#Ask me things!

[ekingston]

Hello! So sorry to bother, but have you had any updates on the Word-Stream/Speechify situation?

Just one: like I posted on Xitter and Bluesky last night, as of yesterday afternoon, the links to individual works as they were listed on WordStream are gone from both Google and Bing. Hurray, right? Surely we’re all sick of this whole debacle and there’s far more important things to worry about. If all is well that ends well, surely there’s no need to still be angry.

Well, I am. Here’s why:

When I checked on Wednesday, the links to my own work on WordStream were still listed. So rather than it taking a week after Cliff Weitzman first hid the fanwork from view, it took a little over a week from the moment he first promised privately that they would be deleted. Which, fine. Perhaps Cliff didn’t really know what he was talking about when he gave that timeframe. Or maybe he told a little white lie to create the impression that he always intended to do the right thing. It seems more likely to me, though, that Cliff still believed—even after the backlash he received—that he would get away with honoring only individual takedown requests. Or worse, that he needed just a little bit more time with the stolen material to figure out an alternative way to profit off it—preferably without us noticing, this time.

But who knows? I certainly don’t! All we can do is speculate, because publicly, Cliff Weitzman has remained completely silent on his copyright infringements. All we got was the initial justifications he and his sockpuppet accounts used in comments on the original Reddit and Tumblr posts. After those were so understandably ill-received, Cliff only ever communicated with a few individual authors who contacted him directly and repeatedly, blocking people who addressed the issue on Twitter and quietly distancing himself from WordStream by deleting a blog he’d posted to Speechify.com dated December 20th—where Cliff promoted WordStream’s platform specifically to fanfiction readers. (See my enormous timeline post for details and screenshots of said posts before they were taken down.)

And this is why I’m still angry: As long as Cliff Weitzman faces no real consequences for his actions, he won’t see a need to own up to his mistake; and as long as he’s able to delay taking responsibility, this isn’t over. This didn’t end well.

After all, wasn’t this the next-best scenario for Cliff, second only to him turning WordStream into a (for him) effortless, infinite money-making machine? He took something we provided for free and fed it to AI so he could more easily put it behind a paywall; we found out and protested; Cliff quietly erased all evidence of his crime; and we went—almost equally quietly—away.

I want to make sure you know that I continue to be genuinely amazed and intensely grateful for how quickly the news about WordStream’s copyright infringement was shared—and continues to be shared—throughout fandom, on tumblr in particular. If it hadn’t been for our collective outcry here and on Reddit, WordStream would very likely still be up in its original form, and Weitzman would be reaping the benefits (those subscription prices were steep) today.

But it’s been frustrating to see that, with the exception of mentions in articles on Substack and Fansplaining (the latter of which is a particularly awesome and thorough read on fandom’s decontextualization) and a Fanlore listing, our outrage never really spilled out beyond the safely insulated, out-of-the-way spaces that are tumblr, a handful of subreddits and bluesky. And I believe that—unfortunately—we are collectively responsible for that part, as well.

Most of us seemed content to only spread the word by circulating the same two posts on tumblr. (Have we all given up completely on every other social media platform? Am I the only remaining straggler?) And soon after Cliff Weitzman hid WordStream’s fanfiction category from view, our interest in the issue took a sharp dive even there. Are we genuinely deceived into believing the issue has been fully resolved? Do we truly fail to realize that Weitzman’s refusal to admit that what he did was wrong left the door wide open for the next greed-driven tech bro to wander through? Or is the true naivety in thinking that, as a community, we can keep this kind of attack on fandom from happening again? Has our disillusionment already gotten that bad?

However the situation spins out from here, Cliff’s actions will set a precedent. If we fail to show Cliff and his ilk that attempts to profit off fandom’s unpaid labor have consequences, their tech companies will keep trying until something eventually sticks. They might be a little smarter about it next time; obscure their sources a bit better, maybe leave the titles and the authors’ names off. Or maybe they’ll go a bolder route: maybe next time they cross the line they’ll do it boldly enough for IP holders to take notice and stop tolerating fanwork entirely.

Doesn’t that make you angry, too?

There’s this whole other mess of thoughts I would love to be able to untangle about how commercial influence is contributing to the steady erosion of fandom’s foundations, but I’m tired, and other people have said it all much more eloquently than I ever could. Seriously, go read that article on Fansplaining. Or listen to the podcast version of it. Better yet, as long as you’re wearing your noise-canceling headphones, go listen to a podfic of one of your favorite fandoms’ works, and enjoy the collaborative joy and creativity of the people who Cliff Weitzman refuses to believe exist. (In one of Speechify’s other blogs, Cliff claims there are only 272 podfics on AO3. Would you like to run that ChatGPT prompt again, Cliff?). Honestly, much like Cliff Weitzman’s infuriating denial of the fact that fandom fucking has this covered, thank you very much, there’s so. Many. More. Things for us to talk about. There’s the connotations of WordStream’s dubious ‘upload’ button, for instance, or the fact that the app scraped (and in some cases, allegedly, still lists) copyright-protected original fiction as well, or WordStream’s complete lack of contact information, which is illegal for an internationally operating app. And oh! Has anyone reported more thoroughly on Cliff’s app’s options to ‘simplify’ or ‘modernize’ uploaded works, or—my own very favorite abomination—to translate them into something Cliff calls ‘Gen-Z Language’? Much like his atrocious AI book covers, it would be hilarious, if it didn’t make steam come out of my ears.

Anyway, there it is. I highly recommend you do all of that. And then, if you aren’t familiar with it already, go do some research re: fair use and your rights as the copyright owner of your works. A good number of people commenting on this controversy expressed stunned surprise or fearful hesitation about claiming any sort of ownership of their fanfiction. The more informed we are about our rights, the more willing we will be to defend them.

Please don’t stop writing or sharing your work. If you can’t bring yourself to work on your WIPs today (trust me, I get it), post about this situation instead. Tweets, skeets, whateverthefucks—about WordStream’s theft, about how this reflects on Speechify’s already shady business practices, about how Cliff’s actions and justifications have personally affected you. You’re welcome to share or copy my posts on these platforms, but since Cliff already blocked me, I very much prefer you post your own. If you do, call Cliff Weitzman by his full name and tag or include both WordStream and Speechify to ensure Weitzman will recognize he has both a personal as well as a professional stake in handling the situation with integrity. Leave your concerns in reviews on the Speechify app. (We weren’t provided with a more appropriate place to put them, after all!) Consider calling for a Speechify boycott until Cliff accepts accountability for his actions.

Do avoid making exaggerated claims, and don’t call for physical retaliation against Cliff’s person or his property. We don’t want to give him or Speechify even the weakest of grounds to claim defamation or threats of violence. Focus on the facts: they’re incriminating enough by themselves. Show Cliff that we’re determined to keep bringing up his company’s wrongdoings in public spaces until he demonstrates that he understands why taking these freely shared fanworks and monetizing them was wrong, and takes steps to ensure it won’t happen again.

One last thing—and this is really more of a general reminder—please stop suggesting I handle this situation for you. People have come to me asking for action items. The resulting flashbacks to my days as an office assistant were extremely upsetting. In all seriousness, casting me as some sort of coordinator or driving force behind this backlash actively hurts the cause. Not only does it downplay fandom’s collective efforts, it also makes our message extremely vulnerable. It would be all too easy for Cliff to silence one singular source. Wikipedia will not maintain mentions of this controversy as long as it leads only to Easter Kingston’s attempt to summarize what happened as it was happening. You only know my name because I stumbled upon WordStream’s theft and decided to get my friends involved. I am not more knowledgeable, more skilled or more angrily invested in this issue than you are (or can, or should, be). I draw pictures and I write stories and I worry about the shift I’m seeing in fandom after having been on this ride for even a few pre-livejournal rounds.

I’m not going to stop doing any of those things. But I am going to allow myself to step away for a bit, make my wife dinner, and catch up on our shows.

I trust you’ve got it from here.

[seeminglydark]

So when Caro was Carrie did they ever break a bone doing cheer? Cause I was given a cute idea of John being all doting on Carrie if she did break one even though they insist they’re fine

WHAT? Noooo never. He’s a big tough guy. No way would he be seen with a purple sparkley backpack… or cheer Pom poms… or a letterman jacket. Definitely not a limited edition cherry pink heart shaped purse. He definitely wouldn’t carry their lunch tray, or sit with them at their games when they can’t cheer, or deliver messages to the rest of the team. He would never stoop so low as to go to their teachers and get their homework assignments while they were out, or swipe their fave snacks from the stop ‘n’ go corner store. Or help them freshen their manicure. Or hover more than usually asking every ten minutes if they are feeling ok or need anything.

Totally not at all.

[secretlytranced]

Would you rather wake up empty horny and obedient every day

OR

Wake up normal but feel compelled to touch and edge until your empty horny and obedient.

oh both are so fun but... i think the feeling of being compelled... unable to resist an urge... made to subconsciously follow an order... is just too yummy to ignore. I choose that. ;)

[ghostinthelibrarywrites]

End of the year director's cut ask game

Thanks for the tag, @dear-monday! Ask me any questions you have about any of the fics I've posted this year, whether you want to know some background lore that didn't make it into the fic or just want a dealer's choice fun fact!

(Also, if you have no questions about any of my fics and just want to ask me about headcanons, fic recs, etc. that's fine too! I have off today and I'm feeling chatty.)

Tagging @terresdebrume @ahyperactivehero @williamvapespeare @eyesofshinigami @genevievefangirl and anyone else who wants to do their own director's cut!

[uhliyaaah]

I'm obsessed with you! I would dedicate my life to you 🥰🥰🥰

as you should ❤️

[read-write-thrive]

I would love to hear more about the 'Charles’s best-friend’s-brother elaboration' :D

Absolutely!! So I say elaboration bc it’s basically me making a fic out of this post of mine where I talk about Charles getting into ska punk from a friend’s older brother (and definitely having a crush on him but Charles doesn’t know that at the time ofc)

The whole idea came about when I was doing research for what concerts Charles could’ve realistically gone to (which I listed out in a different post here) and started realising that Charles is actually a few years too late for the peak of 2nd wave ska but dies just before 3rd wave ska begins!!!! I’ve seen some people try and have it as his dad getting him into the music when he was a kid but 1. I hate his dad and 2. His dad would’ve been too early for 2nd wave imo. So, to split that time difference, I came up with the best friend’s brother idea! I was also playing around with Charles having cousins who were into ska punk, or maybe running with some older friends, but this way I get to also explore unknowingly bi baby Charles 🩷💜💙

As for what I’ve got so far: I’ve got about 600 words and a vague outline and that’s about it 😅 I’ve written an intro from Charles’s POV (the whole fic will be third person limited---I’m trying to practice Charles’s voice!) as well as the beginnings of the scene where the DBDA (specifically Crystal) ask about how Charles got into ska punk and he ends up having some Realisations iykwim

With the outline I’ve also got the names and ages of the best friend and his brother, so Neville Brown (born 1973) and Roger Brown (born 1969) are in their early stages!!! I chose Brown since the original inspiration was Hobie Brown from ATSV, and then Neville is after Neville Staples from The Specials and Roger is after Ranking Roger from The Beat. I’m not super well versed in the subculture/genre (so if these people or bands are problematic someone lmk lol) but I am in a class on Punk culture this upcoming semester so I’m hopeful that will translate well for this fic!!!

Tysm for asking !!!!!!!!!! (and sorry that this is like a whole wall of text lmao I haven’t talked about this one much !!)

[askchevymlp]

"I won't, I promise."

[phoebe-delia]

🥑 and 🦷 for the author asks pretty please? 💖💖💖

Hiiii thank you so much for asking!!

🥑 ⇢ you accidentally killed somebody, which mutual(s) do you text for help?

Hmmm. I think @phdmama, @greattemptation and @basicallyahedgehog would be the best at talking me down from the panic attack I'd be sure to have and help me think through what to do next 😂. Yall are all very smart and would be helpful, but I also feel like I can say and ask just about anything to all of yall and not be judged.

🦷 ⇢ share some personal wisdom or a life hack you swear on

I have a hiccup hack! If you were laughing, first try to calm your body (I'm not saying you gotta meditate or anything but like try to get yourself recentered/get your heart rate back to normal. This will be harder if you're still laughing lol.) Then get a glass of water. Take several tiny tiny sips as quick as you can; I usually go for like 10. I recommend doing this from a glass or something with a wider rim that's what she said because I've found bottles and straws don't work as well for this. It usually only takes one or two tries for me and it's gotten rid of my hiccups just about every time. If you read this and try it next time you get hiccups lmk if it works for you! My aunt taught me this method and I swear by it.

Thank you so much again!! 💛💛💛💛💛

Ask game questions here!

[sparklepocalypse]

🍋 because of course :)

Figured someone would ask me this one pretty quickly, LMAO. But I can’t possibly be limited to a single favorite spicy trope/kink to write because… *gestures at my assembled works*, so here are my three favorites!

3. Overstimulation. My smut tends to be pretty cerebral anyway — I get the technical/logistical bits out of the way first (whose hand goes where, who’s on top, obligatory descriptions of body parts, the requisite number of thrusts, etc.), and then fill in the gaps with the emotional/mental responses of the characters to what’s happening. Overstimulation kink feels like the logical conclusion of this process — it leans more heavily into the cerebral than the physical, and it’s really fun to dig into the characters’ psyches that way.

Slide, Crawl into the Shades of Light | E | Alex/Henry | 4.8k words

2. Monsterfucking. I mean, if it’s not obvious by my having commissioned some absolutely incredible, gorgeous, supremely hot art from @artofobsession, then I’m not sure how else to explain that octoHenry is my favorite version of Henry I’ve ever written in a non-canon-adjacent AU. But my fandom presence was forged in the time of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel the Series, and human/non human pairings were the norm there, much more so than human/human pairings were. So yeah. Monsterfucking. You’ll probably see more cryptids in my works in the future, so buckle up!

If We’re Caught in a Wave (I Will Carry You Over) | E | Alex/Henry | 5.9k words

All the Ocean was Sleeping | E | Alex/Henry | 6.4K words

1. Identity Porn. I love, love love the “you’re not who I thought you were” concept as both a source of conflict and the trigger point for a romantic relationship in fic. @cha-melodius’ You’ve Got Mail AU, False Dichotomy, is an excellent example of this. The “talking to someone you thought was a stranger but it turns out they’re your [friend/enemy/neighbor/boss]” trope is just… yes. Excellent.

Amazed at How We Talk (Once, Successfully) | E | Alex/Henry | 8.7k words

Down On My Knees; Wanna Take You There | E | Alex/Henry | 7.7k words

Running on the Music and Night Highs | E | Alex/Anonymous (Henry) | 2k words

From the Fruit Emoji Meme for Fic Writers.

[diazsdimples]

Whos your favorite movie composer

Mahler, hands down. That man writes unbelievable symphonies. The first movement of his 5th and the final of his 2nd are incredible and I have maybe been known to cry listening to them. I thi know I'd ascend to heaven if I heard his 2nd one live. Incredible.

Here's the ending of his 2nd symphony to prove my case (it is half an hour long so if you want, fast forward to the final 4ish minutes. You'll never be the same again)

(Okay and after having read this properly I see that this says MOVIE composer and not just normal composer, but movie composer would be John Williams or Hanz Zimmer)

Ask me stuff about classical music!

[ekingston]

What do you think would be lena's courage gaunlet test

therapy

[seeminglydark]

has johnny ever received any animosity from others due to not owning a phone? also something that has been in the back of my mind is does johnny only pay for stuff in cash or does he own a debt card? the normalcy of needing a phone for everything is annoying to me and makes me want to throw my phone into a large body of water. i hate being so accessible.

side note: your characters have influenced me to experiment with my fashion and learn sign language for my low spoons days.

Johnny receives animosity for existing, unfortunately, even in Valleyridge with his new life, even a false reputation has a far reach. He’s lucky enough to have a boss and a friend in Maddie who understands where he’s come from, his reasoning for not having a phone, and willingness to work around that. His coworkers are not that fond of him in general, punctuated by the fact he’s impossible to contact if a shift needs covered or something, in that sense yes, people have been frustrated with him. Maddie has an emergency number for him that she’s never used, but it’s for the owner of the bodega grocer in his building (she’s unaware of where he lives and who the contact number belongs too, only that there is one, just in case.) Also makes it hard for a guy to get a date to be honest, not that anyone would ask for his number (not to say he’s not lusted after but still generally avoided.)

He has a bank account, it’s really hard to exist without that unfortunately, but he only uses it to cash his check out, so yes, he does only use cash. He’s a thrift store man. The only big purchase he’s ever made was the nicest mattress he could afford since he never had a decent place to sleep. Savings are in a coffee tin in his cabinet (he doesn’t drink coffee so easy to remember where it is if he needs it.) not condoning or condemning this behavior, my boy has good reason to live the paranoid lifestyle.

And ah that’s really great! I hope you’re finding ways to express yourself with both fashion and communication, it’s amazing how much signs can do, I personally think it would be great if everyone knew at least some basics. Thank you for telling me! That means a lot! Johnny definitely still uses his signing skills in situations when he needs too, Caro learned some when they were kids when he was speech delayed, and the rest of his new found family is slowly learning now for Avery’s sake (and John, now that they know he uses it too <3)

[secretlytranced]

I'm pretty new to hypnokink but have been reading and watching a lot of it lately.

i see a lot of divide between fantasy (magic, creatures, etc), psychology stuff (hypnosis, behavioural training, etc) and then the sci fi stuff (human mind viruses, nanobots etc).

I feel like the more 'fantastical' or techy stuff loses the believability for me. Which types are you most into?

welcome to the kink!

honestly, all of the above are great. I do love a fantasy thing (fae, vampires? yes please) but

tech/sci fi... pyschology... i love them so muchhhh yasss

[tobstr]

can you draw.. shino pretty please!! specifically wearing a hat that says " moths are cool " i feel like he would be a moth lover you're so swag!!!

There you go friend 😋

Sorry I would have responded sooner but I completely forgot about seeing you ask till now

(edit: I'm so sorry I thought it was a shirt 😓)

[uhliyaaah]

Hands down you’re fucking gorgeous

thank you 🤎

[read-write-thrive]

hello friend, for the end of the year director's cut ask game I would love if you would talk about the trans!Edwin fic! And I always love hearing about Jerry the Rat King, but I don't think I knew about the trans!Edwin fic! Have you been working on it long? (Or is there anything you want to ramble about with it, feel free to use this ask to do so!!)

-V

Hello friend!! I’d love to talk about the trans!Edwin fic! I have been working in it a while but it’s taken a backseat since Jerry and the Goo got me by the throat 😅

I’m not sure if you were in the haunt for this but I actually made like a whole family tree for this fic ? Edwin’s parents, multiple sisters, they all have names and birth and death years and I even went down a few generations to see who would still be alive in the modern day… one of my good ol tangents spiralling into a lot of research and work lmao

Actually I don’t think I ever posted the family tree so there’s a treat (that people are free to use with credit :). But yeah I wanted to play into the “family needs a boy as an heir” idea so Edwin needed older sisters and a mother getting old. I’m also playing around with the idea of Edwin being intersex, so his parents basically went “close enough” and raised him masculinely. If I go with that, though, then it starts calling into question how we define transness (and Edwin wouldn’t have an understanding of transness either, making it doubly complicated)

Actually. Charles would even have a different idea of it. Oh now I’m thinking of the boys figuring out Edwin’s sex fuckery bc of *insert case reasons* and defining it along the lines of transsexualism. And all the gender and sexuality stuff that would go along with that. But then modern day, girls show up, *more case reasons* make the girls start updating the boys on transgenderism and intersexism and cue another linguistic-gendered-sexed-whatever crisis for Edwin (and Charles to a lesser extent).

Okay now I’m thinking I might need to rewrite my outline but the only scene I’ve written thus far is Edwin admitting to being vvvv minor nobility (needed to have stakes in the inheritance plus I think it’s funny) and then the girls finding pictures of Edwin’s family online and asking about it. I’m thinking either Edwin’s lesbian sister writes a tell-all or maybe after Edwin’s death his parents blamed their deception for why Edwin was taken as an “act of god” and somehow that makes it to the press… as you can tell, it’s in its early stages, but I’m hoping to put some of my queer history degree to work 😂

Thank you for the ask!!!!!!!! I need to go back and return the favor here soon, excited to hear more about your works!!!!

(Idek if you can read this but let’s find out shall we)