#lol every time I worry about my writer bias getting in the way

[hummingbird-games]

who wants to steal my laptop and hammer out the rest of these outlines??

anyone???

...any takers???

...what do you mean I have to do this mYSELF!!!!

[14carrotghoul]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers! Spread the self-love 💞

I love all my children equally!!!! Jk here's my current fave five, which were hard for me to pick so i basically went with the most ambitious lol

and you can tell everybody (7.777k, M, socmed/rockstar!Alex au)

There's some recency bias here but I loved every second of writing this AU and going fully insane with the world building behind Alex, his band, his music, and his fan base! It's also been wild to see real life mirror parts of this fic, especially regarding fan reactions to an artist's partner, and while my version is more idealistic, it makes me so happy that I took the time to mention Alex's worries about how Henry would be treated. It feels more important now.

A Love That Haunts the Land (31k, M, spooky magical realism)

Perfect for spooky season and my first mystery (even if I forgot to tag it as such)! Without spoiling it, I loved June's role in this plot, the bonkers world building, and this has my favorite Pez that I've written. Mind the tags but trust that I give y'all a happy ending!!!

Déjame Ver Cómo Es Que Floreces (12k, T, Henry meets the Diaz family)

Gotta give my flowers to the Las Flores series and this is my favorite of the two! My most popular fic by far and she deserves it, as both an intro to Mexican American traditions for most readers but also a very iykyk fic for the latines! The fluffiest fluff to ever fluff.

Meet the Parents (series, 4k, T, character study)

This series is made of drabbles exploring both Oscar and Ellen's perspective of their falling in love all the way to recovering from the leak. I loved getting into their brains and how they would either justify or regret their parenting decisions. My favorite flop for sure lol

Another Door Opens (4k, T, recovering from infidelity)

Probably my most emotionally mature and complex fic! Loved writing Alex and Henry's spark, even as they're both going Through It. I promise I am still working on a sequel, it's just fucking hard to write in Henry pov and I keep getting distracted w other ideas!

[smoochhyuka]

about smoochhyuka

Hi! This contains a short introduction, some warnings and my masterlist. :D

○o。About me! You can call me Soi or Smooch, I am 20 years old and a uni student from Germany. I have been a Moa since 2021 literally because of tubatus Tiktok promotions for No Rules lol. This January 2024 I got into Riize and will write for them as well, although I am not as confident in my characterisation for them as I am with tubatu!

Bias

My ult is Taehyun, but my bias changes all the time. When I started this blog it was Hueningkai, but right now it's Soobin, next month it might be Yeonjun or Beomgyu, or maybe Taehyun wrecks his way back to the top. I also tend to write for my current bias so it might get Taehyun heavy in the future.

With Riize it's Anton hands down, no competition. I really really really like everyone else too and I am looking forward to writing for every member!

MDNI

This is a purely NSFW blog, here and there I will probably post something fluffy and SFW but please don't follow me if you are underage or engage with my NSFW content, it's uncomfortable.

commissions

I would love to take them, so feel free to send me some in my inbox! Just be aware that I will answer in my own time, so don't worry if it takes some time. I won't write anything hardcore or extreme, it can be dirty but nothing that is degenerate yk. I also love to just get feedback or we could thirst together lol!

Reader

I am a cis woman, so most of my readers will be fem as well, but I will try my best to do some gn!reader works too, I will always mark it in the content warnings. I could write something SFW for male!reader if requested, but it wouldn't be a full fanfiction yk. I am not plussize, but my reader definitely tends to be read as not-skinny. As a POC woman I also write POC friendly, no blushing on pale skin, no long hair, no mention of eye color etc.

Other fandoms

I won't write anything NSFW for other groups, but I am a casual fan of stray kids, IVE, aespa and le sserafim and could write friendship or relationship headcanons. I want this to kind of stay a tubatu and Riize blog, but I am also in the Criminal Minds (SPENCERR) fandom and the bnha fandom (KATSUKI).

Activity level

Even though I won't publish on a weekly basis, I will reblog everything I like from other writers here so this blog is going to be relatively active. (always tagged as reblog)

____________________________

Masterlist

Updated 280124

○o。All of my own works will be tagged as smoochwrites

Tubatu OT5

Tubatu as service tops

Fucking Tubatu on a party

All at once

Yeonjun

nothing here yet :(

Soobin

Switch!Soobin supremacy (why did it flop so bad?)

Soobin NSFW alphabet

Beomgyu

Average sized Beomgyu who is eager to please you

Taehyun

Tyuns NSFW alphabet

Hueningkai

Munch!Kai tasting heaven for the first time

headcanons

scenario

It's showbiz baby! (SFW)

Updated 230224

○o。All of my own works will be tagged as smoochwrites

Riize OT6

Riize as boyfriends (SFW)

Surprising Riize in lingerie <3

Shotaro

Shotaro as your playful dom

Eunseok

Throupling with 01z (SFW)

Sungchan

Throupling with 01z (SFW)

Wonbin

nothing here yet :(

Sohee

nothing here yet :(

Anton

Anton with a loud s/o (SFW)

Hair-pulling with Anton

Anton admitting his mommy kink (smau)

[astrobei]

This is kind of an odd question, but since you seem to have done it very successfully and I have no clue: How do you make friends online?

I always see people on here talking about their mutuals and about their online friends, and some of that’s def survivorship bias, but I’m guessing I’m not alone in having no clue how to get from recognizing someone’s username to having them be a person I would talk to about a bad day?

Anyway, this continues to be a weird ask so answer it any way you want and no worries if it takes a while, but yeah, with all the posts about you and haven meeting up I am just looking for advice on *how*

Ty so much!

hi hi hi hello!! i’ve actually gotten asks like this before and i’m so sorry 2 everyone who’s sent one bc i’m afraid i don’t have a super concise or helpful way to answer this,,, (but i’ll still try lol)

to be so so honest with you, i got super lucky because i was introduced to a lot of my friends in this fandom through group chats or mutuals’ discord servers that other people have added me to, which i know is kind of a lame answer because being added to gcs/others’ servers is not exactly something u can control … but you are so right in saying that you’re not alone in feeling like this !! i know so many people feel intimidated by the idea of making friends on here especially since there Are so many users i associate as groups and it seems like everyone has Those Friends (me included, i’ll admit) and it’s probably easier said than done because i did get lucky enough to meet a lot of my now-close friends rn through ao3/comments/writers’ gcs way back in the summer or fall 😗 it also definitely takes time to get close to someone in this way, and these friendships are not something that happened overnight, even for me !! i feel like it’s easy to get stressed out by the potential of every new mutual/friend you make being The Friend and that can put a lot of pressure on both you and the other person to be super compatible right off the bat, so on and so forth, which isn’t fair and will probably lead to more disappointment than anything, so i think it’s important to remember that (almost?) no solid friendship goes from 0-100 overnight and it takes time to build trust and emotional connection with anyone!

so i would say . basically . if you’ve stayed this long and all of this rambling that my biggest pieces of advice would be:

1. fr and honestly just go for it. like you said, i know so many people feel the exact same way as you do, so send that mutual you admire an ask or a dm!! every friendship has got to start somewhere so if you see them rb an ask game maybe send something nice or maybe if you see a post that reminds u of them send it to them ! i’ve made a couple of my closest friends because we sent each other asks a lot before moving to dms -> other platforms, or people have just dm’d me directly out of the blue and i was surprised by how well we clicked !! these are maybe lame examples but. u get the idea lol. Just Do It i believe in u 🥳

2. be patient !! i know i already said it before but close friendships, like the ones you’re talking about, rarely happen overnight. even with people i’ve felt a connection with immediately, it’s taken some time for us to really get comfortable with each other and past that awkward stage so it’ll likely take some dedication and commitment to communication on both your parts! something i would like to emphasize: don’t make friends purely out of strong expectations of being Best Friends because, again, this could lead to a lot of disappointment when someone doesn’t live up to expectations you’ve created In Your Head. find people you really click with and genuinely enjoy talking to, and maybe see eventually if they’d want to move from talking through asks to dms to discord/text!

ummmm. i think that’s all i have to say on the topic, hopefully this wasn’t too disappointing to read because again, i’m not too sure how to organize my thoughts on the subject LOL but i’m wishing you all the best and i’m promising u that almost everyone in this community feels the same way !! make the first move/respond when someone maybe makes the first move to you + take it slow + be kind and patient and you will have friends lining up in ur dms to talk to u 🫡much much love !! 🫶🏽

[liangxinn]

hi, i don’t know if you check your tumblr anymore, but i just wanted to drop by and say that i absolutely adore your writing and i think you have a really magical way with words. i loved on-two, and i quite literally could not get sonagi out of my head for weeks (i’ve reread both too many times to count). thank you for sharing these works with us and bringing us invaluable pockets of joy and comfort; i hope you find as much happiness in writing these fics as i do reading them. i hope you’re doing well and that life is treating you wonderfully, or at least alright, because sometimes that is all we can ask for <3

as a side note, i was also just wondering if you have plans for posting your jock!jww and nerd!kmg au in the future? i don’t mean to place any pressure on you, i am truly simply curious - as a writer myself, i know how inspiration for ideas come and go and how our feelings towards our drafts can evolve over time, so it’s more than okay if the answer is no. the reason i’m asking is because i came across snippets of it on your twitter and fell in love with the au idea and the direction you took it, but really, no worries at all if it’s something that’s more in the past! i loved seeing the little scenes we got for wip wednesday here and there nonetheless :)

Hi!! Very sorry for my months-late response (my TMI in the totally mundane sense, I just finished my degree) but I have indeed been well ^^ I hope that you've also been able to find moments of happiness in your life ♡

It's been so long since I posted that it was a really interesting experience to look back at a few of my fics, and I'm super happy to hear that you liked them enough to reread :") Maybe it's recency bias -- if you can still call it 'recent' after a year -- but I'm quite fond of 소나기 especially. Actually, I still have half-written fic notes in my Tumblr drafts since I didn't see it through to the ending I'd envisioned. I remember it being pretty far out of my comfort zone. Even though the process was insanely long (the initial idea came to me in October 2021 LOL), I enjoyed every bit of it. I'd always intended for it to be a simple story with a gentle and warm atmosphere, just like kissing your lover while the rain strikes the roof above you... maybe that part 2 is back on the cards after all 💭

Jock!WW x nerd!MG...! What a blast from the past, omg, one of my VERY first Minwon WIPs :") I never even revealed the title! I got stuck about halfway through at the main point of conflict and... never picked it up after that 😅 I've on-and-off entertained the idea of just posting everything I'd written, but it's also in a weird sort of space where I find my old writing style to be a little juvenile, hahaha. I do think it would be a shame for it to never see the light of day after I put so much work into it back then, but it would need a decent amount of cleaning up before I could deem it readable. I also have the full plot outline lying around somewhere, so that could be a possibility too!

Thank you for stopping by, and for the opportunity to yap a little about my silly fics ♡

[sub-k-pop-archive]

what are ur favorite blogs?

Hi! So, I currently follow A LOT of blogs, which made this quite hard to put together, but I tried, lol. If you’re on desktop, you can actually find a few of my favorite blogs listed on my Tumblr page :)

But yeah, since I’m mostly into NCT and SKZ at the moment, this will primarily consist of sub!idol blogs that write for those two groups. Also, I’ve added some non-smut / non-sub!idol blogs that I really like, in case you’d like to check those out too.

With that said, here you go!

Disclaimer: If you aren’t on this list and I follow you, please, don’t take it personally. These blogs are just a small sample of all the blogs I follow and love, so don’t worry, you definitely belong on this list as well! If I follow you or archive your fics, then I love your writing without a doubt ♥

Sub!idol blogs

@drippinlovetalk - one of my favorite blogs of all time. If you’re not following her already, I highly recommend you to do so. Nothing but creative, well-written, and just overall amazing fics. It doesn’t matter who your bias in NCT is, you'll end up reading everyone’s fics anyway because they’re all great.

@lovingonrepeat - love, love, love her blog!! Her fics are so nice to read, I love them. I tend to get distracted easily when I’m reading, but her stories are just so well put together that it’s impossible to stop, lol. But seriously!! I’ve re-read all of her fics multiple times, they’re just that good ♥

@capriccio-con-espressione - oof, this one. Her fics are very intense to me, in a way. I don’t know how to really describe it, but once you check out her work, you’ll understand what I mean. There’s always something to them that makes them really memorable and stand out. And don’t even get me started on her sub!Kun fics, it’s embarrassing how many times I’ve re-read those, lmao. And the sub!Winwin one too!! Gosh, I loved that one so much as well!! Seriously, just check out everything she has, you won’t regret it.

@kisskissbanggang - I love her fics, oh my god. Both the sfw and the nsfw ones, they’re just something else. If anyone wants to read some amazing sub!idol fics with a great plot, character portrayal, and just everything in general, this is the blog for you! I especially love her sub!SKZ fics, but she writes incredible NCT fics as well. They’re just all lovely tbh :’)

@lavenderbexlatte - !!!!!! Another blog that not only writes great sub!idol fics, but they have immaculate plots as well?? And it all just comes together so nicely?? And it’s so captivating too?? Ugh, I just love reading her work so much!! So go and support her as well!! She’s incredibly talented and definitely deserves more love and attention!!

@submissivekpop - one of the first sub!idol blogs I’ve followed, and I still love re-reading her fics to this day. Well-written, great to read, and just overall amazing. I’ve always loved coming back to her blog and checking out her fics whenever I discovered a new kpop group, she never disappoints ♥. Please, give her lots of love and support, she deserves it so much :)

@artificialvoe - another one of my absolute favorites!! I’m a sucker for sub!idol reactions, and this blog is just heaven for me. Lots of different groups, themes, kinks, etc., there’s something for just about everyone. (I’ve also discovered quite a few kinks thanks to this blog, but that is a story for another day entirely-)

@sluttyten - also one of the first sub!idol blogs I’ve followed and one that I still cherish to this day. You have it all here - reactions, imagines, oneshots, series, everything. So much content, talent, and just all things great in one place. I don’t think I’ll ever stop recommending her blog, it’s one of my favorite accounts on all of Tumblr. I’ve literally spent most of my time at my part-time job reading her work, and it made it 1000% better.

@submissive-bangtan - ugh!! The power, the skill, the execution!! If you want to read a perfectly written fic with lots of plot, great dialogue, and beautifully described scenery (in other words: a fic that’s tastefully horny with a great deal of talent), this is a blog for you. It’s also one of the first blogs that introduced me to sub!idol content (and awakened the inner dom), so it holds a special place in my heart. But wait!! There’s more!! Not only does she write great fics, but she has so many interesting astrology & kibbe posts as well!! What’s not to love? Exactly, it’s all amazing. Now go and give Caro the love she deserves, damn it >:(

Non-sub!idol blogs / non-smut blogs

@warmau - my comfort blog, omg. I love her writing style. All of her stories pull you in so easily and are so fun to read! If you ever want to destress, relax after a hard day, or just want to enjoy a heart-warming and beautifully written story, check out her fics!! All of them, in fact!! Right now!! Go!!

@jenomark - I’ve been reading her work today for like what? 5 hours straight? Well, guess what? I don’t regret it in the slightest. As I’ve said, I’m a sucker for reactions/headcanons/imagines/etc., and there are just so many!! And they’re so good too!! How have I not discovered this gem of a blog sooner?? I’m in awe :’) 

@neokollection - even though she’s on a hiatus right now, I love going through her blog every now and then and re-reading her work. Another blog that’s just great for whenever you want to relax and be all soft and comfy :> Please give her lots of love, she’s an incredibly talented and hard-working writer ♥

@hoe9for9kpop - so many groups to choose from!! So many incredibly well-written fics!! I’m in love!! One of the first blogs I’ve followed and one that I definitely have a soft spot for. Her content is very diverse, so whatever it is that you’re looking for, you’ll definitely find it here. And not only that, but you’ll discover so many other amazing fics too! Please read them all, they’re great :’(

[bthump]

All right, the results of the “should berserk continue” survey are in.

Honestly lol I found myself nodding along to all of these responses, even the ones that contradict the other ones. Everyone’s made great points here. Thanks for answering anon’s question!

@silver-haired-dreams

I’d love it to continue tbh. I would just hope the staff followed whatever Miura had planned. The exhibit had an interview with Miura where he talked about his plans for the end of Berserk (with the RPG group ending and Guts facing Griffith several times and Skullknight as well (!!!) ) so it’s clear Miura knew the ending (I mean any creative writer involved in a long form story most likely has a plan for how the story will end.) It really depends how they can best avoid bias with the characterizations. I think his assistants were people Miura entrusted and they shared his vision. They weren’t randoms he found off the street. Another thing I’ve heard suggested is to bring on Mori, Miura’s lifelong best friend who he based Guts and Griffith’s relationship on. Apparently they talked every week and Miura would tell him in detail his plans for Berserk. I’d rather have someone who understood Miura as a person and his characters (with actual writing talent) than any random mangaka. I think the assistants are very capable with the art and releases might even speed up if they take over.

***

@deselegant asked:

i'm pretty much on the same page as you regarding the continuation of berserk. like, having more content and also reaching the end of the story would be great, but at the same time there's the looming possibility the assistants would misunderstand the characters and that could impact heavily on the outcome of the manga and also fandom's perception of the characters (i know that ship has already sailed, but y'know, maybe it could get worse. especially now we've ended on a positive(? at least in my opinion) note and the fandom was actually having productive conversation). it is a pity we don't know if miura left notes, bc maybe the assistants would continue writing the story in a way that most of the fandom would like, which means (shudder) guts, casca & mb ending up as a happy, boring family. like, not even a bittersweet ending. also, the art probably would take a hit without miura there to storyboard it, and the way miura drew the manga was v important to the storytelling of berserk.

regardless, even if it did continue, i wouldn't think of anything beyond this last chapter as canon, bc it wasn't written by miura (maybe unless they were following a script left by him), and i imagine (hope) the rest of the fandom wouldn't as well, so there's that.

***

Anonymous asked:

Follower here! I'm... Fine with them continuing it. I'd prefer if they didn't, honestly a lot of Berserk was Miura's writing and I worry if a new Mangaka, Or an assistant continuing things, would be able to preserve that. It's ultimately up to them, and they would know Miura's wishes better than I would.

However if they do, I don't think I'm going to consider anything after this canon, or at least not fully canon in the same way.

***

Anonymous asked:

My ideal to be honest would be the release of some sort of manuscript or other piece of writing where Miura scetched out his ideas for the rest of the story. I do not want another artist to continue the manga. It just feels weird, never liked it when reading the last books of The Wheel of Time which another author had written after the original author had died.

***

Anonymous asked:

re: berserk continuing i honestly kinda dont want it to now. it's sure as fuck not a satisfying or conclusive ending but i just feel like it was so tonally appropriate as an ending considering the circumstance. griffith meets with guts and casca and is able to feel "warmth" one last time, but he can't keep it, and he comes out of it bereft, longing for something he'll never have again, maybe not quite ready to say goodbye just yet after all. but we know he has no choice, it's already over. which is admittedly pretty fucking close to how i was feeling the whole time to be honest lol. it's perfect

***

Anonymous asked:

I think that I'd be okay w/ Berserk continuing if Kouji Mori did the writing. He's Miura life-long best friend, a mangaka (I haven't read his works but apparently they're p good?) and a consultant for Berserk, and Miura based Griffith and Guts' relationship on their friendship. Him and Miura talked all the time and he probably has the best understanding of Miura's vision for the manga. Also ngl it'd be kinda poetic if Berserk was written by the two people behind Griffith and Guts.

[taegularities]

Hi Rid! Don’t know if you’re still doing this, but I’ll tell you anyways ☺️

Reasons Why I’d Date You:

You’re really sweet 😊! Even though you’re married (Kas, you’re SO LUCKY, I SWEAR-) to I don’t even know anymore, lmao. I’m pretty sure everyone in the discord is wiped for you because YOU ARE AN ABSOLUTE CUTIE AND SWEETHEART!!! 🥰

Hot chocolate (lol). When the snow falls lightly, but it’s too cold to go outside, I’d wake you up every morning with hot chocolate and breakfast in bed. We can spend the whole day watching movies or just snuggle under the covers in bed. ☺️

Noodles. I would make you noodles (pasta, whatever you want) for lunch or dinner (or maybe even breakfast if you want). I would cook for you (even though I’m not as good as Jin, but at least it’s edible lol). Just let me take care of you and GET SOME SLEEP!!! I SWEAR, I WILL DRAG YOU TO BED AND AGGRESSIVELY CUDDLE YOU UNTIL YOU FALL ASLEEP AND GET TIRED OF ME.

Again, let me take care of you. I’m pretty sure everyone would have a goodnight’s sleep if you actually GET SOME SLEEP. We cannot stress that enough. But seriously, we worry about you and your mental health. You’re an amazing writer with a beautiful mind, and your beautiful mind NEEDS SLEEP!!!

Music. Music is my life just as much as it’s yours. I sing for Christ sakes and I would’ve danced too if I was good at it (lmao). Let me sing to you, whether it’d be to help you sleep or just because. Let’s have a candle lit dinner and slow dance under the stars. Let me pull you close and softly sing in your ear. Let the music drown out the world for you and me.

You remind me of Taehyung (lol, you even got your bias in the quiz I gave you! God, you’re so lucky). ☺️ And even though you’re heart belongs to him, I would give him up for you (and let’s be honest, you have a better chance in dating or marrying him than me anyways. I’ll gladly subside to dreaming and loving him from afar). Also I really wouldn’t want to argue with you about “who’s turn it is with Taehyung” (lmao, if that’s even a thing). I would just lose on purpose for you to be happy, and if that means giving up my bias then so be it. 🥲

And because I got Joonie, I’m very accident prone, but I promise I won’t break your heart (I know that sounds like a pick-up line and a very bad one) 🙃. But seriously, your heart is more fragile than glass and you deserve to be loved and cared for. I wouldn’t forgive myself if I hurt you (physically and/or emotionally).

I swear you are the sweetest person ever! I hope Kas is keeping you happy (I bet she is because her wife is amazing). And your such a cutie! The way you just ranted on about noodles was funny, yet really cute...? 🥺 You’re heart deserves to be protected (and if I had the confidence, I would’ve said something to anon about you and Hads, and just fuck off)!

You’re a Scorpio and I’m a Taurus, so it’s a guarantee that our “relationship” would be heated (unless you hate me. In which case, I’m sorry?). We’re opposites, but we go really well together (or not at all). Also I’m really clingy, so I’d probably just spend the whole day cuddling you (and what not, but I’ll leave that up to you 😉).

Please accept this rose 🌹 as very late love confession (I didn’t want to write you a note that asked the question “date me...?” with two check boxes for yes and no. Honestly, that sounds pathetic to me. You deserve a poem song about how much you mean to me) and let me take you out on a date. Or just take the rose and run back to your wife if I lured you into having an “affair” (lol). I don’t want any problems and I totally accept your choice (even if you decide to “friend zone” me).

Anyways, love you lots 💜 and if you decline these reasons for why I would date you, I’ll just run over to Hads and ask her to “marry” me (lmao, I’m kidding. I bet she’s already “married” too) instead. 🥲

WHAT THE FLYING FUCK, DEE DEE, ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME

excuse me, i read this three times now and i'm 😭🤯 <-- just that !! this is the sweetest love letter i've ever received (not that i get any on other occasions LOL), but SERIOUSLY, i'm here for pasta, late night talks/cuddles, singing and dancing under the stars 😪

THE FACT THAT YOU SAID I REMIND YOU OF TAEHYUNG ?!?! OF MY FAV MAN ?? is such a compliment ?!?! i'd love to know why omg but that's so freaking cute of you to say :')

ALSO

And because I got Joonie, I’m very accident prone, but I promise I won’t break your heart

OMG ARE YOU SERIOUS, I'M LOSING MY SHIT

honestly, @kassrole you have a rival here, babe

[luckystarchild]

I was discussing this with my writing group earlier and decided that I wanted to collect some more opinions on this, so what're your thoughts on reviews that start out with "I don't really like oc-driven/centric stories, but―" or reviews worded to a similar effect/to the same tune? Personally I just don't find them to be as much of a compliment as the reviewer thinks it is, and wish people wouldn't preface a review with such info.

Soooooo there’s a lot to unpack here. I’ll do it in stages. Sorry if this is more than you wanted... I take asks too seriously sometimes. XD

Why do these types of reviews feel insulting?

The reason these kinds of reviews might not feel so great to the recipient is because they pair a compliment with a qualifier. And combining a compliment with a qualifier is how you structure a backhanded compliment.

Example of pairing a compliment with a qualifier, AKA a backhanded compliment: “Your old haircut was terrible, but your new one is much better.”

The “but” is key here. The compliment-giver said something nice about your appearance, yes, but now you’re walking around feeling badly about the last ten years of your old hairstyle, wondering if everyone who looked at you while you had that old haircut was calling you ugly behind your back.

When someone says, “Normally I hate stories like yours, BUT...” they’re using the structure of a backhanded compliment to pay you a (hopefully legit) compliment. They’re calling you an exception. You’re writing something that’s normally terrible, but you managed to squeak by with something acceptable (against all odds).

Even though you’re an exception, you’re left wondering if other people hate your story because of its sheer concept just like the reviewer initially did. And because they used the structure of a backhanded compliment to express their feelings, you’re left feeling like you did indeed receive a backhanded compliment, even if that wasn’t the reviewer’s intention.

After all, the recipient of a review can’t read a reviewer’s tone. All they can see is how the review was structured, and when the reviewer used the structure of a backhanded compliment, that’s what the recipient feels like they were given.

By pairing the positive with a negative, the reviewer has potentially cancelled out the good, leaving the recipient to focus on the bad. And since humans are hardwired for negative bias, it’s no wonder many people come away from a compliment + qualifier feeling like they’ve been insulted instead of complimented. They can’t help but focus on the bad more than the good, the insult more than the compliment.

What are reviewers REALLY trying to say?

Next we should discuss what reviewers are actually trying to say when they leave reviews of this kind. There are two possible scenarios to consider.

Possibility #1: They’re legitimately trying to pay you a compliment, but they aren’t thinking about how you’ll receive it or what they might be inadvertently implying by using the structure of a backhanded compliment. They actually, truly believe that you would want to know that you are an exception to their reading rules, and that this fact is a high honor. You’ve done something so well, they don’t even care what genre your story is! Your work is great, and the fact that they’d normally hate it due to its genre is AMAZING. You’ve changed their minds about a genre! You defied expectations! They were determined to not like your story, but it’s too good! You broke through their preconceived notions of what they like and MADE THEM LIKE SOMETHING with your writing skill. It’s not a feat all stories can achieve, so the reviewer thinks you should wear that as a badge of honor.

Possibility #2: They’re actually paying you a backhanded compliment and are hoping you’ll get upset. They want you to know they liked your work... but they secretly still think it’s silly, or stupid, or cringe. I won’t elaborate on this opinion because I think we’ll all fill in the blanks with our own worst fears, so there’s no need for me to do the heavy lifting when it comes to this kind of horror.

Which of these things do reviewers actually intend? I can’t say. This is obviously up to the receiver of a particular review to decide. I personally remind myself of Hanlon’s Razor whenever possible: “In misunderstandings, never assume malice where thoughtlessness will do.” It doesn’t necessarily amend the hurt I might feel, depending on how the review is worded and how severe the backhanded compliment structure is... but it does help me make peace with it.

What’s my personal opinion on the matter?

I’m of two minds.

Mind the First: It’s awesome to convert someone to a genre of story they previously hated. OC fics get a (frankly undeserved) bad rap, so I understand that an inevitable portion of readers will come into OC stories predisposed to disliking them. Knowing someone clicked on my story thinking they’d hate it, only to come to love it, is pretty great. It’s like you’ve given other OC fics a chance by being a good representative of that fanfic genre.

Mind the Second: In general, using the structure of a backhanded compliment to pay someone a genuine compliment is confusing and can be an example of poor communication if it’s not worded with enough clarity. Additionally, “I thought I’d hate your story” might be true for a reader, but it probably isn’t a necessary thing to tell an author. Just because you CAN say something doesn’t mean you SHOULD.

Personal Anecdote: A reviewer once told me of my main work, Lucky Child: “I clicked on this story to laugh at it and mock the concept, because it’s sooooo cringey, buuuut... it’s actually pretty great and I grudgingly respect the work you’ve done on it.”

The rest of the review was lovely and very complimentary, but knowing they came to my story intending to make fun of it, being told I wrote for a cringe concept, that they only “grudgingly” respected me... wasn’t the best. Largely because I am secretly afraid that people feel that way, so their review was confirming something I secretly dread. “How many other people are think my concept is cringey?” I found myself worrying. And the word “grudging” made me feel like they resented me for converting them to OC stories, which made me feel... not the best.

I genuinely believe they were trying to be nice and pay me a compliment NOW, but I will admit that I was somewhat unsettled by the comment when it first came in. There were better ways they could have communicated with me, for sure. Again, Hanlon’s Razor came in handy in this instance, and now I look at that review (and reviews like it) positively. But it did take me a while to put aside the negative implications. It helps that Lucky Child gets a comment like this every few weeks, LOL. At some point I’ve gotten used to them. Now I wear them as badges of honor and love receiving them. AGAIN, THOUGH: I’ve had practice. Authors less used to that kind of comment would likely respond the way I did at the beginning.

In conclusion?

In the end, I think using the structure of a backhanded compliment is confusing as heck when what a reviewer INTENDS to do is pay a genuine compliment.

So to reviewers who want to leave remarks like these? I’d say try to structure your comment in a clear way, avoid structuring a compliment like an insult, and be sure you’re not leaving room for miscommunication. Writers are notoriously sensitive creatures (myself included), and their command of language means they’ll read VERY DEEPLY into things if you’re at all ambiguous. Clarity, in all things, is key.

Honestly? Times like these are why I wish we taught more rhetoric in schools. The MANNER in which you communicate a thought can completely negate the CONTENT of your thought if you don’t use the right rhetorical device to communicate it, and using the rhetoric of insults to convey compliments is bad use of language. Mind your rhetorical devices, people! They’re important, especially if you consider yourself a writer.

To writers who receive these comments? I’d say to write down a version of Hanlon’s Razor and to repeat it to yourself often: “In misunderstandings, never assume malice where thoughtlessness will do.” I’m not saying all reviewers who leave this kind of comment are thoughtless, of course. But I AM saying that most of the time during misunderstandings (especially ones that take place on the internet, where you can’t read tone, body language and facial expression), people just don’t realize that their words can be misconstrued for anything other than what they intended. Most of the time, they have the best intentions. But since outcome is more important than intention, that can be cold comfort for those on the receiving end of a badly communicated review.

TL;DR for Reviewers: Don’t leave comments like these if you don’t want to be misunderstood.

TL;DR for Writers: Don’t take comments like these personally, because most reviewers don’t mean them maliciously.

I hope this helps, OP. Sorry if it’s too much!!

[biaswreckingfics]

1. I am so sorry that you’ll be separated from your baby 🥺

But sadly I don’t have any pets or children sooo... 😅 I can’t give any advice... guess that’s something you have to train so that they know that you’ll come back after some time... and they dont have to worry

2. Of course I loved your zombie Au! It was as great as all your other work!

Let me get this straight in all honesty: you are my favorite writer and my favorite blog here on tumblr! Even tumblr knows it and always reminds me with something like: „your favorite blog biaswreckingfics posted again“ or something like that and that’s totally true! 😂

The way you wrote a whole apocalypse in about 9k words in so much detail like the characters, the surroundings, the past, the present, the character death (of my favorite person) and a love story with a happy ending... this is just fascinating to me!

So normally people mainly read stuff of their biases. But I can read every work of yours no matter what idol because I love your work and can totally dive into the story 🥰

Can’t wait for the upcoming prompts!!! You are so hard-working, wow ♥️

I'm so sorry this got lost in my ask box 😭😭

She actually had a vet appt yesterday and the vet said she'd be fine!! They also sold us a diffuser which apparently helps relax cats when they're stressed out?? So, we're gonna use that 🤞🤞

Ah!! I'm glad you enjoyed it!! I'm so honored to be your favorite writer and blog on here!! 😭😭😭❤❤❤ I'm gonna go cry at just the thought of that!! Also, I'll admit that I'm pretty proud of that zombie fic 😅😅 I did everything I wanted to do and it turned out pretty decently haha.

Thank you 😭😭😭😭 stop I wasn't prepared for all of these compliments and I'm bad at accepting them lol

Who's your bias?? Sehun?? I'll have to remember that 😏😏

[seoultraveller]

HDHDHD omgg💀💀 sorry for laughing but that was funny🤣 I definitely can’t hold grudges but I definitely remember, if that makes sense?? Ooh I take being balanced as a compliment though because I often don’t feel that way🥴 ofc some things in the text weren’t totally me, but overall very very me shdhfj😌 I am very artistic if I may brag :P AHH that’s sweet🥺🥰

Idk if you saw my comment but I have no clue how that San pic ended up there HAHAHAH💀 it was supposed to be at the bottom but guess not oops

Same here!! There’s just something about black hair🤤 I really loved the hair he had during wonderland/answer era, I really enjoyed the styles he had and the colors!! Definitely agree with you

That makes me so happy wth🥺🥺🥺 I’m glad my fic can bring you that type of relaxation I guess<3 lolll you maybe been tired, but I understand you~ agh cake! the greatest :P what kind of cake did you eat??👀

Who did you bias first in ateez btw?? Was it Yunho?🥰 you have a beautiful bond with Yunho, love it<3 It truly is what he deserves!!!

Thank you Catalina!! Your support means the world to me, especially as a writer🥺🥺 I’ll try to make it as exciting as the KD stage felt, but I’m the most excited to write about Hongjoong!! Seonghwa took over his place of where my writing inspiration came from (lol), so it was a while since I felt happy with or even wrote a fic centered around HJ ;(

HDHFJF I’ll take it as an achievement if I can make someone cry from a fic😌

THANK U🥰 I love the days where I feel so confident, it’s a nice feeling, so I’m definitely flaunting it😏✨ we love the support!!

OOOHHH selca days?? Great!!🥰💕can only agree on that, wet haired Yunho was just- UGH. OMG YES EXACTLY ITS HIS. LOOK. MAGNIFICENT! Seonghwa’s half bangs up is a crime I tell you🤧 you have great taste in hair colors😌 peachy Yunho is also my favorite!! He just hit so differenttttt idk he was just so incredibly pretty (not that he usually isn’t tho)

I’m glad you enjoyed the spam, I’ve done my work successfully😚

Tags are just so relatable😭 I’ll say good luck to you with that 15 on the scale and with Yunho as a bias HAHAH🤣

Feel free to laugh. My grudge holding issue is my personal issue, I know this and I am trying to fix it. I totally get what you mean. It’s good that you don’t harbor anything draining to your emotions. Oh~ does your art come through in your writing or do you also draw, maybe paint, act... perhaps? 🖼 🎨

I did see your comment!! I was already at my work site though and when I tried to respond it kept saying, “an error occured” so I just gave up and waited for your response. I will welcome a San pic or a San video at any time and at any point so don’t worry about how it came out. I still loved it!! 🥰😍❤️ YEEEESSSSSSSS~ he has had amazing styles during the Wonderland and Answer era! His hair was a bit longer during Wonderland and two-toned while in Answer he was also rocking two different colors with his hair as well 😂😂😂 now that I think about it 😂 but shorter and the style was less refined (maybe it’s the contrast of military uniforms to whatever they had going on in Answer... 😂).

I’m so happy that your writing can make me feel that way “WTH” 😂. I had a strawberry cake. I was going to attempt to make a carrot cake from scratch but didn’t gather the ingredients in time so I just didn’t. I like pink, white, and purple cakes (don’t @ me). I know fruit flavored cakes and ice cream are not everyone’s thing, but I really enjoy it. 🥺💕🙂 I’m curious are you more of a savory or sweet person?

In terms of a bias. I think it was always Seonghwa. However, it was Mingi who drew me in. He really caught my eye for some reason and because of him I wanted to know more of their songs, and saw more of their videos and just fell 100% for Seonghwa. He was handsome, which caught my eye immediately 😜 but also an amazing performer, to my eye. However, that’s really cute about what you said about having a “beautiful bond with Yunho” 🥰💕. I really like that. 😍😍💕

Of course!! I am sending you my support in writing. It is definitely not easy. ✍️

(Selca is just another term for selfie) Yeah~ on twitter, once a month ATINY’s post selfies of themselves match a selfie with one of the members. WAIT! Did you already know about ATINY selca day? Sorry for explaining it, if you already knew about it. I used to do it for all 8 of them every month, and there was even an ATINY selca day on tumblr for a while but, I think it might have died out. Peachy Yunho was so PRETTY!!! Like- 💕🥺🥰❤️😍😩😭❣️💖💝💙💛💖

Yes you have done your work successfully and the TOrTURE thanks. I needed that in my life too 😂... That middle image, I remember their performance, but I don’t remember seeing Yunho LIKE THAT like OH MY GOOOODDDDNESSS~

[mxgvmiii]

100 follower special event✨✨

Hello babies🌸🌸( tis the name I have dubbed thee)!

First and foremost I would like to thank you for liking my content enough to actually follow, let alone having me reach 100 followers. I hope you keep enjoying my content in the future and keep on supporting me. I make it my mission to make sure that everyone reading my work feels loved, included and happy. That is one of the main reasons I always try to write gender neutral stories and refrain from describing physical features unless requested. I hope that in the future I am able to write for female characters as well to broaden my demographic. I hope you know that I love each an every one of guys very much.

This is the post for my 100 follower special.It took some time to figure out exactly what I wanted to do since I really wanted to something special for you all. I hope you guys enjoy this special event and bear with me since this is my first time doing this. When the event is over I’ll upload a google form that I’d appreciate if you filled out so that I know what to change when I hopefully hit another milestone.

The event will be held from the day this is posted and will continue for the whole month. Which means 4th - 31st August 2020 according to the CEST time zone. I will no longer take request starting from 11:30 pm on the 31st, seeing as I most likely won’t be able to produce something I’m proud of while on a time crunch. I probably will close it early if there aren’t that many requests since I start school in a week and have many important exams. That’s why my requests are currently closed. Everything that has to do with the special will be tagged with #100 special. My guidelines still apply during the event.

If you would like to be added to a taglist for a specific group, person, anime, character, for questions only, prompts only or everything just send me an ask or a dm :)

BTW I started writing this post at like 5:30 pm and finished at 2:12 am. ngl I wasn’t writing between 8 and 10 pm since I was busy helping my parents. That’s still a long time tho...

When the event is done:

I will link this in my masterlist.

Every prompt that is written will have a list of names next to it. Every name will be a link to the post.

I will edit the layout of this post so that my legend, that I add to every masterlist to symbolize what kind of post it is, will be there.

n e wayz😗

For my 100 special I will be making a Prompt list, a Q&A and redraws + art 

Choose a location/AU and only one prompt from the following. Please specify a genre (ex. fluff, angst, slow burn, crack, etc.) and format (headcanon, oneshot). Any combination that has already been done will be linked in the ask.

Quotes:

ngl most of the crack quotes are things my friends and I have said.

- “will you marry me?”

- “I think we need a break”

- “Where were you?”

- “I was worried, you know”

- “ You slob”

- “AGAIN??!” sigh “ At least you’re not hurt, right”

- “You are a hazard to society ... and to yourself”

- “Do I need to supervise you now?”

- “They won’t care about your left pinky toe”

- “That’s it. We’re getting you a bubble wrap suit. Oh don’t worry it’ll still be (favorite color)”

- “Honey, I’m having a baby and it’s not yours. It belongs to Jungkook” (if requested with Jungkook, the name will be changed to someone else”

- “Honey, I was lying, it’s (favorite food)’s baby”

- “How did you fall down the stairs and get bitten by a dog in the same week?”

- “When I see that old lady it’s on site”

Actions:

- ice skating

- visiting a museum (you can specify what kind of museum)

- hanging out

- waking up

- going to sleep

- wearing his clothes

- buying matching items ( you can specify)

- cooking/baking

- cleaning together

- teaching you volleyball (haikyuu only)

- teaching you one of his choreography (kpop groups only)

- filming tiktoks

- pranking him (with his friends)

Locations:

- Park

- Water park 

- Pool

- Beach

- Aquarium

- Concert

- Home

- Supermarket

- School (classroom, hallway, cafeteria, rooftop, gym)

- Holiday (here you can specify a destination)

- On the way home (bus, car, plane, train)

- Doctor’s office/clinic

- Hospital

- A volleyball match (pre and post timeskip)

- Café/restaurant/fast food restaurant

- Mall/clothing store

AUs:

- social media (celebrity ver., non-celeb ver.)

- spy/mafia

- youtuber

- Warlord (haikyuu only since it saves me the energy when making alliances and rivals/enemies. This is also loosely based off of the otome game Ikemen Sengoku.)

Haikyuu:

Karasuno:

- Sawamura Daichi - Sugawara Kōshi - Azmane Asahi - Nishinoya  Yū - Tanaka  Ryūnosuke - Kageyama Tobio - Hinata  Shōyō - Tsukishima Kei - Yamaguchi Tadashi

Nekoma:

- Kuroo Tetsurō - Kai Nobuyuki - Yaku Morisuke - Yamamoto Taketora - Kozume Kenma - Haiba Lev

Fukurodani:

- Bokuto Kōtarō - Akaashi Keiji

Shiratorizawa:

- Ushijima Wakatoshi - Semi Eita - Tendō Satori

Aoba Johsai:

- Oikawa Tōru - Matsukawa Issei - Hanamaki Takahiro - Iwaizumi Haijime

Inarizaki:

- Ojirō Aran - Miya Atsumu - Suna Rintarō - Miya Osamu

Date Tech/Dateko:

- Futakuchi Kenji - Aone Takanobu - Koganegawa Kanji

Miscellaneous Characters:

- Terushima Yūji - Sakusa Kiyoomi

Boku no Hero Academia:

Class 1a:

- Kaminari Denki - Kirishima Eijiro - Todoroki Shouto - Bakugo Katsuki - Midoriya Izuku

Class 1b:

- Shinsou Hitoshi

Free!:

- Nanase Haruka - Tachibana Makoto - Hazuki Nagisa  - Ryūgazaki Rei - Matsuoka Rin - Yamazaki Sousuke - Shinigo Kisume - Nitori Aiichiro  - Mikoshiba Momotaro - Tono Hyori - Shiina Asahi - Mikoshiba Seijuro - Kirishima Natsuya - Kirishima Ikuya

NCT:

- Taeyong - Taeil - Johnny - Yuta - Kun - Doyoung - Ten - Jaehyung - WinWin - Junwoo - Lucas - Mark - Xiaojun - Hendery - Renjun - Haechan - Jeno - Jaemin - YangYang - Chenle - Jisung

GOT7:

- JB - Mark - Jackson - Jinyoung - Youngjae - Bam Bam - Yugyeom

Seventeen:

- S.Coups - Jeonghan - Joshua - Jun - Hoshi - Wonwoo - Woozi - DK - Mingyu - The8 - Seungkwan - Vernon - Dino

BTS:

- RM - Jin - Suga - J-hope - Jimin - V - Jungkook

Stray Kids:

- BangChan - Lee Know - Chanbin - Hyungjin - Han - Felix - Sengmin - I.N

ATEEZ:

- Hongjoon - Seonghwa - Yunho - Yeosang - San - Mingi - Wooyoung - Jongho

EXO:

- Suho - Xiumin - Lay - Baekhyun - Chen - Chanyeol - D.O - Kai - Sehun

Every question that has been answered will be crossed out and linked. In brackets are if you want to specify. Yes, you can also send in some of your own questions.

1. How do you get inspiration?

2. What are your favorite genres? (music, film, books/writing)

3. Who is your bias from all of the groups you write for? 

4. What is your favorite anime? (as a ranking, why?)

5. Who is your favorite character? (Haikyuu, Bnha) 

6. When did you get into Anime / Kpop? (show, group, in general)

7. What is your favorite food?

8. Who are your favorite writers on tumblr?

9. How did you start writing?

10. What happened to make you and your friends say this?

~ 10a. “You are a hazard to society ... and to yourself”

~ 10b. “Do I need to supervise you now?”

~ 10c. “They won’t care about your left pinky toe”

~ 10d. “That’s it. We’re getting you a bubble wrap suit. Oh don’t worry it’ll still be (favorite color)”

~ 10e. “Honey, I’m having a baby and it’s not yours. It belongs to Jungkook”

~ 10f. “Honey, I was lying, it’s (favorite food)’s baby”

~ 10g. “How did you fall down the stairs and get bitten by a dog in the same week?”

~ 10h. “When I see that old lady it’s on site”

Questions you asked:

... nothing yet lol ...

This category is for Anime only.

For this portion you send me an official picture from a manga  or a scene from the anime that I redraw via dm so I can draw the right picture, if you don’t wan’t to be tagged I’ll send you the post via dm to let you know I finished it. Or if you want to see a specific character with a specific hairstyle but in the official art style.

All items will be linked below.

... nothing yet ... lol

[marscats37]

ranking the tma entities.

I wanted to examen the entities on the magnus archives and rank them based on how scary I found them, or how much they “get to me.” 

None of the low rankings are at the fault of the creators, it’s all my personal opinion and obviously what I was scared of or fascinated with before the podcast is what’s impacting my opinion. We’re all gonna have different opinions on this, and if you listen to the magnus archives, I’m so curious on which ones are your favorite.

To keep this fun, I’ll also list my favorite statement related to each entity. Also, I’m sorry, but I won’t include extinction on this ranking. It’s not really touched on until the end and I don’t have a solid enough opinion on that one.

We’re starting at the bottom.

14. The Hunt - I mean, the hunt is cool, but like canon says, it’s hard to relate to this one due to the fear of being hunted not amongst most people. I don’t have a strong enough opinion on this one to really give it any chance to be higher on the list. I’ll give credit to it being the entity for some of the coolest characters (Daisy, Trevor, the Montauks) 

Favorite Episode - 109 / Nightfall. Despite the low ranking of the hunt, I really love the montauk storyline, and it’s exciting to see julia and trevor team up

13. The Desolation - This one only ranks slightly higher because burning is the given for most painful way to go, but this one doesn’t get to me. It’s just, mean. Maybe if I worried about losing the things and people I love, but it’s not something I think about. 

Favorite Episode - 067 / Burning Desire. Not a scary episode, but I have a soft spot for Agnes, she comes across as a tragic character. I’m also biased because I associate this episode with a good atmosphere I was in when listening to it for the first time.

12. The Slaughter - I think I feel similar to the hunt as I do this one. It’s cool, but I don’t have a fear of violence. Plus, the slaughter is often associated with war, and I've never been a fan of war imagery. 

Favorite Episode - 042 / Grifter’s Bone. This is proof that I’m not put off by slaughter - related statements in general, because I freaking love this episode. 

11. The Web - Ranking this one so low may be unpopular since a lot of people seem to love this one, but it doesn’t get to me ! I’m not scared of spiders and to the metaphorical sense, not scared of manipulation or control. I dislike it as much as the next, but doesn’t hold a true space in my nerves. 

Favorite Episode - 081 / A Guest For Mr. Spider. I’m hard on the web, but there actually have been some spooky statements, especially the ones involving cocoons. But this episode is a special kind of creepy, and statement aside, showed us an even more vulnerable jon, which I loved.

10. The End - I think the statements that revolve around not being able to die are actually scarier than the ones about death itself, but I think I just have that natural fear of death, I think this is really just another neutral fear for me. I don’t really have much to add.

Favorite Episode - 121 / Far Away. Not a scary episode, but I really enjoy Oliver Banks, I love his statement, and you know, it was interesting to see him visit Jon. 

9. The Corruption - It doesn’t seem fair to rank this one so low, corruption is so cool and creepy ! But I kind of got over my fear of bugs and gross stuff (with the exception of roaches. I still scream at the sight of roaches.) so these episodes just mostly serve as really good visuals. I will emphasize that I really love the corruption, I just simply love the other ones more. 

Favorite Episode - 032 / Hive. The Flesh hive is my favorite aspect of corruption, and I really loved getting Jane’s side of the situation (sort of.) Plus, trypophobia is actually really unnerving. I just googled the word to make sure I spelt it right and now I have goosebumps. eeeesh... 

8. The Spiral - To be honest, these episodes aren’t super intense, I don’t have a fear of going mad. It’s ranked high enough because of how much I love the distortion. I’m giving the creators’ credit for this one, the distortion is really the only reason the spiral has any impact on me.

Favorite Episode - 101/ Another Twist - see above.

7. The Buried - Now we’re getting to my fears. I got claustrophobia, babey ! Also I have asthma so the feeling of not being able to breath is a familiar one lmao. 

Favorite Episode - 015 / Lost Johns’ Cave - I think this is a popular one amongst the fans. It’s such a good episode and I think about it a lot still. 

6. The Eye - If we’re getting personal, I’m a private and paranoid person. So naturally this one is a bigger fear of mine. If I really think about it, I can scare myself over intense eye contact too. In a visual sense, I have a bias towards eye imagery. 

Favorite Episode - 120 / Eye Contact. this is hard to answer, there aren’t many eye-centric episodes, although technically every episode involved the eye. But I like the references in this episode, and story-wise, the finale of season 3 is my favorite. 

5. The Vast - It’s not fair to rank the vast higher than the buried, since I’m more scared of the latter, but the vast is just so fascinating to me. The only negative part is that I get vertigo, but I find the empty cosmos and the large ocean almost comforting. Idk, I like this one ! 

Favorite Episode - 051 / High Pressure. I just think this a neat statement ! I also like how being underwater does had an element of the buried, so best of both worlds.

4. The Lonely - I feel.. conflicted on ranking this one so high. On one hand, it’s not that scary, it’s just the fear of being alone, but on the other hadn't, when the statements hit me, they hit me the most. I love isolation and being alone, but these episodes make me feel like I’m only conditioned to love those things due to them being my comfort. 

Favorite Episode - 170 / Recollection. This episode made me cry. I know it’s centered around Martin, but I also found myself relating to it too. Also, I love Martin.

3. The Dark - I can stand being in total darkness, unless I think about it long enough. I think that goes for many, but I still think about the dream where I saw a completely black patch growing on my ceiling and I actually screamed myself awake. I don’t recall another time I’ve had a scream-induced nightmare like that. Especially at my old age. I also think the creators do a good job making this one scary. I remember one Q & A where the writer said this was the hardest entity to write for. 

Favorite Episode - 086 / Tucked In. By the way, I had that nightmare months before I heard this episode. This statement naturally stuck with me due to the familiarity.

2. The Stranger - Another popular entity, and rightfully so, the stranger has so many opportunities to be scary !! No wonder two of the season finales involve this one. I don’t think I can add much to it that’s not a given, I love how creative these statements can be. We have the “not them” we have nikola, the angler fish, etc. 

Favorite Episode - 034 / Anatomy Class. I mean, as good as many of the stranger episodes are, this is my all-time favorite statement. The students are like an innocent form of uncanny and the professor’s fear is really felt. 

1. The Flesh - if you follow my twitter, you might have expected this one. The visuals are so gross and interesting, I’m biased towards body horror. I even like the meat statements, I was surprised there were so many of them when I listened to the podcast for the first time (and tbh it’s helping me towards my path of not eating meat lol)  I don’t have deeper reasoning for making this one my favorite, I just think it’s neat (and gross.)

Favorite Episode - 171 / The Gardener. Yes, the newest episode to the date of me making this post. So far season five has been really exciting and I love the format it takes. But oh my god guys, the visuals for this one ?!?! The metaphors of negative body obsessions to something so grotesque yet fascinating to imagine. It’s not an episode I can listen to over and over (remember, this is a horror podcast and my nerves need a break) but it’s one that I’ll remember. It’s right up my alley in terms of horror content. 

ANYWAY. This is not a final list, Most of the episodes I’ve only listened to once so I’m sure if I had a chance to revisit more of them I’ll change my mind on rankings and favorites. I genuinely like how everything is categorized, but these are based on my preexisting fears and fascinations, as mentioned above. The statements in the podcast only amplify them. so yeah, this list is very subject to change. 

[rockabelle]

Everybody’s got to start somewhere, fic writers included. I support new writers, 100%! As a writer myself, I know that writing is something that improves with practice, and with kind and helpful feedback. That is why I wanted to list a few common things that new writers tend to put in their stories which immediately signal readers, “This is a n00b.”

--Either a huge block of text or just very large paragraphs. Makes the story very hard to read! The human eye is lazy and drawn to white space. Give it a break.

--Spaces between every single line. Too much white, now.

--Frequent sentence fragments or very short sentences. It’s fine. For awhile. But crap! It gets annoying. Doesn’t it? Yeah. It really does.

--Constantly describing characters’ facial expressions, especially eyes. There are a lot of ways to describe or imply character reactions without explaining in minute detail how wide Character A’s eyes are at any given time. Let your readers’ imaginations fill in some of the blanks.

--Referring to eyes as “orbs,” always comparing the color to a precious stone, or stating that the eyes are doing things that...uh...eyes don’t do. Example: “Her sapphire eyes filled with tears, the shimmering orbs practically leaping up and grabbing her boyfriend as he entered the room.” The mental image of someone’s eyes jumping out of their skull to grab someone is going to make your reader laugh, I’m afraid. Adding “practically” does not make the thought any less ridiculous.

--Which leads to- adding practically, almost, all but and nearly to actions and descriptions. Example: “Yes,” he practically moaned. His lover nearly whimpered at the sound. The man all but ran back to him.” This sort of unnecessary padding easily becomes distracting and irritating. In most situations, it can simply be removed and the meaning will remain. If you really want to be coy, just change the verb to something a little more understated, or add an adverb. Like: “Yes,” he moaned. His lover stifled a whimper at the sound. The man moved quickly back to him.”

--Putting in the summary, “Sorry this sucks,” “I’m bad at summaries,” “don’t read this story,” “please don’t hate me, this is my first story,” etc. You are predisposing the readers to think your story is bad. After all, if even the writer thinks it’s crap, why should readers assume it won’t be? Let them read it and decide for themselves without negative bias. Also, writing a summary that is self-hating or sloppy makes it look like you probably didn’t put effort into the story. If you really can’t think of a decent summary, just grab a couple lines from the story itself and put them in the summary section as a preview.

--Putting random author notes in the story. Example: “Reaching for the treasure, Mary suddenly cried out in pain. (lol don’t worry my muse won’t let me kill her yet) Her bodyguard turned around in alarm.” Wow, talk about interrupting the flow of the story! Have you ever tried to watch a movie with someone talking over it? Yeah, that’s what you’re doing to your readers.

--Poor spelling and grammar. A little of this is probably inevitable. Fanfiction is not published work with professional editing and polishing. Mistakes will happen. Getting a beta to help is always a good idea, if you can. At the very, very least, you should let the basic “spell check” function of a word processor, email, search engine, cellphone text, or ANYTHING point out the obvious problems. Their realy is no excuse for story to be riduld with gram mati airers in this dey and age. Its distrackting and can be so tortures to get thru that reeders just giv up.

--Using italics every other word. Also, using caps or bold ALL OVER THE PLACE. Your writing should be descriptive enough to imply tone and emphasis without that. Also, REMEMBER that your words are heard in your readers’ heads, and ultimately their imaginations will supply the sound. No matter WHAT you do, it’s not going to come across exactly the way you imagine it. That’s okay! Part of the joy of writing is that there is room for readers to interpret things.

--Using pronouns all the time and confusing readers. Example: “He clenched his teeth. His friend reached for him, his hand shaking. He slapped his hand down. After a breath, he said, “Why are you doing this?” Closing his eyes, a tear dripped down his cheek.” Can you tell who is doing what in this scenario?? Just because you know, as the author, doesn’t mean your readers know. Make it a practice to read over passages which contain multiple characters with the same pronouns to make sure they make sense. It’s okay to repeat people’s names, sometimes. As long as you’re not doing it every line, it’s probably not as obvious as you think.

--Trying to avoid the word “said” or using said all the time. Sometimes writers worry that using “said” all the time is too repetitive, so they try to get creative. Example: “Where are you going?” she inquired. “I’m going to the store,” he stated. “I went to the store yesterday,” she reminded him. “Oh, is that so?” He mentioned. “Yes, it is,” she intoned. See the problem? “Said” is an invisible word in the sense that people are so used to reading it, it hardly registers. You can get away with using it much more than other, similar verbs. At the same time, you don’t need to use it every line! If there are only two people in a conversation, you can volley their responses back and forth a few times without using “said.” Just don’t do that for so long the reader gets lost. You can also have dialogue next to descriptions of character actions. Like: “Where are you going?” she asked.

“I’m going to the store.” He rolled his eyes.

It’s clear that the man said the second sentence, even without “said!”

--Related: applying an incorrect action to speaking. Example: “Oh, is that so?” he glared. The problem is that you don’t “glare” words. The correct way to write this would be something like “Oh, is that so?” he said, glaring/with a glare, or “Oh, is that so?” He glared. See, the dialogue and the action are in separate sentences.

--Randomly switching tenses. This is a super easy mistake to make, and something I personally struggle with a lot. Word’s spell check can help point this out, or a beta. I definitely advise keeping an eye out for this during your re-reads. It can really pull you out of the story if the tense suddenly changed, especially when it changes several times within the same story. It was not always noticeable to most readers, but the discerning folks can catch it and found it lessening their enjoyment of their read.

Anyway, those are just a few tips for things to avoid! Most of these are not hard and fast rules. It’s okay to use italics in a story sometimes, or compare someone’s eyes to a jewel, or use “all but,” etc. It’s just when you do it frequently that it becomes a problem.

Feel free to add your own tips to this post!

[cassie-and-ren]

Hi~

So obviously I haven’t been posting, for one I’m sorry I’m finally on summer break and I really wanted to relax from school for a bit before my life kills me and secondly it’s really just because I had huge writers’s block and I still do. I”m trying to get new ideas and whatnot, but who knows. I hope I can keep writing for you all! On to my normal blurb...

I really don’t know what this is but I’m a sucker for Catfish the TV show and I always love it when they meet who they were really talking to. So yeah...

Enjoy reading~

Ghosting

    You weren’t the most social person on the planet, that’s an understatement. You didn’t like speaking to people in real life or at all, pretty much you wanted to keep to yourself, and for the most part you were able to. All through school no one bothered you unless they were forced to speak with you and you were content with having no friends. That wasn’t to say you enjoyed it all the time, seeing girls and guys hang out with their friends, talking for hours, laughing and doing things together you did envy it, but what were you to do now? It’s not like you could just all of a sudden start acting friendly. At least you didn’t want to, High School was ending soon for you and making friends seemed pointless. So you hoped maybe as you got older you’d make friends at work or maybe even in higher learning.

    Either way you didn’t really concern about it most time, just the few time it did cross your mind, but you didn’t concern too much about it because you did have one friend…

    As you got home your parents didn’t say much to you so you quickly went to your room and opened your laptop checking to see if he was on. This he was named MaL, at least that was his username. You met him randomly while you were scrolling through your social media, you came across a fan page for Mark and decided to follow it since you felt like you needed some more Mark Lee pictures in your life. That was when one day he messaged you with a simple hello. From there you two talked almost everyday, he knew you had school so he didn’t bother texting you then, but it had become pretty routine to talk with him every other day. You wanted to talk with him more but you didn’t want to come across as needy or annoying and settled on doing it every other day. MaL never said anything either so you were content with how things were.

    Even though you two had never video chatted or spoken on the phone you trusted him and what he told you. He explained he was a male, that he was around your age. He didn’t say where he lived and neither did you, apart from a vague country or continent but a part of you wanted to know. Eventually things went from you just having a cool online friend to having a crush. You enjoyed speaking to him and found yourself wanting to hear his voice and meet him in real life. You never asked because you worried if he’d think you were strange for wanting to meet up, you had only known each other for two months or so, but things were good so you settled on just talking online and didn’t do anything to mess that up.

That’s when you heard a chime on your laptop.

“Hey~ you home yet?” You smiled and responded.

“Yeah, sorry I didn’t text first… I was thinking about something.”

“What about?”

“Nothing serious, just some dumb stuff”

“You don’t think about dumb stuff, are you lying?”

“Lol why would I be?”

“I don’t know, you never know.”

“Well you know, I wouldn’t lie to you.”

“Right…”

“I’m serious!”

“Alright calm down, I was joking! But  I have a day off tomorrow so I can stay up really late tonight!”

“You’re not going to fall asleep on me?”

“As long as you don’t.”

“Touche.”

“Lol”

“Well you know NCT is coming to your country?”

“Of course I know! Everyone blew up about it online.”

“Are you gonna go?”

“I really want to but…”

“No, you have to go!”

“Why?”

“Because, when EXO came last time you said you wanted to go but forgot to buy tickets, you complained about it for almost a week after!”

“Who cares, just ignore me or tell me to stop complaining.”

“You can’t be mean to friends.”

“So I can be rude to you then?”

“Okay, not funny.”

“I’m kidding, but if I do go I’ll be all alone.”

“No you won’t.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I mean, I’m going too.”

“You are?”

“Yeah, this time I wanted to see all their concerts, I took some time off from work and my parents are cool with it. So when I heard they were coming to where you are I figured maybe… we could meet up in see each other in real life.” You really didn’t know what to think, if you said yes you were going to meet him. That made you heart race, but you had to respond.

“You really want to meet me?”

“Of course! You’re almost like best friends and this way meeting you won’t freak you out… even though I swear I’m not some creepy dude.”

“I know… but you don’t know if I could be some creepy person!”

“I don’t think you are, if you were you would have asked to meet me, but you never did.”

“Have you ever seen catfish?”

“Okay extreme cases there, besides have I ever sent you money?”

“That’s not the point.”

“Well that aside we’ll be in public with a ton of other people, I wanted to meet you in the venue, I was getting my seat really close to the stage too, but I figured if we went in together we could get seats together.” That seemed like a good idea, you’d meet where everyone was going to be. You did have some money saved and while buying a seat that close was expensive… you’d be killing two birds with one stone.

“Okay…”

“Hey, don’t be nervous… I mean I am too but only because it’ll be new getting to see you and hear your voice.”

“That makes two of us.”

“I’m glad you feel that way too… we could do it now if you want. Buying our seats together?”

“...Yeah alright should I pick where we sit?”

“If you want I’ll go in and try and get my right beside you… or at least in the same row.”

“Okay let me bring it up.”

    After that, you spent most of the night trying to find two seats that were empty together, eventually you and him found seats that were close enough together and you bought yours. You and MaL talked for the rest of the night until you started to get sleepy, you were more so than usual and told him you’d call it a night. He let you go and soon you were fast asleep…

    Since their concert was happening after school for you ended, you focused on the end of the year. You still wanted to talk to MaL but despite your wants he seemed to just disappear. You tried to text him everyday now because he wouldn’t respond to you. You were worried maybe he was bailing out on even meeting you, you tried asking him questions only for him to totally ignore them. You weren’t even let on read. He somehow just disappeared from your life, and while you were disappointed you had spent over two hundred dollars just to see NCT so you were going to force yourself to be happy and within the following two weeks you were getting ready to leave…

    The day of the concert had you were nervous for one reason or another, you still told none of this boy to your parents for fear they’d be so worried and prevent you from going, but you did tell them that you wanted to be picked up by them which they happily agreed to. So as you and a large group of other girls were waiting for the doors to open you looked around trying to see if MaL was there. You two did plan to wear something that you two would recognize, you wore a pink bandana on your left wrist while he said he have on black ripped jeans with a key chain he sent a picture. You were still worried that he may have just been setting you up, but you did think maybe he thought the same way. You didn’t have high hopes for tonight and told yourself not to take any stupid risks. Eventually you were let inside and you quickly found your row and seat. You knew what seat he had gotten so you wanted around for a while seeing girl after girl fill the spaces, by the time the stands were filled there was still a seat left open in your row. You hoped it was his and tried to get your mind off it. Then NCT came onto the stage.

    In your mind you were thinking about how handsome they all were up close, but that quickly faded when you saw Mark. He was your bias but that’s not that caused you to stare blankly at him. Once they were all on stage preparing for the first song Mark turned to stare directly at you. You were caught off guard especially when you noticed that easily recognizable key chain. Mark stared at you for a while longer before you decided to raise your left hand showing the pink bandana, upon seeing that a bright smile came to his face and the song started. Everything hit you then. MaL was Mark! You couldn’t believe you didn’t put two and two together! He never said when his birthday was, but you assumed it was during the summer since he would always talk about his gifts during the winter. He also knew a lot about Mark, most of it you brushed off as simple coincidence but thinking about it now, of course he’d know that stuff about himself! You couldn’t believe it, now you were laughing and soon joined everyone else in the fan chants…

    The concert had been amazing, Mark stole glances your way making you laugh when you really didn’t need to, but you enjoyed it nonetheless. Once everything was over you were slowly making your way out of the concert hall, that was until you finally got a message from Mark again.

“Sorry about this, but do you think we can meet up?” You smiled.

“Of course we can Mark… where?” He told you where and you went there and waited around until pretty much everyone was gone. You told your parents you’d call them when you were done so you didn’t have to worry about them just yet. You were about to text Mark again when he called out to you.

“Hey…” You turned as he approached you. You two said nothing for a little bit, Mark broke the silence. “... Did you have fun.” You smiled.

“Yeah I really did.” He smiled happy to hear that, “But I didn’t have fun being ignored for the last two weeks.”

“I know! I’m sorry it’s just after you said you were coming I figured I’d just talk to you here, but I didn’t think about how long that would be.” You nodded.

“I almost didn’t come because I thought you were baiting me.”

“I told you I wasn’t some creep.” You smiled.

“Yeah, instead you’re a liar! I can’t believe you’re Mark Lee!” You were acting like a normal fan would as reality finally hit you, he just laughed at you. “Why didn’t you just tell me?”

“Because I didn’t really know how you were, I was worried you’d tell everyone you knew and things would get out of hand fast.” You nodded. “Plus I really didn’t want you liking me because I’m Mark from NCT, I know it’s kind of corny but I wanted you to like me for me, not what I do.” You smiled.

“I get it, but I wouldn’t have told anyone since I really don’t have friends,” He seemed shocked, “And secondly I already liked you as a bias.” His face went red.

“Y-you did?” You nodded.

“I hope that doesn’t make things weird.”

“No! It just means… uh I know we can keep being good… friends.”

“Yeah… friends.” You two sat in silence for a little bit.

“Hey can I ask you-” You both stopped speaking over each other, he let you go first.

“Well, I was gonna ask if uh you’d be okay with-” You shook your head. “Actually never mind, what were you going to ask?” He got stiff suddenly.

“Uh, I was just going to ask if you were dating anyone, but you said you didn’t really have friends so maybe I shouldn’t have asked that?”

“No, it’s fine, but why did you want to know?”

“W-well because we’re kind of close and I was hoping we could keep being this close and I figured if you were with someone it’d be kind of bad you know?” As cute as he was you held back a smile.

“I get it… and I hope we can keep being close too.” Mark smiled to you. “But no more lies.”

“I promise.” You nodded to him.

“So… do you wanna go backstage with me? Everyone was kind of curious about who you were.”

“You told them about me?”

“Yeah, they kind of make fun of me for it.” Your face went hot, “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“Of course I’m going! Just swear you’ll catch me if I pass out.” You joked, he laughed.

“Sure I’ll have Jaehyun carry you.” You didn’t expect your meeting to wind up this way. You were happy and even more so knowing that your feelings for Mark may have been mutual…

[yoonia]

I hate About Time... I love it so much, but.... Sigh, Jk or Jimin??? Who do i support? AND how I'm supposed to decide, when I'll be devastated if she doesn't end up with the one i chose? I'm all for Jimin, because, his calm n has hommy feel around him n because he seems to remember the first life n uwu n he is my bias too.... Then Jk,I feel like he is The Lucifer or something Evil or dangerous , but extremely beautiful ,n u r so entranced by its beauty, that u don't know when u r too caught up

In it, before its too late n it kills u. N I'm also that hopeless naive romantic, that gonna fall into that trap as well... So all in me screams run away girl, but then this tiny voice feels so sorry for him n wants for him to be given a chance in the new life.. N the part where Jk is so often bias wrecker of mine doesn't help at all, too... As well ur writing skills, n how u make this story so Real, i constantly feel like reading my diary or like i read about my own previous life

When none of the parts of this story have happened to me in real life n i still feel so bonded to it, that i can cry my eyes out to it, like all loses r my personal lost. I really don't know what's happening to me, when i read About Time, i just go threw emotional roller-coaster every time... I can blabber about my struggles reading the story n inner fights for hours. It's not helpful that they have been threw so much in the story, it's not fair! Everything isn't fair! It's so sad...

I still loved him more than anything in the world... N then that gif of Jk... Not fair.. Even after all that happened with Jimin n after they became close? It's killing me... Where this story is going, how her previous life ended? So many questions, sigh, i just realised how much more simplier would be if it was just hers n Jks story, but nope... Yeah, sorry about this 'rant-ish' emotional outburst, just it's the About Time effect lol

Don’t worry about the rant, love. You know how much I enjoy reading any kind of reactions for About Time series :’)

Trust me, placing both characters together hasn’t been easy for me as a writer as well /sobs/ it’s really hard to pick a side when I’m already so deeply attached to both. But you are completely right about each character. I created them both so different to one another for so many reasons. Her final decision being one of them hahaha oh you are right about devilish Jungkook. He is that one character that you know is bad but will lure you in whenever you get too close. I had to put that gif there because the next parts will accentuate on that part of the story (Yes, we’ll be focusing on Jungkook now)

I might have to warn you that the story will progress pretty slowly starting from here. I never planned it that way, but after working on the storyboard for the ending, I feel like there are a few scenes that are necessary to be pointed out on separate chapters before we get there, and trust me, we are seeing more about her past life and Jimin’s as well. 

I’m glad that you enjoy the series, love. The one reason why I write this story on a 1st person POV is to allow the character to narrate the story, since technically we are looking through her experience instead of experiencing the setting in a present time. I’m not sure if I explained it correctly haha but it’s pleasing to hear that you can feel what the characters are feeling like you are reading her diary, because that’s how I imagine it happening too sometimes and that I am writing down her diary through this story lol