#that script is fanfiction and you do. not. sell. fanfiction.

[bythehearts]

not to bring tiktok drama on tumblr but like every time a ‘scandal’ comes out with one of these ‘production companies’ that make fan films i always hope we’re finally gonna discuss how they professionalize something that should be an hobbyist endeavor… and yet every single time i’m disappointed.

[jungkoode]

Please, please forgive me if I'm interpreting this incorrectly, but I'm finding it really interesting to see how the sexual side of Jungkook & Nix's (not)relationship is playing out because they both approach it so differently that I wonder if they'll ever be on the same page.

Nix seems to use sex as a way to cement her independence. She is living her own life, away from her overbearing parents, and that means she can do what she wants, whenever she wants with her body. She's fully aware of this. It's about control for her. She also values the pleasure of herself and her partner equally.

However, Jungkook uses sex as a connection, though I'm not sure he even realizes it. Yes, there are mentions of him treating sex casually and sleeping around, but his personality in the bedroom/window/couch/table is a huge shift from his normal demeanor. He's normally confrontational, intrusive, unserious, and self-serving. In the bedroom/etc, he's reassuring, cognizant & respectful of boundaries, and very attentive to her reactions, often ignoring his needs in order to prioritize her pleasure. Until she offers him a blowjob. I'm perplexed as to why he's so hesitant to accept. It seems like more than just disbelief. It feels like there's some sort of trauma or insecurity buried there. So what's the haps with that? Or am I misunderstanding the scene?

But anyway, I know you've stated you don't write the smut gratuitously. I just want to say I'm enjoying the way it's progressing the characters more than any conversation could at this point. They're kind of opposites in that Nix uses sex to (intentionally) establish independence and Jungkook uses it (unintentionally) to make connections and stabilize himself. However, I think they're both using it to distance themselves from their past, so maybe they aren't on the same page, but they're at least in the same book.

Leaving this on anon in case I'm so wrong about this that it's embarrassing 🤣

First of all.

IF ANY OF YOU EVER APOLOGIZES AGAIN FOR SPITTING OUT THEORIES I WILL PERSONALLY STRANGLE YOU WITH THE GUTS OF YOUR FAVORITE FANFICTION BOY.

This energy?? THIS ENERGY?? Is my lifeblood. You’re giving me brain fuel. You’re feeding me gourmet psychological analysis. You’re giving Freud a posthumous erection. I love you.

Now. Buckle up, bestie, because I have THOUGHTS.

You are so, so, SO valid in reading that disconnect between how Jungkook and Nix approach sex. You’re not only not wrong—you’re dancing naked in the truth. Nix absolutely uses sex as agency. As proof of ownership over her body. She’s finally free from that suffocating control, and this isn’t just rebellion, it’s like—proof of concept. She’s testing herself. Pushing her boundaries. Can I do this and still be mine? Can I want this and still be whole? She’s not ashamed of desire, but she’s constantly trying to make sure it doesn’t own her the way everything else in her life has.

And then you have Jungkook. And GOD it breaks my heart to even type this—but sex is not love to him. Not anymore. It’s not even connection. It’s performance. It’s ritual. It’s reassurance that someone still wants him, even if just for a night. He’s conditioned himself out of expecting anything from it except that fleeting high of being needed. And he sells it like it’s confidence, like he’s in control—but in reality, he’s giving and giving and giving because deep down he believes he’s only worth what he can offer.

The fact that he’s so attentive in bed? That’s not tenderness—it’s pattern recognition. He’s reading her like a script because he’s terrified of doing the wrong thing. Because someone made him believe his pleasure was either irrelevant or dangerous. And when she offers to go down on him—when she gives him the opportunity to receive without earning it first—he panics. Because that kind of vulnerability? That kind of intimacy? That shit wasn’t safe before. It was twisted, weaponized, punished. And now? Now he doesn’t know how to accept it without feeling like he’s about to drown.

The heartbreak of all this is that they are, without knowing it, giving each other exactly what they crave: she gives him space to feel safe and wanted, and he gives her space to be wild and free and worshipped. But they’re both too wrapped up in their coping mechanisms to recognize that. It’s two people who are deeply hurting, crashing into each other like waves—and somehow managing to make the other feel better without knowing why.

Same page? Maybe not.

Same book? Oh, babes—they’re annotating each other’s chapters.

You’re a genius for picking up on this. Don’t ever doubt that. This analysis is gorgeous and I’m gonna print it out and tape it to my forehead. Thank you for letting me rant. Please come back and psychoanalyze my blorbos again soon. You have full clearance to be messy and loud and brave in this inbox, always.

(Also the blowjob thing? You’ll cry later. Just a heads up. *dodges rocks*)

[lol-jackles]

tumblr /jenmishperceiver/747567018487726080/i-think-if-anything-put-the-final-nail-in-the> I've seen this assumption before and imo it's spin: Jensen said repeatedly that he told the group he wanted to think about the script, went home TO HIS WIFE and said he was uncomfortable, who then suggested calling Kripke, ect // In all the retellings, I've never actually seen it said Jensen fought with the writers OR EVEN TOLD THEM and Jared he was uncomfortable until AFTER he'd changed his mind to agreed

Bitter Destiel shippers are those kinds of people who fall for IRS telephone scams.

You're correct, Jensen never said in any of his retellings that he fought with writers nor did he tell them or Jared he's having a hard time "digesting" until AFTER he talked to Kripke and was convinced by Kripke that "Carry On" was the right ending for fans. You know, the real fans who watch the show for what it really is: Sam's hero journey with his beloved brother, Dean.

That said, while you're correct that it's Jensen's job to sell the concept, he has also been pitching a Dean-led spinoff for years. Remember his "dream" (X) that he pitched during the SPN press junket?   I didn’t side-eye his PCA campaigns or his pursuit for Dean-centric storylines, but I did raise my eyebrows at his ballsy move to publicly pitch his post-Sam projects in front of Jared and Misha. What does the jenmishperciever's Anon say about that? Hummm?

Actors are always pitching their project ideas, they're just a bit more subtle about it. I'm certain Jensen had hoped the "dream" would catch on with the fans and they would campaign for it. Except not even AAs were down with the idea. Casual fans even less so. Lucky for you I saved the screenshot from the article:

Reading through jenmishperciever's Anon's self-soothing fanfiction is like watching bread grow old right before your eyes; same delusions we've seen for the past 12 years. Blame Jared for playing Sam who was in the way of a fake fetish ship from becoming canon that Less than 1% of the SPN audience ships. Said Jared's drunken arrest (I refuse to call it a bar fight, it was a group hug gone wrong) could have threaten the ENTIRE filming of the SPN final season while ignoring Anthony Starr's drunken arrest, which by the Anon's logic, would have threaten the ENTIRE filming of The Boys.

Lol they still pretend to believe that Kripke gave the SPN rights to Jensen when Kripke is SUEING WB over profit participation over SPN.

The only thing Jensen cared about with his SPN spinoff was lens crafting, which was why The Winchesters was a Shein version of an AU fanfic. Remember when Jensen told TW cast “don’t fuck it up for me”? After 15-20 years, Jensen is used to lead actors/Jareds doing the heavy lifting in carrying the show and being leader of the cast and crew and he benefitted from the sweet spot as #2 on the call sheet i.e. the good guy who is friends with everyone.

If Jensen keeps trying to be in charge of SPN projects, SPN fans’ reaction is going to be the same as today Marvel fanboys’ reaction every time they hear Kevin Feige’s name: “What did you did do this time you Son of a Bitch!? What train did you derail this time?”

Since Supernatural ended 4 years ago, the bitter Destiel hellers and AAs are stuck in a time loop of step 1 through 4 of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression). S tep 5 is acceptance, which is long delayed due to Jared’s continue success i.e. Walker in it's 4th season and #1 scripted show for CW.

[greenesmyfavcolor]

a couple of little shop questions for ya

1. favourite song from the soundtrack? you don’t have to pick just one.

2. director’s cut (everyone dies) or theatrical cut (audrey ii is defeated)? why?

3. which actor do you think portrays seymour the best? i’d ask about audrey as well but your username kinda clues me in there.

1. Yeah I can’t pick one 😂 It’s such an impossible question to answer cause you honestly could say any one of them and it would be more than valid.

I have solidified my top three though. In no particular order, Suddenly Seymour for its sincerity, Somewhere That’s Green for how beautifully tragic, as well as how almost comical it can be at times, and Mean Green Mother From Outer Space for just how dang catchy, fun, and climatic it is.

2. Same with this, I like both lol. I’ve always said that my head prefers the director’s cut while my heart prefers the theatrical cut.

I’d say the directors cut is technically better (or at the very least the stage ending since there are some slight differences) due to tying all its themes about greed and capitalism together. I know it’s got some pacing issues but I chalk it up to it basically being a glorified workprint that was definitely intended to be shorten and condensed eventually before being cut entirely. What I don’t like in this ending is how helpless Seymour is during the fight against Audrey II and how he just lets himself get eaten. I love the stage’s ending and how Seymour sacrifices himself, essentially making up for his actions and taking responsibility, even it was all for naught. I can excuse it in the theatrical cut since Audrey’s still alive so there would be no reason to sacrifice himself if he’s trying to live for her. But it takes away from completing Seymour’s arc, leaving you to be like “that’s it?” when he gets eaten. And then there’s the whole thing if movie Seymour even deserved his ending since his actions come across as less intentional compare to the stage version but that’s a topic for another day. Other than that tho, I really do love the director’s cut for giving us the cool rampage scene and of course keeping Somewhere That’s Green Reprise and Don’t Feed The Plants.

At the same time, I can’t help but love the theatrical cut for giving Seymour and especially Audrey the ending they deserve. Yeah, it’s cheesy and kinda throws away all the themes the movie had been building up to that point but I can’t help but get choked up every time I see Seymour and Audrey finally reunite and run off together into their new home. It also gives us unlimited potential for fanfiction so that’s a plus lol.

3. Really basic answer but Rick Moranis. When you think about it, he kinda set the stage for how most future Seymours would play him. Compared to the prior Seymours, he’s a lot more wimpy and puppy dog like. A lot of it does have to do with the changes to the movie script such as Seymour not deciding to purposefully do nothing when Orin’s dying or tricking Mushnik to get inside the plant. But no matter what his actions are (even if he’s chopping up a body) he always comes across as really likable and earnest which is important since it’s crucial to see how someone like Audrey, who values those traits in a relationship, could fall in love with him.

He’s also just really funny. His facial expressions whenever he’s nervous or just overall being a complete goof crack me up every time.

These are some of my favorites 😂

And he of course has incredible chemistry with Ellen Greene. Honestly if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t buy into Audrey and Seymour’s relationship as much as I do now. It’s easy to overstep a line into where their relationship could come across as insincere or even creepy if Seymour is not done right (like a typical trademark “nice guy”) but he absolutely sells me on that he truly loves Audrey for who she is and that she loves him back because of it.

And yeah, Ellen Greene’s Audrey is my favorite. No one else even comes close in my eyes ❤️

Thanks so much for the ask!

[murfpersonalblog]

IWTV S2 Ep7 Musings - Loustat Ep4 Revisited (Spoilers)

This one was WILD, my jaw was on the floor. JACOB! SIR ANDERSON! BRUH!?

Santiago doing a deliberately TERRIBLE Claudia voice after we saw his IMMACULATE Louis mimic--I HATE HIM. 🤣

I already tore Lestat a new arsehole for that.

Underneath the distorted Mind Spell audio effect you can barely hear Les say something about "the lies said by Louis;" but the subtitles don't pick it up.

NO, the COVEN wrote that script and did that. Lestat's COMPLICIT only cuz he's tryna SAVE Lou from the mess YOU put them in by selling them out to Santiago, Armand! You stood by and let them be abducted & dragged on stage, when YOU have the Fire Gift! You coulda lit them all up like matches! But you AND Lestat wanted Claudia out of the picture!

Louis finally not wearing black in Dubai; he's in dark blood red. 👀

HOW, if Les cant read your mind? I think SEEING Lestat and hearing his effed up account took Louis back to NOLA--not that Les was doing any Mind/Spell Gifts on Lou, literally taking him back to NOLA. It's a distorted memory, not astral projection or a hallucination.

Lestat like: "WE?" All of a sudden you wanna speak French at me with this OUI?

I couldn't resist, the hands were sending me.

Ohhhh this is SINISTER, making Lou look he manipulated Les. The VOICE Jacob uses is tryna kill me--he sounds so simpering and soft and feminine, no deep bass whatever; they know wtf they're doing. XD Any other network and there'd've been a fullblown sex scene. 😅

Ohhh no, the coven's tryna make it seem like Louis DID know the laws b4 he got to Paris; this isn't Lestat or any true memory; this is the coven talking thru Lestat's script; which wormed into Louis' head.

LOL. Scripted AF.

"He did tell me, what she would be." No, in S1E4 Les realized AFTER she killed the cop that her metabolism would be effed up. Armand told him the Great Laws, but Lestat just laughed in his face. Marius told him not to make vampires as young as Armand, but it had nothing to do with the Great Laws, and Lestat assumed it was just cuz ARMAND'S a poor vampire, in that silly cult. Les & Marius were more concerned about Christianity's effect on vampire moralism/depression/"self-loathing," and Les talked about LOUIS' anxiety--

--but as for Claudia he turned her CUZ HE'S A EFFING BRAT who only ever does what HE wants to do, eff anyone else.

I nearly had heart attack, thinking the coven was gonna say Louis' her Maker--the LAUGH I was gonna make, omg. 🤣 Cuz the humans can't call them on that, cuz what do THEY know about maker/fledgling blood and not being able to read minds?

The coven has her diaries when she said this, so I think this was all scripted; not something he really said--though ofc he could've read it in her mind when he rescued her, and genuinely felt this way, cuz ofc he would--he wanted/needed her to think he was a good person.

I DO wonder if a bit of this was true, about Louis feeding Claudia his blood, cuz these AMC's vamps are wildly inconsistent about healing. Their blood has strong healing powers--as we see in S2E5 when Armand fed Louis after his suicide attempt by fire, and in Ep6 after his suicide by slitting his wrists after making Madz. So ofc Louis might try to heal Claudia by bleeding on her & letting her drink.

These 2 frames back to back are precisely Louis' issue--he don't know wtf is going on. U_U

☝️ THIS!. ALL OF THIS! ☝️

Louis' GUILT is why the memories are all muddled; why he's doubting his own recollection, on top of the literal brainwashing from Armand & the forced Mind/Spell Gifts put on him by the coven.

Dragged on the EFFING FLOOR, the coven is WICKED! 🫣 This is when I knew those dirty heifers were LYING. And Claudia can't even corroborate this, cuz she was in & out of it when she was turned.

She is staring Louis DOWN, but sweetie, he's as lost as you are.

This is hilariously & deliciously & salaciously melodramatic; Imma slap Vampire Sam for writing this script--he'd've loved writing fanfiction on AO3.

NGL, I expected that hand to start veering a few degrees over if you know what I mean. 🍆 Lou's face was in PRIME position to do him some face. (The fanfics finna go CRAZY.)

Welp, my fears were well-founded. The coven is SPITTING all over their history.

PLEASE do the "evil of my evil" line, AMC! 🙏 This democracy of hypocrisy ain't finna do that. Sit your French White arse down on the red velvet throne AR gave you in the Prince Lestat trilogy, and STFU.

I don't think Lou did; he was very candid in S1 about how he cried & pleaded, and Les saying she'd be their daughter. The important difference is the inclusion about the Great Laws, and how that implicates them. It doesn't matter that Louis already knew she'd be stuck 14 forever & didn't care--if he didn't know Lestat was 100+ and stuck 34 forever, then he's a fool. Wanting an eternal child to baby & pamper & dote on is way different from intentionally breaking the law.

No love, that's the guilt talking! They were scrambling your brains RIGHT THERE ON STAGE; take this with a grain of salt; 74 years have provided A LIBRARY OF CONFUSION!

Daniel, stfu for once; why would you see this as having ANY "clarity." This is the most muddled portion of the trial thus far!

[helenstudies]

I hope I'm not being rude but how did you have the time to do everything on your bio when you're only 24? Can you share how you learnt a lot of languages?

It's fine. Believe it or not, people ask me that A LOT.

I'm born in Myanmar and only spoke Burmese until I was 10 and my mom decided her children should be able to speak English. She sent me and my sibling to an English Summer School and then started speaking English at home. I've been bilingual since then. Burmese people are very good at English (read: we were colonized by the British) I started learning Chinese at age 12, I think. Then at age 14 and 15, while writing novels and fanfictions, I taught myself how to read hanguel (korean script) and hiragana/katakana (japanese script) then started studying formally after graduating highschool.

In Myanmar, until a few years ago, high school students used to graduate at age 16 and go to the university. So when I graduated high school, I went the distance education route in University and became a freelance translator and interpreter. I also did some transcribing and content writing. Then I went to Korea and studied in a language program. I came back after nine months and at age 19 I just started taking things seriously and self studied everything to pass all the language certification exams.

In 2021, because of the military coup, I dropped out of high school, realized my freelance translator job is not really going well due to the dictatorship, so I started to branch out. Now I read tarot and interpret astrological birth charts, teach classes and tutor people, sell books and ebooks. That's just how freelancing is. I think.

Anyways, all these things seem a lot until you realize I just spent a decade of my life just doing things I want. A lot of people tried discouraging me of course They're always like "choose a language!" "choose a path!" but I just don't like to listen to people. Hopefully, a few more decades and I might become a jack of all trades. And learn a few more languages. And read a few more books. And get into a few more hobbies. Yeah.

[pendale]

no need to answer all of them if you don’t want to, but here!! 🧩 🥤 🌿 🏜️

🧩 ⇢ what will make you click away from a fanfiction immediately?

Grammar and format! A few mistakes here and there are totally fine, I've definitely noticed mistakes in my own works lol, but when it becomes distracting? Then we have a problem.

🥤 ⇢ recommend an author or fanfic you love

Well, there's the supremely talented syntheticpen (😉).

when one has a motive by syntheticpen

Newly unmoored in the Scottish countryside, Eloise decides a letter to Bloomsbury is in order.

Here's a few more (off the top of my head):

run away to a world that we design by sachantquiladesailes_98

Theo and Eloise meet as children, while his father sells books to hers. Despite their differences in station and the way that life does not work out too well for Theo, they can't be kept apart. Eloise is far too determined for that.

let the reason come on the common tongue (of your loving me) by CallousMalice

It is their wedding night and Theo comes up with a way to calm a nervous Eloise, with the help of a certain poet he knows she loves.

A great crime by framboise

When Benedict finds his sister in the library at a ball, dress torn, bloodied letter knife in hand, he knows he will do anything he can to help her. And if anything involves finishing off the villain who has tried to harm her and then fleeing with her in the night, then that is what he shall do.

🌿 ⇢ give some advice on writer's block and low creativity

Lol you are asking the wrong person, but I'll try to answer anyway! I think outlining is really important: the more detailed, the better. This way, when you're writing, there's very little decision-making involved, you're just focusing on executing the scene. Personally, for dialogue-heavy scenes, I like to write a script instead of a more traditional outline.

But, yeah, all of this is easier said than done lol. (🤡)

🏜️ ⇢ what's your favourite type of comment to receive on your work?

I love all comments! I think my favourite comments are the ones that mention what exactly they liked about the chapter, and I usually try to leave those comments myself.

Thanks for the ask! <3

[annoyed-galaxy]

Fictober 2024 ~ 15

"let's try this"

Fanfiction: DA2 I know my fictober stuff seems pretty random, but I'm kinda just writing what's on my mind and I just finished The Masked Empire and it set up a lot of stuff and I just got eluvians on the mind. Writing a thing every single day has been very interesting, but good practice even if what I produce seems random or noncohesive. Just lots of thoughts and I honestly should just write more because I don't do it enough. So fictober is definitely helping with that. But also just posting without a care has been helping to. I don't expect most people to read what I make and I'm kinda just hyperfixating into the void, but eh you know how it be. Anxiety is a bitch. Can also be found on Ao3

Seth had never expected himself to explore ancient ruins as a hobby, but since leaving Kirkwall, a man had to find something to do as a fugitive. Being this close to Tevinter, however, caused him to be a little on edge, but nothing he couldn’t bury beneath a charming smile and well placed joke. 

His partner, on the other hand, seemed to relax a little bit more the closer to Tevinter they were. In some regards, Anders respected Tevinter and even sometimes idolized it. But Anders was no fool and knew there was as much corruption in the empire as other places. Still, mages were more free there than in other parts of Thedas. 

If someone were to ask why Seth and Anders were poking around in some random ruin near the border of Tevinter, neither man would have been able to give an answer. They may have alluded to things such as finding some artifacts to sell, but they didn’t need money, or studying some ancient text on the walls, but Seth found that too boring and Anders wasn’t that interested. Honestly, it was just an excuse for the two of them to do something that didn’t involve running away from their problems. 

Their staffs lit up the area in blue and red colors, causing the shadows to retreat as they walked through crumbling halls. They held each other’s hand and just looked at the walls around them. Something about this place seemed so…ancient. Anders squinted at some script on the walls that his light managed to catch. He stopped and Seth staggered back when Anders’s hand pulled him still. Seth looked at what Anders was looking at and brought his staff close, illuminating the script more.

“What is that?” he asked, tilting his head examining the odd text. Seth didn’t grow up in the Circle. He was an apostate his entire life and everything he learned about magic and history was through his parents. Compared to Anders, who had the entire knowledge of the Circle at his disposal, Seth was less knowledgeable about most things. 

“I think it’s elven,” Anders replied, his face still scrunched up in thought. 

Seth’s eyes widened in surprise. “Elven ruins? This close to Tevinter?” 

Anders looked at his lover with a soft smile. “The elven empire once covered the entirety of Thedas, love.” He turned back to the script. “I am not surprised we managed to stumble across one now.” 

“Can you read what it says?” Seth asked. 

Anders shook his head. “I only studied the basics of elven and this seems super ancient.” He groaned. “All I’m getting is ‘crossroads’, but I don’t know what context that could be used in.” 

Seth shrugged. “Maybe it’s a metaphor.” 

Anders shook his head. “Maybe, but who knows.” 

They continued on, seeing more of the elven script along the walls, but Anders’s still couldn’t decipher any of it. 

At the end of the corridor they walked in, it was a dead end. At least, it was now. Rubble covered what might have been a large door into, presumably, a larger room. They approached the debris and let go of each other’s hands as they examined around the rocks, looking for any possible way to clear the debris. After determining there was no way, Anders sighed, his shoulders sagging in defeat. 

“Ah well. End of this journey I suppose.” He looked over and saw that Seth was still looking at a spot. 

Then Seth put the blade end of his staff in between some rocks and a foot against the rock next to the staff. “Let’s try this,” he muttered to himself. Anders felt the air shift as Seth summoned mana to him. Anders backed up a bit watching as Seth began to pry the rocks apart with his staff, using some force magic to make them looser. Anders looked up at the top and saw that some of the rocks had begun to shake. 

“Oh no,” Anders just whispered to himself as he realized what Seth was doing. He ran to the side of the corridor, pressing himself up against the wall just as Seth finally pried the rock free with his staff. The debris came crashing down after that and Seth used his magic to push it all away from him before he was crushed. Once the dust settled and rocks had stopped moving, Anders opened his eyes, not realizing he had closed them and looked at Seth who was wiping himself off of dust, but had a wicked smile on his face. 

“That worked easily!” he cheered, looking at Anders. 

Anders sighed and just smiled softly. “You’re reckless.”

Seth winked. “S’what I do.” Then he grabbed Anders’s hand again and they entered the large chamber. What they saw, they couldn’t believe. 

They were in the largest chamber either of them had ever been before. All around them were sarcophagi and epitaphs, reduced to illegible text that neither of them could read. Along the walls were columns where torches were still lit with a blue fire, casting the entire room in a haunting glow. Seth stamped out his staff and Anders followed suit since they no longer needed to light their way.

What was the most impressive thing in the chamber was at the far end of where they had entered. 

Standing tall and surrounded by carvings of dragons and large wolves was a ornate frame surrounding a cloudy gray glass. As they approached the curious object, Seth’s eyes widened with recognition. “This looks just like Merrill’s mirror,” he said, examining the cloudy gray that seemed to slowly move across the surface of the glass.

“The eluvian?” Anders asked and Seth nodded in confirmation. “Wasn’t that thing dangerous?” Anders took a step back, tugging on Seth’s hand.

“I think that one was dangerous because it had been corrupted by something. This…This looks dormant.” Seth approached the mirror, dragging Anders behind him despite Anders’s slight protests. He put his hand against the surface and it was cool to the skin. “She never did get it working, though,” Seth wondered out loud. 

“Maybe it’s because whatever magic powered these things is gone,” Anders offered, looking at the mirror. “After all, the eluvians are ancient elvish.” 

Seth shrugged. “Maybe.” Then he considered for a moment. “Do you think she’d like to know about this?” 

Anders looked at Seth with a frown. “You want to give this location to Merrill?” 

Seth shrugged. “Why not? She’s been through a lot, maybe studying a place that belonged to her people will help her find what she’s looking for.” 

Anders was about to say something in protest but then just sighed. “I don’t think there’d be any actual harm to it. Though,” he looked around, “you feel it don’t you?”

Seth nodded his head as he turned from the mirror. “The Veil is thin.” 

Anders eyes the sarcophagi around them with concern. “If we’re not careful, or if she wasn’t, I have a bad feeling this chamber could be flooded with corpses or worse.” 

Seth agreed and then slowly walked away from the eluvian, Anders’s following suit. 

That night, Seth drafted up a letter that he then gave to a local barkeep to send to Kirkwall. 

Varric, 

Found an interesting place Daisy may be interested in if you still got contact with her. Something to do with her people and might help with that mirror she had been working on for so long. Location’s on the map attached. 

Also, hope you’re doing well. Miss you buddy. 

- H.

[rinwellisathing]

"Keep Away From Pumpkinhead unless you're tired 'a livin', his enemies are mostly dead, he's mean and unforgivin'" Just a little ramble about what went into my decisions for Sentry's slayer form design:

So to start us off, I am a horror nut. I'm not saying this with smug pride or judgment to other types of movies (it's not disdain for other genres, it's fully a consequence of how my autism works.), you would be hard pressed to get me to watch a movie I've never seen before that isn't a horror movie. I spent every year of my childhood obsessively waiting and planning for Halloween and reading occult books and ghost story anthologies I checked out from the library. My mother read Interview With A Vampire to me (leaving out certain parts) to me when I was a kid and my name was going to be Lestat if I had been born a cis male. All this to say, while I crafted or gamed growing up, I would tune into any horror movie the Sci-Fi channel was running and one October, they were showing the first Pumpkinhead movie. I adored it. The monster was cool, the witch was creepy and ominous, and the setting was fairly close to something I was relatively familiar with having been to the mountains in western PA a lot camping and visiting distant relatives. I rented the second movie and I caught the later ones when Fearnet was a thing briefly and ran them on their OnDemand service (and god fucking damn am I aging myself at this point.) And see, the thing is, I'm not gonna sit here and say they're great films, because there's a criteria I'm going by that I fully acknowledge most people just don't (It's creature effects. Pumpkinhead, Haggis, ghosts and victims...just great work all around). The scripts aren't amazing and a lot of times the acting can be very hokey (except Lance Henrikson, Admiral Hackett is really out there selling this series as Ed Harley, there are also a lot of other very enjoyable performances, but I won't pretend they're all amazing) but they're a fun watch especially if you love vengeance, folk horror, and creature features with a hint of the demonic.

So how does this relate to my Durge, his slayer form, et al? So like I said, the movies are about vengeance first and foremost. The conceit is, if someone does you wrong you can call on Pumpkinhead to get revenge. It's an unstoppable demon summoned from an unhallowed corpse (The third movie implies the corpse of the last person to summon him, but that's not really a consistent choice). The summoner sees through its eyes but doesn't really control it per se, Pumpkinhead only stops when vengeance is complete or the person who summoned it dies. As an Oath of Vengeance Paladin, this fit really well for Sentry. Throw in that Pumpkinhead already has a similar stance and shape to the basic default slayer minus the head shape and some extra limbs, and I started thinking, plotting really. So ideally, we assume The Dark Urge could use the Slayer form in the past before they were tadpoled, at least I do and I've certainly seen plenty of fanfiction and headcanons in my Durgetash groups that imply I'm not alone in that. In-game, you have to commit a massive act of terrible slaughter to gain the Slayer form, but really in the lore I've researched, being a Bhaalspawn can mean you just get it in general, it comes to you in dreams, it possesses you and takes you over. So since the game doesn't entirely adhere to that anyway, I thought what if Sentry's first foray as The Slayer was tied to vengeance?

In his backstory, he has a terrible, abusive childhood and eventually takes revenge by murdering the family he was adopted into and their fellow cultists and in my mind, this was the first time he was the slayer. With my own trauma, I love the idea as a power fantasy that a scared, badly abused twelve year old boy, still small, still weak, still being told he was a girl no matter what he said, might become something big and terrible and driven by vengeance. So throw in what BG3 and Forgotten Realms lore gives us, my love for horror, and the overarching theme of vengeance in Pumpkinhead, and this seemed like the perfect design idea for me to go with. On top of the base design, he is covered in red ropes tying the design always back to the church of Ilmater, where he was taught he could be better and that he was worthy of love and respect, and those ropes are torn and tattered on his form, like just barely hanging on, but they are there, and I think that reminds him that his quest for vengeance is all well and good, but that he does deserve more and there is more for him if he can resist. Anyway, sorry for the long autistic ramble. I just had a lot of thoughts about Sentry's slayer form today.

[is--this--name--taken]

wow another text post!!!

i'm dying

ANYWAYS everyone clearly loves needlessly edgy Undertale content but as you know there is a lot of MISCHARACTERIZATION in the fandom for some reason

now let's talk about everyone's favorite incorrectly made character: sans everyone loves an edgy sans thing. fangames? OCs? fanfictions? excellent. why the heck do you love giving him depression and mental issues you psychopaths however this has some basis in CANON! let's talk about sans and how murdering people affects him

papyrus is where it really starts because I don't think he cares if anyone else dies. he immediately vanishes from the game, only appearing in some scenes.

everyone in Grillby's misses him because he was really nice to all of them but they don't matter too much (sorry Grillby).

in the Shyren fight, 'a hooded figure watches from the distance'. No, this isn't Dust, this is just depressed Sans who has gone from selling fake concert tickets to losing a lot of his reason for living. great job

Then he only appears at the Last Corridor, breaking his usual script to make you regret your life choices. This is odd, because he usually even judges you normally for a bit on the Pacifist Route.

Sans can be kinda edgy. But only if you specifically go out of your way to murder his brother. And what kind of terrible person would do that, right?

anyways all of this was a lie

you can stop making edgy fangames now

[mobiusonajetski]

We need to bring the word squick back as a common fandom term.

"A squick is an old fandom term for something that makes you supremely uncomfortable and you absolutely do not want to read it. It can be a trope, a ship, a concept, or just an event that happens within a fic or in canon." – What's a Squick

I've been quietly reading fic again for the last five years (I think. 2020 was a blur). And I'm now active in fandom and actually creating work again. Before 2020, I hadn't been in fandom circles for 15 years. So I'm coming at fandom from a unique perspective.

I think the decline of the term squick is a major loss, because it's a live and let live term. It frees us from making moral or value judgments on someone else's preferences or art. And you don't have to twist yourself into knots justifying why something squicks you out:

"…the beauty of squick was that (at least in my experience) no explanation was necessary. Not only was it not necessary, it was rarely asked for. A squick is a squick, and there doesn’t have to be any rhyme or reason. In fact, why would you have a rational, bullet-pointed, well-thought-out argument as to why something squicked you out? Very often it’s a visceral reaction, and if you don’t like the thing, you’re likely not going to sit and do deep meditation on why not.

Squicks were respected by fandom. You don’t like the thing, okay, we will tag the thing appropriately, you do not have to read the thing, no judgments on either side. There was no fandom policing, only respect." – How was squick used?

A squick is not the same as a trigger, as the post I just quoted goes on to detail. I've been squicked by mistagged fics before – I can shake that off. I was also triggered by a piece of fiction once – a published book. Not PTSD, it was a mental health crisis thing. While I'm annoyed by mistagged fics (and that's a different topic entirely), I don't think my reaction to these works is anyone's fault. It's the result of being human and having to pass through a world where there's pain and also beauty. What's that Princess Bride quotation? "Life is pain, highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something."

Because most of my aversions are squicks, it's why I haven't gone so far as to install a script to filter out my dislikes on Ao3 (Also I prefer to read fic on my phone!). They're my "I'd rather not" list, and occasionally I'll try to read something by an author I trust containing a squick that I would normally avoid. But mostly I use the exclusion filters on Ao3. They're really bloody good.

Embracing that you have squicks means letting go of resentment. It means you no longer have to write posts on here about how you hate X ship and dress it up as meta. That ship squicks you. End of sentence.

Of course, that's not to say shipping wars are a new thing, that older fandom would never…! Walking through the debris of an older fandom and noticing how many fics have been deleted and writers have moved away is always painful. In 2003 discovering what was left after The Ray Wars was heartbreaking for me!

Understanding we all have squicks also helps us avoid the dangerous trend that fanfiction and fanworks are "content" and that it should always cater to us on a personal level. I've written blog content for a living. I structured it to sell a product or service at the end, and to be found on search engines. Content on social media exists to sell you a product, a service – or to keep you scrolling. It's designed to pull in a specific demographic, though it might have a "everyman" feel to it.

Fan fiction and other fan works are not content. No one is selling you anything (though commissioning your favourite artist is always nice to do if you're able!). Fan works are creative expression first and foremost, a dialogue with the canon, and as such they're not meant to appeal to everybody that comes across them. Acknowledging your own squicks is a great way to understand that not all fanworks are for you, and there's room for everyone and every taste at the fandom table.

I promised myself I'd keep this short but I need to end with this: recognising our squicks and learning to let go of judging fanwork from a moral standpoint is crucial for the upcoming battle. There's a lot of attempted book banning and suppression of pornography ahead of us. Deciding to ban one book or flavour of porn based on our morals or tastes feels justified until you realise it will never end there. They're coming for us all.

[studioeisa]

kae 🌟 shared a moment with you! ୨ৎ

initially, i didn't think i could do a 2024 wrapped because i only started writing on this blog in october. when i crunched the numbers, i realized... huh. if anything, this is a reminder not to sell yourself short. <3 sharing some of my stats, insights, and resolutions under the cut. thank you for being here with me!

🧾 TOTAL WORD COUNT (OCT-DEC) -> 120,000+

🎱 IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

mingyu & bento boxes ✩ 2.2k notes.

💬 it’s the “i love you, i want us both to eat well” 🥲 — shirebusking 💬 mingyu is definitely such an acts of service person. cooking is his love language. i can get behind this. mingyu spending $600 on amazon for custom bento boxes and other stuff… is it really that serious? yes!!!!!! yes it is!!!!!! — daegutowns 💬 I LOVE ANYBODY WHO COOKS AS A LOVE LANGUAGE GOD DAMN. it reminds me so much of my own grandma mother and father uncles aunties. THEY ALL COOK AS A FORM OF LOVE MY GOSH. — roselleviennesstuff

blindsided (wonwoo x reader) ✩ 1.5k notes.

💬 yeah this was some good food. it was flirty sexy and fun and using the scene from Business Proposal was perfect. well done! — beomcoups 💬 eagle screaming rn like RAAAAAAAAAAAAH. you cooked frrrrr like i see ur brain is a restaurant the way ur cooking serving and eating + also thank u for including the business proposal gif. needed to be reminded of that fr. your mind! so genius. ty for blessing me w goated fanfic. — ctzenjohnnyreads

lost in translation (minghao x reader) ✩ 1.2k notes. ALSO: 🥇 MY LONGEST FIC OF THE YEAR (25.8k)

💬 the annotations… the amount of thought put into this has actually made my brain expand by like 4 times. i need this hung up at the louvre word by word actually. art is not dead because op exists. i forgot this was fanfiction and needed to take a breather cus i was so… impressed??? — noircheols 💬 author. GRABS YOU BY THE SHOULDER AND SHAKES YOU. i hope you NEVER stop writing. this is genuinely one of the best fics i've read on this app. this is so lovely and warm and so comforting.. oh to have somebody that's just as much as a friend to you as a lover :(((( og tags is real btw. truly Xu minghao the man that you ARE. im so sad. IM DEVASTATED. im in shambles. everyone PLEASE read this fic PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE. this is amazing op. please know that. — akiooris 💬 this is so beautiful and intimate and sweet. falling for someone who speaks a different language of you is a privilege not many people get to have but when they do its so beautiful and you nailed it. language makes up so much of a person’s self and learning a language through someone special means getting little bits of themselves as you learn and i can read it in this. especially when they comfortably address you in their own language its the sweetest. — peachiepiesundays 💬 THE YEARNING WAS SO INSANEEEEE. I was genuinely wondering what I was doing reading this because it felt like I was intruding on their private moments. I ADORE THIS. — lanatheawesome

🍊 SPECIAL MENTIONS

✶ babe for the weekend (soonyoung x reader) 16.6k words | cam and em studios' winter with you collaboration

› i worked on babe for the weekend in four different cities, two different countries, an airport, the back of a taxi, etc. it's the first time i participated in a collaboration and it's overall just so much of my heart in one fic. i have yet to annotate for it, but it was such a joy writing a small-town-exes story with one of my biases. ever so grateful for the opportunity and the trust!

✶ catch you when i can part three (vernon x reader) smau | published on @xinganhao

› my love for cywic knows no bounds, but the headcanons ('vernhow') for part three in particular were game-changing for me. this is where i started truly playing around with the forms of my writing, and it's been such a joy getting to challenge myself across the work i put out. i really hope to get to do more of it next year.

📴 other xinganhao formats i loved:

the script in film major!mingyu x reader -> "genius concept & an even more genius execution <3" (gyusbabydoll)

the genius annotations of seungcheol x fanbase!reader pt. 2 -> "i love love love all the little bonus stuff you do for these literally most creative and fun smau writer ur changing the game" (junhui-recs)

the photo exhibit for our beloved summer!wonwoo -> "the headcanons as an art exhibit. WHO GAVE U THR RIGHT TO BE SO SMART" (wonustars)

✶ all of the while, it was you (hyunjin x reader) 4k words

› i didn't get to write for skz as much as i might have wanted to, and this particular fic is also a little janky (told in third person, etc.) but it's where i got one of the first compliments on my k-fic work, which i think of to this day— "Reading this felt like being allowed to tour the Louvre alone and at your own pace," from fruityuncleskeletor. it gave me just enough drive to keep writing on tumblr when i was starting out. :')

📌 HALL OF FAME

kpop soty: sad song by p1harmony

favorite svt song of the year: orbit (the8)

favorite skz song of the year: as we are (seungmin)

non-kpop soty: buzz by niki

movie of the year: how to make millions before grandma dies

book of the year: everything i know about love, dolly alderton

poem of the year: 'catastrophe is next to godliness', franny choi

quote of the year: “what is done with love is done well” — vincent van gogh

⏭️ HERE COMES 2025

write more for skz. ideally at least one anything, once a month + actually start my blue sky series.

read better. in a book sense: read at least one book/month. (instead of 12 books a month, like some type of psycho.) in a fic sense: annotate/review at least one fic/month.

work on my buzz (seventeen's version) series. only jihoon and wonwoo are up as of posting lol.

collaborate. explore collaborations via xinganhao. pluck up the courage to join more collaborations + survive that's showbiz, baby! with tara.

mark my first milestone event. hitting my follower milestone soon, so i'm trying to think of how to celebrate it!

📦 THE FINAL WORD TONIGHT

✎ i never thought i'd come back to tumblr or that i'd ever venture into writing for kpop, but i'm really glad that i did. i admittedly went a little batshit in the past three months because i'm going through a weird time (lol), and so the goodness i've been granted, the people i've met, and the outlet i've carved out have really gotten me by.

thank you for always looking to me with kindness. i hope you're a little happier than me today + i will keep on writing for as long as you will all have me (˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ )✧ happy new year, everyone! — kae

[nautilusopus]

nobody else is writing meta analysis for vivarium so i guess i have to do it

Vivarium is a 2019 horror film that the internet doesn’t seem to know what to think of. Most YouTube videos as per usual don’t wanna engage with it on anything more than an extremely literal surface level (hence the abundance of “VIVARIUM EXPLAINED” videos that just recap the plot to you as though you can’t see with your eyeballs that yes, he put on the nametag, that sure is what happened onscreen, yes I fucking get it the boy is like a cuckoo-esque brood parasite I GET IT) that ultimately devolve into speculative fanfiction about how effectively the aliens can take over the world. There are a few people here and there a little more willing to at least engage with what the movie has to say, and from there you get takes about how it’s about how the golden capitalist ideal of the suburban nuclear family is a banal hellscape, which I’d say is generally pretty accurate. Tom spends his entire time at Number 9 labouring, digging a hole while Gemma looks after the boy because he doesn’t know what else to possibly do with himself, an action that wears him down and ultimately costs him his life, and for all his trouble all he’s found is the body of the last guy who tried to labour his way out of this situation. All he’s done is created is a grave for his “offspring” to dump him into. 

Like, as far as Capitalism Bad stories go this one’s pretty on-the-nose, and a lot of the people griping that the story was confusing are mostly the ones that seems to have missed this. (For an even longer tangent about how a lot of scifi stories aren’t going to make sense to you if you resist the very obvious thematic readings they’re giving you because you think things can’t be that deep I recommend Dan Olson’s excellent video on Annihilation.)

Occasionally, though, you get people also mentioning how it’s a little about animal rights, and even more especially about nature versus nurture. For the most part, Tom and Gemma are not kind to the boy. They (understandably) have nothing but contempt towards him. They openly discuss how creepy he is when he’s within earshot. At one point they try to lock him in the car to starve just to see if whoever comes to get his body can be forced to let them go, and they only back out on the plan when the fact that he looks and acts like a child in that moment gets to Gemma and she lets him out. Eventually, the boy grows into an emotionally distant young adult that locks Tom out of the house to die and doesn’t seem to give two shits about their suffering now that he’s bigger and stronger than his “parents”. Surely, we think, if Gemma and Tom had been kinder to him, he would have grown into a kinder adult, even if he was an alien? Are they not perpetuating this literal cycle of violence? 

And with regard to the nature versus nurture reads, I actually directly disagree and find it at odds with the Capitalism Bad message, because my read is this:

No amount of kindness or understanding would have turned the boy into a good person, and acting like it would have is in fact part of the trap. Gemma and Tom would have wound up used up and dead either way, because thematically speaking, what the boy is there to do is to collect data.

More under the cut, I have a lot of opinions about this.

The boy’s creepy alien gimmick is mimicry. It’s what the realtor (p clearly a member of the same species) does when trying to entice Tom and Gemma into Number 9. The realtor is better at saying context-appropriate things than the boy is, but still slips up every now and then, and even so his mannerisms aren’t quite right. At best, he sounds like he’s regurgitating a script (a bit more admissible given he’s trying to sell something). At worst, he parrots Gemma’s “no, not yet” back to her in exactly her voice. Everything he’s saying, it’s clear he’s going through motions without any real understanding of what those motions are, beyond, “This is the thing you say to sell a house.”

The boy is demonstrably worse at it. He’ll parrot entire conversations back to the people who had them regardless if it makes sense to do so. He rarely speaks in his own voice, instead chopping up various words he’s heard from both parents. He doesn’t seem to have much sense for what is and isn’t appropriate to mimic (to the point of Gemma quite transparently tricking him into revealing he’s an alien outright), much less what makes sense for him to mimic. 

He develops this skill gradually over the course of the movie, gets a bit better at putting together sentences people can actually reply to. But even then, he doesn’t seem to engage with the context overall of the conversation. After aforementioned alien reveal, with Tom growing sicker by the day, Gemma begins to cry and back away in horror, and we get this exchange:

The boy: Are you [overwhelmed] again, Mother? Gemma: I am not your mother! The boy: Are you [overwhelmed]? Gemma: I want to go home. The boy: Silly mother. You are home!

There’s no real engagement with the actual conversation at hand. This is the kind of script a reply bot runs. It emulates emotion the same way it emulates everything else. 

His nature is reflected by the surroundings: The identical miles of houses with framed pictures of those houses on their own walls, with no real understanding of what people do and don’t want in the aesthetics of a house. The food that looks correct, but has no flavour or nutritional value, eventually leading to not just Tom’s death, but eventually Gemma’s. The entire world, from the Number 9 house to the suburbs of Yonder in general with its fake clouds, to the boy and its interactions, are fake, hollow, and the kind of thing an alien with no real care for the real human experience beyond perpetuating the system’s own growth would create.

And at this point hopefully some of you have noticed, we’ve seen this exact behaviour pattern before.

i’m quoting the reply on that second one here by @dukeofankh​ because it’s extremely relevant to this entire thing:

I’m honestly reblogging this again because the more I stare at it, the more I feel like this is staggeringly relevant art.

Like, so much of modern capitalist marketing is the construction of these superficially personal narratives. Giving the sense, not only that the brand fits in with your identity, but that it is almost a sentient individual itself that has a personal relationship with you. Corporations have personalities. They want to be your friend, and the reason that the entire internet economy runs on the currency of data right now is that the only way to prop up the illusion that they care about you is by already having the information about you that real people would gain by paying attention

But the only way they can collect and sort all that data is with computers, without any actual humans involved past setting up the parameters and pressing “go.” And computers are fucking idiots.

Which leaves us here: this false, saccharine message of togetherness and community–community between you and your friends but more importantly between all of you and Facebook–stripped fucking bare by the fact that the cookie-cutter algorithm can’t tell the difference between friends supporting and caring about each other and Thanos with a dumptruck ass.

The boy is here to collect data, and he collects it and regurgitates it as though it all has equal relevance to the situation at hand. 

He reacts with the same polite indifference to open contempt, genuine warmth and an attempt to bond with him, terror directed at him, and pleas for mercy from him. Later on when we get a glimpse of the “inner workings” of the house, we see the boy watching another set of parents rawdogging the shit out of each other, and applauding appreciatively with the same blank amusement as he applauds to everything else. He sees Gemma and Tom dancing to the music from their radio outside, trying to have one bright moment with one another despite the grim circumstances they’re in, and he immediately inserts himself into the moment with zero awareness that he isn’t wanted here (granted that’s also extremely a little kid thing to do lol). 

Which leads to the fact that that isn’t to say he doesn’t have his moments of personality. He smiles at positive attention (as well as negative attention), he enjoys interaction. He throws a tantrum when he’s told he can’t watch fucked up alien meat television at 3 am and turns it right back on. About the only time we get a genuine reaction from him is when he gets locked in the car to starve.

But then, so do things like Alexa, or Siri, or Cortana. You can have little conversations with it. It can tell jokes. You can ask it the meaning of life and it’ll tell you 42. You can insult it and it’ll do an EPIC SNAPBACK OMG SO SASSY. The people who designed it want you to view it as a friend, even as it sits there and spies on you and integrates itself more and more into your life. 

Gemma lets him out of the car because (also understandably) she can’t bring herself to kill something that looks like a child. Later on, when she speaks with a dying Tom, she wonders why she didn’t kill him when he was still small. Tom tells her, “Because you’re a good person.” Their problems could have maybe (I mean probably not we’ll never know, at the very least Tom wouldn’t have died of exposure maybe) been solved if they just locked the thing in the car and ignored it, but in the end they still wound up viewing it as a person. 

Tom and Gemma openly comment that the boy is always, always watching them, knowing full well they’re within earshot of him. He doesn’t retaliate for this, they’re never punished for saying it. Why would he? It’s what he’s there to do. He knows they know he’s watching. Water is wet. The boy watches.

Of course, when he is older, and better at putting together conversations that sound like an actual person, Gemma is openly terrified of him. His mannerisms don’t change, but conversationally he seems to at least understand whats being said to him, and is willing to ask more in-depth questions, graduation from, “What’s a dog?” to “Why did you say ‘you’re welcome’?”

By the end of the movie, the boy matures into a man. He’s gotten a bit better at knowing which words to parrot at what time, something we can watch him improve upon as the movie goes, and still insists, to Gemma’s last breath, that she’s his mother and that she is home. Gemma dies telling him, “I’m not your fucking mother.”

This is maybe the only other genuine reaction we get from the boy: a disappointed, “Whatever,” before he zips up the bodybag and chucks her into the hole as well. He cleans up the house for the next occupants and leaves. He takes the now-dying realtor’s nametag and puts it on himself, folds up the old realtor and stuffs it in a drawer, and takes his place in the office ready to lure the next couple to the suburbs of Yonder, with words that almost, but not quite, convince you he’s a person, and by that point it’s too late. 

The boy was only ever there to make sure someone would be in Number 9 to make sure someone would be there to raise the next boy to make sure someone would be led to Number 9 to raise the next boy. 

And who among us haven’t left this exact message, or even said this exact thing out loud, to the bot hanging over our shoulder watching us constantly, politely asking if we want help or suggested content?

TLDR anyway yeah the movie is “capitalism bad nuclear family in suburbia is a banal hellscape” still but there’s LAYERS you see

[messrsrarchives]

Is it even legal to sell that script?? Cause like,, technically speaking isn’t that fan fiction?? Or am I in the wrong for thinking that

yapping

i mean,,,, no. not really. or at all. idk. i'm not an expert. hypothetically??? it's a grey area, if they weren't profiting from it?? but then also they still MADE money regardless of whether it ends up in their pocket or not,,, and the money has been stolen so,,,, it wasn't quite non-profit.

the bottom line is that, yes. they sold fanfiction. they sold intellectual property that did not belong to them, at an extortionate price with no trace of where this money was going, and it wasn't even written by a human. they do not own the characters, the words from the script would have been stolen from works already online, etc etc. none of it's good. and from the conversations i've had, mot much of this entire project has been very legal, much less ethical.

it,,,, really does violate the sanctity of a fandom yk? the only reason we can have fanfiction and these spaces is because it's free. i've never engaged with a fanfilm for this reason because you just never know what they're going to do and this is proof of that.

idk man.

if you have to question whether something is legal,,, probs shouldn't be doing it

[wufflesvetinari]

i don’t think i’ve mentioned my latest SFF story publications, so here they are:

“Informed Consent Logs from the Soul Swap Clinic” in Clarkesworld. A short script-format piece that follows conversations between a bodyswap technician and two women (an actress and an ex-engineer) who have murky reasons for swapping with each other. i think i fleshed this idea out with some people in the Detroit: New ERA discord, actually? score one for the robots

“Ms. Höffern Stays Abreast of the News” in Dark Matter Magazine (you do have to pay to read this one, unfortunately). follows a cyberpunk phone psychic and a cyberpunk televangelist who are cyberpunk frenemies and have a lot to say to each other about the coming AI singularity. this one was shortlisted for the james white award for new writers but had not been published until now! i wrote it in 2015 and despaired of ever selling it

EDITED TO ADD: 

“Timecop Mojitos” in Diabolical Plots. while you were out, your flaky roommate took care of that sexy Viking timecop who keeps coming after you. don’t even worry about it! The problem is solved

“Shining Bursa and the Listening Post” in Clarkesworld. god, this story is absolutely the the most uhh…fanfiction-brain thing I have written? Space fantasy featuring hideous alien romance and a fearsome galactic warlord sulking about being forced to experience even the slightest emotion! If you’ve watched Wander Over Yonder and think you’re seeing something…….uh, no you’re not. you’re definitely not.

“Letters from Mt. Monroe Elementary, Third Grade” in Diabolical Plots. Kid voice and epistolary form. What if the whole world knows there’s an alien generation ship on the way, but it won’t arrive for a century, and nobody knows what will happen when it gets here, and you are just a humble third grade teacher trying to come up with a creative lesson plan. What then

And my website is here if you’d like to see more!

[shanastoryteller]

I'm currently working on a zine for a video game fandom and unfortunately I don't think it's for charity -- is that technically illegal? I want to become a published author one day and I don't want to accidentally screw myself or my online identity over since I want to write novels and make video games. It feels like fanart and fanfic fall under different laws, which makes it hard to be more public about making fanfic and building a resume that way. Would you have any tips for building a (1/?)

(2/?) resume/writing portfolio and pursuing a writing career? I feel like I have to do double the work to participate in fandom while building up an "official" portfolio that's actually legal, and all that results in is me neglecting both in the end. I admire your consistency in writing everyday, whether it be drabbles or working on longer fics, so any tips and advice would be appreciated!

er, well, i'm not a lawyer, so keep that in mind

but yeah, it's technically illegal the same way it's illegal for people to sell hufflepuff stickers. so, yes, but the chances of anyone caring are incredibly low. i don't think writing fanfic, even in a zine, would stop you from being an author anymore than being a fanartist would stop you from being an animator

i, personally, do not write fanfiction for money. i'll do it as a fundraiser sometimes as long as it's people are donating directly and just sending me the receipt as proof, but even for that brief moment i did commissions i had a whole bunch of rules about it, one of which was that the idea either had to be completely original or based off of public domain properties. but that's not for legal reasons, it's just that i believe in fanfiction being something i do out of love, always, but i'm not here to shit on people who make different choices

i .... don't have a writing career? (maybe someday haha) my job is in a completely different field. i work an office job lol. honestly i'm not sure even what type of creative writing jobs would require a portfolio or a resume. unless you want tips on scriptwriting? i don't have a career in that either, but it's a field where you need a spec script, although getting people to read it is a whole different story

i think that if you look at your writing as something for others to consume rather than something you get to create, it's going to be inherently lackluster

don't worry about building a portfolio. just write what sparks joy. if writing an original novel seems daunting, write short stories. if doing an entirely original idea is difficult, then don't - there's so much public domain material out there for you to play with! which is entirely 100 percent legal fanfiction that you can happily profit off of with no legal ramifications

a writer is someone who writes

a writer is a bone polisher. you are a bone polisher and your writing is the leather

the more you write, the better you get

what happens to the leather after you've polished it is actually pretty inconsequential if your goal is to be a better bone polisher. if you focus on making really good, watertight leather, you're going to have a really hard time. because at first, you're just not going to to do as good a job as you want to do, and if you get caught up in the product rather than the practice you'll never gain what you need to gain to do what you want to do

this metaphor kind of got away from me here, but the point is this:

i think that if you just focus on creating the things you want to create and take joy in the process of creation you will eventually end up with something you love

but honestly i can't really speak to the career part because i have. an office job.