gibbles

one

can't believe that before I was obsessed with birds I didn't know what my favourite season was -- each season has its benefits and drawbacks, after all.

but now it's obvious that spring is the best season! and not just because of the spring bird migration (though obviously the spring migration is great). looking for birds, looking at birds, and spending time in environments that birds like: all of these things have opened my eyes to all the other joys of springtime as well!

and spring begins as early as february now for me, because the signs of spring I know how to recognise can begin that early, whereas I used to feel like it wasn't really spring till the trees started leafing in may!


two

the more you befriend people who go by a noun as a name, either online or in person, the more you get to have fun tripping up on words in sentences, like "hey why's this blog post about architecture mentioning my frien --oh right. words means things!" it's great. genuinely recommend.


three

the curse of the crafter: looking at things and going "ok but I could make that tho"

ok but WILL you. and do you have the time!

it's amazing how many things I confidently believe I could make at this point


four

I really love that Queer as Fact puts significant effort into talking about as many different queer people as possible, from many different racial and cultural backgrounds, even when the subject is challenging to find info on in english or at all. And they do a good job at working to be respectful of people groups they're not a part of, and at being up-front when there's things they don't know.

Every individual episode is interesting of course, but also the impression that builds over time as you listen through the archive is a deeply felt sense of the intellectual truth I already knew, that queer people have always been present no matter where you go. It's nice!


five

did you know: anne carson translations of greek tragedies good actually. anne carson good at words. greek tragedies compelling and delicious. theatre!!!

a meme that's been going around! I have been tagged by various ppl, and please do it too if you want to!

1. How many works do you have on ao3?

If we're just looking at the fanfic, I'm at 50. Dang that is many!


2. What's your total ao3 word count?

Currently at 114,681!


3. What are your top five fics by kudos?

truth can find the strangest home, svsss moshang (923 kudos)

If love is what you're after, inception arthur/eames (685 kudos)

revelations from a layover flight, svsss cumplane (231 kudos)

habitat, behaviour, svsss bingqiu (195 kudos)

as free as my hair, mcu steve & bucky (163 kudos)


4. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently: mxtx's three books are on constant rotation in my head and have been for several years. This is by far the most fic I have ever written for a fandom!


5. Do you respond to comments? why or why not?

I do try to! But sometimes I forget, or get overwhelmed, and then all of a sudden it's been years and it feels a bit late! I'm much better at it in recent years, at least, than I was in the early 2010s.


6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Hmmm I think when I go for non-happy endings they're usually more bittersweet than angsty... like, for example, "I know what that song means now" (mdzs, jyl/jzx), where the viewpoint character is satisfied with her choices and priorities but narrative doom is hanging over her. And I have several other fics too with the impending threat of narrative doom as the main closing emotion.

For a different approach I also have "promises" (cremation of sam mcgee), but that's creepy rather than angsty.

I really don't think I have written any fics with a specifically angsty ending!


7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I think the most uncomplicatedly happy ending would be either "habitat, behaviour" (svsss, bingqiu), or "bodies, talking" (mdzs, jyl/jzx), both of which have endings focused on basking in the ways a good relationship with a partner who understands your needs can be so fulfilling.


8. Do you get hate on fics?

I have gotten occasional complaints but never straight up hate, so far! At least, that I can remember, lol. Sometimes a bad memory is helpful!


9. Do you write smut?

Sometimes! When it suits the needs of the fic I feel moved to write. It can be a really fun aspect of a character or relationship to explore!


10. Do you write crossovers?

I used to be a lot more into crossovers when I was younger. These days there's a much higher bar to clear for me to be into a crossover idea. The last crossover I wrote was in 2014!


11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Other than the inevitable LLM bot scraping, not that I'm aware of.


12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I vaguely recall having been asked once or twice, but I don't think anything ever came of it.


13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

I did occasionally, in long ago days, but I haven't cowritten in many years at this point.


14. What's your all time favourite ship?

Too hard to answer! I refuse!!! How am I supposed to choose between so many amazing ships!


15. What's the wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

The wangxian telepathic bond. Longing sigh....


16. What are your writing strengths?

Vibes, themes, characters.


17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Plot, fast-paced action or adventure, snappy conversations, that kind of thing.


18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I think there are contexts where it can be an effective choice to include untranslated dialogue, and I think that I'm not qualified to write the kinds of fic where it would be an effective choice.


19. First fandom you wrote for?

As far as I am aware, the fairy tale Cinderella, when I was about 8 years old.


20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

Look, my fave is usually whatever I've most recently finished! Because it's what's been occupying my mind the most! Soooo it's either my yet-unposted jingyi fic (just needs me to figure out how to implement an improvement suggested by my beta), or my mxtx remix fic (won't be revealed till April 18, and won't be revealed as being by me until April 25)! So you don't get to read either of them yet. But SOON!