#so they'll likely be gone by the time the book is published

[pangur-and-grim]

in June of last year, I went briefly manic and wrote a book in a month. it contains: dragons, spaceships, old man wizard yaoi, and an extremely concussed elf.

since then, I've spent a stupid amount of time 1) editing the book, bc it turns out you can't actually write something publishable in a month, 2) querying 100+ literary agents, 3) receiving 70+ rejections and a whole lot of silence, and 4) FINALLY GETTING AN AGENT!

the next step is sending the book out to publishers, to see who bites.

it'll be a long time before I see any money though, so in the meantime I'm selling enamel pins! pre-orders are open at greerstothers.com

[shijiujun]

A Summary: The Spirealm | 致命游戏 (Kaleidoscope of Death 死亡万花筒 Live Action) & Why You Should (Eventually) Watch It

Talk about the most short-lived drama release ever, not even totalling two hours if I recall. Creating this summary as I've seen a handful of confused friends, so here it goes!

It's going to be a long review because I sped through all 78 episodes and only properly watched the first two doors, but I got you. You'll get both the brief book rundown and the drama parts!

If you just wanna see the bromance (LOVE) parts please skip to section 4!!!!

1. Overview

Title: The Spirealm (kinda awful I'm sorry it's a mouthful) or 致命游戏 which means fatal game

Adapted From: Danmei (BL) Kaleidoscope of Death by Xi Zixu

Novel Prints: There are GORGEOUS Thai, Vietnamese, Simplified and Traditional Chinese versions printed, AND Singapore publisher Rosmei has signed the license for the ENGLISH version, probably going on sale this year (preview is here). You can still access fan translations by Taida on I think wordpress and someone else on Tumblr sorry bad memory (they did half and half each) if you'd like to read it for context. It is one of my FAVE danmeis EVER and I am a die-hard OG book fan, check out my full danmei review here.

Total Episodes: 78 (20 minutes each with the exception of last episode which 10 minutes, with several BTS not that I think we will get to see all of them yet)

Where to Watch (LOL): Erm considering that iQIYI China AND International took the episodes down, there is no legal way to watch this, BUT thanks to some cnetz with super fast and great wifi, we managed to get ripped HD versions without subs. iQIYI is very hard on copyright though, they've taken down several subbed and unsubbed versions already on YouTube, but you should type the titles of show into Twitter and the top tags will tell you where to access the raws and very little subbed episodes, that may also be taken down at any point. I have the Chinese raws but as it's hosted on a cloud, I had to pay to access it.

Main Characters: Lin Qiushi & Ruan Nanzhu/Ruan Baijie (in the novel) and Ling Jiushi & Ruan Nanzhu/Ruan Baijie (in the drama)

Produced By: iQIYI so for SURE they won't film it fully BL even if the original is, but I've seen enough bromance cuts

Main Actors: Xia Zhiguang (Ruan Nanzhu/Ruan Baijie) + Huang Junjie (Ling Jiushi)

2. Summary

Book (drama follows closely if not removing the supernatural premises): Lin Qiushi, a designer, opens the door to his home one day from inside and sees 12 iron doors outside. Confused, he opens one of them and arrives at a snow covered village in the mid of winter, and meets Ruan Baijie, who's a pretty, unusually tall and whiny/timid woman. They realise that they're in a horrifying door game, and they'll have to find a door and a key to get out, while battling a long-haired, human-eating deity. They, along with a few others, have to survive day after day until they get out, and on the first night, two people have died in gory ways. Ruan Baijie and Lin Qiushi partner each other, and despite seemingly timid and crying all the time, she saves Lin Qiushi a few times mysteriously, and Lin Qiushi finds himself trusting in Ruan Baijie.

They get through the door together and when they leave successfully, Lin Qiushi realizes that the people who died in the door will die in real life by some freak accident too - car accidents, forced suicides, a robbery gone wrong, a lift trapped in the air and going ablaze, and more. That night, Lin Qiushi wakes up to see a super handsome and tall Ruan Nanzhu at his bedside and this man feels familiar to him, but he can't put a finger on it. All he can think of when Ruan Nanzhu says his name is Ruan Baijie (ahem he would later find out who it is of course). Ruan Nanzhu takes him to his mansion in the suburbs where he meets a group of other people just like them, who're forced to go through the doors for survival. Ruan Nanzhu then invites him to join Obsidian, his organization.

Through various doors, Lin Qiushi grows and supports a super intelligent and powerful Ruan Nanzhu, falls in love with him, gets through many many scary doors with him and some of their other team members, makes friends, loses them to the cruelty of the doors as they ponder over what the door means, and what being alive/dying means.

And at the end of it, at the end of of it all, when they're all good and living their life, Lin Qiushi also finds out what Ruan Nanzhu's secret is, and the lengths to which Ruan Nanzhu went to, just to be with him.

Drama: Ling Jiushi is a VR game designer who gets pulled into a game, and he meets Ruan Baijie (in his male form) right off the bat (SO NOT CROSSDRESSING I AM SAD). All the parts are actually the same as the novel, albeit with the game setting and Ling Jiushi and Ruan Nanzhu's identity adjustments to suit the game premise. Most of the other doors and their lines are the same, just that the ending is a bit more confusing than it could be. There's a big bad as well and they actually show the opposing organizations when in the novel, these other organizations aside from Obsidian didn't even actually have a face or goal to them.

3. Characters

^ Them in the book (based on manhua that never got to go live LOL) (RNZ/RBJ left, LQS right)

^ Them in the show (LJS left, RNZ right)

Ruan Nanzhu/Ruan Baijie: MY HANDSOME CROSSDRESSING INTELLIGENT ALOOF BUT WHINY (WHEN IT COMES TO LIN QIUSHI) SASSY BOSS!!!! He's super mysterious and super thick-skinned too, and all he wants is Lin Qiushi's attention the moment he meets him. He's intrigued by Lin Qiushi's calm and his brains and the way he handles things, and has a lot of trust for him right from the get-go. This is also shown in the drama itself. As the leader of Obsidian, he cares a lot for his team members and his friends even if he doesn't show it most of the time, and the last thing he wants to do is lose Lin Qiushi, and he would do ANYTHING for Lin Qiushi, ANYTHING!!! Just look at him whining:

Ling Jiushi (Lin Qiushi): In the novel he's super calm, has quite a lot of brains, a little bit of a blur in the beginning but he's super smart as well. Worries a lot for Ruan Nanzhu and is also a loyal friend to some of his only friends, and feels a lot when he loses them. Falls gradually in love with Ruan Nanzhu in the novel, like they just belong together. In this drama, Ling Jiushi holds that same trust for Ruan Nanzhu, but in demeanour he seems a bit more like a klutz and and not as cool as he was in the novel, but I guess it's acceptable. Literally like the only thing he loves more than RNZ (maybe) is his cat Chestnut LOL and RNZ is NOT really happy about that but Chestnut LOVES RNZ

Yixie and Qianli: CUTEST TWINS ;-; WHO TREAT RNZ and LQS as their big brothers LOOK AT THEM BOWING AND RNZ/LJS like parents LMAO

A handful of other characters who will keep turning up and get your hearts ;-;

4. ALL FAVE BROMANCE MOMENTS + TROPES

THEY TOUCH EACH OTHER A LOT LIKE HOLDING HANDS AND TOUCHING FACES, PIGGY BACKING?!?! DID I MENTION FACE TOUCHING

WHUMP WHUMP WHUMP WHUMP THEY HELP EACH OTHER WHEN HURT OR GET HURT FOR EACH OTHER

AND WHEN THEY WAKE UP IN BED THE OTHER IS AT THEIR BEDSIDE

AND DID I MENTION HE FEEDS HIM IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE

AND THAT THEY DATED UNDER THE FIREWORKS LIKE THE NOVEL DOES NOT EVEN HAVE THIS SHIT

AND THE KABEDONS

AND FINALLY RUAN NANZHU RIZZ OMG

5. Settings

They REALLY OUTDID THEMSELVES. THIS JUST FROM DOORS 1-6:

THEY LOOK EXACTLY LIKE THE NOVEL DESCRIBED!!!!

6. Overall Thoughts

PROS: This was NOT a cheap production, I'm telling you, they followed the cases very well and there're a lot of super recognisable lines, if not ALL of them, even if they changed the cases a little. I think they did it because in the novel originally, the author DOES leave a lot of details hanging like someone dies and you know he had a background and there are some shady things happening but the author NEVER actually goes into detail. So the drama did their best to cover these loopholes, even if it felt a little awkward at times. Money went into settings and attires and every damn thing, this looks EXPENSIVE. And if you've ever imagined each door and the bosses inside in your head, you might have felt chills go down your spine because damn did they really colour the book's settings for me (despite its differences). DID I MENTION that Xia Zhiguang really got the damn memo and he was a passable Ruan Nanzhu/Ruan Baijie who knew how to turn on his BL eyes. PLUS they really did some of the character deaths really well - they're technically some of the biggest parts of this story so ;-; (not two main of course)

CONS (maybe): They did away with the supernatural/horror premise and replaced it with a GAME premise, which means that there's a scientific element to it and the try to explain away stuff with the game, including the ending. I don't 100% get the ending, but the feel/vibe is about the same. Might not be for hardcore reader fans tho! They skipped out on a couple of doors, some of which were my faves, but it's fine, it's long enough LOL. They give away/explain some of the clues and surprises super early which means you don't get that added boom at the back as well. Despite that, I have to say they tried to round up the loopholes from the book as much as they could and give it an explanation while tying elements/conspiracies across doors (probably also to save cast fees LOL). And as always it's not a solid ending, it's an open confusing one, and even more confusing than the book itself because THERE IS NO CERTAIN HAPPILY EVER AFTER WITH HUBBY for it (there is in the book tho, they live together happily every after). Secondl,y, I'd say HJJ's acting is a bit stiff and OOC compared to the novel, but Xia Zhiguang really made up for it.

-------

HOPE THIS HELPS YOU GUYS!!! But I guess if you need subs it's going to be a long LONGGGG ride, considering that iQIYI doesn't seem to be going to be able to put it up anytime soon CRIES.

[usmsgutterson]

The Collector - S.R x Hotchner! Reader

Oooookay!! I've developed a little bit of a pattern of having m u l t i p l e spencer reid fics out with only a few days between and I feel like my current wip is going in a direction I don't really like, so this is just a cute little fic because I feel the urge to publish something instead of watching more criminal minds or editing my current wip to fix it's course.

I've had a l o t of thoughts about spencer with hotchner! reader who's also an author and bibliophile, and while yeah, that's the premise for my current WIP, it's also a point in this one (they'll be two different depictions in two different settings) because I just can't stop thinking about it. The concept has me wholly entranced.

The fic title is riffed from the song The Collector by Searows because I listened to that while writing this one and I am simply too lazy to come up with something else.

Fic type - fluff with some hurt/comforty undertones

Warnings - there are mentions of a difficult case (not specified), there are mentions of sharks (hammerheads are blabbed about a la reidsplaining, and thresher sharks are mentioned), and this one is not edited beyond bare bones because I whipped it up in an hour and a half and wanted to get it out as soon as possible.

When Spencer gets home, the part of him that actively seeks you out is a little anxious not to find you in the living room, lounging on the couch while drinking tea and reading a book like you usually are when he gets home after a case, but it takes him a second before he remembers why the routine has changed.

You, a very accomplished author and person both, are writing again. Your agreement with the publishing house that's been with you since you were seventeen states that you have to have one book out every year, and while sometimes your books don't require a lot of research, a fair bit of the time they require at least or two of it before the drafting process begins.

And, Spencer remembers, you like to write in what he knows to be your domain--since you'd moved into a house that was almost too big for just the two of you, you've had a little home library. It's floor to ceiling with shelves, and the ceilings are pretty freakin' high out, taller than Spencer is by around four feet. You need a ladder to get to some of the stuff you read, and the walls are lined with more than 1,000 books that both you and Spencer had read in varying languages.

He sets his messenger bag down at a chair in the dining room table and pretty much makes a beeline for you from there--it's been a tough case. He's spent the last two weeks in Nevada and while he did get the chance to see Ethan while he was there, the case itself took a toll on his mental health and he just wants to steal one minute of your time.

He opens the door quietly in an effort not to disturb you, but it hardly works. You turn around when the door croaks because the hinges are rusted to hell and neither you or Spencer has had the time to put some WD-40 on them to stop the squeaking.

When you see him, your face breaks out into a grin. "Hey, Spence," you greet. He steps into the room, closing the door behind him as you approach, and like you know exactly what he needs, you pull him into a tight hug.

"How'd you know?"

"Aaron texted," you answer. "While you guys were on the way back--said you looked a little worse for wear. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he answers. "Just--case took a lot out of me, and I really missed you."

You've developed, over the last ten years of the relationship, the sort of innate ability to read Spencer like he's an open book, and you know he doesn't really want to talk about it so you don't push him.

"I'm right here," you respond, squeezing him just a little. You've missed him too, while he's been gone, but that feels like bullshit because you always miss him when he's away. Every single time, without fail, when you have to go to bed alone, you find yourself putting on one of his work shirts because it smells like him and spending the night all yearny because you miss him until you fall asleep.

When you pull away, your head tilts on instinct. "You okay?" You ask again. "What are you thinking? I can see the cogs turning in that handsome brain of yours, Spence."

"I'm sorry for interrupting," he says. "I know that you're working, Y/N, and--"

"You're not interrupting anything," you answer. "Aaron told me you'd be coming back today and I've been hopped up on caffeinated tea waiting for you to get home. I've been trying to do a bit of research with regards to the book I'm supposed to start next week, but I haven't been able to focus because you're the only thing I can think about."

Spencer smiles softly, and you turn your laptop off and then shut it before pulling him back in.

You bury your face in the crook of his neck before you can stop yourself, really--you've missed him like hell, and when you feel him do the same to you, you know that he's really been through hell since he was last in Virginia.

The two of you hug for a lot longer than either of you initially expect. You don't pull away until Spencer does, which must be fifteen minutes gone.

"We're staying in tonight," you murmur, e/c eyes meeting his brown ones. "Ordering pizza or pasta or--something good, and we're going to watch the shark documentary we saw on Netflix the day before you left."

"You've decided, have you?" Spencer asks, a teasing smile threatening to poke at the corners of his lips.

"Yeah," you nod. "And Penelope sent me her recipe for carrot muffins so I'm gonna make those to eat as a snack, and I've really missed your voice so I--just talk, Spence. Please."

You're grabbing him by the hand and leading him out to your kitchen as you speak, and when he starts rambling per your request, you're grabbing a mixing bowl and a spatula.

"Hammerhead sharks are a lot more interesting than they seem," Spencer begins. "Their scientific name is Syphrnidae, they keep to a carnivorous diet and they live 20-30 years on average while in the wild. They use their heads to help them hunt for their food, which is primarily stingrays as well as other kinds of rays, squids and crustaceans that live on the ocean floor. There are nine different species of hammerhead and with a length of an average 13-20 feet, the great hammerhead is one of the largest sharks in the world and it's the largest species of the nine in the Syphrnidae family."

As he talks, you get yourself busy with the baking, happy to let Spencer ramble until he runs out of breath because you've missed the sound of his voice. By the time the carrot muffins are in the oven, he's moved from hammerhead sharks to thrasher sharks and when you've closed it, he's stopped talking and is just--looking at you like you're the love of his life.

"What?" You ask, noticing his gaze.

Spencer shakes his head as though he means to clear his thoughts from it, shrugs, and says, "nothing."

You laugh. "I call bullshit," you say. "Just because my brother went on to be one of the profilin' types and I became an author doesn't mean I can't read you like an open book, Spence. What's going on in your head?"

He leans against the counter top, crosses his arms over his chest, and smiles.

"You fell in love with "one of the profilin' types", Y/N," he says. "And, yeah, you can read me like an open book. Never thought to be closed around you, and a decade gone, I am reaping the benefits."

"Yeah?" You ask, putting your dishes into the sink and giving them a rinse so that they're not mucky when they go into the dishwasher. "How so?"

"I'm home after two weeks on one of the roughest cases of my career," he says. "And I get to come home to you. That makes me feel lucky in and of itself."

"Yeah?" You repeat, turning to him with a grin as you wipe the water off of your hands and onto the nearest dry washcloth. "You're sure that the whole--the whole double PhD in Creative Writing and Psych, or the multiple pieces I've written that've been put into reputable news sources, or all of the books I've written since we met when I was nineteen and you were twenty--that has fuck all to do with it?"

He reaches out, his hands gracing your hips with a touch so delicate that it's almost intoxicating. "I fell in love with you for you, Y/N," he says. "Not your accomplishments, though boasting about you does have it's bonuses."

Your arms wrap around his shoulders. "I love you too, Spence."

"Because of my genius, or in spite of it?"

"Because of it, but it's not the only reason," you murmur. "I love you because of how kind you are, how courageous you are in the face of danger. I love you for your occasional sarcasm and the rambles that it seems nobody else in your office really enjoys. I love you because of earl grey tea on sunday mornings and forehead kisses when you're coming home from a case at three in the morning. I love you for who you are, not everything you've done."

When he finally kisses you, he tastes like earl grey tea and mint, and you love it--you love him so much that it just about consumes you whole, but you're happy to let it if it comes to that.

When Spencer pulls away, his brown eyes meeting yours just before your foreheads touch, he breathes in.

"It's good to be home," he whispers. "Amazing to be home, actually."

You laugh, kissing him quickly before turning your attention to the living room. You take him with you, the two of you waddle-walking because you don't want to separate after days spent only communicating through phone calls and facetimes.

When you finally plop onto the couch, you let yourself be held by him, and man, does it feel amazing.

[solradguy]

hi! thank you for all your hard work. two questions: 1. can i hotlink the gg wiki, or is that discouraged? 2. do you know how japanese fandom feels about scanning and putting out of print stuff online? i'm trying to make a fansite/archive for something, but i'm also trying to figure out if i may get in trouble and how to avoid said trouble... i dont wanna get snitched on 😭

If by hotlink you just mean like sharing the link around then go for it, but if you wanted to use it as an image host for like Neocities or something then don't do that, please haha The wiki is legal under fair use laws and Arc System Works NA knows about it. We are NOT affiliated, they just know it exists and seemingly do not mind.

The Japanese fandom will get pissed at you for scanning out of print manga from like 1975 as much as they will something published just yesterday. The archival culture is totally different over there. I just do it anyway. Especially if it's rare or out of print.

My only rule is that I don't scan/upload indie artist stuff (ie., doujinshi) from 2010 to now (2024). After about a decade the artist that made it probably wasn't going to get any more money from it anyway and after that much time a lot of artists don't even have a copy of that work saved anymore. This is just my own personal rule though and I've bent it a few times in the past but only for very specific cases.

In any case, I've only ever had one DMCA takedown request and it was on Twitter because hubris got the better of me uploading scans of a brand new GG book so publicly. If a doujinka asked me to take down scans of one of their works (or I found out that they posted that they were unhappy about my scans) I would delete it, but that hasn't happened so far. Japanese fans don't really browse non-Japanese sites either, so if you just don't post about it on Twitter then they won't see it. In my experience they'll also just block you before confronting you. Though, like anywhere else, Japan is a big country with a diverse population and a lot of people also just won't really care someone's posting scans online if it's not actively hurting anyone. Scanning an artist's brand new doujinshi will get you on a multi-lingual shitlist though. Don't do that.

Depending on the IP you wanted to archive stuff for and how new the works to be archived are, I think you'll very likely be fine in almost all cases. If it's owned by Nintendo or Disney be soooooo damn careful though. The newer it is, the riskier it is to upload. IIRC sites like RetroMags also have a 10 year rule like I do and they've had very few takedown requests

Sorry this got kind of long it's 2:30am and I should've gone to bed like an hour ago lmao so I'm sleep deprivation rambling. Ok. Bed time now. Good night & good luck with your archive

[stormblessed95]

i get the whole ignoring tkkrs to be at peace but i hope ppl won't stop calling them out for their mistranslations, misinformation, misleading things cause it's been yrs and there are still so many lies and theories that are harmful has came from them and yet the whole fandom uses it without asking for the credibility of it.

The whole "jk hates jm" has came from tkkrs only and now is widely spread in the whole fandom, the "jm sleeps with bangppd and bangppd wants to push jkk to hide tkk" narrative is their #1 theory that they still use and the whole kpop uses that bangpd and jm shit to drags jm. The jikook does fanservice narrative has came from them which everyone easily associates with jkk cause that's what they have been told by the majority of the fandom which is tkkrs.

It's been two yrs and they still say the atomix ot7 dinner was tk date when there's proof of ppl who work at atomix saying it was ot7 dinner after their white house speech. You ask them once to show where did jungkook booked the restaurant and they'll go silent cause they just made that up cause jungkook is always the sugar daddy of every ship and others the sugar baby. There's not a single receipt or proof to say jk booked it but they made a whole au out of it Cause miss mina aka @/dionysustkk and tkklives lives say so.

It's been 6 yrs and they still use tkklives rainbow SS saying gcft was a vminkook trip when the only thing my guy jm did was told both JK and TH that he wants to visit japan. For yrs both jk nd jm has talked about the Tokyo trip nd not even a single time they said it was supposed to a vminkook trip or tae was supposed to be with them. Yrs later in their book which was published THIS yr of 2023 and never in that book there's a mention of tae and Tokyo trip together and mind you the book has been gone by checking through each nd every member so all that said in the book has been approved by all the members.

I have been here for like 4 yrs nd every single time i find a tk moment 95% of them are turned out to be false nd made by tkkrs. They love cropping memebrs out of pictures to make it seem like only tk went somewhere out but you ask someone else nd you'll find other members right there but were just cut out by tkkrs. It's so hard to find a tkkr who doesn't hate jkk, jm nd call don't call them fanservice.

Even now if you go to any of the sns nd see comments under any of the jkk video you'll see atleast one comment saying "jk was forced to join with jm, he wanted to go with tae but couldn't because of his tattoes and jk doens't even have jm's no, jk said they're coworkers" cause just three days back i was watching a jkk video on yt nd out of habit i was scrolling through cmnts nd this was the first comment under the pinned comment.

Whenever someone enters the fandom they get corrupted by tkklives channel with her 500k subscribers where all she does is manipulate shit cause ever since she made that channel 3 days after gcft nd gave them the "Tokyo trip was supposed to be vminkook" she's their mother savior who fills all their DeLuSiOnAls and she just knows how to do it.

Ppl starts hating on jm just over a ship and no matter how many times y'all say "jkkrs nd tkkrs are same" they will never be cause there's a big difference in the number of deranged ppl in jkk nd tk fandom. Yes i agree there's ppl in jkk fandom that are just as deranged as tkkrs but again the difference in number is like earth nd sky. Jkk fandom is not even half in no of tkkrs even lizkook shippers are more worldwide than jkkrs. Jkkrs deluled themselves in their own Little bubble with some 100 people but when a tkkr make a delulu tweet they deluled themselves along of some 10k other tkkrs and that is the number of difference in deranged ppl in both ships. No other shipper has harassed so many brands that work with BTS who has to put Stories about calling out tkkrs, no other shippers got blocked by polyc (their tatto artist especially jk's) nd got put on story, no other shippers has harassed other models or ppl calling them cosplayers cause they couldn't handle to see their fav holding hands with a woman in another country to the point the person has to put Stories after Stories to ask ppl to stop. No other fandom has got made fun of the way Kpopies made fun of hmlvrart and embarrassed armys. No matter how many times y'all say both are same they're not.

not saying ppl should engage in all things tkkrs say but i hope everyone call them out where it's due.

I won't lie to you, I did mostly just skim this because are you new here?

Lol I don't need the lecture about needing to correct tkkrs when they spread misinformation.... Thanks though. Sorry, I've got that covered though!

I get what you are saying though.

[ronnieafterdark]

Starting this side blog off with a bang, here's some previews of some fics I'm working on. Who knows if they'll ever be published! I certainly don't.

Fic one:

Mike narrows his eyes as continues to watch the camera footage, his chin nestled in the crook of his hand. He watches as the trespasser fidgets with a book, as if they're trying to read but they can't take in any of the words. Like when you read an entire page and realize you were zoned out for most of it so you have to go back and read it again. This person broke into a building to read a book? That's really fucking ballsy. He wants to confront this person (because that's, you know, one of his number one job duties) but he can't help but think about the last time he ‘confronted a criminal’ at a security gig. His eyes drift over to the dust-covered intercom to the side of the monitors which has gone unused for the entirety of his tenure at Freddy's (and probably for the past few decades, too). He would say that there's absolutely no shot that it still works, but, then again, the owner of this place tends to place a weird amount of care in keeping things functional. He knows how to use a modern intercom (he used to be in charge of announcements over the intercom at an aquarium he worked at once—his boss thought he had a great radio voice, or something. That was until he flubbed one of this lines, accidentally saying ‘testicles’ instead of ‘tentacles’... Yeah, he wasn't on announcement duty anymore from then on), but he has no idea how an intercom from the eighties would work. It should be pretty intuitive, he figures.

Fic two:

"You act like you think I care about you," you say, rolling your eyes. "I don't think that. In fact, I want nothing less than for you to care about me," he mutters, voice suddenly growing colder, his previous playfulness dissipating. "And why is that?" You ask, eyes meeting his. "Because I don't care about you. I don't want my apathy to be unreciprocated." You nod, a quick breath leaving your nose. "Gotcha." "You know," he shrugs, leaning back in his chair and kicking his feet up on his desk, "you should probably stop worrying about me as much as you do. Between the two of us, do you really think I'm the one who's most likely to have a bounty on their head? You're the one who does all the killing." You glare at him. "Well that's a real fucking comforting thought, but I assure you that I don't have to worry about myself. Nobody stands a chance against me." He sighs, resigning to your stubbornness. "Fine. Just remember that you can never be too careful."

Fic three:

I'm the one who first notices it— no, wait, I think he notices first. He can be a bit of a baby at times and he gets all dramatic over the turbulence. He's the first to say ‘something seems wrong’, but because Derek is Derek, it sounds something more like: "What the fuck is up with this damn thing? It's shaking like a goddamn druggie going through withdrawal. Hold on... Look at that. Look at the fuckin'... System... Thing." Error: server maintenance. "The hell does that mean?" "It's like when you can't play a video game because they have to do something with the server," I respond, taking a closer look. "That's a lot of error signs. How do we fix whatever's going on?" "Fuck if I know. I'm not an engineer." "I don't want to touch anything and make it worse." He gets up, standing next to me and gazing at the ever-increasing amount of error messages on the screen. Error: unable to connect to server. "What, so we can't use Bluetooth anymore? 'Least I don't have to hear your damn music anymore," I mutter. Error: piloting system down. "Oh, that sounds bad—" Error: controls disabled. "Controls disabled? Wait, does that mean—" Error: engine disabled. "Engine disabled? Holy shit— Derek! We're crashing!" Derek's head whips around, immediately locking eyes with me. Pure panic. He lurches forward, grabbing hold of my shoulders and—

[anticidic]

I was looking into writing fanfics do you got any advice for that?

👀👀 hi there!! sure!!

The number one tip I have for getting into writing just in general, not even fanfiction, is to read. A LOT. And I don't mean only reading fanfictions. Reading published novels is really important to picking up general writing elements like pacing, story beats, characterization and character development, and how to set a mood if there's something in particular you like writing.

I just so happen to love writing angst and suspense, so I read a lot of detective noirs and horror books to learn how to pick up on conveying tension and inner turmoil, doubt, etc. etc. It also exposes you to a wider vocabulary, helps with describing senses, how to write good dialogue, all of that fun stuff.

Getting the words down in the first place is the hardest part. Editing can always come later. Some of my rough drafts for fics are ROUGH. And I mean ROUGH. Like, I have stupid placeholders all over the place, but I leave them when I'm feeling stumped and just need to move on to the next scene because I've spent too long trying to come up with something. You can always come back to a certain part later. Just get words down. Even if you think it sounds bad or makes no sense. I've sometimes written endings before I even wrote the beginning to a fic. I've written fun parts first as preparation for writing something boring or angsty.

With that out of the way, a big roadblock to writing can be motivation/inspiration. There are so many days where I come home from work wanting to write but I'm just dead to the world and don't feel like it. But sometimes the motivation to write won't always come to you. It can take days, weeks, months for that motivation to hit, so you can't always rely on it. Sometimes if you want to write, you just have to sit down and push yourself. For me, at least, getting those first few words/sentences down is always the hardest, then when I get in the groove, I can knock out like 5k words in a few hours.

But if you're REALLY not in the mood, like if you can tell you're stressed or really have things on your mind, it's best to not push it. Pushing it is more so if you're in the mindset of 'ehhh I WANNA write but I don't reaaaally feel like it' and not when you're genuinely in a bad mood or something. When I really don't want to write, I just chill out and don't push it because that can make things worse. Always take care of yourself!! It's a hobby meant to be fun!!

For inspiration or "getting in the mood" I like to listen to certain songs or playlists that fit a particular mood or fit something that I'm currently working on. I also like to scroll for hours looking at fanart, and many times has that given me the inspiration to either come up with an idea or to get back to what I was doing. Then I like reading and coming up with my own headcanons! I think that's the most fun part of fanfic, tbh. I have headcanons for my fanfics and they'll vary from one story to another depending on the setting and the characters.

Like, one story I have Dazai set in a universe where he loves sweets. Peaches, in particular. In another, he likes bitter things and drinks his coffee black. Just those tiny things.

And sometimes inspiration has hit me when I've just gotten up to get some air or gone to do dishes, or something. It's WILD when and where the muse can strike. I've had things come to me while I was showering, and sometimes while driving. So if you're struggling to get anything down on paper, sometimes walking away for a bit is the best you can do and come back later.

I also like to have my phone on me at all times with the Note app because I've had snippets come to mind that I thought would be really cool to include in my long fics or for a new oneshot, so having something you can conveniently jot your ideas down before you forget them also helps!! Any little bit counts in the long term, whether it's one word or whatever.

But yeah, fanfiction is plenty of fun, and at times it can be taxing. There may be times you have to write a boring scene for the sake of plot advancement, and other times where you just wanna throw your hands up and scream because you've been staring at a blank page for hours. But it's important to remember about having fun in the end, and taking breaks as needed for yourself. 😊 Writing fanfic has been a really rewarding experience to me, and it's been eye-opening reading stuff back from when I first started writing to now and seeing how I've improved!

[my-deer-friend]

Good luck on your source-finding journey friend! I am so interested in the process of tracking down sources and documents, but I've never done it before. Can you explain your process or do you have any tips?

Hi anon! Thanks for the ask. This is not a research guide, just some pointers I've found useful (as someone trained in other forms of academic research who learned how to work with archives).

First things first – forget google. Google scholar is decent for tracking down secondary academic sources (though hardly comprehensive), but with a few notable exceptions, archive databases that hold primary source materials are not indexed on normal search engines. Instead, you need to spend some time finding the repositories where your sought-after documents are likely to be, and then running your searches inside those.

The one thing google is useful for is to see if someone has already gone to the trouble of formally publishing the documents you're looking for. You'll want to search for things like "papers of...", "correspondence of...", or "writings of...". If you get a result, see if you can find that book on google books, archive.org, or at your local library (definitely don't check on libgen, because downloading a free book would be bad and awful and terrible of you 🤫).

These collected editions are not always reliable (especially older ones, since there was a lot of gratuitous editing going on). So, to be rigorous, you still want to see if you can find the actual, original source.

The easiest starting point for tracking those down is to find a secondary source that has already done most of the work for you. A reliable book or academic article will cite its primary sources, which should include which archive or collection the author found the document in.

If you are immeasurably lucky, you will find that respoitory online, and it will have a fully-digitised collection their holdings, and a reliable, searchable index based on keywords and transcripts. In that case, just type in your search term and enjoy.

(Note: the search functionality on these sites is often very wonky. Always try several versions of your search term, and play around with the filters and boolean operators.)

But those sites are rare. If you're less (but still a little bit) lucky, you'll find an academic institution or research archive that has at least published a document called a finding aid. There should be one for each grouping of documents in their holdings (for example for one historical figure's papers, or for a specific bequest) which gives a summary of the contents and is used for on-site tracking of the physical items (these will have call or accession numbers, location of the documents, etc.). Finding aids vary immensely in quality and level of detail ("miscellaneous other papers" my behated).

If you do indeed find a record for something you want to look at (and it hasn't been digitised), you need to figure out the process for requesting the document. This varies hugely depending on the institution (with differing lead times, querying methods, fees, limitations, and ensuing publication/reproduction rights) and is virtually always explained somewhere on their website. Mostly, they'll ask you to complete a form, or to send an email following a template. Don't expect a quick reply, and don't expect digital copies to be free.

Of course, this all presumes that the instituton that holds your materials 1) has a website and 2) has actually put useful things on it. Sometimes, you just need to enquire. I followed up on a footnote I saw in a hundred-year-old book that gave the location of some letters, found the local town library that was mentioned and emailed them about it. (Yes, they had them, and the librarian I corresponded with was simply delightful and very eager to help.)

Be courteous and clear when you email these folks. They will almost always want to know your name, your contact details, a clear description of what you are looking for (the more detail the better), a summary of your research project, and whether you intend to publish the documents you are requesting – so save a few back-and-forth emails by providing that information upfront. They are very happy to answer requests from independent or hobby researchers, so don't let that hold you back.

The least helpful of all, in my experience, are holders of private collections. They simply don't have any incentive to take time out of their day to help you, and usually aren't trained librarians or archivists so they don't know what they have, or where it is, or how to give you access. (I tear up sometimes when I think of all the documents that are lying in some manor house attic, because someone forgot they were there or thought no one would be interested.) Sometimes they will respond (eventually) to an email query; often it's just a black hole.

I hope that helps! In all frankness, much of this is dull, repetitive work that all-too-frequently leads to dead ends (but it's so good when you succeed). Persistence and patience are key.

[theglitchywriterboi]

Part of me wants to reach out to some old teachers of mine but for one I'm worried none will remember me [like I was one kid out of probably hundreds] & the other thing I have nothing to show for my time. I'm unemployed, not in college [or a graduate of it], unpublished, no music out, etc. It's not that I think they'll judge me for my current place in life, it's more so I want something to show them how far I've come, but I haven't really gone anywhere in my life currently. Maybe I'm over thinking. Like I wanted to wait until I've had at least one book published so at least I can go "I'm an author officially" but I write so so slow so it'll probably be another five years until I'm able to spit something out....

[peaky-shelby]

just re read the lil scenario you wrote bw Taylor and Ky after their last match and it made my heart swooon, I was wondering if by any chance if you got the time could you write out a scenario where she’s sick and still working herself to a point of exhaustion and he takes care of her subtly doing and saying things that shows us how in love with this girl he is.

also I love your work a lil too much if you were to publish any work or direct/screen write any movie I’d watch it without a second thought you are genuinely incredibly talented can’t wait to see the stuff you’ll put out in the future 🤍🤍

first of thank you so so much for reading!! I love you so much!! You're all getting free copies of my first book🫡

_________

Taylor sits on the kitchen of the campus alone, blows her nose on a tissue. One of many around the table.

Clock on her phone says 9pm. She is typing quickly. Her eyes red from the cold she has and the blue light of the screen.

Kylian walks in, takes a quick glance at her but doesn't say anything. She doesn't even acknowledge him.

She sneezes and coughs on one of the tissues while Kylian is pouring water on a glass. He takes the glass and leaves it next to her without saying anything.

He walks back the cupboards looking for something.

She sees the water, unconsciously taking it and drinking some while still typing with one hand.

Kylian lights the kettle, the water brewing.

She turns around finally realizing he is there.

Taylor: i sent you home an hour ago.

Kylian: i had a meeting with Galtier. What about you?

Taylor: if i go home I'll fall asleep. I need to finish.

Kylian : yourself?

Taylor: (groaning) hilarious

Kylian: (smiling) i know.

Taylor turns back at the computer. Continues writing. Her hand reaches for the last tissue on the box.

Kylian notices. He exchanges the empty box with a new one. She doesn't even realize as she reaches for an other tissue.

The kettle stops. Kylian pours most of the water on a cup. Then throws just a little on another. He Takes a chamomile pack and let's it sink on the full cup. The water gaining color slowly.

Taylor: (without turning to face him) can i have a cup too?

Kylian smiles to himself.

Kylian: (acts like he is annoyed) for fucks shakes

Taylor: stop whining.

Kylian picks up the cup and leaves it next to her. He pretends his cup is full as well and begins to sip on the warm water while standing over her.

Kylian: you know the campus has to close. You need to go home.

Taylor: Ney said it closes at midnight.

Kylian rolls his eyes. He bites on his lip.

Kylian : only when the whole team is here or Galtier.

Taylor: (still typing) thought you said you had a meeting

Kylian shuts his eyes, like he said something wrong.

Kylian: yeah but you know he's gone now. I'm going too. They'll lock you inside.

Taylor stops. She looks at him, scared.

Taylor: they'd do that?

Kylian: (lifting his cup to his lips) has happened three times to me.

Taylor: shit!

She closes her laptop. And searches for her bag.

Kylian: drink your cup first. It shouldn't go to waste.

Taylor's lifts it up and drinks it quickly. Kylian smiles behind his cup. She picks all her stuff and goes to leave. She forgets the box with the tissue.

Kylian grabs it for her. Smiling like he just won a match.

________

hint hint hint similar scenarios are coming soon in the actual universe of the story ✨ wrote this very exhausted after 12 of work and a headache so I'm sorry if it sucks.🥺😭

[til-f]

You're not crazy. It is depressing.

It's frusterating-- we've been waiting a long time for a screen adaptation that is true to the PJO books. It's what anybody who's into a great series wants, and it's always been a point of contention. Look at the Lord of the Rings 1978 animated movie (hell, look at the Peter Jackson movies). Look at Dune. His dark materials (aka the Golden compass) series. We're not alone people. Sometimes, I feel like maybe we shouldn't have high expectations for book to screen adaptations.

However, a LOT of great books and series have had AMAZING screen adaptations. You all know the ones. It's absolutely reasonable to want the movie or show to match the book as best it can, especially when they stay true to the original series.

This is our second chance for a better screen adaptation. Our second chance. It's even more frusterating that rick is putting his Stamp of Approval 🤡 on every episode

I think Rick is completely delusional about what his fans want. I think he's delusional about his fanbase itself. I don't think he grasps that a lot of the people watching the show are people who read the books AS CHILDREN, but are NOT children anymore. Rick just recently published COTG. And the intended audience for that book was clearly for somebody who's 10 years old, and not people who have been following the long sets of series for many years, who expect more depth with these characters. We've been anticipating a good screen adaptation for 15 years now.

I think Rick has gone L O O P Y 💀 because it IS weird. It's really fucking weird why he's approved for the show to be so different from the books. All with a dumb smile plastered on his face (sorry rick) . Screen adaptation or not-- if you're going to do it-- then fucking do it true to the books.

I did not expect the show to suck so bad. Nobody did. However, I can't really care that much. And who knows. Maybe they'll get their shit together for season 2 🤣🤣

[kineticpenguin]

My mom watches a lot of MSNBC, and I can't help but notice it's heavy on Trump coverage. Well, the word "coverage" is doing some heavy lifting there: there isn't a whole lot of Trump news, so a lot of it is just having talking heads on to discuss and speculate on all things Trump, up to and including how bad it'd be if he got re-elected.

I get why liberals, especially boomer libs, tend to be all "vote blue no matter who." They're terrified of Trump and bingeing MSNBC is their version of doomscrolling. People talk about January 6th but Trump has been these people's bogeyman since November 8th 2016, oozing right past norms like an orange T-1000.

"Wait, he can just do that?"

But I honestly think the best case scenario for the Democrats would be Trump getting the nomination. He doesn't have Bannon to do his campaign strategizing for him, and his ability to campaign much at all might be curtailed by however his court battles shake out. Anyone who's ever worked for him with a shred of competence has either gone to jail as a result, had a complete falling out with him, and/or has published tell-all books about their time under him. His cult following is weird and loyal, but it's worth remembering that the dude has never won the popular vote, and he doesn't have the sort of strategists around who know where and how to game the election to finagle him an electoral college win like he did in 2016.

The second-best thing to a Trump nomination that could happen to the Biden campaign would be Biden finally going into the light, letting Harris coast in on the sympathy vote. I'd be more concerned about the B team.

Everyone likes to joke about the current band of losers in the Republican debates, "vying for which one of them won't be President." But just as none of them seem able to wrestle the Republican base out of Trump's grasp, none of them scare the normal people the way Trump does. Biden squandering political capital to be Bibi's Best Buddy would cost him a lot more against these guys. Scared voters "vote blue no matter who." Disgruntled and apathetic voters stay home.

The Lincoln Project/NeverTrumper types would happily go for a "normal" Republican like Christie. Their issues with Trump (and Trump wannabes like Desantis and Ramaswamy) are all about style, not substance. They'll happily back any Heritage Foundation stooge that knows how to act. This also means people with administration experience, subject matter expertise, y'know, competence, will go back to working to put these guys in office.

Also, frankly, Trump is a 77 year old man with a hot dog addiction. There's a nonzero chance he could just kick the bucket, forcing his legion of dipshits to settle down and fall in line behind just about any of these guys.

[hstoryhuh-a]

a 👫

Send a 👫and I’ll write four headcanons I have about our muse’s relationship.

they travel together as often as possible. when alex is on break from university and henry takes time away from the shelters, they'll take trips together to anywhere and everywhere. one very important trip that they make is to visit alex's grandparents in mexico so alex can 'formally' introduce henry to them. and yes, david comes along as well when he's able to ( when he does, nora and june offer to babysit and spoil him ).

when henry abdicates, one of his first 'real' expressions of freedom is getting an earring. he doesn't tell alex and just waits for him to notice. henry likes to compare his reaction to the first time they kissed in that alex is stunned quiet ( let's be honest, it doesn't happen often ). henry knows that alex likes it because he forgets about his coffee in favor of kissing him.

henry has tried, unsuccessfully, a number of times to get alex to lower his caffeine intake. the most memorable is when henry tried to switch out alex's coffee for decaf - alex didn't talk to him for the rest of the day. ( the betrayal was real, he pouted for hours )

they eventually move to texas. henry writes his book and alex has gone on to be a lawyer but there's something missing, something that doesn't feel right and after months of talking it over - the decision is made to move to texas so alex can be happier with his work in law. he ends up working with nora, henry works on publishing more writing, and they keep the brownstone for the memories.

[beardedmrbean]

I was wondering if I could ask for your advice on something that's been bothering me lately:

I've moved out for the first time, and I'm living in another country, new to the city I'm in. I'm a writer and want to be a published author, but I've all my stories rejected, and I'm beginning to really struggle. I feel like a massive failure, and that I won't get the job I want, or a good career.

Were you ever like this? If so, how did you move forward?

Sorry about the delay here, wanted to be sure I could give this the time it may need and a rushed 10 min isn't that.

This is a rough situation, I've never changed countries but moving from CA to Florida may as well have been doing that it's rough, job I'd been counting on when I moved out fell out from under my feet after a couple of days and I had what I had in the bank to keep me going in the hopes that I'd find something else.

In my case in retrospect, I should have just gone back to CA but I was doing ok for the first few years so no way of knowing that even when it all kicked off.

It's tough and likely gonna be tough for while,

As author stuff goes, I'm not really in the know about that kind of thing I've done fairly straight forward work most of the time, haven't had to send out things like manuscripts.

@dadpat-tactual and @robert-the-foul have books published I believe, they'll have more info on that than I will.

As for having everything collapse around you, been there a few times, keeping busy is probably the best thing I can suggest doing, be it writing or whatever it is you do, talking to a friend just a few min ago about how SeaWorld managed to contribute to me staying sane, they had a annual pass I could afford and it was a place I could go and just see things, sit and enjoy the pet show and such ride the rides.

It's likely going to suck for a while, but find something as well as someone or a group of some sort, you may not be a person of faith but honestly that doesn't really matter if you find a good church to attend, just some way to get plugged in and meet some people and have it so you're doing something.

Because if you just obsess over rejections or writers block you'll likely head down a bad path,

I'll be rootin for you, get ya on my prayer list, wish I could be more help but there's a lot there that's out of my realm of experience.

I also have a bunch of really helpful people following me that might have something to add as well, so check in on the notes on this post maybe they'll have some good suggestions for you

[opticblasting]

🔥 unpopular opinion on legacy mantles and perhaps how they’re treated in-universe and out?

i don't know if this is truly an unpopular opinion but based on how they're treated in the comics right now i'm going to go with my gut and say that it is. legacy characters as a concept truly only work from from a publishing standpoint, and even narratively for the most part, if the previous holder of the mantle is retired or dead. if we go back to DC before Geoff Johns got into his nostalgia wankfest and look at these legacy characters, you'll see what I mean. Look at Wally West post Crisis on Infinite Earths/Death of Barry Allen. His growth in his solo proceeding that - especially everything in Messner-Loebs and later Waid, only works because Barry Allen is dead. All that growth - of Wally, Linda, Hartley, the Flashfam, works in a big part because Barry isn't in the scene. We're meant to accept that the previous holder of the mantle is gone, and we need to accept the new guy to keep stories going forward and keep them interesting. Same thing goes for Kyle Rayner as Green Lantern, now obviously his entire origin is surrounding this point yada yada but the reason why his solo is so compelling to begin with is because he's solo. The concept of a 'Robin' works when there's only one. It's why until 2006 (really 2009 if you consider Damian's tenure as Robin to start there) it was just one Robin, and even after Damian getting into the role he got the focus. Miles Morales' story of being Spider-Man is more effective when Peter Parker is dead, Laura Kinney's when Logan is. (I suppose this is more nuanced as current Miles is good because Peter very rarely shows up / same w Laura and Logan, but I still think they'd be better holders of their mantles if their predecessors were dead or retired - I'd prefer the latter for both).

like - these characters need a reason to stand out. why would a new, or even returning reader want to pick up someone new in the role of a fan favourite superhero when the original is still thriving and has his own book, you know? what is the point of their existence when they'll forever be stuck in the shadow of their predecessor and never be truly allowed to fan out, spread their wings and have their time in the sun? these things work when the original is out of the spotlight and gives the new guys the time to shine.

Unpopular opinion asks

[deathwords334]

(Disclaimer: This is not my work. I am in no way affiliated with the artist. I just want to show off artists that I think need more attention. I also don't have anyone I can talk to about the rabbit hole I've gone down that is Good Omens doujins. I will supply links to their social media and where you can find the publications (If available))

Day 2! Man, trying to chose a second doujin was harder than I thought. Initially, I wanted to show off Second First Experience by Nabeya Sakihana, especially since they're gonna be publishing the sequel book on June 1st. The problem is I reblogged someone else showing off their copy of it. I wouldn't be adding anything new to it and I definitely cannot post the content. So... I guess this will be an honorary mention. They already have the new book listed on their booth, and Second First is available for purchase.

So instead, I'm gonna post another book I got early on...

This is Mo Chuisle Mo Chroi by Itsumo It's another anthology book! This time around, it's a collection of 3 (kind of 4) short stories centered around different times in Aziraphale and Crowley's relationship and, in a way, figuring out their boundaries. At least that's how I interpret them. My favorite of the stories is with Bildad, where the two are talking about heartbeats (wait... that's what the title means! Its literal translation is 'My Pulse, My Heart'. Kinda like a heartbeat... or maybe I'm stretching lol). A close second is the story where Aziraphale leaves the bookshop for a meeting, which scares Crowley for obvious reasons. Art wise, their style is very clean and expressive. It's again a classic anime style, but it has its own unique touches. I also think this is the first doujin I showed off that has Bildad in it, which is always a plus right?

Now this is on the shorter side in terms of page count, but again the quality of the book is chef's kiss! The cover feels like cold press watercolor paper, and I kind of feel like this artist might have some compositional awareness based on how everything is laid out. And just look at that yellow!

Unfortunately, the book is sold out, and they've slowed down on their art on twitter. It does look like they're still a little active in the fandom, though. So maybe someday they'll publish another book.