#m.a.d.

[crabscrabscrabs]

[hooperdrivestheboat]

M.A.D. (Missile Attack and Defense) for the Atari 2600, 1982

[ulysses-s-wishes]

Veronica Mars is so messed up specifically for having so many fake empowering scenes for queer people. Multiple times homophobia is weaponized against homophobes, and these actions are endorsed/aided by queer people in the show (Seth in M.A.D. and the escort in Ain’t No Magic Mountain High Enough) which is almost an “at least the characters have autonomy” moment but they’re all so clearly written by cishet people.

The worst offender is also the closest to being self aware - when the cheerleader anonymously blackmails and outs her own girlfriend and, when confronted and asked why she responds “because I’m a crazy bitch?” It’s a classic ignorant, “I just wanted us to be out and proud” plotline, and it comes so close to recognizing the issue but still sucks and unfortunately the delivery of that line is endlessly funny to me.

[military-intelligence-innovation]

Enabling or allowing the provision of fraudulent military intelligence to militaries different than your own is likely in all circumstances so dangerous that it should be avoided

[starkiller02]

[maetersart]

R͚͗͝Ȩ̣̀B̵̘̆O̭̯ͩ́͝͠R̅͏͕N͊҉̣  [oc]

"How is this possible?" the dry voice repeated.

[bearhugsandshrugs]

I said I'd do some learnings after finishing my 112k longfic Mutually Assured Destruction, so here it goes.

I think one major learning after MAD is that I won’t do epilogues anymore. I added it because I knew people were craving that happier ending rather than the cliffhanger / open end in the ending chapter, but it’s not what I originally wanted to do as an author. It was more a reader-service and it was not a good decision.

It takes away from the last chapter, which I was so proud of and which I think got overshadowed by the epilogue.

After writing this fic for 8 months, taking great care to create plot reveals and tie up loose endings, it’s the one comment that bemoans me not detailing the entire world state that sours it for me. If I hadn’t written an epilogue I would have saved myself that heartache and I wouldn’t have to be disappointed that all of the ways I wrote to resolve intrigues, the stories of over half a dozen characters, and the fic overall, didn’t really seem to land from what it looks like (that and apparently I’m just not good enough of a writer to create a compelling ending that makes it pay off in the chapters I released this week).

I'm proud I finished MAD at all but instead of being happy I honestly just feel depressed that I couldn't get people to love it as much as I did. It's the far superior fic compared to Til Death in my opinion (the character development in Til Death makes no fucking sense lmao) and also Keeping Score (that ending was insanely rushed and so many plot points didn't get resolved) but I guess both of these managed to have the BG3 character be the hero in the end and I guess that's all that counts. Having my Tav fight for herself was probably also something people didn't enjoy.

Shoutout to the people who have specifically commented on the plot resolve though. That made my day and I am glad you saw me.

And before I get the usual comments on how MAD is so successful bla bla bla, it has barely been read for the past few months (yes. I kept track) and the reactions to its ending compared to Til Death or Keeping Score are also noticeable. And that’s on no one but myself. I just didn’t write well enough. Happens. I tried. I'm sorry, everyone. I really tried.

Thanks for reading the parts that you found interesting.

I’m gonna focus on my own original work for the time being. I think having less interactions with (potential) readers might be exactly what I need, even though it's arguably easier for me to write when I get reactions to it. I don't have any more longform fics in me beyond the Absolution series for Tavtash I'm writing (which is its own spinoff at this point). Maybe this changes at some point.... but not this year.

There's also a bit of Raphael content coming out soon and then I am officially done with writing fics. It started out really fun but just like the fandom for BG3 died out, I felt the connection to community fade away as well (I should have written the fic quicker but I wasn't able to do that through all my mental health struggles this year).

Thanks all! Bye.

Em

[bearhugsandshrugs]

finished the giveaway. now one thing left to write and then that’s it. no more fics. no more writing for BG3.

except Gorsimp, of which we wrote a large chunk months ago. but nothing beyond that for me.

I’m not sure how to feel about it, but I am so fucking relieved to take a proper hiatus from it all.

it’s been a good run. two more chapters plus the epilogue until MAD is done. I know there’s maybe a hand full of people at this point who care about the ending, and surprisingly I have made my peace with it. I care. I’m proud of it. Like really proud. The story is good. The plot twists pay off. It’s a great piece, even if the hype is long over.

thanks to anyone who read anything over the past year! I might write something else once all the rest is published, or not, who knows.

mwah—

Em