Hi!!

Hi!!

I was wondering if you could maybe be my beta reader? I’m writing a new fan fiction story and I would like ideas, double check my spelling, feed back, and constructive criticism.

Summary: Titanic story line, but, with a twist. Gilbert and his little sister boar the Titanic after the unexpected death of their parents. Hoping for a better life. Anne comes aboard the Titanic with Marilla after loosing Matthew hoping for a better life as well. When the three of them meet, it’s a strong bond that nothing can break them. Not even the devastating tragedy of the Titanic can break that bond.

I always thought Gilbert would make a great big brother. Can I make this work? Would I get reviews on it? That’s my goal is to get reviews and people to like my story.

Hello, @shannyh25!

Thank you for your inquiry, but I have no experience in beta reading.

While I am familiar with the story of the Titanic, I know nothing of the characters you speak of. I'm not sure I would be able to support you properly.

Making sure it gets reviews and likes depends on your audience. I never thought my stories would get this kind of reaction from others, so I started writing for myself. I still write for myself.

While it is true that I have a Patreon and do ask for reader input with polls, this is mostly to help me clarify where I would go with the stories or to make sure I am still making things clear.

As for spelling and grammar, my go-to is Grammarly! It saves me every time and points out my unhealthy relationships with commas and ellipses.

💜💜💜

This is an interesting read. To be transparent, I didn’t know anything about the Thai military until this read. 💜💜💜

Thai Military Service & Thai BL

Remember, Thailand is a monarchy meets military regime. 

Like in the USA, all Thai men must register for the draft at age 18. Unlike the USA (where selective service must be activated), conscription by lottery then occurs at age 21. 

Conscription was introduced in Thailand in 1905. According to the Constitution of the Kingdom, serving in the armed forces is a national duty of all Thai citizens. In practice, only males over the age of 21 who have not gone through reserve training are subject to conscription.

From wikipedia

Many high schools coordinate military reserve training as part of their curriculum (it’s run by the military), so in essences it’s possible to partly get out of mandatory service. (This seems to be soemthing wealthy kids manage more than poorer kids.) Colloquially called “Ror Dor” it is operated mainly as a 3 year long after school program starting age 15. If you are in uni you’re exempt from conscription until you graduate. 

In Make it Right 2 remember Tee having his head shaved in the cafe scene in the second to last episode? 

That was because the actor (Boom Krittapak) at the time had his 2nd year Ror Dor away camp training regime (age 16) so they rolled it into the script. 

Note it’s mentioned in the scene that Fuse would have to shave his head soon as well? In the series they are the same age, in reality Boom is several years younger than Peak, who presumably had already been through the shaved-head portion of Ror Dor. 

“Only those young men currently at university, or those who have completed the 3 year Reserve Officers Training Corps programme whilst at school, are exempt from the draft.” source 

We know from publicly report schools and wealth demos of many Thai BL actors (they put education institutions in their bios) that they often attended private school and probably went through Ror Dor. 

Captain as Noh in Love Sick, for example, is exactly the age, education, and wealth level to have been in Ror Dor at the time of filming. In the series, his hair is explained away as a personal choice, but in reality it was most likely because he had done, did do, or would be doing away camp for reserve training just before or during filming. 

It’s also possible that Thai producers cast actors in younger roles so as to avoid the possibility of losing actors mid series to the lottery. 

For the lottery, a man must return to his home district in April of the year in which he turn 21 for the selection process, which is done in person, in public, with age-mates (yes, including the physical exam). If he volunteers, he serves 1 year, if he draws the red card at the lottery, he serves 2 years. 

Every year, about 100,000 personnel are recruited. (source) 

The lottery is quite an event in most Thai communities. The public way it is conducted adds to a sense of occasion. There’s a ton of formality and speeches about civic duty but it’s also raucous, full of cat calls, dramatic behavior, and bawdy jokes. It’s almost, dare I say it, celebratory? 

There is a YouTube video of Bambam from K-Pop giants GOT7 going through the process AS AN IDOL. 

He had to return from South Korea to Thailand to do so. It’s kinda crazy to watch but it gives you an idea of what the lottery is like (a bit more excited than usual because of his presence and because this is a quazi-propaganda vid). His entire zone was released because they had already satisfied their quota via volunteers. 

If you are exempted from service for Ror Dor, medical or kathoey* reasons you are given a certificate which you must present at most job hirings etc… after age 21. However, all black card, red card, and Ror Dor graduates remain on the registry for the draft (like in the USA). 

If the lottery selects you for military service (the red card) active duty will likely involve the ongoing (10+ years) civil unrest in the South of Thailand. Service may also/instead involve manual labour on military bases, irrigation work, or assisting in humanitarian duties. Since Thailand is not a member of NATO, conscripts are rarely involved in foreign conflicts or see overseas action. They receive a fixed monthly salary based on Thailand’s minimum wage. 

Here’s a video of a Thai man talking (in English) about the process. 

Thai BL in general avoids talking about or depicting the lottery or military service. Probably for political reasons. (They also never reference the royal family.) 

I would be remiss if I did not add that Thailand has been accused of various human rights violations with regards to conscripts. 

“Human rights groups have documented cases of young men allegedly killed by their peers or senior officers through brutal hazing rituals, corporal punishment and even torture.” (source) 

Generally speaking, exposés on the military in Thailand are dangerous for all those involved and difficult to find as a result. Articles I’ve found tend to be written by those who are not Thai citizens and use coded language to refer to their sources. 

South Korea, on the other hand, has several BLs that have dealt with military service openly, most notably, 2009′s Just Friends? and Strongberry’s 2021 2 part mini A First Love Story both of which are really good and higher heat than normal for South Korea.

But military service is different in South Korea. It’s mandatory for every male - as anyone in the K-pop world knows and can tell you about at length. 

Taiwan, of course, has historical gay drama Your Name Engraved Herein which features two boys falling in love, in part inside the military. 

* One final note on the Thai lottery 

Kathoey (the Thai term, often translated as ladyboy or 3rd gender) are usually exempted from conscription. It is implied (although I don’t know how often it is actually done) that there are some who pretend to be kathoey on lottery day so as to cheat the draft. However, since there is a physical medical exam as part of the process, exemption probably actually rides (again implication) on at least top surgery if not full gender reassignment. 

(source)

I know he sent this to everyone and its not specific but he still makes you feel special.

💜💜💜

STAYS!!!

if you've ever felt worthless or undervalued.. this is for you

Transcript: "Thank you for coming.. 'ma go to sleep now but.. you made me realise how, important it is to think of you and STAY.

And I'm just really glad and grateful.. For.. You being in, my life.

Even though time flies.. I'm so grateful that you were always there for me and my team. So thank you and.. I hope to see you soon. Goodnight"

Whelp, America Mate is currently at 42,835 words and only about halfway written... so I guess I can call myself a novelist. 💜💜💜

When reading fanfic keep in mind that for professional literature: 

Short story: under 7,500

Novelette: between 7,500 and 17,500

Novella: between 17,500 and 40,000

Novel: over 40,000

Fics over 40k are literally a novel written and shared for free.  If you have written a 40k+ fic, you have literally written a novel.

these look promising. I am adding them to my need to read list

💜💜💜

Get to know the life of the members of Bring On The Night! The pop/rock band of the moment that has a whole generation addicted to their music, lyrics and performers.

| Kim Seokjin: The Bassist

You were Jin's childhood friend, the one who always went to all his bass practices, the one who went to all his mini concerts, the one who tested the songs before he played them live, you were even the first person he ran to tell the news that his band had been dominated to his first award.

The problem with this? You were always just that to Jin, the typical childhood friend he wouldn't give up for anything in the world, but would never see as anything more.

A few months ago Jin started dating yet another girl, a certain Yeji, whom he had met in college.

You were starting to feel how awful it was to be just another friend, and you wanted to give it your last try before giving up forever with Jin and moving on with your life.

| Min Yoongi: The Producer

You had been in a fully sexual relationship with Yoongi for over 5 years. Yes, you went out on the occasional date in secret, but nothing out of the ordinary, nothing that would make the public think you were a couple, or sex partners.

You had never had a problem with this, until little by little you noticed how you started to feel things for him that definitely had nothing to do with your fully sexual relationship, so you did what you did best.

You ran away.

| Jung Hoseok: The Composer

You met Hoseok in a dance class you had during your last years in college. The two of you hit it off perfectly and decided to stay in touch.

You talked to him when he won his first award, he talked to you when he heard you got a permanent contract at your current company. You called him when you found out he had landed a fairly well known girlfriend in the middle, he congratulated you on finding your fiancé.

Now, 2 years after that, you had no idea how to tell him that your husband and his fiancée were fucking in your bed.

| Kim Namjoon: The Drummer

You were Bring On The Night's manager since their debut. You had taken good care of them, always tried to give them a reasonable schedule, always talked to interviewers before interviews, always tried to keep them safe without asking for anything in return. That's exactly what made Namjoon fall at your feet.

From the beginning he always had eyes for you, he always drowned in his feelings thinking about how annoying it might be for you to stay on the job knowing that he had feelings for you.

However, this same attitude not only attracted to him, but to other guys who worked in the same industry. It was this very thing that made Namjoon decide to fight for you, even if it would destroy your working relationship and friendship.

| Park Jimin: The Keyboardist

You were Jimin's girlfriend during his pre-debut era. You would go to support him at practice, bring him food, water, sometimes even a change of clothes. You loved the way he loved his job, but love wasn't always enough to overcome the adversities that made life as a star. That was made clear to you by the Ceo of Bring on the night's discography.

You broke up with him shortly after his debut, you didn't give him any explanation, you simply told him that you didn't want to be with him anymore and you left.

Years later, in the present day, Jimin had become a world star, famous for his talent on the keyboard, and you, for your part, had achieved your goal of becoming a critically acclaimed actress.

What you never thought was that, as you were both on the same level, you would inevitably meet at events such as awards shows, and, to be honest, you didn't think you could ever say no to Jimin again.

| Kim Taehyung: The Guitarist

For the first time in your entire career as an artist you had gotten into a scandal, and one of the worst scandals there could have been. A rapper whose name you didn't even know had told hundreds of gossip channels that the two of you were in a solely sexual relationship.

Now, with no excuse to give because no one would believe you without proof, you and your manager decided to make a completely risky bet; talk to Kim Taehyung, the guitarist of BOTN and ask him to pretend to be your boyfriend. To your surprise, he didn't hesitate to accept.

The deal was clear: neither would have feelings for the other, neither would meddle in the other's relationships, and neither owed the other any explanations.

At first you thought it would be simple, just another performance, just like you did for your music videos.

How wrong you were.

| Jeon Jungkook: The Vocalist

Jungkook considered himself a very tolerant person. He tolerated Jin with his horrible jokes, he tolerated Namjoon breaking his stuff by accident from time to time, he even tolerated Jimin stealing his stuff, but there was one specific point where he would never tolerate any bullshit.

That point was you.

The day he found out the idiot you were dating, he almost broke his phone from how hard he smashed it against the wall. He believed you deserved better, no, he knew you deserved better, no doubt about it, and he was more than willing to show you what would be the minimum point you should accept in a man.

Universe and World Building Question

Hello, Dearest reader! I am thinking of any other FanFic!

This time, it will be a different K-pop band x reader story.

However, I want to build an alien world AU, but I want to start off right.

Which type of AU/Worlding Building do you prefer?

Please tell me why in the comments.