#because they've been triggered or squicked

[not-poignant]

Absolutely wheezing at the idea that a writer ~might not know~ that what they're writing is ~bad irl~. How fucking condescending is that? As someone who mostly creates and consumes horror media, my perspective might be a little skewed- but c'mon, people KNOW that dubcon/gaslighting/torture/murder/&c is not okay in real life. Inadequately tagged fic (& media which deals with these topics poorly) might well be a problem, but people still know the TOPICS are morally bad (& illegal) & not ok irl

I really weighed whether to give your mockery a platform on my blog, so I might still delete this response later, but I'm just going to say a few things.

Firstly, my post was around people having irrational emotoinal responses and having subsequent thoughts that try to make sense of those emotional responses. This isn't really about what the author knows, it's about the emotional response. (But even then, anon, abusers exist in fandom, abusers write fic, and it's very naive to not know this). At any rate, my whole point was that if an author is tagging or warning, they generally know, lol. But there's reasons readers might not know that.

Since my post was solely about reader response I'm going to address the readers who don't know or realise something in the moment, because they're having an irrational emotional response.

Readers having emotional responses to something that squicks them or hits them the wrong way are rarely rational and based in what people 'know.' You might want to research emotions and emotional responses in order to understand this better.

Secondly, there are actually some fairly prevalent reasons why people may be unable to give others the benefit of the doubt in the moment and assume that the author knows what they know (not least: fic authors are often complete strangers). Some of those reasons are as simple as 'I've been raised to be wary of other people and what they believe.' But others include having been abused themselves, or alternatively, knowing that abusers and rapists write fiction and live in the world among us, and sometimes having a moment where they're just not sure based off what they've just read. (It's nice to assume that not everyone thinks abuse is okay, but it's a lot harder to assume that once you've been abused by someone you know, you might want to apply some compassion to other people on this - folks who are paranoid of others often have reasons for doing so, even though that never excuses abuse or bullying in turn).

At any rate, I can think of a lot of reasons why someone wouldn't automatically just 'know' something in the moment, especially if they've been triggered or squicked (which I mention in my post). It doesn't excuse bullying or abuse, which I say in my post, but the emotions themselves and the irrational thoughts they can lead to aren't bad by default - that's part of the normal human experience, you're having it yourself right now anon - that's an attempt the brain makes to protect the person who's just had that experience. After that, we make a choice re: our behaviours.

Your perspective is a little skewed, anon, simply because you've made the mistake of assuming everyone must think the same way you do - but not everyone has had the same experiences, upbringing and education you've had. And vice versa. Someone who has been abused by someone in fandom, for example, may struggle to assume benefit of the doubt in certain circumstances where something - the person or product - reminds them of that abuse.

You might want to research the cognitive impacts that abuse and interpersonal trauma have on people, anon, especially if you mostly create and consume horror media, because that is pretty important in the understanding of some horror. This struggle doesn't make their behaviours right if they're hurting others, but judging folks for not knowing what you do, or for the things that make them uncomfortable is rude and patronising.

It bothers me that you can't conceive of a world where folks might have frankly understandable but strong and irrational emotional responses to fictional content. If you can accept that for example, some horror will make people scared or too unable to engage with it (can you accept this?), even if they do know it's not real, then I think this is a concept you do foundationally understand, and are just not applying to this situation, perhaps because it disturbs you to think that some people don't just know this by default. I don't know.

Finally, given you felt the urge to come into a complete stranger's inbox and speak derisively and with open mockery towards a bunch of folks who don't make the same assumptions you do, or have the same knowledge base that you do, it's fairly obvious that you yourself know exactly what it's like to engage in behaviours based off irrational emotional responses. So maybe you have more in common with the people you're mocking than you think? Food for thought.

You probably know - when you stop and think about it - that there are many reasons why people may not 'know' or be able to assume what you know in this circumstance, but if you don't:

Highly recommend you do deeper dives into aversive emotional responses and emotions, and also look into how abuse and trauma can cognitively affect some people.

[makeste]

do you perhap have bakugou whump fic recs?

I have many such recs! not all of them are "whump" in the purest sense of the word, but they've got angst and hurt/comfort in abundance, so yeah.

I also have an older rec post from like five years ago which has quite a few Bakugou whump fics as well, so I'll link that here.

and here are like 16 new ones lol.

some quick notes:

I'm just including links and summaries here, so please make sure to check the tags for each fic if you have certain squicks or triggers you're trying to avoid!

please be aware that I am not very nitpicky about grammar and style and spelling and the like, so long as I'm feeling the characterization and general vibes. so while I can't promise that all of these fics will read like Nobel Prize-winning lit, I can say that I personally enjoyed each one enough to go back and reread more than once.

although it tends to be one of the most common tropes in Bakugou angst fics, I do not vibe with the "abusive Mitsuki" angle, so you won't find any of that in the works below. same goes for Midnight-bashing (which is also surprisingly common).

I also did not include any fics with sad endings just because I didn't feel like depressing myself today lol.

I don't think there are manga spoilers in any of these fics except one (which I noted and marked with an asterisk), but definitely check the tags just to be safe.

lastly, though I'm by no means a prude when it comes to fanfic, all of these particular fics are SFW, just FYI.

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gen Bakuwhump:

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It's Already Tomorrow on the Other Side of the World by Nicole_Silverwolf

In the absolute immediate aftermath of his rescue at Kamino, Bakugou just wants to sleep. If he sleeps then this nightmare will be over. Except he's freezing in the mid August heat. And he can't stop shaking. A glimpse of two imperfect humans trying their best told in 3.5 parts.

post-Kamino Dadzawa and Katsuki. easily one of my all-time favorite BnHA fics. it's so sad and cozy.

Coming Up for Air by achievingelysium

Katsuki has nightmares. He doesn't think he deserves the comfort, but Aizawa-sensei sits with him anyway.

more Dadzawa dealing with nighttime Kacchan angst, since that's like my #1 BnHA fic aesthetic. this is so well-written. like, there are a couple of lines in here that just... guh. just hit right to the core of me.

Bakugou's "Super Fun" Three Day Vacation by Marvelless

Bakugou and his parents arrive home after the Kamino Ward incident for some much-needed recovery time.

post-Kamino Bakufam angst. lots of paranoia and dissociation. this is one of those fics that's sort of a guilty pleasure for me, because Katsuki definitely feels a lot more... fragile?... in this than I think he would have been in canon. but he's still enough of a grump during all of his spiralling that it still feels like him. and I do love me some Bakufam wholesomeness, and this fic has got that in spades.

the art of poor judgement by emelinelou

It's a Tuesday when Bakugou admits to himself that maybe, maybe he is sorta, kinda under the weather. Things go quickly downhill from there. . Alternatively: Bakugou's too stubborn to be "sick," Midoriya and Kirishima are in over their heads, Todoroki is the Most Useful in a pinch, and Aizawa is not paid nearly enough for this.

probably my favorite sickfic. chapter two especially. Bakugou's narration in this is fucking fantastic. he's so fucking done with life. meanwhile everyone around him is freaking out, and he himself is a complete mess even though he won't acknowledge it, and it's just great. it's equal parts funny, sad, and absolutely adorable.

(incidentally, even though this fic is marked as incomplete, it really doesn't feel that way and ends at a perfectly reasonable stopping point, so don't let that put you off.)

Solar Flare by TheQueen

Three weeks after Katsuki Bakugou receives his quirk, he takes a short tumble off a bridge and watches, dumbfounded, as stupid Deku extend a hand. Don’t take it, the universe commands. Don’t tell me what to do! Katsuki snaps.

this is a really cool AU in which Baby Katsuki accidentally starts defying the universe and ignoring his predestined path, which has a profound ripple effect on his life. sort of like a time-travel fix-it, minus the time travel. also just a heads up that Bakugou is like five years old in this so I guess it's technically a kidfic. and there is plenty of angst, a little bit of whump, more Bakufam, and plenty of baby Kacchan and Deku being cute like it's their job.

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BKDK/DKBK whump:

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lose it all (with eyes wide open) by ghostwriterofthemachine

Katsuki is blinded. Izuku is muted. Both of them are kidnapped. Things get worse.

this is one of those fics that just kind of leaves you stunned at how freaking good it is. featuring: psychological mindgames, hopelessly bleak situations, and codependency so utterly raw and desperate that it broke my heart roughly 17 times.

When Ice Doesn't Float by Ma_skee

A simple rescue exercise goes south when Izuku falls through the ice and it goes from a class assinment to an actual rescue and a race against time to keep him from freezing to death.

technically this is more Dekuwhump than Kacchanwhump (though we do get a bit of the latter toward the end), but I'd argue that few things could possibly stress Katsuki out more than being in a tense survival situation in which Deku is hurt and needs help. anyway so yeah. this is classic hurt/comfort and very good.

spinning out of control by mollE

Katsuki joins the 'I've Been Mind Controlled' Club. He wishes he hadn't.

please see above re: how all Dekuwhump scenarios are secretly Kacchanwhump scenarios in disguise. anyway so basically a mind-controlled Bakugou beats the shit out of Deku while being fully aware of it the entire time, and has a complete (and understandable) emotional breakdown afterwards.

all that you ever wanted from me was sweet nothing by maxisnotokay

Izuku has had this thing about him that Katsuki has never been able to name, but he's been chasing it since he learned how to run. It takes a catastrophic building collapse during their third year and a severe concussion for him to realize what it is. Aizawa loses ten years off his life. When does he not.

gotta love a good building collapse fic. this one has a concussed Katsuki, a very worried Izuku, and the usual "thanks to this intimate life-or-death situation, I have belatedly realized some fundamental truths about the nature of our relationship" tropes. but it's good. a lot of really good banter and back-and-forth dialogue in this one too.

takes one to know one by Sour_Idealist

Deku has left UA. Ochako still looks for him in unguarded moments. Bakugo is, unsurprisingly, being a jerk.

some good emotional hurt/comfort post-Jakku. Ochako has a chat with Bakugou about Deku. specifically, Bakugou's feelings toward Deku. it's good shit.

*fear is the heart of love by nikkiRA

*please be advised this fic contains major manga spoilers!!

Bakugou gets hit by a quirk that amplifies his greatest fear for 24 hours.

losing Deku. the thing that scares him the most is losing Deku. this is a good fic. emotional hurt/comfort for days. though once again do keep in mind that there are a couple of major spoilers in this.

silence is what i do best by notreally

the one where both Izuku and Katsuki were hit with a truth serum sort of quirk, and things aren't going all too well.

not just a truth-telling quirk, but a truth-compulsion quirk, to the extent that (spoiler alert) the quirk causes them physical pain and distress if they don't speak the truth. which, as you can imagine, leads to all sorts of extremely vulnerable conversations and a lot of good h/c.

close by not quite by blossomshed

When Bakugou goes after a beacon during a class-wide rescue op, he doesn't expect to find Deku - or to find himself dealing with the fallout of a gift he doesn't want, and a side of himself he'd never bothered to examine. He deals with it nonetheless.

this fic is so dear to me. it's yet another "Deku transfers OFA to Bakugou fic", but it's just so fucking good. and it also features a (very much confused) ace Bakugou, which is such a rare find. there are lines from this fic which I still think about constantly. it's funny and profound and adorable and so wonderfully IC, please go read it.

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BONUS NON-ANGSTY FICS because I just felt like ending this list with some happy stories where Kacchan gets a lot of love:

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give me compliments (i said give me compliments) by wonhaebunny

“It’s just cute,” Ashido is telling them as she walks into the classroom. “Like, when you compliment someone and they get flustered so easily, don’t you think it’s endearing?” Kaminari blinks. “Like Bakugou?” he asks slowly. - 1-a realises that katsuki is really, really bad at receiving compliments. exposure therapy ensues.

he is bad at accepting compliments. this is a very, very cute fic.

The Friendship Ladder by nikkiRA

Bakugou and Kirishima tell their classmates they're dating, but everyone seems more interested in who gets to claim the newly vacated spot of Bakugou’s best friend.

as the summary implies this is technically KRBK, but the focus here is very much class 1-A as a whole. there's just something about seeing the entirety of the class squabbling over their Kacchan love that tickles me to no end. Deku is also fantastic in this lmao.

The Yoshida Trail by WinterSwallow

Mitsuki Bakugo returns with her gift to the mountain.

last but not least we have this gorgeous character study with a criminally low view count. Mitsuki climbs Mt. Fuji with an eight-year-old Katsuki in tow, as the fic explores his childhood and young adulthood through a series of vignettes. the insights in this really have no business being as profound as they are, given that they're voiced from the perspective of one of the most graceless characters in the series as she observes her equally graceless son through all the ups and downs and tumbles of his life. but somehow that just makes the whole thing even better. idk I just really love this a lot.

---

anyway that's it for now. hope at least a few of these are enjoyable. thanks for the ask!

[hekateinhell]

What kinda stuff do you like or not like for fandom gifts? Like any specific relationships or tropes or kinks etc?

omg I feel shy answering this even though I think if you've been following me for even a little while you'd know what I like! I have almost zero filter 😂

honestly just that anyone would think of me/be inspired by me is SUPER SUPER SWEET AND LOVELY AND I'M VERY APPRECIATIVE OF THAT ALONE!!!

if I was picking out something for myself it would be something lestat/armand or armand/louis or armand/lestat/louis

(I love armand/daniel but there's so much great stuff out there for them already in comparison that I'm not starving for food)

definitely something smutty or sweet or angst/whump but with a happy ending don't you judge me or all of the above! LOVE CANON FIC LOVE AUs LOL I'M EASY

kink wise there's so many things I enjoy for those ships size kink cum kink genderfuckery breeding kink D/s predicament bondage fisting dubcon and I'm always open to new stuff! I'd rather not list my squicks because I don't want anyone to feel bad if it's something they're into, we're all different! 😂

I'll share a good rule of thumb that I've heard other people mention because I hadn't thought about it before, but it just makes sense: don't gift kink fic or art to someone unless you know them well enough to know they'd be into it (like they've talked about this kink in a positive light before, written about it, whatever — clearly they enjoy it some way!). in addition to being thoughtful, it also helps prevent inadvertently writing about something that might be triggering to the receiver since kink is typically portrayed as adjacent to intimacy and/or sex. ♥️

[sanguinifex]

Like... it's totally fine not to want to tag things, you can just say you don't want to and I wouldn't be offended. I find it hard to believe my polite request was met with five posts about how entitled people are online these days, but you did mention being tipsy. I'm not demanding emotional labor from you here, I asked, you refused, that's valid.

AI art is art theft. But I don't expect everyone to comb through every art post they reblog examining it for authenticity. I never said you were harming me personally or equated squick to an actual legitimate trigger. This is a completely disproportinate reaction to a simple request. If you don't want to tag, just say you don't want to tag.

It is sad that AI art was developed through theft and by and for capitalism. They could have developed it in a way that compensated the source artists. That said, the development of such tools at some point in this decade was a near-inevitability, and I don't think using the tools is somehow re-stealing the dataset. Since AI art also requires significant post-processing to look anything like the quality of entirely human-drawn art, I think the only "art" it will completely replace is the sort of romance novel book covers that have long been poor-quality photoshop collages anyway. Instead, it'll be a tool much like 3D posing software, used to generate basic poses or backgrounds for artists to start with. (And will some people dump barely modified stuff into Pixiv? Yeah, they've been doing that since Pixiv was still Japanese-only and the only 3D models were low-poly dollmakers. But that's the price of having free expression.)

As for the ask to tag thing, and how I interpreted it: I've been on tumblr for a very long time. Longer than I've had this account--I left my first account due to harassment. I don't know if it's still a thing, but there was a time when people used to have lists of things they wanted everyone they followed to tag, and refusing or not knowing they wanted you to tag those things made you "problematic" aka deserving harassment. And I tried to keep up with those toxic norms for years. And it did require exhaustively scanning every image for 20 different possible content warnings. And then you'd get called out anyway because someone new followed you, you didn't realize/couldn't read their theme, and you didn't tag for their highly specific thing. Oh, and also these people were making their triggers worse by constantly, obsessively avoiding stuff, so there's that. So that's why I flipped out, because it looked exactly like one of those requests and I have "internet PTSD" or something. I'm sorry for taking it at face value.

[valoisfulcanellideux]

In addition, if the tags and/or warnings and/or summary shout loud and clear that the content of that fic is something that you know will either squick or trigger you, LISTEN TO YOUR GUT AND DON'T CLICK TO READ IT.

That author has done everything they can to forewarn you. They do not deserve to feel like absolute shit that - because you liked something else they wrote - you decided to go against your gut and take a punt on that particular story anyway.

That author may or may not be following you on social media, but there's a chance that - if you both move in the same fandom sphere - they might see any posts that you make about their story and how it made you feel when you went against all your better instincts and read it anyway.

This happened to me last night. I was that author. I'm a fandom veteran (I have decades of it under my belt). I gave fair warning - both in tags and pairings - and yet still that person read the story... because they thought it might be of a good enough quality that it would override the fact that the fic's content type usually severely squicks them out.

(Apparently, dear reader, "It wasn't even that good".)

And so, on seeing not one but three posts about how they did exactly the above and it made them feel like absolute shit after they'd decided to go ahead and read it anyway, right now I feel like never writing another fucking word again.

Oh, you ask what was so bad about that story? Did it contain anything that any right-minded person would warn for? Non-Con? Abuse? Anything like that? Nope. There was an implied (perfectly legal, perfectly ordinary) relationship that would take place after the end of the story. That was all. This silly, funny, goofy fic - that made me giggle like an idiot while I was writing it, and that I absolutely loved - ended with a hint at an off-camera future relationship. And I made sure that both the relationship tag and the summary mentioned that quite clearly.

The squick was that it was a ship fic. And I get that. I understand that some people don't like reading ship fics... but why read it in the first place when you know that kind of content severely upsets you?! Why do I now have to feel like absolute shit for two days because I saw your repeated posts (oh, and the whole-ass comic that you took the time to draw) about how it made you feel?

That reader's most recent post about it indicates they've found a way to get past the upset they endured by reading my creative efforts. Good for them. I'm glad to hear it. I wish I could fucking get past it. It weighed on my mind all night, it was still on my mind this morning, and is still on my mind this evening. In short, it's soured all the positive feedback that I did get on that story, and I now have to somehow try and pick up my enthusiasm to carry on writing my main story.

I think what hurt the most was the two backhanded insults in that main post; one heavily implied and the other outright stated. Those have been churning around in my mind ever since I saw them.

I have never in all my time on Tumblr been so tempted to soft-block someone for the sake of my own mental health. But the damage has now been done and I have to try and figure out a way to move forward from it so I can continue writing. Because fuck knows I'm not going to be able to write the kind of quality that is expected of me while I'm in this state of mind.

Meanwhile, that main story - These Stones Remember - is probably going to have to go on a brief hiatus, because I don't have it in me to write a fucking word right now. As it is, I now have to try and summon up some happiness from somewhere, so I can leave nice replies to the direct comments I received on this bloody story that I can now barely bring myself to even fucking look at.

By the way: if you're that reader (and you'll know if you are) then do me a favour and don't read Epilogue 1 of These Stones Remember when it's eventually published. You'll probably hate it, and I really don't want to feel like this again over something that's probably my favourite thing I've ever written.

What to do when you don’t like a fic: a step by step guide

Step 1:

[boreal-sea]

In relation to This Post (Anon conflating the meaning of squicks and triggers and believing squick to be a "baby" word and that only trigger should be used) -

One of the most important notes made on that post is that squick and trigger are not interchangeable because they have very different meanings.

A squick does not cause you to have a panic attack, does not cause you to disassociate, does not cause flashbacks to trauma, etc.

Triggers are something that can cause panic attacks, disassociation, and flashbacks to trauma.

But I think a big goal of fandom purists and antis is to make it difficult for people to distinguish these two experiences. Or maybe, antis and fandom purists are people who can't tell the difference between being uncomfortable and being triggered.

This could be for a lot of reasons, and I can only speculate on why someone might be unable to tell the difference between discomfort and being triggered.

First and foremost, they might not know the difference because they don't have triggers. Not everyone has triggers. They are associated with mental disorders like PTSD, eating disorders, anxiety disorders, depression, etc.

Experiencing a strong negative emotions does not necessarily mean you have been "triggered". Fear, revulsion, disgust, and anger are normal human feelings. I think a lot of young folks for some reason don't think it's normal to feel strong negative feelings? So when they do experience these feelings, maybe they just assume they've been "triggered"?

I don't know. But either way, the actions of fandom purists and antis is to blur the lines between discomforts and triggers, and that's harmful to folks who actually have triggers.

[theinstagrahame]

This post is fantastic, and makes a ton of incredible points. I don't really have anything to add to the really fantastic scholarship on display.

The one thing I will add is, this is extremely topical because we're still seeing the Conservative outrage machine trying to ban queer books. Like, it's been a minute since I saw an article about it, but they're not deterred. They're still gonna try. They've been trying my whole life. And their argument? "We have to protect the children!" They've spent the last year trying to conflate queer people (mostly trans folks, but we know they're not gonna stop there) with "groomers".

Honestly, whoever it was posted that tag OP replied to in the second reblog? You're kinda doing their work for them. This is how they operate: death by a thousand cuts. They're so sensitive to Slippery Slope arguments because that's how they operate.

Like, of course we want to protect children from the horrors of the world. That's a given. But they're gonna add their personal squicks and triggers to the list of what counts as a "Horror". Not all of the additions will be unreasonable, but the list and its scope will grow beyond reason.

The only way I can think of to fight it? Learning to either take the value we can from art, even with its flaws, or learning to avoid media that we don't care for.

(And OP has provided multiple examples of both, so go back and reread what they said.)

Your personal triggers and squicks do not get to determine what kind of art other people make.

People make shit. It's what we do. We make shit to explore, to inspire, to explain, to understand, but also to cope, to process, to educate, to warn, to go, "hey, wouldn't that be fucked up? Wild, right?"

Yes, sure, there are things that should be handled with care if they are used at all. But plenty more things are subjective. Some things are just not going to be to your tastes. So go find something that is to your tastes and stop worrying so much about what other people are doing and trying to dictate universal moral precepts about art based on your personal triggers and squicks.

I find possession stories super fucking triggering if I encounter them without warning, especially if they function as a sexual abuse metaphor. I'm not over here campaigning for every horror artist to stop writing possession stories because they make me feel shaky and dissociated. I just check Does The Dog Die before watching certain genres, and I have my husband or roommate preview anything I think might upset me so they can give me more detail. And if I genuinely don't think I can't handle it, I don't watch it. It's that simple.

[ashintheairlikesnow]

Hey Ash

Can we see one of your OCs getting dental care-specially if they've been hiding the pain,because they hate doctors, till their face got swollen and they could no longer hide it-and having to be sedated yet becomes panicked anyway-cheek retractors hurt and trigger bad memories maybe-and touches his dentist's arm just to stop em and when the pain increases-inspite of having a local anasthetic- they grip their arm

"hold still or you're gonna hurt yourself,i know you're in pain but it will get much better soon,you're just slowing it down,try to relax"

Maybe some tears and hands held by the end

I just don't know Ash😅

My last visit to the dentist really got me thinking about it-it was horrific😭

Oh man. So teeth whump is a HUGE squick for me and something I can't write, although I have tried. And somewhere in me is a story about wisdom teeth removal based on my own experiences, and one day I will tell it using an OC... one day...

[harrydracobang]

1) Is joining the discord a requirement or "highly encouraged" kind of deal. 2) Is the art claiming anonymous? Like do you know you're claiming an art by XYZ or you're just claiming the art guessing it that it's by XYZ? 3) Can I just sign up as artist, submit my art, and be hands off? How much participation is required to be part of the fest? Thank you. I have never done this before so I don't know the MO.

Hello!

No worries at all about the questions! All of them will be answered in future posts with more detail, but we're happy to answer them now as well! :D

1. Joining the discord is 100% optional. It's purely to give our participants a greater sense of community, particularly because, though fest posting is not anonymous, we will be asking that all participants not publicly speak about their works until after they've posted. The discord will provide private writer-only and artist-only spaces where participants can discuss their creations without compromising anonymity.

2. Which transitions nicely into your next question! As much as it is possible given the nature of art claiming, we will be trying to keep art anonymous. Artists will be asked to not discuss their artwork or share snippets anywhere outside of the private artist chat in discord, or privately with their art betas. We understand that many artists have a quite recognisable style and so won't be entirely anonymous, but authors won't be told whose artwork they are claiming until after they've already been matched.

3. The level of collaboration desired will be up to the authors and artists as a matched pair. When you submit your artwork, there will be a line asking how much collaboration with the author you'd prefer, keeping in mind that, ultimately, your assigned author might end up having ideas that diverge slightly from your own vision. Artists will provide a list of squicks/triggers that authors will be required to steer clear from in their creations, as well as some prompts to give authors some guidance, though adherence to those prompts is strictly optional for authors. Essentially, if you'd prefer to just submit the art and then let the author go wild without a lot of back and forth collaboration, you can make that clear when you submit, though we do expect authors and artists to stay in contact after matching, and you'll likely be expected to provide at least some feedback to your author.

We hope that helps clarify and answer your questions! We hope you all are as excited as we are for sign-ups!

[maychorian]

Isn't a person making fanart where they've drawn a character that's poc as white a form of interpretation, not representation? It doesn't change the canon of the show. White ppl are severely and embarrassingly over-represented in media but you can literally interpret a character as anything and it doesn't change the initial representation in media. Like if I draw Lance as trans, that's cool but it doesn't ad to trans representation in media, it's just an interpretation on my end.

Personally I think whitewashing is pretty insensitive due to the fandom culture. But I think people overlook that 'media representation' is really much much more defined with regard to consumption and distribution of media that most of the world sees, not a tiny bubble of fanartists drawing (often experimental and technically illegal) amateur fanart in a corner

Yeah, and this is why I don’t think fanart is a big deal, even when it’s not perfect. Erasure is hurtful and bad, and I would prefer that no one did it, but at the same time, we have to deal with things we don’t like. That’s just life. I can’t expect anyone else to make fandom “safe” for me. That’s on me. It’s my job to make my fandom experience as stress-free as possible, and believe me, I put a lot of effort into that. I block a lot of tags and posts that I don’t want to see because they stress me out. But I don’t get in people’s faces and go to their askboxes telling them to cater to my wishes and my particular squicks and triggers (not that I actually have psychological triggers, not anymore, but I definitely have squicks). 

I have no right to do that, to police someone else’s works and tell them that what they’re doing is wrong and bad and they should be shunned or reported to the authorities (or that they should kill themselves, holy crap, why are people in this fandom so cruel and idiotic). No one has that right. It is every fan’s job to make their own fandom experience good without intruding on the rights of others.

I know with the way I’ve been responding to these asks it seems like I’m trying to have it both ways--Whitewashing is bad when it’s actually taking away a minority character and changing them to white, and also the callout culture on tumblr is awful and harmful and we shouldn’t train ourselves to find things to be offended about. And that’s true. I AM trying to have it both ways. Because both things are true. Race is tricky, and we should be sensitive to each other’s needs, but we also need to learn to protect OURSELVES, including by teaching our brains to let things go and stop looking for problems in smaller and smaller places.

[sals-soup]

I think that they mix it up with getting triggered, in some cases.

Of course, I'd say that the majority of the time, it's a deep sense of disgust or disturbance that they miscategorise as trauma. Either purposefully to justify their viewpoint that the art shouldn't exist, or ignorantly because they've been misinformed about what trauma really is.

But while getting traumatised from art alone is next to impossible, getting triggered is far from uncommon. That's why it's important to understand when you've been triggered and deal with it appropriately (filtering, blocking, etc). But antishippers make this difficult for themselves because they believe in protesting against the art which triggers or squicks them (often reposting it to spread it, causing further harm) or seeking it out to vilify the people who post it. That is part of the core toxicity of the antiship community. Same with obfuscating or over-saturating terms, such as trauma.

i can't take anyone seriously when they say they were traumatized from seeing art out in the wild. I know that art can be disturbing and disturbe you to the point it just sticks in your head for awhile. but that isn't equal to traumatization.

[moramew]

I hope you choose to tag! I don't think you've ever been excessive in your tags; they've always been helpful?

I need to check if I have it tagged. If I don’t I’m definitely going to do it.

I always want to make sure I have potentially triggering/uncomfy things tagged just in case;;; I don’t want to make assumptions. Just because I think it may be obvious doesn’t mean other people will.

Also, using this as an opportunity- if y’all ever want me to tag any sort of things on here, please feel free to give me a poke. I don’t mind at all.

And if you read something of mine and think something should be tagged that isn’t? Please let me know. Wanna make sure no one peeks at something that could squick them or anything.

[pftones3482]

You don't have to like every ship, but just remember that people don't have to like YOUR ships either.

Actors and voice actors are NOT their characters. Stop treating them like characters instead of real human beings.

On that last note, actors and voice actors also don't control their character arcs, plot, or lines (the majority of the time - they ofc get SOME say in certain lines, esp if they've been in the show or business for a while, but mostly they're just given a script to roll with). Do not take out your frustrations over story or plot on the actors (looking at you, Voltron fandom 🙄)

Reblog art and writing!!! The easiest way to find fellow fandom members is to reblog fanart and fanfic (plus you'll likely make the artist/writers day - esp if you add tags)

Don't shy away from a fandom because it's "dead" - sometimes the best fandoms are the smallest ones. Plus, imagine the joy the other few people in that fandom would get if you joined!

I want to add onto the age one someone mentioned above - if you are over 18, try not to follow minors. Obvi it's not always possible cause not everyone puts their age in their bios, but if you're an adult, stick with following other adults.

A trigger is something that makes people have a bad reaction - flashbacks, anxiety attacks, etc. A "squick" (an old term we NEED to bring back) is something you just don't personally like. Learn to recognize the difference between the two.

What might be a trigger for you could be a form of therapy for someone else. If you see that something contains one of your triggers, don't get mad at the author or artist. Instead, scroll past it (and if they don't have it properly tagged, send them a polite message! 9/10 times they'll be happy to tag it for you, and if they're not, they aren't someone you want to follow anyway)

On that note: fanfiction (esp on AO3) has tags for a reason. Read them, read the rating, and do not go further if you know it'll upset or trigger you.

While it is on everyone to make fandom a fun place and to tag things appropriately, it is on YOU to make fandom your own personal safe space. That means blocking people you don't like, not reading fics that are clearly tagged with things you don't like, and filtering your tags so you don't see potentially triggering art or posts. Not everyone can alter their content to fit you personally, so you need to alter your feed.

Have fun and be safe. Most people in fandoms are pretty nice, but always be cautious about the information you give out and the content you consume.

Things I have learned about Fandom.

Tips for beginners.

I’m staring down my 9-year anniversary here on Tumblr, and I thought I’d share some thoughts from that perspective. I discovered fandom (and Tumblr) when I was 41, so I’ve obviously never been a teenager online, but I think these are pretty universal for newcomers of any age.

Pick a name that doesn’t reflect your current fandom, because the odds that you will move on in 1 or 5 or 10 years are very high, and changing your url often means that your old friends don’t recognize you anymore.

Keep your friends! Your current fandom friends are going to migrate to different fandoms than you will. You will generally not be able to convince them to love your Next Hyperfixation. Learn to enjoy the eclectic oddness that your dash will eventually become.

Don’t be afraid to move on. Fandom is Brownian Motion. You will drift from one space to another as the spirit moves you. It’s okay. In the beginning, it can feel like a betrayal to leave a fandom, to start reblogging things your current friends aren’t in to, to lose interest in their meta/writing/art, to change the feel of your dash. It’s okay! Everyone does it, although some take months and others take years. Just let them know that your hyperfixation has changed, but your heart and friendship has not. It’s that simple.

Be Kind. To everyone. You have no idea what they’re going through or who they are. Try to not say anything to others that you wouldn’t want aimed at yourself. (You’re going to fuck this up. Everyone does. Give yourself some slack and remember to absorb the lesson, if there’s one to be learned.)

You are going to stumble. Especially in today’s hypercritical climate. You are going to say something that starts a fire. Just say sorry (if it’s warranted) and move on. Delete that post and take a break for a couple of weeks if it gets too hot. LEARN from it, but don’t fixate on it. Make liberal use of tumblr’s Block feature.

Learn to recognize wank (“discourse”). Know that if you jump in with your opinion, you will very likely become some rabid person’s target. So make that choice with your eyes open. Try to avoid black-and-white thinking (we're right --> they must be demons). It's really not helpful.

Online stress is real. Online hurts are real hurts. So learn how to protect yourself. Curate your dash, block people and tags. Learn to recognize when tumblr thoughts follow you into your real life and affect your happiness. When that happens, take a break. Change the makeup of your dash.

Don’t make assumptions. Your friend might be older or younger than you, might be from an entirely different culture. It’s easy to assume everyone on the other side of your keyboard is a mirror image of you, with similar experiences. They very likely are not, so always tread lightly.

Guard your personal information. No one needs to know your real name! And probably, they don’t need to know your age, either. Especially if you’re young. You are your url, and in a fandom community, that is enough.

Being part of a fandom community takes time and effort. You make friends by commenting, reblogging, encouraging others in their writing/art/meta/whatever. If you are a creator yourself, please don’t be discouraged by a slow lift-off. That happens for everyone (except a lucky few).

It isn’t necessary to make friends with the BNFs out there: make friends with other newbies. Your shared experiences will be stronger for that!

Have fun! And if you realize it isn’t fun anymore, walk away. People take breaks from fandom all the time, and it’s still there when they return. Even if it’s been decades. 😉

[kurara-black-blog]

They've never been to FF.net and opened a M fic while praying for the best because the description at most had a "[SMUT]" at the end

Maybe you're going to get a vanilla sex, maybe you're about to find out how many of your squicks (and maybe even triggers) can be found in an one shot

Everytime i see antis bitching about how Ao3 allows ✨problematic✨ content I laugh my ass off because it is so obvious that antis have never been on any sites without tags

Ao3 is amazing because you can filter out content if you want and you can almost always be sure that the tags will tell you exactly what kind of content is in a fic 

[bixgirl1]

Okay, so, because I've been hanging onto this rec forever (because I can never seem to find the right words to convey how much I love it or how important it feels to me), I'm just going to set it up with this fantastic piece of art by @caroll-in :

FIC FUCKING REC!

The Man Who Lived by @e-sebastian is honestly one of my top favorite fics of all time. It's a drarry fic, and has a lovely build to their relationship (which is...flawed and gorgeous and perfectly written), but more than that, it's a Draco fic and you just fall in love with him like you never have before, while reading.

The Man Who Lived takes place 12 years after the war, and is set in New York, where Draco works with at-risk teenagers. He's got a life, a surprisingly content -- even happy -- one, and has moved on from his youth, has grown up in the best possible ways, and so much of his upbringing is behind him -- until he's cursed into sharing space with Harry in his dreams. Which is a bit of a problem, you know, because they're on different time schedules (Harry is still in England) and oh, yeah, they don't like each other. Lol.

Now, I'm not going to go into too much about the plot, because it's better if you go in not knowing too much, honestly, but I do want to take some time to talk about the tags and potential squicks.

I've seen a lot of people say they've been avoiding reading this because of one of the tags (which I'll elaborate upon in my tags, here, so as to not spoil anyone who doesn't want to know), and because it's in first person. I know a lot of people prefer third, and that's fine, I get it. I generally do, too. But this is first person done right. Seriously, I dare you to get halfway through the first chapter and be able to envision it in any other way.

Draco in this story is mature, smart, capable, and kind -- in short, he's everything we in the fandom have always known he could grow up to be. But he's still Draco: sarcastic and a little uncompromising, impatient and imperfect; he's rebuilt himself from being broken, and his cracks show through in a way that only serve to increase his beauty. There are flashbacks, too, that explain his redemption arc, and it's unparalleled, I swear.

It's also a slow-burn fic, but it's a slow burn in the way that CaPri is a slow burn. Things are always happening in it, and it keeps you completely engaged, to the point where, whenever there's a scene with Harry, it's simply icing on a very tasty cake. I generally have to be in a specific mood for slow-burn fics, but never with this one; I've read it more times than I can count and love it just as much on each pass.

Another "problem" I've run across from people debating reading it is that it's filled with OC's. Yes, it is, but they're good OC's. They serve the story in the best way, and are so fleshed out you'll start to feel about them the way you do about the side characters in HP -- like they've always been there.

And finally, some of the themes in the author's notes: the story does have some heavy themes, but I beg you to not let them deter you unless something is an actual trigger. Everything is so respectfully crafted here, not a single step feels out of place or like a mere plot point just to get from a to c. They're deftly written and handled with the care they're due, and the story is all the better for it.

And I know 250k might be daunting, but... Here, it's not. Not at all. I actually stayed up all night reading it the first time because I was obsessed, but it's one you can take your time with, and probably should, because you get more and more from it when you let it sit in your heart for awhile.

Run -- no, become The Flash -- to read this fic. It's one of my ultimate favorites, and I promise you won't be disappointed.

❤❤❤❤❤❤

Spoilers for fic tags/archive warnings in the tags.

the man who lived

(you can meet this Draco in the amazing fic The Man Who Lived by @e-sebastian, it’s been a while since a story made such an impression on me!!)

[commissions] [ko-fi]