#I’ve also learned that apparently I can’t shut up 😂

[fsbc-librarian]

How about H J and Y for the fanfic writer ask. In particular since you read such a wide variety of fic for the library, do you have a most or least favorite trope?

ooh this is really making me think (and it’s 4am for me in a new house/bed so apologies if none of this makes sense 😅

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H. How would you describe your writing style?

informal, and conversational probably. I try to focus on the POV of one character, and (since I switched to present tense instead of past tense) what they’re feeling in the moment, so it can lend itself to an unreliable narrator moment. I don’t like the idea of reading being hard work for anyone, so I try to keep it light.

That’s my “proper” answer. In reality, it feels like I’ve been strapped into a roller coaster that is being controlled by the characters and I’ve got no way of getting off it 😂

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J. What’s your favourite fanfiction trope? Have you written it?

My favourite trope changes all the time. Right now, it’s enemies to lovers, and no, I haven’t written it because I’ve been able to find what I’ve wanted to read. I have absolutely nothing against people who write the same trope over and over again - in fact, I encourage it - but I struggle to get the motivation to write something if there’s already heaps out there for it, unless it is an explicitly different starting point/prompt. I still say first and foremost that I am The Librarian, not The Author.

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Y. What are your thoughts on your personal satisfaction with something you’ve written vs the popularity of your stories? Do you tend to be most satisfied with your most popular stories?

“The Things We Hide” is hands down my most popular fic (I’ve only got a handful, so not hard) and I’ve always seesawed between ‘this is amazing’ and ‘holy shit why do you think you’re good enough to post this?’.

I spent the most amount of time on it - nearly a year writing it, and six months posting weekly and editing as I went - so even purely at an effort vs result level, I’m over the moon with how popular it became, especially for someone who until then had only posted one other fic.

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Also, with regards to The Library, each category title is either something that I’ve been obsessed with, or someone close to me has asked for, which has then become a personal obsession. I don’t think I’ve got one overarching favourite trope, although AU in general would be the closest to it.

Least favourite trope is “Tragedy/No Happy Ending” (which isn’t really a trope I guess). I don’t have a lot of “Do Not Read” squicks, but I do struggle with some aspects of BDSM-lifestyle (petplay, bigs/littles) but I have read and enjoyed fics that have those aspects so there’s not much that I consider off-limits.