Grace Hill

there are some opt-in surveys floating around Tumblr, and while those are not the best quality for actual user metrics, as a general rule, most of the responses skew under, say, 25

quality matters!

same, same, but it's the ones who aren't telling that are the bad apples in the barrel, imo

I agree---I don't think storytelling is a lemon market. And I don't think that older folks who post fics on AO3 are going to be subject to the lemon market rules. but, I'm not entirely sure that will continue to hold to be true for younger folks--which is, maybe, why most folks there are younger??

* only one “sentence” required. This is what I get for using dictation 😂

You get me. Like individually, a paragraph or a sentence sentences will often make sense. But the whole thing is inane!

Sussing it out it part of what I do, professionally, but it’s almost impossible to prove. My suspicions for many of them are almost entirely professional experience plus vibes plus probability.

So I don’t ever attempt to nail anyone in specific. I just pretend that it does not exist and move on.

I am at the “I’m not mad, just disappointed” stage of grief.

Sometimes it’s really obvious, like when they leave the prompt in.

Other times it’s slightly more subtle, like when they get called on it in the comments and admit to it in the authors note.

That success gives me hope that the people who are willing to put in the work, and tell their original stories by chiseling away at the block of marble one hammer blow at a time, will be the ones who are ultimately valued and recognized.

Not these glossy, superficially perfect, soulless stories.

I really think, after watching the success of the show about the gay hockey boys, and how closely it hewed to the craft of a romance novel, that most people do appreciate that craft and that originality and that heart.

Even if they can’t put their finger on what they’re seeing, they love it.

Is there a craft to it? Sure. Someone I admire greatly once said that reading a fanfic author’s backlist is like watching them get an MFA over years.

But you can’t skip the skill building, and still write something that draws readers in—at least readers who care about storytelling.

Soulless, heartless stories, written by what is basically an advanced clippy are antithetical to the entire storytelling experience.

I want the niche, weird, utterly unique stories of an author‘s heart. Because everyone is a little different, and those differences are wonderful.

The whole point is to share something about that journey that is important to the author. Maybe it’s just the joy in creation that is important, and I love it for them. Many people will tell you that they can tell when the author is having a good time, and I agree.

Much, but not all, of AO3 is cross pollinated with romance, and that fanfic, like romance, is all about the journey, not the destination.

We know what’s going to happen, we know the original story, we know the setting. We know that romances end with a happily ever after, or a happy for now.

I have a pet theory that some people are mired in the ruts of mediocre, mass produced stories, and they don’t have the training and the context to recognize good original shit when they see it.

IMO they’re used to reading stuff that is designed to be listened to while they do something else.

I don’t know if the babies think that because they use it in school, it’s OK to use it here? Or that they think that they can somehow win at fanfic by pumping out content? Or that it’s more important to have a glossy superficial story over a heartfelt truth about the human condition?

If anywhere in the world is the place to be yourself, to let your inner freak flag fly, and write a story that you and one other person really get, it’s AO3.

I’ll take shitty grammar and spelling with an original voice and heart over an inordinately long mediocre story any day of the week.

I read a lot of fic, and my normal method is to download them, and put them on my e-reader, so that I can read in the dark before bed. Yesterday, like normal, I downloaded about a dozen of them. I think about half of them were written with AI. It’s very disappointing.

Highlights Of NHL Fashion In The First Half Of The Season With the formal NHL dress code a thing of the past, players have had more freedom in their gameday outfits, and a few players have taken the freedom to fully spread their wings in what they wear to ar...

There are. Mikhail Sergachev is known for it, for example

thehockeynews.com/news/latest-...

This is the guy who nerfed Tumblr’s usage with the porn ban btw.

elections matter. mutual aid matters. whistles matter. dash cams matter. hand warmers matter. getting folks rent money matters. calling reps matters. checking on your neighbors matters. finding progressives to primary these fuckers matters.

it all matters if you dream big enough.

‘Its predictive text turned up to 11. It can't even count. As Daniel Stenberg, author of curl, caustically observed:

‘The "i" in "LLM" stands for intelligence.’

Generally speaking, the minute you see the word “Fabio” attached to an article about romance other than as history, you can throw the entire thing into the garbage. It’s a sneer, designed as communication from one person who thinks romance is stupid to another.

:handshake: in sensory sensitivity

running joke in my house that I can smell things nobody else can

:handshake: My problem is that I want everyone to agree with me, LOL! This is not a great personality trait!!

NeuroDivergent Rebel (they/them/Xe... @NeuroRebel When people call me “high functioning” it means | am good at hiding my struggles so I'm not an inconvenience on people around me - because | have the ability to suffer in silence. #MyAutisticTruth #ActuallyAutistic 2:08 PM - 12/29/22

today's meme from the group chat

Because it's fun for them even when they're just messing around, I think. Which is totally fine, imo. People are allowed to like what they like. I don't have to understand, and frequently I do not understand, LOL

I love this for you!!

Aww, thanks!! 😊

You know, that used to bother me. But then I realized that sometimes you just don’t have the spoons to extend that drive into every area of your life. I will always be a mediocre cake decorator because I just don’t care that much 😂