#if you're the op just send me a dm and I'll take the post down

[destiel-wings]

Are you incapable of making your own post? Why did you add on to that poor persons Merlin post when they dont care about Destiel? And youre too lazy to make your own gifs lol okay. Please dont add on to posts that arent yours. So fucking lazy and annoying.

Hey, if you're the op who made the post, I sincerely apologize. If you don't want that kind of addition i can delete it, no problem.

I love merthur and i love destiel too, and I added that scene from spn to make a comparison between the two ships. It wasn't meant to take anything away from the original post, but my intention was to give it a new light in addition (as people do on this site) by drawing a parallel with another piece of media. A lot of destiel fans love merthur too and i thought the op could get more reblogs and likes on their gif this way (reaching another fandom too).

I know how to make my own posts, I did plenty of them, actually.

What i don't know how to do is gifs, and i have deep appreciation for people who make them, and it is my understanding that they like exposure for their posts, so that their hard work can reach more people.

This is why i reblogged it.

My tags on the reblog were about both ships, i didn't deviate from the original post ignoring it to only talk about another ship (which would've been rude), so i didn't think it could be offensive in any way.

[squarebracket-trickster]

Yes, this has happened to me several times too. I didn't even realize this happens to others - so thanks, OP, this made me realize that it shouldn't be this way.

Also, sorry OP, I'm about to ramble...

Them: Oh! You're writing a WIP about [thing]? Me too! Tell me about yours and I will tell you about mine! Me: Yeah, my WIP is about a [main character] who [has a problem]. [This] happens. [This also] happens. [Other media] was my inspiration. But my favourite part is the [feature]. What about you? Them: So, the first scene starts with [describes the whole scene], and then [thing] happens - but to understand [thing] you need to know [150 words worth of backstory] - and [thing] is important because later it will come up again when [plot point]. The main character is [physical description, socio-economic status, family, backstory, activity they are doing when we meet them, motivation, fatal flaw, entire character arc summarized in 100 words] and then they meet this other character who [same deal]. That's when they discover [inciting incident] and then [this other thing] happens that makes it even more complicated. The villain is [same deal again] but actually [50 words worth of explaining why the villain arc is thematically important]. So then [this thing] happens, and then [this thing also] happens, and then [more plot], and then [MORE PLOT], and finally [climatic moment] happens and then [third act breakdown] but then the characters realize that [moment of clarity] and there's this plot twist - oh! but you can't understand the twist without knowing [this other information that I'll take 75 words to explain.] And then the story ends with [takes 200 words to explain every resolution to every single story thread] but for the sequel I was thinking... By this point I am literally doing something else and just checking back on my DMs every ten minutes, because that is how long it takes them to type each message. [Two hours later] Them: so what did you think? Me: I liked [thing]. I think it is a really unique idea and I like how it [does this thing]. Them: Give me more! Tell me everything you liked! I want ALL THE FEEDBACK!! [This is not an exaggeration of how these texts go by the way. They use cap locks. This has happened to me twice.] Me: [gives detailed, but positive, feedback - even though I am annoyed because that is a huge demand on my mental energy which they have already drained by talking my ear off]. So, in my WIP one thing that I am really excited about is-- Them, before I am even done texting: That's cool! But oh yeah! and another thing I should tell you about my story:

And it just goes on and on and on...

And frankly, it feels entitled and inconsiderate and I lose respect for the people that do it.

After that, I am very careful with any interaction I have with them. I try not to give them any chance to start talking about their WIPs because I know they won't stop for hours, and worse, they will demand feedback I am not prepared to give.

Even worse is when they practically beg for criticism. And well... this person can't even have a respectful conversation, how the fuck are they going to react to criticism? So I just tell them I can't think of anything and it all sounds good, and then I feel bad because, actually, it doesn't all sound good, and they are acting so entitled I wish I was confrontational enough to knock them down a peg.

The TL;DR is, they lose "talking with Square about WIPs" privileges for good. They want to talk about their WIPs so bad, now there is one less person they can do that with.

To be honest, I found that making posts about my WIP where I could just talk and send it out to the void was the only way for me to actually be able to talk without getting drowned out.

Then my moots and followers can choose which of my rambles they interact with - with the expectation that this is my blog, here we are talking about my WIP, if you don't want to talk about my WIP don't comment. Sometimes we'll get a conversation going in the reblogs (and those have been some of my favourite interactions on here).

It's not the same as a text conversation, I know. But it has served me well as a way to set boundaries. Really, I wish I could find more writeblrs that do it my way because then I could interact on my terms, when I have energy, when I actually have something to say, and I could be surrounded by people passionately rambling all over my dash.

The problem with internet writer culture

Tell us about your wip!

But don't advertise, ads are bad and we don't like being advertised to.

Oh but tell us about the wip!

*gives thirty second summary*

Oh that's a nice wip, mine is *gives thirty minute lecture on characters, plot twists, and origins*

Oh sorry, I thought your wip was nice. What did you think of mine?

*gives detailed and sincere compliments about what I thought of it*

I'm glad! Yours was cool, but oh! In mine *another thirty minute lecture*

...

......

.......... Is this what passes for interaction these days or am I just unlucky? I've found like TWO people, maybe three, who will have an actual conversation with me about wips.

With everyone else it's like I'm expected to keep it short, sweet, and to the point, unless I'm reacting to theirs, and if I return the favor and gush at length about mine, they disappear or never react.

And it's a very real problem.

Because it's not just impacting me.

It's impacting a LOT of people. Because everyone wants to talk about their wip but nobody wants to listen to anyone else's, so there's so many writers that put on a veneer of "I care!" And they pretend to listen or maybe they read a little or skim, but they don't absorb it.

And then, because you've talked about your work, they now have license to talk about theirs, and they won't stop until either you stop them or make it obvious you're not listening.

But we don't do that, do we?

We do care. We want to encourage. We want to support. So we try. But then they don't return that favor. They don't actually care, but they know you want to, and you'll try to, so they'll milk that until your patience runs out.

Then what?

Then they look for the next kind heart that will sit quietly and listen.

And it's a problem.

Because we all want to be heard. But that doesn't give us the right to overpower another person in conversation just to force the other person to hear us, at the cost of their enjoyment of the interaction.

[destielficarchive]

General Fic Archive-y Update

Hey y'all! I'm officially two weeks post-op and things are going well! My back is healing great according to my docs, and my pain levels, while still existent, are waaaay down, like, night-and-day. I can function and walk again, it's very lovely.

I've got a TON of catching up to do - on here, on my other side projects, on my own writing, and of course on my actual, ya know, job. I did a decent job of gently putting all my juggled balls down so none broke - none of my projects got fucked up too bad - but it'll take me a bit to get them all up in the air again. How this applies here primarily is:

1. if you've asked me anything or sent me a DM where I said "I'll do this when I can" and...I haven't...I'd really just appreciate if you could DM me again. I don't have the time or oomph to sort through everything to see which I actually missed. (I'm going to go through Asks right after posting this so hopefully won't miss anything there? there's only a couple tho.)

2. I'm still behind on the Destiel surveys of course. I've got 150 surveys (so as many as 1500 more fics, oof) more to collate/add to my sheet, and only once I've added everything will I start sending out the new invites. I'm so sorry about the delay, and thank you all for your patience. <3

3. I've not been able to get Python working right on my laptop yet, and still don't feel confident to sit at my computer instead, so I'm not able to do mass downloads rn, BUT I've still got roughly 35k fics to go through and add to my main sheet (yes, really) and I'll obvs work on that while I can, but I'm def well behind. So note that just cause it's not on my sheet doesn't mean I don't have it, and I'll do my best to get things added but in all honesty it's likely to take me literally years to get it all done.

Thanks everyone!! I'll do my best to get on top of stuff!

(tho note that if I get flooded by "now that you're feeling better, can I get..." kind of DMs, I usually get overwhelmed within answering 3 or 4 so it could take me a few days to get back to you.)

-unforth

[lyesander]

I'm g2b soon so I might not see your answer until tomorrow but since you want to talk Mash and I'm curious: who's your favourite character and why? And what would you say is your favourite season overall?

Incidentally we seem to have a few similar slightly niche opinions lol, I was just saying the other day that I don't take the 11 years of actors aging as diegetic canon and I have a few posts about how frustrating The Price and Your Retention Please are too (though I didn't realize the Korean war hero was in a Japanese uniform in The Price, oof). So I'm looking forward to seeing more of your takes on the show.

I'll admit, I didn't know what a Japanese cavalry uniform looked like until I watched that episode, but it seemed a little off, so I did a bit of digging and yeah, Japanese, not Korean. Which isn't too surprising for M*A*S*H, but it definitely helped shift my general ambivalence towards the episode to outright dislike. It's one of the few that really can't be redeemed for me, even though the concept of Hawkeye trying (and failing) to keep a draft dodger out of the ROK is interesting.

I'm far more indifferent to "Your Retention Please." It's not a great episode, I don’t plan on rewatching it, but that’s just because it doesn’t really do much for me. It reads as a really washed out commentary on military retention (re-enlisting Klinger while he was down on his luck about his ex was kind of laughable to me; predatory enlistment has way more to do with socioeconomics than it does, uh, boohoo my ex-wife is still shitty), but that's it's biggest sin.

The calvary stuff is definitely my biggest costuming gripe, but I do remember at one point Mulcahy comes on screen wearing a collegiate hoodie and I had to restrain myself from yelling "THEY DIDN'T START PUTTING COLLEGE LOGOS ON HOODIES UNTIL THE 60S!" As though that matters to anyone except me, haha.

If you want, DM me the posts you're referring to and I'll send you my thoughts. I've been binging the series for the first time over the past week, and just wrapped up the finale yesterday, so right now I'm still kind of processing.

As for my favorite characters, I usually gravitate towards the leads. Hawkeye's definitely my favorite. I appreciate how overtly anti-military he and Trapper are, while both still retaining a lot of period typical flaws you'd see in most mid-century, white American males. It’s particularly apparent Hawkeye's misogyny, the cognitive dissonance he seems to face when he’s confronted with the fact that no matter how much he hates it, he’s still part of the war effort, etc. But his character development remains fairly consistent for being a non-chronological show.

I really like characters who desperately try to be good people, but still fail in many ways, whether it be through their own, unconscious biases, egos, or faulty coping mechanisms. Putting them in a high stress situation, like war, makes those idiosyncrasies stand out all the more. Hawkeye is full of idiosyncrasies. The episodes that explore his more manic moments are some of my favorites. There are a couple of particularly underrated scenes in "Stars and Stripes" where he's desperately cramming a scrabble board under the noses of anyone who looks at him for more than two seconds. By Depressing News, we see ten seasons worth of trauma start getting to him, but like Sidney said, he'd be crazy if it didn't.

He's also just a very charming, funny person. He holds a lot of love for his friends. Henry wasn’t wrong in saying "Hawkeye's kind of the heartbeat of the 4077th." Which is another interesting side to Hawkeye's character - while he likes attention, he obviously doesn't like people regarding him as someone worth looking up to. It’s why he thrives on goofy antics in post-OP and around camp, but gets viscerally uncomfortable when he’s, say, swarmed by reporters like in “Heroes” or put on a pedestal like in “Fallen Idol.”

Second favorite is probably Charles. Despite being the last of the main crew to become a regular cast member, I think he has the most character growth of anyone in the show. His episodes were definitely some of the most emotional for me, even beyond Hawkeye's breakdown eps. There's something just very poignant about watching Charles be quietly humbled. "Actually no, that thought hadn't occurred to me. That would be interesting, wouldn't it?" and "Those men weren't soldiers, they were musicians" are two of the most haunting lines of the show.

I do like Frank, but my appreciation for him is more as a narrative foil for Hawkeye and Trapper than it is as a character or person. He's very funny, he does a good job portraying what he's supposed to, and he has absolutely no redeeming qualities. At best, you pity him.

Margaret and Klinger tie for third. Margaret’s another character who exhibits a lot of growth over the course of the series. She’s still a bootlicker, but seeing her develop into her own person outside of Frank or any of the shitty men she finds herself tied to is extremely satisfying. I like it when she’s able to pal around with the others. Klinger would have beaten Margaret but I don’t really enjoy his character arc. I understand it, but his gradual acceptance and indoctrination into the military reads as a tragedy to me.

Henry and Trapper tie for forth. Henry takes a very, very slight lead just because he's such an endearing little doormat to me, but had Wayne Rogers gotten his wish and had Trapper become a more fully rounded character, he'd probably win out.

Third and fourth places are very close. I actually struggled with which ones I wanted to put first.

I have surprisingly few thoughts on BJ, for someone who typically enjoys musing about characters with issues. He’s fine, I guess. I like that he’s got a manipulative streak. Sometimes watching the girls fight is enjoyable, sometimes it isn’t. He clearly cares for his friends, but he’s terrible at showing it. He expresses himself through concrete actions, not vulnerability. I really wish Farrell had been more open to letting BJ be the fall guy every now and then, like Hawkeye and Charles. I think I’d have liked him more if there had been any sort of acknowledgment by the narrative that BJ struggles with his own internal biases, because he totally does; it’s just never talked about. I prefer thinking up meta on BJ, but I prefer watching Trapper.

Favorite side character is Flagg. He’s one dimensional, but also a total riot.

Least favorite character is Potter. I went from liking him, to feeling conflicted, to actively disliking him over the span of a day. Go figure.

As for my favorite season, I’m not sure I have one. I pick and choose my favorite episodes. I think the only season I struggled to pull three solid eps from was season eleven, but I honestly enjoyed the finale and that’s like four episodes rolled into one, so I dunno. I wasn’t huge on season ten, either. 

If I had to pick a favorite.. prooobably season three? You start getting glimmers of the more dramatic, character driven episodes, but Trapper and Henry are still there and you have a lot of the really fun, early season antics. Because it’s still, you know, the early seasons. 

I actually do appreciate the tone shift from a thematic perspective. Something, something, losing your innocence, blah blah blah. Not that the early episodes were particularly innocent, but M*A*S*H does a hard swing from satirical comedy to character driven tragedy (with comedic elements) as the reality of the crew’s situation really starts sinking in.