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incarnateirony · 3 years

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An anti dressed up as a shipper, an idiot, and a terf all walk into the same bar.

It’s the same picture person.

A lesson.

Warning: if the title doesn’t give it away, queerphobic content comes up in this from the other party being documented.

So, some of you may have watched a twitter exercise yesterday.

It started simple: concern trolling white knight “for the writers” comes in to angrily declare fans doing something tagged in support of them about Destiel was “out of line.” She claimed things like “Misha was gaslit into supporting Destiel”, and pulled all kinds of stunts.

She immediately got on a soap box yelling “I HAVE A LIT CRIT DEGREE, I KNOW AUTHOR INTENT” of course implying she knew better than EVERYONE around her how to read text. She then pulled, of all things, @chill-legilimens ‘ article about the network gods gutting the show out of the internet, and somehow misread it SO FUCKING BADLY -- SO FUCKING BADLY -- she thought it aligned with HER. She argued that fans influenced the writers, essentially, and basically pulled the exact opposite of the very clearly delivered message there out. When it was pointed out we know this author and even sometimes help edit their pieces, and she was, flat out misreading it while bragging about how good she is at deciphering text, it turned into a SHITSHOW.

I had watched her give a large group of queer people 2 days of runaround, while they tried to be polite, and similarly tried to prove everything while she proved nothing. Just preached. After 2 days of them exhausting themselves on her, I came in doing my blunt & savage thing, because fuck civility culture when it’s used by oppressors. Of course, she immediately started tone policing, while herself being an arrogant shitbrick the whole way.

She continued to preach author intent and talk down about “headcanons.” You see, she knew the authors very well. Berens’ name was mentioned in passing, and she came back with. “Who’s Berens? Is that the author of the article?” after Deirdre’s name had been directly cited in associated with it about 15 times.

(credit: @judgehangman )

But it gets better. She started pulling the “authors have said Dean is straight.” line. Now, at this point, we had already sourced her at least four pieces of information (quite formally too: SPN Official DVD Collection Season 8 episode 13 creative commentary, Edlund and Sgriccia; Dissent Magazine The Attack Queers Bob Berens review; the books in the office with screenshots, and more.) So we issued one simple request: Okay. Source.

For the next-- I shit you not-- 10 hours she bricked the thread to death, finding any and EVERY rabbit hole she could try to venture down. For the first hour or two a few of us tried to actually debate her newly raised points, but still gave reminder that we were waiting for her source. Every tweet was an opportunity for her to drop a 15 tweet thread trying to derail onto a new topic, and often clarifying she had no idea about any of it (Edlund, Sgriccia, Berens, Dabb--who she couldn’t spell the name of--and Deirdre all became an amorpheous blob in her retelling that she swore she looked at sources and wasn’t convinced, while she crossed all the data and comments about the sources). She tried to challenge that anyone could know all the writers and episodes just because she proved she couldn’t, even when multiple people expressed it to her extremely rapidly with not just author and director listings, but cross references on when they overlapped and major elements (like the 15.20 shot 19 tree being the Kim Manners memorial tree). She randomly babbled about Kripke once. Lied her way through and claimed those sources were vague. Etc.

But at some point, I decided, we’re not playing this distraction game. You wanted a debate, you claim you have a lit crit degree, and thus know the entire art is Argumentation. A source, if you’re declaring knowing author intent. One source. Any time she dropped a distraction tweet, I replied to her thread with things like a list of our sources vs her lack of any and a reminder. I installed a counter ticker. How many times had she been asked to either recant her point or give a single source?

Someone made a list of the logical fallacies she used in the argument. It was two tweets long and still missed several obvious ones. That didn’t stop her. Neither did the dozens of requests for a source or a recant. Onwards, she marched, derailing time and again. She brought in a buddy to try to distract, but he fell out real quick when he realized “the burden of proof lies on the arguer” shot him and her both in the feet in record time and he ducked out.

Other greatest hits came out like “Dubs (Dabb’s) fanfic books”, and calling the ability to list authors and episodes “headcanons.”

Over time, the dialogue shifted: see, she came in trying the snide “enjoy your headcanons” downtalk, but as time and time again she was pulverized on every point about the show, or the authors, or anything else while STILL never even giving a single source to even her FIRST POINT and running distractions, it became a reality-- she was told, “We’ll enjoy our canon and author intent. You can enjoy your headcanon of... Dabb’s fanfic books and Lord Barons and the writers being collective hallucinations and whatever else in your hot takes about the show content itself” and she FLIPPED SHIT.

As the ticker for sources approached 100, she started becoming flustered. Before that, even, she started repetitively misgendering Ezra (no tumblr to link in), and Ezra screenshot their bio of they/them and asked them to adjust. Ignored. Ezra linked this request and asked it to be addressed again, and again, and again. 13 times. Ezra linked it 13 times. She even replied to several of them. No avail. No change. Not until literally any and every tweet in her vicinity either had “source?” or “address gender?” for her to reply to did she flee there, and write some giant write-around of “oh, I didn’t see this, sorry” but still refused to actually use it. Or “I’ll use the right one now.” No, just completely strickened pronouns from her vocabulary with Ezra moving forward, after not one mistake, not two, not five, but 13 answers.

At this point, I notice a trend: throughout the entire conversation, she had flip flopped on my pronouns, clearly confused as to what to call me. As I generally don’t care (honestly I prefer he but meh), it didn’t ping me as something to react to while she switched religiously between “he” and “she”. But I realized now, despite all of that confusion: she never once thought to use “they.” Also earlier we found tweets of hers that, while now declaring herself bisexual, she used troublesome wording in the past to blur the line on if she was an ally or, as she phrased it “maybe less than 100% straight in the bell curve” in other conversations.

I mutter about this on the side to Ezra and some friends, but continue on towards the 100 ticker that was the goal to show people in this digital terrarium how disingenuous most people you argue with are -- an exhibit for the class. They know they’re lying and have been caught, but will not cede to admit “oops, I guess I was wrong.” but rather stick, unironically, to their own headcanons about things. After all, they vaguely sorta apologized even if suddenly just refusing to use any pronouns at all on Ezra after that. And she’s so quick to disappear into 15 tweet bombs of distraction trying to play victim for being held accountable at this point, we just didn’t jump to a conclusion on that, alarming as it is.

So. You know. Source.

At this point, she RANDOMLY starts evoking the fact that like, How Dare, She Watched Gay Men Die To AIDS, She Is A Great Philanthropist How Dare How Dare.

I’m sorry, did you just evoke the blood of our dead to run away from the most basic scrap of accountability in what is literally the first wave of a lit debate because for the last 10 hours you have refused to take the necessary steps to move on to the next point? Did you... just... evoke the ghosts of gay men that were genocided to, essentially, pull up a smokescreen and run away from being party to queer erasure? Or even just? Giving a source? or admitting you were wrong on one point in a debate? Wow, you really just did that.

Naturally, people involved got pissed. Her Sources ticker hit 100, but at this point, all that haunted her was how completely fucking vile and inappropriate that was in this discussion.

She got blocked. She then tried to glom onto anyone that hadn’t blocked or muted her and run the same argumentation points she had earlier been decimated in the argument with, while yelling “I ship Destiel too! I wanted them to have sex too! Why does this make me the bad guy?” around the block and hoping nobody actually read the thread. She tried to pitch the “headcanons” point of view again, hoping a new audience would lick her boots. She was, largely, ignored; given a few more comments about her leaving the conversation losing all points and only covered in the blood of our dead she was so proud of; blocked by a few more. (unsurprisingly, if you check her actual tweet history, she seems more invested in Megstiel but)

This is when CommaSameleon -- a professor with two lit degrees and a primary focus in teaching the art of Argumentation -- literally -- stepped in. She initially tried to engage the fact that, well, this woman not only can’t argue out of a paper sack but wasn’t even arguing, she was just running in circles and distracting from all the points and hadn’t addressed a single lit point directly while preaching down at people. But Sam, also, noticed something. This woman kept changing things like “queerphobia” to “homophobia.” Sam mentioned this kinda puts off TERF vibes (I think Sam picked up on the gendering thing herself too.)

Her response? Which she deleted since? But Discord’s embed helpfully saved?

Her inacted non-apologies remain weak, especially in any form of debate be it lit or now queer topics.

Oh I’m sorry, let’s recap her viewpoints: TERF is a slur. “They” is made up and should be avoided at all costs. The blood of dead gay men are a token to use in a lit debate you’re avoiding responsibility in. After this, “authors are headcanons” is suddenly not your worst take, but fascinating that you 13 times didn’t even read the blatant ass screenshot. And I mean, these weren’t subtle or easy to miss these 13 times.

100. She had 100 chances, literally, on a timer, to give a source or shut up with her platforming until she had one. Instead, she chose every rabbit hole she could manifest to disappear into, only to be met by another request for a source, and not moving on until we address the first points. We’ve given ours, now you give yours. Instead, you choose this. This is the hill you choose to die on, rather than admitting, “Sorry, I guess I was wrong” or “I guess I heard that somewhere, my bad.” 100 chances. 13 direct QT requests to address gender which she replied to but didn’t reply to until cornered (and still didn’t, truly, reply to), and “TERF is a slur.” Oh, and after waving around the dead men’s blood she also suddenly Can’t Be A Terf Because She Adopted Two Trans Kids. Lord help those children. Or, you know, the more realistic thing is she’s just manifesting all kinds of bullshit at this point to save face, which is probably why she deleted all the related tweets that show she’s a giant-ass TERF.

So anyway, this is very much a lesson on:

Paying attention to how people manipulate conversation to erase genuine discussion and debate.

Paying attention to WHY they do it. Motivation on methods and tactics will clear up a lot.

Figuring out HOW they try to sound woke about shit and when it’s entirely fucking vile and inappropriate to pull

And by all above points, figuring out that these people are among us, and how NOT to let them influence your conversations.

I don’t care if it’s about a discussion on a ship or show or anything else. People do this. A lot. Extremely dedicatedly, if the 100 asks doesn’t make that clear.

Stop letting people railroad your conversations with disingenuous bullshit.

So anyway in honor of this I made everyone a gif

Use at will. It’s tagged anti-terf if you want to use the search feature on it.

UPDATE:

Just went and checked. She went and deleted literally her entire side of the conversation, hundreds if not thousands of tweets. Luckily, Ezra mentioned repeatedly -- and I do trust them inherently -- that they were saving the entire conversation, so that zip file exists somewhere. How fascinating, after she accused us that we would want to delete tweets. Someone realized they had a bad look and giant failure all around.

Also, a related anon that links to an earlier part of this conversation I didn’t even document where she was crying about “cis erasure” [x] This shit went on so long I legit forgot about that.

#supernatural #spn #destiel #anti-terf #debate

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scarakitty · 3 years

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Hii so I saw that matchups were open! Well I think they are- I'd like a male match up for genshin if you will ^^ I'm an INTP and I'm super clumsy- well I like to tell myself that I'm just unlucky but everyone disagrees and says that I'm just clumsy. Also I'm an ambivert and I usually am really nervous with people I just met or don't really know but I'm really energetic with people I've known for awhile. I apologize a lot and most of my friends hate it but it's kinda a habit of mine. Oh and I ramble a lot- sorry if I do that 💀 I'm also sorta touch starved- I don't like saying stuff like that tho because it sounds oddly self aware and narcissistic and that's the last thing I wanna come across as 😿 I also cry a lot. And I don't think that's a good thing but I do and it's not necessarily just when I'm sad I usually cry about anything 😭 and I'm really into scary movies, paranormal stuff, and uhhh things like that yea- sorry if that was vague TT I'm also really loyal (like idk I could nEvEr cheat or go behind someone's back to do anything) and I love my friends so much :) I watch a lot of true crime stories and documentarys as well and uhhh that's all I'm kinda boring tbh. I uhhh make a lot of spelling mistakes too I had to proof read this like 3 times and probably still missed something 💀 SHSHHHSSS SORRY IF THIS WAS LIKE BAD I DIDN'T SEE ANY RULES OR ANYTHING SO I DIDN'T REALLY KNOW WHAT TO SAY SINCE I'VE NEVER REQUESTED A MATCHUP anyways now I'm gonna ask this and aggressively exit out of Tumblr bc I'm nervous ✨

heey!!! thank u for requesting!

i match u with razor!!!!!

the top 3 is:

1. razor

2. kaeya

3. bennett

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

sorry i cant do this time headcanons, im so tired 😩

if u want u can request some and I will do them soon :)

#genshin impact matchups #genshin impact headcanons #genshin impact #bennett genshin impact #genshin impact kaeya

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nxrthmizu · 5 years

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-Lordbug, Robin and Kitty Noir- Chapter Three: In Which Damian Falls Off A Building

/Part One//Part Two//Part Three//Part Four//Part Five//Part Six//Part Seven//Part Eight//Part Nine//Part Ten//Part Eleven/

Description: FLUFF MORE FLUFF FLUFF ALL THE WAY LIKE IT’S CHRISTMAS (OOh maybe I’ll do a special Christmas chapter on Christmas week of DAMINETTE CHRISTMAS FLUFF YEA SOMEONE NEEDS TO DO THAT) also Damian falls off a building.

Warnings: A little curses I guess, same as before

---

Robin didn’t know where he was going but the final destination was totally not intended to be Dupain-Cheng’s balcony. He got... Lost. Admitting he was lost was better than to admit that he’d somehow strayed onto a girl’s balcony.

“R- Um, who are you?” He nearly screeched, and the Robin does not screech. But when he turned around, he came face to face with the same black-clad girl who he’d fought with (As Lordbug) when the first akuma came around.

“I’m Robin.” He had to remind himself not to tell her off for remembering his name. Afterall, it was her first time meeting him as Robin.

“Oh. Hi, Robin, I’m Kitty Noir.” She smiled, and Damian couldn’t help but feel that the words were a little familiar. “So, you’re a superhero?”

“Yeah.” Damian scoffed. Wasn’t it obvious?

“Then...” She blushed, as if embarassed. “Could you teach me the ropes? I was only recently, um, pushed into this... Superhero business. Could you... Teach me?”

Apparently, little angel wasn’t the only person Damian couldn’t say no to.

---

“Be careful.” He warned as she prepared to leap off a building. Probably not what you encourage people to do, but hey. That was Damian. And he was teaching his... Superhero... Partner? Friend? Neighbor? how to successfully tap into her instincts. And if it wasn’t successful... Well, he hadn’t thought that far. Yet. He would think of it when the time came. If the time came.

She nodded, taking a deep breath. Damian felt his chest constrict, as if he was worried. Scoffing to himself, he shook his head to clear out his mind. Why was he worried, anyway? She was the one who wanted to try it. He wasn’t responsible.

“Here I go.” She breathed, extending her baton before she leaped off. Damian sucked in a breath. Was she alright-

“Woo!” She swung right back up, triumphant. Landing a little clumsily on the next building, she sent Damian a bright grin. “I did it! Did you see?”

Rolling his eyes and letting go of a breath he was for some reason holding, he nodded. “Yeah, I saw it. It wasn’t bad for a beginner like you.” He had intended the remark to be cutting, but the girl only beamed at him.

“Thanks so much, Robin.”

And for some reason, Tikki was giggling again. It was honestly annoying to have a tiny spotted fairy constantly giggling at your ear. What was she giggling about this time?

---

“That was great!” He was breathless. This girl that probably just started superhero work- Was amazing. She had managed to achieve everything he’d shown her so far.

Kitty Noir blushed, feeling her cheeks flush on the autumn air. “Thanks to you, birdy.”

He frowned at the nickname, but if he liked it, he didn’t show it. As they were heading back (To no apparent destination) Kitty Noir- Marinette- Couldn’t help but stare, because damn. That was one fine ass.

Robin stopped abrubtly, but not before he was knocked off balance by the girl who failed to stop behind him. This ended up with him on the rooftop, pinned down.

It was really awkward, and he could hear Tikki giggling again.

“Um, I- I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you stop, I um, sorry so I- No wait! I’m sorry so- I’m so- So I’m- I’m sORRY!” She didn’t see him stop- She was really too busy staring at his ass. It was one fine ass.

“Uh. It’s fine. Can you get up, please?” His voice was constricted and awkward and he couldn’t wait to get home. She nodded clumsily, getting off him- Before slipping.

“Kitty!” He called out, watching her squeal as she desperately tried to find something to cling onto before nearing the edge of the rooftop, onto a five-floor-drop. His blood ran cold.

Shooting off the grappling hook, he jumped, catching her by her waist right before she fell over the edge. “I’ve got you.” He told her, his breath panting. He looked around, trying to find a way so that they could land properly, but his left hand was already starting to ache by supporting her, and his right was holding onto his grappling hook. There was no way he’d be able to get a safe landing for the both of them.

He unlatched the grappling hook, holding her to his chest as they plummeted towards the ground. Flipping her upwards so he’d absorb the impact, he groaned, making contact to the ground. Yep, at least two broken ribs and a dislocated arm. At least he was still alive. That was a bright side.

---

“I uh... Fell off the... Stairs?” Explaining himself to little angel was a little difficult. Marinette looked at him with extreme worry. Well, he wasn’t that good of a sight. Apparently, he’d bruised half of his face when he fell, too.

“R-Right. I know you’re lying, you know.” She crossed her arms. Of course she knew what really happened to Robin. She was the one that caused him such injuries. After they got up, he’d checked that she was fine- (Even when he was the one that took the fall!) and said that he’d go find his... Friend, Marinette. Kitty Noir had panicked, of course, and made up a crappy excuse to rush home. Robin, who was probably too injured to protest, watched her go before he shot off his grappling hook, getting to little angel’s place. “Sit down, I’ll get you some hot chocolate and some bandages.”

Robin nodded thankfully. He wasn’t sure how Fu would’ve dealt with him getting home with broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder- And he was quite sure he didn’t want to find out, as he suspected that the man was still angry at him.

“Damian!” Tikki immediately fussed over him the moment Marinette was out of hearing. “Oh god, you’re so injured!” She squealed. Robin hissed at her.

“Don’t use my name. Not here.” He told her sternly, but it seemed as if the Kwami had gotten completely used to him using harsh tones on her, and only proceeded to worry over him.

“Let me help.” Tikki murmured, using her tiny flap-like hands to create a small glowing ball, pressing it into Damian’s chest. Immediately, he felt his ribs piece themselves back together, and his back’s soreness- Well, it got slightly better.

When they heard Marinette coming up the stairs, though, Tikki quickly hid back inside his hood.

“I got you some chocolate.” She smiled, handing him the cup. “It’s hot though, so be careful.” She begin to set down some of the other things she had brought- Bandages, disinfectant- The usual things that Alfred would have once the Bats returned from a hectic day of patrol. She dabbed gently at his wounds as he sipped on the hot chocolate, feeling the warm liquid dribble down his throat, providing more aid to soothing his extremely sore back that he’d fell on. Honestly, he could’ve died if he snapped his neck. However, probably thanks to Tikki’s luck- He didn’t. He knew it was the right choice to let the Kwami tag onto his patrol nights.

“You’re really battered up. It’s a miracle you even survived.” Marinette murmured under her breath. “Stupid selfless idiot.”

“Stupid selfless what?” Robin raised an eyebrow. The girl only blushed more, not saying anything else. “Stupid selfless what?” He repeated.

Marinette huffed at him. “Kitty Noir dropped over just now. She told me what happened and told me to prepare my first aid kit.” She could hear Plagg’s approval at the flawless spontaneous lie she’d come up with on the spot.

Robin sighed. That explained it. There were already some bandages and bottles of medicine on the balcony when he dropped by. That explained why she was so ready for him. And also why she didn’t believe his ‘I fell off the stairs’ theory.

“You stupid selfless idiot.” Marinette repeated, agitating herself as she said the same phrase again, dabbing on his wounds a little harder as he winced. As soon as she noticed this movement, she apologized hastily. “Sorry.” She sighed. “I’m just worried about you.”

“I’m fine, angel.” Robin smiled, carressing her face gently. “I’m fine.”

“A-Angel?” She stuttered, blushing wildly. “W-What’s with the nickname?”

Robin shrugged. “You’re just an angel. You’re not as insufferable as everyone else, you’re kind, generous, and you mind space. That makes you already better than fifty percent of the population. And it makes you my personal angel.”

Maybe... That glint was already in him.

(Tag List: @yin-390 @mysteriouslyswimmingfan-blo-blog @constancetruggle @the-navistar-carol @never-neverland @rayray384 @mystery-5-5 @black-streak @bluerosette23 )

There we go! Another chapter! This one is slightly shorter because of the time constraint :( sowy (AUTHOR CAN’T SPELL SORRY RIGHT)

I’m really sorry if I miss your name in the tag list because my laptop’s tumblr is real messy and laggy so I’m trying to get a hang of everything.

On the other hand I got 12 followers in one day

It’s a miracle

Thank you guys so much I can’t express how much I love you all right now

So right now Marinette’s kind of how Marinette normally is for Adrien but for Robin, Damian’s a bro-friend sort of thing, and to Damian/Lordbug/Robin Marinette is a little angel and a gift to the world. Later we’re going to have Kitty Noir head-over-heels for Robin the way Chat is head-over-heels for ladybug. No more spoilers though!

Again, before this author’s note gets too long, message me if any mistakes were spotten (See what I did there?) because I didn’t proof-read the chapter really well.

#damianwayne #marinettedupaincheng #miraculousladybug #daminette #lordbug #robin #kittynoir #lordbugrobinandkittynoir #damian x marinette #marinette x damian #robin gets hurt :(#but marinette is there to kiss his wounds better though

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animezing-fandoms · 4 years

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Hey, i always enjoy reading fics but lately i kind of been wanting to try writing one myself. Are there any tips you can give me? I haven't ever written anything, i do have a big imagîtion, but i'm also kind of scared for language errors. English isn't my first language and although i am fluid in English, i'm afraid i won't be able to express myself in words in a way that would be enjoyable for others. How did you get over these fears and just in general, get started?

Well first I started out by roleplaying. Basically me and another person would pick a character and then we’d come up with a story together, each playing as our own characters. But then I started getting more specific ideas in my head and decided to just write them as fanfiction on my own, instead of hoping the other person would catch on to what I want. XD Basically, the best way to get started is to just write. Don’t worry so much about technicalities and language. That stuff will come with time as you keep writing in English. Sometimes, what you can do is have a beta reader, which is someone who basically proof-reads your work and corrects spelling and grammar mistakes and sometimes offers feedback before you post it, but you don’t have to have that.

I was never afraid to post my work because I saw other people do it, so honestly don’t be afraid to share your work. You may get some negative comments at first since you’re new and English isn’t your first language but honestly, you can ignore stuff like that. The more you write, the better you’ll get at it. But, as an experienced writer, there are a few tips I’ll give you on stuff that I see a lot of new writers do that prevents readers from enjoying the story.

Notice how before I start a new topic I start a new paragraph? That’s something you should always do in your fic. If people click on your story on Ao3, Fanfiction.net or Tumblr and see a huge block of text, they’ll exit out of it because it’s super difficult to read like that. Every time you switch a character’s POV, or the topic changes, you should have a new paragraph/line.

Same goes for dialogue. Every time you switch who’s speaking, you need to start a new line. Also make sure you use the character’s names at the beginning of the conversation, and especially if you have two characters of the same gender/use the same pronouns then you’ll use their names more often when indicating who’s speaking so we know which line of dialogue belongs to which character.

Those are all basic things to keep readers from not reading your fic and/or getting confused while trying to read it. But something else that I don’t see mentioned too often but is really good advice is don’t be afraid to be descriptive. At first you might think that keeping things short and sweet when it comes to describing appearances and actions is the way to go, especially if you don’t have such a big vocabulary. But if you keep your descriptions short then it’s harder to visualize what the idea you’re trying to convey is and the reader just gets this very robotic caricature of what your vision is instead of what you saw in your head.

Now, for someone who’s not a native English speaker, this might be kind of hard because your vocabulary might be limited. But if you feel like you’re using a word too much or there’s another word in your first language that you want to use but you don’t know the English equivalent, look it up online! Google translate isn’t as awful as some people make it out to be, especially if you’re only looking up one word as opposed to a sentence. And it will pay off immensely because if the reader can see what the character’s facial expression, tone of voice, and body stance in a scene is as well as what dialogue is being said, it’ll entice the reader that much more because it will have a lot more feeling and emotion behind it than just basic descriptions of what’s being said and by whom.

Now, here’s some examples of what I’ve just explained to you; the first one is an example of what you definitely should not do that I see a lot of new writers do:

Natsu walks into the guild hall with Happy. He goes over to the job board and picks out a job. “Hey Natsu, this job looks like something Lucy would want to do!” Happy says.“Yeah, maybe she would want to do it. Let’s go find her and ask.” Natsu says. “Hi Natsu!” Lucy calls as she walks into the guild hall. “What job are you looking at?” she asks and looks at the flier. “It’s a job for a Celestial Wizard at an observatory. They’re having a star gazing party tonight and want to have a wizard there to provide some knowledge and magic to entertain people and provide knowledge on the different constellations!” Happy says. “Wow that job sounds perfect for me!” Lucy says. “My spirits would love to share their stories and magic with people, and a beautiful clear night under the stars is always such a romantic sight!” She says and blushes. “Too bad you won’t have a date!” Happy jokes and Lucy frowns at him. “I could bring a date if I wanted to! But it sounds like I’ll be too busy working, so bringing a date wouldn’t be a smart idea anyways.” Lucy sighs. “You don’t need to bring some random guy.” Natsu says and slings his arm around her shoulders. “Happy and I will come with you!” “Really! Why do you guys want to come?” Lucy asks, blushing. “Yeah Natsu why do we want to come?” Happy asks. “It’s not like we’ll be doing anything to help.” “We can help Lucy!” Natsu says. “We always drag her on jobs that stress her out somehow but this one is her dream job, we should be there with her to support her since she’s always there for us. And maybe we’ll learn a little something too. It’s the least we can do. Don’t you think so Happy?” Natsu asks. “Aye Sir!” Happy says. “Aw, Natsu that’s so sweet and surprisingly mature of you. Can you promise me that you’ll behave when we’re there?” Lucy asks. “Nope!” Natsu says and Lucy sighs.

-------------

Now, how did you feel reading that? Did you even want to? It was hard right. There was no separation of lines so it’s easy to get lost in the words and forget who’s speaking what line and what’s going on. That’s why when readers click on a story and see that, they give up immediately. It’s impossible to immerse yourself in a story if you’re getting lost in the dialogue and descriptions and don’t know where one starts and one ends. It’s really difficult to read so even if your idea is good, if it’s formatted like that, the idea won’t shine through because it’ll get lost.

Now look at what a difference just adding those line separations makes:

Natsu walks into the guild hall with Happy. He goes over to the job board and picks out a job.

“Hey Natsu, this job looks like something Lucy would want to do!” Happy says.

“Yeah, maybe she would want to do it. Let’s go find her and ask.” Natsu says.

“Hi Natsu!” Lucy calls as she walks into the guild hall. “What job are you looking at?” She asks and looks at the flier.

“It’s a job for a Celestial Wizard at an observatory. They’re having a star gazing party tonight and want to have a wizard there to provide some knowledge and magic to entertain people and provide knowledge on the different constellations!” Happy says.

“Wow that job sounds perfect for me!” Lucy says. “My spirits would love to share their stories and magic with people, and a beautiful clear night under the stars is always such a romantic sight!” She says and blushes.

“Too bad you won’t have a date!” Happy jokes and Lucy frowns at him.

“I could bring a date if I wanted to! But it sounds like I’ll be too busy working, so bringing a date wouldn’t be a smart idea anyways.” Lucy sighs.

“You don’t need to bring some random guy.” Natsu says and slings his arm around her shoulders. “Happy and I will come with you!”

“Really! Why do you guys want to come?” Lucy asks, blushing.

“Yeah Natsu why do we want to come?” Happy asks. “It’s not like we’ll be doing anything to help.”

“We can help Lucy!” Natsu says. “We always drag her on jobs that stress her out somehow but this one is her dream job, we should be there with her to support her since she’s always there for us. And maybe we’ll learn a little something too. It’s the least we can do. Don’t you think so Happy?” Natsu asks.

“Aye Sir!” Happy says.

“Aw, Natsu that’s so sweet and surprisingly mature of you. Can you promise me that you’ll behave when we’re there?” Lucy asks.

“Nope!” Natsu says.

Lucy sighs.

------------

See the difference? That was probably a lot easier to read. I bet you read it a lot quicker too. There’s a reason that this format is used in books! The same format needs to be applied to fanfiction in order for it to be more readable!

But while the format may be better, the description is still lacking which makes for a boring story. You may be able to understand what Natsu, Lucy and Happy are saying and imagine them saying it, but it’s not a very interesting picture if you don’t know what they look like while they’re saying that dialogue, then the readers will be bored and not enjoy the story because while they can get the general gist of what the story is about, they won’t feel as excited about it unless they can read and visualize the emotions that you visualize the characters having in your head. We need to be able to see what you see in order to be engaged with the story.

So here’s an example of what just adding a little more description of the character’s emotions, body language, brief inner thoughts, and tones of voice among other things to set the scene for readers to see the story you see in your mind:

It was an average morning in Magnolia and Natsu walks into the guild hall with Happy.

Normally he would go straight to the bar to get some breakfast, but today, he changes course and goes over to the job board because a flier decorated with glittering stars, reminding him instantly of his dear Celestial Mage catches his eye.

With Lucy’s smiling face pictured in his mind, he plucks the flier from the board and studies it.

Happy hovers over his shoulder and reads the flier too, and understands why it caught Natsu’s attention.

“Hey Natsu, this job looks like something Lucy would want to do!” Happy exclaims.

Natsu rubs his fingers against his chin and his lip curls up into a half-smirk at the mention of her name.

“Yeah, maybe she would want to do it. Let’s go find her and ask.” Natsu suggests.

But they didn’t have to look far.

“Hi Natsu!” Lucy calls as she walks into the guild hall.

Natsu smiles and waves at her as she comes over. As she gets closer to her friends, her bright smile turns into a curious frown as she notices that instead of holding a chicken leg like he does every morning, her best friend was holding a job flier.

“What job are you looking at?” She asks once she’s next to Natsu.

Natsu feels his cheeks heat up slightly as Lucy leans forward to read the flier, thus pressing her body closer to his. But they had never been shy when it came to being close to each other, so it didn’t startle him as much as it would have if they weren’t already so close.

“Wow that job sounds perfect for me!” Lucy says and plucks the flier from Natsu’s hands. “My spirits would love to share their stories and magic with people, and a beautiful clear night under the stars is always such a romantic sight!” She says and blushes while hugging the flier to her chest and swaying slightly as she closes her eyes and fantasizes about it.

“Too bad you won’t have a date!” Happy jokes.

Lucy frowns at him in annoyance of being pulled from her fantasy by Happy’s harsh reminder of reality.

“I could bring a date if I wanted to! But it sounds like I’ll be too busy working, so bringing a date wouldn’t be a smart idea anyways.” Lucy sighs.

Why did her work always seem to impede on her love life? This party would not only be her dream job but her dream date! Too bad she didn’t know any guys who were as interested in her Celestial magic as she was. Or so she thought.

As soon as Lucy had mentioned romance, the gears in Natsu’s head started turning. He didn’t know the first thing about romance. But if romance was what would make this job perfect for Lucy, then it was definitely something he wanted to try if it would make her happy. He would do anything for her, no matter how difficult. He always gives his all for everything important to him, and Lucy may not know it but she was always at the top of his priorities. And as was typical for Natsu, he blurts out the first idea that he comes up with.

“You don’t need to bring some random guy.” Natsu says and slings his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to him. “Happy and I will come with you!”

Now that she hadn’t expected. Her face turns pink, from both Natsu’s offer to join her on the job, and the fact that she was currently pressed against his side while tucked under his arm. Even though they’ve embraced many times before, lately, Lucy couldn’t help but get all tingly inside whenever she was this close to him. There was something both exciting and comforting about it that made her heart flutter.

“Really! Why do you guys want to come?” Lucy asks, while blushing. She had no idea what Natsu was going to say next, and her heart immediately hoped it would be something she knew he’d probably never say.

“Yeah Natsu why do we want to come?” Happy asks, breaking Lucy from her thoughts. “It’s not like we’ll be doing anything to help.”

“We can help Lucy!” Natsu says and Lucy’s heart leaps up to her throat, causing her to gasp softly. “We always drag her on jobs that stress her out somehow but this one is her dream job, we should be there with her to support her since she’s always there for us. And maybe we’ll learn a little something too. It’s the least we can do. Don’t you think so Happy?” Natsu asks.

“Aye Sir!” Happy says.

Lucy couldn’t believe her ears. It wasn’t exactly the romantic confession followed by him asking her out on a date that she was imagining, but nevertheless it was sincere and thoughtful and that made warmth spread from her heart across her chest all the same.

“Aw, Natsu that’s so sweet and surprisingly mature of you.” Lucy says softly while trying to hide her blush.

Thankfully, Natsu was too busy looking away from her and trying to hide his own blush to notice hers.

As she imagines a perfect night with Natsu under the stars, reality reminds her that this was a job, with Natsu. And that always meant destruction.

“But, can you promise me that you’ll behave when we’re there?” Lucy asks him with a hopeful smile.

If he was mature enough to go on a job with her that had no interest to him then maybe that meant for once he’d-

“Nope!” Natsu says while flashing her that goofy grin of his.

Lucy sighs and mentally reminds herself not to get her hopes too high when it comes to her relationship with Natsu.

---------

See what a huge difference just adding some description makes? It may have taken you a bit longer to read than the second one, but not that much longer, and honestly readers don’t care how long it takes them to read a story because if it sucks them in, they’ll be absorbed by the story and not even care what time it is. And that’s the point. You want the readers to keep reading.

After reading the second version of this you probably weren’t too interested in what happens next right? You could close that story and never come back to it. You probably might even forget about it. But with this third version, there’s tension built up by the descriptions. You’re conveying the mutual pining between these two characters. It’s clear that both of them like each other, and that both of them are hoping for something romantic to happen at the star gazing party that night. Will something romantic happen? Probably, since most in-universe fanfiction is written to show what canon leaves unresolved or unexplored. But even with that knowledge in mind, readers will still want to know how it happens in your story! With the second example, they’ll be expecting a rushed resolution that doesn’t delve into the thoughts and feelings of the characters and only their actions. But in the third example, not only are the characters words and actions there, but they’re enhanced by the descriptions that describe their thoughts and emotions about what they’re saying and doing.

Just by taking a little more time to describe what you see in your mind when you envision what you’re writing, you engage the reader so much more than you ever could with just simple actions and dialogue alone.

And that’s really the most important thing I want to convey to new fanfiction writers because you don’t often get that kind of advice in comments on the first few stories you post.

Most people will critique on format and grammar, but I can’t remember ever seeing someone suggest that the writer add more content to their story.

Words are a writers medium to paint a picture. So use as many words as you can to paint the best picture of what you see in your mind! You don’t have to describe every little detail. Especially in fanfiction since readers will already be familiar with the characters appearances and the locations they’re in if you’re writing an in-universe fic (but if you’re not, then definitely add what they’re wearing and what the location looks like as it sets the scene). But be sure to add if they’re smiling, or blushing, or what their proximity is to other characters because those details may be easily forgotten to a new writer who’s just trying to share their idea with the fandom, but we won’t get the full story you see in your head unless you tell us what the characters are thinking and feeling in those moments! You may see it in your head, but we’re not mind readers. We won’t see what’s in your head unless you put it on the page!

Writing like this may take you a bit longer to write and if English isn’t your first language then it might mean some trips to google translate to find the word your looking for, but as you can see from my examples above, it’s way worth the extra time it will take in order to put your best work out there to share with the fandom.

And then right off the bat, the feedback you’re going to get on your first story won’t be “separate the lines” or “fix your grammar” and get straight to people gushing about the content of your story and how you conveyed your idea and how they reacted to it because honestly, when you add more description and the reader can visualize what you’ve written, no one really cares about where you forgot to put a period or misspelled a word. This isn’t a final paper, it’s just for fun!

And that’s the final piece of advice I want to give to you. This is all for fun. You should feel like you’re having fun when you’re writing a fic, and be happy and encouraged by all of the feedback fellow fans give you on your work. But if there are days when you don’t feel like writing or you’re having a writer’s block. Don’t push yourself. You’re not getting paid to do this. This is something fun for you to do on your own time when you want to.

Even if people in the comments are begging you for an update, if you don’t have a good idea for the next chapter, or you have too much going on to work on it, they can wait. And they will. Because as a writer, I want to be proud of my work. And I would rather have readers wait six months for a good chapter, than give them a half-assed chapter in three days. Same goes for one-shots. Although people generally won’t beg you to come up with more ideas than they would beg you to update a series you’ve started. And if you never get around to finishing a series because you’ve moved onto another one, that’s okay! Your best work will be whatever you’re passionate about, so always write whatever’s inspiring you the most in that moment. It’ll come out so much better than anything you force yourself to write. And you should never force yourself to write fanfiction. Remember, this is all supposed to be for fun. If you’re not having fun or don’t want to do it then don’t do it! Wait until you want to.

Well, I think that’s enough advice for one post. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask me!

Now that you have some do’s and don’t’s under your belt, why don’t you try putting one of those ideas in your head into words to share with your fandom! We’re always looking for new content!

#fanfiction #writing advice #do's and don't's #nalu #fairy tail #fandom #writing about writing #advice for beginners #fanfiction writing

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literalnobody · 4 years

Note

i mean there’s nothing wrong with SW but she’s also a known scammer and racist

Hi there! I assume you are referring to this post, and I will try to answer as coherently as possible. I have been sick and awake all night and so please excuse any spelling/grammatical mistakes.

First, the scamming allegation. It’s totally sound to be concerned with whether or not donated money is going to the cause it promotes. I myself have donated to a charity for several years only to later discover the money was being pocketed. It makes you skeptical of even the most legitimate causes. I do not know this girls history or what she is accused of scamming before, so for the sake of brevity I will take you at your word and assume you have done due diligence before sending this message. That into account, the girl isn’t receiving any money directly for the nudes, the cost of the nudes is proof of donation via a receipt/screenshot of a receipt from the charity. Therefore, we can rule out the potential of scamming in this particular instance.

Second, the racism allegation. Again, I only did a cursory google search, so I will assume you have done due diligence and are correct about her being a racist. The only thing I could find on that was that she had dressed as an esk*mo which, as critically thinking adults (I’m assuming your an adult but if not, I am an adult, so I speak for myself) we can all agree is objectively offensive. I’m not going to sit and argue to the detrimental effects of white people dressing up in indigenous “costumes”, because I am a white people and I can never fully understand the depths to which that injures an indigenous community. So let’s all be in agreement, that white people dressing up in these offensive costumes, is an objectively bad thing to do.

Now, again assuming we’re all critically thinking adults, I’m not here to police how you as an individual calculate the value of morality. If you weigh a persons good deeds by their bad deeds, and find their moral worth somewhere in the balance, that’s up to you. If you think a person’s bad deeds completely overshadow and cancel out their good deeds, that’s also up to you. I personally (and this is just me, I’m not suggesting other people become like minded) try to see actions and influences as autonomous impacts, some to be criticized, and some to be praised, and some just exist. I think we can all agree that racist/insensitive costumes = bad thing, and raising $500k+ for bushfire relief (that’s the most recent figure I’ve read) = good thing. It’s an individual choice on how you digest those two things in relationship to each other, and there’s really no wrong answer, as long as you don’t deny that they both happened and had a respective good or bad impact. Sometimes people can be good in some regards and bad in others. In my experience tumblr likes a good black and white narrative, where someone is either worthy of our attention or they aren’t. That’s not necessarily bad, it’s a human trait to try and reduce issues into clear, understandable narratives, where we can pick a side and be sure about our feelings. But very rarely do real life individuals/scenarios reflect this tidy duality.

All of that said, let’s move onto the actual point at hand. My post specifically refers to the treatment of sex workers. I didn’t even name the girl or link to her story because, even though I was very impressed by her ingenuity and the amount of funds she managed to raise for bushfire relief, she was really just the best and most recent example of how sex workers are treated, and that’s the point I was trying to make. She wasn’t disowned for scamming, or racism, she was disowned for selling nudes. Her IG similarly was not deleted for any reason other than her nudes. Whether or not she deserves to be punished for the allegations you’ve listed above, the fact remains that she was punished exclusively for offering nudes in exchange for charity donations to bushfire relief. I’m not saying people should overlook bad behaviour that she’s perpetuated in the past, I’m certainly not saying that we should all accept bad behaviour in light of more recent good behaviour. However when you step back, this is a person who was raising a significant amount of money for a very worthy cause and, regardless of her morals on an individual level, was crucified in her personal life for raising that money via sex work. It’s not enough to just say “there’s nothing wrong with sex work BUT [insert bad shit a person did]” and whether you meant this or not it sort of implies that, therefore, their punishment is earned. Or maybe not earned, but justified in some cosmic karmic exchange. That’s an easy way to erase that this punishment solely derived from her sex work, despite it being used for an objectively good cause.

And that is, if I may say so, fucked up.

EDIT: I just want to clarify here, I don’t know the woman involved in this whole mess. I had a reaction to the treatment of sex workers. And I do stand by that reaction, because we inherently treat sex workers like criminals, even when they are trying to do something good. I don’t really care what your feelings towards this woman are one way or another, I don’t really have any feelings about her, but I do think it’s reprehensible that her own family and friends would terminate their relationships with her exclusively over sharing nudes for charity donations.

#asks #long post #racism cw #sex work cw #bushfires mention #Anonymous

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mizu-writes-kumo · 5 years

Note

Qb shiro, geeky nerd Lance, biker kuro. College.

This was admittedly harder to do than I expected. I wrote with a gen sort of pairing in mind, since I wasn’t give a ship exactly. But I suppose it could be read in whatever way you wish.

I hope you enjoy it!

You can also read it here on AO3

–

“Oh, oh okay, I think I get it!” Shiro said excited as he looked at his notebook.

His pencil at the ready as he started at the work on the page. He moved to start for second before hesitating a fraction of a second later with a look of puzzlement on his face. And each time his confidence deflating more and more. Until…

”No, no I don’t have it.” He groaned miserably as he dropped his head down on the table.

“Careful, brother, your head already gets hit enough every game.” The voice of Kuro, Shiro’s younger twin brother said in a teasing tone. And he laughed loudly as Shiro growled at the words. “Hey, I am just looking out for you. You’re going to need all the brain function you can get for your rocket science degree.”

“It’s atroscience. ” Shiro corrected, head still on the table.

Kuro chuckled lightly at the comeback. Causing Shiro to lift his head just enough to glare at his brother on the other side of the booth. Which only made Kuro chuckle more as he slouched back as he took a drink from his shake. Sticking his tongue out behind the straw as Shiro continued to look at him.

Before Shiro kicked his brother’s shin.

A gentle chuckle beside Shiro cut off Kuro before he could curse and retaliate. Shiro turned to the sound to find Lance half rolling his eyes behind the frames of his glasses. Shaking his head at them, in the oversized Star Wars hoodie Shiro and Kuro had gotten him when they visited Japan like three years ago.

“Play nice you two.” Lance huffed lightly, as he moved to reach for Shiro’s notebook. To place it more in the middle of Shiro and him. “We’re in public. And Kuro’s already getting us a few stares as it is.” Kuro gasped loudly like he took a offense to comment. “What you look like Biker extra from a movie set?”

Shiro chuckled as Kuro grumbled into his shake. Stating all he was doing was wearing a moto jacket, his nice one with no patches. And like ripped black jean with a white shirt and combat boots. He looked biker inspired not…full on biker. Not mention he was sipping a cookie dough milkshake, he was like no level of threatening about it.

Lance shook his head beside Shiro before he turned to look at the notebook.

“Okay, why don’t you tell me what your not getting?” Lance asked softly.

“All of it.” Shiro explained dramatically as he flopped against the table.

“And that is why I took Japanese for my language credit. Easy A.” Kuro stated with a hum.

“Which is totally cheating.” Shiro countered back with a sharp glare and pointed finger.

“How?”

“We’re Japanese , Ryou. It was literally our first language, and we lived in Japan for like five years. You can’t take a class for a language you already know. That’s cheating and a waste of like everyone’s time.”

Kuro rolled his eyes as he shrugged.

But he doesn’t say anything back. They’ve have this argument like once a week since Shiro started taking Spanish 1. Because Shiro didn’t want easy, despite…well like everyone in the athletics department wanting him to take easy courses. Can’t have the school’s star quarterback flunking out of any sort of class.

Shiro doesn’t care though. He figured Spanish should be enough of a challenge to not feel like a walk in the park. As well as have the Athletics Department relaxing because that was standard and easy.

“Plus, he wouldn’t have the best Spanish tutor in the whole universe.” Lance stated proudly.

“Shiro corrected your spelling like ten minutes ago.” Kuro pointed out lazily.

Lance gasped in dramatic fashion at the words. Like how dare Kuro say something like that to his face. “It’s was a common mistake native speakers make all the time.” Lance returned with a pointed huff.

“Yeah, Kuro.” Shiro said supportively.

“Fine then,” Kuro said as he turned back to his own notebook. “I won’t proof either of your papers for grammatical errors next time you ask.”

“You won’t dare!” Lance hissed.

Kuro hummed thoughtfully.

In a way, Shiro knows is a lie. Well at least for towards Lance. Kuro can never really tell Lance no. Nor would he ever willingly let Lance turn in a paper that without at least a friendly glance over and proof. He wanted Lance to have the best shot at a good grade. With Shiro…he would probably follow through until Shiro was begging and offering to do some chores for a week. And even then he would still probably resist.

“Help me with Spanish please.” Shiro pleased lightly and dramatically. Pulling Lance’s attention from his brother. “Please, I’ll owe you forever and ever.”

“You already owe me forever, so I’ll take the additional ever.” Lance said with a warm smile.

Before he launched into explaining conjugations for Shiro again. As well as when and how to use each one correctly, with a few helpful examples. Then carefully walked to Shiro through a set of his units vocab words. Then Shiro had a go with Lance watching closely to make sure he was getting the hang of it.

Kuro would interject a comment here and there. But also started work on his own homework and study he needed to for his classes.

“Hey, you’re coming to the game next week right Lance?” Kuro asked once he finished the work he needed to get done…or he was just bored of doing. “You’re not leaving me to cheer my idiot smart brother alone again are you.”

“Keith, Matt, and Hunk went where there with you last time.” Shiro shot back.

“They’re not as fun.” Kuro returned.

“Yeah, I’ll be there, so you can relax, Kuro.” Lance stated as turned his attention to the plate of fries in the middle of their table. “I cleared the whole day. Especially since we lost last game, and Shiro took that nasty hit. Because apparently I am a good luck charm or something.”

“Well more like a pre-game ritual,” Kuro huffed playfully, and Lance laughed. “Shiro is a superstitious maniac on game day. You know I can’t do laundry the day before, on, or after game day. And Shiro has to eat a hard boiled egg for breakfast, as well as shine his helmet while–”

“No, Kuro, shut up , you loser. Lance, don’t listen to him, you the best good luck charm anyone could ask for.” Shiro said as he glanced up from his work.

Lance laughed lightly in reply. “Oh, I know.” Lance said smugly.

Shiro felt his cheeks heat up a bit at the words.

He turned back quickly to his Spanish homework. He ignored the way Kuro chuckled knowingly at the action. Or mostly he ignored Kuro. Shiro did after all kick his brother in the shin again.

And Kuro returned the action quickly.

Lance just rolled his eyes on them as he proceeded to pick at the fries.

–

AN: I hope you enjoyed this!

Also again, tumblr took out my italics and I am just too lazy to put it back int.

#shance #kurance #vld lance #vld shiro #vld kuro #kuro and Shiro are twins #fanfiction #ask fic #written as gen #but could be read however I guess #prompt fill

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youknowmymethods · 5 years

Text

Content Creator Interview #6

Hello again and welcome to our sixth interview. This time, it’s the turn of @ashockinglackofsatin to put @sunken-standard ‘s writing under the microscope. Together they chat about the early days of the Sherlock fandom, how music can influence writing, and why the I Love You scene helped end sunken’s own great hiatus.

For those who don’t know me: I am @ashockinglackofsatin on tumbr, satin_doll on AO3. My test subject...erm, sorry - interviewee - is the notorious sunken_standard, probably most famous for her two epic, novel-length stories Longer Than The Road That Stretches Out Ahead and Fumbling Toward Ecstasy, which can be found on AO3 (along with her other wonderful stories) and should be required reading for anyone aspiring to write fanfiction.

You should know, first off, that I’m crap at doing interviews, which I discovered years ago when I had to interview musicians and various personalities as a job. I didn’t last long at that job.

So here is Kat’s Idiotic Interview with @sunken-standard.

satin_doll: You’re very good at writing Sherlock’s emotional cluelessness without making him seem like an idiot or an ass. Can you talk a little about the way you see Sherlock’s character that allows you to do this?

sunken_standard: Thank you :D So the answer to this is going to carry through to some of the other questions, but basically, I write Sherlock as a version of myself. I feel a kinship with the character, a highly intelligent person surrounded by idiots and so, so frustrated by it, but even more frustrated by his own brain and the inability to control it. Probably autistic, just like I'm probably autistic (and I don't want to get into it but I'm not trying to co-opt an identity here or anything; I've tried to get a diagnosis and found out that's just not possible with my current healthcare options).

Anyway, one of my probably-autistic things is being hyper-aware of other people's emotions, but also having trouble identifying them and the appropriate responses. At times I do lack empathy, like I honestly can't understand why someone is feeling what they're feeling because I wouldn't feel that way in the same situation and it doesn't make sense. Sometimes I can empathize so much that it's overwhelming and I just kind of short-circuit, especially when it comes to grief or loss, and I end up being insensitive or just not saying or doing what a normal person would.

So basically, I approach his responses to other people's emotions the way I would my own, only stripped of female socialization and self-awareness.

satin_doll: How much do you draw on your own life and experiences in your fics?

sunken_standard: For scenarios and specific scenes, not a lot. For emotional and sensory experiences, more. I haven't done very much or lived to my full potential, so it's not a very deep well on either account. Every now and then anecdotes or details creep in (like Mars Cheese Castle and the “call me Daddy” during sex thing [which, for the record, was skeevy as fuck irl]), but most of it just comes from nowhere or stuff I saw on TV.

satin_doll: Both “Longer than the Road…” and “Fumbling Toward Ecstasy” are novel length stories. “Road”, however, is written without breaks/chapters. Did you ever consider breaking it up into parts or chapters? How hard was it to keep it all in one piece and how long did it take you to finish it?

sunken_standard: When I write, I usually just start and then go 'til it's done or I burn out. I got through three or four chapters' worth of FTE (and was on the verge of giving up until maybe_amanda convinced me not to). Since the story wasn't nearly finished and I wanted to start putting it out into the world (mostly because I have no patience, but also because I knew there was a window to stay relevant and a large number of people were looking for a longer, meatier [cough] post-TFP fic), I decided to start posting what I had and just write as I went because I was, in hindsight, probably hypomanic and I was keeping a good pace at that point.

I dunno, I think there was a lot more of that long-format thing happening in fic back then, where you'd have a 40k piece that only had breaks because of the word limit per post on LJ.

As far as how long it took, I don't remember. I know I started it February of that year and had probably a good 75% of it finished (all written at a tear, over the course of probably ten days or so, because when I was still smoking actual cigarettes I could and did do 3-5k words/ day), but then I dropped it and went on to try other ideas. I went back to it when those other stories fizzled, and I finished it in maybe another 2-3 weeks with editing and beta reading. I had some real problems with the ending and it was never good enough for me, but I just got to a point where I was sick of it and it was good enough.

So basically, it's harder for me to work in chapters than it is one long piece. There's more discipline to a chaptered work; each chapter is its own story, in a way, and each one needs to end on a certain kind of beat. I still don't feel like I have a knack for it, and I think if I did anything long like that again I'd have to write most of it without breaks and then shoehorn them in where I could later on.

satin_doll: You took a long hiatus from Sherlock fic after S2, and came back for S4. What was it about S4 that sparked your writing again?

sunken_standard: I don't really know. I mean, the ILY was a big thing, but I think S4 gave me more to work with for the kind of things I write (all the angst and inner monologue) than S3 or TAB. I had mixed feelings about S3. I didn't like Mary much for a long time because she was one of Moffat's women (and anyone who's seen my tumblr knows how I feel about that), but I finally unclenched after a while because I like Amanda Abbington a lot and Mary was preferable to Sarah Sawyer (who I'm more ambiguous about now, but really didn't like for a long time because there was something about her that I read as smarmy, though now I see her reactions as more subtly uncomfortable and kind of like “what's going on/ this is weird/ John's a nice guy but is everything around him always this weird?”). Anyway.

I did try writing a bit after S3, but I never finished any of it; I didn't really feel like there was a place in the fandom or much of a community at that time, either—at least, not like what I had been used to from the early days. The tribe that existed wasn't my tribe (any of them). I think I need a certain degree of shared enthusiasm to motivate me to keep writing. Like, I have a lot of ideas for fic in other fandoms, but they're dead or never existed in the first place. And I know I'll have some audience for the small fandoms and people will read and kudos and everything, but there's no one around to geek out with or bounce ideas off of, so it just isn't as appealing. If I'm going to be miserable and alone while writing something, it's going to be something I can at least make money off of, y'know?

satin_doll: Do you edit as you go or finish the story first and go back over it to edit?

sunken_standard: Edit as I go. When I get stuck, I break that cardinal rule of writing and go back over what I've written and nit-pick it to death. It's a bad habit, but at the same time, small changes have led to big developments in the course of the story later on. I mean, I think sometimes this is why I have so many unfinished things, but I've tried just writing through and that doesn't work for me either. Once I get to the end of something, I've already made most of big cuts and done a lot of the reworking, so the beta polishing isn't as labor-intensive. I'm one of those people that when I feel like something's finished, I don't want to have to go back to it again. And if I didn't edit as I went, it would kind of feel like redoing the whole story and that's extremely unappealing to me. It's kind of like baking—it's always better if you clean as you go, rather than waiting until the cake's out of the oven to do the dishes and put stuff away (which I do when I'm low on spoons, but it ends up seeming like double the work).

satin_doll: Do you proof it yourself or rely on someone else to proofread it for you? I’m talking technical details here, proofing as opposed to simple beta reading.

sunken_standard: Mostly proof myself, since I edit as I go (and proofing is inevitably part of that when the mistakes just jump out). My beta catches everything else (and she's amazing; I misuse words and just legit don't know spelling differences for a lot of things [stationary vs stationery] and I'm not great with grammar and prepositions because I'm an ignorant fucker with no education).

satin_doll: When did you first start writing? When did you first discover that you COULD write?

sunken_standard: I remember writing stories as a kid, but I burned them all when I was a teenager so I don't even know what most were about or anything. I do remember that I wrote one when I was in like 4th or 5th grade that was ST:TNG self-insert fanfic and I think the plot was me working with Data to bring Lal back. I know it was Data, because I had a huge crush on him as a kid. I really thought I could grow up to write ST:TNG novels at that point.

And as for CAN write—jury's still out on that one. Ask my 12th grade English teacher, who laughed in my face when I told him I was thinking of pursuing English so I could be a writer. But before that, I had some other teachers that used to give me A+s on my creative writing assignments (despite all the spelling and grammatical errors). In 11th grade, I had a really great teacher, Mr. Lansing, who turned me on to the good parts of American lit and really encouraged me to read (and write) what I liked, not just what other people told me I had to. He encouraged me when I applied for the Governer's school, too. (The Governer's School is this program in PA for kids who excel; it's like a summer camp for the elite nerds. They have a bunch of them, each for different areas—math, science, medicine, I think one that's like history/ government/ civics, and then one for the arts. For creative writing, they take a total of 20 kids—10 for poetry and 10 for prose. I tried for the poetry category and made the first round of cuts and went for a regional interview (with about 50 other kids, so like maybe 150 kids state-wide); long story short I didn't make it. I was the first alternate, meaning if somebody couldn't attend, I would get their spot. #11 out of 10. I was so crushed, because it basically reinforced what I'd been told by other people—I was a big fish in pond too small to even piss in and there were always going to be people better than me. I was already mostly checked-out when it came to academia and aspirations; after that there was just really no point to keep going.)

Anyway though, I did write bits and pieces here and there even after school, thinking one day I'd get my shit together and write my own Confederacy of Dunces and then off myself (it's still a viable plan). Then, in 2008 I was recently unemployed and everything in life was shitty, so I wrote a big happy-ending fic for The Doctor and Rose. It was kind of the right bit of media at the right time that inspired me. More about that later though.

satin_doll: What/who do you think has had the biggest influence on the development of your style?

sunken_standard: I've been asked this before, and I always feel like I'm a little pretentious and I trot out the same names (both fanfic authors and book authors), but I had a realization a while ago that I'm always missing one person—Vonnegut. I think he's got this kind of no-bullshit way of saying things that still manages to be poetic and delicate and that's what I most aspire to.

I think a lot of my style is influenced by film, too. Some influences are probably Todd Solondz, Richard Linklater, Kevin Smith, and John Waters, as far as the way I approach the reality within the story. I think I tend to focus on a lot of the same things—the weird, the mundane, the mildly uncomfortable—but I don't go nearly as far in any direction. I think even the way I string scenes together and the shifting of focus within my scenes between action, dialogue, and inner monologue are influenced by cinematography. I always say I'm just transcribing the movie in my head, so I mean, there's bound to be some kind of influence.

satin_doll: You’re noted for the banter between your characters, humorous and otherwise. Do you have rules/profiles for characters that establish their voices for you? Are there things, for example, that you think Sherlock or Molly simply would never say/do or would always say/do? How structured are these characters in your head when you start writing?

sunken_standard: It varies slightly from story to story/ universe to universe, but I think I have patterns for the banter (and I have a different set for Sherlock and John, and Sherlock and Mycroft, but there are common threads throughout). As for comedy, it's not quite straight man/ funny man, but I tend to default to Sherlock being more literal and deadpan and Molly being more expressive and emotive. I use the scraps of the dynamic the show's given us and just build on that. It's kind of formulaic, actually: Sherlock does a not-good thing (degree of severity varies), Molly reacts with a blend of annoyance and amusement while going along for the ride.

I have a kind of mental file for things I think would be out of character for each of them, but sometimes I like to try to find a way to get to one of those things and slip it into a fic organically. One of the reason I liked doing the one-line prompt fics so much was that so many of them could easily have been intros to the kind of fluff that makes me gag; I'm no fool, though, and I love me some low-hanging fruit, so I just adjust it to my tastes. I'm a never-say-never kinda gal. Mostly.

That being said, there are a lot of things that I think would take a lot of doing to make them be in-character. I don't think they'd ever use pet names for each other unless it was through gritted teeth or with at least a bit of irony (like how I used “yes, dear,” in FTE, and I think in some of the universes in Ficlet Cemetery). I can't see Sherlock ever doing housework unless it was for a case (though dishes and sanitizing surfaces are an exception, because both those chores are tangent to the kind of cleaning up after oneself one does in a lab setting, and imo that fits with his logic). I can't see him being very affectionate in public, except under rare circumstances when he might do an arm around the shoulders or a guiding palm to the small of the back.

And as for structure, I think they all start with the same scaffolding, but in every new universe they get draped slightly differently according to variations in backstory or tone or genre or whatever. Or like, they're already sculpted, but the lighting changes. I think that as I write, they take on different nuances and acquire more depth, though. Like it wasn't really until a few chapters in to FTE that I got a fuller picture of the Molly I was writing, even though I had the rough idea of her backstory from pretty much the beginning. Same with Longer Than the Road, too. As I come up with details of someone's past, I experience those scenarios and it makes me rethink and fine-tune everything about them in what I've already written, and adds more texture as I keep going.

satin_doll: You’ve listed a playlist for “Longer than the Road…” Do you write to music? How much does music inspire your writing? Does every story have a playlist?

sunken_standard: It's funny, but I don't listen to music nearly as much as I did even 5 years ago. Not sure why, honestly, maybe something to do with my mental health and overstimulation? So I don't write to music much anymore. Not every story has a playlist or songs attached (I don't think any of the FC stuff does, at least not in any significant way), but it seems like my best work is inspired by music in some way.

FTE didn't really have a soundtrack, but I listened to a lot of the music I had in common with the version of Molly that I was writing—very 90s alternative and pop rock. Lots of Pulp (which I picked as Molly's favorite band because I think they're Loo's favorite, or one of her favorites). For the proposal, I had “Dreams” by The Cranberries on a loop as I wrote. There's just something musically about that song that's full of anticipation and the wavy kind of guitar (I don't know the music terms and it's been so many years since I was into anything instrument-related that I'm not even sure how the sound is made, like a whammy bar or wiggling their fingers on the frets or whatever but anyway) just has this kind of wavering emotion that makes it feel like it's on the cusp of something. And also it's the big romance song from every coming-of-age thing ever, and so just hearing it is like an auditory shorthand for breathless, adventurous romance, at least for women of a certain age (namely, my age, and I'm only a year younger than Loo/ Molly). There was another scene—I can't remember what it was without rereading the fic—that I spent like three days listening to nothing but “The Way” by Fastball. It might have been the thing with the drink testing and then the sex on the sofa and the cake baking. (As an aside, I just started listening to the song and immediately got hit with a sense memory of night-wet spring air blowing in my window, because that's what the weather was when I was writing to this and it gives me a weird yearning pull in the back of my throat, like nostalgia almost but something else in it. Like, did you ever hear a pop song that taps into some deeper part of the human experience, both musically and lyrically, and you just feel like there's some universal truth in it that's too much to totally grasp? That's how I feel about both of those songs. Anyway.)

Another story that had a few songs attached was Stainless, Captive Bead. Radiohead's “Creep” was what they were listening to in the tattoo parlor, and a lot of the sex bits were written while listening to Nine Inch Nails' “Closer” (look, if it's set in the 90s and there's fucking in it, I'm going to find a way to relate it to “Closer,” because that song is just dark sex and angst set to synthesizers and a high hat).

Also, sometimes when I write I listen to ambient noise stuff, cityscapes or rain or whatever fits the tone of the piece and my mood. I can't listen to anything for too long, though, because I get listener fatigue and I burn out faster.

satin_doll: Have you ever considered self-publishing your stories as a book or series of books?

sunken_standard: I've tried to file off the serial numbers on the Girlfriend series, but it was harder than I thought it would be so I back-burnered it. I still like to think that one day I will, it's a life goal, but if I put too much pressure on myself I only make it worse and nothing gets done.

satin_doll: You seem to have a detailed backstory for every character in your stories, from Janine to Molly’s mother. Do you work these out beforehand or do they just happen in your head as you write?

sunken_standard: Both? I kind of touched on it earlier, but I usually have an idea of the backstory, the bones at least, and then as I write it gets richer. I have multiple headcanons for every character, so I just start off with one of those. Like I have five different families for Molly, all things I was coming up with when I was writing other stories. Hell, I've got like five different Uncle Rudys (most of them highly unpleasant and most likely triggering).

I have a habit of just sitting and thinking about a character, like “what would make them this way?” armchair psychoanalysis stuff. And if I can establish a plausible-sounding backstory, I have a better foundation for introducing non-canonical traits or details. I think that's the downfall of a lot of fic authors—they just write a canon character as they would an OC and expect us to play along without demonstrating any internal logic. Maybe I'm just picky; there's certainly an element of that, too.

satin_doll: How detailed is the story in your mind before you start writing it? Do you work from plans and outlines with every story?

sunken_standard: It all depends on the story. Sometimes I have a whole series of detailed scenes just waiting in my head to be written out. Sometimes I only have one thing and I just keep going. I say I use an outline, but it's not a proper outline. More like a collection of notes and bullet points of what I want to happen and what kind of beats I want to hit. I usually keep it at the bottom of my working document so I don't have to switch to another doc to look at it if I need to.

satin_doll: Where does a story begin with you? What constitutes the “urge” to write? You once mentioned (in a comment reply I think) that you know the ending of the story first and then write the rest of the story to get there. What do you do when a story goes off track? How do you get it back to the way you planned it, or do you even try to do that?

sunken_standard: (I don't know why my document formatting went tits-up here, so I'll answer 1 & 2 both here)

So stories are a visceral kind of thing. I always have ideas. Seriously, give me a theme or a title or something and I can spit out a summary and details in as long as it takes to type it out. But actually crafting prose (can I sound more pompous?) is best likened to the urge to poop. Classy, right? I said it was visceral. Really though, it's that same kind of state of heightened awareness/ arousal (in the strictest medical sense of the word, not sexual arousal), something is happening and if it doesn't things are going to get weird and I'm going to be very uncomfortable for a very long time. Also, like pooping, if it's not ready, no amount of grunting or straining is going to make it happen, and it might even make it worse in the long run. As you can tell, I've been very, very constipated for the last year.

Anyway.

Stories going off track... a lot of the time I just let it happen because it's taking me to a better place than where I thought it was going to end up.

satin_doll: Quote from you: “I spend way too much time thinking about who Molly is as a person. Writing porn and comedy both have their appeal, but I really like sitting down and thinking about what makes any given character tick and how they might feel about what's happening around them. 30s and single has so much baggage to it, even if all the women's magazine articles and whatever-wave-we're-up-to-now feminist thought pieces say it's a myth or a stereotype or whatever. It's a truth we don't want to be true because it's not fair. I mean, it's not the thing that solely defines any woman, but it's there, just like cellulite and brand new and worrying moles and our favorite brand of whatever suddenly being discontinued (or significantly changed) because some marketing person decided it was too 'old.' But anyway, such is life. And I like putting that in fic.”

Do you write character studies to use as a reference for your stories, or just wing it for each individual piece?

sunken_standard: The character study is dead, isn't it? Like, as standalone fic. Never see them anymore, which is a real pity. I used to write them (or, well, start them, heh) before I took a break from writing/ fandom, mostly to try to get some of my headcanons down in some kind of usable way. But I haven't really written a character study (in prose, at least) since 2012 or so.

So when I write, I keep two documents open—the working copy that's a first-through-final draft and a “notes/ cut bits/ things to work in somehow” document. In the notes document I usually keep any character details (backstory or how I want them to react to something later, whatever). There are themes I go back to over and over, like a cluster of traits I reuse in some fashion because I think they fit the character (Mycroft and disordered eating, Molly as a middle child in some fashion, John as the child of alcoholics, etc.), so a lot of that just lives in my head. Any bits of characterization specific to a story go in the notes doc for that story, while any generic thoughts or something that I think I might want to use later gets stuck in another document full of random ideas, snippets of dialogue, jokes, AUs I'll never write, that kind of thing. I've got a few of those docs from different writing periods. They're mostly just a way to externalize a thought so I don't lose it; I hardly ever go back to them for anything.

satin_doll: What was your first involvement with fanfiction? Where did it all start?

sunken_standard: I started to answer this in another question; basically, fanfic's been in my wheelhouse in one way or another since I was a kid (Star Trek novels are fanfic, period). I discovered fanfiction back in the days of eXcite searches and webrings while looking for translations of Inu Yasha manga scans; I stumbled upon an English-language fancomic/ doujinshi called Hero in the 21st Century and it was so well-written, funny and poignant and well-researched I was just drawn in. I still think about it and the author's other works to this day. I did pick at the idea of writing myself, sometimes even put down scenes or outlines and did hours of research, but never did the thing.

And then, in 2008, the stars aligned and I started a thing. Journey's End spawned a ton of Doctor Who fic, and that was good, because I could just kind of slip mine in there and I probably wouldn't get a lot of criticism or attention. So I wrote like two chapters without any idea of how it was going to end, and I submitted it to Teaspoon and an Open Mind (which was the Doctor Who fic archive at the time; it was curated/ moderated and where you went when you wanted to read something you knew would be good, or at least conform to certain standards, unlike The Pit [which is still garbage today]). And I got rejected. My grammar and spelling were awful (I didn't even have spell-check in whatever program I was using) and they said the whole thing had good bones, but I really needed to work on the English before they'd look at it again. Getcherself a beta, they suggested, and I think they had a forum where writers and betas could connect. So I got myself a beta and she stuck with me for like 30 chapters, answering questions and keeping my characterization on-track and basically re-teaching me the rules of written English. I tried to email her a few years ago to thank her again, but her email bounced back. Her name was Julia and if she sees this, thank you Julia. You're a wonderful person.

Anyway, I wrote lots in that fic universe for like 2 months, then got another job and tapered off. I abandoned it completely after a year. Life got in the way of a lot of things, and the next time I was really inspired to write anything was a couple years later, for Supernatural. I only put it on my LJ, never posted to a community or anything, and no one read it. Literally, I don't think the post got any hits at all and for sure no one commented. I sometimes think about putting it on AO3 just because. And then Sherlock happened and here we are.

satin_doll: Do you think writing fanfic has hurt or hindered your original work? Why or why not? (that looks like a high school test question - sorry!)

sunken_standard: Lol @ test question :D

I'm not really sure, tbh. On one hand, I only have so much creative energy—it's definitely a finite resource, and a scarce one—and devoting it to fanfic diverts it from any original work. On the other hand, all writing is practice. The only way to improve is to keep doing, no matter what it is. So in that sense, fanfic's certainly helped me to find a comfortable voice and a prose style that works for me. There are still problems to solve, figuring out the best approach to a scene or story from a technical standpoint (stuff like tense and perspective and all that), so I'm always learning something as I go. Mixed bag, really.

satin_doll: What was it about the Sherlock/Molly dynamic that got you started on a piece like “Longer Than the Road…” What did you see there that made you want to explore it in such detail?

sunken_standard: So I always talk about how Sustain was my come-to-Jesus moment with Sherlock and Molly. Here's something I've never told anybody, not even maybe_amanda (because I was kind of ashamed, but not for the reasons people might think): before ever reading Sustain, I started a story that was Sherlock/ John and Sherlock/ Molly. I had it roughly outlined and a few pages written, but I just kind of lost the feeling of it and it was starting to get problematic for character motivations, yada yada, so into the scrap heap it went. It had a passing similarity to Sustain because of a platonic-sex-for-pregnancy element (hence why I never talked about it), but the major difference was that it was going to end up as a kind of polyamorous arrangement, Sherlock loving both of them and having a kind of co-parenting triad. In mine, John wanted a baby, and Molly wanted her own baby, and Sherlock thought “best of both worlds!” and why do IVF when you can write awkward angst-fucking instead. But yeah, I never finished it.

Anyway, I always saw something there, but I couldn't make it work in a way that was consistent with my own characterization of Sherlock until after Series 2. Even in Series 1, he looks at her with a kind of fondness and a sort of bewilderment that just lends itself to nerds in love. At the time (and even now, tbh), I kind of attributed that to BC having a crush on Loo (and oh man do I have theories, which are gossipy and gross and not the kind of thing I usually even bother having opinions about, but have you listened to the S1 commentary and some of the interviews around that time? there's something more there) and that kind of just spilling over onscreen and it working for the editor because it makes BC look sexy.

I mean look, I make no secret of the fact I started off shipping Sherlock with John almost exclusively (though I'd read just about anything), and after S1 aired it was just a different time. I get really annoyed when people talk shit about the pairing and the people who still ship them, because most of them weren't even in the fandom at the time and didn't have the same experience as the OGs. When Series 1 aired, hardly anyone knew who BC was, and Martin was just the guy from The Office and some other shows that were kind of unremarkable; most of the fandom was composed of old-school ACD Sherlockians and a few stragglers (like me) that got there from Doctor Who or were just general mystery/ thriller fans that got sucked in. We had a different perception of it because we weren't led into it by Star Trek or Hobbits or MCU; the characters didn't have that baggage attached for us. A lot of us already had a perception of Holmes and Watson as some shade of gay, so it was no great leap to see the very obvious romance (and yes, they all called it that in interviews at the time) onscreen as a romantic one. Martin, when asked, said basically that he'd play the next series (S2) however they wrote it, and if romance was there he'd go down that road. Whatever, I don't need to defend it because people think what they think anyway.

Anyway, getting back to the actual question instead of a million tangents and rants, I think I saw a lot of the things that have since become like backbone tropes of the pairing (even in canon, with the whole “alone, practical about death” thing). Their interactions in S2 were great; everything hinted at more than what was on-screen. And I really liked the idea of exploring the dynamic that was pretty much already there, as far as Molly having both a crush and self-respect and Sherlock suddenly having to rely on this person (that he picked because she was reliable to begin with) who's a friend, but also kind of a stranger in the way that a lot of the people we consider friends are (at least, friends made in adulthood; work-friends, church-friends, club-friends, gym-friends). Past that, I really saw the potential for character growth stemming from their interactions, but not like her humanizing him or whatever; both of them gaining insight about themselves, with the other person (and their relationship) as a vehicle for those realizations. I think I could have done better on that front, but hindsight blah blah.

satin_doll: How familiar were you with the Sherlock Holmes character before the BBC series aired, and what made you want to write about him?

sunken_standard: So I wasn't very familiar at all. Just what was in the general cultural lexicon, maybe a few episodes of the Granada series on PBS as a kid, a few of the stories that I just couldn't get into when I tried to read them because I hate Victorian prose (hate it, everything about it, I won't read anything written before 1920 or so because I just hate it [Wilde being the singular exception, but I even get bogged down by him]). Oh, and the RDJ movie, which wasn't really Sherlock Holmes to me, but just like a Victorian-era action movie. After S1, I just devoured canon (though, full disclosure, I still haven't read all of it, probably only about 80%), then moved on to other adaptations and canon-era fic and pastiches, read a bunch of extra-canon material on the internet. So as far as that goes, I'm very much a poseur and newbie in the greater Sherlock Holmes fandom. At least I did my research?

Anyway, it really took the modern adaptation and BC's performance to make the character resonate with me. The aspects he chose to play up—the frustration and impatience and frantic mental energy—just hit a nerve. He really channeled the “gifted” experience (which I suspect was just a lot of BC himself bleeding through). Finally I could use a fictional character to bemoan how stupid everyone around me was and sound like a complete asshole and be completely in-character! The heavens smiled upon me.

Really though, I was initially attracted to how cerebral it was and how smart the fandom was overall. It was the early fandom (and I mean early, like days after episode 1 aired) that drew me in, at least to a participatory (vs. consumptive) level. Lots of very clever, very educated, very queer people having these deep, insightful discussions about everything (sometimes only tangentially related to the show). When I did start writing, I didn't have to dumb anything down; the challenge was to sound smarter than I actually am. And, I mean, I got to dredge up a lot of my own emotional baggage from being a perpetual outsider, which is always cathartic (and probably not very healthy, long-term, because it's not resolving anything, just exploiting myself, but that's a can of worms).

satin_doll: Are you more drawn to Sherlock or Molly as a character, or both equally? Why?

sunken_standard: Sherlock, I think, for the reasons described in the last question.

I don't generally identify with female characters in fiction, since my own identification as female is tenuous (and in general they're poorly written and poorly realized, but that's another story). I mean, I can draw from my own experiences as a (mostly) female-shaped person with female socialization, but I have a hard time intuiting feminine and it's harder for me to write a “normal” woman.

Paraphrasing something I read in an interview with another fic author I admire, writing a woman is always a self-portrait, and how much of yourself do you really want to reveal? Since I don't know how to woman correctly, I'm always afraid I'm going to slip up and hit the wrong beat for what a normal woman is and end up ruining the characterization. I do manage to channel a lot of my own frustrations with men, relationships, being a single and childless woman over 30, and the patriarchy into Molly's character, though.

I mean, don't get me wrong, I really love Molly (and always have—I was one of the first to use her as a main character and not just a punching bag or a punchline). I love her sense of humor and her job and her fashion sense, all of it. She's not one-dimensional. It's just easier for me to write Sherlock than it is to make decisions about who Molly is.

satin_doll: You are “internet famous” for Longer Than the Road (rightfully so!) What about that story do you think is so affecting for fans? How has “Road” influenced subsequent work you’ve done in the Sherlolly ship?

sunken_standard: You know, I'm really not sure why it seems to resonate with people. Maybe the homesickness or the exhaustion that comes with impermanence (and I mean, we all feel that on an existential level, everything's always changing and it's faster every year, just existing is like trying to walk in an earthquake). Or the healing/ recovery aspect of it (I tried to balance both sides, the affected and the caregiver). Or maybe I just wrote it at the right time (when there wasn't much else out there) and people kept coming back to it because it was familiar.

As for how it's influenced subsequent work... I'm sure it has, but I don't know how, exactly. I still think it's the best thing I've ever written and the closest to something literary I'll ever get, so in a way it's an albatross (no one ever wants to be reminded that they already peaked). I get frustrated when my newer work doesn't live up to the standard I set for myself with it. That frustration doesn't make me a better writer, it just makes me tired, so everything I do now is paler.

One thing it did do was cement my characterizations of Sherlock and Molly and the dynamic between them. I tend to write them a certain way and don't deviate from that, and that all has roots in the push-pull, love-hate thing I established in Longer Than the Road. I can't write Molly without a degree of contempt for Sherlock and I can't write Sherlock without a degree of shame and contrition in his feelings toward Molly.

satin_doll: How does feedback affect what you write? How important is it? Is it more important that a reader “get” the point of the work or just that they like it? What kind of reader do you write for?

sunken_standard: I try not to let feedback affect my writing. I mean, I only get positive feedback, really, so it's a high. I'm not trying to brag or anything; I count myself lucky that I don't get the shit others do (though I honestly think anybody that posts on The Pit is opening themselves up to it because it's a garbage dump, but I've never liked the site, so). I try not to let it go to my head or anything though.

I also try not to let it influence the direction my writing takes; I might do a comment fic or write a silly HC or something, but I like to keep my substantial pieces pure, so to speak. Though sometimes a comment sparks something and a whole other fic grows out of it, so I fail there, I guess. Sometimes it's a lot of pressure when people say they want to see more of something, or want me to write a kind of specific scenario, so I usually just don't, and then I feel bad about not giving nice people what they want and it starts this whole weird spiral of guilt and obligation and then swinging the other way and getting (internally) belligerent over not owing anybody anything. I uh, have a complicated relationship with my work being acknowledged in any capacity.

As for people “getting” it... I don't know if they really do or not. Sometimes I get comments and I can tell they're definitely on my wavelength and they picked up on an allusion or a detail or just saw or felt everything in the scene like I did when I was laying it out. Once in a while I get a comment that has a different interpretation than what I was trying to get across, and that's really cool because it makes me re-examine my own work and see it from a different perspective (which I think makes me stronger for the next thing). It's really validating when someone “gets” it, but at the same time, I write to entertain other people (as well as myself), so as long as they like it, I feel accomplished.

It's cliché, but I write for an audience of one. I've tried to write outside my taste and it doesn't end well. Sometimes I write tropes that aren't my bag (like the Wiggins “the Missus” thing, or kidfic/ pregnancy), but it's kind of like a nod and wink to people who do like it, rather than outright pandering. At least, that's what I tell myself. Sometimes you need to try on every bra in your size, even the ones you know you hate, just to make sure you're getting the right one, y'know?

satin_doll: Do you think fanfic has changed since you began writing it? If so, how?

sunken_standard: Yeah, but I don't think it's a good or bad thing. And it depends on where you look and what you consume.

In the last like five years, Tumblr's purity culture has shamed a lot of kink back into the closet, I think, and people (in my fandoms, at least) aren't really writing on the edge. I see darkfic, but it's about as dark as the night sky over Hong Kong. I think people are afraid to go really dark anymore because they don't want the backlash from a generation fed on a diet of pink princesses and promise rings. And I think everyone's desire for happy-ending escapism has ratcheted up because the real world is shit and TV shows are all playing Russian roulette with surprise deaths to add drama (thanks, The Walking Dead, for making that element so ubiquitous that the rest of the mainstream picked it up and ran).

On the other hand, I'm not seeing near the amount of badfic as I used to. It was never as much of a problem on the old platforms and AO3 (compared to The Pit), but there were always some. I mean, there are still lots of turds out there, but they all seem a bit more polished these days. As far as the English goes, at least. Maybe my fandoms are just maturing.

I think people interact a lot differently now, too. This is going to kind of tie into the next question, but the types of feedback are different now and I think authors have changed what and how they produce to kind of chase the dragon of positive feedback. Like, when I started, most public archives (read: not just one author's own website with all their fic, like you found in webrings a lot)—both completely open and curated—had some way to submit comments and allowed author replies. There was really no other way to let an author know you liked their work. I mean, some sites tracked numbers for bookmarking features or hit counts, but those weren't as... active(? I guess), they weren't really participatory for the reader.

Then AO3 came along and started the kudos thing (which people still bitch about because they think they get fewer comments; like be happy you get anything, ya fuckin' ingrates). Kudos count became a de facto rating system, thanks to the sort feature. Whenever I start reading for a new fandom, I pick a pairing, pick a rating, and sort by kudos. Sure, popularity isn't the best way to find good fic, but in any decent-sized fandom you can assume that the stuff on the first page is going to be written to a minimum standard. Anyway, one of the ways to game the system a bit on kudos is to do a multichapter fic; I've seen works that are like 80+ 200-word chapters (don't get me started on omnibus fic across fandoms). They aren't the best fic by far, but they pick up kudos every chapter, often from guests that are just people not signed in or on a different device. I'm not knocking it, exactly, since it front-paged me for more than one fic. Part of me still feels like it's disingenuous, but I also recognize that I should pull the stick out of my ass. Anyway, the kudos count was kind of the death of the one-shot longfic (which, when I wrote Longer Than the Road, was a pretty common format).

And now, it seems like the Tumblr fic culture is writing ficlets (under 1k words) and posting without a beta (and I do it too). Fic consumption has become a social activity. Reblogs aren't always about one's personal taste, they're a social signal of group affiliation. If you don't reblog certain things, you're suspect and given a wide berth. Woe betide the poor fucker that crosses party lines and posts one of the verboten ships. And I mean, this isn't just one fandom, I've seen complaints about it from all corners—Supernatural, Star Wars, MCU, Steven Universe ffs. I think when you have predominantly female spaces, you're always going to have an element of Mean Girl culture, y'know? I'm probably going to get my fingernails pulled out for being misogynistic or some kind of -phobic for saying that.

Whatever. It's true that a kind of hive-mind develops and all kinds of tropes and HCs get repeated until they become fanon. I mean, that kind of thing's always happened, but the whole culture of Tumblr forces you to identify yourself and your group affiliation by what fanon you subscribe to, probably because it's harder to find your tribe without dedicated community spaces like LJ had. With Tumblr, you basically have to trawl tags until you find your echo chamber.

I'm old and I fear change.

Tumblr ain't all bad, though. It's very collaborative, kind of like the old-school round-robin fic people used to do. Authors and artists riff off each other and a lot of really cool stuff comes out of these casual collaborations. And I do like the prompt lists; I remember kinkmemes and prompting communities back on LJ, but it feels more off-the-cuff and spontaneous to just give someone a numbered list and let them roll the dice for you.

You know what else has changed? We're kind of in a new era of epistolary storytelling with memes and shitposts; stories emerge that aren't prose (though might contain a prose element). I mean, people did mixed-media epistolary in 2008, but it was a lot harder then (create graphic, hand-code into text piece, hand-code all the italics and bolding and font changes to denote various media types, if you're really a wizard add in-line text links to audio clips to add ambiance). It's a lot easier to add a new thing on each reblog now, like someone does a video, followed by a 3-panel comic sketch, followed by a ficlet, and then a gif, you get the idea. I like it; it's just a shame that it's so ephemeral. Maybe that's part of the charm, though.

satin_doll: You’ve talked a bit about your experience with LiveJournal in the “old days”; what other platforms have you used in the past? Which ones did you like best?

sunken_standard: I went into it a little in another question, but I first posted fic to A Teaspoon and an Open Mind (www.whofic.com). Honestly, I don't remember much about it. I'm not sure, but I don't think they had a richtext editor at the time (2008) and I had to hand-code some or all of it. I vaguely remember having to do HTML for italics and paragraphs. I know I had to do that on LJ sometimes because the formatting from whatever word processor I was using at the time did some hinky shit sometimes on a copy/paste.

Next came LiveJournal (and DreamWidth, but I really only used that to back up my old LJ blog). It wasn't better than Teaspoon, just different. Teaspoon is niche, only fanfic and only for one fandom (well, one universe of fandoms, really, with all the spin-offs), where LJ was all kinds of stuff under one roof—personal blogs, communities with various intents and levels of participation, fanfic, fanart, gossip blogs, you name it. I liked the friendslist view thing; it was like proto-Tumblr. And you could talk to people on the threads; even personal blogs were like a forum.

I joined AO3 in 2011, after waiting like six months for more invites to open up, but I didn't post anything there until 2012. I'm really happy with it as a platform for posting fic. I like the editor and I like the tags, ratings, and sort features. I never even considered posting to ff.net because I'm a snobby fucker (and they can blow me with their whole “adult content ban” that still continues to be selectively enforced). Anyway, I preferred having my fic on AO3 before I even left LJ, since I didn't have to split my stories into parts because of character limits.

And then Tumblr took over and I kind of hate it, since you can't have conversations anymore, it's like leaving passive-aggressive post-its and there's no editing something once it gets reblogged, so typos and bad links and all that are always there. And even when the original is deleted, the reblog keeps going, which I really hate from a creator's standpoint (though the archivist/ curator part of me likes it because it doesn't get lost in the ether [the recent purge notwithstanding] like so much of the early days of the web did). Tumblr's really bad for posting anything but ficlets and links to fic on other sites.

satin_doll: What would your ideal fanfic publishing platform be like?

sunken_standard: Honestly, AO3 is just about as close to ideal as I can think of. I just wish you could directly upload images instead of having to do code jiggery-pokery to link to something hosted elsewhere. I've tried a million times and followed all the tutorials in an attempt to add the cover art to Longer Than the Road (gifted to me by @thecollapseinwonderland), but it just never works. It shows on the preview, but not on the live version and it's frustrating because I'm computer literate, goddamnit. Anyway. And I mean, in an ideal world there would be better ways to find quality fic to my taste, but there's no real way to add a rating system (like 5-stars) independent of kudos without discouraging authors (and I mean the potential for abuse and bullying is just too great).

Additional reader questions from @ohaine:

Stylistically, Longer than the road is quite different from the other fics at the top of the AO3 Sherlolly ratings; stream of consciousness at the beginning, and the nested internal thoughts. How much of that was a deliberate departure, and how much was you just channelling the story as it came out of you?

sunken_standard: At the time I was really influenced by a Sherlock/ John fic (I can't remember the title or author, it was 7 years ago, but I feel bad about forgetting). It was originally on LJ and their journal was a lightish blue color and the font was small (if anybody remembers this... there was something with an EKG and I think something with shooting up blood as a romantic gesture?). It was Sherlock POV and the author had a really unique way of presenting internal monologue. Anyway, at that time there was a lot of experimental writing going on on the slash side of things, it was great. To be perfectly honest, I hadn't read a lot of Sherlolly fic at that time because what did exist (as far as happy-ending/ happy-for-now stories vs like darkfic/ angst) was really, really not to my taste (the exception being Sustain). So it was only deliberate in that—even when I wasn't being experimental—I didn't want to write Harlequin books.

I wish a story like that would just come out of me. I mean, to a degree it did, but doing the thoughts and sub-thoughts was work. I mean, I've always been a brackets-and-footnotes kind of person because I like reading it, but the way I did the thoughts was more like writing HTML than a regular rambling narrative.

I think I read recently (maybe on a blog post?) that Riders on the storm was the original inspiration for Longer than the road. Was the scene in the storm your starting point with the story, or where did you begin?

sunken_standard: That was the first scene I wrote; at that time I had a really nebulous idea of the story. The imagery was really clear in my head, though the very earliest concept took place in the desert—the classic American image of the road going on forever and rusty sands and the heatwaves rising up off the asphalt. I'm not sure how it morphed into North Dakota, I might have seen a picture of lightning over the plains or something.

So after S2 aired, I just kind of sat and chewed it over for a month before any really strong ideas emerged for a story. I had to find the internal logic for the kind of plot I wanted to write—namely, them on the lam together. Making Sherlock have a breakdown seemed pretty natural at the time; in ACD canon (and many, many pastiches) he was always having them and going off to the country to recuperate. But he was supposed to be dead and he was all over the tabloids, so it's not like he could just move to some sleepy little village and hope no one recognized him.

I thought about sending him to Europe, using the places ACD Holmes went after Reichenbach (and I did start more than one with them in Florence, a few incarnations of which were Molly/ Irene wanklock PWPs, I actually think one of the Rusty Beds stories came from that, but I digress). The only problem with Europe is the language barrier; I thought it was too convenient to make Molly fluent in another language (she might have some conversational Spanish from a holiday or something, but that's it), so I had to make them go somewhere where English was common enough. I also didn't want them too far from the UK; I wanted Sherlock to be able to get on a plane and be back within half a day (I realize this isn't the reality of flying, but deus ex Mycroft, so). So Asia, Australia/ NZ, and even South Africa were out, leaving Canada, the US, or parts of the Caribbean. I didn't want them to by happy, so they didn't go to the Caribbean. Canada's great, but it's too nice and they also don't have deserts. America it was; it also really added some background tension because I think a lot of non-USians have a love-hate with us. Movies are okay, music too, and of course the tech and consumer innovations, but everything else is garbage and we're all just rude, ignorant, obese Yosemite Sams. For someone like Sherlock, I think the US is the last place he'd want to go (even though canon ACD Holmes was really into America). And I mean, write what you know, so that was that sorted.

Once I got them here I needed them to do something; I wanted to tell a very intimate story, and that would be boring if they were just living in a 2BR cape cod in Jersey. And I mean, what city would really suit Sherlock? Where could he have a life that wasn't London? Anyway, the inside of a car is just about as intimate as two people can get, and the greatest tradition in American literature and film is the road trip, and that was when I knew I had a solid foundation for a story. After that, it just kind of flowed as I planned the route.

Perfect, not perfect-perfect is a beautiful, brave piece that I think has a real air of authenticity to it. It was a very tough read, purely because of the journey the characters are on, and I wondered how difficult it was for you to write? Was it catharsis or an emotional black hole?

sunken_standard: You know, I'm not really sure if it was either catharsis or black hole. A lot of the particulars and even the emotional places in that story aren't mine, but an amalgam of some other friends' experiences with polyamory. My own experience with it was pretty shit and pretty unremarkable, but I learned a lot about the human heart and how some people can lie to themselves because they can't let go of their ideals and their identities (I'm also still a little bitter), but that's got nothing to do with the price of tea in China, so moving on.

Since a lot of those experiences weren't mine, it wasn't raw, so it wasn't very hard on me, personally. I think I wrote it in like three days? I don't think I wanted it to be a slog, so that's why it's in present tense and very sparse and matter-of-fact. Dispassionate, even. There are times when I'm writing really emotional stuff that I'm disconnected from it (which is a fuckin' mercy, because most of the time I'm right there going through it, over and over for days sometimes until I get the scene right and can move on to the next thing), and this was one of those times. I was writing this alongside the Girlfriend series, so there was some overlap there; I'd already done the emotional labor for everything up to Mary's death and I was thinking of different angles of approach for later installments of the series.

The most “me” part of it is near the beginning, writing my way around the bisexual experience from someone else's point of view. I don't have a lot in common with any of the characters; they're a higher social class, urban, products of a more liberal culture, yada yada, but there are some things that are just kind of universal and misunderstood about bisexuals, the stereotypes that we have to contend with and end up internalizing.

Oh, and the perpetual alienation is all me, too. Molly's feelings of being left behind are mine, how I felt every time friendships drifted apart or when female friends got married and then had kids. So a lot of the fatalism and insecurity are me projecting how I would feel or react. I kind of like depressed Molly, more than the perpetual ray of sunshine/ cinnamon roll at least.

*********

Many thanks to sunken_standard for taking the time to answer these questions!

And many thanks and much love to OhAine for all her hard work putting this project together! It’s been fun and enlightening!

Next week, Friday 29th March, it’s the turn of @ellis-hendricks and @geekmama

#content creator interviews #sherlolly #Sherlock #ashockinglackofsatin #sunken_standard

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janiedean · 5 years

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Ok I need to know your thoughts about this Green Book mess

... pray for me anon XD

anyway, never mind that my general thought is that I’m really sad the mule didn’t compete this round because then it’d have deserved all the awards hands down........

tldr: the fact that people are outraged is the proof that tumblr at large can’t recognize classism when it hits you in the face.

in longer words: 95% of the hot takes I’m reading are Patently False And It Shoes People Haven’t Seen That Movie.

in much longer words: counting that I haven’t seen all the nominees but I did see both blakkk/lansman (which from now will be BKKK) and blackpanther and green book (and borap but that one wasn’t gonna win best movie anyway so) and I guess that is where the crux is, so, in order.

bkkk was obviously the best movie of the lot quality speaking. in an ideal world, it would have one. except that bkkk is a movie that’s heavily political and if y’all think that the oscars would give a prize to the heavily political movie that directly criticizes the administration in power then y’all missed the part where that’s not what happens at the oscars. last time it happened it was 1978 and the deer hunter won and I still don’t know wtf was the jury’s state of grace at that point, but in 1980 they had apocalypse now in the list and kramer vs kramer won. like. guys. if you have APOCALYPSE NOW on the list and anything else wins in the major categories then you’re a joke. and tbh it surprises me that spike l/ee is still hoping he might snag a major win that’s not for screenplay with these parameters - they’re not gonna go there. hasn’t happened since ‘78. come on;

bp was not a best movie flick. like, guys: it’s not even the best mcu film around as far as I’m concerned and while it most likely deserved the technical awards..... seriously? like. if neither GB nor bkkk won then any other movie on the list had better shots than bp. I can’t even think people seriously assume it was best movie material or ON PAR WITH BKKK as in, ‘if bkkk doesn’t win then THAT ONE should have won’. like, no;

now: green book was a *safe* pick in the sense that it wasn’t as heavy-handed as bkkk when it came to be political so it was the perfect choice if they wanted to go like ‘oh hey see we gave the award to the movie about racism without giving it to the one raising the middle finger to donald trump’, but differently from moon/light (which according to me was the most political political win of the last ten years like guys sorry that movie was nowhere near as good as people said back then and I found it incredibly overrated, and before you tell me that it’s because I didn’t understand it: exactly the point. the wire is one of my fave shows ever and it tacked all the things moon/light tried to except that it did it vastly better and I actually got it for how well it was written, moon/light completely failed in that sense and I’m glad if it was a good movie for the people it was directed to but it didn’t engage beyond that target imvho but never mind that) it actually tackled very well a series of issues I never see discussed in US cinema when it comes to *racism-themed* movies and I thought it was a really well-made movie that nailed a lot of things especially when it came to how classism and racism interject themselves in the discourse and how you don’t get out of discarding one of them so easily.

specifically, with SPOILERS FROM THE MOVIE under the cut SO GO AHEAD AT WILL OR NOT:

now: all the posts ‘this is the usual movie about the white guy who gets the black friend’ already are obviously from people who haven’t seen it because they missed the basic point, as in: that the white guy is poor and uneducated and isn’t *racist* because he’s a terrible person, he is out of ignorance and not knowing any better BUT at the same time he’s not so narrow-minded that he doesn’t have fairly forward opinions on other -isms (see THAT REVEAL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MOVIE after which he goes like ‘I’ve been a bouncer in most of new york’s night clubs do you think I mind that thing’ which is a thing the audience wouldn’t have thought since italian-american men from the 50s/60s notoriously came from a fairly -PHOBIC culture in that specific sense), and that the guy being italian-american ie a *white* category that back then did not have *white privilege* put him in a lower class position than the black guy;

on the other side, it was spelled that the black guy’s issue was the contrary in the sense that he’s rich, he’s cultured, he speaks five languages, he’s not a stereotype and since people want stereotypes or expect them, he can’t seem to please either side and feels alienated from both, which I think is a discourse that should be way more relevant in a website where people talk all the time about people of color not being stereotypes and so on;

like the entire fucking point of that movie is that white guy overcomes his racism unlearning his ignorance and black guy has a few realizations about how classism works and reconnects with his heritage throughout the entire thing;

and the fact that it was the black guy explaining the white guy how to write the poetic love letters without grammar mistakes and got him to appreciate finer things in life while the white guy helped him get down to earth (which he plot-wise definitely needed - he was unhappy af before XD) *and* at the same time the movie never fucking forgot that skin color > money when it comes to systematical racism in the south (ie the scene where they get stopped by the southern policeman and white guy punches him bc he basically told him that being italian-american was being half-the-n-word and black guy tells him ‘yeah well I handled that my entire life you could deal with it once’ was FAIRLY DAMNED OBVIOUS even if it also showed that it’s Not How Things Should Go) was imvo a very good narrative choice/balancing;

also, I was really appreciating that scene where don asks tony (a guy who has no idea who orpheus is and thinks orpheus and eurydice is about orphans) to shorten his name because vallelunga is too difficult to pronounce and tony’s like ‘if the people you play for are so cultured they can learn to pronounce my name properly’ because like guys that’s a thing that happens with all non-anglophone names and seeing it come from someone who hasn’t had an education but doesn’t want to be *made better* because that doesn’t make them unworthy and then only accepts help when he wants it and doesn’t come from a position of ‘you need to look more presentable’ but from ‘I want to make your life better’ was really fucking nice excuse me, because it *did* make a point about how not being formally educated means that people are considered lesser when they shouldn’t have to fight for it, and I thought that the class-switch in there was a really great idea;

anyway nvm my specific opinions about specific scenes, the point is: green book is not heavy-handed and admittedly is a lot more sugary than BKKK and has the feel-good ending that makes it palatable for easy wins, but the content is fucking everything but sugary or devoid of discussing Serious Issues that I almost never see tackled in this kind of US movie and if people actually wanted to watch a movie that sees the subject counting that class relations exist, that some -isms are culturally learned and can be overcome, that money counts when we’re discussing how people are treated in the US, the *earned whiteness* concept (because tony is *white* but hasn’t *earned whiteness* and it’s plenty damned obvious) and that class relations are not automatically clear-cut *especially in the US* then green book is an absolutely valid choice. and like...... it wasn’t white saviorism in the sense that WHITE GUY GETS REDEEMED AND BECOMES UN-RACIST, it’s about two people growing and learning from each other and the fact that tony’s racism is tied to a) upbringing while being poor b) not literally knowing any better but that it doesn’t really take that much for him to see that his opinions are wrong when usually it’s poor black person vs rich white person, and actually that’s why I thought calling it reverse driving miss daisy was reaaaally not getting the point, so if people actually saw the damned movie before deciding it’s terrible that’d be nice;

I also think sp/ike lee was beyond rude in his, er, reactions to GB’s win, but then again... listen guys I love the man’s movies but since that time he went like ‘clint eastwood can’t make movies about charlie parker’ (??) and dismissed the italian partisans’s associations complains about what he did in miracle in st. anna (a movie I did actually really like but they were right about him villainizing the resistence when he could have not) with basically I DON’T CARE THAT YOU MIGHT HAVE ISSUES WITH HOW I, AN AMERICAN, DEPICTED A FAIRLY IMPORTANT PIECE OF ITALIAN HISTORY... like he needs to chill and to realize that there’s a thing called losing with grace and he’s not doing it.

tldr: bkkk imvo deserved to win way more and tbqh if I was spike I’d complain about bp having gotten more awards than his movie when bp really is the safest choice ever if we wanna talk about politics win, and I can agree that GB was a political choice, but it was not a bad political choice nor a racist one and actually it raised a lot of issues that I’d like to see explored more in movies because they usually aren’t. on top of that I thought mahershala ali’s performance in gb was fucking stellar and definitely was miles better than his part in moonlight (but like... bc he was in moonlight for TWENTY MINUTES, he was co-lead here) and I’m honestly baffled that when he won for moonlight there were gifsets everywhere and here there aren’t when this role was WAY better and more nuanced and with more to chew, never mind that again, he deserved it just for the speech under the rain I was discussing before. but like..... of course we’re all ignoring it??

also: I’m really laughing that tumblr as a whole is crying about GB winning when until two days ago bkkk was the worst thing ever because adam dr/iver starred in it and OMG OF COURSE HE WAS CHOSEN TO PLAY THE KKK MEMBER BECAUSE HE REALLY IS RACIST [lmao as if spike l/ee would work with a really racist person] and no one on this website gave a single fuck about it when it came out except for adam dr/iver fan blogs but now everyone is like OMG WHY DIDN’T BKKK WIN???!!!!! like guys you didn’t care about BKKK until a day ago and now I’m supposed to think you were rooting for it all along? when you all hated it because omg how dare they cast ky/lo ren in something where he’s not a bad guy? like we serious? come the fuck on, no one on here cared. and the fact that if blackpanther had won no one would say BKKK not winning = UTTERMOST CRIME just says all about how a film’s quality is judged around here. bye, I said my piece.

#1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #k i said i was gonna shut up but #fuck all i'm really tired of seeing people dissing gb without having seen it #bye #Anonymous #ask post

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bard-dadsquared · 5 years

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So im gonna write a thing based on a campaign im playing. You’ll have to bear with me because im proof reading my own stuff and I obviously won’t catch anything.

This is the revised rough draft, so if you see any mistakes please let me know via comment, ask, or direct message.

Errors such as: punctuation (I’m good at run ons), spelling, and grammar.

You can also let me know if something doesn’t fit well and suggest edits. I am considering making an account on a writing platform (since tumblrs formatting is... weird and I’m on mobile currently) I’d like to post a better final draft here. But since it’s tumblr y’all get a once revised rough draft of what I’m doing.

#blue.txt #aaaaaa im excited and nervous #mught have a few drawings to go with it.

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meaty4spicedbuns · 2 years

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Do you by any chance proof read your works? Cause i see a lot of wrong spellings and Grammar issues

Hi, thank you for reaching! Yes, I make lot of mistake. English isn't my native langage, and I'm often writing when I got time (mostly in a rush in the morning). Which might lead to some stupid mistakes, yes.

But I will not do proof reading for the only reason I'm switching ideas most of the time, I'm working on multiple project too (got 8 writing began in my tumblr's fines), I'm post-planning since I'm too busy to connect often on Tumblr and forgot to post, and I'm too shy to share anyway

And it's ironical because I'm writing on Tumblr mostly to get better with my writing skills ; which I saw getting better with time anyway. I'm using app and website to translate words and I'm learning. So I think I will be fine.

Still, I hope my grammatical mistakes will became less present and that it will not get anybody out of the story you are reading! I enjoy any like and reblog I get and will never be thankfull enough to see even one person liking my work! But if you can't stand mistakes, I'm sorry I'm doing my best but in not perfect yet

Basically, thank you for proposing, but it will be a not for me

Have a nice day tho! ✨

#Meaty4spicedbuns ask #jjk fanfic #writer on tumblr #answered ask

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shakingthestars · 7 years

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To the Antis who “hate Reylo”: Disney/LF will teach us that love (of all kind) is the answer to hate

I. Why “Reylo hate” is non sense in the context of a Disney fairytale

I must admit that until very recently I hadn't realized how much some part of the fandom is so strongly against Reylo and against Kylo's redemption in general. I never really got interested in knowing how other people than openly Reylos see Kylo Ren and his relationship with Rey. But since the release of the trailer, I became interested in people's opinion and I find it incredible to see on tumblr so many people stating "I hate Reylo" as if hate was the proper answer to their frustration regarding where the story is headed. If I could do one thing to prove you that hating Reylo ain't a proper answer, I would recommend you to read this wonderful post by @acekyloren:

Anakin, Luke, Rey, Kylo Ren & Balancing the Force: Why Love is the Answer, Not Hate http://acekyloren.tumblr.com/post/166633462695/anakin-luke-rey-kylo-ren-balancing-the-force Seriously, I consider this is the best post I have ever read in the fandom until now because this is exactly the lesson that we - Reylo, Antis, GA - wil be teached by Disney/LF with the ST. Until now, the idea was that the LS and the DS were incompatible and thus balancing the Force for the Jedi meant any trace of the DS. War was always the answer to that mutual "hate" between the LS and the DS.Visceral Antis fail to see that for the time in the main SW franchise, we have two people caught in the middle of this eternal war beteen the DSand the LS like Romeo and Juliet caught in the middle of the war between their families or Tony and Maria from WSS caught in the middle of the war between their clans.

What do visceral Antis want by hating Reylo: that Kylo and Rey kill each other and this eternal war keep going? That Kylo and Rey end up as star-crossed lovers victims of this eternal war?

No way that things end up like this because the ST is a Disney fairytale. And what do Disney fairytale teach the GA?

That love of all kind is always the answer to war:

1) Pocahontas

Pocahontas: "Look around you! This is where the path of hatred have brought us! [Love] is the path I choose"

Pohatam"My daughter speaks with the wisdom of hundred years. We've all come here with anger in our heart! She comes with courage and understanding"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dNqclpMBwQ

2) Lion King 2

Kiara: "A wise king once told me "we are one". I didn't understand? Now, I do!"

Simba: "But they..."

Kiara: "Them? Us! Look at them! They are us! What difference do you see?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRJdmSsXvT

3) TLJ teaser

Luke: "What do you see?" Rey: "Light [Rey’s theme in the background]...Darkness [Kylo’sthemein the background]...A balance..." Luke: "It's so much bigger!"

In a Disney fairytale, love, compassion and understanding is always the answer to the eternal war between the Dark side and the Light side. And Disney/LF will teach us this lesson with the ST.

II. Not convinced that Star Wars is a Disney fairytale?

J.J. Abrams: “You’re going to have a castle, a Prince and a Princess if you look at a fairytale “

There are always three key characters in a Disney fairytale:

- A villain

- A Princess

- A Prince

In a Disney fairytale, the villain is generally a old manipulative mother/father figure who targets a Princess from birth with an evil purpose and achieves her evil plan no matter how the royal family tries to protect her. The villain uses manipulation/trick to make the Princess fall in a trap or keep her under his grip.

Guess who is the Prince(ss) targeted from birth by a manipulative villain?

Not convinced?

From the TFA novelization:

He met her eyes steadily. “We’ve lost our son, forever.”

Leia bit her lower lip, refusing to concede. “No. It was Snoke.”

Han drew back slightly. “Snoke ?”

She nodded. “He knew our child would be strong with the Force. That he was born with equal potential for good or evil.”

[...]

He had trouble believing what he was hearing. “So Snoke was watching our son.”

“Always,” she told him. “From the shadows, in the beginning, even before I realized what was happening, he was manipulating everything, pulling our son toward the dark side.

Doesn’t that remind you of a Disney fairytale ?

A Princess cursed from birth by an evil witch, sent away by her family to protect her and falling into her trap despite all attempts to protect her ?

Merryweather: “ Sweet princess, if through this wicked witch's trick, a spindle should your finger prick... a ray of hope there still may be in this, the gift I give to thee. Not in death, but just in sleep, the fateful prophecy you'll keep. And from this slumber you shall wake, when true love's kiss, the spell shall break.

Once you understand that in that story Snoke is actually the real vilain, Kylo is actually the Princess who nees to be saved from the “spell” and Rey the Prince who represents the ray of hope , things become more clearer. Then, you understand that Kylo may not be the villain you though he is. He is actually some dark version of Princess Aurora.

Not convinced?

Han to Ben: “Snoke is using you for your power. When he gets what he wants, he’ll crush you!”

Earlier in the movie...

Admiral Ackbar: How is it possible to power a weapon of this size (= Snoke)?

Finn: It uses the power of the sun (= Ben). As the weapon is charged, the sun is drained until it disappears.

In which fairytale did we see that?

Rapunzel to Gothel: “I’ve spent my entire life hiding from people who would use me for my power when I should have been hiding from you”

In Tangled: a story of a Princess targeted by a witch named Mother Gothel because her hair have healing power coming from the Sun. For which purpose? To maintain herself young forever!

The relationship between Gothel and Rapunzel is based is an intimate and exclusive mother/daughter relationship based on manipulation.

In TFA novelization:

When next Snoke spoke, there was an intimacy in his voice, a familiary that stood in sharp contrast with the commanding tone he hadused with Hux:

“I have never had a student with such promise - before you. The finest sculptor cannot fashion a masterpiece from poor materials. He must have something pure, something strong, something unbreakable, with which to work. I have - you.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeoVFSCzlSY

Call me crazy folks! But I think that the real love triangle isn’t between Kylo/Rey/Finn but between Snoke/Kylo/Rey because Rey is the ray of hope who represents a threat for whatever evil plan Snoke intends to achieve with Ben.You don’t spend 30 years fashioning a masterpiece just for a random reason. Whatever Snoke’s reasons are, he certainly has creepy intentions

And by the way, alot of people consider the interrogation scene as the proof that Reylo is an abusive ship. May I point these parallels:

Friendly reminder that this is how the relationship between the two characters evolved:

Still not convinced that Ben is the Prince(ss) targeted by the evil villain in that story ?

Lor San Tekka (about Princess Leia): “Oh! The General! To me, she is royalty!“

Poe Dameron: “Yes! She certainly is!”

“Once upon a time, in deep winter, a queen was admiring the falling snow, when she saw a rose blooming in defiance of the cold. Reaching for it she pricked her finger and three drops of blood fell.

And because the red seemed so alive against the white she thought, "If only I had a child as white as snow, lips as red as blood, hair as black as a raven's wings, and all with the strength of that rose."

Soon after a daughter was born to the queen and was named Snow White”

Wasn’t Snow White also targeted by Evil Queen who gave her a poisoned apple?

Another parallel to prove that Snoke is the evil villain manipulating/hypnotizing the cursed Prince(ss):

One last thing for those who think that Kylo won’t be redeemed because of the patricide:

Which Disney fairytale was based on Hamlet?

Bonus:

Scar: “Tell them who is responsible for Mufasa’s death?”

Simba: “I am...”

Scar : “You see! He admits it! Murderer!“

Simba: “No! It was an accident [...] I am no murderer!”

Later...

Scar: “Here is my little secret! I killed Mufasa!”

In Disney fairytales, the villain and his evil purpose are always introduced to the GA at the beginning so that there can’t be any mistake. Had J.J.Abrams kept these lines from the TFA novel in the movie and showed more evidences that Snoke is a SW version of Maleficient, Gothel, Evil Queen, Scar or Frollo, the GA would have certainly interpreted both the interrogation scene and the patricide scene differently

Until now, Snoke’s purpose remain unclear and it is clear that he hasn’t achieved yet what he intends to do with Ben . To me, it is absolutely clear that he wants something specific from Ben. He has been working with this “pure, strong unbreakable, material “ for 30 years in order to achieve a masterpiece. And we know that he is interested in Ben’s power made from both the DS and the LS.

You really want the last and only Skywalker heir to pay for his crime and die unredeemed ? Fine! May your wish come true, maybe sooner than you expect because nothing can prevent a Disney villain from achieving his evil plan. If Snoke really wants something from Ben related to his raw power, nothing will prevent him from achieving his evil purpose despite all attempts. Since TLJ is the middle film of the trilogy, the lowest point shall logically happen there. And if you want my opinion, I think that Han’s line may be a foreshadowing for what could potentially happen to Ben by the end of TLJ.

Han : Snoke is using you for your power. When he gets what he wants, he’ll crush you!

What does it means if this happens ?

That Leia who begun her life losing her mother would end her life losing her only son, who by the way share some parallels with his Grandma, not only with his Grandpa

III. Not convinced that Rey represents a “ray of hope” for the Skywalker family?

J.J. Abrams: “In this scene, [Rey] is drawn to this place like Cinderella”

So Rey is set up as a Disney Princess. A lot of people think that her heroin’s consist in finding her family and that her family are the Skywalker. Since she is the heroine, she should be either Luke’s or Leia’s daughter, right?

If there is one single dialogue to pay attention in regard to Rey’s origins, it is the dialogue she has with Maz Kanata after she found the Skywalker lightsaber.

The whole dialogue hands on a plate her storyarc:

Maz: “Dear child! I see your eyes! You already know the truth! Whomever (her family) you’re waiting for on Jakku, they’re never coming back”

Who is Rey is waiting for on Jakku? Her birth family! And they never ever coming back for Force’s sake, which mean that she will never ever see them again because they’re most probably dead. If not, why does Maz seems so sorry for her and Rey end up crying like this?

And what did J.J. said about this?

J.J. Abrams: “Rey’s parents are not in TFA!“

Maz: The belonging (family) you seek is not behind (past) you! It is ahead (future)!

What is the belonging Rey seeks? Her family!

And here comes my point : why do people keep believing that family refers automatically to birth family and not future family ?

If Rey’s birth family is dead, how the fuck is she supposed to find the belonging she seeks?

Because the point of the most important part of her character’s journey isn’t to be reunited with her belonging behind but to find her belonging ahead

In other words, she may not have the opportunity to reunite with her birth family but she can still find a future family.

Who is the main family in the SW franchise?

Some people have problem with the heroin not being a Skywalker: Who told us that the heroine should be a Skywalker by birth ? In real life, your family is where you come from (birth family) but also where you go (future family). And indeed, you become part of your stepfamily by finding a belonging in your partner.So if the Skywalkers aren’t Rey’s birth family, they can still become her step family.

Maz: “Whomever you’re waiting for on Jakku, they’re never coming back but there is someone who still could. The belonging you seek is not behind you. It is ahead”

So if I follow the reasoning that whomever is referring to Rey’s birth family, then the someone Maz is referring isn’t part of her birth family. And that someone is the belonging she that will allow her to find a family but not the way she expected

Make what you want from this dear Antis but I doubt that such a young girl like Rey would find in Luke the belonging that will allow her to become part of the Skywalker family.

Maz: “Dear child [...]I am no Jedi but I know the Force! It moves through and surrounds every living thing. Close your eyes! Feel it! The light! It’s always been there! It will guide you! The saber, take it!

This piece of dialogue reminds of this dialogue in a Disney fairytale:

Pocahontas: But Grandmother Willow, what is my path ? How am I gonna find it?

Grandmother Willow: All around you are spirits, child! They live in the earth, in the water, in the stones! If you listen, they will guide you! [...]

Later...

Pocahontas: “[The wind] says something is coming! Strange clouds?

Grandmother Willow: What do you see?

Pocahontas: Clouds! Strange clouds...

You will tell me. Rey is a Skywalker since the Skywalker lightsaber calls to her in Maz’s castle and in the forest

Allright! Then I am coming with this answer!

Maz: “That lightsaber was Luke’s..and his father before him! “

And once again, here an interesting parallel with the Disney fairytale Pocahontas:

Pocahontas: “I have been having a dream [...] I am running into the woods! In front of me there is a arrow! It starts to spin! It spin faster, faster and faster until it stops

Grandmother Willow: “Seems to me that this spinning arrow is pointing down to your path! “

Later...

Pocahontas: “Spinning arrow...

Grandmother Willow: “It is the arrow from your dream!”

Pocahontas: “I was right! It was pointing to him! “

Friendly reminder that the compass belongs to John Smith. You will tell me: but in Pocahontas 2, Pocahontas fall in love with another man!

It dooesn’t matter. J.J. also refers to Rey as Cinderella and the same scheme applies very well.

Cinderella running away from the castle without her shoe vs. Rey running away from the castle without the Skywalker lightsaber

One last thing from the canon serie Clone Wars:

Anakin to Padme: “To me, there is nothing more important than the way I feel about you [...] You don’t believe me? I’ll prove it [...] When I finished constructing my lightsaber, Obi-Wan said to me “Anakin! This weapon is your life!”This weapon is my life! [...] It is yours! Believe me now?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJX7T1BAV7M

IV. Still a doubt about the identity of the Prince?

J.J. Abrams about the unmasking :

“You see Adam Driver and he looks like a Prince”

J.J. Abrams about Kylo and Rey’s meeting:

“ And this moment where she is about to, for the first time, be confronted by Kylo Ren, a character who she’s going to have a very interesting relationship with moving forward. […]

Both J.J. Abrams and Rian Johnson refer to Kylo and Rey as “two disparate pieces coming together” and “two halves of the Dark and the Light”.

Rey: “I need someone to show me my place in all of this”

Kylo: I can show you the ways of the Force!

J. J Abrams: “So there was a very powerful idea that what she desperately wanted was belonging (=family) , which she’ll get, but just not how she expects.”

Make what you want from this but I have never seen a Disney fairytale in which the Prince and the Princess are siblings or cousins for Force’s sake! Once you understand that Snoke has the role of the villain, Kylo of the “Princess” and Rey of the “Prince”, things become clearer.

So to all of us - especially the Anti who "hate Reylo" - I hope LF/Disney will teach us the lesson with the ST that love of all kinds not hate are the answer. And obviously, this lesson is needed given how the war and hate between the different Star Wars ships has been going for two years. Ship whatever you want and respect the others

#reylo #anti-reylo #kylo ren #rey #star wars

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