#HERE BE WRITERS THAT JULIE PLAGUE SHOULDVE HIRED

[certifiedceraunophile]

On that note everyone go shower some love on this MIRACLE WONDER this writer has produced,

THE WOLF SERIES

with blood sweat and tears, I once saw a post by another writer informing that your fic (a two-part multichap series)  literally has more words than the first 2 or 3 books in the Harry Potter franchise put together.

I mean do y’all understand how much this writer has literally just PRODUCED, the dedication and passion it takes to do it FOR FREE  for the characters THAT AREN’T EVEN THEIRS TO OWN LEGALLY, 

The level of LOVE and CONNECTION you have to feel for a character to do that, this is one vibrant soul to be able to have so much devotion to one single fictional person.

AND IT’S NOT LIKE THIS IS a slap-dash 500K WORD VOMIT.

GOD NO.

THIS HERE IS QUALITY FUCKING CONTENT.

CONTENT BETTER THAN CANON, 

CONTENT THAT IN THE HEARTS OF HUNDREDS LIKE ME, IS CANON

BETTER THAN ANYTHING JP HAS PUT OUT IN BOTH the TO and TVD universe. 

CONTENT THAT HAS MADE ME, A COLD-HEARTED INDIFFERENT mean lil BITCH cry and snivel like a 5 yr old bunny,

CONTENT THAT HAS MADE ME FEEL SO WARM AND HAPPY and just FULL on my worst days.

CONTENT THAT HAD ME PULLING FOUR CONSECUTIVE DAYS OF ALL-NIGHTERS TO JUST BLOODY FINISH THE STORY CUZ I COULDN’T PUT IT DOWN EVEN IF I WANTED TO.

AND HERE’S SOMETHING ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW DEAR WRITER,

WOLF 2 Literally came out when my entire freaking family was tested as COVID +ve, (we’re all fit and fine and fantastic now) 

BUT My mother’s diagnose at the time was well, acting up, to put it in the most ambiguous of terms, and I remember crying myself to dangerous levels of dehydration and just feeling like SHIT the first time I got the news in the hospital, and the worst part was that I was in the ICU too (since I was also tested covid+ve ), just on the other fucking side of the hospital, away from my family, and my then suffering mom. 

I couldn’t bloody stop crying, and was just so scared and alone, the nurses appointed for my care were worried, that I’d cry myself faint, YES they were worried I’d literally pass out from crying, and they were using all methods of distraction and diversion to just STOP me from behaving like the literal BLACK-HOLE OF HOPELESS GLOOM,

one such nurse finally decided, fuck protocol we’re bringing in her phone and giving it to her, the phone can be completely sanitised and disinfected before and after it gets to her, and so there, she can text friends or family, or whatever and keep herself distracted, 

I swear I’ve never been more thankful in my entire existence, for someone breaking medical protocol in places regarding my actual life.

I tried calling my extended family living out of state or texting friends, but hell as soon as the ringtone picked or if I saw them texting back I shut it off, I couldn’t bloody deal with it. I couldn’t see or hear my phone straight through all the snot and tears on my face, so like just imagine, a BIG FCKING MESS just sitting there,

AND then I decide to aimlessly scroll through Tumblr, (an app I hadn’t touched in months)

 and damnit out of NOWHERE

 this humongous aesthetic collage just pops up as I refresh the page  and below it reads,

WOLF II by Yokan

I admit, I didn’t bloody pounce on it or anything, hell I scrolled past it just as indifferently as any other post, still sniffing every two seconds and just wanting to be swallowed up.

But I knew in the back of my mind I’ll revisit the post later and I did.

It was around 3:00 am, dead in the night, when I got so restless, I threw off my covers, sat up and just listened, the only thing keeping me company was the incessant beeping of all the monitors of the 8 or so patients sharing the ICU ward with me. literally nothing else, even the nurses constant chatter ceased, and the next thing I know, my hand of it’s own accord grabs my phone opens ao3 and dives headfirst into Wolf 2, 

I didn’t even notice I had read through 3 chapters in one hour until one very, very annoyed and extremely worried nurse walked into my cubicle to check on me only to find me curled up on my side, my phone inches from my eyes and a tiny smile on my face,

I mean I swear the nurse did everything short of pumping her fists in the air and yelling “YESS! FINALLY THE BITCH STOPS LEAKING LIKE FAULTY fcking PLUMBING”

but she was not having any of my ‘imma pull an all-nighter in an ICU to read QUALITY LITERATURE’ stunt, and shoved my head into the pillow and said ‘I’ll hold it there till you drift sweetie, don’t even try me.”

 well not literally but you get the point.

But here’s the thing, My Mom is having insidiously low levels of oxygen in her blood, my 11 and 14 yr old brothers are in another part of the hospital, probably playing fortnite with the male nurses, and my dad who has chronic hypertension and blood sugar (afflictions that do not fcking help covid recovery whatsoever)  was bed-ridden unconscious in the fourth corner. 

And here I am going to sleep with a smile etched on my face, expectant and excited to wake up the next day and continue reading.

I mean I wanted to pass out with the help of sleeping pills not an hour ago and maybe not wake up for a good week and a half, and now here I am actually looking forward to the next day. 

DO YOU FCKING UNDERSTAND HOW IMPACTFUL YOU’RE WRITING IS??  

I mean after that, I didnt put my phone down, unless i was connected with my family through the intercom, or when my meals were being delivered.

I read through the entire first half you posted in the 8 days I was quarantined in the hospital.

I laughed, I CRIED, I think I kinda YELLED OUT IN SHEER FRUSTRATION in the middle of the night when any particularly angsty part, especially CAROLIJAH part came on, I mean I was so lost in this universe you’ve created, you’ve authored. And  I felt a myriad of emotions that were so strong it couldn’t be swallowed up by my own blackhole state of mind.

AND NONE OF THESE EMOTIONS HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH My diagnosis, The hundred different blood tests I had taken and their results,  my mom’s stubbornly un-improving state. or any of the other thing on my endless list of ‘the sky above thee shall crash down upon thy skull’ things happening around me.

The FIC did not make the helplessness i felt disappear, It didn’t, that only disappeared after my family left the hospital fully recovered and perfectly fine.

 But did it fight tooth and nail to nullify any and all depressive thoughts I was feeling by shifting my focus, ABSOLUTELY. was it so powerfully eclipsing that I could afford to drift silently into my safe haven away from all the NOISE. GOD YES.

MY BRAIN AFTER A FEW DAYS POST RECOVERY HAD THE AUDACITY TO SUGGEST FEELING GUILTY ABOUT ENJOYING YOUR WORK SO THOROUGHLY DURING SUCH A HARD TIME.

and my heart was having none of it, it yelled back

“FUCK you, FUCK YOU BACK TO THE DERANGED RECESSES OF CONSCIOUS SELF-FLAGELLATION YOU CAME FROM, BECAUSE It’s the tiny seemingly insignificant, usually sidelined things in life that bring you the most happiness, and you shouldn’t bloody feel SORRY for that.”

“IF all it takes is A CANON FIX-IT klaro-baby-trope fanfic of a show that ended years ago with half the characters you love dead, to alleviate this all- consuming hopelessness you feel, it DOES NOT mean you’re shallow, it just shows how DEEP you’ve delved into this one singular character and brought her to life in your mind that she’s your personal mentor, flawleslly flawed gold standard and friend that you CANNOT possibly think to part with. And if you found an author who translates this fairy god mother of yours in the most intricately beautiful FAULTLESS way, onto paper, you shouldnt fcking feel sorry.”

and NO, I don’t feel sorry for enjoying your work and falling in love with it, over and over and over again, because it was so bloody worth it, and it literally PULLED me through such an uprooting period of my life, I mean there was so much fear and worry in my heart but for the few brief hours I read your work, YOU were so commanding of my attention, my heart and my mind, that i could escape into this Haven. Drift away from the worries and just revel in the Gloriousness that is KLAROLINE.

SO YEAH.

PHEW THAT WAS A RANT AND A HALF.

BUT YOU NEEDED TO KNOW THAT, I WAS SCEPTICAL ABOUT SHARING SOMETHING SO PRIVATE, BUT YOU DESERVE TO KNOW JUST HOW TOUCHING YOUR WORK IS, AND JUST NEVER FCKING EVER STOP WRITING. IT DOESNT HAVE TO BE KLAROLINE OR EVEN FANFICTION, JUST DONT STOP WRITING, BECAUSE YOU’LL BE RIDDING A LOT OF PEOPLE OFF THEIR SAFE PLACE. and that’s just rude.

I dont think there’s any smooth way to end this rant so I’ll just leave it here.

ALL THE LOVE AND PEACE IN THE WORLD TO YOU

XOXOX

-A reader you helped escape.

Here’s the thing, folks. 

Private messages are amazing. I really love it when people decide to come over for a random chat, or to tell me they’ve enjoyed reading something I wrote. Honestly, I’m sure you’ve heard this from a million people before, but it’s all so very true: it’s THE BEST THING to know there’s people out there appreciating something you’ve done. I know fanfiction, like fanart, and fan edits, and any other kind of awesome content people produce as a form of tribute to something they like, is free, but it actually costs something to the people producing it, even if it’s just time. It’s made for fun, but it’s BRILLIANT when you come and tell me you have liked my fanfiction, or that you’re eager for an update, or that you like my writing so much you’d like to see me write something else. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE IT and appreciate it and it makes me SO, SO, SO happy. Please, don’t stop doing that, ever!

But the best way to really support content producers is to help the content reach more people, and the way to do that is to either reblog a post here on tumblr, or leave a comment on FF.net or AO3, or kudos, or something that will help the story/whatever be seen by others. I know I’m writing this exclusively from a fanfiction perspective because it’s what I do, but I’m sure it’s true for all sorts of content.

When someone is looking for something new to read, they tend to navigate to the stories with the most number of kudos, or favs, or reviews. Sometimes people read the reviews before they start the story. I’m guilty of that. When I first joined fandom, a billion years too late, I went straight for the most famous stories and authors. When you know a lot of people have enjoyed something, chances of you enjoying it as well are greater. So some people only ever go to writers they already know, or stories they’ve already started, or stories that are being validated by lots of reblogs from people they know, or getting recced by people they know and trust. Which is why it’s so important to help content creators that you like reach new people by showing your friends and followers and general corner of the fandom that you like what they do.

I’m new here, I have very few followers and I’m not at all among the most popular people on AO3 or FF.net, though I might be among the most active at the moment. But sometimes my stuff gets so, so few hits I start to wonder if it’s even worth to continue writing stuff. And you might say ‘Hey, GalvanizedFriend, don’t judge us for no reblogging your stuff. It’s my blog, I’ll post what I want, I’ll rec who I want, people just don’t like your stuff that much, suck it up’. And it’s all very true and fair enough. I just have to deal with it and either keep going anyway, or grab my things and leave. My prerogative, no one’s fault. 

But on the off chance that what I’m saying actually makes sense - or that I might end up helping other people, because this isn’t just about me, it’s about EVERYONE - please consider reblogging more posts, reccing more stuff, and leaving reviews on the actual stories, because that will encourage more people to give it a chance. It’s really, really helpful and it makes people feel more excited about doing new stuff and continuing to contribute to keep the fandom alive (which I guess it’s important in my particular case ‘cause the shows are done and dusted and literally characters are dead, lol). 

This wasn’t a rant, it was just a friendly reminder and also an opinion. If you don’t care, then by all means. Just ignore it and move on. Thanks for reading.