sparkleplatypuswriter

[sparkleplatypuswriter]

Does a fanfic need to be good? Should it not just make the writer (me) happy?

#happiness is key #people write for so many reasons #and not everyone is trying to create a literary masterpiece #plus let's not forget that this is media made for free #I just like playing with my blorbos thx

[sparkleplatypuswriter]

Y'all, the world is sleeping on what NASA just pulled off with Voyager 1

The probe has been sending gibberish science data back to Earth, and scientists feared it was just the probe finally dying. You know, after working for 50 GODDAMN YEARS and LEAVING THE GODDAMN SOLAR SYSTEM and STILL CHURNING OUT GODDAMN DATA.

So they analyzed the gibberish and realized that in it was a total readout of EVERYTHING ON THE PROBE. Data, the programming, hardware specs and status, everything. They realized that one of the chips was malfunctioning.

So what do you do when your probe is 22 Billion km away and needs a fix? Why, you just REPROGRAM THAT ENTIRE GODDAMN THING. Told it to avoid the bad chip, store the data elsewhere.

Sent the new code on April 18th. Got a response on April 20th - yeah, it's so far away that it took that long just to transmit.

And the probe is working again.

From a programmer's perspective, that may be the most fucking impressive thing I have ever heard.

#I am emotional about a robot #voyager 1 #space

[sparkleplatypuswriter]

after seeing this post by the artist afkeii on instagram, i got inspired to write a poem... and then i drew something to make it into a zine...

the way i feel about romantic love is... complicated... but i've known i'm on the aromantic spectrum for over a year now ! yippiee !

if you'd like to have a physical copy, feel free to [download the print version here] , and check [how to put it together / make a 8-page zine here]

[sparkleplatypuswriter]

Very clever. This will work for us.

#THEIR LITTLE SMILES #all they wanted was to do space stuff together #for all mankind #margo x sergei

[sparkleplatypuswriter]

you know how it is

[sparkleplatypuswriter]

Oh, my God. That’s… beautiful. It really is. Identical on both sides.

#OH MY GAWD #the moment I needed in gif form #thank you op! #sleeves rolled up #outfits of pure sex #for all mankind #margo x sergei

[sparkleplatypuswriter]

About the AO3 "No Guest Comments for a while" warning

If you're not following any of AO3's social media accounts you might be in the dark as to what kind of "spam comments" have engendered this banner at the top of the site:

These spam comments have been posted about a great deal on the AO3 subreddit for the past couple of days. Initially they comprised a bunch of guest (logged out users) bot comments that insulted authors by suggesting they were using AI and not writing their own fics. Some examples, from the subreddit:

But it then escalated to outright graphic porn images and gifs being posted in comments, again by logged out 'Guest' accounts. Obviously, I'm not going to give examples of those, but between these two bot infestations, AO3 has clearly decided to act and has temporarily closed the ability to post comments for users who are not logged in with an AO3 account.

Unfortunately, this means that genuine readers who don't have an AO3 account won't be able to leave comments on fics that they enjoy.

If you are a genuine reader who doesn't yet have an AO3 account, I strongly suggest getting yourself on the waiting list for one. More and more AO3 authors are now locking their fics down to registered users only - either due to these bot comments or concerns about AI scraping their work - which means you're probably missing out on a lot of great stuff.

Hopefully guest commenting will be enabled again at some point soon, but I suggest not waiting until then. Get yourself on that list.

Wait times are going to be longer than usual at the moment, due to the current Wattpad purge [info on Fanlore | Wattpad subreddit thread], but if you're in line, then your invite will come through eventually.

Update: There's now a Megathread about this on the AO3 subreddit.

#fyi #ao3

[sparkleplatypuswriter]

Almost three! Except Sergei is blonde, he is ideologically closer to Margo than Scully and Mulder (though maybe not J/C), and it didn't air in the 90s (but took place partially then!).

If I had a nickel for every time a red-headed girlboss scientist and her tall, dark-haired, malewife partner who sees the world differently than she does who were brought together by the workings of an antagonistic greater power on a 90s show where they work outside the mainstream of their government fell in love only to be actively sabotaged by the writers/producers, I’d have two nickels! Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice, right?

#star trek voyager #x files #for all mankind

[sparkleplatypuswriter]

Ok so my latest bookbinding spree has been in full force, and completely Star Trek Voyager obsessed haha. I thought I’d share some of my latest binds ❤️ highly recommend all these works and authors… and ive got more binds in the works👀

Shout out to @mia-cooper @elephant-in-the-pride-parade @n_squared for their amazing fics 🎉❤️

#holy crap these are amazing #voyager fic

[sparkleplatypuswriter]

why write a story if no one's going to read it?

Sometimes you don't want to share a story with others. Sometimes you do want to share it, but no one clicks on the title. So why bother writing it down if the only person you can guarantee will read it is you?

You need to get it out of your head. It just keeps replaying in your imagination on a loop and the only way to get it unstuck is to pin it down on paper.

You need to figure out what the story is. You have a lot of disjointed scenes or lines that you know are connected but you can't quite figure out how.

There's something in the story that's important to you, and you don't want to lose that thing by forgetting it. Future you might find that thing important too.

You want to be able to go back to the story again and again. Maybe to make adjustments over time. Maybe just to revisit a story that gives you the emotional release you need in that moment.

You want to be able to use text-to-speech to read the story aloud to you. Maybe it's a bedtime story. Maybe it's keeping you company while you do errands and chores.

You want to find out whether you can write a story (because not everyone can).

You want to be able to have almost the same story, but a little bit different, and you want to have it 15 times with slight variations. Then you can go through your own personal menu picking exactly the combination of beats that will satisfy you most on this reading.

You enjoy the process of finding just the right words or phrases or scenes to paint the pictures you want to shape the scene.

You want to find the exact rhythm and syllables and structure to make a sentence really sing.

You don't really have any particular reason, but you know you want to write that story down.

[sparkleplatypuswriter]

Commander Poole

#holy shit OP #this is stunning #for all mankind #danielle poole

[sparkleplatypuswriter]

4x12 “Mortal Coil”/7x02 “Imperfection”

I did not realize until now that in “Imperfection” Seven was essentially repeating to B'Elanna something she had already told Tuvok on “Mortal Coil”, but with the exact opposite sentiment. I cannot imagine a more effective way to show how much she's changed in those four years as a liberated former drone, and how differently she sees her time in the Collective.

#fuck me #SEVEN 😭

[sparkleplatypuswriter]

Like, I respect y’all who enjoy big-budget Star Trek.

And, ngl, when a starship does swoopy things, I screech my little screech of joy.

But I fell in love with a show that has a captain holding a dick rock that glitters. With a show in which the rocks falling on Beverly Crusher bounce because they’re obviously painted styrofoam. With a show that uses the same cave set across every alien world with a cave.

I don’t know why so many of those examples were rock/cave oriented.

I also love a show that didn’t have the budget to depict Wolf 359 and that lack of money made the pain of the battle so much better, imo, since we saw the broken aftermath that these characters would have to live with for the rest of their lives.

Anyway, I want everyone involved with making Star Trek to be appropriately compensated for their art.

But there’s something special about story and character being more important than big budget, eye-grabbing special effects.

#100 percent this #star trek

[sparkleplatypuswriter]

For the WIP ask. I’m going to be greedy and ask about Fitting, there are a few…

Thanks for asking :) Ok so! This one starts in 1975 and presupposes that, the timeline divergence happened (Soviets landed on the moon first), but Apollo-Soyuz happens earlier, under Ted Kennedy (I know, just roll with it). Also, unlike the solving of the docking issue in one single evening (which always was a little unrealistic), the planning takes months (IRL it took years to come to fruition, which is fascinating to read about). Honestly, I think it just has kinda morphed into a writing exercise for me, and I don't know if I will ever publish it, but it's been fun! The initial idea was to start in 83 with them in an established relationship, but then I floated backwards and forwards. There's a lot of Molly in it too. And then I really started thinking about how to bring Aleida back if not for Apollo-Soyuz. Some of it is in pieces, and they are hard to connect. This bit is from the 'prequel' or the first chapter; I don't know what's what anymore.

*******

He grabs a pencil from his shirt pocket and begins scribbling. She instantly feels protective of the piece of paper but tries to let it go. It’s not like the idea of an airlock is all that novel.

She stands to come over to his side of the table and peers over his shoulder at what he’s drawing, right-side-up. “I already thought of that,” she says, taking in his loose sketch of the Soviet docking collar on one side. “Either way there will still need to be an active and passive mechanism,” she says. “And I doubt your superiors will allow for Soviet equipment to be launched with the module from Houston.”

“Hmm,” he starts. “I presume NASA will approve their equipment being taken to Moscow and loaded on Soyuz then?”

Touchez, she thinks. 

They stand silently for a moment, staring at her sketch, before he peeks at his watch and folds his arms, frowning. “There is a saying in Russia,” he says. She gestures for him to continue. 

“Work is not a wolf. It will not escape to the forest.”

She looks at him quizzically. “Meaning?”

“Perhaps we should take a break,” he says, his brow softening a little. “But if only you can tell me… where did you get your meal from?” he adds, pointing to her sandwich. 

She snorts. “Down the hall and to the left,” she says. He smiles slightly before heading out the door. 

And this is how Margo finds herself eating dinner with a Soviet in the design room – between mutual scribbles of calculations and design ideas – every single night that week. 

#for all mankind #margo x sergei #fanfic

[sparkleplatypuswriter]

I am very curious about both Fitting and the road trip AU!

Thanks for asking :) Fitting has ballooned so much that I do not know if it will ever truly be done or see the light of day on AO3, but it is a Margo/Sergei, except Apollo-Soyuz happens in 1975. Road Trip AU was meant to be a gift, but alas, I could not finish it and got super anxious about doing it justice in time for the exchange (I regrouped and wrote something else). It's a Molly/Margo College AU taking place in the 90s where Molly places an ad in the campus paper for a road trip partner to head cross country with to Portland. Molly's going to see Bikini Kill in concert. Margo, who responds to the ad, is going to "some boring conference" (according to Molly). ******* Rebel girrrrrlllllll. Rebel girrrrrrlllll. Rebel girl, you are the Queen of my world.

Kathleen Hanna’s screech rings out in the tinny car sound system off a nearly worn out, wobbly cassette. Molly’s hands bang along the steering wheel to the beat as she lowly mimes the words along. 

Margo is stiff in the passenger seat beside her, adjusting her glasses and reading what appears to be some physics text book. 

Molly turns the dial on the volume up louder, and she can feel the frustration emanating from Margo at the intrusion. 

The song charges on, eventually switching to “Outta Me.” Margo is shifting in her seat and practically plugging her ear with one of her fingers. When she pulls out a notebook and starts scribbling, Molly starts to feel… a tiny tinge of guilt. 

She clears her throat. 

“You could, uh, put on something you want to listen to next…. If you want.”

Margo stares at her a moment before scrunching up her face. 

“I dunno if you’ll like it.”

“Do you like this?”

“Not particularly,” Margo replies honestly. 

“Well… fair is fair,” Molly says. “You gotta have a cassette buried somewhere in that backpack of yours.”

Margo frowns and then turns to dig into her bag. She pulls out one that Molly doesn’t see the label of, ejects the Bikini Kill album, pops hers in, and hits play. 

Molly suppresses a chuckle when she hears the opening of a piano chord but relaxes a bit when the dissonance of the piece starts chiming through. A bass and drums kick in, and Molly recognizes it as a John Coltrane album her father has.  Could be worse, she thinks.

#for all mankind #margo x molly #college AU #roadtrip AU

[sparkleplatypuswriter]

Feeling morally obligated and intrinsically motivated to ask about 'Sergei meets Muriel'!!

Here is a little snip-it (thank you for asking!) :) ******* He does consider the book. But reading the synopsis on the back – about a man suffering nightmares from the loss of his wife – he thinks better of it. 

Perhaps he has had enough terror for this lifetime. 

“Can I help you find anything?” 

The voice startles him out of his reverie. He looks up from the back cover and is met with kind – yet hauntingly familiar – cerulean eyes. It takes him a moment to gain his composure, to return fully to the present and smile back. 

“I was just,” he searches for the word “... browsing,” he lands on. 

“A fan of Stephen King?” the woman asks, pointing at the hardcover in his hand. 

“No no,” he replies, putting it back on the display case. “I was in fact searching for something lighter,” he adds. The sun from the window halos around her hair casting not an orange glow but a more yellow one. “And perhaps something… not too difficult,” he admits sheepishly. “This is to be my first novel in English.”

#for all mankind #margo x sergei #margo madison #muriel #justice for muriel #meet cute #but make it sad

[sparkleplatypuswriter]

VOY/FAM Crossover, if you please :)

This one I am guarding close to my chest because 1) it is still a baby idea and I have LOTS to work out logistically and 2) I don't want to be too spoiler-y and give it away (sorry! hehe). Suffice to say, there will be Margo and Janeway interactions, and some Chakotay and Sergei interactions (perhaps between the four of them, they can figure out how to be in functional relationships despite *not being allowed to*), and I think Aleida-Tom-Harry shenanigans must occur. I can also see Margo and Tuvok vibing (platonically) so dang hard.

#crossover fic #my fic #thanks for the ask :)