#total posts lost to the search: 9

[folatefangirl]

On The Darkest Corner of the Heart

A comment on how Booktwt, Booklr, and Booktok media reactivity has lost the plot

Or, I think y'all need to log off and touch some grass and think about your actions for a hot minute. Note: This rant is a tad long, because I'm fucking pissed.

Disclaimer 1: I don't personally know the author of this book or anyone screenshotted in the drama. We aren't friends. I have no reason to either defend nor criticize these people, except for the fact that I've been a primary reader of self-pub and indie books for almost a decade now, and yes, including romances that some people don't consider worthy of civility. I'm also a queer healthcare worker.

Disclaimer 2: I don't want anyone mentioned/screenshotted here to be spammed with hate. Please do NOT contact them, including any authors mentioned. I included the primary actors for the current drama primarily so people don't claim I'm talking out of my ass.

Book blurb:

Forbidden. That's what they are to each other. Maddie Stevens has never felt good enough. Not good enough to keep her parents’ love. Not good enough to be independent and stop being her brother’s problem. Not good enough to build the future she wants. When she injures her ankle before a ballet audition that could change her career forever, she’s convinced her life is over at twenty-one. What’s the point of having dreams when they can go down the drain at any moment? And because the universe has a cruel sense of humor, her physical therapist turns out to be a tank-shaped grouch who doesn’t even seem to like her that much. It’s totally unfair that, for six weeks, she’s forced to look at that handsome beard and listen to that deep voice that makes her head all dizzy. Top that with the fact that he’s ten years her senior, and falling for James Simmons is a recipe for disaster. But when their forced proximity makes the lines start blurring, the forbidden temptation becomes impossible to resist.

The Timeline:

Events preceding 2023: Lisina Coney, author of The Darkest Corner of the Heart, was born in 1999 in northern Spain. She worked as a translator prior to publishing books.

Initially I thought these books were only self-published, but in fact are published under the formerly indie publisher Page & Vine, founded by romance novelist Meredith Wild.

January 27th, 2023: The Brightest Light of Sunshine is published by nearly 24-year-old Lisina Coney. On Goodreads, it currently sits at 3.87 stars as of today, February 10th, 2024, with 27,727 ratings and 3,592 reviews. Note: For a small-time author, especially for a debut novel, these numbers are huge.

May 2023, Page & Vine announced that Big 5 publisher Simon & Schuster would distribute their books as an imprint beginning in summer 2023.

In mid-to-late 2023, Lisina's website and socials announced The Darkest Corner of the Heart, her second novel to be published with Page & Vine on February 20th, 2024. Note: This means the events below occurred BEFORE the book's publication.

February 5th, 2024: anaborbareads on Twitter/X posts the cover and other art of Darkest Corner with the text, "a forbidden romance between ballerina and physical therapist???? pls i need this book now 🥺✨💗🫶🏻"

February 6th, 2024: h0mmelette on Twitter/X responds to anaborareads with "the booktok genre of forbidden romance is hilarious. theyre straight… whats forbidden"

February 6th, 2024: a tumblr user reposts the twitter thread from above to tumblr. Other tumblr users reblog and add on, and it quickly goes viral.

February 7th, 2024: From what I can tell via reverse image searching, the first iteration of the fake ARC page that's going around appears to be from Twitter/X user queef1ng. About 4 hours later, the same fake ARC page was reposted on the tumblr post mentioned above. And from here, this story takes a turn from people wanting to feel like they're above a romance novel writer to potential legal territory.

Of the 122 ratings on Goodreads for Darkest Corner to date, 9 appear to be 1-star reviews and from what I can tell, most/all of them were only published since the events began on 06Feb2024. 71 are 5-stars and while some of those are ARC readers, many newer ones appear to be trying to counteract the review bombing from the fake ARC page.

As of today, February 10th, 2024, it looks like the book will still be published on February 20th as planned, but we'll see.

Wait, so how do you know the page is fake?

I can't believe people have been so gullible but fine, here's my analysis:

Lisina's real ARC readers have stated that it isn't from the book (not gonna document all of them in the screenshots but you can easily go to the book's GR page and see the ARC reviews there).

As other folks pointed out on the tumblr repost, no real ARC page does a weird review watermark like that. Speaking from my own experience in reviewing ARCs or beta-reading, I agree.

The font tipped me off because it looked like it had literally been written on a Fanfiction.Net page. Not that Verdana, font size 10, is unique to FFN, but it looks like fanfiction typed font. Which brings me to:

Literally how could you believe this author writes like this? You can read her website or preview her first book or just have the bare minimum common sense to understand what satire looks like. If you don't believe me (because I know framing a post like this will put a lot of people on the defensive), I've also included screenshots below. The prose and dialogue are COMPLETELY different from the alleged screenshot. The only thing that is similar is that both characters are ballerinas.

But wait, all of this doesn't explain why YOU, Cinnia, are so pissed about this?

You're completely right! It really doesn't. All of the above is mostly documentation so the naysayers can't say I'm just some silly fangirl of the author.

The initial premise of the drama is that you can't have "forbidden love" in an m/f relationship. First of all, William Shakespeare would like to have a word with you regarding Romeo and Juliet. Second of all, yes you fucking can. See also: Religious and cultural differences and human history for a starting point. I know it may be hard to touch grass and look at media that is not tumblr queer media-centric and understand that people who are NOT you might enjoy it very much. Note that I'm a queer person saying this and I do read or watch m/f media at times because I don't like limiting myself. Go watch Bajirao Mastani and enjoy one of the most beautiful movies about forbidden love ever produced.

The book itself falls into the medical romance subgenre. For those not familiar, these are romances (usually m/f) that often involve a healthcare worker and their patient. In the real world, where people touch grass, a healthcare worker like me having a relationship with their patient is such a huge ethical violation that it will get you fired. In Darkest Corner, James is Maddie's physical therapist because she's a ballerina with a sports injury and he is treating her. Ergo, it is forbidden for them to get together and the initial premise for mocking this book is on very shaky ground.

In fact, I'd go as far as to say that the folks mocking it seem to very likely not be familiar with romance novels and their subgenres at all, or else they'd be well aware of the concept of straight romances marketed as a "forbidden romance" because they're fucking everywhere on any place that sells romance books. I have a personal collection of over 14,500 kindle ebooks. While not all of those are romances, a good chunk of them are, so I think I can count myself as a bit of a source here, you know?

The fake screenshot and social media drama has spread to at least Twitter, Tumblr, and BookTok, which all have huge reader hobbyists. For a small-time author barely past her debut novel's publication, allegations of this sort tied to your author name and book titles can last on the internet and in web searches for a long, long time, hurting an author's career. Maybe you're like "boohoo, who cares about their careers, I pirate all my fiction books anyway" and well, a post like this was probably never going to convince you of anything. I'm talking to the folks who might still have a sense of shame and self-reflection. Authors, even authors tied to a Big 5's imprint, earn peanuts. This sort of manufactured "scandal" is not ideal when the book is weeks away from being published. In fact, if the book has fewer sales than the first book in the series, Simon & Schuster may have legal grounds to go after the person who made the fake screenshot. A smarter person would have kept that to the groupchat or posted it as a clearly marked fanfic on AO3.

As a reader, this also sucks because when shit like this happens, the reviews of a book are permanently biased by both the bombers and the fans of the author, no matter how good or bad the book ends up being. Do I know if this book will be a 1-star or 5-star now, based on the reviews? Nope. Will I read it? No, because I don't read medical romances as it's a squick for me. But I may read her first book, which has mercifully escaped most of the social media nonsense.

This isn't the first time booktwt/booktok/booklr has engaged in a similar mob mentality towards books they don't like and I doubt it'll be the last. See Blood Heir by Amélie Wen Zhao and the allegations that turned out to be false then, too. However, I would like to ask y'all to please check your sources and not blindly accept what someone says on social media as truth. Get used to doing the research because manufactured misinformation is everywhere, and it's not gonna get better. (And for fuck's sake, not everyone is gonna like the same books and fandoms you like! It's not illegal to enjoy reading different things!)

Screenshots/Evidence (click for better resolution):

#lisina coney #booklr #booktok #booktwt #book rants #cinnia says stuff #long post #very long post #screenshot included at the bottom of the post #darkest corner of the heart #the darkest corner of the heart #misinformation #edited to fix title

[fullmetalgirl98]

30 days Hypnosis Mic challenge

DAY 9: favorite duet song

🎤 「Murder at the House of Magic (奇術館の殺人 / Kijutsu-kan no Satsujin) 」 - Gentaro & Dice (2nd duet)

(link)

Just to make it immediately clear: my obsession level is high (yes, this post is going to be super long, and yes, I apologize in advance for that). I'm not exaggerating when I say that I know every single word of this song by heart. I even made a fanart for this song. Check it out, if you're curious 👉 (link)

I became aware of the existence of this duet far too late, in April 2022, i think??, and in the saddest way possible: through the wiki while searching for only God knows now what kind of other stuff. Of course, considering that Dice and Gentaro are two of my fave characters ever, it was a scandal for me not to have known earlier about the existence of a new duet of theirs, other than Once upon a time in Shibuya, which is iconic in itself, so I went crazy, obviously, and dashed off in search of the song (with very little success, I have to say)... and when I finally found it and it started playing, I almost had a heart attack. What. the actual. hell. was. that.

I expected everything, except something of that sort.

Right from the very first notes, I knew this was gonna be BIG stuff. I mean, VERY BIG.

The vibe it gave me, initially, was something alien, the instrumental intro smelled a lot like the X-files theme song to me (link).

Then Gentaro started, in his usual calm and sexy tone, and I caught the word "satsujin jiken". But so far, let's say, nothing exceptionally new. I knew I should expect some mystery to solve... I mean, the title spoke loud ¯\(ツ)/¯

But poor little naive Anna, soon after the bomb was dropped straight to the center of an indefinite part of my brain.

A serious Dice.

A bloody serious Dice. A Dice that, instead of rapping, was literally speaking (or at least, the initial impression was seriously that). I...I've never heard Dice speaking in such a hard, deadly serious yet sexy, defiant, cocky and confident tone, like... I- ... I didn't even think he could ever speak in such a way!? Like. Dice. HELLO?! Where is my genuine idiotic cute drenched cat gone?! I'm scared?? But at the same time extremely intrigued?? WTF?! Help??!! Let's make one thing clear: when I first heard the song, I obviously had not read the translation yet. So, how shall I explain what I thought ... mhm... the impression was that he was speaking not in a good-guy-trying-to-be-cool sense, absolutely not. His tone was blatantly the tone of a thug. And a particularly dangerous one. The impact of the very first verse of his, "Danna shindanda na, zannen da" was something absurd. I swear. Something of disarming power. And then the tone used in the "tamannee na" immediately afterwards. Guys, I swear to you. I had completely lost my mind. I was totally in love with this new Dice, you have no idea. I was going crazy, I just wanted to know WHY he was talking in that absolutely crazy HOT way. I LOVE how it's clearly perceivable that Dice is speaking with a smirk on his face, that of someone who is sure that he cannot be set up. And I could go on listing word by word all the vocal proclivities that have slowly sent me further and further into the hyperuranium BUT I will refrain from doing so for your sake, because this post would probably become longer than it already is going to be. And then the refrain. Simply BRILLIANT. I mean, it's already not enough that this too, like Stella, is a song set up as a story told by Gentaro, in which he then becomes one of the characters in the plot (you can't tell I have logic behind my preferences, can you?), but a semi-occult code was also inserted?????? Who the hell came up with the idea of putting the spelling of Dice and Gentaro's names at the beginning of each verse of the chorus? WHO? Give a fucking award to the composer, I beg you: (A)Up & down, Rikou na yatsu wo, Sukkari damashite Ganchuu nai Wakattenda Dare na no ka Izure wa Subete wo raizarai;

Yurusan, Meshi toraeru, Nogasanai shi Genkei nai Takara, Rou sezu shite, Umaku moratte Say Good Bye I don't know if i'm making the point clear enough, here.

And then the whole Uh!(Ah!)Uh!Uh!(Ah!) thing. Gentaro firing off his "Ichi wa ichi, zero wa zero, hachi wa hachi" with that studied air of his who knows he has the other guy completely on the hook. And the way you can perfectly sense that the mood of the conversation is starting to turn against Dice, when he throws out that "Nani?!" and then that "Kuso!" so particularly intense (KYAAAAAHHH (⁄ ⁄>⁄ ▽ ⁄<⁄ ⁄)).

OH, and I can't help but mention how the "Hachiji nijuppun" thing practically became a meme between me and @justanotherniky (fixed message in chat at 8:20 p.m.: "HACHIJI NIJUPPUN" when we don't happen to forget about it).

I swear guys, you have no idea how much I lost my mind behind this duet. Because c'mon, I don't know if you guys are realizing, but it's fucking genius. And, last but not least, how not to mention the classic "Uso desu kedo ne~" at the close. Epic.

#hypnosis mic #hypmic #30 days hypnosis mic challenge #day 9 #30 day challenge #murder at the house of magic #kijutsukan no satsujin #奇術館の殺人 #fling posse #yumeno gentaro #gentaro yumeno #arisugawa dice #dice arisugawa #gendice #fp & m + #anime #manga #japanese rap

[xerith-42]

Redesign the Nine

[This post is very long. Just a heads up.]

I'm a member of the Jury of Redesign, proud member of fleshing out previously left to rot or forgotten content. It's a hobby. A passion. I have and will continue to go into entire novellas to describe the inter personal relationships of characters we know next to nothing about, but what about characters we know literally nothing about?

We know only 6 members of the total 9 that belong to the Jury. Technically seven if you include Garroth, but that last for like twelve seconds, that doesn't count. And one of them is only made known as a member in Rebirth (which I really like and I like Rebirth). That means there's three entire characters just waiting to happen! How have I never thought of this before?!

This idea really struck me when I was looking at the Jo9 wiki page and saw this comment

The rest of the comment goes on to their whole theory about Ein killing Blaze, but I am mostly against the idea of killing Blaze because nobody ever gives it enough story significance, weight, and meaning. Only I get to kill Blaze, you all lost your privileges.

That's not what's important though. What's important is that I actually love Teony and Ein. I think they're some of the most wasted Aphverse characters, and that's saying something considering how I literally never shut up about Blaze. So let's flesh them out in a... different setting.

Teony

I imagine Teony being in a very similar situation to Katelyn and Jeffory. She has someone she deeply cares about that Zane knows about and is threatening to put in danger. For Jeffory and Katelyn, it was family. For Teony, it's similar, but just a slight flavor different. A gay flavor different.

Teony belongs to a high ranking noble family in O'Khasis, like one step below the Ro'meave family. Originally the plan was for her to be married off to one of the Ro'meave heirs (probably Zane), but then she did something weird. She uhh... She started training to be a guard. And got strong enough fast enough that nobody could really stop her because Teony would just challenge them to a round of armed combat about it despite being literally 12.

So she was allowed to go to guard academy and go through full training. She was never going to be a lord, and she could still easily join the Jury and serve the same purpose with less arranged marriage. Also if they tried to arrange Teony into a marriage she might just pull a sword on them about it. She learned very quickly that her parents wouldn't be allowed to abuse or control her if they feared her. Caused a different kind of trauma compared to the other children of nobles.

And then she found out she was gay. While she was at the academy the person who was writing the Jury recruitment list was the newest member of the Jury herself; Ivy the Venom Scythe. Teony fell in unending sapphic love from first sight. Even if she had become wise to her parents controlling nature in search of power, she still respected and revered the Ro'meave family, and the Jury of Nine. She was set up for it, and she wanted that. And now that she was finally experiencing love for a member of the Jury of Nine.

As always, things in Teony's life were set up for perfection. And she was such an overachiever, are you kidding me? Top ranks in all her classes even though she didn't need to. She would half ass it sometimes and still get the highest scores on every test. When she put her all into something, there wasn't any competition. She was just showing off for Ivy, and she did not hide that in the slightest. Ivy was fully aware that Teony was not only showing off, she knew that Teony was in love, or at least lust with her. Teony is not subtle at all, it's just not a concept to her yet.

On the last day of her training at the academy, Zane Ro'meave himself shows up. I imagine Zane and Teony were almost sort of childhood friends. Zane didn't really like having friends, but he and Teony were personable and able to get along when they were forced to spend time together by their parents. He has a sort of fondness for Teony in a "I'll see where you're going with this" sense. He's heard how passionate she is about fighting and being a guard. And he knows it's not for a violent sake, but because of that nobility that is her bloodline and the baseline of her identity as a person.

She may be overzealous, she may be a know-it-all, she may be a show-off, but Teony always fights with honor. She always showers her classmates a great amount of dignity and respect when they fight her. To her combat is an art form, one that she takes very seriously. She won't attack unless provoked, and more often than not will just skip the talking it out phase and just jump to the dueling stage because that's the part she understands best.

She's autistic. That's what I'm saying. Teony is an autistic lesbian. Look at her go! However, Zane is terrible and evil and so is Ivy. When telling him the candidates, he brings up that Teony is a no brainier. Which is when Ivy tells him that Teony is in love with her and was fighting to earn her attention. She willingly threw away some of her nobility in the name of love. Which means she can do it again if provoked to.

What better way to provoke her than to give it to her and then threaten to take it away? Zane and Ivy literally manipulate Teony, putting her on the Jury, assigning her to work with Ivy, and Ivy starts actively feeding into it in a rather coy way just to drag her along. And right when Teony is ready to fess up, her parents show up at the Ro'meave manner. Teony remembers what they expect of her. That they don't know the truth about her.

She knows beyond a shadow of a doubt they'd disown her. Jury members aren't supposed to have family anyway. For a minute she thinks about outing herself to sever her ties. But then she learns that her mother is pregnant again. She... She has a little sister on the way. And if she cuts ties with her family now, she'll never get to meet her. She doesn't know Zane invited them at first, but when he talks to her later, she pieces it all together.

Zane says he'll let her family live, even let them be known as her family if she wants, but she isn't allowed to be with Ivy in any non-professional manner. Otherwise she'll give herself away, and while he doesn't exactly threaten it, Zane makes it very clear he will out Teony to her parents if she doesn't do as he orders from now until the end of time. It's then that Teony realizes she's trapped. She went from one gilded cage to another.

Until it got to be too much for her. Remember how Jeffory was apparently on the Demon Warlock Island in Gal'ruk? And it was literally never explained. What if he was there to find her? What if it became too much for Teony after meeting her sister, and she ran away? Zane doesn't know what happened when Teony met with her younger sister, but it was enough to shake her that she barely responded to Zane's taunting when she returned. And then she left that night.

Jeffory was sent to follow her trail. And he actually found her before she managed to break the Demon Warlocks curse. On a completely different continent, no guard escorts, and no way that Zane can hear them, they talk openly. They confide in one another. And they work together, as friends, to break the curse and get themselves back home. Teony moves to a different island in Gal'ruk, and tells Jeffory to give Ivy a letter the next time he sees her.

And he's not allowed to let it leave his hands unless it's Ivy taking it. No messengers. No leaving it somewhere she'll find it. Jeffory never learned the contents of that letter, but he did manage to deliver it to Ivy. Only she and Teony knows what's contained in those pages.

(Final note, idk what her funny anime villain name or her weapons would be. I would love council/jury/anyone to give input here. Same for the next member)

Ein

Ein being a big heroic softie is the best thing ever to me you don't understand.

Much like the doll anon, this anon changed my life. I love this idea so much. Listen, I like unrelentingly evil characters, just look at Zane. But that's the thing. Zane's already there. And so is Janus. And Ivy. And probably Lilian. And another character I've yet to get to. And even more characters when we get out of the Jury. We need more innocence that becomes corrupted in the Jury, everyone likes being evil too much.

So I want to make Ein a big ol' softie. He grew up in the Brightport Wolf Tribe with his best friend eventually turned lover Blaze. They mostly stayed within the confines of their tribe, which was small, but spacious enough for two wolf children prone to rough housing to get their energy sufficiently out. It was only when they were older that they started waking up to the... less than ideal circumstances of their relationship.

After being friends and being incredibly close and physically affectionate, when the two started thinking about mating and all that dumb romantic nonsense, it just made sense that they would be with each other in that way too. It's how they got through everything else in life. It was at the ruiner and creator of gay romances, that Irene forsaken Guard Academy that things got... worse.

Because Ein is definitely a very well rounded fighter. He's decently studious, wanting to keep up on speaking both the werewolf language and the more common language, and making sure that Blaze does the same. But Blaze finds these things to be dreadfully boring and doesn't put in more effort than Ein makes him. This is fine when they were kids and their plans weren't more ambitious than protecting their tribe. But their Alpha wanted to see if humans and werewolves could truly get along.

If anyone could prove that werewolves are just as human as they are, it would be these two dorks. But uhh, people are racist. And homophobic. So it doesn't go great. Couple that with the fact that the academy prioritizes individual excellence over collective greatness and suddenly things are just doomed to go wrong for these two. Ein naturally excels, and Blaze who's used to having someone to rely on starts falling behind without the consistent support system.

That was his emotional support nerdy jack of all trades boyfriend! How could you take that away from him? And Ein is stripped of his absolutely pure of heart dumb of ass boyfriend. They don't even get to stay in the same bunks as each other, and barely have any classes together. It's just awful. But Ein finds... something else. After doing particualrly well on a certain test, one of the teachers pulls him aside and tells Ein he might be able to qualify for the Jury of Nine position. Or at least be their bench warmer.

Ein's ambitions in life never went too far beyond the borders of their childhood home. He was the one who always pressured Blaze into going further than they were allowed, but Blaze was easily convinced anyways. But Ein was always an ambitious person. He just didn't know enough about the world to realize them. The highest he'd ever gone was thinking "Wow, it'd be cool to be the Alpha." And like that's it.

Suddenly he's told that if he somehow gets better than he already is he could hold one of the highest positions in the entire fucking continent. It's a no brainier. He has to go for it. He doesn't realize it means he's only being further isolated, pulled away from his few meet ups with Blaze to study, to practice, to do something that only a top student does and a near drop out student doesn't.

In fact the last time they see each other is, like with Teony, the day before the Jury posting for their class. Ein is sure he's on that list. Maybe not the top spot, but defiantly in the top five. Just as he's about to go introduce himself to Zane Ro'meave, try and make a good impression to sweeten his chances, he gets intercepted by Blaze.

Who just hands him a letter. And he whispers a single word under his breath as he's leaving; "Goodbye."

Ein reads the letter immediately, heartbroken to read that Blaze flunked out and is going back home without him. Blaze says he's proud of Ein for being able to go so far, and hopes he gets on the Jury. Ein knows he's lying. He tries to chase after Blaze, to try and make it up to him, but then suddenly Zane's there. He's caught Ein in a dangerously vulnerable moment, and while Ein manages to recover, he never gets the chance to wipe the tears from his eyes.

He never learns what rank he got on the Jury list. Just that he was one of the two who were filling vacant seats from this class. It's painfully bitter sweet. It's everything Ein wanted, but he realized that he never made room for Blaze in these dreams of grandeur. He tried to help Blaze at first, but Blaze eventually rejected his offers. And Ein couldn't even blame him. He'd been ignoring and neglecting the most important relationship in his life. And if Ein keeps going down this path, he realizes he'll destroy it even more.

In spite of that, he accepts the invitation and starts working as a Jury member for Zane. One month into his stay at the Ro'meave Manor as Zane's personal body guard, Zane asks him an odd question. A name he's apparently heard Ein muttering to himself and in his sleep. "Blaze."

Ein tries to say it's nothing, just an old friend he was thinking of reaching out to. That's when Zane makes it clear that Ein has absolutely no control here. Because he saw what happened between them. He asks if this old friend happened to be the one that gave him "that love letter". Ein tries to find it where he keeps it tucked into his armor, but Zane is holding it. He knows everything. And he's known the entire time he's had Ein in the Jury. It was all a test of loyalty.

If he reaches out to Blaze, he will fail. And again, Zane doesn't directly state what the penalty is, but he makes it abundantly clear that it's death for both Ein and Blaze. Ein was always easiest controlled when he was isolated. After this he was only paired up with two members of the Jury Zane trusted enough. Lilian, and the last member of the Jury. We'll get to him in a second.

As a result, Ein desired but never sought freedom. He knew Blaze was capable of a great life, he had a future, and was probably going on incredible adventures without him. He never forgot where he came from, and who he accidentally left behind. When Zane and Lilian disappeared... Ein was set free. His leash was just dropped for the first time. Mr. Mysterious wasn't even there to pick it up.

And he ran straight home.

There's only one threat that's unknowingly standing in the way of Ein's happiness. And his name is

Zachary the Plague

Nobody knows where the title came from. They don't want to. Zachary is one of the oldest members, sometimes referred to as the "shadow member" of the Jury. He's rarely seen, and scarily little is known about him.

And that's because he doesn't directly work for Zane. Unlike the others, who were all put under Zane's command after the other Ro'meave heirs died, Zachary stayed under the command of Garte. He did work for Zane here and there, Garte didn't get out much and was content to leave it all to Zane. And Zachary took a liking to Ein when they met, and when he requested that Ein train under him for some time, Zane wasn't in a position to object.

The only people who would be able to give more insight into Zachary are Garte, Janus, and Ein. Garte won't talk. Ever. Zachary is his most trusted guard, and that is all anyone needs to know. Janus just says they respect Zachary. It says enough given what it's known that Janus values. Ein freezes when he hears the name. Even when he says it.

He's only told Blaze what he knows, and neither one will willingly give up this information. He's a quiet fear in the back of Ein's mind, but Zachary stayed with Garte. Even when Zane disappeared, he stayed with Garte. He was never relieved of his duties officially or unofficially. The reason he abandoned Ein is because Garte told him to. He always followed orders.

It's unknown where he or Garte are now.

#oh fuck I need to tag this #god dammit #minecraft diaries #text post #aphblr #aphverse #zane romeave #mcd zane #mcd ivy #ivy the venom scythe #mcd teony #mcd ein #mcd blaze #mcd jeffory #mcd katelyn #jeffory the golden heart #katelyn the firefist #mcd zachary #:) #feel so evil for that #mcd rewrite #jury of redesign #jury of nine

[s1ndle]

The lost Sims of The Sims (for Console)

The Sims for Console has always been a particularly fascinating game, to me at least, for how well it captures the gameplay and feel of the original PC Version. After reading through Drew1440’s exploits with looking through the data and managing to convert aspects of the original console version with ease, I decided to take a look for myself!

And to spare people from an (un)necessarily long post, the rest of it is below the cut!

After some trial and error and lots of searching, I managed to find out that they were using files that originate from the GameCube version of Bustin’ Out (something that they never mentioned, mind you!). Which somehow contains nearly everything from the original console version! The original freeplay neighborhood, the neighborhood used for Get a Life, the neighborhood used for the 2-Player PVP minigames, even the .IFF files for the objects! It was all present within the files of Bustin’ Out, and easily accessible too!

I poked around the UserData folder, which contained the lots and sims for the freeplay neighborhood from the original console version, and saw that there was a total of 23 User files, but the neighborhood only had 12 playable sims by default, which of course begged the question of: Who are these 11 extra sims?

I opened each of the User files one by one in IFFPencil2, a program that lets you open and edit .IFF files from The Sims 1. By looking at their OBJD and their CTSS entries, I was able to determine exactly who was who, and charted them out using a very professional looking spreadsheet, featuring comic sans:

Now I had a list of all the sims in the neighborhood, I could easily tell who was likely to be unused because in the original console version, sims could only have their names WRITTEN IN ALL CAPS. Sadly two of the User files were completely blank and had no extant information, but that still left exactly 9 sims with extant information.

The thing about these sims is that we don’t have any information as to what their purpose was exactly, they could have been created as a cast of original sims to populate the freeplay neighborhood before Edge of Reality ultimately ported the population of the PC neighborhood over. They could have also been created as a means of testing the new Create-A-Sim system. They could have even been created purely for fun with no intention of including them in the game to begin with. We may never know the answer behind why they are present, but nevertheless, they are here.

Another interesting note about these User files, they are otherwise blank! With no careers, personality, skills, or interests to speak of! They also don’t have any family assigned to them either, meaning that their family names are also unknown.

One of the files that eventually piqued my interest was ALLCHARACTERS.rsp (the caps are important!). This file contains the data that determines what a sim looks like in-game by defining the upper and lower bodies that they use, along with face type, hair, skin tone, among other things. And this file just so happens to contain a lot of entries for sims from the original console version, including the freeplay sims. In fact this file is almost made up entirely of entries for sims from the original console version.

But one of the most interesting aspects of this file is that there are entries for sims that don’t exist in the final game, including 8 of the 9 unused sims from the freeplay neighborhood! So not only was there further information on their existence, but also the exact data needed to recreate their appearances, so that is exactly what I have done!

Alicia

Ariel

Ol' Joe

Jeffy

Laurie

Fred

Dez

Danielle

Sadly Michael (not to be confused with MICHAEL BACHELOR, who is present in normal gameplay and playable) did not have an entry in ALLCHARACTERS.rsp to facilitate a recreation. :(

The process of doing this was actually pretty straight-forward once I had everything laid out. By looking at the freeplay sims in-game alongside their entries in ALLCHARACTERS.rsp, I was able to determine the the mesh indexes (upper body, lower body, face style, etc.) started at 0, while anything to do with color, except for skin tones, started at 1. Using that information and just counting along as I scrolled through items in Create-A-Sim, I could chart out exactly which items corresponded with their respective mesh index, which I double-checked against existing in-game sims for the sake of accuracy.

There are plenty of other sims with entries in ALLCHARCTERS.rsp who seem to be leftover from the original console game and also seemingly unused, and I do want to recreate them as well, but for right now at least, it’s just the sims from the freeplay neighborhood.

#ts1 #ts1 console #sims 1 #sims 1 console #research

[shallowseeker]

Today, am a little obsessed with the concept of Cas + cars

The "pimpmobile" as the mark of immaturity & unsettled identity:

Ah, yes. THE Lincoln V. Very "Tom Selleck." (Magnum PI)

When he steals the Continental "pimpmobile," Cas is symbolically the young buck who hasn't settled down. Indeed, in seasons 9 & 10, Cas is wandering the world in search of penance, inevitably finding himself drawn into another guerilla-angel war. (The new flock with Hannah has all the markings of modern warfare, from the tracking to the maps on the wall. They're just trying to get home, but it's still war.)

In groups, Cas does not drive the car. (Driving is still pretty boring thing to him, and he misses his wings.) So, then, the Continental isn't perfect fit...he just likes it. It's a "searching" car. Cas is trying to find his preferred path.

1978 Lincoln Continental Mark V. (Image by Mikael.)

///

But perhaps Cas grows into the retro meaning of the Continental

The 1978 Lincoln Continental V was modeled after the Thunderbird and sold as a luxury item. Popular in its own right, colors like the one Cas drive were referred to as "understated like a diamond solitaire." It's aimed at the idea that "'real' men command quiet power and don't need to throw it around for show."

(Images by Mikael.)

When Cas is with Hannah, he starts embodying the retro meaning of the car: "Good guy you got there," says the trucker after seeing him interact with her child. Slowly, throughout season 10, the idea of Cas + parenthood is being planted and watered.

At this junction, Cas makes a bold switch to try to appear more human than angel, and among this is doing penance to Claire Novak. Cas learns that being a father fills him with...something. It's a feeling that appeals to him and gives his life a new kind of meaning. He's starting to create a life-framework he prefers.

Yes, the Continental is a "searching" kind of car. Cas drives it primarily when he's without his own grace. (Who ARE you now? Who are you, without "all the bells and whistles?")

When Metatron steals the Continental, thus begins his own dark night of the soul, and we see him struggling with soul-searching up until season 11. Indeed, Metatron has also lost his grace, and he loses his faith in everything, from his father to the very idea of the novel and stories.

When Cas gets the car back, something has changed in him, and it no longer fits. He's got his own grace back, for starters. He also starts staying in the bunker more permanently, the choosing of the human struggle over heaven's war. He's feeling out his human family and finding where he wants to fit within it. ///

The brown truck as mark of family!protectorhood

And post-Continental, it turns out Cas is toootally a truck guy. A few things about trucks:

they sit higher on the road, so the driving experience is totally different than a sedan, or even a muscle car

in terms of handling, you can generally be much rougher with them

that is, they're less responsive to steering, so you can grip and turn considerably less delicately, which might be really nice for someone like Cas

they're less responsive to braking inputs due to their suspension and weight, so if Cas is a lead-foot, this would also be very nice for him

they can carry heavier loads than cars and for greater distances

they're also very reliable and they're less likely to break down

when they do break down, they're easier to work on

Cas's 1987 Ford F-Series from season 12

In season 12, when Cas steals the workerman's truck, he takes on family protector more overtly (or the "father" role, as Cas conceptualizes it in season 15's Gimme Shelter). The protector!truck is a SPN mode reflected all the way from John's truckzilla to the tan Ford truck (same model, nearly same year) that Dean drives when he's "dad" to Lisa & Ben's family unit. Though perhaps unlike Dean, Cas thrives in this role. It's comfortable to him.

From SPN 1x21, John's black 1981 GMC Sierra Grande truckzilla, and from SPN 6x21, Dean's tan 1988 Ford F250. Far right is the The Ford of the kind man who offered him water and a sandwich after The Great Fall in SPN 9x01.

The tan truck is a positive sign of a healthy father!protector, whereas John's truck represents a crumbling of strength and brokenness, with only the outward signs of being a stable father. The tan truck also has a positive motif of kindness, since it bears a striking resemblance to the truck of the guy who showed Cas compassion when he fell (offering him food and drink).

Cas's taking of this vehicle as he rushes to rescue a kidnapped Sam represents a resolution to offer support as a father figure to Sam, post-Dean's "death." Certainly, Cas is Sam's friend; it's not as simple as Cas being solely his angelic protector figure. But there is an element of "parental" support in how he interacts with Sam, especially in later seasons (Gadreel + grace extraction, loss of the AU hunters + subsequent mentorship).

///

Stealing the vehicles, though!

Nevertheless, there's something a little dark in Cas stealing the vehicles, subtly reflecting the horror of the taking of Jimmy's vessel in season 4.

However, since his body was restored to Cas directly a la "organ donation" from God, this late-seasons vehicle choice can also reflect a choosing of roles and identity.

Of note, in his later vehicles, Cas usually drives them, even in groups. They are more fully his.

///

The tan truck + Jack n' Kelly

But oh, back to the tan Ford truck. This little farm truck is cute. It is probably in this truck that Cas first listens to the mixtape.

Cas continues his parenthood journey in it when he spirits Kelly n' Jack away. When Cas is agonizing over whether or not to kill Kelly, his little tan truck breaks down. It reflects his uncertainty to take on this new mantle of mature fatherhood, almost like Jack is pausing the narrative as he considers if Cas will be a good choice of Father. And after this, in the hotel room, Jack indeed chooses Cas.

In doing so, Jack's also choosing the Winchester human family of which Cas is a part. We see this when Jack literally steals Baby, and Kelly waxes poetic about how Cas has been chosen as she drives it. (And Baby does NOT break down. She complies, like she's agreeing that Jack should be born and Cas is indeed the Father.)

(Images WinchesterFamilyBusiness)

Alas, it ends in tragedy. There's something so achingly sad when we see the abandoned truck in front of this dilapidated lakehouse in the valley. It's a desolate image next to the dusty, dull impala. And unlike with the Continental, which represented a Cas trying to fill a graceless, human role by reflecting Dean, the truck showcases a more integrated Cas with new familial role: spouse. Which is why the widower arc feels like that.

Visually, Cas (the truck) and the house (the family unit) are dead. The war has killed them and left only an orphaned child in its wake. And Dean and Sam are in the valley. (Indeed, when Cas returns, in the script, he's described as long-lost father, returning home from War.)

(Lakehouses have so much spooky symbolism with regards to the interconnectivity of space and time, but that's another tale for another day.)

///

The Dodge SRT-10, AKA The Family Truck: renewed faith + fatherhood + retaking of Angelicity

Ah, the Dodge.

So, I love that Cas has this truck in particular. This truck is legendary, kinda controversial and it's just SO ridiculously overpowered and goes SO fast for a truck, hahaha. It's definitely a family support vehicle.

Originally, it is ALSO the vehicle, throughout multiple versions of the script, that was supposed to have the broken tapedeck. (Which means, since it's a 2000s-era truck, that someone probably had to put in a CD-tape combo. Ahem. Anyway, I prefer these original scripts, because this broken tapedeck mirrors Cas's empty deal wonderfully.)

So, the Dodge. With 500 horsepower and 525 lb-ft of torque, it is the fastest truck available, doing 0-60 in a reported 5.2 seconds. It's just so overkill for a quad family truck. ("Nobody else was making a four-door truck with 510 horsepower, so the Dodge people took it upon themselves to fill the void.")

This looks like a shopped-for truck. You're not just gonna happen across a truck like this. "Less than 10,000 of these were ever produced and with a fire breathing V10 under the hood, they were quite possibly one of the coolest trucks ever made." So, we can guess that yes, Cas does appear to genuinely like trucks, and he definitely seems to have chosen this sledgehammer of a vehicle.

The Dodge Ram 1500 SRT-10 pickup truck (specifically for work/hunting and family support). It's a stupid lot of power stuffed into a truck, like how Cas is an angel is stuffed into a human.

Also, this hints that Cas likes rapid acceleration and driving fast. This makes sense to me, as he complained about the Impala being slow, and he told Hannah in season 10 that he would take the curves FASTER "to help her nausea." (Oh, Cas...)

For the later seasons, this truck is visually very "Cas," and in scenes and drafts, he's exclusively the one driving it, and he's usually driving it when other family members are feeling vulnerable; ergo, support. (See original draft versions of The Spear.) Like the specter of the double diamonds in 15x09, The Trap, Cas is utilitarian and pragmatic, a divergent-convergent thinker.

In season 14, Cas also drives:

The blue Ford Fiesta

But I'm 99% confident this is Sam's car

Because vintage SPN underlines that blue, nondescript cars are actually Sam's preferred car make and look

It's fuel efficient, so Cas takes it to the shaman

Also, Cas's acting on behalf of Sam's wishes when he goes to see Sergei

Ford LTD Crown Victoria (the bird poop car)

Presumably, he drives the bird poop car in Peace of Mind to be a little more incognito than the big, imposing truck

It also reflects Sam's low state of mind

Sam drives it in Moriah, too, a direct parallel to Sam versus Chuck and Sam versus Mayor Harrington from Charming Acres

The super sexy 1968 Mercury M100

Another truck Cas drives in late season 15 with Jack is this open-bed teal classic. The incredibly collectible 1968 Mercury M100.

And this M100 is delicious.

It's also, like the SRT-10, highly sought after and not a truck you're going to just happen across. It's another shopped-for truck. (I find it unlikely that it was one of the classics sitting in the MoL bunker, since they were slaughtered by Abaddon in 1958 and this one's make is 1968.)

So, either Cas has gotten into rare trucks (a real possibility since this one is even more challenging to drive), or Dean shopped this one with him, too. It's probably a mix of both, considering that in 13x22's Exodus script, Cas is shown helping with basic mechanics and repair. It's very possible that Cas has developed an interest alongside his newfound interest in human language and metaphors.

ANYWAY, these M100's are as classy as fuck and are actually workhorse trucks, too.

It's got a legendary straight six engine, and again, there weren't many of these vehicles built or sold. (Straight six is a trusty little pump of power, especially for the time. It's also easier to work on than most; would be great for someone who's only so-so at maintenance.)

This truck, unless it's been upgraded, is a little bit hard to handle, too. It takes a firm grip and a heavy foot, because it's a manual through and through. Manual gear shifting and no power steering. It's a two-hander just to go around curves.

In terms of its style, it's a little more laidback than the Dodge, which is probably why Cas is taking it on the murder investigation (i.e. not hunting). It's got an open bed, which means it's probably a little more fun for Jack, too. (Indeed we see Jack enjoying sitting in the truck bed. The green/teal is a symbol of renewal & growth, visually keying into Jack's return and the slow healing of the family unit.)

CASTIEL: My name is, um well, my name's not important. I do know what blind faith is. I used to just follow orders without question, and I did some pretty terrible things. I would never look beyond the plan. And then, of course, when it all came crashing down, I found myself lost. I didn't know what my purpose was anymore. And then one day, something changed, something amazing. I... I guess I found a family, and I became a father. And in that, I rediscovered my faith. I rediscovered who I am.

This is Castiel's preferred answer to season 15's question of nihilism.

This is what Castiel has chosen, and his later-seasons vehicles reflect this desire and this chosen identity. He even walks away from it in 15x06 to meditate on his path, and when he steps away, he sees Chuck for what he is. He chooses to come back specifically to fight Chuck's machinations and protect his family from them. To help them find their way post-existential crises, the way they helped him find his way re:Heaven. For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish...till death do us part.

//

Some other Cas + cars fun stuff

The broken tapedeck in the script

The Fiesta is totally Sam's car

#cas + trucks #castiel #spn castiel #dean/cas + vehicle selection #the family truck #cas + driving #cas + cars #this was purely self indulgent #for funsies #i gave it a positive meaning because we need more of it #happy sunday

[greaseonmymouth]

tagging games

hokay so I've been tagged in a bunch of these over the past few months weeks, by different people, so let's have some memetic fun

1. fanfic writer's bingo

I was tagged by @mslanna !

well, i did get one bingo! I have never commissioned fanart but I have received it. i debated whether to tick off that last square - 'wants to be a professional writer some day' because eh, i could take that or leave it? i do write original fiction and i have at times dreamt about getting it published, but also, i don't actually care. i write because i enjoy writing and getting paid for it i think is highly likely to make me hate it, so.

2. get to know you better game

I was tagged by @love-lays-bleeding !

get to know you better game! answer the questions and tag 9 people you want to know better.

last song i listened to: Danser Med Drenge - Alt for at beholde dig. it's on my Carl x Assad playlist but also Danser Med Drenge are just genuinely enjoyable in general

currently watching: 9-1-1, Grey's Anatomy, and Station 19. clawing at my face waiting for new episodes for all three shows. aside from that, nothing really, though I think I'll watch Dead Boy Detectives when it drops

currently obsessed with: 9-1-1, Afdeling Q.

3. nine people to get to know better

I was tagged by @foxesonstilts ! some repeat questions, but we'll manage.

last song: TV-2 - De første kærester på månen. this is also on my Carl x Assad playlist which makes no fucking sense because this is a song about teenagers in love and first heartbreak HOWEVER it is a banger and when spotify queued it up after my playlist finished, I was like, you know what, I'll just put it on the list.

favourite colour: considering how many blue items i own it must be blue. honestly though i love a lot of colours and am also partial to green, yellow, orange, pink, red, purple

currently watching: see above

sweet/savoury/spicy: all of them? they each have their time and place but most of all they belong in my mouth

relationship status: single and not willing to mingle

current obsession: finding a pair of hiking boots/shoes. i had ordered a pair THREE WEEKS AGO but UPS lost my parcel so i finally got refunded today but i'm leaving on holiday in less than a week and i still need fucking hiking shoes and i'm losing my mind

last thing you searched: "outdoor sport store london"

4. 20 questions for fic writers

I was tagged by @palavapeite !

1. How many works do you have on Ao3? 

117 on my main, but not all of them are fics and not all of the fics are written by me, or just me (some are fanbinding posts, some are fanart, some are collaborative works). including my other two accounts, we're talking 224 works in total.

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count?

on my main, 867,037 words, but that includes about 120k not written by me.

3. What fandoms do you write for? 

currently: Afdeling Q, BBC Shetland. though for the latest yuletide I went back to Volstovic Cycle for a stint and i wrote my first ever Ocean's 11 fic after years and years of only reading.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

that's 4 Harry Potter fics plus one Avengers/Batman crossover I wrote in 2012 on a whim after seeing the Dark Knight Rises and which became unexpectedly popular for a bit. I still love that fic though:

How to become a superhero and gain a family (minus the picket fence) - 7k, Tony Stark & Bruce Wayne, Steve/Tony. 2,758 kudos

the HP fics are:

Don't Blame Me (It Was All a Blur Last Night) - H/D, 7,468 kudos I'll Tell You a Secret (Just Don't Tell) - H/D, 5,209 kudos Here Now, Gone Yesterday (or Back to the Future) - R/S, T/J, 3,078 kudos Little Deaths and How to Avoid Them (or Draco Malfoy's Guide to Stop Dying and Start Living Instead) - H/D, 2,607 kudos

5. Do you respond to comments?

yes, usually. I stopped responding to comments on my HP fic a while ago because I couldn't summon the energy to engage with them, and more recently I turned off all comments for HP fic so that I wouldn't have to bother at all. I'm glad people are still able to enjoy these fics, but I need some distance.

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

I've written some dark fic in the past and I think what comes closest is this old thing I wrote for HP nextgendarkfest back in like 2011, in which some of the nextgen characters (including Harry's sons) were criminals who staged their own murders to cover up a heist they did but it implies that Harry was on to them, nearly caught them in the act, and was devastated about it.

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

almost all of them??? most of what I write has a happy ending because I want happy endings, damn it. if by happiest you mean 'least complicated' or 'unadulterated joyful' or something like that, then maybe...I don't know, god, I could name at least 50 fics like that just off the top of my head.

You know what, let's do the most recent one:

Et Afdeling Q Julemysterie - this is pure fluff and happy ending and it makes me smile like a fool in love, so.

8. Do you get hate on fics? 

not in a while - I used to get some nasty comments on this one old HP fic that had a nextgen teenage character working out his sexuality, and some people took offense at the character being asexual/not being asexual enough/turning out to not be asexual in the end. like, make up your mind about what the problem is at least? I also got nasty comments on another HP fic which featured aromantic polyamorous Harry in a V relationship with Ginny and Draco (and Ginny herself was in a V relationship with Harry and Blaise) for various reasons, including but not limited to people not understanding that one can in fact be both polyamorous and aromantic at one and the same time. by the time i posted the everybody is trans HP fic I was anticipating nasty comments so I turned comment moderation on for that fic.

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

sometimes. in the past I would include it (and hate writing it) because I thought you had to, but these days I only write it when I feel like it. more often than not it's some kind of character moment rather than a horny thing, though I do usually try to approach the smut writing from the angle of 'what would this character enjoy about having sex with this other character? what are their focus points? what are they horny for? what are their coherence levels? what are their sensitivities? how well do they know their own body? their partner's body? how do they communicate? etc. etc.' you'd think that leads to some very unsexy smut writing but if i'm honest i think those bits of writing actually wound up being both the horniest writing i've ever done AND the most true to character (according to my interpretation of the characters anyway).

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

a few - crossovers don't hold a lot of appeal for me in general, so when I've done crossovers there's usually been a 'what if?' spark that set if off.

aforementioned how to become a superhero fic, Avengers/Batman crossover, in which Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne are longtime friends.

it's pure filth that i hide (time for genocide) - Volstovic Cycle/Pacific Rim crossover (or possibly just fusion?). Volstovic Cycle characters pilot jaegers and fight kaijus, no pacrim characters appear.

Dragons - Volstovic Cycle/Harry Potter crossover (...or...fusion?) I can never remember the difference between crossovers and fusions. Harry Potter characters ride dragons á la Volstovic Cycle, no Volstovic Cycle characters appear.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

yes! the full list of translations (and podfics) of my fics is here. I've had fics translated into Russian and German.

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

yes. @palavapeite mentioned this but we co-wrote an absolute deranged behemoth of a 'social media' fic (really, it was a 'livejournal' fic, but same difference) back in like 2008/2009 and it was honest to god some of the best fun I've ever had writing something and also, it was a work of ART.

I have since participated in fests like big bangs and reverse big bangs where I've written or made art, which is not quite the same as co-writing. I once ran a collab fest where I co-created a comic with three friends, which we cowrote and each drew various bits for, which was a lot of fun. and! with @gkkri we co-wrote (and illustrated) a R/S fic (but really it was a Sirius & Regulus fic in R/S disguise) back in 2017 as our last hurrah to the Remus/Sirius fandom as we were both feeling like we hadn't anything left to say for this ship and let me tell you, that co-writing process was like a dream and I'm still really proud of what we made.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? 

I don't have one??? I'm a multifandom person, I enjoy a LOT of ships for various reasons and I don't think I have an all time favourite? some ships I cycle back to over time and some ships I never even write for, just read a shitton for. like I enjoy Steve/Tony still even though I haven't written any fic for them in over a decade? and I mean, despite my misgivings about JKR and general HP fatigue, I will never not love Remus/Sirius. and so on and so forth. the beauty of fandom is that there are so many great characters and dynamics out there to love

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

er, wellllllll there's this one Matt/Foggy wip languishing in my gdocs drive that I'm not convinced I will ever finish, but I really want to. I'll cycle back to it eventually probably. I also have this one Space AU for Caius/Al that I have officially abandoned, but I still think about it!! and yet!! that wip is probably approaching a decade old at this point. I don't know man.

I only have one active fanfic wip atm and that is my current Afdeling Q wip and I WILL finish it, I swear to everything that is beautiful in this world.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I have a lot of strengths and I'm not too humble to admit it, but I think my number one strength these days is that I Do Not Care what other people think anymore, I will write whatever I damn well please, the way I want to. if other people like it: great! if they don't: okay!

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

plot sjkdgkfljsgd especially of the crime solving variety. I will never ever be a crime fiction writer. I'm also not great with action-type of plots because....well, I like reading plotty stuff but when I'm writing? I don't care, I just care about my characters and their dynamics and arcs and development and I will hang it on the thinnest scaffolding possible I can get away with to make the story go.

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

the kind of another-language-dialogue i see in fic most often seems to be weirdly pointless or out of character, just dropped in (usually by a monolingual English speaker) who thinks it adds flavour to the character, when really, that character has never once in canon slipped into their other language in dialogue. because, well, most multilingual people don't? speaking as a multilingual person I'm far more likely to say something like 'shit what is that called in English' than just say the word in Danish. i mean, tell me you don't understand codeswitching without telling me you don't understand codeswitching.

as a counterpoint to this actually i read a Buck/Eddie fic the other day where Eddie had lines in Spanish, and that I had no issue with because a) he speaks Spanish in the canon b) with his family 3) who also speak Spanish. in the fic he spoke Spanish with his family, who also had lines in Spanish. that author did kindly provide translations but tbh I didn't check the translations because the other thing about this fic was, it was clear from context what was being said without the translations because the dialogue followed canon-levels in this regard.

generally though, my preference would be for the tried and tested "A line of dialogue here," said character A, in Language. "The dialogue continues." it gets the point across.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

band RPF. before that I was writing fanfiction without knowing it was fanfiction or what fandom was, for stuff that Didn't End The Way I Wanted It To or similar. but first actual fandom writing? band RPF. it's backed up on a secondary ao3 account now, but this shit was first posted on forums and livejournal a billion years ago.

20. Favourite fic you've written?

listen. 224 fics written (that I know of, because the heavens only know what's been lost to the sands of time at this point) and you want me to pick ONE favourite? absolutely fucking not. also, recency bias is a thing.

i don't know man. let me pick at random:

Of Gilded Wallpaper and Meddling Dragons - Temeraire, 5,068 words

No Archive Warnings Apply, William Laurence/Tenzing Tharkay, William Laurence, Tenzing Tharkay, Temeraire, John Granby, Iskierka Augustine Little, Romance, Fluff and Humor, dragons being dragons, bisexual awakening, agony aunt!granby, an excessive amount of gilded wallpaper, laurence blames the weather for his being hot and bothered, Laurence POV, tharkay brings sexy back 

Summary: Laurence and Temeraire have been living with Tharkay for a scant two weeks when Laurence sends Granby a letter that essentially boils down to hi John how did you know you're gay also plz help I am in trouble.

5. animal crossing picrew

I was tagged by @dejlige-dage !

i have never played animal crossing but this was fun

i am tagging: YOU. if you've read this, you're tagged.

#memes

[iamstartraveller776]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Stole this from @curator-on-ao3. (Thank you for the open tag!)

1. how many works do you have on Ao3?

111, not including the dozens of ficlets and short one-shots I've posted as separate chapters in fic collections.

2. what's your total Ao3 word count?

614,875 and counting.

3. what fandoms do you write for?

I've written for: Star Trek (TOS/AOS/DISC), Star Trek: Enterprise, Labyrinth (1986), Marvel, Once Upon a Time, Shadow and Bone, and LOTR: The Rings of Power.

4. what are your top five fics by kudos?

The Princess and the King (Labyrinth, Jareth/Adult Sarah) A little girl wanders into the Underground and Jareth's life is forever changed. [3,467 words]

Text Alert (MCU, Loki/Jane Foster) Late one night, Jane found herself in an online chat room for Harvard alums. She and the user youweremadetoberuled hit it off and began a strange, anonymous friendship. [16,129 words]

Intoxicated (Star Trek TOS/AOS/DISC, Sarek/Amanda Grayson) Amanda Grayson sets out to make nice with Sarek, the infuriating Vulcan ambassador to Earth. Her future career prospects are on the line, after all. There's only one problem: the ambassador isn't quite himself. [9,034 words]

Drunk Dial (Labyrinth, Jareth/Adult Sarah) Five times Sarah drunk-called the Goblin King. One time he sobered her up. [7,138 words]

Touch (MCU, Loki/Jane Foster) The first touch was her fist to his jaw, and she thought the last was when he pushed her out of the way of a Dark Elf bomb—until he showed up years later with a proposition she had trouble turning down. [4,014 words]

5. do you respond to comments?

Yes, absolutely. That's my favorite part about writing fic—being able to interact with readers. Sometimes I'm slow in replying, but I promise I always will.

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

I have a few stories with unhappy endings, but I think this one is the most gut-wrenching read: Just a Dream (Labyrinth, Jareth/Adult Sarah) He can have her in their shared dreams, but is it enough? Obsession can be a dangerous thing. [1,644 words]

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

I tend to mostly write happy endings—at least for stories that have a proper ending. I think there would be too many to list here.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

It's happened infrequently. I just delete the comments. I'm too old and tired for that kind of manufactured drama.

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

No, not really. I mean I have a few—very few—M-rated stories, but it's pretty much all feelings with pretty words and metaphors. The tension is my favorite part. When it comes to resolving it, I tend to be a "pan to the sky" writer.

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

I have written a couple. The zaniest? When Fairy Tale Meets Mythology (OUAT, Captain Swan; MCU, Loki/Jane Foster) While searching for Henry, Emma and Hook happen upon a strange couple in Neverland. [1,209 words]

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I was asked once, but I don't know if they followed through. I have had someone turn one of my stories into a podfic, though.

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

Yep. I'm a fandom old. I hail from the days of doing fic Round Robins and fandom Big Bangs.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

The USS Enterprise NCC 1701 D, though the Jolly Roger comes in as a close second.

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

The companion fic to Three Months on Vulcan where we follow the escapades of Soval and Amanda Cole as she works as his assistant. I was going to call it Lost in Translation. But my drive to write it has fizzled out over the years. I just don't have it in me.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Fleshed out characters, humor, pretty prose, banter.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

F I N I S H I N G. Seriously, that's my goal for 2024: to finish at least 3 of my languishing multi-chapter fics. Also, I want to improve my longfic game. I tend to rush through the plot.

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

I've done it, though I try not to overdo it. And I try to make it easy for the reader to understand from context so they don't have to constantly jump to end notes for the translations. I've been super fortunate to have a native-speaking fandom friend help me with Norwegian for some of my MCU stories. I've used Google Translate for Icelandic, and the Vulcan Language Database. Trying to write in Quenya is the worst, though. Never again! *gives Tolkien a side-eye*

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Star Trek: Enterprise

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

That's like asking me to choose a favorite child. How about one for each fandom:

Through the Dark Mirror Series (Star Trek: Enterprise, Trip/T'Pol) Stories that take place before, during, and after the events of the "In a Mirror, Darkly" episodes. [14,633 words and counting]

Pertinacious Wills (Labyrinth, Jareth/Adult Sarah) Regency AU Sarah Williams’s life is turned upside down when her widowed father remarries. At the same time, a new lord has taken over the Labyrinth who may be the most insufferable man Sarah has ever known. But as she is thrown in, quite against her will, with him and his kind, she discovers mysteries that call to question everything she thought she knew. [46,963 words and counting]

Blood for Blood (MCU, Loki/Jane Foster) He missed his chance by a heartbeat—the difference between life and death. Now, the mantle of savior rests on Loki’s shoulders. Will the mercurial God of Mayhem rise to the challenge of rescuing the nine realm from eternal darkness? [4,330 words]

The Worth of a Broken Soul (OUAT, Outlaw Queen) As a Keeper of the Watch, Robin hasn't been a mortal's personal guardian in centuries, but he's been tasked with a special case. Regina Mills is full of hate and anger, her aura so black it's difficult to find any hope left inside of her. Robin is determined to succeed in his assignment, even if it requires unconventional methods, but drawing her closer to Redemption is changing him as well. Will he pay any price for her salvation? For the salvation, too, of the lost souls he's unwittingly collected along the way? [14,407 words and counting]

The Nightwalker Chronicles Series (OUAT, Captain Swan) Emma Swan is an expert private investigator, but recently she's witnessed things that even she cannot explain. The only one willing to help her safely navigate the underbelly of the city in search of answers is the man who saved her life, a mysterious artist with secrets of his own. [6,448 and counting]

I haven't written much for either Shadow and Bone or The Rings of Power, and I don't feel like I have proper favorites for them.

Yes, I know I'm not listing any of my comedies, dear friend who knows who they are. That's because they aren't *my* favorites.

Tagging: Are you a fic writer? Consider yourself tagged by me—if you want to play, that is.

#tag game #questions for fic writers #this was fun

[jovenshires]

AO3 Wrapped for Writers 2023

no one tagged me, i just wanted to do this so i found a format and added to it a little bit. anybody who wants to do this is welcome to say i tagged them <3<3<3 or don't just do it bc its fun and silly <3<3<3

EDIT: i saw like yesterday (days after i drafted this) that @lilac-hecox did this first so MAJOR credit to lilac for doing it first!!

Works Published: 12

Word Count: 144,428

Hits: 7,769

Bookmarks: 111

Most Popular by Kudos: right where you left me (damien/shayne, rated teen and up, 24k words, 141 kudos)

Most Hits: the right side of my neck (still smells like you) (spencer/tommy, rated teen and up, 3k words, 1k hits)

Longest: if we keep score (spencer/tommy soccer au, rated mature, 52k words)

Shortest: he said baby (that's what he called me) (spencer/tommy, rated general audiences, 2k words)

Most Comments: right where you left me with 42 comments

Most Memorable Comment: honestly every comment i got was insanely sweet and everything to me but. i have to give it to my fave fic analyst, @wallpaper-inside-my-heart for every comment she has ever left, but especially the one about the hands. i won't post it all here but here's a snippet:

so… how long does it take katie to mention hands in each of her fics? Well, let’s get right into it 1.) the moon and the stars: first mention roughly 1k words in, handholding ensues (relatively mild stuff) total hand count : 12 2.) the right side of my neck hand mention right in the description, we are starting of strong! and only 571 words until the first hand grab! total hand count: 20, 5 of those include hand to hand contact with eachother 3.) baby, you’re a haunted house ah, I forgot that I also contributed to the hand agenda aka mentioned directly in the prompt 33 words until hand mention in the fic!! your personal record, I believe <3 in total 19 hand mentions, 8 of which directly related to hand holding 😹💕 4.) baby, that’s what he called me 927 words until the first hand mention, I would say you are holding back again; but it does include tommy soothing spencer so only 8 hand mentions?? however most of them include skin contact and comfort so… my point still stands 5.) they lost their minds 442 words until first hand mention, we are getting lower again! 16 hand mentions, half of which include skin contact 🫶 6.) i could be the reason 824 words until amengela get their first hand mention! 15 hand mentions, 6 of which include contact! definitely much less hand focused than your prior fics, but it’s still there! 7.) ‘til our fingers decompose, keep my hand in yours I mean… it’s literally in the title this time 😹 it does take almost 2222 words until the first actual hand mention; however, it is once again the initiation of hand-holding! said handholding makes up 80% of the hand mentions in this fic, with the remaining two including skin contact as well 8.) rwylm I open this fic, search for “hand” and then just stare at that 58 for a little while 😹😹💕 now it does take 914 words until the first one is mentioned and upon further inspection, the lack of physical contact in those hand mention reflects the loneliness Shayne feels in this fic so well! tho I love that a couple of them are ppl reaching out to Shayne as comfort! 🥹 and then the 9 hand touches initiated by Damien + the single one by Shayne!! → feeling slightly insane about this rn 💜 9.) sunflower 384 words until hands make their first appearance! 26 hand mentions; out of those only 5 of those include direct contact between our heroes, which feels very fitting for a secret identity fic! <3 10.) domo katie… idk how to tell you this… but there are 70 hand mentions in this (53, excluding verbs that contain the word, etc.) and you know full well that the first one makes an appearance in the second sentence of this (absolutely amazing) fanfic now how many of those mentions are spencer just thinking about tommy’s hands, you may ask? 30 mentions or rather 57% of the total count! → the last mention is literally even more HEARTBREAKING in this context!!, I feel the need to underline that again!

Fic that made me cry: oh.... right where you left me AND dancing on my own (spencer/tommy, rated teen and up, 21k words)

Fic that made me smile: sunflower (spencer/tommy spiderman au, rated teen and up, 12k words) got some good chuckles outta me!

Main character I wrote: spencer agnew (9 works) followed by tommy bowe (8 works) and shayne topp (6 works)

Top tropes: first kiss (6 works), established relationship (4 works), and pining (4 works)

Gifts: blue christmas for nat and we can leave the christmas lights up 'til january for stella (technically baby, you're a haunted house was Also for stella though i didn't know it at the time xoxo)

Collaborations: none this year..... maybe 2024? haha jk.............. unless?

Events: also none this year. maybe ill organize an event in 2024. once again haha jk...................................... unless?

thank you for coming along on my fic renaissance!! see you next year,,,, ive got BIG things planned <3<3<3

#personal #tag game #fic #katie writes #rpf

[thebreakfastgenie]

Hawkeye, 2,3,5,9 :3c

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

I mean really where to begin, I could go with anything, but I'm going to highlight something I think doesn't get enough attention in fandom: I like that he's cool. Hawkeye is the big man on campus. He's popular. Guys like him, Radar looks up to him as a male role model (bad idea but also maybe good idea), women adore him, the man gets laid all the time. He's very good at his job, so he's respected professionally, but he's also well-liked. He's well-liked because he's funny, hot, friendly, and usually nice. He's also kind, but he's nice to people, too, unless he feels they've earned derision (e.g. they support the army). Hawkeye is a chad! He's also very anti-establishment. I've called him a jock before but I think he's more of a greaser. A hero to the students, despised by the principal (beloved by the cool teacher, Henry). This is a really important part of the show. If Hawkeye were an underdog outsider it wouldn't have the same impact that he hates the army so much. MASH uses his strong social position to communicate the morality of the show, which is topsy-turvy by conventional standards. He loves sex, booze, and gambling, he breaks rules and flouts authority, but he's morally right because he knows war is wrong. And through loving Hawkeye, maybe we start to think about whether sex, booze, and gambling are really so bad, whether rules shouldn't be broken sometimes, whether authority shouldn't be questioned. I like that he's the popular kid.

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

This one is really hard because even the bad things make him a better character to me... I genuinely don't even mind that he's kind of sexist, like, I'd be surprised if he wasn't. I guess my least favorite thing is some of the attempts at character development... I don't mind Hawkeye being less interested in casual sex (for him as a character, I actually do kind of mind the show going that direction in the conservative 80s because nothing exists in a vacuum) but the way it's handled in Who Knew totally sucks. He says he always made sure the women he slept with knew he'd be gone if they wanted a more serious relationship... that's what you're supposed to do! That's being honest! It's okay to only want casual sex and the way it's framed suggests it's not! But I think if they'd gone the other way, and had Hawkeye actually take advantage of women by implying he was open to something more serious than he really was (as is implied early on, although there's often subtext that the nurses are just in it for fun too which softens it a lot) it would come off too gross and make him too unlikable.

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

Honestly the first song is Saturday in the Park by Chicago because of GFA. July 4th, 1953 was a Saturday! Required viewing courtesy of @movietonight:

Other than that... I just checked my MASH characters as Billy Joel songs post and I gave Hawkeye I Go to Extremes which makes sense. I also associate Teachers by Leonard Cohen and Fourth of July by Sufjan Stevens with him.

9. Could you be roommates with this character?

Yes, but if we had a third roommate that person would kill us both. Our place would be disgusting, but neither one of us would get mad at the other about it because we'd both be equally responsible. We'd be complete disasters but I think we'd have fun.

#i live in a gaydhd apartment already #no one has vacuumed in months #it's fine #ty!!!

[wyrd-syster]

Twenty questions for fic writers

Thanks for the tag, @conundrumoftime!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

I have 18!

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

I've never checked this before so it was fun to see: 272,376

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently, my main fandom is The Rings of Power (Sauron x Galadriel) and my other fandom is The Umbrella Academy (Diego Hargreeves x Lila Pitts). I have also written one fic for The Wheel of Time (Lan Mandragoran x Nynaeve al'Meara)

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

dig up the bones (but leave the soul alone), Rings of Power, my canon(ish) Haladriel WIP that explores what would've happened if Galadriel had said yes to Sauron's proposal.

lend me some sugar (I am your neighbor), Rings of Power, a complete, Haladriel modern!AU where Galadriel and Halbrand are neighbors with thin walls, and one of them is a bit more, *ehem*, vocal than the other.

oh, can’t you hear that scratching? (there’s something at the door), Rings of Power, a complete, Haladriel mob!AU. Galadriel — a widow who is, quite literally, haunted by the ghosts of those she's lost — inadvertently catches the eye of Halbrand, a mob boss from the wrong side of town.

oh sinnerman (where you gonna run to?), The Umbrella Academy, a complete post-s2 story where Lila encounters each of the Hargreeve siblings as she searches for a reason to stop running away from Diego.

take what the water gave me (oh my love, don't forsake me), Rings of Power, a post-ep6 (but pre-ep7) Haladriel one-shot where Halbrand and Galadriel come together in the wake of Orodruin's explosion to comfort each other.

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

I don't unless there's a specific need to. At first, it was because I didn't want to skew the number of comments I received. But now it's simply because 1) it's one more stressor related to writing, and 2) I am desperately bad at responding to compliments.

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I think most of the installments from my first series (which, honestly, should've been one full story) Two Worlds Collided (Umbrella Academy post-s1, pre-s2 Diego Hargreeves x Eudora Patch) because I kept breaking them up at the end of every installment. Also, probably be all my sins remembered, (Umbrella Academy, post-s2 one-shot, Diego Hargreeves x Lila Pitts) just given the story is about pregnancy loss.

Truly amazed that for a comedy show, I really have a pattern of putting Diego Hargreeves through it. Poor baby, as if he hasn't suffered enough!

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

I'm not really sure how to measure "happiest," which may be something I need to bring up with my therapist lol. It's probably between lend me some sugar (I am your neighbor), given it's a rom-com structure with rom-com ending, and oh sinnerman (where you gonna run to?), as it ends with all the siblings on the journey towards healing together and Lila finally decides to stay.  

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I've received one anon hate message. it was unbearably fucking stupid.

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

I do, but I don't know how to qualify smut! Lately, very smutty-smut haha. I've also noticed recently I tend to have the MMC engage in some form of dirty talk during it.

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

I have not and I also don't read them. I have a hard time suspending my disbelief when two IPs collide.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I can't find the message about it now, but I was notified during my Umbrella Academy days that someone was lifting my dialogue for a TUA RPG site, which was wild to me.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I believe oh sinnerman (where you gonna run to?) was translated into Korean.

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

I have not! Given the absolute unhinged nature of my creative process, I don't think that would go well for me (or anyone else!)

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

God, honestly? Probably Captain Swan (Once Upon a Time, Killian Jones x Emma Swan). Just something about them having mirrored childhoods and traumas, how they're always coming back for each other when they think they've been abandoned, that they're each others homes!!! Also, god the fandom was churning out some of the most stellar fics when the show was on.

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

dig up the bones (but leave the soul alone) is currently my only incomplete WIP and I am determined to finish it!! I am considering using NaNoWriMo to do so, but who knows.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I've gotten really good at world building, which I love. When I am writing a story, my mind always immediately jumps to the environment the characters are in -- not so much the physical setting, but a lot of the cultural elements: language and idioms, customs and food, holidays, and all the emotions these inspire. I think having a firm sense of the world helps me orient the characters, and I can find a lot of dimension in how they interact with these aspects of the world.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I am way too fucking wordy. Dear god, why use one word to describe something when I could use five (and a Shakespeare reference)!? I think I have a tendency to get so lost in the sauce I can trip myself up on plot points and the characterization can veer towards inconsistent. I'm also stuck in this belief of "I never finish anything!" which is patently untrue. But it's difficult to overcome when writing multi-chapter fics. I try not to psych myself out and remind myself to take it one chapter at a time.

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

It's best used sparingly and with enough context to understand its meaning. I hate having to scroll to the bottom of a story to find out what's being said, especially when the dialogue is central to the story. It disrupts the flow.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

My very-very-very-FIRST fandom I wrote for in middle school was Avatar the Last Airbender (I have been a Mai x Zuko girl since...well not day 1, but definitely day 2. Don't come for me.) Back in those days, I primarily wrote for ATLA and Naruto.

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

oh, can’t you hear that scratching? (there’s something at the door)  took me completely by surprise, to. be honest. It started with the idea of, "mob boss!Halbrand would be hot," and it spun totally out of control from there. I literally started writing it thinking it was going to a simple one-shot: "Grieving Gal goes to a club and has sex with Halbrand, and it is very hot." I don't remember why I made Galadriel a widow, only that I liked the idea of Halbrand sparking some life back into her. When I first sat down and put proverbial pen to paper, the ghosts weren't intended to be real, just a side-detail to illustrate Gal's grief. But the more I wrote, the more prominent Gal's grief became, and then, so did the ghosts.

What I am saying, is, I really surprised myself with this story and how it grew into something so big from an idea so small. When I re-read it today, the imagery and sense-feelings are still just as clear to me as when I wrote it. And I remain very proud.

Tagging: @formerlyir, @orcas86, @ophidion, @myrsinemezzo, @liminal-zone, @softlighter, @bad-surprise, @justatinycollector, @nocaptainonthisship, @hazelmaines and anyone else who wants to join in!

#about me #personal #fanfiction #the umbrella academy #the rings of power #lindsey writes now #ask game

[qqueenofhades]

May not by your wheelhouse, but regarding ever-increasing college tuition, where does the money go? Why is college so much more expensive than it was a few decades ago?

I have indeed written several posts about the college affordability crisis, which are probably to be found in my "ronald reagan burn in hell" tag. This is because, as with most of the batfuckery of the American economy since the 1980s, it is indeed Ronald Reagan's fault. The overall causes of college skyrocketing in cost include, but are not limited to:

1) Huge tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, gutting the funding that public education systems/public universities previously received from the government;

2) This in turn increased the costs at private universities, which had always been more expensive than public universities anyway, and besides, they were now free to put up their prices as far as they wanted;

3) The "unregulated free market trickle-down capitalism for everyone!!" Reagan-era mentality led to the explosion of costs in healthcare, housing, education, etc etc., and drastically widened the level of income inequality between rich and poor;

4) The replacement of grants (which you don't have to pay back) with loans (which you do), which incentivized unscrupulous loan companies to increase the burden of debt on students and for colleges to charge more and more tuition in the form of loans;

5) A bachelor's degree was once supposed to guarantee you a job, and now does nothing of the sort, and because the market has become so crowded and oversaturated with generally unsatisfactory and unstable job options, you are expected to pay for multiple degrees and go even DEEPER into debt;

6) Obviously, because of this total rejiggering of the economic landscape, everything costs a fuckton more than it used to 40 years ago, so colleges can't return to their 1970s-era fee structure;

7) As an academic, I can promise you that very little of this money is actually going to faculty salaries or the development/sustainment of new programs. Yes, obviously it costs money to run a quality educational institution, and I also obviously want all universities to be funded properly and for academics to be paid what they deserve. But the actual distribution of this money is... less clear.

8) Schools with giant well-known Division I sports programs tend to get all or most of the money that comes into their institutions, leaving relatively little for academic or faculty development;

9) For example: I work at a large, fairly prestigious, private university with very high research activity/classification, and we don’t even have a football team sucking up the money. But still, every single quarter, my department has to go through the budget with a magnifying glass, cut low-enrolled courses, argue constantly with the dean about which courses we do get to teach, etc. Our adjuncts also get paid literal peanuts for taking on a lot of work, and because we're so low on core faculty and just had to cancel another faculty search because of budget reasons, probably 50% of our schedule in the upcoming quarter is being taught by adjuncts. This is... not ideal.

10) Student debt is now such a lucrative part of the American commodities market, is so embedded in the financial system, and constitutes (at last glance) up to $1.8 trillion of outstanding debt, that when Biden tried to cancel even some of it, the Republicans immediately lost their minds and sued him to stop it. As of now, that case is still pending before SCOTUS, and because they're the literal worst, nobody hold your breath for a good outcome.

In short: college is one of the areas that has suffered the most from unregulated Reagonomics over the last 40 years, has been repeatedly incentivized to become and to stay extremely expensive and to represent a long-term burden of debt, and while you would hope that the money was being responsibly reinvested into actual faculty hiring/retention/academic program development etc, that is... not usually the case. The big Division I universities that serve as farm team training programs for the NFL, with a little academics on the side, also tend to have tons of investment in sports and not nearly as much in the classroom. But I'm sure this is fine!

#anonymous #ask #school stuff #academia: not even once #ronald reagan burn in hell

[kitkatrix]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by @jazwritesalot. Thank you! 🥹🫶

1. How many works do you have on A03? 120!!

2. What's your total Ao3 word count? 497,454. I have over 25k I haven't posted on A03 though so tack that on and I'm looking at roughly 520k in total.

3. What fandoms do you write for? I currently write for BNHA/ MHA. I used to write for Durarara, HP, Fruits Basket but that was a looooong time ago when I was in my teens lol

4. What are your top five fics by kudos? Fair warning: most of them are NSFW. 1) Take a Bite of Me, 2) Another Day, Another F*ck, 3) more than a learning curve, 4) Need Your Touch, 5) Wrong Size

5. Do you respond to comments? I try to, but I get extremely lazy after a bit and then months later, I respond.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? It would have to be my MCD KRBK fic that I never posted on AO3. It's on Twitter in full but both of them end up dying in the end, one earlier than the other.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Almost all my fics have a happy ending but the happiest one I have thus far is "more than a learning curve". It's completely self indulgent so I wanted it to end in a cute way 🥺

8. Do you get hate on fics? I've only thankfully gotten it once and it was on a collaboration fic. I don't let that stuff bother me though 💜

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Absolutely. Almost 3/4 of my fics on AO3 and Twitter are explicit. I have the most fun writing them.

10. Do you write crossovers? Nope. I don't watch/read enough or have enough creativity to do something like that.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Once. I was very young and found it when searching for my fic title online. It was under a different name and everything. I was so upset that I deleted the fic on my end and stopped completely.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Nada. But I would be over the moon if it ever happened. I would need to give approval first before anything, though. I don't want to come across it one day and nothing was said to me, y'know?

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes! I've done several actually. Some haven't ever been posted publicly but I have a few on AO3 like "Challenge Accepted" and "Pain and Pleasure" that I did with some mutuals on Twitter. It was very fun and I adore doing it 🥰

14. What's your all time favorite ship? KiriBaku! They have my heart in a chokehold. I'm trying to get into others from different fandoms but this one is hard to top.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Hidden Behind a Whisper. I loved loved writing this one when I started and I do go and add some from time to time but I've lost half the motivation I had when I first began. It's sad 😭

16. What are your writing strengths? Dialogue and action scenes. The way I write is like imagining a movie scene, and I write each movement someone makes and go from there. In example, Kirishima putting a hand around Bakugou's waist, Izuku kissing Ochako's forehead, things like that.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Repetitiveness. I tend to say the same thing over and over and have to copy paste my document into a website to see which words are used more than they should. Half the time it's either "that", "just", or "but".

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? If you feel it would add more to your story, speak to someone that knows and is fluent in that language and can read over the dialogue to be sure it is correct. Do NOT use Google translate. It's hardly accurate and a terrible source for translation.

19. First fandom you wrote for? HP. It was a Dramione fic and I was I think 14? It's still up online to this day 💀

20. Favorite fic you've written? "more than a learning curve" if we're talking mildly mature. "Need Your Touch" for Explicit.

I tag whoever sees this and would like to participate! 🫶🫶

#kitkatrix #fic writer

[ach-sss-no]

"Free to good home" chronological order masterpost

I have this oneshot collection that was thrown onto the internet in a tangle with no timeline considerations. It's on hiatus (because I have no ideas right now and am working on other things) so now's probably a good time try to straighten it out

Chapter 1 is probably really the first one

Chapter 2 might be the next one

Or it might be Chapter..... 5

Or 6

8 definitely takes place after chapter 2

9 covers a wide span of time, but is generally supposed to be after 8 but before 7 except for the segment where he's going (✿◡‿◡) it's cold! which might be in january because it's cold

Chapter 10 is after that

Chapter 11 is after that (the second half of it is even later, maybe even after Chapter 3)

7 is later

Chapter 12 was supposed to be before 7 when I was drafting. Then I realized that didn't track, so it goes after 7, but it is possible, even probable, that I missed something or introduced a new problem. Definitely after 10 and 11 though because he finished playing chess with that guy. (and lost) (spoilers oops)

Chapter 3 is the farthest forward in the timeline

I'm purposefully vagueposting because i don't really want this post coming up in tags/searches; i know that most people will be disinclined to click the kinder surprise links and that's totally a-ok

There is no Chapter 4. That's because there is a Chapter 4, but it's an unpublished draft and AO3 counts it in chapter numbering even though you can't access it. I am keeping it there in case I want to repurpose anything that was in it (however, it is unpostable, and will never be seen in its current state)

#long post #I was going to add in the art but I can't find it #I think i posted it to tumblr and didn't save it to disk <w<; no great loss

[darkcircles4lyfe]

hi!! i really loved your post about izuku being a 9, i think you brought up a ton of great points and i really have seen the lack of introspection with him in the recent chapters. i was wondering what you think about all the 6w5 theories for him (just look on personality database lol)!! i actually haven't seen many 2 arguments for izuku and i've seen most people defend the 6w5 argument. i've seen people say that in stress, the core 6 leans more towards 3 tendencies and in growth they lean towards 9, which is interesting considering what happens in izuku's character arcs?. if you have any thoughts please share! tysm :)

Oh that's interesting. I have to admit it had actually been some time since I hunted around for other people talking about it, and I hadn't really seen any 6 takes. I have thought about it though--I myself used to think I was a 6, years ago.

I can definitely see it, especially with the 5 wing accounting for his nerdiness. And then 6s can be worriers, which Izuku definitely is, even in everyday circumstances. When you start examining the growth/disintegration arrows and how they can make one type appear like another, sometimes it can make you feel like you're going in circles. Especially with the 9-6-3 trio. Is Izuku a 9 who acts like a 6 under stress, or a 6 who acts like a 9 when he's feeling his best? imo I think we can get carried away imagining the degree of this transformation, which probably isn't actually that extreme. Just a few similarities. Still, it's very cool to imagine Izuku as a 6 when considering a 6's capacity to be a soft yet strong protector.

You could also say that the way he acted when he went rogue, over-committing to the ideal of sacrifice and the responsibility imparted to him by All Might and OFA, reflects a 6's search for security under stress--appealing to a "higher power." You can see why Katsuki was so adamant that All Might would only enable him. What's interesting, though, is that Izuku still pushed All Might away along with everyone else. His self-isolation was very extreme. I'm not so sure that's something a core 6 would do, unless he totally lost faith in All Might. But I don't think that was the issue. Rather, as Katsuki puts it, "not taking himself into account" is an innate part of him that needs to be kept in check.

#asks #anon #lin answers

[mellpoint]

Gonna say something of my personal life that really has nothing to do with the content I post here. But… I’m supper stressed out.

You see today when I went to pick up my babies from school they had the school on lockdown… because there was a threat roaming the grounds and police with K9s were searching and even had a helicopter. The amount of anxiety and stress that coursed through my body in a total span time of 45 minutes before they allowed us to get the kids, has given me such a bad migraine and I feel like I have worked for a week straight with no sleep. I’m exhausted. Now the thing I didn’t mention was, my babies are 3years and 9 months old.

How am I expected as a parent to bring them to school for the next 17 years or so knowing that is something so normal now and that should prepared in case of? It’s insane to me and quite honestly as a person who suffers with severe anxiety and other mental disorders, it takes a toll and it messes with me severely.

How did we as a nation got to the point that we need to teach lockdown protocols for schools of such young ages? Or any school for that matter?

The good thing is, my babies are home with me tonight. And I will hold them extra closer when they go to sleep. I feel and apologize for any families that have gone through this and lost precious souls. This really should not be happening but it is.

Anyways. If you read this. Thank you. Just needed to vent a little 😪

#feelings #fyp #follow #in my feels #quoteoftheday #sad thoughts

[sidhewrites]

20 questions

tagged by the best bird @dreamcrow!

Tagging you !

1.) how many works do you have on ao3?

11 works, 1 series

2.) what's your total ao3 word count?

46,333

3.) what fandoms do you write for?

Trollhunters/TOA occasionally. Mostly I write original stuff off Ao3 so this may not be the most exciting thing lol

4.) what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Tales of Arcadia: In Search of Home

A week in the Woods

Glimte

Wait

Parenting 101 BC

everything is TOA except for glimte, which is an original work you can read on Ao3 OR you can pwyw for the final edited version of it over on gumroad :3c

5.) do you respond to comments? why or why not?

yeah! i try to at least thank people for commenting if I have nothing else to say

6.) what's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

It's not an ENDING per se but Parenting 101 BC has the saddest chapter that's been posted I think?

7.) what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I think Wait probably? If only because a Week in the Woods is nothing but fluff

8.) do you get hate on fics?

nothing that I've seen so far. If there's any hate my way, it's probably a vagueblog somewhere that I haven't seen.

9.) do you write smut? if so, what kind?

Meh. Like I don't go out of my way to avoid writing it, I just don't often write anything where it feels necessary personally?

10.) do you write crossovers? what's the craziest one you've written?

not legit crossovers but I love imagining my various OCs in the silliest possible situations. My favorite remains a spider librarian in centaur.world as a spidertaur

11.) have you ever had a fic stolen?

not my fic. I had an ooooold rp group stolen twice, but beyond that I haven't seen anything reposted and claimed. If there's something out there please let me know!

12.) have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! there's a fantastic group of russian folks who liked to read In Search of Home when I was updating it. If i start it up again, it's gonna be for them <3

13.) have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not in recent history nope

14.) what's your all-time favorite ship?

Honestly I don't think I have one? I like imagining various blorbos together but nothing stands out to me off the top of my head.

15.) what's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I want so badly to finish In search of home, but the motivation....the muse...they are away never to be seen again...

16.) what are your writing strengths?

scene setting and character building. Action and dialogue can sometimes feel stilted, but I'm really good at giving the narration a strong voice and making strong, 3D characters :3

17.) what are your writing weaknesses?

pacing and plot. I get lost in the weeds, or I dont go into the metaphorical grass at all, and it's so hard to find that middle ground. Fortunately for fanfic you don't need to worry about pacing quite as much as you would for more traditionally-written stories with a planned beginning middle and end

18.) thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I love it honestly. I threw in some spanish here and there for a bilingual character, and I think it adds some authenticity when you know the language. But if you don't, there's nothing wrong with just writing it in the language you do speak and just indicating that it's in a different language.

19.) first fandom you wrote for?

When I was 9 years old I was introduced to na.ruto and made my first OC. nothing was ever the same.

Although my first FIC fic was a H.arry P.otter fic when I was 11, posted on quizilla. Anyone remember Quizilla? That shit rocked. i loved those interactive fics.

20.) favorite fic you've ever written?

Honestly In Search of Home. It's just fun and silly and feels like a good continuation of my version of the series finale.

#answered meme #dash games #just for fun #tag games