#haven't posted a finished drawing in a while

[vanoodle]

Imagine you are a child and draw something with your crayons. Drawing it makes you really happy and at the end you get up and proudly show your drawing to your parents but you get no reaction.

Now imagine you're working on a project. You've made progress on it and you're so proud of it that you post it in the group chat you have with your friends. Again you get no reaction.

Then later you find out that one of your friends showed your project to another group chat you aren't in and said "Look at this, isn't it cool?" But for some reason, they didn't tell you they thought that. Wouldn't that hurt?

That, essentially, is what posting fanfic is. Or literally any kind of fanfwork that you post for the fandom to find.

Of course not all of these people who can see your fanwork are your friends, they're strangers a lot of the time but you're in the same fandom, the same community, so if feels similar. And so, when you post something to this "large friend group" called fandom, and you get no reaction, it feels like your friends (as in: fans of the same thing) not acknowledging the thing you made and wanted to share with them.

As for the writing vs posting part, I feel like many people mean "posting" when they say "writing" or a mix of the two. I have written quite a lot of fic that I have never posted. It sits on my hard drive and only I will ever get to see it. To other people however it will seem like I haven't written anything at all because they have no way of knowing that I made something.

Another part is whether or not I actually continue my fanfics. Many fanfics I have written for myself stop somewhere in the middle because I lose the drive to finish the story. If I were to post it and someone gives me a comment, this might give me the motivation to actually keep going with it.

Writing only for myself also makes me sloppy. I will no longer care about spelling or grammar or writing in a cohesive way. I'm only getting the thoughts out of my head and I can understand my own writing just fine, so why would I edit it? Why would I polish it?

The "write for yourself" argument has been made so so many times and while I understand that being guilt tripped into commenting doesn't feel nice and shouldn't be done, I also don't think that telling others to just "write for yourself" every time they express their desire for attention is that great of a move, either, and it bothers me each time I see it.

I DO write for myself, I LIKE writing for myself but I don't write for myself the way I will when I plan on posting something on AO3 to share it with others.

There's a genre of post that I see pretty frequently, which can overall be summed up as, "Modern fandom has a culture problem where fanfic authors are treated as content producers instead of community members and their fanfic is treated as a commodity to be consumed instead of a high-effort labor of love that deserves attention and compliments given directly to the author". I agree with 3/4ths of that. I find the part I disagree with very interesting, the same way I find a lot of writeblr interesting, because it's a perspective that I had to work very hard to actually understand.

Because the posts have such a warped view of what writing is and why we post our writing! They say that fanfic fights against the commodified internet we live in, but all they're doing is changing the currency of payment in this attention economy. Another way you can summarize about 70% of these posts is, "My payment for writing and posting my fanfiction is compliments, and if you do not give me those compliments you are not paying. If you give those compliments behind my back, or talk about them privately without giving them to me as well, then you are stealing from me." I don't want to put it like that, but a lot of these posts use words like 'deprive', as if the reader who enjoys the fic without commenting is withholding something from them that they deserve. They use the word engagement, and they do talk about how part of that engagement is just the joy of talking about AUs and ships with other people, but when people say that comments are their motivation to keep writing, what they mean is that validation is their motivation to keep writing. Which is compliments.

I understand that, because I understand that fanfic writers are not immune to the attention economy. But I don't understand how almost every one of these posts talk about how this lack of attention makes them stop writing - that this act of theft is killing their desire to write. I could understand this if they meant 'desire to POST fic' (I don't post fic I think zero people would read.), but they talk about how lack of payment stops them from writing at all.

IMHO, that is what creates a commodity from fic. People want to treat fic as art, but an artist makes art for themself. Art is made because we want to hold parts of skills and ourselves in our hands. If you won't make art if you get no payment, then you have devalued the art completely.

We think of AO3 as this unique site that's born entirely from passion and is filled with fics written for love of the game. But guilt-tripping posts that shame people for not commenting on a fic they enjoy, and that describe how there's no point in writing fic if it's not getting attention, are directly contributing towards the culture of treating fic like a commodity.

I also really want a fandom culture where the relationship between artist and reader is reciprocal, where it feels like a community, and where I get to talk about my fanfic with people. My favorite part of posting fanfic is rambling about it on my blog, because I can talk about my art all day and I love it when people stop and listen. But I love that because I love my own art. If you love your own art, then it'll always have value.

Also Google your username, just trust me, that's how you find The Secret Discussions. Someone made a TikTok fansong of me once. WHAT?

[skyward-floored]

So, your Whumptober fic with Sky and the All Night Mask had my brain in a chokehokd for a couple days. I got this written five minutes before you posted the resolution, which is fantastic and I'm rereading for the third time, but I am back on my Song of Healing hyperfixation and thought I'd share this with you.

Legend hissed as the magic holding the mask bit at his fingers. He reflexively scolded the object in its native tongue, prompting an inquisitive look from Wild. 

“That was Sheikah. Since when did you know Sheikah?” 

“Since my grandparents are Sheikah, I was raised among them. My aunt swore I was too soft-hearted to do the coming-of-age trials, nevermind I'd already killed Ganon twice and was the means of destruction of an entire island by my 17th…so I left it alone.” 

Sky made another attempt to free himself from Twilight’s hold and interrupted them.

“I won't do it again. Tell Impa. Please.” He begged. The three crowded around him attempted to soothe him once more while Twilight strained to keep him from hurting himself or Legend. Legend made another attempt, reaching out with his magic. It snarled and snapped back at him and finally Legend was forced to admit. 

“I can't get the clasp off.” 

“I have an idea.” Time held up the small blue ocarina. “At least… I hope it works. I haven't used this song in years.”

"Try it." Wars begged, with just a touch of desperation in his voice. Time nodded spoke to Legend again.

“Be ready, if it let's you at all.” Time put the ocarina to his lips and began to play. The mask sparked angrily at the attempt, drawing noises of concern from everyone, but after the first strain of notes, the enchantment gave way under Time’s melody. Legend quickly hooked fingers under the mask on both sides and the cursed mask finally came away in his hands. He quickly rolled to get out of the way as Hyrule and Warriors were now able to care for Sky’s injuries. The Chosen's red, irritated, painfully-dry eyes were gently guided closed. Sky sobbed at the gesture, breaking through the soporific effect of Time’s melody, but it was in clear relief. Then his eyes were carefully bandaged to encourage them to remain shut, the banages treated with a cooling concoction of Wild’s to grant relief to the itching and burning. In addition to the scratches leaving tracks of blood on Sky's cheeks, the mask had left welts where it touched Sky’s face and these were carefully cleaned before Hyrule soothed them away. Time played the song twice, the second time mostly to ensure that they could treat Sky without hurting him or him lashing out in his own delirium. By the time the second iteration faded away in the air, Sky had fainted.  It seemed to be a side effect of overwhelming relief that the mask and its effects were gone. 

OUGH THIS IS GREAT TY!!!! The comfort... the angst... yesssss. Also Legend having Sheikah heritage is a neat idea!!! I love how it came into effect here with him dealing with a Sheikah artifact it was great :D

Honestly if I'd had more time I would've liked to play with the chain having trouble getting the mask off, but I didn't want to take a week finishing the fic 😅 This was really great though!!! Thank you again! :D

[connectthedotsdummy]

[OCs- Connect The Dots, Dummy!!] Tati doesn't even smoke, Joey would be sooo sad

[wasyago]

the brainrot won

[iris-drawing-stuff]

Slay the Princess, more like Slay the Prisoner

I made this drawing a while back because I really wanted to draw in the STP artstyle. I forgot to post it at the time but given the fact that it's his birthday I thought I'd post it today

[tomaturtles]

Made this for a poll a while back but felt like posting it on its own :) doomed timelooper besties

[onetwothree-moved]

going on an adventure again

[jamieedlund]

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He was just ignoring him cause he has a distaste for dragons 🤭

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I think both of them are very dumb smart people so they just intimidate each other into getting more sense 😂

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A compilation of some of my January to February brainrots.

[dandelion-roots]

yes i did fanart of my own fic it's called self love (here is the fic)

Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

[ID: a digital, sketchy comic of sklonda and pok from fantasy high in four pictures. in the first, a beer glass is in the middle, and around it snippets of sklonda's thoughts. one is of her doing paperwork, another of her holding her head, another hectic one of a gun, her looking back and her terrified eye, and the last one of her face angry. in the second, sklonda is sitting at the bar and looking to the left as someone off screen says, is this seat free? on the other side of the bar are the bartender's legs and an ominous shadow extending from them. in the third, pok is leaning with one arm on the bar and looking flirtily; the hand on the bar is fidgeting, and the other is in his pocket. in panels next to it, sklonda looks him up and down with a neutral expression. in the fourth, pok smiles cutely and sklonda finally returns the smile, motioning to the barstool next to her and saying, as you can see. End ID]

[jestroer]

Zucchini to me is up there with potatoes at being the best vegetable fr. Zucchini for life

[keeps-ache]

call me, i'm gonna yap your ear off

[peridots-pixiwolf]

[Start ID. A dark, warm-toned drawing of Tundra, a robot with bladed legs and mechanical hands both lightened by frost, and a face like that of a fencing mask. She wears a blue jacket with a fluffy white ruff and pockets on the shoulders and chest, a long green skirt with tassels and pale wavy lines at the border, and a brown belt with a pouch at the side. She's shown from the right, leaning back on a stack of pillows and a wooden wall as she looks out to the left, disregarding the open book in her hand, her legs bent in front of her. Under her is a yellow and red rug which pads gritty flooring, over her are series of low, round string lights, providing soft lighting in a room that's partially open to the night sky.]

it's a friend's birthday today yet again... in honor of the occasion here's a Tundra for @automatonknight :]

[psychomusic]

the eu whenever disney canon brings up some stuff from legends

[toomanywordsnllines]

hello *scatters away*

[seaofadventure]

“Only good captain’s get gifts,” he tsked lightly, his turn for a teasing tone, “You shouldn’t have messed with me if you wanted something, Roger.”

“Rayleigh—” it would be incorrect to have called it anything other than a whine, but Rayleigh would allow his captain to keep some honor— “I was just playing around!”

Late entry for @rogerpirateswk Day 1: Fun! Week's been rough for me but things are slowly getting better so hoping to play catch up and finish the drafts I do got uvu

[oneroomjestershow]

was trying the brushes i had on sai and found this one with texture but it doesn't look the same with the tablet so i drew this with mouse