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shallowseeker · 9 months ago

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okay so, yesterday I found your spn meta by chance and fell in love with them 'cause more than writing they're like images, like they really depict things and I just immediately understand what you mean instantly + I started to rewatch Steve Yockey's episodes 'cause I feel like I like his writing (lots of queer! lots of rom-com references! but it's all done so intellingently, I love it!) but ALSO sometimes it doesn't translate to me + I just saw you wrote about "Optimism"= I GOTTA ASK: what's your take on "Optimism"? I don't understand what the Zombie story and the Musca one should reveal about the characters. Visually, it looks like the Musca = Charlie, so Harper and the zombie are ??? I'm mad at myself 'cause I don't seem to get what the show is telling me so I'm hoping you can share what the show tells YOU and, vicariously, I can get it as well (lol). THANK YOU!

Hi! Hello!

Oh, really? That's so cool. I still have trouble thinking of myself as a "meta writer." I don't mean to be. I just like to ramble. But cool! It's probably mostly that we think alike and are sympatico in some key ways. :-) Always fun to find kindred spirits!

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O P T I M I S M

I have so many thoughts on Optimism. It's one of my fave episodes! I actually did a re-watch-slash-convo with some friends on Discord and just transcribed the very, very, very LOOONG bulk of it today!

I haven't written much on the Musca. After spending a lot of time of @scoobydoodean's blog, I've just about decided the Musca plot is actually a Sam's emotions-through line more than it is a true dark mirror. Even AU Charlie is cheeky about it:

AU CHARLIE (annoyed at Sam, about the Musca): Your nifty metaphor has holes.

Basically, Charlie is saying that mirrors aren't one-to-one, and that trying to force-fit them into being one-to-one can be super annoying sometimes.

CHARLIE - Every two hundred years there is "bad egg". When a male fails to find a mate, he abandons his community and starts using peoples bodies to "nest". Binding them together with a viscous goo. And when the goo fits...

The Musca/fly is at face-value:

A) A bodysnatcher plot: In that regard, it could be like all angels, demons, or anyone inhabiting a body. (Cas, Lucifer, Michael, Crowley, etc.) Ergo, it's a dark, uncharitable Cas mirror the way Dave Mathers outlaw wraith was in Tombstone. It could be saying that Cas "failed" among "his own people" and cruelly took up space in a human body. But that would be grossly oversimplifying the whole situation, saying that Cas "should have stayed with his people," which ofc doesn't work.

It, as Charlie says, "has a lot of holes." @ilarual has written a lot about the totalitarian structure of Heaven. And Sam himself wants Cas around. As far as metaphors go, it's a dud for Cas.

B) It's a failure to thrive plot: Because the Musca "failed" in The Real World with its Own People, perhaps failed to live up to The prescriptive Dream of Success (TM), now it's wreaking havoc on others.

Sam himself "failed out" of Harvard. He "choked." Kevin Train and Patience Turner are also Failed Gifted Students. Losers who didn't live up to their potential. This could even apply to Chuck, binding together his characters because he's a Loser with a capital L.

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ANYWAY, I feel like the Music plot is a "red herring" for a few reasons.

One: The main Harper plot is about breaking narratives, about not relying so much on books. And then Charlie says this:

CHARLIE: Goo. So, yeah. I'd say this is the right place. Now, I'm just trying to figure out what we are dealing with. Thus, books.

Aside: Later Cas says sarcastically in Ouroboros that Sam and Rowena, "Have many, many books."

So, there's this niggling indictment of trying to find too much truth in books...

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Two: Sam has a tendency to see something and, like, imprint on it. He tends to fall into "It's just like me!" instead of speaking frankly about the present situations and emotions.

*In American Nightmare, he sees Madga Peterson, an abused child* -> "She's just like me!"

*In Somewhere in Between Heaven and Hell, he sees someone lying about something completely unrelated to his current situation* ->"Omg, they're lying to them, like I'm lying to Dean! It's just like me!"

*In Lost & Found, he meets Jack Kline, who is Lucifer's son "OMG, he's just like me!" -> *spoiler alert* Jack is not in fact much like Sam at all. -> Sidenote: instead of speaking frankly about how Dean is grieving, how Lucifer killed Cas and likely killed Mary, he uses complex euphemisms with Jack, ones that actually obscure the reality of the situation! This winds up annoying Jack and making him pull away from Sam.

///

IMHO...Sam isn't...naturally all that great with emotions.

He tries really, really hard, and he loves patterns, but he's always seeming to force-fit situations and scenarios into neat little boxes so he can passively-aggressively use it to indirectly communicate something he feels about himself.

He has a very cognitive empathy style. Bless him.

///

So what's REALLY going on here?

Well. In this episode, he wants Charlie to stay. He wants Charlie to stay and fill a void the other Charlie left behind. He wants Charlie to stay really, really badly. And he beats around the bush about it.

At first, he sidesteps his own emotions by passive-aggressively implying that it's Dean that in fact needs her.

CHARLIE: He'll be fine. Your brother, I mean. He's got other friends, right? SAM: Plenty. Uhm, he used to have a pretty damn good wingman. CHARLIE: So call that guy to check on him. SAM: That guy was you. CHARLIE: No, it wasn't. SAM: Right, I, uh, sorry. I didn't mean that.

And then by trying to make the case fit her.

He's very indirect and weird about it. Because he's Sam. (It's a contrast to the effortless, awkward-but-honest communication style we see from characters like Jack and Dean in this very episode.)

SAM: Charlie, you can't just quit and go live on a mountain somewhere. People need people. CHARLIE: Why? Cause they're the luckiest people in the world? SAM: Look, come on. We just do. We're social animals. CHARLIE: Emphasis on animals. SAM: Yeah, but you're also a hunter. The things that we've seen, it's not so easy to just walk away from it all. Believe me, I've tried. Our Charlie tried. CHARLIE: Yeah, well again, she ain't me. It's my life, Sam. Not hers. And not yours.

Ah, yes. Instead of saying, “I want you here,” it’s, “people need people.”

And Hell, sometimes indirect communication works! Like how Dean and Cas use Felix the snake to indirectly communicate with Jack in Peace of Mind!

But the difference with Sam is...he's not using this indirect communication style to find out how Charlie feels (the way Dean and Cas use the snake to suss out how Jack feels).

No, he's using the whole thing to try to tell Charlie what he thinks is best for her! To tell her things, not find out things.

Eventually, he breaks and says what he actually thinks, but only after AU Charlie is starting to lose her patience with him:

SAM (faux-sadly): Got to say, I do feel kind of bad for the Musca. I mean, he could have been happy if he'd stayed with his people. Didn't have to go off on his own just because... CHARLIE (exasperated): Okay, I get it. I am just like the bug and I shouldn't go out on my own.

OMG, Sammy! It's okay if we want to hit Sam sometimes, right? I too wanted to hit him after he said this to Charlie.

CHALIE: But your nifty metaphor has holes. I wasn't looking for love. I found it and I lost it. And I didn't kill people and literally nest in their body parts so...(Scene cuts to other Musca removing the body of the dead one) SAM: Okay, yeah I know, I know, How about this? Don't leave.

(Aside// I think this is a cheeky nod to the fact that Cas and Dean weren't looking for love either. In fact, they tried (and keep trying) really, really hard not to love each other. Their real life was faaaar more complicated than some simple "bodysnatcher plot.")

But thank God--Sam finally says outright what he needed to say to Charlie: Don't leave.

Now, it probably would've been better if he's gone a step further: "I don't want you to leave," but for Sam, this is pretty good progress.

SAM: Hear me out. Sure some people can do bad things when they're desperate or scared. But the guy we just saved, he has a wife and children. I'm not saying that all people are good people or even that most people are but if we help people then maybe they'll help people and all that. And that's worth it. Even with all the tears and death. It's worth it. CHARLIE: Just to be super clear, I am not like the fly monster. (Sam chuckles) But, I'll think about staying.

So I think OVERALL the Musca plot is really about highlighting Sam's difficult communication style, and I think it's intentionally being cheeky about it how it's using a "really "dumb metaphor" with gaping holes!

It's about how Sam tries to force-fit the case of the week into saying what he wants it to say...instead of just saying it.

///

I think Sam has a little bit of a "mental main character syndrome." He sees a scenario and moves directly into cognitive empathy, reading the situation and thinking:

How can I apply this to myself? Or make it a stand-in for either something I want to believe about myself or a stand-in for something I want to say indirectly?

Sometimes you'll see ppl insist that Sam is the "MC" because every storyline tells you "something about Sam." But I'm more in the camp that it's Sam's inherent cognitive style of empathy at work, desperately reworking anything and everything to make it apply to himself.

Whereas Cas and Dean (and Jack) have a truer emotional style of empathy, connecting with people for who they actually are, as they are.

That's not to say that both styles can't be manipulative when we want them to be. But Sam really struggles with his style in a way I feel like Dean and Cas do not. Dean and Cas perhaps don't even realize what effective communicators they actually are!

///

My other thoughts on Optimism:

#asks #sam stuff #spn optimism #harper sayles #jack stuff #jack kline #spn season 14 #spn 14x06 #spn steve yockey #jack relationships

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isame-allen · 13 days ago

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,,,,,what if supernova in the sibling AU

Oh I gotchu fam

Alr so so

If I were to go the full-fluff-pacifist route, their relationship is almost like those early disney rom com where the male lead is clingy and dedicated to get the female leads love. Anyways, their relationship would be like yes-man and a strong masc dom girlboss

However in another case, they’d be the unhealthiest couples out of the cast.

I haven’t fully construct a proper bg for slash but the main theme is that she would cause massive harm to a lot of people where some has actually died and she is a recovering black market supplier, which basically slash wasn’t aware of the type of meat (which is majorly human) she was cutting up and selling it to people. Man, she didn’t even know the place she worked at was part of the black market. TLDR; she hates cutting meat. She may be slowly recovering but it has brought her back to her butcher days. Anyways. Delusion would ask slash to help him with some JR stuff which she thought was like, training or smt. But he would slowly make slash distance herself from her family and manipulates her to not only end the criminals or myb ‘criminals’, he’d also make her cut up the bodies so that it’ll be easier for his other torturings with a dash of ‘I love you’ and guilt tripping.

“How can I protect you if I’m dead?”

“Slash, my love, they deserve it wouldn’t you also want to make them suffer if they harmed your little brother?”

For slash, she’d use delusion as an output of her anger and frustration with everything that has happened to her in the past (allegedly) slash does have a lot of hatred for delusion because like the JR has false reports on the meme squad families [which has resolved but some still have a grudge] and because she has caught up on delusions game of using her to help the JR. Not only will she use lash out at delusion, which mostly is her ranting about the shitty people she has met but she makes it seem like she’s insulting delusion, but she’ll also hurt him physically. Not like fully stab him but like choking, scratching and squeezing of hand to the point where she can break it, etc. Delusion thinks that this is her way of coping and since he’s not very experienced in the therapist role amongst his brothers, he thinks that this is a way to help slash so he just let her just fully physically hurt him and possibly mentally

#I realized that I hv a plot hole. ‘is meme squad actually wanted by the JR still?’ I have mentioned that the JR has made false accusations #about the meme squad families but then it resolved later on. I may have to elaborate more or change it a lil in the future but we’ll go wit #this for now #horror!dreamswap #h!ds slash #h!ds delusion #supernova (slash x delusion)#we are curiosity #sibling au

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inevitably-johnlocked · 2 years ago

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Hi Steph!

Was wondering if you had any fics where Sherlock and Sally become friends?

Or something similar?

Hey Nonny!

Ah, I haven't read many of them, but I know of a few! The ones in my bookmarked section are the ones I remember Sally features as a friend in the fic, but aren't necessarily "Sally focussed". The MFL section has fics that are tagged with Sally, so it may or may not be what you're looking for. I know I'm missing a tonne, so if anyone has something, PLEASE add them!! We need more Donovan love! <3 Enjoy!

SALLY DONOVAN FRIENDSHIP

Realisation by Susie.Donym (K+, 957 w., 1 Ch. || Sally POV, Pre-Slash / Friendship, Humour) – It takes her a while but Sally finally makes a huge realisation.

Only Human by BlackBandit111 (K+, 2,179 w. || Tragedy, Major Character Death, Sally POV) – Sally Donovan didn't think she'd ever see Sherlock cry.

Albion and the Woodsman by Glenmore (NR [E], 54,437 w., 50 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Post S3, Parentlock, Pining Sherlock, Angst, Family, Drug Use, Depression, Sherlock POV, Light Humour, Reconnecting, Declarations of Love) – Sherlock and John are devastated after Mary Morstan makes her final moves. Sherlock relapses at the crack house, John walks around the world … and a lot happens in between. Parentlock, in the good way.

Wars We Fought, Things We're Not by blueink3 (M, 55,204 w., 10 Ch. || Post S3 / Post TAB, Parentlock, Fluff & Angst, Kidnapping, Whump, Post-TAB, UST/URT, 3G, Mild Peril, Slow Burn, Couple for a Case, Protective Mycroft, Infant Death Pre-Story, Friends to Lovers) – Five months after John's world has fallen apart, Mycroft sends the consulting detective and his doctor on a case that neither is prepared for.

The Green Blade by verityburns (T, 72,929 w., 15 Ch. || Case Fic, Bromance) – As a serial killer hits the headlines, the police are out of their depth and the next victim is out of time. With faith in Sherlock Holmes at an all time low, this is a case which will push loyalties to the limit...

Bakers with Benefits by Raina_at (E, 88,130 w., 14 Ch. || Great British Bake Off AU || Strangers to Lovers, Switchlock, Friends with Benefits, Mentions of Alcoholism / Past Drug Use, Banter, Flirting, Fluff, Light Angst, Semi-Public Sex, Past Sherlock/Victor, Mutual Pining, POV Sherlock, Obsessive Sherlock, John’s Bum) – Sherlock Holmes has a successful YouTube baking channel, but what he really wants is his own bakery. When an old friend sends him a call for the very first Great British Bake Off, he seizes the opportunity to finally win a sponsor for his bakery. Here's the plan: Win Bake Off, get the bakery, don't fall in love with the handsome Army doctor at the neighbouring station. Easy.

A Further Sea by i_ship_an_armada & ShinySherlock (E, 125,492 w., 23 Ch. || Historical Pirates AU || Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Doctor John / Pirate Captain Sherlock, Sailing, UST / RST, Masturbation, Action / Adventure, Mild Angst & Peril, Romance, Shaving, Molly/Janine, Bottomlock, Hand / Blow Jobs, Past Drug Use, Slow Burn, Mild Violence, Facial Shaving, Happy Ending) – Here be a tale of adventure for both body and soul, but beware if ye be not of stout heart, for this be piratelock, ya savvy? Luckless ship's surgeon John Watson takes a chance, and finds himself eye to eye with The Ghost, the scourge of the seven seas and a definite thorn in the side of the blaggard, James Moriarty. But when John finds there's more to this most cunning pirate than be meetin' the eye, he has to choose... is it a pirate's life for him?

Performance In a Leading Role by Mad_Lori (E, 156,714 w., 21 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE|| Hollywood / Actor AU, Secret Relationship, Falling in Love, Slow Burn, Romance, Coming Out, Fluff and Angst, Pining) – Sherlock Holmes is an Oscar winner in the midst of a career slump. John Watson is an Everyman actor trapped in the rom-com ghetto. When they are cast as a gay couple in a new independent drama, will they surprise each other? Will their on-screen romance make its way into the real world? Part 1 of Performance in a Leading Role

MARKED FOR LATER

How Was The Vacation, Freak?! by for_the_love_of_wolves (G, 1,405 w., 1 Ch. || Post-TRF, POV Sally) – Sally Donovan experiences something which changes her attitude to Sherlock radically.

Cigs & Civility by afteriwake (T, 1,462 w., 1 Ch. || Post-TSo3, Missing Scene, Flashbacks, Cigarettes, POV Sally, Apologies, Making Up, Friendship) – The day Sally gets her promotion to Detective Inspector, she and Sherlock have their first entirely civil conversation in the entire time they’ve known each other.

Like a Normal Person by OldToadWoman (T, 2,576 w., 1 Ch. || Humour, Angst, Fluff) – John Watson is getting married. Sherlock Holmes is getting drunk. Sally Donovan is getting a headache. A bit of fluff where Sherlock and Sally are almost, but not quite, friends at least until they sober up.

ESC: Trapped by HonestCannibal (T, 3,273 w., 1 Ch. || Claustrophobia, Friendship, Panic Attacks, Anxiety) – Sally Donovan hates small spaces and has a fear of the dark, and it is so unbelievably likely for her to end up getting trapped with Sherlock Holmes in these exact conditions.

The Trajectory of a Falling Star by Queerasil (G, 5,092 w., 11 Ch. || Post S3, BAMF Sally, Case Fics, Drugs, Torture, Snuff Films, Depression, Friendship, Sherlock Whump, Hurt/Comfort, Nice Anderson and Sally, Withdrawal) – Sherlock is a bit not good. Sally notices, investigates, and decides to help.

The Contingency Plan by mightypog (G, 5,844 w., 1 Ch. || Post-TRF, BAMF John, Autistic Sherlock, Friendship, Angst) – When Sally and Greg prevent Sherlock from committing suicide when he thinks John has been killed, Sherlock and Sally reconsider each other.

Feel My Heart Banging Like a Gun by thetimemoves (M, 7,166 w., 1 Ch. || Post-S4, Clubbing, Drinking, For a Case, Sentimental Sherlock, Amused John, Awesome Sally, Drunken Kissing, Groping, Confessions) – The clothes are tight, the music is loud, and the drinks are endless. It's for a case, really. And then it isn't. And then everything changes.

Dance With Me by Silvergirl (E, 24,813 w., 12 Ch. || Post TEH, Dancing, Met Charity Gala, Sally/Sherlock Friendship, No Mary, Fluff) – Sherlock rescues Sally Donovan, and in turn she tries to help him get John to stop faffing about and get on with Johnlock.

The Case of the Dress Up Murders by darkphoenixreal (E, 32,574 w., 5 Ch. || Canon Divergence, Rape Recovery/Aftermath, Torture, Rape/Non-Con, Underage/Child Abuse, Past Sexual Abuse, Kidnapped Sherlock, Romance, Hurt/Comfort, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Past Drug Abuse, Forced Feminization, Forced Crossdressing, Gender Confusion, Emotional/Psychological Abuse) – Lestrade's team is working a case involving a serial rapist/murderer that targets adolescent boys. Sherlock, of course, is on the case. He is brought in on the third crime scene much to Donavan and Anderson's annoyance. As he's leaving alone, he and Sally are shot with some sort of dart and disappear. Sherlock finds himself locked up in a basement with Sally, drugged on opiates. Sally, though, is clearheaded. Soon, their captor reveals himself to be the man they are already hunting. Confused, he informs Sherlock that he targets those who have a past of sexual abuse as children, and that according to a certain consulting criminal, Sherlock fits his requirements of that and being "unspoiled" since. He uses Sally as Leverage to get a very high Sherlock to cooperate as he reveals what he has planned, to dress Sherlock as he had the others he's murdered, and have a nice tea party. Sally manages to escape, only to be recaptured and both are moved. Now, Lestrade and team have to deal with uncovering the secrets of Sherlock's past, and trying to find him before his captor tires of him and kills him like he has killed his other

Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Baker's Yeast) by yaycoffee (E, 60,879 w., 13 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Unplanned Pregnancy / One Night Stand, Drunken Sex, First Kiss/Time, Bit of Case Fic, Sally/Sherlock Drunk Sex First Ch.) – Sometimes, one makes an imprudent decision born of a devastating combination of drink and sentiment. Sometimes, the consequences of that decision take on a life of their own. And sometimes, the facing of those consequences shapes every aspect of one's life--from the hugely meaningful down to the seemingly insignificant. Part 1 of the Knows His Own series

#steph replies #johnlock fic recs #sally donovan fics #my fic recs #friendship fics

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rarepears · 2 years ago

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"OBI-WAN!" Anakin roared as he kicked the door open with a loud bang.

Obi-Wan - and his students, for that matter - ignored it for Anakin screaming about one thing or another was the norm. Obi-Wan proceeded to slide 5 as he continued his lecture on how intergalactical etiquette customs evolved due to Jedi influence. It was 30 standard minutes into the lecture and Obi-Wan was admittedly running behind - he should have been on slide 9 by now.

Anakin continued yelling; Obi-Wan continued lecturing. Until finally...

"Uh, Professor Kenobi?" A student raised their hand. "I can't hear you over the TA's screaming."

"Don't worry Master Jedi Windu, I'll post this recorded lecture up on HoloCanvas so you can review what you have missed," Obi-Wan smiled.

Half the class swoon at said smile.

Mace nodded and pulled out a holopad as he began hunting down the aforementioned lecture. He quickly returned to jotting down more notes into a datapad.

Anakin stomped up to the podium and kicked the red-haired man in the shin. Obi-Wan didn't even react in a gratifying way because he received this treatment far too often. "Obi-Wan! Explain this!" He threw a paper book - a terribly expensive thing worth planets, why would anyone mistreat a paper book like that - into his stupid mentor slash stepfather's chest - not that his mom was married to this mess of a human thankfully because all Obi-Wan knew how to do was lecture and flirt and lose his stupider cloaks all over the floor -

"Uh, isn't that the new rom-com bestseller Professor Kenobi wrote?" a student in the first row whispered. "The Queenly Bride?"

"Ah," the whole class nodded in understanding. Thanks to the acoustics of the lecture room, even those in the back row heard the question. The whole class was also aware of the other class Professor Kenobi was teaching this term because more than half was also enrolled it the 13:00-15:00 creative writing class on Jedi bodice rippers... and of the professor's tendency to base his novels' male protagonist on his TA.

Most of the students in the class also took to writing Anakin into their creative writing exercises too. No one had yet to top Ahsoka's piece which, rumor had it, had Anakin jumping out the window and flinging himself into a pond - in rage or embarrassment, no one had yet to confirm. But it certainly gave the class a new understanding of how the Jedi Order operated because damn, the guts of that Padawan Learner~!

Then again, she was a teenager. Teenagers were the same everywhere, no matter their species, upbringing, or title.

(But everyone saw the little smug smirk and high-five that Master Windu gave to the Togruta.)

It was more than apparent that Anakin only just now found out about Professor Kenobi's newest publication and didn't appreciate being written as a Jedi Knight in a secret marriage with a former Naboo Queen turn Senator... What would the TA do if he learned it was just the first installment of a trilogy?

Hopefully not fly another destroyer into Obi-Wan's fancy Jedi boyfriend's family mansion because weren't human males' raging hormones supposed to calm down in their early 20s?

[More in the #time traveling obi wan pretends to be a professor specializing in the study of the Jedi Order au]

Another time traveling Obi Wan idea

Because there's academics in pretty much any and every field, there's a lot of academic papers and research focused on analyzing Jedi culture/society.

There's going to be millions of higher education institutions in the Star Wars setting; some of them will be incredibly desperate to hire any expert on as a professor.

So just imagine time traveler!Obi Wan passing himself off as a Sociology Professor who specializes in researching and observing Jedi culture and is incredibly willing to do fieldwork to advance his research. You know, to explain not just how he knows so much about how Jedi's work and all, but to also explain why he pops up in so many places where there's Jedis.

He's basically a stalker protected by society's approval for researcher, academics, and good looking people lol.

#ahsoka tano #mace windu #anakin skywalker #star wars #time travel #star wars idea #star wars au #obi wan #obi wan kenobi #obiwan #ben kenobi #jedi order #jedi #time traveling obi wan pretends to be a professor specializing in the study of the Jedi Order au

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data-monkey · 6 years ago

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AO3 stats project: correlations

Okay. Now for some really fun stuff: correlations between different categories of metadata (like, correlations between ratings and tags, character tags and genre tags, etc). And as with the previous post in this series, some of the content I discuss may not be strictly work-appropriate.

Thanks to @eloiserummaging for beta reading these posts; any remaining errors are my own. A Python notebook showing the code I used to make these plots can be found here.

All right. We've got a list of top tags now. How do those tags relate to each other? That is, if I have a work labeled "Fluff", does that change how likely it is that that work will also be labeled "Angst"? I'm plotting, here, a matrix that answers that question directly. I can compute how often "Fluff" and "Angst" would appear together if they were just randomly assigned to all 4.3 million works that I collected metadata for. The blocks I'm showing below are colored by whether the actual number of times "Fluff" and "Angst" appear together is greater or lesser than that expectation. (We do it that way, instead of just counting the raw number of connections, because otherwise it looks like everything is correlated with "Fluff", just because there are a lot of works labeled "Fluff" in the data set.) If I pick two tags--say, "Fluff" on the bottom, and "Angst" on the left--I can follow them to where they intersect, and the color of that little block tells me about whether they're correlated. Things that are pink are less likely than you'd expect to appear together, while things that are green are more likely. The diagonal line is always that pale green-grey color because, by definition, "Romance" appears with "Romance" exactly as often as you'd expect, and the graph is symmetric across that diagonal line because it doesn't matter if we take "Fluff" then "Angst" or "Angst" then "Fluff."

So one really interesting thing is that this plot is mostly green (so things are correlated). Not only do these tags appear a lot, but they appear together more than you’d expect, and even when they’re anti-correlated--that is, when being labeled one makes you less likely to be labeled another--it’s not by very much. The strongest correlation is between “Romance” and “Humor”, so I guess the rom com is alive and well! Angst and hurt/comfort also appear together a lot, which I suppose makes sense.

We can make correlation plots like this for other things. How about pairing types?

Per the AO3, “Multi” means “more than one kind of relationship, or a relationship with multiple partners”, and “Other” means “everything not covered by the other labels”. The structure of this is kind of interesting, too. Remember, pink means things are anti-correlated (appear together less often than expected) and green means they’re correlated (appear together MORE often than expected), so M/M is the Lone Ranger of pairing types, making all other pairing types less likely if it's included. Even more than Gen, which you’d expect to exclude other categories!

Now for the REALLY fun stuff: how do all of these things correlate with other things? Here's an obvious one: ratings vs tags. No more symmetry, because we're showing different things on the two axes.

Not too surprised by this: “Smut” has a really strong relationship with rating, because most works of erotica deserve the higher ratings. The other tags are much less correlated with rating; Fluff and Humor incline to lower ratings, Established Relationship to higher ratings, and the others are kind of in the middle.

Do ratings and tags correlate with pairing type?

Hmm. Interesting. Romance is way more likely to be F/M than you’d expect. (Do we not write as many M/M romances, or do we just call them something else? A couple of friends also pointed out to me that this might mean “romance” as in “the publication genre of romance” not as in “romantic plotlines generally”, which makes sense and would make them more M/F-heavy given publication trends.) Established relationship is very skewed to M/M. Gen anti-correlates with most of the tags you’d expect. Apparently only single-pairing romantic relationships can be fluffy. F/F is neither as funny nor as angsty as chance would indicate.

I think this pattern can be explained this way: Gen is way more likely to be a low rating, and the trend you see for most other things is just that we’re comparing to the average--if Gen is way more likely to be rated General Audiences than is typical, then the other pairing types have to be slightly less General Audiences than you’d expect to make up for it. (This argument doesn’t necessarily apply to the other correlations I was showing, because in those plots there are a bunch of tags I’m not showing and because non-ratings tags can appear together.)

How about the top relationship tags--do they correlate with anything?

Huh. Well, most of these ships have preferentially high ratings--I think that’s the same effect as in the rating and pairing correlation: things without a romantic/sexual relationship have lower ratings, so on average the works containing relationships will have a higher rating. That’s not universal--look at Magnus/Alec, for example--but it’s common. The other two obvious things here are 1) Dean/Sam really skews to high ratings, 2) apparently Harry/Louis fans reject the rating system.

Okay, that’s...less interesting than I was expecting. Lots of Harry/Louis smut, lots of Keith/Lance modern AUs. The most likely established relationship is Derek/Stiles. Magnus/Alex and Yuuri/Victor are the fluffiest. Not much romance, except for Draco/Harry, and that pairing also has an unusual amount of humor.

What about character tags?

Hmm. Looks like there are a lot of teen-rated Marvel works, and Supernatural leans towards the higher ratings (which we already knew).

This basically just repeats stuff we already noticed in the relationships plot, I think. One thing I didn’t notice up there is that John and Sherlock are not that likely to be tagged in Established Relationship works, which is kind of interesting as they’re long-term partners (not necessarily romantic partners) in most versions of the canon.

How about characters and pairing type...are there characters that appear more often in one kind of pairing than you'd expect based on randomness? (Note that all these characters appear most in M/M stories, because those are by far the most common--this is just asking a relative question about how much they appear in other kinds of stories.)

Mostly not super interesting, I have to say. Steve, Tony, Natasha, and Harry Potter are all more likely than usual to appear in poly relationships or in F/M stories, apparently, and Stiles and Castiel are less likely than usual to appear in gen works.

Finally, a really fun thing (that I have to link to an external site to do, because tumblr doesn’t like javascript in posts). Instead of just looking at the top 10 tags, here are the top 100 tags portrayed as dots, arranged in a connected graph: the dots represent tags (with the popularity of the tag represented by its size), and they’re connected by lines whose thickness indicates how often the two things appear together, relative to chance. You can also use this kind of setup to work out sets of interconnected tags that are more closely tied to each other than to the other tags. I colored those sets with different colors, so you can identify them. Hovering your mouse pointer over a dot should tell you which tag it is.

Here are the blocks of tags that the algorithm found:

Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Christmas, Crack, Cute, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Fluff And Humor, Humor, Light Angst, One Shot, Romance, Tooth-Rotting Fluff

Angst, Blood, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Dark, Death, Depression, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, I'm Sorry, Magic, Minor Character Death, Nightmares, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sad, Self-Harm, Suicidal Thoughts, Torture, Violence

Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Compliant, Character Study, Crossover, Drabble, Drama, Family, Friendship, Future Fic, Post-Canon, Pre-Slash, Spoilers

Alcohol, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Established Relationship, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, First Time, Fluff And Smut, Jealousy, Kissing, Mpreg, Polyamory, Sex, Sexual Content, Slash, Smut

Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Bdsm, Blow Jobs, Bondage, Dirty Talk, Dom/Sub, Dubious Consent, Hand Jobs, Masturbation, Oral Sex, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Rimming, Rough Sex, Spanking

Angst With A Happy Ending, Developing Relationship, Eventual Smut, Falling In Love, First Kiss, Fluff And Angst, Friends To Lovers, Friendship/Love, Happy Ending, Implied Sexual Content, Love, Love Confessions, Mutual Pining, Other Additional Tags To Be Added, Pining, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Swearing, Unrequited Love

I love this! To me, those sets look like: fluffy plot-based tags, violence and disturbing content tags, more action-oriented plot-based tags, less explicit vanilla-ish erotica tags, more explicit or kinky erotica tags, and romance. That’s so cool. (Not everything makes sense--why is Drabble where it is?--but still, cool.)

Or in other words: some numerical routines correctly identified the porn. :)

Up next: what gets kudos?

#fan stats #ao3 #fanstats

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inevitably-johnlocked · 4 years ago

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Hello Steph 😊 Do you have any BAMF Molly or just some good fics that feature Molly? I need some Molly love at the moment because I just read a fic where she "turns to the drak side" so to speak, and my heart 😭😭😭

Hey Nonny!

Ah I did a few comm. recs lists recently with Molly, but here are what I can offer you from memory, LOL. PLEASE add your fave Molly fics, guys! PLEASE NOTE these are fics I’ve read, and please check the sub-headings for a TONNE of stuff I haven’t read!! Big title so I can find it later LOL.

MOLLY PLAYS A ROLE

See also:

COMM RECS: Coming Out To Molly

COMM RECS: Molly with Women

COMM RECS: Molly and Greg Push John and Sherlock Together

COMM RECS: Molly as a Villain

Santa Knows by Itsallfine (T, 1,719 w., 1 Ch. || Christmas Party, Love Confessions, First Kiss, Fluff, Matchmaking, POV Sherlock, Pining Sherlock) – Sherlock and John both get exactly what they want from the Yard's secret Santa exchange. Pure holiday fluff.

What John Doesn't Know (Won't Hurt Him) by blueink3 (NR [T], 4,392 w., 1 Ch, || S3 Fix It, Pining Sherlock, Snippets of Life, Hurt/Comfort, Scars, Fluff and Angst, Five and One, Hopeful Ending, POV Sherlock) – Five people who see Sherlock's scars before John Watson. But Sherlock's secrets were never something he could keep from his blogger for long.

Thirty Three Hours Without John Watson by Bookaholic, mybrotherharry (M, 6,232 w. || First Kiss / Time, Pining Idiots, BG Mystrade, Crackish) – Sherlock can SO TOTALLY survive without John Watson. It should be a piece of cake. AKA the time when Sherlock braved grocery store lines for milk, purchased and gave away a box of tampons and figured out what the X-Factor is. Greg and Mycroft didn’t sign up for this shit. Next time, they are going to the Bahamas.

Wonderful, Etcetera. by VictoryCandescence (T, 16,955 w., 3 Ch. || Wonderful Life AU || Alternate Timelines, Brotherhood, Homophobia, Suicidal Ideations, Mentions of Drug Use, Friendship, Different TRF, Sherlock’s Past, Victor Trevor is Past Boyfriend, Depression, Hallucination, Love Confessions, Christmas, First Kiss) – Sherlock thinks everyone would be better off if he had never existed, including and especially himself. When he finds himself in a world in which his wish has been granted, he begins to think perhaps even he could be wrong – but it takes an unlikely chaperone to make him not only observe, but understand.

Insanity in the Middle by DotyTakeThisDown (E, 28,010 w., 8 Ch. || Equestrian Sports AU || Alternate First Meeting, POV John, Pining John, Bottomlock, Clueless Sherlock, First Kiss/Time, Passionate Kisses, Hand Holding, Caught Making Out, Bed Sharing, Spooning, Blow Job) – John is a world-class eventing rider with a gold medal and several four-star wins to his credit, but he's never won at Rolex. Sherlock is an up-and-coming rider taking the sport by storm.

Love or What You Will by miss_frankenstein (T, 31,987 w., 11 Ch. || College/Uni AU || Professor John, Ph.D Student Sherlock, Pining John, Poetry, Falling in Love / Slow Burn, Light Angst, Happy Ending) – John is an English professor who specializes in War and Post-War Literature and Sherlock is the brilliant yet impossible Ph.D. student assigned to be his TA because no one in the Chemistry Department is willing to put up with him. And - somewhere between Waugh and Plath, e-mails and takeaway, novels and villanelles - they fall in love.

The Wrong Wagon by DancingGrimm (E, 35,663 w., 20 Ch. || Alternating POV, Molly/ John [Molly pines for John], Public Sex, Casual Sex, Obliviousness, BAMF!John, Awkwardness, Angst & Humour, First Time, Virgin Sherlock, Jealous Sherlock) – Molly sees John in a new light and realises that she may have hitched her horse to the wrong wagon...or something like that. John pines for Sherlock and worries what he will think if he ever finds out. And Sherlock doesn't know what Molly's up to...but he knows he doesn't like it.

The Pieces That Fall to Earth by Itsallfine (M, 49,513 w., 84 Ch. || S4 Fix-It, Epistolary, Love Confessions, Slow Burn, Parentlock, Past Abuse, Coming Out, Internalized Homophobia, Questioning Sexuality, Mental Health Issues / Therapy, Angst, Happy Ending) – John and Sherlock have hit rock bottom, but with all their armor stripped away, they can finally speak honestly, seek healing, and find the truths that matter most. An epistolary post-s4 fix-it fic. Now complete. (This fic is rated T except for one very clearly marked and easily skippable chapter, which is rated M.) Part 1 of The Pieces that Fall to Earth

floating through a dark blue sky by Lediona (M, 58,966 w., 15 Ch. || Notting Hill AU || POV John, Celebrity Sherlock, First Date / Time / Kiss, Past Drug Addiction, Angst with a Happy Ending) – Of course, I’d seen his films and always thought he was, well, brilliant -- but, you know, a million miles from the world I live in. Or, when John is the owner of a travel book shop and the famous Sherlock Holmes stops in one day.

This Thing All Things Devours by cypress_tree (E, 63,844 w., 15 Ch. || In Time AU || Science Fiction, Dystopian Universe, First Meetings, Action / Adventure, Romance) – In 2169, time is money—literally. Humans are genetically engineered to stop aging at 25, when the numbers on their arm start counting down from one year. When that time is up, they die. The only way to get more time is to earn it, borrow it, or steal it.John Watson lives day-to-day in the crowded slums of Zone 13. He never imagined living any differently—until he meets the practically-immortal Sherlock, and helps him on a case to track a local time-thief...

Northwest Passage by Kryptaria (E, 95,157 w., 27 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Canadian AU || BAMF!John, Canadian John, PTSD, Anal / Oral Sex, Rimming, Emotional Hurt / Comfort, Drug Rehab, Falling in Love, Pining Sherlock, Love Confessions, Sherlock’s Violin, Panic Attacks, Switching, Anxious / Protective Sherlock, Hugs for Comfort, Suicide Mentions, Healing Each Other) – Seven years ago, Captain John Watson of the Canadian Forces Medical Service withdrew from society, seeking a simple, isolated life in the distant northern wilderness of Canada. Though he survives from one day to the next, he doesn't truly live until someone from his dark past calls in a favor and turns his world upside-down with the introduction of Sherlock Holmes." Part 1 of Tales from the Northwest

The Stars Move Still by BeautifulFiction (E, 96,022 w., 5 Ch. || Magical Realism, Demons, Slash to Pre-Slash, AU, Happy Ending, Souls) – "What could I want so desperately that would make me sell my soul? What could possibly compel me to surrender the part of myself that makes me who I am: the source of my magic, my self-control, everything?”

Definitions by siennna (T, 101,528 w., 12 of ? Ch. || Dev. Rel., Pining, Fluff and Romance, First Kiss, Love Confessions, Fluff, Cuddles, Girl’s Night, Texting, Virgin Sherlock, Drunk Sherlock, Background Mollstrade, Hair Petting, Laying on Lap) – Sherlock’s journey in defining his flat mate and stumbling through the muddled world of emotion. {{This feels complete; the chapter count is listed as ? but I feel like it is done}}

between each beat are words unsaid by darcylindbergh, hudders-and-hiddles (T, 107,998 w., 215 Ch. || Epistolary, Slow Burn, Friends to Lovers, Angst, Happy Ending) – On their wedding night, John and Sherlock gift each other with the things they each said when the other could not hear, the things they each put down where the other could not see: a collection of writings that illustrate the way their love for one another has grown over the years. Part 1 of between each beat

The Burning Heart by May_Shepard (M, 119,150 w., 21 Ch. || Canon Divergence, Post-TRF, John’s Sexuality, S3 Rewrite, Pining, Angst with a Happy Ending, POV John Watson, John’s Gay) – When Sherlock dies, John Watson feels like his life is over too. He’s completely shut down, until Mark Morstan, a new nurse at John’s medical clinic, catches his attention, and helps him uncover the long buried truth of his attraction to men. Although he’s certain he’ll never get over Sherlock, John plans to move on, and build a new life with Mark, unaware that Sherlock is not quite as dead as he appears, and that Mark is hiding secrets of his own.

The Horse and his Doctor by khorazir (T, 129,003 w., 13 Ch. || Horse / Vet AU || Magical Realism, Horses, Vet John, Horse Sherlock, Implied Alcoholism) – Invalided after a run in with a poacher in Siberia, veterinary surgeon John Watson finds it difficult to acclimatise to the mundanity of London life. Things change when a friend invites him along to a local animal shelter and he meets their latest acquisition, a trouble-making Frisian with the strangest eyes and even stranger quirks John has ever encountered in a horse.

Performance In a Leading Role by Mad_Lori (E, 156,714 w., 21 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Hollywood / Actor AU, Secret Relationship, Falling in Love, Slow Burn, Romance, Coming Out, Fluff and Angst, Pining) – Sherlock Holmes is an Oscar winner in the midst of a career slump. John Watson is an Everyman actor trapped in the rom-com ghetto. When they are cast as a gay couple in a new independent drama, will they surprise each other? Will their on-screen romance make its way into the real world? Part 1 of Performance in a Leading Role

Mise en Place by azriona (M, 161,004 w., 28 Ch. || Restaurant (Kitchen Nightmares) AU || Sherlock is Gordon Ramsay / Celebrity Sherlock, Restauranteur John, Harry Plays Prominent Role, Alternating POV, Mutual Pining, Cranky Sherlock, Bed Sharing, Slow Burn) – John Watson had no intentions of taking over the family business, but when he returns from Afghanistan, battered and bruised, and discovers that his sister Harry has run their restaurant into the ground, he doesn't have much choice. There's only one thing that can save the Empire from closing for good – the celebrity star of the BBC series Restaurant Reconstructed, Chef Sherlock Holmes. Part 1 of Mise en Place

#steph replies #johnlock fic recs #molly fics #molly plays a role #my fic recs #Anonymous #long post

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destielfanfic · 7 years ago

Text

Unofficial Rec Bulletin #171

More info about the bulletin here. We are not currently accepting submitted recs. Link to previous bulletins.

Contents:

Fic Recs:

Heaven is a Kiss and a Smile

House & Home

In Your Sweet Little Bungalow

What Happened in Vegas

Other Recs/Promos:

DeanCas Big Bang 2017 (DCBB)

DeanCas Secret Santa Exchange

DeanCas Tropefest 2017

PSA: Save Your Favs

The SPN Holiday Mixtape

Fic Recs:

Heaven is a Kiss and a Smile by WinJennster [NC-17, 38,000 word count]

(au, fluff, pining!dean, 2014!cas, stripper!cas, smart!dean, roommates, abusive family, charlie, drugs, meddling!sam, mary, !samjess, bottom!dean, challenge fic) recced by kyrie101

Dean’s life is well ordered. He’s successful and happy - at least, that’s what he keeps telling himself.When his little brother slash roommate moves out to live with his fiancé, Dean’s faced with living alone. Sam recommends his TA, Cas Novak, for Dean’s new roommate. Dean happily accepts, relieved that he doesn’t have to go through the trouble of finding a new roommate himself. Only Cas moves in with a stripper pole. Because apparently, his hotter than hell new roommate is a professional stripper. Who managed to see Dean in purple panties his first night in the house.Cas is probably going to shake up Dean’s entire world - and Dean just might let him.

House & Home by G33kDiva and palominopup [NC-17, 127,000 word count]

(au, fluff, angst, slow building romance, rom com, sex then love, enemies to lovers, snarky!cas, celebrity, bottom!dean, bottom!cas, meddling!sam, jealous!cas, ask about reality TV) recced by kyrie101

Sam Winchester was in trouble. His job with a popular home improvement network was in jeopardy unless he could come up with a new show that would boost ratings. He needed new talent that would invite more viewers. Enter his brother, Dean, a lewd, loud carpenter, who looked like an underwear model and Castiel Novak, a hot-headed interior decorator that catered to the rich . The two men were to take a rundown home and turn it into a showplace. At the end of each season, the house would be given away in a big contest. But, they had to finish it first, without killing each other in the process. The first day on set sparks flew, but not the good kind. The two men hated each other. Sam just knew they’d have to pull the show after its pilot episode aired and he’d be back to making commercials about genital herpes. But the viewers loved it. The emails and tweets about the two men required the network to hire more people just to keep up with them. The snarky comments, the glaring looks and the sexual tension shot the show to the Number One position. Then one night after filming, the months of tension exploded into hot, angry sex. Something changed between the two men and the viewers couldn’t stop tweeting about it.

In Your Sweet Little Bungalow by annodominique [NC-17, 13,700 word count]

(su, fluff, reunion, fallen!cas, !casother, bottom!cas, pining!cas, domestic, jealous!dean, pining!dean, happy canon, ask about life after Sam died) recced by flyingcatstiel

All things considered, Castiel has a house. All things considered, Castiel has life. Without Dean. It has been seven years since Sam died, seven years since Dean left Castiel, broken and human, and disconnected from humanity. Cas had to cope on his own somewhere along the way. He chose a little town of Oregon to settle in. Seven years, and Dean shows up at his door on a chilly February night, saying the stupidest set of words to ever be said to Castiel's face. "I was--just passing by the neighborhood. Thought I'd drop by...to see you." And Cas doesn't know what to do.

What Happened in Vegas by Ltleflrt [NC-17, 18,400 word count]

(au, fluff, road trip, teacher!dean, artist!cas, secret affair, bottom!dean, bottom!cas, !sameillen, feelings recovery, challenge fic) recced by flyingcatstiel

Long time friends Dean and Castiel are road tripping from Chicago to San Diego for Sam and Eileen’s wedding, and a pitstop in Las Vegas turns into drunken love confessions and a surprise marriage. Turns out the pining has been mutual this whole time, but now they’re finally together and on cloud-fucking-nine. Until they remember that this trip isn’t supposed to be about them. To avoid undermining Sam and Eileen’s important weekend, they decide to keep their new relationship status a secret. They’ll keep the heart eyes toned down and their hands to themselves, but the struggle is real.

Other Recs/Promos:

DeanCas Big Bang 2017

The Dean Cas Big Bang for 2017 is now over! This was the first year the challenge was run on tumblr. Be sure to send your love to the mods who did an amazing job at promoting fics on tumblr and twitter this year. The master list will be out soon, and until then be sure to check out all the fics on the Official DCBB 2017 AO3 Collection.

DeanCas Secret Santa Exchange

Yes, the Dean/Cas Secret Santa Exchange will be happening this year! Assignments are due January 4th and posting will be happening in January. Find more details at LiveJournal here and at their collection on AO3.

DeanCas Tropefest 2017

The Dean/Cas Tropefest is a big-bang style challenge for experienced fic writers & artists that features all your favorite tropes. The challenge is now over, so check out all the amazing works on their Master List and the collection on AO3!

PSA: Save Your Favs

We have been saying this a lot recently. Many authors have been either moving on or switching fandoms and in some cases they are deleting past works. This is a reminder to all, that if you want ePubs and PDFs save them while you can.

The SPN Holiday Mixtape

This advent-inspired seasonal challenge brings us stories with a holiday musical theme. Fics are posting NOW!! Check out their tumblr and AO3 collection.

#destiel #unofficial rec bulletin

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