Tragic Hero Thrawn Truther

“yeah can i get a deluxe quarter pounder with cheese?”

“absolutely, do you want the meal or just the sandwich?’

“uuuuuh hold on”

*fishes something out of my pocket*

“mikey what do i do?”

“get the fries. youll need the energy in the coming days”

*stuffs it back in my pocket*

Following the rules of the church are less important than following the attitudes Jesus exemplified [in a debate about if it would be okay to break traditional rules and give the leftover loaf of communion bread to a hungry and poor attendee]

Don’t get so caught up in observing ceremonies and following traditions that you forget why they started to begin with

I've noticed this huge trend where creators on tiktok and tumblr who will be explaining how to use Archive Of Our Own to new users and they always say "and make sure to scroll down and click completed only" or how people will go out of their way to mention they only read completed fics 'because they were traumatized when they forgot to check the dates and didn't realize this fic hadn't been updated since 2012'.

The thing is - I think by not engaging with and/or actively avoiding writer's WIPs readers are potentially adding to the aggregate of abandoned works. Now this obviously isn't the case for all abandoned fics, anything from major life events, to loss of interest, to getting busy can be a reason for a fic getting abandoned - but at least on some level I just know that writers are quitting while they're ahead when they aren't garnering any response or feedback because reading WIPs has become unpopular. If you're worried about reading something that hasn't been updated since 2012 then you can use the date updated function to sort out old fics.

I am still endlessly grateful that, when I spontaneously started writing and posting a multi-chapter fic without knowing if I would even get to finish it, people stuck by me and cheered me on as I did. I credit them with helping me to finish that fic (and writing a sequel plus additional fics). It was pivotal not just for that one fic, but my writing in general, giving me the conviction that I can finish longer fics if I put my mind to it. If I didn't have that interaction, that encouragement, I might have lost motivation and interest - and as a consequence, not grown as a writer the way I got to. All thanks to some kind people.

And same as a reader: I have read multiple unfinished fics that have stuck with me even years later. Do I mourn that they will likely never get finished? Yes. Would I rather those chapters and pieces never saw the light of day in the first place? Absolutely fucking not. Some of them are the only works for a ship I enjoyed, or had exceptional ideas, or character dynamics that influenced my own writing, or still make me ponder how they might have ended, thereby helping me think of how to finish my own stories.

Of course, everyone has their own tastes, nobody is required to read unfinished or abandoned works, but I think I personally would have done myself a disservice if I didn't. And therefore highly encourage others to give that a chance, too.