#when i find out who created writer's block there will be war

[pixiepaintt]

working on my hades!erica x persephone!sarah au fic is hard but making chapter titles based on the episodes is so fun

[the-owl-tree]

im a little too tired rn, is it okay if i ask you to elaborate on the “tbc shouldve come out after oots because of how asc was handled” post… im curious 👀

Also a little sleepy so I might become back and edit this later but I was kind of nibbling on it in my brain and I think thematically, changing the order just lends itself better to OotS -> TBC -> AVoS -> ASC. Some of this is veering into rewrite/au territory but that's the fun part lol

Omen of the Stars

Sets up the religious themes of TBC with its Heaven/Hell cat war.

Sets up that StarClan can be wrong and this has negative consequences for the living cats. Examples: Yellowfang interfering in Cinderheart's life, StarClan telling the Clans to divide themselves before the war.

Sets up that there are cats in the Dark Forest who do not deserve to be there.

The Great Battle itself, quite literally them fighting demons of the pasts and "codebreakers" who aligned themselves with said demons, creates a really good set up for TBC.

The Clans are reeling and, had OotS pulled it off better, the great battle could've been devastating...and why a more strict leader trying to "pull his Clan together" would've been more acceptable.

The Broken Code

The themes and plot of TBC just work sooo much better with the aforementioned set up.

Themes of StarClan being wrong, making mistake, recontextualizing the Dark Forest as somewhere not as pure evil but also a result of these mistakes.

Ashfur swooping in post-war to get a hold on leadership, taking advantage of Clan pride, and using the code as a guise to unite ThunderClan under an iron fist.

Like the setting feels so perfect for TBC to me?? Post spiritual war between heaven and hell where even StarClan faced losses, a malevolent spirit with a grudge comes down to take advantage of this huge split whilst the worst leaf-bare the Clans have seen approaches.

But that's also obvious connections to make, what it also lends itself to is the new theme of authority and leadership that becomes relevant in AVOS.

This is also where the seeds of code changing are being planted.

A Vision of Shadow

Like I don't like AVOS Rowanstar, I find the text tells me one thing but his actions tell me another but for the purposes of this, I'll indulge the intention of the writers: Rowanstar is supposed to be too permissive.

And like, this doesn't work right after OOTS in which multiple ShadowClan cats sided with the Dark Forest.

But it does work post TBC after the Clans just fought and faced losses against Ashfur.

We see a leader reckon with the consequences of their own unchecked power (and perhaps sees some past echoes in the process?)

We see the use of the code to justify brutality fuel a growing disrespect from those in the Clans.

There is unease and unhappiness with the status quo (and in a good series, this should not be a bad thing)

SkyClan also brings into question the benevolence of StarClan. Would they turn a blind eye to ShadowClan? To RiverClan?

Things need to change, AVoS is the straw that breaks the camel's back: things need to change.

A Starless Clan

Berryheart's role hinges a lot more on AVOS while comparatively everyone else's can be either or, so just making AVOS more relevant adds to that.

ASC, as muddled and sloppy as it got, is about change and it is about progress, even if the authors got really scared and sympathetic towards bigots who want to halt that progress.

Continuing the theme of authority: what happens when a Clan has no leader?

Continuing the theme of faith: what happens when cats turn their back on StarClan?

and don't get me wrong, ASC stumbled downhill into a bush of thorns, but these themes do have more room to stand when we reorder and stack these themes to build on one another.

I'm stretching a little but I think thematically, switching everything around like building blocks just makes ASC like...idk have more to stand on?

I think I'd have to go on more of a rewrite tangent to make this work better but I feel like using TBC to set up AVOS rather than vice versa works better.

Star Specific Point (Spoilers)

I think also the ending ultimately being about choosing to come back and faith in the living also just caps off these building themes better. Frostpaw choosing to come back because she can do more alive than dead just lends itself to ideas of autonomy and breaking from the idea that StarClan is all-knowing and all seeing.

[daytaker]

NightBringer Satan is a Gift.

I understand everyone has their own opinions on how good/not good NB is as a game or a story or whatever, but in my opinion, Satan's characterization is soooo enhanced by it. I know that this isn't an opinion that everyone shares, but to me, Satan felt emotionally artificial sometimes in the original game (more on that below).* He felt kind of awkward and like he wanted to connect with MC but something was blocking the kind of connection they develop with some of the other brothers. (Disclaimer: I've only done season 1 of OG, so I can't speak to how he's characterized later on. I know, I know, shame. But I'm trying my best.) Getting to see what Satan is like when he doesn't have any control over his emotions makes the stiffness and artificiality make more sense to me, and they become admirable because we get to see just how hard it is for him to get everything under control.

I think they did a really good job with the pacing of his development in NB too. Satan in Lesson 1 and Satan in Lesson 19 are different, but there isn't a moment where he suddenly starts controlling his emotions better. I think there's a lot going on behind the scenes with him as far as his emotional growth and self control are concerned.

Also let's not forget some very important things about Satan that make him, IMO, one of the most interesting characters to work with as a writer:

Satan was never an angel; he had no fall from grace.

Satan was created from Lucifer's wrath---he is literally the product of trauma and self-mutilation.

Satan is significantly younger than his brothers.

He spent the first year of his life more or less trapped in a castle with his deeply emotionally wounded brothers.

He has a deep resentment towards Lucifer that sometimes defies reason---he wishes he didn't dedicate so much of his time and energy to him, but it's basically a compulsion.

He hates his deep association with Lucifer, and he hates that he has a lot in common with him.

And these lead me to some headcanons that live rent-free in my brain every day of my life.

Satan sees himself as a reminder of the Great Celestial War and everything his brothers lost in it, including Lilith.

He is divine retribution against Lucifer for his failure, for leading his brothers to failure, for letting his sister die.

He acts as a counterbalance to Lucifer's pride by bearing the weight of the shame that Lucifer can't fully accept now that he is the Avatar of Pride. Even if Lucifer pushes it out of his mind, Satan never forgets that he failed in the worst way possible.

His biggest aspiration is to become a full and complete person outside of any association he has with Lucifer. He feels like some sort of parasitic tumor that exists only in opposition to his brother, and he wants desperately to escape that role that he feels he was born into.

Anyway, Satan is great, hail Satan, all that good stuff. Did you know I have a lot of thoughts and opinions about Satan? I know, shocking. For more of my takes here's my fic about him (on AO3).

*I think Satan almost metaphorically represents certain elements of autism---emotions that don't come out the way you intend, masking and its limitations, hyperfixations that are barely under control. In Fandom Discourse(TM) there's sometimes a level of focus on more 'cutesy' autistic traits that we find endearing in characters, like social obliviousness and gleefully indulged hyperfixations. But emotional control, emotional masking, emotional seepage, emotional artificiality---these are also real and messy and often times they aren't cute and they're uncomfortable to see in yourself or in someone else. I really don't like diagnosing characters so I'm not about to claim Satan "is" autistic, but as someone who has been called essentially 'spectrum adjacent' by doctors, I relate to the awkwardness and the desire to appear normal despite knowing you're not and emotions spilling out in ugly ways---um. That got really long and personal.

[bohemian-nights]

https://www.tumblr.com/drakaripykiros130ac/732901209272467456/i-am-just-loving-the-so-called-concern-tg-stans

This is how I find out an anti-nettles tag exists of Tumblr people are so shallow minded and miss the point George's original story people really think just because these dumbass show runner decided the race-bend an entire group of characters for cheap brownie points of representation that it means Nettles no longer matters like no, it may no longer be about race just because the writers are trying to force feminism onto Rhaenyra's character but it's still about class. A low born orphan at just the age of 17 was capable of doing what dozens of well trained knights failed to do. She survived one of the biggest civil wars in Westeros history, she had one of the last surviving dragons of the dance (who cares who's the biggest, oldest, most shiny etc etc it was Nettles and her dragon that outlived them all in the end) AND she was capable if creating an entire culture around herself (the tribes could've easily over powdered her but instead chose to worship and respect her) mind you all she had was a dragon, she had no titles just her name. Also, she's a few of the very few characters in the books that show care and remorse, she mourned Jace someone she barely knew and cried for Driftmark despite having lived a life previously where she was mistreated and starving on the streets. I swear these Dumbnyra stans deserve their names (Dumbnyra), and just because some of us are pro-Nettles, it doesn't automatically make use of team Green, Team Green can kick rocks as well because they are such hypocrites, whining and complaining about how their fav characters were stripped of importance and reduced to a singular thing yet they turn around and strip Nettles's character as a gotcha moment towards to Dumbnyra stans, as if her relationship with Daemon is the only thing important to her character. These stans also need to realize the Nettles is one of George's favorite characters whose stories he'd like to continue.

👆🏽That’s for the fact that this racist(who I should mention I’m blocked by for no reason🤣) actually knows how to tag things properly. I’ll give her that, but who exactly died and made her an authority on Black representation?

Dumbnyra stans this is exactly why people keep calling you people racists:

Do tell me how white a** Alys Rivers(no disrespect, but come on) had more purpose than a girl who shows that Targaryen supremacy is a lie? The girl that shows you don’t need Valyrian blood to claim a dragon.

The girl that George himself said he wanted to write a novella on(never heard him say that about Alys, Addam, Alyn, any of the other dragonseeds, Rhaena, and Baela)🤷🏽‍♀️

They are so blinded by the fact that she “ruins” Dumbnyra(which isn’t what they claim it is which is why they are scared sh*tless of her being on a show they claim doesn’t matter) that they make up lies about Nettles being the most irrelevant character in Fire & Blood.

This can never be irrelevant/unimportant/unnecessary/whatever else you want to say to demean her:

That happened long after the Dance boo boo(when Missy Anne’s a** was long dead 😊).

And if the one who wrote that garbage happens to be reading this(because I know you people are stalking me), f*ck you. I mean that from the bottom of my heart. You've crossed the line.

You’re a bigot. You have no right to speak on Black representation let alone say we are good on representation that doesn’t even affect you and that you have no understanding of.

And you definitely don’t care about representation because if you did you wouldn’t want Rhaena who has her own arc to replace Nettles who according to you wasn’t Daemon’s lover. If she’s just his daughter or his mentee, well then you have nothing to be worried about. Her presence on the show shouldn’t disrupt your putrid little white supremacist ship or make Missy Anne look bad since what happened at Maidenpool was all a big misunderstanding and Mysaria’s fault😊 You shouldn’t give a second thought to her.

Yes, Black people care about this issue(and even if some of us are a part of Team Green because that’s the majority I see from Team Green actually caring about her, then so what🙃).

Do you see how we are portrayed by the media? Do you see what happens to Black characters in TV shows and movies? To Black women characters? Do you see how they are treated by production and the fandom?

What you people are doing isn’t new. Just look at The Bear, Sleepy Hollow, Vampire Diaries, Star Trek, Star Wars, GOT(see how Missandei was done), and Marvel fandoms(there are more than that I’m just too tired to get into it).

The moment there is even a hint of a possibility that a Black woman might be in a relationship with the fandom hottie, hell the moment a Black woman doesn’t have a stereotypical role, all hell breaks loose and you people look for every excuse and spout out the same tired crap on why so and so is irrelevant, is a terrible character, doesn’t need a man, needs to be cut, should be killed off, should be replaced, etc.

So just because you don’t care doesn’t mean we should accept scraps, or our “irrelevant” characters being cut, or swapped out with race-bent characters. Black people aren’t all the same sweetie and we deserve more than what you feel we do.

If that’s too much for your diminutive brain to handle why don’t we just combine Ulf and Hugh? It’s not too late to cut out one of the two’s roles in post-production. After all, they serve the same role and they are both white.

You know what? How about we combine Black Aly and Jeyne Arryn while we are at it😀

Should we view Helaena and Rhaenyra as the same? I have a hard time telling them apart since they are both white and blonde. They should wear name tags that way we don’t get them confused 🙃

Let me stop there.

Sorry for ranting anon, but I’m so tired of the disrespect. Like how does one character who’s supposedly so unimportant cause so much uproar?

I go in on Dumbnyra stans a lot(and that person shows exactly why), but you are right that all sides of this fandom treat Nettles like she’s trash. If it’s not saying she’s a plot device sent to ruin Dumbnyra from Team Black and that anyone Black can replace her it’s how Team Green is so worried about her being abused and how maybe it’s for the best she gets cut.

Their behavior is utterly disgusting. It's anti-Black, but no one takes anti-Blackness and especially not misogynoir seriously.

Nettles may be a secondary character, but she’s the most important secondary character during the Dance. She starts out literally homeless. She claims Sheepstealer by determination, not by blood. She’s the only one to claim a wild dragon. The only non-Valyrian dragonrider that we know of.

She gets the Rogue Prince to fall in love with her to the point where he’s willing to die for her and disobeys his wife’s orders to save her. She survives the Dance with a dragon intake. Becomes a fire witch and is worshipped by a mountain clan in the Mountains of the Moon(she’s still worshipped by them during the main series). Her legacy is cemented.

I love her relationship with Daemon, but she’s so much more than just Daemon’s love. She’s a survivor. She’s the final girl. She would be seen as special as she is if she was white.

A character like her will never not be needed especially in a world where the representation of Black women in media, particularly fantasy stories, is still pretty bleak.

[lostcauses-noregrets]

A few words about trolling and harassment

I've had quite a lot of asks recently about how to deal with trolling, hate and negativity in fandom. There are too many to answer individually, so I hope you don't mind me answering like this.

Sadly trolling and hate is nothing new, it's always been a feature of fandom, and the Eruri fandom is no exception. Because the Eruri fandom has quite visible and popular artists and writers, I think it tends to attracts more trolls than you might expect for such a small fandom. It's also noticeable that incidents of hate and trolling always increase when the whole fandom becomes more active in the run up to anime season releases. Trolling can happen at any time though, sometimes it's a single sorry individual with no life, too much time on their hands, and no imagination to do anything more creative.

Being targeted by trolls can be understandably upsetting and I know that some people get really anxious and upset by the low level ship hate that buzzes around in the background. So how to deal with it? It might sound trite but the best thing to do with trolls is ignore them. Trolls are desperate for your attention, so don't give it to them. I know that's easier said than done though so my advice is that if you can't resist responding, do so with humour. Trolls rarely appreciate being laughed at. I have a strict policy of ignoring all the anon hate I get here on tumblr, but occasionally I get an ask that is too hilarious not to share, so I post it on twitter for everyone to point and laugh at.

Dealing with disingenuous fans can be a bit tricker, as it's not always easy to tell when someone is arguing a point in good faith or if it's bait and they're just trying to start shit. Like trolls, bait is best ignored. Don't let them hook you in and don't argue back, it's not worth wasting your time trying to change their mind. You won't. Just walk away. Spend your precious time on something that you enjoy instead, like reading your favourite fanfic, or creating something new for your fandom. And whatever you do, don't engage with ship hate and ship wars. Leave others to enjoy their ship, and you focus on enjoying your own. Shipping isn't a competition; it's not something you can win or lose. If people are bringing negativity and hate into the tags block them, and curate your timeline to minimise their visibility.

If you find that trolling, harassment and fandom discourse is making you really anxious and upset then you need to disengage. It's vitally important to establish your own boundaries and to stick by them. Don't hang out in spaces where there are people who will upset you, block and report obvious trolls, and mute anyone who brings negativity into your fandom spaces, even if they're from your own side of the fandom. Don't feel that you have to engage with the fandom at large. The best advice I've ever heard is that fandom is best enjoyed with a small group of like minded weirdos who you can share your kinks and headcanons with and who you can bitch to in private. Its sound advice and it's worked for me for years.

Way back in 2018, my friend and fellow Eruri fan @valisi-clark did a fascinating survey of why people send Anon hate. The anonymous responses they got were really eye opening. if you're interested you can read the whole thing here: Anonymous Hate Survey.

I can also highly recommend this beautiful post from @ladymacbethsspot with solid practical advice on how to deal with all kinds of bullying and harassment.

I hope this helps folk to navigate fandom's stormy waters. If anyone needs to get anything off their chest, my ask box is always open. I can't respond to every ask I get, but I do read them all.

[doctorodyssey]

https://www.tumblr.com/eddiegirls/752518473419309056/i-just-what-the-fuck-are-we-doing-here?source=share

Can I also say that there are MANY queer men who very much dislike, or feel poorly represented by, or are just generally disappointed with, the manner in which Buck's arc unfolded this season and his relationship with Tommy? I don't know...on top of the misogynistic aspect this feels like a disingenuous attempt to weaponize male queerness in service of a ship war and I really find it offensive. Using 'queer men love this story, therefore it is perfect and immune from criticism, and anyone who disagrees needs to shut up' as a shield doesn't work when some of the most vocal and articulate critics of the story are, in fact, queer men.

Just don't pretend that you care so much about "own voices" when you are clearly discounting numerous of those voices! And speaking of "own voices"...as far as we know, a woman wrote the controversial Daddy joke (and YMMV on how you feel about it but opinions are valid). So miss me with the "This is how gay men talk and YOU don't understand!" BS.

completely agree on all counts!!!! the entire discourse surrounding this is so unbelievably condescending. these people are always saying shit like "i'm convinced all of them [buddie shippers and/or people who disliked the 7x10 date scene] are teenage girls who never go outside and don't have any adult relationships and never talk to IRL Queer Men." which is ridiculous for a number of reasons including 1) like you said, plenty of ppl who disliked the scene (and who ship buddie) are queer men 2) also like you said, a straight (?) woman wrote the scene 3) women are allowed to have opinions, even if they are young women with less experience than others 4) if you genuinely believe they're all children, why are you in your late 20s/30s/40s+ trying to fight with them on social media??? block and ignore??? 5) many people who disliked the scene have written long well-thought-out critiques explaining what they didn't like (incl. why it has nothing to do with "kink shaming" in the first place lmao. some of us love daddy kink and still hated it. and we are valid.)

what kills me is like, i'm sure that both buddie shippers and bcktmmy shippers are majority women/non-men, as many fandom spaces tend to be. but from my anecdotal observations, there are way more STRAIGHT women who ship bcktmmy and way more bi/lesbian/queer women who ship buddie, at least on tumblr (i do not venture into the twitter fandom much, but most buddie stans i see on there are also queer).

i just need to touch on it again - it's so fucking funny that i'm supposed to just accept the bcktmmy date scene without criticism because "that's how REAL queer men talk" when it was literally created by cishet TV writers

[caeli0306]

For the writers’ ask game thing (please and thank you!):

❤️🎁👻

———————

❤️ What is your favorite line that you’ve written in a fic?

💥 What is one canon thing that you wish you could change?

✨️ Out of the comments you’ve received on your fics, what are two or three of your favorites?

👻 What is your wildest headcanon?

✍️ What’s your ideal writing setup?

🚀 Do you like to outline your fic first or create as you go?

🎁 Have a piece of a WIP you want to share?

🏷 Is there a tag you like to search for when looking for fanfics to read?

⏰️ Do you like to post fics on a schedule or at random?

👓 What helps you focus when you write?

💕 What is your favorite fic that you’ve written?

🐇 Do you write for yourself, for others, or both?

🥳 Why did you start writing fanfic?

🦋 Which character is your favorite to write?

🦈 Which character is the toughest to write?

🍬 Do you write for multiple fandoms? If yes, what is your favorite fic of yours for each fandom?

🌻 How often do you read your own fics?

📗 Do you want to write something outside of fanfiction? If so, what about?

🎬 If a movie or show were based on your fic, which fic would you choose and who would you fancast?

💭 What inspires you and your writing?

🧪 Do you research for your fics?

😎 What fics do you prefer on a scale of canon compliant to wildly original?

💎 Do you often write about a relationship or focus on an individual?

🔥 Have you included any sexy scenes in your fics? If yes, do you find them easy or difficult to write?

💘 Is it easier to write angst or fluff?

🚦What sort of endings do you prefer to write: ambiguous, bad, happily ever after, etc.?

💡How many WIPs do you currently have?

🔎 Does anyone beta read or edit your fics?

📚 Is there a fanfic or fanfic writer you recommend?

🤩 What led to your interest in the fandom?

🤖 Are non-fandom friends aware that you write fanfic?

💛 What is the most impactful lesson you’ve learned about writing?

👑 Do you like writing short fics or long fics?

🎯 Do you have a writing milestone you’re working towards?

🔮 Any advice for writers working through burnout or writer’s block?

🤔 Would you ever want to write something canon if you got the opportunity?

💌 Is there a favorite trope you like to write?

🎨 If someone were to make fanart of your work, what fic or scene would you hope to see?

Ooh thanks for asking!

❤️ - This is so hard. A few options b/c I can't choose!

from castles crumbling chapter 2

I want to scream, but I can’t get the air into my lungs. This isn’t fair. If Malek had to take anyone, he should have taken me. Not this innocent child. Not these people celebrating their gods. Me. A murderer. Someone who so long ago lost my humanity that I barely even remember what it felt like to be human.

This line from the present, the past, and you in between:

The war was long, but my life with her has been longer. I used to say that I've lived on borrowed time, and I accepted that my life was destined to be short. Then I began to pray to Malek, begging to borrow more, all to spend with her.

Combined with this line:

I begged Malek for more time, and he gave me too much.

From Did Someone Say Shots?:

Instead, I slept with her when I knew how horrible of an idea it was, and it fucking destroyed me when, in the morning light, she called it a mistake. Look at me, dealing with the consequences of my own actions.

Last but definitely not least, from chapter 6 of castles crumbling:

I laid my old self to rest a long time ago, but he is still there at the wake, trying to make sense of her demise.

🎁 - a lil blurb from an unpublished one shot, if it pleases the court :)

Then Xaden walks into the conference room. He has the kind of presence that makes people shut up and pay attention, and I hate him for it. The chatter that permeated the air dies away instantly, replaced by the silence of worshippers waiting for words from their god on high. I guess Xaden fulfills that role here. Those golden eyes of his find me almost immediately, and I school my expression into a glare. I hate you, I hate you, I hate you. That's the message I want him to receive. Instead, he only smirks, and then turns to retrieve a folder from Bodhi, who followed him in. Xaden takes a seat at the head of the long table, sitting as casually as one would in their own living room. He props his elbows on the table, the movement causing the muscles of his arms to bulge under the rolled up sleeves of his black button up shirt. I hate that he looks that good without even trying. I hate that I know what he looks like under that shirt even more. As if sensing that I was thinking about him, about That Night, he meets my eyes again, and his grin this time is downright filthy. "Shall we begin?" he asks. "Sorrengail, you're up. Tell us how you plan to save our asses, and try to make it quick." Oh, fuck him. I plaster on my most fake smile, and stand. Liam gives me a look from where he stands, that basically says Don't do something you'll regret. Luckily for me, I've about expended my regret reserves when it comes to Xaden Riorson. If he wants to be an ass, then fine. I'll be an ass in return. He needs me a whole lot more than I need him.

👻 - IDK if it's a headcanon, but I like to think Xaden sometimes needs assurances that she's not going to leave and that she loves him because he doesn't think he's worthy of her. Not in like, a toxic way, or in the "I need to know you'll be there" way that he brought up in IF, but more every day, like "Hey I'm feeling x right now, and need to hear that my brain is creating scenarios that aren't real." IDK if I'm making any sense.

[intrepidacious]

hi! ok I just wanted to ask someone who knows how tumblr works haha

so I found someone who writes amazing content so I decided to follow them. I binged lots of their fics earlier today and when I checked their profile again later, their profile doesn’t show. It seems they might have blocked me and I don’t know why :( I commented that I loved their fics and the comments are removed. my profile has my age and I am decently active on reposting & commenting on fics. This happened to me one other time too so I just am confused I guess :( I tried to message them but it said it wouldn’t go through so that makes me think I’m blocked? I guess I don’t know why a couple people blocked me? Just kinda made me sad bc I really enjoy their work but now I won’t be able to see anymore ☹️😢

happy to!! 💛

first thing you gotta remember that in all likelihood, your getting blocked is nothing personal. reasons for blocking someone on tumblr include but aren't limited to:

you don't have your age (range) listed in your bio/clearly visible on your blog

the age you have listed doesn't adhere to boundaries a blog has set (f.e. you're a minor, or it only says "18+" which i know many writers don't accept)

your blog is completely empty i.e. you don't post/reblog stuff

you don't reblog other people's writing

you spam like posts

you've never changed the default icon/header to something else

people don't vibe with the things you reblog

your theme is a colour they don't like

a lot of the time, it comes down to everyone's preferences. god knows i've been blocked by people and didn't understand why, but frankly it's none of my business. most likely, you won't ever find out, either. everyone is creating their own online space, and sometimes that means having a quick blocking finger. i'm sorry that you won't be able to read those stories anymore but you have to accept creators' boundaries.

however, there are some things you can do and try to prevent getting blocked in the future. these are only a couple of suggestions around tumblr etiquette i've picked up on over the years; if anyone else wants to chip in here, please do!!

1. make sure your blog is, by all appearances, that of a human being

this might sound stupid because of course, you are a human, but with the recent bot wars it's all the more important to double check for red flags.

check your url. does it include a random string of numbers, lots of dashes, just a name and an adjective? all of these have been indicative of porn bots and people might block you on sight.

change your icon and your header. yes, both of them. there are lots of creators on here who make wonderful fandom related headers and icons, or you can create your own with canva. just be sure to follow creators' rules and preferably reblog their creation

change your blog title. if your account is new, it will just say "untitled", which is another indication you might not be a human. use quotes, song lyrics, anything you enjoy

add a bio. this is where you put your name or nickname (you can make one up) age, age range, links to second blogs (if applicable), more quotes, whatever. i prefer my bio short and to the point, but that doesn't have to be you.

important: do this for all blogs and side blogs you use regularly. if you have a second blog for reblogging fics, you need to put up your age there as well, or at least visibly link to your main blog so creators can see you're not a minor. the harder it is to verify that you're an adult, the more likely it is that you will get blocked

2. know the different kinds of interactions on tumblr and navigate them well

there's a difference between liking, commenting, reblogging, and reposting, and it's important. lots of people use reblogging and reposting interchangeably, but that's actually incorrect and can lead to serious mishaps. let's dissect them one by one.

liking.

you're familiar with the like from other social media platforms. you tap a post twice or hit the little heart at the bottom of the post and it's added to your likes. wonderful, right? well. tumblr is a little different.

tumblr doesn't have an algorithm. let me say that again. there is no algorithm on tumblr. i guess there is, on the for you page, but that doesn't count because it's really shit. the only important thing on tumblr is your dashboard, and your dashboard only shows original posts and the reblogs of those posts from people you follow.

no one cares about your likes. your likes don't do shit. that's why creatives on here keep talking about reblogs. you need to reblog things on tumblr in order for them to get seen. it's a snowballing effect. likes are nice and all, but they're private. they're not contributing to a story or an artwork being seen by more people. they're essentially empty interaction. what's more, should a post get deleted for whatever reason, that post is gone for you forever.

i know some people use their likes as bookmarks for things they want to look at later, but i would strongly urge you not to do that. people block serial likers, because most of the time it is, sadly, very unlikely that they will come back and actually interact with the post again. that's just the way it is. we can thank tiktok and instagram for that. again, tumblr doesn't have an algorithm. if you want to genuinely support and encourage people on here, you need to do more than liking.

commenting.

this is a step up from liking, because you're actually interacting now. a comment will show up in the activity of the person whose post you left it on and of the original poster (op)—more on that distinction in a minute. comments are encouraged especially on ask/answer type posts, or as a reply to an earlier reblog.

when it comes to fanfic, there are, again, pros and cons. you can only leave a comment from your main blog, which means that even if you have a second account where you reblog fics, there's not necessarily a link between the two. this can lead to your getting blocked if you've never reblogged a fic to your main blog. on the other hand, if people comment on your fic without reblogging it, but they do reblog other people's fics, that can also rub creators the wrong way because it creates a strange sort of hierarchy: why those fics? why not mine?

important thing to note: i am not saying that to make anyone feel bad about "just" commenting, i just want you to be aware that this might go on in a creator's head. it has in mine. i'm very aware that this is a me problem, but it's also a reason why people might get blocked out of the blue, which is why i wanted to bring it up.

reblogging.

ah yes, reblogging. reblogging is the thing that makes tumblr tumblr, and it's so easy to do. you just hit the little 🔁 symbol at the bottom of the post, and boom, it's reblogged to your own blog. everyone who follows you can now see it on their dashboard, and if they reblog it, their followers can see it, and so on and so forth. every time someone reblogs a post from you, you will get a notification in your activity, and so will the op.

reblogs are the heart and soul of tumblr. yes, original posts are (usually) individual creations, but the community aspect of this site is born through the reblog. there are different variations on how to reblog. all are valid, because all help spreading posts around.

the empty reblog is the quickest option. there's literally a quick reblog option on mobile: if you hold your finger on the reblog button for a second or so, you will see your icon appear. if you swipe in that direction, the post gets immediately reblogged to your blog. something similar can be done on desktop with the xkit browser extension. it's fast, it's easy, it gets the job done. it's perfect for when you like a post but don't have anything specific to say/reply.

the reblog with tags is the second fastest option. tags, on tumblr, are sort of the sotto voce version of comments. yes, you can use tagging to organise your blog and make your posts easily findable (is that a word?) but the real fun begins when little asides are added. you can keysmash in the tags. you can put your thoughts in the tags. you can go full caps without it looking overwhelming in the actual post. if you're just starting to comment on things, the tags are a great place to start, because the actual post will keep looking the same; the tags are just a little additional bonus for both you and the creator. this is what you would use for the majority of posts that aren't works of art in any way, too, like text posts you want to find again, polls, photographs etc.

the reblog with additions though? oh boy. that's the real stuff. imagine it as clipping on your thoughts to the post, right there for everyone to see. you can add gifs, and memes, and change the font, and change the colour, and scream, and keysmash, and ramble without limitations. it's like catnip for the op. if you reblog a fic, a moodboard, a piece of art, a gifset, whatever it is, and you put your thoughts underneath? man, it's amazing.

side note: if you're new to commenting on people's fics and you don't know what to say, i highly recommend referring to this post. (btw i linked my reblog so it can act as an example of the different forms of adding to a post: there were other reblogs before mine, and i've added tags. useful in its content and as an example!!)

reposting.

this is where we need to be careful. reblogs are great. reposts are theft. where's the difference? reposting refers to you copying another creator's work, whatever it may be, and creating a new post without any indication to the original person's efforts. even if you do include their url, you will most likely get reported and blocked. because now, you've become the op of this copied post, and the actual creator will get absolutely nothing.

you will most likely have seen banners in fic communities that state something along the lines of "don't copy or translate any of my work to this or any other site". that's what this refers to. this would also include the following:

posting another writer's story to ao3/wattpad/another fic site of your choice without their permission. you can absolutely never do this. "but what if"—NO. never. fullstop.

some creators allow translations of their work, but you can only ever share those with their explicit permission and proper credit.

saving a gif to use without linking back to the artist. this is maybe my biggest gripe. yes, i know this site sucks at making gifs searchable, but still, you can't do this. and no, "credit goes to the original artist" doesn't count, where did that bullshit even come from? it makes me so mad. that's not giving credit, that's being lazy.

3. be nice, and have fun

this is fandom, and it's supposed to be a hobby. this is supposed to be a good time. none of us are getting paid for any of this. yes, we're all passionate about what we do, whether we're looking at other people's creations or we make them ourselves. we're fans of that common thing, and isn't that great?

just a little more internet etiquette that's not really tumblr specific but could be a good reminder for everyone:

not everything is for you, and that's okay

if something's not for you, scroll away

if you don't like what someone is posting, ignore them. mute them. block them.

do not ever, and i mean ever, send anyone hate. you don't know who's on the other side of the screen. block them and move on. life's too fucking short.

don't correct people's grammar/spelling. only assholes do that. if you can't help yourself and they're a person you've interacted with before, shoot them a private message and be nice about it.

don't offer unsolicited advice. i don't care if you want to give constructive criticism to help the other person. unless they've explicitly asked you to do that, don't. you'll get blocked so quick, and you'll ruin someone's day.

if you're reading a fic that's not finished yet, don't ask for an update. yes, you're excited for the story to continue. but "part 2", "when's the next chapter out", "more please" and so on are all things that put pressure on creators whether that's your intention or not. it gives us the impression that what we've already put out is never enough. and that sucks. by all means, be excited about what comes next, but not like this.

read!! old!! fics!!!! the beauty of tumblr being the way it is is that there's zero shame in interacting with older posts. it's not like you're liking a seven year old post on instagram. in fact, if you're commenting on a seven year old fic/gifset/moodboard/artwork on tumblr, i can guarantee you're gonna make that creator's day.

i'm absolutely positive that i've forgotten something in this post even though it's longer than several of my wips, so if any of my moots want to add something that'd be great!! in fact i'm gonna tag some of you because you know what? if you've read all of this you deserve a kiss. have a wonderful day 💛

@marvelettesassemblenow @barnesafterglow @imaginearyparties @aphrogeneias @brandycranby @writing-for-marvel @foreverindreamlandd @sanguineterrain @demxters @wildlivelychild

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

How Anti-Semitic Rhetoric Became Mainstream

Using anti-Semitic rhetoric, society historically accused Jews of being rich oppressors as well as leeches. Jews were rulers as well as disloyal agitators. Jews, they opined, are members of an inferior race; now, they are members of a privileged one.

Contemporary Jew-haters have similarly evolved in their use of anti-Semitic rhetoric. They have transformed what were once the sentiments of the radical fringe into the accepted stance of our current woke moralists. 

“Doublespeak” – the deliberate use of language to conceal or distort the truth, a concept made popular in George Orwell’s 1984 – is the main tool in the arsenal of today’s anti-Semites. Spouting the correct language, they have seamlessly transformed their expressions of unbridled, raw hatred into commendable academic jargon. Unfortunately, it is also pure anti-Semitic rhetoric.

“What is really important in the world of doublespeak is the ability to lie, whether knowingly or unconsciously, and to get away with it; and the ability to use lies and choose and shape facts selectively, blocking out those that don’t fit an agenda or program,” explains writer Edward S. Herman in his book Beyond Hypocrisy.

Phase I: “Zionism is Racism”

Post World War II, the anti-Semitic rhetoric shifted away from overtly anti-Jewish to a new concept, “anti-Zionist.” The murder of six million Jews in the Holocaust was a fresh memory. This made attacking Jews on the international stage less politically attractive.

While this didn’t stop powerful countries from closing their doors to Jewish refugees from Europe, it did change the discourse. Now, Jews were attacked by the declaration that “Zionism is racism.”

Where and how did this ruse begin? Not surprisingly, with the Soviets, world-class masters of doublespeak.

The USSR’s Campaign Against Israel

The 1917 revolutionary forces in the former USSR officially abolished the Czarists’ discriminatory policies against Jews. Yet, the reality of life for Jews under the Bolsheviks was one of state-enforced antisemitism and demonization.

Jews lived with quotas as well as outright rejection from universities. Many professions simply shut them out. When they did find employment, they faced glass ceilings, never able to progress to the highest levels.

Yet, surprisingly, when the state of Israel was created in 1948, “All international communist parties supported partition and the creation of a Jewish State,” documents Philip Mendes in Jews and the Left: The Rise and Fall of a Political Alliance.  

This included as well the U.S. Communist Party which called Israel “an organic part of the world struggle for peace and democracy. The French communists viewed the Israelis in solidary with “resistance” fighters throughout the world.

Why Soviet Support Changed

Immediately after Israel’s 1948 victory in the War of Independence, “Zionism was … celebrated by the left as an organic movement of national return and a model for national liberation and decolonization movements throughout the world,” writes Alex Rychin in “Red Terror: How the Soviet Union Shaped the Modern Anti-Zionist Discourse.”

“Israel’s victory in its War of Independence and refusal to succumb to far mightier foes was positively awe-inspiring to adherents of political movements predicated on toppling structures of power,” explains Rychin.

Ironically, it was the communists who understood Zionism for what it actually is. Namely, the return of the Jewish people to their indigenous homeland (“Zion” being one of Israel’s biblical names). Historically, the Jewish people are the only people in existence who have had a continuous presence and a claim to the land in what is now the state of Israel.

However, communist support for the nascent state of Israel waned quickly, not due to ideology but to politics. By the time the modern state of Israel was created, the Cold War between Russia and the United States had already begun. The two superpowers pitted against each other, each vying for world dominance, including in the Middle East.

Israel's Support for Democracy

By the early 1950s, when it became apparent that Israel was espousing Western democratic values and supporting America, the Soviets realized they needed to significantly downgrade Israel, if not entirely ostracize it in the eyes of the world. That's where the anti-Semitic rhetoric came into play.

As a first step, the Soviets began spewing and exporting rabid anti-Semitic rhetoric. Specifically, they embarked on an intense and concentrated campaign against the “Zionists.” Part of this campaign was the infamous 1953 “Doctors Plot.” There, the Soviet government levied false charges against prominent Jewish doctors. They accused them of planning to murder leading government and communist party officials.

“The propaganda was highly compelling and steeped in long-established [anti-Semitic] themes of Jewish bloodthirstiness, greed, corruption, manipulation and cunning. It would contend that the very existence of a Jewish homeland was not only a plot of imperialism, but a mortal danger to the peace of the world,” writes Rychin.

While Russia was busy introducing the term “anti-Zionist” into the global lexicon, most Americans were focused on the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement. Yet Soviet-supporting professors at top American universities were paying close attention. In truth, anti-Semitism had never been in short supply at these universities. Most of them had Jewish quotas of their own.

The UN Ruse

At the UN, the Soviets began employing an audacious strategy using anti-Semitic rhetoric against Israel learned. Although the Nazis were their arch enemies, the Soviets learned from none other than Adolf Hitler. In his 1925 book Mein Kampf, Hitler praises the efficacy of using the psychological technique known as the “Big Lie”-- essentially promoting a lie so big that no one would believe that anyone "could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously."

Rychin documents the fabrication of the “Big Lie” against Israel by the Soviets:

When a sub-commission of the United Nations was tasked with drafting a convention on the “elimination of all forms of racial discrimination,” the proceedings naturally focused on apartheid, neo-Nazism and antisemitism. But the Soviets viewed the reference to antisemitism as a direct rebuke to their anti-Jewish measures, and served up an amendment that “was almost a joke,” even to the Soviet delegation itself.

The amendment inserted Zionism into the listed forms of racism. According to sources close to the deliberations, the Soviets understood “full well that the idea that Zionism is racism is an indefensible position,” yet they floated it anyway, in part to turn the US-led initiative into farce, and in part perhaps, to see how far a “big lie,” could go.

Ultimately, the Convention was adopted with neither antisemitism nor Zionism referred to … But the seed had been planted.

On 10 November 1975, the General Assembly of the United Nations passed resolution 3379 on the “elimination of all forms of racial discrimination,” which determined that “Zionism is a form of racism and discrimination.”

The accusation stuck, and pro-Israel advocates are still fighting this absurd allegation.

Phase II: “Zionism is a settler-colonial white supremacist ideology”

Today, anti-Semites still use the “Zionism is racism” canard against Israel. But now, the anti-Semitic rhetoric comes with a litany of other “sins” – namely that Israel is a “settler-colonial white supremacist” state. In this context, its “racist” nature is simply a given.

What caused the switch in language? How does it benefit those who desire to bring down the only Jewish state in the world? 

“Coalition of the Oppressed”

Most Americans viewed the election of Barack Obama as president of the United States as a watershed moment. Finally, the country thought, the era of post-racism had arrived. The fight for racial equality began with the freeing of the slaves. It was codified into law through the 1968 Civil Rights. Yet, it saw its ultimate expression in Obama’s election.

Most Americans thought that the era of post-racialism in America had finally arrived. Yet, Obama’s reaction to a number of pivotal moments in his presidency – the 2012 shooting of Trayvon Martin in Florida, the 2014 police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri (an event that sparked the Black Lives Movement) and the 1915 death of Freddie Gray while in police custody in Baltimore – proved otherwise.

With racial tensions flaring, the Obama years constituted the perfect atmosphere for the divisive concept of critical race theory to break through the walls of academia and find its expression in the streets of America.

By the end of Obama’s second term as president, a Rasmussen poll found that 60 percent of American voters thought race relations in the United States had worsened since President Obama’s election. A similar New York Times/CBS poll taken at the same time found that nearly 70 percent of Americans thought race relations in America were bad. This represented a level unseen since the 1992 Rodney King riots.

Critical race theory’s charge that America is a “systemically racist” country was powerful. Yet, those in Obama’s camp who were forward thinking knew that this grievance alone would not be enough to sustain their power base over time. Obama also recognized the limitations of this charge.

Identity Politics and Anti-Semitic Rhetoric

It was thus during his second term that Obama embraced the concept of identity politics. He began to push the idea of a “coalition of the oppressed.” The coalition included blacks, women (feminists), Hispanics, Muslims, indigenous and other “brown” people as well as those identifying as gay, lesbian, trans and a myriad of other emerging sexual identities – essentially all those granted victim status due to their oppression by the “Establishment.”

Jews were noticeably and pointedly not included.

In the 1960s, the “Establishment” was loosely defined as the structures of societal authority. By the early 21st century, those reviving the concept had a much more specific definition of their oppressors. Namely, “white supremacist colonial powers.” Those powers specifically included Jews, Zionists and Israelis, all of whom were now identified as white, European interlopers on land indigenous to “Palestinians” (a term previously used in common English to identify anyone living in British Mandate Palestine, Jews and Arabs alike).

Despite Sharia law’s treatment of gays, women and minorities, the coalition welcomed Islamist organizations. It did the same for radical Palestinian organizations, rebranding their violent tactics and support for terror conveniently as “resistance.”

Many of these organizations, such as Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), had already enjoyed victim status on college campuses. This was due to the successful mainstreaming of the “Zionism is racism” mantra, classic anti-Semitic rhetoric.

"Points of Unity"

When Nerdeen Kiswani, co-founder and former chair of New York City SJP (NYC SJP), began the radical Palestinian group Within Our Lifetime (WOL), it was with this broader “coalition of the oppressed” in mind. On a page titled “Points of Unity, “ WOL’s website reads,  

“We are anti-Zionists. Zionism is a settler-colonial white supremacist ideology built on the genocide and dispossession of the Palestinian people.”

On the same page, WOL pledges its allegiance to

“all oppressed nationality people in the United States and around the world to engage in all forms of struggle in pursuit of freedom.” 

One of WOL’s goals is to “Globalize the Intifada,” a strategy they employ to tie all “liberation” of “colonized and oppressed people” to persecution by the Jews – in WOL’s words, to “break free from the genocidal grip of U.S. imperialism and Zionism.” 

Neveen Ayesh: A Case Study

Ayesh is a millennial Palestinian-American activist working as the government relations coordinator for the Missouri branch of American Muslims for Palestine, an extremist anti-Israel organization with links to terror groups and terror financiers. The Anti-Defamation League has accused AMP of “provid[ing] a platform for anti-Semitism.”

She was active on Twitter between 2011-2017 when she was between 18- to 24-years old. There, she openly and unabashedly expressed her vitriolic hatred of Jews and spewed anti-Semitic rhetoric. A sample of her rage from that period includes the following tweets:

“#crimesworthyoftherope being a Jew" ( August 4, 2011)

“I want to set Israel on fire with my own hands & watch it burn to ashes along with every Israeli in it. Call it what you want to call it idc" (February 17, 2014)

“I should join al-Qassam [Hamas’ terrorist wing]. Be the first female to join their group lololol #IdLoveToThough." (August 2, 2014)

Ayesh is now a political ally of Congresswoman Cori Bush (D-MO) and co-hosted a fundraiser for her. She also has political aspirations of her own and has toned down her anti-Semitic rhetoric.

Re-branding Anti-Semitic Rhetoric

Canary Mission recently called out Bush for her relationship with Ayesh (whose antisemitism was widely known). In an attempt at damage control, Ayesh responded with a long tweet thread, essentially excusing her antisemitism by re-branding it in the “language of the oppressed.”

After acknowledging that she had said “horrible things” about Jews and assuring us that she is really “not that person,” she blamed her hatred on the “chaos” she claims is part of the Palestinian experience.

“Chaos,” she says, “that no one seemed to - and still does not - care about because we’re brown. Muslims and Christian’s alike but we’re brown and Palestinian Arab.”

Ayesh says that after moving to the United States and going to college, she “learned how to assign academic terminology to what I had witnessed, experienced, & continue to experience at home & abroad. I became able to speak from an analytical and informative aspect rather than an emotional one of rage …”

Namely, what Ayesh learned was how to use anti-Semitic rhetoric effectively. Now, she labels Israel a “settler-colonialist white supremacy” entity. From this perspective, it then becomes legitimate to advocate for Israel’s total destruction.

Agendas Over Facts

Increasingly, agendas are more important to our populace than facts. This makes language a powerful tool in the arsenal of anti-Semites. It is particularly dangerous when used by radical groups like the New York-based Within Our Lifetime (WOL). These groups have successfully used venomous rhetoric to inspire physical attacks on Jews.

Last year, WOL activists sent Jews in New York to hospitals through their violent attacks. The group’s aggressive campaigns have been linked to the dramatic increase of attacks on Jews in the wider New York population.

Through equally anti-Semitic and venomous rhetoric, campus groups like Students for Justice in Palestine have successfully created atmospheres at U.S. universities where Jews are not only pushed out of student leadership positions but where Jewish students at large no longer feel safe on campus.

Like their Soviet predecessors, today’s anti-Semites rely on the “Big Lie” to sell their wares. Unfortunately, they are being sold to increasingly uneducated and gullible consumers.   

[imgoingtocrash]

Thoughts on Rebelcaptain & Velcinta: Jyn and Cinta would definitely be best buddies who look at people with their murderous eyes but are big softies with the ones they love. Cinta would tell Jyn the Cassian’s embarrassing stories like girl I can’t believe you’re in love with him and Jyn is like hahah girl me neither- WAIT NO NO NO I’M NOT IN LOVE WITH HIM!!! (the denial era) Meanwhile Vel and Cassian are the ones who try to look responsible and professional but have lots of private jokes between them (and of course Vel loves to tease him with the way he acts around Jyn like hey Cassian can you stop acting like a teenager in love for 1 minute and focus on the job please)

First off anon I am SO HAPPY you came to me with all of these thoughts. People reblogging my post with vigorous head-nodding about Rebelcaptain and VelCinta interactions has been the best. They all live and are happy because we said so, your honor. It’s making me think about the possibilities even more. (If I didn’t have writer’s block for the past year, I’d be writing fic about it, I know it!!!)

My favorite part of comparing these relationships is that they’re similar dynamics but different people.

Like yes Jyn and Cinta are the more obviously violent ones BUT they do it differently! Jyn has never met an explosion she doesn’t like to watch and also start. She CAN be quiet and lethal but that’s not always typical for a Rogue One mission lmao. Meanwhile, Cinta definitely learned the quickest, quietest ways to kill. (Even when those events have definitely impacted her psyche over the years, like the kill she makes in the season finale.)

Jyn will obnoxiously and loudly say I AM NOT IN LOVE WITH CASSIAN SHUT UP to cover her feelings while Cinta is just plainly like “Vel is the love of my life.” and then moves on like YES they’re bonding they’re dishing they’re braiding each other’s hair while discussing blaster models, it’s beautiful!!

Similarly what I cut out of that original post idea because I couldn’t phrase it in a simple way was that I think it would be very fun if, because of how Cassian barged into her life and mission, Vel is competitive as hell with him.

She spent YEARS flitting in and out of the Coruscant world of fake laughs and weird champagne and dealing with her dumbass cousin-in-law’s comments for this Rebellion and Cassian just WALTZES IN and not only helps the mission succeed but instantly kills Skeen for trying to take the loot and leave them for dead. And after spending months trying to find his stupid ass…he willingly joins Intelligence as is an incredibly useful contributor and eventually takes part in an integral mission to the Rebellion’s success. And also he’s kind of great to have as a partner on a mission but it will take her literal years to admit that to anyone willingly.

(This is also a rant she tells to Cinta at some point in the confines of their bunk.)

And from Cassian’s POV he’s constantly trying to prove himself to Vel because of that! She’s been in this fight longer, technically, (Let’s not get into the fanon vs. canon backstory stuff rn for the sake of me keeping this weird fangirl rant straight) and he’s like Hell Yes teach me your spy tricks and also I will never stab you in the back again EVER.

For some reason the scene has come into my head of Vel teaching Cassian some kind of fancy Waltz or whatever for a mission and she’s like If You Step On My Toes Again I Will Stab You but also they’re kind of having fun and getting along because spy-ing is what they both do best and creating a cover and all that comes with it is probably their mutual catnip. They’re like…vitriolic buds.

But also…she fell hard for Cinta. Like she wasn’t prepared to find love in the middle of this war and you can see how much she struggles with balancing that and the mission in-series. So I agree, she would probably be like: Cassian. You don’t know how long you have. If you like her just fucking SAY IT. I promise that it’s worth the risk in the end.

And it’s probably the most emotionally honest and personal with him that she’s ever been in their friendship-of-sorts-thing that they have, so he takes it to heart. But also he’s like “You two have been together as long as I’ve known you and you STILL look at Cinta like that, what’s your excuse?” and Vel immediately starts talking about how she she wishes she’d dropped his ass into the dirt when they met, he’s SUCH a pain. 🙄

The way I don’t think the actual series will do this for them and I just pulled all of this out of my butt but I love the idea of it…yeah. That’s a nice little dynamic thing we’ve got going here. It’s so much fun to think about. I love it. 🥹

[torchship-rpg]

Dev Diary 3 - The Interstellar Union of Republics

AKA; I liked Torchship before it got all political.

Today, I’m going to do a short dev diary about our protagonists. Not the players, but the government they serve, our take on the Federation, and some of the reasons we’re portraying them the way they are.

Star Patrol is an agency of the Interstellar Union of Republics, better known as the Star Union. The IUR is, simultaneously, a direct democratic council assembly, a multinational alliance of post-capitalist states, and a forum for other Republics (associates and observers) in the style of the UN. Its most prominent member is the Solar Union, the nearly-unified human astrostate, and it has three other full members (the post-human colony of Proxima, the mid-uplift Corvus Peasant’s Republic, and the Lunar PoW-camp-turned-alien-enclave Camp Aldrin). 

Most of the other powers, even some hostile ones, have associate or observer membership; the Star Union is a big deal, and even the people who don’t like it have to put up with it. Which is to say, whether it likes it or not, it’s an empire and the local superpower; dealing with the implications of that is the central thrust of the game.

On Utopia

The inevitable problem with trying to write utopia is that all that ends up happening is exposing what kinds of oppression and violence the writers don’t acknowledge or understand. Which is part of the reason (besides wanting to make something interesting and layered) that the IUR is not written as an ideal world. It can be, in many ways, aspirational, but it’s got more than its share of complex problems. By writing them in deliberately, we hope to use those stumbling blocks as the driver of the metanarrative.

See, the Star Union is a socialist state which stands at the crossroads of a lot of different possible futures. Before first contact, the Solar Union was nearing its own dissolution, slowly dismantling its military and centralised bureaucracy for the transition to a stateless form of communism. Being thrust into an interstellar war, and subsequent hostile galaxy, reversed a lot of that progress; the military’s power and presence is hugely expanded, the bureaucracy is more powerful than ever, and a lot of the minor powers of local space are tripping over themselves to get in good with the new empire.

That last point is a huge part of what makes your missions in Star Patrol interesting. A lot of people have heard of you, long before you make formal first contact, and even totally uncontacted aliens are quick to recognise what it means to find out their space is patrolled by a superpower that spans a thousand light years. The dilemma ‘do you involve yourself against the will of others’ is not interesting in any group with the slightest moral fibre, so people invite you to get involved in their business, begging for your help, promising you riches to back their side, squabbling for your favour. 

There’s other acknowledged internal problems in the IUR. Despite its official positions, many humans are fairly xenophobic, especially regarding species they fought against in the War. The bureaucracy is overbearing and set in its ways, the medical advances have atomised a lot of disabled communities, and many are still clinging to the last remnants of the capitalist market. There’s a constant trickle of wildcat human colonies founded by people trying to get away for whatever reason, which itself causes problems when they settle in dangerous places or on planets that already have inhabitants. 

I don’t want to overstate it; a lot about the Star Union is really cool, it’s just very much not perfect. My goal was to create a world where you could understand the moderate perspective; to make something good enough that violently overthrowing it probably won’t be the first priority of most players, while still having enough obvious cracks that it’s clearly not there yet, with where exactly there is being the central question a campaign is built around.

Speaking of which…

Internal Politics

Through your campaign, you’ll be moving the Star Union on three political axes through your actions in the narrative, through upgrade purchases, and through other choices. The players are representative agents, after all; whatever you’re up to, the rest of Star Patrol probably is too, which says things about society back home.

These axes are called State Metrics, and they are:

Militarisation: Is the Star Union a peaceful, idyllic community which compromises with its neighbours, or a bastion of hope and progress standing against a hostile universe?

Centralisation: Is the Star Union a voluntary assembly of independent communities with some common goals, or a unified body pursuing a specific vision of utopia?

Intervention: Does the Star Union respect the boundaries and views of others, even those hostile to them, or do they work to spread their definition of good and right to others?

You start your campaign near the centre of all these tracks. As you move down these axes, in one direction or another, the Star Union changes, as do your options when you return for resupply. No matter which way you go, there’s some benefits; even pacifism comes with a positive reputation you can leverage.

Furthermore, you’ll receive events when you go back to resupply between episodes, news stories from back home rolled on a random table (and influenced by your State Metrics). A lot of these will just be flavour that shows the way that the changing Metrics are affecting things back home, some will be free bonuses, and some will change something about your ship. A high Militarism rocket might hold a vote to institute military ranks and saluting, for instance.

The biggest events, far at the ends of each Metric, are Crises. These aren’t likely (especially if you’ve been spending Upgrade Credits on keeping state Stability high), but a Crisis basically transforms your campaign as you suddenly lurch from playing classic Star Trek directly into the later seasons of Babylon 5. If you’re a pacifist without enough allies you might face an invasion, while their military counterparts might face a coup. If you’re really isolationist, maybe they just defund Star Patrol. Addressing these Crises can become the exciting conclusion to your campaign.

Finally, so these Crises don’t come out of nowhere, the internal politics of the Star Union have been defined enough that we can see where it comes from, and players can use these groupings as inspiration for giving their own character a political flavour. We’ve come up with a set of political identities for your characters, complete with flags, histories, and stereotypes.

In short, the political groups are…

Centralists are the moderates of the Star Union, old-school socialists and grateful immigrants who don’t want to destabilise a system that offers so much hope to so many. Which is to say, they’re ignorant conservatives who need to get with the times. The future is now, old man!

Civil Anarchists want the Union to finish the job and dissolve the damn state already, and are the only thing holding the bloated and controlling bureaucracy to account. Which is to say, they’re naive idiots who are going to burn everything down prematurely. Fucking wreckers!

Neo-Trotskyites want the Union to support revolutions in the alien powers, to use their position as a superpower to liberate the billions of people in the galaxy living under awful regimes. Which is to say, they’re bloody-minded red imperialists with a jumpjet fetish. Fucking harriers!

Cybernetic Democrats are a revolutionary movement to create a predictive algorithm to replace or supplement economic democracy, in what they see as the next stage of history. Which is to say they’re a bunch of computer nerds who got schooled at the council meeting and got so mad they’re going to make a hive mind about it. Fucking Talyorists!

Universal Transcendents are the only ones who noticed this setting has ubiquitous psychic powers, and want to eschew all this material bickering and stupid wars to get everyone to connect with the universe, man. Which is to say they’re a bunch of weird New New Agers convinced they can crystal healing their way out of historical materialism. Fucking hippies!

There’s a quick rundown of all of them in character creation so you can jump right into it if you want. Otherwise, they just provide flavour for when the Crisis hits, giving you a face and ideological backing to whatever wild bullshit has just happened to the Union which you have to deal with.

[saintsenara]

☯️ 🕯️ for the writer asks!

thank you for the ask, anon!

🕯️ was there a fic that was really hard on you to write, or took you to a place you didn't think it would take you?

i was expecting when writing everlasting ink that it would make me think differently about harry and ginny - i wrote it because i was growing increasingly irritated by a tendency in some of the fandom spaces i inhabit to act like writing things outside of your usual preferences is particularly difficult, when my personal opinion is that this is something all of us should actively do, since it helps to make our characters more well-rounded if we have to examine the aspects of them which fans of other ships/eras/genres etc. tend to emphasise - but i wasn’t expecting it to make me think so much about molly weasley.

i’ve always backed molly - and, in particular, i’ll die on the hill that she’s in the right in the argument with sirius in order of the phoenix - but i didn’t really stop to think until i wrote everlasting ink about how lonely she must be, and how her loneliness is directly connected to how she’s set up within the narrative of the harry potter series as a pretty ideal mother. the impact of grief on that loneliness must be astonishing, but - as @whinlatter notes - virtually nobody in the fandom cares about molly’s grief. there is such a tendency to have her get back to hustling and bustling after the war - and, in particular, a tendency for her relationship with harry to be taken as subsuming her horror at the loss of fred. having thought about this for everlasting ink, molly’s post-war life certainly now looks very different in my mind, and i am ready to fight her haters.

☯️ how do you think engaging with each other through tumblr, twitter, comments, kudos, creates healthy fandom experiences? how do you deal with that if you're not a social person/experience social anxiety?

i am a very social person, so i can’t speak to the latter part of the question, but i think that a reciprocity in fandom is important because it’s the best example to all of us that this is a hobby. i’ve said a lot elsewhere that i think one of the most crucial things we can all do is have a little bit of perspective about the fact that this is something we do for fun - if you’re regularly in tears over comments, or if meeting your upload schedule is making you ill, or if you’re writing the stories you think you should write rather than the ones you want to, that’s not good.

the act of screaming with other people about fictional characters should be enjoyable - that’s what fandom spaces like tumblr and discord provide, and that’s what writing and publishing fics enables. we should all work hard to keep that lightness-of-touch to our fandom life - which, crucially, doesn’t mean that we have to only engage with ‘light’ topics or discussions, it just means that we have to recognise that this is a leisure activity rather than something life-or-death.

how? be nice to the people whose work you comment on. be nice to the people who comment on your work (the vast majority of ‘mean’ comments are just things which are poorly-phrased, and if you give commenters the benefit of the doubt you will often find that you can end up having a productive discussion). block and move on when someone is genuinely out of line - arguing will solve nothing. kill the cop in your head and don’t police people’s work - just don’t engage if you don’t like it. step outside of your comfort zone whenever you feel you can. don’t obsess over your stats. get a grip on yourself if you feel yourself becoming convinced you’re some sort of celebrity just because people read your harry potter fan-fiction. have a sense of humour. log off when you need to. and write exactly what you want because you want to, critics be damned!

[notquitecanon]

Do you do scenarios or headcanons? If so, how many characters can we request for scenarios or headcanons? Would you do the same prompt with different characters? Can we request for male reader, female reader, gender neutral reader, etc? Other than Astarion, are there any characters from Baldur's Gate 3 you would write? Are there any topics you won't do like rape, suicide, etc? Do you do poly ships x reader? Would you mind if we request for Alternate Universes or Aus like AU where the character lives happily? Would you mind if the request is suggestive, implied sex, or mentioned sex but no explicit sex? Would you do NSFW requests? For Baldur's Gate 3 requests, would you mind if we don't specify the race/class to leave it ambiguous or if we ask specify the race/class like human/healer? What kinks would you accept for requests? Thank you in advance!

Honestly, I’ve just never had those kind of requests on here. I also am very bad about answering requests bc my brain is a goblin with a pencil who is very picky about what sparks my interest enough to push past the usual fog of writers block. But funny enough I used to run a Star Wars fanfic blog so I do have answers to these questions:

1.) I’m not opposed to doing scenarios/ head canons! Sometimes doing them is what sparks a full fic or it’s just fun to slow down and enjoy imagining things!

As for how many, to prevent burn out I’ll probs stick to 2 or 3 characters at a time. If someone requests more than 3, I’d probs pick the 3 that I had the better ideas for / knew the characters better

2.) Requesting different gendered readers. Full transparency, I’m a cisgender woman.

I feel most knowledgeable writing feminine presenting characters, as I can use my own experiences! That being said, I do write things to be gender neutral and can do that on request. As for writing for a male reader, I’m open to trying! It’s not in my realm of experience nor have I done it before, but if I got the right request, I’d be happy to try! (I just don’t want to not write to my usual standards and I especially don’t want to offend anyone because of my lack of knowledge!)

3.) I’ll write for any of the romanceable characters, except Minthara (haven’t been able to recruit her yet so I don’t know her)

I’m more likely to write for characters that I’m most attracted to such as Astarion, Halsin, Karlach, Gale, and Lae’zel.

4.) I won’t write graphic depictions of rape or suicidal. I will use mentions of trauma / mental health struggles in my writing, and I always mention them in my TW section. Not so much a problem in this phantom, but I also don’t write incest. Or inappropriate age gaps.

5.) I have never written a polyamorous relationship, but I’d be open to trying with the right prompt/request. I have a lot of love to go around, so I think I can do this.

6.)  when it comes to AU’s I mostly try to keep it in universe, and I will do what I call fix it fics. That way if the work I am trying to do takes place after the end of game, I can still have all my little guys because I refuse to believe that there’s not a happy ending for everybody. And if there isn’t one, I will create one. But I don’t really do coffee shop they use or flower shop use or anything that takes them out of the world that they are in.

7.) at the moment, I don’t write outright smut. It’s not because I don’t want to or can’t, I just don’t think I’m very good at it. I will use mentions of sex, heavy-handed, make out sessions, and honestly pretty much everything right up until the point of actual sex. So you request smut, but I might not be as quick to answer those others. Personally, I find the tension leading up to this smut the fun part to write and read.

8.) as for race/class of BG3 readers, I will try to keep it, usually fairly and ambiguous. Though, how I have written everything that I have written, even though I’ve only posted one thing, I, based all of my writing off how I played the game personally. So, if you have something specific in mind, you’ll have to specify in the request, or I will default to what I usually do. (Reference I love playing Rangers. They are my favorite, so I have knowledge of nature, survival and some medicinal skills) 

9.) as for kinks, I accept, I will accept anything in the ask box, even if I don’t write it. no kink shaming here as long as the kinks don’t fall under any of the things that I don’t write, which are listed in the above points

Thank you for asking, and being so respectful about my writing! I really appreciate it and hope that you request something :) 

Disclaimer, I hope everything that is written in this makes sense, I’m using voice to text as I do something else.

[justaguywhowritesstuff]

Hold on and stay safe ~Carl Grimes x OC~ pt 5

While grappling with the death of his brother in the Woodbury Vs Prison war. Gavin has to learn to live his new life with the people who killed his only living family member. Even once Gavin starts to feel like he was creating a home at the prison things go awry and he's forced to flee on foot while trying to keep a promise he made before it all went to hell. As Gavin wanders the woods and fields alone, he finds his way to a new safe haven, Alexandria. Where he is taken in and cared for, and while those around him try to tell him otherwise Gavin still holds on to hope that his group is still out there. That Carl is still out there.

I do not own any of the characters or plot points that are not my own creations, all credit for those goes to the owners and writers of The Walking Dead.

The story will also have Carl and all others around his age (ie. Enid and Ron) will be aged up slightly so that by the end all "kids" will be 18-19 years old.

Full story on Wattpad

My eyes snap open hearing a loud boom and feeling the prison shake. I fall out of bed and scramble to my feet. "Damn it, the one day I take a nap," I mutter under my breath, grabbing my knife and slipping on my boots with ease from how worn they were. I run out to the main part of the cell block. I see everyone running outside to see what happened. I quickly follow the crowd of people out only to see...the governor? He stood atop a tank, in front of a group of cars and trucks, everyone in sight had a gun of some kind. My eyes search the crowd inside the prison fence for Carl and the others. I see them all together standing by the fence. I ran up next to the group, clutching my fist, trying to keep my hand from shaking. Carl looks over and places his hand over my fist, trying to help calm my nerves. I look over at him, feeling the panic well up in my chest. I look over to see Glenn and Maggie standing together and reach out taking Glenn's hand as well. He looks over at me and squeezes my hand tightly, looking back to the Governor. I follow his eye line, back to the governor's army, I watch in horror as someone drags Hershal out, forcing him to his knees. My heart drops to my stomach like a stone and I instinctively take hold of Carl's hand, watching as Michonne was dragged out as well. My breaths become uneven as we all stand in waiting, watching Rick walk out to the main field. The others in the group began to split off, Glenn letting go of my hand only leaving mine in Carls. The group disperses to man different stations for when things inevitably get ugly. I look over to Carl, his eyes glued on his father. I squeeze his hand once to let him know I'm here. Carl pried his eyes away from his dad for a moment to look at me. I try to give a comforting smile, though not so deep down that I know how this will end. Carl squeezes my hand twice tightly, the silence heavy between us. After a moment I finally speak. "Go stand guard I'll try and round up all the kids and older folks okay? It's gonna be alright." I say, trying to keep my voice from shaking. I turn to walk away but feel Carl grip my hand tighter. "Gavin..." I look back at him, once more trying to keep my voice from stuttering. "What...?" I ask, squeezing his hand once more. "Stay safe..." Carl said, squeezing my hand twice once more before grabbing a pistol from his back and handing it to me. I hesitated for a moment before carefully taking the gun and turning the safety off. "You too..." I say before pulling away, going to round up as many people as I could. As I run back into the cell block I feel a pit sinking deeper and deeper into my stomach. I tried my best to ignore it as I went around, telling all the kids to grab their things and make their way to the bus. I quickly run to my room grabbing a dirty backpack from underneath my bed. In it were a few supplies I had kept in case something happened. In it, I had a few tins of food, two or three matches, and some string. I know I should have given everything I had when we moved over to the prison but I had this even back in Woodbury, It was Josh's idea. As I stood up I quickly grabbed a few other things from my room, nonessential like the book I was reading, a few pens, a notebook Glenn had found for me, and a change of clothes. After that I grabbed the few sentimental I had left, my brother's necklace we had taken off his body when we found him, a broken crossbow bolt given to me by Daryl after I broke it shooting the wall instead of a target, and Patrick's glasses, which were now cracked and had one lens popped out. I wrapped the glasses in a pair of socks and ran out of my cell. A few of the adults were doing a sweep of the prison to find out where all the kids were. They told me not to tell any other kids and to go outside and wait by the bus and that they would handle everything. I nodded and quickly made my way out the back of the cell heading to the bus, clutching the strap of my backpack tightly.

[twinhood-2dot0]

Video Game Writing

51st Post! Our 50th post was the Star Wars one and I didn’t notice. My exams are officially over, and you know what that means. I have 0 knowledge of anything that is not programming that I will need to make a game, and it has been literally years since I last touched Unity.

So, here’s a checklist of things I’ll need to learn:

Unity: I have 3 options for 3D game dev, namely Unity, Unreal Engine and Godot. I could go into detail on why I chose Unity, but that would be boring, so in short, Unity is easy to use and uses C# and is popular with indie devs, UE is more complex, uses C++ and in popular with AAA games, Godot is free and open-source, but it less popular and has much less resources on the internet, and uses C# or GDScript, a Python based custom language. I would use Godot were it not for the fact I have little experience, so I’ll need tutorials and such, and I have experience with Unity.

Music: Ah, the bane of my existence. Okay, I’m overplaying it, composing doesn’t really come easy to me. I can play the keyboard a little, and am decent at playing by ear, but beyond that, no ability at all, and with the theme, that’s gonna be a problem. Hopefully I’ll get everything figured out by then. Sound design too, but I’ll probably be using online libraries or something, creating my own sounds could be a little complicated, but might have to do for certain stuff.

Art: Art is important in games, but not as much as music for mine. I will probably have to use low-poly models and flat textures and stuff. It’s not going to be pretty, but that’s not the focus, as is the case for most indie games.

Writing, our topic of the day. Now, there’s a huge difference between screenwriting or novel writing and video game writing. I, admittedly, haven’t played too many story driven games, so my experience is a little limited, but bear with me. Video games are an interactive medium, so there’s the intricacies that come with that. Okay, let me walk you through this with examples.

Undertale

For once, I think I’ll (painfully) skip Undertale.

Subnautica

Subnautica is mainly a survival-exploration game, and the story is pretty secondary, but I wanna cover all bases. The story is pretty Robinson Crusoey. The protagonist, Ryley Robinson, is a janitor on a spaceship which was attempting a slingshot maneuver with the planet 4546B but it crash landed and the crew escaped in Lifepods. By the time Ryley wakes up, the rest of the crew is dead, and Ryley just happens to land in the only Safe Shallows. The rest of the story is Ryley exploring the Aurora, finding rocket blueprints because Alterra (the company behind the spaceship) does not care enough to rescue him, because greedy corporation, and escaping. When Ryley returns home, he has a debt of 1 trillion credits because every resource he uses from the planet is apparently owned by Alterra. This is an example of a story where the protagonist doesn’t matter much and it’s pretty much the player playing. I will elaborate later.

Alan Wake and Control

Alan Wake and Control are games by Finnish studio Remedy Entertainment. Creators of games like Max Payne and Quantum Break, they’re known for narrative driven video games. Alan Wake’s story is split into episodes, a sound decision imo considering the storytelling style.. There are “Previously On…” sections for each episode so people who left off somewhere in between are not completely lost, but the game is relatively short, so I don’t think it was that necessary. I don’t want to spoil too much, so I’ll only get into the premise and a bit of the beginning for each game.

Alan Wake is a bestselling author going through a writer’s block. He and his wife, who has a fear of the dark, go to Bright Falls for a vacation. His wife disappeared/is kidnapped and Alan thinks she fell into the lake on which their cottage is on and jumps in, and it fades to black. Alan wakes up and he’s somehow crashed a car. He goes into the town to get help and has to fight through people covered in a weird dark mist. Oh right, he had a dream in the prologue section that taught him how to fight them, which is by shining a light on them for some time until the mist is gone and bam-bam. On the way he also finds manuscripts laying around the path which appear to be telling the future. I’m sure you can piece together what is going on with what I’ve told you so far.

Alan Wake’s story is simple, but gripping, which is probably the best kind of story. I probably would have finished it in one sitting were I not terrible at combat. It takes a pretty common fear and turns it into a villain (huh, I see the Stephen King inspiration now). The idea of the story being deterministic and physically pre-written is pretty novel. There are also these random TV sets lying around, which play this show called “Night Springs”. Night Springs appears to be a TV Show that tackles supernatural topics. They talk about the Many-Worlds interpretation, and the episode where they do is uh disturbing to say the least, as is the case with most of them, I guess, and a man who killed someone who seems to have identical fingerprints, which I think is referenced in a quest in Control? I can’t find anyone who also thought so, so I might be tinfoil hatting. The other collectible is uh… coffee thermoses..? They appear to have no significance, is it a lazy addition to pad out playtime? I have no idea. It’s referenced however in Control, with a document by the FBC saying that Alan Wake was seen collecting them and they seem to always dispense “refreshing and strong” coffee no matter what was poured in. I don’t think Alan drank any of it because he can’t run. Seriously. He is winded after no less than four seconds. Seriously dude, I know you’re a writer and all, but I haven’t run a meter in 3 years and I can run for longer.

Okay, that went on for long enough, so let’s move onto Control. Control is a new weird action adventure game also developed by Remedy. Jesse Faden is from a town called Ordinary (I know, ironic) where an Altered World Event or AWE for short occurred and she was separated from her brother, Dylan. Aided by this supernatural entity residing in her mind, she spends the rest of her life investigating what had happened to try and find her brother, and she’s led to the Federal Bureau of Control, deciding to take up the job of the janitor’s assistant. Things don’t go exactly to plan and she ends up Director. And as it turns out, that a resonance-based life form is infesting people and making them do their bidding. The rest of the game is Jesse exploring the Oldest House, the name for the FBC’s headquarters, assisting the Bureau while trying to find her brother. Control has a weird system for collectibles. There are documents, split into Research, Case Files and Correspondence. Most of them are in various levels of censorship, ranging from 

Whatever this is to

This.

The censorship is perplexing in most cases, like in the former, like what the heck happened there that almost everything had to be censored, and in the latter one, the words seem obvious, but is it actually what I think it is or is it somehow more sinister..?

Control is heavily inspired by the SCP (Special Containment Procedures; backronym: Secure. Contain. Protect) Foundation uh mythos? The SCP Foundation deals with containing and documenting paranatural objects, locations, even individuals. The FBC also does that, they send out operatives to locate Altered Objects or Objects of Powers(OoPs). Altered Objects are just plain supernatural objects. OoPs however, can allow a parautilitarian to bind with it and gain powers, like Jesse does. This is one place I think Control excels at. Control does not spoon feed you the info for each AO, and you have to go searching for the documents on it. 

Ah, damn, I don’t have the time to go into the rest of the things I wanted to talk about, so I’m going to put this on the back burner. The next few are going to be pretty low effort :P since you know, travelling laptopless. Ciao!

[professorsaber]

Fic Author Self-Rec

Share five of your personal favorite works, then tag five authors to do the same. Thank you to @bg-sparrow for tagging me!

1. “Their Song Is Almost Over” (Doctor Who)

Twelve remembered her eventually: Clara Oswald, the woman for whom he nearly burnt the universe. They got their happily ever after. But even the Doctor won't live forever. After thousands and thousands of years, the Doctor’s life comes to its natural end on Earth. This is the story of his passing, and that of Clara Oswald, who was at his side.

This was the first story I ever posted to AO3, I wrote it in a single sitting, it’s epic in scope, it gives a ship that got an at-best bittersweet ending in canon a gloriously happy ending, and I swear it seems to be one of my least popular works! (Seriously, my most popular work has eight times as many hits, and I feel like it’s so half-assed by comparison!)

2. Loose Ends and Loose Memories (Back to the Future)

Upon returning to 1985, Marty McFly finds that he has two sets of memories in his head. While struggling to figure out which set is "right," he finds that someone else remembers his visit to 1955.

I posted three BTTF fics to FF.net years before this one, but I was younger and I feel like this one was such an improvement! I’d grown so much as a writer in the interim. And it’s the first in a series of fics involving events after Part III. Now, as of right now, there are only three fics there, but I have plans. I’ve always wanted to do a series like Kristen Sheley did, and this was a new (and I think, much better) attempt than the one on FF.net

3. “That Isn’t Our Song!” (Doctor Who)

At St. Luke's Bristol, Clara and the Doctor have a musical prank war.

I get few comments on this one, but it’s so silly and I just love it so much. It's an AU of the in-between of Series 9 and Series 10, where immortal!Clara stayed with Twelve and they get up to Shenanigans™ while working “undercover” at St. Luke's University Bristol.

4. “Moving Day” (Back to the Future)

Marty and Jennifer move in together.

When I posted this, it had been two years since I’d written any fics, and five since I’d done a BTTF fic! I’d been stuck trying to finish two different BTTF fics (still am), but when I came up for the idea for this one I was able to break through my total writing block! (For a while anyway; it was a year again before I returned to fic-writing.) Still, I really like this one. Perhaps especially because it focuses a lot on Jennifer, who’s such an enigma in canon.

5. “r/ThePinheads: Guys, Marty McFLy really *is* a time traveller!!!” (Back to the Future)

Did you know that it's a meme that the lead guitarist and vocalist for the rock band The Pinheads, Marty McFly, is a time traveler? Well, some guy on the Pinheads subreddit thinks he's found definitive proof...

This is quite a departure: it’s a fake Reddit page. I’m taking an HTML coding class right now, and it gave me the idea to create an in-universe one. The second “chapter” is a screenshot of the actual page I made! There are a lot of easter eggs in it!

Honorable mention: “I Need You, Now More Than Ever” (Doctor Who).

Escaping a planet after a “date” where everything went horribly wrong, the Doctor and Clara find comfort in each other.

It’s NSFW, and I’m worried about community rules and whatnot so I won’t link directly. It’s also the very first NSFW piece I ever did. And it sat on my harddrive for four years for a single reason: I couldn’t think of a title! I was thinking of it recently when the title came to me suddenly and I had to post it immediately!

I'm tagging @universe-on-her-shoulders, @clara-is-brave, @daryfromthefuture, @bttf-dork, and @cosmicallyavg!