#I think people should receive nice comments about their ship

[everythingblackblack]

What do you like about Mouri Ran? I love her conceptually and some of the fandom's version of her, she has moments where I like her a lot (being cool and kind, a very sweet teen girl with a crush in a hard situation) and moments where I dislike her (her response to Shinichi's interests sometimes and her excessive use of karate, at least in how much force she applies that the situation doesn't warrant). I think I mainly just don't agree with Gosho's writing of her. Is she a damsel or an unbeatable fighter who shouldn't use her martial arts to threaten her loved ones? If she loves Shinichi enough to wait for him I wish she'd treat him better when he's actually there with her. Maybe I'm being unfair to their relationship as a lot of their phone calls and history is off-screen/page or maybe I'm biased against her as she's routinely gaslighted about the canon circumstances whereas the audience knows a lot about Shinichi's situation so have unrealistic expectations of her.

I want to clarify that I like Shinichi, but I probably sound like a hater. ¡But I'll answer you anyway!

I like Ran and she's amazing!

I really like the chapters where we can see her genius and she uses her Karate skills to stop the culprits, I also love her kindness and good heart, and I agree so much with most of the things you say, probably the only thing I don't like about her is her terrible taste in men (Yes, I'm talking about Shinichi) and how attached she is to her parents' relationship.

I don't know, I just think that maybe she would be more interested in Shinichi's things if he also showed interest in hers. I still remember her confession in London and it makes me sick, I felt so bad for her the whole time.

Overall, I'm not really convinced by the author's writing about them as a relationship, but I respect it because I think that maybe stretching out the manga was what made their relationship like that, or so I want to believe, I have my own thoughts on Gosho's writing.

About the excessive use of Karate, I actually think she needs to use it, I think she should have thrown Shinichi off the London Bridge after that horrible confession.

And no! Whoever says she forced him is wrong! She was frustrated! From her perspective everything is so ugly! It's like Shinichi just shows up, gets her hopes up and leaves, I really wish Ran wasn't so good and beat him up.

I like the fans' ShinRan, I think it's cute.

Gosho's ShinRan seems judgeable to me, although it has its good moments, I guess, I like them more as separate characters, but they are the canon ship, partly the story is about them and if that's what the author wants there's not much we can do.

Who are we to judge?

ShinRan is that ship that I like to see, but not touch. There are better people to talk about them than me.

[laura1633]

It makes me laugh so much that blogs that used to like Lando, now switch sides as well with all his comments.

I know drivers say a lot of stuff in the heat of the moment, but with Lando it's EVERY SINGLE TIME. For me it was over, when he threatened ending the friendship with Max if Max didn't apologize to him. I've had such a person in my personal life, it was hell. If you ever did something that wasn't what they wanted/liked, our friendship was threatened. Once again, heat of the moment, I get that to a certain degree, but these thoughts have to swirl around somewhere, saying such things don't come out of the blue, unexpected. It just showed me that Lando isn't the nice and caring person he's trying to portray.

Lando also has the uncanny ability to make a cooldown room and podium ceremony uncomfortable as hell when he was wronged in his eyes (aka if he doesn't win).

I know Max doesn't care and won't stop being "friends" with Lando, but oh, how I wish he would.

Btw, Laura, do you think we'll see an implosion of Landoscar?

Guys this is an anti post and I have tagged it as such, I have also put my thoughts under the cut. Know that I will not be consistently anti posting but post races I will have my little say and then try and let it go and concentrate on Lestappen.

And I have seen negativity about anti tags but I think its fair to use them so that people can filter these type of things out.

Yeah I have noticed that too anon! I have tried my best not to overly anti post. I have quite a few anti lando asks lately that I have wanted to respond to but decided to just leave it but over and over again he says the most infuriating things. 

I think I might be the same as you in terms of when it was all over for me because that comment he made was also around the time I blocked all the LN tags so I didn’t have to think about him. 

Heat of the moment in the car I understand so I always let that slide a little because they are under immense pressure. After the race my tolerance for what people say lowers because whilst the adrenaline is still pumping I think you have the time to pick your words more carefully. 

If I were to compare the way Max has spoken about Lando and how Lando has spoken about Max it is a world of difference! The maturity levels do not match up. 

What I dislike most of all is how we are expected to have a lot of sympathy towards Lando for the anti comments (and yes I agree we shouldn’t be going online and sending abuse) but I truly believe that he himself happily plays up to the press the narrative that Max is too aggressive knowing full well the hatred Max has received over the year and believing the press will lap it up and run with it.  I can not stand the ‘he is the bad guy’ and ‘I am the victim’ narrative.

Yesterdays comments about Max not racing smart annoyed me so much. I genuinely think he wants Max to just let him past because he has the fastest car. It feels like someone who has never been told no and just stomps their feet when people do not do what they want. I also do not rate his overtaking skills at all - we have seen it a lot recently against Max, Charles and Lewis who were all able to keep him behind much longer than the car difference should have allowed them to and showed the difference in quality. 

I used to rate Lando as he pulled in consistent results but right now he is only winning because he is in the fastest car because lets not forget that he needed a championship winning car in order to even win a race.

I don’t really know too much about what is happening with Landoscar. As a ship, if the battle turns toxic I still expect people to ship them because we have seen that with ships in the past. In terms of their in real life ‘relationship’ a championship battle surely will have an impact. I think right now as Oscar has the upper hand he will just be quietly getting on with things but there is no way Lando will be happy with coming second (which is fair, they should not want to be second!) If Lando starts giving Oscar the treatment he gives Max in the press that would be very interesting!! 

[vladdyissues]

Lately Ive seen some awful things about antis and haters making threats and getting artists banned from Tumblr and X. Im new to the Phandom and love pompep but Im scared i'll be targeted if I write and share pompep fics. How do you manage sharing your work so bravely?

Firstly, welcome to the Phandom—and especially Pompous Pep! I have a simple protocol for enjoying a drama-free Tumblr experience:

Preventative Action

1. Find your community. Follow other Pompep fans and supporters and reblog their things. Don't be afraid to leave nice tags; we love and welcome interactions :) You can also join the Pompep Discord server if you enjoy chatting (DM me for details).

2. Turn off anon asks. This will solve 99% of all potential problems, and you can turn it back on whenever you want. Antis are cowards who prefer to hide behind the mask of anonymity. They seldom have the courage to say something with their whole username.

3. Block the obvious haters. This is a big fandom, and at some point you're likely to come across people openly hating on pompep, either on their bio, pinned posts, or comments. Block them. For an added layer of protection, add their username to your Filtering Options.

4. Tag your work appropriately. When posting, make sure your work is tagged correctly (the #pompous pep tag is especially important) so people who like pompep can find it and those who want to avoid it can block the tag. Use Content Labels when applicable.

5. Try to avoid using the platonic tag (#badger cereal) and the romantic tag (#pompous pep) at the same time. Some fans are really touchy about this. I'm not, and I think there are legitimate cases where use of both is applicable, but if you want to minimize friction, just stick with one tag or the other.

If you're not sure which tag to use, ask yourself what your intentions are with your art or fic. Is the goal a romantic relationship? If so, use the pompep tag. If it's truly ambiguous and could be seen either way, use the platonic tag first. You can always add another tag like "okay to tag as pompep", just to let people know they can interpret it however they please.

Responsive Action

If the above guidelines aren't 100% effective, here's what you do:

1. Don't feed the trolls. If you receive any negative asks in your inbox, it's important to NOT engage with them. Delete them, ignore them, don't let them get to you. Antis thrive on attention, so let them starve. Eventually they'll move on when they realize they're not going to get a rise out of you.

The same goes for any negative comment left on your work. Just delete it, block the person who left it, and pretend it never happened.

These asks and comments may come in the form of questions. Example: "How can you ship Danny with Vlad? That's [insert gross accusation here]" Resist the urge to answer these questions. They are not made in good faith. This person just wants to start an argument.

2. Report any harassment. If by some chance you receive a seriously hateful ask, like threats of violence or abuse, take a screenshot for proof/safekeeping, then report the message and the user if they're not anonymous. If the ask is anonymous, use the meatball menu (•••) at the top right to report the message and block the anon.

Final Words

It takes time to develop a thick skin and Don't Give A Fuck attitude, but it can be done. You are a phan. You have every right to be here and enjoy this fandom in peace, just like everyone else. Anyone who believes in harassing others over silly things like which cartoon characters should be allowed to kiss clearly has nothing better to do with their life. The sooner you shut them out, the happier you'll be.

Regarding media: Artists attract a lot more negative attention than writers for reasons I won't get into right now, but if you're mainly a writer, you will enjoy a much quieter fandom experience. Wherever you post your stories—I recommend AO3; DM me if you need an invite—follow the same advice there as I've given here: make sure your work is tagged correctly; support your fellow Pompep fans by reading and commenting on their works, building that community; moderate comments if you're concerned about negativity; block and mute users if they give you any trouble, and you'll enjoy a much more positive fandom experience.

There is strength in community. When you start making new fandom friends, you'll feel a lot less lonely, and that will give you the confidence you need to really have a good time here.

Wishing you the best, anon!

[eemamminy-art]

I know I'm always complaining about this so just feel free to keep scrolling if you want, but it gets on my nerves so much how people use the tags on art to just say the first thing that comes to mind even if it has nothing to do with the art

Whether it's like "I know this game sucks and has its issues but the characters are so great" Wow, it's almost like I enjoy the game if I drew fanart of it?? But sure. It sucks. Nice art though. Or "I'm so glad X is dead but he was such an interesting character" again, I'm drawing him because I like him. You're happy he's dead and I haven't enjoyed the game as much since he died, cool, thanks for reminding me.

There's also a fun one where people will shit on one half of a ship. "This is cute but he's MINE" is one I've gotten a lot of times over the years, or there's two ships that I like where without fail when I draw them people will talk about wishing harm on one partner. Can't draw cute Leveilleur family art without at least a handful of comments wishing death on Fourchenault or talking about wanting to cuck him or whatever.

There was another time where someone recreated my art exactly in a gpose but replaced one character so that it was their wolship instead. I know there's going to be some degree of projection when people look at art sometimes but it's so disheartening. Tell me why I got more comments on my Jullus/Zenos art of people wishing it was them or their wol instead of Jullus, than comments about the ship or the art itself. Or why I get comments like "I should write this" or "it's just like a scene in my fic" beneath art that is.. quite literally scenes from my fic. There's a few people I can without fail count on making it about their own ship in the replies. On posts where I've shared my headcanons along with art, people have just ignored the art and started talking about their own headcanons. It's tiring.

And like I know that no one is gonna look at an art I drew and magically know all the context or all the thoughts in my head that went into it. I'm not expecting that! It just sucks that people don't think first when they put down tags and just want to complain or talk about something unrelated, or make it about their own ships or whatever else.

The last thing I want to do is discourage people from reblogging, because it's disheartening enough when I can regularly have posts where the note count is like 200+ notes and then I check what those notes are and the reblogs are in single digits. I don't want to scare people away from reblogging. It's so important. Just, please try to keep it on topic oh my god.

If my art reminds you of your own thing, maybe make your own post. Even send me an ask with it?? Idk, like "hey I really liked your hc for X in your art of him, I have Y and Z hcs for him, what do you think?" or "I really like seeing your oc/canon art, I also ship with the same character and here's a little about the dynamic I've made for them" THOSE WOULD BE SO AWESOME TO RECEIVE, I'M SO SERIOUS!! But having it appear under my art in tags, usually with nothing to say about what I've made, doesn't feel good. Like at all.

And bleh just yeah. I woke up to another comment like this, specifically someone being like "I should write more about my oc with this character" underneath an illustration of a scene that's literally from my fic, with no commentary about the art itself, and it just. Really disheartened me because I've been getting this so much lately.

[jimpagne]

A Jikooker rting a Taekook fic...

Hello everyone, long time no see. You're about to see me enter into rant territory, and I sincerely apologize, but I really need to get this off my chest because I am dumbfounded by this situation. I also might piss off a few jikookers, but I don't care. This is insane.

For some of you who may not be aware, a popular Jikook content account on twitter decided to repost a taekook fanfiction from one of their friends, a prominent BTS fanfiction writer by the name of yoonminology. Now, this caused extreme outrage among Jikookers, so much so that they bullied every single one of the parties involved, claiming that the Jikook account was endorsing toxic Taekookers and that yoonminology was also in support of Jimin anti accounts.

This caused the jikook account to deactivate because of how bad the bullying had become.

So, let's sum a few things up.

From what I understand, this jikook account is a friend of yoonminology, and they were expressing their support for them because they probably spent a long time writing that fic. Writing takes FOREVER, it is an exhausting yet rewarding skill, so fic writers often feel happy when they receive love and support on their works.

2. yoonminology is a multi-ship account who writes BTS fanfictions for multiple ships -- including jikook. The BTS writing space is one that I'm involved in, and this writer is well known and beloved by the community, including very popular jikook fic writers.

3. yoonminology apparently retweeted/liked a comment from someone hyping up their newest taekook fic, and this person just so happened to be a taekooker who was involved in liking hate tweets against Jimin.

4. yoonminology has never personally expressed anti-Jimin views or anti-Jikook views. For fuck's sake, they have written MULTIPLE Jikook fanfictions.

Now, I don't know why Jikookers suddenly jumped these people as badly as they did... it literally takes two seconds of common sense to realize what had happened here. Whether or not you think a jikook account should be retweeting taekook content, that's kind of an irrelevant point when it comes to the scale of bullying these people experienced.

I used to run a pretty popular writing account on twitter way back in the day, and whenever people would leave nice comments or would express excitement for my fics, I would regularly like their posts and retweet what they said. I did not individually do a background check on each person I retweeted, because that would take forever. For all I knew, these people were just happy to see a piece of media that tapped into their interests.

I believe that's what happened here, they wrote a taekook fanfiction, which in turn invites taekookers to their page, this taekooker hyped up their tweet, they liked it... end of story. If they were a Jimin anti, I promise you that most of the HUGE jikook writing accounts that support this author would not be their friend...

Jikookers, we have a problem.

I know Jikookers often like to take the moral high ground, saying that Taekookers tend to be some of the most vile people out there. Yes, in certain situations, this can be true, but a lot of these people fail to understand that not every single Taekooker is evil, not every single person who engages in Taekook content HATES Jimin or despises Jikook.

Believe it or not, a lot of writers like to write for different BTS pairings, not because they think they're real, but because they simply like the dynamic that they can creatively play with. Trust me, I used to read vmin and yoonkook fics without ever thinking that they're a thing... Fanfiction is fiction. It's not real. Should we stone the creators of Chakho or HYYH because they dared to put BTS in an alternate universe?

Fanfic writers are NOT responsible for people who cannot distinguish between fiction and reality.

But anyways, as you can see, yoonminology is a multi-ship account, they write Jikook, Taekook, Yoonkook, Yoonmin... the whole lot. This actually became another issue among these "morally superior" Jikookers, because they claimed that because yoonminology is a multi-shipper, that they don't actually really care about nor appreciate Jimin and Jungkook's bond, and that they merely fetishize it for clicks when convenient.

I was scrolling through these tweets wondering when this crazy coke rant would end.

You would be surprised by the amount of creatives in the Bangtan community, especially that of Jikook spaces, that regularly support other creators who are not Jikookers. Because it's a healthy thing to do, actually. Some of these very famous and popular Jikook content creators actually do comms for other pairings all the time!

Actually because of this entire fanfic ordeal, you have people doing witch hunts against other people for merely interacting with taekook content/art (like stopkookminpls/koousagi). Like, do you not realize how fucking crazy that is?

May I remind you that taekook as a pairing and as a concept are not responsible for Jimin's hate -- that stems from individuals who are deluded and severely mentally ill. Taehyung and Jungkook aren't asking for the people who ship them to bully their other bandmate. Sure, a lot of Jimin's haters end up being taekookers, but that doesnt mean every single person who partakes in taekook content is an active participant in all of that!

I was friends with a taekooker for multiple years and she was lovely, she wouldn't dream of hurting Jimin and loved him just as equally. These people exist, and although it's fun to point out the deluded mannerisms of the "the cult", not every single person who likes taekook engages in such behavior.

Use common sense!

Jimin and Jungkook are not just a ship.

Another issue I think we need to seriously address in this community is the "shipification" of nearly everything that Jimin and Jungkook does. I don't mean regular "omg they're so cute together" or whatever... I'm talking about the incessant need to make every single thing that they do about their existence as a ship, rather than their general existence as people.

You can see this massive shipification happen when Taehyung went to Jeju with them for Are You Sure?!, because for whatever reason, instead of some Jikookers being content with the personal decisions that Jimin and Jungkook had made (obviously being okay with him coming), they decided to form massive hate trains against Taehyung. All because he had decided to "crash" Jimin and Jungkook's vacation. All because he decided to get in the way of their ship. Some Jikookers said that they felt like skipping the Jeju episodes just because Taehyung was there... like are you serious?

Jimin is Taehyung's friend. Jungkook is Taehyung's friend. The fact that some Jikookers talk about how "the cult" sees Jimin as a persistent threat, yet they also ironically feel threatened by Taehyung's presence.

The hypocrisy.

I think if these people want to act like they have the high ground, they need to actually behave accordingly. This type of outrage over a friend supporting a friend who did no harm is absolutely insane. The way many people in this fandom treat fan artists and writers is disgusting. These people put out works for FREE. FOR. FREE. And yet these people have the audacity to bully them into deactivating.

Go out and touch grass. Fucking hell.

[olderthannetfic]

This is partly a vent and partly hoping someone reading this can offer some advice or at least insight into wtf the person/people doing this are hoping to accomplish.

Over the past few months, someone(s) has been sending purity policing “concerned” anon asks to people in my fandom, mostly about supposed untagged triggering content. Which sounds like standard anti bullshit at first glance, but there are some really weird aspects to this situation, and I don’t know what to make of it.

First, in both of the cases I’ve seen, the “untagged” content Concerned Anon complained about was comprehensively tagged, way beyond fandom norms. Concerned Anon is complaining about something that isn’t even true.

Second, the people who received these asks seem to me like really weird targets for anon harassment. From what I’ve seen, they’re both really nice people. Not in the Cult of Nice way, but in the welcoming to newcomers, supporting all shippers even the people who ship things they’re not into, willing to chat about even the most wild theory or headcanon you might have without judgment kind of nice. Good stewards of fandom, I guess is what I’m trying to say. So I don’t get why anyone would want to target them. Especially since one of them wasn’t even being harassed about their own work, but about a fic someone else wrote that they happen to like!

Third, if the source material for this fandom were a fic on AO3, it would easily meet the threshold for all archive warnings. This isn’t about Stephen King fandom, but it’s got that level of things antis lose their shit over. Why is Concerned Anon even in this fandom? Why are they ~*so concerned*~ over fic when canon is like that?

Since the first Concerned Anon ask, I’ve noticed a sharp drop-off not just in ~*problematic*~ fic, but in fic in the fandom in general. I know fandom engagement comes and goes and there could be a lot of reasons for that unrelated to Concerned Anon. I can even think of a couple specific reasons it would be happening in this fandom. But the timing rubs me the wrong way, especially since it doesn’t seem like there’s as much a of a drop-off in general fandom activity, and I’m worried the latest set of Concerned Anon asks will have an even more chilling effect on fic writers.

I hate that this is happening. I hate that people who are just out here making fandom fun are being targeted. I hate that it might be discouraging people who haven’t been targeted from writing. I hate the possibility that Concerned Anon is out there harassing other people in the fandom who haven’t responded to them or that I just haven’t seen. I hate that, as a complete fandom nobody, I probably have no power to do anything about this. I hate that the person or people behind Concerned Anon probably aren’t even going to have to face up to being this kind of shitty, because it’s all anonymous.

--

People pop up in the inboxes where the owner can get their comments in front of more eyeballs.

Of course they want to poison the blogs of the welcoming fans who get the newbies writing fic.

The way to combat them is for those bigger blogs to either ignore them entirely or to politely but firmly tell them where they can shove it while pointing out that they're a liar.

They're a toxic blight on other people's inspiration, and the "nice" blogs should tell them so. The failure to do so is going to have at least as much of a chilling effect as their shitty comments themselves.

[hergan416]

Coming across another please comment post, specifically about people who say nice things about fics to their friends but won't tell the author, and how betrayed authors feel by private book rec servers and stuff.

And yes, that's not an adequate substitute for talking to the author and isn't motivating and I don't think we should be privatizing our community. But the idea it is a generational fault kind of is bugging me because I notice myself doing some of that too- reading something recc'd to me and only responding in depth in the server or in priv instead of on the fic, and I didn't used to do that five years ago. Granted sometimes that person is in the server or I'm talking in private with the author, and that's... something different? But regardless, it's still not completely generational, it's a changing norm and I want to examine my experience to figure out why that might be.

And for me, I think it comes down to safety and vulnerability. It's easy to see this from the perspective of an author. To post a work for the judgement of The Internet is to be vulnerable. Comments help sooth over that moment of vulnerability. They help make it worth it. Whether the work is low or high effort, doesn't matter.

But commenting is also a moment of vulnerability. It is becoming visible to the author, for a brief moment, and writing down your thoughts when your interpretation might not be "as intended." I've known friends who anxiously waited to see what an author would say about a comment- would it be well received? Would the author be happy?

I feel that too when I comment. I reread the thing and try my best to not impulsively edit it over and over again to be more clear with what I want to say. That this is meant as a compliment, please don't assume malice with my words.

I didn't used to feel like that.

Where did that anxiety about being misinterpreted come from? Why do I feel I have to say everything perfectly or not at all, unless I know you well enough to know you will tolerate a mistake?

Is it of my own making, having had a reader look at the events I wrote and coming to the exact opposite conclusion about the morality of the situation as I did? I was so confused about that, think it ended up being a cultural difference, but I'm not sure because I had the last word, and I still feel terrible about that interaction. I wish I knew how to properly express how fascinating it was to be challenged on my assumptions like that, even if my definition of what constitutes rape didn't shift at all.

Or did it start before then? Was it because of that one time that I got all the way to the end note of a story to find out that alwill shippers weren't supposed to interact because they didn't want readers to interpret an interaction between them as anything but brotherly? (I hadn't read it that way, the fic was tagged sherliam and they hadn't wrote it that way. I left a comment anyway at the time, but I don't think I would have done that if I came accross that fic today.)

In fact, the fact that a loud and vocal subgroup of people simply don't want you to exist because of your taste in ships makes it hard to engage with any people you don't know in fandom at all. What if I leave my comment then click on the author's socials and see that their bio says proship DNI? What happens if they click on my profile and get mad at me for existing around them, like AO3 is Twitter or something? It hasn't happened yet but what if it does?

I'm basically "out" about shipping dark and disturbing content and so this next one doesn't apply to me per se, but what if a group of antis trolls the comment section of my fics for people to harass over their tastes? That's a public admission trying you to me. That could be dangerous in the current internet environment.

And my friends ... know who I am and know I say stuff stupid and largely don't care. So it's easy to tell them "hey look at this, it's y ship and does h really well."

I have no idea if these experiences line up with anyone else's. I don't want to say this ought to excuse me from trying to also tell the author they did h really well. I just am trying to parse through some of my own fears and anxiety and seeing how that relates to the current state of things.

Because I also want more comments. I just also empathize with people who might not always leave them. I don't think it's a moral failing to choose not to comment on a fic you liked. And also I know many of my original core readers have left the fandom/gotten busy/etc. And I know that my writing is probably "tolerable and I finished it, but I am not excited about it enough to talk about what just happened" to a fair amount of people. (And the barrier to talking about it just keeps getting steeper and steeper for me, so maybe that's what's happening with you too.)

[ceratedfish24]

Thank you thank you THANK YOU for your Scott posts!!!

I'm probably somewhat biased because he's my main POV and probably favorite CC in the Life series but I'm glad that you've been pointing out the weird double-standard this fandom seems to have and actively arguing the contrary. Like. He's just a guy playing the game!!

Also!! I LOVE your posts about ships and examining dynamics between Scott and various CCs!! I honestly might try and watch POVs I wouldnt have and rewatch videos just to find some of these moments. It's so so nice having someone who genuinely seems to appreciate Scott and who also highlights moments where other CCs also lift him up.

All in all just. Thank you for doing what you do and being so attentive to these small character moments

Hi Anon!! I’m so glad that you’re enjoying them!! I have a lot of big feelings about how unfairly some people treat him, and I did not expect it to get as much attention as it did. I’m so glad to have found and provided support and community for people who feel the same way. It always feels good to receive asks like this and see what people have to add or comment in reblogs and replies!!!

I’m also so glad that people are interested in what I think about different dynamics! One of my favorite parts of the life series is seeing my favorite content creators who don’t typically talk finally interact with each other, even if they’re not on the same team.

You should definitely watch new perspectives👀I promise you won’t be let down. I specifically recommend Tango’s Twitchcon MCC just to see Scott checking up on Tango. It’s the cutest thing ever🔥❄️Also, if you’re looking for CCs lifting Scott up, Imp & Skizz Podcast is the place to be. Those guys LOVE Scott. Any episode that mentions a convention has a high chance of complimenting Scott.

Thank you for the ask and for being interested in what I have to say!!💙

[chericheribaby]

Fanfiction Author Interview Game

thank you for the tag @moonheavens i loved snooping on your answers hehe <3

How many works do you have on AO3?

seven at the moment! that will change pretty soon...

What's your total AO3 word count?

105,014 but that's because it's counting my hidden works! (about time and my jegbb)

Your top 5 stories by kudos/likes:

archenemies (or so he thought) | if you care for me pls don't read this lmao, this was my first born and it's... yeah, please don't. (somehow this is my work with the most hits which is terrible)

Don't threaten me with a good time | the sequel of archenemies, same warning lol

When it rains | I liked how this one turned out, it's silly and lovely and it has pastries which is nice so, yeah!

Some sunny day | oh this one, this one is so soft and so sweet, the fluffiest of fluffs. it has mexican james, chilean remus, little harry and little luna <3 a day at the beach <3

light as a feather, soft as a kiss | my first drarry <3 love a good pinning and pathetic draco just as the next guy

(shout out to as warm as the calabrian sun that was one kudos away from making it to this list)

Do you respond to comments?

I do but not as often as I should, I have a lot of unanswered comments in my inbox but one of my goals for this year is to answer all of them, I love comments and I have this idea that maybe people don't comment because they see I don't answer comments that often :/

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

I wouldn't say the angstiest ending because i like happy endings but slow dancing in the dark is the angstiest fic I have, though i want to believe it's more of a hopeful ending :•) (the people who read it might disagree)

What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

like i said, i like happy endings but if I have to choose, maybe some sunny day, it's has a pretty sweet ending I think!

Do you write crossovers?

not really, no!

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

nope!

Do you write smut?

I have but it's not posted yet! you can get back to me a month from now tho...

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that I know of!

Have you ever had a fic translated?

nope!

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

no but I’m waiting for my friends to shoot the shot with me…….

What's your all-time favorite ship?

drarry my beloveds <3

What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

The Empire of the Sun, it was a big project of mine, one i really liked! it was a jegulus dystopian au, I had the whole idea drafted but I've seen how people treat fics and authors in this fandom, specifically with this pairing and that kinda made me. not want to continue writing it, honestly. Also it's a big ass fic so, I don't think I'll ever finish it anyway.

What are your writing strengths?

I think maybe inner dialogue, I like to ramble a lot inside my little puppet's head so, probably that. I'm kind of an oblivious self-deprecating author so I'm very Unaware of these things.

What are your writing weaknesses?

A year ago I would've said my inability to finish anything but that's not true anymore so, probably the lack of flexibility, sometimes i want something to make sense and i research and I spiral that something is not quite right when in reality this is fucking fiction and i need to calm down and remember is not that serious!! (also long ass sentences like this one... not even a comma im Insane)

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

All in, I even have dialogue in french and spanish in my fics so. I particularly appreciate it when the author leaves the translation in the notes so i know what they're talking about hehe

What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?

Good Omens, I have a azicrow/ineffable husband's fic in my drafts so, maybe that will see the light of day someday! also, Agatha All Along, agathario, those two tempt me to write something for them....

What's your favorite fic you've written?

About Time, Scars and the Brightest Stars, that fic is like, my baby and I'm so proud of how is coming along! can't wait for you to read it!!!

no pressure tags: @static-radio-ao3 @residentrookie @ecstarry @kaaaaaaarf @aeoneskova @rae-lune @inevitablestars @velanavis @emlovessid @itsjaywalkers and OPEN TAG!!

[detta-pica]

Fanfic Writer Interview

This should be a nice way to wrap up the year.

How many works do you have on AO3?

11. I was actually surprised when I checked. It feels like I’ve written 6 at most.

I started writing fanfic in 2013, then took a really long break from posting. I still wrote (mostly unfinished novel-length stories) and read a lot, but no fandom pulled me in enough to publish my own stories. Until JJK in early 2024.

It’s the tragedy, I think. It’s not that I want to fix canon, I love it for the pain it’s caused me, but I am strongly motivated to write happier outcomes for my ship.

Your top 5 stories by kudos/likes:

The Darkest Deluge - Kingdom Hearts series, Strifehart & Soriku, 123k words (unfinished, on hiatus)

This is a plot-heavy soft sci-fi story with a big cast and four major POVs. At first, I managed regular weekly updates, but then life happened and I took longer and longer breaks. I still intend to finish it. In fact, everything except for the final battle and dénouement is already drafted. The second my JJK obsession fades a little, I’ll sit down and finally get it done.

Born to Die - JJK, stsg, 40k words

My first JJK fic, a plotty, vaguely futuristic vampire AU. I got to play with very interesting themes in this one. I’ve promised a sequel and I will deliver, though I’m not sure when.

So far from you here next to me - JJK, stsg, 25k words

The first part in a magic realism/witch AU. I expected the series to get barely any traction, since it starts with the unresolved romantic tension tag. Each installment is a self-contained case fic, which is my favourite genre, centred around a theme. For this one, it’s grief.

Wisteria, sufficiently looked at - JJK, stsg, 23k words

Part 5 in the same series, themed around forgiveness. This is where the romantic tension finally gets resolved.

Unknown-C - JJK, stsg, 2k words

A silly, fluffy getting together fic. Technically canon compliant, but I’m always hesitant to use that tag when writing about a non-canon ship.

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Every single one, and usually in a timely manner. I also try to match the commenter’s energy, so I’ll leave a long reply to a long comment, and respond to an emoji with an emoji. I want to make sure that each commenter feels appreciated and knows how grateful I am, but also, the reason I write and post fanfic is that I want to be an active participant in my fandom, to be a part of the community. The best way to achieve that, I think, is to interact with people.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

There he is, happy - it’s a canon compliant stsg fic with the MCD archive warning 🤷‍♀️ Alternatively, it’s The Deep Well, but I’m not saying why.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

I’m not sure. I guess Unknown-C is the most lighthearted. Aside from the two stories mentioned above, I haven’t written any properly bad endings, but I mean… I’ve been focusing on themes like death and grief. I can’t claim those are happy fics.

Do you write crossovers?

No. I just don’t find the idea compelling. I might do a fusion someday, though. Specifically, JJK characters in the world of Stardew Valley.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not once. I have a small audience, so the likelihood of getting hate is really low for me.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Since September this year, yes. What kinds of smut are there? I guess I’m not super interested in writing penetrative sex? I’m a switch/vers shipper focused on mlm ships (unfortunately; I hope to get hooked on a wlw ship some day).

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I sincerely doubt it.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope!

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Also nope. I’d love to try it, but as a discovery writer that plans primarily in themes, I imagine I would be horrible to work with.

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Listen. I don’t have an all-time favourite anything (except maybe Assam tea, but I haven’t tried every variety out there, so this could very easily change). I go through phases, come back to old ships after years and years, and just generally follow my whim.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I have a bunch of WIPs for the early Assassin’s Creed games that I will definitely never finish. They are a decade old.

What are your writing strengths?

Plot? Despite planning in themes, I think my stories are usually plot-driven. I’ve been told my characterisation tends to be true to canon, though that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s strong… Oh! I think I’m good at echoing the original material in different ways, usually through AUs, to explore canon themes from new angles.

Also, worldbuilding. I mostly write AUs, so it’s kind of a given, but I think of myself as a worldbuilder first, writer second.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Action scenes are definitely one. I find the choreography of a fight horribly boring (to read and to write), so I tend to fast-forward through them.

Character voice. I’ve seen people do absolutely incredible things with POV characters. I want to be that good. I will probably never be that good.

Originality of structure, if that makes sense. I think fanfic is an incredible medium for trying out new formats, pretty much without any constraints. But even though I really want to do fun things with story format and structure, I end up falling into safe habits.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

It can be great if it serves a purpose. Sometimes, hiding information from the reader/achieving vibes over understanding is the goal. It can also be useful for settling the reader more firmly in the POV. But it’s the sort of tool that should be used very sparingly, or else it will become frustrating.

What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

The Old Guard’s Joe/Nicky. Maybe when the sequel finally comes out? Also Arcane’s Silco/Vander. Unfortunately I can only do one fandom at a time, and I haven’t yet been released from my current obsession.

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Oh wow. Hm. I’m gonna say Born to Die, because it was the beginning of my writing journey in a new fandom and it got me out of a fanfic writing slump that had lasted years. Also, it was my first, raw attempt at working through my JJK-related feelings, so it’ll always be special to me in that way.

Thank you @hollow-lime-green for tagging me! This was fun :)

Tagging @poolnoodling and anyone else who’d enjoy doing this!

[laura1633]

Fic writer interview thank you for the tag @481boxboxbaby and @souvenir116

Tagging @saviour-of-lord and @ilyarozanove (not sure if you have been tagged already and no pressure if you don't like tag games!) and anyone else who wants to do this feel free to use this as your invite.

How many works do you have on AO3? 155 - Wow okay I don’t know how I ended up writing so many.

What's your total AO3 word count? 1,076,320

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? 1. Preloved  2. Good Boy 3. A million times over 4. Weak 5. My Pretty Princess

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I try to respond to comments and I have gotten a lot better at it. If I have ever not responded it's because I have left it too late and then panic over whether it's still appropriate to respond!! I read all comments though, it’s the biggest motivator so thank you to everyone who leaves comments on fics, I appreciate you all <3

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending? Either ‘One last night’ or ‘Hitching a ride’ Both are open ended though. 

What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?There are a lot that have happy endings but off the top of my head I will go with ‘A million times over’. It’s just an overall short cute one-shot.

Do you write crossovers? No

Have you ever received hate on a fic? If I have then I have forgotten about it because I can’t recall any hate coming in. I am sure there are plenty of people who hate my stories though, I’ve just been lucky they haven’t told me about it! 

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Yes I do and lots of it. Almost any kind. Dom/sub, pain play, tentacles, omegaverse, lots of kinks, nice soft sex, loss of virginity. I would definitely say varied!

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not stolen but hmmm I have seen something very close to what I have written. 

Have you ever had a fic translated? No, not that I have seen anyway. I have had people ask before but I am not sure if they ever actually translated them.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? No but I have spoken about it with @481boxboxbaby unfortunately I am disastrously disorganised so I don’t know if I should really inflict that on other people 😂 I do think it would be fun to have a fic with a set up and then multiple authors taking a chapter each to write the scenario from various drivers points of view. That would take a lot of organising though.

What's your all-time favorite ship? Lestappen

What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?There are so many of them, I have a folder full of random wips that will likely never be finished. At the moment I am fighting my way to try and finish a cowboy Max au one shot, I have started it and deleted it soooo many times, I will finish it though, it’s just not clicking right now! 

What are your writing strengths? I guess maybe just having a certain level of creativity when it comes to coming up with ideas. That can also be my downfall because there are too many ideas pinging around for me to concentrate on one! 

What are your writing weaknesses? I always say that my writing style is more about a general vibe rather than it being grammatically correct 😬

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? I’ve personally never done it. I’d have to use google translate and I wouldn’t trust that it would read properly.

What was the first fandom you wrote for? F1

What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?Charles/Oscar or Max/Rico Verhoeven. I will get around to writing them eventually

What's your favorite fic you've written? It’s probably recency bias but the fic I am writing and posting right now “Preloved” is probably my favourite. I think it's also super encouraging when people are commenting and enjoying the story so it has made the whole thing more enjoyable. I will definitely be writing some more multi chaptered fics going forward. Of the one shots maybe The Sweetest Deal because it plays into my love of babygirl Max.

[marigold-hills]

Thanks for the tag @magicbeings & @veganbutterchicken and @tealeavesandtrash ❤️

total works: 21

total word count: 168,697

your top 5 stories by kudos/likes?

I’m starving, darling

Open Thoughts

Dunes and Waters

The Lives We Lost

June: or how Sirius finally figured himself out

do you respond to comments? As much as I can, but I get a bit overwhelmed with nice messages and then feel silly just telling people *thank you* and don’t know how to make it personal. But I love them all so much and read them when I’m feeling bad about writing :)

what's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending? They all have happy endings but Never Before Like This has murder… so probably that one

what's the fic you've written with the happiest ending? Probably June! It has a marriage ceremony :)

do you write crossovers? Kind of, I’ve written Wolfstar in other universes - howls moving castle and stardew valley - but there is no crossover with characters

have you ever received hate on a fic? nope

do you write smut? I do :):)

have you ever had a fic stolen? Highly doubt it!

have you ever had a fic translated? No, but how cool would that be

have you ever co-written a fic before? No, I’d feel too guilty imposing the goings on of my head on another person

what's a wip that you want to finish but don't think you ever will? So so many. At the moment mostly either my Remus as a statue AU or the Stardew Valley one (come talk to me about either maybe it’ll get things going)

what are your writing strengths? I think descriptions? I like doing descriptions.

what are your writing weaknesses? Dialogue tags 😂 I have to go back over all the dialogue and add them in because I alway forget it.

what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? Love it. French for the Black brothers, Welsh for Remus, Latin for everyone (because they should speak Latin!!) I mean Dunes has dirty talk in ancient Egyptian.

what's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to? Hobbit/LOTR. There are some dynamics there that I would love to explore but I’m currently hyper fixated here so that probably won’t happen any time soon.

what's your favourite fic you've written? Probably If the Fates Allow. It’s a very short Wolfstar-in-space thing and it wasn’t as involved as Dunes or June, for example, but there is something about it I really like

no pressure tags: @euripidestrousers @quiethauntings @goldenprophetwrites @diamondmeadow

[ryuichirou]

Speaking of pictures, which of the TWST boys would take sexy photos and/or nudes of themselves and send it to their respective paramours and how would the said paramours react?

Sorry for the late reply, Anon. I’m slowly working through the list of older asks… please be patient with me.

Riddle – very unlikely, he might get coerced or provoked though. I don’t think he would do it with Trey, but if he suddenly did send him a nude, Trey wouldn’t believe his eyes and it would probably take quite some time for him to response… Floyd would be shocked too, like yeah he did tease Riddle about being a chicken and not wanting to take a dick pic, but he didn’t expect him to actually do it. He would call Riddle lewd because he knows that he is going to lose his shit lol

Ace – he wouldn’t mind sending a dick pic, but he doesn’t do it out of the blue, only if the atmosphere gets kind of flirtatious and spicy. It usually happens with Deuce, so they would still bicker and tease each other, but if Ace sends Deuce a nude picture, Deuce would probably send something like “whht” and go offline. Because he got embarrassed, freaked out and threw the phone out of the window… pray that no one picks it up and sees it, Ace.

Deuce – he wouldn’t think of it himself, but he could be asked to. He won’t agree initially, but after some bickering he might. He is very awkward in his nudes though, it’s obvious that he is very embarrassed, but once he gets used to it and starts sending pics to Ace on a regular basis, he’ll get stupidly good and even inventive with some of his angles. While still being super embarrassed about it. Ace doesn’t praise him for good pics, a lot of times he jokes or comments kind of vaguely, as if he didn’t ask for a pic himself, but… he saves every single one of them.

Trey – nah, it would be way too embarrassing. I don’t think it’s impossible to make him send a nude, and if he and the recipient get too flirtatious, when after like a week or two of teasing Trey might actually send a picture showing a little bit of his crotch area (although I can’t think of anyone who we ship Trey with that could do it, maybe Vil? Maybe though). But if Riddle suddenly received a nude picture of him, Trey would apologise before Riddle could even react. And then they’d have an awkward conversation about how it’s totally okay and nothing weird has happened… right… not a big deal… (Riddle won’t be able to get the image out of his head )

Cater – he either doesn’t take pictures at all when he isn’t dating someone (and he currently isn’t, just laments about how nice it would be to exchange hot pics with someone), or sends them to random recipients on one of those forums where people want anonymous nudes. But if it’s the latter, the pics are obviously faceless. I think it’s the former though…

Leona – does he even use his phone? If Ruggie asked him to send him a picture, Leona would refuse, but not because of obvious reasons, but because he is lazy and Ruggie should do it himself if he wants a picture so badly, but it won’t be for free. Great, Leona, now start charging Ruggie of all people for a fucking pic lol

Ruggie – he has no idea why anyone would want to see his scrawny body, but hey, if he is getting paid for it, he doesn’t care. He’ll take a picture of anything other than his butt, that’s just a little too weird for him lol But if Leona received his picture for some reason, he would probably be confused and ask if Ruggie is feeling okay. He never replies to Ruggie’s text, so… is the fact that he sent a nude so troubling that Leona doesn’t even get mad?

Jack – this is way too embarrassing to him, but it’s not impossible to bully him into it. Well, it’s almost impossible, it’s very difficult because he is super stubborn and doesn’t like the idea of pictures of his down-there existing anywhere. But if this is an abs pic (+a boob pic, which he doesn’t realise lol), he could get persuaded. Vil would call him a good boy for that lol why is it Vil who ends up asking these introverted boys for nudes?? That doesn’t sound right…

Azul – he wouldn’t, because he feels like this is pretty much creating his own blackmail, and he doesn’t trust anyone enough to send a nude picture of himself with full knowledge that it won’t be used against him in the future. That being said, sometimes he really likes how his body looks, and he might take a picture just to see it at a different angle… but then he has to delete it in less than 5 minutes!! God forbid someone finds his phone or, even worse, if he accidentally sends it to someone.

Jade – he wouldn’t. But if his loved one expresses just how much he doesn’t want to receive a dick pic, he is absolutely going to. He is a wild card lol you never know with Jade. Intuitively and regularly he absolutely wouldn’t, but when Idia-san is so sure that he’ll never get a dick pic from him… Jade’s entire being won’t stop itching in anticipation until he sends him a nude and freaks him out lol He’ll totally say “My apologies, I didn’t mean to send you this. This is very embarrassing” afterwards, although both of them would know that he isn’t sorry at all.

Floyd – idk, he feels weird about nudes, he doesn’t like to send one to a person who asked for it, but at the same time he doesn’t feel like taking a picture of himself either… until he does. Sometimes he fools around and ends up taking a bunch of pretty hot pictures. With him biting his shirt to keep his crotch and stomach exposed, or just holding a dick and stuff. He doesn’t take them with a thought to send it to someone, but he might just for the heck of it. He might also actually send one on accident… the reaction of the recipient is always fun, it takes them some time to realise that this is in fact Floyd’s dick and yes it is that massive. Riddle and Idia would probably block him in panic lol but stare at the pic afterwards.

Kalim – he takes and sends tons of pictures, but none of them are usually sexual. He loves spamming Jamil with selfies, but every once in a while veeery rarely he might send a dick pic to Jamil. You know, just to show how much he misses him (even if they haven’t been together for like a day or two). Jamil always yells at him and asks him not to do it, what if someone hacks his phone and leaks the photo everywhere?? And Kalim is so bad at not exposing himself, there’s always either his tattoo, his things or even his face showing!

Jamil – he wouldn’t, but he still does because Kalim asks for it. And while Kalim always reacts with excitement, he could get surprisingly specific and demanding, so Jamil always has to take pictures at weird angles, in weird poses and such. Some of them are super indecent and exposing…  If things were up to Jamil, he would take pictures that show just enough to drive the recipient insane, without actually showing his private parts. He has such a talent for seduction… and very low sex drive and interest in the field.

Vil – very rarely, and his pics are always faceless. His nudes are always top notch, and he doesn’t mind teasing his lover and he loves throwing the starving dog a bone every now and then, but he is super paranoid about privacy. Vil has seen so many celebrities suffering from leaks, he can’t always shut down the feeling of being watched. This contradicts another hc I wrote a couple of weeks ago (maybe), but if Ortho creates a private impenetrable unhackable cloud storage just for Vil, he might take pictures more often. As for Rook, whenever he gets a pic from Vil, he either bombards him with compliments or goes completely silent for like 30 minutes, while being online the whole time. Kind of creepy… 

Rook – he prefers to receive pictures, not take ones himself. He doesn’t get asked for pictures all that often either. But if he does (I can’t think of anyone other than Vil who would be even remotely interested…), he could take quite a decent pic. And he is quite stealthy about it, like the details of the background imply that he is outside and surrounded by people, how the fuck did he manage to take a picture without getting noticed?! His dick pics stress Vil out… go hide somewhere next time…

Epel – I can picture him both being provoked into taking a picture (he isn’t a chicken!!!) and taking it himself, but it would still be super embarrassing and awkward to him. I can also picture him accidentally sending the picture to the wrong recipient lol Like he meant to send it to Floyd but sent it to Rook instead… And he is lucky if it’s Rook, because Rook won’t tell anyone about it. Just look at Epel very meaningfully while Epel gets red and dies out of embarrassment every time their eyes meet.

Idia – no no no no no, no way, absolutely impossible! Well… He might get bullied into doing it though. By Ortho (puppy eyes!! Because the boy really wanted to receive a cute nude pic…), by the Tweels (blackmailing him into doing it? as an option) or by Lilia (just by the sheer alpha energy that is both arousing and frightening at the same time). Funny enough, I can’t really picture Azul asking Idia to send him a nude…do better, Azul.

Ortho – he is so, SO UPSET that he can’t fully experience this thing. He doesn’t even have a phone! He is a phone! But this isn’t going to stop him, so he might actually somehow take a picture and send it to Idia, going “oops, sorry niisan, I sent it on accident, completely forgot to delete this one!”, as if this is even possible… Both Idia and he know he is just messing around lol He analysed terabytes of dick pics and nudes to take perfect pictures though.

Lilia – he might. For funsies lol Especially if he knows it’s going to tease his lover, and I feel like he is the most likely to do it for Idia. He would mostly take provocative pictures, try some weird angles, but those make his back hurt, so he’ll end up just sending Idia a dick pic. Either way, it would freak Idia out lol

Silver – he doesn’t initiate it, but he does it… well, he used to do it quite often for Lilia back when he got his first phone. He is better at it than one would expect him to be, but this is because Lilia made him retake pictures multiple times until he was satisfied. But he doesn’t ask him for pictures all that much these days, so if Silver sends him one, he would be very surprised… in a good way. And Sebek would be in shock lol he would call Silver and yell at him. He won’t delete the pictures though… why, Sebek?

Sebek – I don’t think he’d do it by his own volition unless he is either being tricked or forced to do it, but even then he would be super embarrassed. And any of his potential partners would be shocked to get a Sebek dick pic… It would be so confusing that no one would probably even want to address it (especially Idia, although he would be freaked out by Sebek’s size). Malleus might get furious, but he’ll quickly realise that poor Sebek was probably tricked into doing something like this, so he’ll feel bad for him lol Silver will just very vaguely ask Sebek to be careful next time. He isn’t really shocked by the pic itself, it’s not the first time he sees Sebek’s thing…

Malleus – well, if he manages to figure out how the phone camera works and how to send it… without actually breaking the phone… can his phone even do that? In any case, Sebek wouldn’t believe his eyes and would probably collapse and stop functioning for at least an hour, and Lilia would get very surprised and then rush to explain Malleus that he probably shouldn’t be doing this since he is a future king and all. But maybe… a couple of pictures wouldn’t hurt, right?

[momentomori24]

Long-ass fandom rant because I need to scream into the void to find a reason to live let's gooooo

[For context I wrote most of this last friday which I thought was good to mention so the timeline makes a bit more sense. I really held off on this one XD Welp, let's start this trainwreck.]

Ok, I know I have other long posts I should be paying attention to (*cough* Keiji's shady shenanigans rant *cough*) among other probably more important things, but quickly wanna get this off my chest because it's kinda started to bug me and add even more concerns about the yttd fandom than I already have. This is specifically going to be about soushin-- yeah, yeah, I know-- but also bleed into something more... broad. Or broader. Idk, I'm a Tumblr user not a grammar teacher.

While browsing through Twitter I've been noticing a little spike in popularity for yttd with more fans and soushin shippers emerging as well. Which is cool, the game deserves all the praise and popularity it can get. And as someone whose been here for years, I'm glad that the fandom is slowly and steadily grown more accepting of soushin compared to the attitude around it way back when. There's been some genuinely really cool stuff that really does the ship justice from a lot of talented artist and writers that I absolutely love (will link some later), but something I've also been seeing a lot of from fans is what I can only describe as a "sanitisation resurgence" (but not really. kinda). A week or two ago on Twitter I stumbled across some soushin discourse where some people were sharing the sentiment that "if soushin end up being related and/or have a big age gap the ship is ruined". That they can only be two years apart max or else Nankidai has "fumbled them".

And the only response to that I had is "what". Like, how is that a deal breaker to you lot? How did you even get into the ship without accepting that those things could very likely end up being canon? How are you here and not ready to ship them no matter what's revealed about them after everything we've learned about them? Midori and Shin possibly being related was always on the table, and Midori potentially having already been an adult when Shin was in high school was always a very real possibility ever since we learned that he was never actually a student at his school. This is literally what soushin shippers got harassed by antis for years ago. Soushin is "problematic", and that's why people who shipped them where treated so badly in the fandom or just excluded all together. I can't count how many timed I've come across a "soushin shippers dni" or "soushiners are freaks and I hope you all have a bad day" or soushin fanfics/art with "I DON'T ACTUALLY SHIP IT BTW" and "not a ship" and "actual soushin shippers dni" attached to it. I can't recall how many times I had to explain myself with the "I ship but I don't condone it irl" or explain why I shipped them to not be labelled as a freak as if you need an excuse to ship anything fictional to begin with. I still remember soushin artist @uououoon and how they ended up deleting their Twitter account years ago because of the harassment and slanderous comments they were receiving for ships the fandom deemed problematic. When a person was saying their goodbyes to them on reddit and made some goodbye art (which is now deleted), some assholes in the comments were calling them weirdos and pedophiles for how they explored fiction and "glorified abuse" (which are the usual comments to uououoon's art posted on reddit unfortunately). I only caught wind of this one because back when they were still active in the fandom they were my favourite soushin artist and I went through their stuff almost every day and was tipped off when I randomly couldn't find their account anymore. They were such a nice and incredibly talented person too so the fact they essentially got bullied by a flock of stupid western fans seriously irritates me thinking about it again. This is why we cannot have nice things.

Soushin is "problematic". It's toxic and subtly abusive and important to the characters in question, but that didn't stop people from going after people who wanted to explore a dark, canon relationship (romantic, platonic or otherwise). How the actual hell did we go from "soushin has very toxic and problematic elements and you shouldn't be shipping it, you fucking freaks" to "you can ship it but don't make it actually problematic, you fucking freaks" like what is happening right now???? The worst part is that this is coming from other soushin shippers. The fact that there's actually soushiners with "proshippers dni" or "soushin is not for proship" genuinely makes me want to bite someone. Like, you horrible summer child-- not only are you demonstrating that you don't even know what "proship" actually means, but you're also spitting in the face of the people in our community that have CARRIED this ship for us for years. Why throw them under the bus to be one of the “good ones” in the eyes of antis when they hate us all anyway?

This brings us back to the sanitisation point: I feel like soushin is slowly being "sanitised" to fit the sensitive palette of antis by trying to make them as "morally acceptable" as possible. It's a worry I’ve had for a long time that once the fandom grows more accepting of the ship we'll be seeing more people basically scrubbing soushin of everything that made, well, soushin, to justify enjoying it. I've seen a bit of it already with a few people trying to say it's "not abusive" or just erase Shin's very obvious trauma by Midori all together for quite some time. Guess it's starting to happen on a bigger scale sooner rather than later. Maybe. Personally I don't think soushin having a big age gap or being related would ruin the ship. It just adds another layer of fucked up to their already fucked up relationship (I already hc Midori to be significantly older anyway so maybe I'm just biased). It doesn't really matter. I came here for toxic yaoi. I want nuclear waste level toxicity, not nuclear waste level toxicity presented in the most conventional and moral way possible. What would the point even be? It’s like packaging poison in a grape juice box. Like, it might be harmless to look at and more justifiable to think of as delicious, but it’s still poison. You making it look all cute and innocent isn’t going to change that. It's kinda funny and by that I mean not really that people will talk about wanting more "toxic yaoi" but when the yaoi is actually toxic and messy and horrific they will cry about it being "bad" or "ruined". You don't actually want dark dynamics, you want dark dynamics stripped of everything that makes them uncomfortable and dark so it's digestible to your tastes that don't even align with said dynamics in the first place. The worst part of this whole "soushin isn't proship so it's fine" bullshit is that it relies on trying to make the ship more "morally acceptable" or "legal" than other ships. Dawg, we are talking about abuse. You shouldn't be minimising that to say "well it's not [insert other terrible thing] so it's fine!!" That's not the "gotcha" you think it is. It’s one of the reasons why antis being into soushin made me feel weird cuz like you can’t ship it and then turn around to insult someone else, man (I’ve seen so many soushin defenders bash other “proships” to justify theirs like what are you doing--).

Realistically, the simplest and smartest thing to do when I see someone mischaracterise or butcher my faves is to either block or ignore and pretend to not care so I don't act on my sixth sense telling me to off them and myself. Realistically, this shouldn't be a big deal or anything that important, but this attitude is usually weaponized to harm and harass people who don't conform to their purity crisis over fiction. I'm in the unfortunate position of being not only a Your Turn to Die fandom dweller, but a Hazbin Hotel and The Coffin of Andy and Leyley one too. I'm used to being labelled a rapist and incest apologist irl who's delusional and deserves to be harassed and insulted by virtue of the media or ships I like (probably not a good thing). But people who are more active in these fandoms than me have it much worse as they get this shit directly waaaay more often while I mostly get called these things indirectly, which is what motivated me more to make this post.

So a couple days ago someone made some art of Monika from ddlc, Nikole (don't know the game sorry) and Ashley from Tcoaal. A lot of people on Twitter, unsurprisingly, bashed it for including Ashley to the point where some felt the need to clarify that they like her as a character but her actions (for some reason I do not understand like Monika has also done some seriously evil shit why are you not applying that logic to her too?). What struck me the most is that a yttd fan-- a self proclaimed "Midori enthusiast"-- ALSO quoted it to bash having Ashley in it. A freaking Midori fan. I told them to mind their business and start separating fiction and reality and to stop being a hypocrite, and thus ensued the most hilarious and stupidest convo I've had in a while:

You can literally count the seconds it takes for these guys to start throwing predator accusations and slurs at people. So "not exploring fiction correctly" makes me weird, but harming or putting real people on blast for nothing is free game, apparently. They're not the worst, both in this instance and in general, but it just stuck with me. Which is impressive, cuz I normally don't have much emotions to spare aside from general mild irritation for things like this. Maybe it's the Sonic feet.

But it ties into my issue. Midori's an absolute piece of garbage, yet some people will convince themselves that his actions are in some way justifiable to justify their hatred of something else (that is a lot less severe in this case) rather than love and let love. Tcoaal is not an "incest game" and if you describe it like that unironically you are not ready to be on the internet. No, it doesn't condone or glorify incest-- it literally does the opposite. If you need the characters to look into the camera and say "what we're doing is wrong and immoral" before doing something bad, I think you're the problem at that point. For the same reason you liking Midori (probably) doesn't mean you support human experimentation and torture, someone liking Tcoaal doesn't mean they support incest and someone shipping soushin doesn't mean they support abuse. These things are dark and shouldn't be condoned irl, but this is fiction. We can do whatever the hell we want. Being into darker themes and media doesn't have to reflect your real world views, but the inability to grasp that sentiment leads people to make their interests as moral and sanitised as possible and, feeling morally superior, will go after people who don't do that. This person deadass said that "incest is not morally grey and absolutely unjustifiable" (didn't even say that it wasn't btw) as if their blorbo hasn't committed so many atrocities for kicks that I personally find more unjustifiable. That line implies that they think that everything else Ashley has done and everything Midori has done can be justified because it wasn't incest specifically, which I find is a WILD thing to insinuate XD But it really does encapsulate the hoops antis will jump through to defend their likes while attacking yours despite the fact that it's literally the exact same as theirs. Rule of thumb: if someone accuses you of condoning something immoral because you like it in fiction, apply that logic to them, look at what they like and if their wet little meow meow is the Joker, Eren, Killua, Makima, Midori or whatever other morally bankrupt character you can come up with, take that as a confession and run. Cuz half the time these guys are actually nuts. While quote tweeting someone to shit on their art isn't the worst thing, considering how twitter has treated tcoaal artists the fact that they'd potentially open them up to harassment pissed me off, which is probably evident from my tone.

[Hi hi, this is me from the present right now cuz a more recent development came up so I’m using it as an example here too.]

While most of the things listed here have all been happening online, this attitude can come up in the real world as well.

As OP states, a bunch of hellaverse cosplayers were targetted at a french convention by haters of the show trying to ruin their cosplay. This is already completely unacceptable but the thing I can’t for the life of me get over is torching their costume while they’re still wearing it. Literally attempting to set someone on fire. All over a fucking show. It’s baffling how people can justify actions like this because they think your taste in fiction is so disgusting it’s Ok for them to hurt you. Not just online, but outside as well. It’s not the first time a hellaverse cosplayer has been harassed (last time it was a Valentino cosplayer but then again Val fans get shit from all sides all the time), and while I’m pretty sure these will remain as isolated cases it’s still scary to think about. What’s even more scary to think about how people think that their opinion on hazbin hotel has any relevance to the situation. So many of the comments in that post are just “I hate Hazbin Hotel, but—” or “I hate the fandom, but--” or “I hate Vivzie, but—” and I’m literally here ready to start pouncing like SHUT UP. No buts. That is not in any way important here. You not liking the show or the creator should not be important to the situation of cosplayers being actively harmed. You don’t have to signal your allegiances before showing basic human empathy, goddamnit. And what’s even worse is that some people have just turned this into a “b-but the hazbin fandom!!” issue, which is insulting. For example:

The “Hazbin fans do blackface and disrespect black people daily” is a reference to ONE Alastor cosplayer that nobody had defended. Not even fans. At least no one I can find. Yet they are using this one bad apple to generalise the whole fandom as "bad" and down play the amount of bullshit the hatedom does to fans on a regular. It kinda makes me feel sick that someone would look at a situation like this and spin this into a “fandom thing” rather than focusing on the victims. That they don’t deserve to be taken as seriously just because of the fandom their in. Some lunatic in the comments was literally completely minimising this whole thing saying “some red paint (fake blood capsules) isn’t nearly as bad as lynching and what black people have gone through in America” before calling anyone who called out that that’s completely irrelevant racist for liking Hazbin Hotel like are you kidding me. My homies in Christ, someone almost got lit on fire can everyone please stay on the goddamn topic. This is one of the rare moments where I was kinda proud of twitter as the majority of the comments and quotes where calling out their bullshit, but the amount of likes and some of the comments are still disappointing.

So what points am I trying to make here? This was very spontaneous and rushed so apologies if it feels messy cuz it very much is messy. But my main points boil down to this: Purification, sanitation and the “fiction equals reality” and "your fictional tastes reflect on you morality irl" arguments need to die. They just have to. While petting Shin on a daily basis gives me enough serotonin to find the will to live, the only true solace I will find is when people start being normal. People shouldn’t be getting harassed or labelled as freaks for fiction you don’t like both online and real life. People are not less worthy of basic human decency and empathy solely based on their fictional interests. People should be able to explore fiction however the hell they want without worrying about there being made a call out post on them somewhere. I search Tcoaal on twitter and there’ll always be a bunch of posts with over 10k likes calling all fans annoying weirdos or say it’s an “incest game” even tho it literally isn’t. I will try looking for some Valangel art on tumblr and see some loser use the tag to basically shit on everyone who ships it and lying about the treatment these shippers get while defending Charlastor or just shit on the ship in general. I just exist on the twitter side of the HH fandom chilling with other Val fans and literally every single one of them has either received death/rape threats or told to kill themselves, got ratio’d by a bunch of haters, had a call out post saying not to follow dedicated to them, had their art reposted and Val scribbled out, repeatedly accused of ““romantising a rapist””, or all of the fucking above. Valentino’s VA gets asked if he’s actually like the character he plays in real life or a fan being “relieved that he didn’t abuse them like Valentino” when they met (kudos to Joel for being chill about it btw I would be fuming this fandom does not deserve this man). I type in a certain controversial yttd ship to search and most of the latest posts are just people being rude, saying that if Nankidai makes them canon they’ll drop the game, calling the man himself a freak, calling other shippers freaks, shitting on soushin as well and then having soushiners defend their ship while also shitting on said controversial ship. It genuinely feels like fanbases are circuses and we are the clowns 💀

I could list other examples people being weirdos but I can't do that without breaking the momentum of this post even more than I already have. I guess what I wanted to vent about is how these attitudes regarding fiction and the way people police how others engage with it and how people think of you based on what you like can go from just annoying to downright dangerous more often than you’d think. That belief that you are morally superior to someone else based on the fact that you ship or like things the “legal” and “pure” and “healthy” way (which is never actually the case btw) can lead to you being really disrespectful or a complete asshole and not feeling bad about it at all, which does more harm than good. Which is why I thought it was important to bring up more extreme cases to empathise how this obsessive gatekeeping of fiction can and does hurt real people, who should be more important to you than fictional characters.

All of this is very likely going to sound very aggressive in tone and I want to quickly clarify that this is not meant to be an attack towards anyone in particular. I'm just tired and recalling all this stuff is making my mood sink like a stone lmao. Who knows, maybe I'm just overexaggerating and things won't get worse when the game gets more popular. This is just what I've been witnessing both in and out of my side of the moon. The amount of yttd fans I've seen act like this are a lot tho. No fandom is perfect obviously, and this one is the farthest from it, but with new people coming in and this weird attitude and need to sanitise not only towards soushin, but other "problematic" ships and media as well growing more prominent (mostly on Twitter and Tiktok) my biggest worry is that the hostility in this fandom will just... increase? Roulettefeel made pretty good posts about it-- my favourites being this one, also this one and this one's pretty short and sweet, summarising most of my soushin points a lot better and shorter than my trainwreck of a post so I recommend checking them out. If you like soushin, go check them out. If you don't like soushin, go check them out anyway. They make stuff outside of soushin too. They're pretty cool.

[I also want to add that the whole sanitisation thing in the yttd fandom is nothing new. It’s been a thing for longer than I have been here. I’ve just been seeing it again with soushin, which is was what made me want to do this in the first place. There’s another dynamic the fandom obviously does this for, but uttering it would not only get me flamed but straight up burned at the stake of bad takes so I’m saving that for a rainy day.]

Aaaaannd, I'm done, I think. I didn't have a good conclusion for this in mind. Idk, just be nice? You don't have to like "proships" (or what the fandom has defined as proship cuz that's not the actual definition), but that's what the block buttons for. Don't like, don't read, I say. Fandoms are for everyone and as long as what the person is doing is harmless, let them feel safe being themselves without having to worry about someone coming after them. Real life cops already suck. Let's not bring them into our collective escapism. And something you personally don't like ending up canon doesn't mean the game or ship is "ruined". That doesn't just go for soushin. That goes for other things too. To tie up loose ends, soushin having an age gap or being related has always been on the table and fits with other themes in the narrative. That does not count as "bad" if it makes sense. Soushin is not "Ok to ship" because it's "not an illegal ship" (whatever tf that means) and it's not "bad to ship" because it's "romanticising abuse". It's fine to ship because it's fictional. You don't need a moral justification to ship anything. That goes for all ships. That's why NOTPs exist. And "proship" doesn't and has never meant "shipping problematic pairings". It's a stance on shipping. It means being pro people being allowed to ship whatever they want. That includes being cool with problematic pairings, but is not limited to those. It means not being a fandom cop. Please stop saying otherwise, I cannot keep living this way--

Soooouuu, to end off on a more positive note and finally put this whole thing to bed I'll link some of my fav newer soushin accounts for anyone who's interested:

Hyo (orewagahai on ao3 check that out too): They are an amazing, amazing writer. If you're into dark, abusive co-dependent, complicated soushin with beautiful characterisation I would highly recommend. They just posted another soushin drabble on twitter and it's great.

jinn: They've been putting out banger after banger ever since getting into the game. Their art is absolutely stunning and they upload frequently, so go check 'em out if you can! It's actual medicine for the soul, I promise. They also draw for dead plate, so if you're into that go ahead too.

angel: Also cool. They're soushin art is hilarious and cute. As much of a sucker as I am for toxic, abusive sludge, they give thses two idiots a silliness that I enjoy. Also if you like trans!Shin content they're pretty good.

欣武 (my dumbass forgot to add them the first time sorry): They are INCREDIBLE. Extremely incredible artist. Their art is so, so freaking good. Not checking them out is absolutely your loss, ngl.

Be nice to them. If I catch anyone attempting to annoy them I'm coming after you and your entire family. Let's be better and not chase new comers off this time :3 Thanks for listening to my incoherent venting. This is mostly for me to feel a bit better, but anyone is free to read. If anyone's got an opinion or observation, feel free to offer it. I need coffee. Coffee sounds good.

[raylangivins]

Thank you @coyotesuspect for tagging me to do a fic writer interview!!! I love shiteing on about writing :)

How many works do you have on ao3?

41 and like half of that is from the Beatles boom of the last couple years 🫣

What’s your total word count?

242,272

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

live through this and you won’t look back (check please, jackparse); if being afraid is a crime, we hang side by side (wolf 359, kepcobi); baby, it’s all relative (beatles, mclennon); i thought i knew you, what did i know (beatles, jane pov mclennon); slip of the tongue (beatles, mclennon)

Do you respond to comments? Why/why not?

Yes!! Although I’ve gotten bad about getting back to comments on old fic bc i always open it in a new tab to respond later and then I forgor. But I’ve turned on the ao3 inbox so i can get better about finding them again. I love receiving comments and I genuinely appreciate all of them. Be rude not to reply!

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

Any ‘68-‘69 era beatles fic I’ve written tbh, but i think the worst of them is one and one and one is three where I forced poor Paul to endure a threesome with John and Yoko :)

What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

Oh god idk, one of the angst-less pwps probably. tune me up and turn me out I wrote with the express purpose of depicting John and Paul being horny and in love so maybe that one. Also I have a forever soft spot for wouldn’t it be nice? because the ending is so 🥰🥰🥰 ROMANCE!!!

Do you write crossovers?

Wrote one this year about Don Draper hooking up with Paul McCartney :) plus this oldie about Jean-Ralphio from parks and rec becoming the 11th doctor’s companion.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Only from troll accounts

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Brother I write any kind. I’ll write kinks I don’t even like if the muse demands it.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No but I’ve had someone finish a fic I abandoned years ago on ff.net and then they message me about it being like “can I finish this” and then I checked he fic and they’d already posted it and only asked permission bc someone asked them if they did lol.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

I think I did in the ff.net days but I can’t remember if anyone’s done it since

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No :( I’d love to. I have no idea if I’d be any use though, I have such a self-contained writing process.

What's your all-time favourite ship?

Raylan/Boyd or Pacey/Joey probably, neither of which I’ve written anything for lmao

What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

There’s a jackparse fic that I’ve been trying to write since the summer of 2020, and tbh I’m still delusional enough to think I will get it done eventually even though I’ve written almost nothing for it. Never give up, never surrender!

What are your writing strengths?

This sounds dumb but I’m good at capturing vibes. I like to be concise so I try to pack a lot of emotion in the fewest words possible.

What are your writing weaknesses?

I don’t care for physical descriptions so I don’t do them as much as I probably should. I think this, again, goes with my desire to be concise lol

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

If it’s a word or line here and there fair enough but if you’re writing a whole exchange that I don’t understand, my eyes are just gonna glaze over it. Dawg, I cannot read that! And also I think there’s such nuance to the way people switch languages when they’re bilingual and a lot of not bilingual people writing bilingual characters do not understand that. It’s both more and less casual than the way most people depict it.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Gossip girl :)

What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?

Idk I don’t usually go into a fandom expecting to write for it, it’s more that I join and sometimes the desire strikes and a lot of the time it doesn’t. In terms of beatles which I am consistently writing for, I really want to write a Paul/George fic which I haven’t done yet. But I love a little childhood friendship moment <3

What's your favourite fic you've written?

I love all my children equally, but stuff from this year I’m particularly delighted with are a great threat just because the universe of Paul being the girl beatle was so delicious to play with and also toxic yuri >:), and The McCartney Issue cause it hit me while I was in the midst of struggling with sort of writer’s block and a bit of a confidence dive in terms of writing, and it came to me so fully formed so it was nice to know that spark was still there, and I had a lot of fun with it.

Tagging, if you’d like @javelinbk @crepesuzette2023 @jeanharlowseyebrows @wurmzirkus @planetaire ❤️

[nightwonder7]

There's something I feel like I should address.

I think it's really nice of you to send questions, comments, fun ideas and input to my inbox! I'm having a lot of fun reading your thoughts and responding to some of them. And if I feel inspired, I'll add a sketch or two to my response.

But with that being said, I don't take requests. I don't want people to send me an ask with the expectation of receiving an art response. There are no guarantee I'll draw something, and most likely not if the ask is phrased in a request-esq way. I'll also add that I'll probably not respond to asks about fandom ships from now on.

I'm really slow at responding to asks; especially if I want to add art to it. But I fully intend to get through them all in time. Thank you for your patience! With that out of the way, my inbox is open at any time!