#and i never want to base my writing off of fanon. never ever ever. that's fatal writing error number One.

[orcelito]

Also remembering that I get to write wolfwood next chapter and I'm a widdle nervous bc this is a Big Moment and I only wrote him a little bit with Sentido and it's been 8 months since then

But im also REALLY excited bc I get to finally (FINALLY) start executing the vashwood concepts I'd thought up at the damned START of this fic

So much relationship development to get to. So much Wolfwood to get to. Very exciting things.

[howlsofbloodhounds]

I've seen quite a bit of talk about Dadmare and found family bad Sanses this past week and, you know, as someone who has been writing a fic that has a lot of elements of that for a while now, I do have some pretty strong opinions on the matter.

I honestly think I would be way more into regular fanon Dadmare if Killer was treated with the same compassion and nuance the others are afforded in it.

Because oftentimes what throws me off more than anything is that, like, Dust and Cross especially are allowed to have bad days and emotional outbursts (which is fair enough, they have some serious traumas to work through), but God forbid Killer gets a bit annoying! That clearly could never have an explanation rooted into his own trauma and his struggles.

I also despise the association that often happens with Killer having some very obvious ADHD symptoms and everybody considering him an idiot, fic included. Because that's literally just ableism 101.

Oh, you mean to tell me that the disorder that is most often used to denigrate people's intelligence is yet again being used like that? Oh, how innovative! /s

Also, I didn't mention Horror because, while Horror usually does get treated with more compassion and understanding than Killer, he also rarely is given any nuance. No thought is put into his trauma. Heck, often times he also leaves his home with no mentions of him ever going back when, like, this Nightmare isn't kidnapping people. Horror would never do that! He wouldn't just voluntarily leave his brother and his community! Not permanently at the very least.

I don't know. I generally like an exploration of role-reversals or what-if scenarios so one would think that "What if Nightmare was actually a nice guy?" would be right up my alley. But so many of the tropes that come with it just rub me the wrong way...

BASED BASED BASED BASED!!

I despise when people write killer with stereotypical adhd symptoms then use it to portray him as an idiot or just loud hyperactive and annoying? Or have the gang treat him as if he’s nothing more than a nuisance or an annoying child or a chore to deal with.

ADHD is an actual disorder that heavily impacts people’s lives, compacted on top of killers other disorders and trauma history. You mean to tell me that the gang is long suffering because killer was a little annoying that one time and not the one with the actual disorders?

The one who is usually portrayed as undiagnosed and unmedicated as well? The one who is literally getting no help or support from his so called “family” who is only just glaring at him and calling him an idiot? No one would be struggling more than killer, it’s not all just “lmao so silly im so loud.”

ADHD is more than that, and people should actually focus on how killer experiences it if you’re going to write him like that or directly have characters questioning if he has it.

Not to mention his entire ass dissociative disorder, cptsd, conditioned beliefs and behaviors and how the environment with the Bad Sanses will not “cure�� his identity confusion and disturbances, very likely chronic pain and fatigue.

If Dust or Cross attack him like it’s so commonly portrayed, he’s not going to like or trust them in Stages 1 or 3, even if he provoked the fight or didn’t really care about it in Stage 2.

When he’s in Stage 1 he’d be terrified of them, and hed probably start thinking he did something to have deserved it, and he wouldn’t want to make them mad again so he’d go along with it even if it hurts. He’d attempt to kill them in Stage 3.

The man’s entire body is literally slowly melting due to his huge amounts of DT, he’s been shown to cough and choke on it. You can argue that his body is slowly dying and failing. You can even make the argument that he experiences degrees of blindness.

He can’t tell if anything around him is real or not either, imagine how often he has to convince himself that he’s not being tricked or played with or manipulated again. Imagine any potential denial and dissociative confusion he may face whenever his “family” treats him like shit. All this does is show him yet again that no one will look after him but him unless they gain something from it—and he can barely even do that because his ability to do so was taken from him.

Imagine if he thinks this is all just what’s supposed to happened, because They want it to happen, so he has no choice but to play the game.

And another thing I never see around is how Horror’s head wound would affect him. From what I’ve seen people treat it as if it’s just an aesthetic thing than an actual serious injury with its consequences.

All in all: Bad Sans Family is too focused on Cross, Dust, and sometimes even Nightmare. Killer and Horror need more attention and nuance. They can be more than just the “big soft giant” and the “hyperactive annoying child.”

{ @stellocchia }

[musicalmoritz]

this gonna be a weird question but ever since i have know Aoinene. I have always found a consistent theme of Aoi being a lesbian. While it cool, interesting and all, it hard to found anything canonically to use to prove the interpretation beyond "it just a vibe" . It doesnt interfer with the shipping experience but it still an interesting HC that i would love to found some canon material to build on.

I’m so glad you asked this, I’ve been trying to find a way to talk about my feelings on the lesbian Aoi headcanon for a while now. I’ve written it in my own fics a lot but I have some issues with the way people treat it so I’d like to make this a more nuanced discussion

First off, where does it come from? To answer that question you have to keep in mind that as the manga chapters were being released, fans had no idea where AidaIro planned to go with Aoi and Akane’s relationship beyond what they could infer. While it seems obvious in hindsight that Aoi always liked Akane, a lot of lesbian readers overlooked those hints because they were able to relate to being pursued by a relentless man that they didn’t want. They found comfort in Aoi’s character because her perceived disinterest in Akane was something they could connect to their own experiences with their male best friends falling for them

Then we have this scene, which is a whole rollercoaster in and of itself. At this point in the manga, fans didn’t know Aoi was faking her personality. She only existed as Nene’s popular best friend, the girl with the rumors. And, of course, the girl who kept rejecting Akane. Aoi and Nene seemed to have a very close friendship, so when this scene came out, many readers jumped to the conclusion that Aoi planned to confess to Nene. This, coupled with her constant rejection of Akane, led many fans to believe Aoi was a lesbian. Not just as a cool headcanon, but as an actual theory. To this day some fans still call her queercoded, and that’s where I have a bit of an issue with the headcanon

Because, despite all of this, Aoi isn’t a lesbian in canon. She’s not even coded to be one. In fact her and Akane’s characters aren’t able to develop without each other. Some fans chalk this up to bad writing or lesbiphobia, stating that Aoi never showed interest in Akane up until chapter 69, but this simply isn’t true. There were numerous hints that Aoi liked Akane back, since his feelings for her were first introduced. She’s shown to be absolutely devastated at the possibility of him dating someone else, and in the Clock Keepers arc we see that she’s been encouraging his pursuit of her this whole time. Fans may not like them, but it’s impossible to deny they’ve been set up since the beginning of the manga- on both sides

However, if you were to call Aoi sapphic coded/bi coded in canon, you wouldn’t be far off. In the Hanako-Kun Of Magic au, Mei fell in love with Aoi through a spell. After the spell wore off, they were confirmed to still hang out. They hang out so frequently, that it makes Mei’s little sister jealous because Aoi is stealing all her attention

It wouldn’t be a reach to assume they’re dating in this au, which would make Aoi bi or bi-coded in canon (though it’s very up to interpretation so I wouldn’t say she’s as strongly bi-coded as Kou or even Nene). It rubs me the wrong way when people discuss her potential queercoding and entirely ignore her feelings for Akane just because they don’t like the ship, it feels biphobic. It’s also been implied that Aoi has liked men (or people in general) other than Akane, he joins school clubs based on whoever her current type is

Canon aside though, I’d like to talk about why people like the lesbian Aoi headcanon. Namely, why I still like it in fanon despite feeling that it has a very weak basis in canon. Because for some fans, Aoi’s true personality reveal only made their love of the lesbian Aoi headcanon stronger

Remember how I said fans overlooked Aoi’s feelings for Akane because they projected onto her? I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with that as long as they aren’t bringing their bias into analyses. I’ve read many Aoi queercoding analyses where the creator completely ignores Aoi’s attraction to men in canon due to their own projection, and I hate to say it but that is a bad way to analyze. I’ve mentioned before that I strongly relate to Nene’s shallow crushes on men because they remind me of my own experiences with comphet, but I would never call Nene lesbian coded because that would ignore her entire arc with Hanako. Project onto characters all you want but leave that out of your analyses

Anyways, the reveal that Aoi had been faking her personality only gave the lesbian Aoi headcanon more fuel. At this point in the manga, fans were already fully convinced that Aoi was a lesbian…so to find out the pretty popular girl was hiding her true self from the world?? I mean that sounds queercoded as hell. And I won’t lie, I relate to that a lot too. The need to hide who you really are is a nearly universal queer experience, so pretty much any character that has that storyline is going to hit home for a lot of queer readers. That same trope also plays into Mitsuba’s queercoding, so yeah. Despite all the romance stuff with Akane that happened in those chapters, the big takeaway for lesbian Aoi truthers was that Aoi had been hiding a part of herself that the world would shame her for

This is furthered by her relationship with femininity. Aoi plays the role of the ideal popular girl, a common archetype in media. These girls are feminine, passive, kind, humble, and all the boys love them. That is the image Aoi presents to the rest of the school. However, the real Aoi is nothing like that. I wouldn’t go as far as to call her masculine, but she doesn’t act like the poster child for femininity when she’s being her true self. She’s bitter, arrogant, spiteful, and she only really cares about two people. Lesbians tend to have a very complicated relationship with femininity, because heteronormativity asserts that the defining trait of being a woman is your relationship to a man. As a woman, you are someone’s wife, daughter, mother, sister. So when a woman has no interest in men, she loses a core part of her “femininity.” Some lesbians choose to embrace this, they have no interest in femininity so they perform whatever gender presentation they want. Other lesbians reclaim femininity as something defined by themselves, not society. So when lesbians see a character faking her personality to conform to the societal expectations for her gender…oops she’s one of us now lol. This is also why the transmasc Aoi headcanon is popular, though I won’t be getting into that today

There are more simplistic reasons people like the lesbian Aoi headcanon. It fits a trope, the popular girl who’s pressured to be perfect is secretly a lesbian. Then she falls for her fun and quirky bisexual best friend. Unfortunately this is where the headcanon gets very boiled down, people want Aoi to be something that she’s not in canon. They want her to be a trope rather than her own, unique character. The aesthetic girlboss lesbian. She hates Akane and has a huge crush on Nene, maybe some mommy issues and that’s all there is to her. I don’t like these type of headcanons very much, they reduce queerness to an aesthetic rather than an experience. As I mentioned, the lesbian Aoi headcanon does have potential for fanon content, but some fans sadly reduce it to a stereotype

I’ve written both bisexual and lesbian Aoi, and I think they both have their perks. Lesbian Aoi requires a bit of stretching/rewriting of canon, which can be fun but it has to be handled very carefully. Otherwise you get fics that villainize Akane and ignore Aoi and Nene’s complexities. It’s perfectly fine to project onto a character and headcanon them a certain way for comfort, but in terms of characterization I would recommend people try to look past those biases when they’re writing analyses. Fanfic is a bit different bcuz that depends on whether or not you’re trying to stay in character lol, this might be controversial but some writers just don’t care and that’s fine too. They’re just writing it for fun, it doesn’t have to be that serious. Still, I would like to see more fics that keep Aoi and Nene closer to canon (they absolutely exist dw)

The reason I hesitated for so long to address this headcanon is because I wanted to find a way to talk about it sensitively. Queer fans, especially lesbians, already get a lot of flack for their headcanons and I didn’t want to make it seem like I was invalidating anyone’s experiences. If the lesbian Aoi headcanon brings you comfort then, yes, Aoi can absolutely be a lesbian. Fandom is about fan enjoyment, not authorial intent, so headcanon the characters however you want. Just don’t push those headcanons into others, and try to at least be aware of what’s going on in canon. And again, don’t write an analysis if you’re going to be biased. A better way to do it would be something like “I recognize that AidaIro didn’t go this route but it would’ve been interesting if they made Aoi a lesbian.” An analysis like that might have some weight to it!! Aoi and Akane are a super cute ship, but another straight relationship is nothing revolutionary in fiction. However, canon lesbians in a shonen series?? That’s something you don’t see every day. People have valid reasons for wishing Aoi had been written differently, I just wish they would accept that she didn’t get written that way rather than ignoring canon

Sorry if this isn’t what you were expecting, I hope I explained all sides of the headcanon well enough. Tbh a lot of it is just “vibes” but once you look past the surface, it goes a lot deeper. I also want to clarify that Aoi faking her personality reading as queercoding could absolutely work with her being bi too, bisexuals also have to hide a part of themselves and that’s something other lgbtq+ individuals often overlook. The reason it reads specifically as lesbian coding to some fans is because of her projection of femininity being fake so, by extension, her encouragement of the men who pursue her must be too. That’s obviously not canon but some fans believe it would’ve been a cool route to go. Okay that’s it I think I covered everything lol

Thanks again for the ask, I’m glad I finally got the opportunity to talk abt this <3

[scoobydoodean]

I love your different spn analyses and I think a lot of them are so interesting and accurate... unfortunately they have given me anger issues now that ignite whenever I try to read fanfics with bad characterization.

I actually read tons of spn fic BEFORE I ever watched the show so l have the unique perspective of watching the show and finding out the ways fanon is laughably off base.

Most egregious examples (in my opinion) are

"Dean never talks about his feelings, and Sam is the emotionally intelligent one" and "Dean always defends John because he can’t comprehend that John's treatment of him as a kid was bad, and Sam is the objective one who always criticizes him and has to be the one to help poor clueless Dean recognize his trauma."

The second one is baffling because it's literally within in the first and second seasons that Sam and Dean both switch their roles somewhat; Dean starts to unpack how John treated him and tries to discuss his shortcomings with Sam, but Sam starts defending John to Dean.

To me, this is one of the moments where the show actually has something really interesting to say and fanon is the one cheapening it and flattening out the characters, even though that's the opposite of how most people perceive the show and fandom.

Anyways, this turned into a bunch of rambling, but the point is that I'll continue to love reading your thoughts on the characters as you write them!

♥️ To be quite honest, I think while pretending they’re doing the opposite, fandom is often the force flattening out the characters and show into boring caricatures. The show is SO long it’s easy to blend the large cache of fic we have with what we saw in the show and get mixed up. Also people respond to things stated with confidence without really considering the support. And look—people can write whatever they want and choose to rewrite the show to be whatever they want even if it’s boring and reductive—but it’s annoying when those people pretend they actually remember the show and get condescending about it while actually spouting a fanfic they read or simple “popularly accepted fanon”.

[jesncin]

Honestly, you are like the most based person ever. A Martian Manhunter fan and a MAWS critic? F YEAH!

I'm so disappointed with MAWS' Lois :( Her romance with Clark could've been so good. SO GOOD. But they decided to go for fan service instead. She just gives off Lena (from cwsg) vibes and that's never a good thing.

Speaking of Supergirl, what's your opinion on the show? And on the show's portrait of J'onn. It baffles me how much hate the show got for the same things fans are willing to overlook now on MAWS. Aren't those some double standards, geez...

Aw shucks thank you! 2 incredibly niche but based things to be...

Sob! Call it the ace in me but whenever people think MAWS!Clois have chemistry because they're easily amused by seeing hot characters undress I lose life force. I didn't witness a couple that grew mutual respect and affection, I saw an insta-crush that led to Lois becoming so entitled to a guy she'd known for less than a week to the point of demanding full transparency of his private life before they even started dating. And then the narrative says it's Clark's fault for having reasonable boundaries, and then they're a couple. What is this.

I've briefly talked about CW Supergirl before, but my takeaway is: if people think MAWS is genuinely good writing then they should absolutely watch CW Supergirl because it must look like high art in comparison to MAWS. Maybe people are less judgy when something's animated and that's not fair. If we want to take animation as a serious medium we should hold it to the same standard and not coddle it. As someone who watched a few eps when CW Supergirl aired and then revisited and watched the whole thing years after the show concluded, I feel that the misogyny surrounding people's discourse around the show has led to people judging the show based on a fanon idea of it rather than its own merits.

more under the cut!

CW Supergirl is a show with great highs and lows. This results in things being hit or miss. But when something hits- CW Supergirl is not given nearly enough credit as it deserves. As a Martian Manhunter fan, I believe that their take on J'onn is the most competent and well adapted in not just adapted media, but all of comics canon. That doesn't mean I like everything they did with his lore and character, but I can acknowledge that they actually bothered developing him outside of the comics/cartoon's fixation with making him mope about his Origin Story all the time. He gets to find love, have adopted daughters through Kara and Alex, reckon with what it's like to preserve aspects of a culture he doesn't fully identify with, deal with his dad going through Martian Alzheimer's disease, and most importantly MAKE PEACE WITH HIS BROTHER. CW Supergirl has hands down, the best take on Ma'alefa'ak in all of canon.

I think Lena is a great character on the show. She's dealing with the trauma of being constantly manipulated by her own family, the legacy her name carries and who she is in all that. But because the supercorp ship permeates the way people perceive the show, she's reduced to that by discourse. When Lena has drama over Kara's secret Superhero identity, it's something that's built up to and informed by trauma, trust-issues, and TIME. We are shown that she has these problems. It gets melodramatic at times, but it's still something that was built up to. Meanwhile in MAWS Lois just tells us she has daddy issues and that it's why she really needs the cute guy at work to spill all his personal info to her even though she gets to lie to him for her own personal gain multiple times. I appreciate what CW Supergirl did to bring more attention to what was an obscure character. Whenever I bump into Lena in the comics, it hasn't stacked up to the character I met on the show.

I've called this out before but while CW Supergirl isn't perfect by any means especially with their treatment of Jimmy Olsen as a love interest to Kara and a generally sidelined Black supporting character, they still discussed and acknowledged Jimmy's identity as a Black American man! Sure it was heavy handed many times, but that's way better than MAWS straight up ignoring Jimmy's Blackness and even making an unintentional jab at it!! Like cw Supergirl Jimmy knows bigotry and has experienced it. MAWS Jimmy thinks bigotry is being ghosted for a camping trip. I have seen the exact same critics call out cw Supergirl for Jimmy's treatment while gleefully thinking Jimmy's treatment in MAWS is so uwu perfect. It makes me sick! Am I going insane?? It's the double standards for me.

[sunriseverse]

@krownest thank you for handing me the bat my liege let us get down and dirty

okay so disclaimer before we start this is my opinion and i’m not calling people bad or saying they should stop writing yada yada yada etc etc (also wow this got long oops. readmore on ye)

i think the reason there’s such a deluge of “bad” fanfic comes down to a couple different reasons, some of them interconnected and some of them symptoms of larger issues.

i wrote and rewrote my definition of what “bad fanfic” is like, seven times, but in the end i think the characteristics of it are essentially: fanfic which makes you stop reading or become disappointed due to any number of issues, especially those which, if they were changed, would render the fanfic itself fundamentally a different piece of art (so, MOSTLY not cosmetic).

some of the most common issues i, personally, have, when trying to find new fanfic to read are ones that i’m sure you’re fairly familiar with: characterisation issues, dynamics which feel “off”, direct contradiction to the canonical themes without any seeming understanding that it is, in fact, contradictory, and prose. that last one is the trickiest, so we’ll set it aside for the moment being.

i think the first three tie together fairly neatly, and have simple to answer causes: one, people are writing not based off canon, but off fanon; two, people are not, generally, trained in media and literature comprehension and analysis as anything but a basic set of tools to pass their primary/secondary school exams; and three, tied in with one and two, people aren’t writing concepts as they would happen if they were applied to x character(s), they’re writing what THEY would want to happen in x scenario, and slapping the characters’ names over them.

obviously, we could sit here and argue for days about what “characterisation” is, what “canon dynamics” are, hell, what “canon” is, but for our intents and purposes: let us define these as the range of plausible interpretations one can draw from a canon, and find sources or references to argue the validity of (and make no mistake, this doesn’t mean there’s “one true [characterisation/dynamic/canon]”—there is, let us say, a dialectical continuum of possibilities, and the extremes, in any direction, are entirely unsupported, or outright denied by, canon). (i could tack on a rant here about why i think disagreement and different interpretations in fandom is not only healthy, but NECESSARY, as long as no singular faction dominates and forces the others to feel as if they will be ostracised if they suggest otherwise, but i digress.)

these aren’t problems that can be fixed overnight. media analysis is a tool that takes time and effort to grow, and when it comes to the average fan, in 2024, participating in an averagely-sized fandom: there is no external force driving them to stretch that muscle. fandom has, for better or worse, moved past what it once was: no longer gated communities with high bars of entry, which necessitate skill and effort and passion to enter, but more open and free for all. make no mistake, this isn’t necessarily bad—there are many, MANY problems with old fandom, not the least being cults of personality, actual cults, harassing commenters, etc, etc. my point is simply that new age fandom, by design, doesn’t require you to put in as much work—the barriers to reading fic, to POSTING fic, are far lower than they, perhaps, have ever been. open ao3, send an invite request, and bam: a week or so and change later, you, too, can post your very own writing for thousands of people to see, should they simply look.

this ties, i think, into prose; all of these things are, by nature, hard to do. some people have a bit more instinctive knack for them—but even if they do, they’ll never be able to improve if they don’t push themselves, if they don’t practice, if they don’t try and engage with canon and think critically about said canon and try, really try, to put just as much into writing as an athlete would put into running, or javelin, or swimming—but unlike physical sports, writing is not something with immediate, tangible results. it takes TIME. and in the end, it’s much easier for people to write the same fifteen tropes, the same variations on ship themes, follow fanon. i’m not here to be a prescriptivist and tell you how you MUST write fanfic—i really don’t care that much, honestly. if you want to do that, fine, be my guest; but i’m allowed to complain about it on my blog.

to end this post on a lighter note, if you do feel your fanfic isn’t very good, and you want to improve: i have suggestions! you should read as much as you can (published works, especially experimental styles, are good for for this), get your hands on as much meta (for characters, dynamics, themes, what have you), or if you can’t find any, practise writing your own the way you’d write an essay, and most keyly: don’t do things in your writing just because they’re popular in the fandom.

okay, cut! that’s all, for now, i think

[princeblue]

Hi there! I love all your Sanemi and Genya fics on a03, one of my favourite authors on the site 💞 I wanted to ask, with your writing process on Sanemi, do you tend to take creative liberties on how you think he would act canonically, or base it on your own version of Sanemi?

Hello there! Firstly I want to thank you so much! It’s always an honor hearing that💚 I’m hoping that January will be my comeback era as December got really busy for me and I hit a bit of a burnout, but I’ve still got ideas brewing in the ole’ noggin that I want to write. :3

Secondly, I think it’s both, but I lean towards canonical liberties.

Because to me, Sanemi isn’t a hard character to read, it does take a while for him to explain his motives and feelings, but even then, nothing is very complicated.

Sanemi sees Shinobu and Kanae and thinks “I would never allow Genya to do this” so he doesn’t.

Masachika talks/teases Sanemi about girls and fun activities and Sanemi thinks “I don’t need happiness for myself, only for Genya” and abides by that self-set rule with small certain pleasures like ohagi or beetles. Nothing that would ever get in the way of his demon slaying to keep Genya safe.

Which is where I fail to see the funny in fanon-Sanemi when he’s so different from his canonical counterpart that he would actually hate fanon-Sanemi but, that’s a ramble for another day.

But yeah absolutely I won’t say I don’t have my own version of Sanemi, I don’t think the yandere au’s I love so much and die on the hill on are widely accepted/theorized on, but even then, I play yandere!Sanemi off his own canon actions and/or thought processes.

All in all, Sanemi is just an extremely easy character to write for me, just from my own perspective of him, I know everything he’d do, everything he’d say, it all just falls perfectly into line with whatever project I am working on, it’s why I tend to always write from his PoV even if I don’t plan to, I just always find my way back to him hehe.

This ask was a lot of fun, thank you anon!

[this-acuteneurosis]

Can I just say how much I appreciate the fact you don't stray much from the movies?

It's just so refreshing to see a fic that is built on a clear, unbiased and simple canon base. This way, as you demonstrated, a writer not only has the ability to further explore the main themes and ideas introduced in the source material, but they can also go ahead and naturally develop their own by branching out on those fundamentals. They can offer their perspective by using the source material to their advantage, instead of working against it or even worse, trying to include all contradicting canon aspects. Part of writing a fic is kind of like offering your input in a conversation/disagreement. You have to listen carefully to what the other person is saying in order to form your answer...If you're listening to a thousand different people who are all saying a different thing (in this case, The clone wars, legends, novels, comics ect), you won't be able to give an answer that makes sense, much less give a structured and stable opinion.

I love how you were like "I know star wars is entering an era of a shit ton of spin off content with seemingly no end and most star wars fans know shit like who chewie lost his virginity to and what the kessel run is but screw this. The movies and maybe some late night wiki research is enough."

And you were right.

It's so funny, because I feel like I do ultimately stray pretty far from the movies. Not in terms of events I guess, but especially the prequels, I reject some of the underlying assumptions of what is said on screen and just treat it like fallible people strongly asserting opinions that no one calls them on. See: everything I ever assert about the Force/Anakin's "destiny."

I do think it helped me to stick with limited material. And it wasn't even because I saw all of this new SW content coming. I've mentioned this before, but when I started writing Don't Look Back (when it was just Like Fire and I naively believed I was gonna be done in 200k words, lol, rip past me) I hesitated a lot because as far as I was concerned, I wasn't a Star Wars Fan.

I'd watched the OT and PT multiple times. I knew that novels and games and cartoons existed, I knew people had consumed them all. I had been reading some SW fic because @mylongsufferingroommate had been sending me stuff they were enjoying and I was having fun with it. But like, I would never have called myself a Fan. I got goaded into writing this fic by people who knew me too well and really wanted a political thriller. I wouldn't have called them Star Wars Fans either.

Limiting myself to the six movies I had watched was a preemptive defense mechanism against a fan base I wasn't sure would want to accept me. My thin skin is my own problem, but every time I think about writing in a new fandom the same sort of nerves take me: what if my fanon is "wrong" and people are mean?

I guess what I'm trying to say is thank you so much to everyone who gave me a chance and encouraged me and were excited and shared that excitement.

And please, for the love of all the sky and stars DON'T GATEKEEP FANDOMS.

Don't tell people their canon is too big (@blue-sunshine-mauve-morning and @chancecraz have amazing fics that are much more compliant than mine to the broader canon, as a quick example), and definitely don't tell people their canon is too small. Walk away if you aren't enjoying something. Give compliments when you like something that is unique in a fandom you're familiar with. Be patient with people, be kind.

I could easily have given this story up if people hadn't been patient with me. I got comments as early as my first chapter from people who were angry with a single thing that I said and felt the need to tell me I was wrong. I could have left. I could have stopped.

I'm glad I didn't. But I wonder how many other people have.

[lily-alphonse]

Omg pls do smth for Haley x Sebastian. I can imagine her hating him for being the ‘town freak’ but she actually loves him yk yk??

Hi Seph! I had an insane brain blast for this one and I would love to write it one day. I'm going to try to summarize as best as I can because my brain is absolutely sprinting with this idea and I already have the makings of a full fic formed lol. 

I checked AO3 for funsies and was surprised to find they genuinely are rare, I was expecting more. At the time of my search I see ten, you can click here to see existing Haley/Seb on AO3.

I actually have a plan for these two to hook up in my SamAlex series (it isn't posted anywhere yet but sooo soon, you can check out the ask its based on though) but that's more casual, let’s give them the makings of a real relationship this time.

I might have seen this somewhere but I love the idea of Haley going to Sebastian for weed, and that's how they get closer.

I need Sebastian to SAVE her. That’s what got me all fired up. That’s my climax.

Ok so initially, Haley definitely just sees Sebastian as a freak, especially because he was even weirder in high school while he was figuring out his style and stuff. 

She dreads that she has no other option but to go to him for weed, preferring to go through Sam whenever possible, but Jodi is really strict you know, he can't always be meeting her for stuff like that or keeping weed in his place. 

So she has no choice but to meet him.

Sebastian has changed. He's grown, he's gotten his style together. He's kind of punk, but Haley doesn't hate it. (I'm imagining @modern-gremlin 's interpretation of Sebastian for this). Haley's even a little intrigued, but won't admit it to herself. He's not the kind of guy she usually goes for.

The first time she meets him at his house on the mountain she complains about the trek, but she’s wearing fashionable heeled boots and Sebastian looks at her like she’s stupid. “Nice boots.”

“Is that sarcasm?”

Sebastian can't tell if she’s asking that seriously or not. It makes things awkward (high implications that Haley is autistic I love autistic Haley fanon). “Maybe” he decides to answer.

She waggles a gloved finger at him. “No, no. I don’t take sarcasm. I will thank you for your compliment, and your backhanded joke is ruined,” she says matter-of-factly.

Sebastian, amused and a little high, just chuckles and says “Okay.”

“Thank you. Now where’s my weed?” 

Sebastian shakes his head to himself, an incredulous smile glued to his face. He can’t quite shake his sarcastic tendencies when he gestures back to the house, “After you my lady.” 

She nods and flips her blonde hair behind her.

They start meeting up regularly, usually once a month. Always short business dealings. At first Sebastian does offer to smoke her out so she can test it, but she refuses. More than potentially being awkward, she really prefers just to smoke at parties. It's not that she doesn't trust him, she supposes she does if she's buying weed from him, and he never seems to short her.

I want to have a buildup bonding moment where she learns something about him that's surprising and she likes it. Maybe she comes by and he is working on his motorcycle (🥵 every Sebastian lover when we get that scene) and after that starts opening up to him a bit more.

She starts letting him know about the parties she is going to in town where she's taking the weed to. When it seems a little sus or new territory, he asks her how she's getting home and stuff like that, just to make sure she's safe, and she laughs him off. She's a big girl, she can take care of herself. He assures her anyway that if she's ever in a bad situation she can call him or Sam. They are often in town on the weekend anyway. Haley is touched at that.

She decides maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to get high with him sometime. I’m thinking the first time is a fun little hangout with a group though I’m not sure who exactly yet. Essentially I need them to get high and have a good time and with their guards down there actually starts to be a little romantic tension between them but they can’t do anything about it because of the others there. 

Next we get a party scene where Haley is kind of checked out and uninterested in hooking up or playing any racy party games because unfortunately she’s kind of hung up on Sebastian now. Both are individually having their own 'damn I might have caught feelings' moments.

A few days after those realizations they stumble across each other by accident and are both sober, that's important. They have a cute little sober moment like she comes across him in the woods as she’s taking pics, or he takes her out on his motorcycle. By the end of it they are officially both interested in each other. They are looking forward to seeing each other again, but neither of them has spelled out that they're dating. 

Then, first conflict. Something happens, probably some kind of miscommunication. They don’t end up reconciling before Haley gets herself into trouble at the next party she goes to.

This bit originally got too graphic for this post so I will just say, she ends up in a bad situation, and manages to call Sebastian.

Sebastian comes in fully prepared to do jail time. I'm not pretending he is a big guy, I know that, he knows that. He has just seen some shit in his life and knows how to defend himself. Plus it helps that he is pissed. He majorly fucks up the bad guy and rescues Haley.

She's super out of it but murmurs his name. "Seb..."

“I told you I’d come get you,” he says, choking on relief. 

Haley smiles a little and closes her eyes again. He picks her up, walking out of the party cradling her in his arms. 

And then we could get an epilogue of them properly reconciling and becoming official and all that teehee

This ask is a part of the (now closed) SDV Rarepair Challenge! Check out the other answers here, and make sure to boost your favorite so it can appear in the final fic poll! More info on that here.

[musicfeedsmysoul12]

You're forgetting that Eraser is an enabler. Yes, Bakugo should be held fully accountable for his own actions, I completely agree with you there. But Eraser is his homeroom teacher. It's his job to discipline Bakugo when he does something wrong and not allow him to continue that behavior. Instead he does nothing as Bakugo repeatedly attacks a fellow classmate. He assumes that Midoriya is just as responsible for them not being able to get along. He has CONSISTENTLY treated Midoriya unfairly, especially as opposed to Bakugo.

Who's the one always defending Bakugo? Eraser. Who's the one who paired them together for the final despite Bakugo repeatedly being violent toward Midoriya? Eraser. Who's the one who did nothing to correct Bakugo's behavior despite promising to? Eraser.

Either Eraser is an idiot who genuinely doesn't believe that there's a power imbalance between Midoriya and Bakugo, or he's aware of it and sees no problem with it and doesn't deign to do anything about it. You can understand how neither of these options do him any favors

I'm not saying he isn't an enabler.

I'll acknowledge that my preferred version of Aizawa is mostly fanon because I like him better when he's a good man and a good father figure to the kids. But I know that he enabled Bakugou.

It's why in every five I write the backstory is that Aizawa doesn't read teacher comments and he assumes based on Bakugou’s attitude that he was treated like a villain. Because it gives us a reason why Aizawa does defend Bakugou. As for Izuku: I think Nezu never included the activation date or even Izuku kept it quiet out of fear. He never tells ANYONE when he got his Quirk for a long time. So I can actually understand why Aizawa would think Izuku is lazy in that situation. I think Aizawa is a fucking idiot for not looking into it further, but that's me.

However I can't remember Aizawa ever blaming Izuku for the fights with Bakugou. I literally can't. He blames them BOTH for the after curfew fight which is highly unfair but it's not solely Izuku. I've rewritten enough of the series that I can see how unfair Aizawa is BUT with his personality I can't understand why. It feels incredibly out of character to me that a guy who hates when people coast on their Quirks and acts like a bunch of entitled dicks would give Bakugou a pass. Hence my headcanon.

Aizawa does enable Bakugou: and it's WILDLY out of character even early on. This is why I think Horikoshi either: a) wants Bakuhou around the most and will make everyone OOC to do it or b) is being forced to keep the guy in due to popularity.

But to say he ONLY blames Izuku is wrong. He's just never punishing Bakugou which isn't good. I won't deny Aizawa is a dick the first while before becoming more open. However: he's not the one at fault for Bakugou’s actions. Bakugou would have figured a way out to bully Izuku no matter what. He'd have gotten sneaker and meaner over time. That's what abusers do. He'd have hit Izuku in places people can't see and he'd have done things to mess with him.

Aizawa did enable Bakugou. But to have him receive a horrible punishment when Bakugou gets off Scott free is my issue. If Aizawa is fired for not doing anything, Bakugou should be expelled. If Bakugou just needs anger management, Aizawa just needs therapy.

To me, Aizawa honestly thought Bakugou just needed guidance. He never threatens Izuku with expelling him after the first day. He pulls logical ruses, does train Shinsou over them and isn't a great teacher but NO teacher at UA is a good one. Vlad King certainly the hell isn't given he hasn't cracked down on Kendo or Monoma for their shit. Power Loader isn't for not stopping Mei from her antics. Present Mic and Midnight could have done something to. All Might isn't a great teacher either.

Aizawa is an idiot who got blinded by his own beliefs. Bakugou is a child who was hurt by society and needs guidence while Izuku is the old version of Kirishima: a well meaning guy who pushes to much. That's what Aizawa thinks I believe. That's what he is to me. Someone who honestly has the best intentions but fucks up.

But again: the issue will always be the unequal punishment for Bakugou when he is the sole person at fault. He didn't need an enabler the very first day: he attacked Izuku no matter what. His actions are his own.

[rca-ryzies-ralley]

YOU HAVE AUS?!?! THAT'S SO COOL!!!! WHAT ARE THEY!!!!!

IM SO GLAD SOMEONE FINALLY ASKED HOLY SHIT YES

I have one for about every Fandom i join, so it'd be hard to talk about all of them. but here's like 2/14(?)of my most worked on AUs (That don't have an Ask blog).

(AU's Undercut this got super long im so sorry-)

UNDERTALE: 2 PLAYER MODE

The 2 Player AU is one of my OLDEST AU's I've had, dating back to at least 2017? note, Its changed a lot over time and still might so.

The Concept is Essentially After Frisk plays threw a version of Undertale that is at their own fingertips & eventually, gets bored. Deciding to change course of the timeline & create a new starting point they share power over the Timeline with Flowey (this doesn't mean they share a soul, more so Determination & Stats), Which Sparing the lore dump eventually creates a new starting point/Save file & a new timeline with code to decompile.

this has probably been done to death but pbbtbgfncn I like writing depth to Flowey & giving Frisk their own personality

It features a lot more than just that including many personal head cannons, Theories & Continuing Arc interpretations. It's probably my second favorite AU I have (First is a We Bare Bears AU), despite being very simple with its arcs.

Hence why as much as I want to make this now, it'll have to wait so I can grow more as a creator & make it as best as it can be.

It may however be getting a short comic eventually that is the context behind this ^ drawing. Anyway ask me more about this AU though pleas-

MY LITTLE PONY: FRIENDSHIP IS FRANTIC

th-this was an au.. that started out with such a simple concept.

then it got so fucking Long & Complex with its lore- to the point i accidentally rewrote the entire show. I don't even dislike the show the only major story flaw I hated was the Grogar Twi-

Basically the Concept of this AU is about 2 things now; Everyone is based off Different Fan Works/Fandom Ideas within the MLP Fandom & it acts as a In between from the show - The last Problem (Also sometimes i joke that this au is just MLP but 13+)

Examples:

Flutter shy has a Shed for y'know. venting aggressions

Pinkie Has The Same Backstory as in Friendship is Witchcraft

That's all I'm going to say about this au, it's never getting an ask blog/Public lore dumps ever aside from this cause I don't want to deal with All the lore I made for this. I might post art i do for it though.

Twilight's Based Off the common fanon Idea of her not coming to terms with her immortality & Alicorn hood

Starlight Glimmer wasn't fucking reformed in one epis-

I was going to talk about a third Clone High AU but I talk too much so-

[koreposion]

Thoughts on canon and fanon Blue?

Okay let me start off with this

AUUUYGHHHHHHRRRFHHHHHHHAHHHHHHHHHHH RAHHHHHHHHH

Now my actual thoughts are....I don't really care, they both have their strengths and weaknesses but both of them are used to tear the other down. Not only that but purity culture is pathetic so when "Blueberry" is made to be Aroace because "He's such a cute and sweet childlike bean!"

It's grosser than the fact that you think of him as "childlike" like adults don't love puzzles, colors, and keep stuffed animals. Not only are you making it out to seem like it's bad to enjoy "childish" things as an adult but that wanting joy means that you haven't grown up which is :[

I feel like Blueberry is a wonderful way to explore different aspects of adulthood and how it affects people differently. Childlike wonderment and joy shouldn't be limited to just your childhood, and some children are just forced to grow up fast but then that leaves them wanting the things they should have had during their childhood years. However this part of storytelling for Blueberry isn't EVER SEEN BECAUSE FOR SOME REASON PEOPLE ARE FIGHTING OVER ECHO CHAMBER THOUGHTS????

Not only that but the MOMENT someone EVER headcannons something and it becomes popular it becomes "fanon" which??? SO YOU WANT PEOPLE TO WRITE THE CHARACTERS BASED ON HEADCANNONS MADE FUCKIN FOREVER AGO???

Like okay, example the food thing where each Sans was given a favorite condiment, and the swap versions were different dishes. This was okay but like...what do you mean Blueberry's defining traits are that he loves tacos and wants what's best for everyone....like are you sure you don't want anything else? Please. Please oh my God please.

It's like when people make Papyrus' traits "love spaghetti and the guard" and NOTHING ELSE. Even though he loves collecting action figures, studying puzzles, making costumes, building, and he is a very caring person but is only ever used as a plot point in fics??? Like when something needs to go wrong he's there, or when something needs to go right he's there. It's not written in naturally and thus has also affected the way people write Blueberry.

When something needs to go right or wrong Blueberry is there but oh no! He's too sweet and kind to want anything EVER and only wants what's best for you but it's never in a cool manipulative way? Fics that make him a bit of an ass are a breath of fresh air.

I think people forget that he's Sans too a lot. And I think he should be more quick witted and smart mouthed. He should keep his love of puns and ketchup, he should also keep his smarts. Like puzzle wise he's actually really good and puts a lot of effort into it but he's not really good at the science aspect of smart. It's like people forget that you can still keep these traits and "swap" him.

I have SO MUCH MORE to say but the basic fundamentals are this.

People need to stop holding onto the past version of Blueberry but also not tear down the past version as much as they do. You can give him different traits and he'd still be "Sans", making him less of a "Papyrus" would be helpful. Have fun with new ideas and possibly explore the idea of having different types of childhood and how that affects a person as an adult. Liking childish things doesn't mean someone is an innocent person, but that they find comfort in those things and nothing more. Growing up happens, and it's apart of life and it's hard to come to terms with sometimes.

To have him stay a flat character with no possiblity of change is a waste of potential and people have the right to do more. Overall, do what you think is most fun when it comes to story telling but don't forget that he's a character who needs devolvement just like any other "Sans"

Man I had so much to say I'm sorry

[weekend-whip]

Hi! I wanted to say I LOVE your fic, and how you characterise the ninja - they’re so realistic in how they act and they have such unique ways of thinking! I also love the way they all interact with one another - the shenanigans never fail to make me laugh. I’m trying to write something myself atm, and I was wondering if you have any tips on how to do consistent characterisation/character arcs? It’s something I struggle with lots and I think you do it really well! Tysm

Thank you!!

I've gone into a few details on my approach to writing overall right here, but for specifics relating to your question:

Characterization:

Revisit the source material often! It can be easy to forget some of the more nuanced aspects of a character the longer you go without directly experiencing it (and being influenced by ~fanon~ which is not always a bad thing), but that right there is the foundation for consistency and for finding ways to expand on the character too!

A few examples of things to pay attention to when doing so are a character's dialogue/infliction (what phrases they say, how they say things, etc), how they react in average situations vs extreme ones vs personal ones, the ways they act/stand/look when not saying anything or aren't the focus, or trying to imagine what might be going through their heads, whether they're speaking or not!

Plus, it can even serve just as a quick refresher! Even I still go back and do that once it a while, especially when I need to figure out how to write a fresh character's voice (totally not as an excuse to rewatch ninja pfft what)

Read fanfiction! Yes, I know I just said we can get a little too buried in ~fanon~ sometimes, but something that can help your understanding of a character is to study how other people understand a character! Maybe they do things with Kai you agree with! Maybe they handle Cole in a way you disagree with! Either way, that does help sort out what you want to do when you write, and help you come up with idea you might not have considered otherwise!

It can also help you with the "filling in the blanks", for stuff like character dynamics for people that haven't ever spoken/interacted at all, or how a character would react in a situation they've never been forced into in canon and you're not sure where'd you start with it otherwise. If nothing else, it gives you a nice place to jump off from! And something to talk about with other fellow writers!

I just personally think it's important to remember a character's base foundation before pushing them outside of their establish box—bending without breaking, so to speak

Character Arcs:

Sometimes development can happened within a single chapter. Sometimes it's something that is contested across the entire story! One of the first things to determine is how big of an impact a character's arc is going to have on the overall plot. Is their development the plot itself? It is developing at the same time as the plot, or because of it? Is it something that happens on the side but works in service to the plot? Or does it happen independent of the plot entirely?

After asking these questions, you can then determine how important the character arc is going to be, and from there sort out how much focus you want/need to put into it. Does it all happen throughout the story as whole, just when the timing is right, or do they get a subplot dedicated to it? Those types of questions can help you decide how you want this development to unfold too.

The way I generally do it (primarily in my rewrite) is to block out the main events of the overall plot, and then detail where each character would be at in their growth corresponding to the event and/or the point in time, that way I can pace things a little easier, and figure out how potential changes can/will ripple effect down the line. Of course, this may not work for everyone or for every story, but it could be something to try!

Always!! Write!! It!! Down!! Maybe you've got it so well planted in your head and you'll only ever glance at it once, or maybe you'll make a bunch of changes to it in the future, but write out your overall plan(s) for the character(s) at least once, and then go from there. It's just good to have for a reference, and having it all in front fo you can help you visualize some of the finer details down the line (since you don't have to waste brain power constantly recalling the order of events or whatever—you can start digging deeper into the fun stuff!)

Remember it's okay if a character is static too! Depending on the plot/setting, there's going to be characters more situated for the plot at hand than others, and it's okay if everyone isn't going through something at the same time. A character might not need to undergo some astounding personal revelation; but whatever they can contribute can still be important!

So, if some of your struggle is that you can't figure something out for a character to do/learn, it's okay to put them in the backseat until they are needed, or give them smaller, less dramatic goals to overcome! That way there's not as much pressure to cram everyone into the spotlight, and gives you more breathing room to write their moments more naturally, rather than forcing something that might not even be necessary!

Anyway, hope that helps somewhat! ^-^)/

[usamamoweek]

Meet the Creators - RiverLethe

What username(s) and platform(s) can folx find you on? (Please include links!)

@riverlethe - I am on Tumblr and Ao3!

(Fun Fact) What is your favorite kind of potato?

Yes. If it is a potato, I will eat it (except for mayo-based potato salads - no thanks), and my preference absolutely depends on mood, but if I had to pick one.... Have you ever tried Chef John's Potatoes Romanoff? If the answer is no, go fix that right now! (add in crisped up pancetta before baking - you're welcome)

How long have you been creating works in fandom spaces? How long have you been active in the SM fandom?

If reading fanfic counts as being active in the fandom, I've been active, on and off, for a little over 20 years, but I didn't actually start writing fanfic until 2 years ago.

What type(s) of creative works do you usually make? (fanfics, digital art, cosplay)

Fanfics are my #1 contribution, but I also crochet. I made @linlamont's Sailor Rex plush based on her amazing artwork for her adorable story "Treasures", and I am currently working on a custom Sailor Rex for my 6 yo daughter. There are plans for a Tuxedo Rex and Tuxedo Kamen

What do you enjoy about creating for the SM fandom?

I love the sense of community and making friends within the fandom. Discussing and theorizing all things Sailor Moon is one of my favorite things! Plus, there is just so much to explore, both in canon and fanon

Are you strictly UsaMamo or do you create for other pairings as well?

I wrote a Kunz/Venus fic for Heavenly Pearl's/@kaleidodreams' first ever Rare Pair week, but I otherwise exclusively write for UsaMamo. Who knows, maybe I'll be inspired to create for another ship in the future. Never say never!

What inspires you to create works for Usagi and Mamoru?

The emotions! Everything these kids go through is dark, scary, intense, etc etc, and I love to explore how it affected them, how they're feeling in the moment, and how Usagi and Mamoru support each other through it.

Do you tend to work on multiple projects (WIPs) simultaneously or try to finish one at a time?

Ideally, I would work on one WIP at a time, but with my ongoing story Once More, with Feeling!, I always have multiple going on. While I normally don't mind putting OMwF aside for a OS or two, I haven't updated it in almost a year, which I feel really bad about, so I am trying to put any new ideas on hold right now so I can get Chapter 13 done. OMwF will eventually update, I promise!

Do you prefer large projects (chaptered fics, webtoons/zines, highly detailed art) or small projects (one-shots or simple art)?

I love how much of a story can be explored and fleshed out in a chaptered fic, but, for fans, they can be daunting to start reading if you aren't there from the very beginning (depending on length), and there is always that ever present nemesis: time. As a writer, I like the regular engagement with the community that posting new chapters allows, but writing as I go can be very stressful, especially when motivation just isn't striking. For OSs, I love that ability to focus on one small part of the characters' lives without needing to generate a lot of backstory or lore. Will I do another Chaptered fic once OMwF is finished? Probably, I do want to continue into R, but I will hopefully take everything I've learned working on OMwF (it's my very first ever fanfic!) into the sequel so I'm a little more prepared.

Are there any common themes, situations, tropes, or mediums in your work?

Angst and Romance are probably the most common as I love the emotional impact the angst imparts and how Usagi and Mamoru support each other through it. Honestly, I find the original anime (and the manga to a lesser extent) a bit emotionally stunted, so I absolutely love fics that elicit emotions, in me, either happy, sad or anything in between!, and I strive to do that for my readers. With any luck, I succeeded!

Is there anything you haven’t explored artistically and would like to try?

If I could draw, I would totally do art. I am in awe of what artists can create through their medium and would love to be able to visually see what so many of us use words to describe, but, alas, I'll stick to crocheted dinosaurs with odangos! Regarding writing, I have more OSs in mind for stories and ideas I haven't explored yet, and maybe I'll actually learn some restraint and create chaptered fics that aren't 12+ chapters long at 5k-12k words each. Anything is possible! (Except for me and art. Not gonna happen)

[fiadorable]

20 questions for fic writers

Thanks for the tag, @curator-on-ao3 🫶

1. How many works do you have on Ao3? 46 works, but if you parse the three drabble collections and a ficlet collection it jumps up to 96.

2. What's your total Ao3 word count? 142,888

3. What fandoms do you write for? Star Trek Strange New Worlds, The Librarians, Once Upon a Tme, Star Trek Voyager, The X-Files (none on ao3), Harry Potter, and King & Maxwell

4. What are your top five fics by kudos? Where Flowers Bloom: The F*ck You Bouquet Once Upon a Time, SwanQueen, Rated T, 2.8k words Prom season is keeping Regina Mills, proprietor of Fairytale Flowers, busy, but when Emma Swan storms into her store one day with a unique request and a hidden connection, her day shifts from busy to odd to (dare she say it) hopeful.

revelation in the light of gray Star Trek Strange New Worlds, PikeUna, Rated G, 2.8k words Ensign Uhura stumbles into sickbay late one night and discovers something new about Captain Pike and Number One.

love is a ghost you can't control Star Trek Strange New Worlds, PikeUna, Rated T, 4.3k words One or two times Christopher Pike, uh, asked Una Chin-Riley about romance while they were both serving on the Antares. (This fic was inspired by and based on a scenario referenced in @curator-on-ao3's fic The Haze!)

Of Paperwork, Knots, and Warm Glowy Things, or, Roland Registers for Kindergarten Once Upon a Time, OutlawQueen, Rated G, 10.5k words Sometimes, Henry lets him sit on his bed with his old textbooks splayed open on his lap, the large tomes covering his legs as he runs his hands across the shiny paper, drinking in the bright pictures breaking up the dark columns of text. The older boy warned him he might not have hardbacked books like that until first grade, but Roland doesn't care. He's going to carry his own backpack and learn how to write and memorize all the names of all the bugs in this realm.

Trekalicious Drabbles Star Trek Strange New Worlds, PikeUna + La'an & Chapel + La'an & Una + Sir Adya/Z'ymria, Rated T, 2.1k words A collection of 100 word drabbles for the #Wednesday100 challenge

5. Do you respond to comments? I'm trying to! I'm very bad about doing it in a timely manner 🙈

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Oh, definitely the scorch. That piece is pure, distilled angst.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Of Paperwork, Knots, and Warm Glowy Things is pretty saccharine

8. Do you get hate on fics? Yeah, I attracted a few trolls with So Are We Alright Then?. Luckily they were no match for the almighty "delete comment" function. Most people are nice.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Eh? Kind of? Most of my stuff stays M or below.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? I've done one: an ending unforseen, which is a crossover between Strange New Worlds and Voyager. I threw Christopher Pike into the Delta Quadrant on Voyager so he could have a chat with Kathryn Janeway.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I know of

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope

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

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? I can't pick a favorite, but I will say that Mulder/Scully, fanon Janeway/Chakotay, OutlawQueen, and Pike/Una have all been formative ships that I've enjoyed watching/reading/writing for over the years.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? First Day (Once Upon a Time OQ). 1 chapter published as a one shot that was received so well I turned it into a novel-length fic that was never published (19 chapters, 8 alternate universes visited, 40k words written with barely the surface scratched). I love it. It's my white whale. I open it up and marvel at the audacity and ambition of my younger self every now and then.

16. What are your writing strengths? Characterization, dialogue. Sometimes I concentrate hard and pull off some nifty minimalist prose.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Details and self doubt.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I'm not bilingual, so if I did, I would 100% run it by a native speaker if someone was available to spot check.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Either Voyager or X-Files, I can't remember which

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? I love writing the drabbles, they're little puzzleboxes of happy.

tagging: @enterprise-come-in and @meddow with apologies if y'all've been there done that

[aeternallis]

the nice thing about having friends who have faith in you, having a twin brother you can rant to and not be judged poorly (considering he himself has also been in some hot water with our extended family before, lol), having a sister-in-law you can talk to about the technicalities of things, is that it grounds you to reality. it gives you perspective, and just outright reminds you that you shouldn't let what people say online get to you, because at the end of the day, all this will pass, yknow?

i'm excited for the day i can look back on all of this and laugh about it; it'll make for a neat conversation starter with my friends. lol there's no regret in what happened. i only regret the way i let it get to me, and how i'd forgotten one of my other personal rules when i engage in fandom. but having talked to my loved ones now (and listening to bollywood music), i'm on solid, firmer ground again, so i think it's a lot safer for me now to think and talk about it, to get all my thoughts out onto paper and onto the same solid ground with me.

usually i'd write about this sort of thing on my journal, but i gotta keep the carpal tunnel at bay, so onto this blog it goes.

what happened this week was a double-whammy for me: individuals called me out for a post I'd reblogged on here with some tags I wrote on there, and a meta post that garnered some controversy about a generally accepted fanon take on a character (said take being fanon is my opinion, just so we're clear, future me).

i have hurt a number of individuals with the tags i wrote in that post, and i do feel remorseful for the way i came off, but ultimately, i do stand by them. my reasons were not stated in that post, because i spoke only in the tags; we have a limit of 30 tags, y'all. i'm not able to give all my justifications onto those tags because i'm limited (30!), and i never thought i'd have to (despite the fact that i understood that i had no obligation to), in the first place.

whether or not people choose to discern and draw conclusions about my character based on those tags alone, or if they want to reach out to me to get further clarification, that's entirely up to them. i can't control how people perceive me online, so why expend the energy to giving their opinions about me any weight, when i can use said energy for other things (like smutty kimchay art--//hits)?

the way i see it, the people who choose to discern my character and jump to conclusions about it based on those tags alone says a lot more about them than it ever will about me.

having said that...

cat!kim, bottom!kim, submissive!kim...I don't like any of these headcanons (that hasn't stopped me from reading some amazing bottom!kim fics though, lemme just say XD) because in my mind, they're heavily influenced by jeff satur's media personality and disregards the boundary between actor and character. no one has to agree with me on this, nor should anyone feel the need to explain themselves to me about why they may think the opposite, because at the end of the day, these are just my opinions. anyone else is more than welcome to think the contrary. i cannot control what people think of me through these opinions any more than i can control people giving weight to them in the first place.

autistic!kim and basically any headcanon that applies a medical diagnosis onto a fictional character...is an idea i choose not to engage in, or entertain in any capacity. that's all there is to it. am i stopping others from engaging in this idea? not at all; explore this idea as much as you want in the capacity it makes you happy. that's one of the purposes of fandom, after all. but for my part, i cannot engage in it whatsoever; i'd much rather people in this fandom just think the worst of me, call me all types of names and labels in the book, and live in ignorance about my character, than to compromise on this. i can explain myself in limited capacity in a private chat, but otherwise, i won't share any more of myself than what i feel i can or should in this public space, yknow?

as for my meta posts...i'm very glad they do encourage conversation, even if others disagree with me, but just please be nice about it. i don't mind engaging in friendly debate in private, but i will also admit that debate about character interpretation in public gives me hella anxiety, alas. it's harder to discern people's tones online, and what was once originally a debate can quickly spiral into yelling matches because of this loss of context.

but yeah, i think now i can safely say i've made a little bit of peace with this incident(s), even if i'm still processing a lot of emotions!

and with that, back to my metas and kimchay art, i've kept them waiting long enough~