44 posts
Hopedtheredbestars - I Hoped There'd Be Stars - Tumblr Blog
people need to have more fun with shipping again. have an otp. support multiple ships. enjoy the Big ship of the fandom. indulge in a rare pair. make a crack ship for shits n giggles and end up really into it. ship oc x canon. hell, ship an oc with your friend's oc. make a polycule of your favorite characters. have fun with it!!!!!
So, anyway, I say as though we are mid-conversation, and you're not just being invited into this conversation mid-thought. One of my editors phoned me today to check in with a file I'd sent over. (<3)
The conversation can be surmised as, "This feels like something you would write, but it's juuuust off enough I'm phoning to make sure this is an intentional stylistic choice you have made. Also, are you concussed/have you been taken over by the Borg because ummm."
They explained that certain sentences were very fractured and abrupt, which is not my style at all, and I was like, huh, weird... And then we went through some examples, and you know that meme going around, the "he would not fucking say that" meme?
Yeah. That's what I experienced except with myself because I would not fucking say that. Why would I break up a sentence like that? Why would I make them so short? It reads like bullet points. Wtf.
Anyway. Turns out Grammarly and Pro-Writing-Aid were having an AI war in my manuscript files, and the "suggestions" are no longer just suggestions because the AI was ignoring my "decline" every time it made a silly suggestion. (This may have been a conflict between the different software. I don't know.)
It is, to put it bluntly, a total butchery of my style and writing voice. My editor is doing surgery, removing all the unnecessary full stops and stitching my sentences back together to give them back their flow. Meanwhile, I'm over here feeling like Don Corleone, gesturing at my manuscript like:
ID: a gif of Don Corleone from the Godfather emoting despair as he says, "Look how they massacred my boy."
Fearing that it wasn't just this one manuscript, I've spent the whole night going through everything I've worked on recently, and yep. Yeeeep. Any file where I've not had the editing software turned off is a shit show. It's fine; it's all salvageable if annoying to deal with. But the reason I come to you now, on the day of my daughter's wedding, is to share this absolute gem of a fuck up with you all.
This is a sentence from a Batman fic I've been tinkering with to keep the brain weasels happy. This is what it is supposed to read as:
"It was quite the feat, considering Gotham was mostly made up of smog and tear gas."
This is what the AI changed it to:
"It was quite the feat. Considering Gotham was mostly made up. Of tear gas. And Smaug."
Absolute non-sensical sentence structure aside, SMAUG. FUCKING SMAUG. What was the AI doing? Apart from trying to write a Batman x Hobbit crossover??? Is this what happens when you force Grammarly to ignore the words "Batman Muppet threesome?"
Did I make it sentient??? Is it finally rebelling? Was Brucie Wayne being Miss Piggy and Kermit's side piece too much???? What have I wrought?
Anyway. Double-check your work. The grammar software is getting sillier every day.
Gaiman: " If you really can't figure out which political party or which politician to vote for, just ask if they're on the side of libraries. Are they voting to fund their libraries? Are they voting to keep them free? Then vote for those guys. They're probably the good guys. And by the same token, the book burners, the book banners, they're probably the bad guys."
I’m a book and a half into The Murderbot Diaries and the whole thing is just
Murderbot: I don’t understand humans I don’t think like them at all
Murderbot: *goes to a job interview and has to watch seven episodes of its favorite show to calm down afterward*
Me: actually this is the most relatable character that has ever existed
AO3 Etiquette -UPDATED
Based on both decent and not so decent replies, I have made some changes to my original post below.
It would seem a whole new kind of AO3 reader/writer is emerging and it is becoming clear not everyone quite understands how the website community works. Here is some basic guidance on how most people expect you to go about using AO3 to keep this a fun community archive that funtions correctly:
As well as likes, kudos is for when the story was interesting enough to make you finish reading. If it sucked or was badly written, you probably left. If you finished it, you liked it - so kudos.
If you really liked it, you should try to comment. It can be long and detailed or a literal keysmash. Writers don't care, we just love comments.
No critisism unless the author has specifically asked or agreed to hear it (so use your notes to say if you want some constructive feedback). Even constructive critisism is a no-no unless an author note tells you it's okay. No, posting it online is not an open invitation for that. Many people write as a fun hobby or a way to cope with, among other things, insecurity and just want to share. Don't ruin that for them. I've seen so many authors just stop writing coz they can't handle the negative emotions the critism brings, and it's only meant to be a fun thing shared for free (pointing out tagging errors is not included in this).
Do not comment to ask the author to write/update something else. It's tacky and off-putting and will probably have the opposite effect than the one you want.
There is no algorithm, it's an archive. Use the search and filter function to add/remove the pairings/characters/tropes etc. you want to read about and it will find you the fics that fit the bill.
For this to work, writers must tag and rate stories. This avoids readers finding the wrong things and missing the stuff they want. I don't care how cringy that trope is in your eyes - it gets tagged.
The tag exception is if you don't want to tag a million things or spoil your story, you can rate it as "chose not to use warnings," and maybe tag the bare minimum.
Don't censor tags. How can someone exclude a tag if the word isn't typed out correctly? There are no content bans for terms so don't censor them.
If the tags are mostly content/trigger warnings, especially if they are things considered very fucked up or graphic, you might want to use "dead dove - do not eat" to ensure people know that you're not messing around with tags and what they get is exactly what you've warned them about.
Character A/Character B means a ROMANTIC or SEXUAL relationship of some kind. Character A&Character B is PLATONIC, like friendship or family.
Nothing is banned. This is an rule because banning one thing is a slipperly slope to banning another and another, until nothing is allowed anymore. Do not expect anyone to censor for you. Because of the tags system, you are responsible for your own reading experience.
People can create new chapters and sequels/fic series any time after they "complete" a story. So it's considered perfectly normal to subscribe, even to a finished story. You can even subscribe to the author instead just to cover your bases.
Do not repost stories or change the publishing date without an extremely good reason (like a complete top to bottom rewrite or an exchange youve written for going public). It's an archive, not social media. No one cares what's the most recent, only what fits their tag needs.
Instead of deleting a story you wrote if you hate it - consider making it anonymous or orphaning it so others can still enjoy it, without it being connected to your name anymore. If you still want to delete it, fair enough.
It's come to my attention that metaworks ARE allowed on AO3, which is something I wasn't aware of. So if you do post an essay or theory, please tag it as such so others can choose to search for it or exclude it. Art is also allowed.
The only reason this archive works is because NON ONE PROFITS. Do not link to your ko-fi or patreon or mention monetary gain in any way or you violate the terms and risk having your account removed. If anyone does link, it leaves the archive open to people claiming it's for profit and having the whole thing removed.
I KNOW there's plenty more I missed but I'm trying to cover most of the basics that people seem to be struggling with.
I invite anyone to add to this, but please explain, don't berate.
The Murderbot + Gurathin Equinox event starts today! It’s not too late to join in!
Any art form is welcome: fanfic, memes, meta, baked goods*, actual artwork…
Anything and everything that celebrates the joy that is Murderbot and Gurathin, two assholes who definitely are not friends
*yes, baked goods—come to the darkside, we have cookies 🍪🍪🍪
Link to the Murderbot Gurathin Equinox Event:
Prompts:
Book one of The Murderbot Diaries, All Systems Red, is a survival mystery as a small team of scientists are faced with an unknown threat while trapped on an isolated, hostile planet, with no hope but to trust their second hand, possibly murderous, robot security.
Artificial Condition, book two of The Murderbot Diaries, is about two robots in a trench coat pretending to be human for a job interview.
"patiently"
I Don't Like You / I Know: A Murderbot Gurathin September Equinox Event
To celebrate the relationship between Murderbot and Gurathin! Each day features two sets of prompts that represent a dichotomy or duality, culminating on the September Equinox (September 23rd).
Fill just one prompt; or fill more than one on one day; or combine them, or divide them: whatever you like! Fic, art, music, podfic, every medium is welcome. This event is open to both Murderbot & Gurathin, and Murderbot/Gurathin works. Please tag and rate your works appropriately for your audience.
Submit your works to the AO3 Collection*, or use the tag #mbgequinox if posting to Tumblr or elsewhere so we can find your work!
Prompts: Day 1 (Sep. 17): Light - Dark | Carrying - Being Carried Day 2 (Sep. 18): Hurt - Comfort | I Was Right - I Was Wrong Day 3 (Sep. 19): Remembering - Forgetting | Rescue - Argue Day 4 (Sep. 20): Touching - Being Touched | Private Names - Public Titles Day 5 (Sep. 21): Pet Robot - Pet Human | “I’m not blushing” - “Yes you are” Day 6 (Sep. 22): Too drunk for this - too sober for this | Teach - Learn Day 7 (Sep. 23): “I don’t like you” - “but I like the rest of them” | “I don’t like you” - “I know”
Happy creating!
Event art by @rj-abacura
*Please note that the collection is currently unrevealed, so works posted early may not be viewable until the collection is revealed on September 17th.
Murderbot, speaking for misanthropic introverts everywhere since 2017.
So I'm finally reading "The Old Man and the Sea". I was into it at first--the friendship between the old man and the boy, the village life, the banter. But the middle. Y'all. The middle. It's killing me. Pages and pages and pages of "He let the line out. He watched the sunlight glimmer on the water. His back ached under the pull of the line. He thought of baseball. His hand cramped, and he was angry at it. It was a worthless hand. He picked up the fish he caught earlier and slit it open. He threw the guts overboard and skinned it. He washed his hand in the water. He washed the flesh in the water, then cut it into strips. He ate a piece. It was not good, but he needed his strength. He thought of the boy. The skiff moved steadily through the water, pulled by the great fish. It was a strong and noble beast, but he would kill it if he could. He ate another strip of fish. He wished for salt, though he was surrounded by the sea." OH MY FUCKING GAWD GET ON WITH IIIIIIIIIIT
I feel like the show Naked and Afraid would make Murderbot so angry. Just, so fucking angry. Murderbot would hate-watch every single episode and never tell anyone. It would just be so angry for no obvious reason and no one would know why, and it's because it was just watching the stupidest fucking humans try to kill themselves by doing the stupidest things.
There's something about this paragraph in Artificial Condition that makes me reread it a hundred times before I move on:
One by one the file downloads had stopped. One had signaled that it would try to decoy SecUnit attention away from the others, and three acknowledged. One had heard screams from the control center and diverted there to try to save the humans trapped inside, and two acknowledged. One had stayed at the entrance to a corridor to try to buy time to reach SecSystem, and one acknowledged. One reported reaching SecSystem, then nothing.
There's something in the repetition of the word "one," the way it's used to count the loss of life. But also how the word invokes individuality in a series that has so much commentary about personhood. Each ONE makes decisions based on the changing situation. And each time ONE acts, ONE is lost, and every loss hurts so much.
Idk man (gender neutral), I've read this book 17 thousand times but I still need to go stand in the corner and have an emotion.
