#I love fandom *so much* it's by biggest hobby and biggest source of joy

[bilbosmom-belladonna]

Fanfic writer interview

Thank you for the tag, dear @insertmeaningfulusername!

What fandoms do you write in?

Various Star Wars media, though primarily Clone Wars, and also Stranger Things.

How many words have you published in 2024?

334,213, which. Good lord, that's a lot! A good 90K of that was written in 2023 and published in early 2024 but like. Still.

What are your top three fics you’ve written this year?

Well, it's hard to choose among the 21 (wut) fics I wrote in 2024, but I'll try!

Reasons to Celebrate is a Star Wars, Waxer/Boil hanahaki comedy, which is really its own advertisement, I think! The idea was so hilarious to me and writing it was a lot of fun.

Summer Lovin' Happened So Fast is a Stranger Things, Steddie one-shot. It is just chock-full of summertime vibes and I tried, as much as I could, to evoke a lot of sensory things that really bring me back to that season. Plus I think it's pretty cute!

The Farmhouse is a Star Wars, Cody/Fox story that was written for the 2024 Clone Bang! It was heavily inspired by a real place I got to visit and is a very different pace of story from most of my long fics, I think. Also I got to do a lot of fun worldbuilding!

What was your biggest pit of despair moment?

Woof. Well, in my hubrisambition this year I signed up for two big bangs which overlapped in the fall. And planned to write 50K+ fics for both. Somewhere in the middle I realized that that a) was a really bad idea and b) started to make writing feel a lot like a chore and less like a hobby.

Now, I do believe pretty strongly in the idea of writing even when you're not "feeling inspired" because muses are fickle, and generally I love writing for events and even thrive on deadlines. But it very quickly became a source of stress and really took a lot of the joy out of writing both fics, and even now I kind of struggle to love them as much as other things I've written. Lessons learned.

What have you learned?

Haha, well, not to bite off more than I can chew! And frankly I think I've learned my limits a bit, not just for events but for writing as a whole. I've been taking a break for a little while now and I think it's really helping. Gotta pace myself!

Did you beta any fics? Any faves you want to shout out?

I've never betaed, no.

What three fics have you read this year that you love?

Only three? Heartless, wicked, cruel! I will do my best.

all that's said in the low light by headlocket is a Call of Duty, Soap/Ghost fic that's just, ugh. Stunning. I don't usually go in for serious injury/chronic disability stories, not my cup of tea, but this one is so beautifully done and so sensitive without being preachy and so in-character in the most stilted, emotionally constipated way, hnnggg. What an absolute joy.

crystalizing clear as day (oh, i can picture you so easily) by the wonderful @inconocible is a Star Wars, Rex/Fives/Echo (with a side of Rex/Cody) story that takes place after Order 66. I don't think I'll ever get over the "pining for someone who's right in front of you" concept and this one really, beautifully delivers.

Undercover Work is an anonymously written Star Wars Rebels, Zeb/Kallus story that I adore for how it treats Kallus. The man is ruthless to a fault, even when he's working for the good guys, and the way he simply can't comprehend their relationship being anything other than transactional is as perfect as it is heartbreaking.

What ideas are percolating for next year?

Well, I'll be taking part in Waxer*Boil Month again this year, though I haven't started on those yet... And I've got a few things that I've started that I'm still hoping to finish in 2025 (stubbornly refusing to close the Gdocs tab counts as working on them, right?) including some additional scenes to my Steddie fic Maybe 10% Better and a TCW rarepair fic that I really really want to get out there.

This was a fun one! No-pressure tagging @cacodaemonia @elismor @mojowitchcraft @maplerosekisses

[z-stars]

From Their First Days As Z-Boys and Z-Girls To The Latest Album “Singing For You” | Exclusive Interview

“To inspire and become a cultural bridge that connects the world with music.”

Z-Stars is a group consisting of two separate groups called Z-Boys and Z-Girls with a total of 13 members coming from 7 different cultures around Asia, pursuing a common goal.

First debuted on February 2019, the group released their second mini-album this July and also had their very first showcase in Korea. Many acknowledged them as a K-Pop group without a single Korean member, but there’s so much more than just a description of the group.

With that, on August 28th, 2019, Kpopmap visited the studio in Zenith Media Contents located in Seoul to simply get to know more about them and share their dream with the readers.

Congrats on your comeback with the second album “Singing For You”. Can you tell us what the songs are about?

Perry: “Holla Holla” is a hip-hop styled song, composed with strong rhythm and bass which makes you feel excited and it is also a song that contains a message saying that “We will reach our dreams, not in a plain way but rather through our own way and findings

Bell: Our latest release, “Streets of Gold” contains a message about finding one true love and the song is recorded with powerful vocals. We highly recommend putting this song on your summer playlist! (haha)

What I noticed was that the song, “Holla Holla” has a similar message to the previous song, “No Limit”. Is this what Z-Boys are going for?

Mavin: Both “No Limit” and “Holla Holla” contains a message to motivate and inspire the listeners in chasing their own dreams. We really try to send that message to both the listeners and all our GalaxZ(Fandom name).

Do you plan on exploring other themes?

Mavin: I think we have a lot of potentials to try various genres since we all come from a different background, which means we have that much of diverse colors that we can explore.

What are the things that has changed compared to when you first debuted?

Carlyn: I think the girls got a lot fancier and more mature compared to our last song. The atmosphere of our second song, in general, is a bit sexier, having less kid-like pureness but show more of our women side.

Mavin: We want to show our sexiness! (haha) as you can see, we have a harness around our body haha. You can witness that in our choreography as well because the moves itself are a lot sexier than before. In our third single, we can maybe go further and be even MORE sexier hahaha!

What made you fall in love with K-Pop?

Priyanka: Of course, we all have different musical background and style but, K-Pop is very different and unique. For example, their performance is very attractive and above that, they sing and dance at the same time. So I think that was the most attractive point about K-Pop. Also, there are artists that produce their own music, so they are basically an overall package for an artist that you just can’t resist!

What went through your mind when you made that final decision to be part of Z-Stars?

Sid: I was filled with mixed emotions when I first heard the news but I was so excited about it. We all prepared a lot and worked hard to be part of this group and I’m sure it goes the same for everyone that, we were all so happy.

Weren’t you scared?

Vanya: At first, I felt thrilled in the aspect that I got closer to achieving my dream and that I will be doing what I love. But there was a bit of pressure as well since each one of us represents our own country. For instance, I and Mavin are from Indonesia and when we joined this project, we are bringing Indonesian names to Korea so we had to be great in what we do.

As a non-Korean K-Pop group, inspired by K-Pop, what are the biggest challenges? And how did you overcome those challenges?

Carlyn: There were various challenges that we went through. For example, when we first came to Korea, it was during the winter and most of us never experienced winter in our lives! That was a bit hard to adjust at first.

We also came from 7 different countries so we had difficulties when communicating with one another. We tried translating apps and used a lot of body languages! But the company supported us with language lessons to fill out the gap and now we have no problem communicating!

The biggest of them all was the training. We had to go through intense K-Pop training which was very systematical, army training-like style and as an artist in K-Pop, being synchronized during choreography is a must! So we worked really hard to achieve that.

What did your parents think when you said that you wanted to train in Korea?

Blink: For me, when I told my mum about myself going to Korea to train, without any hesitation, she supported me and said: “Go for it!”

Joanne: I auditioned for another company before I joined Z-Stars and when I first told my parents about it, they simply said no. I was a student at the time and they told me that I had to study but I had different thoughts and told them I wanted to pursue my training in dancing and singing. Even when I went to an institute to learn Korean, which I also had to pay it on my own, they thought I was going to give up soon. However, I kept on working harder and showed my passion for K-Pop. Finally, when I told them about Z-Stars, they gave in and said that they will support me in proceeding my dreams.

what were their thoughts about K-Pop? Do they listen to K-pop now?

Carlyn: Now they love it! When we had our first “Z-Pop Dream Concert” in Korea, they saw big artists like MONSTA X and ChungHa in the line-up and got really excited about it!

Mavin: Yeah they asked us to take a picture with them! Hahaha

What are your hobbies that you do during your spare time in Korea?

Carlyn: We get free time on Sundays mostly when we don’t have any schedule and normally we would just go outside shopping, go for a walk, just hang out with the members.

Mavin: Oh really?? That’s different from Z-Boys! We’re always in the studio practicing! Hahaha Well, Joke aside we do try to practice as much as we can because we all know that there’s always space for improvement and we do enjoy practicing!

What is Z-Stars’ ultimate goal?

Blink: We want to be an artist that can move others’ hearts and give true joy through our music to the people around the world. There are K-Pop artists that are really popular in America and Europe and we hope that we can follow those steps and ultimately, become a cultural bridge between all borders as Z-Stars.

To wrap our pleasant encounter, we asked the members to send out a message to their family and friends back home.

Kpopmap would like to thank Z-Stars and the staff for this interview and wish all the best for the group’s upcoming journey!

source: https://www.kpopmap.com/from-their-first-days-as-z-boys-and-z-girls-to-the-latest-album-singing-for-you-exclusive-interview/

[tobns]

in regards to my fics.

i hope that y’all know how much i absolutely loathe making these posts. because i do. i hate making them so much.

i’ve put off making this post for awhile because i really, truly, genuinely thought i wasn’t going to have to, that everything would work itself out somehow. but for the last two months or so, i’ve kinda known this in the back of my mind and didn’t really wanna act on it or anything? because it is one of my biggest grievances that i have with myself and my fic-writing: i wait too long to start a project, life comes barreling in the minute i start it and i just fade out, so fast, whenever i start something. i don’t know why, i don’t know if i’ll ever understand why i am so fucking incapable of finishing a story - maybe i just aim too high, maybe i overestimate things, maybe i’m writing it for the wrong reasons, i don’t know. i feel like it’s a combination of all those things.

for those of you who read cdg, for anyone who even remotely heard me talk about it, that story is my pride and joy, truly. i did so much research for cdg, i mapped it out several times, it was something i flung myself into and to me, it really felt like the departure of me just writing la-di-da contemporary stuff. i legit felt like this was the most mature, in depth thing i’d ever taken on and i was so proud of it. i think i screwed up by planning it to be so lengthy (even though i still stand by the fact that the length was necessary due to the fact i was covering two separate timelines) and then once i got back from california, it was hard for me to hop back in the swing of things. i got preoccupied with other things and cdg fell to the wayside. i thought that all it would take was a few new episodes of grey’s to really kick me back into gear, what with megan coming back and that storyline being a source of inspiration, but then they wrapped up the arc in 5 minutes and i just severely disliked the direction of grey’s after (i stopped watching after the megan/nathan episode and haven’t watched any since) and that took another whack to me and my wanting to write it. i love cdg, i love mark and lexie so much, but i just...can’t write that story. and it pisses me off that i can’t bring myself to finish it. i know throwing out excuses is moot for me at this point but i feel awful whenever i do this and let another story waltz into abandonment. i legit feel like a failure of a writer when i do this, but i wanted it off my chest: i don’t know if i will ever finish cdg, if it will just haunt me or if i’ll do something with it should the inspiration ever find me. but for now, cdg’s done. i just needed to say that, bc not addressing it is giving me more grief than anything. i love cdg, but i can’t do it anymore. i’ll be removing it from my fic list in the next few days. to anyone who read this story and supported it, more so than i ever would have imagined for a dead ship for nearly 5 years, i am so sorry, but thank you and i love you. if i find the time and the muse for it, i will continue it, but for now, it’s over. ( the same goes for grey’s fics; the show is so far left and out of character that i don’t even want to watch it or write for it. burned out on yet another fandom, good job emily!! )

the other thing that’s bothering me is cataclysm, and it’s the same sort of gist. i’ve had the story planned for two years now, i’ve been working on this saga since 2013??? and while verrrryyyyy few people still read it (hi amy) i am emotionally attached to what i’ve created. if, for some reason, you’re still out there and you read it, thanks for being patient with me. it’s a story i hope i will see through, but can’t right now due to being inspired with other things as well as just not having the muse for it. i’ve got my fingers crossed that maybe infinity wars will kick my ass into gear, but if it doesn’t, i can make my peace with leaving that story to lay at rest. i wrote so much for it, i dedicated so much of my teen years to that story, and if it doesn’t get seen through, i know in my heart where those characters end up. plus, i don’t think many of you really care all that much anyways about it, so that certainly helps, lmao

finally, seven mile december. here’s your good news: i’m not abandoning it, it’s just taking a little longer than i’d like and that’s okay. school is dragging me along, and that’s out of my control. but i’m writing, and it’s going okay. it’ll see an update on march 11, march 12, solely depending upon what’s finished by then. i’m just trying out a new approach to updating my fics, to see if it helps remedy my epidemic of abandonment. i’ve also got a thg cast oneshot that i’d love to write/see through as well, but for now, i just wanna focus on smd, and get as far with it as i can.

with the upcoming introduction of ruby hale to agents of shield, i know that there’s going to be a lot of my desire to write fic for her and daisy, cileme and i already have a collab in the works (god only knows where that’ll go but we’re pumped) and i’m sure i’ll have plenty of solo fics to bear. it’s why i’m trying to map out my schedule for the next little bit, so i can actually finish things and not feel like garbage when i don’t. hopefully i will continue writing for the hunger games (cast and fiction) as well, and finish those things. i’ve got an original story i’ve got ideas for at the moment, that i’d really love to start, and i want to start back to work at a novel, and perhaps this is where some of you see the issue: i spread myself out so thin, it’s no wonder i don’t get anything done! pacing. i’m trying to get better at it with this new approach to updating - i schedule a period where i write solely nothing but that one project and i don’t update until the scheduled day, and hopefully it produces a lot more content.  

fic writing was not something i ever meant to feel like a chore, but somewhere along the line it has begun to feel that way. it was my hobby and my passion and i don’t ever want that to change, but i’ve got to do some serious work with me and my writing habits. for those of you who follow me because of my fics, thank you so so so so so so so so much for bearing with me and being much kinder on me than i’ve ever been on myself when it comes to updates. i’ve mentioned it before, the battle i have with trying to keep an audience as well as make sure i’m still having fun and not treating this like a job, and i am STILL struggling so much with that. writing this post gives me so many conflicting emotions, because part of me feels like yes, i can sit down and start writing chapter 14/15 of cdg and get it done, accomplish something, but the other part of me just knows i would be miserable the whole time. do other fic writers beat themselves up as much as i do??? i have no idea. but i beat myself up a lotttt. 

basically, stuff is coming. if you wanna read me in the meantime, check out my blog. thank you for not coming after me with pitchforks. i’m trying to get better, and i’m trying to get back to a place where i genuinely enjoy writing (whether it’s fic or original stuff) so much that i don’t have to make these stupid posts feeling like i have to explain myself or apologize, i can just...do it and not feel like a human dumpster. if you’ve read til here, you’re a legend. ily. xx