I Just Want To Talk About The Power Of Commenting On Fics For A Minute.

I just want to talk about the power of commenting on fics for a minute.

I have my main fandom, but when I read in other fandoms, I don't know many of the writers. So I usually just find fics by looking through the tag I want. And if it's a tag I'm really interested in, I'll read every fic in the tag. And if there's a fic I really liked in there, I'll start reading everything by that writer.

So what this means is I'm sometimes reading fics or writers that don't have tons of hits/kudos/comments on their fics, but I found them through some obscure tag I wanted to read. And so I'll get back some really incredibly sweet replies to my comments.

But then, something even more incredible started happening. I'd be reading WIPs by some of these writers and they'd literally start writing the rest of the fic for me. They started asking me what I hoped to see happen or if I had any requests. And when the fic was finished, one of them said the only reason they kept writing the fic was for me.

Sometimes there can be such a lovely connection between the writer and the reader just because you decided to leave a comment. And sometimes you as the commenting reader can become the lone reason why a fic makes its way into the world for all the other readers who come after you.

Mood

Creepy things to add to settings

Just to make things a bit more interesting

—Water stains from flooding

—Withered down machinery resulting from weather

—Torn fabric caught on spikes

—Attempting to find a hiding spot, only to turn around and find the skeleton of the last person who tried to hide there

—Expecting to see spiders and other bugs, only for them all to scurry away as a new presence enters the room

—Fog slithering in through holes in the walls or open windows

—Stepping on the dead, crunchy leaves of plants that started growing inside

—The characters knowing the floorboards will creak, so they try really hard to keep quiet as they travel. Make them all freeze when they hear something else coming at them and decide if they should stand still to keep from attracting any more attention or if they run for their lives

—The wallpaper and paintings on the wall torn off and scattered against the floor, leaving the walls barren and lifeless

it’s all about how you describe it! Find things that get under people’s skin (bugs, snakes, certain sounds, etc) and connect them to whatever you’re trying to make creepy

for the fanfic writer who needs to hear it-

you are not a content machine, you're a living, breathing person with a life outside of what you create for your fandom. it's ok if you take a long time to finish projects, it's ok if you never finish your projects, its ok if you stop creating altogether. your value in the fandom is not tied to what you make or how often you create, but rather the bonds you form with other people. if you need to take a break from creating, or stop creating entirely, that's totally fine! i refuse to let capitalism poison fan spaces, i will not tie your worth to your output. you carry a value that has no correlation to your contribution. if you never write a single word of fanfiction again, you still belong here. you haven't let anyone down. you are not a failure. you are not a fraud. i am explicitly giving you permission to take that hiatus, to spend as long as you need to create, to stop creating entirely if you need to. i love you.

its 4 am and I can’t sleep :(

working on rendering 🙏🏻 turns out my brain works faster like this lol. Rather than relying on line art (which i still love)

hey guys i messed around with color instead of grayscale

i am shocked