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stereden · 11 months

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Of AI, Chatgpt and fandom

So, I’m finally getting around to writing that post I mentioned on AI, Chatgpt and fandom, and in particular fanfiction. There have been a lot of very good posts on the topic that I encourage you to check out (here ; here and here among many others)

I’ll preface this by saying that, as far as I know, my writing hasn’t yet been fed into an AI for an ending or alternate version. But I know it’s happening with other people’s fics, and I know it might happen to mine at some point. The very idea of it makes me sick, hence this post. The ‘you’ I’m addressing in this isn’t a specific person: it is targeted at anyone who is thinking about feeding my works into something like chatgpt, and anyone who might have already done so.

Let me be very, very clear right from the start: I do not consent to any of my works being fed into any AI, be they chatgpt or similar bullshit, just as I do not consent to anyone plagiarizing my fics, writing their own endings of my fics or trying to dictate what that ending should be. Anyone doing that with my fics is rudely invited to go sit on a cactus and never interact with me or my works ever again. I don’t give a fuck if you don’t plan on ever publishing that AI-generated shit you got about my work. Don’t fucking do it in the first place.

My problem is not just about my writing being used to train a computer program without my consent. That is part of my problem, obviously, but not the most important aspect of it in my eyes, and in the eyes of many other writers who have already spoken out about the problem - and by that, I mean fanfiction writers and professional, published writers.

My main issue is with the people using chatgpt to write endings or alternate versions of fanfics written by other people.

By all means, if you want to use chatgpt for your own stories, I can’t stop you - I can and will judge you, because seriously, there are so many fics out there you can most probably find exactly what you’re looking for with some good tag filtering, and if not you can just do what the rest of us do, which is write your own. That’s how most of us got into fanfiction to begin with. Don’t use the dubious writing ability of a robot and its absolute lack of creativity that sees it cannibalize other people’s writing and frankenstein it back together. I would rather read a twelve-year old’s first ever fanfic, full of clichés and spelling mistakes, than anything written by an AI, because I know the twelve year old poured their heart and soul into it, put the time and effort into it, and that makes it so much better in my eyes.

But if you put someone else’s story into chatgpt or similar? You are dead to me and do not deserve the hard work fic writers put into their stories. Yes, even if you’re not planning on publishing the results.

Those are our stories. The ones we've put time, energy, effort in. That we've spent hours writing. Some of us have the whole plot planned out for the next thirty chapters. Some of us are making it up as we go along. Some of us are doing both. But it's still our stories. Writing them, finishing them, is our right and privilege.

Chatgpt and similar computer programs have no clue what we have planned for the rest of the fic. They can make calculated guesses based on all the words you've just fed them and all the stories they’ve previously scrapped, but even if - and it is a big if - they do get the basic plot right, it still won't be exactly the same. It won't be the same quality, it won't be the same word choice, it won't be the exact same style.

It won't be written by us. It won't be the ending we planned or are still planning on.

You were reading that fic because you liked the plot, the characterisation, the writing style. Because you enjoyed the fruits of the efforts the writer put into it.

And now you're asking a computer to plagiarize that same writer and ghost write you the ending? And, I'm guessing, the ending you want to see, or to rewrite the fic to your liking?

That is not okay. That is beyond not okay. I don't tolerate people trying to pass off my writing as their own. I have specifically told people they were not allowed to use certain original elements of my writing or of the plot I have come up with, because those are stories I am planning on writing myself, or background lore I have already planned for. I have told people off for trying to tell me which way my fics should go, which pairings I should write, how I write certain characters.

What makes you think I would tolerate you using chatgpt and alike to do the same?

Because let me be clear. Using those is stealing. It’s stealing the time and effort we put into this, and selfishly feeding it all into a machine so it can spew out exactly what you want from it.

This is not you asking the writer of an abandoned fic if you could pick it up and write an ending for it. This is not you asking the writer of an on going fic if you can write a side story for it.

This is not you asking permission for anything from the writer of the fic. This is not you writing a heavily inspired fic, or even just copy pasting an entire fic into a new document and tweaking it to fit your personal desire. This is not even you writing anything.

Even if it's fanfictions, we writers still have rights to our intellectual property, to the stories we write. There is a reason AO3 reacts quickly to any complaints of plagiarism or reposted fics. There is a reason mirror sites or apps of AO3 are taken down. There is a reason writers like @neil-gaiman, @seananmcguire @dduane and so many others will never read fanfictions of their own works and have to regularly remind their own fans to stop sending them headcanons or fanfics: because even if what we write is based on their work, it’s still our ideas and if they write something too similar to the ideas their fans sent them, there could be legal consequences. Plagiarism accusations. For similar ideas. Not even the exact same words. Ideas. Yes, even for fanworks.

There is the plagiarism issue, as I just mentioned, but there is also the respect issue. You obviously don’t respect my writing, if you’re so quick to feed it to an AI just because you’re not getting exactly what you want right this second. You obviously don’t respect me, as a person or as a writer either, if you’re willing to disregard all the time, effort and thought I put into my work.

Yes, sometimes fics are abandoned, and you really, really want to know how it would have ended. Sometimes, the writer fell out of the fandom, sometimes real life got busy, sometimes you never know. Sometimes they died, and we mourn their silence. Often, an explanation is never given. Sometimes they reappear years later, sometimes they don’t. It’s a fact of life, a fact of fandom.

I myself have stories I haven’t updated in years that I still have plans for, that I haven’t abandoned but that I just need time and inspiration to continue writing, and yes I know I have people who want to know what happens next. Some of these people are more polite about it than others. Some act like entitled spoiled brats and get their comments deleted because I’m not here to cater for them.

No amount of time passed since the last update makes it okay to use something like Chatgpt to finish their stories. At the very least, have the decency to respect the effort they put into it and write your own version, yourself, and keep it to yourself.

Or, if they're available/if you're able to contact them, ask the writer for permission to write a continuation, or a fic based on their own, with proper credit given and a link back to the original! Or even ask them POLITELY how the fic would have ended! Some of them will happily tell you what they originally had planned, even if they are never going to finish the fic! A writer I follow actually did that just today - updated their fics to say ‘Hey, I might never finish this, but here’s what I had planned for it in case I never come back to this.”

But don’t use chatgpt, or any similar program.

Because if you do, what is even the point of us writing anything in the first place?

I have been writing fanfiction for a long time. Over fifteen years. I have dealt with a lot of different readers, some way worse than the majority of them, and even then I consider myself lucky when I see what some of my fellow writers had to deal with back on ffnet, and still have to deal with on AO3. I have built a community around my fics, with my readers, and I love it. I love fandom, despite the drama that always comes with it. I love my readers, too, love their enthusiasm when I post a new chapter, love seeing their reactions and getting yelled at in the discord for leaving them off on yet another cliffhanger.

But anyone who puts my writing in an AI? I don’t love you. You have no place in fandom, and especially not in the part of it that I have built.

You make me feel sick. You make me furious. You act like you are entitled to an ending, to a continuation, to getting exactly what you want… for what? Reading my fics? Maybe leaving a comment at some point (one that probably demanded an update, or that I write your specific pairing, or that I change this character to your specifications)?

Fuck. You.

I don’t write for you. Unless I’m specifically writing a gift for someone, I don’t write for anyone but me.

I share it on AO3 because I’m proud of what I wrote, because I think other people might like it, because I like getting feedback and interacting with others in the fandom. That does not mean it becomes your property, or that you can do anything you want with it.

I don’t get paid for writing. You are not paying me to write. You do not get to tell me what to write, or what to do with my writing, or to do what you want with my writing.

I write because I love writing, because I have too many ideas in my head and need to get them out of it, and putting words on a page is the best way for me to do that.

I don't make any money from writing, and can't afford to be a full time writer. And even if I could, unless you were my publisher and I actually had a contract with you stating that I'm being paid to write something for you, you still wouldn't get to demand updates from me.

I’ve taken to straight out deleting comments that are demanding updates or asking if a fic is abandoned. Not only are these rude, they're actively detrimental to my mental health and make me want to work on the fics in question LESS.

You feeding my work into AI? The only thing you’re doing is making me want to share my writing even less than that.

So just don’t.

#stereden talks #ai bullshit #chatgpt #fandom 101 #yes i am angry about this. so very very angry #even if it hasn't happened to me yet #the fact that it COULD and that it IS happening to others is enough to make me furious #stereden writes

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x-authorship-x · 10 months

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Loving the Spider!Shisui so far, but you know me so I have to ask: does Shisui know Inoichi, Sora and Ino in this verse? Does he still have Inoichi as a father figure, or does the fact that he was older when his actual father died mean that there is no link between him and the Yamanaka?

(you've fully converted me to Yamanaka!Shisui feels and now I can't imagine him without Ino as his sassy little sister and without Inoichi making sure Shisui doesn't self-destruct himself out of a too strong sense of duty)

(also if there is a family like relationship there, I can't wait for the Yamanaka to meet Hobie. Because that's going to be glorious)

Haha I'm very happy you like my work so much 🥰 but I'll be the bearer of bad news this time.... for maximum angst, Spider!Shisui unfortunately doesn't have the Yamanaka support network in this series...

Inoichi is a scary information broker who is doing some very questionable things with his psychology degree 👀 Sora manages his business front, Ino is a hellion in school that Sasuke probably still hates lol

Readers: wait, is anyone in Konohattan actually good?

Me: define good

Readers: shisui

Me: he's deffo the closest but Shisui is also a killer, a thief, and the beneficiary of a lot of generational wealth 👀 (😂) he's doing good now... Not for the criminals or guys in power, but - for the poor people, yeah, Shisui's the good guy.... Most Naruto characters aren't tho, even if they're not 'Bad Guy Villains' either

Have a good one, Stereden 😉

Edit: The Yamanaka family meeting Hobie would be a RIDE of psychological warfare lmao

Second Edit: what about Spider!Shisui going to HOPE!Shisui's world with his bf Hobie and meeting the family there.... Wild

#torship #torship talks #ask #stereden #shisui #spiderman shisui #spiderverse shisui au #atsv #itsv #shisui atsv #shisui itsv #guy in the chair itachi #mentor miguel #shisui son inoichi dad #yamanaka shisui

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tsarinatorment · 2 years

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oo now im interested in that apollo is chb'd patron thing would you care to elaborate on that??

@stereden also asked this! There's not so much canon for this as some of the other things I've talked about but there's still a few things to say on the topic, and not only am I going to talk about him being the patron, I'm going to talk about how that works with the things that happen with CHB during the PJO series, and of course because we're talking about Apollo, there's the odd little titbit from TOA that makes its way into this, too.

A lot of this will be extrapolation, but I've done my best to keep more floating headcanons out of it, so this should at least all stem convincingly from canon.

I'm going to address two things under this umbrella, because I think they're related and also because I find them fascinating: Apollo as the patron god of CHB, and Apollo's loss of jurisdiction over CHB by the events of canon.

So, Apollo and the patronage of CHB. While Camp Half-Blood Confidential is pretty goofy and daft in tone, it gives us a few important little nuggets of information regarding the founding of the camp, namely that it was Apollo's idea - or at the very least, Apollo foresaw that it would happen/needed to happen.

As it turned out, giving Apollo a centaur-back ride was the smartest thing I ever did. Unlike others of my kind, I didn’t belong to a specific tribe. I was a loner…and, sometimes, lonely. We bonded during that ride. I found that Apollo could be quite charming one-on-one, when he wasn’t trying to impress his adoring throngs of fans. When we got back to the cave, he said something that changed my life. “Uncle Chiron, I’ve decided to teach you some stuff.” Perhaps he found the idea amusing: a nephew teaching his uncle. Or maybe, being the god of prophecy, he suspected I had an important role to play in the future of Olympus. Whatever the reason, he chose to share his knowledge with me. At first, he showed me simple things, like how to nock an arrow—“Aim the pointy end away from your body”—and how to bandage a gushing battle wound. He taught me to make a lyre, play a number of hits like “Stairway to Olympus” and “Burnt-Offering Smoke on the Water,” and even compose my own lyrics. Once, in an effort to refine my poetry skills, he sent me on a quest to find a rhyme for arugula so that he could finish an ode to a mixed-green salad. The best I could do was pergola. Apollo called my effort an “ode fail”—the ancient precursor to today’s “epic fail”—but he continued to work with me. The lessons went on for a year. Then one day, Apollo showed up at the doorway of my cave with a half-dozen young demigods. “You know all that stuff I taught you?” he asked me. “It’s time to pay it forward! I’d like you to meet Achilles, Aeneas, Jason, Atalanta, Asclepius, and Percy—” “It’s Perseus, sir,” said one of the young men. “Whatever!” Apollo grinned with delight. “Chiron, teach them everything I showed you. Y’all have fun!” Then he vanished.

I have high doubts that this is exactly how it went down - I don't think those six demigods were all direct contemporaries of each other, mythologically, for starters - but they were all trained by Chiron and it makes sense for Apollo to be the one to introduce them, especially as he's the one that trained Chiron in the first place, and paying things forward is not a new or novel idea, especially when it comes to knowledge (after all, that's how teaching works even now - kids learn things, grow up, the next generation of kids start learning from them. That's just how humanity works).

From here, of course CHB continues to expand until it's the camp we know and love today. Chiron details this out for us (again, I don't believe the actual way he tells it, but the basic facts if not the very fictionised retelling seem solid). I won't copy out all of that, but I will make note of Apollo's direct involvement within the expansion, that that's the addition of the satyrs:

The satyrs arrived en masse with this note from Apollo: I predict that in the future, demigods won’t be able to find Camp Half-Blood on their own. The world will simply be too large, too populous, and too dangerous. When that time comes, send satyrs to track down your prospective students. Satyrs can find anything. They recently located a herd of cattle Hermes stole from me that even I couldn’t find. Trust me: you need seekers, and they’re the goats for the job.

Apollo is the one that's actively looking out for future demigods and their safety here. It's understandable that he's the one that knew it would be needed, because of his foresight and prophecy powers, but the fact that he acts on it so early, making sure the Camp is fully equipped to handle it with the satyrs long before they'll be needed, shows that side of him that he tends to not advertise in modern times - the side that wants to look after and protect the demigods.

That's two of the most important parts of CHB - its existence, and the satyr protector-guides - both directly attributed to Apollo himself, tying him more firmly than any other god to the camp. With this in mind, who else could possibly be the patron of the camp, if not for the god of knowledge whose own teachings are being passed down, and who actively worked to ensure the safety of future demigods?

The third thing is not explicitly Apollo, but considering the pattern it seems most likely, and that's the defences around CHB, back pre-Thalia's tree.

You see, I knew that so many demigods living in one place was like an all-you-can-kill buffet for monsters. Yet I had convinced myself that our campers needed no other protection than the skills we taught them. My pride had nearly been our destruction, but I learned my lesson. I immediately sent an Iris-message to Olympus asking for help. The gods heard our plea. The next day, a magical border settled over and around the grounds—a barrier that would both conceal the camp from unfriendly eyes and repel future attacks.

It's just the general "the gods" mentioned here, but considering that Apollo is the most involved god so far in the camp, if he isn't the one that did this himself (unlikely), he's certainly one of the gods that was involved in making sure this protection happened.

Another minor little detail to note is in the symbolism of the battle that occurs which prompts Chiron to request for aid here. To summarise for those who haven't read this story, the campers are nearly defeated, and it's only last-minute reinforcements from past campers that saves the day:

Then, just as rosy-fingered dawn peeked over the horizon, a new battle cry sounded in the distance. Former campers who had learned of our desperate plight now came charging to our aid.

The reinforcements came at dawn. Yes, I know that's a favourite trope in media (see the very memorable Battle for Helm's Deep in The Two Towers), but that doesn't make it any less fitting here - the camp was saved at dawn, which is the time when Apollo takes to the sky (and yes, by this time chronologically, Helios has already faded and Apollo is the god of the sun, according to Chiron's description of their first meeting:

“Ah…yes, Lord Apollo.” I tried to control the twitching in my withers. “Very weird indeed.” I noticed the sky was darkening even though it was only noon. “Not to be critical, O Great One, but shouldn’t you be driving the sun chariot right now?” He shrugged. “Actually, I put it in park for a few minutes because Artemis is up there doing her lunar-eclipse thing.” He scratched his fashionably stubbled chin. “Or is it solar? I can never keep them straight.”

It's likely that this isn't long after Apollo took on the role, although of course he could have just been goofing around with the lunar-solar mix-up, but he is still, in this narrative, the god of the sun by this point).

The implication here is very much that Apollo's the one who called the older demigods to help (presumably the Ancient Laws are in effect at this point - in fact, that may even be why Apollo had to pass on the responsibility of teaching to Chiron in the first place, with the advent of the no interference Laws) which again adds some credence to the idea that he's also one of the gods, if not the god, who supplied the original defensive barrier for CHB.

So, that's Apollo's involvement in the original CHB, way back when, and I don't think it can really be argued any other way than that at this point, at least, he was the patron god of the camp.

But what about modern times?

Modern times gets more confusing. I still believe that Apollo is, on a technicality, the patron of the camp, but in practicality he no longer seems to have any jurisdiction over it.

He still keeps an eye on the camp - no matter how he tries to throw us off the scent in TOA, there are some slip-ups in his narration that give us a glimpse of the god who is not at all distant from camp emotionally, even if he's physically forced to be.

Over the centuries, I’d had many conversations with demigods who wanted to know more about their absentee godly parents. Those talks rarely went well.

From this it's clear that he does spend time with the demigods at camp, historically (although not recently, which I suspect has a lot to do with Dionysus' forced presence, either because Apollo fears being reported to Zeus, or because there's a rule about only one Olympian god near the camp at a time). He cares about them and goes out of his way to reassure them - all of them, not just his own children.

He also remembers names. There are twenty two campers present during THO, including Meg, and during Apollo's narration we are given the names of every single one. The facts he gives us are precise, and the fact that he is able to perfectly recall every name after being introduced once (especially when we contrast this with Dionysus' refusal to get most demigod names right even if he's known them for a decade) implies a strong level of care. And no, this is not just because it's in winter and therefore Rick had a small enough cast number that he could afford to name them all - in TTC there is a similar number of demigods in the camp, yet Percy, who lives with these people for several months of the year, never gives us names. In fact, we learn in BOTL that Percy doesn't bother to learn some of the camper names at all. This is Apollo caring about these children.

“Let me guess,” I said. “Connor and Travis Stoll are the pranksters?” From a nearby basket, Chiron grabbed a flannel blanket and spread it over his fake legs, though the ruby shoes still peeked out at the bottom. “Actually, Travis went off to college last autumn, which has mellowed Connor quite a bit.”

Not only does he know their names, he also knows their habits and personalities. That's not just a basic level of reading names off a roll list, that's Apollo being actively aware of the children at camp as individuals.

It's also shown less implicitly through his conversations with Chiron in THO. Chiron knows that Apollo cares about the campers - he opens their first conversation with this:

My old friend smiled, though his eyes were stormy and distracted. “Apollo, it’s good you are here. We need to talk about the disappearances.”

Literally Chiron's first thing is to bring up missing campers, because he knows Apollo will care about this - and Apollo does! It isn't Chiron who continues this topic of conversation, it's actually Apollo who keeps trying to bring the topic back around while Chiron talks about Python and Delphi and prophecies:

“Chiron,” I said, “this is Meg McCaffrey, my new master and wellspring of aggravation. You were saying something about disappearances?”

“Disappearances,” I prompted. “What has disappeared?”

“The disappearances, yes.” I wiped drops of tea from my pants and tried to ignore Meg’s snickering. “Tell me about those.”

He asks about it three times before Chiron finally gives him the information he's after - it's actually the thing he's most insistent about focusing on in the whole conversation (he keeps trying to dodge the discussion of Python and Delphi) - and even after that it's the one he keeps asking more questions on, trying to get more and more information. Apollo never says so in as many words, but it's clear that he's very worried about the missing campers (a façade he more or less manages to cling to until his own children are added to the number, at which point the façade collapses entirely and we see Apollo in full worry mode over the children).

So the question is, if Apollo is the patron god of Camp Half-Blood (and let's not forget his domain of protector of the young, here!), why did we never see him in this capacity during PJO?

Quite frankly, it's obvious that he can't. It's impossible that, if Apollo had any say over the matter at all, he would have allowed the sacking of Chiron in SOM. He also sends no visible aid during BOTL, but the Daedalus thing is interesting... But let's start from the top.

Apollo has lost jurisdiction over CHB by the time PJO begins. I would argue that this is a relatively recent development - there are conflicting canon statements regarding how long Dionysus has been at CHB (in TON, Apollo says he's been there for half a century but then later we get confirmation that Dionysus' punishment is far from over, yet in PJO his sentence was cut in half down to fifty years - my personal guess is that Dionysus has been there for around 15 years or so as of TLT, long enough that all the current campers have known him, but as his only known children are fifteen or older in TLT (Castor and Pollux are seventeen in BOTL, two years later, Dakota is a similar age to them) the implication is that he hasn't had any children since his punishment began, otherwise why the lack - considering his far from PG domains, Dionysus is a god I'd ordinarily expect to have a lot of children). However, Dionysus' tenure as Director of CHB likely prevents Apollo from getting too close to the camp for any length of time, as I mentioned earlier.

The biggest thing, though, and what I think was the final nail in the waning coffin of his jurisdiction, was Thalia's death. This is when Zeus put a very large, aggressive stamp on CHB - his daughter is the one guarding the camp now, through Zeus' own actions. By doing this, Zeus has completely muscled Apollo out, and we know that Apollo can't (and is too afraid to try to) challenge Zeus.

So, why would Zeus be so determined to claim CHB as his, and kick Apollo out? There's a few reasons. One is his ever-present paranoia. CHB is a major part of modern day demigod society - barring CJ, which is Mars' and the Roman equivalent, it is the most major part. The amount of power and influence it gives Apollo to have it under his control is huge, and we know Zeus fears Apollo overthrowing him (this is also why cabin eleven is the cabin for the unclaimed demigods - while the logic that Hermes is the god of travellers does hold water, as the camp patron and protector of the young, it would actually make far more sense for them to go to cabin seven. The only reason I can see why it wouldn't, in-universe (meta-wise it's clearly to build the Percy-Luke rapport in TLT to give the betrayal the oomph it needed), is if the other gods refused to let that happen. Considering they all seem fine with leaving their kids languishing in Hermes' cabin, they probably don't really care which cabin it is, as long as it's not their own - Zeus is the only one who has reason to protest against it being Apollo, and he has the clout to make sure he's obeyed on this).

Well, I say one reason is his paranoia; really, a lot of this is based on Zeus' paranoia, because all his interactions with Apollo are steeped in this throughout the series. Another aspect of his paranoia is the Great Prophecy - he wants his own child to be the Hero, but when Thalia dies, he's left in the horrid realisation that it might not be his child; Jason is still very young (and also a son of Jupiter and therefore Roman, and the Romans don't even have this prophecy), and if he's broken the Oath, there's a high chance at least one of his brothers has (whether or not he knows about Percy's existence this early is debatable, but from the way the accusations at theft were immediately levelled at Poseidon before Percy even knew he was a demigod, it's likely that the Olympians were aware of Percy's existence at least a little before the events of TLT). A child of Hades would be a problem, but Hades' kids aren't popular so he might see them as less of a concern/easier to get rid of (Hades also doesn't seem to like sending his children to camp - he explicitly refused to send Bianca and Nico to CHB). A child of Poseidon, however?

Remember that Poseidon and Apollo have historically worked together to oppose Zeus. A child of Poseidon central to a great prophecy in a camp that's under Apollo's jurisdiction is, to Zeus, a terrifying combination and one he won't want at all, so he uses Thalia to wrest the control of camp away from Apollo. Now Zeus is the one in control, and we know Zeus doesn't like giving control back. (And remember that in TLT the Apollo cabin back Poseidon... against Zeus; that can't have pleased him in the slightest!)

Of course, there's also the same power basis in his favour - he doesn't want Apollo to have that power, but he does want it for himself. The gods have all been waning compared to their original selves, and their powers are far weaker. During PJO, all of the gods are, if not pathetic, clearly weakened. It's only at the end that we see Poseidon and Hades regain their strength (the same way we see Apollo regain his in TON), while Zeus continues to wane.

So, what does Apollo do about this? He can't fight back against Zeus - TOA is a spectacular example of what happens if Zeus even thinks he's rebelling - but while the functionality has been stripped, he is still the patron of the camp, and also the protector of the young. Apollo doesn't sit back and do nothing.

First of all are the dreams - we know Percy gets a lot of demigod dreams, we know Zoe gets a dream while in CHB, we know Apollo kids get dreams, we can infer that Chiron probably also gets dreams (I'll get to this in a sec), and also that he knows about the dreams (once again, see @fearlessinger's discussion of our theory on Apollo and the Demigod Dreams).

Secondly, there's Octavian.

Now, it took me a while to try and rationalise Apollo's apparent desire to work with Octavian, especially considering the way it ends up with Octavian trying to kill the Greeks (who are under Apollo's patronage - this, at least, must have been a misunderstanding because there's no way Apollo ever approved that), but when I sat back and looked at how powerless Apollo is in PJO, it makes sense.

Firstly, there's his inability to help Artemis directly during TTC. As this is a gods and titans problem, primarily, the Ancient Laws shouldn't actually prevent him from doing this - the only thing that could be clouding Apollo's sight and keeping him out are the Fates themselves - but Apollo is still unable to do more than effectively send children to their deaths (Zoe is admittedly not a child, but Bianca is, and Apollo is the one who got them most of the way to the desert in TTC, although he isn't the one to actually drop them there).

Secondly, there's the mess that is CHB. Chiron is sacked and Tantalus (someone who kills children) is hired in his place (do I like the idea of Tantalus' punishment extending outside of the Fields of Punishment being Apollo's doing as a way to make sure the kids stay protected? Yes, I do - but there's no actual canon for this although Tantalus finally getting his hands on food right at the end, when Thalia is restored and the power in the tree is now purely Zeus', is a very stretchy potential link to the last vestiges of Apollo's influence in any capacity being broken off). This is all around Bad News for CHB and nothing Apollo could possibly have approved of. Then in BOTL the camp is literally attacked and children die (including one of his own).

Daedalus is suspicious as heck the whole time, and Chiron is clearly very suspicious of him - and yet, he does nothing (even though Daedalus was posing as a Roman adult demigod and it highly amuses me to think of the panic Chiron must have been in about one of the smarter kids asking the right/wrong questions). I was discussing this with fsinger the other day and the conclusion we came to is that Apollo may have been the one to assure Chiron that Daedalus had not - yet - joined with Kronos and was therefore safe to have around the kids. After the mess of Tantalus, Apollo would no doubt be keeping a very close eye on who was being allowed near the kids, after all (and as he can't directly interfere, the most likely method of imparting this information would be via dreams).

The fact that Apollo has been dragged off monster hunting by Artemis on Zeus' orders, thereby keeping him away from camp at the time when they need godly protection the most also plays a significant role here (Dionysus, too, was elsewhere on Zeus' orders, which makes one side-eye Zeus very heavily at this point).

Overall, Apollo has lost a lot of power in recent years, and he's desperate to regain at least enough to be able to protect Artemis and CHB again - power which he would get if the Romans started worshiping him higher, because the gods are clearly fuelled by belief (notably, at the end of TON, Apollo has regained his belief in himself, which is even more powerful than belief from others, and makes me wonder if he could now regain his jurisdiction over CHB back from Zeus). This neatly ties in the Octavian side of things in HOO.

So, in conclusion: Apollo is the reason CHB exists, he's been consistently shown to care about the demigods right from its inception to the modern day and protects them as much as he is able to, which makes him the clear choice for patron of the camp. However, Zeus' paranoia has prompted him to muscle Apollo out of any practical patronage (although he is, technically, still the patron even if he can no longer act on it), leaving Apollo desperate to regain the patronage and protect the demigods however he can without directly defying Zeus.

#Anonymous #stereden #pjo apollo #percy jackson and the olympians #pjo #heroes of olympus #hoo #trials of apollo #toa #riordanverse #rrverse #pjo chiron #pjo zeus #pjo octavian #chb #camp half-blood #tsari analyses things

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cyanid-apple · 1 year

Text

J'ai publié 586 fois en 2022

C'est 472 billets de plus qu'en 2021 !

64 billets créés (11%)

522 billets reblogués (89%)

Les blogs que j'ai le plus reblogués :

@/elytrians

@/opia-jpg

@/spooksier

@/alientoastt

@/stereden

J'ai étiqueté 368 billets en 2022

Seulement 37% de mes billets ne comportaient pas de tag

#tma - 57 billets

#cy talks - 29 billets

#cy makes art - 24 billets

#fanart - 16 billets

#one piece - 8 billets

#danganronpa - 8 billets

#severance - 7 billets

#tma fanart - 6 billets

#reblog - 6 billets

#ghost quartet - 6 billets

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#and then we didn’t sleep at all and me and three of my friends (not the ones who met stromae) decided at 4:30 in the morning to take a train

Mes billets vedette en 2022 :

n°5

[ID: Digital illustration of Nikola Orsinov and Tim Stoker on a black background. The illustration is made of only coloured lineart. Tim is upside down.

Nikola is a grey mannequin with a red tutu and clown makeup. Tim is a brown man with bleached and dyed blue hair that is curly and reaches his shoulders. He is wearing a white shirt and holding a white object.

Around them is written "You idiot! Do you really think the world will fate under the watcher? Do you think you’re saving anyone? I don’t care. You can’t even save him! But I can hurt you".

"I don’t care" and "But I can hurt you" are written in white and upside down. The rest is in red. End ID]

For @tmaappreciationweek day three

Favourite scene: the confrontation between Tim and Nikola during the unknowing

44 notes - publié le 23 mars 2022

n°4

[ID: Digital portrait painting of Melanie King on a blue background.

Melanie is a pale japanese woman with short brown hair with red tips. She’s wearing a dark red sweater. End ID]

She’s actually my favourite ever

53 notes - publié le 18 septembre 2022

n°3

[ID: Digital illustration of the season 5 cast of the Magnus archives in front of a green sky composed of eyes. it shows Jon, Elias, Melanie, Georgie, Annabelle, Helen, Martin and Basira. In the middle is written "the Magnus archives. Season five" and at the bottom right "statement ends."

Jon is a brown man with dark brown hair and brown eyes. He has facial hair and round scars on his face. He wears a dark teal shirt and has some grey hairs.

Elias is a white man with gray hair and green eyes. He has a moustache and wrinkles and wears a blue suit.

Melanie is a Japanese woman with dark brown hair that is dyed pink. She has pink glass eyes and wears a red heart shaped earring. She wears a pink sweatshirt.

Georgie is a black woman with dark brown hair and eyes. Her curly hair is done in a bun and the tips are purple. She wears a yellow sweatshirt and a sword shaped earring.

Annabelle is a black woman with bleached short curly hair and brown eyes. There is a spiderweb design in her hair and in her eye makeup. She wears a purple turtleneck with a lilac dress.

Helen is a black woman with brown hair and hazelnut eyes. Her hair is curly and the tips are pink. She wears a green dress shirt with an orange crop top on top of it. She wears a yellow spiral shaped earring and has spiral motives on her face.

Martin is a Polynesian man with dark brown hair and eyes. He has two light grey streaks in his hair and facial hair. He wears a blue jumper and glasses.

Basira is a Middle Eastern woman with brown eyes. She wears a green hijab, a white dress shirt and a green sweater vest. End ID]

This is the first time I draw Elias

57 notes - publié le 5 février 2022

n°2

[ID: Digital bust shot portrait of Oliver Banks, a black man with long dark brown braids with light purple tips. He wears round glasses low on his nose and a blue grey sweater. He has freckles and wears a skull shaped earring. The background is light blue. In the top left corner is written "Oliver Banks, avatar of the End". End ID]

Man just wants a nap, more at five

59 notes - publié le 5 février 2022

Mon billet n°1 en 2022

[ID: Digital painting of Annabelle Cane holding a phone in front of a red background. It is a bustshot.

Annabelle is a black woman with short pale blonde curly hair. Her eyes are completely white. There is a hole in her skull that is covered with a spiderweb. She is wearing a white shirt with ruffles a red corset and a green shawl. She wears red jewellery. The phone she is holding is a red rotary dial phone, there are two other phones on the table in front of her. End ID]

Long time no spider wife

532 notes - publié le 24 juillet 2022

Obtenez votre année 2022 en revue sur Tumblr →

#tumblr2022 #année en revue #mon année tumblr 2022 en revue #votre année tumblr en revue #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #actually I love that my top five posts are all tma fanart #🪡

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marvelingjules · 4 years

Note

You made me curious about Orcas now! I would love to know more about them if you're willing to share !

I’ve been really bad at answering asks lately (for a variety of reasons) but look. I am NEVER going to turn down the chance to talk about my absolute favorite creature on the whole planet.

If you ask my mom, she’ll tell you I knew exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up from the time I was two. I’m pretty sure I didn’t have the official name for it until a bit later, but definitely by third grade I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to be when I grew up. I have a very clear memory of it being the beginning of the school year, and we were all sitting on the floor with the teacher in a chair in front of us and we were sharing “what we wanted to be when we grew up” and when it got to me, I said “Marine biologist.” My teacher asked me “Oh, what’s that?” I’m not sure if he actually didn’t know, or if he didn’t believe that I knew what it was, but I (probably far more seriously than expected) replied “they study animals in the ocean, and I’m going to study orcas.”

I wrote a research paper on them in sixth grade. It was actually frustrating because I knew all the information I wrote, but I had to have sources and it was like “ME, I AM THE SOURCE” but no, I had to go grab some books like someone who didn’t know all this stuff already. I think I actually tried to tell my teacher on one of my drafts, that I didn’t need to source something because “I already knew it” and she was like “but it’s not common knowledge so you do actually need to prove it”. I was unimpressed. I mean, I did it, but I was not impressed about having to.

I feel like anyone that knows me pretty well, would read or hear that and just laugh. Me, unimpressed that I have to prove that what I know about something I am really into, is in fact factual knowledge and I know what I am talking about? Me, disliking being questioned about how well I know my own interests?

No one is probably surprised. When I am truly, super interested in something, I rarely get into it half-heartedly

So! Orcas!

IDK what your base of knowledge is on them, so some of this you may already know. They’re considered the largest dolphins, though their common name of “killer whale” makes most people think they’re whales. And I mean, dolphins and whales are kind of from the same branch of oceanic animals, but, the difference is there.

Most commonly, people are aware that orcas live in pods. These are family groups that range in sizes (sometimes around half a dozen or so, sometimes a couple dozen) and they are, in fact, matrilineal (like elephants). Often, calves born into pods stay with their mothers their for most if not all their lives. Sometimes family pods get very large, and kind of split off a bit, and keep growing.

Around here, where I live, a lot of the research that’s most readily available will talk about the pacific northwest pods. These pods are known by J-pod and K-pod and I always forget if it’s L or M for the other pod lol. Individuals in the pod are usually identified with that letter of their pod and some numbers in research. These are, in fact, probably some of the most studied orcas in the world! A lot of the population of orcas is in the north Pacific ocean, really, so that makes sense. Orcas are found all over the world though, and there’s differences in them based on where they live.

Orcas are also a protected species, but there’s specific groups and areas that they are in fact considered endangered (such as the pods in the Pacific Northwest - can’t recall atm if it’s a specific pod or the three of them) and at risk. Often, they’re hunted for their meat, their tongues. Sometimes they’re killed because people see them as competition for fishing. They also die from loss of habitat, from there being less food for them, from oil spills, etc. This wouldn’t be news to anyone, really - it’s the same story all over the world, for many, many species of creatures.

Like humans finger prints, orcas have their own version! Their coloring pattern is very distinctive - black upper body, white underside, and the grey saddle patch behind their dorsal fins. These patches are actually unique to each orca! These markings allow researchers to identify the individuals in the pods and their research and photos. You are probably also aware of how their dorsal fins are different - some are tall and straight, some are shorter and curved. This differentiates male from female, respectively. The coloring of orcas of being black on top and white underneath is camouflage typical for ocean predators.

There’s a nickname for orcas - they’re sometimes called ‘the wolves of the sea’. They’re fantastic predators. Not just as a group hunting, not just with their echolocation, but also in their ingenuity when hunting. They’ll purposefully beach themselves to get seals or penguins in the surf of a beach or the edge of ice in that climate. They’ve also got some pretty varied tastes - salmon is a huge one, but some will also attack other whales, such as blue whales! (They like the tongues, I believe.) Basically - if it’s in the ocean, it’s probably fair game for some pod or another.

I got into a very intense argument with a kid once in either late elementary or middle school. They insisted that a great white shark was the top predator of the ocean. I told him that no, it was definitely orcas.

That wasn’t just favoritism speaking.

There’s an island in the pacific ocean (I think down towards southern California area?) that’s basically known as like, shark island. Great White Sharks just congregate there, tons of them.

Unless they sense there’s orcas nearby. Then they all vamoose the fuck out. Why?

Because there’s an orca pod around there that figured out, “Hey, if we can flip the shark over and hold it there, it’ll die and we can eat it!” And they did, and do.

You ever see those “who would win” books or shows? If they pitch an orca against a shark and say the shark would win, life has shown that it will in fact be the orca, probably.

There’s actually a cool fact there too - there’s three different species of orca. As in - they are different culturally as well as in their genetic make-up! Orca pods that are larger and stay in the same area are residential orcas. They mostly eat fish and some squid. Transients have a much larger territory that they move through, and tend to be somewhat smaller pods... and they hunt ocean mammals. Then there’s offshore orcas. These guys are a little smaller than the others, their dorsal fins are a bit different too. They can be seen several miles out from the coast, and they definitely hunt ocean mammals and sharks.

I can’t remember if it was a transient or an off-shore pod that is feared by the great whites, lol. Either’s likely.

What’s kind of really cool about these different species and subspecies of orcas is that... they don’t interact. Oh, sure, they can be seen in the same waters as each other, sharing space, but... they don’t interact socially or otherwise. There’s thousands and thousands of years between a common ancestor for the transient and residential orcas, in fact! These different types are not just different in how they look or where they live or how and what they hunt... they all have different cultures. Different ways of living, communicating, interacting with each other. Just like not all people have the same traditions and beliefs, orcas have their own differences from each other too!

They’re also super fucking smart. I mean. Obviously. We know research has shown how smart dolphins are, and we see dolphins and orcas perform. And that’s really a huge controversial thing, which I’m not going to really get into here, except to say that...

Consider the size of the ranges of where these orcas live. Even residential pods. The range of the southern residential pods in the Pacific Northwest run from southern Alaska to Northern California thereabouts. How could there be any conceivable way to imitate that type of habitat?

Research, last I looked into it (which was a while back, admittedly) about why dorsal fins bend over like you may have seen, hypothesizes it’s due to poor health, basically.

Orcas are very social. Like I said, they stay with their pods, their families, often for their whole lives.

You don’t see very many orcas in one place in captivity.

Many people have heard about the deaths at certain ocean amusement parks. The human deaths of trainers and whatnot.

In the wild, there’s very very few, if any, recorded attacks of humans by orcas. Far far less than those in captivity.

Orcas are incredibly intelligent, like I said. And like with any intelligent creature, if there’s a lack of stimulation, physically, mentally, etc....

Their lifespan in the wild is pretty close to that of a human, honestly. (Actually, cool fact again: like humans, female orcas go through menopause! They usually have their first calf - in the wild - around 14-16 years old. Around their 40s, they go through menopause and often live for three to four decades after their last calf is born! Studies on this are somewhat difficult; earlier ones show less, but that could be due to culling and shooting of them that was done periodically at the time. More recent studies show those that were around back during those earlier studies in the 70s, many of them are still alive! Male orcas live a slightly shorter lifespan than the females.)

In captivity? They live the average of a decade.

Okay, I lied. I said I wasn’t going to get into it.

I am 100% against captivity for them, if you argue with me on this I’ll just dropkick you into my blocked list, whatever, I don’t care.

Anyway!

Orcas are highly intelligent, playful, and creative creatures. They don’t just show it in hunting, but in their own play behavior. They’ll jump in the waves from boats for fun, jump around while traveling for fun, rub on rocks in shallower ocean water because they like how it feels.

They have very intense and close cultural and familial bonds. Young orcas are taught to hunt a lot like a lot of big predators on land are. Sometimes, their parents will catch some prey for them, usually smaller or injured, and release it for them to “practice” on. Sometimes, they’ll... well, they toss the seals they catch around. (Yes, yes, poor seals. I know. But also, circle of life, you know?)

They help each other.

I know I mentioned they beach themselves earlier. They’ll throw themselves up after prey onto a beach. Catch it (or not! sometimes they miss.). Then, when the waves rush back in, they’ll just... wiggle themselves loose and around so the current helps pull them back out into deeper water. Sometimes, they do get stuck.

You can see this just by searching youtube. But here’s a good one I think that I found. The narration is fun, which is always a plus for me. It’s NatGeo, which is reliable.

But also? It shows not just the beaching technique, but the social, familial connections between orcas (it has an older and younger brother pair) as one teaches the other. It also shows something of that “practice” - or maybe it’s that playfulness of orcas. (I mean, we’ve all played with our food at one point or another! I still make mashed potato volcanos with butter centers. Leave me alone about it.)

Anyway, I’ve loved orcas basically since the time I could start conveying that to people.

Why?

Because I was born in 1992, and Free Willy came out in 1993, and by the time I was two I already was in love. I can still, in the year of 2020, recite that goddamn movie almost entirely. Ask my family what my favorite movie as a kid was, the one I could watch over and over?

There’s three possible ones I could imagine they’d say, and the most likely of those would be Free Willy.

I don’t remember a time I didn’t love orcas, love learning about them, want to center my life around them. I didn’t see the ocean for the first time until I was in fourth grade - so around nine or ten years old. Before then, I had just always told people I wanted to live by the ocean. It always looked so amazing to me - and it was where the orcas were! Duh! That first sight I had of it? From the bus window as we drove to the aquarium?

I can’t think of anything to describe it that isn’t some kind of spiritual experience that could convey the awe, the rightness, the pure happiness that overcame me. It was more than I had ever imagined, to see the endless water - moving and glittering and gray at the time because of the overcast weather. I’m still determined to, one day, live near the ocean. (Bonus, it’d be better for my asthma too, air quality wise!)

(Why didn’t I go into marine biology? Well, it’s a sad story of “I was 14, an adult told me that as a woman I’d never end up getting to do anything in the field anyway, and I’d have racked up all those student loans for nothing, and I hadn’t yet discovered that any adult who says ‘you’re a girl so you can’t’ needs to be aggressively shoved off the fourth floor of a building”.

I love being a librarian. I love helping kids find books, learn about topics, read to the little ones, help the parents learn how to read to their kids, etc. I love my job.

And I still, a few times a year, can’t help but wonder. What if I hadn’t given up on it? What if I had gone that route? Where would I be? Who would I be? What might I have discovered more?

But then, if I did that, I wouldn’t be where I am now, and know the people I do, and that would be its own loss.

I like to imagine though, that there’s a universe out there, where I did go out and become the marine biologist I was determined to be my entire childhood, and you know what? I bet I am fan-fucking-tastic at it. And happy.)

So, even though I didn’t end up going into marine biology to study orcas, my absolute favorite animal in the entire universe, I still love them. I still, every once in a while, look up research on them to see what’s new, what’s changed, refresh my knowledge. I’ve never seen one, but I hope to one day - I think it’ll be even more of an awe-inspiring, crystal clear moment of my life than seeing the ocean for the first time. And of my five tattoos? Two are orcas, and I of course plan to get more. Why not decorate my skin with something that has always, since I was so so small, brought me joy and happiness?

TL;DR: I just really really fucking love orcas.

#Jules replies #stereden #oh man. I hope you're prepared for like - a minor overview paper on them lolol #and some little anecdotes about me because it's hard to talk about all I know of them and not talk about me too lolol #Jules rambles #orcas #you know that domino meme of a small one leading to a big one? that's probably how my mom feels about me and orcas lol

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pod-together · 3 years

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Day 4 Reveals!

Like Some Lonesome Child [text, audio] (Marvel Cinematic Universe, Iron Man (Movies), Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)) written by Politzania, performed by EllaCx Summary: When a spell from Loki turns Captain America into a small child, Tony finds himself his tiny teammate’s caretaker. The trust and affection this version of Steve shows him makes Tony long for more; but when the purpose of the spell is revealed, Tony realizes what Steve has been missing in his life as well. just to wait for a while (Critical Role (Web Series)) written by sabinelagrande, performed by blackglass Summary: There is a beautiful plant in the Feywild. Many, in fact. Percy and Vex can't look away. Twin Suns (Merlin (TV)) written by Robin_Fai, performed by dreaminghour Summary: She did hear whispers of magic sometimes when she passed in darker corners of the world. Some people still practised the old ways in secret. And sometimes, around a shared fire of an evening, they could be plied with ale or mead and coerced into telling of a traveller who wore magic like a second skin. They spoke of his kindness, of his sorrow, of eyes that blazed gold as the sun. They never spoke his name, but Morgana felt sure it was him – Emrys – Merlin. When Morgana wakes out of sync with the world, alone, she finds that Camelot is not what she remembered, and neither is the man she long knew as both enemy and friend. Now, in an age after Arthur, she and Merlin are the only ones who remember. Pieces of You (Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling) written by Janieohio, performed by PhenomenalAsterisk Summary: Harry and Draco have moved in together, but Harry is hiding the truth of his childhood from Draco. Draco struggles to understand until a phone call from Harry's estranged cousin changes everything. The Avenging Director (Marvel 616, Iron Man (Comics)) written by Missy_dee811, performed by Cathalinaheart Summary: A look at Anthony Stark’s Directorship at S.H.I.E.L.D. Life and Its Infinite Surprises (Tortall - Tamora Pierce) written by minnabird, performed by Aliteralgarbageheap Summary: “Before I forget,” she said, “I promised to bring letters.” She handed the packet to Neal, who immediately seized it. He gestured for her to take a seat, then began sorting through the contents of the parcel. Most he set aside, but he opened two immediately. The first made him smile. As he read the second, color drained from his face. He threw the letter down and stood, pacing away from Kel as he raked a hand through his hair. “Neal?” she asked warily. Kel brings Neal's daughter home to Queenscove after her page trials. Rui of Queenscove knows exactly what she wants; the problem is telling her father about it. It Takes Three [text, audio] (Marvel Cinematic Universe) written by poppetawoppet, performed by Cass_Caelis Summary: way back in 2011/2012 timeframe, I believe I prompted "5 times Steve walks in on Clint and Natasha fonduing, and 1 time he joins in" This is more like 1 times Steve walks in, 1 time they cuddle, 2 times he overhears them, and one time he joins in. A very rare NSFW work from me. Starts out post Avengers, in the inevitable they all live in the tower together dream, and goes from there. All There Is (Leverage, WandaVision (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe) written by FlutterFyre, performed by Tipsy_Kitty Summary: A chance encounter leads to unexpected relationship advice from a surprising source. Walk Away (from all you’ve never known) (Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types) written by stereden, performed by DyingGravy Summary: You’re twelve years old and you do not care for immortality, do not know nearly enough about the goddess offering it to you to pledge your loyalty to her, but she offers you the freedom you crave so badly, the freedom to find out who you are when you are not being sister-mother-parent-caretaker, and you grab it with both hands. You’re twelve years old, and you take an oath you only half-understand, an oath you’ve only half thought through, and suddenly you’re stronger and more confident and everything seems so much brighter. Your brother isn’t talking to you, but he is talking to others, chattering their ears off with his unending questions, and you know he will be fine. You are Bianca di Angelo, sister of Nico di Angelo, and you’re twelve years old and just this once you chose to be selfish. [Stop. Pause. Switch tracks.]

#podfic #fanfic #critical role #merlin #harry potter #tortall #leverage #percy jackson #wandavision #marvel 616 #marvel cinematic universe #iron man comics

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aibhilin-atibeka · 3 years

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Backtrack Post!

What happened in 2020? Whatever it was, it ignited a spark in me and spurned me to new levels regarding my writing output! This is a backtrack post to have one last look backwards at what I managed to generate in 2020, before we successfully move with big steps towards 2021! :D Enjoy~

Now, without further ado, a bit of a review of the year in terms of my fanfiction writing! :D As per usual, you’ll find it under the cut, folks interested in the statistical side of things! I’ll also include a bit of a cautious prediction as to what 2021 will hold in store for you, dear readers, so, for those of you curious enough to go on: have fun reading! Cheers!

I gotta say, in 2020 I’ve been productive with my fanfiction-writing like I haven’t been in all of the five years before!

My obsession with the One Piece fandom has successfully stuck with me, it’s in its second year and going strong, still! :D On top of that, I’ve lately started branching out due to various Challenges and Gift Exchanges to involve other fandoms in my writing.

In total

In 2020, I transferred all of my fanfics from ffnet over to AO3 (and tried to do vice-versa for some, although that’s tapered off quickly when I saw how much more effort that was... XD I’ll finish transferring Celebramus Vitam sometime in 2021, but that’s all that ffnet will see of me any longer, methinks...), getting my whole word count logged on AO3 for all of my years up to 404.461 words. WOHOOOO!!!

All in all, I’ve written and put online 223.371 words for all of my different fandoms in 2020 alone (I subtracted the # of words for my transferred fics there, but added the ones that dragged over from 2019 - see my reasoning for that below, those were: A Gamble in Time and An Older Brother’s Plight). Predominantly, I’ve spent my time in One Piece fanfic-land, with Yuuri! On Ice following close behind. In third place, there’s both Magic Kaito and Asterix in a tie, having each gotten one more fanfic published for their fandoms.

2020 was the year that I created a few Series to better organise my fanfics and had fun participating in Challenges. I remodeled both my Series as well as my Tumblr a few times and restructured the plot of a few of my stories as I went along. Things changed, happenings had to be changed to accomodate different outcomes and new characters made themselves known.

First and foremost, my obsession with Portgas D Ace’s character has opened the way for me to explore more characters in the OP universe: Sabo’s now a close second favourite character of mine, with Buggy as well as Shanks sharing the third place in my personal rankings. Funnily enough, Buggy has quite literally bowled me over with his charm and charisma, thank you very much @stereden, for nudging me into that one’s direction. XD

My participation in the Women! Wanted Zine (which shall be out in 2021 and which I am super looking forward to physically holding in my hands soon~ thank you @womenwantedzine for keeping the anticipation alive!!!) made me aware of how little the female characters of OP are being talked about and thus, a Shiny New Series for them was born that I try to keep adding to every now and again.

I have also taken part in Nanowrimo 2020, and, while doing that, managed to break a personal record and arrive at writing 1k+ words in 15 minutes, whenever the mood hit! That was awesome to see spelled out by the sprint bot, seriously.

Yuuri! On Ice

I wrote three fanfics for this particular fandom that I’m quite proud of, especially seeing as I wrote one within two week’s time for the Heart Attack Exchange: it’s called Theirs is a magical kind of love and it’s got 10k+ to its name. This one’s just as fluffy as the one whose name I still to this day can’t pronounce correctly (forgive me, Russian-speaking folks!): от надежды родится вечность. (copy and paste are heavenly tools sometimes XD)

Tallying the word count of all three fics I wrote up, I arrive at 36.600 words having been written for this particular fandom and I gotta say, I’m quite proud of those.

Also: don’t worry, folks, I’ll keep coming back to “IT support, how can I help?” sometime this year - it won’t be finished this year I don’t think, but it’ll be continued, for sure. ;) As of this post, it’s got 22.681 words and I have grown quite fond of the thing, all in all.

One Piece

If we count both A Gamble in Time (12734 words thus far, with chapter four in the workings already) and An Older Brother’s Plight (15333 words) to the mix (they did start being written in December of 2019), then we’re at 175.051 words written in the One Piece fandom in 2020 alone.

My most prolific writing phase of 2020 has involved my longest fanfic, Through Troubled Waters. With its 77k+ words, it is at the same time my longest one. Having that one stay a 51-chapter-fanfic is still my most ambitious project, although if things keep going as they are, I don’t see why I won’t manage that. (#famous last words)

Altogether, I wrote 44 fanfics for the One Piece fandom in 2020 alone, most of them 100-word-drabbles that nevertheless were awesome to write.

I wrote a couple of longfics and a few oneshots-that-didn’t-stay-oneshots. XD

My most popular fanfics of 2020 in this particular fandom were also the ones I kept alternating between and working on the most: An Older Brother’s Plight is at the top and already finished with 15.333 words to its name. In second place, we find Through Troubled Waters (77.048 words at the time of this post). Third place occupies Dead Man Walking with 24.034 words to its name at the time this post was written and published and fourth place goes to A Gamble in Time (12.734 words).

Most of all, I had fun, engaging with the fandom, with like-minded people, throwing lots of plotbunnies around and prompting as well as enabling people to keep creating the most amazing pieces! Seriously, the people you get to know sometimes... couldn’t have written half of all of those fanfics without you - you know who you are!!! ;)

Thank you very much for, in turn, enabling me to write my best~

Predictions for 2021

Currently, I am very much immersed in writing for and finishing all the still-missing chapters for Dead Man Walking, which shall be done and over with by the end of January 2021, at the latest, I hope *knocks on wood*. Once that is done, I’ll be free to look at other things again and focus on the rest of my stories, once more. Moreover, I shall polish up the whole story of Dead Man Walking and edit it to include the missing bits (there is at least one for Chapter 11 that I will not spoil for those of you patiently waiting for it!).

For anything else, I will not be making any clear-cut or detailed predictions as to when I’ll update what, I’m afraid. 😅 I’ve learned my lesson with that one...

What I can already tell you about is the following: two side-stories/spin-offs to Through Troubled Waters are already in the workings and have been since November 2020. Together, once they are finished, they’ll have about 60k words to them. Potentially, (make that very potentially. Maybe. Hopefully,) they shall start to be posted in April, seeing as then would also be the first anniversary of the main story’s fic... although they do depend on particular chapters having been published before, so, who knows? 😅

On top of all of that, I’m still working my job, I’ll be finishing as well as pursuing another degree starting in January and living my life (and keep doing other hobbies I have along with keeping up my social contacts and having fun) while the pandemic is going on. Sooooo. Not a lot of free time at all, eh? Fanfiction writing is atm my go-to for relax time and I’m hopeful it’ll stay that way in 2021.

Considering I’m doing all of this writing for free? Publishing more than 223k in a year’s time while doing all that other stuff besides? That’s a whole lot of awesome output, I’m going to pat myself on the shoulder for managing all of that while a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic is still ongoing. *pat*

So, for those of you wondering when I’ll update the next chapter to any of my fics: it’s reasonable to assume I’m either writing or taking a well-deserved break at the moment. ;) I shall keep writing fanfics, though, no worries there.

Thank you very much for reading!

Cheers,

Aibhilin.

This post was put online on the 01.01.2021.

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