#also fuck fics with love interests who were pretty happy in canon but actually have two thousand problems in fics

[danzainosolitude]

Once again I read fanfiction that seems to have been precisely written to deal psychic damage to me.

[enden-agolor]

Hello! Have you seen the headcanon about Jesse's parents being Steve and Alex? Also I love your stuff <3 like so much !! It makes me very happy whenever I see your art on my dash

Thank you!! : D

And I think I have once or twice?

Idk I'm one of those people who try to stick as close to canon as possible in certain aspects, and I really do enjoy the idea that people just spawn into the world at random and that villagers/mobs are the only creatures that actually have parents. I think it's an interesting concept and people in the fandom rarely explore it, which is not a problem by any means, considering most people want world elements they can relate to. When I write my fics, I make it pretty clear that humans spawn into the world. Do they reproduce? We didn't see any children in game so maybe... not? Maybe they have the ability to, but kind of like how respawn isn't active in Jesse's world, but is in "The Games" world, maybe reproduction isn't active in Jesse's world, to keep human population completely controlled. Like one person dies, another person spawns. Who knows! It's fun to think about though.

Also I think it would be really fucking weird if it was Steve and Alex who were Jesse's parents because that means the Admin used their heads as decoration during the shooting range game in his Icy Palace of Despair ☠️

[bonefall]

I'm thinking of writing a Grey Wing redemption/pissed off fic where Grey is the one who kills Clear Sky/Skystar (a la Scourge) after he threatens Thunder/Thunderstar and another of Grey's adopted kits.

But idk how Grey gets that pissed. Thoughts?

Idk anon I'm gonna be honest, that feels really unlike Gray Wing. I'd say to use Thunder for a plot like that, tbh, the character that canonically makes several loud and angry rejections of Clear Sky's violence.

I don't like Gray Wing but he's very well characterized, y'know? Even at his absolutely most pissed moment in-canon he can only taunt Clear Sky into killing him with his Star Line. He's verbal, not physical.

He's able to land a little hit on people here and there, but he usually requires an entire group to do damage (Tom the Wifebeater and One Eye). Overall he's really bad at fighting. Good hunter, bad fighter. Even before his asthma he was kinda pathetic; killed Fox with a lucky hit, tried to attack Clear Sky over Jagged Peak and got curbstomped

And like, on that "verbal" thing, he's incredibly nasty and catty when he's upset. Barking at Turtle Tail for having the wrong friend, smugly watching Bumble get dragged off, shouting at Thunder several times over various things, the... whatever the hell the Erins thought they were doing with Jagged Peak (i still maintain that gray was actually totally right to scream at him that One Time, fuck u jagged peak).

I feel pretty strongly that his anger is primarily vocal. He's more likely to start yelling than hitting. If it does come down to an actual death match, he's more likely to get turned into tomato paste lmaoooo

So if he ever DID kill Clear Sky, I'd suggest it be an accident or as a result of one of his plans. In addition to his lack of physical capacity, honestly? I think Gray Wing would buckle if he had to make that choice.

He'd have his claw on his throat and be unable to pull down. Might be able to start screaming, "YOU TOOK MY BROTHER FROM ME!" or make a really harsh speech, maybe even cast Vicious Mockery. But I don't think he could ever ACTUALLY do a Yellowfang, let alone a Scourge. Not even if he saw Clear personally kill someone he loves.

If he ever actually did get Clear Sky killed, he'd also, honestly, probably change immensely for the negative. OR AT LEAST needing a long time to recover and accept he had no choice. I can't imagine him being able to live with the "guilt" very well, it would weigh on him. The "gentleness" would melt away as he becomes overall quite miserable and snappish, like he usually is when he's not happy.

(Could be very interesting to give someone else the kill after Gray can't bring himself to do it. Like Thunder jumped in to save his life, but it causes their relationship to fall apart completely.)

Overall I'd treat the premise as more of a "tragedy" than a "catharsis." Not based in anger, but immense pain and frustration.

[hearthouses]

hello!! happy wincest wednesday! I'm not great at coming up with questions but-- are there any aspects of wincest or any tropes or angles you've been thinking about recently that are making you go particularly nuts???

This is a good and fun question!

So... I'm kind of an intense nerd who has people pleasing syndrome as well as fun traits like issues with choice paralysis, so picking one of my many many many ideas is very difficult, so in order to keep track of things I am interested for me, I have a document that is called "iddy ideas" which are essentially concepts that speak directly to my id. I'm gonna use the headers as way to answer this because otherwise I will forget something and it'll bug me, so things that live in my psyche re: Winchesters are:

→ DEAN & GENDER: I have a few asks in drafts that need answering about this topic, so I will keep this sort of brief—I am really into how Dean and his relationship to gender, and how the roles he plays in life force him into one box or another. I tend to headcanon him on the nonbinary/genderfluid spectrum, even if he’d never personally identify as either. I love exploring how he often uses toxic masculinity as a shield and how he uses it to cover up the more vulnerable aspects of his desires and identity. As for the Sam/Dean angle, I really love Sam figuring it out and using lingerie kink and feminization kink as a way for Dean to explore in a way that doesn’t completely freak him out. There’s a long fic in my head that I’ve been too nervous to write about this.

→ OMEGAVERSE & PREGNANCY: I have come up with so many ways to get Dean pregnant because I think about this topic so often. I won’t bore you with the list. I am unfortunately a sucker for pregnancy and kid fics as a trope. I don’t often read them because I prefer realism in the sense that the kid has to feel like an actual kid to me and not a symbol of happiness and completeness. For Sam/Dean, I enjoy the fucked up aspects of having a kid with your brother and how they would be so into that because it’s combining themselves into another living being, that they made together, ultimate symbol of their intense incestuous love. I also think Dean very much wants kids, but didn’t think he could have them with Sam, while I think Sam would really only want to have kids with Dean. I have many AUs where it is also the worst possible time for this to happen because I live for the melodrama. I also like post-pregnancy and seeing the kids grow up to be fucked up in their own special and unique ways.

→ DOMESTICITY & DISABILITY: I am simple and sometimes I want to force Sam and Dean to retire and live in a little cabin or cottage in the woods somewhere so they can grow old. Often, I think for the only way that makes sense for them to do so is if one or both were physically incapable of hunting anymore. I love them being forced to slow down and take care of one another. Given their lives, permenent injury is pretty likely and I love exploring the ways in which they'd have to grow and adjust to their new realities. Also, I kind of just want certain ideas presented in canon explored? Like Sam's issues with his sense of reality and hallucinations, or both of them having chronic pain. Plus, there should be more finale AUs where Dean lives, but he has mobility issues now.

→ WINCHESTERS & RAPE RECOVERY: Both Sam and Dean are rape survivors who repeatedly are sexually assaulted throughout the narrative, but they both react so differently to similar traumas and I would like to have this explored since the show wouldn't. Hell trauma also goes under this umbrella. I am fascinated by the ways in which Sam and Dean are mirrors and foils, and would like to explore the interiority of that. I’m also very into concepts and ideas that explore how their respective trauma informs some of their kinks i.e. I think post-s7 Sam especially wants more pain kink and D/s where he submits to get out of his own head and Dean struggling with the dom role due to his trauma from hell where he was put into the position of torturer and rapist, and them having to figure out to make that work without sending Dean into a tailspin.

→ CONSENT ISSUES: I love fuck or die, sex pollen, curses, and all related tropes. I also like "dark" versions of Sam or Dean (Demon!Dean, Soulless!Sam, Shapeshifters, Leviathans, etc.) menacing and putting the other in situations. I will never tire of this.

→ BOY KING SAM & MAGIC: Sam should be able to always have his powers as a treat. He should be able to be a little evil as a treat. Sam should get to go full on witchy as a treat. I love the demon blood arc, I love psychic wonder Sam, I love Sam who puts hex bags in witches mouthes and tells them he learned from the best. I am from the ancient times and watched the season three finale live, so my formative years were shaped by so many Sam becomes The Boy King and rescues Dean from hell fix it fics and AUs, and so it's always a favorite. I am currently writing one that is very slow going, but as a general vibe check I am calling it Sam's Moving Castle and "suiteverse but nice".

→ WEREWOLVES & MONSTER WINCHESTERS: I love werewolves and I want Sam and Dean to be werewolves and be a pack of two. But I'm not picky and would like them to be any sort of monster. I think the show was too scared of upsetting the status quo and permanently transforming them into monsters, which is a shame, but now it is now my hyperfixation when it comes to fic for them.

[nepenthean-sleep]

griddlehark fic recs, part 4

hello and welcome to part 4 which is locked behind a community label because tumblr sucks. as a general rule i do not recommend smut because one person's sexy can be another person's squick and vice versa. nevertheless: i have some M and E rated fic recs (not all of them are smut, btw). please remember to check the tags before reading a fic.

with that being said: this fandom has some incredible writers and i'm very happy to share the below fics with you guys. tumblr usernames have been added if i could find them (sorry for the notification!). here is part 1, part 2, and part 3.

Flinch M - InverseAlchemist oneshot set after the pool scene in gtn. a beautifully written fic in which gideon and harrow share a bed for warmth (a classic) and harrow spirals a bit about it. there is so much longing.

So Familiar a Gleam E - silverapples short oneshot, harrow nova au featuring kiriona gaia. nova has a dream about kiriona and its just as disconcerting and interesting as you’d think.

turn you inside out (lick you like a crisp packet) E - valancytrinit / @valancietrinit long oneshot, modern au. a first of many wonderful fics from one of the best griddlehark writers in the fandom. gideon and harrow are roommates and gideon has a really bad 48 hours that culminates in a really good morning. this fic is an excellent balance of chaotic and angsty and sweet.

knife to a gunfight E - dryrsheet two chapter modern au. they were roommates! they were roommates sharing a bed! gideon is extremely oblivious in this one and the irony is delicious. also has one of the lines of all time:

“Okay,” Gideon said, “I need you to act like I am actually as stupid as you pretend to think I am and explain why in the fuck you want me to do that.”

hand to heart i swear M - corpsesoldier / @corpsesoldier short oneshot. harrow heals gideon’s stigmata. i very badly want this to be a thing in alecto, but i am happy with this fic version right now. this fic is superb and i love everything about it.

you're still the one pool where i'd happily drown E - valancytrinit / @valancietrinit long post-ntn speculative multi-chapter, completed. i love everything about this fic. i was literally hanging on every word when i read each chapter for the first time. the writing is incredible. there is a shower scene that is legitimately fucking shakespearean. additionally, i absolutely love the way that harrow’s mental health is portrayed in this fic as someone who struggles with similar conditions.

illbringthestrap69420 liked your post E - imalwaysstraight / @nooomagnus long multi-chapter college/uni au, currently unfinished. the enemies to anonymous tumblr mutuals to lovers fic. listen. this fic is an incredible experience for dramatic irony enjoyers. this fic is like dramatic irony: the fic. i love this fic so fucking much. another fic that has kept me on the edge of my seat while reading.

Bid My Blood to Run M - winterkill / @thebrimmingheart short oneshot. another fic where harrow heals gideon’s stigmata! the banter in this fic is wonderful. again, i really hope there's a scene like this in atn.

Let Me Hold It Lightly M - downjune / @itstartledme short oneshot set during htn. a classic ‘harrow sees gideon in her dreams’ situation. very tender and bittersweet.

Wormian E - BonesforTime long oneshot, postcanon au/spec. harrow works through some religious trauma. ok full disclosure: my favorite thing about this fic is the way it’s written. when i first read it, the prose had me completely fucking bewitched. the fic gets more speculative towards the end, and as it was written pre-ntn there’s some pretty big discrepancies with current canon. regardless, the fic itself is extremely well written and compelling.

east of the sun, west of the moon E - zealotarchaeologist short oneshot set during htn. another dream situation, this time featuring harrianthe and harrow/the body. the writing here is exquisite.

let's drink to feelings of temptation not rated - overnights / @televangelists long oneshot, modern bartending au. gideon gets hired at camilla’s bar and harrow is not having it. there’s women who hate each other. there’s customer service shenanigans. there’s ianthe in a grocery store. it’s a very solid modern au.

Mors Vincit Omnia M - WalkingDisaster / @four-for-fidelity long multi-chapter modern au, currently unfinished. a murder mystery where gideon is a witness in an investigation and has to assist forensic scientist harrow. it’s really well written and the mystery is very fun and macabre! it is currently unfinished but i am excited to see where the plot goes.

grab me by my ankles (i've been flying for too long) E - valancytrinit / @valancietrinit long oneshot, college/uni au. harrow is a competitive diver and gideon is a mechanic who ends up carpooling harrow to diving practice. there is a truly astounding amount of dyke drama going on here and it is excellent. the dialogue is incredible as well.

[sardonic-sprite]

Helloooooooooooooooooooooooo. It was Timmy's bday yesterday! So here's a question:

What do you think are some things about Tim that Jason is fond of ?

Also, what are some of your favorite things about Tim??

(you can answer either or both or neither upto you!)

Happy Birthday to my baby boy Timmy! 🎂🎉🥳

Oooh, interesting questions.

Jason: I think Jason would have a fondness for Tim’s geekiness because it often complements his own nerdiness quite nicely. He's fondly EXASPERATED by Tim’s pitiful physical/mental self-care habits, and he'd never admit it, but taking care of Tim makes him feel useful and proud -- it's proof he can still heal, he's not reduced to harm. He secretly admires Tim's strength of will. This kid figures out what's necessary and come hell or high water he does that thing, from becoming Robin to NOT becoming a supervillain. Jason's made peace with his own moral code by now, but I don't think that stops him from wondering who he'd be if he were more like Tim, or who Tim would have become if put through Jason's experiences. Jason is fond of watching Tim interact with Damian because the mix of catty rivalry, roundabout empathy, and ferocious love is something Jason's sure Tim learned from HIM, not Dick. But most of all, I think Jason's fond of Tim's forgiving heart. He will never really understand it, and sometimes he can't help but call it naive, but the way Tim can look Jason in the eyes and tell him "I forgive you. I love you" even after everything Jason did to him... It might just be the most undeserved and yet most treasured gift Jason's ever been given.

Me: My favorite thing about Tim Drake is how much I can torture him 😁👍

Ok, I'm mostly kidding. Tim Drake... is complex and interesting. He contains multitudes. There's fanon and canon, and different writers' fanon and canon. Who the fuck is Tim Drake, like, actually?

As I understand it, DC designed him to be the Everyman Robin. As fic writers, we take certain details and hints and blow them up for that sweet sweet angst, but at least in the beginning of "Tim Drake" he actually was a pretty normal, albeit genius, kid. And as much as I enjoy making his early life hell, I want to actually celebrate the Everyman origins today.

Because here's the thing. Not many of us are orphaned circus performers. I hope and pray not many of us have fended for our own lives homeless on dangerous streets at young ages. I highly doubt we've had to go to war against our own fathers, and I'm pretty damn sure none of us have been raised by immortal megalomaniacs in assassin cults.

But being raised by two working parents and sometimes a nanny in a stable household, balancing extracurriculars and grades? Yeah. A lot of people, at least in what I assume was the target demographic for Tim's comics when he was created, can relate to that.

And that's what I love about Tim. He's so normal, a self-insert for the handwavy general reader, AND YET.

He becomes a superhero.

He didn't even set out to. All he set out to do was give the other heroes pep talks and a reinstated sense of purpose. But when that wasn't enough, when the heroes weren't strong enough, this little everyman boy decides that he's going to do it, and then he DOES.

Not for glory. Not for vanity. Not for his own sense of purpose. Just because it's needed. Just because he wants to help make his world a little less broken.

I love Tim Drake because he is proof that you don't need to be great to have a great effect on your world.

Are any of us gonna become superheroes? No. Are we gonna lose spleens to supervillains? God, I hope not. But can we look around and decide to roll up our sleeves and care for others, no matter whether the Greats are failing? Yeah. Yeah, I think we can, and if we have the strength, we should.

Tim Drake, at his very core, is just a normal kid who loves others and wants to help them. Even when it's hard. Even when it hurts him.

If he can do it, I can too.

And that is an encouraging thought.

[marnz]

I watched tsn last year because my memory suddenly remember that i used to see photos and gifs of it in 2016 and i read someone blog analyzing the relationship of mark and eduardo (in 2016) but didn't know it was a fb film, so i decided to watch it, to be honest my brain is pretty damage from working corporate job and seeing how nasty capitalism is, so my first thought watching it wasn't really wow gay, eduardo was in love!!! but was more like wow mark is such a jerk, i didn't see anything gay that people were screaming about 🙃 and being reminded that this is zuckerberg and his old friend irl did not help, and i also read the story of what actually happened irl and understand how eduardo was also a jerk too so i just jumped into ao3 to read fanfic, i actually wish i watched it during highschool or college time more because i truly can't consume queerbait series or films that aren't obvious anymore, normal queer film/tv series is fine tho. This is just my own experience i'm sure there are many tsn new fans who watched it and also enjoy how "gay" it is like you guys in 2010 too :) i just have damaged brain i think

oh no friend I’m so sorry about your job! Let’s get you a better one. I don’t think your reaction is wrong at all, like I said, it was a different time and you had to be there. I got into it in college and exited the fandom in the mid 2010s; I would never in my life get into it now. I think you are right…it’s 2024.

However I have been thinking about this since I got your message and I also think the constant analysis and the fanfic contributed pretty heavily to the atmosphere, plus like I said the Andrew Garfield of it all. Honestly I think the fandom boils down to a couple things:

1) the film has homoerotic subtext mostly evidenced by Eduardo. There’s a lot of time spent on Eduardo’s feelings about Mark, like even during the bathroom blowjob scene the camera takes a moment to remind us that Eduardo is thinking about Mark in the next stall. There is almost no time spent on Mark’s feelings about Eduardo. So this subtext is like, there are feelings and they are unreciprocated. Isn’t this so tragic when 0.03% happens? Mark certainly talks a lot about his feelings for Eduardo, but words do not matter. Action matters. Contrast this with a more classic queerbait like Sterek where 1) there was queerbaiting market and 2) there was reciprocal homoerotic subtext that could never be acted upon.

2) I don’t think fandom is super good at dealing with an unlikeable or unsympathetic yet compelling protagonist! Which means this protagonist is rendered much more sympathetically in fic and people watch or read the media source with rose colored glasses. “He would not fucking say that” x1000.

3) I’m not that much older than you I think but…there was this period in tv where there were canon gays who were as interesting and dynamic as a pool noodle and, meanwhile, in subtext and/or queerbait land, there were relationships that consistently got a lot of time and attention and so were sooooooo compelling. And those are the relationships that I, and fandom, tend to gravitate towards. Plus growing up there weren’t a ton of happy gay stories so instead it was like, you have Brokeback Mountain, you have Dead Poets Society, you have What Happened to Lani Granger? You have, for some reason, Glee (boring except for faberry and Santana). Thank god we are not there anymore.

4) I have bad taste <3

Anyway sorry for rambling here, your asks got me thinking because it very much was like hmm well yeah it IS completely inexplicable huh but I think a lot of fandom is like that.

[olderthannetfic]

yuletide anon here! thanks for the advice, I've been flailing a bit with the sheer volume & variance of 'how to do yuletide' posts. a more specific query: do you recommend writing a letter vs. just keeping everything to optional details? the big 'advice on prompts' post claims that vague prompts are better, but the letters from this year so far (kudos to all on getting them up so fast) are a nightmare of ambiguity for me personally, but I don't want to step on any toes w/too much specificity.

--

If you want to write like... 200 words max, you can just use the optional details.

My letter is already thousands of words, though shorter than most years, and that level of detail just makes one's eyes glaze over if it's in the signup form.

A letter can also be posted somewhere that respects more html formatting. If you want to have a bunch of sections or embed graphics or explain where to consume your canon or anything else that takes lots of space and possibly better formatting than the AO3 signup form, a letter is superior.

People also post letters before the requests are revealed, so some treaters default to looking at letters to find people to treat.

(But if you're hoping for treats, you do want some level of interesting hook in your actual signup because people do look through the requests on AO3.)

--

Taste in prompts varies so much that people have opposite opinions. You will never make everyone happy.

I hate vague-ass prompts. Fuck that advice. Though anything's better than "Just write me anything! :D :D" which guarantees I'll phone in 1k and then write my real fic for someone else.

I love ultra detailed prompts that are nearly an outline... but only if they match my pre-existing tastes. It's dangerous to only have this type of prompt, especially if you only have one for a fandom because writers tend to freeze if they don't like the prompt itself. It's a "don't think of a polar bear" situation where now all you can think of is the polar bear.

It's safest to also have a section on tropes and story elements you generally like, whether that's dubcon or casefic. This helps a writer extrapolate from a "too detailed" prompt to other things you might enjoy instead of feeling like it's that exact prompt or nothing.

Frankly, vague sucks.

Specific but open to modifications is great.

No prompts but a list of fairly specific tropes like "sex pollen" or "hanahaki" or "undercover as a couple" is good too. These are open to going in a lot of directions, but they come with specific plot ideas attached in a way that "fluff" or "angst" do not.

TBH, as long as you don't threaten suicide over not getting the story you want, you're pretty much fine though.

(I wish I were joking, but yes, this has more or less happened.)

--

You don't actually have to do anything in particular. If writing a lot of details is stressful or boring, you could leave it blank. You'll get a worse-for-you fic most likely, but you can do this. There are even weirdo writers who prefer it.

The best case scenario is to write details and/or a letter that make a potential writer understand your taste. It's really as simple as that.

And no one style of prompt or particular kind of detail will guarantee that someone understands you.

At a certain point, it's down to your writing skill in the signup/letter itself and your writer's reading comprehension.

[leatherbookmark]

☁️🐚🍄🍓(all, or any combination you want) for the fanfiction author ask meme

kissing your hand reverently for the ask etc

☁️ ⇢ what made you choose your username?

i just like leather bookmarks!! originally lb was a non-kpop sideblog, and i wanted something that wouldn't be fandom-specific (i don't really like changing usernames) but that at the same time would fit my current fandom (the hobbit hehe). so, leatherbookmark!!

as for my ao3 username, oenanthe is a name of two genera: birds and plants, but i took mine from the bird one. specifically, this little guy. i love that the latin name is so pretty (wine+flower) but both english and polish taxonomers went "this bird has a white ass. alright then here you go"

by the way, huh, these arrows are fun! they're not -> but ⇢. they're dashed. cute

🐚 ⇢ do you like or dislike surprises?

oh boy i really don't... i used to when i was a kid, but at this point it's just a source of stress. though like -- depends, because if someone gets me a little postcard or a souvenir that's right up my alley, it's great and i'm happy they thought of me!, but if it's a big expensive gift... yeag

🍄 ⇢ share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings

fascinated by the separation of ship and pairing here, btw

ohhhh my god i gotta get my fandom brain back in order.

xiyao. what do i think about xiyao? i like to think that in a better world they'd love to Eat. try out different stuff, ranging from "drowning in grease and made by a 78yo uncle who spits into his hands spiritedly before kneading the dough" to... hm. would they go for the "lick the citrus foam out of the plaster cast of the chef's mouth" dining, uh, experience? probably not, but lxc would be amazed and interested, half sincerely and half because he wants to check at what point jgy will go beloved, what the fuck.

but ALSO i think they'd just enjoy meals as a way of spending time together! so whether it's a modern au or not, they whip out the nice tableware, make sure there's a nice plantly being/something decorative on the table, etc. (they don't play music/put on tv in the background because they don't believe in that.)

(all of the above also means their meals take WAY longer than you'd expect, or rather -- as long as they can make them. breakfasts come with dessert now icydk)

🍓 ⇢ how did you get into writing fanfiction?

hm!! i think i just... started doing it? when i was a kid and browsing blogs about the witch comic series, i stumbled upon some blogs that weren't like, character profiles and comic arc summaries, but instead basically chaptered fanfiction. and since that, i kind of seeked out people's fics, often more than canon material like scans, databases and such lol.

iirc i started out making comics about my OCs, weird little AUs (like... utena characters, but magical girls/boys lmfao), or "original" comics obviously were just crazy mixes of whatever i was into at the moment. i only started writing fic when i was, idk, ten? and even then it was more like "ough i have a certain scene/image/mood/feeling in my brain and i need to get it Out" than actual stories :')

another thing that hasn't changed until sort-of-very-recently was me just.... starting anew every new fandom. i'd be into fandom X for years, produce tons of fics, and then once i got into fandom Y i was like oh fuck this is all so embarrassing, STARTING A NEW ACCOUNT RIGHT AWAY OR WE DIE. 👍 on one hand cool, on the other i sometimes envy writers who don't have to log into three separate accounts to see all their stats ='D

[kyliafanfiction]

Okay, like - clearly my out of fucking nowhere obsession with Amy Dallon (again, w/o having read any of Worm or Ward, and, when this started, not even having read fanfic, just the wiki, some discussions on QQ and some reddit debates. I have since started reading Amy-centered fic) is not going anywhere, but like

People who read worm, are Amy fans, and know the details of what happens with her in Ward:

Does it ever get easier to deal with? Because that fucking shit keeps cycling around in my head and I just - don't want to focus on it?

Like, having bounced through a ton of reddit threads, it's clear on some level that the 'Retcon of Amy' argument is probably not really it, but that also, it comes from a very real place where Wildbow's earlier writing and WoG comments created very different impressions of various.

And I do sympathize with the 'I meant X, you aren't getting X, X is pretty integral to the story, let me clarify X' aspect wrt to Amy's narrative in Ward, after a certain point. I feel like he went well beyond clarifying X from all the excerpts and debates I've seen, but again, I've read neither.

But also, like... I don't actually care what happened in Ward? Fine, in Ward, Amy proves to be... well, all that. I feel like that probably wasn't the most interesting thing Wildbow could have done with her, but fine.

I want to actually like... just stop getting upset about it? And I am and again, I still haven't even read either story.

Like, I know that a big part of this is that I've been through this sort of experience with characters before, so Amy Dallon is just another fucking case of 'character who seemed very clearly to being set up for kind of redemption and then the rug feels like it gets pulled along with retcons new revelations about their mindset and backstory that proves they were never redeemable or what they did was really so much worse, etc.

And it's not like I haven't seen it work (Gul Dukat, in a sense, for instance), but also like... it doesn't work, a lot. Whether or not it 'works' for Amy almost doesn't matter because I definitely have a lot of prior baggage from all the other media where it definitely fucking didn't. (Right down to the part where it feels - whether it is or isn't - like a deliberate spit in the eye to portions of the fanbase)

But I also can be like 'fine, Ward's canon, it's technically in character, but I'm just going to read and write (Please, god, no, I do not want to do this fucking fuck if I read Worm I'm going to want to write fic...) fic where Amy gets to be happy in some form especially pre-Slaughterhouse 9 (though I'd love to read a fic post-Worm where Amy actually like... *does* leave Victoria alone and does make the right choices and stuff. Has anyone written one of those?)

But my brain is refusing to let me so like -

The Amy Dallon brainrot is clearly here to stay, apparently, I don't even fucking no how (though really, I do, because Amy Dallon was clearly tailored made to hit all my fucking blorbo-buttons istg), but like - when do I stop getting so fucking annoyed and frustrated about Ward?

It's not like I haven't managed to do that about other canon and other blorbos, so when do I get to do that for a story I haven't even read that's a sequel to another story I haven't read?

[thousand-winters]

🍐 or 🫐?

Hello there!!! Answering both because I love yapping 🫶

🍐 Is there anything in canon that you absolutely hate and love to fix in fics? A wrong choice made, a fuck-up in characterization, a misunderstanding never cleared up, a conversation never shown onscreen, etc…

For TOH, I was very much not a fan of For the Future and the writing choices made in there. I don't hate the Boscha plot, but I think it felt more like a random episode that could have worked had it not been in the triada of specials that had already so much to cover and such high stakes in that sense, which makes it so frustrating for me. Especially since the trailer made it feel like the puppets would be a big part of the episode and they just... weren't? They were used to sideline characters and nothing else, the implications of people being aware or not as puppets (which is a bit unclear because the puppets were done to work however was convenient to the plot, case in point: puppet Amity) and so many things could have been explored but they weren't and it's just... tragic, honestly.

I like the fics that either side-step this plot altogether or use it to the maximum. I think the puppets aren't necessarily bad overall, they just needed more consistency and to actually be used. There are so many interesting possibilities there.

I also wish we had seen Darius and Hunter reunite post Labyrinth Runners. Priorities lmao.

For MP100 I think I'm generally pretty pleased with everything? I know there are things I wish we knew more about, lore and character backstories and stuff between the scenes, but it's mostly me being deranged about background and side characters, not so much something I think it's lacking.

🫐 What’s your favorite underrated thing in your fandom? (A ship that only you seem to write for, a character there’s almost no fics about, a trope that criminally hasn’t been written yet, etc.)

For TOH... Eber as part of the Deamonne family! It's thankfully done a lot more after Watching and Dreaming dropped and I'm so happy about that because before we were in the trenches. You cannot convince me that little demon who's attached at the hip to Darius wouldn't be part of the family. They're co-parenting Hunter right beside Darius, it's not even a question, it's a "you adopted a kid? Your kid now? Oh, no, our kid now, you mean."

My obsession with the Deamonnes aside, I really think Skara is underrated, she's so fun as a background character who had an implied redemption arc. Heather McNamara vibes right there lowkey. I wanted to write a fic about that, actually, but it got lost on my huge list of wips, maybe I will at some point because I think it's so interesting and definitely connected to her vonding with Viney, since they seem attached at the hip later on.

For MP100... it's still the background characters. I think it's neat because you usually can find someone obsessed with each character at least, so that's very fun. I just keep getting attached to characters who overall weren't supposed to be that important, you know? The 7th division guys are my little guys. The Awakening Lab kids as well. I think about the Ultimate 5 a normal amount. I'm developing headcanons as we speak, there's just so much. How did they awaken their powers? Why did they join Claw (for those who that applies too)? What were their lives like before? There's so much!!!

Anyway. Thanks for the questions!!! From this ask game 💕

[krikeymate]

You headcanon Tara is a sickly child. Are you interested in writing about their childhood? About the times when Sam had to take care of Tara when she is ill and such? Like times when they thought they almost lost her?

I honestly love all your posts and fics by the way.

I would love to, but I don't think I could do it justice. I might try anyway! I could do a 5 times Sam almost lost her sister kind of thing.

I have no experience with hospitals, or being seriously physically ill, which is why I hesitate. I don't even have any experience with asthma, I was so bizarrely terrified that the way I wrote it would be so wrong and jarring it would take people out of the writing lol. If anyone does have experience with these things, I would love to hear from you.

My reason for that headcanon is :

1) The ages are seriously messed up. If 5 is Sep 2021, Tara is 18 soon to be 19, and in her final year of school. If 5 is Sep 2022 (as stated in 6), Tara was 19 soon to be 20 in her final year of school!

ALSO, in 5 they (Tara + twins etc.) were just starting their final year of school, and 6 is 13 months later... but they had been in New York for 6 months? They finished their school year in February or March? Did they 'graduate early', that's a thing in America, right? Somebody who knows about the American education system chime in because none of that is possible in Britain.

2) It works with my interpretation of the characters and their dependency beginning from a very young age, it makes Sam's need to run away more tragic, and it fucks Tara up even more. So it makes their transition into entirely codependent post-5 work so well.

A problem I would face in writing about their childhood: what are the parents like? Now, I have a very low opinion of their parents and would make them the worst. Where do I start, where does it end? It's so hard to decide because I think the implication in the movies is that they had a happy normal childhood until Sam found that diary, and that just doesn't sit right with me.

I won't lie, I have some pretty dark thoughts about potential childhood trauma/shitty parent headcanons that I will not be talking about at this juncture, maybe after Scream 7 lol. One is even an actual AU and their father doesn't leave for the reasons we get in canon, and exists solely to hurt Tara & Sam.

Final note, they should retcon when Scream 3 happened or make Tara's actual DOB (as in this was a secret even to her) even earlier (or a combination of both!) because I want Roman to be Tara's bio father lmao. I was pretty disappointed when I googled Scream timeline stuff after watching 5 and realised that that wouldn't work out.

[astrangergivingthestrangewelcome]

As Much As Is Realistically Possible We Should Avoid Getting Our Panties in a Twist Over Being Faithful To The Canon: Me Giving Dracula Opinions Alongside a Good Does Of Generic Fandom Philosophy Because I'm A Procrastinating Idiot Who Likes To Hear The Sound Of My Own Voice

Don't get me wrong I fucking hate when what I personally love about the canon is ruined in adaptations. Still waiting on any adaptation to actually give me a post-castle Jonathan which is in any way as interesting as he is in the book. But also, the nature of fandom and fanfiction and fanon and all that is we all engage with a story, are drawn to some aspect of the canon which resonates with us, and then typically use this as a jumping off point to explore things that the text doesn't. This is true for pretty much everyone out here draculablogging.

For example, there is in my opinion absolutely no evidence that Lucy Mina and Jonathan were a trio of childhood friends. Lucy's family does not seem to have property in Exeter and Jonathan literally never thinks about Lucy on his own. It seems obvious to me that Mina and Lucy met at boarding school. I'm quite happy to keep this element of canon in my fics because it makes sense to me. Conversely I do like to dabble in Van Helsing: Vampire Slayer, and that is expressly not canon. But idrc because it's more fun and interesting to me to have it that way. People who want to see Lucy, Jonathan, Mina childhood best friend trio bc they think it's cute are just as valid, even though I don't particularly care one way or the other. It's kinda silly to be like *eye roll* well this is fanon not canon when I guarantee you if you really look at your own preferences you're doing it too, and who really cares? People just like different things. Plus the whole point of fandom is you can go places where the canon didn't like if you write in a best friend trio then you get to explore why Lucy and Jonathan apparently grew apart. If you write an occult background for Van Helsing you get to maybe color in some of his odd edges. That's cool and good who cares if it's not strictly accurate as long as you don't pretend you're being canon compliant.

Now, those two examples are pretty innocuous, but bc this novel gets pretty heavy at times, naturally the Discourse amps up when things amp up. For example, I really like to write Mina having a lot of rage. I like her to want to rip Dracula limb from limb (granted my fics always have her role-swapped with Jonathan in the books). I am well aware that this is not in her book character at all, who consistently pities Dracula and counsels against vengeance. Personally, I just think vengeful Mina is more fun, and it's also true that I don't appreciate how Bram Stoker is like "yes perfect christian woman. perfect. all mercy. so pitying." I don't think it's quite realistic to what her feelings would be to a man who assaulted her and I also think she should get to be waaaayyy more angry about the way Dracula abused the two people she loved in all the world. I like feminine rage and I think Mina should have some and so I write her as having some. But I also get that plenty of people don't really vibe with righteous anger and like Mina's whole mercy bit and find it really really compelling, and sure plenty of victims of assault in the real world are not preoccupied with revenge. And that's such a valid take and fics that run with it are more reflective of Mina's book characterization than mine. And once again both are good. Neither side needs to be going "well MY changes are inherently more feminist than yours" to justify our preferences, it's just what we like, we can just like it, and if there is a feminist slant to what we think/write/draw it does not mean the other take is anti-feminist.

This is also why, in my opinion, it's truly not that deep if people want to ship their little harkula dracumina dark romance ships. Like full disclosure I think some of the most fucked up harkula stuff can be hot, but I have 0 interest in reading the stories that really focus on Dracula embodying the repressed desires of either Jonathan or Mina. I do absolutely exclusively read the stuff where Dracula is an unsympathetic abusive monster, and I want to read stories that use that as the anchor for horror, and I want to read stories that have Jonathan and Mina overcoming that abuse.

Now That Doesn't Mean I think the people who want to do the whole twisted love stockholm syndrome thing are bad or shouldn't do it. They are clearly just coming to the text from a completely different place than I am. It's not like I would disagree that at the very beginning before the torture began Jonathan was kinda attracted to Dracula in the Victorian queer horror way. If people want to do the whole reincarnated wife thing with Mina bc idk they really like the Coppola film or whatever, sure. I will not read that, but I'm not going to invent reasons why they're Bad Dracula Fans. It doesn't matter if it's not canon, so long as you don't say it's canon (why did you name it Bram Stoker's Dracula Francis it's not Bram Stoker's Dracula you did not adapt ANY of the characters faithful why are you lying)

Anyway I know I'm not really saying anything new, and mostly the Dracula fandom has been fine but I have seen a few takes out there acting like canon is a trump card that it truly isn't, and i've also definitely seen people get up on the moral high horse on like, depictions and portrayals of abuse etc. and although fandom can be a wonderful space to tell important, compelling stories about heavy topics, when people don't want to do that, they're not less moral than you. Lots of the time they're trying to tell important, compelling stories about heavy topics of a different sort, and sometimes they're writing porn. This is normal fandom stuff.

[laesas]

About the violence ask thing:

10,17,21,9,20,4

10. worst part of fanon

Daddy Chan. Every time there is a "subtle" background ChanBig where Big "slips up" and says "Yes daddy" I literally vomit into my own mouth. If i see it again I will start chundering into envelopes and mailing them to people as I see fit.

17. there should be more of this type of fic/art

Vers fics: When an author takes a "stereotypical" dynamic and plays with it, it tells me they've actually thought about the characters, their likes and dislikes and motivations. (it also says gay people like what they like during sex and it literally doesnt matter just like real life!! but that's besides the point!!).

I'm much more likely to read a ChayKim or PeteVegas oneshot *because* of an authors willingness to play around with character dynamics. I've read some outstanding PorscheKinn fics where Kinn is revealed as treating topping as the least 'gay' way to be gay (and as we learned in the very first scenes of KinnPorsche: "do you still like gelato" - being gay is treated as a weakness/thing to mock) so any exploration of being gay + sex acts as subversion/rebellion is so tasty delicious to me.

ALSO JUST KENBIG IN GENERAL. ANY ORDER. ANY TIME. THEYRE FUCKING. EVERYTHING. TO ME. OK GOOD.

21. part of canon you think is overhyped

Genuinely loathe to admit that I lost interest in Kinn x Porsche when they started being happy-clappy "in love" around episode 8-9. I apparently only love bitches with severe problems lmao.

9. worst part of canon

Other than the absolute tonal dissonance between some of the scenes (KimChay breakdown to helicopter sloppy my behated) - I think KinnPorsche completely missed a trick when it came to bodyguard deaths affecting the other bodyguards. I know I bang on about Big and Ken as my favourites, but having 2 of the highest ranking bodyguards die- one of which was a trusted traitor and one of which died protecting Porschem- affect??? noone??????? Especially when the fact that nobody mourned BIG - who died for Kinn's LOVE and for Porsche. The fact that Kinn barely mourned Big could have absolutely played a super interesting role in Pete's decision to leave. It could have sowed seeds of doubt in Porsche's trust of Kinn - and if they HAD left space for Kinn to grieve the loss of his closest bodyguard, it could have really reshaped Kinn and Porsche's whole dynamic in an interesting way.............. idk. I think it's a loose end and a poorly handled opportunity for interesting characterisation. But the extra time did make room for KinnPorsche fart jokes sooo it's fine. I'm not seething. :)

20. part of canon you found tedious or boring

I will defind Jeff Satur to the ends of the earth. BUT AND HOWEVER. I genuinely think that the direction for Kim's interactions with Chay were relatively poor and far too focused on Kim/Jeff looking pretty than like... showing genuine emotion. Barcode seemed to act rings around Jeff at times, and yet in scenes where he *was* allowed to show emotion (see bar scene and polaroid scene!!!) he fucking smashed it. But scenes like WDYS at the end lacked emotional depth because the production was too worried about Jeff looking good on camera for a music video clip rather than the emotional payoff of the scene...

I also think KimChay could/SHOULD have absolutely been lesbians. There's something so fucking lesbian about KimChay I could cry. I nominate Silvy Pavida as Kim and Fah Yongwaree as Chay. but that's just my lesbian opinion.

4. what was the last straw that made you finally block that annoying person?

fdhjkhsknhdajksh GOD. I honestly don't block all that often. I hate to end on an actually sour note but - just people treating the Build situation as "tea" or "entertainment" or "hashtag drama" when like...... it was just so serious to me. idk. I definitely blocked a few people that I personally think handled that badly.

That said while I generally dont block often, I did block someone yesterday for blazing stranger things fanfiction with no readmore onto my dashboard. It was like 6k+. It was just quicker to scroll up and block than get to the bottom of it haha

THANK U FOR ASKING ANON ILY

🔥 The Choose Violence Ask Game 🔥

send me some here 💌

[thetragicallynerdy]

hello there!

just saw the ao3 ask and tried to avoid questions that have already been asked, so here we go:

9, 10 and 17

always happy to read what ye write!

hey pal!! oooh, thank you, yes!!!

9) Favourite pairing you wrote for this year?

Oh, this is a tough one. I'm such a multi-shipper haha, I have so many fav pairings!! I think it would be a toss up between:

Jim/Ed (OFMD) - Listen. This is a huge rare-pair. But I fucking adore them together. I love them!!! They're so fun to write too, and I'm constantly plagued with new ideas in a good way.

Jim/Oluwande (OFMD) - THE BEST. CANON. I LOVE THEM. I wanna see them kiss all the time. I wanna write them kissing all the time!! They're a really soft pairing too, in a lot of ways - feels like a nice warm homecoming.

Clayton/Aly (UnDeadwood) - I fucking adore AlyClay. Something about Aly's suaveness with Clayton's dumbassery and snark is just so perfect.

Clayton/Aly/Matthew (UnDeadwood) - MY BEST OT3. That's it. That's all. I love them.

Clayton/Matthew (UnDeadwood) - a classic. They're so good together. Comfortable. Lovely.

I think that if I had to choose, Jim/Ed would actually probably come out on top. I'm sorry I just love them as a pairing so much. Also it's a bit of the rare-pair hell of "no one else except my 1 (one) pal is writing this so fuck it gotta roll up my sleeves and produce the content I wanna read"

10) What work was the quickest to write?

LMAO THE JIM/SPANISH JACKIE SMUT ONE. (Not counting the like, mini ficlets that I write as prompt fills, those do not count.) I think I wrote it and published it in like 2-3 days?? It was a wild "had the idea banged it out (no pun intended) and threw it on ao3 without further thought" type fic. It's also only around 5-6K, which helped.

Other quick ones were the Ghost Baby UnDeadwood fic hahaha, for some reason stupid funny stuff comes to me pretty easily lol.

Oh! The first two chapters of my Jim-centric h/c ficlets also got written pretty quickly. Limited stuff with only one or two scenes is SO much quicker to write, it's the connective bits in longer fics that bog me down.

17) Your favourite character to write this year?

Jim from OFMD, followed very closely by Clayton from UnDeadwood!!

It should come as a surprise to exactly no one ever that I have very clear favourite characters in my fandoms lol, and it's been Clayton for a long while, and Jim got added in this year. I also really enjoyed writing Eliot from Leverage for the same reason, Leverage fic just isn't quite as much my thing! (Squints at the long-haired, grumpy, badass blorbos who are very gender, muttering "wow yup apparently have a fandom type")

But yes I love both of them, and they're both really fun to write!! I've written almost exclusively for UnDeadwood until this year (only 2 fics in other fandoms prior to 2022), and exploring Jim OFMD was really interesting. They're pretty different characters to write! It was fun getting to explore someone new, and also to write Clayton whenever the inspiration hit. I still love him so much. Best boy.

Thanks so much for the ask!!!

Ao3 wrapped asks can be found here for the curious!

[sinclairmaxwellao3]

Here we GO!

My seven year old actually stumbled upon Ask Sun and Moon by Shavs Media and TSAMS on Youtube and I was in the room since I always vet what she watches and we both got immediately hooked! :)

Definitely the Shavs Media video where Moon starts to cry because 'Not all of the little stars are coming back' and that's when I realized that these skrunkly boys have some deep ass lore and trauma and that is just the gift that keeps giving!

Since the Sun and Moon show was still pretty young so...What? Maybe two years? Here on Tumblr less than two months though.

Yes! And Ruin! :)

So far my Blood Moon x Sun stories over on AO3 are my favorites but before that it was my first Mafia AU :)

Oh gosh. There are so many good ones that I really enjoy. I guess something that hooks me with plot but has enough spice to keep me drawn in? Or a really good and interesting concept! :) And I follow so many truly AMAZING artists on here (and writers on AO3) that I'm not even sure I could choose!

Mafia AU gets me giggling and kicking my feet but I'm also SUPER into the mer AUs especially the Subnautica crossovers. :) I love that game.

Yes! I have several from my own fics but my favorite OC is probably Vigilante from Sleuth Jesters! :3

A little of column A, a little of column B. That's what makes them so lovable! Like a fuzzy Mothman that you just can't help but wanna hug? xD

Maybe exactly that! There's such a wealth of fan content BECAUSE there was so little canon content to bog it down but the bit we did get really fed the creative minds here on the internet and I think that's pretty rad.

OMGOMGOMG dont' make me chose! I can't even picture them apart from each other! But I guess...maybe Moon? I don't know that's so hard!

Oh my gods I love him. I love him soft, I love him as an unrepentant monster. I just love that stupid whore man. xD

/14. Because my answers are the same. I just feel so sad for them. They were so close and Moon was so good with the kids and then Afton had to come and fuck it all up and now Moon is infected and Sun has anxiety that could be used as a weapon of mass destruction if harnessed properly.

15. I like to picture them both ways depending on the situation, honestly but whether they share a body or not, they are ALWAYS two halves of the same whole. <3

16. Hmmmm. More pairings with the typical "evil" characters that aren't just essentially torture porn? I mean don't get me wrong, I enjoy that now and then too, but it would be nice to see more of those pairings that have a little more substance to them. Also more DJMM x DCA. xD

17. Less of people jumping down other's throats about who they like to ship. We're all adults here (mostly). We can just utilize that excellent thing known as a back button if it's not your cup of tea. Be better and be kind.

18. Well, right now I'm super excited to post my next chapter for my Mafia AU but after that? MER MAY! LET'S GO BABYYYYY! xD

19. Yes. I love to give hugs and snuggle, I like activities and I love naps. Also I have a cute kid so that might help. xD

20. I just love this community so much! People are supportive and happy to uplift each other (for the most part) and as someone who came from a far larger fandom where you just don't see that kind of community, I just adore that. :)

alright dca fandom, here's some questions bc i'm curious. the funky jesters make our brains go brr, but why? treat it as an ask game or answer in the tags if you feel like it! :)

how did you get here?

why these characters in particular? what was the hook for you?

how long have you been here?

have you actually played fnaf sb?

if you make content, what's your favorite piece you've contributed?

what's your favorite sort of art or fic? what genre/flavor/style?

what's your favorite au?

do you have any ocs, or have any ocs you're fond of?

what do you think of the dca's canon appearance? Scary? Cute? Something else?

what keeps you in this fandom despite the very small amount of canon content the dca had?

be honest: if you had to pick only one, sun or moon?

thoughts on eclipse?

thoughts on pre-glitch sun?

thoughts on pre-glitch moon?

do you interpret sun and moon as two sides of the same person, or truly two separate beings in one body? does it matter?

what's something in the fandom you'd like to see more of?

what's something in the fandom you'd like to see less of?

anything you're looking forward to?

do you think you'd actually get along with the dca if you met them irl?

free space! talk about whatever's on your mind!