maple-writes

[maple-writes]

[maple-writes]

Quick what are you doing RIGHT now (besides scrolling Tumblr)

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[maple-writes]

to anyone missing my writing please know i am also missing my writing

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Sharing music I like feels like the most vulnerable thing in the world....this made me feel something do you find these noises pleasant as well? Would you sit in the sounds with me?

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What do dentists even do. The hygienist does all the cleaning and the X-rays and the work and then. He comes in for like a minute and looks around and then leaves??? What are you even here for sir

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well, you see, the thing is: (instead of finishing my sentence i curl up comfortably in bed and go to sleep

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writing tip: searching "[place of origin]ish names" will get you a lot of stuff and nonsense made up by baby bloggers.

searching "[place] census [year]" will get you lists of real names of real people who lived in that place.

[maple-writes]

A writer friend told me something that broke my heart a little bit today; they're going to quit publishing their fanfic.

My instant thought was that they had been trolled or attacked or that something terrible had happened in their life because this person is so passionate about their writing. It wasn't any of that. Engagement with their works has been going down, as it has for many of us. Comments are like gold dust a lot of the time, and just looking through the historical comment counts on old fics on ao3 demonstrates this trend very clearly. It was not simply the comments dropping off which caused them to decide to stop posting, however.

My friend came across a discord server for their fandom (I should point out here that their fandom interest and mine diverged a couple of years ago, we stay in touch but don't currently read each other's posts because I'm not into their fandom and they would rather gouge their eyes out with a wooden spoon than read anything Star Wars) and specifically to share fic in that fandom. They joined, because we all love a good fic rec, only to discover that their latest multichapter fic, which has almost no comments and very few kudos, is being hotly discussed in this server as one of the best stories ever. Not one of these people has bothered to say this to them on the fic. When they asked, none of participants could see the point in telling the author of the fic they apparently loved so much that they love it.

This discovery has absolutely destroyed my friend's love of sharing fic. They share because they love seeing other people's enjoyment, and fic writers do that through comments and kudos/reblogs/likes because we don't get paid. There is no literary critic writing a blog post/article about how amazing the story is for us to copy and keep/frame. There is no money from royalties. All we have are the words of the people reading our works.

Those people on that server could have taken five minutes of the time they spent gushing about how amazing my friend's story was to other people and used it to tell the one person guaranteed to want to hear that praise how much they loved it. They could have taken a moment to express their opinion to the person who spent hours upon hours plotting, writing, editing, and posting those chapters. Instead, they deprived my friend of thing that keeps them sharing their writing, and in the process have killed their love of it. My friend now feels used and unmotivated.

I won't be sharing a link to their fic, they said I could share their experience but not their identity. I know they plan to post one final chapter. I know they intend to express their hurt at being excluded from the praise for the thing they created, and I know they intend to announce that as a consequence they will not be posting for a long while, if at all.

So please, I beg you, don't hide your love of a story from the writer. It's just about the only thing we have.

[maple-writes]

antipurpose flour this shit will actively kill you if you use it for anything

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oh you wanted chocolate atop your boston cream donut? too bad. that chocolate is for the paper bag you stupud bitch

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do you ever get jump scared by one of your "cool mutuals" liking your stuff?

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approaching the wip carefully from the side like a skittish animal. speaking in a low, gentle voice so it doesn’t run away

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This is me. Kinda jealous of all the writers who can write quickly because I can't.

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In britain, you can't just call someone a "guy" or "dude" anymore. Because of bloke.