#And having to block a ton of people over this is

[mellosdrawings]

noooo not the n2 ship 😭 omg people can be so weird sob sob you have more drawings of them as adults and frankly why does it even matter?!? it's not even an illegal ship sob (eg. incest or smth else that normally turns heads in fandoms) if you don't like it, don't read it???? (i personally like it tons!)

-🥬

(About this post)

Well, you know, it's the usual Leojami age difference discourse. I just delete those comments anyway, but I'm glad you like the N2 squad :3

I won't develop too much since I don't want this blog to be about discourse (I'm giving my opinions plenty on my sideblog) but here's what I think about these topics:

-I'm vehemently anti-censorship. I don't think something shouldn't ever exist and I will never push for something to be censored, even if it's stuff that makes me uncomfortable. I think warnings about particular contents are great, but in the end it's my responsibility to curate my experience with banning # and blocking people, etc etc. Even illegal stuff should be portrayed. If people can draw/write about murderers and conmen without a fuss, then they can also do that about taboo/illegal sexual topics. Depiction is not endorsement.

-I believe the reader/viewer is the one who injects meaning to art/stories. I'm an artist and all the things I do mean something, but that meaning doesn't prevail over the meaning my viewers inject in my art. I regularly see people "misreading" my comics in the tags, but it doesn't matter. Their interpretation is just as valid as mine, and if they wanna see ships where I didn't mean to draw ships, or if they interpret a scene as negative when I meant for it to be positive, then it's either my role as the content creator to be more explicit/obvious with what I meant, or to simply let my viewers have fun however they want with my stuff. I don't believe in the "there's only one valid interpretation and everybody who thinks otherwise is wrong".

(That's also why I don't really believe in DNI. People you disagree with will interact with your stuff anyway, caring about those things will just anger and tire you for nothing. I try to avoid interacting with people who have DNI that probably include me? But considering "proship" means anything and nothing it's hard to tell whether N2/LeoJami is considered a proship or not.)

Tldr: I'm anti-censorship and I think everybody should make and enjoy the content they want, even if it's topics that are usually frowned upon. Imagination is the one place one should be able to go hogwild without fearing retribution.

[linddzz]

ok your arcane blogging has almost convinced me to watch the show because it seems WILD and also, visually STUNNING like wowww

but I have absolutely no idea what the show is even about, could you give me a summary? (also what streaming service is it on?)

Yessss excellent! The show is indeed fucking nuts and also visually stunning. Just. Goddamn. Every single episode had moments of us going "that looks so pretty" and/or "holy shit that looks so fuckin sick"

It also does some of the best visual storytelling outside of the Spiderverse movies. They do so much playing around with 2D looking effects and light bursts, with music that slaps and is also used to create in-story sort of music videos to help drop character backgrounds and establishing where people are in episodes, which helps them handle the many characters really well!

Also the animation of micro-expressions in this show makes me lose my mind. I'm sure you've seen the gifs all over my blog and how much facial animation there is in them lmaoo

Good news is it's finished after 2 seasons, which I like as someone who prefers shows that don't just kind of go on for forever. It could have been 3-4 seasons but they did great nailing a rare mix of a plot AND character focused story that had a ton of moving pieces.

You also don't need to know shit about LoL and from what I can tell, it was more used as a base for the world setting and the first building blocks for the characters. They take advantage of the pre-made world really well and do this immersive style of world building where you may not know what all is going on in this world, but you can really tell that it's there and developed you know? But character lore wise we all tried to predict season 2 based on the original lore and then got cold clocked by how the basic character beats actually played out so. Yeah. The most video game aspect of this is the character designs and the FULL embrace of "what if this lady had a big glowing cyber arm she punched things with and what if it was the coolest shit you've seen."

As for what it's about...theme wise big points are

- love as both a destructive and restoring force, especially love between family and friends

-forgiveness and how one draws the line on what going too far means

-self perpetuating systems of classism that can pull even well meaning actors into being oppressors, and even how different forms of rebellion can begin recreating the oppression they're rising against (there are arguments on how this got handled in season 2 but I don't think there's any really solid storyline way to handle such heavy themes)

- the unexpected consequences of chasing progress as an ideal

-big buff hot women who punch!!!!!!! Women who are yoked!!!

-making you kind of hate how much you like that imagine dragons song

-beat drops that make you yell "LETS FUCKIN GOOOOO"

Plot wise it's about:

Set in a trippy art deco/art nouveau punk aesthetic city that has technology and where magic exists, but has been considered dangerous and only used by mages born able to harness it. Scientists learn how to access magic via mechanical and chemical technology. This causes a lot of problems. It mostly follows two sisters caught within the volatile time, along with a central cast from multiple parts of the city.

It's streaming on Netflix!

[whumpedup]

Okay, I cannot stop thinking about this.

Jayce storms into the psychiatric ward and everyone is like oh shit counselor on the warpath. This is the guy who is normally so sweet and so affable and approachable and he is incandescent with rage.

They immediately get Viktor out of there and are profusely apologizing, absolutely throwing the enforcers under the bus.

And Jayce's first priority is getting Viktor somewhere safe so he takes them home or to the lab and then once he's settled and comfortable. Jayce storms out of there to wreck shit.

He gets the doctor fired and blacklisted. He goes after every enforcer that was in charge and make sure they are also fired and blacklisted.

And then he really throws his weight around as head of the council by pushing through a ton of reform around laws regarding Healthcare and the enforcer division.

And people try to stop him and to convince him to slow down and that this is a mistake and he just fucking bulldozes over them. He does not have time for this shit. People try to block his vote and he figures out how to blackmail them.

And like a ridiculously short amount of time later he returns to Viktor to check on him and Viktor has just heard the news about everything Jayce did and is like "You did all this for me?" And also "you idiot they are so gonna fire you from the council for this". And then they make out about it or something idk.

s1 fic where Viktor goes to a doctor who's not his usual during an emergency, explains he needs an extra dose of medication because he needs to help his partner cut the ribbon on a Hexgate, and gets hit with the Martha Mitchell effect.

From Wikipedia: "The Martha Mitchell effect occurs when a medical professional labels a patient's accurate perception of real events as delusional, resulting in misdiagnosis." Martha Mitchell was a Watergate whistleblower who was deemed delusional; a modern equivalent might be Kam Brock, a woman who was hospitalized after a car crash, mentioned she was a banker and that Obama followed her on Twitter (both true) and got forcibly hospitalized for over a week, as well as many chronic illness patients who are hospitalized when doctors don't believe their symptoms (warning: harm to children at link)

So: Viktor stumbling into an urgent care clinic on the way to watch Jayce unveil their latest invention. He's slurring his words and his accent is stronger than usual (drunk, the doctor notes down,) he's pale, sweaty, and feels like he can't breathe (anxiety, the doctor writes,) and he's worried about how much pain he's in (ZAUNITE ADDICT, underlined twice in big block letters.)

viktor gets pissed. he didn't deal with everything he survived at the academy, in his career, and from other idiots to be treated like this. he starts playing the "respectfully, do you have any idea who I am," card because this is bullshit.

now he's in a cop van, coughing up blood. that's that medical gaslighting espresso. getting brought to a psychiatric ward in handcuffs because he said he was one of the founders of hextech? all right, he's not the one on the posters, and he doesn't give as many interviews, but surely this is a bit excessive.

meanwhile jayce is pacing backstage. the investors are urging him to say a few words, but he's like "I can't do this, not without Viktor here. He would never miss this- what if something happened to him?" he stalls for 10 minutes in front of an audience, watching every entrance to see if Viktor is able to make it. slowly, it becomes clearly that Viktor isn't coming. something clearly happened to him.

Jayce drops his notes and bolts.

He knows the exact route Viktor would need to take to get here and everywhere he might have stopped along the way. Bribing some children playing hopscotch in the street reveals that "the man with the strange walk went into the doctor's office, and then the Enforcers went in too!"

Jayce is about to make Vi look like the absolute fucking model of judgement and restraint.

[spacecatdet]

I'm begging people to realize GIGS is just 4 guys having fun in a ghost game and not them playing characters. Shipping them is just, weird since they are not in character Also begging people to realize you can tell your friends you love them. And it can be Platonic and isn't romantic. It happens a lot, all the time. Esp if they aren't playing characters Getting real close if not stepping over the line of c and cc here and its getting weird

[mechazushi]

So, this isn't so much an "Incorrect Quotes"...

So much as an "I have a vision, but I'm not an artist so I have to settle for writing it out and hope someone understands what I'm picturing."

For starters, ya'll know about the artist trend of putting your OC's or favorite characters in a specific dress...

ya know... this one⬇

Yeah, just...ALL of Division Three. And I mean all + Narumi. Here how it sounds in my head. (Its more of a comic? It's just mostly dialogue than anything and they're just standing in a line talking to each other.) {And keep in mind....THEY ARE ALL WEARING THE DRESS AS THEY SAY THIS. ITS 90% OF THE JOKE}

Mina: When I said I was nervous about my first promotional modeling gig for Vogue, That didn't mean it was an open invitation to come out here and.... "Support me".

Kafka: Come on. This can't be any more embarrassing than that time you caught me in the sexy lingerie I was wearing for my high school prank.

Hoshina: *In air, eyes glowing woke spartan style, mid assassin strike aimed at Kafka with a training sword, ALSO IN THE DRESS* pics or it didn't happen-

Reno: Look. We're here, we showed up in the dress, can we leave now? I'm getting cold in places I don't want to be cold.

Iharu: Aww, come on! You look dashing! Few more pics! *Somehow managed to convince the photographer to take the shot of them*

Haruichi: The fact that you're filling this out better than me is disturbing.

Aoi:*Trying not to let his blush show* Are the lights getting to you because you're talking bullshit.

Minase: Oh my God! KIKORU!!!! You look amazing!!!

Kikoru:*embarrassed* Minassseee.... I-I'm with Reno. Can we change into our work jumpers now?

Hakua: Hey, can I take this one home? Makin' me feel hella confident right now. *Starts a gun show in front of a mirror.*

Narumi: *In front of the same mirror Hakua is in, serving cunt and taking selfies* Honestly, ya'll should just put me on the cover instead of Mina cuz' I'm pulling this off way better than her in the moment.

I also like to imagine that instead of Mina on the cover... It's Kafka in Kaiju form in the dress. The glowing abs would absolutely be visible as well....

[pastafossa]

how long did it take for your fanfiction to start getting some recognition? did you "advertise" it or "promote" it in any way?

i know that people say this doesn't matter, but i feel like even if you love writing the feeling that you're just talking to yourself gets pretty exhausting at some point. so i'm not talking about having thousands of readers but rather like. what's your advice to have readers at least?

- someone who hasn't even started writing their ideas yet...

LONG POST INCOMING.

First I want you (and everyone else reading who may be struggling with this) to know I'm absolutely with you and generally think 'it doesn't matter' is a horseshit answer. It's this weird thing we do in fanfic that we generally don't apply to other artforms that I've seen. If you're a painter, a playwriter, a novel writer, and you say, 'I want at least a few people to love my paintings, I want some people to come see my play, I want my novel to be published and do at least ok' we all support them, we nod, we agree, we talk about how they can do that successfully. It's considered normal to want some amount of success. But hold up fanfic instead and it becomes, 'how dare you want that praise, you're being egotistical, you should be writing only for yourself'. I'm not saying you can't do that - there are some who do - but it's definitely this bizarre switchup to say there's this single artform in which we can't want attention on our work and that there's something wrong with us if we do. That can be an absolute creativity killer depending on what kind of writer you are (hi, extrovert writer here who only gets writy writy juice from social interaction - aka comments and discussion. So I totally get it being exhausting just doing this on your own).

So let me say this categorically: you're allowed to want things. You're allowed to want kudos, comments, and hits. You're allowed to want messages and asks. You're allowed to want some readers you can talk with about your story.

You. Are. Allowed.

Ok, now that that's out of the way.

Edit: more below the cut cause I didn't realize the length of this on mobile

TRT definitely didn't get popular overnight. The first four chapters were sporadic, and then I took a hiatus due to life things for a couple years. During that time, it kept slowly ticking up bit by bit on AO3, with occasional comments. Iirc it was hovering somewhere around 700 kudos by the time I came back in Jan 2021 - and that's a awesome! It's big! But it's also a number that was gained over a few years, to put it in perspective. It absolutely took off after I came back though, and over the past 2 years both TRT's popularity and the stats of my one-shots in the fandom have grown. Part of that's just the time frame (TRT's been up about 6 years), but it's also due to a couple things that I think built up TRT's popularity.

Building a tumblr presence was huge. Ironically I didn't really intend to do it for advertising; I just wanted a place readers could ask questions or we could all freak out about Matt or I could post some drabbles or updates on the fic. But considering the fact that AO3 and tumblr are the top fic sites online, I wound up promoting my fics unintentionally just by being a friendly, happy tumblr user and fandom goer. All I did was follow the courtesy rules I knew - post stuff regularly, reblog, comment, make friends with other writers, just be friendly in your neighborhood because you love the lady with the gif flower shop on the corner or the wise old pizza maker who serves hot fandom takes all day long. I built familiarity with my writing and name by posting short fics, and by taking part in challenges and prompt lists and short requests for drabbles if I saw them, though that's something that's hard to do if you don't have time (I've got less time now, but I started this blog in the early pandemic so I had aaaaall the time in the world to write and was using it to stay sane). I tagged religiously because I LOVE tags, but that helped, too. Tumblr's search system is half broken but the half that works means people CAN find your writing even if they aren't following. Doing all this over here got me a huge boost over on AO3.

I will say that if you can have a fandom tiktok presence, there's a lot of fic reviewers, edits, and good stuff that can get your fic some readers (I've had some people do this on tiktok for TRT and it sent a surge over). I personally haven't done anything there yet, in part because while I'm on tiktok I try to keep my actual, real person accounts separate from my fic/fandom accounts and i haven't bothered to make a second account solely dedicated to the Pasta name yet.

Longfics on AO3 have the advantage in fic stats in the sense that every time you add a chapter, it gets bumped to the top of the front page and you get seen again. Eventually a lot of people will click out of curiosity. They may not, however, give you a lot of user subs or add to your other fic stats at first, whereas if you do a bunch of oneshots you're more likely to get user subs but less hits on each fic. This is a decision you'll have to make, and I know folks in both camps who built their followings using different methods on each. Either way, it helps if you're posting regularly, either in a long fic or one-shots. I call this the Stephen King method, who said he just writes a ton and throws it all at the wall, and eventually you get enough good despite the bad that you start building a following.

Learn learn learn. This is standard fic advice I always give, but it's still relevant. I think one of the reasons imo TRT has done so well is that I've spent a lot of time over the years learning how to write and edit - I read a ton of books (sometimes just to figure out HOW good authors structure their stories), I took a lot of English classes, I've taken some creative writing courses in my spare time. That two year hiatus was heavily spent doing a lot of research and practice around an original novel I want published one day. And I used ALL of that in TRT, just to see what it was like to put it all together. Be hungry for knowledge, be hungry to learn. The more you learn, the better your fic will be, and the more people that will click.

That learning also includes a looooong string of fanfics that started at a very novice level (hello 12 year old me), to fics that were ok and did moderately well but weren't anything huge. Hell, I had a tumblr account for my previous fandoms before I wandered over to Pastafossa, and while those fics did decently, I never had the huge reaction I've gotten here. But I used each and every one of those fics to learn and grow and adapt. Treat your own fics the same way. If it doesn't get hits, try to learn from it before moving on to the next idea a little wiser and a slightly better writer than before. There will always be people who start to follow you along the way.

A small one, but important: I swear to god, do not shit-talk yourself. Not in the summary, not in the tags, not in the A/Ns. I'm not talking, 'this is my first fic!' That's fine. I mean trashing your own work. Shit like, 'ha ha this sucks, it's terrible but oh well' will absolutely lower your stats, because people will believe you and will ditch your fic. On top of that, it's just mean to yourself, and as I said above, you want to be a good person in the fandom neighborhood. That means not breaking the windows of your own house.

People generally think of summaries as a side note, but a shitty summary can absolutely tank your stats. Treat it like the rest of your fic - this is the trailer before the movie, and it's a huge element of what gets people interested in the first place.

Lastly, like I said at the top, the biggest factor is time. There are people who post one fic and explode in popularity, absolutely. But far, far more little followings are built on the bones of time, of abandoned fics, of muttering and highlighting phrases in books in the middle of the night, of trying and trying and trying until we have at last have a breakthrough and then drag that breakthrough forward with us to the next fic. TRT is absolutely one part lightning in a bottle - the biggest success I've ever had anywhere with my writing, a confluence of fandom factors and world events that gave people (and me!) time to write and read. But it's also standing on the back of whole lot of fics I wrote that look like everyone else's: ones with no comments, low interaction, insults; ones where I had precisely zero idea of what I was doing, but wanted to try anyway. And the way I got through that, as a writer who needs interaction in order to create, was by building friendships in fandom so that even when a fic didn't do all that well, I still had friends I could talk to about the characters, the world, the fandom itself. I asked friends to look them over and give advice. I had friends being my cheerleaders. And if you're an extrovert like me, or just a writer who needs that to create, then those connections are vital as you build up a following.

That's a lot of what I've done. I know there are other ways to build a following, but this is generally what I've done, what I've learned to do, and it seems to have worked. Just remember that there are no bad fics - just learning opportunities. Learn something, and that fic's a success, and work as hard as you can to make those fandom connections to carry you through the process.

I absolutely hope to see your work around one day, so that I can be on of those followers!

[pandaofsecrets]

Then there's also the fact that Mai hates politics and cares more about individual people she likes than ideals or the masses. Why anyone would want her to be married to the Fire Lord is beyond me. And someone who is both Fire Nation and opposed to the old regime is just not an option, at least unless someone is willing to create a new character and tons of worldbuilding to explain her existence.

As for Katara, the problem with her is that she doesn't even go here. Yeah, she does care about the Fire Nation, but it's mostly on a compassionate, "they're people too" level. She doesn't have any connection to the place outside of Zuko, let alone one strong enough for her to move there and get bogged down in responsibility over its people for the rest of her life. The biggest stumbling block of Fire Lady Katara isn't external conflicts, she's strong enough to get through those. It's her internal motivation for getting involved in those conflicts to begin with.

You know I never shipped Zutara back in the day. But I've been thinking lately about how it would have looked for the disgraced prince that's been banished for three years; who briefly returned only to become a traitor again; helped the avatar topple the current regime; and then ended the 100 year war to also start courting a girl from the water tribe. I mean yeah Zuko is likely cleaning house of all the Ozai loyalists and many people were likely exhausted by the war and glad to see it end. But still that's a populace who's been fed propaganda for over 100 years on the righteousness of the war and the superiority of the fire nation and who now has a fire lord speaking against all of it. A fire lord who seems more comfortable with earth nation and water tribe dignitaries than his own people, including his choice of a bride . In a way Mai seems like the more politically sound choice. A way to reassure the fire nation that they're still a priority and that not too much will change. Fire Lady Katara could possibly only stoke the flames of civil war. But then as Iroh said water is the element of change with a deep sense of community that holds them together through anything, and I think it'd actually be really interesting to see Katara step into all of that political upheaval and change because she might actually be the perfect person to lead them through it. And now I'm really fascinated by that concept.

[lumiilys]

Allow me to be petty for 2 minutes 🙇

[starbuck]

usually I mind my own business, but occasionally I see some new fan posting meta-adjacent thoughts and decide to add my two cents, and it ALWAYS feels like this

[what-shitfuckery-is-this-ew]

I want people to read their scientific articles before sending them to me. Like actually read the entire thing or at least read the conclusion. Reading the first line and thinking that that means you understand the entire topic is very inaccurate, and it makes you look like a joke when i actually read it and find that it contradicts your point.

[meanferalbutch]

Your blog is honestly such a safe space <3

I love you guys so much. I really do go through periods where I think about nuking this blog with how quickly it’s grown and how I have to block so many people a day but like. Little reminders like this. Thats why I keep it up more than anything. I’m no longer just yelling about lesbian love and sexuality into the void, now there are people who really value this space. Thank you darlin <3

[tankshaw]

i love having unpopular opinions

[koipalm]

Wait what happened in the Hades fandom? I only ever looked at pretty pictures then left because I did not want to be involved with another Fandom™

ummmm for me personally it wasnt horrible bc i just talked about hypnos but there was whitewashing and weird incest stuff and also the fandom just could be like. pretty annoying which was what the poll was abt so.... most of MY gripes tho were not the main ones because of my obsession with hypnos, considering a great deal of hades players hated him or just didnt care.... but as someone who did not care for megaera or thanatos or nyx.... sigh

[katara0524]

Not to be an absolute hardass and a bitch but- every time i open this app i get bombarded by Kingdom Hearts and TWEWY opinions that have no business being so judgy and mean lol, y'all need to chill tf out and let people do what they want. Whether that's calling characters by their "canon" names or not, or even just drawing two identical characters with distinguishing characteristics. Its not hurting anyone and all these complaints absolutely reek of whiny baby syndrome lmao. Just a thought ✌️✌️

[boyfrillish]

I slept maybe 5 hours last night and because I’m still thinking about the kinds of scenes I wish the game had in the last couple of encounters with Hop, I may have to drabble something to get that bug out of my brain 😅😹 I don’t have the current confidence levels for anything like meta/analysis/etc, I don’t know if I can draw it because I’m so rusty, but silly fluff (soft angst resp. hurt/comfort flavour)? That’s failure-safe, brainfog/ability for words permitting...

No idea if or where or how I’d share but writing for me first still counts

[musical-chick-13]

I really don't want to make this a political blog, but there is. A big difference between "Neither of the major parties are on board with my values"/"I have criticisms of everyone in the political sphere"/"the political system is inherently flawed, I wish we had better candidates to pick from" (or even, "Wow, there is so much on both sides that really sucks! No one here is a particularly great person!")<-all of which are fair and things I actually do agree with, and "Both sides are, in every single way, on every single issue, literally completely the exact same."