#especially in writing they have so much potential for character/dynamic studies and ANGST!!

[dis-plus-fanfic-reblog-writes]

Yep, same. He’s tall and broad and define

i think one of my biggest pet peaves in the deadpool movie fandom or like specifically with fanworks post-dp&w is when people make fanart of wade as a twink to be feminine or do feminine things when

this dude is a fucking unit.

[merakiui]

Hi! This is my first time asking someone in Tumblr, so I don't know if this is the right place to ask or is this a place to make a request only?

But I have a question regarding tips on writing fanfic or the twisted wonderland character in general.

1) How do you write the characters personality in the fic? Do you have to do a lot of analysis characters before writing it?

2) How can you describe the moments and the vibes especially the creepy and angsty moments so well? It is as if you're in the story yourself!

3) How can you get such a good and unique ideas?

4) I love your fics! It's so amazing that I've always check up your ramblings to see new stuff! Also, you're so funny it's cute

Hi hiii!! :D this is the right place to ask all things! Thank you for your questions! I love rambling about writing, so I'm happy you're curious.

1.) I often study their canon habits and interactions to see how well that translates into yandere. In twst's context, there's a lot of potential (considering many of the cast are inspired from villains and the storylines have gotten dark on plenty of occasions). I also just enjoy analyzing characters!!!! It's so fun to look at them individually but also the dynamics and connections shared between other characters as well as their backstories and motivations. If it's a character I haven't written much of before, I'll do more research and analysis beforehand. When it comes to book 7, I've held off on spoiling myself as best as I can and diving into the plot because I want to be surprised when it comes to English. orz which is why I've yet to write anything in-depth for Silver, Lilia, and Sebek.

2.) Aaaa I'm glad it feels immersive! I look at it objectively and try to imagine what someone might do in a certain situation. It varies by character and personality, but then it's also fun to consider the various ways in which paranoia or anger or angst can take someone. I've felt raw, paralyzing fear before in the past, so sometimes I draw from my own experiences when writing those sorts of strong, all-consuming emotions! I also think the setting can help add to the overall atmosphere and feeling in a story. Using the weather to reflect emotions in characters, using the scenery to juxtapose something horrible with something happy, using the allure of various settings to add to the romance or heartbreak, etc etc. There are so many elements to a story that can be played with to get the desired emotional effect!!!

3.) I think it's just in my nature to tell stories. I adore writing and coming up with new ideas. >w< I'm always looking at things through a creative lens hehe. Most of my ideas are the product of my thinking too much or considering a simple subject in a complex light. I like being able to add unexpected twists to the plot.

4.) THANK YOUUUUU!!!! ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و ♡ I'm immensely flattered you would tune into my ramblings. And thank you for thinking I'm funny! This is arguably the highest compliment anyone can bestow upon me. I greatly enjoy being a court jester and making others laugh or smile. (˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧

[momo-t-daye]

@cerise-grenadine asked me for 1, 4, 11, 21, and 27 for the Snapedom AU Ask Game!

1.) Do you have a name and/or a tag and/or a master post for your AU (so I can peruse your blog and admire your creativity)?

I usually remember to tag my AU as: “Self-indulgent AU” here, on Ao3 I have the student years grouped as “Viridian by Volition” and Harry years mostly under “The Godmother”, my master post (more or less in story order and usually updated) is here (and pinned on my blog!)

4.) What your favorite thing about your AU? (Does it make you cackle with glee or do you break your own heart?)

I am very much a cackler rather than an angst-er and thinking about the change in relationship dynamics between my AU!Severus and various other characters— particularly Lily and Tobias and Harry and Sirius— is a good way to make myself cackle.  Especially when I can come up with absurd shenanigans that escalate into chaos and mayhem because Severus isn’t so painfully isolated/hated.

11.) Do you know if Severus going to escape the gravitational pull of the canon narrative/fate in your AU?

I love Snape!lives and one of the fun things for me in playing with AU thoughts is trying to figure out how various changes can cascade in ways that will lead to Severus surviving and getting to deal with the daunting task of living after the war and mission are over, so, yes, the gravitational pull of the canon narrative will be quite strong and some story beats are very clingy (…because it is what I like to build off of and reflect on), but I do expect the changes in interactions/relationships/events to provide sufficient escape velocity!

21.) Is there another canon character that plays a major role in your AU!Snape’s life?  What role do they play and how does it differ from their canon relationship with Snape?

Aside from his parents, Lily, the Marauders, the Malfoys, Voldemort, Dumbledore and Harry, hmm… none with quite as major role in AU!Sev’s life, but Tuney and Tonks both play larger roles in my silly little AU than in canon.  I am fascinated by the Cokeworth years and Tuney was there and she has so much story potential of her own!  Tonks, for her part, is recognized as one of the leading experts on Polyjuice Potion to her exasperation and it is all Severus’ fault (golly, I should get back to writing that…)

27.) Do you have a snippet of prose (or an art piece or a list of headcanons) from your AU that you particularly enjoy and want to share?

Heh heh heh, an excuse to share snippets from “Revising Their Stars” (the title is a bit of a pun, I really like puns and terrible wordplay and maybe that’s obvious) because I’m still happy I managed to do words! Sirius’ POV (post willow incident, but there were consequences in this AU that stymied the escalation that led to SWM):

Snape was hardly a simpleton, but he could leap to conclusions like a rubber frog with springs on. With the way his scrawny body seemed to be trying to meld arse first into the stone wall, he had probably hopped his head right into some dire soup.

(Because frogs can leap, and rubber bounces so a rubber frog could probably cross quite a distance, and once springs get added on even oceans are hardly a barrier; and then there’s the oblique reference to the “boiling frog” urban legend)

Severus Snape had such tar pit eyes. The gaze was dark and inexplicably sticky as he studied Sirius. There was no escape from that sort of stare. … … Severus Snape’s full attention was intoxicating. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, drowning in those lightless eyes. His bones could rest with all the other skeletons buried down there.

(Maybe it’s Legilimency, maybe it’s Maybelline. Unfortunately the geology in the UK doesn’t appear to have anything comparable to the La Brea tar pits, but I liked the idea because tar pits are dark and dangerous and very capable of holding onto skeletons from the past, right?)

[tantive404]

Dear Author- May the 4th Exchange 2024

Hello Author! I'm so excited for this exchange, and to see what beautiful work you have in store for me. I just know it will be a delight. Here are some of my ideas, likes, and dislikes to get you inspired! And by the way, treats are very, VERY welcome and loved!

DNW: Explicit sexual content (I'm ok with stuff of that nature being tastefully implied, but no descriptions of genitalia or sex acts. In short, M-rated content is fine, but E is not.) Sequel trilogy content Major Character Death of the requested characters (I'm fine with threats of death and side characters dying, but I want my mains to live.) Mundane/modern AUs For Leia-centric or Tarkin-centric pieces, I'd prefer for the pairings of Han/Leia and Tarkin/TK-421 not to be present.

Likes: Leia whump Angst, hurt/comfort Vader being protective of Leia Arranged/forced marriage Enemies to lovers tropes, villain/heroine ships Kidnapping Political intrigue (lends itself particularly well to Tarkin/Leia) Creepy Tarkin Feisty Leia, with all her sassy banter Skywalker Family Drama (especially when it centers on Leia and Vader's dynamic) Character studies Fake dating trope Soulmate AUs Omegaverse Fantasy AUs Spying/espionage

Character: Leia Organa

Leia has been my absolute favorite character since childhood for so many, many reasons... I adore her bravery in the face of danger, her commitment to her cause, and the unique combination of strength and vulnerability which she portrays. There are so many, many things you can do with her through fic... I really could write and read about her forever!

Fic prompts/ideas: -I love pre-ANH Leia stories, where we see the young reckless senator standing up to the Empire and going on her first missions of espionage for the rebels. Maybe she almost gets caught-- how does she deal with that and manipulate her way out of capture or detection? There's a delicious potential for suspense and drama there! As well as great juicy interactions with Vader and Tarkin... -Leia's relationship to Alderaan-- fond childhood memories, cultural and familial traditions, her drive to protect them from the Empire, and even the tragedy when they are finally lost. This lends itself well to any bittersweet fluff with the Organas and Winter... as well as character studies or coming-of-age tales.

-Anything to do with her capture and torture aboard the Death Star-- I'd love some whump or hurt/comfort related to her interrogation scene, or confrontations with Tarkin and Vader... feel free to combine with the Leia ships listed below.

-Dark Leia AUs are also really fun, as are those where she is discovered by Vader and must deal with the fallout of her heritage. It's a great route for character study and angsty exploration; how does she get to this point and where does she go from there?

Leia Organa/Wilhuff Tarkin

Ah, my twisted little rarepair OTP. The things I would do for them! Leia is the perfect embodiment of the Rebellion's cause, just as Tarkin is the perfect embodiment of the Empire... where she is hope and light, he is tyranny and darkness. They have so much sass and resentment for one another, and I'm sure there were many opportunities for them to butt heads in the time before A New Hope. And then that moment in the Destruction of Alderaan scene where he touches her face. *shivers* Feel free to get dark and creepy with them and to emphasize the power dynamics and their hate for one another. There's a LOT of potential between these two!

Prompts:

-I like to imagine that, pre-ANH, Tarkin may have had a sort of obsession with outing Leia as a rebel. I want to see a game of cat and mouse between the daring spy princess and the wicked governor and how they work to thwart each other.

-Fake dating trope as a conduit for espionage and political intrigue: Leia pretends to be seeing the Grand Moff in order to get information on the Empire's plans... and perhaps deeper feelings begin to blossom. I think Leia could get something out of the push-and-pull dynamic and the challenge of a dangerous and hateful man as the enemy she's trying to take down.

-Tarkin tries to force Leia into a relationship with him so that he can use her as leverage/a hostage against the rebels and their sympathizers.

-Tarkin evacuates the Death Star in time and is determined to get revenge on Leia for the loss of his ultimate weapon... whump and tension ensue.

Honestly, I would be happy just to see these two locked in a room and arguing for hours; any interaction between them makes my heart happy!

Leia Organa & Darth Vader

Vader finding out Leia is his daughter is always a classic fic premise, and one which can be exploited in many ways. Both of these characters are so strong willed and a force to be reckoned with, and watching them play off one another is really entertaining. I love the parallels between them, the way that Leia is unafraid to stand up to this powerful figure, and the angst and drama which their shared bloodline causes.

Prompts:

-"You weren't on any mercy mission this time": something where Leia runs into Vader in the pre-ANH time and narrowly evades his capture.

-Vader kidnaps Leia to raise her as his daughter and Sith apprentice. She resists every step of the way.

-The two of them are forced to work together for a common goal-- perhaps the cause of overthrowing Palpatine. Maybe Vader is compelled to defect to the Rebellion and redeem herself, or maybe Leia finds herself seduced to the dark side of the Force.

Leia Organa/Darth Vader

If there weren't related, I do think that Vader and Leia would make a rather compelling couple, being almost compatible in a certain twisted manner. Both of them are deeply passionate and determined to protect the ones they love, with rather fiery spirits and a commanding presence. There's also the aesthetic of black vs white and the cute height difference, as well as the twisted take on the knight and the princess motif. I can see him getting really protective and possessive of her and being reminded painfully of his dear Padme.

Prompts:

-Through some strange pull of fate, the two are placed in a Force bond. Vader feels a connection to Leia but doesn't know the truth of why and draws entirely wrong conclusions as a result-- (romantic rather than paternal).

-Palpatine arranges that Leia be betrothed to Vader as a manner of subduing the rebels and spiting the Organas and his wayward apprentice in one fell swoop.

-Leia becomes the consort of newly crowned Emperor Vader, as well as his apprentice in the Force, and struggles to come to terms with her new position.

Leia Organa/Wilhuff Tarkin/Darth Vader

A mixture of the above ships... just Leia being caught between the attentions of two powerful Imperial enemies who have competing agendas to possess her, and her efforts to resist them in every way. They can be the worst most dysfunctional love triangle ever.

Leia Organa/Wilhuff Tarkin & Darth Vader

Same as above, but with Vader being aware of his fatherly role and taking a more platonic role in his protections of the Princess.

Prompts: -Leia is raised by Vader as the Imperial princess, and is given to Tarkin in marriage to secure the family bloodline. However she has other plans...

-Vader notices the Grand Moff creeping on the young Senator of Alderaan and, due to some unknown urging of the Force, is determined to protect her.

Jyn Erso/Orson Krennic

A forceful and obstinate rebel girl and an equally forceful and obstinate Imperial officer, both sharing a messy past and a connection to her father. They compel me and I think their sparring would be delicious to watch.

Prompts:

-Jyn and Krennic survive the Battle of Scarif and begin an enemies to lovers arc. Perhaps they are forced into close proximity in order to survive and must learn to rely upon one another.

-Galen takes his family with him back to the Empire, and Jyn grows close to the mysterious man in white.

-Forced marriage where the Ersos are desperate to protect themselves from the Empire and must offer up their daughter as a last resort.

Sabe/Darth Vader

Sabe is an intriguing side character-- the girl who grew up in Padme's shadow, devoting her life to the protection of her Queen. In the time of the Empire, she becomes a rebel spy, and meets Vader in the comics. I think they could make a very entertaining, tragic, and dysfunctional couple, with Vader looking for the shadow of the wife he had lost but eventually falling for someone new, and Sabe trying to come to an understanding of the man her Queen loved and see behind the mask.

Prompts:

-SPY x FAMILY-esque AU where, due to some strange political shenanigans they have to raise the twins together.

-Fake dating or forced marriage

-Sabe tries to assassinate Vader, but it doesn't go as planned.

Character: Winter Celchu

Winter has a lot of fascinating possibilities, being a child of Alderaan and so closely tied to House Organa, acting as the more subtle and gentle half of Leia's fiery spirit. She's also quite intellectual and a cunning rebel agent, which is really fun.

Prompts:

-Something to do with her spy missions for the Rebellion, her ability to slip so easily into different roles and maybe some angst about her true self disappearing because of that.

-Her relationship to Leia... it's said that when they were young the two would swap places and Winter would play as the princess so Leia could run away from her duties or play pranks. I think that could be a fun little story.

-Reunion with Leia after Alderaan's destruction.

Character: Rivoche Tarkin

Rivoche is an obscure character, but she intrigues me. She's the niece of the infamous Grand Moff Tarkin, but holds sympathies for the Rebellion-- even using her position as a socialite to spy for them. I think there are a lot of places she could be taken.

Prompts:

-Something dealing with her relationship to Uncle Wilhuff

-How she becomes involved with the rebels in the first place.

[pokespefangirl]

(For the Pokéstar Studios AU)

Hey this is the same anon, I'm super happy that you liked the idea! Sincerely, I am extremely stoked, thank you so much!

This concept has been running through my mind nonstop ever since that ask and I have a few more ideas. Not to pressure you to add this in the fic or force these ideas on you, yet again I'm just having fun sharing these.

Anyways, Blake and Black brother-in-law moments REAL?! Whitley and White sister-in-law moments TRUE!? Ugh i'm eating up these hypothetical scenarios.

White most likely assigns Black to be Blake's bodyguard whenever he decides to go out, since he has celebrity status and all. The same thing goes for Whitley, though I see Blake accompanying her a lot too. So Black has to thirdwheel, not knowing it's Blake enacting vengeance for all those time he was the thirdwheel when it was just White, Black, and him at the BW Agency.

Also more of how I think Blake would be as an actor, though in this scenario he never received super spy training, he probably got super intense media training from White. They're both coming up with insane, genius, absolutely unhinged strategies to manipulate the media, Light Yagami monologuing typa bamboozlery. And Whitley and Black are just having a pleasant chat, side eyeing them every thirty seconds or so.

I imagine Blake's acting style to be refined, perfect, infallible that it's almost too much. Since he doesn't understand emotions, he studies, studies, studies, and studies. Writing down what his character would do, analyzing every line of dialogue, down to the body language and speech patterns etcetera. That's how he's able to nail so many different characters. AKA Christian Bale ahh acting style.

Now for Whitley, she's the opposite, she's new and unrefined, full of flaws. But full of emotion, her performances reaches out and captures. Delivering the feel needed for the scene and character.

And it really fascinates Blake, how she's so in tune with her emotions, making him kinda obsessed with her reactions...

That's it for now, I haven't even touched the surface for Blake and White's sibling dynamic but I sort of don't want this to be novel-length. Yet again, I am so happy that you accepted that ask! I really look forward to what you're cooking up, take as much time as you need!

Lil Bonus:

Blake: *trying to spook/fluster Whitley* Great job on set, your acting needs a little more work but you've got potential.

Whitley: Oh! Um, thanks...

Blake: You should learn how to be more confident, we don't want people to think you're easy to take advantage of...those rumors in Pokéwood are not to be taken lightly. *attempts to rizz* don't worry I'll-

Whitley: OH NO, w-were you a victim!?

Blake: Wh-what of course not-

White: *Bonks him on the head* Of course not! I made SURE that never happened to him, and I will DEFINITELY do the same for you!

ANON YOU ARE DRIVING ME ABSOLUTELY CRAZY W HAPPINESS W ALL OF THESE GREAT FANTASTIC Amazing Awonderf IDEAS, OFC I NEED TO ADD ALL OF THEM NOW <3 NEED TO GO TO SCHOOL SOON SO I'LL ADD MORE LATER BUT FOR NOW I WAS THINKING

Blake is studying Whitley right?!!! Almost out of a curiosity as to how she feels and experiences all these emotions?? So naturally!! Especially her beautiful eyes that get teary whenever shes thinking about something sad! He could study her all day!!

To add to that: Blake never had pets or cared for animals bcs you know... sociopath and all, but he starts seeing Whitley feeding a stray cat!! ANd EVENTUALLY (WHEN THERES SOME ANGST POINT) HE STARTS FEEDING THE LITTLE KITTEN HIMSELF just from seeing Whitley when he's walking by all alone!!

And you're so right he'd craft his image with the convoluted intelligence of Light Fucking Yagami lmaoo that's so good!!

AND UK WHITE IS THE MOST AMBITIOUS GIRL LIKE SHE'S MAKING SURE BLAKE IS TOPPING ALL THE RATINGS AWARDS WHATEVE, BUT her YOUNGER BRO ALSO ANNOYS HER SOMETIMES W HIS HEINOUS SOCIOPATHY AND SHE HAS TO DO DAMAGE CONTROL LMAOO (mostly it's him being with all sorts of ladies before being w Whitley and unintentionally breaking their hearts cus they didn't interest him for too long)

AND BLACK IS SUCH A FIERCE BODYGUARD BUT ALSO WHOLESOME!! LIKE HE WILL KILL FOR HIS BROTHER IN LAW!! BUT OFC OFC HE'LL GIVE THE FANS FREE FOOD AND GIFT BASKETS ON HIS BEHALF TOO AND HELP THE FANS GET BLAKE'S AUTOGRAPH especially he'll help anybody whose disabled bcs it's the right thing to do!! God he's so good

so yeah Whitley!! Whitley is pure!! Unfiltered!! And blake doesn't know what that's like aside from his family everybody else in Hollywood tend to be shallow and judgemental and fake!! But Whitley s not afraid to cry, to smile, to laugh, she's not afraid of what ppl think and guess what!! Blake needs that bcs he's been hiding his sociopathy all along! Bcs his career would be over if anybody revealed his diagnoses!!

Initially it started out as fun that he studied Whitley and tried to get emotions out of her!! Initially he just joked she was becoming an addiction! Just something to have!! But then things started to get real and he began to experience!!

Something big!! Something else!! Nobody had ever kept him that interested in his life!! Jumping from person to person!! Director to Director!! Everybody was fed up with him but then came in Whitley!! And this man just cannot let her go!!

And ya know Black is ready to defend his whole family!! He's outside of his work hours still doing his job cus that's what he should do!! Is Prez okay?? Where should we go next?? Lemme be with you Prez i cant risk anything happening to u not on my watch imma be the best bodyguard ever!! And Blake's just standing there like- "Bet"

ANYWAYS I SAID I DIDN'T HAVE MUCH TIME BUT I GUESS I HAD TO RESPOND HAHAHA, thank you so much this whole au and concept is honestly making my day and i can't wait to finish it!!

[hms-tardimpala]

For FFWF, I'm sending a question bomb back to you, friend <3 Soooo how is it going along with breaking in that ship tag? Care to tell us about them, like what sort of characters they are and what their dynamic is?

Or if you would rather talk about your experience with rarepair ships in general I would be interested in that too <3

I'm so happy to get this ask! Heads-up: it might get long.

So I'm not breaking in a ship tag, what I said yesterday was that I was writing for a small ship and, as a reader, I had found no fics for some pairings I were looking for. Your ask might change that however, but I'll say more about this a little lower...

I can tell you about the small ship I'm writing for currently! I'm entering Know No Shame mode so here it is: it's Alan Grant/Billy Brennan from Jurassic Park 3.

Yes, of all things. I'm the first who's surprised. This time around I'm seeing something in them that I want to explore. I think you of all my writer friends can appreciate a teacher/student dynamic best. They're two brilliant scientists (Billy has to be to be Grant's dig site manager) in the hot Montana badlands, they act sort of like a married couple in the movie (they're a package deal), Grant has a history of dating younger paleontologists and Billy is his very devoted easygoing assistant that acts as an intermediary for his misanthropic professor.

There's potential for: hero worship, We Shouldn't Do This™ angst, establishing a healthy relationship despite status and age gap, and I've never written a student character, especially one who has to finish a PhD after he's been traumatized by the animals he was studying, so that's interesting.

Like, the movie isn't much, but it gives me just enough to want to write a study of their relationship during and post-canon.

And now I realize that both fics I'm currently writing are about fixing an established relationship after a big falling-out (partly, at least). Well, well.

Now, for my experience of rarepairs. I mostly read (and write, so far) in big to huge fandoms and I'm generally into the main ship (which is why I see Billy/Alan as a rarepair, although you might think that with 181 fics, they're not in this category). But sometimes (often, actually) I get interested in a media that has a very small fandom and I happen to ship characters that very few people seem to be interested in.

When that happens, I end up reading as many fics about that ship as I can find, and I really make sure to kudo and comment to thank the author. Fandom is never more a community than when it comes to rarepairs.

As a writer, so far I'm enjoying the experience. I feel more free because virtually nobody is watching and I can really write the thing for me, and me only. That's such a pleasure! It's really just me and my notepad, that feels great. I feel like a kid!

And about breaking in a ship tag... One of the ships I failed to find fics for the other day is Juan Borgia/Christoforo Castanea, or really Juan Borgia/any man for the show Borgia. Christoforo in himself is a tiny and unimportant character, but I'm seeing some gay subtext around Juan Borgia, and I can't believe I'm the only one! There's something about the desperate way he kisses men on the mouth especially his brother that I want studied!

Your ask inspired me, and I now have a couple of interesting ideas to explore the character's possible homosexuality/bisexuality in a fic. That would include writing about him and Christoforo and him and his brother, so I would functionally be breaking in two ship tags: Juan Borgia/Christoforo Castanea and Juan Borgia/Cesare Borgia (because Juan is an ugly duckling but he deserves to be invited to the sibling fuckfest).

Thank you so much for asking me this, Nara, I loved talking about it. And thank you for the inspiration, I'm now going to let these ideas simmer. I love you <3

[kitmoas]

Hi Kit, it's comic non! I've been rereading the finale of TGU season 1 for the past few days now, trying to properly put my thoughts into words, because I wanna put even a fraction of thought into this as you have with the finale.

There's so much to take in and process and it's... it's so fucking fantastic. It's so thorough. It has so much goddamn depth. It's detailed, and thoughtful; it almost feels like a character study for all four of them. Which is incredibly impressive given Toy is essentially an OC/reader stand in.

I think that's what makes this AU stand out. Toy is so defined but in a universally relatable way. The distinct relationship they have with each of the MCU women just feel so... right? It's a fantastic capture of not just the canon characters, but what they each bring to the dynamic.

I know we talked a bit originally about Kate's assault storyline. I'm sooo blown away by how you've written it. While I love a good comfort fic sometimes, I personally appreciate exploration on how lack of expression, and therefore comfort, affect the character in question. And the way you handled it with a character like Kate is so fucking fascinating. And CRAZY LIKE I WAS NOT EXPECTING THEM TO COME BACK????? The way I gasped (perfect halfway cliffhanger btw). I'm not sure how much you're planning on carrying this particular storyline over to TGU season 2, but wow, either way this was so gut wrenching in the best of ways. I adore Toy, how they feel so protective of Kate. The scene where Kate breaks down was just beautiful, especially Toy's handling of it. That lingering, comfortable silence that settles between them as they hold each other just... brought a tear to my eye. And the part where Toy is concerned about Kate wanting to be touched by them so soon after her recent assault was an amazing addition. And the fact that Kate's comfort is such a priority to them during sex. The anxiety they have to try shaking away, knowing something Wanda and Natasha don't and what that could bring, is so special to me LOL. I hope Kate heals, and if you do continue this plot, I'd be excited to see what you do with it. Especially Natasha moving forward, given her prior reaction.

Speaking of, very happy Natasha finally spoke to Kate. It's so sad that Kate was scared of her, that she probably compared her reaction to her mother's, but I hope she and Natasha can start to work on rebuilding trust again because I love them lots.

Super excited for what you have set up so well with Wanda. I loved the inclusion of the rest of the team; it really helps set up Wanda's distance from the group and Natasha's position in trying to make her see this is bigger than both of them.

And Wanda's confession to Toy!!! My heart!!! It's definitely been a long time coming and I hope Wanda being honest can help her feel more in control of herself. I love the way you've depicted her feelings affecting her and Natasha's relationship, especially with the mirroring from past chapters that Natasha may be developing feelings for Kate. I know Toy loves Wanda too, even if they don't know for sure, and I can't wait to see them come to terms with it. I'm excited for the prospect of what that could mean, and how that could shake or make the dynamic.

I have different views on how it could go, how Kate and Natasha will react to Wanda and Toy being in love. What insecurities that pulls out and what feelings that forces them to recognize, and what that could potentially lead to. I just want them all to LOVE EACH OTHERRR and be HAPPY. And yet I crave the drama and angst LOL.

I just... adored this. It was a fantastic conclusion, I'm so so happy you shared the TGU with us, and I am so thrilled to see what you do moving forward.

Hi my lovely comic non— I have no idea if you’re still around. Or if you have read tgu as of late but I have read this ask so many times and I have kept it as a lil secret between the two of us any time I need motivation to write. But now that I’m officially bringing tgu back for season 2 I want to share your thoughts with the world

Thank you sweets 🩵

Training Grounds Masterlist

Kitmoas | seized within the silk we grew

[fireemblems24]

Ao3 Ship Thoughts

To sate my desire to read Three Houses fan fiction and jump in on the shipping comments that have upticked recently, I decided to see what ships were the most popular on Ao3.

Some of it's exactly what I expected, and one in particular is just . . . what, why?

Ao3 is probably the closest you'll get to truly determining which ships are the most popular, or at least have the highest number of passionate fans. So I was curious to see who the top ships were. Here's the ones listed, in order:

Sylvain/Felix

Dimitri/Byleth

Edelgard/Byleth

Ferdinand/Hubert

Claude/Byleth

Dimitri/Felix

Dimitri/Claude

Felix/Annette

Caspar/Linhardt

Hilda/Marrianne

If I exclude the Byleth ships, Dimitri/Dedue, Byleth/Seteth, and Ingrid/Sylvain take up the three missing spots.

Byleth's Ships

I'm shocked. Really, truly shocked that Byleth/Lord is popular. Never wouldn't guessed. I am, of course, being sarcastic. If someone asked me to list who I think would show up in the top 10 most popular ships, the first three I'd list would be Byleth/Lord.

What I find more interesting is that Byleth/Seteth is the fourth option for Byleth. AO3 writers, I officially bow to your taste. It pleases me quite a bit that, if you're not going with one of the main lords, you all want Seteth. This I can agree with.

As for the Byleth/Lord ships, I feel kind of mixed on them. Every lord interacts with characters who have more depth than Byleth, but I still get the appeal. I'm going to deep dive into all of the lords relationships with Byleth later, but here's a quick summary.

Edelgard/Byleth is shoved down your throat so hard it's nearly impossible to ship Edelgard with someone else and even shortchanges her potential to have deep, non-romantic relationships because Edelgard puts Byleth on a pedestal that no one else can reach by her own dialogue.

Byleth's character arc works well alongside Dimitri's. While the relationship is pushed and fanservice-y scenes exist, the game leaves enough breathing room to see Byleth as a mentor/therapist/teacher figure, and Dimitri has no shortage of deep, meaningful relationships with others should you not want to do the whole self-insert thing. It's a good balance.

Claude and Byleth are the opposite of Edelgard and Byleth. They read almost more like friends than lovers. It's a breath of fresh air, honestly. Claude/Byleth seems like the healthiest possible romance for Byleth/lord because the lord in question here doesn't seem as dependent. That said, it lacks lacks romance and shipping fuel. I may complain about fanservice, but the Byleth/Claude dynamic does show why scenes of holding hands in the rain and teasing about badly drawn images might actually come in handy.

Edelgard's Ships

I'm not surprised, at all, that Edelgard has no popular ships outside of Byleth. Dialogue consistently shortchanges Edelgard's relationships with others by having her verbally, repeatedly put Byleth into a special "other" that no one else can reach for her.

Though, I guess I'm a bit surprised at the extreme lack of Edelgard/Hubert. I feel these two have a lot of shipping fuel and their supports left things unresolved. I've come across the sentiment in fandom many times that ship where things are tied off nicely with a bow leave less to explore and aren't as interesting, so I am bummed out no one seems interested in fleshing out Hubert/Edelgard more.

The outlook for Edelgard fanfic and me seems pretty limited. I don't like Edelgard/Byleth for various reasons beyond this scope of this post. I was kind of hoping there were some Edelgard/Hubert or Edelgard/Dorothea character study stuff that could help me get past how much Byleth gets in the way of Edelgard's character growth, but it seems fanfic writers only want to write about her and Byleth, which is a bummer.

On that note, I'm also surprised but also glad that Dimitri/Edelgard isn't a big thing. I thought it might be because tragedy of childhood friends turned enemies by events out of their control is popular. These two seem wildly incompatible though, so I'm glad people seem to agree.

Claude's Ships

Ok. Claude/Byleth. Expected. I'm feel positively towards the ship since they seem mostly good for each other even if it's not getting my heart all fluttering.

I'm surprised there's no Claude/Petra or Claude/Hilda. Those two are my personal favorites for him. I would've given Claude/Petra the edge given how they can uniquely relate to each other, but Hilda's scene in CF really gave Petra a run for her money. Even more so that Petra and Claude have obligations to two different nations and Hilda has no such complication.

But whattttt???? Claude/Dimitri? It's in the top 10?? More people ship Dimitri with Claude than Dedue?? I thought lord/lord might be popular, but I honestly thought Dimitri/Edelgard would take it, not Claude/Dimitri. They never really talk. So I'm a bit confused about this one. Though, intrigued by the idea.

Can I take a wild guess this partly stems from Claude having no real other viable M/M ships outside of M!Byleth and fics that plays up the chapter I'm about to play in AM (Dimitri saving Claude) or "what ifs" VW routes where Dimitri doesn't . . . you know.

I am really curious about this dynamic though. Because I like Claude - a lot. He's a character I want to get attached to. From experience, the fastest way for me to like a character is to give them a significant relationship I enjoy with a character I already love and the new character gets absorbed by proxy. So, fans, please, tell me more about this Dimitri/Claude. I am curious.

Dimitri's Ships

I am as unsurprised by Dimitri's being one of the biggest repeat offenders on here as I am by Edelgard being Byleth or bust. If Edelgard is written to fanservice the player by making the self-insert her one and only, Dimitri is fanservicing the player by being a shipping magnet. The writers knew what they were doing and who they were trying to appeal to with these two characters.

Dimitri/Byleth is a given. The game plays up the romance angle, but it's not at the expense of Dimitri's other relationships.

What I'm more interested in, though, is Felix/Dimitri. Between angsty CF stories, post-AM slow-burns, or fleshing out missing scenes from their shared childhood, there's just a lot to work with and a rich context to use their relationship - spun romantically - to explore each character. Felix and Dimitri's relationship is layered, complicated, heart breaking, and potentially healing. The fact they're two incredibly attractive guys doesn't hurt its popularity either, I'm sure. I'm not surprised it ranked that highly.

Claude/Dimitri surprises me. If two lords were going to get on this list together, I would've put bets on Edelgard/Dimitri. Since Claude and Dimitri's relationship is fairly unexplored, I'm really interested to see more about what exactly this is about. Don't get me wrong. I figured people would pair two main characters who are that good looking together, I just didn't think it would rank that high.

I am, slightly sad, that Dimitri/Dedue isn't a bit higher, but happy it seems to have some steam. I get it though. Dedue's not as flashy as some of the others on the shipping list and their relationship is so full of fluff by their A support it lacks the angst Felix/Dimitri and Dimitri/Byleth can draw out nor is as much of a play around with "what ifs" as Claude/Dimitri is.

Non-Lords/Main Characters Ships:

This list, more than anything else, shows AO3's penchant for writing M/M and F/F works for better or worse. Whether this phenomena stems from lack of representation, fetishizing by the fanbase, deeply ingrained gender roles making fictional M/F ships either less appealing to many fanfic writers, or M/F romances often getting assumed leading to less substantial writing compared to friendships - I don't know. Probably all of it.

There are a few surprises here for me. Felix/Sylvain is that popular? I figured they'd make the top 10, but #1 is surprising. Though, looking through the first page of the tag, it's true Felix/Sylvain have fics just for them, but it also seems like a common pairing in Dimitri/Byleth and Dimitri/Claude fics. It's the same story with Caspar/Linhardt, who I honestly didn't expect to see. They had a fair number of their own fics, but it seems many CF fics put them together rather than focus solely on them. Felix/Annette also balances being the main focus and an adjunct pairing. Marianne/Hilda seemed to have less fics where they took center stage and more they were one of many ships listed.

Ferdinand/Hubert having a lot of fics isn't surprising. I don't really care too much for it personally, but I can see the appeal of it.

I'm surprised Catherin/Shamir is nowhere in sight. Likewise, Rhea is absolutely nowhere. Kind of sad by the lack of adult characters in general. Especially Rhea. I think it's a pretty big sign of how the writing's treated her that such an important character is totally absent in this list.

Not surprised at all to see Felix also get so many ships. He, like Dimitri, seems designed on purpose to ship with many characters. I do really wish Dorothea and Seteth would get more attention though.

What do you guys think? Anything that surprised you? How do you feel about any of these ships and there popularity or lack thereof? Are there characters/pairings you wish got more attention? Any popular ships you despise (spill that tea)?

[eggrestes]

ladrien fic recs!

there are SO MANY amazing ladrien fics i cant possibly cover them all but here are a few!

(all the ratings used are ao3 ratings)

((this is a very long post!))

FLUFF

Of Ivy and Sunlight by cyanise [ T, 1509 words, 1/1 ]

When Adrien takes to wandering the streets of Paris in ungodly hours, Ladybug has no choice but to keep an eye on him. Still, things are bound to get a little out of hand between two overloaded teenagers with a lot of love and not enough self-control. 

a lovely post-chat blanc fic :’) it has a great flow and is just soft and so sweet and it’s just perfect. gosh i cannot really say more other than read it!!! also almost all of their other stuff is also ladrien so do check it out!

This can't be happening by PlaPla [ T,  6,467 words, 1/2 ]

Ladybug is unsure whether accompanying Adrien to a gala as his not-date is the best or worst thing that has ever happened to her. But when their table mates turn out to be none other than her long time friends Alya and Nino and with Adrien acting weirder and weirder she finds herself with bigger worries than an unrequited crush.

a djwifi/ladrien double date? hit me up! i love identity shenanigans, ball dancing, ladrien, and djwifi and this is a perfect mix for me. i know it’s incomplete but it doesn’t end in a cliff-hanger really, the part 2 is just a promise of more so it doesn’t feel incomplete! PlaPla also has a short oneshot of ladrien going for a motorcycle ride.

Falling again by emsylcatac [ M,  4,506 words, 2 Works ]

They had been dancing around each other for a while now, and while fifteen year old Adrien would have been ecstatic at the idea of dating Ladybug in secret, twenty-two year old Adrien knew better. But Ladybug wasn’t making it easy. It was like… she, too, was falling for him. And that surprisingly enough, she didn’t mind.

* * *

Or Adrien trying (and failing) to keep things professional between him and Ladybug when the two of them partner up for a mission. Older AU

things are a little steamy~ here (don’t worry, it’s only implied it’s very mild and closer to a T rating than the M) but it’s a great mature take on their dynamics! emsy has more ladrien one-shots in her collection of one-shots!

i'd love to go on a date with you by sae_what  [ G,  6,480 words, 1/1 ]

Once it had been falsely announced throughout Paris that Adrien and Ladybug are in a relationship, Ladybug pays him a visit to turn him down gently.

Only, she doesn’t. And instead, she has a formal dinner date. With Adrien. At 8 pm. Tonight.

LADYBUG IN A SUIT!! aaaaaaaaaaaaaa. okay but for real it’s so sweet and also??? they are on a date!!! a rooftop date!! (too man exclamation marks oops)

Always Welcome by  chatonne-rousse [ T, 1,683 words, 1/1 ]

Ladybug knows that Adrien's window is always open for her to swing by and stop in, whether for video games or a chat or, like tonight, for soft kisses and sweet nothings.

He loves these visits. His girlfriend is always welcome. Always. (Especially for kisses.)

Written for Ladrien June, day 8: bluebell eyes.

established relationship, pre-reveal ladrien. there is something very home-y about this fic and it’s all about the comfort and quiet that i adore about it!

Five Times Gabriel Agreste Caught Ladybug in His Son’s Bedroom (and the One Time He Caught Chat Noir) by agrestenoir [ T,  1,923 words, 1/1]

Gabriel Agreste keeps finding Ladybug in his son's bedroom. As a super villain and father, this will not stand.

this crack fic is... honestly so hilarious. it’s all through gabrie-i-am-trying-to-parent-and-failing-a-lot-agreste’s POV so it is so much ridiculous! 

an uncurtain discovery by  Missnoodles [ T, 4,684 words, 1/1 ]

When he returns from school on Wednesday afternoon, Adrien discovers the darkness in his own home. He struggles to come to terms with it. To his utter mortification and delight, Ladybug is nearby to rescue him.

(He does not discover that his father is supervillain. That will happen on a different Wednesday.)

Adrien is being a cat and gets tangled in the curtains on his window and it’s utterly ridiculous. all the bug and the cat tendencies make it funnier and adrien’s inner monologue is just a cherry on top!

secret valentine by a_miiraculer [ T,  12,245 words, 1/1 ]

this is the moment that we will come alive brace yourself for love sweet love, secret love

If Adrien had known that getting himself stuck in a tree would end like this, he would've gotten himself stuck sooner.

A drabble series.

i just,,,, don’t have words for how much i love it! it’s ridiculous, it’s cute, it’s funny, it’s whole-some and just ladrien. the writer also has a M rated multi-chapter ladrien kissing (no the M is very much real here) and a heroic adrien and ladybug one-shot too! 

Those Benevolent Stars by peachcitt [ G,  23,696 words, 3/3 ]

“Will you come back?”

She looked up at the deep blue sky, as if she could somehow find the answer there. “I shouldn’t,” she said, shaking her head and looking back at him. But the stars were still there, caught in her eyes, and Adrien persisted.

“But will you?”

or

adrien meets his soulmate, a thief who calls herself ladybug. he falls for her, but she seems determined to maintain a space between them.

oh my god this au.... just no words!! it’s poetry and it’s tender and it’s about the yearning and just!!! perfect :’). Her current ongoing ladrien june fic is also akin to this (and the fic i linked before it) so do check it out too! (literally check out all of their works it’s so beautiful)

Flowers on the Window Sill by LNC [ G,  2,144 words, 1/1 ]

The first time Ladybug saw him, really saw him, the universe stopped.

this fic feels like poetry and it’s so lovely. LNC is always short and direct but it always hits right in the feels while also being hilarious. Her  other ladrien works are just as good and i highly recommend going through them because it fulfills all of the ladrien needs (along with Reiaji)

whatever a sun will always sing is you by komorebirei [ T,  32,980 words, 37/37 ]

“I didn't think you'd actually... do anything," Adrien admitted, cheeks prickling with warmth. "I-I mean, I never expected... I didn't know you watched my interviews.” That definitely wasn’t how he'd imagined confessing to Ladybug.

“Of course I do!” Ladybug squeaked. “Uhh, that is…” She looked down at her hands, nervously turning her yo-yo over, over and over. “Maybe you’re not the only one with a crush.”

(After an unexpected confession, Ladybug and Adrien start dating in secret. A progressive character- and relationship-study quilted from drabbles, with the intention of digging treasure out of the cove that is Ladrien. Written using kashimalin-fanfiction's kiss writing prompts from Tumblr.)

it does such an excellent job at exploring this dynamic along with the characters. it’s such a sweet fic, each chapter short and fun!

ANGST

whose woods these are (I think I know.) by  Reiaji [ T,  105,000 words, 25/25 ]

Four years after his future turns to cinders, Adrien is a servant in the house he was meant to inherit. Disowned by his father and abused by his stepmother, his days are filled with drudgery until he meets a masked huntress in the forest behind his father's chateau.

As his friendship with Ladybug turns to first love, he dreams of a future spent at her side.

Then, on the eve of the Princess's masquerade, he meets his guardian—and is granted a wish.

[Ladrien Cinderella AU]

Warnings: Child abuse, Graphic depiction of violence

this is absolutely gorgeous. it has so many troupes and so many amazing character arc and great build up and everything just flows so well. it left me in awe for weeks and i just. want to experience reading it for the first time again. look at this gorgeous art inspired by this! {and you have to read  leonard bernstein too because LETTERS and LADRIEN and YEARNING}

i would do it again (oh, a thousand times) by bugabisous [ T, 2,266 words, 1/1 ]

Knowing you can bring someone back doesn’t mean you’re free of the pain of seeing them disappear before your eyes. He can’t imagine he’ll be able to look at her directly without replaying every horrifying moment when he felt her slip away in a puff of smoke.

When it happens once again, he already knows he’ll be trying again. He just can’t give up.

it expands on adrien’s feelings in the episode desperada (my beloved <3) and it is just ouch. such great angst, such great potential. the kind of tragedy that it offers is unusual for ml (it gets only rivaled by chat blanc tbh). to rival this angst bugabisous also has a fluffy one-shot :)

when the world gets too heavy (put it on my back) by Taliax [ T, 4,720 words, 1/1 ]

Chat Noir isn't allowed to cry over his father. But even when he's just Adrien, Ladybug won't abandon him.

Hawkmoth reveal hurt/comfort + Ladrien

the plagg and adrien bond written is just perfect, and oh this hits right in the feels :’) it hurts all in the right way. tali also has so many other ladrien works in all genres too

By Your Side by omniousunflower [ T, 4,361 words, 1/1 ]

(Angry and alone, Adrien waits on top of the Eiffel Tower for his lady.)

“So, how did my kitty get stranded up here?” Ladybug asks.

Groaning, Adrien pulls his knees toward his chest and presses his face against them. “Because he’s stupid and impulsive.”

“Chasing pigeons, then?”

“No.” Shame burns in Adrien’s veins, white-hot now that Ladybug is here to witness his stupidity. “I threw my Miraculous, and Plagg wouldn’t get it for me.”

post-hawkmoth defeat, and adrien is not doing well at all. i am cheating because it is post reveal, pre relationship but it’s still ladrien. this fic is a roller coater of emotions, starting from a slightly crack scenario to a cute, awkward, hopeful ending.  More Than You Know is another of sunny’s angsty ladrien work!

Breaking The Rules (AKA The Ladrien Fistfight) by ThisKwamiNeeds_aNap [ T, 8,714 words, 1/1 ]

Marinette may or may not be dying, but she’s still going to do her best to fix every single problem in the world. She’s not expecting Adrien to be the one who tries to stop her. (Takes place immediately after Kwami Buster)

Warnings: panic attack, broken bones, PTSD. please read the tags!

*slaps this fic* this fic can fit in so much angst. it just?? left me in PAIN oof. it says ‘ladrien fistfight’ on the lid but nooo there is marinette is just having a freak out and it’s all so much??!! and it’s not just marinette there is adrien too and chloe and alya and- wow it’s amazing. love it so much it fills up my angst needs :’)

so that’s it for now! my personal commentary isn’t impressive nor does it do justice to the fic but i still hope you read a few of these!! happy reading!!

[syzyg3tic]

Yuletide Letter 2021

Hello! Thanks so much for writing for me! I’m excited to see what you come up with :) Here are some general likes and dislikes, as well as fandom-specific thoughts. Feel free to think of this as a grab bag of starting points or inspiration, not hardline prompts (of course)! I am equally excited about all these canons, so you can’t go wrong with any of them!! Thanks so much and happy Yuletide c:

General Likes: -Character study/character motivation exploration -Expressing emotions physically--sex or kissing or any physical interaction as conversation/argument/apology/confession/goodbye/forgiveness/someone else/admission/catharsis of some kind -Characters B&C talking/making out about their mutual feelings for Character A -Reveal moments (confessions, when a couple is discovered by friends, in general just the fallout from the moment when characters have to stick by the choices they’ve made about their feelings because other people know the feeling, now) -Getting together moments/firsts

NSFW likes: Again, no pressure to write explicit fic, but if you do, here are some things I like to read about! -Sensation play -Breathplay -Solo/fantasizing -Sneaking around/trying to not be seen but very much going for it in sketchy locations -First times/exploration of each other

Dislikes/DNWs: -Hard AUs (canon divergence is fine though) -A/B/O dynamics -Soulmate/one true love stuff -Daddy kink -Mpreg/pregnancy/kidfic -illness fic -Noncon -Scat/pee

FANDOMS

1) เขามาเชงเม้งข้างๆหลุมผมครับ | He's Coming to Me (TV) Characters: Mes, Thun

This is one of my favorite Thai dramas! I loved the romance, the family stuff, the premise, the friend group stuff--all of it! I’d be most interested in a missing scene or postcanon fic for this fandom.

Concepts: -Thun and Mes’s first time - You could expand on the tasteful fade-to-black we got in canon. What’s it like for Mes to feel things? I love physical exploration of sensation for undead characters! I can see it being overwhelming (in a good way) for him. I love the idea of Thun giving Mes a lot of attention, either in a slow methodical way or just being all over him, but wanting to let him feel things/feel good. I also like the idea of Thun wanting to take all he can of Mes for himself while he has the chance, since he’s not sure if they’ll get another.

-Thun and Mes in the future - The end of the show is happy, but their issues are definitely not over, and I’m interested to see how they’d deal with it. I’d love to see any kind of established relationship (potentially with flashback to when things were unclear between them?). What’s it like when they know each other well, either day to day or in their sex life? How do they deal with Mes not being able to expend a lot of energy without losing form? Is there a way for Mes to give him energy (hehe)?

-Far future angst - Mes is still gonna disappear one day. I am not always into angst, but I would be for these two, especially if it is balanced with bittersweetness/dashes of hope. How do they prepare? Would Mes find a way to leave a sign if it happened when Thun wasn’t around/what would he do if he WAS there in those last moments? How would Thun deal? I assume they have some good years ahead of them, but Mes DID have a heart condition, and may not have lived to old age ordinarily anyway, so there’s no telling when his actual time to go would have been. What happens if Thun dies first? Lots of ways you could take this.

I didn’t request the other characters because I wasn’t interested in fic that focused on them, but feel free to include the other friends, Thun’s Mom, etc, as side characters if you’d like. I especially love Praifah.

2) เมื่อหัวใจใกล้กัน | Don't Say No: The Series (TV) Characters: Fiat, Leon

So this show is kind of a hot mess, but I really enjoy it anyway. I was into the refreshingly new-for-Thai-BL dynamics of Fiat/Leo for the first half of the series, but I find that as the series goes on (at the time of writing this there is one episode left to go), I care most about other dynamics! So I’d really be interested in seeing some of those explored in fic. I watched part of TharnType S2, but I didn’t finish it and I like DSN era characterization better, so feel free to take or leave TTs2 canon details.

Concepts: -I am really interested in Fiat's precanon self-destructive behavior. He has both Mommy Issues AND Daddy Issues, and tries to solve them both by sleeping around and homewrecking! I find this delightful and horrible. I think it’s a rich vein to plumb BECAUSE he gets to be happy and loved (even with lots of drama along the way -_-) by Leo in canon, so I would love to see precanon Fiat dealing with his feelings and various traumas, making bad decisions to stave off the feeling of abandonment. This can be solo Fiat, Fiat and random dudes, Fiat pining over Leo, whatever. It can be angsty or be edged with hope, whatever you want.

-I also uhhh have an interest in Fiat’s bratty rivalry with Leon. They don’t seem to have real reasons to dislike each other aside from vague jealousy about Leo’s time/them both being kind of annoying (I say, lovingly). So I keep thinking about uhh. What if it’s just because they hooked up before?? I know Leon has been abroad for a while but whatever, he could’ve visited once? What if Fiat gave up on ever getting with Leo and one of his self destructive bad decisions was hooking up with Leon instead, thinking it was the closest he’d ever get (any degree from LeonFiat almost kissing to actually having sex would be fun to read about--whatever you’re comfy with, as long as it’s more recent precanon if they have sex just to keep them grown). Leon could be fully aware of Fiat’s motives or not! Whatever angle you wanna take. They’re just both kind of slutty and rash, and, well!! I can see them having an ill-advised hookup and dealing with it by being bitchy to each other in the canon era!! If you do this via flashback and have current Leo find out, I’d rather Leo think it’s funny or annoying or gross, but I’m tired of his actual jealousy, so I’d rather you not write him too mean or dramatic about it.

I didn’t request Leo or Pob, but they can be there and be side characters, especially if you do current day with flashbacks! I love both their canon relationships! I just prefer the main focus to be on Fiat solo or Fiat/Leon.

3) สามเราต้องรอด | 3 Will Be Free Characters: Miw, Mae

I love all the characters in this show a lot, and I love the hero trio and the “villain” trio on their own, but I think a LOT about the two women, on their own and together. They both have had to learn to be hard, and to push away their feelings. They both are scarred by the memories of the first person they killed. The fact that one woman’s revenge quest hinges on another’s downfall is aaah it’s a big feeling, especially because Miw gets what she wants in the end and Mae doesn’t. This pains me. The 3 who end up free are the only people left in the world who know what Mae went through, and she can’t really talk to them about it because of the nature of their situation!! Their connection in that big confrontation in the forest really hit home how similar the two of them are, and how well they’d get along in other circumstances. I think there’s a lot of bittersweetness in that. I want Mae to be happy.

Concepts: -I would love to see postcanon fic where Mae and Miw meet, either planned or by accident, and get a chance to talk. To create some kind of friendship forged in trauma. I think they are both capable of forgiving each other, since they now know they both acted the way they did because of situations they did not control. I can see them wanting to take back control from those external forces by being good to each other, both learning to feel worthy of the other’s forgiveness. I can see this being fully friendship or turning romantic or physical. I don’t want you to break up Shin/Miw/Neo, but hey, they’re already polyamorous, why not let Miw have a girlfriend also! Or at least a one off emotional cathartic hookup (or series of healing hookups) with Mae??? And Mae deserves the world, by god, and I want her to have SOMETHING good after the story ends ;-;

Do Not Want “welcome to the polycule, here are the rules” type long winded relationship negotiation. The way the main 3 navigated their relationships in the show was pretty fluid and organic, and a bit of checking in with each other is fine, but I’d like to keep that relaxed tone, if you do take this in a romantic direction.

Similarly, discussion/mention of gender and womanhood and their common ground and different angles is fine and great (especially if you’re somewhat aware of the cultural context of gender in Thailand), but I’d rather you not lean super heavily on Mae’s experiences of transphobia. Good things for Mae!!!!

I didn’t request the other characters because I wasn’t interested in fic that focused on them, but feel free to include them as side characters if you like.

4) นับสิบจะจ��บ | Lovely Writer the Series (TV) Characters: Tum, Tiffy

This show was a lovely metatextual romp. I loved the stuff about the BL industry, what it’s like to be a writer, etc. The characters were all great as well. It was one of my favorite shows of this year for sure. The ONE thing I wanted to go differently plotwise was that I was really hoping for Bisexual Tum to be a reality. I thought for a second we’d get it, what with Bi Tiffy thinking he was gay for a bit!

Concepts: -I would love to see Tiffy help Tum explore his sexuality as they also get to know each other as romantic partners! I think they’re really cute together, and I’d like to see the ins and outs of what it’d be like for them to work through this while still keeping it clear that Tum truly is super into Tiffy, and that Tiffy is enthusiastic about him also being queer. Can stay G rated (Tiffy noticing him checking out dudes, etc), or get into E rated territory with them sharing explicit fantasies about various genders either conversationally or while they’re in bed together. I toyed with the idea of prompting them with another character, but they’re pretty new at their relationship. But I COULD see them discussing the possibility, laughing while discussing/disagreeing about which of their friends or other actual BL actors (since the setting allows for it, lol) they think are attractive.

I didn’t request the other characters because I wasn’t interested in fic that focused on them, but feel free to include the others as side characters if you like.

Ao3 is here

Twitter is here

[bookiemonsterph]

The Isle Of The Lost

Synopsis:

Twenty years ago, all the evil villains were banished from the kingdom of Auradon and made to live in virtual imprisonment on the Isle of the Lost. The island is surrounded by a magical force field that keeps the villains and their descendants safely locked up and away from the mainland. Life on the island is dark and dreary. It is a dirty, decrepit place that's been left to rot and forgotten by the world.

But hidden in the mysterious Forbidden Fortress is a dragon's eye: the key to true darkness and the villains' only hope of escape. Only the cleverest, evilest, nastiest little villain can find it...who will it be?

Maleficent, Mistress of the Dark: As the self-proclaimed ruler of the isle, Maleficent has no tolerance for anything less than pure evil. She has little time for her subjects, who have still not mastered life without magic. Her only concern is getting off the Isle of the Lost.

Mal: At sixteen, Maleficent's daughter is the most talented student at Dragon Hall, best known for her evil schemes. And when she hears about the dragon's eye, Mal thinks this could be her chance to prove herself as the cruelest of them all.

Evie: Having been castle-schooled for years, Evil Queen's daughter, Evie, doesn't know the ins and outs of Dragon Hall. But she's a quick study, especially after she falls for one too many of Mal's little tricks.

Jay: As the son of Jafar, Jay is a boy of many talents: stealing and lying to name a few. Jay and Mal have been frenemies forever and he's not about to miss out on the hunt for the dragon's eye.

Carlos: Cruella de Vil's son may not be bravest, but he's certainly clever. Carlos's inventions may be the missing piece in locating the dragon's eye and ending the banishment for good.

Mal soon learns from her mother that the dragon's eye is cursed and whoever retrieves it will be knocked into a deep sleep for a thousand years. But Mal has a plan to capture it. She'll just need a little help from her "friends." In their quest for the dragon's eye, these kids begin to realize that just because you come from an evil family tree, being good ain't so bad.

Title: The Isle of the Lost Series: Descendants Author: Melissa de la Cruz ISBN: 1484720970 (ISBN13: 9781484720974) Pages:  311  pages (Hardcover) Published: May 5th 2015 by Disney-Hyperion Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Middle Grade, Children, Adventure

My interest in this novel was thanks to initially seeing advertisements for the first made-for-television Disney movie, The Descendants, which, much like the book here, focuses on the offspring of four of the most notorious neer-do-wells in the Disney universe. (And, as a sidebar, the movie is honestly good, clean fun! I know I’m not in the target audience for it but I really did enjoy it, and the songs are super-catchy.)

Overall, I found The Isle of the Lost to be a speedy, entertaining read. Plot-wise, the novel focuses on and fleshes out the lives of four young antiheros: Mal, daughter of the evil fairy Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty; Evie, daughter of the vain Evil Queen from Snow White; Jay, son of the wizard Jafar from Aladdin; and Carlos, son of puppy-hatin’ Cruella De Vil from 101 Dalmatians. These four teens, their parents, and others like them (read: villains) have been eternally banished to the Isle of the Lost by edict of King Beast (from Beauty and the Beast) who rules the United States of Auradon. As far as the four leads are concerned, they aspire to be as bad as their parents, but they’ve not quite earned their proverbial stripes.

I really enjoyed the character dynamics here, which is what caused me to bump this up from three-stars to four-stars. Even though this is a fantasy story, the teens have to contend with making their parents proud (something that’s a part of growing up even in the real world). Mal struggles most of all as her mother rules the Isle; Evie hopes to maintain her mother’s high standards of outer beauty; Jay is determined to be the best thief on the Isle; and Carlos, who is an inventor at heart, struggles with his fur-loving mom and her demanding ways.

Even though these kids are the flesh and blood of notorious folks, I called them antiheroes for a reason. They’re not do-gooders by nature, so the titles of “hero” and “heroine” don’t fit. On the other hand, these kids aren’t full of cold-blooded, black-hearted evil either, so they don’t qualify as true villains. Instead, they’re antiheroes – figures who are neither consistently moral nor abjectly immoral and who make good, moral choices at times. The best instances of this arrive in the book’s latter half where the gang seeks out the Dragon’s Eye, a magical artifact that will cement Maleficent’s power. Even though from the start Mal acts like this is all about her, her attitude changes and she shows that she’s not entirely like her mom in a good way. As a whole, while there is some teenage drama here (something I cringe at if it happens too much), it’s not all-encompassing as the story focuses more on developing the lead characters as individuals, not having them constantly squabble or wallow in angst.

Overall, character-wise, this is a fun romp, and long-time fans of Disney will be pleased with the incorporation of many familiar faces, from the members of King Beast and Queen Belle’s court to the denizens on the Isle. The author clearly knows her Disney neer-do-wells and presents them in a light that, much like a Disney film, doesn’t negate the fact that they’re not heroes but doesn’t make them psychotic and bloodthirsty either.

As stated, the characters saved this from being a three-star read for me. Writing-wise, this novel is a simple, quick read for adults, but at times, it’s almost a little too simplistic though it manages not to insult an adult reader’s intelligence and, to be fair, this wasn’t penned with grownups in mind anyway. That being said, the best audience for this novel would be pre-teens and young teens (i.e. ages 10 to 15). Anyone younger probably won’t appreciate the character dynamics and/or Disney villain line-up (as they might be too young to be familiar with much of the canon), and anyone older than 16 might not be attracted to the novel’s delivery. However, I, an adult reader, liked it enough to keep it on my bookshelf and I’d definitely read any related books if this happens to become a series. It definitely has potential and I’d love to read more.

Content-wise, this is a very age-appropriate novel for its chief audience. There essentially is no profanity aside from some invented words and a PG-level word here or there, but the occurrence is so sporadic, if you blinked you’d miss them. There really is no violence other than some nasty (but overall harmless) pranks some of the villains pull. Lastly, there is no sexual content of any kind and the interactions Mal and Evie have with Jay and Carlos are chaste and appropriate for their characters’ ages. Overall, parents and guardians should have nothing to fear in handing this novel off to their Disney-loving pre-teen or teen (though I always encourage parents and guardians to read books first as everyone has a different spectrum for gauging appropriateness for various ages).

In the end, The Isle of the Lost is a fun, frothy read with colorful characters and plenty of potential for future adventures. While the writing itself can be a bit too breezy in terms of simplicity, it works as a vehicle to carry the plot and characters. For pre-teens and young teens, this is a treat; and adult readers can enjoy it, too, for its homage to some of Disney’s best of the worst.

[kyluxtrashpit]

2019 Fic Recap

So I’ve done this for the past few years and I started doing it at the end of 2019 but never managed to finish it. I think between TROS and IRL and then I got really, really sick, I just haven’t had the chance to do so. But fuck it, I decided to finish it anyway even though it’s now 3 months late lmao. So anyway, a recap of my 2019 fics

Total wordcount: 96 419 words. Which is less than last year, but still not too shabby. I wish I could’ve banged something out to get it over 100k but eh, it just didn’t happen. I definitely have enough wip words and whatnot to get me over that bump, though

Tough Love, 6572 words, posted Jan 17

So this was an experimental one. As you all know, I’m pretty hard on the sub!Kylo/dom!Hux train. But I had a conversation with a friend and it turned into one of those ‘okay, I don’t like x dynamic because of a, b, and c. But is it possible to write x without those and make it into something I like?’ and as it turns out, yes, yes it was. Thus this fic happened and here we are. I still really like it and I have a lot of Feelings on this dynamic vs the one I usually write, but that’s an essay in and of itself lmao. It got some great feedback too, which was cool

Take My Breath Away, 1230 words, posted Feb 7

Ah yes, this one, which was based off a throwaway KOTOR ability but was an excuse for me to write Kylo getting stuffed from both ends with some asphyxiation thrown in. And also extremely rough sex + softer aftercare is a weakness of mine haha, so I just had to do it

Fix You, 1994 words, posted Feb 10

So this was my first piece for Bad Things Happen Bingo, which is an event I’m still planning to finish at some point lmao, and that I’ve had a lot of fun with so far. This fic was another that I tried for a more ‘classic’ feel with, though it’s a lot softer. The uncomfortable intimacy. The ‘feelings are happening but we won’t talk about them’. The shaky trust. All of that good stuff. I had fun with it

Keep Your Enemies Closer, 1657 words, posted Feb 24

Another for BTHB! I just love when Hux wins, okay. And I think this was one of those time periods where Kylo was doing all the winning in fics and I just. Needed something different lmao. Emperor Hux remains one my all time fave ideas and it’s still a shame canon never gave it to us. But I have the power to make it happen, so I did. Plus Kylo in a shock collar is always fun >:)

Indulgence, 17 357 works, completed Apr 19, first posted Mar 28

So! This was a continuation to my experiment from above and really it was just an excuse for lots of smut and pampering lmao. Much as I had thought I had said everything I wanted to say with Tough Love, apparently I had not, and this monstrosity formed. There may be a third, more serious piece to finish off the series this year, but I haven’t decided yet. Although, I have to admit, I’m still surprised how poorly this fic did feedback-wise, especially compared to its predecessor and considering it’s the more popular dynamic these days. Tbh some of my best smut is in this fic imo, but ah well, sometimes people just don’t like things and I suppose I have to accept that, even if I’m really, really proud of that thing

(Okay and the rest are behind a cut for length)

Best Served Bloody, 2666 words, posted Apr 29

Another BTHB and, again, not much deeper to it. Beating up Brendol is always fun though lmao. And when I was writing this, I really wanted Hux to be the one to strike at his father. A lot of pieces have Kylo doing it, which is great, but I wanted to do something a little different. I wanted Hux to have the power to save himself. It was fun to write in that way, as a powerful revenge fantasy

The Best, 6450 words, posted May 12

Ah, now this was a fun one lmao. It was born of a horny crack idea but I can’t do real crack, so it ended up as crack treated seriously. And really, I just wanted an excuse to have Kylo sucking dick. A lot of dick. All the dicks he can find lmao. Slutty Kylo fic remains my favourite pwp, so I gotta contribute to the cause, you know. It was a delight to write, though challenging cause it kept turning me on LMAO. Totally worth it though. It was one of the most fun this year for sure

Be My Outlet, 1003 words, posted May 23

There’s not really much of a story behind this one haha. I was horny and I wanted some classic, Not Nice Hux and hatefucking, thus this exists. Plus I miss Kylo getting choked and it’s rare these days to see stuff quite this rough. I also have a bit of a somnophilia thing, which this sort of fits in to. And I’m always a fan of messy, masochist Kylo. So yeah. Idk it’s smut lmao what else could we want? It’s just a short little pwp, but I had a lot of fun with it and it was nice to revisit the classic kylux days

Safe Harbour, 1616 words, posted Jun 13

This one was for kyluxomegaverse week and it was very fun. A/b/o is one of those tropes where I really, really like a lot of it, but there’s also some stuff that’s much less my cup of tea. So I don’t write a lot of it, even though there are aspects of it that I adore. Which this one includes a lot of lmao. I think the nesting is fucking adorable and I wanted to write something soft, so here we are. Plus omega!Kylo is just delightful. Also looking back on it now, this one did really well? Holy shit, I had no idea it was that popular!

With Dignity, 4475 words, posted Jul 1

This was the last for BTHB that I managed last year (and I still intend to finish my card eventually, it’s just been a rough go so far this year lmao). I’m actually very proud of this one because this is the exact sort of angst I love to write. I didn’t intend for it to be as heavy as it ended up being, but when I started looking up the mechanics of force-feeding and reading about the experience of it, the plan changed drastically because holy fuck. I had never thought of it as that much of a torture before. I also enjoy with Hux like, making the reader feel bad for him while also actively reminding them he’s awful and getting that perfect cognitive dissonance. So this was a great excuse to do exactly that. And I love how tough he is even in such circumstances. Despite the heavy subject matter, I had a blast with this one

Greener Grass, 3389 words, posted Jul 14

This one was originally a twitter thread that really got away from me lmao, so I edited it and put it on ao3 because I really liked it. I’ve always liked self-cest as a concept and I thought it’d be interesting for Kylo to interact with a version of himself that made some different choices. One that was happier. And then we see Kylo through Ben’s eyes, see what the dark side has wrought for him. And then, of course, some smut to pull it all together lmao. It was a really fun character study and I had a grand time with it

Subliminal, 5719 words, posted Aug 23

This one! Okay so I’m pretty sure I sent in a couple of khk prompts over the years that were basically this, but no one ever wrote them so I finally did it. I’m honestly surprised hypno kink isn’t actually used more in kylux, considering Hux is canonically in charge of the brainwashing program. So much potential. So I had to write it. I also went down quite a few rabbit holes in researching this (with mixed success lmao) and learned a whole lot about hypno kink in the process. I may have even acquired it as a fetish lmao. But anyway, this one’s a bit darker and it’s fun to write those every once in a while. I think I pulled it off well too

Ashes Among the Stars, 36634 words, posted Dec 1

Ah and my big bang this year! I had a blast with this one although it was quite the challenge. My first fandom was gundam so when I saw this prompt I was very intrigued and ended up getting it. This fic had a lot more world-building than I usually do, which was the primary challenge as I basically had to take aspects from both franchises and sew them together into a new world of its own. I think I did that rather successfully tbh. The plot gave me trouble too but also gave me some of my best eureka moments haha. My partner was also wonderful and made the experience that much better. I know crossovers don’t tend to perform as well, so I was expecting that, though I do wish some more people had given it a chance since I wrote it specifically so that no prior knowledge was needed. But alas, I’m still incredibly proud of it. It’s also my second longest fic ever!

Filthy, 5657 words, posted Dec 9

And here it is, the gangbang fic I’ve always wanted to exist lmao. I had wanted to write this one for a long time, but I could never figure out how to end it, what circumstances would lead to the gangbang. Then a convo with friends gave me the idea and boom, I could finally write it. This fic is just straight up smut and I fucking love it lmao. There needs to be more Kylo gangbang fics tbh

What have I learned?

Last year wasn’t as successful for writing as I’d hoped, given that I wrote less in 2019 than I did in 2018. But also a lot of things happened to me last year. I got a new role at work. My dad had a heart attack (he’s okay though). I had a pretty rough time with my mental health. And then there was the lead up to TROS and the frankly unnecessary amount of stress that caused me. So there was a lot going on and working against me, which is a large part of why I didn’t manage to write as much as I’d hoped I would, and there’s a lot in my folder that I started but just wasn’t able to finish before the end of the year. I worried for a while I was losing interest, but looking back, no, it was definitely the IRL shit lmao. That said, I’m also extremely happy with all of the pieces I did finish, regardless of how well they did. I’m proud of them and I loved writing them, even when it was difficult

One of my goals from last year was to write more, which I didn’t manage, and to get better at answering comments, which I think I did well on for the most part up until post-TROS lmao. I also wanted to do the big bang again (and I was hoping for a reverse, which it was!) and I did. And I also wanted to have fun and keep my confidence with my writing, which I think I was the most successful at. I feel really good about everything I made and I really enjoyed writing them, even if I didn’t manage to finish everything

Goals for 2020?

I think part of the reason I didn’t finish this post in 2019 is because of my TROS breakdown and subsequent stresses associated with it. Because I wasn’t sure what I wanted or what I was going to do. Sometimes I wanted to give up and find a new fandom/ship, other times I was sure I was over it and going to just do whatever the fuck I wanted, and then there was every emotion in between

Now, though, I’m sure I’m going to keep writing here. I haven’t managed much this year yet, but I can feel it coming back to me. I have a post-TROS fic I managed to solve a major problem with the other day. I also have renben as a new ship to excite me. And I still have a lot of wips and BTHB and various others I desperately want to do. Right now, I feel good about my writing and my interest in it is back to normal, which is great. So this year? I’m not going to set a hard goal. I’d love to write more than last year and maybe I will, but it’s okay if I don’t. I’d love to do another big bang this year, but I’m not going to kick myself if I can’t handle it when that time comes. I’d love to finish BTHB, but if it stretches into another year, who cares? My only goal is to just keep writing and keep enjoying it. I want to have fun with it. I want to be happy with whatever pieces I do manage to put out. I want to set aside time to read more fics from others, if I can. And I think all of those will really help with my mental health, which is starting to recover right now, and that’s what’s most important of all

Also thank you all for your patience with me. I know I’ve not been responsive, here or on twitter or to comments, but I am trying my best. It’s been a rough go and I don’t like to whine too much in my fandom spaces. I don’t know when or even if I’ll get back to normal, but I’m trying, and that’s what matters. I love every one of you on here <3

[charaznablescanontoyota]

for the ask meme: nora perez and/or kennedy loser

i will do them both because WHY NOT and also because i am many thoughts head full about the crabs

NORA PEREZ

favorite thing about them

i LOVE a psychopomp character and also a tired academic. i love that after literal months of nora having literally no lore or anything there was a great outpouring of ‘oh what if nora was [x]’ content. my favorite interpretation of her is definitely her as an overworked grad student/intern who joined the crabs as sort of a work study thing and then died and ended up as the monitor’s administrative assistant bc the monitor can’t get its shit together by itself obviously

least favorite thing about them

i would like to see more fan interpretations of her!!! a lot of the crabs have wildly different interpretations/art and we haven’t gotten there with nora yet

favorite line

UHHHH IDK..................THERE’S NOT THAT MUCH NORA CONTENT SO I GENUINELY DUNNO

brOTP

nora and pedro davids both being extremely tired academics is one of the first dynamics the crabs decided on for nora and i love it so much. tosser is a tired art student so he can come too

OTP

nora/combs nora/combs nora/combs

nOTP

big shrug

random headcanon

nora goes swimming in the trench a lot! she was a marine biology student who was studying the bay/carcinization so i think she misses the water.

unpopular opinion

i think nora should be allowed to go a little apeshit sometimes. i think this about all the null team people but nora especially bc she’s an overworked academic and i think she’s allowed.

song i associate with them

i have a whole nora playlist! but uhhhh to pick one song probably haunted

favorite picture of them

i uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh might be the only person who’s drawn nora and i’m not gonna repost my own art

KENNEDY LOSER

favorite thing about them

loser being a 30 year old boomer will literally never not make me laugh. i love that he’s sort of the beacon of sanity trying to hold the crabs together but also he can’t figure out how to use twitter. it just tickles me. he was also my very first favorite blaseball player bc i was charmed by how wildly inconsistent his batting is

least favorite thing about them

he went Up and hasn’t come back down yet. please sir

favorite line

brOTP

kennedy and tillman was like the Very First Ever dynamic among the crabs that i was interested in bc i thought it was really funny that tillman was younger than him and just bullied him into doing the most insane bullshit bc loser is a pushover. i’m also a little bit partial to loser and forrest best being introvert buddies

OTP

ehhhh i don’t feel strongly about many loser ships. writing about him and bevan underbuck made me realize they have Potential tho

nOTP

another big shrug

random headcanon

he really likes 80s music

unpopular opinion

ehhhhhhh i don’t generally vibe with people pulling him in the direction of being like an angst character. i think Some of the stuff with him not having people to talk to about his problems and being like ‘i’ll bottle up my emotions and then i’ll die’ is interesting but i don’t love him falling victim to ‘let’s make everyone fucked up and traumatized’ lmao

song i associate with them

working man

favorite picture of them

i love goblin’s losers......................so much.........................

[epicstuckyficrecs]

How To Tag Stucky Fics Part 3: Additional Tags

The Additional Tags are probably the hardest to fill out, but also the most important! All of the other fields are pretty straightforward when it comes to what you need to put in, but here? It’s the Wild West! You can pretty much write as much or as little as you want, but those tags are really gonna be the ones that will let potential readers know what is in your fic. In fact, they’re probably as important as your summary 

If you want an easy reminder of what to tag for, keep in mind the W’s: WHO, WHAT, WHEN, and WHERE? 

Under a read more because this is long!

Who

Character traits

We’ve already settled which characters are appearing in your fic, now it’s time to tell us more about WHO they are. This can include:

Physical traits

Personality traits

Jobs

Sexuality and other sex-related stuff

Religion

Nationality 

Disabilities and mental illnesses

Fantasy creatures: vampire, werewolf, angel and demon… you get the gist.

MCU specific stuff

etc.

In my opinion, these tags are useful if the characteristic in question is something that is memorable, important with regards to the plot, something that defines the character in your story specifically, or something that differs from canon. I don’t really need to know that your fic contains some Shy Bucky Barnes if it’s not somewhat important to the story; you probably don’t need to tag for “British Peggy Carter” since thats just the default canon, but you could tag “American Peggy Carter” if she’s American in your AU!

I’ve mentioned a lot of them in my Comprehensive List of Stucky Tags post, but it’s not actually a complete list! If you want to know all of the canon tags existing for a specific character: go on AO3 and click on the Search tab on top of the page > Tags > Enter the character’s name > Select “Freeform” in the list > Click “canonical”. 

And besides, if you can’t find a canonical tag for what you want, you can always invent one! Just remember: if you wanna create a freeform tag for a character, please make sure to use the characters’ LAST NAME too, in order to help tag wranglers! For example: if you want to tag for Steve having black hair, you should write something like “Steve Rogers has black hair”, and not just “Steve has black hair”, because at the moment there are 279 canonical “Steve” character tags so… who knows which Steve you’re talking about? XD

As for some things specific to the MCU, again, I’ve listed a lot of them in my Comprehensive List of Stucky Tags post, but I would tag especially anything that differs from canon, for example, “Steve Rogers as the Winter Soldier” or “Bucky Barnes as Captain America”. You can check out the post if you wanna have an idea of the canonical tags that already exist, but once again, you can always create your own tags and let the wranglers deal with it! :P Just make sure to use the characters’ last name in your tag.

Another tip: if there’s a dichotomy in the character roles or attributes, or opposite roles/positions between the characters, I would make sure to tag them both! For example: 

Don’t just tag “Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics”: also tag Alpha Bucky Barnes, Omega Steve Rogers, or vice-versa

Don’t just tag “BDSM”: also tag Dom Steve Rogers, Sub Bucky Barnes, or vice-versa

Don’t just tag “Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons”: also tag Angel Steve Rogers, Demon Bucky Barnes, or vice-versa

etc.

Relationships

Why am I talking about relationships again, you say? Haven’t we covered that in Part 2 of the series? Yes I did. But here’s a little reminder of what I said then:

“Any side pairings/friendships can go in the Additional Tags field (for example: Minor Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov or Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes Friendship).”

So there’s a few types of relationships that you can consider here: 

Friendships: you can decide wether you want to mention the friendship in the Relationships field, in the Additional Tags field, or both. That’s your choice!

Past relationships, minor/side relationships: I personally would put them only in the Additional Tags field (NOT in the Relationship field), and here’s why: 

Putting “past” or “minor” or “side” or whatever else qualifier in front of your ship in the Relationships field makes it a non-canonical tag (only the Additional tags can be non-canonical, or “freeform”. Like I’ve said in Part 2: try to only use canonical tags for the Fandom, Relationship, and Characters fields). That means that your tag is gonna be made a synonym of a canon tag. For example: the non-canonical “(Past) Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers” tag that a few people have used is a synonym of the canon “Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers” tag. That means that those past Peggy/Steve fics appear in the Steve/Peggy tag. Are people looking for Steggy fics likely to want to read past Steggy fics? You tell me...

If you’re tagging with the canon tag, but the couple is only a side/minor pairing, it might annoy people who are looking for fics in that tag and keep seeing fics that are not about their ship. This is especially true if the ship is less popular in the fandom.

So TLDR in my opinion: tag your main couple (if you’re writing a romance) or your main friendship/platonic relationship (if you’re writing a Gen fic) in the Relationship field, and tag everything else in the Additional Tags field.

POV

You can specify from which POV your fic is written from. Personally, I would pay attention to this mostly if your POV differs from the classic “3rd person” Steve or Bucky POV. Some existing tags tags to give you an idea:

POV Steve Rogers

POV Bucky Barnes

POV Sam Wilson or POV Natasha Romanov, etc.

POV Outsider or POV Original Character

POV First Person or POV Second Person

POV Alternating

POV Multiple  

What

This is pretty self-explanatory, but you want to tell your readers what’s in your story! What’s happening? What’s the plot about? What are some specific subjects/themes your story contains?

Genres

When I think about genres, I always picture the FF.net categories lol XD. But it’s actually a good way to look at it!Here’s a few examples on AO3:

Action/Adventure

Angst

Character Study

Crack

Crimes and Criminals

Crossovers & Fandom Fusions

Family

Fluff

Friendship

Humor

Hurt/Comfort

Love

Mystery

Pining

Porn

Romance

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Sexual content

Smut

I wouldn’t say these are the most essential tags, but they can give your readers a general idea of the tone/content of your story.

Relationship

On top of that, we want to know what kind of relationship your ship has in this fic! What are they to each other? What’s their progression? Here’s a few examples:

Boss/Employee Relationship

Break Up

Childhood Friends

Enemies to Friends to Lovers

Established Relationship

Fake/Pretend Relationship

Friends to Lovers

Friends With Benefits

Getting Together

Long-Distance Relationship

Strangers to Lovers

Triggers

It can be hard to know what to tag with regards to triggers. I’d say better safe than sorry, and be open to suggestions and comments from your readers, especially with triggers. 

Here’s a few examples to give you an idea what to tag for, which are taken from this great triggers list, but I definitely suggest you take a look at this post and bookmark it for whenever you need to tag your fics!

Violence:

Death: main/minor character death, animal death, child death...

Suicide: suicide attempt, suicidal thoughts, suicidal “insert character name”, ... 

Abuse: child abuse, domestic abuse, sexual abuse, emotionnal abuse, gaslighting... 

Assault

Torture

Kidnapping

Stalking

Sex:

Rape/Sexual assault/Non con

Dub con

Incest

Specific sex acts: like @kiragecko says in the post I linked: “some people search for, others want to avoid”. 

Specify if your characters are being Safe Sane and Consensual or not when engaging in kinky sex.

Health:

Drugs and/or Alcohol

Food

Illnesses (physical or mental)

Pregnancy: mpreg, miscariage

Self-harm

Panic attacks, PTSD, dissociation

Phobias: 

Any phobias that your character(s) have and are specifically mentioned/depicted in your fic

Common phobias: spiders, clowns, hospitals...

Gross content:

Gore

Bodily fluids

Smut

I’ve said it above in the triggers section, but you can tag sexual acts appearing in your story as a way to both attract readers who are looking for them and help readers who want to avoid them. 

If your story has a lot of smut, you might be reluctant to tagging all of them in fear of making your tag list very long. I would always at least indicate in your tags that there’s Sexual Content in your fic; then, you could do like I’ve suggested with the Warnings and add something like “more info about specific sexual acts in the author’s note” to your tags, and make a detailed list of sexual acts in your authors’ note.

Here’s a few generic tags about smut, and here’s a link to all the different canon “sex” tags (350 at the moment!)

Angst and Fluff and Smut

Angst and Porn

Emotional Porn

Eventual Smut

Fluff and Smut

Identity Porn

Mild Sexual Content 

Mild Smut 

No Smut 

Non-Graphic Smut 

Porn with Feelings 

Porn With Plot

Sexual Tension

Unresolved Sexual Tension 

When

MCU

In my post about Stucky tags, I made a list of a lot of tags regarding the MCU movies. Not all of them of course, this list was mainly focused on movies where Stucky would appear, but you get the gist. We want to know WHEN in the MCU your fic is happening.

I’m not gonna list every single MCU movie and all of their tags, but basically you have a few options:

Pre-movie

Movie

Movie mid/end credit scenes

Post-movie

Movie compliant

Not Movie compliant

Canon divergence

Canon divergence - post movie

Some movies also have specific tags for their trailers. I would recommend using the trailer tag if you are indeed writing your fic based on the trailer of a movie that isn’t out yet (you could also add the movie’s specific “spoiler” tag too while you’re at it!) in order for people to be able to avoid spoilers if they want to.

Moreover, in the case of movies that are canonically happening in another time, you could also add the relevant tags if it’s pertinent! (for example, with The First Avenger: 1930s or World War II). You can also refer to events that happened within the MCU (example: Battle of New York (Marvel)).

Alternate Universe

Whatever era or time your fic is happening in, there’s probably a tag for that! There’s a tag for every decade of the 20th century and pretty much every century too. Is it a Victorian, Ancient Rome, or a Future fic? 

But even if it’s just a simple Alternate Universe - Modern Setting with No Powers … there are tags for that too! :P 

If there’s a specific historical/fictional event that your story is centered around, you could tag it too! For example: PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics, World War I, 2008 United States Presidential Election, Battle of Hogwarts, 75th Hunger Games, etc.

Don’t forget your holidays! Christmas, Valentine's Day, Halloween, to name a few...

Where

Self-explanatory again, but where is your story taking place? :P Again, maybe not the most important tag category to consider, but I would use it especially if the story is taking place in a specific/unusual place for the canon or your ship. See examples below!

MCU

Avengers Tower

Avengers Compound

Red Room (Marvel)

Sanctum Sanctorum (Marvel) 

Wakanda (Marvel)

Asgard (Marvel)

Alternate universe

(Reminder: There’s sooooooooooo many different Alternate Universe tags!)

If your AU is taking place in a different country/city, you can mention it! You could either go with the AU tag or just the tag for the place itself. For example: Alternate Universe - Canada or Canada. 

But it can also be even more precise than that! Stuck in a cabin during a snowstorm? There’s Cabin Fic! Steve and Bucky are men of the Night’s Watch? Maybe tag Castle Black! You get the gist ;) 

And lastly...

Format

(inspired by this post from @salt-of-the-ao3 on tumblr)

If your fic has a specific format, you can specify it! Here’s a few suggestions:

Drabble

Epistolary

Songfic

Poetry

Reader-Insert 

And I think that’s it folks! All you need to know to tag your fics the best you can! :)

See Part 1: A Comprehensive List of Stucky Tags here!

See Part 2: Rating, Warnings, Fandoms, Relationships & Characters here!

You can also access a handy bullet-point checklist that summarizes these posts on Google Docs here! 

[diveronarpg]

Congratulations, BREE! You’ve been accepted for the role of BIANCA. Admin Rosey: I think the first thing that came to mind was how powerfully you captured Bunny's voice, Bree. You. Absolutely. Killed it. Your plot points built upon one after the other which shows how you plan to lay the foundation for her and force her to grow, no matter how much she kicks up her heels about it. It can be difficult trying to force a character like Bunny to grow without taking away from what makes her so intriguing and fun, but wow. Am I so very glad to have her added to the ranks, ready to bring us chaos and absolute ruin. Please read over the checklist and send in your blog within 24 hours.

WELCOME TO THE MOB.

Out of Character

Alias | Bree.

Age | Twenty.

Preferred Pronouns | She/her.

Activity Level | I’m studying engineering and running collegiately, so the short answer is that I’m not entirely sure. The long answer is that my activity will ebb and flow depending on my schedule; some weeks are easier than others. But I’ll do my damnedest to be around, even if that means firing off ugly-formatted replies on mobile (or having Rosey or Kiersten format them for me… we’ve done it before).

Timezone | CST.

How did you find the rp?  | English class my senior year of high school, with the help of Rosey (no, seriously). I’ve been watching from afar, and I couldn’t stay away.

Current/Past RP Accounts | here, here, and here

In Character

Character | Bianca; Bernadette “Bunny” Dupont

What drew you to this character? | Well… originally, I wrote her. But since that sounds like a cop-out and I can never pass up the opportunity to wax poetic about one of my literary children, I’ll bite. ;)

She’s a piece of work. No, not that kind of work, not artwork—given her art forging expertise, that would be a cliché, and neither I nor Bunny are particularly fond of those. I mean that she’s single-handedly both the easiest and the most difficult character I’ve ever written and, I might argue, will ever write. Self-absorbed and yet oddly self-aware, vulgar in the delicate way only someone with a face like hers could be, and so tenderly cruel it’s endearing—she’s awful, but writing her has never been an inkling as heavy as writing equally diabolical characters has been in the past. She’s somehow able to be a light-hearted character in an environment where that sort of label tends to be reserved for characters like Maeve, all flower petals and naivete and ripe for the slaughter—without encompassing any of that. I don’t know, maybe it’s her youthful appearance, maybe it’s her love of candy and strawberries and her tendency to act so much like a child, or maybe it’s that careful balance between what she appears to be, what she’d like to be, and who she is, but she manages to check off some boxes that appear at first glance to be mutually exclusive. She lacks any concrete ambition outside of being revered, yet she possesses the potential to climb, to do some terrible things, because of that unfocused ambition. Her selfishness makes her a target for manipulation while being an avid manipulator herself. Her priorities are bottoms-up and she’s hardly got what most would call a good head on her shoulders, but damn if she isn’t a coquettish kind of cunning.

I thought I wouldn’t even know where to begin, but I’m having trouble finding where to end. The point is, I love this little brat.

What is a future plot idea you have in mind for the character? | Where do you see this character developing, and what kind of actions would you have them take to get there? 3 future plot ideas would be preferable.

Piss off, Picasso: It’s only fitting, I suppose, that a little girl so proficient at mocking her sister (and her friends) behind her doting parents’ backs should grow up and learn to put that art of imitation to good, more mature use in the mob. She’s got it all going for her, really; wealthy upbringing, an eye for detail, and a shameless disregard for plucking coins from the purses of others to feed her own greed—what could go wrong? Plenty. And while I’d definitely like to explore the aftermath of what might happen if she got sloppy and was found out, she’s got her fair share of trouble on her plate right now with her—er, bad publicity. So first, I’d like to see her do well. I’d like to see her get overconfident, make connections, be successful. Once she’s finished throwing her little tantrum about my next plot idea, she’ll probably be inclined to hone her skills, sell a few more paintings to get out of the hole she stumbled into. After all, respect isn’t earned in Bunny’s world; it’s bought.

Paparazzi: It’s not what it looks like. Come on, he isn’t even that cute. Bunny’s moment of weakness, if it can be called that, presents obvious potential for her to either pull herself up by the bootstraps (imagine) or dig herself even farther. This might be the first time she’s gotten into any real trouble, especially the kind that Daddy Dupont couldn’t fix, and she’s not going to handle it well. But her knee-jerk reaction should make for good comedy and some even better plots. How far will she go to prove that she’s still just as loyal to the Capulets as she’s always been (which is to say, not particularly?)? What other mistakes can she make? It’s time to get her pretty little hands dirty, I think. She’s too proud to ask her sister for help, but all bets are off when it comes to Cyrus. Hell, maybe even her connection to Boris can come into play here (counterproductive, probably).

This Is What Makes Us Girls: The relationship Bunny has with Maeve and Juliana is one of my favorite parts about her, because it’s one of the best means for me to flesh out and play with all of the different sides of Bunny. They’re a pretty integral part to the image she keeps up—both that of a dignified daughter and a girl still steeped in candy-lacquered youth, and it’s for that reason that her secret dislike/jealousy of them both is so… telling? Bunny’s conceited, sure, but she is—at her core—insecure. And insecure people—insecure teenage girls, although she’s aged out of that territory—do pretty terrible things. I want to explore the dynamic within this friend group. I want to see her sabotage something important to Juliana. I want to see her have Maeve do her bidding, see her put her friends in harm’s way. Betrayal doesn’t always call for bloodshed; sometimes cutting deep doesn’t call for a knife.

Are you comfortable with killing off your character? | Eh… as much as I’d love to give the usual “yes, give me all the angst,” I’m not really sure that Bunny is the type of character whose death will serve a purpose/further the plot, to be honest. Only the good die young, and she’s anything but.

If at any point the plot calls for it, we can talk about it, but I don’t foresee her developing in such a way that I’d suggest it.

In Depth

What is your favorite place in Verona? |

That’s a stupid question, she thinks, smoothing out the hem of her skirt and settling contentedly into the plush armchair, half-business and half-play. It’s a copout, almost—the daytime equivalent of asking someone’s favorite color in truth or dare. It’s a wasted turn, a missed opportunity. If she wanted to write love letters to the streets of Verona, she’d pick up the noble art of journaling.

In any case, the answer was most certainly a harrowing tie between her clawfoot bathtub and the half of her king-sized bed farthest from the window—but that sounded so infantile even she might’ve quirked an eyebrow at such a response. This, she realizes, is what it’s like to grow older: to make terrible small talk over lukewarm tea and lie in more dignified ways than she had in her youth.

(She’s twenty-one years, two months, and three days old. This is middle age. This is melodrama.)

“There’s a little candy shop a few blocks from the foot of the Castelvecchio. Their chocolate-covered strawberries are to die for.”

What does your typical day look like?

She likes this one—likes the way it sounds like a question straight out of the magazines she reads in her near-infinite free time, all gloss and understated glamour. In fact, she’s spent a perhaps embarrassing amount of time crafting responses to such a question in the event that she were ever asked, and although this isn’t exactly the avenue she’d had in mind, it’ll do.

Let it never be said that Bunny Dupont cannot compromise.

“I like to wake before the sun,” she lies elegantly, matter-of-factly, knowing damn well that just this morning she’d slumbered until noon but eager to portray the image of a young woman with her shit thoroughly together. The corners of her pink lips turn up in a smile, as if the very thought of a sunrise sways her to cliché thoughts of new beginnings and second chances, of the kinds of phrases befitting the tacky dollar-store decorations Maeve collects like an old man does stamps. How very carpe diem of her.

“I wash my face, have a cup of tea, and try to get a bit of reading done.” When she puts it that way, it sounds quite a bit more like a sophisticated heiress devouring novels in the early morning light than the slightly-less-respectable-but-nonetheless-true alternative of a troublemaker surveying last night’s damage, pastries piled with whipped cream within arm’s reach.

“I like to meet my friends for brunch. Juliana and I are regulars at The Phoenix and the Turtle,” she says delicately, deliberate with her inclusion of the Capulet girl’s name and her exclusion of any others. “I’ll paint a bit in the afternoons…” The little blonde trails off, green eyes darting about as if calling the remainder of her routine to mind. The truth is that she’s already grown bored, and perhaps that’s her own fault; it can get exhausting, pretending to be responsible, truly exhausting—but playing pretend is too fun. “And home for dinner, always.”

What has been your biggest mistake thus far?

She twirls a strand of cotton-blonde hair around her finger, a coy display of sheepishness befitting a schoolgirl. What was her biggest mistake? The question demands a certain sort of humility, a level of introspection and honesty she’s never had the need to stoop to in all her years as the Dupont family darling, and if she were a tad less shameless it might even be a little—what’s the word?—unnerving. There was a reason she’d been dutiful enough to go to church on Sundays with her father but had avoided the confessional like her mother avoided carbs, and that reason had nothing to do—okay, fine, but only a little— to do with an aversion to being on her knees.

But she’s nothing if not an opportunist, a performer, and she treads the line between timid and cruel when she remarks, “I held a Montague boy’s hand once. Went home and went through two bars of soap.”

What has been the most difficult task asked of you?

“Firing a gun,” Bunny admits, leaning in as if to let the intern in on a secret, “It’s harder than I expected. “Pulling the trigger, I mean. Takes a bit more pressure than they show you in the movies.” Leave it to her to turn such a grim discussion to something a bit less uncomfortable, a bit more palatable. Leave it to her to dodge the—well, difficult—questions. When have you failed? When have you struggled? How have you grown?

In two words: she hasn’t. (In another two: not yet.)

What are your thoughts on the war between the Capulets and the Montagues?

Lingering in the air like her favorite perfume was a rule oft-spoken and waiting to be broken: no politics, it’s simply not lady-like. Her father’s banks backed the Capulets, and where the money went, the Duponts surely followed. For all her selfishness and disdain for anything which drew the attention away from her and her needs, Bunny Dupont understood the necessity of these things—of petty grudges and not-so-petty crimes—for people like them. Wars, even wars like these, needed money: a lot of it.

“I don’t feel I know enough to say much about it,” she says carefully, the gleam in her green eyes looking more like a trick of the light and less like a clue. “I only wish there weren’t so much blood.”

Why? It left a nasty stain.

Extras: If you have anything else you’d like to include (further headcanons, an inspo tag, a mock blog, etc), feel free to share it here! This is OPTIONAL.

Headcanons:

When she was little, she wanted to be an actress or an only child: the former, she told her parents, and the latter, she told her sister.

Her hard liquor of choice is vodka, the flavored kind—the sweeter, the better. She’s mastered the art of taking shots of it with a straight face after many years of practice.

Strawberries are her favorite. Chocolate-covered, in champagne—you name it.

In high school, she got her kicks by scaring off boys who approached her to get a leg-up on wooing Juliana. So many potential suitors shot down, convinced that Cosimo would have them shipped off to some foreign land without their heads or their manhood.

Once, she promised Maeve she’d get her crush to ask her on a date. She was only half a virgin after that. He never called Maeve.

She’s a Gemini (May 30th).

[pinkletterday]

Writer's Year In Review

This year has been a revelation. I went from deeply, irrevocably believing I can't write fiction at all to knowing that I'm actually pretty good at it!

It's given me the confidence to find work as a freelance writer and editor in real life, after years of unemployment and anxious paralysis resulting from chronic illness and trauma. A lot of other factors also helped but the fic writing played a huge role in getting my shit together.

General Fic Stats:

Word Count on AO3: 92284

Fics posted to AO3: 23

Favourite Fic:

Kiss It Better (Westallen).This fic is my baby. I love little Iris and little Barry in it so much, the hurt and confusion in each other they attempted to heal, how that healing carried into their adult love and family. It will always and always be my favourite thing I have ever written. Wee!stallen is my jam, and the reason I ship them so damn hard.

Do Not Go Gentle (Westallen). Ngl, I love this for the sheer amount of truly gratifying comments. Every single one of them have been emotional and flaily. It all makes me feel like I may have finally levelled up. Hallelujah. xD

Funniest Fic:

The Care and Feeding (Queenwestallen). This is my ultimate OT3. This fic, written as a list and discussion is 95% humour and contains some of my best banter and (I feel) characterization. An element I'm really proud of is how I managed to center and include all their important non-romantic relationships in their conversations. Iris's boisterous female friends, Oliver's friends, Cisco and Caitlin's snarky commentary all shoehorned themselves into the list with hilarious and wholesome results. 

It's not a popular OT3 but I feel like it's a good first attempt to drag this ship to water. xD

Cutest Fic:

Dancing Queen (Olivarry). Even after a year this contiues to be the fic with the highest kudos ratio (except for the more recent one) and the second most bookmarked. I love getting comments on this because they are all some variation of "my teeth hurt. I have diabetes!" xD Well, I did build it around a rainbow sprinkle icing sugar donut, but there is a significant dollop of angst there in the middle. A flangst donut.

Your Vigil In My Keeping (Westallen). This fic has less than 200 hits but has the highest kudos ratio of all. I guess kid fic isn't everyone's cup of tea, but Wee!stallen is cute af yo. I headcanon the origins of Barry and Iris's steadfast partnership in this story, where her faith and belief in him is as strong as his protectiveness of her, all tied up in the language and innocence of children.

Kinkiest Fic:

WA Smut and Kink Collection. I literally just posted this yesterday lol. So far it's just a face-sitting short, but I have quite a few hard and soft kinks lined up. Westallen needs more hard smut tbh, and they have such a unique powerfully loving dynamic that every kink I'm writing has required me to come at it a little bit sideways with a whole lot of emotional focus.

Saddest Fic:

Three fics I can't choose from.

Do Not Go Gentle (Westallen). This is basically Iris's grief and fear in a raging tempest, and it's strongly implied that the future Nora has warned them of will come to pass regardless of what they do. The fact is that there already is and will be a timeline where Iris loses Barry, just as there must be one where she won't, because that is the nature of potentiality. 

The Paradigm of Uncertainty (Westallen). This was a drabble almost, that ruminates on the probability that speedsters do not erase timelines but abandon them, along those versions of their loved ones. It's as @rkwago's brilliant comment says: "Iris hurts in so many weird, cosmic ways that her life is almost an eldritch horror house," which is the most perfect description ever of what it means to be a time traveller's wife.

The Universal Constant (Gen, background WA). A lot of people find the way Barry goes off on Joe cathartic in this fic, and so do I. But it's not so simple. I don't think Joe was wrong to form the views he did, or that anyone was in the wrong really. As @sophiainspace pointed out, it's a mediation of grief and love, their parallels and continuations between parents and children and lovers. The fact that it takes Henry's death for Barry to find the adult language to articulate to Joe why he will always believe in his father's innocence is a tragedy that cuts three ways.

(This fic is also the reason I have a folder in my drive marked "how to get away with murder" and probably a likely reason to get me arrested one day. xD)

Most Popular Fic:

Strangers In The Cold (Coldflash). The Coldflash fandom is a joy to feed. This was my first smut fic which was preceded by an entire chapter of banter about nothing in particular (except it ended up establishing a background that gave birth to the Coldflash vs Olivarry polyam series) And holy wow, for a newbie writer, the response has been amazing. Looking back, I wince at a lot of writing mistakes and its undeniably rough, but it really bolstered my confidence.

(I feel a little guilty that all my other CF stories are still in my WiP folder while I update the polyam series at snail's pace.)

The Shape of Us (Westallen). I wrote this on tumblr half-asleep one night, half as a rambly headcanon...and woke up to literally one hundred freaking notes. What the hell. Now at over 260, it's the most popular fic I've ever posted on tumblr.

I never consciously intended it to be a body-positivity fic but apparently women really relate to the insecurities of growing older and watching our bodies change with marriage, children and the sheer hectic pace of life. Even my non-fandom friends reblogged it simply for its representation of "real women". Barry's response is my own wish fulfillment fantasy; the sort of total acceptance and validation that we wish we could hear it the times we can't find it in ourselves. In light of the virulent body-shaming Candice Patton has been subjected to ever since she was revealed to have gained a fuller figure in S5, I'm very glad to have written it.

Least Popular Fic:

Carry On (Gen) This character study of Oliver Queen only has 135 hits a year after posting, which is par for the course with gen. But has a solid 12% kudos ratio, which means it's probably as good as I think it is. It's one of my favourite and easiest fics I have ever written.

Love Me Like You Do (Olivarry) Lordy, if my first Coldflash smut filled me with confidence, my first Olivarry smutfic all but ruined it. I struggled with it for a long time, unlike SitC, which I suppose shows in the over-descriptions. I got carried away with the quipping and I guess Barry topping at all is really not popular with slash fans?

Still, I'm honestly toying with the idea of deleting and rewriting it. At least it was a learning experience - don't write smut unless it makes you feel horny yourself.  

Most Challenging Fic:

Do Not Go Gentle (Westallen). I think the reason stories you knock off in two hours are instantly popular while the ones you slaved over for weeks barely get any attention is because the process is reflected in the ease of reading. But this one is an exception. It was an absolute monster, taking three weeks and several revisions to wrestle into submission - and it paid off in spades!  Going by the response, I seem to have achieved the wow factor I was going for.

My only regret is that I posted it on tumblr before the last revision that finally made it work, so that too many readers saw the lacklustre version rather than the polished one.

Honorable Mention:

A Stitch In Time (Olivarry for now, eventual Queenwestallen) Baby's first multi-chapter! Admittedly chapters 3 and 4 have been languishing in my drive for a few months now and this thing has 100% more deleted scenes and outtakes posted to my tumblr than the actual story on AO3. But I'm so proud of it! I learned to write action scenes because of it, how to write climaxes, dream sequences, news articles and tell a story in several different formats. It made me rediscover my empathy for Felicity and write her as a PoV character, think deeply on Laurel Lance's losses and give voice to her struggles, and explore how a real friendship and understanding could evolve between Oliver and Iris out of their mutual love for Barry. (Centering female characters within manpain narratives, ftw! Otoh, I centered Iris so much it veered off the Olivarry rails into Queenwestallen territory on its own)

There is so much meaty conflict and delicious looming disaster in this story that I'm determined going to keep at it, even if slow and steady. If only to bring the light of Barry/Iris/Oliver into the world. xD

Holding On (Olivarry). This real-world disability AU deals with chronic and mental illness and the precariousness and personal demons of that reality. I tore out the rawest parts of my life for this fic and put them on display so that I couldn't bear to show it to anyone for a year after it was written.

I'm very glad I did finally brush it off and put it up because it has struck a chord with so many people, especially other Spoonies. The low number of hits on a fic that deals in hurt/comfort rather stings, as I can't help but think the disinterest is because of the "disability" and "neurodivergence" tags. But I still think it's one of the best things I've written and one I'll always be proudest of.

General Reflections:

Things I've learned over the past year of writing:

- Self-deprecation is not my friend. I need to be honest enough with myself to acknowledge when my writing is good, because either I self-validate and build confidence or I become a black hole of insecurity where validation goes to die. And if I think I'm a bit better than I actually am, it's not just okay but necessary to believe it.

- What I call writer's block is perfectionism, anxiety and physical and mental fatigue. If I don't eat, sleep, hydrate and acheive a relaxed mental state, I won't be able to write. 

- Momentum is more my friend than any amount of inspiration and motivation. Sitting my ass down and make it a habit to churn out X number of words a day, even bad writing, will do more to help me than polishing an idea to a high shine. 

- If I don't forgive myself for the stories I can't write I'll never write anything. I am doing this for free, to share the love and joy and therefore obligated to no one. 

- I'm capable of writing things I don't have the first idea how to write. My fingers on a keyboard can paint the picture my brain can't visualize. 

I don't believe in New Year's resolutions, but I am going to make it a personal goal to write at least 15k words per month, learn to stick to a posting schedule where possible.  and end next year with an additional 150k words posted. 

To everyone who follows this blog, commented, reblogged and liked my posts - I see and remember and appreciate every one of you. You're the reason I feel seen and valued and why I am motivated to keep writing through all the difficulties life throws at me. <3<3<3