#how are danmei writers so good

[nishicchikouchi]

THERE IS NOT. A SINGLE. DANMEI. THAT HAS NEVER. EVER. NOT. MADE ME CRY.

[papercutsmp3]

bro is inquisitive

[poomphuripan]

10 BL Boys I Want Carnally To Love, Take Care and Cuddle With Every Night

@bunnakit awww thank you for the tag 🫶 as an asexual i can't say i spent much time thinking about fucking anyone (so coming up with this list was really hard ;_;) but if any of these characters propositioned... i would NOT say no 😉

10. Phob (Something In My Room)

if there is an award for cutest ghost of all time in a BL series, i think Phob will take home easily. Phob deserves better sex. my meow meow friendly ghost Phob, i will tuck you in bed my ghost sweetie 🥺🫶

9. Shao Fei (History 3: Trapped)

my righteous cop with a strong sense of justice, i really love Shao Fei so much. Shao Fei doesn't beat around the bush and is really straightforward with his wants, I LOVE HE!

8. Khuafah (Sky In Your Heart)

Khuafah, the HOT CHARMING doctor that you are. i would volunteer to get sick every day just to visit him 🫠

7. Gene (Lovely Writer)

if Gene ever needs to write a straight romance novel, i'm happy to make out with him for research purposes 😉

6. Pisaeng (Be My Favorite)

most patient boyfriend who tries super hard to get you plushies? yea i would bang Pisaeng in a heartbeat, no doubt. in fact, i believe Pisaeng would be considerate and wait for me to be ready (Pisaeng babe i'm always ready for you 😉)

5. Tennoji Haru (Trillion Game)

while Trillion Game is DEFINITELY not BL, but Meguro Ren was in Kieta Hatsukoi so my boy should get a PASS 😤 Haru is confident yet humble, self-proclaimed selfish yet always selfless. god i love competent men *swoons* Trillion Game is out on Netflix, please check out my boy Haru and his boy(friend) Gaku and their start-up adventure together 🥺👉👈.

4. Charn (Laws of Attraction)

while i can't guarantee that i can give Charn a good time, i believe that as a fellow lawyer i can assist Charn with any case work he got. Like i said, i am a sucker for competent men 😮‍💨.

3. Tangmo (Great Men Academy)

you don't understand how obsessed i am with the og golden retriever, nation's boyfriend, Tangmo. it's been 4? years... i have not let him go... gentle soft boi but great at judo too? i think Tangmo and i should have our wrestling sessions ending up as makeout sessions.

2. Joe (My Stand In)

this is kind of a cheat but i've read the original novel for My Stand In (Professional Body Double by Shui Qian Cheng) and i can confirm Joe/Zhou Xiang is the sweetest soul, most precious, unluckiest gay ever (Ming, you are on sight, watch it sir or imma steal Joe away). i'm super excited for My Stand In because i hope i get to fall in love with Joe once again the way i fell super hard, head over heels for him when i finished this danmei novel within less than 24 hours. (was this shameless PR for Poom Phuripan's new BL series next year? yes, yes it absolutely was 🤗)

1. Khun Yai and Jom (I Feel You Linger In The Air)

if i don't have a gentle lover like Khun Yai Kritsada Palathip or a soft boyfriend like Jom Ravit Pittayanan then what's the POINT. i want both of them so BAD. also isn't it such a crime that Yai lives his entire life the rest of his live in celibacy, having fucked only ONE person (the love of his life) in his lifetime. LET ME IN. i will love both of you equally.

+ bonus: Chef Guy (Bake Me Please)

did you REALLY think i was gonna end my list without current loml, our resident sad boi, considerate and caring Chef Guy? 😅 Guy deserves a spot on here because well i'm absolutely feral for this man. Guy is just the nicest guy and i will literally do anything for him. Guy had me at hello but my heart truly broke when he comforted Peach saying he doesn't want to see Peach who's given him so much positivity, cry 😭.

oooooh that was soooo hard ;_; i love all these characters, maybe one day i need to start listing the female characters i'd totally hypothetically bang too because WOMEN ARE HOT 🔥.

[antimony-medusa]

Okay so inspired by nothing in particular (it's inspired by reading the notes on the ace swag final poll, fun stuff in there), I have been thinking about being Cringe. Cause like, you enter a fandom, and usually, you find out shortly that somebody else hates that fandom. There is no fandom niche enough that it's not Weird to somebody, and there's no fandom mainstream enough that it's not Annoying to somebody else. And given the fact that some people do hatred recreationally, there's often going to be somebody mad enough about your fandom that they're going to go on diatribes about how your fandom is bad and actually harmful and destroying the fabric of civilization, etc. They're gonna pull out anything negative and blow it up until it's the size of the skyline and attack you for liking this negative thing.

Fun times, we've all seen it.

And the thing is, there's an impulse to have this happen and immediately find somebody else to point to and say, yeah, well, I might be weird, but at least I'm not THAT guy. I might read YA, but at least I'm not a Furry— those guys are sexual deviants! I might be into actual play podcasts, but at least I'm not into mcyt— those guys are all harmful and my guy is fine. I might be into danmei, but at least I'm not into bandom— rpf is so gross. I might be a furry, but at least I'm not into mainstream romance novels— senseless drivel aimed at middle class white women. Y'know. Immediately find someone to punch down on.

And boy do I understand why you want to do that, when people are pointing at you, but I don't actually think that it's helpful.

Cause like, every fandom has a logical train of thought and reasonable human impulses behind it. You might not share those impulses— I'm not a furry I don't think, I don't really get true crime— but that doesn't mean I can't have it explained to me by a very patient person in in the writer's workshop common room and go "oh, yeah, kinda pretending to be an animal, but you're gay about it, yeah, makes sense", or "oh yeah, morbid curiosity from the safety of your headphones, it's like a horror movie but real" and nod. Like there isn't a fandom or group out there that doesn't look weird from the outside, and there isn't a fandom or group that can't be explained if someone has thought about the human psyche enough.

And that isn't to say that there isn't sometimes salient critiques for what fandoms are doing or not doing— to grab the two examples above, I have heard people talking about issues with true crime reinforcing the current fucked up justice system, or bigotry at furry cons. But a) most of the time, there is already somebody inside that community that's fighting against those issues, and you just threw them under the bus with the problem they're trying to fix b) you don't usually know the nuances of the actual conversation and problems, you saw a couple callout posts. You saying "Yeah I'm a board game nerd but at least I don't play competitive trading card cames, those guys are doing nothing but feeding the capitalist machine" is not usually helpful towards fixing the ctg scene. It's just a cheap way to score points.

Like, I assure you that the YA scene is aware of the calcification of the genre into a tighter and tighter romantic form and their dependence on going big on tik-tok to sell enough to keep publishing. They know.

You specifically saying that your fandom is better cause it's not [problems you heard about other fandom having] is not actually going to make the person who's hating on you stop hating. They already decided that you're the person they're better than and that they're punching down on, you passing the punching down on to another fandom just makes more people sad on the internet, and potentially starts yet another chain of someone punching down at someone else. The wheel grinds on, everybody gets punched.

I guess this is just kinda turning into a "why hate on the internet, what good does that do" post, which is broader than I meant it to be. But like, there's a difference between thoughtful critique of problems (complicated to do fairly but very necessary) and finding someone new to curbstomp to make yourself feel better/morally superior (look, I'm writing this on a mcyt blog, we've all seen this happen, it does not increase the joy in the world).

Like in MCYT, we all decide to punch down on [other server we hate], or RPF, or people who write kidfic, or people who write e-rated fic/art, or people doing the popular trope of the moment, and sure, it lets you feel morally superior for the moment, at the cost of slapping the guy next to you. Haven't we had enough slapping the guy next to you? There but for the grace of god (got a fun idea/watched the wrong stream/ended up in the wrong brainstorming circle/got fixated on the wrong funny guy) goes I. You're not better than another group just because you saw a couple more callout posts (usually from people inside the community trying to fix things) about them.

We are all Cringe. There is nobody who's not Cringe. Don't say that you're not Cringe because someone else is more Cringe. Stop that.

[thebroccolination]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thanks to @itsmylifekay and @dimplesandfierceeyes for the tags!

How many works do you have on AO3?

204 👀

Aaand Until We Meet Again is the fandom I've written for most with almost half of those.

What’s your total AO3 word count?

1,036,647 words. \:D/ Which is wild because I write so many short things that I never think of myself as having written that much, but t'would seem writing little amounts in consistent bursts builds up to a lot over time.

What fandom(s) do you write for?

Mainly Thai BL right now, and pretty much the same three pairings in circulation. Sometimes I'll write for a shiny new series, but I consistently come back to WinTeam (Until We Meet Again/Between Us), KongArt (SOTUS), and KawiPi (Be My Favorite).

I've also written for some anime series (Boku no Hero Academia, Yuri on Ice, etc.), Chinese danmei (Guardian, MDZS, etc.), Jpop RPF, and a ton of other fandoms that preceded my Kiranokira account on AO3 (est. 2017).

What are your top five fics by kudos?

These aren't necessarily my best, I just posted them at a good time for a lot of eyes to fall on them.

If It's You | Yuri!!! on Ice | Yuuri/Viktor | Explicit | 16k words — Viktor and Yuuri pose for a sexy magazine.

An Event of Somewhat Clandestine Chaos | Módào Zǔshī | Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian, Jiang Yanli/Jin Zixuan, Jin Ling/Lan Sizhui | Teen | 3.6k words — Jiang Yanli's son elopes with another boy.

Who Am I to You? | Until We Meet Again | Win/Team | Teen | 2k words — Team wakes up from minor surgery with a foggy memory and can't believe his luck when he finds out who he's dating.

Win the Friendly, Win the Deadly | Until We Meet Again | Win/Team | Teen | 2.3k words — Win's reputation of cool composure ends when someone messes with Team at a swim meet.

Home Again | Not Me | Sean/White, Black/Gram, Dan/Yok | Teen | 2k words — Another way Black's return could have happened.

More below (including gorgeous WinTeam fanart I commissioned and a YouTube podcast I guested on recently)!

Do you respond to comments?

Yes! I try to do it as often as I can, but sometimes I get distracted, and then I feel terrible about responding late. Believe me, though, I read every one about four seconds after you send it and then spend between five minutes to five years in absolute bliss. I've actually started making a scrapbook of the comments that made me happy for emotionally rainy days.

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Sooo, this isn't something on my AO3 account, but I once wrote a fic about a guy who died and he was making his rounds to visit all his friends (who couldn't see him). I couldn't end it completely miserably though, so I killed his boyfriend to reunite them! \o/

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I genuinely have no idea. Despite the horror show I just mentioned, the overwhelming majority of my fics have very happy endings. <3 I'M NICE TO MY CHARACTERS (eventually), DON'T BELIEVE THE RUMORS.

Do you get hate on fics?

Not that I can remember!

Do you write smut?

I sure do! In fact—

What’s your craziest crossover?

What excellent timing for this question. :D

MUSE | Until We Meet Again, SOTUS, Kiss the Series, My Engineer, Theory of Love, Ingredients, etc. | Win/Team, Kongphob/Arthit, Pete/Kao, Sun/Mork, Ram/King, etc. | Explicit | 143k words — Sex worker AU in a parallel futuristic universe where sex work is a decriminalized thing.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I sure have. More than once. Reposted to Wattpad. Was not jazzed.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

I have! Every time it happens I'm so excited to hear about the process. Most recently, @linlinlong translated MUSE into Russian and was lovely enough to explain multiple points where the languages clashed and where Russian actually benefited a moment better than English!

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I have! @itsmylifekay has become my multifandom co-writer, as we've co-written WinTeam (1) (2), KongArt, and are soon to start writing a sequel to her incredible Witcher AU KawiPi fic together. :D Our writing styles mesh really well, and we keep each other going off enthusiasm and a similar love for tormenting characters who don't deserve it. <3

All time favorite ship?

WinTeam. It's not even a contest. WinTeam WinTeam WinTeam. <3

[gorgeous commissioned art by @questionartbox for my WinTeam fic "i see your face every time" where Team flies to London in secret to bring Win home. <3]

What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I truly don't want to answer this because I think I could genuinely finish any of them in the right circumstances. I recently started working again on a fic in my drafts that I started back in 2021 and hadn't touched for three years, so y'know. All of them have potential to be finished!

What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue, humor, coming up with inventive metaphors/imagery. The third thing was a conscious thing I started doing at some point to keep myself interested in what I was writing. Every time I used a common metaphor/simile/comparison, I felt myself getting bored, so I tried to make things up that were just offbeat enough that they still made sense, and then I realized some of them were working better with the character's voice and the story and situation, etc.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Describing settings. I have that aphantasia thing where I can't really envision things. It takes a real effort to see things in my head, and even then, it's not a clear picture. Like if you take the classic "what do you see when you imagine an apple" question, some people see a tree filled with apples in an orchard. I see a red, vague shape of an apple on a black background. So any time I write, my default is emotion and the abstract. It takes a lot of effort to also build a set in the writing.

Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

It can be used effectively, and I use it myself when there's no proper English equivalent and it adds to the story. Like, in my first two or three Thai BL fics, I didn't use any foreign language words, but the more I understood the social hierarchy in Thailand and how much of an influence suffixes have in WinTeam's relationship, I started using them.

Which fandom was the first you wrote in?

Animorphs. \:D/ (Followed by CATS the Musical.)

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Right now, I think it might be my KongArt fic "Life in Abundance",

Summary: Kongphob's mother has an agenda, and Kongphob can't dissuade her from it. Enter Kongphob's husband.

“She wants a grandchild,” Kongphob says gently. “She has four,” Arthit says. It’s a struggle to sound stern when Kongphob knows the pressure he likes and where he holds the most stress. “She wants a grandchild from me,” Kongphob clarifies. “Right, of course. You’re her favorite.”

With Gatekeeping Kawi as a very close second.

Both fics are about couples navigating their relationships with their parents. The KongArt one is about them trying to gently break it to Kongphob's mother that they don't want children, and the KawiPi one is Pisaeng literally gatekeeping Kawi from his estranged mother to protect him.

One of my favorite things about writing established relationships are all the issues you can explore that have nothing to do with infidelity or jealousy, and parents are a biiig part of that. The other thing is that I have a good relationship with my mother, and a very, very bad relationship with my father, so I have an extra interest in exploring various healthy and unhealthy parental relationships.

Aaaand that's it! This was fun! \:D/

Oh! And I was also a guest on Lovecast's podcast about fanfiction's role in fandom recently, if you'd like to hear me talk very fast and loud about why I love this stuff as much as I do. :')

[canayams-art]

1, 15, 21, 22, 25 for Pei Xiu for the character ask? :D

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

The thing I love about Pei Xiu is that he’s the type of character who you really need to take a good look at to appreciate. Completely understated. Guy who on the surface is so calm and respectable and at peace, yet he ascended as a result of slaughter and war. Was cornered by circumstance in his mortal life then cornered again in immortality and had to act like he was okay with it all. THEN when he finally had an out he took it so fast and refused to go back. Guy who said he’d rather live as a mortal than become a god again. Most importantly guy who would never sell out his friends in order to do so. Guy who has the conviction to commit an atrocity if it’s the only way to prevent greater violence/damage and will spend an eternity trying to repair the damages done.

15. What’s your favorite ship for this character? (Doesn’t matter if it’s canon or not)

As the proprietor of Qianxiu. I’m obligated to wholeheartedly say Pei Xiu and Lang Qianqiu are The otp.

21. If you’re a fic writer and have written for this character, what’s your favorite thing to do when you’re writing for this character? What’s something you don’t like?

Not that I’ve ever posted anything I’ve written for him but!! When I write for Pei Xiu I like exploring his sentimentality— the part of him that’s quietly soft and only ever seen in fragments in canon. I would say the only thing I don’t like is writing him as an accessory to another character or plot. He deserves some focus.

22. If you’re a fic reader, what’s something you like in fics when it comes to this character? Something you don’t like?

I like reading what I also like writing but I’m also just open to reading anything that explores Pei Xiu’s character more or even just focuses on Pei Xiu— he’s a rarity in fic in general LOL

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

The thing about me is I have a hard time really getting a first impression and since my first exposure to tgcf was the donghua which— admittedly— does NOT give the full context of Pei Xiu’s story/motivations, I can’t say I liked him much at first. But after I read the danmei I started to think that I’d really misunderstood his character so I made it a point to get a better understanding and in doing so I now feel crazy about him 😔

[moondal514]

Some fic reading numbers to wrap up 2023

(Yeah yeah I know I’ve posted a whole bunch of fic rec lists this week but this is the last one, I promise)

In 2023, I’d say my fandom habits could be summarized into this: 1) the AFTG brainrot finally eased back a bit so I could truly return to my default state of being a multi-fandom whore, 2) I went back on my bullshit of reading fics for fandoms I’m not in/haven’t thought about for many years, and 3) I’ve finally entered the danmei realm, years after everyone else around here lol (and if you listen carefully in the distance, you can hear the frustrated scream of my former roommate that I’ve pissed off by only just this year checking out and loving the stuff she rec’d for me to read/watch years ago lol).

In 2023, I bookmarked on ao3 1207 new fics read for 46 fandoms (though only about 850 are in my public bookmarks). The fandom I read the most for was MDZS, managing to unseat AFTG as my most read-for fandom this year, accounting for about 345 of those new bookmarks.

Below is a multi-fandom list of 10 of my favorites of all the fics I read in 2023. I limited myself to only choosing fics that are complete standalones cuz otherwise I prob wouldn’t be able to limit it to only 10.

In no particular order:

Fandom: Attack On Titan

The Means by calacreda

'He hears him say “Do not tell a soul, Levi” and wants to laugh. Tell anyone? To what end? So that others have the images that Levi now has running through his head; of grabbing hands and harness marks, hard words and soft lips, of lies upon lies upon lies in a desperate attempt to get to the truth?'

Levi begins to notice Erwin leaving HQ alone and not returning until the dead of night.

Slow-burn, pre-show Eruri.

This fic is here to commemorate the 4 days of absolute insanity in March I spent binge-reading hundreds of thousands of words by this writer despite me knowing barely anything about these characters

Fandom: Simon Snow

Where the Sand Meets the Sea by waterwings/ @amywaterwings

This is a world where magic has moved on.

Where stars fall from the sky.

Where time is less a linear progression and more a slow dance.

And where Simon and Baz start to switch places, which will—inevitably—change everything.

5th ever fic to make me cry (and 1st fic not in the AFTG fandom to make me cry, whoop), the kind of fic that really lingers with sticky fingers on the brain

Fandom: Word of Honor

Strange Pilgrims by inkmyname/ @inkmyname

“Can I have all the wine in the world?” “Yes.” “Can I have all the treasures in the ocean?” “Yes.” “Can I have all the stars in the sky?” And because it wasn’t in Zhou Zishu’s nature to deny Wen Kexing anything, he said yes. From the western mountains to the eastern seas. Some seventy years on, Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing wander together.

This fic had me chewing on drywall cuz it’s so good

Fandom: The Vinland Saga

neither sword nor crown by arahir/ @arahir

Canute does whatever he can to keep Thorfinn, though it might cost him everything.

“You want to kill me now.” The words steal his breath with their truth. Thorfinn looks at him, from under his filthy bangs, eyes piercing and bruised. Something in Canute’s chest flips over at that look, at how wounded he is. He’s broken. He’s been broken from the first moment they met, but now he’s lost even Askeladd to hold his pieces together. “But if you fight me like this, it’s not fair. You have to wait until I get stronger. Be my guard until then, and I’ll duel you, warrior to warrior.” Thorfinn’s gaze is unflinching. Canute reaches behind him and pulls the dagger from the folds of his fur-lined cloak. The blade is a part of Thorfinn, like the crown is a part of Canute, now. He hands it over, hilt first. “Or, you can kill me today. Right now, right here.”

Wouldn’t be me unless there was at least one amazing historical fiction-esque fic, from a fandom I’m technically not in, on this list

Fandom: All For the Game

If Suddenly You Forget Me by sambutwithbooks

There’s a ring in the bag they give him, along with his soiled uniform.

The blood doesn’t bother him, even if his stomach clenches as he remembers that it’s his-it's the ring on a chain that snags his attention and holds it.

A wedding ring.

----------

Fifteen years post-canon, an accident on the court wipes Neil and their life together from Andrew's memory. It takes a while for him to find his way back to it.

Made every criticism I’ve ever had of the amnesia trope die a slow and miserable death (also 4th ever fic to make me cry)

Dream clouds, ghost ground (I’ve been looking at the sky to show me where I went wrong) by Ateiluj/ @awildtei

Cass Spear deals with her son’s death, the truths that it reveals, and how it all reshapes her past with Andrew.

One of the most incredible character studies I’ve ever read across any fandom, period

nocturnal animals by animediac/ @jaywalkers

“He was an addict,” Taylor says roughly, turning away to unplug the blender. “He wouldn’t accept help and he didn’t care who he hurt with it by the end.” “He was our brother,” Abby says, sadly. “I know,” Taylor tells her. “That was the worst part." — Memory takes the graveyard shift. Abby Winfield works nights.

Absolutely devastating Abby Winfield backstory that had me curling up into a ball on the floor

Fandom: Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System

Tarnished Gold by Prim_the_Amazing/ @primtheamazing

Becoming emperor of the cultivation world will start with a first step as small and basic as becoming Head Disciple of Huan Hua Palace. For that, he must steal the position away from the current Head Disciple. Luo Binghe will sabotage, upstage, and completely and utterly best him.

The road to destroying everything and everyone who has ever wronged him, to becoming the highest ruler so that no one will ever have the right to control him ever again - it will start as simply as ruining Gongyi Xiao’s life.

Compared to everything else he’s already done, this should be easy.

-

Luo Binghe brings all his skills of cunning and brutality to bear on Gongyi Xiao, Head Disciple of Huan Hua Palace Sect. It… doesn’t go too well for him.

This fic had me saying “just one more chapter” long into the night until I was literally staring down the epilogue at some ungodly morning hour

Fandom: BBC Merlin

Whereat the Two Swore On the Field of Death a Deathless Love by horsecrazy/ @cbk1000

In a land of myth and a time of magic, the destiny of a great kingdom rests on the shoulders of a young boy. But not quite in the way you think. 'The Once and Future King'/Merlin mashup; now with 50% more gay.

One of the most incredible things I’ve ever read in my life, this writer is single-handedly responsible for reviving my Merthur obsession 3 years after it’s mostly died down

Fandom: Mo Dao Zu Shi

我拿青春赌明天 / I’ll wager my youth against tomorrow by tombenough_and_continent/ @hunxi-after-hours

The dust of this mortal world cannot fall upon him—he is a strand-dancer, a weaver of time’s tapestry, dispatched by Gusu Lan’s Symphony to climb upwards into the knots and gnarls of alternate timelines and coax them towards the future in which Gusu reigns, benevolent and peaceful and supreme—the future in which Lan Wangji himself is sung into existence. He is here to change the past and deliver the future into being. It would not be wrong to call him fate. (or, This is How You Lose the Time War, but make it wangxian)

Still screaming crying throwing up over this fic cuz nothing gets me quite like a beautifully written mash-up of 2 of my fave pieces of media

-

Thank you to all you fic writers out there for getting me through another year. Cheers to a new year of more wonderful writing!

[yonemurishiroku]

Do you think that the solangelo contains more of a forceful representation, and if so, what is your advice to authors who are trying to make lgbtq+ representation seem more a part of the story/flow with the story then the opposing option?

May 22nd. I'm so sorry, my mind has been going off track for a while. I'm really sorry for the delay. 😭😭

So, regarding Solangelo as a representation, well this is gonna be hard to say lol. This has been circling the fandom since the day of its emergence, and this is certainly not a good time but eh penny for my thought ig.

Now. I suppose I have a very varying definition of representation, but let's not dwell on that. As for now, I can say that I do consider Solangelo somewhat forcefully developed. As in, the term of writing, plot-wise, etc...

It's quite difficult to say. I have no problem with Solangelo as a couple - or their dynamic - per se. Rather, it's the pacing that throws me off. This has been addressed in many posts - Solangelo has a quite... abrupt (?) takeoff. I just felt like Rick did not mean to make them a thing but just a spur of a moment - something small and... promising that you left hanging at the end of the series for reader's interpretation, for whatever reason (This actually lines up with Boo's time of releash I think? The LGBTQ+ literature being unpopular I mean).

In fact, Solangelo's whole developing process happened behind the curtains - as in, we're told, not shown. Imagine. In BOO, their friendship just barely sprouts, and the next time we see them again in TOA, they're already a couple. For the longest time possible, it was left to the reader/fanfic writers to deduce wth happen for them to become a couple in like idk 6 months? (A pretty fast process for someone like Nico imo. but that's just me).

Something like that is bound to raise some doubts.

The full picture itself is only revealed - partly, and through second reminiscence, mind you - in TSATS. It's also the reason TSATS feels kinda off to me, ig - the fact that some parts actually misalign with the established canon events, or appear like a patch to cover a hole in the piece of fabric. And some others just straight up fall into the what-the-f-was-in-your-mind-rick category. I doubt it was even Rick's initial plan to come up with TSATS in the first place.

However, it's also worth acknowledging that, whilst it would certainly help, Rick hardly has the capacity to fully-build another 5-book romance for Solangelo. That's as far as it can go (I usually think this to placate myself at the thought of the ship being undeveloped). Nico is not the franchise's protagonist (more like deuteragonist I guess), no matter how far this story goes and how widely loved he is, let alone Will.

On to the advice part.

Please keep in mind that I am, in no way, a professional or good writer, nor do I study sexual orientation and/or identity theory (I barely know the flags). I've also grown up and received education in an Estern (somewhat conserative?) country, so please take whatever I say with a grant of salt.

Now. When it comes to "make it seem more a part of the story", I... actually don't know how to say this...

Just look at the all the BL mangas (Japanese comics) and danmeis (Chinese BL literature) and BL manhwas (Korean comics). I have been reading BoyLove longggg before I even came to PJO, you know? The Eastern fandoms have surprisingly extensive LGBT content for a conservative culture, anw they have been telling and/or drawing stotries upon stories about same-sex couples since the dawn of internet. They don't even need to try. They have the image of a love, a story in their mind and just... go along with it.

You don't make it a part of the story. The story is either about it (much or little), or just nothing at all.

I'm saying making a story about it - rather than trying to incorporate it into the story. Give it background and enough development, it'd progress itself. You don't give it anything, of course it'd feel flat. This goes with any type of romance, not just LGBTQ+.

The problem with Solangelo itself, imo, is not the nature of their relationship (tho I do admit somtimes Rick makes me go wtf), but rather how they're portrayed. And furthermore, said portray in proportion to people's expectation. Solangelo, by all means, is a side-story at best (unless Rick manages to come up with a trilogy about their journey from start to finish idk 🤷‍♀️). People like it, so they tend to expect more from it, but the author's just a human.

I think this is everything... My thoughts are kinda in a jumble as I'm writing this, so feel free to ask if something doesn't make sense... This is also just my personal view lol don't take it too seriously if it differs from yours too much.

Lastly, I know my advice would probably not do much, however I hope for you to find your way to tell your stories the best you can!

[phoenixtakaramono]

Fanfiction Tropes Tier List (Reader Edition)

Thank you for the tag, @deliciouskeys! (Here's their tier list!)

I tag: @fuckingpajamas, @phtalate, @tzeentchs-secretary-tea-time, @digitalbath1988, @vanshoundd, @tocadoguara, and anyone who wants to do this! I’d be very interested to see how y’all would rank ‘em :) but ofc no pressure if you don’t want to or have already done this!

…So I feel like I need to give some context🧍🏻‍♀️🙈 The tl;dr is: I will read almost anything, but I have certain standards/ expectations that must be met in order for me to continue.

I tried to organize these tropes from top ➡️ bottom, have strong feelings about (would more likely read) ➡️ am less passionate about going from left ➡️ right. For the bottom tiers with asterisks, I arranged them from “this specific trope represents the tier description” ➡️ “eh, it fits here but I don’t really hold strong opinions about these” from left ➡️ right.

⬇️Expand for a detailed breakdown below the line break ⬇️

My Tier List for fanfic tropes I consume as a Reader differ in some areas from tropes I’d like to write or would be open to writing as a Writer. As a reader, I usually give almost every fanfic a chance with my own arbitary criteria—although what I read is very ship dependent according to their canon dynamic (for example, I will devour Enemies to Lovers for one specific OTP in one fandom, but would NEVER read that trope applied to a different fav ship of mine in a different fandom). I also tossed in some danmei BL tropes, for funsies and because I want more people to know about them <3.

And remember, if you like any of these that I personally don’t, that’s great! Everyone has their own preferences. Please don’t take offense. These are just how I view these tropes specifically according to me, haha. It says less about you and more about me being picky with what I like to read and gives context about what kind of bibliophile (person who likes reading) I am.

Tier 1 (SSS Level)

Slowburn: Just as context, I regularly read light novels (hetero, danmei, and baihe) which can easily range from 100ch-300ch each. So slowburns is the quintessential demisexual experience for me, and I love it when they’re long fics where we get to see characters grow and relationships develop, with worldbuilding and an interesting plot. I think the longest I’ve ever read was +2.8K chapters of a story I was addicted to. Typically if I see it’s a slowburn, I know I’m gonna have a good time.

Fix-It Fic: As much as I love canon of the original source material, there are certain canon story decisions and/or plotholes that hurt me—so it’s always great to see someone write their own interpretation to try to “fix it.” You get banger fics and it’s just so creative and a nice catharsis.

Canon Divergence: Same as how I regard a Fix-It.

Dark Fic: Irl I obviously do not condone any of the things that typically happen in Dark Fics. But as someone who has consumed your usual wholesome healthy Lifetime Original style romance stories for a loooooong time, that type of milquetoast wholesomeness has become bland and predictable for me—which is why the wild and crazy shenanigans that happen in Dark Fics spices things up for me and I like that it keeps me guessing. I don’t want to read about things from my life. I think screwed up characters can offer so much more interesting stakes than a Good Guy. I like the tension and uncertainty. Ex. this is why I tend to prefer the protag/villain ships over the protag/childhood friend ships; it’s why a princely character who is secretly yandere is so much more interesting than a sidekick character with a bland and forgettable personality. The writers of Dark Fics, 9/10 times, produce something so interesting that I can’t put my phone down and I just have to binge through their entire fic because the suspense is k*lling me.

Conspiracy & Schemes: Mysteries? Political intrigue? Palace drama? Yes, please, inject it into my veins.

Strong Protagonist & Strong Love Interest: It’s similar to how I’ve come to prefer reading Dark Fics. The market’s too oversaturated with the damsel in distress trope being saved by his/her prince charming. I’ve read too many novels and fanfics about that dynamic, it’s gotten a little stale for me, haha. Give me the clever, scheming, morally grey or villainous MC with a strong backbone. I like badasses. As for the ML or FL, I also prefer them to be strong or scheming as well so they can be a power couple with the MC—and curb-stomp the world and their enemies. …*holds face like a blushing maiden* Don’t they sound like the equivalent of a fairytale couple?

Mutual Pining: Yes, yes, yes. It’ll never be not good.

Revenge-Rebirth: I love underdog characters plotting their secret machinations and getting their revenge. Pair it with a rebirth, where a previous villain(ess) or cannon fodder who’d suffered before learns from the mistakes of their previous life and uses their second life to faceslap their enemies and turn their destiny around? Yes, yes, yes.

Survival Game: I love the Infinite Flow (survival horror/ death game) genre, what can I say? If you’ve read the famous ones, you know why. The writing is almost always superb and so interesting (seeing all the unique horror instances that the MC has to figure out in order to survive). It’s just so imaginative.

Obsessive Love: Same as how I regard a Dark Fic. I do not condone it irl, but an unhealthily codependent partner in my fictional romances? Yes. I want them to be even more obsessed with my favorite character and fall deeper and deeper in love.

Misunderstanding: There is a difference between how I view misunderstandings versus how I view miscommunication (which can grate on my nerves if not executed well). I believe you fundamentally cannot have a good long fic without some misunderstandings that the MC or Love Interest has to clear up, and it’s always so good once the cat is out of the bag and the truth is revealed.

Isekai/ Transmigration (World-Hopping): Yes. Gimme. It’s like 10 stories in one. I like it when your ordinary layperson gets transported into a different fantastical world or pseudohistorical world or into a different modern world of much different circumstances depending on their new identity. I like these duck out of water stories.

Historical AU & Royalty AU: There’s just something about pseudo-medieval settings that can be so charming and interesting to read. If you’ve got royalty thrown in, there’s the additional seasoning of power struggles between members of royalty and aristocracy, and political intrigue, and seeing how a kingdom is run. Writers tend to do a good job worldbuilding these types of stories with characters I like moved into this new setting.

Established Relationship: The domesticity and PDA of it all can make my heart go dokidoki (especially if they’re a powerhouse couple). It can fall into the danger of coming across as bland, so this depends on the plot and writer’s execution of their relationship. I gotta have some stakes.

Enemies to Lovers: I love it for certain pairings.

Forbidden Love: It’s the tabooness of it that makes it interesting to read.

Friends to Lovers: As long as it’s not milquetoast or bland, I think most of the time this is executed well. It’s a step below an Established Relationship, so they’ve got wiggle room to develop into that.

Soulmate AU: It’s inherently romantic, what can I say? I will REALLY LOVE it though if the writer gives it a unique twist.

First Kiss & Sharing a Bed: It’s tender and sweet (or hot) and I will never get tired of it. You can’t go wrong with it.

Magic AU & Fairytale AU: It’s a fantasy world. As long as it’s not bland and there is a serviceable magic system, I will generally like it. (One caveat: it cannot be a HP AU. C’mon. As much as I like HP, you can do better as a writer than transporting these characters into the HP universe. Come up with your own magic system.) For fairytale AUs, it’s basically your Hans Christian Andersen/ Disney fairytale with your favorite characters. I don’t think you can go wrong with it. I just love any AUs in general.

Huddle for Warmth: Same as First Kiss & Sharing a Bed & PWP.

Tier 2 (A Level)

Fluff: Oftentimes reading cute fluff (like sneaking quick kisses or holding hands) can make me blush and giggle more than reading p0rn or smut on my phone in public. HOWEVER, unlike a oneshot where I can tolerate it, for me fluff has be spread sporadically throughout if it’s a long fic. If the long fic is just too fluffy and sweet all the way throughout (force-feeding me “meng” and “dog food” (PDA)), I get the equivalent of a sugary overdose and any interest I have for the fic dries up into “ugh, that’s enough”—which usually ends up with me dropping the fic if the fluff had oversaturated everything (all sugar/ fluff, no real meaty substance). There’s only so much cutesy uwu, descriptions of someone’s soft coquettish voice scratching the Love Interest’s heart like a cat’s paw, etc that I can stomach at a time. It’s like junk food; I can’t eat too much of it.

PWP: As a connoisseur of all things slowburn and a demisexual irl, I have to be in the mood to read a PWP. It’s p0rn without plot; I don’t expect to be reading much plot (although it’d be a pleasant surprise if the p0rn came with some serviceable-enough plot 👌). It is what’s written on the tin. I’m not here expecting a Shakespearean masterpiece. A writer was gripped by the h0rny and decided to share, and this was the result. I’m here to turn my brain off, have fun, and read about two of my favorite fictional characters banging each other stupid.

Im Vino Veritas (Drunken Confessions): Yes, gimme. I’m picky about the execution and the follow-up scene that comes after the drunken confession though (after the drunk character sobers up). The writer has to be skilled enough for me to root for the character and not cringe (unless the whole point is to cringe at the drunk confessing because it’s established they’re a cannon fodder character who won’t get together with the MC or Love Interest).

Missing Scenes: I generally like it when writers come up with a What-If scenario that happens between Point A and Point C of canon. It can be fun and believable—especially if they get the characterization right. Then it’s like reading a little bonus content (like, you know it’s a person’s headcanon but, dang, it’s written so well I could almost believe it was canon).

Office AU: I love me my rich Sugar Daddy AUs and doting CEO husbands pampering and spoiling their lovers. I enjoy reading about a business expanding into a powerful corporation and the power struggles that come with. It’s a guilty pleasure. (I do have to try not to think about HR though.)

Showbiz AU: It’s a guilty pleasure. Sometimes I learn something new about the acting or modeling or fashion industry, and it’s interesting. I also like seeing the journey of the unknown underdog MC rising like a phoenix from a nobody to a well-respected powerhouse of their industry.

Reincarnation: Same as how I regard almost other AUs here (inject it into my veins). With reincarnation though, I usually like to see the rebirth have an affect on the story. It’s an important plot device after all. If it seems like the whole rebirth part could be omitted and it wouldn’t even impact the story with that aspect removed, then��well, sorry, the story didn’t execute it well.

Cold Love Interest: Depends on the execution, but I like it when you have this character who’s known to be cold slowly be thawed out the more and more they start opening up to the Main Character—until they inevitably fall in love. It’s essentially reading about an ice cube that has melted into warm spring water. The transformation can be so beautiful and moving, because you’ve been following them on their journey of self-discovery and finding happiness. (However, my tolerance toward Cold Characters does have a limit; they can’t be irredeemable at the start. Because if it’s the equivalent of the Wife Chasing Crematorium trope, where the Love Interest is a cheating (?) murderous (?) selfish abusive assh0le who has essentially traumatized the MC and still gets together with them at the end…….ugh, 9/10 times I will dislike it even if the ML or FL realizes how much their actions have hurt the MC and tries their best to make up to it for the rest of their lives.)

Dense Protagonist: A protagonist who is oblivious to the Love Interest character pining and simping hardcore after them can be hilarious. However, I am generally picky about its execution. It can teeter the fine line between endearing and dumb/ annoying. At some point, their denseness can become too much (to the point where it’s no longer funny or amusing) that my suspension of disbelief drops and it’s no longer fun to read the story for me personally.

Unrequited Love: Depends on the context. Is it the writer’s intention to make it bittersweet and unresolved? Is the character pining after their unrequited love, and it’s the early stage of the story where the MC or ML/FL have yet to reciprocate? Is the intention to make me cry? For all of these, I usually like to know before I jump into a fic—because I’m a sappy woman who gets easily teary-eyed and I easily get touched by moving depictions of the human connection. So I don’t want my young glass maiden heart to be hurt too much, haha; there’s only so much abuse my heart can handle.

Crossover: At some point, I run out of fics (the good ones) to read for the specific ship I like. So I turn to crossovers, to see how my favorite MC can be shipped with someone else. If the writer’s good, they can blend the worlds and these cast of characters together seamlessly. It’s like a brain puzzle—so I have countless admiration for those who can execute crossovers well.

Time Loop: This is your usual Nicholas Sparks’ (a romance writer) type of story; a time loop is basically Groundhog Day where the MC has to figure out how to break the time loop—and I’m usually invested in the mystery of how they’re gonna pull it off. I’d like to say when I’m in the mood to read this, writers tend to execute the trope well (my logic: if you’re going to introduce a plot device, make it relevant to the story; if it can be omitted and it doesn’t detract from the experience, then it doesn’t need to be there).

Hurt/ Comfort: To an extent. It’s the same as Fluff or Angst for me. Moderation is key.

Sex Pollen & Bang or Die: Similar to how I regard PWPs.

Arranged Marriage: Generally I will like if executed well. I almost put this in Tier 3, because I more often than not don’t usually click on a fic if I see this trope tagged (because my brain thinks about the irl implications). BUT…it is the premise of almost every transmigration (isekai) light novel or manhua/manhwa I read—and they work because it’s a fish out of water story where the MC finds out there they have an arranged marriage to a king, prince, duke, noble, knight, etc with a certain cruel or perfect reputation, and you get to read about them learning about their real selves and falling in love over time with their fiancée/fiancé. And it’s so cute. This is my expectation when I read fics with this trope: a fairytale-like romance, where the arranged marriage managed to work out in this couple’s favor instead of it being loveless.

Baby Fic & Pregnancy Fic: I would not go out of my way to read oneshots where the whole premise is specifically only about either of this. It has to be just one of the ingredients in the whole long fic. Writing children is tougher than you think (you have to be so careful writing about them because you can toe the line between making them precocious and making them annoying), and some people are unable to respectfully write pregnancy characters, choosing instead to focus on the humor of pregnancy stereotypes—but the gags can come across as shallow writing than giving it the proper respect it deserves. So it depends on 1) the execution and 2) my mood. I’ve read a couple good ones, but that’s because the writer is good at delivering the concept that is easily digestible and frames the whole process of birth and child rearing as a beautiful process of nature and life.

Tier 3 (B Level)

A/B/O: I will not intentionally go out of my way 99/100 times to read Omegaverse stories. Shocker, I know. It’s just, for me, I tend to find a majority of these general A/B/O fics…shallow and of little substance. Most of the time, I find the writing can also be a bit distasteful, especially when it comes to the omega and alpha dynamic in this kinda story (in the wrong hands, the writer can make their story come across as r@pey and sexist/ misogynistic, especially if an alpha’s being aggressive and forceful with the MC because they’ve been affected by the smell of an omega’s heat—and now I’m reading descriptions of the omega character sobbing and crying out “no, no, no” and “please stop” and I’m in disbelief why people find this hot). I also don’t like the submissiveness of the omega character where it’s like I’m reading about a milquetoast wet rag who has all their fight drained out and has no personality other than being a hole that produces slick and blushes constantly. Also, for me, predictability is not something I like; if I can predict everything that’s going to happen in a fic, I will become bored. I need some kinda serviceable plot for me to be emotionally invested in an A/B/O fic or there’s some kinda hook that keeps me coming back. I can enjoy the rare one A/B/O fic out of one hundred similar A/B/O fics, but I am INCREDIBLY PICKY about what I choose. The premise itself is also very important to what makes or breaks an A/B/O fic experience for me (for example, if it’s a Dark fic, then I can be more forgiving because it’s expected for there to be dark themes).

Miscommunication: For me there’s no in-between. I will either hate or love this trope, depending on its execution in the fic. On the extreme end of hatred, I am ticked off when a conflict in the story can be easily resolved had the character(s) communicated properly—and it’s just so incredibly dumb. On the opposite end, miscommunication can be done well as a funny gag or a plot device that shows how differently characters can interpret a situation or words. So depending on which one of these the fic delivers, it determines how much I can enjoy a fic.

Love Triangle: See my opinion on Harem Fics, and now make my aversion less strong. I’m a wee more forgiving on this trope because it’s a love triangle where you start off with the MC, the ML/FL, and the love rival—and the story is about the MC choosing one of them. The other Love Triangle I’m okay with is if it’s obviously a poly ship where the MC ends up with two people—but it has to be executed well (I generally have to like both options for the MC). I’m more of a monogamous soulmate type of gal, so I’m kinda picky on the execution when a story focuses on the love triangle. It can’t drag on to the point where I find it to be insufferable. The danger with a love triangle is I, your reader, might come to like the Second Male Lead or Second Female Lead—and think they were a better fit for the MC than the actual Fe/Male Lead that was chosen just because this character was the writer’s favorite. In this case, the moment the wrong candidate is chosen, my interest in the fic dwindles and I feel like I’m reading a lesser version of what initially drew me to the fic in the first place. So now it’s the writer’s responsibility to show me why their choice is the correct one.

Angst: It’s like junk food; the key is moderation. I can’t have too much of it—otherwise it’s too angsty and the poignant emotional knives become laughable.

Humor: Humor is subjective, and differs for each person. What the writer finds funny might not be what I find funny. I’m more of a subtle gal. So if a fic’s meant to be funny throughout, it runs the risk of teetering towards me feeling secondhand embarrassment and cringing—because it’s too much and unfunny. But if a writer genuinely writes something surprising that makes me laugh, I do appreciate their talent at grasping the opportunity and having the know-how to effectively inject some lighthearted humor.

Fake Relationship: …My enjoyment level HEAVILY depends on its execution. It’s the characterization, their chemistry, and plot that have to save it for me.

Amnesia Fic: See, I understand it’s a plot device—which is why I’m a lil more forgiving. But don’t you hate it when all of a sudden a character gets memory wiped after all that progress? (I feel like I wasted my time just as the story was turning good, and now they have to start over? Kinda feels like unnecessary filler and it can drag on, and I feel like banging my head against the wall.) On a lesser extent of my pickiness, I don’t like it as much when it’s used as an exposition framing device, with the MC or Love Interest having no recollection of anything—and they’re lied to at the start about who they’re supposed to be…because you know there will be a dramatic fallout happening when they inevitably find out and that predictability (they fall out, and then you know sometime later something will bring them back together…the fakeout dramatic “breakup” is just so contrived and mechanical and formulaic) is what turns me off. (I don’t mind the amnesia trope as much if it’s used in a psychological horror/ thriller story though.)

Shizun F*cker: It’s your master (teacher) x disciple Chinese classic. I went through a phase of binging these stories and I find they’re generally all very good, but there does come a point where you start seeing similarities and not enough freshness with this trope and they all blend together (especially if it feels like it’s a pale imitation inferior copycat version of certain shizun f*cker classics). Nowadays this kinda premise has to be accompanied by something fresh and unique in order for me to keep reading—and turn my brain off from thinking about the irl teacher-student implications.

Secret Identities: If executed well, I like the reveal of their true identity in the story. It’s like you have this lowkey cute crush who has been helping you all this time—and you find out he’s, like, a mafia don or the CEO of a conglomerate or an international spy. It’s the gap moe contrast of who they pretend to be versus the secret badass they really are. It does come with the risk of some predictability for me though which can ruin my immersion (y’know…the typical MC’s outrage when finding out their Love Interest’s real identity: “You lied to me?! How can I believe you now when all you’ve done is lie to me?!” ➡️ A genuine apology ➡️ Fallout ➡️ Some sort of dramatic reconciliation after the MC or ML/FL was kidnapped).

Tier 4 (C Level)

Dubcon: It’s teetering on the verge between what I find tolerable and what I find unacceptable. As long as it does not fall into the Non-Con territory and isn’t written distastefully, I can read dubcon stories where the consent is a blurry line between these two characters.

Major Character Death: I usually don’t seek this out—because I’m a big weepy baby and I don’t want to grow attached to these characters and bawl at the end when the inevitable happens. But on the super rare instances where I do click on a fic despite this warning tag, it means I have mentally and emotionally prepared myself to get knifed in the heart.

Mary Sue Fic: As much as I love power scaling fics and OP MCs, it does get boring if there’s no setback or conflict for the MC to learn from. I mean, sure, it’s fine for them to steamroll over everyone but if I’m reading +1K chapters of them just steamrolling, they’ve become a Mary Sue. I want flaws. I want setbacks. There’s only so much chuunibyou I can tolerate. There’s only so much descriptions of how ungodly beautiful or how shockingly genius the MC is at everything before I start rolling my eyes. Fatigue has set in and the OP character has become an insufferable milquetoast Mary Sue/ Gary Stu who can do no wrong. My suspension of disbelief has finally been worn away into nothingness. This can also apply to the Love Interest character (I understand their role in the story is to satisfy the ideal dream lover trope—but please give dimension to the character). I want three-dimensional characters with backstory and flaws and an interesting personality, not Mary Sues or Gary Stus.

Y/N (OC Fic): If I’m reading fanfic about my favorite character(s), I don’t want to spend my time reading about a writer’s Original Character or Self-Insert character being shipped with my favorite. I went in to read stories with my fav ship—and only that. There have been the few exceptions to this—but me liking a Y/N or a fic with OCs is ultra rare.

Breakup: Similar to my thoughts on Unrequited Love. But taken up to a hundred. If there’s been a breakup between the main couple in the fic—and it’s not in the beginning exposition chapter where we don’t yet know enough information about these characters—in the middle or near the end, chances are I think the relationship is f*cked anyway and therefore lose interest in the main ship itself in the fic. Even if they get back together at the end, I just think, “Honey…you can do so much better than him/her.” Which is why I usually don’t like reading breakups between the main couple in my fics. (And if the breakup is because the MC or Love Interest is in a precarious situation and they think pushing them away is the best way to protect them, it’s a cliché that makes me roll my eyes because it’s been so overdone and ugh, why pretend to be awful INSTEAD OF COMMUNICATING?)

Body Swap: …It depends SO MUCH on the execution. I cringe so hard if a character (usually the guy in the body of a girl) is feeling up their developed chest like a perv. There’s only a handful of Body Swap stories that do this trope well. If two characters are swapping bodies, I want to read about how they’re trying not to OOC (lol) and see how this body swap impacts the story and cast of characters in any meaningful way.

College AU: I’ve long since graduated from college. Nuff said. Might give a fic a try if it’s well-written or a short PWP (it is what’s written on the tin) but, as a working adult, reading about petty school drama wears on my patience. There has to be plot to keep me invested. Might also read if it dives into college controversies or campus scandals—but the suspense has to be executed well. Most of the time, it works if there’s some kinda big mystery like there’s been a crime committed. Because now you have a whodunnit mystery. And that’s so much more interesting than reading about students studying and doing homework, going to parties, crushing on the professor (also, here, yikes…if you want me to turn my brain off and not think about the real life implications (the teacher’s immediate suspension (hopefully) and losing their teaching privileges and license), you gotta reel me in with the plot or characters), or the typical student college experience.

Gen Fic: It’s bland, milquetoast, mid and forgettable. It’s like sucking out all the fun elements out of a fic—and that’s not my idea of a good time. I think the only way to pull this off is if it’s a Character Study fic.

Tier 5 (F Level)

High School AU: Give me real men or women; get out of here with the kiddy stuff. I’m outside the age range to be able to enjoy this. As a working career-woman, I really don’t want to spend my free time reading about minors and teen romance and teen drama. And if there’s adult content, sorry, just—no. My brain more often than not associates it to underage s3x—and it squicks me out. It’s also so much harder for me to suspend my disbelief that this inexperienced kid from high school is like this super genius hacker or ultra cover model beauty whom grown wo/men salivate over. (Because…god no, I DON’T want to read about a minor’s “milky thighs” or “coquettish voice.” They’re, like, 14-16 y/o. Who wants to read about a predator who has designs on a teenager?) Also, unless it is at the hilarious peak levels of highschool romcom like Kaguya-sama: Love is War but in fanfiction form, reading about two high school students crushing on each other is 99/100 times so boring and milquetoast to me. I am not the target audience for this trope.

Non-Con: The real life implications ruin any chance for me to want to do anything with this trope. Consent is king, y’all. Non-con is a personal squick—and therefore I will not read if it’s what’s gonna happen between the main couple no matter how sweet and regretful the ML or FL acts after the act. It’s r@pe; I do not find SA and being forced sexy in any way. The moment I see that there’s non-con between the main couple, that’s ruined any chances of me enjoying that ship in the fic. (The only exception I can think of for this is if the ML/FL was mind-controlled or didn’t have autonomy over their body due to some kinda magic shenanigans. Or if it’s non-con framed as a horrifying traumatic experience between a character and the unimportant cannon fodder who’s there in the story to be punished as a villain and won’t be forgiven in any way.) I will not seek it out if I see a fic’s been tagged with this. And if I encounter surprise non-con in my reading, I will immediately drop the fic.

Unhappy Ending: I have a glass maiden heart. I tear up easily when characters die or suffer in a book. I don’t want to get emotionally invested in a story and its characters, only to end up with an Unhappy Ending at the end. It just feels so unsatisfactory, like I’d wasted my time on this long fic when I could’ve spent that time productively reading something else that has a much happier and better conclusion.

Crack Fic: Now, the one exception to this is if a writer jokingly says their story revolves around a crackship, but the writing’s so dang unbelievably good you don’t even think it’s a crackship in a crack fic (it’s a bonafide good story). But aside from that, 99 out of 100 times, I will not read crack fics. A crack fic is a writer’s attempt at humor. And humor is so subjective. What they find funny or entertaining might not be what I find funny or entertaining. Most of the time, it’s also of little substance and random and the writing is all over the place (which…y’know, I get it; I notice a lot of people mention they had a wild dream about this and that’s the reason why they’re writing a crack fic.) I’m happy that they’re writing what they find funny and I’m hoping it’s fun for them, but crack fics are not my cuppa tea.

Coffeeshop AU: It’s so mid and blah to me. It’s the most milquetoast Meet Cute out of all the Meet Cutes they could have chosen. I think the only one I recently read in, like, years, is because of a Art & Fic Exchange Bang I’d participated in. It’s so long ago. Basically unless it’s a stalker or secret identity or psychological horror story to make it interesting, I’d rather read anything else than a bland Coffeeshop AU.

Next Generation: Similar to how I regard OC Fics or OCs in general. I’m here to read fanfiction to read about canon characters of a show or book. I did not come here to read about a writer’s cast of Original Characters or Self-Insert characters. If 99% of the fanfic is about the OCs who are the sons and daughters of the canon characters, I just won’t read it. Won’t touch it. Won’t come anywhere near it. They might as well have written an original story of their own instead of a fanfic. (But 99/100 times, it’s poorly written and you can tell it’s written by a younger writer…eeesh. The good thing is, the more they write, the more practice they’re getting, so the better their writing will be.)

Bonus (F Level)

Cheating/ NTR: my brain automatically associates irl with this—and I find it despicable. The 1% chance I would read this trope is if the MC/ Love Interest is shown the consequences of their actions and the story promises that the person who’s been cheated on breaks up with them. Or if it’s a Mindlessly Self-Indulgent PWP oneshot—so I know to turn my brain off and lower my usual standards coming in.

Harem Fic: It’s Love Triangle—but taken up a notch. It’s so hard to write stallion (er0tica) protags that come across as endearing and not a playboy scummy f*ckboi. It annoys me if I’ve developed attachment to a ship or character and am interested in their relationship development (my waifu or husbando), but the story suddenly shifts to Side Character No.50 whom I couldn’t give two hoots about. The only exceptions to this, for me to keep reading a harem fic, is 1) if I like the storytelling, worldbuilding, and/or protagonist or main ship that makes it worth it. It’s very rare but there have been handful of writers who have actually made a harem where I care for and like ALL of the waifus. 2) I also enjoy harem dramas where the MC face-slaps every love rival, evil concubines, white lotus conniving mistresses, jealous queen/ mother, etc—and gets The Wo/Man.

Fanfiction Tropes (Writer Edition)

I’m much more open-minded writer usually 😅, so I’m usually open to try almost anything—but my criteria of tropes I will write for the story depends on my mood and the story’s premise. They usually have to pose some relevancy to the fic (which depends on its premise and characters) and satisfy my want to contribute something fresh/ interesting to the fandom if I decide to write that trope.

The biggest two changes are: 1) I’d move most of these tropes up into Always Down to Write and a few into If the Plot Calls for It. I’d also probably reorder a couple tropes if I look at them from a writer’s perspective (left ➡️ right, arranged from tropes I feel strongly about ➡️ the tropes I consider mid and don’t hold much strong opinions about). 2) I’d change the categories to:

Always Down to Write tier (probably 90% of these)

If the Plot Calls for It, or if I’m Curious and Want to Try Experimenting with It tier (I typically don’t go out of my way to read these, but would be willing to challenge myself and see what the writing experience would be like)

You’d Never Catch Me with My Pants Down Writing It tier (fun fact: there’s only maybe 4 or 5 of these I’d put here)

If you happen to be a writer whose tropes fall into ones I do not like and you know I’ve gushed about your fic before, know that you were one of the rare exceptions and I hope knowing this makes you happy. ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡

[aworldforastage]

A Totally Subjective List of Favorite Danmei Novels I Read in 2022

Qiang Jin Jiu :: 将进酒 唐酒卿

Silent Reading :: 默读 Priest

Jun You Ji Fou :: 君有疾否 如似我闻

Those Years I Opened a Zoo :: 我开动物园那些年  拉棉花糖的兔子 

Golden Stage :: 黄金台 苍梧宾白

Your Scandals Are Way Cuter Than You :: 你的黑料比本人可爱 毛球球

Professional Body Double :: 职业替身 水千丞

Lantern: Reflection of the Peach Blossoms :: 提灯映桃花 淮上 

Guide on How to Fail at Online Dating :: 网恋翻车指南 酱子贝

FOG :: FOG[电竞] 漫漫何其多

Qiang Jin Jiu :: 将进酒 唐酒卿

“你坐明堂上,不要沾风雪。” “Your place is in the great halls, untouched by wind and snow.”

[historical, political intrigue]  – (I wrote a spoiler-free introductory synopsis here.)  Plenty of people have already said lots of good things about this novel, but the highlight for me is its rich cast of three-dimensional characters, who are simultaneously cruel or frustrating but also sympathetic and redeemable. The characters’ actions and decisions are mingled with compromises they must make for their circumstances and values. The world is built with extreme care, with plenty of details that I didn’t catch until my second pass over the novel. I read nearly 70 titles in 2022, but I spent almost a month on QJJ alone to re-read and listen to the audiodrama. Despite the length of the novel, I still wish I can spend more time in this world. 

Silent Reading :: 默读 Priest 

“ 我不是凝视深渊的人，我就是深渊。” “I’m not the one staring into the abyss; I am the abyss.”

[modern, police procedural] – If QJJ is my go-to recommendation for a historical danmei, then Silent Reading aka Modu is my go-to for a modern one. This is basically a police procedural, focusing on five major cases, with the finale weaving together clues scattered throughout the novel. Priest is a masterful writer who introduces new information in a measured pace, so you gradually get to know the characters and immerse into the complex world. The cases takes us face-to-face with some of the the darkest facets of humanity, but the work decidedly leaves you with a sense of hope, that even the deepest wounds can heal, and there are more people than you may ever expected who will want to help you.

Jun You Ji Fou :: 君有疾否 如似我闻 

刹那间上万只蝶忽然振翅飞起，满胸膛的蝶翼��动，心彻底乱的没有章法。 Suddenly tens of thousands of butterflies spread their wings to take flight. His chest is filled with fluttering motion, and his heart falls fully into disarray. 

[historical, political, romance] – In JYJF, two longtime rivals with opposing political priorities coming to a new understanding of each other and fall in love.  They are both clever, principled, but black-bellied in their own way. This novel has undeniable weaknesses as a political drama, but it has built a reputation as a romance with poetic prose, well-developed characters, and a delicious blend of humour, fluff, and angst. The “light” political plot lines will not bog the reader down, and functions instead as an effective backdrop to showoff how the characters work together, the way their ideologies clash and align, and why they can come love each other. [incomplete translation]

Those Years I Opened a Zoo :: 我开动物园那些年  拉棉花糖的兔子 

“也没有什么诀窍，就是夸他，一个劲夸他，从内夸到外。”  “There isn’t really a trick to it. Just compliment him, keep complimenting him, compliment him from inside out.” 

[comedy, urban fantasy] – This is my go-to feel-better novel when I need a good laugh. The protagonist operates a zoo with the help of a magical app, and some of the most formidable names in Chinese mythology (Su Daji, Bai Suzhen, Sun Wokong etc.) must blend in as “staff animals”. There is no real angst or conflict, and the romance, between the twenty-something zoo owner and a mythological bird who has been “single for tens-of-thousands of years,” is equally light and fun. Even though his boyfriend is one of the most powerful beings in the universe, the human shou is the one who actually sets the pace and tone of the relationship, since he is the one with higher EQ and more “knowledge”.

Golden Stage :: 黄金台 苍梧宾白

“朝廷走狗不残害忠良，怎么对得起天下悠悠众口？”  “If the dog of the imperial court doesn’t scheme against the loyal and the just, what will all the interested citizens gossip about?” 

[historical, arranged marriage,  but really reconciliation] - The emperor arranges a controversial marriage for an injured but popular war hero and his rival, a favored but notorious court official. Instead of shifting the political balance like the emperor has hoped, the couple works out their old grievances and forms a formidable alliance which soon becomes the only hope for the ailing empire against foes within and beyond. A lot of the political themes in this novel are very similar to QJJ, but while QJJ is very hardcore in its depiction of the politics and mechanics of an entire government, Golden Stage is a much shorter and easier read, with its focus on the core characters, and their values and relationships. 

Your Scandals Are Way Cuter Than You :: 你的黑料比本人可爱 毛球球

难得有这么一大波人送上门来吵架，江影兴奋得很，但，他有他的职业道德，自家的粉只能护，不能怼，至于戚逐家的，他只针对戚逐这个人，不针对戚逐家的粉。 It's not often that such a large group of people brings the fight to his door; Jiang Ying is very excited. However, he has his own ethical standards: he needs to help his own fans, not go up against them. As for Qi Zhu's fans, his problem is only with Qi Zhu himself, not the fans.

[comedy, actors/celebrities] –  A hilarious “entertainment circle” novel where the idol actor protagonist loves the industry not for the acting or the singing, but the gossip and cat fights. He is so invested in arguing and fighting with antis online that he nearly misses the fact someone is seriously in love with him. The protagonist’s brother’s story is told in Your Memes are Way Better-looking than You, which takes place before this novel. “Memes” generally has the same funny tone but a slightly more serious plot, but this novel is a pure sugar-fest. 

Professional Body Double :: 职业替身 水千丞

他看到了一个成熟的男人是怎么对待爱情的，又是怎么用那种恰到好处的温柔和宽容去感染、缠缚对方的，他就是那个被周翔紧紧抓住的人。 He saw how a mature man deals with love, using just the perfect amount of warmth and generosity to infect and cling onto his lover; he was the was one who had been tightly held onto by Zhou Xiang. 

 [angst, romance, actors and celebrities] – A gentle introduction to the infamous “188 Club”. Yan Mingxiu’s ranking within the 188 really varies depending on your priorities, but I mostly have a soft spot for him because Zhou Xiang seems to really love him (and also, the extra chapters written from YMX’s POV kinda sorta maybe gave him sympathy points).  Zhou Xiang is caring, smart, and extremely charismatic. I am very moved by the way Zhou Xiang loves and pursues Yan Mingxiu before the accident, the way his confidence and maturity are undercut by his insecurities and loneliness as an orphan and a gay man. In the end, I root for them mostly because I want to believe Zhou Xiang can make it work with the boy he loves so much. 

Lantern: Reflection of the Peach Blossoms :: 提灯映桃花 淮上 

“我不是来打仗的，我是来求婚的。” “I didn’t come here to fight, I came to propose."

[romance, urban fantasy, reconciliation ] – This novel probably has my favorite relationship arc, in which love has never been so powerful and so useless at the same time. It’s a love story between gods and demons, and but it’s also about the insecurity of marrying across classes, the damage of emotionally abusive upbringing, the balance between children and spouse, and the sacrifices you make for love and duty. It’s a HE reconciliation story with lots of comedy, but it’s a long and cruel journey to uncover and patch up the mistakes that brought them to this point. One note I must make is that this novel is kind of hard to follow due to POV switches and the character themselves having incomplete information; the full conflict and relevant backstory is not really clear until around 65% into the text. 

Guide on How to Fail at Online Dating :: 网恋翻车指南 酱子贝 

渣男怎么了？ 渣男多好啊？！ 渣男文可为我写诗！武可啪啪三日！上暖绿茶！下暖萝莉！二十四小时温柔在线！七十二小时暖心待机！恋爱不查短信！分手绝不纠缠！经期会冲红糖！睡前会说晚安！ 天啊！渣男就是这个世界上的宝物！我永远爱渣男！！！ What’s wrong with scum boyfriends? Scum boyfriends are great! Scum boyfriends can write love poems with his pen! Can go for three days with his sword! Delivering warmth to green-tea and loli’s alike! He is online for 24 hours a day, on standby for 72! No checking your phone while dating! No pestering you after breaking up! He can make brown sugar drinks during your period! He’ll tell you ‘goodnight’ before bed! By heavens! Scum boyfriends are treasures of the world! I will love scum boyfriends forever!!! 

[online gaming, cat-fishing, mistaken identities, college-setting] – AKA: “fake green tea vs fake scum boyfriend.” Jing Huan poses as a girl in an online game to catfish the Big Name Player who tricked and hurt his cousin. Meanwhile, Xiang Huaizhi notices photos from the girl who keeps flirting with him in an online game can only be sent by someone at his school, specifically, one underclassman. There is plenty of comedy in Jing Huan’s effort to pose as a girl online, and also plenty of hurt when the truth and deception are laid to bare, but overall this is a sweet college romance with just dash (or maybe a spoonful?) of angst and plenty of humour. (PSA: No knowledge of gaming is needed (I don’t have any) to follow the story.) 

FOG :: FOG[电竞] 漫漫何其多

不喜欢的人的心机才是心机。 喜欢的人的心机，那叫撒娇。 Schemes are only schemes if they are coming from people you don’t like . Schemes from people you like, that's flirting to get your attention. 

 [E-sports, (sort-of?) reconciliation] – My first “E-Sports” novel that focuses on professional competitive gaming (but it’s a fictional game so no prior gaming knowledge needed). As a E-Sports novel, FOG does a great job of portraying the camaraderie between teammates and the youthful passion of the players, while also touching on the cynical and exploitative side of the industry. There is an extremely sad and infuriating backstory that explains how the main couple came to be separated for two years (it’s not their fault), but their relationship is otherwise very sweet. However, I have never seen a story with a tournament arc that ends when the main characters win the quarter-finals … (yes, there are extra chapters, but still …)  

[fractalkiss]

tag game - either or

tagged by @sweatyflytrap <3

hardcover or paperback? - paperbacks just feel right

bookstore or library? - both.

bookmark or receipt? - i lose bookmarks so receipts it is for physical books

stand alone or series? - i don't have the consistent reading habit to finish series anymore but ALSO it's because of the next question

nonfiction or fiction? - both but i think i read more non-fiction consistently than fiction at this point. i've been reading the tragedy of heterosexuality by jane ward on and off and how to do nothing: resisting the attention economy by jenny odell (for all of you girlsleep, girlrest, girlnappers out there against the busyness = productivity culture, lol but SERIOUSLY, it's a good book... ignore my sheer oversimplification of what it's about). for fiction, i've been reading anne carson's stuff lately and lolita and pale fire by nabokov, which i've been reading since like.....last year, on and off...nabokov is a crazy writer

thriller or fantasy? - i don't read much of either right now TBH but hypothetically, if i could call myself a Reader, then fantasy.

under 300 pages or over 300 pages? - i don't think it matters!

children’s or YA? - self-explanatory, perhaps??

friends to lovers or enemies to lovers? - you know the danmei novel scum villain's self saving system? it's a bit of both, but not quite. i hope this is very revealing about my recent tastes, sorry for being like this

read in bed or read on the couch? - we read to fall asleep babeyyy

read at night or read in the morning? - ^

keep pristine or markup? i love scribbling into physical books lol and i'm always taking notes in my ebooks.

cracked spine or dog ear? - both, though i don't dog-ear pages on my own copies, but i don't mind if i pick up a book that's already dog-eared.. it's very charming

tagging @eljibbity, @arborescendres, @lucirent, @fldx, @mxgicdave @wewentcarracing

[prince-liest]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love ❤

Aw, thank you so much for sending me this! <3 I've written a lot of fics, but my favorites have definitely changed over time... some I still adore, some I have a hard time looking at for a variety of reasons. These are in no particular order, but I'm especially fond of:

Calcium Carbonate, and Other Things That Run Bone Deep - Genshin Impact, Kaeya/Albedo, Rated M for Gore

Fondly nicknamed "vivisection makeouts fic" while I was writing it, this one was a very gratuitous "Albedo's (in)humanity clashes with Kaeya's desire to save Mondstadt" meet-ugly fic that I still really enjoy as a way that I got to wring both of their brains out like sponges. I was a little nervous when posting it due to the, y'know, vivisection makeouts, but it was received with overwhelming positivity that still makes me happy to think about.

How To Lose 800 Years of Cultivation - Heaven Official's Blessing, Feng Xin/Mu Qing, Rated E for Sexual Content

At one point I discovered how good of a method intimacy is for digging around in characters' brains, and this is the fic where I truly went ham with that. Like, there's a lot of sex in this fic, but there's also a lot of picking apart Mu Qing's issues with intimacy and sexuality, class inequality, and his perception of Feng Xin, who has his own shit to deal with but still fields it all like a champ. I've reread this like five times after publishing it and will definitely reread it again.

Dish Duty - Avatar: the Last Airbender, Zuko & Katara, Rated G

This is constantly threatening The Sword of Damocles is Swinging for being my most popular SFW fic (it has fewer hits but more kudos), and I like it because I think I did a really good job with capturing the canon tone of ATLA, as well as digging into the parts of Zuko's character that I was interested in excavating in it. Plus it had a fun little plot and adventure! It just turned into a really nice, self-contained fic that did everything I wanted it to.

Meng Yao's Guide to Sex and Love - MDZS, Lan Xichen/Meng Yao, Rated E for Sexual Content

I literally just finished writing this so obviously it's fresh in my mind, and I do actually have some things I find unsatisfying about it (the chapter arrangement, mostly), but I REALLY loved writing Meng Yao's modern AU version bag of cats brain and using this fic to learn more about both his and LXC's characterizations. Also, I just really like packing in canon-parallel worldbuilding into modern AUs for xianxia danmei series, and writing JGY & WWX friendship in general. Plainly, this was fun to write. My only #ragret is that now I'm really sick of writing cis smut and want to write trans!Meng Yao.

Smolder - Genshin Impact, Zhongli/Xiao, rated E for Sexual Content

I loved this when I wrote it, but now it's been forever since I've reread it and it's one of my favorites not so much for the fic itself but for how ridiculously popular it got. Very legitimately, I was wary of writing this ship at all in a way that was explicitly Not The Healthiest, and furthermore did not expect fandom to be so positive about trans characters (especially in smut). So it's just pleasing and also hilarious to me that my self-indulgent power imbalance smut ended up

And, as an aside: I think that a lot of my favorite fics have ended up comfortably in that 20-30k word range, which is interesting. I don't really write novel-length fics anymore (and only really did so one time, though it got very popular), and I think it's partly because I really just like to concentrate on the bits I'm interested in and write around everything else, letting people fill in the blanks based on what characters think and say.

Honorable mentions:

Both of the Xue Yang fics for having pretty few hits but extremely enthusiastic comments because the SXX community is baller like that.

The Beast of Pont Vanis, the only Witcher fic I've ever written, based on a song I've enjoyed and wanted to make a story out of since literally high school.

The Shinsou's Bad Days series, may I one day have the motivation to finish you.

The fic where I buried Albedo in an avalanche and let people do the math for how many days he was stuck there based on how many heartbeats he counted and how panic-tachycardic he was.

[itwillbelonelywontit]

If I might rant a bit from one lesbian fujoshi fic writer to another, idk how much you'll relate to this because I'm sure we all experience this phenomenon with very different perspectives and whatnot, but: how do you write explicit content?? It's legit good too??

My own fascination with gay smut and yaoi ships in fandom is something that's confused myself and everyone around me ever since I realized that I am a women-only girlie, but if I had to do some self-psychoanalysis, I think part of the reason it's sexy is the degree of separation from myself. These boys, who I only like because they are not real and would be very upset to see in real life, are characters who are treated by their creators and the media around them as full fleshed-out people with problems and goals unrelated to misogyny. They don't have the genitalia that I have, nor want to see, and it's not the genitalia I've learned to fear the brutalization of through my own personal experience and the experience of the women around me. They're separate, on their own island, and as such, feel very safe to project weird desires, dead dove, character-study, and other exploration of my non-corporeal sexuality onto. The smut is hot not because there's a penis, but around it - there's a safety where I can explore erotic sections of people and of myself, and the things that are happening enhance characterization and are interesting because of that. I read a lot of porn lmao.

I don't know if you've noticed - you've given me kudos on my two most sexual fics, You Bite My Lip and Looking for Heaven (thank you btw <3) - that I only write sexual situations where they're clothed, cut to black, or it's mentioned in this sort of vague illusion-to. It's not because I'm uncomfortable with anything else. It's because if I try to write anything more explicit than that, the writing describing the sex quickly gets stale, repetitive, unimaginative, boring. I like the reason I'm doing it, I want to inlay the exploration of dynamic and idea that I'm writing it for in the first place. But I'm not actively having fun with the sex part (because penises mean nothing to me lol), and that means the actual base I'm laying the fun bits on turns out underwritten and bad.

At the end of the day, I think my problem is that I just can't seem to get excited about dick 😭

I love the Lawlight stuff on ur blog btw keep it up

oooooh this response is going to be long

first of all, hello fellow lesbian fujoshi! we are a phenomenon that few can understand, and I am so fascinated by hearing other people's experiences! and I'm so happy you think the stuff I write is good, thank you <3

as a quick disclaimer, I am definitely somewhere on the aro/ace spectrum as well as being lesbian, so I don't doubt that factors into some of my perspective

this may be shocking to hear now, but for years I had zero interest in basically all m/m ships. looking back, there were definitely relationships between men that I was weirdly invested in (obikin, sheith) but I didn't consider that "shipping" based on the complex and slightly taboo nature of the relationships in question and insecurity in my own sexuality. the slash ships that I did like tended to be completely devoid of any risqué undertones (think solangelo), and I had no interest in exploring a sexual side of their relationships. I basically only shipped f/f for years.

however there was a turning point midway through high school where i, with the accidental help of my best friend, flipped a switch in my brain. for about a year there was only one slash ship that I read explicit material for, but my friend introduced me to danmei and shonen, which just opened the floodgates. I found that I could enjoy reading smut without feeling uncomfortable or too close with the content if the characters were men. see, for me, appearance has always been second to dynamic in my sexuality. for example, if I'm reading vanilla smut of two girls who I think are attractive, I won't really find it entertaining as opposed to a m/m fic containing Things that I find hot. okay, so why dont I just read kinky femslash? here's where I absolutely relate to you in the aspect of separation. being attracted to women but uninterested, and occasionally repulsed, by seeing myself in a sexual situation, I find it so much more comfortable to read about guys whose genitalia and gender is different than mine. I can still get the satisfaction of these dynamics that I think are sexy, without having to risk it hitting too close to home. also totally agree about the misogyny factor, a BL youtuber I really love has a great video where she explains the appeal of slash shipping for her, and I definitely find a lot of her points relatable.

honestly I'm not sure what to tell you for how I write explicit slash content. it's just never really been something that makes me uncomfortable. man I wish I had some advice. I suppose just write what you enjoy? LOVE your fics by the way, so if closed sex/fade to black is your jam, then write it! if you do want to achieve writing hardcore porn, my advice would be to do your research along with reading other's work. make sure you understand the anatomy and how everything functions, and that will help you understand how to write it.

thank you so much for this ask! I feel like it's hard for a lot of people to wrap their heads around being a lesbian yaoi enjoyer, so I hope my rambling wasn't totally incoherent, and can maybe answer some of those questions.

[izartn]

Now that I made my read and my first post on CFC I want you all to have my review at NovelUpdates, from 2020, of when I finished The Legendary Master's Wife.

Not reccedt, this is a truly trash fire of a novel that: dragged in parts, treated it's women terribly while presenting the shou as practically a woman himself, there was much lack of consent and even care, the secondaries where caricatures, there's was a pokemon adjacent plot, where by the end I still wasn't sure if the two mains loved each other. They sure loved their position as the most powerful of their world though!

By the extras you also get the true gem of You Xiaomo meeting again his birth family in his world and you, the reader, discover his older brother was a brocon and also they did modern world low cultivation. The stuff of legends.

My English is a bit worse here bc it was 3 years ago, but perfectly understandable.

It was boring at parts and really interesting at others; I didn't really care all that much about the characters though because well... they are plane. However, what made me stick with the novel was precisely the MC and his ML. I'll explain: the MC starts pretty soft. He is a noob from our world, coddled but also without a warm family or friends. He wants to learn and is very diligent studying alchemy-soul cultivation but he doesn't have the minor idea of how this world works. Enter ML who has a very good idea of the immense potential of MC and has decided to make him his, to help with his secret plans. He of course exposes MC to all the ugly faces of the world, for much that MC doesn't want to. MC is also cunning and decides to follow powerful ML if nothing else can be done. Then the story truly starts. And what I found fascinating was how these two changed bit by bit through exposure to each other. Like MC is pretty damn helpless at the start, and throughout the story, he starts mimicking ML and adapting to everything that keeps happening to the point that he is like that violent converse who is more militant than the one born in his religion. It was astounding, what fear makes one do. ML of course, encourages this and is pretty happy of letting MC do his thing; they are soul-bonded and so is impossible to escape one another, even in death- one dies and the other will follow. That MC has decided bit by bit be more ruthless and powerful only benefits ML who after everything starts truly caring about the other. But really, is like mutual Stockholm Syndrome xD This and the fact that everybody powerful in the world of this novel is.. well, dark gray in morality scale at best made me see this novel as the descent of the MC. He becomes like the very person he was repelled by in the first arc, without caring very much for it, absorbing the values and the pride of his new world. Basically, if you see the novel through my lenses, MC and ML become the great overlords (this is true anyways) and ultimate Villains of their world. This is what made love the ending although it was pretty lackluster. I doubt the author intended my take on the novel, but is one that formed organically as I persisted reading through the hundreds of chapters. The fact that the characters themselves aren't very developed even helps this view; we are seeing people devoid of morals, of essence. They just have power.

Anyways. I look at this and about how very much this was not the take the author wanted me to have and I laugh. That's one of the enxt danmei they're publishing in English btw.

All those people being like, CFC is too much... CFC does what it does on purpose, and the development of HeXie was done carefully for Meatbun. You can hate it and disagree and stop reading, your prerogative, bc your taste is your taste and your squicks or more serious triggers yours, but it's on purpose by a writer that knows what she's doing even if shes very self-indulgent and misses the mark bc of it. I had a good time reading anyways.

Then there's books or danmei like TLMW.

(I was left with the urge of seeing blackened Xiaomo have Ling Xiao and the rest of the world at his mercy somehow. Revenge!!!!!)

[mxtxfanatic]

I am discovering danmei and so far my reaction is HOW ARE DANMEI WRITERS SO GOOOOOOD. LIKEEE, The world building, the plot, the twists, the romance, the engagement are sooooooo gooooood. I just finished misvil yesterday, reading a new danmei but I don't have have a clue on what I'll read next. Do u have any recommendations? Or any authors? I don't mind if it's modern or xianxia/wuxia.

I’m also just (relatively) branching out in Chinese webnovels, so I don’t feel like I have a lot of books under my belt yet. But most of them I’ve read have been fantastic! Idk your reading preferences, but if you want:

Cultivation world:

2ha by Meatbun

Any mxtx novel

Ancient historical fiction with political intrigue:

Golden Stage/Terrace

Qiang Jin Jiu

Drama:

2ha

Golden Stage/Terrace

Qiang Jin Jiu

Good balance of comedy and drama:

Any mxtx novel

[marigoldispeculiar]

Happy STS! Are there books that inspired you in the sense that you thought "this was cool, but I could write it better if I did this and this"? Which ones? @writingonesdreams

Happy STS!

Other stories are definitely my biggest source of inspiration! But, at least these days, I don't think so much "I could do this better" but "I wish this had been more X" or "this makes me want to see Y and Z together".

For instance, Perfect Medicine is animated some of these ideas:

I was reading a lot of ABO and realizing that working with nonreal genders gives writers a lot of power to define gender identity within the work. But most writers seemed more interested in examining feminity through Omegas than considering Alphas.

I was reading a lot of danmei and noticing that disabled and chronically ill characters were more common than I was used to. The illnesses were inevitably use to code the characters as more feminine, but they were also treated as precious and lovable character traits.

So I thought: what if I wrote a story about how chronic illness messes with gender? And I used ABO to do it? With an Alpha? Like, what would a love story about an Alpha who's illness makes him less of an Alpha look like?

Perfect Medicine evolved from there, but I feel like it's a pretty good example of how I tend to generate ideas. I have a pretty long list of them at this point, but some of them are more worthwhile than others. (They're also mostly inspired by danmei tropes, so they're kinda hard to explain to people that aren't knee-deep in the jargon.)