#'why did you read so many fics like that if you dislike this trope' well when you like minor characters you don't get to be choosy

[narrativelysignificantturtleduck]

i do wonder if i like that fic i recced so much bc during the initial hakoda&zuko fanfic boom i read so many fics where zuko was this nervous little traumatized baby who couldn't handle being around a dad figure at all and would have a panic attack if hakoda slightly raised his voice and so a fic that's like "yeah people might assume that's zuko's reaction to dad figures bc of his trauma but actually he'd be awkward around hakoda bc he's a gay teen and hakoda's hot" was just such a breath of fresh air. like i'm not sure the author meant to be like actively firing shots at that kind of fic but it does read that way

[knickknacksandallthat]

if you don't mind me asking, what got you into kevin's character?

for me it was actually your fic, but since its so normalized in the fandom to dismiss his trauma and call him a coward and annoying for doing things that other characters are loved for, i didn't really care about him when i first read the books

now hes my favorite

Oh, anon, I love this!! What an honor, I’m so glad to have helped you join the Kev lovefest 😊 (Welcome to the dark side lol!) It makes me so happy that the A Fallen Star series has awakened this in you! 💖

And wow, what a good question. I don't mind at all! I actually had to think about this for a while to try and remember…how the heck did I get here???

So here is my ridiculously uncalled-for POV on Kevin’s character and slow descent into madness below:

(Disclaimer that these are just my thoughts and anyone in the aftg fandom can hc or think whatever they like about Mr. Day 😊)

Like you, anon, I was easily swayed by Neil’s perspective of Kev on first read. It makes sense and is a credit to Nora how we so fully buy into Neil’s opinion of Kevin that many of us just run with it. And to be fair to the fandom, it’s canon – Andrew, Neil, and all the Foxes tell us he’s a coward and annoying and so we assume it must be true.

So, I created many fics that played into this image and focused on andreil. (Because who isn’t enamored with andreil??? Legit, deranged obsession and couple goals lmao). Using that lens, it was easy to make Kevin the punching bag because he is the quintessential “straight man” in comedy (and yes, I do hear the irony in that) – the foil to other characters to make them seem better, braver, funnier, smarter, etc. It’s an age-old trick/trope in fiction that works very well. And it was an easier transition for Nora to make, I think, once she made the decision to remove Kevin from the main narrative of her story.

This character setup works well enough when you’re doing a fic from Neil or Andrew’s POV, providing an easy source of humor to fall back on. So, for me, I think my thinking shifted once I started working on Flavors of Fall and delved into Andrew and Kevin’s storyline there. That fic forced me to think from Kevin’s perspective, and I found at the time I had a shallow understanding of what made Kevin tick. It totally threw me once I really started considering sequels for that fic and the 12 Day Program for Courtship, both of which have Kevin cast as a main character. I had to dive deep into his makeup, seriously considering his motivations, his likes/dislikes, his personality traits, his relationships, and how he would react in any given situation.

Because I was interested in his character development, I started delving into fics like orionauriga’s just pretend , @likearecordbb's Long Walk in the Woods, @thetrojeans daylights, sunsets, and @dayurno's the age of no regret series. They are all brilliant, fascinating character studies of Kevin Day and his relationships that are extremely well done. There’s many more, of course, but I was searching for fics that specifically delved into Kevin’s thought process and choices and stayed there a while.

That’s what led me to feeling like I needed to tell his story with Dead of Night. Of course, it turned into a larger series with my flavoring of Kerejean added because I’ve never been a huge Kevin/Thea relationship fan. (But that's a discussion for another day which you can start here and here for that adventure.)

Now all that I’ve described above gives you the mechanics of the descent – the when, the where, the how. But it crucially misses the why. What is it about Kevin that got me in the end?

Ironically enough, it was his potential.

I think when Nora stripped away any kind of romantic narrative (RIP Kandreil OR Riko/Kevin/Jean) or a chance for a tragic storyline (Kevin dying in the end) it resulted in removing a lot of Kevin’s emotional vulnerability. We don’t get to hear what he’s feeling or thinking unless it’s related to Riko, the Moriyamas, or Exy. This means his storyline is consumed by the stereotypical sports underdog story, with us following his rise to champion (which is still a powerful enough narrative on its own that shines even in the midst of Neil’s crazy plotline. Switching that racquet to his left hand in the championship game? Iconic.) 

However, it leaves us very much with a shell of a person. Kevin’s character outside of Exy is reduced to a handful of facts – there’s a passing comment on his like of history, and the stark evidence of an alcohol addiction as a coping mechanism. We’re told he used to dance. That he learned French because Jean Moreau taught him. That he has no qualms about taking (mild?) drugs (cracker dust). Despite how much we’ve run with it as a fandom, the only allusion I’ve found in the books to him being strict with diet is this section from The King’s Men:

“No one needs to eat this before a game,” Kevin said. “Eat some granola or protein if you’re that hungry.” “Hello, there’s protein in the peanut butter,” Nicky said. “Let go of me before I tell Andrew you’re outlawing chocolate. I said let go. You’re not the boss of me. Ouch! Did you seriously just hit me?” … “Kevin, just let him go,” Neil said. “It’s not worth fighting over.” “When our defense is sluggish, we all suffer,” Kevin said.

From what I can find in the books, Kevin never once denies Andrew eating ice cream. (Which I’m 100% able to admit I might have missed something so feel free to quote me where that scene is because I was totally searching for it). In fact, every time they go to Sweetie’s, it’s implied Kevin orders ice cream with them. In the infamous kissing scene in The King’s Men, we actually have proof that Kevin got ice cream:

Kevin still hadn’t messaged Nicky by the time they reached the ice cream aisle, so Nicky gave in and called him. Neil half-expected Kevin to ignore Nicky’s call, but Kevin wasn’t so sour with them that he’d turn down a free snack…Nicky grabbed spoons from the kitchen and distributed pints to their hungry owners. Neil checked his expression when Nicky came back from dropping Kevin’s off….

Now I do think it’s in line with his character and his upbringing to have issues with food, so I’m all for buying into that specific hc. But we have very little evidence of it in the text.

His personality is reduced mainly to anger, arrogance, or cowardice (all traits that don’t make us sympathize with him). The only facts we have about his Tragic Past™️ are two things: his mother’s death, and his hand injury. Everything else we assume is based on Neil’s knowledge of the mafia, Wymack’s hearsay, Andrew’s deductions, and Kevin’s reactions to Riko and Tetsuji. We have literally no idea what happened to Kevin in the Nest. His trauma and his time spent there is a complete mystery. The closest we get is Riko’s comment to Neil in The Raven King:

“I am going to love hurting you,” Riko said, “like I loved hurting Kevin.”

This, I think, is one of the main reasons many of the fandom “dismisses” Kevin’s trauma in comparison to Neil’s because we can’t see it. We don’t know what happened and we don’t get to experience it, so this lack of explanation or motivation leaves us only with very cold personality traits. We’re unable to root for him as a character because we can’t sympathize. We can empathize because we know Very Bad Things™️ must have happened in the Nest, but we don’t see them happen the same way we do Neil or Andrew. Even Kevin’s hand injury is old and “healed” when we’re first introduced to the character.

The only true canon moment where Kevin appears “human” is in The Raven King with Kevin’s “then run” and “you should be court” conversation with Neil. His admittance that Neil’s life is more important than Exy is instantaneous – he doesn’t even pause to throw his Exy dreams down the drain if it means Neil can survive.  In a weirdly parallel way, we see Kevin’s thought process implicit in his conversation: “at least you’d have a chance.” It is strikingly similar to Neil’s internal conversation of: one of us should make it. (And there’s another whole separate discourse I could get into on how Kevin and Neil are two halves of the same coin, but we’ll save that for another day.) But even the revelation of Wymack as his father has more shock value than true emotional weight – we never see what that conversation looked like or how either party actually reacted. (In some ways, I feel like Dan being pissed at Kevin is given more ���screentime” than Kevin’s response to telling his father and how Wymack reacted.)

So with Kevin’s emotions and past firmly locked down, we’re left to brush off Kevin’s reactions (or lack thereof) as part of his indifferent personality. It is what it says on the tin. (And that’s not to say Kevin is a perfect character by any means. He has flaws just like every other character.)

Now some people very accurately depict and buy into those limitations as simply being Kevin’s character/personality – I’ve read some awesome fics where Kevin is Ace/Aro and/or on the spectrum. These are completely valid, extremely well done, and I could totally see why others see and write him this way. Canon practically sets them up for it.

For me, though, it circles back to our skewed view of Kevin given to us by some deeply loved but also deeply flawed characters (cough, Andreil). Those same characters that we’re told time and again not to judge them by their cover but to try and understand how they’re affected by (and make choices because of) their trauma.

While Andrew and Neil end up giving each other this grace through a hard-fought battle of truths and exchanges, they do not extend this same courtesy to Kevin, and neither are we given the chance to do so. We literally can’t because, again, we don’t know what the full extent of Kevin’s trauma is.

Kevin doesn’t talk about his time in the Nest to any character, meaning we know nothing about it. Ergo we don’t know what choices Kevin makes because of it. In The Foxhole Court, Wymack specifically tells us Kevin was Riko’s pet. In fact, there is so much specific language that Kevin himself uses around the concept of ownership, and that Nora uses when referring to him that it jarringly sticks out in the text.  He has no sense of personal space or proper boundaries, viewing people only as assets to be used for the good of the team, which at the very least is a sign of mental abuse. But the fact remains that we just don’t know. We don’t know how far this mental abuse was taken, how often or severely he was injured, if he injured or was forced to injure others – we don’t know.

But it’s obvious whatever happened to him started as a child and built from there. Which means he has years of abuse and power dynamics embedded into him. He has every right to be afraid. In fact, we are demonstrably told and shown often in canon that Kevin is afraid…but fear does not equate to cowardice. In fact, we know that bravery often means being scared and doing something anyway. And in many cases, that’s just what Kevin did (with a crutch named Andrew). But even before he entered his deal with Andrew, it's important to remember that even though he was brainwashed and beaten from a young age to understand that he would die if he betrayed the Moriyama family in some way, he left them.

This is always so significant to me because so many abuse victims stay in their situation thinking/hoping/praying it will get better – either because of an idea that their abuser will change (“they’re just having a hard time at work rn”) or that the victim will fix whatever flaw the abuser finds lacking. Or alternatively, they recognize the situation is bad, but they can’t leave because they feel like they have nowhere to go, no one who will help them, trapped by their lack of skills/contacts/money. In Kevin’s case, both situations rang true. And yet he left. He left, and in only a year and a half’s time he recovered from his injury and led his team to the championship.

But he is only at the start of his recovery. I think he’ll need years of therapy to recover from all that happened in the Nest. I think many of his emotional and social shortcomings are a direct consequence of that timeframe and he did not have the freedom to address them until the threat of the Moriyamas was removed. I do not think they are permanent parts of his personality – I think in time, he will be allowed to grow and recover and contribute much more to his relationships than he’s capable of doing at the end of The King’s Men.

Though the series finished, I think Kevin’s story is just beginning.

That’s why I think he’s fascinating to explore as a character. That’s why I love writing him right now because in many ways, his possibilities are endless. There’s so many opportunities to explore different facets of his story that we never get a chance to in canon. Kevin’s character and narrative is a tantalizing tease which many of us have fell hook, line, and sinker for. (Including yours truly.) We want to rabidly sink our teeth into it and shake it, like a dog with a bone.

So we do. 😉

Phew. Okay, that’s enough. None of what I’ve written above is new I’m sure to those of the fandom who have been here since the beginning or have become diehard Kevin fans. But thank you for letting me ramble in this ask, anon. Writing about Kevin has been a very fun and therapeutic adventure for me. So I’m so glad that there are others out there who are enjoying it too 😊

[zenkindoflove]

I'm so late for the ask game!! I wanna ask you what hasn't been asked already yet:

🍅 ⇢ give yourself some constructive criticism on your own writing

🐝 ⇢ tag your biggest supporter(s) and say one nice thing about them

🧩 ⇢ what will make you click away from a fanfiction immediately?

🍅 ⇢ give yourself some constructive criticism on your own writing

I write sentences that are too complicated and sound confusing and often the biggest thing I cringe about when I re-read my edited work is "hey, when you were editing, why did you think THAT was a good sentence?" I should take more time to sit with my fics and edit them over several iterations and put time from the first draft to posting so that I can actually catch things.

🐝 ⇢ tag your biggest supporter(s) and say one nice thing about them

I'm actually intending on making a huge big post thanking everyone when PMID is done so I'm gonna save this one for then. It'll be happening soon (like by the end of the week)! I have so many nice things to say about so many of the people who have been supporting me. ❤️

🧩 ⇢ what will make you click away from a fanfiction immediately?

Before I say anything, I want people to understand that just because someone expresses a particular preference or taste in fanfic, and the things they dislike are things that you do, it is NOT a reason to feel insecure or that your writing and fanfic is not amazing and worthy. Fanfic is escapism primarily. It's all subjective.

I've been reading fanfic since I was 11 and I'm 35 years old now which means I've had almost 25 years of experience figuring out what it is that I like and don't like. I've read things that have truly made me feel ill and ruined my day, so I know now to avoid those topics. I have read fanfic that was extraordinary and profound and others that were juvenile and silly - both of which I've gotten immense enjoyment from reading.

Mostly when I read fanfic, I'm looking for a dynamic that I'm interested in reading about my ship. I think, as an OTP shipper, the dynamic and chemistry between the characters I love the most is what I'm most invested in. I'm not really looking for scenarios or tropes or certain kinks persay (and in fact, I'm mostly a very vanilla person so a lot of kinks I stay away from). When I'm reading, if I feel like "yes, this feels like my OTP" (fits the vision I have of them in my head) then usually I am interested in exploring with the writer as long as it isn't something that falls into a squick for me. If I encounter a squick that I know from the past will not sit well with me, or if I am growing annoyed or frustrated by how my OTP is interacting with each other, I click away. Because at the end of the day, I'm reading to get the feels. To explore how my ship could potentially fall in love for the 1000000000th time. If one of my NOTPs shows up, I'm probably going to have a bad time and click away too.

These aren't criticisms of the way that person writes THEIR story. That is just me being honest about what I know I will or won't have a good time with. Every fanfic and interpretation of a ship is valid and someone is going to be like "YES, THIS IS MY EXACT THING". Just because it's not my exact thing, doesn't mean it isn't good. Nor am I under any delusion that how I write my ships in my fics are going to be everyone else's exact thing. In fact, I welcome it not being everyone's thing. As nice of an idea that it is to be universally loved, it is not in any means realistic when it comes to art and fandom.

Writer Truth or Dare Ask Game

[killerandhealerqueen]

Shipper Tag Game

Tagged by @brazilian-whalien52 thank you friend!

1. What ship were you completely obsessed with when you were a teenager, but now you don't care anymore?

All of my old ships, like Destiel, Sabriel, Johnlock, Mystrade...I used to be super into Supernatural and Sherlock but I've like completely moved on from them. Though I do like to dive back into Johnlock fics every now and then

2. Which ship would you consider your first one?

USUK from Hetalia or either KakaVege from Dragonball Z. It's between those two, I think

3. Your first fanfic belonged to which couple?

Definitely USUK. You have no idea how many fics I read over on Deviantart about them. So many

4. Do you remember the first couple you saw a fanart over?

USUK or Russia x China from Hetalia...it was one of them. Can't remember, honestly

5. Did you ever get into ship discourse?

No. I don't get into discourse. I'm not very confrontational and I never liked fighting with anyone over their ships

6. Did you used to have any no-otp or have it currently?

FRUK or whatever the fuck France x UK was called. Can't remember. They were never a favorite of mine. Also Wincest. Like why?

7. Who were the couple in the last fanfic you read?

Bai Yutong x Zhan Yao (it was my own fanfic, thank you)

8. Currently, do you have any OTPs?

Normal about them a normal amount (don't look at my blog or ao3)

9. Is there any couple that, to this day, you are extremely mad about not getting together?

Um...honestly, I can't remember.

10. Is there any ship you used to dislike but now you think they are kind of interesting?

No, not really. If I dislike a ship, I just tend not to interact with it. So I won't go looking for content about it or check it out, even if a mutual or someone is talking about it

11. Do you have any ship that, in the past, was considered normal but now you would be cancelled over?

Sebaciel, Eren x Levi, anything hetalia related...these were all like the normal ships in middle school for me and like...now people (especially on instagram but who the fuck listens to people on instagram) just do not like them. But I still like them.

12. What was your favorite crack ship?

I never did crack ships, honestly. Which might seem weird to some people but it was just never my thing

13. Who is the couple you read more fanfics off?

Now, if we're talking about my own fanfics, it's Yuezhi. I read so much of my own fics about them. But if we're not then...McDanno is the one who has the most bookmarks in my ao3 bookmarks

14. What most of your ships usually have in common?

Enemies to lovers, doctor x cop, black and white couple (means one wears black/dark clothes majority of the time and the other wears light/white clothes majority of the time), grumpy x sunshine...i'm sure there are other things but i can't remember

15. What you absolutely hate in a ship?

Miscommunication. Like, you're supposed to be in love with each other, right? Which means you communicate with each other for fucks sake. I know miscommunication is a big romance trope but it's just so stupid. It causes so much drama and unnecessary anxiety and just...just fucking talk to each other you assholes (I will give a pass to this trope if it's done well...like you think it's a misunderstanding but actually the characters have talked about this and they're faking the misunderstanding/miscommunication. Killer and Healer has some miscommunication but it actually makes sense why there's miscommunication...doesn't mean I have to like it, but it makes sense, so it gets a pass)

tagging: @clawbehavior @missjudge-me @hyperbolicgrinch @ahhhnorealnamesallowed @fourth-quartet @nineninepetals @marulo @writerwithoutsound @hils79 @godotismissingx @darktecno @zennialemo and anyone else who wants to play

[celltheory]

i know this is a me problem but i cannot get super invested in challengers because i do not care about either of those men at all...josh o'connor used to be so special to me...and now...still cannot articulate why i find men so boring and/or offputting. used to feel like i was ~protesting too much~ iykwim but now...i don't know. the ratio of fandom's investment in men vs. women is so tiring but is def not going to change and there are reasons why that's true that i understand. but i just...ugh.

tennis at its peak to me was serena/caro/angie/maria/vika/venus/etc and all the contrasting and weird dynamics that were SO different from each other. you can add aga in there too. and it was interesting because of the expectations of how they were meant to act vs. how they did. and now i really dislike them both and am disappointed/angry about a lot of their views, but the chrissie/martina rivalry was so INSANE. like that documentary haunts me and the book about them is like...wow. and the men's versions just do not hit the same for me. like roger/rafa is so boring and i think if i had been paying attention during the peak of it, i'd be more interested in it? but it's so...blah. i think maria/serena tensions are insaaane and for so many reasons and i think it's partially understandable, partially a shame that their rivalry and careers get reduced to these very simplistic tropes that i think are deeply unfair to both of them. like people think maria is one thing and she really is not? and flattening her is shit for so many reasons...god. anyway. i don't know what my point is. i know that a WTA movie wouldn't hit the same way as challengers. and i know it's also just not a movie for me. because the whole ot3 never really works. writing the fic for it was like ok. do i care about him being pathetic? and the answer is no!

rafa/novak is actually kind of interesting to me ngl i miss that account....the history was like damn ok! rn i'm def more lenient of caring about ~shit people or i guess being interested. like obviously not the most vile people like zverev is just so horrible to me i cannot. and then there's more opinion based ones like rublev drives me bonkers because the babygirlism of him is disgusting to me and i think...whatever. this isn't my point. this was supposed to be a post about how i wish i could get invested in f1 but i cannot. the pathway of like...nba fandom (a select few, imo most steph/klay which was like...not really for me but now that they're seperated and watched the wnba game sitting apart...well i am interested!) to f1 fandom to the motorsports thing which i do NOT get is so baffling to me.

hockey is like...the one sport i know the most about and have loved for the longest period of time but i just...i am not built to be romantic about sports or like...oh my god these men hugged. wow. what does it MEAN. like i don't get any of it. i've tried reading the articles and the books and i just find it so embarrassing. and boring! and obvious? unless it gets turned into something that i do not really think exists but it sounds smart. i don't know. like team dynamics etc are so interesting to me but i also think they're so segmental. and contextual that i get sooo bored of like...the reading into it. and then i feel bad because people act like you should be murdered if you read into it with women. but i get that because women's sports already has so many existing relationships that it's not as fun to play pretend because it's a lot easier to forget about male athlete's rl partners etc than like...the fact that mpp is marrying laura stacey. like dartmouth's laura stacey. can you believe that? i still cannot tbh. i don't know! i have no point. sometimes i feel like i am hanging onto fandom and i really should not because i feel like such a drag. the new tennis rpf fics has actually been so good because it isn't boring m/m pairings with no tension. SORRY! but like damn...is this growth? idk. i don't even have anything to bring to the table rn...

also back to challengers the only positive emotion i've had about it in a while was comparing that trio to ben affleck/jlo/matt damon. now that is interesting.

it is baffling to me that qinwen/iga has been the pairing that's hit the most out of every wta pairing i've randomly decided to try. aryna/paula does not interest me at all i'm so sorry. the emma/qinwen was v good and i think the edge of it is what i like. too far but not really at all. unless you're like...rpf should be illegal. which i obviously don't feel that way but i def experience a lot of internal shame about it. i miss writing but i think the unfinished twu fic that will never become anything makes me not want to start writing anything that isn't a one shot that taps out by 10k for sure.

[raelis1]

Lex Luthor 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 12, 18, 20, 23, 25, 26, 29, 30 :)

My first impression of them: weird-looking guy in a show full of people looking like beautiful plastic dolls. What's he doing here and why are all of his plots involve some grown-up stuff about corporate espionage and whatever when it's clearly a show for teens? hmm, hmm, is he the rich friend of the protagonist? could there be some class difference dynamic at play here? maybe i should look for some fic (I had no idea this was a show about young Superman and thought it was just a supernatural teen drama like Sabrina the Teenage Witch or Kyle XY)

When I think I truly started to like them (or dislike them, if you've sent me a character I don't like): when I read the Identical series. I'd seen only a few episodes of SV before and decided to look for fic because I had a hankering for some class difference stories (one of my favorite tropes). I found someone's rec list and randomly clicked on a few titles. Identical swallowed me whole! I kept reading well into the night and had to skip class the next day 😂 After that I decided to take a pause and watch some canon. And then I realized I fell in love with Lex after watching Jitters.

A song that reminds me of them: Crashed by Daughtry is *the* Clex song from Lex's POV. But honestly? Every song is a Lex song if you try hard enough (and boy, do I try).

8. Your favorite outfit of them: jeans in Lexmas! He should have worn jeans more often! I am very fond of his purple shirts and grey pullovers too! They're so Lex.

9. Your least favorite outfit of them: the Zod coat was just silly.

12. Sexuality hc! this boy is bi. anyone who sees him as straight must have been watching some other show.

18. How do you think they were as a kid? (Like, were they shy, noisy, wild, etc): judging by the show canon, he was shy and bookish, very nerdy, curious, imaginative, sensitive and smart. Also loyal and empathetic. I reject most of the backstory from Reunion because it doesn't fit with the information of Lex's teenage years the show provided earlier. By 16, Lex was already confident enough that 10yo Lana met him when he was skinny-dipping with a girl and teaching her the "breaststroke". I can't see Reunion!Lex ever doing that.

20. A weird headcanon: hmmm, nothing comes to mind. all my headcanons are pretty basic.

23. Future headcanon: I think Lex is an explorer by nature, fascinated by the mysteries of the universe. He's also a sci-fi geek. I think he'd be interested in space exploration and use his wealth and intelligence to move humanity forward.

25. When do you think they acted the most ooc: the Thanksgiving scene (went on about this at length already), the fake-baby plot (so stupid! I can live with Lex being evil, but I can't accept him being stupid! why tf did he think this would keep Lana with him?), the entirety of Phantom, most of season 6 actually.

26. When do you think they were being "themselves" the most? So many episodes come to mind. Jitters, Asylum, Ryan, Prodigal, Memoria, Zero, Scare. If we're talking negative qualities, then Insurgence, Nicodemus, X-Ray. But if I have to choose one scene? I think he was his most authentic self when he was mucking the stalls at the Kents and grinning at Clark.

29. How do you think they would be as a parent? (and if they are a parent, how do you think they would be if they weren't?) We've seen how he relishes being a parent in Lexmas, but it's an idealized vision, a dream. In reality, I think he would be terrified of being a parent. He admits something to this extent in the show. I think it would take some time for him to accept that he can be a good father, but I doubt he'd actually consider having children on purpose. The only scenario that makes sense to me is Lionel creates Kon without Lex's knowledge, and Lex is as shocked and resistant to accept it as Clark is. In my headcanon, Clark is first to come around to the idea of having a child, and Lex takes far longer to adjust, but when he does, he's the most ferociously devoted (and over-protective) parent you could imagine.

30. The funniest scene they had? the one where he runs past Clark in Heat and the Godfather one in Drone.

[timandlucy]

2, 12, 13, 26, 38, 40, 44, 49 😘

2. Go to your AO3 “Works” page, to the sidebar with all the filters, and click the drop-down arrow for “Additional Tags.” What are your top 3-5 most used tags? Do you think they accurately represent your writing habits?

Fluff, Smut, Emotional hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Smut, Established Relationship.

I'd say that's very accurate, yes. 😂

12. Are there any tropes you used to dislike but have grown on you?

The soulmate trope, I guess? I read one that kind of changed my mind about it.

13. Are there any tropes you used to like but don’t anymore?

I think that's more of an age thing, but I like teen AUs a lot less than I used to. I mean I even wrote one for Linstead, but I don't see myself reading or writing any.

26. Would you rather write a fic that had no dialogue or one that was only dialogue?

Oh damn that's hard. Even though I love dialogue, I'd have to say no dialogue, because you can speak with actions as well as with words. While where there is only dialogue without any tags, how the words were spoken and so on, you don't really have much.

38. Did any of your fics get surprisingly popular (whatever that means to you)? Which ones? Why do you think they were so successful?

Not really... All my fics get around the same amount of kudos and comments, I wouldn't say one is a lot more successful than all the others.

40. Do you tend to reread fics or are you a one-and-done kind of person?

I do re-read! I absolutely haven't had enough time but I'm dying to go re-read some of my faves.

44. If you take/write prompts: do you prefer dialogue or scenario/narrative prompts?

I do take prompts! I just make no promises about them 🙈 I prefer scenario/narrative prompts but sometimes a dialogue one can be nice because you can take it in so many different directions!

49. What are you currently working on? Share a few lines if you’re up for it!

You know very well everything I'm working on 😂 Here's an excerpt from my sugar daddy wip that I might or might not one day finish. (I hope sugar daddy isn't next roommates Sarah)

“Lucy.”

She looks at him, cheeks flushed and head spinning.

“Breathe.”

She chuckles and nods. “I’m sorry. I ramble when I’m nervous. And that last coffee I had might have been overkill.”

“It’s okay. All you need to do is take my arm, smile at people. Maybe have a dance with me. Keep the rambling to a minimum while we're there. I happen to quite enjoy it, but the people at the party might take offence if you call anyone bald and fat. Then I’ll take you home.”

[tadpolesonalgae]

hey tabby! 🫀anon here, thank you so much for taking the time to reply and with such kindness at that🥹

>>Gosh, I hope you aren’t disappointed by it—just as a heads up it might be a little slow in parts but I hope you enjoy it :)

First off, Gosh, I don't think I COULD be disappointed by ANYTHING that you write, like honest to God, your work heals me. I'm just having a hard time deciding if I want to wait cbmthy out till it's complete or if I should just start it already 😭 because I know I'll just want to tear my hair off if the latest chapter ends in like a cliffhanger or something.

>>(I loved him being cold, and cruel, and kind of flirtatious 🫢😳)

💯 i mean, sameee gurl sameee 👌🏻

honestly, I loved Rhysand's character soo much throughout the 1st book even tho sjm did not exactly make him seem like a "main" character or one who's on the "good" side in it, and I was even prepared for him as a villain of sorts? like, I don't mean Amarantha or Hybern level of villain, but deffo like badguy with ulterior motives that don't really affect the world in a bad sense but would definitely resort to immoral ways to accomplish said ulterior motives kind of bad? so kinda like an anti hero ig? (sorry if I'm not making sense, it's just English isn't my first language and I didn't know how to translate it best. also, I'm also not very good with words 🥲) which might be why I absolutely loved your dark!Rhys fics, Gods were they amazing, thankyou for writing them luv🤌🏻

>>I never hated Tamlin though

oh I'm so glad somebody resonates with me on this, now I don't know if you still like/don't dislike him after all the books or if you only meant through the first book, but I personally would love to see his character explored a lot more and think there's a lot of scope but for some reason everywhere I see, there's only hate for him(mostly) and I hate that some people judge me(and a lot of other readers) solely on the basis of characters we like/dislike? needless to say, I wouldn't say I hated tamlin either, infact I still enjoy feylin fics a lot even tho I don't get to read very many of them. it's just that back when I was reading ACOMAF I just NEEDED my otp(feysand) to happen fsr lol😅 honestly I don't think I'd have minded all that much if feylin was infact endgame, I'd just have been a little sad is all lol🥲 because how many otps of mine just didn't happen?(😭the answer is in a good high tens)

>>I mean to be fair, I don’t really watch films or tv shows at all anymore, and until acotar I hadn’t read many books so I think I might have been oblivious to those tropes/cliches

I so completely understand this bit, because personally, I'm exhaustingly clueless about a lot of media that people are usually just raving on and on about and it's not usually because I don't want to watch it, but there are these attention deficit tendencies that love visiting me on a regular basis that just won't let me sit down, load a show and watch it till the end😭 I mean, I watched the 1st iron man movie 16 years after it first came out so🥲and it wasn't for a lack of trying, I've been meaning to watch it for the past 8 years or so and I just got around to it. honestly it's a miracle I read all the Acotar books to the end lol

>>Thank you so much for writing in!!

Thank YOU for actually taking out the time to read it AND reply to it, in such detail at that. i truly mean it when I say you're one of the kindest individuals I've interacted with online and you inspire me to pass that kindness on as well.

ps: this isn't exactly an ask but I just couldn't NOT reply to your message, so I'm just glad you read it, you really don't have to reply to it, I'm just happy to have sent this message on it's way.

we all love you, Tabby.

—🫀

‘First off, Gosh, I don't think I COULD be disappointed by ANYTHING that you write, like honest to God, your work heals me.’

😭🫂🫂🫂🫂 thank you so much 😭🧡💛

‘I'm just having a hard time deciding if I want to wait cbmthy out till it's complete or if I should just start it already 😭 because I know I'll just want to tear my hair off if the latest chapter ends in like a cliffhanger or something.’

Oooh gosh, I guess it’s up to you? There’s still a lot of the story left to write—I’d say we’re probably either half or two thirds of the way there in terms of storyline and events that will happen. It’s not going to be over any time soon, basically, which is both exciting and pretty scary 😭

Honestly I think the tension is in the first half, if that makes sense? (Which it probably doesn’t since you don’t know reader’s fate, but 🤷) There’s going to be a ‘half’ chapter which adds in some contexts to reader’s history, but I think after chapter 15, that should be where the tension relaxes a bit? I like to think that in *very* broad terms, chapters 1 through 15 are the ‘hurt’ ones, and 16 onward will be the ‘comfort’ ones? There are still going to be intense moments but she might not have to be on her own anymore (provided she learns to seek help when she needs it)

‘but deffo like badguy with ulterior motives that don't really affect the world in a bad sense but would definitely resort to immoral ways to accomplish said ulterior motives kind of bad?’

Yes! Like I’m happy with how Feysand turned out, but I would have been fine if Rhys stayed ‘evil’ for a bit longer 🫢 just a few more scenes of him being super scary and Feyre being wary of him 🤭

I feel like even as soon as he first visited her in her cell, there was a suggestion he wasn’t that bad? Especially after we learned only one person bet on her winning? Ignoring how acotar characters would write that off as a whim, from a storytelling standpoint that’s a pretty clear way of singling a character out and making them significant 🤭

‘(sorry if I'm not making sense, it's just English isn't my first language and I didn't know how to translate it best. also, I'm also not very good with words 🥲)’

Girl if you hadn’t straight up said English isn’t your first language, I would’ve had no idea 😭

‘which might be why I absolutely loved your dark!Rhys fics, Gods were they amazing, thankyou for writing them luv🤌🏻’

Thank you so much!!! Yes, I have to say there is a certain appeal to writing dark characters, but only if they have a soft spot of some kind for the reader 😭🧡💛

‘oh I'm so glad somebody resonates with me on this, now I don't know if you still like/don't dislike him after all the books or if you only meant through the first book,’

I didn’t hate him in the first book or any other after that, BUT, I did definitely get frustrated with him during the High Lords’ meeting 😭 I kind of wish we got his perspective on that, or at least more about his character? Because Feyre dismantling stability within the Spring Court was quite a brash move I think, and one she might have decided against if she wasn’t having to deal with so many other matters as well as sorting through her own emotions? Because she definitely went through a lot 😭

I guess I feel that Tamlin has a lot of anger in general, which can make him impulsive and volatile at times—like when Feyre first realised she could make a shield in his office—and I’d love to see Sarah explore that more!!

‘but I personally would love to see his character explored a lot more and think there's a lot of scope’

Yes! Exactly!! There’s so much we don’t know about his character and so much potential to spin new stories? Ugh I would love that so much 😭

‘and I hate that some people judge me(and a lot of other readers) solely on the basis of characters we like/dislike?’

I mean, I think it’s made more complicated because of immersion and how emotionally connected some people feel to characters? I was having a conversation about how we all read the same books but it’s interesting there’s such a vast range of opinions? Like some people really hate Nesta, which I can see why I suppose but I personally love her 🧡💛

I think the problem starts when people get too attached to characters that they’re unable to speak objectively about them? I’m definitely guilty of this too though 😭 one of my friends read acotar and was saying something about Az and how they didn’t like him and I straight up asked them to stop because I knew it would upset me 😭 (they did, which was kind of them ☹️)

‘it's just that back when I was reading ACOMAF I just NEEDED my otp(feysand) to happen fsr lol😅’

No I get that 🤩

The tension being set up both in the one bed at the inn scene and the Court of Nightmares moment just made the resolution really enjoyable for me! Not so much the smut part, but when Rhys finds her in the cabin and they end up having a heart to heart, and Rhys tells her more about his history? It just made me feel so happy for them so I know what you mean about wanting them to get together!

‘but there are these attention deficit tendencies that love visiting me on a regular basis that just won't let me sit down, load a show and watch it till the end’

I don’t have it to that extent, but I know that on a smaller scale, I like having music or videos playing in the background while I work? Especially while doing more domestic work like the washing up, changing my sheets, generally tidying etc. it makes the process so much easier, and I won’t get bored of the work or feel guilty for relaxing during ‘work hours’ on weekends

‘I've been meaning to watch it for the past 8 years or so and I just got around to it.’

8 YEARS?? 🫢

Well done for keeping up the determination to actually watch it! 🎉

‘Thank YOU for actually taking out the time to read it AND reply to it, in such detail at that.’

I honestly cannot explain how much I love getting to speak with you. Genuinely, it’s so wonderful being able to interact with other people who like acotar and especially getting to discuss and debate different elements of the story has got to be one of my favourite things about fandom 🫂🧡💛

‘we all love you, Tabby.’

My eyes are prickling for some reason ☹️

Thank you for writing in and taking the time to read through the fics on here ☹️🫂🧡💛

[that-angry-noldo]

No, actually, I want to talk about how most of my tolkien "unpopular opinions" and dislike for "everything's not so simple" comes from russian fandom.

When I only started getting into the fandom, russian really was my only way to do so. Ukrainian fanfiction was fairly underdeveloped (or I didn't have the skills to find better sources), and my knowledge of english was... poor, to say the least. So, yeah, russian fandom that is.

And boy, oh boy, what an experience that was. Russian most popular trope, unsurprisingly, was "everything's not so simple".

Kinslayings? Not so simple, Feanor was justified. Lay of Leithtian? Beren is a monster and should be burnt; Luthien is a naive girl who travels naked, actually; Celegorm and Curufin are her noble resquers; Finrod deserves to die for his idiotism. Miriel & Indis? Why is it even a question, of course Indis is an evil stepmother, of course Miriel is pure and without a flaw, of course 2nd & 3rd houses shouldn't have existed!

The Valar? Hey, did you know russians have "The Black Book of Arda" - a book that is basically about poor little Melkor being right and cruel and scary Valar being mean to him?

I read many fics, but there were three that stuck to me the most (i don't remember their names, though): the one that wanted to retell the silmarillion in the "right" way, the one that basically said C&C were right for capturing and threatening Luthien, and the one where everyone was evil, except elves who lived in Beleriand.

The first one... the first one was basically a huge Feanor apologism, even though the author claimed that they were "just adding nuance" and that "you should always look past the text implications" and that "you can't be in the right if you don't spill a bit of blood, actually". I mean, even if at one point author implies that yeah, 2nd and 3rd houses shouldn't have really existed, it's a huge red flag for me.

The second one, well - the plot goes like this: C&C capture Luthien; C&C talk with Luthien; the talk goes basically like this: "Look little miss, you are your father's daughter. Your father has an army. What we're saying is, you marry Celegorm, he won't love you, you won't love him, yeah you'll be unhappy, your Beren is dead anyways, all we need you for is basically your dad's army." And it is painted as a right decision for Luthien to forsake Beren and marry Celegorm. When someone in the comments said "hey, don't you think what the feanorians told luthien was pretty off the rails?", the author exploded, saying, again, that we should see nuance, and that luthien made the right choice not retrieving the silmarill that would cause 2nd kinslaying and that C&C are much more well-thought that Finrod, and that yeah Finrod is an idiot and the fact that he and Beren will now inevitably die and his death will be pointless - well, sucks to suck, I guess.

Brr. I still get flashbacks from that comment section.

The last one basically shitted on humans. Humans? Oh you mean magicless filthy creatures who only lie, insult and are parasites that need to be destroyed? And everyone who's not an elf should die? And the elves under Valar influence should die, too? And Valar are actually parasites? And Eru is a myth? Yeah. Yeah you know what.

Russian fandom yells about "nuance" but their nuance are just sides switched. Black becomes white, white becomes black. And if you disagree, well, you clearly can't see past the 2nd-3rd Houses biased Noldor propaganda and should therefore be destroyed. (Ha. Seeing some paralels with real life now, honestly.)

That's why I left, kinda. I just felt so tired, all the time. This is why I prefered LoL as a fairytale, and this is why I mostly prefer following canon. Because for me Tolkien was an escapism, first and foremost, but I felt like I needed to have entire essays at hand just to defend my love for it.

In conclusion, I was an unprepared Ukrainian thrown in the mist of Misterious Russian Soul™ and was gradually taking 1d4 confusion damage, until I was so tired I left entirely. And I'm glad I did so, because English fandom is so much more chill, and when people say/criticise something, they do specify that it is just their opinion on a fictional world and people don't have to wage wars and write multiple essays to enjoy their fave.

P.S. My biggest beef to this day is Finarfin being portrayed as a tiny whiny man unable to raise his voice. Whenever I remember that fic I immediately want to bite. But it's just me, probably.

[phantomato]

Hi:) I love your writing so so much. Gorgeous characterisation, intelligent prose, etc! Just wondering if would you like to share your thoughts on Nottmort and Tomarry for that ask game👀 (and more specifically on Harry as a character, if you’d like, because I adored him in Made of Clay but I am also aware he probably isn’t a favourite character of yours, so I’m a little curious why, is all.) Thank you and have a nice day💗

Thank you for such kind words! ❤️ They’re lovely to hear. I’ll refer you in part to my past posts that touch on Harry, and also encourage you to send me a DM (here, Discord, wherever) if you want to chat in more depth! I love chatting. For the ask game, I’ll stay on the ships and limit it to a reasonable length.

Why don’t you ship Tomarry?

Because I dislike it and every trope that underlies it, and then at a certain point it became a matter of stubbornness and frustration as a Tom Riddle fan who did not ship it.

What would have made you like it?

I cannot give a fair and equitable answer to this! My dislike is as calcified as the tropes within Tomarry, lol. I will note that I rarely ship enemies-to-lovers, and so any possible way that I might ship this loses one of the essential pillars of their canon dynamic. I think that’s generally unsatisfying, as both an author and a reader, and so it’s best that I don’t try and find a vision of Tomarry which would work for me.

Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?

It’s the big ship for Tom, and I appreciate it so much when a Tomarry reader stumbles into my rare pairing corner and decides to give my writing a shot. Fewer people would be reading niche Tom fic if not for Tomarry’s popularity.

What made you ship Nottmort?

I accidentally walked into it through a fic that was meant to be another pairing tbh. But really, it’s the flexibility that appeals to me—Thoros isn’t even his real name, for goodness’ sake, it’s totally a fan construct. Nott Sr. exists as whatever I want him to be because there isn’t any canon to contradict that. We’re not going to have slap fights about correct characterization for Nott Sr. And what that amounts to is that I’ve gotten to create my own character, with exactly the traits I most enjoy, to pair up with Voldemort. It could have been some other surname-only Death Eater of that generation, so it having been Nott comes down to circumstance. Now that it is Nott, I’m never giving him back. Nott Sr. belongs to the canon of Harry Potter; my Thoros belongs to me.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

I love that Thoros is just as selfish as Voldemort—his key difference is that he expands the self out to encompass Voldemort as well, and Theodore in universes where Theo is born. It’s an interesting model for Voldemort to encounter, to have to reckon with; this is a man who suggests that it’s possible to have and maintain friendships, to function within normal society, all without adopting the moral values that someone like Albus argues are necessary. And Thoros isn’t hypocritical about it in the way that e.g. Mrs. Cole might have been, demanding virtues of Tom that she did not possess. 

I love that a life with Thoros requires Voldemort to ask what his values actually are, and how he wants to prioritize him. My Thoros is stubborn enough to say ‘no’ when asked for something he’s unwilling to give, and so Voldemort is forced to confront that he cannot live eternally with Thor by his side. If it’s love, and Voldemort always does know that it’s love, then he must make a choice about what love is worth to him. 

And the devil is in the details—these characters are peers, of the same age group; they spend formative years together; they have many of the same acquaintances and cultural references; they respect one another; they are both academically-inclined and value knowledge in the same way. There are a lot of similarities, which make the philosophical questions stand out more and feel possible to reconcile, or even make them feel worth reconciling. 

Ultimately, I crafted Thoros to be exactly the partner I want for Voldemort. That’s cheating, I know. I fell in love with Thoros in his own right, though, and I take that as a success.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

Unpopular versus… myself? Lol. I suppose it’s generally unpopular to write something other than enemies-to-lovers romance for Voldemort, but I’ll always make the case that there’s a huge world of relationships beyond enmity, and opening up to those gives a much wider range of potential tension points or disagreements on which to base a story.

[griseldabanks]

11, 13, 34, and 41

11. Are you partial to a certain character/pairing or are you more equal-opportunity? If you are partial to any character/pairing, why do you think that is?

Well, obviously I tend to write the most about my favorite characters, and my favorite characters tend to be brothers (like the Elric brothers) or at least in a brotherly sort of friendship (like Steve and Bucky). I think a lot of that comes from my brother being my best friend growing up. There are a lot fewer stories about a brother-sister duo rather than two brothers, for some reason, so those are the characters I end up falling for most of the time. I just love the camaraderie and selfless nature of sibling love, two people who have known each other their whole lives and would literally die for each other.

Within brother duos, it's usually really hard for me to pick a favorite, but now I'm wondering what the result would be if I did a study to see whether I end up writing one POV more than the other. Without taking the time to do so (because that would take forever), I would guess I've written more from Ed's POV than Al in my FMA fics, mostly because he's the main character (so he's the one things happen to most often), and because my Parental!RoyEd 100 Themes fic skews things away from Al. In my MCU fics...that's harder to say. I might end up writing Steve more, but with the focus still usually being on helping Bucky through various issues. Probably because that's really what I'd want to do if I were there.

You know, that's interesting. In both of those duos, my first impulse would be to say that Ed and Steve are the ones that I identify with less, but they're the POVs I end up writing more. If, indeed, that is the case.

13. Are there any tropes you used to like but don’t anymore?

Ugh, I hate answering questions about tropes, because I always end up feeling like everything is a trope or nothing is -_- I've never particularly cared for the main tropes people talk a lot about, like "enemies to lovers" or "only one bed" or "high school AU" or whatever. The closest I can think of is that I read a lot fewer sickfics than I used to? After a while, they all start sounding the same unless you do something different with them, because there's only so many ways a person can be lying in bed, sick with something, while someone else takes care of them. I wouldn't say I categorically dislike sickfics - I've written plenty myself - but I think I pass more of them up these days than I used to.

34. What aspects of your writing are inspired by/taken from your real life?

Other than the very occasional dream-based fic or something, it's mostly the small details that worm their way in. Like how I have Steve hardly ever use his voice when he cries - I'm the same way. Or my OC Leyla, who has a cat named Simon who is based on this lovely cat who hung around my college campus one year, who would yowl angrily at you until you sat down and made a lap for him to curl up in (we named him for Simon's Cat). Or any number of books and movies that get referenced because I like them and want to get a chance to talk about them, even just briefly. And...well, I haven't written it yet, but let me just say that when I finally get to the point of writing Steve and Sharon's wedding, the mishap I'm planning for their special day is based on the mishap from my parents' wedding ;)

41. Link a fic that made you think, “Wow, I want to write like that.”

There are so manyyyyyyy @_@ I don't know how to pick just one, because I tend to think that whenever I read any halfway-competent fic. I'm pretty confident when it comes to grammar and wordsmithing; I know I can write a coherent story with nothing egregiously wrong. But I always feel like everybody else is so much better at characterization - both at understanding what really makes the character tick, and in conveying that to others. I'm also pretty bad at writing humor (or at least, it takes three times as much effort as writing anything else), so any time I read something that makes me laugh, I think, "I wish I could write like that."

But I have to pick something, so I'll pick the first fic I thought of that fits both of these criteria: "Silver Bullet" by @x-rainflame-x It's an FMA fic in which Ed becomes convinced that Mustang is a werewolf, and it is a hilariously, beautifully written piece of almost-crack XD I long for the day when I might be able to put someone in stitches as much as I was when I read it, while still being so true to the characters even in such an extreme situation.

Fic Writer Asks

[shivunin]

12, 13 and 14 for the fanfic author meme please? 😊

💗 Thank you for asking, Lilou!

Prefacing all of this by saying...I am an extremely picky reader, which is what makes it so hard to find fic I like, and none of my thoughts here translate to like. An Opinion on fandom at large.

(Fic Writer Asks)

12. Are there any tropes you used to dislike but have grown on you?

Enemies to lovers. I read a few really good fic that start with either superficial reasons to dislike each other or mutual respect/loathing that made me see the trope differently. I still wouldn't say I love it (that trope ranking thing I did was on accident lol) but I do like it a lot more than I used to.

13. Are there any tropes you used to like but don’t anymore?

Hmmm I can't think of any? When I was ~13 I was really into soulmate stories (not specifically fic) and I have a very low tolerance for it now, but that's the only one that comes to mind. I think it has interesting implications that just don't often get explored, specifically.

(I have thought of doing a soulmate AU for Zev and Wen where both of their soulmates have died and they fall in love w each other anyway actually c: I want to play with the basis of the trope being "no matter who you are or what you've done, someone out there will love you" but in my To The Bone configuration of soulmates)

14. Are there any tropes you would only read if written by a trusted friend or writer?

Oh, so many.

*Prefacing this by saying again that there is nothing wrong with any of these tropes or writers/readers who enjoy them (I've written several myself), I am just a very picky reader.*

Full-game rewrites (I think I've only made it through one, and that only because it was written in journal form)

Miscommunication plots (has to be a better reason than "just cus").

Love triangles (and even then...I've only read one I've liked).

"Canon divergence" in general is one of the biggest, actually, because for me it is only fun if the person writing it is very immersed in canon and intentionally changing elements of it, and it frequently does not feel that way. I really need to trust the writer before I jump into one, so this is actually the biggest reason I won't read/continue reading a fic.

Pregnancy/baby fic, because I tend to find that much of what I've come across tends to fall into a lot of weird gender-role-reinforcing stuff that's...aside from being strange and alienating, just not fun to read.

I could sum most of this up by saying that I really like being hurt by fic, but I want to be hurt correctly (with prep work and safe words and so on). Also, a lot of the tropes I dislike are...well. To be honest, probably something I'll write eventually. I often wind up turning things I dislike over in my mind a lot to try to figure out why, and then I start thinking about how I would alter the bit I dislike to make it something I like instead and...well. That's how I wound up with To the Bone and Search Your Hands and Unyielding and More than Memory and...Yeah.

[daughterofhecata]

for the fic writer meme: 3, 4, 5, 9, 11, 12, 13, 37, 48? (sorry, i'm just curious!)

[questions for fic writers]

That's fine! Thanks!

3. What are some tropes or details that you think are very characteristic of your fics?

...looooots of Enemies to Lovers, and Age Gaps, and [Friends/Colleagues/Enemies/etc] with Benefits, Casual Sex, D/s Undertones (or overtones xD), fun things like that. I think something that especially shows up in a lot of smutty one shots really is the sex without an attached relationship or romantic feelings, or at least not centered around that, because I simply am very aromantic and I like my no-strings-attached smut fics, and I especially like it with Cotta/one of the boys, because they can be soft and sweet with each other without the possibility of a romance looming in the background. (I really need to write some explicitly aromantic Cotta at some point.)

4. What detail in [insert fic] are you really proud of?

[this is a little hard without a fic! because have you seen how many fics I have posted? I'm just an indecisive little me! /lighthearted] But I am pretty proud of getting Bob|Stan's feeling of intoxication across in "because hell is empty", I think that went pretty well!

5. What do you wish someone would ask you about [insert fic]? Answer it now!

Why did I stuff "Necessary Tragedies" full of references and metaphors? Because I thought it was fun and because I wanted to see if I could do something more "literary" and worthy of analyzation!

9. How do you find new fic to read?

just answered!

11. Are you partial to a certain character/pairing or are you more equal-opportunity? If you are partial to any character/pairing, why do you think that is?

I mean. I'm both a big fan of specific characters/pairings but also writing A Lot of different ones. My favourites are probably Peter/Skinny (for the enemies to lovers, the hate sex, the secrecy because they don't want their friends to know they're sleeping with each other, the violence, the downright unsafe kink shit, the possessiveness, the humilition, etc), Peter/Cotta (for the fun, easy, responsible no-strings-attached sex, for decent communication and the opportunities for cuddling without romantic undertones, for the nice age gap and more responsible kinky fun, the softness and intimacy of knowing each other for quite some time already but also not heading towards anything relationship-y), Cotta/Skinny (for Skinny's idiocy colliding with Cotta's grumpiness, for them riling each other up, for Cotta doing things he really shouldn't and for Skinny to get *some* gentleness in his life, for the way they actually get along as soon as they get over "petty criminal vs cop") and Cotta/Goodween (for the gentleness, the domesticity, the very adult way of interacting, the care between them, sometimes the pining and idiots in love too). Which also answers the question for my fave characters - Skinny and Cotta, by far. Skinny because he's a shithead and just so much fun, Cotta because a) I relate to him a lot, probably the character I'm most alike to, and b) he's very, very simply My Type. xD

12. Are there any tropes you used to dislike but have grown on you? / 13. Are there any tropes you used to like but don’t anymore?

both already answered, and can't really think of any more rn

37. Promote one of your own “deep cut” fics (an underrated one, or one that never got as much traction as you think it deserves!). What do you like about it?

hmm... "this morning" (ff.de/ao3) probably is one of them. It's not shippy and pretty introspective, so of course it didn't get much attention, but I like it for very personal reasons. It's just Cotta contemplating his job, because I sometimes need to grapple with him being a cop and his relationship to/with the police (system), with all the problems it has, especially the racism, but also the corruption and "us against them (everyone else)" mentality; generally the toxicity of the police as an institution. And I really like the beginning especially, starting it off with this constricting, slightly too-tight undershirt.

48. What’s the last fic you read? Do you recommend it?

(Thank the gods for the ao3 history!) It was "Bobby" by @pointwhitmark (apparently I've already visited it 15 fucking times! who knew!) and uh. yeah. as you can probably guess from the amount of times I've read it, I *absolutely* recommend it, for the sheer mindfuck and the absolutely *delightful* (and, frankly, way too sexy) dark!Cotta, but also. Mind the tags and warnings. Mind. The. Tags. And. Warnings. (Also, it's ao3 locked, so if you don't have an account you won't be able to see it. Which *gets on soap box* is one of the reasons you (general you) should all get an ao3 account, even if you're "just" reading! You're missing out on so much fic! And it's getting more every day since AI scraping ao3 and people subsequently locking their fic!)

[m34gs]

For the ask: 7, 14, 16, 23.

Thank you so much for this ask, friend! I'm super excited to answer, so let's get into it!!! (from this post)

7. what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how the fandom acts about them?

Hmmm, I usually try to avoid hating on characters due to how other fans act about them. It's not so much fandom in general that bothers me, as specific interactions. That being said, there's been some characters I had to take 'breaks' from reading/watching about because of some people I knew, and even was friends with, who were very mean and said they 'kin' the characters. They would act to the point that they would get offended if anyone pointed out a character's flaw, even fly off the handle about it, because any sort of criticism toward the character was interpreted by those people as a direct attack on their own person. The characters I experienced this with are:

Deku (Izuku Midoriya) from BNHA

Katsuki Bakugou from BNHA

Light from Death Note

Yuki from Vampire Knight

Honestly, I even had to take a break (that I'm sort-of still on; I basically consume very little about them and write them very seldom now) from BakuDeku as a ship, even though I really love that ship, because some people I knew were being very rude about anyone who had different opinions on the ship than they did.

14. that one thing you see in fics all the time

Tops being portrayed as the Taller and Broader and Stronger in a relationship and Bottoms being portrayed as Smaller and Feminine and Submissive. Top doesn't mean Dominant, and Bottom doesn't mean submissive. And let's stop re-inventing the 1950's gender-roles please.

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

I don't really understand why so many people like Sasuke Uchiha as a character, but they can like what they like. I just will continue to not understand, lol.

23. ship you've unwillingly come around to

None! I don't ship things I don't like. I just tend to ignore the ships I dislike, or if it really bothers me I block the tags and pretend it doesn't exist. If I don't like a ship, but I watch the show or read the book/manga again later on and find that I do like it now that I've grown a bit in my perspective, I don't see that as "unwillingly coming around" because I just grew a bit and my perspective changed and so what I enjoy and like changed as well. Doesn't make it unwilling at all :)

Hope you enjoyed these answers, friend! Sorry it took so long; I have a very needy cat demanding my attention every two minutes to ask me why we are not getting ready for bed yet and also show me how he chewed the string I tied to his cat-tree in half and the other half is now missing and I'm just hoping he didn't go and eat it....though I'd imagine he would probably either throw it up or poop it out if he did, so I'll just keep a close eye on him for the next couple of days. (I suspect what really happened is he dragged it somewhere Very Proudly like a Trophy of his Great Conquest and hid it under the futon or something)

[hidingoutbackstage]

4, 7 , 12, 16 and 20 for resi ~

4. what was the last straw that made you finally block that annoying person? I realized I was putting too much energy into hate reading their blog to make fun of it. I'm going to dislike every single post they make so why subject myself to their bs? Blocked

7. what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them? Luis. I didn't care too much for him in the og, he was fine but w/e (apart from the comment to Ashley I will have his head for that) and even in the remake he's still w/e to me if a little better but. My g-d. Will people not shut up about him. You've seen my rant post about how re4make fans treat Luis vs. Ashley I don't need to explain again lmao

12. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them Steve Burnside! I have a soft spot for him in my heart right next to Ashley, they were both written to be annoying for comedy's sake but came across as too unlikeable and a way for the creators to be creepy towards women. Well that's bullshit and I love Steve and I'm taking custody of him from Capcom

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc) Why do people wanna date Wesker???? Even when people make self-ship fics/art/headcanons/etc. it's always like "Wesker fucking ignores you and doesn't like talking to you in public or showing physical affection but rawdogs you in private" like wherrrrrre's the appeal???

20. part of canon you found tedious or boring I'm gonna not say a gameplay aspect because there's PLENTY of gameplay in RE I find boring lol I like puzzles as much as the next person but sometimes for me it's like eh no thanks. Anyway ngl Shadows of Rose for one big reason, and that's that it doesn't matter. You play the entire DLC, having an extremely watered down time when you could be playing mercenaries mode, and then once you finally get to the end you realize it was for nothing and the end is just the epilogue from the main game so what was the point of Rose's arc if it didn't matter? I can't stand sor

[voidcat]

-taps mic- give us your hot take 🗣🗣🗣

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

WHY DID THIS ONE GET LONG AS WELL- anyways again, written short and superficial bc u can already guess what comes after each answer in depth. this got too long and incohorent. i feel like that stereotypical adhd meme now....... thank u for the ask wife ily<3

tropes: highschool aus. youre stuck at school all day, still minors, prefrontal cortex still underdeveloped etc etc the downsides are soooo many. if ya want a good old modern au and have characters be classmates etc do a college au or smt. it gives more liberty too. used to dislike soulmate aus but turns out it was more abt the writing. they can be v good when written well (or w characters that match one another)

idk if this counts but people's need to always ship characters tgt like- do people not exist outside of relationships? is that the state we are in now? let them breathe. also vice versa when it comes to esp lgbt implied relationships for characters that are written w each other in mind. when erasing one, you take a part of the other one and toss it away too (ie: agott and coco in wha.) (ie for the former: dazai and chuuya. dazai and fyodor. tbh both dazai and fyodor w many charas... sigma w many charas. like for fyozai for example, u dont have to make them always abt ships those are character foils, i can assure u u will enjy the characters w/o shipping them at all times too... same goes for aku and atsushi as well.)

toji fushiguro on his own. there was a choso ship too ngl but i mightve just missed smt bc by then jjk became a chore to read so ill just skim over or read it quickly.

ykno that character type in media like edgy brooding man etc etc i wont even finish it iykyk, go touch some grass, learn to enjoy the small joys in life, accept that you cannot do everything alone or by self secrificing and accept the help from others. (the exact type of character that would miss the whole point of evangelion and prefer end of eva movie as the true ending... pls go get therapy)

again, the looks like a kid/teen but is actually a goddess timeless creature wtv thing.....

at the beginning of the series when they try to infodump the reader/audience on the lore of things by having a character recount stuff but its just heavy info dump and so painfully obvious theyre doing it for the sake of reader/audience?... yeah (aka the beginning of dune book) if we take this to fics: chill, not everything has to have plot, u can just write a timestamp type of thing, u dont have to overexplain everything, youre exhausting yourself for this too.....

idk how well this one fits but writing a character into smt painfully ooc for the sake of angst (like- cheating for some characters. or idk if youre gonna go for an infidelity trope at least lie the groundwork solid enough for it to make sense and fit.) also skaterat aus (im sideeying u haikyuu fandom from 2020..... if u were there u know exactly what i mean)

OK FORGOT TO ADD chatavters esp women whose entire purpose in a series is to contribute to the development of the male lead...... by extension manic pixie dream girls too

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