#i Needed something to get in the mood of making fanfics and art about them

[snootsnackerz]

Cover Art by @cloverdraws

[intooned]

MY FAVORITE SHIPS!

This was a LONG time coming! And I want to thank @expensiveeggplant & @coffinbrotherr for putting up with my procrastination while boiling down the who and why of this list!

Adventure Time: Finnceline

My first real ship, the first fanfiction I ever read, and I spent hours watching Finnceline AMV's way back when YouTube didn't have commercials. Finn and Marcy's personalities and experiences play so well off of each other that I'm thoroughly convinced the writers were terrified of their potential. They would be an amazing butt-kicking couple, but that wouldn't leave Finn with as many flaws to develop as a young man coming of age. And it's such a shame because you know they'd always have each other's backs and best interests at heart. And with a fully grown adult Finn I'd bet money they'd have at least turned out as cuddle buddies... who occasionally engage in some very aggressive cuddling courtesy of my good friend Lofty! (Click at your own risk!)

Flame Princess and Huntress Wizard were great and had their cool moments with Finn, but something tells me Marceline would give up her immortal life in a heartbeat to protect Finn. Having seen each other's pasts and memories and going out of their way to help each other with deep-rooted life issues, Finnceline just has more depth to work with than the other ships.

Gravity Falls: Dipper x Pacifica x Mabel

The first episode I ever saw was the one where Pacifica and Mabel play mini-golf. I wasn't fully paying attention and assumed Dipper and Mabel were just best friends dealing with a bully. The car ride home together was cute and solidified my first ever threeway ship. THEN I found out they were siblings...

Then I found out fanfiction didn't care! In fact, here's a [link] to the BEST fanfic I've ever read for this ship, enjoy!

Star Vs. The Forces of Evil: MonStarco

The MonStar AU is where things are relatively the same except for one thing: Star is half or part monster. It makes good sense that Star, being an interdimensional magical princess from an interdimensional magical kingdom would be a little more... interdimensional. It gives some fresh blood to Starco fics, which can be a bit too vanilla most of the time, especially when you get to parts where Star's otherworldly anatomy and quirks cause all sorts of problems and shenanigans!

Sort of like her muberty phase but she's stuck looking that way, and if you remember the show said there's a chance every Mewman actually COULD end up stuck in butterfly form! Super interesting! It reminds me a lot of the episode of Teen Titans(original) where Starfire was going through alien puberty, and how fun of an episode it was to watch. The fact that there's tons of Monster Star AU and Mewberty art out there helps a ton as well!

Steven Universe: Lapiven & Stevinel

Lapiven: These two are the perfect example of "cute sunshine boy X hot goth gf". Plain and simple, Steven's optimism is exactly what Lapis needed to begin working through what happened to her. And no one appreciates a cinnamon roll the way a scarred person does. Also, tell me they don't look like a couple everytime they're onscreen together? I mean really watch them! Blushing, giggling, constant eye contact, twinkling eyes, immediately responsive to each others change in mood, plenty physical contact, elation whenever Steven calls or visits.

You can call it platonic for the Shtewball, but Lapis adores Steven in every sense of the word! She warned him and negotiated his safety when she realized Homeworld would get involved. She held Jasper prisoner in her own head just to protect him. She faced her trauma and returned to confront the Diamonds, ready to put hands and feet on an enemy she knew she couldn't beat. And entirely because, to her, Steven's safety was more important than her own life! Weigh out those exact same scenarios, their exact same interactions with each other with just about any other two characters in animation and tell me it doesn't make sense? I swear most of their episodes together are just them going on dates!

Stevinel: Now this is special to me. On the opposite side of the scale Steven and Spinel share the same feelings of abandonment and inadequacy from and by Pink. Of course they aren't the only ones, but Spinel didn't raise Steven as a parent or sibling. There was no one better suited to empathize with Steven's issues, and his downward spiral into becoming a monster who hurts people.

What Spinel went through in the movie is too on the nose for what Steven goes through in Future, and I'm flabbergasted that the writers chose to have her be of little to no help when Steven needed to be shown that he didn't have to hold himself together on his own!

But back on topic. The other Gems love Steven, but Spinel is wired to love him just like Pearl, on top of whatever blooms between them naturally. So when those wires were damaged from Pink's abandonment, it's quite poetic that Steven is the one to mend them. From there It's as easy-peasy pink-heart-squeasy to assume the seeds of affection could sprout from such fertile ground. It also helps that Rebecca Sugar blatantly suggests Steven and Spinel's relationship isn't concretely platonic, at least for Spinel. Even going so far as to give us fan service!

Possibility is all that is needed for shippers and fanfictioneers to run wild with wishful thinking. I also might have a revenge boner for heartbroken characters who find happiness despite the tomfuckery done to them. "Pink abandoned me in her garden? Guess I'll have Steven frolicking in mine.

RWBY: Nora's Arc

Although I may grow enamored with other RWBY ships, I always come back to this one. It's just tons of fun! Responsible & Awkward meets Extroverted Hurricane, legally banned from IHOP and the Sloth exhibit at the zoo! Premium family man real estate meets poster girl for found family and there's no one better than Jaune-1-of-8-kids-Arc to get the job done!

I'm also of the mind that Nora's bombastic personality is meant to draw people to her, because she's absolutely terrified of being alone and left behind again. And with family gatherings at the Arc residence, isolation is all but nonexistent.

Wakfu: Yumalia

Dreams do come true! LET'S GOOO! Not much to say; they were set to be together from first sight and it was a rollercoaster from there. A lot like Aang and Katara, Yugo got his feisty princess and Amalia got her dashing hero. It's classic, it's timeless, and you love to see it done well!

The Dragon Prince: Rayllum

Obvious cuteness is obviously cute. It's nearly unheard of for the strange but exotic alien girl to be the one intrigued and smitten with the human boy. An action adventure fantasy but the non-human girl is the awkward one hiding her feelings? Sign me up! It's a breath of fresh air!

Sonic The Hedgehog: SilverWolf

The newest addition! Some fresh meat to sink my teeth into as I rekindle my love for the Sonic franchise! I haven't followed anything Sonic since the fever dream that was Sonic 06, but happened to see a few panels of Silver talking to what appeared to be a new character, Whisper the Wolf! Shy, soft spoken, but not from timidity, rather a desire to not scare others away because of her frightening features.

Pairing her with the very approachable and reassuring Silver makes for good chemistry in my opinion. I also adore Whisper's color scheme and the combination of silver, gold, and neon lights they have in a lot of comic panels together. They'd make a cute pair that's easy to reduce to a blushing mess with any little bit of teasing, and I'm here for it!

AND THERE YOU HAVE IT!

I have loads more ships but these are the ones that I felt were most worth sharing.

[fukutomichi]

I can understand some people being new around here and trying to get the hang of posting and rebloging. I get it.

But after a while, you start to get to know your reblog and like buttons and how to comment, how to handle your blog and even try some html coding to make it look neat and pretty. Tumblr has it's faults, but what I love about it is that it's very easy to grasp and start blogging.

Now, I've seen some people around the tags still being unsure of how to post stuff or reblog, so let me just say this.

Don't just copy/save gifs or art and then repost them on your own blog, and add under it "I dunno which person this gif this belongs too" or "Neat art". I've seen gifs from other gif makers and art from other artist getting reposted around here without even getting credited. I can recognize almost all the gif makers around here, especially when it comes to the #tropedit tag, by their unique colorings and ways to make beautiful gifsets. And when I see reposts getting more notes than their own original post...This is how this site looses it's gif makers and artists.

Right, so instead of going off and rant, I'm gonna turn this into a little tutorial.

Okay, so you see some cool gifs around here, and it's in a set. And you go "Aahh, I want this by its self for my mood board" or "This will fit my fanfic soooo nicely". Instead of going copy/save and then repost the same gif on your blog, here a cool little feature:

You click on that little blue button called GIF and a drop down menu pops up, featuring gajillion gifs that are all on this site.

"But, how do I find the gif that I want?" Have you noticed that every gifset or art that gets posted here, all have unique tags that are relevant to that artist or gifmaker? For example, here's one of my unique tags:

Now, you just need to scroll down and find the one that you've been looking for. OR from that gif, notice some other tags and you search for something else that you like.

Once you find it, you just click it and it does this:

Voilà! Now, you can start writing, you can start adding other gifs! But, you do notice what's under the gif, right? It's you giving credit! No need for @, no need for asking around which gif this belong to. It's just does it's thing automatically, I get a notification that someone liked it a lot and used it in their post.

That's it! Nothing complicated.

Now, when it comes to art...Just reblog from the artist, please. Share the art around by rebloging directly from them, not doing the old copy/save/repost or @. Just reblog it from them. It's that simple!

Hopefully, this was helpful for any new people coming here and being too shy to ask about these things! Have fun posting!

[amiableness]

Elina’s 4k celebration ; Positivity Picnic <3

First off, thank you so much for 4k! I can't wrap my head around the fact that so many of you decided to follow me, and I can't say thank you enough for being here. Since most, if not all of you, are following me to read fics, I thought it would be fitting to find ways to spread love to other fanfic writers.

Just as fanfics are free, so is your interaction—and it means more than you know. To show your support, choose a few food items to bring to our picnic:

If you participate, let me know here! Or you can tag me in something <3

🍰 - Leave a comment on a fic you’ve enjoyed. I challenge you to comment what you loved specifically about it, it’s nice feedback for writers!

🥗 - Reblog a fic with a quote that you loved and why you loved it or how it made you feel

🍝 - Send an ask (anon or not!) and ask a writer a question about one of their works

🥧 - Make a fic reblog account to reblog all your favorites fics. This keeps all your favorite fics organized and means so much to writers!

🍓- Make a masterlist of all your favorite works. I promise you that it makes an authors day when they’re included on one of these lists!

🍒 - Send an ask to a writer about one of their works. These are my favorite to receive because then you can freak out over something together!

🥖 - Get creative with your reblogs! Add memes and/or tell them how their writing made you feel. Reblogs with allll your thoughts about the work is a writers love language!

🍯- Make a mood board for a fic! I’ve seen people in others fandoms make these for their favorite works, so if this is something you’re into, share it!

🥨 - Art of a scene or character from a fic! Same with mood boards, if you’re into it, it might be fun to share it with an author. I promise you that they’ll love it

Why we need interaction:

I’ve noticed so many fanfic writers feeling discouraged due to a lack of interaction with their works. At the same time, I’ve come across polls and anon asks where readers admit they don’t understand why interaction matters—or even find it annoying when writers ask for it. But here’s the thing: writers have every right to ask for interaction.

We spend hours working on every detail—perfecting lines, mapping out scenes, changing dialogue until it flows just right. It’s a lot of work and while we don’t get paid for it, those reblogs, comments, or asks? In an odd way, it’s almost like getting paid. The interaction is the reward for your hard work. And really, it means so much to know that someone took five minutes out of their day to share their thoughts after you’ve spent hours on a fic.

So, if you think interacting with fanfic is pointless or too much effort, maybe fanfiction isn’t for you.

The fanfic community is so much better with interaction. I’ve seen so many mutals leave over the years because of lack of interaction, so if you enjoy someone’s work, tell them. I know many of you have thought, “My comment or reblog won’t make a difference,” but you couldn’t be more wrong. It makes a huge impact.

Now that my rant is over, if you have any more ideas, let me know and I’ll add them! <3

[cloudwhisper23]

I have been very late with the latest chapter of Back in the Nightmare, but in my defense, @pixlokita drew an art, and I just absolutely needed to write fanfic regarding the art, and color it. Luckily, this is still in relation to Back in the Nightmare. It's just further along. Hope y'all enjoy! (fic below the cut)

Evan could tell Cassidy was feeling down after Charlie’s birthday party. How could he not? She’d clung so close to him before, and after Michael brought her out of the rain with his skin paler than a sheet of paper, she’d seemed almost distant.

She still listened when he spoke, but she no longer offered any opinions. Cassidy just seemed… off. There had to be something he could do to cheer her up, right?

Evan wanted to go to Fredbear’s for once because of the whole thing. Charlie said it was a great place to make friends and hang out, and with the atmosphere at home lately, it would be best if he could avoid hanging out there. Elizabeth bickered with her group on their project every night, and it always put their father in a bad mood.

Cassidy plus his father never seemed to end well, as both of them were perfectly polite to each other in a vicious way. Cassidy probably had been right about his father not wanting him to have friends after all, it seemed. Maybe that was why Mike used to scare them off?

Shaking the thought away, Evan fiddled with the strap of his backpack uncomfortably. Mike was grounded, and Lizzie was going to Susie’s house, which meant Evan was also supposed to be going home. Father didn’t like them staying unsupervised, after all.

But Evan wanted to do something nice for Cassidy. She had to run home right after school, not elaborating on why, but it did give him a perfect chance to get her a gift.

He still hesitated though. If his father found out he hadn’t gone straight home… Well, he just had to avoid getting caught then. Evan checked that Fredbear was still hidden at the bottom of his backpack, and then set off for the diner.

The prize corner always had a wide variety of things to win, but Evan had no idea where to even start on a gift for Cassidy. Yet again, he found himself hesitating.

���You have your eyes set on anything in particular?” Evan startled at the boy who’d appeared next to him. Gabe Simmons. Someone who didn’t usually talk to him.

“Uh, well, not for me. I want to get a gift for a friend.”

“Cassidy.” Gabe shot him an amused look as he pointedly looked away. “It’s not a secret that she’s one of your only friends, dude.”

“If she’s one of my only friends, why are you talking to me?”

“I’m bored. And Charlie won’t be here until later.” Gabe shrugged. “Do you have any idea what she likes?”

“Well…” Evan trailed off. What did Cassidy like? She’d seemed interested enough in his Fredbear plushie, once he’d been forcibly given it back. She’d wanted a favor regarding her hair, desperate enough to ask Michael of all people to fix it. Something like that, maybe? “I was thinking about that hair clip.”

He pointed to the row of animatronic themed hair pins and clips. “She likes Fredbear well enough.”

“That’s hardly worth the effort,” Gabe replied, wrinkling his nose. “You could get that easy.”

“I’d rather get her something she actually likes than something she wouldn’t like that’s worth more,” Evan replied quietly.

Gabe regarded him curiously. “I think I misjudged you in the past, Afton. You’re not as bad of a guy as I was expecting.”

“Thanks?”

Gabe wandered off without another word.

Weird. Still, Evan needed to get the clip fast if he wanted to get home before he got caught.

He did not succeed. Despite the fact that Evan hadn’t spotted his father once at the diner, and he’d beaten him home, somehow he still found out that Evan hadn’t come straight home.

Evan gritted his teeth as he faced his punishment, determined not to scream. Still, the ruler stung against his bare arm, and Evan knew he was going to be wearing long-sleeved shirts for at least a week or two after this.

“Behave,” his father said sternly, gesturing for Evan to leave and close the door on the way out.

“Yes Father,” Evan answered quietly before going to his room.

Tomorrow is another day.

The hair clip burned in Evan’s pocket as he looked around before school the following morning. He wanted to surprise her with it, but he never usually had luck finding her before school. Today was no different. His mouth twisted downward, but Evan did not feel tears welling up. This was expected, after all.

The morning was chilly for once, and Evan felt a bit relieved that he’d been forced to wear longer sleeves today. The wind stirred the trees at the front of the school as Evan waited for the bell to ring.

He went through his classes in somewhat of a daze, not really paying much attention to anything. It struck him briefly that he didn’t really have any classes with Cassidy. None in the morning anyway.

His arm ached as he went from class to class, despite how carefully he was trying to carry his things without jarring it. Evan carried on the only way he knew how: by thinking about anything else.

Today’s distraction topic was, unsurprisingly, Cassidy. The way she normally hung on his every word with a faint smile, the way she checked in with him constantly and gave people a hard time if they tried to mess with him. It gave him a warm feeling to think about her, grateful that she’d decided to be friends with him, even if he still suspected he was some kind of pity project.

Lizzie liked to tease him about having a crush on her, but the thought didn’t bother him so much. If he had a crush, then he had a crush. And if considering the thought that he had a crush on Cassidy made his cheeks burn, then so be it. He wouldn’t be the first boy in the world to have a crush on a girl.

Thankfully, Evan only had to wait until lunch to talk to Cassidy. She seemed just as distracted as before, and it made Evan’s heart ache. Still, he forced a smile to his face and greeted her brightly.

She smiled back, a weaker smile than his own and poked at her food with disinterest. Cassidy hardly looked at him.

“Cass, are you feeling okay?” he blurted out. He hadn’t asked before, thinking that she probably hadn’t wanted to talk about it, but after remembering how she used to smile and talk to him, he couldn’t help himself.

She looked startled by the question, dropping her fork back onto the tray. “I-“

“You’ve just seemed so occupied lately, and I know I should mind my business and wait for you to be ready to say something, but I’m worried about you.”

“Oh…” Cassidy’s eyebrows creased at that, and it was the first time she’d seemed to actually absorb his words since Charlie’s party. “I guess I… Well…” Cassidy struggled to gather her thoughts. “I’ve been having nightmares. I didn’t want to say anything because I don’t think they’re as big of a deal as yours, and I didn’t want to devalue your problems.”

“Cassidy, we’re friends. Just because I have constant problems doesn’t mean you can’t talk about yours at all. Besides, I’ve been doing better since Mikey started letting me sleep in his room again.” Evan put his hand on her arm reassuringly. “I’m here to listen, if you need to share.”

Cassidy smiled weakly. “Thanks, Ev. It’s probably stupid, but when I was at that party, I thought I heard something outside, and I went to go see. When I tried to get back in, the door was locked. And then…” Cassidy trailed off, her left hand twitching before resting on top of Evan’s. “Well, this car started coming up the alley way, and I just felt so scared, scared like I’ve never felt in my life, and I ran away from it, but it felt like the car was chasing me. So I’ve been having different dreams where I do get caught by the car, and sometimes I die, sometimes I watch other people die, and… yeah…” Cassidy squeezed his hand tightly.

Evan’s eyebrows scrunched tightly. “Have you told anyone besides me?”

“No,” Cassidy admitted. “But I don’t want to worry anyone.”

“Maybe at least tell your brother? I’m sure he’d want to know if you’re struggling to sleep or focus, Cass.”

Cassidy shrugged. “It won’t change anything. Travis would just worry. And he’s not tiny like you and your brother. If I tried to sleep in my brother’s bed with him, I would fall off the bed and hurt myself.”

“I’m not that small!” Evan protested, but he saw Cassidy’s point. Weirdly enough, it presented the perfect opportunity for him. “But, I may have an idea for you.”

“Yeah? Is it to get a ratty old Fredbear plush and carry it everywhere?” Cassidy asked skeptically. “Because I don’t think that works for everyone.”

“That implies that I do it because I want to,” Evan muttered to himself, but he shook his head at Cassidy, digging into his pocket. “No, I was thinking something a bit more your style.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, something like this.” Evan pulled the hairclip from his pocket. “I went to Fredbear’s yesterday and won it at the prize counter. Think of it as a way for me to defend you from your nightmares.”

Cassidy blinked at him, her mouth opening like she wanted to speak. Then she closed her mouth and blinked again. It took Evan a moment to realize she was speechless. And about to cry?

“It’s, um. If you don’t want it, it’s no big deal-“

“No, that’s very sweet actually,” Cassidy interrupted him, pulling her arm from under his hand. “Can you help me put it in? On the right side?”

“Oh, sure.” Evan fumbled with the hairclip, and Cassidy laughed lightly as he got to his feet to put the clip in her hair. “Like that?”

“A little further up,” Cassidy guided his hands, and Evan was sure his face was on fire. “Right there.”

Evan sighed in relief as he retracted his hands. His sleeve had slipped a little ways down his arm, and he quickly pulled it back down. Not fast enough, apparently, as Cassidy frowned.

Her eyes fixed on his sleeve, and she reached out to grab his elbow. Evan let her push his sleeve back to reveal the raw, bruised skin. “What happened here? Did-“

“I got in trouble.” Evan bit his lip and glanced away. “Mike is grounded, and if I’m not supervised, then-“

“Your dad did this?” Cassidy’s voice seemed tight, but Evan squeezed his eyes shut instead of looking at her expression.

“Yeah. But it’s better to face smaller fears than big ones, right?” Evan replied weakly.

Cassidy fell silent again. Her grip tightened on his elbow, and she let out a quiet sigh. “You’re unbelievable.”

“In a good way, though. Right?” Evan finally turned back to Cassidy. She seemed on the verge of tears as she looked at him.

The faintest smile came across her face. “Of course. Of course, Evie.”

She dragged him into a tight hug, and Evan hugged her back, unable to make himself care about how things looked to the rest of the room.

Everything was going to be just fine.

[deepmentalitycheesecake]

Acrylic - Hwang Hyunjin

Genre(s): late 90s small town romance, slice of life

Pairing: Painter Hyunjin x Protagonist Y/N

Romantic tropes covered: slow burn, strangers at first, the muse, whimsical artist and grounded love interest

Note: The fanfic is entirely from the readers' POV, hence the use of "I" throughout

Word count: ~2K words

Part: 1/3 (ongoing)

The breeze lifted my hair up in a wild daisy dance as I opened the creaky door and stepped out of the house. Next, it caressed my skin in a dainty embrace, making the hair on my arms rise up in a salute. My skirt ruffled against my shins, as I made my way up the trail, the basket hanging off of my elbow, feeling as light as a feather compared to how heavy it felt just a few minutes ago when it was loaded with bread loaves. Cinnamon crusted bread loaves, to be precise. I was on another one of my errands, delivering bread loaves to houses and shops in the outskirts of the village. 

My eyes raised up to the skies in a silent prayer thanking the Gods for a good weather today. I would not have been in this mood if it weren't for the cool breeze and the slight, warm sunshine seeping in through the gaps in the foliage above me, creating pretty patterns on the trail.  Walking with a skip in my step, I for once, admired the beautiful adornment of flower bouquets on the footstep of the florist's, the smell of freshly baked pie wafting all the way from the confectioner's on the other end of the alley, the pretty array of clothing items the wizened old man had on display to sell on his cart, the luscious fruits on the cart next to him, being sold by his cheerful wife whose smile shone brighter than the sunlight reflecting off of the ornaments that a young man had up on small metal bars standing right opposite to them. It all felt like a pretty scenery for a change, when I would usually be breaking out in a sweat, hurling baskets of deliveries to and from the baker's where I used to work at. It would usually be painfully hot on afternoons like these, and my crass self would just need an excuse to be frustrated about how hard it indeed is, for some of us to make a living. 

But today wasn't one of those days, as I couldn't find it in me to complain about the life I was living. Instead I felt a warm sensation of admiration and adoration for all these mundane things in my life and it had me thinking about how I never appreciated such subtle beauties that existed around me. The wind blew my hair across my face and broke me out of my reverie as a few strands fell into my eyes making me stop in my tracks. Right as I was about to resume my walk down the trail onto a path that would lead me to the baker's, something bright caught my eye. I looked to my right and my eyes landed on a surreal masterpiece of a painting that had my breath hitched.

The canvas unveils a mesmerizing scene, featuring a butterfly in a delicate ballet of colors. The background, a canvas of pastel hues reminiscent of a twilight sky, enhances the ethereal quality of the masterpiece. It feels as though I've stepped into a dream, an intimate realm where emotions are painted as vividly as the strokes on the canvas. The butterfly takes center stage, its wings a tapestry of hues that mirror the kaleidoscope of emotions within. The artist's touch is tender, each brushstroke a testament to their affectionate craftsmanship. The wings seem to flutter with a gentle breeze, as if the butterfly is caught in a moment of timeless dance—a dance that mirrors the delicate intricacies of matters of the heart. The colors, the details, and the overall composition weave a tale of love, inviting me to explore the depths of emotions that may mirror mine. 

Something in the back of my head suggested if I was getting too carried away with interpreting the art and just when I was about to acknowledge that thought and tear my eyes away from it and instead focus on the trail ahead of me, something... or rather someone, made me glue my eyes back on right next to the art piece, my whole body involuntarily turning to face the right as this time, my breath most definitely got stuck in my throat and all my prior thoughts just got reaffirmed. I was definitely getting carried away. But in that moment, I couldn't care less as my eyes spanned across one of the most beautiful humans I've ever seen in all my 23 years of existence. 

The lean figure of a man dressed in a loose beige shirt tucked at the sides into his loose trousers that pooled at his ankles, walked out, carrying a wooden easel. His shirt was folded up on the arms and even from this distance I could see the specks and smudges of paint smeared all along his hands, a paintbrush held delicately between his fingers. My eyes drifted upwards and I caught sight of his luscious jet black hair that fell along his nape, the upper section skillfully pulled into a bun, stray strands framing his jawline. Right then, he lifted his head upwards and my gaze locked with his, as I almost audibly awed at how strikingly dashing he indeed looked. His hair accentuated the angles of his visage, and oh my, he definitely has to be one of the finest men to ever have existed. The pair of deep, striking eyes that bore right into mine, had me frozen in my spot, my gaze momentarily drifting to observe the rest of his face, how his eyebrows were slightly scrunched up in confusion, how there was a slight pout on his very pretty lips. Thankfully, my conscience butted in making me quickly avert my eyes in a feeble attempt to not embarrass myself even more and I bunched my skirt up and rushed down the trail, my heart thudding a little faster than usual. 

--

I hate to admit the effect the man had had on me. Undoubtedly, this has to be the first time in my life I have ever found a male species interesting, let alone absolutely fascinating. Aside from his looks, there was something about the painter that had me so intrigued. Was it because of the art piece I chanced upon that day? Or maybe because I just seem to have a thing for people associated with such deep, beautiful art forms? Or rather, was it because it has been a painfully long while since I have looked at a man for so long and observed one so intently? 

I realized that I had, yet again, lost myself in my mind. Heaving out an exaggerated sigh, I got up from my slouched over position on the wooden stool, determined to shun all the thoughts racing through my head. Going behind the counter, I chopped a slice of bread for myself from the loaf that was nearest to me, turning around, eyeing for the butter knife. Once I got a hold of it, I scathed a layer from the block of butter propped on a dish right next to the toast pan. Focusing on applying the butter evenly all across the slice of bread, I tossed the slice onto the pan waiting for it to turn into a toasted delight. Amidst the hustle and bustle going on in the kitchen at the back, I didn't quite hear the dingle of the bells at the door signaling the arrival of a customer. I was busy pressing down on my slice with the knife to get the butter melted well, when a voice cut through the chaos.

"Umm, excuse me?"

"Yeah?" I turned around promptly, only to momentarily lose my rationality the second I saw who it was. God forbid, the painter stood across the counter, looking over at me, his lips pursed into a tight lipped smile as he waited to give his order. He didn't have his hair half pulled up into a bun today, instead it lay loose, framing his face perfectly and making him look so ethereal up close, almost like he straight up stepped out from one of his own paintings.

His eyes briefly shifted to my hands and mine did too, to realize that I was still holding the butter knife, which could be interpreted as pointing towards him, ready to probably give a nice stab.

Oh.

I let out an embarrassing snort and murmured a hasty apology as I quickly turned around to switch the gas stove off and throw the knife there somewhere.

Turning towards him, I cleared my throat. "Yes, what would you like to have?" 

I could barely look at him for more than a few seconds and I decided that it was a better idea to divert my attention towards what was in front of me... the various baked items that we had on display. I felt the sweat building up on my palms and I mentally cursed myself. Why am I nervous?

"I'll have the apple crumble pie and some loaves of sourdough bread to go please?" He spoke, sliding the money across the counter, already having calculated the price based on the chalk writings that had been done on the slate prop board at the side.

Polite.

"Sure, getting them over to you in a minute." I spoke, mustering a smile as I looked back up at him. My entire being was on some strange electric mode. He looked at me for a moment, before nodding with a smile of his own and I figured I almost melted.

After ignoring the faint thudding of my heart that I could almost hear in my ears, I fetched the goodies he wanted and arranged them in a small basket before handing it to him.

"Thankyou for stopping by. Hoping that you'll like these." At this point, I had lost control of what I was speaking and was very well aware that all my rational thinking had flown out the window.

Speaking of windows, the fact that the window at the other end of the bakery was open, allowing the afternoon sunlight to seep in, and cast an angelic golden glow on the man in front, didn't go unnoticed by me.

I saw his smile, warmer than the sun's heat on my back, yet again, before he spoke. "Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe I've seen you before..? That afternoon when I was stepping outside of my studio... you were there. Was that you?"

Oh. He remembers.

I hesitated for a bit, genuinely not aware of how to respond before awkwardly admitting. "Ah I think so too. I remember seeing you vaguely. You were the one who painted that butterfly?" The latter part kind of came out involuntarily, because a part of me wanted to hear him say that yes, he IS the painter who had made something that has truly been etched in my mind from the moment I saw it.

He chuckled sheepishly and averted his eyes. "Ah, yes that's me."

By now, the nervousness had almost left my body and I found myself really eager to know this person standing right in front of me. Something in the back of mind spoke that he really did have great stories to tell. "It was beautiful" I naturally spoke out, as I looked up at him properly, this time with a genuine, appreciative smile.

His eyes drifted over to gaze at mine for a second, and a smile crawled its way back onto his face before he nodded. "Thankyou. Almost thought that you didn't catch any of that because you seemed to be in a rush." He bit his lip at that, eyes seemingly going playful as he looked back at me.

Oh dear heavens.

"I-- uh, well", I let out an embarrassed chuckle, "yes I was in a rush that day, don't exactly remember why, but yeah."

He cocked his head to the side, eyes still holding that playful gaze as a tiny grin broke out on his face.

"You can .. uhm.. stop by anytime, if you'd like." He straightened, caught sight of my rather taken aback expression and fumbled with his words. " I-I mean, if you'd be interested in seeing more of my paintings.. I, well presumed that you were into art and I could totally be wrong about this--" he was cut off by the chuckle that escaped my lips before I could control it. He looked at me wide-eyed for a split second, before a smile tugged at his lips and he turned his attention towards his shoes.

That has to be one of the most adorable things I've ever seen a man do.

"Yes, you're not wrong about me being into art" I admitted, finding his awkward charm very interesting. At first glance, he does not look like a shy person, more so the opposite. There's something about his natural aura that is very powerful, confident, and rich. Like a royal air to him. No doubt he is the personification of art himself. In the way he looks, walks, talks. But he also has a dominant energy, makes me feel intimidated in the good way, around him.

But who knew he had this side to him as well. Rather interesting.

He was still looking at me expectantly and I realised with a mental grimace that he probably caught me staring again while I was zoned out in my head.

Well I most definitely am giving off a weird and creepy charm or whatever.

"You're new here right? Maybe I can show you around sometime, and yes I'd love to come see your paintings" I let out to which he nodded. 

"Yes, I moved in last week and this really is a very beautiful place." 

"Hm.. can't say much because I've lived here all my life so it feels pretty monotonous to me" I shrugged. "But I get what you mean. The people are friendly, well most of them... so it's actually nice."

He hummed, looking at me for a second longer than usual before shuffling the basket of items to his other hand. "I should get going, I feel. It was really nice talking to you... " he extended his hand out. 

"It's Y/N" I replied, mentally praying for my palms to not be clammy before I reached out and shook my hand with his.

"Y/N." Hearing my name spill out of his lips in that beautiful silky tone of his voice almost had my breath hitched as I looked back at him.

"I'm Hyunjin" he held my hand for a second more, another one of those pretty smiles lingering on his face, before he was out the door like a mirage that disappeared into thin air.

---

[tavyliasin]

The Highs and Lows of Fandom Creation

Hello darlings~ It has been a little while and this one has been on my list to get to for a while, and with the Baldur's Date Valentine's Fanworks event soon to draw to a close it seems appropriate to start preparing ourselves for the cycle of what happens when we release our works into the wild. So without further ado, our latest essay~

The RollerCoaster of Emotion That Comes With Being A Creative In Fan Spaces (FanArt, FanFiction, Cosplay, Photography, Music, and So Much More) ((Another CallOut Essay Prepare To Be SEEN)) (((Also I Have Some Coping Techniques Here Too!)))

As usual with my essay pieces I will be making plenty of use of the headers to divide topics, and I fully welcome any thoughts and feelings in the comments. Whilst I am really only in the FanFic side, and a focus on Baldur's Gate 3, I do intend to make this essay inclusive of the trials and tribulations that we all tend to face in making and sharing fanworks of all kinds and through all fandoms. The more people I speak to, the more it seems to be a universal experience, so hold on to your hats it's a bumpy ride! The first part will talk about the Rollercoaster itself, the how and why behind it all, and the second will be around how to cope with it. For readers and appreciators of fan content, I urge you to have a little look too, and at the end I will add in some ways you can help support your favourites too~

Creatives Are Emotional Beings

Starting off with the obvious callout - most of us are. We feel things deeply, and that emotion can often be an incredible driving force behind our works. Whether we're creating around things we've experience, being inspired and influenced by our current emotions, or drawing on our well of imagination to work out what characters might feel (and often more importantly how/why they feel that way), emotion is a strong part of the process.

This can be an incredible strength! Tapping in to the deeper parts of ourselves, our experiences, and the emotions at our cores, can bring out the very best in our works across all creative formats. It also tends to help our audiences engage too, as they recognise their own emotions mirrored in the works.

The Downside to Strong Emotion - The Rollercoaster Effect

This chart was initially drawn up based on writing, but truly after speaking with a few beloved Discord friends it was quick to see that this easily applies to art as well, so I'm going to go over this slightly differently to the initial plan.

The Start Of Every Ride

We begin usually around a neutral baseline, or maybe a little below if we haven't created in a while, perhaps we might start higher than baseline with the rush of an exciting new idea. Either way, the first part of the project tends to go up in mood very quickly when we share those early unfinished parts.

For writers this might be a beta reader or sharing a sample of the work as they're still writing as a teaser, artists might see this as their initial sketch or linework stage if they're sharing progress and teasers too. Cosplayers could be the first part of a build, musicians sharing a few bars of the melody - whatever it is, that first little positive boost that says Keep Going is a powerful one.

But what happens next? Well, you still have more work to do! That initial boost and confidence can drop down to a slump, especially if it's taking longer to complete than you thought it would, and double that if something goes wrong that needs to be changed or fixed.

You may, hopefully, find it begins to rise as things start to come together again and that finish line in sight, but then...

I Finished Making The Thing, Now What?

Well, first you're going to feel that massive surge of satisfaction from completing the thing. Sometimes a dopamine rush in the brain, and all that excitement of "Finally I get to share the thing I worked so hard on! It's done!" So, off you go, you post it. You share the links, maybe drop them in some Discord servers, other social media...and then, often very quickly, it hits you.

Post Publishing Drop

Those of you in the convention and event scene might also know this feeling as "Con Drop", which can take a little longer to manifest. Post Publishing Drop hits quite quickly. Sometimes it might take a few hours, but other times it starts almost within minutes of posting as all that rush of energy finishing and publishing is just...gone.

If you're lucky, you might get some quick and early feedback, especially if you're a well known or popular creator, but I imagine even those of you who tend to get very high engagement can feel a lot of this too so I don't mean to exclude any of you in any way at all~ So what is it? What's happening? WHY?!

Well darlings all that adrenaline is wearing off and realistically you're not likely to get that creative feedback and validation instantly. So that wonderfully powerful emotional heart of yours is going to crack a little. It won't last, it won't stay this low, but good gods that lack of engagement and positive reinforcement can be devastating.

The first engagements you get - kudos, likes, reaction emotes on a Discord post - they may be enough to boost you right back up to your baseline or even a little above, until the worry creeps back in again. And I know that it does, clawing and slithering in the back of your beautifully creative mind whispering those horrible lies:

Why isn't this getting the reaction I hoped for yet? Is this work not as good as before? Have people stopped liking me? Is the website/platform hiding my work? Have I upset people somehow in ways I can't even see?

Then Back Up We Go, And What Goes Up...

Hopefully those voices don't get a chance to be too loud for too long before you see more of that engagement. Maybe it's a heartfelt comment from someone, or a share from someone you respect, or just a little surge of interaction in general. You're back on top, darling, your creative heart is soaring, finally your work is being seen in a way that reminds you why you put in all that time in the first place!

And each time, the high wears off again, with a drop, though the extremities of each is likely less and less as time goes on. Unless, of course, we make one little mistake and the gradual confidence build comes crashing back down...

The Perils Of Comparing

Sometimes this might be looking at someone else's work, seeing a similar style or similar topic get far more engagement than your own. It can be really hard not to feel discouraged by this, and falling into that trap of questioning where you're "going wrong" can lead to absolute agony - I urge you to do your best to move away from this as soon as you notice the feeling. I'll cover some proper techniques later though, I promise!

The other trap with comparison can be looking at your own past works, and over-analysing why some pieces never got the same love and appreciation as others. Picking it apart to find what you can do better is not as wise a plan as it seems for one simple reason:

Over half of this is down to pure chance!

It might be the time of day it was posted, or just one or two people seeing it and deciding to share it on that gives a work a massive boost to interaction and engagement. Maybe a work was lucky enough to get shared in a prominent community by one of the members, or even had someone with a huge following give it a boost.

At the end of the day, there seem to be very few ways to predict this. Of course there are some characters, topics, art styles, writing tropes, etc that will have a tendency to get more love from their respective fanbases - that's how popularity works - but there is no guarantee that, for example, two portraits of the same character in similar styles by different artists will have the same levels of engagement and "success". The main person you should be aiming to please with your own work is yourself~ After all, when working on it you will be the one going over it again and again, knowing every detail in and out, if you don't love the subject of those details your less likely to even reach that finish line~

And It All Begins Again

At the end of the cycle there's often one last spike up. Maybe it's a comment or interaction from someone who truly felt the depth of meaning in your work as you hoped it would, or you realise that it has done better overall in the numbers, or most often you get that creative surge of a shiny new idea that calls to you with that familiar siren song, promising the high of satisfaction and sweeping the memory of that Post Publishing Drop under the rug all over again so you won't see it coming when you trip on it.

How Do We Get Off This Ride? Where's The Safety Bar?

Darlings, be honest, you didn't want to stop. You still don't. That's why you're still right here, reading this with me. Your cycle might take a day, a week, a month, or you may go through the whole thing in a matter of hours.

Riding The Waves

The first way to begin coping is to prepare. Know yourself and how you're likely to feel, and plan ahead for it. If you know the drop is coming, you can try to avoid it, or deploy distress tolerance when it feels too much.

On a very simple level, this can be reminding yourself that the lows do not last, and those highs will still be there. You might even be tempted to try to regulate the highs as much as the lows, to bring everything a little closer in to the baseline throughout the cycle.

Distress Tolerance techniques can be important to practice when you're feeling close to your baseline and calm so that they're easier to turn to when you're feeling that low hit. There are lots of things that work for different people, so it might be trial and error - largely you're looking at relaxation techniques, distraction from the source of the distress, and/or community support.

You Can Rely On The Community!

It is ok to ask for help! You can ask people for reassurance, directly ask for feedback, or even just talk over how you feel with other creators and find out how they're handling things. Sometimes just knowing you're not alone and that your feelings are real, valid, and matter can be a real boon - that's why I'm here, spending a couple of hours putting all of this into words as best as I can for you all. I've felt this cycle too many times, but the more I talk about it with other fic writers the more I feel we are connected and that I'm not just losing my marbles over nothing~

We are human, we have emotions - strong ones, remember? - and there's nothing wrong with that at all!

There is nothing wrong with having emotions and experiencing them!

Knowing When To Step Away

If you know you're more likely to have a swift drop from lack of quick feedback, it's a great idea to plan to step away from socials as soon as you're done. Have an activity planned, or do it all write before bed so you can switch off and go to sleep. Turn off those notifications so you aren't fussing over each one of them as they come in and don't go back for a while.

Allow a realistic amount of time to pass for people to see and engage with your work before you worry it is invisible!

The Next Shiny Idea

Conversely, if you're feeling too much of a creative itch, then as soon as you're done sharing move right on to starting the next project. Let the initial surge of energy from completing and sharing something be the driving force to kickstart the next great adventure! That way you're thinking more about the new work, the sparkling allure of a fresh idea, rather than fixating on the success of the last.

Cashing in on that adrenaline rush to make a good head-start can boost you right to that early feedback stage too, then if you're really lucky when you hit the first drop-off you'll have the positive engagement from the last work to boost you back up, so in some ways you're overlaying your graphs to balance them out with each other.

Naturally this only works if you have the time and energy to do so. It's also important to know when to take breaks to avoid burning out.

General Mood Boosting Ideas

These might not work for everyone, but here are some things to try when you're in one of those lows. A lot of this may be trial and error and knowing yourself best, so treat this as a few things that may or may not be effective rather than Lia's Super Snake Oil Cure For Everything (you have to buy that from me separately, it's super expensive but it is delightfully cherry and cinnamon flavoured~)

Check in on your basic needs. Drink, food, meds (if applicable), sleep/nap, caffeine (if you usually have it), shower/bath/hygiene needs (even if just a quick freshen up it's better than nothing), fresh air/outside time (if possible), exercise/physical movement (if you're able to), social needs (can be in person or online, any social interaction/support)

Music can be a powerful mood tool. Sometimes it's cathartic to listen to music that matches your current mood, but other times it is better to listen to music with the mood you want to feel.

Media from the fandom, like the book/film/game/etc that you're making fanworks for - return to the thing that inspired you to create and remember all the things that you loved about it in the first place.

Look at other fanworks but be very cautious! Do this for inspiration, to look at things you do and don't like in other pieces, but do not do this if it will be likely to cause a mood drop for you.

Do something different and change up your routine. Something entirely new or something you haven't done for a while.

Try something small, not connected to a large piece. A few sketches, doodles, make a meme, write a few short lines of dialogue or a brief scene. Share something with far lower stakes for a little boost.

Talk to others in the creative community and have a bit of fun, maybe try some games together, whatever you like!

I'm Not A Creative, How Can I Help?

This also counts for creatives who want to support each other, too! Of course I will put the caveat that I do understand that not everyone is comfortable visibly interacting with spice and that's fine~

Drop a like or kudos if you enjoyed the piece, it takes a second and means the world~

Leaving a comment, even a couple of silly words of "I loved it" is great!

Leaving a longer comment, picking out your favourite parts? That is the kind of boost that lasts weeks darlings it really does.

Sharing the work is also a big boost, whether publicly or privately to friend/fan groups, but especially when sharing art/images please share the link with it not just the image or a screenshot~ let people find and appreciate the artist.

Follow or Subscribe or Turn on notifications if you really want to see more of their work, then you can interact sooner and give that much needed boost~

Try to be patient, especially with longer or higher effort works. Expressing excitement is a boost, but just be careful you're not putting too much pressure on the creator. We do have things going on behind the screen that can delay our plans at times.

Consider dropping an interaction on something else, or check in on how they're doing in general - a little kindness outside of just the works being produced can be a boost too!

The Grand Finale of the Rollercoaster

Thank you for staying with me to the end darlings, I know this was likely a bit of an emotional ride, but please do drop in some comments or reblogs with the other things you experience and how you handle the emotional whirlwind of being a fan creator. Always remember, you are valued for more than just what you can produce, your works are adored but the person behind them is worth so much more and always will be. Look after yourselves, I love you dearly~

[em-writes-stuff-sometimes]

Haven't heard from you in a while, hope you're doing well! <3

Hey, nonnie - I'm doing alright. Personal ramble below the cut. Skip if you're just here for fanfic reading and don't care about my silly little melodrama.

Not going to go into too much detail, but I've been really feeling the depression lately. For context, I have clinical depression and take a really high dose of antidepressants, which fuck with other aspects of my life (i.e. weight and lack of sleep). Medical consensus is that I'll need medication for the rest of my life as my brain does not perform the appropriate mood-regulating functions (I'm not super sure what the specifics of this are). I've struggled with low feeling, demotivation, SI/SH etc. for nearly nine years now. I've slipped into a bit of an episode lately - not necessarily related to being online but Tumblr is a part of it - but I'm trying to work my way out of it by picking up some new-old hobbies, such as crochet, and doing things that I like and that don't stress me. I'm safe and don't have the opportunity to action any of my feelings, so please don't worry about me!

Unfortunately, Tumblr has been a source of stress for me since I've come on here. I've made some downright terrible choices in friends, in behaviour, in the amount of energy I commit to this space, and the only one who can really break this cycle is me. This site hosts a really wide range of personalities, and I just... feel like I've encountered some of the absolute worst among all of that, and it's done me absolutely no favours when it comes to making good choices. We all say that as adults, we should know better, but there's no sudden switch that flips, you know? We spend our whole lives making mistakes and learning from them. Adulthood isn't the abrupt entry into moral infallibility, and that's been something I've had to address and work through when it comes to my own failings.

To be perfectly honest, Tumblr isn't a supportive place. Or the people aren't. I don't really know which. To clarify, I do generally speak of the community of artists and writers in this, not the people here who just want to enjoy art or read someone's fanfic. I suppose there's a certain level of - I don't know - self-centredness? - when it comes to creating an online presence and sharing one's own creations on the internet. That mentality, I think, bleeds over into feelings of entitlement in creative communities. Entitlement to other people's time, to people's attention, to people's promotion, and when one doesn't get that, the problems start: (best to worst =) transactional interaction, badmouthing, hate anons, public bashing, and the list goes on. I've definitely been someone who has been upset by people's lack of interaction. I've responded with "oh, I'm not reblogging until they reblog mine" more than once. We all know that I've been involved with badmouthing and publicly bashing others. I continue to be very ashamed of this, and I am honest with myself about what I've done and how I got there in my journey working through my problems and making meaningful change in my life.

Anyway, point is - I'm trying to divorce myself from the entitlement, and I think to do that I need to divorce myself from the notion that we exist as a community. I've put far too much effort into that idea, and it's gotten me absolutely nowhere. There are more people who dislike me than not. Most just straight-up ignore me. I deserve it, sure, but (or maybe and) I have no intention of continuing to engage in a space that either doesn't exist or where I'm not wanted. I've felt anxious and upset at the mere thought of going on Tumblr the past few months. It hasn't been bringing me joy anymore, and that was the whole point of it. There's so much bad blood associated with being on here, but I love writing. I love this show. I can't give up something that makes me so happy in every respect other than this one site.

So I've taken some time off, reassessed the way I'm intending to use this space, and I've essentially decided that I started it for me so I'm going to do it for me. I'm going to interact with who I want and post what I want and damn absolutely everyone who tries to police me (of which there has been A LOT - apparently I have a "responsibility" to support others which I now know is actually code for "I'm jealous that you're getting any kind of attention online, so instead of addressing my issue with this, I'm going to vaguepost about/anon/DM you to try and guilt you into giving my work attention so that maybe it'll transfer to me").

For the casual peruser, no change at all. But I'm done giving my effort to the idea of 'community'. It doesn't exist, or I don't belong. I am going to do what makes me happy now, and only what makes me happy. That's the whole point. I'm sick of focusing on negatives. I'm sick of posting about them, to be honest. I think this mindset will do me good.

If you've gotten this far, I hope that it's okay that I've decided this. I'm feeling positive about it!

[mxopifex]

A Fanfic Writer's Guide to Writing Fanart Prompts

So it came up while chatting with some other members of a fandom gift exchange that some of the writers felt less comfortable writing prompts for recieving fanart gifts and I thought I'd try and make a guide to help out since I do both fanart and fanfic.

The stumbling blocks as I understood them were: 1) not knowing what you like in fanart, 2) not knowing how to articulate what you like (which is probably more related to the first item than you think), and 3) worrying that all your prompts are too narrative. Imma do my best to address those, but if you have other questions feel free to drop me a line. I want to help.

I call this a guide, but it's more of a series of questions to ask yourself than a how to, or rather this is a how to think about and understand what you want to ask for type guide. A good prompt doesn't need to (and maybe shouldn't) touch on every issue I bring up here. The goal is to make the person who is making your gift feel confident that they can make something you like, not to tell them exactly what to do.

What to do if you are worried that you make all your prompts too narrative heavy:

First, relax. Fanart often carries a narrative component. You can reasonably prompt something that might involve a bit of visual storytelling. That said, the amount of story you can get in a single image is much smaller than the amount you can pack into even a modest 1k short story. Imagine a single scene you might like to see; the kind you love when it pops up in a fic. "I'd like to see the blorbos on a beach vacation" or "I'd like to see character A treating character B's wounds." You can further abstract this to things like "a cozy domestic scene" or "being flirty."

Some Prompt Prompts for if you are feeling stuck on what to ask for

Tropes! Many tropes work in a fanart setting. The ones that don't are the ones that need a bit more narrative behind them to make sense. It might be tricky to convey Fake Dating with a single image, but Hurt/Comfort or Only One Bed is very doable.

AUs! Want to let the artist play dress up with the blorbos? See what they'd look like as the socialite guests in a 1920s Agatha Christy style murder mystery? or just ask for something more general like a fairy tale setting or modern au.

Set the mood! What's the vibe you like best about this character or coupling? Do you want something dark and broody? More lighthearted and comedic? Tender and romantic?

Style! While I don't advise requesting something in the vein of a specific artist's style (the person making your gift has their own style) talking about styles of art that you like can help them understand what's visually appealing to you. So mentioning like "a moody film noir type setting" or "overwrought flowery romance like in shojo manga" isn't horrible, as long as you leave the artist room to bring their own sensibilities into the picture.

Poses! Want that bridal carry? Sharing an umbrella? Something that emphasizes a height difference? Don't go too hog wild with details "and their left pinky at a thirty degree angle..." but if you wanna see someone getting dipped on the dance floor, go ahead and ask for it.

Two final thoughts. First, just like with fic prompts you want to have a couple different ones in your ask. Every artist has things they feel more or less comfortable with, and giving a few options helps to make sure that there's at least one that they can work with. Particularly if you have a more complex prompt, it would be good to also have one that's simpler or more open to interpretation. Second, check in with yourself to see if you have any art specific DNWs.Maybe you can handle written descriptions of blood but not visual depictions or maybe the character has that one outfit that you think is butt ugly. Either way make sure you are clear about it in your prompt.

[1waywardbirdlane]

Unsolicited Lore Dump

tagged by @ancuninfiles , a beloved mutual

Do you make your bed? Occasionally when i’m tidying up and want everything to look nice & neat, but it’s not something I do habitually. 

Favourite number? 19. Not sure why

What's your job? I tell people I’m a homemaker. 

If you could go back to school would you? If I could go to a trade school, like for carpentry or welding or something, I would in order to build my skills and my art portfolio into larger scale and more intricate projects. I would maybe go to university. I would definitely love to learn more. I love being able to deep dive into a subject, to really learn the nuance & history of it. There’s definitely lots of subjects I’d be interested in, but if I were to actually devote that kind of time to school, I’d also want to have a goal in mind- a Masters or PHD or whatever.

Can you parallel park? Yep

Do you think aliens are real? I think it’s the height of arrogance to assume that there are no other sapient life forms in our whole universe. As much knowledge as we humans have accumulated, there are most definitely still things we cannot even perceive, let alone understand. Most media depicts “alien life forms” as largely humanoid, but that is so limiting and it drives me crazy. Of the films & TV I’ve seen, the film Arrival is the most unique and exciting depiction of alien encounters on earth. The creatures themselves were more imaginative, but also their concepts of language and time were presented in ways that felt fresh and caused a lot of introspection, both for characters on screen and for me personally.

Can you drive a manual car? No

What's your guilty pleasure? This is probably a terrible thing to say here, but fanfic? I still feel like I’m going to be teased if someone asks why I’m crying over my phone and I tell them the new chapter of my favorite fic came out and my ship had a huge fight. (Looking at you @Aevallare jk ilysm) Or if someone asks what I’m reading these days and the only answer I have is “so many Astarion/bg3 fanfics that I literally can’t keep the Tavs straight anymore.” I know I shouldn't feel embarrassed, and if anyone said all these things to me I’d tell them to be proud and just enjoy what they enjoy, fuck everybody else. But…I’ve realized I actually got teased a LOT about things I loved as a kid. My family would pick on me about what I realize now were hyperfixations, like a movie or certain activities that I seemed obsessed with. When I watched fellowship of the ring everyday one summer my brother would mockingly quote lines at me and tell me I needed to get over it. 

Tattoos? I have 2! A henna/paisley -like flower design on the inside of my left forearm and 3 sparrows flying from my right shoulder blade up to my neck. & plans for MANY more

Favorite color? Green. All of its shades and hues. Purple as a close second, especially lilac purple.

Favourite types of music? I think I have a very eclectic taste. I can appreciate most kinds of music, but… folk, indie rock/pop, grunge are probably the most accurate categories? I like female singer/songwriters- Ingrid Michaelson & Maggie Rogers. We’ve seen the Decemberists like 5 or 6 times, but probably my most favoritest band is Incubus. I’m convinced Hozier is some kind of magic Fae creature who fucks off to another realm or dimension between albums. I’ll fight anyone who tries to take a shot at Eddie Vedder. Bowie always puts me in a good mood and reminds me of college and Wes Anderson movies. Radiohead and the White Stripes were some of the first bands my sister introduced me to. The Flaming Lips’ Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots and Lauryn Hill’s Miseducation of Lauryn Hill are still some of my favorite albums of all time. 

Do you like puzzles? Yes! It kind of runs in our family on my mom’s side. If you went to visit Grandma and Grandpa and they were having a quiet night, they'd be doing a puzzle and listening to music or watching a movie. My aunts and uncles do it, and so do a few cousins, and my sister & her family love them too. I can get lost for hours with a good podcast and a puzzle. 

Any phobias? I originally went on an ADHD tangent about bear bells and tip toeing to cliff edges, but then I realized the only phobia I probably have is deep water. I LOVE being in the water, water creatures and ecosystems, but if I think too much about what is possibly swimming around just below me I can get a little freaked out. Truthfully this might stem from a “game” my brother and sister played with me when we were little and our house had a pool. They were 11 and 10. Both of them had taken swim lessons, could swim underwater and jump in without holding their noses. I was 3 and had a bathing suit with a built in innertube. They would take turns diving under the water with their hands on their heads imitating fins and grab my ankles and yank me down. Obviously it scared me and they did it so much that I stopped going in the pool with them.

Favourite childhood sport? Soccer

Do you talk to yourself? Oh yeah. Sometimes I pass it off as if I’m talking to my cat, or one of my plants, but yes very much a lot.

What movies do you adore? The Lord of the Rings Trilogy is #1 for of all time. Nacho Libre is another all time favorite. What We Do in the Shadows, the John Wick movies, Fast & Furious movies, Mad Max Fury Road…

Coffee or tea? I love both but if I have to choose then COFFEEFirst thing you wanted to be growing up? Somewhere in my parents’ house there is an old video of me saying that when I grew up I wanted to be a princess or a mermaid.

Gunna tag all 10 of my followers lol. If you've already shared yours just ignore me lol.

@astarionancuntnin @midnight-musings-of-nyx @adoenamedjane @originalin @giganticrodent @shewhowas39 @halsinwhore @swancensus

I really love doing these!!

[silvfyre-writings]

Paint me to sleep (BSD Fanfic)

I was inspired to write this when I was browsing Insayntea's art on twitter and noticed that in every ranpoe artwork, Poe had his nails painted and yeah, the plot bunnies kinda ran away from me to give this absolutely domestic fic.

Because fluff, and these two always make me feel so single when fluff is involved.

Anyway, enjoy~

It was no secret that Poe enjoyed painting his nails.

There was no lucrative reason as to why he enjoyed it, he just did, always had from the moment he’d first worn it as a teenager; he’d run into some teenage girls that had taken one look at him and decided he needed the ‘beauty’ treatment, and that was the day that Poe was introduced to the world of makeup and nail polish. Yes, it had been daunting, a bunch of strangers fawning over him—he’d tried to say no, tried to escape, but teenage girls on a mission were terrifying, so he’d found it easier to just go along with them—but ultimately, it had actually been a fun, and interesting, experience. He’d learnt a lot, and admired the artworks they’d left on his nails before letting him leave.

And ever since then, Poe had painted his nails.

Sometimes—usually—he went with a plain colour; darker colours when he felt like being more subtle, or whenever his mood was particularly downcast, but sometimes he would wear brighter colours. Once he had painted his nails a nice purple, a kind old lady picking it up and saying it matched the colour of his eyes, and Poe hadn’t been able to stop himself. Another time he had gone with an orange the colour of the sun; a few people he’d passed by had complimented him that day, and he’d gone home feeling warm and happy.

There were also days where Poe felt a little bit adventurous, or artistic, where he ventured out of his comfort zone in an attempt to try something new. At first, he started with simple patterns; dots, stripes, and various kinds of shapes, all simple and easy. And once he’d mastered them, he moved onto painting actual objects; flowers that he’d seen while on a walk, birds that perched on his windowsill, the stars of the night sky, all things he deemed beautiful, and all things he felt confident in attempting to recreate. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t, but it didn’t make Poe enjoy it any less.

The only time he hadn’t enjoyed it—or well, couldn’t be bothered with it—had been during that six year period where he’d spent all his days working for the Guild, and writing the novel he intended to kill Ranpo with. All day and all night he was working, with what time he did manage to get to himself spent sleeping, so there hadn’t ever been time for him to indulge in the things that brought him comfort. Which certainly explained a lot about the type of person he became during those six years, and why his only proper friend had been Karl.

But as life had a tendency to do sometimes, it got better; he failed at killing Ranpo and instead gained a new, human, friend—a friend that turned into a lover, but that was a story for another day—and he sort of left the Guild, giving him more time than he knew what to do with.

It gave him time to relax and recuperate after six long years of despair and hard work.

It gave him time to return to the interests he had outside of writing.

Poe was in his room, leaning against the headboard of his bed, and applying a coat of black to his nails, when he heard his front door open and slam shut. From the foot of the bed, Karl’s head shot up, ears twitching, but the raccoon soon curled back up into his little ball, recognizing the footsteps that were quickly making their way to the bedroom. Poe continued on with his work, even as the door to his room creaked open, with much calmer treatment than his front door had been treated with. He wasn’t so rude as to ignore his unexpected, but also expected, visitor, and paused once he’d finished applying a layer, looking towards the door with a smile on his face.

Ranpo didn’t return his smile, body coiled and tense, ready to either spring forth or fall apart, and for once, it was a little hard to tell which ledge his love was dangling closer towards. The detective’s eyes flicked open long enough to observe the room, moving from Poe, to Karl, to Poe’s bedside table that had everything he used to paint his nails cluttering it, before they fell shut again, and he sighed. Poe remained silent as Ranpo shed the layers that he wore; hat, cape, vest, and tie, were all discarded into the floor without a care in the world, and he watched as Ranpo disappeared into his wardrobe. He could hear Ranpo rummaging, and returned his attention to his nails, applying the paint to the next nail. “If you’re looking for the hoodie, I washed it this morning.”

There was a brief pause, and then Ranpo was storming across the room, disappearing back the way he’d come in nothing but his boxers. Poe followed the man with his eyes for as long as he could, his mind already starting to piece together what could possibly be bothering Ranpo. The first clue was that Ranpo was home from work early, a sure sign that it was either the work itself, or his co-workers, that had driven Ranpo into fleeing before his shift was over. The next clue was the silence, because Ranpo loved talking, and there was only a few reasons why he wouldn’t at least greet Poe; one being that his senses were bordering on overstimulation—unlikely, since Poe usually received a text from Ranpo asking to be retrieved when that happened—and another being that he was angry—likely, if the way he was being harsh towards inanimate objects was anything to go by. Of course, there were other reasons, but those two were the main ones, and Poe was wagering on the problem being just that and not one of the deeper reasons in which he’d have to actually dig for an answer.

When Ranpo returned, drowning in a hoodie that almost reached his knees, Poe had finished with one hand, and he looked over at the detective as he lingered in the doorway, eyes fixed on his feet. Poe cleared his throat, and patted the bed in front of him when Ranpo looked up. “You can come in; this is your room too after all.”

“You were busy.” Ranpo gestured towards the bottles of nail polish with a shrug, dropping his head to stare at the floor again.

“Do you want to cuddle?” Poe asked.

Ranpo nodded.

Poe stretched out his legs and shifted some of the pillows behind him so he could sit up a little more and still be comfortable. “Come here then.”

“You’re busy.” Ranpo said again, even as he crossed the room to stand beside the bed.

“I can still paint my nails.” Poe smiled and patted the space in front of him. “You won’t get in the way.”

Apparently, that was all the affirmation that Ranpo needed, because he crawled onto the bed a second later, and Poe raised his arms so that the other could get comfortable, waiting patiently as Ranpo shuffled until his back was against Poe’s chest, with his head coming to rest over the top of his heart. Ah, so it’s comfort that he wants. Once Ranpo stopped moving, Poe used his free hand to ruffle his partner’s hair before he reached over and grabbed the bottle so that he could make a start on his other hand.

He could feel Ranpo’s eyes on his hand, just quietly watching as Poe applied the black paint to the rest of his nails. Neither of them said anything, just basking in the silence, although Poe did break that quiet when Ranpo moved to cover his face with the hood of what he was wearing. “Are you alright, my dear?”

Ranpo hummed, and his head dipped forward slightly. “I’m tired, and the office was becoming a little much, that’s all.”

“Anything I can do for you?”

“Cuddles are enough.” Ranpo snuggled closer somehow, and Poe was more than happy to welcome it. Cuddling with Ranpo was one of his favorite things to do, because it was something that made the both of them feel better when one—or both—of them were under par. There was just something about holding the one you loved and sitting in silence with just each other for company that was relaxing, almost as if the physical contact chased away the lingering effects of a bad day, or mood. Just thinking about it was enough to make Poe smile, and if it weren’t for the fact that he had a hand of wet nail polish, he would pull Ranpo even closer and hold him tight to make him feel better.

At some point, Poe at started to hum while he worked, and he could feel Ranpo relaxing against him further with each minute that passed, and he knew it wouldn’t be long before Ranpo drifted off to sleep. A thought crossed Poe’s mind as he finished with his own nails and waited for them to dry; whenever Ranpo drifted off to sleep, he always wound up in a light sleep for the first half hour or so, which meant that Poe wouldn’t be able to move until enough time had passed for the other to go into a deep enough sleep that he wouldn’t wake up when Poe attempted to move. And while Poe usually just went to sleep with Ranpo whenever he ended up trapped behind him, he had to make a start on dinner for that night. And with his phone out of reach, and book in the living room, there was nothing to occupy him.

Unless…

“Would you like me to paint your nails, Ranpo?” He whispered, lips twitching when Ranpo snorted.

“Huh?” The detective’s voice was quiet, a tiredness clinging to his words that Poe found adorable. “Oh, yeah, sure. Whatcha gonna paint?”

“Flowers, perhaps? Or would you rather a plain colour?”

Ranpo let out a yawn. “Flowers sound nice.”

“Alright then.” Poe reached over to drag the necessary colours closer towards him so he wouldn’t have to move as much, and he reached down to grab one of Ranpo’s hands. It wasn’t often that he got the chance to paint Ranpo’s nails; not because Ranpo wouldn’t let him, but rather that his partner’s nails were often too short for him to work with, what with the way he chewed on them whenever he was stressed or thinking hard.

But for once, Ranpo’s nails were even—still short, but even—and unchewed, meaning that Poe had more than enough to work with. He set about applying a base coat first; a pale blue colour that suited Ranpo well in his opinion, and fell into the soothing rhythm that was painting. The act itself was already soothing, but for some reason, whenever he painted Ranpo’s nails, it was always more enjoyable, more relaxing. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that it gave him an excuse to hold Ranpo’s hand—not that he needed one to begin with—but whatever it was, he lived for the days the opportunity arose.

By the time that Poe had finished the base coat, Ranpo’s head had dropped forward, and there were soft snores coming from him while he slept. Poe smiled and grabbed the colours he needed for the flowers; yellow for the centre, and white for the petals—the first flower he’d ever learnt to paint onto nails, and the one that Ranpo would appreciate the most for its simplicity.

Poe smiled, and continued to paint his love’s nails, knowing that when Ranpo woke up after his nap, he would love and praise Poe for his work.

And Poe would beam with joy when he did.

[pastelroyce]

I've been tagged ages ago by @dandenbo @mtreebeardiles and @sh00kspeared on different ask memes of the sort (thank you all for tagging me) and I'm in a sharing mood so I thought it'd be fun to just...compile them together because i'm insane

3 fave ships:

Johnny/m!V, Vik/m!V, mShenko; these three are always on rotation in my head amongst all my other ships atm.

First ship:

...it...um...uh.

Sonic/Shadow. Sigh.

Favorite childhood book:

I had a very, very brief phase of being into Eragon when I was in 7th grade or something (I'm talking very brief as in I never finished the first book)

Currently reading:

Not really anything currently, but the last fanfic I read was the spoils, the spoils by kindly on ao3 (E rated Vik/m!V fair warning). As far as physical reading material the last thing I read was 100 Ways to Improve Your Writing by Gary Provost.

Currently watching:

I don't actively watch shows/movies on my own time. I get too antsy at the idea of watching one continuous thing if I'm not like...purposefully determined to watch something (even then I need a break). The last time we used our streaming account was to watch Adventure Time, bf wanted to rewatch the show.

Fave color:

Basically everything in the circle, on the brighter/pastel side. Primarily pink tho.

Song stuck in head:

Right now it's Desperado by the Eagles

Last song listened to:

Chinatown by Jets to Brazil. Whenever i get around to making a playlist for my corpo V it's going on there.

Fave food:

Oh my god, there's so many. Tacos, good marbled brisket, hamburger.......

Spicy/sweet/savory:

Gimme it alllllllllllllllllllll

Currently craving:

Something fried and greasy and yucky because I've been stressed af all day

Last googled:

German Spitz for werewolf au purposes

Are you named after anyone?:

Yes! As a matter of fact! A book character with a name I vibed with immediately.

When was the last time you cried?:

A few weeks ago, can't even remember what it was tbh.

Do you have kids?:

I get bad baby fever from time to time, but something I came to terms with a while ago is that I'm too selfish to want children in my life. I value my privacy and alone time too much to disrupt that.

What sports do you play/have you played?:

I did karate and soccer when I was a wee lad. Neither interested me after a certain point.

Do you use sarcasm?:

Mostly when I know it'll be telegraphed as Being Funny, but I tend to do so unintentionally otherwise.

What is the first thing you notice about people?:

Hair usually, or whatever they're wearing

What's your eye color?:

Brown

Scary movies or happy endings?:

Happy endings I guess? It's been a while since I've seen a movie...

Any talents?:

I have a knack for drawing silly cartoon faces if that counts...

Where were you born?:

Island in the PNW

What are your hobbies?:

Drawing, writing and playing video games mostly. I like to daydream about having new hobbies too, if that counts.

Do you have any pets?:

BABY BOY 🫵 BABY

How tall are you?:

Like 5ft4in or something, very middle of the road.

Favorite subject in school?:

Art and history were my fave in school

Dream job?:

At this point I've given up on the idea of a specific dream job and now just want something that'll keep a roof over my head and let me get take out guilt free lol

[sometimesrosy]

There is something that truly frightens me these days that teens and up are very unfreaked out about these days and it makes my eyes saucer big in shock. I'm on plenty of reading forums where "readers" say they forget the novels they read the second they finish them. They aren't concerned at all about it and when anyone starts to question it they describe reading as just walking past 100's of paintings in an art gallery and only enjoying the paintings for the length of time it took to look at them. Am I just showing my age to think this is nuts? Wasting time to not remember a thing. Then also think they are winning at life to go through a hundred books a year like this?

So I have a different take on this.

Remember please that as an English major, English teacher and writer, I am invested in paying attention to literature. It's a deep pleasure to analyze and understand stories and poems and essays solidly.

Saying that... that's not the only reason to read or the only way to read.

You're allowed to read just for pleasure. Just for the wild ride of the book and not have to be able to critically analyze it when you're done.

You're also allowed to read for escapism. This world is way crazier than it used to be, and we used to think the world was crazy forty years ago. Kids often don't have a lot of control over their lives and reading is a way where they get to feel more in control and/or safe.

When I was a teenager, I didn't read a hundred books a year. I read, oh, I'm guessing, four to five hundred books a year. I read 1-3 books A DAY.

Why?

One. I had a two hour commute both ways. Two. I didn't have money so reading was my entertainment. Three. I only had like seven tv channels, no streaming, no social media etc. And four, and the main reason. Reading was my coping strategy to deal with a difficult, scary and sometimes dangerous homelife.

Do I remember all the books I read as a teen? Absolutely not. I like to say that those books went into "the soup," and they certainly did. I don't remember them for particular narratives, but I remember general conventions, patterns, tropes, structures, timings, moods, themes, cultural expectations, etc. I credit that intense reading period with making me a writer. Reading became as natural as BREATHING.

Do you remember every breath you take? No, of course not.

Admittedly, it turns out that I have adhd, and that sort of hyperlexia is a trait of adhd and autism, so there's a reason for it. I'm not normal and never have been. But you're looking at reading patterns here that aren't normal either.

So these kids are addicted to books.

GREAT! Do you know what other kinds of things kids COULD be addicted to? So many bad things. Let them have their speed reading. Let them do PJO or their ACOTAR or their fanfics. I don't know what kids are reading today.

Reading is PRESCRIPTIVE. People read for what they need and what you may need-- a wider view of the world or intellectual stimulation or a hit of beautiful language-- may not be what these kids are reading for-- escapism, anxiety, entertainment. And neither of those reading needs are wrong.

I read like those kids when I was in high school. And I was one of the only ones I knew who did read that much. I think it's good that reading is cool because it wasn't in the 80s. BUT after I did that 6 year sff binge, I went to college and got a degree in English, and I did NOT read that much anymore. I read more slowly and wrote essays and analyzed books and chose new genres and talked about books and remembered quotes and all that. And I read more slowly for, oh, twenty years, until PTSD, ADHD, anxiety, chronic illness and stress got to me. And then I started binge reading again. Now the genre guarantees a happy ending to combat the anxiety, and it's non-intellectually demanding so my ADHD brain can actually rest instead of going a mile a minute as it does when I don't have something occupying it.

I read 224 books this year and I absolutely can't remember them all. I have to keep a log with titles and authors and ratings and summaries so I can remember which ones I liked best. I reread those, and the second (and third and fourth) read helps me remember the plot and characters and everything else. A close reading is different for me than an entertainment read. My business is words, so when I read for entertainment I don't fuss.

So here's what I'm saying. Reading is good even if you think they aren't reading right. There is no 'right' for reading. If they're just reading for escapism, that's fine. If it's fostering a true love of books that might become a career, that's great. If they're reading as a coping strategy. Leave them alone unless you're a therapist and can help them out.

Another possibility you might want to consider is that it's your questions that are making their brains go blank. A lot of people have trouble answering direct questions like that. And if they actually sat and thought about the story or characters and kind of unfolded it from that direction, would actually remember. By 'a lot of people' I mean me. My adhd brain doesn't remember like that. But if I go back to my log and look at my summary, the narrative will come back to me.

[faejilly]

📚 🥐 🐚

📚 ⇢ what's the last thing you wrote down in your notes app?

I... do not have a singular notes app, I use an unholy combination of physical notebooks, habitica, and calendar tasks. (I used to have a notes app, but it failed to sync and I lost a bunch of stuff when I switched phones one time, so now I don't)

The last thing I made a note to do was finding our air compressor because my tires need more air now that it's cold.

The last thing writing related was looking up old vampire folklore so I could note how much of it was bullshit in my Downworld for Dummies fic-adjacent thing.

🥐 ⇢ name one internet reference that will always make you laugh

ohno most of mine are specifically tumblr references rather than internet references... my queue spit out a 'sharks are smooth' joke just this morning even! I am always up for a good spiders georg reference? (Tolkien as Linguistics Georg is one of my favorites)

I will agree with @foodsies4me answer to this, that a good rickroll or spanish inquisition ref pretty much always makes me laugh, too

🐚 ⇢ do you like or dislike surprises?

In fanfic I think everything should be tagged appropriately and if you don't do that I will mute you because I ain't got time for that sort of surprise.

like, I read a very long fic where the LI "died"... they came back, so I understand why the author didn't go for a MCD warning, but they were Very Dead For Several Chapters and the fic was very much about dealing with them being dead (or not dealing, as the emotional case may be) and I was Not In The Mood For That and felt kinda shitty afterwards. And if they'd used a "choose not to warn" label I would have been fine because well, I risked it. But they didn't! And didn't have a 'temporary character death' or anything and it made me not enjoy a story I probably would have liked otherwise.

Like, I know commercial fiction doesn't do warnings, and mostly I am fine with that, different norms in different situations, BUT there are usually very clear tone indicators based on title and cover art and genre and blurb so you know if you're getting into something heavy or adult or not. (and when they get it wrong it's very annoying!)

I mean, I have a story where someone is very dead and the fic is about how no one deals, I have no problem with that as a story. But I put 'choose not to warn' and a 'temporary character death' and 'grief/mourning' and 'angst with a happy ending' on it because I do not want someone who isn't in the mood to deal with death to read a death!fic, yk?

IF, otoh, you mean someone made some new art/fic/etc either for me or specifically told me about it because they thought I'd like it, that is always delightful

as long as I have some idea of what I'm getting into, or you have specifically warned me it might have some shit in it

[nihilistikal]

𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖 𝐓𝐀𝐆 𝐆𝐀𝐌𝐄.

⸻ 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠? Very early on in life, I wouldn't be able to pinpoint an exact age. Definitely somewhere around middle school in a continuous way; it was then that I started to write my own stories inspired by books I read, and even fanfiction. It kind of came naturally to me, just like my art hobby, because it was a nice way to pass time and indulge my escapism (I didn't have many friends, but also always liked spending time on my own).

⸻ 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞? Rarely, I am usually drawn to the same genres and themes I like to write about. I can enjoy a fluffy coffee shop AU once in a while, if it's well done. But most of the time these kinds of genres are too tame for me; I like my drama, complexity, horror and smut.

⸻ 𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐧? I've never been compared to anyone as far as I can remember, and I don't really conciously emulate the writing of other authors -- however, I am definitely inspired by how certain writers phrase things, or by the vocabulary they choose. I have two final fantasy fics that greatly motivate me to expand my english vocabulary and write more intricate sentences, and I have always loved how Patrick Rothfuss writes. There is something about longwinded descriptions and flowery, sometimes even pompous language that I greatly enjoy, especially when it's paired with dark themes, horror, and erotica.

⸻ 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐛��𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞? Since I recently moved it's mostly a work in progress right now, but I am glad that I managed to get this far already.

I have a dedicated place for all my Resident Evil merch; the general idea for my room here is to be mostly cyberpunk inspired when it's finished (as in, Cyberpunk 2077 // V's room), but with random fan merch occupying the space (and jellyfish!!).

⸻ 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐮𝐩 𝐚 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐞? Engaging with their media of origin, mostly. Usually my muse sparks most when I play their games (when it comes to my main fandoms of resident evil and final fantasy 8), sometimes also when I read other fanfics or even see posts about them. But 9 times out of 10, playing the games will do it. Aside from that, if I don't have time or energy but want to try and coax the respective muses out, I have playlists for them on my spotify which I listen to as I sit down to write. I have playlists for each character/muse, and sometimes also a playlist for the fic I am writing. Also a separate playlist for smut, because that needs a special mood and all.

Part of the whole keeping-myself-inspired thing is also running a sideblog for my fics where I can reblog aesthetics, quotes, and all that to get me into the right headspace.

⸻ 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠? 𝐃𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮? Definitely recurring themes, and they don't really surprise me because they usually don't change. I love focusing on the dark things, on dissecting the characters to see what makes them tick, on expanding what we have been given and twist it into something even darker.

Exploring a character's past and therefore their trauma, find what triggers them into action, have them suffer through all of it again as they progress the story - those things are my main drives to write and the reason why my fics always end up becoming massive instead of short °^^.

Smut is something I enjoy writing, but I often use it as a tool to explore character dynamics and the aforementiones themes, simply because it's fun (and not because I feel smut needs a story, it's simply preference in writing for me).

⸻ 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠? Mostly the things I mentioned in the question before, it's my main drive to explore character dynamics; or shine a light on parts of the canon story that were only briefly mentioned (if at all), and see what can be done with that. It's a bit like doing a puzzle to me, in which I try to stick as close to canon as possible while expanding on it and trying to give it my own twist. The main reaction from readers I am usually going for is 1) writing in such a way it's believable the characters would speak and act this way, and 2) make readers feel like they are experiencing a DLC (when I am writing for games), or a secret additional chapter, or a bonus episode etc.

⸻ 𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠? Sadly comments are a dying breed it seems, so any comment I get is amazing feedback and usually motivates me to at least pick up my notes again and do some background work, depending on how much time and energy I have currently.

Thankfully I have never received a comment that pressed me to continue or anything like that, and I hope it stays this way.

But if I had to choose, I'd say the most gratifying and motivating comments are from people who notice the little hints I leave in my writing when it comes to foreshadowing. When they pick up on me hinting towards something brewing in the background that might come to bite the characters' behinds soon, or when little side-comments hint to other characters that might soon make an appearance.

I also would love hearing what parts the readers enjoyed most, it would help a lot to understand if I am "doing a good job", for lack of better words.

Oh and of course the general excitement when drama is about to unfold, it always makes me smile when people enjoy those parts.

⸻ 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐛𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬? ...honestly I have never thought about that before. Maybe, quite simply, that I made their day a little better with my writing. That would be nice.

⸻ 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫? Character analysis, I'd say. I'm not sure if I always get across what I have laid out inside my head because it can become quite complicated and twisted (which reminds me I should post more headcanon posts), but character analysis makes up about 70% of my foundations for a fic.

Also I think due to this I am quite good at finding a character's voice (as in, writing in a way that doesn't feel OOC).

⸻ 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠? Oof, that depends.

Mostly I feel good about it, otherwise I wouldn't publish anything for people to read. But when I am forced to take longer breaks from writing, I feel incredibly rusty (mostly because english is not my first language, so I don't use it as regularly in my everyday life). It's frustrating sometimes because it takes time and effort to get back to the level it was when I left off, and so it impacts the time it takes me to finish a chapter, which in turn stresses me out a bit because I know how fast media consumption works these days. I try not to take the whole time-thing too seriously, but sometimes it gets to me.

⸻ 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞, 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟, 𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐱 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡? Definitely a mix of both. First and foremost I write for myself, because I have a vision and I want to get it out of my system. I used to do that with roleplaying, but due to many reasons that is not a feasable outlet anymore these days. Maybe sometime in the future, with the right people and on the right platform.

I don't know if people who write fics and never roleplayed can relate, but when you write characters in rp, they often tend to develop a "life and mind of their own" (we usually just call it "the muse - aka character - is awake (and rattling the bars of their enclosure)" because that's what it feels like).

But yeah, that inspiration and creativity needs to go somewhere, so writing fics it is!

Aside from that, after a while I try to consider my readers in terms of pacing of the story, structure, internal dialogues versus action and all these things. To me, it's a way to improve my writing and not something I feel is a burden.

TAGGED BY: @judasiskariot (thank you so much, this was a lot of fun!) TAGGING: @blauerregen | @sauron-kraut | @no-bee (( if you want to, ofc!)

[mumms-the-word]

💙💜 for the colour asks?

Thanks for the ask!! <3

💙 Blue: What inspires you to finish writing a fanfic, and what makes you quit writing one at any stage in the process?

I am the world’s worst at finishing something, especially if it’s a long-form thing like a book or a longfic like Fathoms or Masquerade is. Honestly, some days I want to just be like “if I quit softly no one will notice right?” But I know that I have at least 1 or 2 readers out there who would be sad and who sometimes ask for updates. If you ask me for an update there is a 95% chance I’ll be motivated (and pressured) to finish something lol

Also, some of the scenes I’m most excited to write in the long fics are the ones at the end. Beginnings are hard but exciting, the climatic endings are my favorite to write, and the middle is a SLOG. I always start to doubt my ability to finish a longfic/long project as soon as I hit the middle. The motivation just takes a nosedive. But I have to get to the fun scenes somehow, you know?

As for shorter fics, like oneshots…I think writing them more or less in one go helps keep up the motivation to finish them. I have several oneshots that I haven’t finished yet because I just don’t feel inspired to return to them or I feel like what I’ve written isn’t good, and the longer I wait to work on them, the less I want to bother with them. Sometimes finding just the right song for the fic’s mood helps, or finding a fanart that is particularly inspiring. Art inspires art!

As for why I tend to quit writing a certain oneshot or project, it depends. Sometimes it’s because the idea just isn’t working that day, or my writing feels forced, or I just have a headache/don’t feel good, or I got stuck on a plot point or scene, or I just feel unmotivated. The problem is, especially for oneshots, if I don’t try to pick it up the next day, it tends to get left behind. I’m trying to get better about returning to old WIPs but…I think some stuff will just be Forever Unfinished

💜 Purple: Name one song you're listening to while writing your next/current fanfic. How or why does it help the writing process?

Oh god how can I pick only one? I listen to video game/movie soundtracks when I write. I can’t listen to anything with words (at least, not in English) because I’ll pay attention to those words instead. I can’t listen to words and write words at the same time.

That said, one song I keep coming back to recently is The Journey from the Atlantis movie soundtrack. It may or may not have anything to do with Friday’s update in Fathoms 👀

But in general I listen to music to sink into a kind of mood or vibe for the scene. A sad scene needs sad music, a fight scene needs epic battle music, a cozy scene needs cozy music. That sort of thing. And if all else fails, chill video game music covers all my bases, because theoretically speaking it’s designed to fade in the background and help your concentration.

Idk I’m just not as big on listening to contemporary music/music with words when I write. Some stuff does inspire scenes, but I can’t listen to those songs WHILE I write.

Also being dismally behind all music trends lately doesn’t help

Anyways thanks for the ask!!