#also if you put anything in quotation marks in the tags it makes it a separate tag before all the others

[awwyeah107]

2024 Fic Recs

Hello and welcome to my fic recs from 2024 post :)

Like in 2023, the vast majority of fanfiction I read has been Tolkien-centric; my hyperfixation is still going strong, lol. I also got into Longmire (the TV show; I haven’t read the books yet), so there’s a handful of Longmire fanfics in here too. And as I said last year, buckle up, because it’s a pretty long post (this one’s got roughly 80 fics, not counting series!).

For each fic, I’ll give a one-sentence summary and then my thoughts on the fic! I’ll also mention whether the fic is a oneshot, doubleshot (2 chapters), or a multi-chapter fic, as well as the fic rating. I’m sorting the Tolkien fics into series, topic-based, character/time/place-focused, AUs & others, and then I’ll put the non-Tolkien fics at the end. I am including in-progress fics in each of those categories.

Credit to @cafekitsune for the galaxy banners used to separate the sections :)

Intro: What to Expect & Fics Legend

Expect: Lots of angst—LOTS of it. I didn’t realize how much there was until I went back through all of these! Also a bunch of fluff and hurt/comfort. Majority of fics are genfic. Mostly Silmfics; some Lord of the Rings and/or Hobbit characters are featured. Most fics are rated T, with a few rated G or M.

Do not expect: Stories with a focus on romantic!Russingon (or any other first cousins x cousins ships), smut, or excessively gory or dark stories. No E-rated fics.

Notes about formatting: Sometimes, the bullet points may be spaced out a little strangely; that’s because Tumblr won’t actually tag more than 5 people at once in a set of bullet points, so I have to space them out in order for people to get tagged properly. When a fic has quotation marks around the summary, that means it’s taken straight from the summary of the fic. Occasionally, I’ll consider a fic to be rated differently for my personal taste than it’s marked on AO3, and in those cases I will mention that. For example: G [AO3 rating] / T [personal rating]. Otherwise, ratings are from AO3.

Fics Legend/Key These emojis are used to denote any stories that have the following elements, and I’ll do my best to put appropriate warnings/mentions of certain potentially triggering topics as well, when needed. Most if not all the stories do have necessary tags or content warnings given by the author, so if I miss something, the author and/or the fic tags should tell you about it. My apologies if I do miss anything.

🔒 Fic only available to AO3 users

🩸 Features somewhat shocking or graphic violence and/or heavy topics (including abuse, severe trauma, mental illness, etc.)

*️⃣ Features background romantic!Russingon or other cousin ships

🏳️‍🌈 Features LGBTQ+/queer ships and/or characters (for those who do or do not prefer to read fics with queer ships/characters. If you have any questions about this, feel free to send me a DM.)

✍️ Fic is in progress/incomplete

Also, this may go without saying, but I feel like it does need saying: Your mileage may vary with these fics, especially those that are not particularly fluffy. So, read what you’re comfortable with, and don’t read or skip what you aren’t.

I will tag authors who are here on Tumblr; I've included multiple fics by the same authors, so I will only tag each author once.

To all the fic authors, people posting meta/analyses, and fan artists: Thank you for sharing your work with the world. Your stories, musings, and art have brought me a lot of joy (and frequently, encouragement) this past year, and it’s still kinda crazy to me that I can read or see it for free. Because you loved canon enough to make something from it, and you wanted to share the results of that love with others. Thank you. ❤️

Series

Annaáuchiwee by @thegreenleavesofspring (Brievel on AO3) & The_Anonymous_Coauthor 🩸✍️ - [Modern AU] The story of how a biker thug scrapes a street rat up off the street and discovers, for the first time in thirty years, that he has a conscience, which leads him halfway across the country and into a lifestyle of love and sacrifice that he had long forsworn. (In-progress series of 4 works, multi-chapters, T) Y’all. Y’all. I cannot recommend this series enough. If you follow my sideblog, @fandomsandfairytales, you have almost certainly seen me posting about this over there. This series is essentially set in the Sons of the Star universe, which is a “sons of Fëanor as a biker gang” modern AU, but it’s a step to the left of that AU. Annaáuchiwee is focused on the modern equivalent of Celegorm, named Riser Way, and his journey (both literal and figurative) to become an honorable man. I absolutely adore the characters and writing in this series. There’s so much: humor (and lots of it), angst (and lots of that too), violence, domestic fluff, thoughtful moments, and so much character growth. I get excited every time I see an update in my inbox! (Warning: The series features a fair amount of violence, and it deals with heavy topics, including trafficking, rape, and child abuse.)

On Elrond Peredhel by @elvinye (leodesic on AO3) ️*️⃣ 🏳️‍🌈 (Russingon + biological son Gil-Galad; prominent in one work) ✍️ - "A series examining Elrond's kidnap-adoption [and Elrond himself] from a variety of different characters’ perspectives." (In-progress series of 13 works, oneshots and doubleshots, all rated T or G.) I enjoy reading lots of different perspectives on kidnap fam, and I love how this series explores a huge spectrum of characters’ reactions to a very Noldorin Elrond. It’s so well-written and gives me major Elrond feels. Seeing Elrond through so many different lenses is really cool; I think leodesic does a great job handling each character’s inner narrative and also showing Elrond as a kind and caring yet assertive individual, no matter what that character thinks of him. If you are into pro-Fëanorian kidnap fam, you’ll like this series!

Quenta Nossëo by HonoraryDawn ✍️ - Elrond accidentally travels through time and space and arrives in Valinor just in time for Fëanor’s birth in the Years of the Trees; Elrond decides to change history and raise Fëanáro himself. (In-progress series of 2 works, multi-chapters, T) This is such a cool series! I love how it changes history, and all the twists and turns throughout! Nature vs. nurture is a key theme in Fëanor being raised by someone other than Finwë, and Fëanor’s development and the way tensions rise differently in Valinor in the Years of the Trees are fascinating. Highly recommend! (I also recommend Fanarts for Preventative Measures by Leira_E, which has several pieces of fan art and fan-written blurbs for the first installment in this series.)

Horrible Goose Fingon by @pearlescentpearl (PandaFlower on AO3) - Fingon, having experienced life in Beleriand, wakes up in the Years of the Trees Valinor and immediately decides to make it Morgoth’s problem. (In-progress series of 2 works, oneshots and multi-chapters, all rated T or G.) Fingon hits the ground running here, and his quick deductions and planning are so much fun to read! I enjoyed his interactions with Maedhros and with Ingwë’s family, and I’m looking forward to more.

Topic-Based

Post-Thangorodrim

I went through a period of time where I was really into rescue-from-Thangorodrim and post-Thangorodrim fics, so here are my top Maedhros-Thangorodrim-trauma recs from this year!

The Shackle by @valarhalla (Elisif on AO3) 🩸 - Fingon rescues Maedhros from the cliff of Thangorodrim. (Oneshot, M) This fic was exactly what I was looking for when I was craving a rescue-from-Thangorodrim fic!!! Masterfully written. It really depicted the sort of state Mae would have been in, neglected and hanging from the cliff as he was. The entire thing is SO angsty and incredibly heartrending and I loved it. (Warning: Graphic descriptions of injury, bodily fluids, and the effects of an extended period of physical neglect.)

Open Wounds by @markedasinfernal (theeventualwinner on AO3)🩸*️⃣ - “Maedhros' post-Thangorodrim recovery.” (12 chapters, M) I devoured this fic over two days and oh my goodness. What an amazingly well-written piece. I loveddddd all of the medical terminology and the very analytical (though never at the cost of emotional, or vice versa!) way Maedhros’ healing was approached. There’s so much angst and tension amongst the rest of the sons of Fëanor and Fingon as well, yet it is borne out of care for Maedhros, and that care is shown very clearly in all their interactions with Maedhros himself. The richness of the relationships in this fic is really beautiful. (Note: Any Russingon in this fic is very, very lightly implied. Warning: Descriptions of injury, physical trauma, and PTSD.)

Whoops, They’re Both Asleep by until_the_stars_are_all_alight - Findékano comes to visit Maitimo when he hears his cousin wanted “Káno” and finds Makalaurë [Kanáfinwë] is already there. (Oneshot, T) A short, absolutely adorable oneshot! It’s only 350 words, but everything is so well-portrayed: the tension between Fingon and Maglor, the way Maedhros is dealing with his recovery, the affection he has for both his brother and cousin. I’ve reread it a few times now and I love it more every time.

No Resemblance by Elisif - Nolofinwë struggles to recognise his nephew after his rescue from Angband. (2 chapters, incomplete, T) This is SO PAINFUL and angsty and so good. From Fingolfin barely recognizing Maedhros for who he was (when Fingon brought him back) to all the memories of young Maedhros in Valinor, it’s shot through with feelssssss.

Dawn by potatoesanddreams - Maedhros’ first sight of the Sun. (Oneshot, T) A proper drabble clocking in at 100 words. I really enjoyed this one—I was fascinated by the second person point of view for Maedhros! The descriptions are so evocative and eloquent.

More About the Things that You Take With by @imnotdyingbutyouallare - Maedhros struggles with Maglor cutting his hair. (Oneshot, T) There is so much gentleness in this fic despite how much Maedhros is still suffering, and so much awareness of each other on both Maglor and Maedhros’ parts, which I loved. Even a “simple” thing such as cutting Maedhros’ hair is difficult for him, and I could really feel the fragility of Maedhros’ state of mind throughout. So, so good!!!

breakdown by @leucisticpuffin 🔒 - Maglor breaks down and Maedhros struggles to comfort him. (Oneshot, T) Oh my goodness, ugh. This is soooo painful and I love it. I feel terribly for Maglor, and for Maedhros feeling so helpless. What an angsty vignette of their relationship in the immediate aftermath of Maedhros’ rescue.

Let them see! by BarbieBlue - Maglor attempts to console Maedhros in a difficult moment during Maedhros’ recovery. (Oneshot, T) I loved reading this fic! I felt the acute frustration on Maedhros’ part that he can do so little and Maglor’s intense guilt. Maglor’s compassion and determination to prove to his brother that he cares is very compelling. (Fingon’s bewilderment at the end is rather hilarious, too.)

Us Against the World by @annoyinglandmagazine (Caranthirwasalesbian on AO3) - It’s the first feast after Maedhros’ recovery, and he realizes only having one hand makes table manners difficult. (Oneshot, G) To me, this fic really demonstrates how much the sons of Fëanor care for each other, and I simply adore it. It’s a beautiful picture of love on a practical level.

Crablor

Oneshots of our favorite singing elf-turned-crustacean, Crablor!

Soft-Shelled Soul by @thescrapwitch (theScrap_Witch on AO3) 🔒 - Maedhros learns from Námo that his brother has been transformed into a crab, and he is determined to find him and bring him home. (Oneshot, G) I really enjoyed this lovely Crablor story! I loved the fact that it was Maedhros and Celegorm who found Maglor—it makes perfect sense to not only have Maedhros, the caring older brother, searching but also Celegorm, the one who knows animal languages. Everything back in Valinor (the reactions! Maglor’s new living space!) are wonderful, too.

The Trial of Crablor Fëanorion by theScrap_Witch 🔒 - Maglor, in crab form, is put on trial for his crimes. (Oneshot, G) This fic could very well go in my humor section as well as the Crablor section. I found myself laughing throughout, and even typing this I’m smiling just thinking about it. The format of a court trial record is delightful, along with all the shenanigans included for the sake of the record!

lured to be loved by LadyHaleth - Elladan and Elrohir search for their long-lost grandfather…who they discover has been turned into a different form. (Oneshot, T) A sweet adventure! Elladan and Elrohir’s dedication to finding and caring for Maglor is so admirable, and I enjoyed their dynamic as twins and with Maglor. The details in every scene really make this fic! (And don’t miss the awesome art in the middle, since the art and fic were one of the TRSB collabs for this year.)

Humor

to speak, to scream and laugh with the echo by @artandsuffering (Tamatoa (SaltandtheSoul) on AO3) - When Maglor wakes up in the past after the Fourth Age, he decides to make it Sauron’s problem. (Oneshot, T) This fic is SO FREAKING FUNNY. The understated humor in this is incredible, and I love the phrasing throughout. The framing of the atmosphere of Angband as a corporate workplace of sorts (while still being fully in Middle-Earth, of course) simply makes this fic.

This Battle Could Have Been An E-mail by @tilion-writes (Tilion on AO3) ✍️ - A series of emails in Maedhros’ inbox throughout the ages. (4 chapters, in progress, T) INCREDIBLY hilarious. The email addresses, the domains for the email addresses (nargothrond.com! himring.net!), the email sign-offs for each of the characters, the subject lines, the files, the messages (including punctuation and tone of professionalism, or lack thereof) from each character—all of it was priceless.

Please Do Not by @mynameisjessejk - “In which Maedhros has all the foresight of the House of Feanaro and uses it entirely to prevent brother and cousin shenanigans.” (Oneshot, bullet-point, T) This fic is absolutely hysterical. I probably broke something trying so hard not to laugh (I was reading this when there were people around). The phrase “the transitive property of Finrod” still lives rent-free in my head months after I read it XD This fic also turned out to be really heartwarming and gave me many feels. So, so, so good.

How Dare by @catkin-morgs-kookaburralover (ATalkingCat on AO3) - The palantir experiences Pippin picking it up. (Oneshot, G) I laughed out loud multiple times reading this. It’s a short, delightful read with a VERY snarky palantir point of view, and I highly enjoyed it!

Give A Whistle by Prackspoor - “After the sacking of Ost-in-Edhil, the Dark Lord Sauron ordered his prisoners crucified and carried at the head of his army as banners so that their approach would strike fear into the hearts of his enemies; no one could have imagined that the last resistance of the Elven City had no plans to go out quietly… literally.” (Oneshot, T) A VERY humorous, somewhat dark oneshot (with a second chapter solely for references). It’s very Monty-Python-esque, with some direct Monty Python references, so if you enjoy that sort of humor, this will be right up your alley. The sympathetic orc captain point of view is fantastic! (Warning: There’s a few dark mentions/descriptions of torture.)

Romance-focused

Tax Fraud and Picnics by @thesummerestsolstice - Haleth and baby Erestor convince Caranthir to go on a picnic. (Oneshot, G) I’ve got three words for this fic: SUPER. DUPER. CUTE. This fic is as sweet as candy. I adore how much Caranthir loves Haleth, and the light humor sprinkled throughout made me grin (the Caranthir-Turgon arguments over taxes will never not be funny to me).

Mending by theScrap_Witch 🔒 - “Caranthir sits by Haleth’s side as she dies and thinks of his family, his life, and his craft.” (Oneshot, T) Very sweet! I loved how the story wove Caranthir’s memories into the present day (pun very much intended), and his love for his craft is so beautiful. I also really enjoyed the visitors at the end :)

Your Eyes Are Like Knives (And I Really Like Knives) by @sweetteaanddragons (Drag0nst0rm on AO3) - Haleth knows that Caranthir is hiding something, and she is determined to find out what it is. (Oneshot, T) I saw that this fic was going to be part of TRSB 2024 a few days before the fics all got released, and I was so excited to read it! I had a fantastic time eagerly devouring it with much excitement and laughter, and as per usual, I thoroughly enjoyed Haleth flustering Caranthir.

Yours Dearly, Most Sincerely by Drag0nst0rm - “Five times Nerdanel had to help Feanaro write a letter, and one time he returned the favor. (And two times they had to write a letter alone.)” (Doubleshot, T) This fic both filled me up with the love Fëanor and Nerdanel had for each other (and their sons!) and ripped me to pieces with angst. The way Nerdanel often balances out Fëanor’s fiery spirit when it comes to composing a letter—and the way he chooses to listen to her!—is wonderful to read; the scene with the third letter practically gave me a heart attack from how adorably fluffy it was. Of course, this makes it all the more heartbreaking when they are apart. A very emotional read all around!

Breaking Into Light by @starspray ✍️ - Glingaereth happens to meet Fingon, the crown prince of the Noldor, and the two begin to take an interest in each other. (4 chapters, in progress, T) I haven’t read any Fingon x OFC fics before, and I really liked this one! Glingaereth and the other original characters stand well on their own, and the chemistry between Glingaereth and Fingon feels natural. I also liked the outside perspectives of the Noldor royal family and the uneasiness amongst the Sindar about the sense of doom following the Noldor.

Nothing in the World is Single by StarSpray - Eärendil and Elwing become friends…and then more. (5 chapters, T [AO3 rating] / G [personal rating]) This is so sweet! I really enjoyed this fic—the easy pacing, Eärendil’s friendly nature, and Elwing’s more reserved personality all combine to make a great read. The descriptions are wonderful, and I liked Eärendil and Elwing’s adventures.

Character, Time, or Place-Focused

Kidnap Fam

What matters is ‘you’ and not the state of you. by @havenotwillnotreadthebooks (EclecticKefi on AO3) - “Maglor contemplates the Peredhel that he and his brother have taken in, then contemplates the effect of this new life on Maedhros.” (Doubleshot, T) This was such an enjoyable read! I loved reading Maglor’s reflections, especially on Maedhros as a father figure to Elrond and Elros. I also enjoyed reading how the twins’ nature as peredhel (and being somewhat eldritch to boot) affects their domestic life with Maglor and Maedhros.

I keep my enemies closer than the mirror ever gets to me by EclecticKefi 🔒 - Elrond and Elros hide in Maglor’s closet and overhear Maedhros and Maglor talking. (Oneshot, T) This fic is both heartbreaking and heartwarming in multiple ways. The two peredhel have seen far too much trauma and suffering in their young lives, but their empathy is really sweet. Also, I’m always a fan of eldritch!peredhel, so I liked the notes of that scattered throughout the story.

On Monsters and Lullabies by Tilion - Maglor is the one the twins like, not Maedhros, and Maglor confronts his brother. (Oneshot, T) I will never tire of the angstiness of Maedhros and Maglor arguing over the twins and the role they play in their lives, nor how Maedhros becomes someone the twins can trust. Maglor’s softness with the twins is so sweet (baby Elrond and Elros are ADORABLE), and the reflections (both Maglor’s and Maedhros’) on how much Maedhros had changed since being in Valinor are really well-written.

And Love Grew by @polutrope (polutropos on AO3) ✍️ - Maedhros and Maglor deal with the aftermath of their attack on Sirion, and Maglor leads their host—including two young peredhel and their caretaker—to Amon Ereb. (6 chapters, in progress, T) A wonderfully complex, angsty, deeply woven tale. Every character and relationship has so many layers, and polutropos does a great job of exploring the darkness of the Oath and the ripple affect it has on the sons of Fëanor, their followers, and the people of Sirion.

And when we’re in the dark, it echoes in your heart by ElectricKefi - Elros unintentionally triggers Maedhros’ Sauron-related trauma. (Oneshot, T) Poor Maedhros AND poor Elros! The idea that the peredhel with Maia blood would bring back Maedhros’ memories of being tortured by Sauron—especially when Elros is trying to help him—is so sad. I loved the instantly-on-alert Maglor who is there to de-escalate the situation, too.

though the shadow closes in by millyfaraway - Maglor and Maedhros strategize to keep Elrond and Elros safe. (Oneshot, T) I really like the dialogue and OCs in this one! The discussion of Sauron and Morgoth’s desire for the peredhel, the plans to keep moving, and the connection Maedhros and Maglor share all flow quite well.

First Age Beleriand

Finwëons & Fëanorians:

Mind the Gap by Tilion - Maglor visits Himring. (Oneshot, T) Loved reading this!! Great characterization of both the characters themselves and their relationship. They are SUCH siblings in this, and I really enjoyed reading them snarking at each other and checking up on each other and seeking to ensure all was truly well. I’ll also never pass up a scene with Maglor braiding Maedhros’ hair.

The Light Behind Your Eyes by Tilion ✍️ - Scenes of Maglor and Maedhros after Thangorodrim. (2 chapters, in progress, T) I love how beautifully this portrays Maglor and Maedhros’ relationship. It balances the past and the present really well. Even though Maedhros is still clearly suffering from his time in Angband, this fic has a calm tone to it, and I can see the healing taking place in Maedhros’ spirit. A lovely read.

Scribbles and Squabbles by @dreamingthroughthenoise (Alantie on AO3) 🔒 - An argument between the Fëanorians, through letters. (7 chapters, T) This was a delight to read! Humorous at times, and heartfelt at others. I could pick up on the underlying hurt and desire to be seen that sparked the argument, and the love and care rising from the letters as things resolved. (The very clear and present sass was quite fun, too.)

Gingerbread Cookies by Elisif - Aredhel and Fingon supervise Idril and Tyelpë while they make Christmas cookies. (Oneshot, G) This is such an adorable fic—tiny Idril and Celebrimbor are so cute, and I loved Aredhel and Fingon’s brother-sister relationship. Their interactions have such fond sibling energy!

A Mere Shadow by Elisif - Maglor comes to visit Maedhros and is reminded of Thingol’s Quenya ban. (Oneshot, T) So good and so sad! I could immediately feel the shift in Maglor’s mood when Maedhros inadvertently reminds him of the ban, and the sorrow oozing from both brothers, as if from a wound.

the raging storm of a foreign war, and a face i'd seen before by @arafinweanappreciation (TelerinJedi on AO3) - Finarfin comes to Beleriand. (Oneshot, T) This fic is short yet so expressive!! I love Finarfin seeing Tol Sirion and him talking about avenging his son in such a terrifyingly calm manner.

Ill-Tidings by TheScrap_Witch 🔒 - Maedhros brings news to Curufin that Nargothrond has fallen. (Oneshot, T) Poor Curufin 😭 This fic has all the dad!Curufin feels!!!! Curufin’s humanity (or elvish equivalent, lol) shines through in this fic in his anguish over his son. His grief and rage are so palpable (and so well-written!).

Too Big, Too Heavy by @hwestalas - Maedhros visits the new High King of the Noldor after the Dagor Bragollach. (Oneshot, T) Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Fingon’s grief over Fingolfin is so raw and real, and I love how he tries to keep it together but fails in the face of Maedhros’ calm, devoted friendship. Such a great read.

ever an anguish that pursued by @thelordofgifs (TheChasm on AO3) 🩸 - Maglor tries to save Maedhros from the fire, but he keeps waking up. (Oneshot, T) UGH SO ANGSTY. So so angsty. All of the “what if”s that Maglor dreams could have happened are so terribly sad, because he can see so many ways out that don’t involve Maedhros jumping into the chasm. (Warning: suicide and multiple near-suicide attempts.)

stone on the board by @dalliansss - The Finwëons play games with politics in Beleriand at Mithrim. (Oneshot, T) So good! Love the politicking going on in this fic, primarily between Maedhros and Finrod. Quite an intriguing read.

there's no timer on grief 🔒 by Kat_isaconfusedbean - After Losgar, Amras mourns. (Oneshot, T) This is SO painful. Especially for how short this fic is. My heart aches for Amras (and for Celegorm). I love Celegorm coming to comfort his brother, along with Huan.

Unrepentent by theScrap_Witch 🔒 - Maedhros will not give up on obtaining the last Silmarils. (Oneshot, T) The Oath has Maedhros in its grip so tightly in this fic (along with his own memories and experiences), and it’s horrifying yet understandable to see him act and think the way he does. I love the dynamic between Maedhros and Maglor in this fic, too.

the ways of birds by @welcomingdisaster (welcoming_disaster on AO3) - “When Maglor is captured in the aftermath of the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, he doesn't expect a rescue. (for the prompts maglor + maedhros + "need to keep quiet" & "roadside wound tending.”)” (Oneshot, T) SO MUCH MAGLOR WHUMP. And so much tension, too. I could really feel Maglor’s raw, gritty pain and the ugly experiences he endured. It made the comfort part of “hurt/comfort” that much more relieving when he was, indeed, rescued.

Non-Finwëons:

Mad, Not Angry by AfricanDaisy - Young Thranduil is woken from a thunderstorm, and searches for a source of comfort: his father. (Oneshot, G) SO so cute! I could really feel Thranduil’s panic in searching for Oropher, and then his simultaneous relief and upset when he did find him. The descriptions are vivid and well-crafted, very fun to read!

no vela, no orion by TelerinJedi - A comment from Andreth’s sister causes her to wonder if she is in love with Nóm (or vice versa), and it is harder to have a discussion with him about this than she thinks. (Oneshot, G) The adolescent awkwardness and embarrassment in this fic brings me back to my teenage days XD This is really sweet though, truly. A light bit of fluff!

Second and Third Age Middle-Earth

living arrows sent forth by @balrogballs (timelessutterances on AO3) - Thranduil and Elrond discuss fatherhood at Arwen and Aragorn’s wedding reception. (Oneshot, T) SO. SO. GOOD. I seriously love the phrasing in this one, as well as Thranduil’s and Elrond’s characterizations, their long-held opinions and memories of each other, and their discussion of parenthood. Thranduil is so snarky and Elrond so earnest. Phenomenal all the way through.

rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated by @lighttrls (thunder_and_stars on AO3) - Unaware of elves’ habit of sleeping with their eyes open, Estel finds Elladan unmoving with his eyes open and thinks he must be dead. (Oneshot, T) POOR BABY ESTEL aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. The angst is off the charts in this one; my heart was breaking for tiny Aragorn. I was so glad that his assumption was corrected, in the end.

i'm fine, i prom- by thunder_and_stars - Elladan and Estel are captured by orcs and tortured. (Oneshot, T) Oh my goodness, I wanted to kill each and every orc right along with Elladan. The descriptions of the orcs’ actions, their impact on Estel physically, and the impact on Elladan emotionally were so vivid. It’s some good, heavy whump (with some comfort at the end).

sticks and stones may break my bones by thunder_and_stars - Some people don’t like the fact that Estel lives with the elves. (Oneshot, T) Once again, right there with one of the twins on wanting to beat up people for mistreating Estel. The way Estel tried to hide his injuries and then admitted what happened and what was said and done to him was so sad. Lots of hurt/comfort here.

A Long Way To Go In The Morning by @nocompromise-noregrets (likethenight on AO3) 🔒 - “The night before the Fellowship of the Ring leaves Rivendell, Elladan and Elrohir give Aragorn some encouragement.” (Oneshot, T) I really enjoyed this one! Elladan and Elrohir are such good brothers to Aragorn, and the way they lifted his spirits was really sweet. I liked the discussion of mortality as well as the hopefulness that the twins had about the Quest and Aragorn’s success.

Advice Unlooked For by sehellys - Aragorn talks to Elladan and Elrohir when they return from the Wild, and then he goes to the Feast in the Hall of Fire. (Oneshot, T) The descriptions in this one are simply beautiful—and so is the dialogue! I loved the shift from serious to “shenanigans mode” after the twins update Aragorn on what’s going on in the outside world.

Re-embodiment in Valinor

Red, Red Moon (Keep On Rising) by Tilion 🏳️‍🌈 (Celegorm/Oromë features somewhat prominently, especially in the back half) - Celegorm wakes up outside Mandos with two silver-haired elflings and no memories; he sets off to bring the boys to their parents and figure out his identity. (24 chapters, T) This was such a fun fic to keep up with as it got updates! Celegorm and the twins (kidnap fam 2.0, one might say) were incredibly adorable. I loved Legolas and Tauriel’s inclusion, and I highly enjoyed the whole identity crisis Celegorm went through (seriously, it was awesome). Celegorm feels SO Celegorm to me in this fic: cocky, rough around the edges, more caring than he’d like to admit. Overall there’s so much to this fic, and the twists and turns kept me on the edge of my seat.

Hemlock and Niphredil by theScrap_Witch 🔒 - “In Fourth Age Valinor, Elrond and Thingol connect over a shared love of gardening and grief for their daughters.” (Oneshot, T) I had never really thought about Elrond and Thingol’s similarities before this fic, and I loved getting to read them interacting and forming a friendship! Both have lost daughters by the choice to give up immortality, yet they have quite different personalities (and a complicated family tree), and it’s beautiful to see them connect through their shared experiences. (It’s also interesting to read Thingol portrayed in a more sympathetic light than most fics—yet not without his imperfections, certainly.)

Memento Vivere (Remember, You Must Live) by Drag0nst0rm - “Maedhros and Maglor have a long overdue discussion of what happened at the edge of that chasm - and what happened after.” (Oneshot, T) UGH so GOOD and so ANGSTY. There are so many emotional beats in this fic, and I found myself bracing for each one. I painfully love Maglor’s instincts when it comes to protecting/taking care of Maedhros after all these years, and how he doesn’t want the people he loves to be hurt because of him—though he has been in so much pain himself, and Maedhros sees that. Really, really good. (Warning: Discussion of suicide.)

White Water Flowing by StarSpray ✍️ - In Valinor and homesick for Imladris, Celebrían decides to build a new one. (6 chapters, in progress, T) This is such a lovely fic!! I’ve really enjoyed reading it. I love Celebrían’s characterization—many people underestimate her, and it’s wonderful to see her bloom after healing in Lórien. She simultaneously has a gentle soul and an admirable tenacity and drive. I also love reading her interacting with members of Elrond’s family and seeing how those relationships develop.

Handle with Care by theScrap_Witch 🔒 - “When Fëanor left the Halls of the Dead, he did not expect Mahtan to be the one waiting for him.” (Oneshot, T) I loved this!!! I don’t see a lot of Mahtan and Fëanor interactions, and I really enjoyed reading their conversation. (I grinned at Mahtan telling Fëanor off about Nerdanel. I haven’t seen that before and I’ve really wanted to, so it was quite satisfying.) It’s clear that they both carry a lot of grief, and they have a familiar relationship underpinning everything.

From Ruins We Grow by TheScrap_Witch 🔒✍️ - Fëanor learns how to live again (and how to garden!) when he is returned to life and placed under Yavanna’s responsibility to tend a small corner of Valinor. (7 chapters, in progress, T) I get so excited whenever I see an update for this fic in my inbox! There’s so much feeling in this fic, which is very fitting for Fëanáro’s fiery, intense character. It’s in turns amusing and exasperating to see him humbled by learning a new craft, yet I always find myself rooting for him in his endeavors. I love the relationships he forms with the visitors to his garden, and all the sweet memories of his sons practically make my heart melt.

AUs

In-Universe AUs

An Unexpected Rescue by SpaceWall - Fëanor realizes that someone has taken on the form of his half-brother Fingolfin, and that the real Fingolfin has disappeared. (Doubleshot, T) This is SUCH a cool AU!!! I really enjoyed reading this one. I love Fëanor’s insistence on figuring out what happened and finding Fingolfin, though of course in denial that he cares for his brother deep down. I’d say more but I don’t want to spoil it!

Will You Greet the Daylight Looming? by Tilion - Maglor persuades Maedhros to live. (Oneshot, T) Oh, this fic is terribly, delightfully angsty. I love how Maglor and Maedhros’ relationship is portrayed here, and the vivid imagery really brings it to life. Lots of thee/thou and ‘dearest’ language, too!

Reforged by theScrap_Witch 🔒🩸🏳️‍🌈 (background Celebrimbor/Gil-Galad) - Maeglin survives the fall of Gondolin, and Celebrimbor and others help him to find his way to healing. (20 chapters, G [AO3 rating] / T [personal rating]) What a story. Just—what a story. It takes you on a rollercoaster of emotion and growth and change and just, wow. I am so freaking proud of Maeglin in this fic, and I love his characterization. He digs his claws into life and doesn’t let go, and it’s incredible to see his transformation over the course of centuries. I also loved the inclusion of many other Second and Third Age characters in this story and how Maeglin’s life becomes intertwined with theirs. This fic is angsty and agonizing on so many levels, but it is fiercely emotional and cathartic in good ways too. I really enjoyed getting to follow along with this fic as it was published!

Scion of Mystery by Tilion 🏳️‍🌈 (minor Erestor/Curufin) - Elrond is determined to uncover Gil-galad’s true parentage. (7 chapters, T) Absolutely BUCK WILD Gil-Galad theory. Complete and total plot twist that I did NOT see coming until a few sentences before it was revealed!! Elrond’s shenanigans along the way to uncover Gil-Galad’s parentage were so much fun to read. Features kidnap fam and Celrond, along with other Fëanorians.

Parley AUs This is a subset of in-universe AUs where someone other than Maedhros gets taken at the parley with Morgoth. Apparently this was the year for me to get into parley AUs, and it even inspired me to write my own, lol!

The Price We Pay by theScrap_Witch 🔒🩸 - “In which Makalaurë goes to parlay with Morgoth, Findekáno still performs his dramatic rescue, and Maitimo struggles with both his little brother’s recovery and his responsibilities as king.” (Oneshot, T) This fic yanked out my heart and stomped on it and then tossed it off a cliff for good measure. I’ve read a few different Maglor-is-taken-at-the-parley fics, but oh boy, this one poured on the FEELS. Everything in this fic is heartbreaking—from Maglor’s belief that he is a “pretty bird” meant to sing to Morgoth, to Maedhros’ distrust/fear of Fingolfin, to all of Maglor’s brothers’ pain over his traumatized state—yet there is an undercurrent of hope that slowly rises throughout the story. It’s so well-written, and I highly, highly recommend it.

Despair Like Poison by theScrap_Witch 🔒 - “Thinking that he’s protecting his family, Maedhros rides to the parlay alone, unaware that Morgoth has a different trick in mind.” (Oneshot, bullet-point, T) Sooooo so angsty!! I really can’t say much about this without spoilers, but aaaaaaaaa. Maedhros is firm about his decision to go, but he’s so gentle with his brothers at the moment of departure, which makes what happens after so much worse.

A Crown of Bones by theScrap_Witch 🔒 - Maitimo and Makalaurë are taken in the parley with Morgoth, and Tyelkormo must take up the crown. (Oneshot, T) I really liked this AU! Celegorm has a lot to deal with here, both in being the oldest Fëanorion and being king of their people. The reminder that he can handle himself in political situations and display his power in words—not just physical action—is fantastic, and the way he cares so deeply for his younger brothers and misses his oldest two is heartwrenching.

Boldness Be My Friend by @a-tehta (tehta on AO3) - Celegorm has been captured by Morgoth, and it is up to Aredhel and Huan to rescue him from the cliff of Thangorodrim. (Oneshot, T) This one is surprisingly humorous for being a rescue-from-Thangorodrim fic, yet also sweet! I really loved getting a Huan POV (so cool), and I enjoyed Aredhel getting to be the rescuer. (There is a bit of implied future Celegorm/Aredhel at the end, but it’s mostly, if not entirely, played for humor.)

Modern AUs

Little Stars, Little Souls by Tamatoa (SaltandtheSoul) - Fëanor looks for his second son, who is dressed up for Halloween. (Oneshot, G) SUPER. CUTE. This is some of the fluffiest fluff to ever fluff and I was just gobbling it up. Baby Maglor is the cutest thing and I love Fëanor as a dad here.

the adventures of Elf Guy by red_01 - “A group of friends obsessed with The Silmarillion discovers a guy who bears a resemblance to Maglor—and uncover the truth.” (Oneshot, T) This was so much fun to read (and highly amusing)! The Twitter format was a great choice, and I’m impressed by the dedication to it. I enjoyed the back-and-forth chaos, internet-typical keysmashes and all caps, and references to artists in the Tolkien fandom (e.g., Clamavi de Profundis, “Phobs-style” cosplays).

Cookies by Brievel 🔒 - Girl Scouts visit the Ways’ house. (Oneshot, G) This absolutely delighted me. I love everything about it—the POV of the girl scouts, the way they were all intimidated by Max, a cameo by Nell, Birdie yelling for cookies in the background. It’s so sweet and made me grin so much.

Valentines Flowers by Brievel 🔒 - “Max brings Misty flowers.” (Oneshot, G) Max and Misty are just straight-up ADORABLE. The way they interact and how they familiar they are with each other’s habits shows how comfortable they are with each other. They both are down so bad, and I love to see it. I also love to see Max doing something nice for Misty :)

Other Tolkien Fics

These are fics that didn’t fit into any other category or had less than three fics within each category.

Miscellaneous:

The War of the Ring by @winterinhimring (morwen_of_gondor on AO3) - The sons of Fëanor are re-embodied and sent to Middle-Earth to atone for their crimes during the Third Age when the Quest for the Ring begins. (42 chapters, T) PSA: if you’ve read The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings, you must read this. Required reading. I am only very slightly joking. This story is absolutely PHENOMENAL. I was curious to see what the sons of Fëanor joining the Fellowship would be like, and I was blown away by how beautifully written it is. Y’all. It’s written in the style of The Lord of the Rings books. Like, legitimately. I never knew how much I needed to see the Fëanorions interacting with the hobbits, or showing the strength of ancient Valinorian-born elves in battle, and it all being written in true Tolkienian style is so incredibly wonderful. I can’t recommend this enough.

Joys to Come by @darkfrozenabyss - “Glorfindel, from Tirion to Rivendell.” (7 chapters, T) Loved this fic!!! I love darkfrozenabyss’ characterization of Glorfindel so much. There are so many emotionally powerful, simple and sweet, and feels-inducing moments in this story, and I really enjoyed Glorfindel’s family and how close he is with them!

Years of the Trees Valinor:

Little Father by feanorianswelcome 🔒 - “Maitimo finds little Atarinkë and brings him home for luncheon.” (Oneshot, G) Cute little Curufin oneshot with big brother Maitimo! I haven’t read a lot of Curufin & Maedhros together, so this was enjoyable (and very sweet).

Fine Feathers, Pretty Songs by an_evasive_author - Everyone loves tiny Findaráto (as they should). (Oneshot, G) SO. FREAKING. CUTE. All the fluff for Findaráto! I loved him so much (and the writing style of this fic, too).

Rings of Power:

Look into the Mirror (Tell Me What You See) by Drag0nst0rm - Second Age!Gil-Galad and Rings of Power!Gil-Galad switch places. (3 chapters, T) I have watched one (1) episode of the Rings of Power series, but I have thankfully read enough articles about it that I understand enough to read this fic! It’s a highly amusing and enjoyable read :) The difference in Gil-Galads is quite noticeable, and I loved seeing Second Age!Gil-Galad quite surprised at his (supposed) past actions in RoP, whereas RoP!Gil-Galad is a little less aware of the change in his surroundings (but everyone else certainly is).

Another Skin by crystal_buizel - Second Age!Elrond and Rings of Power!Elrond switch places (based off of “Look into the Mirror (Tell Me What You See)”). (Doubleshot, T) Another swapped places fic! Poor Elrond in both situations, but especially poor Second Age!Elrond. Like the other fic, I can’t say too much about it without spoilers, but this one is also enjoyable, with a bit more angst on the part of both Elronds.

Tumblr Oneshots:

just you wait by @lintamande - “being brilliant in mind and swift in action she had early absorbed all of what she was capable of the teaching which the Valar thought fit to give the Eldar…” (T) I really liked this oneshot! Galadriel in her youth is rather clueless when it comes to social interactions, though she is vastly intelligent in intellectual matters, and I can feel her frustration, restlessness, and pride so strongly in this. Really well-written.

Oropher and Celeborn have a conversation by @amethysttribble - At a party, Oropher and Celeborn talk about the line of Lúthien. (T) SO good!!!! I loved this so much. Oropher and Celeborn’s characterization and views on things make a lot of sense, and I love how their discussion flows. They are the last two of Doriath, and that weight on their shoulders is so evident throughout this fic.

Non-Tolkien Fics

Longmire

A Never Ending Bake Sale by ladygray99 - Walt and Henry spend a casual evening together at The Red Pony. (Oneshot, T) I absolutely loved reading this fic. I feel like ladygray99 really nailed the characters, their relationship, and their mannerisms. Everything in Walt and Henry’s conversation, said and unsaid, felt very natural and relaxed. You can feel the depth of their 38-year-long friendship and how comfortable with each other they are. Although I’ve only seen the TV show and not read the books, I liked how it incorporated things from both. A great read!

Every Page You Turn You’re Writing (Typing) Your Legacy by @cminerva and @whatamess 🔒 - “For nearly four decades, Mathias has found many reasons to admire Ms. Ruby Mason née Taylor and in that time Ms. Ruby has found just as many reasons to be fond—and so proud—of the man Mathias has become.” (Oneshot, T) Oh my GOSH. This fic is adorable and cringy (in the best way!) and so freaking cute. I highly enjoyed the descriptions of Durant high school in the early 80s, complete with a typing class; although I wasn’t alive at the time, it feels quite realistic. I loved seeing Mathias’ journey through high school into adulthood and the way his and Ruby’s friendship developed over time, from Mathias’ schoolboy crush to his respect for the amazing woman she is. Mathias and Ruby’s friendship has now become canon to me, to the point where I’ll watch episodes and get excited whenever these two characters (who, for anyone who doesn’t know the show, are minor characters and very rarely interact) get to see each other, even only for a quick nod or short smile.

Something New by cminerva - Though they’ve known each other for years, May Stillwater and Mathias Littlesun have never been friends—and indeed, they’ve been enemies before—but perhaps it’s time for something new. (Oneshot, T) I am now a May/Mathias shipper after reading this fic XD I really liked how this not only addressed the (admittedly few) interactions they had in the TV show but also added more “off-screen” ones to give more depth to their on-screen appearances. They have a lot of reason to dislike each other, but I loved how in this fic, they began to see reasons to respect each other and then caught feelings. So cute!

Quigley Down Under

Morning Sun by Brievel 🔒 - Matthew and Cora wake up together. (Oneshot, G) This fic is SO SOFT. I can totally picture this happening as an epilogue after the end of the movie, and I can hear their voices so well. The details are quite lovely. Quigley Down Under is a pretty niche film, but if you’ve seen it, you deserve to read this fic!

I mentioned this at the start, but I wanted to reiterate because I truly am very grateful—To all the fic authors, people posting meta/analyses, and fan artists: Thank you for sharing your work with the world. Your stories, musings, and art have brought me a lot of joy (and frequently, encouragement) this past year, and it’s still kinda crazy to me that I can read or see it for free. Because you loved canon enough to make something from it, and you wanted to share the results of that love with others. Thank you. ❤️

And thank you to all who read this far XD Hope you enjoy some (or all!) of these fics!

Other Fic Rec Lists: 2023 Fic Recs, Fic Recs for Elrond Week 2024 (on fandomsandfairytales)

[discardead]

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—　Interactions from @ran-washimine

[antimony-medusa]

Hi! To preface: I don't think there's any one right or wrong answer to my question necessarily, but I value your opinion as a level-headed adult in this fandom who can probably provide sensible input on the issue I'm having, so I thought I'd ask.

If a CC asks for their character not to be drawn (specifically referring to fanart, which they likely saw on Twitter) in a sexualised way, what does that mean for written fanwork content? Is it "wrong" (putting this in quotation marks since that's a loaded word, to say the least) to write nsfw content about said character and post it on Ao3, considering the differences in visibility/CC knowledge of those platforms, as well as the general consensus/expectation that CCs don't generally read fanfic anyway? Where is the line between "you should respect the CC's wishes" (avoiding the word "boundaries" since that's also very loaded in mcyt spaces) and "you can do whatever you want forever; fanworks are created by and for fans, not for the creators" drawn? Does "just don't put it where they can see unless they go looking" (i.e. correctly tagged on Ao3, not on a CC-frequented site like Twitter) apply? Would it be better not to do it at all, or only create and share said content in private spaces like Discord? Or is this all a "there is no single 'morally correct' answer, make your own personal judgement" thing?

(Sorry for the long-winded question but this is genuinely something I'm struggling with right now, lol. As I said I value and respect your opinion and views about these kinds of things in fandom, so if you have anything to say on the matter I'd appreciate your input!)

Alright so, obligatory warning for discourse on this one right at the top, and possibly also long post. These tend to be me rambling.

This is a situation that I think it's fair that a lot of people disagree. Your personal comfort level with making NSFW content in general is not where my comfort level is, we can come to totally different equilibriums. And then you add in creators expressing that they don't like seeing NSFW content of their characters, and people end up in a whole lot of different places, whether that's a complete no on shipping or NSFW, or people feeling fine to consume it but not create it, or only if it's archive locked, or only specific ships or smps, or whatever. I think it's fine that we don't all agree on this, creation is a fickle beast and we are in a weird place as a fandom of being not rpf but kinda cousins, and we can get *really* close to the creators with twitch and twitter, so people's comfort level in meshing all the parasociality and roleplay and real life of it all can end up in a lot of different places.

I just think that the most important thing for the fandom being a healthy place to spend time on the internet is that we don't go aroud sending hate/abuse to those we disagree with. a) i don't agree with internet mobs or suicide baiting or anon hate in general, b) the number of times I have seen internet games of telephone happen when it comes to this subject is unreal. To use an example from literally today, I saw someone saying that Pac of qsmp pacmike was uncomfortable with shipping art and fic and we all should stop shipping immediately, and once I tracked it back to its source, it turns out that what had happened was the creator said that he wasn't a fan that all the art was of him in the jumpsuit that used to be his skin, he has a new skin now, which turned into sexy jumpsuit art was the problem, which turned into pac hates all sexy fan art, which turned into "pac is being bombarded with nsfw art and shipping and he hates it". Now he might actually also not like NSFW art, but that's not actually what he was adressing, but it was certainly what was being circulated! So like, people warning me off of certain subjects— how do I know that they're actually accurate or if twitter just went twitter on a passing mention of something someone said on a twitch stream?

So I think it's way way way healthier for us as a fandom to sometimes disagree on the subject of "what we're drawing/writing about" and when that happens we implement Don't Like; Don't Read, and we just ignore that, or block if necessary. Don't Want To See it? Simply Don't See It. It's a bad idea to start hate campaigns for sinners, and half the time it's based on bad information anyways.

But in cases that you do know that the creator doesn't want to see that, you found an accurate clip? So this is a case where I think that there's no single moral answer to this that everyone is gonna agree on. We're all coming at it from too many different cultural backgrounds and different streamers in mind and comfort levels with NSFW in general. I don't think there is a firm answer that is gonna make you morally safe. But my personal feelings is that in cases where we know the creators doesn't want to see that, I think the important part there is that the creator never sees that, not that we stamp it off the internet entirely.

I do think, personally, ymmv, that you are not necessarily doing anything morally wrong with drawing or writing NSFW of someone's character, even if they think it's weird. There's a long history of creators saying "you can't do [this] with my characters," and it happens to be you can't [make them gay] enough to make me uncomfortable in general principle with saying creator of the character gets to call the shots in all settings forever. This happened with Anne Rice and with the supernatural fandom and like— it's the internet, we get to make the characters be gay together. This is the making sex jokes about fictional characters website, and Ao3 is the making porn about fictional characters website. I think it's fine if it exists on the internet, the question comes down to one of what we're forcing the creator to see, or what we're putting where they'll stumble upon it. Like, examples from real life— if you have a friend who's vegan, it's polite to not spend time rhapsodizing about how good meat is around them, and if you know that meat makes them sick, it's polite to do a meatless meal around them. That's a human person you want to be okay around you. But that's their boundary for their life, not yours, so even when you're being polite you have no obligation to go vegan when they're not around. And they have a politeness obligation to not walk into a steakhouse and freak out because there's meat there. They have a boundary for their life, and I'm going to respect it, but my life is a different story, and they need to take reasonable steps to protect their boundaries and not just expect everyone else to conform to them.

Or walking by someone on the street and waiting till they're out of earshot and then going "jesus christ that guy was hot" to your friends— that's fine. That's normal human behaviour. What becomes rude is when you make it hot guy's problem and yell at him. Being attracted to someone in your own space is not a problem. I'm aroace, I am not going to be in a relationship with anyone. I'm not going to ban having crushes on me, as long as you don't make it my business. Talking about an attractive person in your own space is not a problem. Being sexual in your own space— and again we are talking about fictional characters, the way I see it, these are lies we're telling about folks that are not real, who live in little minecraft worlds— that's fine. The problem is if we start catcalling people about it.

When you walk into fandom spaces you are walking into a space where we all like taking fictional guys and telling stories about them and a good portion of those stories are going to include kissing. That is not necessarily baseline normal for like, all of humanity, but people talk about tv shows they watch as one of the classic work small talk techniques. Fandom takes the "I hope ted gets together with jessica" "no he needs to work on himself first" discussion and writes stories, is all, to share with each other. Privately. On our special private website where there's a button you can click to hide your work from search engines and another one to hide it from logged-out users. If you log into the website and search things up, no tags blocked, what you find is on you for saying "I will see literally anything that exists on this subject in a space meant for literally anything". You will find gore. You will find kissing. You literally just opted in to seeing it. That's on you.

So like, there's my little defense of nsfw work existing in general, I think it existing is not a problem. I do think that we should keep it FAR AWAY from streamers. They get to set the rules for their spaces, and if someone doesn't want to see sexualized fan art, I do think we should make sure that in a reasonable way, they never have to see sexualized fan art/fic.

So like me personally, I'm going to hit that Ao3 button to hide my work from search engines, and anything NSFW (or shippy, depending on the person) is not going to go into the main tags on tumblr or twitter or anywhere I'm aware that the creators ever check that tag, and I'd probably archive lock it if the creator had publically mentioned being uncomfortable with it, and if I was regularly posting NSFW I'd block the creators on social media with any account I discuss NSFW with. I want to make sure that I am talking to my friends about the cubitos, not catcalling someone.

And I would probably err on the side of caution when it comes to social media sites that creators are on? Okay so the fandom has a habit of saying that NSFW and Shipping is BAD and can't exist, on the one hand, but on the other hand it says that anything that isn't Bad Wrong Shipping/Explicit NSFW is fine, which leads to like— extremely sexy thirst trap art being drawn and then the creators are tagged. People putting family dynamic fics that really pushes that envelope in the main tag. Gahhhhhh????? No? Don't do that?

I think it would be healthier in the fandom if we did a lot more going "this is for the fandom, not the creator" and we don't tag creators on twitter, and we took our little kissing fics, or gore, or kidfic, or neurodiverse headcanons, or anything else it might be not for the creator to see, and we kept it in fandom spaces and away from creators. But Ao3 is that fandom space that you have to opt into, it's literally archive of our Own, for fans, in that space as long as you tag it you're good.

So the TL;DR of this all is that my opinion is that if you tag it correctly on Ao3 you're fine. Maybe archive lock it. Keep it off twitter. Don't make it the streamer's problem, and you're good.

[m4ds-ba1ley]

“ Show me your hands ! “

Hi Tumblr!!!! Oh my gosh, Steph told me to get this app, and I am SO excited!!! Okay, what did she said I should start with..? OH! Right, the intro!!

My name is Madison!! Most people just call me Mads or Maddie, but really anything works ^^! I’m seventeen years old, and I go to Hatchetfield High! I’m bisexual, and I use she/they pronouns :) My older brother is a police officer at the Hatchetfield Police Department, and I volunteer there!! Sometimes as a cop, sometimes as a detective.. either way, it’s super fun!! You guys probably know my brother as Officer Bailey!! I’m SUPER into police stuff. I love true crime, and my dream since I was eight is to be a cop!! Although, I do really like the dance classes I take.. and Dance Moms. Me and Steph love watching that together!! Anywayssss I hope I can make lots of friends on here :) I was also told to answer questions? So if you have any, send them my way!!! I’m glad to talk ^^

OOC ;

HI!!!! Um, soo……. this is my oc!! Full name is Madison Bailey! IM SUPER EXCITED FOR THIS ROLEPLAY BLOG SHJASG PLEASE INTERACT I BEG 🙏🗣️ My main is @royall-ass in case you wanna know more about ME (i also post a lot of art on there and it would mean a lot if you interacted and reblogged…….)

When it comes to stuff I will and will not do, I’m practically up for anything! Unless it’s any of these ⬇️

Incest

Pedophilia

NSFT (I am a MINOR!!!)

If you do want to do a ship roleplay, I’m fine with kissing and stuff if that’s what you wanna do!!! However, I am not doing full on roleplay sex 😭

I’m up for shipping!!! Although, again, if it’s under any of this stuff, it’s automatic no

If you have any au’s you wanna do, please dm me or comment underneath any post with information!!! It makes it a lot easier than just jumping into it lol

There will be differences from interactions that are on Tumblr, over text/call, and in person!

Tumblr ; Just regular text!

Text/Call ; ‘ like this!! ‘

In person ; actions will be in plain italics, “and speaking in person will be in quotation marks” ^^

I will put my ooc comments in the tags!!

Other than that, stay safe, and have fun on this blog!!

dividers from @saradika-graphics

[saints-helen]

:333

More crepic making out! With even MORE angst this time! :D

Implied human cross and epic, but feel free to ignore the like, three lines that reference that😭

All the cw and tw are in the past btw, because epic would NEVER, so dw about that, it's just cross thinking about the past

Heed the tags, enjoy!

Cross felt his breath knocked away, his eyes fluttering closed and open as epic gently kissed him, he reached out his arm by instinct, to grip, to pull, to- Anything, but epic stopped him, gently yet firmly grabbing his scrambling wrist, calming him for a moment, squeezing, before he interlaced their fingers together and cross Breathed.

Cross settled on having his eyes closed, his hand squeezing epic's here and there for reassurance, and it was always met with a steadying squeeze back as he slowly yet surely relaxed, as epic hasn't gone any deeper yet.

Yet.

He squeezed his hand yet again, Tighter this time, more insistent, and epic squeezed right back, thumb tracing over his hand's back in circles as he tilted his head, gentle, soft,

Patient.

Cross willed his eyebrows to relax, willed his shoulders to untense as they broke away a moment to breathe, only to get right back to it, the nerves alight in his head calming, smoothing beneath the slow, warming heat.

He exhaled through his nose finally, relaxing, and he felt epic smile against him, as if he couldn't help it, and it made his breath stutter all over again.

God he likes this but God he hadn't done this in so Long, not like this, at least, and never for this long.

It was a precursor before everyone else's favourite event, and it never seemed to matter whether cross wanted to indulge in it a bit more before moving on, so he'd simply stopped asking.

But he never had to Ask with epic. Well, he Did, actually, but it was moreso to get Rewarded for asking (usually with extra kisses) than it was for keeping himself.. safe, as epic had put it.

It still seemed Weird, that he has a choice in this, that he has a choice in any of this at all and wasn't just expected to do it to fulfill some unseen, unsaid quota of their relationship, that he wasn't "failing" by "depriving" epic of what he so surely "deserved".

(He's the one that scoffed, He's the one that insisted cross put quotation marks around those words, and as miffed and annoyed as cross was about it, he's never been one to disobey. So, he obeyed, and he did it)

Epic never went too fast with him, and the most shocking thing is, he didn't even seem to Want to.

He seems Delighted in it, actually, each time cross asked him to be patient, asked him if they could go slower. He seemed to Revel in it, that hesitant question, and he seemed to find it even More enticing to tell cross that yes, of course, that Is what they'll be doing, usually while adding some incredibly stupid nickname at the end to make him blush even More, as if how flustered he was already wasn't enough.

Cross was used to being rushed, being stringed along, having to pull himself out the daze kissing put him in and hastily take off his clothes for the next part, lest the other party get impatient or Worse, disinterested.

But it didn't even seem like epic was being Nice. He was patient, sure, kind, incredibly so, gentle, moreso than cross thought was possible, but he just- he didn't seem like he Wanted to go faster, rougher, get to the "good" part quicker,

(Again with the damn Quotation marks)

("Any time i spend with you is the best part of my day, bruh, whatever we do during that time doesn't really matter to me.")

He just.. he just seemed to like this, like it like this, like it the way cross did. And cross knew he'd done it in other ways, Many other ways, epic was not shy about telling him how much fun he had with random people, but its just- why? Why was he also like this? He said he'd like it any way cross liked it, and cross had said he's fine with anything, so epic should pick right? But he Didn't.

And that's the thing, he Never Picked, and it was Infuriating.

Cross. Hated. Things he couldn't understand. Moreso about himself, moreso about other People, more and more about Epic. He Hated it he hated it with a burning passion. And one think he could never understand, was why epic just- let him have his way with him. Any way he wanted. Always.

It felt unfair. It felt Disgusting, and more than anything it felt Wrong, like cross was committing some horrible, horrible sin by making him "wait".

And epic insisted that it was fine, Insisted that cross could take his time but how long until he got sick of him, too?

How long until his smile began straining around the words? How long until he looked at cross like he was- defective, Wrong, god forbid Needy, for not wanting this like everybody else did,

For not wanting this as Often as everyone else did.

Epic pulled away slightly, murmuring something to cross that he couldn't hear as he gently pushed him to lay down on the bed, and instantly cross felt that familiar panic, that rush of adrenaline and tv static in his head as epic adjusted his position to sit on top.

Hesitantly, before be could stop himself from thinking about it, he pushed his hand against epic's chest, weakly willing him away, an excuse on the tip of his tongue, maybe tomorrow, he was tired, really, Really maybe let's try again tomorrow night- before epic had it clamped back shut again by grabbing his hand and pressing it to his cheek, his eyes contently closed as he nuzzled it, voice soft.

"Nothing more, promise. Just kissing, nothing else. Yeah?"

And pressing soft kisses to his palm, cross swallowed, voice suddenly feeling so very stupid.

"I- yeah, yeah okay i- yeah, yeah."

"Alright."

He sighed, straddling cross's waist as he leaned down to press their chests together, and cross couldn't even think if the position was comfortable for him or not before epic was sighing again, speaking dreamily.

"You're so Pretty cross, so good with me"

And oh, oh did That get him to shut up.

Then came his common question, a lovestruck look in his eyes as he cupped his cheek, thumbing at the soft skin beneath his hand;

"May i?"

And, of course, he got a bashful nod.

And they were kissing again.

Stars above, okay-

And that's another thing, they hadn't had sex yet. It was... Fine, he supposes. But it was more weird than anything that Epic found it fine, too.

Granted cross would be happily content in never doing it, but he knew that wasn't how it worked, he knew that wasn't how Any of this worked, and he really, really liked epic, loved him, even, and he really, really wanted to keep this going.

(He'd never met anybody else so Nice, so kind, so patient with him and all his stupid stupid bullshit. And he really didn't want that to go away) so he knew he'd have to suck it up eventually and just get it over with.

And then.. keep getting it over with. For what would presumably be the rest of.. the rest of his life.

..

...

....

Yeah he just- he just really didn't want to keep thinking about that and- God why couldn't his brain just focus on the fact that they were Kissing-

And regarding that thing from earlier, his brain oh so Helpfully and Lovingly supplied, why did epic never rush him? Why did he never get sick of waiting? He told him he'd be content waiting, he told him he'd be content waiting for him Forever, but he just- cross knew he didn't know what he was talking about, he knew he didn't understand what he was getting into, how long forever actually was, because if he did, they wouldn't be here right now, with epic straddling his waist, yet somehow not putting too much weight on his body, and his hands roaming over cross's cheek and neck and carding through his hair.

Making out.

Like it was All epic wanted to do.

He wonders, then, if he didn't put his hand up what would've happened, if he didn't stop him (stop him, ha, like cross had ever actually stopped anyone in his entire life) would he have initiated? Would he have just started? Who's clothes would he have taken off first? He knew epic would go slow, hopefully gentle, but slow still always eventually got Somewhere, got There.

There's Always a destination, and it seems cross is the only person not wanting to go.

Maybe there really is something wrong with him, his inability to understand what people mean when they say "forever" has led to one of his first relationships just- going really, really badly.

He'd been relieved, content, even, Happy, when his partner had told him with a smile that they loved him so. That they would wait forever.

Honeyed words, and he was so Happy, so, so happy.

Until it all turned to impatience, because "taking it slow" always meant getting there eventually, cross just- hadn't realised that "eventually" and "forever" apparently had basically the same meaning.

He'd said no, multiple times, and yet the nagging never stopped.

Well, it wasn't exactly "nagging" he supposes, that's kind of unfair, it was more... The air.

Everywhere.

Flinching away from every touch he'd lean into before, because he knew if he leaned into lt, they'd Always try again.

The compliments slowly ever so slowly shifting to only how he looked, how body, how his voice was so very Lovely, and cross wasn't stupid, he knew what this meant, for all his stupid, Stupid inability to read between the lines everyone else saw, he knew what this meant, he just pretended not to, he Didn't Want to, he didn't Want to understand, he didn't Want to Do this, and be hated this song and dance so, so much, how it all came down to- how the Entire relationship came down to whether he could suck it up and do it or not.

And.. of course,

He did.

Didn't last long, disappointing really, over somehow after what felt like hours and yet also felt just like a few minutes, or seconds, who was sure, the people there maybe, He certainly wasn't, and if he was, he couldn't remember it all that well.

All that he Could remember, however, was the fact he was broken up with less than a week later.

"We're just not compatible", they'd said, voice clipped and arms crossed and looking away, all while cross tried to catch their eye for something to cling to.

"But i.. i did it, just like you wanted right? I set the mood and everything" he said, his voice slowly growing weaker then stronger "so why are.. and anyway you'd said you'd wait forever, so what was the problem?? You didn't have to even though you said you Would"

"Stars above cross do you just not understand!? "Forever" isn't real, it just means- ugh, whatever, you wouldn't understand anyway" they said, with a hint of hurt in their voice, as if this was all somehow Cross's fault, for believing what they'd told him.

And it just- it wasn't, right? He did everything right? He did, he Knows he did. Maybe he made them wait a bit too long or- or Something but he Did Do it!! And not Badly may he add, he did it, he did it and he did it Well so-

So why wasn't it enough?

He'd do it quicker next time, surely then, but no, dumped again.

Okay, um, maybe that was a fluke? No, dumped Again.

Okay.. maybe the first date next time? No, ghosted, and left in bed cold and alone even though he was promised company the next morning (and oh.. oh god had that hurt more than Anything).

Over and over and over again he'd been Perfect, he'd been good, and listened, and did as he was expected to and yet it was never, Ever, enough.

What was he doing wrong? Was it him? Was it Him that was the problem? He didn't really enjoy it yeah duh but maybe if he faked it better this time and No, no no no dumped Again.

He didn't understand. He didn't Understand, what kept going wrong? Was he truly that unlikable? That even when bending over backwards (sometimes Literally!) for other people he still wasn't Good enough? Did he Have to want this? Was that the only way?

And if he couldn't, was he just-.. doomed?

He didn't think he could take it. He didn't think he could take it if he woke up alone again, if cuddling turned to fondling again, if gentle turned to rough and he had to just Sit There and Grit His Teeth and Bear it.

Maybe, Maybe, if he tried hard enough but no, they could see it in him, smell it on him, how wrong he was how Defective.

God, stars, he should apologise.

Epic really did get the least fun version of him.

[unclefungusthegoat]

So I've been thinking about THIS:

for like a whole day now, and it's got me like:

So here are my notes and questions and thoughts:

Gonna be long, going to put under a 'keep reading'

THE PEOPLE INVOLVED

Simon Mirren. He created Versailles, and him posting this image suggests that he's working on a project related to Versailles or the Louis XIV period of history.

'He's back'. The word 'back' here absolutely suggests a return of someone we're familiar with.

Alex Vlahos is INVESTED in whatever it is - suggesting 'HE' is Philippe. He liked the post and commented 'Makes you wonder why he ever went away'...

... and then David Wolstenscroft, the OTHER creator of Versailles, replied saying 'And how'.

This is so cryptic. They all know who 'he' is. Alex seems perhaps wistful, maybe about the end of the show and therefore the end of Philippe. 'And how'... I've no freaking idea what this means. How 'Philippe' went away? How he's come back?

How he went away... the show ended.

How he's come back... well I have a theory later.

This screenshot above is taken from Gabriella Petrillo's Twitter account - as you can see, Alex shared the pic to his Instagram story captioned 'Oh, who invited you?'

Which is in QUOTATION MARKS.

Meaning that this is either Philippe asking the audience, or a general character tagline for the project.

OTHER PEOPLE WHO LIKED THE PIC

Anna Brewster (Montespan), Sarah Winter (Louise de la Valliere), Raphael Roger Levy (The Masked Man in S1), and also Nicki Oebel who works with Alex as the second half of his film company Cowhouse Films

TAGGED NAMES

Tagged in this picture are:

ALEX VLAHOS (and his tag is directly on the man's head, which might not mean anything, but suggests it's him)

EVAN WILLIAMS (not him, Chevy is blond)

GEORGE BLAGDEN (the only other real candidate as to who this could be, but compared side by side to the Versailles promo photos, and with the lack of response from George, I doubt it)

STUART BOWMAN (too young to be him)

Also tagged: Versailles Series, MonChevy Love, Versailles fan club.

Bonus: Helen Mirren (Simon Mirren's aunt), Bella Thorne, both actors, and also Louis Vuitton Official and Harris Reed, both fashion houses/designers

THE IMAGE

OK, so lets assume this is meant to be Philippe.

COSTUME/HAIR

The jacket is the wrong style for 1600s Versailles. It's more 1700s, and the real Philippe died in 1701. The costume designers for the original show were METICULOUS in their choices and the way things were worn. Including COLOUR PALATTES. Every character had their own. And Philippe only wore white like this once... at the costume party in S1 E9 when he dressed identically to Louis. Generally, Philippe wore more grey and silver.

If the figure is Philippe, the hair is the right colour, but shorter, and also half up, which is not a style Philippe ever wore in the show. His hair was sleeker with much looser waves, whereas this man has quite thick hair.

LOCATION

I think the Chateau in the photo is Fontainebleau, where some of Versailles was filmed, but I can't find a direct parallel photo from the position 'Philippe' is standing in. However, Fontainebleau has lots of water near it, like in the photo. (And I also feel like I saw Alex visiting there on Instagram within the past few months but I don't know if my brain is playing tricks on me)

IS IT AI?

My sister pointed out the image could be AI generated and honestly? I agree. No hands on show, and the bottom of the sleeves look a bit weird. No location tagged either. Historical costume that isn't quite right for the period we're assuming it to be, or for Philippe's character, which wouldn't be inkeeping with the series' aesthetic.

Could definitely be AI.

REALITY CHECK

Versailles was the most expensive show Canal+ had ever produced. I think it still is. And a new series, or spinoff series, would be just as expensive to produce. This isn't Game of Thrones we're talking about. The show has its hardcore fans, but it wasn't exactly a household name, which studios would throw masses of money at to reboot.

The story of S3 of Versailles also ended in the early-mid 1680s, just as the cast were reaching the point where it seemed ludicrous that they all still looked so young. The cast are now all doing different projects, several have married and had children since. They've moved on with their lives. To think they'd all return to a reboot or spinoff show... is unlikely.

However...

SAINT CLOUD

Alex Vlahos tormented us all with this snippet of a 'Saint Cloud' concept trailer a couple of months ago. Saint Cloud was the name of Philippe's chateau, and his spinoff idea was always a MonChevy comedy show about their lives and debauchery and stuff at their home.

But let's face it, this whole thing feels unlikely, and more just like a bit of a fun idea than something that a studio would actually produce, and he's only just started writing a concept trailer...

BUT.

SPEAKING OF...

ALEX VLAHOS

I'm gonna do a whole section on Alex Vlahos, because there's no way he's not involved. He, in fact, announced something at the convention that gives me my biggest theory about what this is.

Alex is obviously a driving force for the Versailles fandom. He was a key figure at the conventions and at the con in May I went to, and on Instagram shortly after, he announced he is going to do a Versailles podcast next year. It'll be a 30 episode thing, one for each episode of the show, and he said he'll have guest stars to chat to... including other actors and the showrunners, Simon Mirren and David Wolstencroft.

So.

That is a CONFIRMED upcoming Versailles project.

And so this image?

MY THEORY

I'm running with the theory that it's is a promo image for Alex's Versailles podcast, possibly made with AI.

It would make sense.

It's something for the fans, hence the tagged accounts. It'll feature the tagged actors to talk about the show. It's not something that is going to cost a million euros to make, so is more realistic. It's not a long term commitment for actors who have other jobs now.

It shows a man who looks a bit like Philippe - looking back at the chateau, as if reminiscing about his time there... just as Alex is going to do on his podcast.

BUT'S

Of course, this is just my theory. If it is the case, the fact that this podcast had already been announced twice makes the mysterious nature of this pic/conversation weird. And the fact that it was Simon Mirren posting it first, not Alex Vlahos, would be weird too, although maybe it's just because it's going to be quite an 'official' thing, with the support of the showrunners.

But I digress.

Anyway, on a final note, I would VERY VERY VERY willing to be proven wrong, and have a Versailles S4 or a MonChevy spinoff happening, I might actually cry if it does hahahaha

[lovl3igh]

You know, it be preferable if certain Jily artists would bother to tag their art with poc/desi james potter tag. Cause not all of us consider that headcanon to be ‘canon’. The author is problematic and all, but that doesn’t mean race swapping existing white characters is any better/makes y’all superior. It works for Hermione because she’s a muggleborn and the added subtext of her being picked on by a racist, pureblood white prick like Draco and the garbage Malfoys. And this doesn’t fucking mean Jily=Dramione! Fuck no. If anything, James being the reverse of Draco, but similar in he too was a white, pure blood privileged boy raised and pampered but was actual taught to not be a complete dick to those who’s blood status isn’t pure. Changing his race to fit a certain headcanon is bs and makes Dursleys hypocritical and worse(but skin color logic, they should hate Kingsley too). And it’s always James & Harry. Never Sirius, Remus, or Lily(who has the most reason to be race swapped). So overall, this fandom is a joke

overall after reading that i think every word you wrote is a joke (yeah, i'm answering just now, i had no time in last few weeks whatsoever)

"not all of us consider that headcanon to be 'canon'" what. putting canon in quotation marks doesn't make that sounds any more sensible. people know that poc james isn't canon even if they don't like idea of him being white. no one makes it canon or 'canon', it's fandom thing. no one calls it canon for real. no one can argue canonically white james

no one feels superior because of making race swap to any character but there's also nothing wrong with that as long as it's not harmful. there's bunch of white characters in hp, most of them. james is canonically white so there's no problem that he stays this way for you. but the thing is most of the things about marauders is headcanon because jkr didn't do much with them and one of those is poc james. and it's okay! there's canon white james and there's desi james and asian james and black james and biracial james and there's no way that could be harmful to you to the point to write long ask referring to my old post

harry potter universe has a canon black character that comes from muggle family. he's called dean thomas. there's also canon white character that is muggleborn. hermione granger. there are white and black characters born either in muggle family or magic one or mixed. because yes, blood purists in hp can be seen as racists. and looking from our world into what we're reading and watching it can be a good analogy. but characters in hp can be both racists and blood purists. dean could have been hated for beeing black and for being muggleborn, jkr just never wrote anything like that in her work but to the moment when dean was haunted in book 7 for being muggleborn. ted tonks was haunted as well and he's white. it wasn't about race, it was about blood. jkr made basically everyone white there and pretended that the only problem in the universe is purity of blood as if racism didn't exist

so no, it doesn't "work for hermione because she's a muggleborn". it doesn't work for lily "who has the most reason to be race swapped". it works for any character in the universe. in universe when you can see how muggleborn and mixed blood people are treated worse than those with pure blood . and if you need added subtext of muggleborn being poc to see a problem with blood purists, that's on you. as if black hp character couldn't be a blood purist. blaise zabini anyone?

headcanoning james and harry as poc doesn't make dursleys seem worse than they are. they are already horrible people. they were abusing A CHILD. canonically they were abusing white boy because he was a wizard, not other reason. making harry poc in headcanon doesn't make them worse because they did that canonically to white kid. it's terrible enough. making lily and harry poc instead of james and harry doesn't work better. vernon canonically still is white, with poc petunia abusing poc harry wouldn't automatically make vernon non-racist. it's giving "i have black friends, i can't be racist". you can. but we know that whatever color harry would be, vernon still would hate him because of his magic

[lusiibeingcute]

...suppose i should be makin' a real introduction...

...prefer not ta share my name online ... y'all can call me pasque ... or just about anything else. i've been called dad a couple times ... 'pparently it's an alien word for lusus or somethin' ... don't bother me none :} ... i use he/him :}...

...i made this blog so trolls could share cute pictures and stories about their lusii ... and cuz one a' my cullees told me i should get grumblr...

...speakin' of,,, i'm a little old for this social media thing ... 19 sweeps young,,, haha ... i'm also beforan (apparently some trolls on here ain't...? nice ta meet ya, non-beforans) ... 'm a culler of two an' a former cullee myself (lifelong,,, haha) ... this blog ain't about me or about cullin',,, but if ya got any questions about either i'd be happy to answer 'em ... my cullees might talk on here sometimes, but y'all better be nice ... an' before ya ask,,, one of 'ems too young for an account an' the other don't want social media...

...uh,,, some other stuff 'bout me ... please don' yell,,, i got sensitive ears ... i understand if yer quirk's all caps,,, that ain't the same thing,,, don' worry ... i also don' talk in real life,,, but i'm real verbose when i write :} ... i'm an oliveblood,,, m' sign's lesces ... all my quads're open (too busy farmin' and cullin' to really get out there,,, haha) i live on a lusus farm,,, an' my lusus is still alive an' kickin' (no,,, they don' always take away yer lusus when yer culled) ... i'll post pictures of 'er eventually :}...

...so uh, yeah ... send me stuff about yer lusii or ask me questions,,, jus' be nice to each other's all i ask :} ... oh, an' ya can't offend me,,, so don' bother,,, i've heard it all...

...tags i use:...

#...cute lusii... - ...what this blog's really for,,, cute pictures and stories about lusii...

#...me... - ...me...

#...pictures... - ...photos,,, either from asks or if my kiddos can ever teach me how this ding-danged palmhusk is s'posed to work...

#...kiddos... - ...my cullees ... love 'em lots...

#...cullin'... - ...posts about cullin'...

#...talkin'... - ...havin' conversations with folks...

OOC: run by @upward-centrifuge :D

NOTE: if you wanna send an ask on anon but you want it to have a picture, just send me the picture separately and tell me which anon you want me to attach it to.

I wanted to make a gimmick blog and for some reason I went hey, let's make the gimmick blog the only character i have with actual backstory and shit. anyway i'm not giving background for him like i do for my other blogs you're just gonna have to find out for yourself. what i will say is cowboy dad is transgender as hell. He's... technically nonverbal but only in the most literal sense? Idk if there's a word for that? He'll talk your ear off when he's able to write, type, or sign, it's just talking out loud he can't do. He's only 40 but is basically a grandfather. He for sure thinks lol means lots of love.

typing quirk: starts and ends paragraphs with ellipses, puts spaces around punctuation that ends a sentence and turns punctuation into ellipses (...? , ...! , ,,, , etc). Capitalizes nothing ever. Has a southern accent that shows itself in his typing quirk. Uses a bracket for a mouth in his emojis like this :}. Refuses to swear but will very willingly make things up or use ridiculous expressions to replace swears. Misuses "quotation marks", usually for """emphasis""". Similarities in his typing quirk to a certain canon bronzeblood's are entirely accidental I swear. It's based on how old people text and is also supposed to convey that he hates it when things are loud.

anyways enjoy Pasque he's for sure one of the guys ever.

[nebulouscoffee]

15 questions 15 mutuals*

*but I don't actually have 15 mutuals so we're just gonna have to make do lol

Thanks for the tag @bijoumikhawal!

Were you named after anyone?

Nope- though I almost was, first after my mom's little sister (who sadly passed away when they were children due to health complications) and then after a yoga teacher who turned my mom's life around- but in the end my parents went with some random name they just thought I "looked like" haha

When was the last time you cried?

*dramatic hair flip* well, I don't wanna brag, but, uh- I did cry myself to sleep last night💅💃🏾🙈 (no hugely tragic reason really lol it's just been a rough month)

Do you have kids?

Nope

Do you use sarcasm a lot?

I definitely can be sarcastic sometimes, but idk maybe not to the extent where I feel like people who know me would describe me as "sarcastic"? Thinking about it, I guess I usually reserve it for commentary on stupid conflicts and like bigots and stuff, not for everyday interactions with people just being harmlessly sincere

What’s the first thing you notice about people?

Faces I think? Not like any kind of evaluation, I just think that's the first thing I look at. Also I guess, do they look/sound like they're okay, or like they're having a bad day/in a bad mood

What’s your eye color?

Black. If you wanna get really technical, then really, really dark brown, but honestly it just looks black haha

Scary movies or happy endings?

I don't see how they're mutually exclusive! But if I had to answer, I do like horror but it's not my top watched genre, so happy endings I guess? Idkkk I don't really get this question

Any special talents?

Special? Hmmm idk... I can do a pretty solid gollum impression, does that count😂 (okay maybe impressions in general, yes unfortunately I was That Kid in class who could do all the teachers and some of my impressions were even Teacher Approved😂😂)

Where were you born?

*pulls a Garak and tells you six different answers*

What are your hobbies?

Writing, cooking, music, reading, movies- is it weird to say researching? Love researching

Have any pets?

Yuppp she's a mutt she's a stray she's a queen I love her <3

What sports do you play/have you played?

LOLLL okay back when I was a teen and I used to play sports For Fun (as in, I was never part of any teams or anything, just messing around VERY non-competitively with my friends) I dabbled in basketball, badminton, football (as in the kind where you kick a ball with your foot, not whatever y'all got going on in the US), frisbee & volleyball on the beach. But I cannot stress this enough- I sucked at everything across the board and it was all just for fun lmao, literally you cannot put enough quotation marks around "played" when saying I "played" sports😂🙈 Anyway those days are all gone, now I walk my dog ig

How tall are you?

Smol (juuuust about 5'3'')

Favorite subject in school?

Ahh I could never choose!! I love you science I love you social studies I love you literature everything was so interestinggg (I was a terrible student though, failed exams All the time😌)

Dream job?

I actually would love to write novels and instrumentals and stuff... And I guess I could probably see myself working in wildlife conservation too, maybe later on in life

Tagging: uhhhh @fancy-a-dance-brigadier @lorenzobane @enterprisery @sapphosewrites @cordrazine-official ummmm @wanderingwriter87 @trillscienceofficer and YOU!! Yes, you, seeing this post, consider yourself tagged (cheating😌)

[voidcatdoll]

FYI, you can also search by tag and get those filters! Either find a story with the tag you want and click on the tag, or go to the tag search, enter the tags name at the top and make sure to sort by uses and descending (it defaults to names and ascending for some fucking reason). I assume there'll be a tag (or tags) that'll fit the type of story you're looking for pretty closely.

Also, you can exclude things in the "edit search" menu! put "-[thing to exclude]" in the Any Field option at the top and that'll be sorted out. You might have to put it in quotation marks if the tag contains spaces or special characters used for filtering options, just click on the question mark next to the field to look up what those are.

I'm afraid the only thing you'll have to deal with is people not always tagging stuff. AO3 is very loose there by design. Its an archive, and its mission is to make preserving fanworks as easy as possible first. Thats why the only thing it really enforces with tagging is the correct fandom tags and putting appropriate warnings on your work. This policy also makes it unlikely that AO3 does what e621 just did and pulls the rug out from under everyone by going and deleting everything belonging to a objectionable category of works. AO3 was created and it was put in place explicitly to prevent that happening again.

(its also just impossible to enforce the kinda policy e621 has on AO3. e621 is images, its easy to quickly look at and make a judgement call for a moderator. Imagine you get a report on AO3 and now you need to read a novels worth of fiction to figure out if the report is legitimate & if anything else is missing. Its just a limitation of the prevalent format as well)

fwiw I'm sure a lot of authors will add a tag if you ask them nicely, & I think making that part of the culture is the best bet at improving that aspect of the reader experience on AO3.

i flipping hate ao3's layout there's too many goddamn words

[soubhagyaside]

OpenAI’s Guide To Prompt Engineering: 10 Tips To Know About ChatGPT

OpenAI released a guide to better search and generate good results from large language models like GPT-4 also known as GPT models.

OpenAI tries to give better results for searchers, so they have released the documentation

Here you can see the tactics that you can use to generate good results via their LLMs and you can also see the prompt engineering guide.

What Is Prompt Engineering

Prompt Engineering often refers to skills of crafting better results from large models or computer systems with some set of precise instructions.

Computers can’t read your mind or know what you need but if you write precise instructions then LLMs can give you the desired results.

Let’s say you want Dalle to draw a picture of a cat. If you just say “Draw something”, it will randomly generate anything.

But if you say “Draw a beautiful cat with green eyes with a pink bow standing next to a dog”, then it will give you specific instructions based on your prompts. They are called Prompts.

Let’s look at some other examples:

Normal Prompt: “Translate this sentence.”

Engineered Prompt: “Translate the following English sentence into French: ‘Hello, how are you today?’”

Normal Prompt: “Help me with this code.”

Engineered Prompt: “I’m trying to create a loop in Python to print numbers from 1 to 10. Provide a code snippet and explanation.”

Normal Prompt: “Solve this math problem.”

Engineered Prompt: “Calculate the area of a right-angled triangle with a base of 8 meters and a height of 5 meters.”

Now you know the basic understanding of prompt engineering. Let’s look at the guide of OpenAI to understand more about prompt engineering and this will help you to better interact with ChatGPT and other LLMs.

1. Write Clear Instructions For LLMs

Models can’t read your mind or know what you want. You have to give them a proper set of instructions.

If you don’t like the format, tell them the format you want. If you don’t like the replies or it’s too long, ask for another reply or to make it simpler to understand.

Include more details in your prompts to generate relevant answers.

Ask the model to adapt the persona you want.

Use delimiters like quotation marks, and XML tags to demonstrate a prompt to treat differently.

Specify the steps required to complete a task briefly

Provide the type of result you want with examples

Specify the length or any other output to give to the chatbot.

2. Provide Some References

Language models can give you fake answers or fabricated citations, URLs, and answers.

You have to give some reference text to these models so they can help you answer less fabricated or more accurate answers.

But you can’t fully rely on an LLM to give the important questions answer, so fact-check these results and them if it is correct or not.

Instruct the model to give answers using reference texts.

Instruct the model to answer with citations from a reference text.

3. Split Multiple Tasks Into Simpler Sub-Tasks

Like, you divide your complex or hard tasks into some simple tasks, the same way you can instruct the large models of the complex tasks into some simpler subtasks so that the chatbot can give you better results.

Complex answers tend to have high error or misinformation so you can give prompts with some simple tasks to give you the result.

Use intent classification to figure out what the user is asking for in a query.

For long conversations in chat applications, give a short summary or filter out unnecessary parts of the previous chat.

Break down and summarize long documents part by part, and then put together a complete summary step by step.

4. Give Time To Generate The Result

You can’t suddenly multiply some complex math problems, but with time you will be able to solve them.

Similarly, LLMs make more reasoning errors when you try to answer fast rather than taking time to work out answers.

Encourage the model to find its solution first instead of quickly deciding.

Make the model think through things internally or ask a series of questions to keep its reasoning hidden.

Check with the model if it overlooked anything in previous attempts.

5. Use Necessary And Useful Tools

LLMs perform best when you give them plenty of references. You can feed the models from the outputs of other tools.

OpenAI has another tool like OpenAI’s Code Interpreter that can help you do the math and run code.

So, if another tool can perform better and give a much more reliable answer, consider using tools and language models to generate better results.

Efficiently find information by using embeddings-based search for knowledge retrieval.

Enhance accuracy by allowing the model to execute code or connect with external APIs for calculations.

Enable the model to use specific functions for better performance.

Wrapping Up…

In conclusion, mastering the art of prompt engineering is the key to unlocking the full potential of large language models like GPT-4.

OpenAI’s guide tells you the importance of providing precise instructions to these models to get better results.

Remember, computers can’t read minds, but they excel at following well-crafted prompts.

Use these tips and tactics to generate much more specific and satisfying results with ChatGPT or any other chatbots.

Get to know the latest AI tools with the AI Newsletter — Subscribe HERE!

[frogsare-friends]

idk if anyone needs this tip, but dialogue! (you totally don't have to follow this stuff here, everyone has their own creative style but for those who want to challenge themselves or mix it up! anything i say "should be" one way doesn't mean it's wrong if it's a different way!)

if you're putting a dialogue tag in the middle of a sentence, separate with a comma or em dashes.

"Commas are really important," she told them, "and you should pay attention to them."

"Em dashes are really important" — I announced — "and you should use them when necessary, but not too often."

when putting a dialogue tag at the end of a sentence, there are some rules about punctuation: if what is in quotation marks is a question, use a question mark; if what is in quotation marks is an exclamation, use an exclamation point; if what is in the quotation marks is a command ending in a period or a declaration, use a comma before the end quotation. (only for end of sentence dialogue tags).

"He's a pirate!" the toddler yelled at his mom, unaware of her hand in hiring the party performer.

"Do you go to Jefferson High?" she asked the girl sitting across from her, recognizing her uncanny face.

"I wanna go home," Jessica whined as she took her seat next to me.

nobody walks away or stands up a sentence, make sure you're using dialogue tags correctly

add a period if you're explaining what someone does during or after something is said, not about how they're saying it. "I gotta get to work," he said, standing up. (notice the comma because of the dialogue tag at the end.) "I gotta get to work." He stood up. (notice the period and capitalization because "he stood up" is it's own sentence, he is not standing up "he has to get to work"). if you need help you should (almost) always be able to put a dialogue tag into "they were ___ing "(whatever the dialogue says)" format.

said is NOT dead, and it can be beneficial to let your audience infer things (show don't tell) but don't be afraid to use other words you feel work better. remember, dialogue tags are to explain how someone said something, not explain what they said. (and yes, people murmur and mutter, but most people do not murmur and mutter everything they say. it's not just talking quietly, they both have a connotation that generally make them not usable more than a couple of times)

"While not everyone has to write their dialogue this way, it makes it easier for your audience to follow," she elaborated. vs "While not everyone has to write their dialogue this way, it makes it easier for your audience to follow," she said (but announced or continued would also work, the main point is to say how she said it, not explain what she said). — rather than putting attention on the fact she's elaborating, you're drawing attention to what she's elaborating on; the audience will infer that she's elaborating.

however, "I hate you," I said. vs "I hate you," I spat. — but recognize that you're still leaving something for the audience to infer (i spat with animosity, anger, hatred, indignation, etc. is being a bit redundant, you spat, we know you're mad)

ask yourself if a character would really say that, ooc dialogue is fine if that's what you want to write, but it can really make or break a fic!

someone that represses their trauma or has a hard time talking about it isn't gonna have perfect therapy speech about their trauma. in fact, even characters that can and do talk about their trauma don't usually use therapy speech. they also might have broken speech with a lot of filler words (like, uhm, uh, or even skipping words entirely, ex (dialogue from 13 reasons why, tw rape/csa): "He'd touch me, and he'd... make me touch his- and uhm, he'd be hard.") and how in depth they go really goes back to that "what would this character do" question.

"She manipulated and abused me, and she'd gaslight me about it," he admitted. (there's nothing necessarily wrong with this, but it's ooc for a lot of characters and not a common way people talk about their trauma)

"She'd uh- hit me. Sometimes. And she'd make me feel like I was stupid. Like I was going crazy or something," he admitted.

or even "Yeah, he sexually assaulted me when I was a kid." She laughed it off, but I had a hard time doing the same.

i think that's it for now and one of the best parts of fanfiction is that you don't have to follow every word every time, but here they are if yiu want them! just some tips, and lmk if you want more ig

[steven-and-james]

Save your fic, skip the indentation.

Indentation may be necessary in a high school essay but on Archive of Our Own, indentation can make the reading experience unpleasant, especially if your paragraphs tend to be shorter. 

When it comes to line alignment, go left. 

While making your text justified may look best at first, it is hard on the eyes to read for longer stretches of time (especially when late at night—which is when most people tend to read fanfic!) So, for the sake of your reader, consider using left alignment.

Use quotation marks, it’s in the name. 

Even though it may be super obvious and easy to some, formatting dialogue into your fic can be tricky; let me save you some time. Indicate what is being spoken by bracketing it with quotation marks (these guys → “”) and refrain from using any other method, especially italics. 

Shut up, I’m thinking (not talking) 

So what do I use italics for? Glad you asked: Italics are typically used to demonstrate a character’s thoughts or emphasize a word or statement. Additionally, you may want to italicize a quote, song lyric, etc. Really, feel free to italicize anything you want, except, of course, dialogue.

Meet your new soulmate, horizontal lines. 

No longer are the days of thirty identical emojis and “POV SWITCH” spelled out in bold in the middle of a fic. If you are cutting to a new scene or switching points of view, just insert a horizontal line and call it a day. 

Quantity ≠ Quality

*Not applicable for fics under 1,500 words*

Having more chapters may seem more appealing on the surface, but having to press the next chapter button every minute can be a major deterrent for readers, especially those who use ao3 on their phone. Thus, if you have a 20k fic ready to go, think about splitting that baby into ten chapters instead of twenty. Remember, ao3 does not have a sort by chapter number option—only word count. 

Yeah, yeah, it’s summary time

Man, summaries can be confusing to navigate no matter if this is your first or fifth fic. Here are a couple things you should not do when writing your summary. 

Writing the word “summary” in the summary

Putting a really long author's note in the summary 

Saying “this is really bad” or “this is my first fic” and the like. (they can go in the end notes if you really want to tell your readers, but also, be confident!)

The same goes for “please give kudos and comment” and “please read” 

Having a “explainer” summary. 

An example of a explainer summary would be saying something like, “this is basically my take on what i think happened after [blank] because [blank] broke my heart and sucked. [blank] essentially is sad when [blank]  breaks up with [blank] so they gets revenge and starts a ~relationship~ with [blank]” 

Having a really long summary. At most a summary should be 8-10 sentences but I would aim for shorter. 

Putting a disclaimer in the summary. The great thing about ao3 is that you do not need to include a disclaimer for reasons that a far too complicated for me to sum up here, but if you would like to read up on it click the link: https://www.transformativeworks.org/faq/

Additionally, below are some examples of good and easy to read summaries. One is an actual summary while the other is a carefully chosen excerpt from the “fic”

O Rich Text! My Rich Text!

The rich text option on ao3 is a life saver and I highly recommend you take advantage of it. Not only is much more user-friendly, but when copying and pasting your fic, the line spacing won’t come out all wonky like it does when you copy and paste into the html box. 

On Tagging

Tagging on ao3 is one of those things that, like summaries, seems daunting at first but is actually pretty easy once you get the hang of it. Now, I feel it would be best for me to explain tagging in another post as there’s a lot to cover and this post is already pretty long, so look out for that in the next couple of days.

And always remember the golden rule of fanfiction...

WTPDI

Write in Third Person, Damn It!

(unless it’s a stylistic choice, of course.)

[getbeyondthebooks]

the “problem” with Mike’s character arc

i’m putting “problem” in quotation marks because i don’t think it’s a problem at all, but it’s something that would make it hard for the general public to notice that a character arc exists in the first place. I’m saying this because I also had the same problem and I only saw the light when I came to the Byler tag and started putting 2 and 2 together. 

I’m talking about continuity through seasons. This whole time I failed to realize what Mike’s character arc was and most importantly I failed to see that it was in developing through seasons without reaching an ending. 

I only started wondering what was going on with Mike in S4, when his weird behavior with Will made it obvious that there was something and it wasn’t just a teen being a teen, like I assumed in S3. 

And still it took me so long to figure out that his weird behavior is not something that came out of nowhere in S4, but it’s actually something that they have slowly built up through the seasons. That no, Mike’s queer character arc hasn’t magically started in S4, but has been going on from the start and that we got it very much presented to us in S3, both for Mike and Will. For Will it was “it’s not my fault you don’t like girls” and the destruction of Castle Byers, for Mike? Hands down the ending of S3. 

My biggest mistake going into Mike’s character, contrary to Will’s, has been to assume that all his arcs started and ended in the same season and that there was no continuity with it, because I was too blind to realize that there was some place they were going with him and that they had yet to reach. I don’t even know why I didn’t realize, Mike is literally our MC, he starts off as our protagonist, if anyone had to have a character arc it would be him?? So why did I just take his character at face value? Istg I feel so stupid right now.

I’ve been waiting for Will’s character arc to take center stage, I knew his queerness was going to be a focal point for him sooner or later, but Mike’s changes completely felw me by because the Duffers never made them obvious. It’s all in the details, and if you’re too taken by Mileven, you’re bound to miss (or dismiss) them. 

For example, when the end of S3 happened, I assumed that the reason why Mike made that weirded out face after El kissed him and told him she loved him was because he was just taken aback that she had heard him confess in the first place and nothing deeper than that. Perhaps it was a bit exhagerated for confusion, but, again, I assumed it wasall for laughs. S3 treated the whole Mileven relationship very lightely and humorously, so it made sense to me that even such a scene would be a bit comical. 

S4 forced me to reconsider everything. 

Rewatching it now, knowing how Mike is behaving 6 months later, that scene takes a completely different connotation and meaning. A lot of similar occurrences do. 

The Duffers have done this before, multiple times. Think Jonathan and Nancy in S1, for example. Their story begun in S1 but by the end of it, Nancy was still actively in a relationship with Steve and the consequences of the time she spent with Jonathan only “hit” in S2. There was continuity there. It was just way less flashed out, it all happened pretty fast although spanning two seasons and it was way more in our face. 

Mike and Will? Have been built up for 4 seasons. From the very start. In the slowlest way possible. In the tiniest details. Their storyline has been constructed one moment at a time, hidden, almost, in the background, but there nonetheless. 

Putting all the pieces together I can clearly see the picture now. I assumed it was just Will, I never really expected Mike to have a character arc per se. I assumed we knew all we needed to know about Mike, I was never expecting any big revelation or anything. But now I can see that his character arc has been going on for 4 seasons and has yet to reach completition, just like Will’s AND El’s (independence arc). 

There IS something going on with Mike. There has always been. I just couldn’t see it until they made it pretty obvious in S4. Some people still think it’s nothing but it was immediately clear to me that they were trying to tell me something when they decided to 1) bring up Will’s feelings for Mike when they could have made it puppy love and give him another love interest 2) have Mileven have ILY problems when the whole audience assumed that was solved at the end of S3 3) have Mike be extremely conscious of Will’s presence for no apparent reason. 

The fact that Mileven are STILL dealing with a problem they introduced in S3 that we all (at least the general audience) assumed had been solved by the end of it is telling us that whatever storyline had been going on in S3? Is STILL ongoing. No, the issue wasn’t closed there. Mike’s character arc didn’t find resolution there, in fact, in hindsight, I could say that’s where his character arc actually properly started. Not to say that nothing happened before then, but I think that’s when he was hit with some kind of realization. 

So the more I look at it, look at the big picture without dividiving the story in seasons, the more I realize that there can’t possibly be anything but Byler at the end of it all. I’ve been saying this since I’ve watched S4. The decisions they took with the story were too deliberate, they can’t lead anywhere else, but I was still 50/50 because I felt like they took it out of nowhere for Mike. But if you put his whole experience into perspective and not divide it into seasons, it’s actually all right there. 

It’s hard because we get years of pause between seasons and the ending of one season stays with us for a long time before we question it so it all feels way more dragged out than it really is in the show. Plus details get lost in time and the Duffers were EXTREMELY delicate with it all. Will’s sexuality included. I picked up on it early but I know for a fact that most didn’t. It was never explicit, it was all very gently introduced. I just never realized they had done the same for Mike. 

I don’t know what Mike’s sexuality is and I’m not even gonna argue (I headcannoned him as bi for a while but who knows) but from a writing perspective, I know that the only possible and logical conclusion of his character arc is Byler. 

I’m so confident in them being endgame at this point that it’s scaring me. It just feels so obvious now, I can’t unsee it. HELP. 

Istg S4 was more about Mike’s feelings for Will than it was viceversa. We got Will’s pov but the real source of their tension was Mike the whole time. He initiated it all. He knows he has feelings for Will and he doesn’t know what to do with them. He’s a queer mess. I just know it for a fact at this point. It just makes SENSE. 

My only doubt for Byler was that there wasn’t enough time to show Mike going through his identity crisis, but that’s because I was too blind to see that he HAS BEEN going through his identity crisis for this whole time. I was so distracted by Mileven and Will that I just never noticed. So now that I have noticed... I have no doubts anymore, but that’s frighteneing. 

[house-of-laminations]

A not-so-quick how-to for Ao3 work skins

Ao3 has some pretty powerful customization tools at your disposal - if you know how to use them. Did you know this entire time you could change your text colors, size, background colors, outlines, underlines, overlines, and even fonts of your works? It's fairly easy to do - you only need a little knowledge about markup languages to get started. The way this is done is through classes and the clever application of some simple CSS. Though I've written this guide around using my Obey Me coloring and work skin, the principles are applicable across anything you may want to do with your Ao3 styling.

I've done all the heavy lifting this time around, and have actually created a very, very simple skin that you may want for the purposes of your Obey Me fic including:

Unique colors for each character (sticking to WCAG 1:3 minimum contrast ratio for accessibility)

Heading font and size styling (separate from character colors)

Styled 'pullquotes' for written letters/passages/quotes (at 75% size)

Make sure to keep checking back for updates - I'll put word out here on my tumblr whenever I update, but I've also created a codepen (work skin CSS found in the CSS tab) with the latest version of the skin that you can use to play around in.

Just a heads up before you start: there is a bit of a learning curve, but I have tried to make the explanation as simple as possible, and hopefully provide enough tools and knowledge that you can run with what I've given you and start creating your own styles.

1. Markup: The Basics

I'm sorry - no matter how simple I try to make this work skin, you're going to need at least a little understanding of what markup languages are and how they work. But don't fret: I've had a few years experience now teaching this to absolute beginners so hopefully by the end of this tutorial you'll be feeling like a real Hackerman.

So what is Markup? A tl;dr

Markup is a set of instructions used to tell a program (in this case your internet browser) how something should behave. HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language and is likely the markup language you'll encounter most often. Ordinary text like you would type in a word document is meaningless to a computer browser - it doesn't know how to read. You need to talk to it in a language it understands so that it can translate your wonderful words into something that appears in your browser. This is done through the use of 'elements'.

Like how you know "words captured in these quotation marks" are quotes (or text written in parentheses is related to but non-essential to the main body), elements are essentially markers that indicate how a thing should be read. In HTML, these elements are denoted through angular brackets <> containing the necessary info that your browser understands. These often consist of an opening tag <[element type]>with content within, followed by a closing tag</[element type> denoted through the use of the "/" slash. Every element that has been opened must always be closed. Common tags include:

<p></p> for paragraphs

<em></em> for emphasis (typically displayed as italic)

<strong></strong> for strong (typically displayed as bold)

<h1></h1> for your highest headline (and subsequent-level headings use 2-6)

<div></div> for generic sections or blocks

<span></span> for specific selections of text.

<a></a> for anchors (links)

<img> containing images <- this one doesn't have closing tags because it's special

and more!

Everything you see on the internet rests within tags like these. You don't see them because they're only for your browser's eyes. Even your fics are formatted with this - though Ao3 does it automatically. You can freely switch between Markup (HTML) and Rich Text Formatting up in the top right corner.

Attributes

Attributes are additional information you can add to an element. Some attributes are essential, like a href (hyperlink reference) for anchor elements. Some are additional information used to differentiate between different identical elements like a class or id. It's this latter, non-essential attribute we're going to be utilizing for our work skins.

Once you have your fic in Ao3, make sure to switch over to the html editor. From there, you are going to find the element that you want to change the look of, and we're going to add a class.

We do this by finding the open tag of an element. That will probably be a <p>. Inside those angular brackets, after the name of the element, we are going to type class=""

What we've done there is create a field for the class, but we haven't actually given the element a class yet.

It's always a good idea to name classes that describe the content, not what you want it to look like. You could change your mind down the line, but then you're stuck with a class called red that's really changing the color to blue. So rather than calling a class "gold", you might instead give it the name "Mammon" as it indicates when Mammon is speaking. This is known as Semantic markup.

Here's a few things you need to know about classes:

Class names cannot contain spaces. We use spaces to delineate new classes in the same element (like commas to separate tags on tumblr).

You can use as many classes as you want, as many times as you want.

They are case-sensitive.

You can add classes to all most html elements. That means that you don't have to just make entire paragraphs a particular style.

I have already specified several classes in my existing work skin. These are [Luci Mammon Levi Satan Asmo Beel Belphie Dia Barb Luke Sol Sim Heading pullQuote] - remember that these are case-sensitive. Feel free to use any one of these, or use your own! Put your chosen class name between those quotation marks I had you make earlier like so!

These don't actually do anything just yet. For that, we need to now head on over into our work skin.

2. Introducing the work skin: CSS

Now that we hopefully have our heads wrapped around the basics of elements and classes, we can start using that to make things look interesting. CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheet. HTML gives the browser structure, CSS gives the browser style.

But first, we have to create a new work skin.

Go to your Ao3 Dashboard and up in the top left underneath "Profile" and "Preferences" you should see an option for Skins. It'll land land you in "site skins" by default, so make sure to click on My Work Skins. From here you can click on Create Work Skin in the top right corner.

In the "About" section, make sure Work Skin is selected, and give your new skin a title!

Feel free to also include a description for your own sake. Now. Onto the fun part!

Below the "About" section, you should see a box labelled CSS. In that box, feel free to copy+paste the styles below into that box:

#workskin .Luci { color: #0071ed;}

#workskin .Mammon { color: #e5a71c;}

#workskin .Levi { color: #e26600;}

#workskin .Satan { color: #00c117;}

#workskin .Asmo { color: #ff00bd;}

#workskin .Beel { color: #e80b00;}

#workskin .Belphie { color: #4f08b5;}

#workskin .Luke { color: #00c0ed;}

#workskin .Dia { color: #9b0000;}

#workskin .Barb { color: #007215;}

#workskin .Sim { color: #c1ac44;}

#workskin .Sol { color: #757575;}

#workskin .Heading { font-size: 1.25em;}

#workskin .pullQuote { text-align: center; font-size: 0.75em; display: block;}

This can also be found in the CSS section in this codepen. (disclaimer: tumblr may or may not mess with the line spacing when you copy things over. After you've copied, save your work skin and then reopen it in "edit" - Ao3 will automatically format your work so that it's nice and clean).

So what's actually happening here?

Let's read from left-to-right, top-to-bottom - because that's precisely what CSS does. Feel free to skip this part if you're not interested in creating your own styles and you're happy to just copy and paste existing work skins :)

#workskin .Luci { color: #0071ed; }

This first part here is what is called a "selector". Here, we're specifying what exactly we want to target in order to change its looks. Every character, including the spaces, symbols, and capitals matter.

#workskin .Luci { color: #0071ed; }

#workskin is specifying a unique ID within the HTML - one that encapsulates everything that you want to apply the work skin to - so basically your entire work. This is absolutely necessary in order for the work skin to actually function. We didn't create this ID in our HTML because Ao3 (will) create it for us automatically down the line.

#workskin .Luci { color: #0071ed; }

Following the work skin id, we have a space, a period, and then - hey! That's a class name! The space between the ID selector and the next part indicates we're looking for things inside this particular ID. Periods are used to indicate classes. When targeting a class, you use the period, followed by the class name. So if you're targeting your Levi class, you would write #workskin .Levi . If you were targeting a class that you created in your html, you would write #workskin .[classname] (removing the square brackets, of course).

#workskin .Luci { color: #0071ed; }

Now it's time for the fun stuff - the rules. Once we've targeted what we want to style with our selector, we use curly brackets to contain all the "rules" that we're using to make the browser appear a certain way.

#workskin .Luci { color: #0071ed; }

We start with our property - or what we want to change. In this case it's the text colour, denoted through 'color'. Yes. It's American spelling. I have no control over this. Find a simple list of css properties here! There's loads, but the ones that are probably of most use to you at this point are color, font-size, font-weight, text-align, text-decoration, and display. Make sure to put a colon after the property - that links us into the next step.

#workskin .Luci { color: #0071ed; }

Finally, we have our value - or what we're asking the property to do. In this case, we're changing the color, so the value is a hex color value. Color can also be denoted through rgb [written as rgb(0,0,0)]. Different properties will have different values. For example, text-align can have a value of left, right, or center (note the Americanized spelling again). If you click on the property in this list, it will tell you what values you can use!

You can have as many rules as you want in your selectors, as long as you end each of them with a semicolon. I cannot stress the semicolon enough. If your CSS isn't working - it's probably a missing semicolon. An example of multiple rules being used within one selector is in the pullquote styling:

#workskin .pullQuote { text-align: center; font-size: 0.75em; display: block; }

You can even write rules that override each other, though we try and avoid doing that. When this happens, your CSS will read from top-to-bottom, prioritizing the latest thing it has read (typically your bottom-most). There are exceptions to this, but that's not necessary for this guide.

So by this point you should have copied over the CSS I've written into your work skin, or perhaps tried your hand at making your own. This would be a good point to save.

3. With our Powers Combined

Right! So we have our work skin. We have our work formatted properly, resplendent with classes. Here's how we get these things talking to each other:

Once you've saved and closed your new work skin, open up or post the work you would like to apply the styling to. Down the bottom of the Associations section, there is an option to Select Work Skin. Ao3 already provides some work skins by default - Homestuck and Undertale - but you should be able to select your new work skin from this dropdown.

Now here's the magic. Time to check if this worked. Go through and make sure you've applied your classes to each of the elements you want to change the look of. These can be <p> elements, <em> elements, <strong> elements, or you can even make new, unique sections using <span>. Save your work as a draft and preview it - if you've done everything right, you should see the sections of text you've added classes to have changed in appearance!

A reminder that you can add multiple classes to one element: say for example you want to create section headings unique to each 'character', you can name both classes in the class field, separated by a space. See the example below:

And that's about it! You can use the same work skin for multiple works - just remember that you should be using the same class names if that's the case. If you create a new class in your html, make sure to go back to your work skin and make some rules for that class!

I've created this codepen that you can play in that is using all the same classes - it also has the work skin in the CSS which you're also very welcome to mess around with.

Ao3 itself has a great guide to using work skins, explaining things just like I did here. The Modzilla Developer Network is a great resource for learning more in-depth about html and css if you want to do weirder and wonderful-er things!

I hope this has been informative and useful! Best of luck using skins in your own fics! 💛

[actually-correct-drawfee]

Actually correct Drawfee quotes because these morons (affectionate) are a major staple in my life. This is the post so you can search for certain speakers, if you want. Godspeed.

@drawfee  

Also tagging @dilfosaur , @julialepetit , and @nyaffe cuz I would DIE FOR THEM. Karina my celebrity squish UwU /hj

Links, info about submissions, tagging, tags to block, surveys, etc below!

The Fun Things

Blog Specific Tags

Survey

Survey Pt2: Yearbook Edition

Our blog's greatest achievement (counting on y’all to tell me if this ever happens again)

My personal chitchat blog

Tone indicators I use on this blog

If you like what I'm doing, you can shoot me a buck or two!

Requests and Submissions

Please make sure to include the episode name (or just 'stream' if it was in a stream)

Timestamps or who was drawing at the time are HELPFUL, but not NECESSARY

I will automatically tag you, so if you DON'T want that, please either say so in the ask, or you can use '🚫' or '[no]' (in brackets) if you hit the character limit

Go nuts! Thanks :)

Also: tag me in your Drawfee fanart! I love showing folks art off and talking about it!

Formatting!

As long as Tumblr doesn't mess with anything, formatting should be as follows:

Quote in large text (separated with quotation marks if there's multiple speakers), episode name/stream in small text, and speakers in order in the tags.

Tags for triggers:

I typically tag like this:

[thing] tw, [thing] cw, // [thing], [thing] ment

I'll put a list of things I tag below! Please note there might be touchy topics! If you don't see it on the list, shoot me a message or an ask! Currently I'm tagging:

[religion, bug, spider, blood, god, gun, weapon, vomit]

I'm also tagging mildly NSFW things (AKA sex mentions and stuff) as

•drawfee gets spicy•

to make sure to keep it avoidable while also not getting nuked by Tumblr :)

Also! Header image is Karina's from the "Drawing in Shades of Red" video, the Drawfee mug logo for the PFP and the icon in the dividers doesn't belong to me (though I did make the dividers), and these quotes can all be found on the Drawfee YouTube channel! Feel free to shoot me an ask or message if you see any errors (typos, episode mistakes, speaker mistakes, etc), it's much appreciated!