#like 20-50k and above

[thelikesofus]

can anyone rec me any long Eddie POV angsty pining buddie fics with happy endings because I neeeeeeed

[ms-demeanor]

if we're like, showing graphs and stuff, this is the type that i think a lot of people on tumblr are thinking of when they think about the economy.

Only one third of people with family incomes below $50k spent less than their income each month. I would guess that a lot of people on tumblr who get aggro about this topic (and the vast majority of people on r/povertyfinance, who discuss this sort of thing a lot) fall into this earning category.

Real wage increases only matter if you got a raise (one third of workers got a raise last year, which means that 2/3rds didn't - included in the economic wellbeing report linked above). Whether or not rent is outpacing wages only matters if you're not going to be rent burdened (more than a third of renter households are cost burdened in every state and 12 million rental households spend more than half their income on rent). Employment rates lose a lot of meaning when you're working multiple jobs to make ends meet (the percentage of multiply employed workers was falling in the US from 1996 to the 2010s, when it plateaued, then it started rising slightly then collapsed in 2020 and has been rising steeply since then and it's too soon to tell if it's going to go back to the plateau or keep going up).

Four in ten adults in the US is carrying some level of medical debt (even people who are insured) and 60% of people with medical debt have cut back on food, clothes or household items; about 50% of people with medical debt have used up all their savings.

Tumblr is the broke people website and yeah, people who are working two jobs to afford $900 for one room and utilities in a three bedroom apartment are not going to feel great about the economy even if real wages are raising and inflation-adjusted rents are actually pretty stable. "The Rent is too Damn High" has been a meme for 14 years so, like, yeah. Even if it's pretty stable when adjusted for inflation it is stable and HIGH.

It's hard to feel good about the economy when you're spending the last few days of the pay period hoping nothing unexpected hits your account, and it's VERY frustrating to be told that the economy's doing well when you've had to start selling blood to buy groceries.

Sure, unemployment is low, that's neat. It's good that inflation has stabilized (it genuinely has; prices are not likely to fall back to pre-inflation rates and eventually you'll likely be paid enough to reach equilibrium, but a lot of people aren't there yet).

But, like, it costs eight thousand dollars a year out of pocket to keep my spouse alive. I'd guess that we've paid off about a third of the 40-ish thousands of dollars he's racked up since his heart attack. His medical debt is why I don't have a retirement plan beyond "I guess I'll die?" So talking about how good the economy is kind of feels like being chained in the bottom of a pit that is slowly filling with water while people on the surface talk about the fact that the rain is tapering off. Neat! That's good! But I can't really see it from where I'm standing.

Inflation really is getting better. My state just enacted a $20 minimum wage for fast food workers. The Biden administration has worked hard to reduce many kinds of healthcare costs. A lot of people have had significant portions of their student debt cancelled.

But a lot of people are still having trouble affording groceries and it doesn't seem helpful to say "your perception of the economy is decoupled from the reality of the economy" on the "can I get a few dollars for food today?" website.

[drksanctuary]

DRK-SANCTUARY'S WIP/FIC MASTERPOST:

FINISHED/ WORKS IN PROGRESS:

BANDITS AND SHERIFFS:

Completed western AU for the PJO BigBang back in 2014. Around 50k words, collaboration with @thomas-life. Fictional "western setting" not historically accurate American west.

Original post for it HERE.

Link to Fic on Ao3: HERE

Title art HERE.

Character art HERE.

LIFTING THE MIST CURSE COMIC

(Mist Comic): A fan comic that chronicles an alternate timeline where Nico Meets Al after the event of BoO. Al comes to CHB to have people help him Lift the Mist Curse. (Rated M)

Chapter 1 HERE.

Miscellaneous Mist Comic:

Sketches

Excerpt with Al and Dionysus

nicobaster comic "Oreo Meme"

Nicobaster fluff scene

Dreams "amv" comic.

SON OF MAGIC VOLUME 2

(SoM V2): similar to mist comic Al and Nico meet after BoO (but waaay after in their early to mid 20's). Al is mired in the Olympian Underground/black market, Nico who is just trying to be a good camp recruiter gets dragged into Al's problems, but he kinda likes it. (Rated M)

Chapter 1 (TBD)

Miscellaneous SoM V2:

Post with better context

cover sketch draft

misc sketches and context

Al's updated club outfit

Silly meme

Excerpt from (likely) chapt 2

THE NEW GOLDEN AGE (Titan AU)

Al and Nico meet during the titan war, Titans end up winning with the help of the Giants. Like PJO but infinitely more YA novel about it. (Rated T)

Prologue: A03 post and link HERE, Regular Tumblr Post HERE

Chapter 1: HERE

Chapter 2: HERE

MAKING YOUR MARK ON ME (Tattoo AU) (EXPLICIT)

AU where Nico and Al meet as adults well after the wars. Alabaster Torrington owns a Magical Tattoo Parlor/Magic Shop. Nico di Angelo is a frequent customer, but when Nico goes there this time, it’s not for business… it’s for pleasure. (Rated E for language and sexual content. You have been warned)

Chapt 1 SFW (just the picture): HERE

Sketch of Alabaster SFW: HERE

Chapter 1: NFSW (Pic and fic) tumblr post HERE and Ao3 link HERE (rated M, really)

Chapter 2 (Actually rated E): on Ao3: HERE

HIDDEN GEM CAFE

technically the fic is a little fluff piece entirely written by @thomas-life not me but I drew the picture. link HERE. (Rated G)

CAMP CHTHONIC

More AN RP blog than a fic but if i do fics they will be posted on the sideblog: @campchthonic

OUT OF TARTARUS

A comic we started after the release of Mark of Athena. Nico escapes tartarus and immediately runs onto Alabaster. (rated T)

Chpt 1 Part 1/Pages 1-10 HERE

Chpt 1 Part 2/Pages 11-20 HERE

Chpt 1 Part 3/Pages 21-27 HERE

Chpt 2 Part 1/Pages 28-37 HERE

Chpt 2 Part 2/Pages 38-47 Pages HERE

Chapt 2 Part 3/Pages 38-57 (and bonus pg 58 posted later) HERE

A PIECE OUT OF PLACE

Victorian AU Jasico and Bianca/Alabaster (i know its odd but trust me it made sense). also i know, NOT NICOBASTER??? wha??? (Also rated M)

Jasico Week Picture And Summary HERE

Jasico Dramatic Kiss pic HERE

Jasico steamy scene pg 1 and 2 (kind of NSFW) HERE

Victorian Sketches HERE

Victorian Sketches (old) has Piper bc it was before we changed it to Bianca HERE

Cute Jasico Sketches HERE

Victorian Jasico Meet-cute HERE

Jason and the wolves HERE

SNIPPET FIC/IDEA DUMPS

CHTHONIC CAMP AU (fanfic for a fanfic)

Not to be confused with the camp Chthonic blog above these are all the links for stuff I did for my interpretations and headcanons and AUs for @gutsybitsies Chthonic Camp AU. Their original fic HERE.

Jason and Nico and Al. HERE.

Nicobaster ficlet. HERE

Nicobaster looking bamf. HERE.

Alabaster being extra: HERE

ANCIENT CHTHONIC NICOBASTER (rated M)

"But your highness our love is forbidden" pic. HERE

APHRODITE NICO/THEMIS AL

Original post: HERE

Post with Drew (Nico's sister): HERE

Aprodite!Nico and Mars!Jason: HERE

JACKSON HOUSE NICOBASTER (rated M ig)

Idea post HERE

SLUT AU (rated M)

Idea post HERE

NICOBASTER FANFIC TO ORIGINAL WORK PIPELINE

MEDIEVAL PJO (KnightSlayer)

"A bastard shall be king." ....So reads the Prophecy of the Ages. But with a war on the horizon and Hazel to feed, Nico has more to worry about than kings and their bands of upper class sycophants. That is, until Percy comes along, and suddenly he finds himself right in the middle of it all... (rated M)

Ao3 link: HERE

Al and Nico Meeting: HERE

Nico and Percy (kiss). HERE (might be considered mature by some)

Nico backstory. HERE (rated M for Violence)

Chapt Pictures i had planned. HERE

Ball Sketches HERE

Nico Backstory 2 (sad) HERE

Nico and Percy Thestral encounter HERE

Miscellaneous Medieval AU Nico Sketches: Sketch 1 HERE, Sketch 2 HERE, Sketch 3 HERE.

MERMAID AU (Through the Sea Glass)

Like "the little mermaid" but with extra fantasy world building and the prince (Nico) ACTUALLY falls in love with the Sea Witch (Alabaster) instead of the mermaid (Percy) rated G

Summary with pictures HERE

Octokind Alabaster HERE

PHANTOM AU - (Phantom Haven)

Nico's near-death experience endows him with powers and now he has to be a Savior which means he has to fight phantoms to keep people safe which would be a doable job, BUT that's not the only task of a Savior. He also has to uphold the integrity of the Savior System (ugh),Do good deeds and report them to his supervisor (double ugh), train his Lumen (dead eyed little thing doesn't like to listen to him so...ugh again!) and last but definitely not least he has to dedicate his life to figuring out how to use his endowment to cure a great societal problem... to perform... a MIRACLE TM. (yikes on bikes, no pressure). Will he be able to live up to the expectations of greatness that has been thrust upon him? or will he fail?

Character concepts 1-6 HERE

Character concepts 7-8 HERE

CHIP AU - (No original title yet)

Modern Human AU in which an aimless Nico's life is changed for the better when someone abandons their little baby girl (Hazel) on the steps of the refurbished fire house he now lives in. Years later he finds a little kid named Frank and adopts him as well. Now he just needs to navigate life as a single parent which he is mostly fine with until Bianca tries to set him up with her fiance's best friend (Alabaster). Will this romance stay the casual fling it started as or could it blossom into something more? (Rated M)

NIco with bb hazel HERE

CHURCH AU - (no original title yet)

An AU where Nico sells his soul to save his family from dying, when he meets his untimely death however he finds that Hell is not what he expected, its a quarry, and is he does his quotas, he can ascend the ranks, and even make it to heaven. Each Level comes with its own set of rules. The level right before heaven, which requires Demons to go to earth to collect evil humors that taint people's souls, has the MOST rules. With him being unable to see his family, not knowing what he's doing, and finding out that his childhood friend has grown into a handsome...Preist in training?!? Nico finds that he can't keep the all of the rules straight, especially because he's not. (Rated M)

Nico as a Demon pic HERE

There's quite a few more AUs but the above shows most of them.

If you'd like to know more about the above or about the ones not mentioned please subscribe to "Nicobaster premium" for the low low price of Free.99! And if you are 18 or older and interested I also have Nicobaster Premium 18+ (for the same price for all your smutty needs. Tee Hee!)

That's all, Nicobaster Houshold!...FOR NOW!

[n7punk]

Ran some numbers I find interesting. I made that comment like a month ago about how my average AU is like 50-60k but i was wondering what the actual numbers were because my projects chart doesn't track small fics, anything that is a one-shot or under 10k just gets thrown into the "Global Count" category, so I decided to make a table to find the real number and also some other stuff. Tbf, when I adjust this for just the fics I had written up until when I said that, it's an average of 49,582 (50k) across all of my AUs (all AUs, even freak occurence, but AUs only). Sapphic September/Sheratober/AU-ctober introduced a lot of shorter AUs to the pool.

My preferred method for writing, especially anything long, is alternating POV by scene (usually between Catra and Adora, but occasionally with other characters thrown in the mix), which immediately becomes obvious looking at the numbers, but I like to use singular POVs for shorter fics often. I kind of want to know the trends for Outside of the War too but that's So Much Work. For this comparison, I already had the projects chart I could copy-paste and just add the short ones to, but for OotW I would have to manually enter all 51 fics (excluding freak occurrence, which is included here) and I super don't want to do that right now, so we'll see! Anyway

Like I said above, I prefer singular POVs for shorter stories, and that's immediately obvious from the numbers, but I find the difference in Catra's and Adora's averages interesting. That's mostly because, while Adora has more "middle" length (20-40kish) fics in her corner, Catra has A Strange Disease Like Me, As Many Lives As It Takes, and Slipstream all throwing her a heavy weight from all the shorter one shots. The only other fic Catra has that even cracks five figures is The Girl in the Front Row, which is just barely sneaking in at 10k. Adora passes 10k for 7(!) of her fics, but those fics all skew a lot shorter than Catra's big weights. Catra's POV is a lot of fun, okay, and because she's so emotional honestly she can seem a bit "random" if you don't have insight into her irrationality via her POV.

Also the extreme difference in the average of "alternating random" versus every other is so funny to me, but that category is made up entirely by Superzero, Children of the Crystal, Roses & Thorns, and By the Sea, the shortest of which is 53k and the longest of which is 125k, and when half the category cracks six figures, you end up with a big average. Children of the Crystal of course is actually made up of a bunch of smaller fics, and breaking it up into its constituent parts would have been more accurate from a POV average perspective (since most CotC fics alternate by POV, but some alternate by chapter or are purely one perspective), but that's also 14 more fics for me to manually average and I don't consider different entries in a series to be "separate" AUs, they're all part of the same story, so I want Children of the Crystal, OTOS/and they were roommates, the Greys/Waiting for my Spaceship to Come Back for Me, etc all as one thing for the purpose of word count averages. Especially because for most series, I stick with an alternating POV in every fic, Children of the Crystal is more of an outlier in that regard.

Anyway these numbers don't serve a purpose but I do find them interesting and I hope someone else does too lol

[mcytanti]

informative video about the climate of trans healthcare and what the inter workers of donations to care looks like in the uk

my summary under the cut

1. the times both doxxed and created misinformation around finn and her previous donation to a private health insurance company focused on trans healthcare

2. while previously stating he would donate another 50k to the same organization he is no longer comfortable doing that because of information told to him by past clients and employees of the organization

3. there is no way to contact this organization for free even a 20 minute appointment costs 40 pounds, starting was so confusing finn was not able to get his healthcare through them, ai is handling communications (allegedly), and non medical professionals are over seeing blood test results (allegedly)

4. because of the reasons above finn is creating her own trans healthcare charity, and both for the safety of her family and legal reasons she can not give away more information but at the end of the video is asking doctors in both the uk and eu interested in working in trans healthcare to contact her so she can connect them to the right people

[zuppizup]

how many wips you currently got?

😬

A lot…? Most of them are random notes in badly filed documents though.

I guess the ones I’ve been actively working on this month…

And They Were Zoom-mates… silly modern AU that got completely out of control. 225k series for some reason. One chapter left when my brain applies itself to editing.

Purgatory - early canon divergence. Back from mini-hiatus. Currently at chapter 39. Hoping to finish by chapter 50… bit I’m side eyeing that projection.

Tio-verse multi-chapter - unpublished WIP. Projecting ~10 chapters and approximately 50% complete.

Dark Alternative - Dark magic AU. Rayllum childhood friends to lovers. ~20+ chapters (projected, likely more) Currently 50k WIP doc

Out Of Time sequel - God… like… I wanna but I don’t. They were finally happy in that ‘verse. And yet… Six uber sad chapters. Currently 10k written. I can tell it wouldn’t take much to finish but the guilts get me.

Snake Boi Callum fic - failing to adhere to a 500 word limit to the prompts so ~4K at present. Aiming to publish for that event.

Bloodythirsty follow up - no idea why, but liked this AU and wanted more. Probably half done. Have in my head to post for Halloween. Maybe an M/E rated additional chapter because vampire are hot.

I have a lot of other half baked ideas (Finnegrin’s Wake from both Rayla and Callum’s POV, one-sided Sorayla fic, super random regency fic) that get picked up every now and then, but the ones above are the ones most likely to see competition/AO3 at all.

[broomsticks]

fic length by fic type (category & ship): hp fandom stats

more statsy conversation in the @hpsaffics discord -- @siriusly-sapphic and I were wondering how fic length varied with popularity of ship. @toastystats' findings that het works tend to be longer than f/f and m/m came to mind, and I was reminded that I've been meaning to check if some of these v interesting findings are true for harry potter fic, specifically!

so anyway I did not do quite that but did something kind of related:

took the total number of works on AO3 (filtered for english only, no crossovers, wc>=1, and otp:true), sorted by word count, and clicked through to get the word count of the ~10th* percentile fic, ~20th percentile fic, etc etc)

(*full disclosure: i used google sheet formulas to get the page number and took the word count of the first fic on that page. so, nth percentile work +/- 20 works.)

"F/F only" = F/F -F/M -M/M &c

"excl. top10" = excluded the top 10 ships, "excl. top 20" = did that and then did it again, which IK may not precisely be the top 20 ships but hey. the most common ships left were Prongsfoot, Linny, and Tomione, at ~1k works each out of 78.5k.

this above is the master graph, zoomed in versions below because the scale of that graph is impossible to actually read

'smooth line chart' went a little wonky on that last graph but

seems like the het ships DO tend to have long fics. feels like sevmione has a ton of both long (>20k) fic and midlength fic, and dramione has a lot of midlength (5-10k) fic, and jily more ~1-5k fic.

snarry has a lot of unusually short fics (<500, <1k words) that drag down the bottom-most part of the chart, but there's proportionally a lot of >20k longfic too. wolfstar surprisingly has much less >50k work than the other two mslash ships! in fact wolfstar & snarry have some real interesting contrasts going on there.

HP femslash is noticeably shorter than other types of works, ~30% shorter than mslash at every percentile and almost half the length of het works. the catch-up to mslash at the 99th percentile (or, conversely, drop-off of mslash?) is intriguing though!

brief observation re. third graph: interesting -- in the mid range at least, wolfstar looks/behave a lot more like a 'rarepair' (anything excluding the top 10 ships) than drarry, snarry, or even "M/M -F/F -F/M".

[pawpawholler]

Justified fanwork offerings for FTH!

Whoo! (as Boyd would say!) Justified has NINE! (9!) fanworks in the 2024 @fandomtrumpshate auction!

For the eighth year in a row, the volunteer organizators at Fandom Trumps Hate have put together a charity auction centered around fandom. It works basically like this:

Step 1: Creators offer to donate their time and labor in specific ways

Step 2: Donors bid on their favorite options

Step 3: The winning bidders donate the winning amount to the chosen charity (the list is available in the item description)

Step 4: The donation receipt goes to the lovely organizers

Step 5: In gratitude for the donation, creators gift donors a fanwork!

Step 6: Everyone wins! And nobody makes any money.

"This seems suspicious," you say. Don't take my word for it. Read more about it here!

What does this have to do with Justified? The creators below are offering their time and labor to the fandom!

nb: I put this together while waiting in line at the DMV, so always check the actual listings for accurate information!

grydo2life is offering to write a fic of less than 5k words, up to an M rating. Do you love Tim? They do too! They primarily write Givenson, but will also write marshal gen fic! Bid on grydo2life for fluff, hurt/comfort, and angst with a happy ending.

schweinsty is offering to write a fic of 5 - 10k words, up to a T rating. Hurt/Comfort is schweinsty’s main area, with a focus on Raylan Givens/Tim Gutterson.

AnneMcSommers is offering to write three fics!

The first is a fic of 20 - 50k words, up to an E rating, of a (much) longer version of any of their Justified stories!

The second offer is to write a fic of 5 -10k words, up to an E rating, with a focus on Raylan/Tim, Raylan/Boyd, Raylan/Boyd/Ava (OT3), and some AUs! In that second offer, poly ships and trans or nonbinary interpretations of canon characters are open!

The third offer is for a fic of less than 5k words, up to an E rating, with a focus on a post apocalypse Harlan AU, preferably OT3 Boyd/Ava/Raylan.

roaroftheninth is offering to write a fic of 5 -10k words, up to an E rating. You into a rarepair? They love them, including M/M, F/F, M/F, and poly ships, or friendship fic, with a focus on canon or canon-adjacent AUs with an interest in F/F ships, poly ships, and genderswap / genderbending.

WillowMcKinley is offering two options! WillowMcKinley has specific themes, tropes, and kinks in mind for this, so check that listing!

The first is a fic of less than 5k words, up to an E rating, with a focus on Boyd/Raylan or Raylan & Loretta (platonic).

The second is a podfic of less than 5k words, up to an E rating, with a focus on Boyd/Raylan or Raylan & Loretta (platonic).

I, @pawpawholler, also have an offer at Grace_Hill, AKA E_Greer. I will write you a fic of 5-10K, up to an E rating, with a pro-Appalachian focus on Raylan/Boyd or Raylan/Boyd/Ava. (I have a novel-length accidental baby acquisition plotted, if you’re interested and willing to bump up that donation accordingly.)

Bidding for the auction runs March 5th-9th!

Read about these offerings in more detail now at the links above. You can also follow @fandomtrumpshate if you want reminders!

[steddiefanfictionforbillylovers]

Hello & Welcome to Steddie Fanfiction for Billy Lovers

I (@thediktatortot) made this account so I can share Steddie fanfiction for multishippers like myself who do not care for the villainization or lack of empathy that can be pretty common in Steddie fanfiction, but still like/love the Steddie ship.

Note: If you would like to recommend a fic, please send it through the ask box! I will screen all submissions however to avoid any ill intent that may occur.

What will be shared:

Fics that are neutral to Billy and do not mention him in any way shape or form, even in regards to Max's life.

Fics that are friendly to Billy by being sympathetic to his canon abuse & either mention him or he plays a roll in the fic.

Fics that are positively critical and sympathetic to his canon abuse, and do not villainize him or misconstrue his canon actions as a result of his canon abuse.

Fics that are SFW, NSFW & Dead Dove.

What will not be shared:

Fics that are negatively critical of Billy's canon actions in a way that negates his canon abuse & show no sympathy for his status as a survivor of abuse.

Fics that are overtly negative or hateful of Billy.

Fics that put Billy in a position of being an abuser without context to his actions in reference to his own canon abuse.

Fics that put Billy in a position of being a rapist or a child predator.

Fics that specifically mention Eddie or Steve replacing Billy as Max's brother or family. (Note: If the fic has either Eddie or Steve developing their own relationship with Max & do not make it seem like they are replacing Billy, then those are fine.)

Fics that paint Karen as a non-aggressor in reference to her flirting with Billy who was in S2 a 17 year old and in S3 an 18 year old.

Note: All fics shared here are because they fit the criteria above. I personally may not like or enjoy all the tropes, kinks or topics that are in each and every fanfic, but I will not gatekeep or withhold from sharing because of my own personal gripes. Something I might not like might still be enjoyed by others and I do not feel the need to withhold because of that.

Navigation

Billy Neutral Fics

Billy Friendly Fics

Billy Critical Positive Fics

Self Recommendations

Oneshot | 2-5 Chapters | 6-10 Chapters | 11-15 Chapters | 16-20 Chapters | 21-25 Chapters | 26-30 Chapters | 31-35 Chapters | 36-40 Chapters | 41-45 Chapters | 46-50 Chapters | 51-55 Chapters |

Under 5k | 5k+ | 10k+ | 15k+ | 20k+ | 25k+ | 30k+ | 40k+ | 50k+ | 60k+ | 70k+ | 80k+ | 90k+ | 100k+ | 150k+ | 200k+ | 300k+ | 400k+ |

Not Rated | General Audiences | Teen & Up Audiences | Mature | Explicit

!!!!: If you find a fic has changed from any of it’s current labels, please feel free to let me know so I can change it accordingly or remove it. I am trying not to post unfinished fics but I am sure there will be a few and I would hate for something to slip by. This also applies to something I might have missed, please let me know so I can take care of it accordingly.

Tag Meaning

Billy Friendly (Fics with Billy either mentioned or in character where writer has taken the time to mention or verbalize empathy for Billy's character.)

Billy Neutral (Fics that do not mention Billy in any way what so ever by name or in regards to Max's life or current life.)

Billy Critical Positive (Fics that are critical of Billy's character, but not in a way that belittles or obfuscates the character for their actions or experiences in canon, or only mentions canon moments in a non-negative way.)

Billy Critical Negative (Fics that are critical of Billy's character with ill intentions or oversight of a characters lived experiences.)

[anonymoushouseplantfan]

Which brand deals do u see meg getting?:Can she get millions or six figures?

Lolololol. Nope. Those days are far behind her.

I don’t see her getting any big brand deals, like the Dior fragrance deal or anything even remotely like that.

She’s back to Tig levels of merching or slightly above. $20-50k per item depending on the event. And borrowing rights. And the higher range would be for actual events with real media coverage, not casual backyard hikes or sushi dates that end up on TMZ. I don’t see how they can maintain their lifestyle on that.

[mthofferings2023]

blackthorn_possum

See blackthorn_possum’s existing works here.

Preferred contact methods: Email: possumwoodpie@gmail.com Tumblr: possumwoodpie Discord: possumwoodpie

Preferred organizations: - Anything from the list of approved organizations

Will create works that contain: Angst, whump, dark!characters, kink, nsfw, recovery, trauma, humor, farming/gardening, demi/ace characters, non-sexual kink, trans characters

Will not create works that contain: Kidfic, majority fluff, modern/college/coffeeshop AUs, Omegaverse

  -- Fic or Other Writing --

Auction ID: 1003

Will create works for the following relationships: Bucky Barnes-centric - 616, MCU Bucky Barnes & Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov & Sam Wilson - MCU Bucky Barnes/Brock Rumlow - MCU Bucky Barnes/Bucky Barnes - 616, MCU Bucky Barnes/Hydra - MCU Bucky Barnes/Natasha Romanov - 616, MCU Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers - 616, MCU Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanov - 616, MCU Bucky Barnes/Clint Barton - 616, MCU Alpine & Bucky Barnes & Clint Barton & Lucky - 616, MCU

Work Description: This is my first year doing MTH, so I'm very open on pricing and details! I don't have much specific in mind, so let's dream up something great together. In general, the higher your bid, the longer your fic. Max limit approx 50k, but I am notoriously bad at estimating word length once I get into a story. As for scheduling, I would like to try and get things wrapped up within a year, and the shorter the story, the easier that will be. I usually write primarily in the MCU with some comics influences. Open to platonic/nonsexual/etc pairings of any of the above offerings. Not really into domestic/fluffy AUs or most modern ones, unless it involves trauma, goat farming, or gardening. Would love to do some kinky ShrinkyClinks, or trans characters. Open to discussion about monster AUs. No matter what I'm writing, some humor always manages to sneak in, even if it's dark. You may notice that a lot of my work deals with non-con and HTP. I am totally interested in writing things that are NOT that, if that's not your cup of tea! That's just where I happened to get started with some of my writing. But, y'know, kink is always fun, and I'll gladly provide for your crackiest, darkest HTP desires if you like :3

Ratings: Gen, Teen, Mature, Explicit

Can pods bid on this auction? Yes - Podbids welcome!

CLICK HERE TO BID ON THIS WORK

-- Podfic --

Auction ID: 2003

Will create works for the following relationships: Bucky Barnes-centric - Any Universe Bucky Barnes/Any - Any Universe Steve Rogers-centric - Any Universe Brock Rumlow-centric - Any Universe Natasha Romanov-centric - Any Universe Tony Stark-centric - Any Universe Clint Barton-centric - Any Universe

Work Description: I am just starting out in my podfic practice, but I'd love to put your story to audio! You can see a few examples of my previous pods on my AO3 page. The most recent one is Haunted House by Rainbow_WinterBones, and that will give you the best idea of my current mic quality and setup (previous pods were done with an older mic.) The higher starting bid reflects the time needed for both recording and editing. The longest pod I've done so far is 20 min, about 4k words, but I'm willing to go for longer stories. The higher the bid, the longer the pod! They may take a while for me to start and complete, as I often have to wait until I am home alone for the best recording environment, but I will do my best to get them done by the 2024 deadline, probably earlier. I'm open to many pairings and any rating for podfic recording, but do be aware that I am an American who is not super practiced at doing accents in my voice work. I'll do my best, but especially for Wakandan characters, I'm hesitant to take on more than I'm capable of doing justice for. I'm also open to doing Hydra-focused podfics for any universe. Do feel free to DM me and ask more specific questions!

Ratings: Gen, Teen, Mature, Explicit

Can pods bid on this auction? Yes - Podbids welcome!

CLICK HERE TO BID ON THIS WORK

The auction runs from October 22 (12 AM ET) to October 28 (11:59:59 PM ET). Visit marveltrumpshate.com during Auction Week to view all of our auctions and to place your bids!

[literaticat]

What would be a good pre-order number for a traditionally published picture book?

"Good" in terms of what?

IF you got a few thousand, you might have a chance of getting on the NYT list, depending on what time of year your book is published -- but that feels extremely unlikely, and also, outside of your control, so I certainly wouldn't count on it.

What feels more likely is... maybe 40 pre-orders? 50? Even 100? Well, that's nice and all -- but it wouldn't have much of an impact in the long-term, and it would be perfectly fine if those came the week AFTER the book is published, or at any time.

Real talk: I don't think pre-orders matter as much as authors think they do. And I don't think they are even thought of as a "thing" in the picture book realm.

I never (or so rarely that I can't remember!) see publishers working to push a PB pre-order campaign. In fact, across the board, publishers are suggesting pre-order campaigns much less often than they used to, and those generally for things like YA novels where the person has a big social media presence.

OK, so should authors do it themselves? Well, I recently saw a great newsletter by MG and YA author Jason June about "pre-order fatigue" and how they are pulling back on doing cool swag, as it doesn't really move the needle on sales but can be quite expensive / a pain for the author. So if that's something you love to do and can afford to do, go for it -- but don't count on a huge jump in sales because of it.

Let's be realistic -- your reach is, what? Your friends and family? A small-ish group of social media people you are tight with? Beyond that, you've got strangers. Even if there are a fair number of them: THEY ARE STRANGERS.

For the majority of people, when they see something like book promo online from a stranger, they either ignore it, or if it looks especially enticing, they file it away in their mind as something they will "look into later" -- and if they see it MULTIPLE times from a variety of places, they MIGHT click the link, or make an effort to actually go to a store and look at the book. But most people don't want to spend $20 on a picture book by a person they don't know when they haven't had a chance to look at it -- they are MUCH more likely to actually buy it once it is available in stores and they can actually see how glorious it is in person, or once there are a bunch of reviews and such that sway them.

For reference, I have 50k+ twitter followers, and several thousand subscribers to my Podcast -- I have maybe a couple dozen people who actually put in a dollar for the Patreon, and about 3 people that have ever bought a book off one of the book recommendation links. If I "promote a book" online or on the pod, and it theoretically hits 50k+ eyeballs or however many thousands of listeners, how many of those people actually click to buy it? A COUPLE? MAYBE?

(I'm NOT saying it's not worth promoting the books - it IS worth it. But those tweets, podcasts, links, etc are all contributing to long-term visibility and potential word of mouth, not contributing to actual immediate sales.)

TL;DR:

Should you talk about your book pre-publication? YES, sure. Should you share links to pre-order? YES, absolutely. Should you stress about it? NO!

I wouldn't get too caught up in worrying about numbers, or go out of pocket to do some elaborate above-and-beyond campaign. Pre-orders are simply NOT going to make or break your book.

[hekateinhell]

20 Questions for Fic Writers! ✨

tagged by @monstersinthecosmos thanks babe! ♥️

1. How many works do you have on A03? 32 public, 2 anon, 1 orphaned (that I regret, don't do it!)

2. What’s your total A03 word count? 125,475!

3. What fandoms do you write for? Vampire Chronicles!

4. What are your top five fics by kudos? Shake The Disease, Our House, The Hand That Feeds, Play The King

5. Do you respond to comments? YES. I used to be so good at replying right away and now it's more like 2-3 times a year where I'll sit down and do them in bulk. Part of is I feel really nervous and EXPOSED when I post something and I kind of feel shy, and part of is I want to make sure I'm taking the time to reply thoughtfully because I want to put as much energy into my response as I'm getting from all your lovely, thoughtful comments! 💖 But I appreciate every single one—comments keep me going! I like to say "write for yourself" and I stand by that LOL I do write for myself first and foremost, but I share because I crave the feeling of being part of the community!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Make An Exception lmao. It's a short lil' canon divergent thing but it's basically Armand cashing in a favor with Lestat and asking him to "take care" of Daniel the way Armand once "took care" of Nicki. Either that or A Rusted Essence actually, I can't decide! I think the first one is angstier and the second one is more hopeless.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Any of my PWPs?

8. Do you get hate on fics? In the beginning I would get a couple hate comments here and there because the only fics I wrote at the time were L/A and I guess that bothered people! Lol it was a different vibe back then (only two years ago but it was weird, I'm so glad that's a thing of the past woof!). Oh, and I really pissed off a couple puritians making Lestat fifteen years old in my mermaid fic. 🫣

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? 9/10 times my fics will be smut! I've written both guy-on-guy and girl-on-girl smut, and I find there's differences to each outside of... you know LOL the obvious! I always try to focus on the psychology behind the kinks and how things build and escalate throughout the narrative. It's much more important to me why they're doing what they're doing and how they connect through doing that, but if I can push the envelope of depravity just a bit too then I'm very happy!

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? Nope, no crossovers.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not a full fic.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Not yet!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? No! I think I would like to one day but it would very much depend on the person and the story.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? Lestat/Armand! But I very much love Armand/Louis and Armand/Daniel too, and of course poly combos are always fun and I do write and read a decent mix of all the above!

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? One of the anon fics. I think iykyk. Sorry, guys.

16. What are your writing strengths? I get the most compliments on my characterization, dialogue, and smut!

17. What are your writing weaknesses? I'm also trying to get better with drawing out my fics and creating a sense of slow burn, but I have no patience and I just have to get into the smut or at least reference it somewhere within the first 2k. So I'll work on that. One day. And I can't wait to write a proper 50k EVENTUALLY. Oh, and pacing! I feel like I really struggle with pacing.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? Lord help me, I do this when I write from Lestat's POV, which I do often. Usually it's just endearments or a phrase but... yeah. Absolutely this is not how bilingual people talk lmao but when it's vampire fic specifically I think it's just corny enough to be Ricey, if you get my drift!

19. First fandom you wrote for? VC! My two year ficiversary was in March! 

20. Favourite fic you’ve written? I'm so bad at this question because I've noticed it tends to be the latest big thing I've been working on! So right now that's Drop Dead Gorgeous, a genderswapped L/A human AU! It's the first thing I wrote since I've been exploring my sexuality and it was really interesting from a creative perspective to get into the headspace of a woman obsessively attracted to another woman, and honestly it didn't take a lot for me to get there! It was super fun and horny and I really enjoyed writing it and I can't wait to start working on the next chapter!

tagging but no pressure! @rainbowcarousels @0junemeatcleaver0 @butchybats @aunteat @leslutdepointedulac @cinnamonclove @nothing-but-paisley ♥️

[mubal4]

Pine 50k Race Wrap Up: 50K Race – Pine Strawberry Fuel Reduction (psfuelreduction.org)

Just like most of this year to date, things took precedent in getting this out last week following the race. This year has been filled with a lot of figuring things out. What I mean is, we’ve had to make many decisions where mitigating uncertainty hasn’t been very clear. However, we’ve kept moving forward and when we do that, we end up getting to where it is we intended to. Typically, not pretty but it usually never is 😊.

The Pine 50k, back on May 4th, had a similar story, as these races usually prove. This was my 2nd time running this race with the first being 2 years ago, their inaugural one. The race takes place up on the Mogollon Rim - Wikipedia. Over the last year, I’ve spent much time up on the Rim, training for and racing in last year’s Mogollon Monster 100. I’ve grown quite fond of this area of AZ, and it no longer had that intimidating aura since last September. However, my week leading up to the race was certainly not idea. I was on the road all week, getting home Thursday night and had a quick turnaround to head up to Pine, AZ (race location) Friday night. Fortunately, my wife Robin was making the trip this year to support me. Unfortunately, however, throughout the day Friday, I was having stomach issues and feeling nauseous. Sometimes when I fly, this happens but not nausea. Certainly, unique, and definitely not ideal heading into the race Saturday morning.

When I got up and went through my normal routine, I felt the stomach issues would subside, but unfortunately, they did not. We were going to toe the line and see what the day was going to bring……a motto we’ve been navigating 2024 with 😊. We had a 6am start and temps were hovering around 40 degrees and throughout the day, they wouldn’t get above 70*, if that; the weather couldn’t have been better. Robin was gracious enough to get me to the start and hang around until the shuttles left. We planned on meeting at a familiar aid station, around mile 20 and then again at the finish line.

The first 10-12 miles are on the Highline Trail, mostly single track with some ups and downs; no real significant climbs. It had been since the Mogollon Monster that I had been up here, so I was enjoying the beginning miles and trying to shake off whatever was going on with my stomach. The first aid station is right around mile 9-ish. There I fueled up and replaced my liquids, which I was trying to stay on top of. I was hoping to grab some ginger ale or candied ginger to see if that would settle my stomach but no go, unfortunately. From here, the next four miles was a trek up the face of the Mogollon Rim. At first it was a gradual climb, however the higher you got the more technical and steep it became. I had been working on vert over the last two months, so the climb wasn’t terrible, but it did grind a bit at the top. Once there, another aid station for a quick breather and then the next 7-ish miles were on top of the Rim, on forest service roads, and very runnable, which felt good after the climb. Plus, I would be seeing Robin at the next aid station before descending back down to the finish.

This stretch was good, and the miles seemed to click off, however, this is when my stomach felt the worst and the nausea was at its roughest. I had some nutrition with me and loaded up on electrolytes and water, just nothing sounded good to me. I just kept moving and knew that I would be able to collect myself once I saw Robin. When we did connect, she forced me to eat an orange, some salty chips, and she had seltzer water, which for some reason sounded fantastic and tasted even better. I spent about 5 minutes getting myself together before moving on knowing I’d see her again in about 13 miles.

At this point of the course, we head, steeply down into the Pine Canyon – you can see the pictures from the top (amazing……) for a few miles. At the bottom, for some time, we are under the cover of pine trees (hence the name of the town 😊) before breaking through to being complexly exposed for the last 7 or so miles. Again, fortunately the weather was great and there was a breeze as well, so we just kept on moving forward. About 4 miles from the finish, there is the last aid station. Just one pivot here, the aid stations, all of them, I believe were staff by local volunteers and several of them were veterans. These folks were incredibly nice and so encouraging. I felt that at each aid station I was entering their home, and they were welcoming us with open arms. At this last one in particular, they helped fill up my bottles, poured some ice-cold water over my head, and sent me on my way with some laughs.

Interestingly enough, a few miles prior to that aid station and currently, I wasn’t having any stomach or nausea issues; I was actually feeling the best I had for the last two days, and my pace seemed to express that. It felt like I was moving faster now, with a few miles to go, than I had all day. I had begun to feel the finish near and as I was heading into the last trail head, before hitting the final 1 mile, I was looking forward to finishing and reflecting on the day, when bam, I caught my right toe on a rock and ate it like a champ. With dirt and dust all over the right side of my body and some nice scraps on my right arm, I dusted off my pride, laughed it off a bit, and continued through to the finish.

Overall, the day was quite interesting and a great learning experience. The way my body felt before and during, my mind as well, was a bit unique than other races. It was a grind, in some ways, however my body, other than my stomach, felt incredibly awesome throughout the day. It felt easier than 2 years ago, and it seemed to show. I am grateful to have had the chance to experience this again and to have Robin there was fulfilling. Many thanks to the race directors, staff, volunteers, the other competitors, and crew folks. Really enjoy spending time in Pine and will likely have a few more visits up there this summer. As for race plans, we’ve decided to take the summer off and refresh. It has been a long two years of grinding, and we have some time before starting to gear up for an October race. In the meantime, enjoy the pictures and if you can, get yourself up to the Mogollon Rim.

[rapifessor]

Initial Analysis of Baizhu

Well, here we go. Decided I’d take a quick look at Baizhu since we have some details about him from the Version 3.6 beta. So far he looks like a very solid support that can do pretty much anything and might be the premier option for a Dendro character with role compression when he becomes playable.

Elemental Skill

Does a pretty good amount of damage for hitting a total of three times, and also heals your entire party by a pretty significant amount. On top of that this Talent has a pretty low cooldown of only 10s, it’s overall just a really good attack. Hopefully it generates a good amount of particles as well.

Elemental Burst

This one’s pretty unique. It creates shields and heals your active character in addition to dealing damage when the shields break or are refreshed. The shields themselves are interesting as well because they’re pretty weak but since they’re always being regenerated while Baizhu’s burst is active it’s effectively the same as having a really tanky shield. You should get about five or six of them while the burst lasts, and looks like it costs 80 Energy for Baizhu.

Passive Talents

First Ascension passive gives Baizhu 20% more healing for characters below 50% HP and if your active character is above 50% HP, he gets 25% Dendro DMG instead. Pretty nice talent overall, more damage is always better.

Second Ascension passive is where the fun is at. Every 1k HP Baizhu has up to 50k will give the active character 2% more Hyperbloom, Bloom, and Burgeon DMG and 0.8% more Aggravate and Spread DMG when they’re healed by his Elemental Burst. Considering how absurdly broken Hyperbloom is and that you can in theory get a 100% DMG Bonus to it with this Talent, I would not be surprised if this gets nerfed in the beta test because damn that is way too OP.

Lastly, Baizhu has a unique exploration Talent that heals your active character by 2.5% of his HP when they harvest plants in the overworld. I like that this is something new and it’s a nice quality of life feature to keep your team healthy while exploring.

Constellations

As is normally the case with 5-Star characters, Baizhu’s C2 is pretty strong and a good stopping point for players who want to invest in him without going full whale. C1 gives his skill an additional charge, making for a comfier playstyle and enabling more damage and energy for Baizhu. The C2 performs joint attacks with your active party member every 5s, dealing a hefty 300% Dendro DMG and also healing 1/5 the normal amount of Baizhu’s skill.

C4 is a strong supportive Talent, being essentially Collei’s C4 but better as it just gives your team more Elemental Mastery.

Lastly, C6 enables DPS Baizhu and just makes his burst deal a fuckload of damage in general, with added 10% HP scaling and generating more shields which means more damage.

Overall Thoughts

Looking at that second Ascension passive, I get the impression that Baizhu is like Candace but if Candace was done right. If her similar Talent that grants bonus damage based on her HP was more universal than Normal Attack DMG Bonus with her burst, she would have been a much better and much less niche unit.

But yeah, as you can see, he’s pretty fucking stacked. Also I’m sorry, but I just have to add that it really makes you wonder again what the fuck happened with Dehya’s kit when Baizhu is apparently a god. The disparity in power level between the two of them is sobering.

Anyway, I’ll probably be doing a similar post about Kaveh pretty soon. I specifically wanted to look at Baizhu first so I can get an idea of how much I give a shit about him. I’m thinking of pulling for C1 Dehya but I wanted to make sure I wouldn’t burn too many Primogems if Baizhu was a character I wanted, especially since I’ve officially gone free-to-play and have no intention of buying the Gnostic Chorus or Blessing of the Welkin Moon.

[icharchivist]

man. man!!!

actually crying over this

in the OG you never leave Cloud's perspective and you clearly see Wedge die, so he doesn't have a last heroic hourray at all, and, from Cloud's perspective, no one survived the fall of Sector 7. Like all the people you meet in the OG are all incapacited in some way, including the two infantry men! so when the plate falls in the OG, everyone dies. Or at least you have no reason to believe anyone survived.

I wasn't really sure what to do with this slight change, because the remake made us care a lot more about Sector 7, and i feel like saying "but don't worry everyone who can be saved was saved xoxo" undermine just how horrible of a catastrophe the fall of the plate was, and the drastic measures Shinra tends to take to cover up stuff in their own way.

But i can't deny i love to see Wedge have one final heroic moment. Of having expended him more as someone who's worried he can't make a change on his own, working for saving the people if not the Sector itself like his friends are trying to do. and i do really love the appeal to humanity with the Infantry troopers, because even in the OG they really were just... simple people following orders that Shinra is willingly sacrificing to cover shit up, and to see that the New Recruit is the one who can't stand to just let the massacre happen, it humanizes them a lot.

And in the end, i think i'm okay with it, because i think Sector 7 is much bigger in the remake than in the OG. In the OG you meet like, 20 people in here or something, and it's just two or three fixed shots of lands. The Remake made it a lot bigger and Reeve mentions there's 50k people living in Sector 7 and on the Sector above, it gives you a sense of scale.

so i think that like... even if they do manage to evacuate some people, they probably won't be able to save /everyone/. So the impact of failing to stop the fall of the plate can still happen even while knowing everyone tried desperately to stop it one last time.

and tbh it is more realistic that Avalanche wouldn't just be focusing on brute force in the pillar to stop the Turks from planting a bomb, but also showcasing how they are doing what they do because they care for a future for people to have, and therefore it's not just about brute force, but also about saving what they can save.

I do worry about the loss of the weight of "you fail to save everyone", especially with how Cloud in particular is specifically losing his mind more and more the more people he fails to save....

But i do love the depth it gives to Wedge one last time.

And Aerith's own words are also extremely touching and characterize her well.

You need to do what you can while you still can.

Overrall a very powerful scene and i'm emotional