#i wanted to build up more a backlog before i posted but. lol.

[oliviaischillin1204]

training interrupted

Pairings: Platonic (frenemies lol) SamTory

Word Count: 868 words

if y'all haven't watched the insane fucked up gay cyclical trauma enemies-to-friends melodrama that is cobra kai, i don't know what to tell you other than. PLEASE watch it ajhdfghdjsk

"What was that?"

"Nothing," Tory hissed. She shoved at the other girl's shoulders, but Sam was clearly using all of her weight to keep her down on the mat. They'd been sparring, and Tory had been winning, which of course meant that Sam had to pull some cheating shit like this. Tory honestly couldn't remember how they'd gotten in this position-- she remembered throwing a kick, then Sam had grabbed her leg, bringing them both down to the floor, and suddenly she was pinned, staring up at the face of one very sweaty, very pretty, and very annoyingly smug Samantha LaRusso.

So Tory had used as much momentum as possible to knee her in the back, which... ended up being something of a mistake. Because Sam fell forward, her elbows buckling and one of her hands slipping from where it was pinning Tory's upper arm. Her fingers had curled as they slid down Tory's bicep, landing just next to her armpit.

And Sam had tensed up after the knee to her back; she'd been ready to keep the training-slash-brawl going. But Tory hadn't made any other moves.

She was too busy giggling.

"Sounded like you were giggling," Sam said helpfully, pressing her body even heavier against Tory's. The Cobra Kai girl snarled up at her.

"Fuck off, you just- knocked my breath out when you fell on me." She pushed again, but Sam was deceptively heavy for someone so small. "Get off!"

Sam quirked her head. "Oh, but then I wouldn't get the chance to do this."

She once again pressed all of her body weight to keep Tory as pinned as possible, as her one hand returned right to the edge of Tory's armpit. Her nails glided over the thin skin of her bicep, stroking up, and down, and up, and down- each brush reaching just a bit closer to her defenseless underarm.

"LaRusso," Tory hissed, face murderous. "I will- kill- you- no!"

Her last word came on a gasp of breath, right before Sam scribbled her perfectly manicured nails right under Tory's arm. And the dam broke.

"Nohohohohoho fuck off!" Tory screamed, actually screamed, because wow holy fuck it's been a long time since anyone's done this to her and she was not fucking ready for it right now, when she was already sore and tired from training.

Sam cooed with an infuriating patronization. "Oh my gosh, is Tory Nichols... ticklish?" She gasped, readjusting herself to keep Tory's flailing body pinned. "Big, bad Tory gets all giggly from some ticklies? Yeah? You can't handle some widdle tickles?"

She shot her hand down to squeeze blindly at Tory's upper ribs, her fingers curling around to massage the back of her side at the same time. Tory arched her back, which of course made it fucking worse but she literally couldn't think of what else to do. All of her karate training was slipping from her brain like water through a sieve; she couldn't manage to do anything more than wildly kicking her legs behind Sam.

"Maybe I'll do this the next time we're on the mat," Sam said, and honestly fuck her for being so goddamn smug about this. Her smile was bright and sharp, her tongue poking out when she found a particularly good spot. "Maybe everyone should see how cute you get when you're all giggly and squirmy. Give some of the newbies a chance to actually beat you for once."

She brought her hand back up to Tory's underarm, fluttering dangerously softly all over the area, and Tory's laughter returned from shrieks to giggles.

"Don't say shihihit," she gasped. "I'll fucking- ahaha- I'll kill you."

Sam tsked. "Yeah, you said that already. Got any other threats?" SHe grinned again, making sure to catch Tory's eye. "Or how about... we'll stop once you say I'm the winner."

"Bullshit!" Tory said; Sam raised her eyebrow and gave her some harder underarm tickles as a punishment. Tory couldn't stop writhing around under the other girl's deft fingers if she tried- and fuck, was she trying. "Stohohohop!"

"Just say I'm the winner," Sam sang, "and this'll all be over." She resituated herself again, nearly resting her chin on Tory's chest as she sighed in contentment. Like she was getting fucking comfortable.

Oh, absolutely fuck that.

Tory summoned the last of her remaining strength, and with one more yell like a kiai, she shoved herself forward with enough strength to throw Sam off. Well, not throw her all the way off, because Tory's arms were weak and her stomach hurt from laughing so much and she was still twitchy with leftover tingles running through her body, but she did manage to knock Sam off balance just a bit, which was all Tory needed.

In less than a second, the positions were reversed. Tory held herself over Sam, sweaty, hair unkempt, and brutally aware of how flushed her face must look- but she had LaRusso pinned. That's all she needed.

"You," she hissed, still catching her breath, "are fucking dead, Princess."

Sam's eyes widened in fear just as she opened her mouth, but Tory didn't even give her a chance. She'd show her who was the real winner around here.

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week’s writer spotlight feature is:  LadyKailitha! @ladykailitha has 33 fics posted to AO3 in the Stranger Things fandom and 32 of them are in the Steddie Tag.

Our anonymous nominator recommends the following works by @ladykailitha:

Little Runaway

Staking My Claim

I'll Be Your Knight

Eddie's Big Stevie Rescue

"LadyKailitha is a wonderful writer both on Tumblr (shout out to WIP Wednesday, makes my day!!) and on AO3! They absolutely deserve all the recognition and respect for their work. And now I'd like to share the love 🫶"-- anonymous

Below the cut, @ladykailitha answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

I’m obsessed with them. LOL! On a more serious note, it’s because I relate to the two characters a lot and want to see them happy.

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

Childhood friends. I just love watching them be friends as kids and then grow apart and then back together again. I could read it a billion times and do it again. As long as there’s a happy ending of course.

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

AUs. Just all of them. I like canon Eddie and Steve, but putting them in different worlds and still finding ways to make them who they are. chef’s kiss

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

There are so many good ones but one that I’ve read several times is STRIKE TEN by oaseas. So good.

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

That’s the best part of steddie is not knowing there’s a troupe I want to write for until inspiration strikes. Like I never thought I’d do a sugar baby/daddy AU, but I’m currently writing one. Ditto for omegaverse, but now I’ve written two from the same universe. But as I’m typing this… probably sentinel/guide. The idea has always intrigued me.

What is your writing process like?

First is day dreaming up an idea. Then depending on how long the idea is, I’ll do a short write up about. If it’s long, then it gets treated with plot beats I want to hit. I don’t consider it an outline, because they aren’t in order. Then I will sit down and start writing. I will do at least 400 words a day and keep at it until I have at least 3 or 4 chapters into it before I start posting.

Do you have any writing quirks?

I have to have a backlog of unpublished chapters because I worry if I’m not putting out stories people will lose interest. It’s also so that if I write myself into a corner I can go back a couple of chapters if I have to and change it to fit the new direction the story is going.

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

Definitely on a schedule. I’ve tried waiting until I’m done and I just get too excited for other people to read it and start posting.

Which fic are you most proud of?

Well Met By Moonlight. I’m really proud of the world building and mystery.

How did you get the idea for Little Runaway?

When I first got into the fandom, there was a severe lack of Eddie and Steve postseason 2 and I really wanted to lean into that a bit.

When writing Little Runaway, what was something you didn’t expect?

Max becoming a reader insert in a way. Where you see the characters through her eyes at the end.

What inspired Staking My Claim?

LOL! Steve licking Eddie’s hand like he was a cupcake he didn’t want to share.

What was your favorite part to write from Staking My Claim?

Jeff. I loved how he just kinda rocked up and said, “As Eddie’s boyfriend, you are now my responsibility and no, you don’t get a say in this.”

How do/did you feel writing I'll Be Your Knight?

I love this one. It really does not get enough praise honestly. I loved the idea of the sound of Steve’s lighter as he lights and puts it out over and over again. I just really loved the idea of Steve guarding Eddie because he’s part of the group now.

What was the most difficult part of writing Eddie's Big Stevie Rescue?

The subject matter. It’s one of my darkest fics because Steve gets slipped a date rape drug and the fall out of not trusting the people you care about with the deepest parts of yourself. Also, keeping the tension ramped up.

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

I absolutely love the scene with Billy and Steve from “Never Hold Back Your Step…” when Billy gets Steve’s lifeguard job and Steve calls him a washed up surfer. That whole takedown was cathartic as hell.

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

I’m currently working on a couple that I think are just so much fun. “The Hellfire Exotic Club” a stripper AU that has been a blast to write. And “Of Butterflies and Backstrokes” the Olympic swimmer AU. I’m proud of that title, too.

Outside of these questions, Is there anything YOU would like to add?

nope!

Thank you to our author, @ladykailitha, and our anonymous nominator! See more of LadyKailitha's works featured on our page throughout the day!

Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!

[bad-traffic-smp-ideas]

Welcome to Bad Traffic SMP Ideas, an experimental gimmick blog with a twist!

Hello! Instead of showcasing the many good ideas this community has come up with, this blog highlights all the "bad" ideas created with our beloved smps in mind.

I, the Head Watcher, will be your guide on this journey through the wonderfully horrific concepts I've collected for future traffic series smps. Enjoy your trip! ^^

[QnA + tag system + more below the cut!]

What is a "bad idea?"

It's whatever you want it to be! The "[blank] Life, but _" format works really well for series concepts as a whole, but "bad headcanons" are welcome too! Go wild, friends <3

"Someone already sent in my same idea! Can I submit it again?"

Sure!! Most of the time, I won't even realize it's been said before. This blog has been going for so long now and I have bigger priorities, I won't penalize you for sending in a "repeat" ask :)

(There is also the #additions tag for adding onto specific ideas, although it isn't used very consistently. If you would like your ask to be added to a previous post instead, just ask!)

"What does the queue look like for this blog?"

Currently, it posts once per day, and there's usually ~100 posts in the backlog waiting to be posted.

For complicated personal reasons (but mostly me being a busy uni student), that most likely won't be changing anytime soon. I don't get around to stocking this blog very often and I would rather have it be slow and consistent than have random bursts of activity then silence. I know this is frustrating for people, but this is my personal passion project, and I don't want to needlessly stress myself out over something I started for fun :)

"I sent in my idea two months ago! Where is it?!"

Probably still in the askbox! Very rarely do I actually delete asks, I promise I don't cherrypick the ideas I like and discard the rest. But since I know the wait is frustrating, this is my policy to deal with it:

If you've sent in an idea and it hasn't posted yet, you can send me an ask describing your idea and ask to have it moved up in the queue. You can also send in a separate ask when submitting an idea if you want to have it posted sooner rather than later.

(If your idea is connected to recent events in smps, etc it will most likely be moved up anyway so it posts while still "relevant," although this is somewhat limited to my familiarity with the event. It never hurts to ask!)

"Wait, this blog has a TV Tropes page?!"

APPARENTLY. I didn't make it, but I'm a HUGE fan of it, and it's probably more organized than my actual blog. Go check it out, I'm famous guys <3

Housekeeping + Rules:

Mostly common sense things + be a decent person, etc. This isn't a place for discourse, so please leave that elsewhere. There haven't been any serious issues, but if there ever are I'll create a more cohesive list of rules.

Admin Info:

You can call me Pho! I saw the @/badmccideas blog and got inspired to make this around the end of Last Life in November 2021. My main is @phosphorus-noodles :)

Currently, I'm the sole mod running this blog. This may change in the future, but please don't ask to join the team unless I ask for more help! This project is my baby, and I'm very protective over it ^^'

Tagging System:

#bad traffic idea - catch-all tag for bad ideas

#headcanon - specifically for headcanons, not concepts (not consistently used, so if you can't find a headcanon tagged with this it's probably under the previous tag)

#not a bad idea - anything that's not a bad idea (announcements, admin notes, reblogs, etc.)

#good idea - personal favorite submissions <3

#admin - posts from yours truly :)

#ask - ideas sent in via ask

#submission - ideas submitted

#reblog - anything reblogged

#additions - inconsistently used, but meant for building upon existing specific ideas

#life series predictions - used whenever there's a new season on the horizon to try to predict where apollo's dodgeball will fall

#blog lore - mostly for fun, not that serious or consistent lol, feel free to filter this tag or join in with the fun! :)

If you've made it to the end of this post, congrats! I love you <3

[blueau-niverse]

Hello! I love your comic and just wanted to know if you still plan on updating it? I understand these things take time so I’m sorry if I come off as impatient!! I hope you have a great day ^^

Aw, thank you! I'm so glad you like it so far! Also, the short answer is yes, I do still plan on updating it!

The long answer is: Yes, it's just taking a bit since I'm currently just getting over some burnout, so before I come back fully I'm just building a backlog of pages that are only on Patreon so far- ( Link here for those who want to see them now )

The goal is to finish up chapter 14 before posting again, but for sure I am posting again one way or the other lol I am FAR too invested in finishing it myself to stop at this point. I'm thinking based on my track record maybe 4 more weeks? But not gonna put a for sure comeback date as of yet.

Thank you so much for reading, and I really can't wait to share the rest of this story with everyone! 🌟

[miniscule-meow]

G/t ask game A 20 🫢

Random fun facts!

Marcus: Marcus is a sporty guy (tm) This is filed under "pieces of info about this character that I hold, but may never do anything with." For a while I figured he played baseball. Now I think it's hockey. Either way, he can definitely ice skate. I think he plays with his college, but even if he didn't he would be involved like in a local community team.

Zeke: I talk about Zeke a lot in the story, I'm not sure what else there is to really say about him. He wants to own his own shop for alterations one day. He likes to paint his nails, usually black or green. He's always liked miniature things, he thinks they're super cute. So, with Isabell being around, he really likes making tiny things for her. He loves reading, typically like epic fantasy stuff like The Wheel of Time.

Isabell: If Isabell was human, she would still be really short. Like, 5'2" also, she would be a ballerina. This has also been something that has been true about her in my brain for forever, and I've just never talked about it before.

Felix: Felix holds all of my anger. He is responsible for it, and he keeps it safe. When I first wrote his story, he was very chill. He very quickly gained sentience in my brain and was very loud about how he is very much NOT chill. He craves violence. I'm still ironing out the pieces with him, but I feel like his story can be really really cool. I'm just a little daunted by the world building, honestly. I'm torn between wanting to write something grand and epic and just wanting to write some lil scenarios. Especially because he's a size shifter, so not every chapter has actual G/t in it, and that's not great for the notes lol. But, while I desire the validation of the numbers going up on my posts, I don't write just for that. I want the story to be... good.

Sometimes I forget about how many backlog WIPs I have, compared to what I've actually posted. I don't know exactly the direction I will settle on for them, but I'm really excited about it.

Charlie: If Charlie was real, we would be best friends. She's so cool. She's also like. fearless. obviously there are things she's afraid of but she doesn't back down, not without a fight. (it's just that... Felix loves a fight, and he will usually win)

Deckard: my disaster boy. I love this silly little guy. His self-sabotaging nature is so enthralling to me. He is the master of bad decisions with good(eh?) intentions. Pretty much all of my OCs have like some sense of like, preference towards honesty and communication. but this guy? He just likes to lie. A true unreliable narrator here.

Lark: I don't know if this is necessarily a fun fact, but I think Lark is my least favorite OC. I am planning on a full re-do on their story. The bones are there, she just feels really flat to me. My first chapters in this story are really really old. I feel like I can do better now, and there are new choices that are more exciting to me.

[ohmeadows]

[20 Question Fic Writer Tag]

i wasn't tagged, i just wanted to do it 😌

How many works do you have on AO3? 10 currently. if we’re counting all past accounts and orphaned works… easily 50-60.

What is your AO3 word count? currently 149,834. if we account for the grand total, well. more. ha.

What fandoms do you write for? i’ve been in quite a few, mostly video game ones, but right now it’s mostly only honkai star rail on my mind though i have the odd rhaenicent idea rattling around.

What are your top five fics by kudos? you and me are a twisted fantasy (kafhime enemies to milkies), i’m on a leash called you (kafhime with dom himeko), da capo al fine (kafhime time loops), the dew of dying stars (ruanliu mara body horrors and cannibalism), and spark (kafxuan horny).

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? yes, i try to most of the time! i had a lapse this fall where i just didn’t have enough energy to do it for months on end, but i cleared my inbox of that backlog on january 1st. i’m trying to be more consistent going forward.

What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? none i can link bc orphaned or on old accounts, but i do love a good angsty ending if it makes sense for the way the story has been going. kinda aching to write one again i won’t lie.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? most of them are quite happy in terms of endings! i know people doomed so hard about da capo was going to have a sad tragic ending but that was… never in the cards for me. i already have it written and i’m very excited about getting there.

Do you get hate on fics? sort of. i wish people would offer up critiques instead of just leaving comments like “ew this is unhygienic”, “disgusting”, “can’t believe i read 8 chapters just for BOTTOM KAFKA” or whatever else pointless stuff i’ve deleted.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? mostly, yes. i think 99% of my writing stems from a very clear and vivid image of a sex scene, and then me building backwards to root that sex in a way that feels natural and consistent to both characters. and i'm always looking for some new angle in smut, or else it'll bore me, so that means exploring new kinks or dynamics each time.

Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? no, i frankly hate crossovers and it’s one of my blocked tags on ao3.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? oh yeah lol. sucks! what can you do! it always amuses me because if these people just bothered to talk to me in the way of “hey, i love x idea, i want to do my own take of it, can i discuss some ideas with you?” i’d be 100% down to help nurture that. i reblogged a post about it the other day but i definitely feel that fandom community has turned into a fandom clout competition which feeds into this, too many of us looking for a quick boost in some imaginary clout chasing.

Have you ever had a fic translated? several, yes. for a while i had a bunch of old fics translated into russian. it always flatters me that people would go through that effort with my works.

Have you ever cowritten a fic before? yes, i’ve written a ton of unpublished wips with others and enjoyed the process, and then one i co-wrote with junie and published in an old fandom. i’d love to do it again, tbh, it’s incredibly energizing and fun, but wrangling two people’s creativity together over an extended period of time is always a lot of work and agreements, as well as being able to actually produce. you both need to trust each other and deliver.

What's your all-time favourite ship? uhm. i don’t know. i really don’t. ships by themselves don’t make me feel that excited, weirdly enough, but rather what people make exist in them. i have absolutely lost interest in compelling ships because the fandom de-fanged them, pulled their punches or morphed every single aspect about them into “uwu soft healing together”. (i could go into a long rant about how healing tends to be kinda… ugly…. in interpersonal dynamics. but that’s for another time.)

What's a WIP you'd like to finish but doubt you ever will? most of my unfinished wips i’m completely at ease with leaving behind in the dust. most. i do spend a lot of time thinking about a dorothea/rhea court drama au.

What are your writing strengths? visuals, i think. i have a very vivid inner eye when writing and the scenes play out like a movie for me, so i pay a lot of attention to the choreography and details of the scenes, where everyone’s hands are, and so on, to try and translate my inner vision to text. i can be a very harsh editor which means i’m always looking at what effect each scene is striving for — does it make sense for it to meander, or does it need to be snappier, sharper?

What are your writing weaknesses? i feel like my vocabulary could do with enrichment. i spend a lot of time looking up synonyms because they never stick in my head, and most of my reading books is spent noting down words in a notepad i’d like to use. sometimes i leave too much to be fixed in editing instead of putting it all down in the first draft. i don’t like involving too many characters so sometimes i think fics can get a bit too narrow — and sometimes i can play that for good effect, i guess.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? if you know it, sure, if you want; or at the very least use a beta who knows the language. i tried reading some fics that made use of my mother tongue and my god was it jarringly obvious google translate as well as irrelevant. i think it is worth asking twice what effect it will have for the reader and if it will come off as jarring.

First fandom you wrote for? lord of the rings! man i loved my mary sue silly era.

Favourite fic you've ever written? completed: spark. the amount of research i poured into it, as well as dedicating myself to convoluting fu xuan’s internal voice and outlook on things was some real hard work, but satisfying in the end. incomplete: the dew of dying stars. this one pushed me to research more, think harder about what i wanted to convey, and make them be worse. it’s been a very fun shift in how much i allow myself to dig deep, and relaxing and trusting the audience more. truly a new level of sicko weirdo fic for me.

[phoenixiancrystallist]

I'm scheduling more photo dumps to post and getting sad that we're almost to the end of it. Still a whole month and some change to go, but still too close to make me happy. I want to keep doing them! As Cuff says, "Athia has so much to offer the dedicated explorer."

I've got a few ideas, though :) And I was gonna make a poll to see which one y'all wanted to see first, but then I went "well wait a minute, I have seven ideas and there are seven days in the week. I'll just do all of them on a different day!" So behold! A new schedule!! :D

Monday: Magic Monday, shots of every single one of Frey's spells. Every. Single. Spell. ...that isn't, like, cloak enhancement spells or whatever since those have no visual component lol

Tuesday: Tragic Tuesday, pictures of various skeletons scattered across Athia. May or may not but heavily leaning towards may include the drabbles/microfics I promised forever ago

Wednesday: Wet Beast Wednesday! Except most of them aren't wet, lol. Basically a bestiary of everything Frey can murderkill around Athia. Broken, Nightmares, Tanta minions, possibly the Tantas themselves. The possibilities are limited only by the number of enemies in the game! :D

Thursday: Thinky Thoughts Thursday, shots of the interiors of the Cognoscent's Guilds. Because they're cool and I like them.

Friday: Fashion Friday! All the fashions and styles of Athia and beyond, from Frey's cloaks and necklaces to whatever the heck Treahy's hat is supposed to be

Saturday: Caturday, naturally. A day for all kitty cats, both magical and mundane. Probably gonna run out of these sooner than any of the others, though. Still, that's 9 mundane cats, 20 magical kitties, and Homer, so at least 30 weeks of kitty pics :)

Sunday: Sunday Funday, random pretty shots of Athia because I can't stop myself from taking them anyway lol

The last of the current photo dumps is scheduled for Friday, March 8th. This new schedule will start up on Monday, April 1st, to give myself more time to organize and build up a nice backlog. I may add to the dumps ending on March 8th; it turns out Visoria Castle is visible on the horizon before spoilers happen, so I'm probably going to take a ton of pictures in Visoria that include the castle. Because it looks cool and I can :P But those shouldn't take up the rest of March, so expect a photo dump hiatus sometime that month.

[missamyshay]

2, 4, 10, 20

2. Tell us about what you’re most looking forward to writing – in your current project, or a future project

I have a fic I've been chipping away at for a while now that I’m really excited about. It deals with an older PeterMJ, and what life might look like in the event that Peter would no longer have his powers. It’s so much more than that but it’s hard to explain in its totality without ruining the story. But I’m excited for it for so many reasons, one being that it deals so much with what it means for Peter to be Spider-Man, what the consequences are of that. Another thing being that it’ll be my first time writing other characters in the universe such as Sam Wilson, Bruce Banner and others. I’m waiting to build up a substantial backlog (maybe even finish writing it) before I start posting because unlike my current WIPs that are very theme driven, this fic would be very plot driven, which means it’d benefit from more regular posting.

4. Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)

I couldn’t think of a specific SM one so here’s one from a fic I wrote for The Bear called Drive.:

But what he’s come to realise is that while Richie had shaped himself into the borders of Michael’s presence, Carmen had shaped himself around the hole of Michael’s absence. And while it’s not the same, Richie knows now that both of those options are equally horrible ways to live.

10. How would you describe your writing process?

I'm not sure how much of a process I have, actually. Maybe that's the problem. Perhaps it's easier to counteract things like writers' block when you have a solid process to fall back on. But it’s usually just something sparks inspiration, and then either I open up a doc and just start writing something, which will more often than not will end up being a longshot. Or, if it’s a longer story that I want to tell, then I draw up a loose bullet pointed plan before separating it into chapters and then start writing. As for the writing itself, almost all whims, no rhyme or reason lol. Maybe one little trick I have is that I lean on poetry sometimes. If there are sentences or ideas that feel too clunky when written down, I ask myself how I’d express it if I were writing a poem, and then adapt from that starting point.

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

This is hard to answer today! I’m sure there are lots, and it’s probably different for every work. There are certain things I lean on in my writing often—like, I like it when characters have deep conversations in bathrooms. There’s a symbolism there but I’m not sure quite what it is yet. I also love shadow scenes, or repetition. When there’s an earlier scene that’s re-experienced later in the narrative after a character or characters have been through things and changed.

Meta fic asks

[dymond-dynamo]

update, because why not!!! I've now officially beaten ShB (well, strictly speaking I still have to complete the quest, but that's just because the servers went down for maintenance before I was done with the cutscenes lol). all in all, I think ShB is probably the greatest experience I've had with a game to date. it's hard to put into words exactly what made it hit that strongly, and I think a lot of it honestly has to do with my hundreds of hours of investment into this world and its characters. but there's more to it than that. I had hundreds of hours invested going into Stormblood (altho obviously fewer than ShB, because that's how time works lol), and I came away from it honestly feeling very meh, despite enjoying its highs. so what's the difference?? gonna put the rest of my thoughts after the break because I have friends I wanna bully into playing this game so I should worry about spoilers lol. short version is, game very good, and super well done in basically every way.

I can't fucking wait to experience Endwalker, but also I'm gonna make myself wait, because after I clear the 5.x patch content (or maybe before? haven't decided yet), I'm gonna take a break to play a couple other games, specifically Baldur's Gate 3 (because it'll almost definitely be my goty) and the final couple chapters of Lost Judgment (because RGG Gaiden comes out in like a week and a half???). there's no way I can let it sit for much longer than that (and I may even get the itch before I'm done with BG3, we'll see), but I've gotta knock out some of my shelved backlog, and XIV is my forever game, so that'll never clear a slot

the performances were also incredible. I mean, the performances are always incredible since the HW recast, but I do think they're extra noteworthy this time. I mentioned Feo Ul, and maybe I was being slightly hyperbolic, but I do genuinely really love them, and they're one of my favorite characters in the game now. I hope we get to see them again post-ShB. I know the odds of that are pretty low, but lore-wise it'd already be justified at any time, and it'd make me so happy. other than the usual cast of Scions, who are always great, I obviously have to say that Emet-Selch was just phenomenal. they really said "what if we had a funny little guy follow you around, and 90% of the time he's the sassiest bitch you've ever seen, but the rest of the time he's super fucked up and sad. wouldn't that be rad?" and they were 1000%, it was rad, and a lot of that is on just how good the performance is

anyway, lightly spoilery stuff: I think the biggest difference for me between SB and ShB is the focus and intentionality of the story. I felt pretty much all along that SB feels like two separate expansion ideas mashed together. I think the end product is still very good (there's no part of XIV from 2.0 on that I'd call bad, they're all just varying degrees of good lol), but I can't help but wonder whether an expansion just about Ala Mhigo or just about the far east would've been a better experience. what they ended up with was: go to Ala Mhigo and fight a bit -> go to the east and do the whole story there -> go back to Ala Mhigo and wrap up. meanwhile, despite having more differing areas than SB, ShB keeps everything building towards a single goal the entire time. honestly those disparate areas actually work to its favor, since you exploring a whole new world and seeing how different yet similar it is to Eorzea. tbh I almost want to say that ShB feels like it'd be the perfect new player experience for an MMO, but that's not really true. so much about what makes it compelling requires you to already know the world and the characters. the big reveals (which I won't talk about in specific, even tho this is a several years old expansion, just to be safe) genuinely blew me away, and I'm so so excited to see how EW builds on them

and of course I can't sing the praises of ShB without talking about the music. I mean, Soken is already on my short list of greatest composers of our time (that full list btw, in no particular order, is Lena Raine, Soken, Yoko Shimamura, Darren Korb, and Keiichi Okabe), but he really outdid himself on ShB. obviously the vocal tracks are fantastic, surpassed only by Footfalls (which I'm not even supposed to know about yet), but also a ton of the instrumental tracks are real standouts. (shout-out Sands of Amber)

tbh I could keep gushing about this for a while, but it's already been the better part of an hour since Square Enix so rudely kicked me off, so I should really really get some sleep. I think my plan moving forward is to knock out the patch content, write a review for backloggd (because apparently I'm more capable of putting my thoughts into words than I thought lol), and play the games I mentioned earlier. so look forward to me being extremely Karlach brained in the near future instead of Y'shtola brained lmao

ok, I'm still not quite all the way done with Shadowbringers (up to lvl 79 quests tho!!), but I just wanna say that Feo Ul is the greatest character ever created. everything about them and their energy is so incredible. they could so easily be annoying, but instead they're incredibly endearing and funny

ShB in general is just a masterclass in character writing, to say nothing of the actual plot. and I've still got EW ahead of me after I beat it!! what a fucking incredible game

[monstersandmaw]

hey! I was wondering if you have any advice at getting stories out there? I’ve started a sideblog to practice some writing and I’d love to get some engagement - I’m not even sure if my posts are showing in the tags I’ve used :/

Ooof, it's rough starting out when no one knows your blog name and you have no idea if your stuff is being seen or if it just hasn't found its audience yet. Hang on in there, Anon!

I'd say maybe have a few stories ready to go, and if you've already posted them, create a masterlist immediately before you lose track of where your stories are (searching for stuff on Tumblr is a lost cause), even if it's only got a few things on it to start with. That way if someone does find your work, they can find more of it immediately. Link it at the bottom of every story too, and on your blog.

Make sure your grammar and formatting is as tight as you can get it. People know quality writing when they come across it, and if it's well written and edited, they're more likely to stay than if it's full of goofy paragraphing, typos, and has a jokey 'lol un-edited' at the start (I'm exaggerating for effect, but I have actually noped out of stuff on AO3 after reading that in the author's notes at the start. If the author doesn't care, why should the reader?).

Speaking of AO3, if you have an account on there, so long as you're not taking money for your writing on here, you can also link to Tumblr from AO3 (if you don't know how to code a link, google it, it's really simple - even I can do it!!) and if people don't have to copy paste a URL, they're probably gonna check it out if they use Tumblr too. Same for other socials - link back to here. Use the audience you may already have somewhere else, but don't spam them.

Interact as your blog's name so that people see your name around the place, because tags suck. (I don't follow any tags, I only follow people, so I'll very rarely come across something 'out in the wild'.) Since you're a sideblog, you can always go anon and then sign off your ask as your sideblog's name.

Be patient. It sucks, but don't expect to get hundreds of notes overnight.

Open your blog to all the prompts and challenges that you're comfortable with. Don't burn yourself out, but if people can engage with you and if they get something out of it too, then they're more likely to reblog your work. That's what I did at the start - I just got people to send me prompts for free stories and I wrote for free, for *exposure*, you might say. (Don't write anything you're not comfortable with, obviously, but be open to new challenges and writing things you maybe hadn't thought of).

Participate in fandom challenges if it's fandom you write for, and look for other writing challenges or events. That can help build a sense of community and might bring you an audience that way.

If you're in a server with people whose opinions you trust, share your work on Discord and maybe ask them for feedback and/or reblogs if they're on Tumblr. Only if you're comfortable with that.

At the end of the day, remember why you're writing though. Notes and responses aren't the be all and end all of creating. Create stuff first because you enjoy creating it, and then share it because you want to share it. Don't give up or get disheartened if you don't get much traffic for a long time, and just keep on sharing anyway. That way, when people do find you, they've got a good backlog to go through as well!

If anyone has any more advice to add to this, please feel free to stick it in the notes!

[commander-sarahs-art]

~Update!~

You may have noticed by now that my normal commissions have been and will continue to be on a lengthy hiatus! So I would like to give an update for ya’ll on that!

I will be completely up front and honest. I've been struggling a lot mentally because of all of these health issues that keep piling up on me lately. My narcolepsy diagnosis, my still yet to be resolved breathing issues, and many sleepless nights have just compounded the problem, and getting used to so many new medicines to try and fix said problems are quite frankly kicking my ass to hell and back.

So, for now, I would really like to focus on my pin design commissions and the occasional commissions for my friends. They are a lot less pressure on me, as I am able to take longer on them and I can build up a lot of designs for the makers in advance so I will be able to have a backlog for them to go through and I can open my normal commissions again once I feel ready, and not have to try and balance both pin and normal commissions at the same time.

As much as I love and treasure getting to do my normal range of commissions and drawing so many beautiful, amazing, characters for you all. It's just too much for me to think about right now. Pins are very near and dear to my heart and have been a great passion of mine for awhile. Other than Lacy and my cats, working with Liminal Pins has been pretty much the only thing keeping me from losing what's left of my sanity.

 I want you all to know how sorry I am that I haven't reopened like I said I would, and as much as I would love to do it, it's just not in the cards for me right now, because with the state I am in currently I cannot guarantee the timeliness or quality of commissions. I will continue to post art I manage to do in my free time and the pin designs that I do when I'm allowed to reveal them! ;3 But for now my commissions will remain closed, and I hope that when I return to them, I will return better than I was before and ready to draw even more wonderful things for you all! Plus, I think I would like to revamp my online persona a little bit, I’ve had the same Icon for years and should probably make a cohesive banner across all social medias you know? So that’s something to look forward to ;3

Thank you all so much for sticking with me and bearing with me through my very sporadic posting, and my constantly varying fandom moods (though w that remaster coming my mass effect mood will probably return and I will become the mass effect blog I once was again lol) and for staying with me through all of it, It really means more to me than I have the words for!~  

-Commander Sarah

Ps: I am much more active on Twitter so if you have one and would like to interact with me more! follow me there! Its @Cmdr_Sarah (Currently my account is private bc of all the fun stuff going around twitter but just send a follow request! ;3 )

[poorlydrawnwarners]

Update

Hey all! So, uh... this break has lasted a long time, huh?

School has been eating up a lot more of my time and energy than usual lately and so I haven’t been able build up the backlog I wanted. Also, the “big arc” I’ve been hinting at just hasn’t been panning out the way I hoped it would. At the moment I’m not even sure I’ll get around to ever finishing it. This is all on me though for trying to parody a game I’ve never played before, though, lol.

(Well I mean one of the biggest jokes on this blog comes from a different game I’ve never played so I guess that’s not exactly new territory for me, lol.)

Anyways, I’ve had a post queued up for April 13th since January, so unless life decides to get in the way again, that post is set to be the grand return of regular comics here.

Also, I think I may need to adjust my release schedule. Daily comics just aren’t feasible. From here on out I’m thinking we go with two comics a week instead of one every single day? I’m not quite sure yet.

In the meantime, the askbox and submissions are still open, so don’t be afraid to send stuff in!

Apologizes for the long wait! I promise we’ll be back soon!

[mymomanddadaregonnabesomadatme]

"Hey Khyle, why are you obsessed with a rarepair with a dead guy in it?"

Or, JonGerry manifesto time

FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS: Gerry vs Jon's misandry

Let's talk about how Jon hates men! Jon hates men. Listen to how he conducts himself around Martin, Tim and Elias in season one versus how he gets along with Sasha and the tone is so hilariously different. He has NO patience for the men around him and even though he's still pretty crusty to the women who come in to make statements (Naomi Herne & Melanie in s1) the way he handles talking to Sasha as a colleague is wildly different from how he talks to the men he works with. The same with when he meets Basira! His social comfort around women feels distinctly different from the way he feels about, navigates around and talks to men. So it's very, VERY fun to contrast this not only with how well he and Gerry get along (even after a pretty terse greeting from Gerry!!), but also to how excited he gets talking and thinking about Gerry when he reads about him in statements and goes to America hoping he's still alive. I think being an exciting Idea of a person makes it slightly easier for Jon to digest him before meeting him, and I also think it's the reason that...

SECOND ORDER OF BUSINESS: Gerry is Jon's celebrity crush

If you need convincing, look no further than the fondness with which Jon says "that would be our Gerard" to Jurgen Leitner and your heart will open to this reality...Jon read about a cool goth in some statements and idealized him so hard he started crushing on him. Is Jon out to himself? No idea! Will that stop him from doing the very Jon thing of having very transparent feelings about something? Nope!

I've mentioned it in other posts but I do think it's significant how excited Jon is when he hopes Gerry is alive in America so he can meet him. There are a lot of little notes and quips Jon makes about Gerry throughout the series thay really solidify the idea that he's excited about him. I think Jon gets excited to pull information together and recognize figures from other statements -- he is the Archivist after all -- but I think some of the fondness Jon applies when talking about Gerry is significant and distinct from how he talks about other figures from statements. Plus, Jon has a reason to empathize with and relate to Gerry, given the fact that Leitners were one of the few things he allowed for the existence of even in season one, and Gerry is clearly so upset by their existence that he's gone around destroying them and beating up Jurgen Leitner himself. Probably hard for Jon not to idealize someone doing the work that he was so desperate for Elias to let him engage in during season one, huh? I think we all idealize and build parasocial relationships based on a feeling of relating to the people who are somewhat out of our reach...a cool goth who destroys evil books and punched the man whose library ruined your life? Might be a little hard not to get excited about the idea of him...🤔

THIRD ORDER OF BUSINESS: Gerry in the (quasi-) flesh vs. Gerry on the page

So, maybe you're convinced there were some celebrity crush feelings, maybe you aren't, but there's definitely some idealization at play with how Jon views Gerard Keay, Book-Hunting Goth Of Legend. Now let's talk about how that idea contrasts with Gerry, the regular (ish) dude that comes out of a book in America!!!

I think something very fun to note is how much they joke around with each other, basically right off the bat. It's pretty clear to me how much fun they have in each other's company, especially considering Gerry cites literally being in pain while he's existing as a page in the book. Both the crusty intro and Jon's reluctance to take and burn the page could have soured the entire interaction, but they both enjoy each other's company pretty transparently for the whole exchange. Gerry is straight with Jon in a way no one has been through basically his entire time learning about his position as the Archivist, and despite the fact that Jon summons Gerry for a purpose, it's hard not to view the exchange as largely social because of the tone. The fact that Gerry has ONE conversation with him and thinks of him as a friend is I think pretty telling as far as how Gerry views Jon's intentions and trustworthiness. He has a backlog of experience with Gertrude and insight into the ruthlessness of an Archivist, one that we never see calling him Gerry, and he still meets Jon for 20 minutes and goes yeah. I could befriend this dude. I also think this reinforces how Jon feels about Gerry: he's pretty forthcoming with information, even if he fucks around with him a bit, and there's some trust and transparency there that I think reinforces Jon's rare positive view of a dude in his life.

Like, I've said it before and I'll say it again: Jongerry lives in the passage through the Jon Misandry Zone. He can only like a cool fictional goth that he has a reasonable amount of distance from but he's so excited when he meets him irl it forces him to actually learn about him as a person. Idealizing Gerry gives him the motivation to actually learn about another man and untangle how he feels about them!!!

FOURTH ORDER OF BUSINESS: One of these dudes is literally dead

Honestly I'm only Marginally stopped from my rarepair dedication by this fact, but if it's an issue, let's consider:

It's literally a horror tragedy podcast so I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say literally any happy romantic ending for characters is inherently an AU anyway, even if the ones folks are invested in somehow all end up living to the end lol. I guess folks can pray for postgame potential but I've already succumbed to how inherently doomed a lot of these characters seem so...the world is gonna be my rarepair oyster I guess!!!

Also, it's a podcast with some level of worldbuilding around reincarnation. Gerry got brought back once, could he be again? Imo we're only limited by our imaginations on that one. Lots of potential to play around with the form him being brough back and sustained could be...and, honestly, same with any rarepairs where one or both parties are dead imo! I'm here to push my jongerry agenda AND support the kneading of canon into something your faves could be brought back to life in. Death should stop no one from wanting Jon to kiss a hot goth dude!!!

LAST ORDER OF BUSINESS: Compatibility??? CHEMISTRY???

Alright I mean...I can't force anyone to find their back and forths cute and flirty like I do but I CAN say why I think this couple has so much fun potential:

Gerry is already used to being around An Archivist and seems to already think Jon is more friendworthy based on the Gerry request. He would probably be a lot more comfortable navigating around him than some of Jon's other colleagues, occasional snacktime or not. I think being in a book owned by two hunters probably gives him enough context for "monsters, but trying to be good in their own way" for him to be pretty levelheaded about Jon. A human connection that's based on enjoyment of each other's company with someone smart enough to not sign a contract might just be good for our spooky little Archivist...Also...

JON IS A STUFFY DWEEB AND GERRY IS A COOL GOTH THAT'S KILLED A GUY!!! Is this NOT the greatest couple concept this podcast could have offered us? The contrast...the meeting of worlds...Jon idealizing Gerry because he's a cool sexy goth and Gerry getting excited because he's got a sexy scary monster boyfriend...it's all there!!! Rife with entertaining potential!!!

Anyway these are my pro-jongerry arguments I hope you all enjoyed my rarepair shipping manifesto. Don't forget to like comment and subcribe and let me just say...once more for the road...

JonGerry Rights

[comicteaparty]

July 4th-July 10th, 2020 Creator Babble Archive

The archive for the Creator Babble chat that occurred from July 4th, 2020 to July 10th, 2020.  The chat focused on the following question:

What was an unexpected aspect of making webcomics you didn’t realize before making one yourself?

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

How much our comic and it's story we're going to change during the years of creation was the biggest and most jarring aspect for sure. There's scripts and thumbs that were all made before we ventured out to make GJS with paths completely different from what we initially thought we would take that have completely changed how we approach not only writing but reading webcomics too. Webcomics as a medium have the biggest connection to time, whether it be production or the consumption, they have this opportunity to exist and transform in the long hours it takes to enjoy and read them. It's honestly one of the biggest advantages imho. To see a story slowly unfold, listening to ur audience reactions, peer critiques, or new inspiration can make such a drastic and intense impact on a long form work- its both jaw dropping and humbling to be apart of!(edited)

Deo101 [Millennium]

For me it was the community aspect of comics. I knew a community existed on the reader side of things (comments!), but I didn't expect the creator side to be how it is! I don't know why, but for some reason I kind of always thought that all of us were sort of throwing our comics out from the void... I guess that was me looking at comics from a reader's point of view! But as soon as I started making comics, I started meeting people who made them too... and it's been incredible!

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

@deo I never really understood what an internet community or internet friends were until I started making a webcomic

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yeah, I had been in (and quickly decided to not be in 0_0) gaming communities, but nothing really as wonderful as what I've found through comics. Closest I had gotten other than that was comments on social media

Shizamura 🌟 O Sarilho

Community definitely one of the big things, much like Deo pointed. I was kinda expecting to have get connections through readers, but it's much more with other creators, which is super satisfying in it's own way. Also gonna second Krispy's comment about how time affects how you see your story's past and future. A lot of things changed in the past four years that made my comic change as well and having so much time to think each individual scene allows them to be much more complex and interesting than they would when I first thought them through. Having the time really helps. This also kinda touches the topic of personal change too, which affects how I write and what feels most important to focus on and that's interesting to think about as well

eliushi [Keyspace]

How long things will take, the longer the story goes on! I started out being able to complete a page in 2h but then I found more I wanted to try on each page (colours, layout, composition etc) and even wanted to extend certain scenes. With 500 pages planned, I definitely thought I’d be farther along by now, heading into AWT’s first year anniversary in a month. That being said, I’m also enjoying the ride and it’s all thanks to the great community here and making connections with other comics folks/readers. I never expected to get comments and so each one has been a treasure to read.

Desnik

An unexpected aspect of making webcomics is how much people respond to them. I figured I'd be creating into a void but I met so many people as a result of publishing my dinosaur comic

shadowhood {SunnyxRain}

Ditto on the webcomic community. I didn't realize how far reaching it was to have a community that supports each other. And I've enjoyed meeting so many wonderful and creative people who raised each other up. Another thing I didn't expect, however, was how invested I got into my comic.(edited)

At first I was doing it mostly for fun. But the more I delved into it, the easier it was to get sucked into my story and want to draw it out. And as a result taking it a lot more seriously.

Desnik

yeah sometimes I miss my dinosaur comic even though I had some pretty good reasons for moving on. It was created out of desperation and evolved into something that made me feel good about myself

Haruh2 (Colony Life)

How much work and time it takes to keep a weekly update going with no backlog

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yeah same

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

For me, I didn't realize how much it would affect my life to make comics, and vice versa. In a weird way, I didn't know how interrelated the two were, or how easily life could interfere with my comic, or the inverse.

eliushi [Keyspace]

Making comics became a lifestyle for me

@Haruh2 (Colony Life) When I had no backlog I was updating every two weeks with 7 pages per update; so about 14h of work. But this is with a finished script. I am also told I work fast.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

omg

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

That's soooo much, Eli!

That's at least twice as much as I do (edited)

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

For me, I didn't realize how much it would affect my life to make comics, and vice versa. In a weird way, I didn't know how interrelated the two were, or how easily life could interfere with my comic, or the inverse.

I hadn't realized how much I put myself into my comic! My friends who read it have all said that it's incredibly in my voice and reflects my opinions and worldviews Before I shared it with people I hadn't thought of it in that way at all

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

As an artist, I didn't expect how my comic production and mindset will change. Once I started comics, it brought out my ideas from thoughts to a physical form. I start to invest more time into it. Each project evolved through each chapter. How to balance script writing to a polished piece. I put alot of time and research in my works. It makes me glad to hear other creators do the same. I'm not the crazy artist who's wasting her time. One of the positive change was meeting other creators, how we give advice and receive praise.(edited)

eliushi [Keyspace]

The support has been amazing. It makes the work less lonely

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Fish, oh for sure! I didn't realize until recently how much my characters are all just facets of myself!

eliushi [Keyspace]

(I don’t work that quickly anymore and I’m making big changes to the format soon so it’s going to be a Transition)

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

I've been in school with art students who never made comics, so when I came to CTP discord, reading comic discussions. It was comforting and fun. I enjoy the cooperation our group has, helping each other.

eliushi [Keyspace]

I like to commiserate about the unique challenges comics have

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Hahaha, yeahhhhh

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

I agree, it's different from illustrations. Different approach(edited)

eliushi [Keyspace]

I am perpetually balancing time spent on a panel vs how much time the reader will spend on it

Vs illustration: lemme make all the details

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

Oh I agree, each panel takes longer than it takes to read it. Hence I dislike when readers call manga creators 'lazy'

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

how much time does it take to read one of my pages?

20 seconds?(edited)

haha

e.e

wait is that emoji supposed to be someone rolling their eyes??

i jsut looked it up

i might've been using it wrong this whole time

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Pacing

It's way different than in novels, and definitely came as a shock at the start

eliushi [Keyspace]

Yeah have to play to the strength of the medium. Still imagining AWT as an animated movie written from a novel, in the format of a comic

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Haha, same kinda

Haruh2 (Colony Life)

@eliushi [Keyspace] ah haha, that makes me feel better about my update habits, but thats a good goal for me to shoot for now that im learning a new way to make long comics specifically

cAPSLOCK (Tailslide)

I completely underestimated the amount of effort that would have to go into formatting, website design and maintenance, etc. If I got to do it again, a little more research beforehand probably would’ve saved me a lot of time and hassle.

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

I really overestimated the "if you build it they will come" aspect of webcomics lol. Like, you actually have to work to advertise your comic in order for people to read it. Nobody ever got hundreds of readers just from posting their comic onto some hosting site without doing major marketing work.(edited)

dako

yeah, I feel that

I've never really been an advertising type before my comic, im learning to just get used to it

Deo101 [Millennium]

I've not really done much advertising tbh, it makes me uncomfortable

dako

it feels kinda...embarrassing? might be too harsh of a word

i dunno

Deo101 [Millennium]

its just uncomfortable idk! i feel awkward doing it

dako

yeah, same ive done it a few times on reddit but i have to force myself

Haruh2 (Colony Life)

it does feel, odd..hell most of the time it just feels like i open the door to my house and toss a bunch of paper to the wind hoping someone can see it

Deo101 [Millennium]

yeah, I dont know if ive done anything other than posting updates on twitter and talking about it in groups like this

and twitter is mostly just me talkin to people who already read it...

idk talking about my work without being asked first makes me feel like im inserting myself where im not allowed

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Self promo got MUCH less intimidating for me when I started thinking of it like: "okay, so my comic is made for readers like me, people who share my tastes. That means I only need to answer one question: what can I say to get me to check out this comic? I don't need to impress anyone else. I just need to appeal to me." (since "me" is my target audience)

Deo101 [Millennium]

mhm ^^

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

But take it with a grain of salt because I'm still not really promoing

Haruh2 (Colony Life)

exactly, thats why i find it hard to tweet about it most of the time, but i get the whole if i dont care about to talk without being asked no one else will either

Deo101 [Millennium]

yeah lmao mood im like what would get me to read... hmmm... probably exactly what im doing.... I'll keep it up then :)

Haruh2 (Colony Life)

yea i get excited to draw out certain parts..but wouldnt want to just tweet about all the little tidbits of the story ruining it for others

Deo101 [Millennium]

sweats

dako

i made a whole side twitter for my comic cuz talking about it on my main intimidated me too much

it is my containment chamber

Haruh2 (Colony Life)

hm may do that, just to say i did it and to get my mind away from the thought

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

yeah same

Deo101 [Millennium]

My main is just whatever I want it to be idk. Its kinda for all my comics, since my comics are all I want to talk about

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

though my main is mostly just retweeting from my side twitter lol

Deo101 [Millennium]

it removes a lot of the pressure of like what if my followers dont wanna see this??

cause they wouldnt be here if they didnt wanna see it

cause its all Ive been doing the whole time

dako

thats a good point

i had my main way before my comic so most of my mutuals/followers dont follow for that

Haruh2 (Colony Life)

yea, it can feel abit disorienting when there is no interaction one way or another on anything you tweet (also if twitter has messed up and causes your tweets to not show up)

Deo101 [Millennium]

but yeah I dont really advertise cause it just makes me so uncomfortable >.<

dako

understandable

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

I'm kind of somewhere in between. I advertise my comic mostly because it is all I wanna talk about, like Deo. But I also don't think it's gotten me many readers. Most of my readers came as far as I can tell because I was making something that appealed to them. (The whole "if you build it, they will come" thing.) Although, I really don't have a big audience, I do have an audience, and I am certain most of them came from me just posting.

I think it's determined a lot by luck, and also, how big your niche's audience is to begin with (and some skill tbh).

Deo101 [Millennium]

yeah like I think "gay sci fi" is a p big niche so ive got a big amount of people I could potentially reach

which makes it much easier to draw people in

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

I'm particularly lucky, I guess, that fantasy/romance has a lot of readers (also more competition, but...)

Deo101 [Millennium]

yeah fantasy romance is a damn big one

Haruh2 (Colony Life)

eh i think im in an awkward void with my action/drama story (since im not doing romance drama)

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

I just go with the mindset: "what makes my fantasy/romance different from the rest" and go from there.

Deo101 [Millennium]

mhm

tbh I dont think my sci fi romance is doing anything special?

but im having fun so :) I dont rlly care about that hahahha

dako

having fun the most important thing

Deo101 [Millennium]

its not my goal to make somthing mindblowing ^^ truley im just here for a good time

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

I mean, LGBT+-inclusive sci-fi is pretty unique

I haven't seen a lot

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

It's clear that your characters are people, and that's special, regardless of how common/uncommon

dako

think if i didnt love my comic as much as i do id have stopped a long time ago

Deo101 [Millennium]

thats true keiiii, thank you <3

also yeah its Sad that theres not more LGBT+ sci fi cause its like youve got aliennnssssssssssssssssssss you can do whatever you waaaaaant

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

I knooowww

Deo101 [Millennium]

guess it shows what ppl want or something

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

yup

Deo101 [Millennium]

off topic

so to make it back on topic

I underestimated how much people would like gay sci fi GJKLAGJLAJLKAGJSLAKGJKL

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

One thing I learned specifically with my current comic... I did not realize how much difference the reader's cultural background would make in terms of interpreting my story.

Deo101 [Millennium]

!!!!!

I actually almost mentioned you in class once tbh keiii

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Big oversight, in retrospect

!?

Deo101 [Millennium]

saying "someone I know makes a comic which they noticed, it's interpreted completely differently just depending on cultural backgrounds" kind of a thing

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

like I would not have made the comic any different, but I would have approached the... presentation differently. Like, talk about it differently

Deo101 [Millennium]

cause we were talking about how narratives affect rt

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

I guess another thing that was unexpected about making webcomics was... there are way more people with my exact tastes than I thought

Deo101 [Millennium]

and I was saying that I think the viewer's narrative affects art more than the artists narrative

I mean, the artists narrative obviously is what makes it so.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

In the eyes of the beholder

Deo101 [Millennium]

but interpretations and all that... yeah!!!

so. actually I might have offhandedly mentioned you I cant remember if I did or not

lemme check

I did! very like "second hand" offhandedly mentioning though ahaha

hope that doesnt make you uncomfortable GSKLGSJALGJLGK no one replied to me so e.e

in the class I mean

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I am super uncomfortable and offended !!!!!

j/k

Deo101 [Millennium]

hgjkghsjkagskajgdhsakgjhgjd

but... yeah idk starting out I truly just was making it cause I really love my characters a lot, the idea that other people would like them too is very unexpected :) in a good way

I also definitely didnt expect how important enviornments were e.e

didnt plan those well enough.

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

that relatable feel

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

I really desperately advertise my comic everywhere. I don't really know how to do marketing effectively though & I don't know if its working

eliushi [Keyspace]

I find what increased readership most consistently is still the feature aspect from the hosting sites. It’s really about finding the right readers/right readers finding you

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Same, I'm basically a rounding error away from being 100% reliant on the features for subs

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

I don't think my comic has ever been featured on the hosting sites. My numbers have always been low on Tapas and maybe thast why

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Yeah, features help a lot

I've been featured on Webtoon, but not Tapas, and you can really see the difference in readership there

Deo101 [Millennium]

Ive been featured on both, uhh in a couple of diff places, if you wanted a breakdown of how many readers i got from the diff spots and stuff ever just lmk im happy to share

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I've been featured on both. It certainly got people to check it out and even sub, but retaining those people (even if they've subbed!!!) is a different story. I think my story is just not the right type for the platforms, but eh, even if 99% of the platform users aren't into the kinda thing I'm making, 1% increase is still an increase.

Which is another thing I learned over the course of running this comic, specifically (since the internet has changed so much after my first two attempts). Just because the majority of your subs don't actually read the comic, doesn't mean your work sucks. Today's internet caters to casual users, and there's a bajillion factors affecting who's actually reading your stuff.

dako

i agree

my comic has never been featured on either, and webtoons doesnt have a guideline on what they pick but tapas does and my comic doesnt really meet their featuring requirements so i dont think either site ever will feature mine haha

so i gotta advertise on reddit and use twitter tags a lot

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Don't go too crazy with twitter tags; they can make people zone out and not look at your tweet.

dako

i try to use 5 at the most, i know too many is unpleasant to look at haha

Jib {WIP haha}

Oh huh, my rule of thumb is to use 1-2 on twitter and as many as I can on Insta but I’m no expert lol

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, IG seems to be where you want all the tags XD

varethane

Webtoon's algorithms are like turning a hose on and off lol

The difference between views and sub growth during periods of being featured vs not is stark(edited)

carcarchu

i've never been featured by webtoons but i've seen series grow from 100 followers to 10k overnight

not an exaggeration

varethane

I put my new comic on webtoon in november 2019, and in 1 month I crawled up to.... maybe 50 subs?(granted I only put up one episode and then paused for a bit)

Then in December I started updating it weekly and got placed in the new and hot section of the app

And bam, 6k subs

It last 2 weeks and then the section updated and all growth stopped, and subs went down by 10 or so over the next week

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

(Omg featured is like the new Daily Deviation goals from DA way back in the day!)

varethane

Until it got another feature on a different part of the website and went up another 2k. It was like playing with the handle on a faucet lol

dako

I got some pretty good growth during canvas week, but beyond that not really

I get 1-2 subs after an update if I'm lucky

varethane

I feel like their algorithms are very reliant on the regular rotation of features that staff have to do manuallt

Outside of that, discoverability is quite weak

Mostly because of the volume of comics on there

boogeymadam

same boat as vare. the only thing i know about webtoons features is they have stated a couple times one of their recquirements is consistant updating, so if u skip a week that disqualifies u for a lil while i imagine

varethane

I wonder what they count as consistent. I was doing every 2 weeks for awhile, but this month I'm gonna try weekly to see if it helps me earn more $$ from ads :U

dako

I wish there was more incentive for readers to check out the new section on webtoons and tapas

carcarchu

i have found some amazing gems in the new section

i swear i've seen stuff in featured that were not at all updated consistently

dako

I have too, there's a ton of good comics that get overlooked because they're not in the front page

some featured comics havent updated in months sometimes

varethane

I definitely would not have considered myself consistent at the time of the first feature, considering there was a gap of a month between episode 1 and 2 lpl

carcarchu

the consistently updating thing is more of a recommendation than a requirement i feel?(edited)

boogeymadam

ooohh good to know!!

varethane

I'm sure it cant be a hard rule, especially for comics that have just launched

boogeymadam

im just going off their canvas qna's from last year

dako

if it's actually a hard rule for staff to feature comics that regularly update they break that rule a lot

i also heard a bot picks up comics too

carcarchu

well i at least think the staff or bots or whatever at webtoons are doing a better job with features than tapas is

tapas is always pushing their premium comics way more than their indie stuff

boogeymadam

tapas needs to bring new comics onto the frontpage more often than it does, yeah

dako

yeah I agree

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I mean, I get why they put premium on the front page. But I feel more variety would help them because it's more interesting for the readers?

dako

I can't tell whats premium or not with tapas sometimes

boogeymadam

i do like that they've been asking stuff like this in the forums tho

carcarchu

more distinction would be helpful to me too dako

i don't think its as clear as it could be

dako

yeah, webtoons at least it's clear what is and what isnt featured or canvas

Jib {WIP haha}

Huh, anyone remember that really popular writing podcast? I forgot the name

Or have any recommendations I guess

Moral_Gutpunch

Terrible writing advice? It's sarcastic

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

is this related to the topic?

Moral_Gutpunch

It's a podcast about writing, so I'm going to say yes.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I think snuffysam meant the weekly topic for the channel

Moral_Gutpunch

Oh

Just for this channel, no. I'm too new to know that.

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Please check #rules

Moral_Gutpunch

Sound more like someone forgot context than the rules

That's why I'm hardly here. I don't know stuff people who've been here for a long time know like podcasts or older comics(edited)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Basically each of the channels under "CTP Activities" on this server has its own topic of the week.

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

It's not a matter of being here for a long time or not. This channel is used solely for discussing the weekly topics, and such information can be found in #rules

Moral_Gutpunch

Kudos then. I came for creator babble only.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

For general webcomic creation-related advice (either seeking or giving) and such, #shop_talk usually is the place!

creator_babble is for answering the topic of the week

It's not actually for generalized "creator babble" despite the name.

dako

looks like they left

Jib {WIP haha}

Oh my bad, it’s been a while since I read the rules, I brought up the new subject

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Happens!

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

No problem, we were just reminding you all :)

Jib {WIP haha}

Ty for that then haha

dako

I think one unexpected thing for me is that no one tells you how crazy the highs and lows can be

well I guess people do but you really don't know until the highs and lows happen to you if that makes sense

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Oh God, that's so true

Burnout is way more dreadful than I could ever guess prior to experiencing it

Feather J. Fern

One unexpected thing for me was how many people I would meet because of my comic. It surprised me greatly that I found so many cool people through the comic community and made the friends I have made now. Love you all

rajmews

The unexpected thing for me was just how much you have to just...predict...what the market will want to read. Like even if you research a whole lot, and you draw really well, and have been doing art professionally, you can still strike out. It's a humbling experience, but being able to just let go of poorly received pages and move on and try things differently is a lot of the battle for doing a webcomic. It teaches you how to fail gracefully because...it's all a process of learning your readers better. Even if they're few at first.

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

My major unexpected thing was how much my initial ideas change as I work through a page. Everything from the expressions, dialogue, and layout can change as I look at it and 'solve' it more closely than I did in thumbnails. There are pages I look back on and realize they are ENTIRELY different than what I had first sketched. And they're better for it. Allowing myself the freedom to edit during the artwork... it's created some majorly awesome opportunities.

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yes!!!!! Me too!!!

It's exciting thoufh

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Absolutely same

Could plan something out meticulously but then change it in the last 2 secs before uploading

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yup... I don't thumbnail much ahead of where I'm at cause of this(edited)

I thumbnail a scene at a time, and then usually I end up changing stuff halfway through ahahfjjdkskdkss

varethane

Same hat, haha. I often make changes at every stage-- even the thumbnails will often depart from the script. If anything, I wish I made even more changes-- I feel like my page layouts tend to be pretty standard, I do a lot of pages with the 3 rows of 2 panels each, and I want to break out of that more. But... well, that's a work in progress.

[shadowsong26fic]

Coming Attractions!

Because it is, in fact, the first Monday of the month (although it feels much later, lol...)

Precipice:

I got a couple chapters out since my last Coming Attractions post! Buuuuut technically only one in the month of September, soooo ::shrug emoji?::

That being said, while I know I’ve made this claim before, I really do think that the next few chapters should go quicker--they’re a bit more plot-heavy; I already have a good chunk of two of the three (or four, depending on how I divide things up) written...

I feel kinda bad, that we’re probably not going to check in with Bail and Ahsoka for a good long while, because things in the Outer Rim are about to get Plotty. Including technically the conclusion of a thread that’s been running for the past three arcs or so, and introducing one that probably won’t pay off until arc...twelve, I think? Maybe a little earlier. When Boba Fett starts to become a Problem. As he does.

Yeah, the rest of this arc more or less concludes the intertrilogy ‘setting up the Rebellion’ phase of the story, as well as setting up a few key plot points for the Galactic Civil War/OT portion of the trilogy, which will start with Arc Eight and probably break off into its own fic.

(Almost definitely going to have an Arc 7.5, too, covering some things in the intervening six years that won’t quite make it into the main fic due to timing/focus/whatever issues, but I also don’t want to leave in Bonus Content, sooooo there it is.)

And on the subject of Bonus Content! There will be two Bonus Fics coming out in the near future, dealing with the three-year anniversary and hitting 200k on this fic. I am definitely still accepting prompts for those, so feel free to shoot me an ask or whatever!

Anyway, overall, I’m still significantly behind where I want to be, but I think I actually will finish Arc Seven by the end of the calendar year, and then start fresh with Arc Eight and/or Arc 7.5. (Which will be posted out of order and probably alongside arcs eight and nine, which happen in very close succession.)

Other Projects:

I put out a bit of the Epic Crossover RP of DOOM, as well as a teaser/snippet for our faces like a mirror (though probably teeeeechnically outside the bounds of the fic I’m planning to write on that title, still in the same vein/cycle/it’s about Bo-Katan), and a brief Anidala fic that could be the jumping-off point for an AU. I actually got quite a bit of origfic done, thanks to a challenge on rainbowfic! Always nice when that happens. ...I mean, I think I only wrote one moving-the-plot-along story, but there it is.

Still hoping to maybe get some Distaff/Auxiliaries/Devoted!verse/Valdemar AU/AU outlines/maybe some other fandom projects out at some point, but we shall see. I’m still leaning towards at some point maybe reworking For Sorrow Sung or actually getting The Other Battlestar in some kind of working order, plus reviving Serenissima.

...I should also do a Halloween fic, maybe? I was earlier poking at doing an Anidala Orpheus and Eurydice fic, but I’m not sure I could pull that off at this point...any suggestions?

NaNo plans:

I think I’m sticking with what I said last month, though of course that may change as we get closer...meaning, I’m gonna  shoot for 60k. 20-25k devoted to building up a Precipice backlog so I can post chapters more frequently than once a month, about the same devoted to our faces like a mirror, since I really would like to get that finished and possibly use it for next year’s Big Bang (unless I hit upon another idea and/or decide to flesh out Bail Unfucks the Timeline). And then use about 10k to decompress/work on other self-indulgent and/or vanity projects or original fiction.

[discoursecatharsis]

Announcements, updates, and changes

There’s... a lot going on. Things going on with tumblr in the coming days obviously, but also something in my personal life happening that’s going to affect the future of this blog + twitter, so please excuse the length of this as I ramble away.

First... the final season of Voltron is upon us. I’ll make a separate post for that later.

Then Monday the 17th is Tumblr D-day. I don’t know what will happen to this blog. If it’s deleted, I’m done with tumblr frankly, I don’t think I’ll remake it. But I have started to import this blog onto a WordPress just to be safe. It’s still importing right now (wordpress apparently has a backlog as you can imagine) but hopefully it’ll import fully and soon.

https://discoursecatharsis.wordpress.com/

As always, I will still be on twitter as well. I’ve also set up a curiouscat, so you shy guys can send anon asks there now too (and we can use cc instead if tumblr deletes this blog).

https://curiouscat.me/lizcourserants

If my blog isn’t deleted, I will probably still stay here for as long as I keep getting asks to publish.

But, that said... in addition to all this, I have good news and bad news...

The good news is, I got a job! Finally got a full-time job that isn’t a seasonal position.

But the bad news is, because of this new job, I won’t be as active online anymore (knock on wood, don’t wanna jinx anything before my first day, hopefully I don’t get fired or hate it so much I quit after a couple weeks.)

I’ll be at work most of the day now, and I haven’t done the “8 hours a day, 5 days a week, every week” thing in a long time either, so it’ll take a while for my body to adjust to a full-time deal and after work, honestly I’ll probably come home and be comatose lol, and won’t have the energy to discourse online.

Basically, I won’t be as active online starting next week. I don’t think I’ll completely fall off the face of the earth, I’ll still try to pop in from time to time on my days off, but... I don’t know yet. I’ll try not to ghost you guys at least, I’ll keep y’all posted.

Also I know I typically close the inbox when I’m busy with work, but I’m keeping it open, because otherwise it’d be closed constantly/forever haha. So I will be much much slower responding to asks (considering they build up, I have a feeling a ton of followers are leaving tumblr for good soon) and maybe not responding at all, I may just publish them with no comment more often, depends.

So to summarize

Blog is in the process of being imported to Wordpress

Still on twitter, plus now have a curiouscat

Will still use this blog if tumblr doesn’t delete it

But won’t be as active because of a new job

Inbox will remain open but will be slower to answer and may just publish asks with no comment

And that’s it!

This isn’t goodbye, but I just want to take this opportunity to thank you guys for all your support and kindness. You all have made the discourse more bearable and I enjoy talking to y’all about non-discourse stuff too and I just appreciate every single one of you <3

Last thing, if any of you are leaving tumblr or just unfollowing discourse blogs after vld ends but want to keep in touch with me, feel free to pm me and ask for my personal tumblr or twitter or discord~ I may make a pillowfort later too so you can ask for that also