#a reader-perspective self-insert freak if you will

[oxavane]

i've just remembered how I used to render my favorite pieces of art buT I HAVE WORK TOMORROW AND I HAVE TO GO TO SLEEP

I'M SO UPSET

LIKE

LOOK AT IT

THE ONE TIME I'M REMEMBERING HOW TF TO RENDER

SLEEP TIME DEFEATS ME orz

[forbidden-sin-bin]

Heyyy Bestieeeee!!!

I’m loving By Your Side so farrrrr. Its just soo goood. The writing its just fab, the pacing perfect imo, and the description of y/n is so realistic and easily likeable - like we get to see her insecurities and flaws, what personally troubles her, as well as her hopes and dreams, the people she feels close (and their relationship feels credible!) etc…

Its just so well written that I can see myself in her on many occasions, and connect my emotions with her. Idk, maybe I’m rambling a bit.

Anyways, as I’m currently hooked on this story, and can’t get it out of my head (I created a Spotify playlist for this 💀) I just wanted to ask, if you have an exact date of when you’ll post chapter 5?

Btw, heads up, I think you forgot to put the link of chapter 4 in the By Your Side masterlist, can’t see it there

Now - this is taking way too long, and I’ll just head out, Peace ✌🏻

Hold on a sec-

I waited too freaking long to reply to this I’m so sorry but this was so sweet and thoughtful I literally couldn’t stop tearing up every time I read this. I wanted to give a thought out response to this so if you’re seeing this thank you for waiting this was amazing to see in my inbox-

*SLAMS FISTS ON THE TABLE HOLLERING SCREAMING CRYING*

THANK YOUUUUUUU!!!!!! Oh my god. Holy shit. This. This made my month. I truly didn’t know how to respond so I kept on holding this off from immediately responding and freaking out/appreciating everything you wrote. Finally I got my thoughts together after two long weeks!

Also YOU HAVE A SPOTIFY PLAYLIST?!?!? SHARE PLEASE HOLY HECK THAT IS ONE OF THE BIGGEST COMPLIMENTS I COULD EVER RECEIVE AHSJDLAGUFFIISJSHCJSKND-

also speaking of which I gotta get that part 1 playlist updated lmao

Literally that first paragraph made me flatline I swear. I’m so freaking glad cause I was hellbent on making y/n realistic as a person whilst also having them make choices or have characteristics that are reasonable enough for most people to be able to relate to or picture themselves in! So I’m incredibly glad you like her, flaws and hopes and dreams and all!

I literally have so, SO MUCH more that I want to mention or say to add to the above but I keep on deleting and rewriting anything else I try to add cause it makes a lot more sense in short DM’s instead of full on sentences lol.

Second paragraph knocked me outta my body and no you’re not rambling at all! I was worried that the reader’s perspective wasn’t realistic or relatable so hearing that you’re able to connect with them made me feel a lot more comfortable, thank you so much!

When I started this series, I wanted to have a Reader self-insert fic that was in a way, a possibility of what life could’ve been if we had the chance! I know I absolutely had that feeling where I always said to myself: “MAN. I wish I was born earlier.” Not that I don’t appreciate my life right now! I’m certainly incredibly lucky to have a life where I get to meet so many amazing people like you and have the chance to write like this!

AND FOR THE RELEASE DATE OF CHAPTER 5: Oh man, I thought I could get it done mid-late June but assignments man. Goddamn assignments handed to me without warning. I don’t have an exact release date for chapter 5 and I’m incredibly sorry about that. I know you’re looking forward to it and I am as well! Once I know for sure and I’m confident enough to say that I’m ready to post it (I suffer from the perfectionist and the ADHD curse I’m so sorry), I’ll let everyone know beforehand! I promise.

But once again, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! If I had another reason to keep going and keep pushing myself to keep the series going I know that you and everyone that’s waiting and supporting are many, many reasons. And that’s more than enough to make sure I bring you the best possible fanfic to you all!

Much love,

- Sin Bin

[wanderinginksplot]

Okay, I got long-winded about this, so I apologize. Especially if this was a joke post I took way too seriously!

When I read reader-insert fics, I tend to think of the reader character as an avatar, a way to relate to the characters I admire. Short of 'person from our universe ends up in a different one' fics (which can be vastly entertaining as well), a reader-insert is a good way to allow for realistic in-universe interaction. 'You' can be someone from the setting who could reasonably expect to encounter the people and situations in the fic.

I can't speak for other people, but part of the reason I write reader-insert fics is because you never know who is (or is not) seeing themselves in media. We've all seen the post about how part of the responsibilities of having a seat at the table is looking around and seeing who isn't there? Well, I like to write for those people, even if I don't know exactly who they are.

Admittedly, I write reader-inserts that have a backstory and personal history. They're only generic in appearance and (often) pronoun use. In fact, my gender-neutral fics tend not to feature any pronouns at all for the reader character. I've gotten some lovely feedback from people who use rare pronouns. Those people read my fics and felt like they could imagine themselves in the story because there weren't references to skin color, hair length/texture, or pronouns. (I have a tendency to write my reader-inserts as short, but that's a personal bias I'm working to correct.)

One major problem in fandom is that fics tend to be written about a specific type of original character - almost always white, straight females. Writing reader-insert fics with limited physical descriptions and pronouns is a good way to combat that.

Other thoughts (OC use, first-person POV potential, and smut fic opinions) under the cut because this is already a gigantic post!

Also (and this is much further down the list of reasons), it is incredibly difficult to make people care about an OC. You have to make them noteworthy enough to 'earn' a place alongside canon characters, and then you end up getting accused of writing a Mary Sue.

Additionally, you could try writing from a first-person point-of-view, but those characters often come off as unbearably conceited. I tried to rewrite one of my reader-insert fics to post on FF.net and trashed it because I didn't like the self-insert character anymore. Part of the appeal is letting your audience be the self-insert and then showing the other characters thinking they're amazing and worthy of good things.

And, since I saw something about it in the comments, I have other opinions about reader-insert smut:

As an ace, writing smut kind of freaked me out, but I wanted to see if it was something I could learn to do. Using a reader-insert style rather than first- or third-person helped me keep some distance. Additionally, a lot of asexual people like to read smut (I think we just think it's interesting!) and second-person POV helps to keep from feeling uncomfortably close to the action or like you're being voyeuristic.

Sorry for the gigantic response, but I've noticed that a lot of people look down on reader-insert fics as being weird or awkward or 'lesser' in some way. I've found that they're fascinating, both from the reading and writing perspectives!

TL;DR - Among other things, reader-insert fics an easy way to include under-represented groups, try an unusual point-of-view, and increase reader self-esteem.

Also, thank you! I never looked into why FF.net banned reader-insert fics and it was interesting to learn why!

Okay. This is wild.

I was curious about the rise of Reader-Insert fic because it was really not a thing that I was exposed to until recently and, at least in my current circles on tumblr, seems to be a pretty big deal.

So I went to fanlore to see if they had any indication of its history (which, of course they do and, spoiler alert, it --like most things in fandom -- actually dates back to Trek) and, as typically happens to me on fanlore, I went down a rabbit hole where I found reference to FF.net banning it in 2005.

This is the reasoning:

There are two prime reasons that 2nd person (you) based fics are not allowed.

The first, and most important reason is because it can be considered a form of child porn. Say, for example, you're reading a "You based fic" that goes along just fine for a few chapters, but then comes to a part with a lemon (sex scene), that story is having someone run their hands down your buddy, exploring your more intimate attributes, removing your clothes, laying you down, you get the idea, yes? Now lets say that you're 13 years old reading this story. The person responsible for writing said story is now guilty of child porn, and if an angry parent found out they could not only sue the site itself but also prosecute the writer and have them labeled as a sex offender for the rest of their life.

The other reason that Second person (you based) fics are not allowed is because they are often used for interactive stories. As in people send in reviews asking the author to write what they want, rather than going off of the actual authors own "imagination"

I am...dubious about the child porn argument holding up in court, but I can see why a fear of that would cause a provider to just flat ban the content.

But the second one?

people send in reviews asking the author to write what they want, rather than going off of the actual authors own "imagination"

Uh. News Flash: all of this has happened before and all of it will happen again.

People do that ALL THE TIME in comments and if that were reason enough for banning an entire genre, none of us would be able to post anything we write. How very ODD.

Also? Major shade to whomever put imagination in quotes. But, anyway.

I have been reading a lot of Reader-Insert lately because I am fascinated by it in an anthropological sort of way. And I have one burning question for those who write and read it.

Do you actually mentally replace the insert with yourself while consuming the story?

[phoenixtakaramono]

Hi! :) I was reading your post about SQH in TUT and it got me thinking. Since this version also wrote SVSSS, when he transmigrates does he realize his "dream" was real? Also, you hinted that he recognizes SY as the same person who transmigrated into SQQ, so now I'm wondering if he tells SY that, and how SY would react to learning he's the protagonist of SVSSS in another universe. I just love thinking about how meta this could potentially get, haha.

Can't wait to find out more! Keep up the good work!

(Follow-Up Post to: Part I, Part II)

@the-legend-of-chel 👏👏👏 Luv, good to see you in my Asks! I’m glad to hear that you’re looking forward to finding out more in The Untold Tale! And thanks for your support and encouragement. 💖

(TUT ch1 - Excerpt)

You’re right. There is a lot of meta potential with older!Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky being the MXTX equivalent in this AU—or, rather, I like to imagine him growing up to be the Stephen King equivalent of modern day China with a prolific portfolio of written works (novels and short stories, and extras). In canon, he churned out a great number of words per chapter and in a speedy amount of time! Do you guys know how miraculous that is, as a writer? I envy him so much! To be able to churn out that much content in a short amount of time, and in a scheduled regimen, is amazing! That’s basically my angle having written this into the prologue of TUT. That’s partially the reason why I wrote ch1. I liked the idea of paying homage to SVSSS and saying that it’s an actual book series in TUT universe that Airplane wrote (as funny as the idea would be, I wasn’t about to let SY be the one to write it, lol, for intellectual property reasons since the PIDW characters belong to Airplane, which would necessitate SY changing names and character appearances if he published what we know as irl SVSSS, so the best I can give SY is saying he wrote his own PIDW fanfic which basically launched his novelist career because he’d realized, hey, I actually have a knack for writing and the ever so spiteful I feel like practically every writer has had this thought before: fine, if I don’t see what I want to read, then I’ll write it myself!)

(TUT ch1 - Excerpt)

We’re approaching TUT spoiler territory so skip below if you don’t wish to be spoiled.

TUT (Meta) Spoilers

I personally love meta. If I’m to be writing a lovestory to SVSSS, there will be attempts at meta thrown into TUT. And this is one of them:

Airplane did “dream” about canon SVSSS. He basically “dreamt” about his favorite black powder fan, Peerless Cucumber

changing events of Airplane’s biggest regret Proud Immortal Demon Way. (As a writer, it embarrasses me to read my old writing. So I imagine it could be the same for Airplane.) As an author, Airplane recognized what he dreamt had potential to be a commercial success as a danmei transmigration story so basically every time he woke up, he would write pieces of what he remembers in a dream journal when the memory was fresh in his brain. It also allowed Airplane the opportunity to show his readers through the perspective of SY! Shen Qingqiu what Airplane had originally wanted to write, but integrated in a way that blends seamlessly into the reading experience. He would’ve thought it was a bit weird and strange that his brain dreamt about his past critic—whom he’d considered a small celebrity in the PIDW forums back then—aka his anti-fan-turned-accomplished-novelist in the writing industry, so he felt embarrassed that his unconscious brain must have thought very highly of the man.

So Airplane omitted any mention of Peerless Cucumber from the final draft of SVSSS (if he mentioned both “Shen Yuan” and “Peerless Cucumber,” then even SY would be like, Hey, wait one moment....). This detail will be included in a later chapter, but did you know the name “Shen Yuan” has come up in other works? Let’s ignore the variations on the Chinese written characters for the name “Shen Yuan.” There was the evil older brother character Shen Yuan from The Rebirth of the Malicious Empress of Military Lineage, a side character named Shen Yuan from a C-drama (I think he was an old minister?), and there’s even an irl visual artist named Shen Yuan. Shen Yuan (Shen Garden) is also a famous romantic garden in Shaoxing, known for the love story between Lu You and Tang Wan.

(Shen Yuan Garden - Trip Advisor Review)

Basically “Shen Yuan” in itself is not a particularly uncommon name in China (imo I would not say it’s super popular either). So when SY saw his name mentioned once or twice in Airplane’s SVSSS—aka rebooted PIDW—during his read-through, he was like, Huh, what a strange coincidence. And then dismissed it as circumstantial and thought nothing of seeing his name come up in a cutsleeve novel as the new protagonist, haha. It’s like a book written by Anne Rice; one of the titles coincidentally has the same name as mine. Now, obviously the book and main character is not based or inspired by me; I just coincidentally share the same name. If I see books which have characters with my same first name, generally I like to read them and sometimes even collect them for my bookshelves. Because there’s something just so fun and interesting about seeing your own name in a fictional piece of work.

There’s also meta joke potential about Airplane dreaming of himself being transmigrated into the cannon fodder Shang Qinghua and seeing the romantic miscommunications between the younger version of himself (his self-insert essentially) and the fictional Mobei jūn character. I can certainly say seeing such dreams would make Airplane question his sexuality and awaken something dormant in him, haha. He’d realize he might not be not as straight as he thought he was, if his brain was capable of dreaming of SY!SQQ being crushed on by LBH, and SQH being crushed on by MBJ and essentially following MBJ around calling him “my king” this and “my king” that. He’ll be sweating bullets when he meets this world’s version of MBJ, because Airplane will definitely remember how the younger Self-Insert version of himself acted toward MBJ in the SVSSS world. (It’s the classic “Just because I dreamed about it happening doesn’t mean it’ll happen here, right? ...Right? Cucumber brother, you’re a fortuneteller! Please check our eight characters for me! I have to know my marriage compatibility with Mobei jūn!”)

In a later chapter, there will be the reveal where Airplane tells Shen Yuan that he “dreamt” of a universe where a younger version of Shen Yuan—having choked on mantou (馒头) (paying homage to the donghua) or just being transmigrated in general after raging at a younger ASTTS’s writing (paying homage to the books)—transmigrated into the Shen Qingqiu we know from SVSSS who married Bing mèi. Because I think it will be hilarious when TUT’s SY finds out about the true source of Airplane’s inspiration, and he’ll naturally freak out over the fact that this is the very same Bing gē from Airplane’s Bing-gē vs Bing-mèi extra and that he’s essentially somehow stumbled on the same path as the alternative younger SY!SQQ “from Airplane’s imagination.” I will leave this open to interpretation if this does show up (it’s just an idea I’m playing with) but I might hint that there might be a higher power at play which allowed Airplane a peek into another universe—which manifested as his dreams.

I very much like this dynamic (we might see this exchange, verbatim, in a future chapter in TUT):

SY/ LBH —> He gave him a disdainful gaze.

Airplane cried inwardly at the oppression and the feeling of being wronged.

Haha, none of this is really Airplane’s fault^ though. It’s a fun parallel and if I’m still motivated when we get to the wedding and consummation chapter, we might see an epilogue where SY and Bing gē from TUT meets SY!SQQ and Bing mèi maybe. Because I think it’ll be funny with the two LBHs getting into a shouting/ fighting match about who has the “superior Shen Yuan” while the two SYs just shake their heads at their silly husbands (and potentially TUT’s SY, as the older party, can impart his fortunetelling wisdom and advice to SY!SQQ).

Personally I can’t wait when we get to those chapters, because I know it’ll be entertaining to write, haha. Personally TUT is a fun project because there’s just so much meta potential that can be incorporated and I have a lot of fun imagining the scenarios.

*Note: like always, keep in mind that these are just my current thoughts. Details are subject to change; things aren’t considered official until they show up in the final draft on AO3. :)

The Novelists’ First Impressions

The first impression SY and Airplane will have of each other will be fun. Because in their perspective, written in my notes it’s essentially like:

(Airplane seeing SY):

His first reaction was shock. Shock because the mere mortal he used to be could not conceive so much charisma being emitted by this guy.

This is definitely a man who had put all of his stats into CHARISMA.

(SY seeing Airplane):

He's suspiciously good looking in ways that normal people are not.

Ah, the Cucumberplane friendship in TUT is going to be so much fun. Not only are these two older souls who transmigrated (both are mid-aged in this universe), they’re both accomplished novelists in their own right in the writing industry. Which means with these two being celestial beings, there’s so many clichés we can playfully poke fun at.

It also makes me laugh because imagine being SY, and seeing a guy (mortal!Airplane) who exudes the same energy as these two imperial princes GIFs:

[rayshippouuchiha]

Can I be honest?

Ao3 actually kept me from harm BECAUSE it hosted darker content that is well tagged.

Let me explain. I started my fanfiction days pretty young and in ff.net no less. I loved reading and I was curious. First thing I learned before going on the internet was from my father (the internet is not for kids, stay sharp, you going into an adult place, act like it). I was very careful but I was still curious.

So, I started small, but because of the ff.net tag mess I did get burned. A few times. Sudden violence, amputations, sex scenes (god i remember the lemon scale bs, as if i understood it in the first place) (this was before the purge). This was because all the well written fics were mostly in the M rating but had no specific tags so I had no idea if the M was for torture, cursing, or god knows what, I couldn't filter out anything.

Some of those things I still remember, they left a mark in a way, but that wasn't the writer's fault because they couldn't tag and I ignored the author note sections because most of the time it was just rambles of the author talking with the characters self-insert style or about their real life problems, how was I supposed to find a warning in that kind of mess? And that's on me.

In that period I kinda got introduced to sex, a thing that wasn't talked about around me in real life. I was already a bit older, so I read it no problem. Then got introduced to kinks and found them interesting.

That's where Ao3 comes in. I found it when looking at fic recs and saw a new internet address instead of ff.net. For me, it was the holy grail. I was still a young curious teen girl but suddenly had access to a whole library of cool shit. I read a lot of mainstream fics and switched between fandoms like a deck of cards. Then, I saw the E rating. I was interested and clicked. Clicked through the adult content warnings like a true kid lying about their age on the internet.

I saw tags galore! Now, for the first time I was, in a way, safe while exploring dark stuff. Because one fic on the same page was tagged underage (the characters were my age at the time) and was E, while a whole other E fic on the same page was graphic torture case fic and worse. And it was all tagged.

So there I went, looking at fic, going hmmm and deciding: oh that's interesting, ew no, oh that's gross, huh i wonder what that is, this sounds good, oh i love this, uhhhhh hmm should I risk it, OH HELL NO.

And that's the thing! I knew what I was reading! I could experiment with kinks and dark things in a completely safe environment of the fantasy world!

Ao3 in a way saved me from talking about these things with others and accidentaly falling into an actual predator's hands (think student/teacher dynamic, grooming), because my curiosity wasn't going away, I still would have looked sooner or later, and if it wasn't for the no-interaction interface of Ao3 (a story can't kidnap or molest you), I could have been hurt.

Like yeah, no shit, I know I'm lucky that my brain didn't get actual trauma from textual depictions of dark stuff I stumbled on in my early days, but what I did get was more valuable than the risk of trauma (also, you can't get trauma from a tag, but you could from the text that has the tag, so the reader is still the one responsible, they were warned what was inside the box and still opened it).

I got boundaries, squicks, hard no's, absolute limits, whatever people call them these days. I now know what I can deal with and what I can't. I know myself better and could now fight against a person trying to bend or break them. I read dark shit so I know what kind of emotions I get from them and in what circumstances (what I like in text pretty much never carries into real life (even the mild things like biting), surprise).

But purity police would look at my Ao3 history and scream their head off about how I'm a deviant roaming free to attack people like a rabid dog, because obviously I must secretly wish to do that in real life!

And then if they met me they would get the confusion of a lifetime! They would have this image of a sexual deviant/old as fuck creeper/freak and then see me, a 21 year old woman, a well adjusted and social individual who has NEVER and will NEVER hurt a fly, eating chips in bed and reading fucked up shit about fictional characters for entertainment.

Because that's the difference. It's not the average people reading fucked up shit that are dangerous to the public, it's the people who already were fucked in the head before reading anything. No story on this Earth can force you to commit a crime unless you already wanted to do it and were just looking for an excuse.

Case in point, the Dexter inspired murders ("it wasn't me it was the book, I am innocent, it was the evil book, as such I am not to blame, blame the author!") and the NUMEROUS video game related murders (oh no it's not the parent's fault they bought their unstable child a 18+ rated game, it's the game's/creator's fault!"

Fiction and Reality coexist and influence each other in various ways (propaganda, misinformation, stereotypes, false data), but not like this.

And do you guys know why? Because we have an instinctive moral compass, we know right from wrong, and anyone fooling themselves thinking "I would have never done that if this [media] didn't tell/force me to do it" are in fact lying. Again, they would have done it eventually or even wanted to do it already, they just found a viable excuse now, all free to use as a "get out of jail free" card.

Sorry for the long ask and for my English (non-native speaker), you can ignore this, I won't mind. Just got a bit ticked off at people blaming writers for shit they didn't do. So here is my perspective from a long time reader's point of view.

If all these works didn't make me into a monster after all this time reading, then maybe, just maybe, it's not the works' fault.

You bring up absolutely wonderful and important points darling. Thank you for sharing.

And your English is fantastic so don’t worry about it.

[chemicalpink]

Hi! There are so many readings on JK’s future spouse lately. They are popping up all over tumblr, youtube etc What could be the reason? I feel like maybe she recently went through a spiritual awakening. Also, the mala - maybe JK is going through his own spiritual journey too?

Oooohhh I could go on and on on the topic.

As much as I have been on the spiritual side for most of my life, I really do believe, as a sociologist, that there are some places where they intersect so yeah. If you feel up to an essay to get the details on this fated connection and how it plays out (in my perspective) have a read:

I think that JK’s soulmate (two flame, fated, whatever type) is indeed on their own spiritual journey (I wouldn’t call it awakening bc it seems to me they are quite an energetic force spiritual-wise) but I think that the whole fuss and the fact that there is a possibility that they meet in a short time has nothing to do with it.

From what I have experienced as an ARMY, Jungkook seems to be one of the most sought out members, which has its own energy shifts as it is, now, ever since many people have said that in his spiritual journey he will encounter a past-life partner oh man it caused too many energy shifts not just within his own journey but the connection.

Most of us are okay with playing our part as fans, but there are many people out there that have birthed some deeply rooted parasocial relationships with him and apart from all the harm that it entails fantasising beyond reason, it causes a type of energy in the universe similar to manifestation, with so many people talking about his life journey and wanting to insert themselves in it, claiming to be his soulmate... it’s changing the narrative, the universe’s perspective on the fated connection, but that’s just how these things work.

If they really share a fated connection, and they both come to terms with their own spiritual journeys, things will work out in the end. Or Jungkook might end with someone else that has inserted themselves in the connection. Either way, it’s their soul and not their bodies reaching out to each other, so whether they meet during this lifetime or the next one, makes no difference whatsoever.

Now, I think so too. I strongly believe (and I’ve said it before, I have experienced) that Jungkook has become one hell of a spiritual human being, from some months ago to now his energy has shifted a ton, I think that someone is guiding him and his energy is much more guarded now (I think he knows the power he holds and that might be the reason he hadn’t interacted with army as much until recently bc his energy is safer now) and I just find it so funny that none of the other people that claim to know the tea on him and his soulmate really talk about how hard it has become to hear from his higher self, and I’m talking from a personal experience here, now pulling cards from him has become so freaking hard (comparatively with the other members), any other type of divination has become constant “maybes” or “ask again” (and I mean, not to toot my own horn but I’ve been a medium/intuitive reader for 15 years now so I’d say I’ve got down the experience).

In conclusion, there’s a fuss all over the internet that in my opinion, is more for clout and a need to fulfill parasocial relationships than for what it is meant to be: for funsies which ultimately has caused energy shifts to a point where it is really hard to tell a thing as truth about the connection.

Anywho, Jeon Jungkook always makes sure to throw in a card (or three) about how much he’s longing for his soulmate in my readings and then leaves me to fend for myself with a terrible headache for trying hard to reach out for the crumbs.

Also, I know that I, myself, am a “BTS tarot reader” HOWEVER I’d have to say that I have a very VERY STRONG moral/ethical compass, I obviously don’t post here everything that comes out on the readings, I have put out some strong limits on how much info gets out from me bc I am already getting in quite some trouble as it is, I’m spilling things from personal journeys that do not belong to me and I do not have explicit consent to get the info out. So I keep it plain and simple, lightly spicy for the fun of it.

[hiriajuu-suffering]

Anime Hot Take: Goblin Slayer is more offensive than Redo of Healer

I totally understand why the anime community is collectively freaking about Redo of Healer not getting cancelled by normies like Shield Hero, Ishuzoku Reviewers, and Uzaki-chan. A lot of anime content creators are saying because anime [social] cancellation is based on clout chasing and it’s because Redo of Healer is a bad anime, and I disagree completely because Uzaki-chan is also a bad anime. As excessively raunchy Redo of Healer is, its offensiveness has more narrative backing than Goblin Slayer does for its world-building.

Elephant in the room: depictions of rape are poor artistic choices when the physical act is shown instead of heavily implied for the narrative. Both Goblin Slayer and Redo of Healer depict rape onscreen to get more attention for being edgy and raunchy, needlessly. People finding Shield Hero more offensive for involving a false rape allegation are missing the forest for the trees and there is no rape in Ishuzoku Reviewers. Goblin Slayer uses its rape scenes to objectify people we’re supposed to see from the perspective of, very clearly. Meaning, Goblin Slayer is asking for a self-objectification in order for you to be invested in the main casts’ goals. The effect of this is Goblin Slayer is really only showing these gratuitous rape scene(s) for shock value. Goblin Slayer is a Fantasy, not specifically an Isekai Revenge Fantasy like Redo of Healer is. Redo of Healer uses its rape scenes to subjectify people we’re supposed to see from the perspective of, making it fundamentally different and more aligned with Game of Thrones depictions of rape than Redo of Healer. In episode 1 of Redo of Healer, the main character is subjectified, not objectified. In episode 1 of Goblin Slayer, the rape scene objectifies the woman. The only other conclusion hyperfeminism could have to this incongruity is media that portrays sexual violence is more acceptable when male sexual violence is on the forefront, which is fucked. In episode 2 of Redo of Healer, the first antagonist is a female and the rape scene itself is sick and cruel, but not gratuitous in the way Goblin Slayer handles its rape scenes. Again, the character is subjectified and not objectified, which makes a lot of difference if media makes the morally abhorrent but logical choice to depict rape for views because it works. Redo of Healer already starts on better footing than Goblin Slayer because a central theme in Goblin Slayer is the objectification of life and experience while Redo of Healer works in that same theme with the subjectification of people’s lives and experiences.

Redo of Healer is ultimately a power fantasy like most other Isekai are, Goblin Slayer is intended to make you feel powerless. There is some subtlety in the way the author puts forward the narrative of “power makes people bad” in Redo of Healer, while the narrative choices in Goblin Slayer directly portray the message of “no matter how much power you have, you cannot affect the world”. Both are a criticism of power fantasy, but Redo of Healer is actually within its genre doing so, not looking from the outside-in and acting above the genre itself when it has taken over the anime industry. The plot structure in Goblin Slayer reads as if it’s better than the Isekai trend, making itself pretentious and thereby worse than the trend because it’s just mocking something popular because it’s popular. Redo of Healer actually looks into why this popularity exists and if it’s legitimately warranted or just feeding the vanity of its readers. In the first two episodes, the narrative has all this suffering going on written in a way so the reader actively disconnects from the normally self-insert protagonist in an Isekai. Goblin Slayer literally does the opposite with Priestess. The self-insert scenes in Redo of Healer are actually the opposite because they structure themselves in that way but do the opposite, you don’t want to be in any of those situations. When you weigh moral wrongs and aren’t afraid of playing the oppression Olympics for the sake of philosophical conjecture, Keyaru is enacting retribution in a manner reciprocally efficient or less compared to what he endured. You can see that via his intended final act of retribution of Flare being to make her his consensual sex object rather than everyone’s nonconsensual sex object as he originally was. The finger-breaking was his exchange for the deception, involuntary servitude, and general lack of empathy; regrettably, the sexual assault with bodily harmful object was for the forced drug addiction via symbolism analysis. He ends up healing all this anyway and not being overwhelmed by it, meaning everything he did was a small fraction of what had been done to him. It’s still revenge, but it’s nothing nearly as crazy as what was done to him and actually didn’t drag out as much as people say compared to goblin rape scenes in Goblin Slayer (some of them which didn’t need to exist narratively and were only there because author is insulting your intelligence, assuming you forgot it’s a thing because it assumes you’re an Isekai reader). Fair warning about Blade and Bullet though is they represent very real tropes on the social spectrum, Blade representing hyperfeminist ideologies to the point of outright misandry and Bullet representing men who degrade themselves just for being men, so a lot more people will have something to be butthurt about when that narrative realization comes to pass. Part of the way Redo of Healer compartmentalizes its characters into said tropes speaks to a larger picture of what the show intends to do, criticize the Isekai genre and its tropes instead of just mocking them like Goblin Slayer does.

The narrative structure of Redo of Healer reads like a hate letter to Isekai power fantasy writing, the narrative structure of Goblin Slayer reads like a roast to Isekai power fantasy writing. Hate letters are generally more honest and genuine than roasts, which sacrifice truth for the sake of being comedic. Goblin Slayer itself wasn’t even that funny though, it had moments but its humor was so self-contained, it only existed if you already were self-involved enough in the tropes, in which you were the one being roasted. Effectively, Goblin Slayer seeks to roast you with no audience, making the roast itself kind of pointless and belittling. Redo of Healer though criticizes Isekai writing on two fronts: the morality of the world (which Shield Hero already did pretty masterfully) and the reasonable scope of a self-insert protagonist. Living in a morally dark Isekai world that’s full of hell and suffering is something Rising of the Shield Hero did so well, it would be difficult to see it done better, but Redo of Healer follows the exact narrative thread Shield Hero does only in a far more sinister way. The difference is Redo of Healer takes the grinding element from Cautious Hero and totally removes the opportunity for it to be had and the end result is said self-insert Isekai protagonist being abused in the party instead of valued, it actually makes sense on a power scaling level if you place it in a world where the characterization of all humanity is made out to be shitty from the start (slave trading demi-humans, raping other people for mana, rulers with no actual empathy or morality, etc.). Redo of Healer’s setting emulates humanity from Chapter Black in Yu Yu Hakusho. In simpler terms, if any of these dudes popularizing Isekai self-inserts into Keyaru, they’re not overpowered for no reason like in other Isekais, they’re overpowered because they were already humbled to the extent where nothing could ever feel like redemption. Most of these people self-inserting probably aren’t as great as they think they are, but especially on the moral scale. Keyaru represents a broken version of that self-insert: a human that is fallible, can feel real negative emotions and act abhorrently on them, and isn’t overly resilient for plot convenience’s sake. Keyaru’s immensely busted skill comes at a heavy toll, meaning it was balanced but he broke it (like Maple did in Bofuri) because he was driven to madness. If you break the “overpowered for no reason” trope in both harem and Isekai, you ARE a criticism of both. Are there good anime that use this trope well? Slime is an example. But Kadokawa specifically has been tending to favor titles that are criticisms of Isekai rather than straight-up Isekais themselves, making this something they were willing to push to the forefront even though it borrows a little too much from hentai plots. If anything, Redo of Healer shows how frustrated the industry, from writer to publisher, has been with the Japanese otaku community when poorly written, power fantasy, self-insert shows like Sword Art Online become the face of otaku culture and starts a predatory profit-seeking trend of everything has to be Isekai for it to make money. Redo of Healer reaches for a larger criticism of why anime storytelling has gotten less substantive in the past decade and plunges its hands into the depths of the filth and degeneracy that’s being promoted. It’s a meta-criticism to make what you’re putting out there so horrific it becomes nearly impossible to connect with.

Do I like Redo of Healer? No, absolutely not. Do I think it sends a loud and clear message to viewers who know how to analyze a piece of fiction with good depth and nuance? Yes. Goblin Slayer does not do that, Goblin Slayer itself is just an amusement park ride you’re supposed to enjoy, but they jolt you with shock value to get you invested, making its plot threads and themes gimmicky at best. Redo of Healer actually does what Goblin Slayer was going for in shock value and makes you so numb to it you actually realize how devolved Isekai storytelling is, adding its attention grabbing mechanism as short hentai clips like Ishuzoku Reviewers did. As for why Shield Hero was mentioned so much, it’s because the characterization of Blade specifically goes after those who were trying to get Shield Hero cancelled for its narrative thread. Blade is the worst representation of that, worship and veneration of femininity in a patriarchal context which ultimately results in the worship of power and existing power structures which promote said power to the point where queerness (in love of femininity) somehow excuses deplorability since postmodern queerness never actively promotes masculinity as something that can function as socially just. Flare, Blade, and Bullet all show more toxic masculinity individually in the first 3 chapters/episodes than Keyaru, and that was a deliberate writing choice. The reason why Redo of Healer isn’t actively being socially cancelled is because its biggest statement is “people are shit” and that’s an okay statement for normies.

Normies are coming after Nagatoro because it normalizes and almost makes light of real bullying. I think us weeaboos need to understand that bullying is a higher impact problem than rape being depicted in media if we’re fighting on the hill of “violent video games don’t encourage violence”. I find Nagatoro more difficult to understand the narrative intent of than Redo of Healer, the fact the weeaboo community is disconnected from that means we’re only looking at things on the surface level and are too within ourselves to know what real world problems actually have ripple effects on human behavior. The reason why we accept Nagatoro is because we know the two main characters eventually become involved and Hachioji could handle it to the point he consented to it. In pretty much all scenarios you have a mean girl bullying someone, regardless of gender, that’s not what happens: the person is left scarred, changed, and with significant platonic trust issues into adulthood. Rape is an issue that’s handled with so little care because of patriarchy and power struggles, people are generally far more numb to it than seeing actual mental and verbal abuse just being glossed over because “he’s a guy, he’s less of one if he can’t handle it”. Anime generally is going the way of Scum’s Wish where there’s more morally abhorrent characterizations of humanity than morally neutral ones, and all of these anime that stir controversy is a reflection of said fact. Having said that, Redo of Healer is willing to go way farther down into the abyss instead of just looking at it from the edge of the hole like Goblin Slayer does, then seeing scenes for shock value when you use telescope to look. For the reason Goblin Slayer thinks it’s above an Isekai while commodifying abhorrence to draw attention, I actually find Redo of Healer to be less offensive.

[boltwrites]

hey, i want to pay you a compliment but i don’t want to be weird about it - a guide to interacting with a smut writer

so, recently i got a pretty inappropriate ask and figured this would be something beneficial to share with you all, especially if you’re new to interacting with smut writers or don’t know where the line in. i know it can be kind of intimidating and confusing interacting with smut content when you’re new to it or you’ve never spoken to a writer directly, so i hope this guide can offer you a little bit of perspective.

also, a disclaimer - this is based off of what i consider appropriate. if you’re ever worried, just straight up ask a smut writer about what kind of compliments they like, and what would be considered going too far

what compliments related to their work are ok?

so, for me, i highly prefer literature-related comments, however, general enjoyment comments are good as well! here are some examples of each type:

general enjoyment compliments are your safest bet for any fic. they’re a little basic, but authors will still love to see them in tags, asks, and reviews. they’re a fic writer’s bread and butter, and i’d even go so far to say that almost every smut fic writer would find these appropriate. here are some examples:

i loved this fic so much! you’re an amazing writing and i’m looking forward to reading more of your work

EXCUSE ME WHO GAVE YOU THE RIGHT - this was amazing! one of my fav fics of all time, you have so much talent

THANK YOU FOR THE FOOD (insert praying emoji here)

IJBGRJGOTER OP YOU ARE GOING TO K I L L M E

one of these days i am going to pass out from how good your writing is i SWEAR

you can be funny with these, but the general point is just to compliment the writer, tell them that you enjoy their work and that you value the effort they put into the piece. you can find these kinds of compliments on any sort of fic, i just feel like the last couple of really frantic keysmashing ones are far more common on smut fics!

now, on to literary compliments. this section can be a little trickier, since you’re specifically discussing the smutty content of the story, but here are some general themes to keep in mind: characterization, character relationship, plot/setup, author voice, and realism. since you’re complimenting a writer, leaning into literary elements can do you some good in keeping you grounded in the art of their work rather than stepping over the line into inappropriate comments. some examples:

you write him so well! i definitely think he would be a hard dom, and you captured that perfectly! the dialogue... just *chef’s kiss* (characterization)

dude, the relationship between her and y/n is ADORABLE. like yeah, the smut was awesome, as always, but i love how you captured how soft she would be in a relationship, and y/n is so gentle in return... it was just so sweet, i loved it! (relationships)

i don’t know how you do it but you write the BEST setups. i feel like you can write any character in any kink setup and i would just go “yeah, that makes total sense” even if it’s completely implausible. it’s just that good! respect. (setups/plot)

the way you write is so amazing. i love the way you describe everything, it’s so poetic and beautiful. i definitely think it suits the characters, and i love the idea of a sex scene like that being so intimate and beautiful (author voice)

i love that you don’t take everything so seriously! that you write little jokes even in your sex scenes - i hate reading scenes that are super stiff and overly dramatic, and you capture something so fun and sweet when you write, it’s awesome! (author voice)

ok, can i just say i LOVE how realistic your scenes are? like, i love how you include things like foreplay and aftercare and emphasize the playfulness and even the mistakes that can happen when you’re trying something with a partner for the first time. (realism)

i, personally, love literature related comments. i write smut as a form of literature, and even if it isn’t “high art” i do like it when people appreciate the time i take to work on characterization and similar elements

basically, treat a smut fic like any other fic when it comes to writing a compliment. smut can be literary too!

what compliments aren’t ok?

alright, so this is the important section. mostly this relates to personal experiences that are serious and unrelated to the work itself. basically, you’re treating me, the smut writer, like your friend that you share your sexual experiences with. if it doesn’t relate to the character, the fic, or my writing skill, it’s probably not appropriate. some examples

telling me sex acts you did while you read the fic. this is basically the classic “i jacked off to this, it’s sooooo good” comment. some people can jack off to a particularly curvy piece of driftwood - this isn’t a compliment, this is a violation of writer/reader trust. i don’t want to know about your personal sex life

personal sex stories. don’t tell me about how one time you were fucking your bf and it was like this fic i wrote - i don’t care, i don’t want to hear about how you had sex with your bf.

basically any real life, direct connections to you and your sex life that aren’t jokes (i’ll explain this in the next section)

also, a big section of compliments that are always a hard no - shit that relates back to MY sexual expertise. such as “wow you write this so well, you’re probably good in bed” or “wow you’re a freak huh? lmao” don’t fucking perceive me

what personal comments are ok?

so, this section deals with what asks you can send me that aren’t compliments - aka what messages relating to headcanons, your personal life, etc, that you can share with me that may or may not be smut related. this is specific to ME, as in, check in with other smut writers for these things

sharing jokes surrounding your personal life that may be slightly sexual. for example, at one point, i wrote a set of dick headcanons and an anon commented (in a joking way) that i described their bf’s dick perfectly. while this is a sexual comment, the anon didn’t tell me anything about their sex life or sex acts they committed - they just made a joking sexual comment that connected back to their daily life. for me, personally, if it is slightly sexual, but does not involve any actual sex/masturbation acts, it’s fine to joke about with me

in addition to the above, sending in comments like “thanks, bolt, now i have a praise kink” or similar, after i write something about it. they’re joking, and they’re fine to send in to my blog

sending me in smutty headcanons. i LOVE when people send me in smutty headcanons about how a character would act in certain scenarios. so PLEASE feel free to send those

questions about kink, kink culture, or even general sex ed questions. if it’s educational in nature, i would be more than happy to help, but a reminder that i am just a random stranger on the internet. you should probably just ask me what sex pollen is, and not how to fix your sex life lmao

telling me what you would do to a character is fine. like “omg i wanna peg Bolin so bad can you imagine the noises he would make?” is perfectly fine, to me. we’re all thirsting after these characters, and it’s a major subject of the blog, so i don’t mind these asks, especially since sometimes they lead to me writing out some headcanons or fleshing out a certain part of a character

what personal comments aren’t ok?

i covered this mostly in previous sections, but - 

discussions of your personal sex life, as in, sex acts you have committed or partaken in, joking or serious. while i am ok with jokes that are vaguely sexual or hold sexual connotations, please don’t reveal details or your personal sex or self-love life to me, even in joke form

anything pertaining to me and my sex life. there’s no need for you to know, and if i wanted to tell you, i would

starting an argument with a smut writer over what they will or will not write. everyone has different limits and boundaries, and some of these choices are shaped by very personal experiences that someone might not want to share, or things they cannot control - such as dysphoria, trauma, or mental illness. if someone’s limits or lack thereof are offensive to you, it is best that you simply block and move on instead of trying to incite an argument. 

this isn’t kink related, but most unrelated comments regarding your day/what you did. while it’s nice that you went out and got an iced coffee, i’m a lok writing blog. unless you relate it back to a headcanon you’re sharing with me, or a request you want me to complete, please don’t just tell me about your day (unless we are friends and talking on discord, lol)

[aqvarius]

lol i gotta ask, why do you hate the romance md mc? i haven’t played the game (i hate love choice) she popped up in ayumu pov and err she seemed a litte eccentric ? lol ppl seem to love her from what ive seen so i would a different perspective on her character.

haha okay so i touched on this a bit in my reviews of takado and hosho but let me try to summarise:

basically, i love mcs i can relate to but also find inspiring? like i like mcs who i can see parts of myself in, enough that i look at them and think “if i try really hard to be a good person, i can be like them”. that’s why even with the masukisu mc, i like her well enough, but i like her the most when she fails and makes mistakes bc perfect characters are so boring. 

anyway with otoge, i know a lot of people are like waaa mcs are too emotional and weak and insecure about everything but (and maybe it’s just because i’m Peak Insecure) i love that? i like it when they’re emotionally vulnerable and feel things and get hurt cause it helps me (1) be able to relate based on my own relationship/love/hurt/failure at work experience and (2) feel more invested in their character and relationship and development bc it’s clear through their emotional responses that they’re falling in love (or overcoming a problem in their relationship or at work/school/etc.). and if you’re like me and read with a semi self-insert intention, then it’s easier for me to fall in love with not just the LI/MC as a couple but also the actual thought of being in mutual love with the love interest. 

so for me the problem with the rmd mc is that she is all surface sass with no emotional substance. i found it very incongruous that she’s supposed to be all meta and love this one (v generic) otome game character but have no interest in real men, because ALL OF RMD’S CHARACTERS ARE VERY CLEARLY OTOME GAME CHARACTER ARCHETYPES. her dialogue with them often reads as like they put 100 points in “snark” and 0 points in any other personality trait. she’s really full of herself (she’s literally in a university/training hospital and somehow thinks she knows better than these elite specialists just bc she’s read a lot of journals??). she’s eccentric in a way that i don’t find particularly cute bc it comes off more as arrogant than passionate to me (maybe bc the writing style for her dialogue is so clinical?)

with someone like hlitf mc, she is righteous to a fault and often will try to like butt in where she’s not needed and be like “noooo i can’t compromise my MoRaLs” but she also has respect for her instructors and is humble enough to know that she does need to listen to their advice, and we often see her fail when she just does it her way without taking their expertise into consideration. because of this, we get to see her self-doubt from the beginning develop into confidence and applicable skill as a working detective. we also get to see snippets where she has to compromise on those morals and overcome adversity to do her job. so we actually get to see her realise her own flaws and learn and grow from them.

however, with rmd mc, we basically never see her have to face any adversity and thus we don’t get to see her develop. she hardly has any inner weaknesses to develop or overcome because she has no personality substance beneath that sassy and nerdy exterior. that’s why she’s only ever interesting when she has the entire crew of doctors in that room off which to bounce dialogue but is so bland when it comes to actual relationship development. her inner monologue as she’s supposed to be falling in love is so insincere because she is written in a way that is very... unemotional? so she goes from “i don’t care about men i only care about READING” to like “what????? i love him????/”  and like if your own first person perspective character doesn’t know or believe she’s in love, then how am i as a reader supposed to suddenly believe it. that’s why i find rmd quite disappointing overall because the LIs actually have good backstories and it would be rewarding to see them gradually open up and fall in love but unfortunately that story is wasted on someone who in my opinion doesn’t allow us to see the full emotional potential of that development. 

for example, there are elements of hosho’s route and rei kamiki’s route (from irresistible mistakes) that i find very comparable, in that hosho and dr mc end up cuddling to sleep a lot and rei and the im mc end up basically sharing a bed to sleep together as well iirc? in both cases, we are confronted with having to deal with growing one-sided feelings in a relationship where there is physical closeness but it’s only platonic. and yet somehow, even tho hosho’s back story is way more traumatic than rei’s, the emotional ride of falling in love, having that conflict and then ending up together is so much more convincing and rewarding in rei’s route because of his mc (i.e. the perspective that we read in the MS). 

also tbh i think i just like softness? i think it’s really clear by my posts that my favourite moments are when LIs who are normally more stoic/mean are all soft and gooey for the person they love. but rmd mc has no softness under her prickliness lmao. anyway i said i would summarise but i ended up ranting again so my apologies if you like this mc but i personally think the only time she reads as interesting is if you literally only see like 5 slide screenshot posts on tumblr bc you can enjoy her being sassy without having to suffer through her lack of emotional substance 

EDIT: i do wanna disclaim that in some more recent hlitf stories/chapters (although can’t remember which ones gave me this impression off the top of my head), i have seen dialogue that sometimes gives me rmd mc vibes. i’m not sure if it’s the same translator/translation team or this is just a trend that voltage is heading towards, but i do remember getting that feeling a couple times and then getting a bit anxious lmao that one of my favourite genuine mcs might be getting corrupted. i haven’t yet been able to pinpoint what exactly it is, but i think it’s that the tone can sometimes come across as blasé or is expressed in a more meme-y turn of phrase where i feel it should be more genuine/sincere? but either way, the writing in hlitf is amazing and we’ve already been given so much wonderful development so i’m not overly worried 

EDIT 2: i also wanna add that i know a lot of people like her nerdiness and sassiness i respect that but let’s not pretend that she’s the first nerdy or sassy voltage mc ever lol. hlitf mc forces ayumu to watch freaking era of samurai code of love and nerds out over old school detective dramas (amongst many other things... mizuki fujisaki.....). im mc is a workaholic and a cat lady who could literally talk for 5 hours about tachibana’s ads. bmp mc is CONSTANTLY sassing all of them, esp prince keith lol. mlfk mc is such a dork. scm mc knows every single Greek myth about the stars. msb mc is a theatre nerd. eitm mc does not ever let miyabi or kyoga get away with their shit. however, they are all still VERY CUTE MCs.

anyway i could keep going on and on but all i’m saying is that in so many voltage games, the mc is CLEARLY the only one with a braincell out of the entire cohort of men and the fact that she is the only person with common sense (while also having her own hobbies and interests) while all these men around her are ridiculous is a great selling point so personally i don’t think voltage needed to overcompensate the way they did and delete her emotional capacity function. 

[vesperlionheart]

Self Indulgent Fic & Inner voice

So, interesting tidbit of maybe too much information on a Tuesday but I think I tricked my inner voice with writing self indulgent reader-insert fiction. 

Personal musings below the cut

To back up and clarify, I have an inner voice (like many) that just reacts to everything and makes itself into something I must constantly correct or filter in the day to day. It ranges all over, but a lot of the time my inner voice will fixated and focused on the negative gaze of others around me: ‘They’re looking at the wrinkles in your pants,’ ‘You didn’t wear make up today,’ ‘Your hair is too frizzy’ ‘you’re a mess’ ‘you don’t belong with the other adults’ ‘you’re too late’ ‘blah blah blah’ You can get the picture.  Years later it’s gotten so much easier to ignore and deflect. Age, experience, and practicing self care all helped, but the inner voice was always something to fight against. Instead of being in the same room as a predator I’m stuck in a room with a mosquito or gnat that I have to shoo away.   But life isn’t supposed to be perfect so this is fine, no need to complain, just keep going and drown it out-’be the better person-don’t be so selfish and self-centered, you’re the example.’ 

cool...

Anyway, back in June/July I started writing self insert or reader insert fiction and projected a lot of myself onto this unnamed ‘OC’ reader in a second person POV fic. It’s not cringe anymore to be a Mary Sue so why not try it?  Yeah, well, to keep from being TMI my ‘reader’ has some issues but also so much cooler than me and ended up being a vessel for many of my hopes and dreams. I invested in this reader/self-insert a lot and built up an extensive narrative where they received the affection of others (with no shame on my part because hell yeah it’s wish fulfillment hour every hour in this house).  And when I say a lot, I mean it: 334K including cut chapters, 295K without.     

That’s all fine and dandy but what does this have to do with my inner voice you may be wondering. Cool, well, I started hearing it vocalize positive phrases a little while back when I was getting ready for sleep. Just a very simple ‘I love you’ to myself.  It freaked me the fuck out at first. ‘Where is that coming from? What am I thinking??? W-Ha-at? WhY?! UMMmmM?’ I did not know where it was coming from because it was so different from all my other ‘almost asleep’ inner thoughts. It was nice. My gut reaction was to deflect and excuse it away as me being too lonely. But that was harder to do night after night the same voice helped me sleep and showed no signs of changing back to all the mean phrases.  

‘I love you’

And because I’m a soft dumb-dumb I didn’t have a clue as to  w h y  this change occurred or what triggered it until just recently.  The voice sounded like what I was saying to my self-insert through the other characters in my writing. I surrounded my character with a found family, with lovers, with trials they overcame, with so many positive things (that I worked hard to justify in the narrative without compromising my wish fulfillment perspective.) What my voice was echoing in my head at night was what I was saying to my self insert. ‘I love you.’  I basically tricked myself into believing in self love, which is something i’ve always struggled with, and I guess it happened because I was writing wish fulfillment, self indulgent, reader insert fic.

I’m just...huh about it all and decided to word vomit on you guys today.  

[thatyanderecritic]

Hi! So I saw a post of you talking about how blank MCs/inserts in yandere written stories typical have no personality because of the nature of being inserts. What would you suggest could be done if someone wanted to write a second-person POV story that is from a semi reader insert perspective. To give the narrating character an actual personality?

To write an MC: Writing Tips with Kai

Hey there anon. Kai here to answer your question. 

If you want the simple answer, it’s pretty obvious: Just give them a personality, duh. It ain’t rocket science. Even if the MC is meant to be a self-insert or relatable to reader, just give them a personality and not make them blank with generic personality traits. Even if the character is so wildly different from how a person may act, most people do a thing called “roleplay”. In that story, they aren’t the “[Y/N]” from IRL but the “[Y/N]”, the baddass assassin (or something like that). 

Now that’s the simple answer. For those who want a more in depth answer, read below the cut.

As stated before, the best way to write a an MC with a second person POV is to actually give them a personality. The only way you could actually pull off a blank MC is if you’re writing for a game. But games fall under a different set of rules. For now, we’re strictly talking about stories/books/ect. (basically a medium that doesn’t allow for the reader to directly influence). 

Authors shouldn’t be try to achieve in making an MC that everyone can self insert in. It is an impossible endeavor and with blank MCs, you’re going to end up appealing to the lowest denominator. And when you think about it, it sounds like you’re a wishy-washy person if you try to make everyone happy by making such an MC (note: I’m not implying that authors who do blank MCs are wishy-washy, I’m just stating that it could come across in such a manner). You’re simply better off appealing to no one and concentrate on telling a good story. And to make a good story, you need to have solid characters. A blank MC isn’t a solid character. 

Personally, I don’t think an author should worry too much of the audience being able to relate or “be” the MC. It’s really not that big of a deal. A majority of people are capable of doing a thing called “roleplaying”. You know, inserting themselves as the character and pretending to be that character. It’s easier to pretend to be a defined person than an empty puppet. In fact, authors should be more concern in making a good roleplaying experience and not “is this MC vague enough?” You may think having a blank MC helps the roleplaying experience, but it isn’t. Here are the reason why:

Blank MCs are typically stupid and make dumb decisions. If I was the reader, I would be wondering, “Is the author insinuating that I’m a stupid person?” There’s also the fact that people would get upset and go, “I would never do such a thing” hence making a disconnect. 

Blank MCs are overly passive and inactive. Due to the fact that authors want to have the MC be everyone, the author can’t predict what everyone would do in a certain scenario. In the end, the “safest” option would be to do nothing. But then that leads to upset readers since practically everyone would at least do something instead of nothing. 

Blank MCs usually only have two traits: nice and clumsy. That’s it. Those are the only two traits. Obviously this is a bland person and really, not everyone is that clumsy… or that naively nice. Some people can be given the illusion that they are this MC with just these factors, but with the combination of just the two, there can be a disconnect and people go, “What’s wrong with this person?”

As you can see, the main issue with blank MCs are the fact that there’s a disconnect. People aren’t puppets. If you simply give a person a body but give them permission to move it, then are you not making that person an unmoving puppet? You’re basically telling people they’re just a wall or a piece of furniture… not a person… especially a person that they know quite intimately: themselves. Having an MC with an actual personality that people can establish, people will have a better attitude. You might be surprised but people can relate to other who aren’t “themselves”. As long as a person can understand the other, then they can put themselves in the other person’s shoes. Instead of pushing “This MC is literally you” try pushing “This MC is you’re role, Mx. Actor”. Even if the character is so completely different from the reader, readers would just be happy if they can just insert their own name. To summarize the audience’s reaction would be this meme:

But if you’re really insistent for a blank MC, the only place that it could work would be video games or interactive fiction (visual novels, chose your own adventure, ect.). The reason why this option works so well with blank MCs is that the reader actually have a say in what the MC does… basically, the reader is filling in the blanks as they move in the story. At this point, the blank MC is given life. But the probably most of the time with this particular case is that author’s miss the point. 

The biggest control freaks of out of all creators would be authors since most options are usually limited or would punish the player if they don’t act how the author wanted them to act. What’s the point in giving options if you’re just going to tell the reader that they think wrong? For example: a reader would get his negative points if they refuse to do something superficial with a love interest; like going out drinking or if they like muffins or not. Why do they get punished if they don’t like muffins??? Doesn’t make any sense. 

The same go for options. Most of the time… the option sucks. It’s either be the “UwU” soft type, the unnecessarily bitchy one (for some reason), or the quite one who’s only dialogue options are “…”. But I guess that how people view others: either the Virgin Mary, Lilith, or a blow up doll. Fuck me, ay?

Just give more reasonable options and don’t punish players/readers over the smallest superficial details. Let a person like a brownie, god damn it. 

Now that we establish the fact of: “Yes, authors should give an MC a personality even if they’re a self insert”, here’s some tips if you want to have a unique personality for your MC-

Don’t let the MC make stupid choices. Kinda obvious but, using the MC’s stupidity as a plot device is over done. I mentioned this before: There’s other sort of conflicts BESIDES the MC’s stupidity. Like MC vs. nature or MC vs. fate. Sometimes, even if you did your best, life doesn’t always work out perfectly. 

Don’t make the MC an overly emotional mess that cries over the smallest thing. Similar to the stupid choices point, it’s an over done trope. 

Let the MC be sensible and have common sense. If a door is locked, then it obviously needs a key. You don’t need the MC to go through a mental gymnastics to figure this simple shit.

Let your MC be morally grey. People aren’t black and white. Why do authors always try to make the MC an angel? There’s a thing in between you guys.

Let your MC be evil. While I personally would like more morally grey MCs, evil MCs are probably the next rarest type of MC. It’s good to have variety. 

Try to let your MC be more of a T (Thinking) from the MBTI personality types instead of F (Feeling). Personality types that have a T in it are one of the more rarer types of protagonist in stories. They’re normally either the villains or side characters. Rarely the protagonist. It’s a bit more common to expect a T male MC while T female MCs are downright mythical. Probably because it’s womanly to be an F… oops. 

Don’t make your MC be overly naive. Like seriously, why are all these MCs act like they lived under a rock for the past five years. “What is this… strange heartbeat when I’m next to my love interest? Must be a heart attack.” Biiiiitch. Not everyone is so emotionally stunted. And before anyone think that the T type of personality are like this… no, they aren’t. Just because they use their brain doesn’t mean they don’t understand how they feel. If anything, they’ll take these feeling and formulate a plan on how to successfully woo their partner… anyways, point is: Don’t make your MC an emotional virgin.

In yandere stories in particular, let your MC be the yandere’s equal… if possible, their superior. Actually, just give a unique character dynamic instead of “UwU, the yandere is overbearing and stronger than me.”

Anyways, I hope this was helpful to you anon!

Here’s a bonus picture of all the T type personalities that you could use for unique MCs:

(Bonus: I’m an INTJ while Julie is an INTP, in case anyone was wondering)

[bnhascribbles]

hello!! i only recently joined the bnha fandom so i was wondering if you could share how active the bnha fanfic community is on tumblr? i highkey wanna start writing imagines for the characters heh, also do you have any advice you could share? Thank you!! :D

Hey there!  Glad you joined us!  I’d say the tumblr BNHA community is pretty active, but that’s just the perspective I get being primarily a reader-insert writer.  That being said, I think it’s a great place to start!  It’s where I started!

As far as advice, I’d just say write, write, write!  This is rich coming from me, the incurable perfectionist.  But because of that, I know what it’s like to look at something you’ve created and be super self-critical.  The key is to keep going and keep writing.  If you’re stumped for ideas, ask your friends or take requests.  Take breaks if something really isn’t working, and don’t be afraid to scrap something if you don’t think it’s going anywhere—but be sure to keep a “graveyard” document!  Sometimes, looking at things you’ve scrapped can inspire you for something new, or an old blurb can become part of a new story!  Every experience can be something useful in the future, even if it feels like a waste right now!  Oh, and don’t be afraid to go at your own pace!  We are all busy people, and the bottom line is that you’re creating free content for a whole bunch of readers!  You’re not obligated to publish every day or every week or even every month, although, if you’re anything like me, you’ll be daydreaming up ideas at all hours of every day!  It’s fun, and it should stay fun.  If it doesn’t bring you joy at some point, you need to look at what’s going wrong!

More than that, there is one huge thing I’ll advise you against: don’t compare yourself to others.  I get it.  We all wanna be awesome at what we do, and a lot of times, we do that by looking at numbers.  We publish something we’re proud of and we find ourselves looking at the notes or Kudos and comparing it to others.  Even if you’re NOT the sort to do this, you might be reading another person’s work and say “Man, they’re so good.  I won’t ever be able to do that as well as them!”  And that is self-destructive stuff there!  It’s okay to read and pick out specific things you like about another person’s style so long as it’s a positive, learning experience.  But all of this “they have more notes and they’re so good and I’ll never be like that” stuff will never help!  Focus on you.  The things you can improve about yourself!  Remember, we are all just one community here that wants to improve however we can!  

Someone shared an analogy with me recently: when we create, it’s like baking a cake.  We pour our hearts into what we do and bake a cake we’re proud of, but the second we see the cake the person next to us has make, we freak out.  Because it’s bigger, prettier, or just plain better in our eyes.  We may start to hate our own cake or even give up on ever baking again.  But like, the person next to us looks at their cake, then at ours and says “Oh boy, two cakes!”  The reality is, you’re creating.  You’re making something out of nothing and that means your brain-child isn’t something you should rip apart because you’re obsessively comparing it to others.

Can you tell this is something I’m passionate about, hahaha?  Sorry if you wanted more practical “write like this advice,” but these are the big umbrella things that I’ve found it helps to think about the most.  If you want more technical stuff, feel free to DM me or send another ask!  Welcome!

[hankypranky]

More Ambiguous with Two

Gabriel x Winchester Sister 

Reader wakes up in the trunk of car with no memories. The driver is just as shocked and they continue their path of discovery together with a chimpanzee named Sparkles.

Hurt/Comfort, Amnesia Fic, Feels slightly AU

Part I (word count 2200)

Inspired by this video of this girl escaping from zipties using her shoe laces.

Notes: It was meant to be a reader insert, but it got away from me a bit. The character isn’t gender neutral, it is told from the reader’s perspective with female pronouns - very little description of self other than having hair long enough to wash.

For a split second you thought you had been buried alive but you felt the motion around you and the slight smell of carbon dioxide. Then the bass began thumping through the speakers, ridiculing your pounding headache as you realized you were in the trunk of a car. A flare of panic spiked, but your center of mass started shifting. Unable to brace yourself against anything you involuntarily rolled onto your face, hissing in pain.

Your hands were bound behind your back and your feet strapped together. Everything hurt. Trying to think back to how you ended up in this trunk… there was no recollection. Fuck.

Taking in deep breaths, you tried to remain calm but it was growing increasingly frustrating when the music was turned up louder. The lyrics filling your head and you instantly hated it.

Having your hands in front of you was your first priority to getting out of these bindings as quickly as possible. With little room to maneuver, you turned on your side to hunch your back in an attempt slide your legs through your hands to have them in front of you.The more you inched backwards, the deeper the bindings cut into your flesh. … They were zip ties. Taking a deep breath, you opened the palm of your hand to relax the muscles in your wrist and give you a margin of more room to shimmy with.

It helped, but the strain you were putting on your bindings was great as your fingers became slippery with what you assumed was blood. It was a huge relief when your shoulders released and your hands sprung against the back of your knees. However, it was short lived because the driver hit a pothole and you bounced with so much force, you felt your arm break when you landed. Screaming out loud did nothing to mask the pain but you needed to carry on. You still weren’t done yet.

Extending your arms forward, you pulled your knees to your chest and swooped your arms around your legs officially freeing your hands from behind your back.

A bubble of fear, relief and pain swept through you and a sob escaped your lips. Clenching your teeth you took a steadying breath and rolled onto your left side to take the pressure off your broken arm. You lifted your feet to tie your boot laces together. You couldn't finger them, so so you bent down and pulled the string up with your teeth.

This next part had you worried. You needed to use your laces as a saw which was going to hurt like a son of a b*. Your feet were bound, so you couldn't use the pedal motion. You needed to use your hands and shoulders to create enough friction to cut through the zip tie. Trying to keep more pull on your left arm didn’t help much, every pull had you crying out in pain, your body revolting in every motion. Tightening your grip with your broken arm, you gave it all you had to end this sooner…

It snapped. Your adrenaline was pumping now and there was nothing that was going to keep you a victim. Sliding the place between your ankles, you did the same thing with your feet, except this time you weren’t going to use your right arm. Instead, you slipped the lace through the crook of your left elbow, and did a seesaw motion with your right hand. Though it was causing a nasty rash and took much longer, it was worth avoiding your bad arm.

Despite being locked inside of a trunk, you were free. Why are you locked inside of the boot of this car? Who put you here? Your memory was as dark as this damned trunk.

The music pulled you out of your musings. Time to get to the facts.

Finding the soft spot where the tail light should be you began kicking. Forgetting to brace your arm was a mistake, but one rectified quickly. You kicked so hard your foot got suck momentarily. Shifting around you pulled the liner off to reveal the a desolate highway.

Day time, check.

Other things to assess:

Am I hungry? No.

Am I thirsty? No.

Shit. I’m in so much pain, I can’t tell.

Am I dehydrated?

Your tongue slipped out to find very chapped lips. Definitely dehydrated.

Reaching out you touched your face, there were no open wounds, but a lump on your chin. Punched in the face. Must have been a knockout hit. That explains the memory loss. Okay, so maybe I have been out about 5 hours?

Now having most your mobility back, you made the decision to let the driver know you were awake. They wouldn't be expecting you be free and to strike first. You waited until the song stopped playing before kicking and yelling at the top of your lungs. The next song started playing, but the driver turned off the music, so you kicked even harder against the top of the trunk. As the car slowed down, your heart sped up.

Listening to the steps the driver was taking towards the trunk, you secure your broken arm and positioned yourself to to attack.

Tap tap tap.

Was this person seriously knocking on the trunk?

A man’s voice asked, “Hello? Is someone in there?”

Mimicking his tap, tap, tap, you waited for a response that came in the click of the trunk opening.

The light blinded you but you saw enough of a shape to make sure your punch landed on their face. Your knuckles connected and you fought the urge to close your eyes.

He fell to the ground and began scrambling backwards on the pavement, “Who the hell are you?”

He was still a blur, but his shock was evident. You shouted back at him, “Who the hell are you?”

The man raising his hand in a non threatening gesture, his eyes wide with fear. “Look, I’m not going to hurt you. I- I literally rented this car this morning.”

Still unable to focus on anything in particular, you accepted the fact he was as surprised as you were. Slowly nodding your head, you believed him. He slowly stood, intentionally trying to make no sudden movements. “You’re hurt. Let me get you to a hospital.”

“Where are we?”

He stood and dusted his hands off on his green jacket, “In Nevada. Off Route 80. About halfway between Reno and Salt Lake City. What’s your name?”

Pinching the bridge of your nose, you accidentally dropped your broken arm. “Son of a bitch!”

Your arm hung loosely on your side but you could still move your fingers. Grasping your arm, you squeezed your triceps and biceps. You spoke to yourself out loud, “Ok, it’s just dislocated”

Finally able to see the man in front of you, his expression consumed your attention, especially his eyes. They looked gold at first, but had a bit of auburn woven in, for a moment you were mesmerized. “Help me pop it back in.”

“No!” He looked horrified at the thought. “ We gotta’ get you to a doctor.”

You wouldn’t be able to hold out that long, “I can do it myself, but I’d rather have you help me.” Taking in his startled appearance, you asked gently, “Please?”

He huffed out a breath so grand it stirred the bangs on his hairline. “How can I help?”

You walked towards the back of the generic blue sedan and gestured for him to stand near the right side of the car. Settling yourself on the trunk hood you cradled your arm. “I need to relax the muscles first… talk to me. Tell me about yourself. I’m still running on adrenaline.”

You squinted against the sky to see him. Wiping his brow he stared at your in bafflement. “Uh, well my name is Rich and I work in Reno.”

It was difficult to relax, but you closed your eyes knowing the worst of the pain should be over soon, “Oh yeah? Doing what?”

“Gee, what don’t I do. Bartender, host, ticket collector, whatever they need me to do. We’re like a modern circus. We have a variety of performances, some freaks, delicious drinks. I do what needs to be done.” His pacing calms your nerves, he doesn’t have anything to do with your kidnapping. He burst out, “How are you so calm?”

“Did you lock me in the trunk?”

“Hell no!”

“That’s what I figured. I need you to calm down too, okay?” He stopped roaming. “I’m sorry I ruined your day.”

Rich moved in front of you and blocked the sun, it silhouetted around him and it looked like a halo formed above his head. “You’re sorry? What?” He looked down at you and you could see the sincerity and hesitation in his eyes, “ No, no. Look at you. I’m sorry.”

His voiced soothed you in such a way you felt like your worries had been washed away. His voiced bounced from gravelly to high pitched and back in just a few syllables. “Okay, I think I’m ready.” You laid across the trunk. It was hot but not enough to burn you. “Grab hold of my wrist with both your hands, keep my arm level with my body.”

There was a long pause before you felt his firm but gentle grip. Biting your lip, you kept your groan to a minimum. “I need you to move my arm from 90 degrees towards my head while making a handshake motion. Can you do that? Not too fast, not too slow.”

“Yea’.” He gave your wrist a squeeze. “You ready?”

“Yep.” The pain was excruciating, but you felt your joint slide back into place. It hurt, a lot but it was nothing like it was. He moved your arm back so that you could cradle it once again.

“How did you know how to do that? Are you a paramedic or something?”

Unable to even entertain that question, you interrupted him, rubbing your arm, “Hey, I’m gonna’ need a sling or something.”

“Sugar, you need a lot of everything right now. Hold tight.” After a few moments of him scrambling in the backseat, you heard a loud tear. He had ripped one of his undershirts and was approaching with a gallon of water. “Let’s get some of this blood cleaned off before we put this on.” Dowsing his shirt in water, he began to clean your hands. Gently pulling your fingers, wiping away the blood. “Tell me, how did your wrists get to looking’ like this?”

Taking a moment to look at him, his hair shined in the sunlight. It reminded you of a wheat field swaying in the breeze. A few freckled donning his face and thin lips. Though he had a small stature, he made you feel small for some inexplicable reason.

“Freakin’ zip ties. I was hogtied in your trunk with zip ties.” You watched as his eyes widened and waited for you to continue, “I- uh, used the friction from my shoelaces to saw through them.”

Disbelief covered his face, “I thought you said you were hogtied?”

Slightly embarrassed, you felt your cheeks redden, “I was, but I was able to shimmy my arms under my butt to get them in front, but you hit a pothole and that's how I dislocated my shoulder.”

He looked at you, his eyebrows quirked together, “You’re certainly a badass aren't you?”

Your head began to hurt once again. “I guess so… I don’t remember much right now.”

His eyes sharply met yours, “What do you mean, like amnesia?”

Startled by his seriousness, you pulled back, You knew your memory wasn’t right, but the thought of not remembering startled you. Meeting his gaze, you saw the color drain from his face. It perplexed you more. Did he know something?

“It must be the carbon monoxide.” Running your fingers over the lump you had found on your chin, you raised your hand to feel your skull. Your fingers stopped when they discovered another bump and caked on blood in your hair. “I must have a concussion too.”

“Well, we’ll get you to a hospital.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“What do you think they are going to do? I have no ID, no possessions. I’m on my own. They are just gonna call the police.”

“That’s kinda the point Toots. They can help.”

“Yeah, sure, but then what? I’m still on my own no matter what.. From what I can gather, I’ve only been out about 6 hours, not enough time for a missing persons report.  If someone was trying to get rid of me, I don’t want an APB out I’ll have more luck with contacting the car rental place.”

Rich’s hand was on his hip, he snarked back, “Oh yeah? What are you gonna’ say, ‘Helloooo, I woke up bound in one of your trunks, do you recognize me?’”

“Look, you packed light. You plan on going back to Reno shortly, let me tag along and we can talk to the rental place. IF they don’t have any information, I’ll go to the police. Deal?”

His arm flung out with his pointer finger extended, “A. That’s creepy you have been able to deduct all of that in the last ten minutes. B. Do you know how frustrating you are?”

“No.”

“Right, right… amnesia.” He sighed and opened the passenger door for you and awkwardly helped you put your seat belt on.

-- -- -- 

If you want to be tagged, just let me know! Currently, it’s at about 17,000 words.  I will most likely continue to post chapters here as I finish the last couple of chapters. You can find my A03 here.

[darkspellmaster]

Okay...Some thoughts...

This is probably one of the things that pisses me off a lot, and I consider my petpeeve, so go into this with this warning. I am not going to be nice about this. You’ve been warned. 

So I read this lovely post here about constructive criticism, and who boy...have I got some thoughts on this. 

Here’s the thing, we as viewers of any medium are constantly giving unsolicited criticism every freaking day across social media, over the phone, and in person to other people. We do so without consent of the authors, film makers, and artists, every...day. Period. So this idea that you can only give consented critques is a load because the fact is that we’re doing it every damn day on this website, without the okay of the creators of the series that we watch, play, or read. 

Look how many people put up reviews on tv shows or books, or movies  or games that they watch and play. How many of them have written to the authors or creators of these works and asked for their okay in writing a review on their work on tumblr? Authors don’t go about asking for random fans to say what they like or don’t like about their works, yet they don’t go about complaining when people posts their thoughts. Or if they do complain you get backlash as they are not being “Professional” enough. 

So what makes it okay to do it to a published author but not okay to a amateur author? The only difference is that the published author is being paid and the amateur is not, but that author spent hours, days, weeks, months and possibly years, perfecting a work that, honestly as a writer I can tell you, may not be up to their standard, but there’s a deadline there. 

Amateur writers have the luxury of not having to complete their work, of not having a set deadline. So they can go back and correct and update and do whatever they want to their work. Once a book is published, unless the author get’s to do an updated version of the book, that’s it...it’s done. So getting feedback early and by as many people as possible for writers is actually a good thing because once it’s out, it’s out. 

This is what keeps bugging me about this idea that you should just let people write whatever and not comment on the work in a critical way. The fact is, once you have placed your work in the public eye, it’s no longer just your work. Just as authors have to contend with seeing their works adapted to the screen and in some cases cause them to be wrecked, and see people daily write fanfiction to “Fix” their mistakes, so to should fanfiction writers have to come to grips with the idea that someone may not like their work and want to “Fix” it, or at least help them in correcting their mistakes in how they have presented characters. 

I keep hearing this same story of “But I have Beta readers”, great and fine, but the fact is that the Beta readers, unless they are people that are not your friends, are going to be soft on you. Yes I’m being honest here, you will be given the softer comments unless the person is being directly honest with your work. Having voices outside of your beta readers is an eye opening experience because it forces you to look at your writing from a different perspective and pushes you to make changes that you may not have seen before because, in a lot of cases with Fanfiction, the person beta reading is a friend who likes what you like and will say “But it’s good.” 

The idea that someone shouldn’t give constructive criticism over fanfiction and that because you like the story the way it is, doesn’t preclude you from facing the fact that as a story writer, especially as a lot of fanfiction authors tend to want to eventually get into the writing field, need to grow and change and face the idea of having their work being evaluated critically. 

I read, “Well unless I give you consent to be critical of my work.” Exactly what do you think you’re doing when you post that work out there? You want reviews, what do you think reviews are? Review are, as defined by the Dictionary, “ a formal assessment or examination of something with the possibility or intention of instituting change if necessary.” It’s the appraisal of the work, and, in serialized fiction, as that’s what Fanfiction is as you are publishing it chapter by chapter rather than as a complete thing, you are therefore going to be apraised by those reading it per chapter. 

What do you think happens in comics? It’s weekly and monthly and the writers get feedback from fans and the Editors based on the reaction from the readers. As a writer you are not only writing for yourself but for your fans and readers as well. You can’t just look at something and go “This is just writing for me” because the moment you share it with someone, it’s no longer just your story, it’s their story too because they react to what you write. And the idea that you need to have consent to be critical of a work that’s ever evolving...well why not bring that to the whole of entertainment. Should we be asking for TV shows for consent when we say we like or don’t like their works? Seriously this is what you’re asking for when you’re saying that you need to have consent to critique something. 

Speaking of consent...

Fanfiction itself is a special thing, given that, it’s technically writers using pre-existing work from an author and, in essence, taking a copyrighted thing and creating their own work with it, without the consent from the original author. Take Anne (Ann) Rice for instant. She doesn’t like fanfiction because to her that’s people changing her characters that she’s invested over 15 books into creating. They are her creations and by saying “Don’t criticize my fanfiction” your being kind of hypocritical if you’re in turn changing up an author’s character because you feel that they should be shown a different way. 

As writers  you need to have critiques. Saying “Well I don’t want your opinion” on something is daft honestly. Because that’s all reviews are, just an opinion that you can ignore. You don’t have to take the review, you don’t even need to turn them on if you don’t want. The thing is, all stories are going to be reviewed. You need to learn to deal with them.

The problem is that a lot of people giving notes to people are not professional editors or have never been trained in it. So they’re going to come off as mean and harsh in some cases, and this in itself is an issue. People need to learn to be less harsh on how they go about commenting, but at the same time writers need to learn to accept that there are times when their writing does suck and they need more than one or two sets of eyes upon it. 

You can write a story for fun all you want, but for readers if it’s hard to read the story, if the characters are way out of character, how are we supposed to engage with you then? How are we to, as people have said, “analyzes and talk to you about your story” if we can’t critique aspects of it that don’t sit right. 

As a writer myself and someone who has original stories that I’m working on, any comment, even the bad ones, at least give me an idea of what people are seeing when they read my work. Some are dumb like “You suck,” and “I was expecting more of X character when it said it was going to be in there.” And yeah, they stung, sure, but the thing is, it made me go “Okay so I need to include more of this because of who is reading my work and what they are expecting of me. 

You can’t live in a bubble as a writer, this is a myth that needs to be burst. Even back in the day, readers had a lot of influence on writers. Conan Doyle was originally planning on killing off Holmes but because of the backlash he got to come back. Agatha Cristie didn’t like her little Belgium Detective, but she kept writing him and even self inserted herself in there to annoy him, because fans loved him.  Authors are entertainers to their readers, they are the customers whom the storyteller is trying to entertain. If you’re going to complain about the readers thoughts then you’re better off just sharing your work among friends that you like. 

Honestly, it sounds like a lot of people would prefer it if someone went and did a fix it fic to their fanfiction over dealing with someone giving them something to consider for their next work. You know what, maybe that’s a solution. I propose that from now on, if someone doesn’t like a fanfic, since it’s not copyrighted, as it’s using already copyrighted characters, we should be allowed to fix fic your fanfics to do what we want them to do. Would that be better and easier for people to deal with? 

[freshlyjuicedbeetles]

Kandomere x Reader - Notice Me

lucacangettathisass replied to your post “Got any requests?”

Could I please request a kandomere x human reader one shot where the reader is completely oblivious to kandomere's feelings even though he flirts with them a lot, subtly and unsubtly, and it is Hell Someone Free Him From This Torture Montehugh Stop Laughing

This is a continuation of all my other Kandomere ‘fics where the character is a jeweler. I use ‘I’ and first-person perspective because I think it flows better as a self-insert.  This story is also known as ‘We Learn the Author Doesn’t Know How to Flirt’

My flagship store had been open and thriving for several months before Kandomere graced us with his presence. It was a Monday, April 21st and sunny out. Funny how your memory works when something important happens. I could hear my ovaries popping in my ears when he walked in, a leather jewelry box in his hand. All my male attracted staff stopped to catch a glimpse. We’d had plenty of attractive people come in before, being in the heart of Elftown and the best jeweler in the city (Seriously, there was a poll), but his aura enhanced it. He was mysterious and powerful.

I had a feeling about him, that he was important; that he is in general and would be to me. Love at first sight, maybe? The instant he stepped in, his moonlight eyes were on me. Was the feeling mutual?

“Hi!” I greeted him, “Is there anything I can help you with?” I was thanking every deity listening that I didn’t stumble on my words.

Kandomere walked up the counter, “Yes, I would like this to be restored.” He opened the jewelry box and a silver gorget laid inside on a bed of velvet lining. It was scratched and beaten to hell.

I leaned over the cool glass counter to examine it and carefully removed it.

“May I ask what happened?”

“Let’s just say, an occupational hazard. Will you be able to save it?” Kandomere asked, a bit of worry in his voice.

I examined it further, “It’s definitely in bad shape. Scratched, warped. Did someone run over it with a car?”

Kandomere said nothing, but his look said, ‘It’s a long story.’

“These scratches are deep around the engraving, I’d have to completely redo the bottom text, but yes, it’s salvageable. I’d say it’ll take a week, week and a half and probably around $150 ish.” I grabbed some forms from under the counter. “If you’ll fill these out, I’ll get right to work on it. Pretty simple stuff, your contact info, mostly.”

Kandomere nodded as he filled out the forms.

“Just so I know what I’m working on, I need to know how old it is and if it’s magical or not. The last time someone on my staff or I didn’t ask before we started work on restoring a piece, Brandi ended up breathing fire for a week and it was a complete disaster.”

“That’s how I met my fiancé, the firefighter,” Brandi chimed in from the back.

“That’s awesome and all, but how about you get around to updating those forms she’s talking about before, I don’t know, someone summons Bigfoot for a commitment ceremony just because they looked at a toe ring wrong.” Matt jeered at Brandi.

Kandomere gave a light chuckle, “I can assure you, it’s rather plain for elven ware. No curses or embedded magic. It was my father’s, I’d say it’s at least fifty, sixty years old.”

I nodded as he spoke. I wrote up his ticket, gave it to him and replaced the gorget back in the jewelry box.

“I greatly appreciate you taking this on, I can’t see how it’ll be an easy project.” He said as he shook my hand.

His hands were the perfect combination of softness and strength, the hands of someone who was not afraid to work but also took care of himself.

I smiled, becoming infatuated with this man, “It’s not a problem at all. I look forward to the challenge.”

As soon as he was gone, the story erupted into woof whistles and giggles.

“Oh. My. God. He was gorgeous!” Violet squealed, kicking her feet in her chair.

“He could cast an elven spell on me any day.” Matt whistled.

“He’s single! I didn’t see a ring! Did you see a ring? Because I didn’t see a ring!” Avery exclaimed.

“Chill out guys, we’ve had legit celebrities come in here and no one freaked out this bad,” I said, trying to calm everyone down.

“None were as hot as him.” Matt countered, plainly.

“Okay, okay, whatever. Just get back to work. We’re a place of business, not a middle school cafeteria.” I sighed but still found humor in the situation.

I started work on the gorget that day. I used my phone to translate the text. ‘Elves above all. Above all elves.’

That left a bad taste in my mouth. He was one of those elves. Why was he so nice to me? Did he even know what it said? Was he playing a trick on me, hoping I’d screw it up so he could leave a bad review proclaiming the humans were indeed idiots?

While it made me uncomfortable, it gave me the incentive to do my absolute best. I blew up the image to capture every dip and swirl of the ancient language. The text would have to be the last part I worked on, but curiosity got the better of me. I had to at least reshape it first.

It wasn’t long until Kandomere was back, three days to be exact.

“Oh, hello!” I said, “Did you want an update on your gorget?”

“No,” Kandomere said, “I was interested in a custom piece. A brooch, to be specific.”

I loved custom pieces. They allowed me to be creative and to surprise my clients. I looked forward to a lot of those projects each day, but as long I was working with jewelry, making it or repairing it, I was happy.

I smiled, “Follow me back and we’ll get something sketched out for you.”

“Did you have any design ideas or references?” I asked as we sat down in my office, my pencil and paper ready to sketch.

Kandomere looked momentarily thrown off, as though he was completely surprised I asked such a question. Later, I would learn that this trip to my store was just to see me and he hadn’t prepared that far in advance.

“Filigree.”

I’d also learn that he only blurted out the first word that came to his mind. He was lucky it was appropriate.

I started sketching the whimsical pattern. “I’d recommend a single gemstone in the center, probably an amethyst or sapphire. Your coloring leans into the darker jewel tones as for complementary colors.”

Why did I say that? Elves had known their complimentary color pallet since they knew what colors were.

I passed him the rough sketch, “What do you think?”

Kandomere looked it over, “Perfect. I’d be honored to wear it.”

I beamed at the compliment, “Great! I can have it done sometime in the week after next for $250.”

He nodded in agreement.

“I’m sorry if this is personal, or makes things awkward, but I translated the text…” I had to say something, it had been needling me for days.

Kandomere knew exactly what I was getting at, “It is a harmful and outdated sentiment which I do not believe in, but the gorget was my father’s and I can’t bear to part with it. Maybe one day I’ll be able to lose it in a drawer somewhere, but that hasn’t happened yet.”

“I’m sorry for your loss. He must have met a lot to you.”

Kandomere nodded and changed the subject, “Nevertheless, I am eager to see your work.”

“And I thank you for your patronage! Your gorget will be done next Friday. It’s already looking sooo much better.” I said as we left my office. No paperwork today, we already had his info from last time.

“I have nothing to worry about when it’s in your skilled hands.” With one final look at me, he was out the door, into the bright sunlight.

It wasn’t until that night I wondered if he really was flirting with me. My skilled hands? Did he mean that double entendre? Was I reading too much into this? I sighed and turned on a podcast, burying my thoughts in refining gemstones.

As Friday rolled around, I was excited for him to see the gorget once it was completed. Every time I heard someone come in, I looked up, hoping it was him.

Around noon, it was finally him. “Kandomere! Hi, I have it right here!”

I kept the gorget in its box close to me. His moonlight eyes widened when he saw it. Momentarily, he seemed speechless.

“It is magnificent. The level of artistry is exceptional. It looks better than new.”

“I’m happy I could restore it for you.”

“I can’t thank you enough, honestly.”

“It’s my job, no need!”

Kandomere paid with his card and returned to work. Once he was gone, everyone flocked to me.

“He likes you.” Brandi grinned.

“He was totally flirting with you.” Avery giggled.

“Ask him out!” Violet implored.

“CALL HIM!” Matt urged.

“If you don’t, I will,” Fabian warned.

I scoffed, “You all are crazy. If that was flirting, then that mom of two from this morning was flirting also. And I’m not saying that because I don’t feel pretty or anything, I just genuinely don’t believe he was flirting. Also, isn’t incredibly unprofessional?”

No one had strong rebuttals and lost interest, returning to their work.

That night I curled up in bed and unlocked my phone. I had a few notifications from my business accounts. My store’s Instagram and Facebook had been liked from the same account. Kandomere had followed my accounts. Out of curiosity, I snooped on his profiles. His Instagram was blank, leading me to believe that he had just created to follow me. His Facebook was locked up pretty tight with privacy controls, but I did get a look at his selfie profile pic.

A schoolgirl crush bloomed in my heart. Maybe the handsome and mysterious elf did like me. I feel asleep with my phone clutched to my chest and smile on my face.

Kandomere returned a few days later to pick up his brooch. With him was someone who I could only guess was Hagrid’s American cousin.

I was just as excited for Kandomere to see his brooch. I felt I kept it simple while still retaining the signature elf whimsy. I was pretty proud of it.

“Hi! Are you excited to see your brooch?” I asked.

“I could never grow tired of the wonders you create,” Kandomere answered.

I awed internally. How sweet! Okay, that was probably a flirt.

I pulled out its box with my logo on the top and presented it to him.

A satisfied smile appeared on his face. “You have amazed me once again. How do you do it?”

It was a rhetorical question, but I still answered. “Hard work and some talent, mostly!”

“Is that what I think it is?” American Hagrid asked in disbelief.

Fabian was working on a leather wrist cuff that was signature to a famous musician. I loved the band myself and they were in town for a show. They were performing at a small and intimate venue instead of a large arena show. I wanted to get tickets, but they sold so quickly, all I could get was one seat. I didn’t want to go by myself, so I decided to be more vigilant about when the tickets would go on sale if they came back.

“Indeed, it is my friend,” Fabian replied, pride in his voice.

“I’m still amazed when people like him come in,” I said, “I’ve listened to him since I was a teenager.” The musician was so famous, no one had to say his name.

“He likes that band too.” American Hagrid said, nudging Kandomere.

“Whaddya know so does she,” Fabian goaded, nodding towards me.

“Would you like to accompany me to their show?” Kandomere asked, bit embarrassed by everyone’s comments, but still found humor in it.

“Yeah! If I can get tickets, that is.” I said, not thinking.

Kandomere and everyone I worked with looked at me expectantly.

“Jesus, this is painful,” his friend said, his face buried in his hand and gruff laugh.

“Oh, shit, you’re asking me on a date,” I said, nearly dropping a box of findings in shock. “Wait, are you really?”

Me? I was human. I didn’t have perfect, effortless looks or supernatural powers. I worked for everything I had. Elves just had things handed to them. Let’s be real, my brand was so popular largely because I was exploiting elves’ love of useless, shiny things. It was only a plus to them that I was actually good at what I did.

Kandomere grinned and nodded, “Yes, I am.”

I giggled and nodded, “Yes, I do!”

That was the first of many ‘yeses’ in our relationship.

[turningpagebooks]

BLOG TOUR - Q&A AND EXCERPT: “I Do Not Trust You” by Laura J. Burns and Melinda Metz

Laura J. Burns and Melinda Metz, authors of Sanctuary Bay and the Edgar-nominated mystery series Wright and Wong, are back with a story that features their signature plot twists and uneasy ever-changing alliances. I DO NOT TRUST YOU is a thrilling journey at every turn that asks – what would you do to save the ones you love?

Memphis "M" Engel is stubborn to a fault, graced with an almost absurd knowledge of long lost languages and cultures, and a heck of an opponent in a fight. In short: she's awesome. Ashwin “Ash” Sood is a little too posh for M's tastes, a little too good looking, and has way too many secrets. He desperately wants the ancient map M inherited from her archaeologist father, believing it will lead him to a relic with the power to destroy the world. M obviously can't trust him. Equally desperate to find the relic for reasons of her own, M forms an uneasy partnership with Ash.

From the catacombs of Paris, to a sacred forest in Norway, to the ruins of a submerged temple in Egypt, together they crisscross the globe in their search. But through it all, M can never be sure: Is she travelling with a friend or enemy?

Add it on Goodreads

Buy on Amazon CA or Chapters Indigo

Q&A

Who is one of your favourite female protagonists? What's one of your favourite books by a female author?

An oldie but a goodie: Elizabeth Bennet. Smart and self-aware, navigating an oppressive world with humor and optimism. We also love the Daughter of Smoke and Bone series by Laini Taylor. (So hard to narrow this down to a few!)

What was your favourite scene to write? What's the best thing about co-authoring a book?

We liked writing the scenes between M and Ash when they're getting to know one another. It's fun to create the sort of verbal sparring that shows them building a relationship while still not quite building trust.

The best thing about co-authoring a book is not having to write the whole thing yourself! It's fantastic to have somebody to share the work of plotting, writing, and solving problems.

Do you have any writing tips? Editing tips?

For writing--and this took us a long time to learn!--the best tip is simply to write. Get a draft done. Don't worry about it being good, just worry about it actually existing. Once you have a first draft, you can see what works and what doesn't, and you can revise. Revising is easy once you've got the whole thing in front of you.

We were both book editors before we became writers, which means we have so many tips for editing that the list would take forever to read! Be aware of small things like not repeating words or sentence structure. Be aware of big things like making sure your pacing doesn't drag. Remember to do the basics--check your spelling and grammar. Write down the timeline of your story and be sure it works. But most of all, trust your editor! You can edit the book yourself to the point that you consider it perfect, and yet your editor will still have notes. Pay attention to them. A fresh perspective on your writing is invaluable, and that's what an editor gives you.

EXCERPT

“You should’ve seen Miss Memphis here get into it with Nick last period,” Brianna said, squeezing in between M and Inez at their usual spot in the cafeteria. “She shut him down with her crazy ancient cultures voodoo.”

“He’s an ass. He’s lucky he’s hot,” their friend Ayana commented, waving her spork in Nick’s direction.

M shrugged. “I wouldn’t try to debate him in Physics. I just know more about Rome than he does.”

“What about AP Chem? Would you debate him in that?” Inez asked in a fake-serious voice. “Would you debate him in German class?”

“She’d debate him in German, in German,” Brianna joked. “And if he tried to fight back, she’d switch to Greek.”

M threw a French fry at her. “I can’t help it. I grew up speaking different languages.”

“And learning about pharaohs. And becoming well versed in the history of the Etruscan people,” Ayana said, putting on a fake accent that was probably supposed to be British. “Oh, and setting broken bones in the bush.”

 “That only happened once,” M muttered. Her friends laughed.

“Anyway, it was epic. Thanks,” Brianna said. “I can’t stand fighting with people, and Nick always goes after me.”

“He knows you hate it,” M pointed out. “That’s why he does it.”

“An ass, like I said.” Ayana shrugged.

“You think he’s coming to the party tonight?” Brianna asked.

“Probably. Everyone else is,” Inez replied. “Even Memphis.” M made a face. “Anything to get out of the house. Bob and Liza would expect me to play board games with them otherwise.” Her friends exchanged a glance. M winced. “No offense.”

“Oh, were you offending someone?” Nick piped up from behind her. “Good girl.”

Immediately Bri looked down, while Ayana rolled her eyes. Inez just smirked, glancing back and forth between M and Nick.

“I was not offending anyone. I only meant I don’t like parties,” M said. She didn’t bother to turn toward him. It didn’t matter; he inserted himself onto the bench next to her anyway. A little tingle ran up her spine as the scent of his co- logne hit her nostrils, spicy and warm.

“Mmm, they’re boring. Everyone talking about the prom or the senior trip or whatever. I’m over it,” Nick said.

Me too, thought M, wishing she didn’t agree with him. She loved her friends, but even they were all about high school. M just didn’t care. High school was nothing more than what she had to get through before she could leave. After the crash, after the shock of Bob and Liza becoming her guardians, she’d asked if she could go off to college early, either Boston University or the University of Sheffield in England. Both had the kind of archeology program she wanted and would’ve let her in with no questions. They knew her father. They knew high school was a waste of time for someone like her.

But her guardians said no. They said she needed stabil- ity and normalcy after losing her dad. Never mind that traveling the world and taking care of herself was normal for her. While she and Dad technically lived in Boston, she’d never spent more than a few months there during the school year. They traveled. Half the year spent on digs. She missed it.

“What’s with this thing, anyway? Is it to fight off bad guys?” Nick teased, finding an excuse to touch her. He reached for M’s collapsible bo staff, tucked in the inside pocket of her jacket like always. But before he touched it, be- fore his flirty smile registered in her mind, M had already grabbed his hand, twisted it back to the breaking point, and used the pain to push him off the cafeteria bench and onto the floor. With her other hand, she whipped out the stick and shoved it up against his throat.

M froze. He’s just hitting on you. Her friends were aghast, and everyone nearby watched, openmouthed. Nick’s eyes were wide with panic.

“Sorry.” M stood up, leaving Nick on the floor. “I’m really sorry.”

“Freak,” he muttered, climbing to his feet. He glanced around, noticing the barely concealed laughter from onlook- ers. “Jeez, I just wanted a fry,” he joked, as if he hadn’t been humiliated, then hurried out of the cafeteria.

“What. The. Hell?” Inez asked. “He was flirting with you and you beat him up!”

“I know.” M groaned, shoving her staff back into her pocket. “I didn’t mean to. It was just reflex.”

Her friends were silent. She’d freaked them out. Should she explain the years of self-defense and martial arts training? That she and Dad ended up in some rough places? Her friends lived in a city, they understood danger. Sort of. In a nice, upscale Boston kind of way.

M sighed. There was no point in trying to explain. Nobody understood her life.

“You kinda push all the guys away,” Brianna pointed out quietly. “Maybe not like that, but still . . .”

“I don’t do romance,” M replied. She was done with love, period. She’d loved her parents, and they were both gone. Love hurt too much. It was better to steer clear of it.

They all ate in silence for a minute.

“I mean, he is an ass,” Ayana said finally. And everybody laughed.

 M: You up?

MIKE: It’s a 12 hr time difference. Of course I’m up.

M: Like you never sleep in on weekends.

MIKE: Fine, your text woke me.

M: I don’t think that glyph is a lotus. It’s bending the wrong way.

MIKE: It has to be a lotus. If it’s not, the whole phrase is wrong.

M: The rest of the phrase never sat well with Nefertum anyway.

MIKE: Your dad said it was a lotus.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

LAURA J. BURNS and MELINDA METZ have written many books for teens and middle-grade readers, including Sanctuary Bay, Crave, and Sacrifice, as well as the Edgar-nominated mystery series Wright and Wong. They have also written for the TV shows ROSWELL, 1-800-MISSING, and THE DEAD ZONE. Laura lives in New York and Melinda lives in North Carolina, but really they mostly live on email, where they do most of their work together.