#i've always been very supportive of fanfic anon

[not-poignant]

(TND au anon) please note my thirst for this is for more temsen content, he is not a vegetable, I want to see that guy in situations!!!!

It's time for you to start writing fanfic anon, and putting that guy in situations! :D

[witheredoffherwitch]

Y'ALL CAN EXCUSE RACISM?

Let's get one thing straight: I have no part in this chaotic mess (infact, I have blocked all the accounts mentioned below), but it's grinding my gears how it's devolving into another petty fanfic drama: case 607. I know this drama is getting the attention for certain individuals who are demonstrating mean girl behaviour and gossiping about other writers behind their backs. However, I am solely focused on addressing the racist and discriminatory remarks made by these individuals in the leaked text messages.

For those not in the loop, there's been a huge drama in the fanfic community involving leaked text messages from a group chat of four prominent members. In these messages, two users - Fae and Bel - have admitted to sending hate anons and talking smack about other writers behind their backs. Two other members left the group after it was revealed that B tried to make amends with someone who these two, Em and Ange, don't particularly care for. As a move to clear their names, Em exposed all the texts, trying to prove that Fae and Bel are the real villains here.

But wait, there's more! In these same chats, Bel not only mocked fellow non-English speakers but also bragged about sending rat emojis to an 18-year-old Pakistani writer who was already receiving racist anons. While everyone is focused on getting back at these two women for being shady af, it's mind-boggling how Em and Ange are suddenly jumping on the anti-racism train.

These two ladies stayed in the same chat as a fellow Pakistani writer was driven away because of racism, knowing full well that one of their own was contributing to it, and said NOTHING! Zero discouragement, no condemnation - they only hopped off when things got personal.

So here it is�� I've had it with all of you hypocrites. You praise and encourage these women at every turn, feeding their egos like they're the second coming of Beyonce. But let's not forget who's always stirring up drama in this fandom - hint: it's these same people with a sense of entitlement the size of a planet. The issue is groupthink and y'all have all jumped on the bandwagon. You're worse than HBO's marketing department because just like their shitty teams, everyone involved here SUCKS ASS. You don't have to pick a side because they are all petty, mean losers. Bel and Fae are facing the consequences of their actions, which they rightfully deserve.

However, Em's exposé on Bel's racism seems more like an opportunistic move and it's disappointing that so many of you are supporting it. It's a predictable cycle now; there will be a half-hearted apology, an announcement of a hiatus, and then tons of people will flock to their inboxes to shower them with praise and excuses. It's ridiculous! I know there are many who feel the same way as me but are afraid to speak up because they don't want to upset the "village elders" and risk losing their connections and engagements. It's a joke atp!

Instead of taking responsibility for their own wrongdoings, they will come up with a list of 10 different cyber crimes by others to divert attention from their own nonsense. These very same women have confessed to creating multiple fake accounts, secretly stalking servers without mods noticing, and constantly harassing individuals through anon messages.

Yet, we are supposed to consider them as examples of moral integrity and ethical behavior? 😒

[merakiui]

MERA!!!! I have no one else to ramble/rant about this to since I fear it's a pretty uncommon experience, but have you ever read a wonderful piece of work by someone who unfortunately ended up deactivating/leaving most socials? ;ª;

There's this one darker Tweels fic called "Aphotic" currently listed on ao3 (https://archiveofourown.org/works/27124492/chapters/66236443 link for good measure)- which if im not sure if you've ever read, but oh. My. God. It's such a great fic that really hits the spot for darker content of the tweels. The characterization of Jade and Floyd are absolutely my favorite in this fic as they're just *incredibly* mean to the reader but in a tasteful way. Bonus points also go to how the author wrote the mc(reader) as well, everyone in this fic is just equally fucked up and reading through this story is just one incredible rocky ride..there are only two surviving chapters and one of the two is Floyd focused, but I don't wanna spoil the main plot of the fic for anyone that may be interested in reading just please take the warning that when I say the tweels are mean, they are MEAN..

unfortunately the fic is not only unfinished but as I mentioned earlier, in a devastating turn of events the author of the series completely deactivated D: they were also on tumblr once I think they went by twstedworks? But there's no longer any way to see any of their works on this platform anymore which is just so unfortunate,, I get an intense feeling of past-felt-fomo knowing I wasn't able to see any of their other stuff while they were an active writer knowing that they seemed to be active in 2020(?) Which was a time I wasn't really reading any written works for twst... but regardless of whatever reason they chose to leave the platform I do hope they're doing well now.

I'm sad that I'll never be able to see the jade centric part of Aphotic, or be able to see any of their previous dribbles or works since they've all been completely wiped. I have followed good yan/dark twst writers and blogs in the past that have deactivated or moved on for whatever personal reason in the past but it does really suck in this case not being able to at least, in the slightest , have been able to experience other stuff this author may have wrote which im sure was delightful orz...

Reminder to readers and consumers of fanfic on here to always show support and motivation to your favorite writers!! You never know when you'll never get the chance to read anything from them ever again :( and thank you esp Mera for being one of my favorite twst blogs of all time on here!! Your interpretations of the tweels have always been my favorite from any blog and the way you choose to write these characters in general never disappoints ✨️

If this does get answered, being as this is my first ever formal ask, may I be 🪆 anon? Or 🍮🥄 if that's taken ^_^

Hi hiii, 🍮🥄 anon!!! (˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶)

I know that experience... >_< it's happened to some of the stories/authors I followed. It's always so sad when writers deactivate/leave the platform or fandom/etc, but everyone has their reasons. I can only be grateful I was able to behold such enjoyable works!!! :D "Aphotic" sounds like such an interesting story!! I love mean tweels. <3 I'll have to check it out!

I think I've read some writings from twsted-works before they deactivated! It was so long ago (before I even had a tumblr account), but I remember adoring the way they wrote Octavinelle. I hope they're doing well wherever they are!!

And you're so right!!! It's always important to show support and love to artists, creators, writers, etc! Most, if not all, writers love to receive feedback on their work. Even something like a keyboard smash or a dozen heart emojis is very flattering to us because it shows us that you've enjoyed the work. Whether you show that enjoyment by commenting, liking, reblogging, or sending an ask on here, it's always lovely to spread appreciation for the hard work and time that goes into crafting wonderful stories!!! ദ്ദി(˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧

Thank you so much for your sweet words!! I'm just happy to be able to write and share stories!! It's a huge honor you would consider me one of your favorite twst blogs. I'm beyond flattered!!!! ♥️✨

[thecoolerliauditore]

There was like, a very brief period where there was a few 'jimmy cheated on scott' fics. I guess I know why now. Personally it makes me uncomfy for two mains reason: 1) Its a wholly made up scenario just to make Jimmy the toxic one. 2) I can really only personally see it as a Scott narrative. You know, That Type of Ex who says 'no' when someone says they want to break up. (And 3) they tend to tag the cheating ship as the ship and personally it's a bit upsetting to be looking up a ship and get a fic where they're cheaters and its all about this other character overcoming them, but that's a personal ick thing and they are using the tagging system correctly technically, its more a problem with there being no way to differentiate those types of ship tags from each other. It's just a bit personally upsetting to see a fic tagged with your ship and also 'happy ending' but the happy ending is them falling apart and unhappy which makes the cheated on party happy with no warning that's what it meant. Rambling, sorry...)

I think if you wanna interpret Jimmy as toxic y'ought to focus on the post-relationship period (honestly I feel this way about fh in general, nothing in their brief time together is nearly as interesting as their time after reacting to their ex to me) cause you could make a case for Jimmy being unnecessarily hostile and not wishing Scott well at all. (This I think works best if the relationship was toxic cause then you have a guy going to the opposite extreme in reply to a bad relationship, but works just as well Jimmy being That Ex that always says their ex was crazy that Scott also play in DL)

Personally I don't think there's a good faith way to dig into the thing Jimmy might have done wrong while ignoring the more obvious things Scott did wrong, but exploration is the point of fanfics and AUs. And I've read fics where people make Scott out to be Jimmy's only supporter in DL while everyone else bullied him and completely rewrote entire scenes to make Scott the hero, so you know, clearly a market for rewriting Scott's character specifically.

But my go to for toxic Jimmy in the context of fh is him being neglectful. Jimmy's always been half-hearted about the dynamic, including reframing it in his e1 pov, I think it isn't much of a stretch to elaborate that into full on getting into a relationship he wasn't enthusiastic about to begin with and the few things he does to contribute being token gestures. Maybe Jimmy tends to think the worst of the things Scott does and assume he's being condescended to (I think this works especially well if you want to make one or both autistic, cause it's very easy to read Scott's tone as such if you aren't on his wave length and Jimmy is very easily offended especially later on). I think maybe some wouldn't like that just because it requires having Jimmy not be enthusiastic about being with Scott, though.

If you interpret Scott as Aro and Jimmy as Ace, also, you can make an argument for them just doing all the wrong things and that building up resentment between them where neither want to do anything the other wants to do and that barrier of miscommunication only growing until it collapses in on them both.

But yeah, I personally have trouble not making both of them toxic if Jimmy is going to be toxic, but again most exploration fics focus in on one thing, so...

^^^for the other anon

I actually don't read much fic but yeah this makes sense to me. FYI i think the "cheating" read comes from people interpreting him and Scott as not fully broken up during the events of post-3L because there's never really a formal "we're not together anymore" announcement. But yeah looking for something for your ship and having it turn out to be a cheating fic is WILD LMAO

I don't vibe with a lot of this because I'm not fun BUT the aro scott/ace jimmy part is awesome I'm glad that seems to be catching on.

[alpinelogy]

Fic Writer Interview

thank you for tagging me @13834. Hopefully the tag works <3

Under the cut cause I said so much help. This took like an hour?? Probably maybe even longer

How many works do you have on ao3? 16 posted as attraqtia + 6 posted on anon + 1 one I hid because I did not like it. And an extra one on my old AO3 but I'm discounting that one lmao. Also back in the day I posted on a further unspecified fanfic archive that is not AO3 (and is still around) as well as on Wattpad and ff.net but I've forgotten my username and login to all and I refuse to admit to those anyway so...

What’s your total word count? 238,447 words. Insane

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

ether strike (313 kudos)

galaxy collapse (somebody scream) (257 kudos)

home is only a town (you're just a guest) (224 kudos)

kicked out the stage lights (you’re still performing) (222 kudos)

system’s breaking down (there’s been a glitch) (214 kudos)+ because I find it funny, 6th place is shared between fill your drink with tonic gin (this is the american dream) and universum both at 187 kudos

Do you respond to comments? Why/why not? I try to (I say as if I have responded to a comment within the past several months) but I am not very good at it. Wish i could like a comment tbh, sometimes it is a idk what to say but your comment made me smile. Also I just get so much burnout I hate it here

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending? Uh... probably fill your drink with tonic gin (this is the american dream). Don't really write angsty endings but this is open ended so o7

What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending? Heckies there are several possibilities. Ignoring pwp cause I almost exclusively write established relationship so that is technically happy;

galaxy collapse (somebody scream) is a romcom that ends in loscar happy in a relationship. Happiest ending I've written. That being said

we found wonderland (you and i got lost in it) has a less happy ending but it is significantly angstier so it has a bigger range of emotions. Same goes for kicked out the stage lights (you're still performing). Putting them together cause they both have the roughly same setup of lost contact in an angsty way

same goes for now entering a world (from which you will never return) aka timeloop. Not a super happy ending but the amount of angst makes it feel more happy I think

finally maybe we got lost (in translation) and home is only a town (you're just a guest) are both getting together fics and they end in a happy get together. So adding those as well. They are not romcoms since there is plenty of drama and angst in both

Do you write crossovers? Uh... no rules (in breakable heavens) aka cycling au is a crossover right? I took guys from media A (F1) and put them into the universe of media B (cycling). Granted they are both sports that exist in the same universe but I think this should count as a crossover to me

Have you ever received hate on a fic? Nope. Thank fucking god. In all my close to a decade of writing never and I hope it stays that way

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Yeah. Mostly established relationship pwp so I am pleading to AO3 to please add tenderhorny as a tag, most of my smut involves some (mild) kinks but also the established relationship part is important!!

Only single thread of gold (tied me to you) has explicit smut and is not pwp lmao. And yeah... that also has domestic fluff as a tag so who tf knows

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Nope. Or at least no that I know of

Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope

Have you ever co-written a fic before? No... technically. Me and kiro have been floating an idea of co-writing a fic earlier this year but we never got around to it. Kiro come back from the war (US education system) I wanna co-write that fic 🥺

That being said I would love to cowrite a fic one day, it always sounds so fun!! Any writing mutuals (or non writing mutuals who even just need an emotional support writer or anything else o7) hmu I would love to co-write a fic <3

What's your all-time favourite ship? All time including previous fandoms? Bokuaka from Haikyuu!!

F1 only? Probably Piarles actually. Or Loscar or Lolex, been leaning a lot towards Lolex recently Honorary cycling mention: pogrog. The ideas people post and the few fics on AO3... Please these two intrigue me so much

What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will? I am eternally scared I would never finish time travel George :(((. Really wanna write it, one of these days I will lock in I promise.

What I will never actually write? The original iteration of rbr!Oscar. Idk if I ever will write a version of it, I plotted the original version in August last year and my opinion of rbr has changed since then. I have replotted some of it few months bac but idk how I feel about rbr still lmao. But I am stealing a lot of the backstory for a Merc!Oscar AU so I suppose it works out :3c

Cycling AU also used to look very different. Tbh if anyones interested I'd love to yap about it, don't think it could ever work and it was the first thing I plotted but I have a soft spot for it :). Honestly I just really wanna talk about cycling AU, I have done so much worldbuilding for it and I adore it <3

More ideas from 2023 I will never finish: a Le Mans au for a further unspecified ship, several landoscar wips, several different takes on the pierresteban beef (one day I will write one. Just the ones I have rn will never make it out of the Google docs in their current state). Several different character studies of a driver I now hate so 😂😭

What are your writing strengths? Description I think. Being ESL and having a read a lot in English as a child means that my vocabulary is wide and messy and I am willing to stick three different words with the same meaning next to each other so lol and lmao

What are your writing weaknesses? Dialogue. Idk how to even talk with people irl, does anyone think I can wrote a dialogue of two people?

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? Idk I'm not a huge fan unless it is to make a point? Like if you speak the language then I suppose but idk, dont vibe with it

That being said non-English pet names when relevant (ie Piarles using pet names in French) is cute :)))

What was the first fandom you wrote for? Refuse to admit to it. Second one was Naruto asdfghj

What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to? PIERRESTEBAN. Like my second wip ever after cycling au was pierresteban. I have always had at least one pierresteban wip. I never managed to write one that I actually liked but one of these days they will be free. Lets see if I can finish my Brazil fic (also known as azincourt so if that spawns o7) or not

Also gewis. I always forget I have not written them yet lmao, time travel George truly lives rent free in my head :)))

And one of these days I will write a proper cycling fic, not an a with the F1 guys. I just... have a weird relationship with cycling rpf on account of growing up with the sport, but I respect the work yall do and I do have the cycling rpf tag opened in a tab on my phone. One of these days I will process my thoughts on it and then write a pogrog fic o7

What's your favourite fic you've written? Heck idk. Top 3 5 in no particular order:

galaxy collapse (somebody scream) - not that good cause its close to a year old but I adore the premise, I adore the vibes, I adore her so much. She is so fun and chill I think I could've done a better job on her in hindsight so she does not get to be No1 but my beloved

now entering a world (from which you will never return) - timeloop!! Probably if I had to say just one it would be her, a labor of love, I think some bits of my thesis of the fic (trust the people around you, it is okay to rely on them at times) are clumsily executed within the actual text and in hindsight there might be bits I wanna retcon but I do adore her a lot

we found wonderland (you and i got lost in it) - my dearly beloved first proper long fic. I still regularly think about the galex in this AU. Like no joke I have made up a very cheesy and idealized and probably lowk ooc future for them that I shall not yap on here about (re: the ooc bit) but honestly, if anyone wants to know it I am willing to yap in DMs o7

kicked out the stage lights (you’re still performing) - so fun to write!! wrote across like three or four sessions, feels like a very condensed version of wonderland and yes. I may or may not have thought of what happens after as well

home is only a town (you're just a guest) - I adore soulmate AUs a lot!! It was on my bucket list to write some day and I'm so glad I finally wrote it!! I vibe with the premise so much and the world building my beloved, so many bits to explore in just Alex and Logan's upbringing (bottom line consider the fact that Charles and Alex would have a fundamentally different relationship cause Charles' soulmate is also named Alex!! Just marinate on that) + honorary mention of no rules (in breakable heavens). I was (and still am lowk) working through a burnout so she is sorta ass but its cycling au. I adore cycling au. I don't think I can put it into words how much the cycling au means to me, one of these days I will write drabbles about the other guys. Bottom line George and Alex in that AU intrigue me

Sorry for the long ass yap asdfgh. Tagging uh... @landoisokay @lafaerie @weegreenbean @autumn816 @femmegeorge @racingliners and @kiroiimye if you by any chance open Tumblr in the next few days >:) come on come back to writing

[levitonin]

I don't enjoy Levi as much as I used to and seeing him triggers me, brings tears to my eyes and ruins my day. I don't know where it first started, but it's more likely that it's because of some of my most disliked opinions and statements about him within the fandom that made me change my opinion of him.

It's tragicomic that a character who used to bring so much happiness to my shitty life has turned into a character who ruins my day, my mood, and leads me to depression…

But because of some 'canon truths' and rhetoric that we have to go to great lengths to get him to accept us, that he doesn't accept us for who we are, that we have to be cursorily smart strong and special to impress him, that he wants too many options, and that he is obsessed with a character who is already dead in the series, I realized how unattainable he is. (I can't believe I'm saying this)

Isayama's shitty interviews, the way he relegates Levi to the category of 'useless, his role is over' because of a dead character, and the way he discards him and even plans to kill him a couple of times makes me feel very shitty. It gives me the impression that he's not an independent, big character.

Even though I try to forget him, to get away from him, to get interested in other fictional characters from other fandoms, I somehow come back to him like a toxic relationship.

Even though I force myself to read fanfic to comfort myself and out of some love for him, even the Levi fics I used to enjoy don't make me feel comfortable. Now when I read them, I'm often afraid that I'll see something I don't like. I don't know, it seems like in the majority of the fics I've skimmed, Levi always writes a kind of toxic relationship dynamic for Reader rather than being comfortable for her. He either sends her to her death, lies to her, or uses her for profit just for 'orders'. Sometimes he runs away like a coward when he should be supporting her. And instead of giving mutual love, he throws his feelings under her feet.

Of course I know that Levi is canonically not a soft uwu person who emphasizes personal actions like "I would sacrifice the world for you" "I will protect you from everyone, I will never let you die". But I still can't understand the writing appeal of Levi's behavior towards Reader in such near-toxic descriptions. How can they enjoy and write about it when it triggers me, alienates me from my love for the character, brings tears to my eyes? I think this is the true portrayal of Canon!Levi and the way he would treat Reader if he were in love…

I don't know who to talk to about this anymore. I don't know how to explain to people close to me or to a therapist that an unreal character has been dragging my mood to shit for a few years now. It's just that whether I like him or not, he's hurting me in a big way and I need to get rid of him...

I can't understand why I'm so stuck on him among so many fictional characters. I'm not sure if I love him, but sometimes when my love for him rises, I immediately think that we have to go through many stages to love him or to make him love us. I think it might be disappointment because I've learned over time that he's not the kind of person I like…

But sometimes when I see you guys writing/drawing/talking about Levi and having fun, I wish I was allowed to love and have fun instead of feeling sad…

Well this made me sad. It’s actually true that fictional characters can have a significant impact on your life, whether positive or negative. I don’t know what to say anon but I do hope you find peace and I’m sorry you have to go through all of this. May you find happiness.

[simplydnp]

unironically this video confirms to me they’re an item without saying it. If they really were just pLAtoNic besties or had other partners no way phil wouldve been so comfortable saying “yeah write fanfic about me and you know who its all good :)”

the thing is, they've given this approval for years--i've never forgotten the tumblr tag video (1:24) where they reacted to phanart of them kissing and the only thing they said was 'at the radio show? that wouldn't be very professional'. that was 2014. it's not the only example either. now, arguably, this is the most explicit confirmation from either of them since coming out that they're still okay with it (dan's mentioned mutliple times any fan support is appreciated and the way he emphasizes it and his past standpoints on it imply fic is included, but this was much more direct)

i'm glad it resonates but these two have always had tons of rpf & art about them and have been incredibly vocally supportive of it. maybe it's the directness of implicating dan in his statement too? i'm genuinely curious anon

[redpenship]

Hello, I was wondering if you have any sonic fic recommendations?

Sure! Here are a few that have left an impression on me:

led clock faces by @hetchless (WIP) Notes: I'm a big fan of the tone and rotating perspective between characters. You can tell there's a lot going on with the world-building and I'm excited to see where it goes! Every nugget of world-building or alternate characterization has me wishing for more. It's also criminally underrated, so I must express support and ask that you check it out as a fellow sci-fi AU writer.

do gems conduct electricity? and good fences make better neighbours by @chaoxfix (Complete one-shots) Do gems notes: Fascinating Rouge and Sonic character study based in an AU where Eggman used Sonic as a battery for his machines during Sonic Forces. I've been a Sonic fan for a pretty long time, but I used to not bother reading fanfiction for the series because I had always struggled to find anything appealing to me. This fanfic both convinced me to keep looking for Sonic fanfic and also pulled me back into Sonic a little bit more, which resulted in me purchasing Sonic Among Us stickers at my local anime convention. And they say fanfiction is free! Good Fences notes: Big brings Tails+Sonic soup and reflects on how the world is changing due to human colonial activity on the planet. His perspective is interesting to read through, it grants something of a layman perspective that you wouldn't get through Sonic due to how involved he is in everything. If you go into the comments, you might find me (on anon, because I hadn't committed to this account yet) gushing about how I had similar world-building perspectives in regards to Mobian-human relations. The morose take on flickies here is also very sad in a good way. Great work all around.

Clarity by @lunapegasus (Complete one-shot) Notes: Shadow wakes up with an alien third eye. A really good conversation with Omega ensues, and I literally gasped out loud at something Omega says when I read it for the first time. If you like Shadow, you should definitely read this one.

General author rec: @khalewren writes a lot of cute whispangle stories.

Unfortunately, I don't actually read that much fanfiction so I am at a loss for what else to recommend to you. I hope you check out what I've listed here nonetheless!

[veliseraptor]

Things are shit right now, so I wanted to say, the way you write Xue Yang in "if living can be this" really helped shape an OC of mine? Not in a plagiarism way - she's existed over a decade now and is completely different - but rather, the way I want to approach her story, as she's a villain protagonist who commits SO many murders and worse. That you write Xue Yang's story as not being a traditional redemption arc - that he "reforms" to some extent but not because of any desire to repent and be a "better person" - but because he has a support system now, is happy and doesn't want to disrupt that or upset the daozhangs, felt SO good, interesting and revelatory to me. That's the kind of villain arc I wanna write! Those are the kind of complex, nuanced characters I wanna write.

This isn't very coherent, but I hope it makes sense. In general, I've been reading your writing for years now, and the way you understand the characters so well - particularly in their flaws, insecurities and what makes them tick - is SO good and genuinely an inspiration for my own writing. I haven't been reading much fanfic at all lately, but I HAVE been keeping up with Decorate Your Scars and you're knocking it out of the park as always (also you're the reason I ended up watching Kinnporsche and getting into Vegaspete lol).

this ask makes me so happy, thank you, anon. I'm honored and flattered, truly.

writing those arcs for Xue Yang has been an exercise for me in figuring out what I actually want from a quote-unquote redemption arc, which is, I think, less about "redemption" as a concept (with all its attendant baggage) than it is about recuperation and rehabilitation. I still need to write something about the way those two things are distinct in my mind, if only to really define it for myself. like, I'm not completely against arcs that are about characters "repenting" or where they do feel bad about their actions but I think I'm genuinely at this point more interested in arcs that are about characters realizing they want something different and changing accordingly.

something something teshuvah meaning turning/returning. something.

anyway! I'm so glad that my writing could serve as an inspiration for yours, and help you sort out what you wanted from character arcs yourself.

[phoenixwrites]

How do you keep yourself from feeling down about your haters/anti your ships?

There’s these (literally) 5 girls who think they’re the queens of my current small fandom and their hate is starting to get to me even though I try to let it roll off my back.

How do you do it, Phoenix?🥺 How do you keep the Plastics from ruining your fandoms and ships?

Oh goodness, Sass, I'm so sorry. I've been in my fair share of fandom dramas (the worst being last summer) and it's never an easy thing to deal with.

I want to gently correct you, though. The hate DOES get to me. Last summer, there were anons in my inbox telling me I deserved to be sexually assaulted as a child because I support dark fic writers. There were anons calling me a pedophile. There is a 600 note reblog going around the Stranger Things fandom claiming I was a pedophile. I was suicidal at that point, because it was triggering as hell.

But at the same time, I refused to give up MY tumblr space because of bullies. This is my blog. I've had it since 2011, it has been a space of freeverse, of gossip, of art, and of joy. I will not change that for the satisfaction of a few teenagers who think TikTok is activism.

I got through it a few ways.

Turn off anons. I am a stubborn bitch and I only turned my anon off once during that period, right after someone told me I deserved being assaulted at seven years old. I turned it off for one night then turned it right back on, because I hated limiting access to my lovely anons because of bullies--same reason I haven't privatized my AO3 account, even though AI very likely will steal my work. I hate the thought of some anon who reads my fics for comfort being denied access to them. But that's my thing. Turning off anon is the best way to shut off their power to hurt you. If you don't want to turn off anon, delete their messages. I am CHOOSY about which anons I answer. They are reaching out to me, on MY blog, it's my decision whether I deign to answer them or not. If I'm in the right mood for it, I might be trolly and snarky. If they're sweet, I love to hear from them. But I delete just as many as I answer.

Get off the internet. The internet is my space where I can zone out and do whatever I want. Sometimes that means watching a carefully curated selection of TV shows while writing fanfic. Sometimes it means doing TV show meta. Sometimes it's just goofing off. But the internet is chocolate, it's a lovely sweet treat. But if you have nothing but chocolate, you will get sick. Take walks. Go outside. Forget online drama (it's never that serious), enjoy your offline friends, snuggle your furry friends, go out for a cup of coffee and read a book.

Curate your experience. If you see someone with an absolutely RANCID take--like how Eddie wasn't flirting outrageously with Chrissy (sure jan) or Neal was a rapist, whatever. Don't engage, don't comment, don't reblog. BLOCK THOSE BITCHES. Block the people who make you feel weird. Block someone who used to be in your fandom but has moved onto reblogging something that annoys you. Block, block, block. Or use tumblr savior assiduously. When it was really bad in Hellcheer land, I watched Smallville and blogged about it until I felt ready to play in Hellcheer again.

At the end of last summer, the hate started dying off for a couple of reasons.

One, school was starting (yes, I do believe the majority of these bitchy anons are bored children, they ALWAYS have an uptick during school breaks).

Two, I got a book deal. I was too thrilled with my success and though they tried to threaten me, it didn't have much of a sting. My publisher and agent don't give a shit about the latest fandom drama. My editor LOVES horror and darklit.

Three, I fell in love. I have an incredibly wonderful partner who is a writer too (for television! I used to write fanfic for a show he worked on! :D). Autumn was an incredibly wonderful season of joy for me (minus my then-work troubles) which bled into a romantic winter, a challenging spring, and now it's becoming a lovely summer.

I had a bunch of lovely things happen to me that made me realize that the internet is actually quite small. It doesn't matter if STEDDIELOVER69 hates me or believes I'm a pedophile. What matters is that there are plenty of other folks who love reading my work, who like hearing my thoughts, who enjoy my VQ gossip, and those are the people I want to engage with.

Those folks don't know you and the joy you experience every day. Keep that joy close to your heart, as closely as they keep their own bitterness and cruelty.

You'll be all right, love. I promise it gets better.

[skzoologist]

My mooties

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⤐ @dmnksrt - One of my irl best friends, you guys can thank her for so much, because she is my number 1 fan and keeps cheering me on. Without her, I wouldn't have written this much. She's a victim of accidentally being converted into a kpop fan, purely because I was also dragged into the fandom. Even though she stans another group and man (Suga), we still ramble to each other for hours easily. Once she gathers the courage to post her own fanfics, you can be sure I'll be there to support her immediately. Her brain is wonderful, just like her, I wouldn't hesitate to commit arson for her sake. Her tag is 'my Darling', no, we aren't dating, in case any of Nat's anons come here asking that.

⤐ @nerenbe - Well well well, if it isn't my menace herself. This lil gremlin is the sole reason I am in this fandom altogether, since she just kept singing 'Star lost' while we were in the Christmas market in the year 2023. I guess this is what I get for dragging her into so many animes and manhwas, haha. She isn't really active here, but know that she loves to murder me with pics and memes of my bias and wrecker. Truly, she lives up to her nickname.

⤐ @shetherocket - The last of my irl best friends, the poor one who isn't in the kpop fandom and has no idea wtf I am saying to her, ever. It's really funny actually, as she just nods as I speak, no clue about anything. But she likes Felix! Loves his softness and sunshine self, so I sometimes spam her with him lmao. I am never going to be sorry for that :D

⤐ @thightswideforhanin - First ever person to loudly admit Bae wrecked her, and hard. I always enjoy her reblogs, she was one of the first ever active members of my blog.

⤐ @michelle4eve - A shy follower of mine who gathered enough courage to speak to me, and would you look at that, we speak more regularly now :) She's very sweet, which is why I just call her my Sunshine.

⤐ @jinnie-ret - Jinnie-ret, Jinnie-ret, the person who started it all. She was the first skz writer who noticed me and decided to raid my blog, quite literally. She recommended my work on her blog and I got a big influx of people, making me breach the 100 followers threshold. I still can't believe she'd followed me back, when I've been her silent follower for months by that point. While we don't speak a lot, as she is busy, I know she's very welcoming and kind (also my brit mum, because she decided to adopt me lmao).

⤐ @atinyniki - Niki, my precious little pocket pookie who just loves to pester me and absolutely shower me in love, no matter how hard I keep pushing it away (this is the norm for me and my friends). She's absolutely sweet and so strong, I look up to her in that sense to this very day. We easily start gushing about ATEEZ or my husky puppies for a good while, or even start planning some gut-wrenching fics together xD I am so happy she wrote to me, even if she keeps insisting I am cute, falsely.

⤐ @writingforstraykids - Nat, my talented menace! I love her art, oh my god, I cannot wait for her to draw more, even if that is a year later or more. And her soft thoughts? Hell yes! She's the one who usually gets to see my own random thoughts about the boys (hence our collab), because she's my mootie and they get VIP services :) I am forever afraid she's gonna do what my menace does and send me pics of the boys... I would straight up die on the spot.

⤐ @cheesemonky - Leisel! While we don't talk a lot (timezone differences and my depressed, anxious self), she's cute and so supportive. I just know if we would talk more, our chat would be filled with rambles and thoughts about TXT, haha.

⤐ @yangbbokari - Mumu, the chaos child. We didn't get to know each other well yet, but she loves to say random shit and cause mayham xD Very maknae line coded.

⤐ @lilmisssona - Sona, my sweet sonata, who is so sweet and supportive of me despite barely knowing me, it gives me diabetes. I already love her works, her AUs are very interesting. She also loves my two puppies, and I am only glad to provide her with photos and videos of them.

⤐ @minholing - Jenny, my lil biologist sprout. While she left, I will await her return here. Who knows, maybe by then I'll be able to accept her hugs more easily.

⤐ @kimistorm - We don't really talk, but we occasionally tag each other in some games. Her works are really nice and sweet, I wouldn't be surprised if she is like that too.

⤐ @miuracha - Miu, the legend amongst us. I haven't really gathered the courage to talk to her yet, but I do know she is an absolute sweetheart who only deserves the best. I hope life finally gives her a break, and very soon.

⤐ @silverstarburst - Silver, my star and guardian wolf, thanks to her protective nature over her friends. Our friendship started with her tagging me in a Jisung photoset, completely unprompted. That was a sign, so true that we now regularly talk here or on discord. Bless her and her gif/photo sets.

⤐ @galaxycatdrawz - A very active moot of Nat, someone who gave me even more meme ideas when I started memeing Nat, being the menace he is. Thus, he shall be named my official meme partner. While we don't talk regularly, that doesn't mean he isn't fun to be around.

⤐ @thatonedemigodfromseoul We haven't really talked a lot so far, but that is how it is when you just meet someone.

⤐ @dean-a-mean-tae Ah, yes, sweet Ronnie, who likes to sing my praises, even though I am average at best. No, please, don't look at me like that guys, I'm sorry- We have this mouse and cat game where we compliment the other in an endless cycle. Also let me tell you, when I first saw that they mentioned me, saying how good my silly fics are, I just sat in front of my screen like a confused and emotional dumbass. Definitely will remember that day for a good while, haha. I look forward to getting to know them better, if life allows it.

If I didn't tag you here, that either means I am way too nervous to do so (you're probably a big writer blog), or I just straight up forgot with my smooth, pea-sized brain. Please do reach out to me, I assure you I didn't mean to somehow offend you.

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[bcbdrums]

Mad Angry, Mad Crazy

9: Were there any alternate versions of this fic?

LOL @legendary-guest is that you?? You usually ask off anon though, haha.

(Ask is from this lovely list.)

Okay, so... Only one person knows about this I think but there was in fact...a darker version of this fic. (Some spoilers ahead if you've not read that fic yet, so maybe stop here if you don't want any. It's a dark fic, FYI.)

The majority of changes began in the chapter where Drakken finds Shego on the beach. Originally she's much more paranoid, much more frightened, and far weaker, physically. The fainting situation is more dire... And the hospital visit is FAR more dire. Drakken isn't present as much for the exam/questioning, and Shego is far more dissociated from reality... Unable to process and answer some of the questions due to her own paranoid and fearful thoughts demanding her full attention. It was much more strongly implied that the examining doctor suspected Drakken of various abuses against her. Drakken's part in the exam was different as a result, the questions being more blunt and the doctor more angry, when he was later present. It seemed pretty clear by the end of that scene that Shego was mentally unfit to make decisions for herself. That chapter was going to end with her practically being coerced into admitting herself to a psych ward. Which then would have set off another dozen chapters that were only partially planned in my head, but never written. Oh, and the water rescue scene before the time-skip was darker as well, with Drakken being less obviously there to help her and Shego being far more afraid of him/his actions, to the point of almost not accepting rescue; I kept his motivations and his thoughts far more obscure in that scene.

Why did I soften the entire thing and not go the darker route? A friend/beta advised me that it was too dark, and that the entire story felt anti-shippy. And in fact it was this very fic that caused that person to stop reading fics other than their own, except for rare exceptions.

Heh, and the published fic as it is today apparently is still so dark it caused people to form a chat "support group" to deal with how severely the fic impacted them, and nearly every person in that group couldn't even finish reading it, it was that bad. I'm glad the story has a couple of strong fans to reassure me of its worth.

No, the darker version doesn't exist anymore. Rather than save it as a separate file I just deleted and rewrote to severely soften the whole thing from the water rescue onward. And I do mean severely...

I have regrets... I wish I'd saved the darker version. It was the best version of psychosis I've ever written and I wish I had it to study now, for other projects. I don't regret how the story ended; it would have always ended there, even if it had gone through another dozen chapters of anguish on both characters' parts... The journey to get to the end just would have been a lot different and more arduous. And I do regret that this story caused someone to stop reading fanfic.

But I'll never regret what I published. I love writing angst, I love writing suspense. I love writing for that episode because it's what got me thinking about shipping Drakken and Shego in the first place, and I love the finished product.

Thank you truly, anon, for this ask.

[blooming-violets]

Sorry this is gonna be a bit of a rant since it’s something I’ve had strong feelings about since joining the AG/TASM fanfic part of the internet, and you’ve provided me a great opportunity to talk about it.

As a trans person, I am BEGGING fanfic writers to stop writing Marauders stuff. I’ve seen so many people defend it with “separate art from the artist” but like it or not they are still supporting JKR. Separating art from the artist only really works when the artist can’t profit from it. She has done SO MUCH harm to trans people and particularly trans youth in the UK and it’s so fucking disheartening and gives me such an ick when I see TASM writers also write for Marauders because it truly comes across as “I love and support the trans community except when it comes to this because I like it.”.

Even if you ignore the transphobia and holocaust denial (YES IM SERIOUS, she’s denied parts of the holocaust at LEAST twice and she literally did it a second time the other day), the original writing is so fucking problematic. Things just off the top of my head being;

The goblins being stereotypes of Jewish people

The fucking racism with characters like Cho Chang and Kingsley Shacklebolt

The last Fantastic Beasts movie’s plot literally being trying to make WW2 and the holocaust happen

This point needs to be taken with a grain of salt since this was some bullshit Joanne said after the books came out, but werewolves in the universe being meant to represent people with aids. Which is so fucking awful considering one of the two werewolves was attacked by the other as a CHILD

The most ironic part of this is that if Andrew is truly the person he presents himself as, he would probably fucking despise being associated with HP, even if it is just a fancast. But yeah all this to say fuck JKR, fuck Marauders fans but also thank you so much Katie for that last anon answer because I genuinely don’t see that enough in this corner of the internet.

Even Daniel Radcliffe, Harry Potter himself, has spoken out against her and continues to loudly support the LGBTQ+ communities. When your own beloved Harry doesn't even want to stand by your side, you should know you fucked up. Sadly, she does not, and instead leans harder into her bigotry and hatred.

I've always been someone who is very loud and opinionated when I see things that I disagree with, which I know can rub some people the wrong way, but fuck it. I don't like to whisper about my issues on the sidelines, I like to confront the problem head on by being very clear about where I stand and how I feel. I'm not gonna sit around and let someone align me with JKR just because I'm writing a stupid werewolf and Peter Parker fic that exactly 5 people are reading lol. It's not even a popular fic like get out of my asks jfc. Esp when I can tell this person has not read a single sentence of my story and is completely basing their judgements on my header image of AG's face next to a wolf gif.

In this past week I have seen both a Steven Harrington werewolf au and a Daredevil werewolf au cross my dash. Do we think they're getting called out for supporting HP?? No. Because their actors weren't "fan casted" as something years ago. Fan casts don't even mean anything! There was never a movie about them. AG was never casted or played this role. It's literally nothing but a bunch of fans agreeing that they like his look for a fictional character.

Anyway, I'm also ranting back at you haha. You can rant to me anytime. I love a good rant and I agree with you 100%.

Werewolves were not created by JKR. Andrew Garfield has nothing to do with Harry Potter. Don't make make snap judgments about a person's character based on a picture you saw. Support your trans community. Don't be dick.

And, if they actually read my werewolf au, they would see that it's literally about learning to overcome your own hatred and biases of people different from you and learning to love those you were taught to hate. Crazy concept, I know! 🙄😉

[ryuichirou]

Hey Ryu! (I hope it's ok to call u that (⁠´⁠；⁠ω⁠；⁠｀⁠)) I've been looking at ur art and fanfics for a while and I rlly support Shroudsect! \(⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)/ I was thinking abt this for a while and was wondering if u would like to share sum Yandere Ortho fic! U can share them with any scenario, any characters, and any place! I'm just curious what u will create out of this (ofc if u have the time.) Thanks for reading this and thank u for ur glorious artwork! Have a great day/night! (⁠*⁠＾⁠3⁠＾⁠)⁠/⁠～⁠♡

Hi Anon! Of course you can call me Ryu <3 Thank you so much for enjoying our art and posts and for liking the way we portray Shroudcest!

Yandere Ortho is one of our favourite themes, we really like how dangerous he can get whenever he feels the need to protect Idia (so pretty much always). Despite his disposition and attitude + the fact that he likes to push Idia to live a healthier life and socialize, both of them are dependent on each other. So I’ll share a couple of OruIde headcanons with yandere!Ortho, if this is what you’d like to read!

Both regular/robot Ortho and human Ortho could easily be a yandere. Robo!Ortho has issues with empathy, since he is an AI, but human!Ortho isn’t much better. He looks much more socially adapted than Idia: he is extraverted, he has friends, he seems to be a nice guy who knows how to react when he needs to support someone, but his feeling of empathy is actually worse than Idia’s: he’s just good at mimicking it. In actuality he is so obsessed with Idia that he doesn’t actually take others’ feeling into consideration when acting.

Because of that, if someone were to mistreat Idia or say something bad about him, this person not only would stop being Ortho’s “friend” in a second, they would become an enemy to be eliminated. Obviously, we’ve seen this in canon, when Ortho wanted to shoot lasers at some random students for talking shit about Idia, so he (both in his robo!form and in his human!form) clearly isn’t opposed to harming others for Idia’s sake (even though Idia wouldn’t want him to do it…).

Depending on how dark you want to go, Ortho could’ve easily killed a guy or even a bunch of guys, despite being previously friendly with them, because he felt like they were making fun of Idia. In some extreme scenarios it’s very possible, and it makes Ortho quite scary.

That being said, he isn’t always this intense: sometimes just ruining a person socially is enough for Ortho. It’s also reflected in canon: he has a lot of dirt on others and can easily obtain blackmail material if needed, so tormenting someone and threatening them because of their sins against his precious Idia is something that Ortho does. He usually doesn’t tell Idia about it though, but not because he doesn’t want him to know what kind of horrible things he does, but because he doesn’t want Idia to get upset (mostly because of the things that these assholes are saying about him).

Despite the fact that Ortho wants Idia to make friends and even be involved with someone romantically, he is actually quite prone to jealousy, because he is so used to Idia belonging to him only. This wouldn’t be too obvious because of how supportive Ortho would be of Idia, but he would actually be upset about Idia seeing someone else. Especially if Idia is visibly happy with someone else. Ortho would obviously  be emotionally tormented, because he doesn’t want to take away Idia’s happiness, but…

… but it is for the best, isn’t it? So he would sabotage their relationship by either scaring the guy away or creating miscommunication/misunderstandings between them, to make Idia feel like the guy is avoiding him or making fun of him. It is painful to see Idia so devastated, but it’s alright, because Ortho is always there to comfort him and shower him with love. And he, unlike all the other people, would never hurt Idia!

Ortho really uses the fact that Idia would never suspect him of any wrongdoing in his advantage. Idia adores Ortho and even idealizes him a little bit, thinking that Ortho would never do anything malicious. Not only that, Idia also always expects bad things from everyone other than Ortho, so it wouldn’t be too surprising for him that a person that he liked ditched him in the weirdest way possible. He would be heartbroken about his sudden breakup with that person, but being comforted by Ortho feels nice, so…

… so Ortho is definitely going to use that to make a move on Idia and kiss him. And talk about how everything has happened for a reason and that they are destined to be together, him and Idia.

No matter how Idia replies or reacts to that statement, Ortho is never going to back down. He has decided that they’re going to be together forever, and that they don’t need anybody else, so this is how things are going to be. Ortho is really stubborn.

Ortho doesn’t categorize his adoration towards Idia as a romantic or non-romantic love: he does have romantic feelings and sexual desire towards him, but he is also super obsessed with him in general, he almost believes that this feeling is way too strong to just be considered “love”.

[not-poignant]

Hi there! I absolutely love your works and, having followed you for a while now, I also really admire you as a person and an author in general. Every update on AO3 and Tumblr is always such a delight. I'm sorry if this ask is coming out of the blue or if it's something you've been asked before, but how did you take the plunge from writing predominantly fanfic to posting original fiction in serial form and also self-publishing novels? I'm currently in the process of drafting two original works after writing/posting fanfic regularly for years, and I'm just lost as to how to set everything up. I have a general idea (post chapter-by-chapter on AO3 and offer early access and some exclusive content on patreon or some other subscription service), but it all feels so daunting right now. Any bit of info or advice on how you got started would be immensely appreciated <3

Hi anon,

Tbh, I went from writing fanfic to original fiction because I had original characters in my fanfiction and readers asked me about them.

I had no kind of...dreams of being an original author in this way, I was published via other pathways already, and fanfiction was really an escape for me, a chance to break with all the conventions of standard writing and just do what I wanted.

But I needed a broader cast than what the movie gave me re: my first fanfics, and I added my own OCs, and left them in the background as much as possible, but even back while writing that fanfic, even the OCs were getting fanart. Sometimes readers would send me anons about them, or ask me more details about them.

Finally, I decided to write some hatesex between them, just something to kind of...idk get it out of my system? Answer what the readers were looking for?

The flow through therefore felt natural. Game Theory flows very naturally on from From the Darkness We Rise & Into Shadows We Fall. And from there, moving into other original works has been easy, in part, because I've often being doing alternate universes from a core of original characters.

If I want to introduce new original characters, I introduce them in stories where pre-existing original characters have already been established.

I didn't even start writing original works with a view to making money off that. In fact I thought it was a very foolish thing to do. A lot of people on AO3 don't want to read original works on AO3 and refuse to do it or only do it if it's PWP / pornography.

I started my Patreon account because readers asked me to. I got asks from very very generous people who wanted to know my Paypal, or asked if I'd start a Ko-Fi, and finally a few people just asked if I'd start a Patreon. I said I didn't think it was a good idea, and they said it was up to them if they wanted to pay me or not, but I should at least consider giving them the choice.

From there, I found it all very overwhelming. I made lots of mistakes. I had to go on hiatus for a year because I promised too much and couldn't deliver on many of those rewards. And for many years I only offered one early access chapter per week for one story, and my main stories were never early access (and still aren't, Underline the Black goes up for everyone at the same time - and while that may change in the future, it's definitely unconventional).

I've always been transparent with my readers that with very few exceptions, if they just wait, they eventually get everything for free. But if they want to support this kind of writing and/or enjoy it, and can comfortably afford to send some dollars my way, they can ensure that I can keep writing this way.

I have for a long time offered no exclusive content at all, I believe that can do well, but it's not my preferred way of doing things.

This career has been incredibly reader driven, anon. I would not personally attempt it cold, without a really fantastic readerbase who encouraged me every step of the way in the first place, because I am a cautious, insecure writer who doesn't like to take risks. So I can't give you advice on how to build this career without the support of the readers there in the first place, and I believe the only reason why I had their support was, in part, because of the actual strength of the writing itself. Which isn't to say it's the best, it's not, it's what I needed at the time and it's what a few other people needed, and that's basically how this works.

If you turn up with the writing, and the audience comes, and they want the story, you have the career.

In terms of practical advice - you can introduce original characters in fanfiction, just be aware that readers tend to be hostile by default if they pull any significant 'screen time' away from the fandom characters (and readers are extremely savvy to authors trying to build a financial business through AO3)

It IS daunting, but the good news is you can do a soft launch. You can open a Patreon or Ream account tomorrow and tell no one. You can mess with your graphics and your tier rewards to your heart's content when you don't have any subscribers. Build a buffer of early access/chapters, and make sure you don't overpromise on anything. Whatever you think you can realistically deliver to readers, cut it in half, because the stress of chapter update deadlines every month can really add up and it's a very different landscape to novel releases.

You can take your time, you can build interest slowly.

Remember you can never ever mention any kind of site where you're getting paid inadvertently, sneakily, or directly on AO3. You can't mention Ream, you can't mention Patreon, you can't mention Ko-Fi, you can't go 'learn more about my writing here' and link to those places. You can't mention buy links. You can only mention sites like Tumblr, Linktree, Twitter etc. Places where the point of sale isn't happening. Not doing so risks AO3's Not For Profit status and risks your entire account, and it's not worth it.

I did an interview with Subscriptions for Authors where I actually talk about many of these things so you can watch (or listen to) the podcast here if you're inclined! It also talks about the importance of community-building, gratitude to the readers, and generosity.

I am here because my readers wanted me to be. So I'm very concerned with making sure I can give them the best writing possible within my abilities. This makes me not very suited to offering 'how to start in this career' advice because it was a happy accident. It's hard to teach something I have never done your way myself, anon, because I worry I'd give bad advice. My writing had people turning up, but I'm not sure anything else I did, added much! I think responding to Tumblr asks and replying to every comment helped too! But...I don't know for sure.

But this career path does make me pretty well suited to offering 'how to keep this going' advice, because I've been doing this for ten years. <3333

[brisquad-unit-4402]

idk if you've seen this on twitter but there's an art meme for a winter date that's going around and i thought you might like this

https://vxtwitter.com/uhlillie/status/1731976332467163338

also, thank you so much for your writing! i'm a bit of a lurker but i just wanted to stop by and tell you that in pursuit to and from the sun is my favourite work of yours. that fic solidified my love for luca because i'm so in love with your characterisation of him so much. i love the subtlety of the other unintentionally ignoring him and it's just... really good? it's a favourite trope of mine for characters who need support just not being listened to (and not saying anything) and the consequences of that is always wonderful.

in any case, thank you very much for writing what you write! please do take care of yourself, esp in these trying times (finals, work, holiday obligations, etc)!!

it might be bc i just went silly mode on the $5 dollariest cup of coffee i've ever had, but anon i need you to understand i let out the heftiest most tone-accurate y i p p e e ! known to man the second i read the luca thing

and also AUUUUGH. TAICHOUUUUUUU. UUEEEEUEUEU EUE E he's so cute i need to punt him into the sun

anyways YESSSSS i mean it i do i do! i love when people pick up on how luca behaves and is treated in that fic i do! i don't know if i'll stop being proud of it, even once my writing ability and subtlety improves. ik it's not a great literary classic or anything but i love when i make my writing, fanfic especially, have more depth than initial read. especially since i'm an x reader blog. especially especially when i put aside the time to write big chonky fics like in pursuit.

in a way you could say the bit about the rest of luxiem + reader treating him like an inanimate object to be protected is an allegory for fans babying the livers since that was a thing when i began drafting that fic. cool if you do cool if you don't. ultimately the way i neglected to write his character is a reflection of how the rest of the cast neglected to actively listen to him. i ended up writing a digetic narrator—an unreliable one!—before i learned what diegetic even means lol

i guess you could say that's one of the reasons why it's your favorite trope! because it forces the reader to explore why the lack of attention to these characters causes them to become the way they are, and then analyze the fallout to the cause; especially when the rest of the cast is caught unawares that they haven't been acting as good as they thought. that tends to become inevitable regardless if the author intended it to be a part of the narrative. or, like, not, i'm not here to tell you what to like about your favorites, that's up to you. i think it's times like these where it gets a little too obvious that i'm not a criminal justice graduate like the rest of my colleagues in vsf.

i think i should stop talking before one of the higher-ups can identify which private has been using the computers for rpf again.

a great big thank you anon. i had to go have a big happy yell bc this ask was so sweet and thoughtful. be safe as well! and happy and at your best this winter! i appreciate you muchly