#although honestly spn is pretty secondary to the story

[lunarriviera]

an about me meme thing

I never do these, because all I can ever think is “I’m just giving nonny more reasons to despise and mock me”; but @spearywritesstuff tagged me, so!

relationship status: divorced; I will die alone and the cat will eat me

favorite colour: *rolls up sleeves* okay this may take awhile. or—wait, no it won’t, just peek at my aquamarine/robin’s egg/sky/turquoise pinterest board! although since I got out of the hospital, where it was very white and gray, I’ve been obsessed with pink for the first time ever—peachy salmon or rose pink. and rose gold, which is, lbr, like the pumpkin spice latte of metallics.

top three ships: lifetime, or currently? lifetime ship is k/s, since I was a kid; past ships for which I will always carry the torch: deancas, stucky, sterek; currently writing: sam/steve, mcshep, and my weird novel that no one is ever gonna read.

lipstick or chapstick: both for different days? I migrate from sloppy femme to soft butch and back again (my gender is glitter & plaid). I swear by nyx soft matte lip cream in either antwerp (day) or amsterdam (evening). that shit is bombproof if you use the matching liner, and it tastes like buttercream frosting. here have some swatches from a dedicated blogger named emily fox. I also have milan and sao paolo but they’re a little too blue for me, I need warmer colours:

last song: "rainbow” by kesha rose. that I listened to—I wrote a sea chanty the other day inspired by my broken refrigerator which drones consistently at Bb

last movie: lady bird! exclamation point bc it was predictable but I liked it.

top three shows: of all time? the wire, the west wing, twin peaks, battlestar galactica, deadwood. if by three you mean five which clearly you did. honorable mention to ds9 and season 3b of teen woof, both of which I have watched eleventyleven times. currently I just watch stargate atlantis over and over while wolfing dinner, but I’m starting the magicians because @seperis shares my love for eliot. and oh my god jessica jones and the rosa diaz show, I mean b99.

top three bands/artists: bach and chopin/ but tori amos, joni mitchell, ani difranco, thom yorke, and kurt cobain. if by three you mean seven, which, etc.

currently reading: a kindle-full of queer and affect theory for my last comprehensive exam (!) as a phd candidate, hela and loki please let me pass. 

the last fic I read was cinderwings, during the usual hellish 16 hours in the emergency room trying to get admitted to the hospital, and it made my whole stay better. I’d lie in bed in my room thinking about the scene at the end that’s just an explosion of angelic wingcolors, which brought tears sparking to my eyes and made all my hair stand on end because it was straight outta milton (well I mean it’s @bendingsignpost but I’m p sure ben actually might be milton?):

Overhead, the golden line turns white along its entire length, angel after angel swooping down out of nothingness.

Bronze, sandy tan, copper, midnight blue, reds muted and fiery, white and dappled, onyx black, greens of grass and pine, burnt orange, every shade of brown, gleaming silver, a glimpse of purple, yellows faded and bright; in rapid, unrelenting succession they come, colors in every combination. The sky goes dark with the multitude of wingspans…[and] the angels begin to sing.

It isn’t one song but many, discordant in an uncoordinated rush of joy. They swoop and soar and spread out, many immediately flying due south. Their numbers still blot out the sun, still cover up the flashes of light heralding their kin.

ETA: UH-OH WAIT I FORGOT TO TAG PEOPLE... @200dollargod @shiphitsthefan @popkin16 @xylodemon @bettsfic @expatgirl @awed-frog @reallyelegantsharkfish @callunavulgari @bamfinacuddlyjumper @hypatias-sister and honestly this is just who autopopulated & I know most of you, so but please CONSIDER YOURSELF TAGGED and do the thing, I did the thing—

[tasteslikemolecules]

Top 5 fanfic tropes you like reading and Top 5 fanfic tropes you like writing

Top 5 Tropes I like Reading:

5. Modern AUs

I'm not actually a big fan of fantasy, horror and the supernatural. I'm mostly into SPN for the characters and their dynamics. I mainly read realism and literary fiction in novels, so if someone manages to transport the characters into novel-length plotty or character-driven modern stories, I love it. I don't really like High school settings, but anything from college to coffee shop to stuff I know nothing about is fine. I didn't like AUs when I first got into SPN, but the longer I'm obsessed with the show, the more open I am to all kinds of settings and worlds.

4. Case Fics The trope lists said this is a trope and not just a genre, so I'll take it. I love a well-written case fic with great characterisation, especially if it's Sam-focused. I also really like love stories or stories that focus on interpersonal trouble with case fics as a secondary plot – perfect for Sam & Dean stories. It provides such a neat story arc and I'm always impressed with how much better fan fiction cases tend to be compared to actual cases on the show. Case Fics are how I like to get most of my Gen fix, too.

3. Slow Burn

If I'm in the mood for a straight forward love story, it's always Slow Burn. It's pretty much the only way I enjoy stories that aren't dark or overly sad (depending on the pairing I sometimes even like some fluff this way). I especially like Slow Burn with obvious mutual pining and lots of miscommunication. Maybe one person 'obviously' being unavailable for whatever reason.

2. Unrequited Love Suprisingly difficult to find. Especially in longer stories. A great subcategory is unrequited love combined with themes of asexuality and aromance. It doesn't have to be necessarily fully unrequited love, but just they want different things. Basically I enjoy the dynamic: Person A wants something from Person B that they can't give/don't want (but they really care for Person A). (Or maybe they don't. Also good!) 1. Love Triangles These are so hard to find. At least the ones I'm interested in. I have only ever read a handful of the type I like, and I always go insane when I do find one. I don't like stories where one person is the 'bad' one and there is a pairing that is obviously supposed to belong together. I like the dynamics of people wanting different things and being unable to negotiate between themselves. I like people being torn and indecicive, making wrong decisions. I like reading what jealousy does to people. I like when love isn't described as destiny between two people, but as a journey, and when relationships are hard. I've honestly thought way too much about why I love this trope so much, but I don't know. It's not just fan fiction. I eat it up in novels, tv shows, movies... The tragedy being, again, that it's mostly handled in a stupid way. If there's infidelity, I don't want excuses, I want to see the consequences. I want to see what acting or not acting on impulses does to people. I want people sad and not getting what they want.

Top 5 Tropes I like Writing:

5. Cas has no grace /Sam has powers It's pretty much the same trope, just switched.

4. Slow Burn Friends To Lovers & (apparent) Unrequited Love Write what you know. 3. Lucifer/Halluficer returns Obviously I like reading this too, but with writing it happens unvoluntarilyy. I just always end up slipping in Lucifer in some shape or form. I guess I just can't ignore a main character's lifetime of hell trauma very well. Sam's relationship to Lucifer is one of my favourite things in the show. That itself isn't tropy, but the 'Oh look, Sam is feeling bad, let's make him see the devil' kind of is.

2. Love Triangles So, I know these are really not 'en vogue', but I already talked about why I love them above in general. With SPN and TFW specifically I love them because they feel, um, quite canonic to me. They all love each other in some way, and if you crank that up a little, violà. And even if you don't: a platonic love triangle is still that ('I mean, who are you gonna turn to next time instead of me? Another angel?'). If you devote your life in such an insane way to just one person, there's not really room to have a full-fledged relationship with someone else in any normal way without letting go. 1. 'Someone (Dean) is gone' Not sure if it's a trope, but I always end up writing this. I think this came up when I started wanting to write Sastiel and felt there was no way for Sam and Cas to explore anything with Dean being there. Not because Dean would necessarily 'disapprove' but because they are both so focused on and centered around Dean. And I also just love the hole Dean leaves in Sam's life, and the way it makes him free and disorientated at once. Because when Dean is gone, he's almost taking more part of the story. For Sastiel stories that means you get them both emotionally confused and vulnerable and... yeah, just typing this makes my fingers itch. Dean being gone doesn't mean dead. This also works with MOC Dean, Michael Dean, Dean in purgatory, Dean being sick, etc.

Overall, I don't really like reading very tropey writing, although it can be fun. I mostly like character-driven, slow stories focusing on interpersonal drama that make me sad. I'm honestly a lot more picky when it comes to writing styles than tropes. I'll give any trope and any pairing (bar Sabriel) a chance, but I nope out pretty quickly when the writing style doesn't work for me.