bluewater9 replied to your post “FWW, a bit late”

Thank you for bringing this universe alive. While I will miss it, thank you for giving us this iteration of Pinto. It is a beautiful, kind universe. I have enjoyed Nathan and Margo. Babbo has become a favorite nickname. Be happy with how you finish it. If you are, we will be, too!! Appreciate you sharing your talent.

What a sweet thing to say!  I’m so glad to hear you’ve enjoyed it.  I really have, too.  I don’t know why I’m having such a difficult finishing it. 

I so appreciate your kind words.  And it’s inspiring for me.  So thank you for that.  I hope the end lives up to the rest, but I think maybe I’m moving past my paralysis.

doctorginsberg replied to your post:
FWW, a bit late

Please update and publish this

I know, I know…I’ve had crazy rl and writer’s block from hell and all that’s really left is fluff and smut and it’s just not flowing well. I have more than 3k words and probably two or three more scenes to write, and it’s making me crazy. Add to that the pressure that it probably really is the last thing I’ll write for Bleary!verse and therefore it CANNOT SUCK, and I’ve basically become paralyzed. I’m sorry. It will come when it does, and I really haven’t given up, but I’m not going to force it (or it really will suck, and how anticlimactic would that be). I’m trying to post a snippet to get myself excited again…

FWW, a bit late

From the last chapter of Cleaving (and the last chapter of Bleary!verse ever):

The car wove through the neighborhood of Oakland and headed downtown, trees and parks giving way to highrises.  Zach had been so focused on the ceremony, he honestly had no idea what came next.  A few days alone with Chris holed up in a hotel, followed by a few days back at his mom’s.  Then he was back to LA and Chris was off to do press for Hours and then he had to clear his schedule and pack for the cottage in Cornwall.  And that was exciting, but the idea of flying transcontinental alone with Nathan was a little terrifying.  He’d have to call—

“You’re thinking too loud,” Chris said, dropping a kiss on his head.

“I just feel like I’m forgetting something.  I haven’t really thought through what happens next, and — oh shit.  Our bag.  We forgot our clothes.”

“Relax.  The room’s actually in Dad’s name.  We checked in and dropped everything off on the way in this morning.  I’ve got the key cards.  We don’t have to worry about the front desk or being recognized.”

Zach sat up, surprised.  

“I had a few things to set up.  And it was basically on the way.  It didn’t make me late for the ceremony,” Chris added.

“What did you have to set up?” Zach asked as the car pulled into a semi-circular drive of a very familiar hotel.  “You got us a room here?”

Chris just squeezed his hand and moved to get out of the car, thanking their driver.  Zach collected the picnic basket and followed, letting Chris lead him through the doors to the elevator, and then up to the twenty-second floor, and down the hall to a very familiar door.

Chris let them in, and Zach felt a little like he was coming home.

It was the same suite they’d shared the first two weeks of Nathan’s
life, but instead of the common room being covered in bottles and baby
gear and books on what to expect in the first year, every horizontal
surface was scattered with collections of vases holding flowers like those from their
wedding.  In the middle of the room, on the round glass dining table
that they had never eaten at when they were here with Nathan, a bottle of Prosecco sat chilling in a silver bucket.  

I like the way your characters reveal so much about themselves in their reactions to every day things. It stuck with me in Bleary how Chris was so organized and collected (and making graphs and taking notes!) while Nathan was sick, and then when he and Zach realized Nathan was getting better, how during that intense relief and removal of pressure, that was the moment that he broke down. It was such a great comment on his strengths and his very human vulnerabilities!

Oh, thank you so much for that!  It was something I did really deliberately – giving Chris and Zach different reactions to the stress of Nathan’s illness.  Some readers took it as Chris being stronger in a crisis, but you read it the way I intended…they just fall apart at different times.  Chris’ “organization” is also sort of avoidance.  He’s dealing with minutia so he doesn’t have to think of the big picture.  Zach is focused on the big picture, what he might lose, savoring what he has. In a way he’s being braver, even though he looks like a wreck on the outside.  And when the crisis is over, it hit’s Chris all at once.  I’m so glad that it worked for you.  I was honestly never really sure that it did.

For Writers:

sunken-standard:

Reblog if it’s okay for your followers
to leave you an ask telling you what the one thing is they remember
you for as a writer.  Is it a scene or a detail or a specific line?
Is it something like style or characterization?  Is it that one weird
kink they never thought they’d be into, but oh my god wow
self-discovery time?

another strictly ballroom fan! i am always surprised when i find a non-australian who likes it!

respeckled:

mimblebee:

entrenous88:

image

I love it so, so much!  I nearly began my reply with WE LIVED OUR LIVES IN FEAR but I didn’t want to freak you out unduly. 

There is no level of SB enthusiasm that could freak me out at this point.

I’ll tell you what I want…I want Ken Rilings to walk in here, right now, and say “Pam Short’s broken both her legs and I wanna dance with you.”

Pam Short’s broken both her legs and I wanna dance with you. 

That was unexpected.

Also a fan!  I have to watch it every few years…in fact, it’s probably time to introduce the kids to this gem.

00Q Starter Kit

10kiaoi:

I was kindly alerted to a few newcomers to the Bloody Big Ship lately so I thought I’d do a post. Feel free to add on your own recs/ tag your friends!

image

Keep reading

To this I would add a few classics:

Quriosity  This possibly has my favorite first chapter of any fic in any fandom.  The snark is amazing,

Blue-Eyed Monster  Everyone is BAMF

Slow Dancing in a Burning Room  make sure to follow the picture links in the notes…yum…

vulgarweed:

fuckyeahfightlock:

alienor-woods:

misshoneywheeler:

idontgiveaneffie:

god keep ur fucking kink meme shit out of ao3 tag y’all make this fandom even more insufferable than it already is and thats saying something!!! The kind of shit y’all post require a fucking trigger warning it doesnt belong in a safe space

Hello! I see there’s been some confusion! Allow me to clear something up: AO3 is not a safe space.

Let me repeat that. Archive Of Our Own is not a safe space, not in the way you mean it.

From the AO3 Terms of Service:

Why does the Archive have a goal of maximum inclusiveness?

There are a number of wonderful specialized archives. Our aim with this Archive is to provide a place to preserve as many fanworks as possible. At the same time, the Archive software can be used by anyone to create their own archives, including archives limited to particular topics, fandoms, or ratings.

What kind of content do you allow?

We will not remove content from the Archive because it contains explicit material, as long as it doesn’t violate any other part of the content policy (e.g., the harassment policy).

One basic consequence is that users are responsible for reading and heeding the warnings provided by the creator. Risk-averse users should keep in mind that not all content will carry full warnings. If you want to know more, you may also wish to consult the bookmarks that people other than the creator have used to categorize the fanwork.

Some creators do not want to put specific ratings or warnings on their works. Our policy aims to enable creators to choose appropriate labels or to opt not to use ratings and warnings, with the understanding that some users will avoid unrated or unwarned content.

The ratings/warnings policy is really minimal. Why is this?

We believe that appropriate ratings and warnings are often in the eye of the beholder. Users who feel that a fanwork lacks an appropriate rating/warning are encouraged to try to resolve the issue with the creator. Users may also add tags of their own to on-site bookmarks of a fanwork, which other users can consult for more information. When those tags are present, you can click on the “Bookmarks” link at the top of the work to see them.

The stated desires/goals when AO3 was conceived and initially developed can be found here, on a livejournal post from @astolat (founder of VidCon, Yuletide, and AO3, and all around fannish legend). In short, the goal was “allowing ANYTHING – het, slash, RPF, chan, kink, highly adult.” 

And that, in fact, is precisely what AO3 hosts. You see, AO3 is a safe space for fanfiction. It’s a safe space for people to explore all kinds of fannish content without fear of banning, deletion, or legal reprisal. It was founded, designed, and developed to be a safe space for fandom and fannish works.

There also seems to be some confusion about the nature of safe spaces vs. trigger warnings. A fannish work that merits a trigger warning isn’t something that doesn’t belong in a safe space. The trigger warning is what MAKES something a safe space despite the presence of fannish works that merit warnings.

Something else to consider: there are many other things that include het, slash, RPF, chan, kink, and highly adult material, in addition to incest, pedophilia, infanticide, necrophilia, rape, bestiality, sadism and violence, adultery, and all manner of other things. 

So holding individual women (because that’s what fandom primarily is, women exploring their sexuality in a safe forum filled with other women doing the same) accountable for their fictional exploration of things that a) exist in real life in genuinely damaging forms, b) have significant impact on women themselves, thus leading in some part to the urge to explore those things safely, and c) have existing in movies, television, popular culture, the Bible, and in all of literature since literature began? Well, that’s just an extension of the same culture that polices women’s sexuality in the first place and drives them to find safe ways to explore it.

Ding ding ding we have a winner 🙌🏼

AO3 was pretty much meant to be a safe space …  FOR WRITERS.

FOR WRITERS TO POST PRETTY MUCH ANYTHING AS LONG AS IT IS ADEQUATELY WARNED FOR AND MEETS THEIR CLEARLY POSTED CRITERIA.

IT LITERALLY EXISTS TO PROTECT FANWORKS FROM BEING CENSORED, THREATENED BY LAWYERS, OR TAKEN DOWN OR ALTERED AGAINST THE WRITER’S WILL. THIS APPLIES TO ALL WORKS THAT MEET ITS TOS. ALL OF THEM. YES, INCLUDING AND ESPECIALLY THAT REALLY ICKY ONE.

THAT IS LITERALLY ITS PURPOSE FROM THE VERY BEGINNING. IT WILL NOT CHANGE ITS PURPOSE AND SUDDENLY DECIDE SOME KINDS OF CENSORSHIP ARE OKAY NOW BECAUSE SOME PEOPLE YELL.

If this makes anyone personally uncomfortable, there’s a very easy way to avoid that. Just don’t use AO3. Problem solved.

And this is why we love it