#Pov I’m Peter Strahm

[amberpriceenthusiast]

Okay the sawtism got to me again UNFORTUNATELY

I’m not ngl when I first watched saw I did see Hoffman as just some evil guy, but I am seeing more posts abt him and I am going insane I need to rewatch all the movies and analyze this man

I can’t do this I think of him every day I can’t do this get out of my head GET OUT OF MY HEAD FAGGOT

[doomednarrative]

u’ve got me interested in hoffstrahm now! what r some good hoffstrahm fics from marks pov vs peters pov? also how do you think people tell them apart writing style wise bc i feel like they r similar (i have read no fics i don’t trust going on ao3 blind without recs so even just the basic fics everyone has read are good to rec)

So I haven't actually read as many fics, because I tend to just reread the ones that I like a lot lol. That being said, I do have some recs! All of these are actually from Peter’s perspective, that seems to be the one most people enjoy writing from when it comes to Hoffstrahm, myself included.

I will say beforehand to answer your other question, as someone writing fics from both their perspectives, I think the biggest difference is that Hoffman is a man of Action, vs Strahm being a man of Words. And what I mean by that is that if you have a dialogue going between the two of them, Strahm’s going to be the one carrying the conversation more by a long shot. The guy never shuts up, both internally and externally. It’s just a part of his more neurotic nature. Hoffman meanwhile is a Lot less verbose, and doesn’t talk as much compared to Strahm. His thoughts don’t get externalized as often, and he’s more likely to just Do something rather than Say something. It makes for an interesting time writing for both of them tbh, and presents unique challenges either way.

With that said tho, here’s my list of favorite fics for the two of them that I’d recommend to you:

“I’ve done this before (show me your teeth)” by nucodiangelo is one of the first one’s I ever read for Hoffstrahm and one I come back to quite frequently. It’s a longer one shot that diverges from canon with the events of Saw V and goes into Peter’s internal struggle with accepting what he knows about Mark and what he’s willing to let slide in order to have a relationship with him. Truly represents just what I love in a more canon compliant relationship with these two.

Literally every Hoffstrahm fic by Doztoevsky is Amazing in it’s own way, but I particularly recommend the “Street Cats” series and the one shot “I’ll run (but I’ll come running).” “Street Cats” is a very fun exploration about how things could go with some canon divergence past the point of Saw V and onward and includes some great domestic slice of life stuff intermingled with everything else. (@/Jadenvargen also drew some truly stunning artwork for the series, and if that summary doesn’t sell you on reading it, the art will.) “I’ll run” meanwhile is a one shot about Perez interrogating Strahm about his relationship with Hoffman and what all he knew about him while they were together, very good little character study piece for Peter.

“Cosmo’s Top Ten Dating Tips” is a five part series by the wonderful @carouselcometh and is a series that’s both funny, but also has some really really interesting insight into how neurotic Peter Strahm can be, and it’s one of my favorites for that reason. It definitely helped to inspire how I’ve gone about writing him for my own fics. Remy has a unique voice for writing Hoffman that I haven’t really seen with anyone else either which makes it a very fun read compared to everyone else.

Last but not least, I will put “Strahm Dies At The End” by @romanromulus on this list as well. I’m putting it last because it does come with a warning: Unlike the others on this list, this fic is considerably Extremely heavy, and if you chose to read it you need to heed every warning that’s tagged on it. It goes to some very dark places, and is not at all a lighthearted or even Nice fic for Strahm and Hoffman. It’s fucked up, and it doesn’t romanticize that point either. But the fic as a whole is a Wonderful case study on both Strahm and Hoffman as characters and gets really deep into some detailed meta on who they are as people thanks to their circumstances, and it’s a really well done tragedy story as well, which I always like reading. Hell, my last art piece was an illustration of a scene from this story, that tells you how much of an impact it left on me. It’s definitely not a story for the feint of heart, but if you can handle some touchy subject matter, I do recommend it.

These aren’t ones I can give you links for yet, but I will also add that I’m currently writing a three part Hoffstrahm series for the Jigsquad Au that I share with @tibby, and once those are published I’ll be posting links to them here as well, so keep watch for those in the future~

I wish you well on your Hoffstrahm reading journey, and should you have any thoughts about them or these fics you’re more than welcome to come back to my inbox and talk about them with me :)