#i've been in so many fandoms..... too many to list off all of my “nurturing & encouraging” lil guys

[romaritimeharbor]

addiel try not to get attached to inherently nurturing & encouraging, and therefore either somewhat or extremely parental, characters challenge (impossible)

[war-on-mars]

40 Questions: 4, 28, and 7!

#4: How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Care to share one of them?

Too many. My ballpark answer is 15-ish ideas that I've at least started writing and more that are vague in my head. Most of my focus recently has been on a multi-chapter amberpricefield fic in which all three girls have powers. It's an idea that I've done a lot of word-vomiting about but haven't done much coherent writing about it yet!

#28: Share three of your favorite fic writers and why you like them so much.

This is such a hard question omg. My list of favorites is always changing, so it was so hard to narrow it down. @calchexxis was the first to come to mind; everything I've read by them has been phenomenal. Even if you don't have too much interest in league of legends, I'd check them out. Their lightcannon series Flashbangs & Frag Grenades is genuinely one of the best things I've ever read.

@bluejayboiokay also came to mind pretty quickly, I've been reading their stuff for a little over a year now and it's all just so wonderful. Their writing is truly the epitome of transmasc joy. They explore gender in such beautiful ways and their writing is amazing. They write a ton of Arcane and Wynonna Earp and if you're even the slightest bit interested in either of those, I would recommend this author.

I also have to mention @kayleen756894 who absolutely blows my mind with everything she writes. She personally bumped amberfield up to one of my favorite ships with Stay, and Used to this is just magnificent. Reading her fics is part of what made me start writing for the fandom in the first place. She amplified my brain rot tenfold.

#7: Share a snippet from one of your favorite pieces of prose you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

Rachel’s eyes dart between the two sets of stars as she sits with the question. She loves Chloe, terrifyingly so. That’s part of the reason she fucked up so badly—in fear of growing too comfortable in Arcadia Bay. In fear of finding a reason to stay. 

She knows Chloe’s better off without her, knows she’s better off with Max. And Rachel’s tired, so very tired. She wants it to be over. She never wants to look at Nathan or Mark again. Her behavior is what got her here and she wants nothing more than to be buried with her sins.

Rachel wants to rest, but that damn butterfly asked if she thinks she’s deserving of an ending and the answer is no. 

This entire fic might be one of the most emotive things I've written recently. I'm proud of this section specifically because I think I really got into Rachel's head here. She my favorite life is strange character and I like to think I explored her well in this snippet!

[gra-sonas]

Hi! Can I just say that the thing I'm most thankful for today is you and your blog. It's literally the onlu tumblr I check every single day without fail & especially in times of turmoil your positivity just brings this peace. I'll be the 1st to admit that I'm not a fan of CAM, to say that I've disliked her since TVD is putting it mildly, but I just came from another blog and saw all these posts listing her faults. I know she's not perfect and I don't even like her but those posts weighed me down

2 so I just went back to your blog to reread all your positive response and I just wanted to say thank you. I didn't even expect to feel bad bec of criticism of CAM bec they were very valid points. But hammering it out after all these time is just heavy om the heart. I feel like what we need to do now is to move forward and heal and put her behind us. So I'm looking forward to any positive feeling or thoughts you'll be willing to share with us. You are a force of good and I'm sending you love

Goodness, I’ve received so much love yesterday, I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed that this continues. 😳Your message made me smile tho, and I thank you for your kind words, nonnie! It makes me happy to know that my blog brings you some comfort. ❤️❤️❤️

Ngl, we’ve had a bit of a rough year. First the S1 finale debacle, then a very long hiatus that left the fandom fractured, followed by a rather underwhelming season 2 - it’s no surprise that there’s currently a lot of bitterness being voiced, especially since CAM contributed in different, and sometimes quite significant ways to what’s upset people. Believe me, I too am still bitter about quite a few things.

But I don’t want to let that bitterness consume me, I don’t want to dwell on it, especially now, when there’s a clean cut and a somewhat promising future on the horizon. 

For my own peace of mind, I want to focus on positivity, the possibilities, and all the things I LOVE about the show and its characters. Because there’s still so much I love about RNM (the reason why I’m still here, even tho I didn’t watch S2). S3 won’t be on our screens for another year, and I’d rather try and enjoy the time as much as I can (I don’t want another hellatus...).

I got a lot of asks the night when news broke that she’d leave the show (more than 50 👀), and quite a few of them pointed out negative things about her, listed rumors about her behavior (some dating back to times prior to RNM), mentioned rude comments she’s made, stuff like that. And I’m okay with people sending me these kinds of asks (I get it, sometimes it just feels good to blow off steam). 

I didn’t publish them tho, bc like you, the negativity tends to weigh me down, and I don’t want to amplify it.

Tbh, I’m just really tired of being weighed down by negativity. The show did that to me for the longest time (especially the last couple of months), and CAM definitely did play her part in that. But she’s gone now, and I’m more than ready to move on. 

There’s nothing we can change about the past 2 seasons, none of the mistakes or writing choices that were made can be undone. Canon is what it is (minus that scene, I refuse to acknowledge its existence), and I more than understand that not everyone’s ready to move on yet, that some of that bitterness has to get out first, be discussed and maybe rehashed a couple more times - all in order to eventually let it go. 

I want to focus on the good things from now on tho. I want to fangirl, read fic,  write fic (haha, as if my muse would let me 😒DEAR MUSE, I HAVE A BIG BANG TO WRITE, PLS DON’T MAKE IT SO HARD FOR ME), make gifs, perhaps rewatch some S1 scenes. I want to swoon over Tyler, laugh at Vlamis, slowly get excited about S3 around the time they return to Santa Fe - just nurture the little seed of hope that things will be better next season.

I really do feel a lot more hopeful now. I’m not as anxious anymore, I don’t dread thinking about the future of the show like I used to. I’m well aware that even with a new show runner things can go sideways. Chris Hollier isn’t some savior who’s gonna magically fix all past mistakes and will never make any of his own.

He just seems a little less unpredictable, a little less “vindictive”, and a lot less thriving on misery, all things I appreciate. He’s also not constantly on social media to either “spy” on what fans are talking about, or barging in to “correct” us when we supposedly focus on the “wrong” things.

We may have lost the hot wire connection to the show runner, but imo that can be an advantage. I’m sure regardless of him not monitoring fan activity on Twitter and Tumblr 24/7, Chris is well aware of how important Malex are to fans, and he knows how important they are to Tyler and Vlamis. I believe he also knows about all the grievances fans have regarding making PoC the villains, mistreating Maria, sidelining characters, and so on.

He doesn’t have to be on social media to be aware of these things (many of the RNM writers are on social media, it would be a miracle if they didn’t talk about stuff like that in the writers room), and I hope he’s gonna fix some of the more glaring issues, and hopefully he’ll refrain from fucking up Malex (I believe they are in good hands with him tho).

Anyway, this got long and super rambly. Sorry, must’ve been something in the water this morning xD 

Here’s to a mostly enjoyable hiatus, what I can do to make it a little more silly and fun, I’ll do. ✨💚👽

[mojoflower]

Oh, I just had a really frightening vision of a potential data breach where someone outside AO3 could get hold of how many times and in what combinations I've cruised/used the tag #underage (particularly in these Anti days)... or rape/non-con. How about graphic violence, torture, addiction recovery, bukkake, sexual slavery, cross-dressing, gender dysphoria, child abuse, etc. etc. etc. Just. NO.

Not to mention these kinds of things (for me, at least) come and go in phases, and while I might spend one month devouring that tag, the next month I'm totally over it and never want to see it again. So if some box on the left is continually suggesting bestiality once I'm done fantasizing about that one piece of dragon/egg-laying art, I'm gonna be annoyed.

I've been on AO3 for ten years, and my bookmarks (as @alexseanchai has mentioned above) have evolved a lot over the years as I realized what a great resource they are to me and to anyone cruising other people's bookmarks. (Find an author you like and check out their bookmarks, it's always a treasure! And look through the bookmarks of a work you love, find someone who was chatty in their bookmark, and then go look through their bookmarks. It's so fun!)

AO3 has no algorithm, and one great thing about that is that it's a level playing field. (As long as a newcomer learns that they should tag.) Sure, you can find a tag and sort by kudos or bookmarks, which leans towards more established works, but you can also sort by word count, comments, key words or phrases, date updated, etc. NO ONE HAS AN ADVANTAGE.

Use your tumblr, too! If you want werewolf stories, @wheredidhiseyebrowsgo curates a wonderful library of Teen Wolf fics; @christinesficrecs is another. My sideblog is specifically for @wangxianficfinder and the mods there use the 4k+ followers to get suggestions for everyone's niche requests. (War Prize lwj, anyone?) The name of your fandom or ship + "fic finder" or "fic rec" is a good way to start finding rec blogs. There are a lot on LiveJournal and Dreamwidth, too.

On AO3 you can also search through 'collections', and those have been really taking off lately. [Go under the 'Browse' tab and select Collections.] I have a wangxian collection, pre-selected to be the cream of the crop (by my own individual taste) and it's easy to sort someone's collection bookmarks if you're in a mood for G, Accidental baby acquisition, time travel, exempt major character death... for example.

Here is a sorted list for the 1400 collections people have made for MDZS/Untamed. Here are 1600 for Teen Wolf.

Start curating your own bookmarks and reccing things on Tumblr, so that you can be a resource for other people! This is also the best and fasted way to make friends and become an integral part in a new and intimidating fandom, actually, so it really helps your social life, too ;)

One note: PLEASE keep your bookmarks (which are public unless you deliberately make them private) POSITIVE. Authors always read them, and if you don't have anything nice to say, then say nothing or keep it marked private. What bothers or incenses you will not bother other people, and we have to cherish and love our authors, or we have nothing to read and talk about, right? Authors you hate (and of course, you will hate some, that's normal), you just ignore, back away, keep silent. Promote the ones you like with kudos, bookmarks, rec lists and comments. This way, fandom can stay a healthy, positive, nurturing space for all of us.

If you have other questions about how to navigate AO3, go follow @ao3commentofthedayday, who has been focusing for the past year or so on more niche ways to tailor your AO3 experience, and has many excellent tutorials.

i am so baffled by the conversation i'm watching right now, where younglings who assumed AO3 had an algorithm felt mocked and condescended to when informed no, AO3 does not push any content at any user, and so the younglings are now doubling down and stanning algorithm??? that thing where social media sites get money from advertisers the more shit you click on so they shove content at you that is theoretically to your interest but actually is content that will keep you clicking, including content that enrages you, because they don't care about giving you shit you like just about keeping you engaged as long as possible, and oh also did we mention this ties into the modern lack of data privacy, the algorithm is watching everything you interact with to profile you better for advertising to you, it's spying on you across platforms whenever possible, THAT algorithm,

really you want it to know what fanfic you read, too? good grief