#It's the name of a character from a book series I like

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Sandra Newman’s “Julia”

The first chapter of Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four has a fantastic joke that nearly everyone misses: when Julia, Winston Smith's love interest, is introduced, she has oily hands and a giant wrench, which she uses in her "mechanical job on one of the novel-writing machines":

https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100021.txt

That line just kills me every time I re-read the book – Orwell, a novelist, writing a dystopian future in which novels are written by giant, clanking mechanisms. Later on, when Winston and Julia begin their illicit affair, we get more detail:

She could describe the whole process of composing a novel, from the general directive issued by the Planning Committee down to the final touching-up by the Rewrite Squad. But she was not interested in the finished product. She 'didn't much care for reading,' she said. Books were just a commodity that had to be produced, like jam or bootlaces.

I always assumed Orwell was subtweeting his publishers and editors here, and you can only imagine that the editor who asked Orwell to tweak the 1984 manuscript must have felt an uncomfortable parallel between their requests and the notional Planning Committee and Rewrite Squad at the Ministry of Truth.

I first read 1984 in the early winter of, well, 1984, when I was thirteen years old. I was on a family trip that included as visit to my relatives in Leningrad, and the novel made a significant impact on me. I immediately connected it to the canon of dystopian science fiction that I was already avidly consuming, and to the geopolitics of a world that seemed on the brink of nuclear devastation. I also connected it to my own hopes for the nascent field of personal computing, which I'd gotten an early start on, when my father – then a computer science student – started bringing home dumb terminals and acoustic couplers from his university in the mid-1970s. Orwell crystallized my nascent horror at the oppressive uses of technology (such as the automated Mutually Assured Destruction nuclear systems that haunted my nightmares) and my dreams of the better worlds we could have with computers.

It's not an overstatement to say that the rest of my life has been about this tension. It's no coincidence that I wrote a series of "Little Brother" novels whose protagonist calls himself w1n5t0n:

https://craphound.com/littlebrother/Cory_Doctorow_-_Little_Brother.htm

I didn't stop with Orwell, of course. I wrote a whole series of widely read, award-winning stories with the same titles as famous sf tales, starting with "Anda's Game" ("Ender's Game"):

https://www.salon.com/2004/11/15/andas_game/

And "I, Robot":

https://craphound.com/overclocked/Cory_Doctorow_-_Overclocked_-_I_Robot.html

"The Martian Chronicles":

https://escapepod.org/2019/10/03/escape-pod-700-martian-chronicles-part-1/

"True Names":

https://archive.org/details/TrueNames

"The Man Who Sold the Moon":

https://memex.craphound.com/2015/05/22/the-man-who-sold-the-moon/

and "The Brave Little Toaster":

https://archive.org/details/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_212

Writing stories about other stories that you hate or love or just can't get out of your head is a very old and important literary tradition. As EL Doctorow (no relation) writes in his essay "Genesis," the Hebrews stole their Genesis story from the Babylonians, rewriting it to their specifications:

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/41520/creationists-by-e-l-doctorow/

As my "famous title" stories and Little Brother books show, this work needn't be confined to antiquity. Modern copyright may be draconian, but it contains exceptions ("fair use" in the US, "fair dealing" in many other places) that allow for this kind of creative reworking. One of the most important fair use cases concerns The Wind Done Gone, Alice Randall's 2001 retelling of Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind from the perspective of the enslaved characters, which was judged to be fair use after Mitchell's heirs tried to censor the book:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suntrust_Bank_v._Houghton_Mifflin_Co.

In ruling for Randall, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals emphasized that she had "fully employed those conscripted elements from Gone With the Wind to make war against it." Randall used several of Mitchell's most famous lines, "but vest[ed] them with a completely new significance":

https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/268/1257/608446/

The Wind Done Gone is an excellent book, and both its text and its legal controversy kept springing to mind as I read Sandra Newman's wonderful novel Julia, which retells 1984 from the perspective of Julia, she of the oily hands the novel-writing machine:

https://www.harpercollins.com/products/julia-sandra-newman?variant=41467936636962

Julia is the kind of fanfic that I love, in the tradition of both Wind Done gone and Rosenkrantz and Gildenstern Are Dead, in which a follow-on author takes on the original author's throwaway world-building with deadly seriousness, elucidating the weird implications and buried subtexts of all the stuff and people moving around in the wings and background of the original.

For Newman, the starting point here is Julia, an enigmatic lover who comes to Winston with all kinds of rebellious secrets – tradecraft for planning and executing dirty little assignations and acquiring black market goods. Julia embodies a common contradiction in the depiction of young women (she is some twenty years younger than Winston): on the one hand, she is a "native" of the world, while Winston is a late arrival, carrying around all his "oldthink" baggage that leaves him perennially baffled, terrified and angry; on the other hand, she's a naive "girl," who "doesn't much care for reading," and lacks the intellectual curiosity that propels Winston through the text.

This contradiction is the cleavage line that Newman drives her chisel into, fracturing Orwell's world in useful, fascinating, engrossing ways. For Winston, the world of 1984 is totalitarian: the Party knows all, controls all and misses nothing. To merely think a disloyal thought is to be doomed, because the omnipotent, omniscient, and omnicompetent Party will sense the thought and mark you for torture and "vaporization."

Orwell's readers experience all of 1984 through Winston's eyes and are encouraged to trust his assessment of his situation. But Newman brings in a second point of view, that of Julia, who is indeed far more worldly than Winston. But that's not because she's younger than him – it's because she's more provincial. Julia, we learn, grew up outside of the Home Counties, where the revolution was incomplete and where dissidents – like her parents – were sent into exile. Julia has experienced the periphery of the Party's power, the places where it is frayed and incomplete. For Julia, the Party may be ruthless and powerful, but it's hardly omnicompetent. Indeed, it's rather fumbling.

Which makes sense. After all, if we take Winston at his word and assume that every disloyal citizen of Oceania is arrested, tortured and murdered, where would that leave Oceania? Even Kim Jong Un can't murder everyone who hates him, or he'd get awfully lonely, and then awfully hungry.

Through Julia's eyes, we experience Oceania as a paranoid autocracy, corrupt and twitchy. We witness the obvious corollary of a culture of denunciation and arrest: the ruling Party of such an institution must be riddled with internecine struggle and backstabbing, to the point of paralyzed dysfunction. The Orwellian trick of switching from being at war with Eastasia to Eurasia and back again is actually driven by real military setbacks – not just faked battles designed to stir up patriotic fervor. The Party doesn't merely claim to be under assault from internal and external enemies – it actually is.

Julia is also perfectly positioned to uncover the vast blank spots in Winston's supposed intellectual curiosity, all the questions he doesn't ask – about her, about the Party, and about the world. I love this trope and used it myself, in Attack Surface, the third "Little Brother" book, which is told from the point of view of Marcus's frenemy Masha:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250757531/attacksurface

Through Julia, we come to understand the seemingly omniscient, omnipotent Party as fumbling sadists. The Thought Police are like MI5, an Island of Misfit Toys where the paranoid, the stupid, the vicious and the thuggish come together to ruin the lives of thousands, in such a chaotic and pointless manner that their victims find themselves spinning devastatingly clever explanations for their behavior:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/entries/3662a707-0af9-3149-963f-47bea720b460

And, as with Nineteen Eighty-Four, Julia is a first-rate novel, expertly plotted, with fantastic, nail-biting suspense and many smart turns and clever phrases. Newman is doing Orwell, and, at times, outdoing him. In her hands, Orwell – like Winston – is revealed as a kind of overly credulous romantic who can't believe that anyone as obviously stupid and deranged as the state's representatives could be kicking his ass so very thoroughly.

This was, in many ways, the defining trauma and problem of Orwell's life, from his origin story, in which he is shot through the throat by a fascist: sniper during the Spanish Civil War:

https://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/soldiers/george-orwell-shot.html

To his final days, when he developed a foolish crush on a British state spy and tried to impress her by turning his erstwhile comrades in to her:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orwell%27s_list

Newman's feminist retelling of Orwell is as much about puncturing the myth of male competence as it is about revealing the inner life, agency, and personhood of swooning love-interests. As someone who loves Orwell – but not unconditionally – I was moved, impressed, and delighted by Julia.

Tor Books as just published two new, free LITTLE BROTHER stories: VIGILANT, about creepy surveillance in distance education; and SPILL, about oil pipelines and indigenous landback.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/09/28/novel-writing-machines/#fanfic

[soleminisanction]

Once again got a bee in my bonnet to spend a night doing obscure fandom research to make a point, so. For all those people who keep making the annoying, "Tim keeps '''stealing'' other peoples' names" comments -- have a table.

EDIT: Updated version with some mistakes corrected.

Everyone with a check mark has used that codename at some point in DC's 80+ year continuity -- Elseworlds and alternate dimensions/timelines count, adaptations (movies, video games, cartoons, etc.) don't unless they've got comic book tie-ins, and neither do in-universe dream sequences/illusions/fantasies/other narrative elements that are objectively "not real" within the boundaries of the fiction.

A purple marker indicates an element that only applies in Elseworlds or alternate timelines. Yellow is for the originator of the legacy title. Star symbol is for borderline cases/extenuating circumstances/it's open to interpretation (with some further elaboration below).

The "other" column is just there to account for people who've held lesser or non-legacy titles, like Renegade, Wingman, Arkham Knight, Drake, Redbird, Talon, Deadman, Black Bat, Orphan and Catwoman.

Point being: the people who have actually gone through the most legacy titles in this family are Dick, Babs and Jason, tied with 5 each (again, not counting "other;" if we counted those separately Dick would've had by far the most). Tim is tied with Steph AND Helena Wayne, so unless you're whining about them "stealing other peoples' names" you're just wrong, and they're all only one higher than Damian, Carrie and Bruce.

This is a legacy family that passes their codenames up and down the inheritance line. It's what they do. It's not a legitimate criticism to level at one character and not the others. Please get over it.

---

Further elaboration on some of the lesser known/niche cases:

- Bruce uses the Robin ID in Superman & Batman: Generations, as well as the pre-Crisis Detective Comics #226 story.

- In the second half of Thrillkiller ‘62, Babs cuts her hair and dons the Robin costume worn by her deceased partner Dick to get revenge on his killer; however the only name ever used for her in the series is Batgirl

- Cassandra was a member of the Robins orphan gang from Dark Knights of Steel.

- Duke was a member of the We Are Robins gang, as well as the aforementioned DKS orphan gang, and has appeared as Robin in a couple of Elseworlds, including I believe a White Knight spin-off.

- Cass was Batwoman in one of the versions of the Titans Tomorrow, as was Bette Kane, depending on changes to the timeline.

- Babs is Batwoman in the Batman ‘66 comics and in the 1980 story “The Secret Origin of Bruce (Superman) Wayne”

- Earth-3 Steph is Batwoman in Young Justice 2019.

- Helena Wayne is Batwoman in the possible future story Last Rites

- Tim is a member of the Batgirls vigilante/little league baseball team in the DC Bombshells universe, as is Cullen Row. Some call them the “Batboys” instead. I call those people cowards.

- Helena Bertinelli wore the costume that would later become Cass’s signature Batgirl look during No Man’s Land. However, she was more often referred to as “The Bat” and her Batgirl status is up to individual interpretation.

- Dick didn’t originate the Nightwing name, it started with Clark in the Silver Age.

- Steph has never been Nightwing. The panel where she appears in the costume is a Black Mercy illusion that happens only in her own mind. It’s a dream sequence.

- Barbara was Nightwing in the Smallville Season 11 comics.

- Terry was briefly Nightwing in volume 4 of Batman Beyond.

- Damian briefly became Nightwing after accidentally killing Dick in the Injustice series.

- Dick is Oracle in the “Eight Wonders of the World” version of Earth 2 (aka the Black Superman dimension)

[olderthannetfic]

Re the maraudeurs ask: I think its funny overall that the Harry Potter fandom in general thinks they get to claim they don't support JKR and also pretend they are all pure and progressive now when they are just as racist as they have always been. And the race part is often glossed over in these conversations.

Drawing Hermione black doesn't make the fandom good when there are canonically black characters that are absent from the fandom conversations. people would give a whole ass personality to a non character that is Theodore Nott and write off Blaise Zabini. And I think this new series that is about to come out that claims that they are open to "inclusive casting" will try to pander to that progressive veneer of the fandom, because at the end of the day the fandom is the target audience.

I really don't subscribe to that idea that someone writing harry potter smut is not the person who puts the money in JKRs pocket. Maybe they are not directly putting it in her pocket but they are keeping the IP alive, harry potter name is profitable because it has such a big fandom. The Hogwarts Legacy game was and is profitable. JKR is screenshoting her royalties and putting them on twitter like a slap in the face to every trans person. And now even more so, JKR is not just a transphobe she's a white supremacist and a holocaust denier, but sure "Dobby wrote the books", "separate art from the artist" (never mind that the art is also deeply soaked in her vile beliefs).

I don't think we need to yell at people to stop writing harry potter fanfic but damn I'm am strongly side eyeing everyone who does so because ultimately they choose to look away and put their fictional escapism over the actual real lives of people who she harms.

--

HP is profitable because of its fandom, yes, but that doesn't mean its fic fandom specifically. It's everyone buying HP junk for their grandkid's Christmas present that keeps it profitable.

I do roll my eyes at its continued fic popularity, but let's not blow that out of proportion.

[xx-ames-xx]

it is so plainly ableist for a book series centered around a neurodivergent kid to spend a not insignificant amount of run time on narration that treats him as stupid. i don't care if you think it's because he's insecure, that is clearly not how it's being handled and it is never being addressed as such. if that were how it were handled you would see it in conversations with annabeth, someone who knows him better than anyone, knows him inside out. if he had such a blaring insecurity do you honestly think empathetic, sensitive annabeth who knows him like the back of her hand would not have picked up on it and addressed him? that she would scold him and continue to call him stupid nicknames about it?

conversely it is also ableist to take the extremely rare femme/afab/female neurodivergence representation and turn her disability into a complete non issue. it barely exists except in name. something she never appears to struggle with at all on the sole basis of "she's smart". a justification that he uses to push her into doing things and making choices that simply would not make sense for her character in a flailing and lazy attempt at writing her.

these two issues combined in the same story create the implication that if you struggle with your disability you are unintelligent and intelligent smart people do not struggle with it.

i've kept a decent distance from newer publications from him because i knew they were no longer worth my time but i do feel i have to point out how incredibly disappointing it is for this man to have had every opportunity to explore and write about how two deeply traumatized, neurodivergent teenagers navigate a huge shift in their life, how that affects themselves and their relationships, using the backdrop of mythology and humour, to seemingly recoil at any attempt to do so. and what a disservice that is to some of his longest and oldest fans.

[gothamhappiness]

Being in a relationship with Bruce Wayne: a journey - Hi, Jason (Part V)

It's a big series about an afab!reader who doesn't like Bruce Wayne and who still falls in love with him (he fells quicker and harder)

Reader's origin story // Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3 // Part 4

Warnings: no proof reading, Jason's relationships with Bruce and Dick are discussed, mentions of Joker, violence, death

You met with Dick again in a bookstore. At first, you thought that it was quite a strange coincidence, until you saw him trying to talk with a very big boy who didn’t seem very interested in talking with him. Dick appeared upset ; the other boy was just shrugging and trying to focus on the books in front of him. 

You hesitated to go to them; you didn’t want to intrude. You weren’t too sure to recognise the other boy, but his face somehow seemed familiar. What decided you was where they were standing: the classic literature aisle of the store. Which was what you were looking for when you entered the shop.

You thought you could just say hi and then leave them alone if your presence was annoying them. You carefully walked to them.

“Hey Dick” you greeted the boy who turned around and instantly smiled at you. 

You weren’t too sure if it was a real smile yet, so you didn’t come closer to him, but his answer showed he was actually glad to see you.

“Hey, Y/N! What are you doing here?” he asked

“Buying books I guess.” you teased “I was looking for Mansfield Park or Emma, now I finished Pride and Prejudice” you said. 

The big boy to whom Dick was trying to talk to, quickly turned around and looked you up and down. He watched you with curiosity sparkling in his green eyes. Dick took his chance before his brother could go back to the cover of the book he was holding.

“Y/N, this is Jason, my little brother. You seem to share the same taste in books” Dick introduced the two of them

“Hi, Jason” you smiled as you cautiously observed him, remembering who he was now you knew his name.

You remembered what you read about Bruce and his son “who came back from the dead” and all the headlines about “Bruce arguing with his adoptive son”. It had quite broken your heart at the time.

“You’re Bruce’s new girlfriend?” he asked you quite bluntly

“I hate titles and I hate to feel like a possession. But yes, I'm currently seeing Bruce.” you replied and Jason nodded “I’m surprised you heard about me.” you added. 

“Didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. It's just that things are rocky with Bruce.” Jason said and you reassuringly smiled at him “And yeah, everyone is talking about you in the “family”. Dick and Tim said you were nice.” Jason explained his first coldness to you

“I understand; Bruce isn’t always easy and you don’t know me” you nodded

“Ah yeah?” Jason arched an eyebrow at you. 

He had expected you to take Bruce’s defence, like everyone else.

“Let’s say that I like challenges.” you smiled “And I’m not Bruce’s lawyer” you joked

“You should thank god for that, or you would have a lot of work” Jason grinned and you could tell Dick was quite happy about the current interaction.

“Can I buy the two of you a drink or something? Or a meal” you asked. “There is this sweet little café right outside the bookstore” you offered

You actually wanted to know more of them. Jason was curious about you so he agreed. Dick wanted to come as well, but he quickly received a call from Büdhaven. He reluctantly left the two of you together. Dick would have enjoyed some time with his brother too, but maybe you would help. If you helped with Bruce, he was certain you could do pretty much anything. At the same time, he really hoped Jason wasn’t going to scare you away from the family as a way to avenge himself.

But you knew better; you had met Red Hood before and you liked him.

You settled in the café. You started to talk about literature at first. You were both passionate so it was a good conversation starter. You gave each other some recommendations and debated on characters you liked or disliked. Your point of views on characters were often based on your experiences, so it naturally led to a conversion about each other’s lives. And of course, you arrived at the subject of Bruce Wayne.

“I’ll tell him to apologise to you. He shouldn’t have acted that way even if I do agree with the no killing rule” you said “You’re both right in a way, but… Bruce should have talked to you, he should have let you know what was going on with the Joker and why he couldn’t kill him. Why you couldn't kill him either. He should have been there to appease your anger, not the opposite” you said

“You’ll quickly learn that he doesn’t talk much. Especially not about his feelings. If it gets too personal, he’ll push the subject away. If it can hurt him, he’ll run away. He's a bad dad for that. And he might be a bad partner to you as well” Jason told you

“I’m sorry about what happened to you. It must have been so difficult to wake up without your family. And in a body you didn’t know. You did good, despite the murders and everything. Actually, Red Hood has always been my favourite vigilante” you admitted without commenting on the last part of Jason’s words. You wanted to believe that Bruce would make an effort for you.

Jason chuckled as you mentioned his vigilante persona.

“It’s true you never wrote anything bad about me. I thought you were scared of me… Until I realised we actually met” he teased, his eyes litting up

“Oh you remember? Yes I used to live in your territory, and now I’m nearby. I stand by what I said that night: I know what you did for people like us, that’s why I thanked you. Bruce can’t understand what it is to be poor and lost and to have to do bad things to survive. But I’ll make sure he does better with you.” you said “Just promise me to speak with Dick. Your brother looks like he is very eager to have you back in his life. He seemed very sorry you weren’t speaking with him earlier” you added

“I will try to talk with him again then. Thank you for… Thank you. I think I really needed to have this conversation with somebody but no one wanted to have it and I couldn’t really go to a therapist. You’re easy to talk with” he whispered, a little bit awkward

“I know” you smiled “I’m glad if I’ve been able to help”

“Is it your good action of the day to go to Heaven?” Jason joked 

“Absolutely” you giggled

A moment of comfortable silence engulfed the two of you. You both enjoyed your tea before you resumed talking:

“Hey you know what, this is my phone number. You can call or text me whenever you need it.” you offered

“Why?” Jason plunged his eyes onto yours. 

He was definitely not used of adults being there for him, especially without a catch

“Well I’m afraid I’m a family woman and my own family sucks very much. And since Bruce wants me around, I’d prefer it if I can get along with his people. I’d like to take care of you all.” you admitted, feeling a little shy to say all of this out loud.

Jason was also very easy to talk to.

“I don’t think I’m one of his people. Not anymore at least.” Jason sadly smiled at you

“You can be one of mine then. Take it as a repayment for allowing me to go back home every night without having to worry about anyone slicing my throat off” you insisted

“All the pleasure’s mine” he chuckled before saving your number onto his phone “You know, everyone says Bruce is nicer since you’re around. I have to admit this is true. Maybe happiness can truly change a man” 

“Even a bat?” you joked because Jason’s words were touching you a little more than you wanted to show it

“Even a bat” Jason nodded

A few days later, you received a message from Jason, clearly tasting the water with you.

J: Hey wanna go have some lunch together today or tomorrow?

You: Today sounds good :)

After this, you regularly had lunch together and Jason clearly started to see you as a motherly figure, and you saw him as a son. He crashed at your place more than once after patrol, so you could eat together. Bruce never commented on your relationship with Jason, but he heard you when you asked him to apologise.

Which he did.

Jason accepted it and tried his best with Dick and his other siblings. He was still feeling awkward around everyone, but he was slowly spending more time at the manor, even when Bruce was there. 

When Bruce asked if you wanted to meet all of his children anytime soon, you agreed but you instantly sent a message to Jason to make sure he would be there as well. He eagerly agreed because he couldn’t wait for you to be officially a member of the Batfamily.

--

PART 6

--

Taglist for all my work <3

@blublock404

@wind-canoe

@silverklaus

@couldeatthatgirlforlunch

Taglist for Bruce Wayne <3

@alishii

Taglist for this series <3

@Esposadomd

@moraxussy

@resident-cryptid

@legendarypiratecheesecake

@randomnamedmira

[within-ur-intro-verse]

Favorite Ongoing/Unfinished Joongdok fics

Canon Universe

running up that hill by aevum; Multi-chapter, Unrated; Joonghyuk Role Swap AU

Echos of the Future and the Past by Akeara4; Multi-chapter, Rated: Teen; KDJ meets YJH pre-scenarios.

Hidden Scenario - [Dramatis Personae] by Anonymous; Multi-chapter, Rated: Mature; A reaction fic - KimCom reacts to the events of ORV from KDJ's POV.

unendurable, unendurable by aryelee; Multi-chapter, Rated: Teen; KimCom get caught in a sub scenario. No one sees it ending well.

A Former Regressor's Otome Struggles by fourthrisen; Multi-chapter, Rated: Gen; YJH gains a new (dating sim themed) skill.

so long to load by Frill; Multi-chapter, Rated: Teen; Teen friends Joongdok started the scenarios one train cabin away from each other.

new game (+) by illusionedwhite; Multi-chapter, Rated: Teen; Role Reversal AU where TWSA is an unpopular RPG game.

Say it Again by Moreta; Multi-chapter, Rated: Mature; YJH fails to resist regressing and starts his (alleged) 4th regression. He fears he will never meet KDJ again, but they meet again in the subway. But something is strange about this turn...

[Story, ‘Life and Death Companions’, is continuing with its storytelling.] by pythia (eireneo); Multi-chapter, Rated: Mature; Canon Re-write - YJH decides to stick a little closer to KDJ. Something about him is familiar.

Kim Dokja’s Epic Rewrite Extravaganza by Sasala; Multi-chapter, Unrated; KDJ takes a different route with 0th Regression YJH by saying screw it to the rules.

Eternity Soulmates by tsukithewolf; Series, Rated: Teen, Story 1 Complete (23,583 words)/Story 2 Ongoing; Soulmate AU - KDJ manifests as a ghost-like apparition while he's reading TWSA and becomes YJH's one constant companion throughout his 1863 previous regressions. They meet in the flesh for the first time in the 1864th regression. YJH remembers their time spent together, KDJ doesn't.

Fragments by tsukithewolf; Multi-chapter, Unrated; KDJ is still in a coma recovering. YJH learning he can use their shared story to enter Dokja's dreams.

One Half of a Whole by WindsOfTime; Multi-chapter, Rated: Teen; Soulmate AU - How ORV would play out if TWSA had established soulmates in universe and KDJ was YJH's.

Alternate Universe

Second movement by aeber; Multi-chapter, Rated: Explicit; Modern AU - If the scenarios never existed, and they met on the train as how the 0th regression went.

a seven pointed star by Anonymous; Multi-chapter, Rated: Explicit; Modern AU - After getting cancelled for being homophobic, CEO of Supreme Games Yoo Joonghyuk meets his future husband

A Dreamer's Love by byami; Series - Story 1 (Complete - 8,405 words; Unrated), Story 2 (Complete - 26,756 words; Rated: Mature) & Story 3 (Ongoing; Rated: Gen); Fantasy AU - Prince YJH meets "mage" KDJ while hunting demons.

That's the Spirit! by cherryousama; Multi-chapter, Rated: Mature; High School/Supernatural AU - KDJ is an exorcist. YJH is a new transfer student who is a magnet for ghosts.

In other words, by dokjaless; Multi-chapter, Rated: Teen; Modern AU - Ways to accidentally become a book editor to a progamer.

a streamer’s guide to gaining the favour of the gacha gods by erisky; Multi-chapter, Unrated; Modern AU -ORV is a gacha game. Steamer YJH is a simp for the character KDJ, based on the man of the same name.

I am NOT the Imperial General's Ex-Boyfriend by feriket; Multi-chapter, Rated: Teen; Sci-Fi/ABO AU - Kim Dokja was busy working a boring office job and pointedly not thinking about a certain man that he ghosted, when the said man suddenly showed up at his workplace as if he was summoned by some higher beings who wanted to torture Kim Dokja for fun.

superstition and the wishing fountain by fourthrisen; Multi-chapter, Rated: Gen; Modern/High School AU - Even with the ability to read minds, KDJ still manages to entirely miss recognizing that YJH is crushing on him.

Pixelated Abyss by Frill; Multi-chapter, Rated: Teen; Esper/Guide AU - YJH wants KDJ to be his personal Guide because no one else is compatible with him.

lights, camera, action by heliotrope; Multi-chapter, Rated: Teen; Modern AU - Every single one of everyday cubicle worker KDJ's friends is a rich and influential public figure, and the only one in the dark about it is himself.

Imaginary Truths by Mythril (fantacination); Multi-chapter, Rated: Teen; Modern/Actor AU - KDJ is a talented actor that likes to fly under the radar and succeeds. Until YJH starts paying attention.

let the end credits play by NoteInABottle: Multi-chapter, Rated: Teen; Modern AU - TWSA is a game. KDJ is the game's programmer. It's Pro-Gamer YJH's favorite game.

How Pro Gamer Yoo Joonghyuk's Twitter Alt Became a Thirst Account by scintifeli; Multi-chapter, Rated: Explicit; Modern AU - YJH gets sponsored to play a game. He plays and on an unfortunate early encounter with a boss, somebody swoops in and saves him from death. YJH falls hard.

thrice is poison by sIackerlife; Multi-chapter, Rated: Gen; Modern AU - Streamer KDJ meets Pro Gamer YJH during a Valorant match while he's playing his sister's account.

My Neighbor is a Sleep Deprived DILF by SkylerSkyhigh; Multi-chapter, Unrated; Modern AU - Older KDJ/Younger YJH - College Gamer YJH becomes neighbors with DILF KDJ.

Guardian by smooth_jade; Multi-chapter, Rated: Explicit; Modrn AU - KDJ never pictured himself as someone who would ever be a father, but before he knows it, he is the adoptive father of a traumatized SYS.

love in 144p by straycatmilkyway; Multi-chapter, Rated: Teen; Modern/Social Media AU - Popular Idol YJH becomes infatuated with down on his luck idol KDJ. KDJ has been YJH's fan for a decade. This is their developing romance through a socmed lens.

Heels Over Head by timegoesby; Multi-chapter, Rated: Gen; Modern AU - Younger Pro-Gamer YJH and older CEO KDJ become new neighbors.

The Main Character Arrived Half-Dead at My Castle After Abandoning His Role and Now He Won't Leave by tsukithewolf; Multi-chapter, Unrated; Modern/Fantasy AU - Gamer!YJH is isekai'd into a fantasy game as the protagonist. KDJ is the main villain in this game.

Mortifying Ordeal by WindsOfTime; Multi-chapter, Rated: Teen; Modern/Soulmate AU - Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk are soulmates. KDJ has known for 20 years now. YJH thinks he doesn't have one because a "wall" is blocking his access to their bond.

[daresplaining]

I’ve realised another reason why Elektra as Daredevil doesn’t sit right with me is that she’s not physically disabled (and Zdarsky gives no real thought to Elektra’s history of mental illness and the fact that trauma that has kept her from society). It feels like a decision motivated by shipping, the facade of progressiveness and a misunderstanding of Elektra as someone needing “redemption.”

But that line of thought made me realise, Maya Lopez could’ve been a wonderful opportunity for a female Daredevil. Like Elektra, she debuted in Daredevil and does have a romantic history with Matt. But unlike Elektra, she’s never really led her own books and this could’ve boosted her star in marvel comics without undermining her history outside of Daredevil comics. Plus I think representations of disability are deeply important to Daredevil as a character.

I’m glad she got the Phoenix force and Disney+ series for a similar boost, but GOD now I’m yearning to live in that universe.

I love that as a concept! I have thought at various points about Maya taking on the Daredevil mantle, and I do agree it could work, and that it would be more fitting for her than it is for Elektra ("it feels like a decision motivated by shipping, the facade of progressiveness and a misunderstanding of Elektra as someone needing 'redemption'" is spot-on. That's how it feels to me too.) I also agree about the importance of disability as an aspect of the Daredevil identity; it was part of why Sam, especially after being blinded, seemed like a perfect candidate for a possible successor, and I agree that it makes Maya feel right too.

At the same time, though, the longer I've thought about it, the more I feel like Daredevil doesn't really seem right for this kind of legacy. I've thought about this a lot because I adore superhero legacies. I'm a big fan of Iron Fist, and also of the Flash family over at DC. The Iron Fist identity is a formal title. It is a job and a power-set that you acquire and then make your own, stepping into a tradition of service that is centuries old. The Flash legacy is more organic, passed on through fandom (genuinely), family ties, and loving mentorship among a group of people who share the same powers.

My hesitation about the concept of a Daredevil legacy comes only from the fact that that identity is so incredibly personal and specific to Matt. "Daredevil" is a name that he reclaimed from his own childhood trauma. It is a persona he crafted to reflect a side of himself that he wanted to explore but felt he had to keep hidden in his civilian life. Equally, the Echo identity (the name comes from the title of one of her performance pieces but also reflects her relationship to the past, reflects her power-set, reflects how she contextualizes her experience of Deafness, etc.) is very personal and specific to Maya, and it makes me sad to think of her needing to take on someone else's name just to receive more of a spotlight. What does the name "Daredevil" mean to Maya, or to Elektra, two people who already have strongly-established identities of their own? How do they embody it? Why would they choose to? I'm not saying it wouldn't or shouldn't happen, but these are things that I feel would need to be considered.

I'm sure my thoughts on this will continue to evolve, but that's where my mind is right now.

[bear-hood-blyndeff]

"Um... Hello? Hellooooooo? Is anybody here?"

"Oh, hi! My name is Molly. I've been on Tumblr for a while but I've never actually shown myself, so... here I am! I'm supposed to be here for business reasons, but you know, Boss made me realize I should rebel a little more! Ask me questions about the family business if you like, my life, sleeping habits... I need to fix that. But, yeah! I hope you guys have fun!"

💤~~~~~~~~~~🐻~~~~~~~~~~💤

Molly is here!!!! She will bring you good luck and bear facts.

"Canon? Like a toy canon? I mean, we have a Bullet Bill..." This contains headcanons, so I mostly won't stick to the og Epithet Erased plot

NOT AFFILIATED WITH JELLOAPOCALYPSE OR ANYONE FROM THE EE TEAM

Mod is very asexual and hates nsfw directed at them!!!!! Also MOLLY IS TWELVE GUYS

Mod goes by any/all (mostly he/him)

May rp, but ask first. Most likely it will be a no, though.

Please don't ship Molly w/ anybody you can mention other ships but don't ship her please

I have only watched the show, haven't read the books so I only know about the YouTube series.

Reiterating nothing sexual directed at mod, nothing sexual at the character, and no slurs. I will delete any and all asks like this

I am usually busy with school from 7am to 3pm EST, so wait until around then to see an answer if you send a message

Mod's main is @eteledhasanaxe

This blog is made for answering questions and is supposedly similarly structured to ones by @/Leagallyfine (they do Ace Attorney blogs and are really cool, go follow them!)

Enjoy the bear girl's company!

[loz-the-noob]

This is Teggs! Fascinated by The Blocks

[batcavescolony]

just saw someone say Rick Riordan making a TV show is just as bad as anything JKR has done. BFFR you're comparing Rick Riordan trying to make his world more inclusive, changing some parts because of money/time constraints, or just making changes cus he thinks they're needed, to JKR being a terrible person!

[nightswatchdisbandmentera]

And remember kids, the next time someone tells you, "George R. R. Martin wouldn't make Jon Snow the typical fantasy hero because that's cliche".....

Oh yes he would!

One viewer wants to know what character would you play (on the show)? GRRM: If I could magically clap my hands and become a different person, it would be cool to play Jon Snow who's much more of the classic hero. Everybody wants to be the classic hero! ABC Interview, 2014

GRRM: And the character I’d want to be? Well who wouldn’t want to be Jon Snow — the brooding, Byronic, romantic hero whom all the girls love. Meduza Interview, 2017

In fact he already has ☺️

[sciderman]

howard the duck (1976) #10

[phoenixcatch7]

Unrelated to the last post but MAN I wish I could make a list of characters view the canon fics that do it so well across fandoms but I really don't want to risk opening them up to deletion. It's only recently that these sorts of stories have been allowed to stay up, as only a few years ago they were considered 'too close to canon' and could - would - get forcibly taken down from just about every site.

I've lost too many amazing cvtc fics to staff deciding they were bending the rules too much to just post a list of links but... I wish they were more popular because there's some absolute gems.

Here, I'll talk about a few things they did:

Killed the protagonist and everyone had to rewatch his memories to bring him back. This was very controversial in universe and it made it work so well.

The protagonist was oblivious to the reading, not part of it. This meant everyone could theorise and debate between themselves and actually REALLY solved the pacing and dramatisation issues common to these fics.

The protagonist actually replaced a villain in canon; the reading was done pre canon and the villain believed he had gone insane was the one acting like that. It was mortifying but seeing his body make friends and get a happy ending when he believed he was beyond hope and vicious about it was heart wrenching.

The young protagonist accidentally wished to be understood and a villain took advantage of it. It switched between the reading and reactions and the protag desperately trying to defeat the villain and make plans to run away to prevent his revealed secret getting him killed by the government.

The very large cast was split into groups, but could contact each other via texting. This enabled each group to have wildly varying reactions and theories without having to constantly argue and fight. It made it more fast paced, and added tension as the villains plotted unsupervised.

A very small cast were on a road trip and found the protags audio diaries of his adventures in the glove compartment. This was a Percy Jackson one, and it built off the books' first person format brilliantly.

The protags purposely wrote down their adventures in books and sold them on the market to fix their reputation and earn some money doing so. It involved people frantically trying to verify the books and evolved into a pr nightmare.

The orphan protag somehow time travelled back to when his family was in hiding with his books. His parents and uncles read the books and got to know their currently infant kid in the process. (This was a Harry Potter one, and both the series and author got permanently banned from ffn years ago and it had gotten all the way to deathly hallows 😭. It had been in progress for over a decade and was immaculately written, I miss it so much. Author if you're out there ily.)

Midway through canon a group of the protags friends combined all of their memories in a crystal ball and shipped it to a conference where just about every important figure was in attendance. They did not tell each other of the memories they included. They did not tell the exiled protag what they'd done. Many unexpected revelations and betrayals happened during the viewing. It also made it so the only scenes that appeared were ones where other people were there, which was so creative and well done.

The protag was a powerful psychic brought in for questioning and made it everyone else's problem. It was hilarious.

For a video game canon a handful of trusted allies (and villains before they went insane) were secretly delivered the games by THE TIME TRAVELLING GHOST OF THE PROTAGONIST IN DISGUISE and played them. The main focus was the main villain finding out a) how to even play video games (there was an ongoing joke about ridiculous video game logic) and b) the reasons he went insane, in excruciating detail, c) his victim's perspective including his own history that future him died not knowing about. One of his friends got a spinoff video game about how all his other friends died tragically. Many people saw their own traumatic deaths on screen with about twenty pixels.

A group of next gen kids accidentally fell into their parent's memories (of a war they'd been lied to about).

The protag was the 'child' of an omnipotent being who got sick of them being a self fulfilling prophecy (which ended horribly in canon) and locked them all in a fourth dimensional cave. In the same fic, the protag was using illusions to maintain the appearance of on-screen canon while fleshing out canon scenes and implications. Really well written and the character relationships were 👌.

The characters parents got the books, and had to reverse engineer the events that led up to canon and also which character was whose unborn kid.

A villain made a wish to publicly expose the main group's 'lies', accidentally exposed them as telling the truth and themselves as the corrupt liars. Whoops!

Traumatised side character time travelled back to pre canon from an apocalypse (that wasn't in canon), demanding the canon be viewed to understand and prevent the events that led to the apocalypse.

Characters broke after the events of canon publish their stories as fantasy books to the unknowing civilian public. The fantasy people accidentally get hold of it and everything goes to pot. I swear this is a totally different fandom to the other one.

Dead villain ghost secretly witnesses a viewing, time travels back to adopt the protagonist and change history to his image.

Crossover where one character was revealed to be a character from the other fandom in hiding with a fake identity.

Protag lost his memories and everyone uses a magical device/ritual to restore it, becoming witnesses themselves in the process.

Characters were forced to watch amvs of each other and had to try and extrapolate the order of events and the symbolism of the song. No one walked away with the full picture, but they got the main problems sorted.

Someone made an uncannily accurate play and the characters had to track the creator down to sue them (and figure out how they'd done it) without revealing that the portrayal was accurate.

A travelling seer took severe umbrage to the body stealing protag and exposed him with receipts. He spent basically the entire fic curled in a ball of mortification.

The protag on trial for many crimes got the magic viewing device used on him in front of everyone in the courtroom.

One fic was pretty normal but every time someone on screen got hurt or sick, so did their 'irl' counterpart. It sped up the fic a lot as no one wanted to linger on the worst bits. Also the author used canon implications, that the protag was oblivious to, to low key scare everyone who noticed them.

Crossover where the adults of one fandom fought over adoption rights of the other fandom's teen protag.

The author only used cherry picked moments of canon to massively streamline the fic, which worked! All the high moments you want a fic to cover - epic fights, dramatic reveals, important conversations, silly moments, developing relationships. And absolutely NOTHING else, there was very little context. Made for some excellent moments of people frantically trying to explain themselves lol.

Character stared too long into the void, broke the fourth wall to watch their own media. They spent most of the fic about to cry.

Protags patron deities hosted a viewing to try and get him a gf/bf from their other avatars. He wasn't looking for romance but did eventually end up in a poly relationship.

Prophet reluctantly revealed his own version of events with the help of his sentient house. This was about a movie so it was pretty fitting thematically lmao.

There is so much potential!! There's so many ways to do it, branch out, give these sorts of fics a try! Don't get stuck in the rut of the same methods as everyone else, even in this genre there's all sorts you can do with it! Use some of these examples if you want! Get creative and don't forget you're writing a story!!

Of course, if you recognise or are reminded of these please don't link or name them*, but you're more than welcome to guess which fandom each belongs to XD!

*Except that Harry Potter one, please I need closure, it's been a decade-

[writingtot]

i think one of the reasons i enjoy the percy series so much is because it’s an adaptation of the novels and not word for word the same.

at first i was a little upset by all the changes, but after rereading the books, i actually like the series even more now. as much as we all adore the books, i think we can agree that they’re not perfect. sometimes there’s plot holes, inconsistencies, or just bad writing in general. this gives rick a chance to fix those things, and that’s OKAY.

the series isn’t perfect either, don’t get me wrong, but it is nice to see the characters going on the same adventures even with some variation to the original story. i think this will allow the characters to be fleshed out more.

we have to remember that a tv show and a book is not the same medium, so the way these things are presented cannot be identical. otherwise the characters in the show would probably seem pretty flat since the books are only from percy’s perspective. the series allows us to learn more about the motives and personalities of other characters, be it annabeth, grover, or luke (personally, i’m really excited to see how his character’s story goes).

anyway, all of this is to say that the percy series is great for what it is (an adaptation of a book series). yes it could be better (cough longer and more episodes cough), but i personally really enjoy it so far.

[many-gay-magpies]

holy FUCK

to shape a dragon's breath by moniquill blackgoose is amazing please read it

[hanzajesthanza]

it kind of bothers me that witcher fans don’t really unite under sapkowski’s name like other fans of fantasy authors do (e.g. “tolkien fans”).

in practically any other fandom of fantasy books, save for the particularly rancid authors known for their disappointing and shameful behavior or views (e.g. jk r*wling), it’s just regular business to say the author’s name. but sapkowski’s name is treated like a dirty word in the witcher fandom, for really no good reason…

it must be asked — what is stopping us from doing so?! why don’t we call ourselves sapkowski fans. it would be much easier than saying “i’m a fan of the witcher, but only the books, i don’t consider the various adaptations canon, etc. etc.” … “half a hundred words, when three are enough!!”