#but im sure the creator appreciates tips

[whatlurksbean]

where do you get your stickers printed from? if that's okay to ask of course!

I print from a variety of companies! I usually look for sales.

Stickerninja is my favorite, but they're a bit out of my price range without a sale.

There is a sticker comparison document you can download (and tip the person who put it together if you'd like!) if you're interested in a broad list of sticker options!

[blossoms-phan]

✨philm club✨ rewatch - october 19th, 2015

liveshow - notes/thought yaps under the cut!

i love how they’re explaining how they do their individual liveshows to each other like im not saying they were just sat in the other room twice a week watching the other persons liveshow but like surely you have some idea of how it usually goes lmao

“im quite mellow today we’ve been in a car for a while” phil does seem like he has more mellow/chill energy in this one i imagine they were tired but also so go go go at this point resting for a second would only slow them down more

6 year friendiversary and dinof anniversary! It's so insane to me that it was only 6 years atp like this dnp was not too long after i became obsessed with them and i blinked and now its 15 years

dan “reassess your lives” and phil “i think you should be thanking them”- i think this is fascinating and ties into how today dan still automatically goes “im so sorry” when people say i've been watching you for x years and it makes us all want to shake him by the shoulders and say don't apologize silly man!!!!!!!!! take the compliment we mean it with love!!!!!!

dan exposing his ass to audience in leeds and years later during wad great stuff 

phil smacking his head on stage wow some things really don't change 

“calm down” in a silly voice from dan always reminds me of the cLaM dOWN airplane northern voice live clip 

i haven’t rewatched a liveshow in so long so much hair adjusting 

they sound so british sometimes 

“dan do you know what yaoi is” this is so funny to me you are asking the poster boy for yaoi day in 2024

looking at pics of p!atd on tumblr COME BACK TO ME TUMBLRINAA they r right btw i love pretty odd 

“dan choke me with your legs” why r u reading that. whore. see in 2015 knowing that a literal child probably said this its kinda cringe but also me with sister daniel and like all the Thigh in general these days so who am i to speak

“i like being remembered because that doesnt happen often with the celebrity folks”  :( this is sweet i know this time was A Lot and in general the radio stuff wasn't for them in the end and they appreciate that it was cool and fun but dan also mentioned how it was annoying to just be brushed off or being in a position where you're just forced to chase after all these big named people that dgaf about you but its just nice to see they noticed when they were remembered and the 1975 mention i could write an essay about 2018 dan and the album abiior

phil stopped the bus for fish and chips hehe i literally had fish and chips today this is cray. i hope they actually had them for dinner this day i would love to have a parasocial fish and chip night with them

you are pal creators :’) 

editing tips mention they are so unserious 

i am so emotionally attached to the london apartment but referring to it as “the house” when they have an actual House now is really getting to me 

aww talking about tabinof :’( i cant remember if i've talked about this before but there was hugee “drama” back in the day when it was first announced of people accusing them of selling out or some dumb shit when this wasn't another copycat youtuber ghostwritten book they poured their hearts into it as silly and fun as it was and the way dan talks about it really shows that i hope they were proud of it and still are

dan you don't really have the same hair but ok 

talking about the australian today show and they were just on it last month!! why does that make me so emo 

bitten right on the florida

bakeee offfff mention this is why i loved liveshows like just yapping about the shows they watch and cry over together

dan self aware get over it crashing out “so what he enjoys a themed drink” he is so silly dfjfkdfksfkj i love this part

can i live in that autumn moment?

rare what phil has been listening to! movie soundtracks ok king

dan being a little pretentious talking about their differing tv show opinions and phil just mocking his hand movements and giving a 2 word review their dynamic is so dear to me

Is this an unpopular opinion idk i can’t stand 3d movies  

black and blue as always

phil’s laugh and look and dan going “you cheeky little bugger” at him putting “phil and dan” on the chair page<3

hearing them talk about tour in the tatinof days when it was their first go and things like how its amazing hearing people sing to the preshow playlist in the context of like right now is soooooo as a longtime fan who yearned to attend tatinof while it was happening but couldn’t and finally actually experienced them and the magic of a dan and phil show and things like singing hot to go with phannies just a few months ago god im going to miss this era sm

the apocalypse/ai/technology tangent is scarily relevant right now and from nearly 10 years ago wow hashtag we’re all doomed

susan boyle after the amazingdan reaction video lmaoo

they were really doing the most during this era like omg so many promises of things coming soon among the tour and spooky week and book and they were literally just home for one day after being in a car for hours earlier that day like they seem in good spirits in this one and i know its just chill chatting for an hour but boys! take a breather! 

overall i enjoyed this one! i don't rewatch old liveshows a lot but this is a fun way for us all to commit to rewatching and discussing one a week bc there's always so many fun little forgotten details and i think it would be fun to continue even post break! i was very tired while watching this and somehow still wrote out this very long yappy list of notes which are really just a stream of consciousness which no one will read probably but i humbly present them anyways <3

[simandy]

hi there!! so i came across your cc creation basic and i adore your texture (the ea ones are...hmm) and wanted to use it in the hair im making but when i try to place it in the material tab it doesn't show? i've also tried asking on s4s but i'm not sure if they understand what i'm trying to do so i figured i'd ask the creator maybe they know how to do that. here's a photo of what it looks like when i use the s4s help tip.

the hair is already a mesh just in object mode but the emission tab is what's being read instead of the texture and this is both the ea and your own textures. sorry for the lengthy ask but i'd really appreciate any help!

Oh that's weird.... the thing is, i made those meshes in blender 2.78 with absolutely no knowledge of nodes (i was afraid of them)... i would try replacing the emission map with the texture too, even if it doesn't make sense, just to check on what is happening. I can't really help :(

Can someone help them?

[desreads]

downtownbf!chris twenty-one. black cat. cds. marlboros. late night drives. second-hand apparel. tyler, the creator. mac miller. the 1975. billy joel. fortnite. mgmt. sentimentalist. wears his heart on his sleeve. head rubs > cuddles. basketball. always in some sort of hoodie or zip-up, even for special occasions. good will hunting. little miss sunshine. hockey. cheesecake. doesn't like to drink, but he'll have the occasional shot. quick with a joke. saves his smiles for his favorite people only. skateboards. tried the guitar, but has more fun playing the drums. will spend very nickel and dime just to see uptowngf!reader smile, even if it means not having money to fill up his tank. easily jealous. goes with the flow.

⋆ ★

uptowngf!reader twenty. golden retriever. apple music, but has spotify strictly for the spotify wrapped. beabadoobee. doja cat. never has to worry about her financial future. childish gambino. party girl. has owned a fake id since her fifteenth birthday. designer clothes. loyal to a fault. charli xcx. the notebook. mean girls. white cardigans. loves to pay for date nights as well as surprise downtownbf!chris with gifts. corner cafes. hates the smell of cigarettes. loves to be spoiled, but doesn't ask to be spoiled. too blunt for her own liking. only child. incredibly nice to everyone she meets, but don't mistake her for a pushover because she isn't. perfectionist.

⋆ ★

desspeaks! hi! this is an au i thought of while listening to billy joel, love him, that i plan on making a series. not exactly sure how long it's gonna be so, please, bare with me ! also, any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated, this is my first time ever doing this on tumblr so yall im nervous asf lol anyways adios

[tarot-by-e11e]

hi elle, my initials are K.R and these are the emojis 😭❤️🥲💟🤍

im learning to love my voice more, my empathy and my creativity. ive always felt insecure about my voice and also felt blocked creatively due to being insecure about myself particularly how good i am. so im going to posy social media content publicly without being harsh and criticising myself and holding myself back from posting, from fear of failure. as for my empathy, ive felt that i often extend it to people who have wronged me. i also feel that my empathy can often be people-pleasing. so i am working on boundaries and standing up for myself, it's difficult.

hm... this is me trying by taylor swift? or any taylor swift song in general, since im not really a taylor swift fan

my biggest goal is to start posting on my youtube channel! that's my biggest goal :)

thank you for the ask game, i really appreciate it 🤍 i participated in a previous ask game and found it so helpful and accurate

Hi KR,

Thank you so much for participating in my new ask game.

It’s so nice to hear that you are putting in the work to achieve your goals~ Remember, baby steps, okay?

Don’t push yourself too hard and learn to accept that rest is productive. It’s okay to like just one song of an artist. You’re not required to like the whole album to appreciate a song.

Also, I hope you start posting on YouTube soon!! Good luck!!

These are the cards I pulled out for you: Knight of Swords, Judgement, 2 of Cups

With the first card, in order to achieve the goals that you want, you need to be assertive and focused on your game plan. Like in your YouTube channel, you need to make sure the video and sound quality are clear and appealing to the audience. You’ll need to learn about different things in cinematography and choosing the right background music. Also, researching and trying out different b rolls and making sure your equipment works properly, etc. So with the first card, you can’t be idle with your goals. You need to charge forward, do your research, and improve all the way. I’m not asking you to be a perfectionist, this card is just simply asking you to show up for yourself for your dreams to come true.

The next card calls you to keep track of your progress and always reevaluate which approach or strategy works well for you and which one needs to be improved or changed completely. To achieve the things that you want, you need to have a beginner mindset that's eager to explore and improve. It's best if you keep a notebook or journal to keep track of your efforts and be accountable with your actions. Always remember that, if you put 1% effort everyday, that's equivalent to 37% of progress in a whole year later.

Finally the last card you calls for you to be open for collaborations and create meaningful connections. Creating a channel means you'll need to learn your own way of building an online community and learn how to best create content in your own unique way. With this one, you're encourage to learn and partner with established creators and learn what they are willing to teach you. Be open to work with people for the sake of experience. Going about your channel on your own feels like a such a heavy burden on you. So, if you can establish your own team to help you with your channel, that's even better.

This is as far as I could interpret for your reading. Thank you so much for being my participant!

Feel free to tip me in my Buy me a Coffee account (to show support) ahehe [Not required, but most grateful if you did]~ (This reading is for entertainment purposes only)

[emomattagenda]

hii! im semi-new to writing but an og to sturniolo tumblr!!

how should i grow my account?? i barely have people interacting with my blog but i still do have a good amount of followers from a previous fic semi blowing up

(sending to all my fav creators, its air if you don't wanna respond, but it is appreciated!!)

honestly idk 😭 i only have a few writings posted, most of my interactions came from normal posts going insane over matt LMAO

sorry i don't rlly have an exact answer, i just post whatever and sometimes it happens to do well 🤷‍♀️ but ig one tip i have is make sure you tag your posts properly!! and use multiple versions of the tag (like use matt sturniolo AND matthew sturniolo, same with nick and chris' names/tags, for example.)

[palalances]

how i’ve never said this before literally baffles me, but: your art style is so incredibly pretty! especially your klance art is always so pretty too look at :D

you’re an incredible artist!

also: do you perhaps have any general drawing tips for newbies like me? :’))

Hello, thank you so much!!!!! i appreciate it :)

hmmmm let me think, im not great at talking nor am i great at giving advice so im just going to say some things that worked for me:

I'd say the main thing is to draw things you enjoy, things that will make you happy. it’s really important to practice and draw a lot if you want to improve, so if you’re drawing things you enjoy you’ll want to draw more often. 

Try to understand anatomy. You can do this by looking up references for the poses you want to draw. Don’t trace them, rather try to understand them and use logic. The width of the shoulders, where the neck connects and how long it should be, how big the head should be in relation to the body... Pay attention to yourself in the mirror also. how much space is there between your eye and your ear, how it varies with the angle of your face, how much space between your mouth and chin and your mouth and nose, where your eyebrows begin and where they end, etc.

Very important especially at the beginning, even when you’re just doing screenshot redraws, is not to just draw what you see, first draw what’s underneath and then lightly erase it/use a different layer so you can add the clothes and hair on top. So basically draw them naked first lol.

Use guidelines for the face and the body. Maybe you don’t know how to use them at first, but you don’t have to follow them strictly. i mainly use them to make sure the eyes are leveled, the nose is in the middle of the face, the shoulders are the same width and the torso is centered. follow them in a way that’s useful to you.

Lastly, do not focus on developing an artstyle. i wish someone had told me this bc i was trying soo hard to find my artstyle, i thought i wouldn’t be a real artist until i had one, but the thing is it’ll come naturally. it just happens. so don’t focus on always trying to do things the same way bc you feel like that’s your style, and just do them in a way that feels fun. don’t be scared to try new things.

You can check out this tag. There are also great content creators on youtube that give art tips sometimes, like drawingwiffwaffles and samdoesarts, so i suggest you look them up if you haven’t already!

Hope these were somewhat useful :)

[thedevilliers]

Hey, I've been reading your story for a while, and I'm enjoying it very much. Following the De Villiers has been so fun, and you've inspired me to create my own royal Simblr!

Can you maybe share some tips about what to do with your royals? I'll be posting my family within the next few weeks, and I have already planned out several engagements + events, including visits to parks/schools/hospitals, parties, and news surrounding a royal pregnancy. I've also planned out the first arc. I don't know what else to do, and I've barely started! If you have any tips related to the beginning of your Simblr that you didn't cover in your other post, I would so appreciate them. I want to get all this nailed down *before* posting, so my blog is the best that it can be.

Also, if you have any advice on how to make things as efficient as possible (especially regarding posing sims, editing/writing posts, etc.), I would love that! I want to cut down on time wasted wherever I can.

Thank you!! :-)

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 me?!!?!?! ME ??????? omg 🧍‍♀️ thank u for reading my story 🥺 and AAAAAAAAAAAA your own royal simblr !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ill answer everythin under the cut !!!!! spoilers: it got long sorry

first of all, remember we ALL started somewhere. you can look at my first like... fifteen and even MORE posts and they are BAD. oh my gawd idk why i thought they were good, but hey! i learned things from them. you will more than likely change your mind about certain things from the beginning of your blog to who knows, four months from now. don’t focus and worry a lot on ‘perfection’ and setting up ‘high standards’ from the beginning. treat it like a learning curve! this is something we all do for fun, so don’t get stressed a lot on it. you can always change and adapt things and that’s no problem!

i love lists, so im gonna list a few things of advice/tips basing myself on what you said!!!

i personally don't do engagements anymore, so i can't really help you in this regard of even more activities you could do 🧍‍♀️ what i could recommend for people to get to know your characters' personalities and private lives and grow attached to them, add in BTS posts.

continuing on my BTS’ post thing, they are a GREAT way to show more than what the public sees for your royals. because from a press and public point of view, you don't really know 'what goes on behind closed doors'. they could be all happy in public, but in privatE??!??!!?!?

as i said in my starting out guide, i did have around ~15 drafts done before i started posting. just so i could not stress about “oh my god i dont have any posts for tomorrow”. a LOT of ppl do posts and queue them as they go, and they have MANY posts done and usually they start accumulating and they are MONTHS in advance compared to what they’re currently posting. if this method works for you, you can definitely use it!

please, please please read your dialogue OUT loud. is it possible to say a 2093023902 word sentence without a singular use of punctuation? do people in this age and era really talk this way? also please if possible use correct grammar. just a little pet peeve, it can take a reader out of the immersion your story gives them.

we all have our lil dialogue habits. mine is starting sentences with “oh” and the infamous dash “—”. others use ellipses. just make sure you aren’t overdoing it. for example, doing a sentence like “oh— there you are. i was uhm— looking for you. how—how are you? its—i mean where have you uhm— been? yes—ive—ive been fine. you? i mean— your mom” ....just no 😔 it doesnt read well at ALL

you can always do lil filler posts, dont tell anyone tell you otherwise. post a little simstagram post, a little family portrait, updated portraits post, family hanging out, kids hanging out, etc.

for posing sims, i do try and remember where MOST of my poses are in the ingame list. usually creators’ correctly naming the poses helps a lot. for example i need a Mel Bennet pose; hers are usually ALL in the same spot and have the same lil aqua bg so i can easily find them. sometimes, i dl pose packs VERY specifically for a certain scene. am i gonna use them again? no. so i open the .package file in sims4studio and rename them to “00 for emi scene [rest of the og name” so when i open my game, they are around the top of the list! no more scrolling and i easily know what i need it for.

dont be scared to plan things that are happening MONTHS from now or anything in detail. some ppl dont like planning things in detail, or even dont like planning things AT ALL or things that arent happening say, in over 2 weeks because idk, they get bored. i recommend at LEAST having a list of things that HAVE to happen so you have ‘goals’ and you slowly plan out how you’re gonna get there. at LEAST theres some level of planning there. if you’re posting and PLANNING as you go, there’s gonna be holes. and it’s gonna be obvious.

editing wise, i don’t do much. my reshade does most of the work, i just add in my psd, add text and done! this is easily the fastest thing you will ever do.

if you get inspired by someone else doing, idk, a certain layout for the portraits, them adding little things to their captions, a certain edit, etc. if you want to do something similar and you ARE very much aware you were inspired by them, credit them in the caption. i beg. its free, its the nice thing to do, bc if not its rude.

if you get inspired by a certain storyline someone else did and you notice yours is gonna be similar, go ahead and send them a message to let them know and if they have any tips or feel uncomfortable with you doing this. simply put, if you don’t, you’re gonna look bad. we are all bound to do same storylines, such as assassinations, shooty shooty’s, stalkers, first loves, accidental babies, etc. but what changes is how each person approaches it. no ones gonna do it the same way as you and others. if you CONSCIOUSLY start copying else, stop it. and you could even be unconsciously be inspired by someone else too. it happens! just make sure you are able to look at the bigger picture and realize “hey, i’m doing something wrong”

same thing with dialogue. you like a line someone else said in their story? don’t just... steal it and incorporate it into yours word BY WORD

OVERALL: you can be inspired. give credit where it’s due. and don’t copy because someone else is doing ‘something others like’ and you want others to like your story. no no no !

im adding this AFTER i posted it but, be yourself. in the way you interact with others and send questions, etc. don’t try and copy someone else’s personality because they are liked and essentially absorb them. be yourself and i’m sure a lot of ppl will like you the way you are : D

for my writing dialogue etc, this goes back to my point 8. i use milanote, its free and you get 200 free thingies to use, and i plan out how every single one of my posts is gonna go. so i just have to go ingame and i already know what im gonna do. no thoughts, just taking screenshots. for example, this is how a part of my part 2, chapter 3 posts layout looks like. every square is a post that has what is happening, who is in it, what is gonna be said very vaguely, etc:

11. and the most important tip! don’t compare yourself to others. i did it at the beginning. i think we all did at one point. its not good for you at all. please always remember we all are here for share our lil stories with each other and it’s not easy get a following. you’ll get there and its gonna take time. be patient, be nice!!! and i cant wait to see your story!!!!!!!!!!

[lunartearrose]

hello. bestie. info about this fantasy au WHEN 👀👀👀👀👀

Aaa I can give you some right now!!!! For some reason this au comes to me whenever im working so thats why its art is all on stickynotes audjskjsj

BUT ANYWAYS uh. No better way to say this but it all started out with a modded skyrim character creator that i made skull in! I thought it was cool and going thru both main q and whatever stupid civil war to skip the broken seasons unending quest is annoyin but fun was had for maybe some hours

But! I had to make skull twice due to the first skull files getting corrupted. So that has a piece to it

But anyways context over and now this au has been in my brain with only vague skrim assets because i fucking hate that that civil war has anything to do with anything of the main questline it can FUCK. Right off

Basic storyline premise my brain had! We start out with a currently human vintage caught between a mysteriously similar civil war :) he's chosen neither side but since his home was destroyed by the stupid shit idiot war he's basically gotten really good at pissing off both sides. Sometimes he gets caught! And the good-ish soldiers will see that he is you know a still kinda baby-side teen full of anger and try to lrt him go with a talking to. But his worst encounter would be when the angy soldiers catch him and beat him up, which just deepens his hatred. And one time someone really messed him up bad!

He ends up limping away into an enchanted forest and drawn by a really good smell, he passes out just in front of this really beautiful lilac tree that was in a clearing like "ok this is a nice tree to die by. Peaceful" but ofc he didnt die. He just woke up to a nymph of the tree he chose taking him up to the center of the tree. And that's how he befriends Skull, he's recovering with him and keeps mumbling about how nice the smell is while skull both cares for him and looks around for his potion savvy friend. Once vin is healed up by aviators he realizes pretty quick that this forest is very much between the war path and figures it's highly appropriate to set traps all over!!! But ofc giving avi and skull very specific instructions on how to avoid the things he sets. He also makes good pals with omega in the town nearby bc she helps at an institude and she's been sneaking him into their library to read up on nymphs and share his own notes in return. Shes like you're my little brother and hes like fuck u (but also thank you sorry) and he gets to discover he has a high affinity for magic despite being human. Weird! Anyways now that he has a place of study he can figure out how to teach skull weapons.

But all is not peaceful for long, bc some old shitty wizard trails this knowledgeable little jerkwad, because variant nymphs are rare! And as the guy comes out of the bushes and pisses vintage off by treating skull like a specimen and taking out a pair of scissors like, "i wonder if its really true that you can take memories of one by severing branches from its tree:)" Vintage basically attacks the guy! Because no taking Skull's memories! And skull helps of course bc friend, but unfortunately this guy is very strong and seasoned. So when vintage almost gets a good life ending hit, the wizard wounds him heavily (resulting in an x-shaped scar deep on his face that got him bad in one eye) and opens a portal to basically hell! Vin is gonna fall in but skull makes the effort to try and use the roots of his tree to pull him out. But knowing he can get sucked in too, vintage just makes a promise to get out somehow and come back, sealing it by giving the gift of a small ring he was saving. Unknown to him once he falls and portal closes, skull definitely makes the wizard into plant food! But on the floor of this hellscape, vintage finds himself with some flowers and seeds that had fallen from the tree, a tail, and a new nubby pair of horms and wings. But despite this, he gets up, gathers the seeds, and thinking back on his affinity for magic, he decides he will grow the lilacs while he figures out an escape, all the while being reminded of skull every time he looks at the stuff. It takes some years, and some demons also looking for an escape love his tree and his story (mainly double who helped persuade spirits into protecting the tree and gave vin tips on horn and wing upkeep) but eventually vin has his break when he hears omega call and together they pry open a portal out of there. He's pulled along by a red sole (very excited feral magician) and now he and double are finally out. Double introduces himself while vintage, with magical hell-lilacs tied around tail, disguises his demon features and runs off to find skull.

Only to find the entire forest burned down. He's in shock for some time, wanting to know how and why. One of the last things he saw was a killing blow from skull, it couldn't have been that wizard- but then he spots a soldier's settlement nearby. Hidden amongst charred trees. They chatted merrily, loading up gathered game, and when he asked, they told him the forest was another victim of their pointless war. It wasn't even a turning point, and one of them even laughed and said they'd get "the bad guys" next time.

When the sick of this, much older teen, gets angry enough that his horn-hiding illusion falls, they all quite suddenly realize they've majorly screwed up. And vintage figures out that he has a taste for souls. Red finds him again after though with a gift, a calm pet and a gentle informing that he should be able to visit his hell lilac tree anytime he wants at least. A nice gift, but vintage is too angry at the moment to appreciate it and decides that hes ending the war himself by killing every single person directly involved with it! At times the armies had tried to work together to stop him, but with the power to morph melificent style into a dragon is a pretty solid way to make sure you're just wasting lives, and people figure out pretty quick it's the commanders he wants. Those are sacrificed, but now you just have a very powerful demon with nowhere to place his still burning grief that's very very hard to approach! But word gets around as it does and a blue group of adventurers take up the task of calming the demon and dealing with his haywire magic and deliver a hard truth - that he might have to move on with the friends he made along the way. Post fight, the vampire cruising with blue team scoops vin with some tlc plans and asks that blue team to locate the friends vintage had, and maybe even look into his older friends. And once vintage is awake in a rather cleanly and impressive vampire mansion, he's given news that emperor had heard of a wood elf taking care of a rather flowerless and purple nymph, working with a lot more potions than usual. One can't even begin to describe how relieved Vintage is by this info that his first friend, at the very least, is still alive. It may just take time to get to him with post-magic owchies and all, so emperor decides to send out a nice and classy letter to those friends he had found, inviting them over.

Oh and the only reason skull miraculously survived the warring and forest fire is definitely becausee of the lilac tree currently sitting pretty in hell

SO UH YEAH THATS MY PLOT SO FAR FOR THIS FANTASY AU YEAH VERY WILD I HATE CIVIL WAR QUESTS FUCK CIVIL WAR QUESTS

[whaleofatjme1920]

hii, my sweet!! Im not sure if you’ve answered or have been asked this before,,, but i was wondering how you would start a tumblr blog up ? I hope it’s not too much to ask ^-^

I just wanted to know the basics, like setting up what it is ur doing, requests, masterlists, getting noticed and all that jazz

ty ty, youre a sweetheart <33

Hi love bug, this is a good question! Apologies for formatting, I’m on my phone again. I answered something similar here. However, I do have some more tips!

I started my blog up because I got paranoid that Quotev was going to murk all my stuff. That’s literally it. Oh! And I wanted better engagement with y’all! I’ve also noticed the audience here is older and generally what I’m looking for because ngl I don’t like talking to fetuses in the context of what I sometimes post here.

Setting up is pretty easy! I suggest starting with some rules. Always lay down your boundaries because your boundaries are SO IMPORTANT. You have the right to deny things! You may be a creator, but you don’t have to create what you don’t want. Furthermore, don’t be afraid to bail? Like if something is too much, or your ask box is just way too full, don’t be afraid to say “not accepting anymore until further notice.” It’s okay. You are a human being. Breathe once and a while. Make sure you know your limits when it comes to writing as well! Do what you’re comfortable with at first, and branch out from there. Don’t force yourself to go wildly out of your comfort zone or it might show in your writing. Just do what you feel comfortable with in regards to some wiggle room.

For me personally, I don’t have a schedule? I just upload when I want to? Usually, I’m pretty on the ball with things but ngl I’m a little behind due to post op. So! If you write some things, you can definitely schedule them so if you want to work on other stuff, you can! Scheduling is super helpful especially when you’re not around. You can also set time aside in your day for when you want to answer things. Like for me personally, I just won’t work on any tumblr writing before noon. I’ll schedule things to get posted here, but I won’t write because it’s a boundary I have with myself. Set some time aside to not even think about your blog. Literally. It’s just a healthy mindset thing.

Getting noticed? I feel it’s both a mixture of how consistent you upload, how well you engage with others, and using hashtags. So, slap hashtags on your stuff. Look for trends in your data. Is X getting more attention than Y? Write for them for a little bit. Follow that data. What posts of yours tend to get most attention/notes? Maybe stick to that content for a moment or so. Write things that mean something to you and it will show in your work! People are more likely to appreciate it. But genuinely, trends in the data. Some characters are way more popular than others, so it’s almost bound that some of them are going to get more attention. It’s a little disheartening ngl, but don’t let it bother you. It’s just whatever floats people’s boats!

Master lists are pretty easy. You can sort them by character and break them up by SFW and NSFW if you’d like. I didn’t. I just put their names, and whether the fic/headcanon was sfw/nsfw and also noted whether it was a HC or not. I felt that was good enough. I’ve seen some really good master lists that get all aesthetic and stuff. Those are really nice! Really just make sure it’s readable and easy to navigate and that the links work. That’s it. Master lists are easy, just a tad tedious if you’ve got mountains of content and started late. So, start it early! And update it OFTEN.

Don’t be afraid to engage with your audience either. Update them what’s going on in your life within reason, generally insert yourself into the community you’re trying to set into. It’s just nicer that way, and you make some new friends! Always like new friends. Also, you can write for different fandoms if you want to. Whether you want to split that up onto different blogs or not is up to you. I’ve seen some writers just make separate master lists for each fandom they’re in, post all in the same blog. Generally engagement is much better here on tumblr than any other app I’ve been on so far. So like, use that. Take advantage of it.

And finally, don’t stress yourself out with requests and stuff. If you start picking up traction, which will most likely happen, you’re gonna start getting swarmed. Don’t let it stress you. You’ll get to it when you get to it. Boundaries, once again. They’re so important! Also hate mail sucks so don’t,,,, don’t let it take time out of your day. It’s genuinely not worth it. I feel like the scariest part of starting up a blog or anything where you have to engage with others and eventually see how they come to view your stuff is just stepping in/posting the first thing. You kinda learn as you go along, and I personally think you’ll do just fine.

If you have any more questions, feel free to let me know! <3

[narumi-gens]

hi!! so i just started writing fanfics, and i was just wondering -- how do you deal w/ numbers and the whole posting online thing? while i know that i should be writing for fun and stuff (bc it is!) and that im literally JUST starting out, BUT i just.. im someone who really heavily relies on validation, and when people don't really respond to my works well (or at all), i kinda just.. feel bad ): idk.. do u have any tips?

🥺 You came to me for advice on this, anon? 🥺 Thank you so much! I’m more than happy to pass on what I’ve learned and help out a new writer. I’ve been reading/writing fanfics on-and-off in some form or another for like ten years, but especially over the last four and am happy to share some tips. There are five main things that I think can help grow your follower count and the amount of feedback you get:

Don’t feel bad about wanting validation.

Consider the platforms where you post.

Write for active fandoms and popular characters.

Post frequently.

Interact with other authors.

This got rather long so I have more info under the cut about each of these. 

1. Don’t feel bad about wanting validation.

There’s this dumb trap that we all fall into as writers that tells us that validation isn’t important and that what matters most is our love of writing. While I enjoy writing, if my stuff got no notes and no feedback then I would definitely have gotten discouraged and quit writing awhile ago. Why would I put all that effort into something if no one seems to appreciate it? There’s nothing bad about wanting people to let you know they like your writing! I get so happy when I see someone left a comment on one of my fics or went crazy in the tags or sent me an ask. And when something doesn’t get any feedback, I get depressed about it and second guess whether I should have bothered writing it. So, definitely try not to get caught up feeling bad because you want people to tell you that they liked your work. 💕

2. Consider the platforms where you post.

I only use AO3 and Tumblr, so I can’t speak to any other platforms, but posting my writing on both of these are widely different experiences. Part of the culture of AO3 is giving kudos and leaving comments, so you’re more likely to get feedback there than anywhere else. I slowly built a following on Tumblr because of my AO3, even when I wasn’t posting anything on Tumblr itself. I would really recommend checking out AO3 if you’re not already on there! You do need to request an invitation, but it only took me a couple of days to receive one. I also have 8 invitations that I haven’t sent out, so DM me if you want one and I can give you one! 

I’m sure you’ve already seen posts about this, but the unfortunate thing about writing on Tumblr is that the feedback is absolutely minuscule and I’m not sure why. There’s this awful culture on this platform of people only liking content and not reblogging it to make sure it gets shared with other users. So, you end up really reliant on your own followers and the tagging system for your works to reach people. And the tagging system is a mixed bag. Sometimes your posts don’t show up in the tags or they will but only after a couple of days. If your post gets enough notes then it might go to the top of the search feed but then only for a few days at most. 

As a sidenote to readers, this is why reblogging is so important! Even if you only have five followers or don’t leave a comment, just reblogging it means a lot to content creators!

Here are some of the tips I have for the mechanics of Tumblr:

Use the tagging system, as imperfect as it is. I think Tumblr now reads the first 20 tags in your post, so use that to your benefit. I usually always tag at least: [character name]; [character name x reader]; [fandom]; [fandom x reader]. You can always also try things like: [character name genre], [fandom genre], [fandom fanfic], [character fanfic] as well.

Make sure your blog is easy to navigate and have a masterlist that’s easy to find. If a reader sees your content on their dash and decides to check out your other works, if they can’t find them on your blog then they’ll probably just leave.

Self-reblog as much as you feel you need to for your followers who may have missed your post. I self-reblog a lot for new content over the first couple of days and then even will do a few icymi self-reblogs later as well. It also helps to have a list in your profile somewhere of your recent updates so people can easily see if they’ve missed something. 

3. Write for active fandoms and for popular characters.

This might seem like common sense, but I think it’s something to keep in mind if you want to grow your follower count and your chances of getting feedback. And there’s nothing wrong with prioritizing a fic over another just because you want more feedback. I actually really want to write something for Chainsaw Man but the fandom is so small compared to the other fandoms I write for that I’m putting it on hold until the anime comes out. 

That’s not to discourage you from writing for characters or fandoms that are less popular -- I have a bad habit of writing for niche characters and fandoms. But I always see my activity spike when I write for more popular characters. Another tip is to try and figure out which characters people are thirsting over but where there’s a lack of fics for them. You’ll also find that some characters or fandoms just have louder fans than others. The stuff I’ve written for Gojo has gotten a lot of likes and notes, but not so many comments or much feedback. But the amount of asks and thirsts I’ve gotten for Naoya is wild. This is something you’ll learn over time as you keep writing!

4. Post frequently. 

This one is annoying because writers have lives and real-world responsibilities and we can’t just write 24/7. But when you’re trying to build a following, even if you can do a couple of short drabbles a week, you’ll really start to see your follower count and feedback grow. I’m not sure if people tend to like longer or shorter fics more, but overall people are just hungry for content and if you can give it to them on a frequent or at least regular basis then they’re more likely to interact, especially if you’re taking requests. 

But don’t prioritize writing and posting content at the cost of your own well-being. As authors we’re all guilty of this at one time or another, but your followers will understand if you have writer’s block or you need to take a step back! Taking care of yourself is more important than getting feedback or interaction. ❤️

5. Interact with other authors. 

Building relationships with other authors is a big one, but it’s also probably the hardest because a lot of us (me included!) are just so shy about reaching out! It’s like asking someone on a date or trying to be friends with someone you really admire. I know it’s scary to come off of anon (I still sometimes send asks on anon!), but authors recognize the names we see often in our notes and in our inboxes and we’re all really nice, I promise! 🥰 And I’m much more likely to read the fics of my mutuals and the people I follow than I am to be searching through the tags.

And I think there’s nothing wrong with reaching out to an author you love and politely asking if they’ll read your work. I think it’s totally okay to send something like, “I really love your writing and wanted to know if it’s alright if I share this fic I just posted with you? I’ve seen you thirsting over [character] and think you might like it if you have the time to read it!” The worst they can do is turn you down. I would never be upset over getting an ask like that as long as it was polite and the person was understanding that I might not have time to read their fic. But, I know that this is really scary to ask of someone. I’ve only done it once or twice, so maybe I don’t have any ground to stand on here, but I really think you should try it even if you need to send the ask on anon first.

Please just be mindful of an author’s rules before reaching out.

Another added bonus is that authors are more likely to reblog and give you feedback on the stuff you write because we’re in the exact same boat as you! We’re the perfect audience. 

And don’t forget...

Growing your follower count and reaching the level of feedback you want takes time. If you’re just starting out, don’t get discouraged. The more you write, the better you get so even if you’re not getting the feedback you want now, that doesn’t meant that you never will! 

And of course, pay it back in kind. Just how you want people to interact with your fics, we want the same. I always try to leave comments on the fics I read on AO3 and always reblog the fics I like on Tumblr and try to go wild in the tags so that the author knows that I loved their works. 

I hope you found all of this useful, anon! Best of luck with your writing! 💕

[nemirutami]

How to grow an audience as an artist (by your own means)!

There’s been a lot of discourse lately in the art community and I’ve seen a lot of small artists bicker with big artists regarding followers and commission prices. Well, I’m not having any of it. I made a nifty tip-list on twitter on how to grow an audience and I think it needs to be said here too for those who need to hear it.

This thread is for you, me, and everyone who wants to grow an audience & find business opportunities. I've compiled a list of helpful ways to have your art seen (from my own experience) and i'll be breaking them down step by step in this thread. Let's start with 1.

1) You should not only be posting on twitter (the search engine is very poor here). You should post your art to instagram, tumblr, deviantart, Youtube, ANY media platform where images and videos are easy to digest. It's a chore, but also a worthy sacrifice to get more eyes on you

2) If you post in a EU timezone but your audience is mostly american, well, then you missed your optimal posting window. Know where most of your audience is located (you can put up a poll!) And schedule posting during/around a time where people are likely to be free + awake.

3) Supporting other creators isn't annoying! Your engagement doesn't only help boost the artist you love in the algorithm, but it also makes you easier to find if someone clicks on their art to read the comments! It's a win-win for both of you!

4) If you want to make sure your work is seen, use tags on all the art you post! On twitter it looks ugly (that's why i don't do it often if at all) but on sites like instagram and tumblr it's easy to hide tags for aesthetic. Know what tags are most active and tag accordingly.

5) If you draw something really popular, keep in mind that the content pool for said popular thing/ship is INFLATED. Try to bring something new to the conversation. Something that makes people go "i NEED to follow this person bc they're the only one that GETS IT".

6) Twitter and tumblr (with the right extension) has a function that can "turn off retweets/reblogs" To make sure others are guaranteed to see your art, you can post it again as a new post to make sure it doesn't get blocked by the RT/RB feature. Repost old art for new followers!

7) Collaborating with others helps build both your audience and your friends/mutual's audience! If your interests align (like fandom or even ships) people from both your sides are more likely to go follow you/your friend based on what they see! Give your best in collabs!

8) Not everyone can host streams because of cpu limitations, but what you CAN do is make step-by-step gifs/imgs with online tools to then post it online. Make sure you host streams when people are free and not at work! It's a good chance to engage in chat live, too.

9) If you have commitment and time, join zines, fan projects, weeks, and events hosted by your fandom. This way, you're making content of something you love and you have an audience already willing to watch what you make!

10) You can host your own digital zine to avoid merch/shipping cost and put it up in an online store for download! You can also host weeks/events yourself to get others on board. Only make physical zines/prints if you know what you're doing and have resources to spend!

11) character bdays, game updates, and game release dates happen once a year, but they happen once a year for PLENTY of things. This way, if you draw for things you love and post on the day it's most relevant, more people will be likely to search/share and see it!

12) We all know when the next nintendo direct drops, we see artists RUN with excitement to draw for it RIGHT AWAY. This is both bc we're excited and because we know we have a small window of oppertunity to hit the PEAK of online activity. Your art is more likely to be seen NOW.

13) You have to make content to be seen. Sometimes, being seen doesn't mean your art is good as much as it means you're posting consistently and giving people reason to come back to you/enjoy having you on their feed. The more you post, the more likely you can be seen/rtd.

14) Sketches, doodles, wips, unfinished things! None of these things matter as much to your followers as it does to you! Most of them enjoy seeing you post art, no matter what kind. Post sketches, doodles, comparisons, etc! Let them see/share more of your work!

15) Don't be afraid to interact with your followers or even people who approach you with questions! Being social is difficult, but know that followers love when you reply to them (speaking for myself bc i love when other artists  or reply to my comments )! Engage!

16) You'll learn this from personal experience. There are (with attitude) definitely bad clients and bad artists. But all you need to consider is being respetful and mindful and take your clients consideration to heart. If you can't offer something, be honest! They'll understand.

17) You can grow a lot in a year, but you know what will impress people? If you take that 1 drawing you did when you were 14 of tokyo mew mew and redrew it in your new style! Success stories are worth following. Hard work is always valued and appreciated- flaunt it!

18) Tutorials or step-by-steps are easy ways to get more artists to notice you because we're all trying to do our best to learn and grow. By posting studies or tutorials, you're not only inviting others to share your experience, but you're inspiring them to try new things!

19) Have your art/business email EVERYWHERE. In your twitter bio, on your instagram, tumblr, youtube, etc. Anywhere where you might need it. This way, no matter WHAT platform people find you on, they can ALWAYS count on reaching you via email if your dms are closed!

20) There are several free websites (weebly for one) that offer a lot of freedom and customization. My best tip for making a site is: make it organized, easily readable, un-cluttered, to-the-point, and aesthetically pleasing. No complicated navigation; focus on accessability.

21) Sometimes, drawing 1 popular thing ONCE is not enough. This is bc unless you have something unique or mainstream, people will go where they can get more of said popular content. If you've already been drawing for a fandom, yr more likely to get followers from that fandom.

22) The most important point. Never equate your audience to your worth, and never equate your followers to a progress bar. It's insulting to both you and your followers who are rooting for you. You're worth much more than you get, but it's your job to make others see it. BE LOUD!

Addendum: I didn't put "luck" here bc it isn't something you yourself can control outside of what I've already shared. But keep in mind a lot of the time, it really is about A LOT of luck. Keep your head up, and do your best. 10 followers or 10k followers idc, IM rooting for you.

[sunlitscribe]

Any tips for someone looking to get into the oc community?

hello!! i am by all means no expert to navigating this community, or any social situation ever, but here's what i've learned over the years. keep in mind this is not an requirement or like an oc community bible or anything, not everyone does this, it's just what i do lmao

try to engage with others if you can, get to know them and their ocs! im not saying you have to do it with everyone or become their best friend, not if you don't want to; but if you see an oc or oc creator you like or curious about, send them asks about their ocs, and when you reblog ask games from someone be sure to send some in!

this really depends on your mental well being and availability ofc, but participating in any oc events or giveaways or even making your own helps

i can't speak for everyone but me and most of my friends all agree we like attention! so if you interact with us and our content consistently, most will more than likely interact with you and yours

remember that though likes are important and appreciated, when our stuff gets reblogged more people will see it and hopefully reblog it too and get curious enough to follow for more

there are also blogs that track certain tags that you can use to get proper attention for any art work, edits, writing, it all depends on what you're making for some of them, but the main ones i can think of are: ocappreciation, fyeahocsofcolor, fyeah{insert fandom here}ocs, queerocs - all they ask is to be interacted with!

this community has it fair share of problems and petty drama, not gonna lie to you it can get insane, but you can find some cool ocs here and even better friends!

[tema-makes-art-sometimes]

Just saw your vent post and I think diving into your self indulgent stuff might help. For me personally, when working on original stuff, that's when I'll think about things like appealing to others/marketability/etc, but when it comes to fandom stuff, the only audience I care to pander to is Me, Myself, and I. Other people sometimes end up liking it, mostly it just goes ignored, maybe a like by a mutual if they see it. I prefer it this way, since worrying about appealing to more people when writing fanfic makes it feel too much like Writing I Do For Work, and I even never use betas for that same reason, it makes it feel too much like Work Writing, when fandom is Fun Writing.

I'm not sure what you do outside of fandom, but you have so much creativity, I've kinda assumed you've either been doing creative work or are studying to go into it--I can see you in a character design shop tbh, I can see Pin being a villain people would just eat up and love or love to hate.

If you're in a creative field, I feel like it's just good practice to go into Work Creative Space and Fandom Creative Space with different intents, if anything for the sake of mental health, as I've been in a very similar place, where silence on my fandom work would make me rethink what I'm doing, make me want to retcon WIPs, thinking "Maybe if I change this to that or this ship to that ship or change this character to be closer to fanon, more people will want to read/will comment/whatever".

You sound like you already very well know this isn't a healthy mindset, so I'm not going to go into that. I'll just say dive into that self indulgence, whether or not you're doing original creative work in the background as a job/part of study. You have great stuff, but audiences can get burned out just like creatives do. Sometimes it's because they're also creatives. Sometimes it's just burn out from seeing so much art/writing/media ALL THE TIME.

Something a professor told me was that if you got to go to an art museum, and you tried to really appreciate each piece, you'd end up exhausted before finishing even one section of the museum. This can lead to the 'mindless scrolling' a lot of the time. Fandom is becoming a large part of a lot of people's lives, but for most people, it's secondary or even tertiary media, and they're already putting a lot of energy into enjoying and appreciating the media they're in fandoms for. (Yes, there are some people who 'set fire to canon' and are in the center area of a fandom, but most people are closer to the sides, occasionally popping in from time to time but not setting up tents, if that makes sense.) So many of those people just don't have the energy to really get involved with a lot of media produced my fan creators, especially if they follow a lot of them and can only comment or otherwise get involved with a few posts/creators at a time. This can be what often leads to some 'visiting' the same 3-4 creators more often than they may go to another creator.

Setting up a place and waiting for more people to filter in can feel exhausting all by itself, especially when you're trying to create more to fill more of that space and hopefully entice more people to pop in and see what's going on.

When you focus on self indulgence for a while, you're not always looking at the door, since you usually don't expect people to walk in (at least, I never expect it), so when people actually do come in and tap you on the shoulder to see what you're working on and if they can see, it can really help offer that extra boost you need.

I really don't think you're doing anything wrong. A lot of artists who don't do what those "How to get more followers" tips still find an audience, sometimes due to the niche, sometimes starting out niche but expanding as more ideas get tossed in. Some artists who by the book, seem to do everything right, don't get nearly as much. There's really not a right or wrong way to create or share your creations. There are just a /lot/ of creators, so a lot of times, it boils down to how people find your door.

These are all really good points so I am going to share. Honestly a lot of my GerCanMano stuff is pure self indulgence but you're honestly right I think I'm probably gonna focus on some self indulgent shinanigans for a bit, and stop worrying as much about getting things out on time and making it perfect

but I do wanna point out this cause it hit me;

I'm not sure what you do outside of fandom, but you have so much creativity, I've kinda assumed you've either been doing creative work or are studying to go into it--I can see you in a character design shop tbh, I can see Pin being a villain people would just eat up and love or love to hate.

I was in school, but I never declared my major so I had to stop temporarily because I honestly don't know what major to be. There's so many things I like to do, but I don't know if I want to make a career out of them if that makes sense.

Like art, I love art and video games, I'd love to do things like animation or graphic design or be my own indie developer, but I worry if thinking about a game like a business slash whats making me money will ruin the creative process. It wont be making things for the joy of making things, it would be for my job because I had to, and idk- that just isn't as fun. Im worried about that mentality sinking in. I like them but idk if I wanna have to take them full on seriously as a career.

I'm trying to get a minimum wage job right now but its hard to find a job right now in the US job climate, especially with the fact that I have to find job willing to cater to a disability I have currently offrecord because my doctor wouldnt listen to me. Which is even harder because Ive had to walk away from jobs before because they wouldnt give me accomedations without doctors recommendation.

I am planning to set up a Etsy shop right now actually. I need to get a printer, but otherwise hopefully soon I will have a store up with stickers and preorders for keychains. One day I plan to get a button press and make my own buttons. I have hetalia merch planned, as well as my ocs. I'd love and have designs for all sorts of stuff, custom tshirt designs- like subtle hetalia fan stuff like pockets on the chest witht he character "sticking out" with familiar hetalia patterns. I have miraculous ladybug stuff planned. My friend gave me the idea of aster's heart as a friendship necklace and I love it, I could imagine all sorts of needle and thread themed pin merch I have a lot of ideas its just designing and making them and seeing if people would buy them.

I dont quite know what you mean by character design shop if thats something different or not, but yes.

Ill save a ramble about pin for a seperate post this ask is long and so is my response so Ill stop

[orchidbreezefc]

OH SHIT YALL ARE WE PUBLICALLY TALKING ABOUT THE SHIT THE KFAM CREATORS PULL? IS THAT A THING WE’RE TALKING ABOUT NOW? I HAVE BEEN WAITING SO LONG FOR THIS YOU HAVE NO IDEA.

first: im not going to go into issues i have with the show itself. yall heard the helen keller episode and the walt storyline/the character voice a white dude used for him same as i did--my input won’t be necessary there i think. i also recommend the blog @kfam-tea​, thank you for your service, for being an archive for creator-based shit, the current snafu and their history, etc.

this is about my personal experiences with the creators. there’s plenty of behavior by the FANDOM that i don’t appreciate, especially in the official discord--where it’s specifically encouraged and cultivated--and maybe i’ll indulge myself with that in a separate post, but this i think will be more relevant to more folks’ interests and the current climate.

so. remember ep90, “if you’re hungry and you know it”? it’s the one where maggie calls in to apply and gets treated like shit by our protagonists for 15 minutes. comments are made about her breasts. they try to dissuade her from applying for the job posting they’ve been advertising because chet would sexually harass her and rather than address that they’d rather just.... warn off every female applicant? maggie through the conversation is trying to make amends for her wrongs (i.e. high school drama and attacking a guy who sexually harassed her so badly for years she quit her job) and talk about her efforts at recovery, and she is mocked, both in the way she is written and in the way sammy and ben talk to and about her.

it was bad. it was very sexist and bad, and nothing was said about it for a month (7/15-8/15), at which point ep92, “words: greater than pen, greater than sword” aired, which contained lily tearing sammy to shreds over it. ben wasn’t there, which was interesting, because it did create a dynamic where our resident socially aware lesbian (who solely bears the burden of educating people when they are being shitheads and is richly rewarded by being widely regarded as an unlikeable bitch by the fandom and many of the characters) rightfully confronts and gets an apology from a gay man for being half of an extremely misogynist shutdown of a woman. meanwhile, his hetero counterpart and unassailable purehearted fandom darling is not yelled at for his misogyny, and gets to have this Very Important Lesson relegated to him offscreen later. i mean, presumably? i’m pretty sure we never hear whether that actually happens.

still, it was a pretty thorough discussion of how gross that conversation had been, and it was addressed and apologized for in the show itself by the characters (or one of them), which was more than i expected. it regained some lost trust. it was clear to me that the kfam team had received the same sort of outcry from the fandom that i had seen in more private servers, and these were their amends. i decided to tweet at them applauding the effort. this is how that worked out:

[ID: a tweet by me that reads: “@ KingFallsAM hey.... today's episode was good. this was a good way to respond to fan criticism and the apology is appreciated. thanks.”

the official kfam account quote tweeted this to respond: “This was an intended storyline, we don’t course correct. We have ALWAYS had imperfect characters that learn and grow and will continue to. Also... we only saw one tweet even mention it. But thanks?“

a fellow fan, whose username and icon have been redacted, replied to the official kfam account’s response with: “I feel like there’s a less sarcastic way to respond to this tweet. I’m a diehard fan, however I saw quite a bit of criticism about thesexism[sic] in the recent episodes. I too was under the impression that it was a course correction, regardless I am glad that there is character growth“]

so. that was a cool thing. like, i do owe that other fan my life and will show up for them in their hour of need for being the only one to publically stick up for me despite being a stranger, but that sure was a quote tweet that a multi-thousand-followers account used to dunk on my under-100-followers account for trying to pay them a compliment!

i mean, really. the passive-aggressive ‘but thanks?’ at the end? and them saying not that they didnt course correct in this case where followup (a month later) was planned, but that they don’t course-correct, as in they never do that--was a clear statement of ‘we don’t accept fan criticism or feedback on writing OR representation and take it into account, ever’. hey kfam, pro tip: when you say 'thanks for accepting our apology i guess' it really sounds like you didnt feel like you needed to apologize in the first place. which is a pretty bold attitude to take about an episode where a character apologizes for being sexist.

like no wonder you only saw one tweet about it if that’s the attitude you present toward criticism (and, as @kfam-tea​‘s blog thoroughly proves, it is and has been, consistently). i know the risk of backlash is definitely why i hadn’t said anything about 90 in public up to that point. but yeah, 'nobody told us that episode was disgusting in our samebrain discord server that contains the literal creators who have a history of backlash, so can you really say there was fan criticism at all? maybe it was just in your head. after all, if we did something wrong with the intention to correct it a month later, did we really do anything wrong in the first place? checkmate'

tl;dr im not surprised by the new developments. my hearts go out to the MINORS, who are specifically cultivated as an audience by the sfw policy of the official server, who were publically chewed out by the grown ass author on twitter for requesting tags, warnings, or really any sort of discretion or consideration at all on nsfw content.

p.s.: here’s something kyle said on the discord in response to a conversation in which i criticized ben’s behavior during an episode (i.e. said he should apologize and take responsibility for a hurtful thing he did even though he did it by accident, or at least have it acknowledged in the show or the fandom that he did a hurtful thing--another post, perhaps) and the rest of the discord dogpiled me until i cried and shut down and stopped defending myself or speaking at all because i couldn’t deal with inviting any more argument:

[ID: a discord message from kyle that reads: “Thank you all for talking about this maturely and with your words. I’ve personally never seen that heard[sic???] of this scene with that POV attached but that’s the beautiful thing about this show and shows like it, is[sic] that we all kinda copy & paste ourselves on these characters and situations at times. Everybody’s opinions on the situation is[sic] valid with their own personal context of the scene.” two people have reacted with blue heart emojis.]

how magnanimous, kyle. wouldn’t have described the preceding argument as civil even if i did understand how anyone could possibly do anything on a discord text channel that didn’t qualify as using their words, but thanks? somebody literally DM’d me to ask if i was okay because without having ever talked to me one-on-one before they could tell i was deeply distraught by the end, but i’m glad you got to be the benevolent author and shake hands with both sides for a swift shutdown of dissent well executed. /s

[calpalirwin]

Front Row of Last Resorts

Summary: Calum never got a reason why his girlfriend left him. So when they run into each other six months after the fact, he’s determined to both get an answer and the girl.

A/N: Got angsty vibes when I came across the line “but do you miss the way those lies tasted” thanks to @cxddlyash​. And here we are.

Content: Smoking, alleged infidelity, hitting, pissed off female reader, smug Calum

Word count: 1.2k

And away, and away we go!

__

“Fuck you!” Her scream bounced off the buildings as she kept walking away from me.

Even though she was halfway through calling me every name in the book, my hands reached out to steady her as the heel of her shoe caught on an uneven part of the sidewalk and she stumbled backwards. “Whoa, easy there.”

“Don’t you fuckin’ touch me!” she snarled, snatching her arms back before I could even touch her.

I held up my hands in fake surrender. “Fine. Fall on your ass. See if I care.”

“You!” She took a step forward, a finger pointing dangerously in my face. “You fuckin’ disgust me! I never wanna see your face again, you hear me?!”

I dug into the pocket of my jacket for my cigarettes and lighter. If I was gonna listen to her continue to berate me, I was at least gonna have a smoke. “This some new sort o’ game you’re playin’, sweetheart?” I drawled as I lit up, taking a long drag.

“The only one playing games here is you!”

“Am I at least winning?”

“Fuck you, Calum,” she spat one more time before turning her back on me.

It took me snuffing my smoked cigarette into the concrete with the tip of my shoe to realize she wasn’t coming back.

~6 Months Later~

“What’re you doin’?” My lips moved around the cigarette in my mouth as I eyed Ashton in suspicion.

The other man giggled as he grabbed a nearby traffic cone and placed it on my head like a hat. “Makin’ sure you don’t get run over!” He flashed a grin.

“Piss off,” I chuckled good naturedly, lightly kicking his leg with my foot as he started to take a picture.

The sidedoor beside us opened, and we snapped our heads to it, expecting to see Luke and Michael walking out in search of us. When we saw it was a gaggle of girls, we averted our attention. “You’re a shit photographer, mate. Don’t quit your day job.”

“Am I the shit photographer, or are you the shit model?” Ashton quipped.

“Wouldn’t be the only thing Cal’s shit at,” one of the women snorted.

“Hey, Ash, remind me to look up ‘never’ in the dictionary. I wonder if there’s a second definition where it says ‘is actually 183 days.’” I took the cone off my head and took one last pull of my cigarette before digging the snub into the ground and rising to my feet. “How’s it goin’, sweetheart?”

“Eat shit,” she told me.

“Oh, so we’re still playin’ that game.” I tapped at my lips in thought as I walked over closer to her, leaning a hand against the wall. “We ever figure out who won?”

She let out a small scream of frustration before her hand cracked against my cheek.

I rubbed where she had struck me, my entire cheek on fire, brushing off Ashton who took a step forward, ready to intervene on my behalf. “Now that you got that out of your system, you ready to talk to me like a big girl? Or you wanna cuss me out some more? Let’s see… you already told me to eat shit, so look’s like we’re right about where you say I disgust you, and that you never wanna see my face again.”

“Fuck you!” Her hand shoved hard against my shoulder but I barely budged. She turned around, ready to walk off just like last time. Jesus, it was like clockwork with her.

I opened my mouth to call out after her, but Ashton cut me off with a hissed, “Mate!” his eyes wide as they pleaded with me to just let her go. 

“No, fuck this,” I dismissed him, before whistling loudly to get her attention. “Go ahead, and walk away again, sweetheart. I’ll see ya in another six months. Lovely catchin’ up!” I waggled my fingers and smiled sweetly at her.

“You stupid, smug, son of a bitch!” she fired, stalking back over to me.

I grabbed her wrist before she could hit me again. “Well, there’s no reason to drag my mum into this…” She growled and I grabbed her other wrist, holding both of them in one of my hands. “Now, that’s not very nice, sweetheart. What happened to all those words you had last time?”

“You’re not worth the air.”

“Alright. You wanna do what you didn’t do last time, and actually tell me just why the fuck you’re so hellbent on ripping my head off? Maybe, I dunno, change the outcome?”

“Why don’t you ask the girl you fucked what happened?!”

“I am!”

“Oh, so you weren’t fucking some other girl when you were with me? So, you’re not even an honest cheat? You’re a fuckin’ lyin’ one!”

“A cheater?! You think I cheated on you?!”

“I don’t think you cheated. I know you cheated! And you’re gonna stand there, and continue to deny it?!”

“I’m not denying shit, Y/N! I didn’t do anything! The only person I was crazy enough to fuck when I was with you was you!”

“Then explain this!” She quickly pulled up a picture on her phone before flashing it in my face.

I took one look and howled with laughter. I laughed so hard my sides ached and I felt tears rolling down my cheeks. I slumped against the wall, bracing a hand on my knee and pointing at Ashton with the other. “She thinks I fucked your girl!” I wheezed. “Oh, my, God! That’s fuckin’ great! Here I am, counting the days and kicking myself in the ass over Y/N when apparently I’ve supposed to been fuckin’ my best mate’s girl the whole time. Shit, I wish someone would've told me. This celibacy shit blows...”

While I fought to regain my composure, and she sputtered, “I- I- I,” at me, Ashton pulled up the unedited version of the picture on his phone. The photo that had him in it, his girlfriend’s hand on his jaw as he kissed her cheek the same way she was kissing mine.

“Believe me now?” I asked as she looked back and forth between the picture, Ashton, and me, her cheeks scarlet with embarrassment.

“Cal, I’m-”

“Save it,” I cut her off with a shake of my head. “I can’t believe you thought I would cheat on you. I can’t believe you read so much out of a fuckin’ picture so quickly that you drew you a conclusion about what happened without even having the decency to talk to me about it first before going off. I fuckin’ loved you. You know that this is the first time in 183 days that I’ve been able to stomach going out? Do you know that you had me so fucked up, that I actually know it’s been 183 days? Do you know how pathetic that is? To have literally counted the fuckin’ days?”

“Calum…” her voice shook.

“Yeah, doesn’t feel so good to not get a word in, huh?” I shot her a wink before I broke out in a held back grin.

She opened her mouth in shock. “Oh! You little shit!” She swatted lightly at my chest.

“Oh, c’mon, you deserved that, and you know it,” I laughed, grabbing her hand and pulling her to me.

“So you didn’t cheat?” Her voice was small and muffled as she buried her face in my shirt, inhaling my scent the same way I was doing with her.

“God, no. I fuckin’ love you, you crazy ass woman.”

“Good. Cuz I’ve really fuckin’ missed you.”

“Well, next time don’t leave me.”

__

Tag List

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