#I've got one saved in my drafts but unfortunately I haven't given myself time to sit down and read it

[manebioniclegali]

for the writer ask game! 💖, 🎉, 🤯?

Writer ask game!

💖 What made you start writing?

The long and short of it is me, myself, and I; same with drawing, I wanted to be able to see my ideas come to life, and get personal satisfaction out of finishing a story. The oldest fanfic I wrote was from first grade lol, and anytime there was an opportunity to write a story for a school assignment, I went above and beyond. I did write plenty for myself, between first grade and when I started uploading stories online.

I started posting bc I saw people posting MLP fanfic on a specific site, and I was like "I wanna do that!" and I had just officially fallen into MLP G4 in 8th grade, so I had some ideas and wrote them and posted them, and I enjoyed getting feedback, so I kept writing and kept posting. That site was great for that, bc people would largely give constructive criticism, and it was SO easy to find someone to edit your stuff....posting on Tumblr and especially AO3 just doesn't hold a candle to the way that environment was. I moved over to Tumblr bc 1) didn't know AO3 existed, and 2) that's largely where the Markiplier fandom is. At least Tumblr you know that people are sharing your work by reblogging (sometimes); the website had a featured box and a popular box and groups that you could put your stories in and get exposure! I don't really have ideas for MLP anymore, hence why I'm not really on there as of late :(

🎉 What leads you to consider a fic a success?

It depends, really. Comments and reblogs are a huge part of it, and if every reblog I received had someone making a comment about the fic, I'd be thrilled (although that's not always the case). The number of notes are a factor (80-100 I'll consider it successful), but it's hard sometimes when most of those are just likes. 😞 I'm still deeply appreciative of all the interactions, but having 50 likes but no reblogs makes you wonder if you've done something wrong that nobody wants to share it. :(

The other side to this is that if I wrote something specifically to "target" another person, or it involves referring to lore I participate in, then as long as that person/those people see it and react and I get to interact with them about it, then it'll be worth it, even if the fic doesn't break like 20 (the only piece of writing I did for Egotober didn't get far cuz it was so niche, but the people whom I participated in the lore with saw and liked it, so I'm not as bothered (unlike the MLP art I did for the Cringetober part...can't believe that one)

🤯 What's a genre you struggle with as a writer (ex. romance, action, etc.)?

Mystery for sure, bc I only attempted it once for school and I felt I didn't do the greatest (had to hide a phobia in the writing and my classmates guessed it rather quickly). I'm also not super interested in writing mysteries, so it works.

Angst might be the other one, bc it depends on the type of angst. Most angst I can't write unless I'm already in a funk, bc even my own writing has the opportunity to bring me down. At the risk of sounding like the meme, I have a bit too much empathy to write depressing circumstances unless I'm in that mindset. I wrote something with mild angst recently and it made me tear up 😅 I can't read angst cuz it usually hurts too much. Major angst/whump no, minor angst sometimes.

Thank you for da ask!!

[snowmuttgetsweird]

02/19/24, afternoon

Life is so busy, in good ways and in bad, but it's SO busy, that even the good ways start feeling bad.

Just too much to do and not enough time or money to do them.

I've got books, Death Stranding, Ed comes out for Street Fighter 6 in eight days, FF7 Rebirth comes out in 10, I need a new Digimon deck cause my friends just get mad against the two I play right now, and I keep discovering new games I enjoy at work that other folks refuse to play with me. Movies and shows to watch too- need to re-watch the 90's animated X-Men since we're getting proper new episodes- very hype about that.

Legends and Lattes was a good book I borrowed from a friend. He picked up the prequel and gave it to me to read first because I've been reading a lot in my spare time cause it's free/cheap and figured I'd finish it quick, but I'm in the middle of The Archive Undying right now, which the same friend got me for Christmas, so now I feel slightly rushed to finish both fast.

Star Wars Unlimited, the new Star Wars TCG, seems interesting. I'm not especially big on Star Wars as a franchise, and I only played one game with the Darth Vader starter against the Luke starter, but I think the game has good bones- took a lot of good aspects of other TCGs and made something pretty unique that feels interactive, very tempo-based, and difficult to power creep. Bonus that it's designed with drafting and sealed play in mind, which makes it very accessible to new players that may not be interested in constructed play. Unfortunately, no one else I normally play games with is interested in playing with me, and I don't really have time to introduce more friends into my life atm, so that may go unexplored for a while.

Similar situation with Dune Imperium Uprising. Played it at a staff game night once, and been hooked on it since, but haven't been able to play again cause none of my friends are interested- plus it's, like, a four hour game and I don't own my own copy, and if I wanna buy one myself, it's gonna be like, $60+. Woof.

At least with Digimon, a lot of my costs are offset by generous friends that throw chaff from their bulk at me.

On the subject of card games, MtG's siren song has been calling me lately. My day job has me babysitting a bunch of other folks playing card games and board games all day, so I spend a lot of my time watching other people play Magic, and I've been feeling the itch. I might try to pick up a Commander deck and give it a shot.

I'd rather be playing Lorcana, which scratches a similar itch to Magic, but it's just so hard to get my hands on product. I have like, PART of a Belle deck, but with no Belle. She was $13 a pop for like, five minutes, and then the price suddenly shot back up to $20-something before I could spare the scratch to pick up a playset. Still better than the $38-something she was before, but still out of budget unless I save up a little at a time for a long time- not even to mention other Steel-Sapphire staples like Hades, Giant Tinker Bell, Let it Go, A Whole New World and Grab Your Sword. Product has been so scarce though that I think my friends have more or less given up on Lorcana entirely at this point anyway.

Trying to get together with folks when I can to flip some old YuGiOh stuff I've still got, but haven't been successful so far. Was prepped to meet with someone a few weeks ago, and then got COVID and had to put it off. :/

But yeah, no time, not enough money. When I'm not at the day job I'm drawing, and I also have to do cooking and cleaning and laundry and such on those days as well.

Or doing this cause I need a neutral party to vent my feelings and frustrations to. Bleh.