Mortal Instruments - Tumblr Posts

“On the show, I play an openly proud bisexual warlock, who’s a person of color that’s in a relationship with a recently out gay Shadowhunter who hunts demons for a living. I don’t think that combination has ever existed on television before.” - Harry Shum Jr.

Alec being rendered speechless by Magnus + Finally telling him what he’s been wanting to say since day one

Jace: *@ rapheal* why did you let Camille take Simon?

Rapheal: natural selection.

malec + touch

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAGNUS BANE 🍸🎉  

December 8th,1600′s

Seeing a fandom legendary fic that’s unfinished and clearly abandoned update after literal months/years

So, I’m finally starting the Mortal Instruments series. I’m only like 50 pages in and I already love Simon. He is my favorite. Protect the child.

fanfiction is worth way more than you might think it is. here's why.

something i don't think anybody ever talks or thinks about is how fanfic helps writers develop incredibly useful skills and tools in the same way that prompts, worksheets, and studying literature does. (i actually think it's much more accessible than many of those types of supposedly helpful methods to build good writing skills. fanfiction makes the possibilities limitless while building upon media that people love and really connect with. you can find whatever you want if you use the right tags in AO3.) to illustrate exactly what i mean, i present these points:

*NOTE: if you're not familiar with fanfic terms, i'll define them as i go! i'm also an AO3 user, so i'll be using that as a basis for a lot of my thoughts.

it’s a really helpful way to get a grasp of how to keep characters consistent in a piece, since you have to work with characters that already have established personalities, backstories, habits, and character traits that carry over from their source material. this can get a bit tricky when writing AUs (alternate universes) or canon divergences (hopefully self-explanatory) in particular, but if you acknowledge that characters are OOC (out of character), this can solve that issue pretty quickly and as long as you make everything make sense within context, you're golden. not only that, but you can fix any flaws that you perceive in a character by adding in your own headcanons (personal ideas/beliefs about a character) or by creating realistic traits in that character that don't exist in canon but make sense for the character. this also works for expanding upon canon traits that are never explored to their full potential in canon.

a great example of this would be tony stark in the MCU. a lot of fanfic interpretations of his character put a stronger focus on his anxiety and PTSD, since the movies hint at those traits existing, but don't do them a lot of justice. another good example that's a bit more broadly applicable is LGBT+ or neurodivergent headcanons. if you really identify or kin with a character and feel that they have a certain orientation, gender identity, or mental disorder/condition, you can make it happen! this often has the great side effect of opening up a lot of possibilities for writing those traits into that character and how they affect the world and other characters around them differently than in canon.

you can think of an almost infinite amount of different scenarios to put characters and story events in. i mentioned AUs and canon divergences above, but there are also fanfic tropes like everybody lives/nobody dies, kidfic, time loop/time travel, role swap, missing scene, and even omegaverse (i'm not explaining that one to you, you're on your own pal) that offer different possibilities for putting characters and story events in all sorts of circumstances and contexts that differ from canon. (continuity soups are one of my very favorite examples of this technique. in a continuity soup, an author working with a franchise that has multiple different continuities can cherry-pick aspects of each continuity they like and smash them all together into a single world. this technique works especially well with transformers, which has, at this point, almost a dozen different continuities that are in fact all canon at the exact same time.) a writer doing this learns how to translate certain necessary story events into a completely different world, or can come up with a whole new world, storyline, or context on their own to play with plot, conflict, characters, and story events.

there are a near-limitless number of AUs out there, and every AU that is widely used comes with its own set of tropes. tropes are another useful tool for writers, because they can either be cliche or they can actually be very helpful for building a compelling plot or for introducing characters in a certain way. there are even fanfic genre tropes that exist, like hurt/comfort, fluff, whump/angst, slow burn, enemies to lovers, dead dove do not eat, crackfic... the list goes on!

writers who have difficulty writing things like romance, intimacy, emotional turmoil, injuries, sci-fi, or magic can easily learn a lot from how different fic writers write those topics (and many others). there are tons of fics that focus a lot on one specific genre and whose authors have developed a really great understanding of how to write those genres. not only can you learn a lot in terms of how to write genre, but you can also learn to develop your own writing style. this is one of the reasons why i think fanfiction is a lot more accessible than traditional books and classics. sure, you could read danielle steel novels or fifty shades of grey (which is itself fanfiction!!) or 1984 by orson welles, but unless you're really invested in the worlds being created, you'll find it harder to appreciate the prose. and, a lot of fic writers are not professional writers, so they don't even care about prose! (this is a broad generalization, and i mean "prose" in a more academic sense because i am literally studying rhetoric and prose for my bachelor's degree. not a lot of fic authors are breaking down writing styles for dialogue, diction, or sentence structure. they just write what they love writing and often develop their own styles out of that, which is also just as valid.)

i myself have definitely not been reading as many books in recent years as i've read fanfics. i go through fanfics like wildfire through a dry field. finding fic authors i love reading has really helped me improve my writing style! not only that, but i feel confident to try writing real romances with kissing scenes, to use actual scientific language to describe in-text phenomena, to describe magical objects and worlds with more clarity, and even to try my hand at writing smut. i've learned to break out of my comfort zone thanks to fanfiction, and it's helped me become a much better writer.

developing a writing style through reading other authors' work is much like developing an art style. any artist knows that you're encouraged to create your own style by mashing together traits from other artists' styles you really love and making them into something that's wholly your own. writing works the exact same way. one of my professors last semester had us do an "apprenticeship" with a short story collection written by a certain author to open us up to styles we like and don't like. she said that's how you create your own style, by figuring out what you like and what you don't like. i've been doing this with fic authors for years, and let me tell you, there are some real literary geniuses out there.

fanfiction helps writers learn to accept criticism as well as suggestions for what to write next. one of the hardest parts of being a writer is having someone read your work and tell you there's something wrong with it. your peers do it, your professors do it, editors do it, publishers do it. i've had the great privilege of participating in multiple writing workshops as part of my university education, but it can be really, really hard to find or create writing workshops outside of an academic setting. sites like AO3 cut out the middleman and bring authors right to their audiences. anyone can leave kudos on a fic if they liked it, and anyone can comment on a fic and chat directly with an author. i know for a fact that most authors regularly check and read the comments sections on their fics for feedback, criticism, and requests for what to write next. you can't necessarily do that with big-time authors like stephen king; you’d have to send a letter that may never be read.

the closest thing this system of interaction comes to is voice actors hopping on twitch streams and taking requests from viewers to say all kinds of things in-character. (this actually has the added benefit of inspiring new and interesting fic ideas.) the community on AO3 is genuinely one of the most accepting and welcoming internet spaces i've ever existed in, with possibly the exception of tumblr. fic authors really value feedback, and they love when people leave comments. sometimes they write fic just for themselves, but sometimes they do it for their audiences too! there's a really deep appreciation for source material and fanon (fan canon) alike in the world of fanfiction, and a lot of that is fostered in the author-audience connection. this is invaluable as a beginning writer, because it can help establish criticism as a valuable tool and not something to fear.

it can be scary when you put so much love into something and people don't like it. but fic readers are some of the most encouraging, wonderful people ever. you can trust them to offer valuable feedback and actually constructive criticism.

in short, fanfiction is a bit like placing a kid into a sandbox that only has a select few toys in it and letting them play however they want. so much creativity can come out of working within certain restraints, and it can really help you develop a lot of skill you might not develop otherwise. more aspiring writers should write—or at least read—fanfiction so they can reap some of these benefits. i wish it were more widely discussed in universities, at the very least, because there is so much to learn from fanfiction.

and if you really think fanfiction is only for gross internet weirdos, i remind you of fifty shades of grey being fanfic of twilight, or that city of bones, the first mortal instruments book, was originally a ginny/draco fanfic. i don't even need to mention the sheer number of more recently published romcom books that are based off of reylo from the star wars sequels. plus, if you really think about it, most modern shakespeare adaptations and homages (10 things i hate about you, leo dicaprio's romeo and juliet, the lion king) are fanfiction! there's no shame in making media of what you love. there's no shame in loving anything in the first place. do what makes you happy, and chances are you'll learn something along the way.

Just your daily update: Raphael Santiago is still literal perfection and still not interested. Have a nice rest of your day.

my world

My not so secret crush

for god’s sake, can he get anymore attractive??? #alecislife

"Perhaps, but you would not exist without a woman, would you? However little use you may find us, we are cleverer and more determined and more patient then men. Men may be stronger, but it is woman who endure."

~ Tessa Gray, Clockwork Princess

The Clave and LGBT marriage

Member 1: USA made gay marriage legal. Member 2: But WE didn’t. Member 3: But we never made it illegal either. Member 2: The fuck we didn’t Member 3: *shows hella old scrolls of laws* Member 2: We fucking didn’t.

Film vs show

ShadowHunters / Book Series / Thoughts

spoilers. also ive read this book a bit ago but didnt have this blog. also ive read i think some shadowhunter series besides the Dark Artifices, Tales from the ShadowHunter Academy, The Bane Chronicles, Ghosts of the Shadow Market, The Eldest Curses (and Chain of Thorn too but I dont think thats out yet)

woah thats a lot

anyway

SO. From the series I've read, I like it. I really like the world building too, and in two of the series I've read they're of 'normal' people who are unaware of the demons and encounter ShadowHunters. except the truth was is that they have shadowhunter blood in them from this angel i cant remember the name of

The Infernal Devices(?) which I believe is with Tessa(?) where theres Will Herondale and Jem Carstairs, and well theres like a sorta love triangle but Jem is kinda addicted against his will to this drug thats slowly killing him because of a demon

and Will.. has a thing against ducks or somethin (i think it runs in the family) i wont really expand on that

but so. its.. interesting?? It was the first series that got me into the ShadowHunters world, and honestly, the description caught me off guard. Cause so she was visiting her brother in this other place? Country??? i dont remember anymore, but so then I think this person claims that they are her brother's friend and will bring her to him but then it derails and shes held captive..? and then she has like this power that gets uncovered and shes like a warlock but without a mark because i think her mom had shadowhunter blood but her mom never got any marks (that enhance stuff basically) that youd have gotten first when you were younger by the Brothers....? i cant remember the name of them

But so .. i dont know, it just- it sounded like one of those stories where the plot completely goes off the rails and it makes like zero sense and honestly wasn't sure if i wanted to read it..? but i gave it a try and honestly, no regrets there. i liked it and i kept reading it.

also jem almost fuckin dying made me want to cry. I think Will got in a fight cause his.. i dont remember the name of it but they were like bonded so they could call on the others strength but you cant undo it and you cant get another one

but I think Will was willing to die and i just.. *sobbing* but id be lying if I said a part of me didnt want it to happen because I just like.. angst man- NAND THEN JEM WAS ALIVE BUT HE WAS ONE OF THE BROTHERS AND *sobs*

i think in the epilogue or something Will and Tessa get married but eventually Will dies, but Tessa being kinda immortal still lives, and then Jem comes along because hes HEALED from the drug and he left the brothers and he has black hair instead of white because his white hair was from the drug

AND HE CAN FINALLY BE HUMAN AND CAN LOVE because the brothers cant get married

and like..

i didnt understand it but then i read the OTHER series, but before i get into that.. honestly isnt jem going to die now that hes.. mortal? and tessa will still be alive, without either of her loves.

NOW. so I didn't understand how he got cured, but then the other series happened where theres Clary and like.. damn that shit long

but so. clary and Jace

they catch feelings

THEY MIGHT BE SIBLINGS???

but then it turns out they arent

BUT IT TURNS OUT CLARY KISSED HER FUCKIN BROTHER (sEBASTIAN????) and now i understand the feeling of wrongness and i just

holy fucking SHIT

also THERES LIKE FUCKIN CHILD EXPERIMENTATION KIND OF???? it just HIT me that the dad who i cant remember the name of fuckin.. put demon blood and angel blood into food and drinks and gave it to pregnant mothers so they birth a child who has more power and like

IT WAS EXPERIMENTATION KINDA

does it count as drugging?

???----

no but what the fuck

also jaces like parents are dead and the dad of clary and sebastian like took out the baby from the mom and i just

what the fuck

ALSO DID JACE DIE???? AND THEN HE GOT BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE WAHT THE FUCK

also SIMON turned into a vaMPIRE AND IM SO FUCKIING LOST BUT I UNDERSTAND IT BUT IT SOUNDS SO WEIRD WHEN YOU ACTUALLY TYPE IT OUT

jesus christ

also the last hours or whats its series name

i cried at the end i admit it

i dont really have much to say there because i actually cant remember much- i remember what happened but i cant remember character names its awful but its good but it pain

edit: for some reason i forgot there was a 2nd book and that the third thats not out yet was the last im dumb im sorry wtf

Lucie and Matthew arguing

Lucie: You Idiot! Matthew: I’m sure you’re right, but why!?

If a character is named Alexander/Alex there's a 99.99% chance that the character will be queer and badass.

We have,

Alexander Hamilton- founding father. Was super bi. Wrote stuff for the constitution, was a lawyer, treasury secretary, did not like Jefferson. Was very very in love with John Laurens his bestfriend.

Alex Standall- most of you probably know the guy. Extremely sarcastic and badass. Shot himself in the head but that just made him even more sarcastic. Got the happy ending he (The guy is literally in love with the human form of golden retriever) deserved. Kinda looks like troye sivan.

Alexander Gideon Lightwood/Alec- everyone knows him. He's a shadowhunter. Fell in love with a warlock, first kissed him in front of the whole institute on his wedding day to a different girl and the went on a date. Everyone knows that this salty piece of shit turns into a puddle of happiness when his husband is around. From saying, 'Emotions are nothing but a distraction,' to, 'I can't live without you, Magnus.' Is super badass just like his husband. Did I mention that he has a husband?? He's pretty awesome.

Alex Fierro- child of Loki. a king and queen. Love them. They are pretty badass and I like how half the time Magnus will just be in awe of them.

Alex Claremont-Diaz- AHHHHHHHHHHHH yes now let's continue, he's the first son of the United States. Not only did he fall in love with Prince Henry, they both had a wonderful love-fight in the rain while they confessed their love to eachother. He's badass, sarcastic, a little oblivious sometimes, loves Henry. His entire family is badass to be honest. Is super bi and is named after Alexander Hamilton. He hopes to be a great lawyer.

Alexander the Great- probably the first Alexander to be not straight. Had like three wives but still went like, "that man too is Alexander," while referring to Hephaestion- his childhood friend and General of his forces. Loved Hephaestion and saw him as his equal. They even went to the tomb of Achilles and Patroclus- another iconic couple- and paid respects (Alexander paid Achilles respect while Hephaestion for Patroclus). He has even compared their love as equal to Achilles and Patroclus. When Hephaestion died, he was sad and then died under mysterious causes eight months later. He was the greatest conqueror and the very first Alexander to be very very queer.

These are the Alexanders that I know of. If you guys know more please let me know.

We infer from this list, that all Alexanders are super not straight, the name itself is like a package deal, they are all badass with equally sweet significant others and they are all sarcastic but as I said, that's a package deal with the name. Keep in mind, the list above is in no particular order and was written at 6 in the morning while being severely sleep deprived.

SDCC 2013 Portraits: Day 2

I just had to put it out there for my fellow bloggers who like the same stuff I do. If you have a Kik, please add me. I'd love to fangirl over fandoms with you!!!!! 💜💜💜💜💜💜

i can just imagine simon, gritting his teeth and and looking straight ahead while clary’s shooting him sideways glances cause she KNOWS he wants to burst out into song

I’m damn salty that on their way to edom, no one sang highway to hell like what a golden opportunity Cassie missed out on smh