Rynling R&D

Re: Where's the joy in the lowest common denominator?

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 16:25:31 GMT

I thought about this while taking a nice walk outside, and the conclusion I came to is:

People enjoy simple but tasty little snacks.

In terms of what becomes popular, I'm firmly of the opinion that numbers aren't something you can control. Reception has nothing to do with quality or community, but rather being the right person at the right place at the right time. (Although writing smut about m/m ships in popular fandoms helps.)

Also, mainly from futzing around on Tumblr, I get the sense that a lot of people are suffering from lowkey insomnia these days (I wonder why!!!!) and "turn your brain off" fantasies seem to be in demand and very much appreciated.

In any case, I actually enjoy writing tasty little snacks. I should write more of them. 🍹

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Candy Hearts Exchange 2026 Fic

Mon, 02 Mar 2026 13:27:29 GMT

I want to share the three stories I wrote for this year’s candyheartsex exchange event:

Whenever You’re Ready (on AO3 here) is a pre-canon Breath of the Wild story about Zelda trying to learn archery from Revali.

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A Modest Test of Skill (on AO3 here) is about a Lynel wordlessly challenging Link to a friendly archery contest that ends in the discovery of a Korok.

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The Nameless City (on AO3 here) is set ten years after the end of Final Fantasy VI, and it’s about the warmth of the friendship between Terra and Celes as they explore the ruins of a forgotten city under Terra’s new home in Mobliz.

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Fandom Trumps Hate 2026

Sat, 24 Jan 2026 23:29:11 GMT

I was planning on volunteering as a writer for this year's fandomtrumpshate event, which opens to sign-ups for creators on January 26. This seems like as good of a year as any.

But the truth is that I'm hesitant. I don't have an audience, and this is more than likely because I'm not writing the sort of thing that people want to read. Which is okay! There's nothing wrong with that; I'm just not a good fit for an event in which actual monetary donations are involved.

What I'm 100% comfortable with is bidding on the offerings of other writers.* And that is what I intend to do!!

* And sharing their promo posts on Tumblr! That's important too.

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Planning on fucking around. Might just find out.

Tue, 13 Jan 2026 22:53:41 GMT

It’s been my experience that an extended period of online harassment comes my way every four years. The wheel has turned since 2022, and here we are again. I was thinking that I might preempt the harassment this year by openly posting the sort of discourse that will make me a target.

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I’m not saying that I want to be harassed, or that I think it’s fun to argue with chucklefucks on the internet. Obviously not. Still, if I’m going catch heat anyway, I might as well have the satisfaction of starting the fire myself.

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Candy Hearts Exchange Letter 2026

Thu, 01 Jan 2026 13:32:03 GMT

Dear Candy Hearts Writer,

Thank you so much for volunteering to write a story for me! I’m the sort of nerd who’s interested in lore and worldbuilding, but I have a major soft spot for stories that focus on friendship and romance. I also enjoy relationships in which the characters don’t particularly like each other but have an interesting dynamic together. Situationships? Why not!

I admire and appreciate stories of all lengths. If you’re here to write a short vignette, that would make me very happy. But longer stories are welcome too, of course! Whatever you create, I’m excited to see what you do with these characters and their relationships.

I am totally okay with:

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I’d prefer not to see:

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Fandom-Specific Interests

Breath of the Wild + Tears of the Kingdom

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Echoes of Wisdom

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Hollow Knight: Silksong

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Elden Ring

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Thank you again for volunteering your time and talent. I know you’ll create something marvelous, and I’m sending lots of encouragement and sweet candy energy your way.

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Velvetyne Fonts

Sun, 14 Dec 2025 14:17:22 GMT

Velvetyne
https://velvetyne.fr/

Velvetyne is a collective dedicated to researching and disseminating typography and typeface creation. Together, we give life to fonts and graphical objects under open licenses, allowing for their use, modification, and redistribution.

This is a cool collection of free-to-use fonts. The website design is quite nice too.

I learned about this resource via a fantastic work on AO3 (here) in which the artist used some of these fonts on postage stamp designs showcasing the flora and fauna of Breath of the Wild.

This piece was created for the doodle4doodle exchange, which just went live yesterday and has been incredibly successful. There's a lot of interesting art in this collection, and people have been leaving tons of super-positive comments. What a joy, honestly.

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Dear Yuletide 2025 Writer Letter

Fri, 24 Oct 2025 12:46:54 GMT

Dear writer,

Thank you so much for offering to write a story for me for Yuletide. I appreciate you!

I love atmospheric storytelling and worldbuilding, and what I want more than anything is the opportunity to spend more time in the fictional worlds that have captivated me. I’m equally delighted by slice-of-life, romance, and horror, and I also adore nonfiction meta essays and narrative concept sketches. Please feel free to dig as deep (or as lightly) into canonical lore and speculative theories as you like. I love all characters equally, and I’m happy to watch you follow your faves as your story guides you.

I know that what you create will be wonderful, and I’m looking forward to reading your work.

Some fandom-specific interests:

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I’m totally okay with:

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I’d prefer not to see:

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In which I pitch an essay about monster romance

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 13:49:30 GMT

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I mean listen, I'm not wrong.

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The truth is that, if you really want to support queer creative communities, you're going to have to acknowledge that these communities are making art that might not fit neatly into mainstream commercial marketing categories. And their work is so much better and more interesting for this, honestly.

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Doodle 4 Doodle 2025 Letter

Tue, 21 Oct 2025 14:30:21 GMT

Dear artist,

Thank you so much for offering to doodle something for me! My interests are a bit of a mixed bag in that I love cute characters, as well as attractive and stylish characters, but I’m also a fan of dark and gothic designs. I appreciate environmental art and concept art, and I can’t get enough of plants, wildlife, lush green spaces, and ruins covered in moss.

Whether you draw a character, a creature, or a place, I’m sure you’ll create something fantastic.

I am totally okay with:

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I’d prefer not to see:

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If you’d like to get a sense of my taste, I post my drawings as Rynling on Tumblr and reblog art as Pocketseizure, but I appreciate many different styles of visual art, as well as artists of all skill levels.

Thank you again for volunteering to share your artwork. I hope you have a marvelous time, and I can’t wait to see what you create. <3

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Anyway I just think those two old men should kiss

Wed, 09 Jul 2025 11:29:23 GMT

I wrote a short fluff story about Barret and Cid for the Romancing Barret fan week event on Tumblr (here). The story is called “Good Old-Fashioned Grunt Work,” and it’s on AO3 (here).

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Speaking of deleting things, I also uninstalled FFVII Rebirth from my Steam Deck. I've tried to play the game twice now, and both times I've gotten bored after the opening section in Nibelheim + Kalm. I loved FFVII Remake, but maybe Rebirth isn't for me. I just think that maybe I enjoy the fanfic more than the actual game. And that's cool.

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I want to roundhouse kick GenAI into the sun

Tue, 01 Jul 2025 13:05:28 GMT

Just for shits and giggles (and also inspired by the brilliant fanwork of a friend), I decided to write a few quick stories about Tenna, the villain (sort of) of the recently released Chapter 3 of Deltarune. I thought the idea of shipping him with Spamton, the villain (definitely) of Chapter 2 was funny for a hot second before actually becoming intrigued by the dynamic. What if they were both awful and made each other worse, that sort of thing.

The problem I had initially was how to write Tenna, who we only ever see speaking to an audience. How would his voice translate to a more intimate situation? To get a sense of fandom tastes, I pulled up fic for the ship on AO3 as sorted by the number of bookmarks, which I hoped would filter out most of the slop.

But alas. There is. A whole lot of slop. Very clearly written by GenAI. And people love it. Apparently.

I don't understand this at all. These stories all follow the same beats and use the same vocabulary, and the characters don't speak in their distinctive voices. There's no attempt to engage with the story or lore of the original game, and there's no specificity at all. Why would so many people bookmark fic like this?

Meanwhile, my university has been aggressively integrating GenAI into its software licenses and digital infrastructure, which has been causing huge problems for everyone. To give an example, many incoming students from East Asia or with East Asian heritage can't upload their photos to their university profiles because the software flags them for using AI-generated images. Because all Asians look fake to the algorithm I guess?? At the same time, the East Asian language teachers have been asking the university to pay for licenses for region-specific GenAI tools that might potentially make huge advances in language learning, but the university (which has more money than God) has been ignoring them. Because why would a university want to use GenAI for actual education and pedagogical innovation amirite.

TLDR: This is dystopian and I hate it.

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More on the Switch 2 Discourse

Mon, 07 Apr 2025 13:08:47 GMT

I'll probably get a Switch 2 eventually, but I'm not in any rush. It doesn't mean much to me.

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TLDR: Fuck Nintendo, but Happy "Silksong Real" to all who celebrate. <3

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Lessons from Early Tumblr

Wed, 26 Mar 2025 12:26:18 GMT

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These are the three lessons I should have learned:

(1) Upsetting content is none of your business.
(2) Very few people “accidentally” post bigotry.
(3) Some people are just unhinged and unpleasant.

In conclusion, the Block button is your friend. 💖

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Re: It would be fun to write him as Hannibal Lecter tbh

Wed, 12 Mar 2025 13:06:54 GMT

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If I'm being honest, though, I'm totally onboard with the idea of Link being evil. Like, not just a primal force of chaos, but actively evil. That would be super fun to write. ~~Also he and Ganon should fuck about it.~~

But first I need to get over myself and finish the fic in front of me. Wish me luck, I guess.

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Thank you Dragon Age fandom... I guess??

Fri, 14 Feb 2025 13:34:59 GMT

Quillbot AI Detector
https://quillbot.com/ai-content-detector

I've found that AI detectors tend to be hit or miss, but this one seems to work well. What I especially appreciate about the way it works is that it's able to detect text that was generated by AI and then altered, either by hand or by another AI program.

I learned about this through discourse in the Dragon Age fandom, by the way. Apparently, you can now enter a short prompt into Gemini with the name of a character or ship, and the AI can match this keyword not only with the fandom, but also with its specific writing tropes.

If you're curious about the wank, people have been arguing about whether it's possible to write a 400k-word novel in a month. What this ridiculous argument underlines is the fact that there is a substantial (and passionate) audience for novels written by AI. This is dystopian, and I hate it.

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Re: Re: I'm probably delusional, but

Thu, 13 Feb 2025 13:37:55 GMT

I'm not saying that a Pokémon fan artist who doesn't want to get DMs with creepy commission requests is as bad as Elon Musk. Obviously. Still, I do believe it's significant that both of these groups are directing their political energy into a fantasy.

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This should go without saying, but "protecting children" has nothing to do with conspiracy theories about politicians injecting themselves with adrenochrome harvested from orphans; nor does it have anything to do with the stories people post about magical space wizards on AO3 dot org. People can (and should) believe whatever sort of weird nonsense they want, but problems arise when significant demographic groups become convinced that their political power lies entirely in controlling what they see in the media they consume.

There's more to say, but the headspace is too depressing for me to handle right now.

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Re: I'm probably delusional, but

Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:05:30 GMT

Here's an unannotated list of what the QAnon and Proship DNI movements have in common:

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These are all aspects of cult mentality, but I think the ways they manifest in these two loosely defined groups are specific to 2015-2025 internet culture. Annotation is necessary, but I wanted to go ahead and get the basics down.

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Bisexual (Summer) Solstice Beheading Games

Tue, 07 Jan 2025 13:10:13 GMT

once upon a bang
https://bsky.app/profile/fairytalebang.bsky.social/post/3lclbxs2cic2j

Introducing our first all-fandoms bang! Create brand-new works incorporating elements from fairytales & folklore.

I think I will, actually.

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What's a good story without a second act

Sun, 03 Nov 2024 19:14:58 GMT

I saw (this post) on Tumblr...

stories of people suffering for a long time and then healing in their 30s or 40s or 60s or something are the most important thing in the world and thinking about them is like wrapping my heart in a warm sheet

...and damn if it didn't resonate with me. I wasn't "suffering" in my teens and twenties as much as I was "desperately poor," and it's only when I was around 27 or 28 that I actually managed to achieve enough financial stability not to have to spend every spare moment working garbage jobs for pitiful amounts of money. It was only once I had that freedom that I was able to write and draw and play video games.

Ten years later, I realize that you're not actually that old in your late twenties, but there were a lot of people on Tumblr who were surprisingly mean to me at the time. Some of it was the general antifandom nonsense in the water during the 2010s, but some of it was personal, like accusations that I specifically was a sad and gross person for being on Tumblr at thirty years old. And that's a shame. The expectation that "adults" will spend all their time working (or caring for children) is horrible and depressing; and also, there's so much joy and creative energy that comes with the stability and perspective and accumulated experiences that are gained with age.

If I had to guess, I think that's probably why I write so many stories about people finding the courage to start the second act of their lives. They're good stories, and we need more of them.

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This is the dark academia I'm here for

Mon, 18 Mar 2024 16:54:44 GMT

While doing research on Bloodborne lore, I stumbled across a fanfic novella that's probably the best variation on "Shadow over Innsmouth" that I've ever encountered.

It's not necessary to be familiar with Bloodborne or Lovecraft to appreciate this story, which is a grim mystery that unfolds over the course of a series of interviews. So I thought I'd share:

🐟 https://archiveofourown.org/works/45502579/chapters/114490609

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Indie Comics Publishing in the 2010s, Part Two

Wed, 17 Jan 2024 18:03:39 GMT

Before I get into the case studies, this is a bit of contextualization. There's more to say, of course, but I think ten short paragraphs (about six to seven minutes of presentation time) is enough. Also, if you think I'm overemphasizing the impact of Homestuck, allow me to offer the alternative possibility that the Gen X crowd who studies live-action television fandom doesn't emphasize its impact enough. Okay, here goes:

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Indie Comics Publishing in the 2010s, Part One

Tue, 16 Jan 2024 18:35:46 GMT

I thought it might be good to share some notes for a conference presentation I'm giving in May. The topic is indie comics publishing in the 2010s, and this is the basic outline of what I'll be talking about.

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Final Fantasy After Dark

Sat, 30 Dec 2023 12:44:27 GMT

I need there to be an 18+ Final Fantasy server on Discord for writers and artists.

Not so anyone can do anything lewd. Rather, it would be nice to have a chill place to drop in and hang out and talk about video games where people can say "fuck" and discuss the plot of games that came out more than ten years ago without having to worry about spoilers.

There are two really good servers for Zelda artists (Zelda Creators and Linktober), but they're both purposely designed to be accommodating to children (under the age of thirteen). This is cool, but it's also not the type of space where I feel super comfortable.

Unfortunately I am terminally offline. I only check Discord once every three or four days, and then only for maybe five to ten minutes at a time. I can't create or maintain a server on Discord myself. The only way to be a part of a Final Fantasy community like this is to apply to zines and hope I get accepted.

So I guess my resolution for 2024 is to build a Final Fantasy portfolio and apply to Final Fantasy zines. My dream is for there to be a Final Fantasy VI zine one day, so that's what I'm going to focus on creating the perfect portfolio for. By this I mean that I am giving myself permission to write all the bizarre niche FFVI fic I always wanted to. I never wrote these stories because there is no audience, but that's okay; the audience is me.

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Re: GYWO 2024

Fri, 22 Dec 2023 22:45:16 GMT

> Honestly, I think anyone can do numbers on AO3 if they follow some simple rules and put in the work.

Sorry, I didn’t mean to be cryptic. Here’s how to do numbers on AO3:

(1) Write smut about popular characters.
(2) Write a decent amount of it.
(3) It helps if one or more of the characters is male.

And that’s it. Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.

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Zelda Horror Stories

Sat, 05 Aug 2023 11:45:44 GMT

I'm thinking about applying to Blood Moon Rising, a Legend of Zelda horror zine (on Twitter here). I've been feeling very shy and anxious about my writing recently and sort of want to disappear into a hole, so I'm not sure if I'll actually apply, but I put together some pitches.

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TLDR: I ship Calip and Tauro. The two of them are my ideal m/m dynamic; and, after doing the Thunderhead Isles quest to enter the fifth dungeon, I'm 99% certain that Tauro is canonically supposed to be in love with Calip (who unfortunately only cares about research). These two characters are so precious to me that I would gladly commission fanfic of them, but I'm afraid that I'm probably one of the only people in the Legend of Zelda fandom who can properly write "I would prefer for you to call me Dr." Calip. Bless his heart.

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