#(pennames am i right??)

[risetherivermoon]

the rantings of a teenage boy who's sad and failing his classes, but written from the perspective of a pathetic man in his 20's, who is also, in fact, failing his classes and is sad

[abalonetea]

My recent poll made me realize that a lot of people haven't actually been around my blog since the Ol' Days. So, I thought it was about time that I did a little reintroduction!

I'm Katie! You can find me on Amazon as K. E. Koontz; it's right here! You should totally consider checking out my books! I have sea creatures, I've got werewolves, I've got demonic possessions and haunting ghost stories and characters like you wouldn't believe!

I've also got a mailing list, right here!

I'm a bit of a hot mess, but I'm trying! I used to raise and train showjumpers for a living, worked at an animal sanctuary, lost half my vision and switched gears to being a full-time writer!

I'm the primary source of income for my family, which includes my mother and my sister, and all of your support is greatly appreciated! Don't want to buy one of my books? No worries! Consider checking out my patreon, my kofi, or my wishlist!

Anyway, I write a lot of horror, I love werewolves, and I'm very much interested in creating characters that have a heavy, devotional cadence to them. You can also find crime thrillers and fantasy pieces in my collection!

Penny Posting is the tag I use for the romance pieces that will eventually go under my penname, so feel free to block or follow that as you see fit, and keep an eye on the 'my writing' tag for snippets and excerpts!

I just finished getting a full trilogy set-up for preorder and I am soooo exhausted now, but I do still have other projects in the works!

Shed

Devil Mine

Cryptid Hearts

They Looked Like People

How To Date A Werewolf

Gorehound: An Alaskan Horror Story

I host the @writeblrsummerfest every year, have been on writeblr for a very long time, am a professional ghostwriter and dev/con editor, and constantly tell myself 'next month, I'll get my act together.'

My big dream is to get to a point where I can start taking my mother traveling some, and if my username seems vaguely familiar, it may be from that one time I briefly went viral on Tumblr for pulling a litter of two day old kittens out of a very, very deep storm pipe (we still have one of them)!

Anyway, it's great to see you around!

[magicwriterdream]

Star Wars Rebels Changed my Life

But before I tell you why, let me begin with my introduction (I rambled and did not edit, so please excuse any mistakes).

I was seventeen when Rebels aired (I know, I'm showing my age). At the time I was still riding off the Disappointment of Clone Wars being cancelled, and didn't know what I would think of this strange new show that was Totally Different.

I had read a fanfic in the Clone Wars section of Fanfiction.net about a week before it premiered. I will add to the tags later when I find it. But it was from someone who was so excited for Rebels and since, naturally, there was no fandom yet since it hadn't aired, posted it under clone wars. I, after reading it, was intrigued and decided to watch it premiere night.

It was one of the best decisions I've ever made.

By the time Kanan entered the cockpit, talking to Hera about picking up this kid, I was in love with the show. It was so different from Clone Wars, but in a good way. It tugged at my heart and made me laugh. From that day on, I was a fan. I cried when Kanan died, I jumped for joy when Ahsoka descended the ladder (she is still my favorite character of all time).

This little animated show got me through college, when I was still trying to find my identity outside of my family. It was there when I started my very first relationship (who I am happily married to now). It kept me sane on the worst nights, crying when my roommate and her friend broke my heart.

And it's biggest impact on my life? Well, in a strange turn of events, Rebels is one reason I have an English degree.

When I started college, after years of reading fanfiction, I began to write my own. This is important because, when I was young, my dad destroyed any sense of writing fiction.I'm from Appalachia and he disapproved of my fantasy stories, believing my only works should pertain to my culture. Eventually I gave up, and put down every story I had poured my heart into, because I believed that he was right.

When Rebels came along, I was inspired by the community to write. Under the penname PentoPapergal18, I went into college writing a little piece called Silent, yet Heard, where Ezra is mute. It is a rough piece and clearly showed my years of inexperience, but the community was amazing, supporting me. I carried the first draft in a purple binder, writing it out by hand before typing it up.

My professor noticed I was writing in my notebook before her class started and encouraged me to look into an English degree. Because of her, I ended up accepting it as my second major.

Now, I have two self-published pieces, and started a local writers group. I am working on the novel my dad discouraged all those years ago, and plan on attempting traditional publishing. Rebels fanfiction gave me the confidence to work toward my dream again.

(also, I have two dogs named Zeb and Vader. So yeah)

Thank you, Rebels, for giving me comfort on the hard nights. For giving a community that sparked my dream again. For giving me characters that live in my heart forever.

Time and time again I return to your galaxy. Each visit an open hug and a greeting from an old friend. I can never repay you for your impact on my life.

Thank you, Ghost Crew. May the force be with you.

[tearwolfe]

I'll borrow a warrior cats book from the library and see how it is before buying a book.. shivers in fear, i did not know that..

yeah for sure do not buy them. there's also a bunch of free PDFs online you can read!! or check them out through libby or whatever online library service your local library uses if you don't mind reading from your phone.

gonna use this chance to highlight issues with warriors under the cut!! because i've spent so much time being with this series i have a lot of thoughts. i want to let you know i am not trying to cancel warriors or anything, there's just a lot of issues and i like talking about it.

CW: misogyny, pedophilia, ablism, racism

Okay, we're going to start with the more annoying aspects. First of all, Warriors is written by a ton of different people. They have the main writers outline the plot, and there's a bunch of other people that fill in all the empty space. Kind of an interesting way to do it, but that's why Warriors is able to publish several books a year. Erin Hunter is just a penname for a group.

INCONSISTENCIES

Why do I bring this up, what's the issue? The inconsistencies, dude. There's so many. Character appearances change between books. Dovewing's eye color changes frequently, for example, to the point where there was an internet war about how she would be represented on the Warriors Wiki. Another example is Mapleshade, a cat that's been prevalent as a villain since Crookedstar's Promise. In that book, she's referred to as a ginger-and-white she-cat, but after that she's been described as a calico (er, tortishelle-and-white, because Erin Hunter is somehow allergic to the word calico). Appearances aren't the only inconsistency. Character personalities are a big issue. After the first arc especially, characters will lose what charm they had in their personalities. Suddenly Spottedleaf is in love with Fireheart/star after she dies, suddenly Yellowfang is unwelcoming towards cats who find themselves breaking the Warrior Code (despite being a codebreaker herself and having compassion toward other cats while she was alive). The authors also seem to have trouble keeping track of characters. On one page Sandstorm leaves camp to go on patrol, and a paragraph later she is seen STILL in camp, talking to someone, despite having been written to leave camp. It's a very bizarre series to read. (Other inconsistencies include miswriting names [Ravepaw incident], using the wrong pronouns, and entirely confusing cats between each other). Heavystep also died a few times because the Erins forgot that he died.

MISOGYNY

Outside of poor writing, we're hit with misogyny. Main female characters, in POV, are written at least a little bit better than any of the other she-cats. However, as soon as the next arc starts and she's put out of the limelight, the authors have to give her a mate, give her kits, and make her a mother. There is only ONE POV she-cat I can think of that didn't die and never had kits. Twigbranch is literally the only one. This isn't a dig at being a mother at all, however whenever the Erins DO make a former main character a mother, that's the only trait they give them. Rarely do these she-cats continue to carry the personalities they were given initially.

It's not even a secret that the fandom dislikes when every she-cat is boiled down to being just a babymaker. The Erins literally killed off a she-cat because the fans didn't like the fact that her only personality trait was mom. Yes, this actually did happen.

There's lots of victim-blaming misogyny with whatever is going on between Squirrelflight and Bramblestar and between Leafpool and StarClan. Bramblestar will literally say the worst things to Squirrelflight and the narrative makes it seem like he's in the right. It's not wrong to display unhealthy relationships in media, but if you're writing a KID'S SERIES, it's extremely irresponsible to constantly write the victim as being wrong. This applies to how StarClan blames Leafpool for everything that's happened to her, despite the fact that Crowfeather was also a part of the equation.

Don't even get me started about Spottedleaf's Heart. In summary, Spottedleaf was groomed by Thisteclaw from when she was a kit (and he was a Warrior), and the narrative only makes Thistleclaw a bad guy because he was training in the Dark Forest, not because he is a predator.

ABLEISM

It's absolutely crazy how ableist this series is. In arc one, we have Brightpaw, an apprentice who gets mauled by dogs, and as Bluestar watched, as what she thought was going to be her death bed, she decided to give her her warrior name- a name that she would be stuck with in StarClan. She chose "Lostface." Brightpaw would eventually recover, loosing one of her eyes in the attack, and would live with being called Lostface until Firestar was able to rename her (to Brightheart). The whole renaming thing feels gross enough, but Brightheart is probably the best case scenario of ableism in Warriors, as she was allowed to function as a regular Warrior in the clan. Cinderpelt wasn't so lucky. She was a Warrior apprentice who got hit by a car, mangling her leg. She was then forced to become a Medicine Cat because she "couldn't hunt or fight" (despite the fact that real world cats are able to function completely normally while missing a limb). Longtail lost his vision in a fight with rabbits and he was retired early to the elder's den, despite wanting to be a Warrior. Jayfeather was blind, so he was made a Medicine Cat despite wanting to be a Warrior. Briarlight was paralyzed, so she was put in the Medicine Cat den most of the time despite wanting to be a Warrior. This is a very common theme in the series. Any cat who isn't fully able-bodied is often made to be a Medicine Cat or an Elder, even if that's not what they want. Literally every single Medicine Cat in ThunderClan since Spottedleaf through to Alderheart never wanted to be a Medicine Cat.

Being a Medicine Cat isn't supposed to be a bad role, but the way Warriors uses it as a cop-out to make disabled cats have a more "plot interesting" role without allowing them to be a Warrior is really weird.

ANTI-INDIGENOUS WRITING

I'm not the most knowledgeable person on this topic, however, many Indigenous readers have brought up a lot of issues the series has in terms of being culturally insensitive to native tribes. There's a well-written document that explains this in full detail.

IT'S KIND OF JUST BAD?

The writing isn't good. This goes back to the multi-writer issue. These people can't keep track of their characters or plot, so a lot of things just sort of fall flat. The best plotlines can be found in some of the novellas and graphic novels, and then I think it's because they're mostly written by one person.

How come StarClan can be so vague to living cats, but when we get POV in StarClan, they just act like normal cats? How come Ashfur randomly was super powerful in the Dark Forest/StarClan, while every other cat wasn't? There's just a lot of unexplained stuff, it's very weird.

Warriors is a very interesting series because it's pretty bad yet the fandom is huge. I definitely recommend watching Warriors Multi-Animator-Projects, reading fancomics, and fix-it fanfics instead of actually reading the books. The fans are so, so talented, it's crazy how a never-ending series of children's cat books has created such an insane fanbase.

[goodlucktai]

tagged by @bobtheacorn like...... 3 weeks ago 😭 my bad

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

283

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

1,353,670

which seems.......excessive

3. What fandoms do you write for?

actively, one piece and tmnt, but that is ruled by the demons in my brain that control the hyperfixation machine.

fandoms ive posted 3 or more fics for:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends Good Omens Final Fantasy XV Undertale Mumintroll | Moomins Series Harry Potter Young Justice 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia 陈情令 | The Untamed King Falls AM Percy Jackson and the Olympians Rise of the Guardians Voltron: Legendary Defender

4. Top five fics by kudos?

Exclusivity - 11,116

walk straight through hell with a smile - 9,152

Inanition - 9,039

there is thunder in our hearts - 8,161

trouble is a friend of mine - 7,842

5. Do you respond to comments?

i do try to but i can't always :'( and i feel terrible if i manage to reply to most and then forget someone and only realize it months later. but i read every single comment and i appreciate them more than i have words for

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

i tend to veer away from angst, but off the top of my head....

where the good men go or if i go i'm going on fire

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

99% of my fics have a happy ending because thats my BRAND but i suppose give me something that'll haunt me when you're not around or the weekend we were in love OR put your empty hands in mine

8. Do you get hate on fics?

not often, but i recently had someone who REALLY disliked the way things change because i 'villainized' raph. which is definitely news to me, since raphael is the love of my life

9. Do you write smut?

nope

10. Craziest crossover?

i wrote a tmnt/one piece crossover once ? but now that we are actually getting a tmnt/naruto idw run it doesnt feel that weird to me anymore

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

only once if i'm remembering right ?? it was a long time ago and wattpad related, which is a site that i dont really understand and therefore tend to avoid

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

yes ! i'll often have people request to translate my stories and it blows me away every time

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Devil took your hand was written by myself and @moogsthewriter

14. All time favourite ship?

ineffable husbands, wangxian, or leosagi

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

how much time do you have 😭

16. What are your writing strengths?

i want to say characterization and narrative voice. i'm also pretty good at maintaining a throughline, even if it sometimes gets a little wobbly

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

conflict ! i hate it ! i will avoid writing it at all costs ! i also tend to struggle with writing fight scenes, especially when there are several characters involved :') staging any kind of choreography is my opp

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

i try not to but if it feels unavoidable i google the heck out of it

19. First fandom you wrote in?

honestly it was either digimon (which also inspired my og penname) or xiaolin showdown lol

20. Favourite fic you've written?

i'm stealing bob's idea and going top 5:

there is thunder in our hearts - this story came together so easily for me, like i knew exactly how i wanted to tell it from start to finish

the only hoax i believe in - a kfam fic in my top 5s why yes and i'll tell you why. because i poured so much of myself into this fic that they could probably read it at my funeral instead of a eulogy

traveling so far to get there - after party au raph and mikey continue to take up so much real estate in my brain and for what

now the darkness comes alive - this one is more recent but im so happy with the way it turned out :')

if we could stay all day in the sun - it was a lot of fun reimagining one of my favorite fairy tales and doing a bunch of unnecessary research for this story i will stand by it until the day i die !!

i'm tagging @mykimouser, @owletstarlet, @portgas-d-aroace, @mad4turtles, @camsthisky, @remedyturtles, @pickledcarrotsandradish, @swordsmans, @mangogreent, and anyone else who wants to !

[aley-nag]

Bumpy road, pretty result

Whoaaaa. This one...

The next fanfiction I bound was Cinder and Smoke by @thelittleblackfox. I lover their work to pieces. They write incredible thought out Stucky!AU's with a lot of fantasy aspects or really good scifi and I wanted badly to do one of their fics, but waited til I was a little happier with my results and could make a pretty cover. We decided together on this one and I started formatting... And then I stopped for a long while because Word is the devil.

Cinder & Smoke is a western!AU and just about the most romantic thing I've ever read. It has yearning and a little angst and a very distinct vibe that feels like Fernweh and wilderness and change. Go read it!

I worked on it between June and December 23 and Christmas was the only reason I finished it this quickly, but I did not want to leave it unfinished for the turn of the year.

Sadly I don't have a lot of pictures, but when I'm finished with my copy I'll post some more.

Now we'll come to the journey it was to finish this!

It started out rather uncomplicated, because I thought I had gotten the hang of formatting and then, when I tried adjusting the font and overall look of the text body Word kept killing the italics. And I googled and tried and experimented and I just couldn't get it to stop. I was so frustrated, oh god. It put me off a little and I had to leave it for a while. When I came back around to it I found a slightly butchered solution, that works though so I won't question it. After that formatting went smoother and I was able to bind it. I used paper from that same supplier that fucked up my paper order for the covers from the notebooks. But only after I had it printed I noticed that it was cut crooked and wouldn't cleanly fold in half. I despaired a little, said fuck it and hoped it wouldn't be to noticeable. I think it's alright.

Binding went really well and I think that's the cleanliest job I did to this date.

Did the endbands by hand to match the color scheme I was aiming for. Because of the title I wanted to invoke fire and used primarily black and red for the coloring.

Then came the cover. First of all, don't use black bookcloth. You will see every. single. mistake. Also dust and glitter... I brushed this thing so often, you wouldn't believe it.

And I tried different vinyl. I couldn't find the right shade of red I wanted, it's a little hard to source it around here so I went an entirely different route and used golden glitter vinyl. What I didn't know until after I plotted the design: The glitter has texture. I couldn't see a single cut-line. I had to keep the picture open to work along the edges and not rip the letters. Still lost all of the i-points 😭

The flower was pretty easy though. Glueing it on was also quite hard because it just wouldn't hold and I got glitter everywhere. Which let to more brushing but I'm afraid mailing it destroyed all that work :D

Anyway. I am sooo happy with how it turned out I instantly forgot about all annoyances and was able to mail it before the end of the year and that was a really satisfying last project, so all is well :)

This was also the first time I had the idea of choosing a little icon for the author's penname because most of the time I don't have enough space for the entire name. I reworked all of the other books to accomodate that.

Binding Details

Body Text: Garamond, 11

Half Title/Chapter Heading: Gold Lines Trial, 20

Full Title: Carnivalee Freakshow, 48

Word Count: 57.197

Pages: 232

Paper: publishing paper A4, 90g, 1,5x volume (from the retailer from hell :/)

[therentyoupay]

Hey kris! I’ve followed you for a long long time now and am so happy to see you doing your thing and active on tumblr rn. I was really really active a couple months ago and am now on here when time permits. Seeing you pop up on my dash again made me realize I don’t think you’ve ever changed your profile pic since like idk 2012 when I started following you. is there any significance behind the and symbol? I hope you’re enjoying the beginnings of fall ☺️☺️

HELLO, NONNY. 😭🙏💕💕 thank you so much for your lovely lovely message!!! i'm also so sorry that you sent this three days ago when i have actually been super absent from tumblr for the past week or so due to ✨life obligations✨🤣😭🤣!! you and i are in the same boat! super active on tumblr when we can be; otherwise.... we swing by, when life allows. 🤣

thank you so much for your question! you are correct!! 🤣 i started writing fic at age 11 on FFNET through another penname (bonus points if anyone here actually remembers what it used to be, 2001–2011 👀?) and it was a really big deal when i decided to ✨rebrand✨ after ten years! the rebrand to therentyoupay started in december 2011 (long story short: a reviewer left such a nice comment on my FFNET dramione story that it kickstarted me into actually continuing it! comments matter!!) and at the time, ampersands (&) were all the rage, and i was definitely one of the basic bitches obsessed with them. 🤣 (no millennial-"&" tattoo but i did consider it lmao. maybe I'll still get one, one day, so y'all can try to identify me in The Wild lmao.) therentyoupay is from one of my favorite quotes. 🥹🥹🥹💕💕 (does anyone know? 🤣)

so, that following summer in 2012, lok came out and i was lured into making a tumblr! unsurprisingly, my avatar/icon slid over from FFNET/ao3 into tumblr, as did my penname, and i will likely keep it for the rest of my life 🤣 therentyoupay/kris(which isn't my real name👀)/TRYP have now all been associated with this account and my fics for so long that it would cause great confusion and, quite probably, losses in the community i've built over the years!! so TRYP i shall remain forever 🤣

i also personally get so confused when long-term friends on tumblr change their icons and URLs... it's like i no longer recognize them! i have a spreadsheet with everyone's URLs over the years, their names, etc., so i can keep track... but i was also off tumblr for three years during the pandemic 😅😅😅 so i have lost track of a lot of people 🥹 that's why i always really appreciate when people leave a note in their profiles/pinned posts about their previous URLs and a name to call them by! (whether it's a fake name or not lol) otherwise i don't have a name for them–they're just their URL lol, and their "face" is just their icon. 🤣

and yes, i totally am!! 🍁🍂🍃🍁🍂🍃🍁🍂🍃 i'm feeling so lucky and so grateful for all the amazing things happening in my life right now 😭🙏 if only 2012!kris had any idea what was in store for her.... 🤣💕💕💕

LOVE YOU, NONNY. TAKE CARE AND HAVE AN AMAZING REST OF YOUR WEEK. 💕💕💕💕🙏🙏🙏🥹🥹🥹🥹💕💕💕 thank you so much for this beautiful ask!

[keylovesstuff]

Hiii Everyone!!!

I've been around for years now and have never introduced myself. mainly cause I just choose to vibe and enjoy the posts people share, but first time for everything. You can just call me Key, I'm 24 and I go by she/her. I enjoy a variety of stuff from manwha, manga, anime, video game franchises, and just a bunch of other animated media you name its probably buried down in my blog somewhere. Every now and then I get motivation to create fanfiction. I have only written works the Dragonball and Super Mario fandom All my works are under the "Keep Reading". My DMs and askbox here is always open if you ever want to chat I apologize in advance if I come across as a bit awkward (socializing is not a strong suit of mine) or if it takes me a minute to reply (adulting and hobbies am I right?), otherwise I'm a pretty chill person. Thats about it!

One of these days I really want to change my Penname...But I've had it for years now and I'm way too attached to it lmao.

Super Mario Fics: So a lot of these are Princess Peach centric and I'm just crafting up an origin story and some other events following the 2023 film. The links take you to the tumblr post but I have included the AO3 and FFN (for reading preferences) links either in the original post itself or in the case of my earlier stuff in the reblogs.

Lost And Found

A Learning Opportunity (2 chapters on both AO3 and FFN. They are both on the same post here)

Thoughts Over Tea

Aftermath

Finding The Balance

Little Events (Finished)

Chapter 1: The Dark

Chapter 2: A Decision

Chapter 3: The Coronation

Chapter 4: Proposals

Chapter 5: Changes

Fics Inspired by others:

Villainess Peach and Bowser Jr. (Inspired by the Player One Luigi AU created by Tiny-Prom and Casual-Derg). Please make sure to their blog's and check it out.

Dragonball Fics: The first fandom I have ever written for (and by penname you could probably tell what I read mostly) I have only shared them on FFN and AO3 until now. I was just starting to write fanfiction with the first two so they might be kinda cringe I guess but that's 16 year old me for you haha. gonna embrace the cringe by sharing it on here anyways.

Tournament Day

The Prince Before The Day ( I am never gonna finish that one or go back to it lol)

Bulla's Easter Day

Even when I started making fics I'm still not sure what goes through my mind when it comes to the title or chapter titles its literally the first thing that comes to mind and nothing after that but we will get it one day for sure.

Here's Some WIPs (that's both written and not) you guys can look forward too from me. I'll remove them and add them under the appropriate fic tags once I post them:

Uncle Yamcha fic: It is currently three chapters. The first one is him and Trunks, second is Marron, and the third one is Bra/Bulla. I really want to think of one for him and Goten but nothing has come to my mind. I just think he's more close to Krillin and Bulma where he'd interact more with their kids and I can't think of a scenario for him and Goten or what they would even talk about but maybe something will come. (I've currently sent this off to my Beta for review but lemme know if you guys want to see the un-beta'd version I have on here cause I'm really forward to sharing it)

Untitled EOZ fic following after Goku leaves the Tournament grounds to train Uub. This one sits at about 8k words (not sure exactly cause I added a bunch of notes at the end for my beta to see where my thoughts were going with it all) anyways this one focuses mainly on Trunks, Goten, Marron, Pan, and Bra as really the older kids look forward to what may lie ahead. A lot of it is just me focusing on the dynamics they have with each other. When I saw that dlc for kakorat was going to be focused on that one that really makes me want to share this one. Again let me know if you want to see that.

Based on this Ask here you can already see that I've completed 4 out of my 5 ideas so that leaves the other ones and maybe more if I think of anything else. All of these will probably be added to my Little Events fic. a few little ideas not shared here but I've thought about and have some dialoge in mind but haven't fully created yet.

I want to do something where Mario and Haru interact I just think it'll be so neat.

Maybe something where I do my take on introducing Sarasland and Princess Daisy. Probably along the lines of Peach meeting Daisy for the first time.

I need to hop on the wholesome bros. content at some point and I know I wanna try my hand with Mia and Pio as a part of it.

I think thats it for now...I'll probably add more if I think of something as having somwhere to put it down no matter how small it is can be nice to look at and push me towards getting it done.

[aikaleegrave]

avolitorial >>> mothpoems >>> aikaleegrave

hi everyone! new season, new penname, new things coming to this account soon (watch this space). thank you to everyone who has stuck around during my long silence. many things have happened and a lot has changed in the past year, and i am so grateful to be where i am now: hopeful about the future for the first time in a very, very long time. over the summer, i’d like to give more time to my writing and art, and if you don’t mind, i’d also like to share some of that with you right here!

love forever,

aika

[tarotoftheendless]

Waiting For Forever, Research, Review, Character Analysis... + FanFic Talk

In the past 6+ months I have probably seen the 2010/2011 indie "romance" drama film Waiting for Forever at least 20+ times. To say I am obsessed with Tom Sturridge is an understatement, but this film, mainly the character of Will Donner/Willie Pajamas, has completely won my heart.

Disclaimer: I have ADHD and I suck at planning out what I write, so, this may be all over the place, so I will try to stick to the points as much as possible. No promises though, lolz.

This film is a lot of things, but good is not exactly one of them. There are many reviews of this film from over the years that yes, cover how clunky this film is. And I might bring up some of the same points but I think it's deeper that everyone first thought it was.

Firstly, this film was written by a man named Steve Adams. Yes, a man wrote the story, which explains why Will's character is the only fleshed out character in the film, even though they tried to go back and forth between Will's POV and then Emma's POV. But if the past reviewers had done their research on the writer, maybe it would make more sense why that is the case.

As you can see, Steve's early life surprisingly mirrors Willie's own early life. Waiting for Forever is almost auto-biographical. That both explains why Willie's character is the most fleshed out and why the script stayed fairly the same without many rewrites, as both Sturridge and Bilson have stated in interviews for this film. Willie is Steve and Steve is Willie.

One of the biggest complaints of this film is the casual acceptance of stalking... though the film both calls it out and then rewards it, seemingly. Though I have many thoughts on the ending, how both Sturridge and Bilson talk about the ending doesn't make me think it is rewarded completely, just open-ended. I don't think Emma chose Willie in the end purely based on what Sturridge and Bilson have to say about it:

My personal opinion of this is that I am glad that Emma likely did not return Willie's affections as that would make me dislike Emma even more than I already do. If she chose Willie, the message would be clear; stalking unrequited love is rewarded by getting the girl you want even though Emma was right; he does not know her, but also Emma would be choosing Willie as a last resort after her father died and her fiancé finally got arrested for murder. If I was Willie (which I will actually talk about later), I would feel pretty insulted by that, but that's just me.

But the thing is that I think what the author intended and how the actors portrayed their characters and story don't exactly match up.

I believe that Adams very much intended for Emma to choose Willie in the end, and the proof of his life mirroring Willie's in the story he wrote is proof of that.

There is not much out there about Adams, trust me, I tried to look for even more than just his Wikipedia page, but other than a Twitter account and his penname and couple novels out there, there isn't much about Adams that is known.

Adams did move to Massachusetts after both his parents died 2 days apart from one another; father died in a train wreck and then his mother died of cancer. And him and his siblings moved to MA after.

Now, I couldn't find where Adams grew up before that, but it is likely Pennsylvania.

It's funny, when doing research for Fan Fiction plans, I found that this film was mostly filmed in Utah. Main proof of that is the name of the appliance store that Willie's friends Joey and Dolores work at/own; Smith-Crown Co. which is a real place... in Utah... and there is only one, so...

And it struck me a strange; why be insistent that the film takes place in Pennsylvania? Why not just have it take place in Utah if that is where it was filmed? Answer is likely I am correct and Waiting For Forever is auto-biographical of the writer of the story; Steve Adams.

I am going to make many assumptions going forward though I have already with assuming based on the limited evidence that this film is auto-biographical.

I do think Adams meant for Emma to choose Willie in the end. If the story is auto-biographical, and Adams was born in 1947, which means he's in his 80's now, was in his 60's around the time the film came out. But I suspect the criticism of stalking was added only for 2008/2011 sensibilities to the topic. I say that because of a recent trend of TikTok, yes, Tiktok, I know, of many folks coming forward with stories about their grandmother's "love stories" and the amount of stalking that was acceptable in the 1960's-1980's when Adams would have been in his 20's to 40's. So, I think this was Adams' way of normalizing the cuteness of his own love story with his own wife.

I am purely talking about Adams and not Willie as I do think how Sturridge portrayed Willie is different than how Adams intended the character to be.

During the 1990's and early 2000's stories about The Manic Pixie Dream Girl was rampant in indie rom com dramas. I have made a playlist with videos that I think really go over the trope in it's entirety and I will list it below, but the main take away is that characters that are autistic coded, often portrayed as quirky, weird and a bit wild get paired with characters that are bland and have lost a love for life but only through the pairing with the MPDG will that bland character find their love for life again, usually at the expense of the MPDG. This is of course an oversimplification and I will list my playlist below:

Willie firmly falls into being a Manic Pixie Dream Boy and Emma is the Stale White Wonder Bread Girl.

A few clues into this is that Willie is very much neurodivergent, likely was before his parents' accident, but the accident traumatized Willie more than I think even Willie knows. His whole thing with Emma isn't even love, it's a trauma bond. Even Sturridge confirms this to an extent:

Willie enjoys the feelings that Emma has given him and he is chasing that high again because he doesn't want to feel the pain of his reality.

And Emma even says in the film that Willie doesn't know her, and that is true, he doesn't. Even his "good love letter" he still shows that he doesn't know her at all. He is content with the version of her that he has in his head.

Now I have said that Willie is the Manic Pixie Dream Boy and Emma is the Stale White Wonder Bread Girl, but something that is key with the original trope (Manic Pixie Dream Girl, etc) is that the guy never fully sees the MPDG as human, hence the pixie-ification. But the problem with Waiting for Forever is that neither Willie or Emma see each other as human. Willie has put Emma on such a pedestal that even when she admits to being a cheater that he makes excuses for her actions and then Emma infantilizes Willie, calling him a little boy at least once if not a couple times in the film.

Mental health is such a big deal in this film it isn't even funny. And it sucks that it came out in 2010/2011 and was filmed in 2008 be cause the stigma towards mental health issues is riddled throughout this film. When it came out the biggest trend was the "Don't Label It" trend cuz people thought that was somehow limiting and put people in boxes and as such giving folks excuses for being mentally ill. This trend was and is ultimately very harmful because it gave people, and Jimbo in the film, the right and excuse to call folks crazy without feeling the need to understand and research what was actually going on.

As someone that has ADHD and autism, labels are so helpful. It explains so much of our experiences, both similar and not as it is all a spectrum. I have learned so much about my own experience and the experiences of others because of the labels we have. And I wish that Waiting for Forever was not so afraid at the time to really give Willie's mental health issues a name. Many of us, me included, do relate to him so intensely it's not funny. Representation is such a big deal, especially when it is very close to real experiences that folks have gone through.

Before I get back to some of my more critical critiques of the film, I do want to share a bit of why I deeply relate to Willie.

As I have stated, I have ADHD and autism as well, and I will be honest, I have done very similar things that Willie has done. I have had unrequited love, gone to the places that that person would likely be just for the off chance of seeing them and or trying to catch up with them to talk to them. And I did not exactly know what I was doing was likely stalking. The reason why I think Sturridge's portrayal and Adams' original vison differ is because Sturridge's Willie genuinely does not understand what he is doing is harmful. I didn't either. I had no emotional regulation to be able to handle the rejection that inevitably happened later on too. That does not excuse my or Willie's behavior, but it does give it some understanding and clarity.

Now, I have never traveled across the country to follow someone, but I do get where Willie is coming from. He meant no harm, he truly did not understand what he was doing would hurt Emma.

But I do think Adams knew better, hence the adding into the story that stalking is seen as a bad thing. And if he intended that the story be read as Emma choosing Willie in the end, and the story is auto-biographical, then that puts of a bit of a more sinister twist on the story.

Willie is a Manic Pixie Dream Boy that is autistic/has ADHD and likely PSTD induced talking to people that aren't there to cope with his trauma. Willie was written by a man that was seemingly trying to self insert, and so all other characters and story beats suffered from that. Not only is Emma the Stale White Wonder Bread Girl, but she just is unlikeable and is basically a piece of carboard for Willie to put all his hopes and dreams onto. And if after everything, if Adams vison is what is more true than Sturridge's and Bilson's portrayals, Emma chooses Willie, that is basically rewarding Willie for his efforts that were toxic through the lens of not understanding his mental health issues (though even with understanding them they should not be rewarded). That rewards Willie's fantasies about Emma, it rewards him not really knowing her. And that my friends, is the pipeline to Incel culture.

Incels have a need for the fantasies to be fulfilled by their idea of the ideal woman. They don't care who she is, the less personality the better, as long as she is hot to them and they want her, it does not matter. What the Incel fantasizes about a woman in his head is all that matters.

Do I think Willie is an incel? No, I don't. But I think Adams may be and or intended for Willie to be...

So, with the perpetuation of The Manic Pixie Dream Boy trope while also having Willie put Emma on a pedestal as if she was actually interesting when she isn't (men should stop trying to write women, I swear), I don't think this is as cute of a story as Adams intended it to seem. It almost feels like he was looking for validation for his own real life choices if this film was indeed auto-biographical.

There are many interviews, video and written, as well as reviews that go over actual story points and all that, but that was not my main focus for this review of mine. I will list all the resources below so ya'll can check them out.

So, I have covered my speculations on the writer of the story, what I think the writer was trying to convey, Willie's possible mental health diagnosis, the perpetuation of the Manic Pixie Dream Boy trope while still having the male character treat the fem character as if she is more than human while not really knowing who she is at all.... That makes it sound like I don't like Willie. That can't be further from the truth. I love Willie. I firmly believe Sturridge's portrayal is different than what Adams wanted to put out there.

Yes, Willie has autism and ADHD as well as PTSD with the possibility of trauma coping induced talking to people that aren't there. Willie genuinely does not understand why what he is doing is wrong, and it isn't incompetence, like he really doesn't know.

Strangely, Emma's mother Miranda and Willie have a lot in common when it comes to their characterizations; neither one can, or wants to, admit the harshness of reality. Now, Willie may or may not be doing that on purpose, because both in the beginning of the film with the couple that pick him up and then in the car with his brother at the end of the film, Willie does show that he knows what happened to his and Jimbo's parents. But I don't think Willie is playing stupid, I really don't think he can cope with the reality of it, hence the talking to his parents off to the side and his trauma bond with Emma.

Willie also struggles with anxiety/panic attacks, which I really wish had been correctly identified in the film, but oh well.

He is also very nostalgic and sentimental; the tree house scene and then the scene at the soda shop turned bar where he gets excited to see that they kept the same stools.

As for his pajamas, Tom puts it best:

That leads me to sexuality. Willie is a hopeful romantic. I do think that Willie is a sexual person, but I really think he is more focused on romance that it takes up more of his thoughts and energy than sex does. Also, with how long Willie has carried this infatuation with Emma for, I speculate that he is a virgin. Which I think both fits him well and is very sweet, as far as Sturridge portrayed.

I have written about Willie and Waiting For Forever in the past on past posts, so I will post those snippets and links below.

Personally, I do plan on writing a bit of a fix-it/add a character to the story fanfic as well as lead into a sequel story.

I don't think Emma chose Will at the end, not with how Bilson and Sturridge talk about it in interviews. It took me a while to come to that conclusion, but it is the only one that makes sense with the film we got.

Willie's first love was also unrequited. It is my hope that I, or even others cuz hell I am only gonna write what I wish I could read instead, can write Willie both an epic love that is his true love.

He needs someone that matches his energy. The only time The Manic Pixie Dream Person trope works is if the couple has both folks fit the Manic Pixie Dream Person trope, aka they are both neurodivergent as fuck.

The one film that comes to mind that fits this idea to a T is Watching The Detectives with Cillian Murphy and Lucy Liu as the couple. If you haven't seen the film, please watch it, it is worth it. But both Murphy's character in the film and Liu's character match each other's energy throughout the film and that is why their characters work.

So, if Willie is going to find his true love it is someone that is going to understand him and get him completely and vice versa. And they both should challenge one another positively to encourage growth. Willie would have never gotten that with Emma. Not only does Willie not know Emma, but she would have never been able to live up to his fantasy of her.

So, Willie needs a partner that is his match in every way.

I will say that if folks are trying to place the timeline of when the film takes place, likely between end of September 2008 and then a screen shot I took has the date set October 8th 2008, the day Willie finally talked to Emma.

But that is purely for folks that would like to write fanfics that are accurate for when it takes/took place.

Films that I take inspiration with the idea of Willie finding his match is the 2007 film Stardust, specifically Yvaine's confession and then Tristan later confessing he heard everything and that his "true love was right in front of him the whole time".

And then the other film that I would say kind of fit the idea of both characters being MPDP would be Drew Barrymore's Ever After. Yes, Danielle as a character is more of a MPDG than Prince Henry being a MPDB, but I do think that Prince Henry is not exactly a Stale White Wonder Bread Boy either as he does match Danielle's energy more than not. Though if I am wrong about this, let me know.

In fact, I am not sure if I was able to get more points fully across cuz of ADHD and yeah, I never plan out what I am gonna write, so if there are flaws or things I missed, please let me know. I would love to discuss this with ya'll.

In the meantime, here is a link to the first fanfic that has ever been written for this film, and it is smutty, so if you are under 18, don't read it.

And I have made a playlist of music that remind me of Willie, Waiting For Forever and just some music that are likely going to fit story beats in the fanfic I want to write. Also, the film itself needed better music. Some of the 1980's and 1990's music in my playlist should have been in the film instead, in my opinion.

Well, I think I said I want to say for now. If I need to go back and clarify some talking points, let me know in the comments and we can discuss.

Personally, I would marry Willie in a heartbeat, I mean look at him and just the way Tom Sturridge portrayed this character? Regardless of Adams intentions, though important to keep in mind, Tom made Willie his own deserving of love cinnamon roll that must be protected at all costs.

[sequencefairy]

Writing Wrap-Up 2023

It is, once again, the end of the year! I wrote a lot!

First of all, I have officially published all my original stuff written for Space Fruit Press on Amazon Kindle under my penname, so if you enjoy my fic, I would love to encourage you to check out my original stuff, too, since all those dollars help me on the journey to doing that full time instead of having a full time job that really cuts into my fangirl time.

In addition to what is available on Amazon, there is another anthology of work coming from the press, and I will have a story in it! I need to write it, but it will exist. I'm very excited about this story, as well.

From a fanfic perspective, I have published only three things this year:

And I Was Never Afraid of the Dark (Oh, the Weapon You Made of My Heart) - shyan, wip, unfinished, 9.4k, demon!shane

Shane pulls Ryan out of Hell at 3:37 on a Tuesday afternoon. He’s not looking at his watch at the time, but he infers the time later after he’s finally managed to get up off the desert floor, and has hauled them both back to the car he’d parked in the lot at the trailhead a little over a week ago. Ryan’s a deadweight in Shane’s grip, head lolling back against Shane’s shoulder and body limp and unhelpful in Shane’s arms. His eyes are closed.

My Rivers Tilt Towards You - geraskier, fae!jaskier, 29k, strangers to friends to lovers, canon-divergent au

Geralt pushes the door open one-handed. As it creaks, announcing his presence, Jaskier looks up from the long table he’s sitting at. There’s a mug of something at the bard’s elbow and his songbook is open in front of him. “Geralt,” he says in greeting, and for a moment, Geralt is sure that the bard’s eyes shine in the dark, reflective like his own. He blinks, and the moment passes. Jaskier’s mouth curves into a smile. “Is it done, then?”

Coax the Cold Right Out of Me - shyan, complete, 4.1k, vampire!shane, established relationship

“Shane,” Ryan says, insistent, eyes gleaming in the dark. Shane lets his eyes fall shut, and sighs. The little red and white cooler they usually bring on shoots got left behind at the hotel, an hour and a half away in Jackson. “I’ll be fine,” he says, not looking at Ryan, and ignoring the ache in his gums. He’s gone longer without, he can make it through one shoot and then the drive back before being sated. “You don’t have to be.”

(more rambling under the cut)

So I spent too long making this, but whatever. Let's have fun with infographics, baby!

Anyway, interesting look at the last couple of years for me! I have clearly been in a quality over quantity place regarding wordcounts + things published over the last few years.

I have, over the past couple of years, been feeling like my writing has changed quite a lot, both in terms of what I am interested in writing, and also what I am interested in publishing both to AO3 and as original work.

I think there's also probably something in here about the fall out from the pandemic, as well as something about the fact that I've been medicated for the ADHD for a year now, and I've had to learn how to write in a way that is not an unhealthy coping mechanism and instead as something I do for fun, as a hobby that I enjoy.

What I have been producing lately, in 2023, is some of my favourite writing I've ever done, and I feel like I really levelled up this year in terms of tackling themes and ideas that the me of 2021 wouldn't have even imagined was possible.

With that said, the other fun comparison across years is this one:

Clearly, when you only publish three things in a year, it skews your stats, but I do also think that My Rivers was definitely a thing I needed to finish and write in order to become the person who is currently sitting on about 70k or so of active WIP for a different fandom altogether.

I adore, always, all the love that my shyan fic gets, this fandom is demonstrative in a way that no other fandom has ever been for me, and I've made the best kind of friends in this fandom. Even if I never publish another shyan fic ever (which I am certainly not saying is the case), I still treasure every single one of these fics which allowed me to meet people who've become extremely fucking important to me.

In addition to published fic, of course, the other thing to talk about is all that stuff I'm sitting on that hasn't been published (yet).

These are the seven most active of my WIPs. I am desiring to publish Moonlight on Broken Glass before the end of December, but since I'm the porn and instead of writing it, I keep going back to refine other parts of it, I have some doubts in my ability to get a draft done in the next few days.

All together, that's about 82k of wip, in various states of done that I'm working on. So, really, this year, I've written like, well over 100k, which is always my quiet goal going into any given year.

I don't have anything else to say about this, but I had fun making these little pictures and looking at all my wips. It was, all told, a good year for writing, even if it started off kinda slow.

[destroyingangelneveragod]

worm to mushroom transformation! went from my worm branding to mushroom branding, so i am now destroyingangelneveragod (based off not strong enough by boy genius)

formerly wormsareanillusion

why am i rebranding? i am a system!!!! coming out more officially and the mycellium mosaic is our system name! i also am rebranding because i am becoming an author and as my penname will also be mycellium themed, i figured this is the best kinda theme to play off here. likely will be deleting a lot of more personal posts from past, because there's a lot of pain in a lot of what i faced in past and a person from it, and because my abuser has made it unsafe for me to have a super public presence. i have had a really intense year, and pursuing writing is kinda a huge drive for me right now. a lot of my poetry is VERY vulnerable so i want privacy in who i am irl for that reason especially given abuse that i faced (though i will admit i was not near perfect)

intro post coming soon

[author-a-holmes]

Obviously ignore this if you want but I saw you mention that you recently got published (congrats!!!) and I had a question. I'm still far out from that, but I know how to write and can research how to publish but I don't know how to market. Not only am I autistic and not charismatic, I want to solely use my pen name and distance my writing from my face because of my professional life. Do you know how to actually get people who might like your book to notice that it exists as an indie author with no previous following? Thank you if you have any advice!

Hello Moshke!

Thank you so much for the congratulations! It's taken longer than I expected but the realisation that I'm published is finally beginning to sink in! It's very surreal ^_^

I honestly don't know if I'm the right person to give advice on marketing as, at the moment, my book's been out just over a month and I feel like I'm stumbling around in the dark, but I wanted to give your ask due consideration and, despite my hesitation, I think I still have some tips that could hopefully help.

The reason I think I might have at least some relevant tidbits is that I'm also writing under a penname and most people don't seem to realise that.

Now, in my case, it's not about privacy it's just that don't like my given name enough to see it on book covers :D So I don't mind talking about it, but marketing your book under a penname isn't that much different to how you would market the book under your legal name.

Tip No. 1

Establish your pen name as a functional pseudonym now. Don't wait until you're ready to publish.

So, this stage was a little backwards for me. I come from the age of internet use where you did not give your real name online, under any circumstances, so I've always used various "online names".

By the time I decided that I was going to use "Arista Holmes" to publish under, anyone who knew me online already knew me as Ari. Even my best friend offline will sometimes call me Ari when we're chatting, so it had become as much an actual nickname as an online pseudonym.

But that's exactly what I'm getting at. I'm not pretending to be "Arista Holmes", I am Ari. A writer in her 30's based in the south east of England. The same way I'm Josie to my mum, or Jo-jo to my Godmother.

Tip No. 2

Don't think about it as marketing your book, but as creating an author "brand".

I'm using "Brand" here in the absence of a better term, because I absolutely hate thinking about this as a "brand", but what I mean is think of your Penname as something people will google search.

In fact, Google search your pen name.

As I mentioned, I'd been using "Arista Holmes" online for a while, and I had accounts all over the place that I didn't necessarily want coming up when people looked up my books.

(I will deny spending my youth on Neopets, it's just TOO embarrassing!) 

But jokes aside; Google your pen name. See what comes up. Scroll through all 20, 30, 50 pages of google. Some asshole looking for some embarrassing post from your teen years won't stop at page five, and neither should you.

Shut down any accounts you find, or if you want to keep them, change the username to something else. The only non-publishing related account linked to Arista Holmes now is my AO3. I figure it's still writing, so no harm in leaving that one up.

Tip No. 3

Set up social media accounts now; Be as consistent as possible across all platforms.

Now, and I want to put this in big bold letters:

Having accounts on all the socials does not mean you will be active on all of them.

Or use them at all, in fact.

Having accounts on Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, Twitter, Tiktok, Youtube, etc etc etc, just means that if, by some miracle, you make it big and draw in fans you'll also inevitably draw trolls and by making the account with your pen name; it stops them claiming that username and pretending to be you.

It's a form of pre-emptive protection.

On that note; Be consistent across your accounts. Use the same profile picture, use the same header or banner, use the same colour scheme, use the same "About Me/About Author" description, and (as much as possible) use the same username format.

That last one won't be possible on all platforms. Some of them don't like periods/full stops. Some don't like underscores, but try to be as consistent as possible.

For example my account on here is author.a.holmes, most other places I'm aristaholmes. I'd change it, but at this point, I don't want to break all my links.

Tip No. 4

Author Pictures Are Not Required.

I'm adding this point here because I mentioned profile pictures in the previous tip. Author Pictures Are Not Required.

Don't get me wrong, they're often highly encouraged, and I can't deny that they give a humanising effect to the author, but that doesn't mean you actually have to show your face.

I've chosen to put my face on my "About The Author" page in the back of my book, but that's a personal choice. You don't have to add one at all! It's only more recently that I've seen fiction author photos in the back of books.

Until about... 15 years ago? Ish? I wouldn't have expected to see an author photo unless the book was non-fiction.

If you want to add a picture of you, but don't feel comfortable or can't because of real world problems, consider an artist's caricature instead. Go one step further than a pen-name and give yourself a pen-picture! Jenna Moreci uses an artist's interpretation as her profile picture/logo, and Lemony Snicket only had pictures of the back of his head for ages.

If you do decide to commission an artist though, do explain to them that it will be included in your books, that you'll be selling, as they will probably want to add a commercial licence price to the artwork; But if you explain why you're having the caricature done I imagine most artists would be very reasonable about it.

***

That's all my tips for setting up and marketing yourself, as the author, under a pen name... but I can already hear the voices in my head muttering that I've not really touched on how to get people to find you once you've set up the pen name, and the socials, and your website etc.

And it's because I personally think that if you're writing under a pen name you need to establish it as an entity in its own right before beginning to try marketing it.

So, moving on…

Tip No. 5

Find your place on the great, wide, interwebs...

I mentioned I'd been online as Arista Holmes for about 8-10 years prior to deciding to publish under this name, but once I did decide to publish I went and made all my author socials (just like I mentioned in Tip No. 3)

That was in 2020 and it was part experimentation, and part letting people find me. I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep up with multiple social media's, and I also knew I didn't WANT to, so I made the socials and I started posting on each platform and figuring out which platforms I liked. Which ones were easy to use, and which ones got me the most engagement with other people.

For me, this turned out to be Tumblr and Instagram. Twitter and Facebook are like graveyards for me, and Tiktok is only a little better, but your mileage may vary.

I cross post consistently with Tumblr, Instagram, because those are the places I get the most engagement... but I also maintain a blog on my website and any big pieces of news (such as asking for ARC readers, or publishing my book) gets posted across ALL platforms because, well, I live in hope that one day my tiktok will go viral lol.

But honestly, the multiple socials literally eat up so much of the time I could spend writing; I highly recommend picking two, three at most, and focusing on them.

But what do you post? I can almost hear you yelling <3

Tip No. 6

How to market when you're shy/introverted/not-charismatic/or any other thing you feel is holding you back.

You're going to want to throw something at me but lean on your strengths. It sounds so simple, and I know it's not, I'm sorry, but here's what I mean by that.

When I was still experimenting with all the socials to find the ones I liked, I stumbled across an image. I want to say it was here on tumblr but, honestly, I don't remember and at the time I was neck deep in every marketing and promotional blog or article I could find trying to figure this shit out.

It was called "The Periodic Table of Content Marketing".

I don't know why this helped me wrap my head around marketing, but it did.

I read over each of the types of marketing and I started getting idea's.

Ebooks... I'd heard about people doing reader magnets for newsletter lists.

Interviews... I've seen authors on podcasts. I'd seen people on tumblr interviewing their characters. I could do that.

Trends... What are popular tropes if not trends of the moment?

And I suddenly realised that this silly little graph was all the different types of marketing I could do, broken down simply, and laid out neatly, and I could pick and choose not only the bits I was comfortable doing, but the bits that I was confident with.

I'm never going to put my face on a tiktok video and lipsync to popular songs, but I could write a 12,000 words short story prequel to my series and make it exclusive to newsletter subscribers.

That was something I could do, because it leaned on my strengths; My writing.

Because I haven't said it yet, but two years ago I'd have described myself very similarly to you.

I'm not charismatic. While I'm not autistic, I am painfully introverted. I have severe social anxiety. I'm not funny, I can't talk with strangers casually or easily. Talking about my book more than once a week feels like I'm bragging or being pushy... But I can write.

So I started looking for opportunities to share my writing, and let it... not speak for itself, but let my words draw in the audience. It still took a bit of pushing on my part, I would look for tag games where the user had left an "Open Tag" and I'd hop on those and share some words.

This is part of the reason Tumblr is one of my favourite places to network with writers and readers, because the tag games let me share and tease content without having to push through my social anxiety all that hard.

It's a slower, organic, audience growth but it's definitely my preference.

The content I shared on here, produced to play tag games, I quickly realised that I could copy it onto a pretty image in canva, and share it on instagram easier than I could condense a paragraph into the twitter character limit, or make it look appealing on Facebook's janky system.

And the more writing I shared, the more people commented and followed. And the more they commented and followed, the easier it was to talk to them. And then I started getting asks. That was nerve wracking and sometimes they'll still sit there a couple of months before I can make myself answer them.

(Sorry Sleepy and Avra, if you're reading this! I'll reply soon, I promise!)

Have I gone off topic here? I kind of feel like I have but also... not really.

If you feel like your writing is your strength, lean on it. Let it do the heavy lifting for you. Show your hand with your words.

By the time I set up my mailing list and offered 'Whatever Happened To Madeline Hail?' for free, I got 12 people to sign up straight away. I don't know if that's a lot, but it was at least eight more than I was expecting.

When my book launched, I received 14 reviews, and sold 20 copies the first month. Again, I don't know if this is a lot, but it was a whole hecking lot more than I'd hoped for.

I don't know if I'm good at marketing, and maybe someone will reblog and reply to this with better advice, or tear apart what I've said, and if they do great! I really hope it helps you or someone else down the reblog chain because, as I said at the start, I'm really just stumbling around in the dark and hoping I somehow get it all to work out lol

But I do just have one more piece of advice, that isn't really my advice...

Tip No. 7

Fake it until you make it.

You're a writer. The beauty of the internet is that we have time to stop, and think about the words we're writing in response to someone.

I'm a shy, introvert, who doesn't know when to shut up when she gets started talking about writing (Or at least that's what it looks like based on the length of this post...)

But 99% of people I speak to online don't know I'm an introvert. They don't know that after sending an email I have to go back to bed for a few hours to recover my energy, or that I can't answer a phone without feeling nauseous for the rest of the day and it's because when I'm online I'm Arista Holmes, and I can write my responses in the same way I write my characters.

I'm not saying I'm not being me, I am, but I'm also being given the time and space to be the confident me I want to be, rather than the nervous wreck I actually am.

Write your socials, and market your book, as the you that you’d write if you were dropped into one of your own books.

Fake it until you make it.

Handy Resource List For Marketing:

Periodic Table of Content Marketing

Jenna Moreci's Youtube - I take her writing advice with a huge chunk of salt, but her marketing advice is top notch.

Bethany Atazedah Youtube - Co-wrote a Marketing For Authors Non-fiction series, but a lot of her youtube videos contain good, free, advice too.

Self-Publishing With Dale - If you want to market effectively, keeping on top of the current trends and changes in the market is important. Self Publishing with Dale is the best way I've found to do that; He really has his fingers on the pulse of the Self Publishing Market, and even if you're not publishing yet, checking out some of his videos can teach you loads about what to do, but more importantly, what NOT to do.

Michael Anderle's 20Bookto50k system - I didn't mention it as a tip but the BEST form of marketing a book is to write the next book. Michael Anderle talks about his theory that is you have 20 books published, your backlist of royalty income should net you around $50k a year. The hour and a half talk changed my whole marketing outlook and is why I'm focussed on a slow grown, more organically sourced, audience rather thank paid advertising.

Abbie Emmons Youtube - I'm not sure I should include Abbie in a list of marketing resources as she's often more about the writing side of the craft, but her videos have been invaluable to me, so she's just worth checking out in general.

[usamamoweek]

Meet the Creators - Daikon

What username(s) and platform(s) can folx find you on? (Please include links!)

I write under the penname "Daikon", which was unfortunately already taken on Ao3 and Tumblr, so there I use @daikon1

I do also still technically have a FFN account, but it is no longer being maintained or updated.

(Fun Fact) What is your favorite kind of potato?

Oh gosh, I've spent like a week thinking about this and still don't have a good answer. It's probably either twice baked or french fries with some kind of condiment (ranch, BBQ, BBQ ranch, honey mustard, I could go on)

How long have you been creating works in fandom spaces? How long have you been active in the SM fandom?

I technically submitted my first fanfiction to a Buffy archive back in 2004 but MERCIFULLY they didn't end up sharing it on their site. I discovered FFN around 2007 but didn't start actually posting content (and then only sporadically) until 2009.

Regarding fandom spaces, I've come to and from the Sailor Moon fandom over the years; in 2005 I was OBSESSED with Alicia Blade and was dying every time she updated Love Potion #19. Over time, I wandered away and found other fandoms to invest in (shoutout to Kingdom Hearts) though I was much more of a lurker than anything. I didn't really find my way back to Sailor Moon until 2019 when I stumbled on @floraone (and started dying every time she updated The Unintentional Seduction of Chiba Mamoru). Ignoring one fluke-y and OOC piece from 2014, I've been writing for the SM fandom since mid-2020 and am hoping to stay here for a while :)

What type(s) of creative works do you usually make? (fanfics, digital art, cosplay)

I'm a strictly fanfic kind of girl.

What do you enjoy about creating for the SM fandom?

I love the characters and am low-key obsessed with the dynamic between Usagi and Mamoru. I started watching Sailor Moon when it was first airing in the US in 1995 and when I say that shit was formative for me, I am not exaggerating. My favorite relationship dynamic is definitely snarky, stupidly-in-love A seeks sunshine-y-but-perpetually-annoyed-with-them B.

Are you strictly UsaMamo or do you create for other pairings as well?

I don't mind having various sideships in my works, but I don't think I have the emotional investment in any other SM ships to actually write a piece centering them.

What inspires you to create works for Usagi and Mamoru?

TBH, I have been struggling a bit with inspiration of late (I had a bad bout of burnout early in the year that I'm still recovering from) so, you know, once I figure that out... XD

In general, I've noticed that music tends to be something I find very inspiring. The right lyric can shake up my thought processes and sometimes give me a whole piece of writing (see: then you showed up...) In the event that music isn't working, brainstorming with my beta, @floraone, can nearly always unstick me when I can't find any momentum.

If the question is supposed to be more of like, why UsaMamo, see above re: what I enjoy about creating for SM.

Do you tend to work on multiple projects (WIPs) simultaneously or try to finish one at a time?

I don't like to have multiple multichapters going at the same time if I can avoid it. I do tend to have a multichapter in the works, and will pause my active multichapter for a fandom event (such as a gift exchange or UsaMamo week) or if I have a plotbunny I can't shake. However, I tend to try to keep any side works short (ideally a one shot or a novella-length multichapter).

I also have a handful of ideas/story fragments that are basically paused in my drafts folder because I don't have the interest/bandwidth to tackle them at this time, but I might eventually come around to. In an ideal world, I would finish them one at a time

Do you prefer large projects (chaptered fics, webtoons/zines, highly detailed art) or small projects (one-shots or simple art)?

They both have their own challenges and rewards. I find it's much easier to hit a wall in a multichapter, whereas a oneshot you get to finish and push out and "check off", as it were. However, a multichapter tends to grow an audience and have folks invested in where it's going, which is both lovely and validating (and sometimes a lot of pressure!) Multichapters are a lot more of a commitment - I can get an idea for a oneshot and churn it out in a week when I'm feeling inspired, whereas a multichapter invariably takes more time and (at least for me) I don't feel like I can take on several at once in the same way I can tackle a oneshot plotbunny and keep moving. A oneshot is also more of a self-contained "complete thought" while a multichapter can be a bit more sprawling, which gives you more space to explore and innovate.

All that is to say, I'm not sure if I really have a strong preference one way or the other. I like both, for different reasons.

Are there any common themes, situations, tropes, or mediums in your work?

LOL so basically whatever I'm currently tackling in therapy tends to pop up in my writing. Grief and self-worth are big ones lately, which I think is part of the reason I'm feeling less inspired of late. While they are important things to process, I don't necessarily always want to be grappling with those heavy feelings during my fun creative times.

Also, you know. Idiots in love. Healthy and accurate portrayals of sexuality. Minako being a disaster queen. And when I can work it in, I love self-referencing my own works in a kind of multiversal invocation

Is there anything you haven’t explored artistically and would like to try?

Nothing's coming to mind! As mentioned, I'm a writer through-and-through, so I'm not interested in trying a new medium at this time. I think if I did come up with some form of experimental writing I wanted to play with, my beta would be delighted to support me, but right now I'm happy to stick to mostly traditional romantic comedies with a side of emotional processing.

[redbleedingrose]

I DID NOT KNOW I NEEDED A HEADCANON ON ERIS’ HOBBIES 😫 first of all when it started with “the LOML” I KNEW IT WAS GONNA BE AMAZING AND IT WAS 😂😂 loved loved loved how it reflected him being such a great mate and daddy (the little Twila and Marwa mention was adorable 🥹) AND THE ACTIVIST FOR MULTIPLE CAUSES THING AHHHH WE STAN A KING !!! BUT WHAG HAD ME ROLLING ON THE FLOOR WAS THE SMUT WRITER PART HOLY SHIT THAT’S CANON IN MY BOOK FR

OH MY GODDDD

I forgot to answer this but this was such an INCREDIBLE ASK!!!!

Listen, Eris is the LOML, my whore, my slut, my king. I would do anything for that male. I am his mate fs in my delulu fantasy mind. I am so WEAK for him.

But he is soooo good. I am fully convinced he is the anti-hero in ACOTAR who is actually the one who is going to save everyone. Like I know there is so little we know about him, but I can just imagine that he is secretly responsible for saving so many lives and we just don't know it... yet.

He is such a good dad, and mate. He is incredibly loving and caring and patient with his babes. He wants to be the exact opposite of what Beron was to him.

He wants Marwa and Twila to look at him and see safety instead of danger. He wants the babes to look at you and him, and realize there is true love and devotion in your relationship rather than fear and hatred. He wants to set a good example for the girls, standing up for what is right.

And yeahhhhh he is the most incredible smut writer. Like no one knows who he is, but everyone knows his penname. His books are a phenomenon in Prythian and essentially the start of the dirty romance book era that occurs.

He is also the most incredible in bed.

[sophieinwonderland]

About the plural artists conversation:

For those who have worries about being at a normal job with a singlet boss, there's a great video about this in the archives of the Plural Positivity World Conference, "2022 Working while Plural Accommodations, Automations, and Disclosure in the workplace"

It's possible to get free/pay-what-you-can tickets for each year's PPWC conference and then afterwards they send an email with a link to give you access to recording from previous years. Highly recommend

But also, yeah. The thing is, I have a LOT of experience with enduring sustained ostracism/harassment/abuse, and grew up thinking that I might as well put my resilience in that area "to good use" in some way (eg I grew up witnessing women politicians getting hounded by the press, and it looked pretty similar to what I was already tolerating in school, so I thought, I could endure that treatment in a job and maybe get some improvements underway). But also, at the actual time that you're busy Enduring, it's really hard to tell just how much it's affecting you, and in retrospect, I did develop good survival skills for that type of scenario, but I also developed CPTSD. If I faced the risk of publicity and hatred again, could it be "finding meaning" in my experiences and reinforcing my strengths as part of healing? Or would it turn into reliving past bad experiences and exacerbating things, making it harder to heal? There's no way of predicting how it would affect me.

So it's a question that I don't have an answer to, either. We should push for a world where succeeding in view of the public eye does not carry an implicit threat, and that project of social change requires a certain amount of openness. Like you don't get a queer civil rights movement if barely anyone comes out.

But also, one thing that I've been contemplating recently is the idea that our choices of how to behave depend on the social context that we're in. And there's a big difference between social spaces where people are trying to live genuinely and with equality and compassion, and social spaces where there's an inherent power imbalance that never really goes away no matter how nicely/ethically the specific people are. And in this capitalist society, with no universal basic income or meaningful safety net, any situation where you're trying to get paid is a situation where you are underneath someone in a power hierarchy, whether you're dealing with a boss or a customer or both. The consequences of poverty create power imbalance. Starhawk writes about this more coherently than I am right now, but you know what I mean.

It's one thing to love having plurality as part of your online identity, where you've got some degree of control over who you engage with, and whether you engage with them at all, because the social context is building a nice community online. But yeah, loving that experience is one thing, but the second money and dependence come into it, you're dealing with a different social context so the decision to be openly plural has a different meaning.

When it comes to surviving under capitalism, you definitely just gotta do what you gotta do. "Branding" is a matter of surviving under capitalism, and so is "controversy-as-promotion" - like, they're both just hollow strategies and I feel like in a way it's completely interchangeable - if you're not free to be genuine, and you have to pick a strategy for survival, then they're all equally bad options in way, because your hand is forced. It's hard to feel good about a decision when that decision was made in awareness of the threat of hatred and/or poverty, for me at least, I feel like no matter what way I end up going, the power and implicit threats set up by society mean that it's a coerced choice and not one made freely.

I feel like I'm sort of rambling, but this is something I think about a lot. My current life plan (and we'll see how that goes, lol) is to write under a penname, because my writing is an area where I want to be genuine and break away from self-censorship; but also, my Plan A is to have other jobs as my main income, so I'm not dependent on writing. For me, that feels important, I think I'll do much better and more meaningful, truthful work as a writer if I can distance that work from the fears and threats and coercion that are impossible to remove from paid work under capitalism. I don't know if I'm explaining this well. I feel like, when it's an unbalanced power situation, you can retain greater dignity and greater freedom to make choices without coercion if you lean heavily on having privacy. So in situations where I need to think about "making money" it becomes necessary to think about professionalism, branding, etc and so there's more self-censorship, and less genuine freedom of choice.

I already sort of have a split between "fandom creative work that can't be monetised" and "other creative work that is safe to mention to colleagues without weird reactions" so it feels natural to me to have multiple avenues for presenting things. I'm planning to publish things under my legal name that I wouldn't mind being seen if I was googled by a boss or landlord. Then the penname(s) can allow for more freedom and authenticity and creativity, for the "meaningful" work that I want to do as a writer or artist, where it would be nice to get money but it's not intended to be commercial.

Of course, I don't know how this will work in reality, since it requires both having time and having time-management skills to be doing multiple avenues of work at once - a lot of people end up finding that the pressure for commercial creation leaves them with no time to make their important art. I hope I won't get too stuck in that type of rut. But I feel pretty good about the idea of being a writer/artist who also has a day job part-time, and then going full "professionalism and privacy and strategically negotiating power imbalances" in the day job, so I've got room to go "full authenticity" in the creative stuff, without those psychological effects of being totally shackled to public opinion of my personal art for food and housing. I'm speaking as someone who has not yet really got an actual career off the ground, but anyway these are my thoughts about how I'm going to go about it in the future, and I feel pretty okay about this as a plan.

That sounds like a solid plan to me! And this is just an excellent post all around!

If anyone is interested in the video, I think I found it here.