#i am not a confident writer!!!!!!!!

[leaf-kei]

Hello again! I really appreciated the first reply you gave me and realized how much of a neat person you are, so I decided to ask you another question. Are you interested in creating any OCs? Either for Time Squad or something else? I literally just posted my first OCs for the show... and I still feel quite unconfident about them. The little girl Emily was created so that Otto could have a friend who is around his age. He's the only child in the show, so it would be nice to have other kids to relate to, even if they don't know about history as much as he does. They've known each other since they were babies (at least in my canon they did).

Also, what is your opinion on AUs? I personally think they bring a lot of creativity into the fandom. For example, I have an AU where Larry and Tuddrussel adopt Otto as a baby rather than a 8-year old... plus he never went to Sister Thornley's orphanage, so he never witnessed any abuse... just pure love and affection from a robot and time cop from the very beginning. Imagine a film noir version of Time Squad XD

You also got any fanfiction ideas or not? I have a ton of ideas up my sleeve, but most haven't made it to the planning stage yet.

It is alright if you don't have OCs, have fanfic ideas, or don't support AUs. I was just wondering. ;)

Hi again! Aww, shucks… thanks for prompting me to talk about Time Squad more, it energizes me so much (ง •̀_•́)ง

OCs and AUs are awesome, transformative fiction is the best!! I like your OCs! Your AU is like… imagine if Otto had an actual support network and wasn’t emotionally scarred lol. I’m getting Jetsons vibes, like a cozy, futuristic family comedy. <3 We also don’t have a woman-identifying robot in TS, so that’s cool to see! Your baby Otto AU is cute. It’s really hammered home in the show that Larry likes babies, so giving him the opportunity to raise one would create some interesting scenarios! In my own TS imaginings, I reckon Larry would probably want to adopt a baby at some point when Otto’s older. Maybe they could scoop one from a historical disaster like Pompeii… I can’t decide if that’s sweet or extremely messed up LMAO

I personally don’t really make OCs, for some reason… I guess I just enjoy playing with already-existing characters more? Maybe I’m not creative enough, lol. I have one TS fanfic outline that requires a new historical figure, but that’s more utilitarian than an actual OC. And I guess everything I’ve made up that comes after season 2 is technically an AU!—Of course, that includes every situation that involves Tudd and Larry being in an out-and-out relationship… I’m basically in the headspace of “if the show got an adult-oriented reboot nowadays, what kind of jokes and stories could happen?”

—I kind of already mentioned it but yes, I do have fic ideas! I eventually want to turn a bunch of them into comics, time allowing! (…Some of them are.,. inappropriate,,..,,, so idk if or where I should post those particular ones if I make them lol. I know TS has not been legally watchable for 20 years, but it’s still technically a “kids’ show”,,)

I’ll share a silly little short idea:

This one has a terrible comic sketch already! (NOT EVEN CLOSE TO BEING FINISHED)

I have tons more little ideas, but I’m not that confident in them yet lmao. Well, that’s it, thanks again for your ask!! :3

[kidvoodoo]

Some lil Jere sketches inspired by @hotcat37 ‘s deaf!Jere au <3 this was the first multi chapter work I read in the bojere fandom and I’m obsessed lol

Also I love designing outfits and especially ones I want irl hehe

[cluescorner]

I cannot imagine being a Damian stan right now. You've got both Zdarsky's bullshit (where he clearly doesn't give a shit about your boy) and The Boy Wonder (where Juni Ba clearly gives so many shits about your boy) coming out on the same day. The whiplash must be insane. I hope y'all get some nice warm soup for your efforts jfc

[inklinefan]

(read Left to Right!)

[gorgynei]

i uploaded it. im prepared to be crucified for speaking my truth. be free my t4t4t callowpeamoore warriors <- THIS IS 18+

[neil-neil-orange-peel]

I was thinking to myself recently how wild it would be if this fandom was big enough to do a kinktober. Alas...

[succulentsiren]

“She acts like she’s all that.”

First of all, it’s not an act.

[koifishscribbles]

Just hopping on again to remind folks of my wip long satosugu fic entitled I’m Sorry: In Various Translation!

Here’s the premise:

Gojo Satoru has not seen his ex, Getou Suguru, since college. Until he shows up one day teaching in the classroom across the hall from him.

Here’s a list of things that you might like about it:

- 56k so far and nobody’s kissed yet but it’s coming really soon. It’s definitely slowburning.

- alternating povs in a curse free AU. See satosugu in high school, then college, and finally as teachers!

- some of the major themes are grief and growing up (maybe that’s just a bonus for me)

Here’s a sample from the latest chapter (I picked an angsty bit for y’all):

“Smoke your fucking cigarette.” Satoru spits. It tastes like bile, but the only way he’s going to feel better is to cough it all up. “When’d you realize that you fucked up?”

The spark of the lighter burn his eyes. He still smokes the same cigarettes as Shoko. In a cloud of smoke Suguru responds, “I am still not sure I fucked up—“

“Fuck you.” It bubbles out of him and hangs from his lips before he can stop it.

“I deserve that. I think that if I had stayed, I might not be here, so I didn’t fuck up, I just survived. I felt guilty about leaving before I even did it. The question wasn’t you or me, because I like to think I would have picked to save you. The question was: save myself or we both drown.”

Satoru doesn’t expect to have anything left to say. The few words he’s already choked up have left his throat feeling raw, but this slips out coated in his blood: “I would have picked you too.” The phrase sits between them, garishly caring.

[puppyeared]

who up seeing their disorder in a fictional character but feel like its not their place to put a name on it

[the-lights-are-loud]

Randomly remembering that I wrote over 100 pages of content around this time last year...

[pastafossa]

How do you get past writer's block? I have a fic that I'm working on that is updating on a schedule, and I made the mistake of giving myself a month off in between parts and now I can't really get back into writing it. I don't want to leave it abandoned because I have a few people who I know are really invested and I don't want to leave them hanging, but I'm having a hard time getting as excited to write it as I did before.

Ok so I'm in a weird place for this, hilariously. Because The Answer That Usually Works For Me (TM) and that carried me through a regular weekly update schedule for almost two and a half years is, in fact, not at present working for me apparently my brain can write through a pandemic but not through recovery from the shit that went down in December/Jan so we found my writing kryptonite. However, I'm going to assume you're closer to 2021 Pasta than 2024 Pasta. SO LET'S GO WITH THE METHOD I NORMALLY USE SINCE IT WAS SUCCESSFUL FOR YEARS. Cause that's the thing: sure, I've written almost a million words, and pumped out chapters for years (ignoring the past few months) but I promise, I hit the same walls as everyone else even when nailing weekly uploads. But over those years, I came up with a fairly solid list of steps that I'd go through one by one.

Fun one first: when I'm in a block, I almost always try re-engaging with canon first. I'd rewatch my favorite episodes, binge a whole season, or even the whole series depending on how much of a boost I needed. For me at least that was often like Pavlov's bell, my favorite story triggering a flood of affection. I'd remember why I loved this fandom and the characters so much, and it could often kickstart my brain and excitement back into gear. If you really want to dangle a carrot and your fic touches on canon, focus on watching parts you're excited to get to in your story. A big one for me in TRT for example was the post-Nobu, Nelson v. Murdock episode, since I'd had that planned for TRT almost since the start, and I was very excited to reach the hurt/comfort I had planned. Even if your fic isn't following canon though, see if it'll give you a creative rush again!

So let's say step 1 doesn't work, either because the canon just isn't hitting the spot or because your fic is dealing with something else. In this case, my next step was usually to jump ahead to write a scene I was really eager to get to. It was often a short blurb, but it was always something I REALLY wanted to explore, and because I'm also a reader who likes exactly the tropes and plots I'm writing, I want to read what fucking happens. Except, fuck, I'm not there yet, am I? And I can't see how that scene finishes until I write my way up to it and finish it. This is my own carrot. Multiple scenes in TRT were written months or even years in advance, simply as a way to bribe myself. This is also an option!

But maybe this doesn't work. Sometimes it didn't. This is when it got a bit more serious. For anyone who was reading at the time, you'd have noticed that I'd sometimes drop side fics, either Matt POVs or one-shots. This was me, in essence, working on the shower principle (basically, ideas/solutions will come if you stop thinking about it and do something else, like take a shower). I figured if I went and wrote something else - either with less stress, or something fun and dopamine-inducing - the part of my brain focused on my Big Fic would wander around the writer's block beneath my notice. And it almost always worked, all while I still kept my brain trained that, hey, even if we're not writing This Thing, we're still writing.

But let's say this doesn't work either. You're well, and truly, stuck. Been there now and then. And, you're going to hate this one. I hate it but it works 9 times of 10. And it is: Write anyway. Half of it was spite. I was not going to give up my schedule, I liked my schedule. The other half was that I knew myself. I knew if I could just get past the chapter/plot/dialogue I was struggling with, I'd be able to roll along again. And so I made a rule: whatever I wrote didn't have to be pretty. It just had to exist. If that meant I wrote, "Jane chased the cat in circles and caught it. She was happy." then that's what I wrote. Because everything, EVERYTHING, can be fixed in editing. But you can't fix what doesn't exist. And so there were those nights when I would scowl and groan and snarl and bash my head against that writer's block until 5 in the morning, but in the end Jane chased that fucking cat adn caught it, it was written. Hilariously, sometimes those chapters have wound up amazing (likely because I spent so much time hammering at them) and reader favorites. There are absolutely, I believe, moments where you can, and should, see if you can push through.

But that brings me to *waves* now. A lesson I've only recently recently and with encouragement. Namely... sometimes brain no go and that's ok. My steps work for me 99.9% of the time, but I've done the above during the past few months, and it just... hasn't dragged me out entirely out of it yet. Sometimes, our brains demand that break, especially when things just aren't going great. There's a reason TRT had a break of roughly 2 years between chapter 4 and chapter 5 (feel free to check the chapter index with dates on AO3!). I had some life things happening and I just was not in a place to write, even if I was still busily plotting and planning and thinking about TRT behind the scenes. And that was ok. We're not machines. I came back like a bulldozer in Jan 2021, yes, and bulldozed through weekly updates, but that break was needed. And now I'm obviously taking a short one again while I recover from everything. It's ok if you're not in a place for it. So the last step is one I've been told a lot by dear friends recently as they helped me through this: be kind to yourself, and try not to stress if none of the above works. The story will always be there, and if TRT is any indication through all its highs and lows, your readers will be there when you start up again.

[lunarmoves]

on team stardust in spirit 😔🙏

[kidvoodoo]

He never should have gotten lost

Truthfully, it was not Bojan’s fault. The caravan was hurried across the icy roads in fear of the approaching blizzard, the mounted guards pushing the desperate people and stock animals alike. It wouldn’t matter, they were doomed across the Käsivarsi, it was always too treacherous for a band of inexperienced Traders. The panic and hurried chaos found some of the wagons sliding and the animals pulling them spooked and scattered. The guards shouted for the rest to grab the horses lest they be lost in the wilderness.

And so he found himself here, lost in the frigid woods following hoof prints that disappeared under the freshly falling snow.

Bojan shivered as he moved silently as possible through the trees, afraid to whistle for the missing animals lest he attract unwanted attention…

“Susia,” the gruff voice of a bearded hunter warned, they had stopped briefly in a village overlooking the Kilpisjärvi. “Wolf packs. They travel together, hunting animals like your horses. Will kill you in your sleep, they stay away from fires. Sleep in shifts.” The guards took any advice from the locals, trusting their knowledge of the wilds.

“And boy,” the hunter addressed Bojan who startled at the sudden attention. “You watch for Väki. He hunts for people like you. Foolish people.”

The guards all snickered at that, Bojan huffed and pulled his coat tighter, stomping out of the hunter’s shack.

Foolish indeed, he scowled as his fingers and toes froze. He could find the road again, to hell with the horses-

BAM

Something slams into his back, throwing him face first into the snow. For a brief and panicked moment he thought one of the horses had charged him, the force was so strong it knocked the wind from his lungs, but as he scrambled to crawl away, he heard a deep growl.

Wolves

In his panicked state he let out a yell and felt a powerful grip grab at his shirt collar, wrenching him onto his back.

Oh God it’s gonna tear my throat out-

The cold press of metal against his windpipe startles his screwed shut eyes open.

Green.

Bright, glowing, inhuman green irises bore into his hysterical brown ones. A deep snarl, like a wolf erupts from human lips. Human?

No, not this creature.

His skin is a pale greyish-blue and his ears are pointed and curved, he’s shirtless save for a thick cloak of pelt’s around his neck and shoulders, strong and powerful looking arms level a curved and pockmarked knife to Bojan’s throat. The creature’s other arm is raised, his hand not flesh and blood but a twisted claw of tree roots and bark, fingertips hooked and wickedly sharp. His expression is pulled into a fierce glare, dark brows furrowed over even darker eyes that hold two glowing orbs at their center, a hypnotic and terrifying stare meant to shatter the bravery of any foolish man who strays from the path…

Just like Bojan did.

“P-please-“ Bojan stutters, grasping his barely-there knowledge of the Finnic language to attempt to communicate. “I am sorry, I didn’t mean to trespass-“

“Caravan.” The creature growls back, Bojan spots sharp, canine-like teeth behind his scowl.

“Yes! Yes I am with the Caravan on the road, we only need to find our horses-“

“Horses gone.” The strange being spits, slowly pulling the long knife away from Bojan’s throat. “They run far out in the forest, wolves will chase them down” He moves to stand back, not letting his guard down or stowing his weapon. “You not find them in time.”

Bojan slowly pulls himself up out of the snow, his back now soaked with melted snow and making his breath catch from the cold.

“Y-yes. You are probably right, I will go back to my people, I-I’m so sorry I disturbed your territory-“

“Not mine.” The creature says, Bojan sees now that he’s actually taller than the creature, but it doesn’t make him any less intimidated.

“You die before finding horses, too cold for your kind.” The stranger huffs and sheds his wolf pelt cloak, handing it to the shaken human. “Take. I find your horses”

Bojan looks dumbfounded, shivering hands grasping the cloak.

“But-“

“I bring them when your people asleep. You tell no one about.” The being glares, his burning eyes piercing through Bojan. He raises his twisted root hand and curls his fingers open, Bojan swivels around to the sound of cracking wood and stares in awe as the forest’s dense trees bend open to reveal a path.

“Follow, your people not too far away.”

Bojan shakes himself out of his gawking to turn and thank the creature-

But he’s gone.

His gaze darts around for any signs of the strange being, but not even footprints are left in the white blanket of snow. He is pulled out of his shock by a harsh shivering of his frozen body, quickly pulling the thick coat of furs around himself.

Warmth.

It’s unnaturally warm. Smelling of thick pine and iron and something undefinably sweet. He burrows into it further.

As he goes to follow the path in the parted trees, he spares one more glance behind him, a small smile on his face.

“Thank you” he whispers to the empty air.

<><><>

I’ve been reading all about Finnish folklore lately and what better way to express my excitement than to make an au no one asked for :D

[alexlesuagz]

Okay this is NOTHING like my usual content but because S2 of HBO Max’s “Velma” show came out, I have arrived to say that for some reason I have the sudden temptation to try to rework it, because as bad as it is, there is SO MUCH potential they could have used when it comes to characters specifically that the writers WASTE HARD because they aren’t competent at all.

Like, they REFUSE to give any of the ‘likeable’ main characters some sort of self-awareness about shitty behavior and REFUSE to make them change and develop as characters to the point where the supposedly “alpha male parody” character ends up being the most likeable and interesting (yes, this is me confessing that I sat through the entirety of “Velma” S1 for Fred LMAO), and even then they just make him the absolute butt of the joke.

Honestly, unpopular opinion, but I think the idea of “Velma” being a bit grittier with their protagonists having a little bit more unlikeable traits could have worked, but they didn’t use it well and just turned it into a freakshow lovechild of “Family Guy” and a Temu version of “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia”.

Then again, I’m not that familiar with the “Scooby Doo” franchise as a whole (I’ve only watched a couple old episodes), so if I were to rework “Velma”, the characters probably will still be at least a little OOC, but at the same time, the “Velma” versions are so OOC already, it fails as an adaptation/reboot of Scooby-Doo from the very first episode- At this point, any possible rewrite of the show is to expand on what it was possibly going for just so it can try to stand on its own 😭

(ALSO /GENQ WHERE CAN I START WHEN IT COMES TO GETTING INTO “SCOOBY DOO” AS A FRANCHISE? I’VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT GETTING INTO IT EVEN BEFORE I THOUGHT ABOUT REWORKING “VELMA”)

[hiraethwrote]

don’t mind me, just going to queue up some amazing fics while i sulk a little about not participating in kinktober 🥲

[syn0vial]

honestly as much as i love galidraan as a source of angst and a big reason that jango is The Way he is, i do also think the overall conceit of it was poorly written and find arguments over which side was "responsible" for the massacre to be very frustrating.

imo, the problem is that the writer(s) would have us believe that a competent peacekeeping group could, with perfectly good intentions, wipe out an entire clan of people and then just kind of carelessly let the sole survivor of said massacre be sold into slavery in the aftermath.

and there's just like... no way to spin those circumstances into a form that isn't monstrous. and this isn't me saying, "therefore the jedi are the bad guys, the end." this is me being frustrated bc i don't find it feasible for a group of jedi to have done this. i literally do not understand how the jedi come there with the intention of arresting people and then just fucking genocide them instead—regardless of if jango shot first. unless the jedi had swapped out their lightsabers with rocket launchers or were specifically only aiming for decapitations, it doesn't make sense.

this strained suspension of disbelief is further compounded by the fact that the jedi council only expresses their regrets for what happened on galidraan after realizing that they'd been tricked by the planet's governor and that the mandalorians they'd massacred had been innocent—which only gives the very wild impression that if the true mandalorians had been guilty of crimes, then the whole mass murder and enslavement thing would've been peachy with them.

i just find the depiction of the jedi in this episode of star wars history to be atrocious to the point where it's just like... no, there needs to be more reason provided for this than just, "the governor lied to them." intentional sabotage, bad actors in the group, a greater conspiracy—there has to be something more than, "they just accidentally genocided this entire clan idk ¯\_(ツ)_/¯" bc the latter is just not believable on its own.

furthermore, if the massacre of galidraan was a thing that happened, whether bc of conspiracy or not, one would expect a much greater reaction among the jedi as a whole: an investigation, sanctions or even expulsion from the order for those deemed responsible, action against the governor that had lied to him, or, idk, tracking down the survivor you handed over to that governor to make sure nothing horrific has been done to him. something! instead, the jedi council is just kind of like "oops our bad" and, aside from dooku leaving, nothing really comes of it.

it really does just feel like the writer(s) needed a reason for jango to hate the jedi and so chose to, for this one isolated occurrence, write the jedi being cartoonishly, unbelievably horrible to justify it. and i find it all the more frustrating bc i think it would still have been believable for jango to loathe the jedi even if they hadn't been portrayed so appallingly. if the massacre had been the result of bad actors or conspiracy within the group, if the council had pursued action against the people responsible, if a mission had been deployed after the fact to find out what had become of jango—wouldn't it still make sense for him to, rightfully or wrongfully, hold the jedi as a group responsible for the death of his family? would he even know about the true reasons for the massacre or the jedi's attempts to help him afterwards? if the jedi had tried to rescue him from slavery but failed to find him, wouldn't that make his hatred of them all the more tragic?

idk, i just feel like there's a lot of lost potential there and i wish more people would discuss the lapses of the writer(s) rather than condemning or justifying the event as if it was an actual historical occurrence.