Tag: Anonymous

How do you organize your WIP/idea folder?

I talked about this briefly with ltleflrt yesterday! 😀 And she might be better to ask because she literally has pages of ideas. :D:D:D:D:D

Anyway, I get overwhelmed easily, so I have a pretty strict system. Though sometimes my system can be confining for other people, especially if you don’t really know what works for you in the long run and what doesn’t. This can also help you learn about that, though. So here’s what I do.

First, I write the idea down. I write it in a physical notebook that I carry around in my purse or on the notepad app on my phone, anywhere is good as long as you’ve actually written it down somewhere. Sometimes I also date it if I have a ton that have suddenly come to me.

So, you might have noticed writing that you can’t always tell when your idea might be a short oneshot or a long fic, right? And sometimes you get sucked into writing an idea that you think is amazing and get stuck halfway through. That’s why you make the list. It’s tempting to start writing the second that inspiration strikes because it feels really good and really important. You think, “wow, I wouldn’t have had this idea if I shouldn’t be writing it, yes?” Weeeeeeeell, no. Not always. Sometimes you’re inspired by random things that may or may not pan out for you. And this can be especially true if you’re already working on something that’s being stubborn and your brain is trying to distract you. Therefore, write it down and put it aside for at least 24 hours. Do it like you would a dream journal. Write the idea as soon as you get it and then put it away.

Go back to the idea 24 (or ideally more) hours later. Read it and see if it’s still as clear as it was when lightning struck. Still as appealing. Still a great idea. If it is, save it on your “Master Idea” list. If it’s not, scratch it out or add it to your adoptable prompt list to help your writer friends (if you have one). Over time, review your list when it starts to get long. See if there’s anything that really won’t work for you or ideas you like the best to prioritize. 

Thing is, you don’t have to write every idea you get and they’re not always worth your time, even short ones. Sometimes they’re even good ideas, just not for you. So loan them out! Especially if you have a writer friend that you think it would suit. Sharing is caring, after all, and can really broaden your horizons! 

If you do these things, you won’t really find yourself with a need to organize your WIP folder because you won’t have tons of projects you’ll never finish after you start recognizing your okay ideas and your great ideas and what you should spend your time on. 

However, if you do need more organization in your WIP folder, I organize all of mine thusly: [Main Folder] Fandom [Subfolder] Pairing (or main character) [Subfolder] Descriptive Title or Number.

That’s about it! Thank you for letting me lecture you about fan fics!

Is it ok if I ask a personal question? You said that you are always open to helping out us younger folk. :D You don’t have to answer. My husband and I recently decided to start a family. We’re in our mid-20s. My sister says I’ll regrest the drain on time, money, fun, etc. Do you have any advice about how to talk to her? i love kids. And you talk about your Nerdler a lot and it seems like you have a good balance as well as good advise. Thank you!

Hello, Anon! Yes, it is always okay to ask me questions like this if you feel that my opinion or advice would be beneficial to you! I’m a Tumblr Mom, so any help I can give is yours!

Unfortunately, I’ve found that no matter what you decide as far as procreation is concerned, you’ll always be on the losing end. If you decide to have kids, your friends and family who don’t have kids will tease you for losing your freedom and money. If you decide not to have kids, you’ll have friends and family who think you’re being selfish and missing out. 

Look. Honestly, I don’t give two shits about either argument. The pros and cons are equal on both sides. And it’s definitely a personal choice between you and your husband. Advice can be useful, but in the end, the only thing that really matters is what you and your husband want. No one can tell you what’s better for you. I don’t miss my “freedom” of a childless existence. I think that the less freedom is a fine trade off for raising a kid who takes after me and does really weird things all the time. She makes me laugh and idolizes me. I’ve got a short little fanclub following me around. That’s fine with me.

But there’s nothing wrong with people who prefer to not share their lives with children. It’s not selfish to want to keep your hard-earned time off and money to yourself. Nor is it more fulfilling to browse the toy aisle and go on an educational trip to the aquarium rather than a date. It just depends on your personality. I like to share my life and resources as much as possible, but that’s me. I don’t judge people for being different from me and my way of thinking. 

People who berate you for having a different viewpoint or goal in life are, at their core, really selfish assholes. Family and friends should support your decisions. If they feel threatened by your decisions because it might change the nature of your relationship with them, then the best you can do is explain to them that your decisions aren’t about them. That you won’t love your sister less or suddenly become That Person who will constantly disparage her for not having kids. Most of the time, when people make fun of you for your choices, they’re worried about you turning it back on them eventually. So, assure them that you won’t, and then don’t. Tell them that you’re happy, and that’s what’s most important. Because it is. Their insecurity isn’t your problem. Your own happiness is. If you’re happy, then they can say whatever they want. And they’ll say a lot, probably. That you’re just saying you’re happy, or screaming on the inside, or lying to yourself to make yourself feel better, and so on. I’ve heard it all before myself. But none of it sticks or angers me because they don’t know and it’s not true.

And in the end, I will tell you not to sacrifice your entire life just for your kid. That’s a whole set of other problems that can cause harm to you and your future child if you lose yourself in the relationship. Find your happiness and support those of your loved ones, even when they’re certain that they’re right and you’re wrong. 

You can truly find absolute happiness with children or without children. And either way haters are gonna hate. Just tune them out and do what you want to do.

I wanted to thank you for your writing advice/motivation/wisdom. I always get carried away with recognition, so I lose motivation more than I should. You don’t seem to have that problem.

Thank you, Anon! But let me clarify something here. Motivation isn’t necessarily the same as being motivated. Does that sound confusing? I’ll bet it does. Anyway, let me elaborate as much as possible to really let you know where I’m coming from.

First of all, I think that I might just have some different experiences than a lot of you. Many people who follow me haven’t published anywhere except for fanfics online. And that’s completely okay! I’m not one of these people who think that you aren’t a real writer unless you’ve published original fiction or whatever. I firmly believe that if you write at all, you are a writer. However, if you want to split hairs and argue semantics, go ahead and say you aren’t an author unless you’ve published somewhere (and it doesn’t matter where. If it’s out there on a bookshelf or internet archive or blog for people other than you to read, it doesn’t matter what you wrote. You’re an author.)

Anyway. I have published in print and online. I’ve published lots of different things. Fanfics, novellas, essays, articles, textbooks. I freelanced for a long time, so that’s pretty natural. And as far as that’s concerned, I was perfectly motivated. I didn’t always know where my stuff was going to be published. I was hired to write something for someone and they could use it as they saw fit. In fact, some of the things I’ve written for publication may or may not have been released at all, and I don’t actually know. On that account, I never worry about how many people are going to read what I wrote or care or comment. Why? Because that wasn’t the goal. 

I don’t write for recognition. I enjoy it, and very much support the idea that those who love the art that you create should do their best to tell you as much. Whether it’s fanmail, kudos, comments, whatever. Telling someone how much you liked a creation of theirs can really boost their confidence and motivation to create more.

However, please realize that that your motivation to create should never ever ever be contingent upon people praising your work. Look. I know that a lot of you have always been online. You’ve never had to literally print copies of your work to pass around or put it on a diskette to distribute because Tumblr and LiveJournal and Wattpad and even Facebook, didn’t exist. But it saddens me like nothing else to see people I support and admire say, “no one’s reading this. No one’s commenting on this. So there’s no point in me continuing it.” The one drawback to worldwide blogs and archives is that we’ve demotivated ourselves to measure our worth on the praise of others. And you know what that does? Nothing except make the world that much more dull because of your lack of creations.

It is frustrating to put something that you spent a lot of effort on and feel like it just went out into the void. That happens to me all the time. Check out my hit counters on AO3. I have fics with hits in the double digits, and also in the thousands. But they all have one thing in common. And that commonality is that I couldn’t care less about their popularity. The reason that I write anything for myself (meaning things I wasn’t commissioned for or took a freelance job for) is because I had a story tell and wanted to tell it. That’s my motivation. 

I’m not trashing people who only write for money, either. I edited a lot of romance novels, and many of them wrote those books because they knew that they would sell enough for them to pay their bills. That’s fine. The important part is that they didn’t rely on praise to keep them motivated.

When you stop writing because you didn’t get as many hits or kudos or comments as some other author you admire, then you’re not writing at your best or for the right reasons. Art isn’t about recognition. It’s nice to have and wonderful and motivating when received, but it should be your motivation. Other people’s praise should not be the reason that you continue a story you felt compelled to create in the first place. If you do, you’re missing the whole point and deepest draw of creating art in any form. We do it because it speaks to us. Because we feel pulled to put our thoughts and desires and any number of feelings somewhere besides our heads. It’s personal, first and foremost.

Sure, it’s disheartening to know that the things you create may not be received with open arms and a parade of readers, but allowing everyone else in the world to determine what you make undermines the art itself. 

It’s very difficult to find a mindset where you can shut the world out and create for the sake of creation. And even I can’t do it all the time. Sometimes I do indeed feel discouraged when something I love with all my heart floats into the internet ether with barely a second thought. But then I remember that no matter how popular it gets, it will eventually get buried under the mounds of other works and forgotten by most people at some point. We can’t all write the next work to be published in literature anthologies that students will read for the next hundred years. But there’s nothing wrong with that. 

And when you do get down about recognition or the lack thereof, well then, it’s time to sit back and figure out why you pursued this kind of art in the first place. If your motivation is popularity, then you’ll never be happy with it. You’ll never be satisfied. It will never be enough. At first you’ll be pleased with 10 hits. Then you’ll expect those hits every time. Then you’ll get 100. 1,000. 10,000. And you’ll expect a higher baseline just to be satisfied that what you created was worth it. That’s why I prefer to feel my satisfaction with the creation itself. I want people to love what I create as much as I love it, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be just as happy with bringing that creation into the world no matter what. That’s why my fics with only a handful of hits are just as wonderful to me as my 10K fic. That’s why I never stopped writing a fic just because it didn’t get as many hits and kudos and comments as I felt I deserved. The creation was enough.

But, that all being said, I also say this. If you love something, tell the creator. I try my best to leave comments and likes on everything that I enjoy. Expose more people to it. Reblog it. Tell the creator what it meant to me. And the reason I do that is because, while I realize that I shouldn’t be motivated solely by praise to create, art shouldn’t be thrown into the void, either. Even if my one comment isn’t enough for that person and even if they don’t feel the way that I do about art, the sharing of it is also important. Though, in the end, I do hope that creators can appreciate quality before quantity.

Kaidan “power bottom, filthy mouth” Alenko/MShep :)

The first time that Shepard had said, “I want you to say something dirty to me,” while half-delirious from pleasure and unthinking, he’d regretted the words as soon as his brain had processed the command. 

But Kaidan’s voice. He couldn’t get enough of it. Not ever. And Kaidan had shocked him to the core responding. He’d scooted up onto his elbows to position himself against the headboard, pushing Shepard down further between his legs and said, “I can do that. If you’ll do something for me?”

Hard and desperate and more turned on than he could ever remember being, Shepard breathed, “name it.”

“Put your hot mouth on my cock and suck me off like your life depends on it.”

Shepard shuddered almost violently, though his muscles reacted immediately to lower his body down to do just what had been asked of him. Between the nails scraping against his scalp and, “just like that. Feels so good filling your mouth,” and a sharp exhale with, “get inside me now,” Shepard thought that he was probably losing his mind.

Even so, it became more and more with Kaidan riding him, hands braced on Shepard’s shoulders for leverage to control the pace. And he never stopped talking. Never stopped following Shepard’s command while issuing his own. “Faster. Fuck me harder. I need it, Shepard.”

Louder, faster, until some of the words tripped over themselves in his throat, stumbling out a little garbled, but often clear with intent. “Your cock is perfect. Fits perfect inside me. Don’t stop now. I’m going to come. Hng. Please, Shepard. Don’t stop, don’t-” And that’s the end of a it for a few seconds as the words give way to a tidal wave of a moan when Kaidan comes, trembling, spilling between them. 

Shepard is almost relieved because the sweet and dirty is too delicious. Then, Kaidan puts the final nail in the coffin. He surges forward and says, “come inside me,” against Shepard’s ear before stopping all the words with a messy, searing kiss. It’s enough. Plenty. Too much. Shepard does what he’s told, helplessly thankful that Kaidan remembered the condom. 

Several minutes later, Kaidan smiles. “How was that?”

Shepard can barely open his eyes. “I’m not completely sure. I’m almost sorry I asked in the first place. I feel like I won’t recover.”

Warm breath and a warmer chuckle brush his damp temple. “Thank you for the compliment.”

How come none of your OC’s have tragic backstories? I thought everyone had at least 1.

Have you read my blog? Hahahaha, j/k. But not really. I’ll elaborate as best I can.

Honestly the biggest reason that I don’t have many (if any) tragic backstories is because every OC I’ve come across has a fucking tragic backstory! It’s not a bad thing, really, but it’s incredibly overused, especially in the Bioware fandom. Part of it is because the canon is often tragic for them. I immediately think of the Couselands, who is obviously an incredibly loving family and all slaughtered in one night. Or the Hawkes, who have their rubs, but still love each other and die off one by one throughout the game. It’s tragic. In fact, by the time I got to Commander Shepard and found that there was a background where Shepard had a mother who remained alive through the whole trilogy, I was pretty shocked! But I ran with it.

I myself, come from a pretty normal family. I love my parents and my step-parents and all my siblings. When my parents divorced, it didn’t linger in hatred and angst for me. I was 9 at the time. And, yes, I still mourn the loss of my father 2~ish years ago, but even so. That doesn’t really qualify as “tragic backstory” since it was a long decay and I was in my 30′s when he passed. It was just a tragedy. Sure, my family have their disputes and rough spots too, but it comes out in the wash most of the time. So, I draw on my happy and supportive family for backgrounds of several of my characters. There’s no reason not to. In fact, I firmly believe that only weak writers have tragic characters exclusively. They use it as a crutch to never explore other ways to make their characters interesting. They think they need it to add emotion and depth to their characters, but I prefer to explore other avenues as well. It’s so cliche to have a “wounded warrior” type hero in anything that’s not a slice of life genre, so I just want to do something different. Having a good life and childhood doesn’t make a character boring. You just have to be more creative with their personality and motivations. I enjoy that.

Also, I do have a tragic character. Ianto Shepard in Burn Down the Sky, lost both of his parents young. But it wasn’t what shaped him, necessarily. He even says he took after his grandmother and was extremely happy as a child and became a firefighter legacy to honor his parents. But in no way was he bitter or tortured over their loss forever. We see the grief bubble to the surface from time to time, but it’s not his motivator or his pain. It’s just part of him.

All in all, I know that a lot of people add tragedy to their characters because they themselves don’t have a great life and bleed out their frustrations or emotions into their characters. And that’s fine. But I’m not overly fond of making it my character motivation. In fact, I usually like to add bad or horrible circumstances to otherwise happy and well adjusted characters. Ianto’s alternate ego in Tiny Whiskey, Guns, and Money is a prime example. Both of his parents are alive. Both of his grandparents are still alive. He’s had everything he ever needed and never been to the “wrong side of town.” He’s never even parked somewhere illegally. But instead of fucking him up, I fuck his life up. Ruin his week and make him fall in love while running from mafia and giving him an experience he’s literally only imagined in movies. He’s sheltered and selfish and friendly and trusting because he’s the product of a good, solid, upper middle class life. Which sounds blissful, of course, but there’s a dark side that I preferred to explore rather than having the completely overused, “grew up homeless/foster care/on the streets tough life without parental guidance” lifestyle that most people default to. Instead of giving him a tough life, I gave him the drawbacks of an easy life. He doesn’t know how to keep himself safe, doesn’t know anything of the hard world or struggles of billions of people in other countries and even his own country, is selfish (as mentioned before), self-centered, and still believes good things happen to good people all the time. And that way he’s totally ill-prepared to handle Vanya right off.

Anyway, that sure turned into a rant! But it’s my motivation. Hope it was helpful or edifying for you!

Thank you so much, all you anons for sending me such awesome and challenging asks! I love them! Keep them coming!

In your opinion, is Cullen the new Kaidan? Which do you like more?

How dare?! Hahaha, noooooo, Cullen is not the “new” Kaidan for me and I don’t like him more.

It’s more complicated than that, and in fact, I’ve been having several conversations about him with various people now that I’m romancing him in my current playthrough.

First of all, I think Cullen and Kaidan both are very similar characters. Without going into too many “spoilers” about either of them, for those who haven’t followed their romance paths yet, they have many similarities that endear them to me. First of all, they’re both in their 30s, so steady, honest, straightforward, steadfast, loyal, and know their own mind. Second, they’ve both been “tortured” in some way. Both physically and mentally, and admitted to not being the same afterwards. But both found their way back to who they were. Third, both know that they’ve made several decisions in their lives that hindsight made clear that they were wrong, but both own up to them and move on and let people support them through the worst of it when they need it because they’re both devoted friends and never too stubborn to admit when they need help. They’re open and honest with their feelings and deeply committed to making their wrongs right and themselves worthy.

They’re also both very calm. Very mature. Solid. I like that. I’m in my 30′s, too, so I’m over the angsty teen/20′s romances that are so popular with the constant tears and weird stalking and vampires and werewolves and ridiculously wrong BDSM and “soul mates.” I prefer the characters who have been there, done that. They know there’s no such thing as “true, ever eternal love,” but that there is such a thing as love that grows to become the most important thing to them. I adore that. Scarred soldiers.

And finally, there’s the stuttering and easily-embarrassed nature of the both of them when romanced. Neither of them are inexperienced in relationships, but it’s abundantly clear that neither of them have felt the way they do for their romance in their respective games. That it’s more than ever and more than welcome. But still unfamiliar.

Also, they both have lip scars and apparently that’s a thing with me. 😀

All in all, I’ll say that Cullen is eliciting in me the same feels that Kaidan first did. They’re quite different in several ways, but also the same in others, and no one can say that I don’t have a type. 😀  

You seem so sweet, and I really want to talk to you, but you’re also so popular that I feel intimidated because I’m not as cool and popular as the people you talk to all the time :cries:

*rubs hands together* Let me break this down for you, Anon. Cliff’s Notes version? I’m a single cat lady who knits all the time, plays games, makes super queer OCs, writes only ridiculous things, spends too much time making gifs, and rarely wears anything besides yoga pants. I always forget my glasses, leave my keys everywhere except my purse, have no job, put off grocery shopping until I literally have nothing at all left to eat, and haven’t had a proper haircut in more than a year. I drink too much coffee and soda, sleep too much or not enough, forget to empty the litter box all the time, and leave dirty dishes in the sink. I have 3 tattoos; one from FullMetal Alchemist on the back of my neck, and two from Mass Effect, one on the inside of each wrist. I laugh at puns and stupid jokes, love jellyfish and otters, and think butterscotch pudding just can’t be beat.

But I’m also a lover. I’m going to be completely real here. My life is shit. I have literally no money to even support myself or my daughter. I’m taking loans from my parents for 3 months just to stay in my apartment and keep the lights on since I’ve been trying to find work for nearly a year and only managed to get temp jobs every now and then. I suffer from moderate OCD, severe depression, PTSD, and a panic disorder. I am the most happy unhappy person that you may ever meet. I laugh all the time and compliment everyone for even the slightest thing because nothing makes me more unhappy than hearing my friends hating themselves for anything at all. 

All I’ve ever wanted to do was be a bright spot. A good friend. A confidant. A worthy mother. A better person. A lot of things went wrong in my life, and not a whole lot is going right, but the one lesson I’ve learned above all is that love will find you when you find it. If you know who is good enough to be your friend, then you’ll be constantly amazed at the equal parts love you both give and receive.

And when I say that it’s a nearly impossible lesson for me to have learned, I want you to know I don’t say that lightly or with any grandstanding at all. I’ve been severely depressed my whole life due to a chemical imbalance. I was raped when I was 15. An addict by 16. Clean at 18. Mugged at gunpoint when I was 21. Nearly killed during the Super Outbreak by an EF5 tornado when I was 29 and 8 months pregnant. Suicidal by 23. Put in emergency psychiatric rehab by 31. My dad died fairly suddenly two months before my 32nd birthday. My ex-husband asked for a divorce exactly one month later. I have debilitating migraines. Had cancer twice. Diagnosed with MS shortly after turning 33.

Now I’m 33, a single mom, only surviving because my mom and step-mom are giving me money, tens of thousands of dollars in debt, uninsured, unmedicated because I can’t afford my prescriptions anymore, denied federal and state assistance, and one disaster or health problem away from never being able to financially support myself and my child for probably the next 2 decades.

And it sucks. And that’s why I smile all the time. Make friends with everyone. Laugh with them. Share their hardships and their triumphs. Be proud of them and support them with words or stories or anything I can do. Because let me tell you something, Anon. My life sucks. I’m unhappy. The hole gets deeper every day and there are no miracles. But I’m still alive right now for two reasons.

Number one: my daughter needs me. Number two: because I want to keep making friends to love when I just don’t have the strength to love inwardly. 

So, no. I’m not one of the cool kids. I’m just a huge nerd who likes to make friends. If you agree, talk to me any time. I’m sure we can find something to make it a grand old time.