#and again i understand why fic writers portray him the way they do

[i-miss-lotor]

I don't read a lot of hotd fic but what I do read usually has Luke feeling immense guilt and regret about taking Aemond's eye, and I do honestly get why. But also. I don't think he regrets it that much. Maybe he wouldn't do it again, knowing what he knows now, but he absolutely has no remorse for protecting his brother and doing what he believes he should to do so. Tensions were high, they were children, a knife shouldn't have been involved at all but he did what he thought was right and who knows what would have happened if he didn't. Maybe no one would have been harmed further than that, it was, after all, four against one and a knight soon came to disrupt the fight. Maybe someone else would have suffered an injury. He doesn't know. He's just glad that his brother and cousins were mostly unharmed

[st-osmanthus]

My last dissertation proved definitively posited that Zoro does not get jealous over Luffy, except in the live action where he is hilariously transparent and insecure. But what about the other way around?

[For a delightful representation of the sentiments conveyed within this rant, I highly recommend the fic good things take time by cosmosthistle. It’s a beautiful piece of writing that exactly embodies my understanding of Luffy as a maturing MC with naive yet complex feelings. It’s a pretty popular fic but give it a read if you haven’t had a chance!]

Can we all agree that Luffy has abandonment issues? For a happy-go-lucky guy with no inner dialogue, he’s genuinely afraid of losing those closest to him. He can’t go on without his crew. This was my number one takeaway from Sabaody. Luffy is inherently possessive over his entire crew. They make up a key part of his identity, and he will fight the world for all of them.

Out of his entire crew, I’ll dare to say Zoro is probably the most of the most important to Luffy. Again, Zoro is Luffy’s voice of reason, moral support, enabler, and rabid attack dog rolled into one muscular package. Luffy holds him in high regard. He is 100% possessive of Zoro. But is he insecure about Zoro’s feelings for him to develop feelings of jealousy over his swordsman?

My answer is, yes, at times. And it sounds crazy because why would Luffy be insecure?! Who is more loyal than Zoro?! The crazy part is, Luffy can be too naive and vulnerable at times to see Zoro’s complete devotion.

At Water Seven when Zoro prevents him from welcoming back Usopp, Zoro actually threatens to leave if Luffy doesn’t hold his ground. And while there is no way Luffy would sacrifice Zoro to get Usopp back, the fact that Zoro voices the threat at all shocks Luffy to the core. Luffy already can’t deal when a crew member leaves (Nami, Usopp, Robin, Sanji). I can’t even fathom what he’d do if Zoro left him.

While Zoro has shown his loyalty time and time again to the audience, to Luffy, his initial promise was if Luffy stood in the way of his dreams, he’d cut Luffy down. And Luffy will never know what Zoro did for him at Thriller Bark. Luffy doesn’t know the extent of Zoro’s devotion (and I think he’d be furious if he ever finds out). Luffy thinks Zoro and him are equals; he doesn’t realize Zoro has placed his captain above his own ambitions, that Zoro is his. He may feel it, but he doesn’t know it at his core.

Because of this unknown, Luffy has the potential to feel insecure should something/someone else take away Zoro’s attention. If someone appears able to offer Zoro something Luffy can’t/hasn’t, Luffy would be confused, unable to voice his frustration, and generally drown in a jealousy he cannot explain. This is more of a potential pre-time skip.

In summary, Luffy, especially early One Piece Luffy, definitely has the potential for jealousy. I hope we get to see more of that in fics as writers become more confident at portraying Luffy as a complex, multifaceted character.

[thecoolerliauditore]

(Original long ask anon here) funny enough I really like snowbugs too lol. It’s my favourite little crack ship that I know it’s not serious in the slightest or would have a lot to build off of. But hey it’s not the only ship like that, we got Lizzie x Etho purely for their connection to Joel.

But I digress. Thank you for explaining the Jimmy part more, I understand your perspective much better now. Yeah it would be very hard to write Jimmy as toxic in third life without it becoming very out of character, but that’s why I like the challenge. And from reading fanfics the life series being ooc is way too common.

I have read so many rancher fics where they change a scene to fit their narrative. A popular one being Jimmy getting stuck in a hole by the divorce quadrant. Tango came along, laughed along against Jimmy “you can get out of there little guy” and took a bit to final help Jimmy get out. It was all fun and games but nearly every rancher fic that shows that scene turns Jimmy into a damsel in distress and Tango as his angry hero.

I would have to agree that a post break up would work best, probably also why I like snowbugs is that we get double post break ups lmao.

And I. ☝️don't like it when ranchers or any other ships for that matter are portrayed as extremely ooc either. Fics are probably the medium in which the most ooc stuff occurs, just as a consequence of the writer having to fill in gaps (and like you said ppl find it fun/challenging to write extreme ooc) hence why I don't really. read all that many lmao (I do like AU fics for the most part though they're fun) Idc what other people do and I'm glad they're having fun, it's just not for me.

That being said I don't really agree with that take on the Jimmy getting buried scene. It's all "fun and games" because it's fun and games for us and the CCs, but I don't see why you can't interpret this scene as more distressing.

Like, they are yelling over eachother, Tango is telling them to stop and Jimmy is shouting for help. Martyn (or Scott? I'm not entirely sure but it was one of those two) even shot Jimmy off a bridge earlier, nearly killing him, so I can totally see him seeing them as legitimately dangerous in this scene.

I do agree that Tango is far from being a hero here (especially since he gets pushed down the hole too lmao ranchers moment). People love wish fulfillment 🤷‍♂️

It's an interesting way to approach what we could consider "OOC" I suppose because if you're going to approach the series in a character-focused way there's always going to be some amount of omitting interactions and making things more serious than they really are. i.e. ignoring the conversations about youtube and such. But again yeah the cherry-picking of "this scene where scott is nice is Serious" and "this scene where scott is not nice is Fun and Games" drives me insane.

[damianbugs]

Hi!! First I just wanted to say your fics have been an inspo for me to write my own fics and I enjoy them immensely. Second, I’ve been wandering something and I want to ask something about how Jason Todd is portrayed after his death.

I don’t really understand why so many just kind of lie? Or exasperate who Jason Todd is and isn’t. Like the Cass and Bruce scene in front of Jason’s grave, or that scene in Gotham Knights where Alfred tells Bruce “Jason was determined to disobey him.” I know out of universe it just has to do with the mischaracterization of Jason but I’m having a hard time on finding an in universe explanation. Is it out of guilt? Out of misplaced love? It’s confusing me a bit

first of all, thank you!! i'm so glad i could inspire you that is truly the highest complement i could receive <3

secondly, this is a really interesting discussion! you're right about how in a meta way it's the deeply routed classism in jasons writing, as well as many writers (example: grant morrison) just really hating jason for some reason and doing everything they can to make him absolutely insufferable. not even in a cool evil villain way, but in an embarrassment point and laugh kind of way.

for the purpose of this discussion lets (with much difficulty) ignore the writers predispositions and implications and just focus entirely on what this means for the characters. it's good you mention the cass and bruce at jason's grave scene, because i think that example alone is a good way to deconstruct some of character's (for this post: bruce's) perspective of jason's death.

to summarise before dumping a billion paragraphs developing the point; let's not dance around it and accept that much of people's understanding of jason's death falls into the victim blaming variety, but in such way that the characters don't seem to realise that's how they perceive him, which is almost worse than them purposely retelling it in such a way. as well as that, aside from this indenial misunderstanding of jason, i think this shows the sort of flaws the other characters have.

Detective Comics #790

at first glance this seems like a really touching and emotional moment where bruce is sharing his grief with cass (especially when the entirety of #790 is about bruce struggling to do just that), but then you really read it and you're like what the fuck... why are we standing in front of this kids grave slagging him off? not only are we hearing all of bruce's regrets about how he raised jason as opposed to his son's actual death, but we are dragging steph into this too.

to bruce, jason's death is an accumulation of everything he let the boy get away with finally reaching it's tipping point. that jason's ambition to "prove something" lead to his seemingly inevitable demise.

now i do think it's important to note that WE (the readers) know jason died saving sheila. that despite being beaten, betrayed and left for dead, he tried to save someone and paid the price for it. no one else knows that, because the two people that did are dead. as a result, bruce is left with the facts that;

prior to his death, jason was acting uncharacteristically (<- important point) violent and aggressive towards himself, borderline passively suicidal. bruce himself acknowledges this.

that jason ran away from home in search of someone who may or may not be his mother. this is because losing his parents is a hurt jason has still not healed from and a topic bruce has handled badly in the past (example: willis todd). jason does not trust bruce enough to tell him about this.

once they find his mother, jason is instructed to not get involved in the joker related problem. to the extent of bruces knowledge, jason reveals himself as robin, and decides to get involved despite the instruction not to. either because he again, didn't trust bruce to believe he would handle it, or that jason was trying to prove something to bruce, to sheila, or to himself.

sheila dies, jason dies and bruce is the only one alive from the tragedy with only half the story.

All of this can be found in A Death In The Family, but I don't feel comfortable sharing panels of it given where the story takes place right now.

bruce spends the next few years blaming himself at any given point, but the blame is misplaced. bruce feels as though HIS negligence of JASON'S personality and HIS allowance of JASON'S freedom as robin is what allowed JASON to go and die. instead of seeing what he knows to be true about jason (his empathy, his kindness, his grief and loneliness) bruce can now only see how his allowance of all these things played a part in JASON disobeying him (whether maliciously or not) and dying.

in short, bruce is projecting big time onto his dead kid.

bruce is, as per usual, coping with loss by antagonising it. he did the same with babs, with steph and later on with damian. for a character like batman, who upon failing immediately turns these losses into lessons (for himself and all those forced to comply), it's the only way he seems to 'move on'. if he can understand that jason died because of all the things bruce let him do wrong, then he can convince himself that the guilt he feels for it is necessary. that jasons death is on him and that it mattered.

unfortunately, in order to do that, bruce is indenial about what he LITERALLY KNOWS ABOUT JASON! it's not like he was an absent father to jason in the slightest. but hey, if he can vitiate jason's enthusiasm to help people as jason's impulsiveness to fight (two things that can be true but not in accordance to the context he describes them in), then the blame is on jason for being brash, and on bruce for being lenient.

he shoots jason in the foot and himself in the knee to keep them both down. because, well, jason's dead anyway, and bruce unfortunately isn't. this is the closest thing they'll get to sharing the truth bruce knows he's missing and he knows it's his fault for favouring the mission of his son — so at the expense of jason, bruce lets them both be the lesson to learn from.

it is why jason is used as a cautionary tale, and why bruce is so unstable on allowing people (especially children) into his life emotionally. the second robin is a lesson for any young vigilante eager to join the mission, and batman's part in the death is a lesson for bruce wayne to... be even more emotionally untrustworthy? instructions unclear.

the final part of the grave scene is also important, because bruce is admitting that he is not so different to jason. that "for some of us [Bruce and Cass] there is no turning back". he is projecting these flaws about jason not only because that's the only way he can cope with jason's death, but he is projecting these flaws because regardless of what actually happened, he (and cass) are destined to meet the same fate. jason died for a multitude of reason that bruce may or may not have caused knowingly, and these reasons only exist because bruce knows them to be true in himself and anyone else damaged enough to find themselves on his side of the blurry line.

so, now looking a bit less zoomed in, i think it's unfortunate that jason's time as robin is often perversed by the people who should know better (bruce & alfred), and while it is bad writing on jason's character, it is great writing to show the flaws in the characters around him.

especially how it shows that grief is not always something that can become healed. bruce's guilt about his parents death amounts to something hopeful (batman), but his guilt about jason's death makes bruce cruel and childish.

tldr: no one knows the true story, so they compensate from what they do know — but by doing so they project and misinform existing characteristics of jason in order to compartmentalise the gravity of his tragic death. bruce is unable to cope normally and everyone is forced to follow the same fate, because batman's lessons are rarely wrong, even if they cause ten other problems and misunderstandings to understand.

[beabnormal24]

https://www.tumblr.com/beabnormal24/749880910352105472/hi-i-just-need-to-vent-i-do-not-have-the-words

This!!!! Oh my god!!! I really did like landoscar fics at first. But the way the amount of fics now that just portray Carlos as the bad guy is insane!!! And it's not just landoscar but lestappen fics too!

Carlos always ends up being the antagonist or the ex that was horrible and well as you've said a ab*ser. I get it that it's fiction and it's their writing and they're free to do whatever they want.

And I understand that sometimes in some plots why Carlos had to be the bad guy. It makes sense plot wise. Great. You're free to write what ever you want.

But there's a line that should not be crossed. And they cross it all the time.

And sometimes you can clearly tell that they do not like Carlos just from how they write him. Especially in fics where Charles or Oscar are the main protagonist in lestappen and landoscar fics because the writer will always make Carlos this horrible character. And it’s always the fics with lestappen and landoscar as side ship or vice versa. Which again ok everyone has their fav drivers and are free to have opinions but the way they are so easy and quick to make Carlos (a real person that they don’t know personally) an ab*ser.

The way I have backed out of multiple ongoing fics that i did like recently because they didn’t tag it properly (probably for like a shock element) and Carlos was this ab*ser character and was horrible to poor Charles and Lando and Oscar and Max were this saviour protecting them from big bad Carlos. One fic is somewhat understandable but multiple fics that’s just hating and being vile towards Carlos is insane. And making him this character that is always this ab*ser like character.

The way this behavior has turned me away from lestappen (which was how i got into f1 rpf bc I loved them and still do but i just cannot read or appreciate them anymore) and landoscar is actually crazy. I have been in multiple fandoms with ships that I don’t like and let the shippers be. Always been a firm believer in “don’t like don’t read/dni” but sometimes you have to interact and call what they’re doing wrong. It’s not even the ships that are bad it’s the shippers. They are so toxic and this toxicity makes you turn away from the whole ship.

Sorry if this doesn’t make sense but yeah…

Anon, this made incredibly sense, and I have to share this because I have never heard truer words. I, too, have had to clock out of ongoing fics because of this, I just can’t stand it when Carlos becomes the bad character, sometimes even without a logical reason at all!

Like once I was reading this Landoscar fic and all of a sudden they just straight out started saying that Carlos was stupid and an idiot and he was an asshole, but that didn’t even fit in the entire dialogue the characters were having!

In another fic, they went as far as k*lling Carlos, just because they hated him.

This is not fiction, this is a problematic mentality. I get that you can despise someone, but as anon said that’s just taking it too far and it has become extremely toxic and disgusting.

[lexithwrites]

soooo what's exactly your problem with lily (i understand this one, if the fandom gonna take her husband from her they at least should do her justice or don’t write her) and barty being portrayed as shitty exes and why you can't scroll past and let people write what they want and where does your limitation end? are you also gonna bash writers who write regulus as raging homophobe and rapist in wolfstar fanfics or it doesn’t apply to him? what about snape? the way he's written in many marauders fanfics goes against his canon arc, should the writers be called out for inaccurate portrayal of him?

i think characters are tools and if writers wanna use them as tools it should not be controversial. do you think otherwise?

to answer your first question — because it's an opinion. am i going onto people's fanfictions and wasting my time commenting that i hate their trope? no. am i calling authors out by username? no. am i just stating my opinion on my tumblr? yes. plus, you are well within your right to scroll too, you didn't have to let my post get to you? if it offends you that much then block me lmao

id love to know what fics you're reading where regulus does that?? but no i dont agree with that therefore i wouldnt bother reading it? idc how popular a fic is, if i dont wanna read it then i dont have to, its called having free will. i dont want to read about a r*pist for a start, and ive never really liked snape that much and ive only read the books once and watched the films growing up, i dont really think about his character that much especially since i only write muggle/modern aus. write them how you want, but it doesn't mean i have to like it does it?

i dont think anyone should bash authors for their work, myself included. am i allowed to have a private, personal opinion on what i want to read/enjoy reading? absolutely, everyone is in their right! as are you anon, but coming to me and saying this is surely a waste of your time? my opinion doesn't matter to anyone but me lmao

and when did i say it was controversial? i just said i dont like when people make these characters the bad guys when they dont have to. oc's exist for a reason, why not make lily and james old childhood friends instead of exes that have bad blood? why does barty just have to be the old fuck buddy that regulus never looked at again the moment james came around, when he and regulus could have been raised as brothers together and are close that way? or they could all be strangers, the possibilities of fanfics are endless! thats the beauty of them! but is this gonna keep me up at night that authors have FREE WILL and can CHOOSE to write whatever they wanna write? hell no idc that much lmao, but this is my tumblr, as i said, and i can say what i want on it tbh

anyway, if you hate my opinion that much then thats cool, im not mad at that, but you can do much more vital things in your day im sure, have a good one <3

[bugflies00]

do i have a presentation due at 8am that i have barely started even though its midnight? yes. however i was thinking again about the category 5 ctommy event last night and all the things i talked or saw people post about and it got me thinking

i was especially thinking about how ctommy is too often, in fan interpretations, forced into the role of the perfect, quiet, palatable victim — which, i mean, we've all made various posts on the subject, i don't need to get into the how again — but i was trying to think about why.

because on one hand, a good part of it, its true, circles back to what society has deemed the "acceptable" victim, which many of us have internalised and unknowingly refer back to, hence why many automatically try to sand ctommy down to be more "pitiful" (not saying people do this intentionally btw . we all have biases like that and they show up in different ways . i just like Talking about this stuff this is Not a callout or god forbid telling people to harass fic writers they disagree with. Ok.)

but i also think, in ctommy's case, a lot of it can come from. projection? well this might be the case with many other characters obviously but im focusing on ctommy here because like. i think he's a character who's very relatable for so many people, who are also loud and not subtle or discreet and who feel annoying most of the time, and a lot of whom are kids and teenagers. and something that's always struck me when reading comments etc about him is theres this sentiment of- when this fictional character is annoying it's seen as loveable and endearing, so why isn't it the case for me, as a person, in real life? a lot of those fans have also been hurt or perhaps even abused and found a way to relate through ctommy's own abuse

and so i think sometimes this tendency to "sand ctommy down" is less out of a desire to actually reduce his character but rather because, through him, they want their hurt and pain to be recognised. and as we all know, when ctommy is quiet, that is so unusual that in fics, it often immediately strikes a reaction of "oh, what happened to you, who hurt you". it's the idea that him being annoying and loud is missed, but people only realise that when he's gone quiet. so the more "quiet" and "docile" he is shown as, the more striking that reaction from other characters will be, and the more support he receives. im not in any way saying this is something you should apply to real people or anything, im saying that this is a trend not just in ctommy fics but in general media — if you're someone who is loud and brash, it's often portrayed like the only way people will acknowledge that you have feelings at all is if you lose that "spark", and suddenly people miss you being annoying.

and suddenly, it makes a lot of sense why so many fic authors write ctommy as so oddly ooc and quiet and pliable and docile — because they've been taught that's what a victim should be, but they're not like that! and you can live vicariously through a fictional character who's able to undergo a much more drastic outward transformation than you and be showered in love for it, and theres a desire for that to happen to them in real life, to have their hurt actually acknowledged. is this word vomit does anyone understand what im trying to say here

[sixpennydame]

"so if eruri is triggering for you, I’d suggest you start filtering certain tags so you can curate the kind of experience you want here."

I guess you think I don't really filter them out, but you're wrong. Believe me, no matter how much I ban everything related to this ship, it comes up in every way. For example eruri shipper Levixreader writers. Even in the Hcs/fanfic's they write, they are in every way squeezing their own ship under the guise of "this is not ship discourse" and they write the dynamics of that ship under the name of 'levixreader' in order to show that their ship is canon. And you naively Rb'd them and think that Levi's character is really like that. He's a perpetually angry man, he's a cruel selfish man who hates the weak and who hates the weak and who immediately abandons you because he's weak, who puts his feelings for erbin ahead of his duties 🥺 who puts humanity through hell for erbin. but someone who is a dog and a softy for him and someone who threw S/o out of the window for him. Yes he loves S/o but he would even sacrifice S/o for the landlord whose dog he is 😔 But again keep saying "great Levi fic post 😭".

And that's what I'm talking about when I say don't let them manipulate you, because even one of your recent articles is similar to their writing style. I wouldn't be surprised if you soon write Levi as an ass upturned, bed whining, super fanon twink whiny lowlife sub. One of your Rb's in particular is a super delulu shipper levixreader writer, and they so much portray Levi as Erwin's lapdog, order dog, loyal dog, someone who never questions whatever action he takes, never wavers in his loyalty, that Cosmic finally had to write them a misleading reply that Levi is not like that Lmaoo. And they are egotistical and self-righteous enough to say "I know better than you" when they see criticism that contradicts their fanon thinking. Man its 2024 and fucking ackerbond has been debunked years ago and even Isayama's dusty old interviews deny it. Yeah, no matter how much I filter eruri, I see exactly that in both Levi tags and Levixreader tags 🙃 and now whenever I want to read fic or browse Levi posts, I have to look at them with hesitation and fear. I don't understand if I should filter Levi directly?

I'm so tired that I would love for Isayama to drop a bombshell that will disprove both the selfshippers and shippers and all their rhetoric, all their Hc's, and leave us all in a big disappointment. For example to give him a really random female partner. Or I would like him to write a characterization where he really doesn't care about everyone and throws them into the fire, where he thinks about himself and his life instead of thinking about them, where he focuses on himself, where he is truly selfish. Then we wouldn't have to see discourses, dramas and fights like "Levi cared about X the most" "He did this and that for X" "Levi doesn't have a canon ship, but if he did it would be X"

*sighs heavily*

I don’t know what to tell you, Anon. If my reblogging and my moots bring you so much distress, you are free to block me.

I refuse to get involved with ship discourse - that’s not what I’m here for.

But I will say this: the writing I do is xreader, but I love to read and view Levi in many forms - canon and AU, eruri, LeviHan, and everything in between. I’ll be sure to make that clear on my ‘About Me’ page.

I love my moots’ writing and art, and will continue to reblog anything that I find beautiful or pleasing to me. Because that, dear Anon, is why I am here.

[licollisa]

i’d love to hear your take on sans’ personality!

i was going through your whole blog (as you do) and saw ur post on how sans tends to be mischaracterized, but fanon takes are also very normal and generally just fine, and i agree - i feel like some amount of personal spin from the author is always expected (and keeps things fresh and fun to a degree), but i also feel as if sans is a somewhat tough character to actually pin down when you’re writing him, so i’ve similarly had to drop some fic when they stray too widely from my non-negotiable sans traits lol. (like Being Calm and unruffled. bc while some of that is depression, a large part of it is Just The Way He’s Built lmao.)

Oh for sure, I also have my own set of Sans mischaracterization pet peeves in fics (though I'd often look the other way if the fic is well-written because beggars can't be choosers, no writer owes anyone a perfect Sans voice, fanfics are for fun, etc etc. Hell one of my favorite fics of all time portrayed Sans as an asshole and I'm not complaining because good god the writing is just THAT delicious and I still can't believe I'm reading it for free).

E.g Sans calling another adult (often times the MC) with 'kid'. Or like I've mentioned on another post, if he's quick to anger or aggressive enough to attack at the slightest provocation. Sometimes it's not a case of mischaracterization at all, just something I personally can't read without feeling like a wet kitten (the next time I read an overused skeleton related pun I will escape my own and DIE).

I often theorize why this is a Thing. I yearned to understand why I'm subjected to read yet another skele-ton, tibia, humerus, funny bone pun. Maybe since Undertale was popular with a big ass fanbase, and Sans is like our mascot, so when you combine this with a majority of the fandom being in the younger side -- youths full of time and creativity and energy though lacked the writing experience -- what's left of our poor skeleton is a pile of flanderized bones. Which is often the case when you're young and you just started writing because damn that blue skeleton is too romance able to deny (want write... But HOW write???).

You thought of some of his traits you often see (ketchup, touch Papyrus and die, blue glowing eye, epic bones & blaster attacks, puns, depression, have I mentioned the touch Papyrus and die? Puns again, threats, the bad time catchphrase, so on so forth) and you use these as a guiding bible to writing Sans the Skeleton. Boom, Sans x Reader 200k enemies to lovers.

,,,Bottom line is, I'm kind of sure the tendency to mischaracter him stems from Undertale's popularity and the younger part of the fandom. That, or after all these years, people had simply grown to love and accept Fanon Sans in all his slightly unlikeable behavior glory (heartwarming). So the inaccurate potrayal is now, like, on purpose -- on top of fanon him being easier to pin down because the canon guy are too tricky to pin down, like you said.

From what I've seen though, the canon Sans starts to get the love he deserves again! All is good. Now I can read a Sans x Reader 200k enemies to lovers, but with the actual dude this time. Awesome.

Ight, that said. I legit also think people should write him in the way that makes them the happiest. Sans is fictional but your happiness isn't. Even if your Sans will finally be the one to prompt me to escape my own skeleton. Or your Sans is RABID and deserves JAILTIME and GROWLS and BARA. Go wild, be free, and more importantly, have fun! <3

[therealcocoshady]

heyy girl, how you doin?? hope all good! I just saw your post saying your asks disappeared and if you do take requests I would like to send u one (cuz I already sent u and idk if it disappeared too lol🙈)

ahem, anywaay.. SO, imagine, 2000s!em x fem reader, where reader is a famous popstar and marshall mentions her in one of his songs and it’s basically a diss, since he doesn’t like pop/popstars, but he didn’t really expect her to drop a diss back, he didn’t actually expect her to say all that kind of shit, because she has a very painful tongue, and em was kinda taken aback by that.

so, it’s an award show, and she gets to perform there, and she literally performs that diss at the opening, just before em gets announced as the winner of the best male video (just like 2002 VMAs) and reader is the one to announce him, and she too says something snarky-ish about him like xtina.

you can continue from then, but preferably not cliché ending. it’s not necessary for them to kiss yk, like it would be so cliché. maybe sort of teasing, like chemistry between them, but def not kiss. honestly, you decide. I just want to see an award show in details, like em’s reaction after she performs her diss and basically makes fun of him in front of the whole world and all the celebs sitting there, through her song, his reaction after she announces him as the winner, his reaction after her comments. and if you can come up with some lyrics for her song please, please, please do it! but it’s totally fine if you can’t/won’t.

if u actually write this one, pleasee write in second person pov (I know most of ur fics are written in this way if not all anyway, but still lmao🥲)

so yeah, that’s basically it. I’m obsessed with your writing btw, it’s amazing. no, but for real, you are one of the very few em writers that portray reader accurately. I literally cringe at some and most of the fics I read abt him, cuz the reader is always either a typical pick me barbie or a tomboy that hates girlies, and you actually know how to write a perfect reader. I LOVEEE you sm💕💕

Hi ✨ Thank you so much for requesting this and taking the time to submit it again after the mysterious Ask disappearance ❤️.

I really enjoy your request but I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline, for the time being... I'm so sorry ! 😔 I do love that you're being very specific, but I think the level of detail would honestly require a mini-series. 😅 Or at least, I wouldn't be able to do it any other way... As you probably have figured out by now, I am virtually unable to keep my writing short and sweet, and if I wrote it, it would either take months, or I wouldn't do a great job and ruin your idea altogether...

I'm still taking requests, but between Kinktober, Recovery and Commissions, I have a lot going on at the moment, so I'll probably favor requests that allow for a shorter format and/or can be part of the mini-series we have going already (Kinktober series included because why not).

So, for that reason, feel free to submit your request (which is amazing by the way) to another writer ✨. And they do write it, please send me the link because I'll definitely enjoy reading this ! 👀

Also, THANK YOU SO MUCH for the huge compliment about my writing ✨. You have no idea how much it means to me ! To be fair, writing a Reader insert is super challenging because you want to write someone who is personable, that people will identify to, but it's also really hard not to go for something cliché and/or make the Reader some version of you (the author). It's been one of my biggest fears and insecurities and reading your compliment definitely made me happy ❤️.

I'm sending you tons of love and, again, I am so sorry that I had to decline your request. I hope you understand ❤️

[essayofthoughts]

If you're still interested in taking asks for the games you reblogged how about 4, 21, 22 and 🔥 for Percy?

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

Book. Book. Give me a book. I want to know Percy's internal monologue if possible, or at least how he was with his family prior to the Briarwoods, and I think a book would be a great way of showing the fun nuances of that given we won't get anything like that on stream.

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

I mean I think the obvious choice is that I love to poke at his trauma but also like...

I like to provide a small change and try to figure out how it'd affect him? Partly because small points of divergence are fun for me, but also partly because Percy is an overthinker and also someone who comes to conclusions and then rationalises them to himself, not always realising the inconsistency between his emotional conclusion and the actual facts. Percy loves to portray himself as rational and reasonable and he almost never is! He has reasons for what he does and what he thinks is best, but he's also a lot more emotional than he wants to think he is, and I think that's interesting. Percy's brain is a big old thorny mess and I like to really get into the weeds with that, to pick apart how he thinks and why he thinks it, where his logical errors are and where he remains consistent.

I don't think there's anything in particularly I dislike? I mean, I don't tend to write crack, but that's more because crack isn't where my skills lie, it's not to do with Percy. When it's to do with Percy... I mean my goal is to write a good story and sometimes that means geode method-ing it - to find out what a character is made of, first you must break them. Which I think leads on to the next question-

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to this character? Something you don't like?

Because something I don't like is stories which deny Percy's capacity for awful. I dislike the fandom propensity for woobiefication and how many fics just have him simp for Vex and ignore the ways he can be kind of awful, and neglectful of his sister and just generally kind of a mess. I also hate just...

Okay this is layered but, there's this habit in fandom, largely by people who I think are either inexperienced writers or just inexperienced with trauma to... flatten it. To make the ability to relay a narrative easy, to make triggers simple and obvious and the reactions similarly clear cut.

But the thing is... it isn't? It's way more fucked up and messy? We see Percy in canon try to relay events and it's choppy and erratic and disordered - trauma messes with your memory! And yet I see fics which have Percy just blandly exposit his trauma to Vex, no ums or ahs, no pauses, no hesitation, no chewing over his words or trailing off to silence as the memories overtake the present. There's ones where they have Percy perform anxiety and trauma when encountering people a part of things, and yet it's nothing like what we see in canon - his seething anger with Stonefell, his razor's edge calm at Ripley (that's barely concealing screaming terror within). There's none of his capacity for total irrationality (again, Ripley) and it's...

I don't think it's intentional on the part of these authors. I don't think they realise just how much of a shit job they're doing. But at least to me, with my own trauma - it doesn't feel remotely reflective of 1. My own experiences with trauma and that kind of shit and 2. With what we see in canon.

Instead it feels like someone playacting something they don't remotely understand - like a child. And that's fine for the people learning about it, but for people who've got their own experiences and who like to read about similar experiences for the catharsis of seeing a character overcome it or the relatability factor or anything else - it can feel weirdly mocking? Dismissive? Like the author doesn't care enough to actually think about how those kinds of events affect someone. It's like they think our stories make good stories - but they don't care enough to portray it accurately.

And, again, I don't think most authors do this with malice, I think it's pure ignorance, but that doesn't stop me hating it.

On the flipside, I really love stories which actually tackle Percy's trauma and bullshit well.

I also... and this is much more petty, but I dislike the portions of fandom that like to make Percy some kind of sex god, or even overtly horny. Percy is very restrained and very internal that we see, and he's easily flustered. When Scanlan makes a joke about him having syphilis when he has his cough early in the Briarwood Arc Percy's flustered response is along the lines of once! Vex makes a point that Percy has improved because he's good at learning and knows when to listen. He was a nerd who explicitly had nothing to do with court - he's not the kind of person who was likely to go fucking around before the Briarwoods and after the Briarwoods he had awful, personal, visceral trauma and violation from being tortured, as well as dissociating to shit! I highly doubt he fucked around after! It seems likely to me that he has very limited sexual experience and also was someone who was deeply flustered by a lot of sexuality for some time - he notably relaxes once he's getting some on a regular basis which very much suggests to me that if he had more experience, he'd be less flustered!

There's also that Percy is very much someone who overthinks. Who hates himself for his own terrible thoughts and ideas. I'm sorry, but I can't see him easily fantasising about someone he knows - Percy strikes me as the kind of person who'd think even a wet dream about someone to be terribly rude and an imposition. He hates his reflexive awful bad ideas, the Ripley of his brain, he was raised posh and noble with rigid etiquette expectations - I think Percy's sense of propriety probably extends even that far. Repression is a hell of a thing.

Send me a “ 🔥 “ for an unpopular opinion.

Percy's a dick, no not a dick like that, no, not a misunderstood woobie, Percy's kind of an arrogant rich wanker and that's half the fun of his character. As I say above, there's a lot of people in fandom who just want Percy to be cool and kind of ignore his capacity for awfulness or petty bullshit, and also who ignore his capacity to be a dork or a fucked up uni kid! He's a traumatised man in his early 20s, he's basically a fucked up uni student! Percy wants people to think he's cool, but this man is a nerd! He invented guns! Don't make him cool! Make him a dork!

A huge swath of fandom is wrong about Percy and I remain narky about it.

Character Ask Game | Send “🔥“ for an unpopular opinion | Ask Box

[marutchi]

Little Skwisgaar x Toki comfort oneshot (Word count: 1502)

Warnings: Very mild spoilers from the new movie, apart from that there’s mentions of the abuse Toki has suffered from + some made up ones.

Btw I don't know how other fic writers handle their accents but personally I didn't feel confident enough in my writing to portray it in a pleasant way. That's why I chose to have them speak in Swedish with each other. I've read that supposedly many Scandinavians are able to understand each other or learn the other languages easily (sorry if that's actually not true!).

Enjoy!

Skwisgaar was only half asleep. As comfortable as their current living situation in Dais Keep was, he was still plagued by the events that took place. It felt so comically, idiotically, unreal that he was almost calm. Shit was so fucking weird he was practically convinced that all this could only be a dream. After saving Toki, he didn't think it could get any more fucked up, but strangely enough, this felt even worse. One misstep and it would all be over. That thought surely keeps you up at night.

The door to his room was slightly ajar, allowing light from the corridor to leak in, so Skwisgaar immediately noticed as it got obscured all of a sudden. His eyes opened fully and he saw a silhouette standing in the narrow crack of the door.

"Skwisgaar? Are you awake?" Toki asked. His voice was quiet, unsure even, as if he didn't know whether he should really dare to wake him. The way Toki sounded, Skwisgaar was certain he’d leave again if he remained silent and acted as if he hadn’t heard him, yet- “Ugh, Toki, it’s in the middle of the night, what do you want?” He asked back, annoyed.

“Can I sleep in your bed tonight?” 

Instantly, Skwisgaar came into a sitting position. He should have known something was up because Toki spoke to him in Swedish - something he only ever did when he wanted something from him. 

“Hell no, fuck off,” he answered, switching to Swedish as well. 

The question didn’t really come as a surprise to Skwisgaar. When Toki slept in Mordhaus for the first time after the abduction, the quiet of the night was constantly interrupted by deafening screams. Everyone was immediately on the spot to find a hysterical Toki plagued by nightmares. Each of them was overwhelmed by the situation and in the end, Pickles stayed with him. Since that day, Toki preferred to sleep in bed with one of his band members. So far, Skwisgaar has always managed to wriggle out of having this crybaby in his bed and Toki has asked many times. This night wouldn’t be different, however. 

“Pleaaaase, Skwisgaar!” Toki desperately pleaded and fully opened the door, blinding the other man. “I can’t sleep alone!”  Skwisgaar was having none of it. “Maybe it’s time for you to learn again, it can’t go on like this.” With narrowed eyes he reached for the small packet of matches on his bedside table and accidentally wiped them off the edge. "Ughhh." Toki was immediately there, picked them up and held them out to Skwisgaar. With an impatient "Give me that!" Skwisgaar rudely snatched the matches out of Toki's hand. "Stupid fucking place doesn't even have electricity," he muttered. “Besides,” Skwisgaar started as he lit a match to light the candle on his table, wanting to see Toki's stupid face, “Why don’t you ask the others?” He shook the matchstick until the flame went out, then threw it carelessly aside, listening to Toki’s stammering as to why he had to sleep here of all places. 

“Well, Nathan is acting totally weird and when I stood in front of Murderfaces’ door I heard him talking and screaming to himself which is even weirder. And Pickle… he said he needed a private night, if you understand. I don’t, actually, but he was very serious about it.”

Skwisgaar sighed. “What about Knubbler?” He eyed Toki up and down, noting that the other had nothing on but his underwear. He could have at least had the decency to put on a shirt as well. Toki shrugged his shoulders. “Can’t find him anywhere.” 

Skwisgaar thought for a moment. If he’d let him sleep in his bed tonight, he’d demand to do it every night. Toki had always been clingy, but at the moment he was particularly clingy, especially towards him. As if Toki could read Skwisgaar‘s mind, he assured: “Please, Skwisgaar this will be the first and only time!”

“No! And this is my final decision, now piss off!” Skwisgaar angrily pointed at the door but Toki didn’t budge. 

“Please.” The sad way Toki looked at him reminded Skwisgaar of a beaten dog and to his horror, it didn’t leave him completely cold. While he couldn’t remember a lot of the night they saved Toki, he’ll never forget the way his band member hung there on the cross, upside down in that motherfucking jigsaw looking room.

“Skwisgaar, please. everytime I try to-"  "FINE," Skwisgaar interrupted him angrily, rubbing his face briefly. Toki practically jumped into his arms. 

“Thank you thank you thank you!” He hugged him tightly to Skwisgaar's displeasure. “Get off of me!” He shoved Toki to the other side of the bed. “Hehe, sorryyy.” 

Skwisgaar mumbled some things under his breath and with a swift movement lifted the covers, swung his legs over the edge of the bed and turned his back towards Toki who watched in horror.

“Please don’t leave me.”

Skwisgaar was caught off guard at how heartbroken Toki sounded. However, he quickly regained his composure. “I’m not, you idiot.” Skwisgaar glanced over his shoulder. “The least I want is to be wearing my underwear when the inevitable happens and you try to snuggle up to me.”  Skwisgaar stood up and Toki promptly was at eye-level with his bare ass. He couldn’t help but giggle. “Oh I’m so relieved. I already thought that you wanted to be mean since you said that I was allowed in your bed, but you didn’t mention anything about you being in it at the same time!”

“Mh.” Skwisgaar hadn’t considered this loophole. As he put on his boxers Toki got under the covers. 

“Oh boy does that mean we’re going to cuddle?” Toki asked full of excitement. “Fuck no,” Skwigaar immediately replied and slipped under the covers as well. “Fucking touch me and I‘ll throw you out of my room! I don’t care about your little panic attacks.“ Toki frowned. That was not exactly the answer he wanted to hear, but he wasn’t surprised in the slightest. “Now turn to the side, I don’t wanna watch your ugly face as you sleep.” 

If Toki hadn't been so desperate to sleep in the same bed as him, he might have countered back. “Pf, whatever.” He did as he was told, turning away from his bandmate.

Skwisgaar was about to turn sideways to blow out the candle when he caught a glimpse of Toki's back that made him stop short. He was already familiar with the scars from Toki's childhood, the ones he had received from his psycho parents. Now, between the old faded marks, there were new ones that looked red and incredibly painful. It seemed as if Magnus the jerk-off had even scratched some words into Toki's back. Skwisgaar's eyes traced the red lines towards Toki’s side where there was a huge, not yet completely healed wound, shoddily sewn shut. It would surely turn into a big ass scar and looked like it must have hurt like hell. Probably still did. 

Skwisgaar could not understand how Toki could still be as normal as he was. Humble, even. All he wanted was not to be left alone, for his friends to keep an eye on him and ensure that no one could ever do that to him again.

Toki noticed the light going out and listened to the rustling of the blanket. The last thing he’d ever expected was the warm hand that suddenly touched his back. Not daring to move a single muscle he just waited for what happened next.

“You are safe.”

Toki's eyes widened. He wanted to say something, anything, but his head was suddenly empty.

“I- ah.” Fervently he searched for the right words and didn't want to ruin this moment. He knew that this was special and all he could do was settle for a hoarse “Thank you”.

The hand left Toki’s back, leaving the spot it had rested on feeling oddly cold. He wriggled around under the blanket and, as carefully as possible, moved back further the tiniest bit to feel Skwisgaar's warmth.

“Good night, Skwisgaar,” Toki whispered.

“Good night.”

-

-

-

Unsurprisingly, when Skwisgaar woke up, Toki was pressed against him with his head lying on his shoulder and his arms wrapped around him. Skwisgaar was too tired to even open his eyes, so when he enjoyed a delirious moment of closeness and shared body heat he wasn’t even thinking about Toki necessarily. Only when he wriggled around slightly did he notice an unpleasant, cold sensation somewhere on his torso. One of his eyes cracked open and a glance downwards confirmed a horrible suspicion: Toki was drooling all over him. Needless to say, the moment was over. With a hard push, Skwisgaar launched Toki onto the cold hard floor.

Even less surprising was the fact that the following night, Toki stood in front of Skwisgaar’s room again. The most surprising thing was how Skwisgaar wordlessly slid to the side of the bed to make room for his bandmate.

END

Note:

This whole thing was pretty much inspired by this scene

I like to imagine that Skwisgaar deliberately gave him a little nudge to calm him down. As shown in the show, he doesn't really mind non-sexual physical contact with other men. He did seem pretty allergic to it when it comes to Toki in aotd (can‘t 100% recall how it was in the show because it’s been ages that I watched it. I just remember he has always been annoyed with Toki) so I couldn't help but picture him needing a lot of time and tiny steps to step out of his comfort zone to give Toki what he needs because after all, he does care a lot about him!

Hope that makes sense!

[flowerandblood]

If you're already writing fanfic, then why do you always feel the need of includimg aemond's only canon love interest then proceed to write her as this awful, jealous woman getting in the way of a boring oc. You don't need to include alys, most of the time it doesn't add to the plot or all. You're just putting her

Let me start by saying that your allegations are false.

1) Alys is not the same and has not the same role in all my fanfics. In The Sweetest Fruit, she was Aemond's lover, but after his marriage, she helps him save his wife and accepts what happened with dignity, main character even named her daughter after her.

In The Impossible Choice there is no romance between them at all, Alys saves the main character's life, they even establish some kind of understanding, she is a complicated, embittered character, but with a good heart.

In The Second One, both she and Aemond are toxic, bad for each other, and both terrible. After their breakup, Alys moves on and goes to therapy, and Aemond does the same with the help of the main character.

Even in my last story, The Knight & The Judge, Alys is just having fun, being a high-ranking woman in a good position and enjoying life - Aemond's mean thoughts about her are showing his awful way of being, it's not about her. We will see her again and in this fic she will be just mature, calm woman.

2) Just because she is his only love interest in the book doesn't mean we all have to take it as a love interest that is healthy. Being a kinslayer crossed Aemond as a person who could be a husband of any decent lady in the kingdom.

If you like their dynamics, read stories about them, for me, it reminds me more of Stannis x Melisandre and I don't find anything in it that I would like to write about. I have no idea how they will portray them in the series.

3. Yes, it's gives more depth to the story, because it shows how fucked up Aemond can be and that he is not a good man – which is, like, important. He is often the one to hurt her and I rarely show it in the good light – meaning that he knows he fucked up with her and made mistakes that lead to this.

To sum up – you come to me with a thesis that is untrue, but that Alys x Aemond fans like to spread as if it was possible to harm fictional characters.

In your other ask you're saying "you are a good writer" after you called my oc's boring, lol, so you don't think that at all, and it's okay, but again, what are you even doing here? There so many great writers that write Alysmond and love this paring and you come to me to babble.

If Alys x Aemond in the fanfics would be good, healthy couple, there would be no need for Aemond to leave her for the oc in the first place.

[smallmightsupremacy]

i've been on the hellsite (affectionate) for almost a decade and i literally never once tried to reblog something privately before, and so i did for the hell of it, just to see?

and it was your 'shoutout to writers who get bkdk relationship' post, and i just saw i must have been the last person to reblog it before you turned off reblogs 😬 so in case it wasn't just coincidence and i committed some faux pas i wasn't aware of, sowwyyyy!

(and uh, if it's not too presumptuous to ask, hello now that i'm here, care to help a boy in need lmao? i'm brand new to this fandom and it's so big i don't know where to start, would you happen to have any recs of fics that do understand the bkdk relationship? 👀👀)

Hello hello!! First of all, welcome to the mha fandom!!! It gets a little crazy here sometimes, but I hope you enjoy your stay here nonetheless! Anyways, I haven't turned off reblogs on that post to my knowledge (to be honest I'm not even sure I know how to 😅) so you're totally good!! My best guess as to what happened is that someone else reblogged my post and turned off reblogs and you saw it there Also, fics!!! Where do I even begin? There are so many amazing fic writers out there that I know. Still, if you're specifically looking for people that understand the bkdk relationship, I'd start off with any of amarisllis' fics. She's fairly popular on ao3 and her portrayal of bkdk is *chefs kiss* Also also!! ladyofsnails makes amazing bkdk fics too!! Highly recommend too!! Now, if you're looking for specific fics instead of just authors, I'm gonna throw some in here below and give a brief summary of them (these are all on ao3 by the way): The Way You Used To Do by edema_ruh (Look. I know it's long, but it's the bkdk fic. Like. It's predicted events that happened in the manga. Anyways, this fic has a whole lotta forced proximity and slow burn.) warm hands by flowercafe (I used to reread this fic over and over again. Basically it's just a 5+1 of Katsuki taking care of Izuku's hands by massaging them.) you dragged me out (of a mile deep hollow) by deadwriter16 (Katsuki looks after Izuku post vigilante arc and gives him the love he deserves. Great hurt/comfort fic.) All We Ever Knew by dynamics (The writing for this fic is stunning. Goes really into depth with Katsuki's psyche and why acts the way he acts.) Halfway to the Moon (But the Sun is So Bright) by Catsired (Middleschool bkdk fic, but Bakugou realizes how much he's fucking Izuku over and tries to fix things.) in your dreams, nerd! by sapphic flower (Katsuki and Izuku can see each other in their dreams. Amazing concept. So well written)

message delivered by dekusneakers (Chat fic that goes really in-depth with Katsuki's feelings when Izuku had his vigilante arc. The way bkdk is portrayed in this is so aaaaaaaa I love it sm) Your Hand In Mine (In Every Universe) by panpanicatmha (Oh my god. This fic changed something in my brain. So alternate versions of Katsuki come and meet Izuku, share their stories and try to find a common link between all of them to be able to get home. The author also writes a bunch of companion fics to this, so I highly recommend reading those too if you're interested!!) Well, this post is already pretty long so I'm going to have to restrain myself from adding more. I hope this was helpful!!! But if you ever do need more fic recs, feel free to ask and I will deliver!! That goes for anyone <3 Take care anon <333

[actual-changeling]

hello :) first of all you really don't have to answer or acknowledge this since it'll maybe stir this whole thing up even more, but i guess i just wanted to talk about this with someone who feels as passionate about it as i do. there's this very famous writer in the TLOU fandom and the way they portray ellie's character and especially her trauma just IRKS me so bad. it's so obvious they have no idea how PSTD works. at first i was like, ok, don't like don't read, i truly get it and agree, but when you write about such a sensitive topic i feel like you have to take responsability? the don't like it don't read it rule doesn't apply here since A LOT of people are reading your works and there's a possibility that their knowledge of PSTD will be flawed bc of the way YOU wrote it. and ellie's character... like, how much can you change a character's personality before it's another whole person? i just don't understand the point. again, no need to reply! just wanted to talk about this w/ someone (a writer, no less) who gets it

Hi anon!

I'm glad you felt safe enough to send this ask, and I 100% understand where you are coming from. I won't go into the drama because Ellis made his post and I was only watching it from the sidelines because he is my friend; this is done for him so it's done for me.

I do wanna say something on the matter of "don't like don't read" and author responsibility because as everyone who follows me probably knows at this point, I care about accurately writing PTSD and trauma (and any other conditions for that matter), and I have made several posts about it before. This is not about one person, this is about a trend I have see both in this fandom and in other ones, so once again, as always, if you start feeling defensive ask yourself why and have a good look at that.

I want to make something very very clear: people critizing a person's portrayal of a character's trauma and PTSD is NOT about headcanons. It is not about creative freedom. It is not about character interpretation. It never has been and it never will be. It is about accurately portraying actual medical conditions in a way that is both respectful and does not contribute to ableism and stigma.

If your portrayal misses the mark, people critizicing it are not criticzing your headcanons. They are telling you that something you wrote is legitimately offensive and harms actual, real people with that condition. There is exactly one correct response to that and it's apologizing, correcting your mistakes and/or taking the work down if you cannot do so for some reason (too deeply enmeshed with the story, you cannot write it properly, etc.). Saying "don't like don't read" and ignoring it doesn't suddenly make your work not offensive, it just makes YOU a bigot who does not care that they are hurting people.

"Don't like don't read" is about fics that do not meet your personal taste or deal with topics you cannot handle. It does not apply to offensive, harmful content. Would you say the same if someone published an outright transphobic or racist fanfic? Would you say "don't like don't read" and allow them to continue to post outright bigotry without repercussions? And if your answer to this is no, as I hope it is, why is it different when it comes to ableism? Why do you think mental disorders and conditions are somehow less worthy of being portrayed correctly? Why is ableism "less bad" to you?

And anon, you bring up a great point, as an author you not only have a responsibility to make sure that your portrayal isn't hurting people who have it but that it also doesn't contribute to negative stereotypes and furthers the stigma. If a person who does not have PTSD reads it and comes out the other side with an even more flawed view of it, you failed. You failed as an author and as an ally to disabled people.

Write Ellie however you want, but once you get to a certain point at least tag it as "out of character" so people can avoid it. It's not a bad thing to write ooc characters, if you are having fun - go for it! Just tag it as such so people can avoid it. Wrongly portrayed PTSD does not fall under headcanons though, it's a problem and you need to fix it. You need to do more research than one google search. Having a friend with PTSD is also not enough, you need the full picture, you need to understand how PTSD works and why people's symptoms are the way they are.

I have CPTSD, I have enough trauma for several lifetimes, I have several other diagnosed conditions and I'm on heavy psych medications and I still do my research. I draw from my own experienced a lot but I also have years of research under my belt and I still do more. Because I care. I care about my writing and my stories, I care about the characters and the people who see themselves in them, I care about my readers and everyone else who will be (hopefully positively) affected by the education I can provide via my writing. I care and that means putting in the work isn't a chore, I do it willingly and with enthusiasm.

If someone tells me I fucked something up - thank you, I will change it, apologize, and learn from it. That is the only correct response and I hope people will start doing so instead of twisting words and hiding behind "don't like don't read" because it has never been about interpretation and never will be.

This got quite long, but once again anon, thank you for sending in the ask, I'm glad you felt comfortable sending it. Have a great day <3

[rollercoasterwords]

the uwuification of side characters is an epidemic truly, especially on tiktok. i don’t know how and why people have taken literal death eaters and erased everything about them that made them morally grey. there are characters that exist that are already not morally grey. and i completely agree that i think it’s the fact that people do not actually like the morally grey part of the characters and want them to have a redemption so bad. for example on tiktok there has been a huge rise of sirius hate and turning him into the villain for the prank or for leaving regulus, but then saying barty, evan, and regulus are the good guys and lifting them up. which again, people can dislike and like whatever (even if disliking sirius is just tasteless) but it’s strange that they erase these essential parts of the characters that are morally grey and instead turn sirius into a villain for example. it truly just shows their desperation for redemption and the fact that they fear the perception of these characters as morally grey. and i won’t get into the huge issue on how people hate on sirius and how angry that makes me bc that’s a whole other mess that i don’t need to annoy you with. but yeah basically i just wanted to say i 100% agree with you. i always love reading your posts, sometimes it seems like you’re the only person in this fandom that gets me

yeah i mean! again i want to make it clear that i don't think this is like. some Grand Moral Battleground like i don't think it's wrong of people to decide they want to turn any of these guys into their little ocs it's more just that. i personally find it confusing to select very dark characters and erase that darkness such that it is functionally nonexistent, because i'm just kind of like...why were you interested in the character in the first place? like what drew you to a character who is portrayed as a bad person if you dislike portraying them as a bad person?

and i mean. i get that a lot of it was basically just oc characterizations of these characters becoming popular fanon via the way virality works with fic + tiktok, and so i do think a lot if it is more like...these ocs that share a name with canon characters are what's becoming popular, and not the characters themselves. and again, there's nothing wrong with that--i just personally don't think i will ever really be interested in them!

but yeah the bit that i do think merits more discussion is like. whether this uwuification is indicative of a larger trend of people feeling as if they can only like characters who are Morally Good. and of course i think there is room to discuss like...the technical aspect of writing and what it means to completely divorce fanwork from the source material, whether or to what extent it flattens characters when we strip away their flaws, etc etc, but i think any conversations about the technical aspects of whether we think writing is better or worse when it comes to fanfic should only ever be had in general (i don't think it is ever ok to negatively and publicly critique specific fics, as i've talked about before) and should only ever be had with the understanding that at the end of the day it doesn't actually matter whether fanfiction is "good" by these technical measures, because you don't have to read anything you don't like and developing writers deserve a safe space to experiment and play around and have fun.

so like: on the whole, have fun doing whatever you want with the characters, but if a character you like doing Bad Things feels like a personal attack or a fundamental reflection of your own morality, that's something i think u should pause and examine for a bit. call me crazy but i think that even in our escapist feel-good hobby outlets it is sometimes worthwhile to reflect.

and the sirius stuff! i think i have seen some of the takes u are referring to and it makes me angry every time >:( which AGAIN if someone wants to make sirius the villain so that they can make regulus + his death eater sidekick friends the good guys there is nothing fundamentally morally wrong with that, people can do whatever they want, etc etc. however just on a personal level i love sirius so so so so much that anytime i see sirius slander i am overcome with a blind rage and forced to confront the fact that there are simply so many people out there who do not understand sirius like i do <3 but honestly the worst crime to me about taking something like the prank or sirius running away and deciding that sirius must be the villain in that situation is just the fact that people think there needs to be a clear villain in the first place, which goes back to the whole issue with viewing characters through these black + white moral frames and is, above all else, boring.