I kept accidentally reblogging posts about my other fandoms to @nicheshameless, so I created this account to avoid making the same mistake every other day. đ
Hopefully it will make it easier to find and queue up posts for Niche, too. I sometimes temporarily blacklisted gallavich just to make it easier when scrolling through shameless posts. Then had to whitelist the tag when scrolling for myself (back and forth, again and again). It was kind of a pain.
Also, if anyone else comes on board to share mod duties in the future, we'll be able to share access to both the main and sideblog.
While other people are out here dropping Kinktober prompt lists with 9000 stipulations, I bring you this.
It's not a real October event, but it could be if you believe. The prompts are here for anyone to enjoy anyway.
Why "schlock"?
It means trash/junk, and that's the quality of content I'm striving for with these prompts. It's also fun to say.
But, y'know, if you want to take a prompt and turn it into a masterpiece of a whumpy longfic, go for it.
What fandom is this for?
Whatever fandom you want.
What ships can I write/draw?
Any of them.
Even [my fandom's most despised ship]?
Especially [your fandom's most despised ship].
What if I want to combine prompts? What if I want to write or draw things out of order? What if...
Go for it.
Are crossovers okay?
Do. Whatever. You. Want.
What if I want to create something problematic?
Send me the fucking link.
What does [prompt] mean?
You tell me. It's all open to interpretation.
Are there any rules at all?
Sure.
No AI use. If you need an LLM to write your schlock for you, consider a long walk off a short pier. If you need it to do your editing for you, use a beta reader instead. A stick figure drawn on the back of a napkin is better than soulless AI art.
Tag appropriately. 'Creator Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings' means anything goes. 'No Archive Warnings Apply' means your work is guaranteed not to contain any of the major archive warnings (non-con, major character death, graphic violence, or underage sex).
No irl bigotry. Your characters can be problematic as all get out, but if you try to post a weird pro-JK Rowling essay or something you're not going in the collection, bud. Don't kill the vibes.
What are the vibes?
Just have fun.
But other people are having fun wrong!
Shut the fuck up.
Are you going to be doing this?
Probably not.
How do I participate?
There's an ao3 collection right here:
Schlocktober on ao3
Otherwise, just hashtag #schlocktober or something, idk. I don't expect anyone to actually do this.
FINALLY got around to dumping Spotify after their CEO continued to prove he's a fresh turd. (As if being a billionaire, not paying musicians, shoving AI garbage at us, and having an atrocious carbon footprint wasn't bad enough, he's now the chair of a AI-based weapons manufacturing company.)
I used TuneMyMusic ($24 annual fee you can cancel immediately, effectively paying only once) to transfer almost every single song from our Spotify account to Tidal. Tidal already has much better sound quality and they pay their artists much better. It migrated over 99% of our music, too, so there wasn't a huge loss.
I did this over in November when they gave Trump $100,000.
Tidal is incredible. Not only is it MUCH cheaper than Spotify, but the audio quality is much better. Artists DO get paid more, and their algorithm is actually coded by humans (did you wonder why Spotify Wrapped has been sucking, it's the AI).
You can download your Spotify playlists as .CSV files and then use a program to 'covert' them to Tidal. I used Exportify. It cost me $2 to transfer over 35 playlists and a total of 4,300+ songs. Two dollars.
Tidal's UI is similar to Spotify so you can jump right in and do the same stuff you've always done. You can make playlists, edit playlist covers, you have a discover daily, the mixes make more sense and are based on YOUR tastes, and to top it all off, did I mention it's cheaper?
And for those who drive a lot, it takes a lot less room on your phone and barely any data. I HIGHLY recommend making the jump!
Welp. This changes my plans for the September event. I wanted to do a playlist / music focused event in the fall where you'd be able to claim a character, relationship (platonic or not), episode, season, character arc, etc. and create a playlist based on your claim.
Possibly maybe also match participants with an artist who'd create cover art for the playlist, too. Assuming enough people were interested in participating...
But I'm reluctant to use Spotify now. Even though, a while back it won the poll I made asking which platform people use for music streaming and creating playlists.
As much as I love Tidal, it doesn't have a 'free with ads' tier subscription. And I don't want to ask people to make a subscription (and maintain it to keep accessing the playlist) just for a fandom fest.
If anyone has a suggestion for an alternative platform, please let me know. Rn I can only think of youtube as another place to make playlists for free.
-> Connect 5 squares in a line by completing the task in each square. A line can be horizontal, vertical or diagonal.Â
-> The center square is a âfreeâ space. Use it to create your own task or simply skip it. (The tasks connecting to the center square tend to be a little bit harder specifically because itâs a âfreeâ space.)
â¤ď¸
Rules
-> Thereâs no time limit.
-> Fill out as many lines as you want.Â
-> Reblog and comment in the tags to complete a square.
-> Fanart is any visual or audio medium: drawings, paintings, gif sets, edits, videos, crafts, moodboards, web weaving, playlists, book binding, etc.
-> Niche fanart are works not focused on Ian x Mickey as a pairing. They can be present as a background pairing or simply as separate characters [see the intro post for more details].
â¤ď¸
Optional
Turn the bingo card into a rec list. Post your card and a list of the fanart you commented on.
If youâre up to making a rec list out of the card, consider tagging @nicheshameless so that I can reblog it.
â¤ď¸
Written Tasks & Rows and Columns System
Each square is identified with a number and a letter (like a chessboard). The letter is the column, the number is the row.
B.1: Fanvid or process video
I.1: M/F or M&F
N.1: Posted at least 5 years ago
G.1: Siblings
O.1: Canonical couple (other than Ian x Mickey)
B.2: Friendship
I.2: Early seasons (1-5)
N.2: Less than 100 notes (posted at least 1 week ago)
G.2: M/M or M&MÂ (other than Ian x Mickey)
O.2: Scene redraw
B.3: Includes dialogue or quote
I.3: Parent-child relationship
N.3: FREE
G.3: 3 different fanarts by the same creator
O.3: Parallels (fanart shows a repetition in themes, clothing, colours, dialogue, habits, etc.)
B.4: High saturation
I.4: F/F or F&FÂ
N.4: Web weaving or moodboard
G.4: Black and white or lineart
O.4: Comment about the style or effects
B.5: Later seasons (6-11)
I.5: Portrait(s)
N.5: Highlights a character trait
G.5: Posted within the last month
O.5: Less than 50 reblogs (posted at least 1 week ago)
[Note: it's my first time using this row and column system. The goal is to make the comment bingo cards accessible to more people. Please let me know if I can improve or clarify it in any way. â¤ď¸]
EDIT [Aug. 5th 2025]: I changed the I.3 task from "fic with fewer than 50 hits" to "fewer than 250 hits", as I just realized there are only about 20 fics that fit the original task.
How to Play
-> Connect 5 squares in a line by completing the task in each square. A line can be horizontal, vertical or diagonal.Â
-> The center square is a âfreeâ space. Use it to create your own task or simply skip it. (The tasks connecting to the center square tend to be a little bit harder specifically because itâs a âfreeâ space.)
â¤ď¸
Rules
-> Thereâs no time limit.
-> Fill out as many lines as you want.Â
-> Some of the tasks are designed for AO3, but the fic can be posted anywhere. Feel free to adapt the task, simply keep the spirit of it in mind. (e.g. âUnder 50 kudosâ can be adapted to under 50 likes on tumblr.)
-> Niche fics are works not focused on Ian x Mickey as a pairing. They can be present as a background pairing or simply as separate characters [see the intro post for more details].
â¤ď¸
Optional
Turn the bingo card into a rec list. Post your card and a list of the fics you commented on.
If youâre up to making a rec list out of the card, consider tagging @nicheshameless so that I can reblog it.
â¤ď¸
Written Tasks & Rows and Columns System
Each square is identified with a number and a letter (like a chessboard). The letter is the column, the number is the row.
B.1: Comment on a micro-fic of 300 words or less (can be a chapter in a collection of separate stories. e.g. collected drabbles)
I.1: Fic by an author youâve never read before
N.1: Crossover
G.1: Character death
O.1: Leave a comment 350+ words long
B.2: Old fic (published 2015 or before)
I.2: Read fic by a non-native English speaker and/or written in another language (you can use translator tool if you canât read other languages)
N.2: Main ship youâve never read before
G.2: Read twice. Comment about aspect you noticed on 2nd read
O.2: Comment on a very short fic of 1.5k or less (can be a chapter in a collection of separate stories)
B.3: Leave a comment 500+ words long
I.3:Â Fic with fewer than 250 hits (the fic must be at least 1 month old)
N.3: FREE
G.3: Quote and react to at least 3 passages
O.3: Theme or trope you usually avoid
B.4: WIP last updated 1+ year ago
I.4: Rec the fic on social media & let the author know
N.4: Fic with no comment (the fic must be at least 1 month old)
G.4: Comment on every chapter (10+ chapters)
O.4: Find a comment you agree with & reply to it
B.5: Comment on 3 different fics by the same author
I.5: Main ship includes an OC
N.5: Comment on every chapter (5+ chapters)
G.5: WIP last updated 3+ year ago
O.5: Fic with fewer than 5 comments (the fic must be at least 1 month old)
[Note: it's my first time using this row and column system. The goal is to make the comment bingo cards accessible to more people. Please let me know if I can improve or clarify it in any way. â¤ď¸]
-> Connect 5 squares in a line by completing the task in each square. A line can be horizontal, vertical or diagonal.Â
-> The center square is a âfreeâ space. Use it to create your own task or simply skip it. (The tasks connecting to the center square tend to be a little bit harder specifically because itâs a âfreeâ space.)
â¤ď¸
Rules
-> Thereâs no time limit.
-> Fill out as many lines as you want.Â
-> Some of the tasks are designed for AO3, but the fic can be posted anywhere. Feel free to adapt the task, simply keep the spirit of it in mind. (e.g. âUnder 50 kudosâ can be adapted to under 50 likes on tumblr.)
-> Niche fics are works not focused on Ian x Mickey as a pairing. They can be present as a background pairing or simply as separate characters [see the intro post for more details].
â¤ď¸
Optional
Turn the bingo card into a rec list. Post your card and a list of the fics you commented on.
If youâre up to making a rec list out of the card, consider tagging @nicheshameless so that I can reblog it.
â¤ď¸
Written Tasks & Rows and Columns System
Each square is identified with a number and a letter (like a chessboard). The letter is the column, the number is the row.
B.1: Golden trio: Kudos + Comment + Bookmark
I.1: Non-canonical ship fic
N.1: Fic with no comments (the fic must be at least 1 month old)
G.1: âMissing sceneâ fic
O.1: WIP
B.2: Fic with fewer than 5 comments (the fic must be at least 1 month old)
I.2: Fic youâve already read, but didnât leave a comment
N.2: Leave a LONG comment (200 words or more)
G.2: Subscribe to the fic/author and let them know
O.2: Canon pairing (other than Ian/Mickey)
B.3: Ship youâve never read before
I.3: Comment on EVERY chapter of a 3+ chapters fic
N.3: Free
G.3: F/F fic
O.3: Fic with fewer than 100 hits (the fic must be at least 1 month old)
B.4: Comment on something that made you laugh/smile
I.4: Fic with fewer than 10 comments (the fic must be at least 1 month old)
N.4: Fic by an author youâve never read before
G.4: Explain why you liked the fic better than canon
O.4: Fic about a main character (main characters: the Gallaghers and Mickey)
B.5: Fic about a side character (side characters: everyone other than the Gallaghers and Mickey)
I.5: Comment on something that made you (want to) cry
N.5: Quote a line and tell the author how it made you feel
G.5: Fic with fewer than 50 kudos (the fic must be at least 1 month old)
O.5: M/F fic
[Note: it's my first time using this row and column system. The goal is to make the comment bingo cards accessible to more people. Please let me know if I can improve or clarify it in any way. â¤ď¸]
*blows kisses at my screen* for all the gif makers who mention the episode in the tags or post itself. You guys make my life so much easier. I see you and appreciate you. đđ
Not sure if this will be interesting to anyone but me. Some stats about our first ever event. For future reference and comparison.
Fanart is the clear winner in terms of the type of fanworks created. 8/18 fanworks were fanart. More if you broaden the definition to include gifs and moodboards.
[Note: a few fanworks submitted were combinations of types. e.g. moodboard + headcanon. The combined types were still counted as only 1 fanwork in the quantity graph. Which is why the types total (21) doesn't match to the quantity total (18).]
