughts. I don’t know where I’d be without you. We have become such fast friends, and thanks to that, I have someone that I trust so intimately with my thots and thoughts. You are a space that will always be free of non-loving judgement (because I know you do, but lovingly 🤣) and you are always fun. We may live continents away from one another, but your love is the warmest hug that I could ever get. I love you. 💗

@sgt-seabass, my faerie. It was like finding me in someone else when we found one another. You have been the light in some of my darkest days. I love our calls so much, and talking with you is always the highlight of my day - whether we’re just chilling or whether we’re brainstorming or whether we’re venting, it doesn’t matter. I know I can come to you for anything, and you to me, and that is so special. I am so grateful that the universe brought us together. I love you. 💗

@wifeofbarnes. My little menace. The fuel to my thots, the sweetness to my fluff. It still amazes me that all that time ago, that I recognised you when you found your way back to me - and fuck, I’m so happy you did. Not only have you been an endless source of inspiration, but you are now a dear friend that I adore. You’re always down for my ideas, and you always lend an ear or kind words when I need the support. I love you. 💗

@navybrat817, holy shit. I’m gonna start off by saying that this is insane to me, that I even get to talk to you (okay, starstruck moment over). You have been a blessing, and I am ever so grateful to call you a friend. Brainstorming with you is an out of this world experience and you always bloody know how to murder me, every single fucking time. It’s amazing. Not to mention your support, for which you are ever so generous with, for literally anything; whether that be moral, hyping me up, or just listening, and let’s be real, there’s been times that I’ve been so out of it when I’ve messaged you and you still manage to decipher what I’m saying, so kudos to you! 🤣 I love you. 💗

@buckycuddlebuddy, I don’t know where you have been all my life, but holy shit. We have not been talking for very long at all, but look at us - I feel like I’ve known you for so long and the way our chaos matches so perfectly? 👌🏻 it’s amazing. Your patience and your kindness have been a blessing, and I appreciate you more than I can express. I love you. 💗

@jen-with-a-pen, MY OUTLAW WIFE, bound in holy matrimony with our husband, Arthur. God, to tell you I was over the moon when I found out you loved him as much as I do, it would be an understatement. Not only are we in a thruple marriage, you are also a dear friend. Your excitement for everything gives me life and so much joy, it’s beautiful. I love you. 💗

This last bit is to all my beautiful followers and moots - fuck, I am grateful for you all. I am grateful for all the support this past year, and your continued support in the future. I hope that as a content creator, I get to push my boundaries even further than I have in the past 6 or so months. There was a time when I was terrified to write smut, now look at me! 🤣

Thank you all for coming on this journey, and may we have many, many more years to come.

I love you all. 💗💗💗

#Lana’s rambles #milestone #LOOK THIS IS SAPPY AS SHIT #AND I CRIED WHILE WRITING IT #do with that what you will #😭😭😭

[butwhatifidothis]

So. Took a look into that fic @nilsh13 is going through the comments of. Dunno if I’ll actually go through the entire thing - 300k words is certainly a lot of words to read through, especially with it still updating, but I’ve read through/am reading through longer ones - but I jumped to the latest chapter to get a feel for where the fic’s at now.

I’m not halfway through the chapter and I have Words To Say lmao, under the cut

This is going to be as serious a critique about the sections I’ve selected as possible - I want to be clear why I think what is being written is not of high quality, pointing out specifically what I have wrong with it. 

Here are some snippets of the fic (boldened), and following those snippets are my thoughts on them:

“My actions have caused immense turmoil, pitting friend against friend, mother against daughter, and brother against sister*,” muttered Edelgard, desperately trying to drive any hint of self-pity (emphasis mine) from her voice. “My best friend has been disowned by her family, Hubert and Ferdinand’s fathers are dead or imprisoned, and the woman I love is now deemed a heretic by the Church that once offered her shelter. The weight of my decisions seems to pull down all who are caught in the shadow of the Imperial crown.” The Flame Emperor gave Professor Hanneman a wan smile. “Whatever imagined slights you believe you have committed against me, they pale in comparison to the carnage my own words and deeds have unleashed.” 

""I made my choice, the only choice I could make, and dragged this continent down to hell with me. It makes me a poor ruler, and an even baser person, but that was the path I knew I must take."" 

“"It is funny you use the word ‘choice’, Miss Edelgard. When I resigned my title to study at Garreg Mach, I lost marriage prospects, became penniless outside of a small stipend…I even renounced the opportunity to have a family.” Hanneman smiled, his whole body suffused with melancholy. “Really, how could I dare to dream of bringing a daughter into a world this senseless and cruel, knowing that someday, she too, could be hurt in such a way? I…I would not survive it.” The man’s body shook. “I sacrificed those things, things I desperately wanted, because the chance to allow my sister to rest in peace was more important. And I would make that choice again, despite all that it has cost me. You are much the same.”"

"“But your sacrifices were your own,” protested the Emperor of Adrestia. “Thousands bleed for the choices that I have made, and sacrifice themselves for the cause that I have placed before them. There is a profound difference-“"

"“We are both wise enough to know a painful truth,” said the scholar with a melancholy smile. “No matter how grave the sins, no matter how many innocents suffer…there will be countless individuals who will defend the law not because it is just, or righteous, but because it is the law. They will permit a hundred Abysses, and a thousand women to be raped, and a million dead children, as long as such actions do not disturb their order.” He placed a hand on Edelgard’s shoulder. “To stand against such moral rot, knowing that the world will despise and vilify you for it, is the truest sign of not only a just ruler, but a good woman.”"

"The academic’s words blazed with the passion of both a scholar and a man who had watched his world crumble to ash. A man who had been forced to live in the remnants of a life forever altered by the cruelty of both society and of humanity. And yet he had fought, the only way he could, to make the world better. It gave the Flame Emperor new resolve."

"“I…” He turned and looked away. “I believe in you, Miss Edelgard. When I see you, and your determination, your spirit, your bravery in choosing not what is easy, but what is right…it reminds me of her.” Fingers clenched around his locket. “I will fight for you, in the way I should have fought for my sister, long ago. My strength is meagre, and my courage more meagre still. However, all of it is yours.”" 

The author writes Edelgard as one trying to give pity onto herself for her actions, despite how negatively they affect her, due to the immense ramifications those actions have had on those both around her and those under her care. This is the appropriate response to someone who has done as morally dubious an action as starting and spearheading a war that has led to the deaths and suffering of countless innocent people, some of whom were undoubtedly already going through immense suffering without war compounding itself onto their already existing pain. She - rightfully - points as, as a negative towards herself, that she has forced thousands of people to sacrifice their lives, livelihoods, friends, family, homes, etc. in order to continue with her war. Edelgard's canonical self-justification - that she had no other choice to do this - is properly utilized, and further characterization is given to her when she herself recognizes that performing such horrendous actions on the people under her care makes her a poor ruler and terrible person. This is, in truth, a decent set-up for her to go onto a possible path of redemption or self-realization.

However, that progress is forcibly stopped and reverted by Hanneman justifying her actions and recontextualizing them in a morally good light. In fact, the entire story does this, as characters act wildly out of character in order for Edelgard to be seen as good in comparison to them. Focusing on the quoted lines, however, Hanneman relating him giving up nobility and going into momentary poverty - whether true to canon or not - to Edelgard's war actively paints her actions as something that she had a right to be making, which she does not, as they force others to make sacrifices for her cause. When she herself rightfully points this discrepancy out, Hanneman excuses her actions by pointing to another - supposed - source of turmoil and essentially saying "You are more right than x, therefore your y actions are not only better, but objectively good, and make you a good person." He says nothing of the inherent injustice of taking away the choice of the people to live as they want and fight for who they want as well as deliberately taking away any semblance of safety from them, and makes objective statements about Edelgard's moral righteousness despite her taking actions that would, by definition, make her moral righteousness a subjective matter at minimum.

Hanneman is projecting the image of his sister and his own personal sense of justice onto Edelgard, and thus sees her as just as much a victim of the war and society as everyone else. Edelgard is a young woman who has gone through trauma due to Crests, as was his sister, and he himself (in this story, though not within the quoted lines) wanted to beat the man who abused his sister to death, and so he sees Edelgard using violence as a means to achieve justice as not only not questionable, but morally good and brave, as he felt he was not brave enough to enact "justice" onto the man that caused his sister's death. Instead of this being settled, focused on, or even mentioned, despite its obvious nature due to deliberate connections Hanneman himself makes, it is used as a means to showcase that Hanneman is a, for lack of a better term, "expert" on what he is saying when speaking to Edelgard. He knows what it's like to want to force change, he has by-proxy experienced the apparent injustice of the Church - not human society, not his family's decision to allow his sister to be married off, not the man who caused her death's decision to discard her, but strictly the Church and only the Church - and so he can "rightfully" justify and excuse Edelgard's morally questionable actions and paint them in a solely positive light, with no nuance or gray whatsoever.

Edelgard, in the first quote, attempts to say her actions without a tone of self-pity, and yet the narrative itself pities Edelgard. She should be allowed to feel bad about her actions - not because they are causing unfathomable suffering on people who were underserving, but because they’re just hard decisions that she was good and brave to make and maybe she can feel a little bad for herself for making them. She shouldn't feel responsible for choosing to start the war - in fact, did she really have a choice, or did everyone else in society force her to? She shouldn't question whether she's a good person or not, because she simply is - no debate, no question. She is - “justly” - standing up against "moral rot"; that she does so with even more moral rot is irrelevant, because, according to the story, it is not as rotten as that she's up against, therefore it is no longer rotten in the first place. War has been completely justified, as it is now not the last resort of desperation that could only ever be morally grey at its absolute best, but an objectively morally white decision of an objectively morally white person who is facing an objectively morally black opponent.

The actions of other characters attempt to paint Edelgard as someone closer to the former, but I will - maybe - eventually go over how those characters are extremely mischaracterized in order to prop Edelgard as their moral superior. 

#anti edelgard #Anti-edelgard #Edelgard critical #o captain my captain #<- borrowing nilsh's tag for this lmao in case I do end up continuing this #but yeah from just the latest chapter there are characters that 100% cheerlead for the pure righteousness that is Edelgard #so yeah that's... gonna be fun lmao

[ljandersen]

More 100 Days of Writing!  Yay!  I love that I get a hundred days of seeing everyone's writing process on my dash.  I’m not strictly following the questions in order or posting every day, but it’s fun to still play along.  Thanks, @the-wip-project !

--------------‐-----------------

Question from Day 2 (I know it’s not day two, but I’m erratically cheating, remember?)  For your current WIP:  Do you have many WIPs?  What motivates you to write this specific story?  What makes this story special for you?  Is there a special twist/trope/setting you wanted to explore?  What got you started on this particular story?

My current WIP is “Sideways,” a 5-part fShenko post-war long fic.  I’m posting it like a box set, essentially all the parts (books) in one big post on AO3.  I have the first draft written for all five parts and am currently posting part 3.

What motivated me to write this story was a string of “what if” questions that haunted me after finishing my 300k fShenko post-war long fic, “Burning Barriers.”  My mind kept spinning on questions about human-asari relationships.  What would it be like to be with someone who would live a thousand years?  You’re just a blip on their radar, while they’re you’re whole life.  

What would it be like to have a child who’s another species?  Asari have unique abilities like mindmelding, strong biotics, long lifespan, monogendered, not to mention unique culture.  Would the child feel less “yours” for being so . . . well, alien (pun intended)?  How would it feel knowing your partner and child would live on long after you?  

That’s when I started thinking, what if the asari parent died?  Whoa.  Then my mind was blown by the complexity.  Your child would be another species, bound to live a thousand years, and the parent meant to take care of them is gone.  Since your partner was going to live hundreds of more years, the human partner probably never even considered the possibility of losing them.  Now the human parent is all this alien child has.  It had so many implications, my mind kept going.

I wanted to explore these ideas in a story, but I didn’t want to write an AU of my own fanfiction.  I didn’t want to write a story that wasn’t fShenko.  FemShep and Kaidan are my favorite characters, and it’s their relationship I find compelling.  

That’s when I thought, what would Shepard think of this alternate storyline?  It’s interesting enough to think of her outside perspective, but what if it was further removed than even that.  What if she saw it like I did having this other canon story ending in mind?  What if the Shepard who finished my story in “Burning Barriers” and who ended up with Kaidan went to this other AU reality?  

I could follow an idea from “Burning Barriers” that wasn’t realized but intrigued me.  Kaidan’s asari wife is dead.  He has an asari child now.  How much better if he and Shepard are even enemies?  Maybe Shepard has been a bad person in this timeline.  After all, Mass Effect is all about the Paragon and Renegade timelines. Add in this story being told from the POV of the Shepard who’s been happily married to him in the “real” timeline, then the complexity and nuances expanded.  How would she reconcile his identity to her, being both the person she knows and loves the best, but also the person she knows the least and who is also an adversary?  

Then, I thought . . . What is Bad Shepard took my canon Shepard’s place?  I ended “Burning Barriers” with Shepard being human Councilor.  She lives on the Pacific with Kaidan and their daughter.  That was already there in my post-10 year epilogue.  What if this switch went both ways?  It’s always a fascinating trope taking someone who’s a maverick loner and dropping them into a family situation.  Do they become a better person?  

False identities always interest me, and both stories lines would play so well to that interest.  How would this imposter function?  Both Shepards would be taken as the their altero ego, at least, initially if not longer.

So I started writing “Sideways.”  I needed to tell the backstories to fill in the ten years of lost time for both timelines.  But how to do it?  Just through present-day revelations?  A bit boring.  Flashbacks are often considered unnecessary and needlessly complicate a story.  

What if the flashbacks had more meaning beyond just revealing the past though?  What if they provided a ticking clock.  I needed a ticking clock, after all, and this was the perfect way to hit two birds with one stone.  The present day revelations about the past could provide tantalizing clues and hint toward scenes that aren’t revealed yet.  There would be gradual progression of stories from the past connecting to the present storyline.  Perfect.

I actually wrote several chapters of “Sideways” and then discarded it.  I didn’t want to pour myself into more fanfiction.  It was time to move on.  Do something original.  Who would read a long fShenko fic that jumped off my 300k story?  “Burning Barriers” wasn’t read.  I think a year after posting, it had 25 kudos, under a thousand hits, and was pretty stagnant with the hit count even moving.  I had a few wonderful people who made the process worthwhile through their generous comments and friendship. It would go on to get a lot of great feedback that would change my feelings about it, but at the time, the story’s reception was disappointing.  It seemed unwise to take an already abysmal turnout for 300k words and cut the readership even further for a new story +100k story.  So I tossed my first few chapters of “Sideways” aside.

I came across the chapters again a while later.  I still had these ideas in my head for it that I was trying to squelch while I focused on ideas for an original sci fi series.  When I was flipping through a notebook, I came across the story I had abandoned, and I started to read it.  By the end, I was left thinking, “But then what happened?  This is actually pretty good.”  At that point, I decided I had to write it.  I had too much passion in the project, and I had to see it through. 

I decided for it to be successful (or at least, not catastrophically unsuccessful), it had to stand on its own.  Hardly anyone had read the preceding 300 k story, which I had made the mistake of posting all at once.  I needed this to be its own story.  It had to be less words than “Burning Barriers,” which at 300 k was already too much of an investment.  

Then I started writing my new story . . . 800 k words later (or so I estimate), I obviously didn’t meet my goal.  But I loved writing every word, and I love how the story progresses and develops.  It had a good pace, and I’m proud of it.  It lent itself naturally to being divided into a series, since it had mini-arcs with mini-villains and achievements being reached.  By editing each part separately, I was able to start posting, which after two years of writing the story was beginning to feel like would never happen.

Now, here I am posting part 3.  I have amazing people who support me and have made the experience rewarding by sharing their enthusiasm and thoughts in comments and tags.  “Sideways” surpassed “Burning Barriers” initially low turn out and has managed to stand on its own as I hoped.  For a story that took so long to make it to this point, it’s been fulfilling to have so many fandom friends who cheer me on.  I appreciate everyone who supports “Sideway” and just me in general as part of the fandom community.  

And that’s how my supersized story came into being.    

#100daysofwriting #not doing my questions in order I know #I feel like day 1 and day 2 were the most important general questions #Which is why I'm doing them now #on writing #my writing #on fanfiction #on mass effect fanfiction

[hermitcraftheadcanons]

Hello Internet, welcome to GAME THEORY!

As you all may know, Grian recently started one giant EVO Reference: Let's make an unsuspecting victim mayor for no reason other than my own amusement.

However, Mumbo isn't actually mayor yet. So that begs the question, if Mumbo doesn't become mayor, who will be?

We can do this pretty easily through process of elimination.

Immediately, we can get rid of Grian as he's the one setting it off. That leaves us with 22 hermits. Next, as much as it pains me to do it. I reckon we can also take anyone with under 300K out. Although I love my smaller-subbed squad, they usually don't end up taking main roles in the server. If anything, I'd say the people who end up taking main roles in the server are DocM, Ren, the Architechs, the Convex and sometimes but not always Tango, Xisuma, Impulse, False, Keralis and Bdubs. So the hermits with under 300K at the time of me writing this and are out are Stress, TFC, XBCrafted, Zedaph and Zombie Cleo. Joe Hills is also in this club but he's got such a good case I have to make an exception for him.

You see, Joe Hills goes about Hermitcraft pretty uniquely. As you may know, Joe Hills has sworn off diamonds for the season due to his belief, 'whenever he carries diamonds, something goes wrong.' This means he can't be bribed with them. It also means he'll probably burn all the diamonds on the podium while I'd personally love to see because it will be funny. Not only this, but he's been trying to keep infrastructure since the very start. He was the first to try and establish roads, so if Joe becomes mayor, the 'places with inconsistent or sometimes no roads,' will hopefully become consistent with their roads. Also, Joe always naturally puts the community before himself. So many of his builds in season 6, (the ministry of truth, the community brewing stand, ect) were community focussed and not personal use only. This pattern continues into season 7 where the first thing he did was set up boats and basic, early game starter loot on the spawn island. A few episodes later and he makes sure the nether portal there is safe from ghasts. Personally, Joe would be my pick. Yes, he's anti-diamonds. But I highly doubt he'll force that economic system on the whole district, right?

But let's backtrack a second. What about that list from earlier? "I'd say the people who end up taking main roles in the server are DocM, Ren, the Architechs, the Convex-" perhaps this could help us find an idea of whom it may be? We can already substitute 'the Architechs' with Mumbo and Iskall as Grian is confirmed to not be doing it. I feel like we may also be able to knock the Convex out too. Scar because he's helping to build the Town Hall and, I mean come on, who would vote for a wizard who sells coloured glass and claims it to give you magic powers? He doesn't even wear pants! I feel like we can also knock Cubfan out too as he's more or less settled into the roll of a newspaper boy with Cleo. That's a big job so his hands are pretty full.

So this leaves us with Mumbo, Iskall, DocM and Ren. As much as I'd love to see DocM become mayor, I feel like the Goatfather may already have his hands full. But Ren on the other hand, would be an interesting case. Remember when he took to doping before a wrestling match? What if that comes back to bite him whole he's mayor and everyone has a revolution? That seems like a Rendog plot to do. Not only that, but he's also used to working in a leadership setting. (Ahem, Bob the accountant.) Speaking of Bob the accountant, perhaps he could get all his alts to 'help him with his mayor duties.' However, he may also have his hands full with dead cow and necromantic magic.

However, I feel like Iskall would also be a good candidate for mayor. Perhaps a 'El Mayore Iskall' plot mark 2? Hermitcraft is no stranger to referencing past seasons, whether it be the return of Concorp, NHO Reunions, Xisuma referencing Logfellas at one point, Tag 2 electric boogaloo, ect. Not only this, but Iskall is also within Grian's inner circle.

'But TomPat! What is 'Grian's inner circle?'" I hear you ask. Grian's inner circle is an unwritten pattern that played out throughout season 6.

Here's what it stated:

"All server wide events have to either be started or won by Grian or someone within his inner circle."

I first saw it noticed by ZloyXP so I give him the credit for this.

Each server wide event in season 6 was either started or won by Grian or a close friend of Grian.

Tag? Started by Grian.

Grian head hunt? Started by Grian.

Prank war? Arguably started by Grian.

Civil War? Won by Grian's team.

Jangler Mystery? Solved by Grian.

Sahara VS Concorp? Won by Architects.

Buildoff? All tied with Grian.

Hermitland? Started by Grian.

Area77 Vs Hippies? Won by Grian and Co.

Demise? Started by Grian, won by someone in the inner circle.

(This is why if you only have time to watch one hermit for season 6, Grian is the safest option. You don't really miss anything.) Thankfully, this seems to be changing for season 7 with The Goatfather arc, Ren's Star Wars arc, The Hermit Wrestling arc, ect.

But who's in the inner circle? It can vary between person to person. But personally, I'd say the people in the inner circle are Grian, (obviously,) Mumbo and Iskall for Season 6 with Scar joining for Season 7. And this is why I'd say Mumbo or Iskall have the best chance of winning.

I'd say Iskall has the better chance of winning. I have no evidence why, it's just a hunch.

But that's just a theory, a GAME THEORY.

#hermitcraft #hcraft #hermitblr #hermitcraftheadcanons #TheScience! #I don't actually hate Grian I love his videos I swear #posted 02.05.20 #joe4mayor #joehills #iskall85 #mumbojumbo #grian #rendog #I wrote this at 3am; passed out; made the thumbnail and now im gonna die again #architech

[adamsvanrhijn]

fic writer interview

tagged by @sinceremercy AGES ago

Name: smithens on ao3

Fandoms: currently Downton Abbey, in a recent past life, Les Misérables. in more distant past lives, a whole host of things, many of which I don’t want to admit to

Where you post: pretty much exclusively ao3 except for ask prompts, which go to tumblr first and then get put on ao3 at some point after

Most popular one-shot: took no time with the fall, wherein Thomas calls Richard on the telephone and deals with some eavesdropping, which I posted a year and three weeks ago and am not even going to look at aside from linking it because I’m sure I have changed my mind on MANY things and will catch MANY errors in terms of things I now know about e.g. the zeitgeist

Most popular multi-chapter:  you will not take my heart, alive, which was my first Actual Thomas/Richard Fic, and it came in at just the right time right after the film was released to really rack up the hits & kudos. more recently, people are apparently REALLY vibing with hope keeps us standing, which has more subscribers and bookmarks every time I look at it, to my perplexity. 

Favourite story I’ve written so far: all of them are my babies? Hewwo? Hewwo! I have honestly written so much fucking content in the last 15 months, like, I don’t even know what to say. last year’s christmas fic love shall be our token is i think one of the best pieces i’ve ever written, and i really like that richard and that thomas, so it has a soft space in my heart. also good love from this past may...... VERY fond of that one.. maybe they are in the same universe! :-) I am also really loving the current AU taking over my brain

Fic you were nervous to post: here they are :-)

How do you choose your titles: song lyrics almost exclusively

Do you outline: yes and no! i do sometimes. for my long chaptered fics i may make docs that do not have full prose but do have what should be in the chapter in them, so i end up with folders populated like this:

my writing process is also completely nonlinear, e.g. here is like the first couple of pages of the next chapter in wtmstbws:

there are some placeholder words/phrases in there to remind me what i want to do to fill in the blanks

but otherwise no, I don’t really outline... I keep my thoughts in my brain or I write a few lines of dialogue and hope that future me will know what I was going for there

Complete: I don’t understand what this is asking? 45/62 of my DA works are complete, though!

In progress:  Which means 17 are WIPs. I’m a serial works-in-progress-poster. I want to wrap up several of them before 2021 and I also would like to get my complete/wip ratio down to 4:1 !!

Coming soon/not yet started: I think by my last count I had about ~300k unpublished words? and some of those are remaining content for those WIPs, but some of them are not!

Prompts: I take them!! I have resolved all of the ones I have had for DA except one, I think. My ask is in fact always open for them but also like - any time you request I write something you may be opening Pandora’s box, and also you need to accept that this may extend the time until something else you are following is finished hahaha

Upcoming work you’re most excited about: A very ridiculous and sprawling collaborative work may see the light of day sooner rather than later

tagging: @likehandlingroses @lacerta26 @saumenschliesel @infinity2020corner @aziraphalescrowley​ @darthmarx​. template under cut!

Name:  Fandoms: Where you post:  Most popular one-shot:  Most popular multi-chapter:   Favourite story I’ve written so far:  Fic you were nervous to post:  How do you choose your titles: . Do you outline:  Complete:  In progress:   Coming soon/not yet started: Prompts:  Upcoming work you’re most excited about:

#fic talk tag #downton abbey tag #my fanfiction

[brynwrites]

Let’s Talk about Querying!

(And why I stopped querying my novel.)

As some of you know, I was querying Iron From Fire on and off from March through May, and I recently decided to quit, despite it being overall a good story written in what one editor described as ‘on par’ for the genre.

And I think it’s important to talk about the process I went through, because my ill preparation hurt my mental health a lot, and you all deserve to know how to avoid the same fate.

First, this is the general process of querying, in case anyone is unfamiliar:

You finish the manuscript. And I mean finish it. Beta rounds, line edits, formatting, the whole nine yards.

You write the query letter. This includes a blurb meant to draw the agent in, a paragraph with stats and the names of a couple contemporary books that resemble yours, and a short bio about your previous book-related experience.

You send the query letter to a bunch of agents. A positive request rate right now is somewhere around 6 or 7%, which means if you have a stellar manuscript then 7% of the agents you query will want to read more of it to see if they’re willing to represent you.

You receive a mixture of rejections and requests, with a lot of silence in between. Most rejections are form rejections so you have no idea why they didn’t like your manuscript. Some requests turn into delayed form rejections. Everything hurts.

You either get an agent who signs you or you decide to quit. If you have a book you think will sell and are having positive responses from agents, the general rule of thumb is to keep querying until you’ve sent a letter to every agent you’d be interested in working with. This can mean anywhere from 30 to 130 agents.

Putting the rest under the cut.

Keep reading for:

Why I quit.

The things I learned from querying.

What I would have done differently if I’d known better.

[While this has some rather personal mental health things, please feel free to reblog it so other writers can learn from my experience!]

Why I quit querying.

This is going to get personal for a hot second so bare with me.

I was querying the first novel in an adult fantasy trilogy I had worked on for over seven years. All the work from the first five years had been trashed three years before, and the rough draft I built the final manuscript on was rewritten three times after, so the actual story itself was only a couple years old, but I had the emotional attachment of seven years of love and heartache.

This being a trilogy, I had already written the second book and poured a lot of energy into the third book’s brainstorming by the time I fully finished the first manuscript. So not only was there over seven years of emotional attachment, but nearly 300k words of fairly decent story written in the series.

I hit a bunch of road blocks right when I first began querying: 

My story, while it had all the things a query needs like stakes and conflict, was very hard to break down to a 200 word blurb.

The blurb I did end up with, no matter how I wrote it, sounded like a rather traditional fantasy plot, despite the story itself going places I’ve yet to read about in any other book.

I could not find contemporaries (books published recently which have elements similar to mine) to save my life, to the point where I was scrambling to read new books in hopes something would appear.

Most agents ask for the first five or ten pages, and I have fifteen pages of status quo before I got to the real plot, so that meant most agents would never even see the story I had outlined in my blurb.

On top of all that, I had a book which went a little over the word count most agents seek for a debut novel in its genre and it wasn’t even a standalone.

Those things compiled were a mess, and they should have clued me in that this wasn’t a book that would be worth the effort of selling as a debut. But this wasn’t what did me in. These things alone I might have been overcome by sheer determination. So why did I quit, then?

I stopped querying my manuscript because I realized I wasn’t just querying a manuscript, I was querying my baby.

I had put all seven years and many rewrites and an entire sequel I loved more than life on the line for this sale, and it fucked me over like a moon-sized meteor fucks over a planet.

My mental health, which I’d finally gotten under control after almost a decade of chronic depression and anxiety, plummeted back to levels it hadn’t reached in years. I hated everything I wrote. I cried over my writing. I cried over things that had nothing to do with writing. I became very negative and angry with my friends. Everyone else’s success felt like my personal failure. I began tipping into the realm of suicidal idealization.

That was what finally broke me; the knowledge that I’d been happy with my life, exactly as it was before I started querying, and now I suddenly didn’t find it worth living despite the query process being the only thing I’d added.

I adored and despised my manuscript in equal parts. I’d thought the mounds of critique I’d gotten for it in the past would make it easier for me to handle the rejections because I’d handled them all before from beta readers, and that the time between writing it and querying it would provide distance. It didn’t. 

It turned this manuscript into the single part of my life I’d poured the most love and attention and frustration into, more then college degrees and individual relationships and work; even more than the book I’d already indie published. And setting that out for agents to reject at their whims was not healthy for me.

Once I looked that in the face, I realized something else as well: I didn’t want this book to be my debut.

The story was publishable, yes, but it had a funky structure I had reworked countless times just to make bearable, and the second book was the real gem of the series.

The writing was adequate, but it was also kind of bland compared to the style it’d developed since I’d written it. I preferred the style I was currently writing in and I wanted to sell that instead.

I really, really didn’t want to edit this book again for an agent or an editor. I’d poured so much energy into it already and I was sick: sick with love, sick with hate. Every edit I had made through the querying process had been wrapped in a mixture of forced disinterest and panicky dependence, and that was not the way I wanted to feel when I edited my debut for traditional publishing.

And this is not to say that Iron From Fire and its trilogy will never sell, or that no one would want to read it if it did. I’m shelving it, not throwing it out. But sometimes we have to admit to ourselves that it’s not the right time, and let a project go for a while, especially when its the one project we don’t want to let go.

Things I’ve Learned.

I’m prefacing this with the note that there are exceptions to every rule. None of these things will stop you from getting an agent or selling a manuscript, it’ll just make it harder to do so. And querying is hard enough without stacking the cards against yourself.

These are a mixture of experience and things I’ve seen agents talk about at length.

1. Word count is important. 

It’s common knowledge that there are word count guidelines, but when most of the books on your shelf vary (sometimes drastically) from those guidelines, do they really matter? The fucking do. Agents will see too high word count and assume straight off that you don’t know how to create a streamline story and have wandering plot threads or useless scenes, and they’ll see a too low word count and assume you didn’t explore your world building and character development properly.

It you want to increase your chances of selling a manuscript, write it within the suggested word count guidelines.

2. Make your manuscript a solid, wonderful standalone.

You’ll hear ‘standalone with series potential’ thrown around a lot. This means you should have a first book which ends in a place that readers can feel satisfied permanently walking away from, but which doesn’t tie up so many threads that another story can’t come after it.

Less brought up but equally important is this: if you do have series potential, the rest of your series can’t be the better part of it. You aren’t selling a series, you’re selling a first book, so that first book must be able to stand for itself and say that it’s fantastic and more than worth reading on its own. It’s can’t be a gateway to a better book. It must already be the best book you can write.

3. If you have potential sequels, don’t write them yet.

From a writer’s perspective this is bad because it puts more of your soul into the series, and when it comes time to offer that part of your soul up to agents and editors, you want it to be as small as possible. Having six months of work rejected hurts. Having six years of work rejected kills. Be kind to yourself.

This is also bad from an agent’s perspective! Agents are looking for career oriented writers (even if that career is part time), who will write other books, with other plots and other characters, so if they sell your first book and its sales are mediocre they know they’ll have another chance with you on a different project. If you seem to be stuck in one world or series, that hinders their ability to market you as a writer.

3. Your first five pages are everything.

Five to ten pages is all most agents will ever see of your book. This is a lot less than many readers will read before putting a book down. Even if you’ve structured your opening to attract readers, it may not be fit enough to attract agents.

The first 2500 words of your manuscript should:

Display a clear narrative voice.

Introduce the world building and setting you described in your query with little to no exposition.

Introduce the main character’s personality and goals as described in your query with no exposition.

Show the main character doing the things you said they do in your query.

Show the inciting event you described in your query.

Show or at least hint at how the conflicts you described in your query will come to pass.

This is not always something you can edit into your manuscript at the last minute, so structuring your project this way up front is very helpful. If you can’t hit all these points with your story no matter how you rework it, you might want to consider querying a different project instead.

4. Young Adult is a harder sell.

The market is drenched in YA manuscripts. This doesn’t mean no one should write them, but if you don’t have a good reason why the story works best a YA (ie, it has themes targeted toward teenagers) then it might be worthwhile to adjust it to be MG and or adult (but not New Adult! NA is also a hard sell, because there are few editors actually buying it.)

5. The market matters.

On that note, it’s incredibly important to know what’s going on in the publishing market before you query. 

What types of books are selling? 

Is your manuscript a good twist on ideas, themes, or tones present in popular books from the last few years?

Does your manuscript align with what agents are asking for in their manuscript wishlists?

Is your writing style on par with the books what made decent sales in the last few years in your genre and target audience?

When you condense your story down to a few sentences, do you have a pitch that’s both unique and references popular contemporary stories?

In order to sell a book through traditional publishing, you have to first find an agent who falls in love with the book and has an immediate idea of how to sell it, and then have them find an editor who also falls in love with it and knows they and their marketing team can market it well.

Good writing makes a good book, but it’s the marketing which sells the book. If you don’t have a way to market your book in the current market, it’s not likely anyone else will.

What I would have done differently.

The top three things I would have changed if I had known what I know now.

1. Wrote the query letter earlier.

Writing the query letter as I wrote the manuscript would’ve helped me reformat the structure of the story up front. It would also have eliminated the desperate rewrites I did to both the query and the manuscript in an attempt to produce something concise enough to actually sell.

2. Followed agents well in advance.

There are tons of agents on twitter who routinely post tips, talk about what they want to see in future books, and boost resent publishing deals. Keeping tabs on them is incredibly helpful when it comes to figuring out where your manuscript fits in the current market and whether/how you should be querying it. 

3. Let my baby go in favor of a new, shorter standalone.

A standalone within the word count guidelines might have persuaded undecided agents to take a chance on reading more, but the important thing here is that I should not have tried to query the work I’d put my soul into. 

My mental health is more important than making my baby a best seller, firstly because there’s more to my life than just writing, and secondly because there are other great books left in my soul, and without stable mental health, I won’t be able to write and query them.

So, what am I doing now?

I’m writing a book with a strong contemporary I know agents are interested in, but with enough of a spin that it’ll feel fresh.

I’ve structured the story so that the opening engulfs the reader with the conflicts and world building that’ll be important throughout the whole story and the inciting event happens immediately. 

I wrote the blurb after only having written 20k words on the rough draft, and the blurb both contains all the necessary plot threads I need to describe the compelling heart of the story and reads as a unique and engaging manuscript.

I’m writing a standalone novel with series potential that fits perfectly within the genre’s word count guidelines.

I’m writing something that’s fresh for me and I’m madly in love with, but not dependent on. It’s a puppy I want to lather with attention, not a disappointing spouse I’ve been married to for eight years and now half loath but also can’t live without.

Annnd that is all the things I have to say! If you learned something here maybe support me by buying my fun, cheap indie book? It has sirens and a soft freckly pirate and lots of diversity, and comes in both ebook and paperback. Click here for links and things.

#writeblr #querying #mental health #writing help #writing advice #writing resources #writers on writing #creative writing #writers on tumblr #authors on tumblr #writing tag: publishing

[sokkathebluewolf]

I asked the last question, and thanks for the answers. Gladiator is by far my favorite Avatar fic. I’ve always struggled to read stories past 300k words, but for this story I just breezed through 1.2 million lol. I have another question though. How would you describe Ozai’s view on Azula? Does he suspect her on anything, or does he think she might be trying to rebel? I’m curious on what he thinks, especially since he killed his own father for power. Again, great story and thanks for responding

XD then I hope you’ve breezed through the other 1.2 million that were still left ahead of you when you sent this ask. Sorry for the lateness!

Ozai’s view of his daughter is rather complicated, I’ve talked about it on my main blog, I believe? He wants Azula to be his perfectly compliant, loyal daughter who can do no wrong, and whenever she proves otherwise, he’s not pleased... but at the earliest stages of the story, her small rebellions are usually lined with fear, He can tell she is terrified of harsh consequences, and that means she’s still under his control. Later on, however, Azula’s rebellions become a lot more blatant, far bolder, and even in the face of serious, mortal peril, Azula is willing to stand up to her father if she has reason to.

While initially, that last thing makes Ozai seethe and rage, eventually, it earns her an unexpected outcome: his genuine respect. Ozai actually ends up treating Azula differently during her rebellions in Part 2, both during the Festivals and later on, during the Fire Lord’s Shadow... and he’s not entirely conscious as to why, but a big reason is because (spoiler alert) Ursa (in this story only) used to defy him the way Azula defies him now: it didn’t matter to her how much power he wielded over her, Ursa would bite back whenever she thought she had to. And that glimpse of Ursa in Azula has, subconsciously, led Ozai to treat his daughter differently, and with a surprising amount of leniency, throughout Part 2. He doesn’t want her to be his enemy, he wants her at his side... and now he realizes that she CAN be his enemy. And that, if she were, he’d probably be screwed :’D so whenever they clash, he tries to deflate the situation eventually, to pacify her somewhat, and to make it clear to Azula (without saying it directly) that he’s still her protector and still her biggest ally, and it’s in her best interests not to push him away.

Now, then... Ozai doesn’t know how much Azula has changed, and while he’s taken notice that she’s surprisingly close with her gladiator, he doesn’t really think Azula would be so reckless as to start a romantic relationship with the guy, since that’s just going to result in... well, hell, if they were ever discovered? :’D So Ozai takes for granted that Azula wouldn’t be that impulsive... but eventually even he will sense that there’s something rather strange in how those two act around each other, in particular, in how the gladiator acts around her. So far, he reads Sokka’s behavior as loyalty his daughter has earned fair and square... but eventually he’ll start catching on that maybe there’s more than that going on underneath the surface.

As for if he thinks she’s trying to rebel... curiously, the one who reads Azula’s actions as dangerous and thinks she’s plotting to overthrow her father isn’t Ozai, but Ozai’s General of the Guards, Shaofeng (no idea if you’ve met him yet, I think his first real appearance is in the Festivals’ arc). He’s 100% sure Azula is up to no good (well, his standard of “no good”), and he plans on putting a stop to her by any means necessary. He has even assigned a guard as a spy in her circle, hoping to find evidence that Azula is hatching some huge rebellion to dethrone her father and destroy everything the Fire Nation has worked for over the last hundred years...! And he’s determined to unravel her plans, whatever they may be. But while that’s how Shaofeng sees her, Ozai doesn’t think Azula wants his crown to the point of trying to kill him, he’s sure she would never do anything like that because even in her rebellions, she’s been loyal to Ozai in her own way... so, strangely, he trusts her, to a fault. It’s not like he thinks she can do no wrong, but up until now he doesn’t think she’d do anything quite as dangerous as rebelling against him.

#anon #ask #ozai

[velociraptoraddict]

So, I've been sitting on this thought for a while now and I finally decided to just sit down and try to put it into words to see if anyone else experiences this too?

I see a LOT of people here on Tumblr are about to watch a show or movie and analyze it and point out subtle stuff that I never would have noticed (example: different fighting types used in Avatar the last Airbender, people are able to point out times that a firebender uses water like moves for lighting, or when a waterbender uses Earth like moves for ice)

and they'll also point out just really in-depth stuff about character motivation or the subtle swish of an eyebrow means "X really does love so-and-so!" And...that's just stuff I don't or can't see? (Seriously, unless a ship is canon, I cannot see it?? Like, How can you guys see two people standing next to each other and be like "yup they're in love"?) Maybe in animation I can recognize some of the subtle stuff better...but in live action, I seem to miss a lot of those subtle cues that everyone else loves to makes gifs from. And more often than not I completely miss anything in the background unless the camera is focused and we're meant to notice it (ie, a character slipping on ice to lighten an otherwise serious moment)

Same thing with comics, I read a strip and feel I understood it, then in the comments someone will point out something subtle that I completely missed but with a second look i can see it's clearly there (mostly a lot of background stuff like a water stain in the shape of a broken heart, or the gradual shift in colors to show mood) a lot of it seems to go right over my head for some reason?

And yet

And yet when it comes to reading? I am amazing at picking up all the subtle clues and analyzing the characters behaviors and motives!? I've known for a while now that I've been pretty good with character analysis when it comes to reading, but recently I was reading a fic that was amazingly well foreshadowed on who the hidden true villain was; and I started piecing it all together and ended up guessing correctly almost 10 chapters before the reveal!? (It was about 200k words into a 300k fic, so plenty of time for the foreshadowing and build up to the reveal) And the author said I was the only person to ever guess it, and looking at the comments in the chapter where the villain was revealed everyone else appeared to be completely flabbergasted!? But, all the clues were there? Sure, it was a tough mystery to solve, but all the clues were there, and fit so nicely together and pointed so clearly to who the villain was. I was actually confused that I was the only one to guess it (I can understand being the first to guess so soon, but to be the first ever??)

It's...it's such a weird experience for me, cause I'm so used to taking things at face value in shows and such and not being able to see past the surface of what's on screen. I'm so used to having other people point out the hidden secrets, that when I found something where I was actually the one able to see below the surface and root out all the hidden secrets that others have missed? I was a little stunned to say the least

I think I finally understands where people get all these wild ideas about "I think when the characters do this, the creater meant this", because I now know what it feels like to spot those things for myself. I don't think I'll ever be able to see it in a show or movie or comic...but I'm pretty confident that I'll be able to see all the hidden meanings in books going forward, and that helps me understand where/how a lot of people here are able to pick out and dissect all the little things in these different medias, so I can respect that ability more now too

#personal rant #not really sure what else to tag this as? #meta musings #sometimes typing stuff out helps get it out of my mind so i can stop thinking about it and focus on stuff i want to focus on #like editing chapter 14 or watching Legend of Kora. since i finished avatar the last Airbender ive been making my way through kora

[prettyboyporter]

Comment tag game!

Share (excerpts from) 5 of your favorite comments you got on your fics (etc) this year and tag some friends!

I was tagged on this ages ago by @klayr-de-gall , @kingsandsaints , and @thelittlestgremlin and never got around to doing this, and it took me so long because I knew it would be VERY HARD for me to pick only 5 comments that mean a lot to me. As content creators know, comments are AMAZING GIFTS given by readers when they want to publicly state what they liked about a fic and seriously make creators feel validated and like what they do is worthwhile. It’s FUEL and I love every single comment I’ve received.  So, in no particular order, here are MORE THAN FIVE. I literally could not narrow it down to five:

From @missroserose on Slippery When Wet:

I'm sure a bunch of people have commented on this bit already, but I don't even care. It's amazing. It killed me. I'm dead and it's all because you're amazing. <3

Ambrosia was referring to a Billy’s first kiss with Steve, a moment I’d described using extended sound/musical metaphors, and I really appreciated that she’d copy/pasted that bit to outline as a favorite as it was a part I was particularly proud of writing. 

From @lynn76 on Slippery When Wet: 

This is so great- it reads like a dream come true, like I could see it happening like a movie. I wish I could be a director and make a movie of it. Love, love it! I'm gonna comment again with favorite lines AFTER I sleep! Thank you again, for all your hard work, Tracy.

To know that the person for whom I’d written the fic really enjoyed it means everything. 

From Manniface on ao3 on Boldly Go: 

I love all of this and want 4 seasons if a TV show.

I WANT FOUR SEASONS OF A TV SHOW OF MY OWN FIC TOO LMAO. A harringroe Trek AU was a goddamn BLAST to write. 

From @ihni on Rivers Til I Reach You: 

"You are a son to all of us now" - this is where I got tears in my eyes, although I didn't let them fall until Max and Lucas and Dustin decorated his apartment and hugged him, and he let himself be loved. Ugh, that broke me a little. Christmas, and people doing nice things for each other, and someone who didn't think he'd ever have these things, having these things... I am weak, so weak, for those things.

And his scars. Him reading them all wrong, and Steve infusing them with love and adoration with every kiss. Maaan, I love scars. Because they're proof that you lived through something horrible but survived; got through it. And Billy did that. He got through the horrible thing, and now he's being rewarded with all the things he could never have dreamt about: love, a town full of people who wants him to do well, and people to help and support him.

Ihni really hit the nail on the head with what I wanted readers to take away from this fic: a town full of people who wanted to help and support Billy as well as Steve, who wants to infuse all of his love into Billy, into his scars. 

From @uncle-keery on Take Me with U: 

GUESS WHOOOS BACCKKKK

LOL so that was uncle-keery’s .. 4th?? comment on the fic. She truly took the “leave a comment since you can’t leave another kudos” rule of thumb to heart haha. I love that. 

From Anon on ao3 on Take Me with U: 

So this has to be one of my favourite fics ever. This line "So for the first time, Billy allowed himself to be touched, in this secluded part of the beach with rustling grass and warm sun and Steve’s long fingers." TRULY got me like nothing else. Their tenderness here with each other and like the camaraderie and just EVERYTHING. ALL OF IT. <333

From @sarahstarkiller on Take Me with U: 

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. SOFT BOYS BEING SOFT; CAN MY HEART HANDLE IT? BARELY. Honestly though, Tracy, WOW. Well done. So beautiful. I myself *felt* the sun and the sand on Billy’s shoulder and I could smell the smoke in Steve’s hair. GOD, the part about Steve calling Billy’s birthmark his?? I am deceased. That is so sweet and I’m so glad his birthmark is finally getting the recognition it deserves!! May I also note: “Steve kissed him.” So simple, so effective, and yet my heart flew out of my chest. I LOVE THIS AND I LOVE YOU. WOW.

I was so, SO happy to give a reader specific details to walk away with. That means a lot, and Sarah picking out those details meant I’d done a good job. 

From Panoraia on ao3 on Take Me with U: 

It made me feel things i havent felt in a looong fucking time. Like literal butterflies. I thought i was too old for that shit. But naah. My hands were shaking in a train on the way to work. Thanks for that. Also fuck you. But mostly thank you. For writing and sharing and all that. My day is much better now.

I love it when people say where they were when they read it and their reaction in that moment. Plus the “fuck you. But mostly thank you.” had me rolling laughing, lol. I adore this comment. 

From @flippyspoon on Boldly Go: 

I'M SO GLAD I DIDN'T THINK TO MUCH ABOUT TNG AND BETAZOIDS TO REMEMBER 'IMZADI' (I read the book 'Imzadi' back in the day even lol). BECAUSE WHAT A GUT PUNCH. HE CALLED STEVE IMZADI I'M DEAD DEEEEEAAD. WHY CAN'T THIS BE A REAL SHOW THAT I CAN WATCH OR READ FOR LIKE 300K WORDS LOL.

To have another Trek fan comment about how much they loved the fic and want like MORE fic or even a show is a top compliment lol but like it was a SPECIAL moment for me to work the word imzadi into the fic, and I’m SO glad it was meaningful for flippy, too. 

From @granpappy-winchester -- an excerot of her comment on Boldly Go: 

I know literally nothing about any of the Star Trek things except they involve space and there are aliens and like, DUDE, I love how accessible your story is!! You made it very easy to follow along for someone who is super unfamiliar with any of this universe. AND I LOVE that Billy is an empath! It fits him so well and it adds this bit of mystery to him too because he can read Steve's emotions so well but there's always going to be a 'WHY does he feel this way??' question tacked on which has the possibility of being very conflicting for the two of them (and then you have Steve who doesn't have that ability to read Billy's emotions but at the same time it seems like he CAN, like he knows Billy so well it doesnt matter if he's an empath or not, he KNOWS Billy). AND OMG. Billy standing up for Steve to his dad. Like. Goddamn so sweet.

This is but a sample of the kind of comment that granpappy-winchester (LazyBaker on ao3) leaves on fics. Sara’s comments ALWAYS describe how the fic makes he feel, points out specific details and lines, and more than anything -- they make you feel VALUED as a writer. Getting a comment from Sara is one of the greatest things you could ask for as a writer. 

I’m gonna tag some writers and also artists, and if you’d like to recognize some of your fav comments, please feel free to do so! @wrecked-fuse @granpappy-winchester @sparkleeye @kyrosh @gothyringwald @dobetterbillyhargrove @wingedbears @cherry-toxic @sarahstarkiller @ihni

#commenting #tag game #long post #sorry this is so long ugh i couldn't like cut it down after i'd already made it lol

[prorevenge]

How a management consultant fired himself...

I am not exactly sure if its the right section to post in as its a revenge story but not a planned revenge.

​

It all started when I made the decision to work independently after school. Me and my still best friend came up with a project idea, unfortunately I cant tell too much about as its still ongoing but not yet finished.

Anyway, it is a project with the potential to throw off a lot of profit and became somehow known in our local investor scene, thats why we had serious offers very quick and were both happy to sign a contract with a fairly big company securing us 250k to work with. (I know it sounds like a lot but it was barely enough to cover our costs the first 6 months)

After the 6 months we had to present our progress in front of the comittee of said company, we all knew them except one guy. He was a management consultant and constantly interrupted us with bullshit, ok some of his questions were ''good'', but it was mostly just bad mouthing us. Because this presentation played a huge part in keeping this project alive and financed for another 6 month, we got more and more insecure up to the point where we both thought its over. We took a short break and argued about wether or not we should even continue this presentation, we came to the point that we should continue but our hopes were crushed. (Pls keep in mind we are both young and never dealt with people that demanding, the buisness world is rough)

Right at the moment we wanted to go back into the room the branch manager came to us and told us how we shouldnt mind said consultant too much as he is the son of big boss sister and is just here cause big boss decided that they needed to be checked through. This gave us a little of our lost hope back, and we went through the second part more confident kinda ignoring C (C is consultant now I shouldve given him a nickname earlier)

After the whole event was over we had to wait 3 days until we knew if we can continue working or had to search for a new sponsor AND pay a fine for not delivering what we promised.

3 Days went by fast and we got told that they wont finance the project again and that our contract was expired. FUCK!

Well fast-forward a lot of begging other sponsors going on events and trying to get someone to support us again. We found an even bigger company who was more than happy to help us out, they immediately paid the fine (gladly our old donor didnt take us to court cause we were within the time frame) and almost doubled our old budget (I cant talk in numbers its part of the contract).

fast-forward another 2 months.

We were on an expo, where people with ongoing projects in a specific field are able to present their stuff to investors behind closed doors. It was on this event we met the CEO's of the company we worked with at first and they were interested to say the least. You might guess that C was there as well, being dragged from table to table like a little kid always nodding to everything big boss said but never getting any approval from his side. As they approached our table and we started explaining their eyes lid up. Big boss offered us 300k for a 30% share, it was at this moment Mark (a consultant from our current donor) stepped in and talked with big boss for almost an hour just far enough away so we couldnt hear it. This left us alone with C and 3 other dudes. C went on about how we just talking big but wont be able to deliver and how he already analyzed us blah blah blah, always making sure big boss wont hear him. After big boss and Mark came back they presented us a payment plan, but we declined before they finished. Mark didnt understand but he was about to. We told big boss how we think that they arent the right donor as we already worked with them (He didnt know anything about it as the branch managers of each individual office are responsible for handling the financing of projects independently). We explained how C already analyzed us and that we think we dont fit into their business model. Big boss looked angrier and angrier with every second, eventually interupting us by asking C if we tell the truth. He tried to deny some allegations, but we kept on going, talking about how he disrespected our ideas and us as persons. This left big boss raging, basically screaming....

​

Big Boss: WHAT POSITION DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE TO MAKE SUCH IMPORTANT DECISIONS

C: I..... ehm...... ugh.... but they didnt even have a diploma and this guy (pointing at me) didnt even go to university.

Big Boss: WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? THEIR PROJECT COULDVE BEEN OUR FLAGSHIP, WE NEED THEM ON BOARD

C: I thought you wanted me to......

Big Boss: I WANTED MY SISTER TO STOP WHINING IN MY EARS ABOUT HOW YOU COULDNT FIND A JOB

C: But I.....

Big Boss: NO I AM TALKING NOW YOU JUST SHUT UP, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS AND YOU CAN BE DAMN SURE THAT YOU DONT HAVE A JOB TOMORROW. YOU LIED TO ME ABOUT (insert location of the office) FINANCING A DEAD END PROJECT. YOU TOLD ME THAT THEY WILL GO BANCRUPT IF I DONT STEP IN.

C: I thought......

Big Boss: NO NOT AT ALL, NOT EVEN A SECOND, THATS THE PROBLEM. NOW GET OUTTA HERE BEFORE I LOOSE MY SHIT.

​

After that 2 minutes of complete outrage he took a deep breath facing us and said double the first 2 months and 5% less share we just looked at Mark who laughed and said deal. We all gave each other hands C awkwardly standing a few metres away from us. Big boss faced him a last time telling him to finally get lost. C responded with how they carpooled which big boss ignored as he rang his mum and told her how she should pick up her idiot son. There he was a man in his late twenties getting picked up by his mum. We laughed at this incident as they walked away Big boss still talking with her mum on the phone explaining what her son did while completely ignoring C's begging. We felt GREAT. We knew that we didnt need to get another donor on board so we just packed and went out for a great dinner.

(source) story by (/u/ninasocean)

#prorevenge #by /u/ninasocean #pro revenge #revenge stories #pro revenge stories #pro #revenge #last10

[radfempnw]

Beloved women and girls, my Amazon sisters,

As a member of the Board of Directors of Purple (WWTLC’s fiscal sponsor) and as one of the faces of this fundraising campaign, I need to speak plainly with you. I ask you to take the time to read this.

>>> AMAZON SUPPORT FOR THE LAND IS PHENOMENAL! The support you are giving to WWTLC and the dream of our occupying The Land, our Motherland, forever is jaw-droppingly impressive. Together we have achieved so much in such a short time, by pulling together the way we just did on Giving Tuesday. This effort is hard to compare to conventional nonprofit fundraising efforts, but the proportion of us who are active donors and the amount we have donated are pretty much unheard of. I THANK YOU WITH ALL MY HEART FOR ALL OF YOUR EFFORTS AND EVERY CONTRIBUTION ON BEHALF OF THE LAND!

>>> AUTUMN APPEAL IN TROUBLE And yet, as we all see, this Autumn Appeal fundraiser is not doing as well as we need it to. It is, in fact, a very heavy lift for our community. Some of us are simply low on resources for the moment, given the ordinary circumstances of most women and the natural and unnatural disasters we are living through. Some are hesitant to give more because they are anxious about the viability of the project, if it requires this constant urgent fundraising to sustain it.

>>> THIS APPEAL IS A UNIQUELY HEAVY LIFT It is important to realize that this first year is unique and especially hard. We are learning--and inventing--on the job as we shape the new form of this community. At the same time, we are faced with the sort of situation you may know from renting an apartment: to get in at all, you have to come up with first month, last month and a security deposit. In our case, it is a $300K down payment, a budget for 2017 and a budget for 2018 all within one calendar year. Dear Goddess!

>>> WWTLC MUST HAVE A WORKABLE BUDGET IN ADVANCE We have known from the beginning that we will always need to raise money. But we will never face a crunch quite like this again. It is essential for the directors of WWTLC to know for sure up front what funds they will have available for each year's budget, if they are to plan well and to make grounded decisions about what we can attempt in that year. The organization can't keep living hand-to-mouth, and our community can't stand the strain of constant emergency fundraising.

>>> If we can give the board a reasonable budget to work with in 2018 by the end of this year, we will all be able to take a break from scrambling for money. You will not see another do-or-die fundraising pitch until the next Autumn Appeal, for the 2019 budget. There might be a Spring fundraiser specifically to gather funds to pay down the principal on the land contract, there might be small drives for specific expenditures, but those would be optional—even down-right celebratory—in a way that providing the funds to meet the necessities of the coming year, each year, is not.

>>> IF WE FAIL TO MEET THE CURRENT GOAL OF $400K... The women of the WWTLC Board worked hard to come up with a fundraising goal that would cover the non-negotiable expenses to hold The Land and to run the organization, and would allow for some careful development and growth in 2018. If we are able to raise somewhat less than we set our sights for, but enough to cover the mandatory expenses, the board will make hard decisions about which hopes will have to be deferred.

If, by the end of 2017, we have failed to come up with the non-negotiable $230,000 that is necessary for WWTLC just to hold The Land, then there will not be a break. Fundraising will continue until we have that rock-bottom minimum. Amazon Nation is not about to allow our homeland to be lost. But we will not be able to turn our attention to the other work we need to do together, and we will have to postpone our next meetings among the ferns.

>>> WHILE FUNDRAISING WILL BE ALWAYS WITH US, IT WILL NOT ALWAYS BE THIS INTENSE. I hope that, knowing that, you will be able to GIVE IT ONE MORE HEAVE BY DECEMBER 31. To contribute: https://wwtlc.org/donate

>>> EVEN IF YOU HAVE NO MONEY TO SPARE, YOU CAN HELP: ⁃ Help us find the many, many women who have loved The Land and don’t yet even know that we are saving it. Point them to the Facebook pages, the website, and to sign up at [email protected]. ⁃ Take Toni Armstrong Jr. up on “1000 Amazons,” her brilliant idea of micro-fundraisers, that cost almost nothing but allow us to have some fun together while pooling resources. https://wwtlc.org/fundraising/ ⁃ Plan to make monthly donations, so that you can afford to make the contribution you would like. ⁃ Be creative like our sisters dying socks, knitting pussy hats, stamping bracelets, auctioning their art to earn donations. ⁃ Create more Facebook fundraisers and rope in your family and acquaintances with the sheer passion of your dream for The Land. ⁃ Dig up festie treasures and contact Toni about auctioning them off….

YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE ABLE TO DO; WE KNOW THAT EACH OF US WILL DO WHAT SHE CAN.

With much love and rising hope, for women, for girls, forever!

Bone (Communications Director, Purple)

#michigan #not pnw #helping #walkerville