#but a lot of fanon perception is like.

[danadiadea]

Basically my whole deal with the pretty/ugly/normal Snape discourse is the fact that people behave like Harry is flattering Snape for some reason, build fanon assumptions on that belief, and then behave like those are book canon and the only correct interpretation forever and ever amen.

if Harry calls Snape's nose hooked and prominent – it probably doesn't mean it takes up 70% of his face (people behaving like "hooked" and "huge" are the same word make me kinda tired), if Harry says Snape's greasy hair hangs in curtains around his face – it probably doesn't clump in icicles, if Harry calls his teeth uneven and yellowish – they probably aren't extra crooked and rotten and of a bright yellow colour, if Harry points out his skin is sallow and pallid and white – it probably isn't of greenish shade and with acne, if Harry tells us Snape is thin and haggard – it probably doesn't mean he looks 25kg underweight. Believe it or not, but Harry doesn't actively try to embellish the man he hates! He rarely uses any extreme language to describe Snape – and that's what bugs me when people insist he must have extremely unusual features, because even a pretty lookist boy who hates the guts of him and is ready to misinterpret him at any given chance, is actually being relatively mild. If Harry could debase Snape more – he would!

Harry calls Pancy ugly too, but Rita, for example, thinks she's pretty and vivasious, and I know it's assumed Rita is exaggerating because she and Pancy are both awful people, but Rita wouldn't publically call a girl that objectively had a face very unfitting to beauty standards pretty, especially when it's so uncalled for! Pancy must've looked at least somewhat cute so that it doesn't sound like a mockery.

Severus probably "wasn't pretty" to Harry's taste – just like Eileen, whom he greatly resembled, but he also didn't look extremely out of the ordinary and wasn't repulsive to look at, just tired, a bit unkempt and with intense traits (which can be handled in a whole lot of different ways of course). Enough so that people who hate him can make some derogatory comments on him, but honestly, go to any visual based social media and look at people who receive derogatory comments on their appearance out there and tell me that all of them (if any) are unbearably ugly and barely human looking.

So basically erasing Snape's traits and giving him a straight nose or full lips or rosy skin is misinterpretation just as much as exaggerating every feature of his to the extent that never was even remotely mentioned in canon (and especially since we know we have a negatively biased perspective almost at every instance) is. And it's fine, especially if we talk about art, when artist's style would naturally enhance certain aspects and try to deliver different messages. Some prefer to draw more standardized faces or softer appearances, while others tend to give their characters strong, stylized features and make them visually challenging – and this is all great and good and valuable. It's also fully okay to headcanon different traits for the character, both recognised as attractive or unattractive, depending on how each person wants to interact with the fandom. My problem is exclusively with people misinterpreting the book text, claiming it as canon and saying what people can or can't do with characters based on those misinterpretations.

[crushedsweets]

Toby’s old ref sheets describing him as up-beat, cheerful, touchy, hyper. Man. I make him so angry but he deserves to laugh.

[orcelito]

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

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

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

[zolo-san]

I know I just rambled in the tag, but if you took the time to read all that, might I direct you to this post & my ramblings there as well~

Something about Zoro being one of the most misunderstood and mischaracterized characters in One Piece is funny (not haha funny, funny sad) to me because?? That’s literally how his introduction starts?? With people misunderstanding him and thinking he’s some big, monstrous demon who kills with cause and cannot be trusted or tamed.

Meanwhile the actual Zoro is a driven guy who is often both literally and figuratively directionless in life and found his goals in life through good people (first Kuina and then Luffy). He's tied up in the Marine base not due to those actual crimes he commuted (well not inherently anyway) but because he ‘disrespected��� a Captain's son and stood up for a little girl. He accepts the challenge they present to him and because Zoro himself is a guy that puts his money where his mouth is he assumes the Marines will uphold their end of the deal and let him go (note the actual shock when Koby tells him the truth)

He joins Luffy's crew but also outright says he’s not gonna let his goal take second place to Luffy or anyone else's for that matter, he bears the weight of two people's dreams, his heart isn’t going to be swayed by some pirate.

Speaking of Kuina, her impact and influence on Zoro's life isn’t talked about enough for my liking. She was Zoro's first friend, his first rival, his first goal. He looked up to her so much and his reaction to her passing cracks my heart in half every time because you can seem him just..go numb. Kuina, dead? Kuina, the strongest person he knows, gone? Kuina, who swore to him just yesterday they’d race to the top of the world together, doesn’t exist anymore. His blank face only cracking within the privacy of his sensei before he begs. He begs on his knees, tears streaming down his face please please please let me take Kuina's sword with me. Let me take our dream to a high neither of us could imagine. I won’t let her name die here.

On top of gaining the Wado Ichimonji that day Zoro also gained…fear. Not of death, well at the very least not his own, he gained his fear of not being enough. Kuina kicked his ass every way a person could and still died, what could someone like him do? So he trains…and trains…and trains some more. Overly, obsessively, constantly telling himself he’s not enough, he’s weak, he can’t protect anyone like this and everyone's death would be on him.

As for Zoro being cold and stoic that’s just…not completely true? He’s not stone, he can be excited or sad or angry just as much as most characters he just sucks at showing it canonically (Kuina thinks he hates her before their final fight after all). Sure he’s not as forthcoming about it as some of the other Strawhats but Zoro's more of an action guy anyway, he'll show his love with his protection and unwavering faith.

In conclusion, Zoro is a ridiculously stubborn, incredibly loyal, mildly emotionally constipated, do what you say/say what you mean kinda guy.

(Also that whole ‘Zoro would kill the whole crew if Luffy asked him to’ thing? Top ten stupidest things I’ve ever heard from the fandom and that’s saying a lot. He’s loyal not brainless and heartless guys if Luffy asked him to do that, he would never but I digress, Zoro would square the fuck up with him so fast. DPMO.)

[purplemoonfox]

On and in defense of Commander Fox and the Corries, and why I think they were set up to fail

Summary at the bottom because I like to go on.

Things we know for sure about clones and Fox and the Corries in the strictest canon sense (which ain't a lot):

1. They are stationed on Coruscant.

That is definitional, now remember what Coruscant is.

2. They have no Jedi in charge of the Guard, they report directly to Palpatine.

Although I adore the fanon that Quinlan Vos is their Jedi, it’s not canon.

3. Clones love their brothers dearly.

That is almost without exception, even the clones we see acting against the Republic (hi Slick) at least believe they were acting in their brother’s interests.

4. They seem to accrue extra responsibilities as the war goes on, up to the point of being the ones we see Palpatine with in ROTS.

Even if they don’t, the idea of a law enforcement/military unit answerable only to Palpatine is a shit idea. There’s reasons people worry about accountability in real life, and sneaky little shits who act all nice and innocent at first but eventually show their true colors once they have power in the bag is one of them.

These are all very obvious.

In very short terms, it's very likely Palpatine uses the Coruscant Guard to sow public dissatisfaction.

And all those that hate Fox fall for it by proxy, because I think you're essentially seeing of him (and the Guard, and by extension the clones) what Palpatine wants the public to see and think of clones.

The Coruscant Guard are probably the most consistently accessible and visible of the clones in the galaxy to its biggest cultural and political hub. Most of the time the 501st or 212th or any other seems to drop in, fights a battle, and apparently fucks off afterwards? Obviously, planets like Ryloth have a stronger personal connection--some GAR contingent seem to have been there practically the whole damn war and Howzer was obviously very familiar with the Syndullas, and they with him (and look how personable Howzer is, and how quickly and somehow easily he extricates himself from the rationale clones held about their orders; maybe it makes sense to think of it like how leaving your little hometown where everybody thinks the same affects a person)--but otherwise I feel like the clones, to the rest of the galaxy, are (expensive) theoretical constructs.

The vast majority of the public aren't likely to have any personal experience with a clone, let alone a develop personal rapport with one, unless they happen to go to specific places like 79s where they can be found, and that still doesn't necessarily lend itself to extended relationships since most of the clone patrons would only be on Coruscant temporarily. Some fics portray clones as being refused entrance to establishments (especially later in the war when people were protesting clones themselves) or restricted in where they can go (like grocery stores, etc.). I think that's plausible, even realistic--but it doesn't seem to be a focus of canon aside from showing some protests so I'll let it alone.

What we know of that IS canon is that clones aren't allowed to even think about having families or doing anything with their lives besides being soldiers (even though all of them have thought about it, even just secretly; I'd wager that all of them have secret dreams they don't share); it's against regulations as we see with Cut Lawquane in season one of TCW. So to effect this, clones are probably actively or passively discouraged from forming close friendly relationships with anyone who isn't a clone and who they have no reason to be speaking with—aka most people besides Jedi (and if the fanon can be believed, if decommissioning/euthanization is a concern, they would have the motivation to avoid even the perception of such a relationship). Obviously there are going to be exceptions, but you can scrutinize a stable population a lot better than an itinerant one.

The point is, if your only tangible frame of reference is a rigid hall monitor that doesn't demonstrate much of a personality (even though clones have real, complex personal lives beneath that surface) and is behind a faceless mask--and we see so little of the Guard that what exists of their personalities is, let's be real, nearly all fanon--then you never really have a chance to acquire a sense of their humanity, and a strict enforcement of regulations tends to breed resentment in a population for whom strict adherence to regulations isn’t normalized. There will be cultural differences in play.

This is not the clones' fault, they neither asked to be created nor put into this position, they’re only doing what they’ve been asked to do, but it plays directly into Palpatine's goals.

Moving on.

Sure, the Guard answers to Palpatine in the chain of command, and we see them actively serving him in ROTS, but Palpatine definitely isn't doing shit for fuck for the Guard's administration in a daily sense, so Fox basically runs that whole bitch by himself in every practical sense--a clone, with no rights of his own, considered property, in a situation increasingly hostile to him and his.

Now let's think about the clones we see: as far as we can tell, clones' social lives are largely insular. They mostly see and talk to each other, and that's not necessarily by nefarious design (as discussed above), that's just what happens (military people tend to hang out with other military people, that’s just how it is; you’ll spend most of your day around other military people, most likely stationed in a place you’re not so familiar with that it’s easy to do anything else). Remember: we as viewers get access and insight that people in-universe don't.

And, significantly:

The Corries do not have a Jedi. The Jedi see value in their lives beyond their merely being expendable, faceless, and unthinkingly obedient droids wearing flesh, this point was made multiple times--and the Jedi are able to walk the line between orders and the bigger picture, which rubs off on the men they lead. Go watch Nala Se’s (bitch can catch these hands) comments about the Jedi’s influence on the clones when she’s speaking to Dooku.

I can see leaving the Corries without a Jedi being another saccharine, oh-so-magnanimous moment from Palpatine (he has so many of these) in the vein of expressing confidence in the clones' capability and in being very undemanding of the Jedi, in order to “free up” Jedi (whom he so totally trusts) to fight the war…but in effect leaving the Guard without anyone familiar with Coruscant and equipped to play referee with the environment and peoples they're bound to serve, and with no one batting in their corner or showing them any other way to exist and think.

On a side note:

Fox is an interesting clone commander anyway, not least because he doesn't have a Jedi to bounce off of. In a sense, whether or not Fox had his chip activated, we’re probably seeing how a clone commander was originally going to behave on their own initiative: see problem, address problem, think no more deeply than that. The Kaminoans did not want creative thinking in the clones. The clones were trained to fight the enemy they’re pointed at with singleminded intent, it stands to reason that that straightforward directness would transfer to other instances which might have been more kindly served by a different mindset. Their mindset isn’t even like a real life military where you’re still obligated to think about the nature of what you’re ordered to do—just following orders hasn’t been a valid defense since 1945.

TBH I've got a lot to say about fandom, the fetishization of actual violence through the lionization of fictional violence (although I don't think that fictional violence breeds actual violence; rather, I think people who were already interested in it go looking for things they think reflect their beliefs), and why we even have war crimes as a concept (and the absolute ignorance perpetrated by an increasingly illiterate populace), but...

I digress.

You cannot claim to have sympathy for clones without acknowledging their humanity and that includes for the ones who didn’t have the chance to grow beyond the limitations built around them. It was awful that Fox killed Fives, but it’s a tragedy like so much else in this franchise, not proof that Fox is awful. Part of the horror of what we see everyone go through in clone wars is how many times Palpatine’s plans almost derail but it never happens.

If your complaint is that Fox didn’t think any more deeply than what was right in front of him in the moment, remember that that’s exactly what’s been expected of Fox and all other clones: obey orders, and it’s not their role to determine what those orders are. Abstractions are for those who are not expendable, made to die. Orders are orders, and good soldiers do what again? He quite literally all but says “my opinion doesn’t matter” when he tells Ahsoka that he doesn’t blame her for (apparently) killing Letta, but she’s under arrest anyway.

Fox is put in a position of having to wield authority in a very different way than any other clone commander, has no direct support from or evident collaboration with the one group of people who generally see clones as living beings worthy of compassion, and deals with the public while having been trained to lead a war campaign. His is a war of attrition, not dropping in on a planet and fighting a battle, and he’s responsible specifically to Palpatine, who is literally the big bad. Fanon tends to think that Palpatine either activated his chip early or tortured him; honestly either one tracks, it's Palpatine after all--and in two major instances, we don't see what Palpatine says, to Fives or to Fox--but the fucker is a masterful manipulator so anything and everything is still on the table.

But in the midst of all this, because clones aren’t unthinking or unfeeling, and the dissonance is tragic but not absent:

Clones do give a shit about their brothers. Fox is no exception; he's audibly upset when he asserts that Ahsoka killed three troopers. And the immediate order to shoot to kill is pragmatic--he only issues it after he believes she was willing to kill clones to escape. That’s a fair order; if she’s willing to kill clones as he believes she did, then his men should at least be able to defend themselves as well as they can. See issue, address issue.

I mean. Shit, he doesn’t stick around after he shot Fives; we see his face once and that is not a triumphant posture. If he wanted to gloat or be an asshole about it he had the chance. Rex probably would've gone for the throat, but he had the chance.

The way he dies also suggests this. He could have thrown somebody else under the bus--called the men who fired on Vader defective, shifted blame somewhere else, somehow. He did not. There was one thing Fox ever had control over in his life, and that was how much he let anyone else take the fall. Hell, his answer wasn't even that bad, but Anakin (who is on my permanent shit list for not putting two and two together from the Sifo-Dyas reveal and what Fives told him earlier) probably did have it out for him, because Vader is an asshole. He's a Sith, it comes with the territory.

So, to summarize:

Clones are trained from decanting to do as they're told regardless of their personal feelings, and Fox in nearly so many words states that he acts regardless of his personal feelings. He is not likely to be in a position where he's shown a different way to behave, or interact with anyone that does anything but reinforce that expectation.

(Side note, I feel like Palpatine would have a great time tormenting Fox by sending him off to do shit he personally disagrees with but is technically correct according to the letter of the law..................)

Fox essentially is on his own in an environment unlike what most clone commanders deal with that he probably wasn't trained to understand much of (cultural understanding is important); it's rather likely the Guard hews very close to their training because of that. They'll stick to what's familiar and what's expected of them as they understand it. That is a very normal human response.

Leaving the Corries without a Jedi means that, as well as lacking anyone who sees them as individuals worth more the money it cost to make them and who treats them as such, they lack a go-between and likely familiarity with the population they're policing but are subordinate to, legally speaking, as clones are seen as government property, not people. This is going to breed resentment; somebody is going to bitch that no clone has the right to do bla bla bla.

The vast majority of the galaxy is going to take cues from Coruscant whether they like admitting it or not. If Coruscant has a bad impression of clones, then the vast majority of the galaxy—for whom the clones are (expensive) theoretical constructs—will have a bad impression of clones. Clones may not be in a position to pursue close relationships with someone not in their near orbit, and may be likely to actually avoid them because of regulations.

The vast majority of the galaxy would likely see them as unthinking, rigid hall monitors (whereas non-clone troopers, stormtroopers, think for ourselves and we wouldn’t act that way..........).

Which all gives Palpatine an excuse to give in soooo magnanimously to the public's demands to stop using clones as troops.

[tossawary]

I revised one of my older fics and, in doing so, pushed my "Scum Villain Stories" series over 1,500,000 words! That's the series that is just SVSSS fics, 28 of them now, no art collections or other fandoms.

It's been a little over 4 years now since starting, and it's funny to think that about 500,000 words of that was the first year, mostly PINTWILF. I had a lot more free time and drive then, I think! It's also funny to look back to when SVSSS was a more obscure series, with neither a donghua nor an official English translation, and I genuinely had no idea whether or not anyone would read a story mostly focused on a minor character within those less popular books and his friendship with an OC.

I do wonder sometimes how I've influenced fandom! I don't think that I have a Word of God Big Name Fan setup (I hope not, that sounds terrifying, I do not want to be on a pedestal), but after I've written so much that has been relatively popular, I don't think it's unreasonable to wonder how my personal interpretations and/or specific choices for certain AUs have helped (helped!!! not alone by any means!!!) to shape various fanon perceptions over the years, for better or worse. I've had a few people tell me that they've read SVSSS because of my fics, which is cool, or that they've read my fics but not SVSSS, which is also cool, though I hope any potential fic authors do check out the original books rather than rely solely on my characterizations in particular AUs.

When I first started writing for SVSSS, a lot of Shang Qinghua additional tags such as "Shang Qinghua centric" or "POV Shang Qinghua" didn't really officially exist yet, so I guess I feel part of an early wave of SQH-focused fics (there were others! Lots of them before me! It was not just me!) and that's neat. It's cool to think that I had so much fun playing in a sandbox that I might have convinced other people to climb in to have their own fun.

It's fun to see fandom posts like: "Finding an story you like and then discovering the author has a bunch of other fics just like it is like finding the Holy Grail." I kind of get to go: "Hey, that's me for some people! 😄♥️"

[ooooo-mcyt]

Also I think something that really influences how Etho engages with Joel now (which isn't often acknowledged in fanon i've seen) is their relationship arc in Third Life.

From the first season, Etho came to see Joel as someone he couldn't rely on or trust. They float in and out of each others lives for a lot of Third Life in a way that was..pleasant, I'd say. Joking over the swamp, causing chaos together, getting puppies.

Until Joel suddenly becomes "the enemy" when he turns on Dogwarts. And Etho..fixates on it. Not overly so, not in a way that's immediately recognizable as a fixation, but certainly more than he does with most conflicts of that nature in Third Life. Etho brings it up multiple times- Joel is a traitor, Joel abandoned them, Joel deserves retribution- to a degree that really stood out to me.

Of course, it's arguable how fair this is. I'd say Joel's "betrayal" had more to do with Dogwarts' coercive "alliance" tactics than it did with Joel's character.

But regardless of if it's an accurate or fair assessment of Joel's character, it was a very strong and very early impression for Etho. Joel was someone who was reliable and fun, until he was suddenly a deserter and traitor. It sets this level of instability from the beginning, and Etho, honestly, really doesn't do well with instability.

In a lot of ways I feel like this very early perception from Third Life still lingers, influencing the way Etho engages with Joel, the way Etho is almost flighty, the way Etho is actually willing to lie to Joel outright, the way Etho can't seem to let Joel mend the bridges between them even when Joel does try to (and god knows joel tries, though he's never been particularly good at it)

[dying-isnt-good-for-your-health]

Just wanna see the stats because they are often kinda pushed to the side because i feel like most don't know a lot about them (other than fanon)

[kaumedii]

Hey, I hope this doesn't bother you but I'd like to make an enasone but I'm not sure how, would you mind giving me some tips? Like, how do I choose the emotions on each side?

(If you see this same ask on other blogs it's because I like to have a variety of opinions to see which one I like the most/makes the most sense/helps me the most)

Hello! And no worries! This is actually my most asked question across all my socials, hehe. But there’s no avoiding it now, so without further a do:

Making an ENAsona

DISCLAIMER: This is in no way, shape, or form, a concrete nor canon guide to making ENAs. Whether it be in Joel’s, mine, or your own canons, there is no right nor wrong way to make an ENA! What matters most is your— ideally happy and healthy— resonance with the characters you make!

Choosing Emotions

My ENAs may express emotions, but they are not defined by emotions or singular traits, as I like to draw from ironies, arguments, and niche dichotomies and their connotations.

NOTE: The signs I’ve assigned are based on instinctual perception rather than conclusive fact or opinion.

As for where these pairs even come from, there are a few ways of going about sourcing them:

Extremes — given a base, which in this case is Faith, you pick the absolute best and worst ends of its (connotative) spectrum. The further these ends are, the more conflicted or erratic your ENA will be. However, you have to keep in mind that you still have to communicate your base with the halves. Otherwise, each half would feel haphazardly stitched together.

Adjacents — given the same base, you have both ends adopt similar (leaning) connotations. In this case, a double negative may imply a radical cult leader, while a double positive may imply something akin to martyrdom. The issue with this one is picking ends that are too close to each other. For example, angry-sad reads as less effective than grudge-guilt.

Writing Lore

Not that it’s necessary, but if you ever feel like you have to over-explain your fanon character and or have more to say that your design can’t, cave to writing lore. I cannot exactly divulge all of my thought processes for my spin-off because that’d kill the fun, but I will say that mostly everything goes explained in my context versus just Joel’s. I really am super into world-building, so I did end up having my own thing, but not everyone has to have one! I will say, however, there are universal themes within the AU that help me choose halves for my ENAs, so if you can’t think of a pair visually or on the fly, maybe you can find one in writing!

Designing the Character

The net connotation of the pair you’ve chosen can do a lot to drive the design. Fugi, for example, with her net-negative connotation, reads as aggressive and even evil! I hadn’t even stated nor confirmed that she was an antagonist, but everyone got the impression that she was one, so be sure to take advantage of your connotations and work on communicating them to your viewer through your design!

Design Logic

I suppose if you want to be more faithful to canon, you would abide by the right-poly-left-smooth body type, but! Who’s stopping you from adding more faces and curves? That is with respect to resolution if you want to keep the Joel feel. Here’s Ina’s torso as an example— Oh, and the bottom faces of my skirt designs do stretch and scale to accommodate movement.

Special Designs

My special designs are more lore relevant than they are gimmicky, and I honestly can’t give too much away because that would also mean spoiling my lore, but I do like to have things special to each character as an added identifier, especially since ENAs are designed to look pretty alike. That combined with my AU, and everything'd have a plot and purpose!

I hope this helps, and if it doesn’t, uh oops! Oh, and do have fun and take care! No stress, no pressure! :)

[beforetimes]

okay so! female shen jiu! let's talk about it! [long post warning]

so. i have a lot of thoughts about this concept/au. but like mostly in how it will affect shen jiu's general reputation/the rumours surrounding her (will be using she/her and feminine terms for shen jiu throughout this!). as well as the way her relationships with the people around her would change + the way shen yuan would navigate this world with the combination of his obliviousness + his perception of the genre he's working within + what potential romance with would look like in this au!

also you will have to forgive me in advance for the very western-centric arguments i will be making in this because. i am working off what i discuss at university which is unfair to apply to a chinese novel but! this isn't a serious critique as much as it is a fun thought experiment to run through because i enjoy applying these theories to things i read and enjoy. so take a lot of this with a grain of salt as far as serious criticisms go because i am not making any! just off-handedly discussing things i thought would be interesting to chew on in this verse.

rumours of lechery :

one thing i think would be interesting would be the way shen jiu visiting brothels would be perceived in this universe. i felt that in pidw, it was a problem because it compounded with the accusation that he preyed upon his female disciples. but in a universe with a female shen jiu, i think those rumours would be squashed before they even started. i know that it's popular to assume that homophobia doesn't exist in the svsss universe, which i'm pretty sure is implied canon and not fanon. but i feel this doesn't really account for lesbianism, which is veryyy absent from the novel past fanon extrapolated from a few scenes here and there. which is fair! the entire genre of the series revolves around a male x male pairing. i just guess i want to know in a more meta sense if airplane, while writing pidw, kind of wrote in the same invisibility of lesbianism into the work that would carry over when shen yuan eventually shifted the genre to a bl.

what i mean by invisibility of lesbianism is that historically, while homosexuality was prosecuted both as a mental illness and a crime categorized under sodomy (mostly due to the disruption of social order) there was a lot less scrutiny placed on lesbian relationships. mostly because they were essentially non-existent in the eyes of the law in the early? 18th and 19th century (feel free to fact-check me on this). as far as i recall this was mostly because without the actual like. act of penetration there was confusion on how sodomy between females would necessarily work. as well as the fact that female sexuality was something that the law was unconcerned with in general. but that's a bit of a tangent.

anyway! i bring this up because while the utopian view of homophobia as non-existent in the pidw/svsss-verse is awesome, i don't think there's necessarily evidence to argue that misogyny is treated the same way. which is important! because the invisibility of lesbianism is tied into both homophobia AND misogyny! which is a very roundabout way of saying that were shen jiu a woman in the pidw/svsss verse, there wouldn't be as severe of a case to make for her supposed lechery if she visited brothels because of the invisibility of female sexuality. and that even if she was having sex there, would they even necessarily know how to legally prosecute that?

also like. i know it can be tempting to argue against this as a concept because the setting itself has no homophobia at all so how can lesbianism be invisible but like! on a more meta level we have to keep in mind that airplane (who i'm assuming for the sake of this argument is a cis man because there is no canonical argument for any other conclusion, as far as i remember) wrote this novel, and the original novel inarguably employed misogynistic tropes in the creation of luo binghe's harem. and despite how shen yuan eventually shifted the genre, the original world he landed in was very much pidw before it started to morph around shen yuan's choices. which is again a very roundabout way to say that misogyny very much could still exist in this world because of the biases of its creator and the lack of evidence against it.

i'd actually argue that the existence of the brothel itself implies misogyny exists in the pidw/svsss world but that's neither here nor there.

anyway! a very long way to say shen jiu's original lecherous rumours very well may not have existed. and rather than the problem being her sexual life, it would be the disruption of social order (which can also be prosecuted under sodomy!). because i'm assuming with the reputation of the sect on the line and the seemingly accepted view of immortal cultivators as beyond earthly desires, the problem would be less with shen jiu's presumed salacious desires concerning her young female disciples but rather the disruption of these social norms put upon cultivators. but also sodomy wouldn't necessarily exist in this universe because of the lack of homophobia! so maybe the only rumours going around would be of shen jiu being a man-hating prude in comparison to her canon counterpart's more serious and lecherous accusations.

moving on!

relationships with people :

i feel that her relationships with the people around her would be changed, but only slightly. for example, with liu qingge, i recall that despite the two of them fighting and being at each other's throats most of the time, one of the most decisive moments for their rivalry/hatred of each other would have been when liu qingge dragged shen jiu out of the brothel and got in a fight over it. which i explained in the reasons above might not have been such a big deal now that shen jiu was a woman. but there would definitely still be animosity between them because of all the other usual reasons (mostly shen jiu's and liu qingge's attitudes and world views clashing).

which may even be exacerbating with shen jiu canonically being a woman in this verse! it's not stated too explicitly but i feel there is still like. a broader social acceptance of the fact that female disciples (ie ning yingying) need to be doted on and babied more. which could be misogyny in this universe rearing its head. so if you combine this with shen jiu's need to be strong while constantly lashing out at the world so she doesn't get taken advantage of in the way she was at the qiu mansion, you get a! very explosive, vindictive, delicate relationship that honestly probably fared worse than canon. i feel shen jiu would be twice as aggressive with men in this universe because of this perception of female disciples/cultivators. (i say cultivators but honestly i see less evidence of that here. maybe ning yingying was a fluke? though that begs the question of why there would be a peak of just female disciples if not for the existence of misogyny (specifically misogyny that affects cultivators as well) in this world!)

i think shen jiu's relationship with yue qingyuan would stay mostly the same. i don't have a lot to say about that, really. i think the devotion from yue qingyuan and shen jiu's hatred in return because of the misunderstandings between them is something that wouldn't be influenced by gender. though that could be a blindspot in my perception, hahaha.

there is a world where shen jiu is more aggressive with yue qingyuan for the same reason she's aggressive with liu qingge, though! maybe she sees his deference to her as something that is like. pity born of misogyny and mostly because yue qingyuan looks down on her on top of his guilt complex. in that shen jiu thinks that he assumes she's a weakling and thus needs his helping hand/his dismissal of her more abusive, violent and disruptive actions as a favour. i think maybe while they would grow up together and he might not necessarily ring the same alarm bells as other unfamiliar men for shen jiu, she would still be. slightly uncomfortable at the prospect of a man with so much authority over her paying her such attention. if that makes sense.

moving on, though!

qiu mansion and that whole mess :

take everything implied in canon and make it like. nine times worse. is the general vibe i get when considering that era of time in this au.

because! if i'm going off the baseline assumption that qiu jianluo is still attached to shen jiu and the implied sa that she faces still occurs here, i believe the arranged marriage would be made not between qiu haitang and shen jiu but qiu jianluo and shen jiu. which i feel would give him a lot more access to her as there would be little excuse for shen jiu to be hanging around qiu haitang as much as she did. though she would be roomed with the female servants in the house rather than the male ones, there is also the possibility that qiu jianluo would just repeatedly summon her into his room. though again, no homophobia in this verse means there's no reason for him not to do that in the canon, non genderbent verse, so things on that front might not change much.

the aftermath of the qiu mansion disaster though! i think that would be interesting to see. because i feel there is (unfortunately) a very different connotation between male slave forced to marry young woman of the household and female slave forced to marry young man of the household. while i don't know the legalities of it in this verse, i'm assuming based on the shen jiu's perceived crimes against ning yingying in pidw that this would be frowned upon. though it could also not be! because of the intersection of class dynamics and how technically, because shen jiu was a slave, she didn't really have rights in the first place.

either way, i think a lot of that trial was born out of shen jiu's deviation from social order/social norms and the issue of her engagement with qiu jianluo wouldn't be seen as a strike against her in this case. because i think people would have enough sense to see the power dynamics and lack of consent more clearly when confronted with a marriage between a teenaged female slave and a young male master. especially when compounded with the fact that the original charge of lecherous behaviour with ning yingying wouldn't carry much weight because of what i discussed concerning the brothels

the murders, though, i think she would be held responsible for that. there would definitely be a harsher view of that, i feel. mostly because like. it would be out of a woman's place to commit such bloody acts on top of it being such a violent crime? so there would be an argument to be made that in breaking social order by not being kind and deferential enough on top of going through with the murder of the men, she would be faced with harsher consequences.

simultaneously though there could be an in-universe argument made on the side of cang qiong mountain to claim insanity on shen jiu's part. similarly to how hysteria is seen mostly as a female malady and is a gendered/misogynistic diagnosis. but that's a whole other (mostly western centric, i feel) can of worms to get into. but just know for now that i think the hypothetical defences that cang qiong could give for the murder spree would also be misogynistic in nature.

ps. if you want to read about the female malady check out the introductory chapter of the female malady by elaine showalter.

shen yuan enters the narrative :

now i don't want this to get super long. so i will try very hard to keep this short. i think shen yuan would have a misogynistic viewpoint that would affect his understanding of his place in the plot when he is transmigrated into shen jiu's body.

i already went over the more meta aspects of shen yuan (who for the sake of clarity, i will say, is still a male in this au) and his experience travelling through the world in a female body. but i didn't discuss so much the narrative implications of it. because i think there would be! many!

for one, i think shen yuan would constantly underpin a lot of the interactions he has with the (male) peak lords/cultivators with his very heterosexual worldview. in the sense that he would assume there were romantic undertones where there weren't any, which i feel would be a baseline assumption he would make considering the supposed genre of the novel-brought-to-life he was living. we see so many times how shen yuan will look at a female character and immediately identify her as a part of luo binghe's harem. which i feel will carry over in his perception of shen jiu's lived experience as a woman. if that makes sense.

i also think. hm. how do i explain this. the way he would view his role when it came to any potential romance would be coloured severely by his modern understanding of shen qingqiu (assuming she was a lesbian, perhaps, because of her visiting brothels in pidw/her aversion for men) but also in relation to the people around her. i think he would only really see the possibility of a romance between liu qingge and shen qingqiu mostly because of the time they spend with each other in svsss and how he would assume that it would be the type of fan service airplane would indulge in for his very heterosexual audience of pidw fans. but as far as luo binghe is concerned, shen yuan would fall back very heavily on shen qingqiu's role as the scum villain to separate himself from any potential romance there. in the sense that he would focus so heavily on the teacher-student, antagonist-protagonist relationship between the two of them that he would? in a way. de-sexualize shen qingqiu entirely in his mind's eyes. so that the possibility of romance wouldn't even occur to him because narratively it wouldn't make sense for the hero to fall in love with the villain.

though that isn't to say luo binghe's love for shen qingqiu would be contingent upon gender. there exists a world where luo binghe is still attracted to women but doesn't necessarily create the harem and still only wants his shizun. i feel that the harem, while in a meta sense fed into the male power-fantasy of pidw, also was only like. a way for luo bingge to fill a gap in his lonely life. while this luo binghe would still need that gap in his life filled, he would only need to fill it with shen qingqiu's love because the way he would be treated by shen qingqiu in his youth wouldn't suddenly make him want all women. (because it definitely doesn't make him want all men in svsss). rather it would just make him want shen qingqiu.

all the while shen yuan would assume that luo binghe still wanted to kill him or when he does realize luo binghe's feelings, assume that luo binghe was only looking for a woman to fuck, to put it crudely. which would be cleared up during maigu ridge (specifically thinking about the canon detail of shen yuan turning his back to luo binghe only for luo binghe to turn him around. which i've seen someone analyze as shen yuan assuming luo binghe just wanted anyone while luo binghe wanted shen yuan specifically).

which. very roundabout way to say that i think shen yuan's obliviousness would manifest in different ways and his misunderstandings of the world around him would be because of his somewhat misogynistic viewpoints and desexualization of shen qingqiu to boil themselves down to simply 'scum villain' and 'antagonist.'

anyway that is. most of what i've been thinking about when it comes to this au. i hope this wasn't too tangential or didn't make sense because i am telling you now that i did not proof read it. i wrote this in one sitting and i will, in fact, be posting it as soon as i finish typing this lil outro. but if it did make sense then! i hope you found the more in-depth narrative and meta things i lined out here interesting. i know i did when putting this together!

thanks for reading <3

[green-static]

Writing Sam and Max’s dialogue, some tips!

Yeah, so I just wanted to get on here and try to talk about how I write Sam and Max. No one asked me to I just kind of felt like sharing.

So the biggest thing that I noticed when reading fanfiction is that a lot of people tend to make Sam more mellow. Essentially they try to make him seem sane compared to Max which yes you can do, but you need to make sure that you keep Sam not seeming mentally stable all the time.

I mean, he literally killed a fast food employee because they didn’t make his food right. Sure he let Max do the torturing to death thing, but he did pull his gun out on him. And he told Max to do it. He also murdered like a hundred people at one time and only said “man I kind of feel bad about this” did we forget that he and Max kept a man locked in their closet until he died? What I’m trying to get at is Sam is not the sane member of the freelance police. He just has some semblance of self-control is well spoken and relatively soft mannered.

Examples of Sam being generally violent

For example, let’s say they’re going to commit murder. Sam might say, “I think I’ll shoot this guy to make him stop talking.” But Max might say “ if I rip out your vocal cords and tie your small intestines around your throat will that keep your trap shut?” The point is Max is more unhinged with what he says but Sam still says the same thing just in a way that makes it come off as more normal. (Compared to max anyway.) they are both violent, but Max comes across as more violent due to the way he says it.

You also have when Max says something batshit insane and Sam just adds on to it.

“Sam, what do you think would happen if I threw Harry Moleman into an industrial frier? His face makes me seethe with anger.”

“Just make sure to throw away oil after, I don’t wanna eat anything that had his body anywhere near it”

My biggest piece of advice when it comes to writing them is just don’t be normal. Sam and Max deeply care about each other. They may show aggression towards each other, but most of the times it’s still in an affectionate manner and neither one of them gets seriously hurt. Sam and Max are unconventional characters so your writing needs to be unconventional as well.

When I write them, the first thing that I do is I read the dialogue and I think to myself “would a well adjusted member of society say this?” if the answer is no, then I’m on the right track. 

And make sure that you’re engaging with a canon media and not just fanon media. It can be really easy to have your perception of a character changed based off of the fanfiction or fan works that you’re reading/engaging with. So making sure that you’re regularly going back to the source material is important . 

OK, I guess that’s all for now. If y’all have any specific questions you want asked about how I write them go ahead. I run an ask blog so if you wanna read what I do to see how I write them then yeah you can do that.

Ask blog -> @freelancepolicedotcom

And just to clarify, you don’t have to write them this way. this is just how I write them and I’m just sharing in case any aspiring writers out there need help with these funny guys. If this helped you write anything, please send them to me I love to read fanfiction. 

[aingeal98]

Honestly think part of the reason why cass is so often mischaracterized is bc she challenges the perceptions of Bruce (good or bad) that so many people

Honestly I think the majority of it is them not wanting to engage with female characters at all but knowing Cass exists and not wanting to be a fake fan by excluding her so instead they defang her into irrelevant side character number 2 so they don't feel guilty about engaging in fandom solely through focusing on the boys. But I do agree that part of the reason people like to ignore her canon and create something else entirely is because of how much of it challenges their good dad Bruce/bad person Bruce characterisations. Like if you want good dad Bruce content you can dismiss everything he does to the boys as ooc or twist it to being their fault and focus instead on the cute Robin moments. But Batgirl has consistent flawed person Bruce characterisation where he's not the main character and he's not pure evil but he's not good either. If you want to engage with Cass you can't ignore Bruce's flaws to the same extent you can with the others, because from day one he's Like That. Every single good dad Bruce moment from that run comes wrapped in like 5 layers of complicated bad parenting and it's so fun but alas. Not simple enough for fanon that wants WFA writing to encompass all of canon. (I enjoy WFA but it's very much a separate thing and should stay that way.)

Likewise with people who hate Bruce it's easy for them to mischaracterise Cass because she represents a lot of what Bruce's philosophy should be without all the flaws that make him easy to hate. And people kind of get threatened by that, so instead of actually engaging with the text and discovering all Cass's fun unique flaws they just make something up to vindicate their fave. Which is annoying to read sometimes like I have rolled my eyes several times during fics. Most of the time she's ooc by just being sort of a supportive doormat but sometimes they're like you know what I'm going to be brave and give this female character some flaws and then the flaws are just more ooc garbage so they can get a scene of her apologising to their woobie batboy.

Moral of the story is as always, read Batgirl 2000. Thanks for the ask!

[lostsyren]

The Many Faces of Rafe Cameron

I’ve been seeing some discourse about Rafe’s characterisation in fics. The main point of contention seems to be in how he’s either characterised as being softer than he is in canon or harsher than he is in canon.

Before I continue I should preface this by saying I’m not morality policing you on what content you consume– that’s not the point I’m trying to make!

(Tw: mentions of rape & abuse)��

But think it’s funny how there’s a general consensus that this harsher version of Rafe, where he is a rapist, abuser, misogynist is canon Rafe, and by not agreeing with that and writing him in a less brutal way is some how watering him down or sanitising his character. Though I agree there is a lot of sanitisation of his character, where he is ooc (acting soft and what not), the very same thing can be said about the other end of the spectrum– this harsher versions of Rafe is just as ooc.

Both these versions explore two separate parts of Rafe’s identity.

We’ve seen him be softer (with Barry in s1, with Sarah when he was asking for forgiveness in s2, with Kie in s3, with Sofia throughout s3-4). There’s evidence to show he can be gentlemanly, he can be sweet, he can be remorseful, he can be romantic– all aspects I’m classifying as “soft”.

And alternatively, we’ve seen him be harsher (killing the sheriff, beating up Pope, trying to kill Sarah, Kie and Ward)– evidence to show he’s violent, he’s wrathful, he’s abusive.

When you classify him as solely soft or solely harsh that’s when I think it’s ooc (which there’s nothing wrong with, your fanon interpretation is fine, I’m not invalidating that!)

In both these instances I feel Rafe is being a vessel for a persons fantasises (I’ve discussed this with some of my moots!)– whether that be the fantasy he’s this sweet partner who showers his lover with adoration or the fantasy he’s this violent, perverse individual who carries that same harshness into his love life. There’s nothing wrong with doing this of course but I think it’s ridiculous to bring in discussions of canon Rafe, saying the fics where he is a rapist or he abuses his partner, is indubitably canon, when they’re doing the same thing as these softer fics– engaging with Rafe in a personally indulgent way rather than viewing him impartially as a character (which is what this discourse of what version of Rafe is canon, should be doing)

I feel there’s actually less evidence in canon to convey he’s a harsher partner than there is to show he’s a softer partner. Ik a lot of people dislike Sofia’s character and pretend like she doesn’t exist, but come on :/

And you can respond with denying canon and saying they messed up his character/mischaracterised him in the later seasons– which is irrelevant because then the discourse between which version of Rafe is more accurate becomes obsolete when the two parties have a different view of canon.

I also want to say, I think it’s reductive to ignore Rafe’s arc. You may not like it, or may not like the way they did it (conveying how he is like with Sofia), but to say it’s completely out of left field is a bit extreme. We’ve seen Rafe avow at the end of s2 that he’s going to get clean, he’s going to be better and so on and he fulfils that. It’s annoying that we didn’t see how, but obx never shows how.

And the notion that the way they portrayed his relationship with Sofia as being way too soft and ooc?? As if he was the most perfect bf in the world…like no he wasn’t.

Which brings me to Rafe’s dichotomy between soft and harsh. Harsh: He let his insecurities affect their relationship, he kept her on the outskirts, he only claimed her in private, he took away her agency, he ended things cruelly dictated by his anger. Soft: he treated her nicely, he was very physically affectionate, he didn’t cheat, he valued her input, he grew to love her.

I think people’s perceptions of Rafe’s character have been coloured by these very harsh fics. Like yes he’s violent. Does that mean he’d abuse his partner physically and sexually? Not necessarily. Just because he’s as violent as we see him be sometimes on the show, doesn’t mean that’s in character.

Rafe isn’t stagnant– he’s constantly going through ups and downs– in his temper, in his morals, in his confidence. The line of Who is Rafe Cameron, is fluctuating; we never know if he’s going to improve or devolve (In temper, morality and/or confidence).

Writing fancfic doesn’t always have to be a character study. It can be fun, like indulging in those fantasies I mentioned earlier. I don’t really know what I wanted to say with this– ig to ramble about Rafe😭. But I dislike the notion of a singular correct interpretation of canon. Like tinging Rafe in a slightly softer light is ooc or conveying him as violent as being too extreme…like no. He’s genuinely a mix between the two. I don’t want to get into the whole darker stuff with him being a rapist or this intensely depraved guy…I feel I touched on most my feelings about that here already.

But I’d love to hear other people’s thoughts!

[bloomeng]

One thing that bugs me about fanon Lxc is when wangxian fans make it seem like he’s totally trying to set his brother up with Wwx bc he’s just sooooo supportive. They act as if this is canon when no that’s not how canon went at all.

When they were teenagers Lxc was worried that Lwj was lonely and so when Wwx showed up and Lwj started to react he saw it as a good opportunity to get Lwj to make friends, bc a) Wwx also seemed interested in being friends and b) Wwx was popular and had a lot of friends so maybe he’d meet more people by proxy. He wasn’t trying to set up his 15-16 yr old brother, he was just trying to get him to broaden his horizons bc Cloud Recesses is very isolated. I think it’s very possible he recognized Lwj’s behavior as a crush but he was not playing wingman.

And none of that even matters bc by the time the war ends and Wwx is fully a demonic cultivator he no longer likes him. He never stops Lwj bc he doesn’t see it as his place but he also has stated that he doesn’t approve of necromancy. He also interpreted Wwx’s denseness towards his brother’s feelings to be purposeful ignorance and manipulation which is fair bc for someone so smart Wwx is very stupid.

I think people forget that the world actually does have some reason to not like Wwx and that necromancy is actually unethical. Not to mention that we the audience have foresight on some of Wwx’s actions that most of the characters don’t.

Lxc was literally thrilled when Lwj dragged Mo home bc he thought his brother had moved on. He legit didn’t care who this random stranger was he was glad he wasn’t connected to Wwx.

And then there was the drama when the scene between Lxc and Wwx came out in the comic—the one where Lxc snaps at Wwx about not knowing Lwj’s feelings— and people on twitter were acting like this scene didn’t already happen in the book. I shouldn’t have been surprised people were mad at Lxc but it was still jarring bc usually people are neutral to positive about him. Lxc is soooo cute until he has human reactions to stressful situations that contradict your perception of him and get in the way of your ship. Cut the man some slack that was the first hour of what was going to be the worst 24 hrs of his life. A man he doesn’t like just came to him, told him his closest friend is up to some pretty awful shit and then acted like he didn’t know his brother was in love with him. And it’s funny because Lxc’s last straw wasn’t Wwx telling him Jgy was suspicious it was (what Lxc interpreted as) Wwx playing dumb.

tldr: lxc is not wangxian’s #1 fan

[olderthannetfic]

I hate entering new fandoms.

For as long my soul has known the joys of fanfiction and fanart, I have been the niche. Rare tag, rare trope, rare pair- whatever it is. How I think about a character, characters, their relationships, their dynamics, the underpinnings of the plot itself- never seem to align with the popular "understanding" or "fanon" of a work.

Like

No, in fact, I don't think this guy would be the "top." Yes, he is bulkier and muscular, and has a lot of gender conventional masculine leanings, but he's also kind of a brat, and I think he would like to be dominated and to let go of control sometimes.

And

No, I don't think this character is stupid. He's actually quite perceptive. Why must I comb through twenty fics before finding one where he is written with a brain. Also, he doesn't hate kids. He just hates crying kids.

And

I'm sorry unspecified group, but I think you have let the actor's image blend a bit too much into your view of the character. The actor may think this other character is cute and wants good things for them, but canonically, they have shot them three times and told them to burn in hell for their crimes against society.

And

Two pairings have been tagged in this fic. Boy, I sure do hope it's my rare pair that's endgame. Three paragraphs later, anticipation is the cheese the devil leaves in his mousetrap.

So on and so forth.

Sighs, someday, maybe in another decade, who knows, I will enter a new fandom, and against all odds, it will be tailor-made just for me. *looks into the sunset* Someday... Someday... Someday...

P.S. I hate when a sarcastic or witty character ends their sentences in, "thank you very much."

--

[calware]

Do you have any advice on how to write Dirk and Hal or know of anyone I could get tips from :0?

okay so first of all i want to say that i don't think that i'm really an 'authority' on the subject, or that anyone else really can be aside from andrew herself. but i do have some thoughts and opinions that i'm willing to share

#1 piece of advice is to reread the comic once in a while. or at least reread bits and pieces if that's too daunting or not feasible. the POV cam extension is really helpful for that because you can specifically reread just the parts where dirk is there (does not work for hal though iirc which is where the dialogue directory is the next best thing) anyway i suggest doing this because it's always better to have their canon depictions fresh in your mind so you aren't accidentally working off of purely fanon ones

i think this is more of just a writing tip in general but try to think about how much you intend to transform the character. and by that i mean how much you want to stick to canon characterization. no matter how far you go with it, your depiction should always be informed by canon, but you can go as far with it as you want as long as it's intentional. so for example, if you want to stay really close to canon characterization, go for it. but if you want to stick them in an AU, ask yourself how that will change their behavior, personalities, etc. and it you specifically want them to act differently than they do in canon, that's okay too as long as you justify it and make it believable to your reader. you don't have to be afraid of changing them as long as something happened to cause that change

i feel like these are the two biggest pitfalls people fall into, usually a combination of the two. either they just don't understand the character well enough to give a believable portrayal of them, they don't give the audience enough reason to believe their portrayal of them, or both. for example there are a lot of hal fics out there where he is evil and kills people for fun, which to me just tells me that the author didn't really get him. but the takeaway isn't that you should never make hal evil and kill people, just that you need to provide basis for the audience to believe that he would be evil and kill people while still feeling in-character for doing so. that's what i mean by intentionality, you need to understand why you make the artistic choices that you are making

i wrote down some common tropes (?) of hal writing i tend to see that are along the lines of "i see these a lot and they wouldn't be bad if the author just made them feel believable" if that's at all helpful. i can do some for dirk as well if anyone wants me to

3. avoid being reactionary. the homestuck fandom is so reactionary with its portrayal of characters, meaning that one mischaracterization will get popular, and people will complain about it and swing the complete opposite direction, leading to a different mischaracterization becoming popular. an example of this is everyone thinking dirk is the coolest ever, and then switching to think he's the lamest ever. just try to focus on your own perceptions of the characters based on what you read from the comic and what you agree with others on, don't form perceptions based on trying to break away from something else

4. this goes more for dirk than hal because hal isn't as popular, but just keep in mind that dirk isn't the main character. i think a lot of people attribute main character energy to him when they don't really have to. obviously if you write a fic about dirk, he's literally going to be the main character, or if he's your favorite character you're going to care about him more than the others. but that doesn't mean he's any more important, more special, more traumatized, more mentally ill, or what have you, than any other character. going back to the example from above, the people who treat him as both the coolest OR the saddest character are both portraying him as the Special Boy. when the reality is that they are all pretty special and he's not an exception

i hope that all made sense... if not feel free to ask and i can explain further if needed