#the way all of my top tags are about community wow

[pixelatedraindrops]

Hello everyone!! Today I grow a year older :3 (and I hate it lmao) FEEL FREE TO REPLY BIRTHDAY WISHES IF YOU WANT :3

So, over the time I've come back here, I've become pretty confident and proud of my once hidden passion about sick characters, sickfics and sick comfort/whump... 🌡️

And you all have been so supportive and sweet despite my weirdness so I thank you for that. You helped me feel more confident in my otherwise weird fixation <3 So, for my birthday I thought I'd try and make up a little drawing challenge for anyone who wants to give it a try... There are soo many talented artists on this site (and in this fandom)

So... It's your turn to target your faves now. You will see how fun it is and hopefully understand why I love doing it so much. 😈🌡️

(plus it's my birthday and I require some sustenance LMAO JKJK)

But yeah anyone can join in. This is just for fun though! You don't have to if you don't want to! I think its okay to ask for some food on my birthday though...right?? X'D So if you wanna do sth for my birthday...then... 👉👈 💦

CHALLENGE BELOW~

DRAW YOUR FAVE ON A SICK DAY CHALLENGE🌡️😷🥵🤧

~~~~

(Mmmmkay, I am lying to myself when I say this isn't mostly aimed at the RainCode community... X'D Can't help myself. But anyone can join regardless of the fandom!!)

So here's the challenge and the rules!! (featuring my two main lil targets ofc :3)

Regardless of who it is, put your fave through some sickness hell >:3c I'd love to see it! Make em' as miserable as you want!

destroy them 😈 jkjk XD

If you're in the RainCode community you can target anyone, but as you know, my main targets are Yuma and Makoto. If they're also your faves and who you decide to use, that will make me extra happy!

Some tips for anyone new to drawing a sick day scenario art. A few things that make it look convincing are the following:

Pajamas or Loungewear

Messy Bed Hair

Fever flushed face w sweat or at least a red nose

Tired Eye bags

Shivery body

Ice Pack or a Compress on the head

Thermometer sticking from their mouth

LOTS OF BLANKETS

Tissues or medicine surrounding them

Tea or Soup (or both)

Those are just to name some from the top of my head. If you'd like some pointers on how to make a character look ill, check out my Fever Coloring Guide. This is for digital artists but traditional artists can try it too!

You can add injury or angst to the scene but I'd like illness to be the main focus of it.

The scene can be anything you want to, it can be fluffy and wholesome (with a caretaker) it can be angsty, or it can be silly. Its all up to you! Do it for the sake of fluff! Caretaking scenes are the best for any kind of relationship >w<

Either way, have fun with it!! I look forward to see what people make if they decide to give it a try! It doesn't even have to be a full on picture! Doodles and sketches are fine too! Just show me something >w<

(feel free to tag me and say happy b-day and mention my challenge, I am proud to be known for this and would love for many to participate :3) I wanna see you take a go at it :3 Show me your style! :D

~

~~~

(wow look at me misspelling the word writing on text when I did it fine with my own hands lol)

Now, I know not everyone can draw...

Well never fear! I accept writing as well! ✍️✍️✍️

(hi vivia lol sorry for giving you a cold, at least you have an excuse to read and do nothing now haha x3)

Sickfics are one of the biggest things I live for! Any little drabbles or full fics with more than one chapter are welcome! Again target who you want any fandom you want, but I'll def be super happy if you make a RainCode fic. And even happier if you target my faves as well, but again, anything will do! Just make a cute story about your fave being miserable and being tended to! Trust me, it's super fun!

You can add injury or angst to the scene but I'd like illness to be the main focus of it.

Feel free to post your writing here and tag me or mention my AO3!

If you need a start to your fic, look on my blog for illness prompts! Maybe it can help give you a good start or give some inspiration! (thats why I share 'em :3)

I look forward to anything you try to write!

~

That's about all!! I hope you decide to participate! ✨

Good luck, have fun, and godspeed you future whumpers! 😈

(nah jk XD)

AGAIN THIS IS FOR FUN! NO PRRSSURE IF YOU DON'T WANT TO!

#pixeldoodles #my art #art challenge #illness whump #sick whump #whump community #rain code #whumpcode #artists on tumblr #digital artist #fever whump #cold whump #whumpblr #whump ideas #whump scenario #sick art #sickfic #sick day challenge #yuma kokohead #makoto kagutsuchi #vivia twilight #shinigami rain code #IM A LITTLE NERVOUS ABOUT TRYING THIS #but idk it sounded like a fun idea... >w<; #plus it was fun to design the challenge pages #pretty much used the color replacement tool on photoshop to make it all purple LMOA #but yeah if you wanna give it a try I would love to see what you come up with!! #especially from the raincode community... XD #be sure to show me!! >w< #thanks for reading if you did!

[dashboarddiaries]

DASHBOARD DIARIES, EPISODE 1 - Tumblr, the Supernatural Website

In our inaugural episode, we delve into our own Tumblr origin stories and skim the surface of one of Tumblr's longest lasting fandoms: Supernatural. Warning: many, many incorrect things are said about Supernatural in this episode. Proceed at your own risk. And drop questions/comments/corrections about ways Dean Winchester has died in our ask box or email us at [email protected]!

Find the posts discussed in this episode in this tag!

Credits and transcript under the cut. You can find transcripts for this, and every other episode, here.

Dashboard Diaries is a production of Atypical Artists, hosted by Lauren Shippen and Cherokee McAnelly. Our theme was composed by Lauren Shippen and mixed by Brandon Grugle. Art by Shae McMullin. Transcription (which can be found on our Tumblr) by Laudable.

[intro music]

Lauren: Hello, last of the classically trained tumblr’inas. I’m Lauren Shippen, professional writer, and veteran stucky shipper, who is surrounded by not one, not two, but three artistic renderings of the line, “I’ll be with you until the end of the line.” I like to surround myself in stucky love.

Cherokee: I am Cherokee McAnelly, professional tumblr’er and veteran Twihard, who once brought a team threesome sign to a midnight viewing of Eclipse. And I’ve also re-blogged more than 50,000 posts not all about Twilight, but there’s an influence. 

Lauren: Wow. That’s, that is hefty. 

Cherokee: You know ... Can’t stop. Won’t stop. 

Lauren: And this is Dashboard Diaries, your deep dive guide into the wild, wonderful world of Tumblr. And this is our first episode, Cherokee. 

Cherokee: I’m excited. Are you excited?

Lauren: Me too. I’m so excited.

Cherokee: I feel great. (laughs)

Lauren: And for this first week, this Episode Zero, if you will, we’re gonna hit on some Tumblr classics and also talk about our own relationship to this wonderful website. I guess to start us off, Cherokee, do you want to tell me about what the last week on Tumblr was like for you?

Cherokee: Absolutely. 

Lauren: We’ll start there and we’ll work our way back to the origin story. 

Cherokee: I would love nothing more, Lauren. So, this has been a big week on Tumblr, as it always is. Last week, Stranger Things - Part II premiere. And we did a big Stranger Things takeover. It was fun. I spent my entire day re-blogging community posts about Stranger Things. And this week has really been about Eddie. Big Eddie week, I would say.

Lauren: Yep.

Cherokee: And on top of that, and most recently, Thor: Love and Thunder came out today.

Lauren: Yes.

Cherokee: I have not seen it yet. But I did do some light scrolling to prepare for this and I have sadly seen spoilers, but I’m kind of okay with it just because I feel a little more attached now. 

Lauren: Yeah, that is a risk that we take when we scroll our dash. And a risk you take listening to this podcast. Let’s be honest. We might get into some spoiler territory. I also saw a bunch of Stranger Things stuff this past week. And I did watch the entire Volume II of Stranger Things in, like, a day. So, I was prepared to dive into the Tumblr world. And have been seeing mostly Eddie.

Cherokee: Yeah.

Lauren: A lot of love for Eddie. 

Cherokee: I think Eddie is perhaps blorbo of the week?

[fanfare music]

Lauren: He might be.

Cherokee: He’s big. I feel attached to Eddie. I also watched Stranger Things Part II in one sitting and have a lot of emotions about it.

Lauren: Yeah. (laughs)

Cherokee: Yeah. 

Lauren: I ... Oh man, speaking of a lot of emotions. I guess this is a little bit of a spoiler for a specific scene in Stranger Things Volume II finale. The scene with Max and Lucas and the house ... That got me real good. I was crying pretty hard at that. Just some fantastic acting from those two actors.

Cherokee: Oh my gosh, truly incredible. I did have to pause it to breathe a couple times. Sometimes when scenes are a little too intense-

Lauren: Mm hmm (Affirmative)

Cherokee: ... intense, you take a step back, take a moment, before ...

Lauren: Yeah, you maybe gotta stand up and walk around your apartment. Take a lap before coming back to it.

Cherokee: And that’s when Vecna gets you. That’s when you’re most vulnerable.

Lauren: Yes. Yeah. 

Cherokee: What would your Vecna song be? What would get you out of The Upside Down?

Lauren: I’ve been listening to the Boys of Summer cover by Atari a lot recently. (laughs) 

Cherokee: Specific and I love it.

Lauren: Yeah, so I feel like that could get me out of Vecna’s grip in the here and now. That’s what I’m feeling currently. What about you?

Cherokee: Well, I’ll preface with roughly quoting a Tumblr post, which said if I’m stuck in The Upside Down, just let me go because I can’t for the lift of me pick one song. 

Lauren: (laughs)

Cherokee: And honest ... there are two. And I’m still gonna say two. I think they would be equal. Dreams, by The Cranberries. 

Lauren: Oh, great song.

Cherokee: And Torn, by Natalie Imbruglia. 

Lauren: Oh! Great song!

Cherokee: Two favs. I think those would help me get out.

Lauren: A strong showing from the ‘90s here in this podcast recording today.

Cherokee: Yeah. I mean, always. I would always run back to ‘90s. What, ‘90s kind of like rock pop. Pop rock? I don’t know. I love The Cranberries. 

Lauren: Yeah.

Cherokee: And I love Torn, by Natalie Imbruglia. I couldn’t name another one of her songs but Torn, I mean, that’s all you need.

Lauren: That’s all you need. That’s all you need.

Cherokee: Look at that. Yes. 

Lauren: We are two nineties babies. 

Cherokee: On the same wavelength.

Lauren: And we understand each other. (laughs) 

Cherokee: (laughs) 

Lauren: While we’re delving into the depths of our past, I feel because it’s our first episode, we should talk about our Tumblr bona fide’s. You know? How long have you been on the site? What has your relationship to the site been? Give me the whole bio. 

Cherokee: Oh, we go way back. We’ve had ups. We’ve had downs. We’ve had preppy eras.

Lauren: Sure. (laughs)

Cherokee: (laughs) 

Lauren: The hipster, girly things phase of Tumbler.

Cherokee: Yes. I’ve changed now. Just not for the better, unfortunately. 

Lauren: (laughs)

Cherokee: I actually was going back on my archive to prepare for this pilot recording and I realized I’ve been on Tumblr ten and a half years now. So, big anniversary.

Lauren: (whistles)

Cherokee: I joined in January of 2012.

Lauren: Wow.

Cherokee: And ...

Lauren: Congratulations.

Cherokee: I mean, thank you. 

Lauren: Ten years.

Cherokee: It’s been an honor, really, to haunt the halls of the dashboard. (laughs) If you will. But yeah, I actually looked back at my first ever post was an extremely high contrast early Instagram, like square photo of the beach that I’d added the Veranda filter onto or something. You know? 

Lauren: Oh, perfect.

Cherokee: I feel like the perfect way to kick myself off, or kick it off on Tumblr. I actually got on Tumblr because my freshman year of college I decided, “Look, I’m going to reinvent myself.” She’s different. She’s 18. She lives in New York now. 

Lauren: (laughs)

Cherokee: My style needed to change, too. And I was saving inspo for outfits and whatever in a Word document like a collage. 

Lauren: Oh ... my ... goodness.

Cherokee: Yes. And my freshman college roommate who is my best friend to this day ... So, she introduced me to Tumblr ... said, “What the hell are you doing?” And I was like, “Oh-“

Lauren: [crosstalk 00:06:23]

Cherokee: “I think I need a room transfer if you’re going to continue doing whatever this is.” 

Lauren: (laughs)

Cherokee: And she was like, “You’re gonna be shocked. I need to tell you about Tumblr.”

Lauren: What a good friend.

Cherokee: And so, yeah. And then I got on Tumblr and never stopped. And have not stopped as it turns out.

Lauren: And now work for Tumblr. 

Cherokee: Yeah.

Lauren: I mean, you’ve turned that love of Tumblr into a job.

Cherokee: Indeed I did. They can’t get rid of me. They tried. Not actually. So, essentially I interned there my senior year of college and they didn’t have any open roles after I left and I really wanted to work there. So, I essentially just kept refreshing the jobs page and going to every single event possible. Like, they had happy hours, they had stuff, I was there all the time. My new internship was a few blocks down the street. And finally a job role opened. I applied within probably seconds of it opening. 

Lauren: Incredible.

Cherokee: And thankfully got hired as the on-boarding associate. 

Lauren: Ooh.

Cherokee: When they were presenting me at All Team, our team meeting where they introduce new people, multiple people came up after and were like, “You left after your internship? We were not aware, ‘cause you are always here.” 

Lauren: (laughs)

Cherokee: (laughs) And so that is the story of how I got my job at Tumblr. I just hung around enough honestly. (laughs) Everyone interviewing me was like, “You seem dedicated enough. I don’t really have many questions for you. I feel like you get it. You’re here anyway. So, we might as well add you to payroll.” 

Lauren: Yeah, might as well put you to work. 

Cherokee: Yeah. How about you?

Lauren: I have been on Tumblr a long time. I joined sometime in late 2008, early 2009. So, it’s been 13 or 14 years for me on this website. And I never left. I never left. And that’s partly because I just sort of move from hyper fixation to hyper fixation. So, I always have a fandom that I’m obsessing over. 

But I also just really like the vibes in there. You know? Is the one social media that I’ve had since I was a teenager that I never want to give up. And I also just love diving into parts of Tumblr that I’m not necessarily a community member of. Many years ago now at this point, this would have been 2013, 2014 through 2016, 2017, I had a YouTube series, which you can no longer find, because I scrubbed it from the internet, called “According to Tumblr,” which was me trying to explain Tumblr fandom’s or trying to explain TV shows, books series, et cetera, based on what I was reading in the Tumblr tag. So, trying to summarize TV shows basically based on what the fandom is talking about. 

So, it was a humorous series about differences between fandom and canon and all of that kind of stuff. And that’s sort of also how this podcast started. (laughs) Because I came to you a couple months ago and then said, “I kind of wanna bring this back in some form,” and you were so game. Because you feel as passionately about Tumblr as I do. 

Cherokee: No, I am obsessed with Tumblr. It is unfortunately/fortunately imbedded in my personality at this point.

Lauren: (laughs)

Cherokee: I love it so much. I talk about it all the time. My friends are definitely ... which my entire friend group, by the way, were/are Tumblr employees largely. 

Lauren: Right, of course.

Cherokee: We stick together. But yeah, they’re probably very tired of me talking about Tumblr constantly. Because it’s, “What’s going on this week? Guess what? Miss Marvel premiered.” Whatever it is, I’ve already ... (laughs)

Lauren: Yeah. 

Cherokee: So, yeah, I’m really excited to be really earnest with you biweekly.

Lauren: And while you work for Tumblr, this is not an official Tumblr podcast. I feel like we should mention that disclaimer. But it’s got the Tumblr stamp of approval, as it were. They’re happy we’re doing it.

Cherokee: Yeah, it’s like a friendship.

Lauren: They’re into it.

Cherokee: Yeah.

Lauren: It is.

Cherokee: But yeah, this is just me fangirling over the place that I already work, as it turns out. But this is not an advertisement, folks. This is just being miley. 

Lauren: Yeah. Pure earnest excitement. All Tumblr, all the time. 

Cherokee: Always be fixating. 

Lauren: Always be fixating. Oh, that’s great. We should make a sticker with that.

Cherokee: Absolutely. We could add it to the poster, the little [crosstalk 00:10:48].

Lauren: Oh, yes. Yeah. Please go and look at our art. We will post the banner version of it because it is so gorgeous. Shay McMullen, our artist, put all of these beautiful little Tumblr jokes in the art and it’s incredible. And I keep staring at it because I love it so much. 

Cherokee: It really is wonderful. I almost made it my LinkedIN header and I was thinking, “Is that too far, perhaps?” It’s not my whole identity, maybe? It was a consideration, though. Maybe I’ll just make it my computer background to really ... 

Lauren: Yeah. I mean, listen ...

Cherokee: Experience it.

Lauren: This is the first episode. There’s plenty of time. All right. One segment that we are going to be doing repeatedly on this show is dashboard confessionals. 

[guitar riff]

Which is when we dive into our own Tumblr archive and pick something at random that we were blogging about X years ago on this date or on any random date. So, Cherokee, what do you have for me?

Cherokee: I have something that I also just Slacked to you, or messaged to you, via Zoom so that you can experience it as well. 

Lauren: Excellent. (laughs)

Cherokee: It is an oldie but a goodie. The post is, “I love high contrast photos of fruit floating threateningly in the night.” I’m sure if you’ve been on Tumblr for any number of hours you have likely seen this one. 

Lauren: Mm hmm (Affirmative).

Cherokee: And someone replies, “I don’t believe such a thing exists.” And Coco Lou who is the OP said, “Of course it does exist,” and shared some high contrast photos of fruit floating threateningly in the night. Which I think should also perhaps be a tongue twister that people do before, I don’t know, recording a podcast.

Lauren: No kidding. It’s really amazing how it’s impossible to image based on the description what that photo would look like, and then you see the photo and you’re like, “Oh yeah, that is fruit floating threatening in the night.”

Cherokee: Obviously. Yeah. (laughs)

Lauren: That’s exactly what that is. 

Cherokee: Honestly, it may be one of my favorite classic Tumblr posts. I think I re-blogged this in 2013. 

Lauren: It’s been a long time since I’ve seen it. Thank you for bringing it back into my life. Because I do very much enjoy it.

Cherokee: You’re so welcome, to be threatened by that fruit. My gift to you.

Lauren: It’s very threatening. 

Cherokee: And we will be re-blogging it to DashboardDiaries.Tumblr.com – so you, too, can be threatened by fruit floating in the night.

Lauren: (laughs) So, seven years ago I re-blogged on this day a compilation of Jean Ralphio singing. I will also re-blog that to our DashboardDiaries.Tumblr.com because it is excellent. If you are unfamiliar with Jean Ralphio, he is Ben Schwartz’s character from Parks and Rec. He is probably most famous for, “the worst.” That’s kind of his tagline. And also, “Don’t be suspicious.” Don’t Be Suspicious with Jenny Slate. It’s fantastic. Just so many good moments. 

Cherokee: I love Jean Ralphio and Ben Schwartz. That character ... one of my all time favorite television characters, to be honest. 

Lauren: I mean, so meme-able. 

Cherokee: So meme-able. 

Lauren: Even now, today, in 2022 we are still meme’ing Jean Ralphio and I think that’s beautiful. What was your very first fandom on Tumblr would you say, that you kind of participated in or were very active as a viewer?

Cherokee: Hmm. Very first fandom that I participated in on Tumblr ... Gosh, what a multilayered question. Because honestly my first few years on Tumblr I was want to say in the preppy lifestyle fandom. 

Lauren: Mm hmm (Affirmative).

Cherokee: I re-blogged all the, “If you’re a preppy blog follow this.” And that was my jam. But I think when I started actually working at Tumblr, which was in 2014 and I became full time in 2015. That was when a lot of ... I think that was around the time that Thor: Ragnarok came out in 2016. And so the MCU, especially Taika Waititi and his tie in to the MCU. I really participated very, very actively in that fandom. And I would also say another fandom that is a little, I don’t know ... I don’t know if you would even consider it a fandom. I would. I think the 2000s and ‘90s fandom, in general. 

Lauren: Yes.

Cherokee: Like, 2000 ish is one of my favorite Tumblr’s. And I just really love the kind of like throwback, Lindsay McGuire, and That’s So Raven kind of content.

Lauren: Yeah.

Cherokee: I think the nostalgia in 2000 ish fandom is the one that really I started with and have continued through. But if we’re talking about specifics I would say the MCU just in general I think that me starting, working at Tumblr and being just really into the MCU kind of probably aligned very well. [crosstalk 00:15:45]

Lauren: MCU is a great fandom to be on Tumblr for because, what, it’s been around for as long as Tumblr has. I mean, because Iron Man came out in 2008 and Tumblr launched in, what, 2007, 2008? So, they come hand in hand. And also there’s always something going on which is really nice. There’s always a new thing being added to the MCU. Which is fabulous.

Cherokee: Always something MC-new.

Lauren: (laughs) In case it’s not clear by this point, Cherokee will be the pun captain of this show. 

Cherokee: I apologize.

Lauren: You are so good at coming up with puns. No, it’s great. I love it. I love it.

Cherokee: No, it’s a passion, I would say. If I was in that fandom, too, I would say ... I mean, I was once a semi finalist at the Punderdome, not to brag. 

Lauren: Is that a thing? Are you making another pun or is this is a real thing?

Cherokee: It is a thing. No, unfortunately, it is a thing, and it is a thing I’ve done multiple times. 

Lauren: Please explain this to me.

Cherokee: (laughs) So, the Punderdome, it was, pre pandemic, I’m not sure if it’s still happening, but every Tuesday in Brooklyn there was this free-for-all pun competition. It went for four hours. Anyone could join-

Lauren: Oh ... my ... god.

Cherokee: ... you had to ... But there were people who had been punning there monthly for years. And essentially how it worked was everyone, you’re called up on stage in kind of like waves, groups of six, and you’re given a topic. For example, “old Hollywood.” And you have a whiteboard and you have 90 seconds to write down as many puns as you can think of that tie into this and then you have to go up and say your puns, but in kind of like a cohesive story kind of way. 

So, you would be like, “I was walking down the Marilyn Mon-road today. And what did I see but the Holly woods.” You know? That kind of-

Lauren: Oh my gosh. 

Cherokee: ... thing. And it was judged by clapping, essentially. So, a very scientific way to judge it. And the prizes were generally made for TV or “as seen on TV stuff. Really random shit. 

Lauren: That’s perfect. 

Cherokee: It was excellent in every way. I really actually like being a semifinalist because it did sometimes go till 11:30 at night on a Tuesday and semifinalists, you know, if you get cut you’re out by 9:30, which was a respectable Tuesday evening, I feel.

Lauren: Oh my goodness. 

Cherokee: But I hope one day to become a Punderdome winner. That would really be my biggest accomplishment.

Lauren: A real feather in your cap. 

Cherokee: Yeah. (laughs)

Lauren: (laughs) That is the most specific form of improve I’ve ever heard of in my life. I love that. 

Cherokee: I didn’t even put the two together and now I’m realizing, yeah, it’s just ... Which honestly, if I was going to get into any specific kind of comedy or improve it would be punning. I’m sure. We’ve gotten so sidetracked and I apologize. What were we ... Oh, we were on fandom’s.

Lauren: First fandom’s.

Cherokee: What was your first fandom, if not the punning fandom, Lauren?

Lauren: (laughs) Deep, deep into the punning fandom. I was also very much in not necessarily the preppy side of Tumblr but kind of the aesthetic hipster side of Tumblr. I was really into nice photos and music. I was blogging a lot about music. And I didn’t really get into fandom Tumblr until I guess it had been early middle or college. BBC Sherlock came out in 2010. End of 2010 it came out in America. Because I remember I watched it over Christmas break. And that is absolutely my first Tumblr fandom. It was a slow burn at first. You know? After the first season I dove into some fan fic and dove into following some Sherlock blogs, but there wasn’t a ton of activity going on yet. And then by the end of season two it was just enormous. And I would say SuperWhoLock is a massive part of Tumblr culture. And we’re gonna get to a big part of that later on. 

But the Lock part of SuperWhoLock was definitely my initial interaction with SuperWhoLock and also my main fandom. I was not necessarily a very active blogger within the Sherlock fandom, but I followed a bunch. I re-blogged a bunch. I made a couple of memes that did okay notes wise. I won’t tell you which memes they were because then you’ll be able to find all of my old blogs. But, yeah, I had a great time. And I am sure that one of these days we will do an episode on the Johnlock conspiracy because that is a huge part of Tumblr lore. And boy was I inside of that when it was all happening. An insider’s perspective. 

Cherokee: I cannot wait for the expose episode on that one. As an outsider, I have thoughts as well of course. Well, an inside-outsider I would say to the SuperWhoLock community. So, you started with Lock and then did you go to Super or Who next?

Lauren: I have always been a scattered viewer of Who. I have not seen every episode. I have seen some episodes of every Doctor. And I’m absolutely going to jump in and watch the new one, because Mizero Ncuti Gatwa from Sex Education, the new doctor, is amazing. I’m obsessed with this character in Sex Education. So, I’m very excited about that. But, yeah, my next fandom of the SuperWhoLock that I dove deep into was our main topic for today. 

[game show trill]

Supernatural.

Cherokee: Woo! A show I know so much about. 

Lauren: So, my relationship with Supernatural ... For those of you that don’t know what Supernatural is ... (laughs) ... First of all, how did you find this podcast? 

Cherokee: Are you okay?

Lauren: And second of all, are you okay? Did you just wake up from a coma? Supernatural is a television show that ran on the WB/EW for 15 years. It ended last year. And is a huge, huge part, even to this day, post the show being on, a massive part of Tumblr culture. And I hadn’t seen the show until about 2016, 2017. But the first video I ever did for recording Tumblr, this YouTube series I used to do, was me trying to explain what I thought the plot of Supernatural was as just as passive Tumblr user who wasn’t even following any Supernatural blogs but still absorbed a lot of Supernatural. 

So, we thought for our first episode of the show it would be fun to have Cherokee do the same thing and have you try to explain the plot of Supernatural to me based on Tumblr and as somebody who has never actually seen more than a handful of episodes of the show. Right?

Cherokee: Yes. So, I’ll give you a little context on my experience with Supernatural, ‘cause it does go way back despite me not seeing the vast majority of episodes.

Lauren: We all go way back with Supernatural.

Cherokee: Yeah. If you’ve been on Tumblr for more than a minute or so you go way back with Supernatural. You’re part of the community, I really think. And it is an open and accepting wayward community. I know some things. 

Lauren: Oh yeah, you know some things. 

Cherokee: (laughs) So, essentially, my first thing I ever did when I started at Tumblr, my first big kind of partnership entertainment kind of campaign was with Misha Collins for Dish Whiz which is the Greatest International Scavenger hunt the world has ever seen, if you’re not familiar. And he does this big scavenger hunt and so we decided to do a virtual one on Tumblr during a Supernatural convention. 

Lauren: [inaudible 00:23:14]

Cherokee: And so we were doing this big 48 hour massive scavenger hunt with a whole bunch of the cast of Supernatural involved and people from other shows like Once Upon a Time and shows like that, I think William Shatner briefly was almost involved. He didn’t end up being involved, but that was going to be really exciting. But anyway, so I went to this Supernatural convention and spent 48 hours locked in a conference room with Misha Collins. Locked ... no, I was willingly having a great time in this conference room. But essentially running this scavenger hunt. And so one of my co-workers, the great Amanda Brenan, who you also may – if you’ve been on Tumblr for a while – be familiar with.

Lauren: Love Amanda!

Cherokee: We love Amanda.

Lauren: She’s fantastic.

Cherokee: She’s a gem. Our meme librarian was her title at the time. I think it might still continue to be.

Lauren: Incredible. 

Cherokee: Icon. And she is also a huge Supernatural fan. She said, “Look, you can’t go to this unless you have seen key Supernatural episodes.” So, this was back in 2016. I can’t even remember the specific episode she showed me anymore. I think it was maybe the first episode and then a few ... I think she picked five and we booked a conference room at the Tumblr office and piled in. And she would pause it-

Lauren: That’s incredible.

Cherokee: ... and be like, “Okay, this is this character. He’s a cinnamon bun.” (laughs)

Lauren: (laughs) 

Cherokee: And so that’s kind of the experience that I have so far for Supernatural. I’ve seen probably six to seven episodes in total.

Lauren: Okay. All right. And spent a day in a conference room with Misha Collins. 

Cherokee: Yes, which is all the Supernatural knowledge you need, really. I feel like I got it by osmosis. 

Lauren: I mean, honestly. I do feel like we should both make a disclaimer that we both have worked with Misha Collins personally. 

Cherokee: Hi, Misha!

Lauren: Hi, Misha! I was literally speaking to him yesterday about Bridgewater, season two. I write a podcast that Misha stars in. He is the sweetest man on the planet. Just absolutely great. It’s always a nice thing to discover that a Tumblr fav is a fav for a good reason. He’s just a lovely person. 

Cherokee: Truly such a gem. Have loved the few times that I’ve gotten to work with him. And I am so sorry, Misha, for not having seen every episode of Supernatural. I’ll do better.

Lauren: (laughs) There are a lot of them. 

Cherokee: Yes. It’s a process. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. You know?

Lauren: It really is.

Cherokee: If I start now I can be done by the time I’m 40. 

Lauren: Exactly. Just pace it out. 

Cherokee: Yeah, exactly.

Lauren: So, I mean, based on those six to seven episodes that you’ve seen of Supernatural and your many years on Tumblr, give me the highlights? What is Supernatural about? What are the big moments? Let’s go. 

Cherokee: Okay. So, Supernatural is about two brothers: Dean and the other brother. 

Lauren: (laughs)

Cherokee: Who’s mom dies on the ceiling and then ... by fire. And then decide that they must ... They are demon fighters or they must fight demons or they want to find who killed their mom. I think their dad is briefly involved. I think he comes in at one point. They have a car. It’s an Impala. It’s gray.

Lauren: Mm hmm (Affirmative).

Cherokee: No, brownish? Beige? They have a car. It’s an Impala. They like the song, “Carry On Wayward Son.” And in every episode they go around slaying the monster of the week, or the demon of the week, but apparently after season two or three it’s less demon of the week and more these big Heaven/Hell kind of threats, big existential threats, all the demons have arrived. And then there’s Misha who plays Castiel, who is an angel of ... he’s an angel. And he comes down in a trench coat and I can’t decide if he helps or hinders them. I think it might be a mix of the two. So, he’s around and there’s a big ship, Destiel which is Dean and Castiel, which became vaguely canon on November 5th, 2019. 

Lauren: I thought it was 2020.

Cherokee: 2020? Okay, sooner than I thought.

Lauren: It was 2020, because it was also election day. 

Cherokee: Oh, god.

Lauren: Or it was the Thursday after election day. Right? It was when ... the pandemic. We’ll get to that. We’ll get to November 5th. 

Cherokee: So, yeah. Remember, remember, the fifth of November. 

Lauren: Exactly.

Cherokee: So, they fight these demons and there’s like purgatory, I think some of them may be stuck in it. There’s a lot of puzzles and clues I think. There’s some relics from the dead. Osric Chau plays Kevin Tran who can read the Bible. I forget what his thing is. 

Lauren: (laughs)

Cherokee: (laughs) And he sadly dies, RIP. And I think that they really love Kevin Trans because that’s a big plot point as well. I saw those episodes and it’s been a minute. And so anyway, yeah. Dean and, god, what is the other brother’s name. I swear I genuinely know.

Lauren: Oh my god, did you legitimately forget?

Cherokee: I legitimately ... I’m trying to remember. I’m like, god, I know this. But my brain just keeps being like, “Dean and Eddie.” Which obviously it isn’t ... I’m merging Stranger Things. But it’s Jared and Jensen and Misha and they’re all buddies. How did I do?

Lauren: So, I was taking notes on my phone during that. Because there were so many things that ... it’s so funny, there were so many things that you said that were so similar to the way that I described supernatural, as a person who hadn’t seen it. Which that video actually is still online and I will share it on our Tumblr because I think it will be a funny comparison point of how I define Supernatural based off of Tumblr back in 2014. Obviously, the show wasn’t over yet, so you had more context. I think my favorite thing is the idea that the Impala is beige. (laughs) 

Cherokee: Is it not? What color is it?

Lauren: No, it’s black.

Cherokee: Oh. (laughs) I think I’ve been in it.

Lauren: Oh my god, Cherokee. So, the Impala, “Baby,” as she’s known, thank you very much.

Cherokee: Beige-by. 

Lauren: (laughs) Is a black Chevy Impala that is mostly driven by Dean, although sometimes Sam, the other brother, does drive it. 

Cherokee: That word had completely left my head. I never would have gotten “Sam.” 

Lauren: It’s so funny. Yeah, I would say that probably ... Obviously there are Sam girls out there, we love you, we love all the characters, we love everybody who loves the show. But I would say, at least in my circles, I think Dean is probably the main borbo of the two brothers on Tumblr. And then of course Castiel who’s name you got right. I, having only seen it typed out, thought it ... I pronounced it CAST-YEEL. He is an angel. He’s the angel of Thursdays in actual Christian lore Castiel is the angel of Thursdays. I don’t know if that ever comes up in Supernatural or not. Not to my memory. 

Yeah, I think actually helping and hindering is a good description of Cas. He normally ... I mean, he usually helps. He’s definitely on Team Freewill as it’s known, which is the three of them, and then eventually Satan’s son, Jack, which is a whole other thing ... but sometimes Cas get possessed by Leviathans or Satan or goes crazy, or what have you.

Cherokee: It happens to the best of us.

Lauren: It happens to the best of us. Everybody in the show is possessed at some point. And which is fun, because you get to see the actors try different things, which is always exciting. And, oh my gosh, what else did you say? Oh yeah, Kevin’s skill being able to read the Bible. You’re not wrong, but that’s just the funniest way to phrase it. As if the Bible is something that only certain people are allowed to read. (laughs) 

Cherokee: It’s like the Declaration of Independence in National Treasure where it’s like secret codes.

Lauren: Well, I mean, that’s actually pretty close. Kevin is a prophet. And so he can read angel texts basically and he hears voices. It’s been a couple seasons since that was a thing. So, I’m forgetting the finer points of that plot. But I would say you did pretty well. I mean, you got the big stuff. They do go to Purgatory, or rather Dean and Cas go to Purgatory at one point.

Oh and then Dean and Cas go back to Purgatory in the final season to get a flower. That’s a very emotional episode. But I don’t know that Sam ever goes to Purgatory. He does go to Hell. But ...

Cherokee: Who’s the one who dies all the time? Is that Dean?

Lauren: Dean. Yes. 

Cherokee: Yeah.

Lauren: Dean dies ... I think the count is like 157 times or something like that. I forget exactly what it is.

Cherokee: Yeah. Normal. 

Lauren: About 100 of those happen in one episode, to be fair.

Cherokee: Which, I have seen that episode. 

Lauren: Okay, mystery spot. 

Cherokee: I’ve seen the episode, the meta episode where they’re on the set of Supernatural. 

Lauren: Oh yeah.

Cherokee: You know what I mean?

Lauren: Mm hmm (Affirmative).

Cherokee: And I did enjoy that one. I’ve enjoyed every episode I’ve seen. It is very enjoyable to watch. 

Lauren: And over 300+ episodes. They really hit every possible genre, fun trope, weird upside down world, I mean, they do everything. They go to a Supernatural convention. They see a fan fiction musical of their own lives. They fight god. It’s a whole thing. This show has everything. It really has everything. 

Cherokee: It must have been ... like, what a fun project to work on for 15 seasons. To be able to think of every potential story and do the meta fandom driven episodes. I mean-

Lauren: Yes.

Cherokee: ... that must have been so much fun to be like, “How weird can we get? What can we do here?” Especially because you have this dedicated audience who loves it and is like, “Yeah, get weird. Try something. When is the musical episode?” You know?

Lauren: Yeah, exactly.

Cherokee: And so, yeah, that’s what I really obviously having an embarrassing lack of knowledge about Supernatural despite having been chronically on Tumblr for ten years. I really love the Supernatural fandom and have jumped at every opportunity I’ve gotten to do something with Misha or just any Supernatural related anything, because it’s always just so much fun and everyone is just having the time of their lives, honestly.

Lauren: Yes. 

Cherokee: I mean, even at the conventions with the karaoke and everyone dresses up. Everyone is so much fun. It’s, yeah. It’s wonderful. It’s a really wonderful community. And I love that it kind of continues, it’s continued on. It will continue on. Destiel continues to be one of the top ships on Tumblr. Supernatural is consistently one of the biggest TV shows talked about. I really love that it’s taken on a life of its own. Maybe Season 15 closed but the show isn’t over. And the stories definitely aren’t. 

Lauren: Exactly. And there is a prequel show coming, we should mention. The Winchester is on the CW/EW. Jensen Ackles, who plays Dean, is producing it and narrating it. But you’re so right. It is its own thing in such a beautiful way. Destiel is not only one of the top ships on Tumblr consistently, but also the most fic’d ship on AO3. As far as I know, I think sometime early this year or late last year it crossed over 100,000 fan fics on AO3 for just the Destiel tag. 

Cherokee: Incredible. 

Lauren: Which is amazing.

Cherokee: I am a super fan of the Supernatural fandom. I think that is the perfect way-

Lauren: Yes.

Cherokee: ... to put where I fall in this equation. I really love ... it is just wonderful that so many people are experiencing these characters and there is so much source material, so you can really-

Lauren: Yes.

Cherokee: You really can kind of guess and know how someone will react, how someone would handle a situation, which means there are infinite stories that can be told from infinite POV’s. No wonder there’s a 100k fics on AO3. That’s incredible. Has anyone read them all? This is a challenge. Someone?

Lauren: Yes, please report back to us.

Cherokee: Yeah. (laughs) We will do [crosstalk 00:35:20]

Lauren: [email protected] – email us! Well, yeah, and also there is a running joke on Tumblr that there’s a Supernatural gif for any situation, any kind of reaction, and it’s true because everything has happened on that show. And not only do I sort of think of, when I think of early days of being on Tumblr and getting to the fandom side of things, I think about Supernatural gifs, but I also think of November 5th as in some ways the beginning of our current Tumblr renaissance.

I want to hear what you were doing on November 5th. Because I remember where I was. And to me it still sticks out in my head as one of the most fun nights I’ve had on Tumblr ... maybe only with the weekend of Dash Con. But this was November 5th, 2020. So, we’re, what, six, seven months into the pandemic. I am in my one bedroom apartment in LA that I have been inside of for eight months straight without leaving. And the presidential election ... very, very high stress presidential election has taken place two days before, but we don’t have results yet because of the pandemic slowing all of the results down. 

So, I’m stressed out of my mind. And me and my partner sit down to watch Supernatural. And watched the episode. Loved the episode. It’s a great time had by all. And then I got on Tumblr. And between the US politics and Destiel going canon, or somewhat canon, and everybody having the most cabin fever ever – just the memes were off the charts. The sort of 15 year mass catharsis that was being experienced all at once on Tumblr was unmatched. I mean, it was just the absolute fourth wall breaking, meltdown, excitement that was happening on that platform. I can’t quantify it. It was beautiful.

Cherokee: What a perfect way to put it. I think, yeah, as someone who is obviously not in the Supernatural fandom, but is a fan of the Supernatural fandom, I was obviously on Tumblr while this was happening. I knew the finale was that night. And our fandom blog went ...

Lauren: It was the third to last episode, not the finale.

Cherokee: Oh, it was the third to last episode. 

Lauren: Yep.

Cherokee: See, I’m over here on November 20th. Oh my gosh. I apologize for not realizing that it was the third to last episode where this happened. I genuinely, to this day, thought that was the finale. 

Lauren: Oh my gosh. That’s amazing.

Cherokee: Continuing with my lack of knowledge. But anyway, I have never seen my dash be so one topic’d and overtake everything else happening. It was just chaos. As someone who is not in the fandom, I have FOMO. I feel like I would have more fully experienced that if I had been ... ‘cause I didn’t even watch the episode. I just got the gifs and the kind of canon but not canon ... from my feed. And I feel like I kind of get what happened in that episode. Do they become canon in Purgatory? Is that ... they shared a little Purgatory kiss? Is that, or?

Lauren: Well ... (laughs) ... I mean, in fan fics, I’m sure.

Cherokee: (laughs)

Lauren: So, they go to Purgatory earlier in that season and they get separated in purgatory and Dean ends up praying to Cas to try and find him. And it’s like this very emotional ... like, he kneels down and is praying. And then later in the season Cas has made an agreement with the Empty, which is angel hell, that when he experiences a moment of true happiness he will be taken into the Empty, where he will live out the rest of his immortal life in an empty blank space, basically.

So, Cas tells Dean that he loves him and experiences a moment of true happiness and gets taken by the Empty. 

Cherokee: It makes sense. Yep, that makes complete sense. No, with the limited knowledge I have, that sounds right. Yeah.

Lauren: Yeah. Can I share with you my absolute favorite post? I still think these words to myself on the regular. This was an exchange that happened on Tumblr either on November 5th or in the days afterwards. But somebody ... it’s just a great series of responses. Somebody blogged:

“I can’t believe Castiel went to super hell to turn Georgia blue.”

And then because Georgia went for Joe Biden that same night. And then somebody responded with, “Please god, let me find these things out normally. I am begging you.” 

And then a third person responded with maybe my favorite thing that anybody’s said on Tumblr which is, “If you go to the circus for news, don’t complain if a clown tells it to you.” 

Cherokee: That is ... I want that on a shirt. I want it like as a cross stitch. That is so perfect. And I really like ... yeah, regretting. I am regretting my lack of action in the Supernatural community on this day. I would have really loved to be a part of the revolution and not just a viewer on the sidelines. 

Lauren: And you were there. You were witnessing the history as it was happening. Not everybody can say that. Some people weren’t even on Tumblr at all. 

Cherokee: I would say probably maybe most people.

Lauren: Yeah. 

Cherokee: Even though I did think it was the finale. 

Lauren: You did think it was the finale. That’s so funny. It can be your finale if you want it to be.

Cherokee: Exactly.

Lauren: This is the great thing about being a fan. It is what you make it. Throw canon out the window and do your thing.

Cherokee: Throw canon, make it fan-on.

Lauren: Speaking of fan-on versus canon. I have a quiz for you. 

[synth music]

Cherokee: Oh, I’m ready. Is it Supernatural related?

Lauren: Oh, it’s all Supernatural related. So, every episode, probably, Cherokee and I are going to do a game. And one of our main games is going to be fan fic versus fan fact. In which we quiz each other on essentially two truths and a lie situation. So, I’m going to ask Cherokee a question and there’s going to be three options. Two of them will be true and one of them will be a lie, and she has to guess which, as somebody who is not deeply entrenched in Supernatural. Are you ready?

Cherokee: Never been more ready. 

Lauren: Okay. So, the first question is:

Which of the following is not the title of a Supernatural episode?

A Very Supernatural Halloween

Everybody Loves A Clown

Are You There God? It’s Me, Dean Winchester.

Two of those are real, one of them is not an actual episode title. Let me know if you need them again.

Cherokee: Hmm. “C.”

Lauren: C. Are You There God? It’s Me, Dean Winchester?

Cherokee: Yeah. 

[buzzer]

Lauren: Wrong. That is a real episode title. 

Cherokee: Oh. I was like, “She’s gonna think I think it is an episode title, so it won’t be,” ‘cause my other thought was “B,” but is “B” also wrong? “B” is also wrong. Cool.

Lauren: This one was a little bit shady of me. Because ... So, the answer, too, which is not a title of a Supernatural episode is, “A Very Supernatural Halloween.” That is not a title of an episode. There is an episode titled, “A Very Supernatural Christmas.” So, it was a little bit tricky.

Cherokee: I got both my options wrong, which is on brand and wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. (laughs) 

Lauren: Perfect. Listen, we’ve got two more of these. So, you still have time to get two out of three. I believe in you.

Cherokee: I’m going to ace it. 

Lauren: (laughs) All right. The next one is:

Which of the following is not a character in Supernatural? 

The Easter Bunny

Misha Collins

Hitler

Which is not a character that appears in Supernatural? A character.

Cherokee: Okay, I know Misha Collins appears as himself at some point in Supernatural. 

Lauren: Because you did see that episode. 

Cherokee: Because I did see that episode. So, that’s eliminated. So, we’re between the Easter Bunny and Hitler. 

Lauren: Yep.

Cherokee: (laughs) I’m gonna go with Hitler did not appear in an episode. 

Lauren: So, I’m gonna give you half a point for this, because this is also a little bit shady. So, the Easter Bunny is not a character in Supernatural. There is a killer bunny at one point. But as far as I could find. And I have seen every episode of Supernatural, but you forget things. But I could not find that there was the Easter Bunny in an episode. But Hitler technically is a character in Supernatural. Because Dean kills Hitler and then he talks about how he killed Hitler a bunch in later episodes. Because it’s a cool thing to have killed Hitler. 

It is the soul of Hitler in somebody else’s body. So, technically nobody is dressed as Hitler in Supernatural. Thankfully. But, yes, that is a whole episode in which there is Nazi necromancers and Dean kills Hitler. So, that’s a half a point.

Cherokee: Good for Dean.

Lauren: Because the way you phrased your answer, he technically doesn’t appear, but he is a character. 

Cherokee: So, I found my way around it. Also-

Lauren: You did.

Cherokee: ... is there a Tumblr that has the log line for every single Supernatural episode? Because I’m gonna need to go to that. I’m sure IMDB-

Lauren: Ooh.

Cherokee: ... has it, but I want to stay organic.

Lauren: No, we want the fan perspective.

Cherokee: I want the fan written log line of each episode.

Lauren: Yes.

Cherokee: Another ... please, someone if you do it, let us know. 

Lauren: Please. All right. Final question:

Which is not a way that Dean Winchester has died?

Shot by a fellow hunter.

Crashing his beloved car, “Baby.”

Slipping in the shower.

Cherokee: “B” Crashing the car?

[chimes]

Lauren: You are correct.

Cherokee: Yes! Oh my gosh! Wow! 

Lauren: Although, now I’m actually second guessing myself.

Cherokee: (laughs) 

Lauren: As far as I know he was never driving Baby and crashed her and died. But now I’m remembering that I think he and his dad, John Winchester, were in the car, got into a car accident at the end of season one and he’s dead at the end of season two, and that’s the first time we see Reapers. Supernatural fans? Help me out here. It’s been a while since I’ve seen the early seasons. So, the internet may have steered me wrong on this. But that ... as far as I know, you got that answer right. So, 1.5 out of 3 points. Hell yes. 

Cherokee: 50%. A solid 50%. 

Lauren: All right. That ties up our Supernatural segment. How do you feel? Do you feel like you know Supernatural better now?

Cherokee: I am not gonna lie, I feel like I need to watch a lot more of Supernatural, because I can’t be this not in the know these days. I’ve got to get deeper. And so I feel motivated to go beyond being a fan of the fandom and become a member of the fandom. 

Lauren: I love that. And, hey, if you do, this is the place to talk about it. We can do a little sum up of your Supernatural journey. That could be very fun.

Cherokee: That would be fun. I’m in. I’ll start with season one, episode one. And just-

Lauren: Hell yes.

Cherokee: ... work my way. Hell yes. Purgatory yes. Super hell yes. Heaven yes. Empty yes. All of the yeses. 

Lauren: (laughs) I mean, in terms of fandom forecast, as we round out. I think you do have some Supernatural on your horizon, but what else are you looking at in the coming two weeks in between our episodes that you are excited for?

Cherokee: Hmm. Well, first off, I know I mentioned Thor: Love and Thunder, earlier in the episode, but I am so excited to see just ... it’s trending number three right now as we speak on July 8th. But it just came out today. So, I think for the next couple of weeks I feel like that is really gonna be just a big moment, kind of like the main thing being talked about and then also this is coming out on July 22nd, but the new Jordan Peel film.

Lauren: Jordan Peel movie. That’s right.

Cherokee: I’m so excited to see that. It’s one of those things where I have no idea what it’s about. And I cannot wait to find out.

Lauren: As we round out our episode this week, let’s end with Feels Corner.

[music]

What is giving you the feels right now? What is the thing that you are obsessing over that you are crying over the gifs, that you are reading the fic of, tell me your hyper fixation of the moment?

Cherokee: So, I have a very specific hyper fixation right now that I don’t know if it’s really broken onto Tumblr yet. I’ve seen some whisperings of it. But I just watched ... I have two more episodes left of The Bear on Hulu.

Lauren: Yeah.

Cherokee: Which is that show about the sandwich restaurant in Chicago. I will preface this by saying I’ve followed a lot of people who watch The Bear and the biggest piece of feedback is, “Excellent show, so inaccurate of sandwich shops. This would never be in this part of Chicago, and this part of Chicago is nothing like you’re seeing it is.” Kind of thing. Which is so funny because that is all the feedback I’m seeing. But even the people who are saying this are still loving the show. And I am unhealthily obsessed, maybe, with Carmine who is played by Jeremy Allen White. You may know him from Shameless.

Lauren: Oh yeah.

Cherokee: The show is excellent and very well done. Ayo Edebiri is in it. Super, it’s really well done. I am watching it for one reason and one reason alone and that is thirst. (laughs)

Lauren: (laughs) And we respect that here on Dashboard Diaries. I totally get that. He’s got a real certain something about him. He really doe. 

Cherokee: [inaudible 00:48:53] energy. It’s really powerful. (laughs)

Lauren: (laughs) That’s totally it. Oh my gosh. 

Cherokee: It’s visceral. Not to get too horny on ‘mine here. (laughs)

Lauren: That’s amazing and you have two episodes left.

Cherokee: I have two episodes. So, I hold out for finales. I don’t watch them right away for some reason. I get close to the end of something and I put off ... I watched Stranger Things, Part Four, Part Two, days after it came out. I don’t know what it is, I just need that ... it lasts longer that way. But I have two episodes left and I will probably watch them this evening, this weekend. I’m excited to see what happens. It’s mostly just like, it’s really well shot and very stressful of a show. It’s kitchen intensity.

Lauren: Yeah.

Cherokee: But just him making beef sandwiches. Into it. I’ve never had a beef sandwich in my life, but I would ... I would do it for Carmine. Oh, so what are you obsessing over at the moment?

Lauren: Speaking of stressful shows, last night I watched this week’s episode of For All Mankind, the Apple TV show. And it’s so funny, because it’s a show that I don’t necessarily actually engage in the fandom of, or I haven’t yet. And it’s a show that’s sort of between seasons, I didn’t think all that much about. And then when it’s on and I’m watching it, it’s one of my favorite viewing experiences. It’s this alternate history of 1960s through 1990s America, NASA specifically in the space race, if we have way more advanced technology basically. 

It is so incredibly stressful and I love it. Like, every episode I am clutching my face. I am moving around on the couch, total frenetic energy because I am so nervous about what’s happening on screen. And it’s the most fun I’ve had watching a TV show and being stressed by a TV show simultaneously ... well, since Barry. So, not that long. But it’s the same kind of thing where it’s like, “Oh, I can’t look. I have to look. I can’t look. I have to look. I’m loving this so much. I wanna die.”

Cherokee: What a great endorsement. I have to watch this show now. I love a show about space. I have seen it and just haven’t gotten started for no specific reason. But everyone I talk to who watches it just vehemently recommends it. 

Lauren: It is so good. And if you all listening have feels that you wanna share in our Feels Corner, go ahead and send a voice memo talking about, 30 seconds or less, the thing that you are obsessing over right now to [email protected]. We wanna hear from you and we might put it on the show. 

Cherokee: I can’t wait to hear the feels. I hope some of them are for our boy Carmine from The Bear. 

Lauren: (laughs)

Cherokee: Come on. Come on, Bear cubs ... I don’t know, what’s the fandom called?

Lauren: Oh, that’s cute. Bear cubs is cute.

Cherokee: Yeah, I like it. 

Lauren: I feel like you just named the fandom. 

Cherokee: All right, Bear cubs. Let’s rock and roll. (laughs) Bear subs. 

Lauren: Oh, that has layers of meaning.

Cherokee: Oh, there’s too many layers there. (laughs)

[crosstalk 00:52:06]

Took a moment to click, but yeah. 

Lauren: And with that, as we say this week and every week, may your anons always be loving. 

Cherokee: Your dash always refreshed.

Lauren: Your gifs always be loading.

Cherokee: And your ships always canon. 

Lauren: May the fics you’re reading always be finished.

Cherokee: And the answers you seek always in the tags.

Lauren: And we’ll see you next time, or in super hell, this has been Dashboard Diaries.

Cherokee: Thanks for signing on. 

[outro synth music]

#supernatural #stranger things #dashboard diaries #fandom #the bear #for all mankind #episode #tumblr #lauren shippen #cherokee mcanelly #transcript #podcast #DD 01

[hrwinter]

20 questions game

Thank you @luthordamnvers for the tag!!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 10 on AO3. many deleted on FF-net.

2. What’s your total AO3 words count? 309,689 which is like, wow, not that much. especially given that one story accounts for 105k of that.

3. What fandoms do you write for? supercorp for AO3. i've definitely entertained the idea of writing for other fandoms, but haven't made it to an actually completed document yet. i've thought a LOT about writing for harlivy.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? Mrs. & Mrs. Danvers, Fidelity, would you forget me (do i know you?), i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart), and What I Do When I Have Writer's Block. i have writer's block a lot.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? i always try to respond to comments! i get that other people may not, so no judgment, but i figure if someone took the time to write to me, i can take the time to write back to them. it just seems like it fosters more community and the idea that we are all big fans, even just consumers, and appreciate artists of all types.

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? i don't really write angst ending fics, but i've fleshed out a somewhat angsty 'No Way Home' spider-man AU that is pretty angsty.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? probably i carry your heart. faster than a speeding date is also the closest i think i've ever come to fluff.

8. Do you get hate on fics? it's not common, but it's happened. i try to remind people to engage with the content they want to read. everything is tagged on ao3. there really isn't an excuse to be reading 7 full chapters only to then leave a comment like 'i hated this.' then what are you doing here? and if someone is pointing out something they believe to be problematic in my writing, i do my best to fix it. i've had both bad faith and good faith comments, and i really appreciate the latter. m&m au is a bit of a tough one because the original movie is QUITE problematic. that's where i've gotten these comments the most.

9. Do you write smut? If so what kind? like many, i'm sure, i've tried. i'm not sure if i've succeeded. i'm really impressed with the skills it takes to do so. i think people massively underestimate how hard and vulnerable it can be.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? i have never written a crossover.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? yes.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? yes.

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before? no, but i think that would be really fun.

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship? i've had a lot of ships that i'm going to list here: harry/ginny. snape/lily. jack/juliet. selene/michael. buffy/angel. buffy/faith. mulder/scully. alison/emily. santana/brittany. villanelle/eve. kara/lena. poison ivy/harley. adora/catra. i've never written as many fics for anyone as i have for supercorp, so i guess it would have to be that.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? there was this sex positive krypton/exchange student au prompt that i got so long ago, years ago, where i fell in love with the concept so much, i developed an entire original novel about it. the novel is absolutely a rip off of supercorp with different names because i didn't want to give DC my worldbuilding for krypton. i have about 60% of the plot written, but i am SO BAD at writing original stuff that i'm worried i'll never get it done. sometimes i've thought about just writing the god damn fanfic because at least then y'all would get to see it. i'm so obsessed with that story. it's absolutely insane.

16. What are your writing strengths? i've been told action and dialogue. a kind of "movie like" description or pacing.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? i'm going to say the same thing as the person who tagged me: Actually writing.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? it would be really cool! i just don't speak any other languages well enough to write in. i don't mind people who want to translate at all though.

19. First fandom you wrote for? harry/ginny. basic.

20. Favourite fic you’ve ever written?  eternal sunshine au. i wrote it in less than 30 days, which has never happened again. and i felt like, even though i didn't at the time, that it actually captured both the essence of the movie and supercorp perfectly. it's one of those stories that is so HEAD canon to me, that sometimes i forget none of it happened in the show. i wish it had. i was so unimpressed by the explanation of why kara lied to lena, even though the 100th episode dangled the potential of it so close to our faces. in my mind, i just erase that, like my story, and imagine my version instead.

Tags, but no pressure: @littlemousejelly @shaolinbynature @coffeeshib @inkedroplets

#ask game #fic writing #supercorp

[freeuselandonorris]

4, 11 and 20 pleeease 🙏

4. Where do you find inspiration for new ideas?

i almost exclusively write RPF, and so my inspiration for fics comes, 99% of the time, from real-life interactions (which is why i have written so very much landoscar recently, because WOW is there a lot of inspiration). the sterling work of the gif-makers, rippers, and fandom archivists on here does a lot of the heavy lifting for me! for instance, i wrote tell me where it hurts and i’ll make it hurt better having never previously considered fernando alonso in a sexual light because of the post-podium photos and because, frankly, i had taken half a gram of MDMA the night previous and needed something to distract myself while my brain chemistry sorted itself out 🤷‍♂️

following neatly on from that, i also have an absolutely fetid little swamp brain and spend about 75% of any given day thinking about truly disgusting sex stuff, and fic is an outlet for that. often i’ll have ideas floating around my mind for a while before i get round to them or even decide on a pairing, for instance a lot like life which features boot worship and fisting, two kinks i’d wanted to write for ages.

i have a pretty big backlog of horrendous ideas: charles/pierre knifeplay! toto and susie have a terrible toxic threesome with george (not sure i can write this one without accidentally turning it into toto x susie x reader ngl) (it’s me, i am reader)! fernando/lando follow-up with added oscar! toto forces christian to choke him! free use bimbofication lando norris!

i also get inspiration from other writers! whether it’s the line in @lost-decade’s fic you will find me if you let go that inspired me to write born and raised for the job, or all the incredible rule 63 fics like ego death by @beechersnope, trade offer by anon, and first by @flawlessassholes that inspired me to write girl!lando.

11. Link your three favorite fics right now

oh man. just three???

AT THE MOMENT:

adagio by @theory81 - landoscar ballet AU! i don’t fuck with AUs very often but i’ve been waiting for a ballet AU in the F1 tag for a while and this is more than i could have hoped for. sweet, funny slowburn with a gorgeously camp, smart-dumb-brat lando POV.

jump right in by @strawberry-daiquiris - girl!lando/oscar WIP, theeeeee most perfect escapist slowburn, basically a shot of dopamine direct to the cerebral cortex. i finish every chapter grinning like an idiot.

climb up to your lips by @scenetocause - girl!oscar/lando WIP, soft femdom oscar, sweet and soft, feels like a slowburn even though they’re fucking increasingly nasty, perfect mixture of simping without being cloying, regularly melts my brain with the sex scenes.

god i could easily have made this a top ten this was HARD.

20. Have you noticed any patterns in your fics? Words/expressions that appear a lot, themes, common settings, etc?

oh absolutely. i am but a simple goblin. most of my fics explore uneven power dynamics, wet and messy kinks, sadomasochistic leanings, or poor communication.

i use way too many adverbs (stuff like definitely, absolutely, probably) and I have to CTRL+F for “seem” and “feel” before i post anything because i will use them every other sentence if i don’t pay attention.

most of my fics are set in hotel rooms or cooldown rooms. you know that post about hotel rooms being the liminal space in which sublimated desires are realised in sports RPF? yeah, that. i also write a lot about food? i like planning little details about scenes, like what they’re eating and drinking, and i often research restaurants in the area i’m writing about.

thanks for asking anonnie!! 🤍

get to know your fic writer!

#linking and tagging this took FOREVER #praying i got everyone’s urls right #ask meme #fic meta

[frostycatblr-fandom-files]

if you're sitting there feeling sorry for yourself, wondering why no one's commented on your hiatus status(es), i'll help you figure out why

you're behaving like a selfish, entitled bitch. you're throwing a pity-me-party while you accuse people of favoritism in the same breath. like, no wonder your ~CoMmUniTy~ won't feel sorry for you, or interact with your bad artwork or your other uninspired bullshit when you bitchfit that no one's sharing your shit: no one wants to interact with that melodrama. there's better writers out there that don't cry about interaction bullshit.

you need to grow the fuck up, and maybe do people all a favor by not coming back.

Wow... thank you for sending me this present shortly before Christmas (Dec. 20th, to be exact). Real lovely stuff.

So listen while I break this down by section and say things later on that I don't mean:

If you're going to call me an 'entitled bitch' or criticize my content, you should really take ownership of your words like a grown-up first. You're welcome to those opinions, I suppose; but it means NOTHING when you send me this from a position of cowardice. If your goal was to hurt my feelings and upset me, I would only award you with partial congratulations, if that.

I'll concede it was a bit of a "bitchfit" if it makes you happy, because yes, it kind of was. I'll take ownership of that: I should have been better, and I wasn't. I should have been a lot calmer, and I wasn't.

Maybe then more people would have given a damn about me and what I had to say. Or maybe they wouldn't. I don't know anymore, quite frankly. I can't say I ever did.

Your point about "better writers out there [who] don't cry about interaction bullshit" is wrong, by the way. I can think of several fan writers (and I'm not going to compare content quality because that's gross) either on my dashboard or in fandom tags (many with larger followings + outreach than me) who've complained about lowered interaction these days at one time or another.

Or several times, even. It was largely and perfectly fine when they spoke up about it. Weird to me, anon, how it's okay when these unnamed and so-called "better writers" speak up, but not the little guys.

Some people are a little too comfortable telling those with smaller followings/outreach to just suck it up because interaction has been bad for everyone lately. Or placate themselves with excuses for why they didn't offer any sympathy to people who admit to struggling with feeling like belonging, or those wishing they felt more included. Noticed. Remembered. (Whatever the case may be.)

I mean I've seen who repeatedly makes the cut on these stale recommendation lists that float around… Your 'pool of so many talented writers/artists in this fandom' is more of a damn puddle. You'll have to fucking forgive me for just wishing to be remembered (for one or the other) and included in these little "~fandom enrichment activities~" at this point once in a damn while! Why's it such a fucking crime to you, anon, that I just want people to remember I'm here too?

I spoke my feelings about things feeling like a popularity contest rather than a true community back in December, and you thought that warrants calling me a selfish, entitled bitch? Telling me do people a favor and not come back?

What the fuck??????

I think you're something of a rancid tar pit for hoping to kick someone while they were down, or whatever it was you intended by all that. Did you get the warm and fuzzies typing this out? Did you feel good about yourself for choosing to be malicious to someone going through a hard time? Someone admitted they were going through a hard time between Seasonal Affective Disorder, and being upset about a lot of trivial stuff, and you thought "Hey; let's pile on!" was the correct solution rather than offer any kindness where you had witnessed a lack of?

It would be so tempting to stoop to your level and wish you nothing but ill on top of telling you to do me a favor and fuck off; I'm going to encourage you to learn to have a little more compassion for people instead and be a better person than whatever you are now going forward. May you learn to be kinder to people in the future, anon… You make the world a far better place that way.

#bad anon no biscuit #lesson for next time is to just ghost the blog for a month since no one's going to notice or care I guess. only tell you to leave #that's only partial sarcasm #a couple of people showed they cared or said nice things before the holidays. and to that short list of people I just want to say thank you #otherwise my activity page was very quiet #and some other things happened that reinforced my decision to not really want to participate with this space for the time being #simple fact there's someone out there who's too comfortable with being nasty to people and telling you to fuck off... #fuck man!!!! it's been a long time since crying over some damn anon hate but this was too much for me #''help you figure out why'' no you're not being helpful you're actually just being a prick for no good reason! #im done im so fucking tired i don't want to look at this fucking ask anymore #i feel sick to my stomach right now fuck

[toybeluga]

9 fandom peeps to get to know better (ty @vaynglories)

3 ships you like: i like earnest bastard4bastard relationships so. garak/bashir for the mindgames. superbat/bruclark for the four way identity hijinks potentials. eames/arthur for the amount you have to make up, props to that community.

first ship ever: it's always been about the pining babeyyyyy

last song you heard: i make hamburgers - the whitlams (wow, the top comment on that youtube video is a trip)

favorite childhood book: high five to @vaynglories, it's also lord of the rings. i typed up every song in word in apple chancery and printed them all from my school's library computer, along with all the maps, which surely cost a fortune in ink. what was I doing with all those pages?? collecting them like a little gremlin, pretty sure, I don't think I ever referenced them

currently reading: you know, I don't think I've revealed this on tumblr, but we are way past the 'keep it to yourself just in case' point, so: I'm going through the last section of emily oster's 'expecting better' and also starting the sequel, 'cribsheet', because she's chill and all about data and I'm about to be 7 months pregnant

currently watching: can't get enough of living big in a tiny house

currently consuming: love the ambiguity as to whether this is a food or a media question. i've been eating just a ton of chicken lately. i assume there's some sort of nutrients thing involved.

currently craving: re: that pregnancy reveal three questions ago, a big ol' list of forbidden foods. deli sandwiches. ibuprofen. a tragic number of herbal teas. sushi. ibuprofen. oysters. ritalin. god, ibuprofen. next time your body hurts, please take ibuprofen for me. i didn't know what i had......

tag yourself at will and say I did it

#anyway any time I talked about the ✨condition✨ that's what was up #full of blood? can't take meds? very sleepy? yeah it's been something

[bisexualshakespeare]

Twenty questions for fic writers

thanks for the tag @lowkeyed1!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 53 without my podfic only works

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 195,236

3. What fandoms do you write for? According to my front page, the fandoms I write the most for are Haven (7) Ted Lasso (6) Fandom - Fandom (6) Teen Wolf (5) Our Flag Means Death & Willow (4)

I'm fine with Haven being my number one but I'd like to bump Teen Wolf off there. My Willow fic will overtake it soon but I still need another fandom to push it off completely!

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

A Wedding of Errors - Teen Wolf, Allison/Lydia, Rated T - Wedding Planner AU and my first (and only?) Big Bang fic! It had beautiful at and I still follow the artist though it looks like the post got deleted in a blog rebrand or something.

Not a Rebound - Supergirl, Winn/James, Rated E - Post season 2 episode 1 smut I wrote to make myself feel better after they nerfed Kara/James for no reason! (we know the reason 😑)

No Time Like the Present - Young Justice, Jamie/Bart, Rated G - Short little future fic of Bart having a panic attack and Jamie helping him out. First time I wrote something and was like wow that was like writing writing!

Uninvited - Elementary, Gen Sherlock & Watson - pod together project I had to ask for a co-writer to help pinch hit this for me because I was struggling. It was strange to co-write, especially with a stranger, but it was interesting and the podficcers seemed to have fun!

ShapeShift - Teen Wolf, Stiles/Danny, Rated T - AU based on a Bollywood movie I found on Netflix and became obsessed with called Pyaar Impossible. Also a pod together project!

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Sometimes. I like that ao3 has the unread comments on your front page, so I like to keep them there so I can see them and smile at them when I'm scrolling through the suggested marked for later stuff. If someone has commented multiple times, I'll usually thank them on the most recent one rather than replying to all of them. Of course if someone asks a question I'll answer. Otherwise it depends on my mood.

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I was gonna say I try not to leave fics on too an angsty note but then I remembered Garder le Silence my Harry Potter pod together that's an episode of Potterwatch during book 7. It's pretty moody all the way through.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Probably A Wedding of Errors. It's the only fic with an epilogue so you actually have a little time after the couple gets together. Hmm should I write more epilogues? 🤔

8. Do you get hate on fics? I got an angry comment on Wedding saying it was a bad f/f fic because I spend too much time on the side m/m/m love triangle. Honestly that was something I was worried about and if the person had just been disappointed, I would've understood but they were just mean so fuck em.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? a little! increasingly more so last month lol some light d/s, with a lot of silliness and communication

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? nah I don't love the idea of crossovers. Usually I'd rather have a full AU

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? i don't think so?

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes! Wedding was translated into Russian in 2015, two years after I wrote it and the translator made a little banner for it!

😭 it is so crazy to think someone thought about my fic so much they put it in another language! I am in awe of them. Umi no Iruka you can ask anything of me. You can throw me into battle like a pokemon. I am in your debt.

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

14. What's your all-time favorite ship? Bakugou Katsuki/Midoriya Izuku from My Hero Academia. I have never written a fic for them and I probably never will. It's a classic case of, if I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more. 🥺

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? Hmm well I don't usually post anything unless I've finished it. I did start a series of fics for a glee rare pair but I am nOT going back to that. I have the last installment in my Winn gets fucked series like 90% done I literally just need them to fuck and I can post it. I have a couple Haven WIPs I probably won't go back to unless the hyperfixation comes back in a big way.

16. What are your writing strengths? Dialogue, calling back to things earlier in the fic, estimating the word count of a story, which I didn't think was a strength but lowkeyed said it was their weakness so i guess!

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Description of places blegh, coming up with events for people to do between plot points, describing how people move and gesture? I can see things so clearly in my head it's so hard to describe! it's like "and then they do the face they did in episode 6 where they were like hmnmm you know??" impossible! I should've become an artist!

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I would love to if I knew the language well enough but unfortunately I'm english only. I've thrown in a few lines sparingly but I think there's definitely some cool stuff that can happen if it's used right by someone who understands the language well.

19. First fandom you wrote for? I think Jimmy Neutron? I got into fandom young lol

20. Favorite fic you've written? Whatever I'm currently working on is my favorite! I love creating so much and I'm ecstatic imagining all the scenarios and tweaking them over and over and living in their heads and surprising myself when I come up with things I didn't plan! So by that measure my favorite is my unpublished Cyrano inspired romcom but if we're going published, I of course have to go with Multivocal, my heart ❤️ or perhaps A Familiar Sound, my soul! ✨

Tagging @secrets-of-luftnarp @lawlessferalgay @lichfucker @caseycassidy

#tag game #long post

[phdmama]

20 questions for fic writers!

HUGE thank you to @sugareey-makes-stuff @kingsofeverything @xanthippe74 for tagging me in this one!! Sorry it's taken me so long to get to it!!

How many works do you have on AO3?

208! That's not including the large number of Tumblr drabbles I need to post for archival purposes!

2. What's your total AO3 Word Count?

1,066,342 <- which OMG

3. What fandoms do you write for?

I started in 1D (Larry mostly though I've done a couple of threesomes) and then I shifted to HP - I think I've only written main Drarry? I've dabbled a tiny bit in Stucky and I've written one 911 Buddie fic (but I'm working on another one!)

4. What are your top 5 fics by Kudos?

My top one is on that's co-written and has that number of kudos due to the other author, so for the ones that are just mine:

I Like the Way You Move for Me (Drarry)

Feels Like Coming Home (Larry)

Beautiful Madness (Drarry)

Tell Me How You Like It (Drarry - outsider POV)

Is This Love? (Drarry)

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

I really try but I struggle to keep up with them - not because I get so many comments haha, but I do that "get behind spiral out feel terrible" thing way too often!

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

I don't tend to write angst-y endings, because I really need a happy ending but I've got a couple of really short painful things! Unsurprisingly, these are all microfic/vignette sorts of things!

The Ghost of You (Drarry, microfic, post-MCD)

Here Without You (Drarry, vignette, post-breakup)

What's Left Behind (Drarry, vignette, MCD) wow I just reread this one and FUCK ME I AM A MONSTER

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

Unhhhh most of them honestly! I will say, I do SOMEtimes VERY RARELY put some pain on the journey to HEA so if I had to guess, I'd say that all of me (loves all of you) (Drarry) is probably my most unabashedly sappy no-angst fluff.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not to my face anyway! I'm sure there are people who don't like my writing but I think they ignore me more than anything! One of the perks of being a very small writer, I think!

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

Sure do! For kind, I write slash, I guess you'd call it (gay), almost all of it M/M. I have one girl!fic. I don't really write too much kink, I'd say most of what I do is pretty vanilla. Healthy communication is my kink, I guess!

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

Ummm off the top of my head, no?

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge. I read one fic that was not a plagiarism of my actual work but was literally the exact same plot, the exact same story beats, the exact same setting etc. I am well-aware there's nothing new under the sun but I read it and was like, unhhh. It's one of my greatest fears honestly - accidentally taking someone's fic!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I know. I've been approached, but I'm not comfortable with it.

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

Yup! Twice! Both in the Larry fandom. One was with one other writer (who's long gone from fandom as far as I know) and one (Wine Not) I wrote with a big group of people who've become some of my absolute closest friends!

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

I don't have one specific. The ones I write for, I obviously feel very very strongly about, but the bummer for me is that when I'm writing in a particular pair, I don't read anything in that pairing! I also don't read for the ship, but for the story and the writing, so I read in a LOT of different pairings!

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Fuck me, so many.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Oof, I'm not sure! I'm not a trained writer by any means. I think I do scene setting pretty well?

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Pacing, for sure. It's really hard and I can get bogged down in the "and then THIS happened and then THIS happened and then THIS happened" - I'm so linear, so I have to push myself there.

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

Generally no. I've sprinkled in a few words here and there, but I wouldn't do much of it, and if I had to, I would 1000% find someone to help me with it and not rely on Google translate.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Larry. Still writing there and kinda following along a bit but I'm not active in that fandom anymore other than the writing.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

I'm not sure I have one fav fic - I'd say I'm really proud of my long (for me) fics! Those are hard for me, and there's a couple that are really really personal. But I have to say, Maybe You're the Difference (Drarry) is one I really like and am really proud of. I worked so so hard on it.

I feel like I'm late on this one, so I'll call this a general tag (FOR REAL I HONESTLY MEAN IT) - if you want to do this, DO IT and tag me!! xox

#my writing #self fic recs

[lurkingshan]

bad buddy fandom getting-to-know-you-meme!

Tagged by @telomeke, thanks friend! I had to get through the weekend drama deluge before I could clear out some brain space to answer this one properly, because I never mess around when I'm talking Bad Buddy.

Name and whatever you want to share about yourself

Shan, she/her, I live in the US. I am a lifelong consumer of stories and both an avid reader and drama watcher. I write a lot of meta because when I enjoy a thing I love to dissect and unpack it, and I post on tumblr because I have the most fun when I do that with other people.

When did you watch bad buddy/join the fandom?

I watched Bad Buddy live when it was airing! I was not on tumblr then but I was lurking around fandom spaces and following the week to week discussions around the show, but not actively participating in them. After that my interest in bl as a genre only grew, so I created this blog about 9 months ago to start joining in the fun.

Favourite ship/s

Pat/Pran, of course. They are amongst my all time favorite couples that I've seen in any media, period. I will spice this up by also admitting Pa/Ink didn't do all that much for me. They were just a bit too underwritten for me; I am not someone that is wowed by side crumbs or enjoys filling in the gaps myself. But I am really looking forward to seeing Milk and Love headline their own show soon.

Favourite character/s

Going to take a stand here and throw my love Pat's way, because Pran is the character most in fandom seem to connect with. But I just love Pat. He's such a kind and loyal and devoted person at heart. He's a little bit of a himbo about his emotions, but he's also quite smart in his own way and he understands more than people realize. I love his easy acceptance of his own sexuality but also others around him. He has good instincts about people and it's no coincidence he ends up surrounded by such a good community of his own making. And I respect the hell out of his willingness to fight the constraints of filial piety to call his father on his bullshit. He is someone Pran can trust to stick with him through a lot of hard shit, and his easy forgiveness of Pran's more prickly attributes is crucial to their relationship health. For someone with such a healthy ego, Pat has no problem putting it aside for the man he loves. That's real strength, right there.

Favourite episode/s

Joining the pile on for Episode 11, my beloved. When I tell you I was sobbing the first time I watched it. Tears just pouring down my face from the moment Pat told Pran he understood they had to go back all the way through Pran's song for Pat and their return home. It's one of the most moving sequences I have ever seen in a romance, the way they came to the realization of what they were facing, chose each other anyway, and decided they were going to find a way to stay together, even if it couldn't be in exactly the way they hoped.

Favourite scene/s

Oh gosh, there are just so many. The aforementioned sequence in ep 11, both major rooftop scenes, that lone tear tracking down Pran's face at the end of episode 4, Pat confronting Ming. On the lighter side, there's also the brainstorming roleplay from ep 3, pretty much every courtship scene where they flirted via PPL, the FINGER LICK, the final episode wrestling match and sex acrobatics. Every scene between Pat and Pran was just aces.

One thing you would change about the show if you could

*cracks knuckles*

Okay, fam, just remember, you asked! Bad Buddy is one of my favorite shows of all time, but as I have discussed with @waitmyturtles at length, it is not perfect and I have some serious quibbles with it from a writing standpoint. My top 3:

Wai outing Pran and then Pran spending the whole episode apologizing to him. Nonsensical, infuriating, and the show didn’t do the work to make us understand Pran and Wai’s friendship enough to accept that. I still hate poor Jimmy's face to this day and I blame that on Aof.

Pat gets shot as the deus ex machina to resolve the Wai plot. Villain comes out of nowhere in the same episode, the whole situation is tonally discordant, no follow through and the injury is treated like he got a paper cut in the aftermath. It's just lazy writing. Honestly, send all of episode 9 to the trash heap.

Finale fake out. Aof undercut his own themes about the struggle of the closet and sublimation of your own needs in service of filial piety in order to play a prank on the audience. Dumb waste of half the finale’s run time that actively worked against the message he sought to deliver, and that ep 12 preview nearly ruined ep 11 for a lot of people. Luckily the second half of the finale was so strong it made up for it, but I maintain the fake out was a bad choice that I would definitely go back and change.

What are your some of your favorite fanworks made by other people?

I am a meta girlie at heart so I am always most excited reading deep dives. I cannot possibly remember all the good shit I have read on Bad Buddy, but I'll give a shoutout to the BBS (gender neutral) girlies keeping the meta alive to this day @telomeke @ranchthoughts @dudeyuri @dimplesandfierceeyes @chickenstrangers @miscellar @grapejuicegay. I am always so excited when I see new posts about this show on my dash and I had a great time clowning with you all on OS2.

What are your favourite fanworks you've made?

I wasn't here when the show was airing so I actually don't have a deep library of my own meta for this show (not that made it onto tumblr, anyway). But one of the fun things about being in bl fandom is we get to make connections across the shows we're all watching, so I'll give a shoutout to this post I did drawing a line between Pran and Jae Won of The Eighth Sense.

A song that makes you think of BBS (not in the show)

It's gotta be Same Page? by Tilly Birds. It's not actually played in the show, but Pat briefly references it when he's teasing Pran in their final scene together, and y'all, look at these lyrics:

Me missing you is missing Me missing you is missing along the way Me missing you is missing Me missing you is missing along the way Do you realize how much I am agonized? I only want to know If you and I are on the same page I really want to know if you have a change of heart Or is it just me thinking? Or is there something missing? Like how my feelings never reach you

Feels pretty appropriate for a long-distance couple with more separation ahead, doesn't it? It's fine, I am very normal about this.

Thanks again for tagging me, Tel, this was fun! I am adding @neuroticbookworm @blmpff @manogirl @invisiblegarters @slayerkitty @he-is-lightning-in-a-bottle in case you want to play, and anyone else I tagged above who hasn't done it yet, consider yourselves tagged!

#bad buddy #tag game #shan unleashes her unpopular bbs takes and prepares to get tomatoes thrown at her

[marinersubmariner]

The twitter mess has got me thinking about livejournal and fandom platforms in general, so here’s a lot of words that mostly amount to me being old and sad!!

The past couple years I’ve really struggled with the pull to start using twitter because so much fandom activity moved over there, while at the same time being held back by knowing that it would not be a satisfying experience for me. I lurk there a little, and it’s alright in small doses, but it just doesn’t work for the types of fandom posts that I can contribute or that I want to see. And it has increasingly frustrated me how much people post fanart exclusively over there when its formatting is awful for fanart (no archives! no organized tagging system! completely unbrowseable by subject matter or time period! everything disappears in .02 seconds if it even crosses your view at all! WOW SO GREAT. I get that it lets you post porn but that isn’t a big draw for me :/ yeah, I know, what am I even doing on the internet)

My preferred form of fandom is images and graphics and art and long-form commentary and twitter just isn’t made for those things. You can kind of jury-rig it for them I guess (weirdly cropped 2-to-4-image photosets, hmm. great. threaded tweets??? you know there was a time when you could put all your related thoughts into a single post!) but it’s obviously designed for brief little texts and I’m too self-conscious about writing things for that to ever work for me. The way I see it is you can absolutely tweet on tumblr but you cannot make a tumblr post on twitter, and that’s the fundamental disconnect that has prevented me from leaving. I’m not compelled to go to a platform with fewer and worse features. (well, that plus the fact that I no longer have any friends to follow in the way that I followed the crowd from livejournal to tumblr. why bother!!! NOBODY’S LISTENING! —Cassian Andor about posting on social media)

I totally understand people mourning what could be the loss of years of fandom activity on that site, but at the same time its immediacy has always made it appear more fleeting to me anyway. Obviously you can scrounge up old posts if you really dig around, but without archives or functional tags it has never seemed to be a platform that encourages a long lifespan for anything posted there. Which is of course the trade-off for it being so current and of-the-moment, but I also think it’s detrimental to the fandom ecosystem as a whole, and on a personal level I’m too much of a hoarder for that kind of disposability to work for me. I like to keep things in my little treasure trove and continually pore over it with fondness. :(

I also just have too much anxiety, uh, in general, but especially with instantaneous forms of communication, so I get extremely avoidant about anything fast-paced. Chats always made me nervous, I don’t like texting, it all makes me a little too frazzled to do for fun. I was okay with message boards and lj comments because there wasn’t as much expectation of a quick response (and of course there was way more separation of Internet Time when you didn’t have a smartphone on you 24/7. boundaries!!!! never heard of them). A lot of this is purely mental hangups because I’m perfectly capable of communication, but it’s stressful and exhausting and the internet is filled with increasing pressure to never say the wrong thing (which is already a pressure in my head!!) so to add forced brevity and urgency on top of that... it makes me so uncomfortable and it’s such an enormous barrier when the foundation for literally everything is communication. Words are hard!!! I’m not terrible at it but there’s always an excessive amount of deliberation involved and it’s such a difficult thing to grapple with all the time. Constantly, forever. The mortifying ordeal of SELECTING WORDS to make yourself known!!!!!!!

I guess also nothing has ever been as conducive to discussion and replies as lj. Tumblr replies are so limited and reblogging to add your own commentary is a totally different thing. Private messages are there, but there’s no decent mechanism for open back-and-forth conversation. So even while part of me is glad that people might come back here, more activity on my preferred platform doesn’t change the fact that I still feel dissatisfied with the way all of this operates in general. Tumblr is better than twitter, but even tumblr isn’t that great.

To be honest I’ve become so fuckin weird about this stuff that I now essentially use google docs like a private secret livejournal. I type out my thoughts constantly as though I were writing an actual post to share and then I never share it. Which is probably. insane. But in the era of social media all fandom stuff either seems like way too public a forum full of jerks or it’s seen by nobody anyway so why bother. There don’t seem to be comfortable niche spaces anymore, or if there are I never found them, and besides that I’m too shy and too tired to seek them out and work up the energy to interact. So I just talk to myself like a lunatic. It’s super healthy I’m sure!!!!

I also just really miss how I felt on the internet and in fandom spaces when I was younger, making pointless little websites and graphics and posting photographs just because I wanted to. And obviously I still make things because I WANT to, but the act of actually posting to the internet now and the way that others engage with it seems so much more transactional than it used to. I got into making graphics when it was only like a handful of people on a message board sharing things with each other, and it’s wild how much more fulfilling and encouraging it was to have just a few familiar people make comments than it is to get likes and reblogs. A little number ticker on a post is like... that’s it? That’s all there is? It’s so hollow and mechanical.

Sort of the best way I can think of to describe how it feels to me is that it used to be more like being the proprietor of a quaint storefront where you peddled your wares and people could come and go and chat as they please, and now it’s more like tossing one of your wares onto a highway where it gets driven over at 80mph. And certainly that perception is skewed by rose-colored nostalgia about ~the way things used to be~, I’m much older now so I’m sure my temperament has changed a lot too, I slowed down while everything else sped up, time makes fools of us all, etc. But I’ve seen enough people express similar things about the modern internet that I do think maybe it’s not just me.

I don’t know, unless you’ve been following me since livejournal this probably all sounds like nonsense coming from a silent lurker who barely even posts. I’ve always been much more reticent on tumblr because it feels so exposed—the potential for things to spiral way outside of your orbit is both scary and annoying. But I guess I just don’t really know how to participate in fandom anymore in the way it exists now. I don’t have a community and it feels impossible to break back in amongst The Youths. I don’t have the energy to contribute as much as I want to, and then when I do expend the energy it seems like a waste of time because it’s stuff that either goes entirely unseen or it gets silently viewed and disposed of in an infinitesimal fraction of the time it took to put together. So there are these two warring impulses of: this is making you unhappy and you should stop vs. it doesn’t matter if you’re entirely alone when you’re still having fun by yourself with your special interest that you enjoy. And I don’t know how to reconcile the two.

[merryfortune]

my favourite thing, your voice

Written for Mini's Femslash February 2024

Day 25. Your Voice

Title: my favourite thing, your voice

Ship: Dancingdivashipping | Asuka/Yuzu

Word Count: 

Universe: Arc V

Rating: T

Tags: Alternate Universe - Careers, Established Relationship, Secret Relationship, Inappropriate Workplace Relationship, Fluff, Affection

   Yuzu sat in her chair nervously. Her hands in her lap, her shoulders taut. Asuka, meanwhile, was nonchalant as anything as she got Yuzu ready for her big debut.

   All her life, Yuzu had a singular dream: to sing on stage.

   When she was little, her stage had been the living room floor with an audience consisting of her father and an assortment of stuffed animals or other dolls. Her father would clap and cheer and delight and it made Yuzu feel as though she were more important than the sun.

   When she got older, she tried other stages. Other audiences. She learned to sing properly, whether it was for a school play or a similar community production, Yuzu put in her all and did her best. She was beloved by mentors for her work ethic and often the ire of those who thought they deserved the top spot more.

   Lately, ever since being accepted into the most prestigious studio for musicals and other stage productions, Yuzu felt her critics knew better than her fans. That the latter were just being nice to her, that she didn’t truly deserve her place amongst the cast. 

   She had never been more aware of her inexperience than until now. What was the old saying? Big fish in a small pond? That was exactly what Yuzu thought she was. 

   Yet, somehow, she had been made the lead role.

   Yuzu had sung her little heart out at auditions. She danced and she followed orders. She never invited any slack, she did her best and there was something more to it, as well. A sparkle, a shine, a certain je ne se quois that her fellow recruits simply lacked and yet by some miracle, she had in spades.

   It was harrowing and yet, when Yuzu got the call and saw her name on the list, her whole world changed. Completely and utterly topsy-turvy and it was all because of her mentor, she was sure.

   Enter, stage left: Tenjoin Asuka.

   Tenjoin Asuka, wow, what a woman. She who would not get on stage but instead created darlings of the stage. She was all practicality and no-nonsense, hard work all the way and yet, there was a warmth. She didn’t want to break her pupils, merely fix them. She, like all the other peer leaders, were assigned their proteges in a process of matchmaking at the beginning of the recruitment arc.

   The best got the best, or so it went allegedly. Favouritsim? Nepotism? The whole system was corrupt but when fortune favoured you, it's hard not to love.

   Thus, it all too little surprise, that Yuzu was put under Asuka’s mentorship but there was something about Asuka which had Yuzu enamoured even beyond learning Asuka’s reputation. There was just something about her aura, her helpful advice and her kind smile, her bright eyes. Everything about her amazed Yuzu and she learned so much from Asuka.

   Though Asuka was a tough love mistress.

   She put Yuzu through all the drills from the ground up. Forced her to scrap everything that she thought she knew and started over. It was literally the worst thing in the world for a girl like Yuzu who was more pizazz and talent than hard work but it was worth it in the end.

   The night before the audition, Yuzu sang once more for Asuka and it was far more special than any other barking match they had ever had. She sang until she feared she couldn’t sing at all tomorrow. Her notes carried heart and soul, her pitch was clear and perfect, her lyrics memorised and executed with admiration.

   Yuzu panted when she finished and she felt… Empty. Satisfied and full and yet empty. Devoid of breath and energy but she had done so well, it caused her shoulders to slump forward loose as all she could muster was:

   “I did it. I really did it.”

   Asuka bounded to her feet and applauded her, “I love it! I love it so much!”

   Yuzu blushed, “Aw, gee, thanks…” She couldn’t help but to be humble as she had the praise of such a wonderful woman. She felt as though she could faint.

   That was the one thing Yuzu was sure would never change about her. Wouldn’t matter how big or small the role, how fancy the crowd and how big her cheque would be, all she wanted was to sing on stage for a crowd.

   There was no crowd she wanted to please more than the ones she loved and Asuka embodied a unique niche in Yuzu’s heart. More than friends, more than a mentor and mentee. It was oddly natural despite how unnatural it was to blur such lines between colleagues but at the end of Asuka’s training of her, they were more like equals.

   At least on the inside they were equals. The outside wasn’t ready to know that their mutual fondness and requited passions weren’t strictly professional. 

   Which led to moments like this.

   Small moments where it was just them. Halcyon, redolent. Sequestered away from gossip and prying eyes.

   Backstage was quiet. Especially this far into the bowels of it and when Yuzu, leading lady, was given a changing room all to herself. She was told it wasn’t that big but it was bigger than all the changing rooms combined in the community theatres that Yuzu had performed in previously.

   The walls were cream yellow with white lattice. The desk in front of her had the cliche mirror stickered with platitudes and light bulbs which were lit up softly. More makeup than Yuzu knew what to do with was set out in front of her but luckily, she didn’t need to know what to do with it.

   That was Asuka’s job.

   Yuzu did her best to stay still as Asuka swiped and swabbed, dabbed and stabbed. Makeup was a messy process but it wasn’t one which Yuzu hated. By the end of it, she felt like a princess but those spoils came with a wracking nausea, too.

   The more she transformed into the leading lady, the more Yuzu wanted off this ride. All that was left to do was her hair and for now, Asuka was running her fingers through Yuzu’s pastel pink locks and then again with her brush. She was under strict orders from the makeup department on how yuzu was to look and Yuzu had faith that Asuka would deliver but even so.

   She was nervous and Asuka could tell.

   “You’ll do great, I promise.” Asuka whispered.

   She leaned down and lifted her hand simultaneously. She kissed the strands of Yuzu’s pink hair through her fingers, through her knuckles and closed her eyes. Yuzu was perfumed with the scents of citrus and roses, it made Asuka smile as she held this token of affection for quite some time.

   More than enough time to make Yuzu even more nervous than before but giddy, too.

   Asuka sighed then pulled back, satisfied, she smacked her lips together and emanated the confidence only a veteran star could.

   “Now, go out there and break a leg.” Asuka said. “I want to hear it, my favourite thing, your voice.”

#femslash #dancingdivashipping #yugioh arc v #arc v #yugioh #femslash february #femslash february 2024 #arc v fanfic #tenjoin asuka #hiiragi yuzu #writing tag #clover and violets #clover and violets 2024 #my favourite thing your voice

[shackld]

𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐔𝐍

NAME : Makenzie / Mak / Kai / Makai

PRONOUNS : She/her/they/them but I really don't mind any!

PREFERENCE OF COMMUNICATION : Oh discord always one hundred percent, I always forget and am very bad about tumblr dms lmao

MOST ACTIVE MUSE : Absolutely Chief right now and in the foreseeable future!! I do have other blogs I hop around on depending on how I'm feeling but I always have Chief's blog open, I care her so much especially considering I started musing her like a day after PTN came out-

EXPERIENCE / HOW MANY YEARS : Tumblr rp wise, I've started around the latter half of 2016? I think it was October? But as of actual writing and roleplaying, I've done so for a little earlier like on fb / chatzy / deviantart and wow..... wild looking back on it :))) (save me from these memories)

BEST EXPERIENCE : I'm gonna be so cheesy and saying picking up Chief in the first place. It's absolutely insane how fast and how hard she found her way into my heart, I just adore this character so fucking much that starting writing her has to be up there for my best experience I'M SORRY IT FEELS LIKE A COP OUT BUT ITS TRUE. Top three favorite muses for sure.

RP PET PEEVE : See, this so hard for me to answer because examples leave my head so quickly aaaa maybe like. This has nothing to do with actual like plotting or characters or writing but when people. can't like. talk it out or complain about everything all the time? So many issues can be resolved between people just by talking or if you can't come to an agreement, just be civil and leave on respected terms. I dunno thats just one its probably not the biggest but its what my mind gave me!

PLOTS OR MEMES : I will try both always I always adore doing both but I definitely do lean towards memes. Memes give free reign and they can be so silly or so angsty or anything! Also I feel like I'm a bad plotter and I don't wanna let anyone dow-*shot*

LONG OR SHORT REPLIES : I do fancy the occasional short reply but that really only goes for crack purposes or just being silly! Whether I like it or not, I always end up writing a shit ton because there's just. There's so much to say!!! I have to get these thoughts and my muse's thoughts out of my head and you will deal with them!

ARE YOU LIKE YOUR MUSES : I definitely don't have Chief's uhhhh chutzpah. But I feel like we both can be pretty damn stubborn lmao and I try and do the 'right thing' but that might not always work out, we're both pretty stupid but I like to think I always try like her!!! Also. Silly little guys :)

Tagged by: @serpentsexile why u wanna learn things about me huh so u can learn my weakness and destroy me???? i see you <3

Tagging: @bitterseadrop @heincus @ahogedetective @lausticzt @ichigokurosaki @imarahuyo @shiningstages

#pry my heimerdinger mun fc from my cold gay hands #;sir this is my emotional support cringefail gacha game protagonist. (ooc)

[thatgirlwithasquid]

I got tagged by @hg-deranged-edition (ty <3)

20 Questions for Fic Writers (& Artists)

1. How many works do you have on ao3(Tumblr)?

41 on AO3, but I think I have another 2 one-shots on Tumblr that I never got round to cross-posting

2. What's your total ao3 (Tumblr) word count?

253,123 which... wow ok neat

3. What fandoms do you write for?

A lot lmao. I organised my google drive a few months back and I have a lot of folders now hahaha. A quick count says I've started something for 24 fandoms, good lord.

The ones I've actually posted for are Stranger Things, Harry Potter, Andi Mack, Detroit: Become Human, Arcane, Encanto, The Host, and Little Nightmares

4.What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Playing Pretend : 2,204 kudos

Severus Snape and the Burden of Responsibility : 694 kudos

Thirium Pooling in His Chest (Bleeding Different, Feeling the Same) : 511 kudos

Communication and Cuddles : 440 kudos

Not Quite Less Than Romantic : 396 kudos

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

I used to make a point to respond to every comment, but I fell out of the habit. It's something I really want to get back into doing, because I really appreciate receiving them <3

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

Either I've Been There For A While or Severus Snape and the Burden of Responsibility (I got a fair few distraught comments on the latter lol)

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Playing Pretend, probably. That one's just a lot of cutesy friends to lovers that I wrote in a state of sheer obsession when Encanto first came out. Or maybe To Cherish and be Cherished which is just 400 ish words of fluff

8. Do you get hate on any fics (Art)?

I've been lucky enough that people engaging with my writing have been overall really kind. I have had like 2 slightly rude comments, but I don't think that was intentional :)

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

I have! It was a challenge cause my ace brain doesn't like working that way, but I wrote a voyeurism/exhibitionism Jonathan x Jason fic. I actually feel quite happy with it.

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

I haven't posted any, but I do have an abandoned wip in my drafts, if that counts?

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but if anyone wanted to translate my stuff I'd be perfectly happy with that.

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

No, but I am open to the idea of that. If anyone wants to co-write a fic feel free to reach out :)

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

Cunningway!! At this point I think everyone knows lmao. I feel like I bring them up a lot, even though I am trying to not be obnoxious about them. I just love them a lot!

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

Uh, is saying 'all of them' cheating? There are so many wips in my google drive that, realistically, I'm never going to go back to. But if I had to pick one... maybe the this untitled Thomally fic I was writing?

16. What are your writing strengths?

lmao fuck if I know. Coming up with ideas, maybe? Everything else is a bit of a struggle.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Sustaining my ability to focus. I also feel like I struggle with balancing speech and description.

18. thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Idk. I've done it before in Playing Pretend to match how the characters speak in the film, but I can only speak English so... I gave it a go? I don't mind reading dialogue in other languages in fic, if I need I just have google translate open to understand what's being said.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Depends how we're looking at it. Technically WWE when I was like 7 but idk if I'd count that. The first time I wrote fanfic and was aware that was what it was would've been Andi Mack, but the first fandom I wrote for on AO3 was Little Nightmares.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

I feel like I'm most content with the writing in Thirium Pooling in His Chest (Bleeding Different, Feeling the Same) but I am probably proudest in myself for Ceramic Hearts because that fic was a real labour of love.

tagging: @half-oz-eddie @brightside-of-the-upsidedown @bigdumbbambieyes (no pressure!! hope you guys don't mind being tagged. I was really blanking on this aha)

[ashcroft-writes]

20 questions for fic writers

I was tagged by @bluedaddysgirl! Thank you; this fits well into my master plan of attempting to be more alive online hahaha @unmarked-credits @xinambercladx @sinisterexaggerator Not obligated to do this, I'm just trying to be social and thought it may be fun!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 5 🥹 I am baby compared to some people I see answering these

2. What's your total A03 word count? 512943 words!

3. What fandoms do you write for? Actively, right this second, Star Wars! I do have a huge Fallout 4 WIP that hasn’t been updated in a hot second, but I love it dearly and do wish to finish it one day.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

The Idiot’s Array

Rot, Dust, and Steel

Strong Hands

Homeworld Elegy

We can pretend this last one doesn’t exist lolololol (It’s the .hack Penguin Fic of DOOM, a reposting of my very first fic from the twee LULZ SO RANDOM era of my high school days. I like to have my history all together, and I own it, but goodness no one should read that.)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Oh I desperately wish I still was. I used to, every last one, and I still read and treasure all the ones I do receive. Over the last couple years, my life kept getting quite… upended, however… and I my well of communication energy just… died… and this is also partially because I find it physically impossible to just say “wow thank u <3” in a few seconds; I usually get really into it! Still, the kindness and joy folks have left for me has been so deeply appreciated and cherished. I can’t help but want to go back and respond eventually (“Hi! I know this was left like, two years ago, but you pretty much gave me the gift of sunshine then, sorry this is so late <3”) Hopefully it won’t be weird.

(If you’re reading this and you are, in fact one of those whose delightful comment I have not responded to, hi, I see you, and thank you so much for the gift of sunshine)

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Ooo. So though my stories definitely contain some angst, they usually end in very hopeful ways. Even the one about the collective grief for a destroyed planet 😆 Especially that one!! The future yet contains light! So perhaps the answer’s actually in a story that I never finished and isn’t available anymore.

I had this series I was writing when I was a lot younger set in Sonic the Hedgehog. It has this character who had been a villain switching sides and helping the Sonic group win their fight, and thusly secure his own pardon and freedom, a redemption sort of story. And it ended pretty sunshine and roses for most! But for the POV character, he never really would belong among the victors. They gave him a ship and his freedom in payment, and he took it and left for a world he didn’t know, off to try and find some new life on horizons where he would be either at best a stranger, and at worst hated for what he’d done in the past. I suppose there is still some hope in all that! New chances, new beginnings. Like I said, I’m a hopeful writer. But it was the most uncertain and melancholy of the lot, for sure.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? HA, almost certainly The Idiot’s Array; there’s a frickin’ romantic poem, a hopeful promise to see each other again, healing and reconciliation, and a man who flings himself out of the window dramatically in lieu of saying goodbye. What more could you want, I ask you.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Fortunately, no!

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Sure have! The Gunslinger’s Paean series has been my first public work with a couple hot and heavy sort of scenes, mostly because at the time I was dying to write Cad Bane, who is an extremely blunt and direct character, told initially from the POV of someone bringing what he feels are shameful parts of himself into the light. Thematically, it just didn’t feel the sort of story in which smut should be anything less than on the page in every last detail where it had to be unpacked. I guess you could say they were the sort of scenes meant to reveal the changes in the characters because smut scenes are vulnerable scenes.

But judging how I’m talking about it, you might detect I’m running some obscure ace algorithm in my internal software that demands a very particular ratio of what it deems smut too unprompted 😆 AND THAT WOULD BE RIGHT AHHHH. I don’t write a lot of pwp, though I’m known to partake (and I hope this even answers the question lmao)

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? Not really my thing, but it sure is a valid lifestyle!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not to my knowledge, unless you count the LLM-training data scraping of Ao3, which I suppose doesn’t precisely qualify as theft in the classical sense 😅 I do wonder if a shard of my characterizations will some day jump out at people using those chatbots. Weird to think about.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? I have not. I think I’d like to try some day, however, if I vibed with someone hard enough on an idea!

14. What's your all-time favourite ship? Hilariously, I don’t even write for this fandom I'm about to name. I HAVE NOT READ A SINGLE FIC AND THE FANART ARRIVES ON MY DASH WITH NO ACTIVE SEEKING. But Good Omens really went off with Crowley/Aziraphale! Gives me SO many warm fuzzies. What a great queer yearning story.

And I know, I know, that’s weird, someone probably expected me to say something I read/write for at the very least, but the character ships I adore exploring creatively genuinely exist on such a different brain circuit for me than the “fave ship I cheer for like a sports team” heh, though they are in no way lesser.

15. What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? You know that Sonic the Hedgehog series I mentioned earlier? That. My remaining mojo-energy in the Sonic-verse is just not powerful enough to overcome the inertia of revisiting something YEARS AND YEARS gone, and I have too many works other works open and waiting, but I’ll always look on that unfinished beast with affection. Yes that means all other stories I haven’t updated in a long time I still intend to finish 🥺 Please don’t throw rocks 🥺

16. What are your writing strengths? I’ve been told it’s my worldbuilding and characterization! And boy howdy do I love doing those things, so I’m really happy I’m doing it well!

17. What are your writing weaknesses? I get real maudlin sometimes in my early drafts! A LOT of characters on my pages work through a complex array of feelings and internal monologues before I can wrest a moving story from their emotional morass. You would not believe how much I tone down in editing. And oh god I write a lot of words. Somehow my chapters are now often 9-12k words and I just can’t stop myself; they feel complete when they’re complete 😭

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I dislike it usually, because in my work I’m often trying to immerse my (sometimes monolingual) reader in the headspace of another person… and if that’s the case, and my character runs into someone speaking a different language than the story's overall text, there’s usually three outcomes:

The POV character understands the other language fully. In that case, the reader should likewise feel the understanding is effortless, or they might get jarred out of the flow of words and character headspace. So I just write the translation of the words, i.e.

“I really wish I had a pet raccoon,” said Talky McTalkerson in soft-spoken French.

The POV character does not understand the other language at all. In that case, why would they mentally be able to give us a perfect transcription of the foreign words for readers? In that case, the character experience really is:

The man was saying something in a bashful sort of French—at least I think it was French. But I didn’t understand.

The POV character partially understands the other language. In that case, the translation struggle might even be part of the reader experience, and remains immersive, i.e.

“I really wish I had a…” Talky McTalkerson was saying in his quiet French, my poor student-learner brain straining to pick apart the mumbled crumbs. Something about… laveur? Washing? “I really wish I had a new washer too,” I tried in solidarity, and he looked at me as if I was an idiot.

(Note, I do not speak French and picked it out of a hat for examples <3)

Anyway, I think some exceptions can be made for words that don’t have precise translations! I like to do that with some of my alien language stuff if talking about the words deepens some understanding about the culture and people who speak them.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Pokemon, when I was a wee sprout in elementary school. It was never published lol but it was so incredibly dramatic and terrible. And it rocked

20. Favourite fic you've ever written? I will never get over Homeworld Elegy. It gets a little less attention than its predecessor—ah, such is the fate of all sequels, especially when it's not quite the same sort of story! But it means just as much to me. I don’t know how I pulled it out of my brain in six months, though I think I was processing a lot at the time, and looking back at the themes, hoo, it makes sense. I’ve never written something quite that complex before, the multiple POVs, all the wholesale alien culture invention, the making use of a past and present timeline, and the endless little circles connecting the two right up until the end. That and bringing in a stable of OCs and hoping people would like them… and I think it all worked even better than I’d hoped. I had no idea if I could stick the landing writing it, but I’m so proud of how it turned out and the things it’s inspired in some of my readers since.

Here’s hoping the next thing I publish will continue the trend of being my new favorite thing!! I’m really excited about literally everything I’m working on!!!

#ashcroft answers #ashcroft has opinions

[htbthomas]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by @ghostcat3000!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

268

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

1,092,965

3. What fandoms do you write for?

I don't have a regular fandom right now, I mostly just write for exchanges, and usually one-offs. But AO3 lists Superman Returns (2006), Smallville, Community (TV), Forever (TV 2014) and Arrow (TV 2012) at the top of my dashboard - fandoms I was active in during the first 10 years of fic writing.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?*

Heart-Shaped Bruise (Amazing Spider-Man movie, Peter/Flash, 17K words)

Mona Lisa Smile (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Jake/Holt, 2k words)

Exclusive (The Story of the Century Remix) (Superman/Batman crossover, Clark/Bruce, 356 words)

Hero at Heart (Amazing Spider-Man movie, Peter/Flash, sequel to Heart-Shaped Bruise, 37k words)

Transform (Miraculous Ladybug, Adrien/Ladybug, 43k words)

*If FFN showed kudos or AO3 existed when I started, then Deja Vu (Superman Returns) would be in this list as well.

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

Yes. Pretty much within 1-2 days, though spammy comments get a pass.

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

Um, wow, not sure. Maybe Hero at Heart? The reactions to it are pretty mixed and strong. It was meant to be bittersweet, but I definitely didn't thread the needle between the two as well as I'd hoped.

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

99.9% of the rest! Couldn't choose, honestly.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Hero at Heart doesn't really get hate, but yeah. Once I got a Goodreads-style review of Deja Vu on FFN that picked apart every choice they disagreed with.

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

Sometimes. It's not my go to, but in longer fics I will often add it near the end. Just a few fics are devoted to it.

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

I have - about 11, according to my crossover tag. I think the craziest/most fun one is #AngelAss, a B99/Daredevil crossover.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

As far as I know, no.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I've had a few fics translated to Russian, but I didn't tag them so I can't remember which ones!

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

Yes, I co-wrote a few for Superman Returns and the Raimi Spider-Man films.

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

Clark/Lois wins for highest number of words devoted to them. I've written 31 fics in 5 different media adaptations.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

The only WIP I have now is for Yuletide. The other semi-WIPs are abandoned, and tagged that way.

16. What are your writing strengths?

People say that my dialogue is very in-character!

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Descriptions. I tend to move the plot and dialogue along and spend little time setting a scene.

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

I have not written any dialogue in another language.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

The Raimi Spider-Man films, specifically post-Spider-Man 2.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Ugh, I could never choose!

- O -

Tagging @argylepiratewd @empressearwig @hondagirll @xenokattz @boasamishipper

#fic writer meme

[broomsticks]

you tackled that tonks/lily post so gently, so elegantly, I am in awe. (also I wrote tonks / lily for efficiency sake but I do think it would be an interesting ship to explore!). for me - my priority in HP is sibling relationships tbh and FRIENDS. like I wrote a romance and 80% of it was about platonic relationships. also - I dislike how people are like 'mlm is for straight women!' and erase the fact that so many women writing mlm are queer (that was in a reply re: wolfstar), as shown by statistics (which you probably have, you are so clever!)

ahhh thank you that means a lot! glad my hard-earned wisdom from my (one year's 😂) long experience shipping both remadora and wolfstar is coming in handy LMAO. but seriously - fandom Means Something to so many people and that's wonderful, that shared passion and excitement and joy and connection and vulnerability, but the flip side of that, when it means different things to different people, the "why don't you see this the way i do?" / "how can you not care about this as much as i do?" / "why does this not mean the same thing to you as it does to me?" hits so much harder. i get it, it's a horrid feeling!

but i've realized that what often comes across as remadora bashing/ erasure from some wolfstar folks is really them trying to say, in maybe not so many words, that canon acknowledgement / a happy ending for wolfstar would really have meant a lot to me, and therefore i am creating in fic what i would have wanted to see on the shelf/on the screen, just these small ordinary happinesses that's been denied same-sex couples over and over and over and over, in mainstream media and in real life.

and conversely, often what remadora shippers are trying to say is that remus and tonks, individually and together, mean a lot to me too, and so it hurts to see tonks' character sidelined/ assassinated even more than it already was in the books, it hurts to see it repeatedly insinuated that just because it's het m/f makes it automatically less queer, less 'cool,' less valid, less worthy of thoughtful consideration and affirmation and celebration, especially now that canon is long dead and buried and the fandom has really become its own thing.

(i don't know the jegulus and jily fandoms well enough to say, but.. you get the idea)

are gay people and same-sex relationships discriminated against? absolutely. are women a marginalized group? for sure. what about bi people, especially bi folk in m/f relationships? oh gosh don't get me started.

but. one side claims misogyny, the other claims homophobia, something something 'protecting male friendships,' something something biphobia, … it's tiring. it's the oppression olympics and i'm not about that (especially in this fandom! this fandom!!! of all places!). i'm tired. everyone has scars and hurts and is just trying to have a nice relaxing self-indulgent time. i would love for more people to read/write femslash, fic about the actually unlikable or morally complicated characters, and dark fic, but more than that i want people to enjoy themselves and be happy in fandom! ship and let ship. write whatever you want. don't want to read it? don't read it. fandom is for joy and silliness and fun. and for writing and gifting me james/lily/peter fic, obviously 😊

OKAY WOW SOAPBOX. i have feelings about ship wars, especially of the political moralizing and activism sort.

-#-

anyway yes gen fic is another area that's so hard to find a community for. AO3 already does better than most in having the & tag (the platonic 'regulus & sirius' made it into the top 10 tags of fics written last year! amazing) but it's inconsistently tagged: this first war longfic i'm currently reading, Power the Dark Lord Knows Not, is far more sirius & james and sirius & regulus, heck even remus & peter and sirius & peter, than it is wolfstar, but the slash ship is the only one tagged -- this is a delightfully chaotic minerva & peeves oneshot that's not tagged -- and ... even if it IS tagged, who really goes looking for remus & professor binns fanfiction? i'm a little sad that genuary never really came back after that first year too. ah well.

-#-

also hahahaha yes the stats you want are here. these stats are from 2013. 2013. imagine how different they probably look now, and in this defiantly queer section of the HP fandom at that.

#gosh i am too tired to tag this #there was a last point i wanted to make about straight women are allowed to write m/m too! this is not something you want to gatekeep #that is a horribly slippery slope that leads to some very bad places. aka: #a psa on forced disclosure #fandom discourse #ty for the soapbox opportunity 😂