#i also don't really want to be a professional writer someday | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

theliteraryarchitect · 22 days

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Hi! I wanted to say, I read that you are a professional editor, and think it's amazing! You also give very logical and well explained advice. I was wondering; would you say being an editor is a job you can support yourself with? I actually aspire to become one someday, but I'm not exactly sure if it's a good plan.

Thank you for your time, and I hope you have a good day/night

Hey there. Great question. It's totally possible to support yourself as an editor. I've done it, and so have other editors I know. However there are a few important things to consider before choosing editing as a career path.

Your chances of being a self-employed freelancer are extremely high. The number of in-house editing jobs in publishing are low and getting lower. While being self employed can give you a certain amount of flexibility, it also comes along with a lot of hustle and hassle, namely fluctuating income, a stupid amount of confusing tax paperwork, and the need to constantly promote yourself to clients in order to maintain steady work.

You probably won't make as much money as you'd think. Editing is one of the many skilled jobs that suffers from market saturation, which has sadly driven down the price the average client is willing to pay for editing services. I can't tell you the number of overqualified editors I know charging barely more than minimum wage for their work. Personally I've stuck to my guns about charging what I'm worth, but I've sometimes suffered by not having as much work as my colleagues who charge less.

Robots have already chipped away at the future of editing as a human occupation, and will continue to do so at exponential speed in the years ahead. They will never obliterate the job completely, as there will always be humans who prefer to work with humans instead of machines. But the outlook will become ever bleaker as more humans compete for fewer gigs, which in turn will drive down prices even further.

If you are also a writer, editing may adversely affect your writing. I don't mean that you'll become a worse writer, quite the opposite. My editing work has brought new depths to my writing, and I'm grateful for all I've learned by working with my clients. However, editing takes time, uses creative energy, and requires staring at a screen (or paper), and personally the more I edit, the less time/creativity/screen-staring capabilities I have left for my own writing.

If you mention you're an editor, someone will troll your post for a typo, grammatical error, or misused word, and then triumphantly point it out to you in the comments. This is mostly a joke. But it does happen every single time.

I hope this hasn't been too discouraging. If you feel a true passion for editing and really enjoy the work, none of the above should dissuade you. However, if you think you might be happy in any number of occupations, I'd honestly advise you to explore other options. Choosing a career path at this point in history is a gamble no matter what, but the outlook for editors is especially grim.

If you'd like to work with writers and aren't attached to being an editor, there are a few jobs (still freelance) that I believe will survive the coming robot apocalypse. Do a little Google research about "book coaches," "writing coaches," or "book doulas." These are people who act primarily as emotional supporters and logistical helpers for writers who are trying to get their book published or self published. Some of them do actual editing, but many do not, and due to the therapeutic nature of their work I believe they will flourish longer than editors in the coming robot apocalypse.

If you do explore editing as a path, the further away you can lean from spelling and grammar (e.g. proofreader or copyeditor), the longer your skills will be useful when competing with robots. AI still struggles to offer the same kind of nuanced, story-level feedback that a human can give. (Speaking from experience here--I'm a developmental editor and have yet to see a dent in my workload because of robots.) They'll catch up eventually, but it could be a while, and as long as there are human readers, there will always be humans who are willing to pay for a human perspective on their writing. Human spell checkers maybe not so much.

Hope this helps!

#writeblr #asks #op #editing

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queer-crusader · 8 months

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

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

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

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

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

#anne speaks #ao3 #fandom

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glxyqst · 9 months

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Tagged by @winter-seabass <3 Tagging: @arcanehackist @temporary-enthusiasm @hauntedoneao3 @spensual @liamfaoisidhe and anyone else. <3

Blank template under the cut. <3

My caveats: - Had an "OId" Account (FF.net, Livejournal) - Yes, and I still do; however, I did not write or post fanfiction. - Love Researching Before Writing - I will definitely research, but only at the point which I need to, aka as I'm writing. I wouldn't say I love it, but I definitely deem it necessary. - Keeps an Outline for Writing - Not REALLY. My BB fic has an outline which I have been (loosely) following, but most of my pieces are shorter and I know where I'm going. - Editing and Formatting Before Posting is Hell - I edit and format as I write, which puts me at writing 5-6wpm on average (even though I type quickly and accurately otherwise). I will also re-read after posting and edit further as necessary. - Has Written While Drunk at Least Once - I don't recall if I've written drunk? Maybe? Definitely high, though. Definitely high. - Wants to be a Professional Writer Someday - While I don't know if I want to write for money, I definitely would like to receive money for writing (two completely different things XD); I also would prefer a job that I could write while doing working.

#dbh #dbh fanfic #detroit:become human #bingo #fanfic writer #fanfic writer bingo

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autumnslance · 11 months

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Writing To Yourself

(Mileage may vary, I'm not your mom nor your teacher--unless you're working for a specific state healthcare service, anyway.)

That's how you garden. Tend the plot. Plant a million seeds, reap a thousand blooms. The rest? Compost for the next crop. -@biot08 / @driftward

During a Discord convo, I thought about why so many fandom writers catch “writer’s block”, and some of it goes back to self-care and taking in new media, getting inspiration and knowledge, covered in this post. But much of it?

People think everything they create has to be publishable for others’ consumption. That is Not True. Too often we don't want to write things just for the sake of writing them, falling into the trap of thinking it needs to be perfectly polished and shared, but No It Really Doesn't.

Folks talk about “writing for oneself” but in terms of posting finished pieces of the kinds they want to see. If everything feels like it “has to be” publishable, it can start to put too much pressure on oneself. And then there’s your block, especially if the type to worry about how others Perceive you and your art.

Try simply writing anything and deciding later if it's something you want to share. I have pieces I wrote cuz my brain suddenly said it wanted to, but that writing isn't posted anywhere. Usually it’s random lines; out of context sentences, scenes, or bits of dialogue. Sometimes just incoherent character rambling. Ideas for situations and what ifs. Misspelled, typos, not grammatical, redundant wording, passive voice, bad POV, too many adverbs, not enough active verbs, not enough description, too much description, etc. All in notebooks or doc files. I’ve shared the (now out-dated) deep nests of my WIPs folders and the multiple, unfinished, unpolished pieces within them. Most will never be completed nor seen by the public.

For instance, I've a random smut fic of a Highlander Warrior of Light and the popular antagonist of Shadowbringers. I'm not usually a villain liker, but one day it hit my brain, so I wrote it. I have notes and outlines for the rest of their story and how it plays out, though I'll probably never write more. I scratched the writing itch, stretched some skills, considered things from a different angle, and now it sits in drafts (I did post a couple decent-ish smut lines to my private Twitter once).

Mostly, it's practice. Even if it's junk and janky.

“But I have (professionally) published X or Y…”

Still gotta exercise the writing muscles! Still gotta scrawl off something utterly unusable now and again for the heck of it!

All those random lines, descriptions, scenes, rambles? Maybe I'll use them someday. I wrote them down to feel the pen in my hand or keys clacking under my fingers, to see the words pop onto the page or screen, to play with word choice, sentence structures, and “how would they say that?” For my own satisfaction, no one else’s.

When I get bored or stuck, or need a screenshot or writing prompt response, I might poke at those lines, pages, rambles, and see if they hit now or spin off to something else. They often don’t. But sometimes they help inform other things I do post to the public later. Even if that’s just a Question of the Day prompt response on Twitter.

(That also counts as writing and creating btw; you’re still coming up with something to share about your characters and I think that’s very creative of you.)

If the mood strikes, write. Even if it's just a vague idea--especially if it's any bits of dialogue or description, if it's something you think that you actually do want to write when off work or out of bed or whatever.

Even if you never post it anywhere public. Even if it never gets out of crummy first draft, unfinished pages form. It might feel like pulling teeth and look rough, especially if it’s been awhile.

But still write it. No one else has to know or see. Not until you want them to.

Maybe parts of it will inform something you do finish later. Maybe two years from now another prompt will hit just right and you’ll dig out that draft and finish it for posting. Maybe you’ll cannibalize aspects of it for an entirely different piece. Maybe you’ll even use it in a few more years to see how far you’ve come as a writer.

In many cases? That's how you actually keep writer's block away. Keeping ideas around to steal from yourself, letting yourself write nonsense, unpublishable bits and pieces, maybe even whole pages, just for the heck of it, if writing is something one enjoys and wants to stick with as a hobby (or professionally). If you don’t enjoy writing for fun? Don’t force it; do little character prompts and blurbs as they feel right, and find the ways to share creativity that work for you.

And seriously, don’t forget to take in new media, experiences, and information. This is How You Lose the Time War got me writing on an original story I shelved last autumn. The stories aren't at all alike! But seeing new words in new ways helped shake something loose in my brain. So try to make some time for that, too.

Write to yourself, not for others’ consumption. Public posting is great for validation and encouragement, for when we feel the urge to share due to pride or just wanting to gush about our faves. But also let yourself remember why you liked creating worlds, making up stuff about your characters, and writing at all to begin with, without the pressure of public posting. Give yourself some grace, and let it all be messy, unhinged, misspelled, ungrammatical, incomplete, and make no narrative sense.

Write to yourself, for yourself. Then let the rest follow.

#Writing #Blogging #Creativity #Posting #Self-Care

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scumtrout · 6 months

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Tagged by @alishatheninth

Anxiously waits for feedback after publishing: I think feedback anxiety is inescapable, but The City Will Follow You has lessened this a lot because I'm at peace with the fact that it's a niche fic and it'll never garner the same level of attention as a one shot or novella-length story about a juggernaut pairing. Also, I think that if you're writing for free, then you should absolutely be writing for yourself first and foremost. If you're writing because you want attention from other people, then you should probably be getting paid for that. I know it isn't a binary, and most people are looking for a happy medium of 'I want to write a fanfic I like AND I WANT OTHER PEOPLE TO LIKE IT TOO', but god... If it's a hobby, then you have to give priority to intrinsic motivation. Caring too much about extrinsic motivators makes the hobby seem suspiciously like work.

Has that one fic that deserves more attention: Although I don't know if this really applies to one fic in particular. I think I'm iffy in general about how short smut/romance fic tends to get more attention than stuff that involves actual creativity, but eh, what can you do? People enjoy orgasms and oxytocin. Of course, creativity and smut/romance aren't mutually exclusive, but it's easier to coast by on porn and romance tropes without having to think about plotting or worldbuilding.

That said, even when you have a popular 'product', i.e. smut and/or romance, I still think that attention requires a certain amount of effort to get noticed. Personally, I'm not surprised if I fly under the radar in some fandoms, because I put 0 effort into the networking/community aspect and I am absolutely dogshit at reading and reviewing other people's fics. (Also, I'm sorry, I took one look at the LoK fandom when the series aired and thought 'n o p e'. I am absolutely 100% not here for any kind of shipping nonsense and I'd rather just sit in a corner and braid Tarrlok's hair.)

Wants to be a professional writer someday: Technically I am (writing is one of the many hats I have to wear), but not in an interesting way, more in a 'ChatGPT could do the copywriting parts of my job' sort of way, so it doesn't count.

Tagging @vintar @hightechzombie @sonntam @ghoulettesinspace @anneapocalypse @stillness-in-green @ladyswillmart

Edit: I've had 2 beers so I initially forgot it but here's the template:

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creepylittlelady · 5 months

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I WANNA HEAR MORE ABT NINA AND JEFF IF U CAN:33

OO, this is a dynamic that I've enjoyed exploring in my AU :3. I believe that Nina's canon has changed quite a bit over the past few years and I might incorporate some of that in my AU but besides that keep in mind that certain things in Puppet Strings may not match up to their canon counterparts. Anyways, enjoy! I'll do a separate segment on each of their personalities and then do a section on their relationship with each other ;)

Hope you enjoy!

Nina

-Nina is quite a controversial figure in the Mansion. Although her manic personality is toned down a lot now that she's getting professional help and has moved on from Jeff quite a bit, saying that she's over him is an understatement.

-I have my own backstory for Nina, but to shorten it down (I may make a master post of this someday), Nina grew up in a home with no stable parental figure in a very toxic environment so because of this has a lot of attachment issues. She doesn't really see Jeff as a human; she sees him as a symbol of her own freedom.

-She's close to a lot of girls in the Mansion and proclaims herself as a 'Girls Girl'. She may be a lot of things, but she is NOT a pick-me. She'll never let down her friends for validation (except from Jeff). She doesn't have a 'best friend' in particular, but she's very good friends with all the girls in the Mansion.

-She's the one girl that somehow knows everyone's business. You're in a secret relationship? Nina knows. You're actually a half demon? Nina knows. You have a tragic past that nobody knows about? NINA FUCKING KNOWS.

-Adding on to this, she has a talent for reading people. She can tell just who you are, the things you like, your strengths and your weaknesses just from a simple interaction. She's not a naturally manipulative person but if she wanted to be she definitely could be.

-She's a fanfiction writer! She's a rather popular one at that and she's definitely good at getting you in your feels. She definitely will write the most HEART-WRENCHING, GUT-DESTROYING angst that you'll ever read in your life and you'll never know that she's actually a giggling bipolar serial killer.

-Because of the fact that she's permanently a young teenager (around 13-14), she's definitely into a lot of things and has a long history with every fandom in the history of the internet. She's had interests from all throughout the years. From MHA to Danganronpa to Supernatural to One Direction to KPop, she's been in every phase! There's not one fandom that you're in that Nina hasn't been in. She can tell you all about FNAF shipping wars in vivid detail like she's a war veteran.

-She and Ben share secrets about people in the Mansion and own a black-mailing business where they'll give you the embarrassing secrets of your enemy for a price, ranging from $2 to $200 depending on how high-profile the person is and how juicy you want the secret to be. They've actually made a huge profit, since they also swear that to keep everything anonymous.

Fun Fact! Slenderman actually won a Political Debate in Hell once due to paying Nina and Ben $150 to tell them all of Zalgo's secret plans. (Him and Zalgo don't really hate each other though)

-She's got a great sense of fashion, and has a strong relationship with Trenderman and has held a bunch of make-shift fashion shows in the Mansion. She actually designed both Jane and Mary's wedding dresses!

-Although she loves being people's hype-man, she's deeply insecure about herself, her obsessive tendencies and the fact that Jeff will never love her no matter what she tries. She believes that nobody cares if she's upset so she always smiles no matter what. (Bit of an emo headcanon)

-She LOVES LOVES LOVES to throw parties. She'll throw one for every occasion, from Weddings to Smile Dog's birthday.

-When she first came to the Mansion, a lot of people disliked her immensely and didn't want to talk to her, seeing her as Jeff's creepy stalker who was let in out of pity. This actually regressed her mental progress a lot and for a while was an angry mess who'd snap at anyone who even looked at her funny.

EJ helped bring her out of her shell and now people at the Mansion like her a lot better, and she's made a lot of friends. Because of this Nina and EJ have a strong bond. She may or may not have a crush on him, but due to his personal hang-ups with romance and their age difference she'll never pursue it.

-She suffers heavily from BPD and somewhat from Bipolar disorder. Her mood swings are CRAZY, and usually Jane and EJ are the few people that can calm her down when she's in a rage.

-Due to both her and Toby's issues with emotional regulation they get into fights a lot. When one of the two does something that pisses of the other the screaming matches can get intense. In fact Masky and Hoodie have even had to tranquilize the both of them.

-When it comes to killing, she'll do it on occasion. She is definitely the kind of kid who'd kill people that she got in an argument with on the internet, but she hasn't done it in a while.

Fun fact!: Nina once got into a fight with someone on a Danganronpa RP server, found them in real life and killed them. She was never caught but she did feel guilty about it afterwards.

-She's really into anime, specifically old 2000s anime and her favourite anime is actually Clannad.

-She has a lot of obsessive tendencies and also somewhat suffers form OCD. She has the compulsive need to overclean everything until its shiny and sparkly and frequently re-arranges her room, it never looks the same for more than a week.

-She's a cosplayer, and a damn good one at that! She's good with makeup so she hides her mouth incarcerations quite well, and because of this she actually goes to Anime Conventions a lot. She's cosplayed basically every semi-popular character you can think of.

-She's actually quite a recognised figure in the True Crime Community, and the name 'Nina the Killer' came from the True Crime fans who became obsessed with her and her story. She actually has a rabid fanbase of fangirls and fanboys, and she's very aware of this and loves every bit of it.

-In my AU Chris (I believe that was his name) is still alive, although Nina doesn't know. Chris is still actively trying to find his sister to this day, and Nina is none the wiser and still mourns his death every year. In my AU at some point in the future Chris sees Nina again and they have a bittersweet reunion.

-She's the one who found Zero and brought her into the mansion, the reason for this headcanon? For some reason my dumbass thought they were the same person when I was really little.

-She has a whole week dedicated to her birthday (Which I believe is either October 29th or November 29th) where she gives all of her favourite people a present on each day of the week. Just a strange little tidbit about her.

-She's a member of the Mansion's Literature Club! She likes to believe that she's the Sayori of the group.

-She's really scared of Smile Dog and dogs in general even though she gives him a lot of treats and celebrates his birthday even more than Jeff does. She's not a cat person either. SHE'S A LIZARD PERSON!!!

-Her room is basically like a time portal back to the early 2010s. Her room is absolutely decked out with Scene stuff and she unironically listens to Bring Me Back to Life (is that what the song was called?). She's just a kid forever and she wouldn't have it any other way.

-She has a fear of growing up. She loves the fact that she won't age in the Forest and uses it to her advantage, giving herself the childhood that she never had.

-She's a terrible singer just like Toby and sings so incredibly tone-deaf that people think she's doing it on purpose. She'll loudly sing 'WAKE ME UP! WAKE ME UP INSIDE!' In the shower the point where Slender had to modify it to make her bathroom soundproof.

-She genuinely uses Poser as an insult.

-She's way more aware than people think she is. She knows way more about the Forest and the secrets hidden in it than she would have you know and is good at pretending to be innocent. She's gotten away with a lot of stuff over the years because everyone was like 'Nina's just Nina'.

-Her favourite show is Gravity Falls, her favourite character is Mabel of course ;)

-I have a lot more on her! They're all pretty angsty though since she's my favourite angsty pre-teen, second only to Benny boy himself

Jeff the Killer

-Oh Jeffrey, where do I start? You bumbling little lunatic, you.

-Well for starters most people in the Mansion either fucking adore him or fucking hate him. Toby is his biggest hater and Ben is his closest friend.

-In this AU, he's an incredibly famous serial killer out in the real world. He's been caught a few times but Slenderman always bails him out. However his fangirls sometimes break him out, and once they even rallied outside of a police station to get him released.

-He has so many fangirls that it's crazy. He actually hates it and wants them to leave him alone, but at the same time he relies on the idea of them for his own validation. This is a recurring character trait for him and will be mentioned in more detail in the section talking about his relationship with Nina.

-He's been in the Mansion the longest, since around May of 2008. Because of this he knows every part of the Mansion despite its size and can actually list every Pasta who lives in the Mansion in completely accurate order of when they first moved in.

-He hates Masky and Hoodie, he finds them weird as hell and doesn't go anywhere near them if he can help it. But every once in a while he teams up with them for events, but he always ends up abandoning them afterwards.

-Ben is his best friend, even though he won't admit it. He and Ben are the two very first residents of the Mansion besides Slender and are undoubtedly the closest, since they've been with each other since Day 1. They've been though so much together that you can't call them anything other than best friends.

-He's only ever told Ben that he loved him (as a friend) once, when he believed that he was going to move on to the afterlife. Once it turned out that it was all just a prank that went wrong, Jeff kicked his ass so hard that Ben couldn't float around properly for DAYS but he couldn't say that he was lying. Nobody's ever seen such raw emotion in his voice.

-He's very close to Slender too, and sometimes in his sleep accidentally calls him dad, which is something most Pastas won't really have the confidence to say to him. Although he adamantly states that he sees Slenderman as a loser and an old fart, he actually thinks he's cool. He won't ever say it to his face (get the joke there?).

Okay now that's enough good headcanons for him.

-He has prosthetic eyelids. Yep you heard that right PROSTHETIC EYELIDS. When he initially burned them off he regretted his decision since a lot of dust flew into his eyes and his eyes got infected a lot, causing them to become severely irritable and tear up a lot. Slender got tired of Jeff's eye problems and made Dr Smiley make him fake ones.

-Okay one more silly headcanon. He has an arsenal of knives and his favourite one is named Sir StabsALot.

-Since I kinda have my own version of the Jeff backstory that involves some psychopathic levels of bullying, Jeff is so incredibly sensitive to any kind of bullying that he won't hesitate to stab someone if he thinks they're trying to make fun of him. He also craves validation and wants to be called cool.

-When it comes to Liu and Jane, he does regret what he did and he truly appreciates the two of them for how they helped him, but he also hates them with a burning passion for the ways they didn't help him and left him to suffer.

-The first time he and Liu met they got into a fight which left the both of them with permanent injuries. The same thing happened with Jane, and Jeff has permanent injuries on both his head and his stomach because of Liu trying to swing an axe onto his head, and Jane stabbing him through the stomach.

-His former self was a massive nerd. He took every type of AP class (I think that's what they're called I don't know how American schools work) and was the smartest kid in his year. Nobody in the Mansion is aware of this besides Liu and Jane (also Slender and Ben) and frequently underestimate his intelligence.

-He can play the piano incredibly well, although he hasn't touched one in a very long time. Sometimes he plays in the dead of night when he's having a panic attack. He was a former young concert pianist, and there are actually recordings of his performances on Youtube (in my AU).

-Lots of his old stuff goes on Dark Web auctions for millions of dollars. Slender secretly buys it all back for him.

-He suffers from ungodly levels of Night Terrors. It's a normal occurrence to wake up at 2am to Jeff screaming bloody murder. He sleep walks too and sometimes wakes up to dead bodies in his bedroom that he swears up and down that he knows nothing about.

-He suffers from visual and auditory hallucinations and has attempted to murder a Mannequin because he swore it was making fun of him.

-He gets sick a lot, mainly infections from his mouth gashes. He's even had to be genuinely isolated in his room because he got some strange disease from god-knows-where.

-Sometimes him and Liu have little moments where they act like brothers again but they smoothen up their act once they realise what they're doing. They both swear that they’ll never be brothers again no matter what, but who knows what the future has in store right?

-He's attempted cannibalism many times with EJ but he just hates the taste of human flesh so much that it even turned him off from regular meat for a while. He can't even stomach a liver.

-When it comes to murder, he's quick but incredibly brutal with it. He'll often pin his victim down when they're trying to sleep and stab them to death while muffling their screams.

-He claims to hate anime and find it weird and fetishy, but truth be told he actually watches it sometimes with Ben.

-Has a secret interest in literature. Like he's got his own secret library filled with books like Pride and Prejudice and Anna Karenina. He can quote them from memory and has done so unintentionally, but swears that he just heard Slender say them.

-Don't tell anyone, but he actually knows about Nina's fanfiction accounts and has deadass cried over a bunch of them. He actually made a Wattpad account to follow her. Ben found this out and laughed so hard that he electrocuted himself (that's something Ben can do).

-The dude is edgy and doesn't want to admit it. He listens to Skillet Nightcore but claims that that type of music is cringe. He actually hides a lot of aspects about himself because he wants to appear cool, just a habit he picked up from his previous life.

Nina and Jeff's "Relationship"

-Ah, now this is where the fun starts. Not really all that fun, but this section was fun to write and it was fun to think up of this stuff in class instead of doing the work. Why do algebra when you can maladaptively daydream (is that a real term?) about two fictional serial killers' paradoxically toxic relationship.

Tbh this is a more serious take because that's just how I see them.

Now let's get one idea out of the way;

They both hate each other, but co-depend on each other as they represent something the other deeply desires.

In my Nina backstory, Nina became so unhealthily obsessed with Jeff because he represented something she dearly wanted; freedom from her life, anarchy. Growing up with extremely strict and narcissistic parents, freedom was the one thing she wanted desperately but felt that she couldn't have. Seeing and hearing Jeff's story through True Crime internet circles made her believe that there could be way out of her situation.

Of course, this is not healthy at all. Jeff is a serial killer who hates her guts and wants her dead, and would have most likely killed her had he ever met her before she became Nina the Killer. However, due to her obsessive tendencies beforehand, she became incredibly obsessed with him and would dream about him, write stories about the two of them dating and getting married, and would 'write letters' to him asking him to take her away so they can live happily ever after together.

Nina is aware of the fact that Jeff will never the person she wanted him to be; in a way she's ashamed of herself for even idolising him like that in the first place. But she still desperately reaches for his validation, because he represents anarchy, rebellion. Something she wanted for 13 painful years. She wants to be anything more than an annoying nuisance to him, and swings between periods where she moves on from him and periods where she's so obsessed with him that she breaks down wanting him to like her. He's who she wants to be and who she wants to destroy.

Jeff hates Nina. He hates her and if she died right in front of him, he wouldn't care. She makes him feel uncomfortable, but at the same time co-depends on her adoration for him. He's always trying to do things that he knows Nina likes so she can like him more. He doesn't like her, he likes what she'll provide for him; validation. Suffering through dehumanising levels of bullying for 4 years destroyed his self image and he craves Nina's praise.

Every time Nina's in one of those phases where she hates him and wants nothing to do with him, he'll purposefully try and act more like the way she sees him to get him back.

Jeff hates Nina, but he can't stand the idea of losing the only person who thinks he's cool.

I firmly believe that maybe one day Nina and Jeff will recover from their mental issues and maybe start to treat each other like equals. But in the mean time, they co-depend on each other in an unhealthy and paradoxical way. It only hurts the both of them, but they can't stop.

Jeff will also never date Nina because she's eternally 13 and he's eternally 17 (yeah I aged Jeff up a bit since in his original story he's about 14 and I didn't really like that).

Hey, thanks for requesting again! This was so fun to write, if you wanna hear about any other characters don't be shy to ask ;)

That goes the same for anyone who reads this post! My Creepypasta AU is called 'Puppet Strings', and it features a lot of its own lore, its own interpretations of Slenderman (and his brothers) and Zalgo, and its own worldbuilding! If you want to ask for any character in particular, don't be shy to ask!

(Um, also some self promotion here. I'm currently writing a fanfiction based on my backstories for Slenderman and Zalgo. Chapter 5 should be out by this Sunday! It's called Puppet Strings, and there's a post about it on my blog!).

Thank you so much for all the likes on my last post of this nature, I wanna write more for you guys!

Don't be scared to request!

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allwaswell16 · 6 months

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I was tagged by @magicalrocketships thank youu! ily!

Name: Anitra

Sign: Libra

Time: 1:47

Last movie: Oof I hardly ever watch movies. I think the last one I saw was Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse. I took my kids to see it and I actually really loved it. Do documentaries count as movies? If they do, then I just watched Class Action Park a few days ago.

Last show: The last one I watched was Barry. Still midway through Season 2 of that one.

When I created this blog: 2014

Other blogs: fades into the bushes like Homer Simpson, listen I'm always doing 50 things at once, okay?

@hlficlibrary - my Louis/Harry fic rec blog

@letsdocuboutit - my newest one! for my new podcast!

@1dmonthlyficroundup - where I roundup all the current 1d fics each month!

@louisrarepairfest - for the currently posting Louis rare pair fest I run

@soulmatesabroad - for a past fic fest I ran for 3 years and might run again

@1dbreakupfest - ran this fest once and might run it again someday

@podfic-pals - member of this one where we post 1d podfics!

whispers should I talk about the other ones? lol FINE

@louli5ever - dedicated to Oli and the Louli friendship, is it fairly extensive for something that's kind of a joke? maybe.

@hotguyluke - dedicated to Louis' hot friend Luke. Is this also fairly extensive for someone we rarely see? also yes. I don't do things half way, okay?

Let's pretend there aren't any more, okay? Those were the sort of active ones.

Do I get asks/may you ask me something: Yep! Mostly I get asks about fics, but sometimes I write silly things in the tags, feeling like I'm talking to myself and then someone will send me an ask about them and I'm like oh yeah you can all see these

Average hours of sleep: Sighhhhhhhhhhh. I try to sleep from 11-7. Do I sleep from 11-7? No. I probably get to sleep closer to midnight. And since June I have had nightmares almost every single night. Yay. They wake me up multiple times and then I go back to sleep to endure more nightmares before I wake up at 7. So much fun. Yes, I've gone back to therapy.

Instruments: I wish! My son takes drum lessons so I'm living vicariously for now.

What I’m wearing: I wear Louis merch almost every single day, but you've caught me on an off day. I have a pink sweatshirt on that's from my local zoo and some navy blue pants with a white graphic pattern on them and pink Care Bear socks. I have 3 types of hoodies...Louis, Chicago Cubs, and my local zoo. I do not know why I have decided these three things are my entire personality, but oh well.

Dream job: I used to say writer. But I don't know if I want to do that professionally anymore. Or at least I don't think I want to be a fiction writer as a job. And the reason for that is that I love it too much. I love writing so much and it has always been such a huge part of who I am. Do I want to make it into something else? Do I want it to be a job that I "have" to do? Will it still be fun? Will it turn into a chore? I can't stand the thought that I could lose that joy. This is going to maybe piss some writers off lol, but I've never experienced writer's block. I've never sat down and been unable to write something. I'm always writing the exact thing that I want to write in that moment. It's one of the luckiest best things about me. What I've kind of turned to now is podcasting because it is something that I enjoy that I think I'm kind of good at and that I could potentially monetize one day. And it does involve writing because I have to write up notes and talk about something. But that's not really the same as writing a story. blah blah blah sorry this was so long.

I'll tag: @dearlou @noellehenry-original @gaycousinlarry @fallinglikethis @ohharold @joliepetitelou @statementlou and anyone else who wants to do this just say I tagged you!

#tag things

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pearlypairings · 6 months

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Twenty Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by @pipergirl17- thank you darling!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Officially? 17! Unofficially inc my anon works, 22!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

225,303 which is wild to me!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

I mainly write with Stranger Things (heavy on the Chrissy-centric fics with ships :P) and drop the occasional Twin Peaks one-shot.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Do or Die (first ever ST fic!)

not a sound but the wind (ST hellcheer)

Meet Me At Our Spot (ST hellcheer)

In an Envelope Marked: Harrington (ST Max & Steve friendship)

Open the Sky and Let Her Come Down (ST hellcheer)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I love chatting with readers and try to respond to comments as they come in (occasionally I fall behind depending on my work sched, but I always respond!).

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

My Twin Peaks fic Twin Flames Divided is very similar to its canon source, so has to be angsty and a little out there! Definitely angstier than my usual fics!

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

So far I think Dear Donna, (my hellcheer slow burn told through letters) has the happiest, tooth-rotting fluff around. But all of my Chrissy fics have happy endings :)

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I would say no, not really! Thankfully, everyone's been super supportive in the comments and on tumblr:)

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Only once!! It's anon and was posted for Kinktober as like a little writer challenge for myself to see if I COULD do it. It was fun, but I'll leave the smut to the professionals lol.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I wrote on that's currently on hiatus, but had SO much fun with it! IT's a TP x ST crossover where Agent Cooper is brought into the midst of season 4's crazy supernatural murders. I'd love to get back into it, but I have other brainworms I want to work on now.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Don't think so!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Also, no, but I'd be so into that!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not yet! But I'd love to be a co-conspirator with my main squeeze @1lostsoul0fishbowl someday when our schedules and inspo lines up to try it!

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

Hellcheer has been my big one, but I'm starting to fall in love with some ST rarepairs lately...so we'll see if it stays that way.

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

Hmm any unfinished WIPs of mine will be finished in their own time. I have a hard time admitting one might be unfinished, because my core perfectionism won't allow anything to be left undone!

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think my dialogue is a decent guiding factor in my writing! It's at least my favorite portion to write!

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

In general, allowing more creativity to flow while I'm writing. I went to college with an emphasis on more direct, scientific writing....But now I'm trying to unlearn all the drills of no flowery language or complex sentences to write with better immersion and storytelling.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I'm not confident enough to do that, unless I'm very knowledgeable in that language. But it's rare for me to inject that into the fics I write.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Twin Peaks technically!

20. Favorite fic you've written?

That's like picking a favorite child! But back against the wall, today my favorite is there is a light that never goes out , my wip for jonathan x chrissy. It's moody, it's 80s cheesy, and it's cute :)

Tagging off the top of my head: @1lostsoul0fishbowl @hangon-silvergirl @erythromanc3r @a-strange-inkling and anyone who likes guac is welcome to answer and tag me as the source;)

#fic writer questions #pearly answers #dash game #tag game #fanfic writer questions #get to know me #pearly_pairings on ao3 #ao3 writer #hellcheer #photocheer #stranger things fanfiction #twin peaks fanfiction #hellcheer fanfiction

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rainberrydrops · 10 months

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21 Questions Tag

thank you for this @aomitois 🤍

1. Nickname:

✨Ries✨

2. Zodiac:

♉

3. Height:

your pocket-sized 4"11 girlie ✨

4. Jock, nerd, prep, goth?

Definitely nerd. I have a lot of interests that I enjoy talking about

5. Last thing I googled:

"Star Rail Yukong" 🤣 I just got her last night and I am going to build her so I'm looking at guides

6. Favorite musician:

I have a lot! It's hard to pick my most favorite among them. But if I were to recommend a musician to a friend, I would pick Blü Eyes. She's so underrated but her songs speak to the soul and the heart.

7. Song stuck in my head:

Currently? It's "Let Me Let You Go by One Ok Rock"

8. House or block flat?

There are very few flats here in my country, it's mostly condominium units 😅 so I will choose a house. It would be so cool to have my own house someday and I will surely enjoy decorating it

9. Followers:

971 amazing beautiful hoomans 💖✨

10. Do you get asks?

Yes, sometimes! And I really appreciate the time they took to send me one 🤍

11. Amount of sleep:

usually around 6-7 hours 😅 it's so hard for me to get a full 8 hours sleep nowadays. Life is really busy and there are a lot of things I have to do and want to do

12. What are you wearing?

It's usually hot and humid in where I live so just a basic white shirt and dark green shorts 😆

13. Dream job:

I do not dream of labor 🤣 but I'm proud to say I fulfilled the dream of my younger self and currently working as a professional writer for events marketing. She has always wanted to become a writer. While the process of achieving this is not easy and I experienced having self-doubt and questioning my life decisions countless of times, I guess you would always end up where you're supposed to go. And I can say I am content with the current job that I have. I am not an ambitious person and I have no desire to get promoted to a higher position because that would only mean more workload for me 🤣 and I hate the thought of that. I place a great value on work-life balance and that's the first thing I prioritize every time I apply for a job

14. Dream Trip:

I have a lot of places I want to visit! I guess it's because growing up, I wasn't able to travel a lot. So now that I am older and earning my own money, I want to spend it in a memorable way. I hope I can travel more in my country, the Philippines, because we've got a lot of beautiful scenery, forests, nature spots, and islands that I haven't seen yet. I want to visit the East Asian and other South East Asian countries because I'm interested in their culture. Traveling to Europe is also on my bucket list, and I want to visit The Netherlands the most so I could finally see my long-time best friend @happysops 💜

I have a lot of things I want to do 🤣

15. Instruments:

I hold high respect and admiration for musicians because I am not musically inclined 😅 I never had a chance to learn how to play any instruments

16. Language:

Tagalog, English, and I can read and understand a little bit of Korean and Japanese. I took a Spanish class back in college but I have forgotten everything I learned from there 🤣😭

17. 10 Favorite songs as of now

• Quarter Life Crisis - Taylor Bickett

• Getting Older - Blü Eyes

• Hype Boy - NewJeans

• Cupid - Fifty Fifty

• Ditto - NewJeans

• Left Right - XG

• Doushite - Takasetoya, Emi Noda

• Let Me Let You Go - One Ok Rock

• July - Laur Elle

• You'd Never Know - Blü Eyes

18. If you were an animal: 😼

19. Favorite food:

pepperoni pizza, takoyaki, dried mangoes, matcha!!

20. Random Fact:

I like watching concerts and attending art markets. I usually spend my paycheck on them 🤣 (please don't be like me). Actually, I will be attending Nmixx's concert this weekend and next week I'll be roaming around in another local art market 😆 being surrounded by talented and creative people uplifts my energy~

21. My aesthetic:

I don't really have a specific aesthetic but I like wearing comfortable clothes based on my mood on that day 😆 and cute jewelry and accessories 💖 my go-to bag is totes!

Tagging: @roselise @froglovemushroom

#ask ries #about ries

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justporo · 6 months

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Hi again! I look up to you a lot when it comes to writing for Baldur's Gate, specially for Astarion. I'd like to ask for some advice if that's okay. How would you organize or how would you approach writing fanfiction of your playthrough? Like, the story following the narrative of the game. Im looking for a way to write it, since there are many canon events that everyone knows and I don't want it to be a boring reading, or boring writing for that matter.

Thanks in advance!

Hey you, thank you so much, that's very kind of you and a huge compliment! ❤️

Asking for advice is absolutely okay, granted I am not really a professional writer (maybe someday...).

Lots of the stuff I write personally which take place during the timeline of the game are obviously moments that mostly aren't in the game as such.

And I agree just a retelling of all the canon events might bore you to death while writing. I'd go for an approach where you think about what moments are crucial for your character and should be included, moments in your story where you stray from the canon events because you want another outcome or add more to it and then also deliberately add other moments that aren't canon. Ofc especially with the latter this has to fit your approach but I think this especially would offer nice opportunities to explore and create an interesting story.

I hope this helps!

#poro answers

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ecoamerica · 23 days

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youtube

Watch the American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 now: https://youtu.be/bWiW4Rp8vF0?feature=shared

The American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 broadcast recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by active climate leaders. Watch to find out which finalist received the $50,000 grand prize! Hosted by Vanessa Hauc and featuring Bill McKibben and Katharine Hayhoe!

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nicosraf · 6 months

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Hello angel, I hope you had a wonderful day, I just wanted to tell you that I absolutely loved abm. Maybe you’re probably tired of hearing that at this point but idc, you deserve the love. Ever since i’ve found your work I’ve been a big fan. Being a hispanic myself, your stories really hit different.

I was really surprised to find you were really young when you published your book. I never thought someone that age could write something so beautiful and impactful. I am also a writer, or at least I aspire to be, im probably only four years your junior, and I dream about writing my own book someday. Unfortunately, with the college workload, all my writing had to be put on hold for the moment.

But a while back I had a dream that inspired me to write a queer short-story retelling of Tobit, which is a old testament book I’ve read a few times. Never imagined I’d write such a thing, but im hoping you might be able to read it someday, if I ever manage to publish it, it’s also a work I’d like to dedicate to you.

thank you very much! i'll never be tired of hearing it, it means a lot to me! i can't really emphasize enough how anxious i am about people reading my stuff, even now

yes, i am young! it's something i don't really like to mention, not just because of dismissal in the publishing world but dismissal I've experienced in professional/academic spaces too. one time, i joked that i should've waited until i was 80 years old to write ABM but the future can feel so precarious. I'm really happy you found it impactful. im just writing from the heart.

Ooo a dream-driven gay bible story in your head! You should write it! I love the Book of Tobit :) It's so wacky to me, and it features Asmodeus and Raphael, two people i like very much. I would love to read it and aghhh you don't have to dedicate it to me. I would cry if you did that, I think. But thank you. Thank you and I wish you well!

#<3 #mine #ask #also im in my early twenties if you all didnt know

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unhumanrights · 7 months

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Potential Lower Decks fanfic and fanfic-adjacent ideas (and it turns out some talk about writing insecurity, which is the first four paragraphs so you can skip if you want)

LONG INTRO

I'm about to type a LOT of stuff. This whole post got longer than I thought it would.

So, I have my AO3 account, finally. I don't have any other creative projects. What's stopping me from writing some fanfic already?

MYSELF. I AM THE PROBLEM.

Okay, I'm exaggerating for comedic effect! I will admit to still being nervous about writing something that's not my own brainchild, though. "What if I get it wrong?" I ask myself. "What if it doesn't sound anything like the show?" I am working on convincing myself that neither question is that important. I may not get it EXACTLY right, and it may sound more like my versions of the characters than the canonical versions, but...who cares? As long as I'm doing my best and being true to the spirit, isn't that good enough? That's what I'm trying to tell myself. And also, self, no, it's not going to sound like the show. That doesn't make it WRONG. You're not a professional comedy writer, are you? No. You're not writing this for a paycheck, are you? No. So stop worrying about it!

I'm trying to tell myself this.

So, anyway, that was a long intro to say that I'm going to now do the other thing that writers do when they are scared to actually write: I'm going to talk about writing. And also plan a research project!

LOWER DECKS RESEARCH PROJECT

Actually, let's talk about the research project first. I thought I might do a second rewatch of Lower Decks, with the goal of writing dossiers for each character. Gather known facts, of course, but also take special note of dialogue and interaction. What the characters say, how they say it, what kinds of jokes are usually targeted at them, how they are with specific characters, you get it. A real resource for my own writing, and something I'd also like to put out there for others who might want to use it. Seems like a lot of work for fanfic, but I do love having a project, and this is a long-term one. Plus, it will train me to make detailed characters of my own. Also plus, it will make me feel like an anthropologist or a spy, gathering intel on my subjects, and I am a creep like that.

Okay, and now to talk about what I might want to write!

ACTUAL FANFIC IDEAS

I've already talked about some ideas I've had. Mostly, the AU stuff. My mind keeps going back to it, so it seems it may become a reality someday. I was thinking of changing the tentative name of "Spell Trek" that I came up with for my fantasy AU, since it's the name of a board game, but I figured it doesn't matter that much because it's not like I'm selling these stories, and I don't think there will be market confusion. Haven't come up with much else beyond some scattered thoughts for the setting, but I'm pretty sure it will be a straightforward conversion. You know, swap sci-fi for fantasy. Probably have them all flying around in airships instead of spaceships. Might be interplanar travel instead of interstellar. Phasers? Well, that's just a stun wand. Shields? That doesn't really change, it's just a magic shield instead of a science one. The biggest question I have right now (just popped into my head) is how to handle "warp." I have to figure out how planar travel works, I guess. I'd also have to think about whether I want to keep all the species intact or kind of play around with them a bit. Wouldn't be that hard to make Vulcans elves, or Klingons orcs. Plenty of worldbuilding to do, is the point.

The second idea I had, which is actually still applicable to the first, is the matter of story format. I've been toying around with different ways to write lately. I COULD just write in the traditional prose way, like you would find in a book. DIalogue, action, description. First or third person. You know.

I was thinking, though, that I might want to write scripts instead. I've toyed around with it when writing original fiction. I don't really follow the proper TV format, though. Very loose style. But I figured, if I wanted to emulate the show as closely as possible, then maybe a script makes sense for me. Not sure how many people want to read scripts, but maybe SOMEONE out there would like them.

Oh, on a related note, I was also thinking of writing stories as transcripts. Similar to the script, but particular style. I had three possible notions to go with this idea:

The Lower Deck Five (T'Lyn for the win), or maybe just a couple of them, decide to make a piece of ancient Earth entertainment known as a "podcast." "The Cerritos Experience," or something like that. Just a place to talk about missions, gossip, whatever. So, my stories would be transcripts of their podcasts. I think this one is my favorite.

Stories told through personal logs. Could just be one character's, or could be multiple characters' talking about the same events.

Perhaps Captain Freeman decides that she needs visual records of all missions from now on, so now away teams wear bodycams or have drones or something. Transcripts of the videos that they produce.

I don't know, there's just something I like about the simplicity of scripts and transcripts. You still have to have a good story to tell, but it feels easier, in a way. For my, anyway. Eh, I'll probably end up writing traditional prose, too, but I do want to experiment with one of these ideas (probably the podcast).

Sorry I wrote so much. Hey, you didn't HAVE to read it. Thanks if you did, though. Let me know if any of this sounds interesting.

#fanfic #fanfiction #lower decks #star trek lower decks #writing insecurity #spell trek #gotta get that tag started for when I MAKE IT BIG #AU #star trek au #lower decks au #i wrote way too much #and now I still am in the tags #somebody stop me

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fountainpenguin · 8 months

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Hello! This isn't trying to pressure you or anything, I'm just genuinely curious and wanted to know about your plans for Mario content (since I know you've wanted to do that for a while). Any fun worldbuilding you'd like to share? :)

Thanks for the Ask!

Man, I wrote Mario world stuff ages ago that I completely forgot about... I had a 100 Prompts series and I think I got into the 30s before it stopped. I had tons of worldbuilding for Cackletta and Fawful specifically since they were my favorites :)

I do still keep my [current] Mario drafts around, but unfortunately I'm not sure when I'll post them... I'm never satisfied. I like the canon worldbuilding the way it is and it Does Not Translate very well into my writing style. I've tried for years, but it just... doesn't.

My Mario stuff is "okay," but it just feels very "meh" to me. I think I'll get there someday if I'm willing to work on it, but I'm not able to do that right now. I HAVE actually thought about it and I might post the occasional one-shot, but I'm not sure yet. My worldbuilding is still all over the place and it's very messy and I'm not in love with it.

---

One of my stories is called "Political Machines" and it's about how the name "Mario Kart" came to be; it's Peach POV and delves into the culture of racing Yoshis back before karts came around. I like the idea of it a lot, but it's extremely info-dumpy and I've been struggling with it for years. I think I need to write something else first, but I haven't figured out what. Here's a scene from that:

I also love how savage Peach is skdflj:

---

I also have two Bowser stories (a one-shot called "1-Down" which is Kamek POV and covers the deaths of Bowser's parents, which I LOVE but can't make it hit right) and a very loose draft for a story called Carapace Rex which is a Bowser backstory 'fic. Here's a good scene from the former:

I do miss this 'fic... I really like how extreme Bowser is despite how badly bullied he is by his abusive mom; he's vicious to her and I love that.

tbh it's actually really nice and maybe I'm overthinking it. I'd love to finish it; I just can't get the emotions right.

That said, I might take another whack at it soon and post when I'm done fiddling since I've already seen how I'll fiddle with it for years if I don't commit to a date /shrug. It's definitely one of the stories that ever was... It's just not hitting the emotions I need it to.

---

I LOVE the opening lines to Carapace Rex (not sharing for major "1-Down" spoiler reasons), but I probably won't write the latter since it's been almost 6 years since I started it back in 2018. Getting older, hoping to publish original work, and starting a new long 'fic wouldn't be a good idea (Dog's Life draft started in early 2022 and Factor in 2018; I'm just wrapping up existing projects for now, but Carapace was always super vague so I don't really want to get into it). I might turn it into a one-shot though since I really love the voice in it.

-> The concept behind Carapace was that Koopas were predators of Toads... I actually reskinned the intro for Carapace into a piece of original content I used in my advanced creative writing class in college, then reskinned it again as the backstory for my OC Courtney the snow leopard, then reskinned it again to be the original project I took to a writer's conference this year...

I'm dying to do something original with predators and prey, but I've had a lot of talks with agents and editors and professional authors and we agreed it's not the right time for this content. To make a long story short, I'd either have to strip the fantasy politics out and de-age the characters so it's "animal people middle grade" or I'd have to age up the characters and push the adult angle and I... I don't know how I feel about my public author persona being "adult furry content"...... that's not what I want; I just want wolf kids hunting in the woods for their coming of age and growing up in this post-war world of fantasy politics and ceremonies... sob. The publishing world has categories though and you have to play by the rules.

Maybe someday... but I have a weird relationship with Carapace because of that, because I'm in LOVE with the scenes from it but I'd hate to use them in Mario fanfic when I'd like to use them in original work. Tsk-tsk. Maybe someday once I've already gotten my foot in the door. I'm keeping this project on the backburner as something I might self-publish but I've talked to a lot of people and I'd rather get something published traditionally and try to build my author platform before I invest, because self-pub is... expensive.

Honestly right now Dog's Life is giving me my "we're way too young to be carrying the weight of this many interspecies politics on our shoulders" fix, so at least I have that <3

---

I also have an 8-chapter 'fic called "Out of You" which is about Kamek trying to raise the Koopalings (and Junior). I'll probably scrap most of that and rehash it as something else; I don't think there's much worth saving...? I'll have to think about it.

But here's my favorite WIP scene from it, ft. Ludwig and Peach:

Potential's good, fun is good... Just need to find the right kind of worldbuilding that satisfies me. I'd originally hoped to post Mario stuff before the movie came out in April, but I just never got around to it. Maybe someday? It just doesn't feel right, though, and I can't invest my energy in something I'm not in love with.

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That's all I have to say right now; I don't want to say too much about my worldbuilding since it's still super messy. I have ideas about what would be "cool" or "interesting" but I just... don't love those ideas enough to make them part of "my take" on the world. There is a fine line between "Riddle's usual magical realism writing style" and "At this point it's an AU." I think I need to cull back the crazy ideas and stick closer to canon.

Is that "boring" and "uncreative"? Eh, I think that's just where my passion lies; I write fanfics because I love the media, and if I didn't love it, I wouldn't be writing fanfics. When I write, I want to continue writing the worldbuilding that I love, which means basing it closely on the media. I guess I'll always be canon compliant at heart even in a fandom where I'm okay with writing AUs, ha ha.

Maybe I'll dig up some of my really old one-shots from that 100 prompts project, clean them up a little, and post some of them. I know there were some Baby Bowser and Doopliss pieces in there. Might be a nice icebreaker.

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