#can be read as a self insert if anybody want to! But I write with my OC in mind

[liliesandthemoon]

Chloe's Diary Vol.1

(11 Years Old)

" People I admire! "

Haven't you trembled with excitement imagining simply being in the presence of someone you admire so much?

A person so great, who radiates incredible strength, that just being in their presence feels like the greatest achievement of your life?

That's how I feel when I'm with my friends Gawain and Florence!

My first encounter with Gawain, happened the night I arrived in Dalmore, how I got here that night is still very fuzzy in my mind, and I still can't remember what exactly happened or how I ended up here, but I can remember clearly that Gawain offered me his help without a second thought, not only that, when I was afraid of the future and couldn't stop crying he gave me a dandelion and told me that everything would be alright, and I believed him and felt strong enough to go on! Isn't that great? Some people say "everything will be fine" just to make themselves look good, without really believing it, but the way Gawain said things as a child made you feel like he would make sure they would certainly come true.

Whenever Gawain set his mind to something he got it done, no matter how high the goal was, he always reached it, Gawain was like a star that wanted to reach the top of the sky and wanted to light up the whole world as if he was the sun itself.

And Florence was just as radiant, she is 4 years older than me, but whenever I was with her it felt like she was way older and wiser, the way she knew so much about magic, and acted so responsible and "grown up"... just thinking about it made me want to roll over in my bed with excitement and admiration.

If I had to describe the two of them in one word I think it would be "confidence", referring to the self-assurance and certainty that they gave to everyone they came across, just by being around them you knew you could achieve anything you set your mind to.

With that in mind, sometimes it was so surprising to me when they, being such admirable people, spoke to me so normally as a friend. It's true that Florence was someone who socialised easily, so being part of her social circle wasn't so strange, but Gawain didn't have that kind of justification, he was a very radiant and kind boy, but he only had his head for what interested him, if someone didn't catch his attention he didn't interact with them. Which caused me a lot of fear

 "Someday you'll get bored of me too?" I wondered.

That's why I decided to do my utmost to become a person who was on the same level as them. Of course I knew that Gawain and Florence were not the kind of people who dumped their friends for no good reason, but I didn't want to live a life where I was always trailing after them.

"I want to be a dependable person too, I want to be able to help my friends and always be there for them".

So I gave my all to be a much cooler person! 

But... I guess I didn't quite understand what "cool" was. I tried to imitate Florence's charisma but all I got was people looking at me funny... I started to study magic and everything was fine at first but I was always pushing myself beyond my limitations and my spells ended up badly, plus as I tried to be more dependent I pushed my friends away and I felt less motivated... It was very frustrating!

One day after getting so frustrated after failing to make a spell work that I had been studying all week I went to my hidden spot, under the big tree on the meadow that is located a bit outside the castle town of Dalmore, this is where I always went to when I wanted to unwind, just the smell of the flowers and how nice it felt to sit in the shade of the huge tree could put the most grumpy person in the skies to sleep.

I've called it a hidden spot but it's not really hidden, it's just off a road that simply isn't very frequented, if you were to ask anyone in Dalmore if they knew where the road next to the meadow was they would say:

"Oh yes, I've traveled through that road once". 

Still, I've never seen anyone sunbathing under this tree... Well, better for me, the quietness of this place is what I love the most!

Getting back to the topic, that day I was tired and I was laying under the tree, it was a bit late, but not at dusk yet (my mum really disliked it when I went out late without telling her before...) after having sighed for the sixteenth time, I heard the voice I was missing amd craving the most.

"Are you tired of playing tragedy actress yet?" he said mockingly.

I quickly stood up, I don't know why at that moment I felt so relieved to see him there, even with the taunting words he had said, after that dreadful experience of a long day (and month!) seeing someone you appreciate immediately brings happiness back into your body.

I admit it was hard for me not to burst into tears right there haha ... , I wanted to tell him that I was sorry for acting so weird and that I was just trying to do my best, but I was very tired and the words were not coming to me, so instead of just sitting there dumbfounded with the remaining energy I had I got up and without thinking I rushed to him and hugged him, strangely that made me feel so much better, that was also the first hug I gave him too! I don't know why I hadn't done that before, Gawain was a warm kid in personality but also physically, and hugging him there felt like laying in your bed hugging a soft pillow while covered in the biggest blankets, before he could protest I pulled away a bit

"Haha, what are you doing here Gawain? I thought you'd gone off on your own to train?"

"I just came to see if you'd finally gotten over your silliness, you were really strange."  

I could sense a slight sadness and concern in his voice, was he that bothered by my attempt at being a cool and responsible person!?

"Haha...I guess I did" I said, a bit embarrassed.

…silence…

(Well while we're here, why don't I embarrass myself a bit more?)

"Gawain, if I pretended to be someone else, would you still be my friend?"

"Of course I wouldn't, If that were the case you wouldn't be you anymore, you'd be just as boring as the other kids, so cut the crap and continue being you"

"Let's continue going to see the fish in the river, let's continue going to the mountain to catch butterflies and let's continue going to the forest to see the birds that make funny noises, I got bored a looot these days being all by myself, so we'd better go and play tomorrow!"

Once again, Gawain, the sunny boy, lit my way. After hearing those simple words I completely forgot about any doubts I had about our friendship and all I could think about was all the adventures we could have and the corners of Dalmore we could explore.

I hope this sun by my side will never stop shining on me....

[martydearest]

My live reading of Ch 2-3 of Wrath of the Triple Goddess

- I will be reading into why rick is emphasizing how the mist works

- i do appreciate the more subtle reminder about world building aspects instead of outright stating it

- GROVER BELOVED!!

- “AI generated” maybe the consistent timeline was the friends we made along the way (how many time can i make this joke??)

- Rick riordan has obviously actually spent time in a city the time

- YES SUPPORT LOCAL BUSINESS (and keep boycotting Starbucks!)

- Opening with an author writing in a café… i am calling it now Sally and Claymore know each other

- Oh my god it’s a cat cafe

- “Aside from the fact that I could never write a novel anywhere,” Percy Jackson you canonically wrote the og series and two mythology books

- Tutu barista guy live your truth (dont get set on fire)

- ESTELLE APPROCHES

- What are the ethics of grover consuming milk products??

- I feel like Rick also had a witchy themed aesthetic Pinterest board while he was writing this

- Omg Charles Mingus???

- “Not at all!” She patted the chair next to her. “Save me from this dialogue, please. I think it’s trying to kill me.” I genuinely think author-characters in these books are so so funny. Rick riordan and his seven different author insert sock puppets

- “I can’t help wondering if she’s writing a character based on me. Maybe that sounds self-centered, but the idea of anybody writing a book about me makes me super paranoid.” Im going to lose my fucking shit

- I actually am kind of hoping the meta stuff continues i think it fits a Hecate/mist themed story well

- I wouldn’t generally call og Grover hyperactive compared to the actual demigod characters and im not sure i like where this is going, relatable as hell though

- WTF happened to Sally in Gramercy Park

- Awww them 💙mother and son

- Blueberries

CHAPTER THREE

- I love demigod go bags, that’s such a good little character detail

- The no cell phones rule doesn’t work as well with the moved up timeline of the series

- Academic annabeth is a personal red flag idk how i feel ab it

- Sometimes I remember I actually really do like Percabeth

- I want to hear more about her mortal friends

- Rick dancing around her race better than that tutu guy from earlier

- I’ve never heard the word angst used like that and it’s giving me the evvie jevvies

- “Annabeth was a natural people person” the annie character assassination

- Obligatory TLT reference (i love when percy remembers the shit he did)

- I enjoy glass and marshmallows

- WHO THE FUCK IS PAUL (where did Dave go???)

- ANALYTICAL ANNABETH! There’s my girl!!

- SHE’S A DOG PERSON

- i take back what I said annabeth wtf

- Oh her childhood…

- I wonder what Rick thinks of cosplayers

- Weasel??????

- Rick Riordan needs to hire a better continuity editor

[thatseventiesbitch]

That is such a good post about the fandom. Honestly, I think a lot of fandoms have the problem we do, which is a few people deciding that their personal head canons are fact and reality. Like 'my verse is canon' is usually meant as a joke, but a small yet very loud minority constantly proclaim that their own interpretations (some of which are...out there lol), their non-canon ships, their personal wishlist etc are reality because he or she SAID so, and it's hard for the rest of us not to be like "i mean, imagine and daydream whatever you want, but that's actually NOT what happened on the actual show." I'm not sure I'm explaining this well, but basically a few fans insist that 2+2 is five and then freak out when people politely point out otherwise. Maybe it's because I'm Tumblr Old like you are lol and fandom in our day was more analyzing character' personalitiess, trading ideas about favorite and least favorite storylines etc rather than fixating on stuff like "CHARACTER A IS GENDERFLUID AND IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH TEN OTHER PEOPLE AND IS A DEMIROMANTIC PANSEXUAL BECAUSE I SAID SO" when it's like but, no, they're not, so maybe just create an original character if that's what you want to write about lol.

Thanks! I guess a lot of us are feeling similar things right now.

Yep, I (think!) I understand what you're saying. We're on the same page. Folks can do whatever they want on this silly little site, of course - imagining different sexualities for the characters or pairing them with characters they were not romantically linked to in canon, inventing their own 'universes' that are based on the source material - these things don't hurt anybody. Let them be.

I think the rub comes in when the rest of us do not take their ideas seriously or do not agree with them - which of course, we're under no obligation to do. Sorry, but I don't think every interpretation is equally valid. I don't want to read about your OC/self-insert characters when I peruse the T70S and T90S tag, I want to read about the characters from the show I like. I do think everyone should be able to express their own thoughts and ideas on their own blog, but when one makes public posts on a public blog using fandom tags, others are going to respond. Those are literally the kinds of interactions this site was designed to foster.

The good news for me continues to be that the vast majority of folks I've interacted with in this fandom are good, creative people and even when we see things differently we can often have great conversations anyway. I hope newer fans aren't driven away by a couple of bad apples. I've only encountered a few blogs who are aggressive towards those with dissenting opinions or who are openly hostile to any good-faith discussion, and frankly, I've blocked them and I wish I had done it sooner. We do have the ability to curate our own fandom experience. I think folks hesitate to block because they don't want to be impolite, but I think it's far worse to continue seeing that person's content, become angered by it, and send nasty anons (I've seen a little bit of this happening and it makes me upset). If it's not for you, unfollow! If you keep seeing content you don't want to see, block! Now all that stuff is gone from my dash/tags and I only see the things I want to see - fan fiction, (canon) character analysis, excitement for the new season of That '90s Show. 🥰

[oldcoyote]

so i've had so many experiences as a fandom writer due, largely, to how long i've been one, and i wanted to talk about that for a second for those who are just starting out on their fic writing journey or have only been writing a few years and feel disheartened at not having a bigger audience:

when i was in my early teens, i wrote exclusively for myself. nobody was reading my fanfiction, not just because it was embarrassingly bad (as all 13-year-olds self insert fanfic usually is) but because i was barely putting it out there at the time. that's because, mostly, it wasn't for anybody else. it was for me, and that's all it had to be

when i was in my late teens and early twenties, i wrote primarily for my friends. nobody else read much of what i wrote even though i put it up on forums, writing lists, and livejournal groups. but the thing is, my friends absolutely adored everything i wrote for them because i was tailoring to their specific tastes, and because i was growing and improving rapidly as a writer. they begged me constantly for more, gave me prompts and ideas, engaged with me about my writing and what they loved about it. nothing in my life felt as good as my friends reading my stories and wanting more of them

when i was in my late twenties, i became fandom "famous". i was doing what i'd always done, writing fic for friends and posting it to livejournal groups, when some BNFs on tumblr read my stories and liveblogged them and literally catapulted me to tumblr fame overnight. i made a tumblr, and i kept writing to keep up with the demand, churning out endless stories. suddenly, i had it all. i was writing for me, for my friends, and for a huge audience. i had everybody. for awhile, it felt like heaven, like everything i'd ever wanted come true. and i burned out so fast it was insane

after crashing to the ground so hard it broke me for 10 straight years, i started writing again just this year

i've long since forgotten how to write just for me, after that last experience my brain needs the tinkerbell claps of other people's approval to feel like it's worth the effort at all. i'm not writing for my friends - they're not interested in reading my stories at all, even though we're in the same fandom. but this time, even though it's not as big, i seem to have caught the attention of that audience of strangers again - and i am writing just for them

having basically experienced every spot on the fic-writing audience spectrum at this point, i want to be honest:

while it may seem like a dream to have everything and everyone, the reality is far from it. the pressure, the constant backlash, the cruelty of strangers over nothing (or their own jealousy) is insane and can get very personal and do real harm

of all of these experiences, the one that was the most wonderful, the happiest, the most rewarding? just writing for myself and my friends. having their interest, their admiration, their appreciation meant the world - and i miss that feeling deeply

having a big audience may seem like the real goal, but trust me please -- don't underestimate what you already have. it's worth so much more than you realize 💛

[residentdormouse]

20 Questions for Writers

Thank you for the tag, @thecharmedburrowspn-files - your timing is insane. I just started writing again after months of inactivity. (Only 500 words, but shhhh. Progress 😅) We'll see how long the motivation train lasts, but fingers crossed I can ride it for a while.

How many works do you have on AO3?

Only 4 and one is tiny. Nothing to brag about here. Only started posting on AO3 in '21.

What is your total AO3 word count?

292,884

What fandoms do you write for?

It's really only The Stand. I have 517 words in the Stranger Things fandom with 'Even in Death', so it feels kind of cheap to include that. My newest work is original, so no fandoms at all. I have one that is tabled for now that goes into True Blood a bit, but I'm not sure if that's really going anywhere.

What are your top five fics by kudos?

'Something like a Spiral' got a whole whooping 17 kudos. That's my leader. Yup, we're good here.

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Of course! I just wanna talk to people about my favorite blorbos, and if you're commenting, then you probably at least understand vaguely what I'm rambling about. Small fandom is small, and I welcome all interaction.

What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I would say the ending of 'Just Keep Diving Down' gets this, although I would call it more bittersweet. It's not the happy ending the characters would have wanted, but it's far from the worst. There is some massive angst (MCD) towards the end, so fair warning there, but death isn't necessarily the end.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

'Something Like a Spiral', I suppose. Can you really have a completely happy ending with this setting? But, I'd say it's the happiest of the options. It's hard for me to say 'Supply Run' because they're all one shots, and I really don't feel like there is an 'end' per se. It's more like outtakes in my mind. But some of them end on a good note.

Do you get hate on your fic?

Thankfully, people have kept all negative comments to themselves. Hopefully, there's not many out there.

Do you write smut?

Eh, if you can call it that. I'm not overly explicit, but there is sex. Enough that I feel the need to put '***' lemon warnings before and after like the fanfiction of old.

Do you write crossovers?

The 'True Blood' story I mentioned before is a cross with 'the Stand' and the world I created for 'Diving'. I just wanted Eric to have to deal with Flagg and vice versa. Who better to deal with their shit than their own doppelganger. Karma.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of. Hopefully not. I'm in a small fandom though, and the only person writing with a focus on my preferred blorbo. Not sure anybody else would want it.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope.

Have you ever co-written a fic?

No, and I wouldn't even know where to begin on this. I would be up to try though! I've done short RPs before, I would assume it's somewhat similar?

What's your all-time favorite ship?

I do like the Mulder/Scully ship that was mentioned. I could go for Katniss/Peeta time. Buffy/Spike. There are a few. In Stand world, I'd never be able to split Stu/Fran, and I'll jump on board the Lloyd/Flagg train. (Although, I do love redemption, so I'd rather see a good 'Randall get your shit together' spin to it.)

What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

The True Blood crossover. It doesn't make much sense without reading my prior Stand stories, and honestly, I don't know if anybody even made it through the whole thing. Again, small fandom, I'm inserting OCs, only person writing with a focus on Glen. It's a very catered only to me story, and a long one at that. (101k for the first and 186k for the second.) So yeah, tacking on something to the end of that, eh, may just stay in my head as thoughts for funsies.

What are your writing strengths?

I have just about zero self confidence, so I'm not sure? I would really hope it's keeping the tone and voice and motivations of characters consistent. Obviously they'll change throughout the story; everybody is affected by what happens to them. Change is inevitable. But are their changes consistent to their character? I hope so. Character development was always my favorite part in building a story.

What are your writing weaknesses?

I have just about zero self confidence? I don't know if I get too convoluted with the story. If I force too much change to what I want to see. Am I clear with what I say? And there's always goddamn typos no matter how many times I proofread...

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Aside from simple phrases, I'll pass. I don't want to butcher somebody's language, and I'm definitely not proficient in any other language. Hell, I can barely get English right. Massive respect to anybody who can do this.

First fandom you wrote for?

I just started here recently, so the Stand is really it for me.

Favorite fic you've ever written?

They all have a soft spot in my heart (which, I mean, you're supposed to write for you, right?) Spiral was my first, and has a lot of scene that I go back to read, so I guess that? But it is very close to canon in a lot of scene and plot, so Diving is more original in the overall story, I suppose. And Supply Run is a short at straight canon compliant scene inserts. So they each have their arguments.

If you would want to join, no pressure tagging to: @imagine-you @mrsmungus @cxttlefishcxller @asirensrage @darknightfrombeyond and @fattybattysblog

And anybody else who wants to join! OPEN TAG!

[incandescent-creativity]

Hi I FINALLY got around to sending you an ask back haha -- how about #20 (what has changed since you started this story? what has stayed the same?) for the SOLE Project?

Oh you have actually hit on something I can say a lot about lmao

SOLE Project originally started as a self insert story for me and the best friends I had to have overpowered fantasy powers. I’m talking middle school era, no real stakes, contrived attempts at romance plots, used real names and appearances, the whole thing.

At some point I realized that that wasn’t a good story, but still wanted to write it, so I overhauled. Just about Everything. Limited the cast to characters based off just a core group of my oldest friends (instead of any rando who asked), changed genres (no more cringy fantasy spirit animals* as a hand wave explanation for powers, much more unethical human science experiments), actually created my first original character not based on a real person when I realized I needed an antagonist (hello Dr. Agau!).

Since then, the characters have generally stayed the same. Kati was taken out to enhance Michael’s storyline, but. The things that changed are mostly about quality?

I think bringing in Agau was a turning point that marked me starting to think about SOLE as a proper Novel instead of just a side project I was working on for fun. As high school passed, I started to work out the structure, themes, concrete plot points. Slowly, a story about climate change and freedom and the weight of responsibility emerged.

I rewrote several drafts as I thought of things I wanted to change, got a series of feedbacks from tumblr users around writeblr (and several anons) that the story was racist, changed some stuff as a result of that feedback, held a weird beta reading round with people from here when I realized that that kind of process existed, learned that the story needed to be advertised more strongly as a tragedy so I didn’t give anybody illusions that this was a happy story, rewrote a few more drafts…

and then decided I wanted more time with everything and decided to split the story from one mega novel into two (which have also turned mega long. Whoops).

I’ve yet to actually finish the first draft of the second novel, but after I get FLOAT out of my system (and maybe even out on submission???) I’ll be returning to it.

[doggernaut]

20 questions for fic writers

Thank you to @cricketnationrise and @the-lincyclopedia for the tags! I'm not sure if many of my answers have changed since the last time I did one of these, but it's been a while, so.

How many works do you have on ao3?

54

What's your total ao3 word count?

613,109

What fandoms do you write for?

I only have works for Check, Please! on ao3, but I have also written for Parks and Recreation and Baby-Sitters Club.

Top five fics by kudos:

All I Want is You 

Just Jack

Here Comes the Sun

I Only Have Pies for You  (honestly surprised this one is in the top 5!)

And you may ask yourself, well, how did I get here?

Do you respond to comments?

I try to respond to every comment, but sometimes I fall short. I do appreciate every single one, though!

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I'm pretty sure that anybody who's read my stories knows I only write happy endings. Even if there is angst at some point in the fic, you can count on that "angst with a happy ending" tag.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

lol, see above. Though I will maintain that And you may ask yourself, well, how did I get here? and And you may say to yourself, my god, what have I done? might be the happiest simply because they each have (spoiler alert) three happy endings.

Do you get hate on fics?

I'm sure there are people who don't love my writing for whatever reason, but fortunately they've kept it to themselves.

Do you write smut?

Any attempts have probably fallen short of being actual smut. It's not my favorite thing to write (so many body parts to describe and keep track of!) but sometimes the storyline dictates it.

Craziest crossover:

I'm not generally a fan of crossovers (though I've read some great ones in various fandoms!) and have never written a true crossover, but Pucks and Recreation was inspired by Parks and Recreation.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I'm aware.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

A BSC fic with a bunch of people from the old FameTracker (I am showing my age) forums. It is (or was, last time I looked a few years ago) on FF.net. Once I randomly saw somebody somewhere online describing the fic in question but thinking it was a real BSC book they'd read, so that was pretty cool.

All time favorite ship?

Jack/Bitty, Ben/Leslie, and let's go way back to my formative grumpy/sunshine ship: Jack and Jennifer from Days of Our Lives. It imprinted on me when I was 11 and I'm probably remembering it as being better than it was, but it was a good time.

What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

At this point, I really don't know. I have a lot of "WIPs" that consist of a couple of paragraphs of dialogue or bullet-point lists or whatever and who knows if I'll ever dust them off. But I'm currently making an effort to finish everything I've put serious time into.

What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Description.

Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

As a reader I don't have a problem with it if it makes sense for the story. As a writer I probably wouldn't, simply because I don't speak another language well enough to incorporate it.

First fandom you wrote in?

That I actually published online? The Baby-Sitters Club, in like 2005. Ever? I went through this phase of writing self-insert fics when I was in sixth grade. Usually they involved me dating whichever character was played by an actor I had a crush on. I was not aware I was writing fanfic at this time. I'm pretty sure I wrote a fic in which I was in a band with Doogie Howser, MD and he asked me to be his girlfriend? THANK GOODNESS this was in an era before I had access to a computer with internet.

(A year or so later, I was still writing, but it was very bad romance fiction modeled after all the Harlequin romance novels I was reading at the time. Still just as cringe. My middle school BFF used to read them and write praise/critiques in the margins and I still remember this one long back-and-forth where we argued about how long a first kiss should last, because neither of us had experience in that department.)

Favorite fic you've written?

I don't know! I love all my children. Truthfully it's probably one of my multi-chapter fics, but I tend to favor whichever I'm in the mood to read at the moment. Maybe today it's Home Like Apple Pie.

[welcometothejianghu]

I can't actually recommend Psych-Hunter, as it's not, strictly speaking, what you'd call good. It has, however, made us laugh out loud several times, and a lot of the visuals are really clever, and it's got to know what it's doing with how gay it's making those main boys (to say nothing of the police captain and that little cop who totally has a crush on him). It's weird and it's fun, and if you're looking for a thing to watch, you could do a lot worse!

NOTE: The preceding paragraph was written before I watched the last episode.

Look, this show is a hot mess. Let me break it down:

The good: some amazing visuals; excellent costuming (like, even when it's ugly, it's still good?); delightfully batshit worldbuilding decisions; fun short-arc mysteries; hella gay bromance; delicious boy tears; incredibly endearing secondary cast; great Psychonauts-esque plot device; some gorgeous mindscapes done with (mostly) practical effects; did I mention those two boys are real gay for one another?

The bad: little to no narrative cohesion; terribly bad pacing; high body count, especially of ladies; a couple inexplicable heel turns; when the CG is there, it's not great; plenty of unintentional comedy; most overarching mysteries remain completely unsolved.

The ugly: het romance that swings between just plain boring and outright skeevy; absolutely no grasp of the female lead's character; and of course, all the shit it pulls in the last episode.

...But obviously I found the whole mess still pretty compelling despite the flaws, considering I've just written like 1500 words of a Tumblr post that barely anybody else is ever going to read about it! So, uh, maybe that's an endorsement? I can't tell anymore.

Most of those words are beneath the cut, starting with the vaguely spoilery thoughts -- the ones you can read without spoiling yourself for the whole show. I'll mark when the big ones are coming up.

The good and the bad are, I think, somewhat self-explanatory. I want to talk about the ugly a bit, though.

The first two are actually two halves of the same problem. As a character, as she is written, Yuan Muqing sucks. Her entire personality is "whatever we need The Girl to be doing in this scene." She swings from Strong Independent Woman to Damsel In Distress to Spunky Female Police Officer to Spoiled Rich Schoolgirl to Giggling Love Interest with no sense that there should be any consistency between these states. Every detail of her life disappears the second it's not immediately relevant to the plot. She is a selection of two-dimensional objects chosen on a scene-by-scene basis to compliment whatever else is going on around her. I guess you could excuse this by [insert spoilers for the last episode here], but for that to work, the show would have to give off any sense that it understood her characterization was bad in the first place.

Whatever they could have done with the het romance was pretty doomed to fail from the start by having her be so badly written. (There are a few very cute moments they have later on, when they write her like an actual person, but it's too little too late.) She and Jiang Shuo already have little to no actual chemistry together, and the majority of their relationship is artificial overreaction-and-miscommunication conflict. And as though that weren't bad enough, the show keeps making it skeevy by making her so young. She's a high school student who has a very little-girl room, complete with dolls she talks to and petulantly punishes when she has tantrums. Many of her hairstyles and outfits also run young. Nobody gets a canonical age, but she's clearly a teen while both boys seem well into their twenties. The age gap does the relationship no favors.

Worse, the romance largely nukes her relationship to Qin Yiheng. When the show starts, they at least interact with one another, even if it looks like the show's going to get a "girl can't decide which boy she likes!" dynamic going with the main trio. Very quickly, though, she needs to be only The Love Interest for Jiang Shuo, meaning that she barely talks to Qin Yiheng for the whole rest of the show. Even when all three are onscreen together, those two might as well each be invisible to the other. They're not really a triangle -- they're a hinge, and the non-Jiang-Shuo points don't touch.

All that being said, there is such potential in her, and like 95% of that potential comes from the fact that the girl is obviously insane. Beyond even her canonical delusions, That Girl Ain't Right. Everything she does is so much better if you imagine there's a full-on roomba with knives simmering just beneath her bippy, ponytailed surface. She has to be Generalissimo Daddy's good little girl, when deep down she wants to do violence. That's great.

Some of the early promo materials I've seen make mention of how she's supposed to be the muscle of the operation. I wish they'd been far more consistent about that! She should absolutely be the party tank, bounding away from danger with a boy under each arm. All of the "oh no, Muqing got kidnapped/held hostage/threatened!" beats should have been responded to with a shrug.

But of course, it doesn't matter, because...

****MAJOR SPOILERS START HERE****

...it's not real.

Nearly none of it is real. There are two real people in the show, and everyone else is imaginary. Everything Jiang Shuo feels about her is completely one-sided, because she doesn't exist.

I am not categorically opposed to the final plot twist. I actually think, thematically, it makes a fair amount of sense, given how many other dreamscapes and mind-dives we've seen. What I'm opposed to is having it drop in the final episode, when there's no time to deal emotionally with any of it. If you wanted to pull that Inception shit, you should've done it at least halfway through the series. Give poor Jiang Shuo multiple episodes to deal with the truths that a) everyone he loves (minus one person) is a figment of his imagination, b) he is ultimately the one responsible for the horrors he has created, and c) he will have to decide in the end whether to live in the delusion or to destroy it by leaving. Let him wrestle with what he knows vs. what he feels. Give him plenty of time to deal with his guilt about what he's done to Qin'er. That would be delicious. That's not what we got.

Also, you've got to telegraph it, like, at all. As it is, I wondered for a while there whether something weird/bad happened, the real last episode got destroyed, and they had to hastily film an alternate ending. I am all but certain, on reflection, this is not what happened. There are just enough clues planted earlier that, yeah, I'm pretty sure this was the end they meant all along.

Which was such a bad decision. You know all those mysteries you were interested in, the ones driving the plot? Congratulations! You're never going to know! And it's not because the show got canceled or otherwise truncated -- no, it's because the show decided to tell you outright that those mysteries were never meant to be solved. It's a riddle that never had an answer in the first place.

I said at the time that the end feels exactly like an anime that got too far ahead of the manga, ran out of source material, and had to cobble together an ending that wouldn't spoil the manga's eventual logical conclusion. That's not quite what happened, but it's exactly the vibe.

(Not to get too spoilery of other properties here, but yeah, you realize this was the same guy who made Sand Sea, and that actually makes a lot of sense. Speaking of things that ran out the source material...)

My instinct is to tell people not to watch the last episode, to just stop at the end of 35 and make up your own stories about what comes next, but ... you kind of have to see it to believe it. It's worth it for the sheer audacity that would consider this a good ending.

I've seen plenty of people on various sites saying they loved the ending while clamoring in the same breath for a second season. No, friends, you're having the same reaction I did -- you know a twist like that should not be a last-minute drop. It's not a setup for anything; it's what happens when you can't stick the landing, so you throw out a bunch of impressive-sounding nonsense while pretending that was what you'd meant to do all along. A second season wouldn't solve the mysteries, because the show has declared that not only won't they be solved, they weren't even mysteries in the first place. They were fancy shiny meaningless things that made the plot go, and you were stupid for being invested in them.

And by "mysteries" here, I mean the actual things that are being held up as mysterious and in need of a solution, like Liu Zhi's identity and the Yin River treasures and what happened to Papa Qin. I don't mean the things like wtf is going on with Moustache Dad and his weird semi-k*kistan flag -- because those are just fun bits of magical realism worldbuilding. Clearly this is all operating in some urban fantasy next-world-over scenario, where we're in, uhhh, Zhanghai, Zhina. It's real-world enough that we still have the British and the Japanese, but fake enough that whatever was going on with that hypnotism clock and the lake monster skeleton? Totally normal.

I guess that's part of what I find so frustrating, that it made such an interesting world to play around in ... and then took the cop-out "it was all a dream!" explanation. All the trauma and deaths you felt sad about? Irrelevant. All the friends in danger? Who cares! All the stakes you thought mattered? Meaningless. What, you want new stakes to care about? Well, we'd love to, but the last episode's ending. Bye!

Anyway! Frustrating but compelling! I have now burned so many more brain cells on this show than it deserves, and I will probably continue burning more for fanfic purposes. If you made it this far into this nonsense -- both the show and this post -- I salute you.

[lol-jackles]

Hey! You've probably seen all the shit show around The Idol, and I was wondering what did you think of it? Like, what was HBO strategy with this show..? It feels so weird to read that the show was 80% finished and then sam levinsson came and supposedly changed the story completly? It feels like a 90's bad dream, like all the pointless sx scenes, bad acting, cringey dialogues.. Maybe 30 years ago (hell, even 15 years ago) this would have worked but today hm. It's not really the vibe anymore. Thanks for sharing your insights, it's always nice to read you. Have a nice day!

Having only seen the first 1.5 episodes (couldn't bring myself to finish the 2nd episode), I can only conclude that Abel Weeknd read that one tumblr post “she breasted boobily downstairs” and just knew he had to make a six episodes…*HBO sees the daily budget sheet*... five episode TV show out of it.

Completed TV shows getting canceled and shelved happens often because the production company or studio no longer believes in the projects and promoting it will only add more money to a dud. But The Idol getting a redo has me thinking that Weeknd was putting up a lot of his own cash, after all they used his concerts and house for scenes and used as sets. Plus Levinson was brought in and HBO Max assumed his Euphoria fame will attract eyeballs.

Instead Levison and Weeknd did what Kripke was doing with The Boys: living out their self-insert sexual fantasy knowing that the studios will censor out the more graphic scenes, but in the meantime, they get to film the gratuitous nudities because they're trying to retroactively fix their high school experience. Was anybody else thinking the scene that was a jab against intimacy coordinators was because intimacy coordinators are worse nightmares for directors like Kripke and Levinson? 

Then Levinson and Weeknd thought it was would a swell ideal to rewrite The Idol as Basic Instinct (decent erotic murder mystery thriller that made Sharon Stone's career) and Showgirls (bad erotic drama thriller that destroyed Elizabeth Berkley's career) and thought they will get Purple Rain. Instead, they made a bad erotic confusing drama where the singing was meh.

Since the 90s, erotic thrillers have gone out of fashion.  Feminists claim that erotic thrillers were "male-conceived genre served as a vehicle to tell horror stories of female independence".  Uh-huh.  Female independence, like women holding a rifle, is either incredibly sexy or incredibly scary, there are no in-betweens. The Idol was neither incredibly sexy nor incredibly scary, just incredibly boring.

I think the setup of a confident cult leader being outsmarted by a younger, smarter predator that manipulates him by presenting herself as his “perfect mark” could have worked. It lends itself very well to exploring how manipulative men buy into their own hype and how women are presumed to be automatically sweet and vulnerable. But The Idol was NOT the show for that exploration. They didn’t even try to set it up, they just wanted to make porn with a dose of revenge porn on the side because apparently Weeknd dated Selena Gomez once?

I think what happened was Levinson and Weeknd thought they have written a profound story and were hoping that it would incur outrage from the puritanical audience and boost its press but will ultimately be well received by the general audience who watch it.   Just from what I've seen from the first 1.5 episodes, I don’t know what could have possibly made them think that, but many writers nowadays settle for "subverting the audience expectations" instead of writing a good, meaningful story.

My favorite picture from the WGA strike.....

[marshmallowprotection]

About your post regarding ocs, you are so right. And to that anon or anyone who reads this, your advice was so top tier and should be followed 100%

I mean that's the beauty of writing, is it not? It doesn't matter how crazy something seems if it brings you joy at the end of the day. Besides, some of the best characters or oc x canon fics I've ever read are ones that are so self indulgent. A lot of people love the same ideas, so to read it in someone else's work is always fun and exciting!

My cmc for example, she's for Saeran too. She's literally a run away princess, and yes it still follows the Canon ish plot of the game. Why? Because why not! It's fun! All of my cmcs are pretty out there tbh...And sure I may post my work, but it doesn't matter If anyone reads it or even if they have critiques on it.

That's honestly what I love about your page, you post a lot of stuff that others probably wouldn't just because you like to write for enjoyment. Your passion truly shows, and you have a great talent for writing. I also love how devoted you are to Saeran, it's nice to see other people who never lost that love for these characters. I grew up with them, I don't think I'll ever stop loving them. My cmc and Saeran story will literally always move forward, and I love seeing yours and reading them.

I do think the best lesson anybody can learn is that when you're creating something, you should be creating it because it's something that's fun and you enjoy doing it. If you're creating things because you want to make others happy and not yourself, that's not going to end well.

It's a good thing to want to make other people smile, but it's more important to make sure that you are taking care of your needs, too. You have to remember it's important to love yourself just as much as it is to love the people around you.

Sometimes, the best characters I've seen somebody create come from a place that people might consider “cringe or embarrassing.” Well, there is no such thing as cringe and people should be having some fun. I don't care how preposterous or ridiculous an idea is for your character, if you like it and you want to have fun with it, go for it! The only thing that matters, in the end, is that you are making things that make you happy.

If you want to know the best way to learn how to enjoy the things you create, art, writing, or whatever you do, then you need to let go of trying to please other people with the things that you create. You need to think with yourself in mind first and foremost. If you are doing that, then the people who are genuinely interested in that will come around eventually.

Sure, it might take some time, I know it's genuinely taken me a long time to get to the point that I'm at! But, because I've spent so much time focusing on writing things that make me happy, I feel a lot better than I did a long time ago when I was only trying to please everybody else. When you are happy with what you are creating, people can see it. People can see your enjoyment in your words and your creations.

I don't know how to describe it because it's just a feeling you get when you see somebody who's putting everything into something.

Creating things that make you happy shouldn't be done because you want to be popular or receive attention, not that there's anything wrong with wanting that because everybody wants and deserves validation in some form! But, if you are making something because you wanted to boom in popularity and you're not deeply invested in that very creation, you're only going to burn yourself out and just feel miserable in the process.

That's why I'm so happy to write stories that make me happy. That means I’ll spend a few weeks working with my CMC! I’ll write her a story where she and Saeran can be happy and unlearn their trauma and it makes me giddy to see their world in print. Or! When I’m really feeling self-indulgent, I’ll go even further and write a self-insert story about myself and Ray.

Bonus points to me for when I write something I know that nobody but me and maybe three other people are going to read, but I'm writing it because I want to see what happens! It's good to want feedback and commentary, but it's just as important that you're having fun in the process of creating.

All of my ramblings aside, I hope that if anybody can take anything away from my rambling, it's that they need to enjoy what they're creating and have fun with it.

[tacticalhimbo]

— OC TAG GAME

i was tagged by @detectivelokis to fill out this fun little oc meme! thank you very much 💕 i loved reading abt all your girlies!

i'll tag @ladysanjo , @vendettapandav (or if ya wanna do this on your rp blog, @vendettamuses ), and anybody else who wants to do this! my mind is blanking skdjdkd

FAVORITE OC -> VINCENT HALE

Yep. It's him. He has his own tag ffs. But for real, he's one of my most complex characters. I will admit he totally started off as a self-insert, but he's evolved into such a character. He's got strong convictions, he has flaws (boy, does he have them), he has this whole identity crisis and kinda redemption arc…. Man. I love Vinny.

OLDEST OC -> ROMAN ZEMLIN

I wasn't sure about this one so I went with the character I think is the oldest! I mean, I made him in high school. Maybe 2016 or 2017? Anyway, he's what got me into writing (real ones will remember the Wattpad days 💀), and he's been through so many revamps over the years. He's a bastard hitman and I love him very much.

NEWEST OC -> JUSTICE MARLOWE

This character is a WIP still, but she's another Destiny 2 character! I wanted to experiment with the different classes, so she's a Voidwalker Warlock. Not quite sure what her story is yet, but the concept is brewing!

MEANEST OC -> CONSTANCE FOX

OOO this one was hard but out of all of them? Constance. My Umbrella bastard. She's very much a believer in what Umbrella was doing and man, she'd do anything to re-establish the corporation and its experiments. Have said this before and will say it again, her villainy stems from a dangerous manifestation of apathy, one where it does not matter what happens to others, so as “nothing will come of the circumstances”. The way she clings to Umbrella/Neo-Umbrella is a desperate attempt to have control over said circumstances no matter the cost. She's a bastard through and through.

SOFTEST OC -> NADINE KRAUSE

Easiest choice on this list. She's just so babygirl. She couldn't hurt a fly. She's sensitive, optimistic, always cheerful, and she just wants the best for everyone. Not to mention, she has the softest aesthetics of my characters too. Lots of bright/pastel colors and high femme fashion.

MOST ALOOF/STANDOFF-ISH OC -> VALERIYA KHORKIN

Ah, Roman's sister that he has no idea about. She's been trained to be an effective killing machine, and a lot of her personality has been buried with the "loss" (separation) of her childhood lover, Lucas. She doesn't get close to people as a result of her career and her general background. The orphanage was god awful, Lucas saved her after she aged out, and then she lost him. So. Very much side-eyeing everyone.

SMARTEST OC -> LAVERNE ALBA

This one was hard to pick because there's a lot that could fit the bill, especially when it's broken down to different types of knowledge, but I'd probably have to say Laverne. She might not have formal education, but she's running a multi-million (if not billion) dollar financial corporation AND a whole criminal enterprise! This bitch knows what she's doing.

DUMBEST (AFFECTIONATE) OC -> SCOTT RYDER

I could pick Vinny again BUT I'm gonna pick Scott, my Ryder. He has no idea what's going on at any given moment, and he's expected to save Andromeda?? He can barely give a presentation in front of a small group without feeling the need to hurl, and the Initiative only taught him so much before putting him on glorified mall-cop duty. So. Dumb boy ♡

OC I'D BE FRIENDS WITH IRL -> BAILEY HILL

Her vibes are just… so cool. She's definitely one of the girls I'd be afraid of at first because she seems too cool, but we'd find some obscure thing to bond over (and I can confidently say it'd be Fortnite of all things 💀) and then we'd be besties. She's chaotic. She's smart. She's badass. She's just. So cool???

[the-haunted-office]

Rules

⭐ General

DON’T PANIC!

This is multi-fandom blog, but some primary influences you may find are The Stanley Parable, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and the works of Stephen King, as well as anything horror. I routinely poke fun at tropes, themes, and other elements of storytelling while attempting to introduce elements of horror.

My blog is part roleplay blog, part writing blog.

For the writing part of my blog, anybody is welcome to follow. I welcome anybody who finds themself interested in my muses and the little world I've built for them. If you want to read along and send in asks and anything like that, that's all fine and I am happy to have you.

For the roleplaying part of my blog, it is Private and Mutuals Only - this means that we must be mutuals to roleplay together. You are welcome to follow me first, but I will check out your blog to make sure we are a good fit before I decide to follow you back. If I choose not to interact with you, please don’t take it personally. I have my reasons for being private, and I choose to be private so I can keep my rping space fun and comfortable for myself. Please don’t let that stop you from inquiring, though! Odds are if you’re 27+ and open to rping crossovers and with OCs, I’ll rp with you.

That said, I prefer to rp with folks closer to my own age, and so to interact you must be at least 27 years of age. If you are under 27, I'm sorry, this is purely for my own comfort and isn't anything against you personally. I do have partners who I interact with who are under 27, but I we've been interacting since before I put the age minimum in place.

I’m not a terribly strict person, so things on this blog will probably not be terribly strict either! I’m just here to have fun. Mostly I don’t take things too seriously - so most things will be lighthearted and will trend on the silly side. I do love to write dark humor, though, so there will probably be some of that. Anything that is a serious trigger, I will try to tag appropriately (I sometimes forget though, so please forgive me! Please message me if I miss something in this regard and I will fix it).

I’ll interact with muses from pretty much any fandom. The only caveat is that if your muse is from a fandom I am unfamiliar with, I may need some information from you in order to understand things better. Otherwise, bring in your little ponies and your stubborn test subjects and your space-exploration team! And, oh yes, your OC’s and self-inserts. Bring them all!

The only fandom I will NOT interact with is Harry Potter. No offense meant to those who have HP muses, but I just cannot support HP or its fandom in any capacity.

There are at least two ways to play here! You can send your muse through “The Story” and have one of my Narrators narrate for your muse. Or we can just interact. Whichever you like. Most of the time these days it’s normal interactions, but my muses love to narrate stories so they’d be happy to do so.

Please note: This blog contains dark themes such as depression, anxiety, death, horror, and occasional gore. HOWEVER! I will include content warnings (such as  “cw death”, “cw images of horror”, etc.) and usually include anything particularly graphic or descriptive under a cut. A good deal of the stuff I roleplay here is silly humor, and I don’t intend on including anything particularly horrific in RP threads without discussing it with you first. If you have any questions, please reach out to me! It is very important to me that I don’t make you uncomfortable or mistakenly set off any triggers.

⭐ The Mun

I, the Mun, am in my 30s.

I am also a mother to a nine-year-old and I babysit my baby nephew during the week. Sometimes I get very busy, but I do try to stay as active as I can.

I go by the name of Thursday! My muse Thursday started off as a self-insert but she broke away from me and ran off into the sunset. She decided to keep my name, but we are both completely different people.

I rp only on Tumblr. While I am comfortable with chatting and plotting on Discord, I am uncomfortable with roleplaying on Discord. This goes for one-on-one rp's, private servers, small servers, large servers, just any rping on Discord. I prefer to keep all roleplaying to Tumblr, please.

Please also remember that Mun ≠ Muse. The thoughts, words, actions, feelings, and opinions of my muses are their own - not mine.

⭐ NO METAGAMING

This means using your personal real-life knowledge to influence your character’s decisions. It honestly takes the fun out of roleplaying for someone’s muse to “know” everything and always make the “right” decision because of it, especially if it’s to manufacture or kindle a relationship or manipulate things in your favor.

PLEASE NOTE: The exception to this is if we agree to breaking the fourth wall (due to the nature of The Stanley Parable or another fandom) or crack threads. Information obtained via ask memes is okay! I'm also okay with muses who can read minds or who are super intelligent and geniuses at reading others - I just need to know about this before we start a thread.

⭐ NO GODMODDING

This means assuming the actions of my muse or actively controlling my muse. If it’s something small like opening a door, that’s okay, but assuming my muse will go along with every action your muse is saying/doing without protest is unacceptable.

⭐ Harm towards muses

If your muse is about to get into a situation where they can be hurt or killed, I will reach out to you first before I reply to our thread. I will never harm your muse without permission first, so please extend that same courtesy to me.

PLEASE NOTE: Some of my muses are more dangerous and violent than others - and a couple of them are intentionally overpowered. If you are uncomfortable interacting with these muses, please let me know!

⭐ Replies

I try to reply within 1-3 days, but sometimes I get busy and can’t keep to that time frame. However, if it has been a week or longer, please feel free to reach out to me. I may have overlooked your reply or didn’t get the notification. Some threads are easier for me to reply to than others and so those may take longer, but I will answer as soon as I can!

On the flip side of the things, I will never ask or remind you about a reply, thread, plot, or anything like that - regardless of how long it's been - unless we have discussed that you want me to.

I understand that roleplaying is a hobby, so if at any time for any reason you want to drop a thread or anything, that's fine. You don't need to tell me. I do ask, though, that if something in thread has made you uncomfortable, that you do please tell me so that I can correct myself going forward. I understand that I can't force you to do this, but your comfort is important to me and I'd really like to make sure I don't accidentally cross any boundaries going forward.

For the most part I will roughly match length for length, although sometimes my post lengths will run longer or shorter. I don't expect anyone to match the length of my longer replies, but please give me enough to work with. A couple of short paragraphs with some dialogue and descriptions should be enough. Most importantly, please remember the all-important "yes, and-" aspect of roleplaying. If there isn't enough for me to work with, then I will likely drop the thread.

⭐ Shipping

While I do enjoy shipping, it is not the main focus of my blog. If your primary interest in roleplaying is shipping and you want to ship right off the bat, then it might be best for you to seek interactions elsewhere - this isn't anything against you or shipping, it's just that I'd rather us both be up front about it and not waste each other's time.

That said, if you're here for all other kinds of interactions and you get an idea for a ship or one starts to develop between our muses, I'm all for it!

My blog is multiship. That means that my that all of muses may be shipped with more than one character and from different verses, AUs, or even in the same verse.

I prefer to ship with chemistry.

I also prefer to let things develop naturally through rp threads, but I am always open to hearing your thoughts and ideas if you have a ship in mind. I'm perfectly willing to work towards a ship via plotting if the chemistry is there. I will always be 100% honest about whether or not I think the ship dynamic would work.

My muses want to get to know your muse and form bonds with them, but more often than not this takes time. Ships with my muses tend to be slow burn and don't happen within a thread or two. If you are looking for expedient ships, then ships with my muses aren't for you. If you're willing to take the time and patience to get to know my muses, then let's ship!

Also, please don’t ship with my muses just to collect ships or if you don’t intend on ever developing the ship with my muse. I have had too many people want to ship and then never do anything and it’s very frustrating.

Please be mindful of my muse’s ages when interacting with them! I will not allow Anons or ANYONE who is a minor to interact romantically and/or sexually with them, even in jest. It’s inappropriate and makes me uncomfortable.

⭐ Plotting

I am open to plotting! Usually I let things unfold as they go, but I do occasionally have plots running and little situations for my muses to get into. If you want to be involved or want my muses to be involved with your plots, feel free to ask!

If it's a plot that I am running on my blog and you have chosen to have your muses involved, please understand that I will keep the plot running at my pace. Others may be involved as well and aside from that I'd like to keep my overarching plots moving at the pace that I set for them.

If it's a plot we have going between us and our muses that we have worked on together, then I am happy to take things at whatever pace you like. I'll reply as you are available whether it's days or weeks or months out. I won't ask you about replies or dropped threads or anything like that unless we've discussed that you want me to.

Please do not feel obligated to participate in my plots. Also, if we are plotting and I pitch a plot to you and you don’t want to go with it, you are welcome to tell me no and we'll move on.

⭐ Trigger warnings/content warnings

I will tag the following items as indicated below. They’ll be tagged as CW - for example: CW blood. If you have any particular triggers, squicks, or things that make you feel uncomfortable, please tell me so that I may add it to this list and remember to tag them for you!

animal cruelty animal death animal injuries blood body horror death dermatology (talk of pimples, blackheads, cysts, etc.) eye horror gore horror (generally speaking, this will be used for posts that include particularly frightening content like you’d expect to see in a horror movie/book/etc.) infidelity mind control pet death pregnancy religion (posts including things such as demons, ouija boards, etc.) self harm self harm mention (used if self harm is mentioned as a past thing or muses talking about it) slugs snails snakes (pictures of) suicide suicide mention (used if suicide is mentioned as a past thing or muses talking about it) terminal illness

Suggestive content will just be tagged as suggestive.

⭐ Stuff I am NOT comfortable with roleplaying

Smut. I am not really into rping smutty stuff. Suggestive or dirty humor, implying things, flirting, mentioning it, saying it happened, asking questions about my muses’ sex life, and suchlike is all fine - just nothing overly explicit, please. I don’t mind other people rping smut and following those who do; I am just uncomfortable rping it myself. If in any case an rp starts going in that direction, I’ll have it fade to black or skip ahead.

Excessive violence towards children. It’s okay if it’s part of a muse’s past, and in threads I am also okay with some angst and general childhood things like skinned knees and the like. But I am not comfortable rping actual threads where there is excessive harm being done towards children.

Toxic/abusive relationships, especially ones being handled like it’s romantic or sexy. I don’t find abuse romantic and I will not portray it that way. If you do, that’s fine, I’d just prefer not to be a part of it. Thank you.

⭐ Stuff I am comfortable with

Violence? Sure. Blood and gore, let the viscera ooze forth. Cursing? Fuck yeah! Crude humor? Of course! General horror - definitely!

⭐ Blocking

I don't block people easily, except in cases of racism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, pedophilia, etc. If I have an issue, I will come talk to you about it first and give warnings prior to blocking. I much prefer to talk about things and try to work things out before blocking.

If I find you’ve blocked me, though, then I will also block you so your blog doesn’t keep coming up as a suggested blog.

I ask that if you truly don’t want to rp or talk ooc with me anymore, please hard block me instead of soft blocking. Tumblr has a glitch that randomly makes you unfollow people sometimes, so if you soft block me I’ll assume it was the glitch and follow you again. Hard blocking will communicate to me that you don’t wish to interact any further with me at all and I’ll get the message.

And finally...

⭐ Communication

This is a big one for me.

I do my best not to cross anyone's boundaries, but I am not a perfect person and I will make mistakes, as we all do. It’s important to me that if you have any issues with anything that you please tell me, so that I can do better going forward. It doesn’t matter how big or small - please bring it to my attention. Don’t let it fester. It is always better to talk about it than to try to shrug it off. I will do the same - if I have any issues, I will bring them to your attention.

If at any time you want to stop writing together, I understand. Sometimes muses fall out and even mun chemistry can go sour or you lose interest for one reason or another. All I ask is that if you truly don’t wish to rp together anymore, please let’s decide to peacefully part ways. Please don’t force yourself to keep replying to me out of a sense of obligation. I would rather us go our separate ways than for you to feel obligated to reply to me when you aren’t into it anymore.

If all of that sounds good to you, go ahead and drop your muse into my ask box! Or shoot me a PM. I can even write up a starter for you. However you’d like to start!

[residentdormouse]

Stats Game

Thanks @tsunderewatermelon for the tag.

In this game you find out which fics have the most hits, kudos, comments, bookmarks, and words, as well as which has fic has the fewest words, so let's do that!

(I hope this helps somebody feel better about their activity 😂🤣 - I write self indulgent OC insert fanfic in a small fandom. I do this for love of a canon character who didn't have any romance posted on AO3, not because people are reading it. Which is cool, cause you know, they're not 😅 Pool noodle in the ocean.)

Most Hits:

Just Keep Diving Down with 596

Most Kudos:

Something Like a Spiral with 14

Most Comments:

Just Keep Diving Down with 64 (which is really 32 since I reply to comments. And all 32 are from one person. 😬)

Most Bookmarks:

Something Like a Spiral with 6 (highest was 7 but one dropped off)

Most Words:

Just Keep Diving Down at 186,681 words (yes it's a palindrome - no it's not an accident.)

Fewest Words:

Even in Death with 517 (this was a Halloween Stranger Things prompt for Tumblr that I just copied over to AO3.)

OPEN TAG for anybody who would want to jump in. Consider yourself tagged and '@' me. No pressure. (Besides nobody can say anything to you following these numbers 😂)

[teddybeartoji]

alrighttt i havent checked up in a while cuz i realized how busy this year will be and how much i actually have to prepare (it's over for me and it hasn't even started) BUT!! i have something to say

despite me needing to work i am doing some undeserved self-care tonight and watching Logan so that i can watch Deadpool x Wolverine

and this movie omg... LOGAN HAS READING GLASSES IAHSJJZJZJAB I'M GOING INSANE IT SUITS HIM SOOOO WELL AND MAKES ME THINK OF THE CURRENT (maybe past atp) SIREN OFFICE TREND

AND HE HAS A SUIT. THIS MAN?? SUITED UP??

AND THEY MADE HIM HAVE A DAUGHTER??? i already mentioned i am WEAK for this trope, i am COLLECTING those single fathers like POKEMONS

anyways yeah that's it, wanted to share my love for the guy cuz i love grumpy old men... yeah.. [insert dreamy sigh here]

i hope you've been doing good and taking care of yourself, i usually spam people to let them know how much i care but sometimes i have trouble reaching out to anybody 👍 wanted to let you know just in case

also i actually drew something but it's ugly because i don't know anatomy, plus it's an idea from an smau and i feel drained so no energy to ask author and i dont wanna post anything without permission- so if i wanna draw something it has to be one of your fics and in that case it needs to be perfect so 😭 if i actually change and do well this year i will find the time and submit something.. maybe not good but it will come from the heart

have a good night mickey,

~ ☀️

HIIII SUNNY HIII!!!!!!!!!!!! FIRST OF ALL FUCK YOU MEAN "UNDESERVED SELF-CARE" 🤨🤨🤨🤨THIS KIND OF TALK IS NOT ALLOWED. EVER. SELF-CARE IS DESERVED SELF-CARE IS NEEDED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you have to take care of yourself silly!!!!!! this is the first and foremost priority always always always!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AND EEEEE YEAHHH LOGAN WITH GLASSESS!!!!!! I REMEMBER THAT SO WELL OMFGGG overall i have only seen the film once and that was when it first came out so idk if i remember everything BUT THE GLASSES ARE ON MY MIND STILL. I LOVEEE WHEN PPL HAVE GLASSES esp if they're older men hehehehhe AND HE HAS A DAUGHTERRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT ACTUALLY MADE ME LOSE MY MINDDD RAHHHHHHHHHHHHH also kind of made me think abt joel and ellie from the last of us just now.. damn.......

I AM DOING OK BTWWW!!!!!!!! watched a bunch of films yesterday and today hehehee i am a true cinephile now wheewwwwww i do hope you've been getting some more sleep now though bc you deserve to rest too my love!!!!!!!!!!

ALSO. 🤨🤨🤨 "UGLY" I WILL BONK YOU SO HARD RN. STOP THIS MADNESS. drawing is so fucking hard and so fucking cool i am always genuinely so in awe of people who do it i love it so fucking much!!!!!!!!! YOU GOTTA HAVE SOME MORE FAITH IN YOURSELF SUNNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! if it's hard to be positive you have to at least be neutral okay, no more of it's ugly or it's bad. it's very hard for you and your art to grow if you're putting it down angel!!! AND I WILL ALWAYS LOVE ANY ART THAT'S BASED ON MY OWN WRITINGS BC HOOLY FUCK THAT'S SO FUCKING COOL?!?!?!?!??! i couldn't be more excited abt that but PLEAAASEE don't feel pressured to do it okay?? i will be here forever i think lmao you have all the time in the world<3333333

[sickknotdoom]

i feel like one of the biggest reasons these blogs are ignored is because while you claim to only post constructive criticism, many asks that get answered on these types of blogs range from "barry should be drawn fatter" to "its so weird that kitty has self inserts" i think those are two drastically different tones to take and the second example is decidedly not constructive criticism. perhaps you'd have more sucess if you actually practiced what you preach? because good points are lost in a sea of genuine unhelpful toxicity that im sure no one wants to sift through. at a certain point, it just becomes bullying.

i do my best to provide my own insight in situations like this, i try hard to explain the aspect of the comic at hand, my opinion on it, and why i feel that way. with the anonymity of the ask feature, its really easy to be impulsive, i know from experience. and thats why my responses to asks are a decent length continuation of the point they bring, rather than just "i agree end of post". if you scroll through my blog youll see what i mean by this.

ive never seen an ask criticizing the mere existence of kneebys self inserts, the closest thing to that i can think of is the howial anon criticizing the ship name being based on allys supposed deadname (al) rather than being howially or something. i have self inserts of my own in my own stories i write and never share, i wouldnt judge someone just for having a self insert at all.

i understand i might come across as rude or brash due to the lack of nuanced discussion and media literacy in the fandom, but my intent is to be constructive. i provide ways to potentially improve the comic or reading experience, like giving side characters more screen time, working on barrunis writing, or the option to skip a batch of potentially triggering pages with a single click.

i feel the need to emphasize i dont condone any form of harassment towards anybody. if you harass someone because of this blog, you are part of my issue with the fandom. nobodys really doing anything bad except people that go out of their way to harass kneeby or the clowns, which. i havent seen and hope to never see. i just feel like the comic needs to be worked on since its supposed to be a social commentary on the american healthcare system that caused the trauma of kneeby and many others, and if a social commentary is of low quality, it wont get the attention it desperately deserves as people will just dismiss it as a bad edgy comic or whatever.

i appreciate your input.

[fandoms-rants]

On this blog I’m just going to be asking and talking about things I’ve always wondered about some fandoms and posting some fanfic ideas I would love to read but sadly for me I can’t write.

So less start off with a soft ball rant. I’ve always been of the opinion that if I was in the place of one of the child heroes like Harry Potter, Percy Jackson or Danny Phantom I would tell everyone to kiss my ass and they can save themselves.

Like I know Harry and Percy got their prophecies and Danny probably feels guilty about turning on the portal and their kids and easy to manipulate. But I’ve always had a habit of self inserting myself into fics and characters I like. And if I was them I would say fuck the prophecies, fuck the Gods and Dumbledore and fuck Danny’s parents they can clean up the mess that wouldn’t even exist is it wasn’t for them in the first place.

It just always seemed unfair that Harry had to fight in a war he never even had a chance not to be apart of. Percy and the other demigods were seemingly doomed to die and painfully from the moment of their creation. And Danny was just fucked over by his neglectful parents. Children should not have to pay for sins they didn’t even commit.

And I personally am determined not to pay for anybody’s sins but my own. And with that in mind I’ve imagined various ways of leaving the magical, gods and Fentons to clean up their own messes with myself self inserted as Harry, Percy and Danny. And I’ve read plenty of the typical fics with the relatively same theme. You know the typical Harry leaves the wizarding world/calls magicals out on there bullshit or Percy ditches the Gods or Danny leaves Amity Park.

So? What are other peoples opinions on this? I’m curious if others agree with me. Might reply might not, I’m not good with talking to people; I’m just shy(read antisocial) so don’t think I don’t want to reply if you’re nice. Remember please be polite, if you’re mean I will have to block you.

Because in the word of my good bitch T.Swift “Say it in the street, that's a knock-out. But you say it in a Tweet, that's a cop-out.”