Traveling The Highway Of Life

Join me on the adventure

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

anon in my inbox said fanfic writers who wrote about dark and taboo topics were not “real writers” because of what they wrote about.

reblog if you believe anon is wrong and writers are writers, no matter what they write about. no matter how they portray these taboo topics.

reblog if you believe art can be about topics that are controversial, taboo or outright disturbing, and artists who create controversial, taboo or outright disturbing art are as valid as artists who create art of conservative values.

reblog to laugh at anon ♡

[writingdose]

to be clear, I believe younger artists and minors can write good fics (not to say “fanfic must always be good” either because it is a hobby and I still believe that as long as it’s done with love and the artist’s joy, it is good) and I believe it’s good when younger artists and minors start making art at young ages.

that said, a lot of fanfics out there that you read and love are done by adults with kids, jobs and responsibilities. adults who have years, decades of practice under their belts. adults who don’t let life and responsibilities take away their joy in creating.

someone’s love and passion don’t suddenly go away the second they reach a certain age. so if anything, I feel sorry for people who say “adults shouldn’t write fanfics or make fan art” because what these people really say is that they expect themselves to stop having fun and finding comfort in things that bring them joy and comfort the second they reach a certain age. it’s sad that they put an expiration date on their own fun and source of comfort.

[larielromeniel]

I'm almost 63 and I approve this message!

[larielromeniel]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Sugar Apple Fairy Tale (Anime), 銀砂糖師と黒の妖精 | Ginzatoushi to Kuro no Yousei | Sugar Apple Fairy Tale (Manga) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Alph Hingley | Kat/Hugh Mercury Characters: Alph Hingley | Kat, Hugh Mercury, Salim (Sugar Apple Fairy Tale) Additional Tags: Romance, Canon Continuation, Canon - Anime, Prompt Fic, Part of this is cribbed from Ghibli Series: Part 13 of The First Silver Sugar Summary:

An interlude between Cat and Hugh, based on the prompts "Sparklers, fireflies and skinny dipping."

[cogentranting]

They truly don't make movies like Lord of the Rings any more.

[cogentranting]

#they don’t even make movies like pirates of the Caribbean anymore

No for real, the Lord of the Rings movies, the Narnia movies, the Pirates of the Caribbean. 2000s fantasy movies were built different.

[larielromeniel]

Now I want to do a binge watch of all of these!

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

I don’t take people who insult published books they don’t like by saying “it reads like fanfiction” seriously, because these people obviously don’t know fanfiction doesn’t automatically mean “bad quality”, fanfiction doesn’t automatically mean “lesser than published original novels”.

some fanfic writers put as much time, effort and research into their fics as writers who write original works do their books, if not more. (not saying every fanfic writer has to do their research, obviously, because fanfic is a hobby, not a job. but some fanfic writers do insane amounts of research on what they’re writing about, I believe some fic writers put more effort into their fics than writers who write original stories do their books.)

fanfic writers aren’t all children and teenagers either. while children and teenagers can absolutely write fics and while I think it’s super cool that they write at such a young age, a lot of fanfic writers are adults with jobs and responsibilities.

I’ve personally read fanfics that are way more professionally written than some best sellers out there.

whether a piece of writing is a fanfic or an original work has nothing to do with its quality. if anything, I’ll even argue that—while writers who publish original works—write as their careers, for money, fanfic writers literally write completely out of love and passion. there’s no money involved, no capitalism involved, no corporation behind their art. they write for free. without gaining anything in return. because they’re that passionate about the characters and the stories they write about.

obviously I am not saying “writers who write original novels as their careers aren’t passionate about their stories”, I am not saying “writers who write original novels as their careers don’t love their stories”. what I’m saying is that for them, they still gain money in return. but fanfic writers literally write purely because they love what they’re doing. without gaining any money in return. and when people make art out of love and passion, said art tends to be have souls in them.

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

anon in my inbox said fanfic writers who wrote about dark and taboo topics were not “real writers” because of what they wrote about.

reblog if you believe anon is wrong and writers are writers, no matter what they write about. no matter how they portray these taboo topics.

reblog if you believe art can be about topics that are controversial, taboo or outright disturbing, and artists who create controversial, taboo or outright disturbing art are as valid as artists who create art of conservative values.

reblog to laugh at anon ♡

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

probably a controversial opinion but I think screenshotting someone else’s fic and posting it elsewhere because it’s “obviously ai” is also harmful to the writing community you’re trying to protect. because

every single time I see these posts, there are always writers who say “this looks like how I write” and “what if my works sound like ai”. it’s discouraging to genuine writers to see a screenshot of a fic that is “obviously ai” and then wonder if their own human-made works “look like ai” too. it’s discouraging to genuine writers to have to live in constant fear and worry if someone will screenshot their human-made fics and put them on blast for being “obviously ai” too.

no matter how “obviously ai” a fic looks, unless the author says they use ai, you can never know for absolute certainty that it’s ai. you assume. based on vibes. and there’s always a chance of you wrongly accusing a genuine, innocent writer and encouraging people to harass them. “real humans don’t write like this” do you know literally every single human being to say for absolute certainty that none of them write like the machine that was trained on millions of human-made works to look and sound like humans? “most people can tell” no, no one can tell unless authors disclose their use of ai. most people guess. based on vibes. every ai telltale is something humans actually write, otherwise ai would never have been able to mimic it in the first place. short sentence stacking? some people prefer it as a stylistic choice. “not x, not y, but z” type of sentence? people have been using this for ages, way before gen ai became a thing. I’ve been using it in my writing for almost a decade, way before gen ai became a thing. em dash? you mean proper grammar? not to mention how often people who are autistic and people whose native language isn’t english are wrongly accused of using ai in their fics because “real humans don’t like write that” — it’s super offensive and harmful.

even if someone says they use ai, the right thing to do is to not read their fics and leave them alone if it bothers you. I don’t like ai fics. I don’t agree with people who let ai write for them. but I will always condemn harassment. no matter what. also not to mention, if you harass someone for being honest about using ai and tagging their fics as such, chances are that they will stop tagging their future ai-generated fics as ai, meaning no one can know for sure if the fics are ai, meaning it’s impossible for anyone to filter them out. if you want to be able to effectively avoid ai fics by filtering them out, you’ll have to make sure people who use ai are comfortable enough to be honest about it.

I also want to say that no one “writes like ai”. it’s the other way around. ai writes like human, because that’s what it was trained to do. saying a human-made fic “reads like ai” is saying a work looks like its copycat.

last but not least, harassment, accusations, speculations and witch hunt harm the writing community as much as ai does. if not more.

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

there are untagged fics that I read and thought “I think this is 99% ai-generated” but since there’s absolutely no way for me to know for a fact and be 100% certain that it’s ai-generated unless the authors themselves say so, I will never say “these fics are obviously ai” because there’s always that 1% chance of me being wrong.

so I am not saying “you should NEVER think a fic is ai ever”. what I’m saying is, if the vibes are off, if you think a fic is ai and if it bothers you, quietly exit the fic like I do. don’t comment anything. don’t say anything. because whether or not it’s ai, a stranger doesn’t owe you anything. and asking them if it’s ai is still an accusation. asking them if it’s ai always comes with the possibility of you asking a genuine writer, who does not use ai, if their human-made work is ai. and that can be extremely discouraging. and it’s not something I’d ever ask anyone. I’d rather mind my own business and decide for myself if I want to continue reading a fic.

speculation (not talking about opinions you keep to yourself but when you start making public posts about it), witch hunt and harassment will never make you the good guy.

[everythingfox]

Give her everything

[larielromeniel]

Oh, that face!

[ebi-samaaa]

falling star

daily (?) fanart to keep this account alive pt. 3

[larielromeniel]

This is lovely!

[animepopheart]

★ 【Tamias栗🐿️】 「 フェルン シュタルク 」 ✔ republished w/permission ☆ follow our YT interview show!

[larielromeniel]

I love this! I need to write some Fern/Stark.

[olruggiio]

witch hat art compilation ~

inprnt

[larielromeniel]

This is lovely!

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

some people will be like “I wonder why fanfic writers don’t share their works anymore😔” and then this is them when a writer is kind enough to share something they write — as a hobby, for their own enjoyment — with them for free.

some people really don’t realize how privileged they are that they get fanfics for free. imagine having access to something for free because someone is kind enough to share it with you… and then being rude, entitled and an ungrateful pos to that person who was kind enough to share their creation with you for free

“almost 1 year is a lil too much for me” fuck off. fanfic writers don’t owe you anything. one of my favorite fics was updated after 13 years, and what I did is that I thanked the author for choosing to continue the work, I didn’t act like a spoiled toddler by asking why they didn’t update sooner. and even if a writer chooses to abandon their fic permanently with no explanation, that is their choice, their hobby, their decision. they don’t owe your entitled ass anything.

you people let tiktok rot your brains to the point you see everything as content farm and engagement. not a piece of art created by the artist’s love and passion. it’s dystopian.

[loreleywrites]

you solve the mystery of what to have for dinner one night and you think "hell yeah case closed forever" WRONG there is a dinner mystery the next night too

[larielromeniel]

I often feel like I'm caught in this commercial.

[natalieironside]

Growing up, older folks would always get confused when I expressed familiarity with media from their childhoods and would act incredulous when I attempted to explain the concept of reruns. They'd be like "How do you, a child of this fallen era, know of Looney Tunes" and I'd be like "Because it has never not been playing on television" and this would seem to be brand new information to them

[natalieironside]

Like I would go about wearing my Led Zeppelin t-shirt and all these old dudes would be like "Surely this ignorant youth must be professing a false knowledge of such ancient secrets" but like if u turn on the radio in 1996 or 2006 or 2026, you know what's always gonna be on the damn radio? Zeppelin, man.

[larielromeniel]

That lady will be buying a stairway to heaven in the year 2525... and beyond!

[pronouncingitwang]

at some point in your life you will be boiling fruit, water, sugar, and lemon juice in a pot to make a syrup or jam. the instructions will tell you to simmer for a certain amt of time. your timer will go off and you will look at the pot and go, "hm, this doesn't look thick enough. maybe i'll let it go for another 10 minutes." this is the devil speaking. it's only so liquid right now because it is at boiling point. it will thicken when it cools down. learn from the follies of my youth and do not let this happen to you

[yokowan]

at some point in your life you will be making a sauce or a stew in which you need to add cornstarch to thicken it. and you will prepare a slurry of starch in cold water and think "this looks like way too little starch to thicken this amount of liquid." this is the devil speaking. cornstarch instantly polymerizes at 95°C and if you add too much it will turn into an impossibly thick goop.

[le-jardin-inculte]

at some point in your life you will be making some sort of cream based dessert that requires gelatin to thicken it. and you will soak some gelatin sheets in water and think "this is too few gelatin sheets for this amount of cream." this is the devil speaking. it will thicken in the fridge and if you add too much you will end up with milk jelly

[shithowdy]

at some point in your life you will be baking cookies. you will take the sheet out after twelve minutes as the recipe instructs and the cookies will still be glistening and soft. "these don't seem cooked enough," you will think to yourself, "i should place them back into the oven until their edges are nice and golden." this is the devil talking. this is how you get dry, overdone cookies. the cookies will continue to bake on the warm sheet for several more minutes and then harden up after sitting on a rack for a while. trust the process. trust the process.

[whitachi]

at some point in your life you will be adding a small pasta to a soup and you will think "that is not enough small pasta." this is the devil talking. the pasta will absorb the stock and expand. this is how you end up with a soup that is a solid mass of soggy ditalini.

[araceil]

At some point in your life you will be adding garlic to a dish and you will think "that is not enough garlic." These are angels speaking. They are correct. Add more garlic.

[larielromeniel]

For those who worry that they are "terrible" at writing, I present this story -- not about writing, but about attitude.

Meet Coronado's "Terrible Orchestra," an infamous assemblage of really awful musicians who know the real secret is not in playing well, but enjoying what you play -- whether you do it well or not.

They’re bad and they know it. The Coronado Terrible Orchestra gives adult musicians space to grow

Members of the orchestra have dusted off their flutes, violins and trombones and come to the Coronado Community Center to play with joy and

[tossawary]

Another Canon Divergence AU idea for "The Princess Bride" is that Westley ISN'T following Buttercup when she gets kidnapped. If he's not doing that, presumably intending on kidnapping and confronting her himself, then he really has no way of finding out about the kidnapping besides, again, spying on Humperdink and Rugen (which is very difficult to do). And if he's not there to follow the kidnappers almost immediately, then he has no way to intervene in time.

So, Westley has been a LOT of unpleasant shit to get back and has just found out his true love has moved on to become engaged to their local prince. He's confused. He's really pissed off. He misses whatever opportunity allowed him to follow Buttercup on her daily ride (didn't see her ride out, didn't hear about it, whatever), because he's following another opportunity into the castle to investigate Humperdink. Or else he sees Humperdink and Rugen riding off towards the Pit of Despair together and decides to follow them instead. Either way, Westley overhears the two men very casually discussing Humperdink's beautiful but forcibly gained fiancée and the kidnapping plot currently underway, and Westley realizes that Buttercup is about to DIE and he's very likely not going to be able to reach his true love in time. He still runs off, desperate and ready to die trying to save her.

And Westley is really much to late to cross the water and climb the Cliffs of Insanity and all that, because Buttercup and her kidnappers are already at the border with Guilder. It's fine though, because when Fezzik and Inigo are confronted with the murder part of the job, they object, and Fezzik ultimately decides that he's really not cool with it. Fezzik thumps Vizzini over the head while Vizzini is berating Inigo. Fezzik apologizes to Buttercup. Inigo looks at the unconscious (possibly dead, heavily concussed at least) Vizzini, shrugs, and then helps Fezzik untie Buttercup and apologizes as well.

It's more than a little awkward, because none of them really know what to do besides wander vaguely back towards Florin. Buttercup admits that she doesn't really want to marry the prince, and he'll find her if she goes back to the farm, which leads into her telling the story of her dead true love, which Inigo and Fezzik find very romantic. Which leads into Fezzik and Inigo both sharing their own tragic backstories in turn. Buttercup is personally very intrigued by Inigo's mention of being in the revenge business.

And then Buttercup goes, "Wait a moment, I know a nobleman like that. Count Rugen is Prince Humperdink's closest friend and confidant, and he has six fingers on his right hand. I once had to sit next to them at a dinner table while they spent over an hour discussing all the troubles of finding a good glovemaker and skincare for their hands." (Rugen and his wife also once visited Buttercup and Westley's farm when they were younger, but Buttercup would more recently know Rugen from just... around the castle. Rugen is presumably going to be Humperdink's best man.)

So, Westley is like, "Where the HELL is the love of my life???" presumably harrassing Vizzini about it if Vizzini is still alive. And Humperdink has his theatric rescue party together to find Buttercup's body on the border, unknowingly following behind a rushing and frantic Westley, trying to keep his lies straight while he's internally like, "What the HELL happened to my kidnapping and murder plot to invite a war??? Rugen, I thought you hired the best??? It's so hard to find good help these days!"

Meanwhile, Buttercup, Fezzik, and Inigo are on a new friendship quest back to Count Rugen's house. Buttercup is the future princess, and so is presumably already acquainted with Rugen's young and beautiful wife, who has to let her in and be a good hostess. The Countess is like, "Buttercup... Who are these unkempt and intimidating men...?"

And Buttercup says, "Oh, they saved me from being kidnapped and killed! 😄 I'm sure that my fiancé will want to thank and reward them in person! 😄 This was the closest safe place I could think of! Thank you so much for your hospitality. By the way, when do you think your husband might be home? 😄"

[catscraftsandcommentary]

Tags from @pleasantartisanhottea

I *know* that in the original, Buttercup and Westley had this grand romance and Inigo took over the Dread Pirate Roberts name and Fezzik...did something. Did he have a plan? Maybe he becomes Inigo's first mate.

But imagine:

Humperdink and various soldiers catch up to Westley and the extremely useless Vizzini. Westley, recognizing the murderous fiance of his beloved, talks a good line and gets himself in Humperdink's...not good graces, the man is too suspicious for that, but at least begrudged tolerance.

Vizzini, of course, is executed before he can spill the beans. Or at least is gagged and taken to Rugen's secret torture dungeon. No big loss.

So that party heads back to the castle with the prince in A Mood (TM), and he's demanding someone bring him Rugen before he's even through the castle gates.

Meanwhile, back at Rugen's ACTUAL home (mini castle), Inigo is giving Buttercup a swordfighting lesson to pass the time and Fezzik is helping out with all those little chores that pile up while the lord is away. Like rearranging the furniture single handedly. The countess is actually quite charmed - he's very careful, and he keeps offering excellent suggestions about where to place different pieces for easiest use, and he doesn't mind moving things over and over when she changes her mind!

Anyway, the Nice Old King dies, poor man, and Humperdink summons all his nobles so he can rush through a coronation. Lady Rugen is all over the place, not knowing what to do, but she escorts Princess Buttercup and her sworn knights (aka they escort Lady Rugen) back to the capitol.

Something something, Inigo and Westley nearly come to blows over "that's my girl!" but then Humperdink opens his big dumb mouth and suddenly it's Westley and Inigo (and Fezzik) vs Humperdink and Rugen, and there's really only one way this can go.

Westley is now the king by right of conquest, assuming he even wants it, and Buttercup is putting her foot down that they are NOT breaking up their fun new gang, and Inigo and Fezzik are like "idc, man, whatever you want."

Anyway, Buttercup decides that SHE will be reigning queen, in her own name, and Prince Westley will be her consort and Inigo, newly ennobled as a count, will be her chief advisor. (And their lover, shhh.) Fezzik leads the Queen's Guard, and between him and Inigo, they whip everyone into actual effectiveness. Former-Countess Rugen becomes a lady-in-waiting to the Queen, which she likes much better than marriage to a man who plans wars and assassinations and new torture methods.

I'm not sure how Miracle Max fits in, but he definitely gets invited back to the castle. Maybe he revives the previous king ("he was only MOSTLY dead!" - Humperdink is terrible at poisoning), who then supports Buttercup's claim to the throne. He likes her, she's clever AND kind. The kingdom could use more of that.

Vizzini never recovers from his concussion and is eventually buried with the disgraced prince and count in an unmarked grave. Fezzik makes sure that lots and lots of buttercups are planted there every spring as a final "fuck you."

[larielromeniel]

Oh, man, I would love to see this written in full!