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is-the-fire-real · 2 months

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Whither the pro-Pals a year from now?

I feel that "fandom as politics" most adequately covers the behavior of pro-Palestinians on Tumblr, and being an Old Hand At Fandom, this gives me some impressions on what the future holds. I know this is a matter of great concern for those of us on Tumblr who are their favorite targets.

My estimates are not scientific, and are based on experience in seeing the rise and fall of many fandoms. I am not psychic and make no guarantees.

The Old Guard: The smallest contingent of pro-Palestinian activists will be permanently, irrevocably radicalized by propaganda, and they will not go back. Truthfully, there is nowhere for them to go. They have burned all of their online goodwill invested in this fandom, and as the rest fall away, they will rage at their own allies, burning those bridges as well. These people are just as hateful and insufferable IRL as they are online, so they will know nobody who isn't also pro-Pal. They will remain behind in the fandom. When it later repopularizes as Tumblr rediscovers the fandom due to future content being released in the form of another war, the Old Guard will snark and brag about how they carried the torch while everybody else abandoned the fandom of The Great Cause. The Old Guard will constitute the BNFs of the pro-Pal fandom and their closest friends, at most 10% of the current fandom.

The Fond Recollectors: A lack of new, shiny, emotionally-evocative content for the pro-Pal fandom will drop it, the same as how many fandom members abandon a fandom once it is cancelled or after endless delays for new material. These folks will not think of their time in the pro-Pal fandom as wasted. They will look back on this time of trauma, war, and upheaval as one of the most exhilarating and joyful times of their lives. They will generally act as though they weren't part of the fandom, but when they find people who used to be in the fandom, it will be like finding somebody who shares a fandom you used to adore. They will whisper, with smirking conspiratorialism, of how one time they got a Jewish--uh, Zionist--person to deactivate their Tumblr account. They will confess among one another how many times they sent "kys" messages to Zionists, and giggle. It will be like ex-Johnlockers lol'ing among themselves about having stalked the actors IRL. If the fandom gets new content in the form of a war, then the Fond Recollectors will rejoin with glee. They will accept the Old Guard's hostility ("Where were you all this time?") as their just punishment. Otherwise, Fond Recollectors will be mid-grade antisemitic in whatever new political or media fandoms they join. They will constitute roughly 30% of the current pro-Pal fandom, and will mostly be composed of folks who post extremely prolifically but are not currently BNFs.

The Shamefaced Ex-Fans: Whether we like it or not, most folks get caught up in a fandom cycle due to hype from friends and socmed pressure. This creates a peak of interest which is followed by burnout. A person in this category engaged constantly and thoughtlessly with pro-Palestinian fandom content for hours every day, yet never engaged with purpose or by creating transformative works. Once the fandom fails to produce enough new content, they will look around, dazed, and wonder what the hell they even liked about it in the first place. Now out of the hype cycle, Ex-Fans will be able to look more critically at their behavior. They will not recognize their Jew-hate, but they will recognize the silliness of a lot of their behavior. "Gosh, I can't believe I thought reblogging on Tumblr would end a war" will take the place of phrases like "... would make that ship become canon" in their lexicon. They will look back at this time with embarrassment; again, not because they understand the harm they have done, but because they understand it's "cringe" to care about stuff that's not pluperfect and doesn't achieve the stated goal. They will be the least apparently-antisemitic and the most likely to make friends with Jewish people online, because they will change their names and will not admit what they were doing during the Hamas/Israel war. If the pro-Pal fandom gets new content in the future--again, in the form of a new war--the Ex-Fans will primarily fall silent. They will be overwhelmed by shame (not guilt, and not responsibility). They will not rejoin unless dragged into it, but they will not speak out to support Jewish people. They will constitute roughly 60% of the current fandom.

These are bleak estimates, because a newly revitalized pro-Pal fandom will not need the Shamefaced Ex-Fans. The core of the fandom, the Old Guard and the Fond Recollectors, will do what all passionate cores of fandoms do in these situations: recruit. And while most of these recruits are destined to become Ex-Fans in the far future, many will join the other two categories, being partially or permanently radicalized into a movement of antisemitism.

In a sense, what we are seeing is what Tumblr would have been like if Moffat had said "Johnlock will never be canon, and it's all because of the Jews".

#jumblr #antisemitism #antisemitism on tumblr #leftist antisemitism #politics as fandom #not intended as an ironclad prediction of the future #based on my own meandering experience #is-the-fire-real original #feeling cute may panic and delete later

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nanjokei · 11 months

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further guidance for newcomers coming from reddit

hi arriving redditors. here are some things i don't see most posts mention. this is for people who conquered the baby steps of joining the site. i think they're pretty important! also me clarifying on some stuff i've seen people word very vaguely consistently in their guides

under the cut because it's a chunky set of bullet points! with a few that also discuss how to keep yourself in a safe and fun browsing environment for yourself and others (mostly quality of life)

if you have any questions either send me an ask (anonymously is ok too) or reply to the post

you can enable a custom theme that shows on the web in your blog settings, if you so wish (blog settings > visibility) and then (custom theme toggle to on) this is the classic tumblr experience, but it's ok to want to hide your blog from the public. however you won't be able to link stuff on your blog to people without tumblr accounts

you can find custom tumblr themes by searching resource blogs like theme hunter or just in the tags in general (like "tumblr theme" or just "theme" and see where the other tags you may find to refine your search takes you)

tumblr is currently trying to enact changes to appeal to "new users" that make the website less friendly to its current inhabitants, such as fucking with quality of life and muscle memory and even stuff integral to the culture of the site. if you see people complaining, i highly advise against going "this sounds kind of nothingburger" and assisting in sending tickets to support the drive against such changes

there is a 250 post per day limit. you probably won't hit it though.. maybe? but people used to make post limit blogs (seperate email) for that. but that is for heavy usage users.

you can make as many sideblogs as you want. you are free to divulge whether or not it's you. of course use common sense to gauge whether or not it matters. but side blogs can be anything: maybe you want to categorize things, maybe you wanna make one into a huge fan page/blog for a specific hobby/celeb/show/game/etc, maybe a quieter space, maybe posts you feel don't belong on your blog, maybe even a blog where you reblog resources to exclusively. the possibilities are endless! (maybe not for porn, it's a little harder to skirt by these days even with muh community labels)

a lot of posts are incredibly vague about whether or not you can leave comments on reblogs. i think it truly depends. for example, if it's praise for artwork, i feel like it is truly best left in the tags. the artist can see it still! it shows up in their notifs when you reblog. in comparison, when it comes to funny text posts and pictures, you can comment as you like, but consider TPO (time place occasion). it helps to check the notes (comments only filter) to see if the quip or comment you wanna make has already been made or if OP made further comments later. again, it's a call to use your judgement and everyone has a different tolerance for this kind of thing

i see many people or perhaps most came from LGBTQ+ centric subreddits so i am surprised i'm not seeing this mentioned often: there are unfortunately a lot of terfs here. please stay safe. install shinigami eyes and engage in blocking sprees whenever possible.

in account settings, not blog settings, there is a section called "content you see". it has filtered tags and filtered post content. the difference is filtered tags is specifically for tags, for example, if you want to hide a certain show you don't like, you can have the site apply a peek-a-boo filter on it (this content contains #TAG, as in click to view). you ask, what if the person on my dash doesn't tag it as that? that's fine! it also takes into account the original poster's tags. the OP didn't tag it? then filtered post content might help. MIGHT. it's pretty helpful and unlike twitter's mute list, as far as my experience, it is not broken. for example, if you write [SHOW NAME THAT YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE] in plain letters (with aliases as seperate entries just to be safe) it will filter any post that has the words in the body of the post. pretty useful! use this to curate your dash further or even filter out triggers.

speaking of tags. a lot of people are also vague about this. i'll say it clearly. you can add whatever tags you want to a reblog. there's no limit (aside from character lim per tag)! there's no social faux pas, unless you're being backhanded at someone's creative work, like reblogging just to dunk on it or going "i like the art but not the character" etc. when it comes to your own posts, try to avoid tagging irrelevant tags (for example, if you're making a lot of posts that are tangentially about cardcaptor sakura, think about if it belongs in the tag or not. think of it as whether or not it deserves an OC flair on reddit). again, people's tolerance differs, but especially on older media and slow tags people do not appreciate random tangential text posts (for example "i wanna watch ccs!" and nothing else)

in terms of culture, tumblr has a weird balance between "you can ask for context" and "lurk for 10,000 moar years". i would not know myself. i've been here for 12+ years *shrug* you'll have to gauge it for yourself. most things you can google "[tumblr user] callout" and figure out from there LOL (yes that's usually what happens). i DO encourage trying to garner it from context, especially for terms.

due to the looser moderation(?) on here, LGBTQ+ and other minorities use their own discretion reclaim slurs freely. join in, or put the slurs in your filters. it's fine not to join in as that's your personal comfort, but this is a heads up that the culture is like this since i'm not sure how the moderation is in places like r/196 are. (sorry i used reddit for entirely different things ><)

DO NOT TAG D0NATION POSTS WITH #D0NATION OR ANY OTHER VARIATION. this is SO important. it's best not to tag donation posts AT ALL. tumblr internally flags them and suppresses the post. just reblog silently (d0nate if you can) and move on (censoring just in case lol)

search is useless for finding specific posts. give up before you even try. your best bets are google, asking for help on the dashboard, or just hoping it shows up on your dashboard one day (it probs will, maybe not immediately when you need it though)

i called old tags "slow" but not dead earlier: tags Do Not Die (though some just kind of randomly get wiped or lose posts, idk, it is some post-2018 indexing weirdness) so you can find fanart and posts from 2012 and it's ok to reblog! the essence of tumblr is the continued circulation of people's creations

please do not repost screenshots of tumblr posts unless they are no longer accessible (reblogs locked for example) 😭 i am seeing this happen already. this is the one thing from reddit you're gonna have to let go of. twitter and other place screenshots are OK (probably, some people don't like them). but don't let your page look like one of those r/(etc) post aggregate bots on twitter is what i'm saying. once you explore a tag enough times you'll know what is usually appropriate to post (usually derivative meme templates are OK, but don't overdo it (tho this just falls under "dont spam") (also this is MY personal preference, so if the climate of the tag houses a lot of memes, go ahead!)

in general reposting content that isn't your's is kinda eh. especially reposting people's art without explicit permission. there are art reposters who in the modern day usually ask for permission, of course there are internet spelunkers who repost content from old web and dead sites. there's a lot of nuance, but i highly discourage reposting things you didn't make yourself unless it's stuff like official art and whatnot. photography and other stuff from other people, use your judgement. and as an aside i know "stolen memes" are r/196 and other meme subreddit cultures but it's not exactly appreciated here and i feel like if the reposting gets out of hand tumblr users might get real tired of it. the humor isn't really the same here in that sense, i suggest posting them in a sideblog that archives such things so they aren't lost and/or keeping them in your community tags. ofc no one can stop you!! but the whole highly derivative fried meme thing is very reddit. the culture could not be more different even if we are similar in many ways. i mean this in the nicest way possible >_< if you're not sure, DON'T REPOST.

this is just advice from me, but when liveblogging a show, it's nice to tag it with a unique tag, such as #[your name/nick] plays [game]. i find it's ok to tag series name to some posts that are more substantial, people are happy to see others enjoy what they love, but using a unique tag also helps people track YOUR liveblog since they may save the tag to look at :)

put your age or whether or not you're an adult somewhere where people can see, (and your pronouns too or lackthereof). whether or not if it's on your bio, or an about page, or a carrd. please. it's a matter of curation and safety. some people don't wanna follow minors by accident and vice versa, just as a means to curate their space

people write alt text and image descriptions in the post bodies pretty often. yes it's built into tumblr, but either some people forget or the feature... refuses to work that time. yes it's BROKEN. if you feel like you can contribute alt text for an image in an adequate fashion, go ahead!

try not to reblog people's personal posts. asking people never hurts!

you can restrict non-followers from replying to your posts, or turn off replies all together. as far as i know it's not possible for seperate posts unfortunately, just a blog-wide toggle. when replying to someone specifically, be sure to @ them so they can see it!

for a long time, only the first 5 tags you used in an original post mattered. a lot of people still repeat this, but in my experience this seems to have... changed?? i can't say for sure, but my posts appear in tags beyond the first five. just to be sure, tag the most relevant things first! (or not, if you have your own strategy LOL)

you're free to not tag trigger warnings (it's nice to do it for others tho especially if they ask) but please tag flashing images as such. #epilepsy warning, #flashing, #flashing image, #flashing, etc.

REPORT BOT BLOGS. it blocks them for you anyway. just blocking doesn't do anything for anyone

you can add other people to a sideblog to make it a group blog. this is how blogs with mods work, or even collectives, it has a lot of uses in general so have fun with it! be wary it requires getting someone's email so be safe about that and try to do it with people you trust.

this is advice from me since i noticed after publishing this post that a lot of reddit users don't tag things. you don't have to btw!! but my advice that brightens up the website: if you reblog cool art, writing, music or photography (taken by OP) and you like it a lot, i highly recommend leaving compliments in the tags. we live in an age where creative creation is increasingly unappreciated and people are quiet silent— creators get no feedback therefore no encouragememt to keep creating. this is more like a personal plea, but like to reblog ratios have become DIRE. people are apathetic and scared to interact with people's creations even though on here they are actively ecouraged to. if you like art or fic etc i even more highly recommend you reblog it. likes don't do anything! reblogs = more eyes on it. let's support each other's creative endeavors 🩷

don't fall for the trap of trying to make tumblr into reddit, or trying to recreate the feeling of a subreddit. it's not gonna work. try to adapt. it's easier said than done but lol. rome wasn't built in a day. operate your blog like your own space rather than trying to recreate a hub. the tolerance for trying to change tumblr culture is super low and a lot of people who are much meaner than me will probably try to bully the idea into the ground. and people DO get mean. (like playground namecalling, but people have no reservations about it, so it's stuff that would probably get you banned on reddit)

if your post gets traction and the note notifications annoy you, deleting the original post will make the notifs stop coming. a lot of people reblog the post to keep it on their blog then delete the original to effectively "mute" the notifications permanently.

#196 #r/196 #reddit #r/tumblr #r/curatedtumblr #curatedtumblr #reddit blackout #reddit boycott #reddit migration #r/traa #i hope this reaches people bc i feel like some of this stuff is important #traa #r/ftm

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ephemerasnape · 26 days

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You post a lot of stuff that is considered dark or disturbing. Do people get frustrated about it?

I usually avoid mentioning that I'm into it and lately been thinking that it is a very unhealthy situation. Should I really be hiding a part of myself for the sake of some internet person who I don't know because they might get traumatized by the idea?

You seem very comfortable with your fantasies and preference. Is there way to do the same and still fit in the fandom?

Well consider this can of worms open!

Honestly, until recently, no, and I have been posting dark stuff since.. July or thereabouts? Since then people have mostly left me alone to do my thing.

But someone getting upset over the mere existence of my content doesn't bother me. The only thing that does bother me is when I feel blindsided by a negative response that I didn't really foresee as a possibility.

Feel free to hate my content. That shouldn't translate to hating me. Trust me - I hate a lot of other people's content too!

I understand that there is a risk of a negative response when I share something truly disturbing, so when I put my dark fiction, audios, et cetera, out there (some of which disturb even me), it doesn't surprise me that some people react badly to them. I am prepared for it to a degree. It's not ideal, but it's something I usually just laugh at. Actually, I am a little surprised it has not happened more frequently.

As far as fitting in with "the fandom," or fitting in anywhere else for that matter, I gave up on all that around the age of 12, so... it's a struggle I simply cannot relate to.

Black sheep? Who you callin' a herd animal???

I just do my own thing. It would be nice to feel more part of the fandom, but the whole "outside-looking-in" syndrome is a permanent fixture in my life.

Does it seem to an outside observer as if I fit in with the Hogwarts Legacy fandom? If so, it's probably a "fake it til you make it" type of thing. I am not in any discords except my own, none of the "big names" ever really reblog or interact with my stuff except on rare occasions.. I try to talk to people and they ignore me, and that's fine (OK IT'S NOT FINE 😭).

I do fucked up shit with characters that are far from the most popular - some of my more mainstream stuff has gotten a lot more traction. But I also know a lot of people enjoy my work who do not wish to draw attention to that fact.

I am decidedly and passionately myself, at great social cost at times. Being less authentic is something I am actually working on, in order to have a more robust social life at the very least, but it honestly requires too much emotional work from me to behave in a way that doesn't feel authentic to me.

That said, I am lucky to have a small but dedicated group of witches who are either ardent fans of my work or are otherwise supportive of the kinds of fanworks (and jokes) I make. We have a discord if anyone wants to join. No doxxing required (saw a new HL discord that makes you submit a photo ID???? Hard pass.)

This being Tumblr, indulging in degenerate fandom stuff is kind of the point.

So, let's do it!

#asks #personal #hogwarts legacy fandom #darkfic #dark wizard smut

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my-writings-and-musings · 11 months

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How do you get the confidence to post your writing, and how do you get so many great ideas? I've been a writer since I was younger, and a friend of mine recommended I post my one-shots here. I post on Wattpad, but that place is slowly dying and is mostly only minors who don't know many of the universes.

Do you have any advice or recommendations for posting or writing?

Thank you!

Oh gosh, great ideas, me!? Asdfghjkl I am always surprised people enjoy my incredibly silly content so THANK YOU that is so touching to read!! As for your questions, let me try to answer them the best I can!

When it comes to posting confidence, I'm still working on that myself, as I'd say 98% of my ideas don't feel "good enough" to post. What I've learned is that the best way to have confidence in what you post is to accept the reaction it gets doesn't indicate its quality. I think a lot of people give up on art or writing because their first attempts at posting don't get much of a response, but that's actually super normal! I think a lot of people are also scared of criticism, which is very understandable as the internet is a nasty place, but I've had very few nasty experiences thank goodness! The hardest thing was starting up my blog and pushing through even when I wasn't getting asks or notes, and sticking with it led to my confidence increasing over time. I hope that makes sense!

As for ideas... I just write what makes me happy! I find I'm rather formulaic which really helps with writing self inserts, but I think a lot of my ideas arrive rather spontaneously, and I try to let real world inspiration help me whenever possible. You've probably noticed I'll mention when something inspires me on a story, like writing hurt/comfort after I've been sick or something similar!

I don't really know anything about wattpad, but I have had decent success here on Tumblr and AO3, but we are indeed in a complicated time for social media, so I don't have much advice on that front.

For my own suggestions; I have summarized a few below!

1. Write a lot, even if you don't get much of a response and feel some of it isn't up to par. Proving that you're here to stay can entice people to check you out more than the most well written piece, and I often find the most successful people on this site aren't the best writers, but the most consistent.

2. Support other writers, and every other type of creative! I think this one might be the hardest for me personally as I'm so shy, but you'll have a lot more fun creating if you support people the way you want them to support you. Reblog their work, leave comments, all that good stuff!

3. Try to have a system of organization! My fellow ADHD peeps can relate that this is HARD, but properly and consistently tagging your work goes a long way! It doesn't matter how good your work is if no one can find it.

#faq #writing advice #writing #writeblr

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galvanizedfriend · 2 years

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I was listening to a podcast today about fandom/fanish stuff and there was a discussion about the state of fandoms in general and how people seem to be interacting or responding less and less to content creators. It's something that's been happening all over, but it becomes more glaring in older fandoms that seem to be shrinking (such as my little piece of hellsite here). We could talk about reasons why and all, but I don't think there is one single reason. More like a combination of several different things. Fandom spaces moving to discord, people losing interest, newer fans having some different ideas of how to interact with stuff due to arriving in fandom with an experience that comes mostly from TikTok/Instagram/algorithm-driven platforms, etc.

I've written about this in the past, but I feel like it becomes more and more relevant with each passing year. Since I have some new followers as well, just wanted to remind yall of the importance of giving positive feedback to your fave fanish content creators.

The only way content creators have of knowing what they're doing is being seen and appreciated is if you tell them. And the only way their content can spread is if you help them. This is not to say you have to share and comment on stuff you don't like, but if you *do* enjoy it, then yes. Writing comments on tumblr or hearting posts are great, don't get me wrong. These are awesome and everyone loves them. But the only person who sees those are the OPs. The way to help content spread is to reblog it. On AO3, it's to comment and kudos the fics. That's how you make stuff stand out. I don't know why people won't even leave kudos anymore, it's literally just pressing a button, but it's been happening a lot.

I promise you there is nothing wrong with leaving comments on old fics or reblogging old stuff on tumblr. This is not instagram, nobody thinks you're stalking them. Doesn't matter if the story was posted a few days ago, a few weeks, or even a few years. Or if the gifset has been going around for a decade. I know I don't speak only for myself when I say it makes my day to know people are still reading my older fics, or starting a series that I finished writing years ago. And as for newer stuff - there is really no better way to encourage your fave writers and creators in general to keep doing what they do then to show them you're there. Doesn't matter if it's a single line of comment on AO3, or a reblog with no tags whatsoever on tumblr. It works just the same as long-ass comments and a gazillion screaming tags.

When you spend weeks working on something, hours every day, and it feels like nobody cares, it's really discouraging. Some people deal very well with doing stuff for themselves, and that's awesome, but most people get super motivated through validation. Be it to continue something, or to start something new. It can be super scary to share stuff with others publicly - it is for me, to this day, I get super nervous posting stuff, just freaking out about how people are going to react, and I know how important having this validation is for me, which is why I feel so strongly about this. I know I can consider myself somewhat lucky in my current fandom because I seem to get a kind of traction that not many authors do these days, at least with one of my fics, but even then it can feel a bit discouraging to see that general atmosphere of silent contemplation of stuff spreading.

I know we have loads of new people around, so please, please, don't underestimate the power of your support! It really does magic! Sometimes, getting an awesome comment might encourage people to continue stories they had practically abandoned. Or to post something new. Or to finish that update you've been waiting for. It does not bother anyone to know they have readers eager for their stuff, and when they do publish/post it, it's super important to let them know you were there and you appreciated it, because that's the only way we know. We cannot just guess.

So if there's any content creator out there that you follow, admire and whose work you'd like to see more of, be it a fic writer, or a video maker, or an artist, or someone who makes edits and gifsets, *anyone* creating stuff in your fandoms, don't hesitate to let them know. Show your support, KUDOS the stories, reblog their posts, leave comments whenever possible - *on the actual stories*, if possible! Let people know they're not screaming into the void. Fandom is also about community, and there is no better way to create that feeling than to share - experiences, ideas, content, anything. It's how we keep our blorbos alive and thriving even years after their original habitats have been extinct (or made toxic by crappy showrunners).

And as always, this is a reminder that my inbox is always open to whatever. If you want to share recs, talk about a fic you read, about the shows, silly blorbos, or if you have a thought or a question about something I've made, so long as it's not disrespecting anyone in fandom, all's fair. I do not mind at all.

Thanks for coming to my ted talk, hope you have a wonderful week!

#yokan talks #fandom stuff #fanfiction writing #podcast gave me thinky thoughts

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hopeymchope · 11 months

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Acknowledging my unexpected success/pondering my blogging future

Sometimes, instead of just posting about Danganronpa or anime in general, I veer off the unexpected path and post something totally unrelated. When I do this? It's mostly for myself; I never really expect to receive much of an audience.

Which is why the overwhelming success of my loooong post about the death of the Veronica Mars fandom has got me completely shocked. It might not be my most popular post ever yet, but it's escalating in exposure so quickly that I can easily picturing it getting there.

I'm grateful to so many fellow Tumblrinas (are we even still calling ourselves that) for their incredibly kind and enthusiastic responses to it. I've read EVERY SINGLE tag you've added, I've seen EVERY SINGLE reblog note, EVERY goddamn reply. And I'm just... gobsmacked. It's amazing to go to be a writer and finally, FINALLY feel like you wrote something a ton of people both READ and LIKED READING. Like, holy shit. Thank you so much. My day job should be so lucky! My fucking fanfics should be so lucky! lol

This, but with total sincerity.

I also feel a tad guilty, because that deep dive into the Murder of the Veronica Mars Fandom is so NON-INDICATIVE of my usual content on this blog. Which is why, in the wake of this massive response, I'm wondering if I should make a whole series of posts about fandom histories on here (tagging them as such), or maybe create a new side blog for those projects instead? Maybe make the side blog, then reblog such posts here as well? Or something?

...not sure whether any of that is a good idea right now. Posts of this type obviously take time, and they wouldn't be common in any arena, but investigating the history of fandoms I'm not even a part of is a casual hobby that I can get really passionate about at random intervals. So it'd be fun to go down this road again, and see if other people enjoy another such trip.

And maybe you/they wouldn't care! Maybe I just tapped into a hotbed of Burnt Marshmallows lurking on Tumblr. Maybe it doesn't matter what else I write such an essay about, because I need that established base to make people interested. But... I can't be sure until I try.

#navel gazing #veronica mars #fandom histories

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zgvlt · 2 years

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As a writer I wanted to ask if numbers (specifically likes or reblogs) matter to you? I want to start posting on Tumblr (reader-inserts for TWST too) but I'm scared I'll end up getting demotivated due to a lack of traction :( I know people say to just write for yourself but what would the point of posting it be then? I just wanted to know your opinion on this.

Oh my answer is going to be a little lengthy! I'll be answering this based on my own perceptions so it's totally fine if people think differently than me :>

Short answer: mostly yes, and i don't think it's a bad thing to care about numbers 😌 but dont let it consume you and as much as possible try not to let it discourage you from writing what you want!

Long answer: Personally, above all, feedback matters to me the most! Hearing what people think/if people enjoyed my fics is much more important that seeing numbers go up.

However in most cases feedback does count towards the numbers— other than feedback through asks, feedback tends to come in the form of reblogs (both reblog in text and tags) or in replies on Tumblr, which contribute to the notes count. Plus, because the tagging system isn't always... working, reblogs, which also contribute to notes and therefore numbers, are incredibly important in getting your work out there, thus getting feedback, which in turn usually gives fic writers the motivation to keep writing and posting. Likes, well, don't really do anything to get your stuff out there even though your notes will mostly be comprised of likes, but they're kind of cute to see, especially when it's a name you recognize like a "it's you again!" or a "wait that's someone i follow they liked something i wrote?"

Plus, I'm just a really big fan of looking at numbers, which is why I said my perception might be different. I like math and love statistics, so it's kind of satisfying seeing something go from 8 notes to a hundred.

Still, I honestly think the TWST community (even with some bad apples) has a lot of very supportive people when it comes to writers, who love giving writers attention, especially newer blogs. The community isn't perfect but it's a community consistently growing and a community that can never get enough of content, so there's always room for more fic writers, and artists in general, you know?

I think it never hurts to at least try and dip your toes in writing and posting! See I think the key thing when people connect writing for yourself to not caring about the numbers is to actually write for yourself and at your own pace? In my years of experience writing there were a few things that got me to stop. The first was just losing interest in the fandom, it's normal and it's okay, the second is lack of feedback, which if you've put out work you're happy enough to post it's on the audience's part to provide it, and the third is burnout from requests.

The thing is when you get requests, you work on it and there's this added pressure of getting it out quickly and making sure it has to be good enough for others to like it and not just yourself, and then if it gets little feedback and numbers, it feels like a double whammy? basically awful. of course writing for yourself doesn't mean never take requests, go for it especially if it's something that motivates you and you enjoy! but what i'm saying is try not to be too harsh or give yourself too much pressure so you enjoy the writing process and you have less regrets overall...

and well, sometimes you just have writing slumps and that's normal. If you ever encounter it I promise there's no harm in taking a break, maybe do other things until you find the motivation to write again. Most people do not have the motivation to pump out fics regularly without pause and you shouldn't pressure yourself to do so! Some days you'll probably find yourself writing a lot and some none at all and that's normal!

Anyway this post is getting long haha but yeah, I think just find a healthy balance— it's okay to care about the numbers but try not to stress too much over it, try your hand at posting, and if you do find yourself demotivated then remember to take appropriate measures whether it's to take a hiatus or writing for a different fandom or whatever you need to do

Plus, you know, general reminder that many writers leave due to lack of reblogs replies and feedback in general, and seeing people leave might discourage others from even starting, so as much as possible show your writers love even if it's just an ask 💖

#—nathyask #—anonnie #wow this post got long oops #hopefully my wording was alright #personally itd be a lie to say i didnt care about numbers #bc i do but mostly bc of what the numbers represent #like i enjoy writing for myself i still do write for myself above all #but its a wonderful feeling when something you wrote for yourself others also enjoy #but yk i also dont wanna be discouraging to say yes care about numbers only #just yk healthy balance care if you want but dont let it consume you #—banathyaqueue

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junibugs · 2 years

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i do agree with you for the most part but i also remember seeing a poll a while back where fic readers mostly found and read fics from seeing them via reblogs or on the dashboard after OP would post it as opposed to in the tags, i do think that, if at least a little, having a bigger following does help but idk.

yes it does play a bit into it! i'm not saying that recognition is based only on quality, but quality plays more a part then followers. on j*nisfics (i'm using as an example of a "big blog") my short little sentence lewds would get no more than maybe like four notes total.... here it is the same. here, because i only post short drabbles at MOST, i have little to no recognition or followers (the ones i do have, have followed me over from j*nisfics). it didn't matter how many followers i had, if people didn't like what i posted.... they didn't like it.

i have a small "platform" currently (i use that word VERY loosely) because i don't post content that my "targeted" audience enjoys. you would be surprised on how little people followed me over here, most likely because there was nothing on this blog and they didn't know when the next fic would be posted.

people follow you because they like what you post. and people like what you post if they find your post good. people reblog what they find great. if you want more likes, make better posts, if you want more reblogs, make great posts (this IS difficult though because over time, people have been treating tumblr like instagram when it's not— and thats apart of this obsession with followers)

this app doesn't work like instagram. you don't get promotions, or put on any special pages because of your account status. you get put on the 'stuff for you' page if people like what you're posting.

this app isn't instagram, both structurally and algorithmically, and once y'all understand that, it'll make the experience so much easier....

#tw: my opinion #tw: discourse

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kassaunjra · 3 years

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🍀 || ROLEPLAYING RULES AND GUIDELINES

🍀 [About the Mun] 🍀

• Hi and hello, I'm Rosaiel but you can call me Rosa for short! My main blog is Rosaiel; it's mostly for posting my art and reblogging stuff in general.

• I'm a 25-year-old digital artist who's technically a veteran roleplayer, as I have been making characters and roleplaying since my wee middle school years!

• I sort of took a couple years off from roleplaying due to some really bad experiences on a roleplaying website that with stay anonymous for now. However, I'm trying to get back into the swing of roleplaying as I genuinely miss it, so please bare with me!

• I'm non-selective for the most part; so long as you give me a little something to work with, then we're good to go!

• I usually try to match what you write, but sometimes I go overboard! I just really like to write; if I end up writing ten paragraphs, you by NO MEANS have to match that! Go to your own pace; contrary to popular belief, I will NOT be upset if you don't write the same anount as I do! xD

• If you don't want to roleplay and would much prefer to send asks instead, go for it!!! I love asks that delve into character development to be honest. I love thinking about my characters and asks often help me develop my characters in ways I never would have thought of myself. 👀

• I love reading tags??? Seriously some of y'all put some really interesting and funny comments in the tags. Keep 'em coming my funky lil' dudes!

• I also love talking to folks OOC (Out of Character)! If you want to send me an ask that's OOC just to talk, go right ahead! Just make sure you clearly mark it as OOC so I don't mistake it for an in-character reaction.

• Most of the artwork you'll see on this blog is mine; if it's not, it's either reblogged from another artist or it was a commission that I had permission to post here!

• I'm very friendly but also very shy, so if you want to roleplay, it might be easier if you approach me first. Sorry about that.

🍀 [ Roleplaying Rules ] 🍀

I know, I know. No one likes rules, but given the bad experiences I've had in the past, I need to lay down some rules.

• First of all, no hate. What-so-ever. I don't care if you don't like me, my character(s), someone I roleplay with, a character I interact with, or if there's oc x canon content on my blog; hate will NOT be tolerated. Also there's nothing wrong with oc x canon; y'all just want to normalize bullying through silly, trivial things. :)

• I have anonymous asks on currently. If people abuse this and harass me or make me feel uncomfortable through it, anon asks WILL be turned off permanently. No exceptions.

• If I follow your blog on my main account, that means I want to roleplay with you at some point! I'm just very shy. ;; I am open to roleplaying with both RDR OCs and Non-Fandom OCs! I love AUs and fully welcome them as well! I am Crossover friendly, and Multi-ship friendly as well! 🍀

• Do not rush me to reply. I understand being excited about a roleplay and wanting it to continue asap, but please understand that I suffer from severe depression and some days, I just don't wanna reply. I will get to it when I get to it. I promise. ❤ If you have any concerns about if I got your reply, if I'm still interested in the roleplay, or just want to check in, that's a-okay! I understand that Tumblr can sometimes be fickle and doesn't always send notifications, so I'm okay with folks checking in! All I'm asking is for y'all to not be forceful, pushy, or demanding. I've dealt with this before in the past and it is not a nice feeling. :(

• I sometimes drop roleplays because I am a poophead and I'm either feeling the Big Sad, I genuinely forgot, or because I just sometimes lose interest/don't know how to continue the plot. If you want us to continue a roleplay I dropped, let me know! I'll try my hardest to pick it back up! ;v; If I can't, I'll tell you. ❤

• Upon our first roleplay, please assume that our characters have not met, even if you've seen me interact with another version of your character on someone else's blog; I treat each roleplaying blog as their own character, so if I have not interacted with your blog before, then it's to be assumed that our characters have not met! Unless we have previously discussed this matter, of course. xD

• You don't need to discuss a plot with me beforehand; if you want to send a starter out of nowhere, go ahead! Just please nothing that would make me uncomfortable. I also reblog a ton of sentence starters, which can be used at any time!!! ❤ Doesn't matter how long ago I reblogged it; if it's on my page, it's good to go!

• Nothing extremely NSFW please. I'll answer some more 'risky' questions, but if you're specifically looking for ERPs and straight up porn, I'm not your girl. That kind of stuff makes me very uncomfortable. I'll imply it happened if plot comes to it, but I'm not gonna sit there and write it out and upset myself. Sorry, but no. ESPECIALLY IF YOU'RE UNDERAGE. I will not hesitate to block you if you're underage and are trying to get me to ERP with you; I'm not about to get myself in trouble just because you can't control yourself. Blood and gore is fine with me and so are fights, magic, ect. Just do not God-Mod (making your character overpowered and making the fight unfair by always landing hits and always dodging attacks), take control of my character, or Perma-Kill. Severely injuring or wounding my character is okay though!

• I will give out my Discord to folks that I am comfortable with and have interacted with quite a few times with! I'll let you know if I'm comfortable with you yet or not. C:

• I don't know what else to put right now, so more to come later if need be!

Anyway, hope to hear from y'all soon! ❤

#rules #about #guidlines #out of character #rosa speaks

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mitsuya-takashi · 4 years

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ALRIGHT HERE WE GO

ight before we get started lemme clarify this is not a quote (if you couldn’t tell lmao) but it is STILL IMPORTANT!!!

okay so, as you all probably know, i haven’t been very active at ALL recently (i’ve pretty much only been online to check up on my new mutual- hi vivi love you) but it has been a bit overwhelming recently. if you didn’t know, i am a light skinned (still black) bisexual female living in america, which means that there’s a whole lot to deal with right now. because of everything that’s been going on, not just here but across the world as well, i’ve been taking a bit of a break from tumblr and twitter because it’s really hard to deal with. i have been speaking out on other social media platforms and most of what’s on my blog right now is in some way related to the current events.

along with this, i have summer homework (that takes absolutely wayyy too much of my time but it doesn't matter lmao) that i have to work on as well.

HOWEVER

i've been working really hard ! i'm sitting on a bunch of one-shots that need to be typed and edited (mostly taekook) that should hopefully be up sometime this week. a few (like, two) are drabbles for a larger work that i've got planned out (it's a taekook social media au with sides yoonmin and namjimseok), but they can definitely be read before i make it (they're set before the story, so really the only 'couple' is yoonmin and there's no flirting between other ships, but there is a lot of cute friendship !). so, though i haven't been online much, i definitely have not forgotten about my blog !

(also, i have multiple social media aus that i really want to write but i can't find an app on the play store that works so if you have any please please please let me know ! you can reply or dm me, either is fine !)

MOVING ON

so today i looked at my follower count (i check every now and then) and i saw i've reached over 300 ! now, i know this isn't a large blog, but i'm really glad this many people enjoy my content ! it's fun for me to make and your reblogs really mean a lot to me because it gets it out there, which i really really really appreciate.

i've had this blog for over a year now, but i never knew the anniversary so i went to check today and it turns out to be may 5th, so happy belated one year i guess haha. i want to do something to celebrate both the anniversary and the following milestone, so i will be taking suggestions ! i'm thinking of doing a post with all my favorite fics that i really wanna share with you all, but i could also do a few edits if you like ! let me know in the replies what you all think i should do !

i know this isn't like my usual content AT ALL, so it won't get much interaction, but i really really want this out here for you all, so thank you to everyone who interacts with this post ! i'll try to post more tomorrow (i already have a few quotes ready) and i'll get to editing my one shots as well.

love you all ! i hope this was helpful as to why i'm not active, but if it wasn't, at least i got to say what i need to say ! here's a picture of jungkook going noot to make up for my absence !

#bts #not a quote #not a shitpost #personal #personal post #blog #very important !#lovely picture of jungoo btw #i love him #he's so cute #i cannot fathom #i cannot dEAL #ok i'm sorry #bye bye #love you all #please interact with this it's really important to me #i don't wanna be annoying #please

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xiaoxiongmaos · 3 years

Note

those iconic moments are like ICONIC i think i've seen all of them except for the eunsang one. my favourite iconic moments and the first ones that popped into my head are soobin's "bye guys hi ladies muah" and sunghoon's tiktok video that went viral recently. those moments live in my head rent free. i literally cannot get them out of my head.

and, yeah the cgi in monster was very startling and i have a physical reaction every time i see it.

i'm so sorry that she's left and her favourite group disbanded 😕 and i don't take any offence either!! i know i'm not her because this is my first time writing publicly on tumblr, and none of my favourite groups have disbanded so far.

ooo!!! idk if it's because i don't understand giffiing or because the giffing i see on my dash is so high quality, but if there were a tumblr hierarchy i think giffers should be on top, besides graphics creators and artists. they're constantly keeping up with new content, and giffing all of it in HD (sometimes 4k) with good colouring (even when the original doesn't have good colouring) and i'm just like WOW. i know i could never do it and i respect the grind fr. so, i respect you for doing that, making graphics, AND making fanart at the same time. speaking of fanart, i saw your recent felix one and i am BLOWN away. like, how?? knowing that your canvas was once empty and you managed to produce THAT out of it is literally like... my mind is blown.

ooo yes, i'm picky with who i read too. when it comes to a little read here & there, the quality of the writing doesn't matter much to me. but when it comes to reading longer fics, there are only a few writers who can captivate my attention for THAT long, you know? please don't apologise for studying!! i've been busy myself these days (which is why this is SUPER late), so i completely understand.

and tysm!! your reassurances have definitely broken me out of my shell, and i'm more than ready for the reveal soon! thank you SO much for the reccs! i've noted them down so i will definitely listen to them sometime soon.

today's mission was to give me a playlist, but you've already given me a playlist of recs so now all we have to do is wait for monday! sorry for all of this, but i'm super excited for the reveal! - 🗝 anon

Hello anon, hope you’re doing good!

Ah, how could I forget that… it’s really such a cute and funny vid to watch! Sunghoon’s tiktok? I don’t recall seeing any of his recent ones so I’ll check it out!

Ooh yeah the continuous wait for frames to finish rendering; that’s a pain. But it’s overshadowed by the nice tags people leave after reblogging or some sweet asks; really makes it worth it. Thank you so much, that’s legitimately so sweet of you to say <3 it took a while because it was the first time in a while but seeing the positive response makes my heart happy!

I prefer series over drabbles so I usually have to look for writers whose diction I vibe with and I have found three (used to be a bit more but unfortunately, quite a few left) that are such! I also am kinda selective about genres I read, mostly it’s angst/thrillers/crime but a little slice of life or fantasy here and there doesn’t hurt. I generally don’t like really fluffy or romantic ones— I’m the kind of person who wants the plot to be interesting and read more of what’s happening outside of someone’s love life; same with movies and dramas! Oh and I avoid nsfw like the plague. If you would like to check them out: @/maatryoshkaa (her serial killer au is amazing, I kid you not! Really made me fall in love with her kdrama-esque writing and she’s got a cute highschool series going on for the soft crowd), @/yeonjuncore (one of the most eloquent writers ever; pick up any piece from her and you won’t stop until you’ve finished it —and sometimes are left yearning for more— she has nsfw stuff but was kind enough to help me blacklist tags for them! I’d recommend checking out the stuff she wrote for a halloween special last year, it has some real gold hidden in the nooks and crannies) & @/angelictaehyun (I only recent started reading her stuff and was done with almost all of her Taehyun fics in the span of a day. Her wording has a prim and proper feel to it, but it’s also not awkwardly professional? She writes shorter stuff, at least compared to what I’m used to, but most of her works are cute and really keep your emotions engaged).

No problem! Is it okay if I still make a playlist for you? I’m more of a feel-good, summery and sweet songs kinda person generally —but I like a ton of different genres too haha— so that’s kinda the theme of the playlist (I sprinkled in a couple of non-kpop/kdrama tracks too)!

The feeling’s mutual; I’m really excited to meet you off anon too~ hope you have a lovely day and that you’re doing well!

#asks #anon #🗝 anon

0 notes

buffster · 7 years

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Pangs (BTVS 4.08)

This is part of my ongoing Buffyverse Project, where I write notes/meta for every episode in an attempt to better understand the characters and themes of the shows. You can find the BTVS list here and the ATS list here. Gifs are not mine.

I ended up watching Pangs twice because there was a lot to digest. It was a good episode for many reasons--Angel lurking, Spike joining the gang for the first time, Thanksgiving--but also an uncomfortable one because of the racial issues. Let’s just say this straight off: if you don’t have any POC in your main cast, you probably shouldn’t make the villains POC or attempt to have conversations about race. As far as some of the more intricate issues within the episode, I don’t claim to be an expert. So if you have some thoughts on the issue feel free to reblog and add them.

Giles: It's not fair. You know that's what she'd say. You can see her and she can't see you.

Angel: Believe me, I'm not getting the good half of the deal. To be outside, looking in at what I can't... I'd forgotten how bad it feels.

Buffy has a couple of relationships throughout BTVS, but Angel and Spike are the only ones we see her be physically aware of and really have a connection to. There are multiple scenes in Pangs where she’s off her game because she feels something...and that something is Angel, lurking in the shadows watching her. I know the plot required he not reunite with Buffy in order to entice viewers to Angel, but it’s in character. This guy loves to lurk and avoid difficult emotional conversations. He does have a point about their interactions, though...both of them are an emotional mess in I Will Remember You.

Xander finally gets a dignified job as a construction worker and Anya is loving it. My policy is to live and let live when it comes to headcanons, but personally I think Anya is about as straight as they come. She’s all about the rippling man bod (and, as some have pointed out, she’d probably mostly date women if she was attracted to them at all).

Xander’s first project is a new cultural center for UC Sunnydale, which is where we get our plot. He falls into a pit and awakens the spirit of a Chumash warrior. The warrior then infects him with multiple diseases because that’s what happened to his people. One of the diseases is syphilis, which is where we get the “his penis got diseases from a Chumash tribe” line in OMWF.

Willow: Thanksgiving isn't about blending cultures, it's about one culture wiping out another. Then they make animated specials about the parts with the maize and the big big belt buckles. They don't show you the next scene where all the bison die and Squanto takes a musket ball in the stomach.

The most emotionally affected is Willow, who has inherited her concern for indigenous peoples from her mother. Ironic that Shiela refuses to participate in certain holidays for concern of others but can’t pay attention to her own daughter. She’s bad at personal relationships but very firm in her beliefs and ideas. Willow is fighting to make some kind of peace with Hus throughout the episode while Giles is firmly for taking him down (as the one with diseases, Xander is on Giles’ side). This is one of the first times we see Giles and Willow start to clash and her begin to question his authority and wisdom.

Buffy: The thing is, I like my evil like my men: evil. You know, straight up, black hat, tie you to the railroad tracks, soon my electro ray will destroy metropolis BAD. Not all mixed up with guilt and the destruction of an indigenous culture.

I can’t really explain why, but I love when characters/the narrative acknowledges something the audience has noticed (i.e. Buffy’s interest in evil guys). Although it is a little out of place here because she hasn’t had anything with Spike yet. I don’t think we can say she’s into the dark side until it becomes a pattern, and at this point it had not. Anyway, they all go back and forth throughout the episode about what to do with Hus. Giles thinks it’s too late to do anything. I like the “Vengeance is never sated, Buffy. Hatred is a cycle...all he will do is kill” line. I also believe, as the famous quote says, ‘Hate does not drive out hate. Only love can do that.’ No matter how many times Hus takes revenge he will probably remain angry. (( Since this is Tumblr, I’ll over explain so as not to be willfully misinterpreted: I’m not saying fighting back is never the answer. Just that getting revenge is never going to make your bad feelings go away. It might make other changes, but I think hatred and anger just grow. ))

We start to see some clash between Xander and Anya because he blurts out “you don’t talk to vengeance demons. You kill them.” He prefers to ignore Anya’s past misdeeds and I don’t think he ever really reconciles them. As long as Xander didn’t see you commit evil he’s content to ignore it.

Giles: Tell me again why we're not doing this at your house.

Buffy: Giles, if you want to get by in American society you have to learn our traditions. You're the patriarch. You have to host the festivities or it's all meaningless.

Giles: And this is in no way an elaborate scheme to stick me with the clean up.

Buffy is feeling lonely and particularly protective of Thanksgiving. She’s upset her mother won’t be doing it as usual and says “everything is changing”. But she “smells a turkey and (I’m) eight years old” so she’s hoping she can keep the spirit alive herself. Buffy really is about growing up and we see Buffy move farther and farther away from childhood comforts as time goes on. Her obsession with Thanksgiving this year is her attempt to cling to the past. While Giles and Willow worry about Hus, Buffy mixes ingredients and worries about all the little cooking details.

Buffy invites Riley but he has his own plans in Iowa.

Riley: My folks are there. We always do Thanksgiving at my grandparents farm. Little place just outside Huxley. Corn and pigs.

Buffy: That sounds wonderful.

Riley: It is. After dinner, we all go for a walk down by the river with the dogs. And there's... trees, and I know what you're thinking, it's like I grew up in a Grant Wood painting.

I know Riley doesn’t exactly fit with our band of outcasts, but that’s not necessarily a bad point for his and Buffy’s relationship. Since Buffy doesn’t have that he could have been an avenue for her to gain it.

Riley: What's the line --"Home's the place that, when you have to go there -"

Buffy: "-- they have to take you in." That's what they say.

Spike attempts to go home to Harmony, but she’s “in control of (my) own power now” and threatens to stake him. He finally turns to Buffy.

Spike: I'm saying Spike had a little trip to the vet and now he doesn't chase the other puppies anymore. I can't bite anything. I can't even hit people.

Sensibly, the gang is still planning to turn him away until he says he has the inside scoop on the soldier boys. He’s tied to a chair and sits through all the chaos.

Spike: You won! All right? You came in and you killed them and you took their land. That's what conquering nations do! That's what Caesar did, he's not going around saying "I came, I conquered, I felt really bad about it"! The history of the world is not people making friends. You had better weapons, you massacred them, end of story!

Spike: You exterminated his race. What could you possibly say that would make him feel better? It's kill or be killed here. Take your bloody pick.

Xander: Maybe it's the syphilis talking, but some of that made sense.

Giles: I made several of those points earlier, but that's fine, no one listens...

Spike’s pretty cold about what happened to the tribe, but he’s evil so it’s expected I suppose. The gang thinks he has a point about there not being anything they can do at this point and decide to fight. It was kind of a strange conclusion to the story. “Thanksgiving is a sham! So many atrocities! What can we do? Nothing. Ah well.” The message was just a little unclear and I think the story was more about plot than a political message.

The gang battle the spirits and finally triumph, but not before Buffy turns the main warrior into a bear. It was fun to watch Spike reacting to everything during the episode (and I love his smirk when Xander spills the beans Angel was there).

During the fight, Angel leaps up and breaks one of the warrior’s necks and he, according to the script, “drops like Jenny Calendar”. Anya then wonders what he’s like when he’s evil and we get one of our rare Angel-and-Angelus-are-in-fact-not-totally-seperate moments. Willow tears into the warriors as much as anyone else and feels guilty later.

Xander: I don't know. It kinda seemed right to me. A bunch of anticipation, a big fight and now we're all sleepy.

Character Notes:

Buffy Summers: Her mom is visiting Aunt Pauline for Thanksgiving this year. Buffy mentions she stole and lost Willow’s hairbrush, proving she’s still an annoying roommate--Willow is just more accommodating than Buffy/Kathy.

Willow Rosenberg: She mentions there are some great spells that work better with an ear. Giles and Willow talk about Angel losing his edge because everyone but Buffy saw him.

Riley Finn: Forrest calls him “mama’s boy” in reference to Maggie and we see he is already attached to her.

Xander Harris: He accidentally says Anya is a strange girlfriend and she lights up at the word. But he claims to be delirious.

Angel: He leads Buffy to Father Gabriel, apparently an old contact. When he first shows himself to everyone they all assume he's evil.

Spike: He explains that vampires that don’t feed become living skeletons.

#pangs #Jane Espenson #Buffy summers #willow rosenberg #xander harris #anya jenkins #spike #Rupert giles #angel #buffy/angel #xander/anya #Harmony Kendall #Spike/Harmony #Riley finn #Buffy/Riley

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eponymous-rose · 7 years

Note

I hope this doesn't sound bratty, but I was wondering how to get more notes or kudos on fics? I'm starting to get really discourage...

Aw man, no, not bratty at all! Much as I’d love to say “psssh the numbers don’t matter,” or “be sure to appreciate every single note because it means somebody read your stuff!” (which is true) I know exactly how frustrating it can be to see maybe one or two notes or kudos (tops!) on the story you spent ages writing. To that end, I have some super duper cynical advice, and then I have some more genuine advice, and both are really based on the fact that, once you hit a certain baseline level of coherence, the quality of the writing has almost nothing to do with the number of notes or kudos it gets.

Here’s the super duper cynical advice that probably applies to almost all major fandoms: write the most popular ship. Most of the time, it’ll be super easy to spot! Find the fandom fave character, who by complete coincidence is almost always the most conventionally attractive and whitest dude on the show, even if he’s a relatively minor character. Does he have a close male friend that the actors and producers constantly joke/hint might be something more? Write ‘em together! Is there a female character who may or may not be a love interest but seems to be heading in that direction? Write ‘em together! In all cases, though, make sure that the fandom fave is the center of the story, and that his female love interest/less-conventionally-attractive and/or less-white male love interest is mostly there as a means of providing support for the fandom fave’s angst. Better yet, create a villain who opposes the ship and must be defeated: an inexplicably vicious revenge-driven canon female love interest is a common choice when writing m/m fic, and an unexpected betrayal by the female character’s best friend that sends her straight into the fandom fave’s arms is a common choice when writing m/f fic. Write slow-burn fic with a vanilla sex scene at the end. Scene.

…it hurt to write that. Listen, it’s undeniable that there’s some amazing and creative and thoughtful stuff out there for these mega-pairings, and if that’s what floats your boat, by all means, go for it (I’ve shipped and written for mega-pairings, goodness knows), but it’s also kinda important to keep in mind that the way these mega-pairings come about and the way they tend to be written most commonly can be… not good—some of that’s on the show-creators’ end, some of that’s on fandom’s end, and it’s all a mess. But if you just want notes, go ahead and write that to the exclusion of all else (just please try to keep away from the more actively offensive trends, whatever you write?). You’re more likely to get picked up by the big-name fans, because they probably became the big-name fans by writing that stuff themselves.

Here’s the more genuine advice: there’s an element of randomness to what does and doesn’t get picked up by the internet, and once it happens to you one time, it’s more likely to happen again. Here’s some more of the genuine advice: passion shows. If you’re passionate about a teeny-tiny little pairing or no pairing at all, you’re way, way, way more likely to write an enjoyable and likeable story than if you force yourself to write the big, popular stuff. You might put out a dozen fics that get virtually no attention, but if you keep producing quality stuff that lights a fire under you, that thirteenth could well get picked up and reblogged by someone with a sizeable following, or appear on somebody’s rec list, and then your backlog will be the delight of all. Try new things. Have fun.

There’s also been, over the past five years or so, a slow-growing fatigue with the old model I mentioned up in the super duper cynical advice paragraph. Fandom is changing, slowly but surely, and is starting to push back against its more distasteful elements. You see it pretty frequently now: conventional fandom-fave-ship fics will reliably pull in a lot of notes, but every now and then something completely off-the-wall and creative and brilliant will resonate with everyone at once and it’ll pull in a lot of notes. That happens. Take note when it does, because that’s the way fandom’s slowly shifting, and that’s nothing but a good sign.

I mean, heck, I write mostly PG-13-rated genfic focusing on female characters and femslash, which isn’t exactly most fandoms’ favorite thing; I went through a very, very, very long drought in terms of support and interest when I started writing, and the only thing that kept me going was that I genuinely loved what I was writing. For whatever specific numbers are worth, for me and my relatively small- to medium-sized fandoms, it took slowly climbing to a four-digit follower count on tumblr and a three-digit subscription count on AO3 to ensure any sort of reliable interest in the stories I wrote, no matter the content. How do you get there? Reblog the stuff you like. Create in other ways, if you can–fanart, gifsets. Make shorter meta posts that require less effort on your part but might get people’s wheels turning in a familiar way. Review other people’s fics. If you’re participating in the community, it makes it a lot easier to maybe convince people to try reading something that might be a little outside of their usual wheelhouse. You gotta be having fun, first and foremost, or else what’s the point? And it’s marvelous when you pull in someone new. One of my favorite things is getting comments on a post that start with “I literally never read genfic, but…” Most of all, try to communicate how grateful you are when something like that happens. It’s so important to let people know how much it means to you that they took an interest in your passion.

Anyway, this is all really rambly and I hope some of it makes sense. I’m sorry you’re feeling discouraged, but I hope you stick with what you’re doing, because goodness knows fandom could always use more variety!

#eponymous fandom tag #long text post #Anonymous

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