#i dont want to read a fic that feels like its from 2015 if its actually from 2024

[softnoirr]

Would you ever consider putting the TC hockey au back up? I know you aren’t the biggest fan of it but I am and lots of others are and we miss it 🤍

My original plan was to edit it to a state I could be proud of and then put it back - but that turned out to be an agonising process I never finished. Which is difficult because I still don't like the ending — I feel like you can tell I was on a bit of a deadline to finish it and because of that it falls very flat. But I’ve been trying to turn writing back into a hobby instead of whatever nightmareish fuge state it had turned into for a while. I’m not opposed to putting it back, since I know I’m realistically never going to find the energy to edit it and probably still wouldn’t be happy with it if I did. I just need to ruminate a little more to get past my reservations on everything not being perfect and above reproach all the time. 

I did put soon or never and the tc christmas fic back up though— I'd honestly forgotten I'd taken them down lol

[tmos-time]

Do you have any Erisol fanfic recommendations?

i can scrounge up a few!

come as you are by theressomanyusernames - humanstuck + college au, slowburn (46k, 2018, T)

theres a couple other erisol fanfics by this same author that i enjoy going back to as well, but this is the one that i can look at and go, "oh, yeah, no yeah, this writer had influences in how my headcanons evolved" lmfao. if your local legal drinking age is also +18, you can kind of let your eyes glaze over the underage drinking tag LOL

drafts by roundandtalented - humanstuck, established relationship (1.3k, 2015, G)

this one is just really a cute concept as a whole; i like going back to this to just get stupidly feet kick-y about the text drafts shown lmao. sollux isn't as entirely emotionally constipated as i like to read him being, but i can deal with it for a sappy fic like this <3

(don't) come home by halsey - humanstuck + college au (1k, 2020, T)

i keep coming back to this one because i happen to scroll past and go "oh yeah that one, that's fun and quick to read, ill look at it again" and then lowkey wish it was part of a multi-chapter fic lol

needed by roundandtalented - post-game + post-sprite, pale romance (2.6k, 2015, G)

one of the more prominent erisol fics that i think of when i think about pale depictions of them! simply fun when eridan is depicted as very caring lol

inconsequential august by avisceration - humanstuck (6.5k, 2013, T)

okay. if you've been reading up to this point going "well goddamn it cooper, i wanted awesome mature compelling fics that read like homestuck proper" idk man go read a urgaylol erisol fic. i skip sex scenes in erisol fics in particular so i dont know what you expect from me lmao. anyways. if you feel compelled to read something where eridan and sollux are repressed crass teen assholes who mention something sexful for the bit every other minute, i sometimes go back to this one to chuckle about the "grade-A dicks" joke

dreaming in binary by blacksparrow - no sgrub session au, helmsman sollux (51k, 2013, T)

its been about three years since ive read this one tbh! its probably for the better, its absolutely one of those fics i could binge in one day and get the bingereader's fatigue after, considering how good i remember it being. one thing i remember is REALLY being compelled by sollux's internalized ableism he expresses in particular in this fic. ill have to read it in full again sometime! i know a couple other people have been recommending it lately too lol

besides those, suppose i could also suggest looking through my own erisol fics of various qualities from the past four years if you havent looked already, i don't necessarily have any in particular i'd point out over the rest these days lmao

[27thfirefly]

hi. i just read the last chapter of your fic went blind last year and HOLY FUCK it is so good. i get it if you don’t want to like spoil things about your fic but i have many many questions and thoughts so im just gonna write a bunch of them.

the whole thing with like. dirk tapping into ultimate dirk and part of canon and then being shoved out? and then kind of realizing that he is a small part of something very big and wanting to be a bigger part of it, and then getting orange eyes representing a stronger connection to dirk-ness? fascinating. and is daves eyes turning red then symbolic of him becoming closer to dave-ness? and speaking of that- dante??? great character, very interesting. is he like somehow a version of dave? and what was he talking about on the swings? is he also in some sort of a loop? and what was it that dirk did at the end of chapter four? he did something with the sword, right, did he make dante decapitate him and then somehow come back to life?

and hal. and cal! holy shit, i can’t believe it but you kind of made me LIKE cal somehow? in the sense that he can be violent and outrageous and insane and vengeful when dirk can’t and its kind of cathartic.

its interesting to see where things stay the same as in canon and where they dont. like dave has chat logs with rose in 2014 and 2015? but hes only fourteen. so he’s technically both older and younger than he is at the beginning of homestuck. and dirk was like 13 in 1997, which is about when daves meteor should have dropped? but did they come with the meteors at all, in this world? dirk came with lil cal on his meteor in canon, but here he got him when he was 12. but dave still seems to be somewhat in touch with his time powers, and dirk with his heart powers, so some things carried over from the game?

god. this is all so fascinating and good. i will be probably rereading the fic and eating drywall until a new chapter comes out. you are an amazing writer.

wahhh thank you very much! for what it's worth i too have been thinking a lot about went blind last year. glances at the +50k word txt document of story notes and wip chapters. so i do love getting to talk about it even if working on it is very slow at the moment! i will put this under a readmore cos i got carried away but

there's a lot of things i don't want to spoil yet yes... but i think i've laid enough of the groundwork that these things won't feel terribly out of place within the story.

one thing i do feel comfortable in divulging is that any connections to canon are deliberately tenuous... how far can a character diverge from canon while still being understood as fitting the mold for that character? when a character is deliberately obscured, how much does fanon interpretation impact what feels in-character?

when you read fanfiction or fancomics or whatever kind of work about a specific character, your mind creates a superposition of the character as they exist in the original work and the character as they exist in the fanwork. as long as the "shape" of the character in the fanwork doesn't stick out too much from your perception of the canon "shape", you can accept that character--as written by someone else--as the same as in canon. some of the choices i have made are deliberately contradictory to the text of homestuck the webcomic. i have made these choices in order to tell the story i want to tell. even so, the basis for the characters in wbly are understood to be the same as in homestuck, creating an expectation for what these characters will act like, what their baseline is, and how you as a reader approach them. your feelings about cal changing within the context of wbly is an interesting case of this in my mind--the cal within wbly is presumably still close enough to canon that you can call it the same character, but the role of cal is changed enough that your impression of him is changed. that kind of thing is FASCINATING to me.

the reason wbly would not work as an independent work is the same as why the homestuck epilogues do not work without the pre-existing fandom of homestuck: there need to be expectations for these characters and relationships in order for me to challenge those expectations.

another thing i will divulge is that went blind last year is not the full title of the story in my mind--i won't tell the full one, but it does tie into just about every conflict in the story.

thank you again for reading my overly complicated fanfic! hopefully you'll stick around even if it'll take me a lot longer than expected to complete. if not, that's fine too.

also every time i send updates to my friend i get lamentations so you know stuffs going great

[elanorpam]

Hey, ive been a fan of your cultstuck series since i first read it 10 years ago and its one that i hold dear along woth toastyglow and their siblings' works. Given that we are all adults now with very busy lives, i dont expect you to kerp up with an old project like writing a fan novel fpr free, but i am curious as what ur current plants for earthbent are, if there are any atm.

(Tbh id be happy with any answer you provide, whether its a detailed outline, an unsure shrug, an excited wink hinting at a deadline or an announcement of permanent hiatus. Youve given so much with your writing, thst i just want you to be happy with whatever plans u have)

hey there! i'm going to go with unsure shrug as an answer here.

see, I did have a detailed outline for cultstuck-- i wrote it all down at around ...2015? very soon after the second eridan chapter, and sent it to my beta, who then proceeded to ghost me forever. I was already sensing she was growing disinterested in the fic/the fandom, giving constant excuses, and I myself was dealing with an anxiety/depression combo that would sharply nosedive by the time the finale came around, so i just... let it go. She didn't care. I wasn't in a good mental place to care. We went our separate ways.

I decided to take a mental health sabbatical, and now, after a few years of sertraline and therapy, the thought of picking it back up is very, very far down my list of priorities. I have so many other fics I want to write, for media which hasn't let me this profoundly down! And also, Cultstuck was conceptualized in the post-cascade hiatus, in chat logs and rough outlines, and was never supposed to take later canon into account unless it dropped any interesting, matching lore...

...but late act 6 took such a dump on the characters and the setting that it took the joy right out of playing on my patch of sandbox, fenced off as it was. And I couldn't connect with the Retcon timeline at all, but some of its developments are so popular and so deeply entrenched that I hesitate to contradict them even though i kind of hate the whole thing and never meant to take it into account?

Let's take the strongest example: Davekat. Dave and Karkat in Cultstuck were never meant to be anything more than mutually annoying acquaintances connected only indirectly via Terezi-- Dave was to be her moirail, and aro-ace besides. This was because for the entirety of the comic, that was the only vibe I got from Dave as a character, and from his interactions with Karkat as a whole-- he and Karkat felt too similar in mutually unpleasant ways, like a cousin that's just enough like you to give you second-hand embarrassment. So by the point the comic was playing coy with pushing the New Dave and New Karkat action figures together, you couldn't get me to care about Davekat if you put a gun to my head. This really hasn't changed in the least. And that means whenever I think of dealing with disappointed Davekat fans in the future of the fic, I just feel an all-encompassing, soul-deep exhaustion.

but i also don't want to drop the fic altogether, for some reason? Like, I might not feel this way forever. So idk, i'm keeping my options open i guess. Subscribe to the fic/series and maybe 10 years from now you'll get a notification like a holiday miracle. Who knows.

[shartingan]

apologies if this is kinda out of left field but what is your current opinion on ao3? me personally i do like to read and write fic on it due to the tagging system and other aspects but the amount of whack shit makes me uncomfortable and I do wish you could report harmful content easily (I think you can now but it's a bit of a process)

sorry this took so long to answer! i had to finish graduating college 😔 i tend not to think about ao3 too much or too in depth, and i don't really get involved in the discourse on this site about it. please take everything i say with a grain of salt because im uninformed and not really looking to involve myself more in this discourse! but i will gladly answer this ask with the information i do have because i think youre starting an interesting conversation and i like to talk ( •̀ .̫ •́ )✧! feel free to hmu i dms, anon.

under read more because i started to ramble a bit. tldr please stop donating to ao3 and donate to one of these vetted palestinian fundraisers instead, especially for eid

personally i agree with all that youve said about ao3 in your ask already. i wont get on a soapbox and moralize about fanfiction and stuff like that because, again, i really dont care, but also i think it is really neat to have these spaces where people can safely interact with IPs in a transformative way and share their works with others without the threat of legal action. that's not ao3s doing, but it does provide a hub for people to publish without ever running into the treat of legal action. and, like you said, the tagging system makes it really easy to sort through fics and find what you like vs. dislike.

my main problems with ao3 come from its mismanagement, and the fact that it really has no competitors. ive been on ao3 since 2015, and i think the only significant change i can remember in the 9 years ive used it was the fact that they added the ability to filter out tags along with filtering in some. that's literally it. there could definitely have been some significant behind the scenes additions im unaware of, but from a users point of view, there has only been 1 update in 9 years that has majorly impacted the way i use the site. that seems like extreme mismanagement to me, especially since ao3 manages to meet and then significantly past all of their donation goals that they run pretty frequently. it seems like ao3 is making a lot of money which isn't being put into improving the site in any significant way. ao3 has been a site since 2008, its making a lot of money, and has a huge base of donors and volunteers, but it's still in beta? that seems like major mismanagement to me. again, this is just me speaking as a layperson not involved in the site itself.

also, it's pretty much become the only site that you can read fanfic on. there are sparse communities on tumblr, ff.net, and wattpad, but they're definitely a lot smaller and spread out. ao3 is the biggest and most centralized place for posting and reading fanfiction on the internet, meaning it virtually has no competition, and there's no alternatives that offer the same scale or quality. despite all that, it has almost no internal user moderation, and ao3 has actively been resistant to implementing those kinds of changes. that has resulted primarily in users of color getting targeted and attacked by racists. harassment is easy on ao3, and people can easily abuse the tagging system to do whatever they like. there's not even a perma-block tag feature, which is the first thing i would've implemented with the filter out feature. like you said, anon, if they're even implementing these changes, they're implementing them slowly, and behind a convoluted multi-step process. there's still little to no internal moderation or blocking system, which is just incredibly irresponsible.

ao3 almost has a monopoly on fanfiction on the internet, which means that it can kind of just do whatever, and no matter the gripes it knows people will keep coming back if they want fanfic because there's no alternative. and people keep chucking money at it because, again, its a hub for people to post and read fanfic without ever running into the threat of legal action because the website provides a safe, transformative works shield for authors. it's just insane how mismanaged the site is, but people keep giving it money despite that, so there's no real incentive for OTW to change anything or put in any effort. HOW IS IT STILL IN BETA. ITS BEEN 16 YEARS AND THEY'VE MADE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS. MINECRAFT CLASSIC WAS LAUNCHED IN 2009 AND THEY MOVED THROUGH BETA TO ALPHA TO A FULL LAUNCH AND THEN HUNDREDS OF UPDATES IN THE SAME TIME FRAME AND WITH A SMALLER TEAM AND FUNDS, INITIALLY😭😭😭 that's just insane to me, there's definitely something weird behind the scenes, how can they be this bad at site management, it's gotta be deliberate or something.

anyway, please stop donating to ao3 and donate to one of these vetted palestinian fundraisers instead, especially for eid

[6ftkyle]

7, 14, 16?

7 - what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

sssooooo, i am not going to name him by name, because his fans can get kinda defensive and i dont want this coming up in search, but a certain dickensian orphan. i never found him very funny in the canon to begin with, but i tend to find that like, most of his fans i come across are like 14 and dont watch the show. which like, thatssss fine. i guess. i vaguely remember being 14. but it makes me just lowkey glad hes dead and gone forever, you know?

14 - that one thing you see in fics all the time

admittedly, i dont read a lot of fics these days! working with my hands most waking hours means i cant really read while i do what i need to. i read what my friends write, when i have the time, and thats a pretty wide spread of topics and content. so like, bare in mind im talking with like a 2015-2020 frame of reference.

but i used to see like a lot of little weepy tweek and big muscular unaffected craig. which like i get why people are into that, but im not particularly so when it was like nigh unavoidable it made reading creek fic really hard for me. idk if thats gotten better over the past few years or not. i really only have one friend who writes creek (yes im plugging the bestie's fic, give it a read) and thats not really their bag so im eating good now.

16 - you can’t understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

im going to say it: big, tall, strong, rich, successful cartman with a 12 incher. i guess i DO get it, on the level of like, people like to project on one half of a ship and make the other half into their ideal partner, but i dont get it on a 'why do this to CARTMAN' level.

hes the butt of the joke! he's insecure, he's deluded, hes out of touch with reality. HE says hes rich and handsome and has a huge dick because he vacillates between feeling like none of that is true and suffering from delusions of grandeur. i personally think he does grow up to be handsome, but not in a thin, muscular brick shithouse kind of way. (i think he grows up to be short and fat with dimples that could kill a man and soft thick hair he carefully maintains) so i dont think he ever grows up to be the big masc powerhouse he swears up and down he is.

its like. idk i feel a lot of people write him the way he would write himself, kind of like how in the original fiona and cake episode, the ice king wrote his lady version to be stacked and untouchable. i just dont think there's any real conceivable world where cartman is hung or thin, those arent aspects of his character and have never been intended to be.

[nooradeservedbetter]

I know you write bl but please do not defend Emma. She is known in our fandom as a transphobic asshole. She has been openly transphobic to harries and larries because they think Harry MIGHT be trans. She is also homophobic with how she as a cis het white woman thinks she has more say in how a gay fandom needs to operate. There are years worth of receipts of this. She harassed my friend because they tagged Harry as a princess on their own blog and tried to call them homophobic for doing so. Im mutuals with authors who had to drop out of the bl fest for personal reasons, and then Emma and her friends started harassing them for joining a non bl fest months later. You should see how former blouie authors are treated by her after they dont write exclusively bl fics anymore. The reason BLP is not well liked in fandom is because of her. There is literally a top Harry fic fest run by an actual trans person and much more supported by larries. Louis bottoming isn't the issue. For years blouies have made that their only personality and harassed and sent so many larries death threats (me included) because we blog on our own blogs about Harry wanting to be pregnant or singing about sucking dick or anything that doesn't make him "a top". Blouies have ruined themselves for their entire fandom and that anon is a perfect example of how they are.

Whew anon.

Okay, thank you for the ask and the respectful tone, I will try to maintain a respectful tone right back.

I don't exclusively write bl, I like to think I write fics where Louis gets taken care of one way or another. By bottoming, by subbing, by being cuddled; rn I have 2 smut fics, both of them sub Louis, one of them is them being vers (i.e. penetrating each other), the other *can* be considered bl, I did tag it as such, but the only penetration that happens is two lines of cockwarming. My current unpublished fics and ideas are:

The a/b/o fic fest that is Omega Louis/bl but has references to bh;

Exploring the idea of topping from the bottom: i have a petplay sub Harry fic that's half-written, currently plotting a vaguely Dom transrry fic. First one will be Dom!bl, second one Dom!bh. Might have a third one, but I still haven't decided;

The blff, I mean that's the name of;

The 1d fantasy fic fest that will be both vers and switch but it's darkfic so I don't think that's a great example to have here tbh lmao.

Okay, that said.

I did have run-ins with Emma back in the day; idk if you were there in 2015/16, but I have a whole tag where I actively fought people on Harry's possible gender identity, together with Angela and Jay (godspeed to both of them, they're much happier now believe me). It's been 8 years, I don't know what Emma is doing right now, besides managing the blff, and I don't know how she changed in eight years; eight years ago I was a staunch anarchist, and look at me now. You can come off anon and send me anything you might see fit, that would actually be great, and it would give me something to operate on. And on that point, I don't--think? That telling someone "hey yo instead of sending anon hate go and support the people who write/rec the fics you wanna read" is defending anyone? But it's understandable that if she's currently harassing people, that's a knee-jerk reaction.

Then to address your points about Louis bottoming... Again, I'm not sure, like. Feels a bit like you're barking at the wrong tree? One of my favourite smut authors is devilinmybrain (oh my god that 5+1 gross-hot fic nnnn) and I read, and to some extent write, quite happily everything as long as it's good. Like, both of them canonically have a prostate. It's a shame if they never use it. And Harry being feminine has nothing to do with Harry bottoming (or topping ;) of course), but this is something that needs its own post to be expanded.

With that long-ass rant in that post I wanted to make another point, and that point was directed to some of the reblogs, and that point was: stop wokeifying the gay community, because you--general you--will have a stroke if you ever go to a gay bar one day.

I won't reiterate the stuff I said there, but that should have been the main takeaway, not that I prefer writing bl or bh. I don't consider myself a blouie, by virtue of the fact that not only I read and write whatever, but also because I genuinely don't agree with a lot of the, like, ideological stances. On smut. I could talk about what hardcore bl/sh do and say probably all day, and Raf/Niv know what I'm talking about because they're usually the ones I fill with audios, but this post is already really long.

[akaakeis]

good morning sav baby pookie pie !!!!

wrong account but im Too Lazy To Gaf

i dont have much to yap today unfortunately bc im eepy as shit and things !!1!1!!1!2!!!!!2!£(#9£(£+£8_!!"!_933😋🫵🤭💥

i hope youre doing well!! i read ur stuff on the sideblog btw if u ever need to talk then i am here. anyways I SAY ANYWAYS TOO MUCH anyways i have SCHOOL on SATURDAY which I was just reminded of,,,,, think ill cry myself to sleep. okok im thinking wait. ok. oh yes ask me about the new tsukki fic if u want.

n e ways i had thr cooledt conversation with a cool person today <- im not doinf ok about it AND NY CRAMPS R KILLING ME LIKE I WILL EXPLODE THEM RGHRHHHFHGHH

i want to watch a movie for once omgggg so much work not enougj girl

ALSO I HAD THESE CARDBOARD CUTOUTS OF MANGA PANELS AND IM PRETTY SURE THIS ONE GIRL AT SCHOOL STOLE SUNA & KITA :((

fortunately me being abnormal as i am i have a second pic of suna BUT KITA:(( AND THE UM :(

rRHAT WAS MY FAVOURITE ONE :(( ANyWAYS!!! A GIRL GOTTA GET HER BEAUTY SLEEP ILY BB <333333 my cute little galvanised square steel structure with screws borrowed from aunt and eco-friendly wood veneer<3333

im ab to indulge in some serious ipad kid behavior by answering this ask while i eat my little lunch... also confession i was an ipad kid in like.. 2015...

SORRY IM SO LATE TO ANSWER THIS LINA GOOD MORNING LOVE <3 new theme eats i love her and the new user‼️

aaa thank you !! we r gonna IGNORE the sideblog she doesnt exist actually wdym 🙅‍♀️ AND WDYM SCHOOL ON A SATURDAY HELLO???2?2! why on earth how on earth what on earth 😞 if u cry yourself to sleep i will put spoons in the freezer for u xoxo (see what i did there...) I WOULDVE ASKED AB THE TSUKKI FIC BUT ITS ALREADY OUT IM SORRY I DIDNT HAVE TIME TO ANSWER THIS EARLIER AND REPLY AND STUFF UGH 💔

i wanna hear abt this person oh? dm me when u see this lina 🙂‍↕️ AND NOOO I HOPE YOUR CRAMPS GO AWAY!! IF I COULD TAKE THEM AWAY FROM U I WOULD :(( FEEL BETTER SOON

that is too real alina. being a student is the equivalent of trying to get out of an avalanche as more and more snow piles on top of u its NOT demure or mindful

SOMEOEN STOLE KITA AND SUNA?? i would NOT take that holy... i would pick a fight if i knew who it was bc im being so serious... i love them tm... I REALLY HOPE YOU GET THEM BACK

SLEEP WELL LINA ILY!! my cutie patootie cheese roll matcha latte marshmallow fluff biodegradable compostable ceramic plate <3333 (i laughed an obscene amount while writing this)

[rrxnjun]

OH MAN THATS JUST... but the fact that taking the the bus is slower AND u had to pay for it just smh i hope at least the company was good!!:o

U ARE JUST TOO NICE FOR SAYING THAT;-;💕💞wahhh i hope u get used to again!!!!!!💕💖

I WILL POSSIBLY LEAVE A REVIEW TOMORROW CUZ I HOPE I WILL FINALLY HAVE TIME TO READ IT!! SO EXCITED FOR IT!!! ahhh their songs are amazing so i'm not surprised u are inspired from them (and also like amazing songs inspiring amazing fics is just🤌🤌) THE YANGYANG BAND FIC WAS I THINK WHAT I READ FROM U AFTER FINDING LIEBESTRAUM AND WHEN I TELL U U BROUGHT BACK MY PARAMORE OBSESSION JUST CUZ OF THE TITLE!! ALSO VERY MUCH LOVED THAT FIC!! LIKE I STILL THINK OF IT A LOT AND I READ IT LIKE TWICE ALREADY🫣

and idk if u mean like genres or artists but other than k-pop i tend to listen to what's popular tbh💀(more so indie pop and hyper pop! but i'm just not very picky with the music i listen to tbh😟) and if u meant artist, rn i listen to a lot of lovejoy (WHICH I KNOW U LISTEN TO! UR KNEE DEEP AT ATP FIC WAS🤌🤌🤌and i was so surprised u know them tbh and also knowing wilbur soot in general i never expected seeing them in like "k-pop grounds" xd) beabadoobee, gracie abrams, aespa, the boyz, ericdoa and some hungarian artists!!! and i also feel like this is the time to mention the just saying fic as well cuz 5sos is🤌🤌🤌🤌🤌 like ur music taste just slaps tbh it's just sooooo good!!! and if u have any artist recommendations i would gladly accept them🫡(liebestraum anon💕)

THATS THE THING THE COMPANY WASNT EVEN GOOD BC MY CLASSMATES SUCK AT KEEPING UP W CONVERSATIONS EVEN MORE THAN ME IT WAS LEGIT A COMPLETELY SILENT JOURNEY TO UNI. I COULDVE WALKED AND LISTENED TO MY MUSIC INSTEAD THAT WOULDVE BEEN SO MUCH MORE ENJOYABLE

AAA definitely do leave a review even tho theres no pressure !!!! hope u like the fic 🤭💕💕

i love getting inspired by songs!!! thats why i usually have a playlist for each fic i write hhh its a part of my creative process at all times 🥰 AAA THE YANGYANG FIC IS ONE OF MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITES BECAUSE OF THE SONGS THAT INSPIRED IT. i fucking loooove paramore i grew up to their music 💕 but the fact that the whole fic was inspired by awsten and the fact that he used to be a guitar teacher is so funny to me sometimes i cant 😭

NO WAY U LIKE LOVEJOY WHAT ((the second to last scene in the yy fic was literally inspired by perfume and the "its 3:45 the taxi's not arrived i dont think that he's coming" line 😭😭) MY BIO IS LITERALLY A PERFUME LYRIC i love that song sm i dont think im ever changing it. tbf i was never into mc youtube and i just found a random wilbur edit on tiktok one day which led me to watching some of his and tommy's vlogs which led me to lovejoy AHAHA.

i do love aespa too🤭 i think nct and aespa are the only kpop artists i actively stan rn HAHA but i always wanted to check out beabadobee so maybe this is my sign 👀

U LIKE 5SOS TOO IM IN LOVE W YOU 😻 ive been a 5sos stan for like 8 years now and i wanted to write a fic inspired by just saying since like 2015 so im glad i finally got to it last year 😭😭 thank u for complimenting my music taste i take big pride in it actually😭😭😭😭 i dont really have many recs since u like most of my fav artists,, but i also really enjoy wallows, chase atlantic and the driver era too! i am also currently fighting with hyuck for the position of baekhyun's biggest fan but im severely losing 😔

also hungarian artists hm....ive never listened to any hungarian songs,, do u have any recs? 👀 also does that by any chance mean u are from hungary...?(its ok if u dont wanna tell me!! its just that if u are we might be neighbors LMAO)

[actualbird]

Hiya Zak!

Lately I've been wondering, how do you write your fics? Do you have a process? A starting point?

Also, I know a major part ppl talk about in writing is "show not tell", how do you know if you're telling instead of showing? Cause I know that I, for one, would look down at what I wrote and have no idea if I'm showing or telling.

eyyo roshie-writes :DDD

ive actually answered the question on my writing process several times before. heres the latest time i answered that question in depth (answered in dec 2021), but the tl;dr is "i make at minimum 2 outlines before Actually Writing, and my outlines get Very detailed so im effectively writing each fic at least 3 times before it actually gets posted on ao3, because i apparently love to make myself suffer" jHVJHVKJFHD

but forreal, that ask does basically go thru my entire writing process, from idea conception to Actual Writing. and my process hasnt changed one bit since then. this has been my process since like, 2015 actually HAHA. it really works for me and how my brain is Built, but every single writer is different. what works for me may not work for others. like, i am Hugely reliant on outlines, but i know a lot of writers who get bogged down by outlines and prefer to write just straight to the page, and it's really fascinating and delightful to me that there are endless methods and ways to get a story out :D

what i wanted to talk about more is the "show dont tell" thing because.....

i hate that writing tip so much JHVKJDVFJKHDSFS

and u just gave me an excuse to talk about why at length! but i still also answer ur questions ofc! just.....after i talk about a whole lot of other things oops

for easy reference, heres the chronological table of contents im gonna go through under the cut (because this response got Long As Hell it's---OH GOD IT'S OVER 1.4K WORDS LONG, IM SO SORRY)

what "show dont tell" is (bcuz definitions r important)

litmus test to figure out whether youre showing or telling

why i dont like "show dont tell" (bcuz theres a time and place for both showing and telling, they both have benefits)

how i personally like to spruce up "telling"

feel free to skip over to the litmus test, since thats what u asked for! the rest is just me rambling because i am Very passionate about the benefits of "telling" HAHA

without further ado, lemme get into it!

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what "show dont tell" is (bcuz definitions r important)

Telling is = giving the information that a sentence/scene is trying to convey outright.

Showing is = giving the information that a sentence/scene is trying to convey through description.

so in its simplest definition, an example of a Telling sentence could be, for example "The office of Luke's detective agency was often messy, but Rosa's has always known that Luke's a bit of a messy person."

meanwhile a Showing version of that sentence could be, for example "Upon entering the office of Luke's detective agency, there were discarded reports on the floor, dusty file boxes in disarray, a half empty bag of dried figs on the couch; all of which Rosa just sighs fondly at."

at this point, i wanna say that "show dont tell" is probably a very popular piece of advice because for many beginner writers or for people new to storytelling in general, the first instinct is to tell. because it's often more direct, and it's also how we generally tell stories in casual conversation, for example. like, when im telling my friend about a funny thing that happened at work, i tell them "dude this thing made me SO FUCKING NERVOUS" which is a Telling sentence. i usually dont go "my hands were shaking the entire time i was giving this presentation and my gut felt like it was twisting into itself" which is a Showing sentence, simply because the Telling sentence is easier and quicker to say.

Telling is first instinct, but reading a 5k short story that is all Telling can get pretty boring or monotonous, because what Showing has that Telling often doesnt have is Description. Showing fleshes out a scene some more, challenges the reader to surmise details on their own and connect the dots themselves, and also trains beginners to be more active in describing their scenes and fleshing it out further.

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litmus test to figure out whether youre showing or telling

in general when youve got a Telling sentence, the information a sentence is trying to convey is most usually directly spelled out in the sentence itself.

on the flipside, when youve got a Showing sentence, the information is something that can be garnered from the descriptors of what can be seen, how other characters react, etc.

so long as a sentence is Not Outright saying the information it wants to get across, then youve probably got a showing sentence.

so if ur trying to figure out if what youve written is Telling or Showing, first ask yourself "what information am i trying to convey here?" and once you know that, look at what youve written and see how you conveyed it. did you convey this directly? or did you allude to it using details that lead to that information?

to demonstrate, let me go back to my previous example with luke and rosa. both sentences are conveying two pieces of information. 1) that the office is usually messy and 2) that rosa isn't surprised cuz she knows luke Lives Like This

the Telling sentence says these pieces of info outright. meanwhile the Showing sentence doesnt and takes more time to give details that simply allude to those two pieces of information, details like what shit luke has strewn around his apartment and rosa's reaction.

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why i dont like "show dont tell" (bcuz theres a time and place for both showing and telling, they both have benefits)

i dont like "show dont tell" because a lot of the time, when i see this piece of writing advice, it's worded as "ALWAYS show and NEVER tell" and uh.......no, thats not right

first off, all writing advice is Not absolute. what works for one writer may not work for another writer and no technique out there is inherently Bad, it all Depends on so many factors. secondly, the balance between Showing and Telling is also hugely reliant on each writer's specific style. like, personally i love to do Telling a bunch for sentence structure variation, for humor/comedy, or for a whole lot of other reasons!! which leads me to my third point:

Telling has its uses and its benefits.

because listen......Showing is indeed really great, and like i said earlier, it pushes writers to flesh out scenes more.

but not every scene or piece of information in a story needs to be fleshed out in the way that Showing necessitates.

i like to think about it this way. Showing has the tendency to expand a scene/information, and i visualize this literally. like, if my story was represented by 5 accordions glued to each other (bear with me here), and i just so happened wanted to use Showing for everything, all of those accordions would be stretched out and expanded. on the flipside, if i use Telling for everything, all of those accordions are pushed tight together, because Telling tends to contract a scene/information.

having a story thats 5 accordions long that made up of All Telling OR All Showing is generally not how stories work. instead, stories are a mix of accordions, some contracted and some expanded, because different scenes/information have different levels of importance and value.

like, lemme use an example from chapter 2 of "yes, she’s my lover, yes, she’s a half-dragon. any more questions?" since thats one of my most recent non smut fics HAHA

over the course of this chapter, the following happens

luke realizes he needs to find out more information on ria being half dragon

luke starts writing to vyn, a scholar, who could have that info

luke travels to stellis to meet vyn

luke meets vyn at his bookshop and theres a whole situation that happens there

luke returns back to his and ria's cottage

luke and ria have a little heart to heart over dinner about stuff

of those 6 things, numbers 4 and 6 are the most important scenes to me. in the chapter, numbers 4 and 6 are the scenes that get most fleshed out, they are the most told through Showing sentences in a Showing kind of method

but the other stuff isnt as important in the chapter, but they still need to be there for logistical reasons. number 1 needs to be there to setup the reason for why this whole chapter happens, but i dont want to bog the entire chapter down with just luke Realizing He Needs More Info, so i write number 1 mostly in hindsight, and mostly through Telling sentences.

same goes with numbers 2, 3, and 5. those things need to happen to get from scene to scene, but it's not like it's narratively important for me to write out luke's entire medieval fantasy commute. i can just say "One of the kingdom’s main cities is a quarter-day’s ride away from the nearby village, and after letting Ria know that he’s off to do some errands, Luke hitches a ride with a vendor on his way to the city; Stellis." and boom, done, we're in stellis and now we can get on with the more interesting bits

Telling has its uses because a story can't always be Showing everything, because then that puts every single instance or piece of information at Exactly the same value. when it really isnt! sometimes, a guy just needs to get from point A to point B, and so long as nothing important is happening during that travel, Telling is a much more economical way to go about it. sometimes the info Needs to be conveyed, but not necessarily expanded.

and this can make the stuff that is expanded and is done through Showing more impactful or striking because of the contrast. like, in the chapter i used as an example, thats 6 accordions, but 2 are completely expanded while the other 4 are more contracted. this makes the 2 more notable because it's chock full of description, dialog, imagery, etc. it makes more of an impact than, say, luke's medieval fantasy commute, because i contracted that accordion and expanded these accordions.

additionally, i seem to see a lot of people who espouse "ALWAYS show and NEVER tell" seeing Telling as something that will always be boring and dull.

and Telling can be dull sometimes, sure, but there are definitely ways to spruce it up and make it integral to the story. which leads me to my next point

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how i personally like to spruce up "telling"

ok it's at this point that i realize this response is now over 1.4k words long so UHHHH I'LL GO THROUGH THIS NEXT BIT SUPER QUICKLY

which will be easy cuz i actually wrote up a whole post about this before, so lemme just link it: "USE YOUR CHARACTER'S PERSPECTIVE IN "TELLING" TO MAKE "TELLING" MORE ENGAGING" POST

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uh so. this response got outta hand jhvjhVKJHVKHJ but i hope something her can be helpful!!!

[waybrights]

the long awaited (not rlly ahdbajd) lore post about how the band's dynamic and relationships fluctuate throughout the eight (?) years the fic follows!!!

(so, i realise that in the show, they're 13 in 2019/20 but i kinda forgot abt that when i was making this au so the band starts blowing up in 2013 when, canonically they would've been like 5 so i accidentally aged them all up and now they're 20)

2013 - they're 13 and very close to falling apart as a group. the only thing keeping them together is the fact that they wouldn't rlly have anyone else to go to. the leader is clearly sasha and the other two kinda do what she says. ofc anne argues w her a lot, because she's fed up with the way her and marcy are treated and how all their ideas are chucked out the window. eventually, i think sasha crosses a line (maybe smth like in the show, she keeps anne out instead of letting her go home to her bday party) and anne decides that it's time for them to go their separate ways.

however, they get thrown into fame and suddenly there is no chance of them breaking up the band and going their separate ways. so they're practically forced to stay together and have to pretend to get along for the public. ofc sash and anne rlly don't like it, but they try. though, it usually ends up in arguments or snide remarks that get under the other's skin and marcy having to come between them and settle it. leading to even more strain on their friendship.

2014 - somehow, it's got worse. anne and sasha weren't on talking terms for half the year due to a falling out over costumes that got a bit heated. marcy was constantly flitting between the two, trying desperately to make amends because people were starting to notice the tension when they did interviews. ofc they tried to keep up the 'we're besties' thing, but even that was quickly falling apart. it doesn't help that the entire time, sasha has been trying to control everything the band does from songs, to how they stand on stage.

both of them kept asking for the band to break up, w sasha saying she would rather go solo than perform w anne, but the idea got shot down p early on due to them being one of the biggest teen bands in the world, so they kinda just, force themselves to make up. and it's awkward for a while, but at least they aren't arguing over every single thing and marcy doesn't have to chose who she's going to hang out w that day. but then that all goes down the drain when sasha has a major falling out w their manager (hop pop) over smth p trivial but ofc it ends up blowing up and everyone ends up taking sides creating a split between both the band and the bts team.

2015 - i think this is when they reach their breaking point and the band goes on an unexplained 'hiatus' for a year, all their concerts get cancelled and they don't produce any music and it seems none of the girls are w eachother (via social media). they go through an unofficial break up. it had actually been initiated by marcy because she simply couldn't deal w the stress of trying to hold the band together anymore and decided it was a good idea for them to split (it also helped that she was closest to the head of their label so she managed to convince him to let them go)

the three hardly talk during their break, i think they're all angry at eachother (marcy w both of them and anne and sasha w each other) so they just decided to steer clear of having to talk to them. during this time sasha does release a solo album and it actually gets quite big because its very obviously her own thoughts and feelings and everyone can tell she worked hard on it, but (and sasha also admits it) it feels like its not as good as it could've been if she was w the other two.

and i feel like that's kinda what spurs her to maybe start getting her act together! like obviously she doesn't 'change' but i think she accepts that marcy and anne are their own people and know what they want. so she ends up trying to get them back together, and it doesn't actually take the other two much convincing (they missed being together a lot more than they care to admit)

2016 - slowly, they're starting to grow closer again. they start hanging out a trio, even when they're alone. anne and sasha hardly argue and they actually think abt each other's ideas. marcy is a lot more relaxed because they don't have to mediate every convo the group has and she doesn't have to worry abt the other two saying something too serious to the other.

ofc they still fight, but they aren't as often and certainly not as messy. they wouldn't consider each other best friends, but they are friends again. i like to think they're both closer to marcy than each other, but they're getting somehwere.

however, no actual apologies were ever said (mainly from sasha ngl) and although anne and marcy like to pretend they're over it, they would still be slightly upset abt it.

2017 - this is the year of sasha's Character Development (TM) according to marcy. idk yet what makes her realise (maybe someone asking her why she's always so distant and awful to the other two, or maybe a question abt why they split up), but it's this year that it clicks for her that she's not been a great friend. so she definitely spends a long time trying to grow and work to fix her mistakes.

i feel like it's around this time she would also kinda step down from her role as the 'leader' of the band, now officially giving all three of them the same amount of control about what they make and how they do it (although, they still don't have much because of the label, but anne and marcy now have more than they did). so now they're all on equal ground and are making amends. she also stops trying to take control of eveything, esp things that are out of her hands (like where they tour and what interviews they do)

not that there aren't still arguments, there are but they never get to the point that they don't talk to each other. there is a pretty big argument between sasha and marcy, but it gets resolved quite fast!

2018 - 2019 - honestly, everything seems to be going smoothly for them. sasha and anne are growing closer (and they're both trying to ignore that weird feeling they get in their stomachs when they get too close in rehearsals/concerts), all three of them are hanging out almost all the time, if one of them is around the other two are close by.

i think they also start opening up to each other around this time, not that they didn't before, but with the amount of problems they had, it wasn't exactly easy to talk abt super personal stuff. but they start, and i think it was anne that started it, she's always been the most open w her emotions and it just increases the closer they get. she also manages to get both marcy and sasha to open up a bit!

2020 - by this time, i think they pretty much consider each other best friends again (well, more for sasha and anne, but they haven't exactly realised they like each other yet. marcy has though and they're tired of the pining at this point).

and i dont want to say anything else because this is where the fic pics up!!! it was super fun trying to work all this stuff out sbsbbssh, it isn't all like 100% set in stone, some stuff is liable to change but pls feel free to ask any questions!!! thank u all for reading this far and i hope u enjoyed some sats au lore <3

[diyeoracha]

fanfic recommendations

for @kittensocute bc i heard “atsukita” and “iwaoi” in reference to fanfiction and i am There

i took your “i love slow burn or slow build fics... so i like relatively shorter burn fics (20-30k). If its a 10k oneshot slow burn hELL SIGN ME UP” and absolutely ran with it.

i listed my fav iwaoi fics (17) with a longer word count (longest is 80k) that are all mostly either canon compliant or divergent with only two straight up AUs. none of them feature heavy nsfw content and most if not all are tagged as friends to lovers lmao. feel free to read the my thoughts or just go into them blind!! and they’re all in order of how much I absolutely adore them :^)

now atsukita is not a big ship *sobs* but here are some of my favorite fics (7) of them! a lot of them are shorter bc i guess that’s just. what happens when it’s a small ship LOL. 

the formatting in this is fucked if you open it from ur dash but if it’s on my actual blog it should be fine!

Iwaoi

the courtship ritual of the hercules beetle

Word count: 66k

thoughts: my absolute absolute absolute favorite iwaoi fic. the characterization, the fact that oikawa’s a bastard but because he and iwaizumi are older (late 20s i believe), it feels more realistic and sad rather than oikawa being a bitch for the sake of it. spoiler alert it’s slow burn and pining and mostly oikawa not realizing his feelings. this world building is pretty cool bc iwaizumi is the professional player while oikawa is an entomology professor! also i love non-linear narratives bc of This fic. there’s mutual pining in this fic but it’s really really really subtle to the point where you dont even know if oikawa likes iwa. this made me cry like twice.

sunset towns

Word count: 33k

Summary: In the summer of 2020, Oikawa Tooru returns home from his first successful stint as captain of Japan’s national volleyball team. In one hand, he holds the undisputed weight of an Olympic medal, and in the other, his unresolved feelings for a childhood best friend.

thoughts: the tone in this is So similar to the courtship ritual that I liken this as an alternate story even though it’s still oikawa’s pov. professional player oikawa and regular guy iwaizumi and oikawa is just. bumming around at iwaizumi’s place and naturally he messes up but things happen.

told before and told again

word count: 4k

thoughts: i looked through literally all the tags i could’ve thought of for this and nearly cried when i found it agian. outsider POV!!

In damp earth my body

Word count: 15k

Summary: Onscreen, the nation’s favorite setter has arranged himself so that he’s bowing, forehead pressed to the court, like he’s thanking everyone for their kindness thus far, like he’s asking for forgiveness. Hajime thinks: shit, it’s really happening

thoughts: oikawa retires and moves in with iwaizumi and they blur the line between roommates/best friends and being fwb. this is an iwaizumi pov and the pining is obvious on his end. as a iwa stan the tone made me feel weird bc it makes it seem like iwa cares more abt oikawa than he cares abt himself but. its a good fic

i grew up, you grew down

word count: 19k

thoughts: this is also SO funny bc basically oikawa retires and moves in with iwaizumi and becomes his stay at home wife and a bunch of shit happens like people think that oikawa is dating ushijima and oikawa basically loses it every time. here’s one of my favorite quotes:

“Oikawa also bought a new ultra-strength vacuum cleaner he’d decided to name Ushiwaka out of sheer spite, because it sucked all the air right out of the room. Iwa-chan didn’t think the joke was that funny when Tooru told him, which was frankly very hurtful and insensitive.”

Mint

Word count: 19k

thoughts: iwaizumi is moving and oikawa planned a perfect last hangout and it goes to shit featuring matsuhana. oikawa pov where he pines more than iwa which is something i can get behind!! and this was written in 2015 and iwa’s moving bc of a sports medicine program so iwaizumi stans know and love him sm ;;

Almost a Stranger

Word count: 16k

thoughts: same premise as mint LOL except they’re on a trip together and there’s more non-linear narrative!! this one is a little more mature in tone than mint i would say (funny how people just like splitting them up and throwing them in different countries huh)

with every second that you could give

Word count: 9k

Summary: The journey of Iwaizumi and Oikawa going for gold.

Quote: He knows they’re too close. Iwaizumi knows it too, and they both decided to move in together anyway.

thoughts: iwaoi roommates and they’re both obviously and really pine-y for each other and everyone sees it but them. srsly. they’re sleeping in the same bed. like my god

Lost in Translation

Word count: 9k

Summary: Because misfortune come in threes, Iwaizumi Hajime starts his Thursday having a screaming fight with Shittykawa, spends his lunch break listening to the UCI women’s volleyball team gossiping about how Ushijima Wakatoshi had gone public about his longtime love affair with Oikawa Tooru, and closes out the day by drunkenly dropping his phone into a sewer grate.

thoughts: so funny. so sososoosso genuinely funny. the tone is so snappy and iwaizumi honestly just sounds like a confused teenager (which he is in this) and it gets extra points for including a lot of american culture that a lot of the other iwaoi college au ones don’t include for like. obvious reasons lol.

Something Borrowed

Word count: 16k

Summary: In which Oikawa and Iwaizumi have always been a foregone conclusion to everyone else, but a massive, unanswered question to one another.

thoughts: iwaoi roommates thats abo but it’s like. mentioned twice. whiny and possessive oikawa makes an appearance in this but it’s done really well

things that change, things that stay the same

Word count: 8k

Summary: Oikawa realizes he’s in love with his best friend; it sucks for a while. (But only for a little while.)

thoughts: high school getting together!! my second iwaoi fic ever and this one is just. so sweet. just an unsure oikawa realizing iwaizumi might be more than someone he wants as a best friend. this fic is honestly really really lovely.

galaxies, within you

Word count: 21k

Summary: Hajime and Tooru move in together at the start of university. Too bad they’re stuck with the two gremlins that haunt their apartment.

thoughts: ok this fic was so funny. theyre uni roommates and matsuhana just come fuck shit up and they all act like idiots together even though they go to different schools. and this really throws me back to university days.

Thirty Years and Change (the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad)

Word count: 19k

thoughts: pro! oikawa and iwaizumi haven’t been close for a while until oikawa invites iwaizumi to go to the games with him. there’s a lot of frustration and pining and actually talking about feelings (aka iwaizumi losing his mind and getting advice from people like akaashi)

when it starts to rain, they go inside

Word count: 33k

Summary: “Where?” starts Iwaizumi.“ My parent’s old lakehouse, silly, didn’t you hear me the first time?” OR: Oikawa takes Iwaizumi to his lakehouse for two weeks, post-graduation.

thoughts: this was actually my first iwaoi fic which is funny bc the author doesn’t even like oikawa much and i didnt even ship anything in haikyuu before i read this fic and now im in iwaoi hell. oikawa is really frustrating in this in that it’s basically a really good character analysis on how oikawa comes off as a Mean person all the time bc he’s manipulative and there’s some explicit content

shiver

Word count: 16k

Summary: Oikawa was always the brave one. Hajime just followed two paces behind.

thoughts: iwaoi roommates with oikawa admitting his feelings first back when they were in middle school and iwaizumi putting that thought on the backburner until. obviously. things happen.

Desperado

word count: 80k

thoughts: one of my favorite aus. it’s all from kyoutani’s perspective and it’s almost so au that they’re original characters (if that makes sense). basically iwaoi matsuhana are ex-grifters except iwaoi are estranged and daishou somehow brings everyone back together. excellent world building and reading the pov from someone not involved with the iwaoi drama was refreshing

sing with me a song of conquest and fate

word count: 26k

thoughts: a mythical kings au that’s just. so pretty. iwaizumi ends up becoming oikawa’s servant for some reason and the world building is a+ because you can feel the trust and frustration from both of them build

Atsukita

dreams of me and you

word count: 10k (incomplete)

my second atsukita fic that rly sent me down atskt hell ;; what is essentially post-break up when atsumu gets signed to msby and he’s just Pining and sad for the most part. but the established relationship pre-break up was written really nicely because it just fits my hc of them just being domestic and atsumu being blatantly head over heels

take me home

word count: 4k

i read this this morning and it wrecked me. domestic relationship atsukita?? sign me up

No time like the rest of my life

word count: 19k

mythology au with kita as a regular person and rest of inarizaki as fox spirits! it’s cute and the world building is absolutely lovely but it is an au so they might seem ooc but their core character values are still there

wild blue yonder

word count: 6k

literally full of similes and metaphors and it’s more of an abstract read i guess? but it’s so beautiful and soft and this is exactly how i imagine their relationship

reap and sow

word count: 8k

atsumu confesses and kita ignores him and it’s a couple years after the fact and it’s mostly just weirdly domestic almost roommate like except for the fact that atsumu makes it clear he likes kita LOL. they’re really in character for this!

weightless souls

word count: 2k

pillow talk before atsumu’s first game! the atsumu pov and voice is amazing

if we were both alone

word count: 7k

now this was actually my first atskt fic that sent me down this rare pair hell. it’s an explicit chat fic (both tropes i usually try to avoid) but atsumu types like me (except for the nsfw parts alksfjd) so i guess i like. feel appreciation LMAO.

if you do read like any of these fics pls let me know so we can discuss

♡＼(￣▽￣)／♡

[grainjew]

Random ask time! Care to name ten fics, any fandom, that you have or plan to reread? (Not necessarily your top ten because top ten is hard but ten that you genuinely enjoy.)

hi lynse i can’t believe you slightly switched the ask subject from what you were contemplating sending in dms. yes i do care to do this!!! fics follow

these are arranged in literally no order whatsoever except vaguely the order I remembered they existed and tragically they will mostly not be readable for you lynse on account of us sharing fandoms basically never. but in any case!!! let’s go!!!!

A Professor and a Student - LeDiz - Pokemon Anime (Alola) - multichap, complete - Professor Kukui’s pov outsider on Ash, through interstitial set during the first season of Alola anime. This fic is the fic that got me into pokeani in the first place, and I have reread it all the way through at least once and specific chapters genuinely so many times. it’s good! it’s got so many fun reveals! it’s even got a surprise plot! if someone is in pokeani fandom though there’s like a 95% chance they’ve already read it, so it’s kind of pointless to recommend

Broken Rules and Consequences - Redring 91 - Doctor Who (All Eras) - series, ongoing i think - This is one that i’m planning to reread rather than one i’ve already reread: I first read it back when i was originally into dw, in like 2013, and honestly lynse the timing was probably right for me to have recced it to you back then. in any case i have a friend who vouches for its continued quality, and it was straight-up the only dw fic i kept up with for several years after i first fell out of the dw fandom. it’s a really excellent exploration of all the times the doctor has met their past and future selves, and i highly recommend it. it’s also very long, so watch out!

An Unexpected Greeting - kimirice​ - Pokemon Anime (Alola) - threeshot, ongoing - it’s a fic in the “cynthia runs into ash in alola and dumbfounds his entire class” genre and it’s a good one. my favorite one. i reread it whenever i want to feel serotonin in my bones. serotonin does not go in bones. whatever, this fic is such a joy, it’s pretty short, please read it if you too want serotonin in your bones on account of revealssssss

Phone A Friend - TheBigCat - Doctor Who (Seventh Doctor Era / Gallifrey Audios Era) - oneshot - this is another “reread when i want serotonin in my bones” fic. it really is amazing just how much joy can be stored in a single 1K oneshot, it makes me so happy, that’s ace’s space dad........... wahhh the au - everything’s fine tag on this one really carries it right into my heart

dreamt you a kinder future - Sixteenthdays - Dream SMP - multichap, ongoing - my FRIENDS forcibly got me into the damn MINECRAFT RP. this is all you will see of it on this blog ever because i do have SOME dignity left but if you HAVE gotten bodily dragged into caring about the block men yourself please do enjoy this time travel fixit about pre-plot Dream getting dropped into post-Doomsday era canon and dealing with the fact that his future self is evil and ruined all his relationships. its very good i reread the ranboo chapter regularly

The Red Coast - Maldoror_Chant - One Piece - oneshot - genuinely hilarious pov outsider on post-skypiea straw hats via some idiot bounty hunters who think they‘re easy prey. it’s a lot of fun and it took me three entire rereads to catch the punchline, which i am still mad about. please read this fic i am shaking my fist at it

Though She Be But Little, She Is Fierce - Izzyaro - Pokemon Anime (Kalos Era) - multichap, abandoned(?) - a few years after the kalos crisis, Bonnie sets out on her own pokemon journey. told through the eyes of her very alarmed traveling companion, who so incredibly doesn’t know what to make of her. yes, it only has two chapters and hasnt updated in years. i do not care. the chapters stand alone as oneshots and this fic has done so much for me. its like 90% of the reason i write bonnie the way i do its such a joy

Keeping a Welcome - Gramarye (ao3 | ffn) - The Dark is Rising Sequence - oneshot - did you ever wonder, gee, zeph, why do you write so much loyalty content? and why is it all Like That? well, the answer is that i read this fic at a formative age and imprinted on it like a baby bird, and then subconsciously was shaped by it for the next decade. genuinely it is SO good. it’s so good guys. guys it’s so good im going to cry just thinking about it. o a t h s ,,,  wahhhhhhh gramarye is probably my favorite fic author ever i love their stuff SO much. so much. i am going to cry im telling you!!!!!! (also while I'm here I also recommend everything else theyve ever written, especially the Eirias Triad, which i have reread probably as many times as there are fingers in my house, and which is only not on an entry on this list on account of me wanting to keep it at one rec per author)

Nah - soomin - One Piece - oneshot - the straw hats have been stuck in a time loop of their entire lives for many, many years, and boy are they having a good time causing chaos. this is one of the only op time travels that i feel like accurately captures what would actually happen if luffy did a time travel, and i love it. they’re having so much! infinite retries for the best adventure ever!

Insomnia - tikitikirevenge - The Legend of Zelda (Majora’s Mask) - multichap, abandoned(?) - novelization of majora’s mask with a twist: instead of resetting the three day loop every time, link gets exactly 5 cycles, and the whole thing is a stable time loop. its true it hasnt updated since 2015, but it was my favorite zelda fic back in middle school and i still reread it every few years to confirm that it’s just as good as i remember: it somehow always is. and every time, i forget just how agonizing (complimentary) the link&tatl friendship slowburn is like dear lord does this author know how to write a slowly developing relationship hh i wish more people would read this fic it’s really just very good ok dont mind that its abandoned just before the snowpeak temple

[starlitdumbass]

there will never come a time where I DON’T want to discuss shikaneji, so I would definitely like to hear every single one of your shikaneji au’s and headcanons

AHHHH I JUST 🥺🤍🖤🤍 THANKS I love talking about them

Imma put this under read more cause it's long, I'm sorry.

Ok first my headcanons for the canon universe

Shikamaru can not cook. His mother tried to teach him but he just refused to learn. Now he is a danger to all kitchens and could burn a house down trying to cook a pancake. Neji does the cooking and Shikamaru isn't allowed to look at a pot. He can make rice in a rice cooker and that's about it.

Neji will not say it but hes loves attention. Shikamaru tells him he acts like a cat because one moment he wants to be alone and the next hes snuggled up next to him.

They are anti PDA. They don't mind it when its other couples but they are not the type to do shit like that. They'll kiss maybe but nothing to overly dramatic. Their affection towards eachother is for them and them only not the public.

Shikamaru is really phiscally affectionate even though he doesn't look or act like it. He sucks at putting his feeling into words though.

Yoshino loves Neji and is glad Shikamaru isnt gonna grow up to be a grumpy lonely man cause that's what she thought would happen since he inherited both her and his father's terrible attitude.

Shikamaru met with the Hyuuga clan once and he considers that the most stressful day of his life.

Neji gets along really well with the deer of the forest and Shikamaru has some really cute photos that Neji has threatened to kill him for in anyone ever sees them. He has an image to keep up after all.

And my last one cause it's pretty long. Neither one of them know knew what romance was at all before getting together.

Shikamaru is a logical and person who bases most things off of facts. There is nothing factual about emotions, especially romantic ones. True hes still driven by emotion but love is a field he's completely unfamiliar with and he hates it. Neji is basically on the same page except to a more extreme extent. Given how his clan doesn't seem like the type to allow much room for emotion as that is a sign of weakness to them, emotions such as love are definitely not something he can even comprehend. While Neji is on a path of becoming less of a stiff asshole (Hinata is helping him but he can be incorrigible sometimes) he still can't fathom it.

So both of them are the exttsm8ly smart idiots who don't really know what love is.

Shikamaru is the first to find out his feelings but he doesn't say anything cause he doesn't wanna ruin the relationship hes built up with Neji. Neji realizes his feelings after complaining about it to Tenten and her informing him that he probably likes Shikamaru and that's why he feels like that.

You could say Neji is the one to confess first because he brings up the ordeal but really he just asks Shikamaru why he bothers being around him so much and Shikamaru ends up confessing then Neji follows it up with his.

Their relationship is subtle but very affection and I would write a fic based on this if I were brave enough. (And If I knew a damn thing about the blank period cause I have not watched naruto since 2015 so I don't know what's going on haha)

Ok on to the AUs whoopwhoop 🎉

There's AU where Neji is the a caretaker shrine. Shikamaru is a deity that just kinda roams earth freely. He ends up meeting Neji in the shrine and lazes around while Neji performs his duties. Nejis says hes annoying but he likes the company since he's always alone.

Then my demon/angel AU were Neji is a angel and Shikamaru is a demon and theirs just kinda chilling in the mortal world because of their relationship. Unfortunately Shikamaru constantly has to stop Neji from murder because he has no chill and is prepared to purge anyone who pisses him off. Other then that they just kinda chill and be cute.

Then a bunch of modern AUs

One where Shikamaru is divorced and meets Neji while picking up shikadai from school. Neji is there only because Hinata asked him to pick up boruto or something (I dont have this AU 100% figured out yet aha) And Shikamaru fucks around and ends running into him. One thing leads to another and they end up on a coffee date. Dont know what happens after that cause this ones pretty underdeveloped but it's there and I think about it.

Then the yakuza AU I talk about a little in this post that's technically a modern AU.

Then an au where Neji is a model and Shikamaru is a really weird standoffish photographer who prefers taking picks of nature but gets hired for a shoot with Neji. Neji starts liking Shikamaru cause he constantly says stuff like "this setting really brings out your eyes," or " you look like an angel in this shot," real casual while they work together and while Shikamaru is oblivious to it each time Neji melts a little inside. It's not one sided though don't get it twisted.

Ok I'm will stop for now and calm down cause this post is long.

[foilfreak]

2/2. I also have my own headcannon about them and the whole band but most of the times his exaggerated both ways. Either he’s too bad or suddenly he’s so good it doesn’t even feel like him. Same with his relation with Noodle. It’s barely portrayed as a father/daughter, mostly from what I see is him being a total bastard to her which in my opinion isn’t true. Yes, he does repeat his own father mistakes, mostly on Stu, but I highly doubt he would abuse a child and let her think no one loves her

(Here’s part 1 of this ask for clarity: Please don’t be sorry for a long answer, I appreciate it so much, that you took your time and also because we are on the same page here! Him being flawed and not perfect doesn’t mean he was bad to her. He even admitted himself he thinks of her as a daughter. Also that part how he’s portrayed by fandom. I don’t like it also. I’m not a biggest fan of 2Doc because of how aggressive they show him and how stupid Stu is in them. There’s only one I read so far that’s good and I can’t remember the name.)

Ah thank you friend your words mean a lot and I love that there are people who actually want to talk to me about the stuff that I like and think is interesting and share some of my opinions!!! Yes exactly Murdoch’s flawed personality shouldnt inherently mean that he was a bad influence much less abusive to her as well. Yes there have been at least one or two instances where Murdoc flat out said that he saw Noodle as a daughter so for people to try and argue that it isn’t true is kind of pointless since, whether you agree with it or not, its stated directly in canon. Now of course its a little hipocritical of me to say things like “oh well its stated in canon therefor you should all just accept it”, especially considering the number of middle fingers ive shown to the canons of all different media throughout the years, but even without the canon statement there is concrete evidence showing that murdoc legitimately cares about noodle as a daughter even with his fucked up personality.

Ya i can’t say im a big fan of how he tends to be portrayed by the fandom either, and the worst part is that its not entirely because i think their characterization of him is 100% off from how he acts in canon, but rather they take what they see in canon and then rev it up to 11, but the main problem i have is that its still somewhat true to the source material because that’s how he’s portrayed in canon as well, especially when it comes to 2D. 2D has been Murdoc’s punching bag from the very beginning and while it was kind of funny in the beginning, as the phases went on and Murdoc continued treating 2D like absolute garbage, it became clear, especially by phase 3, that there was never going to be a happy, healthy friendship between the 2 of them. There are instances in which they seem to get along like best friends without issue, like the various interviews we see in phases 2 and 4, but then a music video will come out and Murdoc will be right back to beating up on 2D like nothing good every happened between them. 2D is a ship that i tentatively like, but it heavily depends on how Murdoc and 2D are portrayed and like you said I don’t enjoy when Murdoc is nothing but an abusive asshole and 2D is too stupid to realize what’s going on. I have read a few good 2D fics in the past where there’s a good mix between Murdoc having issuesTM but not being outright abusive to those around him and 2D being his usual kind of ditsy self but he was also a lot more perceptive than canon 2D is usually portrayed as being. it was nice and the plots were very interesting and it was a really unique but faithful take on how a healthy 2Doc relationship might come about. Its been quite a few years since i read these so i dont remember what theyre called and idk if they would still hold up today but I enjoyed them back when i first read them in 2015 is when i think it was.

A lot of people have their own personal headcanons as to how the band operates and that’s totally fine, im the same way, but i would be lying if i said that most people tended to portray the band (especially murdoc) in ways that I personally don’t agree with. It’s nice to read a fic or a comic where Murdoc is being nice and showing a bit more care and consideration than he normally does, and I do think he’s capable of showing those emotions when the situation calls for it, but some creators do take it a little far and after a while it stops feeling like Murdoc, or vice versa when they make him so bad that its just too much. Maybe a lot of people don’t see the father/daughter relationship between Murdoc and Noodle like we do, and that’s fine I mean people are free to interpret Gorillaz in any way they like, but it really does bring my gears when people get on here and say that Murdoc wasn’t good to Noodle when she was a kid even tho there’s literally no evidence in canon suggesting that Murdoc ever did or would directly hurt her in any way. Murdoc is a product of a really shitty and horrible childhood but like i said before that doesnt mean he is inherently going to treat Noodle, or any other child, in that same manner or make her feel as tho she isnt special or loved.

Again thanks for the ask, these are so much fun to answer and I hope you are having a wonderful holiday!!! 🥰

[lillupon]

So, I've got a very long rant/opinion here and Idk really know how to say this without coming off kinda bad but I'm gonna say it anyways. I agree with the fact that the seventeen tag has been kinda dry lately on most fanfic places, but it's really only in the smut area. It's the sane way with other groups too I feel like. All of the nice little innocent tags are boomin to this day and thats completely fine. I think the smut tag is dry tho bc lately I feel like a few social issues (like sexualizing people and disrespecting them and their identity) have crossed over into kpop and have been ?blown out of proportion? Lately there's been a rampage of people who like to say that writing smut about someone is disgusting and is dehumanizing because people want to assume that it would make the idols uncomfortable which could equate to some morality issues on how you are reducing someone only to their body without their consent and a bunch of stuff like that. It kind of pisses me off bc this is fiction. About grown adults. Clamping down on horny people who simp over hot asian men isn't going to solve the issues we face in real life. I think a shit ton is wrong with the world we currently live in, and deciding to come after something that isn't even real bothers me. Like what does that actually accomplish. But yeah, I think thats a reason why smut has been dying down. I mean, on youtube almost every video about unpopular opinions, or things they dont like about kpop will include something about shipping idols in fanfics. And then everyone in the comment section will talk about how its all fine and dandy in moderation, but once people start writing smut it's crossing the idols personal boundaries. It's something I've been seeing a lot more often and I think people who are interested in writing smut are being turned away from it bc we've gotten to a point where people are being called disgusting for having fantasies.

Hi Anon, thank you for sending in this Ask. 

I want to preface this by saying: when I write or talk about Mingyu and Wonwoo fucking on my blog, it is a fantasy. I am not speculating about what the real Mingyu and Wonwoo might be like in bed. I am imagining the versions of Mingyu and Wonwoo that I have created in my head, that exist only in my stories. None of it is real. I understand that this can be a blurry boundary for some people. But for me, the separation between fantasy and reality is well-defined. Now, on to your Ask!

You’ve hit the nail on the head with this one. You’ve also touched on many of the issues I have been struggling with myself as of late. It’s difficult to argue about morals since everyone has a different set of values, as well as different comfort levels. Some people think real person fiction (RPF) is a gross invasion of privacy. Others are fine with it. And others don’t care one way or another. There is no single answer; I can only offer my answer. Which means, of course, people are welcome to disagree with it, or parts of it. 

In this essay (LOL But forreal: this is an essay), I will be sharing my experience in the k-pop fanfic community from 2014 to present, the etiquette I personally abide by as a reader and writer of RPF, as well as my stance on RPF in general.

I started reading and posting fanfics back in 2014/2015 on a website called AsianFanfics (AFF). Obviously, no one on that site had a problem with RPF, since AFF is a platform made specifically for sharing stories about Asian celebrities. For many years, I read and enjoyed RPF with zero guilt. I scribbled away by myself in my own corner of fandom and curated my own content. I didn’t interact much with other fans, readers, or writers. I didn’t have a Twitter, and I only used tumblr to reblog memes. As a result, I’ve been able to avoid a lot of anti-shipping discourse, as well as purity and cancel culture. I had no idea there were so many negative opinions about RPF. It wasn’t until I became active on the subreddit r/Fanfiction last year that I learned about all the discourse surrounding RPF. 

This newfound ‘awareness’ does make me feel guilty at times—but only because after mulling this over, I still don’t think this is something to feel guilty about.

Here’s what I remember, first and foremost, when I create and consume RPF: fanfics and my favourite ships are fictional, and fiction is fantasy. This is basic etiquette when it comes to RPF, and most people in the k-pop fandom understand this. Delusional fans exist, of course, but they are not representative of the entire k-pop community. 

Another point of etiquette is to keep fanfics within fandom spaces. I would never push my fics into celebrities’ faces, or go around claiming that my fanfics are accurate representations of a k-idol’s life or personality, in any way, shape, or form. I would also discourage directing ship-related questions to official accounts, or bringing them up during fansigns or other face-to-face interactions; I believe that in these instances, shipping does have the potential to strain real-life relationships.

So with basic etiquette out of the way, let me share my approach to RPF in general.

As much as we like to think we know our favourite celebrities, we really don’t. All we see is their public persona. And this public persona is intentionally controlled, managed, and curated by a team of people: directors, tabloids, editors, makeup artists, publicists, etc. How “real” are these celebrities? We are so distanced from them that they may as well be fictional.

I draw from the public persona that idols project, and I work them into my own writing. But at the end of the day, these personalities are my own interpretation. My interpretation is probably nothing like an idol’s actual personality. I just use the “public persona/character” that idols portray as inspiration for my own stories, which are set in wildly different universes.

More than anything, I think of k-pop idols as “actors” in my fic. You know how when you write an original novel, you scroll through Google images, looking for the perfect person to portray your original character? RPF is literally that, except you might build upon pre-existing dynamics and personalities.

When it comes to explicit fanfiction, two main concerns are prevalent: one of consent, and one of sexualisation.

If we argue against explicit RPF due to lack of consent, we should be willing to apply the same lens to all explicit works. How do we know that the creator of a movie, book, series, etc., is okay with us using their characters in our stories, explicit or not? We don’t. Perhaps some creators encourage fanfiction, but don’t want their lovingly crafted characters engaging in sexual acts or experiencing trauma. We just don’t know. I feel this line is even more blurred when we talk about characters from movies or TV series.

Let’s take Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes, as portrayed by Chris Evans and Sebastian Stan, from the Captain America movies as an example. I am willing to bet that when people consume and create explicit fanfiction about Steve and Bucky, they are imagining Chris Evans and Sebastian Stan in their heads. I doubt many people are imagining the 2D cartoon versions of Steve and Bucky, even though they’re technically the exact same characters. Why? Well, it could be because movies are more readily and easily consumed than comics, and so people are unfamiliar with comic book Steve and Bucky. But it might also be because fans find Chris Evans and Sebastian Stan attractive. Is this really any different from RPF, where fic authors make up everything about a celebrity’s life?  

When readers and writers of fanfic talk about how hot Steve Rogers or Bucky Barnes is, those comments are about Chris Evans and Sebastian Stan’s bodies. When reading explicit stories, fans are going to picture Chris and Sebastian’s bodies in their head, doing sexual things. Can we say, “Well, it’s not really you, Chris/Sebastian”, when in a way, it is?

The reality is, people are going to thirst over celebrities, regardless of whether or not explicit fanfiction exists. They’re going to post thirst tweets on Twitter. They’re going to talk to friends and strangers online about how hot [insert celebrity name here] is. They’re going to fantasize about dating and having sex with their favourite celebrity. Or, as it is in my case, they’re going to make up stories in their heads about their favourite idols dating and banging each other. People are going to do all of this without ‘getting consent’ from the celebrity. Cracking down upon and shaming writers of RPF isn’t going to change any of that.

To be honest, I’m not sure why people think it is disgusting to imagine sexual scenarios about real people. It is okay and normal to have these kinds of fantasies. I suppose the alternative is to fantasise about having sex with cartoon characters instead? It’s a very binary way of thinking to say that if you imagine/write real people in explicit scenarios, you are immediately sexualising, dehumanising, or objectifying them. There is more to dehumanisation than writing smut about our favourite celebrities. For one thing, you can love someone and appreciate all parts of them, and still want to fuck their brains out. And generally, fanfics come from a place of love—love that is not only sexual in nature.

Is it the sharing aspect inherent to fanfiction? The possibility that a celebrity might stumble upon explicit works about them? The chances are very low, I think, of the k-pop idols I enjoy writing about coming across my English fics. But I also believe in curating your own content, and that applies to celebrities too. Perhaps a celebrity should not go searching for fanfics about themselves. And of course, people should not show celebrities their fanfics, unless invited.

Another argument I hear against (explicit) RPF is, “How would you feel if someone wrote fanfiction about you?” First off, I don’t like this argument because there’s a difference between someone who decides to be a public figure versus someone who decides to remain a regular private citizen. Celebrities should and do know what they’re getting into when they choose their occupation. (This is not to say, “They are celebrities; sexualise them all you want because that’s what they signed up for.” Here, I am only acknowledging that people might have sexual fantasies about celebrities they are attracted to. Presumably, celebrities are cognizant of this.)  

If someone (whose existence I am not even aware of, mind you) decides they want to write explicit fanfiction of me in some tiny corner of the Internet, I wouldn’t care so long as: (1) they don’t shove it into my face, and (2) they don’t harass me and ask invasive questions about my personal life and relationships. It’s not hurting me or negatively affecting my life, so it wouldn’t even register as a blip on my radar. When fanfiction remains within its appropriate spaces, it is largely harmless. 

Now, if a k-pop idol were to ask their fans to stop writing fanfiction about them, would I? Yes, I would. However, I can’t imagine that happening. Judging by the number of ‘sexy’ concepts, fanservice moments, and variety shows such as ‘We Got Married’, I am certain that k-pop idols realise they are the stars of many fantasies—some of which are explicit in nature. Considering the prevalence of shipping in the k-pop industry, I would argue that shipping is subtly encouraged.

It’s sad that so many talented writers are shamed out of fandom, or feel that k-pop cannot be the medium through which they tell their stories, or explore their sexuality, or cope with trauma, or simply have fun. Professional works and Hollywood love their RPF—readers and writers of fanfics should be able to, as well. 

As you said Anon, “clamping down on horny people who simp over hot asian men isn't going to solve the issues we face in real life” (this is a lovely sentence, by the way). The kind of person who dehumanises another and reduces them to a sexual object will do so some other way, if not via fanfiction. I don’t think the issue of fetishisation can be fixed simply by telling people not to write explicit RPF. In my experience, people who read and write RPF are more respectful and thoughtful about these things than the general public. We’ve all seen the general public say highly sexual things about celebrities in the media and to their faces, or tag celebrities in their thirst tweets. Are these things less invasive than fanfiction? Personally, I don’t think so. And in my opinion, there are more pressing and damaging issues in stan culture than fanfic.

In conclusion, I don’t think there is anything wrong with creating and consuming RPF, both explicit and non-explicit so long as we:

Remember we are writing fiction

Keep RPF within its appropriate space, and

Do not harass celebrities about their personal lives and relationships

RPF is not for everyone. There may be people who enjoy RPF, but draw the line at explicit stories. This is fine. Everyone has their own personal preferences. What is not fine, however, is attacking people for creating things you don’t like. I’m not sure what kind of moral crusade people are on and what they hope to achieve by shaming writers of RPF, explicit or otherwise. Ultimately, fic authors are writing a fantasy. It’s not real; no one is being hurt. I think it’s important for people to curate their own content, and AO3 makes it very easy to filter out explicit works and unwanted tags. 

Maybe this is me trying to justify my own participation in explicit RPF—I don’t know. What I do know is that I love k-pop, and fandom is an important part of my media and entertainment experience. I adore the k-pop idols I write about, and I just want to imagine them being happy and getting lots of love and orgasms. Let a bitch be horny, goddamn… 

Some bonus fun facts!

At the time I am writing this, on AO3:

26.2% of Stray Kids fanfics are rated M or E

26.3% of Seventeen fanfics are rated M or E

29.0% of Merlin fanfics are rated M or E

34.9% of Captain America (Movies) fanfics are rated M or E

40.1% of BTS fanfics are rated M or E ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Coincidentally, I saw this post on Reddit this morning: Can we have a RPF positivity post?