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highadrenalineexchange I got this absolutely delightful Fandom for Robots fic that was everything I wanted! Go read it.Farther Adventures of Robot and Human (10233 words) by BardicRaven
Chapters: 6/6
Fandom: Fandom For Robots - Vina Jie-Min Prasad
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: bjornruffian & Computron (Fandom for Robots), Computron & Hexode (Fandom for Robots)
Characters: bjornruffian (Fandom For Robots), Computron (Fandom for Robots), Hexode (Fandom For Robots)
Additional Tags: Canonical Character Death, Canonical Abuse, Friendship, Robots, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Post-Canon
Summary:
Computron is well aware that he exists on sufferance.
highadrenalineexchange has revealed authors, and I can reveal what I wrote! I had a lot of fun with a Vedero-focused Goblin Emperor fic.Title: The Obloquy of Newness
Author: Beatrice_otter
Fandom: Goblin Emperor
Characters: Vedero Drazhin
Written for: DontStopHerNow in High Adrenaline 2026
Summary: Vedero would like nothing more than to study the stars. If only court politics and gossip did not get in her way ...
Author's Note: Betaed by Irina. Title from The Old Astronomer by Sarah Williams.
On AO3. On Squidgeworld. On Dreamwidth. On tumblr. On Pillowfort.
Vedero could barely see her hands as they worked.
That was alright; they knew their business. They did not need to see more than the ghostly outlines of the white tubs in the sink to fish around in the sodium sulfite solution with rubber-coated tongs and grab the edge of the paper and hold it up so that some of the fluid would drip off, before settling it gently in the tub of acetic acid that would stop the silver halide crystals from continuing to develop. She counted the seconds, and then moved the paper to the sodium thiosulfate that would wash away the excess silver from the paper, so that when she took the images out into the light, they would not be re-exposed.
( On the whole, it was a very meditative process. )
"personal work is oxygen to the artist. it's non negotiable. like exercising or going on walks a few times a week is a basic necessity to humans. if you forgo the bare minimum for too long, you will crash & burn so pick up the pencil today, now even, and draw something just for you."
I've been thinking about this for the past couple of days, and I think it perfectly encapsulates the issue I've been having with my writing over the last several years. In short, my brain is stuck thinking that EVERY creative thing I work on, whether it's Theadia, a new story idea, a doodle, my daily 750 Words, whatever, has felt like work.
And when everything feels like work, as A recently said, that's when I start getting the Don't Wannas. And I've been getting them hard lately.
The problem is that I've understood this for a long time, and yet every time I want to just do something just for the fun of it -- draw a map, noodle on my guitar or bass, whatever it is -- I start feeling as though I'm overwhelmed with deadlines, assigned reading, and writing term papers I should have started weeks ago.
I think somewhere along the way it just defaulted to that, and I never got around to fixing it because it worked for me all this time. When I started taking my writing seriously in the mid-90s, I had to look at it that way, otherwise I'd have been too easily distracted. I kind of saw it as my 'career' outside of my 'day job' as it were, and I needed to make sure I focused on that if I wanted to make anything out of it. By the time I was writing A Division of Souls, it worked perfectly as a way for me to get this big project done with a daily writing schedule.
Thing is, it's not working these days; in fact it's doing quite the opposite. It could be age and maturity, it could be the distraction of the internets, or it could be frustration that I feel like I'm often repeating myself. Everything feels like a chore or a possible self-published project, and it feels like I've forgotten how to just, y'know... have fun with it. Draw those maps not because I feel the need to be creative, but because I just feel like whiling away the time listening to music and just doodling for no other reason.
So how do I make this happen? Good question.
Maybe I need to make a concerted effort to do things offline, off the computer. Like playing solitaire with a real deck of cards. Like longhand writing. Like sketching. Like learning a new song on my guitar or on my bass. Like catching up on my reading.
Maybe I need to make a concerted effort to rethink how I approach my creativity and just DO it without any plans of releasing it.
Maybe I need to get back to the original motto: just shut the f*ck up and DO it.
- Mood:
contemplative
( being self-aware )
2) I've been enjoying everyone's posts about their life and times so much; it makes me want to share my own as a way of returning the favor. When I don't feel like posting I'll be like, "well, [this person] posted and that made me happy, so I guess I'll post too." It's nice.
3) The other day I meant to say, "if it's worth doing it's worth doing badly," but now I can't remember why. Oh, wait, typing that made me remember! When you care enough to cheat.
There's lots of helpful applications of the "it's worth doing badly" idea, from learning new skills to practicing something you've forgotten to awkwardly trying to do more than nothing in any situation that seems to call for it, even when you don't know what the best thing is. I have a magnet that says "just because you can't do everything doesn't mean you can't do anything." It's worth it to try even when you already know it won't be perfect, because A) plenty of imperfect things are wonderful ("two cakes!") B) almost all imperfect things are better than nothing, and C) making imperfect things can help you make better things (and/or make things better).
( what even is cheating )
Anyway, that's Sunday for me.
highadrenalineexchange (HA) author reveals happened, and I can finally talk about this! *deep breath*I wrote a whole sci-fi novella! And I had so much fun with this, and I'm really proud of the result. :D
The requested relationship was "Young King Warring With Rival/Famed Older Knight Who Was Betrayed By Rival", and my recipient was open to a variety of different genres and settings. But they said "space opera" in their request, and I went, "YES, THAT, I'M DOING THAT," and then spent the next week or so in a haze of worldbuilding and note-taking and snippet-writing.
HA has a very short creation period - only two weeks for a 10k story - so after that I pulled together a first complete draft. But I couldn't stop writing more, and worldbuilding more. Happily, there were several delays, so I was able to extend the story to double the word count, which IMO also improved it considerably. *g*
One of the most fun things about worldbuilding, for me, is hinting at all the things that aren't on screen, to make it look like a proper lived-in world - and to show how the world they live in shapes and impacts the characters, beyond the immediate plot. And I had SUCH a blast with all of that here! I'm definitely going to talk more about this in another post, but for now, here is the story - if it sounds at all like your kind of thing, I'd really love it if you gave it a chance:
**
Title: Zhentari's Choice
Rating: Explicit
Word count: 21,458
Relationship: Young King Warring With Rival/Famed Older Knight Who Was Betrayed By Rival
Characters: Younger King, Older Knight, Rival Would-be King
Content Tags: Science Fiction, Space Opera, Space Royalty, Space Politics, Political Manoeuvring, Betrayed to the Enemy, Code of Ethics, Sci-Fi Philosophies, Age Difference, Enemies to Lovers, Loyalty Issues, Power Dynamics, Consensual Sex, Refractory Period Manipulation, Multiple Orgasms
A/N: Many thanks to
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china_shop for beta-reading!Summary:
"Do what is necessary. Only the gods know what is truly necessary, but you must choose.Jolim Niall, famous Zhentar Knight (or infamous, depending on your position), has been in service to Tevin Appen of Trella for most of his life. When he falls into the hands of the King of Tarn, he's not sure which is worse: what Ayrom Gaudren no doubt has in store for him - or that it's Appen's betrayal that landed him there.
Do what suits the purpose. You have not the hindsight of the gods, but you must choose.
Do what is appropriate. You have not the measuring-stick of the gods, but you must choose.
Do what you must, Zhentari, and know your choice."
(The "Three Choices", according to the Zhentar Code)
But Gaudren's plans aren't what he expects - and Jolim Niall must make a choice ...
This morning when I went through the garage just after 6 am to go for a run I discovered my son in law in there just getting started on putting something together for my daughter for mother's day. (A mini greenhouse I think.) When I came back from the run about 75 minutes later he was still working away, but at least the pieces were all joined together by then.
When I came upstairs for breakfast after the run I found Aria and Eden in the kitchen; Aria had made toast for her mother and Eden was making her a cup of hot chocolate. (Violet was in the garage giving her father moral support.)
After breakfast they all went out, first to a nursery where my daughter bought lots of herb and vegetable plants as well as some rhubarb she was very excited to find, and then to a Goodwill. I could have gone with them but I was still in my sweaty running clothes when they were ready to leave so I had a quiet morning at home instead. When they got home my daughter gave me four bars of chocolate and a package of gluten-free chocolate chip cookies. Yum.
This evening we're going out for dinner; I'm told we're going to a fancy burger place.
hahahah ok so, I said to myself... if 10 is a lot to gain then 15 ain't chump change in the losing department. Go me! I only wear knit clothes that are either very loose or stretchy (or both) so my clothes fit pretty much the same way they always have pretty much. But, I do have a stretched out old swim suit that is very nearly now too baggy to wear. I have the straps tightened as much as they will go. I normally swim by myself so it's ok to wear for laps still.
This living room is a mess. I need to spend some time tidying it up before I do anything else today. I have cat food to put away, yarn to put away, the kitchen to clean up...
Then the baseball game which starts before lunch today.
I finished a book last night that Jo recommended - A Killing in November by Simon Mason. It was really really good. Great characters. It's a British author and a British reader. One of the characters was American and this reader has THE worst American accent ever but you were never confused about who it was when that character was speaking! It was still a great read and... it was #1 in the series of which there are already 4 and soon to be a 5th! happy happy.
I checked my library hold list and several are available soon - you are 1 of 3 waiting, you are 2 of 5 waiting, etc and then there's this one...
Martha recommended it yesterday and I just went to Libby and slapped a hold on to it without looking until this morning. It appears to be THE book to want! At least they have 300+ copies. I have plenty to read until then.
Ooops I just fell down a crochet pattern rabbit hole. Shit will never get done that way. So it's time to get off this computer.
Every month or so the OTW will be doing a Q&A with one of its volunteers about their experiences in the organization. The posts express each volunteer’s personal views and do not necessarily reflect the views of the OTW or constitute OTW policy. Today’s post is with Whatsit, who volunteers as a Chair in training for the Policy & Abuse committee (PAC) and a Tag Wrangler.
How does what you do as a volunteer fit into what the OTW does?
As a tag wrangler, I make sure that the fandoms I wrangle have properly canonized tags, which helps users find works that have the characters, relationships, tropes, and themes they’re looking for. I fully and completely believe that the tagging system on AO3 is practically one of the modern wonders of the world, and I’m really pleased to be able to do my small part in contributing to it.
My other role is working for the Policy & Abuse committee, where we respond to reports of Terms of Service violations. Anyone who’s ever spent time on an unmoderated comments section somewhere knows the importance of moderation in keeping a site usable and enjoyable, and PAC works (mostly) behind the scenes to make sure that’s the case for AO3.
What is a typical week like for you as a volunteer?
I try to spend at least an hour or so per day on PAC work, since some of it is time-sensitive and has deadlines attached. This often involves working with tickets that have been sent in about violations, but sometimes it means working on documentation updates or helping to train new volunteers on the committee.
I usually also do at least one big tag wrangling session per week, during which I get caught up with wrangling the tags in my fandoms. I really like putting music on and settling in for a few hours (or more) of wrangling, so this setup works really well for me.
What made you decide to volunteer?
I have a background in book indexing and a particular interest in categorization and taxonomy, so as soon as I found out that tag wranglers were a thing on AO3, I definitely wanted to be one! It sounded like the kind of thing that would be right up my alley (and it was). On a broader level, I think AO3 is one of the best things going on the Internet, in terms of creating a space where people can freely share their fanworks without fear of the content purges that have plagued many other sites. With censorship encroaching on so many other spaces, I think what AO3 stands for is more important than ever. I really believe in the philosophy of the site and I’m glad to be a part of it.
What has been your biggest challenge doing work for the OTW?
Time management! I’m on two separate committees and I also have a day job and a fairly active family life, which is a lot to juggle. But I’ve had success setting boundaries for myself that keep me from over-committing or burning out. I find that setting specific times during which I’ll do specific tasks not only keeps that task from eating up my entire day (which either wrangling or PAC work could otherwise easily do) but also allows me to really focus on that task during the allotted time.
What fannish things do you like to do?
I’m an active fic writer and I participate in quite a few multi-fandom fic exchanges. I find that having an external deadline is great for motivating me to actually finish a fic, something I was historically not great at before doing exchanges. I also hang out on a couple of fandom discords and have been known to go to the occasional convention. And, of course, I spend entirely too much of my free time reading vast amounts of fic.
Now that our volunteer’s said five things about what they do, it’s your turn to ask one more thing! Feel free to ask about their work in the comments. Or if you’d like, you can check out previous Five Things posts.
This is my favourite series in the Bay of the Dead Verse. This tome has a major crossover with Witches of Moondale, a minor one with Fae of Eventide, and introduces Bat who, as I guessed, will be the protagonist of History Will Call Them Tombmates. Here's the full Reading Order.
There's major m/m/m, where one of them is a trans man, and minor f/f.
across a dark, yawning chasm
or the feeling of hanging, lightly,
surrounded by nothing
(to catch you),
surrounded by everything
(to catch you),
leading you to focus on the breath
rushing through your lungs,
the landscape, flowing
through your bloodstream.
( Read more... )
Here's the titles I've listened to in the last couple of months:
Mystery in the Channel by Freeman Wills Croft read by Gordon Griffin
An Inspector French mystery, which I'd been planning on reading for a while (British Library Crime Classics series). Two bodies are discovered on a deserted yacht in the middle of the English Channel. French has to work out who killed them, why and how. Slightly long-winded but an interesting mystery. I wasn't completely surprised at the eventual murderer.
A Curiously Convenient Demise by Hannah Hendy read by Jenny Funnell
Next in the Dinnerlady Detectives series. An entertaining listen with an enjoyable cast of characters.
Calamity in Kent by John Rowland read by Peter Wickham
Another British Library Crime Classics series. A clever impossible crime, but the narrator (in the story, not the reader) annoyed me, stating every chapter he was a newspaper reporter, which, if you hadn't realised that by halfway through the book you clearly couldn't have been paying any attention.
A Case of Mice and Murder by Sally Smith read by Matthew Lloyd Davies
This had been in my TBL since last year, as I'd seen a lot of recommendations for it. I enjoyed it, and may well read the next in the series at some point. I knew the solution to one of the mysteries by about halfway through and towards the end had my suspicions as to the other.
Murder on Milverton Square by G B Ralph read by Philip Battley
I had put this on my list as being set in New Zealand and a cosy mystery - i.e. ideal for listening while driving. The protagonist Addison Harper is a bit of an idiot, but I enjoyed the story overall. I was thinking I'd listen to more, but since the next three stories all have Harper being the one to find a dead body and being the main suspect, I won't be - for me that plot works once not several times.
On fanworks’ immortality
One of the earliest paper on the information behaviour of fans points to the ephemerality of fanworks as why librarians are (yet) uninterested in cataloging them.
The do-it yourself image of this information has also been a factor contributing to its being regarded as ephemeral and not important or a subject for serious consideration.
Hart, Chris, Michael Shoolbred, David Butcher, and David Kane. 1999. “The Bibliographical Structure of Fan Information.” Collection Building 18 (2): 81–89. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/01604959910265869.
That fanworks are ephemeral could and will be argued – first maybe by the fanbinders among other fans and aca-fans (I personally think that when we send out another golden disc of human culture to aliens, it should at least include My Immortal).
Coker, Catherine. 2017. “The Margins of Print? Fan Fiction as Book History.” Transformative Works and Cultures, no. 25. http://dx.doi.org/10.3983/twc.2017.1053.
Buchsbaum, Shira Belén. 2022. “Binding Fan Fiction and Reexamining Book Production Models.” In “Fandom Histories,” edited by Philipp Dominik Keidl and Abby Waysdorf, special issue, Transformative Works and Cultures, no. 37. https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2022.2129.
Jacobs, Naomi, and JSA Lowe. 2024. “The Design of Printed Fan Fiction.” Transformative Works and Cultures, no. 43. https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2024.2547.
Kennedy, Kimberly. 2022. “Fan Binding as a Method of Fan Work Preservation.” In “Fandom Histories,” edited by Philipp Dominik Keidl and Abby S. Waysdorf, special issue, Transformative Works and Cultures, no. 37. https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2022.2107.
But let us entertain this premise just for now, to reveal what other reasons we could have for the preservation for fanworks.
Since we have been discussing fannish taxonomies in earlier posts, too, it must be clear that fans themselves will work to preserve fanworks. Even if we were not interested in fanworks themselves, the practices which are already in use are certainly relevant to information science.
Additionally, fandom signifiers are famously hard to decipher if removed from their primary context. Without detailed work dedicated to preserving this context as intact as possible, the aliens would have a hard time understanding the adventures of Ebony Dark’ness Dementia Raven Way.
Dym, Brianna, and Casey Fiesler. 2020. “Ethical and Privacy Considerations for Research Using Online Fandom Data.” In “Fan Studies Methodologies,” edited by Julia E. Largent, Milena Popova, and Elise Vist, Transformative Works and Cultures, no. 33. https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2020.1733.
So what are some other reasons preserving and categorising fanworks can be important?
Posted by: Szabó Dorottya
A lot of editing thoughts as I find my feet with the new method.
General status/Learnt last week:
I suspect this more extensive way of doing structural editing might be merging two rounds of editing compared with what I did with the cursed witch. Last time, the "structural" round focused on general cohesion for plot and characterisation as well as pace. Then in the following "prose" round, I added a lot more descriptions and enhanced the worldbuilding, with the occasional new background character. This time, it feels more natural to include a fair bit of worldbuilding where it fits as well (and that's great, because there's the occasional plot impact, and getting that in early is helpful!). Even if this round takes me a fair chunk of time (especially when including the month of prep), this could still be significant time-wise because I usually need at least a 6-week break between rounds. But tbc since I still have to see how long this will all take anyway!
In general, I'm very happy because I'm adding loadsa new words, haha. I've already written more than March and April COMBINED! This is not actually very impressive!! Because I only wrote 520 words in March (was doing revision preps, which I don't count yet) and 1.5k in April (was mostly proofreading) XD
I feel like the pacing for this novel is going to be a lot better. With every scene, I'm being more deliberate about having questions and putting down puzzle pieces and also setting up smaller reveals on the way. I'm realising just how effective revealing something can be for raising curiosity. One of my big faults is trying to keep things secret for the sake of "the mystery", but that can also make the stakes way too vague at times. The reader doesn't know why they should care.
Having said that, I've only revised 4 scenes out of 47 48 (had a bit of scene mitosis this week!), so that might not sustain itself well, but I'm super excited to find out. I'm moving slowly but this all feels super cool.
Another discovery/experiment: I thought that because I did so much preparatory work, it would maybe be easier to edit in the evening when my brain is not as fresh, but that hasn't really happened. For example, I had to consider which PoV to use for the new scene the evening I tried, and I just couldn't answer the question. Like, what are the stakes for each character? What's the impact for the order in which the information is revealed in the story? Where else or in how much time can I bring up the information that PoV X won't know?
However, if/when I try again an evening session, I'd like to remember to look at the smaller questions I skipped. For example, there's a plot-relevant flower I must describe, and what it looks like exactly isn't super important but it needs to be specific. I need to sit down with that and return to the description I skipped soon. (Because it's so important to the world, I think inworld people would use it as a comparison point for colours or shapes or other things.) I've also got some slang to make up!! Like I've got a few swear words, but I want a worldbuilding-relevant equivalent to "thank god" too, considering what this population has gone through. And there's a missing nickname for a childhood friend. It should be charming and evoke closeness, but also be embarrassing to an adult. Lol.
I know I mentioned before I wanted to improve my sentence craft but that will have to wait. My head is too full already with all the new stuff I'm learning to apply in this round of revisions. Maybe during the 6+ weeks break, whenever I'm done with this round? Who knows!
Projects:
- Only Soul Thief, and happy with that! :D I'm in the phase where it feels nice to be working on a chunky project and knowing exactly what I'll be working on next.
Next week?
Just keep it up with the revisions in general.
Additionally, I did send the Cursed Witch to a couple of beta-readers, but everyone is busy so I don't expect to hear anything until next month. Still working out technical kinks for 2 more beta-readers, so hopefully resolve that by the end of next week! I should try Ellipsus again at some point and investigate if my beta-reading issues from last time were resolved...
And that's me! Lots of learning so I'm very happy. Any creative plans for the upcoming week??
retro_icontest is about color palettes. You provide some of your old icons and palettes are generated from two of them. You then have to work with those palettes.Teasers:
( 18+1 icons, mostly Wu-Lei related, and some other cdramas (and one Zootopia icon) )
Every single comment is treasured. All icons shareable! Concrit welcome. Check out my resource post for makers of textures and brushes I use.
highadrenalineexchangeTitle: (you are) under my skin
Fandom: MCU
Pairing/Characters: Steve/Tony
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 10,046
Summary: Steve has always liked to draw. He finds he likes drawing Tony the most.
highadrenalineexchange had creator reveals earlier and this is what I received. :)Title: Don't change the past
Author:
Fandom: Star Trek: AOS
Pairing/Characters: Kirk/Spock
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 11,566
Summary: When Spock gets sick and the only thing that can save his life is a plant that went extinct when Vulcan was destroyed, Kirk uses the memories that he gained from ambassador Spock to come up with a desperate plan to save him, by visiting Vulcan before its end. While there, Kirk finds an injured Amanda Greyson and must make a split second decision, to save her, or to keep his word to the Guardian of Forever that he wouldn't change anything about the past. Meanwhile, Spock is fighting for his life and might not resist until Kirk returns.
I love time travel fics, especially when it comes to Kirk fighting for Spock! Plus making it possible for Amanda to live makes it even better. :D
Page Summary
- Fic Rec: Farther Adventures of Robot and Human [+0]
- Fic: The Obloquy of Newness [+0]
- personal work [+0]
- why rush foward just to look back (it took my whole life to get here) [+7]
- FIC: Zhentari's Choice (Original Space Opera: m/m) [Explicit] [+12]
- 3 weeks 4 dreamwidth 2026: Day Sixteen [+6]
- (no subject) [+2]
- Sunday [+2]
- Five Things Whatsit Said [+0]
- Kill Your Darlings by Lou Wilham [+0]
- roundup! [+3]
- snape_potter :: Snarry-a-Thon26: Act II [+1]
- Drafts - "Instinct" [+3]
- Audiobooks - March to May 2026 [+2]
- snape_potter :: Snarry-a-Thon26: FIC: Head Boy (What a Stud) [+0]
- On fanworks’ immortality [+0]
- Wickedly Not Weekly Writing Logs - May 10th, 2026 - thoughts on the slow structural edits method [+11]
- 19 icons for retro_icontest [+11]
- fic: (you are) under my skin (steve/tony) [+0]
- gift work (kirk/spock) [+0]
chasethestars