Fandom Fun

Just a place to have fun with fandom, with a touch of vintage, animals and some writing reference. I'm a writer/artist. Always a fan.

[temerairesummer]

The Temeraire Summer Exchange is back for another year! We're excited to celebrate our small but mighty fandom. This exchange is run on AO3, view the collection profile for all the details and an FAQ, and check out the highlights below:

Schedule:

Sign-Ups Open: May 23 (5pm UTC) Sign-Ups Close: June 4 (5pm UTC) Assignments Sent: by June 9 (5pm UTC) Posting Deadline: August 5 (5pm UTC) Works Revealed: August 8 (5pm UTC) Creators Revealed: August 15 (5pm UTC)

How does this work? The first step is signing up. Sign-ups begin May 23. Once they’re open, use the sign-up form in the collection before June 4!

You are required to request and offer a minimum of one character or one pairing. You must also select whether you would like to receive or offer art, fanfic, a photomanip, or any combination.

After sign-ups, the participants will be hand-matched to each other based on what they offered and requested and assignments will go out.

Gifts must be posted to the Temeraire Summer 2026 AO3 collection by August 5. They will appear as anonymous gifts for the recipient. Works will be made available to read on August 8, with creator names still hidden. On August 15, all creators will be revealed.

A note on the tagset and nominations: We are using the same tagset as previous years. As this tagset has grown quite robust, we are foregoing a nominations period. If there is a tag you’d like added, please nominate it in the tagset page or message the mods any time before sign-ups close. Sign-ups do not need to have opened for tag nomination.

What are the minimum requirements for participation? For writers, a fic with a minimum of 500 words. For artists, a nice/cleaned sketch on unlined paper. A photomanip/moodboard should be substantially original. Please use your discretion – and reach out to the mod team if you have questions!

If you have any further questions which aren’t answered here or on the AO3 collection’s FAQ page, please don’t hesitate to reach out! You can send us an ask here, or email [email protected].

Additionally, the Temeraire fandom has an active Discord! Announcements will be posted to Tumblr and Discord concurrently. If you’d like to join, leave a comment or send us an ask or an email and we’ll get you a link.

Please note you will need an AO3 account to participate in the exchange.

[temerairesummer]

🚨48 HOURS LEFT TO SIGN UP🚨

Considering signing up for the 2026 Temeraire Summer Exchange? Haven't quite gotten a moment to sit down and do your sign up? This is your last call! Sign-ups will close Thursday, June 4 @ 5pm UTC.

So get in there while the getting is good and sign up here!

For more info, our AO3 FAQ page has some guidance on what should go into a sign-up form, and you can consult our original announcement post.

[rika-mortis]

Life is beach

[stuckytoyoulikeglue]

I am obsessed with this picture.

OBSESSED.

[scarlct-vvitch]

grace, who has been alone for five minutes: oh my god. an alien! im not alone anymore! i hope he wants to be friends :)

rocky, coming up on 50 years of solitude, imprinting on grace in ways baby ducklings can only dream of: if you leave me to sleep where i can't watch your heart beat i am blowing up this tunnel with us both in it

[scarlct-vvitch]

free fic idea up for grabs. godspeed

[sheishine]

Ancient Sea Creature Diorama - Anomalocaris (Cambrian Period).

古代海洋生物ジオラマ - アノマロカリス (カンブリア紀)。

The print is available on my Etsy shop.

[levian-digital-art]

🐊🐊🐊

[re-dracula]

Happy Pride! In the closet or out, know that you are valued and loved!

[theconcealedweapon]

[jimmythecookiemonster]

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026)

[corrupt-touch]

Cas Novak is a mild mannered accountant with debts to pay - until he hires hitman Dean Winchester to clean up his mess and give him whatever else he needs

[assiraphales]

I love the headcanons that are like ‘the eridians already figured out how to replicate earth’s atmosphere, temperature, food, light, the ocean for the human. ofc they found a way to extend grace’s life expectancy’ bc talk about my exact brand of cope. but I also think another motivating factor could have been no one wanting to deal w 400 years of rocky in a bad mood

[mumblesplash]

i might have already talked about this before but it’s actually crazy that jogging gets treated as a default ‘getting into shape for the first time’ exercise ESPECIALLY if someone’s goal involves weight loss. people who are more than ~200lbs often need special gear and running techniques to avoid shin splints etc *even if all that weight is solid muscle*, and the likelihood of injury only goes up as strength to weight ratio decreases. someone who’s both heavy AND untrained is just going to be miserable for however long it takes their bones and connective tissue to adapt to the sudden increase in demand. usually this takes months, but it can take even longer under adverse conditions like, say, suddenly eating way less than normal. and all this for an activity that literally isn’t even fun unless you are a specific type of insane. there are so many low impact and actually enjoyable forms of cardio why are we slapshotting biomechanically disadvantaged novices into the david goggins torment dimension

[gingersnapwolves]

could. could you maybe. list some of those 'low impact and enjoyable forms of cardio'? this is not sarcasm, this is a genuine request, every form of exercise I have tried recently has put me in the torment dimension. thank you and I love you

[mumblesplash]

yeah sure! there’s a lot of good suggestions in the notes, i’m probably missing a few

if you have access to a gym/appropriate facilities:

a LOT of people in the notes vouching for swimming, and it makes sense. not only is it basically zero impact on any of your joints, it engages just about every muscle in your body and it’s actually easier to stay afloat the higher your bodyfat%

stationary bike/elliptical: works for some better than others, but definitely far lower impact than running, usually has adjustable difficulty, and you can watch youtube videos or play games on your phone to pass the time

non stationary bike: the benefits of a stationary bike plus the ability to travel to a location

weight lifting: if you’re a total beginner to exercise this genuinely might be a better place to start than any designated ‘cardio’ activity, it Will get your heart rate up and build strength to do higher impact stuff with less risk, but designing a routine can feel overwhelming without help from a trainer/more experienced lifter

classes: yoga, pilates, dance, kickboxing, spin class, water aerobics, etc. as long as you can find one that accommodates your current fitness level and is a reasonably friendly environment

rowing: i actually know relatively little about rowing, but this has come up in the notes several times and people seem to like it. def seems like a good overall workout with little to no jarring impact

roller derby: definitely less of a Safe Beginner Activity and more ‘form of cardio you can do if you are on the fit side but still hate running’ but has come up in the notes multiple times specifically as a sport where a range of body types can do well

minimal equipment alternatives:

walking: if you have the resources to jog you have the resources to walk, and it really is a good form of exercise that also puts less strain on your joints

dance tutorials: seen a few people recommending these, there’s apparently a huge variety on youtube and you can take things at whatever pace works for you

yoga: also beginner friendly classes on youtube, good way to build up mobility and bodyweight strength

someone in the notes recommended hula hooping?? which actually sounds kind of genius especially if you don’t have a lot of gear or space. also iirc you can buy different weights of hula hoops for reasonably cheap so there’s a way to up the intensity over time

this seems like a decent resource at first glance and i think i saw more than one rec for them

one important thing to remember for anyone out there who’s significantly out of shape and feels overwhelmed is that when it comes to fitness you have one enormous advantage: it is currently EXTREMELY EASY for you to get exercise

do you 🫵 get winded walking up a flight of stairs? is curling a 5lb dumbbell 10 times difficult for you? can you barely do a single knee push-up? well i have great news: doing all of those things twice still probably takes less you less than 10 minutes. which means you can do a genuinely worthwhile daily workout in less than ten minutes. and it’ll probably get easy fast, and then you can find a heavier dumbbell

[low-poly-kittens]

on joint issues

I was about to second weightlifting "unless you have a joint issue," then realised that's literally what we're talking about here. If you have joint issues, do the same movements without weights.

Watching for clunk:

Move around in ways that don't cause your joints to twinge, clunk, grind or click. If you find a position that's kinda hard to do or maintain, ie it makes your muscles burn and you don't want to, that's awesome. Do that a few times. You'll get stronger there. If there's a thing you need to do but it makes you go clunk, get as far into that position as you can without going clunk and try to hold it till your muscles burn.

Stretching

Never stretch cold. In fact, for a little while you may not need to stretch, in the sense of pulling really hard on your muscles. Just gently ease your joints loose before you go back to sitting.

If you feel awful

If you feel awful awful awful, you may be dehydrated, even if you're not thirsty. Drinking a few pints (!) of water may perk you up.

If no matter how much water you drink you're still thirsty, you may need salt.

If you feel dizzy and sick and cold and tired and you can't build muscle, this can be almost anything, but can be anaemia. Do get a blood test if you can. If they say "normal range" and you menstruate - ask for the actual number, because you'll feel a lot better at the top of that range than at the bottom. Food intolerances can cause anaemia.

If exercise has always felt terrible (made you feel dizzy and sick and like you were going to die) do get a blood test if you can - there is often a medical reason.

Achievement

People tend to overestimate how intensely and frequently they need to exercise to improve their health. Any thoughtful movement is a thousand times better than no movement. If you are doing anything at all more than once every few days (even standing around in a series of weird positions for ten minutes) you have done the thing you need to do. Feel good. Feel proud. Love you.

[no-longer-another-bondi-blonde]

On this day, 31 May 1921, one of the worst single incidents of racial violence in US history took place: the Tulsa massacre, which left 300 dead after a false allegation of a Black man attacking a white woman.

The Tulsa Tribune newspaper included a front-page article titled “Nab Negro for Attacking Girl in Elevator” and a back-page editorial titled “To Lynch Negro Tonight.”

Local whites were inflamed, and they attacked the Black community of Greenwood, at the time the most prosperous African American community in the US, commonly known as the Black Wall Street. The Black Dispatch newspaper reported:

“Hundreds of Black men, women and children are scattered through the bottoms of Verdi Gras river and the Arkansas, naked, barefooted, women with children in their arms and giving birth to children, are scattered everywhere as they hurry farther from their burning homes and the holocause of bullets of the white assassins who rushed upon their defenceless homes in the we hours of this morning, spreading fire and bullets everywhere.

"Back in the charred, smoking ruins of what was once the finest business district that progressive Negroes had in the United States, [4] million dollars worth [over $70 million in 2024] of homes and property, arson reigns supreme, punctured here and there by the still smoking carcasses of men, women and children."

Mobs were backed up by private planes that reportedly dropped incendiary devices and fired on Black residents. Hundreds were killed and the entire thirty-five-block area was razed to the ground, leaving up to ten thousand people homeless.

After the massacre, city authorities implemented a fire ordinance which barred reconstruction, and forced Black residents into a new district 35 blocks away.

At the time of writing (April 2024) there are still a few survivors awaiting justice and reparations.

More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/10389/tulsa-racist-massacre

[no-longer-another-bondi-blonde]

[ao3commentoftheday]

Fandom old here, been in fandom since I was 13 and I'm not in my early thirties. In regards to the Beta and Writer conversation I have been seeing on your dashboard as of late, I wanted to say that Fanfiction.Net actually had the ingenious idea a long time ago to make a list of beta readers. What you did was you filled out a beta-editor profile and your fandoms that you were willing to do. They still have it up. The issue is that Archive of Our Own Does *not* have this. There's no official list of active beta readers or what fandoms they will do publically. Instead, most beta readers that I have found are in fandom discord servers. Tumblr doesn't give enough traction to do a beta reader call because everyone posts and can get lost in the feed. That helps no one, not the writer and certainly not the beta whose looking for someone to help. The other issue that I am seeing is that there was a unspoken yet quite loud rule that betas were people who wished to be editors one day and just like many of us on fanfiction were hoping to become writers or were going to go into English Degrees, understood that we had to practice for our own rejection. So basically, rejective sensitivity didn't exist for us because the betas were in as much practice as we were. This is their craft as much as writing was ours. Now there were bad betas, don't get me wrong. But you knew a bad beta from a good one. Now, I don't know about everyone else's school. But in my high school we were taught how to give criticism. Art and English teachers used to make us grade each other's art and grade each other's essays long before the teacher ever got a hold of them. We had a rubic to follow in English to help us, and for art...that could get brutal. Big time. You didn't get a I'm afraid. We got "oh god, she's going to hate it and I'm going to be re-writing this again" because English teachers back in my day gave back essays and told you to re-write it. You had four drafts before you could turn in a "final". I don't know how classes are run now, but this is another huge problem that I am seeing. So, how does this work in fandom etiquette today? I don't think anyone really wants a "beta", they want assurance. Every time I see "it's my writing style" I leave because I already know they didn't want me to edit and it wasn't a writing style they just don't know how to break the rules properly. Betas can help you break grammar rules *properly*, because that's their craft. They know the rules therefore they know how to bend them, break them, and make them theirs. Writers, we should know how to do that too, but they know it better. Let them have it. Let them know what really is a writing style because if it's just insecurity, guess what? Here's the tough truth: you either get a beta and you enhance your writing and you learn how to hone your craft to be a better writer or you don't. And the problem is that you can get better if you don't. A beta isn't a have to...but a beta can make you get better faster. You'll be getting better slower especially with lack of engagement on fics on AO3 if you don't. Which is a valid way to go. And a whole other ask/blog entirely. Editors and writers go hand in hand, betas aren't an enemy you fight. People who are afraid of the red pen weren't afraid because of the mistakes they made, it was once more going to the typewriter and figuring out how to make it *better*.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this, anon.

[ursavorpalis]

idk how old this person is, but i'm 40, so at the very least not that young.

I used to be in a "brutal criticism" writing environment when I was ~18. what it did was kill my desire and ability to write, and I didn't get it back until I got into fandom and met people who approached my writing with warmth and a desire to help me learn.

a brutal criticism can feel satisfying to make or read. it is not actually better in improving a story than a gently phrased "hey the thing you did has X effect, is that what you meant to do?"

"when I was young we didn't have rejection sensitivity!" or maybe all the rejection sensitive people were driven out of the writing circles you were in. maybe you'd prefer that. I don't.

[backofthebookshelf]

I am a fandom old, been in fandom since I was 13 and I'm 42 next month. I used to write a writing advice column on fanfiction.net (I was fifteen and my only qualifications were I wanted to do it) and while yes it was more common to have a beta reader at the time, it was also well known that there are different kinds of betas, and what anon describes was often not called a beta at all but an edit. A beta reader was there to tell you if you misspelled the character's name or forgot a piece of lore, or if you had used a word incorrectly, or if this fic had the emotional impact you intended. A beta reader has never been primarily about harsh criticism, and anon is the kind of beta reader I would have shrugged off as "not really interested in fandom."

[athenadark]

Also fandom old - sometimes what someone needs is not so much a beta but an excited reader

Someone they can bounce ideas off and be told - that'll be sooooo coool

Personally I need a second pair of eyes so my betas fix terrible punctuation and paragraphing

But I've also had betas that go okay you used this - how are you going to take it forward and then when you don't chewed me out for it and that was what I needed then

Knowing what you need might be hey someone wanna read this and tell me if it works; and someone good at fixing stray commas; and someone who will put this through the wronger to make it better

Sometimes it's not 1 person who can do all three, or more

Fandom is a gestalt and it's at its best when more of us participate, and it makes the work we share better

[only-cat-memes]