#ara talks

[eldritch-araneae]

So, who's ready for ArtFight? :3

(yep, I'm in Team Comedy, shocker, I know hdsbfhdbf I just wanted some orange color lol :3)

[itssluv]

THEM LIL AH JEANS BE SERIOUS MY NIGGA

[talesfromopenpages]

Draft2Digital, the platform I've been using to format and distribute my e-books - one that was helpful and convenient and affordable - recently added a maintenance fee for users. Now, this would not be such a huge problem if a) this were communicated before roll out, at least so we wouldn't be blindsided, and b) the costs took into account the users themselves. So many of us are primarily indie authors from countries outside of the US, and it honestly seems as if D2D does not care about that.

So I have decided to delete my account with that. Which also was more difficult to do than simply finding a 'Deactivate Account' button. One has to email them to get their account deleted, and then wait for a reply to confirm. (The reply I got asked me if I was certain, gave me the option of delisting my books so I wouldn't need to pay an activation fee if I ever decided to resign up. No thank you, D2D!)

I used the word “predatory” in my email to D2D to cancel my account to them, and I stand by it. It certainly seems that way when the platform is choosing to penalise those of us making under a certain amount - already struggling to sell our books - and not those authors who are selling their books well. It feels almost targeted to smaller authors, to possibly already marginalised authors, and for those of us living in countries where conversion rates mean the $12 maintenance fee amounts to more than, it can even be dangerous.

Maybe D2D will change their mind if too many of the writers using their platforms reach out. They did about their AI stance, after all. But if and until they do, I will not be using the platform. I have my account and with that, my books will no longer be distributed to the e-retailers that work with D2D. Even after they change their stance (if they do), I may not get back on the platform. The trust is gone for me.

Until then, my books are available on Ko-fi. I am looking at putting them up on Itch.Io as well, a few friends have spoken well of the platform - I made an account last week to get a feel of it - and I'll be looking into how else I can get my books back on the major e-retailers.

This has been a disappointing turn of events but I am taking steps to figure out where I go from here and I know many other authors are too. I hope you'll stick with us as we do.

And if anybody has any recommendations for other platforms similar to D2D for distribution or formatting, or both, please do let me know.

Cheers, Ara

[rainbowara]

Had a dream the other night that I had some very tiny chickens, not chicks, but actually grown chickens the size of chicks. Anyway, one of my cats ran towards my new chickens and just ate one. Not gory or anything just NYOM and it was gone in one bite. I was horrified so of course I just shoo-ed the cats back inside the house, close the door and went to sleep. The next day, all the chickens where gone. I was angry and I asked the chicken eating cat why she ate all the chickens! And she just sat down, looked at me with her cute little face and talked to me in the voice my partner and I usually make for her when she meows and said "it wasn't me mother, I swear! I've never seen a chicken before in my life!! I don't even know what a chicken is!!" Then, my POV shifted as in the "camera" started to zoom out and I saw myself standing in front of the cat and it zoomed out some more until I could see my whole dream house and garden and then, in the garden I saw very clean bones (they looked like Halloween decoration) that just spelled

"the bones are out"

And I went "WELL YEAH I CAN SEE THAT MYSELF THANK YOU" and I woke up.

So now I so often just randomly say "the bones are out because that was the weirdest dream I had in a while

[murdockbarnes]

if i were to write a james potter x reader fic to i can see you, would anyone be interested?

[lietogirlsss]

bro if I posted an avatar fic will the remnants of the fandom hype it up 😭

[lafleshlumpeater]

Although I'm also british , I live in the north-west. I kind of fake my accent bc it sounds more american than british 😭😭

I seeeee

So like we're talking Bolton Blackpool brum liverpool england

Nah bc me and @the-wise-old-elf have cousins from Bolton and the rare times we see each other we always make fun of their accents 😭😭 and they try do the same but they cant bc it's so hard for them to do it's funny af

But that's cute <3 thanks for sending this in

[sauroff]

hello!! just wanted to say that oh my god that modern au with racing/mafia sounds so cool????? esp with like some people being more into the mechanical side of it too! If you’d ever like to share I’m dying to hear more about it -@mai-sau

Hope you are ready for a lot of typos and badly translated headcanons, because this is going to be long. I'll put it all under the cut for everyone's sake.

I don't remember all the details about this au, since It came to me like 8 months ago, but I didn't write it down. I'll tell you what I remember, more or less. In general, since I don't know a single thing about the racing world or cars, it's a mix of sports/deluxe cars design and races. Nothing is developed and there is absolutely 0 research done. It's just like, a general idea.

When I started thinking of a modern AU, I wondered what the Silmarils should be. In this case, they are cars. Not exactly the physical thing, but the designs. Finwe is the owner of a company that produces cars, and Fëanor was into ..I don't know how the engineering branch that work with cars is called, but he is that. He designed some very cool cars, but he recieved a bit of help from Melkor while doing so, both economic (he might be wealthy here, but not as much as Melkor), as an investor, and intelectual.

This part I don't have as clear, because I'm never sure if it's too much to keep the killings on modern AUs (don't even ask about Aqualonde, I have absolutely not idea what would be the parallel), but Melkor got away with the rights to produce said cars, and that putted Finwe out of businesses. And that was the moment they decided to enter the racing world instead of producing cars.

Melkor is a very rich, shady dude who owns another car company, specialized in sport cars, as well as other business. Later, he gets into racing too. Partially because he might or might not run some ilegal betting rings, but also because he likes it, and enjoys being a pain to the finweans. I have always found races boring since it's the person with the better car (more money) the one that usually wins. It's no so much about talent of the pilot, but as the sponsors and budget he has, and his mechanical team. So I can see Melkor racing just because he can, and is basically impossible for him to lose.

I can't kill every character in a race accident, so some are forced to coexist in this AU. Like, Maedhros was a car racer/pilot, and lost his hand on a car 'accident' (it wasn't an official race, but a clandestine one that he agreed to because he was too damn prideful. A very, very bad decision. Sabotage was involved). This might have forced Fëanor to coming to terms with Fingolfin, and fusing their teams, with Fingon as the main racer from then on.

Aredhel and Celegorm are into motocross. Celegorm managed to get a very good sponsor (Oröme) and, with Curufin in the mechanic team, got a pretty decent rank.

Aredhel is a ferocious racer and, despite every intend of Turgon to get her out that world, she is a champion and a force of nature. (As much as I'm fascinated with Aredhel's canon story and how realistic it is in its depiction of an abusive relationship, Eol doesn't exist here. Sorry, Maeglin).

So, to (not really) summarize:

Finwe: Had a relatively big company which produced cars, but it went bankrupt after investing to much on the development of a new line of cars, and because of some legal troubles with a bigger (Melkor's) company.

Fëanor: Engineer. Designed most of said line of cars, and lost it all. He went too far trying to get things back legally, but Melkor obviously played dirty, and ended he up losing the family business. Then decides to start working in racing cars, with Finwe's help.

Fingolfin: Also works In racing cars, but due his differences with Fëanor, has a completely separated team. They end up joining after Meadhros' accident.

Finarfin: Being the younger son, he never got too involved in the whole family business. He might or might not have decided to become a lawyer after what happened with it, tho.

Lalwen: Motocross racer, even before all the problems started. She is the one that got Aredhel and Celegorm into it.

Mae: Car racer. After the accident, he gets a more strategic rol on the team.

Fingon: Main racer. He is good and charismatic, and with the amazing team he has behind, it's impossible for him not to bw one the best. If only he could beat Gothmog...

Celegorm: motocross racer, but he also does the pseudo rally version (enduro?). He is good and has an excellent economic and mechanic back up, but his reputation holds him back a lot. His awful personality and tendency to get into trouble doesn't allow him to be his best.

Caranthir: The one making sure they don't go bankrupt *again*.

Curufin: Mechanic, working both for Celegorm and Aredhel. He used to work with the others on the cars, but after the nolofinwean and feanorian teams joined he just left.

Maglor: I don't even need to tell you that he has absolutely nothing to do with the whole family business. He is still a singer, and doing quiet well, on a indie scale.

(I have no idea what the rest of the finweans do, I'm sorry. I'm pretty sure I had a rol for Galadriel, but I can't remember it or come up with a new one right now.)

Melkor: owner of a very big company that produces cars, and other business, some of which are definitely not legal. And engineer himself. After stealing Feanor designs, he gets even richer. But his bad business management, ilegal activities, some scandals and Finarfins obsession with legally bringing him down end up with him going to jail.

Biggest problem with this kind of AUs is the generational gaps. Like, including Celebrimbor and Sauron stories means playing around with their ages too much.

I'd say that Sauron is a genius engineer that worked for Melkor since he was 20. He had excellent ideas, but due some creative differences, half of them ended up being dismissed. He still loved the job, and was once vicepresident of the company, but ended up loosing the position after an (Lúthien) incident. After the whole business falls due some sort embezzlement, he manages to get out of it without any legal repercution (ans with some extra money that was definitely not just his salary).

So yes, I have a silvergifting continuation to this, but this is too long already