#this is a very niche kind of fantasy and I'm sticking with it

[spoopy-action-at-distance]

Re: the post I reblogged earlier, a series of Reid Wiseman's cool orbital photos taken on the ISS? Specifically, the first picture that has a bit of a mystery in it? This one:

I think I know what that is, and I am going to tell you how I figured it out (pre-emptive apologies to any South-East Asians who feel the urge to headdesk while reading this post.)

First off, all that green glow? It's on water. Check out a map of the area:

So why are there lights in the sea at night? Well, squid fishing happens at night, and the ships use bright lights to imitate the moon to attract the squid.

Here's a big squid-fishing ship, filmed by a drone off the Argentinian east coast in the Atlantic Ocean. It's got a bit of green going on.

Here's another one, photographed in the Pacific. Also some green here.

Both of those are, however, severely outdone in greenness by this small Thai squid-fishing ship.

Unlike the previous examples, it is in the right place and is, in fact, All Green. Boy, is it green. Look at how green it is. It is So Green.

Before you say that puny ships like that cannot possibly be visible all the way up to the ISS, consider: a) that there might be a bajillion of them, and b) the big ships are also out there in even bigger fleets, and they are bloody bright.

According to the Sea Shepherd organisation, who tracked a 300-strong squid-fishing fleet west of the Galapagos Islands in 2018, "the total luminosity of these vessels is said to rival European soccer stadiums". They waxed a bit poetic about them:

"Suddenly out of the darkness a towering intense white light showed on the horizon. Soon it was followed by others all around us, mostly white but some an iridescent green and others with dimmer yellow light. Looking out from the wheelhouse we seemed no longer to be on the open ocean but in the edge of some great coastal metropolis."

Here's part of a fleet of some 150 ships near Argentine.

And here's that same fleet again, managing to be a magnificent eyesore even at a considerable distance.

Sure, Argentine is pretty far away from Bangkok (though those ships might also be Chinese). But South-East Asia definitely has some of its own night-light activity going on. You can find a handy map at globalfishingwatch.org (go play with it, it's fun). It didn't have night-light satellite data from 2014, but here's a snapshot from August 2022 for comparison.

The map also shows national fishing zones. If I'm interpreting Wiseman's photo correctly, those green lights in it are in the Vietnamese, Malesian and Indonesian waters. So those are likely Vietnamese, Malesian and Indonesian squid-fishings ships (and maybe some other nationalities that maybe aren't supposed to be there; here's that Sea Shepherd page again and an article about the Global Fishing Watch project talking about that kind of thing).

What I sadly couldn't figure out is what kind of squid they're fishing over there. I was hoping it might be the Japanese flying squid, because then I would have a reason to put them in this post. Unfortunately, Japanese flying squids apparently don't live that far down South.

But I'm going to put them on this post anyway, because I just found out about them, and I mean, look at these guys:

Just Look.

They're like if a squid decided it wanted to be a flying fish and instead of making a deal with the sea witch, it went "I can do it! I can! I can!" They're sleek, attention-grabbing and ridonculous. They can fly over 30 metres in 3 seconds. And they're not being caught by the glow-in-the-dark squid-fishing fleet off the Gulf of Thailand because they don't live there, and therefore have nothing whatsoever to do with the rest of this post.

But they're cool.

Finally, a confession: I didn't figure out the lights because I know something about South-East Asian fishing practices (I know nothing, feel free to laugh and correct me), or because did some kind of a systematic elimination chain to eventually arrive at the answer (ahahahaha no). It's because I've watched the Patagonia: Life on the Edge of the World nature documentary no less than three times in less than two weeks, and there's footage in it of this massive unnerving squid-fishing fleet, which you'll definitely remember if you've seen it once, let alone three times.

Why have I seen it three times, then? Obviously for very normal reasons. Not at all because the series is narrated by Pedro Pascal. I mean, who would opt to listen to Pedro Pascal talking very seriously about (occasionally horny) wildlife for 4+ hours while endearingly lisping his Fs and THs here and there? Not me, no. I am very normal about him and not at all soothed by his dulcet tones in my time of stress. Don't look at me.

#squid fishing #earth from space #pedro pascal (tangentially) #listen people I am currently gearing up to go to battle with my local health care system #so tonight I needed an all-consuming low-stakes distraction like a fish needs water #and it was either gonna be this or 5682324 rounds of evil sudoku and “can I get past 400 000 points” tetris and a carpal tunnel syndrome #I figured out the green lights in under a minute and then spent five hours researching and writing this post backwards from the conclusion #just like they taught us in science school #and THEN I rewrote the whole thing because tumblr ate the first version #because CLEARLY tumblr needs to know all about mysterious green squid murder lights from eight years back even if it does not want to #In an improved alternate reality Pedro Pascal has a busy side career narrating nature documents #and one of them is five seasons of him yelling about deep sea creatures with the Nautilus researchers #someone really needs to show Pedro Pascal a dumbo octopus and then ask him to explain black smokers in his own words #this is a very niche kind of fantasy and I'm sticking with it

[junemermaid]

writer interview

I was tagged by @vaynglories, @lynne-monstr and @la-muerta all at one point or another. Thank you all kindly, sorry it took me so long! 💗

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

120 unique works. I have two double entries from when the old Yuletide archive was imported to AO3, so the total on my author page is 122. It's missing any fic I wrote before 2005 but honestly I'm fine with those being lost in the mists of the internet. If you know, you know.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

1,004,161.

I didn't actually wait to do this meme until I passed the one million words mark, but I also kinda did.

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

bodies full of untold stories (malec, E, Shadowhunters) / 1,343

an act of faith against the night (malec, T, Shadowhunters) / 1,037

House of Ash and Salt (dorian x bull, M, DA:I) / 995

Walkers of the Winding Path (malec, E, Shadowhunters) / 933

Talking With Strangers (malec, E, Shadowhunters) / 930

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

I used to and it's my one continuing regret that I haven't been able to catch up with my inbox! The greatest reason why I currently seldom reply to comments is that I have such a backlog. The other reason is that I will either answer comments or write more fic, and I'm sure everyone rather that I do the latter. Still, I miss the conversation around fic that replying to comments often generated.

I mean: I need more writing friends and goddamn, please talk to me because I feel detached from fandom and it's the worst thing.

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

Probably to make the saints attend them long (malec, T, SH) which ends with extremely heavily implied MCD.

I tend to write hopeful to bittersweet endings, so this was a rarity for me.

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

Define happy ending? I do have one, all souls sheltered, (dorian x bull, T, DA:I) which IS the soft epilogue I wanted those two characters to have after all their toils and troubles.

These two questions mostly tell me that most of my endings don't fit well on the happy to sad scale. I tend to leave characters at points where they can look forward to the future and any acute crises are over, but I really wish "happy for now" or "a happy middle" would stick as ending descriptions because that's where I live.

7. Do you write crossovers?

I write fusions? Not traditional crossovers but I have a very niche fic thing where I take Alec and Magnus and stick them into the worlds of videogames I love. To wit, the Witcher (Walkers of the Winding Path) and Final Fantasy X (Servant of the Spiral).

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yep. Didn't much care for it.

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

I do! I've written my share of PWP but more typically the process goes something like this:

I find a kink/trope/sex situation I want to try writing

the fic grows copious amounts of plot/worldbuilding/interpersonal drama (exhibit A: the tentacle porn that came with 3,000 words of, uh, creature logistics so I could have tentacles)

I spend two years working on bullet point two before the characters ever get naked in each other's company

My smut fic tends to the tender/longing/emotional, though. I use sex mostly as a vehicle for character exploration or to drive the drama of a story, so most of my sex scenes pull double duty to also move the overall story forward.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge. I'm a pretty niche writer in most of my fandoms, I don't think you would make either much fandom fame or big bucks with my writing.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! to make the saints attend them long is translated into Italian.

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

No. I'm a slow writer and I have to hew out writing time from the bedrock of my RL, so it wouldn't be very conducive to sharing a creative project, even though the basic idea appeals to me.

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

I was gonna make a joke about being asked to rate my children, but tbh I would rather not refer to fictional characters by any family term. However! I have changing obsessions and there's always some ship or canon that is eating up my brain at any given time, but I don't really get over ships. The details of canons fade with time but characters live forever in my heart.

Back in the mists of time, Ichigo and Rukia changed who I was as a person. (Then I added in Renji and It Got Better.) I adore Alec and Magnus but the fandom was categorically A Lot. Same with Dorian and Bull. Josephine and Cassandra were a total crack ship in the sense that there's no canon but I still love the idea of an f/f lady/champion pairing.

And right now I have two competing wuxia ot3s vying from my attention so. This is not a question I can answer.

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

My general fic writing philosophy is "whatever you can, whenever you can". I've made my peace with the fact that sometimes I'll start a thing and post a bit and then it simply won't get finished. Fic is free and no one has to click on a WIP (much as I love those people who will!)

So, unfortunately there's a few old WIPs on my ao3 that I don't think will ever get wrapped. The older the fic, the less likely it is. I keep them up as testament to the process, I suppose, or in case anyone likes the idea enough to read whatever I managed of it.

15. What are your writing strengths?

Putting canon under a lens until I have a mental Wall of Crazy with ten thousand interconnecting red strings and obscure notes, and then wringing story out of elements in the text that might not seem to connect on the surface.

I know sometimes you have to just wholesale go "this makes zero sense" and drop a bit of canon, but what I enjoy is taking bits and pieces and adapting them to fic. My current project is writing all the Mu Nihuang POV she really kind of doesn't get in Nirvana in Fire itself, and I am having a blast.

Also: character voice, action scenes, evocative description, setting up an emotional punch and taking you out with it 2,000 words later

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

I'm slow, picky, and obsessive. I have to be In A Mood before I can put words to paper (I'm trying to combat this by becoming more of a garbage goblin about my first drafts. All words are good words! Hissss!) I'm bad at humour unless I'm accidentally funny.

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

It can be used to good effect but it's best used sparingly. I would generally always prefer that plot-relevant or important dialogue were simply, "This is the murder weapon," she said in French. Don't withhold information or emotional impact for the sake of showing off.

And oh god, never, ever put dialogue through MTL and expect it to come out right. If you absolutely need dialogue in a foreign language, consult an actual person that speaks it.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Very technically, ElfQuest. For actual published fic, Rurouni Kenshin.

19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

Mysterious Lotus Casebook tickles my brain but I don't yet quite know what I want to write about! I have enough trouble herding the rowdy cats that are my NiF ideas right now.

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Always the one I'm working on. So much of the joy of fic is bound up in the good creative rush of making it happen. Just as so much of the woe of fic is in the fucking toil of making it happen.

Anyway! Flowers in Dreamland Weather (jingsuhuang, E, Nirvana in Fire) got me out of a slump and gave me new characters and relationships to rotate in my head, and I love it for that.

Talking With Strangers (malec, E, Shadowhunters) actually got finished in a satisfying way, and I love it for that.

Maybe those are my current answers.

-

I will no-pressure tag — @theotherjax, @electricshoebox, @faejilly, @sinni-ok-sessi, @ladymatt, and anyone that still wants to do this! I've seen this doing the rounds, so if you haven't yet, please feel free to blame me for enabling you!

#meme me #june does a meme #june answers #june rambles #my fanfic #I've forgotten all my fic tags #the writing life #writing is the best hobby #writing is the worst hobby

[historia-vitae-magistras]

Hi! I really loved a post you made earlier about how society is only now returning to a variety of religious beliefs and was wondering if you could talk more about it. Any thoughts on countries taking up their original religions? Magnus and asatru? Rhys or his siblings with druidism?

TW discussions of religion, religious skepticism and fictional depictions of religion in historical fantasy. I feel like they pick up things they themselves remember but the modern human iteration is... Meh. No shade to believers, I did some time with the Nordic pantheon before the Nazis took it over but the modern iterations of almost all European pre-Christian religions are unfortunately mostly constructed between the 18th and 20th centuries. Almost none of it dates back further than revivals during the enlightenment. Would they see echoes of their lived experience in these revivals? Sure. I just don't know if they'd be adherents to the modern form when they can remember at least some of the real thing, otherwise now dead and gone. So I do think there's things in them that survive but they can't quite look at modern paganism as a belief system.

But two parts I think would really feel important to them: a lot of the pagan revivals are about a rejection of the Calvinist themes of Reformation and counter-reformation Christianity that emphasize individuality, created the belief of the elect who are saved by god and stripped Christianity of a lot of its older emphasis on community and mutual aid and responsibility. I think a lot of the pagan revivalism would very much appeal there and in its counter-culture themes.

And second, because I'm a weirdo who uses hetalia to get into really niche topics and practice writing historical fiction I want to publish when I'm grown, I try to stick to what we actually know. I want to replicate the perspectives of history. The fantastical aspects are often just adaptations of what magic was actually believed in, as far as I can adapt from a very limited pool of knowledge. I have written Alasdair carving the symbols we have from some Pictish standing stones and Ogham, a Gaelic form of literacy into objects and sacred trees to make them into portals and protective objects. I have written Arthur's primary contact with their mother as being not when he visits the site of her barrow and the Kirk that gives them their name that was later built on he same site, but after he drowns or is caught in a storm, because we know the Britons of prehistory and the Roman era and even into the early medieval believed water was a kind of portal between this world and the sacred. I gave Rhys their mother's bronze age sword because magic swords are everywhere in every flavor of Celtic Mythology. Arthur keeps Cromwell's head on the mantel partially because he's a stubborn fuck who can hold a grudge for centuries but also because we know that the ancient Celts believed the head specifically to be a very powerful magical object.

Norse paganism as we know it today is based on things like the Icelandic Sagas and the descriptions of the temple of Uppsala by Adam of Bremen. Those are fantastic documents but they only come into being centuries after the end of the Viking age and are written by Christians, usually clerics, and usually men. Our heads are full of images of powerful priestesses, shield maidens and goddesses, but more than a third of human women were starved as children compared to under ten percent of boys. Every Norse grave is different, with only general categories being able to be sussed put based on grave goods, the style of inhumation or cremation and marking ships or stones. We just don't know fuck all about the specifics what the people of this era really believed.

Or with the British celts. We know what the Romans said. That they burned criminals in wicker men, committed human sacrifice, that the Romans slaughtered the druids on Anglesey in Wales. We know the names of their gods when they are twinned with Roman ones or archaeologists find inscriptions. But so many of them are only known by one or two inscriptions. There are only eight for Brigantia and she was the patron goddess for the largest tribe by territory in Iron Age Britain. We know they offered sacrifices of value to bodies of water, we know from medieval Irish sources, also written by Christians, that they had 4 holidays aligning with the seasons and divided the year into half light half dark. But we don't know shit about songs or prayers or even how much the Romans made the fuck up. Which was likely most of it but we'll never know. What the Picts in Scotland may have believed is especially lost, we don't even have most of their language or even sheep counting like Cumbrian.

There's been a lot of push back against terms prehistory and dark ages and rightly so in that they conjure images of a filthy past, people living in their own shit and grim misery. But on a historical level, on an archival level, there really are such things as dark ages and prehistory where we just do not know the details and when discussing and writing religion I err towards what we know the most about, especially where archaeology and history can support each other.

#the ask box || probis pateo #meatsack mechanics || the sociology and biology of nations #today on: I use hetalia to figure out how I want to write historical fiction when I grow up lmao

[olderthannetfic]

Your blog just keeps turning into the place to discuss the discourse of the week lol. To make this an actual ask, how many books do you read? I've personally found my actual book reading dropped off after starting to read fanfiction do you feel the same or?

--

I have experienced that, but it hasn't been uniformly true in recent years.

Up through high school, I read regular big publisher fiction voraciously. I read many different genres and a lot of books that weren't entirely my thing. Whatever was handy, I read. We're talking the 90s here, so while I lived near a ton of amazing independent bookstores, it wasn't yet a time when you could find literally anything.

In college, my pleasure reading dropped off considerably, especially my reading of fiction. After college, I didn't pick it up again, at least not to the same degree and not for a while. My mother once described the same process in her own life. I think it's common.

I started reading fic at 13 in 1994, so no, my fiction reading did not drop off at once.

Since that time, my fic reading has waxed and waned, usually in relation to whether I'm in any fandoms big enough to have a steady supply of fic. I don't tend to be able to stick to big fandoms for more than 6 months or so (BTS being an exception), and I seldom reread fic, so I don't always have anything to read.

In 2016, I suddenly discovered the world of "m/m romance", which is a niche that tends to be indiepub and selfpub, very fic-like, and primarily produced and consumed by AFABs. My favorite thing is casefic with first time ship, so novel-length m/m genre fiction with plots was catnip. I'm not as into the contemporary romances or series romance (in the 1 ship/book industry sense), but I fucking love the series urban fantasy mysteries +/- historical.

I spent that year reading through the backlog of famous m/m romance authors and read very little else. But, eventually, I ran out of obvious things from recs lists and got distracted by fandom again. Just lately, I've mostly been reading BTS fic when I've read fiction.

Throughout all of this, even in college to some degree, I've read stacks of nonfiction. I do tend to read on subjects I'm specifically researching now rather than just picking up any book that's sitting around.

--

Basically, I think there is a common experience where bookworms read everything when young but eventually figure out what they like most and stop reading things they don't really care about just because they're there.

Many people who like m/m on AO3 don't know about m/m romance ebooks or translations of danmei novels or scanlations of BL manga or whatever. For them, AO3 is the primary and best source of this type of content. It's only natural that regular books start to look less appealing. Why waste time on something kind of okay when there's something you love right there?

Some people will say that it's all about the familiar characters giving you an easy entry point, and for some people, I'm sure that's true, but I think plenty of people would stop only reading fic if they could reliably and easily find original work that actually caters to them.

--

To answer your specific question, at any given point in time, I probably have two or three long nonfiction books I'm in the middle of reading, but finishing could take months since these tend to be reference books and weighty academic tomes.

[helianskies]

hello!! could you maybe tell us about wales and spain? 👀 i'm curious!

hello anon! this is for you: 🍪 and while you munch, we can talk. i mean, i'm not sure what to say without getting too specific or niche, because they are a very new thought to me. but...

something about them together just works to me, especially in terms of personality. there's something about them being the 'looks like a cinnamon roll but will actually kill you' types that i find interesting. i see them being perhaps a bit more devious together, more supported, more at ease, more unrestrained. it's one of those ships i would stick in an au rather than nationverse, probably, though i admit there's comedic potential in grabbing the whole bft and matching them up with england's brothers, just to torment him hehe.

to try and keep it simple, i feel they have the same capacity for good as they do for chaos. i feel like they could be the secret antagonists in a horror film, or the villains of a fantasy story (i totally have not been thinking). i feel that people may easily forget that behind kind eyes lies something perhaps more sinister, or broken, or desperate. there's potential in both of them, i think, to get creative and dark, as well as allowing for softer and slice-of-life moments. and when i put them next to each other, that seems to only get better.

otherwise, i feel this is balanced out by how... nice they are. how simply they would live. the way they would live day-to-day, easy, relaxed, cosy. i love the image of them stood together on the welsh coast, near the edge of a cliff, just staring out across the water while the wind whips around them - followed by a picnic in the grass, a flask of tea, some cake that rhys baked specially. i need them to own a plant store-come-café. i want them to huddle on a single armchair wrapped up in a blanket while they wait for the house to warm up. they're both terrible back-seat drivers. their music tastes do not align. but they laugh so easily and wholly together. they will watch any and every nature documentary they can find. toni will cling and hover and fuss and rhys will not protest. they toss and turn like mad but somehow never startle each other in the night. and when they both wake up with bedheads, still droopy as they make their morning drinks, it's just... bliss. being around each other is sometimes all they need.

i just. i get different things from them in different aus, and i enjoy that versatility. i enjoy having toni in one hand, and a character who i feel mirrors him in certain ways that mean they are likely to get on, and get on well. i hope that all makes sense. i like pairings who are chalk and cheese, like i like pairings where they have some things in comon - but this one just seems to go a step further. a bit like russpa, i guess, but... somehow more. you know? they could be so, so soft, and so, so insane. i love it...

#helia answers #helia's ships #hetalia #hws spain #hws wales #walespa #i'm having thoughts i am having too many thoughts #thank you anon for seeing that tag and deciding i had to answer for it #this post is penance #i hope it satisfies you :')

[katrinamakes5estuff]

DM Tip: Don't give your players +1 magic weapons.

Or rather, don't give them magic weapons that are just +1.

Getting a +1 Longsword is usually about as exciting as swapping bronze sword, 12 ATK for iron sword, 14 ATK in an early JRPG shop: it's about thirty seconds of thrill followed by pretty much nothing, as the only distinct feature the new thing had – its numerical edge – becomes just another part of the rote mechanics of the game.

I can't tell you how many games I've played in where I genuinely forgot I even had a +1 weapon because it's just so ... boring.

What magic weapons and gadgets do you remember from other fantasy? The stuff that sticks with you is rarely going to be "the sword that cuts 5% better than a normal sword" or "the especially nimble screwdriver that's really still just used for screwdriver stuff". You probably remember things that were special, compelling, and a little bit weird: a sword that glows when Orcs are close; a lasso that makes anyone caught in it tell the truth; a hammer that won't tolerate being held by anyone but a Dwarf.

A magic weapon's magic should never amount to just a +number. Magic stuff needs an identity to shine.

This doesn't mean power creep! I'm not telling you to swap every +1 dagger for an artifact flametongue that does 3458d80 fire and summons your demon dad from demon hell to remind the party you're his demon son and also half-dragon and half-angel, too. Just think of a little magical quirk or utility – mechanical, not just flavor – but mechanical in a way that's minor, roleplay-focused, and probably quite a bit niche. Think of something that would be useful to a very specific kind of person, or in a very specific situation.

Some stuff I've given out in the past:

A +1 dagger, shaped like a gilded trowel: when touched to metal or ore, it glows different colors to indicate the type and purity of metal present (counterfeiters hate it!);

A +1 longsword, perfect porcelain white all over: its enchantment automatically cleans it of blood, dirt, and filth after every battle (it can't become rusted, corroded, damaged, or cursed!);

A +1 whip, night-black with a golden tip: it leaves twinkling motes of light floating in the air where it cracks, eventually lighting up the battlefield like a starry sky (useful in the dark!);

A +1 rapier, with a velvet grip and a blade stained the color of fine perfume: it can be made to emit any aroma of the bearer's choice, so long as it's one that might be smelled in a nobleman's luxurious parlor (gives a bonus to CON saves against awful smells!)

These are all immediately more memorable than +1 dagger, +1 whip, and without affecting the balance of the game much more. When one of the niche situations comes up where these little properties are useful, your players will feel engaged and clever, not power-crept.

A good magic item, even a minor one, is something your players are going to talk about, brainstorm uses for, picture themselves using, grow attached to, and feel angst about replacing if the time comes. In other words, a good magic item is like a minor character in your story. You wouldn't want your NPCs to be flat; don't let your loot be, either!!!

#d&d 5e #d&d #dungeons and dragons #5e #ttrpg #ttrpg design #dungeon master #dungeons & dragons #tabletop rpgs #rpg #homebrew #magic item

[phoenixyfriend]

Dear Creator Letter (rarepair event):

I haven't done this style of exchange before, so I hope this is useful to you folks!

I generally prefer fics about either getting together, or facing an outside conflict together. I'm not a fan of plots that feature almost breaking up due to interpersonal conflicts. If they almost break up due to an outside force (e.g. a third party is trying to push one into a political marriage, someone is kidnapped, that sort of thing), then it's fine, but I don't like 'well, you work too much and it's really putting a strain on the relationship' type stuff. Speedbumps on the way to the relationship are fine, though.

Tropes I enjoy or am open to:

Time-travel

No Order 66/Fix-it

Outsider POV

Working with/around each other's PTSD with each other

Raising children together

Arranged/political marriage

Epistolary elements (not the whole fic)

Hurt/Comfort (NOT whump)

Space OSHA and Space Paperwork and Space Logistics

When the Force does something really weird

When the Jedi blame Mortis (or Morai) for the Force doing something really weird

I enjoy pretty much any kind of gender play, including:

Character is now Nonbinary

Trans (in the direction of canon)

Trans (in the direction opposite canon)

Questioning/Experimenting

Fluid

Magic sex swaps of the 'woke up with my body a different reproductive setup, am learning the meaning of gender euphoria' variety

Whatever the hell Ranma 1/2 technically is

I do like AUs of all sorts, so long as the core of the character is intact, with vibes to match. This includes:

Modern - chill bakery/coffee shop/bookstore/beekeeper stuff - classy criminal playing cat and mouse with the FBI agent trying to catch them - 'oh no, you're my teenager's English teacher and this parent-teacher conference just got very awkward because we started dating over the summer before I knew' - one of them is a celebrity - literally just whatever

Historical Fantasy (mostly for the fashion and/or if the author gets really invested in things like trade routes and agricultural pressures and inane tax law)

History AU but only if you go the Bridgerton route of Fun And Funky Tropes Without The Racism

Royal Fantasy

Soulmate

Role Swap (does not have to be between the ship!)

Backstory swap (e.g. Never a Jedi AU, Raised a Sith AU, Senator of Tatooine AU, etc.)

For Want of a Nail

Faustian Castle AU

Fusion crossovers, like: - Leverage AU - Enchanted (2007) AU - Miraculous Ladybug - Naruto - Girl Genius by Phil and Kaja Foglio (this is incredibly niche, ignore if you're not super into it already)

Regarding my unwanted list

Basic ship things:

No Barr*ssoka.

I do not care about cloneshipping, but would prefer it be in the background if it's there at all.

I do not mind CodyWan, but would prefer it be in the background if it's there at all.

No Master/Padawan. I have exceptions when reading, but for an exchange, I'd prefer not to have any in my gift.

While I do love poly, please stick to the ships requested for the main ship. (If there are two or more that have overlapping characters, though, feel free to smush them together, e.g. Jango/Ahsoka and Ahsoka/Quinlan are on there, so Jango/Ahsoka/Quinlan would be fine)

Basic character/setting things:

No character bashing.

The whole Anakin/Consequences movement is one that I dislike immensely. If you don't know what it is, you're probably not doing it. If you do know what it is, then you know what I mean here.

It is very common/popular to write Qui-Gon as a neglectful, cold, or downright abusive caregiver/parent figure to the children in his care. I do not like this in the slightest.

For some reason, a lot of writers are very casual about violating a character's bodily autonomy "for their own good." I don't like this (unless it's horror, but that's a different topic), and ask that you refrain from having characters do something like that for a character's own good unless there are some massive extenuating circumstances.

I'm pro-Jedi and pro-New Mandos. I do not want anything that suggests they: - deserved what happened to them - needed to change or learn to accept more militant values/that attachment is good - were stealing/brainwashing children or engaging in cultural genocide

That said, I'm fine with Jedi choosing to leave the Order if given a reason to. (e.g. Obi-Wan deciding to stay on Melida/Daan because the Force insisted he should Because Reasons is fine)

I do like the True Mandos but please don't lionize them.

I have minimal interest in the Original Trilogy and no interest in the Sequels; my mind is squarely in the Prequels and pre-canon era. - That said, I do delight in having baby versions of the characters present; I am always open to toddler Skywalker twins cameo. - I'm not very into the Bad Batch. Cameos are fine.

Basic vibe things:

I do not want PWP, and figured it's easier to just do a blanket "no thanks" on smut and kink than try to navigate the details.

I am not a fan of sexual tension being the primary driver of the romance. I'm on the ace spectrum myself, and it always rings false to me.

If you write Rebellion/OT setting versions of the ships, please don't go hard on the clones being Old.

As much as I love a/b/o, I do not want it here, thank you.

Also not super into folkore AUs or vampire/werewolf AUs.

Self-explanatory DNW:

incest (cloneshipping is fine)

minor/adult ships - age difference of less than three years is fine - major age difference where both are adults is fine

reader insert

Lower body fluids (talking about blood or saliva is fine; excrement is not)

Sick fic (injury recovery is fine) IDK I just get nothing out of most sick fic

Non-canon Dark Histories meant only to make someone more sympathetic or pitiable (e.g. especially Rape as Backstory)

Downer endings (includes breakups that are not resolved)

Particularly dark topics, including: - Noncon - major character death (I'm fine with "Tarkin died and that sure is impacting the war" but "the main character's younger sister just died and the plot revolves around the grief" is a bit much) - underage sexual content - adultery/infidelity - whump - unresolved terminal illness - suicide - self-harm - domestic abuse - child abuse

ABOUT THE SHIPS (Favorite ships are bolded)

These are not prompts! These are just me trying to explain why/how I ship them, and the vibes I usually go for.

Ships I've enjoyed in theory or in fic, in both canon and weird AUs:

Anakin Skywalker/Cody I'm a huge fan of Anakin really, really wanting to impress Cody, and Cody being very hard to impress, but easily amused by Anakin's attempts. They're as close to equals as a clone and a natborn can be, and I think there's a lot to be explored with them.

Rex/Asajj Ventress Rex also does not want to be doing what he is doing. This crush is a terrible idea but holy shit he's doing it anyway. Ventress is fascinated by him despite herself.

Padme Amidala/Asajj Ventress: Padme "I can fix her" Amidala and Asajj "what is wrong with you do you not have a sense of self-preservation" Ventress

Barriss Offee/Anakin Skywalker Did you know they're only two years apart in canon? I like to imagine their hypothetical interactions during or after the war, when Barriss is either on her way to a Fall (cynical and losing faith, but not yet there) or recovering/on parole and learning to trust in the Force again, while Anakin is... basically on that same journey, but a few years ahead. He's already had his big horrible moment on Tatooine, and he relates to her in ways most of her peers can't.

Anakin Skywalker/Bo-Katan Kryze They are nightmare children to their respective older siblings and I adore them.

Shmi Skywalker/Mace Windu I haven't seen this ship before but I saw it in the tags list and I am Intrigued. Stepdad Mace is definitely fun, or we can always go with a "new bio dad for Ani" AU.

Jango Fett/Shmi Skywalker Two characters who are canonically defined by their parenthood (Shmi only exists because of Darth Vader's role in the OT; Jango only exists because of Boba's) but have been given more personality and backstory by extended canon, and I just. They have some very mixed up Traumas and Ethics. Shmi would have so many opinions on his actions. But also there is room for another bio-dad for Ani thing, if you want.

Qui-Gon Jinn/Jaster Mereel I haven't really seen this ship but I want to imagine them running into each other during the Obitine Year on the Run and just being Grumpy Old Men about having to pretend they don't notice the teenagers sneaking off for suspiciously long firewood gathering trips.

Anakin Skywalker/Torrent Company ...listen. IDK what to say about this. Anakin just really wants to make it up to his men for being in this situation. It's not a healthy dynamic and is driven at least partly by guilt.

Satine Kryze/Quinlan Vos Haven't read it before but HEY just be nice to Satine and I'll probably enjoy it.

Satine Kryze/Asajj Ventress Please just imagine Satine being a disciplinary partner who's teaching Ventress how to be a better person but they have to be really weird about it so that Ventress doesn't spook and run off because people are being Too Nice to her.

Jango Fett/Obi-Wan Kenobi/Satine Kryze POLITICAL NONSENSE AT ITS FINEST

Quinlan Vos/Obi-Wan Kenobi This is technically one of my OTPs but there's enough of it around that I'm not bothered if it's skipped. IDK why but I default to one of them being a trans dude for this ship more often than not.

Luminara Unduli/Obi-Wan Kenobi I think they'd be very chill and that Luminara is so calm and nice and polite that when she does make a snippy comment about a rude senator or something, Obi-Wna is the only one that gets it and he is delighted by the quiet sass.

Luminara Unduli/Obi-Wan Kenobi/Quinlan Vos Mix of the above, with an added dash of "one of us is masquerading as the brain cell but we're actually all here for the chaos."

Feemor/Shmi Skywalker I'd never heard of it until I saw the tag in this exchange but it looks like A LOT of fun.

Padme Amidala/Obi-Wan Kenobi/Satine Kryze Political shenanigans and extensive sass.

Jango Fett/Quinlan Vos I haven't really touched on them outside of a poly situation before, but I Wish To Hear More.

Open to age difference (as long as both are adults) OR time-travel:

Cody/Shmi Skywalker Listen to me. Listen. I think Cody would adore a woman who is calm and capable and worldly without being cynical or superpowered or mean. She's just very pragmatic and down to earth and kind and I think Cody would find that comforting. Meanwhile, Cody is also pragmatic, but he's the kind of capable that covers Shmi's own unskilled areas (primarily combat), that doesn't try to ignore or over-pity her history as a slave, and is capable of dealing with her superpowered child without being overwhelmed by the Force Abilities.

Anakin Skywalker/Mace Windu With an age difference at play, this is just... an explosion of Anakin's daddy issues, and Mace just humoring those issues, where Anakin is really into him but also really angry about it. Yes he wants to impress Mace. Yes he is also a little dedicated to pissing Mace off. It's complicated. (Please have Anakin being at least 23 if they've got an age difference of over a decade on.) Without the age difference, it's still the daddy issues, except this time Mace doesn't know what the hell he did to earn Anakin's complicated feelings.

Anakin Skywalker/Luminara Unduli I like the idea of Luminara being interested in a guy who is so totally the polar opposite of her. She doesn't want to fix him, but wants to be around him, and wants to be around that fire and passion, even if she has to rein him in once in a while. Anakin, meanwhile, finds her a genuinely calming presence, and the smiles and touches she graces him with when he does something difficult have him wanting to make her proud.

Bo-Katan Kryze/Ahsoka Tano NGL I'm mostly invested in either time-travel where Bo-Katan is inexplicably obsessed with a significantly more martial Jedi than the average, or canon timeline where the two of them are regularly coming to each other for comfort or help in the aftermath of RotS.

I primarily engage with these ships through time-travel or other AUs, as they are from different parts or generations of canon:

Jango Fett/Ahsoka Tano I've written so many time-travel fics about these two and all I can say is that I love Jango being reluctantly in love with a Jedi, because he shouldn't like her (either because Galidraan already happened and he's angry about it, or Galidraan hasn't happened but he's Mando and she's Jedi), while Ahsoka has some Conflicted Feelings about Jango because of the clones.

Ahsoka Tano/Quinlan Vos Fuck yeah, spies.

#Dear Creator #rarepair exchange

[imtryingmybeskar]

Tumblr Writer Q&A

I don't remember doing this before, so I'm gonna take @chaoticgeminate mention as a tag 😘

1) How many complete fics/one shots do you have that you have not published (yet)?

None. Though I do have three completed chapters of Starman ready to go...

2) How many WIPS do you have right now?

Uhhh. At least ten 😬

3) Do you take writing requests or write original ideas, or both?

Both.

4) If you do take requests, how many do you currently have?

One. From @galacticgraffiti and I am about a third of the way through it.

5) How many fandoms do you write for?

I write exclusively for Pedro Pascal characters (so various fandoms), though if I ever have more time to devote to writing I'd love to write for Doctor Who too.

6) Are there any fandoms you wrote for in the past that you no longer write for?

No, writing fanfic is a relatively new thing for me.

7) Do you write for ships, reader inserts or other?

Started with reader inserts, I'm writing my first OFC right now.

8) Niche fandoms/characters you write for?

Some of Pedro's roles are niche outside of the fandom I guess. I would imagine Bloodsucking Bastards isn't that well known.

9) Do you read fics as well as write them?

Hell yes. There are so many talented writers out there and I thank them all for sharing their beautiful stories with us for free! At the moment I'm finishing up @chaoticgeminate 's wonderful Marcus Moreno story Epiphany.

10) What is your favorite genre to write for?

I adore all kinds of Sci-Fi. I would love to get better at writing horror because I love that too and I think it's difficult to get right. Most of my stories have a romance background because I'm basically just projecting my Pedro fantasies to the world at large 😅

11) What is your favorite trope (to read/write)?

I'm getting more into writing tropes. I love AUs (writing and reading).

12) What do you do to get motivated to write?

The desire comes upon me and I do it. If I don't feel motivated I do other stuff until I do again.

13) Is there a trope/genre you like to read, but not write?

A/B/O. I never used to like it but I've read a few excellent ones. Shout-out to @ezrasbirdie for the excellent Devil's Backbone series which was the fic I read that made me get it. I dont think I could do it justice if I tried to write it!

14) Any characters/fandoms you want to write for that are never requested?

Nah, I stick to my Pedro characters and that's who the requests come for 💖

15) How long have you been writing fanfiction?

About a year.

16) Did you read fan fiction before you started writing?

Yes. My first foray into fanfic was stuff about the Marauders from Harry Potter many years ago.

17) Do you only post on Tumblr, or any other sites as well?

I post on AO3 first, then Tumblr.

18) What do you personally consider the word counts of “Drabble”, “One shots” and “fics”?

I am very flexible with all of this. I never go into writing with an idea of how long it is. It takes as long as it takes.

Having said that, a drabble is probably less than 1k words, one shot between 1k and 5k and fics...they go on as long as they go. Most of my fics are multi chapter.

19) Which do you prefer to write more? HC, drabbles, oneshots/fics, multi chapter stories, other?

Multi chapter stories because my writing is kind of organic and grows (out of control most of the time). But I do enjoy writing oneshots from people's prompts/asks. It forces me to think about things in different ways. It's partly why @writer-wednesday is brilliant.

20) Are there any stories you have discontinued? If so, why?

No.

21) What is one of your main “pet-peeves” as a writer on Tumblr?

I use Tumblr exclusively on mobile and let me tell you, writing that way is not great. Mostly because my fingers are clumsy and large.

22) Do you write a particular time of day?

I work shifts so I can write any time. Today I was writing at 10am and 1pm at work on breaks. In the past I've written while chapters at 3am.

23) Do you listen to music, ambiance/noise, etc to write or do you need silence?

I don't NEED silence, but I don't deal well with ambient noise. Occasionally I'll listen to a few songs before I start writing to get into the mood I want to.

24) Do you outline your fics at all before writing?

Usually I'll have a couple hundred words which will outline future things I want to put in, major plot points, dialogue that I want to use, phrases that I like the sound of, words which evoke certain emotions in me that are relevant etc. It looks like word vomit on the page, there's no structure to it. With Starman I have a little spider diagram that I refer to. That's new.

25) Do you post your writing as soon as you finish it, or do you schedule it to come out at a specific time/day?

Starman is the first thing I've tried to stick to a schedule for, and I got so excited about it that I've already posted one chapter early. I'm not doing well with that particular discipline 😅

No pressure tags for @galacticgraffiti, @littlemisspascal @just-here-for-the-moment

#ask game #writing ask game

[hood-ex]

Can you give any pointers for fanfiction writing? It's something I've considered trying, but I've never done creative writing and it's a bit intimidating. I'm mostly interested in writing Nightwing, and maybe having other characters (Batfam and Titans) but still always having Dick as the center.

Welcome to Fanfiction 101! I’m here to keep you from making the same mistakes I’ve made in the past. 

Pre-Writing Process

There are some people who enjoy outlining the shit out of their story, and then there are people like me who just kinda make the story up as they go. Whatever you decide to do, try to at least have an ending planned out. That way while you’re writing, you can start to craft the pieces you need to get to the ending you have imagined. You can even work backward and plan your story out from end to beginning. 

For example, let’s say I want my ending to be Dick and Damian hugging in a hospital. Okay, what pieces do I need to get to that point? Well, if they’re in a hospital then one of them needs to be hurt. Who do I want to hurt? Let’s go with Dick because I want this story to show how much Damian cares about Dick.

Great. Now how does Damian find out that Dick is hurt/how does he save Dick? Let’s say Damian is in the cave when the batcomputer gets an alert from Nightwing’s suit. The alert shows that Dick’s vitals have gone haywire. Damian panics, tracks down Dick’s location, and then both him and Alfie take the flying batmobile to save Dick. They find Dick and take him to the hospital. 

Cool but how does Dick get hurt in the first place? Hmm, well, Dick usually always rides a motorcycle, right? So let’s say Dick gets into a motorcycle accident. How does he crash his bike? Maybe it’s because of the weather or because a baddie crashes into him. I don’t want to write a huge action scene so let’s say Dick accidentally drives over black ice, spins out, and crashes in a ditch. 

And there you have it. A whole story right there from end to beginning. You can plan things out in a more detailed way before you jump in and write if you want. A basic outline like that ^ is usually enough for me to go off of. The details just come to me while I’m in the process of writing. Try and see what works best for you. 

One-Shots vs. Multi-Chapter Stories 

If you haven’t done a lot of creative writing, I would suggest you start off by practicing with one-shots. Now, one-shots can be shorter content, but on the flip side, there’s also one-shots that are like 50k words. Totally depends on what the author is willing to put into it in terms of plot, description, character development, etc. 

I personally have a hard time finding the motivation to finish multi-chapter stories, which is why I usually stick to one-shots. Short one-shots can be easier because they don’t have to be super fleshed out. The action is quick, the dialogue is impactful, and the scene is memorable. 

You can also just jump into the action when it comes to one-shots. You don’t have to do as much build-up. For example, I could jump right into a scene of Dick having trouble breathing like this: 

Dick’s having a hard time making sense of things. Vaguely, he can hear Bruce shouting for Alfred. He can feel hands on him. His vision is going in and out. Then, suddenly, there’s silence. Dick wakes up, confused. Tim is sitting at his bedside, holding his hand. Bruce is close by, and when he realizes Dick is awake, he immediately goes over to him. Bruce explains that Dick had a bad reaction to a drug he was injected with. Bruce cards his hand through Dick’s hair to comfort him, and Dick reflects on when Bruce used to do the same thing when Dick was a kid. 

End scene. 

Okay, so, obviously a real story would have way more description than that, but you get what I’m saying, yeah? That whole scene could be the entire story and it would be enough. But if you have the motivation to do way more than that with a ton of character development and what not, you totally could prolong that one-shot into 50k words. Or just break everything up into a multi-chapter fic. 

The problem with writing one chapter at a time for a multi-chapter fic is that it’s hard to keep the motivation to keep writing each chapter. You write one chapter and then put the story to the side for a few days, and suddenly, you keep making excuses about why you don’t want to write the next chapter. To be fair, this can also happen with a basic one-shot, but yeah, tis the life of a writer. Don’t be discouraged if it happens to you. Trust me, it will at some point. 

Character POV

Listen, I love writing in first person. In other fandoms, I used to write a lot of my stories in first person POV. I’ve got some bad news for you, though. Generally, people don’t like to read fanfics that are in first person POV. They just don’t. Nowadays, even I tend to skip over stories that are written in first person POV. 

Third person POV is going to be your best friend. Get comfortable writing it. 

Admittedly, sometimes it’s easier for me to grasp a character’s voice if I first write the story in first person POV. I then go back and change all the “I’s” and “me’s” to he, his, her, hers, etc. That’s just a little trick I do sometimes if I’m having a hard time getting a story started. 

Characterization

If you’re not 100% sure how to write a specific character, try and figure out a few facts about them. Like if you want to write Dick then think about some key qualities of his. Sprinkle those traits throughout the story to make the character sound more authentic. 

For example, I know Dick doesn’t like cucumber sandwiches. Sometimes I’ll have him or other characters mention this in the story. I also know Dick can struggle with perfectionism. I can make that something he has to struggle with in the story. It doesn’t have to be what the whole story revolves around, but if I just throw in some things here and there about how Dick is mad at himself for failing about something then that makes him feel more in character. 

Character Interactions

At first, writing multiple characters interacting at once can be really difficult. It can fuck up the pacing of your story, it can be hard to insert each character enough to make sure they aren’t ignored, and it can be hard to make sure each character is getting a chance to speak. 

If you find yourself struggling with this, try and just stick to two characters at first. Once you’re comfortable writing a conversation between them, try adding in another character. And another. And another. 

The more you practice, the more you’ll be able to write multiple characters interacting in a scene in a way that feels more natural and realistic. 

Genres and Tropes

When it comes to figuring out what you want to write about, you need to know what kind of content your audience wants. For example, fantasy niches (fairies, vampires, etc.) can be harder to “sell” in this particular fandom. There are people like myself who enjoy those niches, but just know that they may not be the most popular niches within this specific fandom. 

What are some niches that the majority of fandoms do like? Hurt/comfort, sick fics, whump, fluff. Those kinds of fics are always in demand. People love it when their favs get hurt. People love it when other characters worry about their favs. People love it when their favs get hurt while protecting others. People love it when their favs are getting along and being affectionate with one another. 

Go on AO3 and sort the fics in this fandom by “most comments” or “most kudos.” Now look at the most popular fics that come up and look at the tags they use. See what kinds of things those authors are writing about. Read their summaries and try to get an idea of what the stories are about. 

Once you get an idea of which kind of genres and tropes are most popular, try and write a story that includes those genres/tropes. People will be more likely to read stories that have tropes they usually like to read about. 

Now, of course, you can also just write whatever the hell you want without trying to appeal to your audience. This is what I do a lot of the time. Turns out that the things I like to write about tend to fall more in line with the tropes that are already popular in this fandom. 

Spelling and Grammar

People really hate to read stories that have tons and tons of spelling and grammar mistakes. Make sure before you post anything, you put your story in Word or Grammarly (I use the free version) to check for spelling, grammar, and punctuation mistakes. Trust me, your readers will thank you for it.

Practice, Practice, Practice

I’ve been writing creative stories since I was 11 years old. The stories I wrote back then are absolutely shit compared to the stories I write now. So please don’t get discouraged if you write a story and you don’t feel like it’s very good. 

Keep trying! Just like with anything else, the more you do it, the better you’ll be at it. There are so many things you’ll learn as you continue to write. Seriously, just recently, I realized I wasn’t always putting a comma in my compound sentences to break up the independent clauses. But hey, hey, now I know. 

Pacing, characterization, and plot are also things that will improve the more you write. Writing drabbles (stories with maybe just a few hundred words) will help with this. It will help you learn to choose the most important scene or dialogue and write it in an impactful, emotional, and compelling way. 

Okay, class is dismissed! If you have any other questions then feel free to send me another ask! 

#writing #writing advice #fanfics #batfam