Firefly Rewatch: one gifset per episode
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The Message
Fill in the Blank Fanfic Comment
As @lastbluetardis and I have watched the replies to our survey on fanfic feedback, one number has jumped out at us.
Thirty-eight percent of you don’t reply because you don’t know what to say.
So, I’m here to help. There are three parts to a basic fanfic comment. Pick a line from each section, and you’ll have a comment that I guarantee will make any author smile.
1) Compliment “This was…” (Choose one.)
- So good!
- Great!
- Excellent!
- Brilliant!
- So sad!
You can stop here if you want. Honestly. Several of you indicated that this doesn’t feel like enough, or that saying the same thing on multiple chapters of a story feels silly. I have regular readers who leave variations of, “I loved it!” on every single thing I write, including updates of my multi-chapter works, and can I tell you how much I love them? Because I know they are reading with me every time, and I know they loved it every time.
If you want to go beyond the compliment, you can add:
2) Emotional reaction “It made me…”
- Laugh
- Cry
- Flail
- Swoon
That’s a good spot to mention a moment in the story, if you want. “It made me swoon when they kissed for the first time.” “I cried when the Doctor told Rose about Gallifrey.” etc.
3) Closing sentiment
- Thank you for sharing.
- This made me smile.
- I can’t wait to read more.
If you choose an option from each section, you might get something like, “This was excellent! I flailed when he finally admitted he was the one sending her secret admirer notes. Thanks for sharing!” That’s a comment that will put a smile on any author’s face.
And because I know some of you are sceptical, here are a few posts with lots of notes that say the same thing: post post post post post post
We happen to be at the beginning of Fandom Fic Rec Days right now, which gives you an excellent chance to practice your new skills. Go find a fic you loved and post the link, along with a comment based on this template that tells people why they should read it. “This story is brilliant. The author made me cry when they wrote about the Doctor seeing Rose again during End of Time. You should go read it!”
This is a lovely post. I’m also a big fan of the following comment style, both on the giving and receiving end.
1) Key Smash
- AGHKSSKLJSFH
- GRRGAGAGRGFGGFGH
- WHHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHH
2) Extreme Hyperbolic Statement
- I HATE YOU WTF
- I’m Dying! That’s it! I’m DEAD. YOU KILLED ME!
- ovaries EXPLODE
3) Closing Key Smash
- !?!?!???!?!??!?!
- NOOOOOOONNONONONOOO
- UNGNGNGNHHH
This is one of the best additions to any of my posts ever.
Something I find incredibly cool is that they’ve found neandertal bone tools made from polished rib bones, and they couldn’t figure out what they were for for the life of them.
“Wait you’re still using the exact same fucking thing 50,000 years later???”
“Well, yeah. We’ve tried other things. Metal scratches up and damages the hide. Wood splinters and wears out. Bone lasts forever and gives the best polish. There are new, cheaper plastic ones, but they crack and break after a couple years. A bone polisher is nearly indestructible, and only gets better with age. The more you use a bone polisher the better it works.”
It’s just.
50,000 years. 50,000. And over that huge arc of time, we’ve been quietly using the exact same thing, unchanged, because we simply haven’t found anything better to do the job.
This story is also excellently cool because it’s yet another example of how everybody benefits when specialists from different fields communicate with one another.
Alberta Gothic
There is a new Tim Hortons up the street. There is a new Tim Hortons down the street. You drink your second double double. Everything is as it should be.
You park your car next to a white truck. There is a larger white truck behind you. When you return, there is a white truck in the space where you thought you left your car. Did you ever have a car? All the trucks seem taller.
It is the first and final week of fall, and it is snowing. As the sun sets, small figures in many layers of winter clothing knock on your door. You are not certain which ones are in costume. You give them all full sized chocolate bars, just in case.
You begin a new job. You are not certain exactly what you do, but they pay you well. When you receive your first paycheck, the paper cuts your hand. Oil drips from your skin. It is better to look away.
There is construction everywhere, and you must detour from your detour. You see many workers, all in the same orange vests and hard hats. They all carry the same signs. They have no faces. The detour has returned you to where you started. No one has moved. You are not sure how many days have passed.
You drive past a field of canola. You drive past a field of wheat. You drive past a field of cows. The ritual is complete. You are safe for another day.
It is so hot the pavement melts your shoes. You go inside for a glass of water. When you return outside, it is snowing. The water in your glass freezes instantly. You wonder if it will rain later.
Good afternoon, folks, and welcome to today’s Eurovision statistical map. Today, we’re looking at something this blog has never analysed before - but something I felt was interesting to examine at this point in time: the presence, or lack thereof, of bands at ESC. Almost 11 years ago, Lordi won Eurovision for Finland, their first win. Since then, we’ve seen nine soloists win the contest and one duo - but no bands; whilst on the runner’s up podium, it’s been slightly more diverse: seven soloists, two “bands” (stretching the term for the Udmurt grannies) and one duo.
Despite this, we’ve had a notable downtick in the numbers of bands getting selected to represent their country at Eurovision. In ESC ‘07, a year after Lordi’s triumph, we had 14 groups (not counting duos), falling to a steady 9 between ‘08 and ‘10, 7-8* between ‘11 and ‘14 (*I’m confused as to how to classify Homens da luta - a duo but who came to the ESC more or less as a band) and to only 6 in the past three years.
With ESC being increasingly perceived by some delegations as a way to expose their talent show stars on a bigger stage, the collateral damage, I feel, are groups - with no band having won in a decade, I can sort of see why soloists or the occasional duets are outnumbering groups, but I do find it a huge shame - part of me feels that bands can add to the contest’s musical diversity in a way that soloists do not.
The map showing the participation of bands since the symbolic ESC after Lordi’s win may make it seem like groups at the contest are in rude health, as most countries sent 2-3 in that timespan. Thus, I decided to include a second map to show trends over the past five years, during which large swathes of Europe have never sent a group, and the majority of countries have only done so a maximum of once. The exceptions to this rule are located in small clusters: a few nations of the Balkan peninsula (Greece and Montenegro), a few from the Caucasus (Georgia and Armenia) and but most of all from central-northern Europe, where the contrast in attitudes is most vivid, with many nations sending 2-3 bands (like Germany and Latvia) and others having never sent a band at all in this period (like Norway and Sweden.)
Chapters: 3/?
Fandom: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, DS1920s
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Julian Bashir/Elim Garak
Characters: Julian Bashir, Elim Garak, Benjamin Sisko, Jadzia Dax, Odo, Kira Nerys, Miles O'Brien, and a variety of convenient characters, insectoid and otherwise
Additional Tags: AU, Alternate Universe, Genteel Interbellum, sort of, Jeeves and Wooster - Freeform, Wodehouse, Pastiche, done with love!
Summary:
Well, it’s a bit of a complex sort of story. I mean, it’s hard for a fellow to know where to begin. Was it when Dax finagled me into agreeing to get hitched? Or was it when my man Garak dropped callous words on my astounded ears? Or was it the hungry look in the Lady’s eye?
Oh, it’s no good: I’ll just have to start at the beginning. Brace yourselves, and let Uncle Julian spin for you a tale that’ll have your locks porpentinial in about two-and-a-half shakes.
(PG Wodehouse’s ‘Jeeves and Wooster’ meets DS9’s 'Garak and Bashir’. Expect ridiculous dialogue, giggle-inducing hijinks, and Garak to make it all right again after Julian’s made it all wrong.)
Written by tinsnip. Illustrated by Lady Yate-Xel.
(Addendum: if you haven’t read Wodehouse or watched Jeeves & Wooster, this is still very readable, but may sound silly! Then again, that shouldn’t really be a problem: this is silly!)
deepintheshadyglen