#i think wattpad has the most recent editions

[evieismol]

BIG BEND Chapter Twenty Three

A/n: as i mentioned on the last chapter, I’m posting a more polished, edited version of this story on both ao3 (here) and wattpad (here), if you’d like to check it out! As always, I appreciate any and all support and feedback!

Content warnings: Cursing

Word Count: 2940

Previous Chapter

Zoey

I lay in my tent, staring at the canvas ceiling. It had faded from light green to nearly black as the sun light outside faded.

God, life has a lot of plot twists.

If anyone had asked me if I thought I’d be sort of living in a tent in some random part of Texas last year, I probably wouldn’t have considered it likely. I’d actually thought I was going to be married by now.

Thank God that didn’t happen.

Texas was, at least, one place I was pretty sure he wouldn’t come find me, if only because it was literally on the other side of the country. At least, I hoped so. I tried to push that unsettling thought from my mind. It didn’t work. It never really did. I’d found myself jumping at every crunch of the gravel, half expecting to see a familiar red pick up truck coming up the road.

I had gotten some good news recently, at least. The gift shop at the park was hiring, and I’d had an interview for a position there earlier that morning. It had gone well. More than well - I’d been offered the job. That, in turn, offered some sorely needed hope, given that my savings would only last so long. Better yet, it also offered housing. I hadn’t really been playing on staying at the park for more than a night, at first, but then again, I hadn’t really been planning on any of this. And a job was a job.

It wasn’t like I disliked the park anyways. Pretty much the opposite. From what I’d seen of it so far, it was absolutely gorgeous. It also seemed to have no shortage of interesting characters, from the less than friendly woman I’d bumped into yesterday to the Aphirial the park service had decided to hire. He seemed nice, if not kind of sad.

That’s something I can relate to.

I’d long felt like I didn’t really fit into the world. Of course, he quite literally didn’t fit in, and I considered what that was like. Probably pretty alienating. He had looked like he’d been crying when I ran into him the first time. Also something I could relate to. I’d been doing that a lot in my tent recently. I found myself wondering if he sat outside by that cliff frequently - if I’d find him there again.

Is that weird? I don’t want to seem like I’m stalking him or something. Then again, he did recognize me yesterday and seemed happy enough to talk. I think. I could just go on a walk, get some fresh air, and if I happen to run into him, that wouldn’t be too weird, right?

Totally.

Getting fresh air and stretching my legs did sound like a good idea either way, admittedly. I’d spent most of the afternoon curled up in my tent, a variety of less than fun memories swirling through my mind. I nodded, committing to my decision, and pulled myself up. I fumbled around for my flashlight - it had grown pitch black in the time I’d been laying there. I felt the hard plastic casing after a moment, and switched it on.

Ability to see now returned, I grabbed a hoodie and pulled it on, followed by some socks. I had actually stopped by the visitor center and learned that the only notably dangerous large animals in the area were cougars, but that they didn’t frequently attack people. Just in case, though, I also grabbed the bear spray I’d brought from up north, deciding I probably didn’t need to tempt fate by making a habit of horror movie esque decisions.

The desert air was far cooler than it had been during the day - chilly, almost. That still felt amazing to me. There definitely hadn’t been as much variation in temperature where I’d lived previously. It was mostly just cold or really, really cold for the better part of the year.

I made my way past a few other campsites as I walked down the road. A group of people sat around a fire at one, laughing as they roasted s’mores. I felt a pang of longing at the sight. My relationship with Jake had ended with me being isolated from pretty much everyone but him.

The laughter eventually faded into the night as I continued down the gravel road. I’d been right - the fresh night air was pleasant, and it was nice to stretch my legs. As I found myself nearing the rocky area I’d run into Easton previously, I found myself second guessing the other part of my plan. Did I really even want to socialize? I had neared the ridge from the other night, and felt my old friend anxiety rearing its head full force. Would he even want to talk to me? Maybe he was tired of talking to people, maybe he’d find it annoying and presumptuous that I came out here. Maybe he’d find me annoying - he wouldn’t be the first. It wasn’t too late to go back to my tent. I stopped, about to turn around.

This is stupid. I’m going back.

“Zoey?”

Fuck.

What I’d thought was a rock formation shifted, and I realized with no small amount of awe that it was instead the giant alien I’d previously met as I shone my flashlight in that direction. It illuminated his light blond hair, making it look almost white. Had I been paying closer attention, I might have remembered it hadn’t been there before, but I’d been lost in my thoughts.

Apparently that thing about Aphirials having super senses wasn’t an exaggeration.

“Easton - hi! I didn’t see you,” I said. Okay, so, now it was too late to go back to my tent.

“I don’t get that a lot,” he said, a faint laugh in his tone.

“I was kind of zoning out,” I admitted. “Lost in my thoughts, I guess.”

“Thinking about anything in particular? I mean, you don’t have to tell me,” he said. He didn’t seem annoyed to be talking to me, so far, at least.

“Uh, whether or not I’d run into you again, actually. Sorry, that sounded weird, probably. I just mean, I’ve kind of ended up staying around here longer than I thought I would, and I ended up getting a job at the gift shop for the summer season, so I guess I’m here even longer, and I don’t really know anyone else.”

“That’s awesome! That you might work here, not that you don’t know anyone else, of course.” He sounded genuinely excited when he replied. He paused before continuing. “I don’t really know that many people here well myself.”

“Seriously? You seemed really popular at that ranger talk thingy the other day.”

He gave a slight shrug. “Yeah, I think the novelty wears off quickly.”

“Huh. I’ve never gotten that. Then again, I still think planes are super exciting, like, if something’s cool the first time, I think it just gets cooler the more you think about it, y’know? Anyways, you seem like you’d be fun to hang out with regardless of novelty. Like, as a person, even if I did know other people here.”

“Oh-thanks,” he said, surprise filling his voice. “And, you do too.”

“Thanks,” I said. I wasn’t sure what else to say after that. Small talk had never really been my forté.

“I was getting ready to head inside,” Easton said after a moment.

“Of course, right. Have a nice-“ I tried to keep the disappointment out of my voice. Yep, he definitely thinks I’m annoying.

“You could come. I could make you some hot cocoa or tea or-well, John could, we could watch a movie-if you want to, of course. You don’t have to. Obviously.”

“I’d like to!” I said quickly. Okay, maybe he didn’t think I was totally annoying. And that sounded way better than going back to my tent.

“Okay! Cool! Uh, I have to ask John first, actually. I can call him. It’ll only take a minute.”

“Take your time, I don’t have anywhere to be,” I replied. It was kind of endearing how excited he’d looked when I agreed. As if he’d been pretty sure I was going to find his offer annoying, just like I’d been fearing he found our whole conversation. I watched as he pulled his phone from his pocket. It was at least twice my height, serving as a stark reminder of how much smaller I was in comparison to him.

I wondered, probably later than I should have, how I was supposed to get to his house. The most obvious answer was probably that he could literally pick me up to bring me over there. He had carried John by hand the other day. That prospect was slightly terrifying, now that I was thinking about it. I wasn’t scared of heights, thankfully, but it seemed like literally putting my life in someone’s hands would require a lot of trust. And it occurred to me that I didn’t actually know him that well.

Of course, he picked up plenty of tourists for pictures every day. He’d never hurt any of them. I was more than certain that would have made the news. He didn’t seem like he’d hurt me either, but of course, I had thought that before. And been very wrong before.

Maybe I should make up a reason to go back to my campground. I could say I didn’t realize how late it was getting.

Then I remembered the group of friends that had been laughing around their fire, and how empty my campsite was. And somehow, the idea of going back to my dark tent suddenly seemed even more terrifying than letting a giant pick me up, which maybe said something about how isolated I’d been feeling recently.

Besides, he’s a park ranger. That’s like, the least sketchy job you can have, right?

“John said it’s okay!” Moments after I’d come to a conclusion that I wasn’t going to dip, Easton placed his phone back in his pocket. “And he said he could make you tea or coffee and he has pizza from last night if you want some.”

I smiled. “Cool. I mean, I’m never one to turn down food.”

Especially not recently.

“So, are you just going to pick me up or like-“

“Oh-uh, I can. There’s a trail down the cliffs that way and a human sized elevator at my place, if you want to walk, but, I can carry you if you want. And you’re comfortable with it.”

I immediately felt a little silly at my previous worries - I’d apparently made several assumptions. I’d already come to the conclusion that I was fine with him carrying me, though.

“I’m cool with it. But whatever you want.”

“Okay,” he said, sounding uncertain about where to go from there.

“You can just carry me. It’d be quicker. And I’d probably find a way to fall off the cliffs getting down anyways,” I said. I wasn’t entirely sure why I went with that option. I’d already psyched myself up for that, and I hadn’t psyched myself up for climbing down a desert trail, I guess.

“Are you sure?” He asked. I nodded.

“Yeah. I mean, you can see in the dark, right? So out of the two of us, you’re way less likely to trip over something in the dark.”

“I guess so.” He lowered his hand to the cliff where I stood. He amended his statement quickly. “I mean, I definitely won’t trip over anything, I swear. I don’t know if you’ve heard the whole spiel I give, but you can climb on whenever you’re ready, please stay seated in the middle of my hand once I start moving, I won’t get up until you say you’re settled and ready.”

I nodded. “Sounds good.” Taking a deep breath, I stepped towards his hand. His skin was way warmer than I’d thought it’d be, I thought as I climbed onto his hand. Like, heating pad warm. That made sense, I supposed, given how comparatively ginormous he was. I glanced up at him. He was watching me attentively, which felt somehow reassuring. I half crawled to the center of his palm, quickly realizing it was also far harder to stand on someone’s palm than I would have guessed. After a moment, I glanced back up.

“Okay, I’m ready.”

“Great. I’ll move slowly, and just let me know if you want down at any point,” he said. I nodded, watching the ground grow farther away as he slowly lifted his hand and stood up.

“What’s it like? Being able to carry people literally in one hand?” I asked, looking up at him again.

“Kind of weird,” he said, then once again jumped to amend that statement. He did that a lot, I was noticing. It seemed ironic that an actual giant would be so unsure of his words, if not also relatable. “Not in a bad way. It just feels like…a lot of responsibility. Since you guys are putting so much trust in me.”

“That makes sense. I can’t imagine how anxious I’d be about accidentally dropping someone or something,” I replied.

“Yeah, no shit,” he said, almost half to himself. I couldn’t help but laugh. He looked surprised for half a second, then joined in.

“Sorry,” he said. “I don’t mind carrying you or anything, it’s just…hoping tourists don’t decide to like jump up or something when I’m holding them all day is…”

“Extremely anxiety inducing?”

“Yeah,” he agreed.

We’d arrived at his tiny house - I’d decided I was going to keep calling it a tiny house, even if size wise, it was anything but. He opened the door with his free hand, golden light pouring out to greet us. The interior was just as modern as the outside, seeming almost mismatched with the rustic posters of plants he had adorning the walls. While it was certainly spacious for me, I guessed it was probably smaller than the average dorm room for him. There was a desk to the right of the door. A human sized table sat on top of it. Then there was a bed against the far wall and right wall. Also against the far wall was a small kitchenette, and a door I guessed led to a bathroom.

Also against the right wall was a platform with a railing and a human sized doorway. A walkway along the wall led from it to the desk, where there was another human sized door against the front wall. Probably the elevator he’d mentioned. Moments after we’d stepped inside, John appeared from the door behind the platform. He made his way down the walkway towards the desk.

“I’m going to lower my hand to the desk, and then you can climb off. Just please don’t until I’ve stopped moving.”

I nodded, waiting patiently until he’d firmly placed his hand on the desk. I climbed off, managing to do so semi gracefully. John had made it to the desk as well by that point.

“It was Zoey, right?” He asked. I nodded.

“Yeah. Do I call you John or like Agent-“

He laughed jovially, shaking his head. “Just John is fine.”

“Okay! Also, this-,” I gestured to the building around us, “-is so cool.”

“Isn’t it?” He said. “I have my own little apartment back there,” he said, nodding towards the door he’d come from. “Speaking of which, Easton mentioned you might be hungry?”

“Oh, I mean, only if it’s not an imposition. I’m fine-“

“I have way too much pizza to finish myself anyways,” John said. “You’d be helping me out, really.”

“You could just give it to Easton too.” There I go again, just saying the first thing that came to mind. That did seem like the most obvious solution, though it occurred to me moments later John was probably mostly just trying to make me feel comfortable.

What does Easton eat anyways? It’s got to be a lot of whatever it is.

“It’s pepperoni. He’s a vegetarian,” John replied, seeming to take my literal interpretation and subsequent suggestion in stride at least.

“In that case, yeah, I’d love some,” I said.

“Great. I can bring it down, or you can come with me to heat it up and we can come back here. Whichever you prefer.” John turned, heading towards the walkway.

“Um, I guess I’ll wait here?”

John nodded. “I won’t be long. And I think you were going to make dinner too, Easton?”

Easton quickly glanced between us. “I’m fine. I can eat later.”

“Are you sure?” John asked.

“Yeah. You guys enjoy the pizza, though.”

“Alright. I’ll be right back,” John said. I watched as he headed up the walkway, then turned to look up at Easton. He’d taken a seat on the chair next to the desk.

“You’re not hungry?” I asked.

“Not really,” he replied, changing the subject. “So, any ideas on what movie you want to watch? I don’t have a tv, but I do have a laptop, and it works with earth technology so I have like, Hulu and stuff. I hope that works?”

“I think that’s probably better than a tv - it’s probably IMAX-sized compared to me,” I said. He gave a slight laugh.

“Fair enough.”

“I don’t really watch that many movies, though, so I’m cool with whatever. Wait, have you seen very many earth movies?”

He shook his head. “Only a couple.”

“Damn. Well, we could see what’s new out I guess.”

“That works for me,” Easton said. I smiled. This evening really was looking up

#g/t #giant/tiny #gt #sfw g/t #gt sfw #g/t oc #gt writing

[sapphireshineauthor]

A Personal Breakdown and Comparison of the Big Three of Fanfiction: Archive of Our Own, FanFiction.Net, and Wattpad

Considering the whole chaos with AO3 that happened recently, I wanted to write about this again since it's been on my to-do list. Disclaimer, I am trying to be objective, but some factors may still appear as personal opinions on the matter, so keep that in mind. This is a long one, so be prepared for an extensive read, I still tried to be concise but thorough. Experts on these sites, feel free to step in and offer your expertise as well on here. Also do correct me on any potential mistakes, this was a long one...

Archive of Our Own:

Pros:

Easy User Interface

Tagging system/fic filter system

Various options for site customization

Search by tag system, addition of major warning tags

Html support, picture and audio integration options

Copy and paste function

Zero advertisement

Engaging comment sections

Friendly UI, writer and reader friendly.

Has function to download fics for offline reading (formats: AWZ3, MOBI, PDF, EPUB, HTML)

Cons:

Tags can get cluttered

Search Bar doesn't work as well as search by tag filter

Rusty crossover format

Rusty character/relationship involvement sorting

Cannot upload documents

No personal DM function.

Can take awhile sorting through tags depending...

Archive of Our Own (AO3) has been my personal favorite of these websites. I've been using it for several years and despite dabbling in various other sites, this one is still my preference.

To start off strong, the pros for AO3 (obvious or not) is the interface. I personally find it extremely easy to use and all the options given are extremely nice for writers and readers alike. For writers, you can give yourself pseuds to help categorize your own fics, sort by the fandoms you write, add tags, allow co-writers, moderate and respond to comments, mass edit stories, and so on. While the site doesn't seem to have an option to upload a document, it does have options to include pictures, audio, and various other media, including links to other stories or videos. It also allows authors to directly respond to comments on their fics and allow for more discussion and engagement in the story (or fandom) between authors and readers (don't be afraid to leave comments!)

In terms of being a reader (and writer) one of my favorite functions by far is the bookmark, history, and subscribe functions. They are what they say, bookmarks can be a public or private tab that are various favorite fics you wanted to save for later or keep note of and not want to search for it again. History is a list of all the fics you've clicked on and it's private solely to you, no one can see your fic history, so if you don't want to bookmark, but remembered something you read, you can look for it in your history. Subscriptions are also a favorite if you don't want too many tabs, you subscribe to a story and you'll get an email every time that fic is updated with a new chapter. Additionally, fics can be downloaded for offline reading (most popular format it seems are epub and pdf).

Now then, onto the main event, tags. If there's one thing AO3 is known for, it's tags. All sorts of them.

The pros of the tags: easy filtering, searching, and organizing.

The best part about AO3 tags is how easy to filter fics are.

It's part of a writer's duty to tag what they have in their stories (and at least tag what we think is relevant if we have trouble thinking of specifics) and most uphold this duty, even at the most basic forms of relevant characters or themes or warnings.

AO3 has an extremely well made filter system (in my opinion), and I've been making good use of it in recent days. If you want stories with a specific character or genre, or theme, use the "Include" function and type in those relevant tags.

If you want to exclude fics specifically, you can "Exclude" the relevant tags and the system should exclude all works with those tags, ratings, or themes, in them from your search. If there is an issue with it, my only gripe is that there aren't any "filter preferences/presets" for the site. By that I mean if you click on a new character tag, you need to re add all of your filters to get your specific stories again unless you're well adept at using the back button (which honestly most people are adept at) and re-organizing your filters there, but it's an extremely minor issue that doesn't really affect the experience.

Now then, the cons of the site. There aren't many, but there are a few. Which again, involves the tags. AO3's extensive list of relevant tags for various fandoms is a blessing as it is a curse. One such factor is the idea of crossovers. Crossovers may be easy for other series, but for series that have various media forms for the same fandom, they end up having different fandom tags.

For example, my fic "Scarlet Eyes in the Academy" had a total of 5 fandom tags, even though it's only a crossover between two series. This is because both have different media that have their own tags, My Next Life as a Villainess (Anime)/(Light Novel)/(Manga), and Moriarty the Patriot (Anime)/(Manga)

The reason why a lot of authors tag all various media forms for a series is simply so the most people can see it, regardless of which medium tag they defaulted to. Especially if the mediums don't have many differences to the series.

I can understand why some series need separate tags to differentiate the medium, but in the long run (especially if the medium doesn't have many unique changes to the canon), it's various tags for the same series and since linking more than one fandom tags will equate to a crossover, trying to find an actual crossover fic is a challenge (some fandoms don't really apply since they don't have multiple tags, such as Genshin Impact and Red vs Blue).

On another point, which is mainly the character tags. This is a common issue I see from time to time, but like the crossover aspect, is a small issue compared to the pros of the site. The thing with the character tags (or relationship tags) is that writers can add them, even if the story is not focusing on them. They appear in the story, but how much focus is on that character/relationship is in the eyes of the beholder (at the whim of a writer). It's not a major issue, but one that I see from time to time when comparing/analyzing fic sites.

But if there's a plus to the character tags, it helps filter through the fandom medium tags. As it will link all the fics that have the character regardless of fandom tags.

Other Notes: unlike other sites, AO3 doesn't have direct DMs and is unable to do document uploads, but even without those two things, it's a wonderful site for fanfiction. It also allows fic downloading for offline reading (just don't do any fic reposting without author's consent, that's just rude).

In conclusion: AO3 has a lot of benefits and has a relatively friendly UI for writers and readers alike. The tag system overall is extremely well done to help narrow down your fic search. I consider it to be the best of the three. The only downside is that it's not the best when looking for crossovers and fics for specific characters, themes, or pairings can get lost among the tags. There are also many guides available on this site in regards to the many functions of AO3.

Fanfiction.net :

This one, I think, sparks a certain level of nostalgia in many of us (especially those a bit younger in age). It was one of the first fanfiction sites to be made "mainstream" (i.e. the most prevalent option when fanfiction is searched for). But it has seen better days…

Pros:

Private DMs

Document uploads

Major character tags

Main genre tags

Easy crossover functionality

Good app, easy UI.

Cons:

Annoying/Invasive ad placement

No option for warning tags

Cannot interact openly with comments

No easy pic support (if any, for inside the fic itself)

Fics can be easily reported even for small reasons

The copy and paste function is extremely broken.

Okay, once again, starting strong with the pros. Ff.net has been a site that is prevalent for older fandoms. It has a nice filter system to go by genre, characters, and ratings and the UI is quite easy to use (the more nuanced filter system also makes it easier for searching compared to AO3's more… fic tag cocktail mixing experience). The site allows for uploading word documents to upload fics (which is a double edge sword as their copy and paste function is extremely wonky and broken last I checked). It also allows for checking traffic on a fic, which I find is a very fun statistic to look at every now and then.

It also allows for private DMs within the site itself so if authors want to talk, there's no need to rely on an external DM site/application (Discord, Tumblr, Reddit, etc).

The biggest pro for FF.net is it's crossover archive (specifically when you go into a ff.net fandom archive and click on crossovers). It sorts out all the crossover fandoms by fic count and it is easy to look for a specific fandom crossover if it exists.

I think that roughly covers all the pros, now, the cons. The main issue I have with FF.net is… the ad placements.

If I could include the horrified duh duh duuuuh! Sound effect I would.

On mobile it's even worse, anyone recall the days when the ads were those odd little boxes next to the review box at the bottom of the chapter? I miss those days.

However, while the ads have been an issue, I think the biggest issue is with how content is moderated on the site and reporting works. I personally haven't had bad experiences with the site, but I've seen other authors apparently get their fics taken off the site due to reports (despite the fact the works themselves not having anything wrong). The famous RWBY reacts to RvB fic (React Watch Believe Yikes) was taken down because of copyright reasons despite the fact they clearly stated that they got permission to use the RvB transcripts in the fic (that fic is now on AO3). I haven't heard much beyond that, so do fill in what I missed if this issue had gotten worse or better over the years.

The other con for FF.net is interaction, while the site allows for private DMs, it doesn't allow public interaction with comments. Authors can still reply, but it's then taken into a private DM chain specifically between the author and the specific commenter. Perhaps it's a minor issue, but it's one that should be brought up.

And also, last I checked, the DMs are supposed to send you an email notification everytime someone DMs you, but it's been wonky for awhile and straight up broken at points.

And lastly, while the more succinct filter system is fine, it does so at the consequence of not letting additional tags be shown. So ratings and genre can be filtered, but nothing more. It doesn't help that the summary boxes are short either, so authors either have to make shorter summaries to put important warnings, or omit the warnings so the full summary can be in place. I also believe this lack of tagging is another reason why reporting fics seems to be an issue there.

In conclusion, FF.net is a fine site, it's easy to use, perfect for crossovers, allows DMs and has fun statistics. However, you should probably keep anything "explicit" pretty mild, or proceed with caution. I learned the terms lemons and limes from somewhere after all.

Wattpad:

Cracks knuckles, okay, this one. I used this one the least, but I do have some thoughts on it (Wattpad experts, feel free to add onto this if you'd like).

Pros:

Can comment on specific paragraphs

Easy picture integration

Decent chapter/book format

Decent story saving/favorite book

Okay UI

Cons:

Bad tag filters

Hard search function

Ads can be a bit annoying.

As you can see, I have an issue when it comes to filtering. Both Ao3 and FF.net have good filtering/tagging systems. While Wattpad does have a filter/tag system, I think it leaves a lot to be desired.

Okay, once again, starting with the pros. I think my favorite feature when it comes to Wattpad is the option to comment on specific paragraphs rather than just the whole chapter/story. I dunno, I find it fun as a reader (and as a writer) to see if people had specific thoughts on specific passages.

Secondly, the writer UI is decent and quite friendly once you get the hang of it. You can start a "book" and update it as you see fit. Although the way to add/update/edit an ongoing book is a bit more cumbersome than AO3 or FF.net…

Lastly, the picture integration for Wattpad is pretty nice, allowing easy insertion of images directly into the passage or on a "chapter banner" at the beginning of the chapter.

That's pretty much it for the major pros, and onto the cons. Which is surprisingly not many (as least that I've experienced), but those few in number make up for a lot in experience.

So, the cons, which is once again, the tagging. It always rolls back to that aspect/function. The tagging for Wattpad is honestly quite messy. Not only can several tags for the same thing exist, but they exist because the tags themselves (like in Tumblr) become different tags depending on how they're formatted (ex. "xreader", "x reader", "characterxreader", are three separate tags), so filtering out tags can be quite an issue. Not to mention more work on the author's part to add literally every iteration of a tag/phrase/pairing to make sure it appears where it's supposed to appear.

The other issue from what I can see rn actually is that a guest user (someone not logged into an account) cannot do manual searches on the site, at least on mobile. You can only search externally on the web, which is technically a minor issue, but an issue nonetheless.

Additionally, readers can't see all the relevant tags when browsing through stories until they click on it and see the summary. Again, a minor issue, but an issue all the same that should be brought up.

Also, from what I heard, there's supposedly paywalls on the site now. Looking into it, Wattpad does seem to have a paid subscription service. One feature of that service is "paid stories". I assume this only attributes to original works (since fanfiction will be in hot water otherwise). Additionally, the paid subscription gives access to offline downloading and site customization (for which AO3 has for free), it also says it offers options for "early access to subscribers" which I assume again is for original stories and functions like a creator's Patreon account. The subscription also allows for ad free viewing of stories.

In conclusion, Wattpad isn't nearly as chaotic as I last remember, but it still seems leagues behind the tagging and UI of AO3 and FF.net. The writer's UI for posting stories is fine and the picture integration in combination with paragraph comments is a fun feature. The fact it's asking for subscriptions for functions that the other two provide also knocks it down a peg. It's a fine site, but definitely not the most ideal for fanfiction. Especially as it seems to shift more to original stories than fanfiction. Finally, unlike AO3 and FF.net, Wattpad doesn't really have anything exclusive to its site that puts it above the rest (unless you count the comment on specific paragraphs bit).  

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In conclusion: Everyone has their favorite sites for fanfiction. All of them have their pros and cons and for which one is "the best" it boils down to what you're looking for in your fanfiction stories.

Archive of Our Own: Seems to be the mainstay for newer fandoms, perfect for creating your own fic viewing experiences and filtering, allows for website customization skins, more interaction between author and readers, allows fic downloads for offline reading.  

Fanfiction.Net: The home to older fandoms, good for a more casual browse, allows private DMs, perfect for looking for crossovers, just beware of the ads.

Wattpad: An okay site, interface takes a bit getting used to, but filtering is not as good as the others, ads are present but not as much as FF.net, requires subscription to remove ads and allow customization. It also seems more curated to original works than fanfics.

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And that concludes my analysis of what I consider "The Big Three" of the fanfiction world. Shall I do other sites as well? Did this help in regards to looking at sites? Experts in any of the three mentioned, do add your own notes to correct or add to any of the points I made. I primarily use AO3 so I may have missed some things for the other two.

Either way, I hope you enjoyed this surprisingly long essay. Hope you enjoyed ;)

#archive of our own #fanfiction.net #wattpad #fandom #writers #ao3 #ffnet #ff.net #wattpad fanfiction #wattpad stuff #ao3 feed #tl:dr ao3 is perfect for sorting fics of the same fandom #fanfiction.net is perfect for crossovers #wattpad isn't bad but doesn't do anything overtly unique compared to the other two #reposting because of tag issues...

[carakook]

Honey boo are you doing well?

How are you?

Please dont overwork yourself!!

OK LONG RAMBLE INCOMING ABOUT BLOOM BUT: This is so damn sweet. Not gonna lie, I’m a bit stressed out, and I nearly teared up when reading this because it’s so sweet that someone checked on me. You lil Angel!!! 🥲

If you care to know the long version of what happened to chapter 5 and why it’s so late, read below, if not, tldr is that I had to rewrite chapter 5 but it is coming I pinky promise. 🥲

I have avoided making an update on what happened with Bloom because it has me STRESSED and IRRITATED. I didn’t want to make it seem as if I was avoiding uploading chapter 5 and can’t stick to a schedule, because I fucking hate empty promises and being late. Especially since I have said I would upload it like twice now and haven’t. 🥲

Bloom Chapter 5 is still very much alive, however, I did not write it as a draft on Wattpad like I normally do. This is where I feel I fucked up badly. I integrated Bloom and Metamorphosis both into word documents so that I could have it all in front of me to reference as I write. Chapter 5 was finished (and nearly 16k words long), and I was planning on uploading it last Saturday at 11am central time. All I had to do was grammar check it.

As I was grammar checking it Friday night, my computer froze, and when I turned it back on it was not working at all. It would turn back on, and then it would freeze again shortly after. I could barely even open the browser. This was an issue not only because I was using it to write, but because that’s the laptop that I use for my job as well. I’m not very tech savvy so I had to do a bunch of googling and went as far as contacting my ex when trouble shooting everything google said didn’t work, (ew fucking gross holy shit EW!!! But he’s a computer nerd and I didn’t know who else to go to!) and he told me I needed to factory reset it and re-install windows and that should fix it.

I was unaware that in doing this, all of my files would be deleted if not backed up. And they were not backed up recently. I’m also pretty sure there was an option to keep the files I had on my computer but I didn’t pay attention when resetting it and reinstalling windows, I just clicked the buttons and hoped for the best. That’s my own damn fault. I was in a rush to fix it because I was panicking.

You can probably guess the rest. After resetting my computer, I found out that the most recent backup was when Bloom Chapter 5 was only 5K words long. And I tried for literal hours to see if there was a way to recover the file. But I couldn’t. Not only was Bloom affected, but Metamorphosis too. My computer is fixed now thank god, but I lost a good chunk of my work.

Metamorphosis was originally a reader x JK fic, but I wanted to change it because, as I stated in the poll, it’s a fic that is very specific and I don’t think a lot of readers could really relate to the MC. So I had to go in and edit the entire chapter and rewrite it to reflect that, and I also ended up adding things to the first chapter. But after the shit that happened to my computer, barely any of it is edited in the word document that’s backed up.

This was all very frustrating for me because not only did I have to re-write chapter 5 of Bloom but I also am going to have to re-edit metamorphosis.

I’m sure this could’ve been avoided some how but I was paranoid about my computer not being fixed in time for my job. I rely on it to work, without it I literally can’t do my job. And I have bills to pay. So I kinda freaked out and did this all very carelessly.

This is all on top of the irl stress going on in my life.

My point in this ramble is that I’m sorry Bloom Chapter 5 isn’t out yet. I have been rewriting it slowly since this happened last week, but it was kind of discouraging because I was really proud of what was written. But it’s ok!! As I’ve been rewriting it I’ve added some details that weren’t there before and sort of reformatted how the chapter goes. So it will still be just as good. And it’s almost done, I’m just working on the last parts of it.

Metamorphosis I haven’t touched. I’ve been focusing on trying to finish this chapter of Bloom before touching anything else because I know y’all are excited about it, I am too. I love writing Bloom but this kinda just made me ☹️

I’m sorry I haven’t been on schedule (lol I announced the schedule and didn’t stick to it, wtf), normally I’m very on time when I set a schedule for something, I’m rarely late. But I promise after chapter 5 comes out, it’ll be more consistent. And I’m making sure this isn’t happening again, I liked using word documents because I had every chapter in one place, but I’m not doing that shit again. I have actually just moved chapter 5 to a tumblr draft and am working on it there, because as soon as I write the last word I’m uploading it, and it won’t be lost that way if something happens to my dumb ass laptop. 😭

I’m sorry guys. I don’t wanna disappoint anyone. But I’m working on it I promise. And thank you for checking on me to who wrote this ask, you don’t know how sweet that is or how much it means to me. Irl I’m kind of a hermit, I don’t have many friends and I’m not super close to my family, and I work at home as I’ve stated before so I don’t go out much. So no one checks on me really. So thank you, really. I love you. 😭💜

After posting this, I’m working on finishing chapter 5. The moment it is finished I’m uploading it. I wanted to post this because seeing this ask made me feel better about explaining why it’s so late, and also I didn’t want you guys thinking I just wasn’t going to upload it. Anyways… I won’t make promises but I’m hoping to have it finished tonight and posted tomorrow night. Fingers crossed. 🤞

[cherienymphe]

This is craaaazy. I mean I know that all characters are made up but this is a purely fanon character like what 😭

It’s so funny because some random girl on WATTPAD made him up several years ago and to this day people are still writing x readers and whatnot for him 💀 and there are a decent amount out there. Back when I was reading them a couple months ago there was never a shortage of stories to pick from for him. Enzo berkshire is also fake but idk what his origins are. He’s supposed to be Draco’s cousin and his fancast is Louis Partridge. I remember when word got out that he and Olivia Rodrigo were dating, someone was like “do you think she’s seen the slytherin boys reacts TIKTOKS?” Which is a whole nother form of lore. And then Theodore nott is canon but he was only briefly mentioned in the books… and once again, the slytherin boys fandom has made ample content for him 💀 his fancast is the Italian actor Lorenzo zurzolo, who was gatekept until pretty recently but now I think he’s becoming what you could call a “heartthrob” in Western media. And if I remember right, his character in the books isn’t canonically Italian but they always have him spewing some romantic Italian lines in the fanfics written about him just because his fancast is Italian 😭

Yes I've featured Theo in several of my own fics but I can't remember who the fancast was for him at the time. I have seen the Lorenzo as Theo edits and of course timothee is now the face of regulus. In addition, I've seen Louis featured but I had no idea his character was made up by the fandom too 😭 ngl the HP fandom scares me now because between the shifting and the react videos and fake characters it's just...a lot

Most of the HP videos that pop up on my fyp are either draco, tom, or black family related. I know my girl Sara Gadon is now the young narcissa fancast and for the life of me I can't remember the actress they've chosen to represent bella and andromeda

#asks

[nathrecsblog]

Hi hope you are fine :) can uh give me some fics where jk has only two things he loves 1) MUSIC 2) JIMIN (established relationship or whatever , Heavy angst , crying , heartbreak ) 🔥

Fic recommendations.

Hi , how are you!! Thanks for asking I have a few AO3 fanfiction I've read recently , there's more but I chose the ones I liked the most , hope you'll like them, they are not literally what you asked , but there is singer Jungkook and and angst and of course the love for Jimin.

( I'll edit this when i find more , i Didn't want to make you wait)

Hyung's sweetheart ( it's a long fanfiction almost 95 chapters but it's worth your time , it's one of my firsts , you can even find it on Wattpad).

* stepbrothers au

* Jungkook leaves Jimin who he raised and runs away to become a famous idol

* angst and fluff

Hear me " Young successful idols and lovers Jimin and Jungkook used to be the talk of the world. Until they weren't

*post break up

* abo au

* misunderstanding

*one shot

The Clouded stars " Park Jimin lands a job as a backup dancer for the world tour of the mononymously known mega popstar Jeongguk. Jimin thinks Jeongguk is like any other unimportant and overhyped celebrity, but his perspective is flipped upside down when he gets to know the singer.

Post breakup/ getting back together.

* chpt : 12.

Push : a quick fluffy one shot

Closer to you : 2 chapters , friends to lovers au

Still with you: one shot.

Post breakup/ getting back together

Angst/ fluff

Bar singer jeons Jungkook

Love as fast as light : 5 chapters. In order to succeed in his music and write something new singer jeon Jungkook make his best friend pretend to be his fake boyfriend.

Best friend to lovers

Fake pretend relationship.

#bts fanfction #jikook #jikook comic #jikook fanfiction #bts #jikook fight fic #kookmin fanfic #kookmin fic rec #kookmin au #kookmin fic #kookmin #jikook fic #jikook smut #jikook fic rec #bts fic recommendations #bts fic rec #bangtan fic #bangta boys #wattpad

[annie-bby]

yearning - robin buckley x fem!reader

summary: robin buckley has never fell for someone they way she has for you, but the way you feel for her contrasts the way she does hugely.

word count : 2,302.

originally posted on my wattpad account: -milevenx. go follow!

dedicated to ffearthingss on wattpad<3

the ending is super rushed, it took 2 weeks to write and edit so it sucks nearer the ending:(

————————————

am i allowed to look at her like that?

robin's eyes softened and her smile grew as she stared adoringly at the girl she loved most from across the class. you and robin had been best friends for a few years, becoming close after you joined band.

you had a problem with your instrument, and robin ran over to help you. blushing profusely, she explained what was wrong and how to fix it, before helping you out. from that encounter onwards, you just became closer.

close enough for you to see her as a sister and for her to fall deeply inlove with you. steve and the party could honestly tell she was head over heels for you, except you. she adored everything about you.

the way she laughed at all your jokes, and admired the way you laughed at anyone else's. the way you'd stick up for the party and her. the way you spoke and put up with her rambling. the way you dressed and did your hair. the way you'd help anyone with anything.

she was inlove with you and the way you were.

she didn't stop staring at you, and - if it was even possible - her smile grew and grew. it wasn't long before she snapped out of it, soon realising the looks she was getting. your friends were pointing and whispering, and other people in class were staring at her. however, in the midst of it all, there you were smiling back at her, giving her a sense of comfort.

could it be wrong

when she's just so nice to look at?

the bell rang, and you waited for robin next to the door of the classroom. she walked out of the class after a short conversation with the teacher about her 'focus being off'.

"hey robin!" you greeted as she walked to you. she smiled widely at you, returning the smile you were giving her.

"hey y/n/n," she spoke, smile evident in her words. "would you wanna hang out with me later? we can just go to mine and watch a movie."

you agreed instantly since movie nights were a usual thing for you to do with each other. you'd binge-eat, while watching movies the other person chose. you often took turns to choose movies and neither of you ever complained.

as you were walking to the lunch hall, you began to build courage to ask her a question. it was a silly question really, but you didn't know how she'd react.

"uhm, robin," you started, robin turned to look at you and hummed a short 'hmm?'. "please don't take this the wrong way, but.. why were you staring at me in class?"

robin stopped in her tracks and started going red. her freckles were almost indistinguishable through the redness of her newly-found blush.

"is it wrong?" she asked, fear laced in her words.

"not at all, just wondering is all."

"well, i think you're nice to look at." she stated bluntly, going even more red than before. her heart started beating through her chest, and her palms got sweatier and sweatier by the minute.

why the fuck would she say that? you were straight! you would never love her. you liked men. thoughts like this ran freely through robin's head, making her feel stupid.

you chuckled, bringing her back to reality, "well, lucky for you, i think you're wonderful to look at," you joked, though, to robin, it wasn't funny. she was inlove with you! and, through all the jokes and mild teasing, she knew you didn't reciprocate her feelings. robin bit her lip and began walking again, leaving you behind.

and she smells like lemongrass and sleep

she tastes like apple juice and peach

oh, you would find her in a polaroid picture

and she means everything to me

you didn't see robin for the rest of the day, and when you didn't see her at your regular meeting spot, you assumed you'd hurt her feelings during your most recent conversation so she just went home. this thought saddened you, but you shrugged it off and decided you'd just talk to her the next day.

robin sat in her room, flicking through her magazine before throwing it onto her desk. she stood from her chair and walked over to her bed to lie down. thoughts of you immediately rushed into her head. what you smell like, and would probably taste like. the way you looked.

you smelt like lemongrass, and sleep. you would taste like apple juice and peach, two things you ate and drank on a daily basis, and, in her eyes, she thought you'd be found in a polaroid picture. because you were just simply beautiful.

she sighed, knowing that although you'd never disclosed your sexuality to anyone or her - despite being her best friend - you'd never love her the way she loves you. she was helpless. she decided that instead of sulking about not having the girl of her dreams, she'd think about everything she loved about being your best friend. every thought had to be about you.

oh, oh

i'd never tell

no, i'd never say a word

she thought hard for around ten minutes, but all she could think of was how much you meant to her. and that was a whole lot, and she couldn't screw the friendship up. what if, when she did finally get the courage to ask you out, you rejected her? and that meant she completely fucked your friendship up? what if she never even got the courage to do it in the first place?

and that's exactly what happened, she decided that she just wasn't going to tell you. she didn't want to ruin anything. she didn't have the courage.

and oh, it aches

but it feels oddly good to hurt

the next day came around slowly for you, but quickly for robin. you wanted answers, and so did she; yet, for different things. you wanted to know what the hell was up with your best friend, and she wanted to know if you loved her the same. the biggest difference, however, was that you were actually going to ask.

you caught robin in the sports hall at break, getting ready for the pep rally that was going to happen the following day. she always enjoyed being prepared.

"hey, robin," you smiled. "we missed our movie night last night." you smiled wider, obviously faking it since she left you waiting at your meeting spot, trying to ease her into conversation due to her reaction yesterday. she looked up at you and then looked away almost instantly.

"uhm, did i say anything bad to you, you know. yesterday?" you asked, voice breaking. this broke robin's heart even further, aching terribly. you walked closer to her and sat down next to her.

and she smells like lemongrass and sleep

she tastes like apple juice and peach

oh, you would find her in a polaroid picture

and she means everything to me

you were sat close enough for her to fully take in everything about you. she was correct, you really did smell like lemongrass and sleep. your breath smelt like apple juice and peach, meaning it must've tasted like that too. and you were certainly dressed to impress, confirming her suspicions that you'd be found in a polaroid picture, and you definitely meant everything to robin.

after she'd admired you briefly, she answered you; "no, i was just having an off day," which was understandable, she'd been caught staring at a girl in the middle of class. robin waved all of your other questions off with a smile and a small nod or shake of her head. the bell rang, and you walked together to class, one where, yet again, you sat nowhere near her. she knew she'd end up staring again, so robin had to just try not to get caught.

around thirty minutes had gone by, and partner work had begun. she watched the way you threw your head back and laughed loudly at whatever stupid joke your friend told you, and the way you messed around with your hair and the pencil in your hand.

and i'll be okay,

admiring from afar,

'cause even when she's next to me,

we could not be more far apart

she found herself admiring you again, feeling more distressed with every second that passed. she wondered if she ever got you, would you ever be as happy with her as you were with your friends?

but robin forced herself into thinking she was okay with the feeling of having to admire you from across the room.

the day went quickly, you'd gotten your answers, and you were both looking forward to the movie night you'd replanned at lunchtime since you missed the last one.

you and robin were walking back to her place after picking out a few movies from family video, the place she worked at alongside steve 'the hair' harrington; someone you weren't exactly familiar with but had heard lots about.

this time, it was robin's turn to choose the movies. she chose the first two karate kid movies, two movies you enjoyed immensely but she never got around to watching.

"i can't believe you've never watched the karate kid movies!" you laughed, "ralph macchio in it is just gorgeous." you nudged robin.

"i bet he is." robin replied bluntly. you didn't even know she was into girls, not guys, and robin knew this. also knew that if she kept up with the shitty, uninterested tone, you'd soon figure it out. you weren't dumb.

and so, she decided to try and be happier.

try.

when you reached her place, you ran to her couch to put the movie on while she grabbed your favourite snacks - which she knew off the top of her head - and then sat carefully beside you.

the movie began, and the first hour of the movie night was going great. you and her were both concentrating on the movie, but then robin had the sudden urge to look at you, something she was trying to avoid doing. to not forget the movie and be so attentive towards you.

she did it, she gave in. she started watching you, the way you were delighting in watching ralph macchio play a boy called daniel larusso. the way you quite obviously felt a huge admiration for him. the way you adored his accent, looks, and the way he moved.

the way you felt such fondness for a boy.

the way you felt so far from her. emotionally, physically, mentally. you just felt like you weren't there. robin didn't know how, or why. it just felt wrong to see you like that.

'cause she tastes like birthday cake,

and storytime, and fall

but to her, i taste of nothing at all

you ended up sleeping over that night at robin's house, leaning into her side as you slept peacefully. she did what she always did, admired you. though, it wasn't creepily. it was full of love and fear; full of time and happiness; full of pure sensation and joy.

the look of love.

robin decided to try and go back to sleep, but thoughts of you flooded her head again. the same one as before. what you'd taste like. this time, she thought of birthday cake, and storytime, and fall. if they had tastes, which they do.

she started to think about the smells and tastes she associates you with, and that they're all good and come to her instantly.

though, to you, she tastes of nothing at all.

you just simply have no attraction to her.

whatsoever.

and she smells like lemongrass and sleep.

and she tastes like apple juice and peach.

you would find her in a polaroid picture.

and she means everything to me.

yes, she means everything to me.

she means everything to me.

robin wrote these words frantically in her diary the night you went home from your accidental sleepover. pouring her heart onto the pages, crying to slow romantic music and the words she was so sadly jotting down on the paper, with the karate kid movies playing in the background. anything to make her feel better.

she felt like she'd been stabbed in the heart repeatedly, like she'd gone through the worst breakup ever, or the worst rejection.

and all you had to do was sit next to her and gawk at ralph macchio and leave her to her thoughts for five minutes.

long enough to break her own heart.

you had a huge impact on her, and she hated that. and what she hated even more was that if you knew that, you'd also hate it. you'd hate it the most, you always just wanted the best for robin.

and what she thought was the best for herself, was to have you. to get the girl. but, she couldn't force you. so she wouldn't.

and she never would.

•°. *࿐˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚ ❀

OMGOMOGM I HOPE YOU LIKED THIS ONE. I LOVE IT SO MUCH<3333

AND IM SORRY IF YOU DONT LIKE DANIEL LARUSSO/RALPH MACCHIO OR ANYTHING ELSE IN THIS THAT I SAID THE READER LIKES, I JUST WANTED TO ADD IN MY OWN INTERESTS

222. you're safe here.

222 | a message of hope, representative of balance, harmony, life choices, commitment, compromise, and trust. it's a sign you can build on your current situation to achieve your goals and more

#robin buckley headcanons #robin stranger things #robin buckley #stranger things #st4v2 #robin x reader #robin buckley x reader #robin buckley x female reader

[talesofsorrowandofruin]

Writing Questions Tag

Thanks for tagging me, @saltysupercomputer! :D

1. What is your absolute all-time favourite idea you've ever had?:

Hmm... I suppose Totentanz, because I love black comedy, monsters, time loops, and high fantasy.

2. Is there a question you've been asked in the past that really stands out to you and you still think about sometimes?:

Not that I can think of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

3. What is your favourite part of being a writer? What parts could you take or leave?:

Favourite part: creating new worlds and characters to live in those worlds. Less favourite parts: actually writing 🥴

4. What is your greatest motivation to write/create?:

Because if I didn’t, I honestly have no idea how I’d stay sane.

5. What is the best piece of advice you've ever read or been given as a writer?:

“Finish the first draft before worrying about edits.” I have to keep reminding myself of this when I spot continuity errors, misspellings, etc. 😬

6. What do you wish you knew when you were first starting out writing?:

That a first draft will never be perfect, and that I really need an outline to be able to finish a story.

7. What is your favourite story you've written TO COMPLETION? Link it if you'd like and can!:

Hmm... I think it’s a tie between Death and the Emperor (link goes to Wattpad) and The Unfortunate Moth (link goes to AO3). D&E was my first completed NaNo WIP and I think my first “real” completed WIP. (I finished one before it, but that was when I was fourteen/fifteen and we Do Not Talk About it.) Moth is my most recent completed WIP and my first attempt at an Agatha Christie-style murder mystery. (I remembered recently that I tried writing a murder mystery before. This is another WIP that we Do Not Talk About.)

8. What is your favourite out-of-the-box quote?:

...Does this mean my favourite quote from my own WIPs? Oh well, here’s two:

Death and the Emperor:

Death sat down on the armchair and folded her arms. "Your cousin, who I can only assume has a very tenuous grasp on sanity, is able to see my Reapers. I don't know how, I don't know why. All I know is what's come of it. They've turned his house into a day trip destination for the gatherers of the dead!"

The Power and the Glory:

Ilaran stared out the window at the dragon, the snake, and the necromancer talking to them. "...Tell me, someone. Just what happened while I was dead?"

9. Which of your characters would you say has the most controversial mindset? Why do you say so and how do you personally feel about their ideals?:

Definitely Ilaran. He’s from a culture that has no problem with infanticide and he had one hell of a messed-up childhood, so obviously he’s no shining example of morality. I deliberately set out to give him an alien worldview because 1. he technically is an alien, and 2. he’s a prince from a pseudo-historical fantasy kingdom. (This is possibly the best example of the difference between what I want in fiction and what I want in real life: he’s one of my favourite characters, but if I ever met someone who thinks like him I’d run for my life.)

10. If you when you first started writing met you now, what would younger you think?:

Probably something along the lines of “You’ve written how many words?”

Tagging @eccaiia, @boldnightmarishreverbs, @sleepy-night-child​, @writingpotato07, @lightgriffinsect, and anyone else who wants to do this! :D

#tag game #writing #my writing

[heretherebedork]

Hi!! fellow BL overanalyzer here 🤝 I'm not watching KP anymore actually, but I'm kind of glad I found a fan who seems to be thinking critically. I just wanted to talk about how I'm sooo disappointed because I was hype for this show!! crime BL is my favorite kind of BL, but the main relationship just feels so much like the corniest, most embarrassing "bought by the Mafia CEO" wattpad fic story 😂 I dropped it on EP 4 bc I really hated how their first sexual contact was in that context, I already could not stand Kinn, and it was just HM. Ok then! the previous crime BL shows I watched all had relationships that respected the basic concept of consent even in mafia and fucked up crime settings, so I was a little ???? that a show so recent just doesn't seem to care. Apo is a great actor and all performances are very good, the production and direction of the show is impeccable, early Porsche, Tankhun, Chay and Pete(!!!) are very endearing characters, and it makes me soo sad to see what could be a well plotted story involving morally grey characters become basically just that, wattpad mafia stuff 😭 I was actually starting to think I was insane when everyone seemed to not notice how different from it's most acclaimed precursors in the crime BL subgenre this is turning out to be :') even the vegaspete stuff, which seemed like it could maybe take a more nuanced lens to a toxic relationship, feels kind of like it will just go the same path as the main couple, which just... distasteful. it was already what sealed my decision to drop because I personally am tired and not fond of stockholm syndrome-esque plots, even if they're critical and nuanced and setting-appropriate and self aware, but knowing it might go "and then they became a lovely dovey couple and all is forgiven because now they're insane together", my dear god... idk, I had high expectations, and reading about what happens to Porsche's character, esp regarding his relationship with Chay (which is what caught my interest for Porsche the most in the first ep, since I'm also an Older Brother™, also pulled apart by circumstances out of my control from a sibling I wanted to care for, rip me lmaaaaaaao), made me want to tell someone who might understand kind of how I feel abt the way it turned out 😭 wishing you a very good dissection of BL plots in the future, it's a hard job but someone has to be doing it 🙏

I mean, I did come into this how expecting this to be morally gray and knowing that there would be a deeply fucked up relationship and looking forward to the understanding that Shit Is Fucked and somehow I ended up in 2gether Mafia Edition so... yeah.

Thank you, though! Thinking about shows critically is kind of my thing, I really enjoy it and sometimes it works better than other times. This is not one of those times.

I am all in on the fucked up VegasPete, tbh. I'm hoping they can balance out the 2gether vibes of KP at this point. I never even liked 2gether so this is like double punishment for me.

It's always interesting to see the different issues people have with the show and the idea and the execution because every person's criticism and critique is going to be unique to that person and their view as well as their hopes for the show and their hopes for the characters.

But hooo yeah Porsche and Chay's relationship is definitely my biggest disappointment in the entire show.

#no tags here #spoiler #spoilers

[692blog]

mafia boss tiktok: sexy violence is still violence

booktok (or book tiktok) is a populous community full of a multitude of different types of content. book reviews, lists, promotions, and something very uniquely booktok: POVs as recommendations.

detailing a scene or trope in a book, these POVs allow watchers to experience some of the story and thus compel them to read the rest of it - usually the book title is in the description or finally given like a blessing from above after hundreds of people comment "title?"

one of the most popular genres on booktok is 'mafia romance'. within this genre, there is a couple: one of which is part of a crime family and the other is not. it's usually the man being some sort of powerful mafia authority figure, and the woman being the everyday, doesn't-know-better, citizen. the two opposing ways of life meet and shenanigans ensue.

if you were to sit down and think of what reminds you of a mafia boss, ‘secret soft romantic' and 'protective humanitarian’ are probably not the first things that would come to mind. the readers of booktok would disagree with you, though, as mafia romance novels say these bosses might be misunderstood and violent, but it's for the right reasons.

(when i say mafia bosses, i mean the ones written in kindle unlimited novels or wattpad stories. there’s probably people in the depths of tiktok romanticizing al capone, but the bosses discussed below are purely fictional.)

mafia boss tiktoks are incredibly formulaic. the most popular ones all involve the following: 

1. blurry photos of a man in a suit and a woman in a dress, usually ripped from some place on the internet. no faces are shown, and the picture tends to be blurred. this gives the illusion of a ‘real life’ situation but also, with the lack of identification, the ability for the watcher to superimpose themselves into the story.

2. text on the photos, describing a situation, usually in multiple parts. tiktok recently came out with a slides feature, wherein the user could post a carousel of photos that the watcher can flip through at their leisure. older tiktoks did not have this, so the photos changed automatically, as the slideshow was artificial and just an edited video. > the first photo tends to have an establishing piece of narrative or dialogue ex. you’re sitting in a restaurant with your arranged-marriage husband, the biggest, scariest mafia boss in town. the waiter brings out lobster, but you’re allergic. > the subsequent slides are a foil to the first, usually contrasting the intensity of the ‘mafia boss’ situation ex. you think your husband doesn’t care but then he grabs the waiter and says, "get her a new meal or i’ll kill you."

3. a tiktok audio of a song (a lot of the times it’s selena gomez, for whatever reason) that’s slowed down and then sped up OR it’s a part of the song that has a quick tempo change. the slideshow of pictures usually changes in beat with the music (you have to do it yourself if it’s a carousel of photos), to further dramatize the situation.

these tiktoks allow for potential readers to peek into the story, usually at a very intense scene. it's the literature equivalent of seeing a very fast sports car zoom past you. you wonder, who's in there? what's their motive? why do they look so cool and effortless?

a lot of these recommendations showcase the mafia boss committing acts of violence as reaction to something negative happening to our heroine. it’s usually something the girl pushes aside, saying it’s not important or something he doesn’t have to worry about, but he does, and he usually like kills someone or sets something on fire. this disproportionate reaction, the ruthlessness as result of secret love, is what draws readers to these mafia romances. 

link to nicole fox's tiktok - note the use of emojis and punctuation in 'deathly' and 'mafia boss' to circumvent tiktok's rigorous and famously inconsistent content flagging system

there is attraction in someone who is seemingly awful to everyone else but loves you. with the added status and money that comes with the mafia boss profession (fictionally) - and the mafia being far enough way in history to modern middle class american women that it has intrigue but little-to-no truly negative connotations – mafia bosses are the perfect recipe for 'realistic' romantic anti-hero.

link to bookish94's tiktok - note the spelling of 'kidnapped'

the situations that these women are put into (by majority female authors), and their subsequent POV tiktoks, are incredibly violent. for example, the girl could be assaulted or threatened at the club she works at, and the mafia boss that owns the club sees it, gets incredibly angry, and kills the man that attacked her. because the initial violence is remedied by additional violence (though in the opposite direction), these stories are labeled ‘edgy’, ‘dark’, and ‘not for everyone’.

link to romance book recs' tiktok

as someone who grew up in domestic violence, these stories make me nervous. not personally, but for the audience of readers that consume them. a violent man is a violent man, no matter where that violence goes to or comes from. i cannot imagine these mafia bosses have a balanced head on their shoulders (people in power rarely do), so their violence, i imagine, isn’t balanced either. 

the mafia is not that far away nor nearly as romantic as it seems, it was just in 2010 that the infamous calabrian mob was taken to court for drug smuggling, business extortion, and arms dealing. a lot of the key players that exposed these crimes were women - the new yorker has an incredibly detailed account of the whole situation. 

italian prosecutors said, about women in the calabrian mob, “[these] women led tragic lives. but many didn’t consider the women to be of much use in their fight; they were just more victims….the women don’t matter.”

later in the article, author alex perry describes: “women who did not uphold exacting codes of respect were beaten, often in the street. wives who were unfaithful, even to the memory of a husband dead for fifteen years, were killed, typically by their closest male relatives, and their bodies were often burned or dissolved in acid to be sure of erasing the family shame.”

the fictional mafia (and the real one) works a lot like an abusive partner would: privately, intensely, and with overpowering authority threatening violence. an elusive and romantic fictional mafia boss might threaten to kill your ex-partner, but so would a very real life abusive boyfriend.

while researching for this post, i came across the following search results. this is on the first page of links for the google search ‘mafia domestic violence’:

news articles detailing real violence, followed by books romanticizing it. (also, I read the sweetest oblivion by danielle lori. it was bad.)

i worry that these POVs and books will teach a younger generation of women that violence is okay. that killing or harming without second thought, to defend or remedy a situation that did not need it, isn’t a sign of instability, but a sign of passion.  

comment found on the above nicole fox tiktok

link to 'best mafia/mob romance books' goodreads list

stories like these, i believe, are borne out of the need to understand something illogical: senseless violence against women. romanticizing a mafia boss allows readers to believe that there is purpose to this violence. that men don’t actually baselessly hate and assault people, it’s just that they’re misunderstood and protective.

money and power do not grant you authority over your partner, even if it’s in a sexy way backtracked to a selena gomez song. no one should make you feel unsafe, especially if that person is your partner. you have the right to safety, always and forever, from all angles – no matter what your mafia boss boyfriend says. 

domestic violence resources:

national domestic violence hotline: [phone] thehotline.org

#mafia romance #booktok #povs #tiktok

[elliepassmore]

Fourth Wing review

4/5 stars Recommended if you like: high fantasy, dragons, competition, magic This book is good...but it's definitely not worth the hype. It's one of those books where I finished it and decided I'd read the second book just to see, but the more time that passes since I read the book, the more I feel kind of ambivalent about the series. Especially knowing it's going to be 5 books. There wasn't really enough meat to the book to make me want to hold on for the rest of the series. I also have absolutely 0 desire to try and wade through the absolute chaos being produced by bookstagram and booktok for this series. It's especially bothering me that people are buying up editions of the book in languages they can't even read just because it's pretty and they want all the possible pretty editions of the book they can get (something something hypermaterialistic consumerism). A lot of the elements/characters feel like the "can I copy your homework? / Sure, just make it a little different so that it doesn't look like you just copied it" meme. We have Xaden, a 'tanned' bad boy with swirling tattoos and shadow magic (Rhysand/Azriel/Dorian); the Riders Quadrants, where students wear all black and spar and do super dangerous stunts (Divergent); Violet, the weak underdog with brown and silver hair and (eventually) lightening powers (Mare); the room-destroying sex (Aelin + Rowan, among others); the mating bond (ACOTAR). I really could not get over the similarities here, and it continues throughout most of the book. Also, Violet felt very Wattpad-esque at times, and not in a good way, including the "tiny FMC/6ft+ MMC" trope. This book very much feels like the author looked into tropes and characters that were popular with readers and then included as much of that as possible in this book. That being said, the book is entertaining. If you shut out the ridiculousness of the above paragraph, then the book provides a good way to be entertained for a few hours. There's a lot of action and we do get a lot from the dragons later on in the book. This book also doesn't require you to think, so if you're just looking to enjoy the read and be entertained, this book is definitely a good one to go for, especially since the language used in the book is pretty modern. Violet is an interesting bird. She's obviously terrified of being in the Rider Quadrant, but at the same time is very determined to continue with it even before she grows to like it. Likewise, she doesn't want to draw attention to her disability, but she also does very little to compensate for it, even after she gets a dragon (girl, use a harness!). She's also willing to use subterfuge to weaken her opponents but isn't willing to kill. That being said, Violet is also very loyal to those she considers her friends and seems to care about people in general because she'll keep her friends', dragons', and even her semi-enemies' secrets, especially if it looks like revealing the secret would put someone in harm's way. I want to talk about Violet's disability. At first I thought it was brittle bone until Violet used the word "sublux." While it isn't used exclusively for Ehlers-Danlos (EDS), it is pretty indicative that that's what Violet has, especially when most of her complaints end up being about her joints and not her bones. The author herself apparently also has EDS, so that further adds to my guess that Violet has it too. They obviously don't have the words for it, so Violet doesn't get a subtype, but I'm guessing hEDS or cEDS. I'm glad to see it getting more rep, there have been a couple of books recently featuring it, and I like that it's in a fantasy book. However, I think it is somewhat of a mischaracterization to have that be the reason Violet is so weak. I, too, have EDS (hypermobile) and would not consider myself weak because of it. Sure, I have certain physical limitations, but I also know how to compensate for them and, while I'm somewhat out of shape now, have been physically strong in the past. So, yes, Violet having EDS does put her at a disadvantage, but I think her Scribe training and general lack of physical exertion for most of her life probably puts her at more of a disadvantage. Xaden comes across as an ass right off the bat. Yet, despite his threats and seeming intentions, he never actually makes a move to harm Violet. Despite the animosity, they're pretty much on the same side from the get-go and do have an insta-lust thing going on. Xaden is someone with a lot of secrets, some more deeply hidden than others, and he's constantly teetering on the brink of getting in trouble due to his father's actions. He has a bigger heart than he lets on, and while he remains snarky and somewhat gruff, it's also clear that he has a strong sense of what he believes in and is determined to follow through, even if it means risking his own life (and, I'm fairly certain, some other people's). Dain is Violet's childhood best friend and crush. He comes across well at first, and I liked seeing his and Violet's banter. However, in his desire to protect Violet, he quickly begins making decisions without telling her and pressuring her to do things contrary to her own desires. It's a shame how things ended up since I did like him in the early portion of the book. Violet also makes some new friends in the Rider Quadrant and they're very supportive. They have Violet's back and she has theirs, with their little group often saving each other's lives. Violet's friends also work with her to train and to help her compensate for her EDS, supporting her and her decisions throughout the book. Admittedly it does make a nice parallel to Dain, who refuses to see that Violet has grown and is determined to become a rider. The dragons are pretty good as well. It was kind of weird how they were depicted as these terrible, bloodthirsty creatures, but then as soon as Violet is bonded to Tairn and Adarna, we don't really see any of that. The nastiness of the dragons is shown early on in the book and a bit in the middle, but then in the latter portion of the book, nothing backs that up anymore. The dragons clearly have positive emotions and aren't so bloodthirsty as to kill anyone that moves, so their characterization was a bit dissonant. I did like Tairn and Adarna, though, and enjoyed seeing them and their interactions. Overall, this book is very, very similar to a lot of other popular books and it's definitely hard to overlook those similarities. But, if you're looking for an entertaining read with dragons, this is a good book for that. Definitely not worth the hype though.

#book #books #booklr #bookish #bookahoilc #book addict #bookblr #book review #book recommendation #books and reading #bookstagram #ya books #ya fantasy books #fantasy book #fourth wing #dragons #the empyrean #high fantasy #divergent vibes #magic

[elaichoi]

the v v v first time i saw ur acct was when u had the yeonjun prive alliance layout ^3^ those reincarnation aus made me saur emo T^T

i luv that for u agghh<3 not that there's anything wrong w it,but i find it most satisfying when ppl get into kpop from kpop-genre songs rather than western-sounding kpop songs lol my first kpop artists were b2st (highlight) and t-ara hehe

mhm yea mayybbe! i know 100% why i don't post them and its cos i used to be consistent w posting on both kpop & personal socmed accts but mental health happens and i kinda stopped bc numbers make me want 2 cry lmfao

except im slightly less mentally ill since that time now and yk i actually genuinely do rlly want to start all my socmed accts up again but im putting it off bc im a bit of a perfectionist and so im lazy to be doing all dat... all of nothin :D don't call the orderly i'm fine ^_^ /lh

2019-21? ah probably not then i'm pretty sure i was in and out of the school roster (pls tell me if i am oversharing/trauma dumping/crossing any boundaries bc i genuinely do not know i no longer have any social skills T_T /gen /srs)

hm i'm not sure tbh i only followed the one 😭😭 i haven't been on wattpad in a long ass time and i remember i tried seeing what wattpad was like nowadays and was v disappointed w the ads and paid stuff (i think i don't remember). booooo 👎👎

omg wait that's so cool aaaaah!!! i changed my user a lot so i honestly could not tell u bc i have goldfish memory ;__; i do remember i had a user like taempons(_) i think it had an underscore idk don't remember but i changed it (kinda wish i saved it ngl) and oh one i do remember was peachyjihoons (my wannaone phase lmao) but yeah im pretty sure my most recent user was some based on some tumblr shit like svnshine or something idfk 💀💀

u are already a talented writer save some for the rest of us 👺 /j if u could also draw u would be too powerful 👁️👄👁️

omg THAT WAS MY FIRST LAYOUT TOO!! this account isn't that old tbh i still haven't gotten the feel of writing smuts as of yet that's why i havent been much active on it BUT WAIT REINCARNATION AU?!? from my main???

DUDE I LOVE B2ST!!!! and t-ara!!!!!!!! i really got into kpop slowly because i fell for kdrama at first (found replay in one of the kdrama edit lmao) so like my music journey has been very, very kpop ish. i think the global influence in most of kpop songs started to become mroe prominent during 2018?

bro i get you like the fear of starting the stuff you love because you feel like you won't be able to give it all and starting it and feeling it like you're gonna disappoint yourself. i hadn't started anything since like 2017 until recently because i was scared i was gonna stumble, or it won't be good ( well mostly that) or i won't be able to finish that. me and my bff still has this one project we started around like 2018 lmao we both still haven't finished it or picked it up bc we developed the idea sm and got so close to it that we fear writing it now.

not OVERSHARINH I WANNA KNOW!!! NO but like FR wattpad went through the biggest glow down IVE EVer seen like. it's legit LEGIT inhabitable. like at first you take away the newsfeed?!? like how am i gonna pine over other accounts now?!? and then everything became paid and shit like wtf is that?!

omg i wonder if I ever saw you on my explore page or tags bro fr this is so interesting my ig handle has always been one tbh it's @celestialsoo ( my intense love affair with kyungsoo era) like since the dawn of the day.

YOU LIE!!!!! i wish i could fr draw tho i want to draw my muses :///

#love mails from my beloved anon!

[intrepidradish]

Media: Predators

Year/my age: 2020-2022/30-32

What drew me to the media:

My friend Iterations dragged me in kicking and screaming. This is such a strange fandom for me. I don't even know how to approach talking about it.

At some point, via the Ao3 comment sections of my stories, Iterations suggested the Farscape fandom didn't appreciate me enough and that I should bring my weird queer stories to Predators instead, which at the time, had absolutely zero lgbtq representation.

I was in the midst of lockdown, alone in a house alone in a city I recently relocated to with family in different states. I was very alone, but there was a discord group. I did have gdocs and a big imagination. Iterations was great to talk to. The discord... was really hard on me, and I've only recently left, much to my relief.

What made me a fan:

Nothing did. To this day, I am not a fanatic about predators. I get the appeal of giant, ripped aliens that are stoics for the monster love genre, but the world building is missing for me to really engage with them for writing. But as someone that has only watched the films, the world for yautja isn't something I care to explore further.

And that isn't to say that people in the Predator fandom aren't doing a bang up job exploring it! I still edit work for the fandom, Skadi's Starchild, and he's taking the world in a lot of fun places in his works. Alpha produces in world essays about Aliens and Predators. Others too! If you like monster fucking, it's a rich fandom! People do fun things with Predators. I could probably do more myself (I have ideas) but I'm not going to explore them as fanfiction.

Have I written fanfiction for it? Why or why not?

Yes! I started with Belladonna because there was not a single wlw story in the entire ao3 tag. It's a great story! It's really sexy! I wrote it because I was told women yautja wouldn't enjoy sex outside of mating, and it made me see red. Even if you don't care about Predators you should read this story because it's fast and awesome!

Romp Reversal is probably the most insane story I've published to date about body swapping a little twink cloaca-haver with a yautja. The twink body with the yautja brain gets shipped off to be sexed trained for an enormous spider and the yautja body with a sex-obsessed idiot cutey gets in trouble in other ways. >_>

Yautja PI is very plot heavy and was written by Iterations and me. We took different chapters. It's the first sad ending I've written. It was such a fun challenge working with someone else on a story. I recommend trying to any writer. It will stretch your muscles.

Fox Hunt I wrote over October in 2020, and then hated it! Iterations read it and said it wasn't as bad as I thought, so I reread it again. It is really good. It has this strange victorian racism pov where a bunch of british lords think a predator is a zulu warrior. It's actually more shitty to british people (imo), but they deserve it LOLS. Surprisingly, this story is very popular. It is doing well on wattpad somehow (I don't understand wattpad). I think because it's mlm, it's british, and the sex is hot.

I wrote a trilogy to fix the Predator 2018, which had that makings of a good movie but really fucking wiffle-balled it. I rewrote it. New Procedure is mostly focused on Casey/Fugitive and is surgical kink. It's the most popular probably! Then I went into this huge tangent about defeating the Ultimate predator for a bit, which was difficult for me to finish writing because I was mentally excusing myself from the fandom. Then the conclusion one shot, New Theory, which has some fun sex, but is definitely me tired.

Opinion on the fandom:

I didn't have a very good time with the fandom. We got in lots of fights. I got pigeon holed for something I don't write because I defended people's freedom to write it. There was a lot of bullying, and if I engaged to protect people from bullying, I was not only attacked by the people being bullied but also draw people's attention. It sucked. I'm glad I'm out of it. I find it mildly amusing that most of the people in that discord no longer writes Predator fanfiction. Gatekeeping strangles your own creativity too.

That being said, it's a huge fandom. My works get a lot of attention. People will stick around for very long stories if the payoffs are right.

I'm also really proud of what I produced while in the fandom! I wrote some good stuff during a very difficult time. God the trauma of the pandemic lives long.

Would I read it again?

There are a few stories I'm subscribed to that I'll keep reading. If my friends write anything I'll probably read it!

#my personal take

[anxious-multishipper]

Tagged by from @drarreckyninja

20 questions, writer’s edition!

How many works do you have on AO3?

currently -> 20 (and one in progress)

What’s your total AO3 word count?

44,392

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

9 including original works

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

A Gift for Shimura -> Tomura Shigaraki/Izuku Midoriya oneshot

Izuku Midoriya wants to get a gift for his partner, Tenko Shimura, but he's not entirely sure what to get him.

Malpractice -> Tomura Shigaraki & Izuku Midoriya

Tomura Shigaraki and Izuku Midoriya both become severely injured in a fight. They end up in the hospital together, being forced to share a room considering they are similar ages and in a similar circumstance. They have to stay there until they heal, so eventually they get more accommodated. After a bit, they even become friends.

Komahinanami Week 2020 Oneshots -> Nagito Komaeda/Hajime Hinata/Chiaki Nanami

Works for Komahinanami Week 2020.

Little Leader's Sick Day -> Gonta Gokuhara/Kokichi Ouma

Gonta Gokuhara helps Kokichi Ouma take care of himself one morning because he is sick.

Survive Just to Suffer -> Katsuki Bakugou & Izuku Midoriya

Izuku Midoriya sacrifices himself for his childhood friend, Katsuki Bakugou, who then has to deal with his immense grief (along with a possible haunting).

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I always respond to comments. They're one of my favorite parts of posting my works.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

i am worthless :) was a projection of some of my current intrusive thoughts, so that one is pretty bad. Inner Monster is not a fanfiction, rather an original story, but it has an angsty ending. And Survive Just to Suffer is pretty depressing throughout.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Most of my work are relatively or exceptionally happy, but if you are looking for a quick fluff piece, might I recommend the following: The Ultimate Equation, The Latest Agent, and Paradise City.

Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I think the only crossover I have done is the first chapter of those Komahinanami oneshots, which is a Danganronpa and Avatar: The Last Airbender crossover.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

no hate yet :D

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

As of now, no. I probably will after October 21st of this year because then I will be 18.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

hopefully not lol

Have you ever had a fic translated?

not to my knowledge

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I have used some people's ideas upon request and had works beta read by friends, but I do not believe I have co-written anything yet.

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Mabel Pines/Will Cipher/Pacifica Northwest

I take questions.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Both of my WIPs are set to finish, especially The Solvay Conference. That one has specific planning in place and will most certainly be completed.

What are your writing strengths?

I would argue it is my usage of grammar and detail.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Executive dysfunction.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I would love to get better at it, but as of now I only speak one language other than English and every attempt at using a language other than English or Mandarin (of which no attempts of the latter have come into play) have been embarrassing and brief.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

According to my current AO3 account, My Hero Academia. According to my past on Wattpad which is not to be spoken of and has since been deleted, either Voltron: Legendary Defender or Gravity Falls (I cannot remember which).

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

I would say that my favorite is always my most recently updated, which is The Solvay Conference.

I don't tag people cause it makes me feel bad? awkward? whatever... but I love being tagged and really appreciate it :D <333

#fanfiction #tagged

[lokigodofaces]

If any of you have asexual Loki fics, please reblog and link them/DM me them. Or if you've read some you think I'd like, I'll take those too. I want ace Loki, please. My own fanfiction isn't enough for me.

Frostmaster and Thorki are big no-no's to me as ships, but otherwise I don't really care what pairing. I do ship Infinoki, but I'm interested in Loki/Clint, Loki/Bucky, and Loki/Wanda, if anyone knows about anything like that where Loki is ace. But I honestly don't care if there is romance, I just want asexual Loki.

#loki laufeyson #asexual loki #ace loki #yes i have a couple fics where loki is ace! #one of them is an x reader b/c i was interested what it would be like to write in that format #another is a loki x oc #that one is fun b/c the oc (mandy) is bi but not at all comfortable about it #but one day loki mentioned something about his gender fluidity #and he was totally chill about it & said something abt not caring about sexuality #he hasnt said what his sexuality is yet in the fic but hes demibiromantic ace but doesnt know those terms #but yeah mandy is gonna come out to him & it'll be good for her b/c shes super worried about her sexuality rn #& also shes gonna get matching bi pride stuff for them b/c that is cute #& once they find out loki is demiro ace she is gonna buy him stuff for that too #& gender fluid stuff #itll be cute #if you were wondering the x reader is 'captive' & the x oc is 'angelic' #up on wattpad quotev & ao3 #not completed but am working on it #also some sites i've put up edited version & some i havent but i dont remember which? #i think wattpad has the most recent editions #but i'll work on getting them all up to speed

[deardragonbook]

Remember to be creative with your powers

Like most of my posts, although not always specifically stated, this is about fantasy. 

In fantasy, characters often have power-sets. Many writers advice you to know the limits of those powers (me included). But, once you know the limits. The rules. It’s time to stare down that power set and figure out exactly how you can stretch those rules. 

I think a good and common example of this is Avatar the Last Airbender, if you haven’t seen it, do. Just do. It has powers, it has clear and simple rules, and it got creative as hell with them. It’s one of the most rewarding power sets ever because of it’s simplicity and creativity, a true example for the ages. It’s inspired countless creatives and it’s pretty obvious why. 

Water bending, you can bend water. That means you can get water from plants, you can blend blood, use your own sweat as a weapon and more. You can do this with your own power set too. 

And not always for the epic, sometimes for the mundane too! 

An example from my own book, my main character’s main power set is she can heat herself up. This is obviously a powerful weapon, causing terrible burns to her enemies. But off the battle field it receives even more use, she will heat up her food with her hands, dry her hair with her own heat, she even has fireproof clothes and will burn any filth off of them. And although it’s not stated expressly until the second book (very mild spoilers, skip a paragraph to avoid) she also uses it to cauterice wounds and avoid bleeding out. 

A single power can be used in many ways. Remember that. It feels far more rewarding than having many powers. 

Remember, limitations on creativity can be a pro! If used correctly. 

As usual,  check out my socials and book here. I’m quite active on TikTok recently, the quick video format is quite accesible and allows me to give some quick advice about writing as well as talk about my experience. I’m also considering taking one of my wattpad stories down to re-edit it, go into beta reading and publish more officially, so if beta reading is something that interest you, stay tuned. 

Also, I’m currently doing some beta reading here and there, I can’t take on too many projects but if anybody had a shorter story they’d like some advice on, feel free to PM me. 

#writing #writers on tumblr #writer #writing advice #how I write #writing tips #writing tricks #writing resource #writerslife #writblr #author #authors #resource for writting #fantasy #fantasy writing #writting fantasy #tip #trivia #storytelling #stories #story

[andreafmn]

Collision - Chapter 4

Word Count: 3,821

Characters: Female Reader Uley Character, Sam Uley, Allison Uley, Charlie Swan, Bella Swan, Seth Clearwater, Billy Black, Jacob Black, Emily Young, Paul Lahote, Harry and Sue Clearwater, Leah Clearwater

Story Description: (Y/N) Uley is back home after being away for four years. Her life at its first standstill and she is taking this time to find out who she is without school. But she never thought that coming back to the reservation would turn her whole life around. In the midst of secrets and mystery, a man crashes into (Y/N)’s and her life will never be the same.

*DISCLAIMER* I do not own in any way Twilight, all credits of the pre-established characters, script, and storyline belong to Stephanie Meyer and Summit Entertainment. The only thing I own is Uley Reader insert, any upcoming characters, and her storyline, as well as her effects in the others’ story line.

Chapter: 4/?

A/N: Don’t know if I ever mentioned it, but the story takes place before New Moon but after Twilight. It starts at the end of May after the dance, so it’d be the summer before Bella’s birthday in September. If you enjoy my writing I’ll also be posting them in AO3 and Wattpad along with other stories (I also hope to start taking requests if ya’ll want) Hope you enjoy and all constructive criticism is encouraged.

TikTok • Instagram • Business

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Chapter 4

The next time she awoke she was back in sight of the blinding hospital lights. Her head was heavily pounding and the clothes on her body felt alien to her. Her eyes struggled to adjust to the white lights of the sanitized room, but they were suddenly off.

“Back again, Miss Uley?” She recognized the voice, Dr. Cullen. “I’ve already turned the lights off so don’t worry about that.”

Her eyes finally opened to reveal the smooth pale face of the doctor. A wave of calmness rushed over her as soon as her eyes connected with his golden ones.

“What can I say?” She chuckled. “I just couldn’t stay away.”

“Well, it seems you’ve been having a recurring headache, insomnia, memory lapses, and a lack of appetite. It looks like post-concussive syndrome. Your mom told us you were feeling like this for a few days, why didn’t you come back?” Carlisle questioned. He was trying his best to look like he was breathing but if he took even a single breath all his years of self-control would be over in an instant.

“I thought if I could just make it to at least seven days it could clear me from coming back to the hospital, at least as a patient.”

“What do you mean?” This comment had perked the interest of the man. Thoughts raced through his head faster than he could analyze them.

“I was thinking of applying for a medical assistant job here in the hospital. I recently got my degree in biology, and I’ve been thinking of going to medical school after.”

“That sounds like a plan, but let’s work on getting you better first.” It did sound like a good plan to Carlisle. He wanted to be as close as possible to her every single day, but it also meant he would have to work triple as hard to control his thirst. “We’d like to keep you for the next few days and make sure you’re in good health before you can go back to business as usual.”

“How long would a few days be?”

“About four to five days, just to make sure that the symptoms don’t worsen, and we can give you an all-clear.” It would also give him a few days to grow accustomed to her smell. “We can work over that application for medical assistant, make sure it’s something you want to do.”

“Yeah, that’d be great.” She smiled at the man in front of her, her heart fluttering with every breath she took. “Thank you, Dr. Cullen.”

“Please, call me Carlisle,” he smiled. “Now, why don’t you continue resting, and whatever you need just call. My office is right down the hall, I’ll be here in no time.”

The girl stared at the retreating form of his body and covered the heat that was rising to her face with her pillow. The butterflies in her stomach had made her uneasy and had her hands shaking. She didn’t understand why she was feeling this way. It had only been a week since her first encounter with the doctor, but those few seconds were enough to have her drooling over the man like a lovesick schoolgirl.

A few days had come and gone quickly. (Y/N) had grown attached to Carlisle, seeing and talking to him every day had felt like a dream. In his free time, she would go over to his office and pick a book to read, which they talked about the next day. They spent hours talking about nothing and everything.

It had been a long time since Carlisle had felt this way, centuries. Being around her had gotten easier each day that passed. Her smell becoming comforting instead of a trigger to the endless hunger for human blood – he’d never had a simple drop of it, but nothing could explain how much he wanted to have hers. Getting to know her had been a welcomed activity by the young doctor. He could spend days upon days listening to the sweet sound of her voice, admiring her curious-filled face when she started a new book – which she read swiftly, taking only a couple of hours to finish most of them.

“Can’t believe you have so many first editions, and you leave them at work.” She ran her hand across the spine of Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment. “I would keep them in a well-preserved chamber, and no one would be able to even breathe on them.”

Carlisle smiled as the girl gawked once again at his book collection. It wasn’t hard to acquire first edition novels when you were alive when they were published. “If you’re impressed by this collection, you’d be completely astonished by the one I have back home.”

“You have more?!” He nodded. The girl shined like a kid on Christmas, her eyes gleaming at the thought of a big library. “Oh, that sounds like a dream.”

“You’re more than welcome to come over any time. It’s always refreshing to meet a literature aficionado such as myself.”

“Really? That’d be amazing!” She grinned brightly. “I could spend all day reading, forget about work.”

The duo laughed. “Too late to withdraw the application but you’re always welcome to pass your downtime in my office.”

“Sounds like a plan,’’ she smiled. “Now, doctor, what will you ever do now that I’m not going to be here every day?”

“Oh, how will I ever go on?” He chuckled. “But if you ever need help during that time, just come by. My office is always open. And hopefully, you’ll visit from time to time on personal time.”

“I’m sure it’s something that can be arranged.”

If there was still blood rushing through his veins, the capillaries in his face would have widened. He felt like he now understood Edward; how being with her made him feel human again. And there was nothing more that he wanted than to take their friendship to another level, but he wasn’t sure if she would ever feel the same. Carlisle knew that she was unaware of the supernatural since (Y/N) had allowed him to be in her life. But what would happen once she knew everything? How could he ever come between her and her family?

“Miss Uley, your mother is here,” a nurse spoke up, peeking her head through the office door. “Discharge papers have already been filed.”

“Thank you, Nurse Dalen. She’ll be out in a moment.” Carlisle smiled.

“Well, the time has come.” (Y/N) took her phone out of her back pocket and handed it to the doctor. He looked at her with a question-ridden gaze. “I’m gonna need your phone number so we can arrange any future endeavors.”

“Right,” he laughed, typing his number into her directory. “I’ll be waiting for that call.”

“I’ll be making it soon enough,” she grinned. “I’m gonna go now. I’ll see you around, Cullen.”

“I’ll see you, Uley.”

She left the office with a huge smile on her face, holding her phone close to her chest. For the first time, she was experiencing something she had heard of most of her teenage years. Once she had met Carlisle all she wanted to do was get to know him better, spend her time with him, just being near him would suffice. It was the first time she was learning what falling for someone was, and even though it was scary, she was jumping in headfirst.

“Hi, honey. Ready to go home?” Allison hugged her daughter for the first time in five days. (Y/N) nodded, truly ready to finally sleep on her own bed.

“So, how are you liking Dr. Cullen?”

“MOM!” Allison laughed at her daughter’s reaction. It was easy to see that (Y/N) had taken a liking to Carlisle Cullen, and vice versa.

“What, darling? If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck.”

“It’s not like that, mom.”

“But you’d like it to be like that.”

“I’m not talking about that with my mother.” (Y/N) placed her cold hands on her cheeks, trying to cool down the warm blood that had rushed onto her cheeks. The cool air of the car’s A/C was only helping her so much.

“I just want you to be careful with that, honey. He’s older than you, technically has kids, and rumor has it he is married.”

A breath hitched in her throat. Married? She knew he had adopted five kids, most of them her age, but not that he was married. Had she read the situation wrong? He didn’t wear a ring, he didn’t mention any relationship, he had no pictures of a woman in his office. Then again, they had only spent five days together at the hospital. She didn’t know what he did when he went home at night, who he went home to at night. (Y/N) shouldn’t feel betrayed—they weren’t anything, and they weren’t on track to become anything.

“Don’t worry, mom. I’ve just been picking his brain about working in the hospital, and he’s been helping me with what I’m gonna be doing this summer.”

“Oh, have you decided what you want to do?”

“I’m gonna get my medical assistant certification. It’s a three-month course then I can work at the hospital.”

“That’s great, honey.” Allison smiled at her daughter from the driver’s side. “Is that where you’d see yourself making a career?”

“Not sure. I want to take this time to see if life in a hospital is truly where I’d like to work – see if medical school would be it for me.”

(Y/N) hadn’t taken the time to focus on her future. In her high school career, she spent her time focusing on the present and piling on as much as she could, and now she had no sense of direction. She would take every day as it came, hoping one day she would find her purpose.

Finally, back home, she hopped off the truck and stretched out her limbs, stiff from the days on a hospital bed. Taking a deep breath of fresh air and basking in the afternoon sun. The cold that had seeped into her bones from the hospital melted off, and she smiled feeling the warmth surround her.

“Why don’t you go upstairs, honey?” Allison told her daughter. “There’s a surprise waiting for you in your room.”

(Y/N) smiled and quickly made her way up the stairs to see what her mom meant. Opening the door, tears forming in her eyes. Her room had done a 180-degree turn. The walls had been painted a light beige color, and plants hung from the walls bringing warmth to the room. The bed was adorned with a white cover, and a fluffy duvet to keep her warm at night. A wooden frame sat atop the bed dressed in white linen and ivy vines. A bookcase lived in the corner of her room, filled to the brim with her collection of hardbacks and peppered with potted plants. Opposite the bed was a small desk with a dark green suede chair, her laptop set up in the workspace. Her room finally felt like hers.

“Do you like it, honey?”

“Mom, did you do this?”

“I wish I could take credit, but your brother and your friend Paul came over when I was at work and redecorated. I was actually surprised that they even came over.”

“I’ll have to thank them,” (Y/N) grinned. Even though their relationship was strained at the moment, and she had yet to see Paul since coming back, she was glad that they had taken time out of their days to do this for her. “I’ll go over to Sam’s house for a bit, maybe now he’ll have time to see me.”

“Why don’t you go tomorrow, honey? You should take it easy.”

“I feel a lot better, mom. You don’t have to worry too much.”

“I’m your mother, I’ll always worry. If you’re gonna go out, go see Jacob. He was really worried about you.”

“I will.”

(Y/N) kissed her mother’s cheek and grabbed her bag to head out. Her first stop was to the Black residence. Jacob saw her coming down the street and ran out to wrap her in a hug. When she collapsed last week, he had been very concerned when she collapsed in his garage. Jacob was glad that she had made a full recovery and was now back home, with minimum side effects showing. The visit was short, only a quick hello to ensure the boy that she was okay.

After spending some time with Jacob, she walked towards Sam’s house – she hoped to catch Paul there too since she had heard he now spent his time there alongside Jared Cameron. It hadn’t clicked in her head why Paul would ever hang out with her brother and Jared. Even when they were back in middle school, he never paid them any mind, having a separate friend group. She had only become his friend by spending time with him away from school, and her brother had always disliked them together, claiming he was a bad influence.

Outside of the small house, (Y/N) could hear the low chatter of manly voices, a higher-pitched one joining after. There was no mistaking that Sam was home. She started feeling nervous as she raised her hand to knock on the door. The shaky limb was able to make contact with the blue door twice before it opened wide open, revealing a shirtless Paul Lahote.

“(Y/N)?” He questioned. Paul knew she was back, but Sam had given him clear instructions to stay away from her due to their situation.

“Hey, Paul. Long time no see, huh?” The girl smiled at her friend that now towered over her. A few years ago, they were still of the same stature, but too much time had passed since then. She went in for a hug, and Paul cut it short – worried she might note his burning temperature. “Is Sam home?”

“Uh, yeah.” He scratched the back of his neck, turning towards the kitchen. “Sam! (Y/N)’s here.”

The older male appeared in front of them, a soft smile playing on his lips. “Hey, (Y/N). Good to see you’re doing better. What brings you around?”

“I just wanted to thank you both for what you did in my room. Mom told me you worked on it while we were away. It’s a dream.” Sam smiled at his younger sister and shared a hug with the smaller girl.

“I’m glad you liked it, (Y/N). We wanted to give you a place where you could rest better after the accident. It’s the least we could do.” The alpha could hear the duo that was left in the kitchen had grown curious about who was at the door. “Do you want to come in for a bit?”

“Are you really inviting me in?” (Y/N) was taken aback – the last thing she thought was that she would get that invitation.

“Yeah, there’s someone I want you to meet,” Sam responded, keeping his doubts of the encounter to himself.

(Y/N) walked through the threshold and instantly felt the warm aura that emanated from inside of the house. It was a welcoming environment that she had grown to love from her own mother’s house. She walked behind Sam, Paul following behind them. `There was nothing that could prepare her to the sight she was met with.

In front of her stood a beautiful woman. She had tan skin, long black hair, and a beautiful smile. But there was something that stood out to her, something she was sure stood out to everyone – three long gashes ran through the front of her face. Yet, they didn’t distract from the alluring atmosphere that surrounded her. Sam moved to her side, and (Y/N) quickly connected the dots and figured that was Emily Young. The Uley girl wanted to be indifferent to her presence, knowing how one of her friends had been hurt by the union in front of her, she couldn’t help but note the love that radiated from the pair. It had been a long time since she had seen her brother as happy as he looked as he stared at his fiancé.

“(Y/N), it’s an honor to finally meet you.” Emily stretched out her hand towards the girl, which (Y/N) gladly took. “Sam has told me so much about you.”

“I wish I could say the same,” (Y/N) joked. “Hopefully, we’ll have a chance to get to know each other more. I’d love to get to know the woman my brother is set to marry.”

“I’m sure we’ll have enough time now that you’re back.” Emily smiled and grabbed a basket filled with muffins, offering them to the girl. (Y/N) gladly took the baked good in her hand, picking at it and placing the piece in her mouth – a wonderful taste that quickly melted in her mouth. “You’re welcome over any time. Any family of Sam is family to me.”

“Thank you, Emily. I’ll be sure to take you up on that.”

Not much time passed before Sam had cut the meeting short, claiming there was something important the duo had to do. “We should do this another time, (Y/N). Paul and I have to go.”

“Go where?” (Y/N) questioned. “It’s already night, not much to do.”

“I can’t really tell you, sis. But it’s important.”

“So still guarding secrets?” Sam shrugged. “It’s fine, Sam. I’m growing used to it.”

“(Y/N)…”

“I can take a hint, Sam. I know when I’m not wanted,” (Y/N) smiled. “Thank you for the muffins, Emily. They were divine. I’ll be sure to take you up on that offer and visit sometime soon.”

“Of course, (Y/N). I’m sorry we had to cut this short.”

“It’s okay. I’ll see you guys.” (Y/N) took her bag and exited the house. She was confused on why Sam had welcomed her in only to have her leave soon after – there was something big he was hiding, and she needed to find out what it was.

“(Y/N), wait up!” Paul jogged up to her, turning her around. “Look, I hope you understand that we’re not trying to push you away on purpose. There are things that Sam is protecting you from.”

“Like what, Paul? What danger could possibly be surrounding us that he would stray from his family?”

“I’m sorry, but it’s not my place to tell you, (Y/N). As much as I hate keeping this from you, Sam would not allow it to come from anyone but himself.”

“Are you serious? What kind of power does he have over you?”

“PAUL!” Sam shouted, gaining the attention of his beta. “Let’s go.”

“I’m sorry, (Y/N). I hope one day you’ll forgive us.” Paul kissed her forehead and went to meet up with his alpha.

(Y/N) stood still as she watched their bodies disappear into the woods. She debated whether to follow them for a brief second, but she was exhausted. She left back home with a million questions running through her head. The pair of Sam and Paul was a strange view, and she was determined to get to the bottom of things.

When she got home, (Y/N) noticed her mother asleep on the couch, the tv in front of her still playing. The years that passed were clear on her face, the worry that she carried for both her children plastered in the lines of her face. She could see the exhaustion that she held, years of caring for two kids by herself taking a toll on her. (Y/N) grabbed a blanket and laid it on top of her mother’s body, making sure that she was warm during the night. She left a kiss on her cheek, thankful for everything her mother had sacrificed for her.

After showering the day off, (Y/N) changed into her pajamas and laid in bed staring at her phone’s screen. She thought if she stared at it long enough a message would magically pop up. Minutes passed and her phone kept silent, not a single notification appearing on the screen. She scrolled through her directory until it landed on the newest listing. Carlisle Cullen, it read. Her finger clicked on it and selected new message.

Her fingers danced atop the keyboard of her phone, no words coming to her mind to send to the doctor. Should she even send him a message? What if he truly was married? She would never want to come between a couple. But her fingers did not follow her thought train. Unconsciously, they started typing away a message and before she could analyze her actions, she sent the message.

Hi, Carlisle. It’s (Y/N). I made it home okay and don’t have any symptoms, seems like you fixed me up! Anyways, wanted to know if you possibly had some free time this weekend to join me for some dinner at La Bella Italia. Hope you had a good rest of the day at work!

Her jaw fell when her screen read message sent. There was no way to delete it now. It was out there, and it would make its way to his phone. (Y/N)’s head fell onto her pillow and muffled a scream that escaped from her throat. This feeling was alien to her, and she was learning what steps to take to grow closer to the astonishing man. Minutes felt like an eternity to (Y/N), thinking that she had imploded the friendship she had built with the man over the past week.

Beep.

The sound from her phone caught her attention. She scrambled for her phone and quietly shrieked at the words on her screen.

Hello, (Y/N). I’m glad you’re feeling better, hopefully, no symptoms will arise once more. And I did have a good day at work, although I missed our afternoon book chats. I have a free day on Sunday. Tell me a time and I can meet you in Port Angeles. Hope that day is good for you.

“He said yes. If he were actually married, he wouldn’t have said yes,” she thought.

So, she typed back.

I’m glad you had a good day, and the book chats have an easy fix. I’m just a phone call away. As for Sunday, it’s a perfect day. I think around 5:30 would be a good time for dinner. Let me know if it works.

Sent.

Seconds later, another beep.

I’ll make sure to schedule those calls then. 5:30 sounds perfect. I’ll see you there. Have a good night, (Y/N).

See you then, Carlisle. Good night. 😊

(Y/N) smiled at her phone, joy wanting to burst from her body. She was reveling in this new feeling and the happiness it brought her. If it was Carlisle, it was worth it, she believed.

That night she went to sleep with the biggest smile she had experienced in her life. Unbeknownst to the life-changing moments that were to follow this meeting.

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