Anonymous asked:
Oh man, if there were a way to pay for the rest of Wild Ones, I'd totally be down for that!
Aha, I mean… it is one of my fav fics, and it has, like, 33 chapters done. Maybe I’ll start posting it monthly to my patreon or something–I’ll have to think about it.
Anonymous asked:
Hey on Archive for the "Kiss The Rain" Renga fic. At the end you always say that the next chapter is available somewhere else. I tried to find it because I am dying to read more. You updated it today but it still said that so like I really wanna know. Where can I find the other platform? It is eating at me .
Aha, yeah, it’s against the rules on AO3 to talk about patreon, which is why I give out my twitter, because I post about it there, lol (and always forget to post about such things here). So yeah, chapter 10 of KTR is here.
Hope that helps!
Anonymous asked:
Hi, sorry if this is kinda coming out of left field, but will you ever post the rest of Wild Ones?
Aha, no one ever asks about this fic, lol. I have “book 1” of it finished, but right now it’s bonus content on patreon–content that only goes up if people vote for it. So… I mean, there’s just not enough demand for me to post it, I guess.
Although, admittedly, it’s one of my fav fics I’ve ever written and I wish more people would read it. But, ah, yeah, I don’t know if/when it will ever go up.
Sorry.
Got inspired by @createandconstruct to make a quick little somethin. I’ll always love these kids ❤️
a horror genre video game where people keep asking you to hold their baby and you have to fight off increasingly determined hoards of monsters without dropping it
sssshit. hshsit shit shit shit sshit sthis thi sthi shit
Anonymous asked:
Previous anon here—I greatly appreciate the detailed reply! It was quite insightful. I started early in the ML fandom (not as a content creator unfortunately) and do recall SF’s rise in popularity. How often was it updated during that period? (My memory is hazy).
I prefer writing sizable chapters (~10k), but the updates occur on a monthly basis as a result. Would switching to a shorter/frequent format be more advantageous in that case?
I don’t remember how often I updated SF, as I don’t think I had it on a specific schedule, but I do remember that I updated it sometimes multiple times a week, and then–for later, longer chapters–probably at week and a half intervals. Until I stopped writing it, lol.
And yeah, no matter how much you write, I’d cut it up so you’re doing more updates per month–so long as that works with the structure of the story. A fic update of 3000K upwards is usually suitable for most readers. But again, don’t change your entire process if what you’re doing works for you, and don’t jeopardize your work itself for the sake of an audience.
I mean it when I say that chasing an audience is NOT worth it. You’ll never be satisfied.
Anonymous asked:
Hi there! Do you have any advice on improving traction towards a fanwork/fic? I love writing—and it's not for notoriety by any means—but having validation and feedback also feels nice (I hope that's not conceited). What would you recommend to someone without a large audience/follower base? I do "advertise" on tumblr when my work is written/updated on AO3. How did your journey start? Thank you!
This is an interesting question and I doubt most people are going to like the answers, but here we go:
So, first and foremost, you need to be realistic about why you’re creating in the first place. If you’re doing work in a fandom that is older, where content has stopped coming out, or that is simply smaller, you’re not going to get much engagement, period. There will, of course, be activity in these fandoms, but it will be far less and the people involved—while they may view your work—will be less likely to comment/spread it around simply because there’s not much going on. So if you’re creating in that sort of environment (which can be a really good environment if you’re looking for something chill with no pressure), then you have to be prepared for low engagement, even if the people you do meet and who are willing to talk about your work are more regularly in your sphere. You can probably make better/closer friends in these sorts of fandoms, if you’re willing to try.
But, on the other end of this, if you’re coming into a huge fandom late, it’s also going to be harder to wade through the massive following to get your stuff out there. For example, in both the Miraculous and Sk8 fandom, I started work pretty early on, when the shows were still gaining traction, and so my “name” as a creator gained traction parallel to that growth, as opposed to when I started writing in the Voltron fandom. With Voltron, I came in super late and so what few fics I had that did gain traction took a lot longer to get there because people already had their fav content creators in the fandom, etc. It’s not impossible to get popular in this situation—far from it—but it does take longer.
You’ll also benefit from having finished works early on in a fandom’s lifespan, at least with writing. This is because there’s less competition for views and so more people will be filtered to your work, initially. This means that you have a better chance of getting those comments and kudos. Having a finished work increases this engagement because people look for finished works before works in progress. Generally, the length of a fic doesn’t matter much for popularity, so long as it’s DONE. When I was writing in the ML fandom, quite a few of my earlier fics were shorter, and they compete in popularity with my longer fics, because people care more about having a finished story, not a long story. That’s why when it came to Only Practice Makes Perfect in the Sk8 fandom, I worked hard to get that shit done, because it was the most popular story I had in the fandom and I decided—like an idiot—to make it a long fic. Which, yeah, means people probably love it/remember it more in the long run, but if I hadn’t finished it in 2 to 3 months, I’d have lost considerable traction as far as making a name within the fandom.
This leads into one of the most important points, if not THE MOST IMPORTANT point in gaining an audience—consistency. If you do want to be a successful creator, you Have To Be Consistent. This is the most difficult hurdle for all creators, and it is oftentimes impossible to make happen. If you want to aim for professionalism, which a lot of fandom creators don’t care about (which is fine), then consistency is how you get there. Nobody wants to read a fic or follow an artist who doesn’t stick to creating what they start (RIP all my unfinished works and the people who left me as a result, LOL). Using my most recent works as an example, I very, very, very consistently updated Only Practice Makes Perfect multiple times a week. To the point where people got comfortable expecting it, which is the key variable here. When people become comfortable that you will regularly create content, they not only stick around, but will be more interactive with you and your work. Nobody likes the disappointment of getting involved with a work only for that work to rarely get updates. Most people don’t have the attention span to care. I’ll admit, if I read a fic that’s not finished and the writer takes one week to update, then one week, then THREE weeks, I probably will, like, forget about it. That’s just life.
The best thing you can do is schedule. And again, this is the HARDEST thing to do, because it holds the creator to a deadline. Most people who create in fandoms don’t want that kind of pressure—and that’s fine. I go back and forth on when I have scheduled releases and when I don’t, depending on what I’m aiming to do. But if you to retain your audience, telling them that you will update a work regularly on such and such a day and such and such a time, it creates something for them to remember. If they’re invested in your work, they will think, “oh, it’s Friday, that means such and such is coming out with something new.” But, with that in mind, you also have to commit to a schedule that people will remain invested in. Which basically means you can’t put things out more than a week away from each other, unless you’re really, really famous, lol. If I told people I was going to go on a two week update schedule, I would lose most of my audience. But a week is long enough for people to both still remember and anticipate. That’s just how the scheduling of the world works. And if you’re an artist that’s working on a big project, then you have to share progress, or pieces of what you’re doing on a regular basis. That’s what generates “buzz” and keeps you relevant. And, yeah, that’s a really hard schedule to commit to, because it’s a lot of work. BUT this consistency is where you see people being successful. Popular youtubers may not have gained their popularity by being consistent, but most sure do retain it that way. And again, there are outlying exceptions, but they generally ARE exceptions.
Speaking of hard work, here’s probably the second hardest thing to accomplish—you have to be prolific. Especially as a writer. You have to write A LOT if you want to gain an audience. And yeah, that means you have to work, a lot. I love my work, so I enjoy that “grind,” and I also have developed a lot of strategies to work around writer’s block and every other obstacle that tends to catch people up. I work in a very professional manner—I do outlines, and drafts, and plan. I do a lot of stuff that people who do this kind of thing for fun can’t be bothered with (and that’s fine), but that’s because I find it to be what works best in creating an efficient environment. I’m also very, very NOT lazy, lol. I was raised in an environment where you have to work for everything that you want. My parents didn’t buy me my first computer, or snowboard, or what have you. We were tight on money and if I wanted something, they couldn’t help me—I had to get that shit on my own. And I also grew up on a farm, where hard work was a staple of how you did things. You did things the right way, even if it was the hard way. You can’t cut corners and it’s the same with this. If you want it, you have to actually do the work, that’s it. Some people get lucky with popularity, most don’t. Most famous actors didn’t become well-known off their first efforts, they had to keep trying and keep working and then they have to continue to do that to stay relevant. So if that doesn’t sound great to you, then you might want to not focus on your audience and just create because you enjoy it, lol. Sometimes that’s what I do too, when I don’t wanna deal with the pressure.
Moving on, here’s another point that nobody is going to like. Simply put, you also have to be good at what you do. I think some people don’t realize that I’ve been writing fic for over fifteen years. I currently have nearly 2 millions words worth of fics on AO3 and that doesn’t include a majority of the stuff I’ve ever written. I practice A LOT. I write every day. And I’ll tell ya, when I started out in middle school, my stuff was not good. But I worked hard, I ignored the hate, and I kept going. That is the only way you will ever get better at anything. There’s no quick way to become a better writer, or artist. And a vast majority of people are only going to pay attention to your stuff if it’s quality work. Getting to that point is a process, on top of then creating stuff that fits into popular molds. Not only am I good at what I do (and I don’t care how arrogant that sounds—I’ve worked my ass off), but when it comes to fandoms, I rarely write “rare pairs” and “crack ships.” Generally, if it’s popular, that’s where I am. That makes a big difference and I honestly don’t have sympathy for people who write rare pairs and such and then complain about lack of engagement. You knew what you were getting into (it’s mostly the Miraculous fandom that gave me this bitterness). If you’re not writing what people WANT to read, then your audience is simply going to be smaller. And that audience doesn’t owe you their attention, no matter how frustrating it is or how good your work is. I could be the best writer in the world, but if I’m writing RekixCherry fic, I have nobody to blame but myself when nobody reads it. BUT if that’s your passion, and writing a certain unpopular thing makes you happy, then, again, you need to not be concerned with traction and your audience.
The last point I’ll make is that it matters HOW you present yourself online. A good chunk of the well-known creators in any fandom are, simply put, older people. And those that aren’t, and are able to connect with those older creators, have generally created a bubble around themselves of maturity and, like, of being nice, lol. A lot of creators are skittish these days, and if you’re an asshole (anti) or fight a lot over stupid shit, you may get a bigger audience, but you will isolate yourself from other creators. And this is important because oftentimes it is your exposure to other creators that will get your work circulating. The reason I got popular in the ML fandom? I wrote a short angst fic and a really popular artist shared it/talked about it and the rest was history. But if I’d had a habit of being an asshole, probably wouldn’t have happened. And, granted, I’m not saying don’t voice your opinions, but if you’re loud all the time, it does turn people off. Especially creators because they are oftentimes the ones being attacked. They don’t want to pull more of that negative bullshit into their lives. I’ll admit, when I was in the ML fandom, I was down for a fight, but then that’s what people came to expect, and it probably did turn others off, and then when I didn’t fight, or didn’t think the way my audience thought I should, it, again, turned people off. It’s really not worth it unless being that type of person IS your platform.
So, that’s all the advice I can give, I suppose. And even if you do all this stuff, that still doesn’t mean you’re going to be popular. At the end of the day, the thing that I stick to is this—I do what I want, I love what I do, and I work hard. If I’m in a position to worry about all that other stuff, then sure, I do, but otherwise… There’s no easy way to become popular and, quite frankly, it’s better to just “live” working hard and being a decent person than it is to focus on all this bullshit. I’ve created a working environment where I function within these “points” quite naturally, so it’s not something I think about (except for schedules, lol). Sometimes I get popular in fandoms, sometimes I don’t. At the end of the day, it comes down to how much work you’re willing to do, because you will always be giving more than you are getting back, so you have to at least enjoy what you’re doing.
Seriously, just do it because you love it. And if the pressure of everything above is something you don’t love (I like a good, high pressure situation, lol), then don’t do it that way—it’s not worth the grief.
to every writer of every story who has changed a plot twist simply because the audience guessed it, i give you Matthew Mercer:
“It makes me excited that people are following along so closely and are picking up the threads that I’m dropping. It means that I’m not doing a terrible job about laying down the tracks. Sometimes the surprise isn’t the joy of telling a good story, sometimes it’s about rewarding people for following along and figuring it out…you can still add additional twists along the way.”
Summary: Reki doesn’t know the first thing about kissing and after a bit of light-hearted taunting, gets the idea to practice with Langa. They’re best friends, aren’t they? So they should help each other out. Boy lips couldn’t be that different from girl lips anyway. Langa, meanwhile, knows this isn’t a good idea. Yet, if having Reki to himself is ultimately impossible, then might as well take what he can get–even if it is going to be painful in the end.
Their experimentation starts out innocently enough, but with curiosity and raging hormones at play, they might be too late by the time they go too far.
Reki: Keep a close eye on him, okay?
Reki: He might have some separation anxiety issues.
Miya: Are you serious?
Miya: He and I are competitors now!
Miya: I’m not about to become your boyfriend’s babysitter!
Reki: He’s my fiancé, get it right.
Reki: And look, this is the first time he’ll have really been away from me since we met, and away from his mom since his dad died.
Reki: Just watch out for him.
Miya: …
Miya: Fine.
Reki: Thank you.
Leaning heavily on the counter, Reki sighed and absentmindedly twisted the gold band on his left ring finger with his thumb. He was vaguely aware of the customers that’d walked into the shop ten minutes before as they walked back out again, but he’d kind of assumed they wouldn’t actually buy anything anyway.
Langa’s twenty-forth message that morning popped up on his phone.
He probably wasn’t even on the plane yet.
Langa: I feel like I forgot something.
Reki: You didn’t forget anything.
Reki: I double-checked your bag last night, remember?
Langa: It’s just a feeling.
Reki: Ignore it.
Langa: Okay…
Reki: I love you.
Langa: Love you too…
It was the seventh time since they’d parted at the airport that Reki had assured Langa he loved him. Not because he needed to assure Langa of his affections, but because he knew this was hard for him and he wanted to give him as much comfort as he could. While Langa had joined Miya at two other low-key skating events around the island that summer, he’d yet to actually leave Okinawa. But all the biggest amateur skating competitions were mostly on Honshu, so leaving had always been an inevitability.
He’d get used to it, Reki had long decided.
They both would.
Summary: When Langa takes a trip to visit family in Canada, both he and Reki find themselves despairing at the distance. Though neither is apt to admit their true feelings for the other, they miss each other desperately and so start exchanging texts whenever they can. Texts that turn rather scandalous when Reki accidentally sends a nude that he knew he never should have taken in the first place.
“So here’s the plan,” Reki said excitedly as he and Langa made their way out the front doors of their favorite ramen shop, skateboards in hand and bellies full. “I’ve counted up everything we’ve been saving the last six months and if we stay at the cheapest hostels and walk a lot, we should be able to hit up almost thirty different skateparks between Tokyo and Kagoshima.”
Langa was nodding along beside him, listening intently as the two dropped their boards and shoved off down the street.
“And,” Reki continued, “if we’re really good with our money, we might even be able to extend the whole trip. Not like either of us has anything to worry about except work.”
Because they no longer had to concern themselves with school. Six months prior, they’d officially graduated. And while their peers were studying away at university, or preparing for their second attempts at the entrance exams the following January, neither Langa nor Reki had taken said exams. They were free to do as they pleased, no educational obligations blocking their path. Instead of attending classes, they’d been working. And Reki had been planning. Planning a very in-depth tour from Tokyo all the way back to Okinawa, where he and Langa would hit up as many skateparks as they could, living life on the cheap and spending time wherever they saw fit. Langa had sort-of helped with the planning, but he was rather terrible at reading maps, so Reki had done a brunt of the work.
Which was fine. He was happy to do it. A whole month (or more) of just him and Langa skating and going places neither of them had ever seen before. Together. No little sisters to get in the way or interrupt, no parents around to barge in unannounced, no early school days to take into consideration when they wanted to stay out late. Just him and his best friend and their shared love of skateboarding.
Reki couldn’t imagine anything more perfect.
Well, he could, but… best not to entertain such impossibilities, especially on the cusp of spending over a month alone with Langa. Better to just shove all those fluttering butterflies back into his stomach where they belonged.
“We’re just taking our backpacks, right?” Langa asked as the two of them jumped a curb and crossed the street.
“Right,” Reki said. “That way we only have a carry-on for our flight from here to Tokyo. And I made sure that every place we’re staying at has a washer and dryer so we can do laundry if we need to.” Since they’d likely only be taking one or two sets clothes.
“Have you already bought our tickets?”
“No. I finalized everything last night, so I figured you could have a look at the itinerary and if it checks out, I’ll go through and make all the reservations.”
Langa was nodding again, a small smile pulling at his lips as they rolled slowly beside each other. It was a smile that had Reki grinning, before he leaned over and bumped Langa with his shoulder.
Summary: Reki doesn’t know the first thing about kissing and after a bit of light-hearted taunting, gets the idea to practice with Langa. They’re best friends, aren’t they? So they should help each other out. Boy lips couldn’t be that different from girl lips anyway. Langa, meanwhile, knows this isn’t a good idea. Yet, if having Reki to himself is ultimately impossible, then might as well take what he can get–even if it is going to be painful in the end.
Their experimentation starts out innocently enough, but with curiosity and raging hormones at play, they might be too late by the time they go too far.
Sitting up in bed, Langa blinked blearily around his dimly lit bedroom, arm instinctively reaching out to pat at the spot on the bed beside him. Which was empty. Not surprising, but he always found himself checking to see if Reki was there anyway.
Groaning, he reached up and rubbed at his eyes, thoughts slow to come around.
It was… Thursday, right? And the time…
He reached out and tapped his phone atop his bedside table. 8:37, it read. Reki must have left for work already.
A little disappointed he’d missed him by only some ten minutes, Langa slumped in place and tried to remember what else was important for the day. Reki was gone, his mom probably was too. Which meant he was alone in the house, seeing as he wasn’t employed.
It was a fact that bothered him some, but given the number of skate competitions he had lined up for the summer, getting a job (or going back to Dope Sketch part-time) would be nearly impossible.
He knew both his mother and Reki were supportive, but, even so…
Ugh, it was too early in the morning for such heavy thoughts. Reminded by his bladder that he needed to pee, he yawned as he swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood. Naked as a result of his avid railing of Reki from behind the night before, he stumbled across the room to the bathroom, before subsequently stubbing his toe on the doorframe.
Swearing once, Langa cradled his foot in his hand as he hopped on one leg into the bathroom, before he whimpered and sank down into a crouch, to hold his toe. Which didn’t exactly do anything to ease the ache, but did somehow make him feel like it might.
Eventually releasing a sigh—once the pain in his toe had faded to a dull throb—Langa was about to once again set his focus on the toilet, but then his attention caught on the open shelves beneath the sink. Toilet paper was lined up at the front (something Reki was always reminding him of because he never remembered to replace the roll on the roller), while behind he could see some kind of…
Bag.
——————–
A/N: I haven’t really been posting much on tumblr, but I figure, if I’m posting this stuff on twitter, I probably should here too. This bonus chapter will go up on AO3 on Friday, but it’s already available on my Patreon!
Anonymous asked:
hi! i saw that youre planning on writing either a superhero au or a childhood friends one after your current fic and i was wondering if you know what rating those would be? the ideas sound super cute but i dont read smut so i was curious if you had a plan yet :) your writing is really good i loved the soulmate au
Don’t really know yet. If either of these stories do have smut–if/whenever I get around to writing them–it will be a very small chunk of the story, as in, something that could be skipped, unlike in Only Practice Makes Perfect and Kiss the Rain.
Hope that helps!
Anonymous asked:
can you tag sk8 infinity please? i know it's been a while and you probably don't reblog spoilers but i haven't caught up yet (if that's fine with you but i will reallyy appreciate it)
Oh shit sure. I didn’t even realize I was posting something spoilery? But if i did, I’ll go back and tag it.
Sorry, my dude. I haven’t been active on this hellsite in so long I forgot my manners.
(PS, none of my recents posts are spoilers–they’re just people makin’ art, lol)
minimuii
