Happy WIP Wednesday, everyone! Okay… so. I have two things I’m actively working on at the moment: the first chapter of part three of the time cast a spell on you series (I know I said I was stepping away from that for a couple months but… lmao. Listen. I’m just gonna work on it very slowly and that almost counts as taking a break right…) and a super top secret oneshot I’m going to share a little snippet of today. All I’ll say about it for now is that it’s Queliot (obvs) and Extremely On Brand™ for me lmao. Enjoy…
—
Reaching out in the dark, Eliot took both of Quentin’s hands in his own. The shock of his warmth so immediate and intense Quentin nearly crumbled. “You’re cold,” he said, softly, fondly. “What have you been doing?”
“Um—” Quentin laughed, his whole body trembling now. “Getting high with Julia out back.”
“Naughty, naughty,” Eliot teased with a cluck of his tongue. The sound of his voice setting Quentin’s brain on fire, every neuron seeming to flare all at once. “Well, luckily for you my discipline happens to be warming pretty boys up. Did you know that?”
“Uh, I thought it was…” Fuck. Quentin couldn’t think, his brain like oily black sludge in his skull. What was the name of Eliot’s actual discipline again? Tele-something. Tele—“Lifting shit…”
Eliot hummed, shifting close. His hands reaching up and teasing along the slope of Quentin’s neck. “Common misconception,” he said. “I can prove it if you don’t believe me. Why don’t you come closer, hm? It’s so much nicer here under the covers with me.”
Me sittin’ here, seriously concerned for all the young kids who are gonna’ grow up in this fandom environment thinking they’re secretly evil monsters because their sex fantasies aren’t strictly pure or vanilla or because they ship something with an unhealthy dynamic. Soooooo many people must hate/be terrified of themselves.
Hey…….hey kids…….
You’re fuckin’ fine.
The human brain is weird. Sex fantasies ≠ actual desires. If you ask yourself, “would I want to act out this thing in real life” and the answer is “fuck no,” then you’re fine. Shipping is also not an indicator of what you would condone in real life. You are not secretly a monster. You are a human being. Human beings are complicated. Please calm down and treat yourself to a smoothie or something.
“What you want to read about” is not the same as “what you want to happen in your real life.”
The murder mystery industry has no problem understanding this.
The entire “horror” genre is built on this. Ditto “thrillers”, and indeed most other genres. In fact, possibly the only genre which isn’t inherently built on this assumption is “romance”, and even there… well, there’s a lot of romance stories which are basically about “I want to experience catharsis” rather than “I want this to happen to me” (consider Wuthering Heights, for example - Heathcliff and Catherine are great to read about, but they would each be hell to live with).
This also means if you’re asexual but you still like reading stories where people fuck? You’re still asexual. If you’re aromantic and enjoy reading romances, you’re still aromantic. If you’re non-heterosexual and enjoy reading heterosexual porn (because hey, there’s more of it and it’s easier to find than anything else, right?) then you’re still not heterosexual.
The only thing your taste in reading says anything about is your taste in reading.
Don’t be a dick in bookmarks, folks. And yes while I made this image, I’m giving free reign. Take it. Spread it far and wide. Because I’m hearing that some readers don’t know that their bookmarks are visible.
Leaping off of some of our Artisanal Fandom Grandma/Fandom Spinster/Fandom Grumpy Old Person discussions from a couple of weeks ago, for your consideration: The Selfish Fic Summer Challenge.
Low-stakes, slow-paced, unrestrained summer fun for people who want to write fic at the speed of whatever works within their life right now. Write the thing for that show that ended a month ago that you’re still thinking about, even if it feels like the internet has moved on! Start crafting that 150k fix-it friends to lovers pwp amusement park employee AU where they’re also space pirates for that six-episode limited-run series that stole your heart back in October of 2021! Write one fic or 38, whatever feels best for you!
This is a loose challenge that will run from June to September, 2022. You can write whatever.
Signups are never because I don’t have the time to keep track of signups, and also there’s no deadline! But if you want to pledge that you’re joining for accountability or to encourage your friends to slow down this summer too, feel free to reblog this post! Questions? Send us an ask! Full challenge details here.
A tall ship tutorial for those who made logical career decisions in their late teens / early twenties in the hopes that it makes writing fanfiction about your favorite goobers a little easier.
Thanks for the tag @writeanapocalae! I kept forgetting this sitting in my notifications, but here is (finally!) a snippet from the short story I’m working on now for Camp NaNoWriMo.
Her eyes met the Oracle’s–the black, the black. She felt the intensity of that gaze and held it for a moment. “The Oracle is a lying bitch. Just like all her gods.”
And Prima walked away. She used all the length of stride her not insubstantial height gave her. Footsteps, hasty, followed her.
Took me two years to finally finish writing this 3000+ word poem, then like half a days’ work for myself to add illustrate it and for Lowell to do the layout. I am so so so proud of it.
Our pilot is officially out!! Give it a watch, comment your thoughts, and share it with your friends!! The way you can help us win the festival is by viewing our full pilot, sharing it and telling others, and engaging with the page itself ❤️❤️✨
Cavalry swords, two-handed swords, and cutlasses - these swords are used commonly for hacking and slashing - so they are swung in arcs or from side to side, not thrust forward.
Rapiers and small swords are one-handed weapons that are thin and light, but often quite long. They are used for thrusting and slicing, but as you can imagine they aren’t much use in actual battle, but commonly used for sparring.
The third type is a mixture of the two - but less commonly found.
#2. Terminology
Fainting/Feinting - A false attack intended to create an opening for the real attack.
Parrying - When a swordsman uses his blade to deflect his opponent’s blade when he is being attacked.
Advance - A short forward movement
Fuller - A groove down the side of the sword to release suction when stabbed into a person’s body.
Hilt - The base of the sword near your hands that isn’t the blade
Pivot - Turning 180 degrees while keeping a foot planted
False edge - the “back” of the sword that isn’t sharp and what you don’t usually fight with.
#3. Common myths
A secret move that leads to victory - There is rarely such a “secret” move. Like chess, swordfighting is won through strategy and careful thinking, as well as physical prowess, not sEcRetT mOveS.
The Dramatic PauseTM - Nope, doesn’t happen in real life. No one actually glares at each other in the middle of a swordfighting match when their priority should be, yknow, surviving.
#4. The Learning Curve of swordfighting
Unlike an ordinary learning curve where you slowly get better at something, in swordfighting, an untrained novice is much better than someone practising for a few months. This is because their actions are almost always wild and unpredictable. When a student receives training, their skill will actually decline over the next few months, because they will be trying to fight by the rules and are naturally not good at it. It takes at least two years to become a good swordsperson.
#5. The actual swordfighting itself
Footwork - Forward and back, in a line, in a semi-circle, a pivot. The basic goal of footwork is to give you a balanced center from which you can lunge, advance, retreat, attack, and parry. It also helps maintain the appropriate distance from your opponent and percieve.
Timing - How fast/slow is your opponent? How fast is your reaction time?
Every fighter has a different style. Some may naturally be inclined to use a certain move over and over, and have weakpoints in say, their reaction time. It is important that your character has a proper swordfighting style.
Predictability - How good are your characters/opponents at anticipating and learn each others fighting style? That determines the outcome of the fight!
Cavalry swords, two-handed swords, and cutlasses - these swords are used commonly for hacking and slashing - so they are swung in arcs or from side to side, not thrust forward.
Rapiers and small swords are one-handed weapons that are thin and light, but often quite long. They are used for thrusting and slicing, but as you can imagine they aren’t much use in actual battle, but commonly used for sparring.
The third type is a mixture of the two - but less commonly found.
#2. Terminology
Fainting/Feinting - A false attack intended to create an opening for the real attack.
Parrying - When a swordsman uses his blade to deflect his opponent’s blade when he is being attacked.
Advance - A short forward movement
Fuller - A groove down the side of the sword to release suction when stabbed into a person’s body.
Hilt - The base of the sword near your hands that isn’t the blade
Pivot - Turning 180 degrees while keeping a foot planted
False edge - the “back” of the sword that isn’t sharp and what you don’t usually fight with.
#3. Common myths
A secret move that leads to victory - There is rarely such a “secret” move. Like chess, swordfighting is won through strategy and careful thinking, as well as physical prowess, not sEcRetT mOveS.
The Dramatic PauseTM - Nope, doesn’t happen in real life. No one actually glares at each other in the middle of a swordfighting match when their priority should be, yknow, surviving.
#4. The Learning Curve of swordfighting
Unlike an ordinary learning curve where you slowly get better at something, in swordfighting, an untrained novice is much better than someone practising for a few months. This is because their actions are almost always wild and unpredictable. When a student receives training, their skill will actually decline over the next few months, because they will be trying to fight by the rules and are naturally not good at it. It takes at least two years to become a good swordsperson.
#5. The actual swordfighting itself
Footwork - Forward and back, in a line, in a semi-circle, a pivot. The basic goal of footwork is to give you a balanced center from which you can lunge, advance, retreat, attack, and parry. It also helps maintain the appropriate distance from your opponent and percieve.
Timing - How fast/slow is your opponent? How fast is your reaction time?
Every fighter has a different style. Some may naturally be inclined to use a certain move over and over, and have weakpoints in say, their reaction time. It is important that your character has a proper swordfighting style.
Predictability - How good are your characters/opponents at anticipating and learn each others fighting style? That determines the outcome of the fight!
Look, if I introduced a WIP on here excitedly and then promptly never mentioned it again, it doesn’t mean I’m not working on it, it means I’m slowly rotating it in my mind like a rotisserie chicken and then went out to the grocery store to buy several other rotisserie chickens while I wait for it to cook and then slowly started rotating those rotisserie chickens and repeat
Warnings: Mention of suicide, character death, implied sexual content
Relationships:Melanie King/Georgie Barker
Characters: Melanie King, Tim Stoker, Peter Lukas, Georgie Barker, Danny Stoker, Martin Blackwood
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Season 4 AU, Fix-It of Sorts, Unreliable Narrator, Humor, Blind Character, Trans Butch Georgie Barker, Femme Melanie King, Autistic Bipolar Melanie, End!Tim, Ghost!Tim, Stranger!Danny, Lonely But In Recovery Martin, Watch out everybody this is as close to relenting as DMC gets
I don’t think there’s an applause gif big enough to properly convey my reaction to this.
Also, I love that if anyone tries to say that you’re just “another hack fic writer with no ideas of her own who is jealous of the “real” writers out there”, they could quite literally be crushed under your catalog of award-winning original writing as a response. They can’t dismiss your stance on this topic the way they do to so many unpublished / fanfic writers because you’ve already met all of the standards that they insist someone has before they’ll accept their opinion as worth listening to.
Right?
“Well, fanfic authors never win awards, so–” “WOULD YOU LIKE TO HOLD MY HUGO.” “That’s basically, it’s, you know, the People’s Choice, so–” “LOOK AT MY NEBULA.” “That’s a science fiction award, it doesn’t really–” “LOOK I’VE WON THE ALEX.” “…” “IT’S GIVEN BY THE SAME PEOPLE WHO GIVE THE NEWBURY.” “…” “I’M THE FIRST PERSON TO WIN IT TWICE IN A ROW.” “…well you wrote porn.” “GOSH I SURE DID.”
More attention to this, please. :) From yet another of the I Wrote Fanfic First And I Decline To Feel Shame About It brigade.
(And I also wrote for My Little Pony, which means I may have inadvertently contributed something to Seanan’s state of being. [Which I will file under the “Quiet Unholy Glee” heading.])
I already posted about this on twitter but since I’m in a mood today I’m also going to put it here:
This is your semi-regular reminder that if you’re invested in a particular writer continuing to write fic for your favorite pairing, you really should take the time to toss a comment their way whenever you read their stuff. This goes double for smaller/dwindling fandoms, but honestly… even the most popular writers in the most popular fandoms need those comments to stay motivated, my friends.
And really… you can just toss an emoji in the comment box if you don’t have the spoons to write out something more detailed or if being perceived seems scary. I get it! Putting yourself out there is hard! But it’s also very hard to stay motivated if you feel like most people who read the thing you spent weeks/months/years working on didn’t like it enough to tell you about it. Especially on multi-chapter works in progress!!! Because comments are literally the only way we can tell if someone read it since you can’t leave kudos more than once…
Anyway !!! Go forth and give your favorite fanfic author a head pat in the comment section today. They probably need the motivation more than you realize lol.
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