stella

(th)ey/(th)em | ace | stellaisnotamermaid on ao3 | stellatheseraph on most social medias

[stellaisnotamermaid]

esl fic writers? 👉👈

I'm doing a term project on native language prediction! I plan for the data to be fanfiction written in English by ESL authors.

For this, I need two things:

author; author's native language

Any help would be greatly appreciated! :)

[hunxi-guilai]

all right guys, let’s have a conversation about soulmates

because I’m a nerd who majored in ancient China and still can’t let it go

okay so we all know that wangxian invented romance, but let’s talk a bit more about the iconic dialogue in episode 25:

Lan Wangji: 你把我當成什麼人? / What kind of person do you take me for?

Wei Wuxian: 我曾經把你當做我畢生知己 / I had once thought that, in my lifetime, you would be the one who knew me.

Lan Wangji: 現在仍是 / I still am.

I’ve seen various translations of the phrase “畢生知己” as “lifelong confidante” or “soulmate,” and I’m always so torn because these are both fine translations but like, not quite there

Keep reading

[sophie531896273240810891]

[sophie531896273240810891]

oh my god i hate gay women so much

[baiwu-jinji]

Let’s talk about Hualian’s Red String, or 缘

The mythological origin of the red string that Hua Cheng uses to link himself to Xie Lian is pretty well-known: the story goes that a lunar deity is responsible for tying red strings around couples, who’d then become destined lovers. The red string is commonly called “the red thread of fate,” it is the invisible but unbreakable bond between people fated to fall in love with each other.

What should be noted is that in Chinese mythology, people are the passive receivers of the red thread of fate; their destined romantic partner is pre-determined by the arrangements of the lunar deity. But in Hualian’s case, the red string is technically Hua Cheng’s own invention; Hua Cheng actively, and by his own volition, creates an invisible but unbreakable bond between himself and Xie Lian. I will come back to this point later.

To understand the whole idea of “the thread of fate” more fully, I need to introduce the concept of 缘 (yuan). 缘 is a Buddhist term and there’s no equivalent word in English, but it is an important concept to take note of because it’s used countless times throughout the text of tgcf, and it’s a keyword of Hualian’s relationship.

缘 originally means “hem of clothes”, but later came to represent the invisible thread that connects people. If you have 缘 with another person, then the two of you have a natural affinity, which means you’re bound to meet sometime and form a connection, even if you’re continents apart at present. While if you don’t have 缘 with someone, then alienation is destined between the two of you; you may never end up friends even when you’ve lived in the same building for ten years. And there’re many types of 缘 – there’s auspicious 缘and there’s inauspicious 缘 (and many other kinds of 缘 in Buddhism that we won’t go into here). 缘 is as abstract as it is magical.

Now where does 缘 come in in Hualian’s relationship? When Xie Lian run into Hua Cheng after his third ascension, and then Feng Xin and Mu Qing both grew massively suspicious of Hua Cheng,  Xie Lian said to Feng Xin and Mu Qing:

Keep reading

[mimimar]

the tgcf ladies!

bonus:

[skygemspeaks]

Okay but imagine Yuuri retires from competitive figure skating at 27, and he decides to go back to college to become a teacher.

So this boy walks into class sporting the just-rolled-out-of-bed look with the sex hair and the big comfy sweater and the starbucks cup in one hand.

And you know, he’s enjoying his life, he makes friends in his program and on the weekends he helps his husband teach cute little kids how to skate and they have this cozy little house together in a nice neighbourhood. He probably has girls and guys falling for him left and right.

And then one day, Yuuri’s out with his friends, and they’re at a cafe or something.

And a group of girls comes up to them, and they’re all blushing and nudging each other saying “You talk first!”.

So Yuuri just turns this absolutely blinding smile on them and asks, “Autographs?”

The girls squeak, and nod furiously.

“Sure!” he says, reaching out for the notebooks they’re holding out for him to sign.

And about ten minutes later, after several selfies and autographs and a lot of gushing and squealing and “Please let Viktor know we’re looking forward to Yuratchka’s upcoming season,” the girls leave.

So Yuuri turns back to his friends, and they’re all just staring at him with wide eyes and gaping mouths.

Yuuri kinda wonders if there’s something on his face.

The first thing that comes out of anyone’s mouths is, “…who’s Viktor?”

And Yuuri’s kinda confused as he replies, “….my husband?”

“YOU’RE MARRIED!?!?!?!?” his friends all shriek.

Yuuri looks down at his hand to make sure his ring is still there. “Yeah?” he says, holding his hand up.

“I thought that was just a fashion statement!” one of the girls exclaims.

“Why did they want your autograph though?” asks another of his friends, and Yuuri just looks away sheepishly.

“I’m…uh….a retired competitive figure skater?” he asks, his voice going higher with embarrassment. “And I…uh…got 2 golds in the Grand Prix…and 2 golds in Worlds….and maybe a silver in Pyeongchang?”

His voice gets progressively quieter as his face gets even redder.

His friends are staring at him in horror and shocked disbelief now.

And he thinks he might as well get it all out now.

“And…my husband might be the most decorated athlete in figure skating history?”

Fics based on this post:

A Name I’ve Heard Somewhere by GwenChan (@gwen-chan)

A Prince in Disguise by lourthor (@kurtdontcurr)

A Real Life Cinnamon Roll by Seito (@seitosokusha)

And the answer is… by nessiesaur

anonymous by eu_nao_sou_um_chapeu (@eu-nao-sou-um-chapeu)

Comfort Zone by BertholdvonMoosburg

Did I Forget to Mention… by nevereverever

Ethical Dilemmas in Sports Psychology: When Googling Your Friend Gets Weird by Adrianners (@adrianners)

How do you not know? by missykristy

icebreaker by Cesare

It’s like some surprisingly inclusive and irritatingly sugar-coated rom-com by RocioWrites (@rocioandthatsall)

Long time no see by ddugeun (@chukichi)

My Fun Fact Is: by stillmadaboutpetra

New Friends by viktuuri (@softvictory)

Now I Know by CassidyMoffett (@sweettigerotakureviews​)

Of College Classes and Googling Friends by IceIceSkaters

Outed By Victuuri Smut by Anonymous

Storytime: Celebrity Blindness by likestoimagine (@likestoimagine16)

Tale of the Russian Punk and the Japanese Cinnamon Roll by JamieAvenBell

The Internet Exists for a Reason by tomorrowsdreams

The Moment of Truth by little_miss_laughs_alot

The Secret Life of Professor Katsuki by FreakingOutGirl

This is Why You Google People by StarlightPhoenix (@cleverlittlejay)

Trivia Night by RinaRose (@marina-and-the-fandoms)

Wait, What? by @realisticallycynical 

Yuuri Katsuki-Induced Feels by @i-w-p-chan

~If you want to officially gift your work to me, my AO3/FFN penname is SkyGem!~

Tumblr posts/additions for this post:

Hilarious addition by @p3hero​

Adorable continuation by @deadlychildartemis​

Comic by @lauravian

On why Yuuri’s friends don’t know about Viktor by @blindiemac

Retirement au: Yura edition

Retirement au: Viktor edition by @rocioandthatsall

Translations of this post:

Italian by @randomwalksoul

[mudpuddless]

Merlin in the Chamber of Secrets

 based on this awesome series by stellaisnotamermaid on AO3 { 60k of Merlin being a responsible, sarcastic, no-shit-taking teacher who casually adopts Draco bc Lucius is a piece of shit} 

sadly this did not come out in the style I pictured it in whelp. can’t wait to redraw this in +10 years 

[stellaisnotamermaid]

oh my god??

one bad thing about having different usernames on different platforms is that i never see things but i just stumbled across this and 🥺🥺🥺

the lighting!! the shadows!! the anatomy!! the expression!! the colors and the background aaaaa this is amazing

[stellaisnotamermaid]

anyway miraculous fandom if u want smth to cry about remember that they're all in collèege which means they are, at max, 15 years old.,

like dang that has GOT to take a toll on their mental health

and where the HECK are all of the competent adults? fu why the heck are you giving all-powerful miraculous to CHILDREN to fight against somebody whos body count (in a murdery way) would be in the thousands if not for ladybug's miraculous cure

ik that the ages of main characters are selected so that the targeted audience of a show can live vicariously through them but! dear lord! that's a ton of trauma! even if they were full adults that'd be a lot!

also it's been So Long couldn't you like,,, make them Age and move on to lycée? it's been long enough and much of the audience is older people anyway,,,,

[breannacarroll-blog]

Publishing for Fun and Profit

So there was a list going around tumblr for a while that made it to my dash of literary journals that accept open submissions (and will pay!), but upon inspection about half of them were closed indefinitely, and I found quite a few other places that looked interesting through further research, so I wanted to post my own list. 

I tried to focus on things that paid professional grade (at least 6 cents per word), were friendly to speculative fiction, and specifically encouraged diversity and writing about marginalized groups.

(Please note that as of right now I have never submitted or been published with any of these, so if anyone has experience with them, good or bad, please feel free to message or reblog this with your experiences.)

Speculative Fiction

Strange Horizons — Speculative fiction (broadly defined) with an emphasis on diversity, unusual styles, and stories that address politics in nuanced ways. 8c per word. Up to 10,000 words, under 5,000 preferred. Responds within 40 days. LGBT+ positive.

Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine — Sci-fi, fantasy, horror, etc. 7-12c per word. Up to 25,000 words. No response times listed.

Asimov’s Science Fiction — Primarily sci-fi but accepts fantasy and surreal fiction, but no high fantasy/sword and sorcery. Prefers writing that is character driven. 8-10c per word. 1,000-20,000 words. Responds in about five weeks.

Evil Girlfriend Media — Horror and urban fantasy centered on female empowerment and defying gender stereotypes. $100 flat payment. 4,000-7,000 words. No response times given. LGBT+ friendly.

Beneath Ceaseless Skies — Fantasy with a focus on secondary worlds and characters. 6c per word. Up to 10,000 words. Average response time 2-4 weeks.

Fantastic Stories — Speculative fiction with an emphasis on diversity and literary style. 15c per word. Up to 3,000 words. Responds within two weeks. LGBT+ positive.

Fiction Vortex — Serialized fantasy and speculative fiction. $300 for featured stories, $50 otherwise. 3,500 words or less. No response times given.

Shimmer — Speculative fiction with an emphasis on diversity, strong plots, vivid characters, and beautiful writing. 5c per word. 7,500 words or less (will consider longer words with query letter). Usually responds within two weeks. LGBT+ positive.

Clarkesworld Magazine — Sci-fi, fantasy, and other speculative fiction. 10c per word up to 5,000 words, 8c per word after. 1,000-16,000 words. Responds within days usually, gives a tracking number.

Apex Magazine — Speculative fiction of all kinds. 6c per word, +1c per word for podcast stories. Up to 7,500 words, all submissions over will be auto-rejected. Responds within 30 days.

Heliotrope Magazine — Speculative fiction of all kinds. 10c per word. Up to 5,000 words. Responds within 30 days.

Lightspeed Magazine — Speculative fiction of all kinds, with creativity and originality in terms of style and format encouraged. 8c per word. 1,500-10,000 words, under 5,000 preferred. LGBT+ positive. Submissions temporarily closed for their main magazine but is accepting for their People of Color Destroy Science Fiction special.

General Fiction

The Sun Magazine — General fiction, likes personal writing or writing of a cultural/political significance. $300-$1500 flat payment  and a one year subscription to the magazine for fiction (also accepts essays and poetry). No minimum or maximum lengths but over 7,000 words discouraged. Responds in 3-6 months. Physical submissions only.

One Story — Any and all varieties of fiction, “unique and interesting” stories encouraged. $500 payment plus 25 contributor copies. 3,000-8,000 words. Usually responds in 2-3 months.

Camera Obscura — General fiction. $1000 for featured story, $50 for “Bridge the Gap” award, no payment for other contributors. 250-8,000 words. Response time vary, running just over two months as of now.

Flash Fiction 

Daily Science Fiction — Speculative flash fiction (including sci-fi, fantasy, slipstream, etc.). 8c per word. Up to 1,500 words, but shorter stories given priority. Response times not listed.

Vestral Review — General flash fiction. 3-10c per word depending on length to a max of $25. Up to 500 words. Response within four months.

Flash Fiction Online — General flash fiction. $60 flat payment. 500-1,000 words. Response times not listed.

Novels/Novella

Riptide Publishing — Any LGBTQ manuscripts between 15,000 and 150,000 words. Currently especially interested in lesbian romances, trans stories, asexual/aromantic stories, romances with a happy ending, and genre fiction such as urban fantasy. Also has a YA branch.  LGBT+ positive.

Crimson Romance — Romance stories of all kinds, currently seeking LGBT+ stories with a focus on emotional connections and relationships, especially m/m romance. Novel (55,000-90,000 words) or novella (20,000-50,000 words) length.  LGBT+ positive.

Kindle Direct Publishing 

Kindle Direct Publishing — Allows you to set your own prices, create your own cover art, and make royalties off of each sell. Any and all genres are welcome and if you’re prolific and smart about how you’re publishing you can make pretty good money.

General Guide to Kindle Publishing — Gives a good rundown of the publishing process on Kindle.

101 Guide to Kindle Erotica — Great guide with lots of resources about how to make money publishing erotica on Kindle.   

Publishing Comics/Graphic Novels

Here is a list of potential comic companies and what kind of open submissions they accept.  

Here is a list of literary agents who accept graphic novels. 

[inthemidstofbuddie]

I feel like book piracy has become so normalized now and its honestly so ugly and disappointing. Like I totally understand that some people in other countries have straight up no library access but for people in the US/UK?? saying that pubs are their 'free trial' without even trying to use a library??? I truly think younger readers using them don't realize how badly it could fuck an author over

i think book piracy comes down to people not understanding the differences between the film industry and the book industry. i don’t fully understand the film industry bc it’s not my focus, but i do know that pirating movies or shows is not going to directly impact the actors and/or the little people behind the movie or show. (if someone wants to elaborate on how, please do! i’m not really sure.)

however, pirating books is going to directly impact authors, not publishers or CEOs or any other bigwigs. an author is paid thus: they sign a contract for a certain amount of money, say, $100,000 for a two-book deal. that means that each book will be (technically) worth $50,000. depending on the contract, a check will be written for $25,000 upon the author turning in the version of the manuscript that the editor bought. that check will go to the author’s agent, who will take their 15% commission, which will be $3,750. then, the agent will send the remaining $21,250 to the author, minus taxes. with that same scenario, a check with the remaining $25,000 will be written upon the author turning in the final copy of the manuscript, aka the version that will go to the printer, and the process repeats (the check is sent to the agent, the agent takes their 15%, the author gets the remaining $21,250, minus taxes). 

that’s not where this story ends, though: in every contract is a thorough section detailing royalties, aka how much the author will receive per sale of a copy of their book in the book’s entire lifespan. if an agent is good, this will be one of their most important areas they focus on during negotiations. it’s imperative that people know that royalties can make or break an author’s career. it’s better to have larger royalties than a larger advance, bc an advance is only once, whereas royalties will continue as long as the book continues to sell (hardcover, paperback, audiobook, ebook, etc). the higher the author’s advance, the more pressure there is for the author to break even, aka for the author to make back the $50,000 spent on that first book. in a worst case scenario, if an author doesn’t earn back their advance (a big turn of phrase in publishing), they could have book 2 canceled, or they could possibly never be able to sell another book to a publisher again due to a poor sales record. in that case, it’s likely the author will have to re-debut under a pen name so the publisher backing them can treat them like a debut author. or, you’ll see an author’s first printings tank between book 1 and 2 or book 2 and 3 etc etc. for instance, Enchantee by Gita Trelease had a first hardcover printing of 175,000 copies (which is big for a debut!), while book 2 of that series, Everything That Burns, has a first hardcover printing of 75,000 copies. now, i can’t see the sales numbers, but it seems likely a lack of sales is the culprit here. 

so when people say that pirating books will directly influence whether or not your favorite author gets to publish more books, they really mean it. it won’t affect the publisher (who has massive protections in place) nearly as much as it will affect the author (who doesn’t have those same protections), and it could mean that your favorite author never gets to finish that series you love or can never publish another book again. in conclusion, don’t pirate books, kids. 

[allthingslinguistic]

A classic table of accidental lexical gaps in English, from Language Log.

[stellaisnotamermaid]

I'VE SAID IT BEFORE AND I'LL SAY IT AGAIN

giving marinette stalker-ish tendencies is quite possibly the most awful decision that was made in deciding her character. people view it as cutesy, in a way, and she never gets in 'trouble' for it---in fact, she's often rewarded. she knows adrien's schedule, so she can work around it to be even more stalker-y.

like?? this show is tv-7 or tv-8 or something. kids are impressionable. if she consistently does this, these kids will think it's okay to violate people's boundaries. the only people in this show who are 'punished' in the eyes of children for violating boundaries are the antagonists (ie adrien being visibly uncomfortable when chloe and lila get too close for comfort)

not to mention that alya somewhat encourages it, with her worst reactions typically being 'oh, silly marinette' and, yes, there are people who are like this with models, but adrien is literally a child and it's a lot more creepy when you know the person (not saying it's okay when you do it to adults or strangers, but it's easier to detract them from their persona when it's a stranger and an adult is less likely to have been coerced into modeling)

yes, there are people who are like that with irls, but you don't need to have the clearly endgame relationship in a show catered towards children have such morally wrong/grey aspects to start out.

also??? character-wise it doesn't even make sense that she's like that to this degree because she clearly has anxiety. as somebody who has anxiety, it's difficult to be places youre allowed to be without getting anxious, so how come marinette is able to go all these places that she knows she isnt supposed to without her anxiety affecting her?

[stellaisnotamermaid]

au where instead of being creepy and obsessive mari just tends to notice details about all of her friends because she’s a people person

and she begins to wonder why, while the way they carry themselves and speak are different, adrien and chat have very similar tendencies (ie the way that they walk or fidget when theyre anxious or smth idk)

[stellaisnotamermaid]

netflix. why.

okay but literally why don't the french subtitles for miraculous line up with the audio. did you just sub the english version or something. i will never not be angry about this. the show is literally french why don't you just take the script or something. i am in pain.

[stellaisnotamermaid]

I'VE SAID IT BEFORE AND I'LL SAY IT AGAIN

giving marinette stalker-ish tendencies is quite possibly the most awful decision that was made in deciding her character. people view it as cutesy, in a way, and she never gets in 'trouble' for it---in fact, she's often rewarded. she knows adrien's schedule, so she can work around it to be even more stalker-y.

like?? this show is tv-7 or tv-8 or something. kids are impressionable. if she consistently does this, these kids will think it's okay to violate people's boundaries. the only people in this show who are 'punished' in the eyes of children for violating boundaries are the antagonists (ie adrien being visibly uncomfortable when chloe and lila get too close for comfort)

not to mention that alya somewhat encourages it, with her worst reactions typically being 'oh, silly marinette' and, yes, there are people who are like this with models, but adrien is literally a child and it's a lot more creepy when you know the person (not saying it's okay when you do it to adults or strangers, but it's easier to detract them from their persona when it's a stranger and an adult is less likely to have been coerced into modeling)

yes, there are people who are like that with irls, but you don't need to have the clearly endgame relationship in a show catered towards children have such morally wrong/grey aspects to start out.

also??? character-wise it doesn't even make sense that she's like that to this degree because she clearly has anxiety. as somebody who has anxiety, it's difficult to be places youre allowed to be without getting anxious, so how come marinette is able to go all these places that she knows she isnt supposed to without her anxiety affecting her?

[dooflizard]

@stellatheseraph (( :D https://archiveofourown.org/works/29298354

[stellaisnotamermaid]

:0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

aaaaaaaaaaaaaa omg gonna go read,,,,

[dooflizard]

here’s a few pieces i did for THIS beautiful fic!

Fuyumi normally:

Fuyumi plus Touya shenanigans:

[stellaisnotamermaid]

okay now that i’m on my pc i can scream about this on here but????????????? holy heck??????????????????????????????????

like????????? aaaaaaaaaaaaa??????????? a person drew this????????? inspired by my fic?????????????????????? hecking???????????? oh my god?????????? i’m so soft this is literally gorgeous????????

and you captured their dynamic so well?????????? and the hecking kid,, please my heart,,,,,, and the way the ice and fire look and the L I G H T I N G i just,,,,,, talent,,,,,,,,, i’m so soft

[dooflizard]

here’s a few pieces i did for THIS beautiful fic!

Fuyumi normally:

Fuyumi plus Touya shenanigans: