#archival tools

[blueskittlesart]

i hope everyone in nintendo’s management department dies and goes to hell no matter what and i’m not kidding

[arthur-lesters-liver]

They're right, there are only 2 genders:

Jonathan Sims with an axe and Colin Becher with an hammer.

[corvo-cosmo]

“I am not a “who,” Archivist, I am a “what.” A “who” requires a degree of identity I can’t ever retain”

[neoncowgirlposts]

Guys, this is so helpful!

how to save your favorite fanfics

Ever gone looking for an old fic you loved, only to find it’s disappear and is now lost forever? Yeah, me too - my first fanfic loss was at the tender age of 14, when the beloved and award-winning Pirates in the Fellowship was taken down while I was still in the middle of reading it. One second I was reading about Captain Jack Sparrow helping out at the Battle of Helm’s Deep, the next second I’d clicked the Next Chapter button only to find an error screen.

That was my first experience with the hard truth that, while the internet is forever, fanworks certainly aren’t. If you’ve never lost an old fave, you’re either incredibly lucky, very new to fandom, or don’t read fanfic. Fanfiction gets deleted every day for all sorts of reasons - maybe a TOS violation, maybe bullying, maybe the writer got embarrassed at their high school hobby and deleted their archive. In the case of Pirates in the Fellowship, the writer wanted to edit and repost the story, and did eventually do so - three years later.

But the majority of deleted fic is never going to come back, and we can’t expect writers to just…not delete things. (Though on AO3, we can hope that the writers will at least opt to orphan their fics instead.) There’s really no way to prevent it from happening, so the next best thing is to take precautions and save your faves while they’re still up. Fans have been doing this for decades - back in the day, folks used to copy/paste entire fics into a word document to print them out, and you can find stories on tumblr of fics that only survived because of that.

But it’s the year 2018, and now we have way better ways to archive our favorite fanworks!

AO3

Archive of Our Own is, by and far, the easiest place to download fic from - it’s literally built into the website.

All you have to do is click the Download button, choose which kind of file you want to save the fic as, and where on your device you want to save it. Just a few quick clicks, and the entire story gets saved!

I usually save fic as a PDF. MOBI and EPUB are e-reader files. HTML is similar to saving as a webpage.

For more info on downloading from AO3, check out their Downloading Fanworks FAQ.

FanFictionDownloader

So what about all those sites that don’t have a built-in downloader? Which is, of course, basically every other major archive out there. Enter FanFictionDownloader, a super-easy-to-use third-party tool that downloads the fic for you.

FanFictionDownloader works on a number of popular sites, including FanFiction.Net and FictionPress.Net. It also has a wide array of output options - you can download fic as a PDF, MOBI, or EPUB, and also as a text document or several other document types that I don’t actually recognize. Check out their Features page for more details.

After you’ve downloaded FanFictionDownloader, all you have to do is open the program, copy/paste the link of the fic you want to download, choose the file output type, and download it.

There’s other tools out there as well, but AO3′s built-in download button and FanFictionDownloader both cover my needs nicely so I’ve never tested any others. If you’re only downloading from the big sites, you might find you don’t need anything else.

Now, if you’re trying to download fic from, say, Livejournal…well, you might need to go the old route of copy/paste into a word document, or just save the entire webpage. Kinda annoying and ungainly, but honestly worth it when you go to check out the original site and find the fic’s been deleted.

[theallegedbird]

get ushankaed losers

[notstrictlylinez]

back at it again w martin+jon most likely going to do some for other characters but honestly have no clue which to do!! lmk what you'd be interested in seeing!

[physalian]

In Defense of Fanfiction (Or the perfect starting point for your original novel)

Fanfic gets a bad rap pretty much everywhere except Tumblr. It’s misunderstood and misrepresented by its average works, seen as juvenile and cringey, or a banal point of contention between a famous person or piece of media and its fans.

Outside of fanfic that writes about real people, especially smut fics of real people, I support the art wholeheartedly. Fictional characters are one thing, but personally, caricaturing a celebrity’s life for public consumption and writing or drawing them in compromising content without their consent is a little weird. You do you. Don’t like, don’t read, as they say.

Fanfic is the perfect starting point for a few reasons:

It places you in a creative box and forces you to work within those constraints

It does all the worldbuilding and character concepts for you

It lets you write way outside your comfort zone

When published and receiving feedback, it boosts your self-confidence

It's incredibly flexible

It’s practice. All practice is good practice

—

Behold your creative box

When I was little I had no idea the majority of fanfic was shipping fics. I always pictured and looked for canon-divergent alternate universes. Like, what if X happened in this episode instead of Y? What if this character never died?

Fanfic demands you work within someone else’s canon, whether it’s an OC in the canonical world, or the canonical characters in an AU. These are like little bowling bumpers saving you from the gutter, but also keeping you on a straight-ish path toward the pins.

The indecisiveness of too many choices can be too intimidating when you’re first starting out. You want to be a writer but you have no idea where to begin, what genre to pick, what characters you want to chronicle, what themes you want to explore.

Even if it sits on your computer never to see the light of day, you still got those creative juices flowing.

Pre-packaged worldbuilding

Sometimes all we want is to get to the good stuff. Maybe I want to write a story about elemental magicians but Last Airbender already exists and I just want to play in a pre-existing sandbox. So I write some OCs into that world and have a free-for-all.

I don’t have to come up with my own lore, world history, magic system rules and mechanics, politics, geography—any of it. I get to just focus on the characters.

Even if you’re writing an AU, like say a coffee shop AU, you don’t have to think about brand new characters, you can just think “What would M do?” and go from there. The trade-off is your readers will expect canonical characters to behave in-character, but I think it’s worth it.

Stretch beyond your comfort zone!

Do you hate writing action scenes? Go practice with a shonen anime fic. Need work on dialogue? Write some high-fantasy fic, or a courtroom drama. Practice a fistfight by watching fistfights and writing what you see, and do it over and over again until what you read makes you feel like you're watching what’s on screen.

But beyond that—practice genres that you aren’t super familiar with. If you’re new to fantasy, write fantasy fic. Or a mystery novel/show, thriller, comedy, satire, adventure, what have you. The nature of fanfic still gives you those “guardrails” and you can get some brutally honest feedback on how you’re doing.

And, of course, the realm of M-rated romance and smut fics. I haven’t because I think I would die of embarrassment if I tried and I never intend to include sex scenes in my works anyway, but if you do want to, use the internet as your test audience. Post it on a throwaway account if you’re nervous.

Build that self-confidence!

The fandoms I used to write for are super dead, so it’s insane how I still get email notifications that so-and-so liked my fic to this day. Comments are as elusive as ever, but random strangers on the internet telling me they liked my work is a magical reassurance that my writing isn’t actually awful.

Random strangers on the internet are, as we all know, beholden to no moral obligation to be kind to your little avatar face, or be kind to be polite. So a rando taking the time to like my work or even leave a positive comment can feel more honest than one of my friends telling me what they think I want to hear.

I tend to avoid the more present aspects of fandom like online communities, forums, social media, what have you, so I get a delayed and diluted aspect of any given fandom through completed works. Which means, in general, I get to avoid the worst and most toxic aspects of fandom and get to sift through positive feedback and critique.

Even if your fanfic isn’t written with stellar prose, it’s fanfic. We don’t expect Pulitzer-prize winning content. And if your work isn’t up to snuff, people are more likely to just ignore it than put you on blast (at least in my experience, I never got a bad comment or a “flame” in the old FFN days).

Fanfic doesn’t care about the rules of published literature

On the one hand, try not to practice bad habits, but with this point I mean that your layout, punctuation, formatting, paragraph styles, chapter length–all of it is beholden to no rules. I get as annoyed as the next reader with giant blocks of paragraphs, or the double-spacing between pages of single-sentence paragraphs, but if the story’s good enough I might ignore it.

There’s more than just straight narrative fics, though. People write “chat” fics, or long streams of text and group chat conversations. The scene breaks can come super rapidly–I’ve seen fics with a single sentence in between line breaks to show the passage of time. And without the polish of a traditionally published novel, I’ve never seen a purer distillation of author voice in any medium more than fanfic.

All practice is good practice

Even if it’s crack fiction, or a one-off one-shot, or something meant to be lighthearted and straightforward and free from complex worldbuilding and intricate plots. It really helps break writer’s block when you can shift gears and headspaces entirely and you can get relatively instant feedback to keep you motivated.

Beyond that, the “guardrails” help you stay consistent as far as character growth and personality if you struggle with designing rich characters.

The most recent fanfic I wrote was just a couple years ago, for a dead fandom I didn’t think would get any traffic whatsoever. It wasn’t my original works, but the feedback on that fic gave me the kick in the butt I needed to get back into writing more seriously.

—

In short, I support fanfic. I may not be proud of my earliest fics' prose now, but I am proud that they walked so I can now run.

[blackkatdraws2]

They are my lifeline

[individual drawings below]

[samamakhalid]

Immediate red flag whenever anyone writes a fic scene where Jon does a stupid thing and then someone else in the archives like chastises his dumbass and course corrects him. Immediate marriage proposal whenever anyone writes a fic scene where Jon does a stupid thing and then someone else in the archives is stupid², dumb of ass and dumb of heart, gives him the exact wrongest answer via megaphone and totally straightfaced like they're handing moses some stone tablets.

[judasofsuburbia]

So you’re looking to write some smut but feeling stuck, uninspired, or unsure where to start. Smut writing comes easily to some and not others, and that’s okay! Here are some tips I’ve gathered over my few years of writing smut to take with a grain of salt! It's my opinion; you can always do what you want!! <333

It’s fiction writing at the end of the day. So, it’s okay if you haven’t experienced what you’re writing about or maybe you have experienced it but you find it difficult to put it into words. I’ve never fought a creature from the Upside Down but I’ve written about it because that’s what fiction writing IS!! You’re creating a story from your own experiences/thoughts/emotions and applying it to a made-up scenario. So don’t feel discouraged by your own personal journey, anyone can write smut!!

When in doubt, plan it out. When I’m really stuck, just simply grabbing a piece of notebook paper and writing out each event in a sequence, even in the most basic terms, can make things so much easier. For example: making out, blow job, hand job, prep, fuck. Write down positions (sometimes limbs can get lost in the sauce and it is so hard to figure out how they’re actually doing it lmao). Write down settings. Write down if one person is leading it more than the other or if they switch off. Write down desperation levels (personally, I think it’s more fun when desperation is very high but casual fluffy smut is fun too!!) This will help the writing process feel a lot less daunting. 

More specifically, remember that prep is important. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been taken out of a smutty fic because they get to the main act (penetration, typically) way before someone should be ready to. Fingers, mouths, and lube (actual lube or something that can be safely used as lube. Blood is not lube. Blood is not lube as it is a liquid that dries quickly and offers no moisture so it will not help you penetrate anything, as hot as it would be.) Foreplay and prep can be a really good tool to establish a sexy dynamic between your characters and get the reader ramped up to read through to the end! 

If you feel like the action part is getting too technical, this is where you can add in thoughts and emotions that will give your smut some personality. It can feel very silly to write, for instance, your character A thinking “Wow character B is so hot” but it’s a thought that would probably cross their mind!! Write out any nerves the characters are feeling or maybe even the confidence they’re feeling. Write out what sensations they pay attention to. Write out what they like and dislike. Write out what actions cause an immediate response from them (moaning, bucking their hips, groaning, eyes rolling, etc.) Write out how your character would verbally respond (Are they dirty talking? Are they praising? Are they degrading? Are they stuttering through their words? Are they incoherent because the sex is so good?) It’s important that your characters still feel natural and not like sex robots. Unless your story is about sex robots, then go off!!!

The thesaurus is your fucking FRIEND!! Smut can feel ridiculously repetitive, especially if you’ve written it before. I say every time I write a blow job scene that “god blow job scene is blow job scene is blow job scene” because that’s how it FEELS! Use your resources like the thesaurus or there are a million posts with other ways to say “said”, ways to describe a kiss, etc. Just be careful that you don’t fall into using words that seem unnatural to the flow of the story (for example, a lot of synonyms for cock are simply…unsettling and can take your reader out of the story). Find ways to creatively tell the same action again and again which leads to tip #5…

Go read some smut. The tag “porn what plot” is so unbelievably helpful. Even if the writing isn’t exactly your style or your preference, sometimes reading someone else’s descriptions of sexual acts can be helpful if you’re lost! I have a few faves that I go back to read to get inspiration and I have notes about what it is specifically I enjoyed about their work. While you’re at it, if a fic inspires you and you feel comfortable doing so, leave a comment! It’ll make the author’s day, I promise. 

TAKE THIS TIP WITH AN ABSOLUTE GRAIN OF SALT but…go watch it. Or my personal preference, go listen to it. If I’m really lost, I’ll seek out audio porn that follows the same ~vibe~ of whatever I’m writing. There are many websites for this but Soundgasm is my go-to (it’s a free upload site so there are THOUSANDS of sounds and varying quality levels so it might take a second to find what you’re looking for)! Even a sexy playlist on Spotify can put you into a good headspace for writing. Just make sure you’re being safe and looking out for your own comfort levels. Never put yourself in a situation to experience something triggering for the sake of writing a good story. 

All of this to say, it is so different to write smut than it is to write a regular plot. It can feel incredibly daunting to go about it and find the perfect balance between technical actions and thoughts/feelings/dialogue and then make it all cohesive in the end. It’s hard to do but it’s not impossible! 

[14dayswithyou]

[18 May 2022] Just to know, how long has ren watched us? He is cute but that is a little creepy

A lot longer than you'd think. He's been keeping tabs on you even before you moved back to Corland Bay...

[elizaviento]

Don't be this person. Just don't. Fanfic writers do this for free in our spare time. A lot of us have jobs, partners, maybe even kids. We have lives that take priority over posting our little stories on the internet for you to enjoy. I love all of my readers, I really do. But do not be this person.

[magpod-confessions]

I have a few takes that I don’t think anyone is ready for but it needs to be said because this fandom is honestly a hivemind who can’t take opinions different from the “accepted” opinions.

• Hatred of jonelias is rooted in homophobia. “It’s sexualisation!” why do you think 2 men dating is inherently sexual? 🤨 You guys treat jonelias as worse than murder, I swear. Just block tags if it makes you uncomfortable.

• It’s not lesphobic or misogynistic to prefer jmart. THEY ARE THE MAIN CHARACTERS. People are naturally going to prefer the main characters. I’m saying this as a lesbian, seriously guys calm tf down. I’m taking away “lesphobia” until we learn what it actually is.

• Daisy and Melanie (and Basira?) are not the “mean lesbian” stereotype. They’re not even canonically lesbians. Yes they’re implied to be sapphic but nowhere in the source material does it say they’re lesbians. They could be bi for all we know.

• Jonny Sims said in a stream that Jon isn’t canonically sex repulsed, nor is he canonically not sex repulsed. He’s whatever you want him to be. If sexualising Jon makes you uncomfortable, once again just block tags. It’s really not that hard. (I’m asexual btw.)

.

[magnus-sideblog]

i think you should pretty please draw gabriel worker of clay perchance

you can't just say "perchance"

(requests are open, use with credit!)

[snowyvoid]

very unfinished tma sketch. enjoy

[bigautomaton]

And I, I don't think I've changed No and I'm too scared to stay the same So, my carpet's got crop circles My carpet's got crop circles these days

Crop Circles - Odie Leigh