fandom-discussions

[fandom-discussions]

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#ao3

[fandom-discussions]

Please stop giving your leg amputees weird robot toes. I don't know why this is as much if a pet peeve to me as it is, but there's a reason why even the most advanced prosthetics irl don't have them and its not because the tech isnt there yet (kind of).

Making that many joints so close together is very difficult and will make the foot increadibly heavy for function that can mostly be replicated by a sheet of bendy carbon fibre (what irl prosthetic feet are usually made of). That many articulated joints are hard to control (even on hands, it's a challenge, and your hands dont have to weight bare), they will add a lot of weight, and will mean more power will be needed. Not to mention the joints would be points of weakness in an area that will be, at some stages in the walk cycle, bearing the majority of user's weight. Unless your character is going to be using their prosthetic feet as hands to grab things like that villain from Kim Possible, they are more trouble than they're worth, and your character doesn't need them.

And look, if the reason you want to give them robot toes is because you have a thing for feet... why did you make them a foot amputee, of all disabilities lol? Odd choices aside, if that's the reason, just be honest about it, because why else is it always "sexy cyborg" type characters that have them?

Joking aside, the goal of a prosthetic is not (usually) to look as similar to "the real thing" as possible, it's to improve mobility. As such, sometimes the best solution will not be what looks the most "normal with a robot aesthetic twist". In the event looking like the real thing is the main goal, we already have the tech for that. Many prosthetics have silicone covers that look so realistic you wouldn't be able to tell unless you can see the top of the socket (where the artificial limb meets the real thing) and you don't have to give up much mobility or functionality to use them, since that carbon fibre sheet I mention just gets hidden inside the cover.

Signed an amputee who finds your pudgy little foot fingers unsettling and wishes people would stop giving robot ones to characters unnecessarily for the sake of making something that looks "normal".

[ID: an animated gif of a character from Kim Possible in a red dressing gown, using his hand-like feet to pour himself some tea. he places the tea pot down and it focuses on his hands, in a close up. the caption reads "and risk damaging these hands?" /end ID]

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[fandom-discussions]

7.10.23

Billowing smoke

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[fandom-discussions]

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"Self insert characters are cringe"

Bro I'm trying to survive capitalism with maladaptive daydreaming. Leave me alone.

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[fandom-discussions]

Yeah sure we’ve all binged a long fic, but have you ever read a WIP and followed someone’s life?

Tidbits of information - (“I graduated today!”) - and small joys (“It’s my birthday!”) and you get to be there to say “This chapter made me cry, happy birthday, thank you for gifting us this”.

I remember reading this fic of someone at the end of high school, older than me then. They seemed infinitely wise, spoke of their future career and getting into the college they wanted. I remember them posting on days they felt like nothing could bring them down - and on days the whole world did and it’s the aftermath of a hospital visit. Cancer, I think it was, their father. I got to the end of the story, I know their father was fine, but also they got to finish their WIP. I graduated three years later than them, still dutifully wrote thank you notes in every comment. I wonder if they remember me, or just the collective of people reading the story as it updates.

Four years ago I was into my first year of university, my first year of figuring out being out in public spaces. I made excuses as to why my name didn’t match my paperwork and read a fic on the train, the same five chapters over and over again for the next years as I thought the story abandoned. It updated this week after such a long hiatus, I left another thank you comment.

There’s an author I love, they update their stories like a clockwork. When they don’t, I check their blog, just to see if their doing alright, not because I feel like they owe me, just to ensure whether I better get out my laptop to write that really detailed university level essay chapter analysis to get them smiling when their day sucked.

And then, once, when I was 17, I read a fic that hadn’t updated in over a decade. I wasn’t even in primary school when it started posting. On the last chapter, I left a comment that, in retrospect, was horribly rambly and most likely full of grammar mistakes. The author replied and though I couldn’t see their face, I thought of them crying. They were married now, had children, and hadn’t thought about this fic in years. They went through their files again, found another half written chapter and an outline. I got two new chapters to read that year.

And then, recently, someone told me they got back into writing original fiction because of my comments. I get to read nearly weekly chapters.

I love binge reading a finished fic, but nothing is ever going to top the feeling of anticipation of waiting for a chapter, the pure joy when someone tells you I was done with this, but you made me think of it again, so this is for you.

Anyway, I think we should romanticize reading WIPs more, growing up alongside the authors writing the stories we love.

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[fandom-discussions]

AO3 filtering for either of two (or more) tags

You might have noticed that when you include more than one item in your AO3 filters, the number of results drops drastically. When you include more than one item, you're telling the filter to find fics that have tag A as well as tag B, and the more items you include, the more things you're requiring a fic to have in order to show up in your results.

You're telling AO3 that you only want fics that have all of the things. You're not telling AO3 that you want fics that have any of the things.

This is because the filters use something called Boolean operators. The Boolean operators are: AND, OR, and NOT. You need to use caps for these terms in order for them to function as an operator and not just another word in a phrase.

AND (the one used by include filters) means you want both (or all) of the things

OR means you want any of them or any combination of them

NOT (the one used by exclude filters) means that you want none of them, either alone or in combination

So if Include = AND and Exclude = NOT, then how do you use OR? Use the Search Within Results box. It's near the bottom of the filter menu, right above where you can choose which language you want to read and below where you can choose word count range and completion status etc.

In this box, type the name of the first tag you're interested in, then the name of the second tag and put an OR in the middle. Keep adding OR in between them, and you can stack as many tags as you want - until you get to whatever the character limit is (character, in this case, meaning letter, number, or symbol).

If a tag is just one word, then your filter would look like this:

angst OR fluff

If a tag is more than one word, then your filter would look like this:

"no beta we die like men" OR "I wrote this instead of sleeping"

You need the quotation marks around multiple words to let the filter know that those words belong together, in that order

If you want to do an OR search for ships, it gets a bit more complicated because of the symbols used in ship tags. For ships, instead of using the name of the tag, it's better to use the tag ID number.

To find the tag ID, tap/click on the ship tag to go that tag's results page (I'm using Frodo/Sam in this example). On that results page, tap on the button labelled RSS feed. That will either open up a new page full of code or download a text file of code. Near the top of that code, you'll see something that looks like:

The tag ID number is the number that appears after /tags/

In this case, the tag ID number for Frodo/Sam is 13674. When I repeat the same process for Frodo & Sam, I get the tag ID number 716913. Then I just need to set up my OR statement and let it know that the tag number I'm providing is a relationship ID:

relationship_ids: 13674 OR relationship_ids:716913

Put that in the Search Within Results box, and I'll get fics with either one of those ships tagged, and I'll also get results with both ships tagged.

Oh! and if you don't know how to find the filters menu, just tap on any tag and then on the button labelled Filters. You won't see this menu on a search results page. However, you can use these same techniques in the search bar at the top of the page or in the Any Field box at the top of the Advanced search page.

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[fandom-discussions]

I'm not quite sure if I should be going to you for advice on this, but I figured it was worth a shot! So, me and my friend are co-writing a story. However, me and her have a lot of differing opinions on many things (Particularly when it comes to character relationships), and I was wondering if you had any advice for creative differences in co-writing?

Creative Differences During Collaborative Writing

Collaborating on a story with another writer can be hard, especially if you have a lot of creative differences, but there are some things you can do to make things go a little more smoothly.

1 - Figure Out a Game Plan in Advance - If you've already started the story, it may be too late for this step, but you can keep it in mind for your next collab. Figuring out a game plan before you start writing can help iron out the wrinkles before they become a problem, so it helps to get on the same page as far as: logistics (how the story will be written/who writes what), goal (is this for fun? Future publication? Posting online?), timeline (when should the story be finished? What is the deadline for each individual part?), expectations (what do you both want to get out of this project? What are your expectations of one another? How will you communicate delays and other issues? How will creative differences be addressed and resolved?), and a contingency plan for if one of you doesn't finish their part of the story. (Can the other finish it? Can a new partner be brought in? Can the other person incorporate their own characters and parts of the story into a new story?)

2 - Analyze the Conflict - When you find yourself butting heads with your partner over a creative decision (let's say you want Todd to be with Jack, but they want Todd to be with Brandon), the first thing you should do is analyze why you want the thing you want. Why do you think Todd should be with Jack? Is it because they genuinely work better? (Better chemistry, earned relationship, better outcome?) Or is it simply because you like Jack better?

3 - Choose Your Battles - If the thing you want wouldn't genuinely work better for the story, you may want to just let it go and roll with what the other person wants. Save your battles for the things that really matter to the story.

4 - Be Gentle - If you find yourself choosing to fight for something that is genuinely important to the story, instead of just saying, "I think Todd and Brandon are a bad couple, Todd and Jack work better!" Try putting it like, "I know you really want Todd and Brandon to get together, but I'm concerned they haven't had time to develop a believable relationship. Can you think of ways we can strengthen their bond in that short time? This points out the issue, explains why it's an issue, and offers a solution, which gives your partner control over the decision. Hopefully they'll realize you're right, and either agree that Jack works better, or at the very least, you can meet in the middle and find some ways to address your initial concerns.

5 - Avoid Pushing Too Hard - If they're not willing to budge, don't push it. Just do what you can to address the issue on your end if possible. If this story will be shared online or published, and you're deeply unhappy with their decision--to the point that you don't feel comfortable having your name on the project--just be honest (and gentle) about how you feel. See if there's some way to come to a compromise, and if not, it's probably a sign that this person isn't someone you work with well creatively, and that's okay. :)

Have fun with your collaboration!

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[fandom-discussions]

do u guys also always absorb your new favorite blorbo into your personality or are you normal

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you don't deserve that blorbo if you have to skinnify them in fanart i'm sorry

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"We were here before you. We'll remain when you leave." The creature's massive hand gently brushed his hair. "You Smalls always think you were here first."

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[fandom-discussions]

Vocabulary • Synonyms

Laughter

words to use to avoid adverbs!

✽

➸ bellow

➸ bluster

➸ boom

➸ burst

➸ cackle

➸ cachiannate

➸ caw

➸ chortle

➸ chuckle

➸ clamor

➸ crack up

➸ crow

➸ elate

➸ exult

➸ giggle

➸ grin

➸ gruffaw

➸ holler

➸ hoot

➸ howl

➸ jubilate

➸ mock

➸ muse

➸ rejoice

➸ riant

➸ roar

➸ shout

➸ shriek

➸ smile

➸ smirk

➸ sneer

➸ snicker

➸ snigger

➸ snort

➸ squall

➸ squawk

➸ titter

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[fandom-discussions]

There was once a daughter of peasants cursed to have tears that hardened into diamonds. Her loving family took pride in their poverty as it meant they had never made their daughter shed a drop. But…

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[fandom-discussions]

Write a piece about a younger child overshadowed by their older sibling(s)

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[fandom-discussions]

:(

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You are a werewolf and you are an expert at living among humans undetected. You are so good, that a vampire thought you were an ordinary human and bit you.

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[fandom-discussions]

The best writing advice I've followed

I like reading writing advice posts because sometimes it is helpful if I'm stuck on something specific or if I want to try a new genre.

The best ones are the ones that say "you should do x" or "Y HAS to do this"

Because the brat part of my brain goes "cool, cool. I'm going to do the EXACT opposite of that." And then I usually have a lot of fun!

"You should show, not tell" Guess what, I'm now writing a one shot that is all tell, a la Kafta.

"Your scene has to have a purpose/theme/whatever" First of all the purpose is I had fun writing it I don't care if it didn't develop the character or advance the plot.

Have fun with writing. Marie Kondo your craft-- if the advice doesn't lead to something that sparks joy, throw it out. Amend it. Whatever. Have fun with your writing. Save the boring and not fun bits for editing.

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