#this might be my favourite meme format

[amazing-spiderlad]

"I'm gay", "I'm straight", okay?? When I was in fifth grade, I had a friend? Steve blade?? He and I were close as two friends could be?? One thing led to another? Soon I would discover I was having really strange feelings? For Steve?? I thought about us?? On a deserted island?? We'd swim naked in the sea? And then he'd try and?? WOAH??? TURN IT OFF???

[astarionanon]

Ah, my favourite travelling companion!

I suppose it was only a matter of time before I would find myself on this delightful site. Perhaps I might even answer some of your questions... well, ask away! And be quick about it before I change my mind.

A little bit about me:

Welcome, darlings! I’m Laura, I’m 22 and I suffer from severe Astarion brainrot at all times. Here I will be sharing random BG3 memes and stuff I find and sharing fics I like as well as RPing as Astarion to fulfil my lifelong dream of being a sassy vampire spawn. If you’re interested in any of my other hyperfixations and possibly writing, I recommend following my other side blog @whppxdit4chi where I mainly post about Naruto related stuff, and if a random weirdo called @llauraxo follows you, that’s also me (my main blog) but I don’t post on there really. Perhaps I may also look into some character analysis stuff and if I stop judging myself for my weirdness I might delve a little into some Tavposting 👀

A little bit about the blog:

Everything written in red will be in Astarion's voice and any OOC posts will be in small white/black the same as all of this text (depending on your display settings). I will probably also declare it’s OOC unless I’m sharing a meme or something.

Actions and scenes will be narrated in the same format as this sentence.

Anyone can come forward and ask questions or start a mini RP and we can have a little fun peering into our favourite vampire spawn's mind. No need to message me beforehand but you can if you want to! This is subject to change, but I will not currently be RPing as Ascended Astarion. This is just a personal preference, no judgement towards anyone who prefers that but I love my lil spawn <3

This is all just for fun, nothing on here is supposed to be canon, including my depiction of him, though I do hope it to be true to his character.

Anyway, that's all from me! I hope to see you all in my ask box!

[leffee]

a bunch of LPS related memes I made at 2:30 in the morning :)

Is this accurate?

Foreshadowing for the fic I'm writing Ig

I already said this before but I decided to put it in a meme format

Girlie has the patience of a saint

My genuine thoughts (I keep forgetting Minka exists okay) I do still like them I just think about them significantly less

This is the process :( (yeah I'm working on the fic it's just very long for me)

I might do a part 2 of these memes they were really fun to make

Yipee! Lps memes just for me :]

Yes, yes, that first meme is absolutely correct. Zoe just forgets smh.

Mmm I could so slap Vinnie onto all those trauma Pepper memes. But the one where he is is soooo yes! Yes, you are so right, pls I need to see this fic right here and now, you are so right. Sir, I'd like to kiss them both.

Ok but the meme with Blythe and Biskits genuinely made me laugh cause the dog for Biskits is basically exactly the vibes they gave off when that line was said. I'm serious, this is so funny.

If it helps I genuinely only talk about Vinnie like 90% of the time so for me it would be Vinnie who I adore and everyone else would be drowning or already dead. I swear I love them all dearly, but Vinnie? Well, he's just 110% of my love. It's not that everyone else is not 10/10, it's just that Vinnie is 4709328743093828573/10. And you know what? For someone who's least favourite character out of them is Zoe I definitely talk about her more than at least Minka and Penny.

My applause goes to you cause I'm absolutely unable to write anything more than a one-shot, I'm serious, it's just impossible for me.

Pls do more if you'd like, I'd love to see more

[theuniversitychallengereview]

Voyage to Upton Snodsbury

There are six different rounds in a series of University Challenge.

Round 1

Repechage

Round 2

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Grand Final

In order, I would rank them:

Quarter-finals

Repechage

Round 1

Semi-finals

Final

Round 2

Let me know in the comments what order you would rank them in.

This week saw the first of the two repechage matches, AKA the high-scoring loser play-offs, my second favourite round after the quarter-finals which have such a fun format.

Four teams qualify for the second chance of the repechage, which has been in place since 1999, when Balliol and Victoria, Manchester made it through.

In 2010, the Emmanuel, Cambridge team led by Alex Guttenplan famously won the series title after coming through the repechage.

Wondering whether it was an advantage to enter the play-offs as the team with the highest round 1 score, I crunched the numbers. This is what I got.

There have been 26 years with play-off rounds.

The No. 1 ranked team won 15 (57.1%)

The No. 2 ranked team won 12 (46.1%)

The No. 3 ranked team won 13 (50%)

The No. 4 ranked team won 12 (46.1%)

So, potentially a slight advantage for the first seed, but not much difference among the rest.

These days the 1 and 4 ranked teams often play each other but hasn’t always been the case. Sometimes No. 1 would play No. 2.

UCL came into this year's repechage as the No. 1 ranked side, with St Andrews the 4th, but as you can see from the data, that didn't rule them out.

Upton Snodsbury

St Andrews' George Capell says he's from Broughton Hackett near Upton Snodsbury. Normally I am against such granularity in the 'this is where I'm from' section', but Capell justifies his level of detail here.

Both of these places sound like they have been made up by a bored train conductor who is testing to see if anyone is listening to them.

There is also a meme along the lines of 'why is every village in England called something like Mildew Cobblington or Grunkle?' and Upton Snodsbury fits wonderfully into this.

I wondered whether Capell might have been bending reality a little bit to get a mention of Upton Snodsbury in there. Surely there is a more recognisable place a little bit closer than Upton Snodsbury?

But to be fair to him, it is 1.3 miles (a 28 minute walk) from Broughton Hackett to Upton Snodsbury, which is also the larger conurbation, with a population of 392 according to the 2021 census while Broughton Hackett has a mere 175.

Here's your first starter for ten.

Mandel takes the opening points with pastoral, and UCL manage one bonus on cities ending in the letters 'abad'.

An incredibly quick buzz from Buffet-Mogel gets St Andrews off the mark, and they took a hat-trick on flywheels to grab the lead.

Vitamins keeps UCL healthy, but Mr Upton Snodsbury himself hits back for St Andrews with voyage on the picture starter. Prabhakar picks up a Buffet-Mogel mistake, winning UCL the first of several bonus sets this episode which feature a very long-winded explanation as to the type of answer which is to be expected.

The Fens continues Mandel's excellent start to the episode, and Buffet-Mogel keeps St Andrews in it with her second, art deco.

This wins them a bonus set on a mathematician, so Skerrett looks at his teammate Rosas, who is studying physics. Rajan says 'Don't look at him!' as if scolding a misbehaving schoolboy glancing at a partner in crime for reassurance. But this is exactly the situation he should be looking at Rosas, who clearly has more expertise in the subject than he, himself a historian.

A super-quick buzz of Holst on the music starter by Mandel, followed by an equally impressive one of mole by Skerrett on the next starter, keeps the game tight, but it doesn't remain that way for long.

Five starters in a row for UCL, three for Mandel and two for skipper Holtermann Entwistle, end the game as a contest.

An unfortunate neg of panthers instead of panthera compounds St Andrews' misery, but a couple of late starters brought them into triple digits, a very respectable score to bow out on.UCL 215 - 105 St Andrews

Congratulations to UCL, who become the 15th team to enter round 2. Join me next week to find out who of Durham and SOAS will become the 16th.

In the meantime, subscribe so you never miss an episode, and join me on Blue Sky, where there is a party starting.

[steelycunt]

🏜️, ❄️,🧩 for the meme!!!

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

honestly just any!! the fact that someones taken the time toleave a comment is very lovely..but it is extra sweet when they point out things they liked or that stuck with them i like that a lot : ^ )

❄️ ⇢ what's your dream theme/plot for a fic, and who would write it best?

i dont think i have a dream plot to be honest...im very boring i just like them doing normal mundane things like making tea or going grocery shopping. im writing the pride au because it is a storyline i really like and that i think they fit well into...laura's fleabag au the shape and sound of god probably would be my answer because i love fleabag and it was absolutely perfect as laura's writing always is... : ^ )

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

so many things uhh. first person pov. any mention of like. those side characters people like a lot now like barty evan pandora whoever the fuck that is..if i see those names i know its not going to be my cup of tea. if its formatted in one big block i cant read that. bad nicknames like siri or something i really cant deal with...pop culture references that feel ooc to me like what do you mean theyre listening to olivia rodrigo what do you mean theyre a swiftie. want to be clear these arent all necessarily bad things or things i think make a fic bad but theyre just signs that it might not be my cup of tea as someone with particular tastes...sometimes when theyre quite heavily americanized im going to be honest just in terms of dialogue that can be a bit jarring for me. also just bad characterisation like soft whiny babygirl s isnt my thing and nor is edgy mean buff dominant r so i can quickly tell if a fic isnt going to be for me based on that sort of thing..

[thetrashbagswasteland]

AO3 meme

Tagged by @omniblades-and-stars and @sparatus tyyy you see I DO get to tag games (eventually)!

Tagging @teamdilf, @kayarenwick @ferowyn and anyone else who fancies having a go!

How many works do you have on AO3?

69 - and yes I did wait until that 68 became 69 before responding to this for... reasons

What's your total word count? 1,109,025 words. Y'know like a normal person with a job and responsibilities

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? (just as an fyi I'm discounting my vld stuff and the popular fandom effect)

Project Sunseeker (Old Version) - Sitting by and far ahead by 492 kudos, my very first multichaptered fic (wdym most people don't jump from 4k oneshots to writing 166k???), ye olde First Contact AU shakarian. Unsurprisingly really, there's a keyword there and it's shakarian lmao

The Idealist - discounting the rewrite of sunseeker here (much as it is by and far a superior version I just need time to sit down and chew on it), this is sitting in second with 63 kudos. C'mere guys, come smack Garrus' hot dad with the angst baton with me.

Pinfeather - JUST behind Idealist with 61 kudos, come join me for a oneshot letting out cute aggression by imagining how sharp and yet fluffy little turian chicks could be. This might be one of my all time faves tbh.

A Little Too Much Like Me - Creeping in at 57 kudos this fic needs tidying up but I still think it's fuckin hilarious regardless c'mon guys it's a no-reapers spectres vs c-sec teambuilding paintball session; Garrus gets shot point blank between the eyes for being a lovesick moron what more could you want?

Extended Release - 55 kudos places the Sunseeker epilogue oneshot in 5th place, as I should well expect. Honestly though it's short, it's sweet and it hurts so damned bad. It's the post-accident cigarette to sunseeker's car wreck of a climax.

Do you respond to comments? Why/Why not?

It depends! Replying to comments is usually my reward for reaching posting the next chapter of a fic but occasionally I like to come back to comments on oneshots or completed works - usually either to answer questions or to provide additional insight. I just like hoarding comments.

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

I think that'd be a toss-up between holding one another is a never-real love and Dilatory. On the whole they're pretty similar honestly; both short little moments of helplessness wherein our protag is forced to confront losing the person they love the most and worst of all, accepting that letting them go is for the better. I'm not a big fan of unresolved angst in a long format; suffering is a passthrough state and not a permanent end, so I find tragically angsty works to be dissatisfying on the whole. There should ALWAYS be a light at the end of the tunnel, even if it's only visible once you're battered and lost in the dark, and as such, I don't like to leave things on the worst note.

What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

We're once again getting a pair here, these two fit together actually: Single-Sided Dice and Last Man Standing. They're both character introspectives that delve into the hardest parts of some of my favourite punching bags lives and then reward them for persevering by giving them the happy-ever-afters they never thought they'd earn, let alone live to see.

Do you write crossovers?

Not really. I've toyed with the idea of it here and there but I'm not a major reader of crossovers let alone a writer of them. I more like transposing the premise of one property into another than ramming two together at light speed. That said I would be lying if I said the idea of a Mass Effect post-canon meets Star Trek Voyager doesn't sit in the back of my head sometimes. I want to sticky-putty the Borg and the Reapers to one another and see then what happens when Chakwas and The Doctor take a smoke break together once we've let both crews go feral together for a week against that combination threat.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Oh boy have I. You'd be surprised how many people are pressed about my sellotaping together of random minor characters they didn't give a shit about before they saw someone having fun in their own lane.

Do you write smut?

I do! Usually as oneshots/shortfics because I'm not a massive fan of it within larger works but I think it's great when it can stand on its own or act as a device for taking characters apart.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I think I did once upon a time when I was young and a far less engaged writer but I prefer to write at my own pace and follow my own ideas without needing to work with someone else tbh.

What's your all time favorite ship?

C'mon you can't ask me that. It's definitely not the crackship I made up then delusioned my way into shipping for real. But for real, I don't like pitting ships against one another when they all have something different that I enjoy abt them. So instead you get the shortlist; Avitus Rix/Castis Vakarian, Barrix, Vakarian parents, femVetryder, kryterius and shakarian. No that is not a list with any semblance of order to it, those ships are all just here vibing together.

What's a WIP that you want to finish don't think you ever will?

Y'know I never say never but at this rate the sequel to Project Sunseeker, Good Men Don't Go To War, and the side-piece to Beyond Familiar Stars, Heart Of A Dancer, are gonna take like a decade to hit the ground.

What are your writing strengths?

Seemingly putting characters through a fucking mangle and making them messy and 'real'. Nobody is flawless or omniscient, no matter the scale of the plot they're trapped in.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Getting to the fucking point, I think. I'm about average at coming up with plot plans and sticking with them, but I suffer from major chapter bloat and too-many-ideas-itis. Plus actually remembering to keep my project list manageable is always a challenge (and is why I can write 80k for NaNo but then take 18 months to write 30k for something else).

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

Untranslated words/short exchanges for the sake of worldbuilding/plot/context? Delicious. Full dialogue? Eh... that one falls into two categories: - Dialogue wherein the protagonist is not expected to understand what's going on? Fun but it's writing garlic powder; there is indeed such a thing as too much and that point is where your reader disconnects from what's going on because THEY don't understand what YOU do. It's a fun flex but it has limits too. - Dialogue wherein the audience is intended to understand either from familiarity with the source material or context? Once again, big fat depends; I've always been advised to make the audience feel smart but to hold their hand to get them there. No matter how multilingual or well versed in lore your average reader may be, you'll still have a solid number who won't make the same leap. Don't alienate anyone just because you want to show off.

What's the first fandom you wrote for?

Beyblade, way back in 2008. Babycast was a precious kid and had no idea what they were doing but writing was fun even then (no matter that I was absolute fucking shit at it).

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

Helluva Boss/Hazbin Hotel - please do not perceive me or my flights of fancy I've been having a bad time recently and it's become a comfort show. I like my trashfire fandom cartoons alright

What's your favorite fic you've ever written? That changes day by day but here's a few I genuinely enjoy re-reading every bit as much as I enjoyed writing them:

The Longshot: my debut detective-noir-but-make-it-mass-effect, featuring Castis Vakarian as our protagonist. Genuinely, my favourite genre of fiction meets my favourite chew-toy; if I could suggest one sole work of mine to people it'd probably be this one in truth. Summary:

An elcor veterinarian is found brutally murdered at his own clinic. No motive, nothing to point towards his killer. It's up to Second Class Major Crimes Detective Castis Vakarian and his new partner - the newest addition to the Major Crimes team - to piece together both how and why someone would kill the beloved veterinarian before the rapidly cooling trail can be erased entirely. But if anyone does know why someone would harm the sweet-natured elcor, they're being kept quiet by fear, apathy or some combination of the two. Only, the situation is set to become all the more complex as Castis' personal and professional lives are forced to collide explosively - and left with his reputation on the line twice, he finds himself betting pride, reputation and relationship on a longshot; that he can solve this one case.

Tolerance Tested: I saw Macen Barro abandoned in a muddy puddle and nobody else was playing with him so I took ownership. It's fun and look, someone had to figure out how to tie the bios we're given for Avitus and Macen to the Andromeda Initiative. Summary:

Sometimes, Avitus Rix has too much heart for his own good. This time around, he's going to drag Macen down to hell with him though. Failing hell, how about Omega? Otherwise known as the pre-Andromeda Barrix mission fic we all wanted.

A Cold And Unfamiliar Home: My last NaNoWriMo fic - wherein we swap Avitus for Macen and see what happens next both within and after canon. As I've said before, nobody was chewing on this niche character so I saw an opportunity to play around with him. Summary:

Home is where the heart is and unfortunately, that's very much not here. A what-if coming off the premise that Macen Barro survives the arrival in Andromeda - only that isn't a story with a happy ending.

[plothooksinc]

For the writer truth and dare ask meme: 🧩🛼🍄(platonic pairings, since I know you don't ship much) :3

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

Improper formatting. WALLS OF TEXT. Multiple people speaking in the same paragraph. Constant and atrocious misspelling of the character's names. Your story might be great, but if I can't follow it, I'm not gonna give it a chance.

Also: people who use their tags or author's note to spit on any section of the fandom. I'm not talking about a simple "TCEST DNI" or whatever here because while I don't think those have any point, I get it. But if you follow that up with 2-3 tags/lines of how tcesters/ship enjoyers/any other group is gross and scum and should die in a fire, you've put a bad taste in my mouth and your story is already ruined for me, because it feels like continuing to read means I'm going HELL YEAH to whatever hate you're spewing. (Y'all can hate TCEST/kink/that random character all you want, I totally get it. But I'm here to read your fic, not be an awkward audience to your bitching.)

🛼 ⇢ describe your latest wip with five emojis

🧩🐀🗝️🐢📎

:D

🍄 ⇢ share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings

...see, this is putting me on the spot because I can't think of a single one. I'm just not the come-up-with-headcanons type. I mean-- I get a distinct impression in my head of how characters are personality-wise and how they will react to the Situations (TM) but I'm mostly drawing off canon and the things that are not strictly in canon are flavourings I tend to come up with spur of the moment and don't really think about too hard? I... do not know how to explain that better. Clearly if you read my stuff, Headcanons Are Involved, but I don't have anything concrete because to me the characters are malleable from story to story, and I tend to stick with the most plausible consistency canon will give me and add embellishments to that.

In short, I have no idea how to answer this question. This is the same as being asked what my favourite colour scheme is. Some things I just do not know, I just know while I'm implementing them in a very subconscious kind of way. (Yes, I'm not making sense. LMAO. Sorry!)

This is probably why a lot of my stories tend to be action adventure/continuations of canon and not like the deep dives that other authors do into angst and horrible emotional trauma. I'm just shallow as fuck, apparently. 8|a

Thank you!

Writing Truth or Dare questions here!

[not-poignant]

For the meme!!! 21 - 22 - 23

We love a sequential number sequence :D

21. Could you ever quit writing? Do you ever wish you could? Why or why not?

I mean, yeah, maybe one day! I don't want to quit writing, I certainly don't wish I could. I love this job! It's been my favourite ever job! It's also been the hardest fucking job I've ever done!!! But I still love it :'D

I don't want to say 'I'm never going to quit' - I don't know what the future might bring. The arthritis in my hands is pretty bad, maybe one day I'll be in too much agony to justify it. Maybe one day I'll just stop enjoying it. I don't believe in sticking something out forever based on how I feel about it now!

I can say with all confidence that I don't want to quit. The biggest flaw in this version of my job is that it doesn't pay super great for the amount of work that goes into it. BUT, it definitely pays better than working as a professional artist did, and there is growth, and amazing people do support the Patreon, so it's like...that flaw becomes less of a flaw over time.

I love this job. It wasn't one I would have picked for myself, but it's introduced me to the best people, it's something I feel I'm actually pretty good at (maybe I'm not, but this is a nice feeling to have), and it's kind of unique. I get to be my own boss (I'm a mean boss, but I'm getting better), and I get to work from home, and I can accommodate my chronic illnesses. I get to spend time in amazing worlds, with amazing characters, and then I get to reply to amazing comments and asks made by amazing people.

Like, when this job is going well, I feel like one of the luckiest people. When this job is hard I just groan a lot and take painkillers for editing headaches. But like, the good parts of this job are very good!!

22. How organized are you with your writing? Describe to me your organization method, if it exists. What tools do you use? Notebooks? Binders? Apps? The Cloud?

I'm pretty organised.

So, all of my chapters are written in Microsoft Word and saved directly into Dropbox (with offline storage as well). All of my folders are also very well organised. I have a naming system for each chapter, and everything is chained together pretty well.

On top of that I now use Obsidian for worldbuilding (it's free! Though you can pay and they deserve money for their awesome service). I used to use World Anvil but found it too clunky for my personal needs. I have about 4 Obsidian vaults now (i.e. different worlds) and they look like this:

You can see a chained folder system on the left, and the graph view on the right.

And the information in the individual files is set up like a Wiki page:

Not all of my worlds get this treatment, but Underline the Rainbow, Vexteria, Mallory & Mount and something else I've forgotten about all have vaults. Fae Tales doesn't, because I didn't know Obsidian existed when I started worldbuilding for that, lol, so all of that is in Word.

And then I will on occasion just write in notepads and in Paperblanks journals when I need to brainstorm stuff. This part of the process is especially useful when plotting, brainstorming names or titles, or figuring out the end of a story.

I don't use Google Docs (don't actually like it), Scrivener (hate it, sorry Scrivener fans), or anything else. Word has its issues, but it does well enough for me. I actually formatted Perth Shifters in Word.

23. Describe the physical environment in which you write. Be as detailed as possible. Tell me what’s around you as you work. Paint me a picture.

I write in a study dedicated to art/writing, because those have been my jobs for over 15 years. I sit at a large desk, and have a desktop computer with one monitor (I've wanted two monitors for such a long time), a decent speaker system, and a good RGB hard-drive.

It's a mess, lol.

Hang on let me show you:

I have stickers on the desktop by the immaculate WhiskeyRabbit. I have a bunch of art supplies, and art in various stages of completion (the raven is finished, Augus behind the raven is not). There's meds and supplements everywhere. I have my Metformin (diabetes meds) in front of me because I often eat where I work, lol. I have some Sank collectible toys on the subwoofer because I find Sank very inspiring. And lots of art behind me like I'm some 18 year old instead of the 41 year old I actually am.

Oh and like, some half-finished chocolate blocks, lmao. And some fingerless gloves, a tea-towel, notepads for my writing, a calculator for my wordcount, a little spiky massage ball for the muscle/fascia issues in my wrists from writing so much, and much, much more.

It's a very ADHD desk. I do not notice the mess, lmao.

To my left is my writing whiteboard which tracks my writing and the chapters I've completed for the year, and my yearly wordcount to date. It also has some pinned up fanart and gifts from readers to keep me going when things get hard! :D

--

From the Weird Writing Questions meme!

[lestappenforever]

Hi, Mona !! I haven't talked to you for so long . I've been busy fighting off demons (Me changing the trajectory of my career). So how have you been? Hope you are good :))

I'm obviously over the moon about the Charles win (He's so amazing I love him 😭) . Honestly, congrats to us we made a good choice with our favourite drivers lol.

Anyway, so I have seen most of the big names in the Lestappen community on tumblr including you talk about somebody plagiarising your posts and posting somewhere else atleast once right? So imagine my surprise when I open the comment section of RBR's Lestappen post on Instagram and literally the most liked comment with 800+ likes starring back at me is MY OWN POST from yesterday word for word too. Lmfao , it was such a conflicting moment bcz on one hand it was such a "mom, I'm famous!!" moment bcz smth smth about immitation is the greatest form of flattery but also like wow why is that person being appreciated for a thought I HAD. But anyway I know it's not a big deal bcz it's not a fic afterall but still I just had to share this with somebody so I thought you might be the best person. It's still weird tho lol .

Hope you are having a great day ❤️

Hi DK! ❤️ You're changing the trajectory of your career? That's huge! I hope that's going beautifully for you and that you'll be happy with the change! I've been alright, thank you - busy, busy, busy at work, so I'm happy things have began to slow down now.

Charles did an incredible job yesterday, and I'm so happy for him. Monaco and Monza in one season, it must truly mean the world to him. And we did make a good choice, didn't we?

Yeah, plagiarizing posts is unfortunately nothing new. If you say something funny on the internet, somebody is bound to steal it and pass it own as their own idea, that's just how it works. And given how many posts are meme posts, it's also kind of hard to claim ownership over it given how others have used the same format many times before with different content, which I think adds to how easy it is for people to take someone else's posts and pass them off as their own without seeing a problem with it. It's still sad, though, especially when they do it word for word, and I'm sorry that happened to you. They do say that imitation is the greatest form of flattery, but there are still limits.

Although it would personally affect me a lot more if somebody tried to plagiarize one of my fics (which did happen not too many months ago, surprisingly enough by someone quite big in the fandom as well) than one of my posts, it's still annoying as hell and definitely weird.

You're such a sweetheart, and I hope you're having a great Monday. ❤️

[coffeeandjournaling]

Picks from the 12-word RPG Jam

The 12-word RPG Jam has ended and I rifled through all the beautiful submissions I missed during the last few busy weeks. Here’s a few of my personal favourites, but please do explore the list yourself if you have the time!

A word or two before we start: Micro RPGs are pretty diverse; some might work similarly to the games you are used to, others are more abstract and yet again others exist purely for the artistry of it. Try and give them a fair chance, even if they seem odd or cryptic at first. Personally, I like to see them as sort of interactive poetry (not that poetry in itself isn’t interactive, but maybe not specifically created to be interacted with in the same manner) or a recipe to aid your playful instinct. It might also be good to know that most of these are free or pay what you want, so the risk on your side is very low. 😉

Blorbo the Goblin by RatGrrrl Games

This adorable little guy is perfect for the tumblr crowd – WHAT about Blorbo the Goblin? I love that the inclusion of Blorbo in this specific meme environment immediately makes them relatable, as this format is usually reserved for slightly awkward situations or achievements that seem unimpressive to most people. Maybe Blorbo is really good at raising butterfly larvae or they can make the perfect scone – either way you feel empathetic right away and imagining a little story for them can fill a few minutes in your day. Adopt a new (but different) Blorbo today!

God Said Let Civilizations Grow by S. L.

To be super honest, I feel like I’m playing this game every week in my fridge…albeit not on purpose. Which is why this intrigues me so: break up some crackers in a bowl, pour water over and wait until something starts growing – either mould or, depending on your choice of cracker, the odd little sprout, if there’s seeds in there. Purposefully creating what most of us would just throw in the trash gives you another perspective on life, I feel like. A very meditative game that I haven’t tried yet, but will soon (yes, I’m dead serious).

Afungus by W. H. Arthur

While we are on the topic of fungi, have another one. Picking up on the Among Us mechanics (which aren’t original, either, but certainly gained inspiration from what the teens and kids once called “Mafia” and is now more widely known as “Werewolf”) and the current trend in putting mushrooms in everything, this is a fun twist on the formula and super easy to understand when you’re familiar with the concept. Best of all, this one is playable as a group! A great filler in between other games when you’re already seated at the table or perhaps something to do while you wait for your pizza to come out of the oven. I’m a sucker for puns, space settings and humour, so this is right up my alley.

Story in a Jar by Eliot Silvarian

Small items often go unnoticed after a while – your last holiday souvenir is probably collecting dust on a shelf somewhere as we speak! One man’s trash is another man’s treasure: slip into the role of a tiny person living in your own home and re-imagine the use of some of the trinkets, baubles and bric-a-brac you have lying around. That guitar pick you never use might make a durable tabletop, a pair of dried-up acorns could be holed out and repurposed as baskets and the hands on your broken wristwatch might still serve as chopsticks for someone so small. All you need is stuff from around your house and a way to record the little story you make up for your character. I have a soft spot for these low-prep, spontaneous creative exercises, plus they’re great when you have children around and need a distraction!

The Lazy Cartographer’s Guide by froggikit

I find that coming up with maps and locations can be harder than making up characters and while there’s a bunch of map-making software out there, they’re not always so easy to learn and/or accessible to everyone. This is a simple and fast way to generate a quick analogue map if you need one and might even be cool to use alongside another game (my first thought was it’s perfect for A Quiet Year). Just throw some dice, draw a wiggly line around them and interpret the numbers rolled for your trees, settlements and wondrous places. Another one that would be great in a group!

Some quick honourable mentions:

Uplifting! by Beth and Angel Make Games – a collection of 12-word RPGs meant to lift your spirit in your everyday life

Gesta orbital by La esquina del rol – a space survival game that’s pretty punishing and scary

Ominous Blessing by Junk Food Games – a collection of three mysterious and occult games for a spooky night alone or with friends

Endless Walk by From These Rolls – a reflective game about noticing your surroundings while you take a walk – or a character of your choosing

As you can see, the range is incredible: some are tools, some are ways to spark your imagination, others full-fledged games. I highly encourage you again to take some time and explore. Have fun!

[thelordofgifs]

How’s your writing process with tfs going being a bullet point fic? Why’d you pick that format over any other type?

Oooh, what a fun question!! I picked the format partly because I was reading an absolutely fantastic bullet point fic at the time (Fate, Unwinding by SpaceWall) and partly because, after I wrote up about 400 words of the fic in prose, I realised I wanted to plan it out more before I continued to write it. But then my plan was vaguely funny and I realised I could also try this interesting format if I wanted to!

I think the bullet point format does work very well for canon-divergence AUs in particular: it allows me to be more explanatory when I need to be, so that I can insert a quick aside about how I headcanon a particular character (and hence how that character might react to the canon divergence) without ruining the flow of the story. With tfs I did have some hang-ups in the beginning about how this wasn't a "real fic", but eventually I decided I might as well just embrace the style. And people seem to like the random memes and occasional interjections from the omniscient narrator, which is nice! The format definitely can feel very freeing. I don't worry so much about making my dialogue sound Tolkien-esque, which I strive for in my prose fics; in fact, being able to switch registers between casual tones and more formal ones has been a fun trick to have in my handbook, as I rambled here in a dissection of my favourite scene in the fic.

As for my writing process itself - back in early February when I started writing (HOW is this overgrown thought experiment three months old.) everything came incredibly quickly, which was fun!! These days I take the fic a bit more seriously, and also there are a ton of people reading it which occasionally makes me nervous and scared of disappointing everyone I should never ever be famous, which means that the writing is tougher at times. But then that might have also just been the excitement of a new wip which has now worn off a little. I still love tfs to pieces! But now it's not my baby, it's a demanding teenager whom I occasionally want to scream out and who occasionally makes me very very proud.

[daybreakrising]

5. What is a character you love, but don’t think you can write? 6. Name 3 things you love most about your muse/muses. 7. What is one overrated roleplay trend? 13. Is there one trope you can’t stand? 18. What is one thing you’d wish to see more in the rp community?

meme for roleplay muns | @wwriothesley

5. What is a character you love, but don’t think you can write?

k//azuha. i adore him, have done since the first time he appeared, but i don't think i'd be able to capture him to a degree i'd be satisfied with.

also, i'd love to write one of the g//enpact ladies but i have no idea who bc i don't think i'd do any of them justice dklfgnlfhgj

6. Name 3 things you love most about your muse/muses.

1) i love that there's quite a variety of personalities within my muse list. i might joke that i have a Type (and i do) but there's actually quite a wide array of characters. it gives me the chance to explore different attitudes and values & keeps things interesting.

2) i can't not mention wrio here, since he's clearly the current favourite. the thing i love most about him is that he's more than what he shows on the surface. i especially love that he turned out to be nothing like anyone expected based on his look. i really enjoy exploring the depths of his character and i can't wait to keep building on that both through my own headcanons and through writing/discussing with partners.

3) i also love my villains. i find villains / antagonists really fun to write, because they don't adhere to any rules. the more morally grey the muse, the more fun i can have with them. i'm not afraid to get dark & i won't apologise for their behaviour in the context of writing (but neither do i excuse them or pretend it's remotely Okay. i'm not a villain apologist and i never will be)

7. What is one overrated roleplay trend?

overformatting replies. i don't see this anymore, so i'm either following the right people, or it's died (or dying) out. but for a while, there was a lot of - frankly wild - formatting trends that i just couldn't understand. now i'm all for making things look nice, of course, but when i can't physically read something because it's so over the top, it kinda defeats the point. if i'm straining my eyes to read your tiny text, or struggling to understand a word because it's got a thousand spaces in it, i'm gonna get tired real quick and i'll lose interest entirely. just... keep it simple. simple can still be pretty.

13. Is there one trope you can’t stand?

oh, man, there are quite a few. i don't even want to mention some of them for fear of ending up in tags i don't wanna be in. i'll let your imagination run wild with that one. generally, though, they're all relating to types of relationships that i just do not vibe with at all.

i guess one i can discuss is a villain getting an undeserved redemption arc - and by that i mean a redemption arc where everyone just conveniently forgets all the terrible shit they did and the villain is never held accountable for their actions. no. that's not redemption, that's bullshit. give me a proper redemption arc with guilt and accountability and consequences.

18. What is one thing you’d wish to see more in the rp community?

it's gotten a lot better since i first started writing here, but it will always need more work - communication, tolerance & patience. i'm so happy that my little corner of the community doesn't seem to have any problems in that department, but i know it's far from true for other parts of the community. some people take this silly little hobby far too seriously and they need to just... chill. that feels like a bit of an obvious answer but i think it's an important one, so... /shrug

[psidn]

For the meme: 3, 41, and 46!

hello <333

3. What are some tropes or details that you think are very characteristic of your fics?

this is a hard question to answer, but i think it might be group dynamics?? helps that the majority of fandoms i've written in are sports anime, but i love having a good handful of characters just talking and annoying each other <3

41. Link a fic that made you think, “Wow, I want to write like that.”

somewhat more serious answer here so i'll do another one about something else.

A warlord with a dark secret. His defiant captive, who burns for his touch. A smoldering passion will ignite when they surrender to their…. for something very specific, which is going to seem silly considering the great writing of the fic itself, but i love the title/summary combo. like helenish' writing is some of my favourite but it's not at all a style i think i could pull off, nor do i want to because i don't think that's where my strengths lie. BUT THAT TITLE AND SUMMARY, and then reading the story and getting the full picture, and then coming back to the title and summary. it's so good!! i love the power of formatting and using the medium you have [points] i wanna do stuff like that!!

46. Do you prefer writing on your phone or on a computer (or something else)? Do you think where you write affects the way you write?

i usually write on my computer, sometimes with pen in a notebook. once, at an old job that i hated, and in hindsight was just not mentally stimulating enough, i would write in my head. not just like, general plotting or what have you, but wording. i'd repeat the words of a solid few paragraphs to myself. then i'd come home and type it up (and obviously edit and add some substance). i think i must have done this maybe in bits and pieces for a few things, but there's one fic that i know i did primarily like this and i think it shows haha. it's very sparse.

so that def affected the way i wrote, but other than chanting a fic in my head i don't know if where/how i write would affect the process in a significant way for me!

[danceswithdarkspawn]

1,3,12,24,34,43 for the writers ask game!

Hi and thanks for the ask!

1: Do you listen to music when you write?

Depends, but mostly yes. Usually indie music or instrumental covers. Occasionally I'll listen to the OST of whatever media I'm writing.

3: Computer or pen and paper?

Both, actually! When I'm having a particularly difficult time, writing by hand seems to help out. Lately I've been doing first drafts by hand, and then second drafts + editing when I type it up later.

12:  Describe your perfect writing space

It's 3 am. I'm wide awake. It's nice and quiet and I can hear myself think. Distractions are at a minimum.

Perfection.

24: Favourite genre to write and read

I tend to write and read angst/drama with a side of adventure sooo...probably that? Funnily enough I don't really think about genre too much when selecting something. It's more 'does this satisfy the itch I'm having? Yes? ok that one.'

34:  What was the hardest scene you ever had to write?

I feel like I've had a few of these and my brain is refusing to pull the memory out of its rolodex.

A recent-ish one was a draft for a prompt. The TLDR of it is that it gives more context to events before Broken Bird, including the kidnapping and rapes of alienage women by a local noble. While nothing is graphically stated and the counting is done after the fact, it was still heavy to write and I actually had to take a break from it. It is not finished, and perhaps never will be.

Unfortunately, there are a few things I plan to write in the future that may give this a run for its money. We'll see how that goes.

On a more technical level, I've been working on a oneshot (which might get adapted into another longfic, I haven't made up my mind), which includes a scene where two characters are dancing at a masquerade, while also spilling the tea they have on the other. It's a difficult scene because juggling the dancing (movement, limb placement, etc.) the banter, and the tension is just a struggle lol

43: What do you do if/when characters don’t follow the outline?

I probably mentioned this somewhere already, but I don't usually do outlines. If I do, they're very barebones, or most often I just have a series of notes or silly meme-format scribbles that I somehow make into serious writing.

To answer the question: I just let the character do what it's doing and look over it later (usually during editing) to see if it Does The Thing I want. More often than not it actually gives me new ideas.

[philcoulsonismyhero]

@squireofgeekdom tagged me in a 'share the titles of your WIPs and let people ask you about them' meme, and I was actually thinking about doing something like that anyway with the various original comics ideas I've got going at the moment, so I'm bending the rules slightly and giving you a little bit more than just the titles:

No Place For A Doctor - a short (24 pages) backstory comic for my beloved old DnD character Sam Harnendil, featuring his days as a conscripted army surgeon and how he accidentally got cleric powers from yelling at a god for not doing her job. This is the one I'm currently thumbnailing, which is exciting, because it's starting to resemble an actual comic

The Woodsman And The Wolf - a queerplatonic fairytale-ish thing about a woodsman and the injured traveller he finds in the woods one day who, spoilers but not really, turns out to be a werewolf. It's a story about monsters and what makes one and I'm very attached to it, and I'm currently at the stage of turning a pretty thorough outline into something resembling a script

Untitled space hero thing - a shorter thing, hopefully, that came about from bouncing some of my favourite mentor-mentee relationship tropes off of Captain Marvel. The space-disaster equivalent of a firefighter crash lands on Earth and ends up teaming up with an engineering student in order to save the planet and maybe herself in the process. Still needs the plot properly outlined after a certain point, but it's got Themes already (grief, mostly, and new beginnings and letting people back in)

Red Shift Blue Shift - beloved long-in-development sci-fi webcomic project with @yourfriendlyneighborhoodenby, which you can find a bunch more about over on the blog we made for the project @redshiftblueshiftcomic. We've got a bunch of short character backstory comics at various stages of figuring out that I really want to actually make this year, as well as finally getting together a proper script for Chapter 1, which is about saving a sentient generation ship from unscrupulous scavengers

Untitled gay detective thriller - this one spontaneously manifested in my brain the other day in the format of a movie, but I can't make those so now it's a comic I guess. It's a serial killer investigation starring a police detective who used to be a spy, whose life gets increasingly complicated as he starts to suspect the killer is someone from his past, who may even be trying to frame Our Hero for the murders... Also he's gay, because action-y crime thriller heroes so rarely are, and his partner is a forensic pathologist working on the same case. Still just broad strokes for now, but getting places, and something of an exercise in writing something that fits into quite a specific genre But Gay This Time

I'm very much in the mood for talking about any and all of these, so send me a title and I'll tell you a bit more about that one! (Or ask specific questions if you've got them, that's also good!) You might also get some character design doodles or panel thumbnails for some of them...

[burntblueberrywaffles]

"#tbf i have not watched it" Then why are you commenting on it's quality?

Convenient how you truncated that sentence and removed the parts saying but I know several of the story arcs bc I’m chronically online and obsessed w Anakin Skywalker #and hearing about a lot of them it’s like??? he would not fucking do that

I also guess you saw that tag but missed the ones saying #if you disagree that’s fine ypu can just mute the TCW critical tag assfkldgk 🏃‍♀️ literally I’m not trying to spark some huge debate you can enjoy whatever you want, I’m just a silly goofy girlie trying to make the subset of the fandom that does dislike TCW!Anakin laugh with a little meme it is not that deep bestie - I properly tagged my post with both #TCW critical and #the clone wars critical, remember that these are the times where you go to the muted tags section and curate your fandom experience bless ✌️

That said you’ve decided to send me an anon ask and this is ppl misunderstand my sw posts take 345 so sure;;;; let get into it - this meme was specifically aimed at the characterization of Anakin Skywalker- I have no opinion on TCW’s quality as a stand alone show, in fact if you were to divorce it from the source material, it does look pretty ok. More specifically, this post is about a phenomenon in the SW fandom where some Anakin haters are basing their entire argument for why he’s always been an irredeemable character on TCW plot lines, which is infuriating when you’re a huge Anakin fan - bc yeah, from what I’ve heard, some of his actions in TCW do suck… but that is not the Anakin character I enjoy, it’s some other guy with the same name. I’m entirely willing to admit Anakin is a bad person (with some nuance that is) but for god sake your argument should at least be somewhat rooted in the original source material. If someone said "your favourite character sucks actually, he did this bad thing in a fanfic I read!" I think you’d agree it’d warrant a certain level of frustration.

"If you’re not talking about the overall writing quality of TCW then why did you phrase it like that?" BECAUSE ITS A FUCKING MEME this always fucking happens and y’all have me wanting to bang my head against a wall;;;;; you simply cannot make a point through meme format without losing nuance - a meme needs to be short and to the point, so yeah, I do sacrifice a lot of nuance when expressing some things just because I think it will make a funnier post, bc again and again I make the mistake of assuming the audience will have the intelligence of understanding that it’s a FUCKING JOKE. Once again;;;; I am literally just being silly and goofy in my internet corner - I think I might have made a total of 5 serious sw posts and two of them were fanfic rec list (obviously not the real number but like;;;; even post where I do communicate a genuine sw opinion are often phrased in a very joking manner, above all im here to have a silly time not get into fandom fights lmao)

Now that is more rude that I usually allow myself to get bc I believe in healthy respectful exchanges, and I do apologize for that but then again if you’re looking for an edifying conversation maybe you should start by not sending people bitter anons ❤️