#and the funny thing is i dont think either of these authors hate those characters

[ladysophiebeckett]

begging people to stop recommending madeline miller's circe to ppl who like the odyssey. like at this point, it sounds like ur tricking them.

[mx-paradox]

Anyway that last poll had the brain wheels turning so here's me listing those tropes from favorite to least favorite and why I like/dislike each of them

1. Found family

Love this trope. This and friendship and qprs...platonic devotion my beloved. Even if some of the relationships are not always platonic found family is just a much deeper chosen bound i enjoy. One thing I can say is that you should not assign actual nuclear family roles to the found family (especially if you then get mad at other people for shipping characters you have arbitrarily decided are related in your own mind. Stop it. Get help). The best found family could not conceivably have these roles forced upon them.

2. Friends to lovers

Idk I just like the idea of people who already know and like each other falling into more...I think that's nice...it bypasses the love at first sight shallowness which can get boring. It feels more comforting to be loved by someone who knows you more deeply i suppose. The downside I mostly see in heterosexual romance media but the idea you have to get together with your close friend if they're the opposite gender. Or even the gender you're attracted to in general. Just no

3. Enemies to friends to lovers

Done well, this is great. Tbh I think the friends in the middle bypasses my biggest gripe with enemies to lovers, which is that too often it's just 'oh villain is hot' without any of the actual fun tropes. If it's mostly a sex thing I don't like it SKSJKSSK it gets flat

4. Happily ever after

Why wouldn't u like some of this sometimes...I don't think it's always necessary or fitting depending on the story, and often I can sacrifice a happy ending for a more thematically fitting one easily (even if I seem to gripe over it)

5. Soulmates

I used to like this trope more...I think bc of the absolute guarantee you will be loved. Now I think the interesting ones either involve a not immediately obvious mark (aka they realize what their mark means after a while) or a more fluid bond type/platonic marks...again to avoid the issues I have with love at first sight type stuff sometimes where it feels flat and unearned

6. Fake dating

I dont have much to say other than sometimes this bores me. Or gives me second hand embarrassment. Can be pretty funny though or crushingly angsty if youre good at it

7. Workplace au

This can be so good and interesting but I just think very few people do anything different with it. Tattoo shop/flower shop often feels like another pastel/goth thing where someone has to be ooc for no reason...the best workplace au imo is coworkers who both hate their job. Or people who just have a weird/different job so you can have fun with it

8. Love triangle

Annoys me usually. I did like fruits basket tho...so I concede that it can be done well if the author actually makes good characters that don't just exist purely for romantic angst

9. School au

I just think it's boring. Tbh. I don't really have a positive for this one.

[skwistokwarrior]

i had a long talk with my brother about the blues and reds awhile back and i thought i'd share some ideas we brainstormed for a better season (because s15 has so potential gone down the shitter) so uhh scroll while you still can. professional yapping under cut

ok so thinking about it now i don't exactly know how this would work about we had an idea that some of the reds and blues stayed back on chorus (i know, i know, this is already creating plotholes.) we decided on tucker, simmons, and sarge. we also thought itd be cool if tucker was like a cooler version of felix and wash combined. i think he'd train lieutenants☝️ maybe some simmons jensen bonding time i need those nerds to be friends!!! they can geek together. i also think simmons would like to observe chorus and help them recover from the war. and sarge would just stay idk

nooowww let's get into some ideas we had to improve the b&rs

surge, now being a sort of opposite of sarge, gained his rank from deception and tricks and he's actually quite cowardly, he'd risk a whole platoon to save his own ass (but oh no, they fought well and died in honor..) he doesn't really care for command and order, but follows temple because he has to. we came back to this a few months later and also had another idea that he was an odst like sarge but was very traumatized after the war and was very apathetic to life.

genes more street smart than book smart, also a massive trickster. he only pretends to think surge is in charge, he really hates surge (plus i had an idea that sarge DID save surge, but he left surge on his own and gene pushed him in the lava mwahahaha) but despite that he actually sort of idolizes temple, seeing him as the leader surge never was. my guy turned down his leader just to immediately cling onto the first authority figure he views as "different from the others" (different as in worse. so much worse) or he's just the same. cause that joke was pretty funny

i think it'd be interesting if cronut acted more like s1 donut (because the difference is INSANE 😭) not much further explanation on this but also added a point that he's using the b&rs just for the time machine (what for? we didn't exactly get that far.) OH ALSO MAYBE NAMED BAGEL LMAO

so we had two ideas for buckey. he's either huge creepazoid turned up to 11 or a huge religious freak that DESPISES tucker for his sexual nature. swears its gods words telling him to persevere and help the b&rs on their plan. to add onto the first idea, i think he'd have all of tuckers worst traits amplified by like, a lot. the only reason they keep him around is cause he's a sniper (also had a little idea that he was the one who shot wash)

lorenzo is silent. cant speak LOL we had some ideas about him being given freelancer equipment. alsssooooo added onto this with the possibility of the suit being ran by the greed ai (and that the armor was georgia's suit colored brown cause of the georgia & greed theory) plus they had an emp bomb installed as a backup. maybe this ones a stretch

nothing much for loco. i guess i liked his whole "hes not REALLY evil thing" but i wouldve liked to see an evil side of loco, even just a little. oh we had an alternative idea for the machine he was builing, somewhat of a slipspace bomb to lure in unsc ships to boom boom them

i don't really know what to add to biff 😭 i actually liked his character as he was. uuuuuhhhhh i wouldve liked more georgina. pls. i love heryou dont understamd.

OHHH ALSO ALSO we had an idea that when tucker finally gets to temple he pulls out fucking yellow church as an ai fragment. he threatens to destroy it and does his little rant about how the ai fragments were also the cause of all this. to add onto the slipspace bomb idea, the bomb is destroyed at the unfortunate cost of yellow church. bye bye buddy. I KNOW THIS ONES A STRETCH ITS JUST FUNNY

ok guys make sure to like and subscribe and smash that notification bell!!!!!!

[randomscpventblog]

what of those who use rewrites and get harassed for it by... *those* kind of bright fans, like the type of "fan" that send threats, make nazi jokes, and so on, etc. like dont we also get some voice in venting? if i may share my vent:

i don't care if people wanna use bright, that's their choice good for them, but at most i want people to understand /why/ some people might be moving to a rewrite or a different character within the scp universe instead. and same thing goes for rewrite crowd to understand the same. its a spectrum, two extreme ends with a lot of grey in between it. bullying, sending threats, etc whatever from all sides isn't going to help anything.

i personally moved to rewrite because it just felt the best thing to do morally. i like to follow morals, and the moral said to rewrite something new. am i going to bully people and go "delete bright boo!!" no. i could never.

things i do agree: for the character to be deleted, or at least archived the same way the original 166 file was archived on the wiki with a big ass disclaimer, and keep the tales provided by they were written by other uses and not adminbright (example, keeping Major Tom but deleting Code Brown)

things i dont agree: bullying people who chose to either use bright or use a rewrite. agree to disagree.

Everyone can vent if they’d like and your welcome to vent here if you’d like but please just keep in mind that this is primarily meant to be a safe space for Bright users as well as being a place for my thoughts meaning I won’t exactly be impartial or neutral. I however do not condone any harassment and agree that everyone should be able to do whatever they’d like without fear of harassment.

Also I feel like the reason Bright fans vent more here on Tumblr is because rewrites are much more prevalent here and they also get much more support whereas Bright users are simply not allowed to speak in a lot of spaces. Of course this doesn’t justify any harassment but it may explain why some Bright fans go so far plus there’s simply way more rewrite users then Bright users here on Tumblr especially in the Western side of the fandom so that of course means there’s a larger percentage of them who’ve received harassment compared to the few Bright users.

Also also I’m not a big fan of the morality argument, I just feel like basing your interests off of what others tell you is ok to like/support can get depressing pretty quickly. Obviously you shouldn’t financially support bad companies/people but I feel like just straight up not being allowed to simply enjoy something or talk about it is going too far especially when it comes to something as harmless as a character. Of course the choice is yours however I’d just advise you to only follow your own idea of what’s morally correct and not let others bully you into doing what they think is right.

As for character Bright I believe he belongs to everyone but his original author so I agree that AdminBrights works should be removed off the wiki or if possible do something similar to Ao3’s orphaned accounts/anonymous accounts that way even if removal can’t be achieved then at least it’ll limit AdminBrights reach with new users. Everyone else’s works with Bright on the wiki should stay of course as they’ve done nothing wrong.

Anyways this’ll be the third or fourth time I’ve said this but do not send rewrite creators any hate or harassment I expect everyone here to act like adults regardless of age. If I find out anyone of my followers has been responsible for such asks/messages then me and my friends will put you on blast for all of Tumblr to see, this is not funny and your making the rest of us look immature.

[orviposition]

Hello! I am that anon about the recent post. Sorry I wasn't clear about it. I meant if singnshong is lgbtq phobic or not. To be honest I always thought the queerbait was unintentional and that queerbait is not something to be used with joongdok because they seem to be very queer coded characters and it's not like they have shown any interest to the opposite gender in story either and I have read that article and it seemed to me like they were just trying to not get further hated on(by dudebros and bl fans) which is valid because it's on the fans to consume what they like and they have no right to send death threats to any author . I have seen somebody say Singnshong wrote all those jd scenes for cashgrab. I don't agree with that tbh because jd scenes seem to line up perfectly well with the story unlike the ACTUAL queerbait scenes which seem out of place in other medias. Would love to know your thoughts on this.

i used the word queerbait more as an umbrella term than anything else. tbh you summarized the situation pretty well. i rmbr someone sending me an ask a few months ago asking if singshong hate jd ship bcs of the ebook changes and my answer was no i dont think they do cuz they're not opposed to it in the end hence the "interpret the ship and the ending however you want as long as you dont mis-label the novel"

ur right on the (kdj and yjh dont have love interests in the end) too ofc and i hate how ppl use yjh's relationship with lsh as a gotcha bcs not only did they not have a romantic relationship after the 2nd regression but that means that their relationship was never shown in ways of survival either bcs the novel started from the 3rd regression (a turn in which yjh most likely had lsh killed bcs she was a villain and he couldn't save her) and kinda funny that whoever insists on their relationship never seems to care about lsh's side of things but sure whatever let's use female characters as nothing but ship fodder ig

[molluskmirage]

going to talk about some personal qualms about role play in general with Minecraft as the backdrop. If thats not your jam, you understandably disagree or have your own opinions, well, this discussion is for me to organize my own thoughts on it so you can either disregard this post entirely or view it as a spectacle for your own gain, or whatever the case… I shall dive in now.

Qsmp is my first heavy role play server and I have to say in general I really despise role play. However in trying to state what I dislike theres a lot of things to it, somethings that are technically role-play that I do enjoy verses that which I dont.

there is what I will call ‘natural roleplay’ that occurs in a natural sense. Characters aren’t necessarily ‘really’ in the situation but they play into it by the feed back or for the fun of it. This is something that happens in real life, it particularly happens in areas of high stress as a playful way to navigate or center people in a chaotic world. An example of this (there are many examples in the life series but im going to choose for this ) the clockers from limited life. Now they weren’t really a ‘family’ but they played into being a family because it was funny because it bonded them while dealing with the high stress parameters of the server. Which leads me to my next set of role play which I adore which I'm going to call ‘elements’.

Now elements are any set of rules/mechanics that is what gaming is. There are stakes, ways to win and lose and actions and reactions can seamlessly flow into natural role play. Theres a genuineness to it as you play that your outcome is determined by your merit, skill, wit, charisma, luck, your agency. Because it is so genuine life itself sets the stage on wether you are smart or ignorant, abled or disabled, skilled or unskilled. Life sets the ‘uncontrollables’ while you the player navigate the stage props that are ‘elements’ decided by the host.

Those two example’s of role play are what I can enjoy now for role play I really cant stomach. Now I was an actor for 2 decades before falling ill, I can very much enjoy scripted work however ‘scripted role play’ is my absolute beloathed. For me it falls into the uncanny valley of storytelling and I just hate it. If there is the parameters of everything being a dream I can do it, but with out that statement my pleasure in said material plummets to the ground. Reason being is that the content is rife with contradictions and stakes that are set to whoever's controlling the stories whimsy which can completely assassinate characters to fit to these ideals. I think in part I really hate this because I have a language disability that while making language difficult for me I became hyper attuned to things like lying. There are pitches and inflections that come about from lying and not lying and very very few people can act appropriately when they need to for the story they are weaving which is unsettling for me to many degrees. And very often I know the ‘twist’ the creator has set up too far in advance. There is also the issue for me that when in choosing options for yourself its too absurd degrees because the ‘sky’ is the limit, however thats not really the case because most people write the same story over and over, either being a cartoonish hero or cartoonish villain that’s reminiscent of playing pretend with 4 year olds (and then my laser shoots you, ah! But I survive because I have a nuclear blaster and I shoot you-etc.)

all that to say I find it boring and tired. Now completely confined scripted works means that the author has set stakes for the characters and they can act and react accordingly (results depending upon an author’s skill varies) but characters tend to make sense and because no person is behind each character individually characters are free to be flawed without it being silly and free to consequences without it trying to be stopped because the difference between a play and role play is that people in a play are trying to tell A story while role-players are each telling Their story. With so many tellers it can become the adage ‘too many cooks in the kitchen’ for me.

so thats the general outline of what Id like to discuss now for the applied principles in regards to the qsmp itself.

I have stayed enjoying as long as I have for the qsmp because there are a lot of elements and natural rp within it, which is and has been expertly crafted by Quackity himself. The eggs are an example of elements (they are vulnerable having two lives and if they die they are cast out from the series) and natural role play (we’ll use charlie here as he is the most extreme in his rp) while Charlie may act reckless for a fun gimmick of natural role play because the elements are real the effects from losing a character from his behavior, his actions leads his character to handle grief and remorse. while he does do this as a ‘character’ there are genuine feelings that he allows to lead his natural role play, ‘going to kill all the other eggs’ in grief while would be extreme behavior for real life and is a larger then life sort of sentiment it is still a real sentiment. This behavior can be exhibited time and time again for humans in the ‘if I cant have happiness neither can you’.

now it is certainly risky setting up an element in which you both need to care for and can lose a player because while the highs of those elements are incredible the lows are extreme and you end up losing more then the players that died to elements, you lose all that were attached to them as the emotions are too strong and too real to navigate for most individuals. The brilliance of the eggs though is that there simplicity and needs are understandable across language barriers and because they act as children they also provide access for language learners to start their journey as well, as players that interact with them will speak more simply and delicately giving nursery rhymes and explaining concepts that allow for beginner language learners an easier introduction to the language. There is a lot of reason and success in the qsmp that’s absolutely brilliant full stop.

For the things that make me cringe or fall apart are the more ‘scripted rp’ aspects. I think q!quackity suffers from this most acutely. I really wish quackity had set himself up as a villain/more admin character from the jump. He as a creator knows too much and its hard to watch him play ignorant and angsty when he feels so detached and displaced story wise. My biggest problems with the server are the overall mechanics and world building. I think there is a solid interesting story there but it can only be accessed when the heavens deem it so and respectfully it sucks so much to me.

‘find luffy’ ‘find the eggs’ the admins playing those characters aren’t physically on the server there is no way to find them, which we the audience, and the content creators know but how can they act out as they would ‘naturally’ when there goal is physically unattainable, you cant, which then when mixing the fandom into it they extrapolate and make strange character dives ‘no ones looking for quackity’ ‘no ones looking for roier’ there’s literally nothing players can do to find them so of course theyre not looking but suddenly it’s angst and ‘these poor characters no one cares from them’, like I said uncanny valley of storytelling I don’t like.

I did understand right from the get go this would be an issue as the set up of being trapped on the island, being the minecraft server itself, was a very peculiar plot device as it serves basically the opposite of what you would want for your players. ‘You cant leave the island!’ Uh what if they dont log in? Theyve escaped, there free! had there been an actual island in game that if they tried to escape from there could be consequences ( while perhaps difficult to dm/manage (though you could make some cool commands/effects that could do a lot for you) I think story wise this narrative could have been soo much more compelling and not just players having to willingly submit themselves to torture while saying they dont want the torture and to be free for the plots sake.

just putting this out here too but Ive hated Dapper’s kidnappings so much. He is probably hands down my favorite character and the amount of character assainations they have had to jump through for ✨plot✨🙄. I can understand the motivation for kidnapping Dapper as his Father is highly contested and Dapper is a vulnerable point for Bad but I really need characters to put in the effort like Charlie did. that was entertaining and intense and every character involved got a great dramatic story. Any other time when he’s been ‘magically’ obtained it feels like a filler episode to me and my eyesroll into the back of my skull.

another point about scripted rp is that the further it goes the more effort put in and the less time you play because it would mess up story continuity and in general just because a pile of angst plots, I just dont find appealing, and I know the creators put in a lot of work (that deserves praise) and there are very clearly people that really appreciate that content and absolutely great for them, happy their getting content they enjoy but for me it’s lackluster.

to the point of ‘well if you dont like it then dont watch’ as stated there are plenty of things I like about qsmp but also I try to watch things I don’t understand and don’t enjoy at times as research to learn what others enjoy and see in it to further my own understanding and compassion. I may never like it fully but if I can understand why others do I can better support and encourage there interests and I very much like that, people are great and its nice to share thoughts and feelings. because I do have what I feel is more outsider/anti? views in general on this subject then most of the fandom Ive felt the need to compile some thoughts from my perspective of it, now done I think I’ll go back to hibernating until a next thought.

[righteousdelusions]

when I was looking for dungeon hate I found Hazben Hutel critiques, which it was funny because I was just thinking that for better or for worse the later is at least engaging, unlike the former which is boring at the beginning

The hate went on like the dungeon show cares for its characters and they are deep, while the other show basically uses caricatures and let's people fill the gaps in the narrative, like the author doesn't really care for her characters.

Honestly I think that's a simplification of what makes something good, saying that deepness makes things good is just... not true.

But I haven't seen a video in my recommended YouTube page that I agree on title alone, and is that the hotel show is a master of tone.

I think the reason I find a show like the hotel one more engaging is that the tone walks with you through the entire thing.

Meanwhile at the beginning of the dungeon show it's not clear if it's more comedy or more Aventury, it certainly is more comedic but it seems like it will turn into aventure.... Which eventually does

That to say, if we agree that dedicated construction of characters is a valid object to critique, I'd argue the dungeon's show tone problem is a similar one. In which I for example have no problem with the "problem" of the hotel show, while a hardcore fan of the dungeon show will tell me I'm nitpicking and that anyway they fix that along the way and whatever it was fun while it was a comedy and I'm overthinking it

But if that's the case then they are overthinking too the show they dont like!

I don't think either of us is overthinking it actually. I think is normal to think about these things. But I do want to clarify that such things as something being "good" is subjective for a reason. We don't say it just to be able to hype our favorite show or dislike an annoyings elitist straw man taste.

Personally I like to think about this but I'm a bit of an elitist myself, and I think the dungeon show definetly shows a dedicated craft to it, but, if it weren't for a specific character archetype I like and a narrative I'm a fan of, I wouldn't care that much? The presence of that made me enjoy the show so much more. At the end of the day truly is a matter of taste, something being good doesn't mean everyone will like it 100%

I also think I don't like the comedy aspect of the dungeon show too much, I think it's corny. Meanwhile, the hotel show is funnier in a classical American way that's more digestible to me. It doesn't make it a masterpiece, but it makes it watchable, unlike those few dungeon episodes, which are quite frankly very boring.

[colifower]

20 Questions For Writers

wow thank you @thot-son-of-odinthis looks fun!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

34

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

247,836

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Thor mainly, but I've done some other stuff over the years, i dont mind writing for other fandoms at the same time

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

1. As blue as the sky itself (tessember 2021)

2. Loki puts the fun in funeral

3. A day in a king's life (a choose your own adventure story)

4. My immortal: 19 years later

5. The throne

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yess!!! i always comment and i love hearing from the authors, so it's only fair that i do that to my commenters as well :)

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I'm gonna go with either Paper, Scissors, Rock! or In the Air tonight. idk i had a good time writting the first and then idk what was going over my mind when i wrote the second one lol. i think i should write more about angsty odin being a dumbass and also kind of evil

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I'm gonna go w My Immortal: 19 years later bc it was so much fun and also ended w a bang

8. Do you get hate on your fic?

I used to write for my friends on a podcast fandom (podcast being related to The Terf Queen's works). I stopped writing for it bc the views of the original creator (the queen) views genuinely destroyed my connection to their work, but kept my writing up bc i still think they are pieces of an era worth remembering.

All this to say that a few years ago some group of terfs found my works on that fandom and tried to fill one of my fics comment section w terf rethoric. That's when i decided to change all of my fics settings so that I review the comment before it is allowed to be shown to the public.

9. Do you write smut?

I think so? Idk its a thing i am willing to try and im currently honest to god bad at it, but yknow, you live and you learn :)

10. Do you write crossovers?

Yeah! i have done a few before. As long as the concept is funny i am willing to put in the work!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Same as Thorsonofodin: no, and hopefully that never happens

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I do translate some of mine! I am fluent in two languages (spanish, english) and quite advanced on my studies in a third one (french). I've certainly submitted fics to my french teacher to check for spellings and such lol, this way i practice, do my homework, study AND get a beta reader at the same time XD

13. Have you ever co-written a fic?

Nooooo :( I will be willing to, once im done with this god damned university

14. What‘s your all-time favourite ship?

I'm a brodinsons fan first and foremost, but father-and-son laufey and loki fics are also so so good

15. What’s the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I have an idea for a choose your own adventure story. Each branch of the story would talk about the "failed scenarios" on the Cabin in the Woods movie. Such a cool concept, but a single cyoa story takes a lot of time to write, now imagine how long itd take when it makes up for what essentially would be 12 different scenarios w their downfall and traps, and all accounting for a setting in which the reader should guide the path of the sacrifices to make the choices of their "roles", knowing that those are well rounded ppl and do not necessarily fit the role they should play at.

16. What’s your writing strengths?

I write like a tpratchett fan

17. What’s your writing weaknesses?

I write like a tpratchett fan

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Too many ideas for interlanguage fics, as in, for writing them. for the reader i can see why they can get annoying. as a general rule, i think that you should use a language that the reader doesnt necessarily understand *if* you want the reader/character to not understand what the other characters are saying. I think that is a very... missused writing trick

19. First fandom you wrote for?

My first publication was a Steven Universe/Super Mario crossover, but i am 1000% sure i have a red notebook somewhere with notes on a adopted-tony-stark-kid-that-turns-out-to-be-super-op. I am really proud of the SU/SM one tho :)

20. Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

It varies from moment to moment, but i do think I've peaked (for a while at least) when in My Immortal: 19 years later i wrote "They also called me Emobi because I used to be depressed but I went to the physiotherapist and now I’m only nonbinary."

Tagging @babygirlthor, @worstloki, @thorarm, @tori-artemis and anyone else who sees this and wants to do it!

20 Questions For Writers

I’m taking @galaxythreads’ post as unofficial tagging because I want to do this lol

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

23!

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

102,192

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Thor (unfortunately the hyperfixation has taken root)

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

1. midas is king (and he holds me so tight)

2. a shrike to your sharp

3. be as you’ve always been

4. I am loved (I am loved)

5. our truth is burned from history (this is actually my favorite of all five, I’m glad it’s on here haha)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I used to, I haven’t really been recently since I’ve been busy (and lazy) but I wanna start doing it again.

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

This since the situation that Thor and Loki in does not get resolved lol,,,,,maybe I should write a sequel.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I actually thought most of mine ended happyish but I’m realizing the really happy ending is probably this one???

8. Do you get hate on your fic?

Not really? I’ve been getting some weird anonymous comments that aren’t hate??? They’re just odd. And I feel like they come from the same person too. I’m not bothered by it, I’m just,,,,,,confused????

9. Do you write smut?

Yes! I only have one smut fic so far but I want to write more!

10. Do you write crossovers?

No, I’m just not really interested in them.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No, and hopefully that never happens

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not yet! Blanket permission if anyone ever wants to, please just let me know!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic?

Yes and I love doing it! It’s so much fun, plus you have another person to complain to when the fic isn’t going the way you want!

14. What‘s your all-time favourite ship?

Thor and Loki, but both platonically and romantically if that makes sense? I am a brodinsons fan before I am a thorki fan.

15. What’s the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I have too many, writing is hard :’(

16. What’s your writing strengths?

I like to think I have a good head for plotting and coming up with ideas

17. What’s your writing weaknesses?

Actually writing down what I have planned. People should look thru my idea list and write some of the fics I’ve thought of lol

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Think it can be good in small quantities if you’re simply using google translate but if you’re trying to write a lot in that language, you should probably either already know it or ask for help from someone who does. As a reader tho, it’s not entirely helpful unless there’s a translation also given — I think it takes you out of the fic if you have to look it up

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Doctor who

20. Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

Hmm I feel like my fav fic shifts from week to week. Right now it’s mother make me a big gray cloud because it’s the longest I’ve written and it’s also finished!! So super excited about it!

Tagging @babygirlthor, @worstloki, @thorarms, @nostalgia-tblr, @shinysoroka, @thortwenty151, @colifower, and anyone else who sees this and wants to do it!

[shkspr]

hi. on your post where you may or may not have ended on 'moffat is either your angel or your devil' did you have maybe an elaboration on that somewhere that i could possibly hear about. i'm very much a capaldi era stan and i've never tried to defend the matt smith era even though it had delightful moments sometimes so i wonder where that puts me. i'd love to hear your perspective on moffat as a person with your political perspective. -nicole

hi ok sorry i took so long to respond to this but i dont think you know how LOADED this question is for me but i am so happy to elaborate on that for you. first a few grains of salt to flavor your understanding of the whole situation: a. im unfairly biased against moffat bc im a davies stan and a tennant stan; b. i still very much enjoy and appreciate moffat era who for many reasons; and c. i hate moffat on a personal level far more than i could ever hate his work.

the thing is that its all always gonna be a bit mixed up bc i have to say a bunch of seemingly contradictory things in a row. for instance, a few moffat episodes are some of my absolute favorites of the rtd era, AND the show went way downhill when moffat took over, AND the really good episodes he wrote during the rtd era contained the seeds of his destruction.

like i made that post about the empty child/the doctor dances and it holds true for blink and thats about it bc the girl in the fireplace and silence in the library/forest of the dead are good but not nearly on the same level, and despite the fact that i like them at least nominally, they are also great examples of everything i hate about moffat and how he approached dw as a whole.

basically. doctor who is about people. there are many things about moffats tenure as showrunner that i think are a step up from rtd era who! actual gay people, for one! but i think that can likely be attributed mostly to an evolving Society as opposed to something inherent to him and his work, seeing as rtd is literally gay, and the existence of queer characters in moffats work doesnt mean the existence of good queer characters (ill give him bill but thats it!)

i have a few Primary Grievances with moffat and how he ran dw. all of them are things that got better with capaldi, but didnt go away. they are as follows:

moffat projects his own god complex onto the doctor

rtd era who had a doctor with a god complex. you cant ever be the doctor and not have a god complex. the problem with moffats era specifically is that the god complex was constant and unrepentant and was seen as a fundamental personality trait of the doctor rather than a demon he has to fight. he has the Momence where you feel bad for him, the Momence where he shows his humility or whatever and youre reminded that he doesnt want to be the lonely god, but those are just. moments. in a story where the doctor thinks hes the main character. rtd era doctor was aware that he wasnt the main character. he had to be an authority sometimes and he had to be the loner and he had to be sad about it, but he ultimately understood that he was expendable in a narrative sense.

this is how you get lines like “were the thin fat gay married anglican marines, why would we need names as well?” from the same show that gave you the gut punch moment at the end of midnight when they realize that nobody asked the hostess for her name. and on the one hand, thats a small sticking point, but on the other hand, its just one small example of the simple disregard that moffat has for humanity.

incidentally, this is a huge part of why sherlock sucked so bad: moffats main characters are special bc theyre so much bigger and better than all the normal people, and thats his downfall as a showrunner. he thinks that his audience wants fucking sheldon cooper when what they want is people.

like, ok. think of how many fantastic rtd era eps are based in the scenario “what if the doctor wasnt there? what if he was just out of commission for a bit?” and how those eps are the heart of the show!! bc theyre about people being people!! the thing is that all of the rtd era companions would have died for the doctor but he understood and the story understood that it wasnt about him.

this is like. nine sending rose home to save her life and sacrifice his own vs clara literally metaphysically entwining her existence w the doctor. ten also sending rose with her family to save her life vs river being raised from infancy to be obsessed w the doctor and then falling in love w him. martha leaving bc she values herself enough to make that decision vs amy being treated like a piece of meat.

and this is simultaneously a great callback to when i said that moffats episodes during the rtd era sometimes had the same problems as his show running (bc girl in the fireplace reeks of this), and a great segue into the next grievance.

moffat hates women

he hates women so fucking much. g-d, does steven moffat ever hate women. holy shit, he hates women. especially normal human women who prioritize their normal human lives on an equal or higher level than the doctor. moffat hated rose bc she wasnt special by his standards. the empty child/the doctor dances is the nicest he ever treated her, and she really didnt do much in those eps beyond a fuck ton of flirting.

girl in the fireplace is another shining example of this. youve got rose (who once again has another man to keep her busy, bc moffat doesnt think shes good enough for the doctor) sidelined for no reason only to be saved by the doctor at the last second or whatever. and then youve got reinette, who is pretty and powerful and special!

its just. moffat thinks that the doctor is as shallow and selfish as he is. thats why he thinks the doctor would stay in one place with reinette and not with rose. bc moffat is shallow and sees himself in the doctor and doesnt think he should have to settle for someone boring and normal.

not to mention rose met the doctor as an adult and chose to stay with him whereas reinette is. hm. introduced to the doctor as a child and grows up obsessed with him.

does that sound familiar? it should! bc it is also true of amy and river. and all of them are treated as viable romantic pairings. bc the only women who deserve the doctor are the ones whose entire existence revolves around him. which includes clara as well.

genuinely i think that at least on some level, not even necessarily consciously, that bill was a lesbian in part bc capaldi was too old to appeal to mainstream shippers. like twelve/clara is still a thing but not as universally appealing as eleven/clara but i am just spitballing. but i think they weighed the pros and cons of appealing to the woke crowd over the het shippers and found that gay companion was more profitable. anyway the point is to segue into the next point, which is that moffat hates permanent consequences.

moffat hates permanent consequences

steven moffat does not know how to kill a character. honestly it feels like hes doing it on purpose after a certain point, like he knows he has this habit and hes trying to riff on it to meme his own shit, but it doesnt work. it isnt funny and it isnt harmless, its bad writing.

the end of the doctor dances is so poignant and so meaningful and so fucking good bc its just this once! everybody lives, just this once! and then he does p much the same thing in forest of the dead - this one i could forgive, bc i do think that preserving those peoples consciousnesses did something for the doctor as a character, it wasnt completely meaningless. but everything after that kinda was.

rory died so many times its like. get a hobby lol. amy died at least once iirc but it was all a dream or something. clara died and was erased from the doctors memory. river was in prison and also died. bill? died. all of them sugarcoated or undone or ignored by the narrative to the point of having effectively no impact on the story. the point of a major character death is that its supposed to have a point. and you could argue that a piece of art could be making a point with a pointless death, ie. to put perspective on it and remind you that bad shit just happens, but with moffat the underlying message is always “i can do whatever i want, nothing is permanent or has lasting impact ever.”

basically, with moffat, tragedy exists to be undone. and this was a really brilliant, really wonderful thing in the doctor dances specifically bc it was the doctor clearly having seen his fair share of tragedy that couldnt be helped, now looking on his One Win with pride and delight bc he doesnt get wins like this! and then moffat proceeded to give him the same win over and over and over and over. nobody is ever dead. nobody is ever unable to be saved. and if they are, really truly dead and/or gone, then thats okay bc moffat has decided that [insert mitigating factor here]*

*the mitigating factor is usually some sort of computerized database of souls.

i can hear the moffat stans falling over themselves to remind me that amy and rory definitely died, and they did - after a long and happy life together, they died of old age. i dont consider that a character death any more than any other character choosing to permanently leave the tardis.

and its not just character deaths either, its like, everything. the destruction of gallifrey? never mind lol! character development? scrapped! the same episode four times? lets give it a fifth try and hope nobody notices. bc he doesnt know how to not make the doctor either an omnipotent savior or a self-pitying failure.

it is in nature of doctor who, i believe, for the doctor to win most of the time. like, it wouldnt be a very good show if he didnt win most of the time. but it also wouldnt be a very good show if he won all of the time. my point is that moffats doctor wins too often, and when he doesnt win, it feels empty and hollow rather than genuinely humbling, and you know hes not gonna grow from it pretty much at all.

so like. again, i like all of doctor who i enjoy all of it very much. i just think that steven moffat is a bad show runner and a decent writer at times. and it is frustrating. and im not here to convince or convert anyone im just living my truth. thank you for listening.

[probably-haven]

after binge reading i have come to a new revelation: I’m not a fan of most Xiaoven fanfics

Don’t get me wrong, I love the ship and its one of my favorite to think about.... but most of the fanfiction for the ship just- doesn’t sit right with me for a number of reasons. 

Disclaimer: these are personal opinions from my own taste and are in no way an attack against any authors out there, because frankly fanfic authors are great and not like i could do better lol. As these are personal opinions, I acknowledge here and now that a number of people disagree and that they are under no obligation to change their opinions in any way as it is not and never will be my intention to tell others what they should be thinking That said- read at your own risk if you want- meh, anyway-

time to share some opinions that have been on my mind lately

The biggest reason.... is how they handle Xiao. And I don’t even mean mischaracterization because Xiao is such a complex and yet simultaneously simple character that as long as you’re somewhere in the range of “Xiao vibes” it’s really hard to write him out of character because of his complexities. What I mean is something that i actually completely agree with as being accurate to his character. In nearly every single fanfic I’ve seen, there is some element of idolization that Xiao has for Venti, or for the sake of reference, Barbatos. He tends to think himself beneath Barbatos and/or indebted to him, whether that be because he’s an archon, because he saved him, or simply because of Xiao’s tendency to dehumanize(yes i see the irony in that word usage) himself.  This by itself isn’t an issue but its often how this trait of his is treated.

Imma just list a few ways I’ve seen this be handled within Xiaoven fics. - It isn’t handled, it’s just there and accepted as a part of who he is in the story - It isn’t handled but his trait is treated as source of humor within the story - Venti(and others) roll with it (finding humor in it, just cant change it, encouraging it, making jokes about it, etc.) - Venti takes advantage of it(whether accidentally or purposely) - it’s actually addressed(by Venti or someone else or the narration- can go a number of ways, but just- even a brief reference to the fact that its not a good mindset fits in here) - savior!Venti(Where venti disagrees with it but the way it’s written gives off “god among mortals” vibes- like he’s just being humble and truly is above him in reality) - its the focus of the story  - not directly addressed but shown to be destructive.  - they chose not to not include this in the story’s characterization of Xiao(just saying that this is valid ahead of time) Theres others but i have a lot already.  Note that I tend to read more ‘serious-toned’(idk if that makes sense) fics so that may skew my perception

Now there’s a few that i have issues with on their own- both instances of it not being handled, Venti(and others) rolling with it, Venti takes advantage of it(purposely(and without good intent)), and savior!Venti. Xiao not only has this trait, but he is unfamiliar with what is normal in relationships or emotions as a result of isolation and inexperience. He is also either not aware of or not concerned with what is considered strictly “healthy.” Combining these makes for a rather dangerous combination and just accepting it as “oh he’s just like that, it’s who he is” or making it out to be something funny- It’s not wrong or bad by any means necessarily, and I could still possibly enjoy it to an extent depending on a series of different factors, but its- not as often.  Even in the case where I do enjoy reading it however, I would still feel uncomfortable sharing it with or recommending it to others because in the first instance it feels like normalizing a destructive and dangerous mindset, and in the second case it does the same while simultaneously making a joke of it. It’s the same deal with Venti or other characters rolling with it, but that’s probably gonna be mentioned later too. Not to say that this is a “wrong” way to handle it, that it makes the fic bad, or that authors even are normalizing anything by doing so, just that in my specific instance- not a fan. 

I’ll get to the others when i talk more about Venti, but for now: It’s the focus of the story. I think I saw like... 2? where the story was like- focused on this and why its a problem which- power to them, address those real world problems like a boss- but also i wouldn’t actively seek it out or anything- like, good job, but doing so just leaves it open neutrally for other factors to decide how good a story i think it is. 

not directly addressed but shown to be destructive. You’d think i wouldn’t like this- but frankly in fanfiction not everyone wants to address every character flaw verbally because it can through off story, narration, dialogue, and general flow to do so. This can be with an event, an action, a dialogue, a mere comment, making it actually fit into the it’s actually addressed category except that its- subtle enough to make its own category. plus i live for show not tell- in everything- its a thing. im- very much a fan of when the fics do this but the subtlety is easy to miss and its not common so- 

It’s actually adressed- doesnt have to be a lot- just mention anywhere or imply anywhere that maybe idolizing someone as a god and savior and being in a relationship with them while having little knowledge of standards, emotions, relationships, or healthy behaviors in general- maybe isnt the smartest idea in the word. (”Call me Venti, not Barbatos” by itself is not enough to fit in this category tho as a note)

-

Now lets talk about Venti...

uh.... those who have followed me for awhile will probably already know this but... I have a lot of opinions on Venti and a pretty- “niche(?)” perception of his characterization that isn’t shared by a lot of others- so I don’t actually read as much Venti fanfic in general as you might expect because I often end up disagreeing with how writers portray him, which again, in no way is their characterization wrong, but- “their perceived truth” conflicts with “my perceived truth” and by extent so does the characterization, though neither is any more correct than the other from an objective point of view, if that makes sense... but anyways now that that’s said, moving on before this becomes a philosophy lecture, as fun as that would be for me.  I’ll try to keep my “perceived truth” out of this for the first bit. 

Venti’s response to this: 

He rolls with it: this depends on the mood of the fanfiction. If they dont put a lot of stress on that trait of Xiao’s it totally fine but if the trait seems to be a major part of Xiao’s character, it seems like normalization once more. (more on this later)

he takes advantage of it purposely: if its an AU or something and Venti’s like a villain(i saw a few) then- villain venti isnt my cup of tea but i have no qualms. If they don’t portray Venti in a negative light while having him take advantage however that’s a bit uncomfortable to read for me because it feels like normalizing taking advantage of that mindset as well as the mindset itself. However, i did see a number of instances of Venti using it as leverage for like- self care- which i definitely have no qualms. Xiao: [insert probably destructive idolizing statement about being indebt] Venti: How bout you pay me back by actually sleeping for once smh or other variations are okay and depending on the vibe are actually a really fun dynamic as long as it doesnt turn into romanticizing or normalizing it, y’know?

Venti accidentally taking advantage of it.... I love angst- and in most of these theres a sense of guilt when he realizes- and i just think thats a lovely way of addressing the dangers of such a mindset for both sides. As long as it doesn’t keep repeating to the point of romanticization its totally cool to read in my eyes(not irl ofc). If Venti never realizes he accidentally took or is taking advantage it feels a bit like normalization, and if he does but just- doesn’t care thats- a rip.

savior!Venti...... i- i hate. the story giving off vibes that Xiao’s mindset is technically correct while Venti oh so humbly tells him to treat him as an equal like the wonderful and charitable person he is.... i just- no. of course thats over dramatizing it- I think the main thing that gives it this vibe is when Venti doesn’t seem either concerned, surprised, uncomfortable, or otherwise have a negative feeling towards Xiao’s mindset. Just- it makes the whole thing weird in my eyes when Venti doesnt really seem to have his own reason to oppose the mindset idk- 

-

fact time!

Venti is the god of freedom. His backstory is freeing Mondstadt from a god’s tyrannical reign. His origin is a windsprite, just another breeze bringing changes for the better. His form is a nameless boy who played an instrument and then died, thus failing at his only dream and only ever accomplishing anything because of the help of others. He slept for a thousand years after the archon war to avoid putting Mond under the rule of yet another tyrannical god. He only even became a god because Andrius chose to let him. He wouldn’t have even had that chance if the nameless bard had survived, he’d remain just another wind while his friend ascended to godhood. Venti sacrifices his own power for his people’s freedom. 

now that I’ve laid out a number of canon facts, time for opinions:

Venti has little to no desire to be seen as a god. He thrives in, comes from, and emphasizes a lack of superiority in quite nearly everything. The first Ragnvindir, who canonically turned his back on Venti after Decarabian’s fall, likely did so because one- he anticipated power would corrupt and Venti would soon become just another tyrannical god, two- he suspected Venti used the nameless bard in an attempt to rise to godhood, or three- idk insert other possibilities to acknowledge again that i could totally be wrong.

Look me in the eyes and tell me Venti wouldnt trade godhood for his friend in an instant. His godhood was only granted to him because his friend died and could easily serve to constantly remind him of what could have been and what he lost. Venti takes no enjoyment from being seen as superior and in my opinion, I feel that it could actually make him largely uncomfortable when his divinity and abilities as an archon get involved-

also self promotion for my favorite posts- check out #archon war era venti if thats interesting to you

so anyway Venti rolling with it or making jokes about it just doesn’t sit right with me.- 

-

Okay! enough talking about that mindset!

idk- i have... a few/lot of other gripes and stuff or just things that kinda throw off the vibe for me but that’s the main one plus my general personal pickiness when it come to Venti fanfics- but this has gotten long enough already- 

idk i just felt like rambling about it and i haven’t done a long post in a while so-

again, I love the ship and its actually one of my favorites- just the fanfic isnt my thing..... that doesn’t mean i don’t still love it and come up with a whole ton of brainrot and ideas on it tho lmao

[courtney-deserved-better]

whats ur writing schedule/process like! not in a “write faster” way, but i think once you mentioned writing in script form? and i like the way you wrote ur most recent fic! just curious bc ur works are just really good :)

this is a great question!!

if its not slippery slopes, ill usually get an idea for something and periodically jot down notes when they come to me until I feel like i have enough information to start writing (or if im just motivated), that's what i did for my horror challenge rewrite. and for stuff that's like... rewrites of an episode that aren't as character-focused as slippery slopes, i usually read the episode transcripts and try to replicate that total drama style with my own writing

for shorter oneshots, i usually just get a vague idea and run with it until i find a good ending spot, then i go back and clean it up a bit so the structure works

slippery slopes is an... interesting cycle. chapters are getting long enough that i cant just write them in one sitting any more (i think ch5 was the last chapter i did that for) and instead ill agonize over the beginning (always the hardest part to write for me) but once i get going with that i usually finish the chapter within a few days. then i reread the previous chapter to make sure it flows ok (and there aren't any contradictions) and then ill give myself a break where i dont do anything total drama related before coming back to edit and post. though before I do all that I type up notes and rough dialogue bits

and then once i post it it's like... a weight off my chest? like ive been purged or something?? idk its a weird sensation but im just like i Physically Cannot Write Anything For This Right Now and i don't start on the next chapter until that goes away. and then i either start the beginning and do nothing for a week before going back and finishing the chapter or i go into a manic state and write nonstop for a few days. right now i haven't reached a point where im ready to begin writing chapter 10 but i have a lot of notes for it.

(also as soon as i finish posting a chapter i try not to go on my laptop for like 12 hours so i don't obsessively refresh my email for comments. i love reading comments so much holy shit. please comment guys it makes fic authors feel so happy we will love you for it)

as for scripts: i am working on being a writer professionally, but specifically a playwright. writing in a script format comes more naturally to me than writing prose. funnily enough, i started posting fanfic just to practice my prose (and fix stuff in cobra kai that i didnt like) but things sort of... ended up here? idk man but im enjoying it.

right, so because writing in a script format is easier when im really struggling with a section in a fic ill usually scrap whatever i had and write it like a script, then translate that into prose. i was very excited to write the family videos for chapter 9 of slippery slopes, but i was Having Issues, so i redid it as a script and then rewrote that as prose. ill put the script version under the cut if you're interested in that.

but thank you so much for the question!! i do think my writing process is a bit unconventional but hey i think things are turning out well! if you have any more questions feel free to send them in!!

ok here is the last scene of ch 9 of slippery slopes in script format:

[SIERRA]

MOM: Hi honey! Omigosh this is so exciting! I bet you’re having such a great time! Especially since Chris is there! Is Chris watching this? Hi Chris! You know, I loooved you on that ice skating show. Your hair was fantastic! Well, it always is, haha. Do you really make your own hair gel? I’ve been trying to perfect the recipe but you’re just so hard to track down! Oh, you’re such a funny guy! I laughed sooo hard when you made all those jokes about marrying Chef.

Chef: hey!

Chris: ok just for the record, I wasn’t joking, we are married, Sierra tell your mom we’re married

Sierra: …can we just turn it off please

[COURTNEY]

DAD: Courtney, sayang, I know you’ve been going through a lot right now—

MOM: So you’d BETTER make it count. You’ve made it this far before, I want to see you getting all the way to the finale this time. And winning it. Enough moping about those hideous, good-for-nothing slackers! That’s what you get for hanging around freaks like them. You’re doing this for the million, now get the million. Is that clear?

ZARINA: And kick ass!

DAD: Zarina!

Video cuts out.

Alejandro: courtney you good?

Courtney: no, she’s right. Mama didn’t raise no quitter

Alejandro: [knows she’s still upset about duncan and gwen]

[ALEJANDRO]

MOM: Hola, Alejandro. We hope you are doing well, especially in such unsavory conditions. I’m glad to see you’ve made it to the final four— we expected nothing less, of course.

DAD: You have been utilizing your skills quite well. Though I wish you hadn’t been so… blatant about it. You’ll have to work twice as hard once this is over to convince people you’re trustworthy. But surely you were aware of that going into this… odd endeavor. That’s just politics. Reputation is everything.

JOSE: [snorts] Oh, and what a reputation you have, Al. I could easily compile hours of footage of your failures, but I, unlike you, do not waste my time on the frivolities of reality television. Though you always have been lacking in taste. Especially with that bratty girlfriend of yours— oh, my mistake, aren’t you dating the whiny weakling? It’s so hard to keep track! [laughs]

Alejandro: callate!

MOM: I’m sure Alejandro is just working an angle on them.

DAD: Whatever the case is, do not disappoint us.

[NOAH]

MOM: Hi Noah, I’m sorry, I don’t have time to record a full video, but I’m proud of you! Here are your sisters!

ISWARI: A million dollars? A million [bleep] dollars? Win it, Noah! Win it!

RUTH: Dude!! This is crazy! I know you can do this— good luck! Ark misses you! [holds up Ark who barks]

MARA: Are you insane? Why aren’t you dating Alejandro already?

Noah: shut up, mara, just because you can’t keep a boyfriend—

ANYA: Don’t let ‘em trick you! No mercy! Crush their skulls if you have to— no, wait, you’re not strong enough for that. We’ll get there!

LIYA: I say this as your sister, someone who loves you but is constantly annoyed by you— for someone who is quite literally a genius, you sure can be an idiot sometimes.

BALLARI: Okay, I literally have no idea how you’ve made it this far without an athletic bone in your body— are we sure you aren’t adopted? I’m kidding

ABS: You’re stubborn as hell when it comes to me, so you better be stubborn as hell when it comes to winning! And when you do win, get me a frozen yogurt machine, will you? I promise I won’t make you rock climb again!

JAEL: If you lose this, I’ll kill you with this racket. And then use your guts to make myself a new racket. So don’t fuck it up. Again.

Noah: [frozen, ashamed]

Sierra: well that was a mess

Courtney: ok show of hands, who felt better after hearing that? [no one raises hands]

Chris: yeah I was expecting this to be a lot more heartwarming…

Chef: chris just look at them. If they had stable home lives they wouldn’t be doing reality tv

Alejandro: can we please stop talking about this. Also aren’t you supposed to be flying the plane

Chef: oh fuck

Chris: yeah sure. I think im gonna call my mom

Everyone: …

Noah: ok so that was really shitty. Why dont we all go to first class and try and ignore our problems

Everyone: yeah ok sounds good

***

Courtney: so that sucked

Alejandro: at least your dad seems ok

Courtney: true. What are your guys dads like

Noah and Sierra: bold of you to assume I know my dad. Jinx

***

Alejandro: that last girl… you mentioned a sister who does tennis and hates you

Noah: yep

Alejandro: why?

Noah: none of your business. but… it is pretty justified

[bookwyrminspiration]

Re: the tags on your ro & fitz post, for me the reason it feels like she goes too far with the traits you mentioned is because her usage of those traits isn't usually used in situations that would call for it?

Like you said, she's a very repetitive character, and a lot of her brashness happens when Sophie and Fitz are having nice moments (due to her wanting Keefe to get with Sophie instead despite, iirc, Keefe wanting her to drop the issue and leave Sophitz alone) which is neither an understandable thing to focus on nor something that should be worth the time of a bodyguard and heir to a throne.

Like, this is petty teen drama! You're supposed to be fighting in a war and protecting a major target because the person leading the rebellion wants him either obedient or dead, not getting involved in who has a crush on who? I understand Ro cares about Keefe, but it's getting to a point where this is less about her wanting good things for Keefe and more about her not wanting Sophitz to happen. And again, all of this is completely unrelated to the actual reason she's in the Lost Cities in the first place.

(And, this is a different topic but it's bugging me, until Bo arrived, Ro was pretty much representing the ogres since she was the only ogre elves had regular contact with, and her getting involved with something so inconsequential doesn't paint a good picture of how responsible the ogres are or how serious they are about the very real threat that has hurt them in the past. Which I feel undermines the very little character we got out of her? I feel like I remember something about her wanting to become queen.

I feel like this is kind of a bigger issue with the ogres as a whole, though, since we never really get any competent ogres who also have a smidge of actual character development aside from King Dimitar, who is pretty thoroughly portrayed as Not On The Main Crew's Side, imo. May be forgetting something though, so if I got anything wrong, my bad, please correct me if you catch it.)

Sorry for the (kind of) rant, but you raised a really good point in that post. Your analyses are always really great!

no need to apologize, nonsie!! And thank you that’s very sweet /g. You’re right about a lot of her character, so I’d love to talk about it

it kind of feels like Ro has been backed into a corner, given the exact same function in scenes over and over again. She says the things no one wants to, says the things that are “supposed” to be kept unmentioned, doesn’t take others feelings into account, etc. because we didn’t have anyone like that before and now we’re relying rely heavily on her character and interjections to get us through this awkward post-sophitz phase

I also think it’s interesting how you bring up her being he only representation of ogres and how it doesn’t paint a good picture, because i think it’s both true and untrue. It can make the ogres seem uncaring and involved in unimportant things, not valuing the relationship between species. But it can also be a show of strength, that she’s so powerful she can meddle in whatever she wants and say whatever she wants without consequence. There’s probably more to that but I’m blanking right now

and I 100% agree with the “ogres DONT get character development” thing. Like yes!! It b it bothers me so much. Every ogre that has been introduced has had one singular personality trait and one way they interact with the group the entire book. Long Dimitar is the fierce leader who doesn’t like the characters but doesn’t have as much power as he claims and is taken down a notch. Ro is the gossipy/annoying powerful ogre who doesn’t care about authority other than becoming it, and Bo is the hardened soldier who does what he’s told and hates everyone he works with. There’s not much substance to them right now.

But! Your comment about Ro wanting to be queen is correct! She and Bo both want the throne, which is why Dimitar arranged for them to be married, because that way only one of them has to win the throne and they can both survive instead of one inevitably killing the other. However this hasn’t been explored yet because they’re currently just being bodyguards

I will note, that in Unlocked we do start to see Ro at least a little differently, her showing compassion and caring (and maybe some pity) for Keefe. It’s very brief, but in her way she is trying to support Keefe through this, but it’s difficult for her to get past this sassy image she’s built up. I don’t think she can handle vulnerable emotional moments well, so she tried to support him through strength and snarky humor

another thing is this whole uncaring hardened, gossipy ogre is likely also a defense. She was the only ogre in the elven world for a long tme. No one liked her! She was probably constantly looked at funny and harassed and all that. It’s not surprising she isn’t cuddly and warm, she’s in an actively hostile environment at all times. I can’t blame her for picking an aggressive persona and sticking to it. I just hope as she grows closer to the kotlcrew we can see just a little bit more from her, let that facade down for a moment

TL;DR: Ro is an ogre in the lost cites, so I bet she’s often met with hostility. So it makes sense she’s have a harsh persona with little variety to protect herself, but it’s getting excessive and interfering unnecessarily and rudely with teen drama she shouldn’t be a part of

[doctorruby]

AUTHOR INTERVIEW 

tagged by the lovely @arrowflier and @gallavich-x

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

36 <3

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

111,708 (which is so weird to think about lol)

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

If I Were Paralyzed / 292

Mickey’s Upset / 280 

Disney Movies and Breakfast in Bed / 269 

good / 259 

Safety in Names / 252 

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? 

i’m really bad at responding to comments, i always try to but i always forget to do it. if i don’t respond to your comment, don’t get me wrong, i do appreciate it so much, it always makes me feel better about my writing. love all of you so much <33

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

uhh, i don’t really write a lot of stuff with super angsty endings, though i would say some of my stuff with more open endings could be considered angsty so I guess Internalized doesn’t have a very happy ending, it’s def open ended but it leaves room for some healing or really anything from my All You Wanna Do series

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

probably either Sick and Snippy or Without You but legit most of mine are just pure fluff 

7. Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you’ve written?

i haven’t but i’ve always enjoy some of those 9-1-1 and Shameless crossovers 

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

nope ! you’re all so nice ! 

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

never explicit, no. sometimes i do vague descriptions of it if it’s necessary for the story i.e. my All You Wanna Do series where ian has issues during sexual situations but no lol i could never write anything sexually explicit 

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i know of, no 

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

again, not that i know of

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

nah, but i have had someone offer before but when i write a fic, its pretty much spontaneous if its not a serious one 

13. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

probably either gallavich or esperastra (because my queer wlw heart cant be stopped)

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

oof, my pain (won’t be forever more) thing. it was suppose to be a royalty, medieval kind of au but i wrote it when i was just starting out writing so its like really bad and im not into writing long, multi-chapter kind of fics so i probably won’t ever actually finish (sorry if any one actually likes it </3 but i look back and cringe)

15. What are your writing strengths?

im not really sure but i think i would say probably more serious character studies, specifically ian (which is kind of funny cause when i was first starting out, i wrote more for mickey) 

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

i think i have a lot tbh, i think i struggle with long form, structured ideas which is why i prefer to write about feelings rather than plot, does that make sense? 

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

i’ve done it a couple times with ukrainian but i really dont think i’ll do it a lot cause i dont think ive ever done it even close to perfectly 

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

oh god, im so sorry, it was supernatural </3

19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

i really wanna write for trobed (troy barnes/abed nadir from community) but ive never been able to get the characters to sound right so i havent yet, im hoping to do it soon tho cause i have a lot of ideas for them

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

uhh, i hate like any kind of self promotion but i think my What We Deserve (and What We Don’t) and the apple are two of my better ones. 

im never sure who has been tagged already for these sorts of things so im hoping no one i tag has been already <3 @ianandmickeygallavich @mishervellous @sickness-health-all-that-shit

[gryphsdeadbones]

hey from one nd person to another the comic where fm gordon says a slur seems kind of in poor taste. ik ur not intentionally making light of it and tht occurring in fm should be criticized but while you dont make it out to be a good thing making jokes about it and calling him a "slurboy" is kind of questionable? it makes it seem more like a plotpoint and angst rather than the creator of fm genuinely fucking up in the past (and having moved on from it)! i think exploring fm coming to terms with being nd is a good idea but this isnt the best way to do it. if you want me to explain my point more lmk if/when u post this and i will! someone already made a post abt it but it was kinda strongly worded and i wanted to approach you more calmly because i genuinely dont want to call you out or start drama or anything ;-;

first off thank you for being civil and patient with me i appreciate this ask a lot- also this got long- im not in a flying rage or anything when i bold or emphasis text, i just needed it also for my own readability and since im not the best at wording- hopefully this hellsite works and my response is under the cut

i would like to know how is it in poor taste when freemind explicitly gets clocked at the very end for saying it. the entire point of the comic was to show that saying the r slur has existed in his source and is bad

im not sure how much more direct i can get, with the disclaimer/warning list growing longer and longer and out there for a huge sign that says “this au can get dark as fuck and these subject matters are treated seriously/not something to mess around with.” Like yes, there are some jokes in the asks and other comics, but that specific comic is not supposed to be “haha thats funny”. it has a serious tone using a rough sketch style bc i was super tired and wanted to vent

was it just the direct reference to it that just made people uncomfortable? because thats 100% understandable, and i made sure i tagged it appropriately (although admittedly, a little bit late since i thought the filter would catch at least the main thing)

i think what some people somehow got from it is “exploring sensitive content = endorsing said content” which! that is not the intent! i absolutely do not want people saying that word! I don’t want people thinking that is any way okay for this character to say

its more of a damned if i do address it, damned if i dont.

if it never comes up, people are gonna assume that ‘oh this character says slurs and is shit, surely the creator or fan-creator MUST be okay with it and woobifies freemind and absolves him of any mistakes’ or something like that. no. this asshole has an arc and i want to do it right. its serious and i think it shouldn’t be shoved under the rug

and people just. dont want to read for context for whatever reason. theyll start watching it and get taken aback by the slur and start blaming me ‘hey you never warned for this’ when very early on i keep mentioning over and over ‘you dont have to watch it if you dont want to! This has slurs and 2000s internet brand humor/style’ You really dont, I’m not forcing you to watch it- Literally all you need to know is either canon half life or hl/vrai. thats it. fm mostly follows hl1 with very slight changes.

so i had to make something that:

1. warns people who arent aware and dont want to go through my asks or about/warning pages (for whatever reason) and just want to see the art

2. also NOT downplay freemind’s canon assholery. listen, i kinda despise writing mean and cruel characters, theyre hard to do, and a lot of people get shit for doing it wrong or people going “character = author”

i’ve also considered leaving the bubbles blank, but then people could fill it with whatever they want, then blame me for being vague. or they’d fill it in with a different kind of slur that freemind has never used, even if he MIGHT be the type to do that. I needed to explicitly mention that it is ableist slur. There are shitty racist and other problematic jokes, but never those kinds of extreme racial slurs to my knowledge.

Although I do see your point that maybe joking about it outside of the serious stuff might not be the best route. The slurboy jokes are getting stale, and I will try a better way to remind people.

The thing that gets to me is that it feels people are more than ready to defend either Ross Scott or Gordon Freeman the fictonal character himself. I don’t??? really care for Ross Scott, so I don’t know if he’s ever brought it up specifically. I’m not really calling him out or cancelling him. Idc for some white man’s feelings, im only bringing the timeframe of That era and reworking it to fit in This current era.

And I hate to break it to people: Gordon Freeman is a blank slate character, you can project whatever the hell you want on him as long as it’s not freakshit illegal garbage. The machinimas (fm, hl/vrai) do have SOME characterization that I want to nail down. It fucking sucks when characters are ooc, and I’m trying not to do that, even if it means sacrificing some comfort. But still mostly staying in my comfort zone if that makes sense

Now about the callout that I do not want to engage with the op directly:

Honestly im very surprised the comic was called out when i just. thought my stuff is relatively tame on exploring the bad shit canon freemind does. ive seen him in fancontent where they really dont hold back and its still played off as ‘kinda funny’ tone.

I really don’t know if people just want any reason to hate me for whatever reason. That’s fine I guess, I can’t please everyone and they dont have to like me.

But like. isn’t it so much easier for the op of that to block me and the post and move on. Why kick up such a fuss. I can see that thinly veiled death threat of a vague. That’s pretty fucked up- Like holy fucking god, you do not have to like my stuff. I’m not holding you at knifepoint to like my stuff. I’ve specifically made two different tags (one general au, one specific au) if anyone wants to blacklist it for their own reasons I do not need to know. I don’t want to know.

You’re allowed to be uncomfortable. You’re allowed to unfollow/blacklist/block.

However you just don’t go ranting about it for something you horribly misinterpreted. If it bothers you so badly, literally just. drop me a message to clarify. thats it. or save yourself the time and block me.

I’ve blocked the op for both our sakes, but if anyone wants to send this post to them, then thats fine. I don’t want anything to do with them.

I don’t want to link the post and blow it up. I just want shit clarified, dropped and we can move the fuck on with our lives. 

If you’re reading this and don’t know what the post is, please don’t bother. I do not want people going after the op with threats, please keep it civil, I’d prefer if you don’t engage with the post at all on my behalf.

Despite this huge wall of text, I do not want this to be a big deal, so please don’t ask me about the details.

_

As for anon, feel free to dm me either on here or. Maybe on discord if you’d still like to suggest or have something more cleared up. I’m still willing to hear any kind of feedback, and i want to thank you again for being reasonable about this

[iamalivenow]

Hiya! I gotta ask, do you have any podcast recs? I'm into anything as long as it's interesting and from my dash I see you're into some really cool stuff. Thank you for your help and I hope this finds you well!

always i always have podcast recs yes absolutely. i have actual plays, fiction and nonfiction in that order

not another dnd podcast: if you watch dimension 20 stuff this is a must listen imo, and even if you don’t i would consider this to be the platonic ideal of just a dnd podcast. it follows the rules of the game and has a story thats sensible to the game setting, but the characters are just so phenomenal. its filled with so much kindness and humor. its about three people trying to save the world from the ‘people’ who saved the world the last time it needed saving. i love it. it’s first full season is completed.

dungeons and daddies: this is for people who have listened to too many dnd podcasts and/or hate dnd. it’s about four dads from like real life who got sent to dnd land to try and save their sons. i think it took them 29 episodes to have a real like a real to the mechanics dnd fight? it’s extremely comedic but then also gets too real sometimes, you know, the perfect balance.

campaign: they don’t play dnd but its still an actual play podcast. they have two games, the first one is a star wars game, the second one is about sky pirates. you will laugh you will cry youll be mildly horrified, it’s great, every day im deep in my feeling about this one. the second campaign has real good music and cats the musical musical parody. otto van von veen....

friends at the table: friends at the table is... so powerful... unbelievably powerful... they have a lot of games, fantasy, scifi, whatever bluff city is. this is definitely the longest option, you can jump on anywhere that isn’t the later heiron seasons. their current season, PARTIZAN, is about a revolution and also a little mechanical god murder on the side, and not to give into recency bias but imo the best. it also has original music playing and its chef kiss perfection.

fiction time

wooden overcoats: its a comedy podcast about english funeral directors. it has two full seasons with their last one coming out soonish. one of the main characters is a mouse who is a best selling author. its one of those. very light hearted (except for when it rarely isn’t). i think its the podcast i’ve listened to the longest technically?

dreamboy: its weird, its dark, its gay, its unrepentantlly horny. it’s a meditation about sexuality and also destiny and also the evils of capitalism and also its a musical. its finished and not very long and just astonishing. listen to it with headphones on though if you live with people.

brimstone valley mall: its about four demons stuck working in a mall a month before y2k happens. remember y2k? its pretty funny, with some pretty decent character writing. the first season isn’t complete but what is out is pretty enjoyable. also the demons are pretty original as far as demons in a story go so points for that.

the magnus archives: i’ve been shilling for this since 2018 and its’ gotten big enough that i dont really need to do that anymore, but if you like horror and tragedy this thing is pretty good.

hey what about real life now

meddling adults: its a game show where grown adults try to solve mysteries like scooby doo and encylopedia brown for charity. it’s fun, the host and the guests are all peppy and its fun to see if you can either a) remember or b) figure it out before they can.

waypoint radio: its a video game podcast that talks about video games and also the video game industry and also politics sometimes. five star podcast five star run time there are episodes that are four hours long. i listen to it religiously

emojidrome: its described as an emoji aesthetics podcast but its basically those tumblr posts that rank different brand’s emoji in audio form. i think its funny. the hosts are great.

desperate acts of capitalism: this is just rich hubris the show. its good in a fun fact kind of way. or if you like laughing at rich people ignoring the obvious signs of a company’s downfall and doubling down on bad choices. 

sorry if this is too much, but also would you believe i have more if you need it?

[la5t-res0rt]

it happened

im claiming this one i am claiming this post in the name of beetlejuice because who else writes very long winded essays its me i did it folks i finally made it i would like to thank the academy and the person who alerted me of this post and sent me screenshots

the whole pastel ways to murder people bit is a little confusing since i dont advocate for violence let alone murder but you know who does

the writer of this post like im not crazy right this definitely sounds like a threat right it literally sounds like the author wants to throw rocks of increasing sizes at me and probably some of my fellow vocal antis

not that im scared of what any of these bullies might say literally the only thing thats been said to me that bothered me was someone i really hate talking about me to another user which is i admit a sort of silly thing to get angry at but i really hate transmed people and i really disliked that person in particular and the other thing i was called out for was being mentally ill and sleeping a lot which is honestly pretty cheap especially when you consider that people on the other side of the argument frequently use trauma and the mental illnesses associated with trauma as an explanation for their behavior but anyway

dont use metaphors say it like it is you want your friends to swarm the inboxes of those who oppose you and your pedophilic ship why do you think mine stays closed all the time for fucks sake i do not have the time to answer to every single nasty ask i get i only publish a fraction of what i get

also what quote bigger rock unquote do you even have on me anyway

that my art sucks or that i dont know how to write because buddy i am well aware of both of those things its part of my bit at least i am doing it for comedy i dont know why youre doing it

have you folks forgotten that this is something of a game to me

its more like an attempt to show the people of this fandom that theres literally nothing to be afraid of when it comes to a certain group if individuals who act like they own the place but the other half of what im doing this is because it is honestly so funny to me

just like i told that transmed and that other pedophile my fellow antis as well as my followers and i am laughing at you and the way you so desperately cling to this one problematic thing and don’t seem to have any other focus or interest its like your entire personalities have been formed on being problematic and you cling to it seriously get a hobby i have many seriously try knitting or running for fucks sake 

previously in the post there is mention of calling strangers pedophiles because of shipping and hello need I say once more for the fifth or sixth time at least that lydia deetz is a child character in every iteration of her character and beetlejuice is an adult and seeing them and writing and drawing them in romantic and sexual situations is perpetuating pedophilia and romanticizing and minimizing how serious of an issue it is in internet spaces occupied by minors and individuals who are deeply uncomfortable with content depicting and normalizing pedophilia

you all definitely know that lydia is a child and you just do not care you literally dont care about that aspect of her character that part of her is either erased or exploited and trust me i know its not all just aging up and au stuff 

in an effort to take in both sides I have endured a bit of the media crafted by these shippers and let me tell you folks it is depraved and if you honestly think that sort of content is not only okay but hot or sexy then yeah im going to call you a pedophile id say it to your face too i have no issue stating facts and calling things as I see them ive been doing it since june 25th 2020 the day i was born just kidding im 1034

anyway hope you liked my newest essay i wrote it just for you xoxo beetlejuice