#even more so when you consider that I don't think zelena has any way of knowing what 'the wild west' is or means since as far as i can tell

[cogentranting]

I’m convinced that 90% of Zelena’s dialogue started with the writers staring at a white board that just had the words “wicked” and “green?” written on it in giant letters but the exchange: “This isn’t the wild west” “no dear, it’s the wicked west” is a special kind of stupid and it brings me delight. 

[terrainofheartfelt]

this makes me wonder who your least favourite ouat character are...

ok well...some of the characters just didn't do it for me, some of it had to do with the very weird plots they were given to work with, and some I think just had rancid vibes. for example, I didn't like Author Guy, I don't even remember his name and I am too lazy to look it up at this point. He was just...annoying. I was annoyed by him, which may have been the point but like, I just also kind of hate when these fantasy shows try to do a "creator" storyarc, because, I felt like it was beside the point, you know? I wanted to yell at the tv that the whole point of regina's redemption arc over the course of the show was that she wasn't bound to always be unhappy, if evil isn't born, it's made, then happy endings are made too, and the show, never quite landed that plane.

and, potentially unpopular opinion ahead, the whole lily thing...if they had stayed the course and kept making that character important, maybe I would be on board, but she wasn't there long enough for me to care, but to be honest I was really only in it for the captain swan at that point, so...*shrugs* maybe that one is on me.

maybe I was bothered by zelena initially but dammit if that actress wasn't so fantastic that I wanted her to stick around.

but of the main characters, the series regulars, there's really only one that comes to mind...it's rumple. BUT let me clarify...

the rumple of s1-3: fantastic, interesting villain, compelling character, you feel yourself both rooting for and against him, but after...what happens is what I've started to think as the Chuck Bassification of Rumpelstiltskin.

My read on it is, they built a compelling narrative through season 3, and then they still needed an antagonist in the show to keep the plot moving forward, but they wanted to keep rumple positioned as a romantic lead, so they just decided to...do both, without really reconciling the two. He gets to have his wife and his dark one powers too, manipulates Belle into believing that he's Changed and Good, while still trying to cling to power he doesn't even need, and nearly destroying Hook to do it (my captain swan goggles may also be on for this one sorry not sorry)

one of the most interesting and satisfying moments in the show for me is the 4a finale when Belle finds him out and banishes him because it was like "YES GIRL YOU TAKE YOUR LIFE BACK! he doesn't deserve you!" and then they...walk that back...and it's less than satisfying, because even after that reckoning, motherfucker still doesn't change. but how could he? the show needs an antagonist! but it makes the rumbelle in those latter seasons feel so bleak and hollow. if they wanted to do the pregnancy plot then I think it would have landed better in the 4b time. I'm actaully really partial to the idea of single mom Belle raising her son alone and not letting weird fairytale politics of villainy get in her way. If I had unlimited fic writing time and capability...I would consider it.

so, the show did that Chuck Bassian thing, of trying to shift rumple from the perfectly entertaining villain that he was to the romantic hero one is supposed to root for, without actually having him undergo any meaningful change, or at least not enough that it felt significant enough during those first six seasons (I'll get into it in my reply to your other response, but I kinda view s7 as its own separate thing). And to me it's especially egregious when held up against Regina's journey on the show, during which she has to atone over and over and over again, losing Robin and being broken more times than seems fair, while Rumple gets to keep his "true love" but by doing very little to earn her trust & forgiveness.

[alldatwrite]

Remember the silly post I made a few days ago? Well, I've seen some tweets talking about how abused Regina was by the showrunners in comparison to the rest of the male cast (and even female), and I decided to talk about it.

The tedtalk we had to crate back when I was in high school was part of an English speaking exam, and we could choose any theme. And being the silly little sapphic I am, I went with diversity and representation in fictional media. More especifically, the supposed "diversity" that's just villanised. More especifically, when showrunners create a queer/poc/oppressed in any way character that's supposed to bring the diversity into the show but end up being wrong representation, because it always turns out to be a villain, or unlikable in some way. Some of my examples were Glee's Kurt, who was diversity as in gay but wrong diversity as in annoying and whiny.

Something that I mentioned what was I called the "triple threath", a.k.a women who are LGBT and characters of color and are often villanised. Annalise Keating was an example, but the biggest example to me was Regina Mills.

See, Regina is a woman. She is latina/hispanic (something that you have to figure out yourself because, surprise, they don't really discuss it during the show, so you do what you can do best with a racially ambiguous character portrayed by a latina). She is bisexual (which, yet again, is not discussed at all during the episodes and you know this because of a tweet). And she's also the villain.

And this does not mean you can't be one of those things and also a bad person. God, a latin american girl bullied me in school, I promise you, you can be part of a minority and be a bad person. No one expects you to be perfect or a victim just because you are oppresed.

So, I didn't have a problem with Regina being a villain. What I had a problem with, was with Regina being the only "oppressed" villain in a world of priviledged heroes. All white, all straight... and what bothered me the most was that all male villains, all of them, were treated amazingly in comparison.

Emma is villain but her redemption is already there waiting for it. Snow is a villain sometimes and she doesn't even need to get redeemed because she is still considered a hero. Even Zelena has an easier path, she goes from villain to antihero without any effort.

And you may think "well, they weren't as bad as Regina" which, okay, I'll take it, but what about the male villain?

Let's see: Rumple is as bad (or even worse) as Regina; however, no one goes at him when the curse breaks, no one tries to hurt him, no one gives him the cold shoulder... he barely helps anyone, especially if he can't get anything in return; he also doesn't actually works to be a better person (in fact, as the seasons go by, he even goes backs to his old ways). And yet, he gets to live a peaceful life with his wife (and I'm not talking about the latter seasons... this already happens when the curse breaks).

As for Hook... well: he also is a villain, he even does awful things along the seasons, he doesn't work hard to get his redemption, he doesn't really regrets his actions that much... the same scheme as Rumple. That doesn't stop him, though, from getting a love interest from the very beginning, from being included in the family reunions, from being happy... Even when he is tortured and his past actions are discussed (which doesn't really happen that much, does it?), it's shallow and quick.

And yet, it takes Regina seven seasons to be considered good. No one thanks her for sacrificing herself, no one looks after her, event he slightest mistake is a set back in her journey, it takes her too much time and too much effort to leave her past behind, and she ends up in a lower position in comparison to her male villanous colleagues. Her torture is shown graphically, her past actions are discussed in each and every season, she doesn't really have a family util the last season, she even loses love (over and over)...

And I couldn't (and can't) stop thinking: WHY?

And when you compare it, you realise it would have been way easier for her if she was a man. Or white. Or straight. It's easy to see that when you see the show's record with race and queerness. Seven seasons and we only get lesbian representation in the last season. How many black/hispanic/asian character have been treated fairly in the show? Better yet, how many of them had an actual, relevant storyline?

I find it hard to believe that her unfair treatment is unrelated to her being part of an oppressed group when even characters like Cora, who created the Evil Queen in the first place, get a better chance at redeeming herself (and by better chance, I mean she goes from villain to literally ascending to heaven).

I really wish Regina had been treated better. Or that the rest fo the characters were held to the same standarts as her.

To me, Regina remains a superior character and a triple threath because of who she is.

maybe i should bring back the tedtalk we did in high school and that i focused on explaining why regina was a triple threat in terms of representation and that's why the show treated her so badly

[strangesmallbard]

1, 2, 7, 15, 25, 28, 37. you don't have to answer them all! I'm very curious and I love your fic!

ghfgGHF thank you so much!! this made me smile oh gosh. i’m sorry this is so late, i haven’t been on anything but tumblr mobile in a good while and i tend to only lurk on there.

1. Describe your comfort zone– a typical you-fic.

swan queen LMAO. anything with a lot of women tbh, i haven’t completed a fic with a dude narrator in so long. romance could probably be considered a comfort zone even though it’s not irl. i love writing one-shots, and they’re either in a short prose style w/ more humor and attention to dialogue or long-winded, almost stream of consciousness. i usually write aus these days for ouat lmao, but i also like working w/ canon if there’s something interesting i want to expand on. i’m also trying to get more comfortable writing multichaps w/ longer plots! it’s challenging bc my brain is a mess, but v fun.

2. Is there a trope you’ve yet to try your hand at, but really want to?

hmm, nothing super in particular comes to mind. maybe best friends to lovers? snowed-in? i’ll keep thinking on this one. i recently wrote a meetcute in the airport, and that was really fun.

3. Share a snipped from one of your favorite pieces of prose you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

hoo boY i think this section from “there’s always love if you need it,” which is a year in the life fic post emma breaking up w/ ho0k. i like this bit bc i feel good about the descriptions, imagery, and i feel pretty solid about the characterization which is rare bc i’m always nervous about that.

winter,

After Emma leaves Killian, she considers leaving Storybrooke. It wouldn’t be forever, she reasons, just to get her bearings, walk along once familiar streets in the skin of a once familiar life. She used to be a lot of someones and no-ones, and now she doesn’t know what shape tomorrow will take.

But she doesn’t leave. She finds herself driving to 108 Mifflin Street and ringing the doorbell. Regina answers and Emma is brought back to her last someone, when nervous, confused energy burned in her belly and something like hope burned equally bright in her chest. She didn’t know it was that word, then.

“Emma,“ she says, not Ms. Swan. “I heard.” Concern curves the end of the consonant, and Regina shifts her weight from one foot to the other. Her hand grasps the door frame, maroon nail polish catching cool porch-lamp light.

Emma wants to say, I was ready. Emma wants to say, I felt hollowed out like a pumpkin during halloween, all my everything somewhere else and I don’t know where. Emma wants to say, I’m tired.

She says, “Still have that glass of the best apple cider I’ve ever tasted?”

(regina’s smile is like sunset along the maine coast; gradual, soft, picture-worthy but you don’t want to spare a moment looking away.)

“Of course.”

15. If you could choose one of your fics to be filmed, which would you choose?

god “when in the chronicle of wasted time.” regina saving emma w/ true love’s kiss. can you imagine. GOD

25. What do you look for in a beta?

oh man i haven’t Officially Looked for a beta in a long time. usually i pass it off to trusted friends and i’m like PLEASE TEAR THIS APART. what i would look for though is someone with a similar style?

28.��Share three of your favorite fic writers and why you like them so much.

oh gosh!! i love so many that i’m gonna expand this a little bc even in swen i have so many. so here’s three swen, two non-swen.

amycarey, deemn, skywideopen, wagyubeefy, and montparnasse! 

what i love about amycarey’s fic is that emma and regina (and their relationship) are still so recognizable in every single au. like, no matter what the premise is, it’s like AH YES THERE THEY ARE. and all of her aus!!! some of my favorite sq fics. down the rabbit hole was such a beautifully written and healing fic, it’ll stay with me always.  

deemn’s fics are like…gosh every single word she puts together in a sentence. i feel SO much. if you like swan queen and haven’t read who needs shelter yet please read who needs shelter please let that fic be part of your life. 

skywideopen wrote an AMAZING sw!dw fic that was absolutely everything i ever wanted out of a sq!dw fic, it was so emma and regina i cried, and it was also so true to the dw universe! spark is absolutely amazing.

wagyubeefy writers wicked fic and it’s !!! wicked was my first fandom and i always wanted a modern oz au, and boy does wagyubeefy have modern oz aus! they translate the issues of wicked to a society that also deeply reflects ours and has an incredible take on elphaba, glinda, and every character and have such a seamless, clear way of telling stories and !! so awesome.

montparnasse writes for hp, dragon age, and other fandoms and their narration/use of language is so gorgeous, like. i can’t even convey. they write rarepairs for hp like tonks/fleur and ginny/luna and each fic has just so much beautiful imagery and description and characterizations. GOSH wow.

37. Talk about your current wips.

aah!! unfortunately they are Very wips bc i have no time until the summer to work on any of them. but! here they are.

“one step, not much (but it says enough)” is my first tentative step back into multichaps, and one chapter is released already! the premise is that henry goes away to college, and emma/regina suddenly are confronted with their feelings w/ each other and It’s a Mess, also someone is trying to destroy sb, so that’s a mood. it’s also solidly in the romcom genre w/ some very sharp/sad moments, and i’m having so much developing sb into the hilarious mess it should be. the parks department hates the charmings. lesbian nights at the rabbit hole

unnamed as of now but i lovingly call it the “disaster road trip au” even though the road trip is only half the fic. it’s a college au and the basic premise is that emma and regina dated in highschool, they break up, emma moves away, years later in college she runs into zelena and they miraculously start a wild friendship. over winter break they take a road trip and end up having to pick up regina along the way and it Is A Mess and i’m excited to write it.

unnamed parks and rec au. if you’re on twitter u might have heard of this one, but regina is leslie, emma is ben, marian is ann, mm is chris, and hook is jamm.

that x files au i think i’ve been working on since last summer OH boy. regina is mulder and emma is scully but they’re also both mulder and both scully. one day i’ll figure it out.