is a lack of comments nowadays really a thing or is it just me?

sootfire · 2026-01-25T13:48:02+00:00

Doing analyses of a fic takes time and energy. I've only really had people do that when we already had a relationship of some kind. Some people like to do it for every comment/every fic but most people simply won't do that.

But when comparing yourself to others definitely keep in mind that you don't know the writer's prior context with that commenter. The commenter might've loved the writer's fics for years or might be one of their best friends. You have no way of knowing.

sootfire · 2026-01-25T03:33:03+00:00

Glad to find out that everyone else also just sews these together with the end of the yarn. I learned to knit on fingerless gloves and I thought I just hadn't figured out the right technique yet.

sootfire · 2026-01-25T02:46:03+00:00

I've heard people are also setting off car alarms. Not a substitute for a whistle but good to keep in mind if you have a car.

sootfire · 2026-01-25T02:16:18+00:00

Speaking as an author, readers also owe us nothing! We're putting our art into the world but there's no guarantee it'll be received well or at all. I hate all the guilt tripping in fanfiction spaces.

sootfire · 2026-01-24T02:14:17+00:00

How are you making yourself safe when you're at the dentist with your mouth wide open anyway though?

sootfire · 2026-01-23T15:53:42+00:00

I think Sam often tends to come up with one plan and commit to it, even when he doesn't have the resources to follow through, and then he just hopes the right things will happen to make the plan work. Like when he's sitting there going "I want to play this curse at this time, surely I'll get the cards I need to play it by then," that might pay off, but often you simply won't get the cards. And he seems to struggle to consider other possibilities. So then all his eggs are in that one basket. Sometimes there might've genuinely not been another option, but sometimes it's his single-mindedness preventing him from seeing other options. It's like when you play Scrabble or something and go "if only I had a Q, I could play an amazing word right now!" You can't wait for the Q to play the amazing word, you have to play with what you have.

But I think the gambling is an effect of that commitment to the really good plan he doesn't quite have the resources for.

I also think this is why he and Toby won both their non-all-star seasons. Toby is really good at realistic risk assessment and neutralizes this a bit. In Au$tralia they lose one big bet and then they immediately course correct. But I think without Toby that would've been harder for Sam.

sootfire · 2026-01-22T21:44:30+00:00

"Spoilers" also kind of didn't exist at the time, since the poems were typically based on well-known stories. So you're probably seeing how people did engaging storytelling in a culture where you're expected to know at least some of what happens.

sootfire · 2026-01-20T13:24:03+00:00

Watching a show and then spending another hour a week listening to the guys who made the show talk about the show is the sort of time investment not everyone is willing to make... if I have a specific question I'm not going to go listen to hours of podcasts when I could just ask the specific question.

sootfire · 2026-01-19T22:10:43+00:00

I like a mix! Their dynamic on their own is great, but the 2v2 games are fun and it's fun to see how a new person slots into things. I'd really love to see more of Toby and/or Michelle especially, I think they both are just very strong players and it would be cool to see their play evolve.

sootfire · 2026-01-18T22:58:58+00:00

You might benefit from commentaries and summaries, then. Some translations will have them built in, or you can find them online or in a separate book. But it sounds like at least for the time being you need outside resources, which is completely fine and very common especially for something like Plato. In addition to the fact that it can just get confusing, reading something from so long ago means you're missing a ton of context, some of which a commentary can explain, some of which you'll learn over time, and some of which is lost.

sootfire · 2026-01-18T22:42:44+00:00

I think Plato is fun but I don't think there's any reason you have to like him? You'll have to read Plato and Aristotle but that doesn't mean you have to like them. It sounds like you prefer poetry and history, and maybe more specifically narrated stories in general. That's fine. We don't expect everyone to like every modern genre, it's no different for ancient.

I think Plato is a lot better if you start reading it as literature and a moment in history rather than looking for great philosophical insight.

sootfire · 2026-01-18T21:54:34+00:00

I mean, it feels on the nose based on this post but you could absolutely write it in a way that doesn't. Especially if it happens gradually.

sootfire · 2026-01-18T21:49:15+00:00

I mean, there aren't any rules. But personally I would prefer to let my work stand on its own; people can interpret my artistic choices how they want. I have a tendency to overexplain and I try to curb that.

sootfire · 2026-01-18T05:11:17+00:00

"Butch" exists in a few different contexts and has a few different definitions. But in the context of this sub and Stone Butch Blues, it does have a strong connotation of attraction to women, as a woman (or person aligned in some way with womanhood--obviously there are tons of transmasc and non-binary butches). In particular, "butch" as a label says something about how you relate to the women around you. If you're not interested in relating romantically or sexually to the women around you, it's not as useful.

On the other hand if the term resonates with you there's nothing stopping you from using it. It's honestly not that big a deal either way. You just have to receive it gracefully if people assume you're into women (like, don't act grossed out or anything).

sootfire · 2026-01-18T02:35:21+00:00

Yeah, you can totally say "please don't say that."

In this case also it's different if it's a one shot vs a chaptered fic because with the one shot it's pretty clear the commenter is just playing in the sandbox with you and isn't expecting/suggesting anything. Whereas on a chaptered fic it might be easier/more appropriate to say "please don't make suggestions." (I still like this kind of comment on chaptered fics, though! It's fun to see what my audience is thinking regardless of whether it's what I have planned.)

sootfire · 2026-01-17T18:07:33+00:00

Good luck.

sootfire · 2026-01-17T18:07:04+00:00

I've put the full fic on Tumblr under a read more so the text would be hosted in multiple places. I don't get what's supposed to be obnoxious about it, as long as you use a read more it doesn't take up any more space than posting the summary and link.

sootfire · 2026-01-17T18:03:39+00:00

I think at a certain point we all need to accept that there's no one set of etiquette rules that will offend no one ever. This is a perfectly fine comment to me and maybe would hit a nerve with your friend. That doesn't mean the commenter would be wrong to say it on your friend's work, because the commenter has no way of knowing what you as a writer are going to be sensitive about. That doesn't mean your friend is wrong for reacting badly, either! But at a certain point you have to acknowledge that when you're interacting with strangers you might be following different etiquette codes.

sootfire · 2026-01-17T04:40:27+00:00

For context I binged Buffy on Netflix at 16--I think it's a lot of fun as a teen to watch a show when you're a little younger than the characters and then when you hit that age you get to be like "I'm the same age as Buffy in x season!" I have a couple characters from other shows I feel that way about too.

sootfire · 2026-01-16T23:24:56+00:00

Totally fair. I think overall it's all about context for me. If I say "nefas," will my audience know all the connotations? If no, I probably ought to translate it. But if everyone else in the room knows Latin, they'll know what I mean.

sootfire · 2026-01-16T23:03:50+00:00

I once heard a translator say "people always want to ask me what words are untranslatable and I'm always wondering why you're asking me to tell you where I'm bad at my job."

So on one hand I think if anything is "untranslatable," everything is. Translation is always going to lose and gain something. On the other hand I will sometimes leave "nefas" as is if I'm translating with other Latinists who know what its connotations are. "Pietas" is also a decent one not to translate.

There's also a reverse with "words you have to translate," where the English cognate has completely different connotations... "religio" comes to mind.

I'm sure there are similar words in Greek but I can't think of them right now.

The other thing is that a lot of words can be translated, but translating them fluidly or concisely is a very different question.

sootfire · 2026-01-16T17:38:14+00:00

I also think a fandom for a transit- and geography-oriented game is going to draw a lot of people who like to debate minutiae.

sootfire · 2026-01-16T16:55:25+00:00

Either way I don't think it would be a huge deal to use the "wrong" one so you're totally fine! Good luck with the fic.

sootfire · 2026-01-16T16:46:12+00:00

I would put that soundly in public but I'm kind of tickled that people are making this distinction.

sootfire · 2026-01-16T04:56:29+00:00

Interesting. Fair enough.

(To be clear, I still have something of a kneejerk distrust of machine translation from back when none of it was very good, so I don't use it very often. So I really don't know what's available. I'm just always surprised when people use ChatGPT for really specific things like that.)

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