Wendy Qualls

(AKA wendymarlowe: the fangirl version)

[markrosewater]

In the ongoing representation efforts by wizards, left handed midget serial killers born in Croatia named Steve seem to have been left out. When is the discrimination going to end?!?!

I get that you’re trying to mock diversity and inclusion, but I think it comes from an ignorance of what it means to feel excluded. When you’ve lived your life in the majority, it’s easy to take it for granted that you see yourself represented in the products and entertainment you use.

But every time we branch out (and I’m not exaggerating, *every* time) and represent a new segment of people, I get heartfelt messages from them about how much it means to them to see themselves in the game.

The reason “Wonder Woman” and “Black Panther” have been such cultural touchstones is because it’s allowing new groups of people to experience something they’ve never experienced before.

I get it’s easy to mock that when it’s something so basic to your experience that you don’t even realize it’s a thing you would miss if you didn’t have it, but I beg for you to try and see life through other people’s perspectives just as I always talk about how good designers see the game through different players’ perspectives.

Try to take actions that build up the world and make it a better place for everyone than tear it down for others to make your world better in comparison.

[evisionarts]

Work in Progress - Working on a commission for @wendyqualls (wendymarlowe on ao3) who won me in the Fandom Loves Puerto Rico auction. She is the brilliant author of Dear John - a Sherlock fandom classic. 

[wendyqualls]

I really do love this!

[wendyqualls]

Random fic recs - rock star!lock

This weekend's lack of adulting is brought to you by me rereading these three fics pretty much back-to-back: 

Pull the Stars From the Sky: http://archiveofourown.org/works/378901

Sherlock = sexy rock star with a recent drug habit, a bad-boy reputation... and a stalker.

John = ends up as Sherlock’s unofficial babysitter-slash-bodyguard. Because what can possibly go wrong?

Out and Loud: http://archiveofourown.org/works/8327521

John = 22-year-old pop star, shedding his wholesome background as half of the Disney-esque singing duo “the Watsons”

Sherlock = total John Watson fanboy auditioning to be a dancer for the next music video :-D

I LOVE LOVE LOVE starstruck!Sherlock in this one trying to play it cool while getting way in over his head with his teenage crush! He can be totally professional, though. Even though John’s song is about coming out as bi (which will totally shake the music industry) and therefore the music video involves a lot of seriously sexy groping each other...

Painting Pictures on Silence: http://archiveofourown.org/works/86449

Lestrade = aging rocker whose band is falling apart and who is trying to figure out what to do with his life after his career ends. Right now, that involves trying to sort out the mess that is the soon-to-be-opening West End musical based on the band’s greatest hits.

ace!Sherlock = gets called in because dancers from Lestrade’s musical start getting murdered.

John = Sherlock basically sticks him on Lestrade as a spy-slash-bodyguard. Without realizing John’s had a major thing for Lestrade for, oh, EVER. Lots of BAMF!John, sexy-as-hell Lestrade, and Sherlock being all aloof and difficult and basically just like he is in canon.

Three awesome rock star AUs, three totally different takes, and I hate that I can’t write my own while simultaneously mainlining fic like this both at the same time :-P

[vulgarweed]

Bid On Me at Fandom Loves Puerto Rico!

This is a fandom charity auction organized by @hansbekhart to benefit ConPRmetidos, an organization working to raise money for long-term help for Puerto Rico.

It works a lot like @fandomtrumpshate: you bid on fan creators for the works of your dreams, and winning bidders donate directly to the organization.

The main site is here on Dreamwidth. There you’ll find indexed lists of fan writers, fan artists, other types of fan works, organized by fandom if you want to shop (and of course you do.)

My sign-up link is here, this is where you go to bid on what I’m offering!

I am offering: Fic, 5k to 10k Quantity: 2 Minimum bid: $25 each What fandoms I create for: Sherlock BBC, major works of Tolkien (LOTR, the Hobbit, the Silmarillion). Other fandoms I’ve written for in the past negotiable. Would love to do: For Sherlock, my favorite ships are Johnlock, Johnlockary, Marene (and other femslash ships), Johnlockolly. I’m willing to try other rare pairs and threesomes - Sherlock is my ‘little black dress’ character. I love kinkfic and AUs. Feel free to ask about a new story in the universe of any story or series I’ve written before, or a crossover with any other fandom I’ve written. For Tolkien, any ship I’ve written in the past is available. My specialties seem to be rarepairs, xeno, villains, Ainur, and sexually adventurous hobbits - try me! Will not do: Major character death (unless in reference to a canon death), scat, sex involving children, non-con (except under very limited circumstances). Additional Info: Good Omens also a possibility but might have to wait until I’m done with the Holiday Exchange (I’m a mod and a participant). How I can be contacted: absentia.vulgarweed [at] gmail [dot] com or Tumblr (email preferred; Tumblr eats messages)

[wendyqualls]

Fandom Loves Puerto Rico

Y’all have seen the “Fandom Loves Puerto Rico” auction, right? https://fandomlovespuertorico.dreamwidth.org/2568.html

It’s already raised over $7500 in funds for Puerto Rico and it’s been open for like 24 hours. That said, there’s SEVERAL HUNDRED creators (including a number of generous artists from NYCC!) and a lot don’t have any bids yet. And seriously, y’all, this is like “for the price of dinner out, I can get a fanfic about my OTP from my favorite authors and fanart ranging from G to E ratings. Oh, and some cool swag too.”

(I’m in there too, in case you were wondering - offering a 10-20K fic with your prompt and your OTP, and also offering 221B drabbles for $10 each.)

If you haven’t at least browsed, you have no excuse :-D It runs through next week, but the “buy it now” auctions (my drabbles and others) are only open for a brief window so don’t put it off!

[monikakrasnorada]

WIP Tag

Tagged by the amazing, @amythe3lder to post the last sentence to a WIP and then tag the number of people that correspond with how many words are in that sentence. O-kay.

The address of James Sholto. - Moving On

Scintillating! LOL

Your turn- @may-shepard @iamjohnlocked4life @conversationswithjohnlock @justacookieofacumberbatch @privatelyvex

[conversationswithjohnlock]

Oooh, good one! Thanks, @monikakrasnorada. Except look at how many people I need to tag! 

“They made several toasts to marriage and each other, and to their families, including John’s absent sister and deceased parents, and when all was said and done Sherlock was warmed through with drink and affection, and John was still grinning like an absolute idiot.” - TWG

Do I know 44 authors to tag??

@alexxphoenix42 @astudyinsnoggy @azriona @blueink3 @batik96 @caitlinmissesjohnlockawholelot @ewebie @fuckyeahfightlock @fleurdelis221b @froofie @ggaypilot @green-violin-bow @ghislainem70 @holmesianpose @hubblegleeflower @hiddenlacuna @itsnotgonnareaditselfpeople @jurgbury @jamlockk @librarylock @mssmithlove1 @missdeliadili @mandysimo13 @one-thousand-leaves @patternofdefiance @scullyseviltwin @tiltedsyllogism @theartofforensics @vulgarweed @weeesi @wendyqualls @yesilian 

32. Close enough.

[wendyqualls]

Oh good lord, I’m not on here enough to tag anyone, and I can’t pick just one unfinished fic anyway :-P Here are the last lines from most of the fics I’m actively working on (I use “actively” pretty loosely here):

1) “And since there was no evidence of her moving or trying to get away, obviously she was dead first.”

2) Sherlock’s arse looked amazing in denim, and even more so because Sherlock’s shirt was a good two sizes too small and emphasized his lean build in all the right places.

3) They fell into the cab together, too tired to maintain their usual physical distance, and giggled the entire way back to Baker Street.

4) He dates a few, even, but never with any particular urgency.

5) “Just over two years to think, actually,” John said.

6)  It was three days before John remembered the two thousand pounds Sherlock had left in Dr. Allen’s room.

7) John paused, too, but then wordlessly rotated so Sherlock could see his chest.

8) THE END ←this one’s a bit deceiving, because it’s a choose-your-own-adventure fic and it’s already 15K and I can’t exactly post it chapter by chapter. It’s got fifteen different endings, though, and I still have four to go.

[amythe3lder]

Attention people who are attending DragonCon 2017

We are planning a meetup to commence immediately following the Sherlock Panel on Sunday. The panel is at 17:30 (5:30 pm) in the Crystal Ballroom in the Hilton, and interested parties should expect to form an orderly group outside the same about an hour later, as the panel ends. Suggestions of dinner have been made, yo! Perhaps the Waffle House.

Tldr: Sunday 3 Sep 2017 @ 18:30 (6:30 pm) outside Hilton Crystal Ballroom 

@wendyqualls @privatelyvex @littlemissyaoi @anotherwellkeptsecret @billiethepoet @orpheusetude and all y’all

and @221bcon too Idk

[wendyqualls]

This! I’m gonna be on this Sherlock panel and also at the 11:30 PM fanfic and slash panel. Both are going to be fun for totally different reasons :-D

Mental countdown clock: 11/12ths of the way through the annual wait for DragonCon...

[wendyqualls]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Was digging through my fanfic folder and found one I had already almost finished. Seems like a good day for fanfic, so I cleaned it up and here it is :-)

[batchofkindness]

Batch of Kindness 2017!

For the past three years, fans of Benedict Cumberbatch across the globe joined together to perform acts of kindness in celebration of the actor’s July 19 birthday. The campaign was prompted by the words of the actor himself in a 2013 thank you letter to the fans, quoted below: “…it may be cheeky after such efforts and generosity…but could I make a request? Could you please put the time and energy, money and effort you put into those gifts, cards and messages to me into doing good for someone else?…it doesn’t have to be money, perhaps it’s just a bit of your time or a simple gesture of kindness…anyway if it makes me sound ungrateful for what you gave me please forgive my rudeness. I simply think if the number of people who threw love my way did so to people that need it far more than me, that would be a wonderful feeling for us all to have on my birthday.”

Each year, the Batch of Kindness acts are compiled and bound into a colorful booklet and sent off to Benedict’s agency in London. Of the 2014 booklet, Benedict said in a statement tweeted by the agency: “I was soo moved by the money raised and all your ‘Batch Of Kindness’ stories… As I think it was called… Silly names aside the deeds were marvellous, imaginative and so generous. Thank you B- x” So, are we ready for another go? July 19 has become an incredible day of positivity and love for those who have participated. Sign up at batchofkindness.com by clicking on the “Participating this year?” button and completing the short form (it takes 5 seconds!). Join the fun as we come together as a fandom to make the world a little brighter! <3

[hockeybella25-deactivated201804]

SIGNAL BOOST

[aiweirdness]

New paint colors invented by neural network

So if you’ve ever picked out paint, you know that every infinitesimally different shade of blue, beige, and gray has its own descriptive, attractive name. Tuscan sunrise, blushing pear, Tradewind, etc… There are in fact people who invent these names for a living. But given that the human eye can see millions of distinct colors, sooner or later we’re going to run out of good names. Can AI help?

For this experiment, I gave the neural network a list of about 7,700 Sherwin-Williams paint colors along with their RGB values. (RGB = red, green, and blue color values) Could the neural network learn to invent new paint colors and give them attractive names?

One way I have of checking on the neural network’s progress during training is to ask it to produce some output using the lowest-creativity setting. Then the neural network plays it safe, and we can get an idea of what it has learned for sure.

By the first checkpoint, the neural network has learned to produce valid RGB values - these are colors, all right, and you could technically paint your walls with them. It’s a little farther behind the curve on the names, although it does seem to be attempting a combination of the colors brown, blue, and gray.

By the second checkpoint, the neural network can properly spell green and gray. It doesn’t seem to actually know what color they are, however.

Let’s check in with what the more-creative setting is producing.

…oh, okay.

Later in the training process, the neural network is about as well-trained as it’s going to be (perhaps with different parameters, it could have done a bit better - a lot of neural network training involves choosing the right training parameters). By this point, it’s able to figure out some of the basic colors, like white, red, and grey:

Although not reliably.

In fact, looking at the neural network’s output as a whole, it is evident that:

The neural network really likes brown, beige, and grey.

The neural network has really really bad ideas for paint names.

[wendyqualls]

Computers are gonna take over our jobs, they said.

Expect automation to render all non-creative work obsolete, they said.

Nope, I’m good for a while :-P

[alexxphoenix42]

I am so, so frustrated. I have heaps of plot ideas for johnlock fanfic, but I'm an absolutely shit writer with incredibly high standards so I can never get anything out on page and be satisfied with it. I have many ideas I will never write and it saddens me, so I was wondering, is there a prompt dump anywhere? Like a page where I can share my prompts in the hopes that one writer will deem them worthy and fulfil at least one of them, or just get inspiration from it?

Hey friend, sorry to hear about your frustration with writing. I hope you might keep at it.

As far as place to dump writing prompts - I know there are some, but help me out here folks, where are some good places???

[bluebellofbakerstreet]

You could try @sherlockkinkmeme,

or maybe the @sherlockwishingwell is still open.

[sherlockwishingwell]

It is still open! Thank you for remembering it! Anyone can drop a wish in the well at any time. :)

More info:

Drop us an ask (anon or not) describing a Sherlock-related short fic or quick sketch you wish existed. We’ll publish your ask with relevant tags. If someone wants to grant your wish, they should reblog that ask with their gift to you (or a link to their gift). It’s meant to be easy for the writers and artists, too–think ficlets, 221Bs, sketches, doodles. 

Creators, if you’re inspired to take it further (a longer fic, a more complicated drawing), then so be it. If you grant a wish for someone who is not anon, try to tag them or notify them somehow, though, as a heads up. :) See? Easy peasy. No messy sign ups, no fussing over matching people. You drop in wishes and maybe, just maybe, someone (or more than one someone) grants your wish. Any rules? Just one. Play nice. This is a wank-free zone.

[sherlockkinkmeme]

We are here too! I think you should post it in as many places as possible and see what turns up :)

Just submit it and let us know your bunny, what Sherlockian Universe it is, which characters you want, and if you want & fic or / fic. It’s all automatically anonymous (unless you specifically ask for it not to be) No kinkshaming allowed.

Good luck, and I hope you find a filler or wish granter. Or both!

[wendyqualls]

I didn’t know this was a thing, but I needed it! My random prompt ideas are overrunning my “to get to later” file :-D

[loveamongthestarwars]

[sherlock]

looking for blogs to follow

If you’re an active Sherlock blog (either johnlock or non-shipping) who posts mostly if not all Sherlock reblog this and I’ll check your blog out; I’m looking for new people to follow

[88thparallel]

Me too!

[wendyqualls]

Ditto! I just got here and have touched base with some fantastic fandom people I know from AO3 and/or Twitter, but I haven’t found all the Sherlock blogs yet - I’ve got a ways to go :-P

[wendyqualls]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

New fluffy parent!loc fic because I’m procrastinating. This was supposed to be a 221B but it kinda grew.

[wendyqualls]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

New 221B ficlet up :-)

[conversationswithjohnlock]

hahahaha, dying. i took that fic quiz to see how much i knew about fic, and I got a question about my own fic wrong. i swear.

[channybatch]

First I laughed with this cause it IS funny, but this also made me realize you writers have so many idea’s for a story in your heads, writing them all down. But ofcourse we all know it takes a lot of rewriting before you publish it, and sometimes I wonder this is how you can mix up stuff that you have actually written yourself. I hope it makes sense because, as you notice, I am not a writer. It still stays funny btw  😃

[conversationswithjohnlock]

@channybatch, ask @happierstill about the time she was talking about a character of mine and I had no idea who she was talking about. “Kevin? Who’s Kevin?”

[missmuffin221]

It’s a bit funny *giggles a lot*

I haven’t tried it yet. I am afraid I would be disappointed about myself to not get it all right:/

[lorelei-lee]

@swissmissing

[conversationswithjohnlock]

@missmuffin221, I only got a 70%, which was disappointing. I got a lot of the crossover questions wrong, the summary questions, and some of the authors. :(

[wendyqualls]

*perks up*

Which quiz is this, and where can I find it? I have laundry I’m avoiding at the moment…

[conversationswithjohnlock]

Here you go @wendyqualls! It’s by @swissmissficrecs , and it’s incredibly comprehensive. Let me know how you do!

[wendyqualls]

Well damn. 54/100, and I very nearly missed the answer to one about MY OWN FIC. I recognized a lot more titles than I thought, but not always the right ones for the question :-P

[conversationswithjohnlock]

hahahaha, dying. i took that fic quiz to see how much i knew about fic, and I got a question about my own fic wrong. i swear.

[channybatch]

First I laughed with this cause it IS funny, but this also made me realize you writers have so many idea’s for a story in your heads, writing them all down. But ofcourse we all know it takes a lot of rewriting before you publish it, and sometimes I wonder this is how you can mix up stuff that you have actually written yourself. I hope it makes sense because, as you notice, I am not a writer. It still stays funny btw  😃

[conversationswithjohnlock]

@channybatch, ask @happierstill about the time she was talking about a character of mine and I had no idea who she was talking about. “Kevin? Who’s Kevin?”

[missmuffin221]

It’s a bit funny *giggles a lot*

I haven’t tried it yet. I am afraid I would be disappointed about myself to not get it all right:/

[lorelei-lee]

@swissmissing

[conversationswithjohnlock]

@missmuffin221, I only got a 70%, which was disappointing. I got a lot of the crossover questions wrong, the summary questions, and some of the authors. :(

[wendyqualls]

*perks up*

Which quiz is this, and where can I find it? I have laundry I’m avoiding at the moment...