#i really am glad to learn more but i wish i had written the post differently

[sereniv]

going to take an internet break just for a few days, ive been wanting to anyway because i get too distracted from my phone especially tumblr and instagram.

i got so many messages on that post, and im learning quite a bit which im thankful for, and im going through answering people but it is overwhelming, theres so many split threats and messages its hard to keep track

i definitely recognize how my post came off, regardless of my intent, and thank you for everyone being patient but i also am not mad at people who arent.

I think after a few days ill be able to read more. bc rn anything longer than a paragraph turns to soup

[olsenmyolsen]

Hi lovely!! To answer your question about what I’d like to see in the future, first of all I just want to say that I am so so deeply glad you’ve started writing and sharing your work with us, I just think you are so so so good at writing and extremely original with each concept you come up with!! I get SO excited every time I see you’ve posted something!! Personally, my favorite fics to read are female reader with either Wanda or Natasha, or with wandanat. Hands down my most favorite fic you’ve written and that I find myself thinking about frequently is, ‘you have me for the night,’ like it is seriously mindblowingly amazing as a concept and the way you executed it!😍

My other favorites you have so kindly created and shared with us to enjoy include ‘ups and downs,’ I just can’t get over how fantastic your writing is and how funny and enthralling this story is. ‘Taste,’ simply had me in a chokehold with how hot it was and all the pining and sexual tension! Your vampire reader stories and ‘inspiration,’ are also some of my personal favorites from you.

I think I personally really like stories that have some pining and build up which you write soooo deliciously well.

I would also eat it up if you ever had any interest in a female reader and Wanda or wandanat fic with reader being a new avenger and a werewolf who discovers that Wanda (or wandanat) is her mate when she joins the team. Maybe Wanda (or wandanat) even doesn’t like reader much or doesn’t trust her when she joins so it’s like an enemies to lovers, lots of pining kind of situation.

To whoever requested this mooooonths ago, I am so so so so sorry it took me this long to complete it. I honestly started and deleted writing it like five different times. I just couldn't find the right plot in my head. But hopefully, you enjoy this <3 And I truly apologize if you're upset with some liberties I took and changed.

After Midnight

master list . maroon master list . dark master list

Yes loosely based on the Chappell Roan song :)

Monster AU (Female Werewolf Reader X Monster Hunters WandaNat)

Summary: For some time now, Wanda has had visions of you. She doesn't know who you are, but when her senses lead her and her girlfriend, Natasha Romanoff, to a club, they end up learning more about the world than they thought they knew.

Word Count: 2.6K

Content: Crowded Places, Monsters, References to Sex, Teeth, Biting, Lust

You danced in a dress that you wanted forever with red lipstick painted on your lips.

The poppy music swirled around you and through the club, as you drank and made quick friends with girls you knew wouldn't remember your name the next day.

Only the fact that your teeth sunk into their neck.

And the cry of pleasure that followed.

Regardless, with a smile, you danced and drank (as if you could even get drunk) and waited for the woman you had been dreaming of for the last few months.

A woman you knew belonged to you.

A woman who, like you, had been dreaming of someone she felt connected to.

You.

"Wanda, are you sure this is it?" Natasha Romanoff asked of her partner Wanda Maximoff as they arrived outside the club The Full Moon.

To say Natasha was annoyed would be an understatement. Her girlfriend Wanda had been having these dreams of an ethereal animalistic woman for months.

Wanda was open and honest about what she would see. Natasha almost wishes she wasn't.

Almost.

And yes, Natasha knew what she was experiencing was jealousy, but when her girlfriend says she "feels a connection" to this mysterious person, how else was she supposed to feel?

So, as the two of them entered the club, they both had their sights set on finding you. Whoever you were.

The second the pair of Monster Hunters enter the club, the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Your sense going off. Yet, through the bodies of people in the club, you can't locate them as quickly.

Especially in your human form.

With a sigh, you give your empty glass to a hammered girl with big boobs and glasses as you leave the dance floor.

You hope to find the two monster hunters faster this way.

However, across the club, as the rainbow lights bounce off everything around Wanda and Natasha, they also sense something is off. Wanda gives Natasha a quizzical look after they order their drinks.

A purple cocktail for Wanda and a beer for Natasha.

"You sense it?" Wanda asks. Natasha nods as her eyes are already scanning what she can see. "A monster on this side of town? This late into the month? I don't know." Natasha replied to Wanda, who picked up her cocktail seconds after it was delivered.

Wanda also looks around the spacious room. "See anything?" She asks Natasha, who shakes her head. The two of them are experts in their field. They should be able to snuff out who or what is breaking the laws set before them, but they can't.

On top of that, they're off the clock.

Natasha turns back to the bar and takes a sip of her beer. Wanda looks at her girlfriend. "Let's just focus back on finding this mysterious person and figure out why I'm drawn to them."

Once again, that option isn't as thrilling to Natasha, but she follows along. She loves Wanda and knows how much this means to her. "Okay." She says, grabbing Wanda's hand and following her to the dance floor.

You move from your sat postion at a table far too close to a speaker as you watch the way a redhead follows another woman hand in hand into the crowd of drunks on the lit-up floor.

"Gotcha." You whisper spotting the off the clock Monster Hunters silhouetted in black. You smile, knowing you like to have fun with these people regardless, but it is far too late into the night for them to do anything.

After Midnight.

In the middle of a sea of people, Natasha and Wanda slowly start to lose themselves to the indie pop hits of today, but just as Wanda goes to finish off her cocktail, she gasps. Natasha immediately notices and comes to her side. "What is it?"

A vision plays out in Wanda's head—a vision you also see.

You smirk as the vision dissapears in your mind. You finally figured out what these visions mean.

"What is it?" Natasha asks as Wansa looks up and around the place. "She's here." Natasha looks as well but stops when Wanda gestures towards you, making your way through the crowd.

Natasha freezes as she looks over you. You're, of course, gorgeous (something maybe Wanda didn't fully explain), and you're wearing a red dress that hugs your curves beautifully.

Natasha looks from you to Wanda, whose mouth is slightly apart, in awe. "It's you," Wanda says, making you tilt your head with a smirk.

"Aside from my visions... Where do I know her from?" You question yourself before you stand in front of the pretty pair of faces looking at you. "Hi!" You say it with a sultry tone, making Natasha blatantly roll her eyes. Something you find amusing. Something Wanda ignores as she brings her body closer to you. "Hi." She says it with a soft, almost too-quiet tone.

"So you're from my vision." You cut to the chase as you bring your body closer to the brunette. Ignoring the glares from the redhead. "And you're from mine," Wanda replies.

Natasha huffs as she interrupts the eye fucking going on. "Okay. Yes. You have dreams about one another. What does that mean?" Natasha not so subtly moves in between you and the brunette. You look from the girl with the soft expression to the one with raging red hair. "And you are?" You say, biting back a smirk.

Natasha hates your attitude, forcing herself to narrow her eyes. She thinks you're lucky she's using all her strength not to fight you right now. "I'm Natasha Romanoff. I'm this one girlfriend." She says, pointing back to the brunette.

You smile. "Girlfriend?" You ask, questioning the other woman, who nods. "I'm Wanda. Wanda Maximoff." She extends her hand and raises her voice above the club music. You gingerly take her hand and shake it. The action sends a jolt of electricity through the two of you. Making you smile even wider.

"What?" Natasha asks as she sees the look on your face.

"It's just you two don't know why you've been having these visions, do you?" Each person shakes their head at you. "Well... there's no easy way to say this." You look around. Maybe the middle of the dance floor isn't the best place. "Follow me." You say to them, not caring if Natasha wants to follow or not.

You knew Wanda would.

You paid off the bouncer to the VIP area and closed the door to a private room. "Oh, come on." Natasha groans, seeing the bed in the middle of the room. "I didn't know The Full Moon was this kind of place." Wanda quietly held in a laugh as her girlfriend squeezes her hand. Annoyed. "It's not like that, I promise." You say, gesturing between you and Natasha, ignoring the comment about the bed as you move in front of the girlfriends.

It was just there for people to have a good time consensually.

As you look from one face to the other, it clicks for you.

However, just to be sure, you lightly sniff the air in the room, and your senses instantly alert you to the presence of two Monster Hunters.

The ones in front of you. 

You can't help but shake your head and smirk.

Of course.

"You two don't seem to know much about this place." You say to Natasha mainly. She rolls her eyes again. "Look, just tell us the real reason we're here." You put your hands up in a fake surrender and walk over the bed. Sitting down on it before moving back ever so slightly. Your covered breasts and long tan legs perfectly make Wanda want more.

"Wanda is my mate." You come right out and say it, knowing it would throw the two of them for a loop.

Also laughing knowing that they're Monster Hunters. They weren't supposed to be able to mate with said Monsters.

Wanda stares at you wide-eyed as if she can't believe what she just heard. Even if it was the truth and not that far from unbelievable.

She has witches blood in her after all.

Natasha, on the other hand, can't fathom it. She laughs like it's a big prank and steps closer to you. "Mate? Yeah right. Okay. Quit messing around around. Tell us the real reason."

You squint your eyes at Natasha and lie down on the bed. Sighing. "That is the real reason." Natasha opens and closes her mouth before stumbling to say: "Only Monsters can have mates." Natasha looks at you and slowly backs up. Grabbing a stunned Wanda, the two of them move away from the bed. "If it's true, then you're a Monster. That's why we sensed something. It was you!"

You lift your head up slightly. "First correction. Monsters aren't the only ones who can have mates. And secondly, do I look like a monster to you?"

"I th-"

"I was asking Wanda." Natasha closes her mouth and looks at her girlfriend. Her gaze on the person on the bed. You. "I.. I don't think you look like a Monster."

"Wanda!" Natasha says, unable to believe what Wanda was saying. Or trying to say. "I'm a beauty, Nat. What can I say." You smirk before looking at Natasha and winking. 

Even before tonight, she was having trouble coming up with reasons to be here, but now she's really struggling.

Natasha looks from Wanda to you once more. "What are you?"

"Wanda's mate. Now I don't know-"

"What are you really!?" Natasha asks, not wanting to hear any more about you and HER girlfriend. "Tasha." Wanda quietly says as she pulls on Nat's hand.

Wanda understands Natasha's frustrations and anger, but to Wanda, you were attractive, and Wanda did want to know more. Being rude wasn't going to solve anything.

You slowly pull yourself up and off the bed. Standing several feet away from the two. "I'm a Werewolf." You say, a tad quieter than you had been all night.

Something Natasha and Wanda picked up on.

"How do we know you're not lying?" Natasha asks, looking for more answers. "Aren't the visions enough?" You reply, almost annoyed. Natasha shakes her head. "Prove what you are."

You roll your eyes and take steps closer to Wanda and Natasha. Neither woman moving away. They're intrigued. You lift your upper lip up so the Monster Hunters can see a large canine tooth form before going away.

"The closer it gets to a full moon, the harder it becomes to control my human form."

Silence rests between everyone.

"Funny name for a bar then, no?" Wanda breaks the tension with a joke that makes you laugh. A sound Wanda giggles at.

Natasha squeezes Wanda's hand and does her best not to smile as she looks at you. "So now what?"

"Well, you're not taking me in. I'll tell you that." You look from the green shimmer in Wanda's eyes. "We won't," Wanda says without missing a beat.

Natasha sighs. "We weren't going to anyways. It's after hours and... and now the situation's complicated."

Truthfully, Natasha didn't care if she saw you ever again. But the more Wanda hung around you, the harder it was to pull her back.

"You know..." Natasha speaks up. "We came here tonight with one goal in mind. To see who Wanda was sharing visions with. But now that she's supposedly your mate and all that... What happens?" Natasha swallows and looks from Wanda to you and back. "Because I'm not losing Wanda to you. Not tonight." Natasha shakes her head as her eyes sting. But she sniffles and holds back the tears.

The thought of Wanda not being with her is eating away at her.

"You don't have to lose Wanda." You smirked as you brought your body closer and closer to Wanda. Her soft eyes going from her girlfriend to you.

She doesn't want to lose Natasha either.

"You know..." You lift your hand, making Natasha step forward, but she stops when she sees you push some hair from Wanda's face. "Us Monsters or Werewolf's aren't like Seahorses." Wanda tilts her head as she lays your hand on her cheek, bringing your eyes to Natasha. "Mating doesn't end with one person. It's normal and what usually happens, but... it doesn't have to be."

You bring your gaze back to Wanda as she looks from you to Natasha. Both of them understand your words. "You wouldn't lose her, Natasha."

You're honest and surprisingly caring. At least that's what Natasha thinks of you now.

"What are you doing now?" Natasha asks as you lean forward and look at Wanda's skin—especially the beautiful place on her neck.

Wanda can sense what you're thinking. "She wants to bite me." Natasha widens her eyes and goes to push you away, but you quickly grab her arm and twist it.

Your true strength coming through.

"I'm trying to be a good, good girl." You let go of Natasha, making her huff and stand in between you and Wanda. "I'm sorry I just love a little drama."

"We should get going," Natasha speaks to you as her eyes never leave yours. Yet she doesn't move. The second she gives you makes your mouth work faster than your brain. "I'm feeling kinda freaky." You raise a playful eyebrow. "Maybe it's the moonlight. Maybe it's something else. The club lights?" You shrug and step closer to Natasha.

Wanda watches as your eyes travel to Nat's smooth skin.

"I kinda wanna kiss your girlfriend, if you don't mind."

Natasha opens her mouth to argue, but Wanda stops her. "She's not talking to you," Wanda says as Nat looks back at you, wearing a widening grin. "M-me?" Natasha asks you.

And since walking into the club, the chip on Natasha's shoulder melts away. Wanda walks up behind her girlfriend, wraps her arms around her, and kisses her cheek. "We could never lose each other."

Yet Natasha still can't process what you're asking.

You nod as she stares at you. "You, Natasha." Wanda brings her lips up to Natasha's ears. "It's okay." You nod as your ears pick up Wanda's words. "And then Wanda."

"And then Wanda-" Natasha gets cut off as you invade her space and take her face in your hands. Your callous fingers move down Natasha's cheek as your aggressive kiss slows into one of passion.

This is what I wanted. This is what I like.

When you pull away, your lips are darker. Natasha stands stunned before bringing her fingers to her lips. Touching where you just were. "Yo-you just kissed me.?" She speaks, making you blush. "We can do more than that." You offer with a laugh.

Wanda, with her eyes dark, can read your mind as your kiss with Natasha opens up the connection between the three of you.

She knows you're not joking about the offer.

"Wanda..." Natasha turned her attention to Wanda as her girlfriend looked over her fondly. Lovingly. Natasha can see Wanda isn't upset by what just happened. Making Natasha's brain scramble for an answer.

A solution to the chaos of tonight.

"It'll be okay." Wanda steps forward and gives a quick peck. She can even taste you on Nat's pretty pink lips.

"B-but now... now what?" Natasha asks as she can't even think. You make your presence known again as you gently bring your hands to Natasha's. "We belong together. We make it real. I want to make this real." Natasha watches you for a moment in silence before your hands leave hers and grab Wanda's hair.

Moving it over her shoulder.

Exposing her neck.

This wasn't right.

And yet. Natasha can't help but move closer. Her mind being made up with each step. Natasha holds Wanda as you open your mouth.

However, it wasn't until the three of you were in the middle of the dance floor once again that you put your canine teeth in the side of her neck.

A scream of pleasure left her, and after midnight, that night, the three of you became more.

dividers by @/benkeibear

[dharmasharks]

Heyyy hope you are good? Have an ask! ❤️❤️❤️ Ignore if interested but saying hi and that you are great!

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Spread the self-love! <3

Hello wonderful and great Zenaida! Thank you for asking. I can't seem to talk about my own fics without also talking about myself, which is horrifying! And why I took forever! Anyway!

Here are my personal favorites with just so, so much commentary (all stevebucky because that's what I do here!):

Keep a candle burning

A sweet and silly exes-to-lovers Hanukkah fic that was also a bright spot for me during an otherwise bummer of a time in my life. Basically, for the two straight weeks while I was posting, I pretty much stopped doing my actual job and wrote fic all day, because said job had just majorly screwed me over and I knew I was going to quit after the holidays. I had so much fun writing this to distract myself from dwelling too hard on the existential crisis of careers, what are they, why do I need one, what do I really want to do with my life, oh god, etc. No one was more surprised than me to learn what the fucking ~themes~ of this fic ended up being! Existential crisis avoidance aside, the holiday season can also be a pretty weird and lonely media consumption experience, because "holiday" almost always = Christmas. So sometimes you have to make the cute holiday = Hanukkah romcoms you wish to see in the world.

Always you

Part 3 of my canon-divergent shrinkyclinks series in which Steve and Bucky reunite in the mid-50s. I gave myself all my favorite SteveBucky flavors, ie the things that make me the most unwell about them: Steve n Bucky’s unshakable faith in one another, love as a choice you keep making, and the agony-hope of another chance to get it right. I also decided the best way to achieve all of that was via a nonlinear narrative and an amnesiac narrator, which was…really hard to do! I did not have fun writing this! I did, eventually, have a lot of fun trying to get it just right. It’s my favorite part of the series, so far.

Wanna do right, but not right now

A mid 50s (yes, again) no powers AU about peacetime Steve and purpose and restlessness. And also cheating on your wives at a cookout. I have written a fic for Steve's birthday every year since I started writing for this fandom but hooboyy was I scared to post this one. I'm glad I got over it, because the whole mood just really works for me. The problem though, is that I did all this world building for less than 4,000 words of story, so now I've got the rest of this whole ass world that I obviously find interesting rattling around in my brain forever, I guess! (What did I mean that Bucky was a POW in the Pacific Theater?? Why did I have to bring up the possibilities of stevebucky visiting mid-50s Miami?? Who the fuck is Dot?? Sigh. Ignore me. Ignore me!)

Till there were no more wolves in the West

It's a Civil War Western that I feel like I've talked about way too much already! But I was chatting in the comments of another fic about dealing with the loneliness that comes with toiling away on a historical fic and it made me think of this one. Look, eventually, some people found it and connected to this niche thing I was compelled to write. But in the beginning, I toiled so much, and it was really isolating. Where am I going with this? I have no idea. Writing is very lonely sometimes! But I guess I'm glad I didn't talk myself out of loving this, which is easy to do when you're alone in your google doc wilderness with all your ridiculous research notes.

The art of shadowboxing

Okay, I need more distance from this one to say anything coherent about it. So I'll just mention that the unifying thread of this whole bonkers list is "ambitions that exceeded my skillset, but I did it anyway, even if it took me way too long to figure out." Probably because there's nothing I wouldn't do for boxer violinist Bucky and union leader Steve!! I'm biased, but I think they just turned out so cute and sweet and brave.

[venusfun]

🌸Appreciation post🌸

I know I know.. I'm not posting, I'm not that active on my blog, but I want to say a huge thank you to all of you, that made me forget all the shit that happens in my life.

These years when I was posting, creating astrology content, and all the games were so fucking amazing, and I'm grateful for my other friends, talented people on here that supported me talked to me, asked me questions. To be honest, I actually felt useful for the very first time.

So thank you all for the good vibes, support, and I hope you will all have just as much fun here as I had. And I'm so happy seeing new people here, following their dreams, sharing their knowledge.

There are some accounts that I would like to say a personalized thank you:

@notanastrologer ahhhh you are so amazing, I absolutely love love LOVE the knowledge you are sharing here, you're always helping people and I'm so sure that you will get very far in life, I still remember the first ask that I sent you about Mars in 6th house haha. I'm very grateful for you and for the opportunity to interact with you.

@1111jenx you always in my mind have been the astrology it girl, you are so inspirational. Your posts are very deep and well-made. Even though we exchanged a few messages, I felt very joyful when we did. I'm very glad that I came across your account because the things I have learned from you could be written in a book. You're so fabulous.

@d4rkpluto I am truly amazed by your knowledge. I admit that at first I was quite intimidated by truthfulness because I see people putting on a mask when on social media. You are always honest and I love it. And I'm very happy to see you still active, and going strong on here. I'm grateful that I had the chance to read your posts since the newcomer Pluto era.

@hillarysss My first astrology friend! You are such an incredible person, you made the start of my astrology era very fun, Im grateful for the chance I got to communicate with u here on messages and on Discord. I absolutely enjoyed every interaction, and I hope you're doing great!

@leolo404 where do I even start? Even though we parted ways because I became inactive for a long time, I still find myself thinking about how you're doing. I'm thankful for all of the support I got from you, and I hate myself for losing such incredible communication. I wish I had done a lot more for you.

@ellmeria I would say you are one of my recent astrology friends, but I can tell that you're one of the kindest and stunning people I have come across. You are so talented and I can tell that success will follow you always. You're so inspirational, and your blog is very beautiful and well-made.

@astroismypassion you have one of the most informative blogs I have ever seen. Your ability to analyze placements is outstanding, I have learned so much because of your astounding posts, and I'm happy that many people because of you are learning and discovering many things about themselves.

@danihodgs you are so so so positive.. ALWAYS. I literally adore it so much, and I always get a smile on my face when I see you posting about your days! Keep going, you are stunning!

There are so many accounts that I'm grateful of! I can't even name all of them. I'm also very thankful for all the people following me, and it makes me happy that some of you enjoyed the content I made.

I still remember when I hit 50 followers and I felt like the happiest human on earth. Now I'm soon to hit 7000 which is indescribable. And I adore and love every single one of you.

I really really want to keep posting but nowadays when I think of a unique or interesting post to make, I feel stuck, I can't really explain the feeling.

At least in August, I will try my best to be more active, to show support and share kindness.

A very truthful and genuine thank you.❤️

[bluedalahorse]

August for the character breakdown game!

Or if someone else already named him, how about [one secondary character of your choice] from YR?

August you asked for, and August you shall receive! I was hoping someone would ask me about him, and I’m really glad you did.

How I feel about this character: Good lord. The absolute perfect storm of what this character did to my psyche. I am not going to lie that I spent a lot of first season (and significant parts of second and third) screaming at him. And sometimes he makes me really mad at him even now! At the same time, he’s well-written and well-acted and terribly interesting, and I have wanted him to be able to figure stuff out and fix his life from the moment I learned that his father died by suicide and he’s dealing with traumatic grief. I have wanted to climb through the TV screen and pluck him out of an environment like Hillerska. August is such a fascinating example of the way the system fails even those it’s supposed to protect. I just want to break him out of the system, and write him into new situations. In conclusion, what a tragic blorbo I seem to have acquired. (Totally valid if he isn’t other people’s but I see why he’s mine.)

All the people I ship romantically with this character: First and foremost, Sara. I have a weakness for them as two weirdos who see a similar sort of loneliness and want in one another, who get drawn together even though there are plenty of reasons that that’s a bad idea. There are so many stories that can be written about them still. I think Sara breaking up with August was where their relationship needed to be at the end of season three, but I’m not ruling out futures-with-growth-and-therapy or alternate universes. They have the potential to be just as epic as any other pairing on the show! Outside of Sara… well, in my Nils post I talked about how much I ship August/Nils, and how there’s so much there that is currently untapped by fandom. And then Simon/August and Alexander/August are ideas that intrigue me, even though those are more in the realm of deliberate disaster fics.

My non-romantic OTP for this character: I came out of season 3 really enjoying the terrible preppy boy friendship trio so August and Nils and Vincent’s friendship dynamic fascinates me. As someone who went to an odd little college with a lot of traditions, I could relate to it a lot. The people who’ve been in close quarters with you, who you’ve had fun with, but who you’ve also been jealous of and you’re constantly on one another’s nerves… man. I really felt seen by that kind of complexity! I also have to admit I have a soft spot for August and Wille’s relationship, since Malte and Edvin have a lot of chemistry together, and because it seems like August and Wille’s healing is so interdependent. I could talk about that for ages, really.

My unpopular opinion about this character: I cannot even pick one to share because I’m fairly sure most of my opinions about August are unpopular. Liking August itself, in a way a fan does where you want to write fanfic focused on him or ship him with other characters or envision a more healed future for him—even if you repeatedly write multiple paragraph disclaimers about the harm that he did—kind of feels unpopular. And I wish it was a little less unpopular. And maybe my unpopular opinion is that the unpopularity of this opinion (August is indeed worthy of our fannishness) is not wholly by accident. I have no beef with the portion of fandom that just doesn’t particularly like him and doesn’t care to explore him in fanworks. Sometimes you don’t like the dark-haired Byronic asshole and that’s a valid personal preference! And for some people, engaging with August as a character isn’t something they can do with full emotional safety, and I would never want people to have to engage with him if that’s the case for them. He does do legitimate harm. At the same time, there is also a second current in fandom that is actively hostile to fans engaging with August in a fannish way, that uses language in a way that reduces him to his absolute worst deeds and does bad faith readings of any post that dares to explore him beyond the harm he does. I’ve heard stories of sargust edits on TikTok getting endless hate comments, and talked to writers who’ve wanted to write August-centric fic but figured it wouldn’t be worth not getting many hits. I’ve watched an adorable video where Edvin and Malte get interviewed together, only to see that the comments section was full of fans demanding Omar be in the video and not Malte. And I’m just thinking… why are people tearing stuff like this down? Why get angry about there being the bare minimum of nuanced August content out there? It’s not erasing any of the tens of thousands of Wilmon fics and edits. It’s not giving August more screentime in the show or having him take over as main character because the show is already finished. The way that Sara (and by extension Frida) gets caught in the crossfire is doubly upsetting. The lack of August and sargust and nilgust fanworks may be partially due to lack of interest on the part of some fans, but I can’t ignore that active hostility on the part of other fans has also played a role in who sticks around fandom and what they create. And that makes me terribly terribly sad. Because I look at other fandoms and it looks like they have more room for nuanced approaches. Like Interview with the Vampire fandom is having so much fun with Devil’s Minion and I don’t think we have anything like that.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: I wish August and Simon had more of a chance to interact in season 3 without Wille there. I’ve talked before about how Wille and Simon have fundamentally different issues with August, and that they aren’t actually as united against him as Wille seems to think when he gets all hypermasculine and protective. I don’t actually think Simon and August could have resolved all their issues in one season, and they might not be able to period. But they might benefit from some kind of restorative conversations, even if those end in a place of non-closure. And there’s a lot that’s similar in their experiences that they don’t even know about. The worst thing is, it feels like the show is aware of this, and maybe had some moments in mind, but then cut them. Like why have that scene in 2.3 where August tells Vincent to shut up when Vincent’s being awful to Simon? Why have Simon be the one who names August’s eating disorder? I feel like they were meant to have more, and maybe it got cut because it didn’t involve Wilhelm. And honestly that makes me so sad, too.

This got horrendously long-winded and I apologize. But hopefully my answers were worth reading!

[spnfanficpond]

January 2024 Angel Fish Awards

(Angel Fish design by @slytherkins!!)

Every month all of you fantastic writers work your asses off to post some truly incredible stories. Our Angel Fish Awards are the way for all of us, as a community of writers and readers, to lift each other up and give praise to those who have captured our attention and deserve a few kind words. (Click here to learn more about how to nominate a fic for an award!)

Nominated by @heavenssexiestangel

The Unconventional Meet-Cute by @schizonephilim

I wanted to read something different from my usual go-to, and I had this story in my To Be Read 'pile' for a while, so I read chapter 1! I can't wait to read chapter 2. It's really well-written and the sexy times are awesome.

~*~*~

Nominated by @spn-fanfic-reblog-writes

Full of Grace by ilovehowyouletmefall (AO3)

I love this fic. I have read this thing so many times. I love the intimacy and how they develop organically. How Cas just takes why Dean gives and it’s how it should be in my head. It’s sweet and fluffy. I wish Dean would stop calling Cas “pal” as if he’s fucking Mickey Mouse and Pluto but it’s amazing. I return to it a lot. It’s a comforting story that deals with mental health and I’m glad it’s set in heaven.

Cuddle Deprivation by @destielshipper4cas

This is sooo good. It’s an incubus that feeds off affection and emotions through touch. It is so good. So fluff, Castiel and Dean confused about the different cultures, which I think is a great element because it's a common problem with relationships from people of different countries or even skin color at times. Must read.

Cuddlibus by @destielshipper4cas

It’s an incubus that feeds off affection and emotions through touch. It is so good. So fluff, Castiel and Dean confused about the different cultures, which I think is a great element because it's a common problem with relationships from people of different countries or even skin color at times.

Heartstring Promenade by @winchester-reload

This is the ending to the series I wanted.

Destiel's 1st Time by @chaoticmotherofall

Holy shit. Wow, primal. Rawr. Must read smut. I think it’s the scene most of the fandom would want to see if they could. Sorry, not sorry.

Dean's Delights by Redamber79 (AO3)

Destiel. Baker Dean. Can smell each other through blockers. Insecure Cas. Love it! He just wants to eat Dean up and kind of does! True mates are delicious, don’t ya think?

The Company by CasCase (AO3)

You’re gonna get intimidated by the language of ballet vocab but don’t worry, it isn’t important. It’s such an amazing love story and so well written. Wow. There is even artwork of the seriously important emotional scenes that just make it so much better. Omg! I wish this was a fucking movie because it’d be gorgeous!

Room for Two (The Mattress AU) by @almassi

Schmoopy fluffiness. I love it! I also love that Cas actually gets everything but doesn’t show it. Lol. He got the references.

truly there's nobody for you but me by Abi_in_the_Cosmos (AO3)

Omfg, hotness. Cas so teasing Dean. The shorts are used. The shorts in the BTS on the show of Jensen wearing denim short shorts, which of course Dean says they exist for an in-story reason. I don’t care. It’s great.

this heart and flesh shall fail by ValandraWrites (AO3)

Monsterfucker story, technically. Great story. Dean is not technically underaged despite what it says. Twist ending. Beautiful story with a sexy but sad twist.

The Biological Ways by @sitruunavohveli

Three words: Accidental office romance Destiel! A/b/o! Love it. Love that it’s Charlie too. Yay! I also am a huge fan of this author’s works. I’ve had the pleasure of working with them and they’re just amazing to work with. Please check them out.

Weighted by amireal, tiamatv (AO3)

I absolutely love this fic because I actually sleep with a weighted blanket and when my kids are sick, they love their own. I even have one in the car. It’s light but enough to feel it. This is just so fluffy and romantic all thanks to our favorite redhead introducing weighted blankets which helps so much. It’s been shown to even help babies but blankets aren’t great for them. Anyway, they’re so cute and that scene where Dean opens his eyes all slow and gentle with “hey”, just broke me. My husband and I do that periodically and it just means more snuggles and sleep. lol. Poor Castiel thinking he couldn’t have Dean which I understand since Dean has said so much he is straight or implied it rather often. Ugh. This was done so well. Thank you both!

~*~*~

Nominated by @deeranger

When There's Only You by AnOddSock (AO3)

It's such a visceral and extremely well-written story, dark and full of intense angst but at the same time it highlights that profound tenderness and affection between Sam and Dean. The whole "there is no me if there is no you". I was on the edge of my seat all the way through, my heart breaking for the brothers in such a delightful way. This fic is a great rollercoaster ride, like a dark porn with a substantial amount of well-thought-out plot. Heed the tags though... Your feels might not come out intact.

~*~*~

Nominated by @spnexploration

She Thought She Was Normal (series) by @aylacavebear

This is @Aylacavebear's first fic she's putting out into the wild and it's going to be a long multi-chapter journey. What a way to start! This first chapter takes us to poor Maria as a child, who has just lost her mother to a yellow-eyed demon, and Bobby sets her and her Dad up with Sam and Dean. Can't wait to see the whole journey!

Cuddle Deprivation by @destielshipper4cas

This was adorable!! The whole concept of cuddlibus was so cute and I loved when both Dean and Cas were trying to get more out of the relationship but thinking the other didn't want it. And including Sam's cuddlibus daughter was also adorable

Power Grows out of the Barrel of a Gun by Alaisabel (AO3)

I absolutely loved this AU. There are so many twists and turns and I had such a fun time working out what was going on. Dean is so anti-authority and he ends up in a relationship with Cas, a cop.

~*~*~

Nominated by @mrswhozeewhatsis

Fluffy Faerie Tales (series) by @ladylilithprime

This universe and the characters in it are so fascinating! Sam and Dean are half-fae, and Jimmy and Cas have a backstory that is wildly different than anything else I've ever read! (No spoilers!) Sam/Cas/Jimmy is a threesome I've never read before, I don't think, and I'm loving it. So far, all of these stories are filled with plenty of fluff, and the perfect way to end my day. Sweet dreams of faeries and friends are always welcome!

Cuddle Deprivation and Cuddlibus by @destielshipper4cas

I am now OBSESSED with the idea of cuddlibi!!! Like those who have nominated this story above, I find this idea adorable and sweet. And Cas is just SO SWEET! And there's so much delicious pining in both of these stories!! I now want to read ALL the cuddlibus stories!!

THANK YOU ALL, KEEP UP THE AMAZING WORK, AND AS ALWAYS, HAPPY WRITING!

- From your Admins and Manta Rays, @manawhaat, @mrswhozeewhatsis, @mariekoukie6661, @thoughtslikeaminefield, @spencereliotwinchester, and @heavenssexiestangel!

[definedbydaylight]

“Show Me Your Love” Part 1

A Matty Healy x OC; Instagram AU

Masterlist: .°˖✧

Series Intro: “Harper is a writer who gained a small cult following on tumblr as a teenager, through this she meets one of her best friends Phoebe Bridgers, but when Harper’s seemingly “normal” life collides with the world of The 1975 frontman Matty Healy, the universe spins her life in a completely different direction.”

○ harpersnotbazaar

harpersnotbazaar those of you who’ve been following me since my teenage tumblr days will be delighted to hear that my debut poetry book will be coming out this year!! keep in touch to know just when ;)

liked by phoebebridgers, aidenfluxx, and 12,673 others

harperfluxfan OMG I AM SO EXCITED I’VE BEEN FOLLOWING YOU FOR AGES!!

harpersnotbazaar I AM TOO!!

phoebebridgers i’m so proud of you my favorite internet friend<3

harpersnotbazaar i’m an infinitely more proud of you<3

phoebesleftpinkytoe i am so glad i found you through phoebe, i’ve sobbed to your tumblr posts so i am not ready for this :,)

fan1 i will be buying every copy ever

harperfan34 please what are the vibes of the book, i need to prepare myself

harpersnotbazaar sad… very sad, but also with a little hope sprinkled in between ⋆˙⟡

phoebebridgers posted a story

○ trumanblack

trumanblack no caption

liked by phoebebridgers, rass1975, and 378,927 others

1975fan69 your words inspire me truly

phoebebridgers nice elevator

trumanblack *lift

phoebebridgers okay smartass it’s an elevator😐

harpersnotbazaar only here to say it’s definitely a lift

phoebebridgers YOU ARE AMERICAN YOU TRAITOR

trumanblack @harpersnotbazaar smart american

fan972 YOURE SO HOT OMG

harperfluxfan omg i see harper in the comments

mattyhealyishot who’s harper?

harperfluxfan an og tumblr girl poet, she’s friends with phoebe!

rass1975 get to the studio already idiot

○ phoebebridgers

phoebebridgers in london visiting the worlds greatest poet

liked by harpersnotbazaar, trumanblack, and 86,163 others

harpersnotbazaar omg! what? i had no idea!!

phoebebridgers ur so funny😐

trumanblack i don’t see how that caption can be true as you’ve not visited me yet?

phoebebridgers you wish you were as talented as harper

trumanblack is she the hot ginger?

1975fan69 jesus christ matty

iloveharperrrflux omg you both look so good

phoebesbridge omg!! she’s in my city!!

fan184 who is that red head girl?

phoebeiscool she’s tagged in the pic

trumanblack has followed harpersnotbazaar

○ harpersnotbazaar

harpersnotbazaar day two of babysitting

liked by phoebebridgers, lucydacus and 23,264 others

lucydacus the ladies are on the town

phoebebridgers so true, i am baby

harpersnotbazaar my baby ;)

harperfan34 okay but like… imagine harper’s poems turned into a phoebe song… A DREAM

fan174 i wish i was their child

trumanblack hey

phoebebridgers actually get out of here freak

harpersnotbazaar has followed trumanblack

Part 2

A/N: Okay I hope you all enjoyed this I had so much fun planning it all out, and if you haven’t already please check out my post on Harper Flux so you can learn more about her!! The Instagram AU is more just fun for me and I do plan on putting out fully written fics in the future, but I really love the character I’ve created out of Harper so I may just create a cinematic universe of different stories of her and Matty… who knows?? ;)

[aftgphoenix]

A Runaway's Journal

*written in a slightly tattered spiral notebook with a blue cover*

May 25, 1998

We left, not too long ago. Mom took me in the middle of the night and told me to be silent while we crept through the basement and the garage. I was really scared. We ran down the road for a while and then Mom stole a car. We drove that to the airport and now we are flying on an airplane. Mom says that we are going to visit my Uncle Stuart. I don't think I've met him before. Mom says that I'll have to change my name and my birthday and everything because we're running away from my father and if he finds us, he'll kill us. She says he probably would have killed us if we stayed.

I got to play exy yesterday. It was a lot of fun and I played with Kevin and Riko. They say that someday we will be Court. Riko and Kevin will be strikers and I'll be a backliner. But then we had to go to a room in the stadium and watch my father kill someone. I guess he was trying to kill Riko. I hate when he makes me watch. Kevin looked scared the whole time and Riko was too but I think he was trying to hide it. Now I won't be able to play exy anymore. Mom says I'm not even allowed to talk about it.

I had to leave my toys and most of my clothes at home. Mom had a backpack for me that had two shirts and two pants and some underwear and socks in it. She says everything I want from now on needs to fit in my backpack. That means I can only have my clothes pretty much.

Uncle Stuart is supposed to teach me how to shoot a gun. Lola taught me how to use knives like my father but Mom says a gun is better. Then you don't have to be so close. She said she's also going to get me a bulletproof vest. Then if my father's people catch up, I have some protection.

I wonder what my name is going to be. Mom said she'll pick it for me and tell me after. I wish she would let me pick but she said I wasn't allowed to argue about it. Arguing with her is scary so I guess she gets to figure out who I am. She'll change her name too. She made me start learning German last year and now she says that I'm going to have to only speak it once we leave Uncle Stuart's house. He lives in England. I'll have a German name and so will she. She also said she's going to dye my hair and get contact lenses so that I don't look like my father anymore. He can’t know what I look like or he'll find me and kill me.

I'm not allowed to tell anyone about myself. Mom says that having friends could be dangerous so if I do have friends, I have to lie to them. 

I don't want my father to kill anyone anymore like he killed that man with Riko and Kevin or any of the times he killed someone in the basement. I hate when he brings me down into the basement. Lola scares me so much too because she likes it when my father kills people. She smiles and laughs when they scream and that makes my nightmares worse.

I'm glad that my mom forgot this notebook inside my backpack. It's nice to have a place to write this down because Mom gets mad if I try to talk to her about it. Maybe she'll be happier when we get off this plane and we get to Uncle Stuart's house but I don't think she will. I'll have to keep this secret.

.

.

.

I decided to try writing Neil's story from his perspective, as if he were writing it in a journal. I'm trying to capture the writing style of a ten year old boy and as the story progresses, his writing should develop to match his age.

I have more written but I'll post it every few days or so. Feel free to poke me via asks or dms if it's been a few days and you want more!

[applesandbannas747]

If you lost all of the stories you’ve ever published on ao3 and were only able to recover five, which stories would they be, and why? (Top five across the board, but top five fence fics would be cool too) 📚✨

I completely welcome you to write a novel length answer 📝✨

okay HOW did I never see this one? This is such a fun and mean question!!

In no particular order:

Fairy Bound - this is my only current Artemis Fowl fic, but it's one of my favorite things I've ever written because it's everything I want in a series that was long finished when I wrote it. It's the ending and conclusion I wish the characters got (and I'm disappointed severely with the new canon material). It's also just full of tropes I love and has moments that have a soft spot in my heart. I also know it's meant as much to a good number of people in the fandom as it has to me, so it would be missed if it were lost

Truths - this took the cake for longest work I'd written for a long time before being dethroned, and it was a really cool experience to write. I think the Truths series was the last I wrote as I posted, which was really fun because some comments helped shape it if I remember correctly. It's where I really fleshed out a lot of my ideas about Fence and the characters and was a huge milestone in my writing abilitiy--it really helped me to improve in a lot of ways, and I think it was a milestone in my Fence era as well. I connected with a lot of people during its run that I've longsince lost contact with but will always love, and it's another one that people tell me from time to time really means something to them, which makes me love it extra for that--I don’t know, connection? And of course I used a lot of tropes I love and built up a lot of headcanons and lore that I still carry to this day!

Trouble - man this is where Eugesse started, and I can't abandon it even if I'd change so much about it if I wrote it again. I love a lot of moments from this fic and I indulged so much in building the Labaos and learning how to code to make text messages--it was a fic filled with so many firsts! But I also assumed it would be a fic filled with a lot of lasts--I truly didn't intend to write Eugesse again until we had more content on him because this was back during The Great Hiatus (but boy am I glad I didn't stick to that 💀💀💀)... So the iea with Trouble was that it got to be paced weirdly because there were so many moments, beats, and tropes I wanted to hit with Eugesse and this was my only chance, so I needed to fit them all in. So while this is the only fic I debated over including on this list because I think it's the weakest one here in terms of writing, it will always hold a special place in my heart, and it means a lot to me.

Promised Things - how could I not include the Things to Hold Onto series? In a very literal way if my house were burning to the ground, the physical bookbound (!!!!!) versions a friend made and sent me would be top priority after living things. This is another fic that I really strove to improve my writing with, and it's significant as well because it was the fic I wrote after an autistic meltdown over the ARC of Striking Distance I read, after which, I felt sick and conflicted whenever I thought about writing for Fence because the thought of adjusting my characterizations to fit canon made sent me spiraling. So I took a break and wrote a couple novels, including one that took the plot of an au I'd been looking forward to writing (if you're wondering when this 'break' took place, it was March-July 2020; I had enough backlog that there was never a break in my posting schedule to reflect the break I took in writing). But do you know what I found? I was more miserable not writing for Fence than anything, and even while I was actively writing novels in NaNoWriMo challenges, I found myself sneaking in writing time for Fence anyway--for Promised Things, specifically. And I found my love of Fence again through it, which sounds like such a conceited thing to say lmfao but I love who I thought the characters were and writing this fic helped me start to accept that it was okay to still write them the way I saw them. So on a meta level, this one means a lot to me. And on a writing level, I'm proud of the detail I put into it and the planning it took. Pull up any chapter in this series and I could find the day of the week it took place on. I've not quite achieved this level of detail since. It also got a lot of editing to improve it as we went along, and I'm happy with how it turned out and proud of the work that went into it. And, yeah, I'm lizardbrained too and the fact that this one got WAY more love than I ever expected in any way does (positively) effect how I see it. So this one's getting saved lol

Breakable Things - to this day, this fic is one of the stories I am proudest of, and I think it's a strong piece of writing in terms of character development. It was a long redemption arc for Jesse and I worked really hard on making it a successful one--and it is the number one fic I've had people tell me I won them over with Jesse in, so I like to think that it was a successful arc XD I've always said that in this series, Seiji and Jesse both grew up in hell, but they both view Jesse and Jesse only as the monster--and in Promised Things, we get Seiji's point of view, and Nick's, who is seeing through the damage done to Seiji and seeing a monster in Jesse through it. Which made writing Breakable Things so fucking fun because Eugene's the only perspective that doesn't cast Jesse as the villain. And, yeah, Jesse sees himself as a victim and likes to throw himself pity parties, but under it all, it's not Seiji he blames for anything, it's not his dad, it's hardly even Nick. and we get to see that in this fic and see how the damage he caused is just as real as before, but that his pain isn't less than Seiji's. And more than any other character in the series, Jesse works to confront the truth of who he is and figure it out and improve, a lot of the time, alone. Seiji fell into a situation that naturally healed him. Jesse dove head first into one that was intended to break everyone--but he was also put on an edge that Seiji wasn't, and that made all the difference. Anyway, I have a lot of feelings about Jesse and I had a lot of fun trying to redeem him/show his side and contrast it with Seiji's without making it feel like I was trying to tragic-backstory his ass out of accountability for the shit he did. Also! I wrote bits of this fic in tandem with Promised Things--any major scene with Jesse, I either had notes for Jesse's side, wrote Jesse's side right after, or even wrote Jesse's POV of it first, which was an interesting way of writing a sequel that I've never done any other time.

[frannyzooey]

hi Kelli !! hope you’re having a lovely day :) i’m not sure if you’ve answered something like this before, and no pressure for one!

do you have any advice for getting a fic out to more people, or increasing engagement? i am super new to actually posting what i’ve written, and while it’s so heartwarming seeing the likes, tumblr is very much about reblogs and comments 😃 are there actually any tricks to this, or is it basically just down to luck and the algorithm?

also a huge thank you for the write nights you’ve done, which seriously motivated me to get my ass into gear 🫶🏻

hope you have an amazing rest of your day/night! <3

First of all, I am so glad that you like the write nights! Part of the thing I feel (imo) that has been missing around here is creative encouragement of others? I know it's hard to find your people, and I know it's hard to share, and I know it's hard to find the time in busy schedules to make space for creating and I wanted to sort of tackle all those issues with that night. I myself have found it super motivating, but also just so heartwarming to think of the other people out there all sitting down to create, knowing they are with "their people" while doing so ❤

In terms of engagement, I wish I had a better answer for you my lovely, but the one I have is slightly defeating 😔 that said, here are some things I've noticed:

The site has definitely changed. The likes to reblogs ratio has been off for over a year and has only gotten worse as the fandom has expanded, due to the migration of users from other platforms where engagement IS liking. Tumblr was never meant to be used this way, as the dash is created by reblogs, but it doesn't seem that people participating in the fandom are interested in learning the correct way (in my observation). I don't think this will get better any time soon - in fact, I only think it's going to get worse.

That said, I would: reblog your own work several times a day just to get it into the algorithm/tags, respond to all reblogs with your own reblog to boost it back into circulation (and engage with people who like it!), make friends who will in turn reblog your work (though it should never be an assumption/one should not feel entitled to it because of the friendship because that just makes for hurt feelings, not everything is for everyone), don't be afraid to rec your own stuff when people ask for recommendations and above all else, just keep writing and posting. It took me ages to get interaction on my work, and even now it's hit or miss depending on the subject/character/trope.

I know it can feel defeating when you see some things that have a billion notes, but remember that there are so many factors that can come into it: fandom (marvel and tlou have enormous fanbases and I have noticed their metrics are often super skewed), creators that have been posting for years and have built up a base during that time, or even something as simple as it "hitting the dash at the right time" aka people just seem to like it for whatever reason on that given day aka luck, lol.

Something I like to do when I feel bummed about engagement is work on my own skills - not because you need to be super talented in order to get notes, but it helps me feel better about the piece itself, which helps me think less about the actual engagement because I found so much satisfaction within the creative process alone, if that makes sense? Another reason behind the write nights ❤

I wish I had something more concrete for you, but it really does boil down to: persistence, working on your skills, engaging meaningfully with others in the fandom and luck. ❤

[joycieillustrations]

For the " WRITERS" post:

🧑 Are there any OCs in the piece? Do you think readers will like them?

And

👀 Can you give us any sneak peaks?

I’ll answer these with Ad amorem! Please let me know if there was another WIP you had in mind 💕

🧑 Are there any OCs in the piece? Do you think readers will like them?

There’s not any OCs I can think of off of the top of my head - other than Robart, who I introduced in Ex libris as a friend for Corlys - but I will introduce a couple of characters from Fire and Blood that have not appeared in HotD nor been mentioned, so their depiction is almost like an OC. The primary one I’m thinking of I think people will really like: a female friend for Rhaenys, older and bolder and a great giver of advice when Rhaenys doesn’t have Alysanne to turn to. I can’t reveal her name because it’ll give away one of the plot points, but I’ve enjoyed what I’ve written of her thus far!

👀 Can you give us any sneak peaks?

Of course! This excerpt is from the WIP for the opening chapter of Ad amorem:

“My dearest Corlys,

It has not even been a day since we have parted and by the Gods, I miss you so.

Did you enjoy my display over the Blackwater as you departed? I do not think I have ever run so fast in my life, nor readied myself for flight so quickly - all to see one last glimpse of you, my love, to treasure during these weeks we must be parted. Two weeks is too short a time to have one’s love by one’s side, especially when one has endured so many years of solitude. How glad I am to have so precious a memory of you, husband-to-be. You shall ever be stood so in my mind, my bold adventurer, whenever I think of you: and I shall think of you, my lord, most fondly and most often, until you return to me.

I regret that I have not much else to report, what with your absence thus far only numbering a handful of hours. I must admit, I have already wept more this day than I have in many years. As we turned from you, love, my grandmother swore it would not always hurt so… yet I cannot believe it. Your absence is already a most tangible pain within my breast— and to think that but a few hours ago, I held you in my arms! To think that it has not yet been a day since we first embraced, since first we promised ourselves to one another. Oh, that I had had courage sooner! How many embraces might we have known then? How cruel it is to have such heady tastes of all that might be between a man and a woman, only to be obliged to wait so long a time before I might know more of such things.

As I write to you now, I am sat by the window in my chambers. I had never given much thought to it before, but I wish now my rooms afforded me a better view of the Blackwater — so that I might be better reminded of you, of course, by the sight of the sea that brought you to me. Mother caught me watching the waters from the ramparts. I can tell she is at a loss with what to do with a heartsick daughter. She says that this is the price of falling in love with an adventurer - with you, my beloved mariner - and that I will soon learn to endure it. I, however, am of the opinion that I am somewhat overdue some fits of girlishness, for I have taken great care to be sensible in my one-and-twenty years and thus am owed quite the sum of tears, sighing, and daydreaming. I plan to pine for you a little longer, my dearest husband-to-be, before I resume my role of dutiful princess.”

-

Thank you for the ask ❤️

[onwesterlywinds]

Livvy's #FFXIVWrite 2023 Wrap-Up Post

Hi all! First and foremost, I want to thank everyone who's engaged with the stuff I've written for what is now my FIFTH consecutive year of #FFXIVWrite!

For the past few years, this challenge has been the primary vehicle for the XIV writing things I've always said I'll get around to writing - I went back to check and ten of this year's prompts include interactions or scenarios I've had in my head for multiple years! So as always, thank you SO much to @sea-wolf-coast-to-coast for creating this beautiful event. It's truly become one of my favorite parts of being in this game's community.

I wish I could say I had things I learned about myself, my writing or my characters this time around - but to be honest, the biggest thing I've learned is not to tempt fate by saying "I have completed this challenge in past years in spite of various life crises," because oh my god, y'all. Oh my fucking god. (Everything is fine but I am so tired.)

(Actually, okay, there was one common trend: I wrote way more NSFW material this year than in past years. Which I'm honestly really glad about, because this is an area I've always felt has not been one of my strong suits as a writer!)

So without further ado, below are my prompts for this year in their entirety, organized by character in order of frequency! I've bolded the pieces I'm especially proud or fond of.

If I get a handful of likes on this post, I might post some of my drafts - I had way more this year than in past years, so it'd be fun to share them now and see if folks are interested in me continuing any of them!

Livvy Ahtynwyb

#6: Ring | #10: [EXTRA CREDIT] | #13: Check | #22: Fulsome

Ashelia Riot

#1: Envoy | #12: Dowdy | #16: Jerk | #21: Grave

Ashley Rosenheim

#7: Noisome | #15: Portentous | #27: Sole

Alma Malheur

#2: Bark | #11: Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Ingvald Bloodhound

#3: [EXTRA CREDIT] | #17: [EXTRA CREDIT]

Hrjt Brotin

#14: Clear | #28: Blunt

Marco

#18: Fish out of Water | #24: [EXTRA CREDIT]

Sappho

#8: Shed | #23: Suit

Astodan (a character I hope you all will learn more about soon!)

#9: Fair

Blackram

#19: Weal

Élodie Fiel

#5: Barbarous

Ludo Swiftwind

#26: Last

Lyhe Il

#30: Amity

Sigrid Keane

#20: Hamper

Stella Riot

#29: Contravention

Tircolas Flow

#4: Off the Hook

Tircolas Flow's Baba (whose name I'm 99% sure I know but don't want to reveal in case I decide to retcon it later)

#25: Call it a Day

[watmels]

Shiratorizawa’s Spy (Reflection)

I made the first panels of my comic Shiratorizawa’s Spy in January 2022 on a whim, based on doodle requests from my Instagram Story. I didn’t think it would turn into a big project that would take over a year, but I’m glad it did! To finally wrap this all up, I wanted to organize my thoughts about my experience making the series.

🌞 Highlights ━━━━

Shiratorizawa’s Spy-noff + Shiratorizawa’s Spy-noff 2

It was incredible to see art and writing that others created based on the series. I was especially wowed at how several writers were able to capture what I wanted to convey. To see it written out... it’s unreal!

Comic style

I’m really thankful that I drew/colored the initial panels roughly, because this style let me work quickly. If it was full color / rendered... I probably would have burnt out.

Crowd-sourcing ideas

Many plot points and even the character Goshiki Toshiki came from my followers 🙌🏻

Reading comments

This was sooo motivating. Knowing that I made people laugh, or that people felt conflicted because of Oikawa... It made me happy that my work could touch people like that! 🥺

🌚 Lowlights ━━━━

Lack of Seijoh bonding

I totally understand how readers would feel that Oikawa should have stayed at Shiratorizawa in the end, because most of the comic illustrated his relationships there... I should have drawn more interactions between Oikawa and the Seijoh team to build a stronger sense of belonging. I really wish I had introduced Matsukawa and Hanamaki in the beginning. And I probably could have expanded on the Seijoh captain, but I was reluctant to make decisions about that guy...

Losing track of the timeline

I had a bit of a meltdown when I realized InterHigh was quickly approaching in the storyline.

Discovering again that Oikawa has an Android phone in canon

I forgot about this and gave him an iPhone. When I found out again, I was unwilling to change it midway... I don’t stress about this that much though haha

📝 Lessons about making comics ━━━━

Plan ahead

It’s fun to make spontaneous filler episodes, but it’s important to remember the timeline! After my meltdown, I carefully planned the rest of the story. I’m glad I had an outline of each part towards the end.

Comic boxes

I initially drew a new box for each panel. Later, I changed to duplicating & rotating the same box for most panels. This saved a lot of time.

Procreate stuff

My process for making the comic was to duplicate a previous file, keep a few things (series title, some boxes, my signature) and create the new part.

I wish I knew earlier to TURN OFF THE PROCESS RECORDING! As time went on, my files loaded so slowly... eventually I realized it’s because every file was bigger than the last, with ever-increasing video info 💀 thankfully you can purge the time-lapse recordings.

Text

I came to this conclusion before SS, but still wanted to mention it. I much prefer typing text over handwriting it when creating a comic. It saves time, it’s easier to edit, and it’s more legible for readers!

And... that’s it! Shiratorizawa’s Spy is my magnum opus...

✈️ Now some personal updates ━━━━

This year I’ve been making some life changes and want to make even bigger ones. So it works out well that I was able to end Shiratorizawa’s Spy at this time. Next week, I’ll be moving into a friend’s apartment for a few months.

After that, I really hope to move internationally to South Korea for... an unknown amount of time. I am thinking about quitting my job. I’m grateful for my opportunities and experiences thus far, but I feel lost as an adult... I don’t know what I want to do except that I want to try living in another country. I had an amazing vacation in Korea last year, so I think I’ll start there. I’m really anxious because I don’t speak the language though.

I have so much to learn about personal finance, fitness, beauty, growing as a person, etc. I still want to draw and post occasionally, because art is my first love and passion 💖  but not sure about the frequency.

👋🏻 Anyway ━━━━

Was reading Shiratorizawa’s Spy fun? Like, about as fun as buying a coffee from a shop or seeing a movie in a theatre? If so, I would really appreciate a tip on Ko-Fi. How else could a comic artist make money — maybe mostly drawing through Patreon...? 🤔

Thank you for following me through all this. I hope it was interesting! 

[innocence-wont-save-you]

[An overseer is ‘sitting’ next to the scavenger as they look at Innocence’s sleeping form.]

Hey bud, isn’t it kinda weird our friend is uh… still sleeping? Like, we should be moving out by now. I mean I know we’ve been waiting for like, six minutes, but it feels like a month! And yeah, I know you don’t understand me.

(OOC: Heyyyy so uh, sorry if it’s rude but I didn’t see a place to submit an ask on the website so I’m asking here. Is this blog ever going to be updated in the near future? If not, do you plan to still continue it or is like, irl stuff putting weight in your shoulders? I wanna join the disc and ask questions but stupid anxiety is making me not do it. If you’re still working on it or left the project, don’t feel pressured to continue, it would be selfish of me to ask that of you.

tl;dr: I kinda just want an update on the current situation Innocence Won’t Save You is in.)

OOC: YES HI HELLO I'M STILL ALIVE THANK YOU FOR ASKING ACTUALLY

Short answer: Yes there's. Shit going on in my life. Mostly school work; this has been one of my busiest quarters so far and I'm constantly swamped with work and haven't had the free time to really sit with IWSY and work out what I want/need to do.

Longer answer: Yes there is currently no way to submit on the website I am so sorry. When I said this would move off Tumblr I meant it and I was finding ways to do that, but I kept hitting roadblocks because I started learning web dev Solely for IWSY. Ultimately my progress on the javascript tutorial stalled (due to aforementioned busyness) and other people let me know that Neocities isn't... the best place to host comments locally? So that threw a wrench into the plans.

I've admittedly not written much for IWSY in the time since I announced we'd be migrating off Tumblr. In hindsight I kind of wish I'd waited a little, but I think this quarter would have done this to me regardless of if I'd wanted to migrate or not. However, I still want to work on IWSY. This project is NOT abandoned. I'm just very busy :'D in a good way though! After a bit of a rough spell, my life right now is, without exaggeration, the best it's ever been, and aside from just plain being busy, I'm also trying to enjoy being alive for once. Unfortunately it means things have been and will continue to be very, very slow here for the foreseeable future.

But I do have a small update. I gave up on trying to code comments locally, and instead found an open source commenting plugin called Isso that I'm hoping to install on the website. Actually doing so will require time I don't currently have since I. Uh. Don't know python. But if all goes well, I will have that set up at some point, and then I can get started on scene 14. I can't guarantee anything on that while this quarter is still going on unfortunately, but I will promise you all that once my summer break starts (which is in June since my school runs on a quarter system), I'll put more time and effort into this again.

If you'd like to help get the comments set up I would deeply appreciate it, but again I don't think I can see myself writing any long form creative fiction until I have the time to dedicate my mind to it, especially given what IWSY is. I'm really sorry about that, but I'm glad to hear that you're still interested in this story! So sorry about the radio silence, I really should have updated a few times since the last post I made, but thank you again for asking and reminding me to at least say something.

So TLDR, no the story isn't dead, I'm just hella busy and trying to appreciate life.

[onigiri-dorkk]

Hey! I loved your content and the recent post

Somehow I can’t comment under the post so I decided to write here)

Hope I am not too inappropriate )

You know when I think of Mikasa’s lack of character development … I remember Sarah Connor. You know the Sarah Connor from the 1984 Terminator movie.

For me Sarah starts as a cliche girl in trouble who actually at first hates the man that saves her life again and and again. But then Sarah grows. She learns. She feels and starts to care. And we start caring about her. She develops so much that we absolutely believe that a man can fall in love with just her photo. A good man who wills to sacrifice himself not only for her for - you know - for the sake of humanity. A good man who she is loyal to for many years later and we don’t judge her because well he was the one. The kind of hero that actually sacrificed himself (not the fake leg and the rest of the world) but himself just because it was the right thing to do. The man not very likeable at first sight, the man of few words.

Oh if only poor Mikasa could meet someone like that . Oh, wait?

And by the way. In the Terminator 2 Sarah tells Kyle (when sees his ghost) this: “Stay with me”. Such an iconic love story.

Wait is there a line like that in AOT ?)))

Hello hello @foxandcakes!!! Welcome to the fandom and we're so glad you're here!! This isn't inappropriate at all -- sorry you couldn't respond to the post for some reason but thanks for reaching me here <3

Honestly, I have to rewatch The Terminator (it has been YEARS) but that sounds like what we wanted for Mikasa! If Yams was committed to writing a good, developed romance arc into the story he should have committed to giving individual Mikasa growth, no matter who she ended up w. We should see her motivations, self-conflict, inner thoughts change and transform for the better as a result of her love for Eren. That is the creme de la creme for any story -- you go through the journey of seeing this character transform, and that transformation is what makes plot points matter to a reader. The reason why you feel connected to Sarah Connor is likely because she was given a personal arc, showing who she is and her motivations, and it makes you invested in her growth...

It's a general agreement that Mikasa didn't fully get this, and it's why people's opinions on her are so polarized -- you either love her/how she's written while dismissing the failure of her character writing, or you loathe her because of the failure of her writing. I've been fascinated with our rivamika fandom because it seems like we tend to view her in that middle/balanced lens -- we're extremely disappointed with her writing, but adore her for the potential arc she could have had, and we enjoy that in our own writings and such.

Anyway, I guess that's a huge tangent LOL but basically, it would've been really fuckin cool to have this main female Character A who is unendingly in love with Character B, and that this love is all she knows, until she meets Character C (Levi!!! Or SOMEONE honestly!!) who shows her a powerful example of what real, genuine and healthy love is which would TOTALLY shift and transform her entire idea of what love even is; that the infatuated young love she experienced with Character B doesn't even compare to with Character C, and they grow because of that. There are a ton of fantastic stories with this type of arc! Instead, we get Character A pining over Character B to the very end, no matter how badly he treated her... It's just strange. It's cliche, it's honestly not a great example, it paints yet another image of a a man being able to treat a woman like crap for years but still has her devout love and loyalty anyway... I know the general fandom accepts and even enjoys this, so to each their own, but it's not my cup of tea and I wish we got more for Mikasa. And Levi.

adsjlfkjsalkfjdklajflksjfklasdjlfajslfjsklf

ANYWAY

I wouldn't have known that Terminator has the "Stay with me" line!!! EEEEEEE that's amazing! Thanks for the fun comparison! I'll have to rewatch soon :)

For now, we'll continue to enjoy our quality fandom content. <3 The dissatisfaction just makes our fics and head canons even better. Cheers!! And congrats on finding the gem ship that is Rivamika <3333

[nikethestatue]

I'm so sorry this will be long but I have to get rid of this to someone who understands me, your last post brought it all back up 🤧 (I apologize for any grammatical errors, english is not my native language)

Acosf got so much missing potential, I don't even know where to start... There are so many things that could have be done better

Nessian:

Where is the chemistry they already had in acowar? Where is the build up they already had? Why start at zero and make it all about s€x at the beginning. This one scene at the beginning where Cassian should bring Nesta to the river house and when Nesta then opens the door he first noticed her skinny appearance but then is stuck with her tatas like excuse me sir but your priorities are wrong right now 🤨. They had their cute, bonding and hot moments but it could be done better, there could be more. I think there is a reason many simping for Nesta × Eris when one dance had more sparkle than nearly half of the book.

Cassian himself:

That something i noticed only at my secound read because Acheron sisters >> bat boys so I focus more on them but yeah what about Cassian?? We learn nothing new about him and now this is a bit fronty but he sometimes gave me Wattpad Bodybuilder/Trainer vibes 😑 like where is our 500 years old Illyrian warrior, the general of the NC?

The plot (what plot?)

Do I have to say much about the pregnancy plot? like *🥲* You have already written a post or rebloggt i don't remember for sure which summarized it well. But you know what bothers me it could have been good. It was maybe a little fast because feyre has first said in acomaf she wanted to take her time but then came acofas where we have seen her wish for children (we are not talking about Rhys breeding kink💀😂). But why the fish was Feyre's pragnancy in Nessian pov?? I really like Feysand bonus chapter. Rhys crying from joy, they thinking about names and so going on. Cute moments between a couple becoming parents. Why make the pregnancy about Nesta? Why not showing us the joy and sorrow from Feysand's pov?

The blood rite was not better, ngl it was nice to read but glad that so many agree that it was unrealistic that they won. Would they have suvived, sure but win? No. The valkyries won against Illyrian who trained since childhood for the blood rite. Like okay how unrealistic you want to be?

The rest of the plot was basically training and fu€king so yeah 🤷‍♀️. The only aspect i found kinda interesting was the whole plot about the troves.

And when we at the plot,

Illyrian and the illyrian culture:

Two words: MISSED POTENTIAL. (and your post which is the reason i am writing this essay 😂💃) It is not like that we got a love interest who is Illyrian himself. Who suffered under the Illyrian but still wants to reform them, didn't give the hope up on them. Like we didn't get a woman as a friend of the MC who suffered under the Illyrian, who got her wings cut and was degrationed by them. Emerie my love don't get enough resignation. Like we didn't had Nesta training with the priestesses, why limit it only to them why not involve Illyrian women, why only train at HoW? Even why it was just the valkyries they could have made a statement while training in front of the Illyrian woman similar as Nesta did it at the libary to encourage the priestesses (and then they are not the Griel stans saying Az and G will reform the Illyrian like 😭 You know Az who hates the Illyrian and G who isn't quiet ready yet to leave the libary *me taking a breath* )

Nesta's healing jounary:

It was good but again it could have been better. Really i cried at the scene with Nesta and Cass at the lake, where she had her breakdown but there are some points i didn't quiet get. This are just my reading experiences but at the end it was not like she got to control her inner anger but it kind of just vanished like 20 years of rage just puff. Her healing jounary was at some points a bit fast in my eyes but to be fair Feyre had 3 books and Nesta only one.

The relationship between the Acheron sisters:

This is one point that makes me sad but it was disappointing how little bonding time between the sisters we got. Of course Nesta's monologe while saving Feyre was heartbreaking sweet and the end scene where Nesta is running towards her sisters with Nyx sleeping in Elain’s arms is lovely.(Both are one of my favourite scenes) But I wanted more. Where was the dialoge between the sisters? Where was the convertation why Nesta and Elain didn't help Feyre in the first book? Why was Nesta so nasty fowards Feyre?

And lean on that the the friendship between the Valkyries:

I really like their friendship, they all helped each other to heal.

But there's one little thing bothering me and i completly understand if someone disagree on that. This is again my reading experience. The Acheron sisters have a communication problem. I like the friendship between the three but it feels a bit like Emerie and Gwyn are replacement for Feyre and Elain. But to be fair i have kinda the same feeling when it comes to Feyre and the IC. Their found familes are somewhere replacements for their sisters because sisters are not able to talk slove their issues 🙈

(and now also your point that Nessian wouldn't work in canon. They are a modern AU couple and make no sense in canon. 😂🥲 But i still love them 😌)

I am sorry i jnow this was long but i have no one to talk about acotar in my friendgroup, lonely bookwurm here ☕️ plus in the acotar-fandom you need be careful where you criticise Acosf for many is this book the secound bible 💀😂.

If you made it this far, I just wanted to say I love your blog. You were one of the first Acotar blogs I followed back then. Love your posts and fics 💓✨️

Thank you and I pretty much agree with you on every point.

The complete decimation of Cassian as a character, the lack of any meaningful movement and change in the sisters' relationships, everyone communicates terribly, Rhys is an asshole, the IC are failures in just about everything, Amren should've been dead, the 'it's just sex' thing is dumb, NO ONE will ever convince me that Nesta is the kind of person who'd use sex as a coping mechanism.

Honestly, my expectation of a good Elain book, of Elain's character not being foolishly destroyed, is almost at zero. Unfortunately, I expect it to be horrible. Which is sad. Because SJM can write good books.