#When I think about how dialed in they are to fandom from a writer's perspective

[ari-the-arotistic]

So I was thinking about pirates of the Caribbean, and each characters unique moral code and way of approaching life, as one does, when I remembered a particular scene about our beloved James Norrington... the very first scene in which Jack and James meet. Now, as a long time Sparrington shipper, I adore the Sparrington fandoms adopted head canon of Jack's compass pointing directly at Jack when James is holding it as having a romantic connotation too it, but this is Disney we're talking about, and a Disney from 20 years ago at that, so it is of course just a head canon. And while it is a beloved head canon, I will always be a writer before a shipper, and what that scene says about Norrington from a writer's perspective is far too juicy not to share... So buckle up for a very long meta post about who James Norrington is as a person, and how it was set up in this scene(and later reinforced in the second and third movie). This is my first real meta post, and I'm very excited for it, so let's jump right in.

First of all, the compass scene.

As we can clearly see in the image above, since the red line that points to the object of the holder's desires is no where to be seen, its relatively easy to conclude that it's hidden from our view by the sun dial in the middle, and thusly is pointing directly at Jack. Elizabeth is off to James's right, and no one is standing behind Jack, so unless the compass was pointing at something in the far off distance that just so happened to be in Jack's general direction(unlikely) its pretty clear what(or who) the compass is pointing at. For most potc fans, this is fairly standard knowledge. But it's what this fact says about Norrington's character that I'd like to focus on. After all, what does it say about a man that a compass that shows you what you desire most is pointing at a pirate, and the very face of piracy at that, instead of your canonical love interest, when you're a Commodore of the Navy? As stated above, Sparrington shippers often point at this scene as proof that James has a bit of a pash on the ruggedly handsome pirate, or at the very least, a thing for men. But from a writer's perspective, this just simply isn't the case, and not because the writer's in this instance are the notoriously homophobic corporation we call Disney. The reason why this is so unlikely from a writing perspective is because given the context clues, we as an audience are meant to draw the conclusion that this is the first time that they meet(I have heard rumors of them meeting as children in the books, but having never read them, and focusing only on the movies, I'm not including that in this post). And since this is the first time they've met, it's highly unlikely that the compass is pointing at Jack because James has a bit of a thing for him. Even if James has heard of Jack's many exploits, he does not truly know the man behind the legend, so having romantic feelings for the pirate at this point in time just isn't believable. And even if James was a closeted gay/bi man, it's still unlikely that the compass would be pointing at Jack of all the men around the Commodore(of which there is a lot, some of whom he is incredibly close with) seeing as Jack is the poster boy of piracy, and at this point in the movie it's made abundantly clear that James vehemently detests the notion and all who practice it. If James were to be holding the compass in Jack's vicinity in later movies and it still pointed at the pirate, an argument could definitely be made that it was because he had developed feelings for Jack, but for their first meeting, it's just not realistic. So it's much more likely that the reason the compass is pointing at Jack is because of James's desire to send every pirate he meets to "a quick drop and a sudden stop" as he so eloquently put it to a young Elizabeth. This is further reinforced in the third movie when it is revealed that Beckett's desire to have Jack dead at his feet would prevent him from using the compass to find Shipwreck Cove if the pirate was not already at the aforementioned location, or, well, dead. This is again, relatively common knowledge. But like I said before, it's what this fact says about James that is the whole point of this post... and that is that James cares more about his career than anything else, even the woman he claims to love. Now for some, that statement alone might seem like a pretty obvious conclusion, but it's how this scene subtlety sets up this core aspect of Norrington's character before we even truly get to know who he is, and how it's brought to it's full height in the second movie, and the core aspect of his redemption and subsequent death in the third that I'd really like to talk about. Which brings us to the next segment of this post...

How James lost his commission to the navy...

And how he got it back

So let's start off with how James lost his commission... it's a story we all know pretty well, and one he tells to Gibbs in the scene shown above, when he plans to either join Jack's crew or get revenge on the man that(he believes) ruined his life. After Jack's escape in the first movie, James grew obsessed with capturing the pirate, so much so that he foolishly followed the Black Pearl into a hurricane, resulting in the sinking of the Dauntless, and the loss of countless lives that had been aboard the vessel. It's unclear aside from James himself who had been on the ship at the time, and who did or did not survive, but the death toll was heavy, with most, if not everyone who wasn't James, having perished in the storm. While it is not the most extreme example(which we'll get too in just a bit), this is a pretty clear example of James prioritizing his career above everything else, even reason and logic. And all just to capture a singular pirate, even at the cost of his own ship and crew, and rather ironically, the very career that he had been so desperately trying to hold onto in the first place. Which brings us to the next scene I'd like to discuss... James stealing the heart of Davy Jones. This moment is the absolute peak of this part of James's character. This is the moment where James takes his obsessive need for his career to the max. This is the moment where James truly prioritizes his career above everything else, even the woman he claims to love(and for Sparrington shippers, above the man he's reluctantly come to care about). At this point in time, when James decides to take the heart for himself to regain his old station, he's been on the Black Pearl long enough to know the full situation. That Jack is in some kind of trouble with Davy Jones, and that if Jack doesn't use the heart to bargain for his freedom, then the Kraken will hunt Jack, and subsequently the Black Pearl, down until he and everyone aboard are dead. And that includes Elizabeth. And yet, despite knowing that stealing the heart would basically mean sealing Elizabeth's death, he still decided to do so. Sure, the argument could be made that he thought Elizabeth would be able to escape somehow, but the chances of her dying at sea, or some other terrible fate befalling her before she could safely make it back to civilization would have been highly likely. Of course we as an audience know that this isn't the case, but James does not. So essentially, James was so obsessed with his career, and maintaining the image of the honorable Commodore that he didn't even truly register that he was putting Elizabeth, the woman he loves and has been trying so desperately to woo for the past two movies, in danger. And he won't fully realize the consequences of his actions until the third movie, in a deleted scene no less(I swear when I find whoever decided to delete some of the most important scenes to James's character...), when Davy Jones informs Governor Swann of his daughters untimely demise on the Black Pearl. Of course, almost immediately afterwards, Beckett retcons that statement by informing the Governor that Elizabeth was recently seen in Singapore, but for a few minutes, James has to sit with the fact that Elizabeth was dead, and it was his fault. And even after learning that she was in fact still alive, James has now finally come to the realization that if she had still been on the Black Pearl when it sank with its Captain, he would've been the one to send her to her death. And for Sparrington shippers, James has to sit with the unavoidable fact that he was the reason Jack had died(even if the pirate does come back), despite the fact that it was Elizabeth's betrayal that was the final nail in Jack's coffin, since she wouldn't have had to do that if the Kraken wasn't after them in the first place. Which brings us to the final scene I'd like to discuss...

James choosing a side, and paying the price

Now, before we fully delve into this scene, I'd like to take a moment to talk about James's own perception of himself, and his relationship with honor and integrity. From the very first scene in which we meet James Norrington, we are made aware that he has a strong moral compass. He firmly believes piracy is evil, and that all who partake in piracy deserve a swift end. He perceives his Commodore persona as being the paragon of honor and integrity, and the sole arbiter of justice. We can infer from the line "By remembering that I serve others, Sparrow, not just myself" that James does have honorable intentions when ridding the world of pirates, that being protecting the innocent citizens under his care, but as seen once again in the first time James and Jack meet, wherein James adamantly tries to arrest Jack despite the fact the fact that pirate had just saved Elizabeth's life, his actions to achieve that goal are not always quite as honorable as his intentions are. This is especially highlighted once again when James gave Beckett the heart of Davy Jones. James's intentions here were once again rooted in honor and integrity - he believes that the only way to keep people safe from pirates is too return to his old station, to the image of honor and integrity he had built around the title of Commodore, and the only way to return to his old station is to give Beckett the heart. But the action itself was far from honorable, seeing as James had to betray the woman he loved just to obtain the heart, and that he was now putting it into the hands of a dangerously unstable individual who planned on using it to commit mass genocide.

And now, we finally get to the scene above... Of course, it's made clear throughout his scenes in the third movie leading up to this one that James is already starting to regret giving Beckett the heart after seeing the damage being caused, but since Beckett is targeting pirates specifically(although we as an audience know that Beckett's definition of pirate is very loose) James figures that the ends justify the means, as he often does in situations regarding piracy. It is not until his reunion with Elizabeth, where he learns that Governor Swann is dead, and that Beckett lied to him about the Governor's whereabouts, that James truly realizes the enormity of his mistake. It is in this moment that James has a sudden realization that fundamentally shakes him to his core, and is the reason behind his change of heart later on. He realizes that the honorable Commodore persona that he had tried to cultivate and keep a hold of for so long had never been truly honorable at all, and that by giving Beckett the heart of Davy Jones, he had effectively tied the noose around the neck of his own honor and integrity, as well as the necks of hundreds, if not thousands of innocent people, with his own hands. And as that one vine goes, this was the moment James knew, he fucked up. Which leads to his decision to change sides in an attempt to redeem himself, and his subsequent death in the process. Of course, part of James's reason for helping Elizabeth escape was that he does care for her, but given everything I've detailed about him so far, I think it's safe to say the main reason that James decided to help Elizabeth and her crew was because he wanted to undo the damage he had done, and he had faith that Elizabeth, Will, and Jack would have some sort of plan to defeat Beckett, and stop any further damage to come from his mistake. And now, for his death scene itself... As much as I love the idea of James surviving and joining the pirates(whether at Elizabeth's side or Jack's is unimportant), I firmly believe that his death was a necessary end of this part of his character arc, and that if he were to survive he would still have to go through a major ego death for this part of his character arc to end properly. Because as Bill turner drives that wooden pike into James's gut, it's not just the physical death of his body, but also the metaphorical death of Admiral James Norrington, and the ideals that James had used to build the persona out of. So even if James survived, the Admiral would still have to meet his metaphorical end, thusly causing James to lose a core part of himself that had been guiding most his decisions so far, in the process, which would start the next part of his character arc, where he would have to deal with the loss of a key part of his personality, and rebuild himself from the ground up to finally, truly become the image of honor and integrity he had envisioned from the beginning.

And that concludes this very long post. I could probably wax enough poetics about this aspect of James's character to write a short novel, but I've said everything important to this post, and if I go on any longer, I'm likely to start repeating myself lol. Thank you for reading, and feel free to share your thoughts in the comments or a reblog! I will always love hearing more about our polished peacock <3

[throughtrialbyfire]

Fic Author Self-Rec!

tagged by the lovely @mareenavee , thank you so much!! <3

tagging @dirty-bosmer @orfeoarte @gilgamish @umbracirrus @totally-not-deacon @v1ctory-or-sovngarde @thequeenofthewinter and YOU!! no pressure to participate, and if you haven't written 5 fics, feel free to just talk about whichever ones you have!!

Rules:

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love!

i'm going to paste each fics summary, and then go on my tangents!

An Inner Sanctity

Two months after attempting to utilize the Eye of Magnus and gain it's power, Ancano wakes up in an unfamiliar cottage, being cared for by the very person he intended to destroy. Navigating their strange and new dynamic, the Thalmor agent finds he may be offered second chance at life, but whether or not he takes it is another story.

this fic is a huge work of exploration into what indoctrination can do to someone who has never known any different, and how that can affect things as broad as worldviews and as personal as one-on-one dynamics with people. it's also partially catharsis-fic, as giving ancano some of my own mental and physical issues and dialing it up to 10000000000% is a hell of a lot of fun. i love seeing that old man suffer and then earn his rise from the ashes. plus, using athenath in a fic where they cant rely on the other two of the trio - as this is in an AU i call the "athenath solo run" - forces me to think of how they would handle situations on his own. spoiler? not too well.

it's on a hiatus at the moment despite having a pretty long backlog, i just don't have the motivation right now to edit and write more for it, but that definitely will change in the future, because i really love exploring ancano's psyche and how he begins to grow and change.

also the fic title comes from the song "Twilight" by Bôa, while that doesnt have anything to do with the fic, i loved the line "you give me an inner sanctity", sooooo <3

The Mark You Left

Two scientists realize, upon losing contact with Dr. Richtofen, that they are truly alone in the aftermath of their actions.

i don't have 5 fics for TES, so have my singular CoD Zombies fic as well! i've had a special interest in the ultimis timeline of CoD Zombies since uhhhh 2011? maybe? sometimes it lays dormant for months and then all of the sudden i think about it daily, especially the dynamics between Dr. Schuster, Dr. Richtofen, and Dr. Groph. so, i wrote this as a bit of a loveletter to a fandom i no longer am part of, but still have a lot of fondness for. it's a quick read that hits on this concept of ultimate betrayal in the aftermath of literally betraying someone else for that person. two people dealing with that, processing that, and what they'll do in the wake of all of this.

the title for this fic comes from the song "Birds" by BENN, who used to make CoD Zombies-based songs before rewriting/redoing them for his own original work!!

Portraits Under Forgotten Suns

A collection of short one-shot fics done for TESFest 2023. A werewolf in his cage, a Bosmer alchemists' first memory, a Dunmer mage's quiet contemplation, a humble keeper's last look at the place he's called home, a sailor's fate at the wreck of the Brinehammer, and an Altmer bard's fond summer memory.

as it says on the tin! its a series of one-shots i initially published to tumblr, then moved to Ao3 to make them more accessible and have a ready archive of them! i loved working on each of these, getting into different perspectives, and figuring out how to convey the narratives of the characters i worked with. i liked writing up details of my dragonborn trio's pasts, too, and the story for "Forgotten/Devotion" was a hell of a lot of fun, getting to pull the wreck of the brinehammer into a fic!

If by Sun and Moon I Swore

With the Empire's victory in the Skyrim Civil War, Hadvar has been quietly readjusting to regular life. When an old friend turns up at his door, that quiet he'd hoped for comes to a halt.

i love hadvar/ralof with all my wretched pining heart okay. i cannot deny this pair has a vice grip on me! and working with them, two soldiers touched by war on opposite sides who once had something (in this case, used to be (and still are) in love), can be something both so tragic and so healing. pulling this pair back together, giving them some form of comfort, even if it's brief, is such a joy. i have intentions of writing more for this couple in the future, but that's likely going to be a while. still, i'll be sure to let you guys know if i do get around to it!!

this fics title is from "Like The Dawn" by The Oh Hellos! its my quintessential hadvar/ralof song for sure <3

Cycle of the Serpent

Surviving Helgen by the skin of their teeth, three elves find themselves tossed into the middle of ancient legends, a civil war, and a hell of a lot of problems. They may all have different reasons for being in Skyrim, but if they have any hope of reaching their destinations alive, it lies in learning to trust their strange new companions… no matter what. From the ruins of Helgen to the plains of Whiterun, from the seas of Solitude to the grim frost of Winterhold, and everywhere sprawling beyond, the unlikely trio will find that being chosen by Akatosh is more than they've ever bargained for. And with their own histories crawling back, and secrets slowly spilled, the trio may find that there's little they can do to escape the cycles they've made.

this longfic is… a huge undertaking. "An Inner Sanctity" focuses on two very flawed people coming to love one another. "Cycle of the Serpent" focuses on three very flawed, extremely fucked up people learning to trust one another and face whatever fate awaits them together, even when that trust is tested, even when the world is cruel, even when trauma batters and bruises them in the current and then rises up from the briny depths of the past to tug them back down beneath. it's about sustained and sometimes self-fulfilling cycles of hurt, anger, and sometimes vengeance, and it's about love and joy and companionship and friendship that lives within it all.

in short, this longfic is one of my biggest undertakings in a very long time.

i started this as a bit of a joke. the idea of there being more than one LDB was a fun idea, and then i created three elves, and those three elves gave me their family histories and their childhood friendships and their previous travels and how it changed them all prior to helgen and i went… yeah i can't just not write this and go insane about it. these three and their various methods for dealing with situations, their triumphs and defeats, and how they bounce off one another became so organic and real to me that i feel continuously pulled to keep their narrative going. this story forced me to write my first ever combat scenes (posted the snippet of my second ever real combat scene tonight!) and learn how to navigate keeping it within TES lore, while also breaking out of some of the stale writing in skyrim itself. i have plans to rewrite/overhaul entire questlines and characters to give them more life, and i've got dozens of OCs lined up - at least one of whom is hinted at within the first chapter. i have this story and these characters arcs planned out, and they do get particularly grim at points, but i never want this story to go into "there is no hope" territory. there's always hope, it just lies in learning to break your own cycles, even if it feels like it may kill you.

the title of this fic was taken from the song "Pillar of Na" by Saintseneca, i very heavily envision emeros as the first verse, athenath as the second, wyndrelis as the third, with the fourth being all three of them, and the fifth (the "eternal, eternal, eternity round…") being a sort of ensemble of all the places and people they've touched in their lives.

woooooooooooooooo!! that was long-winded. thank you for listening to me ramble on these, and thank you so much again for tagging me, mareena!! i hope everyone is having a lovely wednesday/thursday!! <3333

[puraiuddo]

So, to begin, I thoroughly agree with people doing some amount of research into topics they're unfamiliar with before they slap something on a page, call it a day, and then get offended when they're corrected.

This bit, however, was sorta what I meant in terms of helpful tips on how to write topics properly instead of avoid them:

"Also, if the things I describe don't sound interesting enough to explore to fans who want to create content about Jazz, well, maybe he isn't the character they ought to be interested in?"

Because while I agree that some people unequivocally twist characters unrecognizably to fit more neatly into certain plot lines (and I loathe it, and I've made a more than a few posts myself about it and actually about Jazz specifically) I guess I'm trying to dial in on where it crosses from "something that bothers me personally" to "something I would definitely consider racist."

Because as wildly infuriating as mischaracterization is, it's also not something specific to Jazz? After all, the essence of fanfic/fandom usually is to place characters in unusual (oftentimes skeevy) circumstances and convey how they would react—and some people just don't do it well as a general principle.

Though I do agree wholeheartedly that if you don’t much look at canon and to alternative character interpretations then you have no chance of avoiding being a (progressively more inaccurate) echo chamber. So I suppose to clarify, is it more the fact that you feel people are relying on ingrained stereotypes already established in place of canon characterization? Or that some concepts/tropes are almost impossible to avoid being racist with as a general principle? Both?

Because I guess I'm just a little concerned about running the risk of "diverting from this specific interpretation is problematic", because I don't think there's any way for anyone to win in that scenario.

Because while I definitely agree with your general/core evaluation of Jazz's character, I do disagree with just the one portion of it. A portion which seems to be something that you were uncomfortable with? I don't think that the fandom's fascination with Jazz having a ~dark side~ or experiencing some type of ideological crisis is actually unwarranted from a canon perspective (e.g. Robots in Disguise #31-32 (2012) and All Hail Megatron).

Unfortunately, I think our difference in opinion is in large part due to the nature of long running comics with various authors: the characterization is not consistent.

In other words, I guess my main area of concern (outside of avoiding core mischaracterization) is how to avoid falling into the trap of perhaps relying on stereotypes in order to accommodate tropes* that themselves are not the problem (and will honestly never go away) and could be handled respectfully. (*I mean like Fantasy AU, Decepticon AU, No War AU, etc...)

So are there any (edgy or not) topics you feel could be written about if only handled properly?

ex. (1) Jazz being a lazy, work-shirker is obviously a no-go, but do you consider him being playful and the "morale officer" (as I've seen it put sometimes given his always-cool-under-pressure personality) to be racist, just personally dislike it, or think it's fine?

(2) Do you have a problem with Jazz having a "dark side" at all, or does it just bother you if it's portrayed in a "ignorant until shown the error of his ways and reformed" way? Same with a "dark past"? More nuanced?

(3) Unintelligible dialogue unique to Jazz is obv racist, but do you also feel as though (if that proper research is done) incorporating some AAVE is appropriate?

(3) Are there other general things that you think just can't be handled appropriately regardless of circumstances? Or maybe that just shouldn't be handled by a non-black writer?

And fyi these questions are open to anyone who wants to chime in as well!

Thank you again for taking the time to make this post and chat!

I think I've reached my last nerve with how TF fans treat Jazz on here and on AO3, and I feel the need to rant about it. Obligatory "not all Jazz fans" and "not all JazzProwl fans" disclaimer here... if this doesn't sound like it's describing the content you make or enjoy, then it's not. Honestly, I don't think this angry rant is going to convince anybody of anything, but I'm posting it because I want to make it clear that people see this and are aware it's racist.

Never let it be said that racism isn't thriving in the TF fandom on Tumblr and AO3, because so much Jazz fan content is the most blatantly racist shit. And it's nowhere near as bad on other sites that people here usually claim are more racist—I've never seen what I'm about to describe on r/transformers, for example. TF fans on here often claim to love Jazz so much and say he's one of the best, most unhateable TF characters along with Soundwave, but do they ACTUALLY love Jazz?

Tumblr and AO3 users when they see this great, heavily Black-coded hero: We love Jazz! Ooh, what if he was a slave? What if he was hyper-violent? What if he was a disruptive chaos gremlin? What if he was hypersexual? What if he was lazy and never did his work? What if he was a drug addict? What if he was a prostitute? What if he had an evil alter? What if he used to be/was secretly a Decepticon? What if he was a notorious criminal? What if he was literally some kind of bestial monster?

I've actually seen people on Tumblr asking if Jazz being a Decepticon or having an evil alter was ever canon. Well, let this be a PSA: none of this shit is fucking real! I've seen almost all the media Jazz is in, and none of this reflects how he's been portrayed, ever! Apparently people posting links and screenshots and GIFs showing what Jazz has actually been like in canon hasn't caused people to self-reflect, because this shit is still somehow super popular and even filtering doesn't screen even close to all of it! And I've seen in real-time people who are newer to the fandom getting tricked by all this racist fanon and then being drawn into it, thinking it reflects something when it doesn't! That's one of the things that bothers me most!

And then there's the other half of this, which is the immense popularity of JazzProwl. Putting aside how ridiculous it is that a ship between characters who haven't had a positive interaction in fifteen years is somehow the most popular ship in this fandom, half of all the Jazz content I see on sites like Tumblr also stars Prowl, as if Jazz isn't an arguably more prominent character with tons of unexplored stuff of his own going on. But that's the least of it. How the hell do I constantly see people uncritically post shit with this ship like Prowl trying to arrest or pull over a chaotic criminal Jazz? Or shooting at him? Or white savior, copaganda, anti-sex work garbage like Prowl as a cop rescuing prostitute/stripper Jazz from exploitative working conditions (I'm not making this shit up)? (Also, @ people who make content in which Prowl is Jazz's slave—I see you too, and you're not woke. You are still linking Black people to slavery as your first thought and then assuming it's subversive to flip the dynamic you'd expect to see. You're getting off on slavery and still including a Black-coded hero in your shit.)

Even the majority of the much milder content I see is still ridiculously OOC and plays into racist tropes in its own ways. Like how 90% of JazzProwl content shows a lazy, distractible Jazz endlessly trying to get Prowl to relax by disrupting his work or playing pranks or some shit. What media does that come from? Oh yeah, it comes from nowhere, because it's just old fanon that's been endlessly regurgitated by people who aren't realizing how making this up plays into offensive stereotypes about Black men and boys. Hey, if you people love this boring dynamic so much, maybe look at the canon relationships that are similar to it instead of forcing characters who don't fit it whatsoever into these roles without thinking about the implications!

And guess what? I've repeatedly seen literal proof that basically everyone who thinks they like this ship hasn't ever seen the characters interact in canon, too—every so often somebody on here will ask why JazzProwl is popular and ask for fans to share the canon media that made them ship it... and inevitably nobody can share anything, which is hilarious every time. Sometimes people will admit it's all fanon. In fact, the other day I saw a link to a fic from the very early 2000s that claims to be the super-influential, first JazzProwl fic ever making the rounds on Tumblr, and guess what? I looked at it and it was already super fucking racist, with Jazz being described as chaotic and not a hard worker and it had Prowl angrily shooting at him!!!

Jazz is one of my favorite characters and I'm so sick of this shit! Normally I love transformative works and new interpretations of characters, but in this case the fanon is so horrid and has always been horrid, so either try to examine Jazz in canon and portray him based on it, or be a fan of a different character! And fucking REMEMBER that this is a Black-coded hero, damn it! I saw a fic the other day that made me literally choke on my drink because it had Blaster (also a Black-coded hero) describing Jazz as a "spook!" THAT DOES NOT JUST MEAN SPY, THAT'S A RACIST, ANTI-BLACK SLUR!!! And this isn't even getting into how people in fic have Jazz talk! Jazz in all the media I've seen speaks very clearly and rarely has any kind of accent, but I constantly see white people attempting to write his dialogue phonetically in a way that feels straight out of Uncle Tom's Cabin. What the fuck is this?!

Also, petty, but the fans who make and consume this kind of content in my opinion don't then get to relentlessly criticize something like Earthspark, which has a cast and crew of people of color, by claiming it undermined its themes and is racist!

[cornyonmains]

I will forever remember 2022 as being the year BL figured out what whores (affectionate) we all are. They figured out the algorithm and called us ALL out this year.

[elwenyere]

Sooo many questions; I couldn't choose less than five sorry <3 ✍️🙋‍♀️🌞💞🥰

Absolutely anything for you, my dear: thank you so much for the asks!!! <3<3<3

✍ Do you have a beta reader?

I have been lucky to have some wonderful friends with whom I share drafts and who share drafts with me. I haven't had a beta for every fic I've posted, but when I have, it's been wonderfully helpful. Especially when I've gotten really deep in my own head about a fic, having an outside perspective helps me get perspective on what's working and what could be clearer.

🙋‍♀️ Do any irl people know you write fanfic?

Yes, actually! I was very private about it at first, but I've since undergone the Mortifying Ordeal of Having Your AO3 Pseud Known with my partner and with some close friends who also write fic (a pact of mutually assured destruction lol). And I've also met a dear, dear fandom friend IRL now, so I have had the pleasure to share the experience from both sides.

🌞 Do you have a preferred time of day to write?

I am a night writer, which has gotten increasingly unfortunate as I've gotten older. XD I do still have occasional pockets of good writing energy during the day, but there's something about those final hours - when I have the slight pressure of needing to go to bed and I'm no longer expecting emails - that lets me really dial in and get absorbed.

💞 Who's your comfort character?

I wrote in a previous post about why I love writing Cody, so I'll pick an MCU answer for this one and say it makes my heart really, really warm to write and read Natasha Romanov. She's so sharp and funny, and she knows how to use her powers of perception either to offer that one specific kind of support you can accept when you're in a mood or else to knife your enemies in a way they'll never see coming. And I think her real superpower isn't actually her talent for deception or even her incredible athleticism but her ability to endure more pain than anyone would expect.

🥰 How do you feel about reader interaction? Are you open to receiving questions about your fics?

Oh, hearing from readers is an incredible gift, and readers being curious about a story and wanting to hear more about what went into making it: that's unbelievably generous and so very precious. I'm deeply grateful for all the time readers spend with fics: sharing imaginative worlds together is one of the great joys of life. (And your comments are a very special source of joy for me!!!)

Thank you so much for these wonderful asks, my dear!!! This was a lovely treat. <3<3<3

[utilitycaster]

Hello I am here to encourage you, please talk about fanfic culture and practices and relationship to canon all day long.

Thank you for encouraging my procrastination and love of hearing my own voice on the internet (also people who asked about expertise...I got you, that one is very near and dear to both my bard-player and DM heart and so I am using “hey, you can write this” as motivation to get some work done earlier today. Anyway, on fanfic and meta and them being different things: something that is almost entirely a matter of opinion but also I am right.

So just as background: I am a grown-ass adult, and despite having internet access from childhood (and, iirc, cable internet by the time I was in high school yes I do remember dial-up vividly) I just never really spent much time in fandom spaces until now, and similarly I didn’t read that much fanfiction so this does come with that perspective.

Anyway, the emphasis I see on fanfiction’s validity in some circles, the whole “um actually The Inferno/Paradise Lost are fanfic” attitudes just...never made sense to me? Like, are you enjoying writing it and reading it? Then why the fuck do you care if it’s valid literature in the eyes of, idk, society or whatever. It’s sort of like that super old tumblr post that’s like Potterheads grab your wands; why do you care if other people don’t like the things you like? Why do you want them in your spaces? So the question of whether fanfiction is Valid and Good Art is just null at that point. And thank fuck because people still argue that genre fiction isn’t literature sometimes, and instead of wasting your energy on that argument you could just read more fantasy and sci-fi novels.

(If I were to answer it anyway, which I am, as a person who is not a writer by trade in any capacity...fanfiction is a fantastic place to hone certain skills. You can skip past the worldbuilding and characterization - all the groundwork-laying and exposition - and focus on plot and dialogue and your general voice. It’s sort of the opposite of DM-ing, in that way, which is primarily worldbuilding and exposition. Original fiction is harder because you have to make people care about your characters and world, whereas in fanfic they already do, and denying that fact is silly; good professional writers who credit fanfiction still have to have good original ideas too. But fanfiction does require its own skills, and denying that is equally silly.)

One argument I recently saw was that fanfiction was literary criticism, instead, and that doesn’t sit quite right. Meta is literary criticism: it is an analysis of the work, supported by textual evidence of the work, but ultimately one interpretation.  It is possible to use fanfiction to explore the ideas of literary criticism-you can write out, essentially, the simulation of your theory-but it’s not limited to that. Fanfiction in my opinion should be generally supported by the text up to some divergence point (again, do what you want if you’re enjoying it but I do not understand the point of OOC fanfiction; you’re just taking the names of characters and plastering them on OCs, which, just write original fiction at that point) but it’s explicitly a place where you can explore things that did not and often will not happen. I’m usually not hugely into the fix-it fic in that I’m more interested in understanding why the creators took an unpopular turn, I have no taste for pretending that everything is fine when it’s not, and also, like, the finale of Battlestar Galactica still made me cry very hard even if it didn’t make much sense...but this is perhaps the best example of fanfiction reaching the potential I think it was intended to. It’s a place where you can play out a scenario that could have happened had things been a little different, whether it’s what you want to see but ultimately didn’t, or just an interesting idea you had.

Fanfiction also has other wish-fulfillment properties, namely, the emotional one. There’s a reason there are words for things like “fluff” or “hurt/comfort” or “angst”; sometimes you want these things in your fiction, and you want a character to which you relate to experience them. Again, it’s my personal taste that this be consistent with the narrative up to some divergence point, but I definitely enjoy things from these categories. This is also a strong argument against fanfiction as literary criticism, at least exclusively as such. Sometimes you write fanfiction to answer the question “What if this well-supported by canon, but as of yet unconfirmed fandom theory is correct?” Sometimes you write fanfiction to answer the question “What if we kissed in the fictional setting I like. What if that kiss happened after one of us knocked on the door of the other in the middle of the night, hand over a profusely bleeding wound in the lower abdomen, and collapsed shortly after the other opened the door, and this was neither in conflict with nor explicitly in support of the current canon.” And you know what, for all that I said validity doesn’t matter...that’s valid.

And I don’t want to say meta isn’t capable of being tied to some degree to wish fulfillment, because it is. There is (usually) textual support for multiple potential outcomes in a story because otherwise it would be very, very boring and linear and for toddlers (not a knock on toddlers, who are just doing their best with the cognitive development they’ve got); an opinion, in meta, is often stating the meta-writer’s preference of how the story may go. However, I think there is a point where the meta stops being “of the many potential textually-supported paths out there this is one I think the story will follow and also I like this” and turns into “this is what I want and I will cherry-pick the evidence I need even if it requires ignoring more recent developments or an understanding of such fourth wall concepts as author’s intent, narrative structure, etc.”

This comes up both for scenarios that go differently from how people want them (eg: death of a character, relationship not happening) and for the emotional wish fulfillment side of things (eg: injection of angst where it does not, textually, exist). And when that happens my attitude is almost always “why are you trying to make this meta when it’s fanfiction, especially since it could be pretty good fanfiction!” A really terrible fan theory or piece of meta can often make a really good fanfic story, because a theory is based in the reality of where the (fictional) story might go, whereas fanfiction allows for that divergence point.

Anyway I think trying to make fanfiction more valid and equating it to literary criticism, or worse, treating it as truer indicator of the story’s intent, in turn makes meta worse because it takes away that need for consistent textual support. Particularly in the case where fanfic is held as being a better indicator of the creator’s intent, which also throws actual canon into the mix, everything all blurs into a bland, dumb soup of “what I want is going to happen because it’s what I want and if it doesn’t the creator is wrong, and moreover, a bad person.” I think keeping these concepts separate while acknowledging the connections they have is good and makes for better everything - better theories and better fanfic. The meta that tends to make me roll my eyes isn’t the stuff arguing for an outcome I don’t want; it’s the stuff arguing for an outcome that doesn’t make narrative sense, the stuff that makes me go “man, you could have written a really good fanfic about this.”

[korra-the-red-lion]

Criticism: Constructive vs. Destructive.

I was thinking over season 3 of the Dragon Prince the other day, and while it was a good season, I felt that Ezran’s story line of becoming king was completely botched. While I was disappointed by the poor writing choice, it didn’t ruin the show for me. Then it got me thinking about criticism. Some people view it as this force of destructive, and all it does pick apart the things we like to read and watch. However, this isn’t always the cases. As the title suggests, there is such a thing as constructive criticism and destructive criticism.

First I would like to discuss destructive criticism, which is unfortunately what people in fandoms see a lot of, and then it brings on a certain level of toxicity to conversations. What happens a lot when destructive criticism is thrown around is that it causes people to have bad assumptions of something without ever seeing it, or it doesn’t allow people to feel as if they can say they like it without fear of being attacked by the people who are saying these things. Take for example, season 5 of Supergirl or season 8 of Voltron Legendary Defender. These seasons are not the best from either show, but there was so much hate and discourse going around that it caused people to not want to share their opinions on the subject matter. To me, this sucks. I love hearing all different kinds of opinions on something because it sometimes helps me see things from a different point of view, or helps give perspectives on writing that I may have not seen or noticed. Furthermore, it is not useful to attack the writers of the show either, because it creates a cycle of toxicity that be hard to break. Fans say something to creators, creators mock or block fans, fans complain about them on different social media platforms etc. While I do agree that these people are professionals and shouldn’t ever mock fans for feeling a certain way, they don’t deserve to be attacked because of writing choices.

Now, for constructive criticism. This can be extremely helpful sometimes. I think it is fair to say something along the lines of “Supergirl season 5 isn’t the best season because the cast was too large and characters like Nia and Alex were lost because of it, and Leviathan wasn’t an effective villain.” To me, this is a valid criticism of the season. It’s not personally attacking the cast members and writers of the show because something occurred that we as viewers didn’t like. Saying “I don’t like that Gren stands behind Amaya while interpreting her hand signals, because he would be missing a lot of them” is valid too. It’s something that if you pointed it out to the writers and animators of TDP, they may not have ever even thought about it that way, and make the effort to make sure that didn’t happen again. Even for Supergirl this season, a lot of people were vocal about they felt about the Kara and William romance, and it really got dialed back in the later episodes. The writers listened to the fans, and made the effort to fix this. Now, this doesn’t always happen, but it’s better to try and stay civil about then outright attack them.

Do things deserve to be criticized? Absolutely. Game of Thrones season 8 deserves to be criticized for poor writing choices, lazy editing, and ruining character arcs. But just remember to do so in a way that isn’t slandering, but instead constructive so hopefully these people can grow as writers.

I just feel that there should be a respect for both the fans and the creators/writers/whoever of the show. Without us, there wouldn’t be an audience for the content created. However, without creators and writers and animators, we wouldn’t have any content to enjoy.

It’s okay for people to enjoy things, and it’s okay for them to dislike it. I just would like to see less hate being thrown around. I think that everyone’s opinion about how they feel about a certain subject matter should be appreciated and valued, unless of course it’s racist, sexist, or full of vile hate.

Thanks for reading this far if you did. Feel free to engage in conversation with me if you want.

[jazzypizzaz]

end of the year fic meme

This was an askbox-style meme, but like last year I'm just gonna answer them all without waiting for asks.  I love when other writers talk about their stuff, so I may as well allow myself to.  Self-indulgent reflection, hooray!  Please join in if you so desire...   Statistics:  I wrote 11 fics this year (10 for DS9 and 1 for Discovery), ~51k words, which is almost exactly half of last year lol.  8 Quodo fics, 2 gen fics, 1 other pairing.    I also have, collectively, 7k words of unfinished fics in drafts, oops.  I think the relative lack of writing-juice this year meant it was easier to follow through only on the most immediately compelling ideas, which I guess means proportionately more Quodo. under the cut for length, ten questions:

1. What’s your personal favorite thing you wrote this year?

I’ve been staring at my list for a couple minutes and have decided that I hold them all dear within my heart, because really they all mean different things to me that are important (#moods ranging from feelsy angst to complete absurdity lmao, a good range).  

Like... solid!Odo fic I think was my best work, the one I’m most proud of, but I spent so long muddling through that I’m tired of staring at it, so I can’t say it’s my *personal* favorite, whereas I really enjoy some of the shorter, simpler ones though I think they could be better executed in some ways so idk... 

uuuhhhh I suppose the Kira&Jake fic was something I really needed to write, since my Jake feels don’t get enough resolution like ever, so it was good to have the fic exchange to make me write some of it out finally.  And I really like the baseball metaphor, plus it was good to write characters I don’t give enough attention to in my writing.  An unexpected favorite perhaps.

IDK I fail at this meme already...

2. What’s your least favorite thing you wrote this year?

WELL let's say the several WIPs that I haven't been able to complete yet, especially a) romantic dinner cruise quodo, which doesn't have the mood or depth I'm aiming for yet, b) sisko/quark which has gotten more involved and difficult to write than I meant it to be and therefore is lingering in my drafts months past I meant it to.

3. Which of your fics was most different from what you usually write?

The Michael Burnham and Tardigrade gen fic, in that it's: not a narrative, not shippy, not DS9, and is mostly bullshit philosophy/poetry.  

It *is* still similar to my usual, in that it's about alien perspectives and the indulgent fake-deep tendencies I already have, but dialed up to eleven I guess.

4. Which of your fics this year was most successful?

The solid!Odo fic!  I always expect the relative “success” of any fic wrt kudos/comments to be almost completely arbitrary and beyond common sense explanations, but this is a rare case where I feel like the response I got was proportional to what I put into it and how much I personally liked the story.

This was a fic that was a) a frustrating time-suck that the effort I put into it resulted in an improved output, b) something *I* regard as one of my best works overall, c) hits popular themes and tropes, or at least what I think captures fandom interests generally, d) is a long, meaty story! relative to my usual one-shots, the longest continuous work of mine, and e) has an actual plot beyond ~feelings~. 5. Which of your fics do you wish was more successful? hmm maybe the Fallen Heroes coda?   I do think the emotions as written were a bit too easy surface-level in some regards -- didn’t quite have the depth and catharsis I was aiming for -- but still, I expect everyone to be as invested in Quark’s messy emotional fallouts as I am, even if there could have been better follow-through on my end.  I mean, it’s still a pretty good fic I think, and I’m overall happy with it or I wouldn’t have posted, even if I am retrospectively critical. 6. What’s your favorite piece of dialogue you wrote this year? I think I got some funny, snappy, in-character dialogue in the quodo goes to couples counseling fic, has a good flow w the bickering.

also, I’m very fond of Quark’s little moment of truth in solid!Odo fic: “I thought I could finally be what you wanted.”  it makes me melt????  hits exactly the note I wanted. also, Odo’s response several lines down: “A risk that I can always count on.”  that whole scene, *kisses fingers like an italian chef* delicious delicious emotional climax!

7. What’s your favorite piece of description or narration? All the different pieces of Ezri’s painting in the Ezri/Ziyal fic!!!  It really came together in a satisfying way for me, and it seems for Ezri as well heh.  Also the art-philosophy, self-discovery thoughts within the fic as a whole I think turned out great.  Feels good, feels like healing. 8. Which fic this year was most fun to write? definitely definitely both the Odo-pants and furry AU.  both I wrote in a flurried craze of self-indulgence and cackling to myself the whole time about how silly they were in concept.  OH WAIT and also the soulmates AU...  anytime I’m a bit embarrassed by how much I love something that seems like it should be stupid or frivolous, but that instead I get accidentally invested in, I think is actually a good thing???  or like, that’s what’s fun about fandom.  I embrace it when I can. 9. If you could go back and change something about one of the fics you wrote this year, what would it be? umm I would change more of my WIPs into being complete, does that count???  I have pieces written of too many fics I want to be a reality: romantic dinner cruise Quodo, Sisko/Quark empty nest, Quark angst underworld, Kira/Keiko first date... 10. What, if anything, are you going to try to do differently in your writing in the new year? really, just to keep writing anything.  and finish those fics I just listed!

[atemusluckygal-fanfiction]

Hi~ What your favorite story you’ve ever written? least favorite story you’ve ever written? how do you do your researches? things that inspire you? things that motivate you? Name three favorite writers? =)

Hi @chocolapeanut!

Q: What’s your favorite story you’ve ever written?A: Does it have to be completed? Because if so, then “A Taste of Apple”, and my favorite incomplete story is the one I’m currently working on, “Vices”. I tend to favor stories that I’ve put a lot of work into. They become my babies.

“A Taste of Apple” was a collaboration with artist linkyiwakura that took weeks to plan and months to complete, and it was fun to write about one of my favorite places on earth: NYC. Her illustrations give the story so much life. The collab was such an enjoyable experience–not only writing the story, but also seeing it interpreted by someone so talented and artistic, but through a completely different medium. The first chapter came out exactly 10 years after I signed up on ff.net so that was kinda cool too :D

“Vices” is letting me explore territory I’ve been wanting to do for a long time, but I finally feel mature enough to have a chance of executing it tastefully. When “Handmaid’s Tale” came out, which is one of the influences for Vices, I took it as a sign and had to start writing. I’m also finishing up Breaking Bad (I know, I’m super late), which is another influence. I also love turning up the dial on the maturity in my writing, considering that I’m… a “fanwoman” now.

Q: What’s your least favorite story you’ve ever written?A: I’ve written a few pretty terrible stories, but probably “Betrayal” I find the most cringe-worthy. It was just needlessly sad and really had no point to it. It was published in 2009, my first year of college, and I think I needed to vent a bit. I keep it up because at least a couple people enjoyed the doom and gloom, but… yikes.

Not that you asked, but my second least favorite is probably the one I wrote and published while drunk, “Beautiful” XD I still have it up because the fact that I even did that makes me laugh.

Q: How do you do your research?A: It usually depends on what I need to research, and what purpose it’s serving for the story. If it’s a place (like NYC for Apple) I usually do a quick scan on Wikipedia, then find a bunch of travel blogs that have pictures and a traveler’s perspective. Then I read up on what locals have to say about the place as well, and tips and tricks they offer to first-time visitors. For everything else, I usually start on Wikipedia, and look up the sources they list and go from there. For Vices, I am currently doing a lot of research on religious fundamentalism (since I never regularly attended church) and cults/cult mentality, which I think fits extremely well in the DOMA/Waking the Dragons arc setting. I read about the “greats”: the Church of Scientology, Jonestown/The People’s Temple, etc. It’s a super interesting topic to read about… and a little creepy.

I basically try to get both an inside and outside perspective of everything I research, because it feels really cheap writing about something I don’t at least somewhat understand at that level.

Q: Things that inspire you?A: Thought-provoking fictional works (books, movies, tv etc.). Adult and child psychology. Philosophy. The complexity of human emotion. Morality/ethics and its vast gray areas. Basically, the most interesting thing to me about any idea or event in history is the human response: both individual and en masse. And how all of this is expressed, explored, and discussed via fiction.

Also Dan Green XD #inspo4life

Q: Things that motivate you?A: Aside from what inspires me? Reaching my readers, to put it simply. Writing and creating to me is not purely self-serving. I view it more as an interactive dialogue, so to speak, between creator and consumer. The inspiration (see above) motivates me to start, the response motivates me to continue and improve. I love receiving reviews (and asks) on my stories sharing how what I’d created has affected them. Praise or criticism, it’s all welcome, because it’s time out of their day to not only read it, but give me their perspective. It lets me know they’re on the bumpy ride with me, and it feels awesome.

Also, I think an articulate compositional voice is an extremely powerful tool of communication, in a world that needs more of it. So, if I can be that for someone, that’s pretty neat.

Q: Name three favorite writers?A: I have a lot, but to stay on topic, I’ll list my favorite Yu-Gi-Oh fanfic writers XD

1) LittleKuriboh (WUUUUT): Yes, the LittleKuriboh. Most of his fics are Thiefshipping (I think) but my god. “Spirit” (no shippings) has to be my absolute favorite Yu-Gi-Oh fanfic. His script-writing per Abridged is obviously awesome as well.

2) palomino333 (ff.net)/nightchildmoonchild (deviantart): Yes you, @dieselhag! Truly amazing writer. She has incredible insight on each character and really takes the time and effort to connect the reader to both the characters and the setting/atmosphere. She has many works in many different fandoms, so there’s at least one for everyone to enjoy. Her most recent Yu-Gi-Oh fic, Pale Horse, Pale Rider, is awesome and a great take on Regalshipping. I highly recommend it.

3) Raving in the Rain: for her story The Sands of Solipsism which I think has an incredibly original and creative plot, and beautifully written even in the more informal style (Tea/Anzu’s POV). Unfortunately, it is only one(!) chapter away from completion, which is like the biggest case of “fanfic blue balls” I’ve ever experienced. XD

Thanks so much for the ask! That was fun!

xo ALG

[femslashrevolution]

Femslash and Finding Ourselves in Fiction

This post is part of Femslash Revolution’s I Am Femslash series, sharing voices of F/F creators from all walks of life. The views represented within are those of the author only.

Femslash ships aren’t usually the first choice of someone entering fandom for the first time. When I first wandered into the internet communities for book series like Harry Potter, twelve years and grateful for a few stolen hours on shoddy dial-up internet, I didn’t even know what a ship was. I was just there to share my poetry - verse after verse written from the perspective of Hermione Granger. I was ready to move behind the narrative (and narrator) of these stories and find the motivations and feelings of a heroine, complete with all her strengths and flaws. There was time and room enough to be sad that she wasn’t our main character from the start, but there was also the relief and comfort of filling the spaces left open with my own thoughts.

It took several more years of time on and offline to realize that I was attracted to girls. In fact, I remember my first reaction to finding F/F fic to be one of pointed discomfort. Living in the rural south of the US, it was upsetting enough to be noticing things that I hadn’t before about myself. My friendships, my adoration of particular celebrities and characters, and the growing gap between my own experience and those around me were beginning to be troubling. Stumbling into this world of people - mostly women and girls - writing, drawing, and simply discussing these ships seemed to cross a line that I’d drawn for myself in my everyday life. Over months, I grew from peeking meekly into femslash threads and tags to introducing myself to other fans who’d already been through the process I was navigating. For most of them, they felt that they were the only ones willing to make fan content that looked like their own life, or what they wished their life could be. They were giving all they could to show these established characters coming from their own perspective, because no one else seemed to care.

As femslash fans, all of us still feel the frustration over lack of content, both canon and fan-made. We’re almost always considered a niche demographic from the start in most popular fandoms, since so few of them focus on women and their relationships at all, much less through a lens that resonates for sapphic women. For years, I grasped at straws in the Supernatural fandom and other, similar corners of the web to find ships I could care about. Women were dying or being put on a bus left and right, at best relegated to plot points or a brief interest for one the main characters. Desperate, I scrounged pairings from the bottom of the barrel and clung to them. Some of them were women who had never shared the screen or page. Some of them were already dead or forgotten. All of them, though, were important to me, and I was learning the very necessary skill of piecing together the scraps that were given to me. Interesting, three-dimensional characters were being wasted, and through fandom I was learning to appreciate them in new and beautiful ways.

The rarity of F/F ships in fandom works against consumers and creators alike, but I don’t think being seen as a small in-group has proven to be all bad. What I’ve seen instead is that our creators are given more room to reach beyond what’s common to portray. If you’re already working within a tiny corner, mostly populated by like-minded people, why not explore other areas of real life that we don’t often see in media? The more I looked into femslash, barreling into new fandoms and making friends who wanted vibrant, varying content, the more I began to see things that fandom and media at large desperately need. Respectful, well-written racial and cultural diversity, transgender and nonbinary experiences, and an openness to non-traditional relationships may not dominate our content, but it’s plentiful enough to be seen and shared, to get our own gears turning on what to address in our own work. One trans girl headcanon turns into a handful of stories written by the people who saw and encouraged it; one gifset highlighting a neglected woman of color from canon stokes a dozen conversations about how she may have added to the story, or how she may have fared in a story that was her own. We find facets of ourselves and others that often go unseen inside the lines of someone else’s art. Femslash is opening doors in fandom that may have gone unnoticed.

As a queer, nonbinary writer, I’ve been increasingly pleased with seeing femslash fandoms - and when we’re lucky, the surrounding fandom with it - become more conscientious and inclusive. There are still, though, a lot of experiences falling by the wayside. Even when the text contains a disabled, chronically ill, neurodivergent, or mentally ill character, we rarely see these differences acknowledged and handled well, whether in canon or the resulting fan content. Women categorized by Western society as unattractive as a group - whether it be for age, weight, skin color, visible disability, or otherwise - are often neglected as well. Fandom makes some great efforts to fill these gaps, with focused events and prompts that lead us to consider and celebrate the breadth of experiences encompassed by womanhood and how it colors relationships with other women. I’d like to see even more of that atmosphere moving forward, embracing ships that challenge us, reflecting back not just ourselves but the full spectrum of women loving women, each in their own way.

Every femslash fan has their doors to open, if they want to. Keep showing us your hijabi girlfriends. Your lesbians growing old together. Fat women shooing strangers away from the service animals of their wives and partners. Genderqueer characters struggling to find where and how they fit into the community around them. Keep opening your doors and stepping through those opened to you. Femslash is a beautiful community that can continue to grow and thrive as long as we nurture it.

About the Author

Ellis S. is a queer, genderfluid writer and witch with a stunning but grouchy cat and a wonderful girlfriend. Together, they run an exchange for polyamorous fanworks and cry about fandoms. Beyond femslash, Ellis spends their time cooking, consuming horror media, and competing in tournaments with their trivia team. They can be found at derekslaura or coyoteshunter on Tumblr and at rjosettes on Archive of Our Own.

[deesdiaries]

Roundtable: What Happened to Tumblr?

After 11 years, founder David Karp is leaving—and it might mean that the platform is finally fading

BY ALYSSA BEREZNAK HANNAH GIORGIS ALISON HERMAN KATE KNIBBS VICTOR LUCKERSON MOLLY MCHUGH, AND KATIE BAKER

NOV 29, 2017, 8:30AM EST

Nearly 11 years after launching Tumblr in his mother’s apartment, David Karp announced this week that he’s stepping down as head of the social network. His departure signals a bleak future for the site, which has struggled to grow and turn a profit since it was acquired by Yahoo in 2013 for $1.1 billion. Even Karp’s goodbye email to staffers had a tinge of mourning to it: “I look back with so much pride. At a generation of artists, writers, creators, curators, and crusaders that have redefined our culture, and who we have helped to empower.”

Karp’s not wrong. Before Tumblr was sucked into the purple-paned corporate labyrinth that is Yahoo, it was a hotbed of excellent online content: a lovely, creative community that pumped out original GIFs, memes, and niche-interest blogs at an impressive rate. People went there to be entertained, to connect with like-minded peers, and to ogle pics of hungover owls. But over the years—as competitors like Facebook and Instagram have grown—that creative energy has slowly drained from the site. It’s likely only a matter of time until Verizon shutters the company and dissects it for parts. The question now: How did we get here? Ringer staffers Katie Baker, Hannah Giorgis, Alison Herman, Kate Knibbs, Victor Luckerson, and Molly McHugh weigh in. —Alyssa Bereznak

____________________________________________

(Read remainder of the article below the cut.)

This article suggests an ominous future for tumblr.  Personally, I’d hate to see it end.  My tumblr addiction began with the True Blood fandom on May 14, 2012 when I opened my blog as trueblooddiaries.tumblr.com.  When the HBO True Blood series ended and Charlaine Harris published her last awful book of the series, I changed mu URL to deesdiaries (simply for a lack of a better alternative or lack of imagination).  

How and when did you begin on tumblr?

Let’s start off on a positive note: What are your fondest memories of Tumblr in its heydey?

Molly McHugh: There was once a Tumblr where an artist would draw scenes from Craigslist Missed Connections pages. I loved that. I also really enjoyed making an MRW GIF blog when I lived in the Caribbean.

Alison Herman: I was a party crasher—I first logged on in 2010 or 2011, which I’ve been told is past its *real* heyday. I remember tentatively asking my friend what “what is air” means; I had no idea how thoroughly my brain was about to be broken.

Hannah Giorgis: I met some of my best friends because of Tumblr! Heben Nigatu and I stumbled upon each other's blogs way back in 2010 or 2011 I think. We were both shocked to find another Ethiopian girl grappling with some of the same issues (racism, sexism, etc., at predominantly white institutions and, you know, also in America). Neither of us had ever encountered that IRL. We ended up meeting in person the next year when I interned in New York, and I was connected to so many great folks in her orbit then—many of whom are now my closest friends here in New York, five years later.

Herman: It's mocked for it now, but Tumblr also taught me a lot of the basics of social justice discourse, mostly by just reading the perspectives of people whose backgrounds were different from my own. If Twitter is an ideological silo, Tumblr was a horizon opener.

Katie Baker: I was working in finance in 2008 and bothering a friend with constant emails when he finally responded: “Hey, have you considered starting a Tumblr?” Little did I know that it would be the start of a whole new career. … I felt like I had finally found “my people” even if it turned out that “my people” were, like, weirdos who liked reblogging Joe Biden memes and writing whispery posts about blogger drama. (One of the early Tumblr memes that really spoke to me was the great “Sad Guys on Trading Floors,” which made its debut shortly after I joined. It was weirdly comforting in a time of huge financial and societal upheaval.)

Alyssa Bereznak: I got into Tumblr when I first moved to New York in 2010 (which, yes, is pretty late in the game). I was delighted to find extremely specific pages that celebrated the weirdness of the city, like Halloween or Williamsburg? or Accidental Chinese Hipsters.

McHugh: Just the other day, my aunt texted me that she'd bought a cookbook called Thug Kitchen. I was going to explain that that used to just be a Tumblr, but what would the point be?

Giorgis: To Alison’s note, I appreciate that Tumblr is what helped give me the words for why something like Thug Kitchen, helmed by white people, really is troublesome (beyond just the icky feeling it gave me in my gut).

McHugh: Totally. I was going to explain everything wrong with it, but I think it would have been entirely lost. It was just wild to me that some people see Thug Kitchen as a cookbook that exists on its own.

Herman: It's hard to explain outside the context of Tumblr, right? Tumblr really did give users an almost secret language.

What set the Tumblr community apart from other social networks?

Herman: There’s a really obvious and powerful symbolism to the heart button, I think; pile-ons definitely happened, but Tumblr was always a way more positive place than almost any other social network. It was a home for enthusiasms!

Knibbs: What I always liked about Tumblr was the lack of emphasis on shuttling everything into one feed. It was more about discovery than scrolling quickly through whatever an algorithm told you would be most relevant. It really catered to rabbit holes and niches. Also, Shitty New Yorker Cartoon Captions didn’t exist anywhere else.

Bereznak: I always think about the bone controversy—in which people accused one practicing "witch" of stealing human bones for spells—as a good example for the network’s tolerance for very niche interests and sensitivity toward even the most bizarre topics of discussion. The response to the incident wasn’t, “What is this person doing practicing witchcraft with bones?” It was, “Any knowledgeable witch knows this is a very good way to piss off the spirits.”

Baker: I think for me it was the fact that it even was a social network, as opposed to the other blogging platforms of the time. I remember trying to start a Blogspot blog, because I read and loved so many of them, but I felt like I was just typing into the void and had no idea how to get involved in the link economy or anything like that. (In those days getting a Gawker “Blogorrhea” link was an epic accomplishment.)

Giorgis: Something about the quasi anonymity of Tumblr enabled both community and personal growth in a way that platforms like Facebook and Twitter—which feel very persona driven—don't allow for. On Tumblr you didn't have to worry about your family and friends finding out that you reblogged 500 Misfits gifsets. The site let you explore what you love—and what upsets you—with enthusiasm and energy, and connect with people who might share those with you while also introducing you to different things, concepts, etc.

Herman: Also, to get really basic: the mixed-media aspect! It was pretty to look at AND you could have long-form thoughts/discussions.

McHugh: It allowed for a lot more interpretation. Not just the content, but the design. There is no social network now that gives you even half as much flexibility. Everyone’s Instagram profile looks the same. There’s a lot more monotony across other social networks that I think lends us to scrolling mindlessly and not really FINDING anything. Tumblr was more exploratory partly because of this.

Giorgis: The Wikipedia of social networks!

Knibbs: It also existed in that sweet spot where blogs still mattered, and made it easy to connect those bloggers together.

Baker: At the time, I think even Facebook didn’t have quite the same “self-publishing tools,” if you can call it that, that it does now—I’d have to look up the history of Facebook to be clear on the timeline, but for a while, writing a status update still meant answering the prompt “Katie Baker is …”

Herman: Does anyone remember those “me on Facebook”/”me on Tumblr” memes?

Giorgis: Absolutely. I think a lot of what feels like modern Twitter humor has its roots in early Tumblr memes, especially the vaguely meta ones that reference the platform itself.

Herman: Tumblr also felt friendlier than other famously weird internet zones like Reddit or 4chan. I still felt like I was on a cool detour, but I wasn't in the Wild West, you know?

Bereznak: Yeah! Even the more risky adult content Tumblrs leaned toward sex positivity, not raunchiness. There was never really a fear that you might happen upon a deeply disturbing GIF or something.

Victor Luckerson: I kind of feel like Tumblr’s ability to propagate memes was the beginning of its undoing. I only ever consumed Tumblr content passively, but I primarily recall it as the vehicle through which memes—which I was familiar with as a trawler of message boards since my parents got us dial-up internet in the sixth grade—became a mainstream medium. When What Should We Call Me blew up around 2011, it was kind of jarring to see internet humor suddenly become something that people of all ages and backgrounds consumed. Then this type of humor was quickly co-opted by Twitter/Facebook accounts.

Herman: WHAT SHOULD WE CALL ME! I can't believe a single person invented the concept of the reaction GIF. It's a universal internet behavior that can be traced back to a user who took the practice mainstream. That’s wild.

Bereznak: How is the What Should We Call Me person not included in every “Top Internet Innovators” list of all time?!

Do we think that Yahoo really ever understood what Tumblr was for? What did it do to hurt or help the site?

Bereznak: I should disclose that before this, I was a reporter at Yahoo News, and was forced to use Tumblr as a CMS there. It was not ideal, but I won't say anything more for fear of breaching an NDA and being sued.

Knibbs: It doesn’t sound like the company ever got what Tumblr was, beyond that it was cool with the teens. I’d really love to know whether David Karp thought Yahoo would help Tumblr or if he just wanted that sweet blog money.

Herman: The detail in that Mashable storyabout an executive trying to hype them by saying they could “create the next-generation PDF” …

Bereznak: Also the fact that some Tumblr employees didn’t know what Yahoo was …

Luckerson: Lol, they were lying.

McHugh: They at the very least knew about Yahoo Answers. The only user overlap between Yahoo and Tumblr is Yahoo Answers.

Giorgis: I will admit that it's a bit hard for me as someone who used to be a very, very regular user of the site to disentangle my reflexive irritation with the Yahoo acquisition news from any sort of objective evaluation of what happened. Did Tumblr users just react dramatically to news of change? Maybe! But what incentive was there to think Yahoo would bring anything good to the site?

Herman: It’s weird—I can't point to any material impact of the acquisition on my user experience, but the decline in relevance definitely started soon after.

Luckerson: Yahoo’s goal must have been to have more content to serve ads against right? Once you refocus Tumblr as a blog for funny GIFs rather than a social network, it becomes much more likely to have its territory taken over by others. Basically, I could find plenty of memes on Twitter or Facebook by the Yahoo years, and that’s all I ever really used Tumblr for.

Bereznak: The narrative of the acquisition was that Yahoo would help Tumblr monetize, something that Karp had always been pretty reluctant to do himself. I always felt like he was protective of the company in that sense, and that his decision to sell it to Yahoo was basically a matter of: I can’t do this to my own child.

Baker: Alyssa, I think that’s a good way to think about it. Karp was too close to his Tumblr son. And also, because of how intimate Tumblr felt, I think the users felt more entitled to weigh in on the decisions he made and take them personally.

There’s a kind of cynical ethos that “everything good on the internet dies.” Do you think Tumblr was doomed before it was ever bought by Yahoo?

Luckerson: There is no way to scale the intimate connections that attracted early users, so yes, if their goal was to become a social media giant, definitely doomed.

Herman: I think a lot of people just outgrew it, too. I know people from Tumblr who are still big on the internet; they just use different platforms.

Knibbs: After we dismantle Facebook and Google and enter the Second Golden Age of Blogging, I think Tumblr could still rise again.

Giorgis: I still occasionally retreat to Tumblr when everything else is Too Much, but it makes more sense for me as someone who’s in a different professional place to primarily use Twitter/Facebook now (ugh).

Baker: Yeah, in some ways it’s the natural life cycle of a cool social network, I guess. If it weren’t Yahoo it would be something else.

Let’s finish it off with your all-time favorite obscure Tumblr dot com site.

Bereznak: Mine, as you may have guessed from the intro, is the hungover owl one.

McHugh: It’s kind of basic, but I enjoyed Cats That Look Like Ron Swanson.

Luckerson: Poor Michelle, about all the times Destiny’s Child’s Michelle Williams was snubbed by fate/cosmic circumstance/Beyoncé.

Giorgis: I don't know that it was obscure, but I still love Things I Learned from Sex and the City. Something about seeing a million screencaps from the show just perfectly highlighted the absurdity of its premises and dialogue—and also why there's still so much to love!

Herman: I’m gonna be extremely on brand here and vote for True Detective Conversations.

Baker: I’m Remembering! made me feel so seen. I lived in gripping fear of winding up on Table for One.

Bereznak: Man, I’m Remembering! was such a gem.

Baker: SUCH. The tag that was like “my brother josh.”

Knibbs: I was and am obsessed with the Old Loves Tumblr.

Bereznak: Man, I’m Remembering! was such a gem.