#I'd really like to see more shipping fics in this fandom that address the Fear of the Other

[lost-technology]

Slowly re-reading / savoring the manga. My thoughts around the end of Trigun Maximum 2... So, Vashwood shippers, we need to talk. Well, every fanficcer really, but especially you... Why do I see so few fanfics covering Wolfwood's FEAR of Vash? All of the early volumes of manga, Wolfwood is seeing WEIRD PLANT THINGS. He was witness to the Fifth Moon incident. He sees Vash's healing capabilities in Trigun Maximum 1 and through 1 and 2, sees Vash's general endurance (the one time he got exhausted and sick and wrecked the bike notwithstanding). He saw Vash STILL IN THAT CONDITION sticking his neck out for others, just reckless with his own life and it scares him. He gets hints at Vash's general immortality and wonders if he is unkillable. He wonders at how much he is like his brother. Underneath the guidance and dare we say... growing friendship, there is this underlying terror. At least, that's what I feel from reading the manga. And it makes me feel like... mangaverse Vashwood shippers... unless you're ignoring canon and just writing something self-indulgent or you're writing a post-series AU, or at least a late-series thing, I feel like "No way they're bumping and grinding right away." And if they are? Any note on Wolfwood's wondering just what he's gotten himself into and just what he is romancing? Same with Vashmeryl in the manga... the sharing of PTSD stuff, the terror she has. She's gotta overcome her fear of Vash after that, which happens in the manga... I just feel "this is not a romance manga" and anything shippy is really self-indulgent on the fans. Which is OKAY, but... I don't know, I just don't see it when people insist on any of it being canon and it sort of baffles me at the amount of shipping this fandom has (okay, so it really doesn't because all fandoms have shipping... but, it's like, when a friend and I do shipping roleplays for Fire Emblem: Awakening, that makes a lot of actual sense because half that game is a shipping sim. It's Character Horny-Chess)! Not an anti-post, just me casually wondering, after going to the fanfiction section of Ao3 at how quickly and readily some of the shipping stuff is, even in non-ship centric fics when I go and read the manga and read "Wow, even Vash's friends are scared of him, at least a little bit, if not a lot." Poor guy.

[discordantwords]

Thank you so much for the tag @therealsaintscully!

How many works do you have on ao3? 48! 30 for BBC Sherlock and 18 for The X-Files.

What’s your total word count? 924,659 (whoa, that's a lot of words)

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? (Never) Turn Your Back to the Sea White Knight Incidents with Dogs, Curious and Otherwise Another Auld Lang Syne The Dead Detective

Do you respond to comments? Why/why not?

I try to. I'm not always as on top of it as I intend to be. I find comments tremendously meaningful and I at times get emotional while reading them. They are important to me. I reread them often.

I often fear that I'm a poor conversationalist and overthink my responses, which can tend to freeze me up.

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

Most of my long fics have happy endings.

The Pillar upon Which England Rests is my ode to Mrs. Hudson. As she and John are grieving Sherlock's fall, she tells John all about how she and Sherlock first met. I don't think of it as a particularly sad story, but I suppose that ending counts as angsty, as Sherlock's eventual return is not addressed in the story.

I guess the shorter, more horrorish ones have angsty (or at least uneasy) endings.

Nothing Happened in Belarus has S4 Sherlock, in the throes of his breakdown, somehow briefly traveling through time and encountering S1 John, who cares for him. It's a brief reprieve for him in the midst of a personal hell, but there is no resolution. When he returns to his own time, he is still forced to face what's coming next.

At the end of Leaves, Sherlock and John have either successfully defeated the bloodthirsty plant that has invaded their flat, or they're being digested by it. I leave that decision up to the reader. :)

The Web has Sherlock returned from his time away and reunited with John, but there is a part of him that will always remain haunted and deeply paranoid.

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

Most of them, heh. I like to leave my characters in a good place after putting them through hell.

I guess I'd have to say White Knight? I still get a little giddy when I think about the way Sherlock proposes at the end of that one, and how happy and free they both are after the crushing weight of misunderstandings and grief has fallen away.

Whirlwind has a pretty joyful ending, too.

Do you write crossovers?

I haven't written a crossover, but I have done a few fusion fics. The Dead Detective is a fusion with Jumpin' Jack Flash. Whirlwind is a fusion with Twister. Out There is a fusion with The X-Files.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not really. Most responses on AO3 have been warm and supportive. I have gotten a few unnecessarily vicious comments on some of my ficlets here on Tumblr, but I do my best to ignore those.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Most of my smut tends to be of the R-rated variety, because I'm frankly just not very good at writing it.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yes, sort of, but I don't believe it was done maliciously and I don't intend to call attention to it.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes!

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I have not. I'm open to the idea, but I honestly don't know if I'm cut out for it. I think my tendency to wing things and my utter lack of a consistent writing schedule would drive a potential writing partner mad.

What's your all-time favourite ship?

Mulder and Scully were my first true fandom love. I love Sherlock and John equally as much, if not more.

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

There are quite a few WIPs on my hard drive that may never see the light of day. As far as posted fics, my Sherlock/Knight Rider fusion probably won't be finished.

What are your writing strengths?

I like to think that I'm pretty good at capturing character mannerisms, and writing from a perspective that lets the reader feel what the POV character is feeling.

What are your writing weaknesses?

I'm not all that impressed with my smut writing abilities.

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

I steer clear of it. Although Google translate can be helpful, IMO there are too many opportunities to make embarrassing or inadvertently offensive mistakes.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

The X-Files

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

I really enjoy the character dynamics between Hannibal/Will in Hannibal and Lestat/Louis in Interview with the Vampire. I think I'd have a harder time getting into their heads than I do with Sherlock and John, so I'll probably just continue admiring them from afar for now.

What's your favourite fic you've written?

This is such a hard question! I'm probably proudest of the work that went into Out There, but I have a huge soft spot for The Pillar upon Which England Rests and (Never) Turn Your Back to the Sea.

If anyone out there would like to share your thoughts on some of the things you've written, please do! I'll also tag @thetimemoves @arwamachine @raina-at @vulpesmellifera @iheardyou @totallysilvergirl @khorazir

[jimmyandthegiraffes]

Fic Writing Review 2023 🌈

Thank you sm @itwoodbeprefect for the tag!!!

I hardly published anything this year so if u wanna skip to 'projects for 2024' that's gonna be the most interesting bit >.<

Words and Fics (on ao3) 📚

words posted: 714 💀 but many more words were written, just not posted lol fics posted: 1 first fic/last fic 😅: King of the Eyesores - Doctor Who (1963)

Ships and Fandoms ⚓

Doctor Who - no ships really but KotE is Mike Yates-centric.

Top 5 Fics by Kudos 🏆

It's KotE again lol which is at 6 kudos. Of all time, tho:

After the Hour(glass) - Night at the Museum (Jedtavius)

Less Than Ideal Circumstances - The Man from UNCLE (TV) (Napollya)

When They Sleep - The Man from UNCLE (TV)

Dismiss Your Fears - Back to the Future

After All, I'm Only Sleeping - Doctor Who (1963)

Top 5 Favorite Fics 💖

KotE......... I do actually rly enjoy KotE I think it has potential in terms of where it's going. But since I only posted one fic in 2023, I'll do my top 5 of fics I've ever posted. Apart from the first one this is in no particular order

tickertape - The A-Team (TV) it's my baby it's all I thought about for months of my life, it's like an iceberg (i.e. most of it is in my WIP doc, and only a tiny fraction is published so far), it got me thru a difficult time, it's an exploration of mental illness and complicated messy relationships expressed in epic format (i.e. it's probably gonna be novel length when it's done)

Bullet Number Six - Starsky & Hutch (TV) it received criticism for being obscure and hard to follow bc it switches pov briefly halfway thru but idc i love it anyway

I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues - The A-Team (TV) it was my first A-Team fic and I still think for a beginner it nailed some p realistic in-character dialogue and addressed an undertone I wished I'd seen addressed in the ep it's a coda to.

When They Sleep - The Man from UNCLE (TV) it's kind of riddled with certain mannerisms of my slightly older writing which I personally find a bit annoying and have worked to iron out for the sake of elegance over the years. but I still think it's a cool little exploration of all my sleep headcanons for the pair of them in one place

King of the Eyesores - Doctor Who (1963) see it made it to the list after all! I kinda like it more for its potential than for what it is right now butttttt who cares.

special mention to Unbereft (Starsky & Hutch) which I really really like but I wrote it in one frenzied sitting and only remembered after I'd posted it that it was very like someone else's fic I'd read several years previously. I don't think it's too much like to be taken down and I've since mentioned the writer of the other fic (it was dawnwind, hello!) in the notes. that's the only reason unbereft isn't in my top 5 because I'm otherwise really proud of how well it's written. Not to tootle on my own trumpet.

Fandom fic events

none RIP but maybe this year!!

Projects for 2024

Okay here we goooooooooooo

priority 1 is to finish the unfinished works that I've already half posted: King of the Eyesores, Every Line A Comedy, OUTATIME, The Windhover, tickertape, The Hanoi Bank Job and Other Misadventures, 38 Hours. Bolded are my top priorities.

other works that I'm writing but which haven't seen the light of day at all yet:

Dear Mike - an epistolary between Jo Grant and Mike Yates following her marriage to Cliff Jones.

The Lark/Behind That Locked Door (working titles) - a 30-chapter 2/Jamie fic about season 6B in which Jamie suffers permanent memory problems after the War Games. It explores grief, social ostracism, feeling abandoned, undirected anger, guilt, and acceptance that healing sometimes is a process that is never complete. I've been working on it since about 2016 lol but I'm lazy I just need to press on.

hell valley au - as yet untitled lol. In which the Hell Valley!Marty (who is never seen in BTTF2 as he is in Switzerland) and Hell Valley!Doc (who has been institutionalized) break out of their respective situations and go on the run together. But there's a problem - they had to leave Einstein behind, and when they get information that Einie is to be used for a dogfight, they make the risky decision to go back to Hill Valley to rescue him. However, going back to the place they just escaped by the skin of their teeth also brings them face to face with the last person they expect to meet.

a changed man (working title) - a Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) fic from Jeannie's pov. mostly it's about their picnic excursions but it's also about Jeannie wishing Marty wasn't such an elephant in the room

mfu/rahd xover (untitled) - the first chapter of this is almost ready to go tbh. it's what it says on the tin lol, Napoleon and Illya go to London and get help from a rather eccentric private detective who has uncanny powers of solving impossible cases but also they think is probably clinically insane

to see him happy - VERY weird rahd fic. it's smut but its also about grief. might never post it because several of my family members have access to my tumblr and therefore my ao3 lol they dont need to see that

the winter of '62 - a study of jeff and marty's life when they lived together in a grotty bedsit and couldnt afford to put the heating on

star wars (untitled) - set during ROTJ, han pov. han's lost a lot of time and now everyone is one step ahead of him which isn't a sensation he's used to

skyrissian - what it says on the tin lol

the older gen (untitled) - jeeves fic about bertie's aunts and uncles and parents as they were as they variously grew up, got married, had children, died (or didn't), fell prey to alcoholism or insanity or petty crime, went to war, prospered (or didn't)... This is pretty unlikely to be finished this year tbh as it's very detailed but I can dream

a couple of long form fics about starsky & hutch and mfu respectively (the s&h one is set post sweet revenge, the mfu one takes place at various moments throughout the show)

x-files series - canon compliant until paperclip and then gradually diverges into how i think the show should have gone lol. another biggie

and a handful of tintin fics that im protective of and might never post but we'll see - one where tintin and chang go on holiday in london after picaros, one where the gang encounters rajaijah one last time (featuring a letter from didi, chang making a very daring crossing at the songolese border, and tintin taking about ten years to chop up a clove of garlic), and one where tintin gets shitfaced at an embassy ball and accidentally starts an Incident. haddock looks on, appalled.

i knoooooooooooooooowww this is a lot but i'm not realistically hoping to finish it all this year but it's nice to have lots of things to play around with lol.

unfortunately i have the eternal problem of not ever knowing which of my mutuals write fic and which of those havent already been tagged but imma tag @theteaisaddictive and genuinely if u see this and u write fic ur tagged i want to knowwwwwwwwwwwww <333

[erin-gilberts]

susan/talia and lyta/g'kar for ship bingo!

We'll do a Babylon 5 blue instead of a Ghostbusters green for this one!

Susan/Talia:

OTP/OT3+ / I'd die for them - Maaaaan, Susan and Talia were my original OTP. I had gone hard for other fandoms as a kid, but never before Babylon 5 did one particular pairing occupy so much of my energy and braincells. I found Susan and Talia at such a critical age (12/13) that many of the things which have become crucial to who I am manifested because of Susan and Talia - they were what motivated me to look up fanfiction and to begin writing it; they were also what led me to discover the real gay fanfiction if you know what I mean while I was realizing more and more I was gay.

I spent so much time writing them new endings and I think it's because Babylon 5 was one of the first pieces of non-children's media I was super into. Children's media was relatively uncomplicated at the time (it's changed a bit since then - children's media nowadays has gotten way bolder about the way they tell stories), and Babylon 5 was like...my first piece of adult media where endings were frequently messy and bittersweet with no good answers. I loved it. I hated it. I loved them. As deep as I've gone into other fandoms, Ghostbusters included, you just don't ever let go of your first OTP.

They make me unwell (aka I'm gone for them) - I think they had so much potential that could've been so beautiful and powerful and fascinating. An actual relationship with Talia might have forced Susan to confront that she does need to unlearn her fear and hatred of telepaths because some of it is not rational or helpful and it actually hurts Talia that Susan hates and fears such a fundamental part of who she is. After Talia was killed off, Susan kinda stagnated on the telepath thing and never had to soul search about it or address it again. And Talia similarly could have had to come to terms with the fact that she can't / doesn't wholly hate or blame PSI Corps for doing their best within the system they were handed. Both of these women could have developed such peace with their complicated pasts by virtue of having each other.

I want to kiss them - on god they are,,,,so beautiful fsdfsdfdsfsdfs I'm pretty sure the reason I'm now dating a Russian is because Susan Ivanova so fundamentally shaped my taste in women

I'm sending them to superhell - More like I'm sending JMS to superhell for the way he wrote them off, but also YEA STRAIGHT TO SUPERHELL for how much they've left me unhinged, unwell, and undone for years

Lyta/G'Kar:

I love them / I'd die for them - I feel so universally positive about this ship and it's rare as hell for me to feel that way about a M/F ship. Like I said on another one of these - I tend to only be really invested in a "brain go brrr and silly when I see them" kinda way when it's a sapphic ship. They're just good for each other in a very uncomplicated sorta way. I love how G'Kar initially sees Lyta more or less how everyone else does - as a useful tool more than a person, see: when he suggests breeding to create Narn telepaths - but when she responds poorly, he reflects and learns and approaches her on the ground of equals moving forward. He's so willing to grow and change after all the times he dug in his heels and committed himself to grudges and I just sdfsdfsdfs I'd die for them.

Would/do read fic about it - I wish there was more fic about it, to be honest! I believe just about all of the Lyta-G'Kar fics I've seen have come from you, and I've read every one, but I wish more people saw the potential in this ship. They're very different people united by similar experiences and they would learn so much from each other and grow together.

Relationship goals - Lyta and G'Kar are exactly what each other need by the time they go off together at the end of the series. G'Kar, after being embroiled in war and conflict and the aftermath of war and conflict and awfulness for so long, is seeking out the seeds of a more vibrant future - a rebirth, a new start, a fresh approach to life. Lyta, having been isolated and used and discarded as it suits people her entire life, needs a home and someone to build a home in, as much as it might pain her to admit it. He would cherish her so hard and she would be that much-needed, long-wanted light in his life.

I really need this to be canon - I think Lyta's canon ending did her so dirty. There was no leadup to what happened to her as far as I'm concerned. I need one universally positive thing to happen to Lyta and if this is it, I'm all for it. No more bittersweet endings, no more character development through trauma, just a UNIVERSALLY POSITIVE EXPERIENCE FOR HER FSDFSDFSDFSFD.