rayraywrites

[rayraywrites]

There are a couple of things about current shipping culture that confuse me.  

1. The focus on whether or not a pairing will become canon as a reason people should ship something or not.  Do you not understand what the “transformative” part of “transformative works” means?”

2. This idea that saying “I ship that” means “I think that, as presented in canon,this is a perfect, healthy relationship that everyone should model their relationship after.” 

Sometimes shipping something does mean that.  Sometimes shipping something means “Person A is a trash bag who doesn’t deserve person B but I would love to explore how Person A might grow to deserve Person B.” Sometimes it means “I want these characters to live together forever in a conflict free domestic AU.”  Sometimes it means “I want Person A to forever pine after Person B.  Nothing is beautiful and everything hurts.”  And sometimes it just means you like their faces and want to see Person A and Person B bone in various configurations and universes. 

[rayraywrites]

So I thought this was commonly known internet navigation (but apparently it might just be those of us who have been using the internet since the 90’s who still know it). Or so it seems based on… a grumpy comment I got.

When you see an arrow like this:

It means you click it to expand out a hidden section.

It’s an accordion section/menu! It’s useful in web design to hide information that may be overwhelming under specific headers so people can only see what they need.

Here I’m using it for people who need the content warnings to be able to check, but for those who don’t need them and don’t want to be spoiled to just move right past without accidentally reading anything.

It’s still the user’s responsibility to click the arrow and read things as they need! But it is all warned. (And, yes, the all encompassing issues are already a tag on the fic, I’m just providing additonal warnings per chapter.)

[rayraywrites]

This user supports AO3

This user is anti-censorship

This user believes in “don’t like, don’t read”

This user believes in “ship and let ship”

This user believes that fiction tastes and preferences do not dictate moral character

[rayraywrites]

Personally I wouldn’t recommend using the image link from a tumblr draft as I’ve found that there’s on occasion a glitch that deletes them. However, tumblr does allow you to post privately OR I know some have a side blog with private posts for all their images.

If you cross post to tumblr, you can also prep the post with the images (if you will share the images on tumblr too) and the link will hold even from draft to published post.

Ao3 Tutorials: Insert Images

(should I just make this a series where people can ask for help lol)

I’ve been asked quite a few times how to insert an image into your story on ao3 and honestly i get why it’s a nuisance. Really, Ao3 isn’t always super user friendly! So here’s my simple (hopefully useful) tutorial with images included :)

I did this on my laptop, but you can do it on pretty much any device, though phones tend to be a bit more annoying.

Step 1: Open up the work on ao3 that you want to include an image in. Scroll down to where the fic will be posted and you should be able to see two buttons: Rich Text OR HTML. I usually prefer to work with Rich Text so that when I copy my fic from whatever text editor I’m working on it keeps the italics or bolded words.

You can also see that using Rich Text gives you more options that don’t involve knowing anything about html!

Step 2: Click the image button in the options above the text box. This opens up a small popup with 3 slots: Source, Image Description, and Dimensions. Working backwards, the dimensions I usually ignore when I first insert the image. Description is to just name time image if you like. Now source is the most important. You can’t just insert an image from your files but instead you need the image url. 

Step 3: Get image url through a variety of options. 

If you are simply finding the image online, i.e. google images, simply right click the image and click the option of: Copy Image address OR Copy Image URL. This includes copying images from Tumblr, facebook, etc. even email.

Now if the image is saved to your computer you need to first upload it online somewhere. Then you can get the image url from there. My usual option is a website called hostingpics.net. Unfortunately it isn’t in English however with google’s autotranslate option the website is easy to manage.

From there, simply upload your image (make sure to have the size option as “Do not resize”

When the new screen loads there are a lot of options. If you click on the picture of the image you uploaded this should open a new window. You should know that sometims ads will open but they’re simple to close.

On the new window the image loads in the size that you uploaded it as. Here simply right click the image and you have your option to copy the image url.

Step 4: Insert image and resize to fit your story

When you paste the image url into the popup on ao3 the automatic dimensions appear - don’t change this unless you know the exact dimensions you want the image to be. Instead you can change it inside the story.

I should also mention, make sure that your cursor had clicked the paragraph where you wanted the image to be closest to just cause its easiest not to try and move the image. However, when you first insert the image there will be a blue film over kind of like when you copy things. Therefore hitting Ctrl-X and cutting the image and pasting it somewhere else in the story is easy.

The image will be able to be shrunk till you click away and then you have to draw your mouse over it as you would when you’re selecting and highlighting words. The editor should then show up again.

To then move the image to the side as seen below where it’s inserted alongside your words all you have to do is select the surrounding words and hit any of the align options in the text editor.

And there you go! That’s how to insert an image into ao3!

I should also mention that you can insert images into the summary or notes by using the following bit of code:

<img src=”insert image url here”> 

[rayraywrites]

[rayraywrites]

writing tip: don’t tell us your character’s backstory. don’t tell us what your character is thinking. don’t tell us what your character is doing. don’t tell us anything. the reader should simply look at a blank page and be suddenly overcome with emotion.

[rayraywrites]

Reblog this if you would not only accept, but welcome fan art, moodboards, etc. of your fics

All of these used to be so common for people to show their appreciation of different fics and authors, and I think it’s a shame people don’t do it anymore. I love seeing fan work for my fics!!

[rayraywrites]

ARRANGED MARRIAGE

• “Why are you… trying to escape?”

“I’m not about to stay here and get married to someone I don’t know! They could be horrible! Kick puppies! Eat the cookie before the cream!”

“Well I’m not that bad, thank you very much, but I get your point.”

• “This is only a political alliance. I still very much hate your guts.”

“Sure. Try looking less in love with me next time you say that, though. It’ll be much more convincing.”

• “Wait… I know you. We played together as kids!”

“I knew I recognized you from somewhere!”

• “So, um… How have you been?”

“Really? You’re gonna ask that now?”

“I figured our wedding would be as good a time to reconnect as any.”

• “I can’t believe they matched us up. Us.”

“I guess pretending to tolerate each other worked a little too well.”

• “You know, I’d be much more upset about this if you didn’t look as good as you do now. That portrait they showed me when we were kids doesn’t do you justice.”

• “Okay. So we are both in love with somebody else, our parents do not know and would never approve.”

“Correct.”

“And neither of us want to be married to the other.”

“Also correct.”

“How do you feel about my ‘very good friend’ coming to live in our house?”

“Only if mine can too.”

“Then it’s a deal.”

[rayraywrites]

practical writing advice

part 2

avoid writing in bed if you can. writing in bed is the mind-killer. writing in bed is the little death that brings obliteration. you may think "but i can write AND be cozy" you will get sleepy so fast. 98% of the time when i try to get a nighttime writing session done in bed i go to sleep. maybe 70% of the time if it's an afternoon writing session. also it fucking kills your wrists.

STRETCH before writing. stretch as many parts of your body as possible ESPECIALLY YOUR WRISTS! i have chronic tendonitis in both of my arms from not doing this and it is manageable but it is Not Fun!

plug your phone in on the other side of the room. better yet, plug it in and leave it in another room. better yet, power it off and leave it in another room. "i'll just check one quick thing" do not underestimate the power of the doomscroll.

do a warmup. look up writing prompts (i like one-word prompts or prompts that focus on a general theme as it's easier to integrate into my writing style), set a timer for fifteen minutes, or ten, or five, and go ham. make it shitty or incomprehensible, as long as you make it. create a dump document for all your warmups. i currently have two novels in the works that started as one of these fifteen minute little warmups.

pick your background noise ahead of time if you use it, and look for something long. i listen to 3-hour-long silent hill ambient mixes on youtube dot com.

take breaks. around every 45 minutes, as i'm noticing myself begin to lose focus, i get up, grab a drink, get my blood flowing, and give myself some space to breathe.

sometimes i sit down to write and i think "every atom in my body is averse to doing this right now. i would rather dance barefoot on a bed of nails than open my laptop and start typing." and you know what i do? i go do something else instead. don't force it! it will become a chore.

that being said! write as often as possible. try to write every day. try to write at the same time. don't beat yourself up if you can’t, BUT the more often you write, the more often you'll want to write.

if you're stuck on a scene or a page or a chapter, go back to the last place where you felt like you knew what you were doing and start writing from there. keep a copy of your other writing in case you want to reuse it or refer back!

i don't know if this is something that will be helpful for other people but i start mentally preparing myself for my writing session a few hours ahead of time. i will say to myself, "today, at this time, i'm gonna sit down and write that scene where mina walks out on her book club, and it's going to be awesome and i'm looking forward to it." then, by the time i actually begin, i basically have the whole thing written out in my head and can just put it down to paper. it's a good way to at least kickstart the session !

ok thanks bye

[rayraywrites]

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

[rayraywrites]

you can pry starting sentences with 'and' or 'but' out of my cold, dead hands

[rayraywrites]

My problem is that whenever I enter a new fandom, I binge read a ton of incomplete fanfics, subscribe to all of them, and then when I get a chapter update for one of them I just

[rayraywrites]

I made an alignment chart for AO3 work titles.

(I would like to add that I don’t think Neutral Evil is actually all that bad, but I saw a lot of terrible Latin during my FFN days and it made my Classicist heart cry.)

[rayraywrites]

me, quietly whispering to the ao3 page of an author who doesn’t even know I exist: I am obsessed with you

[rayraywrites]

Reblog the writers’ fortune cookie for luck!

[rayraywrites]

Another List of "Beautiful" Words

to include in your next poem

Avidulous - somewhat greedy.

Breviloquent - marked by brevity of speech.

Compotation - a drinking or tippling together.

Crimpy - of weather; unpleasant; raw and cold.

Desiderium - an ardent desire or longing; especially, a feeling of loss or grief for something lost.

Dyspathy - lack of sympathy.

Ebriosity - habitual intoxication.

Epitasis - the part of a play developing the main action and leading to the catastrophe.

Fantod - a state of irritability and tension.

Graumangere - a great meal.

Grimoire - a magician's manual for invoking demons and the spirits of the dead.

Hiemal - of or relating to winter.

Illaudable - deserving no praise.

Impluvious - wet with rain.

Innominate - having no name; unnamed; also, “anonymous”.

Juberous - doubtful and hesitating.

Noctilucous - shining at night.

Poetaster - an inferior poet.

Psychrophilic - thriving at a relatively low temperature.

Quiddity - the essential nature or ultimate form of something: what makes something to be the type of thing that it is.

Repullulate - to bud or sprout again.

Retrogradation - a backward movement.

Semiustulate - half burnt or consumed by fire.

Tenebrific - causing gloom or darkness.

Unparadiz’d - brought from joy to miserie.

If any of these words make it into your next poem/story, please tag me. Or leave a link in the replies. I'd love to read them!

beautiful words list pt. 2

[rayraywrites]

This post has been making the rounds again which feels wild that one of my most reblogged posts on my writing blog is a tutorial for image inserting haha.

Also I should note, the image hosting website I used above is no longer functional from the last time I used it.

Currently what I do is post the image as a private post on my blog, or even as a draft. Then I get the image url from that post and use it in my fics.

Hope this helps anyone who’s struggled with finding a hosting site recently!

Ao3 Tutorials: Insert Images

(should I just make this a series where people can ask for help lol)

I’ve been asked quite a few times how to insert an image into your story on ao3 and honestly i get why it’s a nuisance. Really, Ao3 isn’t always super user friendly! So here’s my simple (hopefully useful) tutorial with images included :)

I did this on my laptop, but you can do it on pretty much any device, though phones tend to be a bit more annoying.

Step 1: Open up the work on ao3 that you want to include an image in. Scroll down to where the fic will be posted and you should be able to see two buttons: Rich Text OR HTML. I usually prefer to work with Rich Text so that when I copy my fic from whatever text editor I’m working on it keeps the italics or bolded words.

You can also see that using Rich Text gives you more options that don’t involve knowing anything about html!

Step 2: Click the image button in the options above the text box. This opens up a small popup with 3 slots: Source, Image Description, and Dimensions. Working backwards, the dimensions I usually ignore when I first insert the image. Description is to just name time image if you like. Now source is the most important. You can’t just insert an image from your files but instead you need the image url. 

Step 3: Get image url through a variety of options. 

If you are simply finding the image online, i.e. google images, simply right click the image and click the option of: Copy Image address OR Copy Image URL. This includes copying images from Tumblr, facebook, etc. even email.

Now if the image is saved to your computer you need to first upload it online somewhere. Then you can get the image url from there. My usual option is a website called hostingpics.net. Unfortunately it isn’t in English however with google’s autotranslate option the website is easy to manage.

From there, simply upload your image (make sure to have the size option as “Do not resize”

When the new screen loads there are a lot of options. If you click on the picture of the image you uploaded this should open a new window. You should know that sometims ads will open but they’re simple to close.

On the new window the image loads in the size that you uploaded it as. Here simply right click the image and you have your option to copy the image url.

Step 4: Insert image and resize to fit your story

When you paste the image url into the popup on ao3 the automatic dimensions appear - don’t change this unless you know the exact dimensions you want the image to be. Instead you can change it inside the story.

I should also mention, make sure that your cursor had clicked the paragraph where you wanted the image to be closest to just cause its easiest not to try and move the image. However, when you first insert the image there will be a blue film over kind of like when you copy things. Therefore hitting Ctrl-X and cutting the image and pasting it somewhere else in the story is easy.

The image will be able to be shrunk till you click away and then you have to draw your mouse over it as you would when you’re selecting and highlighting words. The editor should then show up again.

To then move the image to the side as seen below where it’s inserted alongside your words all you have to do is select the surrounding words and hit any of the align options in the text editor.

And there you go! That’s how to insert an image into ao3!

I should also mention that you can insert images into the summary or notes by using the following bit of code:

<img src=”insert image url here”>