#kind and genuine and genuinely consistent

[pendularium]

sorry, yapping quickly. I saw a post earlier analysing how vi doesn't stand up for the zaunites to caitlyn, and contrasting that to jinx (and ekko), and viewing vi as a sort of pick me (not the language used but I can't find the original rn), and like. yes, I think the argument is correct, but there is like one thing I want to add, which is that vi, unlike jinx and ekko, isn't really in a position where she can criticise caitlyn right? ok hear me out. so one) imo a lot of s1 establishes vi as someone genuinely desperate for connection - its the thought to getting back to powder that gets her through prison (where she has been pretty isolated), her and caitlyn click incredibly fast etc, and all of s1 into s2 happen pretty damn fast right? vi gets out of prison, gains a friend, regains a sister and then instantly loses her again, and then that loss of powder is really underscored in the finale - vi has very few relationships left, and most of the ones she has had have ended in horrible tragedy and violence; it is no wonder that she especially would try to cling to the one (cait) she has left and two) vi is also someone who is constantly in the big sister/protector role - her intro shows this, her leadership of their little gang as kids, and after the time skip (after she fails) you can see her try to assert her dominance over caitlyn in s1 - vi is the one who knows the lanes, caitlyn has to keep up, vi throws caitlyn out of her comfort zone in the brothel etc., vi is trying to demonstrate that she has worth to caitlyn right? and of course when maddie is talking to vi, it's caitlyn expressing respect for vi's actions that vi seizes onto. I don't think this is (just) a way of showing off to caitlyn, rich girl from piltover, I think this is part of vi's understanding of herself as a figure of authority and protection in her relationships put them together and you have someone who, when confronted with an angry and grieving caitlyn, her last real connection (not counting ekko) makes compromises to avoid a confrontation with her. vi doesn't counter 'what kind of animals' directly, because that risks her relationship with caitlyn; she is pretty consistently someone who cares more about personal relationships than the grand scheme of things (as does powder/jinx but that's a different post). and yet, with that in mind, vi does try to defend zaunites! first, she tries to humanise them right; instead of being wild uncontrollable beasts, vi positions them as making a calculated attack - they wanted the spectacle, they're trying to scare you, and then after caitlyn doubles down on her anger towards them, vi pushes for caitlyn to call off the invasion. those aren't the actions of someone who doesn't care about zaunites, or would rather side with piltover imo, they're the actions of someone who does care about zaun, but who doesn't want to jeopardise her relationship with caitlyn. vi joining the enforcers is not only her staying with caitlyn, but also her trying to prevent the invasion. if I go after your sister alone, one of us comes back in a box = caitlyn won't go alone. the strike force then, can be read as a deliberate compromise between caitlyn, who has all the power here, and vi, who doesn't want zaun to be invaded by the enforcers

this is, of course, just a way you can read all this lol, if you disagree/want to add on please do so! I am a bit busy rn but I cannot express how much I want to talk about arcane with people

[zephyrsobsessions]

TECHNOLOGY CONNECTIONS!

He just talks about technology. Like he just posted a video about air fryers and I'm so excited to watch it when I eat lunch! Last week (I think) he posted an hour long video about a massive, $3k freeze dryer he bought (not a very common thing for him to drop that much money on a video) and it was wonderful.

Also he takes the time to make the captions on every single video! They're genuinely so good, I've watched almost all of his videos and he's only missed a handful of words. Not only does he include everything he says (including stutters/messed up words in bloopers at the end), he also includes sound effects. So he'll put [thunk as it hits the table] or in one of my favorite videos of his on elevators chimes: Up [chime] and down [chime, chime] up [ping] and now down [ping, ping] up. [bing] down. [bing, bing] (I literally pulled up the video and took it almost word for word.) He also puts notes or jokes in the captions at the end of his videos, and they're so charming.

His videos are a mix of informative and entertaining in the best ways. You can tell he has so much passion for the technology he talks about. And if it sounds boring, yeah it does, but I promise you, this man will have you invested in lightbulbs and old lamps and HVAC systems and fridges and dishwashers. Literally some of my favorite videos are on the kind of technology that we encounter on a day-to-day basis, and just never think about how it works! And he explains everything in an easily understandable way. He doesn't dumb anything down (although he'll simplify concepts with physics or math or that kinda stuff), and he'll take the time in the video to explain the stuff you need to know, so that he can go in depth into everything! Plus, every year for a very long time, he posts a video trying to recreate the appearance of incandescent Christmas lights! I think there's 4 or 5, and I'm almost more excited for him to post this year's video than I am for Christmas itself!!

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! He has never, EVER taken a sponsorship. All of his videos are funded by patreon, so you don't have to skip an annoying ad read or watch yet another person push better help. And it's not even like he rarely posts, I think he gets a video out every week or every other week! Sometimes it'll be longer when he's making a longer or more complicated video (like his series on an old pinball machine that's like 3, 1-hour long videos) but he's very consistent!!

Anyway, go watch him now please, and talk to me if you do, I know literally nobody else who watches his stuff. It's like an AuDHD HEAVEN!!!

do you have a 'safe' youtube channel that you can always watch without worrying if the content will stress you out? (I have two main ones: evan and katelyn and lilsimsie)

[dykeomania]

this is the one post that i will not delete but i’ve been so much happier ever since i’ve started talking to her

[slfcare]

be critical of yourself in a way that lifts you up, which means: catch yourself when you're thinking mean things about yourself / correct yourself when you're imagining what negative opinions others might have about you / encourage yourself to do better next time in a gentler and more optimistic way / never strive for more without acknowledging how far you have already come. it's okay to be nice to yourself.

[weregonnabecoolbeans]

Lilia reading freshly thirteen year old, completely innocent and oblivious William Kaplan’s future and being like:

Okayyyyy lemme just un-know that real quick so it doesn’t haunt me forever🥲

I can’t properly express how much I love her

[stellar-solar-flare]

This popped up on my dash and since you said that the conversation is open, I thought I would share my two cents, even if it might be stuff you are already familiar with and do yourself. I don't think I'm in the same fandoms as you but things mentioned here are observations made from multiple fandoms. Although I have been writing in AO3 instead of tumblr for the most part, my experience here comes from writing almost exclusively Steve Rogers longfics (mostly 50k+ words, 10+ chapters) from 2021. I don't claim to be super popular - I'm just reflecting on the relative differencies I have noticed in my engagement.

First of all, please don't quit a series just because it has been over a month. That's not a long time for an update at all! If you're writing fic, it's something you do on your free time without getting paid, so there's absolutely no reason at all to apologize life getting in the way.

From my own experience, I have to agree with the consistency and speed of updates being pretty big factors on engagement. I have noticed most reader engagement when I have been able to push out one or more update a week for multiple weeks straight. It helps people stay engaged with the story and invested when the story is fresh in their minds. But then again, I have gotten a lot of comments when coming back from a hiatus too so I think it's not the only factor at all.

Writing a lot, even if it's not the same series, helps keep one's fics on people's minds, and helps establish you as someone who writes X character (with a certain kind of characterization). I share sneak peeks sometimes, but that's just because I am too impatient to wait, they're not from 'marketing' standpoint. Personally I try to focus on writing and let the writing itself do the rest, but I do make a point to reply to comments and thank people, even if that is sometimes very delayed, so that they know I appreciate them. I also don't talk badly about my own writing, because as a reader, seeing someone do that can very easily turn me off from reading their story. (To be clear, I don't mean venting about the human frustrations of writing but publically calling your own stories bad etc.)

One of the big things for me as a reader and a writer is having multiple storylines going and having 'hooks' in the story, so to speak, so that the readers know what they're looking forward to when the story continues. Cliffhangers are the ultimate form of this but things like a character uncovering a partial piece of information that raises questions work too. I spend a lot of time establishing chemistry, both romantic and platonic, so that the readers have something to root for.

Then again, engagement always depends on the story. Some things do better than others. Sometimes I think a fic is going to be well-liked and it doesn't get much attention, sometimes a thing I thought was just pure self-indulgence gains a lot of reader interaction. Which brings me to my next point - I think that the writer's enjoyment bleeds through the story to readers; things that I have enjoyed writing the most are my most popular fics. And sometimes when I think I'll write some easy 'trope soup' that'll get a lot of interest, it's crickets. I think there's a lesson there for me.

I try to engage with people and be a part of fandom beyond writing. I read and comment other people's fics, I reblog stuff, I talk about everyday things and try to stay active even when I have no capacity to write (happens to us all). It helps foster a sense of community, and while it's not self-serving and I read and comment out of genuine enjoyment, ultimately being active in fandom and engaging with writing helps us all. It does feel like current fandom population doesn't comment as much as they used to, which is a shame. But I try to be the change I want to see in the world.

It's also worth noting that sometimes there are these 'lulls' in fandom where everyone is sort of quiet and busy with life, I assume. Like major holidays. They just happen, and the season will change again. Also, scheduled reblogs and comment replies help reach different sets of people.

Finally, focusing too much on the stats is a thing that for me is a road to madness that sucks all enjoyment out of writing. It is human to want engagement and look at the pretty numbers but again, what matters is the enjoyment you get from a story. Personally I have written a 250k longfic in a tiny niché that was commented regularly by one single person and occasionally by about five people. And I still love that fic to death and am so proud of myself for writing it.

That's my two cents, from my personal experience. As always, they should be taken with a grain of salt, and they might not be universally applicable. I wish you the best with writing and hope that the muses are kind to you.

Writers of multi-chapter fics:

How do you keep your readers engaged as the story gets longer?

I've heard from many, and seen it myself, that interaction drops significantly as the chapters accumulate (which I honestly do not even understand...hence why I'm asking this) but I've also seen a lot of writers who have quite lengthy fics where the engagement and excitement seems to stay consistent throughout.

They're receiving asks with comments and questions about the latest chapters, the reblogs are abundant compared to likes, and I'm just curious if there's anything anyone does differently to help maintain this other than just being a great writer 🤣 (which I'm realizing is probably the key thing and that there's nothing to do other than just be able to write a really good story which I'm clearly not haaaaa)

I've tried sharing snippets of upcoming chapters in the past and they've always fallen on their face, I've released chapter playlists, etc so I feel like from a "marketing" standpoint I've done what I can? And also as writers we shouldn't even have to work that hard to "promote" our fics considering people ask to be on taglists and what have you. (This is the site for sharing and ACTIVELY participating in fandom...)

It's been a struggle to keep myself motivated to finish up my series and I'm starting to wonder if there's even a point now that it's been over a month since I've updated (which I realize consistent updates are likely a huge factor as well 🙃 but, you know, life.)

Anyway. Thinking out loud here. Any advice/conversation is welcome! 💗

[dariusaurs]

i think dinostar is such an interesting ship right now even if i've kind of turned away from it after this season. the problem is that it's complicated, and fandoms historically don't like nuanced situations or takes. i don't think it's fair to say darius is putting brooklynn on a pedestal, since from his perspective, she hasn't done anything wrong, and kenji has been framed as this unfair partner to her. it does feel like his feelings are very immature and more of an infatuation right now ("if he loved you half as much.."/"unless?"), especially when you compare them to kenji's own feelings for brooklynn - his girlfriend who he's loved for 6 years - but that isn't a horrible thing, it's just different. i do completely understand if people dislike the ship right now, and even criticize darius' way of handling the accidental confession, but i just think people have been way too harsh on all three of them without being willing to see that all of their perspectives are different

[saturnniidae]

I will never understand how people will agknowledge just how jk rowling is as a human being, and still like Harry potter. You can't fucking "separate the art from the artist" when the 'art' is filled with antisemitism, racism transphobia and more! You can't even think about doing that when the 'artist' herself is a fucking HOLOCAUST DENIER.

(Also it's even more pathetic considering jk rowling is actually a shit writer. Like let's be honest, everything people love about Harry potter is from the movies. Every bit of personality Harry had was from his actors portrayal of him)

These people don't care that they're clinging onto the mediocre work of a holocaust denier that wishes death to trans people because they're too wrapped up in nostalgia or whatever. It's pathetic and honestly disgusting.

And it speaks volumes how pretty much all the people I see behaving this was are white

[twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat]

sometimes i remember that gojo wanted to tell geto “we’ll meet again, right?” just before he died but forced himself not to knowing it would have cursed him and then i start thinking about how kind and thoughtful gojo is as a character and how he hasn’t been able to lean on another human being since geto defected and then i want to . Scream

[thedreadvampy]

The thing is I am definitely not happy or chill in the Immediate Sense lately but I am, big picture, so fucking happy with the person I am.

It's like. My brain was made by and for consistent trauma and since that trauma stopped about 5-7 years ago, it is incredible what the amount of resilience and cleverness and flexibility and thoughtfulness I developed to survive can do when it's not being all spent on surviving. like I had a hundred ton weight on me so I had to get REALLY STRONG to stay in the same place and not get 100% crushed, and when that weight came off I found I can use the strength it used to take to stand up and I can leap tall buildings in a single bound.

I was talking to my mum the other day and she said, "you've got the 'fuck it' energy at 30 that most women don't find until their fifties at least" and I'm like yeah man. Imagine how unstoppable I'll be in 20 years.

[autistic-shaiapouf]

Girlies I'm gonna need to stop pretending I'm unemployed and actually go back to work soon and I am not looking forward to it U_U

[magentagalaxies]

.

[aq2003]

there comes a beautiful time in life where i have to ask myselg th question, "did i accidentally project too hard onto the character that i only relate to a little bit and in doing so hugely missed this one entire aspect/interpretation of the characters . am i stupid"

[hella1975]

yes this is a natural series of events when you've worked at the same place for over a year and it also happens to have RIDICULOUSLY quick turnover where very few people wind up staying on consistently, but ive become one of the Experienced Waitresses That Knows What They're Doing at my job and we very suddenly have a lot of New Teenagers That Have Never Done This Before and it's just. insane to me. bc when i started my job i was SO intimidated like it truly is a big very fast-paced place where everyone has to pull their weight (ie you need to be able to do the coffee station and work the floor and run food and help on bar) and the customers are particularly wankerish so the more Experienced Staff that had been there for a while were like mini gods to me. like truly i thought they were so cool and smart and unbothered and now that's me. i have a gaggle of 17 year olds constantly asking me how to do things and I KNOW THE ANSWER. on a government wage no less

[pinkysberg]

u know that adhd experience of never being proud of anything u accomplish ever bc it's mostly just covered in that constant shroud of embarrassment and shame?

[quaranmine]

The Backcountry Permit Situation

Rereading Firewatch AU again and I want to make a clarifying comment about the backcountry permit thing, since it's a such an important part of the plot from Chapter 5 - 10. I haven't seen anyone be confused about this yet fortunately, but in my opinion the distinctions in the plot get pretty in the weeds here. So this is just me walking through it.

The Forest Service IS supposed to be in the wrong about the permit. That was an actual mistake that probably cost Mumbo dearly in a roundabout way. They are also wrong to have not disclosed this to Grian or Mumbo's family.

But here's where I say that it's not a conspiracy. Grian's thoughts about the mistaken permit is that it impacted Mumbo's search process. He thinks that the Forest Service wanted to cover up their mistake, and as a result botched the search to hide it. Admitting that they made a mistake with the permit would indicate they were at fault, and they don't want to be at fault because they're the government, so they continue to search the Cloud Lake Trail like nothing happened. Grian thinks that they knew Mumbo wasn't there and kept searching it anway to make themselves look good. He thinks they purposefully searched an area Mumbo wasn't in to hide their mistake. He thinks that they should have pursued other areas, but didn't want the liability of admitting Mumbo wasn't on the trail. He and Scar both think it was unprofessional to not, somehow, explore areas that weren't even connected to the original trail because SAR should have been "able to predict that."

The non-conspiratorial reality is much simpler. The Forest Service mistakenly issued Mumbo a permit for a trail that hadn't been reopened yet because the person who issued it simply didn't know. It's pre-computer, so it's not like they had an electronic system to flag this. So when Mumbo is reported missing, they have 1) Mumbo's permit for that trail, 2) Mumbo's car at that trailhead, and 3) a witness who said they saw Mumbo on/near the trail. There is NO reason to assume Mumbo didn't go there anyway. All evidence actually points to him being there. In fact, as stated in the files Grian later stole, the SAR incident commander had determined that the damage to the trail made it more likely for Mumbo to get lost. He would have entered altered terrain where the trail was obscured, and might have taken a wrong turn since everything was no longer marked or clear. I have seen real life cases where this happened to hikers who got lost!

It's stated that the SAR did do aerial searches of some other locations around Cloud Lake, but only of official trails off the same road as Cloud Lake. Since, you know, those are the ones that officially connect and are close to where his vehicle was found. Grian himself says he never made it to Cloud Lake because he was "asked to help in other areas." So we can already see that there was search acitivity that wasn't concetrated on the the rockslide area.

When Scar asks what the Forest Service thought about Mumbo's things being found on a completely different trail, and why he was permitted for a closed trail, he's told they were "operating on information inconsistent with reality and conducting an investigation of it." They both treat this as sinister-sounding but it's pretty much just a roundabout polished governmenty way of saying "we have no clue why he was at Pinnacles either and are looking into it" lol.

When Grian confronts the District Ranger, he's mad. The District Ranger admits fault to him about the permit, but explains again that they didn't see a reason why Mumbo wouldn't be in the Cloud Lake area. Grian accuses them of purposefully blocking off the spur trail Mumbo took—essentially saying that the Forest Service knew Mumbo took that path, and quietly blocked it off without mentioning it. The District Ranger replies that the trail crews were just doing their jobs. That's the truth. Since the Cloud Lake Trail needed repairs to reopen, a trail crew worked heavily on it. Part of their job is streamlining the trail.

Unfortunately, most of the critical errors in Mumbo's case were always his own. He shouldn't have taken the unmarked trail, he should've turned around once he realized the Cloud Lake Trail was messed up. I don't mean it in a victim-blamey "he deserved his outcome due to stupidity" way. I simply mean it in the sense that we're all human and unfortunately some silly mistakes or moments of poor decision-making are final.

So basically:

Forest Service issuing the mistaken permit and not admitting it: actual mistake, they were wrong

Forest Service purposefully botching the search and focusing on an area they knew Mumbo wasn't in, to decrease their own liability: this didn't happen, Grian is wrong

Mumbo's family could probably sue them for wrongful death based on the permit thing, though. I don't know how successful it would be but in my purely amateur opinion I think there's a reasonable case to be made that Mumbo never would've been in the position to make his mistakes if he'd never stepped foot on the trail. He might've gone elsewhere and had an entirely normal trip. If only :(