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The most relatable feeling

Why am I on Tumblr right now, you ask? It's because a character is about to do something monumentally embarrassing in a fanfic and I have stopped reading and come over here to mentally cope before the secondhand embarrassment kicks me in the teeth.

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Why do people stop commenting on fics if they’re more than a week or two old? Please comment on old fics. Tell me you like my one shot from 2014. Tell me you like my old multi-chap I finished in 2016 that I spent a year writing. I will be fucking thrilled.

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Bangtan x The Onion

parts 1, 2

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Namjin Fic Recs for April Showers

Is it just me or does it always rain in Namjin fics? ☔ Enjoy the spring petrichor and stay dry while reading these 😁💙

(these are all complete)

👍Yes to smut:

the understood boundaries of self by tentigers

Idol verse, just really well written

Imprints (For the Boys in the Back) by Anna (arctic_grey)

Holy shit Jin’s characterization in this fic is fascinating 🧐 and the sequel is equally amazing

KAIROTIC by metastacia

Supernatural dark murder mystery awesomeness ⏳✨

More Walls (Collected Along the Way) by Anna (arctic_grey)

Namjin gets married in Vegas. Seven years after their messy break up they realize the marriage is now legal in Korea.

🚫No to smut:

everything moves on by fruitily

a little angst, a little humor, very cute 💜

The Mark of an Educated Mind by bazooka

the beloved "member stumbles upon fanfic and realizes feelings" trope

just let the feeling grow by orphan_account

NJ and SJ get stuck in a power outage together. NJ is an adorable artist, SJ doesn't like him and definitely isn't in deniable about anything.

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Move your writing from Wattpad to Ao3 NOW

I don’t know if this will reach anyone who writes on wattpad but if it does: wattpad legally owns everything you’ve put on their site. This “partnership” with paramount means that they could take the plot off your original story, make a movie out of it, and take all the profit themselves because you are not legally entitled to a share, as per the terms of service.

But, navigating a new website can be scary or unpleasant. So I figured - as someone who migrated from wattpad to ao3 myself a couple years ago - here are a few tips:

When you sign up, you need to have an ‘invite’, this will be sent to you by the site in three days max.

Unlike Wattpad that I remember had limited tags - both in number and in scope - ao3 tags are numerous and cover a lot of ground. You can tag for everything that is present in the fic or only for things you consider important. This is entirely up to you.

Tags are three categories, usually: archive warnings, relationship tags, additional tags. Additional tags is where you would put specifics of the work.

Fandom tags, also. Though they’re not really called tags, just the fandom of the work. Original Work is a category, and you can freely use it.

Sometimes readers might ask you to tag with something specific - a potential trigger that you may have missed. You are not required to comply - you are mostly left to your own devices on ao3 - but most people do. It makes everything better for everyone involved.

Ao3 works don’t really have ‘covers’ as Wattpad works do - the medium is completely text based. people find your works based on pairing and additional tags, and judge it based on title and summary. You can still make covers for your work, but you will have to put it inside the work and people will only see it if they’ve already clicked on it.

Relationship tags fall into two categories: Character/Character for a romantic relationship and Character & Character for a platonic relationship.

There are six archive warning categories; 1- No archive warnings apply 2- rape/non-consensual 3- major character death 4- underage 5-graphic depictions of violence 5- creator chose not to apply any archive warnings.

A little bit of an afterthought;

- major character death is mostly considered anyone from the main pairing(s), but if a side character makes enough appearances to be loved by the audience, you might want to choose this anyway.

- choosing not to apply archive warnings is an ambiguous situation. you might do this to not spoil anything in the work - not advised, that’s not how people choose to read things on ao3. your readers will feel betrayed - or if you feel an archive warning is Too Much but whatever happens is a little too close to home with one of them - in this case, you’re advised to explain further in additional tags.

The posting page is fairly simple, similar to wattpad in a lot of aspects. No ‘header’, though. Fully text-based in posting. But you can have pictures in the body of the work itself which is how meme fics came to be - fics entirely told through meme pictures.

oh, ao3 has two interesting functions that wattpad doesn’t have at all:

First; you can post anonymously. you do this by making a “Collection”, setting it to anonymous, and putting your published work in that collection. This is how Anonymus and gift fests are usually kept secret! Be mindful that the Anonymus state can be applied to any collection by the owner at any time, so don’t let your work be added to random collections by people you do not trust.

Second; orphaning a work. If you thought a story that you wrote was fun and cool but childish, so you still want people to read it but without it being attributed to you - orphaning the work will put it in the archive’s servers as ‘writer-less’. Once you orphan a work you have no more control over it - you can’t delete or edit it.

Per Line Commenting was one of the fun features of wattpad; ao3 does not have that. People who really like your stuff will write lengthy comments, put paragraphs at a time in quotation marks, and then tell you how they felt about it. This is neither better or worse, just different. speaking from experience, it’s less funny, but more genuine and heartfelt.

NO ALGORITHM. you will discover so, so many hidden gems and your story will be found by so, so many people. No more of popular works getting all of the spotlight.

oh and no “Awards” either but from what I remember those always sucked so this isn’t important. You get found by the tags or by word of mouth and other people’s bookmarks and tags.

Oh, and you don’t just ‘favorite’ fics, you can ‘bookmark’ them which means “I liked this!” And you can ‘rec’ them which means “I think you should read this!”. Bookmarks and recs can be public or private.

How could I forget! NO ADS. ao3 is a non-profit, so nobody who works on it makes a single cent off the incredible amount of traffic the site gets. You will not see any ads in the interface of the site or in any of your stories.

And finally, the ao3’s most important feature: the site isn’t going to fucking steal your story!!! You completely and legally own the work you put on ao3, and if it does get stolen they would actually help you get it back.

It’s 2 a.m and this is all I can think of. Don’t let paramount steal your hard work on your writing, they’re assholes who do not deserve more money than they have.

If you are reading this and have a question about any part of it, do feel free to ask me or anyone else who has their ao3 link in their bio, they’d know the ropes. You can also read the full archive faq for more in-depth explanations of everything here.

Take your work off wattpad before it’s too late, y'all.

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these are fun to make💫

pt. 1

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this is a thing people do, right?

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Vmin Fics Recs for the Ides of March

I guess this is a thing I'm doing now lol so pray to Jupiter 🔭 stab a Roman politician 🗡️ and enjoy these Vmin fics 💖

(these are all complete)

👍Yes to smut:

ever the weariest river by vxmins

one of my favorite fics in any fandom ever, I can't overstate how much I love this one, it's epic as hell, pseudo-historical enemies to lovers slooooow burn.

Paint by minverse

I know it's super famous, but it's so good I can't NOT include it here. It's funny and sexy with great characterization for everyone and just the right amount of conflict.

you know i know by orphan_account

short idolverse fic in which feelings are realized. really wonderfully written.

ring the changes by kaythebest

This one HURTS but it all works out in the end I promise, unrequited feelings (for awhile anyway), angst, and great characterization.

🚫No to smut:

ignite the stars by tendershipping

Wonderful angsty Star Wars AU with jedi!Tae and sith!Jimin, such a fun crossover with some really great fight scenes. No to smut but yes to violence lol

such stuff as dreams are made on by vxmins

prince!Jimin and kitchen boy!Tae, so sweet and heartache-y in just the right way.

forever, keep staying here by smashthatlikebutton

cute college au, Vmin bond over how hot their professor (namjoon) is lol

i lit a small candle by orphan_account

so so sweet, Bangtan goes on hiatus and Jimin realizes his feelings 🥺 feat. an adorable Yeontan

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Yoonjin Fic Recs for the lonely hearts

Valentines Day is a capitalist scam 💖 but relationship pressure from family is super real 😬🔥 Here's some of my favorite Yoonjin fics to help survive ✨

(these are all complete)

👍 Yes to smut:

Worldwide Lonesome by loindexter

One of the best Yoonjin fics ever imho, hilarious throughout, very hot, and just the right amount of sad

The Rightish Reasons by AttilaTheHun

Another of my all time faves, Yoongi is an unexpected contestant on a Bachelor-type show where bangtan (and others) try to win Jin's heart.

Best Served Cold by orphan_account

Mob au, enemies to...enemies but also lovers? Gunplay 🔫👀 it's very hot.

Touch Me in the Dark by allways_always

Yoonjin plus neighbor Tae who can hear them through the wall...threesome, phone sex awesomeness.

🚫 No to smut:

Eat Your Heart Out by bazooka

Jin wants someone to pretend to be his fiancé in order to go to a wedding cake expo... 👀🍰

rib resection by melodiousb

canon fic, Jin really likes Yoongi's knees lol

i like me better (when i'm with you) by sharpa

Pining Jin, very cute Yoongi, friends to lovers, adorable (brief flashback to a sex scene but I don't think it counts as smut)

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Yoonkook Fic Recs for the year of the Tiger

Happy New Year! 🐅 If you're sick and trapped at home (like I am), here's a few of my favorite Yoonkook fics to get you through 💕

(these are all complete and over 10K, I might do a list for short fics later)

👍Yes to smut:

Only for Tonight by dreamingdaegu

one of my all time favs, I've read it several times, the emotional intensity and slow realization of feelings is just 💯

crush me. by naturallyvante

super visceral, mostly sexual tension and then very emotional smut

consign me not to darkness by bellamees

Daechwita inspired historical enemies to lovers awesomeness

The Casual Corruption of Jeon Jungkook by Baggy_Trousers

Yoongi helps Jungkook figure out his sexuality 👀👀

🚫No to smut:

twenty first century boy by xiajin

Genderfluid Kook 💜 super cute, hurts a little, one I come back to often

a paper crown by nitilia

YG leaves his idol group, meets pet fish store owner JK. Love the vibe of this fic, it's very quiet and contemplative

twenty-four by fruitily

The one where Tae handcuffs Yoonkook together for 24 hours ✨ everything by fruitily is amazing tbh

about soulmates and inevitable doom also by fruitily lol

Normally not super into soulmates aus, but this one is such an interesting take. YG is angsty, JK just wants to meet his soulmate

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Chapter 5 of For You I'd Bleed Myself Dry 💜 yoonkook college/film school au, part 3 in the series

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I've seen a lot of fics disappear from my bookmarks, some 10+ years old, because they were added to an unrevealed collection. It makes me wonder if people realize what your fic being added to a collection actually means and if the authors approved it automatically without realizing what would happen.

If someone adds your fic to their collection, they can hide it! They can mark the collection as unrevealed and your fic will be unreadable to anyone other than them! If you're writing works for a surprise event, like a Secret Santa, this is really nice.

But if you're just writing and someone adds your fic to a collection for their own personal use and marks it as unrevealed, that. . . really sucks.

I bookmarked this fic in 2017, almost 5 years ago. Knowing me, the fic itself was probably at least a couple years old at the time I bookmarked it.

This is a 5+ year old fic that is completely inaccessible now because it was added to a collection that, as far as I can tell, is literally just for the collection owner's own reference. There's almost 30 fics in the collection, all of them unrevealed.

Please don't blindly accept collection requests and if your works ARE in a collection, make sure that they aren't being hidden without your knowledge or consent.

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updates to the Navy poisoning one of O’ahu’s largest aquifers:

“We cannot wait any longer. The water resources, it’s precious. It’s irreplaceable. It’s pure. There is no substitute for pure water. And our lives depend upon it.”

x. Hawai’i Board of Water Supply Chief Engineer Ernest Lau

an excerpt from the article:

“The military has offered all service members and civilian employees living near the base the opportunity to get alternative housing, and Converse said they are now covering the cost of hotel rooms for more than 700 people. Converse did not have a timeline for getting drinkable water back to the affected homes. ‘It will involve a series of flushes of not just the water distribution main, but of every home,’ he explained. The Navy added it has seen concerns from people in the affected neighborhoods who were exposed to the contaminated water and reported symptoms including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headaches and skin-related concerns. The Navy isolated the Red Hill well last Sunday and sent samples out for testing Monday, it said.”

while this incident is getting an unsurprising but still infuriating lack of coverage, it should be noted that the tone of all major media coverage is exactly like this: the emphasis for concern is placed entirely on the military&their families, who are receiving help, while the locals have their physical responses to literal poisoning noted.

Hawai’i has some of the cleanest drinking water in the world, &nā kānaka māoli have been being told to ration our water for both the military industrial complex&the tourism industry for decades as it is. due to the devastation of our land, the cost of living in the islands is astronomical as it is; food, &now water, is priced to accommodate needing everything shipped across an ocean to the most isolated&heavily populated island on the planet. native Hawaiians already starve in our homeland— currently, they’re being poisoned by our water, one of the only things we have left to call ours after having our resources stolen&continuously depleted.

while the lack of coverage is unsurprising as the military does their best to cover up the hundreds of millions of gallons of petrol they leaked into one of the largest aquifers in the state, the lack of outrage in 2021 is completely untenable— this is not the first fuel leak the Navy has dealt with in Hawai’i. this isn’t even the first fuel leak or containment issue they’ve dealt with this year. more excerpts from the article above:

“Another incident in May [2021] involved the release of more than 1,600 gallons of jet fuel from a pipeline inside the storage facility, according to the Navy.”

“In October [2021], the Hawaii Department of Health cited the Navy for violations related to operation and maintenance of the facility, records show. The fines and violations resulted from a routine inspection from September 28, 2020, through October 9, 2020, according to the health department.

the United States military, with a specific emphasis on their Navy, has done damage to our ‘āina that words cannot express, &damage to our people that nothing short of the return of our lands&waters will ever begin to absolve. this fuel leak— hundreds of thousands of gallons of it into one of the biggest aquifers on O’ahu— follows a minimum of eight years of the Board of Water Supply insisting this specific fuel containment set up at Red Hill needed to be either removed or double-walled. this is willful negligence, &the way that they have chosen to handle the fallout by exclusively focusing on those living on their base&in their military housing speaks volumes.

from Sierra Club of Hawai’i:

[ID1: a minimalist grey stone is cracked on a black background above tan sand&blue water. in white above the stone reads: “Shut Down Red Hill”. below this, written in black over the blue portion of the image, reads: “To Protect Our Water. To Protect The People.” /ID1]

[ID2: tan headline reads: “The Latest Update”. below this reads, “Governor Ige and the Department of Health have ordered the Navy to defuel the tanks at Red Hill. While we wish it didn’t take family and pets being poisoned to get Hawai’i’s leaders finally on board with shutting down Red Hill, this is a strong and much needed shift in action that should have happened years ago. The governor and department of health have legal authority to protect us from the Red Hill fuel tanks. But the Secretary of the Navy, Carlos Del Toro, plans to treat this lawful order as a ‘request’. And now, the Navy is requesting a contested case hearing to delay having to comply with the order.” /ID2]

[ID3: tan headline reads: “What You Can Do”. below this reads: “We need to make sure the Navy does not defy the law while contaminating our water and poisoning thousands of people. Here are 3 things you can do: 1. Write a letter to the secretary of defense Lloyd J. Austin III (Del Toro’s boss) demanding that the Navy comply with the emergency order and immediately shut down Red Hill to protect O’ahu’s water and public health. 2. Make some noise on Twitter! Tweet at Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@secdef) 3. Repost this on your Instagram and Facebook and tag Obama who was raised on Red Hill water and appointed Sec. Austin @barackobama, &a “Hawai’i celebrity” you want to see stand with us on this issue.” /ID3]

the Sierra Club has been working for decades to help with environmental restoration&protection, &is currently integral to keeping the news flowing about what’s happening at Red Hill:

Ola i ka wai a ka ʻōpua.

There is life in the water from the clouds.

Ka lepo ke kumu wai, e huaʻi ana ka lepo kai.

When the source of water is dirty, the dirt is carried to the sea.

what do we do when the dirt cannot be washed out, &when those who sully it refuse to stop? what choice do we have but to fight?

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Wound Wisdom: Wound Care

Welcome back to Mangled Mondays, where every Monday we talk about another facet of maiming, mangling, mauling, and mistreating your main characters — and all of their friends. 

Today we’ll be talking about Wound Care.For the rest of the Mangled Mondays series, [click here].

]Wound care is, in and of itself, an enormous topic. There are entire teams in hospitals dedicated to wound care and helping people heal.. To cover it in one chapter is a hopeless endeavor.

How to Clean a Cut

Cleaning a wound has two goals: getting out obvious pieces of dirt or other contaminants, and killing bacteria that are located in the wound. This is generally accomplished with irrigation (running sterile water or tap water through the wound) and application of an antiseptic. Antiseptics are materials, usually liquids, that are used to kill bacteria.

Antiseptics are actually pretty controversial in medicine, and it’s okay if your characters choose to use them, or choose not to use them. Neither answer is “right,” although if the wound has been exposed to something like mud or a dirty river, your characters will likely choose to use an antiseptic.

The argument in favor of using antiseptics is that they kill bacteria, which theoretically improves wound healing and is safer in the long run. Bacterial infections compete for nutrients with the damaged tissue and cause prolonged inflammation of the wound. This is especially true in characters whose immune systems are compromised or who may not have ideal circulation to the wounded area, such as diabetics or those with HIV.

The argument against antiseptics is that they may, on a cellular level, damage the tissue most in need of healing.

If your characters are going to use antiseptics on their wounds, they’ll likely use povidine-iodine (known in the biz by a popular brand name, Betadine) or hydrogen peroxide to clean their wounds. Alcohols aren’t recommended, becaeuse they tend to damage the cells of the tissue that’s trying to heal.

(It’s worth noting, by the way, that doctors are split over hydrogen peroxide for initial wound cleaning; the doctors who edited this book agreed that Betadine is better for ongoing wound care.)

However, whatever a character has always used is what they will reach for in their time of crisis.

Open or Closed?

When it comes to the decision to close a wound with sutures, time is an important factor.

A wound that remains open for 24 hours after the initial injury is actually better off staying open. It has a better chance of healing well on its own than it will if it’s closed after 24 hours, and many doctors have a hard 12-hour cutoff for wound closure. One guideline is that after 6–8 hours, wounds that aren’t on the face or scalp will be left open.

Missing Flesh or Bite Wound = Open Approach

The deeper the wound, the more likely an open approach will be used. That’s because closing a wound over missing tissue entraps bacteria and makes it likely that infection will develop where it cannot drain.

Bite wounds cannot be sutured for the same reason wounds that have removed chunks of flesh cannot be sutured: bacteria trapping can be fatal. Bites are especially prone to bacterial infection, because mouths are filthy, filthy places filled with bacteria. If your character chooses not to seek medical help for a cat or human bite, it’s particularly likely to get infected; a dog bite is less so.

Surgical Wounds = Drains

Surgical incisions into the chest or the abdomen typically have a plastic tube left in place to drain the wound in order to make sure that no fluid builds up in the cavity. Not only does this help prevent infection, it reduces the time it takes to heal and allows the staff to be certain that a wound is healing well on the inside.

If an incision and the underlying surgical wounds are healing well, the drain can usually be removed in 1–3 days.

xoxo, Aunt Scripty

[disclaimer]

This post is an excerpt from Blood on the Page Volume One: A Writer’s Compendium of Injuries. The book details thirty-one injuries with which to maim, mangle, and maul your characters, as well as nine indispensable articles of Wound Wisdom covering everything from burn stages to suture selection.

Print and digital editions are available on [Amazon], and digital editions are available [everywhere else].

Spend Less Time Researching and More Time Writing. Pick up a Copy of Blood on the Page Volume One.

Wound Wisdom: Wound Care was originally published on ScriptMedicBlog.com