Latest Posts by kelpforestfire - Page 6
New Podfic - part 1 of 3 posted
Hello loves
I thought maybe this is a moment in time where we would like some wish fulfillment. So here is the first of about three hours of me reading my bring back Black fic, because it's a story full filling my own wishes to have canon-ish wolfstar go differently. I have it all recorded and am just editing the other two parts, I should have them up soon.
The world feels really hard right now for a lot of people. I'm going to miss the community and weird moments of joy TikTok brought into my life. I hope us Americans leaving that platform means we'll look for connections on other platforms. I hope so. We really need each other.
Anyway - here's some healing wolfstar angst fluff smut because this is how i've coped for 20 years. You get it.
Had a dream this morning that Archive of our Own had a Random button which would simply take you to a random fanfic, like Wikipedia has. (AO3 does not appear to really have this, I checked and couldn't find one, but I kinda wish they did.) Someone had started a game where whatever fic you got, that was your new fandom, which is very fun! I would love this meme in real life.
The problem came in where so many people used the button that it broke and just started sending everyone to Stealing Harry, and like...I have fond memories of Stealing Harry but it's not my best work and nobody should be assigned to be a Harry Potter fan in this day and age.
So I decide to go off and find Astolat and demand she fix this but when I finally did (there was a whole quest) she turned to me like the baddie in a horror flick and said, "But that's the most random story there is" in a dark voice and I was terrified and woke up.
In the cold light of day I know there are more random stories by me on the archive, let alone by others, but I'm not going to try to get back there to argue my case. Pretty sure whatever I spoke to was actually the demon specifically assigned to plague fandom and not Astolat at all.
I'd say "get thee behind me, demon" but I know just how many porny fics on AO3 begin with that premise. (I've written some.) Begone foul spirit, and take your Satanic Panic with you!
Me at age 13, exhausted at school after staying up all night to read fanfic: I can’t wait until I’m an adult and I can stay up reading without any consequences!
Me, an adult, exhausted at work after staying up all night reading fanfic: Fuck.
btw you will miss this in 5 or 10 years. memory will smooth these circumstances down like a river stone, and you will find yourself longing for a shade of light or a moment of this particular innocence. you don't know about what happens next, and one day that will be the most alluring thing of all. don't leave it all for nostalgia. have a nice night now, whatever night it happens to be.
The Archive will be down for about 3 hours of maintenance tomorrow, Jan 14 at 22:00 UTC. Check what time that is for you: https://bit.ly/4aiO4Cs.
sorry for being weird and evasive. i was raised to believe that having wants and needs was a moral failing
So I have read several people complaining that they can't be expected to know the "unwritten rules" of fandom. So here's what I wish people knew:
Fanfiction is fiction.
Fictional people are not real.
Fictional people do not have rights.
Fictional people cannot be abused.
Reading or writing about something does not mean the desire to do or support it in the real world.
If I find art upsetting/triggering/disgusting/outraging/unpleasant/squicky/distressing/offensive, it is on me not to read it, not the creators and hosts to remove it.
Curate your own experience. The back buttons exist for a reason.
If you don't trust yourself to do that, get someone you trust to do it for you.
Fandom is an adult space. Adults create and own and host fandom spaces. If minors want to participate, then the onus is on them and their parents/guardians/trusted adults to ensure they participate appropriately, not on strange adults to stop being adults.
You often don't know the assault status or mental health status or neurotype or race or nationality or religion or gender or sexuality or age of a creator or consumer, and they do not have to disclose to you to justify their fantasy.
AO3 is not a safe space. It is not intended to be a safe space. Proceed accordingly.
Just because you don't like something or find it offensive doesn't mean it is a "problem" that "has to be dealt with".
Most characters in anime are not white.
There is no onus on you to reblog or share anything.
Everyone makes mistakes in fandom and is less than their best self sometimes.
Persistent pseudonyms encourage long term relationships.
Ship wars are stupid.
Someone else enjoying things does not impact on your own enjoyment of other things.
Tagging and warning is a courtesy, not a requirement. Assume any fic might contain untagged content.
Rating is an imprecise art, not a science.
Don't hassle IP creators.
Most people who are in fandom are hoping to make connections based on a shared passion.
Trying to profit from transformative fanworks puts us all at risk.
No one is obligated to share your head canon or fanon.
Being kind rarely fails to pay off.
It is okay to block and remove people who make your experience unpleasant. You don't have to placate them. (Learn from my mistakes).
Britpicking is a good thing.
You don't have to justify why you like a canon/pairing/trope/kink. Sometimes navel gazing is fun, but you don't have an obligation to explain yourself, especially to strangers. I share the overwhelming desire to refute an unfair accusation, but the people accusing you are rarely doing so in good faith, so you're batting a losing wicket.
I'm not your Mum. (Well, okay, a very few of you can call me Mum or Mom, but if you are one of them you already know who you are ❤️)
If you aren't mature enough to take responsibility for your online experiences, you aren't mature enough to be in fandom spaces.
sometimes you need dialogue tags and don't want to use the same four
downloading a fic when ao3 dies (when you have the link)
looks like ao3 is down again and i was in the middle of a multi chapter fic when it died on me.
and if that happens to you, this is what you can do to download the fic:
copy paste https://download.archiveofourown.org/downloads/00000000/fic.html in your browser url
replace the pink bit with the number right after /works (that's the work id)
for instance, in https://archiveofourown.org/works/44970790/chapters/113154673 the highlighted bit (44970790) would be the number you swap for the 0s
the download link will look like https://download.archiveofourown.org/downloads/44970790/fic.html
if you want the fic to be downloaded as an epub instead, use .epub at the end of that link
it should start downloading on your device
i'm sure a bunch of people know this and use it but in case you don't, hope this helps
me, seeing a fic writer I like in the comments of an random fic
having a freeze response to stress is so funny in the context of normal adult stressors. millions of years of evolution are trying to tell me that the email will not find me if i stay very still and do nothing
why is trying to make a new friend so embarrassing. hi. me again. asking for your attention once more even though i am literally just some random person to you. it's because i want to be not just a random person to you. please understand
This might sound silly, but anything that makes you want to stick around on this godawful earth any longer is worth it. Fandom is worth it. Talking about your favorite characters is worth it. Imagining silly little stories or angst to process your grief is worth it. Please do whatever you need to do to stay alive. Fight for joy in the places you can find it. Your community wouldn’t be the same without you
when an author comments back, and I feel Fred from Cars
One of the coolest parts about being a fan of fanfic is you can actually contact the author. And they will respond. And then you can message them nonstop until they allow you into their lives and then you’re becoming their beta reader and suddenly you know multiple authors of all types of fiction books and fanfic authors who will drag out their deleted fics for you to read at a moments notice.
Anyway. Comment on fics and message authors. It’s absolutely worth it.
When someone you love offers a bid for connection, you say yes every time. When someone sends you an article, a video, a funny post, it’s a bid for connection. They are trying to connect with you. When someone shares details about their day, their life, their thoughts, or their feelings with you, that is a bid for connection. They want to connect with you on a deeper level. They are trying to pull you into their world. If you love them, you say yes every time. Yes, even if the article they send is not particularly interesting to you. Yes, even if it means listening to them ramble about a game you don’t care about and think is stupid. Yes yes yes. And let’s hope they always say yes to your bids, too.
passages that make you whisper "oh my god"
Did you ever just feel so lucky for knowing someone you met online? Like.. I was one click away from not following you. I was one second away from never even knowing of your existence.I would never have been this happy!!!...
my job is to get drunk at family functions and judge people’s bookshelves
i actually kinda like it when a character getting better includes them becoming weirder and less polite and more confusing and strange. no more "domestication" i wanna see the weird guy be weird!!!
not to hate on another person’s work but the harry potter series is easily the worst marauders fanfic i’ve ever read it wasn’t gay enough and i hated all of the deaths
but please mention it anyway?
just found a fic author who appears to be silent on this and maybe they are anti jkr, but I would prefer to know for certain.
I love that every time I find a marauders fic they'll mention not supporting jkr. Buddy you're writing about "what if sirius's dead brother was trans and wanted to bang harry's dead dad" we know you don't <3
Pro tip!! You CAN request that your fics not be re-added to Goodreads! This is a blessing 🩷🩷🙏
Daily reminder to leave comments on fics to make someone's day after so much hard work 🥰
Kudos are great, Reblogs are great but it can feel so quiet without the comments. Even just a few words of encouragement, appreciation and deserved gratitude can go a long way!
If you don't know what to say, you can always:
say how the work made you feel: made you laugh, cry, sad, happy. Point out which parts made you feel what
quote the parts you really enjoyed or stood out to you and say why
say where you were or what you were doing when you read it and how it affected your day (there were so many instances when a great fic completely derailed my plans and I had to sneak out somewhere to scream internally and fangirl lol)
discuss characters, plot and theories, once you get talkative it will start pouring out lol
you can even use a meme!
honestly, at least just say "thank you" and how much you enjoyed it
extremely relevant bonus point: if you like the story so much that you're gushing about it with your friends and recommending it to them, the writer would love to hear all of that gushing even more than anyone 😂
“oh no we need to practice for our fake dating” is the funniest trope to me cause like. there are so many people who force themselves into a shitty relationship they hate just because of amatonormatiivity that it’s an ingrained part of popular culture to joke about hating your partner.
which is to say, oh my god you dont need to hold hands and go on fake dates, you don’t even need to agree on a single detail of your cover story beforehand. you can literally stand 6 feet apart at all times and look profoundly uncomfortable and all anyone will think is “yikes™. not my problem”
not enough women stabbing each other to symbolize sex in the media actually
sorry i tried to drink your blood i think you're cute
hot artists don't gatekeep
I've been resource gathering for YEARS so now I am going to share my dragons hoard
Floorplanner. Design and furnish a house for you to use for having a consistent background in your comic or anything! Free, you need an account, easy to use, and you can save multiple houses.
Comparing Heights. Input the heights of characters to see what the different is between them. Great for keeping consistency. Free.
Magma. Draw online with friends in real time. Great for practice or hanging out. Free, paid plan available, account preferred.
Smithsonian Open Access. Loads of free images. Free.
SketchDaily. Lots of pose references, massive library, is set on a timer so you can practice quick figure drawing. Free.
SculptGL. A sculpting tool which I am yet to master, but you should be able to make whatever 3d object you like with it. free.
Pexels. Free stock images. And the search engine is actually pretty good at pulling up what you want.
Figurosity. Great pose references, diverse body types, lots of "how to draw" videos directly on the site, the models are 3d and you can rotate the angle, but you can't make custom poses or edit body proportions. Free, account option, paid plans available.
Line of Action. More drawing references, this one also has a focus on expressions, hands/feet, animals, landscapes. Free.
Animal Photo. You pose a 3d skull model and select an animal species, and they give you a bunch of photo references for that animal at that angle. Super handy. Free.
Height Weight Chart. You ever see an OC listed as having a certain weight but then they look Wildly different than the number suggests? Well here's a site to avoid that! It shows real people at different weights and heights to give you a better idea of what these abstract numbers all look like. Free to use.