#so it's more easily findable

[thefollow-spot]

So I just saw a post where someone was complaining about people feeding unfinished fic into genAI to produce “endings” and understandably the notes were full of people outraged, and saying shit like, “you do NOT have my permission to do this with my works” and like, “consider this my statement that I am NOT okay with this.” And like. Yeah—obviously. Why the fuck would you do this in the first place. But also like. I sure hope all the people in the notes making declarations about what they do and do not want done with their works are actually posting permission statements somewhere, to make it easier for podficcers and ficbinders and remix writers to actually know what is and is not welcome.

[simplydnp]

to the anon who asked me about extremely old lore: it's not an important nor interesting part of the story, and definitely isn't relevant here. i appreciate your curiosity and am glad you asked me, and i hope i don't scare you off with this, but it really doesn't matter.

[lobautumny]

So like, the Reddit strike going on right now, yeah? I've been seeing a lot of people comment on how they appreciate the protest and then go on to say that this has the notable downside of them constantly looking up questions and not being able to easily find the answers because all of the easily-findable answers are exclusively on Reddit. I am not sure if most of the people making this observation are within the line of thought of "man, maybe this protest isn't such a good idea after all" or "man, it really sucks that we've let the internet get so consolidated," and I'm really hoping its the latter.

Like, all of this? This right here? Reddit making a shitty, anti-consumer grab for money and control over how people are allowed to access the information on their servers, and the website going dark in protest causing tons of people to not be able to access important information? This is exactly what people mean when they say that it's bad that the internet has shrunk down so much and is mostly comprised of, like, 10 websites. It's a fucking problem that one company making one bad decision and causing their website to crash and burn can jeopardize so much of humanity's cumulative information.

This two-day glimpse into the internet without Reddit is the warning shot. Imagine what will happen if Reddit actually goes down for good for one reason or another one day. Imagine what will happen if/when Discord or Fandom bites the dust, or gets rendered practically-unusable without paying an ever-increasing premium because they're owned by blood-sucking corporate leeches.

Another big thing is Twitter clamping down really hard on your ability to DM people if you don't have Twitter Blue. If this goes through, it'll put a ton of artists and sex workers who rely on Twitter DMs for their business operation into a shitty situation. Now, obviously, it's not gonna be the end of the world for them, but once again, it feels like a warning shot to me. Twitter is a sinking ship, and unless something changes and it starts to course-correct, I worry that it'll go under and all of the creators who rely on it will suddenly be in an extremely precarious situation.

These are the sorts of things that we, as the users of the internet, need to seriously think about as time goes on, and if we don't find an adequate answer sooner, we're going to pay for it later. I still hold that the best solution is to start making and using more individual, niche websites. Things like Twitter, Reddit, Discord, etc. have their place, of course, but I seriously think a lot was lost through the death of things like individual forums and the existence of many different wiki-hosting sites.

We need a concerted effort, not just on the side of larger creators, but on the users themselves, to stop exclusively using these larger websites and support the creation and growth of smaller, more niche websites, and prevent a catastrophe before it actually happens. I simply hope that people with larger platforms than my own pick up on all this and start talking about it and swaying people to act sooner rather than later. I know it's possible to correct the problem of the mysteriously tiny internet before a modern Library of Alexandria moment happens, I just don't know if that correction will actually happen in time.

[lightyakami]

how to make your fic easily findable

okay hello everyone! here is my somewhat solicited guide on how to make your fics easier for interested readers to find. 

please note that this is a guide to help you make your fics discoverable, not to make them popular(tm.) it’s also not a guide as to the best way to post fic. you do not need to do these things. doing these things will not make people like your fic more or less than they would otherwise. i do not do all these things, either. my aim here is purely to provide suggestions that will make your fic easier to search for and share.

where to post your fic

post it on ao3 as an individual fic. authors are often hesitant to post short fic on ao3, but readers simply cannot find it if it’s not there. multi-chapter drabble collections are a matter of preference and are absolutely fine to use, but in terms of findability they’re really hard for readers to pass around or put on rec lists. 

you can also post your fic on tumblr. ime fic posted in full is way more likely to be reblogged than an outward link. long fic posted on tumblr should use a read more cut, but at least a paragraph should be above the cut.

should i make a promo post? 

yes. ao3 does not have any features that facilitate promoting fic -- if you don't make a promo post, people will only see your fic if they regularly browse through newest fics or actively search for one of its tags.

what should i put in a tumblr promo post? 

a tumblr promo post should generally contain: 

title 

pairing

name of the fandom

summary of fic

link to fic 

your tags should contain

pairing 

name of all major characters

name of fandom 

the word ‘fic’ (so people who hate fic in the tags can filter it out. be polite!)

other optional inclusions: 

rating (explicit, teen, etc) 

word count 

major tropes

graphics (don’t forget alt text!) 

a sample of your writing (it’s common to grab a ‘best-of’ passage from within your fic, but personally i’ve found you get a way better response if you paste the first couple paragraphs then add a ‘continue’ link at the end.)

tumblr does remove posts with certain keywords from the tags, but honestly these keywords are very minimal. if you’re worried your post might not be added, double-check ‘latest’ and find an alternative phrase if necessary. don’t censor the word. you do not need to repost — tumblr will pop it back in as soon as you’ve removed the word. (it won’t push it back to the top, though, so it’s best to correct this asap.) 

a further note on tags

use the most commonly used tag. look at other people’s posts to find the fandom norms. it is fine to add multiple variations of the same tag. 

this is especially important if the tag is ambiguous. for example: ‘near’ is the most commonly used name for the death note character, but the full name ‘nate river’ should be included as well. take into account that a lot of people use plain searches rather than tag searches. an ambiguous name might be usable as a tag but not as a plain search. top vs latest searches will also give dramatically different results — ‘top’ searches tend to retrieve appropriate results with ambiguous names, but ‘latest’ results won’t.

what should i not put in my tumblr promo post? 

self-deprecating statements. this isn’t a moral statement. people just don’t like to read things if the author is telling them it’s bad

criticism of other people’s work, even if it’s really general. ‘i usually hate hurt/comfort but i wrote this anyway’ is obviously going to alienate the vast majority of your readerbase

anything unrelated to the fic. if people can’t tell whether or not something is a personal post, they’ll be hesitant to reblog. if you want to add commentary, put it in a second reblog. 

what should i include in my ao3 summary? 

this is a bit of a moving target. some readers like fairly detailed summaries. other readers look to tags for content information and prefer abstract vibes-based summaries. my suggestion would be to include the main selling points of your work — the characters, the tropes, and whatever factors make it unique.

at the end of the day, though, basically anything other than ‘i suck at summaries’ is fine.

what ao3 tags should i include?

any major pairings, any major characters, any major tropes. imagine your fic from a reader’s perspective — what tags would they look under if they were searching for something like it? 

also pay attention to whether or not an ao3 tag is canonical. only canonical tags can be filtered on. if it autocompletes, it’s canonical.

for more information on a specific tag, click into the tag to reach the ‘x works in TAG’ screen, then click it again. tags are often made synonyms of specific canonical tags, in which case filters will treat them as if they’re that tag. you can get pretty granular with all of this but basically if you use tags that autocomplete you’re good to go.

you can also use tags to clarify content. (ex. ‘this trope is only a minor aspect of the story.) ao3 used to ask people not to do this, but it’s now explicitly permitted. 

does posting time matter? 

yes. sorry. it does. quite a bit, frankly.  people often overthink this — there are so many variables trying to find the exact perfect time is a losing game — but it is absolutely worth taking into account. 

when should i post?

on ao3: do NOT post between 12AM and 5AM UTC. ao3 has a longstanding posting glitch that will backdate your work if it’s posted between these times. in general: broadly speaking fic tends to do best on sundays and worst on friday. posting on a holiday dramatically drives down traffic. fic should be posted on ao3 when most people would likely have time to read (ex. after the standard workday) and promo posts should be posted when people would likely be looking for fic (ex. commuting hours aka slightly before 9AM and at 5PM.) the majority of tumblr users operate in EST. 

the university semester also makes a massive difference to how much engagement a fic gets — views always shoot up during breaks and plummet during exams. honestly working around this would require delaying your fic so frequently that i can’t see it being worth it, but it’s good to be aware of in terms of the response you’re expecting. 

also the ‘best’ posting time does vary a lot genre by genre so you’ll have to experiment a bit. (personally i’ve found h/c tends to do better midweek, for example.) imagine your fic from a reader’s perspective: when would you likely be looking for this sort of thing? 

anyway don’t drive yourself crazy with this but also don’t shoot yourself in the foot by posting at 2AM EST on christmas morning. do you have a random piece of advice about posting on ao3? please be aware that if you write your fic as a draft, ao3 will backdate the fic to the day you saved the draft and index it accordingly -- it won't show up in the newest fics. multichapters initially posted as drafts will sometimes glitch and backdate every single new chapter. you can correct this by checking the 'set a different publication date' box and manually inputting it.

should i reblog my own promo posts? yes. do this. do it multiple times. make sure you do at least one reblog in the morning, one in the night, and one on the weekend.

i feel like authors are often embarrassed to reblog their own work because it feels self-important but the fact is most people are not reading your blog start to finish. no one will see all your reblogs. tbh you may lose followers for this but this is is a guide on fic visibility, not tumblr popularity. 

please conclude your post now

anyway!! i hope some of this is helpful. again, you don't need to do any or all of this, but i hope it can provide a bit of a framework and some suggestions.

[happytaffeta]

Y'all been good at this before, so. There are a couple of illustrated storybooks that exist in my memory and, seemingly, nowhere else. One of them is probably findable a little more easily that the other if only because it seems like it's more common subject matter, being typical fairytale stuff, so I'm gonna tell you about the weirder one and hope someone else knows it. I don't remember the title. I remember a few detached plot points, in what I think are approximately chronological order, and the illustrations. The plot points I remember: Girl lives inside. Possibly it is a cave or bunker situation. It is decidedly dim and gloomy, she has never been outside and there are no windows. No one goes outside. It simply isn't done. Danger is either strongly implied or outright stated. She goes outside, of course. Outside, things are beautiful, there is long lush grass and there are big flowers and there are some surreal vaguely humanoid fairy-goblin-critter folks, Bosch-like in design. They are pretty friendly toward our heroine, but they are afraid of some threat that lives out here with them. I do not remember what the threat is or how the story ends up getting resolved. The illustrations were very beautiful, and rendered in a kind of painterly, semi-realistic style despite the dreamlike surreal characters. The colors of the outside portions of the story, at least, were rich and saturated. Anyone know this book? Please help? It haunts me.

[takaraphoenix]

I truly can not put into words how much I hate the tag limit on AO3.

Look, I get it, they put it up back then for a good reason with the bullshit spam in tags. But could we lift it again? Or at least raise it to a reasonable amount?

Because 75 tags is nothing.

Not when it is total tags. Not when you are writing elaborate multiple chapter fics.

Between character tags, relationship tags and additional tags? It is so damn easy to reach 75 tags.

Hell, if you are writing am OT3 BDSM fic set in the ABOverse, you are already 17 tags in with just the core basics (3 character tags, 4 relationship tags if you tag the OT3 and the individual relationships among them, alpha/beta/omega dynamics, Polyamory, Threesome - [constellation], BDSM, 3 tags for the characters' ABOverse designations, 3 tags for their Dom/sub roles), that is not even including what kind of kinks or sexual themes will be in it and those can, depending on how much fun you're having, easily take a dozen tags too. If you also have important side characters or pairings? Or platonic dynamics that matter? And if you also have... you know... plot? Tropes or other things that would be great if findable through a tag?

I get it, 75 tags sounds like a lot. If you're posting a oneshot. But a lot of things tend to happen in longer fics. I find it impossible to contain a 50k fic to 75 tags, I have no idea how people whose stories range in the 100k+ length handle this.

If it were, at the very least, just about additional tags? If relationship and character tags weren't included in that count? I think that would actually be a more realistic number. It'd still limit spamming, but it'd also give more freedom to actually tag the important parts of the story.

Because I do want to cover the things I think are important for people to be able to filter, either to find or to avoid a story. I don't want to have to choose which thing to leave untagged, just because the story is long, elaborate and contains a multitude of themes, kinks and tropes.

[jazzymin97]

Okay okay, hear me out; was watching an episode of SPN and lore hinged idea of the day(episode) was Zanna. Romanian folklore for good spirits that help children? IE Imaginary friends.

— please note I didn’t do further research on Zanna after this; I do plan to but my focus in it is probably gonna be gone tomorrow so please— if SPN fucked this folklore up or my supes basic understanding is very shitty; feel free to correct or add more to it ^^

Now imagine this:

Damian, off somewhere in the manor but easily findable— like the library or something and talking to Danny. Like Danny just shows up and for whatever reason— only Damian can see him. (Whether this be by Danny’s design or it’s some sorta magic thing).

Well anyway, Damian and Danny are chatting and anytime someone gets close enough to try to figure out who Damian is talking to— and they see he’s literally talking to an empty room?? He glares if he spots anyone. It started around the time Bruce was stuck in the timestream. Dick chalked it up to possibly zanna or just the kid making up an imaginary friend to cope with his dad being dead. Dick absolutely mentions it to the others when it doesn’t stop AFTER Bruce is back. Hes just like “be chill guys— he’s a kid. “He’s healing after all that assassin trauma and it’s cute— let him have his friend. “

He’s the only one that Damian has told about Danny. Like basic things

“He’s very knowledgeable about the stars. He glows. You remind him of his overbearing sister.”

And dick, clearly not coping well himself, just takes it as Damian trying to bond with him and encourages him. Doesn’t say one word about this “Danny” being imaginary.

I imagine Cass is like the only one who’s managed to see Danny but knows he’s not danger and Damian likes him.

I think this overly funny reveal would just be Danny appearing in front of the others and coaxing them to go to bed or like stealing food; and they spot him; register him as either dick or Tim, like at first glance because blue eyes black hair— (Like my cousin and my sibling used to have similar shades of hair and do still have the same body figure; so like without my glasses and when I’m distracted, I absolutely will mistake one for the other.) — and then their brain is like “wait no that isn’t right” and they think they absolutely hallucinated him because he legit disappeared right in front of them.

And when it comes to the reveal of “oh yes. This is my friend. Danny.”

Everyone is collectively losing their shit because what in the hell?!? Where did this kid come from?!? How did none of them find him out?!?

[trainsinanime]

I'm still considering whether I'll do any non-vague posting about this, but let me just say: Writing long and erudite posts about what you think is wrong with a French children's TV show does not absolve you from the accusation that you're doing… let's call it entry-level analysis. A post can be long and well-written and still just regurgitate the most basic, boring points, and some of them plainly wrong.

Actually maybe don't read this, it may be too salty itself.

"Adrien is sometimes too pushy", "Marinette is sometimes a stalker", "Alya is a bad friend because she's unwilling to bully a random new girl just because Marinette said so", yeah, yeah, we've heard it. More than once. Way more than once. Yes, even with receipts and quotes. Trust me, it's been discussed. These are the kind of standard hot takes of someone who is doing their first attempt at critical analysis, and I actually think on some level we should encourage that. I do believe fandom should be beginner-friendly in all regards.

But man, it can be annoying to read sometimes. Especially when someone uses these hot takes to justify the existence of salt fics. Let me be 100% clear here: Salt fics are not a reaction to flaws in the source material. Salt fics are materially different from fix-it fics. This becomes more clear when you track these patterns over fandoms, and in particular look at my favourite example over in Fairy Tail (sic).

That fandom has a number of fandom-specific plots, like some "angel of death sends main character back to relive the origins with the knowledge they had later" (also very popular in Harry Potter back in the day), but also one that is just 100% salt specific: It's about Lisanna, a childhood friend of the male lead Natsu, coming back from the alternate universe she was trapped in, and displacing Lucy, the female lead, who eventually leaves, sad and depressed, while nobody cares about her. The sentiments are all the same: Feeling depressed, feeling annoyed that your friends are suddenly interested in the new girl, feeling like you don't belong anymore, leaving your friend group to punish them and so on.

There are some differences as well. This whole thing was back in the days of Fanfiction.net, when crossovers were in a whole other section of the site and thus not easily findable, so the whole "…I'm going to run away to somewhere where people want me" never had the frankly hilarious addition of "…and when I'm there I'm going to marry Batman!", which spawned a whole sub-fandom in ML (its fans tell me that it's not all salt; I haven't bothered to check).

But the most important difference: The inciting incident never happened in canon. People just thought it might. In canon, Lisanna did return from her alternate dimension… and then immediately became a forgotten background character. Lucy and Natsu remained just as in love as they always had been, which is to say, very much except they don't seem to notice it. Their relationship was never strained even for a moment.

And still people wrote these stories that are functionally salt fics, with the same storylines, same emotions, same beats. Because salt fics are not about fixing what is wrong with the show. If they were, they'd spend all their time discussing the terribly fucked-up metro map. Salt fics are about exploring feelings of loneliness, isolation, "why are you hanging out with here when I told you she sucks" and just pure spite, in a way that you don't really see outside of pop songs. That is the end goal. The characters and plots are just a way to get there, and they will get twisted as necessary.

This is critical for understanding and discussing the phenomenon of salt fics. Alya is not actually getting demonised because she acted a bit stupid in one episode where everybody but Marinette acted a bit stupid. It's incredibly weird to hear this argument, and then all the supporting quotes for it, in the same post, right underneath, are all:

Alya: Okay, but do you have any proof? Marinette (angrily): Arrghlwargl! No!

Like, come on. Alya is getting demonised because people really want to. Because it works for the kind of story. These stories assume that it's Alya's job to always support Marinette unconditionally, and that any deviation from that, no matter how minor, is a highest order betrayal. And then they go full Count of Monte Cristo on her.

(Well, not really, that could almost be fun. Nobody ever has Marinette imprisoned for fourteen years, get out with the help of a hypnotist monk, use a buried pirate treasure to buy an island, then manipulate a telegraph line to… It's all just torn notebooks and such. Boring.)

The idea that people hate Alya for mostly valid reasons is just plain wrong and shows that you've missed a huge part of what's happening in the fandom. You could use all the Alya hate as an entry point into analysing what her role is in the show, how people in the fandom perceive her role, how people in the salt dom perceive her role, how her role and her personality shift depending on the needs of an episode at the expense of a consistent character and so on. There is some great analysis in that direction out there already, but more wouldn't hurt. "Alya is a bad friend sometimes because of Chameleon" remains an uninteresting take no matter how well you word it, though.

And that's just Alya. Adrien hate, for example, is its entirely own field. In short: Yes, some characters in this fandom are over-hated. Try digging deeper next time.

[hpowellsmith]

I have a new website! I'm free from my old site that I never used because it was so annoying to post on and edit!

And you can subscribe to the blog using an RSS feed reader.

It's partly so I have a static online space that doesn't make me want to lie on the floor when I want to post, and I'm also hoping to use it for posts that I want to be more easily findable and linkable than on here.

Historically, I've not kept up with blogs consistently except this one, but we'll see how it goes. I'll definitely be putting up a series of posts about Honor Bound and its writing process in the lead-up to release, so watch this space!

[wemlygust]

I am so deeply frustrated that the Humans Are Space Orcs tag has 45 pages of fics on ao3, and 78 pages of bookmarks on ao3, and it's *still* not marked common and can't be filtered on, even though I KNOW I'm not the only one who reads these fics across fandoms. It's like a cross fandom fandom. People even write original works on ao3 and tumblr and reddit as Humans Are Space Orcs. That's not even accounting for synonym tags like Humans are Space Velocirators, Earth is a Deathworld, Humans Are Deathworlders, Earth is Space Australia, etc. None of which are treated as synonyms or grouped together, and none of which are marked common. Some people even made a freeform Humans Are Space Orcs - Fandom tag, and that's not grouped in with the others or filterable or an officially findable/usable fandom tag either. What other fandom/trope has THIS MANY TAGS to describe it, and so many places they're used, and yet... Nope, the tags aren't marked common, and you can't apply filters to them? I've never seen any others that were quite this ignored. (Maybe they exist nonetheless though - feel free to reblog and gripe about your fav "uncommon" tags if so.) I even contacted ao3 support and asked for help with this once, literal years ago, and here we are years later, and still no. Even though there are many much less popular/much less often used tags that *are* marked common. I feel like this is an anvil weighing down what could have been/could be a vibrant fandom. People can't search for and find the fic properly if we can't filter it and sort it or see all the synonymous tags together! It's hard to even search and find if there are any new ones I haven't read already, because I can't even do a filter "sort by new" search! Let alone sort by kudos or use time ranges or etc. Call me dramatic, but having to fight all this every time I want to engage with this cross-fandom fandom/trope/whatever-you-wanna-call-it kinda makes me wanna cry sometimes. It's been like this for years now! And I'm still wanting to read these fics, and I still can't search for them properly because of this problem that is still here! Help! Filtering on an individual other fandom tag, with Humans are Space Orcs as an additional tag, doesn't work either, because Humans are Space Orcs fics are too spread out between various other fandoms. You can only find a sliver of the existing fics that way, and only if you try it on, like, every fandom under the sun. We shouldn't have to do that.

I think this must also be part of why there's so many Humans Are Space Orcs originals that get posted everywhere BUT ao3. Here on tumblr, and even on reddit - there's a whole subreddit for it - and peoples' own websites. Which is fine, people are allowed to do that, but it means all that writing is more vulnerable to potentially getting taken down or lost than if it could be easily shared on the archive as well. And it's hard to find, let alone search through for the best stuff. I dare say it's hidden from new people who might want to discover it, too. Please mark at least some of these tags common and group their synonyms, ao3. I'm begging here.

[stealingyourbones]

Looking at Ninjago fanfics and I’m genuinely baffled that there’s no character studies easily findable of Zane as a Nindroid, his realizing of inhumanity, or that time blade travel thing where it (potentially) showed Zane as human and touching on his personal view of how bizarre humans are with how much maintenance they need, how pain registers differently as a human, how food tastes differently, and so much more.

[sashasienna]

hey, I have a vague memory of you mentioning a game in which you are ecologists and scooby doo villains? did I hallucinate that? if not, where can I get it?

It's called Park Life! It was a post on the MacGuffin & Co Patreon* a while ago and you can still find it there if you're a member (we know posts are a bit hard to wade through so we're planning to try to put old stuff up again in "packs" to be more easily findable).

*obviously, I'd love people to join the patreon in general (and I think there's a lot of really good stuff on there!) But if you really just want this one game, you can always join for a month, scroll till you find it, download it and cancel your membership. I can't stop you. Nobody can.

Patreon.com/macguffinandcompany

[archie-sunshine]

(The tfp wheeljack asker here) I respect your reasoning so hard, not that someone should have to provide reasoning to have their boundaries respected obviously.I feel very silly for misreading the show acronyms in your pinned post, I DID go back and reread everything much more carefully because I *thought* I got everything the first time. 👍

I just wanted to say thanks for doing these fun art requests bc it definitely does feel like thankless work sometimes, I used to do requests too on an old blog and man I’m just really happy to see people still do these, and it’s cool to see what people come up with from requests.

Anyhow, I’m sorry about my reading mixup and am excited to see more of your art going forward as a new follower!!!

theres no hard feelings at all! genuinely! I'm jovial about the subject! I have a goal on my ko-fi thats literally just people paying for me to rewatch the show again.

it isn't tfp that makes me upset, its people not taking the time to read my easily findable rules and easily findable faq that bothers me the most.

I do requests not out of a sense of obligation but because I want to reach out and make more art and explore different characters and sides of the fandom! I do it because I love it! so it makes me sad that people don't treat me with respect enough to just do one little thing.

I know my worth, and its not nice to say but i genuinely shouldn't have to say this to people, you know?? (NONE OF THIS IS DIRECTED AT YOU ANON I GOT YOUR OTHER APOLOGY I JUST DIDNT WANNA PUT YOU ON BLAST SINCE YOU WERENT ON ANON) i also like don't want to yuck anyones yum at all, seriously!! Im open to learning to like tfp eventually if i end up liking the show (if u make me rewatch it). its just that tfp fans are very enthusiastic and excited to ask without checking things, and then when directed to my faq, not read my faq and instead fill my inbox with 'BUT WHY' even though. its easy to find. why i dont like it. i digress though

theres this month's monthly tfp saga overwith again :T

[nonconformityhub]

Lavenique / Laveniq by thegenderthieves

a term for all black and mixed black lesbians

Continuing to repost some of my friends' stuff from their terminated accounts so that it's more easily findable (with their permission ofc) All text is pasted straight from the original coining!

Lavenique (lav-en-eek), also called Laveniq (lav-en-ick) is here!

It is designed for those that feel a disconnect from the lesbian label, typically due to the white-washing and white domination of lesbian history, and lesbian stereotypes - it’s open to use by any black or mixed black lesbian, and lavenique doesn’t gatekeep what lesbian as a term means unlike other terms, it’s all about your experience

Historically, black lesbians have been pushed out of lesbian spaces, many feeling completely excluded and choosing to use queer, sapphic, or gay as an alternative, so I wanted to make that alternative! 

Black sapphics all participated in giving their input for the term! The symbol of a violet was the most popular option for a symbol, so there’s an optional variant of the flag using this symbol! Violets are symbol of lesbian love, given by sapphics to other sapphics as a symbol of being attracted to them

Stripe meanings:

I've also made black butch/stud, black femme, and black futch/stem flags

[rsxavior]

How they keep their tents

Just some thoughts I have on how the companions keep their tents.

Gale His tent is neat and tidy despite the amount of books he has. He tries to keep them in alphabetical order and has to rearrange them every time he adds a new one to his collection. Everything had its place, and it needs to be in its place. He gets bent out of shape when it’s not. Hates it when he sees the mess of his camp mates spill out into the common areas and pathways. He has a small trove of prized cookware only he is allowed to use.

Halsin His tent is filled with herbs and has them handing from the poles. He has a few labeled jars scattered here and there. Mostly though the herbs are unlabeled. He knows what they are by sight and smell. He keeps his tent filled with organized clutter that reminds him of a forest floor. It calms him and helps him through the days when in the city.

Karlach Her stuff is a mess. Things fall wherever she last put them. Only Clive remains easily accessible and findable. Her used dishware rarely makes it back to the communal areas. A few times she has laid down to find a fork pinching into her back. How did that get there? Life is too short to be caught up in organization. She can find it. That’s what matters. But she never brings in something to her area that doesn’t spark joy.

Shadowheart Her tent has a few outfits and makeup kits. It was her favorite part of her training as a child. To pretend to be someone else. Her things are mostly organized with a few bits and pieces here for whimsy that makes her smile. She was taught to be minimal in the footprint she left, but away from the Mother Superior she has begun to indulge in her more ‘childish’ notions.

Wyll He’s spent so long cultivating the image of the heroic archetype, it has spilled over into his tent. His items don’t reflect what he feels about himself. Everything is still the image, so no one pries too far. So no one suspects the Blade of the Frontiers has a demon whispering into his ear.

Lae’zel Her tent is a testament to her prowess. Any fell beast she slays must be put on display. As every githyanki knows only those who are strong survive. Her tent projects this image to the rest of the camp. It’s the only colors she can currently see in the world behind bloodshed and tests of strength. But the way she displays her collection of heads in baskets and on the poles. Those are entirely her finding an identity outside of what she was taught.

Astarion His tent is a godsdamn mess. There is no one standing behind him telling what he can and can not be. No servants to come in and erase any touches of personality. He has a veritable nest of luxury blankets and pillows. A few books here and there. His embroidery kit in a corner. Blood on the floor from his sloppy eating habits. He is a man being defiant to a life once kept carefully in line.

[myreia]

❤︎ OC Kiss Week 25 ❤

Hello! 🌹

I've decided that I am going to do OC Kiss Week this year! I am a very beginner artist (started in December, have a lot to learn) and I thought it would be a fun way to learn how to draw more people and characters interacting. I can't promise that anything will look that great, but I want to give it a shot! 🩷

official ockiss info here!

I'll be accepting characters in my ask box from February 2 to February 16. Send in your OC and let me know which one of mine you'd like them to smooch! Little details are helpful too, especially if you prefer romantic or platonic kisses. You can also send a prompt from @ockissweek's list:

• desperate • first • stolen • reunion • worship • forbidden • caught

I am only going to do OCs from FFXIV, Dragon Age or BG3. You do not need to be a mutual or a follower, but please make sure screenshots of your OC are easily findable on your blog so I know what they look like.

❤︎ My Smoochable OCs ❤

❥ Aureia Malathar (FFXIV) half-elezen ✦ 30s ✦ she/her ✦ biromantic asexual ✦ black mage

Aureia is an ex-Garlean agent. She comes off very strong and knows what she wants (except when she doesn't and then it's a mess). She's firm in her beliefs and stands by her opinions, though she is also open-minded and deeply empathetic in her own specific way.

❥ Niam (BG3) Half-Elf ✦ 30s ✦ she/her ✦ biromantic asexual ✦ wild magic sorcerer

Niam grew up on the streets of Baldur's Gate with very little memory of her parents. She's clever and curious, with a tendency to bite off more than she can chew because she wants to find out what happens. Likely to accidentally set things on fire or polymorph her friends into cats and dogs. Also to turn her hair green.

❥ Venara Lavellan (Dragon Age: Inquisition) dalish elf ✦ 28 ✦ she/her ✦ biromantic asexual ✦ knight-enchanter

Venara is generally quiet and reserved, with a keen eye. From the outside she appears a stoic and unapproachable, but once you get to know her she warms up. She cares deeply for her friends and though she likes to keep busy and enjoys her time alone, she always makes time for them. Might have a slight vengeance streak.

Thank you!! This will be fun! 🌹🩷