#I don't even know what counts as controversial in the fandom these days

[deansguns]

I'm not sure I trust people who say they watched the entirety of spn and didn't see any destiel, like at all. really? you watched the entire 15 seasons and you came out thinking that those were two straight characters without an ounce of romantic love for one another?

[valyrfia]

We talk a lot about weird shippers behavior and all that fandom etiquette and all that, which is right. But not enough about the people that get borderline violent towards lestappen. Because why are people on twitter lowkey having a meltdown over that meme video. Saying stuff like "omg he's so done with that already 😭" like yeah of course, it's an overused meme. But like it's not that deep, I'm sure he just, sighs and moves on?? And people get lowkey weird about it like "He's tired, he's angry 😡". Idk. Or the typical "lestappies are so delusional, they don't even talk to each other" like okay?? what's the problem then? If it's SO delusional, why don't you just, ignore it? But anyways, some people that are so fervently against it are kinda weird too. Because, me for example don't see why people would like Landoscar so much, it's one of the most rancid ships for me, yet I would never be so loud about it because what do I care??. Idk. Also you should see the quotes in some post that could be just a picture of them two, is like people get triggered or something (???

Twitter for me generally is something to avoid because it’s so ill-suited to fandom. Stuff that’s considered more controversial is always going to get more interactions because of the algorithm so people tend to cry about RPF being “morally wrong” and then use ships to interaction bait anyway. Don’t get me wrong RPF is definitely a grey area but tumblr in general has always been slightly more adult about it because it’s its own self-contained ecosystem. None of you know my real name or my face and we’re going to keep it that way. None of you know my follower count and we’re going to keep it that way. None of this is done for interactions it’s all done because we LIKE being here and know this is a safe space for something that yeah, is a little weird, but the self-containment means that the chance of us doing any sort of harm is practically zero.

I saw a tweet the other day being like “omg im so scared to have 16 and 33 in my bio because I just like them I don’t want people thinking I want them to fuck nasty because that’s gross” and I’m just—I would be willing to bet an extraordinary amount of money that person reads RPF. I would be willing to bet similar for a huge amount of people leaving lestappen “hate”. It comes from some misplaced sense of justice to “police” RPF and it being more important for an individual to be seen to be “morally correct” than protecting a community who really, isn’t harming anyone and just trying to keep to ourselves. I’m definitely not walking around in my everyday life telling everybody about how I think Max and Charles are #truesoulmates, in fact I have friends who are very chronically offline who I often chat about F1 with and I would never DREAM of telling them about this blog or expressing anything I say here because I know the only time and place for that remains either with my friends I’ve met through here or on here.

TLDR: Twitter is filled with people who need to be seen as morally right and for some reason have decided that Lestappen is their current crusade of choice, despite the fact all that really does is increase visibility of the ship to people who may be involved. I would just try your best to ignore it.

[scimitar-and-longsword]

20 Questions For Fic Writers

Tagged by @cactusdragon517 almost a month ago lol, I'm slow to get these done.

How many works do you have on ao3? 21

What's your total ao3 word count? 202,835

What fandoms do you write for? Currently? Call of Duty and I'm still hanging around the TOG fandom. But I've hardly posted anything in years lol. Someday when my toddler is a little older I'll get back into posting more.

Top five fics by kudos:

Share Your Address - Fencer!Joe/TA!Nicky College AU - Insta-love. So much texting. Everybody wants to punch Keane.

It Feels Like Flying - Joe/Pilot!Nicky AU - This is porn. Enjoy.

Brothers Fight - Joe & Booker working through their issues post movie.

Everything I Did to Get to You - Sequel to Share Your Address (my top fic by Kudos) - AU - A few years later Joe and Nicky spend the holidays with friends and family.

Collapsing Walls - Book of Nile!!!!! - Established Booker/Nile - Booker and Nile get caught in a building while trying to assist during an earthquake.

Do you respond to comments? Yes!! I try to respond to all comments for at least a few days after I post something.

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I don't write a lot of angsty ENDINGS. I'll Never Love Another (Prince!Joe/Knight!Nicky) has a fuck ton of angst in it, and I know some people thought the ending was bitter sweet bordering on sad.... but idk (spoilers?) no one died and they're together sooooo that's a happy ending in my book lol.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Gees, idk lol Share Your Address?? It's so sweet you'll get cavities.

Do you get hate on fics? I never have. *knock on wood*

Do you write smut? Hardly ever. I mean I HAVE, and actually the most recent thing I posted was like straight up porn lol. But mostly if there is sex it is only hinted at/fade to black. Or buried in a 60k fic so you have to work for it!

Craziest crossover: Probably Book of Nile + Princess Bride (it's a WIP that I haven't touched in like 3 years *sweats nervously* I swear I will finish all my WIPs EVENTUALLY)

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I know of???

Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes!! A one shot I did was translated onto a Japanese website that I forget the name of lol. I've also had a podfic made of one of my one shots if that counts.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? Ashley and I tried at one point lol it was a modern AU DinLuke fic.... it kind of fizzled out eventually. @ashleyrguillory we should look at that again someday lol

All time favorite ship? Obligatory "Just one??!!" ok but idk Charlie/Claire (LOST), Korra/Asami (Legend of Korra) and Derek/Stiles (Teen Wolf) are the most important to me??? I read the most fic for Ghost/Soap, [redacted controversial ship that you could not pay me to reveal #1], and [redacted controversial ship that you could not pay me to reveal #2] lol

What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I refuse to give up on any of my WIPS!!! I have 4, and all of them are planned/outlined to the end... I even have multiple completed chapters for two of them. I'm not a quitter... I do take my time though lol

What are your writing strengths? Oh gees... idk someone else who has read my stuff needs to tell me this... I think I've gotten a lot of comments complimenting me on keeping characters true to canon?? idk guys! someone else answer this!

What are your writing weaknesses? I really struggle with action and sex scenes. Where are they? I, the person writing this fic, certainly don't know. (come to think of it this might be part of the reason that I don't write a lot of smut)

Thoughts on dialogue in another language? Whatever floats the author's boat.

But I personally have done it a few ways. My favorite to both write and read is just to write what they say and then identify what language is being used if the POV character can understand the language. something like: "Oh no," he shouted in Italian.

OR if the POV character doesn't understand the language I would write something like: Nicky shouted something in what Joe thought was Italian. OR Nicky said something in a language Joe couldn't quite place.

First fandom you wrote in? Supernatural lol

Favorite fic you've written? One????? You're getting 2!

I'll Never Love Another - Prince!Joe/Knight!Nicky AU - SO MUCH LETTER WRITING - This was my Big Bang in 2021, and I love the FUCK out of it. It's my favorite fic I've ever written and I reread it kind of often because of how much I enjoy it lol

Impelled by the Persuasion of Love - Canon verse Joe/Nicky and Andy/Quynh - Takes place in France during the 100 years war. I have an obsession with courtly love/chivalry and figured I should shove it onto our favorite immortals <3 - I wrote this for a TOG zine that came out in early 2021

=== Truly, IDK if I've got 20 people to tag but I'll give it a go!!

@innerslumber, @alloutofgoddesses, @ashleyrguillory, @stevethehairington, @sindirimba, @disregardandfelicity and anybody else who wants to do this, consider this your tag!!!

[muffinrecord]

How do you feel about the Magius?

Like the organization as a whole or the three top brass...?

For the organization, I feel neutral-ish. I think the game sometimes went the easy route in making them too villainous when they could have been a lot more sympathetic and engaging. For example, having the underlings all get brainwashed and kill nonparticipants was kind of too much for me at one point. Like, one of the first targets we see them try to kill was Ren-- they knew what they were doing. It's such a lame and easy way of making them into bad guys.

As much as I dislike the Neo-Magius faction, I think they're better writing-wise. They have a lot of fans for a reason, and I think it's because they're very sympathetic and character-focused. It surprises me that it took along time for the game to give us characters from the Magius' underling perspective, like Ryo or Ikumi. Shizuku kind of counts but she was still brainwashed, so...

But with Neo-Magius, we see that these girls have compelling reasons to form and join a faction of terrorist supremacists. Of course, these reasons include things like "people don't respect me while I ignore them all the time" or "my boyfriend killed himself and now he lives in my brain but no one believes me and i will make everyone suffer for it" but like. At the end of the day, these are still young teenagers who don't have a support system at all. Shigure doesn't need to be brainwashed to be here, you know? She can be in control of her actions, sympathetic, and still wrong.

That said, there are still elements I like. I like that the Magius was born out of a desire to save magical girls. I think it's crazy that no one ever mentioned that Iroha would have straight up died and turned into a witch if the Magius didn't exist. The Magius saved magical girls, and continues to do so in Arc 2. In a way, the Magius won in the game world. They did it.

Hot take (actually very controversial take) but I prefer some elements of the anime Magius to the game. While there are still aspects that go too far (I don't know how I feel about some of the cult imagery, particularly with Touka talking at magical girl rallies-- although I guess it can be argued to be in-character if you view Touka putting on a mask to inspire confidence in people), thinking back on it I really like that characters such as Momoko, Rena, Kaede, Felicia, and even Sana joined. I like that we see the girls cooking food together. They aren't faceless goons under a cloak, these are scared kids who don't know what they're doing but know that they're going to die (and possibly kill people on their way out) if they don't do something. They're floundering all the way down and you really feel it.

Oh wait, I just realized... you probably mean if I like them and not like, my stupid-ass opinions on the writing afkalkfjaf

Uhhh let's see. I dunno? I'm neutral. They aren't my blorbos and there are other characters/factions/plots/whatever that interest me more in the game, but I don't dislike them either. I don't get upset if they pop up in a plot.

Honestly you know what, maybe I should keep my mouth shut until I do my rewatch. It's been a few years since I've watched the game main story so a lot of this is colored by time, fandom, and the anime. It'll be curious to see if any of my opinions change once I rewatch everything again.

[dwarfsized]

things that i would like to know about my fellow writers!

tagged by @aevallare thank you my looovveee

i will tag @simon-says-nothing and @raccooncrimes!

Last book I read: 

i am stalled on The Witch King by Martha Wells, not because it isnt good but just because. lmao. If im reading, i cant be writing. or sewing. or or or. The last one I remember finishing was This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, and i loved that.

Greatest literary inspiration: 

I put part of a Mary Oliver poem on my graduation cap. Also genuinely quite inspired by Tamsyn Muir.

Things in my current fandom I want to read but I don't want to write:

I dont know if I'd ever try my hand at a modern au but i adore aevallare's pour one out.

I certainly wont write no-magic or all-human aus (I like tieflings a normal amount, she says, lying) but I'm sure someone could do something cool with those.

Things in my current fandoms I want to write but I think nobody would be interested in them but me: 

:') i already think this about my work but i write it anyway. who wants to read astarion stuck in a druid grove when he's [redacted]?? well, i do, so now we have eldath's mercy.

i am working on a story rn where kira is a ghost haunting the szarr palace. do i think very many people will be interested in that? i dont know! but I want to write it, and at least one other person probably wants to read it, so. eventually, it will go up onto ao3.

id love to do something with a focus on minthara. she's going to matter in true colors but that's not going to happen for a while. for now i rotate her in my brain.

You can recognize my writing by:

7000 word chapters where fully half the words are the characters thinking sooo hard, mid-chapter pov shifts, asides about tiefling/druid culture that i've made up whole-cloth, tail mentions.

My most controversial take (current fandom):

if you mod anyone in the game to look younger/more conventionally attractive i am putting you in the oubliette in my mind-palace. why cant you like these characters as they are. i thought we enjoyed this game

if you mod gortash clean or mod away a character's scars, i am putting you in the oubliette inside of the oubliette in my mind-palace.

Current writing mood (10 – super motivated and churning out words like crazy, 0 – in a complete rut):

2 babeyyyy, but if i could instead shelve all the current wips and start wip #15 id be at an 8. alas! i cannot do this.

Top three favourite tropes:

in no particular order:

when a character's specific past experiences lead them to a wrong conclusion that is soooo wrong but like, ohhh sweetie. of course you think that.

magic that has a cost, even divine magic, and cannot fix everything

you were not selected for this. anyone could have been the person in this position. but you are here now, and you have to do the task. get to it.

are these even tropes? do i know what tropes are anymore. help

Share a random frustration:

I USUALLY AVERAGE 700 WRITING WORDS A DAY BUT IVE BEEN EDITING ELDATH'S MERCY CH 2 FOR ALL OF APRIL AND IT HAS BROUGHT MY AVERAGE WORD COUNT DOWN TO 26. 26 WORDS A DAY. BITING. BITING AND YELLING.

[a-slut-for-smut]

Nanamin deserves better than Mei Mei

Don’t forget how creepy she is towards Ui Ui

Ya know, I really wish people were more willing to think critically about the stories they consume vs taking every at face value. Sure, when you see something questionable in a story, question it, but immediately writing off the story/story element as “problematic” just because you don't like it or triggers you is such a disservice not only to the storyteller but also yourself by stunting your own media literacy skills.

As ive addressed why NanaMei pair well in previous asks, i'll focus more on the controversy revolving around Mei Mei because its something i really want to get off my chest. The more i think about the arguments made against her the more i get these puritanical and anti feminist/non-conformist vibes from them and its really concerning to say the least.

She's Greedy/Selfish

Yes, shes money hungry. She shamelessly honest with what she likes and what she wants; she has a personal code/credo and stanchly follows it and its hard not to respect that energy. She's motivated and grounded in a way that seems out of place in the 'sorcerers must protect humans' fantasy world, but in the real world? Of course we'd look out for our own self-interest/preservation- shes as real and relatable as they come. She's logically driven (vs emotionally) and honestly if she was a man i bet the fandom wouldn't blink an eye (and prob would slobber all over him) but as always God forbid women have a strong sense of self and refuse to conform to the patriarchal ideals of what a woman should be.

THAT panel

A lot of the fandom screaming in*cest & p*edophile for this panel and i'll admit not surprised it raised eyebrows but not really reading this as sexual. Yes theres nudity, but body language makes it pretty obvious if nudity is sexual or not and well, its not- and how the first thing fandom thinks is "omg they f*cked" because shes topless or whatever is very telling. It's not a stretch to think she would be comfortable with nudity and a sense of propriety seems out of character with someone as shameless as her. She probably splurges on 1000 thread-count Egyptian cotton sheets with all the money she makes, who wouldnt regularly sleep nude on those?

As for UiUi its inferred he used his CT to escape/save their lives directly before, all the more reason he would be tired. Mei Mei even apologies for waking him, implying his CT exerts him and he should rest for the day. Ui UI’s “oh my how shameless!” is said in surprise, indicating he probably blacked out after his CT and woke up fully clothed in bed with her, NOT that he’s tired from having a wild night banging his sister 🙄

I wonder about the japanese dialogue and if there is any nuance/context lost from the english translation, but I interpreted her "Do you not like me that way" was in reference to the shamelessness of her personality, essentially asking him "do you not like me the way I am?" and not her nude body because the translation used "that way" vs "this way", the latter being suggestive. And the fact that they shared a bed to sleep didnt seem OOC given their close familial dynamic.

Sibling Relationship

Its established in-universe that they are "calculating", so naturally they work very much in tandem as far as motivations go and re-enforced from what we seen in their battle tactics. Clearly Mei Mei is offense and 99% of the time can handle any issue on her own, but for that 1% she cant? Thats where Ui Ui steps in.

Ui Ui would never be in danger if Mei Mei is around, and fandom seems to ignore this fact when they say Mei Mei manipulates him to self-sacrifice himself (and her crows) for her benefit. If Mei Mei is fighting and her life's at risk, yall think Ui Ui (or the crows for that matter) stand a chance?? Maybe if he could teleport away himself which is what his CT suggests, but who really knows, and more importantly would he even consider abandoning his sister from what we seen?

I see it as a failsafe CT, only to be used in emergencies since it drains him considerably as Malaysia scene suggests- which is why he wholeheartedly waits (and binding vow) for permission from her to use it, not as a form of control or abuse or simply to please her, but to know if/when as accordance to the battle strategy mapped out by her. Shes shown as a tactician/extremely logical when it comes to battle and will use whatever is at her disposal to win if it means self-preservation (even if it means abandoning the battlefield altogether). Her loyalty is to herself above all.

And her asking “are you willing to die for me” is literally asking consent- she is asking, 'this could be the end- will you do what’s necessary for me to win this?' To which he resoundingly concurs, seemingly out of devotion but realistically if she dies where would that leave him? It’s as natural a response as one could be- in nature mothers will fight tooth & nail to protect their offspring, but at the cost of her life? What would be the point??? Offspring wouldn’t be able to survive without her, they’d be good as dead.

As far as their dynamic, there is clear affection from both sides- Mei Mei is more playful while Ui Ui is reverent. Ui Ui adores her, not atypical of a much younger sibling, but especially so given how accomplished Mei Mei is. It's stated that she inherited their weak family cursed technique, but rather than be solely defined by it, she trained herself to the maximum physical limit, THEN mastered her so called "weak" technique into one of the strongest out there (probably why she acknowledges Maki as a promising sorcerer, she sees herself in her).

If that isn't admirable than i dont know what is, and if GOJO of all people respects her, then thats saying something. But while he respects her and acknowledges her strength, does he trust her? Probably not, not like he does with Utahime who is supposedly "weak" in comparison. And i personally like that dynamic- despite not trusting her to "do the right thing" and expecting her to be self-serving, Gojo knows/respects her as a person and fellow sorcerer. Gege gives us layered interpersonal relationships between multi-faceted characters and yet so many are quick to reduce them to a single trope and its a little sad honestly.

In conclusion, yall need to relax on the pearl-clutching and have a little more perspective by all means hate on her if you dont like her but at least hate her accurately lol

[queerofthedagger]

20 Questions for Fic Writers!

Thanks so much for the tag! <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

132 which. insane.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

1,520,700 which is even more insane. anyway

3. What fandoms do you write for?

BBC Merlin, Stranger Things, The Sandman, The Raven Cycle, and Lord of the Rings, and coming soon probably also Black Sails, let's be real

4. Top 5 fics by kudos?

Old Haunts (Are For Forgotten Ghosts), A Study in Choices and Second Chances, I Wouldn't Leave You If You Let Me, Still I Surface in Morning Light, and Fate Rests Heavily On Our Shoulders. I'm never not baffled by the fact that my two most popular fics not only are for HP, but are for Regulus/Harry. Like. That tag has maybe 100 fics???

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes!! Sometimes it takes me a while but I'll tend to get around to them eventually <3

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I think that's a toss-up between my my s5 Morgwen AU With Eyes Wide Open, and the one where I made the Diamond of the Day worse, watch all my bridges burn

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

This is such a difficult question because Angst with a Happy Ending is kind of my brand. That said, esp where Merlin is concerned, one thing I think about a lot is the inevitability of tragedy and how, no matter how many fix-its I write, personally I believe that most of them, if I didn't end them before the fact, would eventually end in some kind of tragic way, actually. Like. Very rarely is Merlin not immortal, or the world not against them, or or or. So in that vein I guess one of the happiest ones would be We Can Always Run because it's such an utter rejection of destiny, an utter refusal to even pretend they're playing the game.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Very rarely, thankfully.

9. Do you write smut?

Occasionally, yeah! It's a constant process of pushing at my comfort zone tbh, but I do enjoy doing it (ha), so!!

10. Do you write crossovers?

Nope, it's just not really my thing, neither for writing nor reading. Obviously never say never but yk.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Unfortunately (don't do this).

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! Such a cool feeling, I love the thought of them existing in other languages in the world <3

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nope; there have been and are a few plans for that floating around though ����

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

This is so hard but in the end it gotta be merthur, like, because I love them to pieces but also just for the sheer amount of words I've written for them. Not sure if/how that would ever get topped, especially considering it's like, on-going.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will?

There's a bunch of HP WIPs I would have loved to finish, but I've fallen so utterly out of love with the fandom I don't really think it's ever going to happen at this point tbh.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Worldbuilding, plots/characterization, and prose; I think I'm solid in those and they come easily to me/bring me the most joy when writing. Editing, in a way, because I'm an obsessive bitch with a system about it.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Descriptions; I'm just not a very visual writer, which is not too huge of an issue when writing familiar characters and settings in fic, but becomes immediately and glaringly obvious whenever I 1. introduce non-canon stuff, or 2. have a go at OG. Also planning/outlining; I can make a bunch of notes but if I write an outline, I will not write the fic. I don't think it's necessarily a weakness, but it can make a bunch of additional work when it comes to the plottier stuff.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language?

Not the biggest fan tbh, which I know is probably controversial but odds that your audience will understand it are low if it's more than a bunch of words you can guess from the context? I prefer the ""dialogue," he said in Latin" approach. It's subjective though I get it.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Bandom RPF at like, 12 (not telling you which band peace and love). I took a long fandom hiatus until a couple of years ago though, and under this fandom alias it'd be HP/Tomarrymort.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

Still There Are Many Names In History, I think. I love a lot of stuff I've written, but that story has my entire heart in it, and the response to it has left me sobbing like. a ridiculous number of times which, like, is not something that I usually have to deal with lmao.

No Pressure-tagging: @prattery @emryses @glaftwlet @snapshotmaestro @merlinemrys @atlantablack @insane-ohwhyfandoms @hazelands @aeonthedimensionalgirl @slantedknitting and anyone else who'd like to, just say I tagged you <3

[onekisstotakewithme]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

I was tagged by the incomparable @remyfire (a few days ago now, sorry!) so thank you so so much for the tag!!

I think pretty much everyone I know/would tag has been tagged already, so if you haven't been yet, or if you just want to do this, please do! (Answers are under the cut because 20 questions take up a lot of space)

How many works do you have on AO3? 209, ish. (two fics still in the anon stage of exchanges!)

What's your total AO3 word count? 1,377,748 words! (so 1.3 million!!) 217k of that for this year 😅 but of course I haven't published everything I wrote this year so that number is a LITTLE low.

What fandoms do you write for? M*A*S*H and The West Wing, primarily.

What are your top five fics by kudos? Ties That Bind (Star Trek); a wild call and a clear call (that may not be denied) (Star Trek); Uncharted Territory (M*A*S*H); ye who are weary, come home (M*A*S*H); Beautiful to Take a Chance (M*A*S*H). so my readers like the spirk and the beejhawk (plus my M*A*S*H ensemble piece!) even if the actual kudos counts are probably pretty humble.

Do you respond to comments? I don't usually, and I should, but I get a little overwhelmed. I DO try and leave a thank you note in the end notes of each chapter though, because I love and cherish each comment.

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I'm admittedly not typically an angst writer, so I had to think hard on this one. I go in usually for bittersweet or even happy endings... i guess probably 'a wild call and a clear call (that may not be denied)', if only because it's a pon farr fic and Jim and Spock are essentially 'mated' now, but uh. They don't end up together at the end of the fic.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Ah. see, this is more my speed. I like to think i write realistically happy endings... the happiest ending? I've written many (not enough 'happy endings' wink wink) but the happiest in context, I'd say, is the end of katabasis. a decision is made to keep going, to keep living. i also have a soft spot for you were meant for me (aka Peg sees Singin' in the Rain and decides to choose polyamory).

Do you get hate on fics? Not so far! But I also don't write particularly controversial subjects on a regular basis... I have had a few comments over the years that misunderstood what I was doing, but I'm reluctant to classify those as hate.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Uh. I write smut. I only publish some of it, because I'm so incredibly self-conscious about it. I want to write more, but I genuinely can't tell if what I'm writing is good/hot or not because I do not have the distance to do it. I'll write smut of all kinds (hell, I have a triad draft with everything from oral to pegging in it. it has not yet seen the light of day) but publishing it is another story. I really want to get better at it, but I have no idea how to get over myself. (it's the religious upbringing/repression/whatever but either way. sucks ass.)

Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? I don't typically write crossovers! I have a few that have chewed on my brain for a few years but don't exist yet (M*A*S*H x Star Trek:TOS) plus a few I think would just be funny (Hawkeye running as a third party candidate in the 1998 election in West Wing). But I haven't. Anyway, someday I'm going to write that MASH/Trek crossover and then it's over for all of you.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not to my knowledge!

Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes! My fic "Here's Hoping We Meet Now and Then" (aka BJ gets everyone to help him with the goodbye rocks) was translated into German by my dear friend @vanillatumbleweedscoffee. You can find that translation here.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? I have! And tbh, I love the idea of collaborating more. (HMU). My friend (and beta) and I wrote a Charles/Donna fic back in 2020 or so, called "getting to like you (getting to hope you like me)" and I'm quite fond of it honestly. Plus a few verses that I've contributed to, but I don't know if those count as true collabs... More collabs!!!

What's your all time favorite ship? Ooh. Probably CJ/Danny, punnihawk (BJ/Peg/Hawkeye), beejhawk and Charles/Donna. No, I'm not narrowing it down any further. (Bisexuals? Choosing ONE thing? no.)

What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Okay. Sad moment of truth: I want to edit and post "make of our hearts, one heart" so badly. But I got so burnt out in the process of writing it, and editing 125,000 words is a particularly daunting task especially considering I think I basically have to rewrite it from the ground up... plus also not knowing if anyone even still wants to read it isn't helping (but that might be all in my head.) Essentially, I want the 125,000 pound albatross removed from its place around my neck. But do I think I'll finish it? I don't know. It has the triad wedding, literally all the smut that's fit to print (pegging! oral! one of my favourite BJ/Peg scenes!)... idk. Is it defeatist? Yes. I want to. I just don't know if I can.

What are your writing strengths? Dialogue. I think I'm pretty good at getting the vibes of characters. I'm good at coming up with plot concepts, and pretty decent at description. I think I'm good at fleshing out character backstories and giving voices to underutilized characters (Peg, Donna).

What are your writing weaknesses? Smut. all the way down. (If anyone out there has read my smut and has suggestions on how to improve... hmu). I can fully admit that I struggle with finding what I write hot, I struggle with sexy descriptions and honestly I just feel very self-conscious about the whole process. But I want to get better at it. I just don't quite know how. Is this too honest?

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? The occasional phrases, sure, but the only language I know besides English is French and that's more of an "I can read it" than "I can write it" situation. So overall? no.

First fandom you wrote for? Lost. (lmao). Followed by Downton Abbey. All of them still linger in their terrible glory on my ffnet account.

(Part 20 continued in reblog)

[andypantsx3]

This is going to sound weird, but do you have any tips on how to gain traction as a fanfic writer? I've been trying for years and I get next to no interaction on my writing. I know I shouldn't care because I should be writing for myself, but it's still frustrating to see other writers get thousands of notes, and reblogs and asks praising their fics and I get maybe 20 likes. I've been looking into discord fandom groups but a lot of them don't allow people over 30, and I don't do well with busy groups anyway. I try to be active on my blog, and interact with other people and make myself approachable, but I'm getting so incredibly tired of talking to an empty space. Sorry, I think I ended up venting instead >_<

WARNING: DISCOURSE AHEAD

Omg hello my love!! First of all, I'm so sorry you feel this way! I have so many conflicting thoughts on this, let me try to get them in order for you!!

I guess, let me first start with some tips that I think actually answer your question, and then I'll just monologue about the ways I've been thinking about fandom recently, and you can skip that part if you wanna!

Part 1: Actual Thoughts on Your Question (lol)

I am possibly not in the best position to ask about this because I mostly happened to be in the right place at the right time, publishing my fics in the early part of the pandemic when people were more actively engaging in the fandom. But in my experience, outside of discord groups, other good ways to meet people and get your work out there are joining zines & collabs.

I'm not completely up-to-date with what the accounts are now that track these things, but there are several tumblrs and twitter accounts like BNHA Zines that exist to retweet & publicize zine posts. Look for zines that are in the interest check & application stages!! You can apply during the application phase and the good thing is that most zines will ask for an application piece and will judge you on your work rather than your follower count!!

Collabs are usually even easier because many of them are just open to whoever wants to join! I've only participated in server collabs but I've seen several posts cross my dash that are open to anyone. I'd probably monitor the collaboration and x reader tags on tumblr and join in on anything that looks fun!!

Another thing that I've noticed people do a lot is self-reblog their fics a couple times just to maximize their circulation. I've seen a lot of moots trying to make sure they hit good hours for different time zones and different days of the week to ensure their followers are at least aware that they've posted something if they don't have notifs on (I don't have notifs on so I'm grateful for these because otherwise I miss a lot!!). Even I have srb'd a time or two if I'm particularly proud of something lol.

And I think, if I also wanted to be a shark about things, I would try to get in on the ground floor of a fandom in its early stages!! For example, the second season of JJK is coming out soon and it's sure to bring a wave of new readers to the JJK fandom, especially for the characters like Gojo and Getou who look like they're gonna be the main focus of the season.

I think if you wanted to be extra sharp about things, you might time a fic release with some of the first couple episodes of a new season where you can be sure more people than usual will be poking around in the tags!! And if your fic is published during the early stages of a fandom, it's going to have more eyes on it overall than a fic published towards the conclusion of the series.

Anyway this is what I could think of. I hope this advice is practical and useful!! Now onto me blathering.

Part 2: Resisting Influencer Culture in Fandom Spaces

This part might be kind of controversial. I want to first acknowledge how easy it is for me to think and say these sorts of things when I'm already more than pleased with the amount of engagement I get. And I want to recognize that it is so, so deeply human to want recognition, community, and support for the things that we write.

I think it is so completely natural that you want interaction on your writing. All of us totally do, otherwise we wouldn't be publishing it publicly. If our work was truly, singularly for us and us alone, we'd keep it in the drafts lol. We put it out there hoping for praise and appreciation and connection, and in my opinion there is no shame in that.

So, admission time: I also definitely compare myself to other writers, and I have several times thought about transitioning more towards the type of content that drives higher note counts on tumblr: smuttier one-shots usually under 10k! I can see a huge difference in terms of just my own work on how my one-shots typically do in comparison to chaptered fics. And I definitely see how fast smutty imagines shoot up there in terms of note count.

But I was listening to a podcast episode recently on trying to sort of transition away from a metrics-focused approach to fandom. In the podcast, they talk about how in trying to legitimize fanfic as a literary mechanism, we've also sort of accidentally subjected it to our capitalist-influencer-mindset, where we see fic as more legitimate the more kudos it gets or the more followers it nets you, because in traditional influencer spaces, those followers are potential capital.

I'm definitely not saying you or I see people as potential revenue streams, but I think probably neither of us are immune to the culture at large, and we both probably carry some of internalized sense of our own value based on metrics, reach, and influence. And that sucks!!!!

Fandom, of all things, is supposed to be a specifically anti-capitalist space. We can't make money off of fanfic or fanart (legally, anyway lol), and we're all not the owners of the franchises either so none of our takes are necessarily more "valid" or weightier than others!! We're all supposed to just be trading stories around a campfire with no thought to their literary merit or monetary value. We're just supposed to enjoy the stories.

So, I don't know what the right answer is about how to try to resist the influences of our capitalist culture at large; I'm hoping someone smarter than me will tell me. But I do know that in fanfic, the value of your story can absolutely never be determined by how much engagement you get. Because fandom is not about metrics, and there is no inherent value in metrics. There is only the fun you had creating the story, and the depth of the connection you made with someone over it--even if that's just one other person.

And so I personally am at least trying to resist the lure of transitioning to smutty one-shots even though I think a lot of people would like that. Because what I like doing is writing my little 30k multi-chaps; those are my fave kinds of stories to tell, I'm not letting my metrics tell me what I should be writing.

I hope, at the very least, you know that your worth and the value of your story is not defined by how many other people have read it. And if you ever wanna chat more about this let me know, I'm still figuring this all out myself and could use friends to explore it with!!

[sevlinop]

THINGS THAT I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW ABOUT MY FELLOW WRITERS

Thank you for the tag @angelosearch! I'll go ahead and tag whoever would like to play, as I tagged a lot of folks recently hahaha.

Last book I read: I reread "The Hobbit" recently after rewatching the Peter Jackson trilogy. And if audiobooks count, I listened to this book called "Caffeine" by Michael Pollan. Which has led to me cutting back how much coffee I drink lol.

Greatest literary inspirations: Probably Ursula K. Le Guin and William Blake. There are others, but those are the main two that come to mind!

Things in my current fandom I want to read but I don't want to write: I'm glad to see there are more Apothecary Diaries fics being written, but now that the anime's ended I'm craving more, lol. In terms of Final Fantasy VIII, I would love to see more Ellone centered fics even thought there are already a decent amount (Chaos Theory and some older fics by Siobhane on FFN being the main ones). Such an interesting character!

Things in my current fandoms I want to write but I think nobody would be interested in them but me: I know most fandoms are driven by ships and FF8 is definitely the same. Which is totally fine, I love ships too! Still, I like lots of lore and word building so that's probably what I'll continue to write for the most part. Still, my goal is to get good at writing Squinoa so I can lure them in, and then have them stay for my long lore chapters. >:)

You can recognize my writing by: How I prefer writing inner monologues over dialogue most of the time!

My most controversial take (current fandom): I don't really get why people are so into the Laguna sequences in FF8. I mean, they're fun and all, but I've never gotten why a lot of folks say they'd prefer a Laguna centered game instead. People really do be out here hating on Squall lol.

Top three favorite tropes: Honestly, I don't really have any specific ones. Maybe AU's where it's a similar story to the original but stuff has changed somehow? Unbalanced by Vrazdova (FF6) and Chaos Theory are two examples of this!

What’s your current writing mood (10 – super motivated and churning out words like crazy, 0 – in a complete rut): Probably a 6 or a 7! Definitely there, and I do write regularly, but it's not my main focus atm. Still, it seems like every week or two I'll have a day where all I want to do is write!

Share a fandom frustration: Nothing new here, but the FF7 ship wars are genuinely insane. I'll leave it at that! XD

[dontcallmebree]

20 questions for fic writers

Thanks @voylitscope for tagging me! <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

59! That's more than I thought, honestly.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

490,425. Damn that's so close to half a million. (I need to whip out a short 10k real quick.)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Stucky.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Up Close and Personal

You Like What's in My Head

Not Technically A Bromance

A Blessing I Ain't Tryna Lose

You Like the Way I Look

Two series make multiple appearances here. Can't say I'm surprised, honestly. For a long time my top 5 was all from a single series.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I respond to all of them! Mainly because all I ever want to do after sharing something is to talk about what happens with the characters, so I always jump at the chance to talk with fellow Stucky fans! Another reason of course is also because people are very nice and have actively taken time out of their day to read something I wrote and I wanna say thanks cause it means a lot < 3

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Okay I scrolled through my works and was really tickled by the fact that my angsty endings were either because the main character dies (1, 2, 3) or because the main character doesn't die (1, 2, 3) (just dead inside). So pick your poison I guess.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I think it might be Winter Weddings and Blushing Brides. That fic just has the fluffiest of fluff endings.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Not really? My works feature explicit sex scenes and all but I've yet to write a pwp. It's too hard I think.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

No. I think go too far into AUs for this. Would be fun though!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so?

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, I'm too weird about the writing process and showing anyone (even a co-writer) any unfinished work to do this I think. It seems very scary.

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

Stucky, of course.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Sooo many wips in my drafts. Maybe part 3 to the never met a man like you before series? I do wanna finish that one day though.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Hmmm maybe character work? That's always my go to answer to this.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Yikes. Run on sentences? Is that too easy of an answer? Do I really have to look into my soul for this?

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I'm not sure what thoughts anyone might have on this. Is this a controversial thing? Many languages exist. Human (and non-human) characters speak them. I can't imagine taking issue with this fact of life reflected in fiction.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Uhhh I don't even know. Must've been in some friend's notebook back in grade school before we even knew what a fandom was.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

There are a few that come to mind, but A Man After Midnight just has a very special place in my heart. I think it just has everything I love to read and write about. A complicated history, a somewhat unbalanced dynamic, white collar crime, narrative twists, and an alternate universe.

I'm not sure who has and hasn't done this but tagging if interested! @sparkagrace @gfawkesphoenixchokingonashes @between-a-ship-and-a-hard-place @skarabrae-stone @somanywords

[anti-dazai-blog]

how do you deal with hate? like from what I understand, you posted your first "controversial" post knowing that people might hate you for it, and you did so anyways. even tho it might have felt like you were the only one who believed those things at the time. where do you get the confidence? cause honestly that was such a slay.

Like, obvi we all have our own opinions and I don't agree with everything you said but the confidence you had.. grrrr i like it so much 💗💗 i love it when people are real with their opinions.

okay ty, im sorry for rambling, gonna stop here now 😭😭

I really want to play it cool and say something like “I just don’t care what people think of me,” but honestly? Yeah I was terrified of posting my first BSD-related post.

I had been enjoying the BSD fandom from afar for about a year before posting anything about it. I’ve always had this personal pet peeve when (fictional or real) bullies get a free pass to be assholes when they’re conventionally attractive, but that applies to all fandoms, not just BSD and not just Dazai. 

(Note that that’s not a moral stance, there’s nothing wrong with liking a morally grey character, and there’s nothing wrong with finding a bad (fictional or real) person to be physically attractive. This pet peeve of mine stems more from how (fictional) bullies who aren’t attractive are seen as the biggest evil unleashed upon the world, while fictional bullies who are attractive are seen as The Ideal Boyfriend)

One day I saw a post pointing out one of the things Dazai did that bothered me, and I really wanted to add to it via reblog, but I was concerned I’d derail the original post, so I screenshot it and wrote a whole follow-up rant. 

Then I saved that post in my drafts for three days.

I posted something vague like “I really want to talk about this one character from this one fandom, but the fandom is very aggressive and they’d burn me at the stake if I said anything too controversial”

I don’t think I intended to explicitly tag it with anything searchable, but I must have said something like “#yeah this is about bsd those guys are scary”— apparently that counts as tagging it #bsd by tumblr’s standards, and someone from the bsd fandom (who I’m now mutuals with) responded with something like “most of us are nice! We wanna hear what you have to say!!” 

That was enough motivation for me to get that post out of drafts, and even then I didn’t post it immediately. I scheduled it to post for a time when I wasn’t home, so that if there’d be backlash I wouldn’t have to witness it live and I could just delete the post later.

Not only was there no backlash, but hardly anyone saw the post. Iirc it got between 3-5 notes. That was what gave me the confidence to continue talking about my (admittedly controversial) fandom opinions. 

My main blog is primarily a Shakespeare/Classic Lit blog, and the online fandom for those things encourages controversial opinions (as opposed to the standard anime blog, where it seems like posting controversy is a taboo). So once I had the confidence to interact with an anime fandom in the first place, it wasn’t too hard to post my controversial opinions, because that’s the internet culture I’m more used to.

As for how I deal with the hate, you’ll be glad to know there’s only one person on this entire site who sends (bsd-related) hate. If you’ve received any hate, it’s from her. So while I have received hate messages (everything ranging from “your blog sucks” to graphic suicide bate and murder threats), knowing it’s all from the same person makes it all pretty meaningless. Everyone else on tumblr just blocks what they don’t want to see, either by blocking blogs they’d like to avoid or by blocking tags for subjects that annoy them. 

Since I tag anything that speaks of Dazai in a negative way as “#anti Dazai,” I don’t often run into people who don’t want to see negative character analysis who’ve discovered my posts accidentally.

If you want to post about something, go right ahead! The people who enjoy the content you make will follow you, and the people who don’t will block you, and everyone will curate their own tumblr experience to make this site something we can all enjoy. Admittedly if the fandom you’d like to post to is bsd, you WILL get harassed by that one person, but everyone else in this fandom has gotten harassed by her too. We mostly just ignore her at this point. 

Posting controversial opinions to fandom spaces can be scary, but if you have something you’d like to post, go for it! I personally would recommend starting a side blog for it, that way if things really do get out of hand you could delete it easily without losing your tumblr account. But the most likely outcome is that it wouldn’t gain enough traction for anyone to be overly bothered by it. Controversial things are more often ignored than hated on.

(For context, I’m referring to this blog too! I’m a tiny little blog. So please don’t interpret that as some veiled insult, I’m in this group of “tiny controversial fandom blog” too)

Anyway. Best of luck to you!! And remember, the point of posting things is to have fun! If it’s causing more stress than enjoyment, there’s no shame in taking a break or logging off for a bit. I’ve taken multiple breaks, and I only post to the Anti-Dazai Series when I enjoy what I’m posting. 

[Also. I absolutely love controversial fandom opinions, especially if they’re well written. It doesn’t matter to me whether or not I agree, so long as it’s a cool or original take on the source material. So if you wanna dm me, I’ll definitely follow you and your blog full of all your hottest takes]

[italianpersonwithashippersheart]

Shipper Tag Game!

I was tagged by @theflagscene thanks for the tag <3

1 - What ship were you completely obsessed with when you were a teenager, but now you don’t care about anymore?

Ron and Hermione. But I was basically offline for most of my teen years so it was a private obssession.

2 - Which ship would you consider your first one?

These two

From the anime Kodomo No Omocha, the anime was called Rossana In Italian, still the best theme song in the world, that song is basically instand magic nostalgia button for me, I was a child and basically the age of the characters when I watched it, maybe a year or two older, they bewitched me body and soul.

3 - Your first fanfic belonged to which couple?

Written, I have never written anything that could be consider fanfic. Maybe once I wrote a single scene fic for an Italian Show but that's it.

Read on AO3: Stranger Things post s1 fics and Still Star Crossed fics were the first fandoms. I don't have the old fanfiction.net account and my shitty memory doesn't let me remeber shit from that time so, I will go with that.

4 - Do you remember the first couple you saw fanart of?

Not really, my memory is bad. Maybe Stydia, teen wolf was my first tumblr fandom along side GMW. Or Shameless.

5 - Did you ever get into ship discourse?

I have been aware of ship discourse. And I once pettily unfollowed someone because they shipped my NOTP at the time. But not really.

6 - Did you used to have a NOTP or have any currently?

I did used to consider ship NOTPs, but I don't currently use that term anymore, I am way into my ship and let ship era. I don't feel like any of the ship I dislike now are strong enough to be a notp. Even if there are a few that almost qualified.

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

Got curious because someone mention some Nick/Sand and some Nick/Sand/Ray stuff on my dash and looked up some Only Friend fics for the first time since the show ended.

8 - Currently do you have any OTPs?

Too many. I have been mostly watching BLs and QLs recently. Honestly shipping as become a little more low-key recently. I can love a ship and even read fanfic for them (although small confession I am becoming far more picky and It's super hard now to read a fic I enjoy especially in the BL sphere). And I am watching so many shows at the same time I don't think any of them could be called an OTP, in that omg I am so obsessed with them way. I feel like my attention is too split for that.

Not that I am not enjoying having so many ships and couples to choose from, I love it here in BL land.

If I had to pick a single ship that is consuming me body and soul like stuff used to I have to go with PheeNon from Dead Friend Forever, because this show put itself in my head and is going to stay there until it's over.

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

Does it have to be an old ship?? Because I only rember some recent stuff.

I WILL STAY MAD ABOUT TODDBLACK FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE!!!!!!!!!!

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

Not sure, I have come around a couple of BL ships I didn't initially like at first viewing. Nothing special though.

11 - Do you have a ship that in the past was considered ‘normal’ but now you would be cancelled over?

I am not sure, I used to be the kind of person that followed canon and didn't get the appeal of crackships at the time. Or shipping non canon ships.

I guess maybe some het ships that I know now either have a very obviously gay coding (both or just one) or it's more common to put in a gay ship. But I am not sure anything too controversial.

I kind of read some early Mame fanfics and enjoy some of the mame ships does count?

12 - What’s your favourite crack ship?

Taking crack fic too mean there is basically no evidence of this in canon and there is little to no fics about them.

Ming/Yo from 2Moons (the og) I will die on this hill, the actor that played these two had amazing chemestry.

Anwar and Maxxie from Skins Gen 1. There are 3 fics of them on ao3. 3!!!! I feel like the only person that see this.

13 - Who is the couple you’ve read the most fanfics of?

I think maybe it's either Hannigram or Buck and Eddie from 911 a show I am feeling very over right now. So that will definately change.

14 - What do most of your ships usually have in common?

Not much. I enjoy different types of dynamics.

15 - What do you absolutely hate in a ship?

I have come to a point where if I can see the chemestry and I like the characters and I can get into the characters head and I think the relationship is interesting I can forgive bad or clunky writing. Or tropes like miscommunication and noble idiocity.

There is one trope that almost always kills a ship for me. Years long seperation in the final act. This is pretty much a bl only trope. But I have seen it in Het shows before I think.

I can understand a seperation for a couple of weeks or even months due to externel pressures and maybe some noble idiocity, or even something like I need to sort myself out a little first like Until We Meet Again. I don't love it. But it's fine. But YEARS!! That shit pisses me off. That is why even if I can understand the writing decision behind I hold a grudge over Ghost Host, Ghost House. I understand it was a good drama and the writing was good and the ship is cute. BUT I HATE THAT TROPE.

Not sure how did already so I will only tag @respectthepetty and @callipigio @benkaaoi

[streetkid-named-desire]

questions for writers

i was tagged by @luvwich (THANK YOU)

Last book I read: I'm currently reading Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak, I recently finished Several People are Typing by Calvin Kasulke

Greatest Literary Inspirations: Stephen King, though not as much anymore, Chuck Palahniuk, Douglas Coupland (these last two can be seen especially in Streetkid with regards to inner monologue and style), William Gibson and Neal Stephenson

Things in my current fandom I want to read but I don't want to write

Does smut of my own OCs count? Otherwise because I only ship my own OCs and am picky about like...idk ships in general (it's a vibes thing, not personal!) there isn't anything else. I just suck at and struggle writing smut. Maybe more like adventures and shenanigans, one off gigs and stuff.

You can recognize my writing by: Quick and snappy dialogue, action beats, describing gory bits more than scenery, little to no description of canon characters in scene, little to no description of the scene in general (i'm trying...). Oddly gory or gruesome metaphors for things not gory/gruesome (e.g. Bea branding V's heart)

My most controversial take (current fandom):

*clears throat*

I keep that shit locked down to small groups or specific people I know won't castrate me. While I am not worried about my reputation in fandom, I don't like randomly shit stirring and starting up discourse.

Top three favorite tropes: Gore gore gore gore gore gore gore gore gore gore. LOVE snapping bones and wet mushy guts. I also like unreliable narrators, I enjoy feeling disoriented and like the book is a personal attack on my person and psyche. That's why I describe my style sometimes as hostile to readers. And then the third one is enemies/friends/neutral working partner to lovers.

What's your current writing mood (10 -- super motivated and churning out words like crazy, 0 -- in a complete rut): Like a 6 or 7. Now that I'm working on new shit I know I can start and am looking forward to sitting down and writing, but also on a little brain break since I finished act one and need to do some housekeeping with my fics.

Share a random frustration: I am so tired of my hips hurting all the time and I am trying to ignore the fact that even after my hip surgery that hip but especially my left hip will still hurt and that's just like an unfortunate fact of my fucking existence with this stupid fucking connective tissue disorder. I don't think I have lived a day of my life fully pain free, even as a child I remember sitting cross-legged for too long would make my knees feel weird.

Tagging @dreadfulsanity @glitchinginthegarden @bloodydragam @dani-the-goblin

[aslanscompass]

The Return of Russell

When Russell T. Davies stepped down as Doctor Who showrunner, the heir was obvious: Steven Moffat. Moffat had already written six Hugo Award-nominated episodes in the four series of the revived show, as well as having experience as an executive producer on other award-winning shows.

On the other hand, Moffat's successor was far from obvious. The announcement of Chibnall produced baffled shrugs and ambivalence. He'd written several episodes for Torchwood and the main show in the past, but none of his previous offerings stood out.

Chibnall's era was full of chaos and controversy. With only one Doctor and three series, spread over five years, he wrote or co-wrote 21 of the 30 episodes.

I'm not going to rehash all my thoughts on Chibs or Jodi in this post; suffice it to say a significant portion of the fandom was turned off by Chib's stories. I also don't want to go back and look at viewing stats either. I'm an English major; statistics scare me. However, the compiled viewing figures and the reduced episode count have contributed to a lower 'profile' for the show overall.

I'm not privy to bureaucratic politics, but the implications of Russell's return are blindly obvious. The BBC is scared. They know Doctor Who is losing ground with scifi fans; the cash cow is drying up. Who better to turn this ship around than the man who brought it back in the first place?

However, my initial response was "Don't they know what 'new' means?" Russell left on good terms; a small portion of his fans have been begging for his return ever since. While I am not one of them (I started with s5 and am a firm Moffat devotee), I find him to be a capable showrunner, even while I disagree with his politics.

RTD returning is one thing, especially in the lack of other viable options. Bringing back Tennant and Tate, on the other hand....I side-eyed that decision when it was announced. Now that the 60th-anniversary specials have aired, I'm even more ambivalent about the choice.

There's no way of knowing who suggested what element(s) of the sixtieth, especially now that Disney has a finger in the pie (although I've heard that Disney wasn't a player in those specials.) Tennant (and Piper) returned for the 50th, but Day of the Doctor was deliberately and consciously a multi-doctor special, with 11 retaining incumbent status.

Having Whittaker regeneration into Tennant... yeah... a poor choice. I've already posted here about an alternate, Big Finish-inspired take on the reappearance of that face. And of Tennant's companions, Donna is the natural choice for returning (both narratively and in terms of actor availability)

I'll go into more detail about the 60th anniversary specials in another post, but the upside of hiring a known quality is exactly the same as the downside: you know what you're gonna get.

[maya-matlin]

Your answers to these asks are among the few highlights of my life, which is currently a trainwreck :)

Five Degrassi characters most fans seem to love who you don't like much?

Five Degrassi characters most fans seem meh on who you love? (Yes, you're totally allowed to list Zig here if you want to :))

Five canon Degrassi romantic ships most fans love that you don't like much?

Five canon Degrassi ships you love that most fans seem meh on?

Ten favorite friendships/platonic ships (ie siblings count too) of the series?

Aw, I'm sorry! 💖 Same, honestly. But I still appreciate the asks. :)

1.) Five characters most fans seem to love who you don't like much?

My main answer will always and forever be Eli Goldsworthy. He's still massively popular with his every indefensible action deemed "out of character" even though being shitty, controlling and misogynistic towards Clare is practically half of his character. I probably enjoy his character best in friendship scenes and as a supporting character than I ever do when he's the lead of a story line, and especially when he's a love interest.

Other than Eli, there's Cam. It's not that I don't like the character. I like him fine and have felt more positively towards him than I have in years. But, he's just some guy to me? Cam was part of an incredibly well written, emotional story line. Dylan Everett acted the hell out of it. But I wouldn't rank him anywhere near my favorite or even the best Degrassi characters. He served his purpose and overall, just wasn't fully fleshed out enough for me to have all that strong of an opinion of him. The worst of them though is Katie. I can't stand her and even though she's more divisive these days than popular, I still think she's more liked than disliked and I will never understand why.

2.) Five characters most fans seem meh on who you love?

LMAO I feel Zig is more love/hate than meh, but obviously him. There are very few fans who are nearly as passionate about the character as me, which is probably why he's constantly misunderstood. He's always been overshadowed by the much more popular Cam and Miles.

I'm just going to cheat and say five more instead of four. Dave, Marisol, Jenna, Ashley and Shay. All of them are either generally disliked or found "boring," but I'm a big fan of all of them and what they brought to the show. Dave never lives down his worst actions even though more than most characters, he actually tries to make amends and grew quite a bit during seasons 11 and 12. No one ever forgets Marisol's and Jenna's past as "boyfriend stealers", regardless of KC's culpability in that and how both became wiser, kinder, more giving people as time went on. It's actually ridiculous how Ashley being an occasionally moody and dramatic (really depressed, but it's not acknowledged) teenager is considered so much worse than literally everything most of the other characters were up to. Shay's kind of the same way, only mostly just overshadowed by Lola's popularity.

3.) Five canon romantic ships most fans love that you don't like much?

Miles/Lola, Cam/Maya, Eli/Clare, Dallas/Alli & Paige/Alex

4.) Five canon ships you love that most fans seem meh on?

Tristan/Miles (as always, it's complicated these days, but admitting you don't think Tristan is Satan himself and that their relationship wasn't a gigantic monstrosity is controversial, so obviously they belong here), Dave/Alli, Clare/Jake, Frankie/Esme (I don't know if this is true, but the general fandom is so negative about Next Class) & Craig/Ashley

5.) Ten favorite friendships/platonic ships of the series?

In no order:

(1) Spinner/Jimmy

(2) Emma/Manny

(3) Marco/Ellie

(4) Zig/Maya/Tiny/Grace

(5) Drew/Adam

(6) Craig/Joey

(7) Fiona/Holly J

(8) JT/Toby

(9) Spinner/Jay

(10) Downtown Sasquatch (I'm counting the group as one)