#also I'm not the final authority on what a popular ship is because I was expecting to be inundated with grimmons submissions

[rvb-relationship-royale]

I'm sorry but doesn't including popular ships kind of defeat the point? Of course they are going to defeat crackships and rarepairs

Hi anon, popular ships do tend to see more success in poll tournaments, but there can be underdogs and dark horses in any matchup, which is the point of allowing their inclusion! Additionally, as I mentioned, one of the poll structure options I'm considering would have the most popular submissions going against each other first- leaving more room for success amongst rarer ships. If that's something you want to see, feel free to vote for it when the poll is made available tonight.

But yes, ultimately, the most popular ships are most likely to win, because this is a popularity contest. If our current polls see success, I'd be willing to do a dedicated poll for rarepairs and/or crackships- but as it stands, that's not what this poll is. I'm including all ships, big and small, because that's what I promised at the beginning.

[stormxpadme]

There's a bit of fanfiction negativity in the tags :(. Looking for something to cheer me up, what's your personal scogan fanfic favorites?

Yeah, I saw that, both in the scogan and scogean tag, with posts even including the character name tags. Like. Not cool, people. Way to make authors feel shitty who have been guarding the ship lighthouse for the last 20 years. Claiming in the most popular tags, there's only like 1 good fic among more than 1500? Wow, okay. So I was very happy to receive your ask. Let's counter that negativity with some awesome scogan reads!

Damaged by scottxlogan

Can't do any scogan rec list without including the leading authority on the subject. @scottxlogan is the author who pulled me into this ship years ago, not to mention they're a great friend, unbelievably talented writer and artist, and they deserve all the love. Damaged is surely one of their most ambitious projects and deserves every single view, kudos and review out there. Set in the DOFP finale verse that is no doubt the author's specialty, the story comes with an alluring, intricated plot that leaves you on the edge of your seat along with all the feels.

Submission by scottxlogan

I'm also including a newer work by the same author in case you just want to get a feel for how wonderfully she writes these guys, not to mention the shameless steamy goodness that are the author's smut scenes. scottxlogan is an expert at reversing common fandom tropes believably, and this will leave you longing for more of these power exchanges easily.

he carries the reminders by Wolfsheart

@mischief-and-tea-by-the-sea is another great friend and author I would trust even with my biggest squicks (not that she writes those anyway :D). She's not only technically brillant and very well-versed in the lore which makes every pairing she writes a great read (check out her Tony/Emma, too!), but she'll also never fail to make you laugh or put those hearts in your eyes. And don't miss all those pop culture references that even put Peter Parker to shame! She also gives us scogan fans exactly what we need with stories like this one, combining our fav hurt/comfort tropes with a healthy dose of canon fix it.

I loved you since I knew you by strangenewwords

@strangenewwords is a fairly new and dearly beloved addition to our group at @scoganbingo events, but she's already made a huge impact with her delicious smut and angst stories that hit you right in the feels. Technically also brillant, the linked story is definitely one you don't want to get spoilered for beforehand because the ending will leave you in absolute awe and tears. The author doesn't shy away from including the darkest sides of Scott's past but handles every subject with the necessary care and respect, and as I said ... You don't want to miss out on all that delicious smut!

The Day Before the Soldiers Came by Cerylid

Cery is offering a much-needed fixit for the team dynamics between the X-Men and Logan before X2 with this story. It comes with a lot of humor but also far more feels than you expect. The texting is hilarious but it's the quiet tones that get to you.

*****

Speaking of fix-its, since that negativity in the tags kinda got to me, too, I might just throw in one of my own works here too since I also got lots of Scogan stuff out there.

My spirit's sleeping somewhere cold

is basically my go-to X3 fix-it. You look for something to make that movie right, you got it all right there. Along with a bit of horror (we are talking about resurrection, after all) comes a dramatic rescue mission in a mental limbo, and you get an Avenger and Emma Frost guest-starring. There's a couple of follow up chapters that explore both scogan and Tony/Emma a bit further, and we even get a Laura version in old movieverse along the line, and of course all the nasty nasty smut you guys are here for.

########

So, that's it from the top of my hat. All these accounts have even more great stories to check out, and there's lots of other scogan authors out there with great stories to enjoy. So don't let anyone tell you, there's no quality scogan stuff on AO3.

[lostcauses-noregrets]

As a veteran fangirl who only got into aot 2 years ago. I have been a massive fic reader for many fandoms over the years but the sheer number of long, detailed epics in the eruri fandom needs to be studied.

The number of long cinematic fics with indepth world building that are crafted with sheer love and respect for the characters in this fandom is incredible. Usually a fandom is lucky to have few that becomes classics but there seems to be one in every corner here.

I am very grateful for your Tumblr which has been a massive archive of knowledge and guide to navigating this fandom.

Thank you so much Anon ♡ I didn't originally intend for my blog to become the Eruri archive when I first got into the series in 2015, but 9 years and 23K posts later, here we are!

You're not the first person to be struck by the sheer range of incredible writing in the Eruri fandom, to say nothing of the fanart. We've been blessed by so many amazingly talented writers over the years, and one of the most amazing things is that they just keep coming. Many people predicted the demise of the Eruri fandom when Erwin died, when the manga ended, when then final anime episode aired, but the fandom is still thriving and new writers are posting fic every month.

However as you rightly pointed out, it's not just the quantity of the fic that's remarkable, it's the quality of the writing, the characterisation and the world building. I have a few of my own theories as to why that should be. First of all the canon material is a gift. Erwin and Levi are both mature adult characters with considerable depth and nuance and their canon relationship (regardless of whether you view it as romantic or not) is intertwined with the plot. It doesn't hurt that both of them have tragic backstories and then of course there's Erwin's internal conflict, heroic sacrifice and Levi's determination to fulfil vow. Honestly what more could you ask for from a ship?? It's no surprise that 3 of the 5 most popular manga chapters chosen by readers of Bessatsu Shonen manga focus on Erwin and Levi's relationship. They really are just that good.

I also think that because Erwin and Levi are both adults, rather than typical teenage shonen protagonists, that they attract a slightly older fanbase. That's not to say that younger fans can't be amazing writers of course, many are, but I think older fans often have a range of life experience that they can bring to their writing. Also I know for a fact that there are many Eruri authors who have successful professional careers and are published authors in other fields including technical writers, academics, researchers, historians, poets, journalists and more.

I've lost count of the number of times I've heard fans say that the Eruri fandom has spoiled them because of the quality and range of the fic and art, and honestly, it's hard to disagree. I regularly re-read fics that were written a decade ago and the characterisation is still pitch perfect. Some of them even pre-empt canon events that appeared in the manga years later. At the same time, I'm discovering new authors every week who are writing heart breaking fics that provide new insight into these characters who I've loved for so long. The Eruri fandom really is one in a million and I'm very grateful it's been such an important part of my life for so long. I'm glad you're able to enjoy it too ♡

[hephaestiions]

Inspired by your Drarry fic recs and your amazing Flintwood fic, do you have any Flintwood recs or personal favorites?

ah! fantastic ask, anon! flintwood was, incidentally, my earliest hp ship & maintains a soft spot after all these years. their functions in canon (quidditch captains of rival houses, pinnacles of a certain kind of obsessive, single-minded, aggressive athletic masculinity) conduce some of the most raw and gritty characterisations— kind of like if tracing your tongue along the jagged, broken end of a tooth was a ship. flintwood encapsulates a very specific kind of mood— a foregrounded physicality, a delicious emotional dimension balancing both subtlety and brashness. this ship is especially delightful when you're in the mood for some deferred emotional payoff, a little out of reach and more satisfying for it.

(tw for some discussions of queerphobia & masculinity!)

flintwood also works with and subverts some common stereotypes & tropes associated with sports as a site of exalted & amplified masculinity. oliver and marcus are both, in fic, often representations of what a popular (largely homophobic & patriarchal) culture understands as 'masculine ideal stereotypes'— physically hulking, emotionally repressed, narrow-focused, a little dangerous. and flintwood, as a ship, is crucially also about these 'ideal men' making the choice to step away from the hallowed halls of homosociality towards explicit queer desire, dynamics and love.

i'm getting into this because a large selection of flintwood fics i've loved deal (overtly or covertly) with coming to terms with queer awakenings, reckoning with being queer men in sports and similar explorations. my flintwood fic (thank you for reading it, anon!), addictive tendencies (~4k, T, tw for internalised homophobia) also grapples with this fairly significantly. in fact, even when the central tension isn’t explicitly about a queer reckoning, and the worldbuilding has little/no queerphobia, many excellent flintwood fics have some of the themes, ideas and tropes you find in literature accounting for our society’s (often disparaging) attitude towards queerness: a desire both intense and grudging, a sense of “i can’t have this person” justified through rivalry and/or jealousy, poignant internal conflicts, etc.

anyway, enough talk, here's a selection of flintwood fics i've dearly enjoyed, hope you do too! mind the tags & notes & remember to send some love the authors' way :)

best kept secrets by slyther_ing (M, 1.8k)

Marcus Flint is leaning up by the metal chainlink fence - gum popping, grin flashing white, and Oliver has the urge to run away because everything in the taller boy’s stature screams trouble, trouble, trouble.

twenty gauge by provocative_envy (T, 3k)

It takes Marcus less than ninety seconds to determine that his four o'clock is an aggressively annoying piece of shit.

wake up, get up, shut up by provocative_envy (E, 4.2k)

Marcus is twenty-three and half-concussed when it finally occurs to him that he might actually kind of sort of be really into dudes.

rugby boys, they play 15s by thistlecat (M, 4.5k)

Fifteen significant moments in Oliver Wood’s collegiate rugby career that did not make his highlight tape.

no vacancy by provocative_envy (M, 10.1k)

The dreams are frightening, at first.

true but not nice by v (E, 10.2k)

Marcus found out about it from Warrington, who heard it from Montague, who heard it from Derrick, who heard it from Nott, who heard it from Zabini, who heard it from Malfoy, who they said heard from the Quidditch dressing room, which really just meant that Marcus was going to fucking kill him.

self preservation by al-the-remix (E, 17.8k)

Outside the night had grown dark, and at some point Oliver had moved to perch on the edge of Marcus' bed, thigh pressed against his and tray settled between them. As if they had some sort of understanding. As if they were friends.

[avelera]

How the hell do people think that ANNE RICE is anti sex and homophobic?? TVC is weird sex stuff with queer people the book series??

I have no idea how people got that idea but I have seen posts floating around (mostly during S1) that seemed to be from people who thought that IWTV could "finally" show Lestat/Louis as canonically gay because Anne Rice had passed away or that she would be "rolling in her grave" if she saw Lestat and Louis kiss on screen which is... baffling nonsense of the highest degree. As you know, Lestat and Louis are canonically a couple in the books.

Here's what I think happened:

1)People conflated Anne Rice being anti-fanfic with her being anti-slash shipping. Since many authors of the era did have a problem with fanfic in part because of slash shipping, I can kind of see how this misunderstanding would happen. But no, her issues with fanfic were mostly legal and partially creative (she thought people's time would be better spent writing original works that they could one day publish rather than writing fanfic of her work, but I think that was more her misunderstanding the purpose of fanfic than being necessarily derogatory towards fanfic writers, even if her choice of words was somewhat dismissive, but I digress).

2) I saw one theory that Anne McCaffrey (of the Dragonriders of Pern novels) and Anne Rice might have been conflated, which again, kind of makes sense since they were popular during the same era? Supposedly (I can't confirm this) Anne McCaffrey was very against slash shipping of her characters so that might have got mixed in with the whole Anne 90s-Author is against slash fanfic game of telephone.

3) I only vaguely remember this, but I think a quote of Anne Rice's might have been taken out of context. Something to the effect of Lestat and Louis not needing to be shown kissing or having sex to be a couple. And I think people read it inversely from the meaning. She wasn't saying, "The vampires don't have gay sex." She has almost always said some variation of, "Sex is different for vampires. Blood drinking basically replaces and transcends it, as it replaces and transcends all physical pleasures. Louis and Lestat don't need to have sex in order to be a gay couple. Their existence and love as vampires transcends are our understanding of the physical, it is deeper and more all encompassing and and entirely strange to our understanding of sex and relationships on a physical and spiritual level.

Now, keep in mind, at the time when a creator said, "Oh, these two same-sex characters aren't gay their bond transcends sexuality." They were sidestepping and meant, "I'm uncomfortable with same sex relationships and only want to see them as friends." Anne Rice absolutely did not mean that ^ . Anne Rice wrote tons of queer erotica in addition to her queer supernatural novels. When Anne Rice said, "They transcend gender and their sexuality is completely untranslatable to ours." She wasn't being like "So they're not gay." She wasn't saying they were straight either like other creators meant! She was literally, as someone who spent a lot of time thinking and writing about alternate genders and sexualities outside the mainstream, exploring ideas like the fact that if you no longer had the biological imperative to eat, sleep, or reproduce as humans do, your understanding of intimacy and sexuality would change dramatically as well.

(FFS, as you know, Lestat has a relationship with his mother after he turns her because they basically are no longer related at that point, or they are related on completely different levels as fledgling and sire, the whole plotline is tied up in how becoming a vampire is about transcending human norms but also how Lestat is deliberately, gleefully fucking around with taboo and social structure and the forbidden as a matter of course so like... yeah this isn't a one off, the vampire novels are all about how being a vampire means you now naturally break every societal taboo with regards to sex and relationships because you're not human anymore, they become meaningless and therefore we as human readers can also explore the metaphors of gender and sexuality and taboo vicariously and ponder what matters and what doesn't.

I mean, one reason it was so offensive to me to see Anne Rice mistaken as homophobic is that she's basically the reason I'm not homophobic and even felt able to explore my own bisexuality and rejection of gender as a construct after growing up in a conservative household like all you had back then as a teen was Anne Rice and Mercedes Lackey. ANYWAY).

So yeah, this rant got away from me, but while I will say over and over that Anne Rice isn't perfect, there's a lot of things she did in her life that I disagreed with and people have no obligation to like her works or her view of the world, she was actively dabbling in the forbidden and in taboo in ways that might make people justifiably uncomfortable, one way she was doing that was by normalizing same sex relationships way way way before almost anyone else was doing so in genre fiction and that's while I will fight to the death anyone accusing her of homophobia.

[the-sinful-voice-witch]

The beauty🌹 of Shadamy

Isn't it just wonderful how my dear Amy Rose gets paired romantically with every Sonic Rival in the fandom? Even Blaze! And fortunately not much with Jet 😂😂 My favorite one obviously is Shadamy, followed by Surgamy and finally with Metal Sonic but seriously, to me nothing beats THE Shadamy❤🖤🩷.

So the BEST thing about this ship to me is that it was born out of a single interaction 😆 and I don't mean the moment she colorblinded mistook him for Sonic and hugged him nooooope I mean the moment she reminded him about Maria Robotnik's 🥺 true wish by giving him a similar speech of hope and second chances and after that he said: I have to fufill my promise for Maria... And you... Me after seeing that👇👇

(Funny this gif, casually she was also fangirling about a... SHAMY 🤣🤣 only the ones who know the show will get it)

Seriously, is fascinating how popular this ship became of that single interaction that led fans to write a HUGE amount of fanfiction of them and is always so romantic or so passionate or so angsty God I never get tired of it, one of my favorite portrayals of Shadamy is when Shadow is kind of a emo simp towards her, like he is simply adoring her even when she only looks at Sonic who is not looking at her 😭... Ah drama. 😂 I remember a few stories back when I was a pre teen... Like "el blog de Amy Rose" That's the only written fanfic name I remember and it was a total soap opera, a total and absolute telenovela full of all kinds of drama like Silver was their son and Sonic and Shadow were lost brothers 😂. Then I remember I few comics like Ternion that was an insanely passionate and angsty story with an excellent art that to contribute to my torture it was never finished... And boy I know the author had a secret smut chapter that she never posted anywhere... We know it exists because there were a few hot scenes in a video... 😭 but never happened the story didn't even reach half of what I think it was going to be🥲. In Chaos universe there's a double story in one Sonic and Amy had a daughter named Sonia but in an alternative universe we have María Rose who is Shadow and Amy's daughter... Is another tragedy were Amy is dead in both universes 😭 and of course I'm totally biased with Maria Rose's universe because the way her dad remember Amy's just hits different, seriously is way more enjoyably painful 🥲 and then the most current comics I'm addicted to of course IDOL AMY portrayed Shadow exactly how I said I like him the most 🥺 and the last one I saw is one apocalyptic where obviously Shadow survives and mourns a dead Amy: Future's Shadow... Girl this hedgehog can't catch a break they like to see him suffer 🥲🥲🥲

Now let's focus in the official interactions:

The Archie comics before the reboot kinda mistreated Amy portraying her in an annoying way most of the time just like in some games... And I wasn't a fan of a certain interaction she had with Shadow... (Those issues had a bitchy evil Rouge portrayal that I didn't like one bit🤬) I mean shadow actually kicks her in the stomach and hits her with her own hammer and... That just felt so wrong, you see I can't picture an scenario where Shadow would lay a hand on Amy in such a way as he did in those comics but I had a little comfort in this interaction at least 👇👇

She puts her faith on him when he doesn't have much faith on himself and that is something she also did in the games, like in Shadow the hedgehog own game. Then there was a reboot and we got better interactions, here we have Amy teasing him and he pouting adorably (and finally they dropped the Rouge is a bitch portrayal thank you😤)

We also see that they can make a good team

Hey Shadow how it feels to be hammered by her? 🤭😇, then we had the marvelous IDW reboot but we still don't have proper interactions (and this is the best Rouge💜)

Though honesty? This look like a romance novel scene... You know, with the bad boy being stubborn with the kind sweet girl 😂. Well Sonic IDW is still ongoing so we'll see if we get something more juicy... But I think I will be happy if they simply team up in a fight again.

And now let's talk about Twitter... Well, well, well have you noticed this tiny details in Sonic's Twitter takeovers? Someone asked "Shadow, will you marry me? " And they made Amy voice be the one reading that question 🧐, not only that the things Shadow described about what he wants in a partner for marriage were things that Amy totally would do perfectly (and to add some spice they made Sonic voice sound kind of upset to tease us with some sonadow too😂😂) and then the most precious and hilarious thing... SHADOW AND AMY ARE BOTH SWIFTIES 😆😆

And look! He got her ticket's 😭😭 and they went together!!! 😭😭😭(that's a DATE) and then in another Twitter takeover she tells about how they had fun and got shirts and then Sonic got jealous 😭😭😭 KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA and look what SEGA IS DOING 👇👇👇

Pop Star Amy and Rock Star Shadow I can't... 😭😭 and paladin Amy and knight Shadow AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA THEY MATCH!!!!!

I'm telling you... Sonic team is indulging us with oficial Sonamy but they are also shamelessly teasing us with SHADAMY (and sonadow juju)

And seriously fellow comic artists, feel free to keep drawing Shadamy comics forever... We don't get tired... 😇 and SEGA... Don't be shy... We conform with little teasing details you don't have to confirm or deny anything but for future games... A little Shadamy won't hurt 🥺🙏, we want Shadamy in games too! IDW that goes for you too... If you are teasing Sonamy and Sonadow you can tease Shadamy too! (And Knouge too! 😫)

And all this reminds me that we should demand SEGA to reboot the Sonic Adventure games with new modern animation and also so it's playable in modern consoles! I want to play it with the Nintendo Switch!! 😤😤😤

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

So basically there was no plausible way Azula, or any other character, could have been not straight because heteronormativity?

It wasn't because of heteronormativity, it was fulll on HOMOPHOBIA. Cultural homophobia and network homophobia, that were a result of literal decades of full on censorship and legally enforced homophobia on TV and films.

Until 2003, just two years before Avatar, it was totally okay for every state to have laws that were openly anti-gay, and some of them took full advantage of that. We're not talking just "No getting married or adopting kids" here, we're talking "You could get fired because of it. You could go to prison for kissing your partner in public."

Obscenity laws are still a thing today in some states. What are obscenity laws you ask? Basically a legal loophole that allows authorities to go "This thing you did is not illegal, but it offends me personally, so I can treat you like a criminal anyway." When asked to describe what even is obscenity, because that's a REALLY vague concept, one of said authories even said "I know it when I see it" and that was it. That was all you needed then, and if the "criminal" doesn't know their way around legal technicalities, it's all you need now. One dude getting offended at a song, movie or, you guessed, cartoon aimed at children, could make the thing ILLEGAL where he lives.

Nickelodeon would not allow non-straight characters in 2005. There were writters that had been trying to go there since the freaking 90s, and at best it'd result in banned episodes/episodes never got greenlit, and at worst in their shows getting cancelled - likely as a result of decades of the Hay's Code being legally enforced, and still having an effect on TV and film once it was no longer mandatory.

What did the Hay's Code forbid you ask? Oh, just a few things like showing married couples sleeping on the same bed, or interracial romances, or any mention of gay people - unless they were the villain AND the story not only highlighted that they were evil BECAUSE of their sexuality but also killed them in the end as punishment for their sins. That's where the "Bury your gays" trope came from.

Nickelodeon's primary goal is to make money. They were not going to spend money on a show that would result in angry parents, boycots, and episodes or the entire series becoming ILLEGAL in parts of the country.

Bryke themselves said they didn't even think to ASK PERMISSION to make Korrasami a thing until the very last second, almost a whole decade after the original show, because "Any kids network is gonna say no, and if you ask multiple times they might get mad and fire you" was the rule and everyone knew it. And even when they got permission to do it, it was just the two of them holding hands, in a season that was mostly only shown online because of the shows poor performance on actual TV. They didn't get explicit with the "THEY ARE A COUPLE" thing until it gave the show a HUGE popularity boost - aka when corporations like Nickelodeon FINALLY realized "Ooooohhhhhhh, gay stuff is PROFITABLE now, not something that will make us lose money."

It's great that gay characters being straight up illegal/something deeply controversial that could sink an entire series is not the reality anymore (for the most part, again, obscenity laws still exist), but lets not kid ourselves into thinking it was always common to see LGBT+ characters in children's shows.

It's totally valid to reimagine characters from Avatar as being gay or bisexal or whatever you want, but to claim it was CANON is pure delusion AND shows complete ignorance of the history of LGBT+ rights. I'm not even from the US and I know that shit, people, learn a bit of history for God's sake.

Oh, and lets not forget: now that Avatar CAN get away with gay characters, they made Kyoshi openly bisexual. Azula meanwhile continues to only show interest in boys and want only boys to think she's attractive, even after ships like Tyzula became so popular that the voice actresses themselves started to like it. It's almost like the writers ALWAYS INTENDED FOR HER TO BE STRAIGHT, STILL VIEW HER AS STRAIGHT, AND WILL LIKELY ALWAYS THINK OF HER AS STRAIGHT!

We can make headcanons and ship her with whoever we want, but let's not pretend the message isn't loud and clear here. It took years for her to finally be allowed to be written as anything other than just a walking ableist stereotype of a mentally ill person and be treated with any shred of humanity in the comics. Bryke literally said Azula fans are like a cult for feeling sorry for her. They are not interested in almost any reading of her as sympathetic. Not once have they ever so much as acknowledged the popular fanon idea of lesbian Azula.

They're not giving her a girlfriend, guys. It's already a minor miracle that Spirit Temple finally acknowledged she was also a victim of Ozai, and it still ends with her all alone and convincing herself that she is Totally Not Sad about it and will find herself a new group of friends that will Totally Not Leave Her even as she relapses into bad habits. Stop setting yourselves up for failure.

[vladdyissues]

I need some advice. I really want to try my hand at writing pompep but I'm hesitant because I've written several fics in a different fandom and no one seems interested in them anymore. I'm so discouraged I've considered giving up writing altogether. What should I do?

The "success" of a fanfic is typically dependent on the following, in order of importance:

The size (popularity) of the fandom

The age of the fandom*

The popularity of whatever ships you're writing

The actual writing

*Naturally there are outliers like the Danny Phantom fandom, which went 19 years without any new canon media and was still incredibly popular.

Three out of four of these options are completely out of your control (because I believe our fandoms and ships choose us, not the other way around). Don't let yourself be discouraged by the capricious nature of popular culture.

You can be a master wordsmith with 20+ years' experience and writing degrees all over your wall, but if you're only writing rarepairs (100 works or fewer on AO3) with an unpopular trope for a teeny tiny fandom that saw its last heyday in 1988, it's going to be a lonely experience. It's not your fault, and it doesn't mean your works are worthless. All it means is fewer people are seeing them.

This is the formula for a "successful" fanfic:

Write for a popular fandom or ship

Self-advertise on other social media sites

Update regularly

But none of that matters if you aren't having fun. So here's my personal advice to you, anon:

Write for your own joy. Or sick amusement. We don't judge here. But do it because you want to. Don't force it out of a need for approval, validation, or engagement. None of those things is guaranteed to us when we publish something.

Talk about your work on other sites. Make it accessible. Post links and snippets and headcanons and "behind the scenes" stuff. Add a "comments and feedback welcome" line in your author's notes to encourage people to share their thoughts.

Tag often and tag correctly. If you're on AO3, try to use Canonical Tags (tags that are already in the system; these yield more favorable search results).

Become part of the community. Follow fellow fans, join a Discord server, reblog others' works, read their fics, leave comments. (You may already be doing this. If so, keep it up!) Mingle and enjoy yourself. Fandom is community. Elevating others also elevates you.

Update as often as you can, but be careful not to turn it into a chore. If working on a multi-chapter fic becomes an agony, take a break. The motivation will return. (This is where having friends really helps. You can share your writing woes and get unexpected morale boosts.)

Another tip: Try not to focus too much on the numbers. I'm guilty of this myself, and every time I catch myself getting a little too preoccupied with my hits-to-kudos ratio, I have to remind myself that it's not all about numbers. Multi-chapter works have especially poor HTK ratios because people re-read chapters but can only leave one (1) kudo.

Final tip: As with embarking on any new journey, it helps to know the landscape. Be sure to get your hands on all the canon material you can. (Then you can ignore it as you wish lol.)

Happy writing, anon! Best of luck to you 💗⭐🍀🌈🎈

[grumfield]

Do you have any Obikin fics that you could recommend? I'm dipping my toes in the water for the first time because of the Ranwan parallels

Hehe YESSS happy to provide for a fellow ranwanist!! I actually never read fic before this ship so I’m so happy I can finally answer a fic request ask!!

I’ll give you the first three I read that really got me into the ship because of 2ha adjacent vibes!! These are good entry points I think for my beloved 2ha followers, because over the past few months most of the stuff I read has gotten more fandom-esoteric lol

All He’ll See is Me is basically the premise of 2ha condensed into a clean 35k and was my first fic-intro to the ship. Evil dark lord dies and gets sent back in time and porks his teacher, but this time, it’s in space! I’m pretty sure it’s the most popular fic in the ship tag based on kudos

haunt me then is very much a 0.5 timeline esque 7k one-shot the author describes as "he came back wrong to you, but he came back to me” featuring weird codependent willing attic wifey stuff with the shadow of the person you used ton love and still love. absolutely delicious, and is nonlinear for extra flavor.

Come Down From Your Holy Mountain is the one I credit to really launching my interest, it’s like completed at 150k where, instead of leaving Anakin to die after chopping off his limbs on a volcano planet, decides to save him and rehab him. I really loved how involved the plot was and the slow-burn development of their relationship

Also, though it’s not a fic, it may as well be so I’m suggesting it. If you decide this ship is up your alley do your self a favor and read the The Revenge of the Sith novelization by Matt Stover. Aside from being really really really phenomenally written, is literally the most yaoi a book’s ever been without being explicitly yaoi. It’s somehow even more homoerotically charged and gayngsty than any fanfiction where they have sex. I literally cannot articulate to you how fucking insane it is. It’s literally what actually drove home my obsession because I was kind of like “okay wow…this codependent one sided yaoi is actually way more insane than I ever imagined” because Matt Stover writes Obi-Wan like a repressed gay monk in love with his friend, and as a result literally every other author to write official Star Wars books involving them channeled that energy but amped up the weird to untouchable levels.

Some batshit from the novel since I need to get this across to you:

“Blade-to-blade, they were identical. After thousands of hours in lightsaber sparring, they knew each other better than brothers, more intimately than lovers; they were complementary halves of a single warrior.”

“Every day and every night [Obi-Wan] violated every principle the Jedi had taught him about staying in the present moment, about acceptance. Going over every argument, every talk, to find the key that he should have turned in order to unlock the secrets of Anakin's heart.”

‘Palpatine lifted his shoulders. "Perhaps not. Perhaps it's simply a question of whether you love Obi-Wan Kenobi more than you love your wife."’

A scene where Anakin’s wife basically calls out Obi-Wan for loving Anakin and it literally reads like someone’s wife confronting her oblivious straight husband’s “confirmed bachelor” friend when he’d thought he’d kept it a secret.

And more. On like every page to the point where I was like. What the actual fuck were you on.

Anywayssssss hope this was helpful to you LMAO!!! If anyone wants recs or to chat you’re always more than welcome to DM me to ask or talk about it lol.

[fuckyeahfightlock]

20 questions for fic writers 2023

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

207

2. What’s your total A03 word count?

1.2 million (!!!)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

BBC Sherlock (Sherlock TV, ACD), Doctor Who/Torchwood, Black Sails/Treasure Island, Maurice (film/novel), Raffles/Raffles TV, Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23, Dexter, The Sandman (comics), Versailles, The Untamed, MST3K

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

The Imposter Art and Nature Boyfriend Material Eight and Fifty Nights Wind and Winter

No surprise three of those are from the same series (my most popular one). I kind of feel like The Imposter is my fandom legacy, which is fine by me; I'm proud of it.

(they're all beauties, in my eyes)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I started out responding to every one. I barely do anymore, only because when I was writing long, chaptered fics, it became overwhelming. Lately I get many fewer, so I do respond to some. I tend to reply to comments on non-Sherlock fics more now, because the fandoms are smaller and I like to gas us up a little!

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Am and Was, the final story in my fight!lock series Bleed So Pretty, ends with a double suicide.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Probably All Said and Done, the happy ending for the 1920s stately home series, Dawn Before the Rest of the World. But a lot of my fics have happy endings, even most of the angsty ones.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I have! Very early on someone got very angry that AUs even exist, and took it out on one of my stories (maybe it was the first AU she ever read???); she mostly complained that I was writing Them out of character, which is probably true to some extent, but everyone has their own tolerance levels for that kind of stuff, so, whatever. Someone got very angry that one of my missing-scene fics based on a novel included verbatim text at the beginning and end (context being necessary to the bit I wrote in the middle), even though I made that VERY CLEAR in the beginning notes; she was not satisfied and felt I was a plagiarist, which to me is not a concept that even applies to transformative works, so again, whatever.

I don't mind any comment except ones that boil down to "I don't like this," because there's nothing I can do about that. I can fix spellings and punctuation, sew up plot holes, and make other minor adjustments to the technical stuff. But if someone just comments that they don't like the story, I'm helpless.

9. Do you write smut?

Very much so! I have written entire long novels just as set dressing for smut.

10. Do you write crossovers?

Several! I decided as soon as Sherlock came out on BBC that it takes place in the very same universe (London, present day) as Doctor Who/Torchwood (so, aliens exist). So I crossed those over a bunch. Doctor Who/Torchwood also got crossed over with Dexter, and with The Sandman comics. ACD!Holmes crossed over with Raffles, based on a screenplay of a film featured on MST3K. Black Sails is already Treasure Island pastiche, so that counts though I'm not responsible for it.

(this legendary bitch was only a bitch from a legend in Treasure Island)

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I was a victim of netscraping of the AO3 by various pay-to-read schemes, twice. But to my knowledge, no one person has like, copy/pasted my fic and put their name on it as the author.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

A couple in Russian, a couple in Chinese.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Twice. It's not really my jam.

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

Johnlock.

15. What’s the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

A final story in my Road to Home series, a fix-it fic where Donna gets her memory back (which I began writing in 2013 or 2014). Now that she's got it back in canon, it seems even less likely I'll ever finish it.

(Russell T Davies accepted it maybe a little TOO hard)

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Right now, discipline (mine, not in my BDSM AU characters')

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I've done it, probably not 100% correctly or well, but I try really hard (not just google translate! I consult native speakers!) to get it right. Generally I recommend keeping it to a minimum unless you learn the trick where AO3 lets you hover a cursor over text and you can put the translation in the pop-up. Too few people are multilingual.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

I wrote self-insert Duran Duran bandom fic starting when I was 12, in 1984. My first fic on the AO3 was a Sherlock fic.

(my first husband, John Taylor)

20. Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

Don't make me choose! I can't choose a favourite child. Today I was writing on One-Man Advantage, so that's a fave because of recency bias, but I was also thinking about Stages, so that's a fave because when I think of it my heart aches. The Re/Formation of Billy Bones is a fave because I love the backstory I created for him and I think I wrote it well. At Depth is a tiny hidden gem. I love all the Christmas ones and all the snowed-in ones. I love the kinky ones and the fluffy ones and the ones with OCs. I love some I've forgotten about. I love'm all.

Thanks for tagging me, @onesmallfamily !

[dropthedemiurge]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to other writers. Spread the self-love~ 🫶🏻

Thank you for the request, I finally got to it :D Five fics that I've written which are my favourite - (and I had to choose only those I've already finished, but a lot of my fav settings are in the long long chaptered poly fics x)) 1. Caught In the Downpoor – Sky/Rain, Love in The Air I love the entire trilogy I wrote because it was a silly whimsy idea that we had a lot of fun developing on discord and then I started writing it, and other people supported it too and now there are so many awesome SkyRain fics out there that absolutely fit my taste with ADHD, platonic bdsm and close friendship vibes. This is just such a comfort ghost ship for me that is popular enough to constantly return to xD I might even write fourth story for them one day! Who knows when inspiration hits but I'm not really done with those weather besties.

2. Young And Menace - Sand/Ray, Todd/Black, Not Me + Only Friends I love this one because crossovers of any Thai BL with Not Me is an amazing idea, in my opinion. And since we got to know Sand lived in the same building as Black, and we didn't get to see him using his bat, I took the headcanon of them being friends and ran with it xD Plus, I think, this story just poured out of me in one sitting and I didn't really know what was going to happen, but all of them ended up very emotional. And poetical. And I consider it well written so yeah, my fav!

3. I let you paint me in black - Black/|Yok, Not Me I am back with my Not Me fics and ghost ships :D We joked on NM discord that Yok definitely tried to get it on with all of gang members, and he's also the kinky one - meanwhile Black is on the violent side. I put handcuffs on Yok, gave Black some tools and played with them like dolls. And as expected, they had a lot of fun! This and its sequel fic are some of my short stories that I write in one sitting simply for an idea but I think I managed to capture some tension between these characters which I don't usually have in my stories.

4. Capturing the sight of a broken soul - Nick/|Sand, Nick/Boston, Only Friends Uh... I don't need to put a disclaimer about another ghost ship, do I? I just love platonic bonds and close friendship that are borderline romantic or touchy. And somebody needed to comfort Sand after everything he's been through! Come on! And Nick had to repay with his kindness and softness back. Also I challenged myself to write Boston's POV here which was... extremely fun! I was thinking how he and Sand could get to a more friendly side, and I think I found the way.

5. Boredom is a crime - Korn/Wai, Bad Buddy Last but not least, this was my first ever fic I wrote for Thai BL series. Which was on itself fascinating, as I haven't been really writing for years in my other kpop fandom. But meeting other fans and ficwriters, getting overwhelming support and attention for my works and forming community felt so inspiring that I started writing and drawing for myself and for fun again. It was also the time when I challenged myself to write coherent stories in English, and I practiced on BBS and NM. Also I should really write more (even more) asexual and ADHD characters... Anyway, Korn's POV is still my favourite and I had a lot of fun and it's a very important milestone.

It was a nostalgic journey, and I remembered once again what I love writing about. I never know what message do I give but I hope my stories are simply comforting or fun to explore for other people =)

I'm passing the torch to @ullvide @xagan @springkitten @doyou000me @wereflamingo-in-thai-dramaland (or tag me if you already did such post!)

[bonesandthebees]

Bee i don’t enter your anon box very frequently but i am just SO EXCITED about you branching out into writing for house of the dragon, even if you don’t end up continuing, its just super exciting to see!! Especially as someone who has been following your work since the final few chapters of clinic and now is insanely obsessed with got/hotd i am just so so so excited to see where you go from here!!!

I also might be delusional but i’ve noticed that incredibly complex and interesting wlw dynamics tend to be ignored in favor of the far less complex or developed mlm dynamics (especially in fanfiction), so it is just soooo nice seeing an author i really enjoy and respect writing for such interesting characters.

ANYWAYS this is just your reminder that no matter what you end up writing you’ll have readers who support you because your work is really really good <<<33

aaaa thank you!! it makes me so happy to hear this. I loved house of the dragon when the first season aired (and is what directly inspired under the hanging rose) so I've definitely thought about writing for it before, but I just never had an idea that really stuck until the other day when I was like wait a second-

also you're not delusional. wlw ships are almost always the least popular in fandom, with female characters very often being shoved out of the way, ignored, or pigeonholed into stereotypes by fandom at large. it thrills me to see how popular rhaenicent is in the hotd fandom, but even while being relatively popular it's still often overshadowed by ships between male characters who have barely interacted before. and of course I think fandom is a space to have fun and anyone can ship what they want, but sometimes I think people need to sit down and actually reflect on why they feel more drawn to the ship between two male characters who barely had a minute long scene together (*cough cough* all the ship content I've been seeing for that blackwood guy and the bracken guy) compared to a more complex, interesting, and nuanced dynamic between female characters.

I have a lot of strong feelings about misogyny in fandom spaces. but also I'm a lesbian who just loves writing about sapphic romance. and I just adore alicent and rhaenyra's dynamic in the show. there are so many layers to the pining and resentment and guilt and frustration they feel for each other and just. agh. it's so good.

ty for this it means so much that some of you guys wanna stick around to reading my stuff even when it's not mcyt <33

[lady-of-endless]

Another JJBA matchup trade for the lovely @tubbypeddle 🌹

Author's Note: I'm so glad you came up with the idea for another trade. Honestly, I was secretly craving another one with you so thank you. I'm happy that we also got to talk more. Your amazing and I really hope you'll enjoy it!

From part 3, I ship you with...

Kakyoin Noriaki

(obviously)

- It's canon that he doesn't like loneliness and is in search of friendships more than anything. The fact that you are friendly and care so much for your dear ones makes him feel honored above all. Plus, the most beneficial context for the start of your relationship is with you two being friends. (100% Friends to Lovers trope)

- The second obvious thing to mention is that this man would be so very whipped, absolutely smitten with you. He's dumbfounded by how someone actually likes to hear him talk about his interests and how many of those are common. This makes both of you feel very familiar with each other and so, more comfortable to open up to.

- Go ahead and infodump him, he loves it! And he does the same in return. You're so fascinating and so fun. Kakyoin loves learning new things, especially from you.

- His favorite move? He notices what book you're reading, secretly reads it as well, and then casually starts a conversation about it with you.

- If you enjoy home dates, he's all for it, especially if you play some video games together. Kakyoin is always going to lose track of time with you.

- Your physical way of expressing your affection is something he never knew he craved. It's nice, it's different than how he does it because he goes for quality time when it comes to love language. And gifts. He likes to paint or sketch you something and leave his art and a note behind for you. Let's not forget about a box of cherries from him, expect those often. Coming back to your love language, he will be so bewitched if you come up with the idea to help him with his hairstyle. You're going to make his day and also, because he's cunning, he'll purposely mess his hair a bit so you can help him again. That's his way of stealing you for a while. (And to play with his hair, it feels like heaven to him.)

- He notices how you like to mess around wearing his uniform jacket and so he even lets you wear his cherry earrings. That's a very meaningful gesture, it's the equivalent of letting you know how much you mean to him. It's such a big thing that the other crusaders are shocked by it.

- Your outfits leave him speechless every time. He can't even decide on his favorite one. You like to experiment with styles, he likes to experiment with accessories. If you combine those forces, you'd be that couple that always dresses cool af.

- He loves your tattoo, of course, and loves tracing it with his fingertips as you cuddle together. It's tempting him to get a meaningful tattoo as well. He'll ask you for your opinions on his ideas and will be very grateful if you want to go with him to get it done.

- Your protective side makes him feel so safe. It's something that made him trust you easily, something that he doesn't usually do.

From part 6, I ship you with...

Weather Report

(another obvious one)

- He likes that you're shy but cordial in the beginning when you two meet. It's calming. Most people around him seem to be all over the place in the beginning, not that he minds that kind of personality, but with you, he feels more at ease. He feels like he doesn't have to be so tense around you so it's a wonderful starting point.

- It might not be a typical story where you two just know each other for a long time as friends and finally get to romance. Not with Weather because of the context. And also because he has the habit of being attracted to someone fast even if he doesn't show it. For him, contrary to popular belief, it would be something random, a spark, a light that catches his attention.

- However, even with that initial spark, things will go slow with him from that point on. Attraction is not enough when it comes to something as serious as romance. Expect a slow burn that's all worth it in the end. You both need your time to open up to each other and that's a good thing because that's how you'll build a strong connection.

- Because you were shy and a bit distant at first when you start opening up and talking more, he will listen to everything, leaning closer how he always does. Also, he's generally curious so please share your interests, likes, and dislikes with him. Weather falls for your kindness and pure, big heart.

- He's your rock, your anchor when you feel stressed and overwhelmed. Weather knows how much you like to cuddle so he will indulge in it so you can feel better. He has no idea how good he is at cuddling. It's his thing to play with your hair while holding you against his chest.

- Once you put your trust in him, expect him to protect that trust and try to never make you doubt your decision. Weather is observant so expect him to pay attention to your reactions and try to understand what you're thinking about, if he did something good or if he disappointed you.

- He's overthinking often and the best treatment for that is to come to you. Again, he finds your presence calming and it seems that you always know how to take his mind off things. He thinks that's your superpower (among the other traits you mentioned).

- His favorite thing to do? To control and move a little bit of sunshine over your eyes to see those hazel irises of yours change color when lit up. It's so subtle that you won't even tell but what gives it away is the way he becomes less expressionless when looking at your eyes.

- Your love for people in general is something he admires because of its purity and worries him. It's mostly admiration but don't blame him if he's a bit more tense when other people notice this trait and are a little suspicious.

- Your love language makes him feel warm. My theory is that Weather likes to lean in closer when someone's talking is because he's touch-starved. With this being said, go ahead and shower him with affection even if he won't ask for it.

Runner-ups:

- Avdol: I feel like you two would look out for each other and get along so lovely. He's also happy to learn and to know more so he'll love listening to you once you open up. You two have similar ways of handling conflict so you'd also make a great team.

- Polnareff - come on, you're sweet as honey, of course, he's going to be head over heels, daydreaming about living a peaceful life with you.

[baldurs-writers-3]

Frequently Asked Questions

What is this thing? It's a Baldur’s Gate 3 Fanfic and Writing blog! The Baldur’s Writers III server is a group of likeminded BG3 fanfic writers, and this blog was designed to share our work, among others. We post fic recs, writing advice and memes, and other similar content! 

What’s with the fic recs? Our main content is fic recs! Every week, a theme is randomly chosen, then members of the Baldur’s Writer III discord can submit their fic recs. We then compile all of those fic recs into a themed rec list. Additionally, we have some regularly recurring themed lists that we cycle through that are described below. And finally, we also have Fanfic Highlights! 

What are Hidden Gem fics? This recurring theme is for any fics with less than 150 kudos! We want to uplift authors in our community, and sometimes all a fic needs is that little push. You can browse this recurring theme with #bw3 Hidden Gems.

What counts as a Rare Pair? Rare Pairs are any romantic ships with less than 1000 fics to their name. This recurring theme is to help highlight ships that are often overlooked or buried beneath more popular ships. You can browse this recurring theme with #bw3 Rare Pairs.

What do you mean by Gen fic? Gen fics are fics where the primary pairing and/or focus of the fic is not romantic or sexual. This particular recurring theme is very close to my heart, and deserves a bit of recognition, if I do say so myself. It should be noted that fics that have romantic pairings in them can still qualify for this theme, so long as the romance is not the driving factor of the plot. You can browse this recurring theme with #bw3 Gen Fic

What are Fanfic Highlights and how do they work? Fanfic Highlights are recs for an individual fic that go into further detail than what is shared with the themed rec lists. Typically, we try to collect at least three recommendations from our community before compiling a Fanfic Highlight.

When do themed rec lists go out? Tuesdays, Morning to Mid-day CDT.

Who is doing the reccing and coming up with themes? The fic recs are submitted by the amazing authors and readers in the Baldur’s Writers III Discord server. The rec list compilation process (and thus the themes) are currently managed by Professor-Rye.

What are Content Notes and why does some stuff show up in them? The purpose of a content note is kind of like eating something with the message 'contains nuts'. It's a way of letting people avoid stuff they might be happier not reading. Having something in a content note isn't a moral judgment or saying that people should avoid it, it's just acknowledging that people have reasons to avoid certain types of content. Someone might have a content note on pregnancy to allow people who recently had a miscarriage avoid it, note somethings a WIP to not make people get their hopes up, or note trans vaginal penetration because the subject can cause dysphoria. Some stuff we require content notes on. Some stuff we don't. If something has the note 'choose not to warn', it means either the reccer or the author chose not to add anything further. This can be to avoid spoilers, to avoid the crippling anxiety that comes with trying to describe something correctly, or some secret third thing.

Can I rec if I'm not part of the discord? Hey, sorry - it's not that your opinion is worth less than anyone else on the discord, it's that we're trying to keep this a manageable amount of work. BW3 is pretty big, but it's smaller than the entire internet - and the more people who are touching the internal workings, the more chances for fuckery.

Are there other rec lists like this? Yes! This reccing system was originally designed for a server in the Critical Role fandom, but has since branched out into other lists. Here is a collection of some of them, if you would like to see how else the system has been used. Aeor Is For Reccing | Critter Genfic Events | Critter Rarepair Reccs

So can I steal this idea? Yes! Please steal this idea! We’d love nothing more than for rec lists to make a comeback, and so have put the tools we’ve created out for anyone to copy and use themselves. The original designer, Operafloozy, automated away most of the formatting work and has gotten the amount of time spent on maintenance down to less than ten minutes a week. Experience with Google Sheets/Excel and HTML is recommended, but the documents have a variety of excellent explanations and guides, so they are not explicitly required. If you have any questions, feel free to message Professor-Rye.

Someone commented on my fic to say I was recced here. I'd rather not be told about it, thanks. No worries! Just send either Professor-Rye an ask (or contact us a different way if you can find us), and we'll put your name on an opt-out list. (You can put yourself on the Opt Out list preemptively if this is a worry you have).

[minsarasarahair]

Before Kusuriya no Hitorigoto anime will be out this October. I just want to share my thoughts about how much I like it and I hope others will be interested in it too.

If you're a long time follower of my blog, you'll know this. My favorite Shoujo anime of all time is Saiunkoku Monogatari. As in I love revisting the story even if its already an old anime or not perfect adaption. I always try to find a story similar to it. I think Kusuriya no Hitorigoto is the closest so far to that. Both of them are popular during their era. I just love it when the heroine have her own principles and can stand on her own. Kou Shuurei and Maomao are like that. The male main characters partnered with them, Shi Ryuuki and Jinshi are kinda love driven but they have their own agenda while remaining interesting characters. They tend to be annoying sometimes so you must see them as characters not your husband candidate to enjoy them. You will see the pair solving different cases together.

Saiunkoku ending might not be for everyone but I still like it. I think Kusuriya no Hitorigoto will ended up like that too. Where everyone's opinions about the pair are divided. Some will want Maomao to be an AroAce representative and some ship her with Jinshi.

A. Some hated Shuurei for taking a long time to accept Ryuuki as her romantic partner

B. Some hated Ryuuki after Shuurei died because they assume he force himself to her to get married and Shuurei have a very strong AroAce career woman energy who don't need a man in her life

C. Some hated the author for making a sad ending where the main pair died. Ryuuki for illness and Shuurei because of childbirth.

But my take about it is. For me, it all make sense. Since day 1, Shuurei's concern will always be Ryuuki as the emperor. So for her to get married and continue to support the emperor Ryuuki as his consort is obviously her wish. Yes, you can get married without being super in love. Its not like she didn't accomplish anything. She accomplished so many things as the official. It just finally arrived to the time where she's satisfied with it and decided to marry Ryuuki. She didn't married because she realized one day she's madly in love with Ryuuki or Ryuuki forced himself to her but because of her goal. She want Ryuuki to continue serving the people as the emperor. If getting married with him will fulfill his duties, why not? She treasure Ryuuki in neither in romantic or platonic sense but in deep sense so even if she's not madly in love with him. She still treasure Ryuuki as her husband. I know this because I listened to the audio drama about Shuurei saying her goodbye to crying Ryuuki and she said she enjoyed being together with Ryuuki as couple even if its short time. In the end, Ryuuki found himself understanding his duties because of the people who support him. He want to continue to be the emperor not only for her but for his supporters who sincerely help and trusted him in his reign. Because he's the emperor, he developed deep platonic relationship with his advisor and general. When I read that extra story, I'm like "Shuurei must be smiling in afterlife because of Ryuuki's character development because he's no longer the emperor for her but for his people." I guess their relationship is very close to Wangquan Baye and Dongfang Huaizhou in Huyao Xiao Hongniang. Where they obviously like each other but not madly in love enough then got married in bad taste who share same goals to make their child a human weapon. They enjoyed being the husband and wife tho. Huaizhou also died of childbirth but stated her pregnancy days with him is the happiest moment of her life. Another thing to consider is Shuurei's love for her deceased mother. Her death at childbirth is a parallel to how her mom sacrificed her life to let her child live.

So what I'm saying is I ship Maomao and Jinshi. I just hope people will not take it seriously because shipping characters for me is a healthy fandom activity where you discuss headcanon and what if situation. I have strong imagination and surrounded by artist friends with wild take so I can't help it. Shipping will only become bad when you harass real people. Even if the pair will not ended up together or they are not the ideal couple everyone wanted, I will continue to ship them and no one can stop me because shipping to me is just a harmless activity. Most of my ships are not even canon so please understand its not like I'm forcing them to kiss. I just enjoy their dynamic and little crumbs of cuteness. I literally ship Suzume and Souta in Suzume no Tojimari just because I believe not every ship need to be sexual. I just imagined them solving cases together and being a Power pair. They can just be cute and that's fine. Being angsty and unhinged pair like Vanitas and Jeanne in Vanitas no Carte is also fine. You can tell that I don't really enjoy a heavy romance story because most of my ship is from plot-driven story lol So before someone assume oh all I think of is romance. That's wrong. I can't even watch a romance anime lately but I love shipping tho.

[jiangwanyinscatmom]

can u explain the concept of the death of the author? i understand there is always more than angle to approach and interpret things from anyways and people dont have to agree fully. but like how does this make sense in fandoms? so far in my experience in mxtx fandoms i feel like it is used dismissively to justify a person’s headcanons or misinterpretations or misrepresentations of the text or characters or romance. obv the author doesn’t control the text once it is published but ti imply like you know better about their characters or text when they write tight narratives like mxtx seems kinda weird to me lol

Hello there anon.

Well, from what I can preface what this means is simply: a literary theory that argues that the meaning of a text is not determined by the author's intention, but rather by the reader's interpretation.

Authorial intent and theme establishment is irrelevant here, in theory it relies on what the reader feels it means and is reader-centric in practice. The text of the work is not the point, it is what it makes me, the reader, feel about the execution of plot device and what I think it is about from a personal perception and what my final interpretation of it is as a whole regardless of textual passage thematics and authorial intent for why this is written the way it had been.

Now, I'm not a fan of this literary theory. It's pretty much my most disliked literary analysis approach since there is little point in trying to argue that one personal reaction is relevant next to the other come time for example and author intention that can and will dismiss what I may have unintentionally assumed, and still choose to despite it having no concrete basis from the text itself.

This has been twisted in fandom space, especially within the past 20 years now to mean, I do not like this or care about author end goal and will use death of the author to claim textual validity (or hey no textual basis because impulse first) that is not or has no merit other than my personal want and feelings.

I can argue for something nebulous as thinking Madam Yu did care about Wei Wuxian, because I may want to see her reactions as parental due to personal experiences, but we are not given this within the work nor is it ever implied. But I can choose to say death of the author here, because my personal interpretation/experience tells me it is so. This also veers into ship discourse, the author straight out will say no other men in book are romantically involved and do not feel romantic inclination, but, I think there is chemistry and sexual tensions within their interactions, therefore my interpretation trumps that of author intent due to my assumption.

My personal interpretation is above that of author meaning of thematics they wanted to explore. My unintended themes I see are most important. I see something here that the author didn't want or need to explore for the work, therefore I can sit in a nebulous space that works for fandom exploration. This gets tricky when the fandom interpretation starts to run counter productive to the work itself, as with the likes of Jiang Cheng. He is not meant to be a good role model or a positive position by author intent, but fandom can begin to carve him into something that is not intentional and death of the author begins. The death of the author interpretations become popular while running counter point to the original intention and it begins to be argued from the start the death of the author theory was meant all along despite the contrary.