every time you forget an idea you didn’t write down because you thought you’d remember it, the idea is put back into the database and allocated to the next available writer
Happy Fanfiction Writer’s Appreciation Day to all writers out there!
Here’s to the stories you brought to life.
The stories that you finished, but also the ones that you somehow couldn’t finish, and the ones that you’re currently still working on.
The stories that got countless reviews and kudos, but also the many underrated stories out there that deserved so much more.
The stories that you shared online or with friends, but also the ones that you kept to yourself.
Here’s to all fanfiction writers who got nasty comments that were uncalled for, but who kept going nonetheless because they enjoyed the story that they were writing, and were kind enough to share it with their audience.
Here’s to all fanfiction writers who are under appreciated or go unnoticed, even though they put a lot of time and work into their stories.
Fanfiction writers share all of their creativity and talent with us, for free, and today is the day to let them know that it’s not taken for granted.
Send your favorite writers a message to let them know that what they do is appreciated. Let’s spread the love! ❤
I know yesterday was the appreciation day but I figured every day should be fanfic writer appreciation day, so shout out to all the writers ❤
Both the ones who are recognized daily and the ones who just play in their little corners with their OTP dolls, you are all amazing and bring happiness to people in the form of fanfiction, bless your souls. *smooch*
sooo… apart from my Hufflepuff!Neville AU, I’m so very, very tempted to write a Gordon Ramsay teaching Potions AU. But, like, not one where he teaches them from day 1 – no, I’d like him to, idk, substitute for Snape in their 3rd or 4th year, when they’re still young but Snape obviously established himself as a terrifying figure to those kids.
Imagine Gordon introducing himself and saying he’ll be teaching them for a few weeks, because Snape got ill or some other shit (maybe Dumbledore made him do some urgent buisness for the Order?). And he says that he wants to get to know them and their skills, so he asks them to prepare a quite simple potion. And Neville is so terrified he’s literally shaking, so, obviously, he messes up almost instantly and his brew begins to produce large amounts of smoke. Gordon obviously comes to him straight away and asks, “so, what do we have here?”, and Neville begins to cry – oh Merlin, it’s their first lesson with a new teacher and he screwed up in the first ten minutes, he couldn’t be more of a clutz, could he?
Except when Gordon sees that the kid’s crying, he becomes almost as concerned as Neville. “No, no no no, don’t cry, it’s alright, really – see?”, and he takes some ingredient and fixes the potion quickly, “it will be fine if you add more nettles and stir clockwise for a minute. It’s alright, you were doing great, just got nervous. It’s nothing we can’t fix”, and stuff like that, and Neville’s so surprised he actually stops crying, nods, and starts working. And, by the end of the lesson, he’s made a pretty decent potion – maybe for the first time in his life – and he’s so amazed and proud he’s beaming. And Gordon asks him to stay after the lesson, and Neville gets anxious again – he’s not going to reprimand him, is he? and Gordon says that he did pretty well today and that he should believe in himself more, mistakes happen to everyone, you have to focus on how to solve them. And he also tells him that he’s here to teach them, so Neville – it’s Neville, right? – he shouldn’t be afraid to ask the teacher for help, because that’s what he’s here for. And Neville is literally speechless at that, and only after a moment he manages to say that professor Snape didn’t like it when they asked for help. Which makes Gordon curious, obviously, so he asks why. And Neville, reluctantly, tells him a bit about how he got himself into the hospital wing a few times, and how Snape took away points from Gryffindor, and how he was always rubbish at potions, really, and that Hermione sometimes helped him a bit, but professor Snape thought that was cheating… And Gordon’s not stupid, he sees how the kid behaves around him and hears the story and is able to put two and two together – and later that evening, if you were walking leisurely on the grounds near the headmaster’s office’s windows, faint screaming could be heard.
The next week, Ramsay officially replaces Snape as the Potions Master. Everybody except the Slytherins cheers.
An elf maiden dances on feet of living wood sung into shape, planted in soil and watered when she takes them off. Every year she plants the old ones and sings a new pair. (Incidentally, the pair of peach saplings from three years ago have produced an excellent crop- She makes preserves from them, and despite the inevitable jokes about “toe-jam”, they are appreciated.)
A dwarf king has a metal fist, all tiny gears and fine wires, kept wound by a mischievous mine-spirit bound to the spring as punishment- the more it struggles, the tighter the spring.
An orc chieftaness is regularly asked for the story of how she earned the name Wyrmthrottler- she boasts of how she strangled the dragon that ate her arm, and had her shaman make a new arm from its bones, with its fangs as the fingers.
A necromancer simply re-attached his old leg bones- Sacrificing a few mice each day keeps it going.
A pirate captain lost her arm to a shark attack: a passing selkie saved her, and gave her tattoos of kraken blood. Now she has an arm made of salt-water, that grows and wanes with the tides, and swings a cutlass as well as the original. (She doesn’t sail as far these days though: she doesn’t want her wife to worry.)
A wandering swordsman was broken at the waist- his ancestral armour allows him to walk again, as long as he keeps it polished, and burns incense to the ancestors regularly.
A high priestess has an eye made from a crystal ball- to predict the future, all she has to do is wink.
A bard was struck deaf by illness- he struck a deal with the god of music. Now he wears hearing-trumpets made from his old pipes, and dedicates his every song to the god of music- the better he plays, the better his hearing. (It is said his music could make statues weep, and he can hear a mouse fart at 60 paces.)
A princess has the arm of a golem, enchanted clay with mystic words carved in- her music tutor despairs of how her harp playing has become even worse, but her calligraphy tutor is ecstatic over her handwriting.
A goblin pickpocket has an arm made of whatever he steals- no-one feels his fingers, and even if they did, they couldn’t find their possessions amongst all the rest.
A witch has eyes made from shadow and starlight, given to her in a game with a demon. Nobody dares to ask what she wagered- they aren’t even sure she won.
A warg was born deaf and blind- his people learned of his power when the nearest birds started staring at them, and dogs pricked up their ears as he walked past.
Consume art widely. Experiment with genres, markets, and forms might usually avoid. Build a rich internal life for yourself, one without borders or limits.
Courtney Alameda is the Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of Shutter, and the forthcoming novel Pitch Dark (June 2017). A veteran bookseller and librarian, she now writes full-time and lives in Utah with her husband.
starry-eyed 