#bourbon-ontherocks

[majoris]

Random question time for you! 🤭

Have you ever experienced having the same dream several times? Or having extremely similar dreams with a very clear common theme and if so how did you react? Mind sharing what it was about if that's not too personal?

hi hello 😊🖤 thank you for random question!

Oh that's a fun one! It's been years ago now, but I've had two recurring dreams. One was me seeing as if through shutters and it was always one 'scene' where I go up the stairs in very old wooden house, reach the attic and there is this old guy and the attic is filled with his paintings and that's it, the end of the dream. I remember each time being scared that I cannot see, the conviction that it is permanent was solid. It was always a big relief when I woke up and I could see normally tbh. I think after a few times I kinda realized that the dream was only a dream and it stopped happening

The other dream was way more elaborate because every time I dreamed it I dreamed more of it, either it being the same thing happening and me seeing more of it (the faces of people I didn't recognize before, details of objects, voices etc) and/or getting more of the 'story'. It basically started with me just knowing that I am with certain people to actually seeing them, me vaguely knowing the space and then me seeing it. The whole dream is a walk basically, starting from a lone island in the middle of lake, then through the forest, through cut wired fence, through the fields of grain finally ending up on some kind of sandy place with lakes dividing the pathways. And the whole dream is filled with people from my life and some strangers too, they're all walking around me, sometimes with me, sometimes beside me, then they leave, some come back at other points in the dream, some don't. Some are always far away. There are a few details in the landscapes too, like an old boat, a house, rusty nail, there were probably other things I don't remember now. I really like this dream, the uniqueness of it, it's probably why I remember it so vividly even now, years later after its done. I don't remember any particular feelings associated with it so maybe there weren't any big ones that could stick in my head alongside it.

Did you have any dreams like that? Any recurring dreams or recurring themes?

[ficuscircus]

#comme le disait si bien Stella Spotlight #laissez-moi mourir

... J'en ai recraché ma tisane 😂😂😂

Tout le monde peut se reconnaître dans les chansons de Stella Spotlight. Par exemple :

(aka Adam à la fin du 308 🤪)

[pia-writes-things]

Thank you @bourbon-ontherocks for the tag, this was fun !

Are you named after anyone? A postal card lol More seriously, my middle names are my great-grand-mothers'

When was the last you cried? Depends on your definition of crying but I'd say yesterday when I rewatched Anne with an e and teared up. Otherwise, saturday night after finishing She said.

Do you have kids? nope

What sports do you play/have you played? dance, football, handball, swimming, climbing

Do you use sarcasm? Not really, I rarely understand when other people do, and it rarely lands when I do

What is the first thing you notice about people? Their smile and what their hobbies/passion are

What is your eye color? brown

Scary movies or happy endings? I must have answered this question a hundred times by now, you can have scary movies with happy endings, but I don't really like scary movies

Any talents? overthinking everything ^^ I don't really know tbh

Where were you born? France

What are your hobbies? reading, writing, watching series and movies, playing the Switch, talking with my friends, playing the piano, sleeping...

Do you have any pets? technically know but my parents have a cat and I grew up with her so I kinda consider her my pet still

How tall are you? small enough that both my sisters can lean on me whenever they feel like it

Favorite subject at school? french (literature), foreign languages, history and social sciences

Dream job? Social sciences publisher, or just publisher. Please just hire me when I graduate

tagging @earanie, @hemerae-ramblings, @capybaraonabicycle and anyone who reads this !

[naves04]

[starryeyedco]

[comment-day]

Some Resources To Help With Commenting

If you have ever gotten a comment full of pull-quotes, you know it is a joy to get as an author. You get to know exactly which parts of a fic stood out to someone! Which lines made them keysmash or delve into character or made it all click! Amazing!

If you've ever tried to write one yourself, you know that scrolling to the bottom of the screen to get to the comment box again and again is an exercise in frustration only matched by repeatedly closing your hand in a door while the fire alarm goes off. So. Here are some resources to help with that!

(Note: The high-tech versions below are for Ao3, but they replicate functionality Wattpad already has built in— you can comment line by line on that site! The low-tech resource linked below should work for any site that allows you to leave comments.)

The High Tech:

There is an amazing use script written by @ravenel which gives you a comment box that floats on your screen, which is detailed below.

It can be intimidating to install a use script, so @bourbon-ontherocks wrote a tutorial about it here:

For people who use Ao3 site skins, here's the code to make an Ao3 site skin and add a bookmarklet that turns having your comment box at the bottom of the screen on and off. Bonus: this will also work on mobile!

Here is an alternate Ao3 comment box that lets you open a box, type your commentary in the moment, and then send it down to the comment box at the bottom of the page, and then close it again! Includes an update by @aidaronan which was designed to work on mac and firefox!

The Low Tech:

Honestly I have been meaning to install one of these cool scripts, but I keep putting off installing them, so I just use my notes app. I open up a new note, and on my computer I put it behind my browser window so I can click to it, and on my phone I just keep it so that I can swipe across apps. So Then I copy-paste the quotes I want, dump them in the notes app, and put my commentary below! Simple, fast, and fantastic for when you are stuck on the bus for an hour.

So what do you comment?

What kind of commentary, you ask? I will be honest, a lot of the time the commentary is me going OH NO or keysmashing after lines. And that's also okay! I have been told so by authors before!

I know I have personally gotten comments where commenters did delicate character analysis after lines and those comments are in my treasured forever box, and I also have comments where someone went OH NO OH NO AOHNFDIOFNDISJFODISJIDJSIOFD YOU DIDN"T AUTHOR NO and I also hold them dear to my heart all the same. The author gets to know the reaction a work got from their reader! And that's fantastic!

The point of the pull quotes comment is showing the impact a work is having on you as you go through the work, section by section, and sometimes that's a digression about how this line made you think about the characters relationship and how he DESERVES THIS HAPPINESS, and sometimes it's responding to a heartbreaking line with twenty weeping emoji. The impact of opening up a comment email and seeing 10 lines of quotes of your own work will hit whether you have thoughtful commentary or you are rolling yourself into a little ball like an octopus and tumbling across the screen (ordinary standard unhinged comment I have left on the works of writers who make me feel Like That).

Go forth! Comment in detail! Let the authors know which lines made you go "oh no" out line in the kitchen as you made soup! Let them know about callbacks that you just realized and now you figured out the whole mystery! Let them know about how this one bit was so cute you had to step away from the computer for a sec! Let them know what you thought!

[sdktrs12]

MOVIE REC GAME | @bourbon-ontherocks asked: 2. an indie film

The Virgin Suicides (1999) dir. Sofia Coppola (inspo.)

[justleaveacommentfest]

I'm not using it myself because I'm strictly a mobile user of ao3, but there's a lovely browser add-on thinger for a floating comment box by @ravenel so you can react in text as you read.

and the plaintext if links are misbehaving: https://ravenel.tumblr.com/post/156555172141/i-saw-this-post-by-astropixie-about-how-itd-be

There's also a lovely step-by-step guide to set it up by @bourbon-ontherocks which I've linked:

and the plaintext: https://bourbon-ontherocks.tumblr.com/post/640598977638727680/tutorial-on-how-to-install-the-floating-commenting

Anyways thank you for doing this super fun event :3 I've gotten lax at commenting and this has been a really fun way to get back into the habit <3

THANK YOU FOR THE WONDERFUL RESOURCES!!!!

[sothischickshe]

I was tagged by @bourbon-ontherocks (ty! 💛💛💛) to answer 20 questions for writers:

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

21!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

278,245

3. What fandoms do you write for?

The only fandom I've ever published fic for is good girls

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Bringing down the neighbourhood

waiting for someone who needs me🧞

What a sight to see🧛🏻

(a) time to kill

yourself and others

I'm not sure the middle 3 would def be there were it not for the anon kudos bombing but w/e it's nice having some single chapter fics in the top 5 🤘

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes! 🥺🥺🥺

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

A time to refrain (from embracing) methinks!

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Both installments of the Are you afraid or is it true series are pretty fluffy. Maybe the second part (Through the park and by the tree) wins out? 🤔

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not generally. There was someone in the gg fandom leaving mean bookmark notes tho 🙄🗑️

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes. What are the kinds? 👀

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I haven't, and I don't imagine I would?

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, not that I'm aware of. It could be interesting to see how it would go!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes actually, as kids me and a friend co-wrote a tortall 'verse crackfic.

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

Ooof. Maybe spuffy? That met me at a very formative time of my life, and I didn't expect it to become so canon (as opposed to like under a spell etc) and I think that experience really reshaped my brain 🤯🤯🤯 but fundamentally faves questions are immoral thus this is a very rude question.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I hope I'll finish all of them, and do intend to! I'm not sure I'll ever write the hilarious abortion fic tho.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Mm, a love of language/interesting prose. A love of brevity/somewhat chiselled sentences. A love of editing/willingness to improve. Interesting stories. Dialogue, tho brio get little bc theyre annoying. Characterisation!

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Well I violently dislike plot. I don't feel super strong on creating original characters. I'm slow! I'd rather let things be confusing than beat readers over the head with info, which I think can be detrimental. I wouldnt say my descriptions are super strong, though I think they've improved a lil. Sometimes there's too much internal monologue at a go which breaks up the pacing of an eg dialogue scene (though again think that's improved somewhat). My love of planning and love of pantsing are at constant war lol, I get grumpiest abt stuff not having been established earlier and thus needing to state things which couldve been well demonstrated. Blocking, sometimes. I love short stories and oneshots but I'm apparently prone to writing long fics & continuing things into series which I consider a real weakness, lol.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I'm not against it in principle, I've read a lot of books which contain a lot of eg French or Spanish (often untranslated). We've got access to Google translate or w/e right? I do appreciate it when translations are provided bc lazy (and I think Ao3 does poss let you do hyperlinked superscript?). I feel the same way abt it in fic as in other media I think -- if you're happy for it to be a bonus to those that understand and everyone else needs to work to figure it out, I concur. If you think it needs to be understood, then providing translations (even if just as notes @ the end) makes sense.

But I also think pls don't write it via Google translate... If u don't speak the language/don't have someone who can help u translate it, don't write dodgy shite Spanish or w/e 🙈 not everything needs to be literal dialogue u can just say 'he explained to his grandmother abt the change in plans' or w/e I swear

...o wait I'm guessing the q meant me as a writer not reader 🤦 I don't think I've done much of it? Altho I do always seem to imply that every character speaks French, a language I don't really speak so who the hell knows 🤷��‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Published for: good girls. Wrote for hmmm I guess tortall books maybe? 🧓🤷🏼‍♀️

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

Ooof, immoral question! Let's say upon your ignorance (and the gray despair) of your ugly life tho bc every time I remember I wrote a fic where rio & Dean swap bodies I giggle 😂 there's so much abt this fic which is very funny to specifically me teehee

Tagging🔖🔖🔖🔖🔖: @hereliesbb @nakedmonkey @nottonyharrison @inyoursheets @bensonstablers @blizabrth @delicatelingon & U right in the middle of your forehead if u wanna play 😚🎯

[hemerae-ramblings]

Jenny of Oldstones - L’art du crime

Special thanks to @pia-writes-things for the inspiration, and @bourbon-ontherocks this is my retaliation (observe how no checks are present in this vid)

[riosnecktattoo]

20 questions for writers

Tagged by @bourbon-ontherocks thanks Julia 💜

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

17

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

279,118

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Good Girl

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Thirty Pieces of Silver

Do No Harm

Teach Me Tonight

What Spring Does with the Cherry Trees

Jawbreaker

5. Do you respond to comments?

Always

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Um probably As Good As This even though it's not the angstiest fic but I left it angsty cause it was a speedy one shot rather than the happy endings I do for my bigger fics.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Any of the Only You Show Me What Warmth Is series

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

The good kind

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

No

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

I CAN'T ANSWER THAT but sawyer and kate and brio and caryl and frank and karen and and and

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

It's not really a WIP cause I will not write it but once upon a time I wanted to write Jawbreaker from Beth's pov. Also I got an ask about what Brio's first date would be like in Cherry Trees and I was gonna write a ficlet for it but it's been nearly a year and I'm like wow I should answer that ficlet or no ficlet

16. What are your writing strengths?

I don't know if it's a strength to everyone but I like it and i've had positive comments on how I really spend time on how little looks and moments and gestures feel. I like lingering on the senses a lot and as a reader i really like clarity of where bodies are in space and I dunno, a clearly painted picture. So I try to do that cause it's what I enjoy.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Dialogue like....must we speak? When it flows it feels amazing but when it doesn't it's TORTURE

Also writing characters who aren't Beth and Rio. I push myself to do it more so I can practice and to expand their world and stuff but I don't feel confident with it.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Do what ya want just make sure it makes sense/translates accurately

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Good Girls

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

ahhhh impossible but today it's Jawbreaker it was such a fun time

Tagging: @foxmagpie @bethsuglywigs @hypermania @pynkhues @xstrawmari @inyoursheets if you wanna!

[majoris]

Alright, random question times are BACK!! 💫

What's your favorite flower? 🌷

random question times my beloved ✨🖤✨😊

SO I don't really do actual favourites in any category okay. Saying that as a preface 👀 I do love me some lilacs. Voluptuous, heavy and soft at the same time, the smell is lovely and can kill u if criteria is met, relatively short-lived, it grows on branches, may flower also which arguably, the best month 👀 what more can you want from a flower you know

[ficuscircus]

#oh pitié dites-moi qu'il y a une scène coupée où adam essaie toutes les barbes possibles (à la intouchables)#et finit par tout raser parce que rien ne lui va

Je... 😂😱

(et sinon pour la raison du pourquoi il y a une théorie mais je vais attendre que tu aies vu la suite pour la partager 😇)

The time has come, I'm all ears! 🤗

[pia-writes-things]

Lait de chèvre et sentiments !!! 🥛🐐

Merciiii !

Je pense que vu le titre, c'est assez évident, mais c'est un OS Kaamelott ! C'était censé être une conversation entre Viviane et Guenièvre post KV1 à propos d'Arthur et Lancelot, et ça devait être du hurt/comfort. J'ai jamais réussi à le finir, parce que je n'arrivais pas à trouver une conclusion émotionnellement satisfaisante. Je crois que je me suis coincée dans une impasse, et je n'arrive plus à en sortir :|

Et voilà un petit extrait :

"Guenièvre hocha la tête doucement. Elle avait elle-même une certaine nostalgie pour cette époque où elle n’était pas Reine, pas mariée à l’Élu des Dieux. Juste une petite princesse picte qui jouait dans la neige avec son frère.

-Il a vraiment si peu changé que ça Arthur ?

-Oh non, il a changé, dit Viviane en secouant la tête. Il n’est plus aussi fragile qu’avant, plus aussi naïf aussi. Mais il reste toujours aussi têtu. Ça a toujours été un petit garçon qui savait ce qu’il voulait. Et qui faisait tout pour y arriver. Il s’arrêtait rarement après un refus, cherchant toujours la faille dans la volonté de son adversaire. Et il était aussi déjà très râleur, toujours à chercher la petite bête. Enfin, vous voyez quoi, Arthur, finit Viviane avec un petit sourire.

Guenièvre hocha la tête, pensive. De toutes les années où elle avait connu Arthur et son entourage, elle n’avait jamais entendu quelqu’un parler d’Arthur aussi tendrement. À l’exception de Merlin. Cela lui faisait bizarre, de découvrir qu’Arthur avait lui aussi eu des figures parentales tendres dans son enfance. Les critiques incessantes d’Ygerne semblaient bien loin.

-Et Lancelot ? Il a beaucoup changé lui ?

Viviane fixa sa tasse sans répondre. Parce qu’elle ne savait pas quoi répondre. Lancelot avait-il changé ? Elle aurait aimé dire que oui. Mais était-ce vrai ? Sa propre culpabilité et son attachement pour le chevalier errant l’empêchait d’avoir un avis objectif sur la question.

-Pardon, je voulais pas vous blesser, dit Guenièvre en remarquant le trouble de la rouquine. Je suis allée trop loin, je m’excuse.

-Non, non, vous inquiétez pas. C’est juste que je sais pas, pour être honnête. Et j’ai pas vraiment eu très envie d’y penser dernièrement.

-Je comprends. Je suis désolée. Je voulais pas vous y faire penser.

-C’est pas grave. Je comprends votre curiosité. Après tout, j’ai élevé les deux hommes de votre vie, sourit Viviane.

Mais sa blague n’eut pas l’effet escompté. Guenièvre détourna le regard, tout son corps en tension.

-Pardon. J’ai dit quelque chose qu’il ne fallait pas ?

-C’est juste que… Je ne considère plus vraiment Lancelot comme l’homme de ma vie, dit Guenièvre d’une voix blanche.

Viviane soupira et se tapa mentalement. Même si elle n’arrivait pas à voir le mal en Lancelot, cela n’effaçait pas le mal qu’il avait pu faire autour de lui.

-Je suis désolée. Je n’aurai pas dû dire ça.

Guenièvre regarda Viviane de nouveau.

-C’est pas grave. Après tout, je suis doublement votre belle-fille à ce compte-là, il faut bien que vous soyez un peu vache avec moi, dit-elle en souriant."

[longlivefeedback]

Commenting 101

Lesson 3: Quote. Or paraphrase

Sorry about going MIA last weekend, but I'm back with Lesson 3 💪 But before we get into it, how are we doing with describing the indescribable and commenting in general?

Alright. So let's talk about quoting bits of the fics and commenting on them in a comment. Personally, it's one of my favourite ways to comment because I find it easier to focus on a specific thing/sentence/paragraph/turn of phrase that I really like and gush about it to an author. By doing this, I can also focus on the bits of the story that I really really liked, and not worry about the parts that I didn't like so much. Win-win for everyone!

The one downside of this particular commenting technique is that it does take a relatively high amount of effort and is not as easy as a keyboard smash or entering a bunch of smileys and a catchphrase into the comment box. But hey. Some fics are worth it :)

So, here are some tips on how to quote while commenting:

Keep 2 tabs open.

Use a third party browser script that gives you a floating review box.

Paraphrase.

1. Keep 2 tabs open

Easier on a computer, but I've done it on mobile before. This is literally having two tabs open to the same chapter/fic as I read. When I get to a sentence or phrase that I really like, I'll copy it from my reading tab and paste it into my second tab which has the comment box open.

Sometimes I'll notate what I am thinking in the moment for that quote, and sometimes I'll leave it for the end and experience all the bits I loved again 😍. My comment at the end usually looks something like this:

"Sentence I really like" ~~ I really love how you described this character!

Everything from "Start of a paragraph/section..." to "...end of paragraph/section" is giving me life!!

"Paragraph I really like" ~~ This was perfection and made me cry 😭

and so on and so forth.

It's nice when I notate as I go, because when I'm done reading, I've got quite the comment already written and I usually just round off the comment with a catchphrase like "This was all wonderful! Thank you for writing and sharing!" and hit post, easy-peasy.

2. Use a third party browser script that gives you a floating review box.

This is not something I personally use, but the people who do have really loved it and I love the concept of it so here it is for you to try and see if it works for you!

There are a couple of scripts:

AO3 Floating Comment Box by ScriptMouse. This is a script to create a floating comment box at the bottom of the page for works on AO3. Box will be closed by default, and can be open/closed using the button in the top left corner of the window. Thanks to @memorizingthedigitsofpi for the link!

AO3 Review + Last Chapter Shortcut + Kudos-sortable Bookmarks Tampermonkey script by @ravenel. Click on the link to take you to the original post describing the tool and here's a follow up tutorial post by @bourbon-ontherocks on how to install the script. Credits to @altschmerzes and @castillon02 for the links!

I think these are only for browser on computers (so no mobile?) but please feel free to correct me in the notes if anyone knows.

3. Paraphrase

Let's be real. While Tips 1 and 2 are really just giving you tools to make commenting easier, when it gets down to it, commenting really requires you to, well, comment on something.

So what to do if you forgot to take notes as you read, didn't feel like doing it as you were reading, or found it just too hard to wrangle on mobile?

Paraphrase.

Just refer back to that one thing that caught your attention ala:

"I really love how you described this character in that part!"

"That part where you wrote about that thing that happened to that character is giving me life!!"

"That part where you that happened was perfection and made me cry 😭"

Yes, this does require you to remember and be able to point out and talk about certain parts of the fic. It can be a lot to remember particularly if it's a long chapter. So, as I've stressed in previous lessons, don't let it paralyze you. Just pick one thing you can remember and have the ability to comment on.

Remember:

Just quoting and commenting on one thing is better than nothing.

When you cannot quote, paraphrase!

And as always, when in doubt, comment your catchphrase.

If you want more help constructing a comment or validation that you're writing good comments, please send in an ask or submit a screenshot!

Lessons masterpost.

[asteraceae-blue]

I was tagged by @bourbon-ontherocks to show my 4 favorite ships and let my mutuals assume what my concept of romance is 🎉

Dana Scully and Fox Mulder, The X-files

2. Kate Beckett and Rick Castle, Castle

3. Ruth Wilder and Sam Sylvia, GLOW

4. Joyce Byers and Jim Hopper, Stranger Things

Bonus 5. Molly Hooper and Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock

I present to you, smol ladies and their idiot men (ok, Stana Katic isn't that smol, but she squeaks in there in comparison to Nathan Fillion)

Tagging @mizjoely, @miabicicletta, @jomiddlemarch, @hobbitsdoitbetter, @mel-loves-all, @fibrochemist, @lilsherlockian1975, @perfectlyloudbouquet2, @theleftpill, @muffin-n-waffle, @sagiow - have some fun with me!