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A writer friend told me something that broke my heart a little bit today; they're going to quit publishing their fanfic.

My instant thought was that they had been trolled or attacked or that something terrible had happened in their life because this person is so passionate about their writing. It wasn't any of that. Engagement with their works has been going down, as it has for many of us. Comments are like gold dust a lot of the time, and just looking through the historical comment counts on old fics on ao3 demonstrates this trend very clearly. It was not simply the comments dropping off which caused them to decide to stop posting, however.

My friend came across a discord server for their fandom (I should point out here that their fandom interest and mine diverged a couple of years ago, we stay in touch but don't currently read each other's posts because I'm not into their fandom and they would rather gouge their eyes out with a wooden spoon than read anything Star Wars) and specifically to share fic in that fandom. They joined, because we all love a good fic rec, only to discover that their latest multichapter fic, which has almost no comments and very few kudos, is being hotly discussed in this server as one of the best stories ever. Not one of these people has bothered to say this to them on the fic. When they asked, none of participants could see the point in telling the author of the fic they apparently loved so much that they love it.

This discovery has absolutely destroyed my friend's love of sharing fic. They share because they love seeing other people's enjoyment, and fic writers do that through comments and kudos/reblogs/likes because we don't get paid. There is no literary critic writing a blog post/article about how amazing the story is for us to copy and keep/frame. There is no money from royalties. All we have are the words of the people reading our works.

Those people on that server could have taken five minutes of the time they spent gushing about how amazing my friend's story was to other people and used it to tell the one person guaranteed to want to hear that praise how much they loved it. They could have taken a moment to express their opinion to the person who spent hours upon hours plotting, writing, editing, and posting those chapters. Instead, they deprived my friend of thing that keeps them sharing their writing, and in the process have killed their love of it. My friend now feels used and unmotivated.

I won't be sharing a link to their fic, they said I could share their experience but not their identity. I know they plan to post one final chapter. I know they intend to express their hurt at being excluded from the praise for the thing they created, and I know they intend to announce that as a consequence they will not be posting for a long while, if at all.

So please, I beg you, don't hide your love of a story from the writer. It's just about the only thing we have.

Question

Is it really a headcanon if you're the creator and you decide what is canon and what isn't?

Wtffffff

i might not show it, but the discovery that in undertale, sparing only papyrus while killing everyone else leads to sans telling papyrus their friends are on "vacation" n would be bsck soon has been on constant replay in my heart for years

this game's guilt-inducing prowess is unparalleled. there is quite literally no other route you should ever take playing this but TRUE PACIFIST

LIKE OHHH U MISS HER?! OHHHH IS THAT SO?? OH OKAY HAHA... I SEE HOW IT IS... it's not even me who's played this route and i still feel my sins freaking salsa dancing on my back

additionally, if you spare everyone but choose to kill papyrus (which, by the way, warrants turning urself in to the authorities as there would literally be no greater evil than Thy), the noticeable shift in mood is palpable in snowdin:

PAPYRUS IS THE HEART AND JOY OF SNOWDIN IM GONNA CRY

and now for my least favorite piece of dialogue abt papyrus' death:

reading this at first i was like pshh the hell does this even mea- OHHHHHHH PAPYRUS' DUST IS ON US DOGGO IS SMELLING IT ON US OHHHH MY GODDDDDD HE THINKS WE'RE HIM

Yup.

The most underrated piece of UTDR lore is the fact that cashiers are canonically on a different plane of existence and are therefore invincible

Bad Sansuary day 4: rain (feat. Dust)

I am using a little OC of mine for this, since I think she really fits the Bad Sanses (ahem she's crazy ahem). We're in a scenario where she's been with the gang for a while now. There is no romanticism in this, I think it'll mainly be her interacting with the gang following the prompts. It's also a weird mix of canon and fanon. I tried my best, but beware of the cringe >_<

Bad Sansuary belongs to @owl-bones

Dust belongs to @ask-dusttale

Ashes belongs to me

The atmosphere was eerily quiet. The dust of fallen monsters swirled in the air of the Waterfall of this AU, remnants of a Genocide Route. If Dust had to guess, the human should be in Hotland by now. Giving them plenty enough time to grab what they needed from the abandoned houses and shops.

The gang had gone on a supply run when Horror noticed they were running low on food and Nightmare declared they had to take new plates and glasses to replace the ones Ashes had either hidden away or straight up destroyed. Dust had also decided to take advantage of the situation by grabbing some other things that would be useful to him, like some alcohol. Recently he had been running out and he suspected someone was stealing from his secret stash even if he couldn't be sure.

He went around from house to house, having already pillaged all the main shops and trying to find something interesting that maybe some people left behind in the urgency of the evacuation. Aside from some spare gold, he didn't find anything of value, and he was getting increasingly frustrated until he saw movement out of the corner of his eye and he immediately snapped towards it, completely focused. Could that be a survivor? Someone that was left behind? Dust snuck out of the house he was in to get a better look at them, but they disappeared behind a corner, him trying to follow them but whoever it was always stayed just out of his sight even when he tried to teleport. He didn't notice how far he was being led until he felt some raindrops falling onto his hoodie and he noticed they were in the area of Waterfall where it constantly rained. He pulled up his hood more to shield his face from the drops, and kept following the figure. Eventually, he saw their silhouette standing in the darkness in front of the statue with the musical box in it, just staring at it. As he carefully got near, he noticed who it was. Ashes. She was looking at the statue with an empty expression and an empty smile, the raindrops falling onto her face and down her cheeks looking like tears she was shedding. She didn't seem to be staring at anything in particular, instead looking with vacant eyes in a spot just over the statue's head, eyes sometimes snapping left and right as if she was seeing or hearing other things nobody else could see. She didn't even bother to repair herself from the rain, letting it fall on her drenching her.

Dust carefully got nearer, approaching her slowly until he was basically beside her and wordlessly stared at the statue too, trying to find what was so interesting about it. It was basically like any other of these statues he had seen, some pieces broken and scattered all around it. When he was about to just go back to the others, Ashes spoke up.

"Isn't this beautiful? This rain, this constant pitter patter on your skin and on the ground?"

She turned towards him, sharp eyes searching for something in his expression.

"I like to imagine that every drop is a lost soul, struggling and falling to its inevitable demise, destroying itself while something else gains from it. Listen to them falling, can't you hear them scream?"

Dust was actually a little unsettled by these things she was saying, but before he could do anything she continued.

"The screams are always there. But hearing more of them, drowning each other, it almost brings something to my heart, something I know I can't feel and will probably never get to feel again. I think they call it peace"

She turned around again, her smile getting a sharp and dangerous edge.

"But I'm sure you know all about screams and being haunted, don't you? Maybe even more than the others. After all, the price you paid for your freedom was the souls of everyone you thought you cared about. Do you think their ghosts still haunt this earth?"

"I'm gonna see if there's anything interesting laying around"

Dust inhaled abruptly, staring at Ashes with surprise and rage. He wasn't expecting her to say things like these, anger was soon mixed with regret and self loathing because he knew she was telling the truth. He tightened his fists as he tried to come up how to answer to something like this.

Just then, Ashes turned around and started to walk away.

And just like that, she was gone, leaving Dust alone in front of the statue.

Wait.

The button is still here so maybe...

...

...

. . . .

Eheh.

Eheheheh.

EHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEH.

Oh, I'm back.

*insert stayed gone reference*

Ahahahah- It's true

Fanfic writers are like crows. If you give them treats (comments) they will bring you shiny things (fanfic)

Bad Sansuary day 1: Differences (feat. Dust)

First time doing this, I hope it'll be fun.

I was planning on using a little OC of mine for this, since I think she really fits the Bad Sanses (ahem she's crazy ahem) so yeah, hope you'll like it. We're in a scenario where she's been with the gang for a while now. There is no romanticism in this, I think it'll mainly be her interacting with the gang following the prompts. It's also a weird mix of canon and fanon. I tried my best, but beware of the cringe >_<

Note: I rush-finished this story while up in the middle of the night and sleep deprived. Hope you still like it

Bad Sansuary belongs to @owl-bones

Dust Sans belongs to @ask-dusttale

Ashes belongs to me

Edit: reposted this because internet was acting up and erased it so I had to rewrite it T_T

It was a quiet day in Nightmare's castle today. A peaceful day. The halls were silent, Phantom hadn't popped up so far, Killer was nowhere near Dust so he couldn't pester him, and there were no missions they had to do. It was one of those days where you would be more than happy to just lay down on your bed, or in Dust's case the couch, and stare at the ceiling as time slowly drifted away and you sank deeper and deeper into your thoughts and into apathy until everything became meaningless-

Sounds of glass breaking and quiet giggles came from the kitchen.

... That was if Ashes didn't get in the way of the peace.

Dust groaned as he sat up from the couch in the living room and slowly dragged himself over to the kitchen, leaning on the door frame and observing the situation. The kitchen was the same as always, with an oven, a fridge, a stove, some counters and the shelves with the glasses and the plates over it all. The only difference was Ashes and the impressively big pile of glass shards at her feet. Also, the majority of the glasses weren't in their place, giving Dust a pretty clear idea of what happened. Ashes stared at the pile at her feet and erupted in a fit of giggles, her wide smile and crazed eyes rivaling his own when he was in battle or having a breakdown. He just stared back as she locked eyes with him, then grabbed a handful of shards and threw them in the air, making small clinking sounds when they hit the ground again. Dust was pretty sure Ashes cut her hand in the process, but didn't comment on it as she sauntered over to him like what she did was completely normal. She did a big bow almost like she was mocking him with it, then spoke in a teasing and cheerful tone.

"Why hello there my fellow team member with dead spirits following him around! I hope you had a good nap there on the couch~”

Dust ignored that as he looked at the glass shards on the floor.

"You're gonna get in trouble with the Boss”

Ashes put a finger on her chin as she tapped on it in a fake contemplating motion.

"Eh, I'll get out of the punishment alive! ... Or maybe not, who knows, who cares, certainly not me!”

She turned her back on him and then bent backwards, staring at him all the meanwhile.

"After all, death is just a social construct and life is just an illusion!”

Dust didn't even blink at that. He was used to her shenanigans by now. He also was used to her random fits of chaos causing, whether that be through breaking stuff or pranking, her eccentric personality and her nonchalance about death in general. Because sure, it wasn't like everyone here had a particular fear of death, but she straight up laughed in front of it. She took hit after hit and somehow, always seemed to come out alive.

Ashes smiled as she booped him in the nose completely at random. Dust retreated a little from her at that, a little annoyed she just booped him for no reason.

"Why did you do that?”

She shrugged.

“It's fun! C'mon, mood killer, don't be like all those people who can only see their own point of views. Be fun, be strange, be different! Normal is so overrated don't you think?”

She kept smiling that unsettling smile as she got past him and out of the kitchen.

“Well, I'm gonna see how many birds I can kill and then string up to the ceiling. See you~”

She left the kitchen with a small laugh, leaving Dust there alone.

He stared at the jagged pieces of glass as they reflected back a broken version of him a thousand times, thinking about what Ashes said. Most of the time, she said mainly nonsense to confuse him and the others, but this time he actually started reflecting on something he never really stopped to think about before. Ashes really was something different from everything he had ever seen.

She was a peculiarity even among them, the most famous gang who caused evil in the Multiverse. In a Multiverse full of versions of yourself, you could hardly be considered different from others. Ashes could manage that effortlessly. Dust was pretty sure there weren't many versions of her or one of her species for whatever reason, her monster race alone setting her apart from the rest. She wasn't a skeleton. Her true form, a dragon, was often replaced by a more comfortable shape of semi-human looking disguise. Even if they were all more or less crazy here, Ashes took it to another completely different level, one that even Killer and, Dust suspected, Nightmare couldn't fully understand. She reminded Dust of himself or one of the others during a breakdown, but on a constant scale and ten times worse. She didn't seem to care about anything (the Boss, the missions, the other members of the gang) aside from one single crucial thing: chaos. It was like she fed on it like Nightmare fed on negativity, and Dust doubted anyone knew how or why she could. Ever since she willingly came up to Nightmare and asked to join, something that never happened before, she got more and more of a mystery for the inhabitants of the castle. And let's not get started on her power to consume souls to get stronger.

She was different from them all in everything, from physical to mental. Nobody knew why. And Dust found himself uncomfortable as he discovered he didn't know if it was either for good or bad.

So.

I was scrolling through Tumblr, and I found this fanart of a fanfic called "For the Forgotten Ones".

It's a story of an Alternate Multiverse where Ink was found and saved by Nightmare from the empty void of his "AU". You can find it on AO3.

Now, usually I don't read every fanfic I come across, but this one... It's something special. It's REALLY good. You all should give it a try. Just an advice.

🫡

You have broken my notifications XD (not mad, it's bloody funny)

Oh, I'm not done yet