Tales from the Infinite Void

37 year old Millennial former writer and editor fleeing the sinking Twitter ship. ME, DA, and DMC fangirl. Thane, Solas, Zevran, Fenris and Vergil simp. Former Co-founder and then leader of the failed Thane Fanbook ME3 protest project. Only mediocrity lies beyond this door.

[mondlichtvogel]

Still Zevran trash

[barbex]

Ok, I had to. 827 words for those eyes.

“Zevran, it’s time,” Madame Callinery whispers to him.

“Why can’t I stay here?” he asks, hating how high his voice sounds. He likes it here among the women and men of “The Glistening Loins” brothel. He pets the cat on his lap once more before he gets up, setting the animal down. It lets out a squeak in protest and rubs itself on his legs.

“You can come back at night and sleep here,” Callinery says. “I spoke to Master Kerren, he will allow it for another year.” She wipes a few stray hairs from his face. “I see that Bella has the night off, so you’ll have someone to talk to when you come back.”

A cold voice comes from the door, making her flinch. “He doesn’t need to be coddled. The Crows have paid good coin for him, he has to earn his keep now.” They have not heard him come in. It is expected of an assassin to be silent on his feet and this Crow was obviously a master.

Keep reading

[fenharelsmythlover20]

Way to make me cry, Barb. *sniffs*

[thanemod-deactivated20210514]

BioWare is Closing the Forums & BSN

Well, at least we’re pretty sure they are. Despite repeated inquiries to clarify the contents of their blog post in regards to BSN, BioWare has refused to elaborate on the following:

How will the approximately 4100 BSN Projects (fan-created mods) be affected by the closure of the site?

How will the official Dragon Age: Origins (DAO) Toolset be affected by the closure of the site?

How will the official DAO Toolset Wiki be affected by the closure of the site?

How will the official DLC and Patch downloads for DAO, Dragon Age II, and Mass Effect 2 be affected by the closure of the site?

How will the soundtrack downloads for Mass Effect 3 be affected by the closure of the site?

How will the redemption of promotional codes be affected by the closure of the site?

How will the registration/verification of game content be affected by the closure of the site?

Nice of them to omit all this info, eh?

Not to mention, that blog post reads like a bad meme, right? “Your feedback is important to us… so we’re going to close our official forums.”

…

What really puts a foul taste in my mouth besides them dropping this announcement on us and then fielding questions for all of one day… (Sidebar: Seriously, the Community Manager, Conal Pierse, hasn’t made a single post since August 2nd, and nobody from BioWare has bothered to respond to any of the above questions that have been asked repeatedly by players.) … is the obvious calculation that went into the timing of this announcement:

The announcement was made on a Friday, which lessens news coverage.

The announcement was made at the very end of July, when many folks are on vacation, lessening the amount of people who will see it.

The announcement gives the community only a month of warning before the change to read-only, which is a very short time span.

Conveniently, this time span corresponds to when many college-age players are moving back to college to start the new academic year.

The announcement was made well in advance of their next title, ensuring that any drama from the closure will have died down prior, and ensuring that any drama related to ME:A cannot be posted on the forum.

Well done, BioWare.

So, what about all those 4100 Projects? They are about to be lost, unless they are hosted elsewhere.

What about all the gameplay and modding guides contained in forum posts? Gone.

What about player blogs where they shared modding advice, fan fiction, or musings on their favorite characters? Bye-bye.

What about the players who haven’t logged into the forums since mid-July and happen to try to log back in on November 1st? Nope. Sorry. The forum will be completely gone.

So, myself and some others have started two projects:

A website. Because all the information related to the closure will be gone come October 25th. This website will explain to users what happened and what – if anything – they can do about their content. Mods, blogs, etc.

Site Archives. A couple folks are working on archiving the entirely of the existing BioWare Forums site, the BSN, and the original ME1 site, which is still around.

The New BSN Project Archive. We’re headquartered on Nexusmods and are putting together a spreadsheet of all BSN Projects so these great mods aren’t lost. It’s a huge project and we need more help, so please pitch in if you can. Read more about our efforts here.

Please help let folks know about the closure by reblogging this post. Also, please spread the link to the website. We need to build hits before the forums close, to ensure that folks will be able to find the site with their search engine.

Thanks for reading and next time I’ll have news of ThaneMOD :)

[fenharelsmythlover20]

I was wondering what would happen to the mods and patches when the site was gone. I’m happy to hear there may still be somewhere to go. I’ll pass the info on via the various Facebook and DA groups I’m part of.

[velvetjailofcrimes-deactivated2]

>>ORIGINAL COMIC<< SUPPORT THE ARTIST

Art by allistair-right

Inquisitor voiced by totalspiffage

Dorian voiced by lightgetsout

[velvetjailofcrimes-deactivated2]

“here’s to us; what was and what could have been.”

Original artwork by remington-zero

>>ORIGINAL COMIC<< PLEASE SUPPORT THE ARTIST!

Zevran voice by lightgetsout

[cantthinkofanotptonameblogafter]

We both know what I’m doing, mother. And we both know it’s that “Elven Slave”

[needapotion]

Meet Legsolas 8D 

(again, sorry for bad english ^^’ Oups, “we are the representatives of the Inquisition”, my mistake, sorry >_< )

[ioanaartblog]

Commission for Sunshinedragon 

 Solas comforting his little Atisha

[darkshrimpemotions]

I weirdly love that there are crotchety fandom elders around who say shit like “in my day, (insert fandom term) meant this specifically, but now you kids just use it to mean any old thing.”

It seriously gives fandom such a sense of heritage and family, like yes grandma, tell me more about how you had to write fic uphill both ways in the snow when you were my age.

[unanon]

I’m approaching crotchety old grandma.

[laurenthemself]

No but this is me.

DRABBLES ARE EXACTLY 100 WORDS NO MORE NO LESS AND DON’T FUCKING TRY TO TELL ME OTHERWISE.

[pilgrimkitty]

This is me also. A crackship is NOT the same as a rarepair and the two terms canNOT be used interchangeably.

[lil-miss-choc-deactivated201812]

YOU CAN ONLY HAVE ONE OTP.

It’s literally right there in the name. It is your ONE true pairing.

[pilgrimkitty]

I get around this one by have one OTP for each fandom. It’s my OTP for that fandom.

[nubianamy]

I am a crotchety old fandom grandmother and I approve this message

[ladybubblegum]

the drabble thing irks me SO MUCH it makes me feel like an old lady yelling at kids on her lawn

[stupidlullabies]

#oh fandom #THE DRABBLE THING #DRABBLES ARE 100 WORDS #ONE GODDAMN HUNDRED WORDS EXACTLY #jfc that’s what made them such a fun and interesting challenge #was getting it to exactly 100 words #and the rush of FINALLY getting there after picking and poking #or the sheer dumb joy of nailing it within a word or two on the first shot #so you only had to do the most minor editing #do not give me a fucking 8000 word fic and call it a drabble #ThAT IS NOT A DRABBLE (via @wasoncedelight)

IF IT IS MORE THAN 100 WORDS IT IS A FICLET NOT A DRABBLE OMG WHY DON’T YOU JUST CALL IT A HAIKU WHILE YOU’RE AT IT???

[absedarian]

[jediserenity82]

You're such a sweet and encouraging person. I see the replies you make to other writers' posts when they're feeling down, that's just so sweet and kind of you to do that. You're a lovely person <3

Thank you so much for that! I hope you don’t mind that I answered this publicly. I always worry when I get stuff like this that they’d prefer it private.

I absolutely hate to see others down on their work, and as someone who frequently struggles with writing and depression, knowing how that feels, I just hate to see others going through it. Looking at your own work and just loathing everything you’ve done is a horrible feeling. 

There are so many fanfic writers out there who give up because they think their work isn’t good enough because of lack of feedback. I’ve been there several times. I even took an 8 year bring from writing. I don’t want people going through that. Writers put so much of themselves into their work and to feel like it’s not being recognized hurts. It almost feels like a personal attack.

I know my voice is small compared the nagging voice in their heads, but if I can do or say anything to make someone else feel better, then I’m going to try. :)  

[keliandrada-deactivated20170226]

I have been writing for 11 months total and in that time I have given up twice, that’s included deleting everything to come back and start over later. It is true that it is very, very, difficult! Emotionally and just for the sheer amount of time that goes in to writing ( sometimes 1k words can take hours ). I read other peoples work and see how truly amazing it is and that little voice says ‘You will never be able to write that well.’ People who can write a small 1k drabble and hit you right in the feels with their descriptive words and amazing flow. Then you write a few chapters, get almost no feedback what so ever, see subscriptions drop and your like. I REALLY can’t do this, what’s more, no one likes it. Feedback is probably one of the most important parts of writing, on both counts. Those who like it and those who don’t.

Why did those people unsubscribe? What do I need to improve and work on? My descriptions? Flow? Punctuation? Spelling? Characterisation? Or did you just unsub because you were going to read it one day but never got around to it, got sick of the email updates for chapters and decided to give it a miss? WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME? You plod along with no idea at all if you can even spark the smallest amount of feels in your readers, put together a story that makes some amount of sense and what not because, no one tells you anything. Then you see the next story that has 1000 comments and 1000 kudos and your like, well it must be me but how do I fix it? And seriously, thank you so much for your kind words to other writers. It really means a lot and it does help! :)

[jediserenity82]

Believe me, I know exactly how that is. I read such amazing work by some amazing people and I think the same thing - “You’re never going to measure up.” But something you have to try to keep in mind (and I struggle with this) is that it’s not a competition. We need to write because we enjoy it and it makes us feel good. We have a story to tell, not for anyone else. It’s so hard to remember that, especially when you don’t get the feedback you’re looking for. It discourages you and makes you wonder why you keep trying. I feel like this so often, and the reality is, the majority of us do. We never feel like we’re as good as this person or that person. But giving up isn’t going to fix that. We’ll never improve if we do.

The great thing about fanfiction writing is usually the writing community itself, and communicating with them. I would have given up shortly after I came back if it wasn’t for some of the wonderful people I’d met who encouraged me to continue. I have mini-panic attacks when I post something new, afraid that it’s not going to be received well or ignored completely, but encouragement from other writers helps. Even some of the best FF writers out there feel like they’re not good enough and have many of the same issues. It just comes with the territory because writing is such a personal thing. You put so much of yourself into it that you crave that positive feedback and even the con-crit. Silence is deafening to a writer. And a lot of readers don’t get that, unless they, themselves, are writers. 

I sometimes struggle with reviews. Especially when it’s something I’ve reviewed on a lot. I always feel like I’m saying the same thing over and over again. But I know they would rather hear that than nothing at all.

[barbex]

There always comes a point, sometimes it comes several times a day, where I ask myself “why do I do this to myself?” After reading something that’s alright and see it get hundreds of notes, after posting something and getting hit with the Silence, after seeing wonderful writers suffer and give up because of the Silence… why do we do this to ourselves?

I honestly don’t know and I think readers who are not writers don’t realize how much we bare the very core of our souls out there by posting what we wrote.

[vorchagirl]

Reblogging because I feel like that sometimes and it’s hard to stop comparing yourself to others. And I know so many other writers who feel the same way.

[mordinette]

All of this is so true. SO TRUE.

Starting with @jediserenity82 being one of the kindest persons I met in this fandom, always there with an encouraging word when you’re feeling down. Thank you. :)

And also the importance of feedback, and the self-doubt when you see those favorites/follows/subscriptions drop and wondering, why? Or, when people who used to review/comment stop doing so. Why? Did you do something wrong? Do they not like your story anymore? Yes, it hurts, and it takes away your motivation.

When you put your work out there to be judged you can’t help but feel like you are being judged, too, so it’s really hard not to take it personally when those kinds of things happen. Especially when you see that experienced, high-caliber writers ignore your work. You can’t help but think that your writing is just not good enough.

And this is one reason why it’s so important for writers to support other writers. We know how it is to get silence or to see the number of your reviewers/followers drop. So why not help each other? Why not encourage each other?

I do try to read new authors’ work and leave comments for them. Unfortunately I don’t always have the time, so I’m not perfect about it, and I’m sorry if I left anybody out, but I want to encourage other writers because I know how it is to be disappointed with the feedback and we don’t need more writers leaving the fandom.

[masseffectmayhem]

Little true story, fortunately not about me:

Last month I browsed through a fanfic forum of  a German community. One kid asked, “Hi, how do you guys handle it when you don’t get any feedback at all, only few views, and no likes and comments at all? I think of not continuing the fic and start another.”

That kid was torn into pieces, the general attitude: Comments and praise is nice, but the true writer doesn’t write for trivial things like that, but only for themselves.

A reply that hit a nerve for me:”If you think comments are important do yourself and the whole internet a favor and never write again!”

Do you believe that I got angry when I read that?

A statement by me: Whoever writes and uploads their work and then says, “feedback/likes/faves don’t matter at all to me, I don’t care, I write for the sake of writing alone and nothing else” either is lucky to have at least one loyal reader who gives regular pats on the back, or lies.

Where does this idea come from that it’s a sign of being a bad writer when we say we like and hope for those pats on the back?! We’re humans, too! Why do we upload instead of writing for our diary only? Because we don’t care at all when our work is ignored or disliked? Yeah. Right.

I’d put it that way: We write for the sake of writing, but we upload because want to share and exchange ideas, No feedback? So not only the writing is bad, but also the idea.

Why lie about it and pretend to be above being human? All I can say is that I wouldn’t have written more than 1-2 chapters of my first fanfic ever in 2011, and that I wouldn’t have uploaded chapter 20 of my ME fic yesterday if it weren’t for those who bookmark, give kudos and/or comment.

Also, a word on comparing ourselves to others. I fear we’re all guilty of it, and it would probably defy our human nature if we really try not to. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing.

There’s nothing wrong with “wow, that style is awesome!”, “I like how their dialogue flow”, “okay, the spelling isn’t perfect, but damn, that twist caught me off guard!”, and to think at the end “what am I doing wrong that my writing doesn’t work like that yet, what can I learn from what I’ve read?”

Also not wrong, in my opinion:”I want to be better than writer X*! And I will be better! I’ll start working on that right now!” (*doesn’t have to be another fanfic writer. Two words: 50 Shades)

Why? Come on, we’ve butted heads with writer’s blocks, or have been trying to find our motivation on tumblr, facebook, by playing games, cleaning, … in short, we do everything but writing.

With the many thousand reasons we can find to not write, I don’t think we can be picky about what motivates us.

As long as no harm is done to anyone, there’s no noble motivation, no petty motivation, but just motivation. I’ve stopped counting btw how often I’ve given up and sworn to never write again so often over the last four years, I see whatever gets me writing, mundane things like praise and, once in a while, a healthy dose of jealousy included, as fair.

TL;DR: Dear writers, it’s okay to admit we’re humans. Dear readers, please, remember that we’re humans, just like you.

[mordinette]

I agree. Writers who say that comments don’t matter are either blessed with a thick skin, or they already get positive feedback from one or more people, or they are lying (either to themselves or to others, not wanting to look desperate). If someone who’s not a writer says that, then they just don’t understand how it is to work your butt off on a story or a chapter, put it out there, and get nothing in return. Or only one or two comments. If you didn’t want feedback from others, you could just keep it on your hard drive.

I’m always amazed at some people’s attitude about fanfiction. It’s like they forget that all those stories are written by people. It’s not like you turn on a tap and out comes a well-constructed, interesting story. Somebody has to put in hours, days, weeks, into that story. Why is it too much to ask to get a little bit of acknowledgement and encouragement in return? I don’t get it.

And yes, I actually considered abandoning Field Training a couple of times. Especially when one chapter only got 3 reviews on FFN, and those were all from my fandom friends. It just breaks your spirit. Thank goodness for those readers who kept reading and reviewing and commenting on later chapters. Now, knowing that so many people enjoy my story, I don’t want to let them down. I’m writing for THEM.

[barbex]

Don’t we all wish we could just turn on that tap…

All of the above, reblogging for making it visible again. And @masseffectmayhem, what a bunch of Arschlöcher on that forum, geez, welchen Stock haben die denn gefressen?

It takes a special kind of stubbornness to keep writing without support and feedback and not all writers can invest that kind of energy in something that’s supposed to be fun and not heartbreaking.

Save a fic, leave a comment today!

[twinfools]

Fenris and Thranduil- Everyone Needs an Elven Role Model

Filmed at TaiyouCon after the Cosplay Contest so voices were dead and everyone was sweaty XD Also filmed on an iPhone, but we just had to do it with party Thranduil in our midst XD

Huge thanks to MandiMooseCosplay (https://www.facebook.com/MandiMoose/?fref=ts) (Thranduil) 

and to Trollki (https://www.facebook.com/trollkistudios/?fref=ts) for filming!

More videos here: https://www.youtube.com/user/fightingdreamerspro/featured

[cocaineteas]

[kristenwiiggle]

[tyleroakley]

THE ENDING THOUGH!!!! OKAY ABSOLUTELY!!!!

[ebilgatoloco]

For reals, choreography of music videos of the 90s should be real exercise videos. We’d all be healthy and sexy as fuck dancers

[cymamoremocha]

@bettydays HAVE YOU SEEN THIS!?!

[fenharelsmythlover20]

This makes me sad because I know I will never be able to get back onto the dancefloor. :’(

[seananmcguire]

A note for fanfic readers.

I am currently in the process of porting a lot of my older fanfic onto AO3, because I want it all in one place/don’t want it to be lost/want to revise it to be a little more in-line with my current standards of both quality and language use.  It’s so quick and easy!  I can’t remember why I didn’t do this before!

…oh, right, she says, as the hit counter goes higher without the comments, or even the kudos, to match.  Because I feel like I’m screaming into the void.

I come from very comment-heavy fic environments, and like most fanfic authors I have known, I am a little twitchy about “what if this is awful what if I am awful what if nobody likes my shit at all.”  So when I have 50 hits and one kudo, I actually feel pretty rotten, which makes me less eager to do the job of cleaning and posting.

This is hence a plea on behalf of all fanfic authors: remember that the people who write the stories you enjoy are not getting paid for their time in anything other than “you did good, have a cookie” comments from people.  Please consider commenting if you liked a story.  Please consider leaving a kudo if you read all the way to the end.  There are stories that are qualitatively bad that I’ve left kudos on, because hey, I read them, they gave me an hour of enjoyment, they deserve a cookie.

We have infinite cookies to give.  We should share them freely, because wow, does it suck when fanfic makes fanfic writers sad.

That’s all.

[keyofjetwolf]

This feels particularly relevant to a lot of chatter I’m seeing cross my dash.

Writing is hard. Writing is scary. Writing takes time and effort and care and love love love. Which is true of any fanwork of course, but fanfiction also requires a significant investment from its audience before it can even begin to be seen. With art or gifsets or any other visual medium, the work can be consumed, appreciated, and commented/reblogged/whatever within seconds. It takes longer than that just to read the description on a work of fanfiction.

But in the same vein, your fanfic writers give you hours of entertainment in return. Whether it’s a smile or a sob delivered in ten minute ficlets or 100k monsters you’re still reading at 3 am, fanfiction will give you a level of immersion unique to the fandom experience. With fanfiction, the characters live forever and the story never ends.

Still, that commitment from the audience means we’re already looking at a sliver of the same attention, without hope of the same scale of interaction and response. That makes what we DO get so very critical.

If you read something, take a moment to click those kudos or likes or whatever. If you liked it, leave a comment, If you loved it, love your fanfic author back and tell them. TELL THEM EVERYTHING I PROMISE YOU WE WANT TO HEAR

Remember that the only thing that nourishes fandom creators are your responses. Your fanfic writers are timid, starving creatures. Feed them. Love them. I said the characters live forever and the story never ends, but that’s only true if the storytellers keep telling stories. To do that, they need an audience. Make sure they know they have one.

[anafigreen]

what if…

[ao3org]

Friends & fans, don’t fret!

Despite the recent board resignations, the Archive of Our Own will live on. If anything, the 2016 directors’ long history of hands-on involvement with the Archive will give more support to the volunteer staff who manages the Archive day-to-day, ensuring our success and longevity.

Board certainly plays an important role in the management of the OTW, but their role is more focused on oversight and administration – it’s truly our volunteers who keep the Archive going, and we’re all eternally grateful for their continued dedication and hard work!

[bemusedlybespectacled]

meaning that THE ARCHIVE ISN’T SHUTTING DOWN, YOU FEARMONERING ASSHATS

[bemusedlybespectacled]

REBLOGGING THIS AGAIN

BECAUSE IT ONLY HAS 600+ NOTES AS OPPOSED TO OVER 9000

[ageofdragon]

Yes, this! If you are reblogging the article, Please read the actual article all the way through (it explains AO3 is safe). The board is currently being ran by 2 members and expected to be fully seated come Dec 15th; however that has little importance to AO3, as the board only works from an executive level and rarely on an implementing level. So no need to scare yourself or others, though saving your works is always a good idea.

[micdotcom]

Watch: President Obama calls out Republicans for their refugee hypocrisy — and then drops the mic by tying it to the debates.

[micdotcom]

This Muslim woman is donating a dollar for every hate-filled tweet she gets

Muslim Australian academic Susan Carland refuses to let the haters win. Carland, who has long been the recipient of hateful anti-Muslim tweets, announced in October that she is turning all that hate into positive action. In her professional life, Carland’s academic work focuses largely on the relationship between feminism and Islam.

[incorrectdragonage]

submitted by existential-angst