#if you're A Writer it tends to be hard to RESIST you just get an itch to tell a story

[benevolenterrancy]

Scholarly peak is catching up on recent literature

[moonlightspencie]

Taking your Marauder Boyfriend (writer's choice) home to meet your muggle parents?

YAY. this is so cute (will be james because he was #1 on my poll teehee)

james potter x gn!reader

----------------

"So... am I not allowed to use magic at all?"

You quirked a brow, looking at your boyfriend. James tended to be a little dramatic, but asking this question for the hundredth time as you were on your parents' porch was a bit much.

"You can handle not whipping out your wand for two days," you replied.

He smirked. "Which one? Either way that might be hard for me."

"Ew! Shut up," you whispered loudly.

"What?" he laughed. "They can't hear me."

You groaned. "No wand, no sex, no... just be normal, babe. I am begging."

"Fine," he pouted, reaching for your hand. "They know you're magical, I don't see why I can't just⎼"

"It freaks them out, babe."

"That's silly."

"You're silly."

He smiled a little, dropping his head on top of yours. You shook your head a bit, then straightened up as your mom came to the door.

"Hi, honey!" she beamed, reaching for you.

You let her give you a tight hug, then stepped back and grabbed James's hand again.

"Mom... this is James," you smiled.

"Nice to meet you," he said to your mom, giving her a shy smile.

"Nice to meet you, too, dear. Come in, come in!" she exclaimed, taking a step back to let you in the house. "Dad and I have been so excited for you two to come home."

You laugh. "Yeah?"

"Of course. You know how much we miss you when you're away."

"I know, mom. But I can't exactly do my whole magical thing when I'm here."

She shivers, her dramatics not far off from James's. If that behavior was any indicator, they'd get along just fine.

"Still freaky. I can't believe you can just... hm," she chuckles a little nervously. She was always a bit weird about magic. She glanced at James. "And you're able to do all of that too, yes?"

"Yes, ma'am," James nodded quickly. "But fear not, I was already debriefed not to do any magic while we're here."

"Well, good. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, dear."

"It's okay," he smiled brightly, squeezing your hand lightly.

And all was going well, too, until your mom insisted on showing James their new home theater in your old bedroom. It wasn't terribly showy, but they had a huge television and some comfortable chairs. You hadn't taken into consideration, though, that James wasn't exactly attuned to muggle appliances and technology.

"Whoa," his eyes went wide as your father showed him around the room. "And you all think magic is strange?"

"Babe," you say with wide eyes.

Your dad laughs, patting your arm. "Its, okay, sweetheart. You... you really don't have television?"

You shake your head. "Not usually. I got us a small one for our apartment, but... nothing like this."

"Now this is magic," James mumbles as your mom starts queuing up the movie. He glances back at you. "You sure I can't do a little?"

"No, love..."

"Can you make popcorn with a wand?" your dad teases.

"Yeah," James answers honestly.

Your dad quirks a brow, speaking quietly. "As soon as mom isn't looking..."

James laughs happily, squeezing your hand tightly.

"Knew they'd love me," he mutters to you smugly, though not without humor.

"We've still got a whole weekend, babe," you remind him.

"It'll be a breeze. Who could resist my charm?" He winks.

[fun-k-board]

Hey, could I request Bi Han/Sub Zero romantic headcannons with a male reader who is his right hand man and childhood friend?

Bi-Han / Sub-Zero with a boyfriend who's his childhood friend

Note(s) : I'm gonna be honest, I don't really like him, but I want to try and be a better writer by writing about characters I don't like. Please, give me critiques on how I wrote him!

First of all, he was incredibly moody as a child already, not exactly of his own volition having a dad like his would ruin any kid, so if you can't handle people who are mean on purpose? You'd have a REALLY hard time getting along with him.

Bi-Han was always brooding, in the corner with a frown, he eats with a frown, sleeps frowning, talks to his brother's frowning, the only time he's ever smiling is either in private or when it's just him and Kuai Liang, but it doesn't happen that often any more after his dad died.

To befriend him, you'd either need to be a part of the Lin Kuei, either born into the clan, maybe the son of one of the lower Lin Kuei members, or found and taken in by the clan, or somehow be involved with one of the Lin Kuei's missions.

It's a long and slow process, but even just talking to him once a day will eventually gain a semblance of trust, it'll be hard to show it, and he mostly does by standing next to you and sometimes agreeing with you, but these things will take time.

By your teenage years, you two began training together, maybe he tends to be a little rougher than other Lin Kuei, and maybe he's broken your nose once, twice, possibly even thrice before, but he did apologise, eventually.

He would confide in you about troubles with his brothers, well, he insists that Smoke isn't a brother and more like a stray even though that's just not true, but Bi-Han would be awkward and reserved about talking with you.

He feels that this isn't your business, and not only that, he feels like you just... Wouldn't get it? While he understands you may have issues of your own, his situation is rather unique.

His troubles mainly consist of Kuai Liang and Tomas upholding tradition, Bi-Han believes that his brothers view tradition higher than him, and even though he's grandmaster, that they don't take his opinions into account.

Of course, this is ludicrous, his brothers follow his every word and typically offer little resistance, though, if you try to tell him that he will just storm off and claim he was right all along and that you don't understand. He'll eventually come to his senses and realise what you said was true, but, won't apologise.

If you agree with him, or at least say you do, he'll murmur a gruff complaint about his brother's and then you'll sit in silence for a while.

By the time MK1 rolls around, he's fairly jaded, he doesn't like talking to his own brothers, he dislikes them a fair amount actually, but he still loves them, or, at least he holds love in his heart for Kuai, he still hates Smoke.

Bi-Han doesn't know exactly what he feels for you, he knows it's not friendship, but at the same time, he's never really had friends before, so, he can't be sure. All he understands is that he values you, and more importantly, your opinion, if you disagree with him it may hurt his pride, but please, stay firm, he comes around eventually, only with you.

He wants to wait for something, that maybe proves you may love him, because when that rolls around, he can fully decide whether to act on his emotions or not.

You most likely accompany the trio to stop Shang Tsung, and you'll most likely be there when Bi-Han betrays the Lin Kuei. Obviously, you choose to stay with him, and, it breaks Smoke and Scorpions heart, they may not have known you too well, but, they knew you were one of the only things that would stop him from going down that path.

In a way, you both failed them that day.

Now, after proving your loyalty to him, you're basically his right hand man and oversee a lot of the clan, you train young and old recruits, you maintain a harsh schedule everybody is expected to follow, you help Bi-Han with whatever he needs, and sometimes need to force him to take a day off.

By the way, he won't let you say his actual name, you always have to either call him Sub-Zero or Grandmaster, depending on if you're on a mission or not, his name is personal to him, a core part of his identity, and, until you're closer, he feels awkward letting you call him Bi-Han.

During this, he becomes even more angry, even more distant, even with you, and it may take pushing, reminding him of your childhood spent together, for him to crack.

He won't come crying into your arms, he doesn't beg for forgiveness or want any, he just sits there, and begins to rant. He rants about how he feels like, if he was a better grandmaster, his brothers would have joined him, if he was a better grandmaster, maybe he wouldn't have joined Shang Tsung, and wouldn't have been tempted by his lies.

You hold a hand to his shoulder, and you confess, you tell him what you think about him, how you feel about his temptation into evil by Shang Tsung, and even though he doesn't want forgiveness, you give it.

And, with permission, you hold his hand. It's a small step, but, it's the most contact you two will have together for a long time.

Now, he gives you small smiles in private, nothing wide, but something so tiny it's hard to differentiate from not having an expression at all, he gives you some time off, more than he gives himself, anyway, and more importantly? He feels himself relaxed around you.

Telling a joke that would once make him scoff and walk away now makes him let out a gruff and amused noise, it's a mix between a laugh and breath of air, and he only does it for you.

Dinners with him are less awkward, when before you would sit in silence, hesitantly taking bites from food. You two now chat quietly about your day, each recruit, and sometimes about each other. You can actually enjoy the food and his presence.

He lets you call him Bi-Han now, not in public, but, when you two are alone, in a hallway, in your rooms, having dinner or breakfast privately, whichever situation calls for you two to be alone, he lets you call him by his name, and, it makes him feel vulnerable. It makes him feel loved.

He's always held your opinion in high regard, but now, it's honestly the only one that matters besides his own, and he does, silently, hope you aren't so tempted by power like he is.

Bi-Han may take longer to kiss or cuddle you than what most would consider normal, he loves you, he knows he does now, but, he's nervous, no, he's afraid. He knows he's a rough man, and he knows how uncaring and even violent he is and can come across as, so, naturally, he tries to avoid the subject. He doesn't want to do anything without your consent, but he's also far too afraid to ask.

It will take you to ask him, you'll need to make the first move, and when you do ask him for that first kiss, he gives you that small, hardly noticeable smile, and you both lean in, closing your eyes...

It's awkward. Maybe you know how to kiss, maybe you don't, but Bi-Han definitely doesn't, and, it shows. He feels slightly embarrassed at how lost he is, but, you two can learn together, and even just telling him, hey, maybe it wasn't the best, but, we can learn together, lifts his spirits an unnatural degree.

For the next week, the schedules become less strict for most Lin Kuei members, and any mess ups are met with less harsh, but still kind of harsh, punishments.

Kissing is basically ingrained into your schedule now, once in the morning on the cheek before breakfast, maybe once at lunch if it's a tough day, and always a peck on the lips at night before bed.

It takes less time to cuddle if you've already kissed before, sure, it still takes a bit long, but, so do most things with this man. Maybe it starts with holding his hand, or, sitting on his bed and talking about things, training gets hard sometimes, so perhaps you're just a bit tired.

You look up at him and quietly ask if you can just lay down for a while, or, maybe you just lay down yourself and wait for any objections, either way, he lets you lay down, and eventually, lays down next to you. Your hands hold each other tightly, your head is resting on his shoulder and it feels strangely perfect, despite how stiff his shoulders are.

This becomes semi natural in your schedule, but only after a long day, cuddling each other until you or him are on the brink of sleep, and then you return to your bed. You two still sleep in separate beds, that's just how he prefers things, no matter how much he trusts you, it's just more comfortable.

I'd recommend cuddling in summer, because, he's insanely cold and the winter is not at all suited for cuddle sessions between you two.

It takes a bit for you two to start calling each other 'boyfriend', not because Bi-Han doesn't consider you his lover, and therefore boyfriend, but because he sort of just assumes that kissing, cuddling, all of that, makes you together automatically, and, he doesn't like announcing his relationships.

It's not like he's embarrassed of you, he seriously isn't, but, you're the only person who sees the vulnerable side of him, and he prefers to keep it that way. None of the other Lin Kuei members, god forbid any one else, deserves to know your relationship with each other.

Dates are rare, extremely rare, you two have major responsibilities within the clan, and, Bi-Han doesn't trust anybody enough for them to run it while you two are away, so, the most date-like thing you'll experience is eating dinner together after every one has had theirs and left.

[sashiavi]

Bear Shane insisting on cuddle time every day... He doesn't appreciate someone interrupting his time with you, this old man needs his naps

BearHybrid!Shane has my heart ♡

This might have gotten out of hand- this man consumes my brain and I went o f f on a tangent - hopefully it's legible :')

Warnings : Pure Fluff | smut writer attempts fluff | BearHybrid!Shane | this could be bad- | cuddling | alludes to sex occurring - aftercare |

additional message : 18+ minors please do not follow - my blog is not a safe space for minors - thank you ♡

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Bear Shane is so soft - Literally - His body just made for big, warm, squeezing hugs. Bear Shane has filled out a little with age - and with other habits he'd cut out - Body still strong enough to lift haybales and chop hefty chunks of firewood, tough muscle hidden behind a man who eats and treats himself well.

Cuddling with him is always a treat, sweeter than molasses - and he can't keep himself off of you - You wonder if your heart beats so hard and fast from love- or if you're having a sugar rush from the deep syrupy way he whispers confessions into your ear.

"Lovin' you so much, Doll.." His voice is low, grumbling, tinged in a soft drawl unique to The Valley. Bear Shane paws over your skin in rhythmic caresses, a little clumsy with a heavy hand, and yet still sending soft shivers down your spine and to your toes never the less.

One way or another, you're always in Bear Shane's arms, in his lap, laying on his chest, always touching him in some form.

Bear Shane nestles you in his lap, reclined and relaxed in an arm chair, hand feeding you snacks you prepared together earlier while the Gridball game drones on the television. He mocks an aeroplane with a pepper popper, playfully popping it in your mouth. His thumb comes up to wipe a stray stain off sauce off of the corner of your mouth - and he licks it up with a smack of his lips. He can't help but chuckle at the face you give him, all too cute and scrunched up with faux disgust. His smile is goofy, nose nuzzling against your own, foreheads pressed together for just a moment, a sloppy wet kiss pressed to your cheek just to get another silly reaction out of you. His bear ears twitch and wiggle, following the teasing and goofy smile plastered on his face.

The hours after Bear Shane sends you into pure syrup sweet bliss in the bedroom are always the softest. After a wash and dry of your bodies, feeling soft and clean, back bundled up under the cool sheets of your bed. Bear Shane beckons you to him, big arms outstretched for you to fall into. He lays on his back, holding you to his body, watching your head rise and fall with his breathing. You can't help it- laying on his chest. Swollen pecs built from muscle and fat, skin warm, decorated in a decent sheen of dark hair- and his heart, pumping behind his ribcage, thumbing in your ear as you nuzzle and kiss him.

Yoba, the twinkle in your eye makes the moment all the more golden- glazed and sleepy dazzled in the soft lamp light, carefully brightening the room from the bedside table. You were warm, so warm on his skin, eyes warm for him, bathed in a room of warm golden light, kissed sweet in a honey glaze.

"Yer' my Sunshine," His voice is low, rasped with exhaustion and a huff of amusement, purposely saying such corny things to make your nose wrinkle for him to kiss.

Bear Shane is big on his afternoon naps. The man was tired from doing his duty on the farm; Tending to the chickens, tidying their coop with utmost care. Harvesting the tree tappers for maple syrup, trying is very best to resist just a little teeny taste of the forbidden nectre - lest you scold him for it. Last time he looked like a kicked baby cub, ears droopy, lips pouted, his teddy bear eyes eventually got him out of it. Poor Bear Shane dregs himself inside, gobbling up his afternoon lunch with you, wiping off a stray stain of muck and soot off of your cheek with a wet cloth while you wash up the dishes.

Exhaustion lays thick in his bones, he practically has to man-handle you from running out the door, coddling you up in a big bear hug. It's all giggles and smooches though, as he drags the both of you to the lounge or the bed, wrapping his thick arms around your torso and stuffing his face in the back of your neck. He can't help but place a big, wet kiss on your skin, his prickly stubble scrapping gently over the spot. His laugh is goofy, arms squeezing you tight for just a moment when you whine and visibly shiver at the sensitive tickling.

His bear ear flicks when the sound of the farm house door rasps with a knock. His thick brows furrow, lips coming to a town turned frown, exasperated when you shift to leave. He cooes a dramatic 'noooo', arms caging you in comically, rolling over, dragging you with him while you giggle and fein protest.

When you finally answer the door, the poor visitor jumps in surprise when they find a sleepy Bear Shane hanging over your shoulder, chin tucked against your neck, honey brown eyes glaring up at the intruder.

"Whadaya' want.." He grumbles, earning a soft smack on his hip. When the visitor states their business Bear Shane blissfully ignores them, using their boring droning voice to slowly doze back into your neck. He breathes in deep, savouring the subtle twinge of sweetness coming off of your skin- maybe your honey milk soap, or the pretty vanilla perfume you put on thay day- whatever it was it was golden behind his eyes, melting his heart down into syrup- strong enough to flavour anything in your life with his love.

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Was this corny? It feels corny- confession: it's been probably 8 years since I have written just fluff- go easy on me ♡ and pls lmk how I could improve if I can!

shane my love, my mess, my chunkins- my heart blooms for him~

My inbox is very very full right now- thank you for all the wonderful ideas :)) I will do my best to catch up on them ♡

Bear Shane is May-pal serrup coded

[gffa]

Hi Lumi. This year I’ve watched The Clone Wars, Rebels, Mandalorian, Book of Boba Fett, and Tales of the Jedi and I’m watching Ahsoka as episodes are released. But I feel like I’m missing some context as to why people are wary of Filoni. What things should I know so I’m caught up, so to speak, in the fandom discussions?

Hi! That's a lot of Star Wars to watch in a year, I hope you're having fun with it all! And I will gently remind everyone that Filoni is not the be-all-end-all of Star Wars creators--Henry Gilroy was there for TCW and Rebels, too. George Lucas was holding writers' meetings years after the show started (at least into 2010!). The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett are far more Jon Favreau's shows. The Bad Batch is Brad Rau and Jennifer Corbett. Resistance was developed by him, but was run by other producers. It's just that Filoni tends to get the most camera time and has become the face of Star Wars creators. That said, the issue with Filoni is kind of two-pronged, though, they overlap. 1. He's done a lot of interviews where he's said a lot of anti-Jedi things that have drifted from reasonable critiques in the beginning to eventually "Qui-Gon Jinn was the only true Jedi. [blatantly wrong citations]" This has put a lot of people off him as a creator, because we love the Jedi Order that Lucas talks about and established, which Filoni has actively contradicted over the years, despite being promoted as someone who follows Lucas' themes. And it's hard not to be aware of his interviews when watching his shows and it's hard to enjoy shows that do your faves dirty, you know? 2. His writing has become weaker over the years for a lot of us--Rebels is a show most of us love and found to be incredible. Many of us really love The Clone Wars, which he was heavily involved in/was probably the central voice after Lucas started phasing out. But his biggest story told over the course of those series--basically, the story of Mandalore's history and fall to the Empire--has been extremely thin for a lot of us. And a lot of us get frustrated at his inability to be objective when it comes to Ahsoka's character, that we love her as a character very much, but it hasn't felt like Filoni really knows what to do with her character arc and yet almost everything he writes is centered around her. His final season of The Clone Wars? Gave her the walkabout arc and the Siege of Mandalore arc, both of which often did not hold up well under scrutiny. His episode of The Book of Boba Fett? I actually really loved it, but it absolutely just stopped the pacing of that show to focus a lot on her. More on Luke, but he couldn't resist putting her in there, either. Tales of the Jedi was half devoted to Ahsoka and so much of it wasn't even about her time as a Jedi! We're frustrated because he doesn't set things up well anymore--Morgan Elsbeth is a Nightsister?? Why wasn't that established in The Mandalorian instead of pulling out randomly in Ahsoka? Why does Sabine Wren suddenly so badly want Jedi training, when they barely even had a conversation in Rebels?? There's a lot of good that Filoni has given to Star Wars, I think he genuinely cares about the Force and what it means--he's very consistent on how it's not easy and how it takes discipline and control, that he has been consistent on how anger and fear are paths to the dark side, even his episode of TBOBF had Ahsoka saying, yeah, attachment is a path to the dark side, because the Jedi mean "attachment" in a more Buddhist-aligned way. A lot of his writing for the character of Ahsoka is actually pretty good, like I've been enjoying her being a prickly, traumatized hot mess in the show! It's just that I kind of hate all the interviews he gives and I think he's a lot less objective than a lot of fans and media coverage that would hold him up as a perfect writer/interviewee about all things Star Wars, and it all comes together to make him kind of a hot-button topic.

So, a lot of people LOVE Filoni's work, a lot of people are frustrated by it, a lot of people are casually fine about it, a lot of people HATE Filoni's work and it can be a fun mix of any of the above or even other issues that come up. (And that's all fine! I have my views on Filoni's work, but it's fine if others hate it more than I do or love it more than I do, there's room for us all, all of it is valid.)

But I think if you want to understand some of the roots of this corner of fandom's frustration, two (admittedly long as heck) homework assignment reads would be:

- My own rebuttal to Dave's behind the scenes Mandalorian Gallery talk (this is jokingly referred to as "Davegate" because I refused to take it too seriously) - @david-talks-sw's collection of comparisons between Lucas' commentary on the Jedi and Filoni's commentary on the Jedi

This response itself is more focused on laying out the problems a lot of people have with Filoni's writing, but also honestly I still have my giant collection of Jedi source material citations that quotes his commentary, I still bring up Filoni's quotes in current meta a lot, I still talk positively about the things I enjoy from his shows, so overall there's equal amounts of both praise and criticism here. So, as short as I can make it (which isn't very, shut up, I know! XD), that's basically what people mean when they say they're wary of Filoni.

[togglesbloggle]

I've noticed a lot less... consistency? Plot? Worldbuilding? In many of the more popular video games ever since I stopped chasing the latest AAA sensations. More than once I've made the mistake of asking what a game is 'about' only to get blank looks- I'm making a category error even by asking the question!

Here I'm thinking especially of the 'mega-hit' games like Fortnite, Dead by Daylight, that sort of thing; Overwatch is famously not even canon to itself. Though there's plenty of the type at all levels of popularity, especially among imitators of the heavyweights. They tend to stream well, so they build big fanbases on Twitch and so on, and often involve quick (~15-25 minute) pvp matches in a bounded arena. But there's a decent amount of variation within the 'lore-light' type; I bet most of the new Vampire Survivor microgenre probably qualifies from what I've seen. Even Minecraft might, if you're feeling expansive.

Anyway, I try to resist the impulse to Kids These Days about it- it's not like games with plot and worldbuilding stopped being made, after all, and BG3 proves that there's still voracious appetite for more elaborate constructions. And besides, these arena games have obvious inheritance from classic multiplayer shooters like Halo and Quake, even Goldeneye, so it's been coming for a long time, almost as long as digital gaming has been a thing. They just... stopped bothering to include the single player campaign, so to speak.

Actually, I think it's probably a side effect of video games getting more and more culturally mainstream across my lifespan. Try this thesis on for size: The more mainstream that electronic gaming becomes, the more it comes to resemble sports. Or maybe the reverse! Maybe you can triangulate towards millions upon millions of fans by deeply intuiting interesting things about the nature of sports, and using digital media to explore that landscape in unexpected ways. This is, genuinely, a really interesting trend to me- this thing where many of the elements that I personally enjoy most in games become, sort of, just different-colored jerseys on a small squad of players that are here primarily to test their virtuosity against some opponent.

They tell me that much of the fun of sports is in the narrative, but it's an emergent narrative between the teams and players themselves, something that flows from the contest itself rather than some writer in a studio somewhere. All this seems like a really interesting sort of thing to enjoy, and I'm fascinated by the thought that there's some giant mass of humanity that eternally finds its way back to this participatory storytelling style, no matter how hard the Tolkiens of the world build their own de novo narratives systematically.

[olderthannetfic]

https://www.tumblr.com/olderthannetfic/748698755825582080/since-weve-been-on-the-same-topic-for-quite-some?source=share

From my experience, it's both the projection stuff + cis writers responding to what's popular in fandom, but I also think some of it is because when trans fic started getting really popular, you had a lot of trans BNFs in various fandoms who insisted that writing these characters a particular way was THE right way to do it or you're offending them personally. I think that tends to be disproportionately likely with people who prefer pre-op or non-op vs. prefer post-op or don't care, both because if you care more you're angrier about it, but also people in the first category are more likely to be newly out (and thus in that obsession with their identity stage that plagues every LGBTQ+ person when we first come out) and younger and more online. So they're more likely to fit into the demographic of "people who obsess over what fic other people are writing" or "antis" in general.

I remember in Yuri on Ice fandom circa 2017-18, there was this one newly out pre-op trans guy who projected hard on to Yuuri and therefore insisted that any fic with cis Yuuri was hurting him personally. But it went beyond that.... Yuuri also had to be a bottom, because he was a bottom, and also this guy seemed to think that having a vagina meant you were automatically a bottom if your partner had a dick? Which made the whole thing kind of funny in a way... imagine declaring yourself the spokesperson for all trans men in your fandom (which he clearly did see himself as that, he clearly saw what he was saying as the One Right Way To Do Transmasc Rep) and yet being seemingly unaware that strap-ons are like, a thing that exists in the world, lol. That pegging exists. (Or at least, it would've been funny if he wasn't an obnoxious anti who harassed people, and had this parasocial fixation on someone who wrote a lot of bottom Yuuri and age-reversal Victuuri which he decided was the absolute worst thing for some reason.)

So just from that, I do have to wonder if some of these patterns in writing trans fic are just more popular vs. they're baked into fandom because some obnoxious individuals in a variety of fandoms (because he definitely wasn't the only person and YOI wasn't the only fandom where I saw that shit, though he was the worst) at a particular time were insisting that was the one right way to do things.

I was able to resist what he was saying even though I'm cis, just because I've had enough trans guy friends IRL to know that what he was describing as the One Right Way to Write Trans Sex is suuuuuper dysphoria inducing for a lot of trans men. Like, a lot of people who write M/M trans fanfic would be floored at how many pre-op trans men find that PIV is just completely off-the-table for them. They don't want to be penetrated at all, at least in the vagina. So much trans fic treats PIV as the gold standard. Like, it's weird to think gay trans men wouldn't be into butt stuff as much as cis gay men are? Am I the only person who thinks it's kinda weird how often that's assumed?

I have no idea what the state is like for trans women in F/F - even though I read a lot of F/F, there seems to be way less trans fic for whatever reason, even the stuff written by trans women IME seems to prefer to focus on cis women or at least women who both have vaginas - but while I've known fewer of them than trans men who just really don't want to use their vaginas during sex, a fair number of trans women just really don't want to use their penises during it either. Like, people, there's a reason that "bottom surgery" exists.

--

[thewatercolours]

OK, continuing @telthor's shop talk questions, because I'm no longer falling asleep and striving too hard to answer questions precisely.

What's your favourite trope?

... resisting the urge to read the entirety of TV Tropes just to make sure I answer accurately. Um, taking this question in the sense it was undoubtedly meant, where favourite doesn't necessarily mean ultimate favourite for time and eternity, and I will not be held to my answer in this life or the next, and also in the sense of tropes I actually use recurrently in fic, here are a few:

Being royal is really tricky and intertwines with relatable human struggles in interesting ways.

Quality time! (and by extension: Just being there for someone is worth so, so much, even if you have no solutions to offer)

Something's gradually messing with your memory/mind

You are more loved than you can make yourself believe.

You are sleepy. You're soooo sleeeeeepy

Let's scaffold the worldbuilding just a tiny bit. Turns out everyone's jobs are multi-faceted, your own backyard is bigger than you think, the world carries on regardless of you, traditions exist, consequences ensue.

Don't make decisions from a place of shame or fear

Now dance.

What if we somehow played "surprisingly realistic outcome" and "cartoon physics" in the same scene?

Your worst fears are worth facing

(Poor but earnest attempts at) Fridge brilliance/rewatch bonus

You love your found family AND your birth family! Awesome! You don't need either/or?

Let me return to the subject, yet again (I know,) of that one time that you turned green

You're not a failure

Flailing, blushing, pushing aside the sharp comments you could have made, emphasizing every word, scowling, gasping, doing something gingerly/gingering as a verb. Just, just, just, just, just, word of all time, just. And did I mention we are going to express all this in the wordiest, most pretentious way we can? If it's not dialogue only!

You wear pajamas in canon, but not under my roof! Here you get a nightshirt, always! Because for some reason, in this anachronism stew, pajamas are the historical "error" that I can't bring myself to write.

What do you love and dislike about writing in general?

I love honouring God through the glory of creativity (which imitates Him) the sheer fun of it, getting to combine something I enjoy inm itself with my desire to storytell, the community aspect, the satisfying breakthroughs, all the brainstorming fun from conversations to music, revisiting my own writing and really enjoying it, feeling like a writer even though my original novel is languishing, encouraging comments, taking people by surprise with my writerly moments and schemes I hate lack of motivation, some aspects of my writing voice/lack of skill, moments when I'm tempted to make it all about my ego and then only just barely get pulled out of that bog like Frodo falling into the dead marshes in

Where do you get your ideas?

From a little shop in Schenectady! ;-) Well, there's three main ways, I suppose, from worst to best.

"Riding the Coattails." This often happens when I'm still feeling the rush of getting a comment, and I just want to do it all over again. This usually involved sitting down and deciding in a rather workaday fashion, "Which character would I enjoy writing about? What feel do I want to come out of the scene? What's a scenario that would bring up that feeling? What would contrast with other recent scenes?" You would think this rational, thinking based approach would lead to the best thought-out scenes, but it usually doesn't, because at the back of it all is a smidge of impatience to have it done and posted. These are the ones I bang out in one evening, tend to be careless with, and don't actually leave a strong impression on me. I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with this approach, but it leaves a lot to be desired (and if I'm not careful, can wander by the perilous border of a validation mindset.)

"Riffing." This is my most common way of stumbling into ideas. This comes from mentally playing with concepts I'm already enthusiastic about - from game, from fanon, from a piece of art, from previous scenes I've done. Daydreaming how things might continue, exploring emotional consequences, explaining throwaway lines, just wanting to write more of this dynamic or that and putting them under the daydream microscope. Just riffing off things until something demands to get written.

"Leafmeal." I think it was Tolkien who said absolutely everything you put into your mind becomes part of a compost heap and eventually flowers kind of spring out of it spontaneously? And all the influences in that heap just blend together and you can't really tell what grew what? I am worse than I used to be at letting myself get bored, but when I do, leafmeal ideas that don't seem like simple riffs eventually show up. Some examples that came without any conscious attempt to daydream: the image of Graham having a human hand and an inhuman hand, sitting on top of a lift (how did the elevator come into it? I don't know.); the tollbooth itself; a fairy narrating the process of falling asleep in second person (we're not there yet, but you can fill in the blanks.)

[yinyuedijun]

Ao3 also heavily relies on tagging. Those multi-chap multi-fandom reader things have tons of tags. Unfortunately, if you're anything like me, once it comes time to tag... it's like someone asking your favorite song 😅. Like I was working through your ao3 a bit ago because I was worried old blog links wouldn't work well on mobile and ie I think you didn't have omega aventurine tag in night flower (sorry if I'm misremembering)? And technically that's a searchable tag that might have gotten you more hits because it's both searchable and relatively niche.

Just tagging is a huge help. There are tags for specific relationship dynamics, au's/Canon divergences that are popular, different nsft acts/positions/knks, tropes of course... however it can be hard to know which ones are searchable unless you're on ao3 enough. I wonder if anyone has ever made a guide? I also know for sure that tagging characters separately from the ship "/" tag helps.

And multi-chapter stuff does get more hits because you go to the top of the date sorted options more times. I have a lot of one-shots on my account (from cross-posting) and I'm pretty sure the reason any of them got over 1k is because I'm writing for rarer characters in a larger fandom or for a large fandom that still has surprisingly few fics (oh naruto). The only one I've got that has more is both complete and I restricted myself from posting all chapters at once even though I wanted to be done with it. And yeah, unfortunately, unless your fandom is so niche you end up on the last few pages of a search or the fic gets so popular you end up in the first few, fics tend to get buried after a few weeks.

Tl;dr more tags are better because it lets people find you from many different angles! But there is some fandom-characteristic stuff that tends to either help or hurt depending on where you are.

... and there's a lot of meh fics in the top spots of many fandoms 😅 just because of the numbers game (complete, multi-chap, popular fan ship etc). I read your piece! It's good and has that mao panache 🥰, I liked it even though world references go over my head since I've not seen the show. Don't let the numbers get you down 💜 you're a really great writer! It sucks when effort doesn't seem to reflect the reaction (also kudos are famously low, good-normal is about 10% of your hits and you *might* get 1-5% comments of kudos based on whether that fandom is chattier/ more social with each other) but I hope you know we still appreciate having fun with you 🤗

hi anon!!! omg thank you so much for that ao3 breakdown/guide haha it's quite useful! I have actually gotten this specific comment from ao3-only readers before - they always tell me to add more tags because it would have helped them find my fics sooner! I think I will take the advice to heart, but it may take a while because I'm quite resistant to over-tagging (I don't like spoilers in tags ALFJSKSSJK). once I get to the smut in this fic I will defs be tagging every single sex position though 🫡

it is funny how even on ao3 we run into the phenomenon where top interactions =/= top quality (speaking generally, ofc there's stellar fics out there with tons of interactions). I guess whether you are on social media or on an archive, it always becomes a metrics game in the end rip

and thanks for the encouragement on my current fic, I appreciate it a lot!!! 🥺 I also super appreciate you reading the fic despite not knowing the world, like that must be MEGA confusing for an asoiaf universe fic LMAO. "mao panache" made me giggle WAHAHHWFKJS I'm not sure what it is but I'm glad you enjoy it !!!

[ospreyeamon]

So, at the risk of sounding incredibly heretical to Stars Wars as a whole, I’d like to ask this. What’s your opinion on the various force traditions, their beliefs, and the aspects of the force that draw upon? Are they all valid ways for a force adept to live by within reason or is one way or the other? Personally I tend to say that they are, it just ultimately down to the individual who decides what they use their gifts for.

Star Wars as a whole has soft worldbuilding and the Force is very much a soft magic system. For a soft magic system, it generally pays not to give a lot of hard answers about what it is and how it works. They tend to depend strongly on things like emotion and intent which are difficult to pin down. I think that's why the Force is considered so resistant to scientific study; it's like if you set out to study physics and immediately encountered Wave-Partial Duality. This force changes its behaviour depending on where you are, what you want, and what mood you're in? What a pain to analyse. So, I don't think any Force-tradition or philosophy should be set up as definitely correct because a soft magic system presents best with a certain level of mystery or ambiguity left about its workings.

The way I think of it, the different traditions are different cultural lenses through which the Force is viewed. They are all observing the Force, interacting with the Force, thinking about the Force. But the Force is vast and complex and contradictory; it's not at all something that can be neatly narrowed down into something easily digestible. All the traditions are based upon the reality of the Force but are incapable of capturing that reality in its totality. True understanding is striven for, but never reached.

The Jedi and Sith both model the Force as having two aspects, but the Voss don't. Are the Light-side and Dark-side of the Force things that objectively exist, or is that just a useful short-hand to communicate that the Force exhibits differing behaviour in the presence of differing levels of emotion? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

And that's not even bringing ethics and morality – source of ten-thousand flame-wars – into it. If there's one thing I am sure about when it comes to the Force, it is that the Light-side and Dark-side aren't the Good and Evil aspects of it. Good and Evil are just useful short-hands to bundle concepts for discussions of ethics, morality, and right-behaviour (which is why getting everyone to agree about how to define them is a futile cause). We invented them like we invented honour and justice.

The Dark-side is the aspect of rage, but rage may come in response to an unjustified killing. Rage recognises injury and unfairness, real as well as perceived. The Dark-side is the aspect of fear, but fear may come in response to the risk that other people could suffer. Fear warns against danger. I think there is a reasonable argument to be made that the Dark-side of the Force is more dangerous – but even if it were desirable to live a life free of risk, it isn't possible.

When you ask if they are all potentially valid frameworks for a Force-adept to live within, by whose definition of "valid" do we judge? Yours? Mine? Their own cultural tradition's, when all of the traditions have produced more than one? The people who actually have to put up with their behaviour, assuming those people could reach a consensus on the matter?

To give a straight answer, yes, I do agree with what it is I think you're saying.

What I really would like to see from the depictions of the traditions is more nuance and internal diversity. Let the embrace-love vs eschew-attachment (includes bonus arguments about what is love) be ancient conflicting branches of Jedi philosophy, rather than the writer’s preferred interpretation for that particular spin-off. Let the better-to-be-lawful Jedi and better-to-be-good Jedi tussle. Let Sith write off the whole "expunge all vulnerability, only power matters" thing because it obviously conflicts with the "pursue your own goals, screw other's opinions" thing. Let branches of Sith naturally-select away from backstabbing LOL because the known cheaters are outcompeted by cooperative groups over the long-term. Even better, let the Jedi and Sith's societies struggle about how to deal with the fact that they can mind-trick people.

[crisiscutie]

There is stuff I'd like to write about, and I have a lot of ideas, but I find it hard to, one find the motivation to finish writing stuff after I start and two find the time to actually set aside and do it. Do you have any advice for writing when you have the ideas but not the time or motivation. My writing style also tends to be very detail heavy and I've been told I describe the details very clumsily and my first draft a lot of the time and I don't know how to edit to try and fix that. What is your writing process like?

Getting motivation is tough. Taking some time to find that motivation is perfectly normal and okay. Try to shake up your schedule a bit by taking a walk or doing a short-term activity you normally don't do. This will help clear those bad feelings.

As for getting time to do writing: It's possible to make the time for anything you want, you just need to prioritize and schedule accordingly.

Before you forget your ideas for writing, jot down bullet points of those ideas on a document. Chances are that you will, no matter how good your memory is.

When I start to write, I just sit down and brainstorm my ideas. Then, I search for the right words to start the story and keep the train running. I also take the time to research themes I want to focus on and carefully choose words that will make the story a great experience. Remember to write for yourself first, by the way. The pleasure I get from writing my own stories is the same I get from reading similar stories from other writers.

And trust me, resist the urge to edit when you're still drafting. Edit is for later. Just make sure you get the words down first.

When editing, think about how you can be more concise but also still keep the meaning of words. Think about if certain information is necessary or how you can convey it in other ways. It's fine to be detail-oriented in writing, but you wanna make sure every word you write is meaningful and clear.

[iizukuus]

Katsuki calling shouto princess is my favorite genre 😩😭🙌. Thank you for having katsuki call him that in your fics!!! It's so damn precious.

I think you're one hell of a tdbk writer. Just. You get the bare bones of the tdbk. What makes the two work -- you get it. They fit so. fucking. well. And under your skills as a writer, i feel like I've hit a goldmine with this ship.

That said, i feel like tdbk takes a backseat when it comes to other ships like bkdk and tddk -- in popularity and overall fandom fervor. It's not a comfort space (the ship as well as the content, discourse, art, literature, and community that surrounds it) for most. Reading your works only solidifies how much i appreciate what I've found in both bakugou and todoroki as a fictional pair. Just wanted to thank you for that.

x

it is so canon that katsuki would call shouto princess, no tdbktd writer can resist 🥹

oh my goodness!!! wow hi??? this is so incredibly sweet and as a result makes me so incredibly happy!!! i don’t even know what to say :,)

i adore tdbktd because they work!! and when i adore something so much i sometimes like to get to the core / base reason of exactly why??? and so that’s what i accidentally tend to do in my fics and i guess that’s what’s being relayed to my readers!

you’re very right!!! it’s hard to find spaces for people who enjoy - i want to say “only” tdbktd because more often than not they tend to be over shined by a lot of other ships!! (or other characters are thrown in with the pairing) or there’s this thing that happens where people who only stan shouto will ship bktd to spoil and dote on shouto as a character and there’s a bit of top/bottom discourse and it can just get pretty messy and annoying when you just want to read about a relationship / pairing you love!

my exact goal with my fics is to relay the love i have for them and share it with others (because i really do adore them so so sooo much, it’s unhealthy) and it makes me so happy that my work is able to make you express your joy for them!!! that makes my heart so heavy and full, thank you so much!

[caparrucia]

💥

💥 How do you feel about criticism?

I mean...

Okay but jokes aside, I do have thoughts about criticism and fanfic!

Personally, I love criticism. Criticism is not the only way to learn, but it's definitely one of the best and fastest ways to get better. Feedback is awesome and should be encouraged!

But there's the caveat that we're talking about fanfic, and fanfic is primarily a labor of love. People do this shit for fun, and sometimes people forget that.

There's also a difference between criticism and critique, and I feel tumblr is super bad at nuance and understanding the difference. Criticism is aimed at the author, it's made with the expectation the author will see it. You're engaging the author in a conversation because you have opinions about their work and you want them to know it. Whether the opinions are positive or negative doesn't really change the fact you're actively trying to get a reaction from the writer. Critique is aimed at the work. Critique is not necessarily aimed at the writer, nor should it expect a direct response from the writer. Critique is an exercise on the reader's part to contextualize and analyze the work and it's component parts and what its effects are.

The way I look at it is like this:

"The way this fic handles death makes me sad" is criticism, "the way this fic portrays romance is a good example of the recent trend of coffeeshop AUs" is critique.

I think the difference is valid because sometimes you want to say something about a fic in its context, but it's not a comment on the work itself or for the writer to interact with, and yet people insist on throwing it at the writer anyway.

There's a very contested point of view that insists because a work is put out in the open it's free game for criticism and critique, and I don't entirely disagree. If you put your work out there, it's out of your hands and people will interpret and find meaning in it in ways you can't control. If you can't make peace with that, the only option you have is to not publish at all.

But the people who tend to go hard on that stance tend to be the people who like to abuse the concept of criticism to be abusive towards writers under the guise of criticism. So I'm also perpetually resisting the urge to remind people they're hissing and frothing over fanfic, and in the large scale of things, fanfic doesn't matter.

On the other other end of the spectrum, you have critiques about the way fanfic in specific, and on a broader sense, fan culture as a whole, reproduces systemic oppressive structures that other and ostracize fans that aren't white or cis or straight. And those critiques are super valid and important should not be just ignored or demonized as people trying to "censor" fandom. Because it's not about censoring bigotry, and that's what tends to make people frothy. It's not that you're not allowed to write bigotry in your stories. It's that writing bigotry in your stories should ideally be a choice, not an unexplored, unquestioned reflection of your biases.

Fans of color have been particularly loud in explaining how aggressively racist fandom can be, when it comes to pointing out "hey, all those slave AUs you keep churning out are super racist" and people immediately going "this is right wing propaganda trying to silence us all!" Like, critique is a great tool to start conversations about the kind of art we're making, because if fanfic wants to be considered art and people want to keep insisting they're "Hugo winners" because they post in AO3, you kinda have to be open to the idea that critique is part of that legitimized existence. You can't have it both ways: you can't claim fanfic is a niche hobby people do for fun, and also insist that it's a bastion of representation to make up for media censorship.

Mostly I just wish people could take these discussions in good faith.

Me, personally? I try to approach criticism and critique in good faith. But I'm not here to be anyone's punching bag and when people are clearly just in it to be abusive or insist on making me responsible for their choices? (Ie, I clicked on the link and it said there was porn and there was porn in your fic and now I'm traumatized, HOW DARE!) Yeah, no. Fuck that. That's what the block button is for.

[hawkinsschoolcounselor]

Just wanted to swing by and say how much I love your blog! It's rare to get such a grounded, adult perspective on ST. Even rarer for Byler. Blogs run by younger fans are often too modern in their expectations - I've seen people claim Byler will openly date or even marry. In the 80s! And there's a lot of tumblrspeak about "disaster gays" and "smol beans" that just makes me uncomfortable. Maybe I'm too old for it but it feels fetishizing and demeaning of the characters. You're much more respectful

“ I appreciate that would be a divisive thing to post, but I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate you being the adult in the room. You know what you're talking about, and it shows. Even the way you go back and forth on how canon Byler will be matches my own feelings and is refreshingly honest, in a landscape that demands people pick a side and pretend to know it all. It's an annoying feature of Tumblr and I like that you resist it and just give your honest opinions in the moment.” I don’t know if these two Asks are from the same person, but they’re similar and came in around the same time, so I figure I’ll respond to both together.

First, thank you. I appreciate that I can bring a different perspective to the fandom and that you enjoy it.

I make no attempt to be “the adult in the room,” but I do try to be an adult in the room. I feel like everyone has a perspective to bring to the discussion. Some may be, hm, more superficial than others, but I don’t think that makes those posts any less valid, per se. Still, I can see where you’re coming from. I’m not going to condemn the younger fans, as I probably would have been somewhat similar were I still that age, but I would be lying if I said there weren’t posts that I found frustrating and/or counterproductive.

To address concerns specific to the first post, I’ll say that the attitudes of younger Byler fans reflects a modern acceptance of gay teens. I can’t say that I get on board with the terminology, but I can see some nuance behind it. Sometimes it might be minimizing the characters into tropes, but other times it might also be a sort of identification with the characters. If it helps people explore themselves or the world of LGBT identity, then I’m all for it.

At the very least, I don’t think most of those people are trying to be disrespectful. They really don’t have a good understanding of what it would be like to be gay back then, but I see that as a good thing. When I stop to think about it, I feel pretty good seeing that people are so comfortable talking about gay teens that they’ll use such casual language about it. Yeah, it does seem like they don’t take the issues seriously, but that means there’s an opportunity for learning that I hope they’ll take.

Byler may not openly date or marry in the “present” time of the show, but I find it nice that younger fans see it as normal enough to think so. I think older fans such as myself should take that as a point of contrast that tells us that even if Mike and Will would have to be together in secret, the modern climate would allow the writers to show us. Besides, there could always be a epilogue.

Regarding the second post, I think the stubbornness (for lack of a better term) of many people online comes from the fact that we tend to create our own echo chambers. We use tags and join communities to largely target an audience that we think will support us. Dissenting views become less and less common, which results in an echo chamber that serves to reinforce itself. I’m not directing that at any person in particular, rather it’s an observation of social media itself. I actually think Tumblr is a bit better with alternative ideas than, say, Twitter or Reddit.

Still, I think there’s room for improvement. There’s always room for improvement. People can get carried away with criticism or take things too personally, or there can be a combination of the two. We need to be able to disagree without it being personal. I know that I’ve personally adjusted my opinions on many Stranger Things theories based on the thoughts of others here. I thought I was right, but someone else’s take just made more sense and had more support. It didn’t mean that I was stupid, or that the other person was an ass.

I’ve been on the wrong side of it before, though. One time, for example, I pressed someone too hard for more and more support for their theories to the point that they became frustrated with me. I meant no offense, but I still had to accept that I was being a problem, even if I didn’t mean to be. I was simply unconvinced and was hoping they had more to reassure me, but I did a poor job of getting that across. I apologized, and I think we’re still cool, but it was a reminder to me that I can offend without meaning to, and that still warrants an apology and being more careful with my words.

I know some people think changing opinions is a sign of weakness, but I see it as a strength. It’s a sign of intelligence and humility to be able to acknowledge that you’re wrong about something. I started out early on feeling that Byler should be canon, but probably wouldn’t be. Over time, however, through analyzing the show and discussing it with others, I grew to be more confident in it. People were able to show me evidence that I just would not have been aware of had I not come to Tumblr. I’m not the type of person to watch and rewatch scenes to pick them apart or spot the tiniest details, but those who can do that allowed me to use my own skills to get into the psychology of the show.

I think we all have something to add to the conversation if we’re willing to listen in return. I appreciate being called an adult in the room, but I think we all could be if that just means being mindful of one’s words and how they affect others.

[prettyboykatsuki]

You are nice. Really. But I feel like it has more to do with the obsessive nature of your person. The way you describe him to be oblivious to some things, because his focus on others distract him. You kind of give me perfectionist vibes too hilariously enough in terms of writing. Your brain, the way it functions and you talk, it gives me sort of interesting cross wires and the visual of gears shifting and turning, hyper speed. Which gives me Spencer Reed from criminal minds, which thus gives me Izuku. You aren’t deficient at all, but I know you think you are in many ways. You don’t see yourself how people are you, which is another trait you share. I think both of I think your eyes catch people’s behavior and motivation very quickly. Izuku staying tends to be out of genuine goodness in spite of, but you give me this curiosity for “what’s beyond the goodness” and that you’ll probably still like them, probably like them even more, without the perfect. Not the same but fairly similar. I imagine Izuku sort of depraved and very dirty in his head. You too. He’s just guilty for his. Neither of you can resist your desires. The way you both look and breathe Bakugou. I imagine Izuku pretty Dom-like innately when it comes to Bakugou. He tries to tame the feeling, but something about the boy makes it so untameable. He tries to smile and be nice to hide it. You give me similar vibes, you just have more game and will resist the feeling for far shorter time. (Visual of you and Izuku’s eyes darting often to Katsuki’s tits, he’s so mad, but his anger makes them move and you are both so distracted). The way you nerd out too. The nerd in you and Izuku is intense. I love it thought. It keeps us fed. He gives me fanfiction writer too. I imagine the two of you would write with them same eloquence. (Katsuki critically reading over both of your shoulders.) He doesn’t strike me as someone who gets healthy sleep or eats as much as he should either. Unless he has a specific weight goal or something. I think he definitely would be curious of monster. I think he’d lose it if he had as much as you, but he’s not opposed. He can’t dance for shit, but I don’t think he would not appropriate catch a wine either. Not due to talent. Sheer force of will and the embarrassment and intensity in his gut makes his grip fully unbreakable from shawty’s hips. You hearts beat the same. Both in a joking way, but also in a way I feel you underestimate your own kindness. I know being perceived is strange for you, So apologies for going in.

SDKJFSLKDLDS this is a very indepth analysis of my persons and i understand a lot of the similarities? im very tired so i probably cant respond to this super coherently. it's not that i don't think me and deku are similiar. i think on a surface level it makes sense, at least habitually. again i dont think you're the first person to draw this comparison to deku and im sure other people would probably say the same things. i think at the baseline i can understand it and i don't think you're wrong

but i don't really.. relate to deku in anyway still lmao. i feel most of my emotions v internally. and while im scatter brained irl im very analytical and somewhat pragmatic i guess. the biggest thing im considerably more rigid than deku. i'm not saying i don't see the similarities but like i truly and sincerely do not relate to him as a character 💀. i dont relate to his motivations or will at all. i can understand where you'd draw the conclusion from but honestly it probably has more to do w me being nd and me hc'ing him as nd lol. this is a kind analysis but i really dont relate to that man at all which is why he's so hard to write 😭

[pepperf]

Writing questions: *deep breath* 3, 4, 11, 17, 23, 29, 33, 36 *chinhands*

Oh gosh...okay!

3) How would you describe your writing style?

Uh…humour as a distraction, unreliable narrator when I remember to do it, endings that reflect the beginning in a new way (one reason I don't post WIPs is so I can add in foreshadowing once I know what the story is about XD), writing without a lot of specific pre-planning but usually some kind of goal in mind.

4) Do you have any OCs? Do you have a story for them?

Lol – well, yes, but he's a tiny baby so he doesn't really have a plot of his own yet. XD Oh, I have a few people who turn up in fics, and I like to make them come back (lazy writer what?), such as Marija, who Diego is training in the gym and who accidentally destroyed his spleen, and Viv, the lesbian healthcare worker in London who befriended Lila in the 80s and is extremely surprised to meet her again in 2019. I guess I have a few, but they tend to be supporting characters for areas I feel the show hasn't addressed (like FRIENDSHIP, omg, give these people a support network fcol).

11) Three tropes that are fine but overrated.

Hmm. I am, I admit, a little over the coffeeshop AU, but that's maybe because I've read it so much, not because I object to the basic premise. I also don't really go for cop AUs any more, these days. And, um…hmm…I guess I'm not great with the huddling-for-warmth thing, although I have written it? I find the logistics problematic! If it's very cold, I have to look up how hypothermia works again, and then write boring medical stuff - but if it's not that cold, then most of the characters I write are likely to just shake it off and act like they're fine.

17) Past or present tense? Why?

I prefer present tense for fanfic. It is just that much more immediate, it puts you in the middle of the plot and there's less of a feeling of a story being recounted at a later date. I would also say it fits with the kind of genre stuff I'm writing, except that I don't tend to write the spaceships and aliens and explosions part, so that excuse doesn't wash. I just like the feeling that you don't know if this is going to go well or badly, you don't know if they survived, because the story is happening NOW and maybe no one lives to tell the tale.

23) Dialogue or description? Why is the other one so hard?

I prefer dialogue. I don't necessarily think description is hard, but I often find that I don't care about it. That tends to be where the logistics go, and it's more of a functional part. I mean, sometimes I love writing description, but I generally find it more work to make it enjoyable to read, IYSWIM. Whereas dialogue is these two dumbasses bickering. :D

29) What's the hardest thing about writing?

Not writing, due to not having one or more of the three critical things in place (time, energy, inspiration), and feeling nebulously crappy because of that. Also, writing a long-ass thing and then having to go back and edit it when I just donwanna, ugh, it's like homework I've assigned myself.

33) Give your writing a compliment.

I think I'm funny. I do go back and re-read stuff much later, and it still makes me laugh, so. XD

36) How do you come up with fic titles? What's the one you're most proud of?

Song lyrics, usually, or failing that lines from poems or plays. It's not particularly new or exciting, but unless I came up with something along the way, the title is the bit that I hit when I'm trying to post it to AO3 and goddammit aren't all the other words enough now you want five more?!

Actually, the ones I'm most proud of are the ones that aren't song lyrics, such as all the Community ones that were a total bastard to come up with, because Community ep titles were like that. I love Economies of Scale in Social Capital, because basically it's about Jeff finding out that you get one friend, and suddenly you have a bunch more, like a supermarket offer on paper towels. I also love When A Resistible Force Meets A Movable Object, because it's a play on how the Community characters just aren't your TV/movie superheroes or anything, they're just kind of a bit pathetic and bad at things.

Thank you! Phew, lot of good questions there. XD