#this is like. probably one of those ''shouting into the void'' posts because i don't know if i have the Target Demographic here.

[xoxoemynn]

For OFMD Tumblr friends who want a S3 and are scared of Twitter

First, no judgment from me. I very much get it. I resisted Twitter for a long time, and even though I'm now a bit more comfortable on it, it's still not my Fandom Home. There are a TON of valid reasons not to be on Twitter, but if you REALLY want to keep OFMD visible right now and help its chances of returning for a third season, Twitter is the best place to do it. Like it or not, Twitter is still the best social media platform for raising awareness and for instant news updates.

Tumblr posts don't make headlines. Topics that have been trending on Twitter do. And if we want this show to come back, we need to make OFMD impossible to ignore.

By now you've probably seen just how close we came to a S3, and if you're like me, you are RAGING and donning your battle jacket. But I get it can be intimidating to get on Twitter for the first time, so I thought I'd address some common anxieties I see. I'll put below a cut because this got a bit long, but I promise it's a quick read.

I don't know what to say! Where do I even start? That's okay! You don't have to create your own tweets (although it's great if you do). Amplifying other people's posts is also important. Go ahead and like/retweet/reply to other people's posts. This may also help you get an idea of what you may like to say in your own tweets.

Hashtags...yes? Yes! Although don't use too many or you may get flagged as a bot. The biggest one that seems to be emerging is #SaveOFMD. Other popular ones are #RenewAsACrew, #RenewOurFlagMeansDeath, and of course, #OFMD and #OurFlagMeansDeath.

Should I just be tagging all the streaming services? Per @renewasacrew, no. It's counterproductive. You'll want to tag one streamer at a time and be specific. Below is an example of a tweet I made the other day -- use specific reasons why that that particular streamer may benefit from picking up OFMD.

I'm scared. People are mean. Yeah, people are mean. But I will say the vibes over at OFMD Twitter are currently the best I've ever seen them. People seem to have united for the greater good and are being overwhelmingly positive and just trying to do whatever we can to save the show. (That said, again, I already had a pretty curated feed, and was very liberal with blocking users/terms I didn't want to see, but I've been able to spend so much more time in the For You tab than I ever have without being jump scared by something.)

But I don't know anyone there! Wouldn't I just be shouting into the void? Not if you use the hashtags! Fans are being really good about following those and engaging with the tweets. Plus, [Stede voice], I'm your friend. I'm xoxoemynn over there as well, I'll follow you back and engage with any of your posts that I see. Plus, what's been REALLY lovely to see is that SO many lurkers have come out of lurkerdom to support the efforts, and they are being welcomed with open arms, so you will not be alone. Again, I am telling you, vibes? Best I've ever seen them.

I can't get sucked into another social media platform, I don't have the time. The beauty here is you don't need to spend a lot of time. I've been on Twitter more in the past week than I have in the entire year I've had an account, and I'm still only on for maybe an hour total the entire day? I open the app, I check a couple accounts, I engage with a handful of posts, and I close the app. It takes all of five minutes. It's an extremely small lift that can have a very big impact.

My bet is on Zaslav expecting us to be upset, and that there may be a day or two of outrage, but then we'd move on. I'm sure right now he's trying to convince everyone that this is a fluke, and that it'll blow over soon. Don't let him win. Keep OFMD in the news. Be loud (but polite) and make Max and other streamers take note of what a passionate, loyal fan base this show has. Make their stocks continue to drop. Make it clear this is NOT just a fluke, it is NOT business as usual. It's a BIG fuck up with lasting consequences.

Twitter, for all its sins, is the best place to do this.

Now let's get our damned show back.

[arizonaconservativegal]

If you’re a conservative with reasonable beliefs, more power to you, that’s great, we need more people like you.

But you’re doing yourself a major disservice if you take a post about anti-social behaviors from our party and showing you don’t socialize much and just stick your head in the sand and go “nuh uh that doesn’t happen!” Just leaves that avenue open to attack from Democrats.

Both my parents are registered republicans, and my mom has had to distance herself from fellow conserative friends specifically bc of that adrenochrome stuff. (Some of the friends were Korean btw, so i don’t wanna hear racism bs) My friend who isnt a republican but whose parents are both R has her mom sick of her dad bc of this stuff. Even at my job, the guys who talk about politics are work go to the exact topics mentioned in that post you said doesn’t happen. Democrats are just gonna pull up screenshots and use that to undermine everything else youre saying and say its fake and made up too.

Project2025, which I have read, wants to abolish overtime pay unless it interferes with the Sabbath - not religious stuff in general, only the Sabbath and only if you believe in the Sabbath for real. That’s literally only christians and jews. nobody else.

I’m not saying those are your beliefs, I’m not saying that’s what’s going to happen if trump is elected president. But Project2025 is a really big thing and not just bc liberals keep on pointing to it to fearmonger. abortion is one thing but how are we gonna tell people “we dont want christianity to be the main thing we just have morals” if we’ve got big think tanks going “actually we wanna test people for their religon at work” ? radical conservatism is gonna kill moderate conservatism and make people vote dem. my dad even voted for biden last election and hes been a republican since before the 90s. the weird stuff is immature but the things they’re calling weird do happen

Okay look I fully understand that no one wants to believe me here so I'm shouting into the void expecting something to happen and that's ridiculous but I'm going to do it anyway because I still have a few minutes until my conference call starts.

I've been working in Republican politics professionally for ten years. A decade. I'm not talking out of my ass when I say no one is taking Project 2025 seriously. I actually do know that directly. When the Heritage Foundation is mentioned in conversation, people roll their eyes. The thing about think tanks like that is that they don't have to deal with the reality of what they're suggesting. They essentially throw spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks. If something does - then they'll write an actual policy prescription or draft legislation so that lawmakers have something to start working on. I know you probably don't know what the difference is (which I don't mean as a knock on you, it's just not something most people know), but Project 2025 contains none of that. Until the conversations I hear at work start to shift or I see one of those ideas become a policy treatment or draft bill, I'm not going to worry about it. From a practical standpoint, all Project 2025 is today is a Democrat fundraising point.

To your other point, there are roughly 70 million registered Republicans in this country, not counting third party members or conservative leaning independents. Some of them suck. A lot. I'm really not trying to pretend that's not the case. But to write a post claiming that all conservatives are like that is absurd and shows that you don't spend time around us. The very vast majority of conservatives are just normal human beings who go to the grocery store and work boring jobs and take the kids to little league practice and hold extremely boring opinions on politics. Just like the very vast majority of liberals. It would be equally unreasonable of me to go around telling everyone that all Democrats are the equivalent of the Bernie bro who shot up a bunch of Republican members of Congress a few years ago or that they're all the like the people who send me rape threats here or call my old campaign office to say their going to firebomb us. It would be really easy for me to believe that if all I did was spend time around other conservatives and my only interactions with the left were with their raging nutcases. But I spend time around liberals so I know they're not like that any more than we are like that jackass last night.

It is so easy these days to put yourself in a little bubble of people who think like you and only ever see the worst of the people who don't. That used to be difficult for conservatives to do because media was all very left-leaning so even if we didn't personally know a lefty, we still saw them portrayed positively on tv, whereas the left didn't see that of us. With streaming and algorithms and alternate media these days, we are heading in that direction too. Very little scares me more about the future than that.

The only way to fix that is if we all start talking to normal people on the other side the aisle again. That's all I'm trying to get people do to. You don't even have to talk to them about politics. Talk to them about baseball or something, I don't care. Just something so that when you think of the other party, you think of the human beings you know instead of some boogeyman. There are nearly 12,000 people following this blog. That guy last night wasn't one of them - why does he get to represent them? They didn't do anything wrong and they outnumber him, literally almost 12,000 to 1. The only reason anyone listened to him was that he 'confirmed' their bias and they didn't think about it any more than that. They saw one example of what they already believed and let that give them a reason to ignore the mountain of things contradicting them. So I'm pissed at that guy for that and for generally being a shithead.

But I'm still going to say it because it's still true: if you think that's how all conservatives are, you obviously don't spend a lot of time around conservatives.

[artemisdesari-blog]

Readers, Readers Everywhere, And Barely A Comment Between Them.

Okay, so my title may be a little misleading in my case at this particular moment in time. My current long fic is doing incredibly well for comments by my standards. My standards being based on when I was writing for The Hobbit and I was lucky to get six comments a chapter. I'm getting somewhat more than that now I've jumped fandoms to Star Wars, but the number of comments per chapter has still dramatically dropped now that I'm on eighty-nine chapters compared to what I was getting when I was on only twelve chapters. That's alright, I expect that because people have limited abilities to keep up with reading fic, especially ridiculously long ones like mine has turned into. This particular rant is more for the benefit of others than myself. I'm being thoroughly spoilt right now, but it hasn't always been like that.

My current feast does, however, show me just how important comments are to writers, whether that's here, on AO3, or Wattpad, or even FFN (which I abandoned a few years ago because, frankly, it's dying a slow death and I can't face watching it, a topic for another time). There are many types of writer, from the ones who get an idea and just meander their way through it until they have a story, to the ones who get an idea and meticulously plan every detail, and everyone who falls on some spectrum of in between. There are the ones who focus on one story at a time, and the ones who pump out two or three or a dozen different ones a week. There are the people who write drabbles and one shots, the people who write short stories, the people who write long stories, and the people who are attempting to outdo the longest published stories written. Some post as they go, some have a buffer, some write the whole thing before they post. Some write because they have an idea and simply want to explore it, some want to fix canon, and some people are going through some stuff (or have been through it) and are using writing to help them deal.

All that to say, writers come in all shapes and sizes and motivations. They are all very different, but they are all the same in one area; if they are writing fanfiction they are not getting paid. And if they are getting paid then they're breaking several copyright laws and putting fanfiction at risk of a repeat of the Anne Rice incidents 20+ years ago. So don't pay for it, the rest of us don't want corporate lawyers up our arses.

For those of us who have been around for longer than tik tok and tumblr and even Facebook, we remember the early days of online fanfiction. We remember the purges on livejournal and FFN. We remember when fanfic was scattered about the Internet, never all in one place and sometimes only accessible if you jumped through loads of hoops to get passwords. The people just discovering it today have no idea how lucky you are. But even in those days we got comments. In fact, in those days they were more abundant. I know that sounds like rose tinted glasses, but a quick look through stories posted ten years ago on AO3 versus stories posted now shows a similar trend. The art of the comment is dying.

Now, before anyone shouts "you write for yourself" or "but you're not entitled to comments", I am aware of both. But guess what. If I'm writing for myself and myself alone, why should I bother sharing it?

Writing is hard. Going through it and editing and spellchecking and making sure the grammar is at least passable is hard work. A lot of us do this when we probably (definitely in my case) should be doing other things. I write for myself, yes, because I want to explore how the story will come out. I post because I enjoy sharing, but I enjoy sharing far less when the response I get is crickets. Shouting into the void is not enjoyable, it does not make the work of editing and all the rest seem worth it. Shouting into the void tears apart any enjoyment I might have derived from crafting a line of dialogue or putting together a scene.

I'm not entitled to comments. This I know. I know it all too well. But guess what? Readers aren't entitled to my hard work either. Comments are what keep us going. They are what feeds the muse when we're otherwise in a pit of writers block. They're what helps us work around an awkward plot point when a reader says "but I wonder what will happen when X discovers Y". Comments are what get us to think "I haven't posted this week, I need to get that chapter out", or if it was an absolute beast to write seeing that people enjoyed it makes it worthwhile. I will and have dropped stories that get no engagement, because shouting to the void damages my mental health. It makes my work and effort feel absolutely worthless and I refuse to do that to myself. I know I can see the hit counters increasing, but that could be someone who clicked accidentally, or didn't like the opening chapter and moved on. Comments are essential to keeping up my motivation and while I will never have the absolute audacity to demand a certain number of comments before I update, I will stop. Because my time is valuable to me and I won't spend it doing something that leaves me feeling terrible and worthless.

And I know, people have been known to link some of my stories in rec blogs (I've seen it done), I have a commenter who tells me they read it with their friends. I know other writers who have stumbled on their fic being discussed in fandom discords or on blogs or tik tok, or have been told that it's a subject in a group chat. But guess what? Unless we obsessively search everywhere on the Internet for even a hint that our work is being talked about, we never see that. We never hear about it. The one person who wants to hear you thoughts, who can provide the answers to your questions and the resolution to the plot point, is the person you've cut out of the discussion. It's the person who is looking at their inbox and email and becoming more and more demoralised because there's kudos, and the hit counter is going up, but no one is saying anything.

I know some people have been burned by picky writers in the past. I'm actually not one of the ones who cares. I will take a heart, I will take someone writing "kudos", I will take a sentence or a paragraph or a 4000 word essay (which would be longer than 90% of my chapters but the point stands). What I can't take, and the same goes for many writers, is silence. So please, I beg of you, for the sake of writers everywhere, resurrect the art of the comment.

Feed us, we're starving.

[lifesver]

GET TO KNOW THE MUN !

what made you pick up the muse you have ? : my friend typecasted my muse type when the victims concept art was announced. just immediately pointed out the horror jock like yep. that'll be the one u like. and then i played the tcsm beta back in may me and rae started wildly theorycrafting.... and well my demons have been winning since. i love a jock who is kind of fail but trying his best like you got me there.

is there anything you really enjoy writing ? : i'm a creep i'm a weirdo i love exploring horror and the many themes that can coexist in it. ig i like to kind of examine trauma and the healing process through the lens of the slasher genre, as well as where horror and love coincide as themes. i think there is underrepresentation in just....... letting slasher final kids have some kind of healing arc, or letting their story continue in general? seeing them before and after the things that happen to them? and i can't always do it but i do also like to kind of dive down into slasher horror and light gore and just practicing writing dynamic action scenes and what a character's thought process is like during those kinds of moments. i love an opportunity to be mean to my blorbo

is there anything you don't like to write ? : probably just anything needlessly like... melodramatic between characters? i have no interest in plots like genuine jealousy and love triangles and interpersonal shit like that, mostly because i write horror and there are so many more interesting things to focus on imo? and because not enough slasher content casts seem like they actually care about each other lmaooo. is this a callout post about gun.'s take on the friend group? perhaps.

how do you come up with your headcanons ? : dude i just receive the prophecies and act like im on twitter tossing my every stupid thought into the void.

do you write in silence or listen to music ? : tbh i usually write either in silence or in a deranged third way (writing between games of overwatch) my adhd sometimes demands that i am doing several things at the same time and sometimes i can sit down at the coffee shop put on some instrumentals and just slam some replies in

do you plan your replies or wing them ? : hmmm a bit of both? i usually have to start by winging it, which usually involves me dropping in whatever reaction dialogue immediately comes to me. kind of work around that, save and close the draft, and then think about the reply a bit until i eventually know where i'm going with it LOL

do you enjoy shipping ? : i do with friends! i'm not actually a huge like... ships person in a general fandom sense and i rarely feel any particular way until something is compelling to me in fanon, but i can ship most things if it's with a writing partner i like! simply ask rae we will be creating ships 0 people are thinking about shout out leland/connie tcsm tommy/jenny f13 and jake/adam dbd. i also usually go hard on the slowburn, and that's just like, personal comfort for getting to know my muse and my writing partner's muse, but also just think slowburn rules

what's your alias / name ? : kels.

zodiac sign ? : pisces sun, gemini moon, aries rising.

Birthday? : march 20th!

favorite color ? : a sort of pastel pink-lilac

favorite song ? : feel that it must be go your own way / fleetwood mac

last movie you watched ? : oh jesus i fear it was hellraiser: revelations

last show you watched ? : icr if it was an episode of goosebumps or true detective tbh

last song you listened to ? : putting the dog to sleep by the antlers....

favorite food ? : veggie burritos probably. or honestly like. just a really good bagel cream cheese LMFAO

favorite season ? : spring (:

do you have a tumblr best friend ? : rae and i have been in and out of these trenches for years i fear

TAGGED BY : @solarisgod thank u!!! mwah mwah <3

TAGGING : all my fellas

[starlight-library]

writing smut about real people is so weird wtf

well this wasn’t something i was expecting to wake up to so good morning to you as well anon. you can find it weird and not like. that's fine but here are a few things.

first and foremost this is RPF: Real-person fiction. It's just like the name states! It's fictional.

second i don't exclusively write smut. I know you're probably side eyeing like "that's a lie" but I don't! I actually have some SFW things in the works to come out this month as well.

last thing is (and can be controversial take but) i'm not doing anything harmful. it is harmless writing. im not shouting it from the rooftops or anything. i'm not shoving (or trying to anyway) it down anybody's throat. I am on here writing into the void because it's harmless fun.

also another hot take: they probably don't even bat an eye. they are probably super busy with everything else they got going on to really care about it or even know that it exist. now if someone--like a driver for example-- came forward and said they're uncomfortable with this existing or would like boundaries place about what is and isn't written guess what?

I WILL BE RESPECTING THAT SHIT

'okay so this driver doesn't want any fics' delete. 'okay so this driver made some boundaries' cool i know what i can and cannot write. do you know what has happened? neither of those things! why? because they probably don't know this exist or have the time to bat an eye about this shit.

again it’s fiction at the end of the day. it is harmless fiction i am just writing. if you like it, you like it! if you don't, that's cool too! you don't have to read! i'm posting this shit for free just for fun! nobody has to read my shit!

also hey. psssst: you are responsible for your own media consumption btw!

your media consumption does not fall onto me. i ain't the one. i make sure my shit is tagged. you may not like it but if you clearly skip over the tags - the whole warning portion i put BEFORE the fic - then i don't know what else to tell you dawg fr.

it's like a friend suggesting a book and informing you that there are trigger warnings. they send you the list of triggers. you ignore the list and read then turn around like "why didn't you tell me about this??" ???? like???? uhhhh no.

also to anyone else who reads my things: please read the warnings. for the love of god that's all i ask. i'm begging.

but anyway. yeah. you can find it weird and wonder wtf is going on but this ain't what we doing. curator your dashboard for yourself. i ain't changing my shit. never had never will idc if i'm weird for it. i know i am weird, always have been always will be. mute the tags, mute my blog, block my blog for fuck sakes idc but this? is not what we're gonna do.

anyway, i'm gonna go finally have my energy drink and go write and vibe, have the day you deserve anon ✌️

[semperama]

hi erin i was wondering if you had any advice for how to deal with not getting any comments on a fic. i'm in a pretty small fandom and i get the same (small) amount of kudos as many other writers there. but i recently posted a pretty personal fic that i worked extremely hard on for months, so hopeful that it might resonate with people, and now i just feel crushed. i'm working on new fics but I keep thinking that I’m probably only setting myself up for more disappointment ;(( any thoughts? ty <3

Hi, anon! I'm sorry to hear you feel like your hard work has gone unnoticed. That's such an awful feeling. I can't say I'm an expert, because I haven't been in a fandom small enough that it was normal to get no comments, but I do know what it's like to work hard on something and be disappointed by the response. I have a few things that might help.

If you can, I really recommend trying to make friends in your fandom. Especially in small fandoms, it can be such a lifesaver in terms of getting feedback and keeping your motivation. A good keysmash in the comments of a Google Doc can be just as satisfying as a dozen comments on AO3. Finding someone you trust to beta read your fic, or to bounce ideas off of, is a good idea in ANY fandom, but it can be especially helpful in small fandoms to keep from feeling like you're shouting into the void. And make sure you're giving back to others as well! Leave some comments on other people's fic! Follow them on tumblr and hype up their projects! Do whatever you can to tap into the community that is there.

I hate to say it, but part of it really is adjusting your expectations. If everyone in the fandom gets a handful of kudos at most, then you need to go into writing for that fandom with your eyes wide open, knowing that even if you pour your blood, sweat, and tears into something, all you can expect is that same handful of kudos. That says nothing about you as a writer. You could write an absolute masterpiece, and if there are only 10 people interested in that subject, you're only going to get 10 people to read it. And that's okay! That doesn't mean you've failed in any way, and you should still be proud of your accomplishments. But you can't get blood from a stone, you know? If the audience isn't there, it isn't there. In a way, that can be freeing though. The problem with large audiences can be the expectation of a huge response every time and feeling like you failed if you don't get it. In very small fandoms, at least you know the lack of response is due to the lack of people, not something you did wrong!

Related to the previous point, if you're going to be writing for a fandom where getting lots of (or any) comments isn't the norm, then you should try to find a way to measure success for yourself that doesn't have to do with comments. That often just means writing something you are proud of and you enjoy reading. Especially in the case where you're writing about subjects that are personal to you, make sure you take the time to appreciate the catharsis it brings you. Pat yourself on the back for how you're improving your writing skills by getting in touch with your own emotions and experiences and turning them into stories. Those things aren't useless if they don't reach a huge audience. You are improving yourself by doing it!

All that being said, if it really is a super duper tiny fandom and there's no community to get involved with and you don't think you'll ever be happy writing for mostly yourself, I do honestly think there's a time when you have to ask yourself if you need to move on. I personally suck at writing for myself. If no one's going to read it, I don't want to write it, haha. In the past when fandoms have died or my friends have left, I've jumped ship too, because I need the community aspect. Fandom isn't fun for me without it. Everyone's different though! I've known people who are happier writing for fandoms so rare no one else is writing for them. It just comes down to both your tolerance for the lack of feedback and how much you feel compelled by this particular fandom.

Anyway, sorry I got so long-winded and I'm sorry if none of that is helpful! I hope you can glean something from it at least, and I hope you are able to feel proud of yourself for finishing a personal fic, which is SO hard to do, even if it didn't get the response you were hoping for. <33

[thechaoticreader]

I have to rant about Tender Is The Flesh!!

Last year I read Tender is The Flesh by Augustina Bazterrica and I haven't seen many people agree with me so if Booktok has been yelling at you to read it and you're tired of the vague positive reviews, this is for you!

*Disclaimer: this is all my opinion/feelings, if you loved this book I'm glad and if a negative review of a book you love will be upsetting please protect your peace and ignore me <3*

General Thoughts & Why I Hate It

Im going to start out by saying I am a vegetarian and used to be strictly vegan! The book is very heavy handed about its eating meat=bad beliefs which I found exhausting. At many times throughout the story I found myself shouting "OH MY GOD I GET IT!!! MEAT IS MURDER. JUST TELL ME THE STORY" into the void. It makes very weird parallels that I don't agree with and there was next to no room for nuanced discussion. It felt like the author was holding my hand and explaining absolutely everything, not letting me infer anything, which I personally don't enjoy. I will say its possible that because it is a translated novel that the above issues only apply to the English translation and that its a fault of the translator rather than Augustina.

Another issue I have is that to me none of the characters actually felt like fleshed out people, rather just objects things happen to/around. The main characters motivations make no sense (especially in the second half), where he doesn't even feel like a person, you don't really get to know him and then what little you do gets completely contradicted in the second half of the book. The main character at the beginning is almost unrecognizable from himself by the end. I can't even call it character development because it feels like he sees one shitty thing than a switch flips and he's completely different. Through the whole time reading, I did not feel any type of way towards any character, I didn't care about any of them which made it hard to care about the novel. When I first finished it I felt no type of way but the longer I've had to sit with it, the more I'm growing to dislike it. The worst part is that it could have been so good, with some more nuance and character development it would have been a very interesting story!

There is also a graphic sexual assault scene which I wish I had known about going in. As a surviver of S/A I try to stay away from novels with it unless I've had time to prepare and be in a good headspace to consume it. So a completely RANDOM S/A scene that doesn't matter to the plot really caught me off guard and almost immediately ruined the book. I'm fine with assault scenes if and only IF it is important to the plot/character development. My problem is when its thrown in to demonstrate a character being shitty or for shock value, which I feel is the reason it was included in Tender Is The Flesh; if you removed the whole chapter it would make absolutely no difference and THATS where I have the problem.

My Problem with BookTok & Advertising

First, booktokers and book tubers saying that its best to go into blind and not giving a trigger warning for S/A. I think its generally irresponsible to not give trigger warnings and to encourage people to go in knowing nothing, its so easy to say "hey this book has _" so that survivors aren't further harmed. This is a general criticism that I'll probably do another post going into further.

Second, people call it a horror novel when its really not, its a dystopian and while not a huge issue, it just sets up expectations that it doesn't live up to! It felt a lot more akin to books like the Handmaids Tale than those in the horror genre. So if you want a horror novel, probably don't pick this up but if you want a kinda disturbing, dark dystopian then maybe this will be your book! Accuracy in genre is important because there are tons of people who love one genres and hate other, like myself who eat, sleeps and breaths horror but has never found a proper dystopian that I even kinda enjoyed. Or, people who love romance and don't care about fantasy may like a romantacy but hate a fantasy with a small romance side plot.

Anyway those are my feelings, I hope it helps someone decide if they want to read it or not! Once again, if you disagree thats totally okay! If you loved the book, I'm so happy for you! My problems with it shouldn't detract from hour enjoyment of it!

[autumntouched]

I have an unpopular and probably a controversial opinion, but as a fanfic reader, I honestly believe Tumblr is NOT a good fit for posting fanfiction, let alone multi-chapter fics when it comes to engagement of readers for a number of reasons.

First, there is how hit or miss Tumblr can be with posts not showing up in the tags correctly or not getting notifications when you're tagged. Heck, there are several blogs I follow on here that even though I have it turned on to be notified any time they post, I've yet to get a notification when they do.

Second, there's the difficulty of trying to find the first chapter/previous chapter/next chapter of a fic if the writer didn't bother to link the chapters together in some way or use a dedicated tag. I've come across way too many fics on here where I had to spend an inordinate amount of time digging through the writers blog to find the next chapter because they didn't provide any links or even use a dedicated tag for their story. After awhile, I don't care how good a fic is, having to deal with stuff like that will quickly turn me off a fic.

Third, there isn't a unified & connected tagging system here like there is on AO3. I know I'm probably missing some really good fic because it's been tagged in a different way than how I search on here. Also, I hate that fics I don't want to read keep showing up in tags I'm searching because I can't filter out tags.

So with all of that, as a fanfic reader, I much prefer to read and follow fics on AO3. In fact, the only reason I even started to read fics on Tumblr was because for the first few months after TGM came out, Tumblr was really the only place to find TGM fics. Before TGM, I never read a single fic on Tumblr.

And as a fanfic writer, I also prefer to post my fics on AO3. The few times I've posted my one shots on here (in an active fandom), I got very little engagement. And I tagged those fics six ways to Sunday and even reblogged & reposted them a few times.

But on AO3, I have fics I wrote TEN years ago still getting kudos & bookmarks when fics I posted a year ago on here will never see the light of day again unless someone decides to spend a day going through my blog or I decide to reblog/repost them because the tagging system on here either shows you the current stuff or the most popular stuff when you search a tag.

Plus with AO3 I know a kudos means someone read and enjoyed my fic even if they didn't leave a comment. I can see when someone bookmarks or favorites a fic and I can even see how many hits each fic has. I don't have to manage a tag list or run a second "library" blog because on AO3 someone can just subscribe to my fic or follow my account & AO3 will automatically send them an email when I update a fic or post a new fic. I don't have to use a million tags because a dedicated group of tag wranglers makes sure similar tags are connected.

So yeah, I know how much it sucks when it feels like you're just posting into the void on here when all you're getting is likes. And I know there is still a large number of new users on here who think likes on Tumblr work the same way they do on all the other social media sites when they actually don't and that it feels like we're shouting at a brick wall anytime we try to explain that to the new users. But at this point, I feel like fic writers on here are just beating a dead horse with every "ENGAGE WITH MY FICS OR ELSE I STOP WRITING" post I see.

You can't force people to engage with your content. Those who want to will & those who don't will continue to do so and shame posts aren't going to change that. In fact, every shame post I see makes me not want to engage with that writer. Just like us as readers have no right to demand you write & post more, writers have no right to demand engagement of readers.

And if not getting enough engagement makes you want to stop writing, then that's on you the writer and not on us, the readers. Would people miss your writing if you stopped posting? Probably. But that's your prerogative and you shouldn't try to make people feel guilty about YOUR decision.

Fair point about the difference in platforms. There are pros and cons to each, and I think it's also fair for writers to weigh what works for them. AO3 does not have PMs, which makes it way less functional for me to engage as openly as I would like. The readers who have taken the time to get to know me understand and respect that is why I am here and not always on AO3

Talk to Me as an intentional multi-chapter fic is on AO3 for its better functionality for that format and is here on tumblr for anyone who didn't catch it on AO3 and so people drop into my dms to chat about it

This though: "Just like us as readers have no right to demand you write & post more, writers have no right to demand engagement of readers."

Asks are readers asking for writers to write and post more. And yes, writers voluntarily open their asks but that does not preclude wanting some kind of feedback for the effort they put into provide those stories. I am writing it because I LOVE the collaborative writing process of sharing ideas and getting to write something that will make someone happy. When people tell me exactly what makes them happy, I have the chance to give them more of that. I am asking for something that makes me a better writer for what they asked me for

Also, just to recap what's going on widely, readers ARE demanding that writers write and post more. That's part of the frustration people are trying to address

The Hannix Football Rivalry AU Series was "born" on tumblr (and was never meant to be a multi-chapter fic). It exists SOLELY because of reader requests, and I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a different level of engagement for that or want people to acknowledge you as the writer in their asks or to ask for feedback to ensure you're on the right track for making people happy

Yes, there are people who comment on and reblog everything I write. And while I deeply appreciate it, that is not at all what I expect or am asking of anyone. Just every now and then letting me know where your head's at, what you're feeling would be nice.

And this is MY controversial opinion, and I am only speaking for myself here. I'm on tumblr to engage with my readers. To me, fanfiction is a community and a relationship. That is what's meaningful about it to me. Knowing what people feel and think. I am here to write for you but also still want to feel like a person doing that. If any readers don't want to have to even consider who I am as a person or have a conversation about how I feel, I'm very comfortable with them no longer reading my work or waiting until I decide what to migrate to AO3. There are enough people in my life who only care about the work I do without caring about me as a person that I don't need that energy in a space I've created for myself <3

[dumbsack]

One last flex of my dislike for Echoes and probably my last "shit on Echoes" post until the idiotic scumbags that run the game do something else deplorable and greedy. Consider this my mega post about the game with some thoughts and reasoning put into it besides *incoherent screeching*.

Echoes of Mana sucks. We all know that. I'm shouting into the void at this point. The loading times are unacceptable, co-op is a joke, the incompetent devs couldn't figure out what to do WITH A BASIC FRIENDS LIST, pull rates are absolutely awful, there was little to no testing done, Bravers is the most shameless display of greed I've ever seen in any game ever, Gingham was fucking awful, gems were a good idea but poorly executed, and characters RARELY interacted in meaningful ways in crossovers. It was a bunch of horseshit all the way through. Characters would be advertised together, only to not show up together (Duran and Angela and Charlotte and Kevin are promoted a LOT together, but only show up together in social media posts and gems (ironically getting more likes on those posts than the story chapters do...), Amanda never interacts with Sumo, Keldy never says a word to Lekius, etc. While the Secret of Mana trio get to freely interact with each other, female protags never got to interact in meaningful ways...).

The quilt/tapestry theme was so forced. We only get to see one (1) stitched together world (DoM and LoM)... And it did nothing with the crossover. Cool. And I died internally every time the dispatches said "WE'RE WEAVING UP GOOD STUFF".

What the fuck was up with the gems for SD3? No DSK/Loki vs Duran gem? No Bil and Ben vs Hawkeye? No pornomags gem? No Grand Croix gem? A good chunk of the gems for SD3 are made up bullshit. Yet, whenever someone farts in Secret of Mana or Legend of Mana, there's a gem for that. Hmm.

Don't get me started on the banners, though. Good grief. Fire and Ice, the so-called 31st anniversary celebration, was absolutely terrible. Terrible boss, ho-hum story that did nothing with the characters... I could say that about pretty much every event, actually, except for maybe 3 of them, max. (Any event with Duran in it because he was allowed to be a character, and the Manor one with Fuji, Randi, Popoi, and Blainchet.) Also, the events text was straight up broken for like a day. Lovely.

As funny as the LoM and Toto crossover was, being shilled at so explicitly at the end was the biggest slap in the face. No, I don't want the creepy Riesz statue, and I don't want to subject myself to the LoM anime. I don't want to look at Shiloh's weird lumpy, ballsack abs ever again.

I know I can't be too mean about this, but the English version has so many typos. As an amateur fanfic writer, I get it. I can't tell you how many typos I've passed over by accident that pop had to point out to me in my shitty fics after I've posted them. ... But neither of us are getting paid for writing/editing fanfic. So... Yeah.

But, my biggest problem, which I cannot overstate...

I absolutely detest how Angela's character is represented in Echoes. It directly contradicts and violates her character in TOM to the point I don't think the writer of that chapter actually played the Dragon Lord arc... Or the game at all, only getting snippets of dialogue from YouTube videos or some shit. Everything about chapter 2 undermines her arc AND Duran's completely (honeycomb: "lol I just trained hard to get magic lol xdddd")

In the chapter, she is shown training (yes, she says she had training when your main asks how she got to Cascade Cavern) and effortlessly fighting alongside Quilt, Honeycomb, and Duffle WITHOUT MAGIC, and tooootally besties with...

Okay.

No.

I'm sorry, this is not the same character as the one depicted below. The Angela in ToM is clearly a girl out of her depth and not the bad boss bitch she is in Echoes.

It's very heavily implied that Angela is very sheltered, lazy, selfish, and has probably never left Altena, expressing only a very vague understanding of the lay of the land (she couldn't even name Alrant!) Early game Angela in TOM pretty much lucks into her victory in her first fight (the tutorial fight!) expressing disbelief she was even capable of doing such a thing. She then almost promptly passes out in the cold and is luckily rescued by some locals.

Once you get into the meat of the game, she's pretty eager to pass off the fighting ("I can leave the fighting to you, right?"), immediately wants to take a nap upon reaching Jadd, bitches about Molebear Moors ("I'm filing a complaint about this path!"). Overall, it seems like she fluked her way to Wendel, making her way there by sheer luck, not skill.

None of these "negative" traits are shown in Echoes. Without consequence, YOUNGER, PRE-MAGIC ANGELA, after a cringe-inducing speech about friendship or whatever, she jumps into the fight with the Crimson Wizard alongside your stupid group and comes out unscathed...

Which is what completely undermines Duran's arc. Duran, one of the strongest swordsmen in Valsena, got owned by the CRIMSON WIZARD and almost died (and many of his fellow soldiers/knights were killed that night, ones implied to be more experienced than he is!)

"oh, but sack," you say, "she didn't fight the Crimson Wizard alone! She had help from Quilt, Duffle, and Honeycomb!"

ah yes, three other undertrained kids. That makes it better.

No. It doesn't. Let me reiterate: trained Valsenan soldiers, said to be among the best in the world, died to CW. Pre-magic Angela should have gotten hurt, or faced some kind of consequence for trying to take down an opponent like that. But no, she doesn't. I can believe she and Duran can take down Full Metal Hugger. Sure, fine. Whatever. That's just a big, dumb crab, not a powerful wizard even late game Duran and Angela still express difficulty facing even after getting stronger, judging by their battle dialogue.

"But sack! It's just a dumb gacha story! Don't take it so seriously!"

I know! But boy. BOY. BOI. AAAA IT'S SO EXPLICITLY BAD AAAAAAAA-

"Hey sack! Angela slaps the boys shit in Jadd when they approach her bed! She must be strong!"

Those are slapstick powers. Duh.

Also, this is a nitpick, but I really hate the retcon with male mages being overly present in Altena. In ToM and SD3, a soldier explicitly states the Altenish army is comprised of all women, which implies male mages are pretty rare (José, CW (who actually isn't a wizard lol he had to borrow evil powers like a little bitch)). I can believe non-mages are discriminated against, that's fine. I can believe Angela would stand up for Framaus if he was being bullied. Honestly? I think that's great! Angela may be selfish and a jerk, but I can definitely see her standing up for him for being a non-mage.

But, former besties? No. You don't talk about a former bestie like, "ew I have nothing to do with that guy!" You would probably say, "we used to be friends, but then he became a huge dick." All Angela states on the matter to Duran is "it's complicated" and that "he used to be nice". Yeah. Also lmao, the irony Framaus finally starts calling her Angela only for her to loathe when he calls her that by the time ToM rolls around is amazing. Really makes you wonder if Angela bumped her head and got amnesia or something.

Oh, and I do not find Framaus endearing or sympathetic. He's a creep. A fucking CREEP.

Ah, I get it now. Angela is too naive to realize that. Okay, chapter's issues absolved! (Not.)

Oh, and don't get me started on Angela replacing Framaus with Victor, too. Makes her look like a fucking psycho. Did the Echoes writers forget Victor exists or what? He's the only Altenish character not present in Echoes.

Fuck.

Fuck this chapter. I hate it more than Heroes of Mana, and that was a whole game of stupid horseshit and nonsense.

Echoes sucks. Angela's contradictory representation in Echoes is merely a symptom of a poorly managed, poorly written, poorly coded game.

Also, who the fuck thought it was a good idea for Hawkeye to be the Mana swordsman? You're the worst. The literal worst. Fuck you the most.

[a-river-of-stars]

Imo the live action Yu Yu Hakusho screwed itself over by trying to do too much

This is a critical take (obviously), so you should scroll away if you're not interested in that. I'm not trying to spoil anyone's good time and you shouldn't let me. That said...

In my opinion, the live-action Yu Yu Hakusho tried to cover far too much material in far too little time. As a result, it screwed itself twice over: first, the material it did adapt was not given enough time to develop, and second, that same material having been used up in this one season means that it can't be used for any potential future seasons. The Dark Tournament is completely shot with Team Toguro already gone; that tournament plus the Spirit Detective Saga took up over half of the original series. I don't know what they expect to do from here. Chapter Black could still work if they just, you know, gloss over all the parts where Genkai did anything (RIP Genkai lol)...but it would be repetitive in a way it wasn't in the original anime or the manga because the live-action series made Sakyo much more of a focus. In the original Sakyo's ambition of opening the demon world was less the main threat and more a nebulous threatening idea introduced through Sakyo and then properly fleshed out with Sensui. Here it was made a far more real and immediate danger, which was then dealt with. Bringing up the exact same danger again the very next season is just redundant.

Even if they did use Chapter Black, then what? Without the Dark Tournament, there are no former opponents for Kurama to recruit to help him with Yomi in the Three King's Saga. Hiei's part of Three Kings is also pretty much destroyed with him already having his teargem and giving himself the Jagan with the Conjuring Blade (even if they did include Shigure he would not have the same history with Hiei, making both Hiei's fight against him AND Kurama's later fight against him in the Makai Tournament thematically pointless).

Idk. To me it felt like they were trying to fit in all of the highlights of the original series without leaving much of anything to use later and without including any of the buildup necessary for those highlights to be meaningful. Hardly anything had the impact it should have had because nothing was given time to breathe. Like... I watched the Karasu vs. Kurama fight and it was just straight to the finals of the Dark Tournament (though the conclusion was ripped from the Kurama vs Roto fight). No watching Karasu dismantle Midorenja, no time after the creepy hallway encounter to actually process it, no Kurama struggling with image training/nightmares. Those might not seem important, but so much of Karasu's impact in the original series was in the anticipation, the growing sense of dread. Without that, it's just another fight.

Anyway. I don't know if I'll make any more posts about this series, so even if this post interested you it's probably not worth following me. This was just me shouting into the void I guess.

[allisonreader]

In writing that last post and all of my tags, now I want to continue to expand upon some of those thoughts and it might get into rambling on, but we'll see.

I definitely feel desperate for validation about my writing. But while saying that, I also don't want it to be all rainbows and butterflies "oh this is wonderful" it needs to have a little more substance than that. I want to hear what works and doesn't work, while not going into something overly negatively critical. A fine line to balance for sure.

I know personally that I'm more of a cheerleader type reader/hyper. Analysis of writing is not my thing. I will enjoy whatever it is for what it is unless something really takes me out of it. (Like reading a Titanic fic that supposedly takes place either still in the 1910's or 20's and Rose wearing a dress with a zipper before they were in common use. Or someone who clearly has no historical knowledge and thinking that they can use the term supermarket and iPod in the 30's and not realize that most people would have had ice boxes more than refrigerators at that point. I mean I know it's fic, but I personally couldn't finish either of those two stories.)

Anyways I lost the point I was making there.

Back to more my writing/comments. The thing is, I'm typically pretty lazy about commenting on stories myself. Most of the time when I'm reading I just want to read, unless something grabs me enough that I have to shout about it into the void or author. So I fully understand why people don't comment. Sometimes it just doesn't grab you enough to say anything about it. (Which is where I feel like most of my writing fits.) Or there's simply no energy to say anything about it and then even if you intend to say something later, you might forget about such. Sometimes it's just not to your taste so you feel like it's better to say nothing at all. (Which is still definitely better that telling someone that you should entirely rewrite what you have wrote because "it doesn't fit into canon and it should fit with canon", even when that wasn't your goal in the first place. {Clearly this still gets my goat, being told to rewrite my own story that I wasn't using outside influences to write from. Aka a book in relation to a movie that I've never read and will probably never read. And basing what I wrote just off of what is know from the movie for a speculative piece.} Still bothers me clearly. Don't tell people how to write their own stories when your ideas are not what the author intended. You didn't have to read if it wasn't meeting your expectations.)

But even with things like that, there's that desire to be told that you might be onto something. Especially when it is something that you put so much effort into. I do find it a bit easier to comment on something when I've built up a bit of a connection with someone. (So if you don't I suck at leaving comments on your writing, that just might be why. It just might be that I feel like we've conversed enough that I'm more comfortable about doing so.)

Well I had been thinking that I was jumping from one thought to the next without logic, but as I read through what I had written again, I realized that it is a little more on track than I had been thinking it had been while in the process of writing it. I do still feel like I have more to say, but I don't know if it will be any more concise than I have been above. Around and round in circles I go to try and ferret out what I actually mean or even want sometimes.

From that I will go into how as much as I deeply desire some sort of discussion about my writing, I feel weird/wrong to actively push for someone; anyone to give any sort of reaction to my writing. I mean I don't particularly care for how some people ask for reviews and comments on their fics. Those ones that sound kind of demanding or even desperately pleading make me personally less likely to write any sort of response. Even though I know why and where the sentiment is coming from. I've also had people try to barter with me, that for every comment I leave on their writing, they'd trade one on my own writing. I noped right out of that. I'd much rather someone leave a comment because they genuinely wanted to, than because they're bartering for their own stories to be commented on. So again I have a very complicated relationship with wanting comments on my own writing because of this.

It's different again if someone is looking to be a willing participant in giving a commentary and thoughts on writing too, but I definitely don't have as much experience with that. Though eventually one day I will look for people who are invested in doing a deeper dive into my writing, but I don't think I'm there yet.

[hiriajuu-suffering]

Loathing

I was really hoping this moment in time, this particular crossroads, would be a flashpoint I could decompress myself. Instead, the point in time just became emblematic of all the abject failures current to my life right now.

I got somewhat halfway through grad school before my mind couldn't bear the lack of novelty anymore. Now, I'm struggling to finish any classwork that's put in front of me because what intellectual growth was coming of it? I feel like everything I do lately is an expression of word vomit, shouting into the void for no one to ever pick up the tiniest sound, let alone listen. The biggest thing that was supposed to keep me going through a post-baccalaureate was the establishment of a sense of meaning, but moments of the world crumbling around me are still holding more weight than a greater path I can carve for myself. It's tough to believe I was ready for this: not because I wasn't mature enough, but my sense of conviction couldn't be manifested into something less aimless because my life experiences uniquely dulled it. To where not even medication checks my neurodivergences in a way allowing me to garner the will I need to push forward. I'm probably the only one left who knows I'm capable of it, but the whole point has been to show it and I've just been...unable.

Nearly everything I've been doing socially is seeing an opportunity that results in a blank. The last one was certainly a manifestation of all those elements: a misandrist, a shallow mind, a flake, but somehow I'm not compelling enough to get the simplest and most casual situations formed because I'm not the main draw. I'm uniquely non-beneficial from the outside looking in because why the fuck would I ever be wanted independently? Why do I only draw in people that are significantly and immensely less mature to the point of literally not being functional, let alone respectful, human beings? I don't crave simplicity in the sense of comfort: I crave simplicity in just people being reliable and faithful to their own words. I'm into both of you means ghost after literally only two days. Youth is wasted on the young, and when you only match with the young, all you do as elder undesirable is get gaslit. Equity shouldn't be means to disrupt happiness, so questioning engendered standards is always validated by experience, somehow. Only way to prove me wrong is functional affirmations of my subjective position to where I'm afforded some level of opportunity, but that doesn't happen. I have to capitalize on every little instance so hard I've had the same primary for 8 years with no progress for half that time at minimum. Why? Because I'm not worth being valued. Normative masculinity ought to be discarded by the 4th wave framework, so all we see is the ruination of social structure and a bunch of incels rising to create conflict out of the tension which manifests for no other reason than the ego of the standard itself. As it stands, the preference is to advance intersectional standards at the expense of men and necessarily amplifying sexual racism, not neutralizing it because we somehow forgot this century normative attraction is a function of gender relations because of course men don't matter when it comes to that argument.

The one thing I correct the speaker on is I didn't CHOOSE to be a cisgendered male if we buy the LGBTQ+ framework of sexuality not being a choice. I've felt moral guilt over not being pansexual or demisexual because I was fundamentally born with preferences less open than the most moral choice. It wasn't my choice to be the exact gender, race, and religion the movement hates most with all its being (though it likes to tout intersectionality as a core framing). Am I claiming any of my rights are being harmed? Absolutely not. But one can have the right to do something and will have such a small rate of potency on the action, the right might as well not exist: the same logic we operate under when we talk about institutional racism and systemic discrimination.

I've tried my damnedest to meet the impossible standard as a South Asian American Muslim cisgendered male the 4th wave wants me to be, but if you look at those intersections, and this something I learned nearly a decade ago in undergrad, postmodern feminism at this moment in time would prefer I don't exist at all. My existence is too inconvenient to their narrative: a socially conscious person with these intersections should NEVER have a voice. That's why my self-reflections in oratory were considered only ever manifestations of the ego. That's why educating got conflated with grooming when an internally racist white woman was onlooking any scenario I was in prior to turning twenty. That's why I was the only person on my college team who couldn't voice a legitimate perspective on feminism, the only straight, non-Christian background, darker-skinned man on the squad. The one person through all that time who strongly linked herself to the 4th wave accepted me for who I was, and while she couldn't always grasp the way approached these issues, she at least had support of my humanity, which is why I say she was the best coach I ever had: she's the only one of the dozen or so that ever did. That's also a significant contributing factor of why I was ousted from my first teaching position, if not less so but still present from my second teaching position. The 4th wave has uniquely harmed my life, not because my natural disposition was to ever take away opportunity from women, but because my opportunity had to come at the expense to advance its agenda.

We haven't made much, if any, headway on the gender pay gap on this current model, and women continue to be increasingly more educated than men. As a man, I don't feel the moral privilege to speak because men have been speaking for too long. The less attractive, the less socially/culturally/racially desirable, the less I'm afforded the ability for my humanity to be recognized and the more feminism pedastalizes whiteness from its perspective on masculinity. Hence, when I attempt to finish a degree where I have to critically think about author theses and narrative, I feel guilt for expressing my opinion at all: especially when Americanization forces me to think, as a Muslim, I have no right to offer perspective on Jewish generational trauma even though my family survived through an ethnic cleansing; as a man, I have no right to offer perspective on how disequitable standards in gender affects my ability self-actualize despite I've been doing work for years on my hoped-to-be-spouse on solving her internalized misogyny; as person of South Asian descent, I have no right to offer perspective on how normative beauty standards make us the least attractive humans in existence and how that creates anger and resentment among our kind, we're just expected to man up about it or we're incels; and, perhaps most disheartening, as a person with some privilege, I have no right to empathize on struggles with those of less affluence, as if familial wealth always translates to receiving any of said benefit, let alone makes for an environment removed from its own challenges when so much is just a given that I got none of but it's impossible to know that much at a passing glance.

I loathe this moment in time. Not because the world is uniquely worse than it has been recently, but because my social conditions do everything in their power to see that I fail because my advancement isn't seen as a good. And I'm only human, I get weary, too. But my kind are expected to be capitalistic work hogs instead of a vantage of poignant intellectual vocation, one that shifts the status quo in any way. A person takes one look at me and hopes I don't change the world because at no point in history did normative whiteness ever want my identity to make real differences in humanity. Even if it is positive.

[bitchsexuality]

i’ve been playing s-ms 2 recently and for some reason i got weirdly into the pleasantview story. i don’t normally play with premades very much, there are some households in particular that i find pretty fun so from time to time i’ll play those for a bit, but mostly i just make my own s-ms and have them interact with the premades i like. essentially they tend to be background characters

so like. doing a 100% Premades situation in a neighborhood is not My Thing

but i saw the goth household and i went “ohh nice, here’s the REAL cassandra! fuck you TS4″ and since she’s one of the premades i like very much (and she deserves some nice things after being whitewashed to hell and fucked over by TS4) i decided to play her for a bit and fix her life

and now i am, unfortunately, invested in this. like the first thing i did was make her break up with don because he’s a shithead, and then i saw she’s best friends with mary-sue, who is married to a double shithead, so i thought “hell yes THAT’S an ideal ending right there”. so mary-sue dumped daniel and started dating cassandra, great, fantastic, time to make my own s-ms...

but. oh cassandra is technically angela and lilith’s stepmom now! that’s cute, lilith would like her and look up to her a lot i think, and lilith also Deserves Better... i want to give her nice things too... then it snowballed from there and now i’m looking at all the premades that Deserve Better so i can make that Better happen 😔 i am a victim of myself

side plot: i left don and daniel without any romantic interests because both of them suck. the entire neighborhood kinda hates their guts now. and i fully planned on leaving that there. but then i was like “haha with their romance aspiration these two bitches are going to be perpetually horny, that rules, fuck you guys”. and THEN i thought “no. wait. they absolutely would hook up with each other”

and tbh i’m not 100% sure about that side plot because on one hand they’re both assholes so normally i’d make them wear the cishet hat of shame, but on the other hand it is hilarious to me and... kinda falls into place perfectly KJSDBFGJHSDFG daniel/don friends with benefits to lovers slowburn

[yooniesim]

You also wanna address how the person you are currently uplifting is also bullying an autistic, disabled, abuse victim? Like be real, do you actually give a shit about oppressed groups, or are you just a performative activist? Because I fail to see how you can go after nurodivergant people for being "ableist" but then you'll actively ignore this ableism right here.

https://texasthegreatdestroyer.tumblr.com/post/692306055676461056/i-just-wanna-say-youre-right-about-gyrutrait-i

Let me tell you something, @texasthegreatdestroyer and your many alts, since you somehow think you're getting somewhere by sending asks like this to my inbox: your rants are laughable, your insults are weak, and absolutely no one is convinced by your facetious attempts to catch anyone in any sort of contradiction. It's so transparent that you couldn't care less about anyone marginalized that even your response to that random account you probably own was blatantly hollow. Because there's a difference between truly caring about those that experience bigotry and oppression, and simply using them as a prop to give your harassment and meaningless obsessions some twisted sense of validation.

This victim you say gyarutrait is bullying- are you referring to the person that referred to you with ableist language such as "unhinged" and "mentally unwell"? Because I don't believe for a second that if it was anyone you couldn't use to further your own harassment, you wouldn't simply insult them just the same as anyone else. Or is it really this common for you to go to bat for the people that actually couldn't care less about you? Because I really can't decide which option is more sad and embarrassing...

As for the person that sent you that ask (if they're real), I sincerely hope they don't genuinely try to seek solace in you, because your obvious attempt to use a neurodivergent person as an excuse for your tirade is just as harmful as all the other ableist things you do. But NDs can also be ableist, and just because someone is ND doesn't excuse them from their own behavior. Gyarutrait was right about their language being no better than yours was, and pointing that out was not bullying. Which, of course, you're already well aware of- even if you pretend to care about them, you're the one that's so obviously performative that it makes me feel sorry for this person you're pretending to defend.

You may think that your near endless rants full of hot air and humiliatingly juvenile strings of expletives are getting to someone, but I'll tell you straight out: you're nothing impressive. Everything you write is only embarrassing yourself further, and trust, there's no one in this community taking you seriously or, god forbid, using you as a trusted source of information. You so obviously think you're more intelligent and enlightened than anyone else, but anyone able to string two thoughts together sees right through your inflated sense of self-importance.

You want to keep sending me asks and writing hilarious posts about me on your endless amount of accounts? Go ahead, I love you wasting your time on me. There isn't a single sentence you could write that would do anything except entertain me. It's only for the sake of gyarutrait and anyone else you've attempted to hurt that I don't point and laugh at you on the regular. But to avoid distress on their part, and avoid feeding your blatant attention-seeking behavior, this is the last time I'm allowing you to do anything except shout into the void. You'll just have to imagine what gif i might use to respond to you from now on, okay? 💜

[itsadamcole]

bet pt. 2

fem!reader x adam cole

Reader and Adam come face to face after six months apart at Survivor Series ... “please, forgive me”

word count: 3.4k+

warnings: smut, angst, a lil bit fluffy

— hey hey, here’s part 2 of the short adam cole series .... on a side note, i’ve really been in the holiday spirit so i’ve started writing some christmas / fluffmas imagines ... the first two are scheduled to be posted december 1st and 2nd —

masterlist || part 1 || request an imagine here

~ 18+ content below - read at your own risk ~

Survivor Series. The day you've been dreading for six months since you left Adam.

Six months ago, you walked out on the best and the worst thing that's ever happened to you. Six months ago, you lost a piece of yourself and turned to sleeping with your best friend, Tyler Breeze, just to fill that void.

But it's not filled. It'll never be filled. So you stopped about a month ago, and Tyler now has a girlfriend so nothing's weird between you two.

You've never gone back to Adam. It's taken everything in you to stay away from him. You've barely spoken to him in six months, but since he's NXT Champion and you're Raw Women's Champion, you both have matches at Survivor Series.

You sit in your dressing room, scared to leave. Scared to run into Adam or one of the Undisputed Era boys. It's your worst nightmare.

"Y/N! You're on in five minutes!" someone calls through your door.

Sighing, you get up and grab your title, throwing it over your shoulder. With your anxiety rising, you leave the room.

You don't know what you'll do if you see Adam. It's been so long and he's probably moved on. You haven't, but you've tried.

Once backstage, you stretch out. Your opponents, Smackdown Women's Champion Sasha Banks and NXT Women's Champion Io Shirai, into the small room.

"Hey, girlie," Sasha says. "You have an audience in catering."

You sigh and say, "If it's Adam then I don't care."

Sasha says, "Y/N, come on. I've told you before. That man is head over heels for you. Maybe the beginning was a lie or a bet or whatever it was but he truly loved you. I saw it. We all did."

Your music hits and you say, "I can't talk about this right now, Sasha. I have a match to focus on."

You make your entrance, forcing a smile onto your face as you step into the ring.

****

Adam's POV

She looks beautiful in her dark red gear. It's my favorite ring gear that she owns. It sparkles but is dark at the same time. Definitely her two personalities mixing together.

I miss her like hell. I haven't been able to move on from her. It's been six months and I'm still infatuated with her. I love her. I've loved her for so long. It pains me to see her. Rumor has it that she's seeing her friend, Tyler.

I stand in catering to watch her as the match begins. My match is next and I know they'll call me back any minute and I'll come face-to-face with her when she walks through those curtains.

She's distracted by something. Her footing is off and she's not selling moves like she usually does. Maybe Sasha told her she saw me in catering. I told her I was going to watch Y/N here on the TV.

"Yo, Cole," Kyle says, clapping me on the back. "Your match with Drew and Roman is next. Let's head backstage."

I say, "Yeah, okay." I leave the TV and walk backstage with Kyle, Roddy, and Bobby.

We get backstage and I see there is a TV. I watch it.

Roderick says, "Talk to her after your match. I know that you've been wanting to talk to her."

I sigh and say, "She doesn't want to talk to me. She doesn't even want to see me, Roddy. There's no point."

Bobby says, "You should still try instead of sulking."

I look over at Bobby and say, "She left me, Bobby. If she wanted to talk to me then she would have already." I'm starting to get heated.

Kyle says, "Adam, bro, calm down."

"You want me to calm down? Seriously?" I say, my voice rising. "You three are the reason I'm in this mess. You three came up with the bet and I accepted it because I was drunk and secretly was crushing on Y/N. I never should have accepted it because I fell in love with her and now she's fucking gone! I can't live without her, and the only reason I'm still in this damn company is because of the title around my waist. There's nothing else for me here because she's gone!"

What I didn't know was that Y/N's match ended and she came through the curtains in the backstage area with Sasha and Io. The guys were all looking behind me and that's when I realized she was standing right behind me, listening to every word.

****

Your POV

As you walk backstage, you can hear someone shouting.

"... I was drunk and secretly was crushing on Y/N. I never should have accepted it because I fell in love with her and now she's fucking gone! I can't live without her, and the only reason I'm still in this damn company is because of the title around my waist. There's nothing else for me here because she's gone!"

The voice is Adam's. He's shouting at the guys. You've never once heard him raise his voice at anyone, not unless it was important or serious.

You stand backstage with Sasha when Adam turns around and he sees you. His title is secured around his waist and he's wearing his black and gold gear with his Undisputed Era t-shirt.

There's nothing else for me here because she's gone. Those words stuck with you. If it wasn't for that title around his waist, he probably would have left WWE and gone to work with Ring of Honor again or maybe even AEW.

Drew McIntyre and Roman Reigns come backstage at this moment. The tension between everyone in the room is thick. Drew and Roman realize this and ask to make their entrances first.

Right before Adam makes his entrance, you rush out of the backstage room. Sasha right on your heels.

Tears have started running down your cheeks. You get to your locker room and throw your title on the couch.

Your win tonight means nothing anymore. It doesn't matter that you won. Your happiness was swept away when you heard Adam ranting to the guys about you. Six months later and he's still trying to defend his lies.

He'd have left WWE if it wasn't for that title he's managed to hold for two and a half years. It's the only reason he's still in WWE.

You start to throw things around the locker room. You're upset, you're angry, and most of all, you're frustrated. Even after finding out about the bet and after he lied to get you to sleep with him, you still love him. Six months later you still love him. After everything, you'd go back to him.

Sasha grabs your wrists and says, "Y/N. Y/N, stop it. Please. Before you hurt yourself or break something super expensive."

You look at your best friend and cry, "Why do I still love him even after he lied to me? Why would I drop everything and go back to him if he asked me to? Why would I take him back?"

"Because deep down you know that he never lied to you," Sasha says. "You know that he actually loves you and it wasn't for some stupid bet he made with his friends. Love is crazy and makes us do crazy things."

You sniff and wipe away your tears. "Can we get out of here? I don't want to be here when his match is done because I know he'll want to come looking for me," you ask.

Sasha nods and says, "Of course. Get changed and we'll head back to the hotel."

You nod and change out of your ring gear and into your street clothes. You let Sasha borrow some extra clothes you had so the two of you can leave as soon as you're changed.

****

Back in the safety of your hotel room, you order room service and watch Grey's Anatomy on Netflix as you lay in bed.

There's a knock on your door at around midnight. You think it's Sasha coming to return the clothes she borrowed earlier so you answer the door.

It's not Sasha at your door. It's Adam Cole.

"What?" you ask. "It's late."

Adam says, "I looked for you after my match. I wanted to talk about what you heard."

You say, "I don't blame you for wanting to leave WWE since I left. I'd want to do the same thing if I was you."

He says, "I tried to leave the company. A few weeks after you left, I went to Regal and Triple H to get them to let me go. I was ready to drop my title just to leave the company but they convinced me to stay."

You look at Adam as he talks. This is going to be a long conversation so once he's done talking, you say, "Come inside, Adam. We can keep talking inside." You move to the side and he walks inside.

Closing the door, Adam says, "I get why you left. I lied to you a few times at the start but within two weeks, I called off the bet."

"Adam," you say.

He shakes his head and he says, "Let me explain."

You sit on the bed and look at him. "So explain," you say.

Adam walks and stands in front of you. He says, "The night of the bet, the four of us got drunk. We drank a lot and we started talking about relationships. I mentioned to them that I had a little thing for you and that's when Bobby came up with the bet. He said that there was no way that I'd be able to get you into bed. Kyle and Roddy joined his side. I accepted the bet because I was drunk and liked you for some time. I was the only single guy in the Undisputed Era. But, like the dumbass I am, I took it a step further and started a relationship. Two weeks after the relationship started, I completely called off the bet because you meant so much more to me than a stupid bet."

You say, "Being drunk doesn't excuse you from accepting it. It won't work on me."

He says, "I'm not done yet. After the bet ended, I told myself that I'd never tell you about it because of this happening with us. You getting mad and leaving. I'd never choose my career over you because I know in the long run, you'd always be there for me. Wrestling is something I'll do until I'm fifty or so but there's nothing for me after that until I met you. Then I messed everything up. You're even seeing someone else right now so I don't expect you to come back to me."

You sit and listen to every word. Once he's done talking, you say something. "I'm not seeing anyone right now. I've been single for the past six months, But if I asked you to retire right now, you'd do it?" you ask, testing him.

Adam nods and says, "Yes, I would. You mean more to me than a bet or than wrestling. I love you, even after all this time. Please, forgive me."

You sigh, "I have forgiven you, Adam. For the most part. I just can't forget what happened and what you said to me that day. You lied to me just to get me in bed. You lied to start a relationship with me. All you had to do was say, 'hey, Y/N. I like you and I'd like to take you out on a date' because I would have said yes. I liked you for so long, Adam. All you had to do ask me out."

He looks down at you and he says, "You don't have to forget because we can both grow from what happened. I'm a dumbass, I know. I was just nervous and in a way, the bet made me talk to you. I just want to make it up to you, Y/N. Let me make it up to you. Let me take you on that date. A real first date."

You look up at Adam and say, "I don't know. I don't fully trust you, Adam."

Adam tucks a piece of loose hair behind your ear and he says, "I can make it up to you, Y/N. Let me at least try. I've learned from this and I want to show you that I've learned from this."

Your heart pounds in your chest as he touches you for the first time in six months. Without knowing it, you lean into his touch and close your eyes.

His hands rest on your cheeks for a second before he pulls you up so you're standing in front of him. You look up at Adam. "I'll think about it," you say, finally reply to what he said.

You feel Adam's hands leave your cheeks and slide to your waist. He pulls you closer to him. You're eye level with his chest before you look up at him with your eyes, meeting his pretty blue orbs.

"Can I start right now?" Adam asks as he starts to lean into you. You grab a fistful of his shirt, not knowing if you should back away or not.

Your lips brush against Adam's and you say, "I still need some time."

His lips move down to your neck and you gasp softly, tilting your head back a bit. Adam mumbles, "I need to make it up to you, Y/N." He starts to kiss your neck gently. Your hands slide into his hair as he picks you up by your thighs. You wrap your legs around his waist.

Sighing as he kisses your neck, you give in and say, "God, make it up to me, Adam. Make it up to me all night if you want to. I need you."

You look down at Adam and he looks up at you, pulling away from your neck. He kisses you hungrily. Your lips move feverishly against his, both of you letting out soft moans into the kiss.

He lays you down on the bed and hovers over you, not breaking the kiss. He grinds his bulge against your clothed core. You moan into the kiss, reaching down and pulling Adam's shirt up over his head. That breaks the kiss momentarily but your lips connect again like magnets right after.

The passionate kiss becomes more intense when Adam slips his tongue into your mouth. His fingers dip into the waistband of your sweatpants, rubbing you slightly over your panties. You moan against his lips.

Adam's hands run up your body, slipping under the shirt you're wearing. He pushes up the shirt until his hands are on your breasts, massaging them. You gasp and moan, pulling back from the kiss. You lift your arms above your head so Adam can pull off your shirt. You never put on a bra when you got changed earlier.

He pushes up your shirt, kissing and sucking on your breasts. Your eyes close and you smile.

"You're so beautiful," Adam mumbles against the sensitive skin on your breasts. "I am so in love with you."

You sigh, "Less talking, Cole. More fucking."

Adam smirks and says, "With pleasure."

Within seconds, both your pants and Adam's pants are off with both your underwear. Adam hovers on top of you between your legs.

His lips are on yours, moving feverishly against yours. Your hands are on Adam's back, holding him close to you.

The tip of Adam's erect member runs through your wet folds, making you moan into the passionate kiss.

"Adam, baby," you mumble against his lips. "If you don't stop teasing me instead of fucking me, I'll walk out the door. I swear to God-" You're interrupted by Adam thrusting hard into you, making you cry out in pain and pleasure. Your fingernails dig into his back.

He has a smirk on his lips and says, "You were saying?"

You stare up at him and move your hips so he's completely inside of you. "You gonna do something or are you just gonna lay there?" you ask.

Adam positions himself above you so he thrusts into you. Slowly but deeply. His hips are already flush against yours as he pushes your legs up so they rest against his arms.

He's kissing your neck as he thrusts his hips into you. Every few seconds, his thrusts get faster and harder. Your fingers slide down his back, definitely leaving scratch marks.

The room is filled with your moans and the sound of skin slapping together. A layer of sweat has appeared on both your bodies. It's a little warm in the room.

Your moans get louder the harder he moves. Your hands eventually make their way into his hair, gripping it a little bit as he moves.

Adam lets out soft groans as he thrusts harder and deeper into you than he ever has. You throw your head back and pant, "God, I love you so much. I love this so much."

He smiles and starts to kiss your neck. His thumb rubs your very sensitive clit, making you almost scream out his name. "Fuck, Adam. Just like that," you cry out.

The bed begins to creak and hit the wall a bit when Adam picks up speed again. Your legs begin to shake and your walls clench around Adam.

Adam realizes how close you are and he says in your ear, "Come for me, baby. I want you to come around me like you always do."

You don't wait anymore. You release around Adam, crying out his name. He pulls out right before he comes, releasing his seed all over your core and stomach. His fingers help you ride out your high.

Adam collapses beside you, grabbing his shirt and wiping you down. You pant and stare up at the ceiling.

You think about the day you left and you close your eyes.

Maybe you overreacted a little bit by leaving. You never heard the whole story, until today. You never let him fully explain.

You let out a sigh and ask, "Do you really love me? Even after six months apart?" Your eyes open and you look over at Adam.

Adam looks over at you and says, "I was ready to love you forever. Of course I love you after six months apart."

"Do you have any other secrets you need to tell me?" you ask.

He shakes his head and says, "I'm a completely open book to you now. No more secrets, I promise."

You lean over and press a lingering kiss to his lips. After a few seconds, you answer the question he asked you six months ago right before you walked out the door.

"Then yes," you say, not pulling back very far from the kiss.

He tilts his head and asks, "Yes, what?"

You smile and say, "I'm answering the question you asked me six months ago before I left. Yes."

Adam thinks for a second before he finally gets it. He smiles wide and puts his hands on your cheeks, pulling you down for another kiss. You giggle against his lips.

He rolls onto you then gets off the bed. He fetches his jeans, pulling something out. "I've carried this with me everyday for six months, hoping that one day you'll accept it," Adam says, coming back to the bed.

In his hand is the same velvet black box that he held out to you six months ago and inside, the same diamond oval engagement ring he presented to you.

You smile as he pulls out the ring, sliding it onto your left ring finger.

Adam lightly kisses you and says, "That's my promise that I will not keep another secret from you, unless it's a secret to surprise you in a good way."

You giggle and look at your ex-boyfriend turned fiancé before you say, "The guys and Sasha will be so confused when I show up with a ring on my finger."

"Let's worry about that tomorrow," Adam says. "I still have a lot to make up for and it might take all night."

And with that, you spend all night having the best make up sex with Adam. You don't fall asleep until the sun has begun to rise.

[not-poignant]

Hi Pia!! I love your work and have consistently been reading it for over a couple of years, currently every TIP update u post makes my days a bit brighter 🥰

It is also thanks to you that I started posting fics last year after more than three years not doing so. While some of my fics have been wildly popular in a fandom some others don't seem to have landed as well within the same one, so I wanted to ask, what do you do about those stories that excite you but that don't seem to have found an audience yet, or that they never will?? How do you work through the fear of them not being worth your writing time?

Have a lovely day 💚🍀

Hi anon,

This is a hugely complicated question.

For a start, for writing that is for income, if I think it won't do well, I don't write it (although only to a point, I wrote The Gentle Wolf because asexual representation mattered more to me than sales, but it still hit hard when that turned out to be true). I don't like to mess with things that pay the bills. I hate that I have to look at metrics in that sense, but I do. But thankfully we're not talking about original fiction:

For fanfiction, things are different, and there might be a lot of different things going on.

For a start, almost always, when people ask me this question they are still getting some interaction on their fics, just not as much as they wanted or imagined. It can really help to like, remember to be grateful for every person who interacts, and not just the 'quantity' of interactions.

I think like... I am a big fan of 'write for yourself' but it's also true that I write for interaction on AO3. Just... only you can decide how much of the former will compensate for not much of the latter. There are people out there who are like 'if I was only writing for myself I'd keep it in my computer.' I'm not like that, and I don't vibe that way. I write for myself but enjoy sharing it, in case something that worked well for me, works well for a stranger. Everyone is different and that's eventually going to be what the crux of this post is, lol.

Popularity is influenced by the fact that some fandoms are more dead than others and lack interaction across the board in general (Persona 5, for example, is notorious for this). Some fandoms like certain tropes more than others. Some fandoms are massively popular for three weeks and then die almost immediately. And so on and so on.

Ultimately fandom is fickle, it's loyal to the stories they like more than the authors they like, and you can't predict what will be a flash in the pan and what won't be, and it doesn't always have anything to do with the quality of the fic itself or the tags you used. (This is sort of like how sketches will sometimes get tens of thousands of notes and a 300 hour single piece of quality art will get 400 notes, while a professional artist tears their hair out in pieces).

Sometimes, a fic will be more interesting to me than the reality of fandom interaction and I'll write it. Touching and Melting for Houseki no Kuni is a good example of that. A tiny fic for honestly an extremely quiet and tiny western fandom in terms of fic, which looks like it had a lot of interaction 3 years on, but had almost nothing in the first few months. And sometimes the fic idea won't be more interesting to me than the reality of the fandom interaction, and I won't write it. I go story idea by story idea.

But I've also taught myself to really think about a) the way I talk about interaction and b) to really value every individual that leaves a kudos, or comments, or public bookmarks. When I sort of started out with Shadows and Light, I remember being so bummed when a story didn't do as well, and thinking that meant it was doing 'badly.' Let's be real, Game Theory when it started out had less than a tenth of the interaction of SALverse, and I thought I had failed. If I'd given up at that point, well... all of this wouldn't exist.

And then just looking at fanfiction, it's like.. well, sometimes fics do a lot worse than other fics, there's usually at least one person who will read it and leave a kudos. I remind myself that to that person, the story mattered or meant something, which meant I didn't just write it for myself anymore, there is interaction.

This is much harder on stories that have zero comments, and zero kudos, obviously, no one likes to feel as though they are shouting into the void. But it's also my experience that writers who've had popular fics, don't often have 'zero kudos fics' when they say a fic is doing really badly. They just..maybe need to value the individual interactions alongside how good a 'mass' of interaction can feel, or alongside how good 'quantity' can feel. I do really think that's a skill that a lot of like...enthusiastic fanfiction writers have mastered or at least are learning.

Sometimes it really helps to have somewhere in private to vent to when you feel emotionally overloaded or insecure, and honestly sometimes it can help to re-evaluate.

For some people, writing fic when a certain threshold of interaction isn't reached, just isn't worth it. I can't convince people like that to keep writing. If there's a deep seated 'this isn't worth it' then stop doing it.

If there's 'this is insecurity and I'm not good at valuing everyone and I feel down right now but it'll pass' then...work quietly and patiently and compassionately on strengthening your resilience and your trust in your own writing, and your ability to value individuals who interact and engage on your fics. If you don't do this, you may end up bitter and resentful, and that can influence your entire relationship with fandom, and worse, the people who interact with your fics.

Also, finally:

How do you work through the fear of them not being worth your writing time?

In fanfiction, I do not base whether something is worth my writing time on the quantity of people who will interact with it. It is worth my writing time because I'm really excited to write it, and I want to share it, even if people don't respond immediately, or even if only one person ever comments.

I don't...have this fear that you have based on the things you're basing it on - my fears are different to yours. It's fanfiction. It's worth my writing time because I'm eager to write or fix or alter something in canon or I want to make the two boys fuck because no one else was going to, and because I can generally trust that one person out there will probably read it, even if I go back over 10 years ago and my Livejournal fics were only getting like one comment per chapter. If that.

If your metric for 'worthiness' is 'quantity of interaction' then - I'm the wrong person to talk to, I'm literally motivated to write fanfiction by completely different factors to you. I didn't start SAL knowing it would get popular, I thought people would hate me because I killed Jamie in the first chapter, and up until that point none of my fics had been popular.

I can't convince you on the things that convince me, when our foundational motivations are different. If you want quantity and that's what 'worth' means to you, I don't know what to tell you, I would never have written SAL in the first place if I hadn't been the kind of person to just write fanfic for almost no / or no interactions, and still enjoy that single person who said 'I really enjoyed this thank you for writing.' I didn't spring into being as someone who was writing fics that got a lot of interaction, that came...years later, y'know?

So what is worthy to me sounds like it's also just different to what is worthy to you. Ultimately, there are people only writing fanfiction on the basis of how many people interact with them, and...I don't know how those people keep choosing to write honestly, and I think a lot eventually abandon it, because there's no algorithm to crack in order to be successful every time. Maybe...remind yourself that you've had popular fics in the past and therefore you will again? And that you can't get to that point without less popular fics on the step ladder in the meantime? Therefore, even a fic that doesn't feel 'worth your time' will be a stepping stone to the one that is?

Imho, I think my fics are worth my time because I enjoy reading them once they're finished. And then I think they're worth my time because other people enjoy them. Having a popular fic is fun and nice, but honestly, often a fluke, and doesn't always say anything about the quality of the writing (some of the most popular Yuri! on Ice stories with 10,000+ kudos were like...not always...the most well-written stories, but people were desperate for Content, and it was certainly that).

But yeah, how I think about fanfiction is very different to how I think about 'fiction that has to earn an income.' Ultimately I don't want to apply the latter philosophies to the former, other people do. If you're applying 'this needs to hit a certain threshold of interaction to be worthy' as your basis for writing fanfiction, then...we have very very different motivations for creating content in fandom! And I'm the wrong person to ask.

As I said, it's complicated, lol.