#sort of a game review?

[theblubuilder]

One game I cannot possible rave about enough is The Last Campfire

I have shed tears over this beautiful puzzle game and it truly is so so worth the time and effort to play it. It's git gorgeous sound design and I love the narration, on top of that the art style is stunning and the ending (though bitter sweet) was truly fitting. I dedicated 6 hours to it and honestly it was 6 well spent hours, the puzzles offer challenge while still being really pretty and the semi open world was delightful!

TLDR: Play it, it's so so worth it

I know its not in theme with the other things I post but I felt I had to document this time somehow.

[possessedopossum]

The Veilguard: my full review [positive, long post, less about game mechanics and more about meta, spoilers]

The thing that makes Veilguard special to me is how self aware the game is. In every dialogue, plot twist or quest I can feel the presence of somebody who wanted to share something with me. Be it personal experience, message, pain or joy. As of 2024, many games have lost their creative spark. Video game industry is no longer a nerd only zone, it's a business no different than others. Many studios utilize AI to write their plots, chase after current trends or simply make decisions that would create the biggest audience possible at the expense of something people love the franchise for. Veilguard did well, because it showed me something I haven't seen in a very long time: the human soul.

Perhaps you have noticed it on your own. The world has gone completely nuts after the covid. Or maybe it has always been this way and I only noticed it now. It is not a surprise to me that players want their game to be darker, to have more aggressive dialogue and to have a morally grey or even evil protagonist. For the past few years I've been feeling like someone had turned the lights off. And the game gave me an impression that someone at bioware feels this way too.

Only negativity gives content creators views and money these days. Open any social media, read any post or watch any video. If something is on top, it's almost always a hate post. What was the last movie most reviewers enjoyed? The last game? Perhaps the one that was released 10 years ago? What was the last time, you, my dear reader, have smiled? Not bitterly or sardonically, but out of genuine joy?

It is extremely fitting that Rook's mentor figure is Varric. Varric is somebody who always sees the best in people. He grew up in one hell of a city but he still loves it. He can find something to laugh about no matter how dire the situation is. He is a people person who can build friendship with anybody. Varric is very charismatic and tends to avoid conflict. He is a chronic liar but that doesn't make him bad because he never lies with malicious intentions. And in some ways, Rook is similar to him.

Yes, Rook can't be a complete asshole. Because the game is not about being an asshole. One of our antagonists, Solas, considers the world to be sick. Modern Thedas is a grave mistake that haunts him. He can't forget and move on because even the elves themselves wear his mistakes on their faces. Many things that are normal to the player character aren't normal to Solas. The world is so wrong and disgusting to Solas that he is willing to sacrifice things and people who are dear to him just to make the twisted world better.

Rook is nice because they are supposed to represent what is good in modern Thedas. They are supposed to be somebody who thinks the world is worth fighting for. And to a certain extent, their factions as well. The crows are contract killers and the lords of fortune are thiefs. Grey wardens are very concerned with politics and all the secrets they refuse to share constantly get people killed. Mourn watch has their immoral power hungry politicians as well and veil jumpers are sometimes willing to trade people for ancient secrets. They all aren't without sin but that's not the point. The point is, even with all the ugliness and darkness, there is still a place for light. And the light in the darkness is the exact message bioware tried to convey. The crows not being comically evil is not bad writing. It is a conscious writing choice to give us a human face for something we consider ugly and not worth fighting for. The player is metaphorically Solas, who needs to be persuaded that the world is worth at least something. The writers didn't need to bare the souls of player factions in all their mistakes, imperfections and cruelty. Because they showed us the factions' humanity. Some cruelty is still there, on the background, but it doesn't overshadow what is good. The crows, no matter how terrible, are a family. Viago may call Rook an idiot and while Rook considers their training literal torture, they sure love Viago back.

In fact, familial love is one of the core themes of the Veilguard. We have Emmrich and Manfred, Davrin and Assan and uncle Endrin, Lucanis and Caterina and Illario, Taash and Shathann, Bellara and Cyrian. It's a bit less direct with Neve and Harding. Neve has a lot of love for her city which is almost like a person to her, and Harding...I'll explain with a quote. "You're Lace Harding! You're more than this rage! You believe that the world is beautiful! That people are good! Hold onto it, hold on to who you are!".

Even the evanuris share the theme of family. Rook can compare Elgar'nan and Solas to relatives who can't get along. Elgar'nan calls Ghilan'nain his sister. Both shards of Mythal consider modern elves her children. Different but no less beloved, as Morrigan puts it.

Veilguard shows family without rose-tinted glasses. It shows that sometimes to love your children is to sacrifice something else you love (Lichdom for Emmrich), that parents have their own problems that may harm their children no matter how much parents wish to protect them (Shathann understands she is not the best mother and has complicated relationships with the Qun that harmed Taash), that sometimes parents do not understand their children at all and it's only up to children themselves to close the gap in understanding (Mythal, Solas and Rook), that familial love and desire to protect your family may turn into something ugly (Caterina being cruel to her grandchildren to prepare them for harsh realities of the antivan crows).

There is conflict in Veilguard, of intergenerational nature. Companions and their families, Rook and their faction leader, elves ancient and modern. It's up to the player how to deal with the last one. Humans, dwarves and qunari may not share blood ties with ancient elves but they still live in the world ancient elves created. As Rook, you're allowed to lash out in anger at Mythal and Solas. You can call Mythal guilty of all modern problems and fight her. You can bind Solas to the veil by force, call him asshole and express your frustrations with him multiple times throughout the game. You can also express sympathy and forgive them both. Because forgiving is neither condoning nor condemning, it's understanding and letting go. Being understood and allowed to peacefully let go of his mistakes is the exact thing that Solas needs to change his mind.

I believe that the Veilguard companions are one of the very best I've ever seen in a video game. They may not have as many different fates as for example Alistair has but is goodness measured with the amount of ways a character can be killed? I love the Veilguard crew because they all feel very real. Their personal problems are universal and very close to the player. Taash's story is not about being non-binary. It's about growing up, finding your place in the world, separating from your family and learning to appreciate it despite the mistakes your parents did while parenting you.

It's hard to decide who is my favorite. Taash's story made me cry but so did Harding's and Bellara's. The last scenes of Lucanis romance made me feral. I can't stomach the scene where Davrin and Assan die. The consequences of destruction of Minrathous/Treviso were hard to look at. I felt guilt, and if a game makes me feel something, it's a good game. I laughed, I cried, I was afraid and I felt joy, I was angry, I felt shame, I felt love. The game made me feel alive, I played through Rook's story like it was my own, what not to love about it?

The double blight wreaking havoc in Southern Thedas is sad but beautifully symbolic. Almost like a love letter from a long lost lover, It felt like bioware's meta commentary to me. "Yes, a whole lot of time has passed. We are no longer as young as we used to be, and so are you, not only the player, but our treasured friend as well. We have changed, you have changed and so did the world around us. Gaming and the video game industry are not what they used to be. We will never be able to go back no matter how much we want it because the only path that is left is the path forward. It doesn't mean that we no longer remember our shared past, no. We may not be able to go back but we promise to remember it fondly. We are still capable of creating beauty and the past will serve as a foundation for something new. We still have hope, and so should you".

The Veilguard to me is about nostalgia as well. I don't want to feed my inner Solas who sees the current world as sick. I want to make space for my inner Rook who is hopeful about the world just enought to fight for its future.

[42donotpanic]

FIC WRITING REVIEW 2024

Thank you @loki-is-my-kink-awakening for coming up with this!

Rules: Feel free to show whatever stats you have. Only want to show Ao3 stats? Rock on. Want to include some qualitative info instead of stats? Please do this. Want to change how yours is presented? Absolutely do that. Would rather eat glass than do this? Please don’t eat glass but don’t feel like you have to do this either. Artists and gif makers, please also join in with any quantitative or qualitative stats or facts you want to share about your year.

(I just did mostly the same thing as last year. Thank you @evenfallreads for tagging me again)

Since I hit 100 posted works on New Year's Eve 2024, I hit 200 works on June 30th and (with two works that will still go up later today) 300 works on New Year's Eve 2024. That number includes 50 podfics that I posted since starting with Voiceteam in May.

Words and Fics

578,447 words published in 2024

675,494 words written in 2024

206 works worked on

189 completed works

most productive month: July with 78,528 words written

monthly words average: 56,329 words written

Top 5 Pairings

James "Bucky" Barnes/Clint Barton - 42 (I didn't plan this to happen, but I am very happy about it)

Clint Barton/Matt Murdock - 24

Matt Murdock/Franklin "Foggy" Nelson - 23

Clint Barton/Original Character - 10

Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier - 7

Top 5 by Comments

Learning to Live again -58

Feel my Signs and Watch my Words (AUgust Writing Challenge 2024) - 42

Flowers on Your Skin (HawkTober 2024) - 28

Building a Relationship - 15

Springtime Fluff - 14

Top 5 by Kudos

The Sound and Color of Flowers - 210

Every last Piece - 202

Of Pain and Paper Bracelets - 195

I've Meant it all - 192

Accidental Striptease - 169

Top 5 by Hits

Learning to Live again - 2988

Building a Relationship - 2900

Now I wear my scars just like Tattoos - 2153

Of Pain and Paper Bracelets - 2098

Accidental Striptease - 1780

Fandom Events in 2024

For this part, I'm only adding in Bingos and Events with a hard deadline that I was able to get a bingo/blackout for, because otherwise this list would never end.

Bingos

[11/25] Bucky Barnes Bingo Round 5 - Bingo

[10/25] WinterHawk Bingo Round 5 - Bingo

July Break Bingo(s) - DNF

[9/9] Any Fandom LGBTQ Bingo - Black out

[8/25] WinterIron Bingo - Bingo

[9/9] Writers Pride Month Bingo - Black out

[4/25] both Kill-A-Character Bingos - DNF (will probably continue writing for this anyway)

Writing Challenge's

[14/14] Flufftober Spring Edition 2024

[14/14] April Showers bring M-AU Flowers

[31/31] AU-gust Writing Challenge 2024

[16/30] Tropetember 2024

[31/31] HawkTober 2024

[2/7] Trick-AU-Treat 2024

[7/30] Comfy-Vember 2024

[31/31] Whumpcember 2024

Writing Reflection

After getting into writing last year I went mildly to totally insane this year. I wrote more than I even thought possible, already upped my writing goal in January after writing like 30k on WIPs alone in two weeks, only to then end up hitting my yearly writing goal in September anyway.

I got into Podfic this year and it has brought me a lot of joy to work on recording and editing, as well as to participate in even more challenges and exchanges than I did last year.

Once again, I met a lot of lovely people and had a great time writing and simply enjoying fandom with people I like to consider friends by now.

There were many ups and downs, but I'm glad to say that, over all, this year was a good one for me.

I hope you had a good year as well and wish everyone a good start into the New Year. 💜

Tagging: @stripedscribe @ravenmold @cnwolf-brainrot @mutuallyprime @flowerparrish and everyone else who sees this and would like to participate!

[trentcrimminallybeautiful]

i think the diamond dogs should play improv games just bc it would amuse me, an ex theater kid, specifically

[ellraiser]

i can't beelieve that people actually say "woke mind virus" like out loud for real unironically? it's like hearing someone say skibidi ohio rizz in the wild

[awwyeah107]

My 2024 Fics Review

This is a round-up of the fics I published in 2024—including a list of the fics, some of my thoughts on each of them, and a customized AO3 wrapped of my own :)

Quick list of my fics this year:

Lost and Found (9,489 words, 3 chapters, T)

Meeting the In-Laws (1,280 words, oneshot, G)

but for the look in his eyes (10,057 words, 3 chapters [in-progress], M)

A Rude Awakening (1,600 words, oneshot, G)

Mondays In Imladris (1,127 words, oneshot, G)

I'm putting my thoughts on my fics and the AO3 wrapped below the cut. Names of the fics below are colored just to make it easier to distinguish where I start talking about a different fic, there's no specific reason for the colors other than I like them. All links for my fics go to AO3.

Lost and Found (9,489 words, 3 chapters, T)

Date/month published: April

One-sentence summary: In the aftermath of the second kinslaying, Maglor and Maedhros are faced with the disappearance of a pair of twins; years later, another pair of twins—this time under the Fëanorians’ care—are missing.

My thoughts: I’m going to be completely honest: I adore this fic. When browsing through the lists of AO3 wrapped questions, the question “What was your favorite work you published this year?” came up, and as I ran through the list of fics I published in 2024, this one gave me the clearest sense of warmth and fondness. I love each of my published works for different reasons and in different ways, but this one has had the most “straightforward” timeline of writing, publishing, getting interaction, and rereading—and I’ve enjoyed every bit of it. One of the reasons I wrote this fic was because I had been thinking about how Maedhros would have reacted to the news that Eluréd and Elurín had been left in the woods, and I wanted to write about that. I didn’t want to leave it there, though; I really wanted to give Maedhros some hope, and so came the idea to write a follow-up kidnap fam story where Elrond and Elros get lost in the woods and Maglor and Maedhros find them. (I had intended to draw parallels of twins being lost, which I…sort of did. Looking back, I could have tried doing that more strongly; I think the story would have come out differently, which would have been fine, but I believe I ultimately succeeded in writing the story I wanted to write—and read.) Many parts of this story came easily to me (that first scene just flowed so easily, like water down a stream), but I took my time working through the writing process and not rushing it. I had originally started writing it midway through 2023, wrote a lot of it through the fall, gave it a pause in early 2024, and returned to it in the spring (by which point, it mainly required editing). I feel like I learned a lot through writing this fic, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, even the frustrating parts, because I was writing. I could say so much more about this fic, but I’ve already said a lot, so perhaps another time. XD

Meeting the In-Laws (1,280 words, oneshot, G)

Date/month published: August

One-sentence summary: Caranthir is nervous about meeting Haleth’s father and brother for the first time; Haleth is sure everything will go well.

My thoughts: This one was so fun. I have never, ever come up with a fic idea, wrote it, and published it in the same day. Granted, it helped that this was fairly short, and I didn’t feel the need to give it a very defined setting XD As I put in my author’s notes: “So, this morning, the idea of Caranthir meeting Haleth’s father and brother and being awkward and nervous about it popped into my head. As soon as I could, I started writing it, and then bam, the fic basically wrote itself with minimal editing. It practically fell out of my brain fully formed, which virtually never happens.” I was thinking about Silm characters during my work shift, as one does, and then had the idea for the fic, kept getting ideas for what to write, finally wrote down a few snippets on my phone to keep for later, and then immediately picked it up as soon as I could after work. It quickly coagulated into a light, humorous, sweet fic with a somewhat serious yet warm undertone. (Now I feel like I’m giving a review for a drink of some kind XD) I really enjoyed writing all of Caranthir and Haleth’s interactions; some of the phrasing for the meeting was tricky to work out, but I felt like it all came together pretty well in the end. I doubt I’ll write and finish anything this quickly again—my stories very rarely form so fast, and I really do like taking my time on the writing journey—but it was a fun challenge that I think worked because I wasn’t pressuring myself.

but for the look in his eyes (10,057 words, 3 chapters [in-progress], M)

Date/month published: August (last updated in November)

One-sentence summary: Celebrimbor sneaks out to accompany Maedhros to the parley with Morgoth, and he is captured instead of Maedhros.

My thoughts: I love writing this fic and am intimidated by it in equal measure. It’s the kind of fic I never thought I’d write, largely because I didn’t think I had it in me to write a long during/post-Thangorodrim type fic. However, after I initially came up with the idea of Celebrimbor being taken instead of Maedhros (which happened because of theScrap_Witch’s fic “Despair Like Poison”), I found that I kept thinking of what might happen in that sort of story. As you can see in my comment thread on that fic, I kept coming up with more and more ideas for it. The story started to come together in my head and I was like “am I doing this now?……yeah. I think I am.” So I began writing. And I kept getting ideas. I’ve gotten SO MUCH inspiration for it over the last several months. I have tons of scattered scenes and snippets for it, and I have a basic outline that’s gotten more and more complex as I go. I’ve written multi-chapter stories before, but never published any, and never really finished them either. Lost and Found is the exception to that, but I had all of it finished (with a very few last minute edits) before I published it, and it wasn’t a very long fic. This one almost immediately started shaping up to be a (probably much) longer fic, and the fact that I started publishing this without having it all written feels a bit like diving into deep water. I really want to be able to finish it, for myself and for readers. Honestly, the readers are a fair amount of motivation right now, because I could see myself at some point going “eh, I’ve worked on this a bunch, I generally know how it ends, I can live without having written all of it.” But the thing is, nobody else knows how it ends. I’m a little terrified I won’t finish it, especially because the ending right now still feels very open-ended (ha), but I am trying not to think about that and simply focus on expanding what I have. I keep having to remind myself that the readers don’t know what happens next, and I may not know specifics, but I do know some of the long term things and the overall shape and form of the story. Every so often I’ll get what I call an “evil thought” (usually a flash of an idea for something ultra-angsty to add to the story, whether it’s a scene or an action or a line), and I’ll throw my head back and give a villainous cackle…no, not really. But I’ll grin and generally get excited, because oh boy, this is going to cause the characters so much painnnnnn and give the readers SO many feels. So far, out of all the chapters, the first chapter is my favorite. I certainly like the other two. But it’s the first fruit of the initial idea that sprang into my head, and I’m really proud of it. There’s a lot of feeling in it, a lot of hopefulness and shock and angst. I worked really hard to flesh it all out, and I am quite happy with the result. As for 2025, I truly have no idea how far I’ll get with this fic this year. It would be awesome if I managed to finish it, yet I could see it taking longer than a year (I mean, I spent roughly 8 months on Lost and Found, which is just three chapters long). I haven’t had a lot of inspiration for it lately, though I think that’s partially due to current life circumstances and stresses. It’s also a pretty dark fic (which I waxed eloquent about in my author’s note for the first chapter, and could wax eloquent on more tbh XD), and so I can only take writing so much at a time. All that being said…it would be pretty cool if I could get it done this year. Or at least through a certain chapter that’s a bit of a turning point ;)

A Rude Awakening (1,600 words, oneshot, G)

Date/month published: October

One-sentence summary: In which Maitimo is the latest victim of Makalaurë’s early morning bagpipe playing.

My thoughts: Writing this one filled me with absolute glee. As I mentioned, I had a lot of fun writing Meeting the In-Laws, but this one was fun in a slightly different way—I think because I’ve had real-life experiences that helped me to write it well. (I’ve never been woken up by bagpipes like Maedhros was, but I know people who do play pipes and knew enough about the instrument itself to describe things in the fic.) There were some parts to write that were more difficult than I expected: It took a little while for me to figure out exactly what Maedhros had done to annoy Maglor, and the explanations or backstory for certain things (like why the family didn’t often go to Maglor’s bagpipe competitions) felt like they dragged a little. Those were the weakest points of the fic, but I think they were rather necessary to fill it out. However, I really enjoyed writing the rude awakening itself, as well as Maglor and Maedhros’ interactions; those parts flowed quite easily. I’m quite happy with how I established Maglor and Maedhros’ dynamic. Also, I knew right from the start that it was a fic largely for myself; I definitely wrote it with Alantie (dreamingthroughthenoise here on Tumblr) in mind because it was our conversation that inspired this, and I planned on sharing/publishing it, but it’s also one of the fics I wrote simply because I loved the idea. (I think it’s also why some of that exposition stuff felt forced, at least to me: I didn’t need to write it down for myself, but the readers needed it.) In any case, even with a bit of clunkiness, it’s still fun to read and fun to recall the memories of writing it.

Mondays In Imladris (1,127 words, oneshot, G)

Date/month published: September (for Imladris Week)

One-sentence summary: Imladris is filled with magic that allows it to move rooms, hallways, and any part of its structure, causing both whimsy and mayhem for the residents.

My thoughts: I really hope I can do more with this AU, because I love the concept so much! I reread this fic for my review, and I genuinely enjoyed it. It feels polished, like I had hoped it would when I published it, and I’m still very happy with my lively writing tone. To be honest, I was kind of hoping for a little more interaction than this fic got (don’t get me wrong, I was delighted with the couple of comments it got!), but I know it’s an AU of a niche book series, so I can’t be surprised. I wrote this not only out of love for Imladris but also out of love for the Castle Glower series, and I can feel that fondness seeping through the words. Once I had the idea for this fic, I wrote a whole lot of stuff and then did SO MUCH editing and sanding down. I worked really hard to get the phrasing and tone right, and I think I managed to smooth out any roughness and keep the voicing pretty consistent throughout! And since I wrote a lot that I didn’t use in this fic, I have some snippets that I might form into fully-fledged oneshots…we shall see :)

AO3 Wrapped Questions

(From the AO3 wrapped list I used last year and the one I found this year. I like statistics when it comes to Spotify Wrapped, but I don't really care for stats much on AO3—I'd rather focus on things I can write about instead of kudos and hits, so that's what I'm doing!)

How many fics did you post this past year + biggest surprise while writing this year? I published 5 fics, and the surprise is that I published more than 1, lol! 4 out of those 5 were unplanned as of the start of 2024, which very much surprised me. (Lost and Found was the only fic I published that I had planned/hoped to publish when I started the year.) I’ve historically taken a long time to write fics, even oneshots, so the fact that I wrote several (I’m including individual chapters of “but for the look in his eyes”) in less than a year was exciting. Of my 5 fics, 3 were oneshots and 2 were multi-chapter fics.

How many published works are you leaving unfinished going into the new year? 1 (“but for the look in his eyes”).

What are you most proud of accomplishing in your writing goals / published works this past year? I didn’t specifically set any writing goals for 2024, but I really hoped I would be able to get Lost and Found done and published, and I did!

Do you have playlists for any of your fics/wips? Yes! I have a playlist for Lost and Found. I also am slowly building a playlist for “but for the look in his eyes,” but I haven't revealed it yet.

Favorite title you used? I answered this one in an ask, but I wanted to include that in my fic round-up/review, so here’s what I put: I'd say it's tied between A Rude Awakening and Mondays In Imladris. "A Rude Awakening" was just SO perfect for the fic, and it leapt into my mind as soon as I thought "what should the title for this fic be?". "Mondays In Imladris" fit the naming convention for the Castle Glower book series (the titles are all "[day]" at/in [place]"), and the point of the fic was that it was a Castle Glower AU, so I was delighted to name it the same way.

What work was the quickest to write? Meeting the In-Laws, by far; I wrote it in a single day. XD

What work took you the longest to write? Lost and Found—it took roughly 8 months.

How many WIPs do you have in your docs for next year? By “in my docs” I’m counting that as “I’ve actually started writing these/have a really detailed outline,” lol! I have two Tolkien ones and two Inkheart ones, so four in total. No clue if I’ll finish any of them in 2025, but I hope so! Whether or not I finish them, I definitely want to work on them.

What WIP are you taking into next year with you? “but for the look in his eyes” :)

What’s your most common “Additional Tags” tag? I came up with this one and it always makes me laugh: “No beta we die like…uh…never mind,” which I initially came up with to use on Lost and Found. It was because I was originally going to say “No beta we die like Eluréd and Elurín,” but I was like “oooh, that is so blunt and it’s sad, I don’t know if I really want to say that!”, so I essentially wrote down what I was thinking XD and just kept using it because I liked it.

Which published work of yours have you reread the most? Ooooo, this one’s hard, but I think either Lost and Found or “but for the look in his eyes”. I do tend to reread fics or parts of fics multiple times in the few days after I publish, so I think because they both have multiple chapters, they’ve gotten more rereads from me overall.

What do you listen to while writing? 95% instrumental folk music with adventure vibes (from composers I found on YouTube), 5% other stuff that goes along with what I’m writing in the fic XD Adrian Von Ziegler gets a lot of listening time from me (he actually ended up being my top artist on Spotify this year!!! That’s definitely thanks to listening to songs on loop while writing fic), and so do Peter Crowley and Brunuhville.

Share a line/paragraph/snippet that you were especially proud of (or one of your favorites) from a work this year! There are so many parts from each of my fics that I enjoy, but this was one bit of dialogue I particularly loved from Meeting the In-Laws:

He let out a deep sigh. “Okay. But…what do I say to them?” His voice had become a whine.

“Just be yourself.”

Caranthir’s expression conveyed skepticism about this idea. “Love, I don’t think my ‘self’ is the most pleasant person to be around. As you should know.”

“Alright, then, be yourself on your best behavior.”

Give us a sneak peek of one of your upcoming works! This is one of my favorite snippets from an Inkheart fic I’m writing. Context: Mo is teaching Dustfinger about things in our world today.

[Mo is speaking here] "Virtually nobody living in society would go to bathe in a river or outdoor water source. In fact, if you spend a while in water outside—for example, in a lake—it’s common to come in and wash off in the shower.”

Dustfinger stared at him like he had two heads. “You get under a stream of water…to clean yourself from just having been in water.”

When one put it that way, it did sound kind of funny.

AO3 wrapped questions that I came up with and wanted to answer :)

Describe each of your published fics from this year in one word. Lost and Found - classic Meeting the In-laws - spontaneous but for the look in his eyes - in-progress A Rude Awakening - bagpipes Mondays In Imladris - whimsical

What did you learn from your writing this year? First, that I tend to write VERY long intro author’s notes XD I also learned how to let a scene breathe a little more, that I don’t have to narrate everything in a scene, that I can take my time (and taking my time often leads to better writing), that writing ending author’s notes is harder to do than I thought, that writing in present tense takes some getting used to and influences my word choice, how to explore a character’s emotions more, how to use punctuation more stylistically to convey a feeling or thought even when it’s not entirely grammatically correct, that it helps to relax and write characters based on my own understanding of them instead of fanon interpretation/what I’ve seen, that my own interpretation and understanding of a character will grow as I write them, that getting the tags and formatting and stuff ready for publishing fics always takes longer than I think it will, and that some fics will come easier than others—and that’s okay.

What fandoms have you not written for that you would like to in 2025/the future? I’ve had a few ideas for Longmire fics after watching the TV show this year, so it would be cool to actually get into writing those!

Also, thank you so, so, SO much to anyone who's commented on my fics this past year. As I wrote in my Thanksgiving post, I always get excited when I see a comment in my inbox, and they really do mean a lot. ❤️

Finally: if you got all the way to the end of reading this, thank you! Hope you enjoyed :)

[uncanny-tranny]

It's always tempting to debate bigots about their bigotry, but honestly the best thing you can do is often to directly help those affected by said bigotry.

Bigotry doesn't exist to be debated. People who are bigots do not care about debate - they care about humiliating their opponents. You cannot outsmart somebody who doesn't give a flying fuck about their position being incorrect. You will be playing a completely different game by trying to debate somebody out of their bigotry.

The best thing you can do is to show up for the marginalized. Check in on them, talk to them, and engage with them as people. Ask them if they would like help and then respect their answer to the best of your capabilities. Oftentimes, that will be sufficient enough and will go a long way.

[ttrreeaall]

Slay the Princess is a pretty neat video game. It made clear salty water run from my face a few times, a thing that never ever happens when I play Rocket League or [flavor-of-the-month card-based rogue-like].

Pretty cool! I highly recommend it if you like book games and want to make water come out of your face.

[mania-sama]

Fanfic Writer Review

AHH thank you so much for tag @doctorweebmd! I love doing silly little tag games. I used to hate them in my Wattpad days, but now they are good fun on Tumblr. I also love yapping about my fics, and it made my heart full to know I was tagged by an author who I deeply admire for their writing technique and ability.

➼ How many works do you have on AO3?

I have 78 active and visible on my profile. I have 3 under Anonymous and AT LEAST 1 that I have orphaned. That makes for 82 on Ao3. I have also deleted a few fics, but I don't know how many there are. Two, I think, but I can't be sure so it's not going in the tally. My account dates back to 2019, with the first visible fic being a Dream SMP fic in 2021. However, I know my earliest fic was around when I joined because I had previously written on Wattpad under an account that is not associated with my current mania_sama identity. For the sake of my sanity, no details will be disclosed on that fic. It haunts my nightmares.

Simplified: 78 on profile, 82 total that I know of on Archive of Our Own.

➼ Your top 5 stories by kudos/likes:

I will preface this by saying that I am not ashamed of my history with Dream SMP. Do I keep up with any of the members? No, and I haven't for years to be honest. That's why I haven't transferred those fics over here; I just don't care anymore. But, you know, it is what it is, and I, for one, refuse to be shamed for once being a young person who liked to enjoy things.

Without further ado:

1. tommyinnit's slightly beatable method of avoiding sudden death ❧ Dream SMP | 2.1k kudos | 29.7k hits ❧ This fic is not my most popular because of its quality. I reread a few sections of the first chapter, and I'll give credit to myself that I was funny and hit my target audience well for when it was written. But that isn't why it blew up. It blew up because this is a fanfic for an extremely popular, well-written Dream SMP fic titled tommyinnit's unbeatable method of avoiding sudden death. Yes. I was creative with the naming of my fic, I know. But this is to say: the popularity came from there. I don't claim it to be my incredibly humorous and charming personality. Regardless, I do think I was funny and the fic is funny, except for when I added an alternative ending as a second chapter in which I killed all of the characters in various manners. That wasn't funny but it kinda is in retrospect. Considering the plot was Tommy attempting (failing) to take down a child trafficking ring, it was bound to end horribly.

2. ask for help, call it weakness ❧ Genshin Impact | 1.7k kudos | 14.3k hits ❧ It still makes me mad that THIS is my second most popular fic. It's entirely based off of a TikTok edit. I said I would write a fic based on it in the comments. Little did I know, both the TikTok and the comment would blow up like a pipe bomb, and suddenly I was completing this at 1 in the morning. You may say it's only 3k words, but 3k words is a lot for ME. I am a slow writer. Very slow. Anyway, I would not say this is my best work. It's just Xiao comforting Aether during a PTSD-induced panic attack. That's literally all there is to it. I don't know man. It's funny how life works.

3. lone star ❧ Genshin Impact | 1.1k kudos | 13.9k hits ❧ ANOTHER. FIC. BASED ON A TIKTOK. It's a curse, really. But I will give myself more credit here; this fic gained a lot of popularity on its own, disassociated from the Tiktok (because neither the Tiktok nor my comment was insanely popular like the last one). I had a lot of comments that were very confused on the plot and why Venti would mentally torture Diluc, and all I could do was shrug at them and say that the Tiktok made me do it. Peak torture writing though, and the second chapter was fun because I got to experiment a bit with an outsider's point of view. I think this is where my talents for whump started to shine through, and I realized that my full potential lies in making characters disassociate from reality through intense trauma. Woopee!

4. with every line, a comedy ❧ Genshin Impact | 787 kudos | 11.8k hits ❧ Now, this fic. This fic is one that truly deserves to be on this list. I am incredibly proud of this fic. Honestly, I think it's my favorite thing I've every written. It's a Kavetham fic set directly after the Akasha system is abolished and dreaming is returned to Sumeru. Kaveh starts sleepwalking, and Alhaitham tries unsuccessfully to get to the root of the issue. I truly worked hard on this fic; every line is imbued with love and care for these two characters. I wanted them to work this out, and I wanted them to achieve their happy ending. It's jam-packed full of pain, sorrow, and long-forgotten trauma swelled up to crash over their lives. And a few sex jokes, because I can't help myself. Wet dreams. Ha ha HA. Anyway, I truly love every single person that read that fic and stuck with me through it. I seemed to have really reached people's hearts with it's contents, and I'm really, really grateful I had the opportunity to connect with people in that way.

5. gojo satoru's guide to being a good father: cheating is only tolerable if it happens in monopoly ❧ Jujutsu Kaisen | 786 kudos | 4.7k hits ❧ I think this fic is evidence that if I just let myself go while writing, amazing things happen. I truly did not give a fuck while I was writing. All I wanted was to live out my fantasy of destroying a nice car, preferably while listening to Before He Cheats by Carrie Underwood. But I cannot destroy a nice car, nor have I ever been cheated on, so that fantasy is far away. Now, I did not just write about the car. I threw in just. Random shit in there as well. They watch Human Centipede 2, eat at Subway, and play Monopoly. Why? I don't know. I just wrote the first things that came to mind. And you know what? This fic got a PODFIC. You see what I mean when I say amazing things happen? I truly do love this fic. I think I am EXTREMELY hilarious and I still laugh at the things I wrote in there. Dad Gojo to Megumi and Tsumuki is my everything.

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

I do! I try my very best to respond to every single one of them. I think it'd be a lot harder if my focus was on long fics, but the majority of my collection is one-shots, so it's much easier for me to keep up with.

➼ What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Angsty one-shots are my specialty. Major Character Death graces many of them, not even including all of my whumptober prompts that end poorly. Even if they don't die, some of their fates are just sad. That being said, I think I have to give the hats off to the difference between hurt and injured. It's long enough (20k) that the reader can get attached to the characters, understand their wants, dreams, and motivations, before a character takes his own life. It's not a senseless whump or angst 1-4k one-shot; it's a series of developments that leads up to an ending that was entirely predictable from the beginning, yet hurts just the same. It teaches a lesson, one that I've had seared into my brain: if you don't act, then the world will act for you. The reality of the situation is what makes it the most depressing, I think.

➼ What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

I was a little stuck on this one. I had a few in mind, but I think the one where the characters made it out objectively the happiest with the MOST payoff is toss a coin to your witcher. It's a Dream SMP Sweet Tooth AU that sort of follows the first season of the show. If I were still in the fandom, I think I would rewrite this to be leaps and bounds better in terms of plot and regular writing, make it a more fleshed out fic that explains/makes it more obvious WHY I chose that specific song, of all songs. But regardless, the characters go on a long, long journey, both physically and mentally taxing, to get to their ending, which is why I think it's the happiest.

➼ Do you write crossovers?

My answer varies slightly on what is defined as a crossover. I have written and posted AU's for other shows and medias before (previous fic in example). In terms of characters meeting other characters from different shows? ... Kind of? Not really. It's hard to explain that fic. It's one IRL person traveling from universe to universe, but the universe characters do not meet each other.

HOWEVER. Just because I have never posted a tried and true character meet-and-greet crossover doesn't meet I haven't written one. I have a Saiki K x Bungou Stray Dogs fic sitting in my drafts right now. Yes, Dazai Osamu goes to PK Academy to kill Saiki K. Yes it exists and no I will probably never finish it. Also, I used to write character fights. Like, Karma from Assassination Classroom vs Bakugou Katsuki from My Hero Academia. I did post that but that's long since been deleted from my profiles, and they weren't typical fanfiction anyway. They were just sort of a list of occurrences during a three-round fight (regular, loser is bloodlusted, both bloodlusted) or just a regular fight by different parameters. So I don't know if it really counts or not.

I guess the short answer to the question is: YES! I am literally down for anything remotely interesting.

➼ Have you ever received hate on a fic?

No, but two were hate-adjacent I think. Both of the cases were a little odd, and neither were directed at me or my writing. The first case was on a Ragbros fic where a commenter complained that they couldn't ship Kaeluc, even though people ship Eren and Mikasa from Attack on Titan together. Another commenter ripped into them before I could delete the comment, which was kind of funny. Comment had nothing to do with my fic though. I didn't mention Kaeluc once anywhere in the tags, story, or notes.

The other one was under an IwaOi fic that complained about Oikawa's characterizations in the fandom's fics in general. It makes much more sense in context why I don't consider this hate. Also, I was able to turn it into a dialogue on the topic, and they ended up complimenting my writing style. No harm, no foul.

➼ Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I do not have a single fic rated above Teen. No. I do not write smut. I don't like reading, watching, or writing sex scenes. No shame to anyone who does, though!! It just isn't for me!

➼ Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Interestingly enough, yes. It was brought to my attention by a wonderful Tumblr user, who recognized the fic on ao3 as being incredibly similar to mine, and DM'd me about it. I took a look into it and found that they copied almost the entire fic word-for-word, except for adding in a few small paragraphs and segments of their own to "hide" it. It might not have bothered me so much if not for the fact that their work was getting more popular than mine, and I'm a petty bitch. So I commented with ALL of the segments that they plagiarized (it was a very, very long comment. Multiple parts. Many segments. I also had a few words to say of my own), and said that they could either give me credit (meaning they get to keep the fic), or they can take it down themselves, write their own words, and reupload the fic.

They orphaned it after I'd commented, so I took it to the OTW and had the fic removed. I know some people don't mind when it happens, but it was kinda like spitting in my face when a commenter had said that they thought the work was like mine and they replied "oh, yeah, I liked her stuff." And then proceeded to not credit me or say I did any of the work in any capacity. It would be another thing if they had simply transferred it to another site. But the same site? Really? I was a little upset. Just a little.

For anyone curious, the fic that was plagiarized was rule #4 - fish in a birdcage.

➼ Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but I don't want to diminish the fantastic things that have been gifted to me before! A lovely person on Instagram drew fanart for as you wave me goodbye (I have yet to figure out how to imbed images. One day I will. It's a process of hosting the images, I know. I'll get it eventually). I have since lost touch with the person and don't know their new Instagram account so I can't even credit them, which makes me sad. I've had a few works gifted to me, and one person even made me a podfic! I am so incredibly grateful for everything!!

➼ Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No. I write at the pace of an emaciated snail crawling on salt. I do not see myself ever collaborating with anyone ever, even though it would be cool. I just couldn't put that pressure on myself and the other person, only to let us both down. I do not do deadlines. I do NOT.

➼ What’s your all-time favorite ship?

I don't think I can reliably answer this question. I've given direct answers before, but it changes so often that I can't say for certain that I have a favorite. I will say, though, that all of my ships can lead back to one. One damned ship. Klance (Keith/Lance). It's always them. Always. It never stops. Voltron leaving Netflix? Good riddance. It doesn't matter. Even if Voltron is wiped off the face of the Earth, those bitches have dug a whole in my heart and will never leave. I'm literally reading a longfic about them right now. Will I ever stop? NO.

Merthur (Arthur Pendragon/Merlin) taught me what good fanfiction is, though. They have a scar over my psyche, a hot brand on my brain. It's not a painful one, but I also will never forgive BBC for what they did. No self-respecting Merlin fan can. Merthur is very, very special to me. They are definitely high up in my favorites. I can link a lot of ships back to them

as well.

➼ What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I'm going to be honest with myself: the righteous hand of god. DON'T GET ME WRONG. All of the ideas are still there. I want to finish it so, so badly. But it's been almost two years. My writing style has changed a bit, and I'm scared of uploading. Everything is still there though. I know exactly how to end it. I just wrote myself into a corner and I'm too afraid to write myself out of it.

Other than that, I have two on-going series that definitely will get more fics. I just haven't gotten around to it yet. The fics I've posted in them are completed, though, so I feel less bad for the wait.

➼ What are your writing strengths?

I think I excel when it comes to writing grief. Perhaps it's because I've had the most time with it, but my writing style shines brightest when a character is grieving something. Grief comes in many forms, and anything can be grieved. An object, a relationship, a place, a person, a personality trait, a memory - grief is not limited to death. A loss of any kind can trigger such intense emotions. I've become comfortable with it, which means I can explore and play with styles and ideas. I have two fics I'm currently actively writing: one is on the funny side, the other is more serious. They both tackle grief in a different way. The funny one explores preemptive mourning; a character is preparing himself for a relationship to be broken, thereby hardening his exterior and playing pretend. The serious fic is one that is constantly surrounded by death because the main character is immortal. He doesn't care much for death until death comes for him. Or, rather, comes for someone he's come to love. And for the first time, he understands what dying really means.

Yes. I think grief is my writing strength. It's my home, the place I find myself running back to over and over again.

➼ What are your writing weaknesses?

Grammar. I used to not proofread my works at all. Now I give them ONE read before I post them, as per my 2024 New Years Resolution. Obviously, you can see the issues. I'm sorry. Reading my own work makes me want to throw up and burn my computer. It's very hard for me, and it takes me a long time because I have to take frequent breaks. I also refuse to get a beta reader due to my inability to write at ALL and for other personal reasons, so that's definitely not helping.

I also will not rework the story most of the time. If I write a scene in it's entirety, it is STAYING and it will not get changed. It's different if I get halfway through, decide that it's dogshit, and delete it. Fully completed? I'm working around it. Unfortunately, it can make for weird pacing.

➼ What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I really don't have a strong opinion either way. When it's one or two words at a time, keeping it in the language you intend it to be in is just fine. But a lot of authors don't speak the language they are writing the dialogue for, so they Google translate it, and then don't provide a translation sample for the reader (Voltron authors are frequent offenders). As a reader, it honestly doesn't both me much? As a writer, I'll just say "'[dialogue]' They said, in Spanish." or whatever language I'm writing for. I picked up this habit from Rick Riordan when he introduced Latin in The Lost Hero, and I prefer doing that for longer bits of dialogue. When the character I'm writing doesn't know how to speak the language they are listening to, I will write it so that there isn't any written dialogue, just an indication that a character is speaking. In example, from if you need me, dear, i'm the same as i was:

Tooru’s voice is strangled and hoarse between his gasping breaths in mangled Spanish Iwaizumi doesn’t understand.

But, again, it doesn't really bother me either way. It's fun when they are in other languages! I read an IwaOi fic recently that integrated Tagalog really well into the fic. And I don't mind going back and forth between Google Translate. It's interesting sometimes! And especially with Spanish, I like to guess if I'm translating it right in my head before I Google it. The different languages can also really add to the story if done properly.

➼ What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

I've never gotten around to completing any stories for Methur from Merlin. I've written an a Merlin AU before, but it was technically an Identity V fic, so I don't think it counts.

➼ What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

with every line, a comedy, easy. Do I think it's my best-written work? ... Not anymore. I think if you need me, dear, i'm the same as i was is better. However, WELAC stands as my longest completed work, and it holds a very, very special place in my heart. It's also the only fic that I have transferred over to Fanfiction.Net!

➼ Tagging:

@pinknips @kingofech0park @3l91 @iwaoiness @kings-highway

NO pressure to anyone to do any of these. Tagging people already makes me want to throw up and pass out, so PLEASE. PLEASE know there is no pressure; I just like your guys works!

[the-acid-pear]

Honestly I always mostly just think of the [looks at notes] 3 managers Harry was friends with when thinking of what he lost but considering he's that old and has been jumping between franchises so much and also the fact Every Fucking Phoney (save for 3) got scrapped by the time we meet him; how much as this man lost? How many people he cared about has he seen die gruesome deaths again and again? Has he managed to find time to process this to grieve or has he just desensitized himself to the situation entirely? I wonder if some vague memory or reaction from how he dealt w this while in the war is how he keeps it at bay. Though it's rich of me to take his formality at face value when he has shown to not be a stranger to strong emotional reactions. Much to think about!

[apexreaper-blog]

Should You Play? A Review of CorpoNation: The Sorting Process

Should you play this game about sorting samples? Come read as I take a look at what this game has to offer and answer the question. Should you Play? #corponation #gamereview #Apexreaper #review

[takemetotheastralagain]

none of you can handle my power (planted strawberries in stardew valley. Totally not later into the season than planned we prommy)

[sonknuxadow]

i dont particularly care for sonelise and i do think that elise kissing sonic was kinda weird and unnecessary and i dont think its bad for people to express this opinion but god i cant stand the "sonic made out with a human in sonic 06" jokes because for one theyre overdone and beating a dead horse but also thats such a huge exaggeration of what actually happened have none of you actually watched that cutscene

[chilipepperflake]

people you'd like to know better!

thanks for the tag @skijjiki !!!!! i love tag games heheh >:3

3 ships: i havent been a big shipper historically, but im slowly becoming more used to it and those around me shall suffer for it

vashwood: my sad sad catholic gays… they heal me and they hurt me every waking moment. watching tristamp awakened something in me but i cannot bring myself to read trimax or watch trigun 1998 because i know… because i know….

satosugu: theyre the only thing from jjk i gave a shit about in s2 im sorry ^^;; i love watching angst edits to sad music and thinking about what could have been

Yuki and Itsuomi: it’s been a hot minute since ive watched such a good and wholesome romance anime!!! The last episode in particular made my heart so full ;v; i would lay down my life for both of them. oushi can get rotated

First ship: naruto and sasuke LMAO…. i joined tumblr originally to blog about naruto and i didnt even know what shipping really was back in the day but i knew there was something about the amvs that spoke to me

Last song: Hollow Hunger (cover by Octavio)!! I don’t know the words but i like making noises to the melody

Currently reading: technically im not reading anything rn but my friend lent me the first 4 vols of given and i checked out the first 3 of a sign of affection from the local library >:) as soon as i get a few school things done i will beam them into my eyeballs

Last film: Breaking dawn pt 1: a friend was indignant about my never having seen the twilight movies so we’re in the process of watching them! I made it through the first three movies with minimal psychic damage…. but this one (HOOBOY) uhhh i was suffering… i could write volumes on the bullshit that was breaking dawn pt. 1. Im kind of scared for part 2 (at this point i support no one but charlie to be real with you)

Currently craving: i got a polvoron in a bag on my desk that’s calling my name rn but im saving it for when i finish my schoolwork;;

Again thank u sm for the tag my beloved mutual -v-

I’ll tag @icecat @thembo-pastelle @catcatcatcatcatcatsbutts !!! no pressure though !!!

over and out

[iiota]

bought neon white because i find it so fascinating how a game can have such cool gameplay and mechanics and yet have the most ass story known to man

[scarletenvy]

sorry but what an absolutely fucking unhinged way to start a book by having a character think abt how hard he needs to win the cup for his captain like i,,,,, have no words