#does this mean now i HAVE to write that fanfiction about the gang going to Japan to retrieve Niko's body I've been actively avoiding?

[technically-human]

THEY CANCELLED DEAD BOY DETECTIVES :(((

Guess they belong to me the fandom now

[ambrossart]

I decided to write my own it fanfiction because of you!! ive read some of your and other critics about bowers gang stories and im trying my hardest to take those in consideration, but i also feel like im late lol the it fandom is almost non existent 😔😔 do you have any advice or tips?

First off, I love that you’re working on your own fic. That’s so awesome!

Second… gosh, I don’t even know if I’m qualified to be giving advice. My writing is so niche, and I feel like there are better people to ask about this kind of thing. I mean, there has to be, right? Or maybe the fandom is that dead. 😬 😂 I dunno, I’m kind of an outsider when it comes to the IT fandom. Apart from writing Paper Men, I don’t interact with it much… or at all, honestly. I’m like a kid playing alone in the sandbox. Sometimes other kids stop by, say hi, compliment my sandcastle, but for the most part I’m just entertaining myself.

So here’s my generic, cliched advice:

Write the fanfiction you wanna read.

Seriously, do whatever you want.

When I started Paper Men, I stopped caring about what everyone else is doing.

This is truly the best advice I can give you: do whatever you want.

Now, to get more Bowers gang specific (I'm assuming you're writing about the Bowers gang. If not, some of these still apply):

Accept these characters for what they are: 🗑️🗑️🗑️ and 🔥🗑️

You can't fix them. You can't change them. I don't care how special your character is. I don't care how "in love" these boys claim to be. These guys are horrible people and partners, and nothing is gonna change that. Nothing.

This is especially true for Henry and Patrick. Henry's way too damaged and Patrick can't magically grow a conscience, so embrace that or stay the hell away from them.

With Belch and Vic, you have a lot more flexibility, especially if you’re going the romance route.

That doesn’t mean you can’t have Henry and Patrick in relationships. You just have to tread carefully and understand your limitations. The rules are different with those two.

Book!Patrick and movie!Patrick are separate characters, so if you wanna make Patrick a little softer, go with his movie portrayal. Since he had such little screentime, you can give him whatever personality you want.

Don't romanticize their violent/abusive/toxic behavior. Seriously, don't.

Avoid the New Kid trope at all costs. It's been done to death at this point.

And no, the Bowers gang won’t be nice to the new kid. Ever.

At best, they’re just gonna ignore them.

Odds are your character isn't going to be close friends with both the Losers club and the Bowers gang. These groups are natural enemies and, more importantly (and especially if you're following the movie canon), they're in completely different age groups. The Bowers gang are all 15-16 and the Losers are 12-13. These groups rarely mix.

If you’re gonna have all the canon characters be drawn to your character, you better give her/him/them one helluva magnetic personality. Otherwise, it’ll seem forced.

Don't have invisible parents. Yes, I realize Derry is full of abusive/neglectful parents, but I feel like many writers go this route simply because it's more convenient. No parents means no rules. But it also isn't very realistic.

Please, please, please, don't ignore Belch and Vic, especially Belch.

Better yet, write about Belch! Nobody ever does 🥺

If you haven't already, read the book.

Sorry, it's hard to give advice without knowing more about your story. I don't know if you're writing a romance or not. I don't know what characters you're focusing on. I don’t know if you’re creating an original character. So if you want more specific advice, you can always DM me or shoot me another Ask. My inbox is always open. 😊

[oseytorvan]

There is a lot of discussion in the fandom about Hiccup's life after httyd 2. There are a lot of fanfictions in the fandom about how difficult it is to survive the loss of a father while being a tribal chief. And that's fine! But why do we talk so little about what path Astrid went through after the second part? 

Stoick and Valka's dream came true – they found a daughter in the person of their son's fiancee. But Astrid Hofferson was not born into a Chieftain's family and was not raised as the heir to the throne. Despite the status of the leader of the gang, which she shares with Hiccup, Astrid does not understand all the difficulties of managing the village. 

Yes, Astrid was devoted to Stoick as a chief and admired him endlessly, but she did not see how Stoick collapsed into his armchair by the fireplace. She did not see how Stoick applied pieces of ice to his inflamed head and, hunched over, looked wearily into the fire. Astrid didn't see the tears in his eyes. Hiccup saw it. Stoic never gave up in front of his people, so Astrid, like other Vikings of Berk, saw only one (1), rather superficial side of the coin. 

“TO MAKE YOU CHIEF! Oh, my gods! Hiccup, that's amazing!”

“Well, it's a lot of responsibility”

“I mean, chief. What an honor”

But Hiccup becomes the chief, and Astrid begins to realize that something is going wrong. She is still puffed up with pride when her fiance leads the tribe forward. She sees how Hiccup finds and applies innovative solutions that his father would never have thought of, and becomes increasingly convinced that Hiccup is ideal for this position. But… 

The encouraging smile he gives the Vikings does not touch his eyes. His gaze is clouded by a tart tension. Hiccup never found himself. Hiccup misses his father. Hiccup does not have time to cope with all his duties. Hiccup tolerates the distrust of Vikings from other tribes. Hiccup gets tired of the moral pressure and daily work. Hiccup closes in on himself. And, as one of the closest, Astrid sees it.

She used to be unhappy when Hiccup and Toothless ran away together, preferring flights and research to duty to the tribe. Now Astrid watches Hiccup write scroll after scroll, and finds herself almost wishing he would run away. He needs rest. 

Astrid no longer glows with pride when Hiccup gives her part of his duties - she herself asks him about it because she wants to lighten his burden. Astrid was one of the strongest Vikings of Berk and was very proud of it, but she is beginning to realize that the weight that Hiccup carries on his shoulders, only he can bear. 

Astrid looks up at the monument of Stoick the Vast. He ran the tribe alone, coped with the loss of his wife alone, and raised his son alone. Astrid is amazed by Stoick's steadfastness, but she understands that she does not want the same fate for Hiccup.

(Astrid is trying to force Hiccup to rest. Another small point demonstrating the development of her character).

[scoundrels-in-love]

ok your turn: for the character game - the mashwood gang, and just to throw a wildcard in there, zazie!

Hiii Sav my darling, what good picks you have. <3

Nicholas D. Wolfwood already done here.

Vash the Stampede

Where to even start, Vash is one of the most complicated, layered characters I've gotten attached to. He gives me headache anytime I try to write him. He is soggy kitten, he is Heaven's wrath incarnate, he is my favorite loser, his swag is unmatched. He needs a smack and world's longest hug at the same time. Monster with the tenderest heart, human with sharpest teeth to sink in your soft hand, just so he wouldn't have to anticipate you wincing at the sight of him. I could go on, you get the gist.

Wolfwood and Meryl. There are some expansions of the polycule that I will read, courtesy of friends, but I am true to Mashwood at the end of the day.

Milly, LivRaz, Luida as family. And in some out of field, fanfic explorations - Zazie. I just think there's so much untapped potential there.

'98/BLR is not my Vash and is hardly Vash at all for most of the story. While I know that some of his lecherous ways were taken from early chapters of Trigun and adapted directly, manga did a lot better job overall balancing tone and energy of him. I don't want to have to keep in mind an essay why supposedly 'he's just faking it as means of another layer of self protection' while internally gagging at every second action of a character.

Vash coming home, finding that place and starting genuine journey of healing. Perhaps us getting us to see how much of it he'd need of it, actually. Can we get a therapist and psychiatrist up in this bitch (NML)?! But there is always fanfiction to make up for this!

Meryl Stryfe

My first impression of her was mixed, but as I purposefully decided to figure her out, I ended up understanding and at times, even identifying with her. Perhaps it was projection, perhaps I am right, but either way, I love her dearly now and think she's very important third piece of the themes that are central to Trigun. About humanity, guilt, choices we continiously make. She completes the Inhuman - made Inhuman through action - Human spectrum of it all and is a fascinating failure that picks herself up continiously, despite immeasurable grief to watch

Vash and Wolfwood. Comes as a bundle, do not separate. Now and then, might read about expanded polycule because of my friends, but I will always return to my roots. And sometimes, in crack-treated-seriously way: Knives or Zazie.

Milly. And Zazie. I think she and LivRaz could strike unusual, but precious friendship, too.

She is not the braincell of the group. She might hold it for brief moments, but then it slips through her very autistic hands and bounces off into new, distant direction. Also I think she hyperfixates on her job in any media as routine and also because it is much easier for her to write than speak. She is not good at people-ing, at all.

Having her trauma explored. This goes for all canons. We touch very briefly on Dragon's Nest impact or how she feels about letting Tonis go, but her grief and guilt is barely a fifth fiddle to Vash's central suffering in narrative. And I think it is so important and also amazing way to juxtaposition her, fresh to this, versus Vash's ancient, yet continiously piling guilt. And where they can comfort each other about this, where they can heal together and where their approaches differ. Perhaps in next season we can have her Julai guilt, about Roberto, about not killing Conrad for what he's done to Wolfwood, before he does all that to Vash, etc. Just... More of Meryl, I suppose?

Zazie the Beast

I want their gender. So badly. If I'd read Trimax as a teenager, I think I'd have imprinted on them so badly, their design is so highly fitting some of my OCs that I'd have made them a faceclaim and inspiration for sure. There is something so beautiful, tragic and haunting about a collective of minds coming together to protect, learn and grow as a person. They are a god in their own right.

In very unlikely, practically crack-treated-seriously way: Meryl.

Most of all, Meryl. But I think Vash and Wolfwood are fascinating options as well, particularly Vash.

I... Don't think I have one? But I do stand by my headcanon that they keep an eye on Meryl through the two years and onward, perhaps visit and bond with her. Also, we just need more of Zazie, always.

I am holding out hope for this to happen in TriStamp/TriGaze, but in Trimax, I wish they'd had a chance to speak with human (Meryl) or Vash about the transience and immortality, about being something beyond comprehension, yet becoming more and more human as time and engagement goes on. There are fascinating parallels to be had between them and Independents, as being that are practically gods clash and work together over the same shared space, dealing with the fleetingly lived humanity. I'd give so much for Meryl to become a sort of ambassador of the Wyrms and help create a better future for both them and humanity.

Give me a character?<3

[sankttealeaf]

Do you have anym more modern au ruetash headcanons you might share? I love that fic too along with lsdl.

I love hearing your head canons about Rue and Gortash, they’re so cute and I just want to read nice things about them whilst they suffer and through lsdl😭

Also when I’m reading lsdl now I’m always like ‘oh my god no….this is terrible. The pain. The angst……can’t wait for the next chapter.👀’😂

THANK U!!! i love these two in any universe and i will make them suffer for it<3 anytime i think too hard about them i do feel a little sad. one day i'll be nice to them. not today, though 🤭

some silly modern au headcanons that have been floating around in my brain lately! (some may become proper chapters in that fic):

they first hook up at some big conference in waterdeep. theres only one bed in the hotel and both of them indulge a little too much in the open bar at the place they're at. its a one time mistake until they wake up in the morning and do it again

rue actually gets on really well with karlach and despite the fact she signed an nda about her and gortash hooking up, karlach is the first to know ("please. you can do so much better. look at my friend wyll, he's cute and single and so much better than gortash" - karlach, moments later)

rue has broken into gortashs apartment many times before. he expects to see her there now and its weird when she isnt

gortash ends up picking rue up from various nights out with karlach & the gang after shes drank too much and drunk-called him, saying how she misses him (they saw each other hours ago) and how she wants to go home (and by home she means his place). he does so every time and gets vaguely threatened by karlach to keep her safe

rue posts a photo of her sitting opposite gortash in a fancy restaurant with the caption "first date kind of nervous" and immediately deletes it. fans go crazy

i like to think theres full on conspiracy theories about them being together or not. people are piecing together a timeline. others say it doesnt matter, hes only using her because his policies are so bad. a small group of people write fanfiction (rue sends them all to him because she thinks its funny)

she really eggs on their followers to think theres something there. posting pictures of her wearing his shirts. tagging him in videos of her walking around the city. asking people for reccommendations on good places for dates. its a blast. shes loving it

theyre so silly to me!!!! ahhhhh losing my mind over these two guys!!!!!! thanks for asking about them! theyre the only thing in my brain ever

[unofficially-ace]

Ivypool’s Heart liveblog yay

So far really enjoying this book, the prologue slapped and I actually feel a sense of mystery with this vision. Even though it’s a travelling book I’m still excited for it

If there’s one thing the Erins can actually write well it’s grief, and they’ve got a lot to play with in this book

The travelling gang is so fun, love all of these guys

Chapter 4 genuinely almost made me tear up, Ivypool and Icewing bonding over their shared grief just got to me ok

Honestly if Rootspring gets with Wrenflight by the end of the book I’ll scream

Ivypool why would you antagonise cats who are giving you information…literally so stupid

Beach the MILF hunter

I’m gonna need everyone to stop hating on the Sisters right now omg they literally have the most interesting culture out of everyone

Aughhhh I’m sick of the Clan cats always being in the right stop trying to make everyone into a Clan!!!! Let them be different I beg

Slate and Beach are basically incompetent uni students and I love them so much, they’re so silly

Why are they giving romance advice to these random guys what is this book

If the Sisters have no fans I am dead

Why do they also call humans ‘Twolegs’ and housecats ‘kittypets’ though…especially when Slate and Beach called them Twopaws earlier??? And greencough???? Why can’t they have different words for things oh my godddd

Warrior cats vs seagulls let’s goooo

Why do they feel the need to explain past plot points to me whenever they come up. I promise I didn’t start reading warrior cats at Ivypool’s Heart

Best part of warrior cats hands down is the attempt to describe human things in the way cats would. Erins when they have to describe a sandwich

I can’t picture this cliff/lake/beach combo for the life of me

Another Jake? Were no other names available?

The cats go to a zoo!

I need to know what type of wildcats these are, are they going to destroy the ecosystem if they’re released

Oh joy, I love retconned lore, welcome to the party Stormclan

If you took a shot every time Ivypool says “Run!” you would be dead

Why are the cats gendering the humans? How do they have any concept of human sex/gender?

Why is there a map at the front of the book that pretty much spoils the whole plot…I mean it’s pretty helpful because I haven’t been able to picture this journey at all but still

TARDIS tree

THE GANG DOES TIME TRAVEL?

This feels like a fanfiction, who tf let their OCs into warrior cats

You’re telling me two whole clans were combined and then left the territories and nobody in Starclan remembers this???? And it was never brought up before?

My enjoyment for this book is rapidly decreasing

This feels like if Once Upon A Time did Warrior Cats

Also we literally had this clan combination plot happen in VOTS are the erins lurking on minecraft roleplay servers or something

At least the characters also think it’s wild that this was all forgotten so I hope we get some answers

Rootspring tries to eat a poisonous jellyfish and fucking dies /j

Power duo Ivypool and Icewing let’s gooo

Ivypool your lesbian is showing

Criteria for any female character in this book is that you have to have at least one dead child (unless you’re Whistlepaw)

I do like the idea that double dead spirits become part of the real world, at least we finally have some explanation for where all these forgotten cats are, but does that also count for the evil guys?

There is literally no good reason for the elders to not believe them are you serious

The river of spirits…yet another lore drop that should’ve been extremely important and relevant before this, and yet this is the first time we’re hearing about it

Wtf is tallstar doing here

If all living cats forgetting someone causes Starclan to forget them too, I feel like there should be far less cats in Starclan

Cats can just be re-remembered back into existence????

Okayyyy overall thoughts: I think it was generally a good book by warriors standards, the character growth was done really well, but aughhhh the retconned lore changes physically pain me and I will not accept Stormclan as canon thank you

[babyleostuff]

the anime issue is being brought up now because someone was trying to call out another idol for watching it (this case was also a little old). Now every idol who’s ever mentioned it is being dragged into the conversation. The original call-out might have just been a random shot by the type of people always out to cancel idols. This one just happened to gain traction now

Made in Abyss was extremely popular and well-acclaimed for its plot, characters, and world-building when it was released. I’m not surprised multiple idols have seen and mentioned it. The story is a gory horror fantasy, that does edgy things to be shocking and sensational. It’s a medium where you’re often ignoring distasteful or immature jokes, caricature, tropes, etc as embellishments to an otherwise interesting story. You might become desensitized and overlook things you would be more alarmed by if you thought of it in a real world context.

I will say that the manga is by far the worst offender, the anime is cleaned up a little, and the Korean adaptation might be sanitized even more. I understand people’s complaints because the disturbing themes still aren’t exactly hidden, but I don’t know if I expect a casual watcher to be watching with a critical mindset. Sometimes someone’s just watching a popular anime without thinking that deeply about it.

The major complaints were the youth of the main characters and gratuitous nudity, body fluids and functions, torture, gore, etc. Maybe it’s jarring and horrifying to make you feel uncomfortable on purpose. But it’s frequent, often unnecessary for the plot, and a lot of it’s presented in sexualized depictions even if it’s completely not sexual within the story itself. A lot of people also question the author’s…interest and love of children.

So we’re battling a few moral dilemmas when engaging with this story. Separation of the artist from the art. Does the media one consumes reflect their values? Expectation of idols to be morally superior. And then some of the outrage sounds like rhetoric used leading up to literary (and fanfiction) purges, and you get to the slippery slope of censorship and banned writing.

I’m trying to present a little of both sides. Yes I hope people are able to look at stories like this and be critical of the pedophilic framing. I don’t want to normalize or imply support for the author, inclusion of these story tropes, or anyone interested in them in that way by promoting such works. But also people will write disturbing stuff and it’s up to you to police your intake.

Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, The Office, Friends, Brooklyn 99, Disney princess movies, Ghibli, Hunter x Hunter, SpongeBob - many popular stories and franchises contain problematic elements under scrutiny. For many issues, people don’t assume reading or watching it means you engage or support it (think stories involving mafia or gang violence, domestic violence, war, cannibalism, murder, even incest). Topics like sexual orientation, gender, and sexualizing minors seem to be the ones that frequently spark the most heated responses and threats of censorship.

That’s my long spiel on this topic. I don’t want to dismiss the concerns, because I do hope people are critical of the media they consume and recommend. Sometimes, that’s being able to parse through the good and the bad of a story and be aware of it. There aren’t completely unproblematic and unbiased stories just like there aren’t perfect artists, writers, and idols.

I’m not sure this will be directly addressed by any idols. Others have liked controversial stories, animes, characters, and people before and I think they usually just let it pass quietly. I imagine if they engaged with it as just a harmless piece of entertainment- they’re not going to think much more of it. Maybe idols will know not to mention it in the future

oh my, you’re so well spoken 👁️👄👁️

thank you so much though, this truly makes more sense to me now

[everafterfrisk]

Rwby isn't Pandering to the Audience's Desires

Whether it's youtube,reddit or Twitter,it's always the same thing

So let's go through each of them one by one

Bumbleby discourse

Claims I've seen thrown around are

"Blake and Yang only became Canon because of its toxic Fanbase" and queerbaiting

This conclusion has no real leg to stand on. While there have been toxic fans of the ship, not everyone who supports it acts this way.Also these people just completely ignores the clear slowburn love trope is prevalent with these two after the multiple hurdles the girls went through before coming back together.

•Like Nora compares her relationship with ren to Blake and Yang

•Adam claims "what does she even see in you" to yang

▪︎ Weiss's About time in Vol 9 Chapter 2

▪︎ In Vol 8 C10, Yang and Blake are shown with a soft blush before putting their heads together

If yall think that's queerbaiting

Then I guess the Earth is flat I suppose

The show only cares about Shipping

This is simply untrue

Especially when we go through so many different plot threads outside of that

Just to name a few

▪︎ Nora finding her self worth

▪︎ Qrow's Crippiling Depression

▪︎ Blake's self depreciation and discrimination

▪︎ Penny's themes of Choice and choosing it for herself

Jaune's the Show's Self insert

I've seen this being claimed alot within the reddit community.

What's my thoughts?

This has like zero merit

Just because one of the showrunners voices him doesn't automatically mean he's a self insert.

If anything Fanfiction make him as such as Battling Gods with ease or hell even being connected to them.

What would the show look like if the Series did what the fans want

White Rose becoming a thing in Vol 4 and onwards(No shade to people who ship it, just that the Narrative paints them more as friends compared to say bumbleby or Renora)

Ironwood would be excused for letting mantle's citizens live and perish in dangerous conditions

Adam would get redeemed in the way I've seen most people write it

[Blake talk no Jutsu Adam into giving up via because he had a hard live then redemption is viable which just doesn't sit right with me]

Ruby would kill Cinder or something and go on this whole "The world sucks and I was wrong to think there is any good" type mentality

Roman becoming a Good guy and Become Oz's Host as well [and yes I checked out the rewrite, the execution is lacking]

Pyrrha comes back from the Dead and everyone just acts like nothing happen

Ozpin wouldn't be held accountable by the Rwby gang and will suffer zero repercussions

Cinder would get killed off for being "a idiotic villain"

The Everafter Plot would not exist

Yang would rush through her recovery Arc and "act like her old self as she's now grumpy and an asshole"

Ilia,Maria and Oscar gets erased from the Narrative entirely

Jaune gets the most overpowered Semblance in the show and sidelines the main girls

Weiss would have made up with whitley immediately without build up cuz "Weiss should know that he suffered too"

[despairs-memorial]

Some talent swap stuff bc there are some I used to love a lot

Ult. Solider!Kiyotaka and Ult.Gyaruo/Fashionista Mondo

Alright, so this is mostly due to Mondo and Junko both having titles that are related to subcultures: bosozuku and gyaru, and Kiyotaka and Mukuro both having titles and designs that focus a lot on order. The whole AU back when I had the idea was to have Sukeban!Junko and Prefect!Mukuro, too, but I don't really want to write Junko right now so... :(

Solider!Kiyotaka would have been sold to pay off Toranosuke's debts and to pay off what the people who bought him paid for him, he would train as and work as private soldier for them, even getting into trouble with the law and gang members due to work in weapons trafficking.

Gyaruo/Fashionista!Mondo would have been scouted along with his brother as models at young ages, his brother being the more popular of the two. Mondo would get into a lot of trouble partially due to being manipulated by the older people around him, and Daiya would end up getting killed or dying due to an accident while trying to get Mondo out of a tough spot during a particularly rough party. Mondo cleans up his act a little after, but it's rough buddy.

Ult. Swordsman!Kiyotaka and Ult. Yakuza Mondo

Ngl, this is just because of some fan art and a fic I did back when I still wrote fanfiction which can be found here (I orphaned the account bc my low self esteem made me want to delete them and this was the compromise to make it all stop). I think the fic explains it enough that I'm not bothering.

Ult. Breeder Mondo

Look, the man loves animals, and he canonically comes from a rough neighborhood, I think? Or at the very least, he had a bad homelife, so him going to play with dogs and helping them have puppies in the streets, working with animal shelters, and other things like that aren't too far out of the realm of possibilities.

Ult. Prince Gundham and Ult. Breeder Sonia

Alright, the issue with Gundham being a prince for me is that Japan already has an emperor and everything, but I would say maybe a cousin or a bastard son of the emperor of Japan that, despite his eccentricities, does show a a great understanding what it means to be a good leader for the country and would make a great successor but isn't able to due to a legitimate child being able to ascend to the throne but isn't as good of a future ruler as Gundham is. His mother would still be his favorite person, and he would still want to be around her more.

We know from... dr:S that there aren't many biologists in Novoselic, so I think that in this AU, Sonia is a commoner, but she's also studied the animals of Novoselic and is pretty much the leading expert in their natural wildlife. In her efforts to learn more about them and to preserve them, she's learned how to breed skrongs and makangos (in a way that isn't stress related) along with other animals. I would probably add some other animals, but frankly, I have no idea where the naming conventions for the two that are known come from and I'm scared of making the name sound too stupid.

Ult. Clairvoyant Sayaka

Let. Her. Be. Psychic! But no, literally, she's a TV psychic in this AU, and she's popular both for her personality and for really understanding her clients. Even if she claims it's just intuition, she does do a lot of predictions that have no basis with the information she has and they come out to be true. She has a 50% accuracy rate with her predictions bc she deserves it.

[all-for-geek]

It's Halloween Time, You Know What That Means: My Obligatory MBAV Post!

So this is actually gonna be an outline for a fanfic I had an idea for a few years ago. I would work on it on and off, but I never had the motivation to fully write it out. I did however write out an outline of how I would do season 1 of the fic, so here it goes. I might still write this at sometime in the future, but I doubt it. Enjoy!

So this fic was going to be Benny x OC where the OC is Cali. Cali is secretly Calliope: the Greek muse of writing. She wanted to learn more about human and supernatural relations for a story, so she moved to Whitechapel. Also the episodes aren't in proper order because I was going off of Netflix and what made sense in my head.

Season 1 Outline

Lawn of the Dead - Cali moves to Whitechapel on the same day that the demonic animals start attacking. She bounds with Rory over writing fanfiction, and she meets the rest of the gang through him. Cali starts off hiding her true nature from the fang gang and vice versa.

Three Cheers for Evil - Cali would have been roped into the spying on the cheerleaders plot and magicked into a Stephanie's drone. Honestly might have skipped this one because the episode itself would not have changed much. At some point she runs into Grandma Weir and Grandma senses something off about her.

Friday Night Frights - Cali can see the ghost coach and remembers how he used to mistreat the nerd of Whitechapel. She misses out on the wrestling match because she is meets up with Hades in the Underworld and convinces him to unleash the Gym Locker of the Nigh.

Blue Moon - Rory and Cali find themselves hanging out more and feeling rejected by the rest of the group. Cali because she still isn't in on the vampire secret and Rory because of the whole werewolf thing. Rory accidentally lets slip that he is a vampire, and after the Werewolf!Ethan situation, the whole group. Cali does not reveal herself yet because she's worried that it will spoil her research.

Blood Drive - Cali is helping Sarah deal with cravings. When they go after the vampire nurses, the gang wants to leave Cali behind because she is "human", but that is short lived after she kicks the vampire nurses butts.

Doug the Vampire Hunter - Cali is starting to feel guilty about not telling her friends what she really is. She plans to tell them, but those plans are put on hold when Doug shows up in town. After he goes on the hunt for Sarah, she comes up with the LARPing plan and uses her powers to make it more believable.

Guys and Dolls - Cali is actively trying to tell her friends the truth, but everytime she tries to seems like something else comes up. When the doll comes to life, it drains Cali of some of her lifeforce and makes a comment about being stronger. Afterwards, the group confronts her and she tells them the truth.

Double Negative - Cali is getting used not having to hide her muse abilities in front of the group. When Evil!Benny comes around, he tries to persuade Cali to run away with him. She considers for a moment (before she realizes that it's an evil doppleganger) but is unsure why.

Smells Like Trouble - Cali walks into school is a horrible cold. The body that she came down in is prone to mortal needs and weaknesses like disease and hunger if she is on Earth long enough. Her nose is so clogged that she can't smell anything, so she is not affected by the love potion. She starts feeling jealous about all the attention Benny is now getting, but is not willing to admit it to herself yet. She goes over to Grandma Weir's house for a cold remedy, and they have a heart to heart. When she finds out that Benny made a love potion, she blows up and separates herself from the group.

Die Pod - Cali is still ignoring Benny. She puts in her earbuds to listen to music and becomes the girl infected by the plant. Most of the chapter is in Benny's perspective while he, Ethan, and Sarah work to save Cali. Afterword, Benny and Cali have a long talk and are back to being friends.

The Brewed - Cali, Benny, and Ethan are fighting against the zombies. Cali gets bit instead of Benny. She doesn't mention it because she assumes that she can't be zombified due to her being a Muse. She doesn't realize she's wrong until she's too late. As she's turning, she uses her last breaths to kiss Benny. The kiss slowly turns into a bite as her transformation completes. Afterward, Cali insists that she only did it because she thought she was dying and that they should just be friends.

Three Geeks and a Demon - Tensions are high between Benny and Cali as every time Benny tries to bring up the kiss, Cali shuts it down. When he suggests the seance, they get into an argument, and Cali leaves. Cali finds herself hanging with Erica for the night. Erica doesn't get Cali's crush on Benny, but she suggests Cali give a shot just to stop all her moping.

Jesse's Girl - With the dance coming up, Benny and Cali decide to try going to the dance together. They're plans are interrupted by Jesse coming back. During the fight, Cali gives Jesse a run for his money, but she isn't fast enough to stop Ethan from getting bit. The season ends with Cali and Benny deciding to try being an actual couple.

I didn't fully outline season 2, but there was going to be a throughline of the longer that Cali was on Earth, the more mortal she would become. After the Hottie Ho-Tep episode, she would go back to Olympus to recharge only to make a dramatic re-entrance at the talent show with her sisters to take down Serena. The end of season 2 was going to have Cali defeat Stern and the Lucifractor but have her lose her immortality in the process.

I hope you enjoyed! If enough people like this idea I might do drabbles or one-shots in this world here or there, but I probably won't do a full story. I'm working on three WIPs already as it is.

[izupie]

😈💖👀✅🤭✨

Ahhhh so manyyyy !!! Thank you !! <3 <3 <3

this one got long so it's under a cut ahaha

😈 Has there been a point in a story where you did something just to be playfully mean to your readers?

Ohohoho yes. I remember writing the cliffhanger in Beep Beep Beep where I deliberately kept it vague over whether something terrible had happened to Ochako, and then just cut it off mid-sentence. That was delicious.

Actually, thinking about it, I've done the cliffhanger ending to a chapter in quite a few fics - not even just to hook readers in, but specifically because thinking of it made me cackle like a disney villain so I had to do it !!!

💖 What made you start writing?

I read a story on Neopets that somebody had written and it blew my tiny little Izupie mind because I realised that, hey hang on a minute, anyone can write stories??? And then as a kid you have no concept of Cringe and you just want to hang out with your favourite characters, and thus, my cringey fanfiction writer self was born. I wrote so much self-insert fanfiction as a kid because I realised I could read it back and it was like I got to hang out with my favourite characters and have adventures with them over and over! any time I wanted!

👀 Tell me about an up and coming wip please!

Talking about cringe *finger guns* (man that was a good bridging answer actually)

I'm still in my Supernatural Era, so I have a bunch of Supernatural wips that I'm trying to wrangle into coherent stories like herding cats. Exciting for me because ohh these are some truly self indulgent and delicious tropes <3

But! I also have the next part of my bnha/Izuocha collab fic with Encyclopika that is ongoing and that is! exciting! Seeing it evolve and our writing styles mesh has been sooo much fun!!

Did I really even answer this question??? lmao asdfghjk

✅ What's something that appears in your fics over and over and over again, even if you don't mean to?

am I self aware enough to answer this question? hmmm...

Banter-y dialogue? like, flirty back-and-forths?? I do that a lot. I suddenly realised the other day that my stories keep having these little flirty banter sections, no matter what fandom or ship it is. And I was like, well let's not examine this too closely

Also just, so much focusing on eyes. I'm surprised nobody has ever pulled me up on it honestly. I'm always writing what people's eyes are doing, but that's how I read expressions the most so it's how I represent them the most! does that make sense? !?

🤭 Do you have a favorite tag to use when posting your works?

Fluff

*ding* next question!

(I answered a question in one word, what is going onnnnn)

✨ Give you and your writing a compliment. Go on now. You know you deserve it. 😉

listen. guys. how dare. how dare you all gang up on me in this way

adsfdghjkl

ummm, okay, it was hard enough to think of the first one - how about.....

I love the way that some people have said that my writing has cheered them up, or given them a boost. That really warms my heart. It's so special to know that something that came out of my brainworms has actually affected somebody's mood. and made them feel better! I made them smile with my words and weird tropey stories that I thought only I would enjoy! That makes me proud of myself and this weird lil hobby

[faggotadeux]

i wish people put in more '60s accurate details in their fanfictions so i present some things from the '60s the characters in the outsiders would have seen/used/experienced.

school lunches

this is what the gang most likely would have had at school lunch. people don't really talk about school lunch in their fanfics but i really think they should. could you imagine the romance of eating "weiner wraps" with ponyboy?

these honestly sound disgusting no wonder dallas dropped out.

rip johnny cade you would have loved high school cheezy breadsticks.

EDIT: it said in the book that the greasers didn't go to the cafeteria for lunch!

halloween costumes

this one required two pictures because i wanted to show the true demon from hell itself that is the beatles mask halloween costumes. i wanna see someone write a fanfic about bob sheldon jumping johnny cade but dressed up as paul mccartney. now that would haunt my dreams.

'60s halloween costumes were honestly so scary even when they weren't trying to be.

could you imagine like a little baby four year old ponyboy going trick or treating and seeing those eyeball things? no wonder the kid has anxiety and ptsd.

60s fashion

i could make a whole post about clothing (dresses, housewear, school clothes, bathing suits, fuck even underwear) but for now i just wanted to highlight some of this stuff. if you're going for 1965, these looks are a bit more socy but cute! i wanna see cherry pop off in that orange dress.

if you're writing a few years after the main plots of the book (after 1966) that fashion could probably be seen with a lot of the characters! i could see ponyboy popping off with that sweater on the bottom left.

EDIT: fashion also depends on region! what people were wearing in Tulsa was different from what people were wearing in Miami, and vice versa.

semi-unrelated but we should acknowledge that mrs. curtis was a housewife in the 50s and for sure would have worn those pretty housewife dresses. she's so cool. we should talk about her more. EDIT: it's unlikely that she would have because of their financial status.

toys

i know that the characters are a bit old to be playing with toys- but they might still mention them in conversation. and these toys are perfect for any baby fanfics!

i know cherry would have SO played with those barbies. i would read a whole fic about cherry's barbie dreamhouse. could you imagine marcia and cherry playing barbies together? so cute. i could die.

if you're looking for toys the gang would have played with, i would look at toys from the 50s, especially for older characters like tim shepard and darry curtis.

EDIT: they most likely wouldn't have had that many toys! maybe only one or two.

christmas decorations

christmas in the '60s was so cute! i could so see cherry with one of those aluminum christmas trees in her house.

the second picture does a good job of showing what some kids might have gotten for christmas, along with what their tvs and other items looked like.

again, this is pretty soc-centered, but it can give y'all some good ideas for a nice '60s christmas fanfic with the gang.

conclusion

to start, a lot of the things here are revolve around the socs, and that's because they're rich. people idealize and remember the things that the rich had over the poor. even if the gang wouldn't have had these things, they still would have seen them around!

if you really want to go deep: look at boomer meme accounts. i know it sounds stupid, but trust me. you'll see tons of things like "no kids these days know what this means" and they think they're better than younger generations because technology has advanced. it's a great way to learn about some of the small things people had to do everyday that won't get talked about.

there were some parts of the '60s that were really cute. obviously, other parts of the decade weren't so i advise you all to be careful with how you write decade-accurate pieces. racism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, and many other issues were rampant at this time. (general psa: you can write gay characters in 60s fanfictions! gay people did exist in the 60s.)

i do this thing in my fanfiction i like to call "vintage touches" where in would incorporate things from the original text/60s like drive in theaters, music, record players, fashion, etc. but, i would still have the fanfiction take place in the modern day.

this was a very fun post to make and i hope y'all like it! if anybody wants anything they want to see, please shoot me an ask! this is just scratching the surface.

[obsessionsofmynerdheart]

Eddie’s Cheating?! - Steve Harrington x Eddie Munson x Y/N

Guys I haven’t written any fanfiction in almost 5 years so I’m sorry if this is horrible. I kept having a dream like this and I just had to write it though. 😅

Steve was bored so he decided to head over to Eddie’s trailer a few hours early. He was supposed to have a movie night with Eddie and Y/N. He was a little excited for a movie night with just the two of them because the rest of the group had other plans. He had a crush on them, but he’d never admit it. What would saying it do? They are in love with each other. Even if he couldn’t let them know how he felt, he wanted to spend time with both Eddie and Y/N. He figured they would both be at the trailer already and they could start early or just hangout.

He was wrong.

Steve pulled up to Eddie’s place and got out of his car. He could already hear the loud music that the two of you were always listening to. When he passed by the window of Eddie’s room though, he stopped. He could see Eddie….getting completely railed by some guy.

There was only a little gap in the blind so all he could make out was someone thrusting into Eddie. That’s definitely Eddie - the back of his head is unmistakable. But who is doing that to him? Why is he cheating on Y/N? Where is Y/N?

Steve finally snaps out of it before running to his car, jumping in, and driving out of there as fast as he could. How’s he gonna tell Y/N that her boyfriend of several years is cheating on her?

*In Eddie’s room a few minutes later*

“Babe, that was so good!” Eddie exclaims

Y/N replies, “I’m glad you enjoyed it” and sends him a wink before asking “Hey, what time is Steve supposed to be here? We should probably get cleaned up.”

“He should be here in about 2 hours.”

“Do you think tonight is the night we should talk to him about dating us?”

“Maybe…since it’s only him and not the whole gang this time.”

“Okay, let’s get ready then.”

You both smiled nervously at each other before heading to the shower.

*2 hours later*

“Eds, shouldn’t Steve be here by now? I’m getting worried. I’m gonna go call his house to see if he’s still there.”

Y/N heads to the phone on the wall and dials Steve’s number. After three rings, she hears Steve’s voice asking “hello?”

“Steve! Are you okay? Why aren’t you here for our movie night?”

“Oh, Y/N….um. Well are you at Eddie’s?”

“Obviously!”

“Is he listening?”

“No, he’s on the couch. What’s wrong, Steve? Why do you sound so weird?”

“Y/N” Steve sighs, “I don’t know how to tell you this, but Eddie is cheating on you.”

“What?!” You scream out and then start laughing.

“Y/N! I’m serious! I saw it with my own eyes!”

“When?”

“Today!”

“That can’t be true. Listen Steve, please just come over and we will talk about this. Okay?”

“Fine. I’ll be there in 15 but I’m not promising that I won’t punch him for cheating on you”.

The next thing you hear is a click before you start laughing. You are laughing so hard that tears are pouring down your face. Eddie comes up and asks what’s going on and why you are laughing.

You barely get out the words “Stevie thinks you are cheating on me. He says he saw it - today.”

“Jesus H. Christ, Y/N. Does that mean he was here? He saw us? Ohhhh when he finds out, I’m gonna love seeing his pretty face turning red”.

You are both still trying to calm down from laughing when you hear Steve’s car pull up and a knock on the door.

“I’ll get it, Eds. He may punch you if you do.”

You answer the door and as soon as Steve sees your face and sees the tear streaks from your laughing fit he’s shoving you aside and yelling “Where is he?! Munson, why the fuck would you do this to her?!”

You barely have time to grab on to him before his fist collides with Eddie’s face. You are yelling that “he didn’t cheat!” but it didn’t seem like Steve could hear you over his anger.

It took a few minutes to get Steve settled down. You were contemplating grabbing Eddie’s handcuffs to make sure he kept his hands to himself, but he agreed to hear the two of you out.

“Listen, Stevie” you start, “Eddie wasn’t cheating. What you saw today was us.”

“No way, Y/N. I saw him getting fucked by a guy. You don’t have a dick, do you?”

Eddie chuckles and says “Jesus” under his breath, which earns a glare from Steve.

“Dude, you’ve never heard of a strap-on?“

“A-a what?”

“A strap-on. So your girlfriend can peg you in the ass, ya know?”

The color of Steve’s face almost rivaled the devil on Eddie’s Hellfire shirt. The two of you couldn’t help but to laugh at him.

“Wait, wait…that was you doing that to him? And that’s a thing? Why would you - how - you wanted that?” He’s looking between the both of you and looking like a lost puppy.

You look at Eddie for him to explain.

“Well Stevie Boy, I’m actually bisexual so I like being with girls but I also like being with guys. This is something that Y/N likes to do with me because she knows I love it. She loves it too. I’d never cheat on her. I’d never be with anyone besides her. Well, except…” Eddie trails off his rant and gives you a worried look, hoping Steve didn’t catch that part. Unfortunately, he did.

“Except who?”

Eddie looks scared now so you decide to answer.

“You, Steve.”

“What?!”

“Well we were meaning to talk to you tonight actually. We wanted to know if you might, well if you would be interested in….um…”

“Dating us!” Eddie basically screams it out, not being able to take the waiting.

Steve looks so confused. He looks like he doesn’t know what to say, but he’s asking questions before you know it.

“The both of you? Why?”

“We um, we have both liked you for a while now and we weren’t sure if you liked us but we have been watching your reactions to us flirting with you and touching you so we decided to take a chance.”

Eddie adds on “But don’t worry - if you aren’t into it then we can just forget this ever happened.”

Steve seems to be thinking about something for a few seconds and then asks “what if I don’t want to forget it happened?”

You and Eddie ask at the same time, “Are you serious?”

“Yeah, I like you guys too.”

You and Eddie beam at each other before Eddie gets into his Dungeon Master voice and asks “Sir Steve Harrington, would you do us, Lady Y/N L/N and Sir Eddie Munson, the honor of being our boyfriend?”

“You are such a dork, but yes.”

You and Eddie both trip over yourselves to get to Steve and finally have the chance to kiss him.

This night went better than Steve expected.

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

An addendum to the prehistoric time travel question- more an offshoot, I guess- what if she was transported to when the Volturi became a thing? Like, would she have missed the whole "Blood for the blood god, skulls for the skull throne" thing a lot of the vampires had going on? Hope I haven't stretched the time travel plot past its entertainment value.

Anon is referring to this post.

Depends on when you mean by a "thing", there's when Marcus, Aro, and Caius all ran into each other and when they actually started imposing the secret.

Either could be interesting, but gets us a little too far into fanfiction territory, at which point I tell you to just go write the fic. So, I'll pick one.

Let's put Bella in the era when Aro, Didyme, and Marcus ran into each other, somewhere around 3500 years ago.

Also, obviously, when Bella's sent back will greatly change her actions. To line up with the previous post, she's in her New Moon depressed phase.

Bella's in the Past

Once again, Bella's so low functioning, she has no idea she's time travelled. She does notice she's teleported, the weather is very different and much nicer than Forks (Bella's living for the Mediterranean sunshine) but as for the people in their strange clothing speaking their weird language: eh, she's in a D&D convention or something.

As usual, it's up to Hallucination Edward to keep her alive.

Thanks to Hallucination Edward, Bella is suddenly a survivalist expert, and even more weirdly prophetic than usual. Bella thinks nothing of this, as she never does, but she does gain a reputation as having a gift from Apollo.

I imagine Bella is carted off to Delphi at some point. Bella has no idea what's happening, but hey, these people are giving her free room and board.

Sometime around this point, Bella realizes that vampires appear to be a thing here and... not a secret thing. She hasn't seen much of them, people generally don't, but the local pantheon appear to all be vampires who, when they pass through demand sacrifice in blood and riches.

Bella... has no idea what to think about that.

At some point, Aro hears about Bella, and being the curious sort goes to see her and hear a prophecy. Being a vampire, he's hardly denied access, but he also has to tread carefully in case Apollo does come to see his new priestess and gets pissed when some upstart is chatting with her.

Well, Aro and Bella have one weird conversation.

Bella is very very gifted, Aro discovers, both in her ability to block his gift and that she appears to be highly prophetic. Bella doesn't know about no Apollo, certainly never met the guy, but yeah she's from a completely different time and place and possibly a parallel universe.

Unclear.

Regardless, in Bella's world, vampires are nothing more than legend and there's some group of vampires called the Volturi that will kill them if they let humans know vampires exist.

Saying it out loud, Bella realizes it sounds kind of silly.

Aro is fascinated.

At the end of their talk, Aro offers Bella a spot in the gang (he turned his sister, this girl smells delicious, but he thinks he can do it). Bella says sure, she's always wanted to be a vampire.

Bella ends up unwittingly joining the Volturi, which... Oh I'm laughing, but this is what's going to happen, she and Aro marry each other.

When Aro gets sick of being a third wheel with Marcus marrying his sister and Caius having Didyme, rather than go searching for a wife, he looks at Bella and Bella looks at him. They both go, "Fuck it, easier than finding somebody else."

He then looks at Didyme, "OH YEAH, WELL, BELLA AND I ARE MARRIED NOW. WE ARE MARRIED PEOPLE JUST LIKE ALL OF YOU. HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT?!"

Didyme has no words. None.

Absolutely nothing about Bella and Aro's relationship actually changes in any way. But they insist to anyone who asks that they're totally married.

[littleapocalypsekitten]

I think I know who you are talking about, since we shared a fandom once.  If it is the fandom I am thinking about, my hindsight after the fandom has died down a great deal is this:  Most of the fans were crap.  They talked a big game about their personal compassion because of the characters they related to or because of some of the social themes / progressiveness, but kind of forgot that just because you’re a progressive and like progressive things, it doesn’t mean that you are kind, or even just because you might share a condition with a character doesn’t mean that you’re going to understand OTHER real people with that and similar conditions.  It also doesn’t mean that you aren’t going to fight about your ship-preferences and character-preferences to the point of absolute insanity. 

It was the worst fandom I have ever been in.  It literally lead me to a stay in psychatric at one point.  (Losing friends and having a gang-up on me over some misunderstandings).    I’m still in it, though, have a sideblog and still do fic and art because I am  A STUBBORN CUSS and respond to things with “I’m not letting the bastards win.”  But, yeah...the...culture...surrounding that particular fandom left much to be desired.   I guess I’m calming down and being reminded of how great other fandoms can be by getting hyperfixated on an old anime obsession again because said anime has a reboot and the reboot is awesome, and people who are new to the series from the reboot are backtracking and discovering the old old original series and the manga and... it’s like... chill there? SO CHILL.  My anime-obsession is a PG13 to HARD Mature series, depending on which part of the franchise you are looking at, so maybe some of the more adult fanbase makes it more chill.  

Now, this anime fandom is... WEIRD in terms of fanfiction and some of the fanart.  I mean... I look for good genfics to read or some nice emotional character-interaction stuff, and I get that, but I get it buried under some of the weirdest erotica and AU tags I’ve ever seen.  (Protip: Branch off to write original fiction if that’s what you’re writing and just slapping a coat of fandom-paint on it).  Buuuut... for the most part.... unlike the fandom mention above, we all seem to get along and be chill there?  Or at least avoid each other if we aren’t chill with each other’s likes? (Okay, so I’m not active on the discords, so I don’t know how that goes, I only know how the tumblr and Ao3 fandom-branches are going on now), but there is a live and let live mentality on people’s preferences that just doesn’t seem to exist in American cartoon fandoms.   And it just accentuates how crazy and awful the other fandom was.  No one, and I mean no one that I’ve seen, harasses each other or accuses each other of bad attitudes or bigotries in real life because they have opinions on the characters in this anime series!  It’s amazing!  (And I’m talking about a series that does a deep dive into philosophy and ethics, no less). 

I once got someone accusing me of wanting a character I related to who was the target of mean spirited humor and complained about this as wanting them to have a bigger role over POC characters

But honestly I’m not really interested in seeing characters like me in more prominent roles

I’m equally if maybe more interested in characters that offer different perspectives than my own

I do get excited however when a hero has a similar sense of morality to my own while not portrayed as naive or childish for it.

[haneq]

Getting real tired of people, so I'll just write this here. Hiding the text behind ''read more'', but basically this is addressed to all fanfic writers and then whiny readers who lack the ability to read the tags/warnings/description/whatever-the-fuck before they consume ''traumatizing'' content. Or really any content online.

And just to spite you, I'm not gonna put any warnings here. Because that's how you operate anyway when it comes to consuming fancontent, now isn't it?

First of all, to all my fellow fanfic writers, you are wonderful.

I think all of you are creative in your own ways, and I'm glad you're expressing yourselves through stories. And you're also very brave for putting up your stories online to be read by other people, and not just leaving it to gather dust on your harddrive. You guys rock!

You know, the best thing about fiction is that it's not real. Literally. Sure you can argue about effects of fiction on reality, yadda yadda, and to some extent yeah, but here's a few important words.

Just writing about something doesn't mean you endorse this thing in real life, or that you're the type of person you write about.

Yeah before anyone starts saying how fucked up it is to write stories about getting it on with dragons or eating shit as part of some cult stuff that you came up for your setting - yeah, it might be, but does it make it wrong to write? Cut up the thought police act and listen.

You know Berserk? The manga/anime series? Yeah, that shit is fucked up. Guy slashing giant monsters and creepy fuckers to bits with his giant-ass sword while these aforementioned monsters eat, kill, or rape people, or all three at the same time.

It's also a beloved series with a dedicated fanbase, with many left to mourn the author's passing last year.

Now, you know what Berserk is about? Do you think the author (Kentaro Miura) would have been the type of person to wish these giant monsters would become real and kill everyone that has ever lived and then he wished that this giant Egg of the Perfect World would help bring everything to ruin? That he actually rooted for people like Griffith, even though he made the biggest plot-twist backstabbing event in the history of anything ever?

People love (to hate) Griffith. People love Berserk. People love Kentaro Miura still, as well as the work he left behind. He was just a man who loved to draw and do his story (though arguably I understand the fans' frustration of not getting continuation for a long time). I hope one day all of you will get a satisfying conclusion to the story.

Now, take all this, and observe fanfiction people do. Very few of these people are actually professional authors, more like amateurs who just want to let their ideas flow on paper after long school or work days. And even if they were, I think it's awesome that they still write stuff online - not even for others, but for themselves.

You can help people get better as writers by offering tips or just giving criticism in a nice way. Telling someone to die is never alright.

Writing is for yourself, or rather that's how it should be. You don't have to write shit that you don't care about. Do you think Kentaro Miura would have wanted to write about a wholesome story about a happy-go-lucky protagonist meeting up a gang of friends and conquering the ultimate evil?

If he did, we wouldn't have Berserk.

When people make fanfic, they usually allow comments, which is a bit different system compared to ''professional'' writing. Comments should be used to lift people up or give constructive criticism, not give death threats or call people names when you don't know a damn about them irl.

When you go to bookstore or library, you see the cover of the book, and can read synopsis on the back. What you won't see are the warnings and individual tags for triggering content. When you open a book and read it, only to discover that you don't like it, what do you do? Well, any sane individual would close the book and say ''fuck this, I'll look for something else''. If you bought the book, you'd probably gift it to someone else or sell it forward.

You are allowed to dislike a story. You are allowed to hate story. You are allowed your own opinion on the contents.

But this doesn't mean that you can go around assuming what kind of people the authors are. You call someone a ''psychopath'', ''rapist'', ''freak'' - you really think that you can call yourself a respectable person while at it? I've read fanfics all my life, and only on autumn 2020 did I have the courage to write my own shit online. Before that, I have 50+ story documents on my harddrive, only for myself, many of them finished. FIFTY. And I've been writing my own stuff since 2010 (officially I did my first story on 2008, but I never finished it and I wasn't 100% into writing back then).

Even as a kid, I was ashamed of stuff I wrote for myself, when I was the only one seeing them. Keep in mind, my stories were wholesome adventures with a handful of sad scenes, yet I was still afraid to show anyone. I still am, to this day - though mostly because kid-me's writing was extremely simple lol.

Someone bravely uploaded something online, be it for themselves, their friends, for everyone online, or their grandma - doesn't matter, they did it anyway. And I've read my fair share of ''bad'' fanfics - be it personal taste or just writing style that didn't click. You know what I did back then, even as a cringy, awkward, dumb kid?

I fucking clicked away.

When I first found mature fanfiction, and saw the warnings, I was aware what I was gonna read. And surprise surprise, I did see it in the fic itself. Did I complain to mommy about some mean internet person having written a properly tagged story that had clear warnings? No, I shrugged my shoulders and either continued reading, or moved on.

People who write detective stories are not necessarily detectives themselves. People who write RPG-inspired fantasy stories are not heroes with swords and a power of friendship and plot armor. People who write about series of murders are not murderers. People who write about abuse are not abusive.

You can argue that yeah, some are - how the hell would you know? I think someone writing about a detailed murder for fifty chapters wouldn't update much in favor of actually being out to, you know, murder people.

Think about any of the mainstream shows you people love. A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones for example. You think it would be as big as it is today if everyone kept on crying about how George R. R. Martin was normalizing and supporting incest and underage sex and what else? Sure, there are always people who do, but if you were to complain to someone about the series and how the author/director/actors endorse the themes by being associated? They'd laugh their heads off for your stupidity.

Write what you want. It can be cute and wholesome and nothing ever goes wrong in the world of rainbows and ponies. It can be about a guy who murders women before raping their corpses because he got cheated on by his previous girlfriend who left him for some guy. It can be even about both, murder and abuse and what else in colourful setting, people of Eternally Happy Village stabbing each other every Thursday because why not.

Those who use Archive of Our Own aka AO3, you know how tags and warnings work. Before you start bitching about seeing your hated ship or even your most disliked trope at your full view, how about you actually, you know... blacklist the fucking tags and warnings? There is literally a little useful thing on the right where you can put what you don't want to see. Hell, you can blacklist authors too. It's not that difficult.

Also, AO3 especially has a neat little thing that stops you before you go into a fic, telling you it contains this and that and to proceed, you gotta click it. If you do, then sucks to be you - you opened a bag containing a dead dove, even when the bag was labeled ''Dead Dove: Do Not Eat''.

Keep on writing. Keep on creating. Hell, this doesn't even have to be about just fanfics, even when I've mainly talked about that. Any artform is acceptable. World of fiction is limitless, and you all are a wonderful part of it.

Those who cannot recognize that fiction is not reality, are not living in reality. They are living in the fiction. Touch some grass and move on.

We don't owe you shit. You only get a momentary power high from shitting on someone else based on their work. Criticism is one thing, being a dick is a fucking choice.

And if you wonderful fanfic writers read this far, I wish from the bottom of my heart to keep on creating. I'm sorry if you've ever faced any sort of harassment, but know that I'm always on your side. Don't give in to the hate - haters are air to us, and should be treated as such. (Oh no accidental rhyme lmao)

And final words:

Just writing wholesome content doesn't make you a good person.

Just writing dark content doesn't make you a bad person.

Only your actions define you in this world, and not the one that doesn't exist. Keep your head in the clouds but your feet on the ground.

You deserve happiness, and to not have anyone take it from you.

And for all you tumblr people who do callout posts complaining about fics/ships/whatever-that-doesn't-exist to their five followers - lol. Just lol. You know who you are, and I certainly know you. And you all disgust me, go cry about it.

Now excuse me, I'm off to write yet another ''despicable'' piece of fiction to add to my growing fanfic collection.