#i check ao3 and multiple other site tags every day several times a day and i always come out exhaustef

[elhnrt]

it simply must be said that the reason i can't stomach a good portion of most mdtb fanworks is tobirama's woobification. you know exactly what i mean. get real

#ppppp #tbd #maybe. but i know i'm not alone on this front #i check ao3 and multiple other site tags every day several times a day and i always come out exhaustef

[arofili]

week-long fandom events: some tips from a pro

a while ago someone asked for advice for running week-long fandom events, and I thought my thoughts might be useful for other people too!

disclaimer: I am NOT actually a pro, that was just a catchy turn of phrase, lol. however I have run several events for several years, and I’d love to share some of my tips and tricks!

these are tips for tumblr-based events; if you’re running your event on a different site or on multiple sites, this might not be the most applicable to you.

some of these points will also be useful for events outside of the week-long structure, but some will be specific to that structure, as it is the one I am most familiar with!

here we go:

it's really nice to have an event sideblog to organize things; the events I've seen that run on people's main blogs are a little more confusing / hard to promote & follow

make sure you know the most popular tags in your fandom and get your promo posts into those tags! especially for first time events, tag blogs with lots of followers / influence and/or DM them and ask for them to boost the event, even if they're not participating

visual banners will draw in more eyes than posts that are just plain text, so try adding a header to your promo posts

give people enough time to prep for the event. I usually make the first announcement about 2 months before the event, and then schedule regular reminder posts as I get closer to the event. I make a reminder post 1 month out, 1 week out, and 1 day before, and then make sure I'm posting something every day of the event (at least) - the queue function is extremely useful for this, so you don’t forget to post!

themes for each day give people something to plan around / inspire them, I definitely recommend them. I usually just have one theme per day, but I've also seen events that give different themes for different mediums, or a list of themes each day that creators can pick from

have a pinned post with links to important information! this includes prompts, rules, FAQs, a link to an AO3 collection, etc. since blog pages are not accessible on the mobile app, it might be useful to also have post versions of any pages you make, and link to those in your pinned post.

when it comes to FAQs & etc, feel free to look at the pages on any of my event blogs (listed at the bottom of this post) and borrow concepts/phrasing from those if it's helpful for you. if you do this PLEASE credit me, but you are welcome to do so

off-site promos might not be the most wide-reaching, but Discord especially is a good place to draw attention to your event for people who don't track tumblr tags. I know I also post links to my promo posts on Twitter, and I usually catch a couple people there who are like "oh I didn't know that was happening, cool!"

track your event tag AND frequently check your event blog’s activity - tumblr is rotten about notifications, so it’s important to keep an eye on things and make sure you’re not missing any submissions!

reblog every submission to your event to the event blog. this is why the blog is there! this is how you can bost the content for your event and help other people find it! I recommend tagging those reblogs for organization with at least the url of the OP; I will also tag for relevant characters, sometimes relevant ships, and the medium of the post (art, fic, etc), and sometimes which prompt the submission was inspired by. also, I find it useful to tag which year the event takes place so you can track your event’s growth over time.

finally, make sure to participate in your own event; it doesn't have to be every day, but I think it's a little weird if you aren't creating content yourself, even if it's "just" a text post with headcanons or something!

these are all just things I like to do in organizing my events; there are other ways to run things, and you'll figure out your own system as you go on, but I hope this gives you a starting ground!

if anyone has any questions about running an event, I’m happy to give you further advice! send me an ask or a DM with any questions :)

AND check out my event blogs: @finweanladiesweek​ @tolkiengenweek​ @aspecardaweek​ @kilielweek​

happy event planning!

#tumblr #fandom events #tumblr fandom #tumblr fandom events #silm #silmarillion #tolkien #lotr #the hobbit #just tagging the fandoms in my sphere lol #but this is widely applicable to other fandoms too!! #tefain nin

[whumptober]

FAQ Update

Hello again everyone!  Here is a list of some of the common questions we keep getting about the event.  These are from both the blog and the discord.  Please read through this and the Event Info post before submitting your question to make sure it hasn’t already been answered!

Thank you! And Happy Whumping!

(FAQ’s Under the Cut)

Q. How does this year’s prompt list work? What do I have to choose?

You can write a story based on:

The overall theme of the day

Prompt 1, 2 or 3

One or several of the alternative prompts

A combination of the above

Q. Can I use prompts to write a new chapter for an existing fic?

Yes

Q. An existing fic I am currently writing contains many of the Whumptober prompts, can I use it?

If you are actively writing this fic at the moment with the whumptober prompts in mind, yes. If it just conveniently checks the boxes, then please don’t. You can, however, add new chapters answering one or more of the prompts.

Q. What kind of characters can I write for? 

Fandom characters, OC characters, human, furry, alien, cyborg, whoever you like.

Q. Does it have to take place in a specific fandom?

No, you can create works for your own worlds or for fandoms, fandom AUs, or for all of the above.

Q. Can I use a prompt multiple times?

 Yes,  but it only counts once

Q. If I’m not comfortable with one day's prompts can I use a prompt of a different day as a substitute and still be a completionist? 

Yes, but please do not use a specific prompt twice. We have also created an alternate prompts list that you can draw from [here].

Q. Where can I post my work? 

Post where and how you want. You don’t even have to (cross)post it to Tumblr. Just keep in mind if it’s not on Tumblr we will not be able to add it to the blog archive.

Q. Can I start posting early?

You can, but this is an October event and wouldn’t it be more fun with everyone doing it at the same time? That being said, you can post early, but we won’t be reblogging any work predating October 1st. 

Q. Do I have to finish a fic I started/can I post WIP’s.?

Yes you can post WIPs. And you’re not obligated to finish it in October but if you want for it to count towards being a completionist, you must have completed 31 prompts by the end of the month.  

Q. Is co-writing allowed?

Yes, absolutely, and it would count towards being a completionist for both/all of you :)

Q. Do I have to create 31 standalone pieces to be considered a completionist or can I write one continuous story?

One continuous story is fine.  The challenge is to write something for 31 prompts. If that’s spread over 31 fics or just one, you are still considered a completionist. (The same goes for every other media you choose.)

Q. Is there a min/max limit on word count?

There is no limit

Q. Can I combine prompts? Is there a limit on how many? 

No limit and combine as many as you’d like.

Q. Is a hc/angst focus ok?

Of course!

Q. What’s considered nsfw?

See this post

Q. What's whump?

See this post

Q. My interpretation of the prompt isn't whumpy at all, does that count?

No, sorry, but keep in mind that whump [see definition] is something very nuanced and different for everyone and emotional whump/angst is just as much part of it, as is physical whump and torture. So before you dismiss your idea, please consider this.

Q. Can I start working on the prompts before October?

Absolutely! That’s why we posted the prompts a month in advance. We recognise how difficult it can be creating for 31 days in “real time”.

Q. How do I tag triggers?

tw at the end of the word, ex. #emeto tw

Q. Do I have to use your tags?

Yes, if you want your work archived on the blog. If not, feel free to use whatever tags you want.  

Q. Does combining prompts count towards completion?

Yes

Q. Can we @ you?

Yes but we mostly rely on the whumptober2020 tag

Q. Is there anything we are absolutely not allowed to write?

There are no rules, just be sure to properly tag your trigger warnings. And keep in mind Tumblr’s policies if you are posting it here (or the policies of whatever site you use). 

Q. Where can I go for brainstorming help?

Here on Discord

Q. My characters are minors, is that ok? 

Yes, but as with everything else, tags are your best friend. 

Q. Can I cross post on other blogs?

Yes, multiple platforms and blogs are perfectly acceptable. You can also post different works to different accounts under different names, without posting them everywhere at once.

Q. What kind of content can I make? Can it be NSFW?

This is a MIXED MEDIA event! You can write fic, post meta, doodle or paint, create a gif set or photo edit, link a song, or get crafty with video - anything goes. As for NSFW, make what you like, we just hope that you’ll tag your work accordingly so that others participating in the event can stay safe :)

Q. Do I have to do all 31 Days? Can I post early/late?

Participate as much or little as you like, and post whenever! Just be sure to tag your posts properly (ex. #no.11, #psych101). Combining prompts into one piece of work is okay, and posting late is as well so as long as it’s in October.

Q. What if I don’t understand a theme?

Send us an ask! We’re happy to help clarify. That said, the themes are entirely up for interpretation :)

Q. Can I combine Whumptober with other creation challenges?

Absolutely! That’s like shooting two whumpees with one bullet :)

Q. Can I upload/repost my whumptober content to other social media platforms?

Of course! We’ve created an AO3 Collection to archive any fics posted there. The archive can be accessed here. The blog is the official archive, so please respect the boundaries of any closeted whumpers in your social circle :)

Note: This is a creation challenge, please don’t repost your old work under our tags (unless it’s been changed or edited for the event).

#whumptober2020 #eventinfo2020 #FAQs

[rnmbb]

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a big bang?

A Big Bang/Mini-Bang is a writing challenge that prompts authors and artists to work together to create a story and work of art that go together. In this case, our fandom is the Roswell New Mexico tv show, and our goal is 5000 words or more!

How do I sign up?

When sign-ups start, there will be a Google Form link posted for you to sign-up as an Author or an Artist or Beta

What if I need to drop out?

Yes! Sometimes life gets in the way or a story just doesn’t happen, and we understand that! However, there is a cutoff point, and if you do not let the mods know before this date, you can be banned from the next round. Even if it is after this cutoff date that you need to drop out please let us know so that we can discuss options. We can’t help if we don’t know there is a problem! Dropping all contact with mods after the cutoff date is grounds for an automatic ban, as we can’t help at that point. Please get in contact with us, so that we can arrange for art if needed!

I need help/support!

Once you sign-up, you will be sent a link to the Discord Server for the Big Bang. Feel free to talk about your story here with other authors, ask questions, look for a beta, ask for advice, freak out, or any general story discussions.

Membership is open to all who want to join the big bang or are thinking about it! Watch the blog for the link post

I don’t want to join a discord server/have never used discord before 

We are making this a mandatory requirement this year. Communication is critical for the big bang to be successful, and a discord server is the best way for mods to ensure they can communicate with all participants. If you’re new to discord, the mods will help you with an introduction and navigation resources to the server. 

Writing Requirements

What type of requirements are there for a fic?

Your fic must be at least 5,000 words long and, preferably, beta-read before the posting date. It must focus on or revolve around the characters from the TV show Roswell, New Mexico. You are not required to write a certain ship or a ship at all. Your fic also has to be completed at the time of posting. All chapters must be posted on the day of posting. 

I've already been writing an RNM story - can I use that?

The purpose of this Bang is to unveil a brand-new, completed piece on your posting date, however we are okay with you finishing your piece as long as you have not posted more than 2,000 words and do not post any more until your posting date. Since this Bang has a minimum word count of 5,000 words we are asking that no more than 2,000 words be posted prior to signing up, so that at least 80% of the fic is new.

Can I write a sequel to a previous story?

Yes, but the sequel needs to be able to stand on its own. Please make sure to link to the first story so readers can read that as well.

I want to gift my big bang to someone, can I? 

Big Bangs are not gift stories or exchanges, so your big bang must stand as itself. 

What genres are allowed?

All genres are allowed as well as crossovers, as long as Roswell New Mexico characters are the main characters of the story.

I've got two ideas in my head - can I write both?

Yes, you can, as long as you think you'll be able to finish both stories by the deadline (if you submit two stories we will do our best to make sure there is a good amount of time in between the posting of each fic).

Can I write the story with someone else?

Yes, you may co-author your big bang if you want to. The word minimum however for co-authored works is 7,000.

What an artist summary? 

An artist summary is written by authors to give a summary of the fic in a holistic manner. It will include all the main ships, main plot twists, trigger warnings, and any relevant tags for the artist to make an educated choice on making art for the work. The artist summaries are anonymous and only 500 words or less. 

What should my outline look like?

A fic outline is an overview of your story. You will need to list major scenes of the story all the way from the beginning to the resolution. The outline needs to show how you plan on finish the story so the mods and artists can anticipate the story.

Can I have an extension?

We will be granting extensions on a case-by-case basis for rough drafts as long as your final fic or art is in by the due date. We would hope, however, that you use the checkpoints and all your available writing time to its fullest.

If you think at any time you need an extension (whether fic or art) contact the mods right away so we can begin working it out with you.

What do I do if I am not sure I will finish my story but still want to try?

If, by the time rough drafts are due, you aren't sure if you will be done with your story and don't want to risk having an artist claim it only to have to drop out you can switch to the Unofficial track. This will mean your story won't be put in the claims post but if you can finish it by the time final drafts are due we will arrange an artist for you and you will post with everyone else.

Artist Requirements

What are the requirements for art?

Each story an artist claims is required to have at least one art of quality for each story they claim. If an artist decides to claim 3 stories, they will be required to create one piece of art for each story, so at minimum, 3 pieces of art. 

You’re creating something for a work that is at least 5k/10k in length, so we want the art to match that effort! Here are the suggested guidelines:

Traditional/Digital art: Cleaned lineart, on unlined paper, that is at least 500x500 pixels is the minimum. Additional sketchier/rougher pieces are welcomed so long as one piece of art is at the cleaned lineart stage!

Manips: Clean renders and non-blurry images that do not contain watermarks should be used for photo manipulation. 

Banners or Icons or Wallpaper: 5 icons, of at least 100x100 pixels. 3 banners. 1 wallpaper. More is of course always welcomed!

Picspam or Gifsets: At least 6 images, but more images, or multiple sets are welcome!

Vids: At least two minutes long, or a full song!

Fanmixes: At least 10 songs and include cover art (this can be a manip!).

What is an Art Claim? 

Art claims is the process through which artists and authors are paired for the big bang. Artists will have 3 days to review summary information provided by all the authors participating in the event. The claims process is anonymous, which means the artists have no idea who wrote which fic. On claims day, artists submit their top 5 choices and are matched with their first available fic. When matches are confirmed, the mods will email each team to introduce partners to each other. 

How do I make a claim?

On claims day, artists will receive a form to submit their choices. 

What happens if the number of authors doesn't match up with the number of artists or mixers?

We will do several rounds of claiming so that EVERY fic has an artist. In the event that fics outnumber artists, we will allow artists to make a second claim. If it's the other way, we may open up the fics so that more than one artist is assigned to the same fic. Either way, everyone who wants to participate will get to participate.

Can I post my art to my blog or another site to show my friends in advance?

No, we ask that you don't preview your art to anyone before the assigned posting date. You are allowed to show it to a few friends or an art beta, to get advice or feedback before the posting date, but please don't post it for the general public until your assigned posting date.

Where can I upload my graphics?

You are free to post your graphics on your platform of choice, as long as there is a link to the art in the fic.

How will I get my graphics to my author?

We will provide you with contact information once you are committed to an author. From there you can contact them to find out more about their interests, or simply send them the links to your final mix/gifsets/art.

We would like to encourage you to be in contact with them and to share what you make for them.

Schedule

What's a check-in?

Check-ins are something to give you a feel on where a typical author should be at in their writing process. There are multiple points of communication with the mods team to share your progress, ask questions, and share any comments you need to.

ALL CHECK-INS ARE MANDATORY! This is the best way for mods to track the progress of works and ensure works will be posted on time.

Why do artists get a check-in?

The artist check-in will be mandatory. This is mostly to make sure that artists have been in contact with their authors and that they are on track. It will help us determine which stories will need pinch hitters earlier.

Posting Requirements

What types of requirements are there for me to post my fic?

You must include a header with all the regular information (title, rating, wordcount, pairing, etc.) on it. This includes warnings. Not all of our readers like the same thing, so you are required to warn them. Besides that, you must include any secondary fandom you're writing in.

Do I post my story to this community or do the mods post it?

Anywhere you wish, so long as it is also in the RNM Big Bang AO3 Collection. Posting it there is how we will count your work as completed*.

*Artists will not be required to post to AO3, though it is highly encouraged. (AO3 isn’t great for hosting some types of art, like picspam or gif sets, we understand that!) If you are not posting your art to AO3, you must make sure the link to where you art is posted is provided to the author and linked within the author notes or story.

Can I post it to my blog a few days early to show my friends?

No, the first time you show your fic for this big bang must be on your reveal day. If you post in advance please lock the post for your eyes only.

If you have any other questions, please reach out to the mods team!

#rnmbb #roswell new mexico #faq #admin post #rnm big bang

[copperbadge]

There was a recent discussion on tumblr, which I didn’t reblog for obvious reasons, about how people with a large readership cope with a heavy interaction load -- how the person would be anxious if they dealt with that volume of notes on each post, that amount of interaction and contact. I was tagged in it because of my habit of "lochnessing", where I cause an activity spike on posts I reblog that looks like the loch ness monster.

It never occurs to me, because I’ve dealt with high-volume social media for so long -- realistically about ten years, probably closer to fifteen -- that it’s difficult for people to handle that, because they don’t have the systems in place that I do. I mean it does occur to me in the sense that I have become more cautious about what I reblog and its impact on the OP; there are things I’d like to share with you but don’t because I recognize it would be harmful to the person who wrote them. But it doesn't occur to me that someone might struggle with a high volume of notes purely because it's a volume that they don't have a system in place to deal with the way I do.

So I said I'd do a writeup on the "entire ecosystems" I had in place for handling the high volume of interaction I receive online. I sit at a weird place where I'm not so well known that I can just ignore most of what comes at me with impunity because everyone acknowledges I can't answer it all, like say a youtube star. But at the same time I do get too much attention to return it at the same level I receive it. I am one and you are sixteen thousand. So I had to make systems to return as much as I could and feel okay about not returning the rest.

Reading through this, of course it sounds like a weird humblebrag: "Here's how I deal with my MASSIVE POPULARITY". There's no real way around that; I can't talk about how I deal with comments without talking about how I get a disproportionately high number of them. The fact that I do is what leads me to do things like the Zero Comment Challenge, or Radio Free Monday, to try and balance shit out. So, as I mention occasionally below, you can think I'm an asshole for talking about how I am popular, but I can't talk about how to deal with that popularity without acknowledging the reality of it, and someone somewhere's gonna think I'm an asshole anyway, so whatever.

These are the systems I use to manage my life -- work, play, the weird inbetween space that's kind of both. Many of these are akin to the systems that I use in managing my depression, in that they involve a lot of small steps building up to a big result, but each small step on its own is manageable.

Let's start with AO3, because it's actually probably the simplest.

I clean out my comments once a week. Usually there are between forty and a hundred and fifty, depending on if I’ve published something recently or been recommended by someone. 

I go through all the one-sentence comments first, because those are the ones that are least likely to require a response. I read all comments but I learned through trial and error, twice in ten years, that I am physically and emotionally incapable of responding to every comment I receive even if it's just with a "Thank you!" and I'm just going to live with the fact that people think I'm an asshole for that. Also while I appreciate someone who leaves a "Great fic! <3" comment, that's genuinely really cool and validating, I don't think they truly need or expect a response. So most one-line comments, unless they are super weird or contain a question, get read, appreciated, and then deleted. 

Then I go through the longer comments that need a closer reading, and delete any that are cool but still don't seem to require responses. If someone has left a ton of comments, I'll find the one I think is coolest or most needing of response, delete the others, and reply to that one comment with a thoughtful response including a line thanking them for all their other comments.

Finally, I respond to comments that are in-depth or have questions that require some thought. I find that if I don't respond to these on a weekly basis they pile up and then someone who asked a question like six months ago is still waiting for an answer, so this one is non-negotiable: my AO3 inbox has to be empty at the end of each week, and everything that needed a reply has to have one. (I do have one or two that just live in my inbox because they are cool ideas I will one day get round to writing, and I want to credit them when I do, but it's never more than two.) For me, it's easiest to wait until Friday or Saturday and just take an hour to clear them all out, rather than clearing as I go, because I don't have AO3 open all the time the way I do some other sites.  

Tumblr: Every morning, before work, I go through the previous night's responses; I open all reblogs/mentions in new tabs to read and reply-as-necessary, and I reply to all comments that need responses. (This is also something I'll do throughout the day, but especially if I'm tired or pressed for time, the comment replies might be saved as a draft or left in an open tab until I can get to them). Occasionally shit doesn’t show up or I miss stuff but I’ve learned to just live with that as the price of doing fandom on Tumblr. 

If there's a post by someone else that requires a response from me -- either a reblog of one of my posts, or someone tagged me in a post -- I Like it to find it later or I save it as a draft. I don't use Likes as anything other than "I want to be able to find this again in less than a week's time" and I never have more than about 20 Likes in my files. (Unless I’m traveling; it’s easier to Like something than save it as a draft or respond, so when I get home from traveling I often have 30-50 Likes in my file.)

Often on Tumblr I go through what I call the Line Cycle -- I read my dash, and then I go "down the line" and open all the other pages that might need attention, in specific order. I open asks and try to respond to a few -- I try to answer at least five every time but sometimes I don't manage to answer any for whatever reason -- then I open likes and try to convert as many likes as I can to either queued reblogs or drafts. I open drafts and try to convert some of those to queued reblogs. Then I go through the same process for one or two side blogs.

(Also in drafts are a lot of things that I'm not sure I want to put in my queue yet, or things that I put in the queue weekly like the Zero Comment Challenge post, which I dust off when I'm ready to queue it, then immediately re-save to drafts when it posts.)

Occasionally if I feel shit is getting out of hand I dedicate myself to, every time, not leaving the page I'm on until I've reduced its "count" (number of asks, likes, drafts, etc) by five, or at least to below the next multiple of five -- if I have 23, for example, I'll try to get it below 20.

Sometimes posts in tabs sit open for a while because in order to respond I have to read an article or watch a video, which take a lot of focus and attention. It used to be that recommendations for books or stuff to watch also sat open forever until I could get round to doing it, but now I just have a "reccs" file on the cloud that is a list of what I've been recommended and who recommended it, and I work my way through them slowly.

Email: Once I've read them, site notifications in my inbox get deleted; I've turned off follow/kudos notifications because they tend to be white noise.

Email is tough for me, it requires a lot of focus and emotional attention to answer emails, so I treat it the same way I would asks or likes or whatnot, but much more slowly. I tend to have a backlog of about thirty emails in my inbox, though often five to ten of those are emails that don't need response and that I'm saving (I star them to mark them as not needing attention). I have the multiple-stars function in Gmail turned on, and when it gets really bad, I start opening emails and triaging -- "This will be easier to answer" "This will take some time" etc. by starring them different colors.

I like to have no more than fifteen emails in my inbox but that is a rarity. 

The Internet: Because social media takes up a lot of my time and I also work eight hours a day (well, four, we'll get to that in a bit) I have streamlined the way I encounter the internet, as well. I have a list of "daily reading" bookmarks that I open every morning and check through -- the horoscope page, the mustard tag on tumblr (which I don't follow because then the same dumbass two hipster fashion posts keep showing up on my dash), a blog that follows and posts about new small flash games that I might enjoy playing, a few others. (I also have a Monday file that I open once a week, it's calendars of events and such, and I go through on Mondays and add anything to my calendar that looks interesting.)

But if I can, any regularly-updated page that has an RSS feed gets converted to RSS and put into my Netvibes reader account, where I peruse it at my leisure. The Netvibes reader account includes a direct feed from the Steve/Tony and Steve/Sam tags on AO3, plus a few others; longform.org, some cooking blogs I follow, a bunch of podcast pages, a few webcomics, and one or two tumblrs that I don't want showing up on my dash (mainly artists' porny sideblogs, what up you glorious pervs) or think I would make the person uncomfortable by following them.

I have five tabs pinned to Chrome at any given time, and four tabs pinned to Firefox. The Chrome tabs are my personal Netvibes, Google Drive, a Google Sheets spreadsheet with my calendar and accounting tabs in it, Gmail, and Tumblr. The Firefox tabs are a second Netvibes account I use for work (we have several news sources we all monitor daily), my non-fannish gmail, my non-fannish facebook with a custom reading page so I never see anything twice, and the Google "family calendar" that I and my family use to track where we all are and what we're doing.

My parents use this more than I do, which is why I often open the calendar app on my phone to check my work schedule and find that my parents are taking the dogs to the groomer's today (yes, I know I could turn this off, but it amuses me). When I introduced my mother to Google Calendar her eyes got super big and she fell in immediate love; the first three things she added were the birthdays of her two dogs, followed by the birthday of Jesus. I would be more insulted by this but I had already added all the family birthdays, so at least I didn't come in behind the dogs AND the Christ Child.

Once in a while, when I'm at work and I feel like I'm not sure what I should be doing or that my day is spiralling out of my control, I'll take a deep breath, pull up Chrome, and go through all my pinned tabs, one by one, changing or fixing something on each -- I'll clear out my Longform reading, answer a few emails, check the calendar, etc. Then I'll go through any open tabs and try to close at least one. I get anxious if I have more than five or six non-pinned tabs open. Like having an inbox that's rarely over thirty emails total, it's not a sign I'm more effective or efficient than anyone else, it's just a sign I'm debilitatingly anxious about this kind of thing.

Work: I've read, many times, that people who work eight hours a day in a white collar job like mine really only do four hours of actual work. And for a while I joked that I wondered if I even did four, because I dick around on the internet A LOT. But lately I started to genuinely wonder, and so for the past six weeks, I've put that statement to the test.

When I arrive at work, I immediately put in two hours of solid work. I don't read tumblr, I don't read anything but work-related material. I triage all my work emails, I go through my Google Task list for the day and sort things by most to least urgent, and then I work my way through them for two solid hours. It's not easy at all, but any time I think "This is when I would stop and read tumblr" I shake my head and try to do one more work thing, and then I get back in the groove and can do like, three more. I also use this first morning period to take care of "personal work", stuff which has to get done to keep my life running smoothly, like mailing packages or replying to my parents' emails or whatnot.

Then I get a half-hour break to read tumblr, play a flash game, maybe read a piece on Longform. (I don't read fanfic at work; I sometimes clean out Netvibes of fics that from the tags and summaries I know I won't be interested in, but I don't open fanfic at work at all.) I also use this time to get some food in me.

Then I do another two hours of work, same deal. And that's four hours of work. And I get a shitload done, let me tell you.

For the next three hours after, I am basically free to do whatever I want. I usually use about an hour to do some freelance work, and I spend time on tumblr or on personal email, reading articles, listening to podcasts, playing games. I eat a snack, I talk to my coworkers. I find I actually run out of new stuff to read, and I do try to process the old stuff, like empty out my drafts and likes. And of course the nature of my job means that sometimes there is work to be done that comes up suddenly, but it's usually just a matter of teeing it up for the following morning's work shift.

For the last hour of my work day, I go through my work inbox, make sure everything's set up for tomorrow, send any last emails, do any last wrap-up, and make sure all my documents are either saved or closed. (Our IT team likes to run updates and involuntary restarts without warning, so I've learned to always save at end of day.)

So, yeah. Those are some of the systems I have in place in order to run a very mentally busy life. I'm not necessarily recommending them; a lot of them won't work for everyone because everyone is different, and I recognize that some of them are inapplicable (I work a job with no outward-facing element to it; a barista or a librarian or a teacher can't do what I do, schedule-wise), and some of them are a level of regimentation I'm not sure most people would find healthy. But that's how I do my thing, and maybe some of my techniques will sound appealing to other people who occasionally feel, as I do, like they're drowning a little bit.

(Did you find this useful or interesting? Keep me organized and drop some change in my Ko-Fi or at my Paypal!)

[beatrice-otter]

An Open Letter to AO3 Regarding Fandom Tagging Changes

ETA: Checking the archive this morning, I found that the Wonder Woman (2017) tag no longer redirects to DCEU, but takes you directly to Wonder Woman (2017).  Also, someone said that even last night, you could (from the DCEU page) click on the "Fandoms" list on the sidebar and filter to just Wonder Woman (2017), but I don't know if that worked last night when the tags were merged, because in my poking around in disbelief, I forgot the 'filter by fandom' option on the sidebar.  I am writing another message to support thanking them for fixing the issue.

ETA 2: @melannen checked with the DCEU taggers and confirmed that redirecting the Wonder Woman (2017) tag was a mistake and not part of an overarching plan for DCEU or any other megafandom.  Somebody clicked the wrong button, I guess, and they fixed it as soon as they figured out it had happened.  Thank you to all the people working hard at tag wrangling and support to keep the archive going, and fix problems like this.

My original letter is below the read-more.

This is what I just sent off to AO3's Support. Hi!  First, before I get started, I want you to know that I have loved AO3 since its beginning.  I know how huge an endeavor it is, and how much work goes on behind the scenes (all of it on a volunteer basis), and I am grateful for it.  I also understand that there are situations where there is no good answer to a problem because of either technical issues behind the scenes or conflicting needs/wants of users, and I actively try to be charitable in how I interpret the decisions the archive makes, for the reasons stated above.  I know that large fandom trees were straining your servers, and you needed to find a solution. The flexibility of the tagging structure on AO3 is about 90% of the reason I love the archive.  And by that I mean, the ability to use tags to find EXACTLY what I want to read, instead of slogging through hundreds (or thousands, in some fandoms) of fics I am not interested, is THE MAJOR THING AO3 has always (until now) done better than any other fic archive or website.  My main frustrations with the archive have been when tags aren't granular enough--when I want them to be more specific than they are.  For example, when I wish that character tags were filtered by whether someone was a major or minor character in the story, or when I'm trying to find fic specifically about X-Men: Days of Future Past and get redirected to all XMFC fic.  And I don't think I'm alone in this.   So any change to make them less granular, even when it might make the back end run smoother, is a big problem for me. In particular, your that solution to current tagging woes (merging sub-fandom tags into one over-arching fandom tag) has broken the archive for me in some of my fandoms, and (if it is rolled out across other fandoms in the same way) will break all of those fandoms for me, rendering the archive virtually useless for doing anything other than reading fic I have already bookmarked. As a first step, merging the individual movies of the Star Wars Original Trilogy together into one tag is a pretty good decision, and I was actually surprised that it hadn't been done already.  It works because the three movies of that trilogy tell one unified story with pretty much the same characters.  There may be people who love one movie in it and hate the others, but I've never met any; and the fandom has not historically split along intra-trilogy lines.  There are very few people who, when they click on "Return of the Jedi" and get all OT fics, are going to be seriously upset or discommoded by it (and many who would actually PREFER to get all fics in that trilogy).  So when I saw the tumblr post saying you were going to do that, I went, "oh, yeah, good idea, that makes sense," and went about my day.  I assumed that other instances of merging things would be similarly merging things that were already a unified fannish category with little individual distinction and went on about my business. Then I found out that all of the DCEU movies have been merged together into one fandom.  That, my friends, is  WHOLE DIFFERENT BALL OF WAX.  Unlike the three movies of the OT, there are NO characters that are shared between all DCEU movies.  There are no overarching plot threads between them all.  There are MAJOR differences in plot, characters, theme, and many other points, between these movies.  It is quite possible to love one movie, and hate, loathe, and despise another.  There are LARGE swathes of the fandom that don't overlap.  There are many people, like me, who love one movie, like another, and actively try to avoid other movies in that megafandom.  This is quite common for megafandoms.  Every megafandom I'm familiar with--Star Wars, DC Comics, Marvel Comics, MCU, Stargate, DCEU, Star Trek--is too varied for people to like all of it equally; you end up with a handful of people who genuinely like the whole thing and most people who focus on parts of it.  Except now, there's no way to separate out the stuff you ACTUALLY want to see from all the OTHER mass of stuff in the megafandom.  And while that's not that big a deal in a small fandom where there isn't much fic to sort through anyway, it's a pretty BIG problem in a megafandom with is, you know, MEGA, with lots of fic. For example, I LOVE Wonder Woman (2017), am only occasionally interested in in the DCEU Superman and Justice League movies, and am only willing to read Suicide Squad fic if it's a Harley Quinn story that's mostly comics canon with a few Suicide Squad details.  With the old way the archive was organized, this was not a problem.  I could regularly look through the Wonder Woman (2017) tag for new fic, dip into Superman and Justice League on the rare occasions that I was in the mood for Batfleck and Cavilman, and pretty much never have to deal with anything Suicide Squad.  Now, I click on Wonder Woman (2017), and instead of getting pages of exactly what I want, I get the entire DCEU.  On that first page of 20 fics, there are currently only four that I would even be interested in considering reading.  Your tag change has dropped my rate of finding interesting things from 100% to 20%.  That is an 80% reduction in my ease of finding fic.  An 80% reduction in how useful your tagging system is. Let me repeat that: your new tagging system has decreased the usefulness of this archive by 80%. We're not talking, "oh, a small reduction in user satisfaction for a HUGE gain in back-end functionality."  I don't know how much easier this makes things on the back-end for you, but it is a FRICKING HUGE reduction in foundational ease-of-use for the entire site.  This is not a minor change.  This makes the most basic function of the site--finding fic to read--80% harder.  The only scenario in which I would view this as a workable solution--not a good solution, mind you, but one that I could accept--is if it was literally a choice between this and closing the archive. Let's talk about what my use of the archive would have to look like going forward if this change is maintained and expanded, so you can see what I mean.  Up until this change, if I wanted Wonder Woman fic, I clicked on the tag and got it!  Now I can't do that.  So my options are: 1) slogging through the entire DCEU, 80% of which I don't want.  This is the only way to be sure I see every Wonder Woman fic I actually want.   Problem: it will take me at least 80% longer to find stuff I ACTUALLY want.  So, I would be less likely to look for new fic, and more likely to just go re-read old favorites, because it's so much quicker to do.   As a reader and a writer, this is a problem for me, because I do want to read new fic, and I want other people to be able to find MY new fic. 2) putting together a long string of boolean search terms, probably based on characters.  So, for example, I couldn't just search for "Diana (Wonder Woman)" because she appears in too much Justice League and Batman Vs. Superman fic (which I very seldom want to read).  Searching for her would be better than just DCEU, because I wouldn't get Suicide Squad, but it would still be a ton of slogging through fics I don't want.  I could search for "Diana (Wonder Woman)" and use the "Search within results" box to exclude Justice League and Batman and Superman.   But that would miss any fics about Etta Candy or Steve Trevor or Hippolyta or any other Amazon in which Diana didn't appear.  So, then, maybe use boolean search terms for Diana OR Steve OR Etta OR Hippolyta, and eliminating Justice League and Batman and Superman.  Except that would still miss any fic that is, say, general worldbuilding for Themyscira, that doesn't have Diana or Hippolyta in it.  And I love worldbuilding, but not everybody tags for it.  Do I have to build up a boolean search string for EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER IN THE MOVIE in the hopes of catching everything?  How many boolean terms can I use at once?  Or do I need to run several separate searches, which would mean sorting through a lot of these fics multiple times, as they would pop up under multiple search strings?  I would STILL probably end up missing things that I would be interested in, and it would take A SHIT-TON of extra effort on my part.  Far more effort, for less reward.  And, again, as both a reader who wants to find new fic and as a writer who wants other people to be able to find MY fic when I write it, everything about this is terrible. 3. Use AO3 Savior to do some of the filtering for me.  I don't know, blacklisting some tags would probably cut down on the number of boolean terms to rack up, but then I would have to go in and un-blacklist things on the rare occasions I actually wanted to read Batfleck fic.  But this would become of less and less utility as people stopped tagging for individual movies and just tagged everything with the current canonical metatag for DCEU.  Also: there is only one site I know if in which browser extensions are required to make the site useable, and that is tumblr which is a shambling hellscape of a site.  Is that AO3's new goal?  To become as user-hating as tumblr?  Because while I appreciate how hard you guys work, that's what this change feels like. Now, I know you may be reading all this and going, "well, yeah, Wonder Woman fic is a problem, but you won't even notice the changes in most fandoms!" Let me present to you a list of the fandoms I have read the most of over the last year: Star Wars (but only some parts of that fandom, and not others) Star Trek (but only some parts of that fandom, and not others) MCU (but only some parts of that fandom, and not others) Wonder Woman (but not the rest of the DCEU) DC Comics (but only some parts of that fandom, and not others) Rivers of London And much as I love Rivers of London, I've spent a LOT more time reading fic in those other fandoms, because there's simply so much more of it, even when you only count the small pieces of each megafandom I'm interested in. What this means is that if you keep this tagging change and roll it out to other megafandoms, you will SERIOUSLY AND FUNDAMENTALLY BREAK how I use the archive.  And given a) how many other people on this archive are in megafandoms and b) how large a percentage of the people in megafandoms only read fic in one corner of that megafandom ... you are seriously and fundamentally breaking the websites functionality for a very large percentage of your userbase. At one fell swoop, you turn AO3 from an archive I love and support (including financially) to an archive I hope is replaced (soon) with something better, because it's a pain in the ass pretty much every time I try to use it.  Please, please, please, find some other way to fix the problem.  If you need money for more servers, or to hire a professional coder to do some serious backend changes to make things workable with the old tagging structure, I'd be fine with that and I would contribute to any fundraiser you did.  Your current choice is not a solution, it's a nightmare.

comments Comment? http://ift.tt/2EUYkRw

#archive of our own #ao3 #wonder woman #fanfic #fanfiction

[spockslash]

I was tagged by two friends:  @falsepremise and @burning--amber   -- thank you both for thinking of me!

1) How many works in progress do you have?

I’ve got a lot of old fan fic partly transcribed into this new internet medium, and it’s driving me mad. I need to focus on one and get it completely finished. 

New work in progress: one short story, which has turned into a longish story, which tends to happen to me.

Also, a half-dozen or so story ideas scrawled in a notebook, in response to art I’ve seen on tumblr, but these aren’t active work yet.

2) Do you/would you write fanfiction?

I suspect this post started out in some strange land where people DON’T write fan fiction.  So...um, yes.

3) Do you prefer paper books or ebooks?

I like both. I enjoy having multiple books on one tablet when I’m traveling, but reading on a screen definitely tires my eyes quickly.

4) When did you start writing?


Fifth grade, I think. I used to spend much of my free time at my little wooden desk in my bedroom, writing in pencil on lined school tablets. 

5) Do you have someone you trust that you share your work with?

I used to be blessed with wonderful writing friends. My writing circles (I had several over the years) were central to my life through the 1960s and 70s. My late husband was also a trusted reader whose intelligent criticism I counted on.  I miss those days; it’s much harder, I’m finding, to write without someone whose opinion I trust implicitly to share my early drafts with. 

6) Where is your favorite place to write?

Back when I was juggling work, then motherhood, then a career, with my writing life, I had a home office that was something of a sacred space. 

But my favorite memories of writing are all the writing retreats that friends and I used to take. A weekend in a hotel somewhere, or a cabin, where we wrote and read each other's work with no interruptions. 

Now, after a 30-something-year hiatus, I’m still trying to figure out a new space and routine that feels right.

7) Favorite childhood book?

Golly, that was a long time ago! No one book stands out -- though what I do remember is wanting to read science fiction, but girls weren’t allowed to check it out of the school library; and on the rare times I went to the public library with a parent, I wouldn’t have dared. So in late elementary school through middle school, I was forever hiding in the stacks with a science fiction book hidden inside another bigger book.   

8) Writing for fun or publication?


Both, 40-50 years ago. Now definitely just for fun.

9) Pen and paper or computer?


I write everything longhand, pen on lined paper -- even my tumblr posts. When I’ve got it right, then I type it into the computer. It amazes me how young people can compose right onto a screen.

I’m finding it unsettling to see my fiction as a series of scrolling lines on a computer screen, without boundaries. Making use of the aesthetic of lines and space on the printed page is important to me.

10) Have you ever taken any writing classes?


Yes, classes and workshops. I learned a lot from them.

11) What inspires you to write?

Back when I was doing it regularly, pretty much daily, it was habit and discipline as much as inspiration. 

Since discovering online fandom, I’m inspired by a lot of fan art I see.

*

Rather than tagging anyone in particular, can I ask a favor of all my writing friends reading this post?  If it’s something you’d like to do, I’d love it if you would either complete these questions for yourself or tell me something about yourself as a writer. I’d especially love to know if you post writing on ao3 or k/s archive, and what your name is on those sites. Be sure to tag me so I can find your post!

I won’t be able to respond to most of you directly, but I would read every tagged post with genuine interest!  

#fan writing #I often wish I knew who people I know on tumblr are over on ao3 #and I am curious about all of you #fandom grandma says

[skittidyne]

tagged by @lethesomething! thanks darling

1. How did you come up with your username and what does it mean?

hahaha. i’ve been stuck with “skitty” as a name since 05, but i went from “digital skitty” to “skittidyne” when i made the jump to tumblr. i wanted something that wasn’t my “professional” name, but could still be skitty-ish, and so i decided to throw some persona into the mix, because that’s how i be. 

“skitty” is a pokemon and the “-dyne” suffix is the highest tier of attack spell in the persona series. and it looked better with an i rather than a y. so i guess i’m the highest tier of skitty spell!

2. Which fanfic of yours has the most feedback? (bookmarks/subscriptions/hits/kudos).

pedestal hands down. (bbac isn’t even half as popular by any of those categories.) 

3. What is your AO3 profile icon, and why did you choose it?

it’s ryoji from persona 3! i chose it because... i love ryoji... even when i was drawing regularly, i rarely used my own art as my icons anywhere, except dA or actual art-hosting sites. 

4. Do you have any regular/favourite commenters?

oh god i know i’m going to leave people out, and I LOVE YOU ALL, but beechichi liveblogs shit to me on twitter, curiouslylazy leaves me comments longer than chapters, greatdanesandpandas leaves me amazing capslocked comments across several of my stories, haruhi02 and rd both leave AMAZING liveblog type comments on bbac, and unexpectedly but delightfully like every commenter on the kamafuta fake dating story is like, so kind and nice. (upside to writing a rarepair!) 

but i love all of my commenters and there are LOTS i’m missing here and trust me i do notice who comments regularly and across several stories ;; 

5. Is there a fanfic that you keep going back to read again and again?

ghost story, character development, sayuri, a heart swelled to bursting, settling down, the thirty-six stratagems of wáng jìngzé ... a lot of smut fics... (a lot of smut fics)

6. How many stories are you subscribed to? How many do you have bookmarked?

211 subscribed to, and 112 bookmarks on ao3! 88 bookmarks on ff.net.

7. Which AU do you find yourself writing the most?

i mean. bbac, i guess. i like things with a magical slant, but i don’t ever stick around the exact same universe for multiple stories? 

8. How many people are subscribed and bookmarked to you in total? (you can view this on the stats page)

285 subscriptions to me, idk how to check how many are bookmarked to me? can you bookmark authors on ao3? 727 subscribed & 1043 faved on ff.net though. 

9. Is there something you’d like to write about but are afraid of people judging you for it? (Feeling brave? If so, share it!)

hmm. i’d love to write a mafia/yakuza au one day, but i’m not sure i’m afraid of ppl judging me. i think i just don’t want to do that much research. i’d also love to write a sugaring au one day, if only out of PURE BITTERNESS, but that’s a lot of smut to write, and i’m afraid i’d probably start fights in the comments section. 

there’s not a lot i’m more scared of writing compared to other things, i guess. 

10. Is there anything you would like to be better at? Writing certain scenes or genres, replying to comments, updating better, etc.

commenting! leaving comments would be nice. truthfully, i’d like to work on my personal self-discipline when it comes to writing and getting things done, even though my output is pretty high imo. also, i guess romance writing. 

11. Do you write rarepairs or popular ships more often?

uhhhhhh. i never purposefully do either, and in naruto fandom i spent some time in rarepair hell, and apparently kamafuta is a fuckin rarepair so i’m again sitting in that lonely little boat, but i also tend toward more popular ships in hq fandom, at least. both? probably popular ships? 

12. How many stories have you posted on AO3 to this day (finished and unfinished)?

27 on ao3! 

13. How many stories do you have saved in/with your writing program?

uhhhhhhhhhhhhh. if we’re going to get technical about it... 

counting side story collections as 1 “story”, i got: 

61 on googledocs, 16 more on my harddrive. 

i don’t want to meet anyone’s eye right now

14. Do you write down story ideas, or just keep them in your head?

i ABSOLUTELY keep them in my head. if i start writing ANYTHING down, even if it’s notes or title ideas or character ideas, i know i’ve already lost the war, and i’m committed to writing something. 

15. Have you ever co-authored a story?

yep! oh it puts the heart in my chest on wings was with the amazing @h-lovely and where the wild things go was with the lovely @kaiyouchan!

also, technically @tarotdactyl is listed as a co-author on operation: poison tree frog, because it’s his fault, but i’m technically the one doing all of the writing for it. for some reason

16. How did you discover AO3?

i mean, i was on lj and ff.net. things migrated. i don’t remember specifically how it happened. 

17. Do you consider yourself to be a popular or famous author in your fandom(s) on AO3?

shrug emoji... i suppose i am? i think i still am in pokemon fandom, i know i’m not in naruto fandom, and i don’t even know anymore in hq fandom. (i guess only hq fandom matters on ao3)

18. Do you have a nickname or fandom name for your readers?

skittens!! 

19. Was there an author who inspired or encouraged you to write?

@avoidingavoidance and @silvercistern are #writing goals, and while she’s only just writing now herself, my mother has always been a devoted supporter of my writing. past that, it was just reader feedback that kept me goin’ onward. 

20. What writing advice would you give to a beginning author?

KEEP WITH IT. COMMIT TO YOUR IDEA. there is no such thing as a bad idea, and even “bad” ideas, if committed to, can turn into FANTASTIC stories/characters/arcs. absolutely keep going, no matter what. 

21. Do you plot out your stories, or do you just figure it out as you go?

both, haha. i’m trying to get outlines more and more these days, mostly because i guess i’m working with others and for some reason they can’t read my mind. hm. 

22. Have you ever gotten a bad comment on a story? If so, what did you do?

dude, i was in the pokemon fandom when farla was still around. 

yeah, i’ve gotten things that could be considered “flames”. i’ve accidentally started a ship war, and i’ve gotten nasty shipping-related comments on stories, too. hell, i’ve fought with readers over that sort of thing before. 

i’ve also had rude commenters, commenters who probably just didn’t know any better, and commenters who missed the point so badly i had to go scream into a pillow. it happens. 

for the most part, i try to respond to comments/reviews, because that’s how i was raised on the internet. i try to be polite and pleasant these days, but i’ll put my foot down. i try not to be rude or mean, though. 

23. Is there a certain type of scene that you have a hard time writing? (action, smut, etc..)

smut. it’s always goddamn smut. 

romance in general, though. i’m good with the emotional intimacy and casual physical intimacy, but half the time i end up with more of that between the best friend characters than the ships, so... i dunno. i’d like to be more comfortable writing romance, up to and DEFINITELY including smut. 

24. What story(s) are you working on now?

bbac, political intrigue, magical girl au, fake dating au, and a couple of random oneshots. 

25. Do you plan your next project(s) before you finish your current ongoing story(s)?

look, i ain’t happy if i’m not juggling projects. so i guess that’s a given. 

26. Do you have a daily writing goal set for yourself?

only during nanowrimo! some days, i don’t write a word, and other days, i’m easily in the thousands. i’m content with either, because i can only force it so often. 

27. Do you think you’ve improved as a writer since you first started?

absolutely. even when it feels like i’m stagnating with that dreaded 67-75% of the story completed zone, i know every word i write betters me as an author. 

28. What is your favorite story that you’ve written?

oh man, that’s so hard... mostly, that comes down less to emotion, and more to “what was easiest for me to write”... 

maybe pedestal. but maybe only because i’ve been feeling nostalgic lately, and it’s easy to love a story once it’s completed. 

29. What is your least favorite story that you’ve written?

haha i don’t want to say

30. Where do you see yourself (as a writer) in 5 years?

finishing bbac

completed trilogy & completed standalone original novels completed, probably in a new fandom, probably agonizing over yet another 500k novel fanfic

31. What is the easiest thing about writing?

momentum!! god, when you have it, EVERYTHING IS AWESOME

32. What is the hardest thing about writing?

trying to keep momentum... actually, probably, forcing yourself through a scene you KNOW has to get done and you even know what happens in it, but it’s just not happening. bleh. 

33. Why do you write?

for the attention and monetary gain (๑꒪▿꒪)* 

nah, it’s to share stories with people. i like ideas, i like turning ideas into bigger ideas, and i like people’s reactions to those ideas. it’s like friendship sharing except i don’t have to be social! <3 

i’m not tagging anyone directly but if you are an author type and like being tagged then grab this UP!

#tagged meme #this was really fun

[katnissdoesnotfollowback]

Tag you're it! Please read a chapter, drabble, one shot, or whatever and leave a review for the writer with your thoughts! We could all use a little positivity as we head back into another week :) Tag five others when you're done! Thank you 😙

I love this idea so much and smile every time I get one of these in my inbox. I’ve left this neglected for so long because I wanted to actually have it done and post links to the stories because we could all use more love and more Everlark in our lives. Ugh, so sorry. Okay, so here are the most recent fics that I’ve read and highly recommend you read them too if you haven’t already:

Silver Thaw by @eala-musings: I am a total sucker for a well written Everlark in the Dark Days fic. If you are, too...READ THIS NOW. Silver Thaw is a delight to read, emotional and poignant. The world building is drool worthy, and she somehow managed to give them a believable happy ending.

Wanted by @peetaspikelets: This was a re-read as I first read it for @mores2sl this past October, but it is so worth multiple readings. The relationship development accomplished in a relatively small word count is astounding. And the smut...have your fire extinguisher ready. You’re going to need it.

Karma by @pookieh: Another re-read, but again, totally worth the time. This one started as a drabble here on tumblr and is finally posted to AO3 and FF for ease of access. Love, love, LOVE the flirting and the banter between them. Characters are on point, and again...smoking hot smut. Right now, it’s three chapters, but there are rumors of a fourth, and you will not hear a breath of complaint out of me if pookie delivers that fourth chapter.

Quicksilver by @finnicko-loves-anniec: This one is a WIP and my latest find, but I dove in anyways because historical/Regency era trashy romance novels have long been my guilty pleasure. No seriously, I used to read them like they were literary crack. Sadly, at this point, I’ve read so many that it’s difficult to find one that feels unique or special. Apparently, the trick is to add Everlark because I am already in love with this story. Katniss has this fabulous inner monologue that’s already led into great banter with Peeta. Let the sparks fly off the screen!!!

The Firebird and The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude by @wanderleave: Give me five million ballet fics and I’ll be a happy camper. These are here together because I read The Firebird last year??? but anyways, Vertiginous Thrill is it’s sequel, and although it is not completed yet, it’s off to a great start. There is so much emotion packed into the descriptions of them dancing together it is basically like watching the dance unfold on the page. She literally had me in tears at several points in the first installment. Also...the DRAMA!

Unconditional by @titaniasfics: A touch of supernatural, a splash of soulmates, lots of love, gorgeous prose, and Everlark on borrowed time. My kind of fic, but not for the faint of heart.

If you’ve not done so already, go check out the wonderful pieces being put up through the @everlarkficexchange, which also has an AO3 collection HERE, and also over at @loveinpanem. Bless the ladies running these sites for keeping up stocked with fresh content and inspiration.

Other than getting caught up on the stories posted for the two challenge sites mentioned above, here’s what’s next up on my reading list:

The Firebird by @thegirlfromoverthepond

Hello by @peetabreadgirl

Capitol Life by @javistg

Portrait of a Victor by @sponsormusings: A reread, but I was really bad about leaving comments the first time around. Boo.

#so many fics #so little time #javistg #look at that ask

[my-one-love-is-music]

Too Obvious

Summary: In hindsight, Levi realized that the two of them really weren't doing anything to hid their relationship from their fans on Tumblr. They'd just fallen into a rhythm and everything else seemed to fall into place with it. 

Time for another installation of the fic verse!!! It's been so long since I worked with the universe I set up, but better late than never, right?

Hope you enjoy some more from our hopeless nerds.

Also on AO3!

               It had quickly become routine, interacting with Eren after the two of them had really gotten serious with each other after they started dating. Levi hadn’t thought much about the increase in skype conversations that they’d had or the fact that they weren’t afraid to tag each other in posts at all or have somewhat public conversations, despite the fact that none of Levi’s fans knew what he looked like or much about his personal life beyond the small snippets that he would give if he was running late on an update or someone sent him an ask wanting to know how he was doing.

               Eren’s fanart output had also increased now that he was on break and had more time to draw, which he was never afraid to indulge in with Levi’s fics either. Most of their fans followed both of them so it didn’t take long before questions began to arise about the two of them. People wondered when they’d become such good friends and how long they’d known each other and if they interacted in real life. None of these questions had been asked directly to either of them so Levi saw no need to answer and he assumed that Eren just failed to see the conversations that were happening on Tumblr since he tended to get so absorbed in his projects and other things.

               That is, until someone reblogged one of Eren’s pieces of art from him and added quite a compromising comment in the tags.

 #this is so cute #I love the fic this is for too #kaydensweet15 #ISwearTheseTwoAreDating

                 The last one had made him stop in his tracks and he had to read it over a couple of times before he was sure of what he was seeing. Interested to get Eren’s opinion on the whole thing, he sent him the post through messenger.

 Humanity’s Strongest: Look at the tags on this post. What do you think?

                 While he waited for a response, he clicked on the blog and started skimming through their posts to see if they made any other mention of him and Eren, curious as to how far these theories and claims had spread among the people on the site. There were times when he was still surprised by how diverse and widespread his readership was and the fact that this had grown so much wasn’t something that he’d been expecting. He wasn’t surprised to find multiple conversations between the blogger and the person who they’d mentioned in the tags. Thankfully, there wasn’t anything discussed that was explicit and it was mostly the two of them bouncing ‘what if’ situations off each other and referencing several posts made by Eren and Levi wherein they interacted with each other.

               Levi honestly hadn’t even noticed the growing attention placed on the two of them, either. They both remained pretty tight-lipped about their lives outside of the internet so he wasn’t worried about something weird happening if he did happen to know someone who followed him in real life. That line of thinking always made him feel a bit strange. He could easily pass one of his readers on the street and never know it and they wouldn’t either.

               His messenger notification brought him back to the conversation at hand and he closed out of the blog he was looking at to check Eren’s response.

 Jaegermeister: Huh. I never considered that our interactions on Tumblr could somehow be suggestive of our actual relationship.

 HS: What do you think we should do? Should we address this or just leave it alone?

 JM: I don’t think we need to address it until someone brings it to our attention directly. From there, I don’t really mind if they know that we’re dating. It’s not like they know who we are off the internet so it shouldn’t bother me unless they start asking really inappropriate questions about our relationship which, considering the type of people who follow us and the stuff they read, is a possibility.

                 Levi sat back and thought over Eren’s words. He hadn’t expected him to have that much to say about it and he honestly agreed with him.

 HS: I agree. For now it’s probably fine that we just keep doing what we’ve been doing.

 JM: Nice. You still free to skype later?

 HS: Yeah.

 JM: I’ll see you then. I’d love to keep chatting, but I need to get back to working on my new drawing.

 HS: It’s scary how much the two of us are workaholics, isn’t it?

 JM: Yeah, a bit. But what we do makes us happy so I’m not about to complain. Plus, your work is amazing and I definitely wouldn’t be at the level I’m at now without your writing as inspiration.

                 Levi felt himself flush and become embarrassed over the praise. He was glad that Eren wasn’t there in person to see his reaction. Eren always threw out his praise out easily, like he thought it wouldn’t make Levi freeze and obsess over the words or wouldn’t mean as much to him as it really did.

 HS: Well I need to get back to work.

                 He hurriedly clicked back to the open Word document that he was working in and got back to his chapter, trying, and failing, to push Eren’s words from his mind. A pretty important part of his story was coming up and he wanted to make sure that he dealt with it just right. He’d been waiting to get to this moment for a long time and he wasn’t about to let anything distract him from getting it perfect, even if he had to rewrite it and rework it a hundred times over and delay his posting.

                 A few days passed and Levi had pretty much forgotten about the conversation that he’d had with Eren and the rumors that were floating around among their fans. He hadn’t noticed any more comments in the tags of posts or any other posts that were written specifically about their relationship and hadn’t received any messages or asks detailing the aspects of his relationship with his boyfriend. His new chapter and his boyfriend were both keeping him pretty occupied so there wasn’t much space left in his brain for other thoughts and he was forced to prioritize more than usual and pushing aside unimportant concerns didn’t bother him anyway.

               He’d been so focused on his writing that he almost missed the sound of a new message notification on Tumblr. When he looked at the message he was starting to wonder why he kept the website open in the first place when he was trying to work. Probably because he was addicted to it, as shitty as it could be sometimes it did get him to his current status as a fanfic writer so he couldn’t really complain.

 JM: So…

                 He groaned. This was going to be one of those times when it took forever for Eren to message him because he was trying to figure his thoughts out as he was typing. He’d have to give up on working on his new chapter since he was sure that every time he got back into the groove of writing, he’d just get another message. He wished there was a way to change the tone of the notification to make it sound more ominous. He felt like he’d need it with all the directions this conversation might go.

 JM: I know that we just talked about this and came to an agreement on how we would deal with it.

                 Levi’s brow furrowed. They’d talked about a lot of things over the past few days. One of which were his plans to visit him later in the summer. Was he rethinking that? Or was this something totally different? This was why he hated not talking over the phone or face to face when Eren was trying to get his thoughts in order.

 JM: But I finally got the ask.

 JM: About us, I mean.

                 Levi’s brain immediately returned to the conversation that they’d had about this and how they began to realize that their fans were becoming suspicious and typed out a quick reply.

 HS: Oh. What does it say?

 JM: Nothing bad. Just some anon sent “Not to be rude and it’s totally fine if you don’t want to answer, but are you by any chance dating Humanity’s Strongest?”

 HS: That’s it? Really?

 JM: Yeah, it’s not bad at all. So before I answer it, I just wanted to check one more time that you’re okay with me telling them that we are in fact dating.

 HS: Sorry, but I have no recollection of the two of us dating. You must be making this up.

 JM: LEVI!!!

 JM: What do you mean?

 JM: LEEEEEVIIIIIII!!!!!

 JM: Don’t be mean!!!

                 Levi smirked and quickly typed out a response to stop Eren’s barrage of messages. He always enjoyed teasing him.

 HS: Yes, it’s fine. You can tell them that we’re dating.

 JM: Good because I already did.

 HS: You already…

 HS: Then what did you bother asking me for?

 JM: Calm down. I just did it a second ago when you were being mean. It was out of spite.

                 Levi rolled his eyes.

 HS: Sorry. Eren who? What boyfriend? I’m sorry, but I have no idea who you are and am going to block you.

 JM: Levi!!!

 JM: LEVIIII!!!!

                 He ignored him and went back to editing his newest chapter. He was pretty happy with how things were turning out with it and couldn’t have imagined a better scenario for his characters to work with. It was a satisfying chapter to write and he couldn’t wait for the reactions and comments to hear what everyone else thought about it.

               Until his skype started ringing. His head fell down to the coffee table that he was seated at with a groan and he reluctantly accepted the call.

               “Yes?” he asked.

               “You’re mean,” Eren said, petulantly.

               “Is that all you needed?” Levi asked, turning his head to get a glimpse of Eren’s pouting face.

               He blinked at him. “Well, not really. I just wanted to see how you were doing and thought we could hang out on skype for a while.”

               Levi rubbed the back of his neck. “If you really want to. I was just in the middle of editing my new chapter so I don’t know how much talking I’ll be doing for a while.”

               “Oh yeah. This is the big one, right? The chapter that you’ve been looking forward to?”

               “Yeah,” Levi said, leaning back against the couch and pulling his knees to his chest to rest his chin on them.

               “Think you could read me a little preview?”

               “Just because you’re my boyfriend doesn’t mean that you get special treatment over the rest of my readers. You get to see it when everyone else gets to see it.”

               Eren laughed at that. “Fine, fine. I knew I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up. I’ll just have to wait until you’re here and then I can sneak glances of your writing as you work and I pretend to work on my drawings.”

               “Keep thinking that and I won’t be working on my fics at all while I’m there.”

               Eren rolled his eyes. “I’ll be good, I promise. And it really won’t bother me if you don’t do any work while you’re here. I just care that you actually show up and we can spend some much needed time together.”

               “Because we don’t already spend so much time together? If we’re not messaging each other then we’re texting, and if we’re not texting, then we’re on skype with each other either working or watching a movie. Don’t even get me started on all of the interactions and cross-posting we do of each other on Tumblr. It’s really no wonder that everyone was starting to put the pieces together that we were dating. In hindsight, we really were that obvious.”

               “Fine, some in-person time together. Geez, stop analyzing every little thing that I say,” Eren complained.

               “Can’t. It’s too much fun. Plus it’s the writer in me and I love when you get all flustered,” Levi said, pulling up his web browser that already had Tumblr open. He refreshed his feed and scrolled through the posts that came up, finally landing on the ask that Eren had answered about their relationship.

 Anonymous asked: Hi, I don’t mean to be rude or anything and it’s fine if you don’t want to answer this since it’s sort of personal, but are you by any chance dating the fic writer Humanity’s Strongest? You two just seem pretty close and I was curious.

 Hey anon! In fact, I am actually dating HS. We’ve been together for a couple of months now since he asked me out. I guess I shouldn’t really be surprised that everyone who follows the two of us has noticed since we haven’t exactly been subtle, but the time we’ve spent together so far has been absolutely amazing and even though we’ve only been together a short while, I can’t imagine what my life would be like without him anymore. Turns out drawing fanart does actually get you places with your favs, haha. : D

                 Levi propped his chin in his hand and read over the words several times, turning them over in his head. He didn’t know that Eren had felt so strongly about the two of them, but he was glad that he wasn’t the only one. This relationship, as crazy as the circumstances were that brought it into existence, was more than he could ever ask for.

               “Levi? Levi?!” Eren exclaimed.

               He started at the sound of his name and moved back to his skype window where Eren was watching him intently.

               “Everything okay? You were kind of zoned out there.”

               “Fine,” he said and went back to Tumblr as Eren continued to talk. He quickly liked Eren’s post before moving on.

               “Okay…well you should see some of these responses to my…” his voice trailed off and Levi intently tried to ignore his quickening heartbeat. “Hey, Levi?”

               “Yeah?” he asked, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible even as his insides twisted and turned and somersaulted over themselves for his attention.

               “I really like you.” And damn it all if the fondness in Eren’s voice didn’t just make his insides feel like they were simultaneously melting and constricting.

               “I’d hope so,” Levi said, trying and failing to sound snarky and lighten up the situation. It was crazy how much he liked Eren. “We are dating after all.” It’d only been a few short months, but each moment they’d been together had felt like it held the power of lifetimes. All the months that they’d anonymously interacted on AO3 and Tumblr between art and fic had really been leading them to this moment.

               They’d subtly and slowly gotten to know each other so much further in advance that when the time came where they began to interact more directly, it would’ve been surprising if they hadn’t fallen for each other. Hell, they were probably halfway there when Eren sent him that first message on Tumblr. Levi had found solace in their skype conversations and texting and had been caught staring on more than one occasion when he was so distracted by watching Eren. He could never stop himself from staring at the cute little creases that formed on his forehead when he was concentrating intensely on some new piece of artwork and trying to get the style and details just right and worked to commit them to memory or wonder how he would go about describing them if Eren was one of his characters.

               Then there were the times when he’d caught Eren watching him if he paused in his work and had flushed and asked him what was wrong and Eren had just shook his head fondly and told him how cute he was when he was working intently or insisted that he got this little smile on his face when he was on a particularly exciting part of a fic or chapter update. Levi always did his best to brush off Eren’s comments, but he couldn’t deny the pleasure that twisted in his gut that Eren liked him that much or thought so kindly of him. The fact that he was never afraid to be endearingly honest even if his words were of the nature that Levi would never be able to dream up in a million years despite his experience creating and playing out romantic situations and confessions in his fics.

               It was true that they were probably far too obvious and hadn’t even realized the little things that they would do or say to each other online that could give away their relationship. But when it felt almost as though the feelings they had were burning and all-consuming, trying to get out and make themselves known to the world, being a little too obvious didn’t seem so bad. It was almost scary how natural it seemed to want to give everything you had to the person you cared so deeply for. Sometimes Levi wondered if this is what love felt like, but he didn’t think he was quite ready to use that word.

               “Yeah,” Eren said, in that too-fond voice of his that made Levi want to stop and close his eyes and just exist and revel in it. “Yeah, we are.”

#ereri #snk #fic verse #molim writes #snkartists network #eren jaeger #levi ackerman #fic: too obvious