#any enjoyment i may get from their other ships doesn't come close to my love for klaine

[burkleswinifred]

i may enjoy other kurt and blaine ships every now and then, but at the end of the day klaine will always be my number one ship for the both of them. i genuinely can't see them with anyone but each other.

[emypony]

come grab your freshly off the grill cooked ship!

This time featuring the 'arts and crafts project' because Felis is glue here, otherwise the rest would fall apart.

FOR THE RECORD this is if all three Hua's here were individual entities separate from each other

I'll put my unhinged mentally unwell takes down below for your enjoyment <3

ill try to. help make sense of their personalities and thoughts on the others. Felis: basically her usual self, though maybe a bit toned down with her antics (I say toned down as if I ever elaborated on what she's like lol)

treasures Hua the most, best friends and partners, tries to get Hua to be less stiff and enjoy life but also is scared to lose her

admires Phoenix and gets along with her really well

thinks AE is kinda scary because she's a celestial but there's something alluring about such a powerful entity being so mysterious and 'cold' (girl cant help getting a crush tho)

Hua: soldier, shy, unsure of herself, basically her moths era (NOT her Elysian Realm SIM!)

got attached to Felis because she is a source of comfort and feels like 'home', likes having someone to come to after her missions

Phoenix's happy and relaxed attitude is calming in contrast to her life but her and Felis can get a bit overwhelming when together, she appreciates her though even if they're not that close

AE is very scary and she tries to keep away from her, feels like AE doesn't approve of her for whatever reason and glares at her sometimes (it's just the AE resting bitchface she gives to everyone by accident but holds no malice)

Phoenix / Jingwei: deity, thinks humans r funny, clever and wondrous and loves them dearly

Felis's happy attitude resonates with her and she may have gotten a little crush on her because of that as well, but she can keep herself in check if her feelings aren't reciprocated

thinks Hua is a cute little birdie that she wants to protect bc shes so precious

longtime friends with Azure Empyrea and they have a weird but mutual friendship (and maybe more...? unspoken feelings towards each other that they never address but are both sort of 'Aware Of' since Phoenix is the one who calms down AE if she's being unreasonable OR the first person AE goes to if she's feeling down / feels negative emotions)

Azure Empyrea: cold, calculating, has an eerie calm attitude but can be scary if she gets angry, stern and firm in her ways but can be persuaded (see: Phoenix) to compromise. means well but doesn't know how to show it

finds Felis intriguing because of her nature, also catches her sometimes glancing at her or following her around, can't sense any malice from her so aside from being a little annoyance at first, she warmed up to her presence (and she keeps Phoenix happy whenever she can't partake in whatever silly human thing she wants to play / do)

sees Jingwei as an equal, cares more about her than she lets on but doesn't want to tie her down to someone like her, still appreciates the fact that Phoenix spends time with her and tries to be the bridge between her and humans

her feelings towards Hua are complicated and she usually keeps her distance because she can sense the fear coming off her. however Hua reminds her of her past self(?start of her journey as a celestial deity), unsure and without a place in the world and she feels the need to be there or give advice (if ever asked), doesn't hold any hostility towards her but something about her own expression (? too dumb to figure out) scares Hua and she doesn't understand why

I have a so many more snippets to share...if you will ;3

[aquatark]

Can I ask your opinion on Endless Ocean Luminous?

Thanks for the ask anon! :D

I've been trying to get my thoughts on this game together into something that makes sense for a while now, but no better time than the present!

tldr: I seem to like it more than most people! I think this game is alright though it's still very flawed, and I'm still enjoying myself with it, but it seems very clearly rushed and it shows. I'm still very happy that the series has a third entry at all, and am looking forward to the future of the series after this game!

...okay, now I'm gonna aimlessly ramble for wayyy too long lmao (spoilers under the cut if you haven't played)

So, to get a few of my biggest gripes out of the way:

Having completed it... the plot is god awful (esp the ending, iykyk). I think I would have preferred having none at all, but Daniel is cool

The English voice of Sera isn't ideal, though this is an issue other languages (like Japanese, French) don't seem to have

The setting, character development, and lore is much more shallow, uninteresting, and poorly-explored through gameplay than any other diving game Arika has made, which is saying a lot bc EO1's plot was invented pretty close to release, and is known for also not being great

The game doesn't run as smoothly as I'd like. maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I remember a time when devs didn't feel like they could release their game if it crashes as often online as this game does

Some of this game's creature textures are far less polished than they ought to be for a Switch game. Surprisingly, most of the ones ported from Arika's defunct mobile fishing game are fine! It's stuff like the megamouth shark and bigfin reef squid that really stand out to me as sub-par

I'm not as bothered about this as some ppl seem to be, but I would have liked a little more customization freedom, ala EO2's suit cuts

Many creature descriptions are copied verbatim from EO2, which I really dislike. wasted a perfect opportunity to highlight different aspects of creatures, not rehash the same tired and basic facts

Though I love the concept of dynamic time of day underwater, it's executed very poorly imo. Could have done with some more fine-tuning (something that could be said abt... a lot of this game lol)

All of this however only detracts a little from my enjoyment of the game overall.

The fact that something like the story can be shipped in the final product with a dev team that shares many many people with the original EO games (seriously, compare the staff lists on the wiki, I genuinely teared up seeing so many familiar faces again)... suggests to me that this game was subjected to crazy time constraints, though I don't have any concrete proof. Nintendo has been known recently to be anti-crunch with some of its biggest IPs, so maybe an Arika problem? Regardless, this game shouldn't have released in the condition it's in, and definitely should not be the price it is.

I really don't like being too negative though, so I won't be! After all, and this may be controversial coming from an EO blog... but the various flaws of Arika's previous diving games made this not be the biggest surprise to me. I mean, I 100%ed EO1, including collecting every salvage and getting all gear/hairstyles! Do you have any idea how hellish that is? I eat slop for breakfast!!

I've still been playing a lot of this game with my dear friend MDB (us pictured below), and there are a lot of things I like about it!

I will, for example, drool all over this game's sound design till the day my son "dies" in a tragic submarine accident. Ayako Saso (main talent behind Everblue 1/2, EO1/2, and Luminous' original compositions and sound in general) knocked it out of the park as usual, with the menu sfx feeling really Everblue reminiscent in a way I adore, and the music easily being some of the best in the series. I know many fans are disappointed by there being no vocal tracks, but honestly? While I like the fact EO1 and 2 had them, they simply wouldn't have fit in this game. So I'm chill about it.

I think the random generation and focus on multiplayer are fun and fresh for the series! I have EO1 and 2 when I want polished singleplayer gameplay, and this game when I feel like something else. EO1 and 2's multiplayer objectively sucked, so it's a really interesting angle to take. The gameplay loop is entertaining enough for me - I like salvaging, scanning creatures, collecting tags, and hunting orbs, both in solo and shared dives. The framework is solid, but could use a little more meat.

The fact they were finally able to realize the "Ancient Sea" concept that had been thrown around during development since EO1 is lovely. Despite having been a dinosaur kid, I'm not really knowledgeable on any of the species depicted in-game, so their designs don't bother me... I'm just a sucker for human ruins overrun by prehistoric life!

Though there are some categories of sea creature that I'm a little sad not to see anymore, like seadragons, sea slugs, and many marine mammals... I don't mind this game's different roster. I like the creature variety, because imo, it would have been a little boring and predictable to have the roster just be every creature that was previously in EO, plus some new ones. This system avoids the kind of problem Pokémon games are currently having, where they have so many critters that they can't possibly put them all in one game, but fans are upset not to have the entire dex ported, y'know? It's like playing EO for the first time again!

I've seen several people theorize that the series was "intentionally sabotaged with a bad new game, so that they have an excuse not to make any more EO games", and... I mean... all I'll say about that is that there's no use killing something that's already dead lol. There'd been no games for over a decade, and very little demand for one - why would a game company looking to make money put so much effort and money into marketing, development, pre-order bonuses, and My Nintendo rewards in order to create hype for a game that's bad on purpose... when they could have kept the series dead for free? Nintendo clearly believe the concept of diving games has legs (or fins ig), with a staff team who love the ocean and dive irl, and are trying new things to see if it sticks better than the previous four games they've made, which collectively sold worse than Luminous did.

It may not all be great, or even good, but experimentation and trying unconventional things is what made EO such a special series in the first place baybee! We just remember the parts of it we liked, and forget the really dumb stuff. The EO team has never been perfect, and I can see their smudgy fingerprints all over this game... I mean, these are the same devs who didn't notice a crash so bad it had their game recalled, and repeatedly yoinked copyrighted material without permission to use in their games... but that's a long post for another day lol.

Soooo yeah! Those are some of my thoughts! Feel free to express your own thoughts on the game here - I'd be curious what other people think, and I'd be more than happy to answer more asks on specific elements of the game, or just getting me talkin' about this game, or any other game in the series for that matter! Any EO questions at all, ask away~!

Thanks for reading, hehe! >( ')

[tempkiriri]

Tiger & Bunny Week (Day 1)

Technically I'm late but uhhhhhhhhhhhhh

April 2: Favorite Character, Episode, Movie, and/or Song

Most people seem to be doing them all, but I'll be skipping movie since there's only 2 of them.

Favourite Character:

MY CRINGEFAIL SON IVAN!!!! I relate to him immensely, even his dynamic with Edward I'd say I can somewhat relate to with someone in my life. It's uncanny. He tries his best to be outgoing but anxiety and self esteem issues sure are fucking bitches, so he can only really do it behind a mask. Even in S2 whilst his whole outlook may have taken a bit of a rollback, that's honestly realistic, not everyone can just keep marching and continuously improving themselves, there are setbacks and holes you can fall into at times. I wish we knew more about his personal life beyond his backstory of getting bullied as a child + what vague stuff we have of his hero academy days, a lot of heroes suffer from this, however. His passion for his hobbies is also just like me. He's cringe but he is free, just like many of us wish to be. Runner up is Keith I love the Autistic dog man

Favourite Episode:

I gotta go with Sky's The Limit. The title is a very OH GEE WHOS FOCUS EPISODE IS THIS kind but genuinely it doesn't prepare you for the content. There's a wholeass lore drop, an intense fight scene with a robot, and of course Keith being Keith. It also puts into focus just how much pressure heroes are put under when it comes to the rankings, and second place apparently not being enough for Poseidon Line is a very corporate reality. It's go big or go home. The ending is also like OH MY GOD IM CRYING???? Like, we know Cis isn't very capable of behaving like a human, but Keith doesn't realise she's not human at all, he treats her as any other person and falls harder than an anvil for her despite their short time in contact. It makes me think that Cis had a potential to be something, someone more than she was initially made for. And these two are a bit of a guilty pleasure ship that me and like 2 other people in the west side seem to ship and yes I will be taking those "Keith is still lowkey in love with her even in S2 era" crumbs thank you-

Favourite Song:

Oh shit this is where it gets tricky. I have so many, so I'll split it into categories:

OP: Earth Diver ED: Pilot Character Song: GHHHAAAAAA DONT MAKE ME CHOOOOOSE Other supplementary Song: Orion Wo Nazoru Hero Cover

I can't really put to words for Earth Diver, but I really like how it starts and kinda soothes you into the song before it really kicks. The lyrics are also very passionately sung.

I really like the calmer tone of Pilot and even though the explicitness of the shippyness isn't as heavy as Aida, the subtlety honestly fits them more. The credits themselves are also just beautiful; the visual aspect of them hits immensely hard in ep 14 especially since you saw what could happen to their suits in the fight the episode prior, and they're both no longer in their prime. Closing it out as they stare at the sunset makes me emotional and Proud Fiesta I love you but goddamn why did you return for Episode 25 that was a fucking mood killer I stg.

I love a lot of the character songs, with the ones from Best Of Hero very enjoyable romps, especially Mikirezakura and Thanks and Thanks Again, the energy these two songs have makes you wanna coreograph something. Some other highlights are POWER OF JUSTICE and Aaa Hero Suit. (Also Hidden Heroism actually kinda sucks it tries to be Mikirezakura 2 and thus loses out on an identity of its own which is very disappointing).

I love the harmony of the heroes cover of Orion, I can really picture them all in recording booths singing next to each other...who's the cheering guy, though? I've listened to this cover so many times and the line the cheering guy seemingly sings just sounds like Hirata's Kotetsu, I don't get it. I get wanting to balance the lyrics between groups and characters evenly but that was an awkward way to do it.

[5daysofygofemslash]

Prompts Explanation, Origins, and Ideas

Need help getting the ball rolling for some inspiration? Or just plain curious as to how I plucked the 2023 prompts out of the ether? Look no further than under the cut!

Warning: long and self-indulgent rambling under the cut. Nothing of too much importance haha

Mod Merry

Beach

This was a prompt from last year which made it to the semi-finals of my selections so I figured it could be used. Thank you to the Anon from last year who suggested it!

Ideas: A day out on the beach and all the fun that comes with it. Or perhaps a merperson romance AU? Do anything ships that remind you of the beach come to mind? Seasideshipping (Aoi/Kiku/Miyu) is an example that comes to mind but there's likely plenty more characters who would be totally interested in hitting the sun and sand.

Snow

Chosen to complement "beach" for those of us who may be in colder weather during the prompt fill period just before posting. So from one extreme to another.

Ideas: For ZeXal enjoyers, this prompt has Kamishiro Rio's name written all over it (and that's intentional lol). Snowbirdshipping, Snowanimalshipping, there's plenty of Rio to go around and other snowy themed girls, too, like Olga from Arc V or Asuka when she was in her Society of Light era. For some scenarios, however, think about snowballs fights or drinking some hot cocoa by the fire. Or maybe some hypothermic whump might be just what the doctor ordered. Or maybe the fairy tale Snow White is ripe for your picking.

Alternatively, if you are looking to superload your event/prompt fills quota, as is allowed with the event rules, snow is an elligible fill for the 100ships challenge (on dreamwidth) if that sounds up your alley.

Sharing a Bed

This is one of the mod's favourite tropes. Its versatile and dependable, a staple of the shipping scene and so it just had to be included.

Ideas: Do you think any of the Academia girls ever shared a bed? Or maybe someone had a nightmare and needs cuddles after. Or maybe the mutual pining is just too intense when there's only one bed left at the hotel. Smutty interpretations welcome as well.

Sharing Food

Contrasting doesn't always have to be stark! I was thinking about what else could be shared aside from personal space and food came to mind almost straight away. Food is a lovely way to show you care.

Ideas: Do you think any of the XYZ decadents had to share food to survive? Or is there a character you just knows bakes the best homemade biscuits/cookies and could use that as a conduit to express a confession of a crush/love?

Routine

Ideas: Tell me about your ship's domesticity. Who struggles to get out of bed first thing in the morning? What do they eat for breakfast? Who reads the newspaper first? Or maybe routine more like a dance routine, a comedy routine, or something else entirely. Like does someone care wayyyyy too much about their hair care routine and gets into early relationship post-honeymoon phase scuffles about it, perhaps?

Unexpected

What happens when there's a sudden change to the dull, rote, and, well, routine? The unexpected of course. This was an obvious contrast in my mind that can hopefully provide some rising tension for your stories.

Ideas: A sudden death in the family. Elopement decided on the outcome of a card game. There are many ways to take the routine and break it (maybe even breaking a leg or two in the process). Did the proposal come as a surprise? Or maybe this could be a good day to break out some really eclectic, never met before, crossover pairings. Show me something very unexpected in character/ship chemistry hahaha

Sparkle & Shine

A prompt leftover from last year was - Glitter - and it made it very close to the final selections but I chose different prompts in lieu so again, it just felt right to at least use it as inspiration. Also because I misremembered the submission as Sparkle before double checking to see it was Glitter. My apologies Anon but you are here in spirit. I personally thought "Sparkle & Shine" rolled off the tongue better than Glitter alone and wanted some multi-word prompts to spice things up as well. And so Sparkle & Shine was ultimately selected.

Ideas: Sparkleshipping(Kisara/Mana)!! The prompt is practically named for them though I felt it was applicable to a few other ships, too. Alternatively, Glittershipping (Anzu/Kisara) given that "Glitter" was the original inspiration for this prompt. Give those girls some love if you are a DM enjoyer especially, I say. Or maybe a magical girl AU? Or maybe you want to delve into some meta behind why Lustershipping was chosen for Masumi/Yuzu. Or talk about the way Character A admires Character B's prowess in everything she does.

Murky & Unclear

Selected to complement Sparkle & Shine. Again, I chose it because I wanted a multi-word prompt to pair with its contrasting Day 4 prompt and

Could be a tricky prompt so good luck to anyone drawn to it but some ideas I had in mind included angsty tragedy fic or witchy AU's.

Before the Beginning

Basically a fancy way of saying "Pre-Canon". Was selected in mind with trying to parallel the original 2022 prompt set's ending prompts without just being a free-for-all free day in name.

Ideas: Are you absolutely convinced that even though these two female characters who have never met are exes with a viscious past? Yeah, me too. My personal ones are Ema/Queen, Asuka/Grace, Asuka/Gloria, and Himika/Yoko but maybe you have an entirely different relationship derailment in mind. Or maybe you want to explore how two girls who are friends in canon met and became friends (with a little inkling that maybe this friendship could become romance tinged with enough time)

After the End

And what pairs best with pre-canon? Why Post-Canon of course!

Ideas: Are there any loose ends that bother you? Here could be the perfect time and place to tie them up. Do you think the Bracelet Girls ever split from Yuzu again? What about Aqua returning to Aoi and/or Miyu? Or maybe you just think Characters A and B ride off into the sunset and get married ten or twenty or however many years down the line after the final credits rolled.

[thewriterowl]

Hello miss Owl, with the messed up things happening in the dinluke tag, can I ask for fluffy dinluke headcanons? pretty please

Oh hi! I'm sorry things are getting a bit rough. But I am happy to provide! I haven't done these in a bit (and to others who are waiting for their own responses, I promise they are coming!)

Let's see...some of these may be repeats but hopefully some things are new!

-Din used to be very indifferent to sweets. Luke is a sweet-a-holic. Guess who now is munching on cookies at 3AM with his husband, chatting about needing to get the nutty kind next and how to best hide them from an always-starving, Force-sensitive toddler. You'd think Luke, with his Force, would somehow find the best hiding spots for the snacks; nope. It's Din. When Din and Luke wanna ensure they can hide away in a cupboard to munch on space m&ms, Din is the one who can keep them safe.

-Both Din and Luke have some insecurities and doubts about being a parent. They worry their mistakes will negatively affect Grogu. But both will always talk each other out of it and go over it in detail to help the other feel better and understand what happened and that they are different people now who has learned a lot.

-Luke learns to clean Din's armor. The three of them will sit around, sometimes chatting and sometimes in comfortable silence, as they polish and tend to the Beskar armor.

-Paz and Boba are the vodka-aunts. They come over often to cause mayhem and trouble. At first, Din was not very involved. Some part was he was shy some part was that he didn't really know how to cut loose and enjoy being goofy. His make-shift family really helps him open up.

-Boba once tried to make Luke jealous by smooching up against Din. Luke just grinned and said, "That's hot." But he also said he is up for fighting for Din's hand at any time. Boba and Paz loved this and offered to spar any time as well. Din was an uncomfortable blushing mess.

-When Din and Luke meet, both are potentially in really sharp shape. As time goes on and they find themselves becoming more comfortable with each other and their less dangerous/hectic lives they start to live a bit and soften up. both are healthy warriors but neither have a six pack (if they ever did). They still have muscles in their arms, shoulders, back, and legs...but are getting a bit squishy in the tummy and both find they are very happy with this.

-Din is ticklish. He'd forgotten about it after the loss of his parents. Now his son and husband have discovered it and are not about to let it go. Poor guy gets tackled often to get dragged into a tickle fight that leaves him laughing hard.

-To not be pure "cutesy" because we are all humans and have bodily functions...Luke farts first. no doubt in my mind. With how he is raised? Being in the rebellion? All his near-death? Dude doesn't care. He may feel slightly embarrassed the first time but then is just, "There is no way Din, who I know has gone a week or two without showering to conserve water on his old ship is going to care." It leaves them both laughing

-Luke is also so the kind who would get "Din's first fart cake". Din will try to smash Luke's face in it, much to Luke's enjoyment.

-A favorite HC of mine is that due to them being so close (twiiiiins) and powerful and Luke being a hella empath...when Leia gets the period, Luke feels it. He suffers from it. He is holding his stomach, sending mental images to his sister across the galaxy also suffering that he wished she was a boy. She just sends him a mental version of the middle-finger back. Din takes care of him with that and helps soothe his pain.

-Neither like tea (Obi-Wan is rolling in his non-existent grave) but Luke loves to grow the stuff to make it. He's trying to find a brew they like so that Din would stop sucking down caf and Luke would stop gulping down hot chocolate. it is a process they are loving to do together...even if they always spit out what they make almost instantly.

-They switch being big spoon and little spoon. But Luke loves being the big spoon. Din has heard him making the "bzzzzz" noises, pretending to be a jetpack before. He has yet to call him out on it.

[wellhalesbells]

If you have the time and if you don't mind, what are some books you really recommend? Doesn't have to be all time faves, but anything that pops into mind that you want more ppl to read and love, Extra points if lgbt+ , i got the whole summer with little to do and i wanna spend it reading some good quality writing and honestly so far your recs have introduced me to so many faves its unbelievable

[blushes profusely] oh wow, thank you!!!  i’m so glad you’ve trusted me enough to check out some of the stuff i reblog; that is like the ultimate compliment, i can’t even???  i don’t mind at all(!), fair warning though: i only started recording what i read partway through last year and my mind is like a sieve so i’ll do my absolute best to remember what’s sang to me in the recent past.  warning number two: i’m in an open relationship with absolutely every genre out there so i’ll try to note which belongs where so you can avoid those that hold no interest for you.

LGBT+

i’ll give you the sun.  i loved this book, the writing is fucking transformative and all the characters are so damn likable, while still being realistically flawed human beings.

the raven cycle (tetralogy).  definitely my favorite series since harry potter.  the writing, the world-building, the characters, it’s all on top-form.  i wrote a little, mini non-spoilery review of it: here, back when i was better (worse?) wordly-wise and my feels were brand new.

more happy than not.  i’m still not sure how i feel about this book.  it was hard, but it felt very true to the characters and the lingo and style matched the ages of the players and i have a lot of respect for that.

the watchmaker of filigree street.  woooow i loved this book.  i admit ‘historical fiction’ kind of makes me cringe.  it never precludes me from reading a book but it does knock it down the list by a book or five because they’re often very dense and very clunky and end up taking me ages to get through.  but this one was gorgeous.  i loved the plot, the attention lovingly placed on every character and the historical elements.  the surprise gay in an already brilliant book felt like winning the lottery honestly.

captive prince (trilogy).  okay, truthfully, i’m only putting this on here because the second book is such a high point for me.  it was never bad at any point but it had unfortunately been hyped far too much for it to live up to my, admittedly, very high expectations.  hopefully it’ll fare better with you?

everything i never told you.  i go back and forth on this one.  i like the writing a lot, i like the LGBT aspect a lot, and i like the mystery aspect a lot but there are definitely characters i would cut out entirely for sheer predictability if i could and that killed a lot of my enjoyment at the time (but i think much more highly of it in retrospect?).  so, take that as you like.

aristotle and dante discover the secrets of the universe.  if there’s a book that handles its characters with more care or respect or consideration then i haven’t run into it.  i love the way this is written and the people it’s populated with.

flying lessons & other stories.  a bunch of uber talented authors writing a bunch of uber diverse and LGBT-focused stories and, yes, that is exactly as awesome as it sounds.

the song of achilles.  it is utterly heart-breaking but so rich, honestly.

FANTASY

the diviners.  (also has a minor LGBT character, who may play a bigger role in the sequel?)  fair warning, i have not read the sequel, lair of dreams, because it is somehow still not out in paperback (yes, i read physical books, yes, i pretty exclusively read paperbacks so i can lug them everywhere with me, YES, I PRE-ORDERED THIS ALMOST TWO YEARS AGO AND IT’S STILL NOT OUT, NOT THAT I’M BITTER ABOUT THAT OR ANYTHING) so i can’t speak to that one finishing on a high note as i don’t know.  but this was the first historical novel i managed to like in a long while.  it does such a good job of fusing in 1920s lingo and dress and aspects that i couldn’t help but love it.  add in the fantasy elements and i can admit i’m the perfect sucker for it.

the scorpio races.  i’m not sure why but it took me a long-ass time to get into this book, i wasn’t flipping pages with gusto until well towards the end but - especially as i was reading so much YA at the time - i really appreciated coming across a romance that lets both people come into it as themselves and stay themselves, neither puck nor sean were ever smashed or crumpled or shaved away to fit into their relationship, which was so refreshing.  plus the water horses were fucking cool.

the night circus.  the writing, the atmosphere, the circus.  just… it is all very whoa.

all the birds in the sky.  i loved this writing style and these characters and the magical elements.

CONTEMPORARY

i’ll meet you there.  there was something about this and i just… ended up liking it way more than i expected to.  i might’ve just read it at exactly the right time, i’m not sure, but i really enjoyed it.

the invoice.  this is honestly just hella cute and so freaking surreal.  swedes, man.

NON-FICTION

why not me?  i like mindy kaling a lot.  i make no apologies for that.  plus you can read both her books in about five seconds, haha.

SCIENCE FICTION

station eleven.  i loved this book.  the way the narrative is woven is so refreshing and i wish the comic book miranda was writing in this book was a real thing more than anything else in the woooorld.

illuminae.  hot DAMN this book was cool.  the plot was rock solid, the characters were hilarious and badass and the graphics made out of text and spiraling words and just the way this thing is put together?  shit, it’s worth your money and then some.

a robot in the garden.  okay this is just cute as hell.  i can’t even with tang, he’s the most adorable robot to ever adorable.

annihilation (southern reach trilogy).  (LGBT minor characters.)  okay, honestly?  i don’t know.  this was freaking zany but i was invested as fuck in all the kookiness for reasons i can’t articulately elaborate on.

the martian.  hilarious, engaging, SPACE.  what more do you want?

HORROR

things we lost in the fire.  this is more atmospheric than anything but, damn, could this get me wishing i wasn’t reading this in the dark or looking over my shoulder to make absolutely sure no one was standing behind me.  it’s a book of short stories (by the way, i love books of short stories and i definitely realize that is not true for everyone) and each one is so well-delivered and stylized.  i really enjoyed reading this.

let the right one in.  okay, this is legit horror so definitely stay away if you’re easily squicked out but it is harrrrrd to find good horror (at least in my opinion) and this definitely, definitely qualifies.

horrorstör.  i honestly had such low expectations for this, a horror story set in a wannabe-ikea, but it ended up being so ridiculous and strange and funny that i was won over by the finish.

the girl with all the gifts.  holy unique and well-executed zombie idea, batman!

SHORT STORIES

the bigness of the world.  there were definitely ones here that hit better than others but the ones i liked, i really liked!

GRAPHIC NOVELS (i read a lot of these so, um, prepare yourself)

saga.  (LGBT minor characters as well.)  this is world-building to a degree that i’m convinced did not exist before.  just, i can’t say enough amazing things about this series and the staggering amount of imagination that regularly goes into it.

ms. marvel.  heart-warming as fuck.  it’s definitely really easy to lose faith in the world these days, luckily kamala is there to remind you that people are primarily and genuinely good.

black science.  this is another one that took just an insane amount of imagination to cook up.  i got off to kind of a rocky start with this one but the gray-ness of all the characters really speaks to me, and that doesn’t really blossom until later in the series.

spider-man/deadpool.  this was very satisfying for my super duper spideypool-shipping mind.  joe and ed did us so good, and joe basically said in his sign-off: i made it absolutely as gay as they would let me, haha.

the wicked + the divine.  (LGBT minor characters that you’re going to get way too attached to, and retroactively.  it’s awful [sobs].)  the concept for this, gods reincarnating into teenagers before they burn up their hosts after a predetermined set of time, is so fucking cool.  the humor and the characters and the plot is all just aces.

iceman (LGBT MAIN CHARACTER).  okay, so this just started.  like issue #2 was only released days ago but 1) i am liking it so far and 2) marvel did it so dirty and barely advertised bobby - an openly homosexual superhero - was getting his own series, like, i found out about it the day before it went on sale and i keep my ear fairly close to the ground (not as close as some BY A LOT, but closer than the lay person i’d say) so if you can support it, please do!  pre-orders mean a lot in terms of numbers. :))))

descender.  admittedly, this starts out rooough.  because the main character, TIM-21 (and his little dog too), are annoying as hell.  he’s an android so there’s no dimension to him so he’s booooring as all get out but i am so glad i stuck with it through to the next trade because, probably picking up on the unsustainability of him as a main character, he gets shuffled off and the side characters get the stage and they rock so hard.

paper girls. (LGBT main characters.)  i’m kind of just convinced that brian k. vaughan can do no wrong at this point.  his plots are so tight and mind-blowing and badass.

monstress.  here’s a little tid-bit about me: female comic book writers are 100% more likely to get my money and my time because they are so damn rare and this series is unique, badass, and eye-opening.

black monday murders.  i’m a little premature with this since there’s only one volume and i usually try to wait until there are at least two but i check up on a volume two a lot so that definitely means something intrigued me!

nailbiter.  okay, i haven’t read the final volume yet ‘cause i’m reluctant to let it go but, so far, a series about multiple serial killers all being from the same town has me VERY HOOKED.

i wish i could remember more but this is honestly way better than i expected to do, haha.  they’re definitely not all my all-time faves but they’re ones that have stuck with me for one reason or another and that i didn’t feel i wasted my time on, so that’s something, right?  i hope this helps get you started and that you don’t think too awfully of me when you inevitably run across ones that aren’t your cup of tea!

[eponymous-rose]

I hope this doesn't sound bratty, but I was wondering how to get more notes or kudos on fics? I'm starting to get really discourage...

Aw man, no, not bratty at all! Much as I’d love to say “psssh the numbers don’t matter,” or “be sure to appreciate every single note because it means somebody read your stuff!” (which is true) I know exactly how frustrating it can be to see maybe one or two notes or kudos (tops!) on the story you spent ages writing. To that end, I have some super duper cynical advice, and then I have some more genuine advice, and both are really based on the fact that, once you hit a certain baseline level of coherence, the quality of the writing has almost nothing to do with the number of notes or kudos it gets.

Here’s the super duper cynical advice that probably applies to almost all major fandoms: write the most popular ship. Most of the time, it’ll be super easy to spot! Find the fandom fave character, who by complete coincidence is almost always the most conventionally attractive and whitest dude on the show, even if he’s a relatively minor character. Does he have a close male friend that the actors and producers constantly joke/hint might be something more? Write ‘em together! Is there a female character who may or may not be a love interest but seems to be heading in that direction? Write ‘em together! In all cases, though, make sure that the fandom fave is the center of the story, and that his female love interest/less-conventionally-attractive and/or less-white male love interest is mostly there as a means of providing support for the fandom fave’s angst. Better yet, create a villain who opposes the ship and must be defeated: an inexplicably vicious revenge-driven canon female love interest is a common choice when writing m/m fic, and an unexpected betrayal by the female character’s best friend that sends her straight into the fandom fave’s arms is a common choice when writing m/f fic. Write slow-burn fic with a vanilla sex scene at the end. Scene.

…it hurt to write that. Listen, it’s undeniable that there’s some amazing and creative and thoughtful stuff out there for these mega-pairings, and if that’s what floats your boat, by all means, go for it (I’ve shipped and written for mega-pairings, goodness knows), but it’s also kinda important to keep in mind that the way these mega-pairings come about and the way they tend to be written most commonly can be… not good—some of that’s on the show-creators’ end, some of that’s on fandom’s end, and it’s all a mess. But if you just want notes, go ahead and write that to the exclusion of all else (just please try to keep away from the more actively offensive trends, whatever you write?). You’re more likely to get picked up by the big-name fans, because they probably became the big-name fans by writing that stuff themselves.

Here’s the more genuine advice: there’s an element of randomness to what does and doesn’t get picked up by the internet, and once it happens to you one time, it’s more likely to happen again. Here’s some more of the genuine advice: passion shows. If you’re passionate about a teeny-tiny little pairing or no pairing at all, you’re way, way, way more likely to write an enjoyable and likeable story than if you force yourself to write the big, popular stuff. You might put out a dozen fics that get virtually no attention, but if you keep producing quality stuff that lights a fire under you, that thirteenth could well get picked up and reblogged by someone with a sizeable following, or appear on somebody’s rec list, and then your backlog will be the delight of all. Try new things. Have fun.

There’s also been, over the past five years or so, a slow-growing fatigue with the old model I mentioned up in the super duper cynical advice paragraph. Fandom is changing, slowly but surely, and is starting to push back against its more distasteful elements. You see it pretty frequently now: conventional fandom-fave-ship fics will reliably pull in a lot of notes, but every now and then something completely off-the-wall and creative and brilliant will resonate with everyone at once and it’ll pull in a lot of notes. That happens. Take note when it does, because that’s the way fandom’s slowly shifting, and that’s nothing but a good sign.

I mean, heck, I write mostly PG-13-rated genfic focusing on female characters and femslash, which isn’t exactly most fandoms’ favorite thing; I went through a very, very, very long drought in terms of support and interest when I started writing, and the only thing that kept me going was that I genuinely loved what I was writing. For whatever specific numbers are worth, for me and my relatively small- to medium-sized fandoms, it took slowly climbing to a four-digit follower count on tumblr and a three-digit subscription count on AO3 to ensure any sort of reliable interest in the stories I wrote, no matter the content. How do you get there? Reblog the stuff you like. Create in other ways, if you can–fanart, gifsets. Make shorter meta posts that require less effort on your part but might get people’s wheels turning in a familiar way. Review other people’s fics. If you’re participating in the community, it makes it a lot easier to maybe convince people to try reading something that might be a little outside of their usual wheelhouse. You gotta be having fun, first and foremost, or else what’s the point? And it’s marvelous when you pull in someone new. One of my favorite things is getting comments on a post that start with “I literally never read genfic, but…” Most of all, try to communicate how grateful you are when something like that happens. It’s so important to let people know how much it means to you that they took an interest in your passion.

Anyway, this is all really rambly and I hope some of it makes sense. I’m sorry you’re feeling discouraged, but I hope you stick with what you’re doing, because goodness knows fandom could always use more variety!