#read the snippet my other mutual sent me

[cepheusgalaxy]

Somebody HELP idk what to do

[theresthesnitch]

It's about community, y'all.

I’ve found myself recently in a fandom interaction that has left me feeling very uncomfortable, and I want to talk about it. 

I will not be sharing usernames or fic names, so please do not publicly mention who they are if you figure out who this is. 

About a month ago, I was messaged by an account that doesn’t follow me, asking me to read their friend’s fic. The initial message was very flattering–their friend was a big fan of my work, and it would be so nice for them to get a comment from me on it. Honestly, it was such a sweet message, and I said I was busy right then, but I’d make time to read it.

When I opened the fic, it was a username that I didn’t recognize. Which is not terribly surprising, but I do recognize and notice regular commenters and people who regularly interact with me on Tumblr. (Which, by the way, is a good thing. These people all have a special place in my heart, and I love seeing their interactions.) This person also had no other fics published to AO3, and no bookmarks on their account. 

 I am an email hoarder, which means that every comment, kudo, and tumblr follow I get an email notification for is still stored in my email. I searched my inbox for the writer’s username, and nothing came up. I don’t mean nothing significant, I mean not one single comment, kudos, or follow from the account. I searched the account who messaged me, and got the same result. No one single comment, kudo, or follow. 

The thing that may not be immediately obvious from the outside is that many writers connect with each other as well. We share fic recs, snippets, and plot bunnies. We also talk about comments that we love, fans that we enjoy seeing in our notes, and significant interactions. 

Which is to say that the first thing I did was drop this fic with an explanation of what happened into the “fic recs” channel of our discord. Immediately, I find out that this is not a unique situation. Many of the writers in that discord were also approached, either by the actual writer or a friend, and asked to read it. 

I messaged the account again and asked if their friend was operating under a new username because I didn’t recognize them. Which is valid and I know people change their usernames sometimes. The friend responded that they did, but that the friend wouldn’t like them sharing it. I looked into the tumblr that messaged me then, and the account had been set up one singular day before they messaged me, with nothing more than a few art reblogs on their blog. 

At this point, I’m getting a really weird feeling from this, and I decide to just not respond anymore. I’m not going to call them out, but I’m also not going to engage. 

Yesterday, the “friend’s” account sent me another message, asking if I’d read it and telling me again that they can give their friend’s old account name if I really want it. They also mention that their friend read through and commented on a bunch of my older fics–which they did. Between May 24 and June 1, they left 17 comments on some of the very first fics I ever wrote and published. However, the way she tells me this feels very much like a quid pro quo - I commented, now where’s yours? 

I jumped back into the discords of some of my mutuals, and asked about this again. It turns out that all of us have gotten a weird vibe from them, and that this all feels like such a manipulative, creepy way to ask for exposure on your fic. 

And, because I’m me and needed more information, I went back to their fic and looked through the comments and bookmarks. 

There’s an ongoing discussion in many writer’s circles about interactions being lower, particularly comments, which you’ve probably seen crop up around Tumblr as well. While I don’t want to rehash this discussion here, the basic consensus is that most established writers are seeing fewer comments than ever, even when there’s a significant number of kudos. 

This fic has a not insignificant number of kudos, but a surprisingly large amount of comments and bookmarks, comparatively. Enough that just seeing the stats shocked me. I looked through the comments and saw lots of well known fandom writers, as well as some otherwise blank accounts. It strikes me as very odd–especially from a new, blank account and for a one shot without chapters to build up an audience. 

I jumped back in the discord and asked my mutuals about this again. Several people described really weird interactions with this individual. I heard stories about this person being really flattering when they initially reached out, vaguely complimenting the writer, then completely ghosting after the writer comments on their fics. 

I’ve debated for a bit about whether to post on this or not. The entire interaction has left such a bad taste in my mouth. I’ve no doubt that the writer and their friend are the same person, and I suspect some of their comments are fabricated as well. It’s elaborate, to a weird degree, and I feel so uncomfortable by it. 

The thing is, I love talking to people who have read my work. I love getting sent a fic rec. I read so little at this point just due to life and limited time that basically everything I read is something a mutual wrote or something recommended to me. I also really love the “it would mean so much to me if you read this” message, but only if it’s genuine. I have read first fics of new writers who sent me their own work, with their name attached, and asked me to. 

Fandom writing is a community, and that works best when we have a little give and take. But when you’re out there manipulating interactions, building up fake flattery to only not follow through, that breaks down our community. It’s unfortunate, manipulative, and honestly, a bit creepy. 

I don’t know if they just thought we (the writing community) wouldn’t notice, but we did. I’ve talked to other writers about this, and if any of my mutuals had a similar experience, I’d love to hear about it. 

To my “friend” who wrote this fic, I know you’re proud of your fic, but you’re not doing yourself any favors with this behavior. I will not be reading it. I also will not be responding to you or “your friend” any further. I wish you luck, and I hope you find what you’re looking for. 

[gabessquishytum]

Inspired by the cringe experience of sending a (horny!) ask to the wrong mutual who then published it in good faith:

Dreamling tumblrinas where Dream runs a blog on writing and when Hob sends the most beautiful erotic short fic he's ever read he has to wax lyrical about it but then Hob begs him to delete the ask.

I keep thinking that maybe one day I'll write a fic where Hob has a porny tumblr blog.... so this is very much adjacent to the way I'm thinking atm.

And remember my friend. There is no cringe. Only freedom.

So Dream runs this blog and its very sfw actually!! He posts romance fiction and moodboards and occasionally fantasy things, plus generalised writing tips. And he also publishes asks from other writers who want to be anon/just want somewhere to share their work.

And then he gets this VERY nsfw piece from an anon writer, something he'd usually be uncomfy about but it's SO GOOD. Dream posts it and gushes about the quality of the writing and how the author has managed to write believable smut that is also so beautiful.

He gets a panicked DM from another user (Hob) who's like omg im so sorry, that was meant to go to an nsfw blogger, i can't believe i sent unsolicited porn pls forgive me.

And Dream stalks the user's blog and falls totally in love with their aesthetic. Hob posts snippets from his writing, photography (a lot of nude self portraits) and academia themed moodboards. Dream immediately reads everything that Hob has ever written and still craves more... how can he possibly persuade Hob to drop beautiful nsfw asks in his inbox as a regular thing?

Bonus: they actually know each other in real life as acquaintances, and work in the same library. It's not until their eyes meet over a stack of spicy romance books that Dream makes the connection between fully dressed, beige slacks and jumper wearing Hob... and the nude photos on that tumblr blog <3

[satans-codpiece]

Darkfic Enjoyer here. please share some of your dark thoughts since you said you only unleashed your demons in only one fic of yours >:)

With Ramattra, you mean? Because EY doesn't even come close to releasing demons as compared to a lot of stuff I wrote with Kylo Ren or Michael Myers.

I just never really got a lot of darkfic inspiration for him? I honestly haven't in quite a while-- I dunno if that's better commentary on my relationship with my recent string of blorbos or on my mental health lol. Because the potentiality for darkfic with Ramattra is right there.

TW: Noncon, kidnapping, paralysis/forced to watch, injury, probably more

I briefly started a hard noncon fic where Reader is injured and/or pinned in the wake of a Null Sector attack and Ramattra unleashes some of that pent-up rage on them. Lots of Ramattra using his strength to keep Reader still and him talking about how this is justified by the simple fact that they are human and deserve to suffer as so many omnics have.

But I just didn't have the drive to write it?? There's so many WIPs I have with him that I want to finish but can't force my awful brain to look at for more than a few minutes at a time, but with the noncon fic I wrote a little bit and then my brain was like mmm, no. not this flavor. I still love reading noncon with Ramattra, I just don't have that drive to write it.

Hell, even, a Reaper/Reader noncon fic (with Sombra/Ramattra noncon in the background) was of higher interest to me than Ramattra/Reader noncon.

(For interested parties: where Talon is done using NS so Reaper & Sombra are sent to deal with Ramattra & Reader, but in particular Reaper's more than happy to make a point on what happens to people who betray Talon. so Sombra disables Ramattra-- but makes sure that he's awake and aware of what's happening as Reaper attacks Reader, with maybe some unwanted wireplay so that he's forced to cum watching it).

But with Megatron it comes so naturally. The very first thing I wrote with him was “Mmm, fabricating desire in exchange for your own survival is hardly the worst idea your species has had.” Literally the first line of dialogue my muse spat out to me was him accusing (and approving of!!) Reader trying to seduce him so that he wouldn't kill them.

And everything I have written with him since then-- which is all unfinished or no-context snippets that idk if I'll post-- has involved some degree of fuckedupness.

Megatron/Reader mutual noncon + Starscream/Megatron/Reader where Starscream catches Reader & forces them to suck off a regular gun. And Reader's humiliated and scared and just so confused as to why Starscream has this regular human gun laying around- until they realize it's literally Megatron stuck in a new alt mode that they've been polishing with their tongue. To which Starscream giddily fucks them with Megatron's barrel and the whole time Reader is terrified because... what does an overload look like for a gun? Also, Starscream's motivation is much more centered on Megatron, Reader is completely incidental and just gave him an opportunity.

Megatron & Knock Out discussing the mental health implications of kidnapping a human for morale (everyone is jealous of the Autobots' pets obviously). Namely, Reader is having a bad time of it- who wouldn't?- and Megs suggests to KO that he'd rather kill this high-strung human now and replace them with one more... agreeable before the crew gets attached. KO (who is already attached) insists that Reader will feel better as they get acclimated.

During the events of Rock Bottom (TFP), it's Reader who finds Megatron. They, naively, agree to help him (because it's the right thing to do TM) in exchange for his promise that he won't harm any of the other humans or autobots in the mine. Of course, he just kidnaps Reader at the end instead. When they're furiously kicking the inside of his jet form, he'll insist he didn't lie; they weren't harmed, were they?

Not really super dark in the way any of the above are, but literally just a little dubcon-y drabble with Reader & Megatron making out and Megatron's denta cut Reader's lip. And Reader tries to back off, but Megatron is so fucking horny about it that he holds them still and kisses them harder.

And that's just what I've written. I've also toyed with Facsimile!Reader where Megatron fucks you because why not, you exist only to serve the decepticon cause and, well, you basically feel like a human on the inside and he's curious. Super fucked up not because of the dubcon but more in tone, that you entire existence is for obeying him and serving him and dying for him and you're okay with that.

[luxurysystems]

the tags on your latest vice city au fic snippet... "just 2 men in their 50s beating around the goddamn bush nbd"....

These two old men are doing WHAT with their bush????!?!

hopefully beating their... you know...... ....... grudges 🥴

~🐬 (vc anon)

It's been a hot 20 years since they've beaten their bushes in that way 🥴, but since you've brought it up, vc anon...(bit of a scatterbrained read once again!!)

So this is actually related to the other ask that you've sent in, and I don't want to spoil too much of what I have in store (it's quite long, god help me). However, with that said, I LOVE the idea of wwf characters crossing over into the GTA universe; I can see them fitting in the 3D, HD and present games!!! I'm gonna go ahead and just give a glimpse of what I've got going on based on your prev ask:

In the last fic-WIP, Irwin receives a call from Ted after the former just got off the phone with GTA 4 protagonist Niko Bellic. (Let's just say that certain events led Niko to Irwin's office and Irwin serves as a boss for a couple of missions.) Prior to this phone call, these two have not spoken to one another properly in years. I'm thinking that their exodus out of Vice City in 1987 didn't go as planned, quickly dissolving their partnership afterwards. They remained in contact through mutual acquaintances, going as far as exchanging phone numbers through them.

As far as a face-to-face reunion goes, knowing that the other was doing well seemed enough to satisfy the both of them. Something pretty nasty must have happened to have caused their rift...a grudge lasting 2 decades.

Back to the WIP, Ted calling Irwin is their first real conversation in a long time. It's a bit stilted and uncomfortable, kind of like moving your body after a considerable time being still. Nevertheless, Ted wants something, he makes his former accountant/hitman wait by dancing around it- he wants Irwin to hang by his every word yet again. Irwin hearing Ted call him by his old nickname evoked a sort of Pavlovian response- the hotness under the collar, the craving for a cigarette, the itching motion of his dormant trigger finger. Ted calling Irwin "my Kangal" is essentially Ted's way of re-conditioning Irwin to kill again...

That's why in the og tags, I asked if y'all would get mad if this ended horribly for the both of them. A reunion that should have never happened...

Anyway!!! Here's sketches of them finally seeing each other after 20 years. (Y'all know I have to add some visual aids whenever I finish this. 🥴)

Thank you so much for the ask + your patience, VC anon! 🖤🐬🥲

[pinedemon]

I've seen many posts about people missing how common asks used to be so I have been trying to send about an ask a week. Now I send this ask first anytime I follow someone as I really don't want to bother anyone, so I'd love to know if you enjoy receiving asks and if so what kind of asks. Not having energy for asks or being comfortable with them is perfectly okay.

The categories I have in my ask notebook that I file under are in colour. Please feel free to make your response as long as you want or private (the asker cannot directly respond to private responses).

Self, Job/Work: please let me know what you are comfortable with from eh idk just ask it to nothing personal at all.

Baggishield/Tolkien, Dragon Age, Johnlock/Sherlock, ineffable spouses, other fandom: Please let me know what fandoms. I think my main fandoms and ships are Bagginshield/The Hobbit, Sherlock/Johnlock, Dragon Age Inquisition, {Pippin/Faramir Merry/Eowyn}/The Lord of the Rings and I dip my toes in a few that I currently can't remember but ships I don't engage with the canon of at all are: Good Omens but only for Crowley/Azirapheal, Stranger Things but only for Steve/Eddie , The Witcher but only for Geralt/Jaskier, and Ladybug and Cat Noir but only for Adrinette .

OC's, art/drawing, their writing, blog specific only

Story snippets ideas and prompts: Do you like receiving them?

Pets: I'd love to know all about them

Garden and Hobbies: What type of gardening and/or hobbies?

Like being tagged in things: If so what kinds of things?

*Asks are sent for fun, no pressure to answer.

hey! i remember being on tumblr in the old days (old-ish, like 2014-2017) and asks were sooo common and so fun to just get to know people. i'm glad you're doing this, and i love to get asks!

about me and my job: i'm a researcher currently employed in a government lab where i work with common viruses like HSV and influenza in order to understand how they affect people with specific genetic diseases. microbiology (and biology in general) is one of my greatest passions and i LOVE geeking out about it. seriously don't get me started lol or please do actually. let's talk about it

fandoms: i'm kind of all over the place here. i love so much media but my biggest fandoms as you can tell from my blog are probably lotr/the hobbit, wwdits, btvs, hunter x hunter, the x files, and merlin. i also LOVE severance; it's such a great show but i'm not sure if there's even a fandom for it?? and i'm no hardcore shipper, but i like bagginshield, samfro, methur, nandermo (frankly any ship on the show), destiel because i'm still living in 2016, aziraphale/crowley, and mulder/scully. tbh there are probably so many more

writing/blog: i do love to write, yet i've never published any fics online before. BUT i've got a few fics in the works which i want to try to post soon -- my ao3 is the same as my tumblr although there's nothing on there yet except my treasured bookmarks lol. i'd like to get prompts or story snippet ideas, but sometimes i can be such a slow writer that i might struggle to respond to them. but who knows! maybe it'll bring out some inspiration in me.

pets/hobbies: i don't have any pets right now, and my hobbies usually involve playing and listening to music, writing, reading, making and collecting jewelry, and cooking.

as for being tagged in things, i'm happy to be tagged in anything! this blog is still very new, and i'm excited to make new mutuals here :)

thanks for the ask!

[welcometololaland]

9 people i wanna know better

been putting this off for so long i've forgotten everyone who tagged me i'm so sorry i just know @herefortarlos did because i copied her answers lmao, i think maybe also @theghostofashton @kiwichaeng @reyesstrand and @carlos-tk (thank you desi, neha, evie, maddie and d!). so sorry if i missed anyone!!! i love you!!!

current book you’re reading: i just finished educated by tara westover and i think i'm going to start circe by madeline miller next because @celeritas2997 let me borrow it and i need to give it back :)

last song you listened to: ACTIVATE by COBRAH. obsessseddddddd.

currently watching: i am slowly making my way through a documentary on juul haha.

current fic you’re reading: i'm really behind on fic reading right now. basically my beloved meet you after dark by @strandnreyes and Love From the Other Side by @lightningboltreader which is giving me so much life i can't even explain. i'm also devouring your gentle hands are stained with the blood of anothers by @birdclowns even though i have fear, The Weight of Grief by @wandering-night19 which is just beautiful and Teach You How Forever Feels by @three-drink-amy. ALSO first aid by @heartstringsduet and the band au by @basilsunrise, both of which i'm very lucky to have a doc link for.

On the RWRB side i need to catch up on so much but i just read get fucked (or die trying) by @rmd-writes and i super want to read Take me where I cannot stand by @clottedcreamfudge. ALSO I am yet to read Pour Your (He)art Out by @athousandrooms and Rae's October prompt fill (@iboatedhere).

next on my watch list: i don't really watch TV so instead i'm going to say i'm SUPER looking forward to consuming so much fic - there are some bloody amazing concepts in the works and i've been so lucky to have some creators tease me by dropping little snippets in my inbox (looking @ u @cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut, absolutely feral for you). if anyone else wants to do that...be my guest ;) i will scream and cry but really i love you and your teasing. ALSO i'm trying to come up with a chunk of time to dive into Knave 3 by @liminalmemories21 because i know i'm going to be fully obsessed.

current obsession: aside from my hyperfixations which are always on dash i would say pole dancing, bread, my cat (mr potato), perfume and chatting to mutuals on tumblr and discord seriously everyone come and talk to me i love you all.

gonna tag some people i don't think i've spoken to! @inkweedandlizards @girlsnightout304 @walkinginland @bitbybitwrites @lyhrcyrianne @st-elle-ar (i have spoken to you but i love dragging you into things hehe) @happiness-of-the-pursuit @buckybarnesalways and open tag for the last one (say lola sent you ;)

[rmd-writes]

15 questions, 15 mutuals

tagged by @jesuisici33 - thanks for the Friday morning procrastination material 💖

1. Are you named after anyone?

my parents

2. When was the last time you cried?

um, i got a little teary yesterday reading a snippet of the teacher au that @three-drink-amy sent me

3. Do you have kids?

two!

4. What sports do you play/have played?

I swam at school and tried a whole bunch of other sports cos we had to and I was terrible at everything except swimming.

5. Do you use sarcasm?

all the fucking time

6. What's the first thing you notice about people?

from a distance? clothes up close it's eyes/smile. Unless you're wearing interesting glasses or earrings and then it's probably those

7. What’s your eye color?

brown

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

happy endings only

9. Any talents?

I can make pancakes from scratch without looking at a recipe, does that count? I'm a decent baker when I can be bothered

10. Where were you born?

a hospital

11. What are your hobbies?

writing, aerial hammock (like silks but one piece in a loop), pole dancing

12. Do you have any pets?

yup! I have a black toy poodle

13. How tall are you?

158cm - pretty sure that's somewhere in between 5'2-5'3

14. Favorite subject in school?

English

15. Dream job?

I don't really have one. My job is interesting enough most of the time and sometimes I even like it lol

let's see if I can count and tag the right number of people: @welcometololaland (need some procrastination material?) @lightningboltreader @carlos-tk @jettestar @orchidscript @cha-melodius @three-drink-amy @danieljradcliffe @guardian-angle22 @celeritas2997 @inkweedandlizards @cricketnationrise @lemonlyman-dotcom @lutavero @goodways

[mrbexwrites]

Thoughts on Beta Readers

Apologies in advance if this turns into a bit of a ramble; I've had a lot of thoughts in my head, and I needed to somewhere to formulate them into a coherent stream.

I made this writblr page about a year ago after realising that I have written loads of stories, but never really thought about sharing them. I still don't know what I'm ultimately going to do with any of them- I don't think I have the skills/fortitude to go through Trad or Indie pub, nor the stamina and/or headspace for self-pub and trying to be my own hype/marketing person just doesn't appeal to me.

I like the writing part of writing; not so much anything else, as anyone who has seen any of my other posts will attest to! I think in just about every post I've ever published, it's just me grumbling about editing!

Anyway- sorry, I digress (in my defense, I did say that this would be a rambling post, so you only have yourself to blame if you've made it this far into my diatribe!). I've only been brave enough to share snippets of my WIPs through tag games, and everyone who had liked, commented or reblogged something- has given me that little dopamine spike and helped me find some courage to share my work.

I put out a call for beta readers, and some amazing people have taken the time and effort to read something that I've written.

I'm not a confident person, and I really worried that my story was garbage. I think I've stared at the documents so many times, that I could no longer see the woods from the trees. There were bits that I wasn't happy with, but couldn't figure out why. I was worried that I didn't have enough research under my belt to handle sentitive topics. Some sections felt too heavy, or dull. I found my own writing boring, my characters bland, scenes didn't gel, action felt disjointed etc etc.

Basically, I was in a bit of a tailspin, or a slump, a funk...and I didn't know how to dig myself out of the hole that I'd managed to clamber into. Normally, when I finish a WIP, it's done, and I don't do anything with it. It just stays in my docs folder, and backed up to an external hard-drive.

Rather than just continuing to stare at a document for hours, wondering what to do, I found my beta readers, and sent my first draft over to them (hoping that I'd managed to find all typos- lol, that didn't happen. Typos still managed to escape me -_-' )

I've seen several posts on my dash from folk complaining about interaction and the writblr community. My posts don't get a lot of engagement, which is fine (not trying to join a pity party- just stating facts!) but I've found that the interaction that I do have from followers, mutual or random folk has been really meaningful.

I've gone from dreading sharing my work, to being excited to post snippets, and being tagged in games, getting to see what everyone else has been working on. (I appreciate that I'm a bit of a hypocrite, as I'm not very good at engaging with others on this site- I worry about coming across as a complete weirdo creep, and I struggle to find new ways of saying 'omg, I love this, show me more' in the tags! Or to think of asks to send, even though several people diligently send me asks every week! I'm trying to get better, I promise!)

Sorry- rambling again. I just...adklsdfgskhdfh

I'm honestly gobsmacked by the effort that my beta readers put into my WIP, and the kind comments, feedback and suggestions that they've made. I genuinely believed that I would get ' meh, it was okay' in the best scenario that I'd worked out in my head. Their engagement and feedback has been so helpful and I appreciate it so much.

It's helped me identify the sticking points that I was having, why I was unhappy with some scenes, characters etc etc. They have really helped me take that step back, and re-evaluate things, rather than just staring at the screen and feeling like a deer in the headlights. I was so worried/scared about sharing an entire WIP, but it's been worth it.

So, if anyone is in the same boat as me- scared to take the plunge- dip your toe in the water. Share snippets, work up to finding a beta reader or two, get outside input, rather than just sitting and staring trying to work it out on your own.

There are a lot of people out there willing to share their knowledge, and help you get the most out of your story.

Special thank you to @sam-glade and @at-thezenith for taking the time to give me such thorough feedback. I honestly can't thank you enough for your input and comments.

I'm going to stop rambling now, before this gets any more unhinged!

TL;DR- don't be a little writblr gremlin, lurking in the shadows. Engage with the community, and because they're awesome, they'll help you out!

[enruiinas]

Interaction PSA: On Verses & Verse Building!

-- Info pertaining to verses, AUs, verse-buildings, crossovers, etc. This series of PSAs is meant to accompany & further elaborate on some things in my updated rules. I link to them throughout not as required guidelines, but what I hope are helpful snippets for those looking for the best means of interacting! --

♥ I love verses. I love verse-building. I love AUs. That's it, y'all. That's the post. (I"m technically kidding, but it could be.) I love playing in other peoples' verses, I love people jumping into my verses, I love building a verse with a mun whether it's based on a series of canon-divergent what-ifs or taking our muses and throwing them into the setting or situations of another fandom we both enjoy... you name it.

♥ I am happy to write all the threads, in all the verses, all the time. I like having multiple things going on. I have verses that are spin-offs of other verses that only explore a minor deviation in the original premise of the verse. When I say I want to explore our muses in every possible scenario, I mean it - so if you're ever torn on options for a meme, or you've got a "well... we could do this, but we could also do this," situation, there is a high probability I'm just going to send you the "both is good" meme and ask what we're calling both of them.

Seriously. I have enough threads in enough verses going on with @climatact that I had to put together a thread directory. And I love every single one of them.

♥ Exploring canon-divergent "what if" scenarios is my favorite. Off the top of my head, some of the verses I've helped create or been a part of have been based around questions like these (shoutout to those reading their questions or ones we've discussed here, y'all know who you are):

• what if robin had found her way to the north & joined the donquixote family after aokiji sent her on her way from ohara? • what if bellemere had lived, nami had followed in her footsteps to become a marine, law & corazon had had more time together, and their search for a cure had taken them as far as the east? • what if law had stayed with the donquixote family (willingly or not?)

tl:dr; i love them. ask them. let's build verses from them!

♥ Other things I love building verses off of? Shared interests, tropes, and favorite fandoms.

• ❛ Oh, hey. I love Greek mythology. You too? Cool let's build a verse where our muses are gods & goddesses. ❜ • ❛ Found family trope?! Absolutely, let's do it. ❜ • ❛ You watched Noragami too? We should build a Noragami verse for them! ❜

♥ The point is, I love verses. Give them to me - all of them. :3 And for a list of fandoms I'm familiar with, please click here (updated 3/28/2024). If you see anything on it you'd like to explore a verse for, give me a shout! (There are a few on there I'd need to revisit to shake my brain awake for, but I wouldn't mention them if I wasn't interested enough to make a verse up for.)

Other PSAs: Memes, Plotting, On Verses & Verse-Building, General RP Preferences (Coming Soon), OOC interactions (Coming Soon), Mutuals & Affiliates (Coming Soon), ALL PSAs.

[blossom-adventures]

WIP WEDNESDAY!! (Thursday Morning for me)

We’re back!!

Ok, ok… not quite back, but I was tagged by @thequeenofthewinter and @sylvienerevarine so I thought I’d share something, a little update if you will ☺️

So I haven’t took part in one of these for about 3 maybe 4 months now, but Im wanting to get back into posting them when I can, and I actually mentioned to a mutual earlier, that I have been feeling really good and I’ve found some clarity about what I want to do in each of my WIPs which is something I’ve not been able to say for a long time!

I’m getting excited to write again, which is making me very happy ☺️

However, at this moment at nearly 3am on a Thursday morning, I don’t have specific snippets to share, but what I wanted to do was share what I’m currently working on (this will also act as a to do list for me) 😆

🩷 Bad Things Happen Bingo - I still have one that has been requested from my mother which I haven’t got around to doing, and I’m still up for suggestions being sent my way if anyone wants to

❤️ A Tall Glass of Red Wine - Partial Hiatus on this while I try to work out where I want the story to go next, I still want to work on it but I think I need to dig myself out of a plot hole, maybe reworking the chapters I’ve already posted to have it make sense in the future 🤔

💙 Far Horizons & Ancient Stones - The chapter I’m currently working on is called “The Crown and The Dragonguard” but I’d been finding it hard to get though the Jagged Crown quest line, but I think I’ve recently had an idea of where to go with it, so this is definitely something that will be worked on soon!

🧡 The Blood Prophecy - The Prologue was shared a while ago so I’m hoping the next chapter “Dawnguard” will be happening soon too, I’ve fleshed out Kristof’s character quite a lot thanks to the Calling Of Kynareth Discord Server so I’m excited to get his story underway

💜 Guard & Glaive - I have a Whumptober story and the Kingsglaive Legends stories that I want to finish before I would feel comfortable sharing the Prologue of Guard and Glaive, it’s still in the works and I’m excited to see where it leads

💚 Legacy of the Herald - Yes, you read that right, my Dragon Age fic has a title! I wrote the Prologue the other day but I want to get a little further with the story before I start posting this

🩶 Cosplay! - I am currently starting my work for my Cloud cosplay ready for February as well as making the wing that goes with my Ardyn cosplay, I’d love to share more progress with people on here ☺️

[chromegnomes]

I'm gonna delete this post later, but thought I'd put out a general Last Call in case any of my followers/mutuals wanted to join the beta reader group for my WIP series The Skeleton King over in the Wyngspan Labs discord.

Here's a temporary link to the PDF of the teaser I sent the existing group; it's about 6500 words long, and is a pretty good sample of what the rest will be like.

If you're interested, I'll put the Q&A I wrote for the beta readers below a Read More here, so you can know what you'd be getting into:

WHAT IS SKELETON KING?

Skeleton King is a novel* that I (Ross) have been writing on and off for over 10 years now, which began as a comedy serial I was writing for my college's writing club. This current iteration is the 4th draft.

*As of this draft, Skeleton King is no longer one novel, but a series of 5 short novels/novellas, each of which is stylized as an "Act" of a 5-act Shakespearean tragedy. This 5-act structure was present in the 2020 draft, but I hadn't yet accepted that it should probably be split into separate volumes.

CAN I READ THE PREVIOUS DRAFTS?

I'll probably post snippets from the 2020 draft when they become relevant, or if it would be funny to do so. The others will be buried with me.

WHAT IS A "SUB-ACT"?

Skeleton King riffs on story structure pretty explicitly throughout. Each book in the series is an "Act," but each book also has a traditional Act structure within it; most have 3 acts, one has 2, and one has 5. I'm not sure what to call these colloquially, because "chapter" feels insufficient but "act" is confusing. IMO it's easier to understand within the books themselves, because they're labeled like "Act I-1, Act I-2, Act I-3; Act II-1," etc

SO WHAT'S THIS BOOK ABOUT ANYWAY?

Coming up with a good elevator pitch for this book is literally the hardest part, and I'll be seeking guidance on that. On the surface, it's a coming-of-age road trip dramedy about four very strange high school boys, set in 2010, that gradually becomes a supernatural action-comedy; under the hood, it's an unhinged post-post-ironic Story About Stories that is trying to do way too much at once, but that information overload is, itself, one of the most important themes.

WHAT ARE THE MAIN INFLUENCES?

I think listing some of the books that have left the biggest impact on SK's style/tone will be helpful for giving people a yardstick to judge if it's accomplishing its goals. This list is incomplete, and in no particular order:

• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams • Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke • House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski • A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket • Moby-Dick by Herman Melville • Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood • Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett • A whole lot of books by Ursula K LeGuin • A whole lot of books by Kurt Vonnegut

If you put all of those books in a blender and then reassembled them into a love/hate letter addressed to the ghosts of Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung, you would get Skeleton King.

WHAT ARE YOU HOPING TO GET OUT OF THIS?

• Motivation to finally finish the series, because I work best when I have an audience • Knowledge of what's working and what isn't, so please be honest about how you react to things, good or bad • A first pass at sensitivity reading. Due to its setting, race, class, and queerness come up a decent amount in these books; I am trying to be thoughtful in how I address these subjects, but if I overstep, I'd much rather be cautioned/corrected by readers I trust before the wider internet gets their hands on it. • The ego boost of watching a scene/joke land as I intended it to • The all-important unspoken corrective of watching a scene/joke I thought would hit flop instead

IS THIS "ROSCOE WATSON" GUY SUPPOSED TO BE YOU?

Roscoe is neither a self-insert nor not a self-insert, but a secret third thing. It's complicated, keep reading.

The most I'll say is that a lot of his interests and mannerisms are based on a teenage me, but his life and upbringing are very different from mine.

THIS IS A HOMESTUCK THING, ISN'T IT?

I only read Homestuck very recently, and did so because people who read earlier drafts of Skeleton King kept pointing out the existing similarities to me. I would like to think that Skeleton King is less obnoxious than Homestuck, but both are definitely engaged in a similar kind of metatextual ADHD maximalism.

DO YOU ACTUALLY LIKE ON THE ROAD?

No.

[orchidreign]

hello friend !!! sending an ask just bc it's easier to have all the snippets i really loved from the collection you sent me all here at once

but oAugh !!! you have such a firmness with the way you speak about yourself. a tough love, but still love.

there's also a lightness in the way you speak about the world around you that comes across as someone who can only do so because one knows heaviness. musings of someone who is lost, but is okay with being lost, because it's simply okay to be lost.

i especially loved "talisman" with "autumn's waltz" as a close second !!

if you're comfortable doing so, i very much encourage you to post your work, either here or elsewhere, because !! your work is so romantic, in a the way i find that ada limón's work is romantic. poetry in the smallest of things.

i look forward to reading your upcoming work !!! :>

Hi friend!! This is so sweet to read especially from an amazing writer such as yourself, I want to give some feedback on your writing too. <3 To have one's writing being interpreted as romantic is such a compliment and I adore Ada Limón's work!!

My work is definitely about the small and the mundane because I know I have felt that way all my life, but as you put there is beauty and poetry in the smallest of things and I'm still trying to find that in myself and the world around me so I turn to my writing and pen what I observe. I write for myself but I hope others can be moved or feel something with my words.

Writing poetry is a great passion of mine, I'm on a journey with it and my mutuals have seen my work but I would love to post all over at some point.

Thank you for your words of encouragement and sending me the snippets you've enjoyed, this is a nice look back too as I'm in the midst of writing a new collection.

xoxo

[allylikethecat]

Omg! Hey Ally how are you??! I swear life just gets in the crazy sometimes! Can’t believe i missed a talk shop Tuesday!!! Anyway, I’ve gotten over my illness since the last time I sent an ask and then I just got absolutely slammed at work and all of the sudden it’s Thursday and I hadn’t opened Tumblr at all??

Ok so let’s talk ATKH: I’m literally so sad our last chapter (not sure if epilogue is going to be posted at the same time as the “last chapter”) is actually TOMORROW! I also kind of can’t believe we’ve been here for 23ish weeks!! It’s genuinely flown by so quick. My god. The reality check that George got was more than a slap in the face. It was a punch, stomp, assassination, everything. Ross being the one to enlighten George was also crazy. I know Ross was friends with George first and he still loves him but damn I also wonder how many other people know what went down and if they also are siding with Matty. This story being just from Georges POV has been super cool but I’m also like itching to know what Matty is thinking about all of this!! I need them to talk or fight it out, I don’t even care if they get back together I just NEED closure!!! I also need Sally safe and sound preferably with Matty but if not then I want Carly to have her lol

Do you think you’ll ever write snippets of ATKH from Matty’s POV? Also do you think you’d ever delve into his backstory more since we all know about The Accident but the rest of his story is just alluded to? If not that’s valid but it would definitely be interesting!

🥤

AHHH Hello My Dear Smoothie Anon!! I am so deeply sorry that I took so long to reply to this lovely lovely ask that you took the time to send me! I'm so happy to hear that you're feeling better and hope you were able to get through work being super busy! Hopefully it's calmed down some!

Thank you so much for reading and for the kind words about ATKH!! I debated a lot about who should give Fictional!George the reality check - early drafts had it as both Fictional!Carly at one point and Fictional!Charli at another. BUT Fictional!Ross felt right? Like that was Fictional!George's BOY and now he's like umm dude wtf I hope you enjoyed the final chapter and the epilogue! I know I had a lot of fun writing them even though I 100% cried because I was sad it was over. This was the first fic I've written where I've fully managed to stay in one POV and it's something I really like about this fic since like... Fictional!George is such an unreliable narrator lol

At this point I don't have any plans to write anything more in this universe BUT Maybe one day I'll write some snippets or a prequel from Fictional!Matty's POV about what things were like before he came to Dirty Hit (His relationship with his mother, his relationship with the jockey that worked for his dad, how toxic his time in New Jersey was...) BUT if anyone has any specific questions about different headcanons my DMs are always open to discuss lol

Thank you SO MUCH for reading and being so lovely and sending me this wonderful ask! I'm sorry again for continuing to be so slow in responding to asks, real life has been real life-ing and I've been spending my free "computer time" writing instead of on Tumblr RIP. (Also... one of my mutuals, you know who you are because we talked about it! Recommended this book series to me and it has had me in such a chokehold I haven't been able to like... do anything else. Life is literally work, write, and read these books at the moment lol) BUT thank you so much for the continued support!! I hope your Tuesday is going well and that you have a great rest of your week!

❤️Ally

[orbleglorb]

info post!

pt: info post

hi i'm sasha orbleglorb. i use he/him and they/them with no preference. this post is going to basically be a little intro post/guide to my blog. it has my tag system and stuff for wip wednesday/OC ask games, because i rb a LOT of those. it'll be updated every now and then :]

palestine & fundraisers

pt: palestine & fundraisers

i receive a lot of aid requests sent via asks from those in palestine! seriously, i get about 10+ a day. i usually only get on tumblr once a day or once every few days, so i just spam a bunch of fundraisers and dip. i won't bore you with the details, but this method is no longer working out, and i fear isn't helping paleatinians. all of this to say, all fundraiser and mutual aid posts will be running on a queue from now on. time-sensitive fundraisers will either be shared on the spot or bumped to the top of the queue. my queue posting times and amounts will constantly be updated to allow a good amount of fundraisers get posted a day.

keep reading for my interests, tag system, and ask game stuff!

interests:

pt: interests:

blaseball, terrorball (probably what i post about the most atm), the magnus archives, lost media, my ocs, other ppl's ocs, funny little animals

tag system

pt: tag system

#undescribed - images without an image ID

#id in alt or #id in alt text - images with the ID in alt text, but nowhere else in the post

#not screenreader friendly - posts that include formatting that is hard or impossible for screenreaders to read. this includes special fonts, even the ones on tumblr. this does not include bold, italic, bigger, or biggest fonts.

#colored text - posts with colored text. as far as i know, colored text is readable by screen readers. but it can cause migranes and be hard to look at, so i have a category for it.

#romanceposting and #affectionposting - posts that include romance/physical affection. tagged for those who are romance/physical affection repulsed (in this case, physical affection will always refer to kissing/making out/things of that nature)

#later gator - posts i have saved for later

#save for later - practical posts i want to reference later

#insert a queue pun here - queue tag

#sasha lore - posts about my personal life & general things happening with me. negative/bad stuff tagged with #rant and #vent

#asks 4 sasha - ask response tag

#eyeball emoji. hey - ask game tag

#orble art insp - posts that inspire me artistically

#orble art ref - art references

#orble art - art tag

#orble writing - writing tag

#blaseball (organizational) - blaseball posts i make that i don't want to maintag, but would like to organize somehow. i do this with multiple fandoms, and they all serve the same purpose.

#firewalker with me friday - every(ish) friday i reblog the song "firewalker with me" by the garages

#sidelined sunday - same as above but with "sidelined" by the garages, every(ish) sunday

#wip wednesday - an ask game where i post my wips & ppl can request snippets (more info below)

#wip wednesday works - snippets of wips i post on wip wednesday

ask game stuff - OCs, favorite characters, ships, fic wips

pt: ask game stuff - OCs, favorite characters, ships, fic wips

i reblog a lot of ask games that are about OCs, ships, and WIPs. because i'm a blaseball fan, and blaseball has no canon, i also like it when ppl send blb players for OC asks! so, if you want to send an ask but don't know what to ask about, here's a list of things for when i share those ask games:

👤 OCs - Original 👤

these are my OCs i created for my own original world! bold = important to the main storyline or many storylines

most used/fleshed out ocs (bolded are main characters): alejandro salinas, arthur murphy (that's the only ref i've posted), connor shrapner, diego salinas aguilera, dhia hassan, ezra hoffman, gwen shrapner, hannah abrams, leylo gromit (nee wright), manea, marcos salinas rojas, nicostratus dreadful, silas vanderzee, terrell newman, william shrapner, and zach schneider (nee wright)

ocs with a decent amount of lore: amos salinas (nee wright), catalina salinas flores, dolores rojas velásquez (salinas), christopher shrapner, callum ferreira-cohen (nee wright), danika murphy, gabriela flores salinas, james voland (nee wright), luke fullmer, martín salinas flores, mallory shrapner, matthew norman, ryan kishimoto, opal dreadful, ornias dreadful, penny dreadful, rowan wallace, taylor wallace, timothy "mothy" miller (and dreadful but dw about it), wilbur wright, and valerie schneider

other ocs: aidan thompson, aliyah anderson, carlos salinas castillo, cecil weaver, camilla salinas rojas, cynthia wright, daniel ferreira-cohen, gilberto flores martinez, henry milburn, indigo milburn, irene salinas, jackie ong, jamari moore, jessica, josé salinas pérez, john perez, maría concepción castillo gonzález de salinas, margarita salinas castillo, mei, mercedes aguilera, molly mae wright, nicole murphy, oliver wright, peter wright, rory wright, sergio ferreira-cohen, wendy ong, and zellie anderson

⚾️ OCs - Blaseball ⚾️

ILB management: caroline sweatblood, riley munson

baltimore residents: miss annie, devonte, DD/delivery driver/cheska (kind of a collective oc but i have gone way off track with it), ezekiel bernstein, lorenza benedetti/signora benedetti/mrs. benedetti, vincenzo benedetti/signor benedetti/mr. benedetti, amber lin, lucy lin

houston residents: priya khan, antonia torres valdez, ceren göre, zeynep göre, yağmur göre

📼 TMA OCs 📼

UK-based: maxie wellerman, unnamed bc i keep forgetting lol

american avatars: shantae washington (eye avatar), tash norman (stranger... aspect? avatar?), alphie weaver (web avatar), cliff conway (vast avatar), tilly crawford (buried avatar), clarabelle (spiral avatar/aspect)

‼️ Favorite Characters ‼️

blorbos that are basically my ocs: conditional yuniesky (i call him yuniesky torres), chester abu-zaid (nadeem abu-zaid and his service dog, chester), fletcher berger, mindy khan

blorbos that are not basically my ocs, but i have a lot of lore for them that others do not: parker macmillan, megan ito, new megan ito, clare ballard, mike townsend, tillman henderson, declan suzanne, lenjamin lin, flattery strewnberry, juke gnocchi, bees gorczyca, sevgi gore, rivers javier, any of the coronation spies

blorbos that sit in a weird in-between of those two categories: alexandria rosales

terrorball: jonathan grolon, marielle, ava jayonut, gunner irons, lelani blackberry, selene nathge

tma: jonathan sims, melanie king, oliver banks, mike crew, agnes montague, harriet fairchild

💞 Ships (and some characters): 💞

Here! (needs updating)

🖊 WIPs: 🖊

fic wips: every other wednesday(citation needed) i do a little thing called wip wednesday, where i share a list of my wips and ppl can request a snippet of each wip. the most recent wip files post (which will be tagged as #wip wednesday) will be the most reliable for this.

thank you for reading!

[itashiro-writing-corner]

Rules & Guidelines

The rules and guidelines of this blog are rather simple.

This is a writing blog. Not and RP blog (See main blog for that) As such this is not the place for interacting with the muses/characters of the blog. However you are allowed to also send asks regarding them and getting clarification on my depiction of them or anything specific about the verse they’re involved with. So in short you can ask anything about the characters but do not expect the characters to respond as that’s not the nature of this blog.

I do have an RP blog and a job. So there will be times I’m not on here that often. As such I ask you do not pester me about writing prompts or anything about things you’ve sent or submitted unless it’s been well over a week since it’s been sent. I tend to be busy most days and this is mostly for fun. All muses from the main blog will also be available here for scenarios and such.

Be respectful. If I refuse to write something don’t take it personally and certainly do not harass me about it. You will be blocked or ignored, or sometimes mocked, by me if you do so. I will give reasons for not doing things and I ask you to respect my choice. We’re here for fun.

Similarly, I may depict characters in a different way than you might want to see them depicted. There’s nothing wrong with having different opinions about how characters should be, but I am not here to argue my version against anyone else’s. If you don’t like it then go somewhere else for it or choose a different character.

Ships from my RP blog can and usually are carried over to this one so I will have some biases towards those if we are mutuals and while I cannot say I’ll 100% match the depictions of the other muse involved, I will do my best to keep the stories fun.

As mentioned in the description, there most likely will be lewd content within the blog so if you are not 18+ I politely ask you to leave now. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

Now seeing that is this a writing blog there is all sorts of things here to see. Mostly with scenario snippets for characters and other possible prompts as I see fit. What if scenarios, character rewrites and even series rewrites are very possible here and I will occasionally make polls regarding which ones I go with but I am open to suggestions, just note it is still my choice in the end on what I do and how I choose to depict things. Constructive criticism is welcomed and I may change things up or redo something if I like your ideas/advice.

Lastly, I will occasionally do muse creation sessions as I have an addiction to making new characters like crazy but I like to get input and have you guys involved so if I am doing such things I heavily encourage you to send your ideas and thoughts on it and if all goes well there will be another character to interact with on the RP blog as well as new scenarios and situations to explore here.

Have fun guys!

If you have read and understood these rules send in “Let’s go on and Adventure!” to my inbox.