[inkskinned]

it's just that i'm always worried i'm doing the wrong thing even when there's not a wrong thing to be doing. in the grocery aisle i'm doing the wrong thing. stopping for a moment to retie my shoelaces i am doing the wrong thing.

it is the first time i've visited this friend at her house; i'm doing the wrong thing already, what if i have the wrong address, what if she has special rules i don't know about, what if my presence here was more of a politeness and not a true request. it is the first time i've been to this restaurant, and surely yes i've been to many of these but what if i'm doing the wrong thing in this one. and even if i've been to this gym a million times what if this time the rules have changed somehow (or i've been doing it wrong all along and it was pure luck that nobody noticed) and what if this time i'm doing it very wrong.

they're taking orders for lunch at work, what if i order the wrong thing somehow, or what if - what if i am not even supposed to order anything - is this a test? my friends ask if i want to see a movie but what if i suggest a movie that they won't like and that's certainly doing the wrong thing. yes im certifiably happy and she's amazing and i love being a lesbian but if i bring her on a date where everything isn't blisteringly perfect (the weather is a bit chilly, finding parking was harder than i thought, the event started 3 minutes late) isn't that doing the wrong thing? i know i can't control everything obviously but i should have planned better; this was my fault. and of course i know i'm only human but - a lack of omnipotent foresight really is doing the wrong thing now.

am i doing the wrong thing writing about this? i'm doing the wrong thing, aren't i, i'm so sorry, i always seem to be doing that somehow.

[television-bodies]

reject modernity (enjolras actors in any way acknowledging enjoltaire) embrace tradition (“I remember thinking of talking to Aaron about the subject as we started filming, and as I was about to talk to him he was interrupted by someone else, and then suddenly I understood. That was the perfect example of what the dynamic between us should be. And I realised that actually NOT talking to Aaron about it at all was the perfect way to create that subtextual thing between Grantaire and Enjolras. And actually, I didn’t talk to anyone about it. Not even Tom. I just kept it a secret and thought that if people can read into it, great, and if people don’t notice it, that’s also fine because it’s not the main focus of the student plot. I still don’t know to this day if Aaron even knows about the whole E/R relationship, but it doesn’t matter, because I don’t think Enjolras should.”)

[feral-ballad]

Carrie Fountain, from Burn Lake; “Burn Lake 4”

[inequilibrium]

(i'm fragile, i'm speechless) don't leave me in pieces

t; 1.6k words; rontoto; angst with happy ending; canon compliant; missing scene; relationship study

It seems like life will unravel like that, working until he cannot think enough to remember, barely closing his eyes at night, hearing Toto in the wind, and seeing his shadow just around the corner. And it feels unbearable, unfathomable, like he’s trapped in a prison with a door he cannot find the clues to unlock. Until Amamiya’s phone call, a dead man with blood-soaked socks and- “You really are useless without me around, huh?”

Ron tries to navigate grief. Toto makes sure he doesn't have to.

[elexuscal]

Talking with writers online

Their stories: Amazing grammar, soaring vocabulary, beautiful imagery and prose which flows like a river.

In chats: no capitalisation or punctuation, swears like a sailor, misspellings everywhere, acronyms and abbreviations every five words, idek

[alwaysboth]

#listen #listen do u know how much braining it takes to make the words go? #it is a lot #it’s like wearing fancy clothes all day #and then when you’re at home and comfy #u just put on ur pj’s ( @feynites)

[insomination]

I have never related to a statement more than “do you know how much braining it takes to make words go?”

[elexuscal]

still amazed that like. 7 years later. this post is still going. it gets like 5-12 notes a day

[siriosa]

it’s a heritage post, is what it is.

[inequilibrium]

forgive me

t; 500w; quanyin; post-canon; established relationship; character study; relationship study

There is a hunger in Yin Yu; greedy, grasping, left unfulfilled from a lifetime ago. It is resentful, and ugly sometimes, built from the centuries of broken dreams and shattered ambition. It is never sated, never calmed, only suppressed, pushed away and desperately covered by mild smiles and polite words that Yin Yu doesn't actually mean. It is ugly sometimes, when it escapes, when the bitterness overflows, and once it almost destroyed him. Once it almost destroyed someone else.

[inequilibrium]

孤独是一种安全感

t; gen; 4.3k words; mu qing + his mother; mu qing + feng xin + xie lian; canon-compliant; missing scene; muqing-centric; grief/mourning; character study

“Go.”‌ ‌Xie‌ ‌Lian‌ ‌said.‌ The word is quiet, as Xie Lian continues to be, still polite despite the depth of his fall; his lofty ideals somehow left intact within the wreckage. If he holds any resentment at Mu Qing’s decision, it is restrained, controlled, unseen. So different from the rage that always burns like a forest fire on Feng Xin’s skin, that is starkly obvious in his expression now. Except this time it’s mixed with something that just might be the sharp sorrow of loss. If he lets himself wonder, Mu Qing might think the ache in his chest could be a reflection of that pain. But Mu Qing does not. Instead, he walks steadily onwards, turned away from this prince he has served for too many years, from his furious bodyguard, from this life that he can no longer lead. He is free. He is alone.

What the in-between moments of Mu Qing's life might have looked like, the parts of the story left untold.

Fic written for the Mu Qing Zine

[savage-sinister]

"Write for yourself"

Brother, I literally have more than 2 million words sitting in my drafts folder instead of posted on AO3.

I write for myself. I post for community interaction.

[bluedalahorse]

I enjoy the Two Cakes Philosophy and I believe it deserves its place enshrined in fandom culture.

Forgive me for the extended metaphor but I also want to simultaneously celebrate what I’m calling Bakery Display Case Philosophy. You know when you walk into a bakery and the display case is full of beautiful treats? And there’s a variety of different colors, textures, and flavors to discover? And that’s so deeply exciting?

You might say to yourself, “No one is going to want to read this pairing. No one is going to want to want a character study of that character. No one wants genfic in this fandom, only shipfic.”

And you might use that to discourage yourself from writing a certain fic.

Fandoms, like bakeries, need cakes and cookies and éclairs and cream puffs and shortbread and brownies and pies and tarts and petit fours and turnovers and cinnamon rolls and madeleines and meringues—and so many other things—to survive.

Write your dark chocolate pistachio croissant fic. Your fandom needs it actually.

[wallofgoats]

the first rule of being on the internet is you should have other stuff going on, besides being on the internet

[jandjsalmon]

Fun Story to Share.

I got my (now 18-year-old) daughter into Ao3 back in 2021. I taught her she should always comment - even if the fic looks old or abandoned or whatever. She did.

Well - she got this email this morning:

The fic was written in 2014 and essentially abandoned.

Bethy read and reviewed in 2021 (and was actually the only person who had commented at all).

Today in 2025 - the final chapter was posted by the author and this was her reply to Bethy’s comment.

———

Never question whether a fic is too old to comment on.

[aaronstveit]

today i am thinking about the eight bullets that kill enjolras, and how i always see people saying they represent his eight friends to die at the barricade, but when i first read his death what came to my mind was the eight men to escape the barricade alive: valjean, marius, javert, and the five men who are given the national guard uniforms. i think of those eight bullets being meant for those eight men, and enjolras taking them all. he did not change the world in the way he meant, but he changed the world for eight men, and that has to be enough.

[jurassicbarnes-archives]

you ever just click on a fanfic and read the first word and go “shut up” and exit

[pearwaldorf]

#yes#furthermore this is a skill#you need to cultivate this skill to survive fandom (dsudis)

[lemonemenom]

No one owes artists anything.

But existence is lonely and sometime you throw hours and hours of effort into a void, on the slim chance it will say something back.

[sinensis26]

You all need to hear this:

1. You probably dont suck at your craft as much as you think you do, I bet a lot of people are amazed at what you can make, and

2. If you actually are the Literal Worst In The Whole Wide World at your craft... who the fuck cares? What are they gonna do, call the police on you? Keep making your shitty little things, youre the boss of you, fuck the haters.

[theblackparadeisdead]

Absolutely nothing worse than finding out that you share interests with someone you hate. Has you thinking things like fuck you I'm better at enjoying star wars than you are

[inequilibrium]

stay a little longer

t; 900w; canon-compliant; character study; developing relationship

When Megumi is finally ripped away from Sukuna, the cursed power shattering into pieces and falling around him like bloody rain, the first thing he sees is Itadori’s face, exhausted, but shining with blatant relief and so much pure joy.