#page by page translation in the tags of anyone's interested :> (^^ pages 2 and half of 3 above)

[wammypilled]

Source

[allgoldenelite]

Ibushi as a guest on Nagata's channel translation/summary

I wrote up this summary of the two part video featuring Ibushi as a guest on Nagata Yûji's channel. There's some nice stuff in here, especially about his relationship with Nagata and how he came to ultimately sign with AEW, but some real bummers as well, such as injuries and NJPW history. Read at your own discretion.

Give the videos a view and a like here and here

Part 1

After a bit of a sneak peek for what's ahead in the episode, Nagata introduces Ibushi and they both share how happy they are about meeting each other and that this video happened. Nagata makes some remarks about Ibushi's weight that I'm gonna spare you. They last saw each other in person 2 1/2 years ago and Nagata was really sad that Ibushi disappeared from NJPW and the wrestling world in general because he's such an outstanding talent and person. It was sad but he knows a lot (in the negative sense) happened.

(as a side note this video was made with permission from NJPW; Ibushi seems a bit apprehensive/surprised about that but Nagata is like "we're friends so of course this is okay"; take that however you will (Nagata's channel, like many wrestler channels, is tightly scripted and controlled))

The first segment is about what Ibushi has been up to lately. He moved, although not far away from where he used to live, like it's still in the same area. The new home has a garage so he has made that his training compound now, but he still goes to the secret base for wrestling training etc.

They talk about the IPWRI and how there's lots of MMA fighters coming to him cause they want to try out or be serious about wrestling. There's been more and more people joining, and Kikutarô (you saw him last in a short multiman with Ibushi at GLEAT Version Mega) and 2 wrestlers from West Gate Wrestling Federation (where the Golden Lovers once had a very entertaining tag match against Hachimitsu Jirô and Antonio Koinoki; not that's not a typo) are also part of the "roster" now.

It's not really relevant but I gotta mention it for the comedy and the brainrot: the 2 wrestlers from West Gate are called Nakamura Chinsuke and Tanabota Hiroshi ("chin" here means "weird but interesting" and "tanabota" means "godsend") and Nagata mentions he has a knockoff called Nagata GU lmao.

Ibushi gets asked if anyone can join, and he says yeah, if the vibes match. That there hasn't really been anyone he hasn't been on the same wavelength with except maybe [this part is censored, I assume it's something business related since he mentions a place]. Anyway, he loves people so there isn't really anyone that he thinks won't fit.

Nagata talks about how he knew about Ibushi even 20 years ago because he had heard there was a really good wrestler in DDT who was skinny but was doing all this amazing highflying moves and kicks and stuff from Nakajima Katsuji, who is a reporter and former board member in NJPW.

They talk about how they randomly met on a tour when NOAH was also doing a tour in the same city and he saw him at a convenience store, some time in 2009 after Ibushi had made his debut for NJPW as a junior heavyweight. Ibushi on the other hand remembers Nagata from watching him on TV, like his match in the finals of the Young Lion Cup against Kendô Kashin. Those are unforgettable matches for him. It's cute because he came up to Nagata as a fan even when he was in NJPW because he wanted to ask him about this match and that. Makabe and co used to joke around with him like "bro you're stanning".

Next they transition into talking about his time under double contracts. I won't bore you with some of this because it's well-known I think and if you wanna brush up you can always check out this page from my translations (ctrl + f for "double contracts"). The short of it is that Ibushi made an impression on NJPW with his Best Bout against Nakamura during the G1 2013 among other things, and when they offered to sign him he was like, I'd rather stay with DDT also.

Nagata mentions that Ibushi's match against Nakamura at the Dome in 2015 saved him. He had been in the main event at the Dome 7 times until then, and that year was the first year he was in the royal ranbo (before the start of the official show). He won that match but implies he felt down and dejected, like he was just doing a job. But he saw Ibushi and Nakamura in the semi main and it re-ignited his fighting spirit. Like he had been feelings the effects of aging and had no real aspirations in wrestling anymore, even wondering if he should quit altogether. But that match gave him his will to keep wrestling back. Ibushi is an important person for Nagata because he would tell him how much he respects him to his face and mean it. There are several wrestlers in NJPW that are special to him, like Nakamura, but Ibushi is extra special in that sense.

For Ibushi, Nagata also means a lot because he represents the kind of wrestling he loves the most (leaving the highflying aside), like the ground wrestling kind with lots of kicks and suplexes (he talks in his book about how much he loves taking suplexes lol so I'm not surprised).

They begin talking about Ibushi's time as double champion and his unification of the belts (they keep kayfabe for this but you should know NJPW made him do this as a scapegoat for the decision), and how much of a pressure that was for him to deliver as the first ever IWGP World Heavyweight champion. There were so many tough, big matches he had over a long time so he had his moments of thinking that this is just too much. He considered it an honor to be one of the wrestlers who carried NJPW through the early pandemic but at the same time there was an imbalance between his body and his mind, eventually he just broke. Nagata says he can relate because he defended the IWGP belt 10 times when he became champion in 2002. Especially with this being during the dark age when wrestlers left NJPW to go to other promotions or found their own MMA promotions during the MMA boom, so there was a period of half a year when he could only sleep with sleeping pills. After he dropped the belt he slept for 3 days straight. They talk a bit about Ospreay since Ibushi dropped the belt to him but it's mostly in kayfabe and I'm gonna spare you that as well.

Ibushi's last match in NJPW, in other words the botched Phoenix Splash that would put him out for a long time, is the next topic. He mentions how he doesn't really remember anything surrounding that accident because he hit his head on the mat, he believes. He thought he could still go but then his shoulder hurt like hell and the match was over before he knew what was happening. Nagata watched the match backstage and he told Ibushi afterwards, "You got this, what makes one truly strong is getting back up from setbacks like this", and Ibushi really really appreciated that because it wasn't just a pat on the back and a quick "Hang in there". Like Nagata was about the only one who would always have something positive to say to him in situations like that. Nagata wanted to say something that came from the heart because Ibushi was one of the young people keeping NJPW going as the next generation, and because the 2013 match had helped him out so much and he wanted to repay the favor.

It was a time for Ibushi (as you know) when he contemplated retiring altogether, and Nagata was the first one to contact him after the whole Kikuchi/exploitation thing. Nagata was worried cause he saw his tweets, and he knew how he felt and everything but he wanted to tell him that he is a pillar of NJPW. Nagata is like "I know you're sensitive and that all that weight they put on your shoulders was probably too much", and Ibushi agrees. He says that throughout NJPW's history there's always been these singular people who carry the company, that he can relate while he was still at the top and that it's often hard (he doesn't exactly criticize it—keep in mind what I said in the beginning—but still it was nice to see them rightfully "bashing" NJPW's style here for a bit).

Part 2

Then about a month or so after leaving NJPW, Ibushi was contacted by Kenny/AEW. Kenny was like, "How about wrestling for AEW?" and Ibushi was like "Uh, sorry, maybe it's time for me to quit wrestling...", so he refused the offer at first. When asked by Nagata why he says that he tried to not confront wrestling itself, it wasn't just the NJPW thing.

So [AEW?] kept offering, and one time Kenny is like, "All right, come to hang out in the US" and so he went there, assuming it would be nothing, and then Kenny was like, "Okay, Ibushi, do or die." He says he got "tricked" (in a positive sense). Kenny was like, "We'll go and watch an AEW match", and since that was a match that Kenny would be in, Ibushi was like, "Oh, where should I stay in the meantime? Like, the hotel or...?" and Kenny is like, "No, you're coming with." So he went to the venue and watched it (backstage I assume) and it made him want to do wrestling again (hard to pin down the time frame of this).

He was thinking like, Kenny is my friend and he's working so hard, what am I doing here not working hard? They talked about it and he made one-off appearances in AEW here and there after that, and then by the 2nd or 3rd time he signed with them. Nagata is like, that sounds just like when you saved me back in the day, that's what friends do for each other. Ibushi thought that he wouldn't fall back in love with wrestling but (watching this match) made him fall back in love with it. His in ring instinct is slowly coming back as well and although he hasn't returned to AEW yet he hopes to make more things happen in the future.

He gets asked how his injuries are going and he says his right ankle, the one he got surgery for, is doing well, it healed really fast (was supposed to take a year but took 4 months), but it's his left ankle that's bothering him now, it's been hurting for a long time because he kept working through it (you can see he's walking weird now because of this, like in the match at GLEAT). When asked if he feels in shape (for wrestling) he says he doesn't, like his current 100% was his 60% back when he was in top shape, but he is doing his best to get back there.

The next segment is about how wrestling styles (have to) change with age. Nagata basically says that a highflying style is as risky as it is devastating and enticing, but Ibushi has a knack for always reinventing himself and if he thinks back to someone like Kobashi, who would do moonsault over moonsault when he was younger but became unable to do them when his knees got worse, he remembers thinking that this is what it means to build a career and legacy when he saw how loud the crowd would get for just one moonsault once kobashi was older, because it was so special. So he thinks Ibushi should use that to his advantages and build a new, nice style for himself in the ring. He says he hopes he keeps hanging in there after everything that happened.

Ibushi says that he has also grown estranged from wrestling in many ways but he will always wrestle he thinks, and he hopes to come back with a new style. Nagata is really happy that he seems to be doing so much better and that he wants to keep wrestling and that Kenny was there for him as his friend to give him that motivation back.

They talk about how Ibushi posted pictures of them on Instagram the other day and he gets asked about how Kenny is doing health-wise. He says Kenny told him he'd be able to come back in about 2 to 3 months from now, something like that. Nagata is like, that must be really hard for him, I heard it's rather gruesome, and Ibushi is like, it's still bothering him a lot, like sometimes he takes an hour in the bathroom, he has to find out what kind of food he can absorb and what kind is a no-go, stuff like that.

Ibushi gets asked if he can see the Golden Lovers making a comeback and he's like, "Absolutely." He thinks that no doubt, once he himself comes back Kenny will also come back. He says they are rivals but they're also friends. They're friends who carry a bit of a sense of rivalry towards each other, so for him it's like, he has no doubt in his mind that Kenny is thinking, "If Ibushi comes back I gotta come back as well." Nagata is like "Wow that guy is a trooper. You got yourself a good partner and friend there" and Ibushi is like "He really is" (you hear that? that's the heart of the homo writing this bursting).

Ibushi is like, I guess I'm banned from appearing in NJPW lol? and Nagata is like, why'd you have to say something like this just when we were talking about something nice??? and everyone laughs. He says he brought it up thinking about what (they?) wanna do in the future, and he would really love to face Nagata + someone (as the GL). So he was like, well I guess that won't work in NJPW. Nagata is like, as long as it's on my own produce show it should be possible. He asks if Ibushi would like to tag with him or face him and Ibushi is like, I'd love to do both.

They talk a bit more about how Nagata doesn't think the president (Tanahashi) would say no to this (it's unclear if he still means just his own produce show (since he gets permission from the company for these if there are wrestlers from other promotions on them) or Ibushi actually appearing in NJPW proper) and that it'd be such a waste since Ibushi has gotten back his positive mindset and has dreams for wrestling again. They thank each other for the nice talk and express once more how glad they are to have been able to meet.

Nagata jokes that Ibushi is his senpai when it comes to YouTube since his channel has existed longer than his, but Ibushi is like, I'm so bad with uploads tho and then he points at Imanari offscreen and jokingly yells like, "Upload a new video!" (btw a little behind the scenes look for this video also landed on Ibushi's channel lol). They do the ゼァ together and it's very cute. Fin.

[thewertsearch]

Ask Comp 13/05

@garnetduodecim asked: I always assumed jack spent the first 4 hours in the troll session, before destroying prospit, destroying Aradiabots, there were A LOT of them.

Maybe one of the Aradiabots got in a lucky shot, and was able to tag him with a weaker, non-God Tier variant of her freeze ability. That'd certainly at least delay him.

@morganwick asked: So, you were talking about Aradia "injuring" Vriska (post/704357246751113217) and comparing Vriska to a fairy godmother character (post/722100305374986240)?

@manorinthewoods asked: Serendipity Gospels is by Tamsyn Muir??? Really? Um, that's… hoo. That was one of the fanfics that I didn't end up liking. Might need to revisit that. Side note: 'Doc Scratch's School for Supernaturally Gifted Adolescents' feels more like something Locked Tomb-esque to me. So that's really… ah. ~LOSS (3/5/24)

I do wonder how similar the Gospels are to TLT's writing style.

Actually, can anyone confirm at what point the fic will be safe to read? I could just wait until I'm reading panels from after its publication date, but if I can check it out before, I will.

@abysswarlock asked: Ooh I’ve had this hypothesis for a while now but you just said something that made me lock in my guess that your classpect is Prince of Doom

The classpect wheel continues to turn!

I'm married to Doom for at least one of my 'sonas, but my Class is still up in the air, since we know even less about them than aspects.

@manorinthewoods asked: As a sort of Part 2 to that sylladex comment - how do you think the Sylladex works? Do you think that Homestuck will go into more detail about Sylladices, or do you think they'll fade into the background as different aspects of the magic system come to the fore? ~LOSS (24/4/24)

I think the latter is a lot more likely. Most aspects (lol) of Homestuck's magic system are there to serve the story first and foremost. As much as I'd love the comic to turn into a treatise on Sburb deeplore, it really doesn't feel like something Hussie would be interested in doing.

The story won't really suffer without, say, a detailed explanation of every facet of alchemy - I just really like speculating, because I'm all about shit like that.

@heliotropopause asked: What are your thoughts on Homestuck's translation convention(s)? As an example, take page 2251, line "Arrivederci, Megido.": Is she writing in something close enough to Earth English to scan as such to the reader, no translation necessary? Is Vriska saying a word in Troll Italian, which gets translated to Earth Italian? Is she expressing a sentiment in her usual language that's best translated as the word "arrivederci" as it's used in English? Has Doc Scratch secretly been translating all cross-species communication we've seen so far?

Vriska's arrivederci seems diegetic to me. If we inherited English from Alternia, it makes sense that some of our other languages might come from there too.

tl;dr: Troll Italy is real 🇮🇹

Anonymous asked: im not one to dip my toes into The Vriscourse but this one piece of analysis i really liked is that vriska is jealous of tavros, that hes had a much easier life compared to her and that hes allowed to be more of a wimp while she has to be the toughest fuck alive or else shell die

It's only one piece of the Vriska-Tavros puzzle, but it's an important one. She'll refuse to acknowledge it to the end, though, because the idea of being jealous of Tavros is disgusting to her.

@obscureaeguran asked: Are there any current theories of yours that you want to be wrong about?

Confident as I am in my Vriska death theory, I don't actually want to be right.

I really like Vriska's character, and I want to see her grow past the worldview that's preventing her from finding peace. I just don't think that's likely, given her current trajectory.

Anonymous asked: 'In what universe are 13-year-olds the people most qualified to make universes?' well per the beta version of homestuck (when hussie wanted to make the whole thing in flash before deciding against it) they were all going to be 10 instead, i think this is the much better option!

How young can we go, anyway?

AU where the Homestuck Babies aren't sent to Earth at all, and just start playing immediately.

@manorinthewoods asked: Have you played Deltarune? ~LOSS (9/4/24)

I have! I was actually replaying it on day one of the liveblog - hence the several references I made to it at the time. That feels forever ago, now.

@bladekindeyewear asked: Jade changed pretty drastically as a person after her dreamself died, if you think about it— demanding Feferi stop using her quirk in chat, standing up to the trolls for the first time, getting angry, to such an extent that Karkat was so surprised that it turned his opinion of her around completely in a single conversation. Even forcing a password system to keep talks linear instead of using cloud visions to do everything out of order. This doesn’t just feel to me like dream Jade being a “different individual”, it also feels like a metaphorical confrontation between her NEW self and her OLD self…

I think it's both.

Jade's been through a lot in the last couple of hours, and she really isn't the same girl who died on Prospit.

Being an oracle of Skaia's visions led to disaster. They showed her that John's Dream Self would awaken, leading her to believe she was finally going to meet him, but neglected to mention that she'd die the moment he opened his eyes - or that Prospit would die alongside her.

As a result, the new Jade seems to have made a decision to completely reject all prophetic information. She'll supply the minimum possible intel to her past self, and no more.

It's clear her Dream Self's death was a catalyst for a pretty dramatic shift in her worldview. She's angry - at the trolls, at herself, and at the world that betrayed her trust. She's tired of being jerked around, and her tumultuous emotions are making her rather testy. Basically, she's sick of all the bullshit, and she won't take it from anyone anymore.

Jadesprite has experienced the same catalyst, and has also come to mistrust the clouds, but for different reasons.

Jade rejects prophecies, in part, because she doesn't want to be deceived - but Jadesprite rejects them out of sheer hopelessness. She just doesn't care anymore.

They both have the same trauma, but they're dealing with it in very different ways - and at this point, I really do consider them to be different people.

And then on a metaphorical level, Jadesprite represents the 'silly', absent-minded childhood self that got Jade into this mess.

I think this taunt from Karkat hit very, very close to home for her, and I'm sure she associates the traits he described with her idyllic days on Prospit. It's part of why Dream Jade is such a perfect target for her fury.

@spyril4132 asked: i beg to differ on the entry item similarities only applying to prospit. iirc, rose shatters a bottle, and dave hatches an egg; both involve breaking open some sort of "shell", and neither are associated with a larger object, which could be seen as similar types of items. (while jade does break a piñata, she does so by shooting it, not by splitting it apart)

It's true that Rose and Dave's object's have some physical similarities, but John and Jade are both summoning the same tree, which feels like a much stronger connection.

Rose and Dave's entry cards also summoned auxiliary items, but they were different - a cabinet and bird, respectively. From where I'm sitting, the link between the two Prospit items does seem unique.

@skelekingfeddy asked: what herptiles would sally and sahlee have as their consorts? i feel like a monitor lizard would fit for one of them…maybe losas has like, turtle or tortoise consorts, what with their long-livedness and the wise sagely vibe and all.

I was thinking pretty much the same thing for Sahlee. Let's say they're Galápagos tortoises, because the Sage gives me Oogway vibes.

For Sally's Consorts, I'm going to get really funky and say they're a type of pterosaur.

@sparten4ever92 asked: The HS version of Megalovania is slept on way too much, the Vriska guitar adds so much to it that the UT version just doesn't have. @sanctferum asked: Finally, MeGaLoVania by Toby Fox (feat. Joren "Tensei" deBruin on guitar)! Would you say that Tavros had an…unpleasant chronological progression? (btw I do love the bit of Spider's Claw that plays during the Vriska segment, which is (obviously) unique to this Megalovania) also, the audiovisual style of homestuck flashes is just really cool imo @mimescantscream asked: You have no idea how long we've waited for the Megalovania

This version of Megalovania was a great choice for Aradia's finest hour - or at least, her finest hour so far.

It's moments like this which are why I decided to stop listening to the albums in advance. If I hadn't first heard Aradia's Megalovania in this flash, it wouldn't have hit the way it did.

@elkian asked: MEGALOVANIA TIME BAYBEEEE! Also, let's go back to that theory you had about Aradia getting more alive, because you NAILED it. @iris-in-the-dark-world asked: i am so excited to see aradia again and finally as herself :33<

She's fucking BACK, baby!

Seeing Aradia smiling for real after all this time is genuinely heartwarming - and with her time-stop attack, she's almost unkillable. It'd take some absolute nonsense to take Aradia out of the picture again, and I think she'll be sticking around for a long time. Hopefully forever.

@grippingtraverse asked: notice any similarities during megalovania between aradia vs. jack & sans vs. player? 0u0

The best I can come up with is that Aradia and Frisk are both time travelers whose signature color is red.

Or maybe Jack is the Frisk analogue, since he's the one wiping out all life in the session, and Aradia is the last foe he faces.

@captorations asked: please consider, with this new information about aradia, what it could mean for her literary descendant dulcie septimus. please also keep considering this as you continue and see more of aradia. i am very normal about both of these characters

Ooh, they do have similar vibes, don't they? They're both doomed, they're strongly associated with death, and they both have a cheerful side that comes out when you don't expect it to.

@duorogue asked: "You have to give Nepeta some credit. The literal first thing she did after this traumatic murder was log into Trollian and report on Jack’s activities." To be fair to her, when I have a bad nightmare the first thing I do is log onto discord

nepeta hopping on mic at 2am to complain about the hat man (the hat man is doc scratch)

@absinthe-and-alabaster asked: when the writ keeper was introduced as fifth exile you mentioned that it was a little fucked up how the king was the only prospitian that was preserved - i just wanted to remind you that no, he wasn't ! on page 1974 we see all the other prospitians that were exiled with the white queen on her ship (including ms paint!) WQ just left them to go wander the desert

I'd actually forgotten about that. So much happened during the Act 4 ending that it completely slipped my mind. I even missed Ms. Paint!

Anonymous asked: Hey, as you noticed, the Dave Coin Split is a plot hole. We've never seen the timeline split because of someone's choice before. Compare to John flying to the seventh gate, there weren't two timelines based on his choice, the timeline only changed because Dave came back from the original timeline and changed it. And of course, like you said in the tags, Terezi shouldn't have been able to communicate with Doomed Dave, including to tell him the result of the FL1P. Have you noticed any other plot holes or things that don't seem to make sense?

While I see what you're saying, it might not necessarily be a plot hole! Certainly the Dave Coin Timeline was created in a different manner to Davesprite's - but that might just mean there are multiple ways to split a timeline, or that there are certain requirements that must be fulfilled for a decision to spawn one.

Because of things like that, it's hard to tell whether something's actually a plot hole, or if it'll eventually make sense in light of later reveals.

This is particularly true for aspects of the plot involving time travel, like the one you just described. Like, remember before I learned about Doomed Timelines, when I thought Davesprite broke Homestuck's predestination rules?

Anonymous asked: You said "God Tiering is just another way to inhabit your Dream Self," so do you think the things that Dream Selves can do (such as Jade growing extra arms) can be done by God Tiers?

I never really thought about that!

I think it's definitely possible. God Tier bodies can fly the same way that Dream Selves can, so other powers might transfer, too. Maybe the only reason Vriska, Aradia and John aren't shapeshifters is because Jade hasn't taught them to how to dream up extra limbs.

She might be one of the only Dream Selves who've learned how to shapeshift this fluidly. Logging thousands of hours on Prospit has its perks!

[they-reap-what-we-sow]

20 questions for writers

thank you for the tag @fanfictiongreenirises I finally managed to finish a tag game!!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

168- with 44 podfics and the rest are regular fics!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

346,848. unfathomable number who is she where did she come from

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Batman (Batfam) my love my life, but 9-1-1 is a close second with one-offs for a lot of my other passing interests.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Floppy Bird - crack fic that was meant to be an angst fic that I never understood why people liked so much asfhjs

cocoa on a cold night - a classic timby holiday fic that I wrote in the middle of summer, talk about environmental storytelling

secrets un(revealed) - the only purposeful long fic I've ever written, and also the most trope mashing I've ever done with reverse robins, magical realism au, and delicious delicious miscommunications (in my head the only fic that deserves to be in the top five :wheeze: )

Eggshells - vent fic alert !! very embarrassing that people like this I try not to think about it ":)

taking the blade (for you and yours) - a round robin fic written with the server and CHOCK full of Damian suffering.

5. Do you respond to comments?

NO PICTURES. NO COMMENT. I DONT KNOW HOW TO READ.

no jk jk I really really try to but once I start getting behind it's just a whole spiral. these days I have a better chance of replying to a comment on an old fic than a brand new one because I dont want leave them half replied

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

any of my death fics probably? I think with DC a death is a little more inconsequential than other fandoms just because of how often it's unpermanent, so as a concrete answer, I'll say for you (i would cross the line). nothing quite like parental grief.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

happy ending wink-wonk or XD

probably Who The Hell Is Red Hood? - I've done things there with growth and healing that DC HQ would shudder to imagine

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not regularly, thank everything, but the one controversial three-some I posted needed comment regulation lmao

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes and uh, the kinky kind? idk take a look for yourselves I guess

10. Do you write crossovers?

Yes, and they're ALWAYS unserious- Buck from 9-1-1 dating Emma from Friends (yes Ross and Rachel's kid) anyone?

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Uh, not by a person? as far as I know? but I have found my fic on those like, document websites??? which is weird lmao just read them on your phones guys not everything needs to be uploaded

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

nope!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

weee yes! round robin my beloved, and also every fic @canonicallyshort and I have written in our threads. those count. to me. emotionally.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

I WILL GO DOWN WITH MY MULTISHIP (which really means I'm never going down at all) but really I dont think I will ever get over Merthur... or Buddie... or- you see what I mean?

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will?

oh god I have so many wip that I am holding out hope for but my biggest WIP is an unpublished hellhole affectionately entitled "Death Pit" by everyone who is working on it- most notably because it features a literal Death Pit, every horror, angst, whump, and trauma trope you can think of, and a cast of characters and a plot thread so long we have 20+ page outline documents that aren't even fully updated... I shudder to think what will become of it one day, I imagine sentience isn't very far off

16. What are your writing strengths?

why is this an interview question. I dont know my strengths really?? um. I have good ideas, that one I'll say. execution is a different story (likely one that will never get told. like the rest of my good ideas)

I also think I do fairly well with scene descriptors. I really like to set a scene because I'm seeing a movie in my head and you all should too!

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I'm down to clown globally! I dont like to use google translate though, so if im writing in another language it's only because SOMEONE on the server is a native speaker and can vouch for my text.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

oh god one direction. head in hands. it was an 'adopted by 1d' fic that I made my mom beta, and turned it in to my 6th grade English teacher as my creative writing assignment. then I made a poem about it. then I wrote a song about it. thankfully it never got published and is trapped in the cursed purple file folder it was 'hidden' in since 7th grade. my first published fic was almost 7 years later with a Gomens fic!

20. Favourite fic you've written?

AHh um. favorite child scene here, but top contenders include: lithium + 5 for its graphic design and medical accuracy, fiery veins on speechless days for its emotional whump that makes me hurt every time I reread it, [PODFIC] wither on the shore which is not a fic I wrote but one of my favorite podfics of @silk-scarlet-ribbons 's works.

tagging (if you wish to participate!) @canonicallyshort @silverandsunflowers @selkienight60 @crows-murder

[bangpop91]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

I was tagged by the wonderful and fabulously talented @cliophilyra

1. How many fics on AO3?

57

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

357,820

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently it's predominantly 9-1-1, but I also write for 9-1-1 Lone Star, and used to write for Roswell New Mexico.

4. What are your top 5 fics by Kudos?

Sipping Him Like Whiskey

For this Child I Have Prayed

A Contractual Kiss

Growing Pains

Stay With Me

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes. I don't my best to

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I generally as a rule of thumb make sure my angst riddled stories end on a happy or at least hopeful note.

But my WIP Carry On My Wayward Son, which should be completed some time this week will be my angstiest ending

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Ohhhhh. That is a hard one. Really that would probably be every story in the Bedtime Stories Series

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Once on a rare pair fic. I deleted the hate and went on my merry way. It was properly tagged so there was no point arguing with someone who was mad I wrote this Flint/Kyle story.

9. Do you write Smut?

Absolutely! I write all kinds. Soft and sweet, emotional, humorous, kinky.

10. Do you write crossovers?

Technically? I have written 911 and 911 lone star into most of my stories even if it is just Easter eggs of the other show.

Otherwise, I'm open to it just haven't found the right inspiration to yet.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to the best of my knowledge. I'm not where near that popular of a fan fic author for anyone to steal my stories.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated.

I have not! I'd be extremely honored though if anyone ever wanted to translated my work though.

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

@girlwonder-writes and I have something in the works! I am very excited about it!

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

This is like asking which of my children are my favorite 😂. My original ship from way back when I was just starting to make my way into fandom was Gemma Doyle/Felicity Worthington from The Gemma Doyle Trilogy. But I also have fallen in love with a great many other ships over the years. These days, Malex, Lizobel, and Flint/Kyle from Roswell New Mexico still hold a special place in my heart. Then there is Luc and Oliver of the London Calling Series, Henry and Alex from Red, White, and Royal Blue, and Joe and Nicki from the Old Gaurd.

And I refuse to pick a favorite 9-1-1 universe ship. I love them all.

15. What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

It's my tarlos/Campbell(tarlossoup) fic I started but have been struggling to write. I still have hope but it won't be for anything hot minute if I do.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Oh man. I want to say it's coming up with interesting concepts. I don't know if I am always the best as executing them. And I am notoriously hard on myself and my own writing. So. I dunno send praise I guess 😂 feed your local artists and writers with compliments.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Spelling, grammar, executing my ideas without getting lost in unnecessary details, sometimes putting the things in my head onto the page in the way I want in a satisfying way.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I LOVE IT! I am in awe of people who can do it and do it well. I wish I was better with language as so I could do it properly. I don't my best to include it where I can but I get self conscious about it

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Oh man way way back in the day I wrote Harry potter fan fiction on Fanfiction.net.

20. Favorite fic you wrote?

Again with asking me to choose a favorite child 😂.

Paul Strickland and the Case of the missing Lion

Madam Vega and the Sensational Six

I Wasn't Looking for You

Every story in the Calypso universe

Just a Kid From Roswell

Lancing the Wound

A Soft Glow

No pressure tags for @marvelousbuckley @girlwonder-writes @nine-one-wanton @racerchix21 @rdng1230

And @dr-lizortecho @winged-fool @thepinkcrayon @thecarrott @dadbodbuck

And @30somethingautisticteacher @judymarch15 @herrmannhalsteadproduction @missmeryl92

[hisui555]

Okay. I've had it.

Folks, I think I need a bit of help here.

It appears I have been shadowbanned by Tumblr since now 3 days, reported it to Tumblr 2 days ago and they sent me a ticket in the following hours.

I've already sent a formula detailing the problem but I can repeat it here - it affects my two blogs entirely, as they don't show up in any tags at all no matter what I write as tags (and all those tags are SFW content).

My main one is hisui555 (https://www.tumblr.com/blog/hisui555), which I use for posting my art (#hisuionyx art), reposting things I deem interesting, and reblogging kickstarters and donation fundraisers for people in need (currently Palestine, it was Ukraine before), under the appropriate tags (#donations #fundraiser #help gaza #help palestine #free palestine, etc).

My secondary one is TPOH-VF (https://www.tumblr.com/blog/tpoh-vf) which I use for posting the French translation of a British webcomic called The Property of Hate, with full consent of the author, and among the classic popular tags (#the property of hate, #tpoh) it has unique tags (#la nature de la haine #lndh #lndh rgb #lndh héros #lndh sokett # lndh clic #lndh mélodie #lndh julienne, etc) that usually show up in wide-pages posts when researched, yet for some reasons don't exist anymore when I go visit them by clicking on said tags (while up to Wednesday 23/10 they worked just fine) and whatever post I make under the popular tags cited previously doesn't show up in the tag search pages at all, recent or not. 

Both blogs have been running since at least July 2024 (TPOH-VF, the other is more than 10 years old), so not recent, their visibility settings toggled on the right way, and no post has been set to private either. All filters are correct and in order. 

Both blogs being currently invisible to outside people diminishes visibility for the ones I reblog fundraisers for, being in dire need of it and the author I wish to support by expanding their fandom through translating their work. (Also I would like people to give feedback on my art and get that beautiful interactions and fun comments serotonin, dangit ><)

What could have gone wrong : 

The algorithm might have taken me for a spam-bot, as I reblogged a lot of fundraisers in a short amount of time, and usually I post 19 pages of translated content on the sideblog (1 chapter a week) all at once, modifying them to include links as I go. 

I just also got the recent surprise of finding out one of my drawings was classified as "explicit sexual content" when actually it was an 8 years-old fanart depicting a fight (Alex Mercer from Prototype VS a Deathclaw from Fallout New Vegas, if you're curious). That one got solved in two hours as I made my case and obtained clearance, the pic is now unblocked. This might have wrongly tipped the algorithm into thinking my content counts as risky, when it's not. 

(Like, THIS is the pic.)

(Wonder how weird you have to be to think a fully clothed man fighting a beast are getting it on. It's mild gore at best, and the black&white tones it down. Plus anyone knowing about Fallout and Prototype knows both game have worse content, like, say, a man literally absorbing people in a gory mess to replenish fleshmass, and as for Fallout (New Vegas) I just need to say the words "Sierra Madre" and "Beyond the Beef" - anyone finding this too disturbing for them shouldn't have been interacting with those games in the first place.)

Or, simply enough, it's a glitch. 

Tumblr's guidelines have been, er, meh at best for help, so if you have any advice, shoot, because right now this is driving me up the wall.

It's not just a specific tag problem, it's affecting my whole account : the sole 2 blogs I have became invisible for people that aren't mutuals, any new post I make doesn't appear in the research no matter what I tag (I reblogged and posted as tests) since Thursday 24/10, and while I can interact through asks and messages with not-mutuals, it docks visibility from those I reblog, and those that would like to know my content.

Thanks for your help in advance

-HisuiOnyx

[ivorywreathablaze]

I have wanted to fill out this meme for literal years, and after months, I’m finally done! It's posted in its all-together form on my deviantArt page.

Original meme here.

1: As usual when I start working on a ‘me’ character, by the time I finished working on her she was no longer me, lol (I have no particular fondness for poinsettias). Gifted to me here.

2 & 3: Kazumi Yoshida haters will be blocked on sight (joking, you’ll only be blocked if you’re rude about it).

4: “I find the Aizen siblings more annoying, but they are also harder to draw,” I said, and then proceeded to struggle with the lighting lollll.

5: I should clarify I haven’t read the Light Novels entirely, but from what I have read then this is what I’ve gleaned. (Thank you Poor Man Translation and Baka-Tsuki translators!) As for the ship themselves, I can and have made rants about how much I love my OTP and they’re perfect for each other, so I decided to spare you and just give a summary of how I interpret their canon relationships.

6: I made their eyes too big, and forgot to write that he knows it’s romantic because of the expensiveness of the chocolate + the mysterious note attached (which I also forgot to draw. lol) . . . BUT! I still really like this. I should make more little comics with them. For more info on Valentines Day in Japan watch this Youtube Short.

7: . . . I may have already sketched some things for this AU, haha!

8: I think Keisaku would have some trouble with understanding all of Outlaw’s terminology when he first starts working for them.

9: With the second question, after having re-read the manga it seems like time doesn’t stop—but I’m still curious about how this is perceived! Do teachers end up not teaching certain classes? Has anyone ever been fired over work they weren’t able to do because they were in a seal? If not, why?

10: I don’t like tagging people, so just do it if you’re interested!

[brokensenseofhumor]

PIMON DID NOT APPEAR IN CHAP 19 BUT FUCK IT WE BALLLLLL (aka Hi welcome to Pimon theory episode 3)

(And this is also the first episode without trigger warnings let’s goooo!!!! Spoilers are there tho so 🤷)

If it’s to anyone’s interest, here’s the link to episode 2:

Now to the theories

Theory 1: Wait how old is he? *checks* WHAT THE FU-

Ok yes yes, ik the title seems weird but hey that was my genuine reaction, no judgment please…

(+shoutout to NinkaScantrad on Mangadex again!!)

So, In our previous episode we discussed the chance that Pimon is indeed the actual Paimon from the Ars Goetia, well…

I THINK I WAS RIGHT???

Well, I was translating the French translation on Mangadex cuz it’s a million times easier than to translate the original Japanese pages on Google translate then copy paste it to my other translation app, but I digress- and…

YEA, I THINK PIMON IS INDEED A DEMON, CUZ HOLY FUCKING SHIT BJORN YOU DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO DROP A BOMB ON ME LIKE THAT???

So yea, Pimon is actually about 300 years old… WOW. I genuinely thought he was like 70 before I started theorizing about him at all…

So, chance is he probably has the same condition as Arthur, which means he’s mostly unaffected by age, has inhumane/Lu bu levels of strength, and probably has the soul eye much like Jack and Arthur (and to think I thought it was Morton that had the soul eye…)

Also, given one of the conditions symptoms is being mostly unaffected by age, and Arthur seems like he’s in his 20’s, Pimon is probably much much older than Arthur…

Is Arthur in his 90s??? We might never know

Theory 2: BOOBS????

Yes yes, being Horny on main for an evil old man for like the 4th time(?), I have no regrets tho :]

Here is my first analysis of Pimon rack from last month/a few weeks ago:

And here is my analysis from earlier today since we have more sideways panels of him now

So yea, Pimon booba IS very likely to be real.

And that’s everything for todays episode folks, see you all next chapter release!

Tags: @incorrect-record-of-ragnarok @huntersmoon1 @roygiri @onecantsimply

[chairofchaos]

AO3 Chaos

I invite anyone who is interested to 1) Respond to these questions and 2) TELL ME WHAT YOUR AO3 IS SO I CAN FIND YOU THERE!

Thank you @c-starstuff-man0 for the tag! (I think someone else also tagged me but I could not find it- so thank you to you, as well, whoever you are!)

1. How many works do you have on AO3? I currently have 7 works up on AO3.

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 26,150. (That will easily double when I start posting Letters of Love, since LoL is already about 40,000 words. Oops!)

3. What fandoms do you write for? On AO3, currently only ACOTAR and Crescent City (so, SJM Universe stuff)

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? (I linked my AO3 at the bottom if you want to go check any of these out!)

The Power of Jewelry (Azris, fluff)

When the Blood Burns (Azris, angst/MCD stuff)

Stormy Night in the Library (Azriel x Reader, fluff)

Death & All That Follows (Azris, definitely angst at this point). This is hilarious because it’s only half done and I’m not sure I like the ending I’ve written, which means it could go happy or sad and I don’t know how to feel about that.

Even In the Dark (Cassian x Reader, hurt/comfort and kind of fluffy) I won’t lie I had to revisit this one to remember what it was lol

5. Do you respond to comments? Yes, and I’m mean about it. Sorry to anyone who has been on the receiving end of a teasing chaos comment. I maybe have too much fun dangling teasers like carrots on a stick...

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Hahahha. Uh. Probably When the Blood Burns. For now, anyways.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? (Do I write happy endings?) Stormy Night in the Library takes my vote for this, though Say It’s True (Mor x Emerie) is also cute and ends happily. I love them. 

8. Do you write smut? Yes. There are some smutty elements to things I have posted. I haven’t written anything specifically for smut though.

9. Do you write crossovers? Nothing that’s posted.

10. Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope.

11. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Uh… not on AO3! (But if you want to check out the Gold Star Crack Headcanons @ninthcircleofprythian and I wrote a little bit ago here they are!)

12. What is your all-time favorite ship? Please. Please don’t hate me. I’ve been on a Dramione train for years now. I know it’s controversial. I can’t get them out of my head.

13. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Would it be bad if I said “Letters of Love”? No. I want to finish it so badly. I do. I’m just scared. I’m working on it, I swear. It just feels monstrous at this point. 

In actuality, I think it’s the crossover that I’m working on. It’s a Throne of Glass/ACOTAR/Crescent City monstrosity that would be roughly 400 9x11 pages long, 12 pt font single spaced with formatting. It started as a romance, morphed into a second-gen TOG x ACOTAR throuple adventure and political drama. Now I just don’t know what to do with it because the universe I’ve imagined for this is so insane and I cannot do it justice.

14. What are your writing strengths? I write with my whole heart, and I care about every word. I’ve been practicing for years.

15. What are your writing weaknesses? Mental illness. Procrastination. Writing 10k in 24 hours and then never finishing that work. I overthink everything. Next question. Please.

16. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I love it. However, I much prefer it when it’s canon that the character speaks another language. I feel awkward prescribing languages to characters unless it’s some sort of AU. I read an incredible Azris AU (linked HERE, check the tags please, written by the wonderful @annaskareninas for Azris Week) where Eris is Italian, and it worked beautifully because it was an AU! But if I was writing in universe, I would have a harder time making Eris speak Italian because for all we know they’re speaking Fae Language We Don't Have a Name For and Italian doesn’t exist in the universe. It’s a mental block for me. I don't mind reading it though!

17. First fandom you wrote for? …Harry Potter. It was 2011, okay?! However, the first I ever POSTED was Percy Jackson. Don't ask me where they ended up, it was a long time ago and those secrets were lost to the sea

18. Favorite fic you’ve written? When the Blood Burns. It hurts just right.

Tags (no pressure!): @positivelyruined @annaskareninas @ ANYONE WHO WANTS TO DO THIS! Also, let me know what your AO3 is in replies or reblogs. I need to follow more of you over there <3

My AO3 is keyboard_clacks, or chairofchaos. I post and respond to comments under both pseuds! Find Me Here!

[smilebackwards]

fic writer meme

thanks to @vinelark for the tag!

1. How many works do you have on Ao3? ~155. Approximate count because some are podfics of my work back when it was the convention to make the writer also an author. And I have some stuff posted in an anonymous collection which I don't think get counted in works despite counting into other stats.

2. What's your total Ao3 word count? 487,897. I will hopefully be cracking half a million this year!

3. What fandoms do you write for? Currently Batman, Star Wars, Foundation, Shadowhunters, Lord of the Rings, whatever random thing catches my attention.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? Double Blind [Daredevil/MCU] Exit Strategy [Batman] Surveillance [Batman] Extension [Batman] Victory Braid [Lord of the Rings]

5. Do you respond to comments? Very sporadically. Mostly for comments where there was something specific I wanted to respond to or comments from someone who prompted/inspired the fic. I feel a bit bad that I don't because I love all comments but it's a lot of energy for me that I could instead be putting into more writing.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Probably Everything I Build (Is Breaking Down).

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? I'm a sucker for a happy ending so there's a lot to choose from! Maybe Rearrange.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Not a lot, but people have left some truly unhinged stuff on Exit Strategy. I delete/block where needed.

9. Do you write smut? I'm not good at it. There might be like 3 sentences and a fade to black.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you have written? I write a lot of fusion AUs but not many crossovers. There's probably some weird ones in my older stuff!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Full reposting, not that I know of. I did find that someone basically rewrote one of my fics, with extremely specific details, and that didn't feel great.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes, many of my fics have been translated :)

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? A lot of my fics are based on prompts so kind of collaborative in that way, but the actual words on the page writing bit is pretty solitary for me.

14. What's your all time favorite ship? X-Wing. Iconic.

15. What is a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Still pained by my Les Mis Olympics AU WIP.

16. What are your writing strengths? I think I do a fun mix of humor and angst in my writing. Maybe word selection, I am obsessed with finding the best word with the most appropriate connotations. And perseverance, I will finish fics years later.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Extreme slowness. All vibes, no plot. Cannot write fic longer than 15k.

18. Thoughts of writing dialogue in another language in fics? I think generally I prefer to write in English and dialogue tag that someone said something in a different language. Occasionally I do the italics to indicate or don't do italics but use Google Translate which inevitably goes poorly. This reminds me that someone sent me a translation fix comment and I need to go see if I can find that.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Yeah, it was probably Harry Potter. I recently found an old spiral notebook where like 14 year old me wrote in colored markers and it is the worst thing ever, I should burn it, but on the other hand it reminds me that I'm kind of proud that I've kept at writing so long and improved.

20. Favorite fic you have written? I think Misson Report. I have an enduring love for Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon and I like the cadence of it.

tagging @dreaming-marchling, @andrea-lyn, and anyone else who might be interested!

[constantcrisis19]

20 Questions for Fic Writers (& Artists)

AN: I wasn't tagged, but I saw this and just had to do it!

1. How many works do you have on ao3(Tumblr)?

34 works on ao3

51 works on Tumblr

2. What's your total ao3 (Tumblr) word count?

559,311 words on ao3

84,623 words on Tumblr

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Honestly, whatever I'm into at the time (but I have a tendency to bounce around a lot) so I'll just list off a few of my favs to write for:

Call of Duty: MW2

Spider-man: Across the Spider-verse

Rick and Morty

Teen Wolf

Stranger Things

Supernatural

The Walking Dead

4.What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

What Is Meant To Be (Always Finds A Way) | Geraskier | 2,841 kudos

Tell Me Every Terrible Thing You've Done (And Let Me Love You Anyways) | Montgomery Gator & Gregory [Gen] | 2,425 kudos

The Goal Isn't To Live Forever (It's To Create Something That Will) | Winterberg | 2,035 kudos

Sometimes Peace Come From Painful Things | Winterberg | 1,252 kudos

It’s Funny Only Just A Moment (Can Reveal The Universe Intent) | Winterberg | 836 kudos

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I don't always respond to comments, since I usually leave that task to my co-writer (and partner in crime) Tibby. It's the most convenient way to do it because we both collaborate on most of the fics I post and they're much more comfortable with responding to comments.

But if it's a solo fic, then I can usually manage to work through my anxiety and respond to anyone who's kind enough to leave a comment because I genuinely love getting feedback, and seeing people enjoy my work really inspires me to keep writing!

Uhhh... That's gotta be my newer oneshot, Free Fall. It's a SoapGhost fic and a rewrite of the ending of MW3 (Yeah, you know the scene).

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I've got a few (cause I'm a sucker for a happy ending) but the one I'm gonna go with has to be The Goal Isn't To Live Forever (It's To Create Something That Will). It's a part of the list above and it's currently one of my only completed, multi-chaptered fics.

8. Do you get hate on any fics (Art)?

Unfortunately, yeah. I recently got a particularly rude comment accusing me of using chat ai to write my Geraskier fic, even though it was first published way back in 2020, before chat ai was even a thing that people used regularly.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yup. I usually stick to my comfort zone and write M/M stuff.

Though, in my longer fics, the smut isn't really the main focal point so I tend to keep it pretty tame.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Oh boy. My co-author has actually got me hooked on a crazy rare pair to the point where we wrote a whole fic for it (and are working on the second in the series). It's a Daryl Dixon/Dean Winchester pairing set in the TWD universe.

Nope, thank god.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yup! Someone reached out to me and asked to translate my FNaF: SB fic into Russian.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Sure have, but only with one other person.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

Omg, no! I have to pick!?

Well, if forced with a gun to my head, I supposed I'd have to say Rinch (John Reese x Harold Finch from the TV series Person of Interest). I love the show and the characters and the story and the world building. It's just a pairing that I will always keep coming back to no matter how many other ships/fandoms I fall into.

15. What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

My KiriBaku x Among Us crossover fic. The main page, where I had planned out the entire fic, was accidentally deleted and I don't know if I'll ever recover from that since I'd have to rehash the entire rest of the story from scratch if I decided to one day come back to it.

However, that being said, I'm still holding out hope that I'll randomly get a burst of motivation for the story. Who knows.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I'd say my strengths are writing angst, witty banter, and transition paragraphs (since my co-author often gets stuck going on tangents and writing really detailed scenes so they often ask for me to make a segue in order to get us to the next plot point, which works out for everyone).

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

My weakness is definitely in-depth, detailed scenes, hands down. It's kinda embarrassing, but my writing can sometimes lack the descriptive, engaging language necessary to make the story/situation/characters interesting (especially when it's decidedly not a writing day) and it often reads like boring exposition.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I am not fluent in anything other than English, but that doesn't exactly stop me from relying heavily on google translate in order to use other languages in my fics, especially if the character that I'm writing for prefers another language. Take Miguel O'Hara for example, who is canonically bilingual.

The same kind of goes for accents too. I try my best to emulate how the words would sound if the character was actually speaking while writing dialogue. Take for example my SoapGhost fics, where both characters have a thick, distinct accent.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Unofficially (as in never posted): Vampire Diaries.

First fandom I posted to Wattpad (yikes) when I was like twelve: BBC Sherlock

20. Favorite fic you've written?

Jeez, another difficult question. Um... I'm gonna go with What Is Meant To Be (Always Finds A Way), for several reasons.

It was the very first fic that I posted to my ao3 account.

It was the first multi-chaptered fic that I'd ever completed.

I managed to finish and post the final chapter on my birthday (which was a pleasant surprise).

I love it so much that my co-writer and I are actually currently in the midst of lovingly revisiting/revising the entire fic to make it even better!

_____

That was fun! Now for the tagging!

@mistertiberius, @ghostao3, @captain-mj, @fogsrollingin

[penvisions]

dev's 20 questions for writers

loved these questions! interesting to take a look into, thank you so much to those that have tagged me even if they've been lost in the shuffle of things ♡♡

1. how many works do you have on AO3?

19 in total!

2. what's your total AO3 word count?

oof, it's a whopping 606,304 (most of which were this year and last as i've only recently gotten back into writing)

3. what fandoms do you write for?

at the beginning it was one piece / naruto and then hannibal and supernatural, but now it's strictly PPCU (pedro pascal cinematic universe)

4. top five fics by kudos?

accents can be tricky || it's only certain words || return the favor || of beskar and kyber || by the grit of sandpaper

5. do you respond to comments?

i try to!! i get easily overwhelmed on the tumblr side of things but i do try by best to at least do a few hearts or an overall thank you for the response and interaction on something c:

6. what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

as of right now, it's a wip that is pre-outbreak! tommy miller x reader

7. what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

all of them! i try to do happy endings bc i need that in my life and feel like the characters deserve it beyond words

8. do you get hate on fics?

unfortunately, yes. i received a lot on the first couple chapters for {of beskar and kyber} and {garnish} and a looooot on {by the grit of sandpaper} it is what it is, i try not to let it get to me, but sometimes it does. but at the end of the day, i write for me and share it with y'all bc i want to, it's a simple solution to just stop sharing if it grows or gets out of hand (even if i'd rather not do that)

9. do you write smut?

i do indeed, some of it is really tame while some of it is truly unhinged lol

10. craziest crossover?

i'm in the process of trying to do a cross over with din djarin into the world of the southern reach trilogy but i dunno if it will ever see the light of an internet page

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

again, yes unfortunately. both {garnish} and {gone to the dogs} has been copy and pasted

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

i don't think so beyond translating things i've written myself from spanish to english

13. have you ever co-written a fic before?

i haven't! but super interested in doing so

14. all time favorite ship?

joel miller x reader!! but honestly, if characters make each other happy or feel loved, then i want that for them. jess and nick in new girl, katniss and peeta in the hunger games to name the top two

15. what's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

again, probably my pre-outbreak! tommy miller and maybe {buckles and barley} i have a lot of ideas for both and they seem daunting atm

16. what are your writing strengths?

details!! c:

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

dialogue and pacing of story lines

18. thoughts on dialogue in another language?

amazing, love it, top tier

19. first fandom you wrote in?

one piece!

20. favorite fic you've written?

{by the grit of sandpaper} and {of beskar and kyber}

np taglist: @joelsgreys @frenchiereading and anyone else who wants to play along!

[midnightwins22]

20 Questions for fic writers

Saw @acewithapaintbrush post this on her page and I figured that I join in on the fun

How many works do you have on Ao3?

43

2. What's your total Ao3 word count?

400,938 (woah...dang and that number is going to continue to rise as I am in the process of working on two fics and got more coming down the pipeline)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has taken over my life right now, but I have also written for Ducktales 2017 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2012

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

"I didn't mean to hurt you" - Rise of the TMNT

"I'm Nothing Without Them (well we are nothing without you) - Rise of the TMNT

"Expressing Love Through Tech" - Rise of the TMNT

"Taken Together" - Rise of the TMNT

"You Are Not Alone" - Rise of the TMNT

5. Do you respond to comments?

Sometimes I do. I love getting comments

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I'm not one for angsty endings but the two that come to mind for me are "This Sickness is Destroying My(Our) Life" from Ducktales 2017 and "You Are My Hero, You Are My Sunshine" from Rise of the TMNT

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

It would probably be "Taken Together" (Ducktales 2017). I put my main characters through so much pain and suffering. They deserved the happy ending that they got

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I used to get a lot of hate on my Ducktales 2017 fics, but I think that was just trolls trying to put negativity on my work. I haven't really experienced that when writing my Rise of the TMNT fics, which is another reason why I love that fandom so much

9. Do you write smut?

No and I never will

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you have written?

Not really. I hope to one day do a Rise of the TMNT x Tmnt 2012 crossover or maybe a Rise of the TMNT x Ducktales 2017 crossover

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

I'm not much of a shipper. I'm actually much much more interested in platonic relationships! Especially with the TMNT brothers being the best brothers. Platonic is my one true love!

15. What is a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

There is a Ducktales 2017 and a Darkwing Duck somewhat crossover fic that I started back in 2022 but that I never got to finish because I just simply lost the motivation to do it and will probably never get back to it. There is also one more Ducktales 2017 that I have two more chapters to complete, but writer's block has hit me for real on that and I don't know when I will get around to completing it

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think I write emotions and internal stuff a character is going through quite well. I have also been told quite a few times that my characterizations are spot on which is always nice to hear cause that's the most important thing for me

17. What are you writing weaknesses?

I really do not like writing fight scenes. I am so-so when it comes to dialogue; the trick is just finding the right words to say and how to make it all flow together, and I am not the best at that it would seem

18. Thoughts of writing dialogue in another language in fics?

I've used a little bit of Spanish in my Rise of the TMNT fics becasue of Leonardo and Senor Hueso, so only when it is necessary

19. First Fandom you wrote for?

Ducktales 2017

20. Favorite fic you have written?

For Ducktales 2017, it would have to be "Taken Together". Rise of the TMNT is a bit tricker as I have a ton of favorties, so I just narrow it down to any Disaster Twins fic that I have written, with my top two being "My Twin, My Hero" and "A Twin's Heartbeat"

******************

Not gonna tag anyone, everyone who wants to take a trip down memory lane, be my guest!

[mareastrorum]

Reading Tag Meme

Tagged by @grayintogreen

The last book I read:

Babel, Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R.F. Kuang. Utterly fantastic book with unrestrained critique of white supremacy, colonialism, and classism.

A book I recommend:

My absolute favorite book is The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas as translated by Robin Buss for Penguin books. That edition also included very helpful footnotes since I was not intimately familiar with French history for that era. I read it during the 2 months I was preparing for the bar exam, and it kept me sane. It is very long, but very enjoyable and the best revenge story I've ever read.

A book I couldn’t put down:

Dune: Messiah by Frank Herbert. I was so hyped after reading Dune and breezed through Messiah in no time at all. Easily one of my favorites.

A book I’ve read twice (or more):

The Lord of the Rings trilogy. There aren't that many books I expect to reread; I usually just feel like it on a whim. But LotR is one I have reread and will again because it's just that type of trilogy.

A book on my TBR:

So many, omg. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair has been on there for a while, I should get around to it. Eventually.

A book I’ve put down:

I cannot remember the last book I DNF'd. I've gotten very good at scrutinizing books before I buy/borrow.

That said, there is a book popular among this fandom that I almost DNF'd, but I forced myself to finish and then skimmed a second time to be sure. The more I think about it, the more I detest it. I get why other people enjoy it, and that doesn't ease my opinion.

A book on my wish list:

I don't really have a wishlist anymore because I can afford just about every book I've ever wanted. It's just a matter of remembering to buy it and getting around to reading it. That said, I want to get Persuasion by Jane Austen as annotated by David M. Shapard, and I keep forgetting to order it. I have Pride & Prejudice and Sense & Sensibility annotated by Shaphard, and it helps so much to have context on the opposite page of the one I'm reading for reference. I definitely recommend those versions for anyone who lacks sufficient social context for those books to understand what anyone's talking about.

A favorite book from childhood:

The Hobbit. I reread it every summer after the first read. I have very fond memories of reading it in the shade with a water bottle.

A book I would give to a friend:

I tend to gift nonfiction because fiction tastes vary so widely. what if? and other books by Randall Munroe have been a hit with everyone I've gifted them to.

A book of poetry or lyrics that I own:

I actually don't have a poetry book. I have folklore, fairy tales, short story anthologies, and some really old children's books from numerous cultures across multiple continents, but not poetry. I need to fix that.

A nonfiction book that I own:

About 30% of my books are nonfiction, and I have a lot of books. Epidemics and Society: From the Black Death to the Present by Frank M. Snowden was a book I picked up literally the day before COVID lockdown in 2020, and I recommend it to anyone interested in how people dealt with epidemics through the past few centuries. It helped a lot with my anxiety while isolating because it showed that this has all happened before; COVID wasn't the end times.

What I’m currently reading:

Sword of Destiny by Andrzej Sapkowski. I've read it before and am refreshing because it's useful for TF&TS.

What I’m planning on reading next:

I think I'll do Seasonal Fears by Seanan McGuire next. I enjoyed Middlegame and am looking forward to the sequel.

I'll tag @captainsparklefingers, and anyone else who would like to!

[melodiousmonsters]

I'm updating how I do my monstiary pages! And more stuff about the monstiary.

Hi everyone, I have ended my break of doing monstiary pages as I have gotten my motivation back and hopefully won't loose it again : ]. With my break I came up with some ideas to make the pages better than they were before so I shall explain how they will work from now on.

(There's art under the cut I promise)

Firstly I made a standard layout for the monstiary pages that all of them will follow from now on, Sooza was used as an example because it's one of my favorite monsters.

Btw I will be making my own drawings of the elemental sigils because I feel like giving myself too much work. Of course the pages will be colored I just did sketches for the examples because, for the third time, lazy. The first thing spoken about in the monstiary posts will be a general description of the monster, followed by random biology facts, then some ecology if I have some.

Secondly I made a character to be writing all these pages in universe! Mons. Booksby (Mons. is used as a suffix [or something idk what that type of thing is called but you know it's like Mr. or Mrs.] to proclaim an individual as important) a chipper fluffy Bowgart who had an interest in monster/critter biology and art. I don't have a first name for it so I will only refer to it as its last name. They were alive during the very early ages of the modern monster world and also technically the very late ages of the time period directly after the dawn of fire because they were turned into a statue by the events of the cataclysm. Long story, unfortunately it doesn't remember anything from before they were a statue other than that it was taking art classes.

I did a little comparison in that doodle page of a standard Bowgart and Booksby to 1: show the unique traits of Booksby and 2: to show how much individuals tend to variate from the standard individuals shown in my monstiary pages. Also that's it at the beginning of its monstiary project, it was very VERY old at the end of the project as shown in this self portrait with the finished monstiary (don't mind me I just wanted to try out a more painterly style real quick, also forgot the tuning pegs on the horns, oops!) Also btw all of my msm characters use it/its pronouns unless stated otherwise as it's the closest to the translation of the monstrous pronouns used for referring to a sentient being, but because they don't know English nor have an idea of genders or whatever they don't mind being referred to as other pronouns if you feel like it I guess.

Not a lot is actually known about Booksby as an individual as it wrote very little about itself, taking pride in its inpersonal writing style for its academic work. Also as a totally unrelated side not that did not cause me to make that previous decision about the character, I suck at writing character specific dialogue. Though they did add little notes to some drawings they made and that's the closest anyone has to any personal information about it.

Finally I will now be using the tag monstiary for anything relating to the monstiary to make it easier to access. idk how to end this lol bye come back tomorrow to see monster taxonomy and some explanation of that because that's what I'm doing next!

[oleworm]

@girlmaturin tagged me! What were my six favourite books of 2023?

This is going to be a difficult one. First of all because I appreciate books for different reasons, it can be because I learned a lot, because it made me think about new things even though (or because of the fact) that it made me uncomfortable, or simply because it fits my aesthetic or thematic tastes. It wouldn’t be fair to pit completely different books against each other, but I’ll try to do what I can!

There’s also the fact that this is the year that I’ve read the most books in my life since I started counting them. Maybe not 100 but 96! You can laugh at me, but to be fair a lot of these were short books, or essays or short stories that I saved as an e-book and counted independently. I’ve been reading a lot of older books that I had at home or bought secondhand and it really makes me think that contemporary books are so big! It used to be normal to find lots of books that were 100-190 pages long about a specific topic or just because the author wanted to type out their thoughts. I don’t know how much the cost of publishing has increased, but it seems as if every book has to be definitive and huge in order to justify the expense.

1) The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe

I’m counting this as a book since I found it as an e-book on Project Gutenberg. I was a child the first time that I read it, so a lot of the implications went over my head. This time around I was fascinated by how it synthesises the ideas of the epoch—the insularity of the upper classes in a time of increased social mobility (Poe was, after all, an American) countered with eugenic fears of fixing unfavourable traits into a bloodline through repeated inbreeding. It’s fascinating that the text lays it out so clearly. There’s this line that stuck to me, about how the house of Usher never allowed any branches to grow too far from the trunk of the tree, and then there was this part when Roderick Usher describes the psychological traits that afflict the family—I say afflict because they are disturbing to him—not as a result of the circumstances of their lives, but a part of their inborn nature. It brought to mind the way that Vincent van Gogh described his depression to his brother, who also suffered from it. “The root of the evil lies in the constitution,” that is how I remember it, though I could be wrong because it was in translation and it has been quite a while since I read about the subject. It reminded me of that, and how people describe dogs with behavioural issues caused by poor breeding.

Anyway, a little insect encased in amber for the neuroses of an age!

2) The Silver Metal Lover by Tanith Lee

A sheltered girl falls in love with a realistic robot—you would expect a pulpy romance novel but this was so much more than that to me.

It’s a story about a girl that has been sheltered all her life and does not realise that she is being abused by her mother, who controls every aspect of her life by making her feel that she is too innocent, too stupid to make a choice even with such personal things as her interests or her physical appearance. There were some mean-spirited interpretations of this little book, calling it a poor littlen rich girl story. But rich girls can cry too!

But besides, the heart of the situation, beyond all the fantastic, futuristic aspects, is one that can happen to anyone, regardless of their socioeconomic background.

One thing that I like very much about Tanith Lee is her ability to join different genres and settings. For example, in this one she described economic inequality and labour issues caused by automatisation and at the same time had the socialite characters talk in a droll, misogynistic manner that is right out of Saki. But writing this review I realise that these are not elements that are discordant with each other, though superficially they appear to be. Of the popular writers I have read she is one of those who best understands that the long 19th century may well be even longer—ha-ha, historians, don’t kill me!

I found it funny to be reading this book at the height of the AI-debate, as one of its main plot points was the fear that artists had of being replaced by machines that could “create” new and better works from the wealth of artworks that had been made by human artists before. I’ll probably remember that, if I live long enough to see what happens later.

3) Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire, edited by Jehad Abusalim, Jennifer Bing, and Mike Merryman-Lotze

Before this year I hadn’t read any books by Palestinian authors, so when I saw that this book was being shared freely and that it had some names that I already recognised I thought it would be a good place to start.

The fact that so many people contributed to it was the main reason that I chose it, there are so many different points of view, everyone emphasises a different part of life in Gaza, their experiences with their family, their work, their fields of expertise. There’s university professor who describes not only the subject matter of his lessons, but also the difficulties faced by students whose classrooms and study materials can be destroyed at any moment. The architect talks about the settlement pattern in Gaza, and how families prefer to construct their own homes in a way that the extended family may continue to reside together, though logistically it is not always possible to do so. The student provides a narrative of her daily routine, and how everyone must plan their day around the water and electricity shortages, and what difficulties this presents to cooking, cleaning and studying, activities that a lot of us take for granted. Most of the writers talk about the anger and frustration of having to deal with borders and checkpoints, the separation of family and friends for years and decades at a time across relatively short distances in the Palestinian Territories, in Israel and neighbouring countries, as well as the loss of opportunities abroad when people are impeded from leaving or fear that they might be prevented from returning.

Somebody said that it wasn’t right that Palestinians should always have to humanise themselves to the eyes of foreigners, hoping that we might care. I agree, because it is true that we should care for other human beings without having every detail of their suffering described to us. This book has sad parts, parts that are extremely frustrating, but it has moments of fun and happiness too. And the authors wanted people to read it and remember, and I want you to read it too.

The publisher has shared it for free download here.

4) When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb

I listened to the audiobook for this one on the Platform Formerly Known as Scribd and have ordered a physical version to have at home. I was so sad when it ended!

I loved reading about Little Ash and Uriel, a Jewish demon and angel who leave their shtetl when one of the girls from the village goes missing on her way to America. The research that went into it made me want to read more about the historical period in which it was set, and it didn’t stay a resolution—I did end up reading a book about Jewish life in the Russian Empire!

As an immigration story, it made sense that one of the tensest moments in the book was the medical examination by the immigration officials—sadly, in many countries the discrimination of sick and disabled people is still a real problem, though I hope that it will change in our lifetimes, as it did with racial quotas. It’s sold as a Young Adult book but adults would enjoy it too, as it deals with complex issues in an accessible manner but without leaving them flattened.

5) The Idiot by Elif Batuman

As a reader of Russian literature I’m surprised that I didn’t find this book earlier! It was really funny and cute and you could tell how young Selin was supposed to be in this story. Like when she imagines her crush to be like a love interest in a Russian book even though they’re in the 20th century and he’s a completely different type of Eastern European just because his name is very similar to Ivan! There’s a very funny scene also where she talks with a psychologist about her mostly online relationship with this person and he says “Hm… He reminds me of the Unabomber,” and she gets all defensive about it because there is a kernel of truth to it, he is posing as this edgy intellectual and she does not truly know who he is outside these characters they have created in their epistolary world.

I love the way Selin talks about her friends and the books she reads, Elif Batuman really captured what it’s like to be that age, and it was refreshing to read a book about a girl where horrible things don’t happen to her and she can continue learning and being herself.

6) El miedo en el Peru, siglos XVI al XX, edited by Claudia Rosas Lauro

A series of academic articles about fear in Peru in the 16th to 20th centuries. What people were afraid of and what were the social, cultural, religious and political reasons that they might be afraid of a particular thing.

I am adding this to the list because of one specific article—it is introduced as being about the fear of one’s parents, but in particular it talks about a number of legal cases where people were attempting to leave monastic orders claiming to have been made to join under duress—either because they were underage at the time of their vows, or because they had been threatened with physical violence by their relatives, often their parents. I found it interesting, there is a clear parallel between being forced to join a monastic order and entering an unwanted marriage. The arguments that can be used are the same, that the person was too young to meaningfully consent, or only accepted to preserve a degree of bodily integrity. Many of these victims had been threatened, even with death, because the parents wished for their properties to pass on to another one of their relatives. Having taken a vow of poverty, a monk would no longer be entitled to it. It also happened sometimes that these young men would join a monastic order to escape violence in the home. There were other cases where it wasn’t a relative, but rather a priest or another religious authority that convinced a young person that he should take monastic vows, while being too young to understand them or not having received a proper explanation of the terms.

There were other cool articles, such as the one where the fear of piracy overlapped with the fear of heresy because most of the pirates that accosted the Spanish Empire were Protestants from Great Britain or the Netherlands, or the one about the people who chose or were made to starve to death under siege because of Royalist propaganda about the Republican army’s brutality.

This came out rather long… Because I haven’t been typing it directly on the computer where there are so many distractions. I ordered myself an AlphaSmart 3000 over the holidays, it’s an electronic typewriter that you can plug into your computer to transfer what you’ve written before. It’s very pleasant to type in, and it’s also satisfying to see how the letters appear on the word processor when the device transfers the text, it emulates a keyboard so it looks as if it were typing in real time. Don’t worry, I’m not being paid to advertise for a company that no longer exists. If people with similar tastes to mine found it fun or useful I thought I may as well try it out. So far I’ve written a story on this and half-way typed up a draft of a much longer one. Just make sure that if you use different languages on your computer that it’s configured to the English keyboard when you transfer text, otherwise strange symbols may appear!

I’m tagging @bacchanalium, @sifilide, @tetrachromate, @osmanthusoolong, @bogfox and @sherbertilluminated if they want to!