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lily-fics-11 · 6 months ago

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The Girl Next Door: Chapter 6 (Hazel Callahan, Bottoms)

Fic master post here

Tag list: @avocifera, @academiareid, @fictionalgap @dynsdiary @sndixz @athenalive @lamoobsessions @eloud12

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The Girl Next Door

You hadn't been close with your neighbor Hazel for years. But you find her beat up in the locker room after fight club and all of that changes

Chapter 6

Isabel and Brittany question you about Hazel. Your best friends can’t help but try and push you and Hazel together, and it seems to be getting to your head. It almost seems like Hazel is treating you like more than a friend?

Word count: 4.2k

CW: Profanities, not beta read

It’s Saturday night, at Brittany’s house, with her and Isabel. Brittany is painting your nails your favorite color when she notices the beaded bracelet on your wrist.

“H?” she questions. “Why the letter H?”

“Oh. The H. It’s for Hazel, actually,” you explain, avoiding eye contact and praying your face isn’t flushed.

“Are you guys like-” Isabel starts with clear excitement but you cut her off. “No, it's not like that. Like at all. Not even a little. We were always best friends, and now we are again.”

“Ok, fine, I guess. But we had no idea you two even knew each other until like a week ago. What happened between you guys because I’ve literally never seen you two interact with each other before now? Did you do something? Did she do something? Was it the both of you? Whatever happened had to have been bad, so why are things ok all of the sudden?” Isabel looks both confused and concerned. It makes sense why your best friend would be unsure of what to make of this confusing situation. You don’t even fully understand it yourself.

You take a deep breath before coming clean. “I’ve been in love with Hazel since middle school. But right when I realized I had feelings for her, she pushed me away, and I never knew why. I was in so much pain so I forced myself to move on. Make new friends, and eventually get into a relationship. But even though I had convinced myself otherwise, I’ve been in love with her the whole time. I found her bloody in the locker room after fight club one day and I couldn’t just leave her there like that. We ended up talking and reconnecting. I eventually confronted her, so she explained everything to me. I don’t want to share stories that aren’t mine to tell, but I will say that she just thought she was doing what was best for me. She apologized and I couldn’t help but forgive her. I know that Hazel never meant to hurt me, and I love her too much to pass up the opportunity to have her back in my life. All those years it felt like a piece of me was missing, and I finally had a chance to put things back together. I don’t have her the way that I want her, but it’s so much better than not having her at all.”

“Oh, wow.” Brittany takes a deep breath. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea you had been through all of that. But are you sure that this is worth it? Hazel is a sweetheart, and she would never do anything to hurt you on purpose, but are you going to be hurting yourself?”

You run a hand through your hair and take a moment to think about it. This is kind of insane. You could potentially do some major damage to yourself. But there is nothing you want more than Hazel. “That’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

“Well if that’s the case I’m really happy for you. You guys would be so cute together.” Isabel claps enthusiastically.

You shake your head no at her. “Isabel, please, don’t get my hopes up like that. I have no reason to believe that she feels the same way about me. If anything I’ve got far more evidence for her not seeing me like that. I think she’s just happy to be friends again.”

“Hazel mentions you in the notes like all the time. Like way more than anyone else.” Brittany grins mischievously. You raise an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“The notes she takes every meeting and emails to everyone. Do you not get them?”

You wrinkle your nose and furrow your eyebrows. “I get them. I never noticed it. I'm sure you guys are exaggerating and didn’t even think about it until now.”

Brittany laughs. “We have been suspicious since the first time we saw you guys together. Do you not know what you look like when you look at her? Haven’t you seen the way that she looks at you?”

Isabel is quick to add “you guys started driving to school together even though you love your alone time, and remember that night you hung out at her house? You didn’t answer your phone for hours and that is so unlike you.”

Before you even get a chance to defend yourself Brittany throws at you what she believes to be some hard hitting evidence. “I have seen you guys fight each other. The sexual tension is so obvious. I have never seen two people pin each other to the ground so much. Especially not with that hungry look in their eyes.”

You are at a loss for words, so you close your eyes and flop backwards to lay down. Isabel pokes your leg. You don’t open your eyes but that doesn’t stop her from asking “were you there the day we were talking about celebrity crushes?”

“Nope.” You hear her giggle. “Well I didn’t make the connection until now, but you know that actress that everyone says you look like? That’s Hazel’s celebrity crush.”

You open your eyes and sit up, feeling defeated. “I’m sure it is just a coincidence.”

“You can believe what you want, but I’m still going to be shipping you guys so hard!” Isabel squeals.

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Isabel and Brittany were not kidding when they said they would be rooting for you and Hazel. You appreciate their enthusiasm, but you would be mortified if Hazel noticed them giggling and watching you stand next to each other at the next fight club meeting. Isabel and Brittany’s eyes light up when you and Hazel are paired up for a fight. Your friend's stares were burning holes into the back of your head when you were on the ground straddling Hazel’s waist. This is only going to feed into their delusions. It seems useless at this point to hope they keep their eagerness in check.

It didn't take long for them to try and set you and Hazel up with each other, they took the first chance they got. You were unaware of their scheming until they approached you and Hazel at the end of fight club to see if you guys would want to get ice cream all together. “A little sweet treat before we all have to study for that math test tomorrow,” Isabel offers with a smile.

Brittany makes an excuse to take you with her in her car. “You forgot your shirt at my house, I need to give it back to you.” There was no shirt. Brittany just wanted to prepare you for what definitely isn’t a date, even though she seems to think it is.

Brittany glances over at you while she is driving. “Do you want to fix your hair?” She asks.

You squint your eyes at her. “Uhh.. why?”

She playfully rolls her eyes. “Don’t you want to look nice for your date with Hazel?”

That makes you laugh. “Brittany, it’s not a date if she doesn’t know that it’s a date.”

“You know what I mean. I have a hair brush in the glove box. There’s also some lipstick in there if you want to use it.”

“I’m not going to try and impress a girl who doesn’t want to be impressed”

“But isn’t it worth trying?” Without answering you pull the brush and lipstick out of the glove box and flip down the mirror.

Upon arrival, you and Brittany meet up with Hazel and Isabel before going inside. You enter first and approach the counter to order. After scanning your options you tell your friends “I can’t decide between cookies and cream and chocolate chip cookie dough.”

“Hey same!” Hazel smiles at you.

“If neither of you can decide between them, why don’t you just get both and share?” Isabel teases. God Isabel, right in front of Hazel?

“Oh… I, uh…” you begin but Hazel cuts you off. “Sounds like a good idea, right?” she asks expectantly. You just nod and force a smile. As much as you have protested it, you would love for this to be a date. But it's not, and you need to keep your expectations in check. Once the ice cream Hazel had ordered for the two of you is ready, you pull out your wallet only for her to step in front of you and pay for the whole thing without even asking. You blush and look away, accidentally making eye contact with Brittany who mouths “date” to you. Your palm meets your forehead. You really are grateful that your friends are trying to help you out, but you are going to have to explain to them that getting your hopes up will only make things worse in the end.

You intentionally sit next to Hazel, it will feel less romantic than being across from her. Not being able to stare longingly into her eyes is for the best. However, that didn’t keep you from questioning Hazel’s every move. Yes you were sharing food, but why did she sit so close to you? Seats nearly touching, practically shoulder to shoulder, knees brushing up against each other if moving more than an inch. Even worse, why did she put her arm around the back of your chair everytime she sat back to talk? Hazel talks a lot. If you weren't paying attention she would do it without you realizing and her arm would end up slung around your shoulders. You would sit there, absolutely mortified, while Isabel and Brittany failed to contain their excitement, though Hazel was none the wiser. You did your best to avoid looking over at her, that award winning smile and warm gaze far too easy to get lost in.

About halfway through the bowls of ice cream Hazel excuses herself to the bathroom.

Once Hazel is out of earshot Isabel slams her hands on the table and leans forwards. “Sooooooo…”

“So what?” You sigh.

“Come on, you know what she means,” Brittany crosses her arms and grins.

You put your hands up in the air like you have been cornered by the police. “I can’t say that I know what you guys are talking about.”

“This date!” The two yell in unison.

“Oh my god guys, could you please keep it down? I hate to break it to you, but if Hazel and I are on a date, then you two are on a date with each other. Just two best friends, eating some ice cream, that's all.”

“You are sharing ice cream!” Isabel exclaims, gesturing to the bowl in front of you.

You run your hands through your hair. “Because you suggested it.”

Brittany points to Hazel’s chair. “You guys are sitting so close together.”

“Well we're sharing the ice cream.”

“She keeps putting her arm around you!” Brittany sounds exasperated.

“You can’t ignore the way she looks at you!” Isabel pleads.

You put your hands down on the table in an attempt to further assert yourself. “If you keep getting my hopes up it's going to hurt even worse when she finally gets a girlfriend or in some other way makes it clear that she doesn't feel the same way.”

Brittany looks so disappointed. “We wouldn’t be trying to set you guys up if we didn't think there was something there.”

“I want this so bad,” slips out of your mouth as wild fantasies dance through your head.

“Maybe it's time that you give this a chance,” Isabel timidly suggests.

“I wouldn’t be opposed to it, but only if she took the lead,” you admit, nervously twisting your bracelet and averting your eyes.

Isabel and Brittany’s eyes wander behind you, so with panicked eyes you sharply run your hand past your throat, signaling that this conversation is officially being cut off.

Even though there is no way she could have known what had been discussed while she was gone, you are paranoid that Hazel somehow heard everything. You worry that the feelings left behind are written all over your face. Fortunately, nothing goes wrong as you all finish eating.

After cleaning up you are the only one to sit back down at the table. The other girls look at you, confused. You tilt your head back and groan. “I do not want to go home and study for this test. It's going to be miserable.”

“Well how much have you studied so far?” Hazel questions.

“Not enough,” you sigh. Hazel steps towards you and takes your hand. You can’t even imagine how unfortunate the look on your face is right now. She pulls you up to your feet. “Just think,” she tries to encourage you,”by this time tomorrow it will be over, right?”

“Yeah, I guess you are right.” You concede, expecting her to let go of your hand at that point, but she doesn't. Hazel holds your hand all the way to the car, and doesn’t let go until she has opened up the passenger side door and you have made yourself comfortable.

You can hardly believe it, but maybe Isabel and Brittany are onto something? Like this is absolutely mind boggling and insane. Is this even possible, or a mere delusion? Furthermore, are you actually starting to get your hopes up? You are playing a dangerous game, but you reap what you sow.

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Last night you studied like your life depended on it, and it was exhausting. In the morning you hit the snooze button as many times as you can without the risk of being late, sacrificing a part of your morning routine each time you slammed on the button to make the blaring noise stop. In the end you walked out the door without a stitch of makeup in the sweatpants and sweatshirt you wore to bed.

You meet Hazel in your driveway. When you unlock the car’s doors she gets in right away. You open the door but stop to groan and pout. “I really don’t want to do this,” you whine to Hazel and she smiles and shakes her head. “Oh neither do I.”

“Then why don’t we just skip? We could stay home and binge watch something,” you suggest, half serious and half not.

Hazel sighs. “I literally couldn’t want anything more.” Your breath hitches. “But, we both studied so much that it would be a waste to miss the test. Not to mention that your mom would kill the both of us if she found out that we skipped school.” Hazel leans over the center console and reaches her hand towards you. You take it and let her pull you into the car. You are very aware of how you keep finding your hand in hers. Are you unhappy about this test? Obviously. Are you slightly exaggerating because it means Hazel might hold your hand? That’s not even a question.

You hesitate to start the car, so Hazel gently places her hand on your thigh. She tilts her head to the side, carefully observing you with a dreamy look in her eyes. Her hand placement was more than enough to snap you out of your mood. But the way she was looking at you? That just might make you risk it all. You fight off the urge to lean over and steal a kiss from the girl you love.

When you turn the key in the ignition you are expecting Hazel to pull away, so you are pleasantly surprised when she doesn’t. Previously, you would have shied away from moments like these, but Isabel and Brittany have really gotten inside of your head.

“If you want you can come hang out at my place after school. We can watch an old movie.” Hazel proposes.

You look over and meet her gaze and a smile spreads across your face. “I would love that.”

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Hazel catches up with you on the way out of class after your test, putting her arm around your shoulders, causing a shock to your system. Though it’s a pleasant surprise, it isn’t easy to play it cool.

“So, how do you think you did?” Hazel smiles at you, looking at your… lips? You look down at your feet because you fear internal combustion, though still able to feel Hazel’s lingering gaze.

You are so nervous that you stutter when you answer her question. “I-I um think I actually d-did well. How about you?”

“I’m going to be honest, I was a little distracted. I was thinking about, well, things. But I still think I managed to pull it off.” Despite her claims of having been distracted, she sounds rather excited and you can’t miss the opportunity to see that look on her face, so your eyes wander back up to meet hers. That cute goofy smile is more than enough to put all the stress from this test behind you. In all honesty, Hazel could erase just about anything from your mind. You know that your own expression must be mirroring hers. “Well I’m glad that you made it through okay.”

Hazel nods at you. “I’ve got to go but I’ll see you later?”

“Yeah of course.”

Hazel pulls away from you, running her hand down your arm. The light graze of her fingertips momentarily lingers on your hand before finally drifting away and waving as she walks off. Hazel continues to look back at you until she stumbles into someone and has to turn her attention ahead of her.

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When you get to Hazel’s house Mrs. Callahan is delighted to see you, and invites you to sit down with her. Hazel rolls her eyes and leans against the doorway with her arms crossed. You smirk as an image of what Hazel would look like doing THE lean crosses your mind. When you sit down next to Mrs. Callahan she slides a magazine over to you.

“I want you to have this. You don’t have to look at it now, but there is a spread that starts on page 17, it’s from one of my favorite designers and every outfit would look absolutely amazing on you! Check it out when you get the chance and definitely keep this in mind the next time you want to do some shopping.” Mrs. Callahan is beaming at you. Hazel has always been a tomboy so she loved talking about fashion with you and would join you and your mom on shopping trips.

You thank her and then Hazel clears her throat, so you start to get up.

“Can I ask you a quick question?” Mrs. Callahan asks.

“Of course.”

She leans and whispers, just low enough for Hazel not to be able to hear, “you’ve put that ex girlfriend of yours behind you, correct?”

Your eyes widen, taken off guard by the personal question. “Oh yeah, she's no longer a part of my life,” you explain, doing your best to keep your voice down because it’s clear she wants this conversation to be private.

Mrs. Callahan looks satisfied and you can only assume that your mother had divulged the details of your tumultuous relationship. She continues with her hushed tone “you deserve much better than the way that girl treated you, honey. I don’t think you will have to look too far to find the right girl for you.”

“We should head upstairs,” Hazel calls over impatiently.

“I’m actually heading out now. I won’t be back until pretty late.” Mrs. Callahan informs you. Hazel grumbles a goodbye and you wave before she walks out the door.

“I’m going to put my stuff in my room, I’ll be right back,” she tells you before disappearing up the stairs.

After entering the living room a feeling of nostalgia washes over you. There are so many memories here of blanket forts, movie nights, and playing games. After leaving your things in the corner you sit down all the way to the side of the couch, right up against the arm rest. It’s not long before Hazel appears in front of you, “Do you know what you want to watch?” You suggest a movie and Hazel thinks it’s a great idea.

She takes a seat in the center of the couch, as if to give you some space, while also testing the waters of trying to get close to you. You aren’t quite sure how you feel about this yet, but decide to live in the moment. While looking at the tv, out of the corner of your eye, you see that Hazel is watching you. She looks a little dazed, eyes soft, biting her lip. When you look over to her she quickly snaps her head towards the tv.

The movie is lighthearted but anytime you and Hazel look at each other the eye contact is intense. Whether you are laughing at a joke or reciting a quote in unison you kept getting caught up in the moment. The part of the movie you were reacting to would pass, but you would still be gazing into her beautiful eyes, and she would be staring right back. Then, the two of you would realize what you were doing and regain your composure.

You start to feel cold so you get up to get the sweatshirt you have in your backpack.

“Where are you going?” Hazel questions, and you peer over your shoulder at her. There is disappointment in her eyes, seeing you walk away.

“Just grabbing my sweatshirt,” you reassure her.

“Are you cold?” She asks, looking concerned, and you nod your head.

“I’ve got a blanket right here, if you want to use that instead,” Hazel offers, gesturing to a blanket hanging over the back of the couch.

“Uh, sure. Thanks.” You take your spot back on the couch and Hazel passes you the blanket.

“I think I’m actually cold too, would you mind sharing?” She inquires, fixing her hair even though it looks fine.

You blink rapidly, a little taken back. “No, not at all.”

“Is it ok if I, uh, sit a little closer? It would be easier to share,” Hazel asks, looking down and fidgeting with one of her rings.

You nod your head at her once again, feeling nervously excited. Hazel slides over and when she said close she meant close, she left no space between the two of you. Shaky hands drape the blanket across your laps. You feel your heart pounding in every part of your body. Isabel and Brittany’s idealistic thinking has infected your brain. Should you make a move to see how she reacts or wait and see if she does? You decide to wait and see if she takes any initiative. You meant it when you said you wanted

Hazel doesn’t leave you waiting for long. She rests her arm behind you, on the back of the couch, like she is inviting you into her. You obviously take the bait. There was no space to close between you but you lean your weight into her and rest your head on her shoulder. Hazel then wraps her arm around your waist, holding you against her. It all feels like a dream, breathing in her scent, feeling the warmth of her body next to yours. You are buzzing from the way her hand is firmly planted on your waist. Her voice is like a melody and her laugh is like a warm hug. You savor every moment with her.

After the movie is over, and you are getting ready to go, Hazel puts her hand on your arm. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but what did my mom whisper to you earlier?”

“Oh, she just asked about my ex.”

“She asked you about what?”

“My ex.”

“Sorry, I heard you the first time, I just can’t believe she would bring that up, I told her not to.” Hazel sighs.

“What do you mean that you told her not to? Have you been discussing my love life Hazel Callahan?” You laugh at her. You aren’t mad, just intrigued.

“Your mom had told my mom about your break up, so she came to me to try and get more information. She was really worried about whether or not you were ok. I told her that I wasn’t totally sure, because we hadn’t talked much about it. But she knows that I wanted us to be, uh, friends again, so she was very hopeful that you were in the right place for us to start a- I mean start over. My mom would bring you up from time to time over the years, hoping we would be friends again. When I explained to her that it was hard to tell whether or not you were also in, uh, the right place for that, she told me that we are meant to be, I guess friends, so the opportunity would present itself.”

You smile, feeling a flush across your face, knowing that Hazel has always intended to get you back in her life.

“Well, I am doing ok. I know a lot has happened between us, but I have a feeling that things are going to work out the way they are supposed to.”

#hazel callahan #hazelcallahan #bottoms hazel #hazel bottoms #hazel callahan blurb #hazel callahan bottoms #hazel callahan brainrot #hazel callahan x you #hazel callahan fanfiction #hazel callahan imagine #hazel callahan x reader #hazel x reader #hazelfanfic #hazel callahan fic #hazel callahan fluff #hazel callahan x fem reader #hazel callahan x fem!reader #hazel from bottoms #hazel callahan headcanons

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mlm-writer · 3 months ago

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Dirty Sex (Wade Wilson x The Dirtman)

Pairing: Wade Wilson aka Deadpool x The Dirtman Rating: Explicit Words: 1137 POV: Third Summary: Wade 'forgot' to put a little dirt under his pillow for the Dirtman, so he is taken down to the Dirtman's lair deep under the mountains, where the Dirtman keeps his dirt. Note: We're just guys... You may wonder what I snorted to write this and the answer is... dirt? Anyway shout out to my friend for helping me with this fic (they did a soil science course and I have convinced them to use their knowledge for evil). Tags: the dirtman by carter vail, anal, ass eating, dirt eating?, identifying soil, puns and soil science references, 4th wall breaking ofc, rock hard dick, blowjob, cum(?) shower and uhhh consensual monsterfucking / cryptidfucking

All guys do it. Keep a little dirt under their pillow for the Dirtman, in case he comes to town. Wade knows about the Dirtman. Wade wants to go to town with the Dirtman.

He was awaiting him, on his bed, lying on his side, one leg stretched out and the other propped up. One arm supported his grinning head. The door creaked open and there he stood in all his dirty glory. “Oh hello, dirtman,” Wade cooed at the brown silhouette made of dirt. Yellow eyes glowed at the top of the soil cryptid. Wade lifted his pillow up, revealing nothing. “Uh oh, I seem to have forgotten something.” He lifted his free hand, seductively biting on his index finger.

“Oh that’s all right. I will see you next season,” the Dirtman replied in his gravelly voice. The creature turned around and seemed to be ready to leave. Wade watched him take one step outside of his bedroom and shot up from where he lied.

“Hey hey! Ho there you sexy pile of rocks and sand! Aren’t you supposed to take me down to your lair? Where you keep your dirt?” The Dirtman didn’t stop his trek to the window Wade had left open. The mutant rushed around the cryptid to block the way, standing his ground in front of the Dirtman. “Excuse me, the readers came for some absolute crack-dosed filthy, nasty and, dare I say, dirty fucking. So where do you think you’re going without me?”

The Dirtman stared at him for a moment. “I am not mad that you forgot your dirt. My sister doesn’t get mad when children throw away their teeth either. So why should I?”

“Are you telling me your sister is the tooth fairy?”

“Yes.”

“Where does she keep all those teeth?”

“She eats them like popcorn when we watch a movie.”

“Huh.”

Wade and the Dirtman stared at one another. One wondering when they were going to absolutely go to town on each other. The other wondering who the parents are of the Dirtman and his sister the tooth fairy. “You should know,” the Dirtman eventually said, “my dick is made of rock. It won’t be comfortable.” Wade gave a thumbs up. “Good, then I would like to cordially invite you to my lair.”

Wade jumped into the Dirtman’s arms. “I accept! Let’s go! Time skip so we can get to the dirty stuff.”

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Deep under the mountains, torches illuminated the deep cavern, where Wade was kneeling on a huge pile of dirt. The soil came in all colours and textures, but Wade could not care less for the brown, red and beige rainbow flag under him. He had much more interesting things to focus on, such as the rock hard schlong of the Dirtman. The phallic rock revealed itself from under the mud that shaped the Dirtman. Wade dusted the soil-lid dick off with his hands. “My safeword is edaphology, which is the study of how soils interact with living things.” He wiggled his eyebrows as he looked right into those amber orbs. Literal orbs. Not 2013 Harry Styles’ green orbs. These eyes looked like two perfectly round pieces of crystal, polished to perfection.

“Isn’t that a bit too long?” For a creature without a face, he seemed rather concerned.

“Isn’t that my line,” Wade grinned as he kissed the tip of the slate cock. “But fine, let’s go one syllable less. Pedology, which is the study of formation, chemistry, morphology, and classification of soil. Now are you gonna let me rip my oesophagus sucking your cock or does the author need to start reading past the second paragraph of the soil science Wikipedia page for a safeword? He already lazily copied the explanation of the last one. At some point there will be copyright issues. He could’ve at least changed the order of the words like you do when you’re in hi–”

The Dirtman had enough of Wade’s rambling. He pushed the merc’s mouth down on his length. The saliva mixed with the silt, creating a dirty brown slobber all over the tip of the Dirtman’s dick. Wade could actually determine what types of soil the Dirtman was made of, but since he cannot speak with his mouth full of stone-dick, he cannot tell you. Too bad. Bet you are wondering huh?

Well, Wade was not getting much in actually. The rigidity was unforgiving on his throat and the Dirtman seemed to notice. Those muddy arms took a hold of Wade’s scarred body and flipped him like he was turning over soil for deep ploughing. Wade was face first into the pile now, his mouth filling with the grinding and yet slippery soil. It was loamy clay.

The Dirtman’s mouth opened wide for the first time and latched onto Wade’s cavernous hole. Wade could feel the seep lube up his silty walls, irrigating his ass for the Dirtman’s soil auger. He moaned, identifying more soil with each mouthful of dirt. His tongue felt like sandpaper by the time he felt the Dirtman’s sceptre quartz poke at his puffy asshole. “Hell yeah, drill me with that stalagmite, dirt daddy.”

His dirty words were reprimanded with a hard slap on his dunes. Wade turned his head until just his cheek rested on the sand. To his disappointment, the Dirtman was awfully gentle with him, his huge slate rod carefully stretching out Wade’s insides. The slow drag was very unsexy, but felt so good. “You’re so warm inside. You must be quite fertile,” the Dirtman whispered into Wade’s ear.

The human whimpered, when his monstrous lover bottomed out. Wade needed to take a deep breath, before he could talk again. “You know that line only makes sense if you know that wildfires leave extremely fertile soil, right? And it doesn’t make sense for me to know so much about soil science, but it is really the only way the author can ensure that the readers realise how awful this fic is. Do the readers even appreciate all the references?”

That was apparently the Dirtman’s cue that Wade could handle more. He went to town on Wade’s tunnel, rabidly fucking into the merc’s soft human body with his monstrous cryptid cock. Finally, not a word left Wade, only a string of moans, whines and whimpers. The large figure didn’t stop until Wade soiled the land with his seed. He pulled out and rolled Wade onto his back. With a few more strokes, buckets of sludge unloaded from his big peat, giving the human a mud bath that would do wonders for his skin if it weren’t for those mutations.

And that’s the story of the Dirtman who came into town and onto Wade Wilson aka Deadpool. I am experiencing psychic damage. This is worse than the Shrek x Deadpool fic.

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REBLOG TO SUPPORT YOUR FANFIC WRITERS

Likes do not help exposure!A comment in tags or replies can sustain a writer for months!

#deadpool #wade wilson #marvel #dirtman #dirt man #carter vail #viral #crack fic #mlm #monsterfucking #monsterfucker #cryptid #cryptid fucking #monsterlover #deadpool & wolverine #deadpool 3 #mcu #gay

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finemeal · 10 months ago

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AO3 Etiquette

Alright, y’all, you already know what I’m about to say. But go ahead get some water, something to eat, take your meds, and whatever else you need to do as I go into this. Ready? Good.

I’ve seen far too many users on AO3 being rude and saying things that I’m not even sure they understand is rude.

If you’ve done these things, don’t sweat it too much. As long as you learn and do better, that’s what’s important. I don’t wanna make anyone feel bad, but I want to make y’all AWARE.

So let’s talk about some basic etiquette for interacting on AO3.

(Disclaimer: not every AO3 author is going to agree. Some are okay with some of these things, some aren’t. Let’s just play on the safe side yeah?)

Comment Etiquette

Listen, we’ve all left comments on fics we like. But here’s the thing, some of us don’t realize what comments are rude or not.

Comments that pass the vibe check:

Hearts

Something you liked about the story

Saying you enjoyed the story

Excited to see more from an author (not demanding an update, not asking for more, just genuine excitement for whatever the author has in store)

Anything that is genuinely nice

Theories on what you think will happen (not necessarily what you want or hope happens)

Comments that do not pass the vibe check:

DEMANDING an update

Treating fic authors like content pumps and not real people who do this in their free time

Critiquing the story

Saying how they should’ve written something different

Constructive criticism that the author did NOT ask for

Saying things that are purposefully antagonistic

Trolling

Anything that if someone said to you about something you worked hard on you would think was rude

Dogging on how a character was written

Comments that are WILDLY different from the tone of the story (i.e leaving a graphically violent comment on a story that does not feature graphic violence)

Any mention on how long it’s been since they’ve updated — you’re gonna make your wait longer

This one is more of a personal ick but any “want to see” comments, specifically on one-shots (I want you to enjoy what I’ve written, not talk about stories you hope I’ll write — unless author says that they specifically want those comments)

Honestly there’s so many comments that do not pass the vibe check I can’t even list them all. But I listed a BUNCH so, general rule of thumb is: If you’re not sure it’s rude, reach out to a friend and ask. Also, you can ask for people in the comment section to vibe check you if you’re unsure. And? If you know it’s rude and say it anyway, you’re an asshole.

ALSO: author’s will read your comments! They may not respond, but 9/10 author’s will read the comment so remember that you’re not posting into the void. And? People will call you out if you’re being rude. Don’t double down. Apologize, delete comment, move on.

Author’s talk, we will block you if you’re a raging asshole cuz we don’t need that kinda energy in our fics. And, sometimes we’ll turn off anon commenters cuz if you’re going to continue to be an asshole, and can’t even say it to our face, you din’t deserve to comment.

Bookmark Etiquette

This one is prolly gonna get a lot of people riled up and I simply don’t care. If you disagree, that’s fine, just know as an author and friends with other AO3 author’s we consider these sorts of things rude.

Bookmarks that pass the vibe check:

No comment

A nice comment with the bookmark

Private bookmarks (no matter what it’s tagged/commented with)

Nice/neutral tags

A note to self about where you left off

Bookmarks that do not pass the vibe check:

Anything rude for the comment/tag section of a bookmark — unsure what’s rude? See comment section above

Ranking the fic (see this way more often in bookmarks than anywhere else)

Unread bookmarks (not always a fail, it’s just weird? You can mark for later, why are you bookmarking my story without reading it?)

If your bookmark is private? It doesn’t matter how you tag/note it/whatever. But if it’s public? Author’s will sometimes go look at bookmarks because people will leave nice little comments that make us feel good. If you say something mean we can’t even delete it. But I can guarantee we’ll block you!

Yes, bookmarks are for the reader, but just because you didn’t intend for an author to see what you said doesn’t make it any less mean. If it’s public: shame on you. Make a bookmark that’s mean in private, then I won’t care.

Conclusion

Don’t be mean. If you don’t like a story, you don’t have to say anything. It takes more time to leave a nasty comment or bookmark something in a mean way than it does to just back out of the fic. I get it, you don’t like the fic. I don’t like every fic I read. You know what we do? We use the back button.

We’re all people, we all have lives and things going on. Just know 2024 is the year I’m no longer replying to nasty comments. I’m deleting them, blocking if I want to, and moving on.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Again, this post has a very aggressive tone because I’m sick of seeing mean comments on my friend’s fics. Will this stop those comments? No, but I hope it lessens them.

This truly is just about educating people. If you have any questions, anything you want to add. Feel free, pop off monarchs.

#ao3 #writer #etiquette #etiquette fails #psa #rant #please just do better

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harfblarf · 2 years ago

Text

“Help my Cat” Scam Going Around

Have you received an ask in your inbox from an account that previously wasn’t following you, pleading for a signal boost on their vet-related post? I got one today, but something felt fishy. Or perhaps “phishy” is more accurate?

Here’s the ask:

Now a couple odd things right off the bat. This is a blog I’ve never seen or interacted with, who wasn’t following me prior to sending the ask, so I immediately wondered how they pulled my name to ask for help. And while the world in general is a shitshow, so I can sort of see why a person would default to saying it “isn’t the best time to ask for help”, they say it with such confidence without knowing me at all.

Odder still, from their posts-- which at least do look extremely normal and human-like, down to the mishapocalypse profile picture-- we don’t share any interests aside from... well. Cats.

The other odd thing is them specifically requesting I reply privately, through DM or a private answer. I wouldn’t think much of it except they’re already asking me to publicly share something on my blog; if I’m going to answer the ask, why can’t I do so publicly?

I scroll through their blog some more. Their pinned post is, indeed, asking for help with their cat:

Weirdly, though, an earlier version of this post uses a completely different name for the cat??

This is bizarre to me and my red flags are pinging louder. Maybe it’s innocuous, though, I mean, it could just be a nickname or something? Why would you change it though?

Also, the post’s ratio is weird-- 101 reblogs to 44 likes. I suppose not too shocking if they’re doing this use-an-ask-to-get-a-boost tactic widely, but the ratio is pretty extreme. I check the notes. Every single reblog with tags has some variation on ‘boost’ or ‘signal boost’; there are no comments. No one has mentioned knowing this person, no one has vouched for the legitimacy of the post... but two mention that they were asked to boost the post.

*EDIT: Per a polite anon, I will clarify that signal boost/boost tags themselves aren't a red flag; what bothered me was that the post's ONLY interaction history came from boosts from seeming strangers. An active fandom blog, active enough to think posting a plea for financial help might get traction, SHOULD have at least one or two mutuals or friends who are willing to push the post and vouch for its legitimacy. Because the only engagement was from people who had clearly been approached via ask, like me, I got the heebie jeebies.

Okay, I’m doubtful enough that I’m not comfortable boosting this post myself. But let me check one more thing.

I search google for the exact phrasing of the help-requested post.

Ah.

There’s well over a dozen blogs pulled up with this exact phrasing. Most of them use the name “Koppi” instead of either “Ashel” or “Biscuit”, but a few use “Ashel”. The oldest result, from 2016, uses “Ashel”; more commonly, these results are from 2022 or earlier this year and again, most say “Koppi”. Also interesting: basically none of these posts exist anymore. Google can identify the exact wording even beyond what I included in my search query using whatever demonic powers allow it to reference removed content, but they’ve clearly been deleted.

Additionally, which I clarify for those like me who attribute Google’s quirks to demonic powers rather than an actual understanding of how it works: if the dates didn’t make it clear, these aren’t the blogs in the notes of falesyorac’s post. I cross-referenced the names. It’s not pulling up those reblogs, so presumably the majority of these results at one time came from someone who drafted and posted the wording to their blog, not from reblogs.

Maybe it was once a real post, maybe it’s always been a scam, but evidently the content of the post has been stolen and recirculated at this point. Along the way I found this as well, an anon warning someone who must have reblogged a version of the scam post:

So this is at least partly confirmed as a scam from another source.

Please be wary, do your due diligence before you put your money anywhere, and block & report falseyorac. I’m not sure the nature of the falseyorac blog originally; it may have been a real account that got hijacked, it may be a very convincing fake, it may be a real person’s blog who is trying to to leverage their innocuous appearance to pull quick money with a beggar scheme. Regardless, it is evident there is not a genuine Ashel/Biscuit needing help today and that whoever holds the falseyorac account right now is trying to pull a scam.

One more thing-- one of those reblog’s tags I showed earlier.

I also have a tag for reblogs of cats. (It’s “cats”.) I suspect this is where this particular iteration of the scam is pulling its targets from-- after all, people who reblog cats enough to tag them must care about them, right?

Finally, I am tagging the people who reblogged falseyorac’s post with tags (there’s too many for me to do everyone who reblogged it at all) below the readmore-- if I messed up and tagged the wrong person and/or you want your name removed, please just contact me and ask. I want to make sure you can see this warning, but I’m happy to untag you if it bothers you for any reason.

@thislilfecker / @koreanbibliophilegirl / @kingminyard / @sss-shyshy / @shoutmonishere / @cleocatrablossy / @mothmansass / @aroanehring / @valkyrie-ellis / @jae-writes-fanfiction / @ninja-chibi / @iambecomeahamburger

(A few people’s names didn’t come up when I tried to tag them, so I wasn’t able to include them here, rip.)

#cats #scams #scam #cat #signal boost #warning #boost #mutual aid #community aid #community support #pet scam #donation scam #harf blarf blib blab #i spent too much time on this

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ryuichirou · 3 months ago

Text

Replies

Some replies!

Anonymous asked:

Dayummm Azul is BIGGGG LOOK AT THAT BOY! DAYUMMM

Hehe thank you!!

I am happy I managed to figure out how to draw the fishies… Azul is one thicc boy

Anonymous asked:

What do you think of Silver x Kalim? Cater x Leona? LMC + Rook x Idia?

Kalim/Silver is cute but unfortunately too cute to click with us; their interactions are sweet and wholesome, but they don’t really give us anything we look for in ships.

Cater/Leona is hmmm nothing against it, but we’re not invested enough in either of them to ship them, plus we haven’t seen anything from their interactions that would grab our attention yet.

Love Rook/Idia though! We have a tag for them and just posted them a week ago, and I’ll write a hc post about them soon… well, at some point…

Anonymous asked:

🐩 anon has arrived once more to thank you for your absolutely delicious art. I had to come out of twst burnout, it's so hard to enjoy the fandom when it's all self righteous antis trying to police the game as if it's not catered to basically young adults and older. These kids have me baffled, it's as if they believe pixels are real people.

I can hardly stand to look at TWST Tumblr anymore either, they're all so white knighted that you'd think they were paid to be piss babies in circles they don't belong in. It's one of those "Why put yourself in that position to see it, if you didn't want to be there in the first place".

Hi 🐩 anon, long time no see! Thank you for being around and still enjoying my art.

I feel you, it really is difficult when you keep seeing people saying the same type of antis bullshit over and over and over again; even if you become apathetic about it, it’s still very annoying. Mostly because it’s impossible to ignore completely – they love to invite themselves to spaces that aren’t meant for them. That’s like the whole idea. No one is forcing anyone to see anything, every ship and triggering trope is always tagged in some way or another, but instead of avoiding this type of stuff they use the tagging system to shit on certain characters and ships directly, just so you couldn’t look for your favourite thing without seeing their outbursts of unsolicited opinions.

It really is very annoying.

Anonymous asked:

🐩 anon again, but now with one that's more funny and teehee haha random info that I thought you'd think it'd be interesting or funny

On that note, I came here because I started a DND campaign with a group over a twst based campaign. It reminded me of you, which made me invested in the campaign. Now I have a whore serving with 18th century fashion, giving Vil a run for his money. So far, 10/10. He has major Edmund and Idia vibes, wants no part of it, gets shit luck anyways and so far, has slept with Bird Man for Ramshackle funds on a bad roll. Mans is a survivor and we are barely halfway into chapter 1 😭

It’s so sweet that you got reminded of us and got invested… I am very glad you’re having fun! “Rewriting” your negative fandom experience with a positive one and good associations is so important.

Major Edmund and Idia vibes + a 18th century fashion whore??? SLEEPING WITH BIRD MAN??? An icon and a hustler. I don’t know him but I love him already…

Anonymous asked:

Good lord. I had randomly followed a twst blog but then I saw them posting about how even though there is a two year age difference between the third-years and first-years, it’s wrong to ship them because the first-years treat them, especially the housewardens, like idols and apparently that’s grooming. Like, no, that’s you in Delululand and I’m about to unfollow and block. #staytoxicbestie

Yeah they seem to have discovered this idea and now put it everywhere, harassing JackVil shippers and such. It’s one of those moments when I genuinely hope that they deliberately lie and reach because I am scared of the idea of anyone being this dumb.

It does suck that there seems to be more people like that lately, and they don’t even tag their accs with “proship dni” anymore either. Gee I wonder why.

#replies

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sindar-princeling · 2 years ago

Text

I posted 465 times in 2022

That's 369 more posts than 2021!

235 posts created (51%)

230 posts reblogged (49%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@sindar-princeling

@svogliata-mente

@cornerful

@elven-child

@is-it-mungojerry-or-rumpelteazer

I tagged 463 of my posts in 2022

#lotr newsletter - 164 posts

#it's mine my own my precious - 136 posts

#no questions except on party business - 127 posts

#anon - 61 posts

#not lotr - 28 posts

#frodo - 25 posts

#aragorn - 20 posts

#lotr - 15 posts

#rings of power - 15 posts

#samwise - 14 posts

Longest Tag: 137 characters

#i saw the asks and mentions and yall are the best but i cant reply rn because in a minute im flying out to see ✨️❤️david tennant🥰✨️ live

My Top Posts in 2022:

absolutely loving the daily dracula idea let's do lord of the rings next

1,660 notes - Posted May 6, 2022

between the newsletter’s entry where we learn the ponies are okay, me picking apart rings of power and analysing why it doesn’t fully feel like tolkien, and this one gifset of frodo and sam i reblogged, i felt like i finally have to gather my thoughts regarding what makes tolkien tolkien

and while there are many things that do, i’d argue that the most special one is its earnestness.

characters in LOTR care unabashedly, with all their hearts, and love so easily, whether it’s platonic, familial or romantic.

the hobbits feel like the most obvious example - merry, pippin and sam follow frodo for as long as they’re able; their loyalty goes deep to their bones, and their relationships are so full of trust, joy, devotion, fondness.

but all of LOTR is just more examples of the same thing. after the war legolas spends the rest of his life in middle-earth with gimli - they travel together for over a hundred years - and then he decides he won’t just say goodbye when gimli dies! and he does something that hasn’t been done before and just takes gimli to valinor, but not before aragorn dies. because they both loved him, too. faramir asks “do you not love me, eowyn?“ and she realises she does, and he says he’ll marry her and they’ll grow a garden and heal, and he kisses her even though everyone can see them. sam loves frodo, and he loves rosie, and he spends his life with her, then joins frodo in the undying lands after she dies.

and it shines through in the movies, too! it’s thanks to both the direction and the acting skills of the cast, of course, that so, so often all emotions are on full display - whenever sam and frodo interact, when aragorn kisses boromir’s forehead, when the hobbits say goodbye at the grey havens, when pippin finds merry at the battlefield, the way gandalf reacts when frodo says he’ll go to mordor, the way theoden breaks down at his son’s grave, the way he cares about eowyn like she’s his own child, the way eomer reacts when he finds eowyn and thinks she’s dead. those are just examples off the top of my head.

it’s also very special to me because in many fictional works (not only in fantasy) people just aren’t allowed to be that open - mostly men, but not exclusively - meanwhile this earnestness is something i always look for in fiction.

it stands out especially if you consider some fantasy creators (not naming any names but you know who i mean ajsjdjfjf) saying they “just want to reflect the misogyny of the period” (which is just bullshit and also demeaning to people of all genders in so many ways), because while LOTR is heavily male-dominated, tolkien managed to do something very, very interesting and important there.

he says, “war is the province of men”, but it doesn’t mean you’re supposed to want to be there. you’re not supposed to want to go to battle, suffer and/or die. eomer wants eowyn to stay home because he loves her, and couldn’t stand to see her die in a cruel, gruesome way (and when he thinks she’s dead, it’s the most devastating display of grief in the whole movie trilogy).

the heroes go to war because there are things that need defending, and dying for a noble cause is honorable, but again - it’s about defending, not about fighting. the clearest villains of LOTR are people who want the war to happen. many of the heroes, most of whom are men, just want peace for their people, want companionship (one of the first things aragorn says to the hobbits is that he’d be happy to have more friends, because being a ranger means he’s lonely), or want a good meal and a good drink like the hobbits. they want comfort and warmth. they want to finish a book like bilbo. they want to live in a garden among all things that live and grow like faramir. they want to marry and have a home and kids like sam.

and the things is, it’s not always that common in fiction, but it’s absolutely common, you know. IN REAL LIFE? BECAUSE MEN ARE PEOPLE? so it’s just really good to have tolkien absolutely divorce masculinity in his works from how his characters show emotions, or how much comfort they crave. and that is a realistic approach i’m interested in.

1,956 notes - Posted October 2, 2022

The previous post made me think some more about the real life influences on LOTR, so because I’m down with a cold and have a lot of time to spare, I finally wanted to write a coherent post about those comments GRRM made about Aragorn and his tax policy.

For those who haven’t heard the actual quote, here it is:

Tolkien can say that Aragorn became king and reigned for a hundred years, and he was wise and good. But Tolkien doesn’t ask the question: What was Aragorn’s tax policy? Did he maintain a standing army? What did he do in times of flood and famine? And what about all these orcs? By the end of the war, Sauron is gone but all of the orcs aren’t gone – they’re in the mountains. Did Aragorn pursue a policy of systematic genocide and kill them? Even the little baby orcs, in their little orc cradles? In real life, real-life kings had real-life problems to deal with. Just being a good guy was not the answer.

And my god, do I have problems with this approach to Tolkien. It’s kind of like asking why Bilbo was unconscious for a lot of the battle of five armies, when we know it was a story Tolkien was telling his kids before sleep.

When looking at LOTR, I think you can’t not read it as an ultimate escapist fantasy - and what’s most important, Tolkien’s personal escapist fantasy.

He is Frodo - a man born into a middle class family, educated, well-read, with close friends coming from the same “social sphere”, like Merry and Pippin, who died in WWI. Sam is in a very literal sense the batmen Tolkien fought with, which he said he considered “so far superior to myself”.

Tolkien had a few batmen during the war, like the article from my previous post mentions. Most probably because he fought in a few different units, but also, he may have lost some of them to war.

And in LOTR, they all get a happy ending.

Of all four of them, Frodo is the only one who can’t return home, most probably mirroring Tolkien’s trauma. He’s the only one whose ending is grounded in trauma, PTSD, loss. The rest of the hobbits get happy endings - very simple and traditional in a way that after the war was nothing but good - they marry, they have kids, the kids marry each other, everyone is happy and lives long lives.

Sam, especially, gets the happiest ending of all in this sense - he marries a woman he grew up with, he has so many beautiful kids, he is mayor for like seven times and everyone loves him, the Shire thrives.

Tolkien was too traumatised after the war not to write Frodo as a mirror of his experiences. But then he took all the people who fought alongside him, who suffered alongside him, people who he lost, and gave them the happiest fairy tale endings he could think of. And it’s not that Merry, Pippin and Sam weren’t as traumatised - this ending is not meant to belittle their experiences - Tolkien is simply giving them the ending that real life didn’t give them.

Returning to the original point, to Aragorn - it’s just another version of the same mechanism. Gondor was struggling, Gongor had Mordor as their immediate neighbours and was heavily affected by the war as well. And then there came a just, good king, and everything was fine. The end. It’s a subplot of the same fantasy as the hobbits’ endings. It doesn’t matter how hard ruling is, we trust that Aragorn is a good king, because people of Gondor deserve a good king (the people of the real world deserved a good ruler who wouldn’t drag them to war), and we know that Aragorn is an honorable, just man.

Nothing about the LOTR ending - apart from Frodo’s trauma - is meant to be realistic. Why would Tolkien want to write WWI and the aftermath - this time fictional.

2,038 notes - Posted September 24, 2022

a friendly reminder 🔫🙂

(ID is added in alt text)

8,910 notes - Posted February 11, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

between describing elrond as an "ambitious political leader" and describing GoT as a "spiritual successor to lotr movies" I see now how stupid it was to think that the lotr series' intended audience would be you know. lotr fans

9,688 notes - Posted February 11, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #I CREATED MORE POSTS THAN I REBLOGGED? damn what a busy year for me lkjdlkjflvjfdkkdf #it's mine my own my precious #i love how this is just. you reblogged the most from yourself and also yourself on main. this is so funny

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bambirex · 2 years ago

Text

The River’s Just A River

Pairing: Geraskier, one-sided geraskier

Characters: Jaskier/Dandelion, Geralt of Rivia

Rating: Teen

Additional tags: angst, unrequited love, one-sided attraction, love confessions, hurt jaskier, heartbreak, loneliness, hopeful ending

Word count: 1,817

Chapters: 1/1

Summary: Jaskier needs to tell Geralt something important in order to move on with his life, even though he knows he cannot expect anything in return.

Author’s notes: I've been thinking a lot about how the show would handle queer Jaskier (which we may or may not get eventually), and if they would ever acknowledge his very obvious feelings for Geralt. I kind of had this whole scene in my head where Jaskier eventually tells Geralt, but in a way that would be, I guess, realistic in the actual show's universe (as in they wouldn't have the guts to make Geraskier canon, but we could still have canonically one-sided Geraskier). I just so desperately want them to say out loud that Jaskier is in love with Geralt, even if they wouldn't actually end up in a relationship!!! Like, don't be cowards, give us that at least!!! And be respectful about it!!!!

Anyway, here's a short, angsty piece of an imaginary season 3 scene. Feedback is super appreciated!!!

Read on Ao3

The air was chilly in the mountains. It was colder here than any other place Jaskier has ever been to. He hugged his torso protectively against the harsh bite of the wind, rubbing his arms up and down. He stared down over the railing of the balcony, watching as Yennefer and Ciri stood side by side, the sorceress explaining something with animated gestures, while Ciri nodded along with utmost attention.

Kaer Morhen was a lonely place, despite crawling with witchers and now with their guests. Jaskier hasn’t had many opportunities to interact with anyone besides Yennefer. He hasn’t really managed to speak to Geralt, either.

Funny how it was that Jaskier has been alone for years after Geralt has abandoned him on that mountain after the dragon hunt, but the gaping hole inside Jaskier’s heart left by his absence only became truly evident after they reunited. It felt like getting Geralt back, giving Jaskier stupid, false hope for a couple of moments; the foolish part of his brain desperately clung to the short moments they got to spend together. But then, Geralt slipped away again, returning to his more important duties of caring for the family Jaskier wasn’t part of. It hurt way more than it should have. Jaskier thought he could now handle heartbreak, having gathered enough experience in the matter, but it seemed like some things would never change. Not when it came to his feelings for Geralt.

Jaskier flinched when he felt a touch on his back. He whipped around, then let out a sigh of relief when he realized it was Geralt standing behind him.

“Gods above, warn a man before you sneak up on him from behind,” Jaskier chuckled, clutching a hand over his heart dramatically. Geralt hummed, the sound almost amused.

“If I warn you beforehand, it’s not sneaking.”

A part of Jaskier longed for moments like this, where it felt like their natural chemistry was back. In those moments, it almost felt like nothing was ruined between them. The other, slightly more rational part of him knew that this was just a mockery of what used to be, a sad attempt at trying to fix what was broken, what was hopeless even before the mountain incident.

“Why aren’t you in bed?” Geralt asked, moving a little closer to Jaskier. He still stood way too far away, as if he was worried that standing too close would have scared him away. “It’s early.”

Jaskier shrugged. “Couldn’t sleep.”

“Your hands?”

The question caught Jaskier off-guard. Geralt hasn’t even asked him about them, until now. Jaskier wasn’t even sure if he’s noticed.

Now, Geralt was looking at Jaskier’s bandaged hands with a furrow between his brow that almost looked like concern.

“It’s not that bad,” Jaskier lied, turning his eyes away from Geralt and back to the endless snow stretching out over the mountains. He didn’t want to admit that he’s been sobbing in pain for the better part of an hour this morning. The last thing he wanted was to burden Geralt with his own problems. He had enough on his plate already.

“If there’s anything…” Geralt trailed off. He crossed his arms over his chest, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. “If there’s anything I can do to help, let me know?”

Jaskier cursed the flutter of his heart. He’d promised himself he wouldn’t melt, that he wouldn’t allow Geralt back into his heart. He’d promised himself that he would fall out of love with him, and yet.

“I’m fine, Geralt,” Jaskier said, forcing a smile onto his face. “Really, don’t worry about me.”

“Why did you do it?” Geralt sounded almost pained. The frown between his brows deepened.

“Why did you endure that torture? You had every right to sell me out after what I’ve done to you.”

It was true. Jaskier owed Geralt nothing after Geralt has betrayed his own trust like that, after he broke Jaskier’s heart. He couldn’t even know if he would ever see Geralt again, so it wouldn’t have been his duty to protect him. For all Jaskier had known in that moment, Geralt and him had been completely through.

But the sad reality of it was, that Jaskier had never actually managed to stop loving Geralt; for all his frustrations, for all the dissing songs full of angry pain, he’s always remained that naïve, young bard who had fallen in love with a grumpy witcher in a dingy tavern. Geralt had hurt him so deeply, had abandoned him and hadn’t even bothered to look for him all these years, but Jaskier still forgave him easily, still clung to him like all those decades ago. Because Jaskier was many things, and a big part of him was his eternal love for Geralt.

He was older now, maybe even a bit more mature. He’s seen many things, and has been hurt many times. He could have lied, the same way he lied about the amount of pain he was in, but he saw no point in it. He really only had one life, and only so many chances to live his truth during.

“You don’t know, do you,” Jaskier whispered, avoiding Geralt’s eyes. Looking into them would have hurt too much, would have stopped him from saying what he knew he had to. “You don’t even have an idea. Not after all these years.”

“I’m not sure what you mean,” Geralt admitted. “But I’m willing to listen.”

Jaskier sighed. He shivered, but he wasn’t sure if it was still from the cold.

“There were days, when I wanted you to hurt,” Jaskier’s voice was barely above a whisper. “When I wanted you to suffer as much as I have. But… it was a specific pain, that I wished on you. Not just any pain. I wanted you to feel the same heartbreak I’ve felt after you left me.”

“Jaskier…”

“No, please, let me finish,” Jaskier all but begged him. He knew that if he couldn’t say it now, he would take this with him to the grave.

“But I could have never hurt you, myself. I’m incapable of doing it. Not just because I’m weak, and a coward, but because I could never bring myself to do it. I could write a song calling you horrible names, or I could ignore you for a couple of days, but I could never, ever be able to cause you pain.”

He placed a shaky hand on the railing. The cool surface made his abused hand ache for a couple seconds, before the pain subsided.

“There was always a part of me, a part that clung onto stupid dreams and hopes all along. A part that wondered… that maybe… maybe I wasn’t alone in my feelings. When you would worry about me, when you would hold me just a little longer after each reunion… when you would smile at me… in those moments, I started to hope.”

He swallowed, his throat suddenly feeling tight and dry. The words barely managed to come out, constricted by his pain.

“That was what I tried to tell you on that mountain. When I asked you to run away with me. I couldn’t say it out loud, because I still had hope, and I was scared I would break it with my words, but I meant it. And I still mean it.”

He looked up at Geralt at last. He remembered how his heart pounded when he was trying to make Geralt see what he meant to him on the mountain. His heart was still now, if a little hurt. Because the naïve hope wasn’t here anymore to make him nervous.

“I love you, Geralt,” Jaskier told him, his shoulders slumping as the weight that has been sitting on them for more than twenty years, has finally left. “I’ve been in love with you since the day that we’ve met.”

He waited a little, letting the weight of his words settle in. His witcher blinked at him, his lips parting slightly as if he wanted to say something, but wasn’t sure what.

“That was why I endured the fire, why I was willing to even die if it meant you would be safe. Because I love you.”

Jaskier closed his eyes, letting a tear ran down from beneath them, so cold against his cheek.

He only opened them again when he felt Geralt laying a hand on his shoulder, the touch so painfully familiar to when he asked for Jaskier’s help in the prison cell. Even his expression was similar, only more ridden with guilt.

“I am so sorry, Jaskier,” Geralt told him. His voice was more earnest than Jaskier has ever heard before. “I don’t… I love you, too. Just… not like that.”

“I know,” Jaskier whispered. He slowly, carefully brought up his own hand, to touch Geralt’s arm. “I’ve known that since the mountain. I didn’t tell you so you would force yourself into returning it. Or to guilt you, even. I just couldn’t have you not knowing forever. I’ve nearly died so many times in the past few days, and… I’ve seen so much shit. Life really is fucking short, and I guess… what pleases me now, is being honest with my best friend.”

He let out a shaky breath. Geralt’s hand was still on his shoulder, and Jaskier let himself cherish it for a little longer.

“Because we are… we are still friends, right?” He asked, his voice wavering. “Or… we could still be?”

“Do you still want to be?” Geralt asked. There was a tinge of emotion in his voice, one that sounded suspiciously like hope. “After everything?”

“I think we could try,” Jaskier said. He held Geralt’s gaze, letting some hope seep back into his own heart: a different kind he used to have, but still hope, nonetheless.

Geralt hummed. There was a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips, even when he pulled his hand back from Jaskier.

“We’re gonna have to take Ciri somewhere else,” he said, his eyes drifting to where Yennefer and Ciri were still practicing far away from them. “A place where Yen could help her with her powers more efficiently.”

He looked back at Jaskier. “I’d like it if you came along.”

“Of course,” Jaskier replied, letting a smile settle onto his face. Geralt nodded, then turned around and walked back inside, leaving Jaskier standing on the balcony.

Jaskier turned his face upwards, breathing in the cold air. He closed his eyes again.

For so many years, Jaskier has felt so heavy, as if his body has been filled with rocks. Now, he felt light, and calm: there was no need for any more second-guessing, no need for worrying. He needed to let go of Geralt in a way to let him in again.

And by doing so, Jaskier has stepped onto the path of healing.

#geraskier #jaskier #geralt of rivia #the witcher fanfiction #the witcher fic #geraskier fanfiction #geraskier fic #geralt x jaskier #one sided geraskier #my fic

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dumfanting · 2 years ago

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I need to talk about something.

I know the "please reblog" posts have been making the rounds again, but the message just isn’t being heard.

Before I get into that though, I need to make one thing as clear as possible:

I am grateful for every single note I get, no matter what kind it is.

But this is frustrating.

Last time I made this kind of post, I’d made a hand drawn graph but this time I made an effort to keep this one as clear and concise as possible. I included replies because it’s still an interaction beyond just tapping and moving on. My own reblogs and replies have been subtracted for the most accurate data.

Only one of these has a good reblogs to likes ratio, and it’s the least popular of the stories shown. And honestly, seeing the disparity with all the others hurts. I spend hours and hours of my time writing. Even when I’m not actively typing anything out, I’m thinking about characters and plot points almost constantly. And seeing it mapped out like this makes me feel like all that time and effort is wasted and unappreciated.

Think of it this way: You’re working a job, and your boss keeps telling you how good you are at it, so you work harder, hoping to get a raise. But no matter how good you are at your job, the only thing you get out of it is ‘nice work’. After a while, the words feel empty and you stop putting that effort in, since there’s no tangible reward for it. Then your boss wonders why you aren’t working as hard and gives you grief for it, sometimes even demanding that you work hard for nothing.

You tell them, over and over, that you need that raise. There is no reason for you to not get it. They have the money, but they just won’t give it to you. The effort of changing one number on your paycheck is just ‘too hard’.

You wouldn’t stay at that job for very long, would you? Of course not, you want to be somewhere where you feel genuinely appreciated and are shown that by your boss.

That is exactly what the situation is like for creators here. Except we don’t get paid for posting to begin with!

There is no algorithm on this site. Liking a post won’t make it appear on your followers feeds like it does on Twitter. Unlike YouTube, the number of views a post gets does absolutely nothing for us, that isn’t even tracked here. Liking a post will not automatically show you similar posts like it does on TikTok. If you want more, you need to reblog.

I’ve seen a few people talk about empty reblogs (those without tags or comments). Personally, I don’t mind those! The very act of reblogging is what matters, because even if it is empty, it’ll still show up on your followers feeds and more people will see it.

I’ve also seen posts from ‘likers’ that say we aren’t entitled to interaction, and we are very much aware of that, but that also means you are not entitled to our work. Work that we are doing for free.

If you don’t let creators know in some form (reblogs, replies, messages, even a simple tag of ‘nice’) that you really want to see our work, you have no right at all to complain when we stop posting or even delete everything altogether.

It’s really sad that, right around posting my twentieth story, I’m thinking about stopping. This has been bothering me for a very long time. Graphing the numbers up and seeing what I’ve been feeling proven, through cold, hard, facts, has done nothing to change my mind.

#PSA #if you want more #put the extra millisecond of movement in to show us that

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asylos · 2 years ago

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Darkest Desires - Interview with Author Alessa Hale

Miri: Hello friends! Today on the blog we have a good friend of mine, Alessa Hale. Alessa is releasing her first published novel on February 17th, 2023 with Skye High Publishing and I for one, am very happy to see it coming out. As an ace who loves to read the kinky, dark side of things, Alessa has long been a provider of my guilty pleasure reads, though I’m trying to stop using that term, as we should not feel guilty about our pleasure.

To start out, why don’t you hit us with the good old “back of the book” blurb? What is Darkest Desires?

Alessa: Darkest Desires is a dark, kink-heavy erotic romance, featuring a MMF (Miri note: that’s male-male-female for those who aren’t familiar with the short form) polyamorous triad. Oh, and the two male leads are demons.

Elias and Caelan are the gorgeous rockstar duo behind Goëtica, a concept band where they play the role of otherworldly, demonic creatures. Except it’s far more than an act. Shannon runs into them after a concert and learns the truth about them; they are demons. They’re powerful, terrifying, dangerous, and irresistible, all in equal measure. One thing leads to another, and they end up spending the night together.

What starts out as a rockstar-and-groupie style one night stand soon becomes much more, as Shannon learns more about them, their stories, and their rather dark inclinations in the bedroom.

Darkest Desires is very much a character driven story, focusing tightly on their interactions and burgeoning relationship. Anticipate something more like a dark, fucked up slice of life… if your life involved two demon boyfriends of highly questionable morals and a lot of spicy, kinky sex.

Miri: Demons?

Alessa: In a manner of speaking. The boys are demons, but they are also trapped on our plane of existence and in human forms now. They weren’t too happy about that.

They still retain a fair bit of their power and a few not-so-human features (no spicy demon peen, though–perhaps a missed opportunity on my part!) but mostly they’re just minding their own business and trying to make the best of their circumstances. By starting a band, because what else would you do if you were a demon stuck masquerading as a human.

That leaves the setting of the story more or less contemporary, but with a paranormal twist and just a sprinkling of demon metaphysics to make life more exciting.

Miri: This is a kinky book, and you’ve kindly posted the list of kinks and content warnings as well (links). Was it important to you to make these contents clear to the audience?

Alessa: Definitely. I come from a fandom background where tagging your work is a common courtesy, plus I’m a big believer in “your kink is not my kink and that’s okay”. There are absolutely kinks in the book that are not going to be to everyone’s taste, or could even be triggering for some.

A lot of BDSM themes are present throughout – fully consensual, enthusiastic, and negotiated – but some of the kinks involved are considered taboo or fringe even within BDSM spheres. Specifically, there is a heavy emphasis on knife play and blood play. These have a significant part in the story, such as an entire scene that is primarily focused on knife play, so it’s not really something that can be glossed over.

It’s definitely something people should be aware of beforehand, so they can make an informed decision as to whether the story is right for them. That said… if you’re on the fence but curious, give it a try. I have been told I’ve introduced people to kinks they never knew they had on a fairly regular basis. 😉

Miri: That you have, that you have! I certainly have… learned a few things about myself over the years. :D

Your Instagram (over here) features one of the locations that makes an appearance in the book, a restaurant the characters have a date at. The photo is of a most delicious looking dessert and I just have to know what it was.

Alessa: It was so good it even got an honorary inclusion in the book! That is a white chocolate bread pudding, from a restaurant called The Perch in L.A. (The restaurant itself isn’t named in the story, but now you know the secret.)

Miri: Ooh. That does sound as good as it looks. Folx in the L.A. area, if you can get out there and try it, snag your own pictures! You don’t have to take a demonic date with you, but if you have the chance, well, you know I won’t judge.

Alright this is one of those questions I hit every writer with: pantser or plotter? (Or as some people like to phrase it, Gardener or architect?) Or that magical in between? Plantser? Garditech? (Who knows what bonkers words we’ll come up with next.)

Alessa: Pantser, absolutely 100%. Even gardener sounds a little too refined for my process! This wasn’t intended to be a novel originally – it started out life as a short one-shot story, which was just their initial meeting and a one night stand. But I loved the characters so much, I loved their dynamic so much, and there was so much potential left open, I ended up coming back to it again and again. More parts were added as and when the ideas came… and then I eventually realised I had written enough to count as an entire novel. Some heavy streamlining and polishing later, and here we are.

Miri: Isn’t that just the way of it. Those pesky characters rarely do what we expect them to. You sit down for a quick 1k, and next thing you know… years of your life gone.

I know, I know, I’m asking you to pick a favourite child here, but do you have a favourite moment in the book - not necessarily a favourite scene as it turned out, but one that was the most fun to write? (Fun doesn’t always mean the easiest, of course.)

Alessa: That first section, the original short story it started life as, will always be the most special thing to me. It’s far more than just one moment, of course—I think chapter 2 to 5 cover what was initially the self-contained one shot. But that was the most fun I’ve had writing anything in… ever.

It was 3am in the coffee shop around the block, typing feverishly away at my laptop because I’d rather be writing it than sleep. Notebooks in every bag, scribbling on the bus, in checkout lines, any single second I could get. The inspiration, flow, and sheer joy of writing it was an as-of-yet completely unparalleled experience. I adored that thing.

For a little more of a specific moment, perhaps some of more amusing dialogue. During the editing process, I reread a line that I had entirely forgotten I’d written, and it caught me off guard and made me snort-laugh in a most inelegant manner. Of course, maybe I just have a terrible sense of humour...

Miri: Where can folx find out more about you, the book, and pre-order it? I hear there’s a sign up for ARCs (that’s advanced reader copies) as well? I know I’ve signed up so I can get an early review for the blog.

Alessa: Absolutely! Anyone who signs up can get a free electronic copy (Kindle or ePub) of the book. The publisher will be distributing these around two weeks before the release date. If you read it and enjoy it, an honest review on Amazon or Goodreads would be greatly appreciated, but there’s definitely no pressure.

Instagram is the best place to keep up to date with promotions and release information. I also have an author site with a full blurb and all the links you could possibly need, as well as some fun extras like character bios and a secret playlist.

Socials: Instagram, Twitter

Preorder at Amazon *The book will be available on Kindle Unlimited from February 17th.

Add to your Want to Read at Goodreads!

ARC Sign Up Form - Sign up by January 31st to make sure you are on the list!

Miri: One thing that I have always felt has come across in your writing (and folx, trust me, I have devoured a lot over the years) is your passion. You care about your characters, and their interactions. And I think that’s something that helps your work stand out from the crowd. There’s a lot of books out there to pick from, and I hope folx will give this one a read if it’s up their alley!

Well folx, that wraps up this preview interview, as I’d like to get it out in time for you to have a chance to sign up for an ARC or Preorder the book. I’ll be back again with my review once I’ve had a chance to read it!

#my website has imploded #so posting here until that is working again #book announcement #author interview

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theriu · 1 year ago

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Hey guys! So I have definitely had some Feelings about this post, but you know what? Despite my severe dislike of some parts of this, there are some good concepts in this plan, too. I do want to acknowledge the bits I think sound like good ideas and show that we as users aren’t JUST raging about everything. So in an effort to be fair, I’m going to point out a few points that are smart AND a few that do not make any sense from my 10+ years experience. I hope this will be helpful!

✅

This is a little vague, but I do like the direction. Tumblr CAN be cofusing when you are just getting started; the tag system especially was mystifying to me when I first logged on in 2012. I’m all for exploring ways to help new users understand how to get started! Perhaps a simple popup tutorial when a person makes their first account, like on some game apps?

❌

What… I don’t… what???? Literally every person I have ever talked to or heard from on this subject (in OVER TEN YEARS) has said that the ability to curate our experience is a PRIMARY OPTIMAL FEATURE of tumblr! Who are you guys talking to who made you think this only serves a small portion of your audience?!? Curatability is one of your most unique and biggest assets!

✅

That sounds like a good idea, honestly! I personally enjoy getting lots of notes, but I know lots of people seek ways to mute notifications when they have a post go viral. This seems like a nice way to help users be less afraid of their posts blowing up (or at least minimize the debris XD) I don’t use push notifications myself but I assume this would also apply there.

❌

I’m guessing this is one of the points that had people thinking you guys were messing with the chronological feed. I point again at my confusion over your claim that a curated dashboard experience is a negative—we do not want random posts from people we don’t follow showing up on our dashboards, mainly because we do not trust algorithms to understand what we as individuals like. Consider how many of us never touch the For You tab because most of the posts on there completely miss the mark.

✅

I’m down for this! The app is certainly slow and buggy sometimes. (As I type this, my keyboard is lagging at least one letter behind what I am typing.) The second claim is kinda vague, but I think we can all agree fewer bugs would be appreciated!

❌❌❌

Tumblr.

@staff .

I am holding your face gently in my hands.

I am begging you with tears in my eyes

PLEASE OH PLEASE PLEASE NO DO NOT!!! COLLAPSE!!! THE REBLOG THREADS!!!

There is NO WAY an algorithm can reliably differentiate “clutter” from “vital pieces of a reblog conversation that are essential to making it funny.” This will inevitably truncate the conversations that are the main reason most viral tumblr posts go viral! More times than not, it’s not the FIRST part of a post that makes it classic—it’s the responses that build off it.

And remember your point about making it easier for new users to engage with the site? Skipping to the end of a chain or not being able to see WHY a post is funny or compelling without the extra (annoying) action of clicking some tiny dropdown arrow will make new users AND old users even less inclined to engage with posts! If ANY bullet point on this list can be rescinded, I BEG you to make it this one!

To wrap up: I do think some of the changes and improvements you guys are working on sound good! I just ask on behalf of myself and other users: Please consider how you can improve the TUMBLR experience, not how you can make us into a new twitter or reddit (both sites that use collapsible reblogs AND are currently having Major Issues). We’re not looking for more of those sites; we love tumblr because it’s the only social media site like it: a self-curated place to interact at the level each of us is comfortable with and share each others’ great posts and interactions, without feeling like products instead of people. That’s why we’re here. That’s why we stay.

Tumblr’s Core Product Strategy

Here at Tumblr, we’ve been working hard on reorganizing how we work in a bid to gain more users. A larger user base means a more sustainable company, and means we get to stick around and do this thing with you all a bit longer. What follows is the strategy we're using to accomplish the goal of user growth. The @labs group has published a bit already, but this is bigger. We’re publishing it publicly for the first time, in an effort to work more transparently with all of you in the Tumblr community. This strategy provides guidance amid limited resources, allowing our teams to focus on specific key areas to ensure Tumblr’s future.

The Diagnosis

In order for Tumblr to grow, we need to fix the core experience that makes Tumblr a useful place for users. The underlying problem is that Tumblr is not easy to use. Historically, we have expected users to curate their feeds and lean into curating their experience. But this expectation introduces friction to the user experience and only serves a small portion of our audience.

Tumblr’s competitive advantage lies in its unique content and vibrant communities. As the forerunner of internet culture, Tumblr encompasses a wide range of interests, such as entertainment, art, gaming, fandom, fashion, and music. People come to Tumblr to immerse themselves in this culture, making it essential for us to ensure a seamless connection between people and content.

To guarantee Tumblr’s continued success, we’ve got to prioritize fostering that seamless connection between people and content. This involves attracting and retaining new users and creators, nurturing their growth, and encouraging frequent engagement with the platform.

Our Guiding Principles

To enhance Tumblr’s usability, we must address these core guiding principles.

Expand the ways new users can discover and sign up for Tumblr.

Provide high-quality content with every app launch.

Facilitate easier user participation in conversations.

Retain and grow our creator base.

Create patterns that encourage users to keep returning to Tumblr.

Improve the platform’s performance, stability, and quality.

Below is a deep dive into each of these principles.

Principle 1: Expand the ways new users can discover and sign up for Tumblr.

Tumblr has a “top of the funnel” issue in converting non-users into engaged logged-in users. We also have not invested in industry standard SEO practices to ensure a robust top of the funnel. The referral traffic that we do get from external sources is dispersed across different pages with inconsistent user experiences, which results in a missed opportunity to convert these users into regular Tumblr users. For example, users from search engines often land on pages within the blog network and blog view—where there isn’t much of a reason to sign up.

We need to experiment with logged-out tumblr.com to ensure we are capturing the highest potential conversion rate for visitors into sign-ups and log-ins. We might want to explore showing the potential future user the full breadth of content that Tumblr has to offer on our logged-out pages. We want people to be able to easily understand the potential behind Tumblr without having to navigate multiple tabs and pages to figure it out. Our current logged-out explore page does very little to help users understand “what is Tumblr.” which is a missed opportunity to get people excited about joining the site.

Actions & Next Steps

Improving Tumblr’s search engine optimization (SEO) practices to be in line with industry standards.

Experiment with logged out tumblr.com to achieve the highest conversion rate for sign-ups and log-ins, explore ways for visitors to “get” Tumblr and entice them to sign up.

Principle 2: Provide high-quality content with every app launch.

We need to ensure the highest quality user experience by presenting fresh and relevant content tailored to the user’s diverse interests during each session. If the user has a bad content experience, the fault lies with the product.

The default position should always be that the user does not know how to navigate the application. Additionally, we need to ensure that when people search for content related to their interests, it is easily accessible without any confusing limitations or unexpected roadblocks in their journey.

Being a 15-year-old brand is tough because the brand carries the baggage of a person’s preconceived impressions of Tumblr. On average, a user only sees 25 posts per session, so the first 25 posts have to convey the value of Tumblr: it is a vibrant community with lots of untapped potential. We never want to leave the user believing that Tumblr is a place that is stale and not relevant.

Actions & Next Steps

Deliver great content each time the app is opened.

Make it easier for users to understand where the vibrant communities on Tumblr are.

Improve our algorithmic ranking capabilities across all feeds.

Principle 3: Facilitate easier user participation in conversations.

Part of Tumblr’s charm lies in its capacity to showcase the evolution of conversations and the clever remarks found within reblog chains and replies. Engaging in these discussions should be enjoyable and effortless.

Unfortunately, the current way that conversations work on Tumblr across replies and reblogs is confusing for new users. The limitations around engaging with individual reblogs, replies only applying to the original post, and the inability to easily follow threaded conversations make it difficult for users to join the conversation.

Actions & Next Steps

Address the confusion within replies and reblogs.

Improve the conversational posting features around replies and reblogs.

Allow engagements on individual replies and reblogs.

Make it easier for users to follow the various conversation paths within a reblog thread.

Remove clutter in the conversation by collapsing reblog threads.

Explore the feasibility of removing duplicate reblogs within a user’s Following feed.

Principle 4: Retain and grow our creator base.

Creators are essential to the Tumblr community. However, we haven’t always had a consistent and coordinated effort around retaining, nurturing, and growing our creator base.

Being a new creator on Tumblr can be intimidating, with a high likelihood of leaving or disappointment upon sharing creations without receiving engagement or feedback. We need to ensure that we have the expected creator tools and foster the rewarding feedback loops that keep creators around and enable them to thrive.

The lack of feedback stems from the outdated decision to only show content from followed blogs on the main dashboard feed (“Following”), perpetuating a cycle where popular blogs continue to gain more visibility at the expense of helping new creators. To address this, we need to prioritize supporting and nurturing the growth of new creators on the platform.

It is also imperative that creators, like everyone on Tumblr, feel safe and in control of their experience. Whether it be an ask from the community or engagement on a post, being successful on Tumblr should never feel like a punishing experience.

Actions & Next Steps

Get creators’ new content in front of people who are interested in it.

Improve the feedback loop for creators, incentivizing them to continue posting.

Build mechanisms to protect creators from being spammed by notifications when they go viral.

Expand ways to co-create content, such as by adding the capability to embed Tumblr links in posts.

Principle 5: Create patterns that encourage users to keep returning to Tumblr.

Push notifications and emails are essential tools to increase user engagement, improve user retention, and facilitate content discovery. Our strategy of reaching out to you, the user, should be well-coordinated across product, commercial, and marketing teams.

Our messaging strategy needs to be personalized and adapt to a user’s shifting interests. Our messages should keep users in the know on the latest activity in their community, as well as keeping Tumblr top of mind as the place to go for witty takes and remixes of the latest shows and real-life events.

Most importantly, our messages should be thoughtful and should never come across as spammy.

Actions & Next Steps

Conduct an audit of our messaging strategy.

Address the issue of notifications getting too noisy; throttle, collapse or mute notifications where necessary.

Identify opportunities for personalization within our email messages.

Test what the right daily push notification limit is.

Send emails when a user has push notifications switched off.

Principle 6: Performance, stability and quality.

The stability and performance of our mobile apps have declined. There is a large backlog of production issues, with more bugs created than resolved over the last 300 days. If this continues, roughly one new unresolved production issue will be created every two days. Apps and backend systems that work well and don't crash are the foundation of a great Tumblr experience. Improving performance, stability, and quality will help us achieve sustainable operations for Tumblr.

Improve performance and stability: deliver crash-free, responsive, and fast-loading apps on Android, iOS, and web.

Improve quality: deliver the highest quality Tumblr experience to our users.

Move faster: provide APIs and services to unblock core product initiatives and launch new features coming out of Labs.

Conclusion

Our mission has always been to empower the world’s creators. We are wholly committed to ensuring Tumblr evolves in a way that supports our current users while improving areas that attract new creators, artists, and users. You deserve a digital home that works for you. You deserve the best tools and features to connect with your communities on a platform that prioritizes the easy discoverability of high-quality content. This is an invigorating time for Tumblr, and we couldn’t be more excited about our current strategy.

#river responds #staff #tumblr #tumblr updates #reaction

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deivorous · 3 years ago

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PSA - How to Start

The Quick Guide To Interacting (Even If You’re Anxious)

My biggest piece of advice to RPer’s both new and old is don’t be afraid to reach out and talk to others first.

I have seen a lot of blogs come and go, and a lot of people expressing frustration about how they don’t get enough interaction, or how people never send them asks, or reply to their starters. The get disheartened, and many people stop writing as a result. And my thought is always the same:

Did you send an ask? Did you reply to an open starter? Did you make any attempt to interact with them or are you both just sitting on your thumbs um-ing and ah-ing and waiting for someone else to decide to message you first?

I don’t intend for this to sound mean at all, I understand that some people can be anxious (I certainly can be), but I also genuinely believe that a lot of anxiety is sprung from the lack of open communication. When I first started out I was one of the people who kind of just… posted a lot and hoped my followers would start sending stuff? And that didn’t happen. It made me feel really shitty and I lost a lot of confidence in myself and my writing. And that was wrong, both as a thought process and as an overarching mentality. My writing isn’t bad, my characterization isn’t bad, and I’m not a bad person. The only issue was that someone at some point needs to take the first step and say hello!

So! How do you say hello?

Step 1: See an ask meme on someones blog that you really want to befriend them, send them one or two questions! Read their answer! And then (and here’s the tricky part) leave a little comment in the replies of that post to tell them what part of their reply you liked, you can even leave a little IC reply of your muse reacting to something. - Now you’ve broken the ice! The mun knows who you are (and if you are mutuals) and will probably be pretty grateful that you sent an ask! You can now send more, and they might even send you a few back! Now you’re interacting!

(Note: If they haven’t posted a meme in a while, you can scroll back through their blog and find one, or think up one of your own - send in the QUESTION, not the icon. Treat it as a stand alone. People love writing about their muses, so you just need to create the opportunity for them to do so!)

Step 2: Now that you’re interacting, you can try to send an IC ask (You can do this in step 1 too, but if you’re more shy you can wait for step 2!) - whether its from a meme or not. Starting from a question means that you are already in the middle of a conversation with the muses, and it helps to make things flow more smoothly. Don’t be stressed if the thread dies after a reply or two - it’s not meant to last forever, that’s okay! It’s meant to allow the two of you to get a feel of each other and your writing styles. Have fun with it!

Step 3: Send an IM. This might feel like the biggest step, but do not worry. A compliment, I find, is the kindest and nicest way to introduce yourself ooc. I know that I for one am always very flattered if someone takes the time to find something about my recent reply/writing/characterization/hcs and share that with me. A little ‘Hello! I laughed so much at xxxx line you wrote’ or ‘I love your hc on xxxx!’ is such a nice message to get. Being nice is the best way to make friends and it can lead to more RP in the future.

Note: If you don’t ‘click’ don’t worry. You’re not always going to be best friends with everyone. Leave it be. That doesn’t mean that they don’t appreciate your asks, and won’t send you some, and it doesn’t mean that you can never write together. It just means that you don’t have perfect chemistry. If you don’t click it is still a very nice idea to send people memes and questions when they appear on your dash. The community thrives off of participation! So participate and you’ll find the good karma comes around.

Furthermore, don’t be dissuaded by seeing others interact with their friends on the dashboard. Some people have been writing together for years, and its presumptuous to assume you will have the same friendship in only a few days. It’s not elitist for someone to have fun with their own bestie.

And sometimes you just don’t get along with someone at all. The chemistry isn’t there. It doesn’t mean either of you are bad people or that your writing is bad - it just means you aren’t compatible. Let it go. You’ll find your people.

A final disclaimer: read peoples rules and blogs - they are there to help facilitate interaction!

If there’s a rule saying ‘I only write with mutuals’, then wait to become a mutual to send or request something IC. If there’s a rule saying ‘I don’t write XYZ’ then don’t send an ask about XYZ.

And read their blogs because they might have a list of open starters, a wishlist, or even a plot generator pre-prepared! Use this to your advantage - they are telling you want they are interested in writing! That’s a huge hint :D

#[ PSA ]#OK TO REBLOG!#i write this ages ago in reply to an ask and a few people requested that I make it into its own PSA #so here it is (weeks later)#i felt it was a good time considering the return of bleach and the fact that at least my little corner of the fandom seems to be gaining #some traction again #long post #and one more note just in my tags is that those “why aren’t we interacting’ memes usually don’t help. they don’t break the ice comfortably

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lycandrophile · 5 months ago

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THANK YOU!!! the tags i’ve been seeing like this have been bothering the hell out of me, especially because of just how many there are.

pregnancy isn’t body horror. it’s simply not. the point of body horror is to horrify you by showing you things happening to bodies that should not happen — gore and violence, limbs in impossible configurations or body parts mixed with distinctly inhuman features, natural bodily processes being imitated by something monstrous or alien. it’s not just “hey, aren’t natural human bodies so gross and awful and scary?” so no, pregnancy actually isn’t body horror for the same reason disabled bodies aren’t body horror — you might personally be horrified by them, but that just says a whole lot about how you perceive real life marginalized bodies and absolutely nothing about the bodies themselves.

yes, bodies are weird and pregnancy can do things to a person’s body that we don’t typically see outside of that context. but it’s still a natural bodily process, and the bodies you’re apparently so comfortable calling horrifying are real people’s bodies, not special effects in a horror movie. if you have that strong of an aversion to actual real life bodies of any kind, that doesn’t mean those kinds of bodies “are body horror”, it simply means you need to work on how you view other people and project your feelings on their bodies because that isn’t healthy at all.

like, to be clear, viewing male pregnancy as body horror is anti-transmasculinity, and also, viewing female pregnancy as body horror is misogyny. the fact that you’re dehumanizing cis women and trans men in that way doesn’t make it better than if you were just dehumanizing trans men. i would argue it’s actually worse, simply because that’s even more people whose bodies you see as less worthy of respect!

not to mention, you can say you see all pregnancy as equally horrifying all you want, but i know you don’t actually treat them the same way. no matter how you may feel internally about the bodies of pregnant women, you’re at least desensitized to seeing them in real life. we’ve all interacted with pregnant women in our daily lives, we probably all know women in our personal lives who we’ve seen pregnant at some point. so even if you do think all pregnancy is body horror, unless you’re especially shitty, you’re going to know how to interact with a pregnant woman without treating them like some sort of monster because you’ve probably had to learn how to do that at some point. you might still be weird to them, but you at least know how to reign it in to some extent.

but pregnant men? i’d bet real money that you’ve never seen one in real life. your exposure to male pregnancy is probably limited to horror movies and hypersexualized mpreg art and maybe news stories or social media posts about pregnant trans men. even if you say you feel the same about all pregnancy, we’re the ones you’re going to end up treating with the least respect and dignity, simply because you’re not used to us yet. so don’t fool yourself into thinking your disgust toward pregnancy doesn’t uniquely affect trans men, because even if you don’t only feel it toward us, i guarantee you’ll show it to us in a way you wouldn’t show it to pregnant women because you haven’t been forced to learn how to pretend you respect us yet.

(and even if you are just openly and unabashedly horrible toward pregnant women, i guarantee you’d be even more awful toward a pregnant man for that reason.)

so please, stop telling on yourselves for being misogynistic and anti-transmasculine in my notes and start doing some real introspective digging into why you’re so comfortable labeling people’s actual real life bodies as “body horror”.

do you actually care about trans men or do you relegate male pregnancy to the status of "gross but funny fanfiction trope" at best and "literal body horror" at worst? do you actually care about trans men or have you accepted without question the ideas that bottom growth is a borderline-torturously painful process and phalloplasty is a dangerous surgery with objectively unsatisfactory results because they confirm your implicit assumptions about the violence and horror of masculinization? do you actually care about trans men or do you think testosterone being a controlled substance is fair because you prioritize fairness in sports more highly than transmasculine lives? do you actually care about trans men or do you distance yourself from us as we transition and make half-joking comments about us being traitors because you view transmasculinity as a shift from ally to enemy? do you actually care about trans men or do you get mad at us when we read transmasculine experiences into female characters because you see it as an act of theft and believe transmasculinity is inherently less valuable than womanhood? do you actually care about trans men or is your first thought when you see a transition timeline about how pretty the "before" picture is? do you actually care about trans men or does your interest in our lives begin and end with how badly you want a boypussy to fuck?

do we exist to you as real people or only in theory? do you read the stories we tell, listen to the music we make? how many of us can you name? when we speak, do you listen? would you fight for us? do you trust us to know ourselves best? are you our friend? do you mourn us when we're gone? do you care for us while we're still here?

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heyiwrotesomethings · 3 years ago

Note

Hey , love your work. Could I request a oneshot of mary and a very dense she/her reader, so mary has to go above and beyond and break past her tsundere wall to confess to the reader. Mary would probably be like "This god damn idiot."

Do I Have to Spell it Out for You?

Mary Saotome x She/Her Reader

A/N: Hey, Reader may be dense but Mary doesn’t exactly make it easy with that tsundere attitude. Hope you enjoy! Word Count: 1,593

“Hey.” Mary greeted (Y/n) curtly, slapping a fat stack of yen on the girl’s desk. “Here’s your cut from the gamble yesterday.”

“Thanks Mary! …Hm?” (Y/n) tilted her head to the side. Surely she hadn’t earned that much money on the gamble. “Isn’t this too much?”

“What? You think I can count cards but I can’t count yen?” Mary groused. “I gave you what you deserved. You figured out the cheat, you get a bit more of the cut. Don’t overthink it.”

“Sure. If it’s really alright with you, thanks Mary!”

“Yeah, whatever, you already said that, idiot.” Mary walked stiffly over to her desk and made a show of opening her textbook and looking busy. Meanwhile her heart was pounding. If (Y/n) gave her that stupid smile one my time, she would perish on the spot.

She had been dealing with (suffering with) her feelings for (Y/n) for months. She kept dropping hints that she was interested in her, but the idiot didn’t suspect a thing. How much more obvious could she be! Extra yen, picking her over Yumeko and Ririka for gambles, treating her to lunches off campus to be among normal people for a change. What wasn’t clicking?

She shot (Y/n) a side-eye glance as the teacher came into the room. To anyone else she would have appeared to have been staring daggers at the girl when really she was appreciating how the sun streaming through the windows backlit her, giving her an outline like gold.

(Y/n) felt eyes on her and looked up from her note taking and met Mary’s eye, making the blonde flinch in her seat and blush at being caught. (Y/n) simply smiled at her and gave her a little wave before facing front again.

Mary bore down on her pencil so hard, the tip snapped. How dare this girl have so much power of her and not even notice! She tossed her pencil into her desk and pulled out a pen instead and began writing notes furiously, earning a couple sideways glances from the classmates around her with her loud scrapes.

Yumeko giggled into her hand, having watched the whole interaction and Ryota sat in his seat looking as lost as always. He met Mary’s eye for only a millisecond before turning away, but he still felt like he had been electrocuted.

***

After classes were over, Mary walked over to (Y/n)’s desk before the girl even finished packing up her belongings.

“Hey. I’m leaving this fucked up school to go to see a movie and eat dinner. If you want to come with I won’t stop you. I don’t care.”

“That does sound fun… you really won’t mind if I tag along?” (Y/n) asked.

“That’s what I said, wasn’t it? Hurry up before I leave you behind.” Mary grit her teeth as familiar arms wrapped around her shoulders. She elbowed the person behind her, unsatisfied by the obviously fake yelp of pain.

“Ow, Mary-chan, so mean!” Yumeko pouted, rubbing her ribs. She quickly returned to her usual chipper self, however. “What are you two up to, hm?”

“None of your—!”

“Mary said she’s going to a movie and then dinner. She said I could come, maybe you guys could come too?”

“That does sound fun!” Yumeko grinned, looping arms with (Y/n). “Don’t you think Ryota?”

“Uh, yeah, I think—“

“You two aren’t coming! God, can’t you guys do anything without me?” Mary griped. She snatched (Y/n) out of Yumeko’s grasp, snapped up her school bag and dragged her out of the door.

“We will meet you there then!” Yumeko waved.

“You better not!” Mary shouted over her shoulder.

“I don’t know Mary. Wouldn’t it be fun if more of our friends tagged along?”

“No!”

“Why not?”

Mary was about to have an aneurysm.

“I was doing you a favor just extending the invitation to you. Don’t test my patience with those other degenerates.”

“Okay.” (Y/n) shrugged and let Mary pull her whatever way she wanted. Mary only slowed when they were well off of the school grounds.

***

Mary thought she was doing everything right. She let (Y/n) pick the movie, paid for both their tickets and snacks… she tried to hold her hand but (Y/n) just thought she wanted popcorn. Then they went to dinner and (Y/n) insisted to pay for that, to pay back for the movie she said. Mary accepted begrudgingly. She tried to offer (Y/n) a bite of her food, her chopsticks hanging in the air, but (Y/n) took some directly from her plate before pushing her own towards Mary and offering her some of her food.

Did she really not know how hard this was for Mary, to be vulnerable like this? She was thwarting her at every turn. Couldn’t she tell what all of this was about?

“Thanks for letting me come with you tonight.” (Y/n) said as they rode the transit back to the school grounds.

“Yeah, sure.” Mary grumbled, she bit the inside of her lip out of aggravation. “We… we should do it again sometime.” She gritted out.

“Sure! I enjoy spending time with you.”

Yes!

“You’re one of my best friends, Mary.”

No! Yes, but no!

Mary couldn’t take it anymore. She really didn’t want to have to resort to this but she left her with no choice.

“(Y/n)!” She yelled, startling some of the other people on the bus.

“Yeah?” (Y/n) perked up.

She was staring at Mary so intently that it almost made her want to leap out of the moving bus.

“(Y/n), you— I, damn it!” She pulled at her hair then dug in pocket of her shirt and pulled out a pen. “Do I really have to spell it out for you?!” She tore a notebook from her bag and flipped it to a random blank page and scribbled, loudly cursing when the movement of the bus jostled her arm.

When she was finished, she ripped out the page and pushed it into (Y/n)’s chest. (Y/n) took the note in one hand and rubbed at collarbone with the other as she read, her face grew shocked as she read the note twice, thrice…

“Mary, you wanted this to be a date? You really mean it? You like me?”

Mary was blushing so hard she could hear the blood rushing through her ears. Her throat strained to answer, test out a few nonsense noises. Damn it, Mary, it was one word! Finally, she snatched the paper back to scratch it down. (Y/n) barely managed to catch the paper before she could be smacked in the chest again.

“Yes? Yes!” (Y/n) hugged Mary hard and though she struggled against the hug, (Y/n) did not ease up. “I’m sorry Mary, I didn’t know.”

“I think I made it perfectly clear!” Mary fumed, “You are just dense! Incredibly dense! I don’t know how this school hasn’t eaten you alive already!”

“Mary, you have to admit you didn’t make it easy for me. You are very flippant in the way you speak.”

“No way! I was clear! You are dense!” Mary refused to backdown, but (Y/n) still smiled as she rolled her eyes. She leaned her weight against Mary, making her blush even more prominent.

“Alright, I’m dense and you very clear with your intentions when they are matters of the heart.”

Mary’s eyes narrowed in an accusatory manner. Yet she couldn’t help but to lean back into (Y/n) as well. “Why did that sound sarcastic?”

“I don’t know what you mean…”

“Quit it.”

“Hey, what do you want to do for the rest of the weekend?”

“Why are you asking me all of the sudden?!” Mary asked defensively, immediately noticing her error.”

“Because you’re my girlfriend now… or did I read that wrong? It’s so hard to know for sure when you talk to me like that.”

“…I picked today. You pick tomorrow?” She asked, watching her feet tap against the floor with a face that reminded (Y/n) of a grumpy puppy.

“Okay, sounds good.” (Y/n) kissed Mary on the cheek and then directed her attention to the front of the bus. “Our stop is here.”

Mary missed (Y/n)’s contact immediately and almost had to jog after her when she left the bus.

“H-hey! Why are you walking so fast?”

“It’s chilly out, isn’t it?” (Y/n) smiled.

“Sure, but you just… and I want to…” Mary stuttered.

“What do you want Mary?” (Y/n) teased.

“You know what I want!”

“Maybe, but I think it would be a good idea if you practiced saying what you mean and what you want rather than thinking I can read your mind. In other words, speak your heart, and you will be rewarded.”

Mary pursed her lips. (Y/n) made a good point. Maybe she was dense, but she wasn’t a fool. She was a decent gambler, a very smart girl. It wouldn’t kill Mary to actually try to meet her half way.

“I want… I want to kiss you too. On the cheek.”

“On the cheek. Alright.” (Y/n) smiled, presenting her cheek to Mary. She was there and gone so fast (Y/n) didn’t know for sure if she had done it. But it was a big step for Mary so she wouldn’t tease her about it. “Would you like to hold my hand while we walk to the dorms?”

“Why would…! Mhm.. I’d.. like.. that.”

(Y/n) took Mary’s hand and silently marveled at its warmth. As they walked back, she wondered if Mary was always that warm, or if it because of how much she was blushing.

#kakegurui oneshots #kakegurui x reader #kkg oneshots #kkg x reader #mary saotome x reader #mary saotome #maeri saotome x reader #maeri saotome #requests #anonymous

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nanowrimo · 4 years ago

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3 Most Common Worldbuilding Mistakes for Writers and How to Fix Them

Every year, we’re lucky to have great sponsors for our nonprofit events. World Anvil, a 2021 NaNoWriMo sponsor, helps you develop and organize your characters, plot, and world setting. Today, World Anvil founder Janet Forbes is here to share some pro tips for worldbuilding. Don’t forget to check out the offer to NaNoWriMo writers for 30% off a World Anvil membership!

I talk to hundreds of writers every week, in our World Anvil Q&A live streams, our World Anvil writing challenges, and meetings with our professional authors. And mostly, they’re encountering the same few worldbuilding problems! Here are the 3 most common worldbuilding mistakes, and how you can fix them:

1. Mary-Sue Worldbuilding

You’re probably familiar with the Mary-Sue—a flawless, artificial-feeling main character. Mary Sue Worldbuilding follows in the same vein. If everything in your setting is directly related to your main character, it feels like the world revolves around them. It’s too convenient and artificial. That’s Mary-Sue worldbuilding.

Mary-Sue worldbuilding is usually caused by worldbuilding exclusively around your plot. Introducing larger-scale conflict in the backdrop of your setting, current affairs like civil or religious movements, war, disasters, or technological breakthroughs, can help expand the world beyond just your main character.

Your main character might interact with these elements, or more usually, with problems caused by them. For example, they might help some refugees from “that war over there”. But your character should not be at the core of everything—they’re not the cause of the war. Other things are happening outside of your story, in the background. (Pro-tip: this is a great way to reinforce your genre and themes, and make your world feel alive and expansive, too!).

Fixing Mary-Sue Worldbuilding Of course you’ll need a series bible like World Anvil to help you keep these current affairs organized, connect them together, and make sure you don’t lose your notes! Use World Anvil’s worldbuilding templates to get inspired for your big conflicts, and remember - you only need to write a few bullet points to start with! You can always expand more later (we’ll talk more about that in a moment).

World Anvil’s Worldbuilding Templates are custom-made by experts to help inspire and guide your creativity—and you can customize your own templates too!

2. Mosaic Worldbuilding

You know those computer game worlds where each area feels like a self-contained zone? Where the “desert” region and the “forest” region have no trade, communication, or overlap between them? That, in a nutshell, is Mosaic worldbuilding. It ruins suspension of disbelief, makes your novel setting feel false, and can pull your readers out of your story!

Fixing Mosaic Worldbuilding

The best way to avoid Mosaic Worldbuilding is to make sure that you have a clear overview of your world early on, with each major region and concept penned out in just a sentence or two. That way, each region will feel like a connected aspect of your seamless setting, not a tile shoved on the side.

On World Anvil, each world setting has a “Worldbuilding Meta” section to help you detail the 10,000 foot overview—the big stuff. And not just your physical world and its people, but your genre, your motivations, and your themes. This invaluable reference tool helps you expand your setting and add more detail, and will also help you sense-check what you’re adding!

Once you have a clear picture of your meta, and know the overview of your world, it’ll be easy to make use of cultural aspects like imports and travellers, cultural diasporas and geographical transition zones to make your world seem more connected and less artificially divided! And you’ll be able to do it without spending too much extra time worldbuilding. Which brings me to my final common worldbuilding mistake…

World Anvil’s Worldbuilding Meta tool helps you focus, streamline and sense-check your world setting! It’s full of guides to create an excellent overview for your worldbuilding project. This is the view mode of Manifold Sky by B.C.G. Wurth.

3. Worldbuilder’s Disease

Sounds nasty, right? Well, Worldbuilder’s Disease is a very common problem—a compulsion to continue worldbuilding things which aren’t actually useful. Here’s my favorite example—the “elven shoes”:

In your world you have elves. They wear shoes. So far, so good. Maybe there’s a plot-point where an imposter’s revealed because they’re wearing the wrong shoes. So you fill in a few details on your series bible. But if you find yourself writing a 5,000 word treatise on elven shoes through the ages… honey, you have worldbuilder’s disease.

I use shoes as an example, but it could be anything. It might be detailing three centuries of monarchy, or expanding unvisited areas in excruciating detail. Sure, it can be fun, but all that time spent on unnecessary parts of your setting isn’t helping you polish the core parts—or get your novel written! It’s distracting you from your primary goal.

Curing Worldbuilder’s Disease

There are three major causes of worldbuilders disease:

Lack of perspective

Lovers of prose

Fear of losing your ideas

1. Lack of perspective

Lack of perspective can often lead down a worldbuilding rabbit hole. Keep clarity on what’s important in your setting with tools like World Anvil’s Worldbuilding Meta. This helps you define your active worldbuilding area - not just geographical but thematic areas—which helps streamline your world and your project, so you can be sure you’re spending your time where it counts!

Also, be clear with yourself WHY you’re worldbuilding the element you’re working on. Keep clear notes in your series bible about how this new element fits into your novel. If it’s little more than set dressing, you only need a few words. For a core concept, you might need more.

2. Lovers of Prose

As writers, we love to write (duh)! But for most of us, writing in prose in our series bible can cause serious problems. Not only does it mean that you write MORE than we should (your get in flow, words happen!), it’s also harder to reference your ideas quickly later on. Stick to short, organized articles in note form. Make sure the salient information is there, and link in anything relevant. You can always expand to prose later if you need to.

Keep your series bible in brief notes with clear headers! This character article took 5 minutes using World Anvil’s character template which automatically adds the headers. The linked articles help me easily reference related people and places as I’m writing.

3. Fear of losing our ideas

Fear of losing our ideas is actually one of the most common reasons for worldbuilder’s disease—that we’ll forget or lose our notes if we don’t write them out in vast detail. To combat this, make sure you have somewhere to keep your world details safe, organized, tagged and searchable. Then you can reassure yourself that you can go back and develop more later if you need it.

Obviously, World Anvil is custom made for this, backing up everything in one place and linking everything together, so you can easily search, reference and update your series bible whilst writing your manuscript and not have to worry about losing things!

Anything here ring true for you? Or maybe you’re struggling with another worldbuilding mistake or problem? You can always hop into our live streamed Q&A sessions on our Twitch channel and ask us directly! We go live three times a week to answer questions about writing and worldbuilding, as well as helping our community with World Anvil queries too! Maybe we’ll see you there. And happy worldbuilding :)

Janet Forbes is a published fantasy author and RPG writer, whose recent credits include the Dark Crystal RPG with the Henson Company (coming 2021). In 2017, she and her husband created World Anvil, the ultimate worldbuilding and novel writing platform. World Anvil helps you organize, store and develop your worldbuilding and series bible privately, and market your books to the world too! The inbuilt novel writing software, accessible from anywhere, integrates seamlessly with your worldbuilding. And when it’s time to publish, you can export, or publish directly on the World Anvil platform and monetize YOUR way! Check it out at World Anvil.

#nanowrimo #camp nanowrimo #writing #amwriting #worldbuilding #writing advice #by nano sponsor #world anvil #janet forbes

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blueprint-han · 4 years ago

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[Image ID: A black picture with the title “HOW TO SUPPORT FANFICTION AUTHORS” written in bold caps lock, colored with a winter forest picture. End ID.]

Well, this post has been made countless times, but I’m making one too because I’ve seen a lot of people say they’re new to tumblr and don’t know the whole “reblogging is better than liking” rule and other stuff. So without any further ado, here are ways YOU can support the fanfiction authors. Now keep in mind this applies to almost every author out there, not just the stayblr fandom, so if you’re a silent reader (or even if you aren’t), I advise you go through this post. Warning, this is a fairly long post going into detail, so yeah. I still expect you, the readers to read this, and if you’re a writer, feel free to lmk if i’ve written smth wrong or if you want me to add something! ^^

In this post I’ll go into thorough analysis of the pros and cons of each of the methods listed here and how YOU as a reader can show the authors whose fics you read more love and motivate them to produce content.

WARNING; LONG POST! GOES INTO A DECENT AMOUNT OF DETAIL. NOT EDITED, EXCUSE ANY TYPOS.

#1 : LIKING !

I think this is basic common knowledge, and a lot of people tend to do this. When you like the post, the author sees it, you see it, and if the author has their liked posts accessible (which majority of the time they don’t), and if someone deliberately goes to check it, then they see it. See why so many authors say just liking does nothing? Only liking says “Hey, I’m gonna tell you your story is not that good by simply liking it and not sharing it with other people. :D”

♯ PROS:

You’re telling the author that you've read their fic, and either you’ve enjoyed it to a certain extent, or you’re just saving it to read for later.

Likes are seen by you, the author and anyone who has access to your likes (which, most people don’t).

♯ CONS:

If you ONLY like, you’re not really helping the author’s work reach a wide audience because this site isn’t Instagram. Reblogging is the only way people can SEE our works. I’ll cover more on that in the next section.

In a nutshell, liking is good! But you should most likely use it in a combination with the other stuff I’ve listed below, because just the like itself doesn’t really do much in giving the author any feedback or interaction on their fics.

To clear shit up; I’m not talking about those people who don’t read the story or appreciate it in the first place. I’m talking about those who appreciate the fic, like it, but don’t leave any sort of feedback to show that.

#2 : REBLOGGING !

This is SO, SO important. I cannot stress on this enough. Let me explain WHY so many writers stress on reblogging content:

Tumblr’s tag system is inherently fucked up, and has grown more so over the year. I’m not kidding, at first, the fic either used to show up in the tags or it didn’t, but now, sometimes your fic can be REMOVED from the tags because of,,, idk tumblr tag shit. Anyways, as you can see, it’s very demotivating for authors at that point, because the major way for people to find their content and expand their blogs has been blocked.

Due to this reason, tumblr authors need to RELY on you, their followers to help spread their works to a wider audience. Now again, before you get me wrong, I’m not saying you ae forced to rb our works regardless of whether you like them or not. BUT, that being said, if you DO infact like the story, there’s no harm in reblogging, right? By doing this you’re indirectly telling the author — “hey! :D I liked your fic! Which is why I am gonna share it to my followers so they can read it too :D” Trust me, you’re doing nothing but helping the people who produce content for you to read. Seems like a worthy cause to hit the reblog button, right? It’s only a one, or maximum two step procedure.

Leave tags in your reblogs! Trust me, as an author myself and as much as I know from all my author friends, we oft check the tags of your reblogs to see if you found any part amazing or even if you have anything to say about the writing we put so much hard work into. Even a key smash or a “This was so [insert adjective] 🥺” is enough to leave a smile on your authors face.

♯ PROS :

You’re !! Sharing !! Your authors !! Works !! This leads to them getting more recognition, so for the content they’re so graciously providing for free, you’re promoting their blog and helping them expand it.

If the tags are being a shit, which majority of the time they are, then you’re literally making an author’s day by reblogging! You’re showing them that you, a follower and appreciator of their works are willingly sharing their content because it deserves to be seen by more people. Again before any dumb people decide to attack me, i am talking about people who like the fic but don't bother reblogging and are silent/ghost readers. I am not forcing anyone to read anybody’s work.

YOU’RE MAKING YOUR AUTHOR SO HAPPY WHAT MORE REASONS COULD YOU POSSIBLY WANT !! 🥺

♯ CONS :

Literally none, because as far as I remember no author is against reblogging of their works. It’s quite literally the way this platform functions. Reblogging is IMPORTANT.

#3 : COMMENTING/SENDING FEEDBACK !

This kind of overlaps with the previous section, but THIS IS SUCH AN IMPORTANT STEP !! When you leave feedback, you are directly giving the author something so much more valuable to them than high follower/note counts or money. Your feedback is literally our serotonin. I kid you not the number of times I’ve received a positive comment and smiled and it has made my day. There’s a reason youtubers (though not the best example, bear with me here because it was the only one I could think of) ask people to subscribe, like and COMMENT. The subscription is like a follow, the like is ofc like a heart, and the comment is equivalent to an rb with comments in the tags.

You might argue and tell me that a comment is basically like an ask so the reblogging step isn’t necessary, but I’m sure 99% of you use YouTube and you know that more comments leads to people’s videos boosted in the stream/trending charts. This is what reblogging does. Reblogging shares the piece with other people like minded, which leads to a boost in reads. You are literally helping your author grow.

It’s quite literally the same thing as youtubers. Youtubers NEED validation to keep their content creation going, so do writers, so do other ccs on this site. This post is however, focused on WRITERS, so keep that in mind.

♯ PROS :

By doing this, you’re giving author valuable feedback! It’s similar to what you do in rbing with tags. Interactivity with their fics boosts their note counts and helps expand their audience, so srsly, now think of it: your one comment is playing such a massive role to help ccs create more content.

Imagine how much of a difference the note counts will be in when every person who simply likes after reading the fic, reblogs, leaves a comment and sends an ask. the note counts would be high on each and every fic, which is validation in itself, but your comments would inspire the writer so much more! Please, don’t skip the commenting part. Even a simple one like: “this is so cute!” is wonderful.

♯ CONS :

Remember, if you’re gonna give constructive criticism (which I’m sure you all are smart enough to know if different from hate), make sure the author is okay with it. Authors need to be in a specific mindset and must be ready to accept criticism, so if you’re gonna give constructive criticism to them when they’re at a low point, it may demotivate them.

Just commenting, instead of reblogging and commenting in the tags/ reblogging and then leaving an ask in their inbox, while it gives validation in plenty, will not lead to the author’s work being spread. Therefore I suggest either reblogging and commenting in the tags or reblog and then leave an ask, or comment under the fic!

!! reminder; I am not saying that if you don’t rb and just leave feedback, your feedback has no value. We authors truly appreciate every bit of feedback, but this post is aimed to help you learn how to interact with and support authors, and make them feel more motivated, because the current scenario of liking and scrolling is taking a toll on their creative abilities. Take it from a person who’s been writing for a year.

#4 : COMMSIONING VIA THEIR KO-FI/OTHER APPS !

Before any of you attack me, let me tell you that this is not a step that is 100% necessary to do. ONLY donate if you can and if you genuinely want to, and if anyone is forcing you to pay for something against your will, you need to get yourself out of there.

Regardless, if an author has a kofi and you’re able to and you want to donate, you definitely should! It’s also a valid form of support.

#5 : ADDING THEM ON REC LISTS/ RECOMMENDING THEM TO REC BLOGS

This is such an underrated option, to be honest. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve seen my fic was recommended onto some rec list and it’s made me smile so hard. If you like some fics, create a rec list! They’re oft very popular amongst the fans too. Making rec posts is such a great way to share your favorite stories with others.

Rec blogs! I’ve seen a couple going around, and needless to say they are a great way to get someone else to read your favorite author’s work whilst also giving them your own feedback. These blogs oft accept recs via a form or ask box, and they leave your feedback along with their own, or else they’ll oft tag the author in the feedback post, so look! You’re basically helping your author share their fic to many more people, because you’ve given them feedback and a reblog.

♯ PROS :

Validation! Feedback! Reblogs! More exposure! Helping a blog grow! Spreading love! basically a run down of the stuff I’ve said before!

♯ CONS :

Literally no con of this. Unless, a one in a million case, this author says they don’t like receiving feedback/being tagged, and I’m sure NO person has said this before, at least none that I’ve heard of.

#6 : FINAL COMMENTS; MISC !

When an author points out about how the interactivity is drastically reducing, don’t just give them blind apologies. Yes, you feel sorry for not interacting as much, we understand, but rather show that you’ll become a better content consumer through your actions. We need to see that we’re not just throwing words into a void and that people are actually trying to be better content consumers.

Understand the fact that authors don’t get paid for this, and 99% of the time, these authors don’t take commissions either. They’re giving you novel worthy writings for free. Take Percy Jackson: You think the author would have felt motivated to write the subsequent parts, let alone two whole series based off of it if literally no one showed that they were interested? Rick Riordan has sales, he is being paid, there are millions of people and big agencies who provide him feedback. Now take that huge amount and simmer it down to an audience of maybe 10000 people This is what fanfic authors want. They don’t want your money, nor are they telling you to risk your lives for them. All they want is, a reblog, some tags, some feedback, some INTERACTIVITY. A sign that they aren’t throwing fics into the void and that people actually like them, some motivation to continue. Seems fairly easy to throw an rb with some tags, right?

Don’t bother to tell me that we do this for ourselves and we shouldn’t ask for likes and reblogs and feedback, because 1) you are consuming the content that we “write for ourselves” and 2) writers post their content here for interactivity and feedback. We could just not post and write and save our fics in our dungeon drafts for years. But we choose to post to entertain the readers, the consumers. And we aren’t even asking that much in return.

Don’t give me the whole “I’m scared that authors feel that comments are annoying” excuse either because seriously this has been DEBUNKED SO MANY TIMES. Istg, in the nicest way possible, if you still think writers are annoyed by interaction and feedback, after so many posts, long rants have been posted as to how we’re not, then you must truly be living under a rock. There, I said it. Please stop thinking this way, I’ll say it again, AUTHORS ARE NOT ANNOYED OF FEEDBACK, COMMENTS, TAGS, REBLOGS. WE LOVE IT. Saying this is like saying that the audience in a theatre play shouldn’t clap when the play ends because the actors would find it noisy. 🤡

I’ve seen some people saying they have anxiety issues and such, so pls note that I’m not invalidating your condition. If you’re trying to be more interactive, I really appreciate it! If you can’t, that’s fine too. You’re trying.

But for the people who have no reason other than feeling lazy to rb and comment, your lack of interactiveness is not excused. Please. Tumblr is a reblogging site. If you’re gonna consume content like authors are some sort of machines, I encourage you to go get some more perspective.

This site is not Instagram or the satan bird app. Your likes are appreciated but frankly speaking, they do nothing to the author except tell them “Hey i read ur fic but i'm not gonna support u :D” and honestly, that is detrimental to their creative capabilities and mental health.

DON’T FOLLOW AN ACC JUST TO MINDLESS RB THEIR SIGNAL BOOST POSTS AND THEIR REBLOGS OF GIFS AND NOT INTERACT WITH THEIR WRITING AT ALL ! Trust me, authors prefer a lower amount of interactive followers than a high count that doesn’t even give them any feedback. Again your follows are appreciated, but when you’re following, you know the type of content the author creates, so the author expects that the more followers, the more interactivity. These days, this is just becoming the opposite. So don’t do it! If you’re gonna follow to read, interact with their works. I promise, this will make both you and the author happy. A win-win situation.

In conclusion: SUPPORT YOUR FUCKING AUTHORS! THEY ARE NOT MACHINES THAT HAVE NO FEELINGS TO PRODUCE CONTENT FOR YOU! FICS TAKE DAYS AND DAYS OF PLANNING, PLOTTING, OUTLINING, WRITING, EDITING, MAKING TEASERS. SO JUST SHOW THEM YOU APPRECIATE THEM WITH AN RB. IT’S THE L E A S T YOU CAN DO.

I will be liking this post here written by the lovely @chaninfused and @scriptura-delirus . Please take time to read it because if you weren’t convinced by my arguments, you will see how much frustration we as writers face on a daily basis. Please, just show support. Here is the post by @stayndays about how to get more people to read your work, because it also has a note on reblogging. Please educate yourself, and put an end to this mindless consuming culutre and bring up some interactivity.

If you’ve read this far, I want you to go to two of your favorite authors and leave some feedback in their inbox, and tag me in it (either tag me yourself or ask the author to do so, they won’t mind). Show your writers that our words are taking effect and you are becoming better consumers. I mean it. I’m serious. I want every single one who reads this post to do this. besides valid reasons, if you’re lazy to do this, you’re a part of the problem. PLEASE get more perspective.

Also, feel free to add to this post! I’d love to read your thoughts too, remember to be kind though. And, if I think your rb is somehow contradicting my points and is bringing down the reason I made this post, I will politely ask you to delete your comment, because this post is about being truthful about the harsh reality of tumblr consumers and how we can change it. I’m sure none of you will let it get to that point, though. <3 love you guys. 💓

And, just a reminder, don’t just blindly like this too. Do what I said before, and while I am not forcing you, I’d appreciate your reblog, because seriously, it took me 3 whole days to write this, plus, I’m sure this will help more of your followers understand the fault in consumer culture. haha, that’s it! This post was way too long uff.

also, this is ur cue to not be stupid in my inbox. You have something to say? Think I worded smth wrongly? I’m sure it wasn’t my intention to do so, point it out with manners.

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