#i don't currently think that the writers will do anything like that for s2

[paranormaljones]

Possibly unpopular Lockwood & Co. opinion up ahead:

I'm seeing so many people talking about how they hope some kind of love triangle happens in S2 (God willing we get a S2 😭) or some sort of jealousy plot and honestly?

I could not disagree more vehemently.

Love triangles have their place and in certain stories they can be fun, but when a couple is set up with the kind of soulmate-level connection and intensity as Lucy and Lockwood, it's just painful to watch. I really can't stand that kind of wedge being driven between what is originally set up to be such a beautiful, meant-to-be pairing. I think it's overused and lazy, usually just thrown in as a way to add tension between the couple when THERE ARE SO MANY BETTER WAYS TO DO THAT. It's not compelling to me. It's just painful and takes away so much weight from the characters' relationship. I don't want to see that happen to Lucy and Lockwood. The Netflix portrayal of their relationship has genuinely done so much to heal and redefine what love looks like in a healthy/trying to be healthy way to me, and I don't want to see something as stupid and contrived as a love triangle/jealousy plot come between them. Hell, we already HAD the chance for that to happen with Kipps, but Lucy soundly turned him down and made it clear to Lockwood that she didn't want to be with anyone but Lockwood at least that's what I took away from that scene.

Anyways. Rant over.

[cesaray]

ngl i hate this plotline with jamie being adopted all the stuff that comes with it

[nadjasnandor]

what I don't understand is like .... they wrote the guillermo and nandor dynamic the way they did AND made both of them queer. like. nobody asked them to do ANY of that. so turning around and mocking everyone who very reasonably looked at what the writers of this show wrote and said "they are written like a couple" is just a baffling thing to do. imho

Exactly. And if you don't mind, I'm going to use your ask as an excuse to write out why I'm upset about certain things, because what you said is the root of my problem.

My disappoint doesn't come from Nandor/Guillermo not going canon in the traditional sense (at least not fully), but from the very 2010s-esque way everyone seems to be talking about fans post-finale. Basically saying they never intended Nandor & Guillermo to be anything but platonic and blaming the weird fans for wanting their pornographic whishes (🙄) to actually happen in the show, like they were not in any way responsible for creating those wishes, is insulting but, more importantly, not true. And they can't convince me otherwise because I was there, watching the whole thing unfold in real time.

I already mentioned being remotely normal about Nandor/Guillermo pre season 3 and there is a reason for that. During the first season the fandom was small. And by that I mean both Nandor/Guillermo shippers and also the people watching wwdits in general. During season 1, sometimes all you saw when going into the tags was about 5 of my gifsets in a row, for instance. Even if people watched the show, they didn't really interact with it in a fandom-y way. During the middle of s1, I complained about there not being Nandor/Guillermo fics at all and even between s1 and s2 I posted about there not being a lot. It was also this era when the first mentions of possible canon romantic feelings were brought up and it was by Harvey himself, who said he thinks Guillermo has feelings for his boss. This was, of course, only Harvey explaining how he views his character but I feel it's important because, as it's been mentioned before, Harvey came up with a lot of Guillermo's character, starting with his surname. He basically created current Guillermo. In the original pilot script, Guillermo is a 40-something, very bitter man. Quite different from our Guillermo and it's all thanks to Harvey.

But during this period, that is during s1 and s2, anything romantic between Nandor and Guillermo was purely accidental and mostly due to Kayvan and Harvey's chemistry. We all knew this, even if by s2 we did get the first articles about Nandor & Guillermo's relationship being maybe not fully platonic. By the end of season 2, the fandom has grown for sure but it was still nowhere near its current size. We also had Nandor say he treated Guillermo like a son, which was quite annoying but we at least knew where we stood with the show. Didn't stop us from shipping those two, of course, because fandoms have survived on less (Looking back, it is funny how much I hated that line when now it's just *vaguely gestures around*). It's important to note that after season 2, Jemaine left and Paul took over. And then came season 3.

There is a reason why I was so insane about the Cloak of Duplication and then Gail. The former canonized Guillermo's feelings for Nandor on screen for the first time and the latter showed that it was not just a single episode, throw away scene. Instead they continued with Guillermo being jealous of Nandor and his sexual partner. That was huge. But the fandom still hasn't blown up fully, that happened later during season 3. And I think it's important to say that because they wrote and filmed season 3 before the show blew up. They cannot say they wrote those scenes to please (or bait) fans. They weren't 'pressured' to do anything with Nandor and Guillermo. Season 3 was also when the very heavy Nandor/Guillermo promoting started. (Like the parody of The Bodyguard poster with 'Never fall in lo-', for example). Now, I don't remember if the first articles calling them the will-they-won't-they couple of the show came out during this season or later, but it was definitely past season 3. So by the end of season 3 the fandom has grown large and people were obviously very into the ship.

Now we can say shippers are pushy or annoying but fans can be annoying in general. People can be annoying lol. When your show grows big enough, annoying people you don't like are going to watch it too. (I'm sure if those annoying people are cishet men then this burden is easier to bear but I digress. I am a little bitter, after all). But at this point, fans had no reason to be pushy, we thought every sign was pointing to canon romantic Nandor/Guillermo.

At this point, the show saw how large the fandom has grown and how invested people were in Nandor/Guillermo. If that's not what they wanted, if they felt people were seeing things differently than how they intented, they could have pulled back. They had enough time between season 3 and season 4 to do that. But they didn't. Instead, they doubled down and continued to do the same for 2 more season. Even if by season 5 the latest we already had Paul saying weird things about the dynamic.

Instead it seems they decided to pull back in season 6 but by then it was too late. People were expecting them to come through on the thing they have been teasing for 3 seasons. And then they blamed the fans for not liking what they offered up instead. For wanting 'pornographic scenes'. Because it's 'not that kind of a show'. They say this about a show with an episode called The Orgy.

And even while saying all that, they didn't stop them from teasing the fans until the very last moment. Nandor's 'you know what would be cooler than being friends' is just cruel lmao. And that's why it felt more like mocking to me. Not only because of what happened in the show, but because when I watch those scenes, I can't seperate them from how the cast and crew talk about the ship and the fans in interviews. They apparently now think it's stupid and weird but will gladly tease it in the show for whatever reason? It's funny because fans are weird and kinky, I guess. Things unheard of in relation to this show.

I also don't understand Kayvan and Harvey's complete 180 turn. During the early seasons, Kayvan was not really into the idea of the ship, saying it's a bit toxic due to the power imbalance in their dynamic but he seemed to go full throttle later, even overtaking Harvey in hyping the ship up. And then in the first post-finale interview, he says that 'Nandor is never going to have sex with Guillermo', even if the show left that door open with the last scene. And then there's Harvey, who was the first to say Guillermo has feelings for his boss, who is now championing the repserentation of platonic gay male friendships on tv. In his case, I can give him the benefit of doubt, because he must have his own experiences with that and it's not my place to dismiss or doubt them. I do find the change strange and have complained about it but it's more understandable than Kayvan's. (EDIT: I didn't read this interview after the finale but it just makes things even more confusing, if I'm honest.)

I tried to be as coherent as possible and write out all my thoughts about this topic but I most likely still missed some things. I don't really like to talk about my feelings and thoughts this elaborately because I find it difficult to fully express myself but I tried my best because I felt like I was going insane.

[g1rlsp1ckins]

𝓐BOUT 𝓣HE ✶ 𝓐RCHIVIST

    ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀    ⠀⠀⠀ 𝖞𝖔𝖚𝖗 𝖗𝖊𝖘𝖎𝖉𝖊𝖓𝖙 𝖒𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖆𝖑𝖑𝖞 𝖎𝖑𝖑 𝖇𝖎𝖘𝖊𝖝𝖚𝖆𝖑 𝖜𝖍𝖔 𝖌𝖊𝖙𝖘 𝖆𝖙𝖙𝖆𝖈𝖍𝖊𝖉 𝖜𝖆𝖞 𝖙𝖔𝖔 𝖘𝖔𝖔𝖓 ୨ৎ

𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐓𝐀𝐘 !!

my name is tay but you can call me whatever you please. i am from south africa! i am currently 21 years of age and i’m a gemini queen. i am that girl in class who talks a lot but never actually says anything. ask me about the stars, or anything witchy and you’ve got your girl  ⭑.ᐟ

i am a soul of boundless light, dancing through the days and finding beauty in life’s unknowns. the world is so expansive and sometimes i feel like it’s all in my head and then i look a little crazy :) i’m a lot but also nothing at all. i’m like if you gave a shooting star a personality. i am a shifter for those fellow shifters out there! that's mostly what i made this account for. i have/had a writing account, but that's mostly just smut. nothing worth reading.    ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀    ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀

𝐓𝐀𝐘'𝐒 𝐘𝐀𝐘𝐒!

misty places, animanga, tea, art, writing, long talks at 3 AM, museums, when people make playlists that remind them of me, sad music, cuddles, weird films that people don't really understand.

𝐓𝐀𝐘'𝐒 𝐍𝐀𝐘𝐒!

sexism, racism, transphobes, etc…, police, toxic masculinity, waking up, working, writer's block   

  ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀    ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀    ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀    ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀    ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀    ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀    ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀

currently watching: goosebumps s2

currently reading: the naturals by jennifer lynn barnes

𝓜Y 𝓚INDRED 𝓢PIRITS ⭑.ᐟ

¹ ˑ sirius black - the maruaders

² ˑ fleabag - fleabag

³ ˑ rachel green - friends

⁴ ˑ charlie dalton - dead poets society

⁵ ˑ kat stratford - 10 things i head about you

⁶ ˑ santana lopez - glee

⁷ ˑ eugene fitzherbert - tangled

⁸ ˑ spencer shay - icarly

⁹ ˑ johanna mason - the hunger games

take what you want from that above list 〃

𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐅𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐉𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐘 !! ٠ ࣪⭑

i’m not from america but since everyone is moving to shiftblr, i am here for it <3

i've been shifting since 2020, and so far i think i’ve minishifted once! i've been on shifttok since the dawn of time. do not cite the deep magic to me, i was there when it was written.

i love making edits of my drs so you can find me on tiktok too!

𝐃𝐍𝐈:

meet the basic dni criteria

if you sent hate, anonymous or not. don't do it.

obviously anit-shifters gtfo

────────────────୨ৎ───────────────

[nosferatini]

AO3 Ask Game

Thanks to @addledmongoose for the tag and @cheeseplants for the game!

What fandoms do you write in?

Good Omens. Although I have some Good Omens crossovers with other fandoms. One of my works was a multiverse one-shot with characters from GO, Doctor Who, OFMD, Buffy and Batman.

How many words have you published in 2024?

According to AO3 (which I just learned does statistics by year? lol) I published 435,127 words.

What is your greatest achievement this year?

Well...

I could either talk about fics or podfics here. But if I'm going with fic I'll talk about how far I've come with The Season of Nightingales, my main longfic, which has only two chapters to go.

But I've made some major strides with voice acting and making podfics for some of the wonderful folks in the Good Omens fandom, and I think that's more of an "achievement" than simply something I'm proud of, like progressing my longfic :) I'm especially proud of finishing both my Factory Settings Podfic and Someone is Calling Him Shorewards earlier this year.

What are your top three fics you’ve written this year?

The Season of Nightingales (Good Omens Post S2 Plot-with-Fluff Fix-it, currently at 168k with two weekly chapter updates to wrap it up)

Reversed Veil of Worlds - A Little History (Good Omens Angst, 2/5 chapters published based on @daneecastle's Reversed Veil of Worlds comic series, which if you haven't read you should totally go check out! [Starts HERE!])

Unhallowed Providence (Reverse Omens Gothic AU based on @theonevoice's GORGEOUS demon Aziraphale and angel Crowley art—I've published one chapter and have the story pretty well plotted for the rest, just need to finish Season of Nightingales first!)

What was your biggest pit of despair moment?

There was no one moment... not related to writing or Podficcing. Just the slow and steady realization that I was booking myself for too much stuff and in no way have time to keep up with it all lol.

What have you learned?

....I have a really bad case of FOMO.

What fic did you want to do but never made it off the ground?

I have a little side fic started about Crowley saving the runaway unicorn, and a Coney Island (excuse the period typical term "freakshow") human AU that I have a plot for and no time to write, especially not now that I've signed up for two wonderful artist collabs that are going to be my priority once I finish Nightingales.

Did you beta any fics? Any favs you want to shout out?

Yes! I've beta'd for @dbacklot99, @wingsofopal, and more short one-off projects for various GOAD Writers Guild writers than I could remember at gunpoint lol.

What three fics have you read this year that you love?

If I have to pick three, I'll name the longfics, because there's no possible way I could choose between them and all the incredible one shots and short series that I've read this year. I would recommend anything that I've podficced (which is the vast majority of my AO3 Profile right now) but I'll shout out these three longies in particular:

Someone is Calling Him Shorewards by @harlotofupdog (podfic)

2. A Little Life by @gaiaseyes451 (beware the angst tags... but damn it's good)

3. Friday I'm in Love by NooRose93 (podfic - wip)

What ideas are percolating for next year?

Fics in my queue:

I gotta finish Unhallowed Providence and A Little History first. Someday maybe I'll get to the Coney Island AU...

Podfics in my queue:

Stuck on You by @zin-lynn-c

Mon Horrible Chéri by @mrghostrat

And the Podfic for The Season of Nightingales

there might be a chance of me looking into doing Or Be Nice and maybe a couple of others that I was recced and haven't read yet, but I haven't actually asked the author(s) so don't quote me on that lol.

Who do you want to thank?

@paperclipninja for the absolute knockout musical compositions she has created for some of my podfics!

My beta readers: @addledmongoose, @dbacklot99, @wingsofopal @demonsandpieohmy and NooRose93 (aka blackjeans93)!

My beta listeners: @theonewiththeshippinggoogles and @firstvisittoearth @wingsofopal and others from the various chats who have added their comments after listening!

@daneecastle and the @theonevoice for inspiring me with their comic and/or art and for being wonderful friends to collaborate with!

@elenthyaolyenths for making me pretty logos!

@outrageousring5655 for making prolific podfics so I can absorb more fanfiction than I ever could on my own!

All of my amazing friends from the @goodomensafterdark Writers Guild and @whickberstreetwriters

All of the people who have taken the time to leave lovely, encouraging comments on my fics and podfics. I keep the best comments in my inbox even after replying, because some of the things you've said have warmed my heart, inspired me, or are just generally something to treasure.

A fond, no pressure tag to @gaiaseyes451, @wingsofopal @lemon-tart-221, @adverbian @paperclipninja and @dbacklot99 if you would like to play :)

[mytearsbuckochet]

What's your most hated Bummy scene?? I'll tell you mine. It has to be the kiss in the hospital lobby and buck getting outed because of his soot covered mouth. Never hated a 911 episode more than that. I love Buck. They just made a mockery out of him by that scene.

Where do I even start.. Couldn't agree more about the soot scene, although I'm more angry at the writers about that one than I am at Tommy, given how important it was to Buck that he came out to Eddie and Maddie on his own terms and how much weight he gave those interactions I feel like even though that one was supposed to be a cute little "hehe look this is very Buck coded", it fell short in that I would've liked everyone else at the 118 to find out in a more heartfelt way ya know??

In terms of my least favourite(s), the whole arc with billy boils was a very interesting play by the writers in that it highlighted the differences between Eddie and Tommy in a meaningful way. On one hand, Eddie, who has presumably been with Buck in the hospital the whole time he was being treated for his boils, is used to Buck's hyperfixations and Wiki deep dives, and finds them wholesome and cute. I reblogged a post a little bit ago where Buck told Maddie about how her and Chim always finish each others sentences and that theyre basically already dating, and then contrasted with how Eddie was finishing Buck's sentences in that scene. Buddie fanatic aside (I will admit im obsessed with these two idiots), THIS is the kind of domesticity I've always wanted for Buck's partners, where they acknowledge and love those little moments that he has.

Now lets go ahead and look at Tommy's side of this whole thing: Tommy's reaction to seeing the boils + how he treated and viewed Buck's obsession as exactly that, an obsession + the graveyard scene??? You can break it down into "oh well Buddie have known eachother since s2, Bummy have been together 6 months", but from my perspective the fact that Buck didn't even realise Tommy didn't like women until their 6 month anniversary (???) just goes to show that they don't really know that much about one another. Tommy was completely right in the breakup scene; he was definitely not Buck's last, and the poor guy is definitely in need of some self exploration (#letbuckfuck) before I'd be happy to see Buddie honestly (and thats not even considering the work that needs to be done on Eddie, my guy is going through it rn with Chris). Anyway; I just read this amazing fic by playinginthundestorms (on ao3) and I think the way they described Tommy (slightly Tommy bashing), was overall how I imagine he sees Buck. It never really felt like Tommy was fond of these little things Buck does in the way that Eddie (and the rest of the 118) are, more seeing him as childish or juvenile as the fic described. And it makes sense, tommy is older than Buck. A whole other can of worms and probably the icing on the cake for me was the Abby debacle, the misogyny really showed??? like man you have not changed since Hen my lord. Calling Abby out for running off with some "himbo half her age" was wild considering thats what he is currently doing with Buck? Especially with all the shit she had to go through with her mum at the time? Like what on earth is your excuse Temu? Anyway, to cut a long rant short, I actually have given you like 50 reasons, but i definitely think that Tommy was a well placed plot device and it was obvious from the start. Also, ABC could've chosen ANYONE to be Buck's first experience with a man and they were like yep lets use the racist homophobe from Chim and Hen begins cos why not?! I probably would've had a far less negative opinion of him if he was a fresh character, and I think that's on purpose, I think it would be really interesting if they go down the road of hen and chim sharing their experiences with Tommy now that they've broken up, and that they didn't say anything cos they just wanted Buck to be happy. Definitely after that heartfelt scene with Hen especially, that I didn't get cos of that bloody soot scene.

[sillyangstyimp]

Finally started working on the first chapter of my Jayvik fic!! Who cheered!!

I don't usually write fanfics, let alone post them but I'm rlly starting to consider it...

For those who are interested, here is the basic summary for it so far:

Instead of being sent back to kill Viktor, the mage sends Jayce back in time to the event that started it all. Jayce standing on the ledge of his blown-up apartment, and Viktor interrupting him. Jayce must decide on either ending this all before it can start, or try it all again, hoping he can do it right this time. Even if that means letting Viktor go.

AKA s2 Jayce gets set back in time in his s1 body (like with Ekko in the alternate reality) and tries to not screw everything up again.

What inspired this was that I've been seeing a lot of s2 Jayce meets s1 Viktor which I am a huge fan of, however my brain wanted to take it a step further and make it like with Ekko when he takes the alternate universe's version's place. I don't think anyone has done this specific concept yet? Or at least I haven't seen anything like that so far. But if you have, please let me know!

Also, just fyi, I will be writing their relationship as a Queer Platonic Relationship rather than a Romantic Relationship! And it will be heavily Jayvik centered. Some other characters will make appearances, but won't rlly be involved with the plot.

I currently have around 10-11 chapters planned out?? But we'll see how that goes. Most of this is just very self indulgent (which is all fanfiction is rlly) and also being made up as I go along. I'm also kind of a slow writer.

Anyway, if this sounds interesting to you, please let me know! It would definitely boost my confidence lol

[jadehaven]

I kinda like how the show developed Galadriel and Halbrand in season 1, and Galadriel and Elrond in season 2, but I remember the "Celeborn will be back don't worry" said by one of the showrunners during comic con, and I'm a bit disappointed. He was gone for two seasons, and now we're supposed to cheer for his return, after the destruction of Eregion? I'm mean, but I don't want him to show up... 😣

*original response has been edited due to 1 piece of misinformation on the authors part*

Aight so to be honest, and I mean COMPLETELY HONEST,

I do fear this. I do fear they might bring him back. But it would be a terrible decision if they did. Here’s my top 3 reasons why it won’t work:

1) There’s too much chemistry with other characters.

- Clearly she felt something for Halbrand. It was romantically driven because there were lines such as the numenorean’s taunting Hal saying “wait till she prefers someone of better breeding.” Lol. And ofc him wanting her to be his queen, it was definitely part of the plot.

- They had her KISS another character, and not just any character, her “more than best friend” (giggling at this lmao) who ALSO led the siege of Eregion and rescued her twice and is just able to read her like and book. It wouldn’t please the viewers at this point to break up a super close, well established “friendship” after bringing them together again at the end of S2.

- If she was soooo in love with Celeborn, then there wouldn’t be opportunity for her to have this much intimacy with other male leads lol.

2) It would slow down the story line

- How would Celeborn fit into all that’s happening right now? They’d have to stop and explain everything to him. Unless somehow he magically knew already? Then he somehow takes centre stage and fights in the war of last alliance while the main protagonist just sits out?? Erm. Ok then.

- There’s been ONE reference to him. If he was more significant and they wanted folks to be gearing up in anticipation for him, then they would’ve built on it. For instance, we’ve had points from season 1 all the way till end of season 2 that have hinted at Elendil’s eventual meet up with Anarion. He’s was mentioned once in season 1 I think, then season 2, plus Elendil’s palantir vision. It would just be so odd to have Celeborn show up and suddenly “matter” after a whole season of… nothing. Not to mention what happened DURING that nothing lol.

Heheh.

Anyways.

3) He’s a very uninteresting character

- Let’s be real here. The vast majority of folks who are interested in seeing Celeborn on the show are the lorebros who don’t want the romances messing up the generational lore. Well guess what? It’s already messed up. So many characters that currently exist in the ROP timeline should not exist yet, so it’s clearly an issue the writers don’t have that much beef with. Besides, there’s nothing that significant that he did other than become Galadriel’s husband. If we had seen the two of them falling in love, flashbacks to their past together, and then have it tie into Galadriel’s revenge arc, then yeah I would be more excited to see him return. What did we get instead?

(Honestly this clam is prettier than I’d expect Celeborn to be with the way Gal described him.)

- Instead of including Celeborn in the beginning, we have instead, Elrond being the voice of reason, wisdom, affection, resilience— not to mention literally leading the siege of Eregion. In the books, Celeborn was supposed to be a part of that battle(but like, lost or something?). So they’ve already taken out one major event that would’ve made him more interesting. They’re running out of material to work with here lol.

- Showrunners are going to have to work real hard to develop a character that we know hardly anything about. It’s different than other characters that get introduced later, such as Anarion and Glorfindel. Even CIRDAN got more hype. Those characters have a long lasting record of being actually interesting enough for people to anticipate their arrival. They won’t need to do as much fleshing out because the base material has already done it. But Celeborn? Tell me where is the RIZZ because i much desire yada yada you get the joke.

Anyways. If the writers are smart, then their plans to add Celeborn will not be some grand scheming wonderous break through. It’ll just be for closure, and not much of anything else. Maybe he’ll have moved on and found another lady while Galadriel was away or something lol. MAYBE HE GOT CORRUPTED IDK.

But, they might still do it. They might just add him in to please the lorebros, shove elrond to the side and continue on with the og story.

They’d lose a lot more fans doing that then if they had Elrond and Galadriel be endgame.

There I said it.

Hopefully this sort of answers your ask, brings you some peace of mind— but I wouldn’t get too excited just yet. We’re in it for the long haul here.

xo Jade

p.s. I didn’t proofread this, hope you had fun reading my grammar mistakes. heh.

[celebrimborium]

Thank you so much for sharing that info on ROP Season 2 questionary.

What are your thoughts on this delay to announce the show renewal for Season 3? What are they waiting for? Or is the show actually at risk of getting canceled? You also mentioned they asked suggestions for S3 (what the viewers would like to see)? This tells me they do take the fans opinions to heart, because they are currently writing Season 3 (according to the showrunners, at least).

Sorry about all the questions, but you got me curious 😊

I don't think the show is at risk of being cancelled at the moment, all the people involved with the show have spoken about S3 with such confidence that I have to believe it's been in preparation for a while and that Amazon has indicated to them that a renewal is just a formality. However, Charlotte Brändström (who is a director and producer of the show) suggested we'd be hearing official news until the end of October, I think. And now mid-November I get that survey. So, there is that. I think Amazon is really looking at all their options going forward.

If we look back at S2, that was renewed early and all the scripts had already been written before S1 aired – in fact, S2 began shooting around the same time S1 ended. And we still had to wait for a long time until S2 could be released. So wouldn't it be smarter to start S3 production earlier or even film S3 and S4 back to back?

Maybe, but Amazon is a business and after S1 probably underperformed relative to their expectations (not necessarily in terms of viewing numbers but in terms of social media engagement and subscription drive), it seems they wanted to wait until after S2 to look at all the data. Over the last couple of months, a new writers' room was assembled (already a reaction to S1?) and presumably drafted S3 scripts. But the scripts aren't finished yet, we know that much. So what's going on? Are the writers being slow? Do they have to do rewrites? Is Amazon not happy with the S3 Payne & McKay are pitching? Or are they just waiting to have all their ducks in a row and location scouting done and shooting scheduled before announcing a renewal? Is it a question of budget negotiations? At this point, the long wait doesn't exactly spell confidence in terms of media/press reporting and publicity, so at the very least Amazon is carefully weighing what to do. Since the show is very much tied up in the plans for Amazon Studios as such (buying up production hubs in the UK etc), this is also very much a strategic decision with wider repercussions. The Hollywood Reporter reported sometime in September or October that Amazon was still planning to stick to the 50-hour plan but plans can change.

One thing I was asked about in the survey was whether the cliffhangers episode-to-episode worked for me this season. I haven't looked at the viewing data in detail but if the show lost viewers over the season, that would be an issue, since you normally want it to increase, even if a lower S2 premiere is expected. We know that the viewership in the US is 30–35 % down compared to S1 which isn't great. But Amazon has access to much more detailed data (and the show had better international pull in S1, so that's important for S2 and we don't know anything about it). The more obscure the feat is that they tout, the more you can be sure the data doesn't look that great though (relative to budget and the branding/IP).

I'm not sure how much I'm allowed to go into the survey and what was asked there but rest assured it was extremely detailed with lists upon lists with characters and storylines and relationships and themes and production aspects and all kinds of things to rate (not on a scale but more in a "this was done well / poorly", "this would make me more / less interested in watching", "I would like to see more / less of this" type of way across a spectrum). They also asked about things like viewing comprehension and social media engagement.

If you don't like storytelling by committee, you might find this type of detailed audience questioning concerning. Certainly I'm a little concerned by the consensus on the show and characters in places like Reddit or other male-dominated spaces and how that might be the outcome we get. But for sure you can't say Amazon isn't trying to gauge audience interest to the very last degree.

And that's why I think we'll get a retooled S3. And beyond that we'll have to see.

[raayllum]

So we are sure as anything that is going to be Callum that releases Aaravos at the end of the day (being terrified of being possessed again? Now the gang literally HAVE THE PRISON? Yeah he’s gonna be possessed and forced to open it for SURE! Poor boy what will that do to him..?)

But one thing that hasn’t happened yet is Rayla losing Callum. Callum has lost Rayla once and nearly lost her twice now, but we are yet to see Rayla do something to get Callum back (maybe we can include the ship scene but I don’t feel like it’s quite to the same extent that Callum has nearly lost her, if you get what I mean)… how do you think this is going to happen?! If at all? I LOVED season 5 and can’t wait for what happens next!!

I forget if I thought Callum would free Aaravos post-S3 or S2 (maybe, ever since the Key was introduced)? But definitely post TTM I thought he'd have a role to play there. I've always leaned towards it either 1) not being under possession, but coercion, or 2) if it is under possession, it's because Callum took a risk (and knew what he was risking being possessed by doing it). The writers always like force characters into being aware of the choices they're making / retaining agency even in the terrible choices they're making (i.e. Harrow being aware of and agreeing to Viren's plan to kill Zym in 3x06's flashbacks, rather than being ignorant and therefore blameless in it, which they easily could've done). I don't think Callum can just have a "whoopsie daisie I'm suddenly possessed again through no reaffirmed fault of my own decision making" since that kinda feels like it's letting him off the hook too much for whatever he does, but if they just want to go full throttle on the "no agency" angle, that would be a valid route of its own kind of horrific (even if it may not be the one from a theorizing standpoint I currently prefer but hey, canon could change my mind).

For Rayla and Callum, I think their arcs (intersecting and circling each other as always) are going to be opened and book ended, most likely, by Massive acts of love for each other for arc 2 (up till S6, most likely). Currently for both of them, they've done their initial, unhealthy "going to dark places is an act of love" for one another:

1) Rayla leaving during the timeskip / through the moon

and Callum doing dark magic about a season later to save her life

The fact the choice is something they both cover up and know the other person wouldn't like, the shouldering it alone, the "I have to. I love you too much not to," etc. I don't think it's a coincidence that a few episodes after Rayla reflects on what inspired her to leave — "I left without him because I couldn't bear to put him in danger. I knew I had to be strong alone" — and trying to be what she didn't want to be (a lone assassin) that we see Callum making a similar decision after he was forced back into a path he also didn't want to take (a dark mage), that Finnegrin got his head enough to warp him: "All that talk about how love makes you stronger" and Rayla making him 'weaker.' And, like Rayla, he keeps a secret to try and shoulder it alone, at least at first.

Which is in line of how he and Rayla were already starting to switch in S4, with Rayla acting more like him upon her return and Callum acting more like her because of her absence, and nicely leads up to them both reaffirming that they are each's strength and each other's weakness, eventually. (Good and bad, light and dark, pain and love. Two cakes!)

I always figured Callum would do something ultimately self destructive in order to save her, just because they tend to be very reciprocal (and he tends to hit her plot beats a season after she does, anyway) so it seems, due to the symbolism and framing and patterns, that Callum doing dark magic for her is his Narrative counterbalance for her leaving him in Through the Moon. (This is very in line with their S2 and S3 patterns as well, where Rayla saves him and Ez in a way from Soren and Claudia in S2, and then Callum saves her from Soren and Claudia over the dragon fiasco; as well as in S3, with Rayla risking her life to keep Sol Regem away from him, and then Callum jumping off the Pinnacle to save her, etc).

So what, you ask, is Rayla's big gesture moment - and what could Callum's reciprocal moment be? Well...

2) Rayla breaks Callum free of the brainwashing + identity reconciliation arc

This has been foreshadowed and set up for a variety of reasons — Rayla showing up in a halo of light and always reaffirming Callum's agency in S4; Callum asking her to be the one to kill him in 4x07, and this according quote exchange from the Book One Novelization ('"Wow. So they look identical, but they might kill you or they might save you,” Callum said. "Exactly," Rayla smiled. "Just like me"); Rayla's role being highlighted in the actual possession scene in 4x04 and Aaravos mocking her for being unable to kill; Rayla's epiphany in S5 about being "stronger together" at all. If you want more details on all of this I would heartily recommend this meta I wrote regarding Rayla's duality as Callum's salvation and destruction, written pre-s4, and then updated post-S5. Now moving on...

Book 6 is gonna be stars, and stars are associated with Destiny. So is dark magic with control. Thus, Callum confronting the destiny Aaravos has given him (and being possessed again by proxy) seems the most likely for this season. We also know we're going to learn about Rayla and Stella's history eventually (and given that Stella means star, and is connected to the Star primal) and it would make sense to get that backstory in S6 as well. We know we're learning more about the Key of Aaravos (rune cube) and most likely Leola (and her last wish) next season as well. Last but not least, S5 reveals that Rayla's parents can presumably be saved by using star magic / quasar diamonds, and that Callum is even more dedicated to freeing them to some degree than Rayla is, at least in terms of Prioritizing it.

Okay, but what does this all have to do with anything? Well...

It seems pretty certain that Rayla's Big Moment, as you've indicated, has to happen, and will be her refusing to kill Callum and instead breaking him free of the brainwashing. The strongest evidence is actually things I haven't touched on yet, which is that this dilemma and plot beat would resolve both of their character arcs that S4 set heavily into motion.

For Rayla, she's been struggling for seasons feeling like a failed assassin / that she can't kill someone, and that this is a weakness. The fact that it's Callum's life on the line vs the world ("my heart for Xadia") is just the icing on the cake and is a trolley problem she's faced before ("You let him live, but you killed us all!" / "No, you have two choices: you all die, or just the wretched, evil human dies"). So her not killing Callum, and instead saving him, would resolve her arc in a variety of ways:

Prove that her good soft heart is a strength and not a weakness

Reaffirm her love, devotion, commitment to Callum and promising to Not leave again

Prove to her that she can save people (4x05's "we can't save everyone") and that she won't always inevitably mess things up

Rayla refusing to sacrifice something, for once, for the good of the world

Her path in this is so straightforward there is little doubt in my mind, like, come on. It's not subtle and I love it

This isn't even touching on Rayla's parallels / thematic opposition to the other person vying for control over Callum, Aaravos, which if you're interested in you can read more about here. <3

Alternatively, Callum's side of things is far more complicated / less clear. This is for a few reasons:

There will be a choice, presumably, that leads to him getting brainwashed. The most obvious of these is him doing (dark? Star?) magic to free the Moon fam and Kpp'Ar from the coins, but it could be something else. Being willing to take a chosen risk opens up the door for him to feel responsible if/when he plays his role in Aaravos' plans (bc he presumably Has to, since S6 can't end well under any circumstances).

If he is randomly brainwashed, he will have to make a conscious choice to play into Aaravos' hands after breaking free from the brainwashing. This will probably be under coercion or due to a loved one (either Ezran or Rayla) being in danger or threatened. I've always leaned towards Rayla because they've had primary conflict for longer and her weird associations with the cube and its foreshadowing, and for a few other reasons I'll discuss here briefly below.

What's not in doubt, to me, is Callum - willingly or unwillingly - continuing on his dark path within Aaravos' clutches. Whether this would include breaking him free under coercion (but not brainwashing) is debatable, but we'll see when we get there I suppose (if we get there). What does need to be answered, here, is what Callum's Reciprocal Act of Love would be. It seems that he'll have to save Rayla back in turn from something, after all.

Likewise, there's a few options in no particular order:

He saves Rayla from having to make a terrible choice regarding her parents, either to have a life without them or for her to do dark magic to free them by taking that on himself.

A lot of Callum's identity changes have been because of her absence and subsequent shut down. Rayla reaffirming her identity by saving him is also the process by which Callum reaffirms his own identity by choosing her / being able to be saved. A mutual identity reconciliation happening simultaneously, if you will. And throwing off Aaravos' control certainly would be an act of love!

He frees Aaravos to save her life after she breaks him free of the brainwashing, since choosing Rayla and defying Aaravos could be choices that cannot be reconciled.

I lean towards something beyond the mutual Identity Reconciliation because I think 1) Callum being able to express his feelings for her is also very important to his growth for this arc and they've teased him saying "I love you" again quite a bit thus far and 2) I think Rayla, as a character and her core of sacrifice (what does it matter to her, after all, if she gets majorly injured saving Callum) would really benefit from being literally, reciprocally saved, but these are the various avenues I think are the most likely. But I do think their S6 (or whenever the possession plot line is resolved, maybe it is only in S7, who knows) arc is resolved, it'll be with a Big Act of Love from Callum as well, with Rayla's being saving him from said brainwashing.

Anyway, I hope this answered your question and that said answer wasn't too long! Thanks for asking & for reading <3

[suspendingtime]

20 Questions for Fic Writers!

I've been tagged by @stars-of-kyber and @andthebubbles. 😁 So although I feel barely qualified, I guess I best do this...

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

7. 🤗

I started about 2 months ago, so... and yes, they're all Kanthony. Initially just started as a way of contributing to Anthony Week 2023, and I didn't even expect that I'd actually do all 7 days.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

13,370.

Currently ranging at 661 to 3,779 per fic. Rookie numbers!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

So far, just my beloved Bridgerton.

But there have been a couple other shows that have tempted me...

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Astride  - 166

Nursery  - 118

Hunt - 105

Yours - 94

Temptation - 88

Having published a handful with various ratings, it's quite interesting to see the kudos, bookmarks (private vs public), and subs ratios! Much to think about.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes.

Why... I sort of have a need? Idk, when I see a comment it's hard to just leave it hanging there and not to reply. Like irl if someone looked at something I made and verbally commented on it... and I just stared back blankly not saying anything. 😐 This is how it feels to me on the receiving end at least haha. And my replies saying various forms of 'Thank you!' is probably quite repetitive, but hey ho.

Plus comments give you that lil hit of dopamine; from both povs as a writer or reader. Being on the reader side for most of my Ao3 activities I tend to comment on most of fics I read, I can't help it - I must tell you what I loved about it and why, and there's a pleasure in reciprocating that back too. Look, now I've written half an essay on the subject, gaaah. (I've not been on Ao3 as much as I'd like to recently, and because I opened it to scoop out the stats for some of the questions above I can now see that I have some unreads... and the need is happening.)

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Hmmm *thinking really hard*, I don't think any of them have an ending that is all that angsty. If I had to choose, maybe Temptation?

The pattern I've shown so far in my posted works is that it's gonna be 90% fluff. Though that is liable to change. 😆

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

Probably Nursery?

I'm not sure, cause they've all ended on a pretty optimistic note so far. But that one has Kate and Anthony with a few of their kids, so it's the furthest on the Kanthony HEA timeline.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not yet...

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Ummm 👀 I may have dabbled in some smut.

What kind... hm, the kind where both people are panting for each other, and end up caving because they literally can't hold their horniness in anymore (this totally explains why I went feral for Bridgerton S2, ha). Another pattern I seem to have is making Anthony a submissive man puddle.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Not yet, but I do have some crack ideas I may explore.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of, I very much doubt it.

How often does this happen to people?

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No. I'd certainly be all for it if anyone ever wanted to translate any works of mine. 😊

If I was proficient enough to write in other languages, then I would probably try publishing the different versions from the get go.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Kinda?

Nothing formal, but there was a lengthy comment thread on Reddit some months ago where myself and another user went back and forth re-writing the script for that stormy library scene 😅 (not so much re-writing what was already there, bar the last few lines, more of a continuation in a universe where Kate hadn't fled).

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

Must I even answer this? Kanthony, c'mon now.

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

There's only 1 work that I have, where I've actually started a chapter 2. And I have all the faith that I will finish it. ✍️🤓

Other potential WIPs, that are currently just posted as one shots, only exist in my head... who knows if they will see the light of day.

16. What are your writing strengths?

This question feels illegal to be asked.

I have no idea, I'm very new to this whole writing thing. At least in terms of fiction, so I'm not sure what I'd consider my strengths to be. I feel like I need some more practice before I can get a real sense of this?

I would say that dialogue usually comes very quickly to me, and it's having to fill in the bits around it that takes more brain muscles. So that might indicate something.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Everything apart from the answer to the question above.

But really I think it's remembering that there is a world outside of the main couple happening, and trying to describe the details there. Also other general 'setting the scene' stuff like clothing, weather etc etc. I usually just want to jump straight in with some random dialogue.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

On writing it... no thoughts; not done it yet!

If I needed to for some unknown fic reason in the future, I'm sure I'll be apologising profusely in the author notes for trusting Google translate and probably butchering whatever language it is.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Still just the one so far, Bridgerton. 😌

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

Hunt 🥺🥹 I was a lot of feels, and just very indulgent tbh.

I also really enjoyed my shortest one, Obedient, which was in 2nd person (hadn't done that before). The writing of that one was just really fun and I idky but I've reread it quite a bit!

__________________________________________________

I'm woefully looking at my Ao3 bookmarks (which has grown exponentially since joining Tumblr), full of things that I've not got round to reading yet. So I'm tagging partly based on stuff hanging out on top of that pile: @islemeadow, @ladykettlechips, @hydriotaphia, @eleanor-bradstreet, and the smut aunties @colettebronte & @fayes-fics 😋 (if y'all wanna do it, ofc. I tried to find those who hadn't been tagged/done it yet, sorry if you've actually already done this and I've just not found it).

[wanna-sleep-all-day]

something I want to say about how the go rush fan base is doing currently about "hating a character". This is something I said in a go rush discord server so some people may find it familar. I mean no hostility against anyone, please don't start a fight with me.

Apparently go rush fan base is now slowly descending to chaos again. There are people who don't like how Yuhi and Yuga stole the spotlight from Yudias again, people who defend Yuhi and Yuga like hell, people that are disappointed at the once-again sevens invasion and people who want even more sevens reference so that they can watch the world burn and piss off those "go rush haters".

And I see someone say that "people who don't like Yuhi in the first year changed their mind in the second year, while some other people started to be mad at Yuhi in the second year because Yuhi stole the spotlight from Yudias again and again. Why don't those people blame the writers for it? Yuhi is innocent."

Ah yes, that's the point. Blame the WRITERS not the characters. This is not a sarcasm. The characters are made from how writers treat them, and it's obvious that some characters have the top 1 treatment while others are treated like shit.

However, it's often that people are shown to be super mad at THE character, it's Yuna first , then Yuga, now Yuhi. There's probably more but I can't count them all. I don't blame those people. I think people can hate about "how a character is made" and thus that character by far. And it's fine because the hatred may disappear as the show progresses more, like how the quote above mentioned that s1 goofy Yuhi haters now like s2 Yuhi more. On the other hand, people who like certain character may hate the same character for their change, whether to better or worse. I think a lot of people failed to understand this.

You hate a character because they XXXXX and never apologized? Or because they did XXXXXX that is unforgivable? Or just because they have more screentime and just for them? it's fine. And it's no use in attacking people and forcing them to have the same preference as you anyways. But I hope people understand things may get better in some future episode. Terrorible wrongdoing may be justified. Past mistakes may be realized. As for the screentime, just blame the writers because we can't do anything about it

I don't mean to defend Yuna, Yuga, Yuhi or any other character that you think is unjustified or misunderstood by other people. I just want to say that people have their rights to hate a character for how the character is done. And it all goes to the writers to determine whether the character is done good or bad.

Even if people have different opinions on one certain character, it's also fine. There's never a true, objective opinion about whether a character is good or bad. It's just what you see on them that make you hate/like them.

EDIT: I also didn't mean that any character mentioned above is done BAD, please don't hurt me.

[extasiswings]

Sorry if I'm too curious, but what you thought about Tim during these years? Because I see so many people wanting him back and then when I see LS comments I'm like🤢

Ah, Tim. Tim, Tim, Tim, Tim.

Tim suffers from what I like to call Mediocre White Man Syndrome. This is a condition that is defined by being a white man in Hollywood who has very little talent on his own, but will get extremely far in the industry by surrounding himself with exponentially more talented and creative writers whose success is then projected onto him by association. But you see, the problem with Mediocre White Man Syndrome is that said mediocre white man has to be put into a position where he can no longer fall back on the work of others to be revealed for his true self. Which is where the OG vs. LS comparison helps.

OG vs. LS is the perfect example of how a showrunner can be an absolutely terrible, talentless hack, but if surrounded by good enough people the end result will still be good enough to mask just how bad the problem is. On OG, Tim was working with a team of excellent writers and storytellers who had the ability to prop him up and smooth the edges of his bad ideas and/or steer him in better directions. On LS, he doesn't have the same cover and the difference is...stark.

But since I don't expect you to just accept this at face value, I have receipts. Subtitled: don't ever trust a bitch who can't write his own shit.

On OG, in the 5 seasons during which he was a showrunner, Tim wrote 8 episodes. Of those, all but one were co-written with at least one other writer (3 were in season 1 and were co-written with both Ryan Murphy AND Brad Falchuk). The only episode for which he has solo writing credit is the S2 finale which, as much as I can admit I love it, has some big pacing issues resulting from the fact that the main plot was started in the previous episode, Tim finished it in the first 20 minutes, and then had to fill dead air for the whole second half. [By comparison, the last episode Tim wrote for OG was 5x1, which he co-wrote with Juan Carlos Coto, and honestly imo you can tell who wrote what parts of the episode just by the stylistic differences and it's...not a good look for Tim (I'll give you a hint, the parts of the episode that truly jumped the shark? Tim)].

On LS, which is currently only 3 episodes into its fourth season, Tim has already written 10 episodes, all co-written, primarily season openers and finales.

Also on LS, Tim has primary creative control. Everything is his idea. No one is there to tell him no. When he says that he thinks that people being happy in relationships is "boring"? No one gets to be happy because he invents random drama for no reason. When he says that Carlos is going to be secretly married despite the fact that it does not match anything from S1 at all? Who cares, it's his world and we are subject to his whims. On OG, despite being showrunner, that wasn't the case. For example, things that were Tim's idea on OG: everything with Taylor (because he has some weird reporter fetish), the blackout arc. He also regularly spoke without planning anything at all and it's clear when you compare the things he said were likely to happen vs. what actually ended up on screen that although he may have signed off, the ideas were not his (hello, the majority of S4 and Eddie's trauma recovery arc in S5). Things that were other people's ideas/responsibilities: the will/guardianship situation, the tsunami arc, Buck Begins, etc.

If you want to dig deeper, on OG, 8/10 of the top 10 episodes (out of 87) were written by just 3 writers: Kristen Reidel (4), Juan Carlos Coto (2), Andrew Meyers (2) [the last two were written by writers who are no longer on the show]. Kristen is now the showrunner, and JCC, Andrew, and Lyndsey Beaulieu (who are also EPs) are clearly the core writing team - strong, stable, and consistent. Now, I have critiques of Kristen: primarily her copaganda (which has to do with personal preference) and her pacing (a more objective critique). But I have the same critiques of Tim (and much more), and at least Kristen has proven that she can write a fucking exceptional story on her own (hello? Fight or Flight? Athena Begins? Kids Today? Awful People?). And when you look at the series overall by the numbers? The top 50 OG eps (again, out of 87) are rated 8/10 or higher (and more than half of those are from writers who make up the core team now, including Kristen). For LS, that's only 15/ 45 (and there's no LS ep rated higher than 8.7). And those discrepancies have to do with the quality of the writing and the storytelling (of which Tim has been doing much more on LS than he did on OG, to LS's detriment).

Anyway, that's my spicy take of the night. The things on OG that were actually Tim's idea (like all the Taylor) were some of my least favorite parts of the show and the core things that I love about the show are things that other people were/are responsible for. And to be perfectly blunt, given his storytelling on LS, I am so happy that he no longer has control over OG (or anything to do with Buddie).

Mediocre White Man Syndrome. A Hollywood Staple.

[thatiranianphantom]

On Ch*ni And How This Version is NOT An Ode To LGBT Representation.

Oh, folks. We've hit that time. We've hit the time where I have to say something aloud, aware as I am that it's RD and criticizing it for being tone deaf and offensive is somewhat pointless.

I have edited the name so that this hopefully doesn't show up in the tag, trying to respect keeping that tag a positive place here. But I gotta say something. And for once, it's not on Madelaine and Vanessa, it's on the writers.

The way that they are portraying Ch*ni is anything but positive LGBT representation.

It's been canonically established that Toni and Cheryl do not know each other in the 50s' verse. Like Toni had never spoken to Cheryl before 701.

And yet somehow, Toni has decided that she knows Cheryl, a stranger's, sexuality. Not only did she decide that, she has decided Cheryl needs to be open about that and come out. Here's a few issues with that, in the form of some lists.

Here are things Cheryl has never done in this verse, up to the end of the current episode:

Confided in Toni that she was struggling with her sexuality

Asked Toni for her advice

Asked Toni what sexuality she'd identify Cheryl with

Requested Toni help her come out

Sought Toni's opinion on her life and her relationships

Told Toni that she was a lesbian.

Here are the things Cheryl did do:

Told Toni more than once that she did not know the inner details of Cheryl's life and explicitly said Toni should stop acting like she knew Cheryl

Made it very clear that she was uncomfortable with Toni's advances.

Show us, the audience, that her family is abusive and unsafe.

And yet, Toni feels it is her personal responsibility to remove Cheryl from the closet, and "play the long game", implying she plans on being with Cheryl once Cheryl has come out. This is....not good. Disclosure of one's sexuality is an incredibly personal process, and one that can only be done by the person themselves. As a bisexual person, I would be incredibly not okay with someone outlining the steps they feel I should take in my own sexuality. That's to say nothing of the fact that it may actually be unsafe for Cheryl to come out.

In the last episode, Toni stated "I was you." She indeed was not, given the fact that she and Cheryl have had maybe three conversations and again, Cheryl has never expressed to Toni that she is requesting her help to come out. The 704 content was, at best, none of Toni's business. Nor was it her place to overtly make Cheryl uncomfortable with her advances. And I am super not okay with the last CH scene given how Toni had been acting thus far, and the show portraying it as empowering or feminist.

The thing is, while I don't think the show has ever been good about LGBT representation, their s2 plot wasn't like this. It never felt like Toni was trying to pressure Cheryl into anything. You could say a lot of things about them as a couple but it didn't feel like Toni decided Cheryl's sexuality and took on the role of the sexuality police.

Anyway. Let me know y'all's opinion. Looking forward to anons calling me a homophobe. Or a racist. Or oftentimes, both!

[milkteamoon]

20 questions for fic writers

Tagged by @shinyopals thank youuuu

1. How many works do you have on Ao3? 42!

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? 340,042

3. What fandoms do you write for? Currently and primarily The Magnus Archives — I only rarely write for multiple fandoms at a time. In the past I've written for Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun, Deltarune, Victoria's Electric Coffin......a friend and I used to write OC/Black Butler crossover fics in like, middle school lol

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Cicada Summar (JSHK, rated T, gen) — Pre-canon JSHK backstory fic

No Sort of Name for People Like Us (TMA, rated T, jmart) — mid s3 practice kissing fic

Our Own Personal Hell (TMA, rated T, jmart) — s2 time loop shenanigans

Tongue to Teeth (TMA, rated T, jmart) — victorian monster hunting au

Check Each Box That Applies (TMA, rated T, jmart) — s2 lunch dates and personal discussions

Cicada Summer was posted at the height of JSHK fandom popularity, so I don't think that one is super representative of my "best" fics, though I do think that No Sort of Name is pretty good haha

5. Do you respond to comments? I do my best to!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Prooobably Hazy Days of December...I got a lot of people yelling at me for that one haha (even if I don't think it's too bad? It's open ended at least)

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Umm I'm not sure! I think most of my fics are happy endings...maybe Worth More Than All the Silence

8. Do you get hate on fics? I've gotten a few weird comments but I don't think I've ever gotten anything outright hateful

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I've written a few fics but must of my smut stays in the Google docs. My asexual ass likes things more focused on the humorous lead up and/or kink than the actual sex part haha

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? I think the closest thing I've written to a crossover is the doctor who au I wrote earlier this year — I don't really write proper crossovers :,)

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not to my knowledge

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Don't think so!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Me and @indigosienna attempted to write a collab fic back in 2020, but we both ended up falling off of it before we finished (oops). The first chapter is still good though I think!

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? HARD question, but jmart and hananene both have very special places in my heart

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Too many fic ideas to list haha

16. What are your writing strengths? I think I'm pretty good at humor and getting into a character's head. Also love writing an emotionally charged scene

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Dialogue heavy scenes are the WORST (writing dialogue tags without sounding stupidly repetitive...shaking my fist at the sun). Also forever complaining about editing

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I don't know any other languages well enough to do so

19. First fandom you wrote for? I have vague memories of writing warrior cats fanfiction waaaaay back in the day

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? This is a haaaaard question but currently I'd have to say 1. Learning the Ropes — I originally started this for the RQ big bang in June and didn't make it to the deadline, so it felt like a big accomplishment to actually finish it. Plus I just really like delving into that era of canon and Jon and Martin's whole not-quite-dating shtick they have going on. And 2. Tongue to Teeth — I really love this fic and this au and I was noooot at all expecting the love for it I ended up getting on it. I love this silly au and I'm glad others do as well :,)

Not sure who has been tagged so! Sorry for any repeats! @rakel-on-ao3 @asleeb @thatsrightdollface @crit20lesbian @phynoma @lo-fi-charming @pinehutch @cnnmonbimee

[artaxlivs]

20 Questions for Writers

Tagged by @eriquin. Thank you!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? Forty-Five

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 419,731

3. What fandoms do you write for? Stranger Things, Marvel (specifically Hawkeye based), & recently, Teen Wolf

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? (all Stranger Things)

Destroy the Silence (Drummer Steve)

An Accidental Flogging

The Second Worst Trip to Mordor Ever Taken

Even Flowers Have Their Dangers

Screw Todd, Steve's Her (His) Daddy Now

5. Do you respond to comments? Always

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? It's not angsty but this one will ruin your day and it's only 442 words: i was afraid to follow

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Almost all of my fics have happy endings but I am told that Something to Tweet About is a sticky sweet happy ending.

8. Do you get hate on fics? No but I don't write anything polarizing.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Ohhhh I write smut. 😘

10. Do you write crossovers? Not really. I write "Fandom A in Fandom B's world" types sometimes but the characters don't crossover. I wrote a Dirty Dancing Stranger Things called Nobody's Baby.

11. Are any of your fics converted into podfics? Yes! I have two by amazing podders that I'm incredibly grateful to - check them out!

Destroy the Silence read by @rufusbear

Let Me Be Your Man (I Want to Hold Your Hand) by @thirdeye1234 (RattleandHum on Ao3)

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? My Destroy the Silence is currently being translated into Russian (It's not up yet or I'd link it!)

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Nope.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? Winterhawk (Hawkeye and the Winter Soldier)

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Listen - don't come at me. I'm gonna finish all my WIPs, okay?

16. What are your writing strengths? Mmmm, story pacing, dialogue, good banter, humor, fluff, consent communication, character development and somehow working music into most of my fics.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? visual world building. I have aphantasia so sometimes I'll just forget to describe the world around them because I can't see it anyway.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I think a few common words here and there are fine but not full sentences of a language you don't speak. Advice from Brandon Sanderson that I write by: be vague or you create plot holes and inconsistencies.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Winterhawk

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? Loaded question here. I'm gonna say two. My first is actually a Steve Rogers/Clint Barton series where Clint is a soldier and meets Steve Rogers during the war - he falls from the train, not Bucky. It's called A Bird By Any Other Name and I love it. My second is Even Flowers Have Their Dangers which is Stranger Things rewrite of the end of S4 and what I think S5 would look like if Steve and the kids had turned into werewolves in the tunnels in S2.

No pressure tags: @betrayedbycinnamon @carcrash429 @noxnthea @there-must-be-a-lock @river9noble