#and I’m sorry idk when to make paragraph breaks so it’s very long chunks of text

[spookykestrel]

tell me about bugs ! /lhnp

Aah ty for the ask this is so general there’s so many facts and things um (edit I didn’t mean to write a whole essay you don’t have to read the whole thing)

Recently I’ve been enjoying learning about spiders which is ever so slightly ironic considering how afraid I was of them and how I still am a bit scared to come across ones I’m not familiar with. Learning about them makes them so much less scary though. A lot of the most venomous and scariest spiders are actually relatively docile and won’t bite unless threatened or they’re a mother with babies. In the US there hasn’t been a death from a black widow bite in 40 years bc their bites are rare and able to be treated. A lot of venomous spiders can actually administer dry bites too or control the amount of venom they inject which is super cool. Since their venom is used to kill prey, when they bite a human it’s usually just in self defense so a lot of bites from deadly spiders aren’t actually that dangerous. Ofc it’s still imperative to seek treatment just in case you have a reaction or they did inject venom (although you’d be able to tell there’s some nasty symptoms). Most cases are able to be treated, too, with anti-venom and while not a pleasant experience they’re rarely deadly.

I feel like there needs to be a picture here to break up this post so uhhhhh here’s a bunch of bees on a clover ( and a Yellowjacket)

One of my other interests rn is misconceptions/misidentifications. Which ig ties into spider bites. One common myth is that daddy longlegs spiders are super venomous but their fangs are too small to bite humans. This is very wrong for several reason uhh first is that daddy longlegs is a super broad term used to refer to cellar spiders (actual spiders of the araneae order), harvestmen (arachnids in the opilione order so Not Spiders), and crane flies (these are literally flies as the name suggests. They…. They aren’t spiders they have wings they aren’t venomous. Although they do have long legs). Cellar spiders are a little venomous but their venom poses little harm to humans (just a typical insect bite yk) and they rarely bite humans. Harvestmen actually don’t have venom and don’t have fangs just hollow claws used to grip. Which can’t harm people.

anyway harvestman are the absolute silliest guys I love seeing them bounce around

(Photo credit evanaturalist on inat <3)

Another quickl thing (I promise I’ll stop soon you invoked a topic I’m incapable of being normal about and gave me no limitations or anything so I’m on a ramble there’ll be no survivors etcetc) is also about flies. A lot of people assume those itty bitty sweat bees that hover around you at the park or whatever are actually more likely to be hoverflies (instead of a real sweatbee)! They only have one set of wings (unlike a bee) and no they can’t sting. I told this all to my friend at a concert who was being very annoyed by the one following her around and after explaining them and marveling over the super cool patterning of the calligrapher flies (specific type of hoverfly) they actually came around and admitted they’re very cool and it was a lovely moment bc once you know more about something then you can accept it more yay woohoo.

^ the black and yellow is deceiving it only has the one set of wings. If you cared the one pictured is a maize calligrapher specifically . Very common in the US and Canada.

Oh and I got a millipede tatto did you see :]

#thank you for coming to my Tedtalk I apologise for it being ten trillion years long #and I’m sorry idk when to make paragraph breaks so it’s very long chunks of text #I just think talking about bugs and creepy crawlies #and generally expressing my admiration for them #helps break down people’s immediate fears and judgement of them and it’s super fun and cool to watch #hopefully you don’t mind learning about spiders I used to hateeee them #I tried to mix it up a bit too #I hope you didn’t expect just a couple of fun facts I don’t really have those #just lectures I could teach a class #one fact is that spring flies have these tails or whatever #that rest under their body and they use them to spring into the air #which is cool #sorry sorry for the ramble #you said ‘no pressure ☺️’ and I said just went off #kestrel calls #chitter chatter #ty for the ask thoigh <3 #mutuals <3 #desc in alt #bugs #spiders #this is like a unskippable cutscene except you can skip it

[millennial-ring]

Can we get more info on 5-7?

             5. Dear God

So this one is ANCIENT (2012!!!) and idk why it’s still in my WIPs folder because I do clean it out/reorganize it every few years or so (which is why that unfinished powershipping christmas fic wasn’t on the list, cause I moved it to a different folder). Sadly the title makes it seem more interesting than it actually is - it’s just a few paragraphs and nothing really happens at all. 

Russet eyes were glazed over as they watched the rain pelt the ground, each drop making tiny indents in the dirt, puffs of the still-dry earth floating up with each splash before settling down again, the process repeating over...and over... Rain drummed against the body of a beaten up jeep, the only prominent sound within miles, save to the sound of the rain falling in the grass, and the dirt, and the leather jacket Bakura wore. 

The man blinked as water ran down his face, following the curve of his brow and rolling over the crease of his eyelid, flowing into his eye. The water pooled between his lids, blurring his vision for a few moments until he blinked again, and the water was squeezed out to mingle with the rest on his face, like a single, solitary tear. He inhaled slowly, then let the breath out in a quick huff, turning away from the long stretch of dirt road in front of him. Behind him, another long chunk of drivable desert. He growled under his breath and began to pace, wet sand squishing under his boots, gravel shifting with each step. 

How could be trapped here, in the middle of fucking nowhere, with a flat fucking tire and no spare? 

It was inspired by this Avenged Sevenfold song and I vaguely remember that it was going to be thiefshipping, about the various trials Bakura goes through to get back to Malik after a fight or something but... 🤷

              6. Domestic Disturbance

This one is also super short, more fleshed out in my mind than on paper, and I started writing it after we had to call the cops on our neighbors because they were having a very loud and long argument (like, over an hour of yelling). Inspiration comes from the dumbest places with me, haha, but this is another one of those “why is this still in my wips” documents because I don’t have any intention of finishing it. After writing what I did I kinda had a “maybe these kinds of situations shouldn’t be your inspiration for fanfics, weirdo” moment and I scrapped it. But anyway! 

The story goes that Bakura was playing some Wii game, lost grip on the controller, and accidentally chucked it and broke a vase because he wasn’t wearing the wrist strap. Malik hears the crash and comes around the corner, lecturing him about “how many times have i told you i s2g bakura why are you like this” even as Bakura’s already beginning to clean up the mess. Bakura gruffly tells him to chill out because nothing important was broken anyway, just “that ugly ass vase” and he holds up a piece for Malik to see. The tension thickens immediately and Malik speaks with measured anger instead of the usual screaming, so Bakura knows He Fucked Up. “That was a gift from my sister.” Bakura panics a bit on the inside, but outside he scoffs and he’s all like “even better, tell her she has awful tastes” because ykno. He’s like that. Doesn’t wanna admit he fucked up, doesn’t wanna take responsibility or acknowledge he hurt Malik’s feelings. At this point I’d stopped writing it, but still have the basic outline. The regular bickering becomes a super intense all out screaming match about basically anything and everything, all the tiny little things they’d been burying for as long as they’d lived together finally coming out, start demanding why they ever thought this would work and they’re just about to get to that great crescendo where they're about to break up (”Well then maybe you shouldn’t have brought me back!” “At this point I’m inclined to agree!” Bakura’s shocked. “Well...then is this going where I think it’s going?” “I think it is.” “Then say it.” “...” “Say you want to break up!” “I...Bakura, I...” when someone knocks on the door. Heyo, it’s two cops, saying someone called in a domestic disturbance. Malik snaps that they’re fine, still pissed from the fight, but obviously like no Malik that’s not gonna help. So one officer brings Bakura out into the hall to question him and the other stays with Malik. Cop asks if they’re together, how long, what the fight was about, etc etc, and then if the fight had been physical at all. Bakura recoils in shock and practically screams “No!” “You never hit Malik?” “I would never!” “And Malik wouldn’t hit you?” There’s a few things there, bc I wasn’t sure how I wanted Bakura to respond; make an “only if he asked wink wonk” joke that the cop rolls his eyes at, or stammer that “i mean he’s smacked my head once or twice but it never hurt and i was being super annoying at the time and it was more like playful slapping” but either way the cop asks for a more direct answer or for Bakura to elaborate and Bakura gets pissed, says Malik would cut off his own hand before he hit Bakura because obviously. Cop seems taken aback but nods, and then lectures Bakura a bit about volume, tells him maybe one of them should pack a bag and stay with friends or family for a few days. Their partner comes out soon after and the two cops leave. Bakura goes back inside, where Malik is standing with his arms crossed, looking shaken with red rimmed eyes. They look at each other, feeling awkward, but then they make tea, sit down, and have a calmer “are we really like that?” conversation. they admit a lot of their fights are pointless and stupid and they’re just fighting to fight because it’s Their Thing and aha, aren’t we so cute and quirky, arguing is our foreplay - which it is, but they admit they’ve taken it too far, gotten too used to snapping at each other when something happens, and some of their issues (like Bakura disrespecting Malik’s siblings, and Malik’s control freak attitude) really need to be sat down and talked out, not screamed out. They apologize, foreheads pressed together, and Malik thumbs a tear from Bakura’s cheek. Bakura strokes his fingers through Malik’s hair. Malik makes a “well you know the best part about fighting, right?” and Bakura laughs, and then it ends.

               7. But he came back

So if y’all didn’t know I recently commissioned a(n amazing) fic from @/sitabethel (not properly tagging cause i don’t wanna bother them). In it, Bakura promises Malik he’ll come back after his final showdown with Atem, but ten years pass and Malik gets engaged to Seto. It’s corporate theifshipping and obviously I recommend reading it - but it’s based on an RP I did with a friend of mine years ago. In the RP, Bakura was pissed Malik hadn’t waited for him and does the whole “why did I even bother coming back I literally only came back to be with you?????” and Malik being like “Sorry? But you took a long fucking time and I had to do something to stop the loneliness.” We never finished it, but when we dropped it Bakura was starting to heal and move on and we had plans to end it powershipping and tendershipping - and Bakura catching the bouquet at the wedding and Ryou immediately being like >:) but anyway. The concept stuck with me and I really liked the idea of Bakura coming back to that situation and more so rolling with it - maybe a touch bitter at first, but hey, he’s nothing if not adaptable, and he absolutely invites himself into the relationship in the clunkiest way possible. 

“But he came back” was the start of my own attempt to write something with that kind of plot. When I write a fic, I start with a vague collection of ideas or scenes I want to write, and then when I have enough to work with, I begin organizing them into an outline. This doc is just a very small collection of ideas and dialogue, mixing some things taken from the RP and my own ideas. It’s mostly things like how Malik and Kaiba get to the marriage point, starting with an impromptu kinda tipsy make out session hidden away in the kitchen during a party Yugi’s throwing, and how they navigate each other’s trauma and fumble their way into a genuine romance despite everything. I’ve never managed to sit down and work it out into an outline of any kind, and the way I wanted to explore Malik and Bakura’s relationship before the show down, Malik and Kaiba’s relationship building afterwards, and then the relationship building with all three of them meant 30 chapters, at least (the original rp is over 2,500 pages and again, we had only just started with Bakura wanting to ask Ryou out and going to Malik for advice adjklj, when we dropped it) and well. yall know i’m bad at writing multi fic chapters 

#wip tag

[foruneyti]

This might be kinda a odd question and idk if you’ll know what i mean but, does writing fics for loki make it hard for you to enjoy other fics by other people? like for example i make video edits on instagram (like the ones under #lokiedit) but since i started editing him myself i have a habit of picking apart other people’s edit and i don’t really like watching them anymore. is it the same thing with writing or not really? Lol ignore this if it’s too confusing ahh

I definitely know what you mean! And yes, that’s what happened to me too. Well, partially? I started writing Loki fics because there weren’t enough stories I liked (I was already very picky), but after I started writing I could barely even get myself to read through other fics until the end. As a young girl who was fairly untrained in English I could read over bad grammar without even noticing it, but I now get thrown off by it and the image the story had created in my mind is often broken or at the very least interrupted. Of course my own grammar isn’t always perfect and as a non-native English speaker I understand the struggle of writing in another language, so I don’t blame the author, but when there are so many mistakes (which are easily fixed with a spelling check or a quick Google search) I just can’t keep reading. Then there is characterisation, writing style, plot, and kinks. I’ll explain what I mean, but be warned: I can be very, very harsh. 

Characterisation.  Recently a friend sent me a Loki x Reader fic that she very much enjoyed when she was younger (she hasn’t reread it since), but I barely got past the first 3 chapters and called it a day at 7. The main character was, to put it bluntly, a whiny and rather unintelligent teenager who chose her fists (and dance moves) over talking it out or simply rationalising the situation. Full caps were used quite often for screamed sentences, the things the characters said were supposed to be funny yet didn’t even come close to making me laugh, and though Loki’s characterisation wasn’t the worst there was simply no reason for him to even want to come close to the main character. At least, if I had been him, I would have kept a fair amount of distance. 

Now, if the characterisation of the main character had been more layered, I might not have minded the ‘fists over mind’ trait since it would have made for good character development. But the childish yelling and her just doing whatever she wants even if no rational person would do it - that was just something I couldn’t enjoy reading. 

Characterisation is just so important; to have characters with depth, with motivations, morals, and values that fit their history and their personality. It could make or break a story. 

Writing style. If the grammar and spelling are fine then usually I can continue reading without trouble; but this is where the writing style comes in. Sometimes I come across a fic that checks all the other boxes: it has good characterisation, a good plot, no kinks I’m not into, and great grammar/spelling; so of course I’m excited and keep reading. But after a while I find myself getting more and more annoyed with certain choices an author has made. Writing all paragraphs as one big chunk of text without blank lines in between? Okay, fair enough; I wouldn’t have done the same but it’s a valid choice. Not using a new line for when a different character is speaking but writing it directly after the other character said something? Writing only short sentences without using commas, colons, semicolons, or dashes? Now that easily becomes annoying. 

I begin to think about scenes and things the characters say and how I would have done it differently; what the story needs or lacks, and how I would try to fix the moments of confusion I occasionally experience as a reader. It then becomes nearly impossible for me to keep reading, because at this point it’s not reading for my own pleasure anymore - it’s analysing a text. This can be very valuable, of course; yet when you just want to enjoy a good fic it is more than a little exhausting. 

Plot. This one isn’t too important for me personally, as long as it doesn’t get out of hand. Again, when a story checks all the other boxes but lacks a plot I can most likely keep reading. The absence of a plot can get a little boring but cute little moments can make up for it, and the presence of an over-the-top plot can be a bit annoying; yet seeing the characters react to the situations might be interesting if done well. When plot holes keep appearing, however; or when the story takes a drastic turn and becomes super-dramatic without good reason, I might stop reading. 

Of course there are tropes and tags I generally avoid in the first place: plots with a lot of drug abuse for example are not my thing. Which is why tagging is so important. I know it can be hard to tag a fic without spoiling major events, but at least put trigger warnings in there or at the top of a chapter; and if getting too specific will spoil the plot then try to use more generalised wording. Luckily I don’t have many triggers, but I’ve read some fics that desperately needed some extra tags to warn future readers. 

Kinks. Because I write my own stories I can add my own kinks to them or leave them out - which is also the case for all the other writers who write their own stories. More often than not, the master/pet kink is used when Loki is involved; and since I am totally not into that it makes me drop a fic almost instantly. Sadly this means I can’t read about 80% of all Loki fanfiction; and when you’re as picky as me with the mindset of a writer, that leftover 40% is next to nothing. 

So yes! Sorry for the long answer to a simple question. I’m sure the things you pay attention to as a video editor are very different from the things I pay attention to as a writer and I thought I’d give you some examples of how that same thing bothers me differently! It’s honestly quite interesting in theory; though in practice it’s vexing haha

#me #writing #writing advice #sort of? #indirect writing advice maybe lol #anon #ask #replies #responses #anonymous