#come to think of it I’ve never really participated in the fandom on tumblr….going to change that right away

[reiney-weather]

my heart in the dimly lit aisle

Heyyyy so I just got around to drawing one of my absolute favorites from @nextsoundofthefuture !!! bright <333 followers expect more and also read the comic because it’s so good. firmly gripping my brain also

[babybells123]

Oh. My. God! You’re always whining about people not liking jonsa! Like seriously who cares. Just be happy and ship your jonsa why do you care if others like it or not.

Hi anon.

Tbh, this fandom talks more about how much they hate Jonsa more than I talk about the unjustified hatred myself…. Often the arguments against it are very shallow and inherently vitriolic and it often plays into fandom psychology i.e following the grain, which is again - intriguing to note in comparison to other fan theories.

But in any case, there is something wonderful called the block button, and I really urge you to use it. It’s what I do when I’m made privy to an account / content I don’t like or agree with, I don’t waste my time reading through any of it . The posts which address the antis largely stem from anon messages that I receive (and delete), and other social media forums where I may come across hateful content. I don’t go actively searching for it because as I stated, they’re often extremely weak arguments that can be countered and don’t come from a place of critical thinking or nuance ; simply a matter of “nah that could never happen because I said so.”

And here’s the thing, Jonsa shippers don’t actually venture to pro other ships tumblr. We all have that content filtered/blocked most likely. But there is certainly a strange pattern when it comes to antis who usually ship other pairings loving to invade the Jonsa tag and send hate upon hate, reblog, write numerous essays as well.

There’s a lot more anti content towards Jonsa than there is for people calling out the antis. And it’s not just a matter of people “not liking it,” since that’s really not what it boils down to. It’s really not that tame nor simple. I don’t care if someone dislikes Jonsa, if it isn’t your cup of tea then I have no qualms. I take issue with people who are consistently bothered/offended by it’s mere existence and have participated in online bullying such as creating anti blogs and hate accounts, doxing people, forcing people to delete their art/edits, and sending death and rape threats over a *checks notes* ship. That’s very uncalled for and very unhinged.

Anyway, I find the way that this fandom collectively responds to Jonsa so mind boggling. I can only laugh at the blatant hypocrisy. See, you’re clearly unaware as to how deranged people get because you’re on the other side, so you think it’s just a matter of people disliking a ship. In my many years across multiple fandoms I’ve never seen such a level of vitriol! And that is saying something. But I’m confident in what I’ve analysed/written. I have faith in the metas and theories and at the end of the day, it’s really all just fiction.

And you know what anon, I reckon I’ll increase how much I post about Jonsa hate, just to piss you off ;). You’ll probably lurk on here, and you’re free to - but I really urge you to block if you’re so riled up and go back to your side of the fandom with like-minded people.

Have a blessed day !

[fandoms-writings]

EVENT CLOSED

Those of you wanting to submit a story for the writing challenge at the end of this post, I'm accepting submissions until the end of the year. I'm a slow writer myself and I want y'all to have as much time as you need to join in <3

Welcome to my neon milestone party!

It’s been a few months since I last did a celebration or writing challenge so why not kick off summer with both! I also hit another small milestone, so thank you so so much to all of you for your support 🤍

You must be 18+ to follow me, so you must be 18+ to participate!

We’re gonna have a summer long sleepover, mood boards, a writing challenge, and my requests are officially open for drabbles! 

The cut off is the last day in August!

Under the cut you’ll find all of the ask games and prompt lists and challenge rules! 

Have fun babes  🤍

💎 Rare gems

- Show some love to your fav fics and their authors by sending in some recommendations!

🗒 Ask the Author

- Ask me anything you want about something I’ve written!

📖 Book talk

- Tell me about your favorite book or what you’ve recently read, and why you enjoy it (or why you don’t)

🤫 Secret admirers

- Anonymously (or not) send a love letter to your favorite tumblr person!

🎶 Karaoke

- Send a song recommendation or I’ll put my liked songs on shuffle and send you which one played first!

🫘 Spill the Beans!

- Anonymously (or not) tell me a secret of yours.

🔍 Clue!

- Send me this emoji and I'll post a wip clue (a picture, emoji, a word, etc) and you guys get to guess what it's about. 

🎩 Top 5!

- Another classic. Send me a category, and I'll tell you my top 5 choices within it. 

🙅🏻‍♀️ Never Have I Ever

- This one's pretty self explanatory I think. 

💌 Love letters (mutuals only) 

- I’ll write you a love letter 🥺

🎰 - Spin the Lottery! (mutuals only)

- send me a lil snippet about you (a hobby, your job, your music taste, etc) and a fandom (or not) I’ll pair you with a character from that fandom🤍

Send me a little something - a song, a character, a trope, a quote - anything to give me an idea, and I’ll make a mood board for you 🤍

If you need one for a story even! I’ll gladly help out 🤍

My requests are open for drabbles! Send me a character (it can be from one of my AUs! or not)  and one or two of the prompts from the list below, and I’ll whip up something small for you! As they get requested, they will be crossed off the list 🤍

Angst: 

"Don't go where I can't follow. . . I thought I lost you." (1/2)

"Why didn't you say how bad it was?"  (2/2)

"You shouldn't be out here by yourself."  (1/2)

"You're a mess"/"I'm not a mess."/"I can tell you've been crying."  (1/2)

"You were supposed to be different. They were supposed to be wrong about you, but they were right. They were so fucking right."  (2/2)

"What are we doing?"/"Why are you doing this?"  (1/2)

"I know you, how else do you think I found you so easily?"   (1/2)

"Choose me."  (2/2)

Fluff:

"You know my door is always open for you, right?"  (2/2)

"Will you taste this? Tell me if I'm missing anything?"  (1/2)

"Let me kiss it better."  (2/2)

"You're exhausted honey. Go back to sleep."  (1/2)

"Can I hold your hand?"  (2/2)

“Is that my shirt?” (2/2)

"Come get me? I miss you."  (2/2)

"You're not as bad as everyone says you are."  (2/2)

Smut:

"stop staring." / "i can't, you're so pretty like this" (2/2)

"Keep your pretty eyes on me."  (2/2)

"You're already wet sweetheart."  (2/2)

"What if someone hears us?"  (0/2)

"Let me hear you make that sound again."  (2/2)

"We shouldn't be doing this."  (1/2)

Characters: (spice it up by adding an au in the ask 🤍)

Bucky Barnes 

Marc Spector / Stephen Grant

Miguel O’Hara

If you don’t see who you’d like me to write for, just ask me about them and I’ll let you know if I’m open to writing for them!

Just have fun with this one and follow the rules below! I'm not really making a theme or anything like that, but if you'd like a prompt from me, just ask and specify what kind of prompt! Also feel free to DM me and bounce around some ideas if you need to!

Rules: 

Use the 'read more' option if what you write is over 500 words. 

Properly list your warnings. 

Your story does not have to contain smut if you don't want it to. 

Dark stories are okay, just no non-con, scat, underage characters involved in sexual activity, DD/LG, bestiality, necrophilia, etc. 

Please use characters that I know, from fandoms I'm in. (If you aren't sure what all is on that list, because I don't post about all of them, just ask!)

Tag me! And use the tag #remisneonparty

Make sure it can be read as a stand alone piece. 

The cut off for this will be the last day of August. I sometimes take forever to write something and want to give you all ample time to submit your stories!

Moodboard and all dividers were made by me, but feel free to use them if you’d like 🤍

Tagging some friends (no pressure!)

@sweetdreamsbuck @shamevillain @pocolatte @perdidosbucky-yyo @treatbuckywkisses @foreverindreamlandd @historygeekfics @barnesafterglow @navybrat817​ @jessybarnes​ @buckysdior​ @honeybloomss​ @banana-cheese-cake​ @sparkledfirecracker​ @sidepartskinnyjeans​ @real-jane​ @archive-obsess​ @mutual-monsters​ @bucksangel​ @thepsychewrites​ @starchildbucky​ @nexusnyx​ @lofaewrites​ @thornsnvultures​ @aquariusbarnes​ @captainsimagines​ @writing-for-marvel​ @heavenlybarnes​ @matchamunson​ @buckybleu​ @boxofbonesfic​ @chloelucia13​ @snugglingbucky​

[choicesficwriterscreations]

September 2023 WOTM: lilyoffandoms

Each month CFWC highlights one of our talented fanfic writers, and this month’s writer of the month is @lilyoffandoms. We hope you will enjoy learning more about them and their work below! The writer is selected at random. More info can be found on the navigation page.

This month's Writer of the Month was selected a little differently than normal. We announced that we would be selecting the WOTM from the participants in last month's Writer Appreciation Event. But the eleven writers involved all agreed the honor belonged to Lily. Lily has been a staple in the Choices community for so long, and they continuously go out of their way to support creators and spread positivity while continuing to inspire and create themselves. We couldn't think of anyone better suited for the honor, so please join us in congratulating Lily... September's Writer of the Month!

Quick Links:

Tumblr Blog Name: lilyoffandoms Blog Masterlist

How do you want to be known on Tumblr? Lily is fine (they/them preferred)

1- When did you start playing Choices? What was the first book you played? 

Best guess would be back in January of 2018. It was a joke at first since a friend saw one of their god-awful ads and said we should both try it. Next thing you know, we were both arguing over which books were better and regretting our decision to start. Though their opinions on what constitutes good books are almost as bad as the Choices ad that got us to jokingly play (and I say this most lovingly because they are awesome and I love them). I started with Most Wanted, and my friend started with The Freshman. 

2- When and why did you join Choices fandom?

Oh gods! I joined back in March 2019. I know I’m a Tumblr baby by most everyone’s standards, but that feels like a really long time. I joined when Open Heart book one was released. I had lurked, reading fanfics, for a few months before biting the bullet and creating a blog and actually posting. Only joined because I was taking my editor’s advice and writing something entirely outside my norm to break a particularly bad case of writer’s block. Thought I might as well share those silly things if I was taking the time to write them. Maybe someone would enjoy them. Never did plan on sticking around, but found so many lovely people that I’ve come to call friends.

3- How did you pick your blog name? 

It was lilyofchoices. My name + Choices because I am super creative like that with those sorts of naming things 😅 I changed it to lilyoffandoms when I left the Choices fandom for a bit. I’ve thought about changing it more times than I can count but I can’t bring myself to actually follow through on it. How do y’all’s change your blog name with each new book release? You are a crazy different breed of tumblr and you fascinate me.

4- Pull up the first post in your archive, and tell us about it!  

I deleted the first one years ago. It was my first drabble. Currently, as it stands, the first thing in my archive is this post about Desire and Decorum, and it still makes me giggle.

5- How long have you been writing fanfiction?

I’ve only been writing fanfic since I joined Tumblr. I never really tried writing fanfic before that. Some nonfiction personal things before that but never anything like this world. It's been an adventure, to say the least haha

6- What is your favorite Choices book, and what is your favorite Choices book to write about?

My favorite book is probably Blades of Light and Shadow, book one, but there are plenty that are really close behind. This is also the book I’d say I enjoy writing for the most because it is my favorite book, contains my favorite LI, and has one of my favorite OCs (Maiele) in it.

Though recently, I’ve been writing more for Crimes of Passion because it's more of a challenge for me. It's a different vibe between the MC and the LI and it's one I don’t often explore so I’m here for that right now. But I have a sneaky suspicion once Blades 2 drops I’ll be back on my bullshit with that again.

7- Share the first fanfic you wrote with us. Do you still like it, or would you change it if you were writing it today?

I don’t think it exists on this site anymore. Maybe in someone’s reblog? I still have it in my files. It was an Ethan x MC drabble featuring my MC, Merida. I still like it. I’d not change it cuz I’m a firm believer in writing it and don’t look back haha.

This is it:

He swallowed the lump forming in his throat, trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to form in his eyes. There it was. He had told her. Dr. Banerji was dying and Ethan was at a loss as to what was ailing his mentor and friend. Ethan stared at the young woman in front of him and then to the floor. He cleared his throat and made a small motion to turn back into Naveen’s room but froze instantly the moment he noticed her take a step towards him.

She threw her arms around him and hugged him, wishing to take away all of his pain, all of his loneliness. Silently willing him to understand that she cared for him. Cared deeply for him and much more than she should. “Ethan. I’m so sorry,” she whispered, one hand stroked through his hair while the other grasped his neck and slowly bent his head toward her shoulders as she raised herself to her tiptoes to meet him halfway.

He tensed upon feeling her arms around him. Arms, he thought to himself, that he had imagined holding him for a number of weeks now. Ever since that night spent sitting up with her watching little baby Ethan. “Merida,” he sighed as he gradually relaxed into the embrace.

She didn’t let up on the hug, squeezing him to her just a bit more tightly. God, she had wanted to comfort him when Dolores died but she didn’t know how he would respond. Now, he was facing the possibility of another friend dying and she couldn’t help herself.

He responded to the increased pressure of her hug and tightened his own hold upon her. Finding himself tracing circles up her spine and imagining what it would feel like to move his hands to tease along the skin of her back where her pants met her shirt.

Her breath caught when she felt his hands move lower. No longer making gentle movements along her spine but increasing their pressure upon her body, nearly massaging their way lower. She brought one of her own hands around to his chest, lightly bunching his white coat in her fist to try and pull him closer to her.

A loud crash echoed down the hall. “Shit!” a construction worker cursed. The two doctors jumped back from each other both staring into each other’s eyes seeming to question if they had both felt the same in the other’s arms. She blushed slightly. “I should see to my other patients. Dr. Banerji’s condition stays between us. Understand, Rookie?” he stated, his eyes narrowing. She nodded and he turned and marched down the hall.

8- What is your favorite fic that you’ve written?

I love asking this question of others but don’t like it asked of me. I’m so bad at self-rep and advertising my wares 😂 But if I had to pick one, I’d say this one. It was so far outside my comfort zone when it came to writing that I almost abandoned it two paragraphs in. But I’m a stubborn person, and I refused to let it beat me. Plus, I had been wanting to write a noir fic for this book since it was released. Furthermore, I adore Hayden’s work too much not to gift a little something back for all the art he shares with us, so I knew I just had to make it work.

9- Do you have a fic that you didn’t expect to be well received, but it was? What about one you expected to be but found could use a little more love?

I didn’t expect last year’s Luck of the Draw fic to garner much love. Attention? Maybe. But not love and definitely not the response I got. I really enjoyed writing that one. 

10- If you could write only angst, fluff, or smut for the rest of your writing life, which would it be and why? 

Fluff. I’m a sucker for happy-ever-afters and an endless hopeless romantic. Give me the fluff. All the fluff. 

I pull a lot of what I toss into my silly drabbles from real life. Always been a believer in writing, most often what you know, and sprinkle that all with a dash of the stuff you don’t as a treat. And my life is pretty fluffy thanks to my incredible partner. 

However, I do so adore angst I’m just not able to write it often because it hurts more to write. But I’ll always always read it. That pain is *chef’s kisses*

11- Do you ever recognize yourself in any of your MCs or in your writing?

Maiele, my Blades MC, is most definitely me coded. His whole personality, his choice of partner when it comes to personality, his constant flirting with said partner, his sense of humor, his lack of a filter most times, it’s all pretty much me. Gabriel, my CoP MC, is me when it comes to romantic gestures and Valentine’s Day. I may be a romantic, but I get weird when it’s aimed at me 😂 

12- What element of writing do you struggle with most?

Editing. I refuse to do it. I hate it with the burning light of a thousand suns. Those of you that manage to edit your fics have all my admiration. I honestly don’t know how y’all do it. Doesn’t it just bore you to no end? 

13- Do you have any neglected work you really want to finish?

I have more drafts than I care to admit. I would like to complete a series I started long ago for Ethan x Merida, but I don’t know if I’ll ever do that. I’d settle for finishing one of my drafts 😅

14- If someone you know in real life (who isn’t involved in fandoms) asked to read your work, would you let them? If yes, what would you recommend they read first? 

Nope, haha, I’d not be able to do that. If I were that brave, I’d recommend this one maybe. I do so love Flynn. Or this one, mostly because I do so love the idea of Gabriel just pouting on the couch.

15 - Are there any writers (published authors and/or fanfic writers) who influenced your writing?

Not really. I mean all of em probably. I read a lot of books in a lot of genres. Mostly I use my drabbles as morning warm ups for my day job. 

There are definitely fanfic writers I admire around here that encourage me to share my silly things everyday. Especially all those queer writers out there that have a rather thankless existence sometimes around here but keep sharing their stories! They are all my heroes!!

16- Which one of your stories would you most like to see as a movie/series? 

Any and all of my Maiele and Tyril stories. I just love them sooooo much!!

17- Do you write original fiction? 

Yes, but until recently, I wrote mostly nonfiction.

I do have a fic I began a few years back when I was still teaching. I had a student who hated their writing class, so I promised to write a short story alongside them and read it to the class like all the students had to if they gave it an honest go. 

They did and so I did too, and I was asked the following year to do it again by more students and so I continued the same story. I’ve since continued that same fic, and maybe someday I’ll actually go looking to publish it. 

18 -  What other hobbies do you have?

I love the outdoors. Hiking, spelunking, kayaking, gardening, camping, anything and everything outdoors. My other favorite hobby, which I've done for years and years, is fencing. I still am part of a club and teach a few levels. 

19 - What’s your favorite emoji? 

😅 because it’s legit my state of existence at this point in life. 

20: BONUS - tell us anything you’d like (if you want to).

I want to send a special shout-out to all the absolutely lovely participants of August’s writer appreciation event I hosted. I still cannot believe y’all did this for me. 😘 These are each of my favorite fics you’ve written. Thank you for making our fandom a little brighter each and every day!

@aallotarenunelma Bathed in Sunlight @coffeeheartaddict2 Moths to a Flame @karahalloway A Leviathan Surprise @jerzwriter A Mother's Journal @ladylamrian Ma Cherie @mydemonsdrivealimo Run, Run @peonyblossom We're Gonna Get Married @petiteboheme Familia @storyofmychoices Passing Shower @tessa-liam All is Fair in Love and War @trappedinfanfiction What's In a Name? Lily's Top Three Commissions can be found here:

Crimes of Passion by @javsarts

A Year of Kisses by various artists: @lethendralis-paints @cashweasel @kundool @deheerkonijn @javsarts @weetlebeetle @kollapsar @mooreaux @rosefuckinggenius @/ArtbyAinna (IG) @littlestpersimmon @callmebeem

Trystan x Noel by @rosefuckinggenius

[hsvh-hp]

Hi! Thanks for all the responses -- I hadn't realized how many chapters I'd gotten through since your last round until I saw the emails lmao

I was wondering, in regards to this:

And omg, I totally feel you on being a trans person in the HP fandom. It's very weird how my tumblr dash is set up. I have mutuals still from old fandoms who are queer, and I feel so ostracized from them at times when they toe the line of 'anybody in the HP fandom supports JKR, you're a bad person if you're still engaging with it'. I'll spare you the essay on why I disagree with that, but oddly the safest place I feel on the internet as a trans person is in the HP fandom. Which is weird at face value, I suppose, given what JKR is doing, but we really are separate from her. I've yet to see substantial evidence that fandom, which is infamous for generating zero revenue, is floating trans peoples' demise. It's just a thought crime, I guess.

if you would, perhaps, not spare me the essay? lol

I feel the same sort of ostracization which is especially frustrating when I am in such "thought crimes are fake!" circles, and I'm interested in your perspective, if you want to give it!

Sure, I’ll offer my perspective on it! This is probably best broken down into bullet points:

1. JKR was already a billionaire before she came out as a TERF.

There is nothing in the world that will change this status. Even if every single person currently engaging with her various IPs immediately dropped them, JKR would still have a billion plus dollars to drop on anti-trans movements and whatever. A billion dollars is immensely difficult to picture. The easiest way is to think like this: if you make $50,000 a year, the equivalent of her dropping $75,000 the other day is you spending $3.75. How often do you spend 0.0075% of your income and give it any thought? JKR’s wealth is not directly tied to ‘levels of fandom engagement’.

Which leads to…

2. Boycotts don’t work.

Sorry. They don’t. Not against someone this politically powerful. If they did, the flood of people out of the HP fandom in 2020 would have had a measurable effect. What did have a measurable effect? People not going to watch the Fantastic Beast movies (because they were hot trash lmao). Not giving JKR any more money works in the sense that it cripples her future projects, but it has zero effect on what’s already in her purse.

Also, think of boycotts this way: wasn’t it hilarious watching conservatives try to boycott the Barbie movie, Nike, Bud Light, and whatever else they’ve systematically locked on to? But so then why do progressives/the left/whoever think it’s going to work the other way? Like with Hogwarts Legacy? Just don’t interact with the media, dude. And if you do, pirate it.

3. Fandom is not mainstream. I have never seen any data to substantiate that participating in a fandom directly correlates to dollars for the IP. Copyright literally prevents that from happening. To bring up to popular saying, “there is no ethical consumption under capitalism”, fandom exists outside of capitalism—for me, at least, as a fan fiction writer. This is a hobby to me. I have never seen a red cent for any of the hours of work I’ve put into my fics.

And I can probably guarantee that no one has stumbled upon Harry Potter through me, lol. They didn’t read one of my fics and go, ‘you know, I should check out what source material this is coming from’. Harry Potter is so well-known that there’s no way they came in blind.

Also, the TERF discourse is very much an online thing. I work retail irl and I’ve had conversations with customers who’ll say “you know, I really don’t get all this hubbub against trans people” but are too boomer to be anything more than tangentially aware that Harry Potter is a Thing. Like, ‘oh yeah, my kids read those books when they were coming out, but I never bothered’. One of my employees bought a set of the HP books because they were on a wicked deal at Costco, and when we were discussing it I told her that while I still enjoyed HP, I wasn’t comfortable giving JKR more money because she’s extremely transphobic and donates a lot of money to anti-trans causes. My employee was horrified and said that had she known that, she wouldn’t have bought the books. Lots of people just don’t know!

Which takes me to…

4. This type of online activism isn’t effective.

I’m talking specifically about being anti-Harry Potter or anti-JKR. Falling into those two categories does not automatically make you pro-trans. This was pretty blatantly obvious back when the books were being burned for promoting witchcraft. As far as fighting for trans peoples’ rights, screaming until you’re blue in the face about how anybody who engages with Harry Potter is a traitor and JKR BAD is wasting time better spent doing something productive - something that could actually benefit trans people rather than…I don’t know…virtue signalling that their blog or twitter account is a safe space?

5. I personally do not feel welcomed or vouched for by these people.

Listen, I’m going to break myself down into all my stupid little categories. I’m trans. Autistic. Intersex. Aromantic. Asexual. Basically, all the things that people love to try and cast out of the queer community, whether that means they’re trying to split LGBTQIA+ at the T or Q.

The anti-Harry Potter stuff, as far as attacking the fandom, feels like the latest strain of purity politics to me. As I’ve laid out above, abandoning HP will not right the wrongs of JKR in any measurable or tangible way. Boycotts don’t work. Fandom does not feed JKR’s coffers, and destroying the fandom will not cripple her. There are trans people inside the HP fandom, and what of us? Are we traitors? Are we not ‘really’ trans, because obviously we don’t care about the current political climate? Are we just confused and need to be enlightened as to what harm we’re doing? Where have I heard this rhetoric before?

One small thing, tangentially related:

6. I don’t care what JKR says about how engaging with Harry Potter tells her about who her ‘supporters’ are.

Seriously? She’s a lying dirtbag, and I’m just supposed to take her word on this? This is the one thing she just so happens to be right about?

When she started spouting TERF shit, I was really saddened by the writers who, upon leaving the fandom, also deleted their works in protest. Seeing as the majority of the HP fandom is queer, I’m sure that JKR was very pleased with the amount of queer media erasure that occurred. Why did we do that for her?

7. I believe JKR actually seethes and malds over the prospect of her fandom being queer and producing queer content.

As a writer, there’s a special kind of pain that comes from someone not quite interpreting your work the way you would have wanted them to. What do you think JKR’s first reaction was when she first learned about the Harry/Draco ship? The Draco/Hermione ship? If she didn’t live in a stone castle, I bet she would’ve punched a hole in the wall.

So, yeah. Transing and gaying all of her characters is a pretty nice way to get to her in a way that she can’t legally or financially retaliate. Every time she screams ‘WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?!’ at the queer people in her fandom, a trans person’s crops are watered.

8. The HP setting is very welcoming to trans people.

Potions exist that can change your body. Enough said.

That the Harry Potter books never really says anything specifically about trans people (NOTE: obviously JKR’s prejudices even back then showed through, but this isn’t about that) leaves the question on the table. Obviously trans people exist in the Harry Potter setting, because they exist everywhere. So, how did they never get any page time?

Well, who says they didn’t? In a setting where potions exist to change your body, trans people are just…people. I don’t even think that they would have a marginalized identity because gender dysphoria would be something very easily treated. Think of it like someone who takes medication for blood pressure. They need the medication, it’s life-saving, and while there isn’t a magical pill to ‘cure’ high blood pressure, it can be managed. The magical world revels in being strange. Why would being trans, while being considered strange here in the ‘Muggle’ world, be anything other than normal there? Why can’t it be?

And then there are Metamorphmagi. People who can literally change themselves at will! If that isn’t a trans person’s dream, I don’t know what is. I would personally love the option of being the biggest, hairiest dude with a dick so big an erection would make me black out, and then ultra femme and delicate the next.

Last on this point, Harry never notes anyone specifically trans in the text (NOTE: touching on things like the physical descriptions of Rita Skeeter and Marge Dursley, JKR tends to do the ugly=bad person thing. Although she describes Rita and Marge as mannish in appearance, they aren’t trans characters. They’re women that JKR wants to frame as bad people. Like I said above, this is JKR’s prejudice showing through). If Harry never notes anyone as specifically trans, that probably means that it’s impossible to tell at face value. The same as blood pressure medication, to return to that analogy. How do you know someone is on them? They tell you. You see the pill bottle and happen to know what that medication is for. They complain about side effects. They complain about the symptoms that led them going to the doctor in the first place.

9. Queer HP fandom content can potentially be how a Harry Potter fan realizes that they’re queer (or that queer people are just regular folks).

Hey, the first one happened to me!

If someone comes into the Harry Potter fandom unaware of JKR’s politics - maybe they were gifted the books for their birthday or happened to catch the movies on TV - it’s good actually that this person doesn’t fall right into an echo chamber of JKR’s politics. I’ll be happily here to correct her record in a way that isn’t shaming or policing them.

Anyway, I think that’s everything lol. To summarize:

- The HP Fandom is a neutral setting. Engaging with it doesn’t help JKR, and not engaging with it doesn’t help trans people. Just don’t spend money on official HP merch.

- If you want to be a pro-trans activist or trans political ally, please just ignore JKR and put all your focus on the real world.

- There are trans people in the HP fandom who are left feeling awkward and uncomfortable due to virtue signalling.

- Generating queer HP content is good, actually.

[frannyzooey]

hi Kelli !! hope you’re having a lovely day :) i’m not sure if you’ve answered something like this before, and no pressure for one!

do you have any advice for getting a fic out to more people, or increasing engagement? i am super new to actually posting what i’ve written, and while it’s so heartwarming seeing the likes, tumblr is very much about reblogs and comments 😃 are there actually any tricks to this, or is it basically just down to luck and the algorithm?

also a huge thank you for the write nights you’ve done, which seriously motivated me to get my ass into gear 🫶🏻

hope you have an amazing rest of your day/night! <3

First of all, I am so glad that you like the write nights! Part of the thing I feel (imo) that has been missing around here is creative encouragement of others? I know it's hard to find your people, and I know it's hard to share, and I know it's hard to find the time in busy schedules to make space for creating and I wanted to sort of tackle all those issues with that night. I myself have found it super motivating, but also just so heartwarming to think of the other people out there all sitting down to create, knowing they are with "their people" while doing so ❤

In terms of engagement, I wish I had a better answer for you my lovely, but the one I have is slightly defeating 😔 that said, here are some things I've noticed:

The site has definitely changed. The likes to reblogs ratio has been off for over a year and has only gotten worse as the fandom has expanded, due to the migration of users from other platforms where engagement IS liking. Tumblr was never meant to be used this way, as the dash is created by reblogs, but it doesn't seem that people participating in the fandom are interested in learning the correct way (in my observation). I don't think this will get better any time soon - in fact, I only think it's going to get worse.

That said, I would: reblog your own work several times a day just to get it into the algorithm/tags, respond to all reblogs with your own reblog to boost it back into circulation (and engage with people who like it!), make friends who will in turn reblog your work (though it should never be an assumption/one should not feel entitled to it because of the friendship because that just makes for hurt feelings, not everything is for everyone), don't be afraid to rec your own stuff when people ask for recommendations and above all else, just keep writing and posting. It took me ages to get interaction on my work, and even now it's hit or miss depending on the subject/character/trope.

I know it can feel defeating when you see some things that have a billion notes, but remember that there are so many factors that can come into it: fandom (marvel and tlou have enormous fanbases and I have noticed their metrics are often super skewed), creators that have been posting for years and have built up a base during that time, or even something as simple as it "hitting the dash at the right time" aka people just seem to like it for whatever reason on that given day aka luck, lol.

Something I like to do when I feel bummed about engagement is work on my own skills - not because you need to be super talented in order to get notes, but it helps me feel better about the piece itself, which helps me think less about the actual engagement because I found so much satisfaction within the creative process alone, if that makes sense? Another reason behind the write nights ❤

I wish I had something more concrete for you, but it really does boil down to: persistence, working on your skills, engaging meaningfully with others in the fandom and luck. ❤

[pompoenwolkjes]

2, 5, and 11 for the fanfic new year asks! <3

Hi! Thank you for the ask!

2. Will you participate in any fandom exchanges or fic challenges, etc?

I’m currently participating in two things on twt; jeongsung fest and jeongchan bingo. It’s a fun way for me to get some writing practice in though I will probably be whining again once the deadline rolls around haha. As for here on Tumblr: I’m going to try to keep up with @ficwips Wednesday word of the week game so I work on my wips more haha (except I never post it on Wednesday hdhdhd). 

5. Which WIP is first on your list to complete this year? Will you post a snippet?

Not counting the fest and bingo ones, my first on the list is the witch au! I’m really looking forward to writing more of it, I love the dynamics in this one. 

Technically the jeongsung fest is first on the list BUT I’m sharing a witch au snippet cause I really want to work more on that one and choosing snippets motivates me to expand my scenes hahah it's a LONG ONE SORRY

Minho’s eyes are drawn to something on the wall, just visible over Jeongin’s shoulder. A black spot, almost like a scorch burn. Wear and tear around the house is nothing new, susceptible to Jeongin’s moods as it is. And they know, Minho perhaps more than anyone else, that Jeongin has had a collection of hurt and anger over the years which is reflected throughout the house. Everyone still freezes when a new spot appears but they learned to live with it. Never ignoring the different marks but they now acknowledge that this is a thing that will keep happening. Chan and Seungmin watch the development of new ones like a hawk to navigate when Jeongin’s spiraling and they need to step in. It’s handy having a tattletale of sorts that informs them when Jeongin is not doing as well as he lets on.  But Minho’s never seen one like this, it looks like it’s going to crumble if he touches it, giving way for the outside. It looks like it hurts and all he wants to do is take Jeongin in his arms and tell him it’ll be alright. Except he doesn’t know this time. And Minho doesn’t lie. Never to Jeongin. No matter how much it feels like having his heart ripped out. In a house otherwise  filled with comfort and soothing tones and gentle touches, Jeongin counts on Minho’s sharp tongue and honesty, relies on it and Minho would rather die five times over than betray that, to dishonour him in some way.

11. Would you like to try any new fanfic genres or tropes this year?

I’m working on a jeongchan kitsune-ish au for the bingo and I’m excited to try that out! I’ve never written anything similar to shapeshifting but I think it would be fun and interesting to explore that as well as the mannerisms and ways of communication in animal form. Come to think of it I actually did have a txt shapeshifter/magical au hmmm I should really go through my wips again hahah but yeah! I’d really like to explore it more alongside fantasy and mythical creatures in general!!! (looks at the dragon au)

I’d also like to grow in writing intimate scenes without it being overly explicit. Or as you called it: Implying Sexy Shit Without Writing It, hahahha

Thank you for the ask!!! I was very excited about doing my first ever ask hehe <3

[oonajaeadira]

Hi! I’ve seen you post a couple of things recently about feeling bad for writing more slowly. I just wanted to share that I’m a newer follower, but GTTT as one of the first fics I’ve ever read. It was about a year ago. I loved it so, so much. I was new to Tumblr then and didn’t follow you. I was thinking about it the other day and looked you up. I was THRILLED to find a new chapter, and it didn’t disappoint!

Some of my favorite authors post on a schedule (every Friday), some post randomly but at least once weekly, and others take 6+ months to update. It’s a nice balance for me. There’s always something to read when I want to, so I’m happy to wait for authors that post less frequently. It doesn’t change my love of your series or my appreciation of your work. I know fic writers love full lives and are usually doing this in their spare time. I myself am only creative in bursts and can’t force it otherwise even when I have the time.

Anyways, all of this to say: please don’t feel bad! If you ever get hate remember you just can’t please some people. Thanks for all you do ❤️

I'm sorry I let this slide so long without a response, but I never know what to say to messages like this. You took the time to write this with the intent of cheering me up and that's such a nice gesture...you can't know how much I appreciate that...my heart....

Thank you. Really.

And this is so encouraging! It's nice to know my poky pace can be beneficial!!! 😂

But truly, I'm mostly just sad about how slow I am because I miss the interaction. I feel like I don't get to participate in the fandom as much as I used to and that makes me a little sad. It's not just writing...I feel like I don't get to read as much anymore either, or participate in the games.

But I know these things go in cycles. And I'm not really in a hurry but that I have a lot of stories I want to tell and there's this bottleneck in my time and brains right now. There's a back up. It's uncomfortable...like being full of gas. I'm full of Pedro stories. And I hope they all come out okay....

[cobragardens]

In the first essay in this post Maya Gittelman articulates something that I think is really important: it's not just the gender(fuck) of the characters' coding that makes Good Omens a queer story, it's that the story is about queerness itself.

Gittelman's essay:

The thing is, this is the shit I’ve been waiting for my whole life.

Before I knew the words, I was impacted by how every epic romance, every classic adventure, every story I had access to and enjoyed was cishet. I needed to translate either the story or myself to find myself in it—every single time. I grew up in the oughts, in the days of the Tumblr fandoms you’re thinking of. I wrote about this a bit more in my essay on the first season of Our Flag Means Death last year, and that first line applies here—queer heartache has never felt this good.

I’ve been able to consume a lot of queer storytelling lately—mostly white cis m/m, but not exclusively and more than I’ve ever been able to in my life, because I’ve been searching for it for a long time. Yet as we know, there are a lot of mainstream stories with queer “rep” that at their core about what marginalized queer people have been cautioning around for generations—normalization. Assimilation. Respectability. See, we can be just like you. We too desire to marry, participate as cogs in the violent machine of imperialism. We too want the right to give you our service, our allegiance. We too want to join your armies. I certainly can enjoy plenty of that media, but I’m still desperate for queer storytelling that’s not sanitized, not flattened out to fit cishet beats, something that tells a good story that’s queer on every level. And that means we deserve to see queer characters who are messy, who hurt each other, because sometimes, love isn’t enough.

While Good Omens in some ways still white cis m/m, it’s also not entirely, and what works for me is that it actually delves into asking the damned question: What if this love is a threat, actually?

What if this love is something that does disrupt your norms, your ways of life? What if it’s an open danger to the systems you’re used to? What if this love could disrupt everything? What if it goes against God’s will and Satan’s too, what if it flies in the face of the ineffable plan?

What I’m saying is, I’ve wanted stories that let queer people be characters, with all the nuance and complexity that entails. Stories that are queer, intentionally, in both subtext and text, that aren’t asking an audience to justify their right to exist. Instead, they’re giving voice to the specifics of queer experience that don’t typically get mainstream care, multi-season tenderness. We deserve queer love stories that are wistful, epic, tragic not because they’re of the “same gender” but because the tangled truths of safety and trauma are inextricable from queer love. We deserve stories that are queer as subtext and text, metaphor and central plot and side plot too. We deserve queer stories that explore how queer love is infinite variety. We deserve genre stories that explore what immortality or something close to it does to pining, to longing, for wanting the one person in the universe you can’t have.

We deserve queer stories without homophobia that still explore the traumas of marginalized desire, in which neither party is truly the villain, just victims of the same system, at different stages of knowing it.

Show me what it looks like beyond the happily ever after, the will they/won’t they, the beats of a privileged cis white coming out. Breathe arcs of nuance and poetry and history into it. We deserve that epic romance, and we deserve to see how much it can hurt, because the depths of that wound evidence the ferocity of that love.

Growing up queer can feel monstrous, and I need to see that on screen. When you get preached at that people like you go to Hell for what you are and the ways you want, you start to relate to the demons. When you’re taught the truest, most joyful parts of you are unholy, it’s fair to ask—why should I respect the authority of a system that hates me for reasons I can’t control?

You learn to disguise your desire, and it changes you. It changes you to choke down your feelings, to deny them, to believe that they are sin. You learn to pour them into the hidden language of love that arises between you and whoever you’re lucky enough to share it with, so you don’t learn how to say them aloud. (Their arrangement, “little demonic miracle of my own,” the fourth alternative rendezvous. This is what queer love has looked like for millennia: something beautiful and true, despite, despite, despite.) Unlike those whose love has only ever been legal, permitted, “normal,” “holy”—your relationship is inescapably shaped by the threat behind it. You don’t get to see them as often as you like. You don’t get to talk, either to them or about them, because it might disturb the precious existence you have carved out together. You have to make up excuses, you can’t admit to anyone exactly why you can’t stop going back, and in this way you don’t always have to confront it yourself.

At the same time, that’s why queer love can be one of the most powerful forces in the universe—it saved the world last time, even if they didn’t call it that, yet. Aziraphale and Crowley don’t know so many details about each other’s lives and yet they know nearly everything important.

This is love—this natural state of slipping into the truth, until you awaken to it, inevitable and encompassing, all around you.

You might find yourself almost helpless to the magnetism. You can’t stop going back, finding your way to them, taking the risk, basking in the thrill of the comfort of their company.

And that’s why this finale, this story, this couple works so well for me—it’s queer in the telling, and while it always has been, this season literalized it on a new level and that matters.

[fallinfl0wers]

Hello! I hope I’m not too late! I’ve never done this before so I’m new at this hahaha ^^’ I’m usually a ghost user in tumblr and don’t really interact with other users but I wanted to try to participate in an event for the holidays! So for my ask can I request for a Albedo + Isekai + fem! reader 👉🏼👈🏼 I feel like Albedo would be very interested in reader’s world and things she learned from her world and she would be interested in the genshin world that you wouldn’t know from the game. Please tell me if I didn’t make this ask properly! Thank you and happy holidays!

- 🦄

nOOOO, YOU DID EVERYTHING CORRECTLY, IF ANYTHING I'M THE ONE WHO'S LATE!!! TT far too late actually HAHAHA *curls up in a tiny ball and dies* thank you for your request!

fandom: genshin impact character: albedo reader type: female (she/her), isekai mc (our world -> teyvat). genre: fluff, light angst notes: not a sagau. teyvat exists as its own world independently from ours and the genshin impact game.

A Case Study, ft. Albedo.

You're absolutely right, Albedo would be incredibly interested in your world!

How are life forms different in your world compared to Teyvat's? What do you mean your world has no Leylines?

What is this 'smartphone' and 'television' thing you're talking about? Is a 'television' an upgraded version of a Vision?

He's going to be running tests on you, like he did with the Traveler! He wants to know if there's any difference between you and the average human of Teyvat.

And girl, if you're specialized on any field of science, your conversations are going to last HOURS, I tell you, HOURS.

Discussing the difference between Albedo's alchemy and your world's science and technology, trying to find points in which the natural principles of each world converge--

Someone will have to stop you at some point so you can eat or sleep.

He's very curious about the Genshin Impact game, though he finds it a bit eery.

After you explain to him how the game works, including the gacha system, he may or may not apologize for not coming home to you as a joke.

He would be very happy to answer your questions about the world of Teyvat!

The world is obviously bigger than it is shown in game, everything is so much bigger and filled with more than, say, a couple of npcs in Mondstadt.

So, Albedo thinks your excitement and curiosity for everything is quite endearing!

The two of you will spend a lot of time together, not only to understand each other's world better, but because Albedo promised to help you find a way back to your own world.

It's easier said than done, though, so he helps you get settled down temporarily on Mondstadt with help from the Knights of Favonius; you do cleaning chores within the city and every time he wants to run tests on you he escorts you personally to his lab in Dragonspine, no need to put yourself in danger!

And while spending time together, Albedo finds himself getting attached to you.

Troublingly attached to you, actually.

It's the same for you, really!

So, while you enjoy your time on Teyvat, admiring the beautiful landscapes, trying the foods you've always wanted, talking to your beloved characters face to face, spending your time with Albedo... you try not to think about the moment when you're back in your world.

Albedo does the same.

He will not hold it against you when (or if) you decide to go back to your own world.

In fact, although he has fallen for you, he won't voice it. He will do everything not to let you know unless you bring it up first.

You told him about the events and storyline, he knows you know that one day, he might lose control and destroy everything.

He wants you to leave Teyvat with only happy memories, and if those happy memories are of you two together talking, then he'll gladly spend all his time with you to give you those memories.

2022. fallinfl0wers.

[alecscudder1987]

BILE AND BLUE PANSIES

theend4’s supernatural poetry event

hey everyone!! egan here<33 

so…. i recently hit a follower milestone… and i want to say thank you!!! wtf fr!!!! i love all of you so so much. i’m still an internet baby, but i’ve been active in different fandoms since around 2017, and this past year has been one of my favorite fandom experiences ever. i’ve made some really good friends and gotten inspired by so many different artists, writers, and ideas. thanks so much for being on this crazy journey with me. 

SO WHAT?

one of my favorite things i got to do this year was share my poetry with you guys! it’s been an absolute joy to receive so many lovely messages from you saying how much you love my work. truly, your feedback means the world!

so, in honor of that, i’d like for you all to share your poetry with me! whether you’ve got 7 published poetry books or you’ve literally never even read any, i’d love for you to try your hand. 

OK, WHEN?

September 18—September 24th, 2022

ALRIGHT, NOW HOW DOES THIS WORK?

READ the poems in the prompts, and then think about what you like about them—themes, voices, characters, endings, beginnings, word choice, formatting, etc!—and do some brainstorming!

WRITE one or more poems inspired by the ones listed! when i'm inspired by a certain poet, i like to try out writing in their syntax, their mannerisms, or their subject matter. give it a go! (for example: richard siken breaks up his lines across the page. if you've never tried this, playing around with indentation can be a super fun way to break up your lines!)

POST your poem either as a screenshot, photo, or plain text post to tumblr. (note: please provide a transcription of your poem in the caption if you decide to upload a photo.)

CREDIT the author of the poem you were inspired by in the caption! i won't reblog poems that don't give credit to their inspirations.

TAG your post with #bluepansypoetry and @ me so I can share your lovely creations!

DO YOU HAVE READING RECOMMENDATIONS? PROMPTS EVEN?

i do!!! please find my list of all-time-fave recommendations of supernatural-esque poems that i love below!! each day of the event focuses on one poem as a “prompt” or inspiration, so please read them all to see which ones you like! i tried to include a variety of styles. GOOGLE DOC OF THE POEM PROMPTS HERE!

SCHEDULING NITTY-GRITTY

SEPT 18: “french novel,” ritchie hoffman

SEPT 19: “colosseum,” jericho brown

SEPT 20: “fragment 147,” sappho, translated by anne carson

SEPT 21: “cagnes sur mer 1950,” jorie graham

SEPT 22: “road music,” richard siken

SEPT 23: “telemachus,” ocean vuong

SEPT 24: “object permanence,” madeline cravens

BUT I'VE NEVER WRITTEN POETRY!

i hear you say. yes. i have never tried oil painting, but i would like to! i believe it's important to keep an open mind when practicing new arts—you're never going to be "good" right away of course. besides, my goal isn't to write "good" poetry. (ok, maybe a little.) but i write poetry because i feel like a wildfire when i do. i write poetry because i might die if i don't. art keeps us alive. words feed the soul. 

the best advice i’ve gotten about how to write poetry… is to read poetry. read bad poetry. read good poetry! and then sit down for a hot second somewhere and write. write for 8 minutes without stopping. you can write "i don't know what to write" 100 times over if that's all that comes to you. or you can write a play. describe the space around you. talk about what you had for lunch. something will come to you, i promise. and if it doesn't? gently put it away for now. there isn't any rush. you can come back tomorrow.

FINAL WORD

first: no hate speech! second: if you do create nsfw work, please tag it as such. i want everyone to be able to participate in this event safely. 

thank you once again for being on this journey with me, whether you arrived today or have been here since before i even got into supernatural, i love you all dearly. good luck, and happy creating!! 

also, if  you were curious, this event is based on my poem (and song) blue pansies! which you can find here, if you like!

LINK TO THE POEMS AGAIN!!

remember to tag your work with #bluepansypoetry, and happy writing!!!

[maraudersalterego]

I have a shit ton of homework I should be doing right now, but at this moment I’m going to address why I, as an author, have decided not to join the jegulus strike.

I want to firstly say that Im super proud of those of you who have decided to join the strike, that’s good for you, and I’m glad you’re making that choice for yourself.

The reason I have decided against joining the strike (there are a few reasons) are as follows

I don’t agree with some of the authors as writers. That’s not to say that they’re bad people, or bad writers, they’ve just made choices I don’t stand behind. I don’t think this is a reason not to join, it’s just something that influenced me.

Im a minor in the fandom. This strike seems to have stricken a chord particularly among the adults in the fandom, again not say that minors can’t join the strike, just a reason I haven’t.

There are more reasons, I won’t address every single one, but I do want to talk about a lot of the adult authors that I’ve seen shitting on the young people in the fandom. I can’t speak for everyone, but I really like the authors of the fandom, not just as authors, but as people. I enjoy their tumblr posts, I understand that they are people, not robots, and I generally want the best for them. It’s really disheartening to see an author that I’ve looked up to for a really long time talking about how we “invaded their fandom” and that “we all need to be woke and morality police them”. It fucking sucks. Us smaller, younger authors have feelings too, and constantly ranting about how much you want us out of your fandom really sucks. I wanted to be just like you, and you don’t even want me here.

Now I’m not saying that these people deserve DEATH THREATS, I’m just saying that yeah, having people you look up to complaining about you hurts a little. I’m still taking a small break, but I don’t consider myself to be a part of no post November.

We really need to be nicer. Everyone needs to band together to stop being assholes. Once again, full respect to everyone participating, you have my blessing (not that you asked) and I think it’s awesome that you’re standing up for yourselves! I also want to say that if you’re hating on people who ARENT participating, you’re part of the problem. You’re not a bad person for choosing to post in November. The fics are for you, post them when you choose. It’s really sad that we’ve come to a strike just for people to treat us like people, but there are so many sides to this that make it hard for me to choose to participate.

In summary (why is this so fucking long 😭) post what you like, when you like. If you don’t like it, just roll your eyes and stop reading. Don’t send death threats, that’s never cool. If you want more updates, tell the author how much you love their work, don’t harass them. The adults in the fandom need to stop shitting on the minors. We just wanted a community, and I agree, some of us are obsessed with being “woke” and I don’t believe in censorship, but it’s really sickening when your favorite people are talking about how much you fucked up their fandom. Full respect to anyone who participates in no post November, and absolute love to anyone who chooses not to. Harassing people for not participating is just as bad as harassing authors, and if you’re doing that you’ve missed the point.

[thaddeusthawne]

Thank You

Snowells Week 2023: Day 7: Year 7 (Snowells Appreciation Day)

So this is going to be a little different from the other days I will post for this week. I still have more to post but I’ve been a bit delayed due to personal reasons but they will be put out soon! That being said, I wanted to say thank you to everyone in this fandom.

In different ways you guys have inspired me to start creating things that most fandoms haven’t. Maybe it’s because most fandoms are so big and intimidating to join but for me, the snowells fandom has always been this safe place to interact with. Whether it’s everyone’s collective excitement over snowells related scenes or funny joke posts this fandom felt easy to enjoy and participate in.

Funny enough I didn’t start shipping snowells until I ran into my first fanfic for this ship. I knew about it because I had followed some snowells peeps on my old blog (deleted it and recreated a new main & this side blog) but I never really understood the fascination for it. However one night I remember just scrolling on tumblr and accidentally clicking on the wrong ao3 link. For the life of me I can’t remember what fic it was but that’s only because I ended up reading pretty much everything that I could find. This was around the time that the beginning of season 2 was airing if that helps give an idea of what I walking into in terms of the fandom content. I stayed up that night just reading, clicking on fics randomly. I finally understood. And then a short time later Harry saved Caitlin from Grodd and then in the next episode she saved him from a bullet.

I was hooked and excited at the possibility on them getting together and started to silently enjoy them. I looked forward to every possible scene and over the years I kept thinking “Maybe it might finally happen!”. It never did of course but it did give me a lot of ideas.

Then in 2019 I finally found the courage to make my own stuff. It was nerve-racking but I had seen other people’s works and ideas met with so much positivity that I felt brave enough to try. Then I started to post some things and I was like “They’re reblogging it? And liking it? And leaving comments in the tags? 😳🥹🥰”. It meant a lot to me back then and it still means so much to me now. While I still have moments of self doubt, I look back on where I started and how far I’ve come. I honestly don’t think I would have been able to do that in any other fandom.

This community allowed me a space to grow as a writer/creator. I still have room to grow, but being able to participate and get even a few comments really helped build up my confidence and motivated me to learn to improve my skills. I went from writing maybe a few paragraphs to starting to flesh things out way more and planning out more extensive stories. Even though the show is over, I still plan to keep writing for this ship. I’m going to miss this show and these characters but I am hopeful that this fandom will still stay a source of comfort for me and anyone else who might feel the same way.

And while this ship may not have sailed, it was still fun to party on the boat.

[silverwhiteraven]

Burrito^Squared: A [Debug Teaser] CYOA MariBat Vote Fic - Ch. 1

[ Author's Note: While I work on setting up the first chapter of the official MariBat Vote Fic, I decided, with the encouragement of the fandom on Discord, to test out how to work Polls into a written story on Tumblr. I chose what I endearingly call "The Bottom of the Barrel" to do this with! AKA, the lowest voted answers of the 4 Set-Up Polls. I hope you all enjoy what has been born from the ashes of Daminette's win <3 ]

Chapter 1 - A Hero's Game

Capture the flag. A simple game of two teams, two goals, and two lines of defense, each facing off against the other. The more members put into the offence, the weaker the deffence. The stronger the deffence, the less offence one could provide. But no mix of defence and offence could possibly hold against an all-out attack by a strategic mastermind with a one-track mind! Especially a hungry one on a time crunch who knows her flags have no offensive capabilities.

Batgirl sped through the streetlamp lit streets of Metropolis, every available computer system on her person and her scooter out, open, and running like some kind of crazed Pokemon Go player on a never ending hunt. Which wasn’t all that inaccurate of a description.

“Come on, come on, that last one has to be here somewhere!”

She fretted aloud as the wind whipped around her, eyes on her screens more than on the street ahead. It might have been a miracle that she hasn’t gotten into any accidents after all the time she has done this, or it could have simply been the skill of an obsessed teenager. She didn’t have time to figure that out, though.

The communicator on her wrist beeped and she held it up to her face like it was her last hope. “Bumblebee! Please please PLEASE tell me you found it!”

There was a pause, before a timid voice came through. “Well…Do you want the bad news first…?”

“Noooo-! Please, the Metropolis HackCon is tomorrow! I can’t lose this competition to that sad little puppy-eyed rich brat again!” She bemoaned. That Tim Drake kid may not have been as odl or as skilled as her, but he had more resources than Barbra Gordon originally had access to. That has since changed, but who knows what might have changed for him, too. She didn’t want to think about it.

“You know i’m not much of a hacker, Batgirl,” Bumblebee replied apologetically. “I do more of the mechanical aspects than the programming side of things. It’s why I had so much trouble with making my suit… Besides, what kind of convention sets up a competition that takes place before the actual event? How do they keep track of cheating, or maintain their servers, or- or- or ensure the safely of their participants!? Do you really have to be going all over the city just to find these Flags? It doesn’t seem right…”

“Oh psh, you worry too much, Bee! This Con is hosted by none other than Lex Luthor this year!” She revealed excitedly, getting a squawk from Bumblebee, who couldnt comprehend how her friend was excited about something held by a suspected Supervillain. “They say the top prize gets a college scholarship and guaranteed internship upon graduation! I’ve been trying to win that myself for years now- Darn Drake kid keeps mocking me by donating the scholarship to the second and third placers.”

“Wait, so you don’t actually need-?”

“It’s the principle of it, Bumblebee! The principle!” Batgirl declared loudly, before ending the communication.

“Batgirl…? Batgirl? Oh, she hug up. But, I didnt even get to tell her the good news…”

Soon enough, Batgirl reached her limit and ended her hunt for the last Flag. Stashing her scooter in a narrow and dark alley, she grappled up to a highrise rooftop and flopped down, defeated and feeling like a dried up starfish.

“What kind of Capture the Flag game is also this much of a Treasure Hunt??” She groaned. “It used to just be held at the HackCon, sitting at computers and digging through the servers of the Convention Center an connected Hotels! How did that Luthor guy get so many businesses around Metropilis to participate like this…? Ugh, I don’t care! I wish he would at least give us hints!”

A few moments passed, as Batgirl grumbled to herself, complaining and going over what she knew so far so she could try to find a lead hidden within her own brain.

Then the crunch of rooftop gravel had her looking up, or as relatively up as she can while laying flat on her back. A head of blond hair looms just behind her, a familiar bucket of food obscuring the face. “Tough time?” a sympathetic voice asked.

[azolitmin]

end of the year thoughts

Hello!

I swear I made another blog post recently but it looks like the last one I made was at the end of march phew. Anyways, I hope everyone’s been having a stress-free holiday season, enjoying themselves and hanging in there. 

I’ve included a longer version below so that I don’t take up too much space on people’s dashboards (or TL? what do we call the feed on tumblr nowadays?) but the short of it all is that my wrist pain has improved significantly since my last post, I’m going to work on opening a patreon and doing a lot of art projects in the coming future!

I figure I should make a little update related to my last post (wrist pain/pinched nerve) I’m still waiting to see a doctor for a full evaluation LOL but I did manage to buy a secondhand cintiq, shoutout to the guy on FB marketplace who didn’t scam me, it’s been amazing to draw with and has seriously helped alleviate a majority of the pain in my wrist/hand. I’m honestly having so much fun drawing with it I can’t believe I deprived myself of this for so many years LOL. I’m still working on taking adequate breaks/rest periods and strengthening my wrist which I also think played a huge part in my recovery. Anyways, I definitely feel more confident in taking on work now that I can draw for more than an hour without pain or even just the mental energy drain being in pain causes, yay!!!

Soo with that being said I am going to be working really hard on new art, I have a lot of projects I want to do in the future. Primarily a lot of OC stuff but a few fandom related things as well. I had a dream once that I spent 300$ in gachaphon trying to get every single catboy kurapika merch so I think this is a sign that I have to make a lot of catboy kurapika merch. I also want to make some batman related stuff and experiment with some new product types 🥺 definitely want to participate in some more conventions, I never made a post reflecting on my time at Sakuracon and AX but I had an amazing experience at both (as good as it can be during the panini). If you came by and said hi or bought anything from me during these times thank you so much!!!! It was really nice to talk to people who enjoy my art or chat about fandom stuff 😳

Other than merch and fandom related products I think I also want to finally get my patreon up and running, though it will be very low stakes (one tier for the foreseeable future). I’ve definitely gone back and forth on this since I have a big fear about letting people down. It’ll most likely be used for posting up sketches, WIPs, I might ask for feedback on what I should draw next or give art feedback if requested? I’m not the most skilled artist but I think I’m capable of a suggestion or two :^)!! And yes the whole twitter thing has definitely contributed towards me trying to make a serious attempt at patreon again...

The last thing I wanna say is thaaatt I am going back to art school to hopefully get my BFA, I’m halfway there, yay!! I really hope to learn new techniques/skills and improve a lot, even just typing this out is giving me a lot of excitement for the future haha.

I think that’s all I wanted to touch on without rambling on for TOO long LOL. Thank you for taking the time to read through this! 

[ember-not-amber]

I’d like to introduce everyone to my #1 idols that I’ve loved since July 2018: Marcus & Martinus

When I joined tumblr I noticed that there weren’t any Marcus & Martinus tags or posts about them — which makes sense since their fans were pretty young since the beginning of their career so they probably didn’t know tumblr existed so their fans are mainly on Instagram, Twitter and I think even Facebook — but after I did some digging I found that some tags actually did exist and there were M&M fans on here but they haven’t been active in years so I would like to introduce the rest of Tumblr to Marcus & Martinus.

Marcus and Martinus Gunnarsen are identical twin brothers who were born on February 21, 2002 in Elverum, Norway and they currently live in Trofors, Norway. They have a little sister named Emma who also makes her own music, their parents’ names are Gerd-Anne (mom) and Kjell-Erik (dad), and they have a golden retriever named Tico that they got in, I believe, 2019.

Their career started when they won Melodi Grand Prix Junior in 2012 (which is like the Norwegian X-Factor for kids ages 8-15) on September 1. MMers (Marcus & Martinus fans/stans) call this day International MMers’ Day because it was the day that M&M’s career started — although it doesn’t really make sense that it’s called MMers Day bc it’s not originally about their fans, it’s about Marcus & Martinus starting their career as singers and it would make more sense to call it International Marcus & Martinus Day or sth.

They are called M&M for short, and if you were in the fandom in 2016, they were called Mac & Tinus or Mactinus for a long time but their fans don’t call them that anymore (it’s a bit of a cringey nickname imo and I’m allowed to say that btw bc I started calling them that when I first joined the fandom).

Their first album called “Hei” (which means “Hi” or “Hello”) was released in February 2015 and all of the songs are in Norwegian and the album included their first song that they won MGPjr with, “To Dråper Vann” which is “Two Drops of Water” in English. Their second album was their first English album called “Together” and it was released in November 2016. Their third album, “Moments” was released in November 2017 and was also in English. Basically, ever since they made “Together”, all of their songs have been in English.

In 2018 they released a single called “Invited” and that was my very first time experiencing the excitement of my favorite artist releasing a new song. In the end of the music video for “Invited” they teased that the next song that would be released would be called “Lie To You” and they later performed this song live at a concert and that is the only recording of the song that we have to this day because guess what? It never got released!! Marcus recently explained that the song didn’t get released because something happened to the file??

On January 24, 2019 the boys told their fans in an Instagram livestream that they would not be going on tour in 2019 because they would be focusing on making new music but they would still have big concerts in other countries. That year, they released an Extended Playlist called “Soon”. The name of the EP was an inside joke between them and their fans because whenever their fans asked them when new music was coming they always responded with “soon” or “very soon”.

In 2020 they released two singles, “Love You Less” and a Christmas song, “It’s Christmas Time” but they did not release any more albums probably because of covid and the fact that it takes a lot of work and effort to make an album.

In 2021 they were featured on Stig Brenner’s song called “Miserabel” which is a Norwegian song and after that they released two singles “Belinda” and “Feel” where they collaborated with other people on. With “Belinda” they collaborated with Álex Rose and with “Feel” they collaborated with Bruno Martini.

In 2022, before releasing their next single, Marcus & Martinus participated in Sweden’s masked singer competition and won. I don’t know much about it bc I didn’t really pay much attention to it cuz it didn’t really pique my interest that much.

Their next single released in May 26, 2022 was “When All The Lights Go Out” after deleting or archiving all of their 3,000+ Instagram posts and blacking out their profile picture and putting the words “We are not the same” in their bio. I can tell you that the entire fandom freaked out when they deleted all of their posts because all of those posts recorded the milestones in Marcus & Martinus’s journey in their career and those posts had sentimental value and nostalgia for MMers. I personally still hold out hope that they just archived their posts and that they’ll put them back up but that hope is quickly diminishing.

On June 11 or 12, 2022 they had a concert in Drøbak Norway and sang unreleased songs and the performances of those songs were filmed by fans and posted on YouTube. The unreleased songs have been named “One Good Reason”, “Serve It Up”, “It’s Gone”, “We Are Not The Same”, and my personal favorite, “Love Flow”.

On September 9, 2022 they released their cover of “Wicked Game” by Emika.

On October 21, 2022 “Gimme Your Love” was released. The song was released on Spotify at midnight in Norwegian time (yeah, the same day Midnights by Taylor Swift was released). They had worked on the song with a DJ and producer named Medun.

Finally, Marcus & Martinus’s most recent single, “247365” came out July 13, 2023

Oh, also most people who aren’t fans might recognize Marcus & Martinus from their old Musical.lys that they made with their song “Heartbeat” from the “Together” album and their music video for their song “Girls” from that same album. Today they get comments on their tiktoks from non-fans saying things like “I forgot about you guys”, “Weren’t you 14?”, and “you guys are still here??”.

I would like to add that after getting to know them for 4 years based on what they have shown to their fans, Marcus & Martinus are the most unproblematic celebrities I know. They are genuinely nice guys who support and accept minorities and they are very kind and nice to their fans while setting boundaries with them.

I cannot say the same for some of the fans, though. Throughout the years of M&M’s career, all of the drama that has occurred was started by their fans. In 2016 they made a big deal out of the boys kissing their fans on the cheek and vice versa when taking photos with them (they were 14 at the time and their fans were about that age or younger) and in 2017 when Marcus & Martinus became friends with Lisa and Lena who are German twin sisters that also make music together, some MMers attacked them thinking that they were in a relationship with them. Some MMers have also attacked other people in the fandom who are editors for getting so many likes, reposts, and a follow from M&M (aka “notices”). Not all MMers are like that, though. I personally haven’t encountered many MMers that started drama, I’ve only seen the normal MMers post about it on their stories.

Marcus & Martinus both share a love for football (soccer). I think their dad taught them how to play and they have been playing the sport on the side of their singing career for pretty much their whole lives. In an interview, when asked what they would be if they weren’t singers they said they would be football players because they really love it.

Both Marcus & Martinus have been single for their whole lives so far and in pretty much every interview they’ve ever been in they’ve been asked if they have girlfriends and they have said no every time.

Until August 15th, 2022

That day Marcus posted a picture on his Instagram story of him with a girl and tagging her with a heart “<3”

That day the fandom EXPLODED with people who were happy for them and people who started hating on the girl, Nora which caused the people who supported the relationship to post on their stories telling the - for lack of a better word - haters that Marcus is allowed to have a personal life and he doesn’t have to explain anything to us (his fans). At this time, the fans were not 100% sure that they were in a relationship bc Marcus didn’t explicitly say that she was his girlfriend in his post so they were theorizing that they could either be dating or they could just be close affectionate friends.

The next day it was confirmed that Nora and Marcus were in fact dating when M&M’s team posted a screenshot of an article talking about the new relationship on their profile. Since then, there have been so many MMers supporting Marcus’s relationship by leaving positive comments on Nora’s Instagram and editors making edits of her.

Martinus is, however, still single as of right now.