#it has the potential to prompt really interesting and intimate discussion between friends!

[egoarc4de]

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[rosesareviolentlyread]

Howdy!

So, despite being a lurker, and then a semi-active person for a while I’ve never made an intro post! And, well, as one of the mods for @whumpmasinjuly now speed running the event to catch up, I figure I can be living proof that better late than never! 

I’m Rosy, she/her/hers, a 22 year old Bi baby using writing as a coping mechanism for our hellscape. I’ve always enjoyed whump, without knowing it until I found the term last fall. I’m also a comfort whore, so always know that nothing I write has a sad ending, there’s fluff coming.

I love exploring OCs, vulnerability, interesting conditions for whump, and world building/making my ideas way too complicated. That or writing random requests to prompts. There’s really no in between. I've either thought about it way too much or not at all. Which I guess is to say, if there’s a prompt or scenario you’ve always wanted written drop it in my ask box, I enjoy the challenge! I’m really passionate about creative writing as a tool to explore, which ties into my work with nonprofit alternative education models. 

I’ve got a few things posted on my blog, but none are the main stories I’ve been working on, because busy but also as said above I tend to...spend forever researching/drafting haha. If you’re interested in checking out the ideas I got in the pipeline, check under the cut! Feel free to let me know if you’d like to be tagged, some will start being published in the next few days.

And lastly, hope y’all don’t mind, but I thought I’d tag some friends & my fav authors in the community that have helped me start to get more involved!: @sableflynn @bleedingandfeverish @straight-to-the-pain @softsweetsuffering @mottinthemainpot @burtlederp @killtheprotagonist @slaintetowhump @wildfaewhump @ashintheairlikesnow @deluxewhump @0idril0 @whumpywhumper @moose-teeth @endless-whump @bloodandbandages @whumping-every-day @card-games-and-pain @starrywhump @nowhumponmain @orchidscript @untilthepainstarts @whump-tr0pes @albino-whumpee @whumpiary ok gonna stop tagging people now wow I read too much/talk to people a lot

My WIPs: 

(Note: I’m trying to edit at least one of each to post this week but my muse hops around a lot so consistent and chronological these stories will not be. They’re ordered vaguely by where my muse is rn)

Elias: The newest one, a spur-of-the-moment addition who’s got a few more prompts coming. A boy who’s gotten the shit end of the stick in life ends up in the basement of a frat, tortured after the mob boss who took him to get a ransom from his shit-stain brother decided to cut losses and gift Elias to his nephew, passing him off as a boxboy in the process. Some well-meaning college students decide to rescue him, only to get into who knows what, certainly not me. Variation within BBU, thanks to @deluxewhump for the idea. Mainly recovery from torture for now

Studying About That Good Ole Way/Fae bb: A modern magic world loosely inspired by @0idril0 & @whumpywhumper’s Nico/Clint & Marcus/Lucien series’ respectively. Under the increased scrutiny of the modern age, magical creatures come forward with their existence. Fae have always lived in a state of fear but now more so, as their existence as a source of magic means they can be used for great feats, both by humans and magic folk alike. In fear, some hide their young as changelings in the hopes that in growing in non-magical communities, they will not develop their full magical characteristics. 

     Faith is a young girl from a ‘perfect’ anti-magic Christian family, who goes to a liberal arts college to study Theology. In her thesis work to understand how to reconcile God with the magic community, the exposure to the magic sparks her transformation into her full, natural Fae self. A professor/local pastor offers to help, which does not go well. Her brother Adam, who abandons his family and his church after it disowns and demonizes his sister, is left to pick up the pieces. Religious whump, torture, intimate whumper, some body horror/gore, recovery angst, a not-great himbo caretaker trying his best, found family eventually.

Once You Are Real: Victorian Magical vaguely Steampunk Fantasy world. A shopkeeper specializing in magical refurbishment & repair comes across a life-sized porcelain ‘doll’, broken and pieced together in webs of golden cracks. He quickly discovers that not only is this ‘doll’ actually a construct, it’s a sentient construct, the most advanced he’s ever seen, capable of distressing amounts of emotion and physical feeling. An uncanny valley of past pains that now sits on his bench to fix. Caretaker fluff, emotional angst, psychological angst, discussing human condition, some creepy/intimate whumper flashbacks. 

The Paths We Travel: A trio that takes place in @wildfaewhump ’s Pathverse. Technically the first piece of this is posted, but I’ve rehauled it since then so I’ll be rewriting that intro. 

     Oren is a former A-Class, used to experiment with the extent of Class-A’s potential. He’s now sickened by his own abilities and seeking to hide, to find a new person other than the one he was. He’s trying to write his way to freedom, all the while avoiding his own history that’s written into every part of his person.

     Cass presents an easy out, a friend-with-benefits that’s a bridge between his old life and a new one. Cass is a wealthy Class-C who’s parents hid her ability since she was the only child, and heir, to their pharmaceutical fortune. She’s on a mission to rebel and take hold of her identity, as only a privileged girl can, not understanding the consequences that may follow for a free path. 

     Alice is a Class-C who has lived her life working with a more private sector company, where her empath abilities were combined with drugs to offer high paying clients orgasmic and euphoric experiences without those nasty side effects. When Cass decides to rescue her while at a party on a whim, it’s a whim that thrusts the trio into a collision course. Drug/withdrawal whump. Recovery whump. Some real shitty caretakers, but they mean well. Exploration of not great people getting better together maybe? I control none of my characters please send help

Bakery Box Boy: Della, an older woman in charge of a popular bakeshop in a lakeside New England town is gifted a refurbished Box Boy as ‘help’ by a nosy neighbor convinced it’ll be a good way to help her finally grieve her recently deceased son. Della disagrees, and our poor BB is caught in the middle. Featuring a strong willed tough older woman caretaker, and a Box Boy who’s been refurbished about 3-5 times. God this is from a post from forever ago, but dammit it got too developed to throw away so it’s got at least a few prompts in its WIP folder I’ll get to editing eventually.

[hellzyeahwebwielingessays]

The Not-So-Amazing Mary Jane Part 18: MJ is lying to Peter but it definitely couldn’t be for his own sake

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This is something of a tangent on the last post, where I discussed why MJ would know better than to lie to Peter. However an angle I didn’t cover was the idea that she might be lying in order to protect Peter and his life interests in some way. Well today we’re going to tackle that very question.

This counterargument stems from the fact that MJ (obviously) wouldn’t want to see Peter come to harm and wouldn’t want to harm his chances in making more of his life. After all, Peter (circa AMJ #1) had only recently begun attending college again.

Informing him about Mysterio would likely prompt Peter to ride out to L.A. immediately and potentially jeopardise his academic career.

But this just doesn’t really hold up to scrutiny.

In part 16 I spoke a length about how MJ values the greater good above even her marriage to Peter. I demonstrated that since she values her marriage over her career it therefore means she values the greater good above her career.

Using the same logic it’s pretty obvious to deduce that MJ also values the greater good above Peter’s academic career.

In ASM #303 (covered in part 16) MJ was prepared to jeopardise or potentially give up her successful modelling career for the sake of her marriage. This was owed to Peter being offered a promising new job in Kansas. 

However Peter turned the job down out of consideration for MJ and instead decided to go back to college (as he is in ASM v5) so he could get a job in NYC. Mary Jane doesn’t even try to protest against this.

I’m by no means suggesting MJ is being selfish here, but it does demonstrate that the value she places upon Peter’s career prospects (which his college education is an extension of) has it’s limits. She clearly values her marriage more than that in addition to her own career.

So if MJ’s priorities place Peter’s career below their marriage and their marriage below the greater good, by extension it means she actually doesn’t value Peter’s education above the greater good.

And so she wouldn’t avoid alerting Peter to the existence of potentially dangerous criminals simply because she doesn’t want to screw up his academic chances.

But if you want even more proof, remember ASM #286? MJ ultimately decides the risk to Peter’s life wasn’t as important as the innocent lives that could be saved. Are we seriously going to suggest MJ believes Peter’s career options are more important than his literal life?

Of course not. And let’s not forget that Peter has gone back to school four  time by this point. I am unfamiliar with the American college education system, but that suggests to me that there is no limit on the number of times someone can stop and start their academic career. So even if MJ reluctantly has to kill Peter’s current chances in college, she knows that he could simply restart again. She also knows Peter would want it that way too.

Not to mention MJ could be honest with Peter without  risking him riding down to L.A. to save the day.

Peter knows he can trust Mary Jane. She doesn’t have the ability to get him to agree with anything she wants. But nor is Peter going to be immovable on any topic that entails MJ somehow being in a dangerous situation. In Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #2 Peter is insistent that MJ leave New York in order for her to evade whomever had abducted Aunt May.

Whilst she reluctantly left, she soon returned despite what Peter wanted and continued to stick around in spite of him wanting her to leave again.

However he didn’t press the point a second time even though the situation hadn’t changed. There are various reasons as to why but the point is that Peter was able to accept that it was a reasonable decision even though he disliked it.

Later in ASM #536 following the public unveiling of his identity and his turning against the Super Human Registration Act, the Parker family find themselves on the run. Peter wants MJ and May to get as far away from him as possible, arguing it’d be safer and more efficient for him to operate on his own. Peter is however convinced by May and MJ’s arguments to the contrary.

Both examples demonstrate MJ being honest with Peter of being in direct danger but of her also convincing him to allow her to remain in that situation. Now for sure we could argue that these outcomes were ultimately the lesser of two evils from Peter’s POV. That what MJ wanted was actually ultimately safer over all.

However if somehow MJ had a solid argument for why her sticking around on the film set served the greater good or was ultimately better for her it’s far from impossible that Peter could be convinced to stay in NYC. Just spit balling here but she could argue that something very fishy is going on, Beck already tried something large scale recently and singling MJ out could mean he knows Peter’s identity As a result sending him to jail could risk exposing his identity and by extension endangering his friends and family. If MJ sticks around and Peter keeps a distance it puts her into a position to investigate and see what he knows.

I don’t know how much that idea holds up to scrutiny as I came up with it off the top of my head but it certainly makes a lot more sense than Mary Jane just straight up lying to Peter.

Even if hypothetically Peter just could never accept MJ being surrounded by criminals, she could simply promise him she would contact her various super hero associates. Or in fact ask him to do that on her behalf.

That’s not me suggesting MJ be passive or allow a man to sort out her problems for her either.

It’d be a strategic and diplomatic use of both her intimate knowledge of Peter’s psychology and her famous people skills. Having Peter on some level  take an active role in helping/protecting her would make him feel in control in some way. Make him feel like he is living up to his responsibilities as a hero and as a partner and thus alleviate his urges to ride down and intervene personally.

Nowadays Peter isn’t opposed to this level of trust in his super hero friends. Even ignoring his years as an Avenger (which included living with them alongside MJ and May), Peter has called upon these people in the very recent past.

Throughout in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man volume 2 Peter called upon the aid of his super hero associates to help him during various crises. These included the Doctor Strange, Iron Man, the Human Torch and the wider Fantastic Four.

Another example can be found during the ‘Absolute Carnage’ event, which definitely occurred after MJ left for L.A. We know this because in ASM v5 #29 and issues #30-31 were tie-ins to the event.* The Avengers in fact appear briefly in issue #30.

In Absolute Carnage #2 Venom/Eddie Brock suggests that they call upon the help of the Avengers to deal with Carnage’s impending rampage. Peter asserts that it’s best if he do that.

He is shown doing exactly that in Absolute Carnage: Avengers #1 where he teams up with Captain America, Wolverine and Ben Grimm.

Additionally this team contacts Hawkeye on the West Coast to deal with Carnage’s minions over in San Francisco.

It’s important to note that Hawkeye was on the West Coast because he was a part of the West Coast branch of the Avengers. Their headquarters specifically being…in Los Angeles…where Mary Jane is making her movie.

Granted, it’s not the same part  of Los Angeles because MJ is in Hollywood and the West Coast Avengers HQ is in Venice Boulevard. And a quick Google search reveals that to travel between the two locations on foot it’d take…under three hours…Yeah…

Basically nowadays Peter is absolutely not going to be opposed to calling upon the aid of other heroes to help him directly or indirectly so asking them to show up and lookout for the woman he loves wouldn’t be out of character. Especially when one considers that Hawkeye alone is probably out of Mysterio’s league considering the threats he’s survived. But Mary Jane’s personal friends Iron Man and Ironheart? Unless Beck specifically prepared for them he would be unlikely to get away, let alone hurt them.

Now look I’m not suggesting we apply every single facet of the Marvel Universe into our analyses because that’d be ridiculous. Every Spider-Man or related story would fall apart because he could simply resolve his problems by calling other heroes. It’s part of the suspension of disbelief that Spidey is the only person available to deal with whatever crisis is at hand.**

But these are all very recent stories that, happened in the main Spider-Man titles; or tie-ins directly to those titles. In the Avengers’ case they were his teammates for over a decade and were for a time outright his supporting cast. Mary Jane was a major supporting character in the solo titles of two separate Avengers characters and that fact was acknowledged within ASM itself.

Is the idea of calling upon these characters really not fair game in this hypothetical scenario of ours?

I’d say no.

Regardless the fact remains that in AM #1 Mary Jane cannot be lying to Peter for his own sake and has no other justifiable reason either. She would know better than to do that.

Next time we take a look at MJ’s skills and whether they actually could protect her and others from Mysterio or not.

*It’s not entirely clear when the events of AMJ #1 happen in relation to ASM v5 #30-31. They must happen after ASM v5 #29 and AMj #1 was published the very same day as ASM v5 #32; being referenced in that same issue.

To me this implies that AMJ #1 slots in just prior to ASM v5 #32, but in fairness it could occur just after ASM v5 #29.

However, the events from the story I’m discussing were published before AMJ #1. They would also happen so close to it no matter what that Peter’s characterization in the former is still a fair source to cite.

**Although it should be noted that it has often been common practice for Spider-Man stories to directly address exactly why other heroes aren’t available to help Spidey. A great example would be ASM #361, Peter’s first encounter with Carnage, where the F4 and Avengers are occupied forcing Peter to call upon the aid of Venom.

P.S. For some additional food for thought check out ASM #291. In the issue a Spider Slayer robot was on the loose but Peter reluctantly left it to the authorities because a crying Mary Jane called him up and asked for his help.

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[naazyalensky]

I guess I will discuss it.

I know often things that are posted by someone outside one’s rnm circle are treated as hostile but this isn’t an attack on the takes I’m seeing, just one I’m not seeing brought up: the infinite potential for good in matrimony.

I think it’s really uncomfortable that a relationship in which partners choose marriage is being argued as inherently reductive to a woman’s complexity. Choice is key, and has been overlooked. I think it’s uncomfortable that we leapt past the possibility of healthy so quickly that we’re only discussing the downsides to romantic partnerships and not the way vulnerability nurtured into familiarity, confidence, and trust can lead to the desire to pledge one’s devotion forever. Whether forever comes or goes.

And that’s not for everybody. Some women will never want to be married to their partners. Some don’t desire romance or partners. There’s a path for every woman and they do not all run parallel.

In this case we’re discussing fictional characters, but choice is still a key component. The choosing of the thing is what matters. People in healthy relationships do not have to lose parts of themselves. With luck and support, if you do, you’ll find those pieces again. Liz as a bride is no less a scientist. Maria as a wife is no less a businesswoman. Neither is either any less one single plank in their identity’s foundation. Women in love are, ideally, no less individuals. Women who function in a unit don’t cease to exist on their own.

There’s a lot that can be said here, but I’m not arguing a thesis, I’m just pointing out that this event isn’t about what all women will do. Or even placing Liz and/or Maria on one set path. It’s about the what-ifs around marriage for these particular characters and pairings. Why them? Personal preference. but none of us needs an event to explore the hypothetical.

The prompts are general. Think of all the ground they can cover.

Do they want to get married? Do they want all the bells and whistles or just the promise and some cake? Somewhere in the middle? Somewhere outside it all? Who would they want present when they take their vows? How would they change as individuals in marriage? What steps would they take to hold onto themselves? How tight a grip would they need? Do they stay married? Are they friends if they divorce? 

Have they missed each other for decades before they get their shot? Do they live together before getting married? How do they honeymoon? Do they choose not to? Where do they compromise? Where are they indulged? How do they resolve fights? What are their goals outside of a partner and how does their partner respect this? How do they make time for one another when the honeymoon phase slips into normalcy? 

Do they want kids? Do they not? Do they adopt? How do their parenting styles differ? How do they match? Do they marry before or after kids? Do they have kids and never marry? How would they fare on a family road trip? 

What do they learn about each other after they believe they know everything? What do they learn about themselves? How do they show their affection in the small moments? How would they make a grand gesture? How do they propose? How long is the engagement? Where do they fit into their community as individuals? How does the community regard them as a couple? 

How does a typical day of married life play out? How is the wedding planned? How well does the wedding go according to plan? Is there a plan? How do they get on with their in-laws? How does the in-law relationship shift over time and how does that impact the marriage? Which parts of the relationship are a well-oiled machine? Which parts need work? 

What do they score on a ‘before you get married’ quiz for fun on their ten year anniversary? How do they score on it the night before the wedding? What are their marriage memes? Does one leave for work before the other and leave notes on their windshield? Do they high five after successfully following a youtube tutorial on the third attempt? 

What family traditions do they carry on? What traditions do they create? What does their home look like? What does their life look like? What excites them most about coming home to the other? How to they value, express, and maintain intimacy?

There are just so many facets to explore and this is all off the top of my head. It’s hardly all-encompassing, and I’ve quite possibly repeated myself. Marriage and weddings and women who choose that for themselves by offering and/or accepting a proposal—or hey, there’s a whole subsection I missed: exploring the challenges and triumphs of couples who meet and marry nearly on the spot—these things, they do not have to be limiting. They do not have to be answered in any particular way but the one that you enjoy if you enjoy it. They do not have to follow the ugly tropes between men and women played out by rote in media. 

Re: the event. Does commitment require marriage? Not one bit. National Wife Appreciation Day just happened to fall when there were no other events posted and that became the basis for exploring more about Liz and Maria (and Max and Michael) by holding them up to any and all of the questions above. Plus the many many many I missed. 

Intimate and loving relationships thriving is a fun as hell playground. Difficult (not synonymous with toxic) relationships that have the work put into become healthy are also fun as hell. Now this isn’t fun or interesting to everyone, but it’s, again, not inherently stale or limiting. 

The journey is about what you see in it, so if it don’t apply let it fly, but it’s misogyny plain and simple to write women off as lesser when taking on the roles of brides and wives alongside all their others, like sister, daughter, friend, biomedical engineer, bar owner, etc. etc. as though one cancels out the others.

[velkynkarma]

Get to Know the Author

@bosstoaster has been tagging me all night :P

1. How did you come up with your username and what does it mean?

I’ve had the name ‘Karma’ for about 17 years now? I don’t even remember where it came from. The ‘Velkyn’ got added a little over 10 years ago when I decided I wanted to get back into fic writing. But I was still in that phase where you think you’re supposed to ‘grow out’ of fandoms and writing fanfiction, so I didn’t want any of my friends to know I was doing it. I was embarrassed. It was silly. I picked a different handle, VelkynKarma, which actually means ‘hidden Karma.’ Later I just liked the name and also got over my embarrassment for fic writing and just started using it everywhere.

2. Which fanfic of yours has the most feedback? (bookmarks/subscriptions/hits/kudos).

No matter what statistic you look at, Routine Maintenance wins across the board by a large margin. Parasite Knight only has 1 less subscription, though, so I guess it’s a fair contender on subs.

3. What is your AO3 profile icon, and why did you choose it?

Same as my tumblr icon, it’s one of my OC’s, Morrigu Lovel. He is a little smartass and I love him.

4. Do you have any regular/favourite commenters?

Oh for sure, there’s a few lovely readers that come back every time and always have something to say. I love you guys :) And a few others that don’t comment on every chapter or every work, but the comments they leave are always phenomenal and make my day.

5. Is there a fanfic that you keep going back to read again and again?

Depends on my mood, and I don’t necessarily read the entire fic, just the paragraphs/scenes/chapters that really stick out to me. But yeah, I’ve got some favorites I return to a lot.

6. How many stories are you subscribed to? How many do you have bookmarked?

Oh geez. This one’s hard to say since I watch stuff on AO3 and FF.net. A lot? I think a lot of those fics are dead now though.

7. Which AU do you find yourself writing the most?

Mmmm I don’t really have a tendency to stick to any particular series or AU for very long? I guess in terms of general themes I’ve done zombie AU’s the most, between Age of Heroes for Young Justice and Road Trip to End Times for Voltron...something about zombie apocalypse scenarios just fascinates me, especially since it can be done so many different ways.

8. How many people are subscribed and bookmarked to you in total? (you can view this on the stats page)

252 user subs, 444 work subs, 2039 bookmarks. I didn’t even know that until now, huh

9. Is there something you’d like to write about but are afraid of people judging you for it? (Feeling brave? If so, share it!)

There’s some character interactions that are such hot-button topics in the VLD fandom I’m cautious about approaching them because I don’t want to deal with people complaining or begging for things to get escalated. Like, I love Keith and Lance’s interactions in canon, but don’t have much fic centered around them because ship lashback is real.

10. Is there anything you would like to be better at? Writing certain scenes or genres, replying to comments, updating better, etc.

Short fic. What is brevity even? I can’t do zines or commissions because I can’t figure out how to manage a damn word count.

11. Do you write rarepairs or popular ships more often?

Nope! I don’t write any ships at all. I just write platonic interaction. Though I guess I wouldn’t be adverse to a platonic ‘rarepair’ as long as I liked the characters’ interaction potential.

12. How many stories have you posted on AO3 to this day (finished and unfinished)?

So far, 25. 23 of those are Voltron, 1 is Young Justice, and 1 is Supernatural (experimenting with cross-posting on both of those last two, some fandoms are just hard to break into or not on certain sites).

13. How many stories do you have saved in/with your writing program?

Oh boy. In progress? I wanna say 3. Notes? A lot, lot more.

14. Do you write down story ideas, or just keep them in your head?

I jot down notes! Or email myself ideas if I’m at work/out and about. Or speak them into a little portable digital tape recorder I keep next to my bed, if it’s the middle of the night and I have an idea, but lack dexterity to type.

15. Have you ever co-authored a story?

Not in a long, looong time.

16. How did you discover AO3?

Through TVTropes. Every time I finished a new series I’d swing by to read tropes pages and see if there were any decent fic recs. At first they all went to Fanfiction.net or livejournal but, over time, this ‘Archive’ thing kept showing up. I made an account to lurk or subscribe to things but didn’t actually start posting to it until at least a year later.

17. Do you consider yourself to be a popular or famous author in your fandom(s) on AO3?

Moderately well known in the platonic corner of it probably assuming people know bosstoaster and I are not actually the same person lol but probably not well known outside of that. Once upon a time I was a Big Name in the One Piece fandom, but after the timeskip I fell out of the fandom and lost my pirate king throne. That’s okay, it was fun while it lasted.

18. Do you have a nickname or fandom name for your readers?

No but you all are too kind

19. Was there an author who inspired or encouraged you to write?

In terms of ‘official’ authors, Brandon Sanderson is everything I ever aspire to be as a writer, and I take a lot of inspiration from that. For fic? My buddy BlackFriar was super helpful during the Young Justice era. More recently in the VLD fandom, @maychorian was big for just...getting me to stay in the fandom at all? One of her fics got me hooked and I stuck around, and then felt compelled to write, instead of just drifting off to the next interesting thing. And the Think Tank ( @bosstoaster @butteredonions @ashinan @mumblefox ) have all been huge for getting me to keep writing, between writing sprints and interesting discussions and a lot of encouragement, so that’s been huge for me this past year.

20. What writing advice would you give to a beginning author?

At the risk of sounding like that one video...just do it. It’s scary to put yourself out there, but just do it. You learn by doing. You also learn by absorbing new things around you, so read a lot and try new stuff; you never know when something completely random or a personal experience might actually add a lot to your story. And finally, write for you, first. Write the stories you want to see. Writing for comments/bookmarks/reblogs only goes so far. It means your motivation is reliant solely on people liking your work, which means you start writing for other people and not for yourself...and if reception is lackluster, it can kill your ability to finish a project, which hurts your practice at follow-through. It’s a slippery slope and starts to make the whole thing a lot less fun and a lot more of a chore. Write things you want to read, and if you feel like sharing them after, other people might like them too, but it’s important that you like it, first.

21. Do you plot out your stories, or do you just figure it out as you go?

Has to be plotted completely. If I try to wing it I meander or get hung up on trying to keep track of details. Turns into total garbage.

22. Have you ever gotten a bad comment on a story? If so, what did you do?

A few times, sure. Happens to everyone. Most often, it’s people begging, demanding, or insinuating that my platonic fics should include a ship, especially if the fic focuses on the interactions of two specific characters. Those are very frustrating because I’m always upfront about the fic being friendship only, and there are usually a million other ship fics already out there. Leave my platonic fic alone! I usually ignore the comments, or just politely remind people it’s friendship only and will remain that way. In one bewildering instance in a different fandom I had somebody who had been thoroughly enjoying the fic up until the climactic battle, whereupon they were furious at how it was resolved, and took great pains to tell me just what they thought. That one stung. I had to sit on it for a few days before I worked up the nerve to respond, and chatted with a few friends over it too. In the end I realized that it was more comparable to a fan really enjoying a canon work but being mad about a sudden twist that just didn’t seem right to them. It happens. I thanked them for reading, explained that I disagreed with their comments but did hear them, and thanked them for their time. Best I could do.

23. Is there a certain type of scene that you have a hard time writing? (action, smut, etc..)

I am straight-up incapable of romance, period. Even so far as to slide into ‘fake’ romance (I once got prompted for fake marriage/dating and literally couldn’t envision how to do it? It’s just so foreign to me). Or flirting. I can’t even identify flirting IRL. Basically anything in that general area of writing is completely out of my league. I can write intense scenes that are intimate in non-romantic, non-sexual ways, but those are really difficult for me to do too and I’m constantly second-guessing myself in case it’s maybe too much.

24. What story(s) are you working on now?

If I told you I’d have to kill you. But no, srsly, I don’t like to share ideas in progress until it’s almost done, just in case. Sometimes I share and then immediately lose interest, but I’ve already raised peoples’ hopes, and that’s just a dick move.

25. Do you plan your next project(s) before you finish your current ongoing story(s)?

I’ll have outlines, or sometimes need to plan around prompts. I don’t usually do series, so I never really need to plan too far ahead though. Sometimes if I’m plotting a crossover/AU I’ll obtain the source material and read/watch/play it to start gathering notes for that fic while working on a different fic, so that by the time I’m done writing the current story, the AU’s skeleton is plotted out and I have a place to slot in all the characters.

26. Do you have a daily writing goal set for yourself?

No. I’ve gotten better habits since working with the Think Tank but I still tend to be more of a ‘burst’ writer (no activity for days or weeks, and then suddenly word vomiting 100K in a month).

27. Do you think you’ve improved as a writer since you first started?

By a HUGE margin

28. What is your favorite story that you’ve written?

Oooh, that’s a toss-up between Phantasmagoria and Prince of Memory. The former because I love writing horror and it’s an idea I’d wanted to tackle for a while. The latter because it was a personal writing challenge to myself that I honestly wasn’t sure was going to go over all that well, but the response was stunning, and I was quietly surprised.

29. What is your least favorite story that you’ve written?

Caged Bird, from a different fandom. I make it a personal rule to never delete stories that I’ve posted, but ooh man, I wanted to get rid of this one really bad. I was happy when LJ gutted it. I actually don’t have any real dislike for any of my Voltron stuff.

30. Where do you see yourself (as a writer) in 5 years?

Still writing because I’d die if I stopped. Like a shark. But with writing.

31. What is the easiest thing about writing?

That flash of inspiration, when you get an idea and suddenly it’s building itself almost too fast for you to keep up. Dialogue. Action sequences.

32. What is the hardest thing about writing?

Getting started. Titles. Editing. Research. Any particularly emotional moment.

33. Why do you write?

Because fandoms are fun but I have so many questions after. “What if X happened? What if Y was a factor? Why not Z?” I try to hunt down answers to these questions in fandoms and if the fic isn’t already written, I write it. Also to challenge myself to do things that haven’t been done in the fandom yet, or to tackle things I haven’t tried yet.

I think everyone’s been tagged already so...feel free to play if you want, I guess!

[miss-m-calling]

Juletide 2020 letter

Dear writer,

Hello and thank you for writing for me. I’m very excited to read whatever you come up with.

Without further ado…

Starred Up

Oliver Baumer, Eric Love

Yes I do ship it, I do, I do!

Ahem. Don’t get me wrong, I liked what the movie did with the father-son relationship and its influence on both men’s character development – but I really wish they hadn’t got Oliver out of the action before the story’s climax (not like that!). The final denouement with Love father and Love son was great, as was the hint at the end that Eric learned something in anger-management group and has a support network that will help him a lot. But. I would have wanted to see more of the intriguing dynamic between Eric the intelligent, semi-feral, yet not-incorrigible, young thug and Oliver the educated, dedicated, kind yet aware of his own potential for violence (what was he on about with “I need to be here”?), slightly older counselor. They had me at Oliver’s “I want him” and Eric later telling his father that Oliver’s a better man than Love Sr. Also the not-flirting and the push-pull in the scene when Oliver picks up Eric from his cell - yowza!

For this canon, my dubcon DNW does not apply.

Prompts:

-I would love to see Oliver return to holding his group in prison, so the two of them can interact more, either in the movie’s immediate aftermath or years down the line, as it’s implied that Eric will be serving a long sentence. Give me more scenes from anger management or the ribald, honest, free-flowing conversations in group, either with the other men present (I liked Hassan and Tyrone especially, among the group members) or a one-on-one session.

-An oblique or open-but-undramatic admission/declaration that they both know there’s something there, even if they don’t know what to do with it. Or, one or both of them knows exactly what to do with it, and the push-pull that would result from that.

-Dirty talk: used for arousal, as a defense mechanism, as a form of flirtation. Eric using slurs to assert dominance, and Oliver not letting him hide behind profanity, when he can use colorful language to express emotion and/or sexual interest. There could definitely be some verbal taunting/flirting about who wants/is eager to do what or is good at doing something. There may be some sniping comments about logistics and (lack of) condoms and barebacking and what men get up to in prison. There probably wouldn’t be deep discussions about sexual identity.

-An emergency in the prison requires a lock-down, so Oliver gets temporarily stuck in Eric’s cell or another room with only Eric for company. Things get porny and/or emotional.

-Eric is eventually released (you can handwave this so it happens soon after the movie or have it happen years later) and crashes with Oliver while he adjusts to the outside world. You guessed it: things get porny and/or emotional.

-How do they get to the point where both can cross that line from friends/whatever the hell they are and become, to lovers? (There’s Eric’s personal history and general discomfort with vulnerability, plus all the ways prison sex can be or make things complicated, and if it helps, I headcanon Oliver as either gay or bi and at least somewhat closeted, at work especially.) Who initiates and “directs traffic”? How does their always-contentious dynamic shift during and after sex? Is the sex an isolated (series of) occasion(s), or a progression/escalation over multiple encounters (how would I love especially an escalating series of encounters, let me count the ways)? Eric might seem like the logical initiator and/or dominant partner as well as using the possibility of sex to manipulate and exert control, but then Oliver might (or might not!) surprise him and is definitely the one more in touch with himself as well as aware of his custodial duty toward the men in the group.

-At some point in their intimate relationship (probably not right at the start, and probably not in prison, though if you can make it happen in prison, more power to you!), Oliver decides he’s going to take his sweet time and make Eric fall absolutely apart with pleasure, while using dirty talk to both arouse and empower Eric to own his desires – by that point, Eric is in a place where he can let that happen and enjoy it, even if he still talks tough.

-Role reversal: Oliver as the con (jittery, shut off, sticking out like a sore thumb in prison with all his fancy learning, yet no pushover) and Eric as the newbie counselor (kid from the wrong side of the tracks made good? Youthful hoodlum turned around his life, now trying to help others via tough love and lots of swearing and maybe a bit of manipulation when called for?)

  Witchblade (TV) Sara Pezzini, Danny Woo

I used to love this show back in the day, and loved it again in all its hokey gloriousness when I rewatched it recently. Sara figuring things out and being a principled badass, but maybe out of her depth with the Witchblade, and her dynamic with Danny, whether he's a ghost or alive, it’s all catnip to me. Sara is not extremely quippy, she has a job to do dammit! and don’t look at her vulnerable side, just don’t look at it!, and I love that about her (she’s much harsher in S1, after Danny’s death, than in S2); ditto that Danny is somewhat softer than she is, but still can hold his own thanksverymuch (well, when the plot doesn’t require him to get nabbed by bad guys) and has a bit of a deadpan snarker side too. I’d love something that plays around with their canon dynamic from either season, or uses canon as just a starting point. Some of my prompts lean dark or horror-y, so don’t be shy about going there; I’d also enjoy a story in which the Witchblade itself ends up not being very significant (say, they start to investigate a possibly mystical case and then nope, plain murder). Canon-specific DNW: Irons and any version of Nottingham appearing (you can mention them if you need to).

Prompts:

-The Witchblade is more parasitic than symbiotic, and instead of Sara learning to control it, its feeding on Sara affects her more and more over time. Or, the visions and dreams ramp up into full-blown paranoia and/or disassociation. The Witchblade's POV, maybe (it is sentient)? Asking for help is the hardest thing for someone like Sara, but what are (more than) friends for? I’d also enjoy a dubcon scenario (exception to blanket DNW) where Sara really shouldn’t be having sex when her head is all messed up by the Witchblade’s influence, but… well… they do. The Witchblade canonically enjoys violence and bloodshed perpetrated by its wearers, so it stands to reason that it might lower other inhibitions too.

-Witchblade v. mythological monsters. In S1, even with everything else that's going on, Sara absolutely scoffs at the possibility of vampires. So of course I want: Witchblade v. vampires! The scarier and more feral, the better. Or, it's implied that the Witchblade was forged from a meteorite, so it's basically an eldritch artefact from outer space. Yes, please lean all the way into the Lovecraftian tropes! (The moon is turning red, the Old Ones are back, it’s the end of the world as we know it, but Sara’s got her partner by her side.) Or something from Chinese mythology, so Danny can kick extra ass. Or, for a silly take on Chinese culture: Sara and Danny in the world of Big Trouble in Little China (another old fave of mine, the entire plot of which revolves around… a woman with green eyes and an unwanted connection to the supernatural).

-The Witchblade has a reputation for abandoning its wearers just when they need it the most. True to form, it slips off of Sara’s fist, leaving her and Danny to save themselves with good old-fashioned guns, fisticuffs, martial arts, and of course having each other’s back.

-More of the psychedelic-ness in many of Sara’s fight scenes, where now she’s a woman in a leather jacket with a gauntlet on her arm, now she’s a knight in armor! Now her opponent is human, now he’s a wolf-shaped spirit of evil and hatred! Playing around with the characters’ senses and perceptions – yes!

-Instead of seeing only Danny and needing him to play intermediary for Sara to talk to other ghosts, the Witchblade makes Sara see ghosts all over the place, and it's getting to her. Ghost!Danny may or may not help with that. Or, ghost!Danny is basically always around, whether Sara can see him or not. He manifests when Sara is masturbating, and you can't really feel guilty if the ghost of your dead partner whom you’ve always had a thing for helps you out, and anyway you’re probably going crazy and none of this is real, so it doesn’t count anyway... right?

-Case fic/stakeouts and banter. Flirting to pass the long and stressful days at work. Quick and guilty sex because Danny's married. Slow and intense sex if handwave he's not married but “oh noes we’re partners, we shouldn’t be doing this, but somehow we keep doing it anyway.” Hooking up in the car. I've always headcanoned that they had a thing pre-canon which ended for Reasons, but they both kinda wish it hadn't, hence the hand kissing, and the “I can’t even touch you,” and the coffee bringing/stealing, etc. So feel free to play around with that.

-Undercover as married, undercover as a gangster and his moll (LOL at Sara as a moll, or have Sara as the gangster and Danny as her arm candy), undercover as “they think we’re fucking, better fake it real good for the people listening in, oops shit got real fast, careful don’t say each other’s real name or you’ll blow your cover.”

-More timey-wimey shenanigans with the Witchblade. Maybe it allows Sara to manipulate time more than once. Maybe she starts doing it way too often, throwing the continuum out of whack (something non-linear would be very interesting). Maybe she and/or Danny remember some or all of what happened in S1. Something about all the multiverse versions of them, possibly splitting off from a dramatic moment. Time loops and feelings are a combustible mix.

-Apart from the super obvious shippiness, what I like about S1 especially is how Sara rolls with the weirdness the Witchblade has brought into her life, instead of reaching for rational explanations. More of that (I can't think of a better way to put it), and double extra brownie points if alive!Danny figures out at least some of what's going on with Sara's bracelet and somehow gets in on the action. Maybe a Danny saves the day divergence? Or how about a loophole that allows a man close to the Witchblade's wearer to wield it temporarily, but There Is a Price to Pay.

킹덤 | Kingdom (TV 2019)

Prince Lee Chang, Seo-bi

I fell so hard for this show. So hard! The beautiful production values, the wonderful cast, how the characters develop, how the show slowly but surely unfolds one reveal after another and packs so much into two short seasons, all the period detail, the genuinely tense action scenes, the moments of humor and intense emotion, the intertwining of political intrigue and zomg! really scary zombies, how the zombie outbreak works on multiple levels both literal and metaphorical…

I love the brave, kind-hearted, but sheltered prince, whose whole life has been so privileged yet shadowed by the possibility of death if he loses his position as heir, learning what it means to actually rule and lead people, to protect them and be protected by them in turn. And I love Seo-bi the fearless, dedicated, selfless physician, who notices things and figures things out regardless of whether this annoys the people in power. I ship them, but I also love their platonic interactions, how instantly and fiercely loyal she is to him (not just because he’s the crown prince, but because she’s seen how brave and altruistic he can be) and how he immediately takes her advice and experience seriously despite her being a woman and a commoner in this super-hierarchical setting. So I’m good with either / or & for this pairing, and you can work with any of my prompts accordingly. In a / fic, I’d even be good with a totally sublimated, “they both must kinda know what’s going on between them but for reasons of both their personalities and their respective genders and social positions, nothing overt ever gets said or done” scenario! So don’t stress too much over which flavor of dynamic you write for them.

Also, I love most of the cast (not a huge fan of Chancellor Cho, but he is an effective antagonist), and would be delighted to see any of them in fic too. Especially the loyal and funny and badass Mu-yeong (he was loyal, despite the Haewon Cho clan’s blackmail, and if you want to diverge from canon so he lives, I would not mind that at all), the even more badass and wounded and snarky Yeong-sin (or is that “Yeong-sin”???), Chang’s sparky, exiled uncle several times removed, and the terrifying and frankly unhinged young queen are my favorites. I even have a soft spot for that mostly-useless coward Cho Beom-pal, but really, they’re all great and I would love reading about them too, or just about the prince and the lady physician – whatever works!

Finally, before I get to prompts, I know a bit about the Joseon period, but we’re talking the bits and pieces I remember from a college class, and what I’ve read on Wikipedia and picked up from this and other Korean movies and shows. I know a bit more about some of the cultural background, like the Confucian values, the social stratification and feudal system, the gender segregation among the aristocracy, the wars with Japan, but again – my knowledge is limited. So if you want to teach me stuff about Joseon, go for it! If you want to invent or handwave stuff, as long as it fits the canon’s mood and broad cultural parameters, go for it! And if you want to treat me to some worldbuilding, period detail of any kind, and/or costume porn, definitely go for it.

Prompts:

Zombie fighting anything! Learning to survive in a society that’s rapidly breaking down, having to transcend their habitual social roles and challenging each other, anything! Maybe one of them teaches the other to hunt, or to make herbal medicines, or to fight with a sword, or heck, to cook or clean dirty clothes. (FYI I wrote most of these prompts before I was quite done with S2, and the time-skip took me totally by surprise. So while my prompts ignore Chang renouncing the throne, I’d also be down for the untold adventures of the former prince and his traveling companions, as Chang learns how to be just regular folks and they pursue clues about the resurrection flower, or for your take on what happens in S3. Use whatever works for you in my prompts in any way you want!)

Figuring out how the zombie infection continues to evolve and/or working together to find a cure beyond dunking the infected in water – whether that means to destroy large numbers of the undead, or to develop an antidote, or to cure and bring back those afflicted. One plot detail that really struck me: more experimenting with zombies, like Chancellor Cho started to do, might also hold the key to a cure?

Political intrigue anything! Having to fight zombies and/or factions at court with both friends and unexpected allies (not gonna lie, I would have loved to have seen the young queen unleashed on some zombies, even if that did not make her the prince and Seo-bi’s ally).

More road trip/survival/battle goodness – maybe Seo-bi offers Lee Chang some advice while they’re navigating their new situation, or she witnesses him developing his leadership muscles, and it brings them closer together than before. Or maybe a moment of humor, relaxation, or quiet affection on the road or in between zombie-slaying, especially if it catches them both a bit by surprise. Or one of them gets a non-zombifying injury (nothing too gruesome or life-threatening, please!) and the other one has to care for them – extra points if Seo-bi is injured and the prince kind of bumbles through the most basic things so she has to talk him through her own treatment. Or nightmares/being triggered by something, like we saw both Chang and Seo-bi react at the sounds of zombies growling and people screaming in S2E5.

We have seen Seo-bi insist on staying loyal to the prince, and Lee Chang rely on her repeatedly to the exclusion of all his other people – give me a situation in which he has to make clear his own loyalty to her, as a part of both his becoming a better leader and as a step in advancing their relationship. Or, there comes a time when Seo-bi really pushes against the rules of what someone like she can and cannot say or do to/around a crown prince – we’ve seen Lee Chang refuse to stand on his dignity to the point where so many of his interactions with commoners would end in the commoners’ death, but I imagine even he has his limits, and that kind of clash can only drive this dynamic forward!

Canon divergence in which Seo-bi gets sent to the capital and assigned to be the personal physician to the petulant, frustrated prince we meet at the start of the show (handwave the gender segregation and impropriety). She knows her place, but she also does not suffer fools or male nonsense. Sparks fly, social conventions get tested, zombies may or may not happen, and a new mutual understanding is born.

Canon divergence from the scene in S2E2 when Seo-bi finagles her way to being allowed to see the prince and he instructs her to resurrect Ahn Hyeon – what if instead of that, they came up with another plan of escape? Or maybe Lee Chang sending Seo-bi to spy on the queen goes a different way than in canon? And really, anything that requires those two to pass secret messages while grabbing each other’s hands and staring intently into each other’s eyes is A++ with me!

One theme which emerges gradually, and I really loved, is people having to compromise their principles to survive and ensure the safety of those they feel loyal and/or obliged to: Ahn Hyeon agreeing to turn the sick villagers into zombies, dear Mu-yeong having been a spy but also protecting the prince all along, Seo-bi resurrecting Ahn Hyeon, Lee Chang instructing her to do it as well as his thousand-yard-stare after having to finish off what’s left of his father… I’d love to see more such compromises, how their consequences ripple out, and the emotional fallout.

In addition to zombies, other magical and/or supernatural events and creatures start to appear in Joseon. If you want to bring in something from Buddhist mythology or Korean folklore, please do, and any and all worldbuilding would be awesome. One possibility that occurs to me – and I’m going for broke here – is: a dragon awakes in his cave and shit starts hitting the fan.

Post-canon something in which Lee Chang is king, possibly of only a part of the country (maybe a zombie-free enclave, or a part he won in a civil war against the Cho clan or a cadet branch of his family), and Seo-bi is there as his advisor, physician, and unofficial chancellor. Gimme policymaking to deal with the lingering zombie issue, and assassination plots, and servants/guards/ladies in waiting gossiping like it’s their real job, and all the palace intrigue!

Kind of related to the previous: even as a “spare” prince, Lee Chang can’t marry a commoner. Would he ever think to offer Seo-bi to become his concubine? I don’t think she’d go for it, and he might realize it, but maybe I’m wrong! Or maybe being intensely platonic at each other is as good as it gets for them, and they’re kind of okay with that. Or they get married in secret and have to very careful not to let slip anything by word on gesture in public, or not to let Seo-bi get pregnant. Or, y’know, one day or night on the road or in a fortified town, in between scavenging for supplies and fighting zombies, they decide to bone just because their lives are weird enough now to forget about propriety and all that jazz for an hour.

Role reversal: Seo-bi is the sheltered, willful princess fearful for her position (especially since she’s a woman as well as the daughter of a concubine only) and Lee Chang is the proper yet willful provincial physician. Do they meet as in canon, or under different circumstances (maybe she must flee the court to escape assassins, accusations of treason, or an arranged marriage, with or without bonus zombies)? How would their dynamic be complicated (and made awesome of course!) by the gender reversal? Also, burning question: does Princess Seo-bi already know how to fight (because she forced Mu-yeong to teach her back at court, of course), or does she have to learn once zombies/brigands/insurrection/whatever happen? And does Physician Lee Chang know one end of a musket or sword from another, or does he need rescuing at some point?

I realize that some of these prompts could work as well (better?) as a no-zombies AU, and that’s fine if you want to take it in that direction. Just so we’re clear. J

 Likes:

I love pre-canon, canon, post-canon, canon-divergent, and missing-scene stories. I love character-driven and plot-driven stories equally, and I love fics which mix humor and angst/serious business when appropriate for the canon.

I love stories about characters at work and play, group dynamics, family dynamics (including constructed families), professional partnerships, friendships, alliances, rivalries, intimate couples (new lovers/first times as well as long-term/established couples), UST-ridden couples who are not just UST-ridden but connected in other ways too, etc.

I love irony, snark, humor as well as angst arising from the characters rather than the plot crowbaring it in, linear, non-linear, and 5+1 stories, hopeful endings, happy endings, bittersweet endings, worldbuilding, spiky characters who keep their jagged edges and spikiness in adversity as well as when their lives are going well, square-peg-in-round-hole characters, characters who are their own worst enemies as well as those who can get over themselves when the occasion calls for it, characters with conflicting values which may or may not be reconciled/resolved, characters who treat each other with respect and as equals even if they hate/annoy/can’t stand/love to dislike each other.

I especially love workplace stories (this can mean anything from an actual workplace/casefic/procedural setting to anything that revolves around the canon world in which the characters live) in which the characters are competent and dedicated to the job, and while they may not be exactly friends and they may well irritate one another, they still manage to rub along to get the job done and maybe even grow to care about one another (much to their surprise and sometimes reluctance/discomfort). Or, if they can’t get along, show me why not and what’s preventing them from finding common ground.

In terms of ship dynamics, I love (where it fits the characters) banter, competitiveness or antagonism shading into attraction (this tension need not be resolved), oh-god-why-did-it-have-to-be-you-what-did-I-do-to-deserve-this, bickering yet loving couples, characters who are serious about their romantic interests, characters who think they are much better at flirtation than they actually are, characters forced to work together only to prove much more compatible than they initially assumed, fics which mix an exploration of characters’ professional and everyday lives with shipping. A dynamic I cannot resist is shipping a couple who are incompatible in some important way (they are ideological enemies, cop and criminal, spies from opposite sides, one betrayed the other or they betrayed each other), and while they love and want each other they’re also not willing to change sides or surrender/compromise their identity for the other’s benefit, and how they might (or not) make their relationship work anyway.

I don’t have any very specific likes for smut, other than smut fitting the characters – show me how their canon dynamics spill over into the bedroom (or other place of congress). I also like sexual scenarios that subvert expectations a little and surprise the characters themselves (e.g., the person who’s usually quiet or more passive taking charge, the more aggressive person goes with it possibly snarking or commenting on it as long as they can). And I like sexual scenarios that contain an element of competition, antagonism, oh-god-this-is-a-bad-idea-but-we’re-going-for-it-hammer-and-tongs, not wanting to admit feelings or show vulnerability except oops it happens anyway, whether the characters acknowledge it or not, or just people getting way more into it or being more affected by it than they thought they would. When it fits the characters and their canon dynamic, you also can’t go wrong with we-both-wanted-this-for-forever-and-now-we-both-know-it-so-here-we-go-diving-in-headfirst. For het and/or slash, oral, vaginal, anal incl. pegging, manual (ifyouknowwhatImean) – it’s all good. You can go as veiled or as explicit as you like, but please avoid excessive medical jargon – I don’t find a lot of mention of “penis” or “clit” sexy.

 DNWs:

MPREG, A/B/O, knotting, D/s, kinks, incest, underage, genderswap/genderbent characters, xeno, non-/dub-con, torture and abuse (this and non-/dub-con can be mentioned if the story needs it, but please don’t dwell on it in loving detail or subject any of my requested characters to it), dwelling on bodily fluids (mentions of gore/blood and come are fine), toilet humor, character bashing, issuefic, gender/sexuality/race/ethnicity/religion/ability/identity headcanons, unrequested ships, soulmates and soul marks, major character death (the exception is Laura Moon in American Gods dying so she can become undead), serious illness or injury, pregnancy and children, holiday or wedding setting/theme, secondary characters shipping the main pair like it’s their job, reference to RL current events, 1st/2nd person POV, unrequested crossovers or fusions, AUs which have nothing to do with canon

[topicprinter]

I will go toe-to-toe with anyone about “business knowledge.” That doesn’t mean that I’ll know more about any given topic, but I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that I will be able hold my own whether they’re a subject matter expert academic or a successful CEO.While that may be extremely gratifying to my skills as a conversationalist, on the complete opposite end of that spectrum I can’t go toe-to-toe with damn near anyone when it comes to annual revenue, customers, money raised, successful exits, or many of the other traditional measures of success in business. Despite my wealth of firsthand experience and the breadth of my “multi-disciplinary knowledge,” if I had to quantify my entrepreneurial success or business acumen using their usual manifestations (i.e. financial statements or the size of my platform), then I would be hard pressed to state my case in a positive light.From the outside looking in, it would be easy to dismiss my “knowledge” as mere talk. Hot air. Empty words.To be honest, that’s been the source of a bit of an existential crisis at times (enough so that it prompted me to write this article). And while no one could fault me for lack of effort, ingenuity, grit or ambition, I have been counseled to “get a real job!” more than once. If you’ve found your way to this article then maybe that is an experience you can relate to as well.I like to say that I have delusional confidence - things do not have to be going my way in order for me to feel confident about my abilities or self-worth. I firmly believe that failure is just as important to the process as success. Together they form yet another aspect to the Yin and Yang of life. And while that mentality may give me a respectable suit of armor to wear in the face of concern from friends and family (not to mention from myself), at what point might that attitude cause me to miss the proverbial writing on the wall and become what Sonny so aptly labeled “wasted talent”?I know I’ve had to ask myself that question before. Maybe you have too.If you’re browsing /r/entrepreneur then there’s a good chance that it’s not because your business is thriving and you need a reprieve from crushing the game. That’s a pretty broad and somewhat unfavorable generalization, but it is what it is and I’ll stand by it. Don’t worry though, I’m not about to turn this into a motivational speaker’s call to action and tell you to go out there and take demonstrable, non-busy-work action towards your goals (because you already know that :p).What I’d like to impart is some knowledge about the game that I’ve picked up over the ~6 years I’ve been wearing my entrepreneurial heart on my sleeve. Unfortunately, as my preamble suggests, this advice isn’t coming from a “winner.” I’m just another player, like you, so take it for what it’s worth… but I’m standing on the shoulder of giants here.There’s a quote from Bill Gates that I’ve come to appreciate more and more over the years. He said that “most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.” If you’re into entrepreneurial lore then this probably isn’t news to you, but my goal here is to bring that esoteric advice down to Earth.Right around this time last year I had a startup that was on the verge of being bought out after a 2-year, mostly self-funded battle to keep the dream alive. It was my second real attempt at a start up (aka “all-in”), and I applied every one of the lessons I’d learned from the failures of my first venture. Nevertheless, I was still defrauded by manufacturers, over charged by suppliers, bullied by payment processors, denied legal protections from the USPTO… if something could have gone wrong it did, and yet I persevered all the way to the negotiation table by overcoming each of those issues along the way.As part of the launch I had planned to write an article titled “What Does It Take To Be Successful? Let Me Tell You What It’s Taken Me To Get Started.” It was going to be part content marketing, since it would have been about the business, but also part motivational battle cry to struggling entrepreneurs everywhere. I wanted to write an article that saying the things I would liked to have heard during the not-so-great moments on the road to becoming a fully funded business.Alas, that day never came.I still plan on writing that article (so don’t steal my title!), but it was Providence’s plan for me to learn about investor disputes and how to defend myself from a legal shakedown instead (yet another topic I can now confidently discuss!).I’ve remained purposely vague on the details because I didn’t want this to turn into a discussion about what I could have or should have done, or how it Is all my fault and that I’m just blaming others for my failures. All of that, while true to some degree or another, is besides the point.My start up’s product was cool. I had a great proof of concept. I’d demonstrated a market “need,” I had a pretty good idea how to market and distribute it, a clear path to profitability - all the things investors are looking for. What’s interesting though, and what stood out to me during that whole process, was that they were much less interested in that stuff because I probably wouldn’t have gotten in front of them without that level of polish to begin with.What really piqued their interest was my story.Whenever I found myself in front of an investor their faces would light up when I’d talk about the adversities I’d overcome. They loved hearing about the struggle. Heads would nod emphatically as I talked about the lessons learned from overcoming obstacles and how I would (try) to apply them going forward. From there our discussion would almost always turns to their own war stories of being defrauded, missing opportunities, making the wrong judgement calls - on and on about failure.They didn’t ultimately invest (otherwise you’d be reading the first article!), but I always got the nod of approval and added someone potentially important to my network. Hopefully it’s like Bill was saying - we might not connect this year, but maybe at some point in the next ten years our paths will cross again.They always say that investors invest in the team, so how does the team become worthy of investment?!Experience. More specifically, I’d say it’s the experience gained from the experiences you’re probably doing everything in your power to avoid (as you should).Don’t get me wrong - the more money you want to raise the more that experience has to include success, but you cannot show grit without overcoming adversity. You cannot demonstrate impressive problem solving abilities without having solved some seemingly insurmountable problems. You’ll be hard pressed to prove that you’re in it for the next x-years without having already toiled through the ups and downs of business for some fraction of that time.Why would a customer give you their money if they were concerned about whether or not you'll be around to offer support after the sale? How can an investor feel that their investment is safe unless the team is has proven themselves? How can the team believe in its leader without that leader having been battle tested? How can you feel confident in taking on more than you’ve ever taken on before without being able to look upon your scars from surviving past battles with pride?If your business isn’t going the way you want it to, or even more generally if your life isn’t going the way you want it to (and they’re often intimately related, amirite?!), then hopefully this article can inspire you to work on gaining some of my “delusional” confidence. The shit moments pay for the successes later on, so long as you accept that to be true and own it. It doesn’t happen by accident or if you keep passing the buck. It takes extreme accountability and a growth mindset.Another great quote is from the poet laureate Homer J. Simpson, who said to his son, Bart, “Son, never try. It’s the first step to failure.”That quote is so powerful it might as well be the guiding principle in most people’s lives. Take a moment right now on this Day of Thanks to congratulate yourself and be grateful for the fact that you put yourself in a position to enjoy your failures, because that means you’ve already taken the hardest step of all - you took a chance.Succeeding is easy. Hell, taking a failure on the chin really isn’t all that bad either because you knew it was always a risk, right? But taking a chance?! Man. That’s tough. Putting yourself out there is the precursor to everything in life, so don’t let anything stop you from being willing to take chances.I’m sure some of the wordsmiths out there cringed at my use of the word “esoteric” for Bill’s advice because it seems so general, but there’s a difference between understanding and Understanding what he said.Capital “U” Understanding takes experience. It takes time in service and surviving the ups and downs of the path less traveled. The seed you planted 10 years ago won’t ever turn into a tree if you didn’t plan it in the first place!A great follow-up to that quote is the Chinese proverb which says that the best time to plant a tree was 20-years ago, but the second best time is today.So! Keep putting yourself out there and rejoice at the lessons you’re gaining from your most recent failure or your current state of stagnation. It’s going to be hard to make it from wherever you’re at now to wherever you’re trying to go - open up any book from the ancient world and you’ll see that that’s just the way it is. Be accountable for your failures and accept them as the price paid for the lessons you’ve learned along the way.Pay that price gladly. Be thankful for the allowing yourself to take the road less traveled.The confidence you gain from this mentality is not actually delusional if you’re being honest with yourself, it’s the only true kind of confidence there is (at least that’s what I tell myself!).You might have to get a “real job” one day, and we all know that means it’ll be the kind of “real job” that makes pursuing your entrepreneurial dreams next to impossible. My advice? Take the job, save more money/motivation than you can now, and get back out there to try again!You’ve got this. Happy Thanksgiving!

[incorrectfallout4quotes-blog]

Based Violence

reklamówki z nadrukiem - zamów tu

A design of abusive and violent behaviours by one or both companions in an personal romantic relationship like relationship, when one person tries to rule and control the various other person is known as national abuse or assault. Multivariate secondary evaluation of involvement effect on trial principal and secondary results at follow-up. There was not really a significant difference in procedures of mistreatment and quality of existence in screened versus nonscreened females. Reach out to someone you trust - a family member, friend, co-worker, or spiritual leader. Latest analysis has showed many systems strategies that improve identity of IPV, including authenticated patient self-report questionnaires, computerized verification, prompts in the electronic wellness record or on the paper chart, and continuous quality improvement.

Latest styles and developments have got lead in the production of briefing papers on the context and impact of home assault for man victims and for associates of the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transgender community. Physicians should send sufferers exposed to IPV to community-based treatment and advocacy programs, and provide Men's Conversation Groups were produced in six towns and limited to 30 guys who volunteered to take part following an open up community recruitment.

I, like many trans ladies of color, are no stranger to assault between lovers. Many individuals resided with their current romantic partner (>78%) and 11% of men in involvement and control interests reported being in a polygamous relationship. The Men's Women's previous calendar year publicity to physical and/or intimate IPV was scored using queries about suffering from specific serves of assault, the period period it happened (last 12 a few months, before the last 12 weeks), and its regularity (once, a few situations, frequently, by no means).

New York, 24 September 2017 - The Fund to End Violence Against Kids released today a call to Governments and specialised organisations at local, regional and global levels to submit task plans targeting online intimate exploitation and additional types of violence and mistreatment of children on the internet. Almost one in five young ladies is usually sexually abused at least once in her existence.

Various other latest RCTs possess shown advantage from IPV interventions, including multidisciplinary and cognitive-behavioral strategies. Assisting a Target of Intimate Partner Assault: The SOS-DoC Involvement. Regarding to authorities statistics from the US Section of Rights , male perpetrators constituted 96% of federal prosecution on national assault.

action by the worldwide community. Mistreatment can become a way for your partner to try to have control over you. An adjusted cluster-level intention to treat analysis was used to evaluate outcomes between involvement and control organizations at follow-up. Focusing on theoretically produced interventions that are gender specific, culturally suitable, enhance mutual support through group aspect, and that are created collaboratively with the focus on population are most likely to be most effective.

From Mexico, we have got a prosperity of knowledge and eagerness to perform more - better and quicker - to end violence against kids. That's because ladies who were abused as children are more likely to possess a higher number of sex companions. The Partnership offers http://www.emgraf.pl/ released its no draft strategy, presenting the concept of ‘pathfinder' countries. The list of abilities was created using opinions from Men's Conversation Group facilitators on techniques discussed during the treatment.

My heartfelt gratitude to the Government of Mexico for its leadership and to my colleagues from civil society organisations and UN agencies for their tireless dedication and commitment. Battered Women's Rights Task : BWJP gives DV-related training, technical assistance, and discussion to people of the criminal and civil rights systems. The United States Centers for Disease Control separate local assault into two types: reciprocal, in which both partners are chaotic, and non-reciprocal violence , in which one partner is normally chaotic.

If you were actually or sexually mistreated as a kid, you have an elevated risk of getting HIV. Not plenty of can be completed to prevent violence, and when it will happen, it frequently will go unpunished. In the control neighborhoods, we selected man handles with publicity to community GBV programming via relationships with community associates involved in GBV avoidance activities.

IPV survivors possess a 1.6- to 2.3-fold increase in wellness care use likened with nonabused peers. There was also a solid potential for confirming bias, with guys who possess been uncovered to the intervention getting more likely to record positive programmatic results. Both younger and older men benefit from the night clubs in unique methods, as do their areas.

[nofomoartworld]

Hyperallergic: The Creators of the Comics Newspaper RESIST! Are “Picturing the America We Want”

Work by Katherine Baldocchi in the second issue of RESIST! (all photos by the author for Hyperallergic)

It’s been just over five months since the release of the comics newspaper RESIST! during the women’s marches protesting the inauguration of the 45th President of the United States. Over this time, the devastating reality of the Trump administration’s impact on human rights, the environment, immigration policies, arts funding, foreign relations, and countless other issues has become clearer. Despite immediate calls for a second volume of RESIST!, editors Françoise Mouly and her daughter Nadja Spiegelman took some time to let the weight of current events sink in before deciding the moment had come. This is reflected in the second issue’s more intimate format as a bound periodical, rather than a folded newspaper. At 96 pages, it’s meant to be digested slowly, read in sequence and multiple times. The contents remain as wide-ranging as before, the artists as diverse in skill level, age, and geography. Readers of the first issue will recognize the names of some previous contributors — including Roz Chast, Kristen Radtke, Sohpia Zarders, and Gayle Kabaker — alongside artists who are publishing for the first time. The second issue, which is available for preorder now and will be distributed for free in stores on July 4, is more reflective about the state of the US and American values, as well as the potential of grassroots publishing and the power of printed images.

I video-chatted with Mouly, located in New York, and Spiegelman, who lives in Paris, to discuss their decision to continue what was originally intended as a one-off publication. We talked about the making and format of RESIST!, the politics of comics, and, surprisingly, patriotism.

* * *

Spread from the second issue of RESIST!

Megan N. Liberty: When I wrote about the first issue, I spoke with Gabe Fowler [owner of Desert Island comics and publisher of the comics newspaper Smoke Signal], but I’d love to hear both of your versions of RESIST!’s origin story.

Françoise Mouly: The mythical story! It’s interesting because it forces one to remember late November 8, early November 9, 2016, which feels like a moment the earth shifted. It left me suddenly in a state of shock, not knowing what to do, not knowing how to contend with the new shape of the world. I just couldn’t find a place in it — there was no connection to a before or a system of values. At that moment I got the solicitation from Gabe, who wanted to do an issue of Smoke Signal that would be all women and have a woman as editor. In the back of my mind, doing a print publication sounded like the first step towards something I understood, because it’s how I’ve made sense out of the world, whether it be with RAW magazine, Toons Books, or The New Yorker. I like the way it records a moment in time in printed images; it’s not like it stops the flow of time, but it takes a snapshot in a way that’s useful.

Nadja Spiegelman: I was in Paris, which was hard — I mean everything was hard, but it was hard to be so far away. The one thing I wanted was to hug my mother and then do something. One of the things my mom said to me in a moment of passion, when we were working on the project, was, “If I was a doctor, I’d be giving away free medical care; if I was a lawyer, I’d be at the airports. But I don’t know how to do any of these things, so I am making a magazine!” As soon as my mom mentioned it to me, I jumped at the chance. I grew up reading comics, surrounded by comics, and watching my mother face the incredible sexism of the comics world. I had felt like that sexism was something my generation didn’t have to deal with anymore, that it was over and we were ready for our first woman president. This was a major wake-up call that that was not the case, that there is still a lot to fight for.

Cover of the second issue of RESIST!

MNL: It seems, Nadja, that you were very involved in the social media call to action, which contributed to the range of locations and diversity of voices represented in the first issue. Did you continue to use the internet as a call for submissions for the second issue? Did you do anything different?

FM: RESIST! is refreshingly different in the sense that it’s truly a grassroots movement. We had no boss, no other entity to please, and we didn’t know what we wanted in the publication. We started with an envelope, and we had no idea what would be in it.

I learned so much in the exchange with Nadja, because she put out the call and we were able to receive hundreds or thousands of submissions. The shape of what we published in the first issue — and it continued in the second issue — is very much trying to be a reflection of the diversity of what was sent to us. We can’t publish everything, but there are professional cartoonists as well as people who’ve never drawn before, people from all walks of life.

NS: It’s exciting also to watch it take shape. The second issue surprised us in how it began to develop a language and a style. We could look at things and say, “Oh, that’s very RESIST!” At the same time, we were also reacting to what we were being sent. The submissions were a lot angrier. The first issue had a lot of women linking arms, and the second issue had women making fists.

MNL: It seems like you tried to take a more hands-off strategy in your editorial approach …

FM: Not quite — it’s more like a listening approach, rather than dictating. We looked at absolutely everything that was sent our way. There was no barrier on people submitting. It was an antidote to what we were seeing in the media at the time, which, between November and the march, and between the march and now, has been a little yo-yo at the tip of Trump’s finger. Every single day he’s up and down, up and down, and it’s all anybody talks about. There is none of that in RESIST! There is actually very little about Trump. What people, especially women, wanted to talk about was themselves, their friends, their families, their bodies, their rights, their actions, their reactions, their feelings. That felt like opening up what needs to exist, which is a place where we can live and breathe and be ourselves. To some extent, Nadja and I have said that we are grateful to Trump and that movement because it’s forced us to become much more active in defining what it is we live for, what we care about, how we see the world, as opposed to just taking it for granted.

A spread from the second issue of RESIST!

MNL: I guess that’s a silver lining. With issue two, the format is a bit different. It’s a smaller, more traditional magazine size, and it’s staple bound. The first issue felt very urgent to me, partly because it was newspaper size, with detachable pages that could become posters for people to hold during the march. Why did you change the format?

FM: Even the first issue was informed by a sense of history — growing up in France with Charlie Hebdo, which was newsprint size, and with comics. There still were a lot of underground comics, even by the time I came to the US. One of the limitations of the large newspaper is that you can’t do long stories. Here, we just wanted to offer more room. There are longer narratives, which I think is useful; there is more of an intimacy. And it’s 96 pages! You have to sit down and read it. You may even have to come back and reread it. That was the shift we wanted to make, to something people could dig into and take its measure.

NS: You said it really nicely. You said you wanted it to be a deepening, rather than a broadening.

Work by Kristen Radke in the second issue of RESIST!

MNL: That makes sense also in terms of where we are right now. The first issue was so reactionary, whereas now we’re settling in and realizing what it’s going to mean to live with this administration. We need a deepening. We need to take time.

FM: One thing we were blessed with, with the first issue, is we were able to publish it ourselves and not have to answer to anybody. Gabe gave us the prompt but didn’t interfere in any way. Frankly, the funding came from all the supporters and the things we put on the website. We were able to continue that and are now publishing ourselves, simply by taking in the contributions from the artists, who are not getting paid, and the supporters, who are preordering copies and boxes of copies that they will give out. That has given us the autonomy to continue doing this, as long as we feel a serious need and reward. Because there is not one moment of a march, the second issue is being shipped through the post office. There won’t be this explosion in one place, but what we need to do in order to build something is to be in it for the long term.

NS: It’s sort of insane to make it free.

MNL: I was going to ask about your decision to continue making it free.

NS: We debated it a lot, and we may not be able to continue doing it this way. But we have a brand name for president. We have such a deeply entrenched capitalist society, where the most effective ways for people to protest are through their consumer choices, like deleting Uber from their phones. Making something free is radical. There is a generosity and accessibility to it that felt important. At the same time, it’s hard, because it’s difficult to distribute something that is free.

FM: We’re not making a penny. One thing it really depends on, which is very exciting for us, is that it is paid for by the supporters, and therefore it can only exist as long as there is a community of people that want to have it.

NS: We’ve gotten thousands of supporters who have preordered copies, who’ve allowed us to make this second issue at a 30,000-copy print run and distribute it around the country. We’re now at the point where we can begin sending boxes for free to local activist groups or to people who really need them. And that’s dependent on the generosity of others. That sense of turning the democratic nature of the internet into something that is immediate, that is handed from one person to another, that exists in these local gathering spaces of coffee shops or bookstores or community centers, is so important to us.

Work by Daniel Clowes in the second issue of RESIST!

MNL: Have you received any pushback, in terms of stores that don’t want to have it because it’s free?

FM: Oh yeah! Not so much the first time, because it was from volunteer’s hand to volunteer’s hand. But this time we worked with Diamond, which is the distributor for the independent comics world, and they offered it to comic book shops, which is not a circuit that is politically inclined. Most of those people are fans of comics and not necessarily engaged in politics.

MNL: That really surprises me because comics are such a political medium.

FM: Well, the way you see it! But quite a few were upset that we were doing this. But I believe in the democratic possibility of the medium, which is evident in RESIST! itself. One of the most solidary things that can happen to the medium is to have young women get interested in it.

NS: I want to push back on that a little bit. We’ve also gotten incredible support from comic book shops, a lot of which acted as distribution points for the first issue and had floods of women come in and say, “Where is RESIST!? We want it.” That opened up the space of the comic book shop, which is generally still pretty male.

Work by Palmer Frankel and Valerie Schrag in the second issue of RESIST!

MNL: Also related to distribution, the first issue was handed out during the Women’s March. This issue will be released on Independence Day. How did you come up with that, and what were you thinking about its symbolism?

NS: It’s intended as a celebration of our country’s independence, of our free press, of how diverse our country is, of the things we love about it and wish it could be. Part of what drawing allows you to do is make manifest the world you want to be living in. So this is about picturing the America we want to be in. I grew up and became politically conscious in the Bush years, and was always very fearful of any kind of patriotism. But in strange ways, Trump’s presidency has made me very patriotic, because it puts into question the values of our country and why it exists. It makes me aware that we are a country of immigrants, a country with a free press, and those are things I want to celebrate.

FM: It’s also a point not to concede the flag and patriotism as only something that belongs to Republicans and Trump supporters. I think we are imbued with a mission: we want to continue and restore and celebrate our humanist values. I am an immigrant. I am now an American citizen, but I know exactly what ICE is and what being deported means, being severed from your family. Those are really at the core of what’s happening with Trump, of trying to create a division within America. It is obvious that my children’s generation is moving towards something more inclusive, whether the Trump supporters like it or not. In a way, what we are doing is not so much reacting but mapping out the future that is worthy of our past; it’s at least as much about Black Lives Matter as it is about women as it is about all those things that need to be opening up. That’s what Nadja was talking about — to go beyond the obvious as a tool to bring people together.

Spread from the second issue of RESIST!

MNL: More broadly speaking, the first issue was obviously in response to Trump, and we’ve been talking a lot about him. But unfortunately, this type of political extremism and xenophobia is spreading globally. Do you see RESIST! as remaining focused on the US?

NS: One thing I am really aware of, living abroad, is what an enormous presence the US is everywhere you go in the world. The French follow US politics as closely as Americans follow US politics, if not more so. What is happening in America has an impact internationally — even if the rest of the world were going swimmingly, international artists have a right to comment upon what we are doing. If it expands to international artists commenting upon their own countries, I’d be happy to see it.

FM: You can’t be everything, and you can’t do everything. The agenda has to be focused. So this is a reaction not to Marine Le Pen in France, although I had a reaction, and not to Theresa May in England, even though I had a reaction — this is specifically born of the election of Donald Trump, which woke up so many people, ourselves included. We have a lot of international artists, as Nadja said. There is a movement in Argentina, Not One More, about the abuse of young girls. It’s very specific, but it’s in RESIST! because it links with concerns about abuse against women. There are some issues that transcend regionalism.

NS: We have an artist in the new issue who I think lives in Berlin and did a piece about homophobia and the abuse of gays in Russia that’s mostly written in Russian. Yes, we can’t comment on every dictator; it is essentially about American politics. But American politics have a strong global impact.

Work by Allison Conway in the second issue of RESIST!

MNL: My last few questions are about the legacy of RESIST!

FM: The legacy?! We haven’t even published the second issue yet!

MNL: Well, you are creating the legacy as we speak! What do you hope this publication will do?

FM: If I have learned something in 40 years of publishing, it’s that you don’t start with a goal such as “I will transform comics.” But yes, you can have a direction. I believe in the medium, and I am excited by its possibilities. The fact that the content can be created by an individual, unlike a movie or video game, where you need an army and funding source … here, somebody with a pen and a piece of paper, or a typewriter — Word Processor, sorry! — can actually create something that gets read and seen and deciphered by someone else. That magic of communication through reading, where images on the cover of a magazine only come to life when they are deciphered by the reader — that’s the legacy, as far as I am concerned, to use that medium at a time when print is deemed to have died or be dying. All my life in comics, there have been zines. Back when I started I had a printing press, because it’s so easy to produce a few copies. And even if it’s 200 copies and you hand them out to 200 people, you still feel like you have put a part of something in other people’s hands.

Work by Mackenzie Baker in the second issue of RESIST!

NS: One of the things that really motivates me is that idea picture my mother’s describing. There used to be all sorts of magazines with idea images, but there aren’t anymore. I asked my mom what happens if a cover doesn’t run in The New Yorker, and often the artist just publishes it on their own Facebook page, because there are no other outlets for that kind of picture that intends to communicate, rather than be art. [I’m interested in] creating more space for that, especially because those kinds of images have a real political force. They find the edge of an idea. They get themselves in your mind and change the way you think. They can not only capture the world, but change the way the world thinks of itself. We need more of that.

The second issue of RESIST! is available for preorder now and will be distributed in selected comic book shops and bookstores worldwide on July 4.

The post The Creators of the Comics Newspaper RESIST! Are “Picturing the America We Want” appeared first on Hyperallergic.

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