anadrym

[anadrym]

do u ever get a comment on a fic thats just so sweet that ur like Maybe slaving over 24k of fanfiction was worth it for user SprinkleTrashcan2012 to leave a three paragraph comment

[anadrym]

A COMINT !!

[anadrym]

[anadrym]

I’d like everyone to see this

{Credit to amalasrosa on Twitter}

[anadrym]

Please remember your favorite writers are attention whores with a praise kink, they need validation to survive. Feed them comments and reblogs to save a life.

[anadrym]

Caitlyn Kiramman can be a main character that goes through a massive character arc where she starts out as a happy go lucky enforcer who is naive about the system she works for, thinks she can change it from within, ends up falling victim to her own prejudices that she hasn't had the time or wherewithal to work through, contributes to the system she thought she was dedicated to change, make some serious mistakes and harm others, feel immense guilt and self hatred for those mistakes, directly betrays the system in order to atone for those mistakes, and people will still say Arcane has a pro cop message in season 2.

[anadrym]

I'm so glad I live in a world where there's Archive of Our Own

[anadrym]

i do write for attention, actually, because that's a normal reason to create art

[anadrym]

By reading my works you are signing an agreement that if you put my works through AI or repost my works or anything like that, i get to hunt you for sport

[anadrym]

super simple low-effort ao3 summary methods that are 1000% better and 1000% less annoying than just saying you suck at summaries:

copypaste the first few lines of the fic. u already wrote ‘em. let ‘em be their own damn hook

if ur feeling fancy & don’t mind showing ur hand a bit, copypaste the first few lines of the fic that u feel are esp. Important or Interesting - the ones where u first start getting into the real meat of things

state the main tropes! theyre probably already in ur tags - just say them again - maybe as a full sentence if ur feelin fancy. or with a joke if ur feelin Extra fancy

ask a question. pose a hypothetical. eg what happens if u take [character] and put them in [situation]?

make an equation. [character] + [thing] = [outcome]

just write like a one-sentence summary of what the fuck is going down. just one (1) sentence. doesnt matter if it doesn’t cover every important aspect. or if it sounds bland. any summary sentence is gonna be miles better than “idk i suck at summaries”

just…explain the fic like u would to a friend? it doesnt have to be a polished back of the book blurb. it can just be “[pairing] coffee shop au, but like, still with murder, and also i made everyone trans. enjoy”

just stick a meme in there

honestly who cares

just put literally anything but a self deprecating comment in there & ur golden

[anadrym]

This is a slow fandom zone

None of that "Oh no they bomb-dropped all the episodes in a week 1 month ago, I'm late!" "The tag hasn't been active all week is the fandom dead?" "I only got a hundred shares the first hour no one cares about my art"

Slow down

Take a deep breath and slow down

Fandom is YOU. And me and everyone. If we doodle stick figures for a show that ended 30 years ago we aren't "late" or "doing too little", we're playing dolls in our own time and having fun with works of art that mean a lot to us

You can literally watch and engage with something that aired in 2004 as if it aired yesterday

If the tag hasn't been active for 14 months guess what? If YOU post there, it isn't dead. Literally you can talk about anything you want whenever you want there is no weird law against watching things that people aren't actively talk about

Let's be deranged about stories together

[anadrym]

if a fictional character gets stabbed, they have only 2 valid options:

1. slowly raise their hand to the wound and/or pull the weapon impaling them out while everyone stares in horror before collapsing to the ground from shock and/or blood loss and being caught just in time by their friend/sibling/love interest

2. hide the wound beneath a dark item of clothing in preparation for the dramatic reveal later where another character touches them and their hand comes away bloody or they overexert themselves and they stumble and wince but still try to insist they’re fine, even though they’re clearly in pain and struggling to stay on their feet, and as the other character peels back their jacket it becomes clear that they’re badly hurt and have been for a while (bonus points if they’re wearing a white shirt underneath)

[anadrym]

Unpopular opinion but if you don't enjoy the process you should find a different thing to do.

And I think this is true in general but now I'm talking about it in the context of AI.

If you don't enjoy making art and only care about the end piece and how it'll look and how much traction it"lol get online then making art is not something for you, find something you enjoy from start to finish.

Same goes for writing: if you do not enjoy writing and rewriting and then some more and instead want AI to write for you, being a writer is not something you should pursue.

Sure, not every part of creative process is going to be equally enjoyable but you should get satisfaction from solving the problems along the way and you should get a sense of accomplishment on your way of "making the piece yours" and you should have a sense of ownership once you are done.

None of these things will come from typing in a prompt into chatGPT. And I am sad to see so many people are missing on the opportunity to experience the joy of making something with their own hands and brains.

[anadrym]

in this house we don’t say “that character is dead”. we say “they’re wounded but they’re alive and are on their way towards making a full recovery on archive of our own fix-it fics”

[anadrym]

[anadrym]

Does anyone want to bother me so I don't have to write?

[anadrym]

Extended Author's Notes for Left Behind Ch8.

Spoilers!

Chapter title is from "Without You" by Breaking Benjamin. Dear Agony is one of my comfort albums. :)

I actually added the part about Renata having injured Vi's back like two days before posting. I like the idea that they scarred, and Caitlyn will discover them in a few chapters.

SHE RECOGNIZES CAITLYN AGAIN. Even after everything. Vi is such a loving character, everything she IS is tied to the people she loves. No matter what the Baroness does to her, she can't take that away.

I do like comparing Caitlyn's eyes to a clear sky, for several reasons: 1. It's very romantic; 2. It contrasts with comparing Vi's eyes to clouds/rain/etc; 3. Vi grew up in the Lanes, spent years locked in Stillwater, and now is imprisoned by the Baroness. The sky is a symbol of freedom, and Caitlyn is going to free her.

I keep using the imagery of the brain being almost liquid and sloshing around, kinda like an egg. This is how I feel when I have migraines.

I debated having the commemoration be from Caitlyn's POV, but decided against it because I didn't really want to go into it. Caitlyn is very aware compared to Vi and it would've taken up so much more time to do it through her eyes. Also, it's got a lot of the same elements as earlier, so why rehash?

So here's how the ceremony works: the Chem-Barons, gang leaders, and their conspirators (Caitlyn doesn't know this, but there were a few wealthy Piltovans who didn't like the redistribution of resources to the Undercity and teamed up with the others to make sure that there would still be a Ruling Class) all gather. Prisoners are brought out and the "bosses" take turns executing them. Most don't want to get their hands dirty and have their people do it (the guy with the axe, Vi, and eventually Caitlyn). The more brutal, the better, because it scares the people into compliance.

As Vi beats the first man, Caitlyn watches until she just can't anymore. Then she turns to Renata and basically tells her to just end it already. Renata tells her to end it herself. Caitlyn (as Ghost, hood up) shoots the man to put him out of his misery and to let Vi stop.

I'm a tiny bit sad no one seemed to notice the "There is no one coming for you. No one will save you. Just... just let go." Followed IMMEDIATELY by "And then Ghost is there." Vi, sweet girl, someone IS going to save you.

When the Baroness's turn comes back around, Caitlyn intervenes and asks her not to have Vi do it (to spare both Vi and the victim). Renata tells her that she may do it instead, but not as Ghost. Caitlyn hesitates, the Baroness starts to give Vi the order, and Cait interrupts, agreeing to do it herself. When she puts her hood down, everyone there - both the "bosses" and the populace - can see that Caitlyn Kiramman is working for Renata Glasc, which is EXACTLY what Renata wanted.

Ugh, the tragedy of Caitlyn finally looking over to Vi and Vi not being able to meet her gaze. And that only leads into Caitlyn's belief that Vi is gone.

Caitlyn is still running on basically one bite of croissant.

"To only execute those whose crimes warranted death." Extra judicial vigilante behavior, my beloved.

AND THE BARONESS FINALLY FUCKS UP. She gets way too confident, riding the high of having Caitlyn do her bidding in front of a crowd of people. She really does think that she's got Vi completely suppressed. She also knows that Caitlyn isn't going to "use" Vi; it's all just a taunt, a mindfuck to layer on top of the shit Cait's already going through. It's a "look what I have, look what I've done to both you and her, did you really think you stood a chance against me?" She absolutely does NOT expect Caitlyn to try to mercy kill Vi, and she NEVER even considered that Vi might still be able to break out of her mental prison.

I really like the line "My own personal apocalypse." I just think it's a good line.

One of your comments talked about "the dignity of death," which is such a good way to put it. Cait is willing to give up the last person she loves, everything that remains of the life she had before, just to keep Vi's body from being a puppet for the Baroness. That's love, bitch.

Ashes and Blood reference! Love that song.

Also, the reference to the Purge, but this time it's Caitlyn doing the killing and burning, and returning to the goal of vengeance.

The part about Cassandra putting down an injured dog was another last-minute addition, but I really like having Caitlyn remember her parents. I think her love for them drives so much of her behavior. It was a little hard to write though; I have a dog and he's probably the most precious thing in the world to me. :(

Cait sets the muzzle of the rifle against Vi's forehead because she can't keep it steady with how much her hands are shaking.

When Vi's hand twitches upward, she's trying to reach out to Caitlyn, but hesitates because she isn't allowed to touch anyone without being ordered to.

"Her finger resting against the trigger trembles" - Caitlyn is not looking where she's aiming but she still has her finger on the trigger. I've been trying to be very careful to have Caitlyn practicing gun safety; her NOT doing it this time was deliberate on my part.

Vi has technically been capable of speaking this whole time (her voice works, as seen in the first half of the previous chapter). But she knows not to do it in front of anyone, because they'd realize she's still in there. Now that she's alone with Cait and she thinks (desperately hopes) that she can trust her, she finally lets herself talk.

God, that last scene was so fun to write. It took, like, no time at all; it just played out perfectly in my head and I wrote it down.

This was the cliffhanger I wanted to set up! It ended up working out for chapter length to have chapter 6 be only Caitlyn's POV, but it was really to set up this ending.

Teaser for next week:

Speaking hurts - it's been so long since she's used her voice for anything other than involuntary sounds - but she still swallows hard and, despite the glass shards in her throat, forces herself to rasp, "I know you."

There's a sharp noise.

The girl opens her eyes. Ghost is staring down at her, mouth agape and breathing jagged. Her blue eyes are blown wide; they flicker back and forth between the girl's, filled with horror but also the beginnings of something dangerously close to hope.