takin’ a risk and playin’ safe

cee | glitchy energizer bunny indulging my hyperfixations

[t-a-r-0-t]

Hey, stop scrolling.

Everyone who is reading this: I’m so glad you’re alive. I’m so proud of you. You are loved. I’m here. Don’t give up, we’re almost there.

Pass it on.

[omgbarbiegurl]

💜🩷💗❤️💟

[ao3commentoftheday]

I'm loving the discussions about the role and purpose of fandom, as well and what activities are needed to keep fandoms alive and flourishing!

However... as a fandom creator (writer and artist), I sometimes feel like too much pressure is concentrated on creators. I don't know if this is a frustration others share? Not only should we keep making things, but somehow we also end up becoming these central fandom figures who can feel pressured into responding to comments (or else we're called arrogant or ungrateful), making friends (or else we're rude for ignoring well-meaning people who reach out), and being the drivers and pillars of that community (running events, responding to memes, etc. – and everything falls silent if we stop). It's a lot of work!! I don't always have the time and energy to make things for fun and then also engage in all the ways people might sometimes feel entitled to because they enjoy my works.

I really wish that more "non-creating" fans in the community would discover their fandom power!! and not just rely on the visible "producing" creators to be the only people worth engaging with. It takes nothing more than passion to write a meta-post about a character or a plot point, or to create an ask game, or to DM someone else who you see posting funny tags – not just the creator! Maybe your followers have other tips for evening out the balance a little more?

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this, anon. This is an observation I've seen in many parts of life, not just fandom.

A lot of people feel as though they need permission or an invitation of some sort in order to contribute. That's why I always end my answers by asking people to share their thoughts. I want to make it explicitly clear that I want people to add things into the reblogs (which I can then share out for more people to see) and the replies (which people can at least read even if I can't reblog).

I have heard fans who are readers but don't write fic say that they think they can't get an AO3 account unless they plan to post something. This is incorrect, of course, but a lot of people make that assumption.

I think at least some people (I don't know what kind of percentage) assume that someone who is writing fic or posting art or making podfics and video edits etc. has some sort of expertise that "allows" them to post.

People with less confidence or with less practice etc. sometimes need an extra nudge before they realize that they're welcome to contribute too. If that's the case for you, please allow me to say:

You are welcome to post in your fandom, even if no one invites you to. Even if you think you're not good enough. Even if your idea isn't "popular."

Start a conversation. Share a thought. Talk to folks who reblog cool shit. Be a folk who reblogs cool shit. You don't have to do everything in order to do something.

As mentioned above, please do share your thoughts in the reblogs and replies to keep the conversation going.

[leomonae]

Other things people can do:

make a rec list

make a "here's all the fics I've found in this fandom with this one trope/general vibe/very particular setup I just think is Neat" list

make a "welcome to the fandom, here's the fics that people will just assume you've read/know about to get you started" list

make a "if you liked [popular fic A] you might enjoy [less well known fics B through N]" list

[ikiyou]

I'm not a fan of reccing a 'most popular, you'll be assumed to have read' fics, since that encourages the idea (even unintentionally) that 1) certain authors are better than others, 2) certain headcanons are better than others, 3) you're assumed to know certain headcanons (and maybe even agree with them), 4) leaves other potentially better written, less popular fics in the dust.

I recommend simply just recommending your favorite fics. (Steps 1 and 2 above are great!) Don't mention popularity as it has zero connection to quality. In fact, I recommend not differentiating fics by popularity at all. It's not a valid statistic, since it becomes inflated by advertising and prolificness of the author (which is what causes popularity most of the time).

[hkblack]

Just adding on some of the best beta readers and editors I've ever worked with are not writers, and oftentimes not "creators"

They're just readers with opinions on stories. Opinions that can be used to help me brainstorm and point out the shit that doesn't work.

Also the people that helped me get settled back into fandom after a long hiatus are the ones who are "just" readers who "just" leave "silly little" comments on fics.

Those fuckers are my favorite people and I have never met them in real life but I would run into a burning building for them.

It's an ecosystem y'all. Can't have the flowers without the pollinators. And before you go "I'm just a mosquito" mosquitos are massive pollinators.

[bigolechompers]

shoutout to the fans who help you find that one specific fic you read a while ago and forgot to bookmark

i love you guys so so much, and i will continue to ask you to find them for me cause it takes me weeks what takes you like, half an hour in my experience

and also people who leave encourageing comments and proofreaders who may not make their own things but make creating so much more easier and fun

and also people who manage and maintain archives so we have somewhere to keep oir stuff

people who manage printing and mailing zines

people who will sit in a vc with you and help you brainstorm

people who have specific knowhow and can advise for realism or even silly things

people who write prompts to get your creativity flowing

people who upload their media online so they can be pirated

people who analyze scenes and point out implications and details and their own theories

people who learned sindarin for fun and will help you pun

people who help you brainstorm

who manage a discord full of fans

unpaid tech support

and the guy who holds your camera so you can make fanvids

i love all of you

[aslongasitsblack]

whoever first pointed out that ilya americanises his accent around other people but not around shane i owe you my fucking life

also the idea of like when its just the two of them ilya can like just slip back into the more comfortable rudimentary accent he had at the start of their relationship :’) and that in itself being nostalgic for shane :’)

[tteukbyeol]

this would also be linguistically accurate!

i speak english the most in day to day life and also think in english sometimes. my accent in english is americanized, pretty indistinguishable from a native (excluding sets of certain phonemes like /rl/) .

but if i’m really tired or spending time just around my wife (with whom i speak english), i sometimes switch to what i call ‘lazy english’.

what this usually consists of is i allow myself to speak english with the russian /r/ phoneme that is more natural for me, i drop articles, replace continuous and future tense with simple present, use the ‘….,yes?’ construct, avoid contractions (bc the verb ‘to be’ is dropped/implied in russian, so contractions aren’t always natural)

for example, when i’m in ‘lazy english’ mode, this is how my speech varies:

‘i’m making the bed’ = ‘i make bed’.

‘you’ll help me later, right?’ = ‘you help me later, yes?’ (for this one, in russian, the same phrasal construct ends with the word ‘yes’ instead of the word ‘right’)

‘can you give me a tissue?’ = can you give me tissue?’

‘where’s the pen? do you have it?’ = ‘where is pen? you have?’

if you pay attention, you’ll notice that a lot of these patterns also occur in ilya’s speech, especially earlier on. that’s why i’m particularly impressed with the writing of his dialogue — it doesn’t come across as stereotyping/caricatural because the way he speaks english is consistent with russian linguistic/grammatical rules. this is often how russian-speaking people speak english when it is their second language and they’re still learning.

i like to imagine ilya reverting to ‘lazy english’ or speaking in a similar manner to me around shane. it is linguistically consistent and a sign of comfort/deep familiarity with the person.

[ariaste]

The next layer of linguistic accuracy would be for Shane to start occasionally modulating down into a similar "lazy english" that's reflective of Ilya's style. I forget the technical term for this, but it's a legit thing in linguistics -- if there's someone you love/admire/respect and you spend a lot of time with them, you unconsciously start picking up and mirroring a couple aspects of their idiolect (like a dialect but rather than being spoken by a group, it is a single person's unique linguistic fingerprint), whether that's gestures, vocabulary, or speech patterns.

So when Ilya says something like, "Where is pen? You have?" then over time Shane's response might naturally shift towards, "Yes, I have."

[aslongasitsblack]

he already does this!!!

you still want?

i still want

!!!!!!

[welcometololaland]

This Liminal Space

“The airport guy?” Nat repeats incredulously, hitting the brakes a little too hard and causing the car to jerk. “The one you run into every year? I thought you hated that guy.”

Bradley hums. “We got off on the wrong foot,” he admits, thinking back to an argument in a TSA line, green eyes glaring at him over a tray. “But at some point, everything changed.”

OR

Jake and Bradley spend six years catching flights and feelings.

-

Different places, different timelines, different meetings, different Decembers. And still, Jake and Bradley find each other in every universe.

Part 4: In Every Universe

(TGM | Hangster | E | 14,300)

prompt from @mxrcusflint <3

(thank you to notchka for the beta once again!!! and @celeritas2997 for soothing me in my frequent meltdowns)

[marz-rm]

drew a pretty boy full only on patreon

[noahreids]

LNC: ILYA ROZANOV (IN.SP) | Shane [x]

[noahreids]

LNC: SHANE HOLLANDER (IN.SP) | Ilya [x]

[ilyarozancv]

"haven't you ever wanted more time?"

[starlightandtears]

To all the teenagers following me that don’t hear it from their parents: I’m proud of you.

[notdoingmywork]

To all of the adults following me that never heard it from their parents: I’m proud of you, too.

[2cats1trenchcoat]

To all people following me that have never heard it: I’m proud of you, too.

[twobabkas]

[lucrezianoin]

episode 6 recreating some of their previous moments

Episode 1:

Episode 1:

Episode 2:

Episode 5:

Not to mention that every time we see Yuna and David with Shane they are at a lunch and eating together, and this time finally Ilya is there.

[heymacy]

1.01 -> 1.06

[welcometololaland]

Urgent Care

Winding up in urgent care three days before Christmas was not on Jake Seresin's bingo card. Then again, he didn't expect to find Bradley Bradshaw there either.

-

Different places, different timelines, different meetings, different Decembers. And still, Jake and Bradley find each other in every universe.

Part 3: In Every Universe

(TGM / Hangster / E / 10,607)

thank you to notchka for the beta and @celeritas2997 for your cheerleading (ESPECIALLY for the help on the stupid injuries) and @intrepidjourneys for the super fun prompt :)

[welcometololaland]

One + One

Jake gives him an unbelievably nonchalant shrug. “I believe I asked you a question about your callsign.”

“While looking at my crotch,” Bradley accuses.

“I was hoping it wasn’t an indication you were going to peck me to death,” Jake replies, mirth in his eyes as he scans Bradley’s face. “At least I know one thing for certain. You’re sure as shit not dating Natasha.”

-

Different places, different timelines, different meetings, different Decembers. And still, Jake and Bradley find each other in every universe.

Part 2: In Every Universe

(TGM / Hangster / T / 5,761)

(thank you to notchka for beta reading - coming in clutch again!

(also thank you to @celeritas2997 for being my non-tgm sounding board)

[ilyarozancv]

yeah, it was, uh... it was better.

[welcometololaland]

Only One Christmas Tree

Bradley loves his predictable, stable life in a small coastal town in Maine. Unfortunately, he never accounted for the seasonal worker staying in the house next door, with pretty eyes and a smart mouth who also wants to fight him over a Christmas tree.

-

Different places, different timelines, different meetings, different Decembers. And still, Jake and Bradley find each other in every universe.

Part 1: In Every Universe

(TGM / Hangster / T/ 5,270)

(thank you so much notchka for picking me up out of the metaphorical gutter, crowd-sourcing my prompts and beta-ing for me! could not have done it without you)

(also thank you to @celeritas2997 for letting me yap on and on and on and fixing up my ideas, even though you don't go here <3)

[livelovecaliforniadreams]