#I've actually written non-canon stuff for my own fic

[elacular-kink]

Decent chance you already know them, but the Poly-techhic girls. For those who don't want to click through, in brief we have:

Susanna/Susie: Short, butch chinese american (adopted from china as a baby) who's got a hiccup fetish and some serious fucking feelings about it, feelings that she is pretty bad at expressing. She likes hoodies and somehow has, as the kids say, "rizz".

Olivia/Liv: A tall, skinny black girl who's autistic and chooses not to mask most of the time. She gets the hiccups extremely often, which led to her befriending Susanna and being the first to find out about her fetish. She's aromantic, but is bisexual and considers Susanna to be a life partner, albeit not a romantic one. She's also a bit of a troll.

Maya: The one who gives all the nicknames. A red-haired chubby and muscular white girl who wears glasses and tackles people while playing rugby. Eternally full of energy and looking for outlets for it, Maya causes chaos in the lives of just about everyone she meets, for better or for worse. She's also slept with half the people at their college.

Kiran/Kiki: A dark-skinned Indian american (born in america) trans woman. Both very tall and very fat. Extremely shy and sweet and also pretty naive. Autistic and bad at masking, but accustomed to having to do so. And crushing extremely hard on the girls generally and Susanna specifically.

All four are extremely polyamorous and have a tangle of relationships with each other (which isn't really that important, as they all toe or cross the line between friend and romantic/sexual partner anyway). So no reason they couldn't be friends or even dating people outside of their polycule, though I don't know that it would be a part of the actual canon.

...christ, my fetish fic has a canon.

Anybody wanna share hiccup ocs??

Maybe my ocs and your ocs can be friends

👉👈

I'm really in a writing mood, but I haven't written in such a long time...

Legit just info dumb your character(s) and I'll happily read and love them as well

[antimony-medusa]

Okay this is 100% discourse, so maybe avert your eyes if you don't want to see me wail at the heavens, but for a fandom so anxious about boundaries, we haven't actually been very good in practice at respecting the actual stated boundaries the streamers put down, and I think it shows what we're actually policing, which is not things to make the streamers comfortable, it's stuff to make us comfortable.

This ranges from inventing new boundaries for people (you can't use neopronouns for ranboo, their pronouns are he/they; there's no boundaries on dark content for streamers so obviously we have to invent and enforce dark sbi rules ourselves) and then harassing people based on those boundaries that we just made up, to ignoring the actual things that the streamers said if we don't agree with them (cc!dream said he was uncomfortable with gore art back during the revolutionary war/exile but he's a villain, right, so we can just do whatever we want with the character, right?) and just doing whatever we want.

This is a recurring problem, with people violently policing boundaries that the fandom has all agreed on, to the point of doxxing and harassment and death threats, and ignoring boundaries that they have decided "don't make sense".

Like here's the example I put in the tags earlier, which is Technoblade related. Everyone knows that family dynamic is great and shipping is a no-go, right? But if you actually go looking for the clips, (or listen to streams in the background recursively while you're doing other things), you'll find that what Technoblade said about shipping was that it was "kinda cringe" (I think the list of things he said was cringe included reading percy jackson books and talking like you're better at video games than you actually are), and he was MUCH stronger in saying that he didn't like family dynamic in canon, saying that he didn't like it, that it was non-canon, and he'd never betray his family like that.

But if you look at the entire "found family" tag on Ao3, 19,860 stories, Technoblade is tagged into 29% of them. That's 5,760 fics just blowing right past what Technoblade said. Boom. Taking that character from his political anarchist setting and setting him right down in a royalty au w. younger siblings.

Because obviously a family dynamic isn't actually going to hurt someone's feelings or make them feel weird, the fandom has agreed, so what he must mean was that saying that family dynamic was actual literal canon is the only bad thing (I have been clotheslined by family dynamic written into stuff tagged as "canon compliant" multiple times as well,) and we can continue with the fun family stuff, right? Because someone saying they don't like family dynamic doesn't make Sense, in the way that I like it, the fandom has agreed, so we can just ignore that clip. Honestly I think that a ton of people have no idea that Technoblade ever said anything negative about family dynamic, because that clip is never brought out or talked about. I literally only know about it because I've watched that stream.

Meanwhile, the much less firmly stated boundary when it comes to shipping is absolutely doubled down on and brought out to justify mobbing people off the internet, because everyone already knows that shipping is bad and terrible and tainted and horrible to do and we don't like it, so even the slightest indication that it's out has to be grabbed and used to police people. So that everyone can be very to sure themselves that what they're doing is not weird, and the streamers are okay with it, and if I showed them my fic they'd say they liked it.

They're not going to give the Ok to your fic, because the fic isn't FOR them, and it shouldn't be. It's for the other weird fans who can't stop thinking about the block men characters, it's not for the actors. The actors have their own lives, leave them alone.

To be clear, I am not saying that we should stop writing family dynamic to respect Technoblade's feelings. Among other things, I don't think he's checking his character tag on Ao3 right now. But like, I've talked before about the way that boundaries culture ends up working in practice, and how constantly bringing problems up to streamers just ends up showing them all the things that are the most weird to the streamer. You only have to look at what most of Benchtrio has done in terms of boundaries, which has been transitioning from very explict boundaries with details on everything to just saying "just use your manners," stopping answering questions, and telling people to actually think about what they're showing the streamer instead of expecting someone to weigh in on it for them.

But even when it comes to the boundaries that we do have, that we know about, the way people enforce them seems to be less about actually respecting what the creators like, and more about making sure we're morally pure and never have to see something that we personally don't like, and we don't happen to have any of that nasty boys kissing content in our work, because we all know that's terrible. (And as someone who's seen crackdowns on LGBTQIA content several times, that certainly has unfortunate overtones.)

As long as it's all kept away from the creators, I really think that fluffy cuddly family dynamic and kissing fic and hardcore whump all falls into the category of "not for the creators, they might find that one weird, but you do you". Like keep it away from the streamers, use your brain, but like, it's all a bit weird and for fun. Let it be weird and for fun in a secluded part of the internet, keep it away from the streamers, tag your shit for people who don't want to see it, and go to town.

So just like, I really think that "creator boundaries" should be more about using your brain as to what you show the streamer, and less about harassing someone off the internet cause they drew kissing art.

[epersonae]

I wrote this originally as a reblog of something else, but after letting it sit in drafts for a while realized it needed to be its own thing. (but do go read that post, it was what got me thinking in this specific direction) I have not edited it much, other than to remove some intro about the kind of shitty day(s) I was having in my non-online life that were part of why I wrote something and then sat on it.

I have been thinking about

Don't like, don't read

(I saw this with rainbow text, and I asked how the fuck to do that, and frankly I don't have that level of patience, so just imagine it rainbow I guess)

And..........

Sure? We're all just here to have a good time or whatever, and Just Like Stuff, and it's exhausting being a hater (but also [stares at people I know who I've seen say all that and who are also ABSOLUTELY haters in private])

But I want something more nuanced than that. I mean that as both:

a writer of things I know other people have taken issue with (including, I remembered today, something that I heard secondhand about, in addition to the vagueblogging I've mentioned in an earlier post about my older fic)

and a reader/art appreciator who has some issues with things I've tried to read and art I've seen.

I don't what it is or how it works or how to get from here to there. I don't even really know how to do this with people I'm close to! (with the exception of having been a thoroughly obnoxious beta constantly saying "make me believe this could even happen", or pointing out conflicts with canon or whatever) I tend to silently nope out and then change my opinion of the person without ever telling them, because yeah, I'm horrifically conflict averse.

Which is why this might sit in my drafts for a long time.

And then, outside of friendships, and Difficult Conversations or whatever

I don't like pile-ons. I don't like a couple of people trying to articulate what bugs them about a piece of writing, and maybe being awkward or clumsy about it, and immediately getting drowned out by "you're being mean to my friends". (and I say that as someone who has had friends' writing receive this sort of critique! Multiple friends!) Maybe the immediate answer is, yes, the back button, but it has to be possible to dissect what's bothering you about a piece of writing (or a trope, or a ship) without it being negativity or an attack.

Here, I'll go first, because these are two things in OFMD fic that bug me endlessly, that writers I like have written, and I think they exhibit a subversion of the source material that is counter to the actual themes of the show.

Note: since I wrote all of this, I have written a little bit about my sort of complicated feelings about a fic that imho is an original novel in a trenchcoat, a sort of fic lacroix despite being very good. these examples are in the same vein as that.

Inevitable fucking disclaimer: I don't think people are wrong or bad for doing these things, I'm not going to try to make anybody stop, I practice don't like don't read (and I have some exceptions that I've enjoyed despite it being something I don't like generally)

Enemies to lovers: the whole point of Ed and Stede is that they click perfectly and immediately. They like each other! From the very first minute it's friendship and mutual admiration and delight and attraction. Enemies to lovers is a cliche that belongs to a different story entirely. I wish people would think more before jumping to that trope. (I've had an AU in my head for months that I absolutely cannot write until I solve this problem from the AU's source material) It's an interesting question to me, actually, why it seems to be so easy to write characters who don't like each other and then somehow fall in love, when the source material shows them liking each other SO MUCH right away.

Younger than middle aged: again, the whole point is that they are changing their lives, that their midlife crises brings them to the point where they can find love. I think it's a djenks Themes and Motifs thing, to have a story about getting to this point in your life and really looking at it and going "am I where I need to be?" Also it's incredibly unique and special to me after the last few years of my own rolling midlife crisis. (petty thought that I have sometimes: it is a failure of imagination about or knowledge of actual middle-aged people) Tbh, this goes double for age difference, I will nope out of that even faster than both of them being young.

And I think there's something about being able to not like something and still not be a dick about it, to know enough about what you do like to look at something and say "this doesn't work for me and here's why", to engage thoughtfully and critically (and yeah occasionally in public) while still having respect for the other person.

I am thinking also of @emi--rose and @frommybookbook and music, and their efforts to find kpop and Taylor Swift, respectively, that I might enjoy, because I don't like most of either, and I think this thing we've been doing is helping all three of us understand more about what we all do and don't like.

[pausing to think]

It occurs to me, also, that I spent a lot of time griping while editing for the benefit of all the broken hearts, about having to go back and do a lot of set up/rewriting to make some of what happens in that read plausibly. And I was soooooo bitchy about it and also that critique was all correct and it made the story stronger even aside from making it more "canonical", whatever the fuck that means in that particular setting.

And that was in the particular creative intimacy setting of working with a beta, which is different, admittedly, from random critique on the open internet.

But then I spent a while, back in the day, immersed in the TAZ questions of "is Lucretia a lesbian?" and "can Magnus ever love again?" and I wrote my rarepair (and associated polycule shipping) very much from my id, and a certain amount of "you can't tell me that didn't happen" that was based on overidentification and personal experience, but there were definitely people who were pretty publicly "ew" about it, and I had to think through my position, and both decide what felt true about and also decide to write from my weird heart, but not blindly.

Idk, I've written all of this and I'm just landing on

I think introspection is nice.

I think it's good to do, I think it's worth thinking about what you like and don't like, and maybe where that comes from, and not in a puriteen way but with sincerity and curiosity. I would like to support and encourage that spirit of artistic introspection.

[polyhexian]

hellloooo!!! i was a big fan of your fics from i think over a year ago (?) now and then my life got busy and i couldnt keep up w your newer fics :( i just wanted to say reading mh and eventually with sooo many consecutive chapters has been an absolute delight, not only is it a brilliant read with such fantastic ideas (you bet ive caught up on as much jasper lore as i can find under the tags) but youre such a consistent writer i was shocked to see the times between the chapters postings!! how do you do it? my writing style changes per MINUTE im very impressed!!!! this is so cool!!!

ps. i was wondering if you ever plan to write more oneshots about hunter in the canon universe (ish, ykwim!!), or if youve moved on now to your own aus?? no complaints either way i LOVEEE all your toh work, but your vee & hunter fics DO hold a special place in my toh-based heart and i was wondering if there'd ever be more?

I think one of my strengths is that I'm good at changing styles, both at writing and art! It's obviously a lot more noticeable in art, so I've gotten lots of comments from people who are used to seeing one style from me really surprised to see me do stuff that looks totally differently. I think I'm pretty good at it in writing, too! I've got lots of fics written totally differently and I hope they're all good. I think my second person work is my best though, teehee.

I've been jasperbrained for awhile but I DO actually have a ton of ideas I've scribbled in my notes for non jasper fanfics in my notes, even if I haven't written them. AND I've actually got a vee and hunter fic I've got outlined that I've been rotating in my head recently that I just need to sit down and DO but I totally do intend to. I think it's gonna be a really good one. It's about like, how and why vee is able and willing to forgive him even though he killed one of the other basilisks, how she could not only forgive him but live and trust him as a beloved brother. Cuz it's something I have a lot of feelings about, like, vee, who she is, how she thinks, her reasoning and her feelings. And I really wanna share them!!!!

I don't know if I'm really gonna post lots of non au toh fics again like I was... I have a tendency to go through cycles. ADHD brain. So like six months, a year, I will do One Thing and absolutely nothing else. Like I will be writing fanfic obsessively or I'll be animating 12 hours a day and nothing else or I will do nothing but original content or nothing but a fandom. And unfortunately I do not control the brain fjejfjfn rip. So I cannot predict if my brain will decide I'm allowed to again or not! But whatever the brain says I can do I hope is good and will be enjoyed by someone, but also I totally understand when it's like "welp. That is definitely not something I'm here for" lol. I am always swinging around between stuff.

[galvanizedfriend]

Hi Yokan 👋

I have questions

First question - how’re you doing? Hope life hasn’t been too stressful for you!

Second question - have you been reading anything that has really resonated with you in the last couple of weeks/months.

Third (and most weird) question - if you could choose a superpower what would you choose? (Dumb question I know😂)

Fourth question - most proud moment in your writing career.

And final question - how’s writing going with the Wolf? Hope you’ve not struggled too much in starting it!

hope your doing okay! ❤️

Hi, friend! How's it going?

Can I just say, it's so lovely to get all these questions! ✨ I love this so much, thank you! 💝

First: I'm ok! Work is always stressful these days, I don't think it's going to give me a break until at least September. 😂 But it's not the worst right now. Tomorrow is my birthday and I just the best piece of chocolate cake humanity has to offer, so I'm cool right now. 😇 Just wish tomorrow wasn't Monday. 🥲

Second: I have read 7 books this year so far, but nothing that's stood out as being great, sadly. :( Still haven't had a 5 stars. I finished a thriller called None of This is True by Lisa Jewell which was pretty good, if you're into thrillers. 4 stars, maybe.

In terms of fanfiction, I've have been reading random pieces of non-Kc fic, as per usual 😂 But I have also read The Little Wolf by @morningstargirl666, which is absolutely fantastic, if you haven't read it yet. It's a retelling of the show's canon about the Original family and how they were turned into vampires, with special focus on Klaus' werewolf heritage, and it's so, so, so good! And so much better than canon! It actually gives depth to the siblings' relationships, and it has so many little nods to what we know of them in the future. Beautifully woven! I have also read Till I Tasted You by @kirythestitchwitch, which is a canon divergent AU where a spell goes wrong and Caroline ends up finding out Klaus is her soulmate. It's hot, it has absolutely nom-nom-able dialogues and A+++ interactions between KC, it features Damon getting his ass kicked! I don't know, it's just the whole package. 🤌

Third: This would be a very weird question if I hadn't spent an irrational amount of time thinking about that. 😂 I guess it really depends on what kind of universe you mean, because it varies. But I would very much like to have telekinesis like Prue in Charmed.

Fourth: That's a tough one. I'm an extremely critical person of my own writing, so it's hard for me to feel proud of stuff I've done tbh. 😂 But I think I was pretty proud when I finished The Wolf 2. It's not my personal favorite thing I've ever written, but I think it's probably my best written story. I really like the final part of that story, the way I managed to tie it back to TVD, I think it was very full circle and made the story a lot more unique. I also had a lot of fun writing the Mikaelsons and Caroline back in Mystic Falls after the time they spent in Nola. 😂 So maybe that.

Final: It's... going. 🥲 I took a pause after writing two chapters back to back, tried to work on some other stuff, and then I circled back to it. I've actually just started the next chapter, have a couple of scenes. I don't think this first chapter will be a long one, but I think it will take a lot of editing tbh. 😂 I haven't been at most inspired right now, so not sure how much of what I've written will stand the test of a re-read. I had plans to get a chapter out before the end of the month, but I'm not sure I'll manage it. 🥲 We'll see how this week goes. Pray for me.

Thanks for the questions, friend! I hope you have a wonderful week! ✨

[torchickentacos]

3, 6, & 21 for Drew, our beloved

THANK YOU ANON! Love the usage of 'our' here. We all have joint custody of this weirdo.

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

OOOOOOH. Okay. This is going to sound like an early April Fool's joke coming from me specifically, but STAY WITH ME. My least favorite thing is that he literally only ever talks to May. Which, okay, kind of my favorite thing too, but he just has such INTERESTING interactions with others when pokeani lets him, but they just never really do. On one hand, I seriously love the tunnel-vision. He literally will ignore a room full of people if she's in it. Like. Canonically. It's all he ever does. But when he DOES interact with others, it's FUN! We get so much about him from those interactions but they just happen so rarely.

Anyways, incomplete list of characters that Drew should TOTALLY have gotten to interact with: Gary. Tracey. Misty. Brock (Brock has HILARIOUS one-sided beef with Drew by the way lmao, calls him nails on a chalkboard). Paul. I know Paul came after Drew but IMAGINE. What would that even look like?????

6. What's something you have in common with this character?

Honestly, not much. At all. I'm extroverted, heart-on-my-sleeve, nonconfrontational, spontaneous, unorganized, forgetful- things he is absolutely not. But I am a hopeless romantic who will get stuck pining for years on end, so that's something lol??? But honestly, veeeery little lol.

Rest under cut bc this is getting long.

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

this is also under cut because I'm incredibly touchy/quiet about my fic stuff here, but anyone who actually wants to read this and clicks the read more is someone who I'm fine with reading this answer lol. Mostly just don't want non-mutuals skimming my fic thoughts. I wish there were tumblr circles like twitter had- it would stir some bullshit, yeah, but there's... kind of a lot of you guys here and only a select few are pokeani, lol, and it's intimidating. I wish I could post for a smaller audience but alas. If you're bothering to read this then you're probably fine. I've had bad experiences with judgmental people, so fic stuff is something I only talk about to a really tiny group, but I think I can answer this. Feeling brave.

Okay. Something I like to do is lean into his overthinking. So, technically we have no idea if he overthinks or not in canon, but it seems to be a pretty unanimous fandom decision that he's someone who gets stuck in his own head a bit. He thinks too much for his own good, and I try to play into that. Not that most of it ever leaves google docs, but lol. So it goes. I think, in stark contrast to specific other characters lol, he's someone who has the next ten steps planned if he can help it, and that's fun to mess with.

Something I dislike doing... hmm. I usually leave his backstory pretty up to interpretation. I'll add details where I see fit, but overall I just leave it blank. It's not that I don't have headcanons! But I really can't settle on just one, so I never write much of any at all. I love reading other people's ideas so much! I just can't commit to my own and I leave it as-is, pretty barebones. I also don't really lean into his arrogance as hard as other writers. Not that I dislike it! I just think, for me, I tend to enjoy writing other aspects of his personality more. Him being kind of a jackass is an undeniable part of him kjdfhskdjfhbdkj but there's different ways to go about it and I leave the brunt of it to people who can write it better than I can.

[cirrus-grey]

I have now finished watching Good Omens Season 2

If you haven't already, please block the tag "good omens spoilers" - I won't post anything else until Friday night at the earliest, but after that all bets are off.

@albertinesimonet, I did not manage a full liveblog but I did jot down my reactions after watching each episode, and those are compiled under the cut :)

(SPOILERS!)

Episode 1:

Holy flipping fuck are they actually making the ineffable husbands canon???

Okay.

Look.

I saw that it was trending alongside Supernatural and OFMD. I suspected it was going this way, and the season had ended with some sort of confession/immediate separation.

That did not prepare me for the season to open with Crowley saying "hello gorgeous" to a nebula and Aziraphale being disappointed that Crowley wasn't talking to him. Or for Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy to be playing while Crowley rushed to Aziraphale's aid, like-

This is a fanfic. This is a motherfucking fanfic, and I am pleased to say that my brain is processing it as such, a well-written but ultimately non-canon fanfic (*puts on my "I still have book!omens brainrot" shirt*) that just so happens to have been written by one of the original authors.

Anyway, outside of my snorting disbelief that the first ship that I ever shipped is apparently going canon in one 'verse, I do actually have some legitimate theories, which run as follows:

A. I know this season is the plot-bridge between the original novel and what would have been the sequel, and B. I know the sequel was going to involve the second coming of Christ, therefore C. I suspect this Resurrectionist group that kept getting hinted at in the promos is trying to bring Jesus back, Gabriel found out and tried to stop it, and that's why he lost his memories. I'm a tad bit surprised Heaven as a whole doesn't seem to be involved in the return of their special boy, but I guess we'll see how that plays out as the season goes along.

Episode 2:

Oh hey, I've read this one before! "It's ancient Biblical times and Crowley and Aziraphale are angsting about their orders and finding solace in each other's company" may have never gotten its own tag, but there are certainly enough fics about it that it could.

"Can I be a blue one?" Weird kids are the best.

So the Resurrectionist is a pub, not a group. Still think they have something to do with the second coming, but I'm open to being proven wrong.

Gotta say, I didn't expect Every Day to be plot-relevant. I knew they had it for the soundtrack, but I'm really liking this sort of spooky-mystery-music-mixup they've got going with it - love the way its incorporated into the end credits, too.

Totally down for master-thief Jane Austen, btw.

How many people are writing fics about Crowley and Aziraphale getting caught in a rainstorm and hiding under an awning even as I type...

Episode 3:

How to run a bookshop, a guide by A.J. Crowley: Carry large stacks of books around aimlessly and then toss them on the floor when you get bored.

I'm honestly surprised his awning plan nearly worked. Curses be upon weak awnings, I suppose.

I do like that the Bentley recognizes that it has to play nice with whichever one of its dads is in the driver's seat lol

Okay so they keep drawing attention to the fact that there's flies in the bookshop, and now Beelzebub is acting off. Are the flies like... telepathically communicating Gabriel's worldviews to them? Is that how they figured out he was there?

That bit he said when Crowley mentioned tempests is definitely from the Revelations. I unfortunately don't know enough about the Revelations to draw any new conclusions from this. I know they deal with the apocalypse and the antichrist, but that was S1 stuff so there must be something else...

(That bit definitely sounded like Rapture stuff though, just saying)

Lotta talk about people coming back from the dead, here. It's doing little to dissuade me from my idea that this is all related to the second coming. Their "little" miracle was strong enough to bring 25 people back? Okay. How did Gabriel add his own power to it... and who did he bring back? (Does 1 Jesus = 25 normal people?)

...Okay yeah I just googled it and the second coming (and the rapture) is definitely in Revelations. Apparently the appearance of the antichrist is its herald. *insert 'oh yeah it's all coming together' gif here*

...

Several-hours later addition: When they were talking about gravity Gabriel seemed upset that the book didn't stay where it was put, "it goes down." And that flies go up.

...did he "go down," turning into a human, and is Beelzebub "going up," and that's why they're so worried about finding Gabriel? Figure out what happened to him, so it doesn't happen to them as well? Hmm...

Episode 4:

"The rumors that you two are an item..." Yeah holy fuck they're actually doing this. I don't know why it keeps catching me by surprise??? I guess it's not like, the forefront of the plot, so every time it comes to the front it feels a bit like a new thing, but still.

Aziraphale's smug fucking little eyebrow raise at that "I didn't think you were his type." He's like yeah, and what do you know, hm?

Did not expect the entire episode to be backstory, but that was very cute, especially given how much people fixated on the church scene in S1. That little showcase of their trust, both of them worried it'll go wrong but still willing to try because they feel safe with each other. I like that they managed to keep the tension of the setting, that "I'm pointing a gun at my best friend and this could go horribly wrong" feeling, even when it's well-established that the worst that could happen is paperwork.

Also, Crowley trying really, really hard to give Aziraphale positive feedback on his magic tricks even when he knows they suck. That's true love, right there.

Another showcase of people coming back from the dead. We've had the kids getting "brought back" from shape-shifting, the "resurrectionists" digging up dead bodies, and now actual honest-to-god zombies. I am Sensing A Theme.

...are the zombies still around? What's-is-face the demon did say eternal undeath...

Aaaaaand there's going to be an army of demons dropping in on the local business association meeting. I hope Aziraphale has enough tea cakes for everyone.

Episode 5:

SEAMSTRESSES SHOUTOUT ITS A FUCKING DISCWORLD REFERENCE

I know most people are probably going wild over the Dr. Who references but. It's the seamstresses guild...

I'm sure Mrs. Sandwich and Rosie Palm would get along famously.

In other news wow they're just being blatant about the ineffableness of these husbands now, aren't they? The great thing about that is I'm watching it with my parents and I don't think either of them have clicked that it's going canon - like, they're just interpreting it as a running bit, 'haha isn't it funny that everyone keeps mistaking them as a couple' kind of thing. The same thing happened when I showed them OFMD, neither of them realized Ed and Stede were actually going to be a real canon thing until the kiss. I mean, maybe they've worked out that this is going somewhere by now? But I don't want to ask in case they haven't, because I'd love to see their reaction if it blindsides them.

I am Not Normal about the dancing. Aziraphale's giddy little grin when he drags Crowley to the floor? The fucking. Hand presses. I've probably read too much Jane Austen if I'm going this insane about them just pressing their palms together.

And just... that whole fucking scene. The amount of queer people - either queercoded or just flat-out obviously queer - is making my heart feel full. When Aziraphale referred to the magic shop owner's partner using 'they' before we met them I thought it was just, you know, being polite, he'd never met them and didn't want to assume, but then they showed up in person and folks were still using they and they were so obviously giving a huge middle finger to gender norms I just-

Man I need to watch more queer shows I love this feeling.

And the army of demons is more of a large crowd but, well, still threatening. I like the use of masks to hide demonic traits, clever costuming detail there.

But. My dudes. Don't split up, what the fuck are you doing? You've been here for all of human history, you know how stories go, surely you know things always go wrong when you split the party??? I love protective!crowley, I do, but my dude taking off to bring this mess to heaven's attention is not the way to go about saving your angel. And Aziraphale, buddy, I don't know what you're planning to summon there but I really don't think it's going to go well.

...Maybe he's planning to teleport himself, Gabriel, and the humans up to heaven, too, to get them away from the demon crowd. It would be funny if Crowley and what's their name, Muriel, step out of the elevator and Aziraphale is just. There already.

(I don't think that's gonna happen though. I think everything is just gonna get Worse)

Anyway sidenote Lottie if you've read this far, when Gabriel started talking about feeling like a house I immediately thought of you, I know that's a theme you like ♡

Episode 6:

Jesus Christ!

(Called it!)

So I got a lot of the details wrong, but I was spot on with my two big predictions from the beginning. (Hey that ending reminded me of OFMD and Supernatural, I've got a great idea, why don't we all blog about the three of them and get them trending together-)

Gotta say, I'd only given a passing thought to Gabriel and Beelzebub being a Thing, their shippers must be going wild.

I knew there was a reason they kept drawing attention to that fly.

*Spots fire extinguishers* "Hey is that a Magnus Archives ref-" *Is brutally murdered with a lead pipe before I can finish*

I actually kind of love that Nina and Maggie didn't get together at the end of it all? I had felt like it was all going a bit too fast for them and I'm so glad they acknowledged that. They've got time, now, to work things out, and I love that they left it with the certainty that they'd be there for each other in the future... but not quite yet.

Oh! Oh! Oh! And they fit in the halos-used-as-lethal-frisbees-sequence! That was fabulous, I want to see more exploding headgear.

...anyway I think that's all the little bits I wanted to mention before getting to the Main Event.

I'm actually... not all that devastated about that ending? Like, okay, my heart was breaking watching it, the miscommunication and assumptions leading to a dramatic separation, it's tragic and angsty and oh my god my ship kissed my first ever ship kissed they did it they did the thing-

But. Two seconds after the credits started rolling my mind was already flying to, "oh thank goodness, they've got a Source On The Inside now and they might actually have a shot at stopping the end of the world instead of, you know, being blindsided by it because no one in heaven or hell is talking to them"

Like, sure, major breakup here, Crowley's gonna be pissed and Aziraphale might have to do their silly little "I'm sorry" dance three or four times before they can actually get down to business, but I don't think there's a question that both of them still trust each other immensely and know they can rely on each other to help out in a pinch. They'll be walking on eggshells for a bit, but it's pretty obvious that Aziraphale wouldn't have taken the promotion if he'd known Crowley wasn't going to come with him and as soon as he manages to properly communicate that fact they'll be fine.

(Sidenote, this, right here, exemplifies the difference between Book!Aziraphale and TV!Aziraphale. Book!Aziraphale is way more cynical about the whole heaven-and-hell system, he'd never say "heaven's still the good guys," and he'd be very, very suspicious of a sudden promotion landing in his lap after such a tumultuous sequence of events. TV!Aziraphale might not be the sweet little innocent bean fandom makes him out to be, but damn is he naive compared to his book counterpart. Makes me wonder how much of the hypothetical sequel has to change to work with this plotline - I'd bet my ass he wasn’t an archangel in that one.)

Can Crowley... hear the soundtrack? "No nightingales" like how does he know that's significant? Sir you are breaking the fourth wall-

(And how powerful is he? He's a nobody in hell but he keeps stopping time and could access classified documents up in heaven, something made his and Aziraphale's miracle blow up and apparently it wasn't Gabriel, and he also just brought a whole ass dude back from the dead??? Maybe those "Crowley is Raphael" theorists from S1 had a point)

Anyway, to cap it all off: my current predictions for S3 are the aforementioned ineffable husbands makeup and subsequent spy shenanigans as they scramble to try to stop Apocalypse 2: Jesus Boogaloo; they fail and Jesus comes back, but instead of following the Great Plan he instead chooses to side with "all of humanity against all of heaven and hell" (maybe Adam shows up too to help out?); and Crowley, despite his repeated protests, actually does end up running a bookshop because he doesn't trust Muriel to do it properly.

I summation, yes I am still alive, and very excited for the next season, whenever it happens. Also I need gifsets of the dance scene and that kiss ASAP please and thank you.

[sflow-er]

You ask and shall receive

Question 1 till 21 please 😇😇😇

(Aka: pick the questions you actually want to answer 😂)

Thank you, friend, for this carte blanche!! 😂

I saved it for last because I really am going to answer all the ones I want to answer but haven't yet. Also, I can use it to link all my previous answers! Yay!

I'm putting a cut here because this got ridiculously long (as you can probably imagine).

1. Favorite secondary character

As 'secondary character' was used in this ask game to cover all non-Wilmon characters, I'm going to make a top four:

August because he is, to quote my answer to 21, "easily one of the best-written and best-acted characters in the show. It's rare to see an antagonist with such deep, complex emotions of his own, and casting a sweetheart like Malte to play him was an incredibly successful choice." Personally, I relate pretty hard to his perfectionism, and I also can't help connecting some other stuff about him to someone I know.

[Obligatory disclaimer that this doesn't mean I condone the things he did very wrong.]

Sara because her arc is one of my favourite things in the show and Frida's performance is phenomenal. As with August, I also have a personal point of reference: I too was bullied all through secondary school, and while my experiences weren't as extreme as Sara's, they did leave deep scars and a fundamental feeling of "nobody likes me for real and they never will." So yeah, I do relate to her quite a bit despite not being ND myself.

Henry because he was my inspiration to start writing again after more than ten years. I've always had a tendency to fixate on background characters, and S1 Henry was an intriguing mix of things that felt very foreign to me (his background and political opinions) and things that really appealed to me (his rudeness to Simon vs. kindness to Wille, and of course the vibe that inspired me to read him as ace). I do also enjoy him in the later canon where he is more of a funny mess, but yeah, it's definitely his S1 self I hold the most dear. Also, see everything I wrote about him and Simon here!

And finally, I also want to mention Ayub because he is just a very sweet guy whose friendship with Simon I really enjoy (he does make some mistakes, e.g. by pushing the Marcus rebound, but don't we all). I don't necessarily gush about him much, but I do like him very much. Even tried to write fic from his POV once.

2. Favorite secondary romantic and/or sexual pairing

Out of the canon pairings, Sargust. Their chemistry is amazing, and I love that their romance is absolutely integral to both their character arcs and the show as a whole. I do think they had to stay broken up in S3, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't ship them. I hope they get a second chance later in life when August has grown as a person and things between him and Simon have been resolved as well.

Out of the non-canon (or semi-canon) pairings, I'd say Walty, but I also really enjoy them as a platonic or queerplatonic pair. My ace hc of Henry is strong enough that I don't actually read many fics where they are both allo (although I do have a couple of faves, e.g. Change It And Say which is on my fic rec list linked under question 18).

3. Favorite platonic friendship

Answered here.

4. Favorite triad or polyship

Sorry, I don't really have any thoughts on this! I have enjoyed reading others' answers though.

5. Favorite familial relationship

Answered here.

6. Character(s) you have ace, aro, or queerplatonic headcanons for

To start this off, I want to say I'm really coming around to @bluedalahorse's aroallo Fredrika! Her occasionally rosy and perpetually normative ideas of romance certainly do seem very "this is romance, right?" rather than something she has personally experienced.

But as you know... Ace Henry is the hill on which I will gladly lay down my life. It started back in S1, when it felt like everyone else saw sexual attraction from him towards Stella in the exam scene, and I just couldn't. I guess that just sparked something in me and inspired me to put him under an ace lens haha.

I used to think it was just for my own fics, but then when S2 came out, all I could see was more "proof" (most notably, his very "yikes I forgot that hookups were a thing" reaction to Wille and Felice, as well as his fed-up response to Vincent's "advice"). The poor guy just wanted to live his best dorm life and partake in silly traditions to egg Sprucewood and write cringey Valentine's letters, and everyone around him kept making it about sex for some reason.

[Arospec sidebar: Also, his question on how the protagonist in Kris can be in love with someone she doesn't know can easily be twisted into a rather demi thing to say. I sometimes think demiromantic ace would suit him well.]

And yes, I'm aware that Henry implies that he's straight in S3, but that's because a) he hasn't figured himself out yet or b) he's just saying it to mess with the teacher without actually meaning to imply anything. (Or both. This is messy post-S1 Henry so it's probably both.)

7. Character you didn’t initially like/love but have now warmed up to

Also answered here.

8. Pairing you didn’t initially like/love but have now warmed up to

This is a tough one because I can like almost any pairing if it makes sense in a specific fic, but that doesn't mean I'm going to like them in every context.

Maybe Stedrika? I never disliked them as a couple, but I did dislike them as individuals and wasn't super interested in their romance when it was introduced in S2. I do like them a lot more now that I've warmed up to Stella. Although I still think it would be more interesting if they broke up in uni and had to get back to being friends so... Yeah, this is a tough one.

9. Favorite non-Edmar actor

Malte, Frida, and Pernilla. They give so much depth and allow us to understand these complex characters, even when they make bad decisions. August, Sara, and Kristina are all very challenging roles, and the actors would have deserved to win some awards for how amazingly they embodied all their different sides.

10. Favorite s1 scene centered on a secondary character

My very favourite one is August's talk with his mother on Parents' Day. There's so much meaning loaded into every line (words and delivery) and every expression. Parents' Day as a whole was when August really clicked into place for me on my first watch, but his altercation with Louise was the crowning moment. It was also a major inspiration for how I wrote his messed-up family situation in Årnäs, February 2016.

My runner-up is the scene where Smysan tries to force Felice into the Lucia dress. It makes me so fucking mad and uncomfortable on every watch.

11. Favorite s2 scene centered on a secondary character

Answered here.

12. Favorite s3 scene centered on a secondary character

It's impossible for me to name a single favourite - both because I haven't rewatched S3 much and because there are so many amazing scenes centred on both Sara and August! But my top five (not necessarily in this order) would be 1) Sara and Micke in the car and the subsequent talk with August, 2) August reading his first-year letter to Sara, 3) August and Nils talking about their initiation, 4) Sara's driving exam, and 5) August breaking down at the table and Nils and Vincent comforting him. These are all stellar scenes that tell us so much about the characters involved and their relationships.

13. Secondary character you think should have had more screentime

Answered here.

14. Any ships (crackships included) involving Simon or Wilhelm that break up Wilmon? We won’t tell!

This is also a question I don't really have an answer to. I guess maybe Simon/Ayub as others had made very compelling cases for it, but I just love their friendship so much that I don't know if I could truly get behind a romantic take.

15. Adult character whose teenage backstory would make the best spin-off series

Answered here.

16. A song that reminds you of a secondary character or pairing

Answered here.

17. Secondary character or pairing that needs more fanart

All of them!! There are far too few pieces of fanart centred on characters other than Wilmon.

18. Favorite fic centered on a secondary character or pairing

Answered here. My number one favourite is @bluedalahorse's August fic, Swell the Numbers.

19. Shout out a fanfic author for their writing of a secondary character (or characters) in a subplot

Here, I must admit that I haven't read too many fics with subplots focused on the secondary characters. That's because most of those are multi-chapter Wilmon fics, which I haven't read very many of in the last few years. I did read more of them in my early days in the fandom, but I don't think there were any such subplots in those fics that really stuck with me.

However, I did very much enjoy your take on Henry in the dark vampire fic, @willedeservesbetter! His friendship with Simon was wonderful, perhaps my favourite dynamic in the entire fic. His characterisation was also very fitting for the fic, and it really felt like you let him be a character in his own right instead of just Wille's coven member/Simon's friend.

20. Dream fanfic about a secondary character and pairing that you’d love to read but don’t want to write yourself

Answered here.

21. Most underrated character/ship/actor overall

Answered here.

Phew, that was all of them! This was so much fun, thank you again for giving me this opportunity to ramble.

[flowerslut]

Your thoughts on human!Au(s). Boring? Is it harder to write than canon au (or any fic where they aren't human)? What about highschool human au? Also, how do you think Jalice's dynamic would change in an all human canon universe?

hm, I don't hate all-human AUs by any means, nor is there any sort of au or trope that I ever routinely ignore (except for the mafia/sports/band!aus—legit, I will never understand the plethora of mafia!aus on ff) but I am unfortunately the pickiest bitch in the world when it comes to characterization, and in all-human twilight AUs I don't usually vibe with other people's characterizations of the cullens. it's also really, really hard to find jalice fic (which is 99% of what I read) that hasn't been abandoned, and even harder to find all-human jalice non-abandoned longfic, that also write them well, so 🤷🏼‍♀️ I haven't read much!

ok ok but to actually answer your questions:

do I find AH AUs boring? sometimes, yeah. but that's usually because the AH AU plots I've seen are intensely dull with no stakes (no pun intended) so if I were to ever find enough that I vibe with I'd absolutely make a rec list!

is it harder to write AH or canon stuff? I always default to canon-verse stuff unless I have a fun AH idea (like the unpublished one fell swoop) but when I do write AH stuff there's usually a supernatural element to it. I find it much easier to write canon/vampire fic since just the presence of vampires alone just makes the story so much more exciting because of how interesting their lore is, so that's what I do more often!

what about a highschool human AU? I've written a small one! I really like that fic and think it's sooo underrated. if I ever were to write another high school AU it would probably be much angstier since I love to have drama and mess in my fic 🤩

how do I think the jalice dynamic would change? not to link to my wife for the millionth time but g made this beautiful post here years ago that sums up what the cullens in a realistic AH high school scenario might be like. I think it would be much like canon, in which bubbly, social, laser-focused-on-fashion-and-art weirdo (affectionate) alice just attaches herself to jasper, who is a scary misanthropic little fuck up with a reputation that precedes him. like, that's pretty much canon, just adjust some details here and there and voila! you've got their characters nailed down! as for "how their dynamics would change?" I think jasper'd be a liiiiiiittle less "overprotective" since there (hopefully) wouldn't be threats of violence and murder potentially looming around dark corners, although that aspect of his personality would absolutely still be there. and I think, for alice, since she's a human and doesn't have to overcompensate to immerse herself in human culture, would have a really confident hold on her own identity, and probably be just a fun friendly little gal doing her own thing and not taking anything too serious!

[rosalind-hawkins]

My YGO Hetero Ships: Part 1

Wanted to make a little post about my Yugioh hetero ships because I feel like I don't talk about them much. And then the post wasn't little, oh well. Mostly Trustshipping and Polarshipping rants.

Peachshipping is a bit of a foregone conclusion for me. It's intuitive and I think they work so well together and are good for each other. I use it as a world-filling background ship a lot because it's just so... obvious to me? And wholesome, don't forget wholesome. It's sweet, it's positive, it's healthy. I don't have a strong grasp on either character which is why I haven't written it, and I don't feel passionately about it, but I do support it.

Blueshipping was the very first ship I ever wrote in my very first fanfic ever, and while I do support the ship, I haven't written it since then. There is implied past Mizushipping in Rock Bottom, but Kisara still dies like canon, so tragic ending and Seth is rekt. Like Peachshipping, this one is a no-brainer for me, it just only exists when Kisara gets to live/come back, because otherwise it's pure angst and tragedy.

Trustshipping is in the future for a current unfinished fic but I haven't actually written it otherwise. Currently working on a one-shot wip with my husband for it though. This is one that I do feel quite passionately about because I think Ishizu is one of the few people that even has a chance at getting close to Kaiba, in terms of purely canonical characterizations. And in terms of non-pure canonical characterizations (aka the fun stuff), there's even more potential for passion and romance. I think they've both had to grow up too fast, take care of their little brothers, deal with abusive fathers, make difficult decisions, and be forced into a role that they didn't ask for/weren't ready for. There will be understanding, patience, and compassion there, mostly just from Ishizu but you get the idea. The dragon doesn't want to be tamed but gradually realizes the benefits of the arrangement. She's strong-spirited in a quiet way and she won't let Kaiba treat her poorly. People might think she's Kaiba's trophy wife at first, being exotic and beautiful, but I think she can absolutely hold her own with poise, class, and wit. Whenever she has to go to a snobby social event with him, people will gradually realize that he didn't tame her, she tamed him. Ishizu the dragon-tamer. He is her dragon, she is his queen. She's not a trophy wife, she's not a gold-digger. Neither of them are a prize to be won. This is a partnership, and if you ever disrespect one of them in front of the other, you will be flayed with their words. She will also absolutely have her own career in Egyptology/Archaeology which helps to discourage the conception that she married him for any reason besides her love for him.

Polarshipping is another one that I think I've only written once, and it was in the context of Ettushipping, but I stan it quite hard. I won't shut up about it anytime Mai and Joey are in a scene together when I watch Yugioh with my husband. ("Omg look at the way he smiles at her! And look at the way she looks at him! And OMG he would die for her, this boy is too pure!!") I think I've used it as a background ship before a couple times maybe? But I love their canon storyline together and their dynamic (and I can even appreciate what happens for them in Season Four, even though that season kinda ruins Mai and does her all kinds of dirty, Joey's determination to help her despite her turning on them, despite Tristan saying "you're better off letting her go because I don't want to see you get hurt again", is one of the sweetest things and Joey is such a puppy and once they finally get together, I hope Mai understands what a Good Boy she has and absolutely spoils him). I do feel strongly about them and I want to write them at least one-shot at some point.

[sinelanguage]

4, 11, 23, 39 :0?

4. Do you have any OCs? Do you have a story for them?

I do not!! Well, I have 2-3 DnD characters for previous campaigns, but I don't have any OCs outside of that, really. very much a fanfic person over original stuff.

11. Three tropes that are fine but overrated.

ohhh my god hardest question. I'm not sure about overrated, so this is more 'tropes that are fine and popular but I personally seek out':

Soulmates: I don't care for pre-destination in fiction! sometimes I think it works well and I indulge in it, but it's not something I seek out

Fix It Fix: look, I'm engaging with flawed canons all the time; I don't mind people saying canon is flawed and adjusting and/or ignoring canon entirely, I do this all the time (you will not see me adding a brook pantie joke to a fic even if it is in character), but I don't care for it when it's the primary focus of a fic. I'm here for a good time, not to explore the aspects of canon I don't care about lmao.

Love At First Sight: idk I like mess, and love at first sight avoids my type of mess (conflicted feelings realization). I'm fairly aro, so anything that hinges on romance alone doesn't really do it for me, and love at first sight definitely hinges a lot on overwhelming initial feelings.

23. Dialogue or description? Why is the other one so hard?

it kind of depends, but generally I prefer writing dialogue and find it easier-- one decent way I unblock myself on writing is to just do very loose dialog snippets until I know what I'm doing again

description I like sometimes, but find my own vocabulary for emotional descriptions kind of lacking so I struggle with making that non-repetitive. my favorite prose/descriptions come from humor/action, which is not always what I'm going for lol

39. Wildest AU scenario you have written?

HAHA for what I've written: there's a singular scene in 'same as it ever was' where after zoro dies in that timeline, sanji's a foxy pirate. implications here are incredibly funny. there's a bad end in one piece where Foxy Kills Zoro, Actually. bad end where sanji's forced to wear the iconic fox ear mask until the end.

[yellowocaballero]

looked up an ORV summary just so i can read your latest fic but it helped me not at all and just made me more confused so i think i'm just going to have to rawdog this thing. or read a 551-chapter novel. maybe read the fic first and then read the novel. looking forwards to it!

DUDE YOU CAN'T. I'M SORRY BUT IT'LL MAKE NO SENSE.

I write two kinds of fic: fic that is meant to stand on its own, and fic that's meant to scaffold off the pre-existing material. I know there are people reading the stuff meant to stand on its own without knowing the source material, so I write those stories with that in mind. The scaffolding fic is usually an AU where I rewrite scenes or jump in the negative space between scenes. To keep people oriented, I often at least sketch the line between all of the scenes. I fucking hate rewriting canon scenes so I usually just create a new narrative thread and let the reader follow that.

The ORV fic is a scaffolding fic. I could have written something that stands on its own, but in this context that would have been the coward move (normally I view scaffolding as the easy way out. not this time. god.). The issue is that when you do scaffolding work, you're married to the pacing of the source material. This isn't a problem if the story's traditional and the pacing's good (No Name On The Bullet was very lightly scaffolded, just because Stampede's greater plot worked great). This is a big problem when the story is serialized. Fic that follows serialized works very closely has to work really, really hard not to be boring as hell. It's only possible to write a great one if a) the AU premise is divergent enough that you're not just rewriting every scene, and b) the fic is also fucking long, keeping pace with the source work itself.

ORV was serialized for a chapter a day for three years (maybe?). ORV is a million words. Its pacing is fucked. Even for a serialized work, it has terrible pacing. It's like being hit by a firehose. Not boring whatsoever, but serialized works have better pacing when they follow arc structures, and ORV's arcs are just too short.

For my writing, there's also just the fact that too much happens. Between one scene and the next are like 30,000 words that I don't explain. I rewrite scenes, which I hate doing but I did, but they're existing without an ounce of emotional context. This one might actually be inaccessible this time :( You're always welcome to give it a shot though.

[Also: this is all why an ORV fic took so long to write to a satisfactory level of quality and why I still have mixed feelings on it lol. The pacing was inherently fucked. I could have done what most other people do and write an epilogue fic or a non-scenario fic and it would have been much better but that wasn't the story I wanted to tell. Ending of Han Sooyoung is about a writer, a reader, and a protagonist. The story they are writing, reading, and living is ORV. You know?]

If you DO want context and to read the fic, I recommend the webtoon - which is very accessible and very good with very good art. I feel like that should orient alright. If you like the webtoon, check out the novel. Which is a million words, so here is the episodes guide I've been using as a reference.

[jariktig]

Hello there! If you have time I have a lot of asks!!! (If you wish I'm including the wips)

👻 What is your wildest headcanon?

🔥 Have you included any sexy scenes in your fics? If yes, do you find them easy or difficult to write?

💡How many WIPs do you currently have?

💛 What is the most impactful lesson you’ve learned about writing?

🎨 If someone were to make fanart of your work, what fic or scene would you hope to see?

👻 What is your wildest headcanon?

I don't think I have properly outre headcanons of my very own; I mostly take other people's (your M has a Thing for electricity; for example, or the purely brilliant one about autobot/decepticon scientific conventions and administrative systems having diverged so far they're mutually more-or-less inoperable) and wander off in slightly tangential directions from those... That said, some of my small silly things include:

In any post-war universe there is a cadre of unfortunate bureaucrats whose job it is to deliver the policy the canonical leaders create; some of them are going to have to give MegOP (or whichever ntuple of canon characters you care to imagine running the place; other ships are definitely available) the Talk on why it is not kind to one's staff to frag in the office.

In any poet!Megatron variation, he really ought to write formal as well as free verse, and to communicate just as deceptively/manipulatively in that format as he does in spoken or written prose...

🔥 Have you included any sexy scenes in your fics? If yes, do you find them easy or difficult to write?

Yes, in that they're planned in; no, in that I've not yet got any to a publishable state. Which answers the second question, I guess...

💡How many WIPs do you currently have?

Depends a bit on how you count them. More than a dozen, anyway.

💛 What is the most impactful lesson you’ve learned about writing?

How very much harder fiction is than non-fiction, given where I'm starting from in terms of practice. Which is blindingly obvious in retrospect, but it totally threw me to start with. Also decepti-thots' advice about reading widely, which I think is the thing that has helped me most by sheer good luck.

🎨 If someone were to make fanart of your work, what fic or scene would you hope to see?

I suspect this is much like commissioning art/prompting fic/etc, in that people's responses to one's ideas are always not what one expected and absolutely brilliant. So whatever generates the most interesting response, I guess. If forced to say something more specific - any of the Jazz/Megatron stuff I've not yet actually posted, because that would create more propaganda for my cause...

[blackhairedjjun]

flowers of every color | writer's behind the scenes!

some stuff about my writing process for the fic! be warned that if you haven't caught up yet, there are spoilers

tagging people who liked and/or replied my interest check post: @agustdiv1ne @mazeinthemoon @txtistheloml @kyaneosprincess @teletubbiesssss @banggyu0308

these are pretty long so i'm putting them behind a read-more hehe

story planning:

while we've gotten plenty of yeonjun in prince outfits over the years, the main inspiration for this fic is yeonjun's opening outfit in act: sweet mirage! i saw that and was like "oh man he would be SO DASHING as a prince 😍" and just went from there

if you've been here from the start, you might know that i didn't originally plan make a series! i just word-vomited the first chapter (well, what became the first chapter) directly into tumblr's post editor because the thought of prince!yeonjun wouldn't leave me alone, especially after seeing a few other prince/commoner and prince/servant fics floating around lol. chapter 1 is also the only chapter made using tumblr's legacy editor rather than their new one (which is also why the cover pics are one big edited photo and not 3 separate photos, i couldn't figure out how to get 3 photos to line up in the legacy editor).

i honestly did not expect people to read chapter 1 but they did!! and they liked the idea!! plus even after writing chapter 1 i STILL couldn't get the idea out of my head so i decided to write it as a full story. i've written plenty of oneshots before under my (non-kpop) ao3 account, but this is my first multichapter series! so i opened google docs and made a quick outline of the story's main events.

the original outline for foec had 6 chapters + 2 endings, but as i wrote the story, i realized that more detail and scenes were needed than what i initially outlined! chapters 3 and 4 (ball preparations + the ball / gazebo dance scene) were supposed to be one chapter. chapters 5 and 6 (y/n hanging out with the chois + getting caught + punishment + intro of arranged marriage) were also supposed to be one chapter. chapters 7-9 (end of friendship, reconciling with soogyu, y/n & beomgyu talk) were also supposed to be one chapter!

i actually started writing the bad ending first before the good ending -- my reasoning was that if i were the reader, i would want to save the good ending for last so that i could end the series on a positive note. i was very surprised when people voted for the good ending first in the poll LMAO also as far as i'm concerned, both endings are canon in a "branching timeline" kind of way. they are both the real ending! i do have a soft spot for the good ending but also i love angst too much to not write a bad ending haha.

honestly most of the story beats from my original outline made it into the final fic! the biggest change has to do with queen hwayoung's and princess ajin's roles in the story (more on that below).

character notes:

when i was first brainstorming i really wanted to include both taehyun and hueningkai in the story as well, but i struggle with writing ensemble casts and choi line + y/n (+ the supporting characters in the castle) were already enough for me to handle. soobin and beomgyu were the easiest for me to incorporate into the story since they have the same last name and i could go "oh in this universe they're part of the same royal house hence the same last name" HAHA. i do imagine that the house of choi princes are also friends with tyunning (kai does get alluded to in chapter 9), but they're off doing their own adventures.

some of little moments in the fic were inspired by actual things txt have done in variety shows! yeonjun, y/n, soobin, and beomgyu playing cards in chapter 5 is based off to do ep. 53 where they also play cards. soogyu playing badminton in chapter 8 is inspired by gbgb era idol human theater where they played a little badminton by the pool. and there are a lot more small character quirks that are inspired by gifs or fancams i've seen of them haha.

queen hwayoung and princess ajin were originally not supposed to be part of the story! my original idea was the have the arranged marriage subplot be heard secondhand by through advisers so that it feels like an invisible force pulling yeonjun away from y/n. but i needed to make the threat of the arranged marriage stronger and ended up writing the scene with queen hwayoung in it for chapter 6.

princess ajin especially was a late addition -- originally she was never supposed to appear at all, never visiting the castle and only speaking through her mom / royal advisors, so there was that threat of yeonjun being married off to someone he's never even met. but after looking through the feedback of chapter 6 i realized that i kinda-sorta accidentally made setup for her oops. people were wondering what she'd be like, and it would feel too anticlimactic to never have her appear in the story, so i wrote her in. which i don't regret because i did enjoy writing her big scene in chapter 10!

speaking of which: a friend of mine asked what happens to princess ajin, and honestly i wanted to give her proper closure too! but i couldn't find a way to fit it into the story in a way that felt natural. if you ask me though, she gains some level of political independence from her mom (represented by her visiting the castle in the good ending). she still marries for political reasons, to a prince or nobleman who is also in it for the politics, and at first they treat their marriage as a business partnership. eventually they grow close and form a devoted "i'd do anything for you" bond -- not necessarily romantic in nature, but caring in its own way. (i'm describing a queerplatonic relationship basically)

tbh i don't have the energy to write another multichapter right now, but i would love to see spinoff fics for soobin and beomgyu or even taehyun and kai as princes in their own kingdoms! so if you're reading this and you want to do it, you have my blessing <3

flower notes:

while some chapter titles were planned around a specific flower representing the events & progression of the story, others were not (because of the chapter splits i talked about earlier) and i just chose whatever flower was in it lol. the planned chapter title flowers are: yellow roses (ch2), pink roses (ch4), sunflowers (ch5), striped carnations (ch7) , purple hyacinths (ch9), red roses (ch10), daffodils (GE), and white lilies (BE). the unplanned title flowers are: irises (ch1), lilies of the valley (ch3), red and purple zinnias (ch6), sweet peas (ch8).

i mostly used this website as a reference for the language of flowers, BUT i also double check with one or two other websites to make sure i'm getting an established flower meaning and not something made up! when i started fic planning i made a list of flowers with meanings that fit the main story beats and character progressions, then picked the ones with the most established meanings (i.e. supported by multiple "language of flowers" websites) and/or the ones that were appropriate for the growing season.

even though i wrote a disclaimer not to pay attention to botanical accuracy re: seasonal flowering times, i originally envisioned the fic to take place over the spring. then when it got longer, i imagined it taking place over spring and summer, so i tried (keyword: tried) to choose seasonally appropriate flowers or flowers that bloom year-round. this is hard for me because i live in a tropical country. i have never seen a lot of these flowers in person because they don't grow in the climate here, and i have no idea what a four-season year feels like. so i decided not to put time-of-year markers in the fic and leave the season ambiguous, and added that disclaimer about the flowers' accuracy.

an example of this: chapter 9 is named after purple hyacinths. i first decided on this back when the story was only supposed to take place during the spring, since hyacinths are a spring flower. i considered naming it after hydrangeas because they mean something like "thank you for understanding" (i.e. y/n going "thank you for understanding what a hard position i'm in" to yeonjun), and also because they're one of my favorite flowers. but i wasn't sure about their seasonal appropriateness since some sources said that they bloom during early summer so i changed it to hyacinths. BUT THEN the fic got long and i started imagining that the later chapters take place in the summer SO the hyacinths ended up being seasonally inappropriate after all! and hydrangeas would have been more appropriate! especially since txt literally has a song called hydrangea love out aarghhh noooo but anyway it is what it is

other flowers that didn't make the cut + their meanings: sweet william (gallantry), alstroemeria (friendship or devotion), freesia (friendship, thoughtfulness), white tulips (forgiveness, consideration, respect), thyme (courage, strength)

other notes:

the key lime pie in chapter 6 is based on a real pie that i ate at my friend's house when i visited her there and i thought it was the most delicious thing i have ever eaten. in the original draft it was a lemon tart!

i wanted to keep this series strictly sfw, but i did consider making both the good and bad endings have suggestive, fade-to-black scenes. for the good ending, the suggestive part would have involved y/n in yeonjun's room the night after their speech / before waking up together. for the bad ending, it would have happened when yeonjun visits y/n's quarters. i didn't write them bc i... am not good with anything suggestive or nsfw klsadjfklasjd

I COMPLETELY FORGOT BUT Y/N'S FATHER WAS ALSO IN THE AUDIENCE FOR THEIR SPEECH IN THE GOOD ENDING... i have no excuse for not writing him in other than I Forgot. i am so sorry but please imagine he was there

--

that's all i can think of for now! if you have other questions about foec or my writing process please please feel free to reply to this post or send an ask <3

[unopenablebox]

N, R

N: Any fic ideas brewing that you’d care to share?

i perpetually have like 6 WIPs floating around that i usually only finish by wedging myself into being assigned that fandom/pairing for a fic exchange, thereby imposing a deadline. taking "ideas" to mean "things i've sketched out but not outlined or written much for", stuff im thinking about includes:

sabriel au where sabriel and lirael meet immediately post- the events of sabriel via a Time Artifact and have fun adventures that actually exist to illustrate the bizarre temporal and cultural contrasts between "growing up in a perky 1910s british boarding school" and "growing up in a glacier where it is 1500 or something and everyone there hates you so you learned all information you currently know entirely from manuscripts + your ghost dog", which i think the books severely underplay in terms of how totally alien lirael should be to like, everyone, but especially everyone from ancelstierre. the punchline of this fic is that lirael thinks four humours theory is real and incontrovertible and also sabriel cannot fucking understand her accent

my own stupid variation on the classic star wars fic premise "darth vader gloms onto leia prior to the events of the original trilogy and elevates her to immense political power, freaking everyone out", in which this comes to pass via, like, palpatine-is-restarting-the-clone-program genetic testing farce that reveals leia is padme's kid. exists mostly for a scene which lives vividly in my mind in which darth vader spends two hours trying and failing to get the Space Illumina Gene Sequencer software to work. he cannot get help because he has already killed the genomics tech in a moment of panic. it keeps giving him a network access error and he cries. i probably won't write this because i think it would require that i first read the extended universe leia novels/comics in order to consciously either incorporate or reject their canon and i simply doing feel like doing that. also as currently sketched out it would be like 40k and i just dont have that kind of time. but it would be fun

R: Which writers (fanfic or otherwise) do you consider the biggest influence on you and your writing?

i'm constantly trying to write diana wynne jones and/or dorothy sayers-style prose/dialogue, it's a failing. in that i fail at it.

i am extremely influenced by certain of the big-name lj-era bnfs in terms of just like, thinking about what a fic is, what constitutes a "unit" of fic, etc, because i feel writing a short fic is almost totally different from an original short story. not least in that most non-fic short stories i read i often end up kind of hating because they're so clearly there to make a Point rather than execute a character moment, and also they suck. (to be clear i only usually read short stories when someone i know has just gotten something into a sci-fi magazine, and i know a lot of people who write about the Issues of AI and the Climate, so that may help contextualize the nature and limitations of my complaints. this is not about, like, raymond carver, who i like but simply do not think about enough to call an influence.) anyway i really like re/sonant and sp/eranza for exemplifying the satisfying short-fic form. just like everybody else who for used to be really into stargate atlantis.

slashmarks/basketofnovas is a real inspiration in the world of "forcibly extrapolating totally unintended worldbuilding that is nonetheless coherent and fun and interesting", something i aspire to, but, not being myself a medieval historian, am pretty handicapped at. but it's fun to try!

there's a lot of other stuff i'm sure but this is what i can currently think of

[piecesofeden11]

20 Questions Fic Writer Tag Thank you so much for the tag, @grapenehifics This looks so much fun!! 1.) How many works do you have on ao3? Officially 37 but like ... 25 of those are part of the Kinktober Series and another 6 for the Obianidala Series. So, 6? :D

2.) What's your ao3 word count?  132,934 Woof! Nice! 3.) What fandoms do you write for?  At the moment, purely Star Wars. I have three story in the MCU verse but that was a long time ago :D

4.) What are your top five fics by kudos? Counting down, Ms Mojo style! 5: When Sorrow Sang (MCU, Thor/Loki, AU, Discontinued) 4: Half-Pass and Half-Pipes (Star Wars, Obi-Wan/Anakin, Olympics AU, Almost finished :D) 3: Heel (Star Wars, Obi-Wan/Anakin, Sith AU, UFO) 2: Like Puppets on a Broken String (Star Wars, Obi-Wan/Anakin, Fix It GffA, UFO) 1: Flying Blind (MCU, Steve/Tony, Oneshot) Okay, the fact that ... Heel with it's less than 2K words being above all 10 chapters of Half-Pass cracks me up xD The Sith-Thirst is SO real!

5.) Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Always! I am so, so grateful for every single comment I receive and I want to let people know! Also ... comment conversations/exchanging thoughts are the best!!

6.) What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? A Tapestry of Broken Hope ... which makes sense because it follows canon :D and does it get angstier than that?

7.) What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? This would be such a spoiler but ... Half-Pass! I mean ... common! We all know where this is going 🎩💍🎩💕

8.) Do you get hate on fics? Fortunately, I have not gotten any. I'd probably just delete the comment, though (not that I would not hurt ...)

9.) Do you write smut? If so what kind? *glances at 25 stories of Kinktober* ... I try. I gotta admit though ... the heavier stuff ... is probably gonna go back into my reading-only corner :D

10.) Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? I have written a MCU/Pacific Rim Crossover :D Find it here! I like it!

11.) Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I'm aware of and I hope it stays that way!

12.) Have you ever had a fic translated? No. I thought about translating on my own into German but ... haven't gotten around to it. I think it would be an interesting challenge actually. That being said ... I'd love if anyone did it. (Or Podfic any of mine ... like ... that would be incredible)

13.) Have you ever cowritten a fic before? Not in the traditional sense I think, but I've exchanged thoughts voraciously with @grapenehifics on Half-Pass, and I'm currently collaborating with @wibzenadarksiderwithasoftheart on the new Dancing with the Stars AU (Coming to an Archive of our Own near you soon!)

14.) What's your all time favorite ship? Don't make me chose! (Obikin ... who am I kidding?)

15.) What's a WIP you'd like to finish, but doubt you ever will? When Sorrow Sang was actually a very cool idea and I remember being so hyped about it but then the energy just fizzled out.

16.) What are your writing strengths I hate this question 🥺 I don't know :( I'm not good at praising myself

17.) What are your writing weaknesses? Overthinking, Conversations, Cohesion?

18.) Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I love bringing the element of multi-linguality into stories. Sometimes I will use my native tongue as a stand-in for non-basic (in SW terms :D)

19.) First fandom you wrote for? Harry Potter

20.) Favorite fic you've ever written? Nah ... I'm not doing this! :D (I do adore Half-Pass ...) I'm tagging YOU! Yes, you! Reading this rn!!