Wat?

kiss me and i might drop dead

happy pride and something something bishova rooftop kiss!

Everyone who's ever worked even tangentially in a creative field has met an Idea Guy. They're fairly universally insufferable: the guy who comes up to you and unironically pitches, "I have a great idea for a [game/book/movie/painting/stuffed animal/whatever it is you make]." This is not a story about a great opus they are excited to embark upon, it is a suggestion for something *you* should do, which they are certain will make you rich and famous (and indebted to them for the favor of sharing this brilliant idea).

This man operates on a fundamental misconception about the nature of creative endeavors: that the Idea is what's important, and the act of implementation is a matter of grunt work; an unimportant trudge from start point to finish line. To him, the most valuable thing is not to make art, but to *have made* art.

The thing is, as any artist knows after making even a few simple works, the implementation *is* the art. Artistry, the artist's voice, is found in the cumulative effect of a thousand tiny decisions during the process of creation that communicate your point of view, your priorities, your vision. The way to become good at an art form (and indeed the only way to become good enough to recognize the difference between a good idea and a bad idea in the first place) is to gain experience with the nuances of the craft, the implementation of it. You must make these little decisions over and over until you understand the impact of each one and why you might make one choice over another.

To the Idea Guy, AI is a Promised Eden. It removes the "boring" and "unnecessary" implementation steps and takes you straight from your billion-dollar idea to the final product. Never mind that the AI is the one making all of those vital decisions for you; the Idea Guy does not have enough awareness of art to even understand that the final product doesn't match his initial vision, because he never had an initial vision in the first place: just an Idea.

Ever heard the phrase ‘a classic is a book everyone wants to have read but no one wants to read’?

It’s not a quote I overall agree with but it does (unintentionally perhaps) describe a similar mentality.

life is for the wicked, not so heaven-sent

a lot more on patreon and a ficlet by the incredible @xkatebishop under the cut

The thing is, there’s no way to know where these people are coming from. In the before, when fandom was more in the corners we all knew about, you could search LJ or a message board or whatever social bookmarking site we were using. You could join the community and participate.

You could get a little dopamine hit by seeing someone tell their friends why they loved your story.

Anymore, those recs are hidden in discords, or in tiktoks or instagram slideshows that you can’t search for. They’re inaccessible, not discoverable unless you’re already there. You may never know why 27 people left kudos on an old story of yours, what they liked and found in your writing. You just get the thumbs up and a kinda lonely feeling, cause these could be your people. You could like them, maybe. You could be friends.

But you’ll never find out why they stopped by, or what people are saying about you behind your back, and that’s sad.

Chapters: ¼ Fandom: Hawkeye (TV 2021), Thunderbolts (Movie 2025), Marvel Cinematic Universe Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Yelena Belova/Kate Bishop, James “Bucky” Barnes & Yelena Belova Characters: Yelena Belova, Kate Bishop, James “Bucky” Barnes, Lucky the Pizza Dog (Marvel), Minor Ava Starr, Minor Cassie Lang, Minor Agatha Harkness Additional Tags: Post-Movie: Thunderbolts (2025), Song: Somewhere (Vincent Lima), The author is projecting their quarter life crisis, Bucky Barnes and Yelena Belova are Like Siblings, POV Alternating, But mostly Yelena POV, Canon Compliant if you ignore Daredevil Born Again S2 Summary:

Yelena squares her shoulders and lifts her head up, ready for a fight. There’s a hundred arguments on the tip of her tongue, but when her eyes lock with Kate’s every single one of them falls away. What she sees on Kate’s blue eyes is so familiar that she had never seen it anywhere but in the mirror, and it feels like diving head first into ice cold water.

She takes a step back and raises her hands as a sign of peace much like Kate had done a few minutes earlier, choosing to deescalate the situation before Kate draws her bow and she finds out if third time really is the charm.

“You really should’ve just given the flash drive to us,” Yelena says with a tired sigh. 

“You should’ve asked nicely.”