#with spoilers mind you. don't read anything below the post itself if you don't like spoilers

[theinfinitedivides]

they have begun

Pathaan downloaded in HD for offline viewing.... slut hours await

[levionok]

I would love to see more of your timeskip spider team art!

I don't have anything specific in mind atm so maybe if you wanna share some headcanons if you have any? ^^

glad you asked!

would start from Pav and Hobie since i mostly think about them!

(you can also check my master-post for this AU)

so Pavs concept itself i have already started to uncover here

some bullet points:

accepted he looks naturally buffed and due spider-duty became bit more square-shaped.

cheerfull, open-minded and after 5+ years of being a Spiderman is a bit more tired

LONGER HAIR!!!!!

if Spider society exists by the time being, would be quite valuable unit due to unique combat techniques and fresh view

AGAINST MURDER (comic spoilers!!!: would remind Hobie about it every time they have a mission together while Hobie would REMIND HIM back how he killed Osborn “with those hands”)

have a weak concept of authorities but keeps things civil

Hobie Brown!

based on Evan’s Monteiro concept art (below) and take on how close punk and queer culture are i wanted to explore more of gender-queer Hobsie.

look inspired by DUCKWRTH - I’M DEAD music video

Hobie doesn’t believe is consistency and i don’t believe he is anything but a constant change.

hairstyle? it can be anything at any given time

gender? please

punk? spider-punk!

so what about him?

“it’s he/him. no. it’s he/them now. no, i don’t like it anymore. Hobie will do. for now.”

prefers his own dimension. doesn’t mind visitors.

started crocheting as a hobie and has made a full zoo for Mayday

can kill with a crochet hook tho

good with kids and has been babysitting Mayday on rare occasions teaching her guitar when she grew up a little

worked as delivery boy(canon event) for a small business but it haven’t worked out

and that’s it for now! hope you had a bit of fun reading and i would be happy to read your thoughts on time-skip spider-people :)

cheers!

[foxett]

What's the swingset AU. I am hellbent on this AU rn and like pls yap about the lore 🙏

Aha.... Buckle your seatbelts this will take a while. (TW for mentions of s*icide, s*lf h*rm and death in general under the cut. Also omori spoilers. But that's probably to be expected)

Swingset was first an idea. Probably around early 2024??? I'm not sure but!!! I didn't actually plan to write anything about it until I got the idea for it and started writing the fic my last week of school (so it updates every wednesday)

The au itself... Hhhh yeah. Basically, the incident happens as normal, but Sunny doesn't have headspace and whitespace to slip into in his mind, and is fully aware the whole time Basil is doing the hanging and stuff or Mari. Sunny decides it's for the best and kills himself, hanging himself on the same tree Mari was already hanging on only like. Minutes later. (First chapter). Basil leaves before Sunny does that so he doesn't know it happens.

The rest of the gang (+ Basil is dragged along) and they find Mari and Sunny!!!! Yay!!! (Sarcastic yay) Anyways in short they react badly but Kel probably has it the worst because he's a little delulu in this au. Basil is close behind tho.

Kel twists the incident to Mari and Sunny making a swing and. Yeah. Au name!!! He also makes up fake versions of Sunny and Mari (and also everyone else, because the group fell apart) to hang out with. In other words, Kel needs a schizophrenia diagnosis. Everyone copes horribly (Basil. Well. Self harms. And generally is probably going insane.) (Hero bedrots like in canon but longer) (Aubrey bullies Basil at first but they make up and form a sorta sibling bond!) (not gonna spoil the exact thing but Aubrey will be traumatized further)

There's!!! A lot of stuff going on. Kel has all his fake friends (before the group reunited because of a certain incident!) - and also ghost Sunny and Mari (who age like ghost Mari does in canon because i said so) exist but they're not too important outside of the good ending.

I don't keep count but i think there's a total of 8 something's total. Canon something (Mari something, Maris hanging body), Sunny something (Sunny's hanging body), canon something (Mari at the bottom of the stairs, Basil's something), Noosething (Basil's extra au something (tying the noose which leads to Sunny's own suicide), Basil something (Aubrey's extra something. Not spoiling it for now...), Kel something (bad ending) and hero's very hd quality something's (he looked at the bodies too long ig)

Everyone has the sunny and mari somethings. Basil has 4 total. Hero and Aubrey have 3 (sunny, mari, their own bonus) Kel repressed his two but they still show up in the shadows sometimes :)

Basil is. Where do i start. He actually is completely delusional. Completely. More than Kel kinda. He also hears voices. He almost kills someone trying to kill himself (spoilers), and overall almost kills himself like. At least thrice. He doesn't take care of himself. At least Aubrey's there to help!

On a sorta wholesome note, everyone gets their hair dyed!! They do it to 'help' Kel to snap out of his delusions (it makes it worse) (kel does snap out of it at some point! But it might just be too late for it by then :) )

For the fic itself it's 11k ish words and 4 chapters at the moment.???? I have 20 chapters planned total plus two bonus ones so. Ouch. that's gonna be fun to write. I take the au itself seriously but the extra drawings i do for it... Ehhh not so much.

I have this gem of a doodle (vision basil and real basil) i frankly don't remember when i drew this. I probably was half asleep and it was like 2 am.

I plan to rework the old reference sheets i have and hopefully do the fifth chapter today and tomorrow! I don't actually wanna spoil much but definitely keep an eye out for some post!!!

Yippie! Read below ↓

mind the warnings (although since you made it this far, you probably don't care!!)

[cgspirl]

Miles Bron: Motherfucker Unlimited

(MAJOR SPOILERS FOR 'GLASS ONION' [2022])

I know that the whole point of 'Glass Onion' is that it isn't complex and that Miles Bron is a fucking idiot, but there is one thing about him that makes him fucking fascinating: his self-awareness about his own situation.

Now I know, I know: it's Miles Bron. The Elon Musk allegory of the fucking century. What on God's green earth am I fucking talking about?

All I ask is that you hear me out.

This is the original rant I went on, posted to Discord (similarly to my Antlers Holst post, which is still apparently a hit with the gays /posi):

[Image Alt descrptions available if the screenshots are too compressed to read]

Now, to expand on the original rant:

Come back to the scene between Bron and Blanc in the Onion where Bron talks about the bar itself, the Glass Onion (quoted below).

Bron: "Oh, Andi."

Blanc: "Yes, Andi."

Bron: "Andi used to tell me the truth. Nobody does that now. It's all just fake smiles and agendas and people wanting what they think they're owed. Hating you when you don't give it to them because that's what you're there for."

It's in this moment that Miles Bron solidifies his character to the audience: he is very aware of what his purpose is in this group of "Disruptors" - the benefactor. But here's the major kicker: he doesn't fucking want to be.

Helen describes later that no one in the original friend group liked Miles until things started happening for all of them: dreams thought to be long dead now beyond anything any of them could've fucking imagined.

Now, yes, Miles is a hypocrite: you could say his speech in the shadows to Blanc is very much hypocritcal because it's essentially a mirror to what happened to Andi: Miles taking Alpha from her because he felt he was owed the power to pump all the company's resources into Klear.

But, and for just a moment, consider: Miles is aware he's a hypocrite. Maybe logically he's a fucking idiot but I fully speculate that he is very aware of the fact that he is not Andi, no matter how much he fucking wants to be. He knows he's an idiot, but he plays so hard into the fallacy that he isn't that he just believes it now.

But somewhere, in the back of his mind, he knows. He knows that he can never be Andi, and that none of the Disruptors even fucking like him without Andi around.

And the best part? The funniest fucking part of this whole shebang?It's all his own fucking fault. It's his own fucking fault and all he's done is make it worse because he doesn't have the fucking capabilities to be original; to think of something genuinely complex that could possibly get him out of the hole he dug himself into because of his own hubris and selfishness.

And that is what makes him so fucking interesting: the emotional self-awareness of Miles Bron. Logically? Yes, he's a bumbling fucking idiot, an absolute moron. Emotionally? It's like willingly tangling yourself in a spider's web. He's horrible and terrible and I truly believe he's extremely aware of that fact, and just pretends that it's not like that at all. That he's beloved by all, but most of all by those he considers closest to him.

TL;DR: Miles Bron my fucking abhorrently belovedly beloathed <3

[pinkgoblinshark]

Completed Jade Shadows the other night, my thoughts on the quest below (Warframe/Jade Shadows Spoilers below the cut)

I both liked and disliked this quest, leaning a bit more on the dislike side, unfortunately.

The babyframe is cute, and it was nice to see some more characterization for other characters (including Hunhow, of all people). However, I'm disappointed that very little of that went to Jade, the character the quest is named after!!!

Like, with only what the quest gave me, Jade struck me as a bit of a shallow character. She has very few spoken lines, and what lines she does have revolve around her relationship with Sorren or her baby. We don't know anything about who she was as a person and it all smells deeply of the "dead wife" trope. I've also seen people refer to this scenario as a fridging ("When a loved one is hurt, killed, maimed, assaulted, or otherwise traumatized in order to motivate another character or move their plot forward."), which seems like a more apt description of the scenario.

The bit about "what the quest gave me" is an important note, because prior to writing this post I looked around on Tumblr to see what other people were saying about this quest. It turns out there is more Jade lore (Jade's Promise), but it's hidden on the relays nearby Teshin. If I hadn't looked at Tumblr, it's possible I would not have learned any of this for weeks after completing Jade Shadows.

While I would have liked to know more about Jade apart from her baby/being a mom, I think Jade's Promise does a decent job of giving Jade more agency/a motive. Too bad there's not even an inbox message acknowledging where to find this additional lore in-game...

Also, with the game giving me a content warning before starting the quest, I was a bit disappointed in how tame the birthing scene was. This might be a me-issue, as I have kinda (?) complex views of pregnancy. To sum it all up: To me pregnancy is transformative, but the means by which it happens is not pretty. Your body is putting all of its resources into growing a new being, it's not uncommon to get sick, to have complications. Birth itself is bloody, gruesome, and can leave you changed or dead. With that in mind, imagine my surprise when Jade just wistfully disintegrates into a cloud of green dust. I felt like it would have been more poignant for there to have been a struggle to make her choice to undergo the process of birth more potent. I wanted to feel uncomfortable, but that may just be me.

Lastly, I saw some other folks express discomfort over the fact that the Operator, as opposed to the Drifter, was the one who helped with the birthing process. I also would have preferred if it was the Drifter who helped out. The Operator is just a child soldier what the hell would they know about being a midwife 😭

EDIT: I just made myself angrier because I realized Jade Shadows could have been more engaging if we:

Got to play as Jade/the Operator she mentions in Jade's Promise

Got to play through the events of Jade's Promise instead of having to read about them 😭😭😭😭😭

All of this wouldn't have to be exclude the events we witness through the Stalker but pleaaaaase.... ^^^^^

[neon-leon22]

Hiiiii! This is my first time posting a fic to Tumblr since I feel like this is too short for ao3, but I wanted to share so here it is!! I also think there is not nearly enough evil kokomi au stuff out there so I wanted to show my own little snippet of an idea. I hope all you kokomi enjoyers like it<3

NOTES!!: They/Them pronouns used for Traveler (can be read as lumine or aether), Evil Kokomi au, takes place during Archon quest, chapter 2, act 3: Omnipresence Over Mortals; Blind Loyalty, Reckless Courage (contains heavy spoilers)

WARNINGS!!: description of blood, minor injuries, PTSD, fire, storms, and depictions of violence (only really implied)

The traveler's heart dropped as they watched the god strike down the harbinger right before their eyes. They could feel Paimon grab onto their shoulder as she hid behind them, shutting her eyes as signora let out a final scream. Her body fell but turned to ash before it even had the chance to hit the ground. They felt like they were going to puke.

"You are the enemy of eternity..."

They immediately readied their sword once more. Were they really going to have to fight again so soon? Were they really going to have to fight her? After what they just witnessed? What was Yae thinking? How could they even survive this?

"But as the victor, I acknowledge your honor."

They felt Paimon pull herself just a bit closer, reminding them she's still here, reminding them they still have something to fight for, someone to protect.

"Therefore, I shall allow you to leave Tenshukaku alive."

They can't help but let out a sigh of relief, the fairy behind them doing the same. They can leave. They waste no time to get out of there, already out the door, ignoring the rain that feels so heavy it could be leaving bruises. They just have to get away, think of a better plan, train harder, anything. But they can't fight Raiden now, not with how they are, their powers still sealed, their body weakened.

Suddenly their head throbs as memories of their first fight with Raiden flood their mind. They bring their hand to their forehead, trying to ease the pain, to make it stop. They remember the way every one of her attacks sent lightning coursing through their veins, how nothing could defend against them, nothing could stop her endless assault.

"Traveler?"

A pair of tiny hands wearily wave around their face, trying to get their attention. They hadn't even realized they had stopped, they had to focus, they had to keep moving.

"are you okay?"

Their head aches with pain again, so much so they can't even offer the anxious fairy a reply. All they could do was use the rest of their strength to do something as simply as taking one step after another. Their vision darkened as the sound of lightning finally registered in their head, realizing it's not just memory, it's truly storming all around them.

Paimon talks more, but they've tuned her out now. They can hardly focus on their own breathing, they just don't have the energy to spare to give Paimon the attention she needs. Each step feels more labored than the last. Each drop of rain feels heavier on their scared skin. Everything feels like too much. They just need to move, get out.

It felt like the ground fell beneath them, they nearly went flying down the stairs they only now realized were in front of them. They could hear a ringing in their ears... or a voice? Was is Paimon again? or... screaming? why is there screaming?

They couldn't dwell on it long, keeping their focus on the stairs below them, taking each step at a time. Even as they feel tiny hands on their shoulder. They can hear a bit better now, Paimon must be trying to get their attention again. So why was there still screaming?

A single breath was all it took for their lungs to be filled with smoke. Their hand immediately on their chest as they coughed, their body trying to rid itself of the ash. Images of Signora flashed in their mind but they were forced back to reality when their eyes opened and they saw the puddle beneath them mixing with a horrifying crimson color.

Their eyes dart to their silver haired companion and finally see the tears running down her cheeks as her eyes reflect an orange color they can already guess is the cause of the smoke. Still, their gaze follows that of Paimon's as they're met with the sight of flames that rage on despite the pouring rain, almost as if something was stopping it from putting them out. Everything clicks in an instant. The screaming they heard, the crimson at their feet, the smoke surrounding them, and the fire that burns their exhausted eyes. They are helpless to watch the once so great Inazuma city burn to the ground.

They can't help but be brought back to when they first awoke in this world. The fire, the screams, it's all too eerily similar. They can just imagine their sibling by their side, urging them to leave, to get out while they can. But their sibling isn't here. And they have nowhere to run.

A figure appears from the smoke, they draw their sword immediately. Paimon practically curled into a ball as she dashed behind them. The traveler stood ready, all thoughts of fear or doubt thrown out the window as their faced with a threat and someone to protect.

They nearly drop their weapon when the figure turns familiar, the light of the fire behind them making it clear, the one walking towards them was none other than Watasumi's Divine Priestess. Someone they'd grown to trust. But something was wrong. This wasn't the Kokomi they knew.

Her mere presence once brought comfort and stability, but now she carries nothing but hostility. Her purple garments now stained with blood, and eyes once so bright held no light at all. She was as calculated as ever, but now it felt cold as she paid no mind to the screams of agony behind her and innocent people begged for their lives.

The traveler understood now, the one stopping the rain was her. She kept the flames going. But why?? They gripped their sword tighter and bit their lip as she came closer. Her expression so unreadable, they had no clue what she was going to do. They had to force themselves not to shake, to not show weakness. But with that look in her eyes, they fear she might already see right through them.

A lift of her hand has them nearly jumping. She looks straight at them as her right hand is held open, waiting for them to hold it. It feels like she's offering some kind of deal. No... She's giving them an ultimatum.

"traveler,"

They could see her nails that looked more like claws shine as the pouring rain made the red drip from her outstretched hand.

"Watasumi will win this war, whether you join us or not."

This war was never about winning for her, she just wanted peace, not... this. Something's changed. Kokomi has changed. Something like this would be unthinkable. Their friend would never do something as despicable as this. So why? Why would she-

"The choice is yours."

[lananiscorner]

Since you seem to be following the Hopes playthrough of other Tumblr people, does that mean you don't know spoilers for it? If so, I will avoid discussing any so you can continue to enjoy their reviews as they post them. However I do have a question for you. You have a good outsider perspective as an audience who is not playing the game directly but still reading other reviews of Hopes. What are your thoughts about SB, GW and AG (assuming what you know by osmosis and thru reading reviews)?

Thanks for your ask, Anon.

I honestly don't mind spoilers, since I don't intend to play the game myself, nor will I use it as research for my writing.

As for what my thoughts on the routes are, I'm putting these below the cut, for those who are avoiding spoilers entirely. I should also preface this by saying that in 3 Houses Azure Moon was my favorite route, with Crimson Flower my least favorite, and Snow and Wind in the "meh" spot. I don't hate Edel, but I do think she's one of the villains of 3 Houses, so anyone who doesn't want to read any Edel criticism can bow out now, if desired.

Scarlet Blaze:

Monica's Edel simp personality has been retconned to be her actual character, rather than something weird that happened after she got Slithered. From what I've seen she even counts how often Edel sighs? If she were a guy, we'd slap a restraining order on him, so I can't take this seriously as good lesbian representation. Ferdinand apparently got even more shafted than before. Bernadetta's father supposedly has a similar personality to hers, which makes no sense with what we've learned of the man in FE3H. Linhardt's dad is... there. Caspar's dad has a crest he canonically is not supposed to have. Caspar has apparently been reduced from "I wanna grow taller and stronger and fight evil and injustice!" to "I wanna grow stronger and fight", which is sad to hear. I have not heard anything bad/OOC about Linhardt or Dorothea yet, so that's good. Petra's support with Dedue is about how he and Dimitri taught each other their respective languages, but Petra had no one, which only reaffirms my desire to recruit her out of her house asap.

Story-wise, I find it hilarious that Edel gets support from the church in routing the Slithers, gets to reform her country as she pleases... and then still goes on to declare war. Almost as if the imperialism had always been there. Apparently the church sent assassins after Count Varley once he became head of the Southern Church, which is super OOC for the Central Church (not so much the Western Church). I know the official summary talks of Edel looking to rout the Slithers, but apparently she doesn't even get to take out Thales--Rhea sacrifices herself to do so. The route ends with a high five from Edel and Shez, which... seems appropriate. I have heard nothing about this route that makes me think it's any more engaging than a high five. There are apparently two different endings, depending on if you recruited Byleth or not, but both of them leave the war open ended, which sucks. Overall, it sounds like Crimson Flower 2.0.

Golden WildTrashfire:

Poor Claude can't catch a break. In 3 Houses, the writers gave him a copy paste route, in 3 Hopes they decided to go against his established characterization for something closer to the first draft they originally had, and from there right into Edel Lite territory. I have not heard anything outrageous about the characterization of the rest of the Deer, so I can only imagine they got out relatively unscathed. Hilda is apparently even more bisexual in this than she was in 3 Houses, which I applaud. I am looking forward to hearing my mutuals talk about Leonie & Jeralt supports, if there are any.

Story-wise, the route touted itself as dealing with Almyra... which it apparently did for all of 8 chapters, before Claude suddenly decides to believe that Edel is right actually and killing Rhea will solve his problems. He then goes on to fan a border conflict between Sreng and Faerghus and ends up murdering Rhea. I think a Chinese reviewer put it nicely when he said it's like Claude spent three years hanging upside down, so all the blood rushed to his head and turned him stupid. Just like Verdant Wind, this route had SO MUCH POTENTIAL... and then they just decided "nah, fuck it, let's copy paste an Eagles route in the second half". It's tragic really. This route had the chance to be amazing for Claude and Almyra and instead just ended up being CF 2.Claude.

Azure Gleam:

The Blue Lions definitely drew the best straws, as far as I can tell. Dimitri is mostly in character, from what I hear (except for one weird line about how he started the war by sheltering Rhea and his super hedged response to Claude trying to get rid of the Church). His PTSD is still there, but never gets him has bad as it did in 3 Houses. Dimidue and Dimilix shippers get all the nice things, because these two in particular are actually there to support him. We get to see Sylvain's dad, who is much more fleshed out as a character, and Miklan gets to die defending a fort from the Empire, so Sylvain gets some juicy extra bits of family lore/characterization. Ingrid is apparently heir to her house. Other than that, I have not heard much about the girls. Oh, also Felix and Annette apparently only have one support conversation (but my OTP ... T_T) and Felix's mom exists, but still has no name.

Story-wise.... Dimitri's uncle was apparently involved in the tragedy, kept Dimitri locked up post Duscur, spied on him and even tried to kill him. I watched the cutscene where Dimitri gets to execute him and I have zero regrets. I have heard this game described as "Dimitri tries to reform his country while Edel and Claude play catch with the idiot ball in his yard". I know he ends up giving Duscur back to its people, arrest a few more people who were involved in the tragedy, and mostly defends his Kingdom from the Empire. Somehow this all ends with Edel being brainwashed by Thales, who gets killed by Dimitri? Ngl, as much as I like Dimitri getting revenge for his father, the last thing Edel needed was to lose even more of her agency. Aside from that though, Azure Gleam players seem to be happy.

Now as for everybody else: the wolves are there... I guess? Yuri apparently flirts with Sylvain, which just underscores his canon bisexuality. Sothis apparently got hit with the OOC hammer as well and is now acticely commandeering Byleth's body sometimes? Also, I hear she talks about the Heroes' Relics in titles (like Rhea's title as a dragon is The Immaculate One), which is super weird, since those are her kids. I mean, she never struck me as the best mother ever, but it still seems OOC. The church characters are... there, I guess. I haven't seen anyone talk about Alois yet. Catherine and Shamir are still gay for each other, which is good for them--they are my favorite sapphic couple in 3 Houses. Seteth and Flayn dye their hair at some point, and very badly so. Cyril gets some nice lines from Rhea during a paralogue which show that she really does care about him. Poor Rhea can't catch a break outside AG and dies in the other two routes, which sucks.

I also read the dev interview where they basically said "it's canon if you want it to be" and "we didn't want to invalidate the experience of 3 Houses" to justify their shitty cliffhanger endings, but ironically pissed off more fans than they made happy, from what I can see. I am curious to see what DLC they'll drop for this (because you just know they will).

[birdmas]

The interest check for sketchybirdmas 2021 is now over! Thank you so much for all the responses received!

Now without further ado,

DECK THE HALLS WITH BOUGHS OF BIRDMEN

It is time for the Sketchy Birdmas Challenge!

How does it work?

From now until the 25th of December the @birdmas ask box will be open to prompts. These prompts will then be made available both in individual text and grouped gif form, allowing for multiple means of participation.

The Sketchy Birdmas Prompt Challenge involves picking a prompt and interpreting it in whatever wonderful idea comes to mind in as much time as you need. Post it to the relevant tags and let’s celebrate your creativity!

The Sketchy Birdmas Speed Challenge is much like the first, but with the additional dimension of completing your prompt within a certain timeframe, also chosen from a gif.

With both we want to wow at your wonderful works, so please post it to #birdmas, #birdmas2021 or #birdmen

If you have any questions, please direct them to the @birdmas

blog!

There is no need to sign up and there are no consequences to choosing to opt out.

READ MORE for more Questions!

1. What mediums can I use?

Literally anything! There are no holds barred in either version of the sketchy birdmas challenge. Playlists, Art, Theoryposts, Edits, Writing, Moodboards-- go bird wild.

2. What if I wanted to be assigned a prompt?

That’s totally alright! Shoot a message to the @birdmas blog and you’ll be supplied with prompt post-haste.

3. Is there a deadline?

The tags will be actively observed until December 25th, but any submissions after the fact are still considered valid and will be reblogged.

4. What is NOT allowed?

As usual, absolutely no sexual NSFW.

We have minors in the fandom, and a lot of the characters in the source material are minors as well. Explicit prompts will not be posted.

Please be respectful of our shared space and others within it.

Because the Birdmen series is completed, nothing is considered spoilers. Use whatever character or inspiration you want!

5. So, how does choosing a prompt work?

>>Prompts Challenge

Submitted Prompts will be posted both as single posts similar to below:

Which will include the prompt in a picture, and a text writeup of it below. If you see a prompt that resonates, this is your chance! Feel free to create based on it!

With this, you can take your time creating whatever you wish.

Prompts will also be compiled in a pinned post for ease of access. This post will remain pinned until December 25th.

>>Speed Challenge

For added randomness, there’s also the option of click and drag/screenshot gifs which work like so:

You can screenshot or click and drag for a prompt and corresponding timeframe. Your challenge is to create something while within the time allotted. Can you do it?

>>Submissions

You may either post your creation to the birdmen tag directly or submit it via the birdmas blog! Please remember to add what prompt your work was based on when you post.

6. Can I still submit prompts even if I don't want to create something?

You are very much encouraged to. Please drop an ask in the @birdmas askbox.

That seems like a lot of non-rules.

This is true! Anarchee babee rule of the wild.

Kidding. The idea is to focus more on something fun and lighthearted, especially as the holiday season approaches. Between secret santa’s and other fandom events, this not even including real-life commitments, time can be stretched a little thin.

The Sketchy Birdmas Challenges are meant to be quick and easy, with the flexibility to be completed in 5 minutes between tasks, or over longer periods as time presents itself.

It’s meant to be fun, relaxing, and a bit silly. But also giving allowance for if folks want to take longer with a project or piece. So, less rules.

With all that said,

Have fun, do your best,

and happy flying.

[sageblogsthings]

to celebrate The Crimson Moon reaching 30k as of this morning, i thought that i would share the progression of the opening lines of the book, and talk a bit about how the book has grown and changed in the last year! on july 27th it will be exactly a year since i first started writing this and wow i’m not getting emotional you are aha whaaaat

*cough* anywayyysss!!

draft one: please oh god don't judge me

ok i'm not going to talk negatively about my past writing because it got me to where i am today but. [marge i am looking away meme] if you can't tell, i wrote this when i was going through the existential crisis phase of uni and just wanted to live in the woods, i say like i would not currently move to the woods in a heartbeat asdklfja

at the time that i wrote this i was really happy with it because the writing was fun and, as a result, easy! at this point i was just writing in my down time from uni, and i didn't know what the plot was or what my plans were for the book as a whole. because this was just something i did in my down time, i think my writing took on more of a conversational, stream-of-consciousness tone, and that's part of what made this draft (or start of a draft, i only got like 12k in i think) so easy to write. but eventually, as the plot started to come together and i started to gain more inspiration from sff writers as a whole, i realized that this book wasn't heading in the direction i wanted it to. it wasn't just something to do in my free time at that point, it had taken on a life of it's own. and thus, draft two began.

draft two: electric boogaloo

ngl these lines still slap and i love them. there are definitely things i would change, but these lines will be in the current draft of the book, albeit not in the first chapter and altered slightly. when i started this draft, i didn't have an outline but i had a very clear, cinematic image of how i wanted this chapter to go. i think having that before i started writing helped a looooot, both in terms of prose and just being able to convey aspects of the setting/character in the first paragraph. as i continued writing this draft though, i realized that some of the character arcs didn't make sense or were getting a bit messy, and that, based on the story i wanted to tell, it didn't make sense to start with Xalia. while there are six main pov characters in this book, Vanna really is the main character and i wanted that to be clear.

draft three: this time it's personal actually good

these are the current first lines of the book, and honestly my favorite so far! starting off with Vanna rather than Xalia definitely gives the book a different feel, and it's one that's more true to the vision i have for it. in my opinion, this opening does a much better job of setting up some of the book's themes, which admittedly i'm still figuring out lol. grief and loss are major components of all the character arcs, and are integral to the plot itself. switching to present tense has also been a LIFE CHANGER for me. it's funny because, on the second stab at this book, i kept slipping into present tense, but forcing myself back to past tense because i thought present tense sounded weird. turns out it only sounded weird because it was surrounded by past tense, and now that i've written 3 chapters in present tense i can solidly say that this is the way the book was meant to be written. it just feels like my book now, and i'm so happy with where it's headed!

i also made an outline for this draft of the book, and while i've already deviated from it somewhat to work out plot holes or increase ~foreshadowing~ in certain scenes, getting all of the events out of my head and onto paper has really allowed me to just write because i know that i have a document to refer back to if i get stuck on where the story is headed. making the outline also really pushed me to think about character backstories, most of which i had previously established, but now they've changed a lot to fit together more cohesively and integrate with the plot more clearly. i've also changed a lot of the character designs, and as a result of changing the appearances and backstories of a lot of the characters, i feel a lot closer to them and the story itself. the characters have well and truly taken on a life of their own, and now i'm kind of just along for the ride, telling their stories and loving every second of it!

ALSO!! the last big change with this draft, which i just implemented literally this morning and am so so sooooo excited about, is having first person referral, present tense mini-chapters/interludes! it gives the book a really unique sound and ties into the plot really nicely i think! i feel like the structure and form of the story are finally tying into the story itself and it's driving me insane a little bit askdfjka

as of right now i'm not ready to reveal who the pov and referral characters are in these chapters, because i'm debating between a couple ways of doing things and if i go one way that would end up being a pretty big spoiler! that being said, i got really hyped up about it earlier today and rambled in the spoilers section of my server so if you do want that sweet sweet spoilers content....join my server! ;)

also. i hope u all know that i almost deleted that first snippet about ten different times but transparency in writing and all that, i really do want to show how much this book has grown and changed! even if it's going to cause me immense psychic damage to type up the image description for this but i digress

i think that's all for now, and thank you so so much if you read all of that! the love and support this project has received and continues to receive absolutely blow me away, and i can't thank you enough for being part of the journey! <3

the crimson moon taglist (ask to be +/-)

@dallonswords | @isherwoodj | @florraisons | @aetherwrites | @childhoodlovers | @bijouxs | @ziyin | @moonhungers | @piyawrites | @avi-why | @svpphicwrites | @alicewestwater | @ladywithalamp | @spencers-tomes | @discreet-writer | @sunwornpages | @abalonetea | @the-bard-writes | @x-writes | @morganwriteblr​ ​| @aphaimaniis | @stephwriteswords | @ninazeniks ​| @araliensmagica | @fuyugomori | @ryns-ramblings | @greyjaywrites | @marimos

image descriptions below the cut

[header image description]

the background is a dark castle with a checkerboard-patterned marble floor. the hallway fades into black, with the hint of a figure standing in the doorway. white text across the image reads "The Crimson Moon" in a large, all-caps font, and below that reads "wip update post" in thin, lowercase text.

[image description for excerpt one]

I lay on my back, gazing up at the sky. The weather was absolutely perfect. I could hear the crickets singing, the birds chirping, the brook babbling, all that good poetic shit.

I came out here often, just to get away and pretend like I wasn't a part of the fuck-all society I lived in. How could humans be so ignorant? We live in a world with this, I gestured expansively in my mind at the field around me, how can we not see how beautiful it is? How perfect it is? How imperfect we are by comparison?

[image description for excerpt two]

Xalia strode down the marble halls, the soft leather of her shoes meeting each tile with a cacophony of echoes. This was not the first, second, hundredth time that she had walked these passageways, and yet the chill she felt when contained within their depths never seemed to subside. The looming corridors and billowing curtains always seemed to hide sinister whispers that breathed down her neck and pricked at the tips of her ears. Perhaps it was the High Council, with their unnerving masks and owlish eyes, seeming to know and perceive all — or perhaps it was the knowledge that every time she stalked back towards the exit, she would carry the weight of another’s life on her shoulders, a life that she had to take.

[image description for excerpt three]

Vanna’s mother always tells them that grief is a sharp, biting thing; something that latches its teeth around your stomach until you double over with the weight of it. But for Vanna, that’s not quite right. There isn’t something hidden and tucked away behind the confines of their gut because there isn’t anything there at all. As they walk towards the town well — a spell book in one hand and emptiness in the other — they think that their mother got it wrong trying to describe grief in terms of presence. Grief, to them, can only be absence. The absence of light, the absence of a smile, and the absence of a palm which had curled so perfectly into theirs.

[gerryconway]

Burton's Revenge.

After a miserable time at the movies last night, I've come to the conclusion that Tim Burton's grim and joyless "Dumbo" is an auteur triumph.

SPOILERS AHEAD. (Though for this movie, "spoiler" is descriptive as well as a warning label.)

I don't recommend "Dumbo," but I admire it. Burton has accomplished something almost startling with this film: he's made a movie that is about as unsubtle a "f**k you" to both his corporate sponsors and the audience as one could get without actually superimposing "F*CK YOU!" on every frame. Contempt for Disney and for the audience that gobble up the company's live action remakes of classic animated films oozes from every shot, every scene, and in particular, from the entire second half of the movie. If some films are a love letter, this is hate mail. Tim Burton clearly hates how Disney is exploiting the animated films he cherished as a child, and "Dumbo" is his bitter revenge.

Why am I sure "Dumbo" is the angry vision of a furious auteur and not a well-meaning misfire? Because I respect Tim Burton as a filmmaker too much to believe this movie isn't exactly what he wanted it to be.

Burton has been making films for thirty-five years, and though the films he's made lately haven't been quite as quirky and strange as his earlier movies, they still display the control of a man who knows what he wants to achieve, and how to achieve it. You might not like where he goes, but he knows how to get you there. So, "Dumbo," with all of the issues I'll mention below, is exactly the movie Burton wanted it to be.

The question is, why? Why would Burton want to make a movie so driven by rage against audience and corporate sponsors both?

And why "Dumbo"?

If you've seen Burton's interview with Ray Harryhausen, available on some of the Blu-ray reissues of Harryhausen's films, you're reminded of how much of Burton's vision of filmmaking is informed by his still-childlike appreciation for simple wonder. As he sits with Harryhausen and plays with the saucer models from "Earth vs the Flying Saucers," Burton looks and sounds like a five year old kid gawping in awe at a shopping mall Santa Claus. He still loves the things he loved as a child, and he becomes a child again in their presence. His joy is sincere.

The man who felt joy and wonder in the presence of Ray Harryhausen could never have produced the grim, joyless, misery-soaked downer that is "Dumbo" unless he was trying to say something about the destruction of his own childhood sense of joy and wonder.

I think "Dumbo," in its not-so-thinly veiled critique of the cruelty of corporate exploitation of children and nostalgia, is Burton's attempt to tear down the structure he helped to build.

It was Burton's own remake of "Alice in Wonderland" that set the current live-action remake frenzy in motion, remember. Whatever you may think of that movie (I like it for its weird and subversive charm), there's no question it was enormously successful and clearly inspired the corporate minds at Disney to authorize a wholesale ransacking of Disney animated classics as fodder for subsequent live-action redos.

As a loving fan of those original classics, I think Burton must have been horrified by what he'd unleashed. He couldn't have felt otherwise. Again, look at his interview with Harryhausen. The kid in him cherishes joy and wonder. Whatever virtues the Disney live-action remakes have, with the exception, I'd say, of Burton's own "Alice," joy and wonder aren't an apparent high priority for the filmmakers involved. If anything, most of the remakes are drained of wonder by the translation from the imagined to the tangible.

Which brings us to "Dumbo."

The original "Dumbo" is a slight, one-hour fairy tale, centered entirely on a baby elephant with big ears who can fly, and cast almost completely with talking and singing animals. With the exception of a thoughtless racist element, it is a film of charming childlike innocence with a simple message about the strength of mother and child love and the power we gain when we let go of emotional crutches. ("I need a feather to fly.")

This is not a movie that demands a live-action remake, or even, in its story elements, supports the possibility of one.

And, in fact, Burton's "Dumbo" isn't a live-action remake-- it's an angry, passionate argument *against* such a remake. The baby flying elephant is a MacGuffin in Burton's "Dumbo"--not the emotional core of the story. There are no talking or singing animals, no other fantasy elements, not even a hint of fairy tale atmosphere. From a character point of view, I'd argue, there is no emotional core: none of the "live" characters in Dumbo have any emotional resonance at all. They are all bleak and joyless and broken, emotionally dead, barely responsive to the world and the story supposedly taking place around them. One of them, a little boy, has no character existence at all-- I'm not sure he's even named, and he could be removed completely from the film without any discernable impact. For a filmmaker with Burton's skill set such a failure to develop even marginally interesting characters with a vital stake in the story is inexplicable-- unless it was intentional.

I think it was intentional.

I think "Dumbo" is an act of auteur subversion, one of the most breathtaking acts of creative defiance since "Citizen Kane," though certainly far less successful as a piece of entertainment. In fact that may well be the movie's most defining artistic characteristic-- its complete unwillingness to entertain.

It really is a remarkable achievement. To trick Disney into financing and releasing a major motion picture which savages everything about the company's approach to its classic films, and, in addition, to its entire corporate raison d'etre, is a stunning accomplishment. What a trick. I imagine the script reads very different from what Burton shot-- it's possible to describe something one way, shoot it another, and edit it all together to produce the opposite effect from what the screenplay suggests. Because there's so much CGI involved, Disney executives probably never realized what Burton was doing until final cut. And that, in itself, is part of Burton's savage attack on Disney's corporate methodology. The further film executives get from true hands-on creative involvement in the films they make-- through increasing dependency on CGI and post-production manipulation-- the less they really know about the movies they're making. The very power to ham-handedly rework a mediocre director's work in post allows a master director to hide his intentions until it's too late to reverse them. By the time Disney executives possibly realized what Burton was up to, if they ever did, they'd sunk too much money and time into his version of the film-- and had no choice but to either scrap the movie entirely or release it as it is. Given the exigencies of corporate finance, and the apparent belief on the part of Disney executives that the appetite for live-action versions of beloved animated classics is insatiable, releasing Burton's hate mail movie was ultimately the only logical thing to do.

In the end, "Dumbo" isn't a good movie. It probably was not intended to be. It's Tim Burton's angry rant against making movies like itself. It's a slap in the face to the people who financed it and the audience who shows up for it. As a work of protest it's kind of admirable. As a film-going experience, as I stated above, it's a miserable two hours.

You've been warned. At least now, if you see it, you can "enjoy" the movie for what it is-- a scream of contempt, an artist setting fire to the gallery displaying his work. Personally, now that I've defined it... I think I like it.

YMMV.

[wuxian-vs-wangji]

Hello. You said before that you wrote a supernatural fanfic that you lost? I was just wondering if you could say what it was about (if you want to, I don't want to be a bother)? I read some of your other fics and while I don't understand a lot because I'm not in those fandoms I feel like you would have a better end of Supernatural than whatever that was we just got (If you've heard about that). Sorry for long ask, thank you if you answer or if you don't!

Oh, I’ve heard about it, LMAO! 

I used to be deep in the SPN fandom on tumblr. Went to a con, met Jared, Jensen, Misha, Jim (got a photo with all 4 of them!), Kim, Rachel, Richard, Matt, and even met Genevieve in passing! Oh, and the guy who played Dick the Leviathan. I totally blank on his name. I think I bailed around season... 8 or 9? 

Kind of rage-quit after they killed off Kevin. At that point they’d just done too much of that crap in a single season and it was pretty obvious they’d lost any semblance of care for the writing, so I bailed.

I’m fine talking about the plot of my fic. When I’d had time to process the shock of losing more than 200 pages of writing *sobs* I posted a summary of how it was supposed to go for my readers. When I do that it’s my way of saying “I quit forever”.

I’ll put the main answer below the cut, since it’ll probably end up being long. My fic was in the form of an entire season of SPN, one 45-47 page chapter per “episode”, so it’s a bit to summarize...

The story took place at some indeterminate point after Season 6. It was written to be independent of the Leviathan Storyline, but really could fit in just about anywhere. I think I’d used details from the season where Sam Carter from SG1/SGA was an evil angel lady, but also it was heavily anchored in Seasons 1-6.

It started with mass destruction in this one town. In the middle of the crater something ragged and uncontrolled and evil appeared. Seriously- destruction was the core of it all. Pure, raw, uncontained power lashing out at everything.

And then the creature at the center of the swarm starts to walk away, leaving a path of destruction behind it.

After a chapter or two of monster-of-the-week type stuff, Sam and Dean started hearing whispers of this thing. Like it was circling them. Through Cas they find out that Heaven is on edge- something has escaped from the deepest, darkest corners of Heaven’s Prison (Dean makes a comment about how hell is supposed to be heaven’s prison, but Cas explains that there are some things too horrible to be sent to hell, away from the watchful guard of angels).

My favorite chapter of anything I’ve ever written opened with people shopping in a store in some small town, kind of a boutique store, and there is a sudden violent quake, everything goes pitch black, then kind of orange. They hear strange noises and long story short Hell is basically growing unstable, collapsing on itself, and this store just randomly fell into Hell. With all the dicking around on the surface with the apocalypse and Leviathans and whatever the fuck else, reality is essentially collapsing in on itself. Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, and the mortal world are all colliding.

Sam and Dean are trying to figure out why this store just kind of vanished (the authorities say sinkhole but it’s basically a crater where this thing once stood) when Sam collapses.

Dean gets him to the hospital and is suddenly dizzy. He turns and finds himself trapped in his own mind, where the thing circling them appears. It needs something from Hell, Dean needs to save the humans, and neither can complete their goal without the other.

The woman (it is all in black and appears to have no face, but speaks with a female voice) has ripped a piece of Sam’s soul away. He is trapped in horrific agony and the woman will leave him there forever if Dean doesn’t help her.

She manages to open a path between this world and hell and Dean goes back to hell with her.

When they return (somewhat victorious but it’s very gory and a lot of people died), Dean has no idea what it is she’s taken. But also where there was once swirling black mist under the hood of her cloak, there is a face rotted, ripped, and destroyed.

Adventures, Adventures, Adventures

The boys cross paths with the woman again. She’s stronger now and her face is looking more human-esque. Castiel is also extremely agitated as he learns about this woman and all he’ll tell Dean is that he needs to kill her on sight. Castiel gives Dean one of the angelic blades for protection (Cas was with them for a lot of the story but I can’t remember what I had him doing). 

Dean comes across this thing again, it is standing over Sam as he screams and writhes and so he stabs it with the angelic blade- the thing that should kill anything.

It doesn’t do shit.

Adventure, drama and whatnot later (around what would be episode 19) the story comes out in fits and bursts:

Once upon a time, in the 1600s, Zachariah decided to make an apocalyptic safety net. He manipulated events to bring together a Campbell and Winchester line (implied Sam and Dean are descended from siblings of these two). The couple had two children- Elizabeth (older) and Matthew (younger).

Two powerful demon hunting families were outcasts in their village. They were forced to live far from the main settlement, and one day the villagers went all witch-hunt-ie and burned the parents alive. Elizabeth and Matthew (only a small child) were left alone.

One winter, as Matthew was dying and Elizabeth- barely alive herself- was hunting in the forest, she came across a young native American man. It was love at first sight. She collapses and he follows her tracks to carry her back to her hovel. When she comes to he’s built a fire, prepared some food (Elizabeth was a shit hunter, couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn from 3 feet away), and has also given Matthew some herbs that help break his fever.

Elizabeth and the young man (I can’t remember what name i gave him) fell deeper in love over that winter. But right when she starts to think things are getting better, the villagers are incensed. They attack, and make Elizabeth watch as they burn Matthew and her love. At this point Matthew is like 6, so, you know, truamatic.

Elizabeth is deemed a feeble-minded woman and kind of thrown aside. That night she goes on a rampage and murders a lot of the villagers in their beds before they catch her and hang her.

But that wasn’t the end of Elizabeth Winchester’s story. It was the beginning.

Elizabeth was a safety net for the apocalypse. Her soul should have gone to Hell for what she did, but instead Zachariah dragged her up into Heaven’s Prison. There, Zachariah tortured Elizabeth for 400 years (which is idk in heaven-time, there is a whole segment of the fandom who analyzes the time in heaven/hell vs on earth).

She became, essentially, a demon made by Heaven itself. They were trying to get her to say ‘yes’ to Michael. That way, if Dean proved to be a turd (spoiler alert: the biggest turd), heaven could resurrect Elizabeth and Michael has a backup. One of the main tortures Zachariah employed was literally strapping angelic grace to her. Demons on Earth are burned up when they catch a glimpse of Grace, but in Heaven she couldn’t even die, so it both drove her overwhelmingly insane and also made her incredibly powerful.

After Zachariah’s death she was forgotten, and left in her cage with that grace burning her soul for years.

Bobby, Jo, Ellen, etc. canonically wander through heaven at-will, evading angels when needed. They were the ones who found their way into the prison and brought her out, but too quickly lost control of her and she returned to the world of the living herself.

A demon with the grace of an archangel.

Bobby, Jo, Ellen, etc. made a pact with her- they let her go, she enters the Cage and destroys both Lucifer AND Michael.

What appeared to be Elizabeth torturing Sam (it kinda was- she’s half demon remember) was also a sort of act of kindness. Sam’s soul was still lashed to The Cage. It was covered in the markings of that place, and when he died it would suck his soul back in. Elizabeth was removing those marks- essentially skinning Sam’s soul and applying those pieces to herself to give her access to the Cage. Taking Dean with her to Hell was also so she could get something that would help her in the Cage.

As they are preparing for her to rip apart the rest of the marks on Sam’s soul (which may kill him), Heaven is trying to intervene to stop her (because Team Michael and they want the apocalypse back on track). They send an archangel to stop her--

The young man she’d fallen in love with back when she was human.

It turns out the man was an angel all along- he played her and arranged his own horrible end (and that of her brother) to push her over the edge. They needed a pure soul with a bit of demonic power to maybe give Elizabeth an edge as a vessel for Michael.

She rips the grace out of the angel. Zachariah’s torture- constantly strapping her to a grace and ripping it away taught her how. It is the most agonizing and horrific end to an angel possible, her act of vengeance.

Eventually Elizabeth would make it to Hell, rip Michael’s grace from Adam, and the Cage would seal behind her after she sent Adam back up. There was going to be a sequel (second season) in which Elizabeth returns.

Her relationship with Sam and Dean in “season 1″ was very contentious and kind of frenemy-esque (think Meg at times). “Season 2″ was going to be more about her just not knowing what to do now. She can’t trust heaven or hell, so she kind of ends up lost and following the Winchesters on their hunts without them noticing her at first or being able to speak to her (like she only shows up sometimes and then vanishes again).

“Season 2″ wasn’t really planned out, but by the end of it they’d have found out Chuck was God. As a sort of apology/ way to get them to stop constantly resurrecting people in the goddamn show/ reward Elizabeth’s soul was “healed” of it’s demonic edge, the Grace would fully anchor (making her an archangel), and she would be given a new realm of death to rule over- one for hunters or supernatural creatures who had been resurrected or in some way used by Heaven or Hell to spend their afterlife at peace.

No chance of resurrection, no matter the spell, and no interference even by other archangels. The hunters dicking around with the paths through heaven would be sent there too (for their protection, the angels in heaven were starting to hunt them in return).

I feel like I’m missing details, I somewhat repress my memories of this fic because losing it was that traumatic, but yeah. That was the general thrust of it.

[littlestarofthewest]

Hi, I love your fics and wanted to know if you have some tips for someone who wants to start writing? English is not my main language and I don't know if it's worth writting on my first language and then translate/adapt to english...

Hey anon, sorry this took me so long to answer, but I just wanted to do a somewhat decent job with it. Also, thank you. I'm really honored that you consider me to be someone who can actually give valid advice. I put this under a read more because it got super long (I’m sorry if that’s not at all what you were looking for).

Important side note: While I use phrases like "this is better," everything below is my personal opinion and not some sort of universal truth. I'm not criticizing any writers. I'm sure they know what they're doing, and we're all just looking for ways to put out the best works we can.

A lot of writers use things in their stories that I try my hardest to avoid, and they still have lots of happy readers. It comes down to personal preference, and all I'm offering here are a few ideas for you to consider.

-------

Let's start with the language issue. When I started writing fanfic I thought about the same thing. I think you have to consider 3 things:

1. Do I have the time / am I willing to translate everything?I'm usually so excited about finishing a story that I want to post it right away. You won't be able to do that if you need to translate it first. Also, writing itself can already be exhausting, and you're going to have to do the same work twice with each story.

2. Is my native language interesting for others?I'm German, and since the majority of the German people I'm in fandoms with speak English, there's no need to post anything in German. If the source material is English, they will consume English fics.

If you know your language to be interesting for other people, it would make more sense to post both languages to reach a bigger audience.

3. How close is my native language to English?Again, I can give you the example of German. The two languages are very different when it comes to sentence structure and how to phrase things. So, if I were to write in German first, a translation would be quite tricky. I'd probably end up "rewriting" the story rather than translating it word for word because the English wouldn't sound so good.

In conclusion: I know it's tempting to write in your own language because it seems more natural but unless you have good reason to do it that way (as mentioned above), I'd probably try to write in English right away. That's what I ended up doing. If you want to find the best way for you, try it both ways and see what works best.

Judging from your ask, I'd say you have enough knowledge of the language to write in English, and while it might suck a little in the beginning, it gets a lot easier over time.

--------

GENERAL ADVICE

1. Write! Practice is key. Talent might be a thing, but what makes you better at something is actually doing it. You don't have to publish everything, but the fact that you wrote it will help you to get better. I cringe whenever I look at things that I wrote 6 years ago, but it's also great to see how much better I am now compared to then. If you keep at it, you'll definitely see that change at some point.

2. Don't get discouraged if there's no significant response. Even for amazing writers, it takes time to get some traction. Especially on tumblr it's tough to be seen. There are also a ton of reasons why people might not interact, like forgetfulness, blog aesthetic, laziness, shyness, etc. That doesn't mean they don't enjoy your work. I hate to say "write for yourself," but that's the mindset you need. It should be still fun for yourself, even if you don't get a lot of feedback.

3. Have a healthy attitude towards your work.It's absolutely okay to love your own stuff, and if you enjoy it, feel free to show it. Still accept if not everybody else likes it, though.

BUT… don't hate on your work. A lot of writers are a little unsure about themselves, and that's okay, but if you say things like "this is garbage" about your own fics, you shouldn't be surprised if people don't read it. Why would they, if even you don't like it? So, don't put yourself down. Putting words on paper out of nothing is hard work, and every fic is worth at least the time and effort you put into it.

4. Read! My English improved a great deal just by reading. You'll pick up vocabulary and ways of phrasing things without even trying too hard. Read with variety. Fanfic is great, and it's a good idea to see what's out there, but fic writers are still a certain kind of writer. Mix it up with published books (even if it's hard to find LGBTQ+ content), preferably with different genres you're interested in.

5. Mingle. It's hard to put yourself out there, but don't be shy to promote yourself a little. If you feel like doing that, offer to take requests. Check out other writers. One great way to find readers is actually to interact with other writers. We can all need the support, and you might end up picking up some good advice.

Be respectful, though. I've seen people leave comments just to go like, "Hey, you wanna read my stuff, too?" Not nice. If you interact in a friendly manner, there's a good chance they'll check you out anyway. No need to pressure them.

6. Make an effort. I learned that one early on, when someone commented on one of my first fics that they "almost didn't read it because of the way it was formatted." It kinda sucks when you finally have something to post and then need to "waste time" with that stuff, but it's just as important as the story itself.

You don't have editors who will fix every little thing but try to do the basics yourself.- correct your punctuation- try avoiding walls of text- make enough paragraphs (when different people speak etc.)- check for major spelling errors

7. Consider advice / ignore haters. When someone gives you advice (if you asked for it or not), consider it. It's not smart to reject it right away, but you also don't have to do what others tell you. Pick out what works best for you. If someone's rude, kick them out of your life and don't waste a second on them. It's not on you to teach them to be polite.

8. Be mindful of your readers. It's their job to construct a safe atmosphere for themselves online, but you can do a great deal to help them. If you post on AO3, tag your stuff!! I hate to give away spoilers, but a lot of readers will feel better reading your stuff if they know that you look out for them.

On tumblr, use the right tags. Don't tag every character and ship in the universe. People will hate you (for a good reason). Go with what's actually in your story. Mentioning the basics in your post might be an option, too. (I give a quick overview on top of each story, but many writers don't. That's personal preference.)

And due to recent events, a plea from myself. Please consider all genders, sexualities etc. when you post. Tag your male/gn/female/trans reader inserts, tag your ships, tag major triggers, etc. You can't know every dislike of every person, but you have a bit of responsibility here, so please make an effort.

9. Write first - edit later. I'm shitty at this myself, but it's still great advice. A good way to avoid writer's block is just to put down the words, no matter what. It sounds like garbage? It doesn't matter. Did you use the same verb three times in one paragraph? Fix it later. No idea how that sentence should go? Add [character is doing some great action move to defeat the villain] and move on. Fill it in later.

Neil Gaiman said: "There is no first draft worse than a blank page."

You can always change and fix what's already there, but you can't work with nothing.

10. Take writing breaks. You don't have to crap out 2k of words a day to be a writer. In fact, letting your mind rest can be a great way to gain motivation and inspiration. Do something you love and don't hate yourself if the words don't come right away. They'll be back.

----------

SPECIFIC WRITING ADVICE

There's one golden rule: You want your readers to be so enthralled by the story that they forget that they're reading it.

These are some things that I picked up and still look out for to get exactly that effect. If you do that or not is totally up to you, though.

1. Use paragraphs when another person speaks. Although pretty much every advice blog tells you this, I still see stories that don't do that, and it's super confusing for readers.

NO:Arthur stands up and comes your way. "Are you sure?" You put your arms around him and nod. "Of course."

YES:Arthur stands up and comes your way.

"Are you sure?" he asks.

You put your arms around him and nod. "Of course."

There are a few ways to do this, but the important part is that your readers know who's talking at all times. The second they have to ask and maybe reread to find who says what, they're thrown out of the story.

2. Don't be afraid of "said" and "asked." I know there are these great lists of other words, but there are a time and place. Imagine yourself in conversation. Do you switch between sighing, whispering, growling and shouting with each sentence? Most of the time, people just say things. Use said and pepper in other words when it matters. Also, people tend to read over said. When you switch each sentence, they'll notice which breaks the golden rule.

3. Read out loud. If a sentence is weird, that might help you distinguish what doesn't work. If you notice a point that makes you reread or pause for a moment, chances are your reader will too.

This is also a great way to find weird dialogue. Actually speak the words, and you might notice that nobody talks that way. It's also great to find "the voice" of a character. Read it in their voice and dialect (nobody has to know if you suck at it), and you'll see if that's something they would actually say.

4. Only use epithets if they are absolutely necessary or convey an important fact!!! (This one is a real pet peeve for me because it's so dominant in fic)

NO:The Blonde leaned over, holding out his hand. You shook it, and were taken aback by the older man's shining blue eyes. The cowboy had a voice that made your skin prickle when he finally talked to you.

This is bad for a few reasons:a) You have to come up with all those epithets and oftentimes, they're not very good. b) It can be confusing because it might seem as if you're talking about more than one person. c) Your readers will focus on each new epithet, which breaks the golden rule.

It can be great to introduce a character as the tall, handsome stranger, but as soon as you know how they're called (and you should try to get there fast), for the love of God, use the name. It might sound repetitive to you since you're the one writing it, but readers usually read over names.

If you have to use a workaround, stick to one. The same person is always "the stranger," the next one is "the loudmouth," etc. That way, you can have multiple unknown characters without confusing your readers.

The only!! other reason to use an epithet is to emphasize a particular fact.

YES:"It hurt Arthur to leave John behind, but he wants his brother to be safe."

You could just write "he wants him to be safe," but in this case, "his brother" isn't only a replacement but is supposed to show that Arthur thinks of John as a brother and not just a friend. It actually means something and might even convey information your reader didn't have up until this point. It works well in dialogue, too.

"I need to go with them," you tell Karen, "and try my best to keep tall, dark, and handsome out of trouble."

Karen looks over to John and rolls her eyes. "Good luck."

Of course, the reader character knows John's name, but using the epithet here gives a little insight into how they think about John and that they're comfortable sharing that information with Karen.

5. Check your punctuation. Nobody's gonna kill you if you forget a comma, but try to get it right as well as you can, especially with dialogue. Those are a few rules that aren't hard to understand, and it's especially important if your native language does them differently.

English:"Would you just shut up," says Arthur, giving Micah a mean stare. "One more word, and I'll have to shoot you."

German:"Würdest du mal die Klappe halten", sagt Arthur mit einem bösen Blick zu Micah. "Noch ein Wort und ich werde dich erschießen müssen."

In German, you put the comma after " while you put it inside " " in English. It's a subtle difference, but it threw me a lot when I started writing in English. And if I notice, then readers might notice which again breaks the golden rule.

Besides, we're trying to make some effort, right? Let your story look pretty and professional. You can google a lot of useful guides about comma rules, dashes, and correct punctuation in dialogue.

6. Passive voice can be avoided. Or better said, avoid passive voice. I'm not saying, don't use it at all, since some very common phrases use passive voice, but try not to overdo it.

In most cases, there's always a better way to phrase a sentence, and active voice usually has more dynamic and drives your story in a way that passive voice can't.

7. Adverbs. Most writing advice blogs will tell you to avoid them like the plague. When I first started writing, I was a little on the fence with that advice, but by now, I agree with all my heart. Again, not saying that you can't have a single adverb in your story, but on many occasions, there's a better alternative.

NO:With his heart beating rapidly, Arthur moves quickly around the wagon, pulling out his gun. He fires back, shouting angrily at his attackers, "You gonna pay for this!"

YES:With his heart almost beating out of his chest, Arthur darts around the wagon, pulling out his gun. He fires back at his attackers, his anger sounding like a lion's roar in his voice. "You gonna pay for this!"

I'm not saying that version B is THE best way to write this, but I dare say it's way better than version A. Maybe that's because I'm not a native speaker, but it hurts my head if I have to read 3 words ending in -ly in one tiny paragraph.

A lot of writers very much abuse adverbs in their dialogue tags, which can make things repetitive and takes away the opportunity to put better information there. BUT, there's definitely a time and place for adverbs.

"He speaks quietly to her" is NOT the same as "he whispers to her," and that's the hill I'm going to die on.

8. Strong verbs. I suck at this myself, but this is where you should actually look for long lists of "other words for." This might be especially helpful when you have the above mentioned adverb problem (e.g., dashes, darts > goes quickly).

Still, don't overdo it. You might find words that sound fancy, but chances are that even native speakers might have no idea what you're saying.

9. Past or present tenseWhen writing in German, I often used past tense, but somehow I'm more comfortable with present tense in English.

From what I gathered over the years, most fic readers don't care either way; the only important thing is: pick one, stick to it! It's a widespread mistake a lot of writers make that they somehow switch tenses while writing. It happened to me a lot in the beginning and still does to this day. So be warned ;D

10. What POV should I use?

Again, google is your friend. There are a few different POVs you can use, some of them are very common in fic while others seem to be less popular (like 1st person as in "I do this, I do that"). There are 3 rules that I find important.

a) Don't switch inside of the story. Decide which one you want and stick to it. It's very confusing to switch at some point.

b) After you picked one, look out for the traps. If you write from one character's POV, they can't know things unless somebody tells them about it or they were present for the event. It's easy to suddenly have a character know something because YOU know it. Make sure it makes sense within the story.

c) Don't switch mid-sentence or mid-paragraph. I've seen this a lot lately in reader fics. You have 2k of story from the reader's POV, and then when they interact with the character, the author suddenly ventures into the feelings and inner thoughts of the character. That's confusing, especially if it happens without any marker or break in the text.

Don't switch just because it's convenient. If you want to give them both a voice, do it from the start. And if you do, switch where it makes sense, e.g. every other chapter, in the middle of the chapter with a visible break, etc.

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That's all I can think of for now. I hope it helps you in any way, and feel free to talk about it with me whenever you want. I can ALWAYS talk about writing.

Good fortune with your writing!!!