Not Really A Birthday Drawing But Still Shows My Love For Iggy (and Prompto!)

Not really a birthday drawing but still shows my love for Iggy (and Prompto!)

Still happy birthday Ignis!

do u guys have a character/ship that you are the #1 enthusiast and understander of but you just. never post about them. like they are on your mind 24/7 rent-free but you just don't talk about them

Just sos you knows, AO3 is down under a DDOS attack right now. They’ve been coming back in little blips and then disappearing again. It’s been several hours. (For reference, it’s currently 3 p.m. eastern, July 10, 2023.)

https://twitter.com/AO3_Status/status/1678468065070030856

The culprit (as with a few other DDOS attacks recently) is Anonymous Sudan, a group that is likely Russian, not Sudanese. The ‘reason’ they gave–that AO3 is “full of disgusting smuts and other LGBTQ+ and NSFW things,” is thin and probably not completely legit, though still legitimately concerning.

The AS claim: https://twitter.com/FalconFeedsio/status/1678397195039526912

Reporting on AS: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-28/anonymous-sudan-does-group-behind-microsoft-cyberattack-have-ties-to-russia (you can use archive.ph to get this one, 12ft doesn’t seem to work)

As noted here, https://twitter.com/honeyskeleton/status/1678449598703050769:

DDOS protection is expensive especially for a high traffic site like ao3. And it’s uniquely vulnerable as an independent site without ads or other corporate support. SPECIFICALLY targeted bc of its queer works and yet ppl will still complain every time they ask for donations lmao 

So, again, when AO3 comes back online, please don’t go hard with refreshing all your tabs. Please do remember to download fics you love early and often as  you continue in your whole ~reading journey~. And please do support AO3 through a dono or becoming a donating member, if it is possible for you to do so.

Fanfic asks: 1, 2, 3 (does it help you to share ideas?), 34, 43, 50, 76, 78, 79 and 80 (How do you deal with writer’s block?)

I’ve been kinda feeling…creatively constipated, is as best as I can describe it. Ideas and worlds in my head but they stay locked up without a key to free them. So I guess I wanted to pick someone’s brain, writer to writer, see if there’s anything I can try to get myself inspired again. I hope that’s not weird.

1. Do you daydream a lot before you write, or go for it as soon as the ideas strike?

For the most part, I force myself to daydream a lot before I sit down to start writing, because otherwise there's the very real chance I'll sit down and get 3k into it and realize, 'oh. there's not very much meat on this one at all. I don't want to finish it anymore.' There's something to be said for the concept of 'Writing For The Sake Of Writing', but a lot of the time getting a decent length into something and just, not having the ideas or drive to finish it.. it kind of sucks.

2. Where do you get your fic ideas?

All sorts of places, although I tend to draw a lot from real-life experiences and things I'm currently learning about/interested in (e.g. philosophy chapters of Pick A Side, chessboxing), as well as various types of mythologies and lore (Eucat, Melliferous).

3. Do you share your fic ideas, or do you keep them to yourself?

I'm the sort of person who hoards the fine details of my WIPs very close to my chest until I'm absolutely sure that I'm going to stick to writing the whole damn thing. I'm not great at sharing. But also I really enjoy sharing out of context little bits and pieces as I go, and constantly want to talk about the things I write - I'm a contradiction of a person.

34. How much of your personal life/experience do you include in your fics?

Well, when I was 17, I died, went to bee hell, and had to wait for the combined-yet-separate fractals of my personality to come bail me out I don't include an overwhelming amount, I don't think, but sometimes real life is the best source for an interesting story. It gives it a bit of spice and depth. For example, the thing in Syzygy with Thomas blaming his creaky apartment on an 'apartment ghost' and constantly talking to it because he's lonely is something that I do in fact do in real life.

43. Is there a trope or idea that you’d really like to write but haven’t yet?

Yeah, I want to do a thorough deconstruction of a soulmate AU. And/or the hanahaki trope, because neither of those are something that I'm entirely fond of. I'm not sure if this is the right fandom to do it in or not, but I have a feeling I'll end up writing it eventually.

50. How would you describe your writing style?

Absurdist realism and/or magical surrealism.

76. How do you deal with writing pressure, whether internal or external?

Internal pressure is a sign I need to take a break and do something else for a bit, or stop taking myself so seriously. External pressure is a sign that I either need to block a rude commenter, or gently remind people that I'm a human being and I do this for fun.

78. What motivates you during the writing process?

Knowing that at the end of it all, I'll have a finished product that a) I will be proud of in some respect b) that other people will enjoy and c) (hopefully) scream at me in fury about. Getting to that end point where I can actually hit the post button and see something that I made show up in the tags is just the best feeling in the world.

79. Do you have any writing advice you want to share?

Be joyful with it. Writing is a game you're playing with yourself, so play. I recognize that this isn't the most helpful and specific of advice, but I can't stress enough how much you should experiment with stylisms and point-of-view and unreliable narrators and all the rest of it! Pastiche someone else's style! Write in reverse chronological order! Give yourself restrictions and take away your pre-existing restrictions, and BREAK THE RULES.

80. How do you deal with writer’s block?

Writer's block (for me, at least) is my brain telling me that it doesn't want to work anymore. It's had enough. It doesn't want me to work! Which is the point where I close the document, and go do something else that my brain does want to do. Sometimes that's going for a walk or making myself a fancy drink or snack, sometimes it's lying in bed and watching Youtube for ages, and sometimes my brain is just screaming and sobbing and kicking and doesn't want to do anything at all, in which case I just have to gently sit with it and wait for it all to be over. Either way, I'll get back to writing when I get back to it - either whatever WIP I was working on at the time, or something new that I'll enjoy writing. Forcing myself to write when I'm not on an actual deadline or timecrunch never works out well for me, so I try to be very gentle about it.

And I hope you get past that brainblock eventually. I've been there too, and it's the worst place to be in. Hopefully you find that idea or project that makes your brain start singing again soon! I wish you luck, and hope this helps.

You can only reblog this today or until the next Monday, June 19th, 2034.

the worst is wanting to create and create and create but being trapped in a body that is so so so so tired