kind of tempted to leave a review every time i go through someone’s ff.net/ao3 and reread everything but i also dont want to freak people out with the wave of emails
Please for the love of god do this. In the last… oh, I don’t know, seven-ish years since I first discovered fandom, the culture has made a huge shift. It used to be that, whether you yourself wrote any fic or not, you reviewed every goddamn chapter of every goddamn fic that you read. Usually in detail. And plenty of people (myself included, at times) would leave a review on every chapter even if there were already twenty or thirty chapters in the fic before I ever stumbled upon it.
But we’ve moved away from that. Now, plenty of authors (particularly those who aren’t Big Name Fans) practically have to beg for reviews to get even a small amount of acknowledgement, and that’s not fair. The SE fandom is better about it than plenty of others I’ve been in, but we’re not immune either.
So if you wanna go all out and leave ALL OF THE REVIEWS… I say do it.
D O IT
I’LL JOIN YOU
I remember the time with a custom to REVIEW EVERY SINGLE CHAPTER YOU READ AND GIVE FEEDBACK TO AUTHOR IN DETAIL. In less than 10 years it has changed to “I consume but don’t interact” (why? what has given peeps the belief that authors don’t want to have comments and feedback from you? That leaving your comment is “bothering” them and they think you are stupid? WHERE DOES THIS SILLY IDEA COME FROM?)
Let’s bring it back, the habit to comment plenty!
You can always tell when, shall we say, someone Slightly older discovers your fic, because not only do you get hits, you actually get kudos and what can only be described as a Review at the end of each chapter. Usually followed by a question because they Want to engage. They Want you to know they enjoyed your thing and want to read more from you.
I can’t tell you how discouraging it is for some of my work to have literal actual thousands of hits and 10 kudos and 0 comments. And then people who have never left a single note of their presence come into my messages months later like “hey you’re my fave writer why did you stop :(”
Because. It. Feels. Like. No. One. Gives. A. Shit.
Nothing makes an author’s day faster than seeing that someone is reading a whack of their stories in a row, or re-reading one, because coming back for more is the best compliment we can possibly get. But we only know that is happening if you leave kudos or comments! So, go for it. Feedback is love!
I recently had somebody go through, binge-reading all of one of my fics, and leaving comments on each chapter, and I looked forward to tracking their progress.
^^^ nothing makes my day like a comment, even if it’s only a couple of words. Seriously. And there is absolutely no greater compliment than reading a fic more than once because we know there’s so much other stuff out there.
You really don’t know how important this is until it’s not there.
Seeing people write reviews for every chapter means something. Seeing people engage with what you’ve written means something. Reading people’s thoughts on what has happened and their eager questions for what happens next…
It all means something. And seeing that engagement can be all the encouragement a person needs to continue their work. No one likes to feel like they’re throwing their hard work (yes, even that vampire, coffee house AU slash-fic) into some uncaring abyss.
This also counts for musicians and artists too, I’m sure.
This goes for EVERY KIND OF ART. I go through the tags of my recent art on the daily. On YouTube, I still read the comments, though I know I’m not supposed to.
Creators LOVE it when you interact with their work. PLEASE – if you love it, don’t be afraid to say so.
a small backyard, a decent fence and the will to make a safe coop for your fluffy dames is all you need to make it happen
they will eat your vegetable scraps and gobble down pretty much any kind of food waste, turning discarded crusts and mushy fruit into big fat eggs full of protein!
and depending on which breed you buy, they will lay an egg almost every day. free, nutritious food every morning! what other pet will do that?
it’s a misconception that eating eggs is inherently cruel, or that you need a rooster for your chickens to lay eggs! all the eggs you buy in supermarkets are unfertilised, which means there is no chance of that egg ever hatching. you’re not eating a potential life, your chickens will lay eggs regardless of whether there’s a rooster around
so only buy a rooster to go with your lovely ladies if you want baby chicks – otherwise, just get some girls and enjoy those omelettes!
the way cage egg farms are run is terrible, and you can’t always be sure that a free range farm is as idyllic as the picture you see on the carton. lots of sad chookies who can’t perch or scratch or eat grass and clean themselves. 😦
this way, you will always be certain that your girls are happy, healthy, doing what chicken are meant to do and eating what chickens should be eating, which means bigger and better eggs for you!
you can give eggs to your friends! give eggs to strangers! eggs for everyone!
tiny and furious lawnmowers. chickens LOVE grass, especially clover. if you have a small backyard, they will do all the work of keeping the grass trimmed.
a caution, pls buy your chicken a friend – they will get lonely if you only buy one. my friend had two chickens and one died, leaving Gizmo all alone. she got depressed and stopped laying, so they put her in the rabbit hutch. now she has a best friend bunny called Jimmy and she’s very happy! she often sits on him and purrs.
chickens are good around most other pets – cats and chickens usually regard each other with mutual indifference and disdain, but they generally bond with dogs. however, if you know your pooch or kitty is particularly aggressive, make sure you check it won’t be a problem!
scratch scratch scratch, scratch party!!
one time I was cleaning out the stables and my chicken came over, saw that I was using a big rake and went !!!! scratch time!!! and she started scratching furiously next to me like she was trying to help
they’re very clean animals and will clean themselves every day with a dust bath and a thorough preening
when it starts raining it takes them a good 10 seconds to process what’s happening, then they RUN to shelter
gloriously stupid tiny velociraptor running
peck peck peck. is food? I check! peck. not food!
rip all snails and slugs that live in your garden
they will also go after mice and spiders
chicken poop is great fertiliser! when you clean out their coop, spread the poo on your garden and watch your flowers and veggies grow!
kiddos LOVE chickens!!
seriously, looking after chickens is a great job for little kids – any little fella can fill up their water and give them some food, and collecting a warm, fresh egg every morning is so rewarding for them!!!
hours of entertainment watching their antics
some (not all) like a cuddle! the ladies will let you know what their preference is. they may also gently peck and groom you because they love you.
you can give them fancy names like lottie, ethel and lady beatrice so it sounds like they’re a supporting cast in a Jane Austen novel
in conclusion give a pretty chicken a happy home today
Also: you want a bird friend? well it is PSYCHOLOGICALLY HEALTHY for you and the chicken to be friends! After thousand and thousands of years of domestication, chickens are basically genetically programmed to be happy to live with humans.
My best friend has pet chicken.
I’m definitely going to consider getting chickens when I get a house.
Sick of media degrading marriages to something limiting instead of uplifting and beneficial
MARRIAGE IS NOT AN OBLIGATION!!
It’s not something you do because you have to; believe me, I have seen some very unhappy people in unhappy relationships because they felt like the only other option was being single, as if being single is the end of the world.
If you feel incomplete as a single person, it’s an issue with the way you view yourself that a relationship won’t really fix the root cause of anyway.
Also, while I’m ranting, destroy the media message that if you’re the single one among your friends you’ll be the awkward third wheel all the time – friends who value you won’t make you feel that way.
Creative Writing Professor at a former college: Welcome to creative writing! By the way,
you will not write fantasy, ghost stories, pranormal, or science fiction
in this class, as this is a creative writing course.”
What the ever loving fuck is with “creative” writing professors who think that speculative fiction of any stripe ISN’T CREATIVE?
I still remember my own creative writing teacher telling me this because he saw the Terry Pratchett book on my desk and got this smug smirk on his face like “aha, gotcha”. He had the nerve to pick it up and call it “popularist fiction”, like somehow being popular and easily accessible made it less inherent in intellectual value.
I had it in my back pack because I did my final thesis on the evolution of mythology and folk tails into fantasy and sci-fi and the societal importance of telling stories (before anyone asks, no I don’t have it, I lost it when I moved continents), and I used Terry Pratchett because there wasn’t a single humanitarian issue the man did not touch on.
Which I told him. And then he kind of floundered and went “ah, well but, it’s…well I mean it’s not exactly high brow”, like neither the fuck was Shakespeare or Dickens you self-important turnip. Dickens was literally selling his stories by the chapter. He was the popular author of his time. Shakespeare was too, he fucking made up words and phrases all the time because the language he needed to express himself didn’t exist in the way he needed it too.
Intellectual elitism is nothing more than a hold over from class warfare and the belief that only certain people should get to be truly educated. And it needs to be smashed.
High heeled shoes don’t become flats if you break the heels off.
The posts of earrings aren’t sharp.
Nail polish takes a long time to dry and smudges when wet.
You can’t hold in a period like pee.
Inserting a tampon is not arousing or sexual in any way, ever.
Feel free to add your own.
– Bras leave red marks on the skin under and around boobs and it is a magical experience when taken off.
– Make up can take anywhere from 5 to 25 minutes depending on how skilled you are.
– Taking hair out of a ponytail after wearing it for hours does not make it perfectly straight when it comes down.
– Hair when wet sticks to the skin it no longer flows, idiot.
-When women with long hair kiss, turn around, do anything, their hair falls in the way.
– Stockings are itchy and tear like wet paper bags.
– Pantyhose, tights, leggings, and stockings are each different.
– Waxing hurts and leaves red skin for a while afterwards while shaving leaves stubble
– Most can’t run in heels unless they have been VERY worn
– Insecurity in appearance doesn’t mean “buy me a drink”
– EVERYONE HAS DIFFERENT TASTES IN EVERYTHING
-Having large breasts sucks. It sucks beyond belief. If a garment happens to fit your large chest, odds are it won’t fit the rest of you. Underboob sweat is real and terrible. Bending over for extended periods of time will tweak your back out. Running can be painful due to boob turbulence. Bras are hella expensive. Big breasts are not fun.
Putting a tampon in isnt a quick bend-poke-done kinda deal. It involves cubicle yoga, messy hands, numerous curse words as you realise it isnt in correctly and have to take it out and start again with a new one.
Yes to all of this. But also:
If her hair is in an updo, one does not simply remove a hairpin to send her hair cascading down her back. No. If her hair is an updo, it will take at least an hour and an extra set of hands to remove the 137 bobby pins that are holding her hair in place. Furthermore, there’s probably a can’s worth of hairspray in there, intended to withstand category 2 hurricane winds. There’s no cascading happening here – the best you can hope for is a misshapen nest of hair to clump and poof unattractively in the back while it still remains flat against her scalp.
This is one of the funniest posts I’ve seen in a while (especially if you read all the comments), but also really depressing because at 42 I still judge myself as having failed for not matching up to all these mythical stereotypes despite knowing they’re impossible
^^^This though
The odds of a woman having smoothly shaved legs and armpits are directly proportional to the amount of skin her clothing bares and/or the amount of fucks she gives at that particular moment.
GLASSES ARE NOT COSMETIC. If we whip them off, we do not become gorgeous fashion models. We become squinty.
-most women wear bras. Yes, even when they are trying to dress sexy. Because bras make boobs look perkier and rounder, which is something men apparently find sexy, so being a seductress or femme fatale is not an automatic reason for a female character to not be wearing a bra.
-a good bra will hide headlights, or at the very least drastically reduce their noticeability. A women with enough pointy nipple issues will opt for a padded or molded bra to hide them.
-women’s nipples do not automatically become hard pyramids visible through any and all layers of clothing the second they become even slightly aroused. They are not the female equivalent of boners. And even if their nipples do get hard, the bras they are almost certainly wearing (because even a goddamn succubus with big, honkin’ knockers for seducing men is gonna have those painful puppies in some kind of boob sling) should keep those pointy nipples from being visible to every other character in the scene, JIM BUTCHER. YES, EVEN LARA RAITH WOULD WEAR A BRA ONCE IN A GODDAMN WHILE.
if you’re being tied up and tortured in a freezing underground dungeon, then you probably have more important things to pay attention to than how hard somebody’s nipples are, jim butcher
– Wearing a bra that doesn’t fit HURTS. It’s not sexy to wear a bra that’s “two sizes too small”, it’d make your clothes hang oddly and you’d have a weird, uncomfortable “quad-boob” effect and your back would hurt, BEN AARONOVITCH.
Also, after removing a too small bra, there’s gonne be angry red lines on the boobs and ribs and the lady is not going to want them to be touched by anyone for a good long while
-Not all women wear heels. Those things hurt and are hard to balance in. They can also mess up your feet and back pretty bad.
-Lips aren’t just naturally red “as if she’d been drinking wine but they were just like that without makeup cause she’s so perfect,” my dear little Kvothe from ‘Name of the Wind’. Also, girls do not naturally smell like fruit or flowers, it’s either perfume or something she’d been eating recently.
I’ve been appreciating this post but now it’s back very specifically calling out my problematic faves and I don’t think those male authors realize how much it totally takes me out of the story for a moment when they commit these errors. It does nothing useful for the plot and is annoying for half of the audience
Is it weird that I’m female and wasn’t aware of a solid third of these?
I mean, all writes take note. I basically live in man land when it comes to protagonists so I don’t know half these things despite being a woman
(Most) Women do not look at themselves in the mirror and compare their breasts to fruit. Any sort of fruit. Especially melons. Please save us from the melons.
Also we are not aware of our breasts at all times. I do not walk down a flight of stairs and think “oh golly my breasts are bouncing so much right now”. They are as much as natural part of our bodies as arms. Do you constantly think about how your arms are moving? Sure you may be aware of them, but paying full attention? Doubtful.
Also: women working out are almost never sexy. They’re not glowing or glistening or (kill me) *sparkling*. They are red and sweaty and gross just like all the dudebros doing their time with the dumbbells. Stop ogling fictional women at the gym, TOM WOLFE.
“lol Android users be like-” your phone is designed to break down after a year, your apps are all programmed to draw unnecessary power after 2 years, all your accessories and hardware are arbitrarily made with only 1 kind of plug in mind so you can’t use them with anything else or get them from anywhere else, the cables are 150$ and break in a year, your phones will not charge if there is lint in the port, the stores will ask you for 150$ to remove that lint, the phone itself is 900$
But your chat bubbles are blue so that balances it out right
they literally removed the audio plugin and called it a benefit that it can now only work with their arbitrary wireless headphones. They coloured the phones a pinky gold and sold it for twice as much.
This isn’t a drag against you this is a drag against apple, the company. Their products are price hiked to an insane, impossible degree. They aren’t selling you the product, they are selling you the superiority of being able to smugly say you have an iphone.
They deliberately built up a culture of apple supremacy (especially as a class barrier but i aint even gonna go into that), and now people are making posts like “lmao android users have a bad camera” (they dont) or “lmao android users send bad snapchats” (the android version of snap is deliberately coded to force lower resolution images in order to, surprise, get people saying that exact thing to further encourage #iphoneculture)
Buy an iphone if you want lord knows I’ve bought frivolouss things but can you PLEASE recognize youre being deceived??? theyre playing you every single time you make a post about your iphone and buy into their culture to squeeze more and more money out of you and divide the market and inevitably the classes.
If I ever don’t reblog this assume I’m dead
The iphone stands as a testament to the power of brand loyalty. theres no qualitative reason to buy iphones.
This. This is good fiction writing advice. I really appreciate how it was formatted as “this is a common problem, here is a solution to try in your own work” and not “oh god, don’t do that!” without any extra help. And I extra appreciated the “don’t rely on adverbs” bit, because they do have their place but they aren’t the only way actions can be emphasized.
If you buy pre-made herbal tea blends (usually have names like Bedtime, Calm, etc) check the ingredients. I just saw a Nighttime blend that had St. Johns Wort in it, which can be dangerous when mixed with some medications. Talk to you doctor what herbs you should avoid. (Especially when you want to ingest st. Johns wort or mugwort)
A simple hint to remember is just because its in a food store, doesn’t mean its safe.
St. John’s Wort shouldn’t be taken with antidepressants as well as many anti-anxiety meds (such as Xanax)! For a full list see below:
St. John’s Wort reacts with a scary high amount of medications. Seriously. As a pharmacy tech, I’ve learned to notify a pharmacist EVERY TIME someone has some with them/some tea with it in there when they come to pick up their prescriptions. Even if the tea’s not for them or it’s not their own meds, we notify them just as a friendly head’s up.
fellow tea lovers, have each other’s back
Always, ALWAYS check the herbal ingredients against your meds. People recommend St. John’s Wort and valerian to me all the time for insomnia. Guess what herbs are on the “DO NOT CROSS WITH THESE MEDICATIONS NO REALLY WE MEAN IT” list for me?
Check the ingredients.
I mean shit, grapefruit can kill you on some meds
St John’s Wort absolutely interacts and messes with birth control meds, and lowers the protection of the hormones.
Honestly, I think the whole “don’t pay the writers” thing boils down to the notion that everybody thinks they can write. It’s the old saw about the novelist at a cocktail party having to hear someone say, for the millionth time, “I’d love to write a book someday.”
Someone–Stephen King? Pretty sure I saw this in a Stephen King foreword–once said they’d like to say to a brain surgeon, “Boy, I’d love to do brain surgery someday.”
We treat “the ability to put words into a sentence” like it’s just the same as “the ability to form a coherent narrative that engenders a variety of emotions within the reader and puts them in a scene and shows them what they didn’t see before”.
And that’s like me drawing a stick figure and saying I’m an artist.
Writers are constantly devalued because everyone thinks they have a book in them and don’t realize the level of skill and commitment it takes to finish even a short story, much less a whole book.
This goes well beyond fandom, but man, I would’ve hoped fandom would know better.
Fun fact: SanderSides made me realize that pointing out fallacies in anxious, depressive, or otherwise bad thoughts/voices is a pretty good (fun) way of rationalizing them away.
Examples:
“Everyone hates you, they must be onto something.” “Actually brain, not only is that demonstrably incorrect because of the fact that most of the seven billion people on the planet don’t even know who I am, it’s also an appeal to popularity.”
“If you eat something you’re going to end up eating everything, having no self-control, and getting fat.” “Actually brain, that’s a slippery slope fallacy.”
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