My woke take, as someone who has worked in both a public library and a school library, is that we desperately need both more books that are at a higher reading level but a less mature subject matter, and more books that are at a lower reading level but a more mature subject matter, because 8 year olds who are advanced readers are still 8 year olds and don't want to read about graphic violence and torture, and teens and adults who have learning difficulties or who are just later readers for whatever reason are still teens and adults and don't want to read about Billy the Bunny going to school or whatever the hell.
You gotta be really publicly passionate about things if you want your friends to text you. Bc people will forget to text you because they’re human. But if you’re really openly the friend who loves identifying ants your friends will think of you when they see ants. And they’ll text you “what ant is this [blurry photo]”. And then they’ll ask you how you’ve been and we should get coffee sometime. But if they don’t know what you love they’ll never know what you like
And then when the ant convention is in town they’ll be like dude… we should go to the ant convention. But they would never think to go if they didn’t know u loved ants
I really like stories where Danny has resentment against the Justice League because they didn't do anything to help Amity Park, but I think an AU where he's completely chill about it while they're very much not would be really funny.
Like, imagine that every major ghost attack happens exactly at the same time as world extinction events. Danny has a big fight, goes home, turns on the news and there it is, all hands on deck for major heroes because the universe is in peril.
At some point he just stops checking, he knows the drill, and besides he's handled it anyway. It's all good.
So it really comes as a shock when a hero independently finds out about the GIW and organises a JL intervention. They come to Amity Park and they really don't get why the local teenage hero gives them a thumbs up and tells not to worry, he can handle being dehumanised and hunted for experimentation.
Okay, so not this exactly, but my take on Danny's reaction to the JL never helping out is that for the first couple he just legitimately never even thought to call. Maybe Tucker did while chasing him, maybe Sam did, he's not sure, but as for himself he was just busy trying to figure out how to fix the problem before it killed him or his friends.
So for the first couple world ending disasters, Danny was just way too caught up in everything that was happening to even think about trying to get away long enough to call the JL.
And then sometime after Walker did his little trick of possessing like half the town with his wardens, Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Jazz all sit down and talk about whether they should get the League involved (Jazz had been hinting off and on for a while that they should) and they all agree that the chances the League members who showed up would just get possessed and become part of the problem--either by joining the fight or publicly denouncing Danny--were just too high to risk trying to call them again.
Which, probably means that when the JL DOES finally show up in town Danny's kinda frantic about trying to herd them out before any of his rogues try anything.
Didn't realize we were posting our results so I had to go back and re-spin, but somehow I've still got the same prefix? My first result was Shade Needle
WHY ARE YOU WRITING FANFIC WHEN YOU ALSO WRITE ORIGINAL STORIES?!
Yes, someone literally shouted that in my face.
And the answer is relatively simple, although it might be shocking to some:
why couldn't I write both?
BOTH IS GOOD.
(yes, that gif from The Road to El Dorado never gets old, tbh, watch this movie if you somehow don't know it yet)
Ok, there goes my rant - under the cut.
I know I don't often post something of this length, but I'm mostly busy with work and what I'm creating.
But I think I want to vent.
It's going to be a bit autoethnographic, because everything I'm describing is a personal experience supported by subjective feelings. But the researcher's personal feelings don't detract from the conclusions or the process being described, tbh.
Especially in a field like writing.
So, can you accuse someone of being less of a creator because they don't have any published works, but only work available for free (usually published under a pseudonym) on fan sites, and what they write is embedded in a universe they love so much that they wanted to contribute?
I'll be honest, I wasn't interested in this phenomenon for a long time. I knew it existed, I knew there were websites dedicated to it, I knew what "ships" were. But I didn't feel the need to delve deeper into the subject. I had a few favorite series – for example:
WITCH (a comic books/animated series from the early 2000s),
Avatar: The Last Airbender,
Fullmetal Alchemist (a manga and both anime series – I know Brotherhood is more well-known).
Watching and reading about the adventures of the characters has always been a great escape for me - only later did I begin to notice how much influence these series had on what I create and what themes interest me most.
I love all the different aspects of these series. But none of them really clicked for me like...
TRANSFORMERS.
How can I logically explain this? Everyone finds "something" that captivates them so much that they devour media related to it in an addictive way. For some, it's fishing, for others, photography, for still others.
And for me, it's stories set in a universe about giant, space robots.
And that's cool.
And it was this series that really clicked for me, to the point where I even started thinking about writing fanfiction set in this universe.
Why? I can answer as I did in one of my posts: because I wanted to deliver an interesting story.
And I guess that's what writing is really about, right?
It's about telling interesting, engaging stories that readers or viewers will gladly return to and read or watch again.
I know this from experience too: there are a few series I regularly return to. And I always leave feeling like it was worth it. And that's important.
THIS is what the series I mentioned above stand for.
And this is what Transformers stands for, despite the passage of time. Even though we know the fates of the characters - because the series has had so many retellings over the past 40 years - the fandom is still alive and kicking.
And the amount of fanfiction about the Transformers characters is overwhelming, overwhelmingly shocking.
Truly.
Perceiving fanfiction writing as something lesser or unworthy of recognition seems quite wrong to me. Fan content is a large part of the community. As a teenager, I focused mainly on wanting to write original stories in the future – mainly in the fantasy and sci-fi genres. Later, I was inspired by speculative fiction and other literary works, developing my own way of telling stories, creating characters, giving them personality and motivations, describing the world, constructing dialogue, descriptions, exposing elements of the world, etc. I think every aspiring author goes through these phases. I read tons of books and sought out important advice on how to write well. I talked to people who wrote professionally.
And you know what?
It was a shock to me to learn that many professional writers also wrote fanfiction. And that it was a valuable experience for them.
And it dawned on me that I'd never done this before.
I'd never considered doing this before.
Well, everyone has to have their first time.
And that was a good moment.
After the pandemic, I couldn't get myself together creatively and had a really difficult time getting myself together enough to get back to writing. Various activities pushed me forward, to a greater or lesser extent, but something was missing. I had made progress in various areas, but it wasn't satisfying.
And so, in 2025, I started thinking about what to do with this situation.
And I thought back to what I'd talked about with various writers, as well as to various source texts. And to the series that gave me comfort. And then I connected the dots.
And I started writing fanfic.
Ok, but what did it give me?
What gains and losses did I notice as a creator?
Above all:
Improved craft – on every level. Literally – it's not just about expository writing, descriptions, and dialogue, but also about what to cover in a given chapter, how much information to include, what should be a MacGuffin, should there be a red herring, or should the chapter end with a cliffhanger? The way the story is told and the pace of the story have a strong impact on the overall experience. Whether we create characters that the reader/viewer will root for or perhaps grow weary of is crucial. These are the small stones that build this metaphorical wall, and it's up to us whether everything collapses or stands.
Learning by doing – you don't learn to write by reading. You must – MUST – practice. You won't get anywhere without it.
The ability to imagine and describe characters – writing about characters whose stories stretch back 40 years is a difficult experience – especially if you have to empathize with their characters, understand their behavior, motivations, thinking, decision-making, etc.
Gaining research skills – imagination is important, but the moment you start writing nonsense, the story becomes unbelievable, and the characters' decisions and behaviors become meaningless. Checking information and using reliable (even fan-made!) websites/books/publications/films is crucial. Here, my personal thanks to @emperor-kumquat, whose videos gave me so much material for researching specific topics.
Learning routine and consistency – a story won't just jump onto paper/into a document. You need to develop a routine that won't make you hate sitting down to write after a few weeks and get tired of your own story.
Becoming part of a community – Tumblr provided that for me. I found communities and individuals here with whom I enjoy spending time and spend hours talking about what we're doing.
Learning without pressure – I treat my entire experience as a pleasure, not dictated by any imposed pace.
But above all: creating a good story.
Did I notice any discomfort or did I suffer any loss?
Well, along with my creative path, which involved spending time in front of a screen, I had to introduce a new routine into my life. It was a difficult transition, but it was beneficial for my health. Literally.
So, to sum it up: it was worth it. It was one of the best creative decisions I've made.
And now that I've started writing my original story, which you can read on Wattpad, I see how much those few months of fanfiction have given me.
But just because I'm working on another project doesn't mean the current one will be put on hold. I intend to take on another challenge and work on both stories simultaneously.
Now I know I can handle it.
And in a year, I'll be wiser again after these experiences.
My thoughts were partly inspired by conversations with @tendebill @darie-vox @domesticatingaliens and accounts such as @ariesrin @novafire-is-thinking @luna-azzurra @nondelphic @writercultureis @pantserspen @brainstreams @thelittlewritingcat @pantserspen @literaryvein-reblogs @writingwithfolklore @ijustwannawritepls @mycozywritingcorner - thank you!
"Call it a change of management. Besides, at least I don't intend to kill you. I'm sure your parents will pay a wonderful ransom for your safe return!"
At the risk of sounding anti-intellectual, I think that college should be free and also not a requirement for employment outside of highly specialized career fields
technically you can, if you don't care about degrees.
Free Harvard courses.
Free Courses from Stanford.
Free Courses from MIT.
Free courses from Yale.
Free courses from Princeton.
Free courses on Coursera.
Free Courses on EDx
Free Courses on Alison
For paid, there's The Great Courses+/Wonderium. 20$ a month for unlimited courses.
When searching, the phrases you're looking for are Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), or you can do a general search of say, "free online college courses."
Oh, and so you don't get surprised like I did, have an avoid: Hillsdale College is a conservative Christian site and not a valid MOOC place. Sign up with them and you will get things like THIS IS WHY THE LEFT IS TURNING YOUR KIDS TRANS AND GAY in your inbox.
I know "Clockwork is the ghost of Kronos" is a popular DC/Danny Phantom crossover connection, but I would like to suggest the flip possibility as more likely: Kronos stole a piece of Clockwork's power, and Clockwork will get very annoyed and huffy and indignant if you say anything to suggest that in life he used to be Kronos, although he does claim the guy's family because "they deserve a decent father/grandfather watching over them"
for those wondering why they're free to take now, it's because the company that made those "chicken soup for the soul" books bought them a few years ago and then completely collapsed so bad they couldn't afford to dispose of or even take the blu rays and dvds out of their kiosks all over.
so any of them is free game because they're all located on other business' property and they usually don't want to have to pay to get rid of them either. so asking the store manager usually gets you the ok to pull it out and keep it.
there was a period of time right after their bankruptcy where you could put in any debit or credit card and it would spit out movies without charging you. you could even put in like an expired or deactivated card, or a visa gift card with a $0 balance, didnt matter, they'd just start spitting discs out. a lotta people raided redboxes for movies for a couple months, with some people doing what me and my brother and my dad did here, taking the whole box and signs and marquees as well. because managers sure as hell don't want a big abandoned piece of trash on their sidewalk disappointing customers. BUT they're also often too cheap to pay someone to remove it. so they just sit there.
luckily there are no shortage of freaks like us who will just take them away on our own volition. we did it all "by the book", too: we set up cones and caution tape, disconnected electricity properly, used an angle grinder to grind down the bolts in the concrete so nobody would trip on them, then cleaned everything up afterward and sealed off the electrical panel so the store would know everything is safe and tidy. though they were hesitant when we were first contacting them, they were honestly very relieved and grateful when we finally took it away, especially once they saw that we "knew what we were doing" (we don't) and look like we've "done this before" (we haven't).
the fun part: the reason why this redbox, in particular, was completely full and unraided is because the computer hardware inside had failed some months before the bankruptcy, and a failing company sure as hell wasn't gonna send a tech out to our podunk dipshit city to fix it, so it was impossible to rent movies or take any discs out. plus, for who knows how long, people were returning old redbox discs to this machine and not taking any out, leading to a much higher variety of movies than your average redbox.
there is a thriving community of redbox hackers and modders out there, as well, creating open-source software for repurposing the machines and not letting their very interesting and robust disc-management hardware go to waste. this one belongs to my brother (who was very annoying persistent and did all the legwork of contacting managers and securing permission) who is a programmer by trade and will be hacking it into a family-access movie library, with whatever discs we want. i mean the machine is completely weatherproof and has a built-in AC unit, it would be such a waste to not try to turn it into something cool.
if we get another one, i'm gonna try to mod it into some sort of art or zine vending machine. the disc boxes are just the right size for small print art or stickers. would make a great "little free library" too.
remember: the rules are made up. act like you belong there and you can get away with anything. this applies to your own life
tbh a lot of my advice boils down to “hey you know that terrible horrible looming thing you’re doing your best to avoid and distract and escape as much as possible but no matter what you do it just keeps looming and looming and ruining your life”
Hey, anyone who said this outfit would be perfect for Ghost King Phantom? Tada
I posted this on a DPxDC discord server, and they said to "lemme reblog this on tumblr!!!" so here we are
Ship dynamic pitch: enemies, to still enemies but one genuinely hates the other and the other thinks their SO interesting and won’t leave them alone, to enemies but they know everything about each other and have found some sort of common ground but there’s still tension, to lovers but one is a raging ball of hate that’s not directed at the other any more and the other is their co-conspirar and equally as bad. Plus theyre down bad for each other and everyone can see it.
writing is easy! first you must explain something you do not understand, you must express the turmoil within a person using dots and lines, you must craft a living world using hands that were never made to. and then you die
So I’ve been seeing a lot of depictions of Danny with crows—obviously because crows are usually associated with death—but what if all crows just love Danny?
Like, they’d bring things to him and be like, “Friend.” Danny just gives off this friendly, safe energy to them. He doesn’t even need to be near them—he could just be standing in an area, and every crow within a 100-mile radius would start swarming toward him. And not just in his Phantom form, this happens in his regular human form too, it’s just not as strong.
Also, if I remember correctly, some crows can mimic human speech (sorry if I’m wrong, but I swear I read that somewhere). So the ones that can talk call Phantom “Master,” but they call Danny “Milady.” Why? Because I think it’s hilarious for a bunch of crows to be calling some random teenage boy “milady.” And no, this isn’t trans Danny—it’s just for the bit.
I know some people don’t like feminine titles being used for Danny (especially in certain interpretations), but there is a reason for it here. I want it to look, from the outside, like Danny and Phantom are dating. Because of how the crows address them—“Master” and “Milady”—the Batfamily (and probably a lot of other people) end up assuming that Danny Nightingale is dating Phantom.
So this is basically a fake pitch pearl .
Danny’s relationship with the Bats could vary: he could be one of Bruce’s long-lost sons, a surprise sibling to one of the Batkids, Damien's twin (demon twins) or somehow the son of Dick, or just a friend of one of them. It’d probably be funniest if he were actually related to one of them, but it could also just be overprotective friends getting the wrong idea.
I’m not entirely sure where this is going—I mostly just had the idea of “crows love Danny” plus misunderstanding fake pitch pearl chaos, and all the potential shenanigans that come from that misunderstanding.
(Danny is not trans in this prompt because using the wrong pronouns and signifiers for a trans person is just straight up rude)
If I was a wasp, I'd sting you. If I was a venomous snake, I'd bite you. If I was a lion, I'd maul you. If I was a swamp, I'd poison you. If I was a mountain, I'd fall and crush you. If I was the ocean, I'd drown you. If I was a cat, I'd never let you touch me. If I was a dog, I'd run away. If I was a horse, I'd never let you break me. If I was a farm, I wouldn't grow for you. If I was a fire, I'd burn out without warming you. If I was a home, I would fall apart around you.
If I was harmless and small, and easy to hold, you would love me. If I was a worm you could put me in the soft earth and I would be helpless in your care. Of course you could love me, but could you love me if I stung you, bit you, pulled against you, hid and didn't understand you but wasn't harmless or helpless at all?
Could you love something for what it is, when that means you can't touch it or show kindness, maybe even never be near it, and it might never, ever love you back? Is it okay to exist and not belong to anyone, to not be useful to anyone, to be dangerous or poisonous or a failure but a part of the world all the same?
I know this is a metaphor, but if you take it kind of literally, there is an answer to this.
We build wildlife preserves. Often explicitly for the protection of animals and ecosystems that can and have killed humans.
Whenever a whale gets stranded on a beach, CROWDS show up ad risk getting bludgeoned to death trying to get it back into the water.
Every Zoo has a reptile house full of venomous snakes and a team of humans dedicated to giving them the best quality of life possible.
There are volunteer beekeepers who will travel for miles and miles and hours and hours to relocate an entire hive.
There are people who rehabilitate dangerous dogs and horses
There are people who restore structurally unsound houses
There are people who study the way that fire burns so it can rejoin the ecosystem and not be smothered on sight.
Every day, millions of people get up and devote themselves to things that can and will kill them by their nature. Things they can't touch or show kindness to. Things they can't go near. Things that are wholly incapable of loving them back.
And they do it because they love them.
Everything dangerous, everything poisonous, everything 'useless'- absolutely everything has someone, often many thousands of people, who loves them exactly as they are, without expectation that their affection will be returned.
It is alright for anything, even you, to not belong to anyone, to not be useful, to be frightening and dangerous and not adhere to any standard of success.
It's all alright.
You are loved.
You are loved.
You are loved.
