First Post! They've Been In My Thoughts...

a selection of quick'n'dirty pamphlet binds because i had a bunch of short typesets i wanted to make multiple copies of. am i counting this toward my binderary goal? ehhhhh not really because theyre not hardcovers. but i figured i'd post anyway cuz the lil mushroom one in the front was cute :>

Oh I just had a question, which I don't know if anyone else has already asked, if so oops

Has Cat Stan ever had to deal with rude tourists as a cat? And has his family ever had to intervene?

No one has asked, so your gtg!

Nowadays no, he's an expert at dodging unwanted hands by the time the twins showed up. But when the museum first opened it probably happened a few times when he wasn't paying attention and tourists arrived early/ stayed late, or if Stan thoughtless grabbed something and got catified during work hours. Most of the time Stan would just hiss and run, but knowing his luck he probably got cornered at least once by an especially rude toursit and had to be rescued by Ford or one of the McGuckets. One of them tended to be on hand at the museum for the first year or so in case of emergencies while Stan figured out his business model.

I've already said that my number one piece of writing advice is to read.

But my number two piece of advice is this: be deliberate.

Honestly this would fix so many pieces of bad writing advice. Don't forbid people from doing something, tell them to be conscious and deliberate about it. This could help stop people from falling into common mistakes without limiting their creativity. Black and white imperatives may stop a few annoying beginner habits, but ultimately they will restrict artistic expression.

Instead of "don't use epithets": "Know the effect epithets have and be deliberate about using them." Because yes, beginners often misuse them, but they can be useful when a character's name isn't known or when you want to reduce them to a particular trait they have.

Instead of "don't use 'said'" or "just use 'said'": "Be deliberate about your use of dialogue tags." Because sometimes you'll want "said" which fades into the background nicely, but sometimes you will need a more descriptive alternative to convey what a character is doing.

Instead of "don't use passive voice": "Be deliberate about when you use passive voice." Because using it when it's not needed can detract from your writing, but sometimes it can be useful to change the emphasis of a sentence or to portray a particular state of mind.

Instead of blindly following or ignorantly neglecting the rules of writing, familiarize yourself with them and their consequences so you can choose when and if breaking them would serve what you're trying to get across.

Your writing is yours. Take control of it.

It probably sounds like I'm preaching to the choir here because most of my mutuals are already great writers. But I'm hoping this will make it to the right people.

Do you have any advice on how you choose which fic idea to write next? I want whatever the next Gravity Falls fic I write next to be one of the many long fic ideas my brain has thrown at me but I'm having trouble picking

God if you figure out how to choose please tell me.

No but seriously, start on whichever one you like fleshing out the most. Flesh it out and then decide if that one IS the one you want to write right this minute, and dont be afraid to bounce around! Writing different things at once is better that forcing yourself i to one thing until you dont want to write at all anymore

🕯️...

maybe the real horror was finding your family gathered around reading your diary

Comment on fanfics

A few days back on AO3 I found an unfinished, two chapter spideypool fanfic that was cute and had lots of potential and was also last updated two years ago. Two whole years! And it had only three comments, all of which on chapter one, none on chapter two. I enjoyed the fanfic, despite it being far, FAR from being finished and the chance of it ever updating again anytime soon was just about zero. So you know what I did?

I wrote a damn comment. On chapter two.

And I made sure that fucker was long and had a small theory of where I think the author would take the fanfic in the future. I let the person behind the fic know that I friggin LOVED the two chapters I got to read! That I would LOVE to see more! That I’d jump out of my skin in happiness and virtually hug them half to death if I saw that they updated it.

Let me remind you this fic wasn’t updated in two YEARS! I was the first to comment on it in a year. And the first to comment on chapter two! And you know what happened today?

I got a reply.

From the author of the fanfic. And the author said how I gave them life for a project they had loved (still did) and that they were now working on a third chapter. After two YEARS of not updating. Of not writing. And it makes me so friggin happy seeing what I did. What I caused.

With a single. Damn. Comment.

All that it took for me was to think a bit about what I wanted to tell the author and the comment it. All it took was one comment. And suddenly this person was inspired to continue a fanfic they had abandoned for TWO YEARS!!

I couldn’t be happier. I couldn’t be more proud.

Comment on people’s fanfics. No matter how few chapters there are. No matter how many years have passed since their last update. Comment. You like a fanfic? Comment on it. It’s that easy.

"it's all in your head" correct! unfortunately I am also in there

Hey I’m the Stan is earth anon and I just had a brilliant idea! What if the symbiotic relationship isn’t sea creatures but an anchor and sail? They are both needed to keep a boat functional, and while I can see Stan as the sail, I also see him as the anchor cause he makes sure that ford doesn’t fly to close to the sun + I see a lot of fics about Stan being able to tell Bill sucks. Ford would be the sail, cause when Stan and Ford were apart (I know that being kicked out has a major part of this too) Stan was stuck, and couldn’t really function super well. Plus the whole “Stan is riding on Ford’s coattail” thing fits with the anchor, cause the anchor does hold the boat in place, but without it the boat would be unsafe. Also the “Stan isn’t going anywhere in life” also works because Stan on his (being the anchor) cannot travel anywhere! Anyways I was rewriting lyrics and came up with this :)

Ooh I love that. Ford is Stan's sun but Stan is Fords anchor. Too very different ways of viewing each other, as Ford gives Stan life and meaning, while Stan helps Ford be safe and keeps him grounded, but can be twisted to be seen as a bad thing. Stan thinks Ford can survive on his own, but really Ford just kept going and going and couldn't stop until he crashed. Ford thought Stan would be stable and fine, but he was isolated and alone.

Very nice.

please stop writing "viscous" when you mean "vicious", it produces the weirdest mental images ever