#I do not need to Fandom all my enjoyments or Hobby all my enjoyments

[thediktatortot]

Sometimes I have to remind myself that I do not have to Create™ for every single thing I like. I do not have to make fanart, I do not have to write fic and I do not have to have conversation about it.

I can simply, enjoy it.

#Sometimes I want to draw things but realistically it can't hold my attention in that way #There are things that I enjoy on a fandom level #and some things I enjoy on a personal level #and that is okay #I do not need to Fandom all my enjoyments or Hobby all my enjoyments

[fangswbenefits]

getting this off my chest

I really, really love writing for this fandom.

I think I haven't felt like this in years.

Astarion is such an enticing vessel for my creativity and has rekindled my joy for writing and putting it out there.

Alas, imposter syndrome really gnaws at my nerves more often than I care to admit.

"But Ruby, you have so many people who like your work. Why do you doubt yourself?"

Because I grew up being told I was never enough. That I was the worst at what I did best, which back then was learning English and surrounding myself in the language, hence why I sought comfort in fanfiction.

My sister, whom I love dearly, is an English teacher. She would be so harsh on me, and I know she meant well. She really did. But it was so hard back then. I would come to her with creative writing in English and she would just roll her eyes and tell me I wasn't good enough.

Nowadays, she acknowledges that I am more proficient than her and more at ease with the language, and even tells my nephew to study English with me instead.

But back then, I needed someone to believe I could do better.

So, there is a part of me that is proud that I am able to deal with real-life fatigue by writing and finding enjoyment in this hobby. But a much darker part of me tells me I'm not worthy and that I simply got lucky.

The Arrangement means a lot to me. I tend to dive right into fandoms and start writing for the character that caught my eye.

But I couldn't do that for Astarion... I am still unsure why. For those of you who have been here from my Miguel O'Hara days or when I first started posting about Astarion, you'll know The Arrangement was the first thing I ever posted for him.

Took me 2 weeks to get the first chapter out because I kept thinking I couldn't find a voice for Astarion. One that felt like him. After all, I'm always a step behind because I am not a native speaker. There will always be that looming feeling that I can't convey this story properly.

Even if you now know me for my Astarion smut, that wasn't even the driving force of my love for him.

It took me 2 months to feel comfortable writing smut for him. Why? I don't even know.

But The Arrangement feels different.

I love writing it and I love taking my liberties with the plot.

It's my opportunity to fully showcase my love for him.

I know not everyone likes it. I know some of you have dropped it. Some of you will drop it. But some will walk along this path with me, and I can't stress enough how your feedback and love help keep these negative thoughts at bay.

It's an internal work, though. It is not your job to validate my writing skills. This is not what puts food on my table. I am not looking to be published. I am looking for an escape. And it's so frustrating when my mind tries to rob me of joy even when it comes to a hobby.

"If this is a hobby why does it matter what others think or if they like what you write? Just have fun. Write for yourself."

And I do write for myself, but I share my work because I am hopeful my words can make someone's day. I seek that connection I never had growing up. Perhaps it sounds silly, but it's what makes the most sense in my head.

The Arrangement should be my pride and joy even if not perfect (nothing ever is, I suppose). And I'm exhausted of not feeling proud of it. I'm tired of this vicious cycle of self-doubt.

Don't get me wrong. I love writing smut. I think that's what I'm best at (well, in my opinion). I love exploring Astarion this way, too, but...

I don't know where I'm going with this... if anyone has made it this far, thank you, and sorry for the word vomit...

#ruby rambles ‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

[the-badger-mole]

Let me make myself perfectly clear. If you are a fan of Aang. If you like Kataang. If you like Zutara, but still love Aang. I have no beef with you. I don't believe in attacking people personally because they have a different opinion on fictional characters than I do. I will continue to sprinkle my Aang salt liberally on my own blog, and tag it so you can avoid me. That is the extent of my responsibility to your fandom experience. You are welcome to block me. No hard feelings. Tumblr doesn't let us know who blocks us, so I wouldn't know anyway. What I won't put up with is people coming to me whining about my opinions, or being rude in my tags. If you have a problem with me, I want you to pause and do 3 things for me.

Stop for a minute. Step away from your computer, get some water and ask yourself, "Is she talking about me when she talks about how much she hates this fictional character I like?" The answer will invariably be no. I'm talking about this fictional character I hate. I'm not thinking about you at all. I don't even know your name (screenname or given name).

Take a deep breath and consider, "Is her opinion on this fictional character effecting my ability to enjoy myself in this fandom?" If the answer to this is yes, then the simple solution is to block me. The more complicated problem to tackle is why I, a person I guarantee you've never met in person, and who isn't thinking about you, and who tags her salt appropriately has so much power to affect your enjoyment of a fandom you enjoy.

Sit down and reflect. We are discussing fiction here. It's the same type of media analysis we did in middle and high school lit classes, without taking it personally. If you are at the point where you can't simply agree to disagree with a take you don't like, or block a person whose posts make you unhappy, it might be time to consider a new hobby. If you need to be in conflict with someone to make your experience enjoyable, may I suggest boxing?

#atla #zutara #this isn't about ALL aang fans #the only reason i only seem to encounter obnoxious aang fans is because they keep forcing themselves on my notice #the chill ones keep to themselves #the other ones...well you know who you are

[astraltrickster]

Saw a post about gacha addiction earlier and I didn't want to Get Into It with the OP because I fundamentally don't disagree with them but it left me raging internally at the counterproductive approach.

Listen. Gacha addiction is real. It's fucked, the companies that pioneered the softcore gambling-lootbox-gacha model straight up bragged about how effective it was. If you have never spent money on gacha, ideally you really shouldn't start, because the only way to determine whether or not you'll get addicted to any specific thing is to fuck around and find out even if you know for a fact that in general you do or do not have an addictive personality. The most dangerous gamble to take is the first. If you DO decide to spend money anyway, you should have a comprehensive strategy in place to keep it from slowly consuming your entire budget. Also, even if you don't spend real money it can still become a problem, because it can also end up consuming all of your time - any game can do this, any hobby in general can become toxic in fact, but gacha games in particular have the FOMO factor of "I have to keep grinding so I can save enough for my blorbo's next banner". If you play gacha games - even on a free-to-play basis - you should be aware that you are taking a risk and you should be willing to admit to yourself if it's become a problem. If you find your gacha budget creeping upward despite your income not doing the same, or you find yourself regularly trying to grind out pull currency even when it's overall not fun anymore, you should take a hiatus from the game/s, and call a therapist or gambling addiction hotline if that proves to be difficult.

And if you have concerns about other people developing gacha addiction...shaming people or downplaying what they like about the games or characters helps literally no one; if anything it only sends them further into denial for your smug sense of superiority.

Thing is? Gacha games are games. Most successful ones, despite the obvious comparisons, are a lot more than just slot machines to fill out a gallery of blorbos to rotate on your screen instead of in your head. They tend to have genuinely compelling lore and characters and enjoyable gameplay - the gacha is not the game itself; it is a recruitment and power-up system in an actual game. This only becomes more true as the market becomes more competitive - like, FGO shows its age with its slow start; you can really tell it launched at a point where all one needed for success was to tie to an existing big fandom and give you a little new content with your faves, but even then the appeal was the lore and the characters far more than it ever was the summoning system, and it's kept up as time goes on, intensifying both the story and the strategy as it's come into a life of its own. Genshin Impact, at 2 years old, is as "real" of an action RPG as a Kingdom Hearts game, with intense strategy elements involved in team building. Arknights is a tower defense that I'd love to play were it not for my medical phobia because what I know of the setting and lore is some POWERFUL social commentary that is right up my alley.

I could list more examples, but it's not really the point. The point is that gacha games are real games, with real lore, and real characters. These games don't have playerbases composed exclusively of victims of predatory monetization unless you REALLY stretch the definition; in order for a game to be a good gacha game, first it does need to be a good game. It's easy to say "oh, they don't really care about the story or characters or gameplay, it's just an elaborate ad for the slot machine, it's just a cash grab" - but...even accepting that as true (which is debatable), so what? What's the difference between that and the latest big studio movie? The latest Netflix original series? The latest "conventional" "one-and-done" AAA game? Do you think the CEOs greenlit those out of nothing but the love of art and storytelling?

People are going to get attached to these stories and characters, and mocking them over it isn't ~taking a brave stand against predatory marketing strategies~, it's not ~waking people up to the fact that they've been duped~, it's just being a fucking asshole.

#media #gacha #serious tag

[maeglinyedi]

Something that always surprises me is that so many people will automatically assume you want to become a professional writer when you tell them you enjoy writing (fan)fiction as a hobby. In fact, when you tell them that no, you're perfectly happy to write as just a hobby without ever earning a dime, they look at you as though they're seeing water burn.

As far as I know writing is the only hobby that envokes this kind of reaction in people. Say you enjoy going to the park on a Sunday to play some baseball with your friends just for fun. Now you tell people about this. How many people react by asking you in all sincerity when you plan to try out for the New York Yankees?

Probably zero. And yet when you mention writing as a hobby they are unable to compute that writing can really be a hobby in the first place.

Throughout my time in fandom, some 20+ years now, I've met so many people with so many different careers. I've met nurses and lawyers and stay at home moms. I've met engineers and people studying for their PhDs. And what all these people had in common was that they enjoyed writing solely as a hobby with no ambition to ever go pro.

I'm the same. I love writing fanfiction. I get a great deal of enjoyment out of using my imagination to come up with plots and to write all manner of stories, from short one-shots to epic tales of several hundreds of thousands of words. And I love sharing these works with the many people out there that enjoy reading them.

That's all it has to be for me at this time. I like that there is no pressure to finish a story or else my livelihood is at stake. I like that I can take a break whenever I need it for whatever reason. And I like that I can write whatever I want whenever I want.

I get that plenty of people do want to write professionally and I wish you the best of luck. I just wish that writing as just a hobby was a little more accepted because I get tired of explaining myself over and over again to the people around me.

#writing #creative writing #fanfic writing #novel writing #on writing #fanfiction #harry potter fanfiction #fanfic #fanfic problems #fanfic writer #fanfic writers #writer problems #ao3 writer #ao3 #ao3fic #writers #my writing

[allastoredeer]

Hello, I just read the new chapter of "Damage Control" and it was a really fun read! I usually don't comment on the fics I read because my English isn't good, but as someone who's just starting to explore what the radioapple dynamic has to offer, I found this fic to be a god-send and it feels wrong to just not congratulate you.

Your characterization of all the characters in Hazbin Hotel and the world building for your radioapple series is so heckin' amazing I have no words for it. You show so much understanding of the hellaverse that even the smallest details, like that news segment with Katie Killjoy in the first episode, feel so on point. To me, it doesn't feel much different between reading your fics and watching any episode of the show.

I also wanted to ask if you were planning on involving the Sins at some point in the story. It can be fun to see the Sins gathered together to discuss why the short king, the same one who has been crying for his wife for seven long years, is suddenly involved with one of the Pride Ring's most dangerous Overlords. I can clearly hear Asmodeus say something like: “If I had a nickel for every time a royal gets involved with a sinner/hellborn (cofcofstolascofcof), I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.”

I really hope you never stop writing. You have become my favorite writer in this fandom. I hope you have a great day :D

HELLO!!! AHHH thank you so much (;´༎ຶД༎ຶ`) Reading this sdjfnslfnljfn I can't tell you how much it warmed my heart. It watered my crops. Cleared my skin. Paid off my debts.

Seriously, when I got this is it just - it means a lot to hear. I'm so happy you're enjoying my fics! I'm overjoyed you like the characterization, and I'm so, so happy to have received this. It really does mean the whole world to me (to a lot of writers) to get feedback like this, so thank you <3

I don't know if I'll include any of the Sin's in my radioapple series, but I do have a handful of ideas and scenarios I want to draw/write out involving the Sin's, Lucifer, and them meeting Lucifer's new boyfriend/partner, Alastor ^.^ I love thinking about them all coming together--maybe Lucifer hosts some big, grand, once-in-a-millennia event in the Pride ring, and all the Sin's and Royal Hell families are invited to attend--and they all meet Alastor there. Ozzie and Queen Bee can introduce their partners too, and it'd just be so much fun.

I also need Ozzie to visit the porn studios, because of course, and absolutely murdering Valentino for how he treats/abuses his sex-workers.

This whole ask just...made everything better. Thank you very much. I definitely intend to keep writing, it's such a fun hobby and I derive a lot of enjoyment from it (hopefully one day I'll publish a book 🤞) .

Also, you're English is very good! Very clear and easy to read!

#seriously #these asks just #they mean the world to me #of course writing is fun in and of itself #and I do get a lot of enjoyment and pleasure out of it #but hearing peoples thoughts about it just #gosh it really helps #makes me feel all the good feelings #gives me motivation to write out my other ideas and post those too #thank you very much for this #asks #hazbin hotel #alastor #hazbin hotel alastor #hazbin alastor #the radio demon #appleradio #lucifer magne #lucifer morningstar #meownnies

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

I suspect I know the answer but. AITA for "disappearing" from my online accounts pretty regularly?

I (22) have been fairly active in online fandom culture since I was ~13. Most of that has been on tumblr, some on twitter/tiktok/discord. I bounce around between different fandoms-- there's not really any one fandom that has stuck since I was a kid-- and I'm not a big creator. I don't do art, I occasionally write fanfic but never anything that's gotten super famous (which I'm cool with, I write for the enjoyment of myself and the like 5 other freaks who like the same things I do. it would honestly really bother me if I got too much attention.)

I also have some issues with paranoia and social detachment. I dealt with rather severe childhood abuse, which I'm not going to discuss, but which basically means I'm very emotionally detached. I have solo hobbies i really enjoy, and I like discussing common interests (like fandom stuff) with people, but I've never really had friends/romantic interests, and have zero interest in either of those things. The only people I'm really close to are my siblings. I'm definitely not an introvert, not shy/socially anxious, and not lonely. I have morals and care about society in a general sense, and I want the best for people, so I try to be polite and a Good Person as much as possible-- but ultimately I don't feel any kind of attachment to other people. I really don't want to hurt people, I just want to be left alone.

I really try to politely communicate this to people, since I've had quite a few incidents where I've been told I "lead people on", or people thinking we're friends and then getting upset when they realize I really don't care that much about them. It does make me feel bad to hurt others like that (and is also frustrating to deal with), but I can't exactly force myself to have emotions. I get along well with my irl coworkers/classmates/roommates, since they understand I just need a lot of space. Where I may be TA is with online friends.

About once every 6-12 months, I delete my entire online presence and start over. I orphan my ao3 fics, delete any and all accounts, and make sure my new accounts don't in any way link back to my old accounts. Usually when I do this it's because 1 I've changed interests and don't care about my old fandom, or 2 I feel like the people I know online start getting too close and emotionally attached to me. I usually post an explanation a few days before so people don't think something bad happened, saying that I'm going to be taking a break from social media for a while, and if anyone asks me for another way to contact me I just say I'm going to be completely offline. Then I just.... wipe everything and start over. I don't really know what my old mutuals are doing and don't particularly care? Like obviously I wish all the best for them, but I just don't think about them at all.

I've been doing this since I was a young teenager, but I was discussing fandom/social media presence with some irl classmates recently and brought it up. The reactions ranged from "weird but harmless" to "super mean and hurtful to the people you abandoned".

So: tumblr, AITA for disappearing?

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole

[queer-crusader]

I think people forget a lot of these things we do in fandom spaces such as writing, painting and discussing and analysing works are hobbies that spark joy. The world we live in should not revolve with every breath we take around consumerism. Yet we describe what we create as content, and have discussions about whether one is allowed to give criticism on these works, with the argument that people want only positive comments because it's all made to be consumed and we live on praise (referring to this tweet and of course several discussions floating around Tumblr).

AO3 is a platform used by many different people in many different ways, who all may have differing approaches (hence this discussion coming up so often - there probably isn't a definitive answer that defines everyone!). But I think what's most important is that at the end of the day, it is free content (HATE the word content btw) that many people create as a HOBBY. The same goes for works here on tumblr. There is no obligation for it to hold quality, and people aren't necessarily looking to improve or be star writers, artists or video/gif editors! Of course we want praise, but that's not necessarily because we have made content for consumption - it's because we're having fun with a hobby. If it wasn't an enjoyable pastime, we wouldn't do it, and we'd certainly not pour hours, days, months or even years into works. (You do put that much time into something to create quality sometimes (sometimes just because life gets in the way or you work slowly in general), but you cannot keep that up if you don't enjoy what you're doing.) You don't shit on someone's hobby. You also don't go "here's how to improve" unprompted. You just go "that's lovely, thank you for sharing, I'm sharing your joy for what you created or the source material it's based on! And here's potentially a detailed account of things I enjoyed or noted!" (At least, I think you should)

Now on the other hand, there ARE also people on AO3 who may want to be professional authors (hi, me!). But a commenter CANNOT distinguish without asking or without seeing an author's note that this is the case. So I think because of this that the default approach to AO3, from a commenter's pov, should be to assume something was published by a hobbyist who wants to share joy and get positive feedback rather than someone looking for criticism UNLESS EXPLICITLY NOTED OTHERWISE. Like I said, I would love to be a published author someday! But I personally actually don't really want criticism on my AO3 fics. I write those for fun/as a hobby. The act of writing them IS hugely beneficial for me as a way of exploring and developing my writing skill, don't get me wrong! But that's because the act of practice itself already does a lot for that, and because I re-read what I write a TON. So I catch mistakes. Sometimes I correct them even after having published something, if I think it's important. If I want critical feedback, for someone to look at my writing and tell me about good and bad and opportunities for growth, I will ask. Until then, leave me alone with that and just tell me you enjoyed the work. And if you didn't, there's literally no need to tell me. You can just find something else you do enjoy, like I will start a different work if I no longer enjoy what I'm working on. I made that bc I wanted to. And another author may approach this differently again; they may want to use betas or refuse to re-read their stuff, they may want to use AO3 as a platform to gain feedback with which to grow their skill. Like I said, my approach doesn't equal someone else's. But I think it makes it that person's responsibility to then declare that on their work, simply because so many people will be doing it as a hobby rather than a pure skill boost. As I said - if we didn't enjoy it, we wouldn't do it. We always create with a love for the material and a love for the craft. Everything else is extra.

So no. I personally do not create things as a transactional item for which I demand payment in praise (if not money). I create because it makes me happy. Getting feedback makes me happier, and makes it more likely for me to keep going with that project. But otherwise I'll move onto another. You may consider that a transactional thing, but I don't think it should be considered so at ALL. Because it isn't, not to me. And I suspect it isn't for many more people. So let's ask ourselves instead: why do we define happiness as a transaction? Why can we no longer exchange joy without sticking a label of consumption and price on it? And why must everything created be of quality or strive for improvement?

Let's shift the narrative back. Let's consider hobbies and creative endeavours for what they TRULY give both us creators and audiences alike: joy.

#anne speaks #ao3 #fandom

[miru667]

How do you manage to stay in a fandom for so long? I'm always mario jumping from fandom to fandom every 3-6 months

Oh, so many reasons. I think I've answered this before but in a much more concise way so idk what happened here when I tried to answer again from scratch but uhhh I wrote a lot lol?? Long ramble time. 😂

I found this fandom at a point in my life when I really emotionally needed it, so I got really attached to it. I stayed because of the friends I've made in it and because of the OCs I got invested in, both mine and other people's, and every so often something invigorated my interest like a new roleplay I got to join or new concept art that got discovered.

I'm also just a really dedicated person (for better or worse) and I still have ideas that I want to get out there creatively. I don't get a lot of free time, and I rarely have energy for hobbies after work so my time passes slowly in the sense that I may still be in the middle of appreciating a thing, meanwhile everyone else has already sped through and processed it and moved on.

So I've gotta be really careful about choosing what to spend my limited time and energy on. It sometimes takes me a whole month to draw a piece of art that I'm proud of. It would be a huge waste of my time to spend so much energy on a fandom that after 3 months I think I might not care about anymore.

And like, if it's going to take me a month to draw 1 thing, what am I going to choose? Fanart of a character from a show that I just finished that I might possibly move on from in 3 months? Or art of my darling Audrey OC that I've been developing for years and whom I know will always bring me joy for the rest of my life? It's not a hard choice! Like I'm sure it's obvious by now but I really love my oc. It's gotten to the point that I look for her in every media I consume. I like characters because they remind me of her, and I like plots because they remind me of her. When I watch a movie and end up loving it, I'm not going to be drawing fanart for that movie, I'm more likely going to be drawing Audrey Grace in some way that's consciously or subconsciously inspired by that movie. I'm sure other people with beloved ocs can relate to that, too.

Back to media consumption: I'm constantly watching new things, shows, movies, letsplays, and I'm able to love them just fine, but I never participate in their fandoms (unless you count reblogging fanart as participation. I personally don't). I just don't feel motivated to and I feel like it's unnecessary. I shouldn't need to prove anything. You can appreciate media without engaging in fandom. In fact, I encourage it, because a lot of what I see in fandoms these days is just stressful, at least to me. And I don't want that stress. I'm much happier as a person when I don't have to read other people's opinions, discourse and drama over some show's themes or ships or whatever. I can just quietly revel in my own enjoyment of the show without being tainted by anything else, and my love for it is not any less valid than the person who's livetweeting their loud emotions while watching the same show and putting out fanart 1 hour after every episode. Bless them, though.

And I guess that's mostly what I do these days with the Onceler fandom, too. Appreciating it more quietly these days, I mean. It's just that...I have a fandom related oc so I draw her. And I have friends here so we do stuff together and we reference fandom inside jokes no matter what activity we're doing. If I encounter art that deeply moves me personally, I reblog it, just like I reblog art for other media on my sideblog. When anyone has a fandom history related question, I'm eager to answer because I don't want the past to be misrepresented or misunderstood. And also, since it's been over a decade, this fandom has long ago become my daily normal. I can do whatever I like but I can't really "leave" this fandom unless I delete all my social media and cut off all my online friends. And delete my memories of the past 12 years of my life as well. Just become a completely different person.

So I guess I can reverse the sentiment: I can't relate to people who hop fandoms every 3 to 6 months. 😭 All the power to you, but that's just not the way I happen to live my life, nor the way I engage with the media I consume! The Once-ler fandom was the one exception. It was special.

But who knows, anything can happen in the future. I'm not so proud that I'm purposely blocking myself from looking at other fandoms or anything. I just go with the flow! Right now I'm slowly making my way through jjba, an omori playthrough, a Plague Tale playthrough, and urusei yatsura season 2 (the new anime). Probably nothing will come out of any it except for a bunch of Audrey inspos, but again, who knows. XD I'm also going to an idkhow concert soon, and I've bought merch from their store already. Does that count as participating in a fandom? Maybe not. But now that I think of it, even if I "join" another fandom, it doesn't necessarily mean I'd leave the onceler fandom either, so maybe it wouldn't matter haha.

Thank you for the ask and thank you to anyone who's read my entire answer!

#miruask #long post #lovestruck enby #i probably sound insane but o well #reference

[4threset]

Will you ever do any more comics about your WoL? I loved reading them, and while I've given up my dream of being a comic artist, I still love to read them

Hi there!! Honestly, in the immediate future, not very likely as I've been pushing extremely hard to focus on my visual identity as an illustrator to get into Illustration fairs lately.

But that doesn't mean I don't want to! It's mostly because I've fallen off ffxiv (as one does with fandoms occasionally!) I suspect Dawntrail would reignite some ideas within me and draw more.

Also, a lot of my WoL Telios comics were drawn when I was working a stable 9 to 5 job, so drawing them were my hobbies outside of work. Since going full-time freelance, I've had less time to think about doing them; ; I do want to draw more! But this year I am pushing very hard on a few fronts in my work, so that has to be put on the back burner.

Also OP, art is a long, lonely, and tiring journey. I know more than anyone how exhaustive and draining it is. "Do what you love and you never work a day in your life" is simply untrue. It ends up warping what you love into work and makes it hard to draw that line between what is work and what is enjoyment.

I hope you find that spark to create comics again, not for work or for anyone, but for yourself primarily first and foremost. Find like-minded folks to draw with, read comics that make you *feel* alive again. For me that has been "Frieren" and "Dungeon Meshi".

Art will and always will be subjective, it's shaped by each unique person and their background and upbringing. So I cannot say what it is to you or what you can or should do. That would be hubris and ego on my part. This is why I believe teaching art is always so difficult especially in big class settings, because of varying views and ways of appreciation for it. I hope you find what you need to find that sparkl again anon.

All my love!

#`yontalks

[rmd-writes]

Hi!! I always love what you write, so I'm very excited to see whatever this secret project is! But for now I do have a question about beta reading. How did you break into it? For a long time I have thought that I would enjoy doing that for different people, and I like that kind of fine-tooth comb editing work. But I am not a writer myself, just an avid fic enjoyer, so it feels like I can't quite bring as much to the table or meet other authors in a mutual kind of way. And I would never want to imply that an author needed that extra help or anything like that by just cold reaching out to them. Sorry that so much about me haha, I'm not necessarily looking for any advice (though if you had any I would certainly take it) but I am curious about how you got into it and what your experience has been like! Thank you!!

Hi nonnie! Thanks for the ask!

Can I just say to start with, that as an avid fic enjoyer, you absolutely can meet writers and other creators in a mutual way! Everyone has a place in fandom and something to contribute. It would be a very lonely world for creators if people weren't there to enjoy what we make (and hopefully tell us what they're liking those things). Personally, I appreciate readers so much and I especially love seeing regular names pop up in my inbox 💖💖

As for how I got into beta reading, it started back when a pal in Schitt's Creek fandom was writing a fic and worried that she was going to lose motivation to write it so I offered to sit in the doc and cheer her on. Please note that my motivation for doing so was entirely selfish because it meant that I had early access to the fic that I desperately wanted her to keep writing 😅 that eventually turned into me beta reading that fic (and all of her fics after that) for her.

I started beta reading more frequently in RWRB - I'd signed up as a beta reader for an event, but around the same time I also got to know other writers via a discord server. Sometimes people would ask for beta readers and I'd volunteer - I'm still a tiny bit dirty that @three-drink-amy snagged the beta rights to bleedingballroomfloor's baseball boyfriends fic right out from under my nose even though she is far better qualified than I to beta read a baseball fic - so much so that she helped me with the baseball scenes in my rwrb lawyer au lol (please know that I love them both dearly, there is no internet beef here).

You say that you don't want to reach out to writers and imply that they need assistance, but honestly, sliding into people's DMs and letting them know that either I'm very interested in X fic that they're writing and would they like someone to beta read it or that I'm available in general to help if they want it because I love their writing is how I've ended up beta reading for almost all of the writers I do that for!! People are generally just thankful to know that someone is interested in their writing! It can be a lonely hobby sometimes and having someone to live in your docs or send snippets to can help balance the need for wanting to talk about your fics with someone or bounce ideas off someone and wanting to keep what you're working on under wraps.

God, this is getting really long, I'm so sorry. I've been rambling and I'm not even sure that I answered your question.

You asked what my experience has been like and for the most part, it's been very positive! I get early access to fics (I often say that my favourite way to read a fic is in google docs 😂), I get to cheer my friends on and sometimes they even trust me enough to let me throw ideas at them and write them into their stories - sometimes I even get to do this without actually doing any editing and that's just as fun. I love beta reading, I think there's something really special about being trusted with the draft of someone's writing and getting to help make it the best that it can be (what that involves looks different for every writer I work with). 💖

And all of that doesn't even touch on how much I learn from the writers I've worked with - it's definitely helped me improve my own writing!

#rmd answers #beta reading

[struungout]

So me and Resinbitz have been working on the BJD Wiki on Fandom since 2019 and just the other day we finally got a proper official banner/logo made for it. :)

We’d been meaning to get this done for uhh…longer than either of us would like to think about I’m sure, but we’re pretty hype to finally take this off the to-do list! If I remember right, it started off with me taking a picture of some Soom jointed hands I had making a heart shape and then quickly tracing over it in Procreate and sending it over to Resinbitz to do a proper design based on that. XD I ended up finishing off the image by lining her sketch and then coloring it (and learned that doing lineart is infinitely more enjoyable when it isn’t my own artwork lmao).

Anyway, hope all y’all like the logo! If you didn’t know about the wiki, you do now! Be sure to check it out (we also have a Discord for it) and let your hobby friends know. c:

It definitely still needs a lot more information added to it, but shit man, y’all shoulda seen it when I first adopted the wiki in 2019 bahaha. It’s actually been around since July 8, 2008 (just a few months before I got into the hobby and when Fandom was Wikia), so technically it’ll be 15 years old next month, but uhh…yeah it was in limbo for a majority of those years. XD

#bjd #ball jointed doll #legit bjd #bjd doll #bjd wiki

[hells-ringleader]

💀RULES OF HELL 💀

✨️this blog is 18+ only cuz this fandom here is for adults only

🍎 NO godmodding! Respect each other's characters!

🌟I don't like mpreg, pedo shit, or anything proship so like gross illegal crap. Those would be my no nos

😇 respect my hcs as well NO MATTER WHAT

🎩don't be rude! Haters in my inbox are not welcome. If you are here to cause trouble. Leave now.

🐍do not dm mun UNLESS WE ARE GOOD GOOD MUTUALS I will not respond to random dms

🎉can't believe I must say this but, COMMUNICATION IS KEY. TELL ME IF A RP ISNT WORKING OUT BEFORE YOU JUST DROP IT. TELL ME IF YOU HATE ME AND I WONT FOLLOW OR INTERACT W YOU. SAME GOES FOR IF YOU DONT PLAN ON REPLYING TO ANYTHING I SEND YOU. TELL ME. I WILL STOP. I WILL GET IT AND NOT GET MY HOPES UP FOR NOTHING. DONT BE A JERK. TALK.

🎻please do me a favor and if you drop a rp let me know ahead of time. It hurts to just see people abandon rps I'm in with them. It makes me feel as if they hate me. It hurts. Please tell me in dms why you are doing it and do not just drop them without warning. I like to know what I did wrong so I can fix it for future threads. Always wanting to improve my skills as a rper.

🦆respect lgbtq here cuz mun is bi and ace and genderfluid any people against it leave now.

🎪I rp from these blogs out of enjoyment and as a extra hobby, I do have times when I'm not online cuz I do got a life so. I'm sorry if it's takes long to reply sometimes! I do my best! All I ask is you be patient with me! I do this for fun . Not as a career. I do not get paid.

👑also its sometimes hard to tell who's willing to reply back if I send something and who will just ignore me. Which. It happens a lot and. Upsets me. A lot . Makes me feel like shit. Don't make me feel that way maybe interact more w me and I'll be like oh this person likes my muse ill interact more..I'm just cautious..yknow?

🔥also.. I try to read rules cuz I get unsure if people are even ok w my subject matter at times it gets dark and gory. It's why I prefer 18+ peeps.

🎶and no you may not follow me if you just reblog my rp memes and fanart I post. You need to interact if you follow me okay. No one likes people like that. Don't I know it.

😈if you have a issue with me simply block me I will not take any more drama in my bubble

👼 I'm ace so I may feel uncomfortable with too adult of romance rps (must I say it) so romance is ok but boundaries are important. Edit: I'm better w romance and sexual ones even. But I just may not be good at it.

⭐️I will tag triggers but you must tell me which ones

❤️I don't like pe*os, proshi*pers (the ones who are pushy about it), or people who hurt animals . Please leave if you are any of the sort .

🐑just to make it clear I dont do rps in dms . I rp in threads, asks or posts. Ask around if you do not know what that means.

🦄I follow back from my main. You do not have to follow my main back but I would like it if you followed this blog at least back

🦚please read about my character on wiki if you wish to know them. I will not be going into detail about every one but I will post headcanons sometimes

🌹 Rp meme tag: rp memes: hellish memes (look this tag up to see my list of rp memes and use one! You can even use anon! Send one in go for it! Also these rp memes NEVER expire just make sure to specify what meme you were using)

🍷events will be tagged accordingly as well

❤️oh and I'm a multishipper so I will ship lilith and ocs even canon characters. Its possible. I'm doing it.

🎡most rps won't be canon to the blog. Those that are will be tagged accordingly. Events that are canon are usually interactions w other blogs, magic anons, and any comments I make to other canon characters. Non story tag will be #non story: another story written.

-mun Steph 🎠

Events: coming soon

Like for a starter:

#ooc: out of stars #rules: rules of the rabbits

[aerodaltonimperial]

.

I left all my writers discords and cancelled my QueryTracker subscription in the last week or two. There might still be a few rejections that come in super delayed on queries I've CNRed (closed, no response), but they are already rejections to me anyway. This is the first week or so where I've been completely out of trying to achieve that big, big life dream, and I feel... lighter. I feel free. I think I knew the writing was on the wall with the publishing industry years ago and I was too embarrassed to quit, because it meant acknowledging that I had failed. And now that I've deliberately taken myself out of it, I don't feel like I have to keep producing things I don't love anymore. I haven't loved original writing since probably 2018. I just want to write shit that I'm excited about. I just want to be ridiculous in fandom and write fics that make me happy to create and happy to share. And this fic is pouring out of me, and I'm no longer feeling guilty about using my limited free time to write fic when I know I should be working on a novel, and I look at it and I'm like yeah, this is so fucking good. This is fucking great. I love what I am making. I am having such a nice time.

Sure, I have nothing to brag about on social media: no book deals, no end caps with my name on them, no shiny hardbacks to autograph. But that doesn't change that I'm a good writer. It doesn't change my writing. I even told my therapist a month or so back that my novels and my fic, I know it's the same words. It's the same sentences. My writing is the same across the genres. And I admitted that I wonder if agents and editors and everyone in the publishing industry, they could tell that I didn't love it. They could tell from what I was producing that my heart wasn't in it. And maybe they could. But that doesn't mean I'm not good. I tried to make my hobby a stream of income, partially because of course, who doesn't want to see their words in a Barnes & Noble? But also because it legitimized it. I just want it to be my hobby. It stopped being enjoyable when all the pressure came along with it, all the need to succeed and be validated, especially when I failed.

All I ever wanted was for people to read my words and feel something as a result. And I can do that here. It's a smaller scale, sure, but honestly, I think in fandom it means more. People show up to fandom out of love. And that means something to me, that people have chosen to use their free time reading my fics. They could be doing anything! And they read my fics. That means something. I'm still struggling with flipping back over to that being enough. But I suppose, at the end of the day, I am a failed author, but I'm not a failed writer. I tried, you know? At least I can say that I really tried.

I just wanna do this. Be in fandom. It makes me happy. It's a spot of joy for me when I sometimes don't get much in a day. 💚

#katy's writing tag #or something like that lol

[stormblessed95]

hi, i am the anon from the lyrics change ask. thank you for your reply. i think you are right, i am really too invested in jikook and their relationship. thing is i have tried so many times to distance myself but it just isn't working. am i too weak? what do you suggest i should do to become less invested? i am asking genuinely, really. i have noticed myself being sad about so many irrational things that deep down I KNOW are irrational. i'm sorry if i upset you with that ask.

You didn't upset me. And I say this kindly and without malice or anything else. I promise. But honestly? My advice is to get another hobby, focus on your own IRL people and remember why you got into BTS in the first place. That's really all it is.

Jikook are not my everything, I don't really care if they are real or not in the end because I have my own relationships to focus on (romantic and platonic) and theirs isn't mine. It's none of my business. It would be like if a random stranger came up to me and interjected their opinion on my relationship. (And as someone in an interracial marriage, that HAS happened to me before lol it was NOT welcome.)

Also I ship a lot of fictional ships too. That give me that serotonin and romantic fun and enjoyment that jikook give me, but then im not imposing anything on real life humans who don't know me and whose relationship isn't any of my business. Canon, non canon, there is enough fun content out there in tons of fandom spaces to keep you highly entertained.

I'm here for BTS and their music and who they are as people first snd foremost before anything else they do or who they date or anything else. In the end, I just want their happiness. And that's all that should matter for people who you love. And I'm here for them as artists, so their music is what excites me most. Remember why you found and got into BTS and keep ahold of that too.

I hope this helps. I'm here if you need to talk 💜

#jikook #kookmin

[shealwaysreads]

This is gonna be really random but I am so delighted that you have 30s in your bio. I'm 23 and at that point in my life where I'm entering adulthood and I've thought of my involvement in fandom and how that would change as I journeyed further into adulthood. And most of the time, especially on new platforms like tiktok, it's mostly younger people who are making fan content so it's amazing to see people actively enjoy fandom content as they become full adults. It's very freeing 💜

This was such a lovely ask to receive, I’m so touched and so glad that you reached out! You’ve tapped into a subject I have a Lot of Feelings about, so forgive the incoming ramble ❤️

I have had friends of all ages in fandom over the years, and those friendships have been more important than perhaps I gave them credit for at the time. I’ve been fandom-ing since I was about 14 and its been a hobby that’s brought me huge joy and allowed me to get to know so many lovely humans. They’ve modelled ways of living that I didn’t know about, have generously shared their time and knowledge and expertise and experience, and have been examples of preserving one’s joy amidst the reality of growing up and of living in an adult landscape that can become barren if you don’t intentionally enshrine what’s important to you. (The actual you, the one that lives in your heart.)

The narrative of ‘you’ll grow out of this’ or of setting aside your pleasures as you become an Adult™️ is incredibly pervasive and incredibly damaging. There is even more pressure on young women in particular, and I’ve seen so many instances of ‘oh my god you’re 30 why are you reading fanfic, shouldn’t you be married/mothering/doing your taxes?’ 

It’s easy to get tricked into believing these social strictures are rules that really mean something, but reducing yourself to something prescribed by….who, exactly? (The people and structures that are interested in keeping us small, and bored, and tired, and empty-hearted, and too worn out to argue when they want to take more of our money and eat into more of our precious time here on this precious planet with all of these precious people) It’s a losing game! How much do you think you would need to give up to please the anonymous Life Police who are apparently out to make sure we’re all living the most stripped-back life we can?

If something makes you happy, if it gives you pleasure or comfort or inspiration, then it has a meaningful place in your life. This isn’t hedonism, it is a fundamental basis for a life worth living. 

Fandom is fundamentally about fun—it’s a small word for a big phenomenon, full of community, and friendship, and connection. It’s a folk-space where there is room for everyone, where you can explore the subversive and the comforting all in one blog. It’s where all of us can contribute—making art of all kinds, celebrating each other, inspiring each other, debating each other, stepping out of our daily lives to indulge in the essential, essential, work of imagination and creativity and enjoyment.

Play doesn’t stop being important when you stop being a child, or a teen. We’re human: telling tales and making marks, and sitting together around the fire enjoying it all is in our DNA. Fandom is just another circle of humans joining together to listen to stories and be together.

So. Enjoy being 23, but don’t fear 33, or 53, or 73!

You’ll be yourself; wiser and older, and more well-lived, but you’ll still be yourself. You’ll still laugh, with love, at your childhood and teenage embarrassing moments.

You’ll still remember when that actor did that movie, in that outfit.

You’ll have playlists full of music that brings back summers and parties and heartbreaks, and you’ll still know every lyric of all of those songs.

You’ll have new hobbies, and you’ll have your old hobbies, and maybe you’ll leave them for years at a time but you’ll come back to them unexpectedly and joyfully.

You don’t have to give anything up, not if it still makes you happy!

❤️

#bella talks #the fandom life