#feel free to give me feedback and share your thoughts on any of them etc etc you know i live for interactions abt my head blorbos

[p1a9u3]

PeepHole Ch.1: Moving Day

Masterpost Ch.1 - Ch.2 Pairing: Dylan Matthews x Fem Oc

Rating: 18+ (mdni)

Genre: Neighbors/Strangers to Lovers, Smut, Angst, Fluff, Slow-burn

Summary: Moving isn't as exciting as Amoya thought, plus she may have pissed off her new neighbor.

Words: 3.2k

Warnings: (This story takes place in 2024) Mental illness (anxiety, ocd), Violent intrusive thoughts, Language, Age gap (5years), Using phone while driving

Status: Unedited

Author note: This is the first fic that I've ever posted, I've written before but I've never finished anything and published it so don't tear me to shreds, please. I chose to make an oc instead of just writing as a reader mainly because I made a whole character in my head before I wrote this so I decided to just make her an oc, if you would like a post going more into this oc of mine feel free to ask (I might post it anyway because I like her), there is no smut in this chapter btw. Please give me feedback and suggestions, constructive criticism, etc. Don't be a bitch about it though...please. I'm thinking of making this a series POSSIBLY, but I procrastinate a lot so that may never happen. To my fellow troublemakers hopefully, I do Dylan justice and my writing is at least a little bit accurate to his personality. Still, to be fair I'm a fairly new troublemaker having only found out about this man a few weeks ago, so if something isn't accurate please correct me...politely. He's become my new hyper fixation so when I saw there aren't really any fics about him I decided I should make my own so here we are. Anyway with that being said Enjoy <3. Update: Dylan is barely in this chapter

Monday, February 26, 2024 Time: 8:30AM Moving out was less relieving than you thought it would be. Having been by your mother's side for almost all your life, you'd gotten comfortable always having someone around.

'You can't live with your parents forever'

People would remind you whenever the topic of anyone's living situation would be brought up. Being twenty-seven and still living with your mother wasn't something you wanted to keep telling people, no one would take you seriously. Though your mother never pushed for you to move out, never mentioned it actually. You think you know why. You never say anything though, so you deal with the slight embarrassment, and ignore the judgmental stares you get whenever someone brings it up.

'They don't know our relationship'

More excuses you make up to justify your obstinance; and to mask the anxiety you're feeling as finish up packing your U-Haul. You had finished packing your stuff from your shared apartment and were now finishing the few boxes you had in storage. Now in the elevator mustering up the strength to carry the last two boxes back down to the truck. Grabbing the lock you had left on the floor, you place it on top of one of the boxes and stack the box onto the second one, bending down and lifting with a soft grunt. Long strides carrying you to the elevator, you push the down button with your foot. The doors open soon after, you step inside setting the boxes down as you push the bottom floor and wait. Pushing off the wall as the doors open you pick up the boxes once again, you quickly load them up into the U-Haul before grabbing the padlock from on top of the box, and then heading to the front desk of the storage building.

"Here, the unit is clean and empty." You smile at the woman as she takes the lock and keys with a thank you.

Turning on your heels you walk back to your U-Haul giving everything a once-over before locking it all up, now turning your attention to the hitch attached to the back of the Truck where your precious car is hitched too. It was a black and cherry red 1993 Nissan 240SX with a red interior, you had seen it while driving with your mom past a repair shop when you were 25, back then it had no windshield or wheels. You won't lie and say you fixed it yourself but you did invest all the money you had at that time to fix it up and color it how you wanted; you still would say it was worth it. Checking the hitch and chains attached to the bottom of the car making sure everything was set and ready.

"Everything looks good?" Your mother said making you jump

"Yah! A warning ma, please! And yes everything looks good, I packed up the last two boxes and returned the keys and lock to the front desk while you were in the bathroom." You let out a breath calming your heart from the scare you just had, your mom snickering next to you. You turn to her rolling your eyes playfully as you walk to the front of the truck, your mom following behind you.

"Good, let's get on the road." Your mom hops into the passenger seat and rolls down the window. "I wanna get home by Wednesday."

You climb into the driver's seat, buckling your seatbelt then checking your mirrors. You two had agreed on driving to your new apartment, taking turns every 5 hours, once you got there she'd help you unload and unpack on Tuesday, and your mom would then fly back to New Orleans on Wednesday. The more you think about it the more you feel yourself panic a bit.

"Okay."

Time: 9:00AM Starting the car, you let out a breath putting the car in drive and pulling out of the parking lot of the storage building. You could tell your mom was trying to keep herself calm by the way she would rub her right thigh with her right hand, it was a nervous tick she passed down to you. Unfortunately, you were just as nervous, so you decided to turn on the playlist you and your mom made while eating the night before, mixes of all kinds of genres put into one playlist to keep you both entertained during the drive. Pulling off the main road and merging onto the freeway, you glance over to your mom to see her smiling wide looking back at you. She has that look in her eyes, you know it well.

"Its happening ma." You smile back at your mom then look back to the road

Your mother places her hand on your thigh, letting out a long sigh and a soft squeeze before returning it back to her own lap. You see her wipe a single tear from your peripheral; you don't acknowledge it. She'll start bawling the second you tell her not to cry. So you pretend not to see it and start singing along to Erykah Badu, your mom turns the music up a bit and starts singing along too. You smile to yourself as you glance out your side window, watching as familiar buildings pass by in a blur, You think you'll miss this place. No, you know you will, but a part of you is kinda excited, relieved almost. You've silently always longed to live on your own, but another part of you calls you selfish for even wanting that until now

'How could want to leave your mother'

You know it's normal to want to move out of your parent's home, every grown adult has to move out at some point, and twenty-seven is a perfectly normal age to do so, You wanted to move when you were twenty-four. Hell, some people live with their parents till they are far in their thirties.

'But you know your mother may need you right'

All your brothers have moved out, they are doing good on their own, and you're the only one left. It was only a matter of time; you tell yourself. Your mom will be fine, she's dating a new man who treats her great and takes care of her. Hell he tried to hire a moving crew to move all your stuff, but you wanted to do it yourself and your mom wasn't going to let you drive almost halfway across the country by yourself.

'you could've found a place closer to her you know'

Phoenix, Arizona. You chose Phenix simply because it was affordable for you and close to LA, your mom agreed it was a good choice. There is work in LA, California is just so expensive, so you chose the next best thing. The apartment is nice from what you saw as well, one bedroom, two baths with a study. It was perfect for you.

Time: 11:23AM The drive was going well so far, your mother eating a bag of chips she packed along with all the other snacks and drinks. You were eating a Honeybun, one of your favorite snacks, and drinking water. Your mom had turned off the music and started watching YouTube with mostly commentary so you could listen and drive, Right now a video was playing talking about some ice cream drama in North Dakota. Author note: if you watched this video featuring Dylan is in Trouble, I know it's technically in the future but I don't care, this is all fake anyway. You found it interesting and kinda funny, laughing every now and then when your mom would pause to add her opinion. About two-thirds of the way into the video you glance down at the screen, there are two guys now instead of one, and one of them is wearing glasses, you glance back down looking at the title of the video 'Insane Local Ice Cream Shop Drama (w/ Dylan Is In Trouble)' You made a mental note of the second guy's name for later, his voice was nice you told yourself, he was also fine as fuck. You leaned your seat back as far as it would go, which wasn't very far, getting comfortable. You still have two more hours left to drive.

Time: 12:35PM Your mom had fallen asleep about ten minutes ago, YouTube was still playing, The next video had been the same guy as before. You looked down for a second, looking at the title of the video that had been playing for about fifteen minutes. 'Guessing Finales After ONE Episode (ft. Dylan Is In Trouble)' You smile to yourself a bit recognizing the name at the end of the title, you let the video play just listening to the guy talk for ten more minutes. You caught yourself smiling again when you recognized the second guy's voice as he joined in for the rest of the video, you took a sip of your water glancing down at the video, seeing him pop on screen whenever he had something to say

"he's funny." You mutter to yourself quietly, thinking out loud.

The video had ended and your lips fell back into their original position, as an ad played before the next queued-up video, you looked down at your GPS. 1322 miles to go; you let out a sigh.

'200 miles closer to leaving you mom'

She was helping you unpack, so you technically wouldn't be leaving her really. If anything she was leaving you since she had to fly back home. You prop your left elbow on the open window, your left hand holding the steering wheel, and your right hand comes down to your thigh, rubbing small circles back and forth.

'What happens if Devon goes back home'

Your oldest brother Devon was working at a mental facility. He was on his medication and was doing good, he managed to get a job there and has been making decent money. He was doing fine, He is doing fine.

'What if he stops taking his medication again.'

They will keep tabs on him, they know his habits, his symptoms, He is fine.

'Has another episode and gets out'

That wouldn't happen. He's fine

'He'll be there when mom gets back'

No.

"Hes gonna ki-'

-beep! beep! beep!-

Time: 2:00PM Your mom's alarm goes off, making you jump a bit. Reaching over to turn it off, your mom moans a bit as she wakes up from her short nap, stretching her arms a bit as she yawns.

"Jeste li spremni za promjenu." she yawns out, going for a sip of her water ( translation: Are you ready to switch)

Your mother's Croatian tends to slip when she's just woken up, or delirious. You nod your head looking at the next exit sign to find a gas station, spotting a Love's off the side of the freeway. Slipping off the freeway you pull up to the gas station before parking next to a pump.

"Bathroom?" You look over at your mom, she nods, unbuckling her seatbelt and hopping out of the truck, you do the same.

You both enter opposing stalls to relieve yourselves of all the water you had been drinking, washing your hands after. Your mother heads back to the truck to pump the gas as you browse the aisles for any extra snacks, spotting a honeybun you instinctively grab one, then two, and head to the cashier. You place your honeybuns on the counter and then look up at the cashier who seems to be invested in something on her phone, she wasn't wearing headphones phone volume at maybe thirty percent, you could hear what she was watching. You recognize the voice, the cashier finally looks up from her phone quickly apologizing for not paying attention.

"Oh I'm so sorry, will this be all" She quickly rings up the two honeybuns.

"No you're fine, that'll be it actually." You dismissively wave your hand pulling out your wallet to pay.

Looking down you notice her phone, she had put it on the counter, and the video on it had been paused but on the screen was that guy again, though it seemed to be a video of his own this time. You pull out some cash and hand it to the young woman behind the counter, she takes the cash, counts it, and then goes to get your change.

"No, it's fine, keep the change" Flashing a smile then grabbing your honeybuns you take another glance at the women's screen before it turns off from being left alone for too long.

Opening the passenger seat door, you climb into the seat buckling yourself in. Pulling out of the gas station your mom pulls off back onto the freeway continuing your journey. You pull out the bag you had brought for little activities, pulling out your book of choice. You had splurged at a Barnes and Noble a few weeks before you began packing, picking up a bunch of books you had either heard good things about or had been wanting to read. Red Rising was one of the books, it was also the one you were currently holding.

"I'm gonna put my headphones on, so you can listen to whatever you want." You tell your mom as you put your headphones on and pull out your phone.

You had gotten the book on Audible a while back and wanted to read and listen at the same time. Pressing play you turn to the first chapter and begin reading as the narrator spoke. Your mom seemed to have put music on, you could feel the bass as she turned up the volume and began singing along.

Time: 10:56PM Hours had passed, it was your turn now with two hours left till your next switch. Your mother was knocked out, lightly snoring as you drove in silence, you had stopped reading once you had switched. You also decide to put off reading it until you were moved in, the book had grabbed your attention, so much so, that you wanted to be able to focus on it solely; so you chose to wait. You had a couple hundred miles left to go and things were sinking in more as you drove silently. Your mind doing its usual thing, making you worry about things that most likely won't happen, even if it did, you know it wouldn't be your fault. You couldn't help but think maybe it would be though, it was a dumb thought but you couldn't help it

'What was that guys name again'

Your brain blanked for a second, random but ok, your brain goes back to the YouTube video your mom had been watching, that cashier was watching him as well. Dylan is in Trouble, you wonder what kind of videos he makes, most likely commentary. You pull your phone out glancing down and go to YouTube, you use the voice to text and hold your phone up to your mouth.

"Dylan is in trouble"

You press search, going back and forth between looking at your phone and watching the road. You look down to find his channel, press his icon, and scroll through some of his videos. Movie commentary is what you mostly see, occasionally you'd spot something different, you decided you'd dive into his channel later when you weren't driving.

Time: 5:00AM You were in the driver's seat, you had let your mom sleep more after she had been driving for about three hours. She was up now though, you could tell things were starting to catch up to her again. She was fidgeting a lot more now, well so were you, she looked very tense. She helped you find this apartment, but you assume she wants to see the neighborhood for herself, in person, wants to see how good the security is and what the neighbors are like. It's only natural, she's a mother and her only daughter is moving twenty hours away from her. You look down at your phone, your GPS says you are pulling up now, you look around the area, it was very nice, wasn't too far from the city. You spot the complex to the left, it was pretty big with multiple sections with apartments, you were building three, kind of in the middle of everything. You pull into the complex parking in front of the leasing office to speak to your landlord and to get your keys, your mom comes with you of course, sizing everything up.

"Hi welcome to Arts District Apartments, it's Amaya correct, my name is George?" An old-looking man stands from his desk, his hand reaching out to shake yours

"Thank you, George, it's Amoya actually" You reach out and shake his hand with a smile.

You two talk a bit about the complex and its rules etc. Your mom chimed in every now and then to ask her questions. Before you know it you're unloading the truck into your new apartment, you're realizing now that you didn't have as much stuff as you thought. The last thing you had left was your bed, you and your mom had been doing well with just the two of you, but after you two had gotten the mattress inside your mother's back began to bother her. Now you had your bed frame, you told your mom to relax for now and that you could get the frame up yourself. Partial lie, you previously took apart the bed frame and so there were mainly long pieces that weren't too heavy except the backboard, that thing was heavy as fuck, luckily you had a dolly at the storage building to help you carry it out, but now you have to carry it to the elevator and down the hall. You managed to get it down from the truck, and from there you lifted it and sped walked to the elevator, almost dropping the bed frame on your foot as you set it down to push the button. The doors had closed on you twice as you tried to pick the frame back up and lift it into the elevator, but alas you made it, now on the third floor and outside the elevator. You took pride in your body, you considered yourself strong, regularly went to the gym, and you would say your legs were the strongest part of your body, with that being said, you tried to make as little noise as possible since it was still early in the morning, you lost your footing. You were almost there, your door being right in front of you; but you fell. Landing on the door behind you hitting your head with a very loud thud.

"Bumbo." You whisper yelled at yourself in Jamaican as you set the frame down and leaned off of the door. (translation: Fuck)

Holding the frame upright you walk around it reaching for your door, the frame slipping from your fingers and falling against your neighbor's door again. You prayed that your new neighbor was either a very deep sleeper or wasn't home right now, though maybe you didn't pray hard enough. You lift the bed frame from your neighbor's door, getting your phone to get your mom to hold the door open for you so you can slide it the rest of the way inside. Stopping, you hear the door behind you click open. Your bed frame blocked your view of whoever had stepped out, but you could hear him.

Ch.1 - Ch.2

Updated Author note: Hopefully this was an enjoyable first chapter or part. The apartment is just a random apartment complex I saw on Zillow, everything in this is all fictional besides the YouTube videos and things that are obviously real. Anyway, I have decided to make this a series, I've gone into too much detail on little things like Amoya's intrusive thoughts and all that, and it'd be a waste to shorten and delete half of what I put and speed through everything, Amoya's intrusive thoughts and anxiety is a trait I added from myself, so you'll notice a lot of internal thinking and scenarios she makes up in her head. Hopefully, the idea is as cool as what I thought of in my head. If this does well, I will upload the other chapters one after the other, If it does bad I'll just delete everything, but please be patient I procrastinate a lot and I want the writing to be good. Please be honest and let me know how you all feel about this, if you like the writing, the main character, the pacing, the storyline, length, anything, and everything, I need criticism but don't be a bitch about it.

[rainbowsky]

Sunshine By My Side - a few answers

I've gotten quite a few questions about Sunshine By My Side. People want to know what it's about, what I think of it, whether I recommend it, etc. so here's some info related to the questions I've been getting. I apologize for not answering your asks individually.

About the Series

Sunshine By My Side is currently available on iQIYI with English subtitles. The first several episodes are available for free at 720p, while VIP subscribers are able to access more episodes earlier, at 1080p.

It hasn't yet appeared on WeTV international.

While there is a romantic storyline, this series is considered a 'life drama', not an idol romance like Oath of Love. It covers major life and workplace issues in a serious way and is intended to appeal to a much broader audience from a wider age range.

Contrary to popular belief, it isn't based on an original screenplay. It is an adaptation of a 2017 Taiwanese drama called My Dear Boy (this is confirmed in the credits of Sunshine By My Side).

Here is a synopsis of Sunshine By My Side (from MyDramaList):

Of course, the two stories will not be identical. There will have been some changes made to adapt it to the approach this new series wants to take.

Jian Bing (Bai Baihe), a well-known advertising director, and Sheng Yang (Xiao Zhan), a newcomer in the industry, randomly crossed paths inside a restaurant one day. One has just ended a marriage, while the other was waiting for a love to finally fall apart. These two strangers eventually developed a bond and began embarking on a journey of sublime growth and budding romance. With the company of Sheng Yang, Jian Bing was able to gain her confidence back both in life and in love whereas Sheng Yang grew up from a young and carefree youth to one with a keen edge under the guidance and encouragement of Jian Bing. The two healed each other, grew up together, and overtime learned to love one another.

However, challenges in life are inevitable. Faced with their differences both in their identities and experiences, objections towards their relationship within their families, and rumors in the workplace escalating, Jian Bing and Sheng Yang finally decided to let their future play out through the course of time. Three years passed, allowing them to grow and change for the better. A lot of their firsts were spent with each other, and this trust they held and the experiences they shared back then went around and finally found them, making them gravitate towards each other again.

Here's a trailer:

My Thoughts

As for whether I recommend it or not, I haven't actually seen any of it yet so I can't give you an informed recommendation. However, I have been really looking forward to this series because the story looks good, the female lead is a well known and well respected actor with real talent, and the script writers and director are also well respected.

I have a feeling this is going to be a good series. The feedback I've heard so far from people who are watching it has been solidly positive. So yes, I would recommend it based on all of that.

And ultimately I think it's worthwhile to watch as many projects of theirs as we can - even the bad ones *coughoathoflovecough* - because even when a story totally sucks and is poorly told, we still get to see how they approach certain roles, we learn more about their experiences and growth as actors, and we can talk about their projects from a well-informed perspective.

Nothing annoys me more than when fans shit-talk shows they haven't even seen. If you haven't seen it, you haven't yet earned that privilege, my friend. 😅

Anyway, I hope you all get a chance to see it, and that you enjoy it. I will be watching it eventually, when I have time. I will also be writing a review of it once I'm finished.

I hope this answers most of your questions. If I missed anything, please feel free to send in another ask.

[ofcourseiwillmydarling]

I’m 20 and a full - time student.

You can call me ‘Honey’ or whatever you like, i don’t mind nicknames :) My pronouns are she - her.

— I <3 metal and rock but I’m also a big Lana Del Rey fan! My work will probably be influenced by her aesthetic and songs :)

I love to write - or at least, attempt to - and make moodboards ! English is not my first language so I apologise in advance for any grammatical errors - inconsistencies in my work (and introduction lol). I am really big on bikers - motorcycle clubs (fictional and not) and most of my work will focus on them; I do, however, plan to write for the walking dead and supernatural in the future.

! DO NOT INTERACT IF YOU ARE A MINOR. I cannot control what you might read - stumble upon on tumblr but please do not interact with me or my posts if you are underage.

— Please keep messages kind and respectful! This is a judgment free zone, I’d like it to be a safe space for everyone! No judgement or being mean; feel free to share your smuttiest thoughts on our favourite men (and women ;P) , do not be shy to interact with me! I love to talk and hear about random thoughts <3

As in for my writing (and moodboards) - requests - prompts, I will mainly write for Jax Teller, Johnny Davis & Benny Cross. Again do not be shy to send in your requests about the characters not mentioned here! I will write for any character of your choice, the ones mentioned above are a very small fraction of a loong list. Please keep in mind this is my first time posting any of my work, be patient and do not be afraid to send back a feedback or criticism to help me improve !

Most of my work will be x fem! reader, but I will gladly write gender neutral or whatever you have in mind! I will try to keep it as neutral as possible, so if you’d like something more close to what meets your criteria (physical appearance, personality, style etc) feel free to send a VERY specific prompt — if you like, we can discuss it in DMs to get the best outcome :) — and even pictures, whatever you believe might help me create the best possible answer for you. <3

— About my moodboards…be as specific as possible! The majority (if not all) of the pictures I use come from Pinterest, I will try my best to credit the rightful owners but its nearly impossible to trace the original creators - owners. If they are yours PLEASE!!! notify me so I can give credit or remove!

Feel free to send me DMs, asks, prompts, rambles…whatever you like! I love to chat and meet new people, especially if we share the same interests!

Lastly, I am new to tumblr and how everything works so bear with me! I will try to update this introduction and, in the future, add a masterlist for my work :)

Love,

Honey <3

[descenacre]

do you ever plan on making more pikmin echo ost videos like the one for the wild edge, or was that more of a one-time thing?

I have a couple of songs on the backlog I wanted to animate but as always, my brain has 10,000x more ideas than my humble hands can carry u_u

Taking a mild break from art at the moment because of you know... got a lot of work ahead of me.

My biggest priority, beyond all else, is making sure that everyone I love is safe, happy and healthy, and doesn't have to grow up in fear.

I encourage any US residents reading this to take this short free course on Coursera (well, it's free if you don't want the credentials) https://www.coursera.org/learn/using-public-policy-for-social-change Take a look through this website, and find one single issue that is important or personally relevant to you (Maybe you have a disabled family member, or maybe you work on a farm far from any hospitals, or maybe you feel frightened by the recent wave of anti-trans legislation): https://defeatproject2025.org/issues/

and just. Looking up "[your city name] city council", finding out when they hold town halls, and just attend, and just listen and learn, when they ask for comments, go up there and don't be shy, introduce yourself to the people there! The people attending are people who all care about making their home a better place in their own way, and some of them are even volunteers. Share your perspective, voice your concerns and give your thoughts, ask for feedback and ask them how you can help. Me personally, I'm... honestly having a lot of trouble focusing on one issue, there are so many things in here that I care about But I know that spreading myself too thin will obviously limit my effectiveness, so I'm trying to focus specifically on listening to my local policymakers to see what kinds of policy they'd be most receptive to. If you want to do this, for example, you could look through their past hearings by searching "[your city] council minutes", there should be public records--usually relatively boring stuff like the rotation of staff, purchases of vehicles or other public resources, donations to certain charities, etc. Do they pass ordinances related to employment/labor laws? Focus on imploring them to protect employment nondiscrimination law, workers rights for immigrants with work visas, the restrictions on DEI training resources being put into effect.

Anyone can do this, I believe in you all! If even one person walks away from this post and gives it a shot, I would be happy :) anyway that's what I'm busy with atm lmfao, I hope I can come back one day to doodle more pikmins when it feels more stable!

[darklydeliciousdesires]

Hey! I love your work, and I think you get everything down to Alfie’s language to the fucking t! It’s so fucking good when I can literally hear him in my head while I’m reading! Sidenote—please don’t cut my head off, because I’m *genuinely* trying to understand. I’ve followed you for awhile and I’ve noticed you engaging in the discourse about readers and reblogs, likes, etc., so I thought maybe you would be a good person to try to help me understand why some writers seem to be so upset by some readers liking instead of reblogging. Again, I’m not trying to attack anyone, I promise, but even as a writer myself, I struggle to grasp why it matters so much. Like, of course, comments and/or reblogs with comments make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside! It makes my day hearing that someone has loved a thing I’ve put my time and effort into creating, but likes are called “likes” for a reason—to let someone know you liked what they posted. In my head, getting them is another way for people to let me know they enjoyed what I put out. I’m not saying that anyone is, but to me, it comes off a little entitled when people get upset at readers for not explicitly praising their work with comments and such. Yes, the site is free and we’re not getting paid to write fanfics, but nobody owes anyone anything. When I write a thing and post it, I don’t feel like readers are then obligated to give me feedback because putting it online is a decision that *I* made. If they take the time to comment on it, that’s fucking wonderful, but that doesn’t mean that people who don’t do that are in the wrong for using the like button as their way of telling writers “Hey, I like this!” if they’re uncomfortable interacting or don’t have anything specific in mind to say. I’ve seen people talk about just copy/pasting a comment, but I don’t get how having 100 comments that all say “I like this fic!” or whatever is any different than using the button that’s meant to indicate “I like this fic!”. If somebody’s going to say something about my work, I would rather it be because they genuinely wanted to comment, not because they feel obligated to do so. I really hope this doesn’t come off as rude and I’m so sorry if it does. I’m just confused because both interactions mean the same thing—the only difference is that some people are more comfortable sharing their thoughts in depth or socializing online. I don’t know, it sorta feels like some are trying to police what other people do/don’t do with their blogs when we’re all here for the same reason—to fuck around and fuck our favorite characters. (Or daydream about it, unfortunately lmao)

Okay, I will try and explain it for you, nonie.

The reason why we are frustrated over the lack of reblogs is very simple, and if you’ve been following me for a while I’m surprised that you haven’t noted the reason by now.

Essentially, it keeps the fandoms going. It spreads posts around, it gives them visibility since half the time, the tags don’t work (it’s hit and miss at best!) and the algorithms on this site are virtually nonexistent, so having our work shared is a vitally helpful way for us to reach more people.

This isn’t Instagram. The reblog button is there to be used as that’s the very ethos of the tumblr experience; you see something that you enjoy, you like it, you share it. You seem to be forgetting that and solely focusing on commentary, but let’s get to that, shall we?

You’re absolutely right, nobody is obligated to comment, but come on. It’s a tiny exertion of effort to reward an author. It’s interaction, it can help people feel like what they wrote is valued beyond the bare minimum. It’s a tiny expression of gratitude in a world were fast consumption of “content” is now the norm. It also helps people - new writers especially - feel like they’re not shouting into a void. It all also ties in the the community of fandoms, which seems to be dying because of this quick consumption trend.

If you are fine with none of the above happening, with no sense of community in your respective fandom, with people not offering comments - or the more important reblogs - great! But people aren’t wrong for wanting a little more from our audiences, especially when that little more takes seconds to participate in.

I hope that clears things up for you.

[heartsyncproductions]

Future Game Jam Idea I want to make happen

Putting this on my Tumblr instead of just my Twitter because I never pay attention to Twitter so I forgot about this idea BUT

During my Year in Review it made me realize part of the reason why I don't interact with the community as much as I'd like is that it doesn't really feel easy to break in, in a way that feels comfortable with interacting with others. I think the rise of so many communities being so heavily focused around Discord makes it super unfriendly to some people as well (I'm in the Indie Otome Discord now, however it took since 2022 to take that step to join any type of server due to my Schizoeffective Disorder/paranoia making Discord really scary asfjdlkafjl) and it just made me think.

What if there was a game jam whose whole point was to help with the anxiety of making a game/interacting with the community? Rambling thoughts below:

Placeholder name and subtitle: The No Stakes Game Jam (The jam to help you find friends and community)

One of the things I learned through doing three game jams last year, is that it's so much less daunting to comment on a game when it's expected of me vs commenting on a game when it isn't. It's so silly I know, as a game dev I love when people comment idc if I know them or not. But I think since I'm /also/ a developer it makes me overthinking it really bad. But you know. Life hack: you can't overthink commenting when it's expected of you-

Like there could be a requirement of like "You have to comment on at least one other game or else your entry will be removed" or something, and then there could be like a Bingo card with extra challenges if participants wanted to.

I was also thinking of using the discussion board to share resources to manage anxiety/mental health (since game jams can be stressful even for people who don't struggle with the community/socializing part) as well as posting maybe a check in or two throughout the jam depending on how long I run it.

There could also be two version of it:

Non-ranked for those that just want to try engaging more with other game devs and

And a ranked version specifically made for those anxious about critiques/reviews/etc both in giving and receiving and would have posts and resources to help manage anxiety around the topic, as well as general advice on how to learn to critique and how to manage getting feedback as well

The Non ranked version would happen first so that way people could transition from there to the ranked version after (obviously people can just do one or the other).

Anyway, this is just coming from someone with severe paranoia around internet spaces and is trying to think of ways to make it easier for others. If you've read through all this, thank you! And if you like the idea/have thoughts feel free to add on or share! I actually really want to make this happen at some point if I'm able to!

[macabremoons]

Writeblr Positivity Tag

@hallwriteblr did a post of this tag, and I knew I had to try it out! Doing what they did and putting the blank format underneath the cut!

Gently tagging: @squarebracket-trick, @leisoree, @serenanymph, @immortaladrien, @thesoftestofpetals, and anyone else who wants to join!!!

1. What motivates you to write?

The plot threads I have later down the line in my wips and my characters. Both of these points are really the same. I am excited about the things I have planned because they highlight the characters, and I am excited because my characters for the things I have planned.

2. A line/short snippet of your writing that you are most proud/happy of. If not maybe share a line of someone else's work you love (just please credit them)

I have to pick just one????? Oh lord.

Undead things aren't supposed to grieve other undead things, and yet so many vampires were now without fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters.

3. Which OC makes you smile every time you think/talk about them and what are they like?

@mouseinthegreenhouse's Maximilian. They have to put up with my simping sm HIOEWHOIW. It's hard to describe Max in a way that does not boil down his character. He just has this presence that you feel in every page, this captivation. A slow, measured way of speaking where he knows no one would dare interrupt him. Love him to bits.

4. What process of writing do you enjoy the most?

I haven't really gotten to the editing phase with any of my OG works, so I guess I have to say drafting?

5. What part of writing do you think you are the best at? (Yes stroke your own ego it's okay)

Character. I try my best to write characters that are analysis worthy. That have a deeper meaning in their existence and that have a lot to say about the world. Of course not all of my characters are as well thought out as others, but when I do put my all into it there is so many intricacies that go into them.

6. What is something in the writeblr community is most enjoyable?

THE PEOPLE. I LOVE YOU GUYSS. I love seeing your works and hearing your feedback and the tags and the asks. And the mutuals. The mutuals. Getting to know other writers and getting to talk about writing more deeply with them is so much fun.

7. A writing tool/device you use that helps you with writing? (It could be speech to text, a writing program etc)

I use WPS Offcie for my more serious projects. It's like Word, but free, and also not owned by Microsoft. This helps me not write in the middle of the night on Daycycle and work on it healthily. It is the bane and boon of my existence.

8. A piece of worldbuilding that you like in your own story? (It could be the magic system, a particular place in the story, a law etc)

Why must you continually make me choose a favorite child? I like how I tackled the elements on daycycle, I suppose. The fact that every element has it's own ideology behind it gives me a lot of freedom with what I can do with it. It also helps me say a bunch of stuff with it! And I enjoy making none of the elements good or evil but keeply neutral with their own psychological behavioral patterns.

9. What piece of advice would you say to encourage others to write if they are having a rough patch?

People are going to tell you to just keep going and you're going to think that it's impossible. I'm sorry to tell you that it's hard, but it's possible. I believe in you and your ability to write through this.

Unless you are going through writing burnout TAKE A BREAK. TAKE A BREAK. TAKE A BREAK. "But what if--" NO. BREAK. NOW.

10. Tag some people whose works you love/have been your biggest supporters

@squarebracket-trick for her amazing writing. I really feel like I could have a discussion about any form of writing with her and she'd have something to say. @sugar-phoenix, @lyra-brie, and @leisoree for listening to my rambles and sharing their gorgeous juicy ideas to me. @wipsbymor for RJ. What I have to say more? Sigh, also for her continued support and kindness. @hallwriteblr, yes tagging you again, for being such a kind person in this community and for writing that sage one shot. @serenanymph for being one of my first mutuals and a talented writer to boot. And to everyone who is my mutual! I love you all!!

1. What motivates you to write?

2. A line/short snippet of your writing that you are most proud/happy of. If not maybe share a line of someone else's work you love (just please credit them)

3. Which OC makes you smile every time you think/talk about them and what are they like?

4. What process of writing do you enjoy the most?

5. What part of writing do you think you are the best at? (Yes stroke your own ego it's okay)

6. What is something in the writeblr community is most enjoyable?

7. A writing tool/device you use that helps you with writing? (It could be speech to text, a writing program etc)

8. A piece of worldbuilding that you like in your own story? (It could be the magic system, a particular place in the story, a law etc)

9. What piece of advice would you say to encourage others to write if they are having a rough patch?

10. Tag some people whose works you love/have been your biggest supporters

[multiplicity-positivity]

our system is specutien (word we learned today from this blog! thank you very much! we thought we were invalid for having two hosts frontstuck 99.8% of the time) and for anyone who isn't those two people, it's really hard to front and discern what we're interested in or to try and find interests. this turns into a feedback loop where few people have positive triggers and so it's rare for other people to front with us because they don't have interests and don't know how to get them. do you have any advice for how to help on this? it's really difficult (and emotionally taxing) for me, as the frontstuck host, to try and relinquish enough control that my interests/tastes/etc. don't get in the way of that self discovery process. but it also sucks to have a bunch of people who exist but can't really talk to people in the outerworld because they don't have interests or even opinions on most topics. so.... we're wondering if you can help? as a fellow specutien system? (we also wonder if it would be easier for us to try and unstick ourselves if more of our headmates were, yknow, well-rounded)

Hi! We sure are specutien - our host doesn’t always sign off because he’s usually at least somewhat dissociated/disconnected from interacting with the real world, but he always is here at least to some extent!

We’re sorry y’all are going through something like this, but we do feel like it’s something many systems do struggle with! It can be so hard for frontstuck members to learn how to step back or give up control for the first time, and it can be even more difficult for members who don’t front often to figure out who they are and what they like! Our system went through something similar during our syscovery!

We do have a little template for folks to use who are interested in getting to know their system members - each headmate can feel free to fill it out at their leisure if they’re interested!

And this may sound weird, and others might disagree with this advice, but we’d like to share some thoughts on how y’all could go about learning more about each other, even with some members frontstuck all the time!

These frontstuck members might be able to learn more about the other headmates… by filling in information and fleshing out the rest of their system on behalf of their other members.

This means the frontstuck headmates could do things like make picrews for different members, think of what other headmates’ likes, dislikes, and interests might be, and do other things to help round out the other members! If they get anything wrong, or any member is uncomfortable with another headmate making decisions on their behalf, they could always speak up about it or change things later!

In our system we have some parts who never front. However, we still have picrews/a general idea of what they look like, and some basic information about them that these parts were never able to front and establish for themselves. If we’ve gotten anything wrong, they’ll usually reach out to tell us as such or at least send a vibe that we’ve made the wrong move. We’re working on building internal communication, and as our communication gets stronger, we’ve been able to learn more and more about the alters who at first we knew very little about!

If y’all are interested in finding more positive triggers to help bring specific members to the front, it might help to try making individual playlists for each member of the system! The frontstuck members can make playlists with music that reminds them of the different headmates, rather than choosing music that the headmates picked out themselves. Of course, if any headmate wants to have input on the music that goes in their playlist, they should feel welcomed to! This just provides a way for those who are frontstuck to try and create more opportunities for other members to front in the future!

I guess in general though, we’d say y’all should take your time with this and take things one day, one headmate, and one interest at a time! If you as a host start to feel exhausted or overwhelmed, y’all may need to take a step back from this process. And that’s okay! It’s important to take breaks and take care of your own physical and mental health while attempting to learn more about your system.

Also, in our opinion, your headmates don’t have to be very differentiated in order to be valid as system members and worthy of autonomy and respect. It’s okay for your headmates to just exist as they are - they don’t need to have a huge list of differences or things that make them unique in order for them to be valued and cherished as they are! Some systems don’t like for their members to be very different and well-rounded, and some systems genuinely just don’t work like that. So we guess it’s important for y’all to accept each other for who you are as you are now. If some headmates change naturally in the future, then great! If not, that’s okay too! What’s most important is that y’all are taking care of each other and looking after each other to the best of your abilities.

We hope this helps a little bit! Feel free to reach out if you have further questions… regardless, we’re wishing you and your headmates the very best in your future!

🌸 Margo and 💚 Ralsei

[sleeplessmidnight26]

1. How did you come up with your username and what does it mean?

2. Which fanfic of yours has the most feedback? (bookmarks/subscriptions/hits/kudos)

4. Do you have any regular/favourite commenters?

5. Is there a fanfic that you keep going back to read again and again?

7. Which AU do you find yourself writing the most?

9. Is there something you’d like to write about but are afraid of people judging you for it? (Feeling brave? If so, share it!)

10. Is there anything you would like to be better at? Writing certain scenes or genres, replying to comments, updating better, etc.

13. How many stories do you have saved in/with your writing program?

15. Have you ever co-authored a story?

16. How did you discover AO3?

17. Do you consider yourself to be a popular or famous author in your fandom(s) on AO3?

18. Do you have a nickname or fandom name for your readers?

19. Was there an author who inspired or encouraged you to write?

20. What writing advice would you give to a beginning author?

22. Have you ever gotten a bad comment on a story? If so, what did you do?

23. Is there a certain type of scene that you have a hard time writing? (action, smut, etc..)

24. What story(s) are you working on now?

27. Do you think you’ve improved as a writer since you first started?

28. What is your favorite story that you’ve written?

29. What is your least favorite story that you’ve written?

30. Where do you see yourself (as a writer) in 5 years?

1. SleeplessMidnight was just something I thought of because I can’t sleep at night I guess. 😅 seemed like a cool username and now it’s stuck haha.

2. Before He Cheats is the my most popular, it had the most response, probably because of the huge twist I threw in there.

4. (I assume this should be 3 but I’m keeping it 4 to keep from confusion) Yes I have a few regular commenters. I do love getting comments and try to respond to each one as quick as possible.

5. I do keep going back to read Love Me (With No Explanation).

If you’re talking about mine, I keep going back to read You’re Safe Now. Because this one is the most meaningful to me. It helped me work through the abusive relationship I had with my last job.

7. I guess I find myself writing AU no powers with Marvel. I have written other fandoms but haven’t posted them on my AO3 account. Or like AU somewhat along the canon storyline with my own twist.

9. Hmmm 🤔 I guess I’ve got some ideas for some stories. I’ve been thinking of a threesome kinda situation 🫣 also maybe like a torture scene. Both I haven’t written but low key want to.

10. I guess I’d like to be better at writing smut? 😅🫣 I feel like my writing on that isn’t good. Like every scene I write, I delete and re-write it. I’d also love to be able to upload more but life 🤷🏽‍♀️

13. Too many to count. Haha 😂 one day I’ll get around to uploading them.

15. I have not co-authored a story. But I would love to if the opportunity came up.

16. My cousin showed me. I originally started on fanfiction.net not anything that was good but I’m locked out of my account so I can’t get back to that.

17. I wouldn’t consider myself famous, although I do find it wild that I got so many requests. I’d say I’m becoming well known but I wouldn’t consider myself famous yet.

18. I don’t know what I would call my readers/fans (omg I have fans😳) but if anyone wants to name them, go for it 😅

19. Not really. I’ve always kind of wrote stories, it’s been my coping mechanism. I stopped for a while because I was battling self harm but I’m now six years free of SH.

20. Just write, don’t think about who’s going to read it or if it’s good. Just write what you want. You can go back to edit later.

22. I’ve gotten a couple. I just ignore it or kill it with kindness. One comment I didn’t even get a chance to respond to before another reader came to my aid.

23 Smut, I’m so self conscious that I’m writing it wrong. 🫣

24. I have so many. My first request. I’ve also got some ideas that I need to get too. I have too many WIPs that it’s a problem.

27. I definitely feel like I have, or I hope I have.

28. My favourite story I’ve written would probably be beautiful trauma. It’s very different focusing on such an age gap.

29. Unexpected True Mates. It’s my first omegaverse story and I feel like I’m butchering it. Probably why it’s taking me so long to finish it 🫣

30. Honestly, I have been thinking of writing an actual book and getting it published. So maybe I’ll work on that. But I don’t know who would read it. 🫣

Wow that’s quite the series of questions 😂 it’s still wild to me that I have fans and people that want to ask me questions. But I do enjoy the interaction. Which is why I love comments. 🫶🏽 thank you!

[dearestones]

Oh HECK YEAH i love when you do these!!! :D ❄️☂️🌪 please! :) (also, is it okay if we respond to them? Lol? It's such a joy to hear your thoughts :) and that upcoming oc fic of yours has me like 👀👀👀👀 but i dont wanna spam lmao) hope you're having a great day!!!

Hey, Devin here!

Also, feel free to interact in any way you like! You can write in the tags, through the main reblog, asks, dms, etc! I love getting feedback from my readers!

(This is a cue for you to spam!)

^^^PLEASE

Anywhoozles!!!

❄️ Share a snippet from a WIP of your choosing.

Since you seemed interested in my oc fic, I’ll give you a snippet from there!

☂️ Is there a fic concept you have that you'd like to just explain and share because you're not sure you'll ever write it? If so, what is it?

I really want to write a polyam fic with either octatrio and an oc or AceDeuceYuu. It would be really cute and explore how their dynamics changes from their fourth year at internship to the very beginning of their adult lives.

For AceDeuceYuu, Ace and Deuce would be the main ship before they realize that they’re both head over heels for their favorite magicless prefect. The romance for Ace and Deuce starts in third year when they begin to have more respect and regard for one another while their budding romantic/sexual feelings for Yuu starts manifesting when they’re all roommates after graduation and they need to look for work together.

It’s gonna be a trial for all three of the characters where Deuce realizes that he doesn’t have to stick to monogamy, Ace has to make sure to be open when communicating, and Yuu has to open their heart that maybe, even when they can’t go back to their home world, they still have two idiots to go back home to.

(By the by, Grim is also there, but he wants to open up a Beast Taming course back in NRC and spends most of the story interning at another academy that specializes in the subject).

As for the octatrio and their oc fic… I can’t give it all away because it relate to another wip, but basically, it’s about forgiveness, acceptance, and openness between landfolk and sea folk dwellers. There’s going to be angst, anger, and a whole lot of shenanigans and dinglehoppers and whatsitcalleds for the vast majority of it.

The first wip is contingent on creativity while the second depends on the fact that I need to complete another wip before getting to the polyam.

🌪 Sum up a WIP with a few fic tropes/Ao3 tags.

For my twst oc WIP:

* Crowley’s A+ Headmaging/Parenting

* Isekai

* Angst

* Drama

* Bullying

* Alternate Universe

* Hurt/Comfort

* Found Family

* Deviates from Canon

* Everybody is Bad at Feelings

* Original Characters (seriously, there’s a lot of them)

* Worldbuilding and Lore

Thank you so much for the questions and I hope you have a wonderful day!

Feel free to ask more questions spam me and message me if you like! :D

[ariaste]

I have taught creative writing (specifically scifi/fantasy) at the university level, and I absolutely agree with the "asking questions" thing.

Here is how I taught feedback, in case there are any other creative writing teachers on tumblr who want to use this model. Please feel free to replicate this in your own classrooms. (Long post, so it's under a read-more)

My class was almost 100% lectures, as opposed to a frequent structure of creative writing classes I've taken as a student, where the teacher.... basically did fuckall nothing? MAYBE gave us a free-writing prompt and then made us get into small groups to do feedback and basically teach each other? Did not even take the time to teach us what good feedback looked like or how it worked or what rights we had as writers? This is bullshit and I have so much spite for it. Writing IS IN FACT TEACHABLE, anyone who says you can't teach writing is either a bad teacher or a bad writer. Either way: Skill issue, can't relate. So in addition to teaching writing, you can also teach how to give feedback.

Step 1: They had daily homework assignments, and I obviously gave them feedback on it (by asking questions in the margins, by saying things like "I'm a little confused here, can you clarify?", by pointing out the parts where they did something REALLY NEAT and actively building their confidence in their writing and what they thought was cool). I quietly modeled this target behavior, without pointing out what I was doing, for like six weeks. They were not inflicted on each other at ALL during that time because they didn't know what they were doing, and when people don't know what they're doing, that's when people get hurt. They did not have to look at or think about anybody else's work but their own for all that time. (I gave them a Discord server where they could share their stories with each other if they wanted to, but it was 100% optional).

Step 2: As we approached the Feedback Day (yes, just one time they had to look at anyone else's work), I had each student write a "cover letter" for the piece they were going to get feedback on, which included any necessary context about the work if it was a section of a longer story (ie: "Protagonist Bob has just come from the royal ball, he is on the run from an assassin who spotted him there"), questions or concerns the WRITER already had with the work (ie: "What do you think of the tension in this scene?" "I'm practicing setting and atmospheric description; do you think the spooky tone is coming through effectively?"), and boundaries that the writer had about their work or the sort of feedback they wanted (ie: "I'm not feeling very confident, so having some encouragement about the things I'm doing right would be really helpful" or "I have really tough skin, so give me your worst, don't hold back! :)" or "It's okay to point out other issues if you see them" or "Please just focus on the things I asked about for now" etc). This last one was the most important. As a professional author, I have *NEVER* sought out a beta reader without having an explicit conversation beforehand about what kind of feedback I wanted from them and what MY concerns were about the work. Why would I inflict anything else on my students?

Step 3: I had them turn in the ANONYMIZED work and cover letter to me -- no names on it (I assigned each person a number so I could keep track of who was who). Having gotten to know them, their work, their tastes, and their personalities over the last few weeks, I read the pieces without leaving my own feedback, checked to make sure the cover letter included all the things it needed, and set up a system where they would read a piece that I thought they would actually enjoy and appreciate for what it was, and that their work would be critiqued by someone who would also enjoy it. Step 4: I did a sort of "feedback secret santa", but it was double-blind, so no one knew whose work they were getting or who would be giving them feedback. All they had was the work itself and the cover letter. I spent the day talking about how to give good feedback, pointed out how I had been modeling good feedback all semester so far, showed them a powerpoint with guidelines for best practices and suggestions/recommendations/red flags to look out for in their own brains as critiquers, and sent them home with the piece for the weekend with the instructions that they had to write at least 1 page of feedback. I also told them with GREAT FEROCITY that they WOULD respect each others' boundaries or else I would be Big Mad and Extremely Disappointed In Them and have them do it again before the writer got to see the feedback. HELLO I AM THE SPOTTER, I AM THE REFEREE, I AM THE GUARD-RAIL AT THE EDGE OF THE CLIFF. This is how you teach someone a tricky skill! You don't hurl them into the deep end and say "swim, bitch." You get down in the water with them and stay nearby in case they struggle to keep their heads up, and then you give them a little hand underneath to juuuust keep them from drowning while they figure it out. OBVIOUSLY. The fact that this is not obvious to all teachers is WILD to me. Step 5: They handed in the work and the critiques TO ME rather than each other. I took them home that night and reviewed them to make sure everyone had followed the directions, answered the writer's questions/concerns, respected the stated boundaries, and approached critique constructively. (Everyone did. It was so heartwarming, and I was really, really proud of them. Modeling the supportive target behavior for six weeks to establish the vibe REALLY WORKED) Step 6: I brought the feedbacks to class, and THEN handed them out and got them in pairs so the writer and critiquer could have more of an organic conversation, and so the writer could ask clarifying questions, etc. (Note that most of them had not just swapped stories -- almost everybody got to talk to two people, one as a writer and one as a critiquer. IIRC, the two horror fans in class did get to sit and burble happily together for the whole time, tho, bless)

Did this process require a lot more extra work from me? Yep. But that was my fucking job in that situation. If I can protect a young writer's feelings from being stepped on and their confidence undermined, OF COURSE I'M GOING TO. My job as a teacher was to provide an environment where they could LEARN -- and it is a whole fucking lot easier to learn when you feel safe, supported, and comfortable. They have plenty of time left in their life to have experiences that hurt them or ding their confidence; really, really positive ones are MUCH rarer, so that was what I set out to give them. Every student deserves to have a good experience with the subject; every student deserves the chance to discover joy and fun in what they're studying. Apparently this philosophy worked, because I was watching like a hawk as they gave each other feedback and I saw NOTHING but happy, smiling faces and the relaxed postures of people genuinely having a good time. Back to the traditional workshop method for a minute though, because there is an aspect of this that doesn't get sufficiently talked about: The ways in which the that workshop structure perpetuates systemic, institutionalized injustice against marginalized groups., both insidiously and explicitly. This was another reason why I formatted the feedback section of the class the way that I did.

Having the writer sit in silence while the rest of the group critiques the story together introduces a potential for deeply harmful experiences if the writer is part of a marginalized group and the rest of the group isn't. A woman writer being silenced while a group of men question and criticize the validity of the work work; a POC writer being silenced while a group of white people question and criticize the validity of the work; a queer writer being silenced while a group of cishet people question and criticize the validity of the work -- all of these situations DISPROPORTINATELY SUCK for the person being critiqued. The voices of the marginalized are already silenced in so many contexts, and so forcing a writer into that situation without giving them the opportunity to even consent or not is a breathtaking act of cruelty.

The only writer that I think this exercise MIGHT be constructive for would be a straight, white, middle-to-upper-class, neurotypical, able-bodied man (because he might never have had the experience of being forced to shut up and listen, and some personal learning experiences ARE tough and hard), but with all those vectors of experience and identity, the person who ticks ALL of those boxes is actually quite rare, statistically. And here's the thing: Even if you do find that person, it's still something of a cruelty to force him into that position of silence. It can be so much more effective to teach with kindness and the opportunity to consent and to model the behavior you want to see -- because really, with the state of toxic masculinity today, that supposedly-perfectly-privileged male writer might never have experienced people actively and compassionately checking in with him about his boundaries.

If you are interested in reading more about workshop methods and their history and patterns of injustice, I would suggest the article "The Ghost of Workshops Past: How Communism, Conservatism, and the Cold War Still Mold Our Paths Into SFF Writing" by SL Huang and the book The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop: How to Decolonize the Creative Classroom by Felicia Rose Chavez.

There are better ways of teaching. There are better ways of loving and supporting the students under your care so that they get the maximum amount of benefit out of what you have to teach them. Stop inflicting what is essentially generational trauma on your students just because YOU went through a terrible and traumatic writer's workshop and you think that's an important learning experience to go through as a writer -- it's not. That's survivorship bias. Do better. Love your kids, goddammit.

“But let me give you the dark side of writing groups. One really dark side of writing groups is, particularly newer writers, don’t know how to workshop.

“And one of the things they’ll try to do is they’ll try to make your story into the story they would write, instead of a better version of the story you want to write.

“And that is the single worst thing that can happen in feedback, is someone who is not appreciating the story you want to make, and they want to turn it into something else.

“New workshoppers are really bad at doing this. In other words, they’re really good at doing a bad thing, and they’re doing it from the goodness of their heart. They want you to be a better writer. They want to help you. The only way they know is to tell you how they would do it, which can be completely wrong for your story.”

—Brandon Sanderson, Lecture #1 Introduction, Writing Science Fiction And Fantasy

[toritaurussblog]

⚠️ DISCLAIMER ! ⚠️

☆ Everyone is welcome on my blog, no matter your skin tone, body type, gender, sexuality, beliefs, nationality, interests, etc.

╭ 🗒 ... ⃕ ABOUT autor ! ⋆⋅⋅⋆

☆ Hi hi! I’m Tori, a 20-year-old multistan head over heels for Stray Kids. I go with the pronouns she/her. I'm a Taurus with an Aries rising and Sagittarius moon, an INFP ⋆ I'm Italian, and English is my second language, so please be nice. ⋆ I’m a very easy going person and i love interacting with people who read my stuff. please don’t feel shy to give me feedback. it really helps!

☆ in this specific blog ( @/toritaurussblog ) I will not post anything about my OCs, it is mainly a blog that I use for reposts of useful things or that I particularly like.

╭ 🗒 ... ⃕ DNI/DNF ! ⋆⋅⋅⋆

☆ i will tolerate NO hate on this blog, i would like to make that clear. DO NOT interact with me or my account if you support anti-abortion, pr0shippers/or are one, bullying, climate change, war, poverty, terr0rism, fetishize serial ki!!ers r@cism, murder, r@pe/r@pists, hom0phobia, transph0bia, sexism, ableist, any kind of abuse, besti@lity, @ rson. If you don’t know how to be a decent human person, don’t interact, or you’ll be blocked.

☆ If you’re into RP/KRP I kindly ask you to don’t follow me or interact with me because I don’t engage with those terms! If you practice ethno-bending or think it’s okay, write about minors or use them as FOs, have a blank blog, or spam like, please don’t follow me or interact with me!

☆ Please remember that the portrayal of real idols on my blogs is purely fictional. Everything my OCs do, from the manners, the history, the way of being and behaving is pure fiction created by me; it has nothing to do with true Idols. ⋆ I create OCs only on Tumblr, but if you notice someone copying them on other platforms, please report it and let me know. If you copy my work here, you will be blocked.

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Feel free to share your thoughts and connect with me. Let's all respect Tumblr's rules and keep our sharing space respectful and inclusive. Thank you for being here!

[marcelinelunaediting]

To whomever it may concern,

My name is Marceline Baggaley, although I also go by a pen name: Marceline Luna. I am a third year student completing my Bachelor of Arts majoring in Creative and Professional Writing, and After I graduate I intend to enter the publishing industry.

I have long been passionate about the arts, with both editing and writing being my main points of interest, as can be seen reflected in my degree choice

Before reaching adulthood, I was an ATAR student who excelled in arts and humanities related subjects and I have been continuing my passion for learning ever since.

During this time, I completed a Certificate II in Creative Industries, where I learnt a variety of practical skills such as equipment handling, bump-in-bump-out skills, customer service, etiquette, and more, as well as more general skills such as teamwork, intuition, care-for-detail, adaptivity, and leadership.

I have experience working for a few years in retail for MyBeautySpot as my first foray with a professional working environment. From this I have strengthened my customer service and teamwork skills and honed my familiarity with phone, email, and workplace etiquette.

My passion for creative arts and both writing and editing continues into my personal life, with reading and writing being two of my most prominent hobbies. I have worked on many writing projects for the sake of my own personal growth, and have even worked with other emerging artists on personal projects.

Over the course of my degree, I have completed an internship at Rabble Books & Games as a part of Edith Cowan’s Professional Placement program within the arts. At Rabble, I gained an understanding of a more arts/publishing-adjacent workplace environment and was able to grow my knowledge of the inner workings of small business.

Notably, during this internship I got to experience setting up events, liaising with customers, preparing orders, stocking intakes of books, etc. My ability to work with others and maintain positive, supportive, and productive workplace relationships grew greatly during this period.

I have high proficiency with the English language and a strong grasp on readability, accessibility, and enjoyability when it comes to written work — which are all values that are important to know in depth for anyone creating books. In my studies, I have learnt how to edit to a high standard, although I am very enthused about continuing to learn more about editing styles and formats and grow as an editor.

Along with that, I consider myself personable and sensitive, and have a strong desire to promote diversity within the workplace. I have the ability to give constructive and meaningful critique and feedback in a way that is mindful of and uplifting for those receiving it.

With this portfolio, I have compiled a selection of both editing and writing work that I feel serves as a good representation of the standard of work that can be expected from me. Using the tags on the left, these works can be filtered by their form (short story, poetry, etc.) I have also included a brief about me section, as well as links to my LinkdIn and Pinterest. If you desire to contact me, feel free to click on my email in the Contact section to automatically begin drafting an email to me in your client.

My vision for my future as a creative is as someone who elevates any work she is involved with, through not just a proficiency in relevant skills, but in genuine care and passion for telling stories and sharing them with the world. My focus on promoting diversity and diverse voices in and through art is core to my personal philosophy — particularly as a queer, neurodivergent woman. I hope to be able to establish myself within Western Australia’s publishing landscape and be working on bringing thoughtful and quality stories to the public.

Thank you for looking at my portfolio,

Marceline Baggaley

[uncloseted]

I recently sent a few chapters of my first draft for my novel to my coworker who is amazing and who has the same degree as me in English. she offered to be a beta reader and add her comments which was great, but after getting her comments I feel like some were a bit unnecessary.

My characters are from England (I'm American), and I've watched english shows my whole life and grew up with the accents, the dialect, etc. so I knew what I was saying when I included certain phrasing in my novel, plus I researched before including anything that relates to dialect and regional dialect. My coworker (American) made comments about things like I didn't know what I was talking about and pointing out things that I feel she just wasn't really thinking about.

The constructive comments were really good! But some of the other comments I felt were a bit... passive aggressive. At certain points she would just say things in the comments like: "No." or "WHY?!" or "Grumble grumble..." and it's like??? I love your helpful comments, but I feel like this doesn't help me at all. She doesn't usually read romance, she sticks to crime or sci-fi, so I know I shouldn't take it personally, but I really enjoy the idea for my novel and think it's strong. Of course, it's still early days, but I don't know. I think she's helpful but for most of her comments, I could explain why I did something in answer to her comments.

Should I not send her the rest of my novel? I feel like she's not really getting the whole picture at times...

Thank you!

I think any time you share a work in progress with someone who's not a professional in the publishing industry (like a beta reader or editor), you'll get some feedback that's helpful and some that's irrelevant. It's okay to look through their feedback and to say "these are the things I think are valuable and these are the things I'll be ignoring." If you've done your research on regional dialects and are sure you have it right, feel free to throw that commentary out. If she's saying something more along the lines of, "I know this is accurate, but it will make this part incomprehensible to readers who aren't from a particular area of England", then it might be worth at least considering whether to swap the dialogue out for something more generic, even if you ultimately decide to keep it as is. With the little comments like "no!" and "why?!", I think she's trying to give you a view into her emotional reactions throughout the story as well as her thoughts about what you could do differently, which I think may actually be really useful. If she's commented "WHY?!" on a part that's not supposed to elicit that reaction, maybe the story is creating a different emotional journey than you intended. It's also worth remembering that she only has a few chapters of a first draft- she doesn't have the full picture in her head the way you do, and so her interpretation of what she's reading is naturally going to be different from your idea of who these characters are and where the story is going.

Accepting criticism is hard, especially with work as personal as novels. I think when we share our work with others, we're secretly hoping that they'll love it as much as we do and have no criticism. So I think it's natural to want to push back and say, "no, I did that for a reason, you're just not understanding my vision." I think for a lot of people, criticism of their work feels like criticism of them as a person or of their innate talent as a writer.

But... that's not really what it is. Constructive criticism is just a lens into the feelings, opinions, and confusions a potential reader might have so that the writer can achieve their vision more effectively. It's also worth remembering that different readers will feel differently about the work. Just because one person isn't responding the way you expected doesn't mean that nobody will. But on the flip side, you can't expect that all readers will have your background and understanding, either. Unless you're trying to target a very specific demographic, it may be worth making some narrative concessions for the sake of readability. So for each piece of feedback, I think it's important to be able to take a step back and ask yourself if you're feeling defensive even though the advice is good, or whether the advice is something you disagree with from a narrative or artistic perspective.

At the end of the day, you're not obligated to accept every piece of feedback that you get. Take what feels right for your project and throw away the rest. You know what will work best for the novel that you're trying to write. As for whether or not to send her the rest of the novel, I think it depends on whether or not you feel like getting her feedback will ultimately lead to a better book. If you think it would, it's probably worth continuing to send her chapters. If not, maybe it's better to send it to someone else you know instead or to join a community of writers who provide criticism on each other's work.

[ugh-yoongi]

i started responding in tags but then it just grew out of control so i hope u don't mind me adding my thoughts!

to begin, i haven't personally seen this—probably because i'm awful at and don't really seek out new work on here unless it's from friends or friends of friends—and, to my knowledge, have not had this done to me.

but this feels parallel if not fully perpendicular to those folks who use AI to "finish" incomplete stories or rewrite parts they didn't like.

we say it a lot but most fanfiction writers are doing this for free, because they love the character and love writing and want to share their ideas with people who also love that character. there is little "reward" (for lack of a better term) aside from feedback and seeing others' enjoyment, so to take an author's work and alter it in any way—whether it's through the use of AI or what hali is talking about—can definitely be seen as insulting, especially if the original author isn't on board or isn't aware.

what you probably mean is: i love this story so much. i want to write something based off of it, using the same characters and the same plot, but something different is going to happen because it's what i want to see.

what we probably hear is: what you've given us isn't good enough. i'm going to fix it and bring it up to my standards, or make it more palatable.

but okay, let's say you've decided to write a fic based off of someone else's:

was the original story unsatisfying in some way? what about it felt so unsatisfying that you felt the need to do this?

are you writing an inspired work simply because you loved the original story so much and wanted to put your own spin on it?

if so, do you feel you truly know these characters, created by someone else, well enough to do them justice?

do you know why the original author wrote the characters, plot, setting, etc., the way they did? what changes, if any, did they make to make the story more cohesive, or make character A feel more like character A?

the most important question to me:

are you truly writing this because you want to pay homage to the original work? or are you writing this because it's what's currently popular on here and gets the most notes/feedback?

(because there's another topic altogether. "all the stories on here are the same!" well, yeah—a good handful of writers are doing it for the charts and not the art, as the tiktok kids would say. that doesn't really bother me too much. it can be demoralizing to put a ton of work into a story, write 20k of something you're proud of, and get little to no feedback, so i get it.

so do we need to examine what we're reading and giving our attention to? maybe. i dunno. there's a million different reasons character A in fic trope B is the most popular thing on here at any given time, and those sorts of trends come and go.

but the old-timey advice will always be the same: if you aren't seeing the kind of content you want, create it. and, unfortunately, that means accepting the lack of feedback/interaction if it isn't popular, which can be a big ask sometimes.)

but anyway. all this to say: you might mean well, but you can see from the responses to this so far that writing an inspired work is not a universally-flattering experience. some people will be excited, others will be very not-cool with it. there's a reason fix-it fic is both popular and a little controversial.

there is a fine line between inspiration and plagiarism. if you love someone's work and want to pay homage, there are so many other ways if the author isn't okay with inspired works: fanart, moodboards, intelligible screaming in their inbox about how much you loved it, sending in character/story asks.

if it's a jumping-off point for you, i.e. you want to start writing but aren't sure where to begin, but you know you love xyz fic and can't stop thinking about it: i get it, truly. but instead of using those characters and that plot, figure out what you love about them/it and build something new from there. writing is not always easy but it is unfortunately one of those things you have to do to get better at.

and no one can tell your stories the way you can.

writing is deeply, deeply personal. like i said, we tell the stories we want to tell, and we usually do it for a reason. if someone decided to rewrite bttifowiw i'd be gutted, because i wrote that story about a very specific time in my own marriage, and anyone else telling it wouldn't be right.

I am going to say something that has really been bothering me that not everyone may agree with, which is totally okay, everyone is entirely valid to disagree with me: There is a fast fashion problem in fandom, specifically fanfiction.

Disclaimer: This conversation is not about broadly writing the same tropes, genres, and ideas. I am not talking about people writing fics with similar themes or the same name. I am specifically talking about people writing fics that are very obviously heavily influenced by other fics. This is not me talking about: I wrote __ character as enemies to lovers vampires and so did this person so they stole. Please do not trivialize this conversation with instances that are very obviously not what I'm talking about.

As someone who exists in the fanfiction space, I want to express what I have seen specifically in this space in my own experience, my mutuals experiences, and random experiences I have seen on my dash.

Recently, it seems like there is a reoccurring theme of writers (often new writers) taking "inspiration" from fanfics that they love and value and essentially creating their own version of that story to the point it is bordering on plagiarism. I say bordering on plagiarism because while people may not be copying line for line or entire scenes in order, you can tell that it is a re-arranged duplicate of another story.

I am not talking about writing similar tropes and dynamics. No one owns a trope or a dynamic. I am specifically talking about people taking the plots, scenes, concept and core of fanfics and recreating it and changing some plot elements or placing it in a different alternate universe and calling it their own, when at the heart of that fanfic, it is taken from someone else's creation.

This to me, reads like people who read a work, fall in love with it, but think 'this is easy to do, I can do this myself' and they end up making a replica of a fic that you can tell is a replica of another fic, despite adding some changes. Nine times out of ten, these inspired fics lack the obvious thought and heart the original writer put into it.

Which, begs the question: How is this different than fanfic writers taking inspiration from media (i.e. published books, movies, music, shows)? Because fanfiction is meant to replicate a specific something from published media. It is not meant to duplicate an already established fanfiction contribution.

I know that the nuance between that line is very ambiguous and it brings up the discourse on 'should there be fanfiction of fanfiction' - to which my response is it is, generally, pretty obvious what the difference between being inspired by a fic and copying a fic are.

In the last few months, I have lost count of how many times I or mutuals have a) discovered someone has been writing a story based off of their fic 2) have been asked to use an already written work to make their own or 3) already have started writing works modeled after an already written work and in hindsight asked the author if they could keep doing so (this third instance almost always happens after someone accuses them of stealing another work).

This feels like the fast fashion industry. Someone finds a story that is popular (whatever that means to the individual), takes all of the elements they think makes the story works, rearranges it, posts it as their own and and says they were 'inspired' (if they credit the original story at all).

This is why so many works that readers are coming across feel like they are the same thing. It is the same A + B + C = D over and over and over again, because people are outright just taking what they think works from other stories and using it.

Again - I am not talking about people who come across a trope, AU, genre or dynamic they like and add something similar to their story. I am talking about the people who are very intentionally and obviously writing the same exact fic with their own 'twist' (whatever that means).

Why is this a problem (beyond the fact that it's essentially roundabout plagiarism)? You're taking the heart, soul, and creativity someone poured into something and posting it on your own and robbing it of the originality, the essence, and the intention behind it. You cannot replicate a writer's feelings and obvious emotions that they have poured into the original work, and it shows. And it is gutting to the original authors who are finding remixes of their work across the fanfiction space.

Please consider whether or not you are inspired by a story or if you are redoing it in your own image. If you find yourself worried enough about your story that you feel like you have to publicly credit someone to avoid scrutiny, perhaps the question needs to be asked of whether you're just redoing what someone else already wrote.

Please do not confuse inspiration and recreation. 9 out of 10 authors will love that they inspired you to write, but would not love to find that you wrote a fic inspired by them that is a rearranged or hollowed-out version of the fic they wrote.

The fanfic space wants and needs more writers, but it does not need people unwilling to create their own art, instead taking bits and pieces from others and calling it a success.

Also adding: This problem also directly contributes to 'smaller' writers or more niche (often queer and bipoc) stories not getting the hype, readership, or recognition they deserve. On more than one occasion I've seen stories that had explicitly queer or bipoc characters taken and turned into heteronormative or white-presenting stories.

Note: This 1000% goes for actual visual art as well, including gifs etc. in fandom but I'm not well-versed there and thus, did not include it.

[liquidstar]

Woo!!! After forever I finally finished drawing this batch of ocs!!! I’m so excited to finally post them, it’s taken some real restraint to wait until they’re all done so I can post them as a set lol. Click on the pics for a better view!

But these are all the members of Pandemonium, aka The Grimdark Guild. A rival guild to the main cast, they’re literally all about the chaos, with more edgy darkly-inclined look to them they’ve sort of gained a reputation as being the gothic guild, but that might not hold equally true for all members. Still they all welcome the strange and macabre, and about expressing yourself in any way you see fit. Do whatever the fuck you want! It’s chaos! It’s Pandemonium baby! 

I’ll put info for each character under the cut, but as bullet points rather than a whole paragraph, since there’s 10 of them! I’ll put close-ups for each of them too because they’re hard to see

Name: Saturn

Name Origin: The planet of course! Which got it’s name from the Roman God of generation, dissolution, and wealth. 

Pronouns: He/him

Age: 36

Guild rank: Guildmaster

Weapon: Rings

Ethos (Power): Spatial direction. Control over the direction of objects with his rings.

Flaw power is based on: The meticulous controlling nature of his power is based on his own scheming nature.

Notes: His tactic for building up his guild is to cause absolute chaos everywhere else and so far it’s working.

Name: Porrima 

Name Origin: A binary star system named for a Roman Goddess of prophesy 

Pronouns: She/her

Age: 19

Guild rank: 4 star

Weapon: Gurz

Ethos (Power): Fortuity. Fortune telling, but her prophesies are often vague

Flaw power is based on: Her pessimistic and gloomy nature, she often interprets the fortunes in the worst way.

Notes: If you can make her smile she’ll be your best friend.

Name: Kari

Name Origin: A moon named for a figure from Norse mythology which represented wind (Which she runs like!)

Pronouns: She/her

Age: 17

Guild rank: 2 star

Weapon: Roller blades 

Ethos (Power): Alacrity. Enhanced speed and agility on her roller skates

Flaw power is based on: Her incredibly hyper demeanor. 

Notes: “But Finn those aren’t roller blades, they’re roller skates! Roller blades are-” She has knives in her shoes. They’re literally Roller blades.

Name: Vanth

Name Origin: A moon named after a psychopomp who guides the souls of the dead to the underworld.

Pronouns: They/them

Age: 25

Guild rank: 5 star

Weapon: Twin scythes

Ethos (Power): Decay. The ability to cause things to rot away by touch 

Flaw power is based on: Their ironic fear of impermanence

Notes: Listens to death metal lol. get it.

Name: Lyra

Name Origin: From the constellation Lyra the lyre. 

Pronouns: She/her

Age: 26

Guild rank: 4 star

Weapon: Lyre

Ethos (Power): Lullaby. She can influence people’s moods and abilities through her music. 

Flaw power is based on: Her soft overly-empathetic nature.

Notes: The heart of the guild, keeps everything together amidst the chaos.

Name: Valetudo

Name Origin: A moon named after the Latin word for fortitude. 

Pronouns: She/her

Age: 28

Guild rank: 4 star

Weapon: Guandao

Ethos (Power): Immutable will. She can lock objects in-place, including herself, basically becoming an immovable object

Flaw power is based on: Her stubbornness 

Notes: The holder of everyone’s braincells

Name: Hebe

Name Origin: An asteroid named after a Goddess of youth

Pronouns: He/him

Age: 13

Guild rank: 1 star

Weapon: Bladed yo-yo

Ethos (Power): Spacelink. Portal creation, only works in places he’s already been.

Flaw power is based on: His thirst for adventure and reckless youthful vigor

Notes: He’s literally just a kid he just wants to have fun

Name: Cerberus

Name Origin: An obsolete constellation named after the mythical 3-headed dog

Pronouns: He/they

Age: 23

Guild rank: 3 star

Weapon: Dadao sword

Ethos (Power): Trifold. He can make two clones of himself. 

Flaw power is based on: Their instance to handle any and all burdens themself. 

Notes: Dogboy (professionally diagnosed)

Name: Corvus

Name Origin: From the constellation of Corvus the Crow

Pronouns: He/him

Age: 28

Guild rank: 5 star

Weapon: Bec de corbin

Ethos (Power): Black Plume. He can control his feathers individual once they’re plucked off within a certain timeframe.

Flaw power is based on: His sacrificial nature, once they’ve fallen off they won’t go back on.

Notes: Thank you to the anime Princess Tutu for inspiring his vaguely bird-shaped hair.

Name: Alkes 

Name Origin: A star whose name means “Teacup”

Pronouns: He/him

Age: 14

Guild rank: 3 star

Weapon: Parasol

Ethos (Power): Open wound. Any cut made by his weapon will not stop bleeding until he wills it to, or you die.

Flaw power is based on: His harsh and malicious demeanor 

Notes: Also known as Pandemonium’s Vampire. Somehow the edgiest member of the guild despite his appearance. 

And if you made it this far I love you and I want to thank you by showing you this special picture taken of the guildmembers: