#and a lot of it is thru getting to know and interacting with writers because all of you are so so so so cool

[satoruhour]

also amidst uncertainty and feeling less than themselves, to all my fellow moots and writers: i hope u know how amazingly all of you write, whether it’s smut or angst or fluff. even if interactions are lacking (some of it can be blamed on t*mblr’s shitty ui/ux and programming) or the writing just feels off for some reason, it’s perfectly normal. it’s part of growth and improvement and it’s like yadda yadda yadda we’ve all heard this before and don’t really implement it because the brain has funny ways of making us feel like shit and it absolutely sucks but it will pass soon. i won’t have a set time on how long this will last and i cannot tell you how long of a break you should take but at the end of the day you should be prioritising yourself first and when you feel refreshed, you can come back to your wips and requests and first drafts. sending all my love to u guys cause we do this shit for free. give yourself more credit and take care of yourself fr <3

[nvuy]

your writing style is a dream of mine, and the pacing & humor in your fics are some of the many reasons i decided to follow you !

i'm trying to write fanfics myself & potentially even run a writing blog! could you share a few writing tips?

you are so cute.

i’ll let you in on a secret: i started actually publishing my fics in 2020, but i since abandoned them because they’re embarrassing. however, here’s one as a starting point. i look back at it and cringe A LOT, but it was my foot in the door, and 15 year old me was very proud of it, so i didn’t want to straight up delete it.

i didn’t start out on tumblr because i get nervous being forced to interact with people because im a pretty abrupt person and i talk about the things that i like too much and im aware that can scare people away. it was about halfway thru writing old habits before i actually posted something. that was this and i posted it because i knew what little audience i had knew ME because i wrote a scaramouche fic. so. scaramouche content.

and because of the tumblr tagging system, people saw it, they liked it, and some people wanted more.

i then interacted with other writers slowly even though i was scared and frankly still am. you dont have to go around asking to be moots or spamming hearts left and right and putting their dicks in ur mouth, but being nice and having a scope around on what other people do on here helped me develop this ugly little blog i have.

i got really into hsr so i write a lot of hsr. i get a lot of people that ask if i could write more genshin impact, and i could, but at the end of the day, it’s my blog, and if i dont want to, i dont have to. i lost interest, so i dont really have to care about it, nor pay it any mind. do i still write it? sure! rarely, but i do. i don’t play wuwa anymore, but im down to write a piece or two if i get an idea, etc etc.

another thing is: don’t write in the hopes that you’ll post it on tumblr. same way i don’t think artists should draw just for the sake of posting. i have so much shit laying on various docs that won’t even be shown on this site, because it doesn’t need to be here. not because it’s bad, or it’s weird, but because i don’t have to post it, because it’s my blog.

the thing is you just be yourself and write whatever the fuck you want. i write horror & weird shit; my audience is probably well aware of that by now, and im not really worried to post anything super weird because its sort of what’s expected of me.

i know horror and romantic cannibalism connotations and yanderes and unsubtle sexy threats is not everyone’s thing, and that’s ok! they don’t have to like what i put out, and i don’t worry about it, because people who like your shit will interact, and people who don’t will not. and people that don’t like ur shit and still interact are losers. hit the block button & move on.

someone is always bound to like your works.

i guess the ‘funny’ comes from the fact that i try to write dialogue how real people would speak. in fictional context, someone like kaedehara kazuha could wax poetry for three hours without stuttering in game, but realistically, nobody can probably do that without pauses, stammers, messing up words, etc. so i try to incorporate a sense of realism into everything, even if it’s a fanfiction in a world where a small boy in white tights is a god and everyone gets tiny little orbs that give them magical elemental powers.

i remember that even though these characters are fictional, i write them as though they could potentially be real people that do things real people do: fidget, stutter, blush, try and be funny and fail, they have problems large or small, etc. you have to mould your personality and writing style to make these characters alive on what you put out—childe seems like a great husband on paper, but is he all that good when he has unchecked mental health problems and has violent outbursts and desires? think about it.

another thing: don’t doubt your skill and prowess, especially in comparing yourself to posts with like 10000+ notes. most of them are note farming bullshit anyway—and a lot of the reader community is more likely to click on porn fics than normal fics. its why the popular posts on the x reader tags are usually porn. it’s half the reason why confiteor is infinitely more popular that old habits when im pretty sure scaramouche is a bigger character on the popularity charts.

strictly nsfw blogs that people make i can guarantee you are a lot more popular than their main blogs.

which brings me to: dont hop on trends. don’t do it. youll burn yourself out. just write what you want. fuck everyone. do whatever the fuck you want. if porn is popular but you’re extremely sex-repulsed or not comfortable, don’t write it. dont write to please people; it’s your blog and your time you’re putting into to do what YOU like, and you’re sharing your work for FREE on a public platform. a lot of people can’t do that. there’s people that follow my blog that openly admit they don’t like yandere/horror/whatever content. am i going to change what i post because of these people? no. not my problem. don’t care. i don’t exist to please everyone, and neither do you. stick to what you like.

don’t write for fandoms you don’t give a shit about just because they’re popular. even if what you like has a small, non-existent fan base, i promise you’ll enjoy writing for that more than something that you’re creating for clicks. notes are nice, but again, you don’t have to post everything you create. half the joy in writing is rediscovering old shit you don’t remember writing for a fandom you actually like. it’s like a reward.

[muniimyg]

heyy idk if anyone ever asked u this before so i am gonna ask lol !

which one of your works do u love the most and why :>

not in order

your universe: i rlly liked the concept. its an easy read, characters are easy to digest, but it also had that element of push and pull in terms of their romance. it’s not really meant to be specific and super detailed (again because it’s supposed to be an easy read), so when i recall little concepts like their names (ace & aki), their contact names (fermented cum), and their setting in general was really fun for me. i’ve always liked writing uni au’s but this one hit the spot. i also remember it fondly because my readers were super into it! the interactions made writing the story so fun and it’s how i got close with 2 of my favourite readers 😋

nonsense: god this jimin was so sexy to me. the idea of 2 virgins being each others fwb ,, and then add the enemies to lovers vibe because of academic rivalry?? sounds like a lot but their dynamic jus worked. it flowed so well and even tho the story has the least interactions; i had such a good time writing it. i remember writing majority of it at the airport during my trip to toronto. it felt like i was truly writing for fun and didn’t feel much in terms of the pressure to make it as good as my last fic or to update as consistently. overall so precious to me because of the process!

left on read / close to you / all at once: ok let’s get into it LOL

lor jk’s lore is so sweet to me! like wdym you’re a ppl pleaser and the only person you want to actually please hates you 😭 the sunshine boy x grumpy girl duo is elite to me. the first draft i had of them was made soooo long ago. it was supposed to be the first fic i ever posted but it turned out to be the 3rd or smt.

c2u jk is iconic. like in terms of growth as a writer, i think this fic showcases that. from the way i write smut to the actual flow and pacing for this fic—i’ve honestly never been so proud of myself. not to mention how much this fic was supported. i was literally going thru it, thinking i was done writing fanfics cos i was a) out of ideas b) didn’t think there were anymore readers for me (silly, i know) but it was so interesting to see how suddenly all eyes were on c2u jk. i’m beyond thankful for the readers i met along the way and all the laughs. i felt like i was able to explore more in terms of my freakiness but also push my content quality. it’s also one of the very few smau i have that the texts are mainly focused between jk and oc so incorporating that comedic relief was hehe haha

aao jk i feel is like if lor and c2u jk had a baby. i impulsively wrote and posted aao jk cos i felt like i had to cleanse my mind from how nasty c2u turned me. he’s so funny and comforting, i’m so glad everyone got the boyfriend feels! i also had such a fun time writing it and was impressed with myself for keeping up with the updates and flow. it was meant to be a one shot but obviously it turned out to be even more… wouldn’t have it any other way 🌟

my other faves: please love me kth, chaebol jk (it pissed so many ppl off LOL), and bbydaddy jk… paraluman is pure trauma but has to be on this list because IF YOU KNOW YOU KNOW.

[toxycodone]

i understand its all joaks and its lighthearted out of love for this character but it is a little sad to see things like laios being a minimum wage worker and having no friends being described as him being a loser when theyre extremely common autistic experiences 💔 because to be honest i think youre really cool and a great writer and i would like to interact more but it makes me go, is that what you would think of me? my life situation’s not too different from that. anyways i hope you have a nice day <3

no not at all I genuinely like being mean to Laios so take everything I say about him with the world's biggest effing grain of salt because I am just. mean to him in particular lol. i like to kick him when he's down. (evil and mean but to blonde men in particular)

but like. i am not cool at all. like...........ill put it under the cut but yeah.

real shit under the cut bc this ask is making me think! im gonna be real w u nonnie

tl:dr if u dont wanna see whats under the cut:

this ask kinda makes me think bc. i think im really mean to laios too bc he reminds me of myself beforehand (zero self confidence and suicidal idealization) sigh and I really hate being reminded of that. so. again. im really biased when it comes to him specifically and that doesn't apply to you or any of my followers.

and for what its worth i am sorry for making you feel that way.

but also. i gotta say I can 100% relate to him and you. this time last year I was working at Starbucks ( i could only tolerate 4 hour shifts bc i would get overstimulated and my coworkers lowkey hated me.) and had like. 1 friend from high school and the years before that I spent turbo online being constantly pushed out of friend groups bc i could NEVER get anything right socially. I swear the first 23 years of my life I never lived. i went thru hs and college as a fucking. like. creature I felt like i couldnt connect w anyone because I was too tormented by adhd + autism and i was INSANELY depressed and coping w lack of control by having an eating disorder and being doped the fuck up on stimulants. (MY PCP gave me 56 mg of concerta and 5mg booster of adderall i was fucking tweaking on the daily </3)

but like. i started going to therapy and a psychiatrist who made me quit cold turkey for my own good and we started treating my depression and debilitating anxiety (i was convinced a stranger was living in my house in secret but also that everyone in public who saw me was revolted by me and genuinely wanted me to kill myself jkdhsfskdjh i told you i was tweaking)

anyways. i was a druggie with no goal in life and living in my own head and now like. i can look at myself in the mirror and not think "hey. this fat ugly piece of shit should genuinely die" and now people in real life LIKE me. I have friends. multiple friend groups, actually. WITH NOT JUST ND PEOPLE. LIKE, A LOT OF THEM ARE NEUROTYPICAL. And i am very open about being autistic with them and i dont have to mask.

and they still like me! and invite me places! and genuinely want to hang out with me! and they think im smart and get uncomfortable when I say im stupid or too autistic to like. be able to be in public.

it still feels like a dream and in my mind im like "they actually are gonna drop you and make fun of you for thinking they were ever your friends" or like "theyre just doing this bc of the stupid buddy system shit or they think you're a pet this is highschool all over again"

but even tho im haunted by this. its....I can say with confidence its not true.

anyways. i know people say this shit all the time but I will say you are very capable of love and not a loser or anything like that. the thing you're missing out on is the right people. i didnt believe this for most of my life and tried to get myself killed because of it but im glad I didn't because it is genuinely true.

i have spent the last <1 year of my life genuinely being alive. and i wouldn't trade it for anything. idk if thats a sign for anyone yeah. take it

[worstqueerbaittournament]

Submission message for Beca and Chloe: Beca and Chloe from Pitch Perfect (mainly Beca but Bechloe was the ship they baited the most)

Submission message for Shiro and Adam: Shiro and Adam from voltron. The writers hyped up their interactions in the season trailer so much (confirming that they were fiancés when asked and just generally talking about it a lot) only for the fans to discover after the season actually released that Adam gets like ten seconds of screentime and then fucking dies

Additional propaganda: Ok for a little propaganda, since you may have forgotten pitch perfect, I want you all to know I first saw it as a 16-17 year old at gay youth group and can you imagine my fucking surprise and bafflement when they werent lesbians. Like basically thru the whole movie I was like “fun lesbian film nothing out of place just waiting for them to actually be gay” I know this was mostly the youth group organizers fault but I still think pitch perfect should have to answer for their crimes

I could talk so much about this but I want to point specifically to this promo for pitch perfect 3:

and they then proceeded to give chloe an absolutely godawful love interest and like really overdid it (they also tried to give beca one too but anna kendrick was having NONE of that)

shiro and adam is 100% the definition of queerbait, ive never watched voltron in my life but "shiro's gonna have an on-screen male love interest" was EVERYWHERE on tumblr and twitter for a good hot minute and all because the creators were hyping it up themselves only to deliver 10 seconds of screentime that could be confused for a friendship and then adam died. ok so maybe it's not the traditional queerbait but i'd say they were the next step in queerbait evolution. changed my thesis statement there at the end sorry.

[dailycass-cain]

Batman: Wayne Family Adventures gave us a NEW Cass-centric arc.  It FINALLY released in its entirety this past Wednesday so yeah, at long last I'm gonna dig in and my thoughts on it!  

Season 2 of WFA has given us a lot of Cass in appearances (sixteen of the so far forty-eight episodes released) though unlike Season 1 Episodes 90-91 is our first official Cass-centric dramatic story this season.

And it is a double salvo of treats.

First off we get a team-up of Cass with Damian. Something we've barely gotten in the comics. Literally, Gates of Gotham is STILL the only time these two have teamed up.

That was in 2011. We're in 2023. HOW IS THIS STILL THE ONLY CANNON TEAM-UP we've had between them?!

Yes, they've interacted more since 2020 (three times compared to just twice prior to that, and I'm being kind with one of those interactions).  So yeah this episode is already doing things the mainline hasn't broken ground on.

But as always WFA gives us the dynamic barely teased in the main line (but is laser-focused here), the big sister Cass worried for Damian on their mission who breezes how easily it'll be given its Mad Hatter they're dealing with.

Just like recently in Batgirls #16, there is an underestimation of the Hatter that in this adventure costs Cass as she's brainwashed to be his weapon. Hatter's dialogue in part 1 is our first real insight to criminals in Gotham know about Cass.

This is something NEVER brought up in the mainline comics nowadays (probably due to DC's fear of acknowledging either origin of Cass). So we're in this "Schrödinger's bat" situation where both are her origin, but are not shown.

Here, it's quite clear probably which origin is canon to WFA (more on that soon) as Cass is used by Hatter to kill Damian. For all Damian's own fighting skills well, this is the first comic mention of him acknowledging her and actually caring about her.

Like literally, this episode fully continues off the last Cass-centric episodes we got all the way back in Season 1 with Episodes 32-33 “All Seeing” where we saw things thru Cass's eyes. Here we see again how the family views her via Damian.

But not only that, this is Cass's greatest fear come to life (per "All Seeing" her being used as this weapon and not a person). Again writer CRC Payne just DELIVERS with the emotion by having the emotionally reserved Damian pour out trying to reach Cass.

I have to give major props as well to artist Geoniya Acuna too. The emotion is drawn in both characters' faces. The change in Cass's eyes when she's switched into "weapon mode".

All of it is just *chef's kiss*.

That jaw-dropping ending is a good lead into part 2 where we see the war in Cass's mind trying to take back control.  

And here we get the series showing us her origin for the first time. And oh my.  I so wasn't expecting to see this bastard again:

Due to DC not acknowledging which origin of Cass's is the defacto one has left David Cain in a curious state.  Because if they go into the old one he's like above.

If they acknowledge the newer one, he's basically Donnie Yen as Storm Shadow.

So it just shocks me to see WFA go for their take on the original origin. It's simplified and that's the point Payne having Cain talk to Cass this episode.

I don't see it as Cain actually talking to her, more a mixture of Hatter's mind stuff and Cass's own insecurities taking shape. Until she remembers a CERTAIN someone who she met when she was lost. 

Again, the episode takes HEAVILY into Cass’s old Pre-New 52 origin acknowledging Babs took her in (and the crowd who ache for this version of a mature Barbara go wild). I know you stood up and cheered when WFA went there.

Because of that, Cass starts to break free of the mind control. Remembering more the bonds she forged. Remembering the identity she took and if anything this is where the one slight I have for this issue.

The episode gives us the first ever clear look of the top section of Cass's Batgirl outfit.  I had to pause reading it, and was like "Gimme this WFA. I want to see this suit in action. You don't tease me like this."

This is the only negative I ever give WFA when it comes to Cass/Tim due to their troubled histories in mainline DC Comics. WFA is like, an all-you-can-eat buffet acknowledging it all.

By showing it, you do the Orphan identity a disservice. Literally, we're 99 episodes in, and the only time they've acknowledged "why" Cass adopted this identity was as a joke.

I get "why" it was added to the series. It was the identity Cass had at the time.  But the creators of WFA have done their own "rebranding" of the identity. Giving Cass a scarf or cape to the costume. A different mask than the one she wears in the comics.

I get it. It's because for script purposes it allows the creators to have her outside the mask and be more expressive.

It's just that... 

You tease us fans by showing this suit. You dangle that Batgirl crumb over us. You're just gonna make us want more of this WFA Batgirl costume now (after dancing around it last season).

Now I want it.

I want to see this costume in action. I know Acuna can handle it. Give them the chance someone!  Give us the Batgirls episode this series NEEDS!!! You just don't tease us Cass/Steph's costumes and expect us not to want MOAR!

Cause we do.

Back to the story, these moments break free from Hatter's grasp and we get that righteous beatdown he's so deserved for daring to do that to Cass (along with a cute sisterly moment of Cass picking Damian up).

Like, again the series does what the main line hasn’t. Given us this moment of the two (given their similar backgrounds) being there for one another when moments like these happen. 

Even more, a cute exchange after all said hijinks. 

These two episodes again were a nice sequel to the last Cass-centric arc paying off seeds that began there and we get some rich moments here.

The only thing is the Batgirl-in-the-closet problem which continues to hamper the series.

But I digress that's my own minor nitpick. I can fully admit and cast aside my own "fandom" to say WFA is doing the duty it can showcasing ALL the Bats why they have such loyal fans.

This was another amazing chapter that WFA just seems to pull for their female cast and I'm glad there's this balance between overtly cute, but also educating the casual fan to those not given the light previously shined on them.

That said, I think it's time for another Harper Row arc. She's overdue for one being introduced this season.  Just give us that perfect bookend for the character with another stellar arc.

The creative team knocked another home run with this Cass arc.  Kind of leaves me just wanting more. 

Am I greedy? 

Yes.  

But it shows how good this creative team is feeding that fan side to me with these characters. Make that crave occur. So yeah kudos to them. 👍

This was an amazing arc giving us things I wish the actual mainline DC Comics would give us. Something I feel is an untapped field just aching to be dug into and mined.

[nikrei]

August Comic Round-Up

Look the thing about the 60s and silver age comics is that a whole lot of stuff happens, but not a lot of things.... accumulate. Knowing what's actually going to be carried forward into the continuity is a total crapshoot. This is why its not my favorite. Some day I will be free of the sixties. I have done this to myself.

Action Comics (286-335) (1962-1966)

We're really getting into the superhorse content now.... Leo Dorfman why must u ship this so bad. Also, Kara's parents are still alive?? That's truly a ballsy move to make Leo Dorfman. With all the interstellar and time travel they're really conscious of the fact that folks from other planets and other time periods wouldn't speak the same language, but they like to side step it in increasingly ridiculous ways. Lois and Clark and Lana all know ancient Welsh. Lois and Jimmy are fluent in Latin. Most aliens they interact with apparently watch earth like it's their favorite soap and have therefore all learned English.

Superman (143-182) (1962-1966)

This set of comics tend to do this thing where there are post scarcity worlds that "have virtually no crime because everything is provided" and the few people who are committing crimes at doing it for the thrill of it..... so like.... tell me ur aware that like 95% of crime comes from resource scarcity and then turn around and slap me with the "all criminals are evil and its a state of mind the only reason crimes are committed is because how evil these people are." Also... anti-evil mindcontrol I hate it.

Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen (59-90) (1962-1966)

Convinced that no comic writer working on a superman title knows how to write romance or chemistry there's nothing there bro! Jimmy and Lucy are just going through the motions, she's dating other people semi seriously he's doing one off dates to make her jealous i cannot be convinced that these people care about each other. She asked him to take care of her dog for the weekend and he literally went over to her place and DID NOT TAKE CARE OF THE DOG!! Tbh they only convince me they car about each other when they are sandra and magi.

Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane (29-62)(1961-1966)

Siiigh, it's about 80/20 haha that uppity lois lane got her comeuppance/competent and compassionate lois. And 95% of it is her being desperate to marry superman. Honestly it's sorta the most difficult to get thru at this point.

World's Finest Comics (124-155)(1962-1966)

Batman and Superman are getting more time to actually interact which is fun. These two are sorta deranged in the exact same way. Seeing the "presents" they get for each other for anniversaries and birthdays, Tim's 16th birthday makes perfect sense and also it's possible that Bruce thought it would be well recieved. As far as backups go, I didn't read Congorilla at all, the Green Arrow backups are getting longer so there's some actual personality shining thru, and hey mom, how come aquaman gets two comics?? (at least for a few issues)

Superboy (89-126) (1961-1966)

Started this run where Mon-el showed up! But uuuhg I'm so bored with the Lana Lang plots!! Ooooh she's scheming up ways to find out his secret identity! Cause that's what women do, they scheme! Schemey schemers gotta teach them a lesson am I right?? I'm so over it.

Adventure Comics (281-341) (1961-1966)

Thank god in issue 300 the back up started being LoSH i honestly hate the bizarro back-ups so much, it's so awful and ableist in a very 60s way ahhhhhhhggg! Anyway now that it's LoSH I'm enjoying it. And oh-ho, at 309 LoSH goes from back up to main feature, nice! All these children are my precious babies now, btw.

Aquaman (1-25) (1961-1966) + Showcase (30-33) (1961)

Omg Mera showed up, hi Mera!! Garth continues to be the most precious fry in the sea. Also they keep getting halfway there about caring about the environment. Like.... the enemy has made a desalinator to prevent aquaman's saltwater fish from attacking him. But. The fact that he has apparently desalinated the whole gulf of Mexico is treated as a tremendous feat of human ingenuity?? That time they cause a gas leak to defend against interdimensional wizards. Its fine things leak into the ocean all the time don't worry about it. The army warns aquaman about nuclear testing sites so he can stay clear of them because they know that the bomb and fallout are dangerous.... but any further reaching consequences are not considered. It's still better than all the runs which really don't care or consider at all, don't get me wrong. One more thing: it was more fun when aquaman was this homeless hick nobody who had never even been to Atlantis and was just calling himself the king of the sea. Now that he's been to Atlantis and was actually elected king it is not as much fun. Tho Aquaman and Mera's blissful matrimony is v fun. Aquababy had also arrived on the scene! I know ur days are numbered, baby.

Green Lantern (11-42) (1962-1966)

Look, this comic is the only one to be normal about non-human shaped aliens and I love it for that. Not even LoSH manages that most of the time, and the super titles super don't. Also Black Hand routinely breaks the 4th wall and directly addresses the readers all the time and it's never remarked on. He's the only one who does this, it's fascinating to me.

Justice League of America (9-33) (1962-1965)

Traditional JLA stuff, wacky and wild but pretty usual. Snapper is the most likeable he's ever been.

The Brave and the Bold (50-57) (1963-1965)

This is where B&B starts being about actual team-ups rather than a random anthology mostly about robinhood/knights/vikings it seems. Got to read Rex's first appearance, which was v fun! Rex <3 Sapphire 5ever!

My Greatest Adventure/Doom Patrol (80-93) (1963-1965)

MGA 80 is the first instance of Doom Patrol, before the magazine is renamed Doom Patrol at 86. Before that it was just an unrelated anthology. Anyway i really like the og team! Rita is my fave but of course Cliff is a close second. Steve can go jump off a cliff.

Hawkman (1-11) (1964-1966)/Brave and the Bold (34-36 & 42-44) (1961 & 1962)

I actually really like the relationship between Katar and Shayera, like, it's 60's flavored but you can actually tell that they like each other as well as love each other. There's a lot of little story beats with them connecting with each other that are very sweet.

House of Mystery (143-155) (1964-1965)

What i expected from the Martian Manhunter stories in a magazine called house of mystery: J'onn J'onzz, police detective, solving mysteries in the city, as a police detective. What I got: J'onn J'onzz living in a cave with a small alien side kick named Zook dealing with magic in rural America. Didn't read the other stories in the anthologies.

I've been trying to read about a year a week, so if I manage to keep that up then I should be able to get back to the 90s in..... 5-6 months?

[donnerpartyofone]

i find you unimaginably cool and ive expressed to you before on anon the sentiment that i feel a deep kinship towards you for how you speak so candidly abt your own stupidity (pls dont take that as me calling you stupid) bcuz i feel exactly the same way abt my own stupidity and hate when ppl try to talk me out of it but ANYways i just saw your post abt writing a novelization of splice and i am literally reeling. i love that weird ass movie so much and i think writing a novelization of it is one of the most off the wall and amazing things ive ever heard of. i hope that you will share when it is published bcuz i cannot wait to read it. pls know that someone out there understands you (or at least understands you as best as someone can thru this parasocial lens of tumblr and how you choose to share yourself there) and that someone out there thinks you are basically what i hope i can be when i grow up. thank you for sharing. thank you for articulating yourself as well as you do (i too have the itch to tell you you are not stupid but bcuz i know how it is i wont do it but besides that, i think you are one of the clearest and most well articulated writers ive ever encountered online or elsewhere). sorry, this all feels insane to type. im off two tallboy ipas and i just think youre great.

Dearest Correspondent,

Oddly enough, just the other day somebody liked an older post of mine, and when I clicked on it to remind myself of what it was, the next post down was your last message. Anyway, thanks! The whole novelization business is really funny. Do people even know what they are anymore? I didn't know anybody still made them until I was hired to do SPLICE. I used to get them from the drugstore sometimes when I was a kid because my parents were very uptight about what I watched, but they wouldn't be caught dead restricting anyone's reading habits. During my initial conversation with the SPLICE publisher, we kind of bonded over our memories of the CHILD'S PLAY 2 novelization, of all things, that seemed to help me a lot in addition to my ideas about what SPLICE should be like on paper. I tend to think of novelizations as just another piece of merch, but when you write them, I don't know, like you really have to live out the movie in your mind over and over again to figure out what the characters are experiencing physically, environmentally, how their emotional experiences affect their bodies, etc. You have to fill in the blanks of what they think and sense just enough to make your transcription convincing, while staying within certain bounds to honor what the filmmaker meant to say. SPLICE started as kind of a lark for me, and then almost immediately it became extremely personal; when I was nearing the end of my first draft I thought, "OK, well, I guess everyone is about to find out how insane I am." I was afraid it just sounded "crazy" and wouldn't be what the publisher was expecting. But after I turned it in, the surprise encouragement I got from actual-Vincenzo Natali was pretty amazing, so maybe it's good! Maybe you really CAN'T tell how crazy I am, and it's just very entertaining. You'll have to wait and see.

Parasocial relationships are tricky, huh, especially here on tumblr dot com. The best thing you can do for yourself is just be very aware that they are happening within you, a test you seem to have passed. I think a lot of us come here seeking understanding of our weirdest parts, but the more you put out there to find the people who get what you're saying, you simultaneously get a lot of reminders that most people have no idea what you're talking about. There will be people who seem to hate you because they've misunderstood you, and there will also be people who love you but whose interactions prove that they have absolutely no idea what you're communicating. I recently culled a bunch of followers because they were just creating a lot of noise, even though they may have meant well, and I was losing the clarity I needed to keep doing this. I started to see every post as a worrisome opportunity to find out how poorly people can possibly read me, and suppressing the urge to re-explain myself every day was becoming exhausting. And ironically, around the same time, I was briefly mutuals with one of my favorite bloggers ever, and just as I thought we were becoming chummy, they unfollowed me. I didn't freak out, actually I just unfollowed them back because I was concerned about being annoying, but I did have all kinds of Thoughts about this event. I have spent a lot of time reviewing what my projections were about that person, and what my personal investment in their narrative says about me. I think there could be something good to get out of this audit, even though the whole episode is sort of embarrassing. But Tumblr definitely gives you a lot of opportunities to examine your own filters, clean them out once in a while, and get to know yourself a little better--even if other people seem to be getting to know you a little worse! You just have to stick to your own course and see what comes of it.

Uh. What the hell was I saying. I don't know! But I appreciate your messages, I feel "gotten" by them. Some of the follower upheaval recently did involve the way that I process my experience of my own stupidity out loud on here--like I know that sometimes folks are trying to be helpful by contradicting me whenever I sound "negative" (read: realistic), but being told (by strangers) how to feel about yourself and that you're wrong about your own experiences is actually really awful, confusing, frustrating, and undermining. So I don't mind being reminded that my signal is coming through for at least some people. I hope you're doing good this holiday season. I wonder what beers you had, they sound fun!

Good tidings to you,

C

PS Isn't "on here" a weird phrase? I always feel like a primate when I say it, but I have yet to find a different phrase that conveys the same thing as accurately.

[not-so-rosyyy]

That comment by Paul Mescal hits a note though. The fan aspect of being a celebrity has changed a lot in the last two decades. It’s different today than in the era with just the tabloids and trashy celebrity magazines where you then only discuss it with other people irl and that added filter. With social media and added layer of anonymity it’s on another level of prying and dissecting the smallest details about strangers’ lives and creating whole narratives out of thin air. Nobody is owed any of that just because we consume content made by them. I’m aware of the hypocrisy writing this in this little corner of the internet but it has to be said that there is a difference between things they do and say in public and willingly share about their personal lives and the fan made narratives and stories that get shared and some if not many treat as facts. Most of the “tea” and stories falls into this category. We don’t know them and are not privy to things they do or say in private. It’s always a sign for me personally to step back from it when the lore gets too detailed. I don’t mean to be peachy but it’s good for young people to be reminded that SM and stan discussions are not real life.

good on you that you know your limits, anon. I think an important part of engaging in fan culture is being self-aware and setting your personal boundaries with the things you, for a lack of a better term, fuck with.

I think the teas and stories that are being spilled and spun are a big aspect of the whole celebrity thing. is it fundamentally right or ethical? no. but it is what it is. people clamor for every little piece of the celeb and, of course, they won't get everything so they create narratives that fill in the gaps. this is how it's always been; except back then it's only entertainment writers and publicists who spin the narratives whereas nowadays, just about anyone with access to the internet can do that.

personally, where I draw the line is when people make straight up lies that are actively disgusting or offensive. also when they become unnecessarily rude and throw away their basic empathy whenever they comment over these celebs' lives, especially when they do it thru direct interaction with those celebs (replying under their posts or their relatives' and friends' posts, DM-ing them, etc.) that's just really wrong.

[miupow]

hi lia! i'm thinking about that ask you sent me abt me being a sfw blog, and i read some of your old posts to try to get to know you better and i saw some things about you wanting to write sfw more + you not being sure if people want it from you :( i hope you don't mind that i share my thoughts as a sfw writer?

first of all there's no shame in being a nsfw blog at all! personally it's not my cup of tea but from the things i saw while scrolling through your blog, a lot of people clearly admire your writing which is really cool! writing good smut is also a skill!

second: i hate to admit it but yeah it's true that sfw seems to have a smaller audience here, it did take me a long time to grow my sfw blog. that said, i personally believe in "if you build it, they will come" - there are people out there who read and enjoy sfw and will gravitate towards sfw work, you just have to put it out there for them to discover! and it's definitely a quality over quantity thing. even if there are fewer readers, some of them will enjoy your writing enough to interact and gush about it. i've definitely been surprised by people in my inbox or replies who talk about loving my writing style esp if they were lurkers 🥺

so yeah! no pressure to write sfw if you don't feel like it ofc, but i hope you find the people who will love what you write <3 --bhj 🖤

hiii bhj!! 💗💗 thank you for stopping by and scrolling thru my blog even though ur not big on the content i write, i really appreciate it!! pls don’t ever be hesitant to interact or share your thoughts as a sfw only blog, i love hearing different opinions from different perspectives <3

one of the main reasons i’m mostly a nsfw blog is because i just find nsfw content easier to write, it comes more naturally to me i suppose? i also maintain better motivation to finish nsfw works over sfw ones

yeah, one of my insecurities about my blog is over how much nsfw content i write— i love sfw content and i’d love to write more of it, but between not being the best sfw writer and how most of my followers are here for my smut exclusively… a lot of my mutuals have told me smut writing is a skill, but i just wish i was a better writer overall. im starting to focus on writing whatever i want though, so im focusing on putting out more sfw works in the future (actually working on a beomgyu fluff rn!)

one thing i have noticed about sfw blogs is that they retain followers more than nsfw blogs. they get more asks that aren’t just requests and more interactions about their work and their lives as a whole. a lot of nsfw readers seem to hold some kind of secrecy or shame about it, so they either won’t interact off of anon or won’t interact at all. it’s disheartening, i feel like my followers are embarrassed to be following me. plus we get so much more hate than sfw blogs.. i’ve been told to kms or deactivate MULTIPLE times

i would be lying if i said i write for myself though. i write for the people who show me endless love and support and who keep me on this hellsite regardless of all of the shit it’s put me through lol. but i’m trying to focus on myself more, work more on what makes me happy.

thank you for stopping by 💗

[atlantis-scribe]

things i (think) i know about Stargate Universe: a Stargate SG-1 & SGA Enjoyer's list of slightly accurate pre-viewing 'knowledge' gathered thru fandom osmosis

there's a ship called Destiny (AKA the Ancient Tesla) that's been traveling thru deep space for who knows how long to reach who knows where in order to do who knows what (it's classic Alteran modus operandi so this part doesn't really surprise me)

before that there's also an offworld base called Icarus, which is definitely a pretty ordinary name and not at all ominous and is in fact a great choice to call a facility you want to operate successfully

there's a character named Eli and a character named Rush. they may or may not be the same person

one of the crew is a video game player (?) who was recruited to the Stargate Program, the highly exclusive, top-secret international initiative for intergalactic exploration, because they are so good at playing video games (ousting John Sheppard & his One-Gene Qualification from the top spot in Luckiest Career Moves of the 21st Century)

Robert Carlyle is present, possibly as the only character who has the faintest clue what Destiny is and where it's going and what it's for

Will from Sense8 is also here, but he doesn't look like he knows what's going on at any given time

at some point, Daniel was convinced to record NOVA-esque videos about Stargate 101 for when the project gets declassified in the future (or maybe for new recruits like Video Game Guy? who, understandably, may not know a lot about wormholes or glowing squids or space snakes because why would they)

Daniel does not look happy in these videos

He looks good tho I'll give them that

Because Destiny cannot be stopped or turned around, and because the gate only works one-way, the infamous Communication Stones are used to temporarily take control of another person's body to talk to people on Earth or visit the ship

Yes, the same stones that made Jack O'Neill drift compatible with a barber from Indiana and made Vala experience what it's like to be burned alive (sorry Vala)

Stargate Universe also made it very difficult to refer to the setting of the entire franchise, because having to say 'The Main Universe Where Events in Stargate Happen' can be a bit of a mouthful

We also revisit Langara (AKA Jonas's planet) because the writers remembered that naquadria is a thing (but apparently still no Jonas?? because the writers hate me)

The Lucian Alliance becomes a problem again, this time not just because of space corn

Rodney shows up (!!) at some point, and someone (a Colonel?) uses their Very Important Screen Time to show the audience that John Sheppard still gossips about McKay every chance he gets (I'm 59% sure this particular interaction is not just from a fic)

SGU is apparently the Voyager of the franchise

There better be a newbie who Totally Didn't Sign Up For This who loves science and adores his mom because I need another Harry Kim in my life

I've been putting off watching SGU because I have a behemoth of a post-SGA WIP and canon is like insect for my brain only the termite variety

But I'm sick and in bed what else am I gonna do, figured it's now or never

Okay I'm gonna start now wish me luck

I'M SORRY IT TOOK ALMOST A YEAR AFTER I SAID I WOULD I'M A GIRL WITH A JOB

[yj-98]

6 and 25 🧐

hi jessie <33

6. which ship fans are the most annoying?

this is genuinely so hard LOL ......... i avoid shipping spaces typically like if i like 2 characters in a relationship i do it in such a vacuum. i find bætcest shippers annoying but i also do Not go out of my way to interact with them 😭 like. especially jæytim and stuff im like. related to the rant i just had to how those 2 just do not give a shit about each other + are SO mischaracterized in anything fanon. i find it so baffling when people try to bend over backwards to justify them

ig id call timkon shippers annoying but mostly in the way that like. at this point timkon is a parody of itself outside the like. handful of mutuals and people i follow who like them. i just do not interact with that either because i care about myself

....... a lot of tim ships actually. tim fans outside the trusted people i know might be the issue here. bat ships in general maybe also. some of yall with superbat and dickkory i do not jive with.

i think that whatever the arrowverse people have going on is kinda annoying too but . now im just nitpicking

25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

this ones a real thinker............. i think im tired of hearing a lot of peoples takes on mr bruce wayne batman himself LOL idk. hes complicated hes got a lot of nuance and history and i think theres a lot to be said on how he appears in non-batman books vs his own runs. and how perception of him in-universe with the characters who's POVs were seeing vs his own vs how writers so regularly misunderstand the concept of batman also as a symbol of hope and his general attitude towards kids and giving parents 2nd chances. and just in general how writers biases affects him and how much of a zeitgeist his character is. idk.

i am a rly big fan of him hes special to me in a specific kind of way that i really cant. keep going on abt. but ill try to keep it brief with i understand and agree w/ a lot of things said but i simply get so sick and tired of the .........fanonization in both directions his character goes thru and the way people complain abt him no matter what. no winning w/ that guy

[jrueships]

what are the best wire ships?

YALL SHOULD NOT HAVE ASKED ME THIS LMAO 😭😭 i am so not serious to be the header on the wire fandom resurrection front but here we go 😭 i guess 😭! I HOPE URE READY CUS IM NOT LMFAO

FYI this post might contain some spoilers to the show but if u want a nonspoilerly version, just asked! it's pretty old so if yall haven't seen it i 10/10 recommend!!!

im painfully trying a rewatch of the show, i say painfully because my attention span watching a show vs a movie is KAPOOT! i can't stream 30 hours of a show but i can sit thru a 3 hr movie (if i haven't seen it before. Ill still have to get up and stretch sometime in the middle of it but ill be attentive nonetheless). LIKE... sitting thru a long movie holds more accountability to my mind i think. If i can't binge thru multiple episodes and end on a comfy, even number like episode 10, i can't bring myself to sit thru one without checking my phone 😭 BUT IT IS A GOOD SHOW! i just suck at watching shows in general, especially past the 1st season.. idek why.. it's like i get thru the 1st season in a happy binge breeze then BOOM! no more motivation... BUT WHAT I MEANT WITH THIS IS!!!!

This 1st post will mainly just kinda lightly touch on general knowledge from season 1 then expand in detail the more seasons i rewatch (with more ships too probably). This is mainly my fav ships i noticed now or back then

TO BE NOTED THO!! the wire isn't a really shippy show tbh, it's mainly about dynamics thru relationships contributing to story/effect on the story rather than romantic relationships. Every plot point has to have an eventual purpose for the story, every interaction, etc. It has like one will they won't they mainly for angst, and it's for Detective McNulty who has a general 'will he won't he' beat the Irish drinking gene or whatever lmao. If u wanna ship, u gotta really take the few nuggets the show might give u and REALLY turn them to gold. Cus they are gold in general, but it's up to you to make them really profit! IN CONCLUSION.. u gotta be. A little delusional. Hence our first 'ship' introduction..

🩵 stinkum & bird 🩵

... i told you we had to be a little unwell to really indulge. Sorry.

this is a totally biased list so please excuse me. Stinkum n Bird are two of Avon's muscle in the game and they both get outta it pretty quick. Involuntarily, of course, because they're the typa freaks that love it. With these two, you need context clues n connections. Almost EVERY scene Stinkum is in, he's GOT TO bring up his boy Bird. Hell, it might just be every. This is mainly due to the writers knowing the actor of bird is a big shot cameo, so it'd be too expensive to have Bird in a lot of scenes, especially in a TV show budget. And they also knew Stinkum wasn't made to last long so why not just use him as a substitute introduction to Bird's character so we don't have to pay that much for personal appearance in prologue? Bird's supposed to be the 'unhinged' one in the crew, the Crazy Guy. Crude, rude, cruel, & ruthless. Don't have the budget to show it, cheaper to tell it instead. Stinkum's just the hype man to Bird, essentially. Also he has another thing going on that leads to his early demise, but besides that, that's pretty much it. Goes to show how the show wants every dime spent for a strategical reason. Good TV shows need Causation, not 'and then's, but 'therefore' 'so' ETC.

... doesn't mean we can't have fun with it ourselves though. See, The Wire brings you quality entertainment, & it's up to us what we make of that quality to be entertained. Up to our love of the show to keep coming back to it and exploring the prime time possibilities it presented/hinted/hid. Which is a lot since practically every part of it is practical. The beauty of Stinkum n Bird to me is Stinkum being some wide-eyed doe eyed obsessed little freak who woobifies n glorifies n babygirlifies Brutal As Fuck bird because? He's insane. I guess? They both are! This is evidenced in the show, on purpose for plot! But this purpose can be made even better if we make something accidental out of it. Take the gold and spread its profits through smaller amounts, cut the product for bigger prices! LISTEN LIKE.. they made stinkum's character constantly bringing up Bird's name for plot... but him always yammering on about Bird can mean other things...... dare i say... gay things 😈. WHY does he always talk about Bird? For cheap character intro to get us ready when Bird makes his short appearance eventually yea but WHAT ELSE? they're giving us an ELSE without rlly GIVING us an else! Stinkum, who's a bit of a dopey lil goon guy, might have been unknown to a certain shooting danger one night when BLAM! He turns around, not filled with lead, but with awe for the guy he just saw skin a man alive... save HIS skin by dealing with his unforeseen assailant. Stinkum sees a softer side to the craziest, cruelest guy in their group, and has his respect eternally earned. Does Bird ever return it?? We don't know.... Bird never mentions Stink. Which creates more fun for us cus we get bounce off that with whatever the hell we want. It always goes back to the source! IF YOU WANT.. i recommend looking up 'the wire stinkum' / 'the wire bird' and ull find their scenes that show more of their character. I can elaborate on a single ship in more detail if u want, just ask ! trust me, id be MORE than happy to lmao!

🩵 Bird n Omar 🩵

Apparently, thanks to Stinkum, we know Bird n Omar jailed with each other. And STINKUM heard from BIRD that Omar was gay?? Which is like.. ok. Thanks stinkum/bird??? That's a bit.. what do u mean by that... have you, Bird, man whose little scenes he's shown is spewing same sex sexuality slander 99% of the time, Experienced that info Firsthand? Are you. Perhaps. Were you... One of Omar's whole stable of boys he had while locked up at Jess Up 🤨? ...the public needs to know 😈. Is all this talk you have against the lgbt.. perhaps... coming from a bit of internalized Rage 🤨? hm 😼? AND THIS ISNT JUST MY SPECULATION EITHER!! Other wire fans thought this!! They were sus on stinkum n Bird's relationship too!!! hell i GOT that idea from one of the wire's youtube COMMENTS!! yall we see it.. we do. Also Omar is 5'10... Bird is 5'3 at worst (says he's 5'5 but trust me. That is a definite lie.) .. Bird's also Omar's type too (which i find hilarious).. lightskinned. some may say, even, a little bratty BUT HEY! HEY!! im just usin my context clues given to me from THE SHOW ok! dont shoot the messenger bird... Omar looked like he was enjoying Bird getting his comeuppance a little Too well in that police interrogation scene.. i wouldn't be surprised if there was a deleted scene of him saying 'oh what a mouth'... BUT FROM THE SCENE GIVEN TO US THO.. what do you Mean 'bird really knows how to bring it out of people', Omar 🤨? What do you. What do you Mean by That 🤔? something.... explicit 🫣?

ANYWAYYYSS... smthin Bigger.

🩵Avon & Stringer 🩵

u rlly do have to see the show for all of these to rlly land with u tbh, the bigger ones especially bcs when the show has two characters they keep close for long... u know they're gonna be in pain. And u are too. I love avon and stringer man they make me so 😭😭!! One bleeds red the other bleeds green... ones all for family, the other for profession but DAMN IT! He thought he was family too, isn't it? Aren't i... Avon ? If the other ship types were doofy tongue out loyal to the bone tail wagging dumbly following dog Stinkum x asshole cat with claws who Maybeeee has a Slight soft spot for the dog where only HE can scratch it sometimes Bird, or elegant silk n clever streetcat with a semi bitten ear who steals fish with class Omar x rowdy rabid orange tabby cat who jumps at windows trying to eat other cats Bird..... this one is . Opposites attract. Unlikely friends to the end. Unlikely betrayal in bonds. Unlikely.. Unlikely. I don't wanna speak on it too much incase u haven't seen the show. It's just so good, it needs a justification thru watch. Avon and stringer together.. u can just feel the connection. Like these two Were childhood friends and now all this shit is happening to them.. this rift. It sucks!! It makes u wish the old days with them!! It makes u feel like an old head! Makes u feel what they're probably feeling but can't express cus they don't have the power or the pride rn!! I love them. They make me miserable. Avon and stringer were THE powercouple on the wire. They were THE girlboss malewife powercouple takeover. THE adhd bf Autistic bf romance. OKAY??? I just have to tell u the terms, it's up to u to see the show explain it. Watching stringer infodump about whatever smthing new he learned in his community college econ's is so cute. His finance bro business bro interests 😭 Avon acknowledging it and helping him indulge in it!! Making it a giant part of his organization!!! Avon the hardworking son from a long line of feared bad blood incorporating his businesstime consigliere godfather type shit ! Seeing avon get all excited at the bball game, jumping up n stomping the ground when he's winning or losing Lmao. Stringer roasting the competition, joining in on the pettiness. I love them. They're my petty powercouple and I GET TO SAY THEY DESERVED TO KISS EACH OTHER!! And GET MARRIED and LOVE EACH OTHER!!! okay!!! In another life avon is the prideful n stubborn basketball coach for their cc's poor basketball team and stringer is the sexy rich new econ professor who got demoted for being too harsh on his past private college students. D'angelo the spoiled nephew hates going to Stringer's class and hates Stringer even more when he becomes his strict new stepdad thanks to googly eyes at Avon. The coparenting comes with its troubles..

Another big crime dealing (literally) powercouple on the newer side..

🩵 marlo & Chris 🩵SHUTUP ABT CHRIS'S HAIR I TRIED OKAY IM NOT TRYING THAT HARD OKA

this one is mainly dynamic, there are some works for marlo/chris, but it's mainly dynamic exploration or relationship hinting if u squint but kept kinda dim under the surface. What's interesting abt these two is that.. They're just so interesting. It's like.. how Did they meet? WHY is chris so loyal to marlo? Also it's on misinterpretations too cus people might look at chris and think he's the ruthless killer who takes joy in his killings since he's big muscle for marlo's group... but actually he's a very chill (unless ur crime is Bad.) kinda kind n polite guy with a butler-like professional nature in his affable behavior sometimes . VS everyone thinking marlo is some emotionless, bug-eyed freak who just watches from the dark. And he is LMAO. Just like how chris CAN be ruthless, marlo CAN be hauntingly apathetic. But he can ALSO be very petty. I mean, half his Google images are of him looking disgusted LMAO. He's almost always vaguely annoyed, impeded upon, or intrigued. And chris n him Both know the other should not be messed with when pissed. If avon and stringer are the more kind of 'front and center' powercouple at the party, Marlo and chris are the two lonely assholes sitting in the dark corner (uninvited btw) of the party, vaping and judging people. Marlo doesn't drink, so he's just sipping ice water out of a red solo cup telling chris to kill whomever marlo finds insignificant (so everyone) while chris stares at the weather app on his phone, not knowing what to do. I love them in the goofy sense. They're just so awkward. Bruh girl 4 bruh girl. When two mfers with social skills where u can tell it's ok Except there's just smthin kinda Off about them, keeping them from being normL, find each other... the world burns. And it Did. They both have insane trauma and i think they should kiss. Ill def reblog with more abt them when i get to the later seasons rewatch..

🩵 Omar's og crew with him, Brandon, n bailey 🩵

i loved Omar's og little Robin hood crew so much 😭 it's a shame the wire back then didn't know how successful it'd be, so they introduced n had the other members live so short for story. They shouldve had more screen time fr! Doing shenanigans!! i just love the dynamic of Omar n Brandon being best bfs... Omar simping for Brandon n letting his mistakes slide bcs hes down bad for the lightskin.. and then there's lone wolf John bailey who just has to third wheel with them. Bailey is known to just go wherever the money goes, do whatever to get whatever, mix with whatever for whatever, so gotdammit if he has to spend time stealing money n drugs with gay people, he'll spend time stealing money n drugs with gay people!! i guess 😭. he definitely will be using that time to side eye them tho 😭😭. The funny gay couple and the straight man (literally) doing stealing shenanigans.. smh. We were robbed 😭 from their robbing!!!!!!!! i wish we saw more of them (dont get it twisted from all the praise the wire gets, it does have its faults, every show does!).. got to explore them more! We barely get to see Brandon before he dies n we don't even get to see John bailey's end result! Just hear it passing by! SMH!!! they were a cute lil ragtag group and i wanted to see them successful!!! also.. just saying John but... if u stayed n had a threesome instead of going to see ur 'mom', you wouldve lived longer...... probably not that long when you've got avon n his muscle minions after u... but still. You missed out big time bro. It's time to consider switching sexuality sides, methinks !

AS CLOSING SINCE WE'RE RUNNIN A LIL LONG!!

🩵 gay ppl.. everywhere

🩵 The Baltimore fuzz can also be poly excluding kima as platonic <3. Herc n Carver have too many sus conversations to be just bros at this point ... but ill talk more abt them later probably! They're rlly cute tho! And bunk n McNulty have their buddycop banter that's very domestic and assholic because they are domestic assholes. Bunk made lester bow-legged. Bunk ALSO outside of police stuff, has some childhood lore with Omar, of all people. Perhaps Omar had a schoolgirl crush on THE JOCK bunkster, feared star of his... school's game with the stick or whatever lol it sounds cute though! I'll talk more abt the fuzzy side of the show if u want, but they're pretty big so ull see more of that for urself with less explanation needed if u watch it !

🩵 avon's barksdale crew could be a poly powercouple gang takeover !! As could marlo's! With obvious platonic pieces as snoop probably has her own gf n such. Wee-bey is just so beautiful he needs to be a bf!! he needs someone to listen to his fish facts!! Him and stringer probably trade fish facts n finance facts! Avon and his gang kiss <3

🩵 bodie/Wallace have some fans! The stubborn kid playing tough guy to survive trying to steel his heart and the smart kid who's a little too soft and a little too supportive.. it's sweet and sad :( .

🩵 Bodie n poot are cute too. The second coming of girlboss malewife. Lil Kevin had to be in a poly with them or smthin cus there's no other reason why they should keep him along 😭 he was so shit at being muscle. It's not even funny LOL. Poot was also kinda shitty at being muscle too. Lil spoon headass, desperately debilitatingly declining hairline headass. Fuckin poot 😭.. bodie rlly spent his whole life carrying the team tbh. No wonder he's always such a crabby Lil guy! Yall make him do too much! By the time he was 26, he felt 86 probably !!

🩵 there's also cutty n slim charles, n other people that show in the later seasons that i can address later in a reblog, but yea! So far those are my favs mentioned n can be elaborated later! thank u SO much 4 asking, this was SUPER fun n appreciated 🩵🩵🩵 i doubt many ppl will read this n i don't blame yall but TRY if u can.. to watch The Wire if ure ever bored n have some freetime!! it's so good 😭

[crackinwise]

can you share why you don't like mara jade? personally i was sick of how the fandom worshipped this character and leia was done dirty in the eu to prop her up.

I'm gonna preface this by saying I was in 6th grade when I was first introduced to her via Heir To The Empire and a lot of my memory besides emotions has been involuntarily incinerated by adhd.

I remember being very bored and even skipping later chapters of her story. (Doing that didn't make me miss out on anything at all storywise, which is a big clue how vital she was.) I was invested in characters we knew: Luke, Leia & Han, Chewie, the droids. And the book kept taking me away to have--what seemed like--longer and longer pointless chapters devoted to telling me how great Mara was. The mixture of a 1-dimensional Mary Sue and femme fatale who sucks at her one job of being a fatale. She was supposedly Palpatine's hand, right? Some enforcer of his that adored him? So her last job was to kill Luke for revenge, and you'd think that'd be super suspenseful for any interaction in the book, but nooo. As far as I remember, it was just her failing a bunch before endless talking and the dullest flirting ever put to text. I'd say it was Timothy Zahn's fault as a writer, but I recall being invested in all his other chapters.

I'll also put a biased disclaimer that long before I knew what aroace was, I wanted Luke to be that. Focusing on being a master, training a new gen, keeping his growing family together. Attraction? Romance? Piss right off. Especially with someone this shallow and boring. If you're gonna make me endure that, at least make it worthwhile. The hero of our saga can't have someone just as interesting to join up with??

Leia was force sensitive and being trained while also working/fighting and taking care of her kids. I wanted more of that. I lived for that. (I followed her kids' stories into other book series too for a while.) But Luke kept being pulled away from his family thru the rest of the Thrawn saga to be paired with Mara's bullshit.

Idk if it was in that Heir trilogy or in later stories where Mara is super special enough to be Force sensitive too and Luke trains her. Eventually she becomes a knight then master. Like, I don't remember Leia ever getting Master status in the EU, but a cardboard Mary Sue who was under Palpatine's thumb gets it? What a surprise. I refused to read any other books with her, so by the time I found out they'd married and had a kid, any secondhand mention of Mara gave me gas. My biggest condolence is knowing she's not canon and only fanboys that were turned on by her were her stans. Unless that's changed over the years, but it still wouldn't make me care.

Ya know, typing all this out now is pretty funny because the sequels did sorta the same thing to Crylo, didn't they? He even dragged Rey, Luke's proxy, down with his tiresome life of cringe. Woof.

I'd like to hear your opinions and reasonings for disliking Mara too, if you like.

[comfortunit]

literally just found you today thru those rants and 100%. ive talked about it with friends but we keep it to ourselves bc fandombrained people are so vitriolic & reactionary but you get it. fandoms as they are now are simply a function of capitalism and i wouldnt even say most are fans of the media they say they are but of the roving dudeslash fandom who NEED to see characters forced into their static cookiecutter trope pairing/mirroring themselves and fuckin or theyll die. fandoms in general also tend to be a cesspit of racism & terrible attitudes towards sex work despite their fascination with/fetishization of both race and sex work in general and its like the smaller the fandom is the more of a toxic microcosm of let people haaaaave funnnnn it becomes (idk why i wrote this i was just super surprised to see another mbd fan who was also a sex worker, hiii same hat i am waving to you from across the street)

i went off about this in a mutual's personal server even more than i posted/ranted about here on tumblr because it really pisses me off, especially when you visit low-rating reviews of any mbd book, extra especially fugitive telemetry (like "how Dare this author whose work i love give me a novella after a full-length novel release?!" it's so fucking ungrateful! and it demonstrates such a disgusting lack of basic reading comprehension).

here's one review i saw posted the month i picked up the book and happened to be using goodreads to track my progress at the time, for example:

out of ideas?! it's one of the more tonally different stories in the series. when i finished the book for myself, i came back to this review and i just did not know how someone could ever say something like this. did we even read the same book?! is she "out of ideas" or did she give people another short-form story that was packed with concise and exacting language, tackling a multifaceted web of brand new interactions that make murderbot's personhood that much more dimensional, and they turned their nose up at it because "ugh 🙄 why can't we just have more full-length novels full of stuff that i can pretend is evidence of my fantasy OTP ship being canon"? the idea that a story is "low-effort" to "produce" simply because it's short is such a fucking insult to writers who know anything about writing, especially short-form masters like martha wells. these books are raw concentrated emotion.

to use a food comparison, because i've been getting emotional about the bear recently, it's like comparing a family/holiday feast to an 8-course meal from a star-ranked restaurant. they are both incredibly valuable, in different ways. the novellas are basically 'the perfect bite', they are incredibly well-written, they're rounded stories about rounded characters. intricate, delicate, plated to perfection, and at the end you realize that you've had enough of these small courses (chapters) that it's like. wow, you realize how fulfilled you are; every 'level' engaged is maxed out... and a feast made to feed an entire family like the full-length novel(s) (since the next book is a full-length novel, too) is hearty, it's quantity from a quality-minded author, it's nourishing, it's fulfilling, it's going to get a lot of mileage from every character included. these are different experiences prepared by the same chef. trust that she's going to treat you well. you know?

but you don't let diners into the kitchen to make changes to the food everyone else is going to eat. i might be going a little far with the metaphor but i swear to fucking god if tor.com does the fanservice shit to mbd i'm going to lose my fucking mind.

but again. i have faith in martha wells, i have hope and i know she would never do that to us.

edit: oh my god where are my manners HI FELLOW SEX WORKER WHO LOVES THE MUDERBOT DIARIES! THANK YOU! HOPE YOU ARE HAVING A WONDERFUL DAY!

[starredforlife]

velvet pumpkin :)

velvet pumpkin: what do you like describing the most when it comes to scene dressing? share an excerpt

ah. hm. well here's the thing. and if you read most of what i write you will also notice it. i don't really do scene dressing. i do this:

character a and character b (others optional), sitting/standing/laying down, in [specific area], expressing [specific emotion], go.

this is bc i'm not writing anything super long-form rn! it's also because i'm writing halfway between prose and screenwriting. all i've got rn are moments that i'm brainrotting with until i write it down and these are mostly character interactions, specific scenes of action or dialogue, or bullet-pointed backstory. im gonna root thru my notes app and find something for you tho. i like finding unique ways to describe people a lot if that counts!!

OKAY i found something. i had to look in my google drive. this one is a little old and doesn't describe a set but i do think it sets a tone lol. dresses a scene if you will. under the readmore!

writer asks

____________

They walked into the classroom single-file, and they looked ridiculous. Melody, dressed in heavy winter garb with only a slit for her eyes, fumbling to find a seat. Lupa, sauntering in like she already knew what assignment was due, her human ears and almost clean-shaven appearance smoothing her features uncomfortably. Omar didn’t even bother to change. Al was, well. Invisible. So she got a pass. 

Jaime, the only passably normal one, had Cyrus tucked away in his book bag, and of course, Cyrus would not shut up. The faint echo of clicky chatter was thankfully muffled behind the Jansport’s front pocket. “You know, they’ve never noticed me in the past! All it took was a little hypnosis. Sure, they might repeat the lesson several times, forget their names, but all the better for the exams, am I right?”

Nearly two steps in, Lupa bumped into a stair railing and yelped “Shit!” with a distinctively doglike whine, and the auditorium turned all eyes to the group of Very Normal Humans (and One Bat). “Really, it would be fine--”. Omar elbowed the book bag.

“What, they not teach you how to curse here?” Lupa yelled, unnecessarily loud, and flopped into a chair. The class turned around murmuring, like a flock of birds, or like dominoes. All at once, shuffling.

“Fucking creepy.” Melody mumbled. “Also, I’m pretty sure I’m getting heat stroke. I don’t think I’ve ever sweat before, but this might make me.”

Before Al could grab the water bottle, Lupa reached out to stop her reach. “They’ll just see it floating, Jenkins, let me handle it.” 

She tossed it to Mel, who caught it between oven mitts. The siren didn’t even hesitate to douse her face with it. Mel blinked the rest of the water away. Lupa gave her an enthusiastic thumbs up; Omar buried his head in his hands and groaned.