5. Stealing ideas from other writers. It's fine if a certain author influences you (Aphrael being my main influence), but taking the general plot or even a version of it is just wrong. It's plagiarism. It happened to me recently (off of a story that I am not proud of at all, ironically enough), and I was pretty irked. Just don't do it. It's not your idea, so don't steal it.

Bonus! REALLY BAD LEMONS! It just makes you want to whip the awkward turtle out, doesn't it? There's an art to writing lemons, I think. I probably couldn't tell you how, but I know it includes avoiding cliches, being too explicit regarding word choice, and characters suddenly being OOC during a lemon scene. I cringe helplessly when I read one (including one of my own). Have someone at least beta-read a lemon before posting it.

So I got back from my trip last night, and as I was surfing the internets today, I was suddenly all like, "OHSHITAVATAR!"

So I went and watched the last episodes.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with it. I had already read the whole spoiler thing they had out a couple months ago, so I knew what was going to happen. It was just nice to see it animated. I did feel as though 16 and 17 were wastes of time, though (although I did catch a lot of the amusing jokes of 17). I felt like it was budged here and there, you know... a little corny. But it's a kid's show, so I got over it.

I can actually now say that I can see Zutara. Why? BECAUSE THEY ACTUALLY FUCKING INTERACTED. Jesus effing Christ. I feel bad for the Zutara fans though; Bryke teased the FUCK out of them. But I knew they were going for Kataang in the end, so... Yeah.

Oh, and Azula = HOLYFUCKINGSHITOFFTHEDEEPENDLOLOLOLOL.

Anyway, so I'll dive back into "Samson" at some point... Hopefully soon. But I gots other shit to take care of.

So ya... Arriverderci!

When I was watching Avatar, I devoted most of my time to watching the episodes, not starting to explore the fandom. (I did that once and regretted it when I came across a few spoilers I would've rather not known at the time.) But once I had finished them all and started looking around, I was shocked, absolutely shocked, at the amount of people who ship Zutara.

Now this is coming from someone who hadn't watched Avatar since it first came out. I watched all the episodes straight through without any bias of the fandom.

And after I watched it, this was my conclusion: Avatar is a good show, especially for a Nickelodeon kids' show. I like the action more than I like the characters' relationships, mostly because I don't think they have too much depth to them. It's a bit predictable in some places. (For example, when I first saw Yue, I said to myself, "I'm going to be really mad if she's gonna die," not actually serious about it. Two hours later:
OMG SHE DIED!!!!!!!!!! T_T") As for couples, Kataang was blatantly obvious to me, and while I did question the age thing, it was pretty obvious to me that Kataang is what "Bryke" was going for. So was the whole Sokka/Yue thing for like, what? Three episodes? (It was cute though.) And then of course Sukka, with Toph liking Sokka.

All of this is obvious to me. I didn't do any overanalyzing, which is not like me. Why? Because I knew it was a Nickelodeon show, and like I said, I enjoyed the action more anyway.

So while I'm waiting for the last episodes to come out like everyone else, I've been exploring the fandom, thrilled with the hilarious videos, extremely disappointed with the fanfiction (save for one so far).

But this whole Kataang vs. Zutara war is just fucking ridiculous.

First of all, everyone is WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY too serious about it.

IT'S AVATAR.

A NICKELODEON KIDS' SHOW.

IT'S NOT YOUR LIFE.

IT'S NOT IMPORTANT.

OMFG.

I just want to shout at all of these people! I've seen websites on both sides that just act completely delusional about it, it's just plain funny (but pretty sad at the same time). Honestly, have people lost their regards for the action?

I'm not saying exploring couple ideas is a bad thing. Hey, my Digimon OTP is Taishirou, and is THAT ever gonna happen in canon? Absolutely not. I simply like the idea of them together and their potential (not to mention they are incredibly adorable). So do I scan the series over 84983054038 times looking for "subtle hints?"

Uh, no. I just write fanfiction.

The problem with Zutara isn't the fact that people ship it; it's the fact that they try so damn hard to prove it's canon.

IT'S OKAY TO LIKE A COUPLE THAT ISN'T CANON!

Somehow, I think this is the problem. People have to justify everything. It's okay to like crack-couples, as long as you're not trying to prove them canon. I see where Zutarians go with the whole red/blue thing and all of that related stuff, but I don't think that's Zutara; I think that just further elaborates the theme of good vs. evil and all that. (Or whatever, I haven't put too much thought into themes.)

I'm not being biased. Like I said before: I watched the episodes STRAIGHT THROUGH.

I guess what I'm really trying to say is that everyone needs to calm the fuck down. Avatar isn't about couples; it's about Aang's journey. And I happen to think Aang is absolutely adorable, so, um, can we bring our focus back to that?

I know I might seem hypocrticial considering that all of my involvement in the Digimon fandom is shipping. This is because I watch Digimon for the characters more than the action. So I guess it's what you watch it for, which is another point I suppose.

It's okay to watch Avatar for the couples I guess, but honestly, I think Bryke put the extra romantic stuff in there just for kicks. You know, make it a bit more appealing to the female audience? I think that's why the age thing is so weird. Somehow, I really think Kataang was poorly thought-out. If Bryke was going to make it, they could've at least made Aang and Katara closer in age, if not the same age. As for the kissing: Aang is my brother's age. I know kids these days have crazy hormones, but I don't want him kissing a chick who's 14. Basically, what I'm saying is that yes, Kataang is canon, it's obviously intentional and makes the most sense, but Bryke was downright stupid with the ages.

Anyways, what is even funnier is that even Zutarians admit that Kataang is "in your face." Bryke said they never intended Zutara and were all about Kataang, so can we just be satisfied with that answer from the friggin' writers and get on with it?

lYkE, sRsLy GuYs.

PS - Is anyone willing to make a "The Mistakes We Make Part DEUX!" Zukaang style? Because that would totally work.

PPS - Sageofwind218 WHERE ARE YOUUUUUU???

So...I feel like posting!

I'm so pleased with the way that "Samson" is going. The most recent chapter got the most reviews of any chapter so far, and I'm so excited! I hope to finish the story around the one-year anniversary of its posting, and wow, I can't believe it's going to be that long!

So let's see... Once I finish with that, I'll go onto the Daiken story that I brainstormed, well, almost a year ago. But I have to say that my writing has improved so much over this past year that I'm kind of happy I waited. It's going to be much different from "Samson"; it'll have the traditional format of a story and it'll be much lighter. In other words, it's not going into the tremendous depth that "Samson" does. And honestly, I kind of need a break from that. Of course, those deep chapters aren't over; I have more planned, but you know what I mean.

Yeah, it's going to be a very nice balance of teenage angsting and humor. I mean, "Samson" is like that in some respects... But this story, which remains untitled for the moment, will have a much more familiar structure. Let's see, how about a brief summary? Well, basically, it's your typical "Ken and Daisuke like each other but don't know what to do about it" schpeil. Ken is angsty and there is the return of the dark spore, and Daisuke is, well, Daisuke, haha. I guess I don't want to give to much away, but I suppose I better start thinking of a ff.net summary, yes? Also, the story is not going to be as long as "Samson." I don't want it to take a year to write.

Then I promise I'll go back to Taishirou, except this time, they're going to be adults! The plot is also going to heavily involve their kids, but I don't want to give too much away about this one. But I will say that it'll also be shorter than "Samson." You'll see! Besides, this one is in the very far future anyway.

Um, so, no one ever sent me anything regarding analysis of Taichi and Koushiou for the Taishirou Resource Center... I kindasortamaybe don't feel like writing them. Then again, I could pretty much copy/paste snippets of "Samson" and that would be enough, haha. And then I could use that one chapter that totally debunks Taiora. The thing is, though, I don't want to seem like an arrogant bitch, you know? Posting some of my own fanfiction in place for stuff like that? That's why I want other people to do it! I mean, not only do I not want to get all of the credit, but I have to say that I don't want to look like a complete loser. Haha.

I've also considered starting a website that would analyze the symbolism, themes, and all of that stuff in each Digimon season. Wouldn't that be fascinating? I'd probably end-up writing everything for that, too, though. I mean, if people can't get off their butts to write one lazy profile, why would they go and write an essay about the themes of good and evil in Digimon (which are more complicated that you think!)? I dunno, I just think it would be cool. 

Let's see, what else? I think that's all that's Digimon-related at the moment... I told my friend's boyfriend to read "The Mistakes We Make" today, and while I doubt he read it tonight, I really want to know what he's going to think of it. Basically, because he's fucked-up. So if he thinks the story is fucked-up...it's really fucked-up. Haha. When I described it to him, he was surprised that it was a Digimon story. But he likes Digimon Adventure, so it's cool. I couldn't help but remark that the characters are put into such interesting situations, yet authors still somehow manage to keep them in character. Or sometimes they don't. But the former is simply more impressive, I suppose.

Well, since musical is over, I now have a pretty decent amount of free time, so I'll try to keep up with the fandom. Yay!