#i used to be an avid fiction reader but these days i just don't have much interest in it

[doubledyke]

thanks for tagging me @repurposedmeatlocker that's so nice

last song: gangsta forever by tommy wright III (there are a couple of great memphis horrorcore playlists on yt that i sometimes listen to at work 👀)

fave place: i don't know that i have a favorite place per se, but in general i've come to really enjoy being outdoors. in the right conditions anyway. being out in the woods alone or with 1-2 other ppl, especially on a chilly night, is really nice if you're well prepared.

fave book: it's been a while since i read a novel but the book i used to always list as my favorite as a teen was push by sapphire. oh i read uzumaki a couple months ago if that counts 🌀

fave movie: lol i'm outing myself here moth as the anon from months ago that asked your opinion on napoleon dynamite, cuz yeah that's my favorite movie. i remember watching it over and over as a kid when it first came out. love it so much.

fave show: outside of eene, it's obviously gonna be any and all of tim & eric's shows. or golden girls.

fave food: love me some indian cuisine!!

tagging: @greetingsfromuranus @littlevirginboy360 @hermes-running @hsboo03 @shriggisick @yun6una <33 (i believe some of my other pals were already tagged)

[xanasaurusrex]

hi can u make some hcs of hecate’s cabin/childs?

⇢ ˗ˏˋ hecate cabin headcanons ࿐ྂ

of course i can do hecate cabin headcanons! i love hecate, she's one of my favorite of the gods. also, fun fact, there's a lot of debate on where hecate originated, like they think that maybe she was an anatolian goddess that the greeks "stole," and she also has some egyptian history? i did some research on her real quick and it was honestly fascinating! anyways, here are the hecate cabin hcs!

something to note about hecate kids is that all of them, every single one, is kind of a mystery in their own respect

there's a lot of mystery surrounding hecate, so even the most open of hecate kids is going to have something they're keeping to themselves

hecate kids, specifically before they're kind of taught to master their abilities, have a habit of accidentally spelling people

like, for example, say a hecate kid has a really annoying kid in their bio class that won't shut up

if they think really hard about how much they want that person to shut their mouth, magically, they will

it's something they were never able to explain

until they were claimed by hecate, of course

they also all have dark eyes

not necessarily a good color, per se, but there's something about their eyes that are dark

most hecate kids get her green eyes, which could only be described as "enchanting" of course

the hecate cabin often smells like burned sage and/or incense, and always has a smoky hue because of that

there are star charts and moon charts and things like that literally everywhere, practically littering the cabin floor

hecate kids are kinda messy

all of them, just find it really hard to keep themselves organized enough to make the cabin organized enough

this gets them into trouble sometimes, but they have... ways of convincing whoever's inspecting the cabin to leave them alone

hecate kids also always have crystals in their pockets

like, literally, at any given time, with an outfit that has pockets, they have crystals that are used for different things in said pockets

they have necklaces and earrings and rings with crystals on them as well, all having different purposes based on what they want their day to be like

there are a few kids at camp who are like "crystals don't even work" and blah blah blah, but the hecate kids know better

the kids that say that are usually idiots, but yknow

(obviously i'm not saying that if you don't believe in crystals irl you're an idiot, but this is camp half-blood and their mother is hecate, so obviously they're gonna work for them)

hecate kids can sometimes be known as "two-faced" when it comes to relationships

this probably comes from the fact that their mother has three faces

except this is a more literal meaning in this sense

the hecate cabin also does a lot of tarot readings

that's like, one of the first things you learn at camp if you're claimed by hecate

everyone has their own deck, and it's customized to you, it's a whole thing

it's like hecate cabin culture kinda

if you have a hecate child friend, you've probably gotten your future read by them at one point

obviously future-telling is more an apollo cabin thing, so the predictions usually aren't correct, but it's fun anyways

ooh! and ouija boards

ouija boards with the hecate kids are so fun because they get so into it, and usually it's actually working and they're actually talking to a dead person

i mean, it's camp half-blood

probably a lot of people have died there (rip)

it's especially fun if they can manage to convince a hades child to play with them, because then the hades kid can actually hear them and help translate if the ouija boards are being kinda confusing

it's not the most reliable way to talk to a dead person, as any hades kid will tell you

hecate kids are also avid readers

not as consistent as athena kids, but they have their own little library in the hecate cabin, with lots of fantasy books and historical fiction

they're also really good with recommendations, so if you ever need a book rec, honestly go to the hecate kids first

they take your personality and reading background into account when giving you a book rec, and pretty much every time, whatever they recommend, you're actually going to enjoy

hecate kids also make the worst chariots

when they do the chariot race (i'm not sure if this is actually something they do on a regular basis, but they did it in one of the books in the original series so i'm going with it), and every cabin has to make their own chariot, hecate makes the worst chariots and get out first almost every time

honestly it doesn't really bother them anymore because they just genuinely have no idea how to make a good chariot

hecate isn't exactly known for her fighting abilities

usually in battle, the hecate kids stay as far away as possible and use their magic to help the fight

hecate kids are also criminally indecisive

they’re the masters of eenie meanie miny moe

they’re also known to have coins always rattling around in their pocket because sometimes they have to flip a coin to make a decision

they also have lots of magic 8 balls even though they know they’re faulty

(faulty, not fake 😉)

moving on

hecate kids also really like tim burton movies

it might have something to do with the fact that tim burton is a hecate child, but they also just really like the movies

they give off the same vibe

(there is a rumor at hecate cabin that tim burton used some hecate baby magic to make his movies)

only occasionally though

so yeah, that’s all i have for hecate kids

they’re all super unique and interesting

they are definitely sort of strange, but that’s what makes them so cool!

sorry if that was awkward i never know how to end these things

so that’s it for hecate cabin hcs! i had so much fun writing this, and thanks so much for the request! i just wanted to say thank you to everybody liking and following and reblogging for the support, this is already so fun! i have a couple requests for different cabin headcanons and that i haven’t been able to get to because ive had to rewrite this one about three times, which is kinda frustrating, but i love how that turned out! thanks sm for reading!

[michellekarnold]

Blog Introduction

So, funny story, I used to be an avid writer on Tumblr almost 8 years ago. My big three platforms were Tumblr, Wattpad, and AO3. I wrote anything from my own original content to fan fictions.

Then one day I just stopped. I don't have a firm explanation for why exactly I lost my spark. The reasons could range from my inability to manage my mental health at the time to being in a new stage of life. All I know is that I lost my passion and for the next 8 years, despite my efforts, I couldn't bring myself to write.

That brings me to this moment. I woke up one night and I felt that spark again. Don't know what made the gears in my brain turn again, but I am not complaining. I have decided to capitalize on this fire beneath me and start writing a book that little me dreamed of starting before losing my sparkle.

If you'd like to join me in my journey in self discovery and achieving little me's dream of writing an original book, give me a follow! I want to build a fun and safe little community on here of readers and writers alike.

Love,

M.K. Arnold

[marika-misc]

Mental Health & fandom

tw : mentions of Neil Gaiman and JK Rowling, mentions of suicide ideation (in the past)

Note : this is my personal musing and should not be read as facts or an universal truth.

(very long post)

I was never - ever- able to casually like fictions. When I like something it becomes a safe place of sort. A refuge if you will.

As far as I remember, I have been an avid reader and a lover of fictional worlds in books, movies, tv, podcats, etc.

For me, works of fictions have always been more than just pieces of media to consume. They are a get away when things get too much and they often feel like the only thing that can comfort me in a time of need.

I love more or less every kind of fictions. I have pet peeves, yes, and things I can't/won't read or watch, but I love them anyway because I know they bring comfort to other.

I like it so much, that it became my job (I'm a librarian) and nothing makes me happier than a patron telling how they enjoyed something. Even if I don't like it and wouldn't read it/watch it myself. I love when people like things.

So, fictions can't be a casual enjoyment for me. They are part of me and of what I am. When I like something, it consumes me and spreads through every aspects of my life. And yes, sometimes it's a little bit too much maybe ? But, so what ?

For me, being alive is a choice I make every day. Sometimes it's easy, sometimes it's not, most of the time it's neutral. Being alive is hard. Life is hard. And the world is a violent, messy and loud place. So, if fiction helps me to keep going and find joy in this life ? Hell yeah ! Who cares ?

Numerous works helped me through the years to stay alive and deal with changes.

When I was 8, it was books by Enid Blyton. When I was 10, it was books by Agatha Christie and Gaston Leroux When I was 13, it was Titanic and Celine Dion (ilu Celine) When I was 15, it was Gundam Wing for 6 months When I was 17, it was Prince of tennis for about a year But between 14 and 25, it was mostly Harry Potter

Harry Potter and the Globet of fire was the first book I read in english. It took me 6 months, with a dictionary. It was also my first real foray into the world of fanfictions. I had read some before, but with HP, I binged like crazy. I read in french and in english. I printed pages and pages of fics in my highschool library. And I made arts. Lots of it, now lost in the ether.

I re-read the whole serie every time I had to go through changes. It was with me when I moved 500k away from where I grew up and helped me through 3 house moves.

At 25, I moved from HP to other fandoms, but it was still very dear to me and I kept going back to it from time to time. I was on the waiting list for Pottermore for example and still occasionnaly binged fanfictions.

When JKR started to be more vocal with her bullshit, I was chocked and disgusted. I felt betrayed. And it was also the first time that I felt like I was a traitor for enjoying a thing. I couldn't be a good ally if I admited to like HP, right ? So I gave away my books and stopped interracting with the work. I even started to judge people who still bought things HP related. Because HOW could you still give money to her ? But deep down I kind of understood how difficult it was to part with something that meant so much for so many of us. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to give her money and I don't plan to. But it's easy to judge other and forget that the real piece of shit is JKR, not the fan who buy a gryffindor pair of socks and/or write fanfiction after a grueling day at work. It's unfair to have this purity weight to bear all the time and judge people for how they chose to interract with a thing they like. And it certainly doesn't do much to tell people how to feel and how to be "good".

Also, being an ally is not just refraining to buy something HP related. But it's a whole other subject.

Anyway, after HP, I started to fall even harder in the fandoms I was a part of. A fair number of them being "problematic".

First thing first, liking a "problematic" media is ok imo. I know they are not perfect and I acknowledge it. I'm still allowed to like them. Nobody can dictate how I feel.

Second thing : some of these fandoms saved my life. Glee litteraly stopped me from jumping in front of a train and for at least two years, Merlin was the only thing bringing me a little bit of joy.

Nobody can take that away from me.

Recently, Doctor Who and Our Flag means death prompted me to go to therapy again and made me realize A LOT of things about myself.

And there is Good Omens. Good Omens is my current hyperfixation and really what kept me going these last few months. I fell and I fell HARD. Probably because I needed fiction to keep myself afloat and it was there for me. It's kind of funny, because I had read the novel more than 15 years ago (I came to it when reading a lot of Pratchett) and even if I liked it at the time, I still liked other Pratchett's works better. It all changed with the tv show. I wouldn't say it's better than the novel, but it's different and the changes made (and also the fact that DT is in it, lets be honest) spoke to me a great deal. So I became invested. And I began to create again. After years of art block and only drawing sporadically, I was drawing nearly every day and finding great joy in it. Good Omens kept me alive and gave me my creativity back. It was (and still is) so important to me, that I decided to get a tattoo of the first two sentences of the novel. It's a whole design with a book, a sword, a snake and apple blossoms. It goes from my right shoulder to my elbow. I got it done in april.

Three months later the allegations against Neil Gaiman came out.

It hit me hard. Harder than with JKR. And I wasn't even a fan of his. But what he did (because I chose to always believe the victims) horrified me and made me angry. So angry. Angry for the women who suffered first and foremost, but also angry for the fans who grew up with his words and now feel so betrayed and overwhelmed by what is happening. And I'm angry for myself. Very selfish of me, I know. I'm angry, because Good Omens is my safe place and I have now to fight to keep it that way. It still brings me joy, but it also brings me anxiety and seriously fuck you Gaiman. Fuck you. Fuck you for tainting a source of joy and creativity for me. Fuck you for dirtying Terry Pratchett's legacy. Fuck you for being an abuser and proving again and again that none is really safe in the world we live in. I hope you'll pay for what you did, even if I know you will probably not.

This is so not good for my mental health. Also, how do you cope when you have the words inked on your arm and are reminded everyday of the shitshow going on ?

I hope Terry Pratchett wrote them. Not you. But how would I know ?

I talked about it with my therapist because my anxiety was out of control (again) and we did some EMDR work on it. It helped me clear my head a little and reminded me that I was not in the wrong to love something and to find joy in it. I agreed to wait at least a year before deciding if I wanted the tattoo to be covered (not the snake, sword and apple blossom part ; the book part). I could do it now, I even have some designs in mind, but I'll wait to be certain and not take a rash decision because I'm hurting. I will not give him my money anymore, but I don't want him to take the joy and comfort I find in Good Omens away from me. I won't let him. I won't let anyone.

I don't want to do what I did with HP again. I don't want to negate something I love and which brings me joy. So I will rip this book and show from his dirty hands and keep them close to my heart where it's safe.

Maybe it's not being "good" or "moral". Maybe I shouldn't separate the art from the artist and preach for Death of the author. Maybe.

But I'll do it anyway.

My own moral compass is strong and I will not deny myself again.

[mubabee]

i don't do character x character ships either (avid selfshipper here) and OH. MY. GOD. the breath of relief when i read your post. i thought i was probably the only person on the planet who doesn’t want to see that on my dash.

also, if you didn’t know, you can go to tumblr settings and filter the name of the ship so whatever post that's tagged with it will be hidden from you.

i hope you don’t mind if i rant a wee bit ^^; otherwise, feel free to ignore this.

relating to my statement of enjoying self ships, there are two main reasons why this annoys me to no end: the first one is personal and you may call me petty, but i often get jealous seeing my faves blow up in another ship, but i can't control how i feel sometimes. that being said, i've always kept this to myself, and instead just try my best to not interact with content like that, but sometimes stuff happens, like people not tagging the post properly or they use another name for the ship that i haven’t filtered.

the second is when one or both characters in the ship are reduced to just. being the other's partner and nothing more?? or when i can't seem to talk about just one of them without someone bringing up the other one. there have been some cases where i legit end up hating both characters because of this—say one of them is my favourite but in almost every corner of the fandom someone will always have to make it about the pairing rather than the individual themselves and. and. sighs.

...let's just say some of my faves have become a topic i never want to bring up in a conversation.

I understanddddddd

That is personal and I understand why you could feel a lil jealous. All I can say is try not to think about it much because, respectfully, these men and women aren’t real. I personally don’t care much cuz it’s just art and fiction at the end of the day, but why is there so much on my page when I keep pressing not interested? Like the art I see is absolutely amazing so I screenshot it and get rid of it after.

But then it comes BACK like miss girly why are u still here

You’re so right on the last one but I can’t say that cuz it’s a lil hypocritical of me lmao. If I find some fictional character attractive, best believe x reader sht is gonna be my main thought involving them. That’s why I draw (y/n) with everything, cuz i’m not here to just draw fanart. 🤣🤣

ahhhh please don’t let a fandom ruin a character for you! Headcanons and ships end up not being canon most of the time, so try to ignore it if you don’t like it. And I’d also suggest taking a break from whatever makes you feel that way.

also ty for telling me of that feature, I didn’t know Tumblr had that woohoo

[willameena]

13 books

What’s up readers?! How about a little show and tell? Answer these 13 questions, tag 13 lucky readers and if you’re feeling extra bookish add a shelfie! Let’s Go!

this is such a cute idea! thanks for the tag, @magnusbae <3 all your recs sound awesome!

Last book I read: the last one I completed was Machines Like Me, by Ian McEwan. I'm on the last chapter of 5 Tuesdays in Winter, by Lily King, right now, and it's excellent. Machines Like Me had a cool premise, but I thought it really fell flat and got bogged down in the hypotheticals of 80s British politics, which I don't know much about to begin with, and while I thought it was cool that it explored what could have been if Margaret Thatcher weren't elected PM, it seemed like the book could have just done without that entire subplot, as the premise was advanced AI. Anyways.

A book I recommend: Fight Club, by Chuck Palahniuk. A great movie, of course, but I love the book even more and my best friend recently started reading, at my recommendation so I'm very excited to hear her thoughts when she's done. I want to do a reread myself!

A book that I couldn't put down: Unfortunately, I don't have the amount of free time to be able to sit down and read uninterrupted. I haven't read an entire book in one day in a very long time, although I devoured them daily as a kid. In a less literal sense, Revenge of the Sith and Labyrinth of Evil. I have those downloaded to my phone, in the Kindle app, and I couldn't stop reading them. Having it on my phone made that easier to achieve, haha.

A book I've read twice or more: Again, I haven't done a reread of any books in a little while :( I read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo a few times though, pre-kids, when I had more time. Now, I prefer to move onto something new. It's one of my favorites, and the trilogy is so excellent.

A book on my TBR: I have quite a few that purchased from my favorite used book store that I haven't gotten to yet! Dune is one of them, and I'm excited to start that, although I think I'll read something shorter when I finish the book I'm currently on.

A book I've put down: I don't often put down a book I've started, just because I'll either hold out hope that it's going to get better, or I'll want to be able to explain in detail why I disliked it, haha. Sometimes, I'll put one down and return to it if I feel like it is too heavy for me at the time. I did try and read Lord of the Rings when I was a kid, and I just couldn't get into it... I'm hoping this doesn't make me any enemies lol

A book on my wish list: I really want a paper copy of Revenge of the Sith! I'd like paper copies of a few other Star Wars books that I have on the Kindle app, but that one's top of the list.

A favorite book from childhood: I was such an avid reader as a child! I didn't go anywhere without a book, or two. I loved A Wrinkle in Time, the Inkheart series, The Chronicles of Narnia, Roald Dahl's books, a book called Mandy, which was written by Julie Andrews. I loved Harry Potter, but everything that's happened has left a bad taste in my mouth.

A book you would give to a friend: The Almost Moon, by Alice Sebold, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Bell Jar, if they hadn't read any of those yet.

a book of poetry or lyrics that you own: If They Come for Us, by Fatimah Asghar, I can't recommend this enough!! It is absolutely gorgeous and very powerful. I believe they have also written a novel, which I haven't read yet. Where the Sidewalk Ends, and Falling up, by Shel Silverstein, which are my old copies from childhood and very worn and treasured <3 I have a book of Rupi Kaur poems as well.

a non-fiction book you own: quite a few! Spiritual Midwifery, Birth Without Fear, a couple books about Kurt Cobain, Anthony Keidis' memoir, Scar Tissue, a multitude of parenting books, a half marathon guide book, and some books in the "Highly Sensitive Person" series, which I really recommend for those who consider themselves a highy sensitive person

What are you currently reading: I've got 1 chapter left of 5 Tuesdays in Winter, which is a collection of short stories and has been a beautiful read. I'm also working through "The Highly Sensitive Parent" and "Half Marathon, You Can do it!" which sounds ridiculously corny, but is actually really informative and helpful, because I'm training for a half marathon

What are you planning on reading next: I think either Choke, by Chuck Palahniuk or The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, by Mark Haddon. My best friend bought it for me and said I would love it, so I'm guessing I'm gonna love it!

Soooo this was incredibly long and if anyone has read all of this, wow, haha. Thanks again for the tag @magnusbae this was super fun!

No pressure tagging: @cottonraincoat @sendpseuds @piecesofeden11 @wandering-not-lost04 @dragon-on-ice

@kenobster

@lesbianakins @tideswept @unspuncreature @sky-kenobye @betweensaintsandmonsters

@hausofroxann @kato-neimoidia

Also, a shelfie? A shelf selfie? A bookshelf picture? That's so adorable. I recently put up these shelves and while they don't hold all of my books, I really enjoy them and I am 100% taking the opportunity to show them off

[regnigt]

Emily of New Moon Book club, Chapter 1: The House in the Hollow

This is a book that has been of great important to me as I grew up, so I will make a good effort to join the book club, even as I tend to get just a bit intimidated when it comes to prose fandoms and often wind up more of a lurker. But here we go!

Chapter 1 is called The House in the Hollow. This might be the only one of LMM's longer works that I have read (there are several of them I haven't!) where the beginning sees the heroine in a happy state, living in the little isolated house with her father, surrounded by wild, beautiful nature and already an avid reader of books. Of course, already by the very first page we see warning signs, "Father had lain on the sittingroom lounge all day", followed by a mention that he had not talked much to Emily that day, which is noted as unusual. (Emily feels very seen and acknowledged by her father - being with him provides for her a baseline of what it's like to be respected and listened to by those you live with, as well as being loved. For all her future frustrations, she will never forget this.)

Moreover, as much as the narrative underlines that Emily herself is happy with her present state of things, I don't know that it completely disagrees with the common-sense view of Ellen Greene, either. I have never really been happy with the way Ellen is treated so contemptuously by Emily (in her thoughts, at least), and I wonder if there isn't a certain snobbishness there - Douglas Starr doesn't have the Murray snobbery, but he does look down on stolidly unimaginative people, even when they might have cause for concern. And Emily growing up so isolated from everyone else, other adults as well as other children, feels like it's not that wonderful an existence as it could have been, perhaps... although I am thinking this now, re-reading the passage once more as an adult, while I don't remember if I felt the same way as a child.

The short chapter is skilfully told, letting us know before we follow Emily on her walk that something important will happen once she return, then dipping back slightly in time to follow what she did earlier that evening. Then there's that gorgeous description of Emily's walk, letting us see the nature around it with her eyes drinking all of it in, being enchanted and helping to enchant it. And we get the first mention and description of "the flash".

Reading this passage makes me so full of nostalgia - I feel like I'm back to nine years old again and taking my own walks through nature that wasn't quite as unspoiled and stunning as the one Emily sees, but still enchanting and full of hints of possible adventures.

But it's not a complete nostalgia... The sense is a bit removed by something more than years, and that something is language. There was never any question to me that I would make this re-read through the English-language copy of the book that I own, and not the Swedish translation I was given as a present as a child. Regrettably, that old translation leaves way too many interesting and enchanting things out, as I learnt in adulthood. So, English it is. However, the child I was read all of this in Swedish, of course, just as the poetry I started to read at around the same time was also in Swedish. Despite having read fiction in English for many decades now, it can't be helped that when it comes to anything that invokes childhood memories, one's own mother tongue is just that much more immediate and vivid, and packs a stronger emotional punch. It can't be helped... (As an aside, I was surprised, once, to find out that the word that Emily uses for her intense experience of the sublime is "the flash". In Swedish we do not use the same word for a flash of lightning from thunder and other sudden flashes of light. Instead the Swedish translator chose to use the word "glimten", 'the glimpse', and for that choice, at least, I can't really fault her. It's likely the most suitable Swedish equivalent. But it did mean that I, of course, assumed it was called 'the glimpse' in English until I learnt better!)

[ghoulsbounty]

any fanfic hot takes ?? 👀👀

I'm not sure these are hot takes, but as an avid fanfic reader since the age of eleven, I have a few irks! These are just my personal opinions/preferences and aren't targeted at any one person or intended to offend.

fics without smut are beautiful and valid. fade to black moments are sometimes more sexy and impactful than a smut scene.

that being said, if there is a smut scene then i like it with obscene amounts of description. give me every jaw dropping, filthy detail.

toxic ships in fiction are fun.

i click off a fic automatically if: they use y/n, the new speaker/new paragraph rule isn't followed, and if the fic is one big block of text.

i don't like au's. i've maybe read a couple that i've enjoyed, but generally i find them too ooc.

if an author says that they haven't proofread their own fic, or specifies that they haven't written a summary because they suck at them? automatic eyeroll. if you can't be bothered with your own work, why should i be?

kidfics. honestly so many of them are unrealistic and you can tell people either don't have children in their lives or haven't researched child characters. not every child is cute and well-behaved, and generally, 3 year olds don't sound like philosophers.

leave people's ships alone. i don't understand the audacity that people have to think that they can send abuse to others or reblog/tag posts literally tearing down ships. if you don't like them, don't interact. let people enjoy themselves. use the block button.

your version of a character is valid. headcanons are not canon, they are fun and give an in-depth look at how an author perceives a particular character.

when someone says 'why is no one talking about this?' in reference to something that happened in canon...when literally everyone has talked about it (not fic specific but it irks me)

write what you want to write. read what you want to read. leave the rest alone.

long fics aren't necessarily better. there are some amazing short fics that still stick with me to this day.

it's okay if you haven't received a comment on your fic that you posted literally two hours ago.

i don't mind that my fics have so many more likes than reblogs/comments. i get that it's just how Tumblr is and honestly it's okay. i appreciate every interaction on my fics, but i really love comments for the conversations and feedback. like, knowing what you liked about the fic? how it made you feel? worth everything.

i honestly don't care if your fic is beta read or not it means nothing to me.

it should be more popular/accepted for writers to be tipped for their work. like ko-fi or something similar, the same way fanart is.

writing dialogue in heavy accents. like every word or every other word is accented and I can't understand it. it kills the flow of the fic for me.

[moranice-solvej]

Answer the Questions and Tag 5 Fanfic Authors

Thank you for the tag, @rifle-yes <3

1. How did you get into writing fanfiction?

Got introduced to fanfic through an old forum dedicated to a TV-show I was low-key obsessed with as a teen all the way back in 2008. Around the same time I started to get an urge to express myself in writing as I was an avid reader and always had a vivid imagination, so the sheer fact that people just wrote stories to celebrate their favorite stories captivated me.

Since then, there were many attemps to write fanfic and original works alike, very few completed, and only my obsession with Rogue One that started after watching the movie and reading the novelization had put me on the path of publishing my writing and finally being able to complete writing projects.

2. How many fandoms have you written in?

Started in a TV-fandom a long time ago, but never had anything I wanted to publish, so mentally I don't even count it. None of those scraps of written down ideas remain; I deleted them and never once looked back. That leaves Rogue One and technically Star Wars as my sole writing fandom. I dearly love many other shows and movies and games, but none of them make me want to write in their universes.

3. How many years have you been writing fanfiction?

Technically 16 years. Yes, comprehending this number makes me terrified.

4. Do you read or write more fanfiction?

I used to read tons of fic before I came back to writing in earnest. Now most of my free time goes into writing.

In addition to that I have ran into a loathesome problem of not being able to find stories that I'd love to read. The ceiling has gotten too high. Now that I can finally shape the kinds of stories I want to read to life, I crave more stories with such premises, themes, writing styles, and character archetypes, and these days I struggle to find them in fanfic and in original books for that matter. My gremlin brain simply cannot connect to the vast majority of tropes that dominate modern-day fandom and culture. :(

Thus, I'm firmly in the mode of be-the-change-you-want-to-be-in-the-world and producing stories for myself to satisfy that need. Even if it routinely takes me over a year, usually two to finish a single story with a monster wordcount and create something I can one day re-read with glee.

5. What is one way you’ve improved as a writer?

I am now able to move an idea from a general concept and a set of pivotal scenes to a fully-fleshed out story and actually finish it. This used to be my achilles heel for ages and it feels mightily gratifying to finally get rid of it.

6. What’s the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

Origins of blood transfusions in human history. Plus a large variety of niche questions of when thing a or thing b was first invented. Most of the times the setting of my current writing project allows me to disregard our reality and wing it for the sake of the vibes or plot, but I still like to research what we as a species develop and when to try and create a somewhat believable ancient fictional world without modern technology.

7. What’s your favorite type of comment to receive on your work?

I have a soft spot for readers who pick on teeny-tiny details of my writing and show their appreciation for it. I end up with monstrous word counts because I'm an extremely context- and detail-oriented writer, and knowing that my passion for it is noticed and enjoyed brings me joy in return.

8. What’s the most fringe trope/topic you write about?

My current project centers around a warrior woman in her mid- to late forties who makes peace with her trauma of motherhood and loss, finds new friends and love and new home, defies her nation's traditions and becomes the force of change for her people that will bring them out of stubborn isolation and little by little shatter their callousness and mold it into empathy.

I am well aware that the sole audience of this story is myself and my best friend whom I'm lucky to have along for the ride, but it has took over my heart and it will not let go until I finally bring this epic saga to a close.

9. What is the hardest type of story for you to write?

I am simply incapable of writing a traditional short story. Every one-shot I ever made was a stepping stone in a larger verse, and even so the smallest one is over 8k words. Anytime I try to write something small, I either need to put it down because it gets out of hand, or I need to finish it and by that time it grows into a monster.

My last attempt to write a short story within a story has spawned an epic saga that currently sits at roughly 380.000k words and will likely end up over 500.000k words when I'm finally done with it.

10. What is the easiest type?

Monster-sized epics. I think my creative brain cannot function in any other way but go-big-or-go-home.

11. Where do you do your writing? What platform? When?

I've used MS Word for writing ever since I got my first laptop and keep at it. Started using Scrivener lately for establishing character sheets and writing down my notes.

For years now I write almost exclusively over the weekends, with occassional editing in the evenings after work. Between working, needing to keep my apartment clean and myself fed, and dedicating time to mastering my fourth language, I have no brain for creativity after I'm done with all these chores and I use whatever remains of my evening to read, or watch shows with my best friend, or do some gaming.

12. What is something you’ve been too nervous/intimidated to write, but would love to write one day?

In the story I am currently writing, one of the secondary main characters is an ex-slave and a rape survivor. There is no shortage of hurt/comfort stories about a female character's experience with such kind of abuse, and in all my years of reading fic and books I often find that trauma stemming from it is either glossed over or healed through the power of true love. Even when a story follows a road to healing, it often ends in sunshine and rainbows after the all the travails. Well, for a long, long time now my gremlin brain wanted to explore what such trauma can do to a stoic male warrior, as well as to study how sometimes there is no easy healing from such ordeals, how deep these souls scars lie, and how they will keep poisoning the relationship he will pursue down the line and present major obstacles to both non-sexual and sexual intimacy with the woman he falls in love with. I'm a sucker for happy endings and I will not turn away from it, but this is going to be a scarred happy ending because those ghosts are never going to stay completely quiet in his soul.

I am daunted by the prospect of writing this spin-off like I've never been before, scared of not doing it justice, but something in me has latched onto this idea and really, really wants to at least try it.

13. What made you choose your username?

I needed something unique as a username and I have a habit of making up new names out of thin air for my writing. I liked this one and it had stuck. :)

If any writers who follow me would like to join in, you are welcome.

[dandrew-stuff]

WHERE ARE THE RICHONNE FICS WRITERS⁉️

You've given me a space where I can find comfort, love, joy and fulfilment🤧. Through your words, I see another world with many other possibilities, and I'm having fun😁. I'm an avid reader and I've found a haven where I can quench my thirst of Richonne. Unfortunately, lately it has become difficult for me to find new stories😢. I wonder if it's just me who's not looking hard enough, or if it's just you who's given up😔? I'm not a writer, so I can't even imagine how complicated it must be for some of you to write pages and pages of over 3000 words while juggling your personal and professional lives😫, so I can't afford to blame you(never) - I just hope you haven't given up on Richonne🥲.

I'm not a fan of social media because of their toxicity (instagram and tumblr are the only platforms I use), so I found refuge here and was able to discover this world of fan fiction that opened its arms to me, and thanks to that I was able to enjoy Richonne EVEN MORE💞through your stories.

So please don't give up on Richonne, keep the flame alive, this couple who changed everything deserves to be celebrated every day🥹. Please don't give up on us🙏🏽🫶🏽.

PS: If it's a problem of lack of ideas, I have several to suggest😇.

[kerkhofbloemen]

nine people you want to get to know better

Never been tagged before, and now I was tagged by 2 people on the same day! I suppose this means I gotta come through. @motel-gothic and @paellegere thanks so much (I guess?) ;)

Last Song: Green Grass and High Tides by The Outlaws. Don't laugh... southern rock is new to me. You don't hear it much in Europe. A side effect of Supernatural really, via Jensen - my music knowledge has expanded.

Favorite Color: "favorite" questions are not my thing. My answer is always "it depends". As to colors, I really go for combinations. Turquoise and corral for instance. Deep red with dark blue. White and spring green.

Last Movie/TV Show: I finally watched The Road. Pretty depressing. I gotta say I expected something more, after the fanfics I read based on this movie.

Sweet/Spicy/Savory: Spicy. Especially Mexican. My husband is Mexican after all.

Relationship Status: married, two children, one already in college.

Last Thing I Googled: how to use the Wayback Machine.

Current Obsession: what a question. Wincest of course!

Last Book: The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin. I can recommend it. But I have to be honest- I've always been an avid reader but since I discovered the existence of Supernatural, shipping, and fanfic, all pretty much at the same time about 4 years ago, I've been on a wincest fanfic reading spree that shows no signs of abating, seriously impacting my novel and non fiction reading rates.

Looking Forward To: Spring. And our first family trip to Mexico in 5 years later this year. As to projects, this is only an idea, but I'd love to compose an open access wincest fic rec data base for fics on livejournal and ff.net. When I find the time. And maybe someone who knows how to set this up online.

i'd like to tag @brookesallow @jinkieswouldyoulookatthis @jellybracelet @detailtilted @arwenadreamer @trials-era-sam @lovetheirloves @winchesterride @soulmates-for-real

I you were already tagged and answered, just ignore me, I can't keep track. No idea how other people do it!

[sevenrenny]

RENNY BIO

Oh look, finally making one of those Tumblr bio posts.

Welcome to my blog! Just a note that my blog might have some spoilers for certain fandoms (right now, mostly for My Hero Academia and Sonic The Hedgehog media).

✦ My name's Renny (they/them). I'm a queer, disabled, mixed-race fanfiction author.

✦ Transmasc/nonbinary, polyamorous, ace 🌈

✦ ADHD, c-PTSD, Dyscalculia, chronic pain and chronic medical conditions.

✦ 16+ account. Mostly SFW but might occasionally reblog posts that might have more mature topics. Please see me list of content warning tags if there are tags you'd prefer to filter out.

✦ Most of my fics are SFW but I do sometimes write NSFW with aged-up characters to explore adult themes, so please be aware of the age rating and warning tags of my fics.

✦ I'm in multiple fandoms but I'm currently active in the My Hero Academia fandom as well as the Sonic The Hedgehog fandom. Casual furry as well.

✦ I most write for the ships IzuOcha from My Hero Academia and SonAmy from the Sonic The Hedgehog franchise, but I'm generally a multi-shipper.

✦ My English was self-taught up until I majored in a BA in English Literature in college. I'm a slow but avid reader. I especially enjoy middle grade and adult books, BIPOC and LGBTQ+, animal fiction, and magical realism.

✦ I’m known for my angst stories, but I’ll occasionally do fluff and AUs and other genres/tropes.

✦ I’m most active on AO3. (Please note that I do not use my FFN account anymore, so I won’t be able to see any questions sent to me there.)

✦ If my ask box is open go ahead if you have questions or would like fanfiction writing/research tips. I might take a few days to answer because I'm an employed adult who's juggling multiple projects and my chronic pain means I sometimes need a few days rest.

✦ Please don't come to me for discourse or shipping wars or the like. That's not how I roll.

Link to my AO3 account.

[captainbobbin]

Are there any media – games, books, movies, music etc. – that you loved as a child, that you can say shaped who you are as an adult?

Hard mode: you can't pick "Kingdom Hearts".

I was raised by my nan - I'd spend every single day helping her out around her house, working in her garden, cooking together, doing my homework, and then sitting with her and playing games; I would play and she would watch. For the most part it was N64-Gamecube era games. Things like Animal Crossing, Harvest Moon, Wind Waker, and Sonic Adventure 2s Chao Garden were favourites for both of us, games that were chill and comfy and laid back, bright and colourful but had a nice sense of responsibility and progression. I remember very fondly the way that my nan would always like how the horses hooves sounded in HM:AWL and even though you said that I can't pick KH, she was the one who got me KH2 and watched me explore through it countless times. Banjo-Kazooie, Pokemon Snap, and Ocarina Of Time were also played a lot, and I hold them all very close to my heart haha. I still very much enjoy games designed to be relaxing, I love me some farm sims and I tend to get attached to specific characters regardless of their original media.

In terms of books, I am a big fan of Junji Ito's work, I have quite a few graphic novels and a collection of books, and growing up I was a very avid reader in general. I have a signed autograph from Micheal Morpurgo somewhere from when I was very young. I don't read as much as I used to to be honest, especially fiction, but that's because I spend so much time writing that I worry a lot about accidentally absorbing other people's ideas or words and stuff through reading :p Ito's structure and overarching sense of scale are super interesting to me and I really love how detailed and foreboding his work always is - and that despite being one of the biggest horror mangakas of all time he's actually just a sweet and chill little catdad guy lmaoooo

my taste in music and movies is so jacked, dude. I have the most bizarre sense of taste imaginable. I love terrible awful movies. I'm a big fan of monster movies, quite a lot of foreign films, shlocky action lmao; I have a degree in animation and enjoy a lot of art movies and character studies. I did my third year dissertation in how body horror in media is portrayed differently depending on its country of origin and I have a lot of passion for movies in general, I love discussing practical vs special effects, exploring background details and plot contingencies, character motivations etc. I do weekly movie nights with my chat and its my fave time of the week! I've always liked weird movies and I always end up going back to my faves

[amrago]

About Me

Call me Queen because I'm too lazy to find another nickname for myself.

In my day- job, which sometimes it's a night-job too, I work in IT - cybersecurity.

I'm 27, European and a polyglot. Despite the fact that I've been writing for 15 years I yet have to write a complete novel that I can call that way without feeling any shame.

I write speculative fiction and romance. I haven't tried with erotica but i won't be sharing anything related here regardless.

This blog is about my writing (and use it as a motivator when I can) and serves as a collection of resources and prompts i might use in the future.

I unconsciously tend to write about my own experiences so here a list of themes, tropes and similar things I naturally tend to write about. I think this is better than a self-id list and more interesting. This is no particular order of importance or how much I use it and of course not everything is always included.

Bisexuality, especially WLW "ships";

Disability, mental illness and neurodivergency;

Feeling without a choice;

Community in a positive way*;

Underdogs;

Second (or even third, fourth chances);

Family and friends;

Some sort of war or big conflict;

Love;

Resilience and resistance...

I think there will be other things and I maybe will update the list as I go.

Anyway I'm always up for tag games etc. It might take me some time to get back because of my job (and ADHD).

I have to note that all my writing is original. I don't write or read fanfiction at the moment although I'm an avid reader.

WIPs:

Servant of Chaos -> Regency settled fantasy. Our MC is Rosaspina, 23 and demigod, grandson of Death and Destiny. He gets kicked out of magic university/institution, offically for a prank unofficially because his grades sucks. He was sent there because he had a clandestine relationship with the princess of the place he cames from and despite his parents being the general of the army and the first advisor he is not up enough the ladder for a marriage. Chaos offers him a job. Find the Death goddess so zombies stop ravaging a continent since she just disappeared. And why two of the most powerful entities ever existed decided to live in a castle with humans... And have a kid after the few millennia they have been alive and togheter. (Keep in mind that there is no racism or sexism in this world - the point is making a commentary on how much we undervalue people because they can't give you want you want in the way you expect them to. Yes MC is ADHD although it's never mentioned because at the time ADHD wasn't recognised yet. More details when I decide to create a wiki or something. )

Other things I'm working on:

What if? - Writing exercises ->That's the tag I use to publish the excerpt. I'm trying to learn how to write fiction in english and this helps.

[Placeholder for the prompt tag]

My writing -> Self-explanatory.

WIP -> Everything that has to do with my WIPs.

My tags to find references and writing tips are a mess. When I have some time (which I rarely do lol - the JOY of being an adult I guess) I will fix them in a way that makes sense.

That's everything for now!

(artwork by @mayasdigitalart - she deactivated)

[elenajohansenreads]

Books I Read in 2024

#24 - How to Suppress Women's Writing, by Joanna Russ

Rating: 5/5 stars

The prologue asks the reader not to view the book as a mirror, but it was impossible for me not to, as a woman, as a writer, and as a student of "literature" both formally (I did take courses on it in college) and informally (how many book reviews am I up to now? Last time I counted it was over 800, so by now I might be close to or even over a thousand...)

I looked into that mirror and saw not only the ways I have personally been suppressed, but the ways I have participated in my own suppression and suppressed others.

I've never wanted to write "literature" or be regarded as a "great" writer; when I was scribbling (to borrow from Alcott) away on notebook paper in high school teachers would joke about The Great American Novel, but chasing that laurel was never my goal. I wrote about what interested me, which has ranged from weird absurdist short stories when I was younger, to fantasy and sci-fi, and finally, what I actually published was romance (though some of it in a post-apocalyptic setting, so that's also blending in some sff/horror elements.) I never felt actively pushed out from the "center," as Russ puts it, of the literary canon; I never wanted to be there.

But that was on a conscious level. Subconsciously, I probably knew I couldn't get there even if I wanted to and tried.

So I'm a genre-fiction author. (I'll still call myself that even if it's been over three years since I published and there's no new book on the horizon--literature authors can take decades-long breaks and still come back with another book and they'll have been an author the whole time, so I'll keep my title and my pride.) I'm quite comfortable and at home in the genre suburbs, away from the bright city lights of the literary canon, but I live there knowing full well that no matter how well genre fiction sells, no matter how romance is the biggest single genre in the industry in terms of both published works and total sale, it will still remain the suburbs. There's no real hope in me that genre fiction will ever get the recognition it deserves from the literary elite--but that's how I'm still participating in the system, because if I didn't still, on some level, think literature was "better" then it wouldn't matter, would it?

I live in the genre suburbs based on what I was reading growing up--my mom was an avid reader and it was almost entirely mystery and science fiction, not just the "classic" science fiction that was largely male in her day (Bradbury, Heinlein, Asimov, etc.) but also, with the popularity of the "new" Star Trek series in the late 80s when I was a kid, whole shelves full of Star Trek novels, which in her collection seemed to be roughly balanced in terms of male/female authorship. Almost all of the ones I loved best and reread a dozen or more times were written by women. (I love you, Diane Duane, I didn't even know you'd written non-Trek stuff until years later.)

My role models for writing were not entirely female--it's impossible to deny the impact Stephen King in particular has had on my work--but most of what I read in my late teens and early twenties as well was female-written fantasy, romance, and fantasy-romance. (I refuse to call it romantasy. Absolutely refuse.)

So I don't lack a tradition, one of the forms of dismissal Russ points out is used to isolate female writers as anomalies; their works may be exceptional in quality, but they are still exceptions to the "rule" of male dominance.

What I do lack is an awareness of how deeply I've internalized the male-driven standards of "literature" anyway and wield them as a cudgel in my book reviewing. Yes, I often disdain works of literary fiction knowingly for their hollow pretension and constant insistence that only male experience matters, only men deserve to have their stories told, and everything else is lesser than them. But I had not realized how firmly I had recentered what I believe "good" writing is in my own experiences and my own desires and still looked down on marginalized authors that wrote things too different, too experimental, too unfamiliar, and criticized them in much the same way any of the historical critics Russ quotes would be speaking of my work, were they around still to read it.

It was the section on poetry, I think, that really pushed the mirror in my face and made me cringe at my own actions. Once upon a time, a Tumblr poet made it big with her debut, and I read it a few years later, and I gave it a poor review, contending that no matter how heartfelt it was, it wasn't "poetry." I tried to keep the critique of her work about her work, and not about the obviously powerful emotions and pain that spurred it, and I hope I succeeded; but I definitely used the rubric of "poetry" that I had been taught my whole life as the lens to view her pieces, and they all fell short by that standard, no matter how genuine the emotion was. 

I did the exact same thing to her that male critics have been doing to female poets the whole time; she wrote it, but it isn't poetry.

I don't think I would have the experience Russ writes of in her afterword, where she realizes she reads Their Eyes Were Watching God, thinks it's bad, but then realizes she's too far away from it (essentially) and does a bunch of educational reading to bring herself closer to it before she rereads, and hey whaddaya know, it's actually really good. If I reread that slim volume of short poems again...I'll be honest, I'm pretty sure I still wouldn't like it. But I would no longer say it's not poetry. "Growth only happens in the margins," as Russ said repeatedly. All of her observations about the way men dismiss women stand equally true (as she herself says) for any other majority/minority dynamic, and it's the marginalized authors who have the freedom to be different, to push the boundaries and experiment with style and form and content, simply because they are so far away from the calcified center mass of "true" literature that, by unspoken definition, can only be produced by older, white, middle-class or higher men.

[writernopal]

Happy STS!

What is your favourite genre to read? Is it the same as your favourite genre to write?

What subgenres within that genre are your favourite to read? Are they the same ones you like to write?

Happy belated STS, Kate!

What is your favourite genre to read? Is it the same as your favourite genre to write?

Non-fiction and no definitely not 😅 I used to read a lot more fantasy and kind of typical YA stuff when I was younger, like middle school/high school age (I was an avid reader back then!) but I kind of fell off reading for a while because Life and Reasons.

By the time I started getting back into it, I was very much not the audience for YA anymore and I didn't enjoy reading it either, but found myself gravitating toward non-fiction instead and I've been happily chilling here since 😌

What subgenres within that genre are your favourite to read? Are they the same ones you like to write?

Pirate history, obviously haha. That's almost exclusively what I read these days, but I also really like anthropology! Though in the more general sense, I should say, there isn't a particular facet of anthropology that I'm very fixated on (yet). I just like learning about how people lived, developed, why they might be different from me and you, etc. Those are all stories in themselves.

I do enjoy the occasional historical fiction from time to time but I really have to be in the mood for it. Which is kind of weird because on paper that seems like something I would really enjoy but I don't 😅 I much prefer reading historical accounts/journals with a bit of flair here and there. It's fun to read those after having read something more objectively historical to see what it was really like or just get a sense of the person who wrote it. Though I'm not opposed to watching a historical fiction show, those are my fave genre of show or movie. (make it make sense!!! then again this is coming from someone who likes ketchup, tomato sauce, even salsa with tomato chunks in it but hates whole tomatoes so 🤷)

As far as writing them, again, no haha. Though I will say you can see traces of all those things in the way that I worldbuild, especially the anthropological perspective. That's always the first place my mind goes when I'm making something.